Summer Beach Project: Orientation

Yesterday was the last day of the orientation period at Summer Beach Project here in Panama City Beach. I left from Charleston with Stephen King, the CofC Campus Outreach campus director, at about 9 Eastern Time on Monday morning. We were extremely lucky because there was absolutely no traffic on I-95 or any of the other highways and we got to Panama City Beach around 5:45 Eastern, 4:45 p.m. Central Time.

There are 80-something Coastal Carolina. I have two roommates right now and am going to be getting a third next week. My roommates are TJ Higgins, a sophomore at Charleston Southern, and Shawn Ferguson, a junior at CofC. TJ is a kicker on the CSU and Shawn is on the CofC soccer team, so I've known for a while. My room leader's name is John Psomas, a junior at The Citadel. He's also from a town about 15 minutes away from Due West.

The job that I'm going to have this summer is working at Back Yard Burgers. I'm going to be working there with John and 2 other guys from down the hall. I think it's going to be awesome!

Our overall theme for Project is "Stand Firm" and the theme verse is 1 Corinthians 15:58, "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." (NIV)

I really, really like this theme verse. I think it's not only important to stand firm in our faith as Christians, but also to stand firm in all decisions we make in life.

I know the Lord is going to do great things this summer and I can't wait to find out what they are!!

And to everybody back home, don't worry. I'm wearing tons of sunscreen haha!

Reggie

The view from my room!!

The Top 10 "Smallville" Episodes...EVER

Sorry for the delay in this blog, Blogspot has been down for maintenance for the past three days. 

WARNING!! If you haven't watched "Smallville" in a while there are some major SPOILERS.

In honor of the "Smallville" SERIES FINALE on May 13th, that's right, "Smallville" is actually still on the air, I'm making a list of my top 10 favorite episodes. Over 10 seasons, the series has had some incredible highs and some nauseating lows (cough...the whole Lana marrying Lex arc..cough). Even in lackluster seasons, there was always an episode or two that captured the magic of when it was the WB's star attraction.

Here's my Top 10 episodes: 

Clark Kent and Ryan James

Honorable Mentions: Stray (1x16)  and Ryan (2x08) - I won't go into much detail about "Stray" and "Ryan," but they both involve the character of Ryan James, a young metahuman who is telepathic and is actually the first person outside the Kent family to find out about Clark's secret. They were two genuinely good episodes and I wish Ryan could've been in more episodes! 

10. Run (4x05) - Meet Smallville's version of the Flash!

This episode introduced Bart Allen, Wally West, and Barry Allen to the Smallville universe. Okay, not really. Wally and Barry are just fake ids, along with Jay Garrick, that Bart uses. While in the comics, Barry Allen is really the first Flash that Superman meets, that honor goes to Bart, Barry's grandson. This episode was great because it's the first time that we really see Clark humbled by the fact that there is someone out there who can move faster than he can. Also, the race at the end between Clark and Bart was a great reference the races in the comics between Superman and Flash. Rascal Flatt's "Feels Like Today" played over the last sequence and upped the bromance factor. It was perfectly cheesy.

The Fortress of Solitude

9. Arrival (5x01) - The Fortress of Solitude!

The season 5 premiere gave the show a new opening sequence, brought one of the most epic moments inSmallville history: the creation of the Fortress of Solitude and Smallville's version of Brainiac. Clark finally learns that Chloe knows his secret and The special effects are what make this episode, along with the music, and the set design of the Fortress awesome!

8. Shattered (3x08) - Michael Rosenbaum is a freaking beast!

In a nutshell, "Shattered" involves Lex Luthor going insane. It's a mystery the way the story is constructed though. First, it seems like he's being set up by his father, but then as the episode goes on, you begin to think that he actually is going crazy. He's had spectacular performances in "Memoria" (3x19), "Onyx" (4x17), "Lexmas" (5x09) and "Zod" (6x01), just to name a few...I can't get over how PHENOMENAL Michael Rosenbaum's performance is. The ending scene, with "Hurt" by Johnny Cash playing has no lines, but the pure emotion makes it one of the best scenes and episodes of Smallville.