Friday, October 29, 2004

good ol' teen angst

i went to a teen angst poetry reading the other night with some friends. sheer hilarity. here is a sampling:
A Buttercup In A Field Of Flame
Erin Millar
07-20-98


I am a buttercup
golden and free
standing in a field of flame
the light of love does not reach me
sunshine is lost above me
trees lash out and strangle the rays
and the flames dance around me
at night
strange and hideous beasts wander through the fire
and I want to be a rose
I am a buttercup
golden and kept
caged by windows and parapets of stone
gazing at the world below me from a cold
and loveless tower room
plagued by my knowledge and my silence
lost in a room with one door, clearly unlocked and flung wide…
What I wouldn’t give to be a rose!
a single red rose…
I am a buttercup
And I will never love again.

for more go to

Thursday, October 28, 2004

2:00.41

as promised, an account of my half marathon experience. ( by the way, do any of my friends read this? comment so i know, although it is just clearly a way to soothe my ego. am i writing into empty internet space? is anyone out there?)

there are many things one could do in 2 hours and 41 on seconds. see a movie. take a nap. grocery shop. catch up on email. i decided to run 13 miles. i'm still kind of scratching my head, trying to figure out how this happened, because i've never been into running before. i like playing games, interacting with other people. running was something i did only because it was training for some other sport (my crew coach made me do it), and it was boring and solitary. admittedly peer pressure had something to do with this new hobby, as i have several friends who run regularly. besides, vancouver, as a whole, is pretty fitness obsessed. i've been pleasantly surprised at how much i have enjoyed the training, spending the time on long runs conversing with friends, spending the time alone, and being pleased with my progress.

i didn't get nervous until we were driving to the race in the morning. "what the hell am i doing here?" we were late, having only time to dash to the porta-pottie for a last minute bathroom break, and rush to the starting line in time to hear the announcer say, "2 minutes to start" there were about 4000 people entered in the race, and it was eerie in the early morning light to only hear the footsteps of so many people, some hastily assembled army storming off to nowhere. i didn't have any time to stretch, so my shins immediately tightened up, which actually was a good thing because it took my mind off how much my knees were hurting. it took a while for me to settle down and get into a rhythm, i was distracted by watching the many different people running, who all seemed to be passing me, which was irritating to the my competitive side.

victoria is a beatiful city, which has a great laid back beach town feel to it. my favorite moment was coming out of the park halfway through the race to see the sun shining through the clouds on the Juan De Fuca Strait, casting a golden and silver light on the water. i found the moment beautiful and absurd. absurd that i was doing this, something that i had never tried or even wanted to do before, and beautiful that i was there to see this sight at all. and i felt blessed.

i turned my mind back to the race. the course doubled back on itself, and i saw the front-runners pass me. they looked like they were sprinting. it was crazy. my friends that had come along for the trip were the best fans ever. they drove around to different points in the course and waved their signs and cheered loudly. as the race wore on, i couldn't spare the energy to react, but i was grateful for the sight of them. there were a lot of people out to watch the race, and even some strangers cheered for me and i managed a tired smile at them.

with 6k to go (about 4 miles) i realized that i could maybe break 2 hours. i hadn't come into the race with any time goal in mind, i just wanted to see how i would do, without the pressure or expectations. the women behind me were talking about it, and i decided that i would attach myself to them and go for it. i don't remember much for that last part, around 30 minutes, besides telling myself to breath and to go hard. the last part of the accursed race course ends up back in town and zig zags around several city blocks. at each corner i thought i'd see the finish line, only to see more race course. in my mind i yelled "DAMMIT!". i had no breath to spare. i sprinted down the chute, which seemed to take an eternity. but i finished! got my little medal and race photo (if you want to check it out, go to www.royalvictoriamarathon.com and do a search for me) and i'd do it again.

