Alex got me pretty good last time, taking my backpack, and me not noticing for a day and a half. But I waited, and came up with something I'm darn proud of. I would take some key things out of Al's room, and replace them with random and worthless little things. The part of the plan that took the longest to develop was Alex leaving the house while I was at home, for more than a hour. This Friday night was that night. Nick gave me a bit of a hand taking some pictures of before, and then he pooped out, so the afters aren't quite as fun. The pictures do this justice, like my bad description cannot. They still make me laugh. The captions explain things pretty well.`The one thing I didn't get a picture of was the scooter, which got replaced with hand towel. The great part was when Alex came home, once the initial shock hit him, was prompting him to notice all the other things that were gone. My favorite was offering to play darts with him. The look on his face the whole time was great. By the end of 5 minutes, Alex was almost laughing. It was great!! Enjoy!
Just in case you missed the link, here's the full link to the photos.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/PrankingAlex#
Night! Thanks for reading.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
San Francisco
I find the hardest part of blogging is getting started. These first few sentences before I get to any content are completely worthless, but still so key. With that fine introduction, I'll just jump right in to my story. HAHA!
Cami (one of my faithful readers) had recently turned 16, and had planned a great celebration: a good group of friends, spending a day in San Francisco, culminating with Wicked, the hit musical. Unfortunately, her parents friends didn't see this as a good idea, at least not for their kid. Except mine. Mine let me do all kinds of semi-crazy things. (Thanks guys! Love ya!) Which would explain why I was awake at 4:50 a.m. on a Tuesday, on purpose.
The basic plan was as follows-I would catch a train from San Jose to Sacramento, where I would meet her (even her parents weren't wild about the idea of her riding the train into San Francisco alone), and then we would ride into San Francisco together, and there wasn't really much of a plan aside from ending up at the Orpheum Theater in time for Wicked at 8:00 p.m. I thought this plan (or lack of) was great, but afterwards, talking with Cami, I learned she was actually pretty nervous, particularly when it came to anything to do with navigation or transportation. (Sorry!)
If I may stray away from the narrative for a second, traveling with someone else is fascinating. The first draft of this post, just a few days after the trip, was written on the bus. By myself. Alone. I usually travel alone, which is fine with me, and my experience of traveling with other people is limited to pretty short trips with my family, and going to Africa with two other dudes. The first one was easy, and the second one, I was the least responsible person on the trip, so I really didn't have a lot to be worried about. This time, I was the responsible one, and I had more than a few things to be keeping track of, and worrying about. I kinda like it with just me, and if I mess up, I'm the only one who suffers or gets hurt. Additionally, when I ride alone, I don't need to worry about talking with anyone. Usually I say about 10 words during the course of a 1.5 hour ride. "Hey, how's it going? Day pass please. (50 miles later) Have a good weekend!" When you ride with someone, you need to talk with them, at least a little. Sitting in silence for 2 hours is fine for one person, two people, it gets awkward. Having to do all this talking led to an interesting revelation for me, and my thought process. I notice a lot of random, worthless, absurd little details, and when I'm by myself, those just stay in my head. The really good ones get Tweeted, but those are rare, so a lot of details go into the recycle bin of life. When I'm trying to have a coherent conversation, noticing that giant white bird, probably a snowy egret, what were we talking about? Its really not pretty. A lot of little non sequiters came tumbling out. It was really interesting. I had to work on filtering some of the less relevant bytes out, and staying on topic.
The train ride was fairly uneventful, though the switches were so cold they had to be thrown by hand, which slowed things down. The redeeming factor, besides the company on the second half of the ride, was a wonderfully drunk 20-something, a few seats behind us, on the other side of the aisle. (To go back to the topic of the previous paragraph, it was odd having to share seats with someone I knew. Cami was sitting kitty-corner from me. I've sat next to tons of people, but never people I know.) Back to the drunk guy. He was in the usual gangsta punk outfit. Hat, baggy pants, black shirt with generic gangsta graphics, black jacket, and basketball shoes. He was listening to rap on his headphones, at a volume he probably thought was appropriate, but was turning his headphones into little, distorted boomboxes. Sitting 5 feet away, I could hear the general beat, and some of the lyrics. Actually, I could hear a lot of the lyrics, because he was rapping along. Not well, it wasn't like he was doing a good job, which I think bothered me more than the fact of his rapping. I have heard other people rapping along with music on their headphones or cellphones, and if they do a decent job, I can tolerate that. At one point, he took a phone call, which I will do my best to reproduce his end of the conversation. "What's up? Not much, just riding the train into San Francisco, ***** drunk. Nah, its pretty ******* boring. Just singing along with my boys. There's a bunch of white kids staring at me. I know, HAHA! Its gonna be a ******* great day! Later, fool!" Two things here. That noise was not singing, and we were not a bunch of white kids, we were two. Not a bunch. Two is a couple of white kids. And then he got off, and walked away. IPTP can be so anti-climatic.
