Road Ratings

So we were able to make the 23 hour drive from Austin to Ann Arbor safely a couple days ago. As we were traveling, there were some stark differences in the road quality and setup of each state.

• Roads in Ohio and Michigan are truly the worst. In Ohio alone we probably wasted an extra 45 minutes crawling through construction zones and watching out for cops (I counted ~9 cop cars). I-94 is also a pile of a road.
• Memphis was surprisingly scenic.
• Semis who like driving on the fast lane and then don't pass slower cars SHOULD GET OFF THE ROAD.
• Kentucky has a lot of deer that chill near the side of the road. By near, I mean 5 feet away from the concrete. Scary at night.
• Arkansas is a fast drive.
• Tennessee and Memphis are cool because they have three lane highways. Sooo smoooth too!
  

Lookin' Good

These are some movies and tv shows that I'm really looking forward to.

The Pacific
Sundays @ 9pm

Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks' mini-series focusing on WWII's neglected Pacific campaign. On par with Band of Brothers, the series will focus on the lives of three marines as they enlist, fight, and try to cope with their experiences post-war. Judging from reviews online, critics are raving about the emotional pull and rawness of the series. Just a warning, there is a lot more gore in this series (along the lines of the severed limbs in the Saving Private Ryan opening scene). But if you're looking for a real glimpse of the harsh realities of war and the toll it takes on the participants, look no further.

Kick Ass
Out in theatres!

Synopsis taken from trailer.
Kick-Ass tells the story of average teenager Dave lizewski (Aaron Johnson), a comic-book fanboy who decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero. As any good superhero would, he chooses a new name, Kick-Ass, assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. Theres only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers.

Random Note: Dave Shin was walking on the streets in Austin when he walked by a row of black Escalades. It wasn't until he looked at the huge crowd snapping pictures did he realize that they were doing a premiere in our very own Austin!

Defendor
Out on DVD

Pretty similar to Kick Ass, it's the story of a guy (Woody Harrelson) who tries to make something of his life by becoming a superhero. He seeks revenge on "Captain Industry" who he believes killed his mother, and the movie follows his bumbling foray into the criminal underworld. From the previews, Defendor looks to be a dark comedy of a lovable loser who makes up for his lack of real skill with sheer determination and heart.

Healing

Another example of how sports can bring people together.

Favorite shots

Some of my favorite shots from the past couple weeks. Still learning the intricacies of the camera.

Focus. The guys of our church grabbed dinner together one Sunday evening and ended up playing "Things" for hours. Aaron is scary good at figuring out people's tendencies.








Waiting. We were waiting to surprise JVick on her b-day for ~45 min. I feel like this picture portrays the tension between trying to figure out when she was gonna arrive, and wondering how much longer we had to wait.








Convoy. At the Austin Skate Park. We were definitely the oldest people other than parents at this place. Loved trying to practice capturing motion blur here, but wish there weren't so many people (they kept getting in the way of a lot of good shots).






Hey You. Austin Skate Park. I told people to do cool poses or interesting motions as they came around my corner but most of them were too embarrassed. One of the few good ones. Tou Fue wants you.








Reflection. On the car ride back from the Skate Park. Sometimes when things in life are knocking you down, you just need to pause, look back at your life, and see just how beautiful things actually are.







Technicalities. At Mozart's. Dr. Matt's last night, we just talked and shared some desserts. He claimed to be able to draw a map of the world in 1 minute which we all demanded him to prove. Technically he failed because it actually took him 1 minute 15 seconds.






Shadows. At Mozart's. Right when I walked down the stairs, I knew I had to take a picture of this. There was a guy leaning against the tree and the play of the shadows was so amazing.













Practice Needed. At Mozart's. My attempt at capturing the shadows. I made them sit there for a couple minutes as I tried getting the shot. Unfortunately this was the best I could do.

Great Day!

Wow! Today was such a great day at work that I had to document it. The head teacher was gone again to sign paperwork for his new house so I was steeling myself for a rough day.

My coworker and I talked through strategy on how we wanted to split up the students and what we would do if different situations happened and then split up to take care of various responsibilities until the day started. When 1st period came around, it pretty much started as I expected. One of the kids came in with attitude not wanting to listen to us and had a good 10 minute battle before he gave in and was willing to stay in the room.

From there, the day was magical. Maybe it was a combination of it being "Fun Friday" (a day where the kids in our class are able to just chill and play games) and the kids realizing that I wasn't a pushover anymore, but the kids actually did what they were told.

I got to play ball w/ kids in one class, connect 4 in another, and Kemp and Killer in another, and helped students avoid emotional meltdowns in various other classes. Even the students who were under lockdown for the day were working hard or staying quiet whereas in previous days they were going crazy since they'd been in our room for the past 2 weeks.

It was such a welcome change of pace that all throughout I kept lifting up sincere praises to God for the great day so far. The day was so nice that I was even able to catch up and read a couple chapters of Luke!

Another great part of the day was that one student in particular who had started being incredibly abrasive to staff and unwilling to work in class actually listened to my advice on staying in class... and stayed out of trouble the entire day! For those of you who think this isn't that big a deal do not know this kid... he is the poster child of ADHD and near the end of the day he specifically came to tell me he got a "Recognized" score on his TAKS Science test. Man, I remember feeling so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of it too from the way he was beaming.

God, I wish I could just capture the day and bottle it up for the times when I want to quit.

Put it on the Radar

I'll be driving up from Austin to Ann Arbor on 3/15 until 3/20. As of now, we'll be driving all day Monday, arriving Tuesday and heading out to life group. Wednesday we'll be in Chicago all day and Thursday is pretty much free and leaving Friday night after ACCESS.

If you're free, lemme know, I wanna see you!

Songs for You, Truths for Me

I recently bought James Morrison's album Songs for You, Truths for Me. Even in his first album, there was a sense of power behind his smoky voice. Nowadays, it's so rare to have an artist evoke that sense of soul-wrenching honesty while maintaining his manhood but James Morrison does it well.

Even though many songs share of past mistakes, he is able to reveal little epiphanies about the lessons he learns from them. For those of you who are fans of introspective and evocative lyrics, I would recommend you check him out. Some of my favorites on the album are below.

Please Don't Stop the Rain



Once, When I was Little


You Make it Real for Me