experimental tastes

I've been in an experimental mood as of late. Not in a dangerous way - like with drugs or alcohol or anything like that - but rather with cooking and cleaning. I know, dangerous. But that's just my style.

I've gotten pretty good at making vegetable stir-fry. I realize that's not a hard dish to make, but still...it's nice to not screw it up.

Another I'm decent at is spaghetti. In 2004, I had to make it for about 70 kids per week...so yeah. That kind of thing sticks with you.


And another dish I like is steak. In this instance, I made it with green beans, corn, and baked potato. I do my steaks on a Foreman grill after marinating them in a Jack Daniels marinade packet (which tastes amazing). The baked potato is easy...I just wrap the potato in a plastic bag and microwave it for about 2 minutes. It tastes just like it's been in the oven for an hour or so.

But last night, I made a huge mistake. I have made a couple cakes before, and it's not that hard. You just follow directions. But last night I was trying to make a thing of brownies and screwed it up bad. The directions called for 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and I misread it as 1 1/4 cups. So yeah, the mix was nasty and I had to throw it out.

This is why I'm sure I'll have a wife (one day) who can help me out with the cooking stuff. Crossing my fingers.

sick & tired...and the office

Well, I'm back at work today. I missed Wednesday and Thursday this week because of some pretty nasty virus I somehow contracted. I had a sore throat last week (around Thursday) and all throughout the weekend. On Tuesday night, the rest started kicking in. Headache, upset stomach...you know the drill. I was at band practice Tuesday night and I could feel my throat deteriorating as I tried to sing. One of the kids actually commented that my voice sounded bad. Gotta love teenagers and their brutal honesty.

So the last couple days I've spent in utter boredom, shut in at my apartment watching The Office (UK version) and Tom and Jerry in between sleeping spells. Crackers and chicken noodle soup have been my diet, and honestly they're all I've wanted. My throat feels a lot better today but the headache and rumbling stomach haven't quite subsided.

At any rate, I did get to watch the first episode of The Office season 5 last night. I gotta say, I loved it. I've read things online and asked a few people what they thought, and the reviews are certainly mixed. But I feel the hilarity is still there as strong as ever. Not to mention Pam and Jim...I have loved this storyline for its entirety (even though their giddiness did get on my nerves a bit last season...). The proposal was awesome though, and it took me by surprise. Kudos to the writers for keeping that storyline interesting. Oh, and Michael and Holly is a good development, as is the love triangle with Angela, Andy, and Dwight. How can one office be so interesting?

Having watched a good chunk of the British version this week, I couldn't help but draw comparisons between Ricky Gervais' David Brent and Steve Carell's Michael Scott. I mean, when Michael grew the goatee, visions of David Brent flashed in my mind. Ultimately Michael Scott is much more likable than David Brent, but part of me thinks it's because Steve Carell is playing him.

Anyway, I should get back to work. Missing two days leaves plenty of makeup work to be done.

deacon ordination

I was ordained as Deacon at Spring Hill Baptist Church on September 14, 2008. This is pretty significant because I have gone to this church since...um...birth. Also, I'm single and pretty young. My church still nominated, voted, and ordained me and I am very thankful for that. The service was really nice, and a lot of my family and friends got to come. My grandma Louise (my dad's mother) came, as did my grandparents on my mom's side (Howard and Eileen). My aunt Marie and her husband Tony got to make it as well. Of course my youth were present, as were old friends Jason Carter, Justin Curtis, Tiffany Wilson, Trey Hill, Matt Lott, and Ben. It was a really great day and having these people around made it even better.

This is the ordination council with me after the service was over. From left to right (starting in the back row): Davey Newman, Blaine Davis, Bobby Snow, Jim Robinson, Andy Haney, Ray Minor, and Frankie Richardson. Front row: Jim Burke, Chuck Fowler, Adam Robinson, Tres Foley, and Bart Garner.


During the service, a few different things went on...my youth did a skit which was pretty powerful about laying down your burdens at the foot of the cross (you can see the cross behind us in all the pics). My dad also sang a song, which was great because he has a really awesome voice. He also has inspired me to start singing here recently.


