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, October 31, 2008
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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