We then got on a BART train from Emeryville to San Francisco. This is where the traveling got fun, but a little challenging. (Again, Cami, I apologize, and I feel bad you got stressed out.) I would like to give a shout-out to the kind African-American man who corrected Cami's misconception that she is as tall as I am, when obviously, I'm taller. Thanks dude! I owe you one! The train ride itself was pretty quiet. A lot of white-collar, business-y people, not really singing out loud, or carrying chickens in their backpacks.
A lot of the time in SF was walking around, which was interesting, seeing all the interesting people, things, and buildings. A casual chess tournament, several street musicians, some unique older buildings, and great little stores.
A big part of the trip was eating. I love eating. I could spend at least a week going from eating, to doing things that make me hungry, like swimming, playing football, cooking (oddly enough), and then back to more eating. Lunch was in Chinatown, and delicious. I was starved! Won-ton soup and chicken-rice-noodle-thing, both of which were delicious! I loved the decor of the restaurant. Lots of cool pieces of Asian art on the walls, nice ambiance, but the funny parts were the pillars, and the fishtanks. The pillars, which were more like support beams, there to hold up the building. The funny part was the aesthetic of the pillars. They were classic Greek pillars, and just struck me as totally out of place. There were also fishtanks, with live fish, clams, and other various seafood in there, for easy ordering. Awesome! The fish were just kind of hanging out, waiting for their eventual purchase, and shortly thereafter, consumption. Feels poetically fatalist. Did those fish have a choice? Did they have any way to escape? Just patiently doomed. Dinner was at a Greek place around the corner from the Orpheum, and pretty yum. Hummus, salad, some crazy awesome bread. They even had pepperocini, my favorite! Later, the leftover container spilled all over my backpack. Perhaps the most interesting my bag has ever smelled. I loved it, and the experience of eating a fairly nice meal, with almost adult conversation, and no one asking for help cutting their meat was great. I eat alone frequently, but eating with someone, that's just great.
I also loved seeing the public transit system San Francisco has. It was pretty amazing. There were gaps, and the schedule slowed down after 5:00, but it was still rocking. The streetcars were a odd mix of cars saved from destruction from Italy, France, and somewhere else. It took me 3 rides to figure out why there were a bunch of signs in Italian. Its not even like San Francisco is known for a big Italian population.
Despite the genuine vibe of Chinatown, which reminded me of Liberia a little, a lot of San Francsico, at least the part we were in, had the obvious vibe of tourist town. Starbucks every few blocks, "cute specialist shops" (looking at you, Sock Shop!), T-shirt emporiums, all labeled with some version of "I was in San Francisco". Is it like you could forget? If you had a forgettable experience, an over-priced T-shirt isn't gonna change that. A lot of the stores could have been picked up, and moved to some other tourist town, and been fine. Pier 39 was the pinnacle of this fake, expensive, generic San Francisco. And there were people who looked like they were having a great time! Good for them.
The play itself was amazing. As a bit of a word nut, there were some great lines in there. Really good writing, and the lyrics were...award-worthy. I can see why this play won so many critic's plaudits. One really interesting detail I noticed that simultainously helped sell the character of the Wicked Witch of West, and make her seem like an actress was the way she walked. Slightly leaning forward, always about to stumble, clomping her feet, face in front, like a battering ram. It was a great impression of someone who walks like that, but, it felt a little forced. The audience was hilarious. I was one of the few heterosexuals who wasn't on an "official" date, and probably one of the least-well dressed. What can I say? I don't think blazers travel well in backpacks.
I've now lost any narrative form, and will attempt to hit a few more stories. Walking along the beach was fun, if a little intimidating. I preferred the safety of high-traffic areas, which, is actually funny, because, alone, I would have been seeking just such a place. There was a lot of garbage, which was partially understandable, due to a large storm, but the carrot was unacceptable. Once I figure out how to get pictures from my phone to computer, I'll post the carrot we found in the beach. There were also crazy people swimming. There are things we call "crazy", that aren't really, but this was toeing the line. That water had to be about 40 degrees, if not colder. And they were swimming, on purpose!
I would also like to recognize the one time Cami did well with directional stuff. She thought we were supposed to head one direct down a block, and I thought we were supposed to go the other way. (To be fair to myself, she could have just guessed.) She was right, I admit, but, I did rather well, if I may say so, with navigating for the rest of the day. I had us get off the BART three blocks away from Union Square, and at the station that had the visitor's center right outside. Wasn't even trying that hard.
My finishing story, because I am getting tired, and can feel my already small reserve of lucidity slipping away, is Chinatown. I was half-heartedly doing some shopping, until I found Poppers, 5 for a dollar. BOO-YAH!! We went into a tea store, and got pounced on by what seemed to be a very bored sales-lady, and came away with some interesting information about the tradition of Chinese tea. I have a new-found respect. There was also a pretty awesome grocery store I wanted to check out, but some people wanted to keep moving. They had these crazy looking roots just sitting in baskets outside. Most grocery stores have carts outside, and Boy Scouts on an interesting day. There was also a small, but noticable population of hipster Asian teens. So funny. The juxtaposition of a skinny Asian kid, wearing his "cool" white T-shirt, sporting some weird haircut, and a wizened Chinese grandmother, wrinkly and stooped was quite something.
