WHAT'S THE STORY, MORNING GLORY?

It seems as though I've been relying on this blog merely as a means to apologize for not posting as frequently as I would like. Despite being here for nearly two weeks tomorrow, I still find myself somewhat dazed by this unfamiliar scenery in which I have subjected myself to. I long for the day that I will finally grow accustom to my daily activites and, more importantly, the time zone here in Florida. I don't have problems waking up, mind you. No... my problem is going to sleep. I'm just now starting to get tired at a "normal" hour. I feel that this will eventually lead me down a road filled with liveliness and success--mainly in fufilling my promises of keeping my blog up to date. So work this week has been fantastic. I am also in the process of totally redesigning the existing media kit and also adding a whole new section for the new publication that Relevant Media Group is coming out with called: Neue (pronounced "new"). It's going to be a quarterly 'book-zine' for ministry leader audiences. I also just got the Design Premium CS3 from Adobe so I am stoked about that. Not much else is going on. I'll update on everything I am working on as soon as it comes my way. Anyway, I'm just finishing up this fine day here at Relevant. There is yet another storm rolling in today and hopefully staying for the next few days. It's lovely. Ya'll should come visit me here... really.

ALOTTA 'BOUT LIVIN N ALIL 'BOUT LOVE

The past few days have been great--my first normal weekend out here. Got to SLEEP IN which was great. Yesterday (Saturday) I just watched some movies and went swimming. The guys have this game they call XMP (Extreme Marco Polo) that we played. The word extreme is probably the best fit word for a reason. The game is just a adaptation of the widely popular game of "MARCO!" and "POLO!" However, the extreme version does not include the shouting and you basically just mess with whoever is 'it' by splashing them or messing with them in any way you can until they tag someone (of course, this is still all while their eyes are closed). So after that, a few of the guys thought it would be fun to have a BBQ. We rushed over to Wal-Mart and got some bratwursts and buns, sweet tea, and some chili. It was quite the feast (to say the least). After this meal, the guys and I retreated to the couch and watched a few movies and played a few video games... a few friends came over... then left. It was a low-key night. I also got to sleep in today (Sunday) and haven't done anything up until now. I am, however, planning on going to Status tonight. Status is a college-aged church service on Sunday nights. Some of the interns are going so I'll probably tag along. I shall let you know how that goes when I return. Anyway, just wanted to let you know I am still alive and having a great time. I'm sure I will be up to a lot more next weekend so be prepared to listen to my crazy adventures! Hopefully soon I will be motivated to take some pictures throughout my typical day that way y'all can see what I do and who I do it with. I know you will like that. Until tonight, my faithful friends and family, thank you for reading my blog. I love and miss you all.

THIS BEAT IS AUTOMATIC

Before I share with you the past few days, I thought it'd be nice to share a photograph from the past week. I have my camera with me, but haven't used it at all. This particular photograph was captured with my handy camera phone. It's a picture of Chris (left) and Jesse (right) when we went to the lake on Tuesday evening. There, I saw my first wild gator and nearly killed a rabbit with my bare hands (ask me about that if you're interested--you know you're curious now). Anyway, Chris is the intern from Alabama that I live with and Jesse is from Florida and probably one of the coolest interns. All three of us are unspeakably convinced that the dot you see here in the floating the in the sky is a UFO. However, you decide for yourself. Now. On to what you guys REALLY wanna read...
I would first like to apologize for not posting recently up until now. I haven't really been busy--just seemed to have slipped my mind... Anyway, not much to update on today. Philip still is catching up on some emails but I just hang out in his office and pick his brain. He's been around the world and has so much knowledge to gain from... I'm just trying to take advantage of that before I am thrust into assignments and the deadlines that are looming ahead of us. Some stuff I learn has great value and other stuff is just random but awesome nonetheless. So I learned today that Ciera--you know, that pop artist that is breaking through the top charts as of late--has been contacting Relevant wanting to be featured on the cover. Supposedly she is religious and is going to be in Orlando next month to promote a spiritual movie she is premiering soon and her people have been begging to get her on the cover to help promote the movie. In my opinion, I think this would be a great idea coming from a business and revenue mindset. Not only is Ciera ridiculously popular in the secular music industry, but I can only imagine that there would be the thousands of new readers opened up to us to impact. Anyway, I will be having a lot of assignments in the near future and you can count on hearing every detail about them once they arise. But for now... sleep.

