Life Update

Well as you can guess I'm back from Japan. The semester started up a couple days after we (my older brother and I) got back. It was hard saying bye to the family, but we're military so we're tough right?

As soon as I got back, my car (91' Honda Civic) started acting up. I hoped to make it last for years to come so I could save for a really nice pickup, but that car couldn't be persuaded that that was in its best interest. I've been on the hunt for a pickup for a while now, but this sped up my efforts. I found a 96' Toyota Tacoma...one of the best small trucks on the market (call it a hickup). Feeling good about that.

Obviously, I can't wait to get it on some dirt roads. (My new set of wheels)

School has been going pretty well. I made a 3.3 GPA last semester. Not bad, but I want to do better. On my last 3 tests, I believe I've scored 94-104%, 107%, and 117%. Not bad for a start. Also, rodeo came to town this week! Yeeha!

Someone got bucked off his bull and nearly gored twice.

(They had this mechanical bull outside the arena when I got out of the performances...monkey see monkey do)

I went to the stockshow/fairgrounds 4 times and saw the show twice. I also watched a judging event with horses and got to talk to a trainer for about an hour. I was supposed to meet one my professors out there, but I got a lot of my questions answered anyway.

Japan!

My brother and I are in Japan for the holidays.

It was an interesting trip to get here, starting from when San Angelo's small, one-horse airport made us stand out in 25-30 degree weather to when my laptop's battery ran low on the 13 hour flight from Dallas to Tokyo. Do you know what happens when it does that?

It goes:

"Beeeep! Beeeep! Beeeep!"










Also, btw, Japanese pilots are a little slow on takeoffs and abrupt on their landings.

Anyhow, my older bro and I made it.

Our family was all together for New Years, which was cool since we weren't for Christmas.

We've enjoyed seeing a big Bhudda, getting pictures in Japanese garb, and a bunch of other stuff around here on top of board games and just chilling with the family.











Speaking of chilling, the wheather has been something else around here. It snows about everyday, but it doesn't stick.

A lot of the fun is being able to see another culture upclose. I've been making efforts to learn Japanese, so I bumble my way through a shallow conversation with someone now.

One thing that strikes me is how they are so much more consciunces of other people than Americans. For instance, when Cy and I got on a shuttle from the Tokyo airport to our hotel, the speaker asked that we silence our cell phones because they would disturb the neighborhoods we were going through.

They are a civilized culture, but less than 1% of this country is Christian. Let that sink in. It might explain why they have such a high suicide rate.

On a lighter topic, I've decided to do more writing this year than I did in the last one. My goal is to publish as much as I can and finish adding a bunch of stuff to my second book. The characters need more depth, depth I believe I didn't know how to develop till this past year.

My goal is to have a book published by the time I'm 25. It doesn't have to be fiction. As a matter of fact, I have my eyes on a non fiction book I'd really like to write.

I'm still considering an animal science degree, but we will see. My thinking with wanting to pursue some type of degree besides just Intercultural Ministry is that I want to be able to have some way of supporting myself besides ministry.

Also, I just feel better about the idea of having some job in the "real world" so I know what it's like, so people don't look at my background and think, "This guy has never had a job outside of ministry. How is he supposed to know what I'm going through?"

Even Apostle Paul was a tent maker, Peter was a fisherman and the list goes on and on.

I'm not saying being able to do ministry plus something is the only way and all the rest are bad. I'm saying that right now it looks like the best way to me.

Anyhow, I'll try to keep yall more posted about my adventures in Japan!

Let's See

There's been a bunch of stuff going on around me lately so I'll give some highlights.

I finished my first semester! (scored a 3.3, which I'm a little disappointed about. I could have scored better, but it was HARD to take Sociology seriously)

Been writing for the newspaper (Got to interview a Col. again this year. Cool)

Did a HOF Christmas party

Been working like a maniac at my job. Like, I've put in about 45+ or so hours this week. That's alright. I always will take extra time on the clock because it means more $$$.

Went to the lake yesterday. It's great to go there because it's a good place to go and think. It's quiet and the scenery is pretty good for TX. I took my guitar along, which made it better. :)

Been thinking about maybe getting a minor in some ag degree. Maybe. I'm still set on being a missionary, but I want something I can do in the "real world" too. Besides, I might be able to use that degree depending on where I go. Considering a job in ag for the summer so I can try it out a bit.

