Hope all of you had a great holiday! I will have a post about the holiday later today, this is the "non-holiday" post.
This might qualify as holiday-related, but today is the first day that really feels like winter, this morning was very cold, but not because it was raining or windy, just because it was cold. I realized that I have come to expect a certain kind of weather at certain times of the year. Falling leaves, falling tempertures, bright colors=Halloween. Jackets, hats, and gloves are required for Thanksgiving, and Christmas means snow, bare trees, ice. Some of the grass/landscaping on the side of the road is covered with frost, which is the first such winter phenomona I have seen this year.
I have a project for all of you readers. (However many of you there are) What was the most recently written Christmas song? Bonus project, top 5 Christmas songs, including the artist.
When you are driving (or riding) down the road, do you look at other people in other cars? Over the last week I have seen some intresting things in cars, and wished that I could see the events leading up to whatever it was that I saw. 1. Sitting at a stoplight, I looked at the car next to us, and the passenger, was a Caucasian female, between 70 and 80 years old. She was wearing a cowboy hat, made from red velvet, with white feather trim on the brim. This hat was so huge, and so showy, I couldn't belive it. 2. We parked in a parking spot, and as I was getting out, I noticed a man in the passenger seat, sleeping. Then I looked in the back seat, and saw what I presume was the man's daughter, dancing and singing to whatever she was listening to on her Ipod. 3. This is not a spefific event, but something that happens a lot. People talking in their car, moving their hands around quite empahticly. My favorite varitations on this theme are the people who are by themselves talking, I guess, on the phone, or the people who are arguing with someone else in the car. Hilarious!
The Nutcracker was a smashing sucess, I got huge laughs in my "solo". My character has a family of "Barbies", and I was supposed to communicate a sense of being overwhelmed, which wasn't too hard, because my "family" was a bit overwhelming. The men in the audience laughed, and I didn't hear the women doing much of anything. I also got to help with backstage work, which was great.
This post has been broken up into two parts, one on the bus to Monterey this morning, and this one, at home. 30 minutes ago I finished a run on our local bike/hike trail, this was my first intentional excercise in 3 months. Now Mom, Dad, Alex, and myself are watching Doctor Zhivago and I guess that a 3 hour movie shouldn't be judged from the first 34 minutes.
The MBA was fun, another high-volume, high-postitive interaction day. I was awarded a "Sand Dollar" which is good for one meal at the Portola Cafe, and is awarded when a volunteer is comendded by a guest.
I sent out my Liberia letters to everyone in my family's address book, now I need to make a list of those not in our address book. I will have updates as things progress, and fundraising totals.
In 5 minutes I will begin my Christmas post, so tune in!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Merry Christmas!!
At long last, Christmastime! In Novemeber I was ready for Christmas, and then December came rushing in, and swept away about 10 days, and now I finally have the chance to look back over that time, and look forward to the end of the year.
Nutcracker was, no pun intended, nuts! Rehearsals were not too demanding in the on-stage aspect, but the off-stage aspect was hard. My mom, aside from being a totally awesome house manager, was also the clean-up chair, which meant I was part of the clean-up team. During performances, I wanted to be in the wings to help with things, and watch the dances, and read. By the last performance, I realized that I was in the wings to help with things, listen to the music, and look in the direction of the books I brought with me. Jokes aside, I had a great time, thanks to everyone who came!
A few funny things of note have happened. 1. For the past 2 days, Dad has been wearing a pair of my pants. This is funny because he didn't know he was. 2. For reasons totally unrelated to anything, I beat Dad at armwrestling! First time ever! Oh yeah!
I'm really just glad to be done with the busy part of the holidays, and looking forward to spending some time hanging out with friends and chilling at home.
Merry Christmas, have a great time, whatever you do!
Nutcracker was, no pun intended, nuts! Rehearsals were not too demanding in the on-stage aspect, but the off-stage aspect was hard. My mom, aside from being a totally awesome house manager, was also the clean-up chair, which meant I was part of the clean-up team. During performances, I wanted to be in the wings to help with things, and watch the dances, and read. By the last performance, I realized that I was in the wings to help with things, listen to the music, and look in the direction of the books I brought with me. Jokes aside, I had a great time, thanks to everyone who came!
A few funny things of note have happened. 1. For the past 2 days, Dad has been wearing a pair of my pants. This is funny because he didn't know he was. 2. For reasons totally unrelated to anything, I beat Dad at armwrestling! First time ever! Oh yeah!
I'm really just glad to be done with the busy part of the holidays, and looking forward to spending some time hanging out with friends and chilling at home.
Merry Christmas, have a great time, whatever you do!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Untitled Post
A lot has happened since my last post, and I assume the same is true for you too, this is a busy time of the year. Hopefully you have some way to process what happens with you, this is mine, and I thank you for listening.
As I recall, my last post dealt with the Great Giveaway. After that was Monday, which was mostly finishing up the Great Giveaway, taking tables back to whoever we borrowed them from, taking to the dump whatever wasn't taken, and then collapsing, and recovering mentally and physically from the weekend.
Tuesday was a lot of fun. This particular Tuesday was Student Oceanography Club (SOC), at the MBA. The theme was "Seabirds" which can be really broad, but was focused on two kinds of seabirds, penguins and albatross, which included a visit from the only albatross in captivity, IN THE WORLD! Pretty cool, I even got to touch her, such a unique experience.
Wenesday was fairly quite, as I recall, just school and Nutcracker. The one really memorable moment was with the whole family watching a movie called "Christmas in Conneticut". The plot is irrelevant to the best part of the movie. All of the main characters are at a dance, and one of them hits a woman in the face with his elbow! I know, darkly funny, but his ignorance, the woman's reaction, and the fact that it made it into the movie added up to be something very funny. Props to Mom for spotting it!
Thursday was filled with school, Nutcracker practice, preparation for a trip to Fresno (more on that later!), and watching 3 episodes of CSI. That last event is mostly my brother's fault, he just had to get something when we went to the library. I got some very intresting books from the library, and I have really enjoyed them all. (All the ones I have read at least) So far I have read Freakanomics by Steven Levitt and Steven J. Dubner, Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venktesh. I am working on reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollon. All of these books are very interesting, but for different reasons. I would have to say that Gang Leader For A Day and The Omnivore's Dilemma are the most to my liking. Both are to some degree systemic studies, and explorations of how to fix the flaws in those systems.
The trip to Fresno began early Friday morning, with everyone piling into the car, at varying degrees of wakefulness. 3 hours later, we arrived at our destination, the Vhears house, family friends who we have been friends with for nearly my whole lifetime, if not longer. Our families are the kind of families that just go together, they have 7 kids, my family has 5 kids, they homeschool, we homeschool, we are a rag-tag band of holigans in public on occasion, they are too. Put us together, hilarity is bound to ensue. Over the three days we stayed with them, plenty of hilarity ensued.
Friday was a time of settling in, reaquainting, and Josiah sleeping. Josiah, 14, slept more than 5 hours in the time after we arrived, which was a bit crazy, because he was just fine. The only major event besides Josiah sleeping was the fetching of the tree. The husbands, and all the children over 3 went to purchase a tree, which ended up being a blast! Someone had brought along a soft leather ball sized like a softball, and the whole patch of trees turned into an arena, with games of catch, monkey in the middle, and dodgeball. Eventually "someone just walked by that beam and it totally broke", causing trees to fall to the ground. Right about then my foot began hurting (it had (has) a nasty bruise on the big toe) so I sat in the car, waiting. Most of the rest of the time was playing games, eating (Thank you Sherri and Mom!), and being silly.
