R&R

To save Goldstein from himself, I've decided to post about my weekend here in Maastricht.  He's written the last few, so it must be my turn.  


Thursday, I went to bed earlier than I have since middle school.  And I will not apologize.


Friday, my buddy Layne and I went on a bike ride around Maastricht.  I couldn't help but recall the words of those before me (Daniel Goldstein, Tori Liggett, Jena Willard...) who shared their wisdom with me before I left.  They said that one of their favorite weekends from the trip was the weekend they stuck around and explored Maastricht.  They were right.  Friday consisted of a late morning man-date with Layne, as I let him test drive some of his planned dates for his girlfriend who's coming next week.  He bought my meal and everything, it was super romantic.  We proceeded to get lost on a long bike ride in and around Maastricht, culminating in an uphill battle with the road for a mile or two.  To conclude the bike ride story, I'm in the worst physical shape of my life.  Hence the sweating, panting, and cursing.  Friday ended with the ordering of pizza and viewing of several episodes of Star Wars.  Yes, I am a nerd.  But Goldstein can do the R2D2 scream with the best of them, so he's got it much worse than me.


Saturday...I don't even remember Saturday.  The highlight of Saturday was a two-hour-long Skype date with Laura.  No complaints there.


Sunday was my jam.  Without a doubt, I woke up in the best way imaginable.  Goldstein, in his infinite wisdom, purchased an ESPN college pass when we got here.  With this golden ticket, we've been able to watch the Baylor men's basketball team in all of their highs and lows.  On this particular morning, I knew I would be waking up to a recording of the Baylor v. ATM game in Waco.  The next two hours were filled with silent fist pumps, overused Baylor related catchphrases said under my breath, and attempts at the frat snap.  I was forced to use these celebratory methods, as opposed to my usual shouting, because the Asian girls in our hall party hard into the night and sleep into the afternoon.  And because I was by myself and feel pathetic shouting at a computer screen by myself.  


I had an epiphany that morning.  It doesn't matter if I'm watching Baylor basketball by myself or with a group of friends.  Under either scenario, the presence of those collegiate companions closest to my heart fills whatever room I'm in.  These are the men I will tell my children about someday, these roommates who I've spent hours upon hours with, watching basketball.  I will speak of Kyle Crawford, Kevin Smith, Ty Morrill, Harrison DeHay, Nolan Grose, and many others as legends when I look back on my collegiate career.  


Last night, Goldstein and I pillow talked the night away, reminiscing over the past three years. We found that even during those late nights where we questioned whether we were wasting our time in college, playing Call of Duty, watching NCAA basketball, sitting on the porch and laughing at people coming back from Scruffs...we were creating community and living out fellowship at all times.  God has made known His love for me through the relationships with these men that surround me in Waco.  I pray that they fully know their role in the divine journey that is my life in Christ.  


That's enough sentiment for now.  Stay tuned for a collaborative blog post.  Topic: Reformed theology v. the rest of the world.  We'll have interviews with Rob Bell, Layne Hancock, a tweet from John Piper, and much more.  Seriously though, I hope Goldstein decides to incorporate the theological debate into his post about his trip to Copenhagen.  Take the hint, Stein.  I pass the flame on to you.

Sir, may I blog some more?

Well, I have been critiqued one too many times about how I need to blog more, here I go. I need to finish up about a couple shenanigans from London starting with my very favorite day I was there. Ironically this day was also 100% American and featured very little London culture, oh well. It started Tuesday night when Jpatt asked me on a man-date. He told me he found a special place on his iPhone that he wanted to take me and I couldn't know what it is. The video below shows exactly what the secret was, and even though it took us about 2 hours to find, it was definitely worth it.



We will now move to our Kevin Beach moment of the day brought to you by yours truly, Kevin Beach:

Hey guys, its Beach! So I am giving Michael Goldstein a celebrity shot on this one and passing my Beach moment of the day to him. Last night we were at a local bar called Highlander and a group of us met some girls who were from the UK. These girls were nice and were currently taking your standard, hold the phone out and try and capture a prof pic of ourselves picture. Michael walked up to me to ask me something and eventually offered his photography services to the girls. Extending his hand he took the girls camera phone with one hand while holding his beer with his other. As he fumbled the phone around to try and figure out which button to press he drops the phone into his beer. This awkward encounter worsens when Mike tried to get the phone out and then in doing so dropped the phone in the beer a second time. Michael hands the phone back to the girl as i lean in to tell him that the phone is complete toast. Having learned this obvious bit of info Michael begins to walk away, and then, leave the bar all together leaving me alone to deal with the soggy phone situation. I offer to pay her for my friends stupidity but she respectfully declines and then drops her phone at that very same moment and its battery and other pieces fall off all over the bar/dancefloor area. This is when I decided to remove myself from her area and vow to act like nothing ever happened.

Ok, I'm back. I want to extend a thank-you to Kevin Beach's wonderful authorship and detailed account of my awful mishap. Let it be known that I was going over to him to try to increase his favor with the girls, and in doing so could not have done more of the opposite. Oh well...wingmanin' aint easy.

Today featured a visit to a neighboring town, Valkenburg. It is a picturesque town with cobblestone streets and wooden shoes at every store. We visited a humbling World War II cemetery and did a bit of spelunking in a recreated Roman catacomb of buried martyrs. Valkenburg is also the host of a much anticipated RedBull sponsored event called "Crashed Ice" which will visit next Saturday. Crashed Ice is an international sport that is best described as a mix of hockey, downhill skating and boardercross. Skaters speed down a icy course at over 100 mph! This year Valkenburg expects 100,000 visitors, and we will be sure to take in the experience. For more information and a ton of laughs, possibly some envy, see the link of the video of last years World Championship of Crashed Ice.



Sorry I haven't posted a lot of pictures, more coming soon.