9 days!

Has it really been 9 days since I last posted? Boy, I really should get on the blog train. I’m sure many of you have been waiting with baited breath to find out what’s happening in my life, so here goes. We have 9 days to make up (OK, probably more, but who’s counting?).

Well, first off it’s been a pretty crazy week. I’ve gotten myself way over committed and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. I’ve been better since this past weekend, but the weekend was crazy busy, and I just about collapsed when it was over. Some of that was fun stuff, but trying to make time for my friends along with everything else can be tiring. Granted I probably made some bad choices in terms of time management, but it was for a good cause in my mind.

So the weekend is probably a good place to start. First off, Friday morning I led my first Men’s Breakfast with Eric and George. We’re going over the book “The Pursuit of God” by A.W. Tozer (Aidan Wilson Tozer for short), so I had to lead the discussion and come up with questions, etc. I think it went pretty well. I was able to keep stuff on track and I think I asked questions that brought out more discussion than just yes or no answers.

That night I was able to hang out with Simon, Becca, and Jackie (yes I skipped The Journey), but I hadn’t seen all of them in a long time, what with different schedules and such. We went to Buca Di Beppo’s for dinner and hung out in the ultra loud kid party room (Some girl was having a birthday party in the same section). After that we went back to Becca and Simon’s and played hand and foot for awhile. We played two games. Jackie and I got destroyed in the first, but came back and one the second. If we could have stayed up until 5am I think we would have done a tie breaker, but leaving at 1:15am put me home by 2am, and in bed by 2:15am. That wouldn’t normally be all that bad, except for the fact that I had a quiz the next day. Don’t you remember when 4 hours of sleep used to be plenty? Man I miss those days.

So I was woken up by Sara at 6:15am when she called me, spouting off something about 6am being the Devil’s hour. I had to ask her what she said at the quiz because I was so out of it. So I went back to bed, slept for another 15 minutes and got up at 6:30am. After getting ready I left at 7:30am, and arrived a little after 8:30am at the Chicago First Church of the Nazarene. Quizzing was a lot of fun. It was my second time as a quiz master, but this time I got to use a computer, instead of a blue box. I’ve decided I like the computers better because they give you the names and you don’t have to worry about holding down the button all the time. I think the day went fairly well. I only screwed up a couple of times, and it was fun to hang out with the kids. We didn’t get to do the Pro Series quiz (Adults get to quiz), so that was a little bit of a bummer. Though I only knew 6 of the 9 memory verses, so it’s probably good that it got pushed back until next quiz. Then I can be totally ready. Pastor Deb here I come!

Here’s some pictures from the day, with the whole gallery available here.

After quizzing, I headed up to Allstate Arena to watch the Chicago Wolves play some hockey. It was my friend Corinn’es Birthday this past Monday, so we celebrated on Saturday. They went apple picking during the day, so I couldn’t make it for that, but I did meet them up for the game. That was a lot of fun, as I got to hang out with Corinne and Mads, and some of Corinne’s family and friends. I had forgotten how long a Hockey game is. I figured we’d be out of there by 9pm since the game started at 7pm. 3 20 minute periods right? You figure you throw in 5 to 10 minutes per period for penalties and the occasional fight. Oh wait, I forgot about the 2 twenty minute intermissions. :) It was a lot of fun, but by the 3rd period all I could thnk about was going home to sleep.

Here’s some photos from the game. The full gallery is here.

So after I got home I still couldn’t go to bed, because I had to finish preparing for small group on Sunday, because I was leading there as well. I need to do three lessons, of which I had only done one. I got through one before I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I think I fell asleep at about 1am. Luckily I had set my alarm, just in case I accidentally fell asleep, so I was up again at 6:30am so I could finish the last lesson.

The it was off to Church, where I had to setup, run sound, and tear down. I had help on all of those steps, but suffice it to say I didn’t really feel like I was part of the Church service. Hopefully things will become a little more stable and I’ll be able to sit up in the regular seating one of these days.

