When I FINALLY got to see "The Jungle Book"!

I know it's not like me to go all the way to Blue Bell campus on Friday, you know, one of my days OFF. Still I had some real editing to do with my video project for class, and needed to get there early so I could get a good portion of it done and catch the 1pm shuttle back to Pottstown. From there my plan was to go to the Pottsgrove Carmike Cinemas, straight from West Campus, in time for my mom and I to see the 2:15 showing of The Jungle Book. (convenient too 'cause I was editing my own two-minute adaptation of one of the old Kipling stories)

It's almost one o' clock, I wait and I wait and I wait, and so do the half dozen other students sitting around outside.
For some reason that shuttle didn't arrive at Blue Bell campus till about 1:18, and I was getting antsy and worried about how bad traffic might be. While waiting for it to come I kept running through just about every scenario I could think of; "if we make it late [such-and-such a time] then we can see the 4pm show. If we make it to the theatre before 2:30, the trailers will still be playing..." all that kind of stuff. it was pretty nerve-wracking. I kept praying we'd make it in time so I wouldn't have to miss anything.
Hey, I'd been looking forward to this Jungle Book movie for I-lost-count-of-how-many months, and was NOT planning on skipping it today. If I did then I'd probably have to wait another week.
The shuttle arrived at West Campus at about 2:15, and no sooner did the doors open than I sprinted off the shuttle to the car. I'd already bought candy at the school bookstore, so there didn't have to be any more delays.
We went right in, got our tickets with no line, and got two seats in the Big-D theatre with ten minutes to spare.


THE JUNGLE BOOK
All right, now onto the movie itself; no secret to say I just LOVED it!
So many references to the old animated film through the music (beginning, Kaa's theme, Bare Necessities, some like that), a few character's lines were just like the old film, and still throughout this one I noticed so much stuff from the original book; the song of the wolf pack, the Water Truce, Shere Khan confronting the wolves to get to Mowgli... and a few other things that I probably shouldn't say 'cause that would mean giving away HUGE spoilers for those who haven't see the movie yet or read the book.

- Baloo's hilarious!
"Baloo" Clip - Disney's The Jungle Book
He has the best laid-back attitude "you're doing great!" while Mowgli's getting him honey and getting stung by bees in the process ("You said they didn't sting." -Mowgli)

"King Louie" Clip - Disney's The Jungle Book
- The newer version of "I Wanna Be Like You" was better than I expected it to be, frankly. King Louie as a Gigantopithecus is pretty cool, definitely intimidating when he first introduces himself and when he's chasing Mowgli through the ruined city (aka The Cold Lairs as they're called in the book).
(this soundtrack version plays in the credits but it's not as long in the movie scene) Christopher Walken - I Wanna Be Like You (2016) (From "The Jungle Book"

- Shere Khan the tiger... oh my god!
"Intro to Shere Khan" clip
Let's just say there were several moments throughout the film where my mindset was just "Ok I'm actually getting scared right now..."

- The credits in this movie are fun to watch 'cause it has a big book opening with animals moving around and interacting with it in some comedic ways. Good thing I was curious and felt like sticking around for that.


I definitely recommend The Jungle Book for those who love the old Disney classics as well as the new stuff (and the original text) 'cause it has just the right combination of both. It's very funny, also intense, suspenseful, emotional, enjoyable, and overall a fun movie to see.
Before you start asking the age-old question, YES it WAS worth the wait. And I do plan on seeing it again soon. Very soon.

2nd Degree PART 2- The Ceremony

Thursday March 24th.
This was the day of the ceremony, and it was at the Pottstown ATA school at 7pm.
That, of course, meant I had to miss my 3:55 class at Mont Co. If I waited till afterwards to leave, I'd be late for sure. That was a risk I was NOT willing to take. I hadn't missed a single class this semester, so I could just use this as one of my free absences.
I couldn't miss my early morning class though, which was ok since the digital photography class is more enjoyable. Plus my girlfriend Jenny wanted to come to the ceremony by taking the 3pm shuttle from main campus, so this way I could meet up early and take the shuttle to west campus (closer to home) together.

Jenny had brought her camera, so before leaving home in the evening we took family-of-four pictures with me in my uniform. I'm still not the most patient when it comes to posing for photos, but at least there weren't very many.

