Who am I

Born Ishum Lee Carpenter, but known to most as Tech. I was born to two wonderful parents, LaVerne and Carleton. I grew up in New Jersey with an older brother but moved around a bit. I have lived in 6 towns in New Jersey, 1 in Florida, 2 in Connecticut, and lived in 3 locations in my current town of Raleigh, North Carolina. I have gotten used to adapting to new surroundings. I can't say that it is easy to just pack up and move, but I have learned that something wonderful, that I would never have experienced otherwise, always comes from new surroundings.

Growing up, I was always drawn to technology. I was the kid who programed the VCR, (I know some of you students are wondering what that could possibly mean) was running computers when you had to use Dos (once again, I'm sure some of you students are confused). I knew how to build my own computers, I could work most electronic devices without ever reading the instructions and could repair some of them too. That was all before middle school. When I got to high school I even took an electronics class, but at this point, my other love started to take over. Music. It was there that I was finally in a place where I wasn't seen as the little brother, and started making music on my own.

I partnered up with some friends in Connecticut and started making a pre-recorded radio show with all the latest songs, which we would then duplicate onto tapes and sell. That later morphed into interviews with artists who didn't exist, from a label that didn't exist. We had to create music from these artists to go along with what was said in the interviews. This eventually led to actually making the non existent record label, actually exist. This time trying to start a label gave me an interest in everything that happens behind the scenes. During this time I also had a friend who had a show at Conn College. I really really loved seeing how everything operated to bring you what you hear on the radio. This all helped to lead me along a path to Full Sail University.

To be continued...

Without

So, lately I've noticed that my Spanish is getting better. I'm able to respond to things written to me in Spanish without thinking about what I'm reading or what words I need to us to respond. I'm not the only person who has noticed, but even the person I am responding to has noticed the increase in the speed of my responses. *Note* (This is only with some phrases, questions, etc. that I have used often.) But the funny thing is that I am realizing that there are many words I have heard and even used before and never really thought about what they mean. Arroz con pollo or ACP as they call it in many restaurants around here is a term I had been hearing and at times using for years. It is only now that I actually made the distinction that it is three words Arroz, con, and pollo, Rice and Chicken. I have learned the word Arroz (rice) and I already knew the word Pollo (chicken). I have known the word con (with) since I was in about 4th grade. How I never made the connection between the three words before, I have no idea, but this revelation a few weeks ago led me to look at other words I in a different way.

I think the fact that con (with) was one of the words in ACP is the reason I started to focus on sin. In Spanish, the word sin means without. That got me really thinking. What is sin really? Sin is anything that takes your focus and worship away from the only one who is worthy. Most people will attribute to something morally wrong or something that society says is against it's laws. Sin is much more than that. Sin is anything that is done "without" God. Separation from God because of anything is sin. Weather it be committing acts deemed immoral or illegal, failing to commit acts in accordance with Gods plan, or even just thinking thoughts that violate Gods law, it is all sin. They are all responsible for the separation between us and God. It is why without Salvation through Christ, we are doomed to spend eternity "without" God, in hell.

I find it amusing that I have been speaking a Spanish word Sin and learning the true meaning for years, but never really made the connection to the English meaning and the Spanish meaning. Anyway that is all for now. We'll see what thoughts I come up with next time.

Finally

For the past few months it seemed like everything was at a standstill. I know that things have been progressing, but from the application standpoint. I wasn't really seeing any progress. I had been waiting for some medical records to be located back in New Jersey. Back in the beginning of December, I had contacted my doctors office, attempting to get a record of my immunizations. I was told that I had to wait for them to get them from off-site storage. They said that it should take about a week to get it and a few more days to sort through it and fax me the information. 2 months and about 10 phone calls later, they finally had my records. They faxed me a second medical release form, because they didn't have the one I signed back in December. Just as I was getting ready to fax them back the signed copy, I received a call. It was the doctor's office calling to inform me that though they had located my medical records and knew that I had been immunized, they had no record of which ones I had received. Fun

I wasn't able to get in touch with the medical processing department. The person who handles my file was out of the office. I was going to let them know that I wasn't going to be able to provide proof of immunizations and see what was the next step. I was told that I can get some blood work done that may help identify what I may be immune to. Anyway later that night, I was on the phone with my mom and was just venting my frustration about the whole medical records thing, and she says, "I was just looking at a copy of them last week. I could send you a copy." So in a 10 minute conversation with my mother, I was able to accomplish what I couldn't do in two months with my doctor's office. Over the following 2 hours the ball began rolling again and a number of things began to take shape, but those will be other stories for other times. Thank you all for your continued support and prayers as well as continuing to stop by hear and read what's happening with me, even when I take over a month to write an update.