Also in case you are curious, things at seminary are going well so far. You can actually visit the web address for Saint Joseph Seminary College if you are intrested. The classes that I am taking this semester along with a brief course description is listed below:(also with a star rating system to rank how well I anticipate the class to be, four is the max)

*** THE 201 The Catholic Old Testament
Introduction to the Catholic Old Testament which imparts to the student the tools for a basic intelligent acquaintance with its literacy, historical and theological dimension.

**** THE 453 Principles of Catholic Moral Doctrine
A companion course to PHI 304 Ethics, htis course stresses the
Christian applicaiton of basic ethical norms and values. THe
treatement of the Ten Commandments, as given in Part II of hte
Catechisim of the Catholic Church, will serve as a basis for
understanding Catholic morality as a lived reality.

*** THE 441 Philosophy And Theological Endeavor I
A histoical survey of philosophy, stressing hte major philosophical trends and schools, as well as the historical factors influencing the development of various philosophical systems. Emphasis will be given to the effect that philosophy through the ags has had on the development of theology.

***PHI 202 Ancient Philosphy
I doubt I'll provide you with much information on this class since you
probablly already studied this in school. But here is what the course
catalouge says about the course. Desidgned to cover the beginning of
philosophy, the pre-Socratics, the Sophistic MOvement, Socrates, Plato
and Aristotle. SPeacil empahsis will be dectoed to the major figures,
Plato and Aristotle, and their contributions to Western philosophical
thinking, especially in the area of epistemology, metaphysics, ethics,
politics, and aesthetics.

And lastly ***LAT 101 Basic Latin 1

Well as of Monday the 23rd, I'm officially 21 now! I still haven't had anything to drink...well actually I take that back I just made myself a gin and tonic. It did not taste very good I think it is because the tonic water was qutie skeptical and looked extremely old. At any rate, I ended up going to the casino with my sister tonight to see what it was all about. It was an alright time and I would consider going again so long as it was with some friends. The downside is that we sat in the smoking sections and now my clothes are saturated in smoke which is probablly one of the things that bothers me more than anything else in this world.

Okay, now to the main point of this entry. It is rather a sad yet productive announcement that I must make. I can not view or update livejournal from the school's dormotory because the whole network comes from the Archdiocese of New Orleans and they use the same filter for us at the college level as they do for the regular grade school kids. It is a bit sad having to limit my readings of livejournal to when I'm away from campus but if I'm that concerned there are coffee shops in the area that provide wireless internet. On a brighter note, it has drastically increased my productivity and I obviously waste a lot less time on the computer. I have also amazingly gotten increadibly well at responding and composing emails with awesome quickness.

Well if anyone cares to contact me...you can email me. I don't care to give out my email address on the internet in case some clever list finds it and starts sending me junk mail. However, I'm not scared to give out my postal address and you can contact me the goold ol' fashoined way and if you want my email address you can get it that way.

My postal address is as follows:

Jimmy Morrison
PO BOX 451
St. Benedict, LA 70457

I'll be returning to the United States tommorow so long as there aren't any problems with our depature and flights. I won't be getting into Mobile, AL until midnight if everything goes smoothly. I only have until Tuesday until I have to go to Seminary so I am going to be very busy but oh well...I'm looking forward to visiting with folks back home.

Holla

Well, I haven't updated in quite a while but I felt inspired to update after my last adventure last night. The reason for the subject is because the whole day I kept saying that this is my last Friday in Scotland so I better enjoy it and make it memorable.