We arrived at the ATA school plenty early, so the four of them could get decent seats in the small lobby. The place was decorated with the big flags hanging from the ceiling, a small table with a decorative cloth (and incense burner) on it, and spread out neatly on the floor were everybody's new black belts; each with a small plate and candle sitting behind it. My Second Degree Black Belt, with my name sewn in red letters, was in the second row. The first row was solely my friend Riley. It was all in alphabetical order so we sat right where we were supposed to.

Since we'd gotten there early and the other kids (I was the second-oldest seated there in front of the instructors) were all sitting with our neatly folded belts, I passed the last ten minutes or so by talking to a couple of them.

Finally, it all got started just before seven. There was some tranquil music/sounds playing, most of the lights were out, and the other instructors took turns lighting the candles in front of them from Mr. Morgan's candle. After that, Riley lit his. Then my row of three went up to light our candles from the instructors' directly in front of us.

While that was going on, the sounds playing went into a narration of Eternal Grandmaster Haeng Un Lee reading the Scrolls of Songahm (here's the link so you can read what it said). We sat there listening to him speak, practically still as statues. Sometimes I'd look straightforward, later shift my eyes to the floor or to the now-lit candle in front of me.

The Songahm Scroll thing lasted maybe five minutes. We blew out our candles, and Mr. Morgan gave us a really good pep talk before calling each of us to come forward. One by one, starting with my friend Riley, we each grabbed our new belts from where they sat in front of us, walked up to Mr. Morgan, and he tied the new belts on us as the old ones lay across our shoulders. After that, we shook hands with the instructors and cheered on the other students who received their new belts; first and second-degrees alike.

One of my classmates from the adult class, I remembered (in fact a LOT of us remembered) had tested on Saturday with a broken foot. She was called out positively for that, and applauded louder than others for that black belt attitude and motivation. She also received a bouquet of flowers from her parents right then and there when she got her First Degree Black Belt tied on.

 When we were all seated again, there was another thing Mr. Morgan gave us with our candles; A ROCK. Very symbolic, it was. We would feel the rock and he'd ask us about how it felt. Rough, and smooth. Just like the taekwondo journey, and life even. Some smooth easy spots here and there but also a lot of rough ones.
Just some food for thought there...

PICTURE TIME! After the ceremony (it was less than a half hour, I was pretty surprised) we all got into group pictures, making poses, smiles, fighting stances, GRRR faces and so forth. Didn't go on long though and nobody was picky. Later I took some family pictures, took a couple with Jenny and with Mr. Morgan too.

All in all, successful and feeling-accomplished evening :) took FOREVER, but I've made it another belt rank up.

2nd Degree PART 1- The Tests

Well, first off, on March 19th I had to get up at 7am just to have breakfast and make it to the elementary school early enough.
We were having our taekwondo tests in the gym that morning. It was for both the ATA students testing for full belt rank (like me) and those who were mid-terming. As a result we got quite a few, a couple dozen I think. Most of them were kids younger than twelve years old, though me and a few of my adult class friends were also there to test. I practiced my 81-move form once before it all started, making sure I knew which direction to turn in when doing the kicks, blocks and so forth. It helped me to sort of visualize (or half-visualize) the ATA school that I was so used to practicing in; like "ok so the waiting room would be over there, the flag wall over there..." that sort of thing so I didn't get disoriented. God knows that's happened plenty of times in midterms, to my slight embarrassment.
Getting there roughly a half hour early gives you time to warm up and practice, which we all needed.

Ok, SO... after the instructors got us all warmed up and ready, the rest of us who were full rank testing went from the gym down the hall to the cafeteria. That was where we took the written knowledge test, and I was afraid I wasn't going to get them all right. My best guess was I got an 80 or 70 or something, since a few of those questions were the in-depth kind I was pretty unprepared for. I was told not to worry about spelling, but still. I wished all the questions were multiple choice instead of having a bunch of them open-ended.

On the upside, this woman who was rank testing for First Degree Black had brought along packs of Smarties, and me and some of the kids had some. Mr. Morgan had said in class the other day it's a good trick to have candy so you can have sugar rush when you spar together. Smart guy. I wasn't gonna say "no way" to that idea! I'm not usually one to turn down free candy if it's the kind I like.

