Life is Volunteer

I was able to talk with the Honors 101 class today about both the Habitat for Humanity chapter in the works here at Campbell and the Master Student Seminar I am developing this semester. As I was talking, and not so much when I was practicing what I was going to say, I realized that there was a pretty catchy idea being said by me to the class. “The honors program is volunteer,” I said, “and this seminar I am presenting is volunteer too. But everything you take here is volunteer…life is volunteer. Think of it more like an adjective than a verb. Life is volunteer.”
I’ve thought this before, though never so eloquently and never outloud. I think eloquent and catchy because it really brings out something true about each of us. We are choosing what we will do everyday, even if we let other people decide for us and that’s a lot of responsibility.
What have I decided to do with it? Currently I fall back to my major, my interest in Peace Corps, and my involvement in extra-curricular activities. Really, though, I think there’s more to it than that. Maybe it’s love, maybe it’s compassion, maybe it’s my conscience. Maybe it’s just that I’m hungry! Whatever it is, it is certainly worth thinking about.

So It Begins

Being back at school has been wonderful, especially in the last few days. I have had time to fix up my room significantly, though it is still not finished, and I have also had the time to relax with my old friends and meet plenty of new friends. I am going to be RA this year in Sauls on the third floor, assisting the residents of what is now the “New Layton” as I like to call it. I have new friends here who are in their 30’s and 40’s and some who are barely 20, like myself. There are brand new students who have never been to college before, and there are others who will graduate in four months and have been my friends as long as I’ve been in school. I am very excited by all of the newness of Campbell, and surprised by the achievements of such a modest university. I am proud to say I go to Campbell University, which surprises me sometimes. There are great things happening here, one person at a time, and I am very fortunate to have been one of the results of great events. I am also thankful to be one of those events in the lives of others, who may well help some people make change for the better. I wish everyone the very best this year, and hope to act in a way which encourages that every day. Good luck, good luck, let it all begin.

Josh's Birthday!

And a very merry good birthday to you good sir. To celebrate the all around good guy Joshua Sands's Birthday this last October 24th, 2004 our small group of creative genius developed what has been commonly referred to as the double-blind-mirror-glass-switcheroo. Each item formerly residing on the right side of Joshua’s room found a place on the left, while each of the items on the left found their new home on the right. So entranced was our friend, by this double-blind experiment in birthday celebratology, that he decided to keep the arrangement for well over 3 months. Happy Sandsday!

Bebopping and a Scatting

I think one of the best ways to figure out if you have good speakers or not is to listen to a song (what a great idea!). Well, not just that. Actually, I think you know you have good speakers when you start listening to a song and you just start jamming out, singing, dancing, spinning around on the ground and bouncing up and down in your chair. When you forget about the speakers and just think about how flipping awesome the song is, you’ve got pretty good speakers at that point. Congratulations! Keep jamming party animal!

Kudos to Kodak

Unbelieveable. A single video did me in, I am switching back to Kodak after having two wonderful experiences with them today. First, I broke my camera again for the third time in three years. I am a habitual dropper on the poor thing, and one out of ten times when I drop it the battery door breaks. It's pretty amazing that it doesn't break more often really. The small fragile hinges on the door snap when the acceleration of gravity yanks the entire mechanism to a new low, splintering everywhere in sight. This time, in fact, I didn’t even find the battery door as it shuttled across the floor at the Circle K International Convention. All I have left is its small little hinge. Sad, I know, but hark Kodak is there to help.
I called up Kodak like I did two years ago when the same thing happened. They have spare parts in their warehouse somewhere and after talking to a gentleman for a while, my battery door parts are on their way. Last time I ordered one, the girl gave me another for no charge. This time I ordered two also and I am excited to get the part soon. I will start back to picture taking immediately.
And when I do, I will begin to update a new place for my albums. In the past I have used Yahoo! for my picture storage. They are unlimited in their pictures, but I have not always liked the resolution. You can’t see much of the pictures individually, which I have always wanted remedied. Also, the albums aren’t in order by date, they are in order by name which I don’t like all too much. Kodak.com has been the only site I have ever found which beats Yahoo! KodakGallery.com has want I’ve always wanted; high quality pictures, unlimited numbers of pictures and albums in good organization. Not only that, but they have one of the most beautiful videos I have ever seen. Parts of it have been shown on television commercials, but here is the full version. I am very pleased that Kodak works so hard for all of their customers. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication, I appreciate it very much. I hope other people enjoy Kodak services as much as I have.

