my first week of school is almost over. today i had 2 more studio classes. my conception and presentation class...is gonna rock. we got our first assignment...and im so excited bout it. its basically we had to find a book. any book that already has something in it [writing, pictures, etc.] and we turn it into our sketchbook for 15 weeks. we collect stuff and put it in there or write stuff or whatever we want..but it is gonna be a really fun project. i picked this popart book to use as my book. me and kim went to the thrift store to find our books. [thrift stores rock by the way]

after that i went back home to the burg b/c its my DADS BIRTHDAY ..yay. so the fam got together and went to a nice italian restaurant to eat. then we went back to open presents at home. i got him a globe that is made entirely out of gems. it is a little black globe. it rocks...really expensive but my dad is worth it. my dad is so awesome...ill just give him a shout out right now- thank you dad for everything..you are amazing...i duno if you will ever read this but i want everyone to know how much i appreciate you and all you do for me and how you encourage me. i love you.. i hope you had an awesome birthday

today was a rainy day but it wasnt bad. i feel like the rain is prophetic. i feel like the rain is spiritual rain preparing the grounds of vcu. the seeds that will be planted this year need to fall on watered ground. streams of living water are flowing thru the streets. so in the rain i just had to just smile and sing. im excited bout what the Lord is goin to do this year. in this very dark campus his light is goin to shine. tonight we had a meeting at harvest renewal church..the church that i have been goin to. and it was basically about our campus ministries and some of the leaders shared their heart and what the Lord is showing them. one thing nicole shared was how the flags surrounding vcu all say 'VCU leading the way'. that is a very prophetic statement i feel. the Lord is goin to use me hopefully in many ways to reach out to others. tonight after the meeting me and matt were walking back to our dorms and we saw a homeless guy. we gave him a bagel to eat and we talked and just listened to him talk for about 45 minutes. we couldnt really understand him b/c he was drunk but i feel like it was the Lord that set up the talk. it was for some reason even if i dont know what it was. we got to pray for him right there before we left him and it was a good experience. there are alot of homeless ppl in richmond so that is hopefully the first of many times i will talk to a homeless person about the Lord and get to pray for them and give them food and maybe other practical things. it really was a fulfilling experience b/c i know that the Lord loves that man just as much as the Lord loves me. so i looked at him that way instead of as a homesless person. the Lord loves everyone. there are no exceptions. the Lord doesnt think of or love someone any less just b/c the ppl of this world shun them. the Lord doesnt want them to be homeless. he has plans for their life. well anyways...that mans name was peewee...if you think bout it ever or right now just pray for him...he hasnt always been homeless, his wife died, he was raised pentacostal, he has alot of health problems and he has a problem w/ drinking and drugs...but he will be delivered and healed in Jesus name! amen

todays classes were the same as mondays plus my afo honors seminar class. that class i think is gonna be a cool class. the teacher is cool. english today was cool. my teacher is just funny to watch. like she is really old ..she makes like these funny facial expresions and when she talks bout stuff she like stops and laughs at herself. i duno she just seems like a cool old lady. i just sat there and laughed at her the whole class. hopefully she didnt think i was making fun of her. art history today was cool too. it was my first full length class. we went over all the stuff we read in the first chapter...well half of it. up to the paleolithic era. it is really interesting. i didnt think that i would like that class. b/c the only art that we are learning about it prehistoric to gothic art and that just doesnt seem very interesting to me or i have never wanted to look into it or cared bout studying it. but after reading the first chapter i really think that i will like this class alot. i will be learning bout the first kinds of art that evolved into the art that we do now..thats kind of crazy.