After Church I headed for Jackie’s and we had small group. That went well, and I think I was able to come up with some good questions to ask people. I really love that group, because it really is all about community, and living life together.

After group I headed home, took a quick 15 minute nap and then headed to Youth Group. That consisted of me hanging out with a few of the leaders and us praying for kids that will hopefully eventually join our youth group. We have 1 kid in the right age range that actually attends our church, and he doesn’t come on Sunday nights, so it’s been a little depressing not having any kids come. We’re desperately trying to reach out into the neighborhood, but it’s been pretty slow going. Though I actually am pondering dropping doing youth group stuff for now since I have so much other stuff going on. If we had kids it would be a different story, but we don’t so it makes it easier to walk away from, at least for now.

So after that I went home and really just wanted to goto bed, but by the time I got home and realized I really had no responsibilities left I got a little less tired. I actually watched Without a Trace with my mom and caught up on last week’s episode of Smallville. Then after that I crashed. I was able to get a well deserved 8 hours of sleep, and by Monday morning I felt pretty good.

So that was my weekend. Hopefully yours was just as exciting. :) OK, So we really only got through 3 days, but the rest of them were kind of boring anyways. I swear. :) Actually this is already way to long to even be considered for a blog post, so I better stop it here before my database runs out of space.

Mr. Quizmaster

So today was the first quiz of the 2006-2007 season. I’m a lot more involved this year, what with working on the website (shameless plug for ccdquiz.org), as well as being at all of the events and helping out in any way I can. In the past I’ve kept score and content judged, but today was my first official time quizmastering.

It was a little nerve racking at first, but after a few rounds I started to get into it and I was much more relaxed. Part of the nervousness came from using a blue box instead of a computer, but it’s actually a lot simpler once you get the hang of it (It’s basically a big electronic box with lights to notify you when a particular position jumps). It’s also a little nerve racking because you have to make rulings on questions and answers, and they kids don’t always say exactly what’s on the paper. After awhile it was easy for me, but the first few rounds I had to keep asking my content judge what he thought. All in all it was a good experience. I’m looking forward to doing it again at the next quiz which is in October.

It’s been fun so far this year (OK, there’s only been two events) getting to know the kids on the district and actually interacting with them. Some of them are pretty cool. It’s nice to be able to be an encouragement when they’re trying to learn God’s word. I’m totally stoked by that.

Today was also really cool because we had 19 teams! Sara was telling me the highest count we had at a district event last year was somewhere around 10. That’s a huge improvement! Scott and Sara are doing some great things, and I look forward to seeing where they take the ministry in the coming years.

Quizmania Pictures!

So Sara and I finally got the pictures from Quizmania up. You can check out the full gallery here.

Look! Scott’s flying!

Boy was it a long night!

Quizmania!

Well, I survived my first official quizmania. Boy was it a long night. I still don’t think I’ve recovered fully. For those of you who don’t know I volunteer in the quizzing program of the Chicago Central District Church of the Nazarene. I have a couple of good friends who direct the ministry, so it’s fun to be involved as well as help them out. In previous years I’ve been a content judge or score keeper, but this year I’m going to be a quizmaster (I’m not sure I had much choice in that. :)). We’re going over the book of Acts so it should be a good time for all.

Anyways, quizmania was pretty cool. It was an overnight lockin that went from Friday night to Saturday morning, roughly 6 pm to 6 am. By about 2 am I was ready for bed. I’m not as young as I used to be! The night was filled with learning how to quiz, studying, some fun and games at Hidden Cove, and then 5 rounds of quizzing. I mostly just chaperoned for the night since Scott and Sara wanted to get the parents involved. I was also a psuedo coach for one of the advanced teams (”Come on guys, if you get the next 4 jumps you can tie!”).

After a very long night I drove the hour and a half to my house. And yes I did make it back safely. Now if I can just finish memorizing Romans. :) I promise to link some pictures as soon as I put them up on the quizzing site.