Like I mentioned earlier, it was great to have my family come support me. Here they are, for your viewing pleasure. Starting in the back row: Tony (my aunt Marie's husband), my Grandma Louise Allen, me, Grandma Eileen Wyman, Grandpa Howard Wyman. Front row: Aunt Marie, Dad (Jim Robinson), Mom (Penne Robinson), and Ben Robinson (my bro).


We had the chance to do a pic with all of the original youth group at SHBC. Pictured here (doing our normal "Wolfpac" hand sign) are: Justin Curtis, Walker Dodson, me, Jason Carter, Ben Robinson, Corey Garner, and Tiffany Wilson in the front.


And last but not least, here are (some of) my youth today. Of course they're doing their goofy pic, which I wouldn't expect any different from them. Left to right: Thomas Garner, Corey Garner, Alex Miller, James Dykes, B.J. Snow, me (playing the straight man), Kaitlyn Skelton, Destany Oswalt, Hayley Davis, and Rachel Smith.


Once again, these are on my Facebook and also once again, if you don't have Facebook, you can use this link to see the album.

It was a great day that I won't soon forget. Thanks to all who came/prayed/thought about me during this time!

some of my old school art and such

I found a notebook at my parents house yesterday. This notebook had a lot of old artwork and stuff I did back in 1998. I decided to scan some of it and post it for the world (or more likely, two or three people) to see.

I called this one "Life on the Farm". I wrote a little essay along with it where I was brutally honest. I said that I had no plan, just cut out some pictures and glued them down...amazingly, they all kinda gelled. Then I did a couple variations.

Notice the Incredible Hulk down on the bottom right corner.

Here's an example of symmetry, using the Batman symbol. How much cooler would Batman be if he wore these colors??

My art teacher Sue Rowland had this cow skull for years. She's retired now, but I bet it's still sitting on her fireplace.

I've been trying to figure out who this guy is. I'm thinking Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson. My brother says the Quaker Oats guy. You tell me.

This one I'm actually kinda proud of. I used to love landscapes and colored pencils...so this kinda went hand in hand.

And this is what I looked like back then. I had the old school short sleeved hoodie and flipped up hair-do. I was awesome.

There are more pics on my Facebook...and if you're not on Facebook, you can still view the album here.

It was pretty cool going back and seeing that old stuff. Right now I'm working on a painting from last year's trip to Colorado. I have other paintings and scratch-art that I'll have to upload soon. Thanks for looking!

disaster!

Tumultuous. A perfect word to describe my last 3 days. Dictionary.com defines it as:

tu·mul·tu·ous
–adjective

1. full of tumult or riotousness; marked by disturbance and uproar: a tumultuous celebration.
2. raising a great clatter and commotion; disorderly or noisy: a tumultuous crowd of students.
3. highly agitated, as the mind or emotions; distraught; turbulent.

I'm going with number 3.

Work has been crazy, and a person I held in high regards inevitably fell from grace.

Then there was last night.

Blaine was out of town, so I was asked to do the lesson. That was no problem, I don't mind sharing the Word (especially since I got a new Bible from my ordination service. It's really cool...I'll have to talk more about it later...). But we also were doing worship before hand (and I play guitar/sing in the worship band). That's okay with me, but I didn't want the kids to get an Adam overdose. Also, after worshipping I usually like to just be able to sit and listen.

Anyway, to kick things off the wrong way, I forgot to bring my flash drive with all the PowerPoint slides. Strike one. Lena forgot the videos she was gonna use to preface our devotion. Strike two. And the last strike was a doozy.

We've been low on equipment for our worship team. We don't have but two microphones which really isn't many at all. Last night, though, a nice lady at church let us borrow her mic (which was really nice, by the way...) and suggested that I use it so it wouldn't get broken. Hmm.

During a sound check, I stood up from my stool and bumped my mic stand. It was at this point that things started moving in slow motion. The microphone came out of the holder and began its descent downward to the floor. I watched in horror as it crashed and popped and hissed before finally growing silent.

Strike three.

