Sunday, December 31, 2006

happy 2007

december has not been a good month for me, health-wise. after a bad cold and laryngitis, i just spent the night getting blindsided by a stomach bug or food poisoning. puking = not my idea of a way to pass a night. i'm tired and i feel like i'm one big rusty hinge. doesn't look like i'll be doing too much celebrating tonight.

bleah.

here's hoping the upcoming year has better stuff in store for all.

Thursday, December 28, 2006

recovery

been resting up after our annual christmas extravaganza. my family rocks hard. for the last few days, i thought the lack of sleep had triggered a relapse of my cold. i was feeling a tad bitter about that. fortunately, copious amounts of vitamin c and law and order episodes seem to have cured me.

i was able to try out the nintendo wii while we were in carlsbad - it is pretty entertaining. engaged in a little 5 on 5 playground ball with my cousins on christmas day. actually it was more like we were attacking each other and sometimes we shot the basketball. i've to the bruises to prove it. still and all, it was a good time. here's our team photos. believe it or not, this is just a small fraction of my cousins, and we were able to play 5 on 5 basketball. we could play baseball with a full 9 players on each side if we wanted.

now i'm watching my brothers play video games (currently as storm troopers in star wars: battlefront. i got next game). good lazy holiday activities.

i went to my first party since i moved back to the bay. last week, it was a christmas party. i thought it to be a landmark occasion. it was at a new friend's house in oakland. there is nothing quite so daunting as walking in (by yourself) to a party, looking around the room and not knowing a soul. that would have been a good night to have a party buddy. i pressed on though and eked out some good conversations. if only to prove to myself that i can make small talk with total strangers.

the christmas camp reunion party, held at my house was all right. after inviting 6 summers worth of counselors, a small fraction of them showed up. that was fine because if everyone came there would have been about 200 people. since i only worked one summer, i knew about 6 people out of the 20 that came. it was good to revive some old jokes, and relive some old memories.

so much extroversion! it's quite unlike me. i suppose the last few days of not leaving my house have made up for that.

who's who?

i'm pretty sure al davis became a zombie and no one noticed. judge for yourself. the owner of the oakland raiders is on the left and the host of "tales from the crypt" is on the right.

Friday, December 22, 2006

shopping

man, i hate christmas shopping. a lot.
though i waited things out today, and braved it at about 7. wasn't too bad. and i'm done, so that is a load off my mind.
so, christmas shopping in the evening isn't so bad, but christmas food shopping at safeway in the evening sucks. everyone is loading up for bear. we're talking 50 items or more.

the interview went pretty well. i liked the 5(!) people that interviewed me. we talked for an hour and half, and i didn't feel totally drained afterward, so that was good. i like what they're doing. of course, as i think back over the conversation, i do the inevitable editing and revising of my answers. better to just let it be. it would be cool to work in the city. suburban life is quiet, and feels far away from things of substance. we'll see how things turn out.

also, it was quite miraculous that i was able to sustain such a long conversation. i couldn't talk at all on friday. after five days of practicing the discipline of silence for a few days and getting sick of rooibos tea, my voice had mostly recovered. i'm still a little hoarse, but it's not such a big deal anymore.

i'm hosting a camp christmas reunion party tomorrow night. i don't know how that happened, really. i'm not someone who really thrives on inviting a ton of people i don't know very well into my house. but the chance to practice some hospitality is something i'm looking forward too. and it'll be good to catch up with a few friends i haven't seen in a long long time.

super boring post. i find myself wanting to go into hibernation.

p.s. i wish i was hanging out in a smoky st. louis hotel bar listening to a blind old man play christmas classics while drinking some mysterious bartender's concoction with pals like i was 'bout this time last year.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

fretting

sitting around... thinking about possible interview questions.
putting the best foot forward tomorrow from 11-1 in SF. eek.
feeling good, though. feels like i'm moving in the direction of God's calling. and that ain't bad at all.

(btw, this isn't with the jesuits. it's with a diffrent organization, this time working w/ at-risk youth in the city)

Sunday, December 17, 2006

christmas thoughts

no more "i'm sick and cranky" posts. i'm sick of them.

after church tonight, there was another christmas choral concert, this time with full orchestra. since my actual christmas holiday involves familial chaos, i thought i'd soak in the christmas festivites tonight. it was quite beautiful, a wonderful time of meditating on the miracle of the incarnation. this song was sung. i didn't like this particular musical arrangement, as it sounded too lighthearted for the actual lyrics...

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.


there are times when you really feel the "in-between-ness" of the reality we are in. that Jesus, our Emmanuel, has already come and done these things. and we still mourn, live in exile, and in darkness. we are thankful that he has come, that he lived among us. there is much to rejoice and be thankful for, and much to mourn. we long for him to return.

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

frustrating

well, i'm in that in between phase where you feel mostly okay but if you over do things, you could get sick all over again. stupid cold. it's really cramping my style. i still don't really have a voice, which is troublesome. i have a job interview on wednesday. not with the jesuit folk, for those in the know; but a different organization altogether. it involves working w/ youth in the mission district of san francisco. hopefully i won't be so hoarse then. but i'm so sick of drinking so much tea and other liquids; not to mention not leaving the house and watching many hours of television. my eyeballs would be dried out if i wasn't drinking so much water.

