Just a Couple of Friends...

This post is coming to you live from Jonesboro, AR on my cozy futon-insead-of-bed.

This is also proof that I shower, or at least it appears that way.

Six days ago was my birthday and tomorrow is Christmas, so Merry Christmas to all of my readers out there. I hope you are feeling the shopping rush, the traffic jams, and the stench of our stimulated economy. 

I have recently developed a love for over simplifying every situation of my life. For example: I am playing poker with five other friends, and I find it necessary to frequently define the action I am doing while doing it. Between hands I exclaim, "You know, we are just a couple of friends playing a game of poker. You know, not a big deal, just a couple of friends." I always crack myself up, and on average probably say that same, or similar, stream of words 50-60 times throughout the game. Primarily between each hand. This over simplification is not exclusive to poker. It can be used for anything. Say you are driving down the road, you could say: "I'm just a single person driving down this road. Not a big deal, just me and the road I am driving down." It can be quite enjoyable.

Just a couple of friends, playing poker, not a big deal.

Just a couple of girls, taking care of their skin. A common sight.

Literally several friends, at a cabin, just taking a picture.

Because I have wasted so much space with other things here is a simple recap of my Christmas break thus far:

It was my birthday and I danced into it, celebrated with a few friends the next day, went to a family Christmas thing, then headed out of town to my grandfathers cabin where we all had a glorious time because it is the most wonderful place on this Earth. Since the cabin I have simply played some poker with friends and blogged. As always, thank you for reading.

K. Jack

I Make It Rain

This blog is coming to you live from Chem is Try (Blog is Try)

here is the proof. I stay rolling out of that bed.

Why are we even in class today? We are reviewing for the final, but I mean....we studied 10 chapters, how good is a review going to be? I'm just being bitter because I'm so sleepy.

This past week has been relatively great. Lots of Chemistry. Last night my dorm had pizza/cookie party thing and I attended. It's always great to get free things. So I was just enjoying myself and then all these people were trying to get me to sing. I was all, "hey why can't you just let me enjoy this party," and they were all, "no we just want to hear the voice of an angel." So I mean they pulled the angel card and I had to entertain. I had several options. Do I sing a ballad, a foreign piece, something upbeat and fun? All of those things are great but when faced with adversity, I will ALWAYS free style rap. Thats what I did. I just brought myself back to my days on the street and rapped like my life depended on it. When I came back to reality all these ladies were around me, cheering, crying, touched and moved. I threw some tissues that I had conveniently placed in my pockets and made it rain with the sweet gift of absorbency. 

I have also spent a lot of time in the library with some really great people.

Look at them. I love them.
I feel like God brought them in my life to make sure they don't die in college or something because they are little baby broskis that need someone looking out for them. There are a few other little baby bros that I feel this way about as well.
K. Jack

Pre-Food?

This blog is coming to you live from Chem is Try, on a loaner laptop. Not my own!

I should just call this class Blog is Try. All I do is blog.

Today is the Monday post Thanksgiving break. I won't hold you in suspense any longer...my break was off the chain. It was so wonderful to see my friends and be reunited with some of the most wonderful people that God ever made. 

We didn't do much. The most "epic" thing done was participating in the materialistic American holiday that is BLACK FRIDAY.

A few of my friends and I arrived at Target in Jonesboro at 12:00 am and stayed until the doors of Target opened at 4:00 am. Other than my friend Chad, we had no plans to purchase anything. We don't have any money so that really hinders the process of participating in the point of the event. Nevertheless, this past black friday marks the second year of our growing tradition.

Here is a photo of the event. 

There were more than the four of us throughout the night and we thought Katie (the one in the blue) would stick it out with us, but being the flaky flake she is, she left at about 3:00 am. 

Let's think about black friday for a second. It is a day where Americans loose sleep in order to purchase things. My friend Chad made me think about something. What if you tried to explain the concept of black friday to a person in a third world country. "Oh yeah, it is a day where you get up early in order to get some really awesome sales, spend a couple hundred dollars, and stay up all night." What? First of all they probably would not know what a "sale" was. The concept of hundreds of dollars would most likely be quite foreign and staying up all night is not necessarily foreign, but it just kind of adds to the idiocy of it all. Further than that, what if you tried to explain the concept of an appetizer to a starving person in a third world country. "Um, an appetizer isn't the food, it's the food you eat before the food....It's not really a part of the meal...it's just before..." Talk about mind blowing. Our culture is ridiculous! We have so much!

I was also taken hostage, exhausted, lazy, and faced with a strange Ukrainian man all during the break. Only two weeks until Christmas break.

K. Jack

Miho.

This post is coming to you live from the Garvey center.

as always, here is the proof.

