A Reflection On Summer

I never knew what made Summer such a big deal. This year, I actually got a break from school. I'm not sure I entirely approve.

I spent the majority of my summer lazing about, watching TV and playing video games. A combination of a lack of transportation and general apathy tethered me to my home most days. That being said, I enjoyed most of these days. However, I feel like I had opportunities that I overlooked. In stark contrast to the busyness of my school year, I had so much free time I didn't appreciate it.

That being said, here are my top seven reflections from the summer in chronological order.

1. NEXT 2010

In early June, before I ever set foot in my home state of Virginia after finishing up May Term at college, I attended the NEXT conference in Baltimore, MD. The conference is aimed at young adults (college and up, though I went as a high school senior last year), and digs deep into doctrine. The speakers included Josh Harris, C.J. Mahaney, Kevin DeYoung, D.A. Carson, Mark Dever and Jeff Purswell. It's not often a speaker simultaneously reinforces my view of God while also pushing me to do greater things for Him, but that was certainly the case here. Josh's sincerity, C.J.'s heart for God's Word, Kevin's ability to leave those two or three big, amazingly applicable thoughts... Incredible. Go next year if you can make it; it'll be in Florida, so you can stop by the new Harry Potter park too.

2. Toy Story 3

I know, I know, this is kind of a lame highlight, but I saw it at midnight, and it was really good. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Along the same lines, the only other movie I saw was Inception, which was also good, but requires much more brain thinkings. Toy Story 3 is just all around quality that you can enjoy even if you're dead tired.

3. Hanging out with friends

Since this happened throughout the summer, I decided to split the difference and stick this one in the middle. Hanging out with friends is generally a good thing, but I love hanging out with my friends. Why? Because they, like me, think sitting around and playing video games is a great way to spend an afternoon/evening. Also, I used this time to introduce one of my friends to Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which is always a happy day.

4. Starting a blog

That's right, this lil' ol' blog is on my highlights of the summer. I've gone from consumer to producer in the blogosphere! I've enjoyed blogging so far, and look forward to many more tri-weekly posts.

5. Discovering Molly Lewis

I love discovering new music, especially since I don't do it very often. So when I finally listened to Paul and Storm's advice and looked up Molly Lewis on the YouTubes, I was immediately enthralled. Not much more to say about this; just wanted to let you know I like discovering new music. Especially talented ukulele players who do Dylan covers and writes songs about if Wikipedia were a person.

6. Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds

First, you must understand that I love Final Fantasy. Second, you must understand I love the National Symphony Orchestra. Third, you must realize I love Wolf Trap. Mix these things together and you get a fantastic evening of goosebump-inducing performances of some of my favorite music of all time. (They didn't play it, but my favorite song from the series is probably "Words Drowned By Fireworks" from VII, with the main theme from said game being a close second. Terra's Theme is good too. Aerith's Theme just gets me all choked up) While the fact that they included music from XI was... Disappointing, all in all, it was definitely a highlight of the summer.

7. Ten Days in the Dominican Republic

As fun and magical and exciting Final Fantasy was, the Dominican Republic trip was overwhelmingly the overall highlight from my summer. I have more substantial posts in the works (Yes, posts), but I'll briefly summarize by saying that the trip did not dramatically shift my worldview, but certainly broadened it. I thought that I would be the glamorous American, coming in to show the Dominicans how to get things done, and the organization we went with was already doing that. They were teaching the kids. They were helping the communities. All I did was help it along a tiny, tiny bit. That being said, God used me, and I genuinely cherish the experience. I recommend a similar trip to anyone interested.

Honorable mention
- Finishing the Rock Band 2 Endless Setlist on Expert Guitar

Lowlights
- Being sick with a constantly running nose for about a month
- The lack of reliable internet for the first month or so of the summer
- Not finishing Final Fantasy XIII

So, that's my summer. And what did YOU do on your summer vacation?

Three Random Thoughts:

1. I totally forgot these three random thoughts in my first posting of this. If you saw it without this, you're an early bird!
2. This is my 20th post! Hooray!
3. I'm leaving to head back to college on Thursday. I won't be back until Christmas break. I'll see some of you faithful readers there!