The day started out pretty fun at the Dalmarnock Fun Day. In case you don't know that is where the whole town just sets up music at the park, games at the park, food at the park, and fair games near the park. It was pretty fun Andrew and I were supposed to help run some games of football(Soccer), but luckily we didn't have to do that. So instead, I just listened to the music and hung out with all the kids. I also spent a good deal of time talking with Jacelyen's cousin Tabetha who is from Manchester. It was intresting to hear what she found odd about Scotland. Anyhow, after the fun day. JulieAnna, Andrew, Asheley(a kid from Dalmarnock), and myself headed off into town for mass at the cathedral. It was a nice mass and the priest that said the mass is one of my favortie's at the cathedral. Anyhow, after mass we stared saying the rosaray because they typcially say it after mass but we didn't notice that they were setting up for a body to come in. So the priest stoped us in the middle of the rosaray to inform us of this situation so we ended up leaving.

After leaving the cathedral, we went to the McDonald's in town where I enjoyed a meal and chatting with the folks. Following McDonald's we went back to our flat and hung out there for a while until some kids came up. I talked with them for a while and then headed over to the park with JulieAnna, Jeanine, and Andrew. We had a fun time at the park and about 9:30 we left to go see Roslyn(the one from the video.) We were going to visit her at her pub but we weren't totally sure where it was. After a while of looking for it and asking people where the State was we started ot think we may have had the wrong name.

***to be continued....Andrew and myself are heading off into town to meet up with JulieAnna and Jeanine

I am at the Bonnie Bonnie Airport in scotland waiting on my ride. I am safe. Cheerio

Steve and I had an awesome inspiration for spagheti Sunday.  The whole purpose of spagheti Sunday is that we clean up the entire house.  Well maybe not the entire house but we wash all the dishes and take out the garbage and then following that we dine on spagheti and garlic bread.

This weekend was really relaxing for me becuase it was the first weekend since I started working where I was able to stay in Mobile for the majority of it and not have any major obligations.  I had a nice and relaxing weekend and I am not looking forward to returning to work but I suppose that the sooner I return the sooner it will end.  This Friday is my last day and I am anxiously anticipating it.  The problem is that I only anticipate having about 3 days worth of work todo and that is if I strecht it out.  I doubt they will give me any new assignemtns since i wouldn't be able to complete them in the time frame so I probablly will have two really boring days this week.  There is some chance that there may be some really small assignments I could do or the remaining assignments I have could last longer than I expect.  Well that is boring to discuss.  I am ready for Scotland but I'm looking forward to the things that precede me going there.

I have a seminarian get together in Gulf Shores for 4 days, a psychological evaluation, and I'm going to my cousin's weding with my family.  I am looking forward to seeing my brother because I have not seen him in quite a while and I am looking forward to see where he works and lives.  Well, I need to be sleeping so good night.

I feel: sleepy
My Tunes: None

I'm confirmed!!! W00t W00t!

Well I saw The Passion of the Christ last night and it was extremely powerful. I didn't see any reason to justify claims that the movie inspires anti-sematic hatred. If you leave the movie and you are thinking about how much you dislike Jewish people then you completely missed the point of the film.

Also for me the movie didn't really make me feel guilty for the pain and torture that Jesus endured for my sins but instead it made me feel extremely loved that God would humble himself to be tortued so severly because of his love for us. The movie brought tears to my eyes but mostly because of the realization of how much Jesus went through due to his love for us. There is also one seen where Mary comes to Jesus as he falls down while carrying the cross and that part was extremely moving just because it reminds you of the humanity of Jesus and the holy family. One more moving part of the film is near the end when Jesus is being nailed to the cross and he says, "forgive them farther for they know not what they do." That was extremely powerful just to realize that even while Jesus was being crucified by them, he still loved them so much and wanted them to recieve forgivness for their sins. The mercy of Jesus is quite apparent through that part of the film and I definitely left with a much depper realization of how much Jesus loves me.

What a refreshing and wonderful weekend...and I'm looking forward to classes somewhat tommorow!!!! I miss my Lelia I hope she starts feeling better soon.

Well, I'm about to meet with Dr. Misra about the research....I already composed the withdrawl from the honors program letter that I'm going to send Dr. Stout following our meeting. I haven't had a chance yet to discuss this with my dad and I hope he is understanding. Well here is the draft of the letter that I'm going to send Dr. Stout in 30 minutes or so.

