The Chronicles of Blake – Volume XCVII
Or ye can grace your presence on the other location at bjunewsletter.com.

Hear ye, Hear ye!

This is the story the daring and heroic adventures of the brave, noble, and chivalrous knight of the sphere table, Sir Blakeney of the kingdom of King Stephen the first. But we warn thee at this point. It is not for the jellied of heart. These adventures involve the slaying of dragons and ogres and such. And that is just in his dreams! The challenges of the yellow-walled kingdom and the prospects of the future weigh heavily on the armored heart of Sir Blakeney the Valiant. Let’s begin our story:





Once upon a time in a land far away in a country all its own, lived a poor peasant boy who loved writing long letters very much. However, there were many other things fighting for his time, because being a peasant boy is hard work. They must scratch a living also. So one day he sat down to write one of his letters and realized, “Wow, it has been a LOOOONG time since I sent out one of these. The ink in my well is pretty much dried up!” It was a good thing that he had been keeping notes that whole time, though. There is no sense in stopping at the point he was at, because he still had 4 letters to write to reach the magic number 100! So he thought back on all his “recent” events…

And decided that it would be just WAY too much work to make a themed story out of it. So… from this point on he decided to just tell them straight in their own humorous way.

And he decided to stop referring to himself in 3rd person.

…Starting NOW.

“One of Us Has to Change” – So, one day I walked into one of my art classes and stood looking at Mr. Bopp (my Advanced Painting teacher), who was looking at me in the same way: Kinda confused. I had decided that morning to wear a different combination: Khaki pants, brown shoes, a white shirt with blue and brown square design, navy blue tie, and a navy blue sweater-vest. He just happened to be wearing: Khaki pants, brown shoes, a white shirt with blue and brown square design, navy blue tie, and a navy blue sweater-vest. The exact same thing! Well, the designs were slightly different. (His squares on his shirt were a bit smaller and there wasn’t a stripe across his sweater-vest) It was kinda cool, but I didn’t know what to believe: whether great minds think alike or that I am dressing like an old person.

(DISCLAIMER: if Mr. Bopp is reading this… I don’t really think you’re old. 57 is perfectly a young age.)

Special Olympics – One day… actually a long time ago, it seems, I had the opportunity to help out with the Special Olympics Basketball Tournament. It was volunteer, but I absolutely love helping out with these things.

During one of the games I was keeping time for, there was this guy named Anthony. Anthony was a bigger guy who liked to show his moves. Of course, his “moves” were very basic, but he thought they were pretty cool. (afterward I complemented him and made mention of the number 23 on his jersey. I said, “You look a lot like Michael Jordan out there.” He replied, “Yeah, I’m almost as good as him. I just can’t dunk.” He was a great kid. We all loved him.) Anyhow, he was out skipping as he dribbled in the middle of a game and tripped over his feet as he fell on the ground. There was a little girl guarding him at the time about half his size. When he fell, the ball slowly started to roll away, and her teammates on the bench started shouting, “Grab the ball! Get the ball!” But instead of going after the ball, she stopped and helped Anthony get back up. By that time, one of Anthony’s teammates had grabbed the ball and made a basket, but she was more concerned about him. We were all just sitting there in silence watching, wishing that we had recorded that moment on video. It was very sweet.

So why do I enjoy helping out with Special Olympics so much? It really re-adjusts my focus on life. It makes me see how frivolous it is to complain about the little things that go wrong in my life. Yet these guys and girls have very rough lives, yet don’t complain. They are so innocent. They have a wonderful time because they don’t have the problems that we so easily get trapped up in. They are a wonderful example to me.

A Very Nice Night – OK, after reading the title for this one, I realize that it has been a LONG time since I have written a Newsletter. In my defense, I am more busy than I ever expected with planning this “post-graduation” stuff. It’s like this is important or something. Actually… more on that later. SO, there was a night last month that was very important for Erika and me: February 3rd was our one-year anniversary!!! So we did a combination with Valentine’s Day and Tim and Ashley and Erika and Me all went out to eat at this nice little Italian restaurant called “Portofino’s.” That was followed by a nice evening stroll at downtown Greenville and Falls Park. I had a good time. I think Erika did too. I must say that I am a very fortunate guy to be dating Erika for over a year now. I can definitely see how our relationship has grown in that time. I am thankful for her encouragement and how she keeps me in balance. :) It’s also very nice that she is really pretty. Not just any girl has dimples like her. :) She is just all around a wonderful girl and I am very thankful that God has brought us together and that she is such an encouragement to me as she keeps me in line (which isn’t always easy. Ask my mom)

