Thursday, February 05, 2009

Places I've Lived


View Larger Map

After several months in Fort Worth, I moved on campus to the Student Village apartments. A friend of mine tells me that when he was going there these were called the "Gospel Ghetto." I didn't think they were that bad especially the first one I lived in. It had wood floors and plenty of room for me. It was nice to be so close to school since I also worked there.
I'd have to say that the worst part of living there was the smells coming from my asian neighbors apartment. I love asian food but these smells could put you off of it forever. I once came home to find tons of tiny fish laid out on the balcony in front of my neighbors apartment. I guess they were drying them out. To each his own.
Now comes the hard part. I moved to this apartment primarily because of a girl I was sort of dating at the time. We thought it would be a good idea for me to be closer. She lived in the building next door. It was fine for a while but when the relationship went south, it was terrible. This was not a good time for me. I had actually dated a few girls and none of the relationships ended well. That and being at seminary (which was hard for me for lots of reasons) took a toll on me and I plunged into a deep depression. I started seminary after my health kick so I was very healthy and at a good weight...probably around 195. I lost down to 171 and I looked terrible. I could go into details about how bad off I was but I just don't feel like going into it. I got to the point where I wanted to die so that tells you how bad it was. A friend finally told me if I didn't get some help he was going to drag me to it himself so I started seeing an on campus counselor. He gave me some good advice and I took it. That summer, I went home for a 2 week visit and ended up staying for about 4 - 6 weeks. I got to be with my family and friends and it gave me a zone of comfort in which to heal. When I returned to seminary, I felt a lot better.
Not too long after that I joined The Company which was SWBTS's touring drama team. It was a fantastic experience and I wouldn't trade it for the world but it was also a tough experience for me. Being on the road alot, not being able to sleep in my bed (I had seriously bad insomnia back then) and personality conflicts within the group were a challenge at times. But, all in all, I enjoyed it and have some great friends from the experience.
I didn't stay in that apartment. My friend Darren came to seminary and we got an apartment off campus. (not on Street View) After a time, Darren moved into the men's dorm and I moved back into seminary village (different apartment). When I graduated, I said goodbye to Fort Worth and I haven't been back since.
Postscript: I thought I would write more about the seminary years but it was not a great time for me. There were truly some awesome, wonderful times but overall it was perhaps the hardest time in my life.

2 comments:

adam said...

yeah, seminary is like that. people either love it and thrive in that environment or come out hating it never wanting to even acknowledge the experience...although seminary was good to me on some levels, i came out leaning more to the second group...especially after learning some of the inner workings of baptist politics and things that were going on behind the scenes. i'm just glad i got out before patterson came and started firing female professors. one of the best i've ever had, dr. karen bullock, was an incredible church history professor and fell in his wake...however, you'll be happy to hear she's teaching again heading up the history department at the bh carroll institute...a seminary started by professors either fired or fed up with the trustees and patterson. as a matter of fact, hardly any of my former professors are still there: a few went to baylor, a few to bh carroll, and several scattered at various insitutions. sad, but true. i suppose this is what happens when man thinks he can control God's plans.

Anonymous said...

Some of us are glad you stayed with it, my friend. Would have never met if you hadn't.