Internet-LESS

Is that even a word?
Well we're going to pretend like it is for now.

We're in Tuscan, Arizona. Some days have been ridiculously boring. Others very bright! We arrived and I was planning on the condo having wifi. No such luck. How terrible. Then I find ethernet cables, so I'm thinking, "Ok wired is better than nothing." $9.95 for 24 HOURS! How dumb! So we traveled around Tuscan looking for a place with free wifi. We finally found this skanky Mexican restaurant in the Ghetto. I'm not even kidding. It was the Ghetto! Bars on the windows, gangsters in the streets, and high chain-link fence complete with razor wire at the top! Scary right?!

So finally I broke my parents down and convinced them to buy a connection for at least one day. So here I am. I have 23.5 hours! lol

I can't really focus for some reason. I think its because there's so much I haven't done on the internet lately...

Anyways yesterday I saw the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight. It was phenomenal! I definitely suggest it!

That's all I got... I'll post a more substantial blog later today...

God Bless

Family Vacation

I wanted to try to do a video blog for this one. I finally figured out how to use the built-in webcam on my laptop and want to start v-blogging. I recorded one, but realized I was talking to softly because I'm in a hotel lobby. I might try and find a vending machine room somewhere later and record another...
Anyways, we're in Colorado [I think.]. I was under the impression that we were flying to Denver, CO and doing some sight seeing there then getting back on a plane and flying to Tulsa, Arizona. We did no such thing. We rented a car and we're driving the rest of the way to Arizona. BOOOOORING! Today we went and saw Pike's Peak and Royal Gorge. Pike's Peak was cool... I'll try and post some pictures once I go through them.
My search for a vending machine room will ensue now.

God Bless

Nightmare in Atlanta Airport

So here's my airport story:

I was flying home on Sunday. The original plan was to arrive at the Regan Airport around 12:30PM and then my flight would leave there at 2:05PM. Then I would fly to Atlanta, Georgia and get a connecting flight from Atlanta to St. Louis, Missouri at 4:15PM. Then I was supposed to be picked up by my older sister.

This is what actually happened.

I arrived at the Regan airport between 12 and 12:30PM. Good so far. I get there and I meet up with some of the students that were also flying home. The only problem is their flight was delayed. I thought, 'Oh no big deal... Mine will be fine.' I now realize that that fact was a BAD OMEN for my flight.

My flight to Atlanta was delayed. At first they said that it was just going to be an hour. Then it turned into five hours. So I boarded the plane around 7PM. Then after I got all excited that I was finally going to get to leave the Regan airport finally, we sat on the plane on the tarmac for nearly 2 hours! Finally the pilot informed us that we were going to get to take off. Everyone started clapping and cheering.

We arrived an hour and a half later at the airport in Atlanta. Obviously I missed my connecting flight to St. Louis. So I was informed I had to go to gate C21 and get rebooked. So I did that and the quickest flight I could get was a midnight flight. I booked it because I just wanted to go home. Well I go to gate C18 to wait to board the plane. Then we find out the flight is going to be delayed to 2:50AM. By this time I just don't care anymore. I just want to get away from this airport.

2:00AM comes around and I am informed that our plane was moved to a different gate. So everyone got up and moved to the new location. We sat there for about 40 minutes and then were told that the flight attendants were going to be late. So they pushed our flight back to 3:10AM. Well I immediately found this to be a bad sign. I was just telling the person sitting on the floor next to me about my gut feeling, and there was an announcement over the gate intercom. Our flight had been cancelled.

Honestly I could have cried. But I don't cry, and I didn't see the point. Well then they told me that I had to go to the Customer Service desk to rebook again. Now let me tell you about the line at the Customer Service desk. It had approximately 500 people in it. I talked to one guy in line and he told me that he'd been waiting for over 3 hours and he wasn't even close to halfway through.

So I'm getting more and more frustrated trying every avenue of hope I can possibly find. Finally I'm told that there isn't going to be a flight to ILLINOIS period (let alone St. Louis) until 10PM TUESDAY! I was close to insanity. So I hear that there are some people renting cars and driving to their destinations. I decided that that would be a surer bet to hitchhike rather than wait for a flight.

I go around the airport asking around, trying to find someone who is going to or through Illinois. Finally I find a group of people that are driving to Bloomington, IL. I give them my cell number and they promise to call me when they find a car. I decided that I should also find someone else as a back-up plan in case I never get a call from the Bloomington people. So I give my cell number out to two more groups of people, one of which was driving to St. Louis.
The St. Louis people were the only one's that ended up calling. I told them I was ready to leave whenever they were, so we took off in our newly rented Mercury Sable. That whole experience is dead to me. The ride was not enjoyable. I'm stopping at that though so I don't say something I shouldn't. I made it to Carbondale, Illinois only an hour behind my friends... Basically I hitchhiked from Georgia to Illinois! At least that's what I like to tell everyone!!! lol

This is the group of people I 'hitchhiked' with.

Final Take: Washington DC

My trip to Washington DC was fun, relaxing, and interesting. I really enjoyed being able to go out there and visit Bryan. I can't wait for him to get home so we can start hanging out again. The whole experience was GREAT! I met new people, made new friends, and developed new addictions.
First time things that happened at DC:
1) Jesse, a new friend that I met out there, asked me if I wanted to go to Starbucks to get coffee with him one day. I informed him that I had never been to a Starbucks before, and he was appalled! He did his classic, "Oh no you didn't!" facial expression, and then informed me, "that I couldn't call myself an American anymore." He and I went, and I ordered something without coffee in it, because I wanted to work myself into it. It was vanilla frappachino of some sort. It was very good! Then he and I went to this little park and drank our Starbucks while talking about church and God. I think I'm now addicted to Starbucks. More info on that later...

