Tag: writing

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

Hmm…I just realized I haven’t posted in here since I was in Gainesville!! Well, I most certainly am not going to say I’ll post every day for a week again, because clearly I’m incapable of remembering to do so! I can’t even blame business, because all I’ve been doing for the past few days is relaxing and having fun with the fam!! Today is Christmas Eve, so I finally got all my presents wrapped(ok, I actually started wrapping them today…) as I rocked out to TSO. I like TSO almost anytime, but it’s even better when it actually is Christmas time!!

Today has been pretty relaxing besides the Christmas wrapping(ok, ok, I guess that was relaxing too)…I woke up early to take Laura to work at Wright’s, then had a nice relaxing morning with my coffee and reading. Now I’m listening to beautiful Tallis Fantasia as I type this, waiting for the yummy dinner of steak and fettucine, mmm…and speaking of yummy, I just made the salad for tonight and I just could not resist eating the lettuce as I went. The steaks are almost done and it’s almost time for dinner! And since I didn’t post all of my poems last week, here’s another one, written on December 10th, 2008 as I sat on campus enjoying an absolutely marvelous day:

The water ripples
before the unseen breeze
and the leaves come
floating down.
And the campus quiets.
The clouds swirl in
awe and wonder
and the leaves come
tumbling down.
And the campus stills.
The grass quivers
in joy and light
and the leaves come
dancing down.
And the campus bows.
To our King!

And that is the end of my recent poetry spree – most of it was pretty spontaneous so I hope you weren’t expecting anything of technical genius, but writing them encouraged my heart. And now, dinner time!! Merry Christmas Eve to all!

James HoganLeave a comment

Ok well, I know I promised to write in here every night this week…but let’s just say last night was spent studying madly for my circuits exam which was 7:30 AM. Ugh. Terrible. And the exam was actually not that bad…because out of four questions, I know I got at least 2 right!!! (For circuits, for me…that’s very impressive. I may pull out a B after all!) Anyways, after that, Katie, Corey, Trisha, Rachel(all peeps from class) needed to just forget circuits…so we went to Einsteins and got breakfast and then ate it in the stadium in the beautiful early-morning Florida weather!! It was sooo fun…and also sorta sad because today was Katie’s last exam EVER!! She graduates on Saturday. I’m gonna miss her…

But off that subject, after that I picked up my voucher for my ticket to the BCS TITLE GAME IN MIAMI THIS JANUARY WHICH I AM GOING TO. And yes, that deserved all-caps. Florida vs. Oklahoma, winner take all! I CAN’T WAIT!!!!

Anyways, back to today…following my ticket pick-up, had a sweet disc-golfing adventure with Deanna, Shari and Jamie…such awesomeness!!! It was the perfect follow-up to terrible circuits…just walking around on the beautiful course at Northside Park. Yes. Incidentally, I also had one of my best rounds ever. Not that I’m bragging or anything….ok, maybe I am a little. But hey, I’m allowed to do it. On my own journal!

Again, coming back from off-topicness…once we got back from disc golf, Mr. Lebo and George came over for our epic Finals Week Risk Tournament Extravaganza. And yes, it was quite epic. We started the game around 2:30 and didn’t finish until 10. PM. Ridiculous. We did take a break for dinner(me and Rob made chicken parmesan, which was DELICIOUS…we made two whole pans and we still ate all of it). The game(LotR Risk) was awesome but as always, I ended up getting bored and just going on a rampage of which the end result was me being the first to be eliminated. Ah well. Rob got out next(serves him right for killing my best armies!) and Galan eventually ended up winning…

And now, I’m quite tired. But it is time for the next poem in this week’s series. Enjoy.

The lake, it beckons to me.
Darker than night,
devoid of light,
the lake, it whispers to me.
Unbroken glass,
forgotten past,
the lake, it croons to me.
Burning with fire,
lighting my pyre,
the lake it dances for me.
Oh, I want it!
Oh, I need it!
And I stare into the lake.
For all it wants is to take
my soul.
No!

James HoganLeave a comment

Well, right now I’m at Library West, just finished studying for my circuits quiz which starts in an hour. I’m hopefully ready..but we shall see!! All I can say is that I can’t wait for Wednesday night!!! These next three days are ridiculous…simulations project due today(which is DONE now and I am so exited…that project has cost me so many hours of sleep lately), circuits quiz today, supply chain exam tomorrow(which I start studying for tonight), myth exam Wednesday(which I start studying for tomorrow night) and then our simulations project presentation on Wednesday as well. SO MUCH TO DO! And so little time….

