Play it again.

Today was the greatest day I've had in a long time.

Highlights:

Holiday Parade's new album in the speakers, windows down, rocking the shades, hand out the window on 400.

QT slushies.

Value Village.

New cassette tapes for the drive back to ATL. 

Sitting in camping chairs outside an open door watching The Sand Lot while grilling kabobs on a $15 grill at 9pm in the fabulous 76 degree weather.

Seriously, thank you God for life. 

Thank you for amazing people to do life with.

And thank you for "rich and sassy" BBQ sauce.

JK

The night before.

Not much to say.

So much in my heart.

I cannot fathom a god- my God choosing to be crucified for me.

That right there- not that I can't physically see or hear Him-

That is what makes the thing so tough to believe.

Christ willingly gave His life so that I could be forgiven for cursing His name.

Why does He love me that much?

How could He love me that much?

Going to bed with those thoughts tonight.

Prayerfully expressing the awe that is in me right now.

Looking forward to tomorrow and what it represents.

Still not sure how this can mean much coming from me but,

I love you, God.

JK

My drive to nowhere.

Have you ever got into your car with no idea where you were headed? Not because you were shaky on some directions or were going to a new place. But because you actually had no destination in mind at all. That's what I did this evening- here's the story..

I love rain- I do. But I have really had enough of it already. It's just now Spring and I want to enjoy the sunshine. Today was so mundane (that's a horrible word, I know. But I really didn't have another one..).  My first class was canceled, so I laid in bed too long. My next two classes were excruciatingly boring (as usual), so I didn't pay attention. It was upper-body day at the gym, so it was short. My plans for tonight were canceled. I tried to read a book on the couch but fell asleep. I made rice and caught up on Grey's. Derrick and Meredith getting engaged was the highlight of my day up to that point. I had to do something- anything. So I walked out to my car and cranked the engine.

I had no idea where I was about to go but I had to go somewhere. I took an instinctive left out of the parking lot and headed east. I drove through Little Five and took another left. I passed Clothing Warehouse where I bought my Members Only jacket and also where I met Jon Foreman. Easily one of the greatest moments of my life. I drove by Wax-N-Facts where I fell in love with vinyl. Further down Moreland- oh yeah, Moreland. Moreland Avenue has plenty of memories of it's own. My first drive-in being one. Anyway, further down Moreland I crossed a road called Fairview. Fairview was the name of one of the first bands to give me a shot (no pun intended). Really nice guys- I'll never forget them. Then I came to Ponce de Leon Avenue. I remember being so perplexed by that road when I first moved to Atlanta. It's nice finally knowing how to use it. Moreland has turned into Briarcliff by now and soon I passed a little BBQ place on my right. "Dusty's Barbecue" to be exact. The sign claimed it was "an Atlanta tradition" and I decided to test it. Good not great. I pulled out of the parking lot and spotted a QT across the road. Memories came flooding back of this pretty neat boy who got me hooked on their slushies. The stop we made that I remember most was on the way back from seeing Cartel at the 40 watt. I followed Briarcliff another few miles until I recognized something else. A restaurant called "Lettuce Souprise You". That same boy and I made fun of that back around Christmas when we were at the Dollar Tree close by getting stuff to put in out OCC shoe boxes. A little more driving and I ended up on Ponce again. I passed a man who put down his bag so that he could break out a little dance on the sidewalk. I turned left on Monroe and decided to pull into Trader Joe's. I walked past some fresh-cut daffodils and felt a strange urge to buy some. I didn't, wishing that one day someone else would do things like that for me from time to time. At the checkout I added a bar of 72% dark chocolate at the last second (I couldn't resist). It's a good thing I did because when my cashier saw my total ($23.00) she rang a bell behind her and grabbed my wrist and led me to a wheel on the wall. She then told me to spin it. A little confused as to what had just happened, I gave it a half-hearted spin. It landed on a free bunch on bananas but she didn't like that. So she spun in until she was pleased with the result- a free bunch of daffodils. Haha. What are the chances? So now I'm sitting in my room, typing all of this out as if you care, and hoping my flowers will be bloomed by morning. That would be a great sight to wake up to.

So that is where my drive to nowhere took me.

I should really do that more often.

JK

BigStuf.

Most of you know about the internship I got for this summer. And most of you know how incredibly excited I am about it. This is going to be no doubt,  life-changing. 

I created a website to act as a supplement to the support letters I sent out/will send out. If you guys want to know any more than I've already told you, check it out..

www.journey330.com

I'll also be blogging there this summer. I'll still add some stuff here but most of what I post will be on that site so that I can keep any of my supporters who care to be updated in the loop. I would love for you guys to check that out when the summer starts. I always love to hear your thoughts! Until later..

JK

The Magnificent.

New U2 album.

New inspiration.

- -

Magnificent

Magnificent

I was born

I was born to be with you

In this space and time

After that and after I haven't had a clue

Only to break rhyme

This foolishness can leave a heart black and blue

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

Only love, only love can heal such a scar

I was born

I was born to sing for you

I didn't have a choice but to lift you up

And sing whatever song you wanted me to

I give you back my voice

From the womb my first cry, it was a joyful noise...