Let It Begin

Being back at school has been wonderful, especially in the last few days. I have had time to fix up my room significantly, though it is still not finished, and I have also had the time to relax with my old friends and meet plenty of new friends. I am going to be RA this year in Sauls on the third floor, assisting the residents of what is now the “New Layton” as I like to call it. I have new friends here who are in their 30’s and 40’s and some who are barely 20, like myself. There are brand new students who have never been to college before, and there are others who will graduate in four months and have been my friends as long as I’ve been in school. I am very excited by all of the newness of Campbell, and surprised by the achievements of such a modest university. I am proud to say I go to Campbell University, which surprises me sometimes. There are great things happening here, one person at a time, and I am very fortunate to have been one of the results of great events. I am also thankful to be one of those events in the lives of others, who may well help some people make change for the better. I wish everyone the very best this year, and hope to act in a way which encourages that every day. Good luck, good luck, let it all begin.

Thinking on Impact

There are times in each of our lives where we can’t believe what is happening. Sometimes people interact with us that make us feel like better people, more important people. It could be a signature from a celebrity that you get after traveling for hours, or a lunch meeting you have with your favorite teacher, or a special trip you take with your brother or sister that makes you feel like you are the most important person in their life at that very moment. It can even be a glance from someone who you really admire, a hand on the shoulder from your mother or father, or a wedding ring offered to you by your best friend. Throughout our lives, and sometimes every day, we have experiences that honestly define weeks, years or even decades of our lives into the future. Things happen to us all the time that set events in motion, turn our lives in new directions and sometimes even happen to us that define who we are.
What is most surprising about this is not that it happens, we can all attest to that. In fact, I imagine all of those small examples brought a few of your own unique life experiences glowing to your mind. That’s normal, human, and very comforting for each of us. If it weren’t for these moments, our lives would be very different. What is surprising to us about these events is that we make some of them happen, from the other side.
Everyday we interact with people, and sometimes we are those admired people that others are looking up to. Sometimes we are that special person who allotted their time to be spent with someone else. Sometimes we are the big brother or sister who takes our sibling out on that special trip, and sometimes someone feels our hand on their shoulder and it brings them indescribable comfort. Those moments almost always go on without us noticing, and it isn’t until well after the fact that we stand back and think, “Wow, I bet that really meant a lot to my brother, or to my sister. I guess that comfort meant a lot more to my friend than I realized, and apparently that person really thought it was special I spent time with them.”
Seven people linked me to my sponsoring Kiwanis club here in North Carolina, seven people who didn’t know each other and who never had met me before in their lives. Each one lead me to the next and two years later, with over 3000 volunteer hours and hundreds of lives changes, I go back to them to say thank you. None of them take the credit that I give them. Who could have known that them helping me for only 15 seconds would change the lives of so many?
Well, I hope that you all know, yourselves. The fact is, we all have this capacity. We can all be heroes to someone. We can all be a big brother or big sister by birth or by mentorship. There are those here who wish to become teachers, social workers, politicians, bankers, lawyers, realtors, doctors, nurses, grocery store workers, mothers, fathers, and a thousand other things I can only imagine. The fact is, I have been changed by all of those people in my life, and many many more. I may have been changed by you, and for that I want to say thank you. I may, sometime in my life, be changed by you too. For that, I say good luck, thank you and let me know how I can help.

Sweet Victory

I would like to take this moment to send out an official Travis Hellstrom Inner-Peace-A-Gram to the creator of Spongebob Squarepants, Stephen Hillenburg. Although there are many reasons to wake up at noon on vacation, my favorite is so that I can watch Spongebob while eating cereal. Just this morning I watched Patrick hiding a “secret” box from Spongebob, Mr. Crabs trying to get back his millionth dollar and then Squidward orchestrating his own band in the Bubble Bowl. Sweet sweet victory indeed.