Clemson, SC

So I'm in clemson now, and its been nice to relax, see friends. I'm going to play frisbee in a couple hours, go to house chruch tonight, and go mountain biking tommorow (all very missed activities). While its been great to see everybody, I really dont know what to do about graduate school. On one hand it'd be great to go to clemson, i already know people, I could go here on scholership, and I could probally get some really awsome roommates. On the flip side of that, I am taken back to the bible verse in Luke where Jesus says "woe to you when men speek well of you" (its in luke 6). I feel like clemson may be too comfortable, and although it might be spiritually good (or easy, i dont know if thats really good) for me, i dont know how much impact i would make on the community around me. On the other side of that I don't know how diffrent it would be if i went to a place where I didn't have a firm foothold in a church and community of believers.

In the mean time the best way to get ahold of me while i'm in clemson is not by e-mail but by phone, the numbers on my facebook thing.

Africa

As some of you may or may not have known, i was considering going to Africa through an organization called eMI. I wasn't too confident how that was going to work out, but at the church i tryed last Sunday they mentioned they had a team going to Africa this summer to build a hospital and if anybody was interested i could talk to the pastor after the service or find the info on the website.

well today i e-mailed the doctor that will be starting the hospital. He called me and verified that i was interested in going and I was a christian and that sort of thing.

anyhow, i just got an e-mail with my plane ticket, so i guess that means that there's a good chance I'm going to Africa this summer!

Life comes at you just that quick sometimes. Oh, and Honduras, for now, has fallen through but the power of the Internet may be reviving the trip.
-mike

(p.s. you can check out the orginization on their not so flashy website www.ihdn.org)

Illinois

Holler,
So I'm still in Illinois. Its flat, and its cold. I thought I'd fill blog world in on what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks. I've been reading this book: the irresistible revolution and its good. It definitely makes you want to move to India and live in a leper colony.

I also have been trying out churches here in Springfield. A good church is hard to find. The first church I went to was the first church of the brethren, the church my parents go to. A lot of old people go there, and to be honest it felt like I was listening to one of those cheesy e-mail forwards the whole church service. The next Sunday I went to this church called E-Free! It felt like christian radio doped up on happy pills. I feel like its a big masquerade when people go out of their way to cheese up church. the second church even said that they try to make church an experience that you can remember throughout the week. Get your single serving dose of happy feel-good religion (now in quick release tabs)! People want real, Or at least I do... and I don't think real looks like that.

I've been dilly-dallying in the workshop, I'm working on a TV stand for our TV downstairs. I think it should turn out rather nice, but its going slowly. I'm hoping to have it ready for staining this weekend. I'll put pictures up when that happens.

Also, my brother loves media, and has a 42" plasma TV downstairs (the one I'm building the stand for) and all sorts of game systems. I hate it, but i throw away a lot of time on that stuff. I've been up to date with the TV show 24 this season and I don't know how pumped I am about it...

anyhow, I'll be in Clemson next week, hopefully starting Monday. I'm really excited about that!

Hawaii

So, I'm back from Hawaii!

Hawaii is a really great state. I couldn't live there though, i always felt so trapped on the islands. Some things I did:

• Our hotel on the island of Hawai'i was on the edge of the crater of Kilauea (an active volcano). The crater really doesn't have any lava in it but it does have steam, and it is way to big to take a picture of. It was way cool hiking down to the ocean on the old lava to see the new lava entering into the ocean.

• I didn't get to do this, but I'd recommend checking out the north part of the big island, apparently very rugged and and untouched.

• On Maui, my personal favorite was hiking in the Haleakala Crater: it was ridiculous. At 10,000 feet, you were above the clouds and could see the peaks of other volcano-islands nearby.
• I would also really recommend snorkeling, we saw two 7' reef sharks mating from about 5 feet away. We also swam with giant sea turtles and kayaked with humpback wales.

• Also, Hula dancing is way hot.
  

Whats next? Well for January all I've got going on is planning more trips and hopefully headed to Clemson for a short visit. Check out a couple more Hawaii photos at: http://clemson.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075614&l=9909a&id=12702301

Holiday Cheer

Dear "Blog World,"
Well I'm in Illinois and I've got to admit, not much is going on!

But, because my blog is "disappointing" people, then I will blog about it...

Its kind of hard to try to move into my room here, considering I've never lived here before. I think I'm going to sell all my CD's because i have them all on iTunes now. I'm also finding a lot of things from high school, which is kind of fun.

We've had a lot of party's with my moms side of the family: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and a Graduation party for yours truly. Christmas was, in my eyes, a big success. I got a pair of carharts, 2 flannel shirts, a power inverter for my car, lots of candy, and a messenger bag.

In the above picture, I'm partying with my grandpa, wearing my new flannel shirt. Notice the diploma in the upper right! Woo hoo!

I leave for Hawaii tomorrow, so expect my next blog to be in 2007!

Graduation

I graduated*** today. The big question is how do you feel?

Immediately after graduation I felt hungry, because I hadn't had breakfast or lunch. I think my point in telling you that is I'm still just as human as I was before I got my college diploma. College has been a changing process that didn't happen all on December 21st from 11 to 2, it happened over some of the best years of my life.

It's kind of like Snowden's secret in the novel Catch 22, I'm still human, but I'm gaining ripeness...

The answer to the question, how do i feel is free. I'm really excited about whatever is next and becoming even more seasoned in life.

oh yeah, here's a picture of me and my mom. My parents came down and we had a blast, dinner in Greenville, lunch in Clemson, dinner at Wendy's. They're cool (and super proud, I'd probably wait at least a month before you mention my name around them or you'll get more than you'd want to hear about Mike Soltys)

***the asterisks were next to my name in the program. they symbolize a level of academic achievement that only 3 asterisks can symbolize. I could also have gotten a white thing to wear around my neck for 50 dollars to show my achievement... but i decided to go snorkeling in the dry Tortuga's instead. achievement is overrated.

I'll be home for christmas!

-mike

The Dry Tortugas

Holler,
So I'm back, a little tanner and a little more sandy. The Dry Tortuga's, what is it?

• A small island 60 miles west of key west Florida


• Home of the largest brick structure in the western hemisphere


• A popular landing spot for Cuban immigrants (44 while we were there).

What happens there?

• Cool people who are sailing the seas for a year from Hawaii eat spaghetti there.


• Messages in bottles get thrown into the sea
  
• People who ride their bikes across America end up there
  
• snorkeling

More Pictures? Sure!