my friends and i hobbled around for the rest of the day. 3 of us ran the half marathon and my friend rochelle did the whole shebang. we piled back into the car and went out to cheer for her. we pigged out on the post race buffet of fruit and doughnuts and yogurt - for this reason alone i would do another race. mmm... donut.
celebrated thanksgiving that night, falling asleep at 2 different points in the evening. they didn't hold it against us - at that point, it looked like we were afflicted with serious cases of arthritis. it took about 4 days for me to be able to walk normally again, and not do some sad little charlie chaplin shuffle crossing the street. hard to believe that i voluntarily subjected myself to this kind of pain. i'm just a glutton for punishment.

reading break

it's reading break. the semester is half over (what the heck? how'd that happen?) and i get to catch a breath and get square with my school work. that's the idea anyway. so far, it's been a week of wondering where the last month and half went, realizing that i've been in survival mode, and hoping that life won't always feel like this. kind of a sobering realization, without really understanding how to move on from here. perhaps this is just the over-analysis provoked by being in grad school, and while it is annoying sometimes, i think ultimately a valuable thing. stop. think. check in with yourself. rest. connect.

been frustrated mainly with how to keep in touch with my friends here. seemed easy enough during the summer, full of lazy days, and a little school work. the frenetic pace of the school year has not been one that i have enjoyed so far, and even though i spend it with people, little of it is the interaction that i crave. and this is my friends here, much less with friends in farther away places. so odd to feel lonely in the midst of so many people, yet it is something that afflicts all of us at one time or another. not sure what God has for me in this time. seems like nothing really of interest is happening, but i know that He is up to something, and i am growing in some ways that i'm not going to realize until after the fact. so really, i should just chill the hell out.

my current funk is also in part caused by the onset of fall, and the rain. this rant has been brought to you by seasonal affective disorder. give me sunshine.


Thursday, October 07, 2004

aches and pains

sitting here with ice packs on my knees, just after a run. the half marathon is this weekend, in victoria. i'm looking forward to it, because i've been training since mid-july for this, and also because i'm looking forward to giving my body (mainly my knees) a rest.
the knee pain just started up this week, i think mostly from overuse, and i'm just reaching the peak of my training. besides that preparing to do this race has gone pretty well. i've enjoyed the discipline in my life again, feeling in shape, taking the beauty of vancouver in the summer, and the long runs chatting with friends. misery loves company, i guess - but when else do you get a chance to have uninterrupted time with a friend? not so often. i never thought i'd like running, or ever voluntarily choose to run 13 miles on a sunday morning. i've always played in team sports, and that requires a different sort of motivation. well, i never thought i'd live in canada, either, so i guess everything else is fair game.
i remain blissfully unaware of the election machinations. i'm a bit ashamed of myself, not exercising my right and responsibility as an American to vote. from what i can gather, people are pretty pissed off at the state of things. and scared. not exactly a good place to start to make decisions on voting, nor does it reflect well on our incumbent president. not that the other option seems all that better either. it is interesting to be in another country and to hear a more international perspective on things. i may have just missed the deadline to get my absentee ballot, so i am hanging my head in shame.
well, i've reached the requisite 20 minutes of icing my old joints. off to the showers. a report of the weekend will be forthcoming.
p.s. canadian thanksgiving is monday. eat some turkey.

Thursday, September 16, 2004

ms. crankypants

i find myself inexplicably hostile.
there are a variety of reasons for this. 1) haven't gone to church in the last 2 weeks, and it'll probably be another 3 before i get to go again. i was camping, then i had soccer, then my friends are in a triathlon so i'm going to support them, then there's the school retreat, then probably soccer again, and THEN i get to go to church again. not to merely assign some kind of homeopathic purpose to church, but it does calm me, and ground me each sunday. i grow increasingly more on edge when i don't get to go. at this rate, i'll be a nervous wreck soon. 2) the new semester has started, and it's always a frenzy of activity, getting used the the new schedule. semesters just seem long enough to get comfortable in a routine, only for it to end abruptly and you have to start all over again. most people i know are keyed up to be back here and raring to go to class. i on the other hand have been here all summer taking classes, so this is old hat to me. 3) there are too many people around, who i don't know yet and i'm still not ready for small talk. give me a few weeks, once everyone else calms down and i can have a proper conversation. 4) the people i've been used to hanging out with all summer are not around school so much, and i miss them.

