about a burning fire...

Chase jumped my car and we got it running again!!! It's been running fine for a few days now which is very exciting! I am going home for T-giving tomorrow. I cannot wait!!! As Amy and I both agreed upon today, we can't wait to get away from these people. Not that I don't love you IWUers but...I need to get away from everything...including you. Time to get outside of the bubble and enjoy life outside the Christian ghetto (as we say in Com. class). I cannot wait to get home. It is such a nice haven. This week I have had a paper due in EVERY ONE of my classes! Once I'm home I will finally be able to relax. By the way, who comes here from DePaul University in Illinios? I'm not sure who you are but thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy my blog. E-mail me if you want, I'd love to hear who you are/how you found this site.
Happy "thankful we came and stole all of your land day",
-Kevin

November 20th was FIGHT NIGHT 4 here in Hodson!!! Last night in the Hodson lobby the ping-pong tables, furniture, and tables were replaced with a giant wrestling mat. Students from all over campus huddled into our lobby for what was sure to be an amazing night of testosterone-pumping, ego-filled, violence. There were a surprising amount of people there for it. It proved to live up to the hype they've been giving it. In the second fight of the night one of the guys got cut inside his mouth and bled on his white t-shirt and his opponent’s as well. It was quite gruesome. In a fight later on this big guy got slammed on the mat and when he got up his arm was bent the wrong way! It was one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. It literally gave me goose bumps. It was incredible. There was also a hard-core match in which two opponents fought WWF (or WWE...whatever they call themselves these days) style. The match included a metal folding chair and a ladder. It was very cool. After a while I reluctantly decided I was going to do this. I had to be a part of it. I earlier had jokingly challenged Jason Oterra. When I brought it up to him again he was more than willing to fight me. Neither of us had ever wrestled. Neither of us knew any holds or moves or anything. It promised to be raw. I walked over to the front desk, signed the waver and before I knew it I was in the middle of the ring. We started the match lunging at each other trying to grapple the other down. He lunged at me and I managed to get on top of him for a second and actually pinned him for a second. The referee was on the other side however and couldn't see that both of his shoulders were down. By the time he got in position Jason had pushed me off. We got back up and began trying to take the other down again. Jason ran at me full force and I dodged to the left, grabbed his arms and with his momentum threw him out of the ring on his belly (my finest moment). When he got back up he lunged at me and grabbed my right leg. After jumping around a bit trying to keep my balance I fell on my back. He got on top of me and got my left shoulder down. I threw my right shoulder up to avoid being pinned. Then he put his weight on my right forcing it to the ground. He had both of my shoulders down and I kicked as hard as I could but I couldn't get out. I was pinned. I lost my first ever wrestling match. It was a lot of fun though. I told Jason next Fight Night we're having a re-match. I will win, I promise right now. He won't be so lucky next time. He came into my room last night a couple of hours after the match and told me I messed up his neck. I told him, "Dang, that sucks". But really, I was pretty happy about it.
Bring it,
-Kevin

You can't run from the law forever. Only about two and a half weeks. I found this out the hard way yesterday as my parking scheme was finally found out by the campus police. You see, I realized a few weeks ago that campus police never ticket visitors. Since I was sick of parking two blocks away from Hodson (in the PACC parking lot) I simply removed my permit thus disguising myself as a visitor. With this new power I parked wherever I pleased. I had the full parking status of an upperclassman. However, the police got wise to my scheme. Yesterday I walked out to my car only to find a yellow slip of paper under my windshield wiper. I got two tickets: one for parking in the wrong place, and one for not having my parking permit on. $20.00 total! TWENTY DOLLARS!!!!! Charging a poor college student twenty dollars for a ticket is more criminal than parking in a spot no one would have taken anyway. Today I went in to the campus police office and protested...I lost. The worst part about all of this is that now my car won't even start!!! I can't even move it to avoid getting more tickets!!! I put a sign on my windshield explaining the situation hoping they won't give me any more tickets. I seriously have no money though and if there's something seriously wrong with my car I might not be able to do anything about it. Two nights ago at dinner I was trying to pawn off my things to go to NYC over Christmas break to see Michelle. Last night at the library I had to ask for change to pay my library over-due fine. I didn't even have enough money to pay my library fine! I ended up paying my three-dollar library fine in pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. $1.50 of it was Allie's. I could only manage $1.50. I am broke as a joke. Ok, enough complaining. Last night I found out that my grandparents are going to send me to NYC after Christmas to see Michelle as a Christmas present! How cool is that??!! They are the raddest ever!!! Thank you guys sooooo much!!!!!! I am way excited! I've missed Michelle a lot. In other cool news...yesterday I met with Dakota (the boy I am going to mentor) for the first time. He is actually in first grade (not third like I originally said/thought). We hung out here on campus and did his homework. After that we played a little Mario Cart on N64. Then we went to a playground and played. It was quite fun. His mom was so appreciative, it was so cool. He is a cool kid. If you think to, please pray that God's love will pour out of me to him and to his mom. There is such a cool ministry opportunity here. Thanks for reading...now go buy Copeland's "Beneath Medicine Tree" album. It is amazing.
Keep it on the DL,
-Kevin