Doing my form was simple enough, 'cause I kept in mind which direction I'd be facing if I was doing this in the ATA school. I didn't bother taking my time with it (you're not really supposed to go slow anyway, long as you're doing the techniques right), since going slow would just make me overthink it and slow me down. Once that was done, the same thought ran through my mind as it always did after finishing my form; "Hard part's over."
I'm always ready to get that part out of the way since it's the  more complicated.

Looking at my sparring gear, I knew I would need to get new hand gear and a new chest guard soon since they were ripping in places. In fact I got the sleeve of my dobaq/uniform caught in the rip in my chest guard when I was trying to get it over my head.
Sparring takes a lot of energy out of you because you're constantly moving and trying to do more than just a simple punch and a kick. I mean, it's instinct to do the simpler stuff, but you get more points (thus a higher chance of passing the test) if you do more advanced moves, combinations, things like that. I tried doing more of those, and it turned out ok, but the thing that annoyed me was the fact that my feet kept slipping and sliding around on the polished wood floor.
At least it was only two rounds. But nonetheless it was tiring and I was relieved to take off my gear. Well, the chest guard and helmet anyway...

I needed to keep the hand gear and foot gear on for the board-break portion of the test.
Now THAT may have been my favorite part of the test. Why? 'Cause unlike my midterms and first Black Belt test, I managed to break BOTH BOARDS on the first try!

In the past, it's always taken me two tries to break one of them. But this time I got both of them. One kick, one hammer fist. That hammer fist especially felt good. I put so much power and energy into it that I just let out this loud karate yell--- not even a karate yell (we call them "ki-haps"), more of a  ROAR like some vicious animal. I'm not gonna lie, it feels awesome to do that.

Then came the real gut-check; The FIT TEST!
There were five big pads set up, like five stations, and each one had a student volunteer to hold or sit by it while the testing Black Belts did their stuff. At each pad there would be two students who, one at a time, would do the exercises they had to (each lasting a minute). Good thing we got to take turns that way, 'cause it was rigorous and God knows each of us needed a rest.
1) First, a minute of pushups. Now a minute doesn't seem like much at first. But when you start pumping these pushups out, and your arms and core ache like crazy, you realize "oh wait, it's a full minute" and it feels like forever! Quite a few times I needed to drop a knee for a few seconds before continuing. It probably wasn't as many times as I thought, but it was enough to annoy me and make me feel weaker than I really am.
There was this quote I remembered from Navy SEAL Morgan Luttrell leading people in pushups, saying "I'm not gonna stop 'cause it hurts, I'll stop when I'm done!" My minute wasn't up yet, so I wasn't going to stop. Take a couple-second breather, sure, but no way was I gonna drop and not get up again.

2) Then, after the kid behind me did his pushups and I got my minute to rest, came the mountain climbers (no sit-ups on a hardwood floor). Those were pretty killer too, really working my core as well as the legs. Again I let my leg, or legs, down a few times before continuing on. Still powered through it best I could, though.

3) Third, it was a jab and reverse punch on the pad. So the kid in front of me who was sitting behind the pad from the beginning had to hold it for me. I didn't bother counting how many I did. I just kept the pace and rhythm going best I could, and doing them quickly. Your goal is to get as many as possible, in each field of this test. At least she was motivating me along with the instructors cheering us on.

4) After that, you do a round kick. I did this portion with just my right leg 'cause I knew I'd be doing more kicks later. That was still super tiring.

5) The last portion of the test was a combination of the last two; jab, reverse punch, round kick. This time I did the kicks with my left leg and led the punches with my right fist instead of the left. That gave each limb a precious second in between to rest, but still I had to just pound these things out!
For each of these exercises the instructors were going around giving us a "let's go, let's go" kind of motivation. It was positive, not harsh or anything. Just tough to follow when you're getting more tired with each kick or punch. After my minute was up, each time I'd be standing with my hands on my knees behind the other kid taking his turn. It was SUCH a relief to have that brief rest.


The fit test was the last thing. Mr. Morgan gave a speech, handed a certificate and some platinum medal to one of the younger students, then he and the other instructors bowed us out and we were dismissed.
When dad gave me a big clap on the back my mindset was (pretty comically looking back at it now) "ah, don't do that, I'm gonna fall over!" Thankfully on the way home, me, mom and dad made a stop at Dunkin Donuts. This was one of those times where I'd earned that cup of hot soothing coffee. Hear me? EARNED IT!