While I’m on the Subject - So the first time I tried this, it worked: I always wondered, “If I try to drop a letter into the correct nightmail box from the second floor, will it work?” So I thought I’d try it. I sent Erika a Valentine (I’ve been sending her one pretty much every night since Valentine’s Day. One day my roommate, Jacob, asked, “You DO realize that Valentine’s Day was over a month ago, don’t you?”) and decided to drop it from the second floor. AND… it MADE IT! IN THE CORRECT BOX!!! I, and the floor hall leader, was very impressed. Now, I have since then not been able to replicated that event, but it was quite amazing at the time. And you are probably sitting there thinking, “This guy is TOO easily amused.” And if you think that… you are right. Which explains why I have taken the bouncy ball and popper that my family sent me EVERYWHERE for the past few days so I can play with them. And Erika keeps trying to take my toys away while I am in formal public programs. Hold on… where was I? I don’t know. Oh well. Apparently I am easily distracted too. So yeah… nightmail box… cool.

Quote of the Month: Blake: “Erika, just say what you’re thinking, “Blake, you’re a trip.”” Erika: “You’re more like a marathon.”

Glad I’m Not Them – One night on the way home from church, Clayton and I saw something very interesting and morbid. Two Chicken trucks passing each other. Only, one of them was stuffed full, and the other one… had completely empty cages. I can just picture those poor chickens (in the full truck), “AAAAAA!!!” Poor chickens. But I’m glad they give their lives so that I may enjoy chicken tenders, chicken wings, chicken noodle soup, NOT dining common grilled chicken, KFC, marinated chicken, BBQ chicken, parmesan chicken, ranch chicken, chicken nuggets, etc. Now I’m hungry and don’t feel so sorry for those chickens after all.

OK, I think you are all starving for something substantial again.

Well… - The reason I was riding with Clayton that night was because… I los… MISPLACED my keys… and my coat….. …. And my umbrella. For a few days there, I was a walking… thing-loser. I don’t know what came over me, except that some of Jacob’s ability to forget things rubbed off on me. Anyhow, that Sunday afternoon I woke up from my nap, got ready for church and choir practice… and couldn’t find my keys. So I looked EVERYWHERE! I tore my room apart. I called Nikki. I ate a few pieces of candy. I COULDN’T FIND THEM! I began to worry. In the process of looking for them, I found that I was also missing my coat and my [gasp| magic umbrella (that is not so magic anymore, but definitely not at all magic if lost). I didn’t find them, so I rode to church and back with Clayton in his cool car. When I got back I thought I’d ask people from my prayer group, and found my coat and my keys hanging nicely on the closet door of one of the room’s closet. I had taken them off in prayer group the night before. Oops. THEN the next day, I found my umbrella leaning nicely behind a door at Perf Hall, right where I had put it a few nights before when Erika and I went to see a play. In these situations I felt like a living parable of the lost keys, the lost coat, and the lost umbrella. And there was much rejoicing on their return.

My Most Famous Artwork Yet – One day, a long time back, Mr. Vierow approached me and said basically, “There is a portrait that goes with the Barber of Seville set, but there are 2 problems with it: (1) It doesn’t look like the guest artist, and (2) it’s really ugly.” So, I had the opportunity to paint this portrait, not knowing anything about it besides that it will be plainly seen for almost all of the play. I did not tell him that I am horrible at portraits, and took the challenge. However, I worked on this for several days, having a BLAST, adjusting it, working from a portrait that was about 25 years old, etc. Eventually, it was done, and I hung it on the wall. It was definitely the best portrait I have done so far! (but that’s not saying much)
The night I watched the performance, I watched as it was the main focus of the ENTIRE opera! OK, maybe not, but it got considerable attention by all the main characters, even at one point having a mustache drawn on him and turned upside down by an angry woman. It is by far my most-seen well known piece I have done. But more on that Artist Series later. Oh… nevermind. It was very good. I was laughing for most of the time. I would give “the Barber of Seville” 3 thumbs up if I were a 3-thumbed sloth. But everyone knows that you don’t go to Artist Series to watch the performance. You go to get all dressed up and take a date. I must say that I had a very pretty date that night, and although it was very cold, we had a wonderful time! If I were that sloth, I would give Erika 3 thumbs up too!

That’s Encouraging – I preached my third sermon in Pulpit Speech recently and had NO NEGATIVE COMMENTS!!! OK, OK, so they ran out of time and didn’t get to that part. But it sound’s good. Saved by the bell.