Saturday morning, for me at least, was spent tagging along with Josiah to his debate team's practice event. I was conscripted as a judge, and ended up hearing (twice!) why the U.S. should stop giving food to India and give more money for food to India. The first round was intresting, the second redundant. I could have argued both sides the second round, because I heard the same 5 or so points repeated ad naseum the first round. Once Josiah and I arrived back at the house, we played more games, ate more, and then after dinner watched a movie. "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". WOW! Just the sheer amount of comedic talent made it fun, seeing all the greats working on one project. The movie, without any big names, stood on its own feet, 3 hours of incredibly humor, on a couple levels, some great slapstick, but also some very funny puns, references, and double ententredes. While we were watching that, Gabi came home from her debate event somewhere not within a day's drive. Gabi is very similar to me in how we fit into our families, her older brother is out on his own, so she is acting oldest sibling, I am also like that, but because of Alex's handicap. Both nights, everyone went to bed later than 12, and some of us slept in. That night a bit of packing was done so that the next day we could easily jump in the car and be ready.
Sunday was probably the craziest day, specifically Sunday night. The morning/afternoon followed the familar pattern of eating, playing, hanging out, etc. That evening however, everyone loaded up into the two Suburbans, and walked through a neighborhood decorated for Christmas, then driving down "Christmas Tree Lane". People are really crazy about Christmas sometimes. There is a fine line between decorating and overdoing it, and that line is pretty hard for people with big houses and small lives. I will admit the fun part was just hanging with my friends. The chaotic event of the evening came at the Starbucks drive-through. I was in the Vhear's car, which Vance, the driver, turned off as we were sitting in line. When Vance went to start the car back up, nothing happened, so we ended up pushing the car out of the drivethrough. Normal type of event for us, things like that happen.
After arriving home at 1:30 Monday morning, I slept for 5 hours, then woke up for my last homeschool day at the MBA. I had fun, like always, but there was one moment that really stuck out as I was recollecting. I was at the coloring table, and a little girl came up and started coloring; she looked to be about 7 or 8, and she enjoyed talking more than coloring (I don't know anyone like that). We talked about animals, which one she likes, how she wanted to work at the Aquarium, how she likes bugs and baby harp seals, and then "Andrew and I really like animals, we love zoos and other places with animals and stuff, we find things everywhere, not just zoos. Andrew is my friend, he's a boy." Not only was her passion for animals encouraging, but her clarification of the fact that Andrew was a boy was so sweet and innocent. Things like that are why I love the Aquarium.
Tonight (Tuesday) is the dress rehearsal for the first act of the Nutcracker, very exciting! Most of today is going to be running errands. I imagine that I will have a post Sunday, probably.
Thanks for reading, have a great day.
As I recall, my last post dealt with the Great Giveaway. After that was Monday, which was mostly finishing up the Great Giveaway, taking tables back to whoever we borrowed them from, taking to the dump whatever wasn't taken, and then collapsing, and recovering mentally and physically from the weekend.
Tuesday was a lot of fun. This particular Tuesday was Student Oceanography Club (SOC), at the MBA. The theme was "Seabirds" which can be really broad, but was focused on two kinds of seabirds, penguins and albatross, which included a visit from the only albatross in captivity, IN THE WORLD! Pretty cool, I even got to touch her, such a unique experience.
Wenesday was fairly quite, as I recall, just school and Nutcracker. The one really memorable moment was with the whole family watching a movie called "Christmas in Conneticut". The plot is irrelevant to the best part of the movie. All of the main characters are at a dance, and one of them hits a woman in the face with his elbow! I know, darkly funny, but his ignorance, the woman's reaction, and the fact that it made it into the movie added up to be something very funny. Props to Mom for spotting it!
Thursday was filled with school, Nutcracker practice, preparation for a trip to Fresno (more on that later!), and watching 3 episodes of CSI. That last event is mostly my brother's fault, he just had to get something when we went to the library. I got some very intresting books from the library, and I have really enjoyed them all. (All the ones I have read at least) So far I have read Freakanomics by Steven Levitt and Steven J. Dubner, Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venktesh. I am working on reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollon. All of these books are very interesting, but for different reasons. I would have to say that Gang Leader For A Day and The Omnivore's Dilemma are the most to my liking. Both are to some degree systemic studies, and explorations of how to fix the flaws in those systems.
The trip to Fresno began early Friday morning, with everyone piling into the car, at varying degrees of wakefulness. 3 hours later, we arrived at our destination, the Vhears house, family friends who we have been friends with for nearly my whole lifetime, if not longer. Our families are the kind of families that just go together, they have 7 kids, my family has 5 kids, they homeschool, we homeschool, we are a rag-tag band of holigans in public on occasion, they are too. Put us together, hilarity is bound to ensue. Over the three days we stayed with them, plenty of hilarity ensued.
Friday was a time of settling in, reaquainting, and Josiah sleeping. Josiah, 14, slept more than 5 hours in the time after we arrived, which was a bit crazy, because he was just fine. The only major event besides Josiah sleeping was the fetching of the tree. The husbands, and all the children over 3 went to purchase a tree, which ended up being a blast! Someone had brought along a soft leather ball sized like a softball, and the whole patch of trees turned into an arena, with games of catch, monkey in the middle, and dodgeball. Eventually "someone just walked by that beam and it totally broke", causing trees to fall to the ground. Right about then my foot began hurting (it had (has) a nasty bruise on the big toe) so I sat in the car, waiting. Most of the rest of the time was playing games, eating (Thank you Sherri and Mom!), and being silly.
Saturday morning, for me at least, was spent tagging along with Josiah to his debate team's practice event. I was conscripted as a judge, and ended up hearing (twice!) why the U.S. should stop giving food to India and give more money for food to India. The first round was intresting, the second redundant. I could have argued both sides the second round, because I heard the same 5 or so points repeated ad naseum the first round. Once Josiah and I arrived back at the house, we played more games, ate more, and then after dinner watched a movie. "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". WOW! Just the sheer amount of comedic talent made it fun, seeing all the greats working on one project. The movie, without any big names, stood on its own feet, 3 hours of incredibly humor, on a couple levels, some great slapstick, but also some very funny puns, references, and double ententredes. While we were watching that, Gabi came home from her debate event somewhere not within a day's drive. Gabi is very similar to me in how we fit into our families, her older brother is out on his own, so she is acting oldest sibling, I am also like that, but because of Alex's handicap. Both nights, everyone went to bed later than 12, and some of us slept in. That night a bit of packing was done so that the next day we could easily jump in the car and be ready.
Sunday was probably the craziest day, specifically Sunday night. The morning/afternoon followed the familar pattern of eating, playing, hanging out, etc. That evening however, everyone loaded up into the two Suburbans, and walked through a neighborhood decorated for Christmas, then driving down "Christmas Tree Lane". People are really crazy about Christmas sometimes. There is a fine line between decorating and overdoing it, and that line is pretty hard for people with big houses and small lives. I will admit the fun part was just hanging with my friends. The chaotic event of the evening came at the Starbucks drive-through. I was in the Vhear's car, which Vance, the driver, turned off as we were sitting in line. When Vance went to start the car back up, nothing happened, so we ended up pushing the car out of the drivethrough. Normal type of event for us, things like that happen.