Been using a huge arctic sleeping bag for the past couple nights when I go to sleep...the thing's so heavy that rolling over is a chore. I actually feel exhausted when I wake up jk

That's about all I can of.

How 'bout yourself?

Oh yeah, as you probably noticed, I got a new background. It's been about 2-3 years, so I figured it was about time.

Hunting, Edit Miscommunication, and College

Alright, it's about 11 PM so I'll see if I can make this short.

I went deer hunting a little while ago. I had to get up at 5:20 (actually I was supposed to be at my friend's house at 5 AM...if you're interested, I didn't go slower than 75 on the way out lol) but it was well worth it....I kinda think my friends were a littl disapointed when I didn't freak out during the gutting part.

Now I just have to figure out some good ways to cook deer. Any ideas anyone?






I went out to cover a newspaper story at a cemeterary. The people the event was about had already been there. My edit failed to tell me that detail, so I was walking around when I bumped into this lady with a camera.

"You just taking pictures for the sake of it?" I asked

"No. Actually I'm a photographer with the newspaper and I'm supposed to be covering an event, but the people aren't here."

I laughed. "I'm the reporter."

The funny thing about this whole thing was that a friend of mine proposed that day and a family I'm friends with had a child that day...why did I end up walking around in a cemetary on a day like that? God trying to tell me something deep philosophical? I'll figure it out later. lol



Sat down to start writing my research paper that's due on the 28th. Got about 2 pages in about 45 minutes. Feeling good about that paper.

I only have 3 more weeks till this semester is over! Wooohooo!



Considering looking into getting a motorcycle. Let's go through pros and cons. On one hand, it's really cool and really cheap. On the other, you die if someone hits you....this might be a short argument with myself. maybe ;)

What's New

I know, I know. It's been a while since I've posted. I'll give you a few of the highlights of what's been happening to me.

I went on a hike in CO with a group of friends. I really enjoyed getting out and hiking around the mountains for a whole week! We couldn't get a cell phone reception, which made it better in my opinion. We usually hiked about 5 miles a day or so with large packs and then we went for smaller hikes after setting up camp.

Myself and some other guys jumped into a lake up in the mountains....Glad we had a fire going when we got out! Most refreshing though, if I do say so myself.

On the last night I put some yellow dye in one of my fellow camper's canteen, and he actually believed I'd used his water bottle instead of a tree!

Here are a few pictures of the trip.












After I got home, I only had a couple weeks till college started, but I started and am doing pretty well. That's my competely unbiased opinion. :)

I'm going to try to update every Sunday or so, just to make sure I'm staying fairly current. BTW, I have skype now. I am Jamin.Goecker on skype! People tried getting me to do it before, but having family in Japan has really motivated me to get now. LOL

The Media, Trip Home, Plasma

I'm not sure if I said this in my last post, but we got the van back. And among the things the thieves took was a camera with a picture of me riding a pig in Seattle with my cowboy hat and everything. That guy who took the van just made it personal :)

Cy and I made it back to Texas alright after we said bye to the family...wait. Let me talk about the media in Seattle real quick.

As a reporter, I'm not used to being the one interviewed. THAT was kinda different. It annoyed me to no end when I heard one of the reporters walked into a room where Jared and the younger ones were and said the equivalent of, "Alright, now that your parents aren't here, what would you like to say?"

BIG red flag on the play! A reporter never sidesteps the parents of minors, or jokes about doing it. Some kids don't talk as well when parents are around, true, but it's better to avoid that whole issue and a bad reputation than...oh well. I didn't really like that TV station anyway. lol

Also, and this is just funny, a lady from a radio station interviewed us. I could tell she was from the school of thought that says when you're interviewing someone, you make eye contact and NEVER break it. THAT was scary! Her eyes grew, her cheeks sucked in, and she jabbed the microphone into my face whenever I said a word. Has a salmon interviewed you before? Because she looked like one a few times.

The trip home was pretty cool. For the sake of brevity, I'll say cops are aggresive about establishing their turf when they've been gone, and sticking your head out the window for a picture isn't the best way to put the driver at ease.

More recently, I gave plasma yesterday. It wasn't real scary or anything, and the process was relatively painless. Albeit, it was kinda weird having a needle in my arm for an hour and a half.

Let me tell you a quick story of when I was getting my physical, and then I'd better run. Let me state here and now that I have pretty good reflexes...