so today heather..my youth pastor came up from williamsburg to visit. me, her, her sister vannessa, and their two sons went to careytown..walked around and went to mcdonalds for lunch. that was my first meal away from hibbs since 2 weeks ago. yumm. i definately ordered off the 1 dollar menu..ha. so it was awesome hanging out w/ them. i miss heather and vannessa is just halarious so i like hanging out w/ her..[i only have like 3 times tho]. she lives in richmond so i want to more. and their two little boys are precious. they are both around 2 y/o. so now im in my room...lazy...i blame the rainy weather. so ill chill here till i am goin to a bible study tonight

ok..back to my wooden chair. it seems like there is so much more stuff to write about since i moved to richmond. each day is so interesting in itself...today was my 2nd day of collage. i was suposed to have two 3 1/2 hour classes today for drawing and design but it ended up being my design class- 1 hour and my drawing class- 10 minutes. ha ..can i say how much college rocks? man..10 minutes. basically the teacher was like ok hurry up and sign this paper so we can leave. so when i was suposed to be done w/ school at 430 i got done by 110 today. i definately slept basically the whole day in between classes. in my design class we had to draw lines based off words..emotions..like "draw a angry line, draw a timid line, draw a slow line" so that was kinda cool. i guess it is hard to imagine what a emotion looks like as a line but i kinda just closed my eyes and drew whatever. so today was kind of a lazy day. but at 7 me, matt, and shannon took a road trip to plan 9 to get tickets to the john mayer concert and just our luck they werent sellin them there. so we drove to ukrops and the tickets ended up bein 25 bones a person. so me and matt are gonna get them at browns island..where the show is ..sometime this week i guess. after that we road back- parked and went to hibbs to eat. it was closed but there was this 2nd cafeteria open on the 2nd floor so we went up there...they prolly thought they were gettin out early b/c it was 845 and they closed at 9 but we walked in swiped our cards and ate. shannon was excited b/c he finally found where they hid his peach tea. so we chilled in there until they kicked us out. sooo when we walked downstairs it was like pouring rain out...it was when we walked to hibbs a little but now it was like way worse. so we walked under the over hang for awhile tryin to stratagize our gettin home...but basically we gave up and just walked. im surprised i didnt slip and fall b/c my sandles have no traction what so ever. i was totally soaked and freezing by the time i got to my dorm. its kinda funny how the only night it was cold outside it was raining...arg.

man i wrote in this thing 3 times today already. you guys are lucky. well i had another experience just a few hours ago that i wanted to share w/ the world. me and kim road our bikes all the way to river city tatoo and i got my ears stretched to 6 gauges. im pumped. i got some little steel talons that curl all the way around and have black o rings. they are so sweet. so im movin up! my right ear hurts b/c i went from a 10 to a 6 when in my other ear i went from a 8 to a 6 so that one doesnt hurt at all. but its all good. they will be all better soon. yay. [if ya want a pic then shout out]

today was cool. i finished my day of school and lunch before 11:30a. my first class was art history and it is 8-940 and we got out at 900 and then english was 10-1050 and i was outa there by 1045...so basically i hate highschool. b/c in college if we arent doin anything they just let us out early. which really rocks.

arg. its 7:15a..and my first day of squool in college. and like any other school year the past 12 years. im not excited. i dont like work and i dont like having to get up before im ready to get up to do work. so here i am...plaid pants, blue t-shirt, my orange backpack and tired eyes. its now 7:19a...my poster just fell and scared me [the dang tape wont stick to the walls] and i have 10 minutes before im gonna walk over to johnson hall and meet kim to walk to class. 7:21a -im glad that my day ends at 11 oclock b/c i can eat and go back to bed. unlike tomorrow where they day starts at 8:30 and goes until 4..that blows. but we will talk bout that tomorrow. 7:23a- my face itches, i need to put in my eardrops and i want to go back to bed... [zzzz]