After arriving home at 1:30 Monday morning, I slept for 5 hours, then woke up for my last homeschool day at the MBA. I had fun, like always, but there was one moment that really stuck out as I was recollecting. I was at the coloring table, and a little girl came up and started coloring; she looked to be about 7 or 8, and she enjoyed talking more than coloring (I don't know anyone like that). We talked about animals, which one she likes, how she wanted to work at the Aquarium, how she likes bugs and baby harp seals, and then "Andrew and I really like animals, we love zoos and other places with animals and stuff, we find things everywhere, not just zoos. Andrew is my friend, he's a boy." Not only was her passion for animals encouraging, but her clarification of the fact that Andrew was a boy was so sweet and innocent. Things like that are why I love the Aquarium.
Tonight (Tuesday) is the dress rehearsal for the first act of the Nutcracker, very exciting! Most of today is going to be running errands. I imagine that I will have a post Sunday, probably.
Thanks for reading, have a great day.
Friday, December 5, 2008
December In All Its Glory
December can be a great month at times, it can be awful sometimes, it can be a time for reflection, and it can be a time of frantic busyness. In just the first week of December I have already experineced all of thosee aspects of this month. Besides my typical activities (Nutcracker, MBA, school), I have added one more of intense physical demands.
For the last 3 years, my awesome mom has organized a event called: "The Great Giveaway", which is far too innocous a name for such a killer event. The premise is that there are people in the community who have too much stuff, and want to get rid of some of the stuff, and there are other who need stuff, and would be willing to take the unwanted things from the other people. Most people agree with that idea, and most fit into one of those categories, but connecting the two groups is the slightly tricky part, unless you are Elaine Hays, social connector extrodinare! How does the Great Giveaway impact me? Besides the couple of things I get (Jaws, in paperback!), I do a lot of the heavy lifting and moving for the GG, which can be hard. In previous years, this has not been too much of a burden, but with everything else I am doing, my body and mind are tired. (Small aside, Mom and I had a conversation about the GG. She was wondering if I liked helping with the GG, or if I disliked it, and she knew she could find out by reading my blog. If only my feelings about it were that simple, sometimes the work can be ardous, but seeing the results are incredible, the amount of blessing that can be given with just a little bit of work. Sorry Mom, no solid answer, you have to decide yourself!)
The event of note at the MBA today was quite cool really. Part of the MBA is what is commonly called the "Great Tidepool", an area that is sheltered from the pounding waves and easily visible from the MBA's deck. Today, two Sea Otters came into the pool, riding a swell. Not was this a great chance to see the otters up close, but also puzzling, because otters are typically shy animals. One of the other volunteers told me that one of the otters had been recently mated because her (it was a female based on this deduction) nose was red and swollen. I asked how that meant she had been mated, and he explained that the male Sea Otters grab the females by the nose. (Be thankful ladies!)
The previous paragraph about the GG was written on Friday, this is Monday. The giveaway is over, and things went great! 52 families went blessed, 5 couches, 3 TV's, 3 loft beds, 5 bikes, and 280 lbs. of produce were taken! This was a great year, lots of donations, lots of attendees! Well worth the hard work.
Church was good, don't know if I mentioned this, but I, along with one of the other youth, are going to be working on developing a youth-generated website. Very cool!! Once things get rocking with that, I will link to it. The Liberia meeting was really good, sounds like this will be a close team, really tight.
Today was clean-up from the GG, returning tables, a dolly, etc. Not too hard, but the funniest thing happened in the car. I was sitting in the front passenger seat, the 3 babies were sitting in the middle row, and Alex was in the back. All of a sudden, a pink marker (open, which just adds insult to injury) flew past my ear, and clipped my hair! With that, war broke out in the car! Markers, gloves, ice cubes, pretty much anything that would not hurt the target was being thrown. Mom and Beth were just sitting in their seats, and Mom was covering her drink, hoping to protect her ice.
Aside from hoping to recover from the GG, things are more or less back to status quo. This weekend we are going to Fresno to visit family friends, which should be great fun!
Have a great day!
More later!
For the last 3 years, my awesome mom has organized a event called: "The Great Giveaway", which is far too innocous a name for such a killer event. The premise is that there are people in the community who have too much stuff, and want to get rid of some of the stuff, and there are other who need stuff, and would be willing to take the unwanted things from the other people. Most people agree with that idea, and most fit into one of those categories, but connecting the two groups is the slightly tricky part, unless you are Elaine Hays, social connector extrodinare! How does the Great Giveaway impact me? Besides the couple of things I get (Jaws, in paperback!), I do a lot of the heavy lifting and moving for the GG, which can be hard. In previous years, this has not been too much of a burden, but with everything else I am doing, my body and mind are tired. (Small aside, Mom and I had a conversation about the GG. She was wondering if I liked helping with the GG, or if I disliked it, and she knew she could find out by reading my blog. If only my feelings about it were that simple, sometimes the work can be ardous, but seeing the results are incredible, the amount of blessing that can be given with just a little bit of work. Sorry Mom, no solid answer, you have to decide yourself!)
The event of note at the MBA today was quite cool really. Part of the MBA is what is commonly called the "Great Tidepool", an area that is sheltered from the pounding waves and easily visible from the MBA's deck. Today, two Sea Otters came into the pool, riding a swell. Not was this a great chance to see the otters up close, but also puzzling, because otters are typically shy animals. One of the other volunteers told me that one of the otters had been recently mated because her (it was a female based on this deduction) nose was red and swollen. I asked how that meant she had been mated, and he explained that the male Sea Otters grab the females by the nose. (Be thankful ladies!)
The previous paragraph about the GG was written on Friday, this is Monday. The giveaway is over, and things went great! 52 families went blessed, 5 couches, 3 TV's, 3 loft beds, 5 bikes, and 280 lbs. of produce were taken! This was a great year, lots of donations, lots of attendees! Well worth the hard work.
Church was good, don't know if I mentioned this, but I, along with one of the other youth, are going to be working on developing a youth-generated website. Very cool!! Once things get rocking with that, I will link to it. The Liberia meeting was really good, sounds like this will be a close team, really tight.
Today was clean-up from the GG, returning tables, a dolly, etc. Not too hard, but the funniest thing happened in the car. I was sitting in the front passenger seat, the 3 babies were sitting in the middle row, and Alex was in the back. All of a sudden, a pink marker (open, which just adds insult to injury) flew past my ear, and clipped my hair! With that, war broke out in the car! Markers, gloves, ice cubes, pretty much anything that would not hurt the target was being thrown. Mom and Beth were just sitting in their seats, and Mom was covering her drink, hoping to protect her ice.
Aside from hoping to recover from the GG, things are more or less back to status quo. This weekend we are going to Fresno to visit family friends, which should be great fun!
Have a great day!
More later!
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Testing...1.2.3
Friday, November 28, 2008
Not Thanksgiving
This post will be slightly experimental, I will not have a chronological series of stories, instead whatever happened over the last week, whenever I think of it.
One of the local churches, every Thanksgiving Eve, passes out a food box and a turkey to whoever signs up for one ahead of time. The day of the event was rainy and cold, and I really thought that it would be awful. Most of the time was cold and gray, but not rainy. After about two hours, the sun started break through the clouds, and was beautiful. Imagine dirt sitting in the bottom of a bathtub, then pouring water into the tub. Then make the water red, orange, purple, and white. That was what the sky looked like. I wanted to just stand there taking it in.
Right now, sitting on the bus, there are four ladies sitting next to me, speaking what sounds like Frenglish, but I'm not sure. I love language, and hear languages mixing and overlapping is beautiful to me. One of the best parts of working at the MBA is seeing all the different people, not just ethicnically different, but different personalities and attidtudes. That is why I would rather work with the people than the animals.