Book Lists

It's no secret to say I'm a bookworm (I was one of the people voted Biggest Bookworm in high school). Seems like there's always a book on my list to read, so there's hardly ever been a big gap in my reading time. Well, except when I have some school textbook to go over, which doesn't really count 'cause it takes away a good amount of pleasure reading time.
These are some books I've been reading and some I plan to delve into sometime soon.



THE JUNGLE BOOKS
I just got it for Christmas, a hardcover copy containing both The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. In middle school I'd read the Mowgli stories from the first book online once and had been meaning to read them again because...
(1) they were interesting, and

(2) there's two movie adaptations coming out over the next couple years;
A Disney film coming out in April 2016,
and a Warner Bros. one in 2017 titled Jungle Book: Origins directed by (and starring) Andy Serkis. Now THAT is the one I'm even more excited for, knowing that they're gonna make it even closer to the original text. Still, the I'm sure the new Disney one coming out will be closer in some ways than the 1960s animation, so I guess we'll see what happens.
I finished reading recently, and they are pretty fascinating. I admit some of the stories do drag a bit, but there are a few not-Mowgli-centered stories that are still pretty cool. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a good one, about a mongoose going against a pair of cobras to protect the family that's taken him in.
There are quite a few movie-worthy details in The Jungle Books, some of which I guess would be too dark/gritty for a kids' movie (which explains me not knowing some of this stuff).

For example Bagheera the panther has a backstory of his own;

"Yes, I too was born among men. I had never seen the jungle. They fed me behind bars from an iron pan till one night I felt that I was Bagheera - the panther - and no man's plaything, and I broke the silly lock with one blow of my paw and came away; and because I had learned the ways of men, I became more terrible in the jungle than Shere Khan."

I wonder if that will be touched on in the Disney movie this spring. We do see him fighting with Shere Khan in the trailer... The Jungle Book 2016 trailer (4K 2160p HD) Well, if not this one I'm sure the Origins movie will delve into more of those backstories and details. I'm really excited for both, especially now that I'm all caught up.



THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS
Ok, the City of Bones movie didn't do well, so the Mortal Instruments book series is a tv show called "Shadowhunters" now (which my sister and I have been excited about for a while).
With the first book City of Bones I'm caught up for at least a month, depending on how the show's pacing is; how many chapters generally add up to one episode per week, etc.
After finishing the first book, with the time to spare before picking up the second one, I'm planning on picking up a certain book that I was going to reread but didn't get to because of other texts...



ERAGON
I gave Eragon a try when I was in 7th grade. I remember seeing the movie for the second time with my dad and wanting to read it. But I guess there were too many differences between the book and the film or something, 'cause the book confused me and I didn't finish it (see back then I didn't know filmmakers could change so much stuff in adaptations).
I was going to reread it when I started tenth grade but didn't get the chance, so here I am now.
Since I've gotten better at reading high fantasy books and am getting more curious about the book series itself, I think I'll try it again. Plus Eragon is no bigger than City of Bones, so it shouldn't take very long to read. That's why I figure I'll give this one book a try right away and see if I also want to continue the series.



WEREWORLD
Now Wereworld... is something else... the lords, kings, barons and so forth are shapeshifters (or "therianthropes" as they're called in this world). Picture an eight-foot-tall lion standing on two legs wearing armor and wielding a sword! Wolves, bears, hawks, foxes, panthers, even sharks... the list of different shapeshifter types goes on.
Definitely a complex high fantasy, one that have planned to reread for a while but didn't know when. I was going to reread it after the Mortal Instruments books, but things have changed...
Anyway, that is one important goal of mine to finish at some point. I've got the six-book series on my list here so I'm not just gonna forget about it.