I added a guestbook today. Feel free to write whatever. I am interested to know who reads this thing. If you don't want me to know, go ahead and keep living in the shadows. Either way, thanks for reading! Also I added a pictures section so you can see actual pictures of the people behind the entries you read, as well as see a picture of Jes getting kissed by Brett Deter of The Juliana Theory and us kids at the Calibretto Halloween show. Just click on the link that says "Here ya go!" under The Pictures and enjoy...oh and everything is copyrighted so don't steal anyth...wait...being "copyrighted" doesn't mean anything these days. Take anything you want. I do.

Oh my gosh I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!! Chase and I have spent the last hour in here listening to nothing but Christmas music and now I am freaking out! I cannot wait for Christmas!!! I am so already in the Christmas spirit and it's not even Thanksgiving yet!!! Wow...(sigh).


"I want you here by my side. Cold nights, and fires, and white wine. And dreams of holidays to come. I'll wait for spring to bring you to me. The only gift that I need." -Dashboard Confessional

God does some awesome stuff when you least expect it. A while ago I really had a desire to mentor with the Boys and Girls Club of Marion. I thought it would be such a great way to make an impact on someone who needs it. Let's face it; half of the boys in America do not have even one good male role model. Not that I'm amazing at all but I want to be that good of role model, even if it's just to that one. Well, I had an application to mentor at the Boys and Girls Club but over time I procrastinated, got busy, and eventually lost it...both the application and the urgency to mentor. Just today though, when I least expected it the opportunity to mentor a young father-less boy fell into my hands. Allie called me asking if I was mentoring anyone. Upon hearing that I wasn't she told me of a boy she knows who really wants and needs a male role model in his life. Excited at this new opportunity God had given me I said "Yes." immediately. God knew I wasn't being pro-active at this anymore and made His desire for me to be involved come to me instead. He put me to shame. I feel a bit like Jonah, running away from God's call only to have Him throw it in my face again. I'm so glad He didn't give up on me though, that He pursued me with this because He knows there's a need for it. I am so excited to work with this boy. I always lose focus though and think I have to change the world all at once. But, God always works through "that one". Think of Moses, Gideon, C.S. Lewis and Billy Graham. Heroes of the Christian faith, yet they were merely one person. Never underestimate the power of one. On the counter we have Lenin, Hitler and Bin Laden. One person in and of themselves but that power of one was able to do massive amounts of destruction. The power of one is HUGE! I am so thankful I get to work with this boy, this one. It is such a huge responsibility though. Realizing the power of one I feel so inadequate. But with God I know that even flawed me can be a mentor. Through Him I can do all things.
Mentor,
-Kevin

