A Warm Kind of Cold

It's cold.

Like, really cold.

20 degrees and snowing cold.

And I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Honestly, it's really nice to be home. I can hear the familiar sounds of Fox Soccer Channel emanating from the living room, Dad's occasional shouts of joy when United score another goal. I've spent the last two days stepping on thousands of Lego pieces in the basement as I try to maneuver to the counter for some Minecrafting with the little bros. I've been curling up by the fire to watch classic Christmas movies, mashing buttons and talking smack in front of the old GameCube, and just laying back in bed, listening to the sounds of the house at night. It's honestly the most relaxing feeling. I've been in need of this after two consecutive all-nighters during finals week. I love listening to Dad yell about his soccer game, Jared and Seth throwing clever banter back and forth, Luke chiming in with all of the wisdom of a seven-year-old, and Mom just trying to get everyone to the dinner table. What a wonderful cacophony. 

At the same time, it's weird not being home. I wake up in the middle of the night, hungry for some ramen, expecting to hear the familiar sound of Sherlock listening to his evening dubstep. I jump out of bed, expecting a fall but hitting the ground instantly. Then I remember I'm not on a bunk bed, tucked away in the basement of South Hall. The sights and sounds I've grown accustomed to have been replaced. The constant presence of the people I call my family has completely disappeared. I miss bro time with Tater and Curly. I miss having early-morning meetings with my freshmen chapel leaders. I miss watching Doctor Who and making ALL the references with Sierra. I miss late-night gaming with Sherlock. I miss Mal-Mal's constant adorable giggling. I somehow even miss Erin and Krajecki's incessant screaming (I mean, to a point). 

Add to that the fact that my entire biological family is busy (my dad works, my mom teaches, and my brothers still have a full week of school) and bingo! I'm bored as heck. Even my friends at Calvin College still have three days of exams. 

It's weird living in two different worlds. 

But hey. I'm home, and in a few weeks, I'll be home again. 

It's time, I believe, for a Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters smackdown. May the best player win (likely by unplugging the other players' controllers)! 

Song for this post: Carol of the Bells by The Piano Guys. Because I can never resist a good string piece. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9GtPX6c_kg&list=PLETuopLfmKSOb-nLxMHGa0tOLUjCGanEs

Laterz, people. Nathan out. 

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

How To Survive Finals Week Fatigue (Without Coffee)

Are you in need of motivation? Running low on energy? Coffee just not doing it for you any more? Finals Week can be hard on your focus and mental drive, but we've got you covered. The Road Goes Ever On and On brings you ten great songs to keep you energized and on task!

1. Europa- Globus (Instrumental)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6uX0MWetHA

2. Star Trek- Enterprising Young Men
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FapcoqvfkNQ

3. Europe- The Final Countdown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG7wB3G-xp0

4. The Lord of the Rings- Full Soundtrack (Because why not?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPJT12-wrCY

5. Pokemon- Theme Song (Season 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqXlSwBIHFc

6. Starship- Get Back Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyyrWmWqQN8

7. John Williams- Raider's March (from Indiana Jones)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bTpp8PQSog

8. Doctor Who- I Am the Doctor (Season 5 Theme)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D-QPDGhCtM

9. StarCraft II- Heaven's Devils (Terran Theme)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXWy7hcf2pY

And of course, no list would be complete without....

10. Dropkick Murphys- Cadence to Arms/Do or Die
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_46MsHe3XU

Hang in there, folks! Just a few days to go!

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Glory, Glory to the Red Team

So today's post isn't going to have anything in the way of content. It's simply going to be a collection of inspiring speeches and moments to help you all stay strong during this hectic week. First up:

Aragorn's speech from The Return of the King
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXGUNvIFTQw

Theoden's speech from The Two Towers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyZpiuusa2k

Leeroy Jenkins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkCNJRfSZBU

Bicycle Kid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaIvk1cSyG8

Liam Neeson in The Grey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9hnYXb9y9I

Sarge in Red Vs. Blue Season 5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eHyGgZLsGk

Sarge in Red Vs. Blue Season 8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-o9OznSaQ0

Be inspired! Be motivated! Now get out there and kill those exams!

FORTH EORLINGAS!

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Forth, and Fear No Darkness!

It's midnight, and the laundry room is crowded with bleary-eyed students, sipping coffee and staring blankly at books, notes, or computer screens, hoping that maybe they can somehow cram just a few more useless facts into their heads before they either start bleeding out of the ears from information overload or simply die of exhaustion. The halls were dead today. Rooms were locked, the normal ambient music was turned off; the only sounds were scratching pencils, clacking keys, and the occasional "Hey, can you shut up? I'm trying to study."

It's that time of year, folks. The time when teachers assign four or five papers apiece, students stare at empty Microsoft Word documents for hours at a time, the BBC does a roaring trade in coffee, and South Hall's beds could be burned as firewood for all they're being used. 

Yep. Finals Week.