Dance is going well, but putting the steps together can be hard for me. So many things happening, and keeping them in order is tricky for me. I feel much better about learning what things are SUPPOSED TO look like. If I can understand the hoped-for results, I can do much better making that happen. I think of all the things I will get out of this, the longest lasting will be a better ear for music; I can listen to the music and actually know where I am supposed to be, and what is happening. Eventually this will spread to any kind of music, I can listen and HEAR the music.
That's pretty much it for me.
Have a great week, thanks for reading.
More later.
One of the local churches, every Thanksgiving Eve, passes out a food box and a turkey to whoever signs up for one ahead of time. The day of the event was rainy and cold, and I really thought that it would be awful. Most of the time was cold and gray, but not rainy. After about two hours, the sun started break through the clouds, and was beautiful. Imagine dirt sitting in the bottom of a bathtub, then pouring water into the tub. Then make the water red, orange, purple, and white. That was what the sky looked like. I wanted to just stand there taking it in.
Right now, sitting on the bus, there are four ladies sitting next to me, speaking what sounds like Frenglish, but I'm not sure. I love language, and hear languages mixing and overlapping is beautiful to me. One of the best parts of working at the MBA is seeing all the different people, not just ethicnically different, but different personalities and attidtudes. That is why I would rather work with the people than the animals.
Dance is going well, but putting the steps together can be hard for me. So many things happening, and keeping them in order is tricky for me. I feel much better about learning what things are SUPPOSED TO look like. If I can understand the hoped-for results, I can do much better making that happen. I think of all the things I will get out of this, the longest lasting will be a better ear for music; I can listen to the music and actually know where I am supposed to be, and what is happening. Eventually this will spread to any kind of music, I can listen and HEAR the music.
That's pretty much it for me.
Have a great week, thanks for reading.
More later.
Thanksgiving
The day after Thanksgiving,
turkey on the table.
I'm still living,
my mind is able.
Why all the hustle?
Why all the hurry?
My mind is filled with thoughts of yesterday,
fun memories that won't go away.
No need to fuss.
No need to worry.
Dinner was great,
much like the rest.
But wait,
the rest of the day was the best.
No traditional day,
no guests,
just fun.
What makes Thanksgiving?
Why?
In case you didn't notice I felt poetic this morning, which is odd, because I have never written a poem before. Like I said, the part of yesterday that was the most fun was the most non-traditional part of our day. Last year, and perhaps the year before, my family went to beach in the morning. Only in California! I would have to say, last year was not too memorable, but this year was great. At the beach, there is usally some kind search for a good spot to put the blanket, just close enough to the water, but in line with a path to the parking lot. Yesterday, the search was walking out of the car, walking up the hill to the sand, and walking straight until we put the blanket down. Except for the few runners, there was no one else within 100 feet! AMAZING!
I will admit, when my family goes to the beach, the average mental age (with the exception of Mom) drops to about 7. Everyone is digging in the sand, running around in the water, and just generally being silly! Yesterday was no exception, the highlight for me was a tie between burying Nick up to his neck, and my great hole/wall/castle thing I built. (With some help) On the way home, we stopped at Burger King, and all got Whopper Jr.
Upon arriving home, the monumental task of preparing dinner began!
The task/fun of making dinner was hilarious! In a family of seven, some dinner preps seem like an attempt to break a world record for most people making different dishes in one kitchen. I have to give huge props to my mom, who had a lot of the hard work done, all that was needed was the little bit of assembly. My dish was Jello with cranberries, crushed pineapple, and walnuts, but the piece de resistance was the mix of whipped cream (whipped by me) and vanilla pudding on top.
After dinner, which was similar to yours no doubt, we decided that a really fun thing to do would be watch a movie. After some verbal jousting, You've Got Mail was chosen. I personally really like that movie, so this was just one more fun part. About an hour and 45 into the movie, too many people were falling asleep, so we all went to bed.
Great Thanksgiving!
I will have an update for the last week later today.
turkey on the table.
I'm still living,
my mind is able.
Why all the hustle?
Why all the hurry?
My mind is filled with thoughts of yesterday,
fun memories that won't go away.
No need to fuss.
No need to worry.
Dinner was great,
much like the rest.
But wait,
the rest of the day was the best.
No traditional day,
no guests,
just fun.
What makes Thanksgiving?
Why?
In case you didn't notice I felt poetic this morning, which is odd, because I have never written a poem before. Like I said, the part of yesterday that was the most fun was the most non-traditional part of our day. Last year, and perhaps the year before, my family went to beach in the morning. Only in California! I would have to say, last year was not too memorable, but this year was great. At the beach, there is usally some kind search for a good spot to put the blanket, just close enough to the water, but in line with a path to the parking lot. Yesterday, the search was walking out of the car, walking up the hill to the sand, and walking straight until we put the blanket down. Except for the few runners, there was no one else within 100 feet! AMAZING!
I will admit, when my family goes to the beach, the average mental age (with the exception of Mom) drops to about 7. Everyone is digging in the sand, running around in the water, and just generally being silly! Yesterday was no exception, the highlight for me was a tie between burying Nick up to his neck, and my great hole/wall/castle thing I built. (With some help) On the way home, we stopped at Burger King, and all got Whopper Jr.
Upon arriving home, the monumental task of preparing dinner began!
The task/fun of making dinner was hilarious! In a family of seven, some dinner preps seem like an attempt to break a world record for most people making different dishes in one kitchen. I have to give huge props to my mom, who had a lot of the hard work done, all that was needed was the little bit of assembly. My dish was Jello with cranberries, crushed pineapple, and walnuts, but the piece de resistance was the mix of whipped cream (whipped by me) and vanilla pudding on top.
After dinner, which was similar to yours no doubt, we decided that a really fun thing to do would be watch a movie. After some verbal jousting, You've Got Mail was chosen. I personally really like that movie, so this was just one more fun part. About an hour and 45 into the movie, too many people were falling asleep, so we all went to bed.
Great Thanksgiving!
I will have an update for the last week later today.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Communication
I love communication! All kinds, from all people, I just love the human ability to "impart or interchange thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs". Over the last week or so, I have been seeing a lot of different types of communication, and I have been noticing the power of communication.
The last week, besides being filled with communication, was good and busy. Every day beginning on Monday, ending Sunday, I will have had some form of ballet. Most of the "practice" has been watching the rehearsal, taking notes, and then going over the steps myself later. The "funnest" part, thus far, has been the parent's dance in the party scene at the beginning of the ballet. Most of the dance is fairly simple, but right before the end of the dance, insanity breaks out. See the picture for explaination of what happens that is so crazy. The men (small narrow arrows) walk counter-clockwise, and every third step we hold up a hand. The women (red arrows) walk the other way and do the same thing. Not that hard, except the music is very fast paced, and we need to run in order to stay in time with the music. Watching all the ballet this week, I realized that all the girls are communicating in one of the most difficult ways possible, and it continues to amaze me.
When I first applied to be a student guide at the MBA, one of the main requirements was the ability to communicate on many different levels in many different situations. Today was an intresting chance to study how different people communicate. I have many diverse personalities on my shift team, and watching how the personalities of those people effect their communication style was fascinating. Noticing those variations made me think, "What are all the factors that effect how people communicate?" I would love to hear from you readers (all 3) about what you think.
The car (which still needs a name) was covered with a tarp on Thursday.
Tommorow holds: ballet conditioning class, a trip to the local amusment park, and I'm sure something else I don't know about..