thus, i am cranky.

once i settle in though, things will be okay. i'm taking two classes for credit and auditing another one. i think they're going to be pretty good. there's biblical exegesis & interpretation - which sounds heavy, it's one of the required classes here. i'll be learning how to properly exegete scripture - to understand what the text said at the time it was written, and how it was intended. good foundational skills to learn. then there's chrisitianity & literature: modern fiction - stories of doubt and faith. lots of reading, about a novel a week. the books all look really good though. the class i'm auditing is a book study of Psalms - i decided not to take it for credit so i could relax, and enjoy myself and have the space to soak in what is talked about. it's a bit of a lighter academic load, but then i'll have time to do some creative writing. getting more comfortable with pursuing this arts concentration and accepting the fact that i am a writer.

on other fronts, i've started playing soccer. i'm the goalie. i'm part of the odd breed of person that happens to really enjoy playing this position. i didn't so much when i was in high school, so i don't really know what has changed since then. i suppose i just have more of an attitude. my team is out of shape though, so i was far too busy in our first game, which we lost in the neighborhood of 9-2. i stopped counting after a while, so i'm not sure of the actual total. this other team kept getting breakaways and all i could do was charge them. i do recall the number of times i made a save in this situation, which was 3. the silver lining to this abysmal game is that i am more familiar with charging people. i'll probably have to make use of this skill more in the future if the season continues this way.

less than a month until the victoria half-marathon! i'm excited for this weekend to hang with my friends and to run. never thought i'd say that i enjoy running. 2 reasons that i would ever run in the past 1) chasing an ice cream truck, 2) being chased by bears. or are you supposed to lie on the ground and play dead if you run into a bear? hmm... regardless, this will be a cool athletic achievement for me, should i survive. i've been running with rochelle, she's training for the marathon. it's good because i can't complain about being tired because she usually runs for a hour or so longer than i do. will i ever do a marathon? we'll see. i just want to finish this 13 miles first. since i'm in canada, that's 21km.

good point of the day... why is the phrase for deliberately ignoring something "turning a blind eye" to it? my prof said that today and my friend mike pointed out, "if you were blind, you wouldn't have to turn away." what's the deal?

Tuesday, September 07, 2004

school daze

it's new student orientation this week. hard to believe that it's already been a year since i moved up here. time passes strangely.

i have negative motivation to finish my last two papers. not just zero motivation, but negative. i also have little motivation to do the small talk circuit with the new people. the first 2 months are such a whirlwind of adjustments, it takes time to settle down. and thus you have the same conversation over and over again.
top five small talk questions, after "what's your name?"
1. where are you from?
2. what are you studying?
3. what did you do before you came here?
4. where are you living? which leads to,
5. do you have any roommates?

when i tell people i live alone, they seem to take this as a bad thing. or a sad thing. they pause and say, "oh. well" and kind of trail off, like "oh, poor you." or perhaps thinking i'm some kind of psycho. it's kind of irritating. i've lived alone for the past year, and it's rather grown on me. i'm continuing to live alone this year too. by choice - i did have options to live other places, but my indecisiveness led me to just stay put. why mess with a good thing? good location, nice landlords, friends in the neighborhood. i do get lonely sometimes, but have friends to a short phone call or walk away. people ought to try living alone more often - you get to know yourself better.

anyway, i know the small talk is a necessary evil. once you get past that then you can move on to getting to know someone. it's just the repetition that gets to me. and then you start to mix everyone up.