You know how doctors check your reflexes by hitting your knee with a mallet? She hit me in the left knee. My leg kicked without my permission (am I the only one who tries to be a rebel in the doc's office by trying to stay awake under drugs or refusing to kick when they test your reflexes?)

She moved over to the right knee. She drew back and tapped the right knee and...my left knee kicked again while the right one stayed home! I just try to give the docs something they don't expect every now and then to liven up their routine, honest. :)

Congratulations if you've read all the way to this point. You made it! lol

Vanishing Van!

Right now my family should be in Japan. After all, that's why my brother and I drove 1900 miles in 2 days. We wanted to see them before they boarded a plane and flew away.

They haven't left yet.

Reason why:

Someone stole the van. SERIOUSLY, who thinks it's a good idea to steal a red, 15-passenger van with Alaskan licence plates? But I guess we're in the northwest.

Here are some things we lost:

My older sister lost her credit card and the person has charged several things already.

Stacia's (youngest sister) little teddy bear :(

Jared's and I's portfolios for school, proofing we'd done a year the past year of work. We're working that out pretty well with the charter school.

And last and most important, the passports and birth certificates for those of us leaving for Japan.

Those last items are the most crippling. Without mentioning identity theft, it will give the family a lot of headaches because it takes about 3-12 weeks to get new birth certificates, which are required for passports.

It's looking like my dad will leave for Japan (he is required to report at his new station by a certain date) and my mom and younger siblings will be stuck state-side waiting for certificates and passports.

MEAN WHILE, my older brother and I will have to go back to Texas. There's no way in the world we can stay with them, nor could we do anything if we did...except form a posse and go after the dude who stole the van.

So right now we're pretty much Sleepless in Seattle.

We've gotten a lot of attention from the media in Seattle, but I'll talk about that in my next post.

Traveling Part II

A bit later in the day I was driving throw an Indian reservation...and padding the speed limit a bit. Like any law-abiding Texan, I slowed down as soon as I saw a cop on the side of the road.

I groaned inwardly as the guy started following me, wondering if my older brother and I were going to pay half for speeding tickets since we split the cost of gas money.

Finally, after a few tense miles, the guy passed me and I saw the side of his car: Police of the Nation of Navajo.

Yikes! So a Navajo had been trailing me for a couple miles? Glad he didn't give me a ticket...he would probably step out of the car completely painted with war paint and a feather. Then he'd dance around my vehicle and dent up the exterior with a tomahawk.

We arrived in Eugene, OR, the next day after driving over 1000 miles (talk about being delusional. we nearly fit in among northerners). By the way, the speed limit in Oregon is 55 mph. And if anyone asks, no, I did not go 30 over the limit down a circuitous road...29, 29.5, 29.51, etc., but NEVER 30.

I'll load pictures later.

Those aren't the highlights of this trip, though. TBC!

Cows, Mormons, and Najaho Cops

My brother and I left San Angelo to reach our destination pretty early on Sunday...maybe we should've spent time at a church or something. Bad luck skipping church to do something. Last time someone threw me out of a plane when I didn't show at a church.

Anyway, the day started bright and early and my brother let me drive his car till noon. That was...interesting. The clutch on his car springs up like a catapult whenever I took my foot off it. My brother probably uses it as a weapon against other drivers.

With my hands on the steering wheel and as America slid past me in a blur, I spotted a herd of cows in a green field. I'm sure there are lots of people who would do what I did next.

I rolled down my window, leaned out the window, and yelled at the top of my lungs, "Hey cow!"

The idea of the game is to see how many cows look up when you yell. I think a lot of them looked up because I nearly swerved off the road on accident and rammed them.

My brother relieved me of the steering wheel after a while, and we stopped at a nice little town called Moab in Idaho...Moab, the place with the FDZ's. Everywhere we go we seem to run into those people!

The next day we were driving through a reservation when...I'll finish writing this later. To be continued :)

Sportscamp, Mufflers, and Stripping Wax from Tile

Whew!

Here are a few things I've done in the last couple of days. They're really not linked in anyway.

Sports camp is done and there will definitely be some kids I'm going to miss, while there are a few faces I'd rather not remember.

Some of you know my younger brother, Jared, played basketball last year. It turns out one of the kids I instructed played against Jared's team, and yes, he had attitude.

"Are you as good as your brother?" he asked.

"Nah. Football's more of my thing." I said.

"Well you must be really bad because he wasn't good."

Alright, buddy, you can talk smack when you're taller than my hip!


