Feb 2006
"random thoughts from class"
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 Filed in: random
musings
okay... last week,
while i was in class, i had random thoughts running
through my brain and i wrote them down. here they are
in no particular order...
- i wonder if the Tawianese exchange student dropped the class because he had as much trouble understanding us as we did him?
- was that racist? i didn't mean it to be.
- the two people at the other end of the room are constantly typing stuff on their laptops. what the hell are they typing? am i missing stuff? should i be typing? should i have a computer out?
- also, their computers aren't plugged in and their batteries never seem to die. are they faking it?
- on that map on the wall, east is up. that's weird.
- how come love isn't a value in any of these books? seems like it would cover a lot of ground.
- why does Jesus always look the same in movies when we really don't know what Jesus looked like? i think i wanna make a Jesus movie and have Him look really different. maybe beardless. and with a mullet.
- was that sacreligious? i didn't mean it to be.
- i like food. a lot.
- i've been wearing the same rainbow sandals for 4 years.
- what the crap is going on on his tie?
- what's the deal with gum? i mean... who came up with it and why?
- i bet people see me writing this stuff down and think i'm taking notes just like i think those people typing are taking notes. maybe they're typing out their random thoughts.
- i wonder if the Tawianese exchange student dropped the class because he had as much trouble understanding us as we did him?
- was that racist? i didn't mean it to be.
- the two people at the other end of the room are constantly typing stuff on their laptops. what the hell are they typing? am i missing stuff? should i be typing? should i have a computer out?
- also, their computers aren't plugged in and their batteries never seem to die. are they faking it?
- on that map on the wall, east is up. that's weird.
- how come love isn't a value in any of these books? seems like it would cover a lot of ground.
- why does Jesus always look the same in movies when we really don't know what Jesus looked like? i think i wanna make a Jesus movie and have Him look really different. maybe beardless. and with a mullet.
- was that sacreligious? i didn't mean it to be.
- i like food. a lot.
- i've been wearing the same rainbow sandals for 4 years.
- what the crap is going on on his tie?
- what's the deal with gum? i mean... who came up with it and why?
- i bet people see me writing this stuff down and think i'm taking notes just like i think those people typing are taking notes. maybe they're typing out their random thoughts.
|
"a night at the Radisson in Visalia"
Saturday, February 18, 2006 Filed in: deep thoughts
| random
musings
know what you're asking
yourself. "why, dear God, would he be at the Radisson
in Visalia!?!?" well, normally i would be as weirded
out by the thought as i imagine you are right now,
but tonight is different.
i'm here to visit my friend, Jen. Jen is one of my oldest friends and one of my most unique relationships. Jen and i met, very randomly, in high school at a leadership camp at UCSB. we have one of those rare/great relationships where, from the moment we met, we were instant friends. we don't see each other much (because she lives in freakin' Visalia!), but when we see each other, it's as if no time has passed at all. (even though, at times, it's actually been years.)
normally, when i see Jen, it's in Orange County. i live there and she lives in Visalia so i automatically win when we play the "where are we going to meet up?" game. so, why am i here? two weeks ago, Jen gave birth to a little girl she named Nathalie. because of these extenuating circumstances, she won the battle this time. but that's not what this blog is about.
i don't know what it is about this baby, but i think she might actually be as close to perfect as a baby can come. as soon as i got to the house, i was handed the baby and i didn't want to let her go. (this is abnormal for me as i'm generally bored with babies who cannot walk, talk or at least crawl.) for some reason, i'm totally enamoured with this child and totally weirded out by the fact that this baby belongs to my friend.
i think it's because she's really my first close friend who's my age to have a baby. maybe it's because it makes me realize that i am (and people i'm friends with are) capable of doing this thing that i already know i'm capable of doing, but am not actually sure i could do. plus, i've known Jen for so long and i still think of her as the goofy high schooler i met at UCSB all those years ago. so, the whole thing is this weird experience for me. i don't know. i've been around babies a lot, but somehow this one is different.
then i got to thinking about the idiots in this world who take children for granted. these people who have kids and don't appreciate them or realize how amazingly great they are and what a miracle they are. the ones who actually treat their kids like animals or worse. the one's who don't want their own children. i thought about this tonight as i was holding Nathalie and she looked up at me with those piercing eyes and she gripped my finger with those fragile little hands. i mean, if anyone ever needed proof of God... there she is. and millions more like her. how could you look at any of them and see anything but God? to ignore that... to somehow see a burden or a mistake... i can't even fathom it.
so, now i'm back at my room at the Radisson in Visalia just in awe of God's creation. anyway, sorry this one isn't funny or random. maybe you understand what i'm talking about, and maybe you don't. if you don't, that's okay. it took 27 years for it to hit me.