2) This was my first time going out of state without my family. It felt almost liberating! I really enjoyed the ride up there with Lorree, Autumn, and Courtney. It was a blast and I hope I have many more roadtrips in the future of this nature. The trip home was interesting to say the least... I'll post an entire blog about that because it was that interesting.

PICTURE TIME!


Arlington National Cemetery

Changing of the Guard - Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Metro! I LOVED riding this.

For Monica! This was at the World War II Memorial.

Our Group with the Washington Monument in background - Courtney, Lorree, me, and Autumn

I'm not sure what memorial this is...

Abe Lincoln himself!

Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool (Forrest Gump was nowhere to be found...)

White House from the back - Wasn't really all that impressive...

Iwo Jima Monument - My Favorite
Well seeing as I just got home, I'm going to take a shower, and then a little nap. I'm going to the county fair with Jos, Mark, and possibly Lindsay. I'll post more tomorrow!

Bryan:
Thank you SO MUCH for the amazing vacation. I can't wait for you to be back home!

God Bless

Quick Check-In:

Hey guys:
I just wanted to check in with everyone. I'm at Southern Illinois University right now for a [C]hrist [I]n [Y]outh Conference...
I just wanted to let you all know that I have a nightmare-ish story for you all when I have a lot of time to tell you how my flight went. :D More on that later...

Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well and I will try and get on later for a longer blog!

God Bless

WLC: Changing Lives.

The whole reason behind my visit to Washington DC is to:

1) Visit a good friend who took a summer job here.

2) To take a vacation.

3) Just to relax and have fun!

In addition I have:

1) Went sight seeing.

2) Made new friends that are AMAZING.

3) Grown as a person.

This weekend was supposed to be a little vacation. Just get away and do nothing but hang out with my buddy, Bryan. This, however, is not what happened. I have witnessed events that can be immensely life-changing. The conference that Bryan works for is preparing teens every week to become authentic leaders that can change the world.

This may sound cheesy, but I have taken so much out of just simply standing on the sidelines.

As I mentioned I met a new friend from California. I can't even begin to describe the impact that Jesse has had on my life already. And I don't plan on losing touch with him after this weekend...

Anyways I gotta head out. I'm going to go and hang out with Jesse before he leaves early tomorrow morning to fly back to Cali.

Tomorrow I fly back to St. Louis, MO and get rested up for CIY all this coming week. I would like to ask you all to pray for me as I fly tomorrow by myself for the first time. And also be praying that God opens doors and convicts hearts next week!

Thanks and...

God Bless

Lights. Camera. ACTION!

Guys. I can't even begin to describe how much fun I'm having right now!

I'm meeting so many new people. Making friends, hanging out with old (but GOOD) friends. I'm walking ALL OVER Washington DC, snapping pictures being myself, and really just having an all around good time!

I met this new friend. His name is Jesse; he's from California. He has a real PASSION for working with kids/teens. He is really cool. He has this saying, "Everything happens for a reason." I truly believe that God put Jesse in the path that represents my life for a reason. I'm not sure what yet. I'm unsure if I'm supposed to minister to him or if he's ministering to me. Or both! I will say that he has already impacted my life.

Anyways:

I'm going to be coming away from this trip with SO MANY stories. It's crazy. But right now I want to share a quick story with you that is my favorite so far:

Ok. Picture this=the four of us have been driving in a car for 14 hours. We're tired and I feel EXTREMELY skanky. I really want to go take a shower, but we wanted to see Bryan.

So we arrive at the hotel and we go to the ballroom doors and wait there for Bryan to get out of a session. There's kids and adults hangin out outside the ballroom also. Suddenly I realize that there's this tall gangly guy kind of circling the group of us and he keeps looking at me...

I start to discreetly watch him to try and figure out what the heck is going on. Then suddenly he comes up to me and says, "Hey, I need your help with something. Can you come with me?" Well I'm tired, not thinking, and just wanted to be helpful so I oblige and follow him. I was a little panicked that I just walked away with a stranger in a VERY forgein city. Anyway, I follow him into a big room with about 6 people in it. They are all in a back corner. And there's a video camera (thus the blog's name). Well I then realized that the person who had grabbed me (who ended up being Jesse), thought I was a student partaking in the conference. The problem is that they're video taping someone so I can't inform Jesse that I'm not a student. I didn't know what to do...

So it comes my turn to sit in the chair and be taped. What they were doing was this script thing. Like one guy was reading off lines of a script and I had to repeat the line and use emotion. Then they used lines from all the different students they video taped. So I just start following the directions I was given and Bryan walks in. I couldn't help it; I just started laughing on camera. Then Bryan was like, "Guys, he's not a student. This is Jordan. My friend from back home that I've been telling you about." Then all of them start laughing hysterically. They're like, "Jordan, why didn't you tell us?!" I didn't know what to say.

So anyways, that was really funny... I don't know if it is as funny to read, but it was REALLY funny to live!!!

Linky to VIDEO

God Bless