Who comes here from Kalamazoo? That is pretty rad. Thanks for reading. Last night I was on the phone with Kory and Melissa. They were driving around talking on Melissas's cell phone. I jokingly told them they should drive down here to visit me. Well...they ended up ACTUALLY coming!!! They got here around 11:00AM today and we hung out all afternoon. Then they had to go back because they have school and work still. It was quite a fun, random visit! They showed up on campus wearing home-made www.kevinstinehart.com t-shirts! It was quite hilarious. They made them at 3:00AM...a few hours before leaving to come here. The funny thing is upon seeing the shirts a couple people on campus expressed intrest in buying a kevin stinehart dot com shirt! Kory may have something there. Last night I traveled to Taylor to see ol' Damien Jurado. For those of you who don't know, Damien Jurado is a great folk singer/guitarist. The show was great! This emo band called Saxon Shore or something played first. They were amazing! I was way impressed with them. It was cool because they are all straight-up music. There is no singing/lyrics to any of their songs. It's all about the instruments. Then this lady named Rose something played. She was wicked amazing! I never thought I'd ever even imply this but...her voice is as good as Karin from Over the Rhine's. I know it sounds impossible...but seriously, this chic is amazing. I don't think the music is as good but her voice really is. Next up Damien Jurado pleased the crowd with a David Bazan-esq. show, just making it up as he went along. Nothing was prepared, not even a set-list. He did a great job though. He is a great story-teller. If ever you get the chance to check any of these artists out...do it! My favorite Damien quote of the night is "Marriage is interesting as it is the one place in life where you hate someone as equally as you love them." Thought-provoking Damien. Ok, I need to get working...enough of this blogging crap. Goodnight to all and to all a goodnight.
Your mom,
-Kevin

People are so rad sometimes. This weekend two of my friends here went home for the weekend and got Chase, Jon, and I the hookup. Allie got us an extra answering machine she had at her house. And Laura got us a cord-less phone! No more missing calls, having to be tied to the wall...we are living the high life now. It's kind of cool being poor. People give you things.
Now accepting donations,
-Kevin

"Shut the door, close the blinds. Here's your money, go have fun. Someone else is gonna take me home again. I found out about you. You've been running around on me. I found out about you, you've been cheating on me. And I don't like your movie it echoes through these halls. Everybody's talking about who's with who and who's making out. Wouldn't we be better off making movies instead of all this sleeping around? If Hollywood is home, you can live there on your own. 'Cause everyone here has a mistress it's such a dirty business. I gotta get out of this hell-hole. I'm packing my things and I'm coming home." -Vroom

Writing love letters over a solitude breakfast is one of the most amazing things in life. Today has been a great day. I aced my Old Testament test first thing this morning. Then this afternoon I went in to the Med. Center to get my new blood test results. It's sad when everyone at the Med. Center knows your name. I am greeted with "Hey Kevin!" "Come on in Kevin!" "How you doin' today Kevin?" Yeah, I am a pretty popular guy down at the IWU Med. Center these days. Anyway, so I got the blood test results back and they were good! We're still not sure why my bilirubin level is above normal but we know that my liver is fine and that there is nothing serious wrong with me. So, I have to come in next month for another blood test to see if anything's changed...but, this is great news! Later this afternoon I went on an excursion to the Marion Flea Market. It was super rad!!! I got a bow for my pocket watch as well as met some great people. I also bought an old 7-Up bottle for $.50, The Goonies for $1.00 and an airsoft gun for $5.00. It was quite a fun time. I ended up staying there far longer than I had planned on. It was so cool though! Tonight I made my way up to Huntington College to see my friend Michelle Fevig (from back home, of whom I hadn't seen in months) play in a band she's in called "King's Brass". They are wicked good! They tour all over the country. She plays piano for them and is amazing. Tickets to the concert were $15.00 but Michelle got me in free. Nice. Their band blew me away. They got a standing ovation...and deserved it. After the concert she gave me a tour of their tour bus...it is so cool! They each have their own bed complete with their own t.v. in their bunk. There are two lounge areas and well...it is just super rad! It also formerly belonged to Randy Travis. Craziness. After all of it we drove to Ft. Wayne and ate at Steak n' Shake and just hung out. We had such good conversation. We talked deeply of love, marriage, relationships, God, sin, music...life. I had such a good time with her. I'd rather spend a night in good conversation than almost anything else. It was so rad.
Good times,
-Kevin

Taking a break from reading Roaring Lambs right now. It is a great book that I believe the church needs to read and respond to. I am almost done with it. Then I can read the second half of Wild at Heart. Wild at Heart is so great thus far. I love it a lot. Next semester I get to read My Name is Asher Lev too which I'm really excited about! I've been wanting to read it for a while. Wow, sorry I just realized I have nothing cool to talk about. I'm going to end this rambling right now. Go to www.kevinstinehart.com It's my friend Kory's random website with yes, that's right, my name as the title. Haha, he is one crazy kid.
Peace in the middle east (wha?),
-Kevin

