Where to begin. It has been quite some time since my last blog. I decided that since the people who are most interested in the blog were those surrounding me over the summer, I would take a short break. Many things have changed since the last post. Then, I was sitting in my dorm room at UNCG wondering what my future had in store. I had been accepted to Marshall University, but still did not know what I wanted to do. Well it turned out that Marshall is the place God had in store for me. I am now here, completely moved in. I leave behind a year of many memories. It was fun, but I knew very early on that UNCG was not the place for me. I did not have a very good educational experience with the professors and I felt like I could do a lot more with my college experience by changing schools. I did not go out as m much last year and felt like my college experience was held back. I now am doing what I want to be doing in a place where I can already tell I fit in ten times better. I was planning on majoring in Broadcast Journalism, but I have changed that to my minor and will be majoring in Sports Management and Marketing. It offers a lot more opportunities upon graduation and was very appealing to me. I am already loving the campus at Marshall and all it has to offer. I spent most of my first day chilling with my RA and checking out the campus. I am really pumped to see what this school has to offer once everything gets into full swing. If the first day is like any of the rest, this is going to blow my first year of college out of the water and some. I am really excited to get going and will try and keep the blog up as often as possible.

Well that is a brief summary of what is going on in the educational aspect of my world. This summer, on the other hand, was one for the ages and I would not have had it any other way. I cannot remember the last time I had that much fun with all of my friends in a long time. I do not believe I stayed at my house even a full month total out of the entire summer. I was always doing something with my friends and found myself very rarely being at home. I will miss all my friends now that I am in West Virgina, but I will be staying in touch and I will do it all over again next summer. Hope everyone is doing okay and I will continue to post as regularly as possible. God Bless!!!!

Hopefully Not The Last

As time progressed, this blogs inconsistency progressed right along with it. I am now sitting in the most baron dorm room I could imagine with the realization that at the time I am writing this blog tomorrow, I will be home for the summer. It all began with the move in that everyone looks forward to. I finally got to meet the roommate I had been speaking with all summer and begin the new chapter of my life. It turned out that it was going to be the best chapter that I can remember to this day. I met people that I never thought I would meet and built relationships that will last until I depart from this earth. It was the most emotional roller coaster that I have ever been on and I will cherish every rough and smooth spot that went along with it. I made a lot better grades up here in college than I did back in high school and I credit that to my peers who were constantly there for me every step of the way throughout this first year. I have made memories that will last a lifetime and I cannot wait to build onto those next year. There is one thing that I will hold onto for the rest of my life that I have taken from this year and it is not something I learned in class or from reading a textbook. This lesson comes straight from the book of life. Mary-Neil Jackson wrote me a card shortly after we began dating and the only thing it said on the front of it was that "Everything Happens For A Reason"! There was a note on the inside that put this into the greatest perspective I could have imagined. I will always remember that note and as I go through life I will always remember that no matter how terrible a situation may go or when it seems as though nothing is going my way, it is all happening for a reason. I cannot think her enough for opening my eyes and putting into action this simple little phrase that is uttered on such a consistent basis. I am now heading into summer break and looking forward to spending time with my friends that I have not seen since high school and getting my voice back on the radio. I cannot let Mr. Bobby Lineberger from church down as in his eyes I have become the "Voice of Mooresville." I do not see myself in that light, but I will accept his compliments and appreciate the fact he listens to the broadcast. Well this is the last time I will be blogging on campus for the year and I plan to continue this next year. Summer will be tough but if I can manage a little time I may throw a tid-bit in here or there. Thanks to all those who have been reading and look forward to hearing from me on a regular basis. It means more than you think that you guys all take the time to read about what I have going on. God Bless!!

