Friday, August 31, 2007

occupational hazard

in "relational ministry" (i put it in quotes because i find it so odd to be paid to hang out with people, but what the hey), i find a lot of my time with people spent over meals, snacks, coffee, jamba juice, frozen yogurt, you name it. i feel sick.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

still around

well, after the last couple of posts, you may be wondering if i have jumped off a bridge or not.

i'd sort of be wondering that too.

so there isn't much to say besides that. my future is no clearer than when i last wrote in the throes of a meltdown. but i do remember that i don't/can't know everything. something that is patently obvious, yet really easy for me to forget. and there are moments when i able to enjoy and appreciate them for what they are. and life rolls on...

Monday, August 27, 2007

the other side of the tracks

a kind and observant friend today spoke truth into my life. she saw and described my life with such accuracy that i was bowled over.

it's been a year roughly since i graduated and landed back in california. i am still unsettled. and that is difficult.

and that's all you get. what, you thought i'd bare my soul on here? pshaw.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

well worth repeating

i am obsessed with flight of the conchords. i posted a video of theirs a while back, and i'm doing it again. they have a show on hbo (also viewable on itunes and youtube). check it out. it's hilarious. they do awkward humor very well, and they also rock, and exploit every rock music cliche in their videos. they're making laugh just thinking about them (which i need a lot these days). this here video, one of my favorites, is called "most beautiful girl in the room."

woohoo!

I am addicted to tv. it is sad,yes. however, i don't care.

Kristen Bell (aka Veronica Mars) to join cast of Heroes.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

concepts

let's play the free association game.

ready?

commuter church.

please record your responses in the comments. no, really.

Another reason to visit the Bay area besides the fact that I live here. Seriously, though, it's worth attending.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

my saturday afternoon highlight

apple video ichat







+
kelley fam


__________________________________________________________
dance party/fun conversation/laughs


suck on that PCs.

Friday, August 17, 2007

fingertips on the pulse of today's youth

the good thing about hanging out with high school kids, again is that they let you know about things like this...

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

glory days

had a delightful phone conversation with these two screen door dancers today. it did my heart much good to laugh over old jokes, reminisce over our glory days and hear of their lives in diaspora. now if you could just click on the "red kettle" link there at the right side of the screen, it may encourage/guilt her into updating her blog. do check out a pretty cool solar powered oven there.

summer is winding down. though winding down doesn't seem like the right word because the fall season brings more activity and busy-ness. while i like fall, i don't usually enjoy the ramping up of things to do. especially when my future is more uncertain than it usually is when the word "interim" is the first word in my lengthy job title.

friends, you know from being my friends and reading this blog that i am a writer. i want to keep writing but have not been good at all about setting time aside to do so, other than the slapdash entries on this blog. if you could help to keep me accountable and ask me if i am writing, what i am writing, and tell me i'm fabulous that would be greatly appreciated.

Monday, August 13, 2007

this is true...

i watched a curriculum for evangelism training today and it was so cheesy, i actually experienced chest pains.

truancy

yesterday i was sitting in the back at church. not the back row in the sanctuary, but the pew in the foyer, where latecomers and moms with babies. 3 high schoolers squirmed next to me. they'd ditched the church service all summer, but somehow i managed to sit with them before they could make a getaway. i felt a little bit like a sheepdog, and i laughed to myself, while straining to hear what was going on in the service. they whispered to each other, ate cookies someone had brought in a large ziploc bag. i could tell they didn't quite know what to do.

when one of them finally let out a loud sigh of exasperation, and mumbled about how her life was being sucked away, i turned to them and asked, "do you guys want to get out of here?" their eyes widened in surprise. and we ducked out the back door, arm in arm. they were so relieved. we found another girl who was also skipping the service but at least reading "the screwtape letters" and dragged her along with us. we sat in the prayer garden and talked - it was the longest i had talked to these kids all summer (it's been a bit of a lonely summer for me, ministry-wise). i mostly listened. asked them about why they didn't like the service - "because it's BORING!" "i hate hymns!" "i want to pray my own way, not what they already wrote in the bulletin." i understood - these were answers that i would have given earlier in my life.

it was a good morning. i was glad to spend it with them and i took more than a little bit of pleasure in doing something different. it is interesting to consider how one moves from this position of a questioning, restless teenager to a deeper place of faith (and still being questioning and restless there too). i think this job, more than anything else, entails being a listener, being a witness (in the sense of being an observer not in the evangelist sense), and being present.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

2 things about vancouver...

1) babies as big as skyscrapers. jack humphries, ready to take on gozilla.
2)bubble tea that makes your teeth hurt. (yes, i am a willing bubble tea drinker now. i make exceptions for my brothers and good friends.)

Thursday, August 09, 2007

whoa

my wallet is in spokane. it shall be returned to me shortly. thanks alaska/horizon airlines! i'm guessing that it got jammed between the wall and my seat.

since i mentioned numbers yesterday, this very post is my 500th post on this blog. hooray for procrastination/one of the few opportunities for me to write semi-regularly!

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

dammit

during the last leg of my long journey yesterday, i appear to have misplaced my wallet. i'm annoyed, especially after calling to cancel various cards, and schedule a dmv appointment for another license. plus i really liked that wallet. it was cute. and i had my lucky toonie in it. actually it's not really lucky, i just like canadian money.

at this point if i found the wallet now, i don't know if i'd be annoyed or relieved.

on other fronts, this blog got 10000 hits today. thank goodness for internet stalkers.

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

the in between time

i have spent entirely too much time in airports of late. i am presently spacing out in the D terminal of the seattle/tacoma airport. why does seattle get top billing here? why not tacoma? is it for alphabetical reasons? what a bum rap.

however, when time in the airport means i get to spend time (albeit far too brief) with friends that are like a breath of fresh air, then it is worth it. the goodbyes arrive all too soon. hence, i look like a teary eyed disney character. or japanimation? hm... anyway, photobooth is fun. i have to go to work tomorrow, which is not as fun. granted, my job is more fun than other jobs so i'm not complaining too much.

also, i am sorely tempted to move back up to the pacific northwest. is that weird?

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

where the rubber meets the road

Check out these Sojourners articles on one woman's search for a simple article of clothing that is ethically made and environmentally safe: Part 1 and Part 2. it's about as hard as you might guess, well, definitely harder than going to the mall. but it reminds me that there is always a choice. i admit that much of the time i am a lazy consumer, and like to save a buck when i can, without really knowing how the products i eat or wear are made. and it is easy to feel pushed into this lifestyle because well, everyone else is doing it, and all the media and cultural message that bombard me champion it. but there is always a choice in what you do. and you make small step here and there, and work towards the better way. oh, and there's a link in there worth mentioning again if you don't read the article - Rawganique, sustainable and ethically made clothing. for you vancouverites, they're based on denman island, somewhere up by you. they do have oddly glamorous models, so perhaps that lifestyle is more beneficial that one would first expect.

sometimes SNL still makes me laugh

i find jamba juice stores to be disturbingly perky places.