While driving home with some friends, my muffler fell off my car. Oh well. I own the most valuable car in the parking lot because my Honda gets 35-40 mpg, in my opinion.


I drove out of town yesterday morning to help strip wax from tile in a church before going to work. There are a few tricks to that job! First off, be careful with that buffer machine; one wrong move, and it'll speed across the room with you clutching onto it and sliding across the slick floor behind it.

Fun job anyway, as long as you stay away from stairs.

Tomorrow my older brother and I, with whom I'm sharing an apartment, are starting a road trip to Oregon. The point of the trip is to see the family a few days before they fly off for Japan. I'll probably have pictures in the future!

Quick Update

This summer's been pretty fun so far and I haven't even gone on vacation yet!

I turned in a scholarship essay the other day about The Wizard of Oz, Toto, and money management, I registered for college classes, played paintball on some friends' property, and experienced my first day of something called Sports camp at a ministry I volunteer at.

How it works is we bring van-loads of kids to certain locations and we have coaches who instruct them in the sport they're interested in. The people in charge picked me to play basketball...which means I'm pretty much learning right along with the kids :)

One thing that got my attention this morning was listening to two boys talking this morning about butting heads. I didn't think anything of it, till one actually head-butted the other. The injured party didn't like that and punched the other kid.

Only in a group of pre-Jr. high guys....

I discovered the kids are a lot easier to control when you learn their names, btw. fyi, if you ever do anything with a lot of kids!

How to Work out and Lose $500

There's a station I listen to that's been having something of a scavenger hunt around San Angelo, where if you find a slip of paper you get $500.

I've been wanting to go and get involved in it a bit, but haven't really been serious about it. THEN I found out the hidden slip of paper was at a spot I'd walked past just that morning on my way to a spot where I do a bunch of calistenics!

Ouch. Who wants $500 anyway?

Locked Cars, Tired Runners, and Slim Jims

I rolled out of bed this morning and thought I'd treat myself to something I hadn't tried before; a run on the trails out at a lake nearby.

After I arrived, I locked my door and went for a good 4.5-5 mile run around trails I'll never be able knewledgably navigate.

THEN I got back to the car, stretched, and reached for the car door handle. It was locked, and I'd thrown the keys inside the car without thinking about it because my running shorts didn't have pockets.

So there I was...out by a Texan lake (at least 5 miles to get into town), with a locked door and my legs already tired out.

Let me say here I REALLY considered busting my windshield. I'm getting it replaced anyway, right? Crazy things like that come into your head when you're in the middle of nowhere.

I stopped a guy and asked if he had a cell phone.

"You want to use my Slim Jim?" he said.

I laughed as well as I could while thinking, Do I look so stressed that he thinks I want food?

Turns out a Slim Jim isn't also a stick of jerkey, which is good because I didn't want anyone to see me trying to pick a lock with jerkey. It's a kit to unlock doors. I didn't ask why the guy thought he needed a kit like that, but we popped the door open without me breaking anything!

Push the Graduates out of the Plane!

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to free-fall for an entire minute, dropping at about 120 mph?

Let me tell you, it's an experience! For graduation, my family and the Zesch's went skydiving. Actually, it was my older brother, me, my sister, Annie, and Mr. Zesch who jumped. We started driving to the jump site, San Marcos, early in the morning and got home at about midnight. Every minute was a blast!

Here are some pictures.

The jumpers. Kinda looks like a movie poster for Matrix...though the middle guy looks like Kermit the Frog. I can see Kermit as a Matrix character, can't you? :)


That's about how high we jumped


Great poker face







Passing through a cloud


Touch Down!

Across the Aisle

I done "gaduated"! In other words, I've graduated!

I'm glad that's finally done. It wasn't too stressful (mom and sisters are great people to have when it comes to decorating and invitations) but it's still one more thing off the list of things I need to complete. I did the opening prayer and set a new record for myself on how many people I've spoken in front of (there being about 350 people in the sanctuary I think).

The graduation ceremony would likely have blown you away if you've never attended a homeschool graduation. For instance, Logan walked down the aisle with his diploma with a saber to the music of The Pirates of the Caribbean.

As a homeschooler, my parents gave me my diploma and at that point they get to say something about me. I nearly cracked up on stage!