All things considered, though, life is good. I've had a pretty relaxing weekend. South Hall had their annual ugly sweater party, with white elephant gifts and hot chocolate. I got to see the choirs perform at Christmastide, which was INCREDIBLE. I attended a fancy dinner with Sierra to celebrate the performance and ate a delicious meal. I played a couple StarCraft matches with my little bro, nailing down a five-win streak. I got to laze around for hours watching Game of Thrones, although I'm honestly kind of mad about that. Two words: Red Wedding. I regret everything. I even got a free breakfast at 10:30 PM in the dining hall, with donuts and scrambled eggs and cinnamon rolls and all kinds of good stuff. 

As far as exams are concerned, I studied for history all day today and have plenty of time this week to study for my other exams. I'm not particularly stressed. Life is good. Despite the terrors of finals week, I am happier today than I've ever been before. 

So why am I so scared?

Two nights in a row now I've had horrible panic attacks. I don't know what triggered them, but both times I just suddenly felt this weird sensation of dread and the next thing I knew, I was curled up in a ball in my chair, crying my eyes out. I was scared to look over my shoulder, scared to open the door to the bathroom to splash water on my face and calm down, scared to turn out the lights and then climb into bed, scared to even open my eyes once I closed them. The next morning I felt totally fine. 

And for the life of me I don't know why it happened. 

But God is by my side, and I have friends who are here for me. And that's all that matters. I am content. Life is good. 

What I've learned from my fears and the fear of finals: don't over-think things. You can't change the past, and worrying about the future won't make it any easier. What's done is done, and what will pass will come to pass. Learn to let God do the worrying for you. He is in control, even when you feel you aren't. 

Song for tonight: Hope of Morning by Icon for Hire. A bit of an unusual piece for a rock band, but a good one nonetheless. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e_cbtp4Yo0 

As finals begin, I'd like to kick them off with some quotes from the Lord of the Rings:

 "Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day! A red day! Ere the sun rises!"

"Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bonds of fellowship; but it is not this day! An hour of woe, and shattered shields, when the Age of Men comes crashing down; but it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!"

For those facing their fear tomorrow morning, I wish you a sharp mind and iron nerve. 

Goodnight, and good luck!

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Silent Night

Christmas is in the air.

'Tis the season for Christmas shopping with friends, trees in every window, a free candy cane with every purchase, sledding, snowball fights, a nice peppermint mocha, catching up with relatives you haven't seen since Thanksgiving, and of course a cute little church Christmas pageant.

Not to mention political corruption, a supposed affair, a broken family, dangerous travels, unearthly creatures, and the mass genocide of children.

Christmas wasn't a good time with relatives and presents and good food back in the day. Think about it. Mary's pregnant, her fiance isn't the father, and the community will stone her if they find out she's been unfaithful. Joseph's future wife isn't making a great first impression, especially since she's claiming an angel came to her and that she's carrying the Son of God in her belly.

On top of that, a foreign government is issuing a census of the entire nation, forcing the couple to travel across treacherous terrain full of dangerous wildlife, as well as raiders and bandits. At least they're getting away from the town that's casting judgment on their apparent life choices.

Inconveniently enough, Mary goes into labor as they enter the town of Bethlehem, and because of the census there's nowhere to stay. Joseph ends up cutting a deal to stay in a barn behind someone's house, and while they're there Mary has her baby.

Moments later, some dirty but friendly shepherds show up to see the baby, moments after it's born. I can't imagine the happy couple were thrilled at the time. These shepherds were just sitting around, minding their own business, when suddenly a legion of flaming supernatural creatures appeared in the sky and told them to seek a baby born in a manger.

Now on top of all that, a jealous king has decided to hunt down and kill any male child aged 2 and under in an effort to eliminate the threat of a new king rising up from the Jewish people. Now the little family has to flee on yet another perilous journey across the border and away from the mad king.

And yet we try to make Christmas into a pretty little scene with a happy baby, doting parents, clean shepherds with adorable little lambs, and fat little cherubs with halos.

Christmas isn't about how cute baby Jesus was. It's not about shopping, giving gifts, or seeing relatives. It's about God taking on flesh and moving into our neighborhood. And let's be honest, our neighborhood isn't the most friendly.

Song for today: Oh Holy Night, with a little twist. It's a haunting, eerie version of the song that I think is a more accurate reflection of the first Christmas. I can tell you one thing: it sure as heck wasn't no silent night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgiyzhtY4B0&feature=youtu.be

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Random Ramblings: Giant Amphibious Laser Sharkasauruses

Gather 'round, friends! It's time for another exciting installment of Random Rambling Monday!

Admittedly, it's not the cleverest of concepts.

But I need to fill an entire post, and so far all I have to talk about is the fact that as of today, The Road Goes Ever On and On has reached over 3,000 views! Thank you, loyal fans, for making this first month so successful. I couldn't have done it without you.

But for reals. It doesn't count when I view the page. So I literally couldn't have views without you people reading.

