Hello again everyone!
If you care to know, my internet situation is still completely messed up. The part I ordered came with a disc to accompany the device and, of course, the only instructions that came with it were in Chinese. Just one little piece of paper folded in half with Chinese characters typed out to guide you through the installation and setup of the thing that I was counting on to fix my internet problem. With a friend’s help, we found some girls in the music building to translate it for me and it was absolutely no help because my computer doesn’t even do what the instructions say it should do. I am now in the hands of my computer wizard of a brother-in-law for a solution. Let’s pray he can find some way to exercise this demon living in my laptop before I chunk it out the window of a very tall building.
So this week I am, again, writing to you from my beloved corner in the campus library Starbucks. This is our third date this week…things are getting pretty serious.
Ready? Set. Go!
ONE. Hello Somebody is one of my new favorite companies. They make and sell these really neat looking watches, but the reason they sell them is the best. HS is a company committed to feeding the hungry. They were founded in early 2010 with an original goal of feeding a million meals in a calendar year after they encountered children in the mission field who preferred food to toys. The proceeds from everything they sell go toward their efforts to “…feed and educate children, by providing an avenue of knowledge, in order to break the cycle of poverty and hunger within their generation.”
I’ve started examining the things and products I buy, and trying to find companies that sell things I already buy but with a better mission.
For example: I like watches. I would like to buy a watch. I think I’ll go look at Target for this watch. No, wait. Maybe there’s a place that I could purchase a watch that would not only benefit me, but someone else in need (who needs more than the money I give to buy the watch).
There are tons of other companies like Hello Somebody that you can act through to bring freedom, education, nourishment, or just love to people in need. I hope you take time the next time you buy something to see if you could somehow do something outside yourself through the way you spend your money.
I’ll try to spend time in the future telling you more about companies like Hello Somebody that you could use.
TWO. Ladies and gentlemen…in approximately 80 hours I will be boarding a plane to spend four days in my favorite place on the planet, New York City!!! The wind ensemble and chorale are performing in…wait for it…….Carnegie Hall (!!!!!!) on Tuesday so needless to say, I’m a little bit excited. New York City is one of my favorite places to be, and I have sworn to myself (and others) that I will live there at some point in this life. I went once in high school with our choir, and it was awesome but we didn’t have any kind of free time. Everything was scheduled for us. But this trip we get one and a half days of complete free time! Our hotel is a few blocks from Carnegie, 5th avenue, Columbus Circle, and Central Park! My brain still hasn’t absorbed how incredible it’s going to be.
It’s been pretty stressful getting things ready to go, like arranging how to make up stuff for classes I miss, and the fact that midterms are the week after we get back, leaving almost no time to study. And then there’s the endless rehearsals we’ve been having to get things perfect for the concert. All this will instantly be worth it though as soon as I get my first sight of the skyline. I can’t explain how excited I am. Please pray for travel mercies, and general smooth sailing next week. Setting 100 college kids loose on a big city can sometimes get a little rocky.
Have you ever been to New York? What’s your favorite thing to see/do?
P.S. There won’t be a post next Thursday because of the trip. (try not to cry yourself to sleep)
Stay Creative,
-Shelby
