James HoganLeave a comment

Well, I’m at the CSC sipping on my mocha and I should be writing a poem for my lit homework tomorrow. To motivate myself, I read through all my old poems…quite a fascinating slide-show of my past! Anyway, I realized I hadn’t posted the poem I wrote for my last lit homework, so thought I’d post that now. Comments appreciated!!

I am searching for myself
in the darkness of the storm
in the riot of the trees
in the crying of the wind.
I am cold and I am lost.

I climb forever up the mount
built of fallen memories
built of fated lovers’ bones
built of bloody victories.
I rise up and I fall yet.

I seek the ever changing sky
in the sighing of the wind
in the quiet of the trees
in the starkness of the storm.
I am here and I am not.

One more cry of deepest pain
One more cry of utmost glee
One more cry in fallen rain
Why oh why can I not see?
Why oh why am I denied?
Give me now a dance to live!
Give me now a trance to love!
Give me now a chance to be.

James HoganLeave a comment

Yo, just thought I’d write a random entry…because I so feel like it. I’m at the Circa lab right now, relaxing until my energy management class in a few minutes. I should probably walk over there now, but I’m not exactly looking forward to the two hours I’ll be spending there. Ehh. On the other hand, I AM looking forward to lunch with Deanna and the voluntary bloodletting that will take place later this afternoon!

We had a sweeet lit class today where we got to talk about fantasy, yayyy! We’ve been reading this book Wizard of Earthsea. Not bad, but quite dark and thematic…it has a solitary hero who goes around by himself. And personally, my favorite books are the character-driven books that have very realistic and fun interpersonal interactions(Lord of the Rings, yes. Wheel of Time, YES). Hence, I did not enjoy the book much. But the discussion, on the other hand, was as awesome as always! And yes, I did finish my lit homework finally yesterday. I made a cool little “comic-strip” detailing the beginning of a grand fantasy adventure titled…wait for it…”Shadow of the Stars”. I think that’s pretty epic-sounding, neh?

Alright, I should maybe go to class so I won’t be late. Even though I still don’t want to. I’m actually sorta hungry too…even though I did have nice crunchy bacon for breakfast today! And my coffee was rather delicious too. Sadly I will have to wait a few more hours for lunch. Wow, this is really bad that I’m trying to think of more to say so I don’t go to class. Kids, don’t do what I do and go to class. It’s good for your health. Ok, enough coffee-induced randomness. Time to take flight and manage some energy! Peace.

James HoganLeave a comment

It’s such a beautiful Sunday afternoon!!! Was nice and cold this morning when me and Rob went early to church…but it’s warmed up a bit now and it’s just glorious outside!

And besides today, it’s been a rather sweet weekend, I have to say! Friday night, we had Deanna’s birthday party…had good times eating and drinking at Outback..then we went over to Deanna, Amy and Shari’s place for more sweet times! We played lots of Rock Band(in which I got to play drums to Muse’s Assassin….YES) and eventually we sat in a circle and sang praise to God as Rob played guitar…what a beautiful end to the night. Yesterday, Deanna, Shari, Chris and I went to the basketball game(in which we DOMINATED Vandy, of course)…and then we had some awesome chili that Rob made…deliciousness! Later last night, a bunch of us went contra dancing! It’s a pretty sweet style of dancing…similar to square dancing, but BETTER. I got pretty dizzy midway through, but after going outside for a breath of fresh cold air, I felt tons better. The best part was spinning round and round…!!

This morning was glorious at church. Beforehand, I read 2 Peter(which is an AWESOME book, btw. Read it)…and I was really struck by the final verse, which just concluded the book beautifully. Anyways, after the awesome sermon on Romans 5 by Pastor Richard, he was about to read the benediction and I was just thinking to myself how he should read the last verse of 2 Peter. And then…he did. God is just so gracious to me…encouraging me in even small things like that!!!

And I was just interrupted by a few hour prayer and praise break…but I will now continue this recap of my marvelous weekend!

