My last day

I am typing the last post that I will be making in America, sitting in the Osborns basement listening to Troy playing Tony Hawk 3. Yesterday night we took advantage of Steve's Season tickets to the Jazz and went and saw them play the Boston Celtics. It was a good game for the first bit, then it was just painful to watch the Celtics and Paul Pierce score and score and just keep scoring until the Jazz where down by 20 odd with 8 minutes to go in the final quarter. Today I slept in some and then went to lunch with Hannah and Kathy Clay and Taylor and Suzan at the training table- that novel place where you order by phone. Then it was back to the house for some rest and to get ready to fly out after taking some pictures of the mountains and such, as it is such a lovely day today.

140, 159

Tonight we went bowling after a dinner of Cafe Rio with one of Luke and Lizzies friends. Luke and I matched up for a last game of epic proportions, with him emerging victor with a score of 159 over my 140. It was fun, perhaps the last time I will have with him before he flies out tomorrow morning at 11. Tonight all there is to do is pack, and with that almost being done I just await tomorrow when the Osborns will pick me up to stay with them for the conclusion of my trip through these states. After that I may not be able to get to a computer until I get home, but to all who have read this blog- thanks for reading and keep your eyes peeled for a note on this page sending you to my next blog- something more regular and of my life at home.
sam

Our Birthday and more

So much has happened in the past few days, this should be a post full of excitement. Friday was not as exciting as the next few days, but I relaxed for most of the day and then at night we went bowling at the student centre. It was good times, we got two games in before a quiet night before Saturday. Saturday was the day of the game and it was a long wait til the hour came up. It began to snow again in the morning, so by gametime a fresh layer of powder was all over everything as I walked down an hour early to get one of the memorial pins that they were handing out before the game. Bogut arrived a little before tip-off and arrived to a standing ovation from the crowd. The game was a good one, Luke playing one of the best games he has played with 21 points and 8 rebounds. The lead danced from one team to the other for most of the the game, but after halftime and the ceremony retiring Andrew's uniform the Utes spurred a comeback , only to be felled by a 3 pointer late in the 2nd half. Afterwards we tried to go out to a place that Andrew and Chris had organised, but they would not let some of us in so we went back to the dorm and on route got some free pizza from Little Ceasars. That done, the next day was to be our birthday. We woke up early at 9 something and then went onto Church with Steve Osborn. Somehow it was let by that it was our birthday so we had a round of "happy birthdays" from many people before going off to a lunch with the Osborns, the Clays, Wilsons, and a few others. We went to Famous Daves and ate some good ol' American Barbeque before we dropped off Luke at the dorm and I went with the Osborns back to their house for an afternoon of rest and TV. At 6 there was the party that was organised at the Osborns house and many people from Church and Lizzie came for a few hours of fun, poker, the NBA All-Star game and cake. I watched as Coach Wilson taught all the kids how to play Blackjack and Luke teach them all how to play Texas- Hold Em'. It was fun, but a little slow paced with everyone learning. Susan made a chocolate cake with both white and milk chocolate. What was more special was the fruit platter that was made for us "Fruit loving Australians" Pineapple, Honeydew Melon, Strawberries and grapes all adorning a plate- reminded me of home some. And to top all of this, some familes gave both Luke and I some candy and cards for our big 20th birthday. It was a great way to spend my 20th birthday, but it was a little different- there isnt any snow in Australia in February and I usually do not need to wear a whole bunch of clothes to keep warm. Change is good though, it was a nice way to spend the day in the cold.

White everywhere

I flew in to Salt Lake City a half hour late due to some nasty weather. It was snowing in droves and gusting horribly as we dropped below the ceiling which ensured a very bumpy ride. I arrived though, with heavy bags and a hunch from the plane and met with Steve Osborn at the baggage claim. A short ride back to the dorm and then we were dropped off at Luke's game against Colorado State. I got in at about halftime, so I only saw the better half of the game. They could of won, Luke did really well with 18 points and 9 boards but a last second shot by one of their guards forced overtime and the Utes went downhill from there. The next day I awoke to snow, and alot of it. Before Luke and I drove to Fashion Place, we needed to take about 6 inches of snow off the top of the car before we could even see the body. The whole valley was covered in a thick white blanket and still is as I write. This has been nice weather for me to see I suppose before I go back to the heat and eternal sunshine. Tonight I went with Lizzie to see Luke do some baskeball refereeing which was interesting- he is actually working a job and in a tiny little striped shirt.