i'm here to visit my friend, Jen. Jen is one of my oldest friends and one of my most unique relationships. Jen and i met, very randomly, in high school at a leadership camp at UCSB. we have one of those rare/great relationships where, from the moment we met, we were instant friends. we don't see each other much (because she lives in freakin' Visalia!), but when we see each other, it's as if no time has passed at all. (even though, at times, it's actually been years.)
normally, when i see Jen, it's in Orange County. i live there and she lives in Visalia so i automatically win when we play the "where are we going to meet up?" game. so, why am i here? two weeks ago, Jen gave birth to a little girl she named Nathalie. because of these extenuating circumstances, she won the battle this time. but that's not what this blog is about.
i don't know what it is about this baby, but i think she might actually be as close to perfect as a baby can come. as soon as i got to the house, i was handed the baby and i didn't want to let her go. (this is abnormal for me as i'm generally bored with babies who cannot walk, talk or at least crawl.) for some reason, i'm totally enamoured with this child and totally weirded out by the fact that this baby belongs to my friend.
i think it's because she's really my first close friend who's my age to have a baby. maybe it's because it makes me realize that i am (and people i'm friends with are) capable of doing this thing that i already know i'm capable of doing, but am not actually sure i could do. plus, i've known Jen for so long and i still think of her as the goofy high schooler i met at UCSB all those years ago. so, the whole thing is this weird experience for me. i don't know. i've been around babies a lot, but somehow this one is different.
then i got to thinking about the idiots in this world who take children for granted. these people who have kids and don't appreciate them or realize how amazingly great they are and what a miracle they are. the ones who actually treat their kids like animals or worse. the one's who don't want their own children. i thought about this tonight as i was holding Nathalie and she looked up at me with those piercing eyes and she gripped my finger with those fragile little hands. i mean, if anyone ever needed proof of God... there she is. and millions more like her. how could you look at any of them and see anything but God? to ignore that... to somehow see a burden or a mistake... i can't even fathom it.
so, now i'm back at my room at the Radisson in Visalia just in awe of God's creation. anyway, sorry this one isn't funny or random. maybe you understand what i'm talking about, and maybe you don't. if you don't, that's okay. it took 27 years for it to hit me.
"back to school... back to school... to prove to dad that i'm not a fool"
Thursday, February 16, 2006 Filed in: my life
i've become one of
those people i hate. you know the ones. they complain
about school and how they just can't wait to be done
with it. and then they finally finish and what do
they do? they sign up for more! and we think "what
idiots! why would you want more of that?" i know. i
get it. i'm that guy now.
i'm not proud to be that guy. but here i am. and as horribly cheesy as it sounds, i found a program that i'm just interested in. there isn't some great practical application that i'm doing this for. it's just that i found something that i really want to learn more about. sure, it can be used in a lot of areas and will, no doubt, be useful in whatever future (and present) ventures i plunge head-first into... but mostly, i'm just interested. so... what the hell? why not get another masters? do i need two masters degrees? probably not. but i'm doing it anyway!
so... on February 8th... i go back to school to get my Masters in Organizational Leadership (that's leadership for organizations not for getting organized... that would take nothing short of a miracle and direct intervention from God himself) at Azusa Pacific University. the worst part... the classes are from 4.45 in the afternoon until 9.30 at night!!! (um... that's just short of five hours.) i'm gonna die.
i'm not proud to be that guy. but here i am. and as horribly cheesy as it sounds, i found a program that i'm just interested in. there isn't some great practical application that i'm doing this for. it's just that i found something that i really want to learn more about. sure, it can be used in a lot of areas and will, no doubt, be useful in whatever future (and present) ventures i plunge head-first into... but mostly, i'm just interested. so... what the hell? why not get another masters? do i need two masters degrees? probably not. but i'm doing it anyway!
so... on February 8th... i go back to school to get my Masters in Organizational Leadership (that's leadership for organizations not for getting organized... that would take nothing short of a miracle and direct intervention from God himself) at Azusa Pacific University. the worst part... the classes are from 4.45 in the afternoon until 9.30 at night!!! (um... that's just short of five hours.) i'm gonna die.
"yes they did!"
Wednesday, February 08, 2006 Filed in: public
service announcements
it should also be mentioned (or Megan might hurt me) that Kelly Clarkson won two awards beating out some bigtime competition like Gwen Stefani and Paul McCartney. she's awesome too so that's cool.
"HOLY FREAKIN' HUNGRY!"
Tuesday, February 07, 2006 Filed in: public
service announcements | my life
dear friends...
today is the last day of something i challenged myself to do two weeks ago. for the past two weeks, i have been on an all-juice diet/cleanse/fast/detox thing.
