Paul Prins

For the past two years of high school I have been imagining and visualizing how this moment would happen. I had lost motivation for high school for two main reasons: the challenge for me was gone in most classes, and I was fortunate enough to experience other real world happenings (movies/competitions) and I knew what happened and it tended to differ from what was taught. That made college this object that would finally put me in direct contact with people who knew how to push my mind and skills.

Yesterday I got up at the butt crack of dawn (5:30 am) to go and register at UW Stout. The day was very un-eventful and they told us a bunch of very worthless information. I was the only Multimedia Design major there, which kind of bummed me out since I was hopping to meet someone else in the program. The majority of the day was worthless and I didn’t get to do much of anything truly interesting. Mostly just stuff they need to go over with us, how the school card works, the campus police, probation and dismissal rules, and a plethora of other information you can tell I remembered really well.
I did get to register though, even though most of my classes were given to me on paper slips and was told “Sign up for these”. Left me already at twelve credits for the term. I picked up an afternoon English class and then a skin and scuba diving class on Monday and Wednesday nights which should be a fun, well English not so fun but diving will be. I’m more and more excited about going there. Sometime in the future here I will figure out how to get my possible double major done in only 6 years (BFA in art and BS in business administration).

take care and God bless~paul prins

Monday June 23rd, 2003 at 2:37 PM

Sometimes it is weird how in one day we go through so many different and varying emotions. Yesterday was one of those days for me. After coming off of a week where seemingly everything went my way, I got more work, got a new girlfriend (who is absolutely amazing!!), as well as several other small things I know I would over look, I was faced with the realization that one of the people who had a major impact upon my life could be cut from the location which I saw her the most.

One of the pastors at our church (eden prairie presbyterian church) has now dissolved his relations with the church. I don’t really know how other denominations work but that means that him and his wife cannot come back to that church. They aren’t allowed inside of the doors or on the grounds, says the Book of Order (the book of government of the presbytery). My friend is the daughter of that pastor. For me I had always assumed I would see her at church on Sundays when we would be home from college and now that ideal was cut from me. Carissa is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met and to not know if she is going to ever come back to that church is hard (as the BoO only restricts the pastor and his/her spouse). Needless to say that put me in a not so appealing mood. I did, however, called her up today and we are going to try to do something tonight but that is all pending on what she has going on at home.

I did however talk about mixed emotions, which brings me to the later comment I have. Last evening we had bible study but it was more laid back, playing volleyball and then I had to beat Dave in our foot race. Once we got inside and settled in we started going around the group of us saying what we liked about each person and what we admired. It was so nice being able to openly say things about these friends of mine that I’ve been meaning to say for a while. I also really enjoyed hearing what other people who are close to me thought of me. See how different my impressions are from what other people thought of me. Luckily they were pretty similar. That really put me into a great mood and balanced out my Sunday. I also enjoyed the time I was able to spend at church since I’ve been lacking a bit lately on my own studies.

Take care and God bless~paul prins

p.s. 30 entries!!

Last night I had Stacey over before she left for park rapids today. It was a lot of fun just hanging out and having more time to get to learn more about her. The night was cool, finally saw moulon rouge and it was alright. I’m gonna miss her over the next week but I have a lot of work to get done so maybe I actually will now that she is gone.

Friday during the day so much happened it was kind of crazy. I was up teaching at the PLC workshop at the eden prairie high school when someone from the administration got the idea to do a review video about the week. Jen, who I was running the class I was helping teach, was talking to her and mentioned that I did a lot of filming work and I got a job right there. Went home over lunch break and got my camera and came back. Filmed a bunch of the focus groups working as well as some interviews with three different groups. I’m going to end up mixing all of the footage together and putting it to a dvd for Emily to use as a promotional item for the workshop next year. While filming that the principal over at Oak Point drew interest from my work and asked if I would be willing to help them get a TV show going on the local cable access. I gave her my card so I will see if she gets back to me on that or not. That isn’t something that I’ve done before but it sounds like it would be a great experience and be a lot of fun.

Today was some what un-eventful, I worked the car wash and went to a few grad parties. Hung out after travis’ and swam in the pool, it was quite fun. I got to spend some time talking to Kessia and we’re gonna go out for coffee sometime in the near future here. Also talked to Rob Whitman tonight and we’re gonna hang out on Monday after noon for a while (after my meeting with Emily from the prior paragraph) and before he has to be to work at three. I’m gonna miss that guy next year. Now I must sleep as church starts in about eight hours.

take care and God bless~paul prins

This is one of those times that you hear people talk about. Are you dreaming when you are awake? That the feelings and experiences I’ve gone through in the past week are ones that for the longest time seemed to even elude me in slumber. Now they are hard pressed upon be everyday, greeted with open arms. This is one change that I am sure I will adjust well to.

For those of you who are wondering who ‘her’ in the title of this post is, I guess I can let you know. Her name is Stacey Smith and she’s the sweetest girl. I briefly met her this past winter (maybe in January) while I was doing a project for SASA. She sat in and did an interview with me and I remember editing and thinking to myself, trying to recall what her name was. Something about her then struck me and when I saw her again, just shy of two weeks ago, the dream started. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it, I knew I had seen her before and there was something that drew me to her.

From what I can gather the feeling was fairly mutual. We spent a lot of time together in the next week, and things just seemed to make sense. Everything about her intrigues me to want to know more. Oh and she’s so kind and gentle, it’s one of the first things that I noticed about her. Tonight is going to be like Christmas eve, not being able to sleep because of the anxiety over tomorrow (where going out tomorrow night). Now I know I could go on ranting here for paragraph upon stanza of words to the point where you would all stop reading. That would do nothing but get me all excited again and I need to go to bed soon. So if you read this Stacey, I just want to say thanks for taking a chance on a guy like me and that a girl!