So yeah. These are my current goals in books to read. I'm excited to see where it goes, and glad my winter break isn't over yet so I have more time :)

My Third Fall Retreat (PART 3)

Sunday, October 18th
Later on after a few more entertaining performances, the talent show was over.
I put my bible, notepad, and camera back in the guy's cabin and went back to the dining hall with my headlamp in hand. Right now we were all heading out to the second field over for the midnight bonfire, so I met with Jenny and turned the headlamp on so we could go together without getting lost in the dark.
The bonfire itself was wide, like the first one I got to help set up two years ago, but it was low like last year's. It was kind of a low dome-like pile of embers and logs, sending sparks and cinders into the air when you poked at it.
After arriving there, Galdo got his guitar out and started playing some campfire songs (meaning SpongeBob songs, including "Sweet Victory" and C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G Song." So of course I just had to join in, and after the SpongeBob ones we sang "Even If It Breaks Your Heart" (Eli Young Band) That was one I had picked out before and Galdo really seemed to like playing.
When those few songs were over I pointed out to Jenny where the chocolates and marshmallows were for s'mores. We both got up and grabbed two of these huge marshmallows, much bigger than the kind that I've used for s'mores in the past. I grabbed two crackers with mine and we both put our marshmallows on the ends of skinny sticks.

Here's one little thing you need to know; Roasting a marshmallow only till it's golden brown on the outside is NOT good enough (at least not good enough for me, or Jenny). Nuh-uh. The way to do it is, you hold the marshmallow in the flame till it literally catches fire. Wait a little, then blow it out. Or even better, just wait for the flame to go out on its own. This way you've got a crispy black 'candy shell' on the outside, with a melty-gooey center. I took my marshmallow off the stick by pinching it between the crackers. Jenny, however, stuffed the whole thing in her mouth, right off the stick! (Priceless. Just PRICELESS)

Around 1:30am, I was getting tired and had spent a lot of time out there already. Since there was no one in the guys' cabin yet I figured I'd take the opportunity to try and get some sleep. There was just one other guy in there trying to get the portable heaters going, running extension cords and testing them out to make sure they worked. I wound up moving into a bigger room that Galdo and one other guy shared, since the heater in my bunk room wasn't working. But when the power went out a few hours later and it didn't seem like it would get any warmer, I moved back to where I originally was. Eventually my old friend Brady came in and just easily turned on the heater in there (Electronics isn't my specialty so I'm not sure where the power for which heaters came from. Somehow it worked).


So I had that room to myself again, still cold, still not hearing any snoring... and I woke up around 7:50. Not sure how many hours of sleep I got. Maybe three or four. Still it was in some ways better than the last couple times.

Thinking "Might as well," I got up, made sure my stuff was all packed and my sleeping bag rolled up. I went to the dining hall for breakfast, especially since it was warmer in there anyway. My breakfast was a bowl of fruit loops and a cup of apple juice. And just as I suspected, there weren't a lot of us left. Somewhere between one and two dozen, I think.
Me and two other guys lit the fireplace with thick logs, something I hadn't seen the last two retreats. It was nice to see that thing light up and really feel the warmth of it (not much different than last night's bonfire).
I think the main reason we're whittled down to a smaller amount of people on Sunday is 'cause a lot of them have their own church services that they like to go to. So we just had a couple of people for our worship team today, and it was a bit quieter. Still it was good, and I really liked it.

"Know Your Story" was the focus of this morning's lesson. Now this was a really deep one for me, and probably the most useful.
First, Brian asked volunteers to come up and share the gospel like before. A few more people did than before. And since I figured everyone's was different and it didn't all come down to one or two speakers this time, I decided to take a turn at it. The trick for me was to say it like I would to a young kid, most likely someone who didn't know anything about God (like me when I was seven);

"Look at the sky, the fields, the trees, where do you think all that comes from?" Using analogies like God painting on a canvas made it easier to communicate too. For the New Testament I said, "Next time you feel alone, wonder if anybody cares about you... think about God." "He cares about us, you, me, all of us, so much that He sent His only Son to live with us, to teach us, and die for our sins so we could reconnect and have that relationship with Him. If that doesn't say love,w hat does?" "Some food for thought there."

(a few of my notes during the lesson)
- Why is this [Christianity] important to YOU? What does it do FOR YOU?
- Your story will connect with other peoples' stories (they will find Jesus meaningful for the same reasons you do

After the lecture part of it, the majority of the lesson was having us think and write down our own stories. Not to hand in or anything, just to get the gears in our heads turning. So we got into little groups for this. I sat with Galdo by the fireplace and we talked back and forth about little details in our stories while writing them down; about how I wasn't interested in church growing up, how I came across the Thrive group at school and was kindly invited, how I enjoyed the meetings and it all helped me grow in faith... it was nice to talk about with a friend, especially since this was really a "Nothing Else Matters" kind of weekend.


