sporadic ramblings

It is mid February. I must be honest in saying that I have not longed for summer this much before in my life. I am tired of the dark and cold days. I do not enjoy being confined to four walls for most parts of the day. I honestly crave the opportunity of enjoying a meal outside on a patio, I long for the long evenings where the sun doesn't seem to hurry to get to the other side of the world, I desire to go to places randomly and not having to worry about frost-bite.

I also think that is probably the saddest and dreariest way I have ever started a blog. After all things are actually quite well in my life right now. I am listening to Beethoven's Piano concerto No. 4 in G Major and while I don't really know what that all means, it is very soothing. February 2009 means also that I am rapidly approaching my graduating date. This semester has been filled with many responsibilities and opportunities, however, has been cast under a shadow of a significant lack of motivation to achieve the best I can. While being challenged in my classes and even more so in conversations with friends outside of class I am struggling to push myself to critically engage a lot of the big ideas floating around.

Currently I am interning at Cardus (A Public think tank with a comprehensive view of changing our world) for course credit, and it has to be the most interesting course I have partaken in. My official "title" is research intern, which means that I get to assist in the research projects Cardus has going on. For me the most exciting part has been to partake in the Stained Glass Urbanism research. It is hard to describe in few words what I get to do - most simply put, however, I get the chance to research what the role of the church as an institution is within the urban context. How does a church relate to its city, how does it cultivate and nurture a healthy relationship with urban life in the city not just its Sunday worshipers. That kind of stuff gets me going and accordingly I am enjoying this internship quite a bit.

Back to the summer, there are many things to look forward to. The most obvious is my mom's wedding and being able to see all my family and loved ones and having all of us together for the first time in a while. However, that alone doesn't make me excited about the summer. I greatly anticipate living with many of the same guys as last summer at the Catacombs, numerous other weddings, being done school, and going to Holland and Barcelona (Lord willing).