Of course, part of the reason for the little time is all the awesome things that I’ve been doing lately! Friday, a bunch of us(Amy, Deanna, Shari, Jamie, Galan, Cath, Rob, me) got to relax after our long week by going to Las Margaritas for dinner…most satisfactory food, I must say! Good times just chatting and enjoying the utter LACK of school! Saturday was busy…but awesome. I got up relatively early for a Saturday and made Christmas cookies! Classic chocolate mint cookies…which turned out not too shabby, if I say so myself! Then I went over to Katie’s place to watch the SEC title game vs. Alabama!! One of the most nerve-wracking games all year, but we pulled out a victory, 31-20 so we are SEC CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!

And even better…we are now going to another TITLE GAME!!!! We’re going to play Oklahoma in the BCS National Championship game in Miami. I’ll try to get tickets…that would be so incredibly sweet if a bunch of us ended up going!!!!!!! I have to say, this will be the fourth title game in four years…we are quite spoiled. Honestly.

Anyways, after the jumping up and down and celebrating, I left Katie’s and went over Dream’s place for her annual Christmas party…good times dancin’ and singin’ and eating’ and just having fun!!!! I’m so gonna miss these times when I move ever so far away next year!

Moving on, Sunday was sort of a crazy day, too. Trying to work on my simulations project…going early to church to do the camera-work for the service. Decorating wine-glasses for APM…and then the best part of the day, Shari’s Danza show!!!! It was incredibly super sweeeeet!!! I’m not a huge dance fan, I must admit…but when Shari’s on, I love it!!! She was in quite a few dances and even had some sweet solo parts!! Best part of the day, by far!! Afterwards we celebrated her rocking performance by partying at the Gelato Company! We also found out that she’d jammed her toe in the very beginning but still danced the whole time…and NONE of us could tell anything was wrong. Hardcore.

Well after that, I had to work on simulations project more and ended up staying awake until almost 3. Ugh. Woke up at 8 to study for my circuits quiz today, so I am still quite tired now. When I was on the bus, started getting dizzy and I realized I hadn’t eaten anything substantial since around 5 yesterday! So I got some Subway and ate it outside Anderson Hall…such BEAUTIFUL weather we’ve been having!!! And now I am cooped inside the library, but I am done studying for and will now dominate this circuits quiz.

Hope this update has filled y’all in on what I’ve been up to lately…I’ve been a bit stressed with all I have going on…but God has given me the strength to keep on keepin’ on. What a mighty God we serve!

James HoganLeave a comment

Well, I’m in the education library here and just finished studying for my supply chain exam I have in a bit. I’m not quite sure how ready I am…but I guess I’ll find out! My laptop battery is almost dead, but I thought I might as well write a quick entry(and hope my laptop doesn’t die in the middle of it). After my exam today, I have a bunch of random errands to run…and then tonight, I’m heading to Tampa! I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here before, but I will very soon have my own means of transportation(…a car!!!) It will be very very awesome, mostly because it will be my first car. Ever. It’s my grandma’s car, so me and my dad are flying up to the midwest to pick it up and then driving all the way back here over the weekend! So while this means I’ll get absolutely no schoolwork done over the weekend…I’ll have an awesome time driving with my dad!!

Hmm, apparently my battery has 10 minutes left. Eh, I’ll keep writing. This past week has been crazy busy, just because I’ve been attempting to get everything done before I leave tonight(like my simulations homework which is due tomorrow, but I already finished it to turn in today). Last night was great at the Christian Study Center(that really has been my home lately…) with Creekside Wednesday night. I got to enjoy singing one of my favorite hymns(Holy, Holy, Holy), go over one of my favorite verses(1 Peter 1:13), and(ok, my battery just died…my computer lied. I did NOT have 10 minutes left! Well, at least when I plugged it in – and don’t even ask why I didn’t plug it in sooner..shhhh – it brought back this page so I don’t have retype everything) Anywayss…where was I? Oh yeah, I was talking about how awesome last night was…besides the singing and the study, I had some great times talking with Betsy and Dan. So encouraging to talk with them!!!

And speaking of Dan, it’s time for lunch with Rob and Dan. I think we’re hitting up Larry’s Subs…which means it’s the second day in a row I’ll eat there. I am terrible!

Farewell, all! Hope you enjoyed this somewhat scattered post!

James HoganLeave a comment

Hmm, I just upgraded to new Firefox and now livejournal looks really weird. I don’t know what to do. This shall require some research. And further on the livejournal front…I’ve been thinking it may be time I get a new theme. Any ideas??? If anyone does have any ideas and also has pictures/background that would be cool, let me know. Because I am the least artistically capable person ever!! Well, maybe not quite. But pretty close.

