Discovered, finally!

So there is this communal news organization that operates a lot like wikipedia called NowPublic. They emailed me about using one of my photos to accompany a story by the associated press on wild horses. They chose one of my pictures of the horses from Shackleford Banks to put in their slideshow. Check it out and be proud of me, alright?
(Go to my flickr and scroll down.)

Bing, bang, bong.

I am about to embark upon a 4-month journey of musical toil and triumph. I am scared, excited, and determined. May the creative juices flow and may I truly learn to tickle the ivories.

Motorcycle/Everything Diary: Part Deux

A lot of really great things have happened to me over the past 3 weeks. It is kind of difficult to try and sum them up in a paragraph, but here is the feeble attempt.

As soon as camp was finished I drove nine hours to the outer banks. It was here that I was sweetly reunited with my family and the family of my brother's girlfriend. My two and a half days there consisted of an 8 mile sailboat excursion to the core banks (solo on the sunfish), kayaking, fresh crab trapped of our dock, and a sweet bike ride with my sister. Here is a pic of the wild horses that are on Shackleford Banks, which is about a 15 minute boat ride from my house.

After the OBX I drove to Raleigh and flew to Philadelphia to spend a week with aubren, dan and kyrie. We took a day to New York which consisted of a really sketchy bus ride on the China Town bus , really great food, really really great art, and priceless fellowship. Pics:
Then to top it all off, when I returned home I drove up to Greenville, SC and purchased Dorothy Robin. No, I am not supporting human trafficking, because Dorothy is not a human being. Dorothy is a 1972 Honda CL 500. Aka, the coolest motorcycle in the world. I will be using this as my primary mode of transportation at school; my car will be parked somewhere far away where I don't have to pay for a parking sticker. See you there. Oh and rides are free.

Motorcycle Diary: Part 1

So today was a very good day for a number of reasons. This morning I woke up and drove to Pickens, SC two accomplish two things. I had to get a new driver's license made before Monday because in order to board a plane you have to have a valid form of I.D. Since my old driver's license had separated into 3 different pieces, it no longer fit that description. So I needed a new license and I also had to take my motorcycle permit test to receive my motorcycle license. Two hours and $6.50 after arriving I drove away with two shiny new pieces of plastic in my wallet. With that finished, I only have to lay hands on an actual motorcycle. Here is a picture of the one that is starting to look optimistic in terms of me owning it.Man oh man I can almost taste it.

Finish Line

I'm five days away from leaving my summer home. Being at Ridge Haven has been two solid months of blessings and I am sad to leave it again. I haven't really sorted out all of my mind's thoughts about the summer and how it has changed/affected me yet, but I do know that God has used this summer to mold me into a more recognizable likeness of his image. The distance between the two is still incalculably vast, but nonetheless I am encouraged.

A week from Monday I will be flying from Raleigh to Philly to be with Danboy, Sienna, and Kyrie. It will be a time of excitement and discovery, filled with adventures and shenanigans.

Lord of the Dance.

The coolest thing happened to me this week. This week MTW has it's re-entry conference for missionaries who have been on assignment for a long time. They come back to America and come straight to Ridge Haven to de-brief and acclimate themselves to an American lifestyle again. The junior high and senior high mk's are in cabins, and there are only 12 of them. I and one other counselor have 2 and 4 guys each, respectively, and the same with the girls. On Wednesday night Ridge Haven had a hoedown at the recreation shelter for the missionary families. The dancing was pretty sweet. I have a kid from South Africa and another from the Ukraine, and boy could the break it down. The counselors taught everyone the 16 step and the 32 step, both really cool line dances. After a while though, I really felt the spirit lead and I broke off from the group and went off into a corner and started to dance by myself. After about one hour I was soaked with sweat, bleary eyed grinning like a monkey. It felt soo good to just flail about with no objective and no audience, just letting the beat move me and in turn allowing my soul to be moved. I called upon the wise words of Chris Tucker,

"Free your mind and yo' booty WILL follow."

Oh if he only knew how accurate he was. Anyways, all of this to let you know that I danced really really hard for all told maybe an hour and ten minutes. I would have loved to dance more but something amazing happened. Something unthinkable. By far the most honorable and dazzling feat I have ever achieved.

I passed out.

That's right, I literally danced til I dropped. I wasn't aware of it until I was looking up at the concerned faces of Rachel and Megan. There eyes communicated concern, but even more they were shouting jealousy and admiration. They helped me to my feet and I teetered over to a picnic table, where I promptly downed two bottles of water. I guess I was sweating so much that I became dizzy and then unconscious from dehydration. After drinking the water and sitting still for a little, I got back on my feet and two-stepped/bottydanced/windmilled myself into oblivion till the night was over.

The only part of this story that is fabricated is that Rachel and Megan (fellow counselors) weren't at all impressed. They pretty much said I was really weird for actually being impressed with myself. I promptly re-assured them that they would never understand why it was awesome that I had passed out, and as a result of that lack of understanding they would never ever be able to really dance their heart out.

What fools they are. DANCE!

Sand, seaweed, and really good food.

Three things that are a part of a Kendall family beach week. An offshore tropical storm spun up a bunch of seaweed that has made it's way to the seashore. The aunt's and uncle's cooking is pleasing. And the sand is a beautiful contrasting white to the green-blue of the sea. I am very happy to be here, but it's not quite right without the bro. Go here for more pictures:

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