Stardate: -316640.71

I guess it's easy to figure out that I like black and white photography when I post a black and white picture of Crater Lake, easily one of the bluest lakes in the world, especially on a day like this one.

Bethany and I went camping there with Vjera and Eddie a couple weekends ago. We camped on Diamond Lake, which in its own right is a very good lake, then spent the next day driving most of the way around the rim of the more famous one. We had a good time, definitely helped by the fact that both Bethany and I like taking pictures. There's not a whole lot to do at Crater Lake except look at it and marvel at its blueness.

Bethany and I also spent a day at the Oregon Coast visiting my friend Krysten from Life. She was staying with her grandparents in Waldport. We spent hours talking to her, telling her the story of our friendship, and took a walk on a foggy beach. What fog lacks in beauty, it gains in surreality.

I went to orientation at George Fox Evangelical Seminary last week, which was a mostly boring two hours interrupted by a hilarious librarian and punctuated with heartfelt, brief addresses by a good portion of the faculty. Everyone seems very intent to challenge us spiritually and emotionally and not just academically, which is refreshing at an institution of higher education.

I have registered for seven credits, and might add another class if I can fit it into my schedule. I don't know if carpooling is going to work out as well as I had hoped, but in any event, one day a week is very manageable, especially when my car gets good gas mileage.

Stardate: -316596.01

Having recently found out that I will probably have no games during the month of August, the most recent question imperative for me to answer is, what exactly am I going to do with my free time?

On the one hand, though I have had a couple brief stints of temporary work during the last three months, I'm not exactly excited to do more right now. Perhaps that is because of the reality of starting at seminary in just over four weeks, and the accompanying shift of focus that means. Also, I don't want to look for a new job, though there are certainly advantages to having something more consistent than I do right now. I'm going to be full-time at seminary, and that means I won't be full-time at work.

What remains is to make use of the time in other ways. I read a lot, more than I have at any point since I came back to Oregon. It's no secret that I spend a lot of time with Bethany. However, the new thing that I want to jump start is writing. If it is a gift that I possess, I need to start developing it; and there's no reason to wait for seminary to do that for me. Blogging is good, and I hope to post more than I have recently. But I have a suspicion that blogging is just the tip of the iceberg for me.

It's highly unlikely that all of the things I write about will end up in blog posts. But rest assured, those of you who are faithful readers have a front row seat, so keep your eye on profundus sententia (link is on the sidebar).