(that's the
official terminology.) yeah... it's true. i haven't
eaten anything in two weeks! now, i tell you this not
to brag or gloat (though i am quite impressed with
myself right now) but to warn you.
yes... it's a great excersise in discipline. and yes... i have lost around 15 pounds. and it's true that there's something spiritual about it that seems to kinda help clarify a bunch of stuff. but there are some definite problems with this concept.
1. fresh squeezed juice gets old!!! i mean, really. there are only so many combinations of apple, grape, orange, pineapple, pear (which is the best, by the way), rasberry, tangerine and strawberry juices that you can try. and, after a while, they really all start tasting very similiar. (although, with my very own juicer, i feel like that guy on the infomercials in the middle of the night who clearly should be dead of old age but is still juicing his way to the ripe old age of like 140. maybe i could live forever. hmmm.)
2. even though the first two days are hell on your stomach and your psyche, the rest of it is mostly psychological. but sometimes you feel like you're going crazy! ("i feel like i'm on crazy pills!!!") you probably know how much i love my food. (if you don't, well... first you don't know me. and second, the answer is... a whole-freaking-lot!) yeah... well, it was pretty much on my mind a lot of the time because i just missed the taste. tasting things is wonderful and taken for granted. people always ask whether you'd rather be blind or deaf. i'm glad that tasteless isn't an option. and now i think i understand the cravings of pregnant women. i was craving the most random stuff at the most random times. (one minute i want pizza, the next it was sushi and the next it was the gnocci with the tomato cream sauce from Grazzianos.)
3. finally, and here's the bummer i'm dealing with currently, you can't just have the meal you've been dreaming of for two weeks when the thing's over. apparently, it takes several days to slowly come off your fast before you can eat normal foods. otherwise you get real sick. (last night i dreamed the i forgot and ended the whole thing with a big steak dinner and just as i finished, i realized what i had done. luckily, i woke up before i found out about the getting sick part.)
so, i went from posting a recipe for the most amazing sandwich you'll ever have to not eating for two weeks. i don't know what's wrong with me. (i went from frying everything to juicing everything. not as fun, i gotta tell ya!) i'll probably do it again sometime. it is supposed to be very cleansing for your system and, i have to say, i do feel healthier. anyway, i think that next time i'll do it for like a week instead. anyone wanna join me? :-)
today is the last day of something i challenged myself to do two weeks ago. for the past two weeks, i have been on an all-juice diet/cleanse/fast/detox thing.
yes... it's a great excersise in discipline. and yes... i have lost around 15 pounds. and it's true that there's something spiritual about it that seems to kinda help clarify a bunch of stuff. but there are some definite problems with this concept.
1. fresh squeezed juice gets old!!! i mean, really. there are only so many combinations of apple, grape, orange, pineapple, pear (which is the best, by the way), rasberry, tangerine and strawberry juices that you can try. and, after a while, they really all start tasting very similiar. (although, with my very own juicer, i feel like that guy on the infomercials in the middle of the night who clearly should be dead of old age but is still juicing his way to the ripe old age of like 140. maybe i could live forever. hmmm.)
2. even though the first two days are hell on your stomach and your psyche, the rest of it is mostly psychological. but sometimes you feel like you're going crazy! ("i feel like i'm on crazy pills!!!") you probably know how much i love my food. (if you don't, well... first you don't know me. and second, the answer is... a whole-freaking-lot!) yeah... well, it was pretty much on my mind a lot of the time because i just missed the taste. tasting things is wonderful and taken for granted. people always ask whether you'd rather be blind or deaf. i'm glad that tasteless isn't an option. and now i think i understand the cravings of pregnant women. i was craving the most random stuff at the most random times. (one minute i want pizza, the next it was sushi and the next it was the gnocci with the tomato cream sauce from Grazzianos.)
3. finally, and here's the bummer i'm dealing with currently, you can't just have the meal you've been dreaming of for two weeks when the thing's over. apparently, it takes several days to slowly come off your fast before you can eat normal foods. otherwise you get real sick. (last night i dreamed the i forgot and ended the whole thing with a big steak dinner and just as i finished, i realized what i had done. luckily, i woke up before i found out about the getting sick part.)
so, i went from posting a recipe for the most amazing sandwich you'll ever have to not eating for two weeks. i don't know what's wrong with me. (i went from frying everything to juicing everything. not as fun, i gotta tell ya!) i'll probably do it again sometime. it is supposed to be very cleansing for your system and, i have to say, i do feel healthier. anyway, i think that next time i'll do it for like a week instead. anyone wanna join me? :-)