richmond has been fun...ive been roaming around town tryin to figure out where i am. bein reunited w/ everyone from governors school and my other friends. its been awesome hangin out w/ everyone. my bike i know will become very handy. it rocks bein able to ride it everywhere.monday day i met up w/ shannon and christina and we went around to get our books, our new student IDs, and our bus passes. then we went to careytown and went to plan 9, urban artifacts (i bought a shirt..it is like a baseball shirt w/ yellow sleaves and it is by my fav shirt designer local artist guy. it says poison on it...it rocks my face) monday night i went to my first concert at 929 cafe. it was a further forever and dynamite boy show...i went w/ my friend shannon. it was an awesome show b/c it was their last show on the tour so they were all crazy the whole night. and i got some awesome pictures. tuesday night bren from gov school (who is ditchin us and goin to MICA) came down w/ some of his friends and surprised us. that was awesome...cuz i havent seen him in awhile. so we walked around (me, bren, shannon, dyna, saul) and went to panda garden...this awesome chinese place. and i ordered fried donuts and fortune cookies. they also gave us all free smoothies that were really good. after that we all drove out to careytown and had our first experience at byrd theater. this theater rocks...basically what it is is they play movies that recently came out of the regular theaters. so it is really cheap to go. we payed 2 bones to see minority report. after this they droped me off at my dorm and i had to say bye to brennn...noo. yesturday i went and hung out w/ hammel and we wached simpsons untill me, matt, and christina went to seigal center and worked out...it is nice there and the good part...FREE. so yea..i ran 2 miles in 25 minutes...i know thats a record! thennn i went back and chillin in my room then met everyone for dinner...including shola! i havent seen him in forever...even tho he was basically sleeping the whole time we were w// him..ha. then after dinner we met up w/ kim and collin and went to 'salsa on the plaza'. we watched and made fun of everyone..then hamel came over and then megan came over which i havent seen in forever either. but as soon as she got there she left us..but we still love her. after this we went and got kim and collins bikes and hamel on his skateboard we went to hamels apartment and chilled. and that calls it a night.

hey everyone...well i am all moved in to vcu. the Lord blessed me w/ a corner room witch is one of the biggest rooms in my building and even on the campus. i got here...there are no elevators so me, my dad, and jenna took many trips up four floors while my mom watched everything and made my bed :0). after everything got settled i hung out w/ ppl around town..went to my friend hamels friends house and then his apartment and watched the end of 'black sheep' and then 'big daddy'. then i came back to my dorm around 11 and then some other ppl came over...kim and christina from governors school and this other guy i met at star day, one of kims friends, and this other guy. i went to bed around 1 after unpacking alot of stuff...tryed puttin a twin size mattress pad on a extra long size twin...that was fun..ha. then i slept in my dorm for the first time alone in richmond. so thats where i am now...its 9:34 a and i got up to see if my eithernet was working...and thankfully and finally it is.. so thats the update on me. id love to hear from you all so drop me a line whenever. and ill keep ya updated bout when im comin in town.

by the way...i have a new email address...it is dauriala@vcu.edu so i will be forwarding all mail to that address and writin you from it after this email..thanx.peace

hey kids...2 days left.. my roomate just told me that she is not goin to vcu anymore...so im bumbed bout that but i guess that is what the Lord wanted. i guess it came as a shock to me at first but now i just have to trust him w/ the whole situation. i might get my own room tho...cuz it is really last minute so hopefully first semester i will have my own room..that would rock if i do. but anyways...i just ran 2 miles and im bout to watch a movie..thats all for "laurens: spill your mind session"

reality is setting in...im goin to college...i duno if i really want to. im scared, confused, and i dont know if i want to step into responsibility yet. things will never be the same. everything is changing. i was excited...but now that i am actually thinking bout it im not excited really at all....kind of..b/c i want to see what the Lord is going to do. im not a little kid anymore...i dont want to be grown up...Jesus hold me close..please

sitting here pickin my nails...listening to coldplay/// my tatoos are scabbing...i thinkin..i dont want to do anything but then im bored

i got my first tatoo...well it is actually 2 but they play off eachother. i got them on wednesday. i took pix of them so you can see them if ya want. together it says 'Jesus saves'. it did kind of hurt. i didnt really know how it would feel but kind of had an idea. but basically it is like taking a needle and dragging it in your skin...one leg hurt more then the other one and it hurt more or less in different places. but over all it wasnt that bad and it went quick. it was done in like 10 minutes at the most. its cool b/c i got the idea when i went to camp and i was just drawing on my leg and thought it would be sweet. so it looks like i wrote it on my leg w/ a sharpee but FOREVER.