The New Room

Well I worked all day to do it, but I got the room rearranged and everything organized! It's good to work and not sit on my butt all day after all! I hope Kelley likes the way I put the room. The setup from last year was probably the best I could do for things like seeing the TV and stereo everywhere and keeping the bed as far from the staircase as possible (did I mention I have NO DOOR...yeah Tom and Berens have walked in on us at a moment). Now the bed is on the other side of the room, but I built up a bookcase and solid stack of boxes to hide the bed from view until you reach the bottom of the steps, which is technicallly like before except now you see the whole bed. It only matters for that, so I think I can convince Tom and Heather to stay upstairs...maybe I need a signal or something. Anyways, I moved my desk and a bookshelf in the back corner of my room where the bed used to be, so I have a nice seperate study area. No TV will keep me from my studies this year! After my desk area there is a small cheap bookcase with my collection of Hard Rock Cafe bears on it (finally organized and in one place together!)...I have 17 HRC bears in all, from all kinds of places. Then the TV and entertainment center, then the bookshelf and pile of plastic storage boxes seperating the stairway from the room. On the storage side of the room I just cleaned it up a little, getting all of Kelley's stuff back together so she can have it at school when she moves in September. Storage boxes, sports equipment, laundry supplies, suitcases, etc can be found along this wall. To continue the virtual tour, along the other long wall opposite the stairs we have the two alcohol bookcases (where Kel and I keep the bar), then then futon, then some storage boxes acting as bedstand/sidetable, my bed, my two chest of drawers, and then my stand-alone closet is in the corner by the big door out to the backyard. Well that completes our tour!It is nicer because all my clothes are in one place finally, my desk is seperate from the rest of the room, and the living room area (futon and entertainment center) is bigger. I think that's worth giving up the extra second of privacy on the bed location and giving up TV at my desk. Well anyways...Went to Chi Alpha tonight. They have a nice summer setup at JoePo's place. Pastor Jeff revealed the plan for XA's outreach this year (which I was privy to a week ago in our meeting) which is completely different but looks more effective. Instead of doing big group outreaches on the middle of campus, he is changing the small group bible studies to be the main outlet for outreach. Essentially he is doubling the number of small groups to 12-16 (half of them guys groups, half of them girls groups). Then each guys group is paired with a girls group and they choose a freshman dorm to target with outreach all year. All we will do is focus on outreach instead of heavy duty study, which means participation in the small groups will not be as time consuming as last year (thank God!). The other big change is while there will be a small group leader who is responsible for the group, the leadership duties will be shared among the 3 guys or girls who make up the initial small group. So they start with 3 solid Chi Alpha people, join 3 more of the opposite gender, and let there be outreach. Sounds great, but we'll see how it goes. I'm very happy I do not have to lead a group on my own because I told Jeff I would not. He expected this due to my starting grad school and not having as much time (one of the many reasons the small groups have changed like this).My only problem? They have already sketched out groups they think will work together because of diverse personalities or whatnot...and I am currently tabbed to be in a group with two guys named Drew and David. Now this could be worse as there are a few people in XA I just wouldn't work with, but this is not exactly the best 3-some I could dream up. I'm good friends with Drew because he is a fellow engineering student and he will be starting grad school in January, but this guy has the social sense of a rock most of the time. David makes up for this by being the outgoing person in our threesome, but he doesn't buy into the baptized in the spirit business. So we have a social rock, an outgoing person who doesn't seem to care for what XA stands for, and me (who buys into things like spirit baptism but I don't practice it because I really don't care and think my giftings are elsewhere). So who's the leader assuming I don't take it and who's the teacher when we do lead bible studies? LOTS of questions, but of course if we focus mostly on outreach then not much of this matter as I am sure David, Drew, and I can do it. Besides, that's where I want to work in the church...outreach. So an exciting new direction, but I'm keeping wary of the situation I put myself in discussed earlier (not being true to myself, but it's all good with Jeff now). It was nice to worship with them again...as much as we could butt heads, they are my church for now at OSU. Goal 1 for this year: stay away from Jesus-freaks like Ken who don't understand real life and cannot handle the fact that I like drinking from time to time and I am in a sexual relationship. I mean Jeff was Ok with it and Pastor Steve was REALLY ok with it (explaining that 100% of his pre-marital counseling couples he has ever had have not been abstinent before marriage...and he thinks it is ok in a committed relationship like an engaged couple). I love my pastors...at least they understand. Enough serious talk for the evening though.Got my Seafarers of Catan and 5-6 player expansions for Settlers and Seafarers in the mail today, call it a birthday present for my sanity. soemtimes I am going to have to take a break from school and socialize, so hopefully I can get some Seafarers in from time to time. Going book shopping tomorrow, looking to drop over 500 on all my books for the semester and some outlines/guides to help me understand the material better. Then tomorrow night I have a choice between FNM and beer. Hooray beer!