I'll post some photos when I get them. Here are some pictures of me moving out of the house last week for now (I know, I'm bad about keeping things updated :))





(Combining my Alaskan and Texan backgrounds)

Photobucket src="http://i223.photobucket.com/albums/dd182/not2many/02009%20family%20photos/05%20May/movingstuff002.jpg" border=0>

Paint Ball!

I took some time on Sunday to go and roll in the dirt with paint splattering around me. This activity is better known as paintball, and I had a blast!

The place where we played, some friends and my two brothers, has a bunch of courses you can decide to play on.

My favorite has got to be the one called "The Alamo." This course lives up to the name.

It's located in a heavily wooded area, which makes for a lot of cat and mouse games through the brush. I was the last one standing for a few of the rounds in the woods, which I enjoyed because you get to sprint around a lot.

A thing I really put to good use in those games is sprinting, which makes it hard for the balls to burst on me.

As a sidenote, the guys working at the course missed a lawsuit by an inch. Literally. Those who were under 18 had to sign a paper supposedly from their parents, and they kind of forged a few signatures.

Nothing wrong, unless someone gets hurt. That's where I come into play.

I always check the safety on the rental guns when they give them to me. This time I got a gun, checked it, and then they gave me another one and for some reason I thought I'd checked that one already. I was doing a bit of work to get it ready for the round when "POP!"

One of the rounds from my gun splattered right by my friend's head.

WHOOPS....

Whew!

One big event just hit me one after yesterday! Let me start with the morning and I'll give a rating to how much each event had an effect on me on a scale from 1 to.

I worked the earliest I ever have at my job. 2

I saw a homeless guy with a sign from my work! 3

I watched a play performed that I wrote. Actually, that was pretty morbid once I saw it. 4

I moved out of my house. WHAT you're probably thinking. Yeah. I moved out of my parents' house. I have mixed emotions about that, but it's definitely something new. 8

Attended a meeting where I volunteered to pray in front of 350+ people. 4

I'll probably post some more in-depth stuff on these events, but that's the best I can do for now! Movers go to my family's house tommorow, so I'll be busy again and trying to get details and such ironed out on everything. I'm a little scattered right now, but I'm looking forward mostly to what's in the future!

Insurance for the Missionary?

I've been working through a course by Dave Ramsey lately about financial issues. It's been a lot of great information that I'm glad I'm learning now instead of discovering later when I'm broke.

The topic of insurance came up in the lessons, and the one that particularly caught my eye was dissability insurance. Dissability is where the company will support you a little while you're injured doing your job and you can't return to your work.

The companies decide how much you pay not based on your age or health, but on your occupation. The riskier the job, the more it will cost.



So, how much do you think it would cost a missionary going to a country that is 99% Muslim? I'm thinking life insurance is what I should be checking out!

"I wish you didn't have a home!"

I tried returning a mircowave at Wal-Mart yesterday. That's not a big deal. The part that got me was when a guy walked up to me who was about my height, shaved head, looked like he hadn't taken a bath in forever, and who's stomach hung out of his shirt.

He walked straight up to me as I waited in line and said something like, "I wish you didn't have a home! I wish you didn't live in a home!"

At first I laughed because I thought I might know him, but I looked into those dark eyes and nope, he was serious. I think he brought up guns or something of that nature in his rant. I stopped listening.

I turned around, but turned again after a few seconds.

"So, how's your day going?" I asked.

"It was going fine till you started talking."

I laughed a little. "Guess I'll stop talking."

"Hahahaha." I've never heard a laugh that sounded so much like a sneer.

This little episode showed me just how hate-filled some people are (or drunk, I'll give the benefit of a doubt). All I did was stand in line and this guy came out of nowhere and wished I was living on the streets?

Some people. Oh well.

I'm Not Going Anywhere!

As you all know, I've planned to move to Eugene Oregon for a while so I could attend college.

The move would have been tough. I like the people here in West Texas, and I have to admit they've been converting me a little to the Texan side.

The possibility of me staying at first didn't seem plausible, till I started looking at the logistics:

The college here in town is X3 cheaper than the one in Oregon
I can take general classes and transfer them
I have a steady job here...a nice change in outlook since Oregon has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation
I get to "bacht" it with my older brother for about 2 years!

Another benefit is I didn't know if I could say bye to the people here! My family will still be moving, being military, but I'm not going anywhere...except an apartment somewhere. I guess I still get to visit them once a year.

The future's looking up! Glad that decision is out of the way. I'd better tell my boss before he hires someone to replace me.