It Happens

The world is yet to be figured out by anyone, and I am probably the farthest one away from finding any answers. Everything that I could possibly imagine not going right seems to be happening. I constantly wonder when things are going to smooth out and get back on that wonderful path that they were once on. I have spent a good bit of time pondering by myself attempting to figure out why god has presented me with so many difficult scenarios this semester, but I cannot conjure an answer. To this day I have managed to get through all of these circumstances, but it has not been easy. It seems as though I am breaking through one situation and then another one is appearing. It is taking its tole on me and I am trying to stay as positive minded about it as possible. I am getting through everything with prayer ans the help of those around me and I know all will work out well. I have been very tired of late this weekend did not help. I tried to stay as busy as possible all weekend to keep my mind off of everything that has been and is still going on. I do not like my problems to drag those around me down so I attempt to keep a positive attitude around my peers. I am ready for all of the frustrations to be gone and relax for the first time in a while. After this weekend I was satisfied that I manged to keep myself busy and was able to make a few new friends along the way. It was the first time in a few weeks that I was able to get out and get my mind off of everything. I am not trying to scare those of you who read this, I have just had a lot going on in the world of Patrick as of late. I am ready to get exams started and head home for summer to enjoy myself and put all of these issues in the past. I am not a person to hold onto things so once it has all passed over it will just be another one of those things that I can say I made it through.
Now to fill in on what has been going on in my world. I know Debby has been getting on me about not blogging so I found a little time to get one in here. As we all know the Tarheels are National Champions again. That is said with great pride and joy. I have been very busy with school, but I am proud to announce that my grades are quite solid and I calculated my GPA the other day and it has gone up since last semester. I am getting ready for exams in the upcoming weeks and have managed to get all of my work done so that I have some time this week to attempt to build up some energy for the long hours I will be pulling next week getting all of my studies in. It has been the shorter of the two semesters, but it is now dragging out with all of the other things I have going on besides school. It has been a year full of memories and I have met some very significant people who mean the world to me this semester. I often wonder what would have happened if I had not been placed here at UNCG. I know I would not be sitting here typing this blog and I probably would be a very different person than I am now. I have grown a lot and changed a lot at the same time over the course of this year. I am still the same old Patrick that everyone knows I have just been through many new things that have given me a different outlook on life and a different outlook on many things than I had prior to the school year. My whole world changed the minute I stepped foot on this campus back in June for orientation and it has been an adventure since that day. I would not trade one second of this adventure for the world though. Every hard time and every laugh that I have shared with anyone at this school has made me a stronger person and made me grow. I have a different perspective on a lot of things because of the influences I have been around here at school. There is one constant that will never change and that is my faith in God. I go to him on a daily basis for guidance and without him would not have been able to make it through this first year. "Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5). This is the answer to all of the questions that I have had in that first paragraph. I feel that everything happens for a reason much like my girlfriend Mary-Neil has always told me. I was not able to make it home for Easter and I was very upset, but I now know that i was supposed to go to church with Ashley Hastings that morning and hear this bible verse. It has helped me cope with my struggles even though they still exist. I know that everything will work out in its own time, even if it is not when I want it too. I know this blog has been slightly sporadic at times, but this is what has been going on for about the past month. God Bless!!

It has been a while!!

For those it may concern, I am still alive. I have not had the time, much less the energy, to blog for about a week now. For a brief overview I am now working at Hollister, I am beginning to referee some more games, I have not played soccer in forever, the Tarheels are in the final four, and Mary-Neil and I are doing great. All is well in the world of Patrick. I have been busy with a consistent load of school work and extracurricular activities. I have been working diligently and now have a second job to go along with my school work and volunteering. The last tine I blogged was well over a week ago so it is almost impossible for me to inform you of everything I have been up to. Last weekend I went down to UNCW for the weekend to spend some time with my friend Ben. I went home to Mooresville on Friday, picked up Mark Talbot, and hit the road for five hours in order to get to the beach. We had a great weekend hanging out and catching up with one another. When I returned it was time to get back in the groove of school. I had a quiz on Monday and a speech I have to give this Friday. It has been a busy week with preparing for all of that work. I also have a Junior Achievement class that I began teaching last Friday and will be working with every Friday until the semester is over. Last week went amazing and I am looking forward to working with my class again this Friday. Today I had my busy day with five classes. It went by relatively quick and I am now going to relax for the rest of the night. I just went to the soccer stadium and ran the steps in order to make sure I am staying in shape for soccer. I am beginning to get frustrated with the fact that all of my games are getting cancelled, but I know I will be at the tournaments as I already asked off of work. I am looking forward to this semester being over so I can get back home and on the radio for some Legion Baseball an take a few nice vacations. I hope everyone is glad to hear I am still breathing. God Bless!!