And right now(in case you can’t tell), I’m running a deficiency of sleep. You may all be wondering, “But why? The weekend just happened; you should have gotten plenty of sleep!” But noo…I am not always that smart about things as important as sleep. Or in other words, I just had way too much fun doing things when I was awake to remember my body likes sleep. Hence my body is quite upset with me right now.

And soon I’ll be getting ready to leave for the first Prayer and Praise of the year!!! I can’t wait because Prayer and Praise is awesome. And yeah. It’s pretty much just awesome. I probably shouldn’t go because I need to get homework done and also get SLEEEP but ah well. I know I won’t regret going…because I never do!

But as of this weekend…what all happened that kept me from sleeping, you ask?(Ok, maybe you didn’t ask, but let’s say you did for the sake of this entry) I’m trying to remember what all I did Friday night, but my memory is failing me. Aha, I remember now. We were just going to hang out and relax here at our place…so we started the night watching Galan playing God of War(it’s amazing how fun it can be just to WATCH someone play video games…) But eventually Bekah, Holly, and Melinda came over to chill with us so we got some pizza and all watched “The Village”. I thought it was going to be a pretty creepy movie, but it wasn’t really. Thankfully. After the movie, went over to Shari, Deanna and Amy’s house to drop Bekah over and I indulged in a bit of her Dove mint chocolate chip ice cream, which though delicious, has not unseated Breyers as the king of ice cream. We came back to our place and Holly wanted to go back to her place to pick up her roommate from a party. Rob, Galan and I went with her for “protection” and we had some interesting times finding her roommate. After that we chilled at Holly’s place for a while and played some Guitar Hero(at which I dominated at first…as long as it was set on Easy). By the time we got home, it was about 3am. That still wasn’t too late, until I remembered that me and Rob were going with Laurie and a friend to watch the sunrise at Cedar Key. And that we were leaving at 5.

Rob fell asleep while me, Galan and Holly watched a bunch of episodes from The Office and talked about random stuff that I’m sure made no sense since we were extremely sleep deprived. Finally around 5:30 or so, Rob, Laurie, her friend Marianne and I left for Cedar Key. Somehow I was still awake…somehow. The next few hours were just amazing. Stopping by the side of the road…staring at the stars in wonder at the awesomeness of God’s creation. Luxuriating in the cool morning air sitting on a pier watching the sun peek out at us as the earth slowly turned…walking around the sleepy little town of Cedar Key and eventually eating a massive breakfast…just talking and talking and enjoying quiet fellowship with each other and God. How good is our Lord!!!

Eventually we came back to Gainesville. And at long last..around 11:00am…I slept. And indeed it was glorious!!! I actually only got around 3 hours of sleep(because for some reason my body does not like sleeping when there’s sunshine outside!) but it felt so delicious. Before we headed over to the game, Rob and Galan and I played some disc golf with George and Mr. Lebo. And then…the Miami game!!! It was tense for a while, but we pulled it out in a 26-3 victory. Go Gators! Other stuff happened after that, but we finally made it back to Stoneridge around 1 or 2am. I can’t quite remember.

This morning was a nice early one…accompanied by my classic Sunday breakfast of bacon and coffee, yeah! Church was, as always, supremely refreshing. Afterward, we had a big lunch at Moe’s and now…I’m here. And Amy just called so it is time to prayer and praise it up! Farewell all!! Major props for reading all of this!

And if anyone has livejournal theme ideas, tell me please!!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Wow, today has been a LONG day! I actually woke up today around 4:45(AM!!). Ridiculous, huh? It was because my sunday school class at my church(Bethel) was helping put a garage sale on. Anyway, I was pretty tired when I first woke up, but after my shower and some awesome bacon and coffee, I was raring to go. Well, mostly! The garage sale was lots of fun, partly because it’s always fun to help someone else out and partly because it was fun hanging out with the people here…whom I’m finally getting to know now, so it’s good times! A lot of the time, when nothing was happening with the sale, I would just be talking to one person or another…and I really enjoyed that. It’s been a while since I’ve had Christian fellowship like that. After the sale was over, I was pretty exhausted but Sibi(my co-intern) and I had planned to go to “The Galleria”, a huge mall here in Houston. I was wondering how big a mall could be, but this mall definitely was the biggest mall I’ve ever been in. It had 3 levels and multiple huge buildings…and an ice skating rink in the middle of the food court. Yeah, pretty awesome. It was so fun walking through the mall and exploring all the stores and having no idea where anything was and seeing so many people!!! And I actually “shopped” at the mall…i.e., I bought clothes there, which I never do, so I was a little shocked at myself. After some harrowing moments trying to get back to our hotel, finally got back here and now I am ready to crash. Been doing laundry and just took a shower and I am ready for a good night’s sleep!!! Hope everyone is having great times wherever you are…and I am going, going, gone. G’night, all!