Dr. Stout,

I’m writing in regards to my participation in the honors program. This year and especially this semester my classes have become increasingly more time consuming and much more difficult. As a result of this increase, I have been forced to make some sacrifices in my life. I have been struggling to keep time for my family, friends and most importantly my faith. I have started to have to make some difficult decisions and one of the hardest ones for me to make was if I should remain a member of the honors program. I have been thinking and praying about this heavy question for quite sometime. It has recently become more and more apparent that I really shouldn’t remain a member of the honors program. I am having an extremely difficult time attempting to manage my time between all my classes and my other obligations and although the honors program is extremely rewarding and beneficial towards me I simply don’t have the time nor the willpower to remain a member.
The honors program to me is something that people should remain in because of there pure devotion to knowledge, research, and a scholarly community. In a sense, I have lost this devotion and if I were to remain in the honors program my reasons would be nearly entirely financial. I do not see this as a reason to be in the honors program and it would take a much deeper dedication than finical for me to dedicate myself properly towards the senior research project. I really do see this as unfortunate especially considering the amount of effort and work that you have already dedicated towards me. I do not feel that my time in the honors program has been a waste; in fact, I think that it has been extremely beneficial to me. The honors program has helped me to develop myself as a full human being and discover the entirety of this university. I’m still a firm believer in the ideals of the honors program and I see it as unfortunate that I do not have the time, will power, or motivation to continue in the program. In conclusion, I am regretfully sorry that I must make such a difficult decision especially in light of all the hard work and time you have invested in me. I sincerely do appreciate you and your ideals that you seek in your members of the honors program and regrettably inform you that I can no longer maintain these ideals or obligations of the honors program and wish to withdraw. Is there anything that I formally must do in order to officially withdraw from the honors program?

With sincere regret and gratitude,

Jimmy Morrison


Well I'm probablly going to send that joker in about 30 minutes if you have any suggestions about if I should send it or for things I should change let me know.

I just sent an email to my reserach professor informing him that I feel like I have the time or the motivation todo research with him. I'm supposed to discuss things with him further in a little bit following my class. I hope it all goes down okay.

Just logging another all nighter!!! It's 5 AM and I have a test at 9:30 AM...I'm still working on the takehome so I'm not planning on sleeping! I can't wait until college is over just for the sake of my health. I don't mind the endless hours working so long as it doesn't have any health affects in the long run. Well, I better get back to this take home test and fortunately for me in a few more hours Hardees will be serving breakfast and we all know you must break fast. Holla back at the delerious yet content b0t.

PS We played catch phrase tonight at the CSA and it was really fun. Especially when Fr. Alex was trying describing a word and he said Mary and Britney are these...and Chris shouted out virgins...because he was thinking Virgin Mary not the Mary that attends the CSA. After a fit of laughter someone guessed the correct answer which was singers. Well, peace.

What a retreat? I don't know where to begin with describing the retreat. I don't even feel like doing this major take home test that I have due Tuesday because I'm so excited following this retreat and I want to reflect on how wonderful the retreat was.

*Well I took a break for a couple of hours to work on the take home test and I'm making headway. I have a feeling that the majority of my classmates will already have it worked since they were meeting up here Friday afternoon and not planning on going home until they finished it. So I'm not terribly worried about weither or not I get them done but I do want to try and spend a good deal of time working the problems by myself because I need to learn the material for our in class test Tuesday as well. I've learned a good deal tonight studying by myself and think that if I spend tommorow working on it I'll be fine so guess what?! That means that I'm going to be sleeping by 4 AM this Monday much better than last monday where I didn't start to sleep until 7:30 AM.


Okay back to the retreat. It started a little ruff since I forgot my wallet back home but luckily BBomb and Kelly had already purchased me a drink so I was satisfied. The trip over there was pretty fun especially because bbomb would say, "Oh I love this song its my favorite!" and then we would listen to it for a little over a minute and then she'd change it! Ha. That was pretty ammusing to me. George also informed us that interstate rest stops are where gay men go to grope innocent people. I had never heard anything of such. Anyhow I was a bit sleepy on the way to the retreat but I was awake after a brief nap in the car.

