Posted 3:06 AM by Robert
Happy Leap Day! You probably think I've forgotten about this. And you've probably done the same. I've been wanting to update this for a while, but I keep running out of time. A big reason is because I've spent a lot of time playing Tetris on my cell phone. I just got to level 10, with a score of over 27,000 points, my new record.

I said I was going to explain why I hate Valentine's Day, so I'm finally going to do that now. The basic reason is out of bitterness -- it's always been pretty lonely for me. I've never really had a date for a day that emphasizes love. But that's the second reason I don't like it. There's so much value placed in it that people seem to forget that love is an everyday thing. It's like we have to make a grand gesture on Valentine's Day to show our loved one's how we should always feel. Love in any form is supposed to be celebrated every day, but people seem to forget that and focus all their energy on February 14. And because of companies like Hallmark, love isn't just limited to 24 hours -- it's also commercialized. Now, love can be measured by the number of flowers, the size of a teddy bear, or the price of a card. I realize I'm overexaggerating a bit, but my point is that most people just don't get it. They spend Valentine's Day working to earn someone's love, but love isn't something that can be earned. It can only be given and received; it can only be felt. My best friend Chris put it this way: "It makes the people in love even more in love, and the lonely people even lonelier."

So that's why I don't like Valentine's Day. But that was two weeks ago, and life goes on. This past week for me has been pretty eventful, which I will now discuss, beginning with part one:

Starting with last Friday (the 20th), a bunch of us went to one of our fellow dormmate's house in Normal. There was Craig, Korean Dan, A.C. (my new roommate, who just moved in two weeks ago), myself, and Dan, whose house we went to. He cooked a fantastic meal for us, and then we rented "The Golden Child," starring Eddie Murphy. It was just a great night of hanging out and having a great time with friends. The weekend was pretty normal -- I spent it doing homework, sleeping, doing laundry, and watching TV. On Monday, we had a test in my Pentateuch class (in case you're wondering, the Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible). But our professor didn't feel like grading any more tests, so he gave the class a group test. Assuming we all did the reading assignments, we received a 99 on it (out of 100). My classes were pretty standard on Tuesday, though there were some great episodes of "Scrubs" and "24" that night. Also, my mouth really started to hurt, and it still does. I think it's my wisdom teeth -- it's the third time since October that this has happened, and if this is like the last two times, it should feel better in a couple days. But I'm starting to think that I'll need to have them pulled this summer, when school's out and I have time to recuperate.

My former roommate and best friend Chris came down to visit on Wednesday, because we had a major concert event on our tiny little campus. David Crowder was here, along with Paul Wright and Telecast. It was awesome -- the concert rocked my socks, and we had a great time. Before the concert, Chris took off his pants (he was wearing gym shorts underneath them), and we hung them from the balcony in the chapel, where a group of us were sitting. We spent a good portion of the night asking each other, "Are those pants? Hey, are those pants?" The bands on stage never saw them, but some of our fellow students got a kick out of seeing them hanging there.

Thursday was a big day, which is going to require a separate post. But I would like to conclude this one with something that I've been thinking about the last several days. You'll recall that I came to the conclusion that I didn't really like this girl, just the possibility that she liked me at some point. Slowly but surely, I'm getting over her and moving on, accepting the fact that she totally ignores me and nothing will ever happen. Of course, there's still a part of me that wants the attention. Which led me to a thought: why should a girl I barely know mean so much to me? I've turned it over and over in my head, and I realized that there is no answer to it. There is no reason that she should mean anything to me, except for her being a sister in Christ. I know I wasn't attracted to her as a person, because I don't know her that well. And there's no way I could be attracted to her unless I got to know her better. The fact that I've come to this conclusion doesn't change anything for me, it's just an observation. Remember, a relationship is based on people, not just feelings.

The words of a song I started writing over two months ago are imitating reality:

"You're just a girl that I once knew,
No need to think that I belong with you.
You're just a girl that I can see
Anywhere except my dreams."