Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Every year, my sister and I compete in a rather fierce christmas cookie decorating contest.
Now, I don't want to spoil the ending to this beautiful story, but I've been the winner for 2 years running (Megan might attempt to refute this, but she's in denial).
This year, my girlfriend Dayna competed with us and I think she was a bit taken off-guard by the level of ferocity that we take it to.

The judge of our contest is our dad, the honorable Dan Bates.
Make no mistake about it, Dan is a sharp one. He's no scrub judge.

Megan's design, a poor-man's snowglobe, was decent at best (just kidding, meg....it was actually really good).
She spent more time applying individual dot sprinkles with tweezers than the amount I slept last night (almost true).
Dayna's cookie(s) were probably the most creative cookies of the lot, but unfortunately were looked over by the judging table.
my cookie, a festive, timely, and wonderful heart, was deemed the winner after much consideration and deliberation from the judge. Good choice, I must say!

I don't have any pictures of this even yet uploaded to the computer, but hopefully I will do so eventually.

merry christmas!

Famous By Association

I recently discovered that I am famous by association.

jealous?

you should be.

I found out (via facebook...i know, lame.) that a girl i went to elementary school and junior high with is one of beyonce's backup dancers. I tried my best to find a picture of her actually dancing with beyonce....but you'll just have to take my word for it.

i know that this "association" is a bit of a stretch....but c'mon, it's pretty freakin' cool.

the only thing that would be cooler is if aaron neville sang at my birthday party

who wouldn't want this guy to sing happy birthday to them??

These Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty!!!

I feel as though it is time that I pay homage to one of the greatest television shows known to mankind.

Now, although this particular show has been off the air for almost a decade, it has never failed to provide laughs, tears, joy, and hugs.

Are you tired of that super-crappy "comedian" Dane Cook yet?

Are you desperate for comedy that is so simple, so pure that you can't help but laugh?

me too.

Alberta, Alberta, where you been so long?

a gold star and a thumbs up to anyone who can name that title reference...

it has been way too long since i last updated this thing!

and what better time to do this than when i'm sitting in my Gender and Society class?

exactly. there is no such time.

School has not started out the way that I had envisioned in my mind.

I had high hopes of starting out the semester with all A's on my first tests, being able to slack off a little bit my senior year (in theory...), etc.

However, the institute that is Texas A&M had a different vision.

They want me to suffer.

My test grades on my first three tests are as follows:

Nutrition: 68

Theatre History II: 82

Theories of Communication: 68

semesters always start like this for me.

i'm not sure why i'm so surprised and startled by these results.

I guess i'll just have to lock myself in a quiet study room at the library as spend countless hours reading and doing research.

.....right.

on a much lighter note, i've just made a new purchase:

this is a stock photo of my 2009 Vespa LX150 that I just bought a few days ago.

i'm pretty excited about filling up for $6 every two weeks instead of $70 every week.

oh yeah, i really like this girl:

it's amazing that she puts up with me and my shenanigans.

Not Without Love

CHECK IT OUT!

An Epidemic Has Arisen...

*this is just a joke. don't email me and tell me what a terrible person i am.

Homeward Bound!

Tomorrow i leave for a family vacation back to Oregon where I spent the first 6 years of my life.
it has been a decade since i've been there, so i'm pretty excited to revisit some childhood memories.

We're going to a resort called Black Butte Ranch (and no, it is not a dude-ranch, despite what dayna might try to convince you of!) that we went to every summer for 8 years.
it's basically a family oriented golf resort with community pools, 3 golf courses, rec centers, horse back riding, miles of bike trails, etc.

In honor of my return to Oregon, here is a list of 5 things that I will likely encounter while I'm there:

1) Hippies--let's be honest....Oregon is replete with hippies. impressed with my use of the word "replete"? you should be.*

2) The great and beautiful city of Portland. My parents tell me that the weather right now is clear skies and about 42 degrees in the morning and around 80 degrees at its hottest.

3) Lots of Weed--i'd better not get emails or messages from people telling me that Christians shouldn't acknowledge that weed exists...(cheers to self-righteousness!)

4) Round Table Pizza--I grew up on this stuff and I think my little league team pictures are still up on the wall.

5) Nike Town-- Portland is home to Nike's world headquarters, so you can imagine how huge this place is. the picture really doesn't do it justice.

I'm sure I'll post plenty of pictures from the trip, so check back in about a week.

* I'll be honest...i had to use dictionary.com to make sure that I used that word right. I'm not smart.

Where The Light Is

I recently purchased John Mayer's new live dvd and am completely blown away.

the dvd contains an acoustic set, a John Mayer Trio set, and a full band set, and is an incredible experience.

I highly recommend that everyone go and buy this cd/dvd combo (or either one individually).