Relaxing Weekend

It seems as though it has been a considerable amount of time since I last checked in. The weekend brought the post spring break week to an end. The week went by much quicker than I had anticipated it would, but I am not complaining. Friday brought my trio of morning classes and then it was time to relax and move on from the recovery week. Tim, Justin, and I ran to the bank and then Tim and I went to the mall for a little while to wind down from the week. While there Tim and i entered Hollister to check on the sales. Upon exiting I had been asked if I would like to interview for a job. I had applied back before Christmas break and was not hired. This time it was not my decision to apply. I was approached by one of the managers and then received a phone call again from her today ensuring that I would be at the interview tomorrow. From the looks of things I am going in quite confidently to this interview. I was approached and asked to apply so if I do not receive the job, I will be upset and surprised. After the mall trip Tim and I drove up over to Bryan Park where we watched the Carolina women's soccer team, who won the National Title, take on a team from the new women's professional league. We came back and I relaxed for the rest of the night. Saturday was supposed to bring along with it a soccer game but due to some adverse field circumstances that game has been rescheduled. Mary-Neil and I spent the day together running around Greensboro and watching basketball. We each have a bracket in her mom's pool so we are having a fun little competition amongst ourselves to see who will do better. That was the extent of the day. I slept in until noon so once we were done at the mall and watching basketball it was considerably late. Sunday meant the arrival of my parents and finally, a soccer game. Mary-Neil spent the day with us as we went to get my hair cut, had my soccer game, and went shopping for some groceries for my dorm room. Those groceries were much needed since I have not had any since the week before spring break began. After all of those events we went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. As always, it was a delicious meal. It was great spending the day with my family and girlfriend all together. I also found out this weekend that I may have the privilege of having Mary-Neil go to the Outer Banks with me for a week over the summer. This was very exciting news and I am very hopeful that all works out and she is able to go. That concluded the weekend for me. My parents dropped us back off at the dorm and headed for Mooresville. Today I got up and went to class as usual then came back to my room to type my Freshman Seminar blog. Once that was completed I went to soccer where we played full field for the first time all semester. It was of course the day after I had played a game of my own. Since we won our game 10-0 and only played about 15 minutes of the second half it was not too bad. Then it was time for Freshman Seminar where we had another guest speaker. Afterwards Tim and I went to dinner at the cafeteria and then came back to my room and relaxed until my intramural soccer game. I had ti play keeper and my team is not all that string so that was interesting to say the least. Of course I got hit in the face and have a major headache now, but that comes with the territory. I got a good bit of work done tonight, including most of my BCN 102 quiz study guide and looked over my Junior Achievement material for this Friday. I am going to try and get some sleep before my eight a.m. dance class now. God Bless!!

Record Breaking Day

Arising before the sun again was as upsetting as it was on Tuesday. Little did I know, the day was going to turn out excellent. I went to dance at eight o'clock as usual where we had our exam and presentations of our dances. It went very well and I feel I did excellent on both the written and presentational sections of the exam. Afterwards, having risen before the sun, I returned to my room, and once again slept until noon. Dad called and asked me if I was going to the Carolina game at the coliseum and I had not made up my mind yet. When he called I was in the process of contemplating whether or not I was going to attempt to acquire tickets. His call was motivation to head for the game. I arrived at the coliseum, parked my car, and bought a 65 dollar ticket off of a scalper for 35 dollars. It was a steal, and I was in the gate. It was now time to relax for a while, by myself, and enjoy some quality basketball. I took numerous pictures and enjoyed the game immensely. I am looking forward to watching the rest of the championship run by my Tarheels and claiming that I went to a tournament game the year they won the title. After the game I headed back to school, changed my clothes, and headed for Urban Ministry to volunteer. I volunteered from six until nine then returned back to school. I got a quality spot in the baseball lot and was excited I did not have to walk too far to get back. As soon as I got in my room Mary-Neil called for me to park her car. I park her car for her on a regular basis and I am fine with that because I do not want her to have to walk across campus alone at night. Only problem tonight was that I had to park mine and hers car back to back. I parked it and returned to my room where I have been messing around on my computer. I am now going to watch some more basketball and go to bed. God Bless!!

Much Better Day!!

After my dreadful day yesterday, today was as good as anyone could have asked for. I had all five of my classes which was welcomed for a change. By having all of my classes I was able to keep my mind focused on school and not wonder of into thought about other things like I have been doing of late. It was a busy day that began with Communications. We spoke in front of the class about our favorite childhood cartoon and then discussed how to prepare our informative speech which will be given within the next few weeks. It was then off to take my BCN 100 quiz which I feel pretty confident about. After I finished Mary-Neil and I went and grabbed a bite to eat before I headed back for my BCN 102 class. After 102 I returned to my room and relaxed for a little while before going to soccer. Soccer was excellent due to the superb weather and great field conditions. We played a half-field length scrimmage and for the first time I actually worked up a sweat in that class. Once class was over it was time to head to Freshman Seminar and turn in the Virtual Community paper we have been working on for some time. For the first time this semester the class went by relatively quickly. We had a guest speaker and she did a great job of keeping us entertained and used a lot of class interaction to keep us focused. We all went to eat dinner after class and then it was back to my room where I have been ever since. I worked out on my own in my room for a little while and watched the Bobcats game. Tomorrow I will begin watching the NCAA Tournament intently until its conclusion. I am aiming for the top prize in Debby's pool this year. Almost forgot, yesterday I applied to Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. I now have an application in there and at Chapel Hill. We will see what happens with those two applications and find out where I will be headed next year. I have not had the greatest experience here at UNCG and need a change of scenery. I am pleased that today was a better day and I now have to get to sleep so I can awake in the morning and have enough energy to perform my dance in class for a grade. It is going to be interesting, but I believe I have got the hang of it after a few minutes of practice in the Pit with Kendall this afternoon. Hope all is well. God Bless!!