Alexander Meal – OK, so all the Alexanders are prolly thinking, “That was SUCH a long time ago!” Well… they are right. But I felt that this was definitely worth mentioning, because, well… let me explain first. Erika and I arrived at the dining common and Edgiee and Danielle got there, as far as I can remember, then Hanna came and announced… No. Let me back up. Erika and I were planning to eat with Edgieiee and Danielle and Hanna and Emily for supper. But then we received a frightening email from Hanna saying that Emily… HOLD ON! I’ll let you all read it:

“I'll be there!! Just a side note: We might not have an Emily there tonite, because she is on her death bed today, poor thing.” –Hanna

“Well, come on Hanna, get her off of it quick! We all know that a death bed is NOT the place to be when one is feeling sick... people DIE there!
aww.... poor Emily...” –Edgyee

“Yeah, seriously... One time we had a death bed at my house, and Mom was always saying, "It's OK to sleep on any bed, except for THAT one." So we never did... thankfully.
You better not let Emily stay there for too long. Maybe switch her to a "sick bed." -Blake

And these email kept going on right until the minute we were supposed to meet. However, Emily was not able to join us, so we had a moment of silence. We had a great meal (well… dining common… which is still good… if you… nevermind) together, then afterward Hanna was able to get Emily to switch beds. She’s fine now.

And Then There Were None – So Erika and I got to see a scary suspenseful play in Perf Hall called “And Then There Were None” by Agatha Christie. It was very scary… and… suspenseful. But VERY good. Basically, I was scared whenever the lights went out… not that I would be murdered, but that the bear would attack me. But more on the bear in the NEXT Newsletter.

PICTURES!!!! FINALLY!!!!


1) This is my big buddy, Bear. That is what I have named him, because I found him and took him home. He is giving me a very big hug because he likes me.


2) This is the portrait I painted of Dr. Bartollo from Barber of Seville. It actually looks brighter in real life. But yeah, this is the one.


3) Ummm… something I found in the prop shop.


4) This is a picture of Erika and me from the opera Artist Series. She was very cute. Well… she still is. But she was very very cute that night!

Coming Soon to a NEWSLETTER volume near you! (there’s a reason they are called “volumes”) I am splitting this Newsletter into two, because you really want to get this ASAP (riiiiiight…) and don’t want to be reading this for more than 3 hours. Among some of the things coming in the next Newsletter:
-Brady Comes to BJU
-Party at Rich and Laurie’s
-Shot at Being a Greenville News Model
-What am I Doing after Graduation?
-My Absolutest Craziest week
-Bible Conference… Need I say more?

“Ummm… How Did You Get HERE?” – Here is where I get the title of this Newsletter, “Sir Blakeney’s Big Adventure.” SO I completed my correspondence course in Adolescent Psych in mid-February. So I read the instructions on what to do with the materials: “Please return to the Press Distribution Center.” SO…. I took it one day to what I thought was the press distribution center: the main office of the Press. I waited in line to talk to the receptionist at the desk. She said that I was at the wrong place. Then she gave me the most confusing instructions I have ever heard: “Go out of this office, walk along the building until you come to the cleaners. Behind the cleaners there is a door. Walk through it, and you will come to a spiral staircase. Go down that, and there will be a big open door. (You will only be in the building for a few seconds) Walk through it and go all the way across the parking lot. There will be another door. Go through it. There will be a person there who will take your materials for you.”
So… I did my best. I followed the building. BUT… behind the Cleaners there were 3 or 4 doors to choose from. Each of them had security locks on them. I was confused. So I walked back and asked 2 ladies which one to take. One of them kindly walked back with me and showed me which one… which actually opened up (without an alarm going off)! So I thanked her and walked down this really dark scary spiral staircase. But at the bottom of that, ALL THE DOORS WERE CLOSED and had signs and warnings that alarms would go off. So… I notice that this HUGE caged door was opened, and I walked through it. I then followed this LOOOONG aisle past the 7 levels of the Candy Cane Forest, down the length of this ginornious warehouse full of wonderful books (I was thinking about stealing one of the “Ethics” curriculums, but changed my mind)(I hope you caught that. I walked for several hundred feet, just hoping that I would find someone and not get arrested by Public Safety for trespassing. I eventually saw a girl with her back to me, typing on the computer, just out in the middle of the warehouse: the first living creature I had seen in ages. So I said, “Excuse me…” She jumped and turned around, and it was Tina! I know Tina! So she took my stuff and asked, “How did YOU get in here?” “Are we going to have to change the locks?” I promised that I had stumbled here through pure innocence and oblivious-ness and much confusion. She offered to show me another way out, but I went back the way I came. So that day I saw much more of the world I live by. And… I even had the opportunity to help the Press find a way they can prevent future break-ins and improve their security system! I can’t say THAT every day!

That is all for now. I will be back sometime soon… I hope.

-Blake
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I Thess 5:16-18 "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks..."