Goodbye, Nashville

This is my last post in Nashville. I have organised all my bags and everything is ready to go. Last night I went to Jonothans Senior Night basketball game at Goodpasture to watch them destroy this other team of kids who looked like they were only Sophomores against a 5 or 6 strong Senior class at Goodpasture. The night before the Ansteys came over with Jonothan and we talked for a while and Mama Ruth gave me some Anzac cookies in a tin! I dont know how long they will last, but as of now they are sitting in my bag so I cant get to them. I had a great time here and met so many people that I will not forget, and caught up with old friends who I hope I will see again. After this it is Utah for one more week, then time to go home to Perth.

Sunday shambles

I am now back at Old Hickory at the Nipps' and I dont think that I will be going anywhere else until I fly out on Wednesday. I have posted the pictures for the posts that were promised to have some and will now update the rest. Yesterday I went and had lunch with Eddie and Amy at Outback Steakhouse, which is a joke if any Australian were to walk in. Nevertheless, I had a good lunch and a good time catching up with Eddie after nearly 4 years. The last time I saw him was in 2002, when he came over with a Lipscomb team. It was snowing a little the whole time we ate, and afterwards we got this old lady to take a picture of us standing out the front. Well, safe to say that she could not use a camera and when we instructed her to turn it sideways to get us all in, she turned it 45 degrees and snapped away. After I was dropped off, I went to an art show on Campus and met with a lady who knows Melody Peel, who was married recently. It is indeed a very very small world. ( For those who dont know who Melody is, she came to Australia in 2001 as part of a Lipscomb mission team ) After that it was the meeting/dinner at Mazitlans. Most of the team was there, and Mark and The Ansteys turned up as well. We just found out that one of the people have dropped out, so the team is smaller already. Then it was sleep for me, I was exhausted and I drove here with Justin earlier on this afternoon after a lunch at Baja Burrito with Mark Ott.

Snowed in, Homecoming 2006

This may be the last post I make from Lipscomb, with my ever increasing need to get back to the Nipps' to get some important things done before I fly out on Wednesday. Last night I was lucky enough to experience something called the "Running of the Bison" where the crazier students of the Lipscomb run through the local streets making as much as noise as possible, hoping to get the police called. Well, mission successful in wonderful style. It was flurrying snow last night and this means people here in the south go crazy with panic about the frozen water falling from the sky. I could not get a ride out as it was deemed "too dangerous" to go anywhere too far in the weather. I did however go and do some iceskating with a few friends. It was not as fun as I thought it would be. They did not have skates in my size, but that never stopped me from going out there and falling several times. 14 in fact. There were people in the main square of Lipscomb living in a built up shantytown last night and the night before and this all ended after the Bison run in a frenzied CoC party dance thing with some fireworks to top it off. This afternoon was the Homecoming game against Jacksonville, and in typical Homecoming fashion the home team had an "easy" team to play so they could win. And win they did- 101 to 75 I think. There is one thing that I may miss if I go back- a social in the gym between the two largest dorms, Elam and High Rise. It would of been interesting to see the organised mingling of a Lipscomb social dance. Tomorrow is church at Woodmont then a lunch with Eddie Anstey.

Portland Brew

Right now I am sitting in a coffee shop that stays open til midnight- Portland Brew- and enjoying a nice cup of Earl Grey tea. The last few days have been relaxing, kind of like the calm before the storm. I spent most of yesterday reading the fifth installment of Harry Potter in the student centre at Lipscomb and then went over to Stephen and Ryans and saw Kristen Cummins again briefly. Today was more of a active day. I manged to get most of what I needed done in regard to errands and such. One good trip the Walgreens got me all the Goo Goos I needed and the postcards and other stuff. All there is to do now is get my bags together and I will be all done and ready to go back to Salt Lake. Not that I want to you see, I have been having a great time in Nashville and it is only in these last few days that people have started to come up to me more and I have had a better time talking to others. Tonight was something called Sanctuary, which was like a student lead worship thing at Woodmont. There was a band and Shapiro played guitar and people sang, standing, sitting or whatever they were comfortable with. It was amazing. Finally I have got some stable internet, so here are the pictures that I have taken over the last week for all to see. The two girls in the bottom picture are Kim, left and Sarah who will be coming on the trip to Australia later on this year.