Although, I really could be anywhere. All you see is a blank wall behind me so I will just let you all wonder about that. Also, I no longer have only 12 apostles/followers. You readers really stepped up!

I am writing this blog today to tell you about my accompanist Miho.

She is asian, precious, and beyond talented. I don't know why but I am just enamored by her. She has to accompany me while I sing and she NEVER misses a beat. I miss ALL beats, yet she keeps up brilliantly not thinking twice about it. I know that is what she went to school for but, come on! She is brilliant. I hope she doesn't know I have a blog, or she will be really creeped out by this, but then again look at the blogs name. So last night I thought I would give facebook a try and see if she had a page, and guess what...She did!! Her photo is now the background of my phone. Just so you know who I speak of here is a picture.

That is her husband with her. 

Reading her page, I discovered just how amazing she is. She teaches piano privately, as does her husband, and she specializes in teaching music to developmentally challenged adults who enjoy music. She is fantastic. Her and her husband play the piano together and call themselves "DuoFisher." Check the link out if you want to see them do there thing. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSiKXsal_wY&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Well thats all I have for now. I love Miho.

K. Jack

Anti-Fluff

This blog is coming to you live from All About Cha.

It is a distinctly asian coffee place. I am enjoying a green tea latte here in this photo. In front of me currently is this guy and girl maybe on a date. I can't really tell. Maybe they are pretending to be friends and ignoring their true feelings for one another. I would take a picture for you, but I am so close and they would definitely notice. The girl is laughing incessantly about the guys broken pinky or something. SUPER funny. This is how funny i think it is

So this past weekend was homecoming here at OC. I was surprisingly uninvolved. I suppose it was due to working with the musical (which was fantastic). I had grand plans of spending the weekend getting started on my 10 page research paper due Thursday, but guess who didn't do a diggity dang thing...this girl. No I take that back, I did homework, just did not do everything I probably could have done. Friday after the show myself and a few others went downtown to the OKC bombing memorial, and let me tell you, I love the bombing memorial. Here are some photos:

They are cuter than life.

I thought this photo (taken by yours truly) was kind of neat. 

So Saturday was consumed by a chorale performance and then some sleep and a bit of homework followed by another Millie performance and then a cast party. Sunday I woke up, did not attend church and slept until about noon. At that time I had to get up shower and go strike the Millie set and then I had a chorale performance at Edmond Church of Christ. So needless to say I was up until the wee hours of the morn' attempting to get all of my stuff done.

How are these people in front of my still having this conversation? It is so fluffy and devoid of any content. They are just swapping stories of breaking bones and others they know who have broken them. I mean, come on! I have not heard anything indicative of their respective views on life or maybe some important pressing matters. No exchange of thoughts or ideas, just mindless chatter. If I ever have a relationship it WILL NOT be fluffy. I will entertain my significant other with all kinds of thought provoking conversation. No, I will entertain everyone I speak to with intelligent conversation.

I'm also here downloading music because OC blocks it. Downloading now is

Jonsi

Dirty Projectors

The National

Bass Hunter

and some other stuff.

Keep it real my twelve followers (kind of like my 12 apostles)

K.Jack 

Black, Boredom, and Backstage.

This blog is coming live to you from none other than Chem is try!

here is the proof.

Neither Hannah Faye or Thomas Smith are here today in class, therefore I am virtually alone. You may ask, "Katelyn, are there no other students in your class?" Well clearly, as any random Joe could observe from my photo there are other people clearly displayed behind me, but the two absent today sit with me and entertain me/ give me something to entertain. I made a video of my self last night and wanted to show Hannah, but alas she is not here.

I am singing today in master class (a class that I have to take for my vocal scholarship in which I have to sing ever so often by myself in front of some peers) I will be performing Gia il Sole dal Gange. It is Italian if you didn't pick up on that accent. I wrote all that to transition into me telling you I had to dress up for the performance. I guess I got dressed in the dark, because this morning before class I went to the bathroom and when I looked in the mirror I noticed that I did not have the slip I usually wear with this on and now the world will be seeing my black underwear. Great. I will be on stage in front of about 15 college students, 2 accompanists, and 1 voice teacher. So, I hope they like black.

I'm writing a research paper on the affects of the Quran on pagan Arabia. It's going terribly. I turned in my thesis and outline for my paper this past Friday and it didn't go over so well with my professor. Just pray I can whip out a decent paper. I have had several all-nighters trying to make some progress, but usually I just end the night looking like this:

I am working on costuming for OC's production of Thoroughly Modern Millie. Let me tell you, the cast is looking good. If you see the show and think, "Wow, how attractive is that cast," be sure to remember I took great care in dressing each and every one of them.