James HoganLeave a comment

I have an announcement to make: James is now in Houston!!

And in case any of you wonder WHY I’m in Houston right now(even though you should know, because I’ve written it here before), it’s because my internship starts this week!! Orientation starts on Wednesday, but since I got here last night(on a completely unremarkable flight, which is a GOOD thing) I have a couple days to just chill in Houston! Before my real work begins…

Anyways, don’t worry – even though I don’t have anything to do, I’ve still not been just lying around in bed all day. I got up around 8 or so this morning to get the continental breakfast downstairs(which was quite good, so I was happy!) After breakfast, I relaxed for a while in my room, talking to various people via phone and internet. As the day went on, I realized I really didn’t want to spend my whole day in the hotel room, so I decided I was going to find a park. And play disc golf. And it would be awesome.

Thus begins the Great Disc Golf Adventure of today! I looked up the locations of several parks and found one that was right down the road from my hotel. Now, since it was “right down the road”, I thought I could get there quickly. Let me tell you something though…6.5 miles takes longer to walk than you think. As I set out on my adventure, I felt like a hobbit…walking down an unknown road…with the sun beating down on me…and dangers at every corner. But the analogy breaks down because I don’t think the hobbits carried Gatorade. And I don’t have hairy feet. Anyway, let me continue. As I got to about the halfway point of my journey, I stopped at Burger King for lunch(Hmmm, I don’t think Middle Earth had BKs, either…). After lunch, slightly refreshed and fighting the temptation to take a nap, I kept walking. And walking. Finally, I got to the intersection that I knew the park was at!! I saw a park off to my left, so I went towards it victoriously..only to find there was no disc golf course. Quite disheartened, I walked across the street to see if there was another park…and then in the distance, I saw the glint of the sun on the chains of a basket. Victory was mine!!!

The only problem with walking so far is that by the time I was at the park, I was a bit weary, so I rested for a while before I tried out my sweet new Star-Orc disc Rob had given me. The disc was up to the challenge. I however, was not in my top form. Still, it was great fun trying out a new disc golf course! As I finished the course, I realized a terrible truth. I had come a long way to play. And now I would have to go back that same way. As I walked(and walked and walked) back to my hotel, I felt even more like a hobbit. But if before I was setting off on a journey in the peace of the Shire, now I felt like I was Frodo trudging up the slopes of Mt. Doom, my legs leaden and my spirit weakening. Thankfully, I had something Frodo did not. The Bus. I rode the bus a couple miles before it turned off, but I had never so much appreciated a bus before. And I have never had a dollar so well spent.

As I finally approached my hotel, it was with a weary exultation! I collapsed on my bed and rested for a while before taking a shower(hot showers are AWESOME) and eventually grabbing dinner at McDonalds…

And thus ends the Great Disc Golf Adventure! I have to say, I have a much increased admiration for marathon runners…Walking 11 miles or so tired me out…I can’t imagine running a marathon. Well, at least not now in my current state of fitness.

And now, I am still tired. Well, at least my legs are. So I must call it a day. G’night all!!! And hope you didn’t mind reading this long(AGAIN) post. I really should try to shorten my writing…ah well. Farewell!

Good times in T-town!

James HoganLeave a comment

Wow, just realized I haven’t posted in a while…and I’ve had such an awesome past couple weeks too!! Well, I guess I should write about some of it now, because a few days from now I won’t have too much time to write…because I’ll be in Houston, YEAH! Rocking out in my [hopefully] sweet intern position and getting used to the Texas air…which apparently isn’t too different from Florida air. I’ll let you all know.

Anyways…a little more than a week ago I turned 21. Whoa. I have to say, that’s just a scary age to turn – awesome. But scary. I realized a few days later walking past the liquor store…”Wait, I can actually go in there and buy whatever I want now.” Not that I’m going to anytime soon(on a side-note…I’m still not sure what my first actual “purchase” will be, hmm..)…but still, just knowing it’s possible! But yeah, weird.