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

Only love, only love can heal such a scar

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify

The Magnificent

Magnificent

Only love, only love can leave such a mark

But only love, only love unites our hearts

Justified till we die, you and I will magnify

The Magnificent

Magnificent

Magnificent

Recap.

Pre Super Bowl-

So my sister has a new beau.. his name is Will.  And just so you know.. I am very critical of any guy that thinks he's good enough for her and from what I can tell I think this Will guy is a winner. The only downside so far is that he is a Georgia AND a Duke fan. See, I just don't know how a good person could.. anyway.  So Lynsey calls me just before the Super Bowl and tells me that Will thinks she is a sports buff, (Ha!) and that he really likes that about her (Haha! Oh, Will...). Then she asks (just incase he quizzes her) "who's playing again?" Ok, at this point I started wondering if I should take advantage of this situation. Then my thoughts were interrupted by- "I know it's the Philadelphia Chargers but who are they playing?" Oh yes, I was definitely taking advantage of this. So I told her the New York Bears. She then accused me of lying because everyone knows the Bears are a baseball team (at least she's consistent). Ahaha!! Oh man.. looove her. I ended up telling her the correct teams along with a few other pieces of trivia with which to impress her new heart throb.

Super Bowl-

You broke my heart, Arizona. Really.. you did.

There were a few commercials I liked but not as many as in previous years. Budweiser and Coke always come through with some classics. E-trade's were good- though they didn't have the effect they did last year before anyone had been exposed to the campaign. Bridgestone also had some good ones. I didn't get the memo about the 3D glasses but I'm assuming that Sobe's ad was pretty neat.

Post Super Bowl-

The Office was gold. GOLD. Seriously, it made me laugh in spite of a huge Super Bowl letdown. "Barack is president! You're black, Stanley- get up!!" Oh man.. Dwight. Love him, his fire drill, and the bowie knife he has strapped to his leg.

Yesterday-

My intramural team won our basketball game! Whoo.

Also, found this incredible video-

I will probably watch this at least once everyday this week...
Today-Free Grand Slams at Denny's! So Trey, Howard, and I drove down to south Atlanta at 7:40am only to find exactly what we expected to find at a Denny's giving away free breakfast in south Atlanta. Luckily there was a WaHo next door.. we decided to go for that. Oh, best part- we had a contest to see who had the coolest debit card with our waitress acting as the judge. Guess which one she picked? Yep, my ballin' Regions Visa. She also agreed with me that Trey's "gold card" was a bit tacky. Mhmm.
Later-$4 burritos at Willy's with friends. Then after that, who knows? Maybe Catalina and I will watch some Office season two.
I am happy.
JK

But more importantly, People.

"When choosing a career there are many things to consider.  Obviously income, position, and image are things we think about.  But ultimately the question you have to ask yourself as you begin your life after school is this- 'Who do I want to be?'  What you do doesn't make you who you are.  It supports it, but that's all. You choose who you want to be.  When you come to the end of your life what do you want people to say about you?  Jade was a great business woman- very successful, had it all.  But she also neglected her family and didn't give enough time to her friends.  She was at the top of the heap but sacrificed relationships to get there.  Or do you want to be known as a kind, giving, loving woman of God?  Someone who knew what this brief life is all about.  Someone who made it a point to be there for people when they needed her and even when they didn't.  I can't tell you which path to take- you have to make that decision.  But just know that that will be a question that you will undoubtably be faced with and need to be prepared to answer." -Woody Faulk, VP of Brand Development - Chick-fil-A

The above is roughly and a little less eloquently what Mr. Faulk closed our meeting with about a week ago.  It's something I've been thinking about ever since.  I've always valued relationships above anything else in this world.  I know that the name I make for myself will fade with time just like everything else- everything except one.  That one thing that will never fade, that one thing that will last forever is people.  People's bodies eventually (or suddenly) die, yes.  But souls are forever.  Forever.

This is nothing new coming from me- anyone who reads this thing has heard me say that before.  But I was really taken back when someone as successful as the man who reiterated that to me revealed that he also lived by that mindset.  It was very encouraging to say the least.

I know you're probably thinking- "If this is nothing new (which it's not) why are you bringing it up again? Random."  Well to answer that, I spent a good portion of yesterday (seven hours) talking to one of my best friends about something huge and scary going on in his life right now.  And it was concerning something of which I know little about.  But it was ok because I know him.  I know how he's feeling just by looking at him or hearing his voice.  Those seven hours didn't mean anything.  It was like time didn't exist.  He was searching and hurting and all I could think about was how much I wanted to make everything all right.  So that, that conversation with him is what got me thinking about all of this again.

Relationships do mean a lot to me.  My family and my friends take priority in my life second only to God.  I've said before that if we're close I would turn my life upside down for you and challenge anyone who doubts that to test me.  Now I should say also that I am not perfect- not anywhere close to it.  Don't think for a second that I believe I am.  So if I've hurt you (and I'm sure I have) I didn't mean to.  I didn't want to.  I would never want that.  And I would really appreciate you confronting me about it if I have or in the event that I do in the future.  Give me the chance to make it right- to apologize.