FIRST DAY AT THE OFFICE

So today was my first day in the office. The office itself is a very sweet place. The people I work with are even more awesome. I really didn't do anything today... just felt like busy work. My adviser wasn't in today so there was no real direction today. The marketing girl just had me go through magazines with similar target audiences as Relevant and researched their advertising agencies. The logic is to contact their agencies and try and get them to advertise in our magazine, too. We are just starting the process of getting some national advertisers in the publication instead of just Christian advertisers. I am hoping that Philip (my adviser) is in the office tomorrow that way I can start to have some type of direction or vision of where we are going and what exactly is expected of me. My biggest worry, though, is that I won't have something visual to show that I contributed to Relevant. I mean... the design interns will be designing spreads and graphics, the editorial interns will have published articles. But me--I'm afraid I won't have a hard copy of anything to show in my portfolio. At the very least, I will have something to put on my resume. But yeah... just a few things on my mind after my first day. After work, I just came back and the guys and I watched some Arrested Development, and went and bought some Little Caesars for dinner. Played some Halo and Rock Band... the usual. I'm going to bed a little bit earlier tonight than I did last night. I am very optimistic about tomorrow. Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers. They mean more to me than you'll ever know.

UNEXPECTED

So today was really great. I found a house to rent! I slept in and took my time getting ready this afternoon... not knowing how productive it would come to be. One of the interns picked me up from my hotel and we went out to an early dinner at a place called Urban Flats. I had "The Black and Blue" Flat. It basically is just a huge piece of flat-bread with steak, mozzarella and blue cheeses, and tomatoes with basil--all lightly topped with a oil and vinegar dressing. Needless to say, it was fantastic. I also found out that on Monday, my first day at work, the whole staff is going out to lunch for some celebration all courtesy of Relevant. So that's cool... I don't think I can afford to eat out too much. I need to go shopping for groceries soon. Anyway, after dinner we drove over to Chris's house (another intern). We hung out there and I got to meet Chris and his house-mates. We ended up playing video games (Rock Band) and watched a movie (That Thing You Do). We didn't end up leaving until around 1AM. Also, with much excitement, I am glad to announce that it looks like I will be renting a room with Chris at the house he is staying at this summer. I will have laundry and a kitchen and everything so it works out really great. The rent is under my budget and the guys that live there seem to be a really neat group of people. So thumbs up for that-- I knew something would work out! As I previously wrote in my first entry, this is what makes me faithful. The unexpected. That's what accurately describes today. I woke up expecting to spend the day alone. I am going to bed knowing 20 new people. Faithful...

WHERE I'M AT RIGHT NOW...

My first night/morning in Orlando. Thought it'd be cool to post exactly where I will be staying for the next week (courtesy Google Earth). My room is approximately five windows from the right on the second floor. Do you see me smiling out of the window? Warm wishes from Orlando...

FLUTTERBYES & THE SOUNDS OF AUTOMATIC WEAPONRY

So I'm sitting here laying on the floor of my friends room listening to the sounds of Call of Duty 4. Brad likes that game. And I happen to enjoy the sounds of it. Much like every boy from a young age, I have always been enchanted by guns and the sounds that they make. In the strangest of ways, I have come to appreciate environmental noises such as this. If you've never experienced this for yourself, I greatly encourage it. Go lay outside and listen to the dogs bark or the wind blow. Maybe listen to the traffic... the semis and the cop cars. Perhaps snuggle up in your favourite chair with the news on mute and listen to the dishwasher or your refrigerator making a new batch of ice. Anything, really... I've found that just taking the time to listen to what is around you is a very calming medicine. Anyway, I'm staying the night at Brad's tonight... he's driving me to the airport tomorrow morning to jump-start my adventure. I leave Ontario around 12:40 P.M. I then have a layover of about an hour in Nashville and finally arrive in Orlando at around midnight (Eastern). I am pleased to inform all of you that I now have a temporary place to stay when I land. I will be staying at the Travel Lodge in downtown Orlando... approximately a couple blocks away from Relevant. I'm still trying to tie up some loose ends on where I will be staying after next Saturday, but more details about that will come soon enough. So the thing about the Travel Lodge is that there is no internet... not even the kind you barter for. We'll see how that works out. There's a chance that I'll wander about town in search of a Panera Bread or perhaps a lovely Starbucks on Saturday. But enough of that... let's talk about how I felt today. While it was reassuring to finally find a place to lay my head for a few nights in Orlando, I found it quite troubling to leave home today. It's a lot harder than you think to voluntarily leave the comfort of your home and your family--even if you have done it a thousand times, it doesn't get easier. I think the most daunting thing to think about at this moment is the 2-3 days I will be in Orlando before I start working. I don't know about you, but I've never been completely alone in a city I've never visited. Of course it will be strange. No doubt it will be different. But I intend to make the most of it. Needless to say, I have butterflies. I am trusting that I will be soothed by the sounds of the automatic weapons continually firing in the background while I close my eyes. It's somewhat of an eerie expression, but it works for me.