After we arrived, we dinned on the food that Fr. Alex had saved for us since we left an hour late waiting on George. The first night we had mass and talked about ways to be more pious and devout in our spiritual life. We broke up into small groups and my group helped me a lot. Then we all met up together and told everyone what each group came up with. I don't remember if we did anything after that or not. Or actually I do remember now I think we had the group discioussions and then we had the mass. Anyhow, I went to sleep after talking to George and Grey my two roommates on the retreat.

The next day was extremely helpful. We started with breakfast and a talk by Fr. Miles a priest that was a convert from a Lutheran minister. He gave a good talk and it helped me to realize a couple of things. Following his talk we had a decent bit of free time in which we could spend in adoration or whatever we wanted to do. I went walking around the place and spent some time praying alone out near some woods. It was extremely peaceful and quite enjoyable. Eventually, BBomb, Kelly, and some other lass came over by where I was though and so I quit and talked to them briefly or really just tried to throw rocks at them but I don't think they noticied. Then I prayed a while longer before we ate lunch. After lunch we went and played some basketball and I had a good time.

We then had mass and JulieAnna asked me to talk to her. It was kind of humerous because at first when we were trying to have a personal talk all these random people kept comming around us so we kept moving. Eventually we went out to the basketball courts and Fr. Alex came out there and said he get self-couciencious shooting in front of other people so we told him we would leave. Anyhow, we finally found a place to talk.

It was a very good talk. We talked about the deteration of our relationship and forgave each other formally for the way things were in Scotland. I ended up crying because she started crying and talking about how she felt bad for the way that she treated me. I wasn't crying because she treated me so badly I had forgotten all that she just said some really moving things especially related to the entry I wrote about my mother. Anyhow it was an awesome moment just being able to talk to her, especially since she said some really nice things about me=). Anyhow, I'm glad that we had that opportunity to talk about some of those things and hopefully we'll be able to have an unawkward friendship again. Not that it was ever awkward to me but it was just extremely distant.

Anyhow our conversation was interupted by the dinner bell so we went inside to eat. The food was fairly good and following our meal I went up to my room and took a brief nap. I woke up when adoration started. It was an extremely powerful adoration. We started with singing by the music folks and they did an awesome job. Then in the middle of that I started thinking back to my childhood and how God gave me so much strength to deal with the death of my mother and how at the time I was so unaccepting of it(the strength) and how still today I'm like that. In the middle of those thoughts B started crying so I went over to where she was and prayed next to her. It was an extremely powerful experience and as soon as I touched her I started crying...but it was extremely peaceful. Plenty of other folks came over there and it was an extremely moving situation for me. Just experincing how much love and compashion we all have for each other.

Well we continued to pray for quite a while and went through the 4 sets of mysteries of the rosary which was primaraly lead by Kathryn. Anyhow pretty much after the rosarys, I finished up my prayer time and went upstairs and chatted with folks for quite sometime before going to sleep.

This morning I was extremely exhausted and following mass we came back to Mobile. The retreat was well needed and I feel like I have gotten loads out of it. There is plenty of things that I need to reflect on a bit more but during mass tonight I really felt like I need to go to Scotland again this summer. Previously, I wasn't too sure about it becuase of all the other things I'll have going on during the summer...primaraly, research but now I've decided that I'll talk to Dr. Misra about it Wednesday and tell him that I'm going to Scotland for 7 weeks during the summer and see how it goes. So in conculsion, I'm a cry baby.






That's Mitch and Mary Alcie's baby in case you didn't recognize fool

( Two More Photos )

Sleep!

If you find yourself working until 6:30 AM on homework problems maybe it is time to reconsider research. Give it some thought and get back to me in a couple of weeks.