Also please know that I'm hear for you.  And I'm hear no matter what.  I mean that with all of my heart.  If you need to talk- you have my attention.  If you need to vent- you have my ear.  If you need to just cry (and we all do- yeah even me)- you have my shoulder.  Please, please know that.  If I do anything right in this life I hope it's that I find a way to love people like Jesus.

So friend, I'm here for you. (always)

JK

Epic PHAIL.

I have done some pretty dumb stuff in my life, and while this morning didn't top the list.. it came pretty close.

Trey and I are in the same geography class. Yesterday, we spent most of the day studying for our final at 8:00am this morning. We left the Commons this morning around 7:30, stopped so Trey could get something to eat, then got to our classroom a couple minutes before eight. I said to Trey "look, our seats are open!" See, there are these kids who ALWAYS sit in our seats on test days. Not any other days, just test days.. I guess so they can cheat.. who knows. Clue number one- our seats were open on a test day.

Anyway, we go sit down. I looked to the front of the room only to find two teachers I have never seen before. Trey and I were like "aww man.. where is Mother Nature?" Fact: our geography teacher IS Mother Nature. Just accept it and move on. I was wondering why she would get someone else to give her final.. weird. Then Trey mentions that one of the teachers taught his film class last semester. Clue number two- the man at the front of the room was not only NOT a TA... he didn't even teach geography. But we still didn't get it..

I then noticed that everyone in the class already had scantrons so I walked to the front of the room and grabbed two. These scantrons were the full size 8.5" x 11" scantrons. I thought that was weird taking into account we never use those.. we always use the little skinny ones. Clue number three.

As I start to sit back down, Trey throws out the wild possibility that we may be in the wrong class. .......ehhh.... oh. I looked around.. didn't recognize anyone. Not that I really ever paid attention to the people in that class anyway.. but I mean I knew no one in there. Trey then turns to a girl sitting behind us and asks, "what final are you here to take?" She replied, "...film."

SOLID. Epic PHHAIL. Trey and I gather our things, leave our scantrons on our desks, and slowly make our way to the front of the room and back out the doors.

While part of me was really shocked that we had just done that, another part of me wasn't surprised at all. Winners I tell ya.. that's us.

We sat outside our classroom for about twenty minutes looking through the syllabus, looking through uLearn, calling/texting people in our class, only to find nothing and to have no one get back to us. We finally e-mailed Mother Nature herself and admitted our stupidity and asked if she could tell us one more time when the final was. Turns out it's this Thursday at 8:00am.

Awesome. We are awesome.

JK

Better late than never.

I know Thanksgiving was like a whole five days ago... whatever.

Anyway, I thought that in the spirit of the season I would list a few things off the top of my head that made me smile this week.

These are in no particular order.. I'm just typing as things come to mind.

Tech beating Georgia. I really could not have asked for anything more than my Jackets beating up on the Dawgs in front of about 90,000 of their obnoxious fans. (I don't mean all of UGA's fans are obnoxious.. if you know one I'm sure they're lovely)

Family. I love my family so much, man. They are so cool and laid back.. awesome. They are awesome.

My Savior. This time of year is so spiritual for me. It just brings everything into focus in a way that I wish I viewed it all the time.

Trey's whistle "S" haha! So great.

Conversations on the floor outside my door.

Basketball. Gah, such a great game. And I love getting paid to watch it.

Really lame jokes... all day long. (none of you are going to understand that.. but I thought of it.. and I am holding nothing back)

My sister's kisses. The best.

And her finally sitting still long enough for me to draw her for my final art project. 

Fall and all the glorious goodness that comes with it.

My Jon Foreman vinyls finally coming in the mail.

My mom and everything about her.

Coldplay's new EP.

Hot apple cider.

Kristian and his love for the song Joy to the World.

Non-stop Christmas music on 104.7 fm.

Catchphrase and the wonderful people who played with me until 1:00 this morning.

You. You reading things like this. Really? I'm not sure why anyone reads this crap.. but thanks. =)

 

So yeah those were really random. I know.. and I'm sure that I left out a bunch. But those were just a few things that I have been blessed from this week.

JK

Matching sweaters

I have this awesome friend named Will Ward. He is seriously so great! But sadly, I've seen less and less of him lately. So I was very happy when he called yesterday and asked if he could come over for a while before our church's Thanksgiving dinner.

Haha.. sooo perfect. He walks through my front door wearing a sweater that looked almost identical to mine! I think his reaction was something like "ohhhh no" followed by lots of laughing and "we are too cool, Jade King." It was awesome.
After we got bored with the Cowboys game and realized we still had two hours before the dinner.. we decided to play Rummy. I was killing him too until the last hand.. he got 225 points in ONE hand. What?!
On our way into the dinner I swear we looked like an old couple with our matching sweaters and me carrying a pot of green beans. We got so much grief for those sweaters too.. but I thought it was funny.
I love Thanksgiving, great friends, and matching sweaters. Don't you?

JK