My cool things are: Gmail's new theme option (I am currently using "Shiny"), Slang Flashcards, which help people like me, slightly nerdy, very white, to be cool, and Google Trends, which shows the most searched terms or phrases in the last few hours. The information included is not only the term, but similar terms, peak of searches, and location with heaviest concentration of searches. #1 right now, "shop around lyrics". Most of the top 3 are usally pretty shallow, but every once in a while, something cool can come up.
That's all for now, maybe an update after Gilroy Gardens tommorow!
Thanks for listening to my communication.
Final question for you, what are ways of communication? I mean all of them.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Love (In All Shapes)
First, I apologize. This is not only as the song says, the most wonderful time of the year, but also the busiest time of the year. With much on my plate, I have much worth mentioning, and not much time to mention it in. As I recall, the last post was before election day. In order to maintain a slightly coherent narrative, I shall pick up from there.
Nov. 4, first black president in the history of the U.S. That was cool, but the part that was cooler to hear about was the massive win in electoral votes by a Democrat not from the South. 300-odd electoral votes for President-elect Obama. (Google's spellchecker still thinks I am trying to spell Obadiah) Where was I that I was not glued to CNN, NPR, FOX, ABC, MSNBC? I was at the MBA for a SOC (Student Oceanography Club) meeting, the topic was Fire Ecology. FIRE!!!
I was given the honor of introducing the speaker, Regional Captain Mike something, who works for BLM (Bureau of Land Management). As I was standing in front of perhaps 60 people, all friendly, I suddenly forgot Mike's last name, and not wanting to ask him, I decided to take a page from Barney, I called him Firefighter Mike. (I also called him a safety-obsessed pyromaniac, but that was a firefighter joke.) I will admit, I felt a little bad about his new nickname, until he started talking. His talk could have been on Barney!! The best of the scripted interactions was him showing a picture of a fire caused by a campfire, then asking, "Is this a good fire or a bad fire?". The students responded in frightenly zombie-like fashion, "Bad fire!". After his talk, I felt like I had made the best SOC joke, on accident!
Nutcracker rehearsals have been going pretty well, except for the ones I miss. I am becoming far more comfortable with my steps/lifts. The tricky part is keeping things in order, not doing lift A when she is expecting lift B. The positive side is my shoulders are filling out quite nicely (as well as most of my upper body) and my coordination is getting better. (Set the standard low enough and anything is getting better)
The last homeschool day was, thus far, the busiest on record, and I could tell. My family was able to come to this particular day (thanks for the ride Mom!), and I think they had a great time. Something I have noticed being at the MBA enough is that people love the planet. Not in a Earth Goddess way, but more in a, "I want to do something that keeps Earth livable for the next generation." way. Perhaps that is not so much love for the planet itself, but those who are on the planet.
Riding the bus I witnessed another kind of love. A adult son and father were waiting for bus in Monterey. The father was adjusting his son's clothes, talking very nervously, and smiling a lot. The son was being slightly embarrassed, unadjusting his father's adjustments, and looking for the bus a lot. This was a totally different kind of love, and just as heart-warming. The son, I think, was going of to college, and would not see his father for a long time. Having been victim/recipient of that kind of love, I understand what the son was feeling.
Totally unrelated except for love, I love Christmas! This is a different kind of love again, beyond really liking, but not quite at human to human levels. I realize that this is mid-November, but I just like Christmas, I am listening to Christmas music, and already want to string some lights in my room. If anyone can figure out why I like Christmas so much, please tell me!
Cool thing of the post. Pandora Internet Radio. You enter a song or artist that you like, then other songs are suggested, and slowly only songs you like are played. The best part of this is the lack of cost. As a slightly poor teen, I don't have a big Itunes library, but Pandora makes that irrelevant. If you are curious check out www.pandora.com
Bonus cool thing! www.seafoodwatch.org I pass out these cards at the MBA, their purpose is to help the consumer (you) make more environmentally informed choices when you are purchasing seafood. The Green list is things that are low in environmental impact. Yellow is medium, Red is high impact. As part of SOC I will be passing out these cards in the community, and encouraging local businesses to sell sustainable seafood. (Sustainable=very low impact)
One more cool thing. http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/ipipneo300.htm this is a personality test that is more scientific than most. I was surprised by some of what was said about me. (I might share if I hear some feedback about your results.)
For those of you who noticed I changed the name/url again, the old name seemed too presumptuous, and I couldn't go back to the original name.
Thanks for reading
Chris R. H.
Nov. 4, first black president in the history of the U.S. That was cool, but the part that was cooler to hear about was the massive win in electoral votes by a Democrat not from the South. 300-odd electoral votes for President-elect Obama. (Google's spellchecker still thinks I am trying to spell Obadiah) Where was I that I was not glued to CNN, NPR, FOX, ABC, MSNBC? I was at the MBA for a SOC (Student Oceanography Club) meeting, the topic was Fire Ecology. FIRE!!!
I was given the honor of introducing the speaker, Regional Captain Mike something, who works for BLM (Bureau of Land Management). As I was standing in front of perhaps 60 people, all friendly, I suddenly forgot Mike's last name, and not wanting to ask him, I decided to take a page from Barney, I called him Firefighter Mike. (I also called him a safety-obsessed pyromaniac, but that was a firefighter joke.) I will admit, I felt a little bad about his new nickname, until he started talking. His talk could have been on Barney!! The best of the scripted interactions was him showing a picture of a fire caused by a campfire, then asking, "Is this a good fire or a bad fire?". The students responded in frightenly zombie-like fashion, "Bad fire!". After his talk, I felt like I had made the best SOC joke, on accident!
Nutcracker rehearsals have been going pretty well, except for the ones I miss. I am becoming far more comfortable with my steps/lifts. The tricky part is keeping things in order, not doing lift A when she is expecting lift B. The positive side is my shoulders are filling out quite nicely (as well as most of my upper body) and my coordination is getting better. (Set the standard low enough and anything is getting better)
The last homeschool day was, thus far, the busiest on record, and I could tell. My family was able to come to this particular day (thanks for the ride Mom!), and I think they had a great time. Something I have noticed being at the MBA enough is that people love the planet. Not in a Earth Goddess way, but more in a, "I want to do something that keeps Earth livable for the next generation." way. Perhaps that is not so much love for the planet itself, but those who are on the planet.
Riding the bus I witnessed another kind of love. A adult son and father were waiting for bus in Monterey. The father was adjusting his son's clothes, talking very nervously, and smiling a lot. The son was being slightly embarrassed, unadjusting his father's adjustments, and looking for the bus a lot. This was a totally different kind of love, and just as heart-warming. The son, I think, was going of to college, and would not see his father for a long time. Having been victim/recipient of that kind of love, I understand what the son was feeling.
Totally unrelated except for love, I love Christmas! This is a different kind of love again, beyond really liking, but not quite at human to human levels. I realize that this is mid-November, but I just like Christmas, I am listening to Christmas music, and already want to string some lights in my room. If anyone can figure out why I like Christmas so much, please tell me!
Cool thing of the post. Pandora Internet Radio. You enter a song or artist that you like, then other songs are suggested, and slowly only songs you like are played. The best part of this is the lack of cost. As a slightly poor teen, I don't have a big Itunes library, but Pandora makes that irrelevant. If you are curious check out www.pandora.com
Bonus cool thing! www.seafoodwatch.org I pass out these cards at the MBA, their purpose is to help the consumer (you) make more environmentally informed choices when you are purchasing seafood. The Green list is things that are low in environmental impact. Yellow is medium, Red is high impact. As part of SOC I will be passing out these cards in the community, and encouraging local businesses to sell sustainable seafood. (Sustainable=very low impact)
One more cool thing. http://www.personal.psu.edu/j5j/IPIP/ipipneo300.htm this is a personality test that is more scientific than most. I was surprised by some of what was said about me. (I might share if I hear some feedback about your results.)