 Actually my purpose in the show is relatively superfluous, but I do have a few small tasks throughout the course of the show. In the meantime I sit in the wings of the stage contemplating whether or not I should put my hands in the air and shriek across the stage at a random point in the show. I haven't done it yet.

Thanks for reading.
K. Jack

Fall Break Run-Down

This blog is coming to you live from none other than the Beam Library.

Just to provide the proof I know my readers want, I include the picture. You may notice that it is quite similar to a previous post's location, and you would be noticing correctly because it is the exact same place. Call me a creature of habit.
Fall break was this past weekend here at OC. It was fantastic! I did post a blog during the break, but it was small and I feel as though so much has happened since my latest post.
I will give you a run down of my days.
Wednesday:
I went to class, took one of the hardest tests I will ever take in my Western Thought and Expression class then booked it to Fayetteville where I spent the night.

This is the people I spent some time with. They are great. Courtney and Shane are the ones in a staring contest. Courtney probably won.

Thursday:
I left Fay-Town and headed back to the motherland. I arrived by about 7:00 pm and enjoyed an evening of friends and Grey's Anatomy. Upon arriving in Jonesboro, I rolled my windows down and yelled, "this is my town!!!" at the top of my lungs to inform any suspicious residents of  whose ownership the town is actually under.

Friday:
I woke up late, brought my brother lunch and hung out with some really great friends at Arkansas State University where I ate in their cafeteria and mooched off of their resources (See previous post). I then caught up with some old friends and had dinner with my pops and his lady. After dinner I attended my high schools football game to watch the 7th loose of the season. My good friend Shane and I had quite the date that night, and by that I mean he went with me to the game and then we got some food.

This is not Shane and I on our date, but in Courtney Hill's dorm room. I included this to get a mental image of us together. Cutest Couple 2010.
Saturday:
Had a pancake breakfast with family and then had lunch with my mother. A lot of food was consumed on this day. I then attempted to study for my research paper, but did not prove to be very productive. Later that evening I went to "Pumpkin Hollow" in Piggot, Arkansas with some really great friends. The town is a lot like the name sounds. I think the armpit of our society comes out to get their Halloween fright. I spent $25.00 to be "scared." The lines were long and although we arrived about 9:30pm we didn't leave until about 1:00am. On my way back to Jonesboro I was pulled over by a state trooper. It turns out I was crossing the center line and weaving back and forth. The cop asked me if I had been drinking, and I had not been, but I told him that we had just been to a haunted house therefore we could have been a bit intoxicated with fear. He made me get out of my car and take a sobriety test. I had some trouble standing still and following his finger with my eyes, but after being allowed to take the breathalyzer test my sobriety was proven. My proof of insurance was expired though, so he got me on that.

Sunday:
I attended city church, ate lunch with my dad, got coffee with friends, shopped, and saw a movie.

Monday:
I left early that morning instead of Sunday afternoon so I could stay an extra night. I departed about 5:45 am in order to make it back for my classes. I had only planned on missing Chemistry, but about three hours from school my tire blew out. I pulled over on I-40 and then began to try and put on my spare. I fully intended to do this quickly and then drive the rest of the way on my little donut tire, but then I read the label that said not to exceed 50mph on the tire. I then decided getting back for class did not look in my favor, so I looked up a tire repair place close by and there was one just up the road. I then got to work attempting to put the spare on, and I got pretty close to getting it off, but could not get some of the bolts to budge. So there I was, trying my best on the side of the interstate to change my tire, as giant trucks were sucking me into their force field as they drove by and so I just started crying and exploring other options. The next thing I know, an older man pulled over to help and got the bolts off my tire with ease. He was so great. I was then able to drive my car to the tire place I found on my phone.

(said tire place)

(the wonderful man who works at the sketchy tire place)
 It was a bit sketch, complete with old tires, tattooed men, and full grown pit bulls, but the guy who changed my tire didn't charge me to put it on and completed the job in a matter of minutes.
I wrote all of that to say how great God is. Although my blog has been primarily nonsense thus far, I do want to stop and admire the glorious power of the Lord. I wanted to leave Sunday, but for some reason I felt I needed to wait. What if I had left Sunday? I would have had a flat tire in the middle of the night, and no place would have been open to help me. Also my mom had just given me some cash, and without that money I would not have been able to purchase the tire. The man who stopped to help me with the changing of my tire was wonderful, and the guy at the tire place did everything he could to make sure I would be ok. I was so overwhelmed after the incident I just cried most of the way back to school. God had control of the situation the entire time.
Anyhow, just wanted to let the world (and by world I mean my small group of readers) about my eventful fall break.
Deuces are wild! (a phrase coined by Brittany Roe)
K. Jack