I feel: delerious

This was by far the busiest week I've had in the longest time and it's only the thrid week of the semester. This entire week today included, I've been staying up until close to 2 AM and then waking up between 5 and 6 AM. I have been working like mad but I've also found some time for the finer things in life such as ping pong and events at the CSA.

I haven't found much time to work on my research at all. I kind of regret joinging the honors college because it's ruff enough being a chemical engineer but to add all the extra classes and the extra time on top of that leaves you with very little time. Also they are offering loads of Chem E classes this summer and if I could take these classes then I would only have 6 hours my fall semester and 6 hours my spring semester. Instead, I think I'm going to have to sign up for 6 hours of research this summer...crazy! yeah I know. It might work out though if I end up going to Scotland again this summer. I'm still trying to figure out if I should do that again or more importantly if my proffesor will let me take a 7 week break and journey to Bonnie Bonnie Scotland. Money is also an issue but relatively minor when compared to the probaballity of me conviencing my professor that I need to go to Scotland.

I'm quickly becomming ready to finish school. I enjoy the workload when it's reasonable and I have some personal time but when I'm waking up at 6 AM and looking forward to classes because that will be my only break from work then I think it's gone a little far. Anyhow, now for the insanity! The teacher that has graced me with this enormous workload made matters worse on Thursday. I have him for a class that meets Tuesday and Thursday well he held class 15 minutes late on Thursday so everyone left. He came and found me in the halls a few hours later and handed me homework that was due by 9 AM saturday morning eventhough class only meets on Tuesday and Thursday. So anyways yesterday, I decided that I needed a break from this ridiculousness so I didn't do any work with the exception of attend class. It was a nice relaxing day and eventhough it was a bit disapointing knowing that I would have to wake up at 5 AM to finish my homework it was still nice to take a break. The same teacher has given me an assignment that is due Monday by 9 AM as well. I'm not anticipating this week to be any lighter than the last considering that I have 4 tests starting Thursday and ending Tuesday.

Anyhow, I'm looking forward to today. I need to work on some more homework problems so that I don't have to finish them all Sunday and miss the superbowl so I'm going to work on homework until about 5 PM at which time I'm going to Paul's 21st birthday party in New Orleans. Speaking of New Orleans, I found out yesterday that Nora. I doubt most of you know who she is because she was mainly in my life when my mom was alive since she is connected more to the Nix side of the family. Well anyhow, she was kind of like my mom's nanny when growing up but not as close as I am to Leleia. Well, she ended up giving me her house in her will so now I along with 3 of my other cousins own her house in New Orleans. I think they are going to sell it. I was shocked but mostly touched that she cared and thought about me that much. I knew that I was one of her favorites of the cousins but I hadn't seen her in a couple of years.

Oh yeah speaking of my mom, I had a dream about her Thursday night. It was a bit strange because I hadn't dreamed of her in an extremely long time but the dream was that she and my dad had gotten a divorce and she just never bothered to call or talk to us. So in my dream, I was crying to her about why doesn't she ever come and visit or at least call and let us talk to her. Then my brother called and woke me up. Those dreams are so confusing to me when I first wake up because it takes me a while to realize what is going on. Eventhough it was a sad dream, I still enjoyed it just because it had my mom in it. Well, I better get started on Thermodynamic properties! Holla back @ your boy b@t.

Woah the past few days have been a work overload. I'm so looking forward to sleeping over 3 hours tonight and waking up and only having to attend class and not having to start working as soon as class lets out. It's partially my fault though because I let myself fall behind somewhat but I'm going to try and stay on top of everything now.

Tonight was fun stuff. It wasn't entirely work free but I didn't have much of it after 5 PM so I even had a chance to shave, which is a good thing because I was looking pretty ruff. I've rediscovered the joys of the CSA again this semster. It brings a great peace to me and I really enjoy the daily mass but I can't make it everyday because of class and meetings. Anyhow, plus I'm starting to know most of the folks that hang out there. I didn't really meet many of them last semster besides a quick hello or something.