For those of you who noticed I changed the name/url again, the old name seemed too presumptuous, and I couldn't go back to the original name.
Thanks for reading
Chris R. H.
Friday, October 31, 2008
A Quick Week Rundown
I realized at some point in my crazy week that I had not blogged any of the many cool things that had happened, and why was because I had so many things happening, I didn't have a chance to. But now, I do.
Friday last week-Guiding at the MBA.
Saturday-Nutcracker rehearsal for Nutcracker Prince role.
Sunday-Last time at San Martin Presbyterian Church. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Monday-Homeschool day at MBA.
Tuesday-Euclidean Geometry, then working at the pumpkin patch.
Wednesday-Great Books Tutorial (GBT), then working at pumpkin patch, then up to Morgan Hill and working at OTRA.
Thursday- Greek class, then working at the pumpkin patch (last day, got paid $448!!), then up to Morgan Hill, looked at the MGB with Bill (see this post for details), then Nutcracker rehearsal for party scene.
Today (Friday)-Guiding at the MBA.
I did a little math, and found that I rode 45 miles on my bike this week. Uh-huh! That would explain why I have calluses on my rear end!
I'm thinking about reverting to my original blog name and url, just because I feel that "Everything Chris" and crhlife.blogspot.etc is more of an insight to what the blog is made up of.
I read some great news here!
Hopefully I will have a great weekend, much to discuss.
Many blessings on you all!
Friday last week-Guiding at the MBA.
Saturday-Nutcracker rehearsal for Nutcracker Prince role.
Sunday-Last time at San Martin Presbyterian Church. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
Monday-Homeschool day at MBA.
Tuesday-Euclidean Geometry, then working at the pumpkin patch.
Wednesday-Great Books Tutorial (GBT), then working at pumpkin patch, then up to Morgan Hill and working at OTRA.
Thursday- Greek class, then working at the pumpkin patch (last day, got paid $448!!), then up to Morgan Hill, looked at the MGB with Bill (see this post for details), then Nutcracker rehearsal for party scene.
Today (Friday)-Guiding at the MBA.
I did a little math, and found that I rode 45 miles on my bike this week. Uh-huh! That would explain why I have calluses on my rear end!
I'm thinking about reverting to my original blog name and url, just because I feel that "Everything Chris" and crhlife.blogspot.etc is more of an insight to what the blog is made up of.
I read some great news here!
Hopefully I will have a great weekend, much to discuss.
Many blessings on you all!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Name Change (And more!)
As you may have noticed, I changed the blog name, in order to move away from a border-line narcissistic blog, to one with a more caring mission and world view. The name, and mission, was inspired by the passage of Socrates that was read and discussed in my Great Books class this week. Part of that passage was a metaphor about people locked in a cave, seeing only shadows of passing items lit by flames. This was representative of those who are locked in a mental rut, seeing only shadows of reality. The part which struck me was when Socrates was talking about a man who had been liberated, and went out into the broader world. Socrates said that his duty was to go back into that cave, and attempt to liberate others from that cave as well. Throughout the day, I was thinking about that cave, and that journey out of the cave. Reading articles, listening to podcasts, thinking about the state of the world, I realized that there are many more caves in the world than just the philosophical cave which Socrates is concerned. As someone who has come out of some caves, and was born outside of other caves, I feel the need to point out caves and rescue those who are locked inside. I challenge you to look for those caves everywhere you go, for caves are not just in the slums of Africa, or brothels of Asia, but in places where we would never think to look for them.
In lighter news, my life has been relatively calm and productive. I am taking classical Greek, and am simultaneously overwhelmed and encouraged, I am perhaps 2 weeks behind, but feel that I can catch up and thrive with the language. The Nutcracker party scene rehearsal this evening was great fun! We went quite far through our scene, which was encouraging, but we are having to learn many variations from last year, which is worrying, because the most difficult part of the party scene last year was the parent's dance routine. I hope that the dance routine remains the same from last year, because learning that, plus the new party scene's details, plus everything for the Prince understudy. Just too much dancing for me!!!
This political cycle has been very interesting for me to watch. Since I desire to eventually become involved in politics, either as an elected official, or some para-governmental position, this has been fascinating election/economic scenario. I would love to hear what you readers think, but not in a partisan fashion, more in a speculative style.
My cool thing of this post is Google's new Igoogle page, featuring embedded gadget access, which allows me to; read news articles, check my Gmail, open Google Docs, and post, all from my homepage.
Many blessings on you from our Divine Father in Heaven!
In lighter news, my life has been relatively calm and productive. I am taking classical Greek, and am simultaneously overwhelmed and encouraged, I am perhaps 2 weeks behind, but feel that I can catch up and thrive with the language. The Nutcracker party scene rehearsal this evening was great fun! We went quite far through our scene, which was encouraging, but we are having to learn many variations from last year, which is worrying, because the most difficult part of the party scene last year was the parent's dance routine. I hope that the dance routine remains the same from last year, because learning that, plus the new party scene's details, plus everything for the Prince understudy. Just too much dancing for me!!!
This political cycle has been very interesting for me to watch. Since I desire to eventually become involved in politics, either as an elected official, or some para-governmental position, this has been fascinating election/economic scenario. I would love to hear what you readers think, but not in a partisan fashion, more in a speculative style.
My cool thing of this post is Google's new Igoogle page, featuring embedded gadget access, which allows me to; read news articles, check my Gmail, open Google Docs, and post, all from my homepage.
Many blessings on you from our Divine Father in Heaven!
Monday, October 20, 2008
Weekend Update
One of the first things I thought today was something along the lines of my lack of posting this weekend, not because I lacked material, but because I had too much of it. Days where I have very close to nothing happening I will post my opinions, mental wanderings, etc. On days or stretches of days when many things are happening, I might not be able to post until nearly a day later (as in the case of today). With that explanation/apology, the weekend update of 17,18,19/10/08!!
Friday was a terrific day at the MBA, good crowds, nice weather and good groups. My favorite interaction with a guest, or guests in this case was a group of 7 or 8 students aged 10-12 from a "choral school". These boys were full of questions and energy, and yet still managed to listen every explanation for every question, process the answer, and then ask another question, within 3 seconds. Opposed to some guests who ask one question, and move on, these boys stayed with me for nearly 10 minutes, and asked more questions than every other guest combined that whole day. The bus ride was uninteresting, but once I transferred to the local bus, things became far more interesting. (To see my regular route see this) (To see the route I took on Friday see this)
When I arrived at the transit center, I noticed an unusually large amount of people waiting for the bus. After inquiring, I was informed that the previous bus had passed by without stopping, so the entire trip was extremely crowded. Part of my schooling involves me utilizing downtime, so I took some Greek flashcards with me, and was practicing on the bus. At some point I looked up from my cards, and realized that about 5 people were watching me looking at cards with gibbirsh characters on one side, and English on the other side. Later, as I was thinking about the post for that day, I realized that I was the IPTP for that bus ride. Not only was I a white kid, which had me already out of place, but I was carrying my helmet, my sweatshirt, and my backpack. The Greek flashcards were just icing.