Things That Make Me Want To Stab Myself In The Eye Vol. 3

I'm not a mean or angry person.

like i've mentioned in previous postings, there are only a few things that really make me mad.

bad drivers is at the top of that list.

here is a list of driving flaws that probably result in me saying certain four-letter words:

- not using a signal then slamming on your breaks to make a turn at the very last second

- driving excessively under the speed limit

- tapping on your breaks and driving slow because you're trying to find the street that you're turning onto

- driving slowly in the left lane on the highway and not moving over when other cars are stacked up behind you

- driving behind me with your brights on

freaking get your act together and stop driving like an asian woman! (i'm gonna hear about that one....)

*note*: not all asian women are bad drivers. i chose to simply perpetuate the stereotype

Addition to Previous Post

This is an official edit of the last posting:

Dayna has informed me that she does not just "somewhat" receive joy from watching me get angry at said scratched DVDs, she LOVES watching me get angry at such a small, petty thing.

Things That Make Me Want To Stab Myself In The Eye Vol. 2

my girlfriend and I watch a lot of movies.

When you live in a town like college station where there is almost nothing to do, movies start to sound like the greatest thing ever.

Usually when you pay $4.68 to rent a movie from blockbuster, you expect a certain amount of quality assurance.

When I say "quality assurance", I'm referring to small things like DVDs not being scratched, the right movie being in the case, etc.

It's beginning to seem to me that the blockbuster corporation is involved in a conspiracy against me that involves the intentional scratching of particular DVDs that they know I'm going to select.

take this scenario as an example: It's been a long week of classes, it's really hot and humid outside, and all you want to do in that moment is sit on the couch and enjoy Denzel Washington shooting people. so you get in your car, sit in traffic because you forgot that the city of college station is doing construction everywhere, finally arrive to blockbuster to select your movie of choice, sit in traffic on your way home from the store, put in the movie, and then realize that the disc is skipping and there is no way that you could possibly enjoy the entire movie like this.

AWESOME.

am I the only one who has experienced this?!

it drives me absolutely crazy!

i think that my girlfriend dayna somewhat receives joy from watching me get upset about such petty little things.

I'll go ahead and step off of my soapbox for now......but seriously blockbuster. get it together.

Things That Make Me Want To Stab Myself In The Eye Vol. 1

i like to think that i'm not an angry person.

there are not a whole lot of things that really make me mad enough to want to punch through a wall.

one of those things, however, is when i'm trying to open a door but have to many things in my hands to easily accomplish the task.

does this piss anyone else off besides me?

i mean, sure, i could just put everything that i have in my hands down on the ground, open the door, pick everything back up WHILE trying to hold the door open long enough to barely get through it...but c'mon!

the worst is when i come back from the grocery store holding all of my bags and the front door is inevitably locked. then, i have to dig through my pockets and find my keys to unlock the door. and THEN, my roommates are too freakin' lazy to get off the couch and come open the door. 

this is just one of the few things that really annoys me.

stay tuned for another installement of "things that make me want to stab myself in the eye"!

Apologies..

It has been far too long since i have posted, so i offer my apologies.

in an attempt to regain your respect and lost trust, i present to you: 

WWW.CUDDLEPARTY.COM

enjoy!

Summer

This summer I'll be working as a Worship Intern at Grand Parkway Baptist Church in Sugarland, TX.

That means that I'll be seeing plenty of this guy:

I'm really excited about the internship.

I'm going to do my best to bring "Friends Are Friends Forever" and "Shout To The Lord" back into the worship lineup....but we'll see what happens.

Arrested Development

I like good comedy.

I like to laugh at awkward, unusual behavior.

I find completely ridiculous characters and personalities to be rather enjoyable.

Could there possibly be a television program with a combination of these three characteristics?

absolutely.

I have been told for years that this show is a "must watch", but never actually sat down to watch it.

I imagine that many of you are the same way.

Well, don't waste your life anymore on shows such as "America's Next Top Model" or "Project Runway".

Visit www.Hulu.com to watch Arrested Development for free.

I Just Vomitted

This is my roommate Tyler.


This is my roommate Grant.

I recently found these pictures that were taken by my roomates as a part of a dress-up photoshoot that took place in our house.

2 questions come to mind:

1) why?
2) why have they not been destroyed already?

Why allow these photos to remain in existence for over a year?!

Do yourself a favor...never leave pictures like these lying around for other people to find.
Because then they will end up on the internet.

ENJOY!

Insert Something Clever

I hate having to come up with titles for these blogs.
I usually sit around for 20 minutes trying to think of something super awesome/witty (which never happens. see above title)

Well, These past couple weeks have been pretty busy.
The closer that i get to the end of classes for the semester, the more i am completely incapable of completing simple tasks, such as studying, going to class, etc.
I'm just ready to not have classes for 3 months.

Also, I've been leading worship at Houston First Baptist Church for the past two weeks....it has been amazing.
It's really hard to go into a new church (especially one with thousands of members) and feel like you're connecting with the congregation, but I feel like the Lord has broken down any barriers that would usually be there.