I am becoming a frequent patient at the IWU med. center. I had a blood test the other day when I went in about my x-rays and they called me in again today about the blood test. Turns out I have high levels of bilirubin in my blood. This could be as the result of many different things ranging from an infected gallbladder to liver damage. Truth is we have no idea what's going on right now. So, I came in again today and they took more blood. I now have band aids on the underside of both of my arms and probablly look like I could be a heroine user. Tomorrow hopfully we'll know a bit more about what is wrong with me. In the midst of all of it though God is good. I feel great. I feel 100% and if it weren't for the tests would think there was nothing wrong with me. In lighter news, we got unit dogs the other night! Some guys in my unit found two stray dogs outside of Hodson and we somehow managed to convince our R. A. to let us keep them until we could find their owners (even though it's way against IWU rules to have pets) . They were some of the nicest dogs ever and we had so much fun with them! We named one Blue and the other Hunter. Sadly however yesterday the owner came and claimed them. I'm sure she was happy to have them back though. Hunter and Blue you will be missed boys. Now it is time to turn my attention on to making out my schedual for next semester and working on papers.
Fake the fake smile,
-Kevin

Thursday I had to go in for a chest x-ray at the infamous Marion Hospital to find out if I have TB the active disease or just the germs. It was quite an adventure. Friday I got my results and they were good! We found out I don't have the active disease. This means that instead of having to be quarantined for a few days at the hospital I only have to take meds for nine months which will kill the germs and I won't get the active disease. This is great news! This weekend was quite a fun one. Mike came down Friday night and brought along Paula G. As I mentioned in my last post a bunch of us went to Calibretto's annual Holloween Bash Friday night in Kokomo. Mike and I made the four-hour trek last year to go to it...this year was nice as it was only about a 30 minute drive from the wu. For the Bash I dressed up as a bandit. I had black gun holsters complete with vintage-looking guns, a black bandana around my nose and mouth in true bandit style, my cowboy/Indiana Jones hat and black shoes...I couldn't find any black cowboy boots. Allie was a "punk rock fairy". Mike was an angel (last-minute he threw on stuff from the back of Allie's car and looked more like an angel than anything else so that's what I called him). Paula and Laura didn't have costumes as Paula was just along for the ride and Laura came last-minute. The show was a lot of fun. Three other bands played then Calibretto played a great show. Joe from Calibretto was a transvestite. Chris was a proton (which was my favorite costume). Chad was a Hersey's Chocolate bar. Some other notable costumes of fans were Utah (someone dressed as the entire state), E.W. Murnau (the director of the classic 1922 vampire film "Nosferatu"), Carrie (from the movie), Chewbaca (I'm not sure on that spelling but, the wooly character from Star Wars), the Cubs fan who deflected the foul ball in the playoffs leading to their losing the pennant...a.k.a. the most hated man in major league baseball (poor guy), and the Burmuda triangle. It was quite a fun show full of quite a bunch of fun fans. Saturday Mike, Paula G, and I made our way down to Indy for a KBM reunion thing. KBM (Kingdom Building Ministry) is a ministry which puts on a training program called TLI (The Laborers Institute). Mike, Paula, and I did it in the summer of 2002. Our training included two weeks of classes in Denver as well as two weeks in China doing mission work. It was cool getting to see a lot of faces we hadn't seen in a long time, as well as getting to hear about what KBM is up to these days (http://www.christianity.com/kbm for more info). It was a great time of just blessing each other and being reminded that God is doing awesome things all over, not just what I see here.
Syonara,
-Kevin

Just got back from Calibretto's Halloween bash in Kokomo!!! Mike, Paula G, Laura, and Allie all came along. It was a blast! I love those crazy Calibretto boys. Chris dressed up as a Proton. I dressed up as Tuberculosis...haha...just kidding, it would've been funny though. Longer, more detailed post later, now is time for sleeping. Mike and I have to get up at freaking 7:25AM on a Saturday morning!!! I want to die. Happy Halloween everyone!!!
You make me feel young,
-Kevin

"Negative emotions fill my heart. I cuss and I scream and the only one that can calm me down is you. When I see your pretty face, it's hard to hate the human race. So, whisper softly in my ear 'I love you more with each passing year'. I wanna go to Mexico when I think about you. When I think about you, you know my world don't seem so bad." -Calibretto