Take Care and God Bless.
~paul prins

It’s kind of weird for me to think about. For the past few years I’ve been one to give advice to my friends and be there to listen to them. One re-occurring subject that came up revolved around dating and trying to find that right person and I would always say the same thing, “Once you stop looking you’ll find him/her”. I should have known that the same would have applied for me.
Over the past several months I’ve spent my down time looking for someone who might be interested in starting up some kind of relationship to no avail. Within a few weeks of graduation I decided it wasn’t worth my time and all but gave up on the idea until I land in Menomonie this fall. Now, every time that I have done that (stopped looking) it seems like I find this amazing girl who makes me want to go against my prior decision to either take a break from dating or in this case, wait till this fall.
I can’t say that I know a lot about her since I met her a whole eleven days ago when she came with laura to my graduation open house. However there is something there that just feels right and I’m not quite sure what it is. Maybe we both are looking for something similar and that is our underlying similarity or it could be more. Needless to say she is someone that I’m very interested in learning more about and want to get to know her better.
Alas I’ve been rambling on for a while here and I should really finish up before everyone comes back from lunch and I need to get back to work. (I’m helping out with the Best Practices workshop at EPHS wed-fri). I also need to start posting on here more and more. Goal for the next week is to post at least once a day.

Take Care and God Bless~paul prins

What is there to say, I stood on the X on stage and gazed upon the faces of the crowd, looked into the eyes of my classmates and tried to take in every moment. As she read my name off I felt this smile come across my face, I couldn’t help it as my feet started to whisk me across the stage until I was standing in front of Larry, I wanted to thank him for all the work he’s organized with the grading committee and for letting me be involved but then I felt my feet pulling me to these two people I didn’t know (the second was a blur but the last was the superintendent Krull). I took one last look up to the crowd before walking down the steps to get my rose and returning to my seat.

So now it’s two days later and I’m sitting here, I hate to quote the movie old school but “I woke up one day a new man, I didn’t feel any different”. I’m done with high school, I feel as if I need to do something with my life. I know my time will come, and for now I’m content with what I’ve been able to accomplish thus far in my journey in life. Right now I’m just trying to make sure that I am able to show everyone how grateful I am for the roll that they’ve played in my life. Almost as though I am looking for some closure to this chapter of my life.

I know that I won’t find it because life is not cut and dry, rather the pages over lap and the Author has it all mapped out before we even know what happens. All I need to do is keep my feet moving and turning the pages beneath them. Until next time…

Take care and God Bless ~ Paul Prins

Sunday June 8th, 2003 at 10:25 PM

Have you ever had a moment in your life where everything that was within your perspective seemed to change? Some call it an epiphany while others something along the lines of being enlightened. Those moments are what keeps us on our toes, as they always seem to come just about the point in which we have everything ‘figured’ out.

For this past weekend has been full of them, from the graduation open house I held on Saturday to church today. It’s really been a chance for me to open my eyes and to look to the future then I ever have. Maybe not ever have, but with more realism then I have been able to in the past. I really don’t know what to say aside from the fact that I’m extact for the future. I will greatly miss this world to which I’ve grown so accustom to but I know that, with God’s help, the future will hold treasures and opportunities that I simply can’t fathom within my own, human, mind.

I’ve also decided that I’m going to write out some of the bigger issues that I’ve had to deal with and/or think about in quite some detail. Just to have it out there for anyone who is interested in reading it or for people who might be going through something similar to what I have already experienced. Till later

Take Care and God Bless, ~paul prins

I really don’t know what else I could say about it. There was this sense of impending doom that I was feeling and experiencing when I called them up two weeks ago, I lost one of their banners and had waited quite the time before calling them (about two months). Well they got back to me today and were really in an excited mood, apparently they heard through the grapevine somewhere about how the event went and were even more impressed with me then they were prior to this year.

We talked for about fifteen minutes about the event and I received my unexpected praises from him and the rest of the staff, thanking me for how easy I made the event and for everything that I’m doing for the scene here in the Midwest. We talked about their involvement next year and it sounds like they are thinking about really upping the ante that is really exciting for me. My aspirations for this event are finally starting to be sensed along with my ability to pull it off. I think that next year I will really surprise more and more people, and it will be interesting to see how my college reacts to my endeavors that I’ve hence committed myself to.

Basically what I’m going to do is propose a full out event push from freeskier, including magazine advertisements and a print of the article from this season and one on the event from next year. Really pushing our relationship further then it’s been in the past. Speaking of that I haven’t written an article for them in 18 months, I should really do that.

Take Care and God bless,
~paul

Last night after the final crossroads (I’m gonna miss seeing all of you every other week) I went down to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport to pick my dad up, after going to Seattle on business and to visit my brother Ryan at UW – Seattle. I really didn’t know when he was due in, either 9:20 or 9:50, so I got down there and tried to find a place to park. I got off on post road and went down to fort snelling but there wasn’t anything there so I went the other way and found a lot on the west side of the road that faced the airport so I pulled in there. After turning the car off I put on some music and just sat there waiting for my dad to call me, and that’s when it happened.

Something that you almost never see, One after the other in rapid fire they took off. Five F-16 Hornets took off right in front of me. They all had their afterburners on full and just flew past, they left the ground about 400 yrds north of me and the blasted south turning down their engines just after they past me. One after the other, just as one would turn down their afterburners the next would be roaring down the runway and taking off. It was truly a treat to witness, and even more so at night when the afterburners where white and blue cones emitting from the back of each jet. Wow that was so cool, I’m still not over it. The strength you could feel from those planes was amazing, and very humbling at the same time. I was really lucky to see that.

Take care and God bless,~paul prins