winter quarter and so cal

1. living in SoCal, where everyone works for hollywood, wants to work for hollywood, or just knows everything about hollywood, i now know i can't talk about movies. they're FILMs. directors and producers do a lot. i can't tell you exactly what, but i know they're important - a lot more important than i gave them credit for 8 months ago.
and yes, a vast majority of people here do have ties to the entertainment industry and draw a paycheck from it.
and it is fun to go to film festivals (i've been to 2 already, ok, i've seen 2 films total at 2 different festivals), but it's fun they're at places like "the writers guild theater" and "the directors guild theater".
hollywood really is big.

2. i pay a lot of money not to learn much. that needs to change. i need to approach classes with a different outlook, or something. it's dumb to not learn anything because the professors teach more than they ever assess. in one class, 95% of the class content was on subject material that was never assessed. which means i was graded on 5% of the material. yes, those are bad statistics for a class and he wasn't the best professor, or at least should change how he grades, but that doesn't mean that i only have to learn 5%. my whole life i've learned just enough to test well. that theory doesn't go over very well here. i can still do okay grades-wise, but that's not why i'm here. the classes i learn the most from are the ones that i put in more effort than is required for assignments. somehow, i need to do more of that.

3. i learn more from discussions outside of class than lectures. i learn more when there's a give and take in conversations, where i'm required to process the material and give feedback on it. a lecture is 1-way and i can (and do) zone out and never come back to it. (i think this is part of my passion for "simple church" - a group discussion, not a sermon.) the best academic experiences i've had this quarter took place after class, in informal settings with my classmates. most of these conversations were with other students in that class, but sometimes it's just someone who has asked about what i'm learning or something like that. i'm a verbal processor. unless i talk about it, either verbally or written, it doesn't stick. i need to figure out some system where i can talk more and write more and really internalize this stuff.

4. it's all good. life is crap sometimes. but it's all good. that's the big lesson from this quarter. i have more faith and confidence in God's grace, goodness, faithfulness, provision, and love for me than ever before. no matter what gets thrown at me (and trust me, PLENTY has this quarter), i KNOW that God's got it all under control. i don't have it all together, and i'm not a total wreck, but no matter where i am in the spectrum or the process, i know it's all gonna be good in the end. it may end with my death, but even then, it's all good.

5. it's spring break. i haven't talked to some of my best friends all quarter. my friend circle around here has shifted dramatically. i definitely owe some long conversations to friends in VA. i haven't blogged in 20 days. i moved and have 2 new roommates. i went camping once this quarter (just got back), went to downtown LA twice, had 3 personal retreats (all a class requirement), went to the san diego zoo and the long beach aquarium, went hiking locally once, and lived to tell about it all.
next quarter will bring 3 classes and auditing a 4th, still working, still going to oasis for church... it's gonna be crazy. i've got one trip planned to yosemite, and i just bought a plane ticket to dallas for the weekend after this next quarter is over for shara's wedding. it's gonna be awesome.

still on my list:
the sights in hollywood (& the hollywood sign)
disneyland
seeing the central coast
camping at malibu
hiking mt wilson and eaton canyon
griffith observatory
santa barbara
seattle/vancouver
backpacking in the sierras
death valley
possibly the 4 corners area (southern utah, northern arizona)
las vegas

good thing i've got 18 more months to do it all!