Saturday was wonderfully fun! I went kayaking with something from the MBA called SOC, which stands for Student Oceanography Club, in which I am part of the student leadership. The group went to Elkhorn Slough (Map here) for kayaking, which was great, but a little cold. I was blessed with seeing some things that not many will be able to see. Sea lions popped up right next to me! I saw a sea otter breaking a shell on a rock on his chest! I saw harbor seals laying on the beach! I saw a white egret, which are endangered! Perhaps the most fun was after the kayaking was done, and some of the group went to a nearby beach. I remembered times from the year before when I took a football to other "field experiences", so I took my football along for the beach. Good time, good game of "3 Flags Up", good time of bonding among the few boys who are involved in SOC.
Sunday was just icing on the already exhausting cake that was my weekend. First church, then rush off to where Mandy does ballet (www.morganhilldance.com) to rehearse my understudy role as Prince Whateverhisnameis in the Nutcracker. Once that was finished (one of the most insidiously tiring hours of my life), then walked a little to see Bill Hiland at the British sports car show that was happening in downtown MH, and then finally, home.
Today was relatively calm, however, my big find was something I found on one of my favorite websites, "Slate". I thought this has huge potential. "Slate's presidential election soundboard" Probably more tomorrow, if things stay quiet.
Right now, Mom, Dad and I are critiquing commercials, and we have been watching TV Land with all the old people commercials, one of the commercials we have seen includes the line "If you or a loved one have been injured or died, you may have a claim to compensation." Anyone see any problems with that??
Friday was a terrific day at the MBA, good crowds, nice weather and good groups. My favorite interaction with a guest, or guests in this case was a group of 7 or 8 students aged 10-12 from a "choral school". These boys were full of questions and energy, and yet still managed to listen every explanation for every question, process the answer, and then ask another question, within 3 seconds. Opposed to some guests who ask one question, and move on, these boys stayed with me for nearly 10 minutes, and asked more questions than every other guest combined that whole day. The bus ride was uninteresting, but once I transferred to the local bus, things became far more interesting. (To see my regular route see this) (To see the route I took on Friday see this)
When I arrived at the transit center, I noticed an unusually large amount of people waiting for the bus. After inquiring, I was informed that the previous bus had passed by without stopping, so the entire trip was extremely crowded. Part of my schooling involves me utilizing downtime, so I took some Greek flashcards with me, and was practicing on the bus. At some point I looked up from my cards, and realized that about 5 people were watching me looking at cards with gibbirsh characters on one side, and English on the other side. Later, as I was thinking about the post for that day, I realized that I was the IPTP for that bus ride. Not only was I a white kid, which had me already out of place, but I was carrying my helmet, my sweatshirt, and my backpack. The Greek flashcards were just icing.
Saturday was wonderfully fun! I went kayaking with something from the MBA called SOC, which stands for Student Oceanography Club, in which I am part of the student leadership. The group went to Elkhorn Slough (Map here) for kayaking, which was great, but a little cold. I was blessed with seeing some things that not many will be able to see. Sea lions popped up right next to me! I saw a sea otter breaking a shell on a rock on his chest! I saw harbor seals laying on the beach! I saw a white egret, which are endangered! Perhaps the most fun was after the kayaking was done, and some of the group went to a nearby beach. I remembered times from the year before when I took a football to other "field experiences", so I took my football along for the beach. Good time, good game of "3 Flags Up", good time of bonding among the few boys who are involved in SOC.
Sunday was just icing on the already exhausting cake that was my weekend. First church, then rush off to where Mandy does ballet (www.morganhilldance.com) to rehearse my understudy role as Prince Whateverhisnameis in the Nutcracker. Once that was finished (one of the most insidiously tiring hours of my life), then walked a little to see Bill Hiland at the British sports car show that was happening in downtown MH, and then finally, home.
Today was relatively calm, however, my big find was something I found on one of my favorite websites, "Slate". I thought this has huge potential. "Slate's presidential election soundboard" Probably more tomorrow, if things stay quiet.
Right now, Mom, Dad and I are critiquing commercials, and we have been watching TV Land with all the old people commercials, one of the commercials we have seen includes the line "If you or a loved one have been injured or died, you may have a claim to compensation." Anyone see any problems with that??
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
What Nerve!!
I apologize for my lack of post yesterday, but Google and Blogspot decided that, for some reason, this blog was SPAM!!! So, I will combine yesterday's post and today's.
Tuesday was relatively slow, I attended an online class of Euclid's Element through Escondido Tutorial Service, which was good, but not particularly exciting, I did not explain any propostions, so my part in class was mostly sitting and listening. After class I went to San Martin Country Park where I worked from 10:30-5:30, then was came home, ate and played football with Alex. This was not the regular game of football. Alex would stand at one end of the lawn holding football, and I would stand facing him, then Al would run, and attempt to get past me, and I would tackle try to tackle him. This would have been great, harmless fun, except the most padding that Al and I were wearing was shorts and T-shirts, so when we stopped playing, we were both very sore. That was about everything of note. Like I said, Tuesday was pretty queit.
Yesterday was mostly more of the same, except instead of Euclid, I studied Plato online, then everything else was the same as Tuesday.
Today, was more fun in a way. I studied Greek this morning, then went to work at SMCP. Instead of coming home after that, I rode the bus to Morgan Hill, and went to work at On The Road Again, which is a British auto restoration shop, for more on why I was there, see www.crhmgb.blogspot.com
On the bus ride home, and while I was working (mopping floors) I listened to a podcast called "TED Talks"which was fascinating, check out their website www.ted.com The IPTP of tonight's bus ride was Countless Tatto Guy, I'll call him Count. Not only were both of his arms covered in tattos, but he had indechiperable tatto words on his neck, and a lipstick impression tatto by where you take your pulse. What made him even more interesting was his willingness and ability to talk with strangers, and make friends even with those strangers. I walked on the bus, and he was talking with a man who I thought he previously knew, based on the passion of their converstation regarding dirtbiking. When the man Count was talking with got off the bus, Count said "Nice meeting you man, give me a call sometime!" Two stops later another man got on the bus, and within 2 minutes they were talking as well. The most interesting aspect of Count's character was the fact that the little boy who was sitting across from Count turned out to be his son, and not once did I see Count speak to his son. Interesting. Here is the link to the web album for pictures of On The Road Again and SMCP. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/101608 Notice the plethora of parts at OTRA.
Update from the MBA tomorrow!!!
For some reason this was not posted last night, I apologize.
Tuesday was relatively slow, I attended an online class of Euclid's Element through Escondido Tutorial Service, which was good, but not particularly exciting, I did not explain any propostions, so my part in class was mostly sitting and listening. After class I went to San Martin Country Park where I worked from 10:30-5:30, then was came home, ate and played football with Alex. This was not the regular game of football. Alex would stand at one end of the lawn holding football, and I would stand facing him, then Al would run, and attempt to get past me, and I would tackle try to tackle him. This would have been great, harmless fun, except the most padding that Al and I were wearing was shorts and T-shirts, so when we stopped playing, we were both very sore. That was about everything of note. Like I said, Tuesday was pretty queit.
Yesterday was mostly more of the same, except instead of Euclid, I studied Plato online, then everything else was the same as Tuesday.