About quarter after noon, the retreat was pretty much over.
While those select few remaining cleaned up the dining hall, stacking chairs, folding tables etc., I picked up my stuff and went out to the car where mom and dad were waiting for me... with Dunkin Donuts coffee! YES! After spending both nights freezing, I earned that hot cup of dark coffee! Ya hear me? I EARNED it! (of course, it's always been worth it).

My Third Fall Retreat (PART 2)

Saturday, October 17th
By now it was about midnight. I was originally interested in tagging along with some of them (roughly half of them I think) to play their version of Capture the Flag, so I joined their meeting in the big church pavilion. But after going over the rules and such, how far out into the fields it would be, and remembering how late it was, I figured it best for me to get some sleep. Speaking from experience here; if I didn't find a good 'early' opportunity and take it, my chances of getting enough sleep (if any) were low.
So I slipped away quietly from the pavilion and went into the guys' cabin. It was empty except this Korean guy Chris who was here for his first time. We basically hung out in that small bunk room and talked for a while, him sitting on one of the bunks and me (more or less) pacing the floor. We exchanged some background stories, I told him a few things about how last years' retreats went, how we were taught the lessons we learned, I told him some things that came into my mind whenever I thought about sharing the gospel with someone too...
I laughed, surprised how much I wound up saying. I didn't see it coming mere minute before, but I wound up sharing flat-out the gospel in my own words, to this one guy the same way I'd say anything else. Without other people looking up at me it was much easier to do, but I think that's the key; to just relax and do it like you're talking to any other friend.

The first night was tricky, since it was colder than I expected it to be. I was layered in pajamas and my fleece sleeping bag. Plus the door was latched, but that didn't do much to keep warm air in. One of my friends came in to unlatch the door since other guys had knocked on it several times, and lent me an extra pillow and comforter (guess I didn't look very warm to him either). That helped a lot. I was still pretty chilly, but I did manage to get some sleep out of it. It felt like very off-and-on dozing, so to this day I still don't know how much sleep I actually got. Doesn't matter though.
I was surprised that I didn't hear a single snore. It seemed like there was barely anyone in the cabin. I was happy and relieved about that, but still it had me curious...


The day itself was really good, and always my favorite day of these retreats since the most stuff happened on the Saturdays. I mean, it's a whole day (as opposed to our Friday night and Sunday morning). So obviously there's going to be some agenda.
Breakfast was around eight. I had a bowl of honey nut cheerios and made a cup of coffee (with honey stirred into it) to warm myself up again.

After breakfast we went out to the church pavilion for a game of Dragon Tail, which I enjoyed very much since it was funny, and then after that some of us did some version of Musical Chairs (involving towels; every time someone wen out they'd have to fold it some of the way). Not all of us did that one either but it was fun to watch.

Our lesson this morning was about knowing your audience. Here's some of the stuff I wrote down for notes:
- God's goal isn't to make bad people good. It's to make dead people alive.
- When we share the gospel, we're (hopefully) moving someone forward; emotionally and intellectually. Emotionally engaged.
- We're not called to act lovingly. We're called to love (there is a difference)

After the lesson came lunchtime (in my case, another cup of coffee). A close friend, Jenny, had texted me a while ago saying she was on her way. And now, right after I finished making the coffee, she had arrived. So I went outside and showed her where the girls' cabin was so she could get settled.
We had lunch, and I showed her around the park while a bunch of the others were (by my guess) off on some scavenger hunt, or playing bubble soccer, or throwing a football in the second field over. This time of day was the "free time" where the rest of us would just do whatever. I didn't care much for sports anyway, so I took that opportunity to spend some quality relaxing time with Jenny.