Last night we watched Pacific Rim. It's a very entertaining movie with great special effects, but it does contain some major plot holes. *Warning: spoilers ahead*

The first issue I had with Pacific Rim was the amount of unnecessary violence in the movie. By this I do not mean that I found the amount of violence offensive. I mean it was literally unnecessary. 90% of the fight scenes were comprised of giant metal robots ineffectively punching giant amphibious laser dinosaurs. Even their highly advanced plasma cannons were next to useless against these things. The only thing that seemed to do any real damage was the sword attached to each robot's arm. My question, then, is this: why not lead with that? Why bother punching the thing in the face and shooting it over and over when one good slice is clearly enough to kill a kaiju instantly? The majority of damage to civilian areas would have been averted, and the length of the movie would have been cut in half.

My second issue: if the aliens sending the kaiju were testing Earth's defenses, why not just send like twenty of them instead of one at a time? We would've gotten flattened (especially since we still haven't figured out the intrinsic value of the sword).

The last issue I took with Pacific Rim is something I've decided to call the Star Trek effect. Have you ever noticed how they construct these mile-long, multi-billion dollar starships that are minutes later ripped apart by a single missile? How can that ever be cost-effective? The same occurs in Pacific Rim. The cost of repeatedly repairing a giant robot that's only going to get torn in half in the next fight far outweighs its marginal success as a defense.

 But hey. Giant robots fighting laser-shark lizards. It doesn't get much better than that.

Christopher Robin has 7-layer tortilla dip Combos. They're really good. Pardon me, I need to steal one.

 Nathan Piersma, signing off!

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Keeping Connected in a Hijacked Holiday

Well, I'm back.

*Points for reference*

As of 5:00 this evening, I am safe and sound in my dorm in South Hall, back from Thanksgiving break. What a great time to catch up with friends and family and go on some adventures!

I arrived at home late Wednesday night to my family watching Doctor Who. I've started something beautiful in this household. I stayed up late playing Minecraft with Jared and Seth, which was exactly what I needed after a fun but stressful semester. I missed those two so much. They are honestly my best friends in the entire world and understand me better than anyone else, despite their heavy sarcasm and constant snarky comments. I even got to hang out with the little guy, who I've missed more than anybody after our tearful farewell on move-in day. There's an unspoken bond between oldest and youngest. Anyone in this situation knows what I mean. 

The next day I got up and went to my grandparents' house for Piersma family Thanksgiving. Grandma Piersma cooked a fantastic meal as always, with turkey, mashed potatoes, green been casserole, and stuffing (not to mention both apple and pumpkin pie!) I got to meet my second cousins (which I did not know I had) and spend more quality time with my brothers, gaming again into the wee hours of the night.

Friday I returned to my post at Five Below. My, how I've missed running around that store. I got to see so many of my good work friends and meet some new ones! It was absolutely out of control all night (being Black Friday), but I made some money and got to see my fellow associates. I'm going to miss them, but I'll see them over the holidays!

"The holidays". What a meaningless term. "Happy holidays!" "It's the holiday season!" "And now for your favorite holiday music!" 

Honestly, it bothers me so much. 

I understand that people don't want a religion forced on them, but seriously. Christmas is by definition a Christian holiday. It is about the birth of Christ. CHRISTmas. And yet for some reason, people feel they have the right to take our holiday, rip Christ out of it, and make it a commercial mess. You don't see people commercializing Hanukkah or Ramadan. Sure, giving gifts and being with family is great, but it's not the reason for the season. 

While at work this week, I heard probably three dozen arrangements of secular holiday tunes sung by various artists. It was both exciting and infuriating. But then I heard something that made me stop for a moment. I don't know who was singing, but suddenly a beautiful rendition of "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" came on over the speakers. I was oddly satisfied and invigorated.

Saturday was my one free day, or rather, my "spend time with ALL the friends" day. I started this day of visits with coffee at Biggby's with Nifer, which was a huge blessing. That girl is a sister to me, and she's always a blast to hang out with. I can always count on Nifer for sage advice, served with a sharp wit and a big hug. I also got to chill with El Josho, who I've barely talked to for months. Despite this separation, I feel like our friendship hasn't changed one bit: we're still best friends with an unhealthy Pokemon obsession and an ability to understand each other better than either of us would probably admit. Being with these two totally made my weekend.

And of course, no weekend would be complete without movie night at Klaassens! And what a night it was. Upon arrival I entered the house and saw the blur that was Audrey Dodge come flying out the living room. I threw open my arms, expecting a hug, but instead received a palm to the face at high velocity. Thank you, Audrey, and yes, my face is still attached. I got to see Julie, Andi, Ethan, Aaron, Aimee, Jess, and Nichole all at once, and devour large amounts of fudge while watching Robert Downey Jr. solve mysteries. Needless to say, it was a good night.

And now I'm home. Already tonight I've caught up with all my friends, eaten dinner with Tater, Curly, and Sherlock, received what was probably the best and biggest hug in history from Sierra, and laughed my head off as Mal-Mal punched giant lizards during Pacific Rim.

It was good to be home, but honestly, it's good to be home.

No song tonight. Tonight I don't need a song to say how I feel. Tonight, I am at peace.

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.