The lesson was okay, though. I read from 1 Samuel 26 and talked about David and his respect for God...how he could have killed Saul and ended his problems, but he knew that God appointed Saul as king for a reason. David instead trusted God and let Him work things out in His time.

Then I got to practice what I preached. I apologized to the lady and she said it was fine (through clenched teeth...). I'm buying her a new mic this weekend.

But I hold hope that this week will get better. It's almost over, so I guess the odds are in my favor.

wrap up (for lack of a better term...)

Sunday was an amazing day. I was ordained as deacon at Spring Hill Baptist Church, and what a day it turned out to be. My grandparents from Canton showed up, as did my grandmother from Myrtle. Also, my aunt and her husband came, and of course so did my brother. As far as friends go, Trey Hill and Matt Lott showed up. Jason Carter and Justin Curtis did also, which was awesome.

Hopefully I will have pics from the service soon. We have a photographer who goes to the church and she was kind enough to take many many snaps.

friday night mumblings

What is up with these gas prices? This morning it was $3.57 at the cheapest station on my trek to work, and this afternoon it's $3.89. And the news reports that it could go up another dollar tomorrow. Ridiculous!

This has cost me a trip to Oxford to hang with my brother. I was really looking forward to hanging with him tonight, but I can't justify it. Also, I need to clean up my apartment. I stayed up pretty late last night washing dishes (I'm a bachelor, alright? Dishes pile up...).

So why the cleaning? Glad you asked. I'm being ordained as a deacon in my church this Sunday. My grandparents are coming, as are other various family members and friends. I'm really pretty excited about it. It wasn't the easiest road to this point. Last year I was nominated, and even asked, and though I was skeptical, I said yes. Deaconship seemed like such a big thing, something I wasn't at all ready for. But I could feel the Spirit saying, "Do it, stupid!"...so I did. And I got rejected because of some craziness (and politics) that would take too long to type out.

Then this year I'm nominated again. I accept and the rest is (almost) history. I'm a little intimidated, because I have a big interview to go to on Sunday afternoon. But I'm trying not to sweat it too much.

I'm guessing I should find something to eat tonight. Maybe I'll even rent a movie. Or learn a new song. Who knows? The night is as open as my relationship status! (Thanks, Tobias Funke...)

break the barriers (or, how a shy kid overcame)

Last night was awesome. But before I tell you why, first a little background.

After we took the group to camp this summer, Corey (former youth but now a fellow leader) and I decided to start up a little worship band for Wednesday nights. We started practicing and learning worship songs, and as of last night, we have led worship for about 5 weeks.

We've got a guy in our youth group (which we call S*M*A*S*H - Student Ministries at Spring Hill) named John who has been coming to hang out for a little over a year. He started out being really quiet and reserved. Over the past few months he's seemed to loosen up a little. He talks to people more, he hangs out afterward and plays games...it's just cool to see him do more.

Also every week we have band practice on Tuesdays. All the youth are invited to come play along if they want to participate in the following night's worship. Well, this past Tuesday night, John showed up...requested to sing "Hosanna (Praise is Rising)"...and ROCKED IT. The guy was awesome! He held the mic like a young Joey Ramone, and after I mentioned this, I got blank stares (except from Lena, who like me absolutely loves the Ramones).

Last night John was close to saying "no" to his upcoming performance. There were a lot of teenagers there (29, which is HUGE for my church) and he told me that he was nervous. But he sang anyway, to a standing ovation. Afterward, about 3 or 4 kids came up saying they wanted to sing next week.

It's just really cool to see how God works things out. And watching a shy, homeschooled teenager break out into song is also pretty neat. It's times like this when God just reaffirms that youth ministry is for me.

introduction

My first Blogger post...let me introduce myself. For future reference.

My name is Adam Robinson. I am 25, I live in Mississippi, I work at a bank, and I am also a youth leader at my church. For the past 5 years (yes, 5 years) I have kept a blog on Xanga. However, I sort of fell out of love with it and decided to try out Blogger. I've heard lots of good things about it...

So enough with formalities...let's get right to it.