the best introductory conversation (incidentally the only one that i can remember - which i guess makes it the bestthen) i had when i got here was when i met my friend rochelle. i was up for a summer class, and we struck up a conversation at the tail end of a beach bbq. she asked me what my story was, and i said that i was going to be starting at regent in the fall. to which she responded, "oh good, then i can invest in you." i am all about investing in people, and this was the first non-rote comment i'd gotten in two weeks of school. some people may have been thrown off by this first comment, as rochelle has a way of doing that to people. then she asked me what my deepest passion was - this is what threw me. as i stammered out an abbreviated answer, i realized that i was enjoying myself because it was a real question, and she really seemed to want to know the answer. in the meantime, her friend (later to become my friend also) margo was trying to tell rochelle to back off of me. afterward, they went home and laughed, convinced that they had scared me and i'd never talk to them again - this is what they told me. i went home thinking that they were hilarious and that i wanted to meet up with them in the fall. funny things, first impressions. rochelle and i hung out almost everyday this summer, and now play on the same city league soccer team.

she is suffering from being in a transitory position in life, trying to find a job and all that grown up stuff after grad school - i've been in a similar position and there's no getting around the fact that it sucks. several of my other friends are slogging along through various tough stages, ranging from relationship stuff to personal things to academic things and i'm in the thick of things myself too. we all help each other along. that's life i suppose - lots of good things, along with lots of hard things. but the hard things are somehow good too. we try to avoid the hard stuff because we think it's bad or that we shouldn't feel the accompanying feelings like anger, sadness, frustration and so on; but it's only in going through those hard things that our feelings change, that we grow and find healing. it sure ain't easy, but i'm discovering that's there's a lot more depth and goodness to be found in the experience. kind of like after you get through the awkward small talk and on to the good stuff.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

take me out to the ball game, eh

i feel sick. see, i've been surviving on a steady diet of junk food since i have come out of my studious stupor. i hadn't the time to grocery shop while i was working on my paper, so i guess i was eating badly then too. i've been somewhat lazy in getting back into my regular routine again. it's been much too nice to be a sloth.

not that i've been a complete sloth for the last week, that just applies in the area of academics. other than that, i've been doing the barrista thing (still trying to perfect the proper milk steaming method), catching up on the rest of my life and preparing for the upcoming school year. and for the last 2 days, i've helped a few friends move to new apartments. i feel that i have gotten a pretty good idea of how an ant feels now - the relentless routine of picking up heavy things in one place and carrying them to another place. but the plus side of the whole process is that your friends buy you food and drink as a great show of gratitude. this puts of the inevitable grocery shopping a little bit longer.

so right now, i'm full of cheeseburger, beer, and mini donuts. it tasted so good while i was eating it, but now i feel nasty. it's just your standard fare at nat bailey stadium, home of the vancouver canadians, the single-A minor league affiliate of the oakland a's (the a's rule!). it's been a mellow summer, social-wise, so i took matters into my own hands and organized an outing to the ball park. i miss not being able to go to a's games regularly. i have made the trek to see the mariners a few times - but they suck, basically. the game was a lot of fun, even though halfway through i was mostly paying attention to my friends, and the at-bat music. i always love to ask, "if you were a baseball player, what song would you choose to walk up to the plate?" it always sparks good conversation. my top choices:
1. the opening guitar riff of "let's get it on" by marvin gaye
2. top gun theme song - not highway to the danger zone, but the instrumental music when they were getting ready to launch of the deck
3. california love by tupac
4. the super mario bros. theme song - just to throw the opposing team off

by the way, if you're ever up in vancouver in the summer and take in a game, i highly recommend the mini donuts. they've got the little machine that fries up the donuts right before your eyes (similar donuts available @ pike's market in seattle). and you can't beat the prices here. gotta love minor league ball. there was also a rad fireworks show afterward - about 20 minutes or so - quite impressive for a single-A club. fun times!