This afternoon, I didn’t really get a lot done…but had a good time chillin’ with the roommates nonetheless. This evening was prayer and praise at church, which as always, was deeply encouraging. And now…while I probably should do some homework or something productive…I think I will get some sleep.

Oh and before I go….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DEANNA!!!!!!

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Peppermint mocha time!

James HoganLeave a comment

Soo, I’ve been at the christian study center relaxing, reading and enjoying life these past few hours…oh how I love to read and enjoy a good cup of coffee!! And for some reason I was rereading some of my old entries here(think high school era!) and I found this old song thing I did…and I thought I should redo it now to reflect my changes in music taste….so here ya go!

List your current six favourite songs, then tag six other people that have to do the same.

1. Starlight – Muse
2. Love Story – Taylor Swift
3. Supermassive Black Hole – Muse
4. College Kids – Relient K
5. Low – Flo Rida
6. Violet Hill – Coldplay

And yes, there are two Muse songs. I’m on a Muse kick right now, ‘k? I would have put more, but I thought I would try diversifying a bit…I also almost put more Taylor on there, but I refrained…

Now, I shall go back to drowning myself in espresso…and enjoying this delightful day!! Farewell all!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God, the Almighty, Who was and Who is and Who is to come…Worthy are You, our Lord and our God to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created. – Revelation 4:8,11

I am so amazingly and incredibly blessed! I’ve had an excellent weekend all in all, but tonight really tops it off. I don’t think I can even really describe it in words, but was at prayer and praise tonight at church…and it was just heavenly. Truly, worshiping God through prayer is an amazing thing!! I prayed with Shari and Deanna for a while and all I can say is that God is so good. So good to allow us to pray to Him(and He answers!!) and so good for the friends and encouragement He gives to us. I wish I could find better words to express myself. I can’t. All I can say is that my heart overflows with gratitude for the goodness of the Lord!

James HoganLeave a comment

Why am I writing…I don’t know!! I just thought I should, since I’m in the Christian Study Center right now, and it seems I do half my entries from here. Maybe it’s because I’m trying to escape my homework. Yep, I’m sure that’s it. Even though my homework right now is pretty fun. I need to write about a “first” of my adolescent life in either a short story or poem…I have no idea what to write about. Any ideas??

And in other news, the weekend was pretty sweet(as always!!) Last night after Prayer and Praise(in which we did NOT watch the Super Bowl…didn’t really care what happened there), me and Rob and Drew came back to our place and chilled, watching the Ten Commandments. Epicness. Yes.

Ok, I really actually want to write a long post just about the nature of life and emotions and random stuff like that…but I think instead I will pour my muse’s energy into doing my lit homework. Once I think of an idea…hmmm….

Back to staring out the window into the rain. Farewell, all!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Such a great day!!! I am going to sleep soon, but I just had to write a few lines on how lovely today was!! Woke up today and made some bacon and hot chocolate…and then me and Rob and Andrew just chilled at our apartment relaxing and NOT doing homework. Then for some reason I felt pretty tired…so took about a three hour nap. GLORIOUS. After that, I felt so awesome…apparently, I really needed the sleep!

Later this evening, went over to the Lebos house for Mrs. Lebo’s 50th birthday surprise party!!! It was great times(and she was indeed surprised!!). I had a most enjoyable time…meeting a bunch of the Lebos’ cousins, hanging out with tons of awesome people, drinking way too much coffee, playing Assassin, watching crazy homemade videos, making more crazy videos, dancing in the kitchen…fun times or WHAT. I am indeed blessed to have such good friends!!! God is so good to me…He always has been and I am confident that He always will be. Have a great night, all!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Another lovely week has begun! Well I guess it technically began on Sunday, but we didn’t have school yesterday(MLK Day) so this feels like the real first day. It’s already been a pretty sweet morning; we had a good class in Adolescent Lit(turned in my homework for that…the homework was to write a poem…WHAT. How awesome is that!) I’m also very happy today because it’s beautifully cold outside…that always makes me happy!! Oh and the coffee I made this morning was good too…I definitely needed that because I DID NOT get enough sleep last night…so waking up this morning around 5:40 felt terrible. Class was fun though so it was all worth it. I love having an early class that I enjoy going to!! I may post my poem I wrote for homework here eventually…I want to see what the prof says first!