Ok, back to my birthday though. It was definitely different from most people’s 21sts. And definitely awesome. On Saturday me and my family went to our church conference where we had great fun hanging out with all the people from our church, singing, listening to good messages and just relaxin’. On that night, as me and my mom and sisters were chilling at our little villa, they all sang to me as the clock turned to 12. And then we ate popcorn and watched some Fresh Prince. I love my family so much…

The next day was more church conference and it was so much fun just being with all the people from church. After that me and my family went back home and we had a great relaxing afternoon as I saw my multitudes of facebook notes and got some cool voicemails from people. I got to say, I have some pretty good friends. That night we had Pizza Hut pizza and salad and again…enjoying being with the fam. God is good!!

Ok, now let’s skip a few days…partly because if I don’t, I’ll have the most massive entry of all time!! Anyways, on Thursday of last week, I got my license. And please, don’t look at me with those shocked faces…I know, I know. I’m 21 and I didn’t have my license yet. But hey, it’s a free country, right? Anyways, I rocked the driving test and now I can officially drive on my own. And it’s awesome. I’m taking full advantage of this freedom to borrow the parents’ car and take my sisters places, pick people up…etc. I love it! Now I just need a car…again, suggestions/free cars welcome!

Wow, this is going to be a humongous entry. Well, on Friday, I had some fancy company coming in to town, and by fancy, I mean Deanna, Amy, and Shari! They wanted to come the weekend of my birthday, but the church conference was on, so they came by this past weekend instead. So much fun because they got to all meet my family! Well, Amy already had, but Shari and Deanna didn’t, so yeah. We had my birthday lasagna dinner at home, played games(Pass the Pigs, anyone?) and ate ice cream and cake with Dave and Dream who had come over at this point. I got some sweet Seattle coffee(which I’m extremely tempted to try) from them and a sweet Star Orc disc from Rob(which I’m also extremely tempted to try and can’t believe I haven’t yet!). Anyways, after that, we just talked until about 2 or 2:30 or so…until we were too exhausted. They all slept in the girls’ room and the next morning we had an awesome pancake/bacon breakfast courtesy of Dad! And that morning we played some ping-pong and then went to Five Guys(YES) for lunch. Oh yeah, and I drove Deanna’s Accord, which is one sweet ride.

Wow, why am I writing so much??? Anyways, after lunch, we went over to the movie theatre to see Indy 4!! Dream and Dave joined us there and we partook of…well…Indy 4. I want to say it was awesome, but I can’t quite…it was interesting. I’ll say that much. I just don’t think it’s as good as the first three. But, I will say this. It was AWESOME seeing Indiana Jones on the big screen for the first time in my life.

After the movie, me and Shari grabbed the other Indy movies at Target and then we went back to my house and had dinner…and then watched National Treasure 2 with the rest of the fam! Fun times indeed…and then they had to leave. Most sad…because I probably won’t see ’em for the rest of the summer..but the times we had was so great…the friends that God’s given me are indeed most amazing blessings!!

Anyways…wow. This post is still going. This week has been sweet thus far, and I’ll end this post by saying tonight was awesome because Dream and her brother John came over and me and Maryanne and Laura watched Indy 3(Last Crusade) with them. Great times!!! I’m gonna miss these times when I’m in Houston…

And now, I really do need to close this post. If anyone read all of this post…You win my eternal adoration. Ok, not really. But you get major props.

To all of you, g’night!!

James HoganLeave a comment

Ok, so I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night…but my room is now practically empty, barring this laptop, my backpack, my Bible, and my hat…oh, and a random kleenex box! Right now Rob and Galan are driving most of Rob’s possessions over to Steven and Liz’s place and then they’ll be coming back to pack his car full of my stuff. And after that, it’s off to Daytona area for a night! We’re going to Bekah(Hope) and Andrew’s church for a huge passion play that their church is putting on…it’s going to be pretty awesome because Hope, Andrew, John, Galan, me, Rob, Deanna, Amy, Shari, Bekah P and Laura G will all be coming too…so it’s our last hurrah before summer! And then tomorrow afternoon, me and Rob are driving to Tampa, home sweet home!

Anyways, for a brief recap of this morning(since I wrote a nice long entry last night!), me and Rob went to Northside Park and met up with Ryan, Deanna, Shari, and Amy for one last round of disc golf before we parted ways for the summer. So sad…but yet, it was awesome times! I played decently well, but the best part was just being with cool people and relaxing on the course…letting the morning breeze wash over us and the bright sun shine down upon us. We said goodbye to Ryan after that…I don’t know when I’ll see him again, since he’s going to seminary in Chicago, but I know God has great things in store for him!

And now, I have extra time, so I feel I should write more…but what can I say? Other than that I feel exceedingly blessed by God! Amen and amen!

And on that note, I think I will sign off. Gainesville, farewell for summer!