of course, they sang both the american and canadian national anthems before the game (a girl that looked about 10 years old sang them, and she had a great voice - i'd love to be able to sing like her. instead, i have a blog site) and you know, the canadian theme song is quite nice. i'm betting most of you don't know much of the song beyond the first 2 lines, so here are the full lyrics for your personal enrichment:

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

it's a good thing i'm training for a half marathon. tomorrow i'm going to run off this blasted ball park food. though i may look into getting a mini donut frying machine. oh yeah, and the canadians beat the everett aquasox 3-1. (what the hell are aquasox?) I was hoping that they would take the field wearing those beach shoes that nike used to make. i guess they're just in the mold of the red sox or white sox, but aqua? that's just not cool.

Monday, August 23, 2004

out of the cave

i have emerged from the depths of the library. just the last of my work for one of my summer school classes - 20th century theology. light summer reading, it ain't. dang.
anyway, not only did i finish 2 lengthy papers and turn them in today - i finished them early. yesterday afternoon, to be exact. this is unprecedented! i have never accomplished this before. usually i am up late into the night, typing madly and cursing. then i turn it in at the very last minute, without editing. at least, this is what i did in college. last night after i finished, i went to dairy queen for an oreo blizzard (quite possibly one of my favorite ice cream treats) to celebrate, my friend rochelle treated. this morning i slept in, briefly edited both papers, and then turned them in at 12. no mad rush, no cursing, and i didn't hate what i wrote. usually i loathe whatever i compose. this is just amazing on many fronts.
now i can veg out on the olympics every night at my friends' house. yes!

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

cape fear

Two years ago, when i was trying to figure out if I wanted to go on this blind date (a la match.com), I asked my friend katie for any insight she might have. Her only question was, "Will it make for a funny email? Then you should do it." I ended up going, not just for that reason. it turned out to be run-of-the-mill awkward blind date, nothing really to merit a funny email, or a second date for that matter. katie is crazy like that - once she and i got stuck in san francisco after the last BART train took off for the night, and i had to call my cousin arlene in berkeley to come and pick us up at denny's. that's a story that will be told another time.

Recently, my friend rochelle proposed another way of approaching life, which is that you should do whatever scares you. I thought this was interesting perspective. Until recently, I viewed fear as a weakness, a flaw that holds you back and is somewhat irrational, like a fear of spiders or heights. Being scared happened because you did something stupid, like how in horror movies the kids on a road trip think it's a good idea to spend the night in the abandoned cabin in the woods when their car breaks down and then decide to split up and explore even though there are reports on the radio of an escaped mental patient from the asylum near them.

But this line of thought ... fear takes on a different meaning. I'm thinking about doing an arts concentration here at school, meaning that i would explore my writing chops and maybe end up putting together a collection of stories or something like that. i think that's why i like writing, because i like telling stories. there are a lot of other areas of study that would be cool to do and seem more practical (as if anything in seminary is really practical in the world's eyes). anyway, this prospect scares the heck out of me, and i've only told one person this out loud, and i kind of cringe typing it out. this is a different kind of scared than what i originially conceived of - this isn't some deep-seated psychological phobia; nor am i telling the gang "i'll be right back" and then unwittingly going into the garage where the axe-murderer is.


No, my heart beats faster, and my breath catches in my throat because this is something that means a lot. And when something means a lot to you, you really really care what happens, and there is risk involved. that's when the voices kick in and tell you all about the worst case scenarios, how you suck, how everyone will look at you incredulously and shake their heads because you are so deluded, and on and on until you are convinced that you're barely able to dress yourself in the morning.

now i'm no adrenaline junkie - I don't swim with sharks or go sky-diving just to know I'm alive. although i do like to speed down the 8th avenue hill near my house. i barely go on rollercoasters. but i think rochelle's got a point here. there plenty of times in my life that i can look back on when i chose to play it safe, stuck with what i knew because it was predictable, even if it had nothing to do with my real passions. then i think of the times that i've been terrified and had no clue how things were going to turn out. these are the times when my heart has really been touched (which i've discovered can hurt like hell but still be a good thing somehow). These are the times that i've felt like i've really lived my life.

being scared isn't a bad thing; it's a human thing. we all feel that way at one time or another. how we respond to it is what matters. check in with me again in a few weeks to see if i really live out what i say. even though i've said all these things, i'm still scared. but it makes for a damn good blog entry.