Following dinner, a few games in the pavilion a few hours later, and the band rehearsing inside, then came worship and our next lesson.
The main focus of this one was about worldview, meaning how others see the things that we share and talk to them about;
- How we say things can greatly influence what people hear (Is what they HEAR the same as what WE SAY?)
- Adapt/communicate it without changing the gospel itself

After the lesson we had a few minutes to prepare for whatever we were doing for the No Talent Talent Show (if we signed up).
First up went my buddy Ryan Galdo and his friend Calla (this was apparently her first time with Thrive too),  singing "Barton Hollow." THRIVE Fall Retreat 2015- Ryan and Calla "Barton Hollow"
There was a variety of other acts too like card tricks for example. This guy Jon gave a brief intro for each one, which made it pretty interesting. So before I went up to do my act, he said something about "...exotic parts of India..." Then it was my turn, performing a Baloo-Bagheera scene from The Jungle Book.
(I don't have the video of my act unfortunately, due to technical difficulties. But this is the scene I did, or at least most of it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqvT8QX-mjc )
Here's a fun fact for ya; I was worried that when I did the last few lines of the scene (starting where Baloo says "but I love that kid. I love him like he was my own cub") I was gonna just start crying right up there. Well, if I had then I could probably harness it to get that emotional core of the performance/character out. But the worry was that I might end up blubbering and not getting the words out right. I guess it's a good thing I didn't, but I did try a little to make it sound like I could tear up any minute.

Later on, the intro for Jenny said something like, "taking a little trip to Europe..." and "...on the Irish side." She did some of her Irish dancing, which was pretty cool to see. The girl can prance like a deer!
 My friend Toria with this girl Elissa did another VERY messy sketch where Elissa posed at Toria's arms. They did this the last couple retreats; "Making Pancakes" was last year's, and this year's "How to be Fabulous" was just as hilarious if not more. They had a lot of makeup/mess to clean up off themselves and the table when it was over, but everyone was just cracking up the whole time.

My Third Fall Retreat (PART 1)

For the last couple years with Thrive, the Christian fellowship club at school, I've gone to the last three annual Fall Retreats. The way it works is, we go to Highland Park on a certain Friday evening, and it lasts till Sunday at noon. Not everyone stays the whole weekend but a lot of us do. I just happen to be one of them. Nights are pretty tough sometimes, but it's always worth it in my opinion.

I've never done an entry on the retreats before (mainly 'cause there's so much stuff to talk about that it's hard to pin down), but I figure maybe it's time I did.


Friday, October 16th
I made sure I got to the park early, so I'd have plenty of time to run into the guys' cabin and put my stuff down in a small bunk room. I always thought 'The less roommates the better' because then I had less chance of being kept awake by guys' snoring. Still, either way I had little spongy earplugs and my iPod.
I signed in at a table that had been set up outside, at the big church-like pavilion, and saw that there were also big pretzels and hot chocolate mix being served there. Plus, more people were coming, one by one, in pairs, groups, and it just kept going for I-lost-track-of-how-long.

(I rarely checked the time on my phone at all over this weekend, for maybe-obvious reasons. It felt better to just live in the moment with these people)

A nice cup of hot cocoa felt really good, especially after having grown fond of it over watching Once Upon a Time every week (it's a reference to the show, my sister and I do it all the time). But of course it didn't fill my stomach all the way, and I'd been dumb enough not to eat before leaving home. So I went back into the cabin and filled a couple of Pita pockets, that I'd stuffed in my backpack, with peanut butter. After eating a couple of those, my stomachache felt much better.

After being outside and sitting around a small kindling fire, we all went inside the dining hall for a game (teams making the tallest structure we could out of newspapers, asking yes/no questions to figure out the names taped to our backs), and then worship.

I've always been impressed by the contemporary Christian music and our talented musicians who perform it. Mainly 'cause I can actually understand the words! Always handy when the song lyrics pop up our the overhead screen so we can all follow along.

Around 10:00 was our first lesson with our speaker, Brian Musser, about knowing the gospel. The interesting twist he put on it was that it wouldn't just be a sermon. He wanted it to be interactive and have us do something with it. First, he asked us to write down what we could think of "What is the gospel?" And a few times he would invite someone to come up and share the gospel in their own words!
I stayed in my seat for that, but it was interesting seeing someone my age do it.

Brian delved into important aspects like "repent, trust, confess, believe," "Eternity in heaven, restored to God" and others. He put emphasis on knowing your audience, and gave us some good verses that you can really delve into the story with (like Romans 10:9, John 3:16, Romans 3:23-24 and a few others).