The Car Alarm Took Me Down Memory Lane

Today I encountered a car alarm in the DHS parking lot that was going on and off during my whole 30-minute break. My mind instantly jumped into "remember" mode and I was back in college at UCSB living in the dorms where random car alarms going off filled the backdrop of the sounds of my world. I lived in the dorms for three years and amidst the sounds of parties, movies, people's chatter, music, the ocean, the wind, foghorns going off in the distance, and many other random things. Car alarms stand out as one of the more irritating and, therefore, more prevalent sounds from college.

Since I'm on this trip, here are some other "college" memories (I'll stick to the clean ones):

Taking walks on the beach and in the lagoon with my guitar and spending hours playing and worshipping and praying to God.

Getting lost sometimes on these walks in th winter because the fog was so thick you could only see 3 ft in front of you.

Tree climbing barefoot (for better traction) all the way to the top of 2 and 3 story trees on campus with a good friend just for fun.

Trying to start a Bible Study my junior year for Christians only to discover all the Christians in my dorm were interested in the "other" major Christian group on campus. I and a close friend ended up hosting a religious discussion group for non-Christians most of the year.

Sophomore year people in my Bible Study "bullyed" me into leading worship for us. I had only been playing guitar for three weeks and knew only 4 songs -- which we sang over and over again to their dismay for the first six weeks.

After being at UCSB for only three weeks finding myself on a boat heading to Catalina Island for the first of many "Campus By The Sea" Christian retreats with InterVarsity. My most vivid memory from that trip is being on the top deck of the channel cruiser, singing worship songs that I didn't know (I knew only hymns) at the top of my lungs amidst beautiful harmonies, people expressing their love and devotion to God, and people loving on each other with the love of Jesus.

Working in the cafeteria clearing out plates, bowls, and glasses for washing. True creativity with food and beverages begins not at age 3 but when you turn 18, live in the college dorms and have to survive on dormitory food.

Waking up and preparing for class each morning to my roommate who would stare at me with his eyes half-open (sometimes completely open) in a dazed and dreamy way from his bed. I later learned that when sleeping his eyes don't completely shut. But his mind sure did. We had many conversations which he couldn't recall.

Burning through finals week with Mountain Dew, functioning on a regimen of 6 hours of study for every 2 hours of sleep, holing up in classrooms and using the chalkboards to practice chemical equation after chemical equation, and working off my frustration and anxiety with guitar playing and random road trips.

Playing Ultimate Frisbee with the guys from my freshman hall several times a week for the first quarter and then every weekend for the rest of the year.

Taking "Logic"as an ellective and feeling lost during most of the class and like it was a waste of time. This surprised me because I had always thought of myself as an intellectual. Thank God I took it "Pass / No Pass." (I did pass). Being taught from a book (the Proffessor read from the book during class) didn't spurn my interest any further in what was already somewhat of an uninteresting subject to me in the first place.

Discovering the music library where I could control the sounds around me and study and relax in peace (compared to the main library where you couldn't have food, people talked all the time, and you couldn't get away from smells -- especially B.O.).

Overdosing on caffeine so much one semester during finals that I hardly got any sleep and forgot nearly everything I studied. I still don't know how I passed and even excelled... by the grace of God.

The entire guys's wing of my Freshman dorm hall was freaked out for nearly half the year because of experimentation with a Ouija Board. Apparently they contacted a spirit who decided to inhabit one guy's room and it wouldn't leave. One of the inhabitants almost went insane.

Leading the final set of worship at the last Catalina "Campus By the Sea" retreat I attended -- a disastrous experience. Our default worship leader broke his finger and couldn't play. No one else wanted to fill in. Everything that could go wrong did: I missed chords, songs didn't sound right, I and the other vocalists were off-key, and the audience decided to staunchly not to even make an effort to participate. I resolved that I was "through" with worship after this experience. Several months later I heard God laughing about this (He was all along) as I was asked to be a main instrumental and vocal contributor for the worship team of my new post-college church. I accepted the invitation and that began 8 years of participation on the worship team.