Monday, August 09, 2004

manifesting a manifesto

i looked up manifesto on dictionary.com today:
man·i·fes·to   n. pl. man·i·fes·toes or man·i·fes··tos
A public declaration of principles, policies, or intentions, especially of a political nature.

i just used the word because i think it sounds cool (it's up there with brouhaha and diatribe). i'm probably one of the last people you should expect declaring anything of a political nature. this is impressive when you consider that i lived in washington dc for 6 years where everything is about politics. whenever the subject would come up with my friends, i would either stick my fingers in my ears and yell, "lalala" until they were done, or i would aggressively change the subject by listing the different ways that scooby-doo was a drug-influenced show (what really was in a scooby snack anyway? i mean, really)
actually i came across the word manifesto during college when, in fear of further unabomber attacks, the washington post and the new york times published his manifesto. my friends and i kept it, and would read excerpts every so often because it was entertaining. none of it really made sense to us.
anyway, here are a few of my public declarations that may or may not be of a political nature nature...
1. drugs are bad.
2. fried food is bad, but tastes really really good.
3. people who only talk about politics all the time and won't drop it until you agree with them are really annoying.
4. baseball is good. especially the oakland a's. but not the yankees. or the dodgers. they suck.
5. fantasy baseball is for geeks. therefore, i am a geek.
6. coyote ugly is one of the best utterly meaningless movies to watch ever.
7. someone needs to pay me to write things like this for the rest of my life.
8. even though america has of a two party system, compared to the whole political spectrum they are practically identical and don't seem to represent the interests of your average working class joe anyway.
9. i only utter one vaguely political statement every 4 years, so i'm set.
10. writing term papers when i could be outside at the beach is bad.
11. under no circumstances are you to ever pass by a kids' lemonade stand without buying a cup. not doing so renders you a cold heartless human being.