Friday, December 15, 2006

ugh

how can i sound so awful, but feel better than i did yesterday?

oh man

things have taken a turn for the worse. a night of coughing has rendered my voice into a crackly mess, closely resembling a 12 year old boy hitting puberty. at least i am being entertained during this time.

here's a law and order plot synopsis, just so you have something else to consider besides sickly me.
Law & Order "Collision" A mentally disturbed suspect refuses to take his antidepressant medicine, rendering him incapable of standing trial for murder. CC Stereo

Thursday, December 14, 2006

another sick day...

three law and order reruns and counting...

hoping to leave the house soon.

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

convert or die! (to be read aloud in the "skate or die!" voice from the game 720)

i continue to feel under the weather. the cold medicine makes me groggy. which means that i spend the day in my pajamas watching loads of law and order reruns. which isn't too different than when i'm not sick, i just change out of my pajamas on those days.

i try not to get too worked up over things - you know, my fragile constitution and all. but then i read about this and i think my head might explode. Click here to read the whole article, if you dare. here's a the intro, just to whet your curiousity...

"Liberal and progressive Christian groups say a new computer game in which players must either convert or kill non-Christians is the wrong gift to give this holiday season and that Wal-Mart, a major video game retailer, should yank it off its shelves."

just to make it clear: i am upset that a game like this even exists, and i agree the game should not be sold at wal-mart or anywhere else.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

unfortunate side effects

bought some throat drops on the way to the airport the other day. i'd popped a few when i saw this. kind of put me off using more of them. sticking to tea and honey.

snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity

I'd have posted sooner, for all my vancouver demographic, but it appears that a week of extroversion has given me a sore throat and the beginnings of a cold. thus i have slept for 11-12 hour stretches of time for the last two nights. i think it's working.

two occurrences of note on my way back to southern climes:
1) at the seattle airport, the security lady at the metal detectors seemed VERY skeptical of whether or not i was actually the same person as in my passport photograph. seeing as the picture is about 9 years old, i guess i could see her point. all i could say was, "i have more hair now." and she added, "yes, and you are wearing spectacles but you aren't in the picture." (who says spectacles now? people who wear bifocals?) this exchange followed by an awkward silence as she continued to look at me and then look down at my passport. there wasn't really anything else i could say, so i just stood there and tried to look non-terrorist like.

has anyone seen the movie "the jackal"? it's a really awful movie with richard gere and bruce willis as the assassin "the jackal." basically he wears a variety of really bad hairpieces and fake facial hair because he is a "master of disguise." is that what this woman was wondering about me? i mean, i know i don't have a particularly nice passport photo, but come on.

2) while i waited at the curb for my brothers to pick me up, i saw this guy, who i consider to be the ugliest man in baseball. he's scary! add to that, he is enormous. i cowered by my suitcase.








as for my sojourn in vancouver and seattle, it did my heart much good to see many loved faces, have many good conversations and be in familiar surroundings. i haven't laughed that hard in a while. the only hard thing is that it wasn't enough time. it's never enough. sigh. i long for the day that there are no more goodbyes.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

reverse deja vu

the act of beginning to tell someone a story in person and then discovering that they had already read it on your blog.

also: exhausted. but also exceedingly happy.
extrovert for a day.

Monday, December 04, 2006

to narnia and the north

killing time in the smallest coffee shop in west seattle, if not the world. waiting for my friends to get home from work.
i'm so tired. i was up late packing and then i was so excited about my trip i couldn't sleep. meanwhile, my brother played video games into the wee hours of the morning. we're a bunch of insomniacs. working on about 4 hours of sleep. i wonder if anyone will notice if i doze off in this chair. considering that the other 3 patrons are within 6 feet of me, i'd say yes.
despite the tiredness, i'm so excited to be here. friends galore!
the grey clouds of seattle don't dampen my spirit. in fact i find this weather comforting, cozy like a old comforter. this is the fall season i know, not the unremitting sunshine of the bay area. now, note that i say i don't like that because i most definitely enjoy the brightness. it's just different.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

happy advent

i went to church tonight for the first time in a while. i'd been stuck working the sunday night shift, so quitting solved that problem quite nicely (though i continue to work for them on a very part-time basis). it was wonderful to be there. i look forward to getting more settled and connected.

after the weekly community dinner, we celebrated the beginning of advent with the annual "hanging of the greens," a night of christmas choral music. choirs of all ages performed, and also led the congregation in caroling. it was so so so much fun, the perfect way to begin the advent season. the 12-part audience/choir participatory rendition of the 12 days of christmas is awesome.

oh, and God? if you ever read my blog, i really really hope there are kids choirs all over the place in heaven because they are one of my most favorite hilarious things to watch on this earth. plus small children dancing around in the aisles, jumping and spinning until they are dizzy and almost falling over is endlessly entertaining.
the approximate composition of your average children's choir, ages 5-8:
the one kid with a tie, whose shirt defies the physical laws of being tucked in
one or two smart alec kids that are either waving their arms in the air or singing in funny voices
3-4 that aren't paying attention
2-3 that are shell shocked from being in front of so many people
1-3 kids that are hamming it up waving at their parents
4 kids that are totally focused on the teacher and singing their hearts out
pretty much one of my favorite occurrences at church

at the reception afterward, i engaged small children in awkward conversation when i complimented them on their singing. basically i ask them questions that progressively get more outlandish and preposterous until they either smile or run away. it's as funny as you would guess it to be. and if you don't think it's funny then why are you friends with me?

on another note, i am heading north tomorrow. seattle and vancouver, here i come. woohoo!