Burning

I spent the majority of the day at Lipscomb using their Laundering facilities, getting all my dirty clothes clean for no charge. After a day of sitting around waiting for the machines to finish their job, when I got back to Royal Arms I decided to take a small walk down the road to the bank and the local mall-Green Hills. This mall makes David Jones look shabby- its full of Armani and other overpriced stuff and people who look like they just stepped out of a movie walking around. After that little trip to wonderland, I went back to Lipscomb for some dinner. After dinner they had organised some bonfire thing- I thought "great! Some burning and such". Oh no, it was a controlled bonfire with a guy doing some speaking and handouts of beanies and hotdogs and smores. It was so hot that I went inside to watch the end of the Duke vs UNC game instead. Afterward I was told that I was lucky to of recieved a beanie ( a kind friend so nicely procured one for me ) so now I have a nice LU momento. Sorry about there being no pictures, I will get to that later when I manage to go by the Nipps' computer again. Words will just have to do.

Everything in a nutshell

It has been almost a week since my last post, but I assure you all that I have a good reason for this. I left the Nipps' on Thursday morning with my bags all packed ready to go down to Atanta again and arrived at Lipscomb for the day. I spent it talking and eating with a bunch of new people who I had apparently met but I didnt know about it. After all this excitement and such, I met up with Betsy and we began our journey down to Atlanta in the midst of some patchy and foggy weather. There were some fun stretches where we could not quite see in front of us, but we made it through and got over the mountains without any problems. I had some trouble with finding somewhere to stay due to the spontaneity of the trip, so I stayed with Betsy's aunt for the time I was there. The first day I went into downtown Atlanta and walked around the Capitol and the underground and all those things that make Atlanta, Atlanta. It was good timing as if I had been there a day later, the funeral of Dr Martin Luther Kings' wife was held there- and there was no way that I would of got anywhere near the place if that had been on the Friday. Friday night was spent with Chris- on the way to a play I was dropped off at the Varsity, a old school type 1950's diner that had been around for over 60 years. We met up there and ate then went over to Georgia Tech and hung out there a while. It is amazing that while you are on the campus, you cannot even tell that you are in a huge city if not for the skyline- it is so quiet and seems really cozy with all the houses and Greek houses and such. Saturday was the day that I was to meet Debbie Jones, but never got the chance to meet up with her so I ate lunch with Betsy and her aunt and then we made our drive back to Atlanta early in the Afternoon so Betsy could catch Jonathan's basketball game out in Goodpasture. I was picked up by Mark Phillips at a Cracker Barrel halfway to their house and after saying goodbye to Betsy, I began the next part of my extended stay away from the internet. That night I went with Keller and Mark and saw 'Fun with Dick and Jane' at the cinema that Jamie's boyfriend works at, so we got 2 free tickets. It is a funny movie, especially the end- for anyone who is yet to see it.. The next day I went to Woodmont Hills with the Phillips' and I got to read the communion reading in front of all those people. It was fun, I didnt have to read from a small Bible, there were teleprompter screens on both sides of the stage making it easy. After the service alot of people kept coming up and talking to me since the whole service had suddenly realised that I wasnt American. That night I went with Keller to the Superbowl party in the Youth room at Woodmont hills. It was fun - all those screaming kids when the Steelers scored. I was going for the Seahawks only on the basis that the rest of the world seemed to want the Steelers to win. Nevertheless, the Steelers won and the room exploded with screeching. The next day I slept a little later, the dug into the 5th Harry Potter book and read until Amy picked me up and took me to Cool Springs mall where I then spent the next few hours buying things. After all that I was picked up by Chip and drove back to Lipscomb and met Amy with my bags and then hung out with my new friend Leslie for a few hours til Taylor came and got me. The rest is history, as they say. It was a crazy week, but I guess its all the more fun to tell the stories when I get back.

Donalson Youth Group

Today was a nice day where I just sat back and relaxed in between a game of ping pong. Towards the end of the day I went out with Jason to find a mug at the local Starbucks only to be told that they "did not make those" anymore. Alas, I shall have to find something else that resembles the Starbucks mug. Then after that I went with Jonathan to Donalson for the Youth group thing for an hour or so. We ate food and shot around for the most of it and later went up and did some small groups afterward. I even saw the notice board that has pictures of all the kids from Westchurch Euth on it and some old ones of the city and such. So we are definately being represented even halfway around the world. After that Jonathan decided to cash in on his tanning coupon visits and he gave me one. So I got to sit in one of those fun tanning beds. I think the experience taught me that the real sun is alot more fun and less constricting. The girls at the tanning place seemed to think it wonderful that I was from Australia too. Tomorrow I am off to Lipscomb again to eat lunch with people and then catch the ride with Betsy that will take me down to Atlanta for the weekend. If I get around a computer I will post again, if not- I shall write again on Monday or something.