Saturday, August 07, 2004

insomnia, duct tape and beanie babies

I'm in recovery from my "vacation" (picture my saying this while doing the air quotes gesture - one of the more pointless but amusing gestures out there, which are never to be used seriously). it's hard to get back into the everday routine again, especially when all that awaits are term papers. ugh. spent a good part of the afternoon napping, and as a consequence i am wide awake now. oops.
but to amuse myself and perhaps those out there, here is a list of the best pranks/jokes/capers i have pulled...
in no particular order of importance
1. in high school, sneaking out with amanda, bridget, natalie, and several others one night and stealing various cones, road blocks (the kind with the flashing light on the top), town council campaign signs and then leaving these along with many rolls of toilet paper all over the lawn of my friend brandon cheek's house one night. no small feat, considering he lived in a gated community, but amanda had gotten another friend of ours to call the gate and tell them to let us in at 1 in the morning. we didn't look suspicious or anything.
2. flying out to dc from california in october, 2000 to surprise my friend jill and watch her last home volleyball game ever. i was one of her biggest fans. actually only about 3 people knew i was going to be there so i surprised many of my friends. jody and helder made lunch plans with jill in au bon pain (which i still simply refer to as "the pain"). i showed up early and took up a whole table waiting for them. i pissed off many people on their lunch break. when they finally showed up, jill totally walked past the table and i had to yell at her from across the store. her jaw hit the ground. it is confusing to discover someone who is supposed to be 3000 miles away and is instead right in front of you.
3. again with jill, this time back in college. i actually forgot about this one until jill brought it up during her wedding rehearsal dinner last week. she was out at class or something that night, and i was inspired to steal all of her beanie babies. her grandma would send her these periodically - all dogs. anyway, i decided to steal them, i just barged into her room and told her roommate and then left. jody and i then take these beanie babies and took pictures with them around campus on various landmarks. we also sent jill ransom notes written in crayon. i think i was done with school by then, actually, i was unemployed. that explains a lot.
4. church mexico trip, 2002. steve and i dress up in his crazy disco clothes and pick up katie from the airport. we even had a little sign with her name on it like we were limo drivers. she actually doubled over laughing. it was a good way to finish off a long but great week.
5. ponderosa camp, summer 2001. on my last night working at camp, my friends and i bought some cans of sardines and cheese. we made up a tray of appetizers (it looked delicious), put on my crazy hawaiian shirts, grabbed the video camera and boombox with party music and raided the girls' cabins at about 3 am. we'd stick the sardines in their face and film them waking up to the smell. we even got some girl to eat some of the little treats we made. then we woke up the program director boys and hid an open can of sardines in their bathroom.
6. church ski trip, 2003. andrew, a 7th grader, had been pestering me on the bus all the way back from tahoe - a 4 or 5 hour drive. once we got back to the church and off the bus, i took out a role of duct tape from my bag, grabbed another adult leader, kevin, and we duct taped andrew to a pole. not so elaborate, but immensely satisfying. i think it's every youth leader's dream to do this.
7. a regular work day at church, spring, 2002. matt, steve, and pat get invited by a friend of theirs to go sailing in the san francisco bay for the day. rachel, katie and i are little disgruntled by the fact that they get to go play while us girls are stuck at work. steve is the only one unfortunate enough to leave his car in the church parking lot. after lunch the three of us take the giant bulk roll of saran wrap from the kitchen and spend about 45 minutes wrapping it around his car. we also use the die-cut machine and cut out little pink teddy bears and butterflies and insert them into the many layers of saran wrap, and tie a pink balloon to his antenna. it looked like we were celebrating the birth of his baby girl (steve is single).

Thursday, August 05, 2004

blog, blog, blog

A new post ... which is funny because I haven't revealed this site to anyone yet. Sort of just spitting into the wind right now, if that metaphor isn't too gross. I'll get my act together soon and then the world will changed by reading my thoughts. Changed, I tell you!
Just spent a few whirlwind days in southern california. I have seen several friends from the full spectrum of eras in my life, from high school to summer camp to college days. It was crazy but wonderful to see everyone, and to revive old jokes and relive old stories. I'm exhausted now, but it was worth the all good laughter over the last 6 days. I'm a lucky person to know so many quality people.
If you ever find yourself in the Ocean Beach 'hood of San Diego and are jonesing for a burrito, I highly recommend Tommy's Tex-Mex on Voltaire street. One of the best burritos I've ever had. My judgement could be skewed because I now live in Vancouver, the black hole of Mexican food, but I don't think so. In fact, I think I have become even more of a Mexican food snob. It's something I crave even more these days because it is not accessible to me. All of us Californian students here whine about this all the time.
I was very happy to go to my friend Jill's wedding and share in this special day for her and Darren. The fact that I got to have burritos and be in California also was icing on the cake.
Now it's back to reality, and the books. If only Tommy's would set up a franchise up here.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

I'm going to get an IPod next...

Well, well, well. My own corner of the internet. I figured this would be a better way to keep my pals updated on me and my life instead of inflicting mass emails on them. So here is my "blog." I feel so trendy. I'll be updating this at Starbucks while I sip a Venti skim foamless sugar-free hazelnut decaf latte. Enough with the self-mockery.
If you are reading this, then you got my email, and are bored/curious enough to check it out. I'll probably be writing about life here in Vancouver, school, and various random things that come to mind. It should be good for a laugh here and there. It will also be a handy procrastination tool for me, as if i need more distractions. well, cheers! come back again sometime soon, and I'll have more stuff on here. word.