BBomb informed me that the last two tracks on the CD was her singing. I started to think it might have been her but I didn't want to ask in case it wasn't. It was really good though and they are probablly my favorite songs on the CD. B went with me to grab a bite to eat at the Food Pak. I orderd the gyro like always and she ordered the muffalata and was astounded by it's size and ended up giving most of it away. That was pretty much my evening aside form some homework. Oh yeah! I started playing ping pong left handed and it's awkward but fun. Sadly, I lost the 3 game series against Kathryn but at least it was competitive and funny.

I also learned that I can't play on both men's team which is a bit of a disapoint but oh well. Okay I'm rambling on and extremely tired so I better hit the sack.

holla @ your b@y b0t

What a day? I have been so busy today. I woke up at 5 AM and have been working nearly unstoped since then. I think I like this routine just because I have sometime to myself in the morning but I think I'm going to need more time for sleep if this schedule keeps up. I'm exhuated and I still have homework todo I'm hoping that I'll be able to figure it out in the morning once I wake up. I still need to do plenty of work on straightening my room. I watched an interview on the Passion of Christ movie that is comming out Ash Wednesday. I'm extremely looking forward to the movie and hope that my great expectations don't cause a dissapointment. Well I forgot what i was going to journal about but big props to B for providing me with the musical inspiration throughout this long day. Holla back

PS I finally retreved my unicycle from the Student Center. I left it there to let Chris learn how to ride it but I think he gave up on the idea and it ended up getting locked up. Luckily, Paul let me in the shed where they kept and I was able to recover it. I even pumped some air into the tire and in the process these people in this car started shouting at me and wanted to see me ride it. I couldn't really ride it because there wasn't much air in the tire but they still thought it was awesome because they had never seen one before and they told me to have a good night. That was pretty entertaining.

BBall was da Bomb and eventhough we lost I had a great time. I even fouled out with like 30 seconds left on a play where I didn't even touch the person at all so that was pretty funny. I would have been upset if the game had been a little closer or if there had been more time left in the game. Our team started off slow but after the first half we started playing loads better and I was proud of all of them. I'm looking forward to playing with them and think it will be a fun season. I'm looking forward to seeing our co-rec and my other guys team. I have so much work that I need to finish tommorow and the next day but I'm totally exhausted after the game and I just feel like taking a shower, listening to the CD b gave me, and reading Thoms Merton. I hope that I can actually wake up around 5 AM tommorow morning but the problem is that I'll probablly convience myself to keep sleeping becuase all I have to wake up to is work and that never works out good for me. I suppose if I convience myself tonight that the amount of work is so plentiful and I only have one class tommorow so I can sleep after it if I desperately need it then I should be able to wake up. Anyhow, holla back at your balla b0t

Tonight was pretty good. I went and watched Open Range at the CSA. I hadn't seen a Western in quite a while and it was an enjoyable movie. All sorts of people ended up showing up at the CSA to watch the movie. There were roughly 30 people there by the time the movie was over. Afterwards I hung out with some folks and played some ping pong. Following the game of ping pong, I went with George to Kelly's dorm to play some michigan rummy. The journey to the dorm was pretty exciting we had to stop by some frat house to pick up keys or somethign like that and so we just rhode around in this yard full of cars while they went to get the keys. Following that we went to Wendeys and waited on them to order food and then we went to play rummy.

The rules were a lot different then what I was used to and I think there was something wrong with them because the game ended up lasting over an hour and we had to quit because it was taking too long. I then headed home to learn that Steve was heading into town and wanted me to meet him at IHOP for some conversation and pancackes and he just called so I better head on out. I came to the realization on my ride home tonight that I want to go out on a boat ride soon or at least go to the beach. I miss the gulf when I'm away so I'll probablly try and make a trip home or to gulf shores sometime in the near future.

Holla back