extreme plans in the works for the renovation of tom's life

so this blog is kind of belated. cuz it stems from Steubenville, which happened at the beginning of July. oh well. hopefully i can remember all that i wanted to say.
so the theme of the youth conference (aka steub) was rise up: a catholic revolution. they had a military spin on it, but its a good theme anyway. because i definitely do want to rise up. especially in the way described in the comment that follows my "active" blog below (thank you for the wonderful comment, person i dont personally know). so i was just wanting to describe what i learned at the conference. first off there is the image of God's people all focused on God. God at the center, and the people in a circle around. and this way we are able to see each other face to face. but when we turn away from God, we can only see each other from the side.
the rest of what i learned came from Ralph Poyo, a speaker at the conference. i actually ended up hearing him speak 3 times. if he was talking, i was there. so anyway, my big revelation was that to defeat my sin, i have to bring it into the light. because a no on my own often does not work. but with the support of the people around me, sin doesnt stand a chance. so practically applied, this basically means confessing my sins to my friends like i do in the sacrament of reconciliation. which is a very scary thing to do. but Ralph Poyo shared his dark secrets with the whole conference, continuing to bring it into the light (and inspiring others to do the same, obviously...just like my youth group's current motto of inspire greatness). so i think i can tell my close friends. i already have been able to open up with a few friends, and it is incredibly freeing. especially with the accountability that my friends provide. thank you to the friends that i have already shared with. you are amazing friends. very accepting and supportive. and if i haven't opened up to a close friend who happens to be reading this, i hopefully will be able to soon. trying to build momentum. overcoming fear is a hard thing. fear of taking off a mask and not being accepted for what is underneath (a lesson given a long time ago at my REAP retreat for confirmation that i can now live out).
oh, another thing i picked up somewhere around the conference (im thinking on the ride back home...), mediocrity is death. i cannot settle. i have to always be striving for more. at my jesuit school, its called magis. latin for more. but anyway. to not be mediocre is to be extreme. to stand out. to go against the flow of society. to speak up and defend what i believe. especially when its my friends that are being mediocre themselves. this is definitely a way to improve my life. (improve life=closer to God) so what im working on currently to extremely change my own behavior (and maybe inspire others;-) is to stop watching the majority of tv/movies. and to get to bed much earlier and wake up much earlier. this last idea is from the book Don't sweat the small stuff...and it's all small stuff. this is very much against what im currently practicing. i still haven't gotten to really try it out, but i will be. and basically the benefit of this apparently crazy idea is that in the morning, i'll have time for myself before i have to worry about any demands the world has for me. it would be time to pray, meditate, read, run, watch the sunrise. it sounds awesome to me. i dont know how i can possibly do it though when my social life doesnt usually start until about 9pm. prolly right when my plan would have me go to sleep. (and wake up prolly at 5am...the person in the book wakes up between 3 and 4 each morning...i know...crazy...extreme...revolutionary?) and i dont know how i could possibly do this during the school year, especially during cross country season when i cant even start my 3 hours of homework til 7. however, not watching tv will definitely help. this would be as life changing as becoming vegetarian, so it may take a while to implement, but i'll be working on it. well maybe tomorrow night. cuz im definitely not doing it tonight! tata for now...