Oh and I don’t think I mentioned it here yet…but the Gators definitely won another football championship a few weeks ago…yeah, definitely my fourth championship here during my four years. Wow. Oh and one more note on that. I WAS AT THE GAME. And it was AMAZING. We beat the Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 YES.

And now I think I shall go outside(currently in the computer lab doing homework) and enjoy some of this awesomeness that is January weather…so great to remember the God that made all of this and is so loving and gracious to us all!! What a mighty God we serve!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Once again I am chillaxin’ at the Christian Study Center…it seems this is my best time for posting lately!! I had a very nice early morning(Ok, 9:35 is moderately early) lit class…I love that class so much because it’s such a sharp departure from my engineering classes. Most refreshing to be talking about books and their mirroring of teen culture rather than discussing the best way to have a lean manufacturing plant(not that that’s bad of course, seeing as that’s what I’ll be doing once I step into the “real world”!) Anyways after class, I ran into Chris and Andrew…great seeing them for a few minutes! Then I meandered on over here and have been enjoying the beautiful day ever since, drinking hot chocolate out on the front porch while reading the paper…the simple pleasures of life!

Anyways, what else should I say…I don’t have class for another hour, so feasibly I could write the whole time and have the most MAMMOTH entry ever. That would be awesome. But of course half of it would probably be rambling nonsense…ohh, I know what else happened today. We got a sweet assignment in my lit class – we have to watch a short film online and then “creatively respond” to it with either a short story, poem, comic strip, or essay. Seriously. That is awesome. I have never had an engineering assignment in which I get to write a poem. Of course, a poem involving time studies and differential equations would probably be most dreadfully dull. I think I’m going to try and write a poem but if my muse won’t help me out with that, I’ll just write a short story. Anyways…enough of talking about lit!

On another note, I’ve been looping Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” on youtube while writing this…it is probably really terrible that that’s been stuck in my head lately. I’m considering buying her latest album just because that song’s so awesome…and yes, I’m a terribly hopeless romantic. I can’t help that! Well, at least most of the time..

And now I need to get ready for class in a few minutes…but I’m just enjoying sitting here sipping my coffee too much right now. I have to say, it’s so weird thinking this is my last semester in which all I have to do is go to classes and hang out with friends…I still can’t really comprehend that my college career is almost over! Even weirder is to think that I started this livejournal account more than four years ago now…when I was still in high school and so ignorant of what my college years would contain. I remember thinking about college and knowing that it would be a grand adventure, but I don’t think I really understood how life-changing it would be. I’ve changed SO MUCH since my high school experience. While high school was super fun…I think I lived my life almost in separate spheres during my high school years. I had my school life and my school friends…and then I had my church life and my church friends. I think I can safely say that I was almost a different person in each of those spheres. Thankfully by God’s grace, these past four years I’ve learned that my true identity is in Christ. These past four years, I’ve become less dependent on man’s praise while I’ve looked ever more to God and His glorious righteousness. Might I always seek to serve God and in serving Him, love my fellow brothers and sisters and the rest of the world. Might I never look to my own glory and pleasure, but always to the glory of God! All that I am is His, because He made me who I am. Sometimes I despair in myself and foolishly wonder what’s going to happen in my future…but why do I forget the goodness of the Lord? Why do I doubt His mighty Hand?

And as I really do need to get to class, let me leave you with one of my favorite verses:

Therefore prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit and fix your hope completely on the grace to be revealed to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. -1 Peter 1:13

Hopefully y’all didn’t mind this rambling post too much…it felt good to just talk and talk and talk…and remember, if anyone did read this all, you get a cookie. Made by me. Which means it is awesome.

Now I am off into the cold. Farewell to all!!