It has been a ton of fun getting to play with great friends and amazing musicians.
It's rare that I get to call up musicians of my choice and have them join me on stage, so it has been a privilege.

I'll be leading worship at HFBC in the Chapel for another 5 weeks, so if you're in Houston, come on by and worship with us!

Easter

Easter weekend was a really great/decently busy weekend.

On Friday, I drove down to the woodlands and spend time with my parents, my sister Megan, and her foster son (soon to be adopted son!) Cooper.
It was great to see them and just catch up.
I don't get to see them very often because they live in Ft. Worth, so I try to take advantage of any time that I get to spend with them.

Saturday, I woke up and drove to Downtown Houston to meet up with my buddy Stephen at Houston First Baptist Church.
I will be helping them out by leading worship for the next seven weeks, so we had a lot of details to nail out.

Then I met up with with my friend Taylor at a guitar shop and just played around for a bit.
He puts me to shame when it comes to the guitar.
it was sad.

After playing guitar (aka me watching him play guitar), we went to grab some dinner at Empire Cafe on Westheimer.


This place is glorious.

After dinner, I headed towards Sugarland to stay the night with another friend.
I ended up sleeping in a room that smelled like dog pee. awesome.

and finally, Sunday morning I woke up and headed out to play at Grand Parkway Baptist Church.
I cannot express how much I love this church.
I interned there last summer with the youth, and will be interning there again this summer as the worship intern.
An embarrasing moment was when I thought that the service started at 9:30am, when in fact is started at 9:15am. oops.
So I was hanging out in the youth room upstairs when I hear that band start to play the opening song.
crap.
I ran down and waited patiently for the song to finish before walking on stage.
Needless to say, I felt like an idiot.

So there it is.
The longest and most pointless blog you'll ever read.

The Return To Normalcy

Spring Break 2008 has officially come to a close.

that's depressing, isn't it?

This year, my and the roommates hit the road (actually, we flew...) to Boca Grande, Florida to meet up with another group of friends.

Why is Florida 13 times more awesome than College Station?

This is why:

the closest thing we have to a "beach" is galveston.

crap.

here are a few pictures that i have dubbed as "cool/hilarious"

This is a picture of Grant and Brooks, two of my roommates, posing for potential facebook pictures. super gay.

Denzel Washington shot his movie, "Out Of Time", on the island.

pictured here is a few of the buildings seen in the opening scene of the film.

One of the funniest moments of the trip...

Brooks unintentionally hindering Grant's "mack" on Meghan.

Hilarious.

so there you have it.

spring break was glorious, and now it is gone.

here's to next year!

Law & Order

I am convinced that this is one of the greatest shows on television.
have you ever watched it?
It is nothing short of amazing.
plus, it's on every day for 5 hours on TNT and USA in the middle of the day, so i watch it quite a bit in between classes.

There are 3 different versions, each with different casts and themes:

First, The Original.




This is personally my favorite. These two detectives, Green and Briscoe, will stab you without thinking twice. watch your back.

and who could forget Jack McCoy?



Don't cross him. he'll kill you.
think im lying?
try him.

Next, you've got SVU (Special Victims Unit)
from what I've gathered, this is typically people's favorite.
I don't blame them.
the only problem is that Jack McCoy isn't in it.



Stabler punches perps in the face...even women sometimes.
now, i don't advocate the punching of women....but c'mon...that's freakin awesome.

The last type of Law & Order is Criminal Intent, but I don't like that one.
the detective is a know-it-all....and it's annoying.
he's very similar in this respect to Horatio from CSI: Miami.






No one likes this guy.
No one.

Good Music

I really enjoy good music.
this should not come as a surprise to anyone who really knows me.

The problem that I've come across over the past couple months (and years, i suppose) is a huge lack of good music coming out of the industry.
Don't get me wrong, the industry isn't all bad, but most of the "popular" music that I hear on the radio is just complete garbage.

However, there is hope.
Here is a small list of FANTASTIC bands/artists and albums that I've come across recently that have revived my faith in western civilization as we know it:

Jay Clifford- Driving Blind
Brooke Fraser- Albertine
Jump, Little Children- Between The Dim and The Dark
Radiohead- anything they've ever done. magical.
Gatlin Elms- find this kid on myspace. so much potential.

so do yourself a favor: put away the Beyonce record and listen to some good music.

Purely Because I'm Bored

Well, I've decided to create a blog.
Why, you ask?
Great question.
Because I am super awesome and am absolutely positive that you want to know what I think.
right?
right.

Right now I'm sitting at It's A Grind coffee shop in College Station doing some studying.
The only reason that I'm at It's A Grind is because Starbucks charges you stupid amounts of money to use their wireless internet.

REALLY?

It's not enough that Starbucks charges $4 for a cup of coffee, but they have to sift through your pockets for leftover change.

corporate jerks.

So I'll continue to drink sub-par coffee and use free internet at It's A Grind.