Today, was more fun in a way. I studied Greek this morning, then went to work at SMCP. Instead of coming home after that, I rode the bus to Morgan Hill, and went to work at On The Road Again, which is a British auto restoration shop, for more on why I was there, see www.crhmgb.blogspot.com
On the bus ride home, and while I was working (mopping floors) I listened to a podcast called "TED Talks"which was fascinating, check out their website www.ted.com The IPTP of tonight's bus ride was Countless Tatto Guy, I'll call him Count. Not only were both of his arms covered in tattos, but he had indechiperable tatto words on his neck, and a lipstick impression tatto by where you take your pulse. What made him even more interesting was his willingness and ability to talk with strangers, and make friends even with those strangers. I walked on the bus, and he was talking with a man who I thought he previously knew, based on the passion of their converstation regarding dirtbiking. When the man Count was talking with got off the bus, Count said "Nice meeting you man, give me a call sometime!" Two stops later another man got on the bus, and within 2 minutes they were talking as well. The most interesting aspect of Count's character was the fact that the little boy who was sitting across from Count turned out to be his son, and not once did I see Count speak to his son. Interesting. Here is the link to the web album for pictures of On The Road Again and SMCP. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/101608 Notice the plethora of parts at OTRA.
Update from the MBA tomorrow!!!
For some reason this was not posted last night, I apologize.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Starting on a Busy Day
I think that the hardest part about starting a blog is the first post, I feel like I need to come up with some very deep reason about why I am blogging. But I don't really have anything deep, I just want to tell some of the stories that happen in my life to more than my family. Thanks to the encouragement of my family, my youth pastor Kyle, and a colorful weekend, I decided that I could easily maintain a daily narrative that would remain interesting, and hopefully funny or thought-provoking or informative. Without further ado, the story of the weekend of 10/10/08-10/12/08!!!
Every Friday, I volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) from 11:30-3:00, but I leave the house at 8:00 and arrive home around 5:00, which is great fun. On the 3rd, something very, very cool happened, more cool than things that normally happen at the Aquarium. One of the staff saw something floating in the kelp beds just about 50 feet away, and when the staff member looked through a telescope, he saw a squid!!! So in cooperation with Hopkins Marine Lab, which is right next door, a boat went out and brought the dead squid back. It was so cool to feel this squid. The bell, to use the technical term, was approximately 6 feet long, but the tentacles were missing/bitten off, and the tentacles can be up to 20 feet long on this particular type of squid, so this was a very cool thing that I got to see. And that is it for my Friday update. Stay tuned to learn marine biology and get to know members of my volunteer shift.
Once I finished at the Aquarium, I got on the bus and rode all the way to San Jose to participate in a youth event at my church, the River Church Community. The event was a Amazing Race/scavenger hunt with a lock-in afterwards. The race was fun, but after that was way more fun. We played a card game called "Apples to Apples" which was hilarious, and then we played Sardines which was great, and then I played some hard-core Foosball with my dad, Kyle, and one of the youth, Jose. Then breakfast at Kyle's house, and on to the bus to ride home. Now this is where I got the inspiration for what I hope to have as a standard feature....."Interesting Public Transit Person!!!" The first IPTP is "Rooster in Bag Guy!!!", but I'll call him Rooster. I was sitting in the back when Rooster walked on wheeling his seatless BMX-style bike. Rooster sat down and I could smell the liquor exuding from his body, which is not uncommon on public transit, but when he stuck his hand in his backpack and I saw a mass of feathers, that was more uncommon. When I saw the bag moving I figured out two things, 1. that there was a rooster in that bag, and 2. Rooster was someone worth watching. Because I was watching him, I noticed that he seemed to be looking out the window in a rather awkward position. When he assumed the same positon later I noticed that not only was he peeing, but quite a bit, because the pee was on the floor of the bus and every time the bus stopped the pee flowed forward, and whenever the bus accelerated the pee flowed backwards, so that was far more awkward than Rooster's position. As I was sitting there trying to ignore the dancing urine, I looked back at Rooster, and noticed him doing something with his hand near his mouth that looked like he was making a megaphone. As he pulled his hand away I saw what looked like a very sloppy cigarette, and then smelled an unmistakable scent. Not only was Rooster carrying livestock in a backpack, peeing, and riding a seatless bike, but he was smoking a joint, ON THE BUS!!!
Sunday was a much more cultured day, not better, just less weird. The youth group lesson at the River was about the various symbols in a passage in Ephesians and exploring those word pictures. After the lesson Mom and I attended the Liberia ICE mission briefing, which was incredible, and very encouraging, I am looking forward to the trip very much. Stay tuned for updates on that front as well. After the meeting Mom and I ate lunch at Pizza My Heart, then saw a movie called "Call and Response" which was about human trafficking, I highly recommend it. And that was the end of my weekend.
Today was another busy day, I went down to the Aquarium to volunteer at a homeschool day, which was incredibly good. I am tired and a bit sore, so I think I will play football with Al for a bit. Have a great day, more tomorrow!!
Every Friday, I volunteer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) from 11:30-3:00, but I leave the house at 8:00 and arrive home around 5:00, which is great fun. On the 3rd, something very, very cool happened, more cool than things that normally happen at the Aquarium. One of the staff saw something floating in the kelp beds just about 50 feet away, and when the staff member looked through a telescope, he saw a squid!!! So in cooperation with Hopkins Marine Lab, which is right next door, a boat went out and brought the dead squid back. It was so cool to feel this squid. The bell, to use the technical term, was approximately 6 feet long, but the tentacles were missing/bitten off, and the tentacles can be up to 20 feet long on this particular type of squid, so this was a very cool thing that I got to see. And that is it for my Friday update. Stay tuned to learn marine biology and get to know members of my volunteer shift.
Once I finished at the Aquarium, I got on the bus and rode all the way to San Jose to participate in a youth event at my church, the River Church Community. The event was a Amazing Race/scavenger hunt with a lock-in afterwards. The race was fun, but after that was way more fun. We played a card game called "Apples to Apples" which was hilarious, and then we played Sardines which was great, and then I played some hard-core Foosball with my dad, Kyle, and one of the youth, Jose. Then breakfast at Kyle's house, and on to the bus to ride home. Now this is where I got the inspiration for what I hope to have as a standard feature....."Interesting Public Transit Person!!!" The first IPTP is "Rooster in Bag Guy!!!", but I'll call him Rooster. I was sitting in the back when Rooster walked on wheeling his seatless BMX-style bike. Rooster sat down and I could smell the liquor exuding from his body, which is not uncommon on public transit, but when he stuck his hand in his backpack and I saw a mass of feathers, that was more uncommon. When I saw the bag moving I figured out two things, 1. that there was a rooster in that bag, and 2. Rooster was someone worth watching. Because I was watching him, I noticed that he seemed to be looking out the window in a rather awkward position. When he assumed the same positon later I noticed that not only was he peeing, but quite a bit, because the pee was on the floor of the bus and every time the bus stopped the pee flowed forward, and whenever the bus accelerated the pee flowed backwards, so that was far more awkward than Rooster's position. As I was sitting there trying to ignore the dancing urine, I looked back at Rooster, and noticed him doing something with his hand near his mouth that looked like he was making a megaphone. As he pulled his hand away I saw what looked like a very sloppy cigarette, and then smelled an unmistakable scent. Not only was Rooster carrying livestock in a backpack, peeing, and riding a seatless bike, but he was smoking a joint, ON THE BUS!!!
Sunday was a much more cultured day, not better, just less weird. The youth group lesson at the River was about the various symbols in a passage in Ephesians and exploring those word pictures. After the lesson Mom and I attended the Liberia ICE mission briefing, which was incredible, and very encouraging, I am looking forward to the trip very much. Stay tuned for updates on that front as well. After the meeting Mom and I ate lunch at Pizza My Heart, then saw a movie called "Call and Response" which was about human trafficking, I highly recommend it. And that was the end of my weekend.
Today was another busy day, I went down to the Aquarium to volunteer at a homeschool day, which was incredibly good. I am tired and a bit sore, so I think I will play football with Al for a bit. Have a great day, more tomorrow!!
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