I had a swell time, and I apologize for not getting this out earlier. For every story I chose to share, there were two others I could have chosen. If you have a question, or something you want me to share (this is limited to my parents and Cami), let me know. Merry Christmas!
Cami (one of my faithful readers) had recently turned 16, and had planned a great celebration: a good group of friends, spending a day in San Francisco, culminating with Wicked, the hit musical. Unfortunately, her parents friends didn't see this as a good idea, at least not for their kid. Except mine. Mine let me do all kinds of semi-crazy things. (Thanks guys! Love ya!) Which would explain why I was awake at 4:50 a.m. on a Tuesday, on purpose.
The basic plan was as follows-I would catch a train from San Jose to Sacramento, where I would meet her (even her parents weren't wild about the idea of her riding the train into San Francisco alone), and then we would ride into San Francisco together, and there wasn't really much of a plan aside from ending up at the Orpheum Theater in time for Wicked at 8:00 p.m. I thought this plan (or lack of) was great, but afterwards, talking with Cami, I learned she was actually pretty nervous, particularly when it came to anything to do with navigation or transportation. (Sorry!)
If I may stray away from the narrative for a second, traveling with someone else is fascinating. The first draft of this post, just a few days after the trip, was written on the bus. By myself. Alone. I usually travel alone, which is fine with me, and my experience of traveling with other people is limited to pretty short trips with my family, and going to Africa with two other dudes. The first one was easy, and the second one, I was the least responsible person on the trip, so I really didn't have a lot to be worried about. This time, I was the responsible one, and I had more than a few things to be keeping track of, and worrying about. I kinda like it with just me, and if I mess up, I'm the only one who suffers or gets hurt. Additionally, when I ride alone, I don't need to worry about talking with anyone. Usually I say about 10 words during the course of a 1.5 hour ride. "Hey, how's it going? Day pass please. (50 miles later) Have a good weekend!" When you ride with someone, you need to talk with them, at least a little. Sitting in silence for 2 hours is fine for one person, two people, it gets awkward. Having to do all this talking led to an interesting revelation for me, and my thought process. I notice a lot of random, worthless, absurd little details, and when I'm by myself, those just stay in my head. The really good ones get Tweeted, but those are rare, so a lot of details go into the recycle bin of life. When I'm trying to have a coherent conversation, noticing that giant white bird, probably a snowy egret, what were we talking about? Its really not pretty. A lot of little non sequiters came tumbling out. It was really interesting. I had to work on filtering some of the less relevant bytes out, and staying on topic.
The train ride was fairly uneventful, though the switches were so cold they had to be thrown by hand, which slowed things down. The redeeming factor, besides the company on the second half of the ride, was a wonderfully drunk 20-something, a few seats behind us, on the other side of the aisle. (To go back to the topic of the previous paragraph, it was odd having to share seats with someone I knew. Cami was sitting kitty-corner from me. I've sat next to tons of people, but never people I know.) Back to the drunk guy. He was in the usual gangsta punk outfit. Hat, baggy pants, black shirt with generic gangsta graphics, black jacket, and basketball shoes. He was listening to rap on his headphones, at a volume he probably thought was appropriate, but was turning his headphones into little, distorted boomboxes. Sitting 5 feet away, I could hear the general beat, and some of the lyrics. Actually, I could hear a lot of the lyrics, because he was rapping along. Not well, it wasn't like he was doing a good job, which I think bothered me more than the fact of his rapping. I have heard other people rapping along with music on their headphones or cellphones, and if they do a decent job, I can tolerate that. At one point, he took a phone call, which I will do my best to reproduce his end of the conversation. "What's up? Not much, just riding the train into San Francisco, ***** drunk. Nah, its pretty ******* boring. Just singing along with my boys. There's a bunch of white kids staring at me. I know, HAHA! Its gonna be a ******* great day! Later, fool!" Two things here. That noise was not singing, and we were not a bunch of white kids, we were two. Not a bunch. Two is a couple of white kids. And then he got off, and walked away. IPTP can be so anti-climatic.
We then got on a BART train from Emeryville to San Francisco. This is where the traveling got fun, but a little challenging. (Again, Cami, I apologize, and I feel bad you got stressed out.) I would like to give a shout-out to the kind African-American man who corrected Cami's misconception that she is as tall as I am, when obviously, I'm taller. Thanks dude! I owe you one! The train ride itself was pretty quiet. A lot of white-collar, business-y people, not really singing out loud, or carrying chickens in their backpacks.
A lot of the time in SF was walking around, which was interesting, seeing all the interesting people, things, and buildings. A casual chess tournament, several street musicians, some unique older buildings, and great little stores.
A big part of the trip was eating. I love eating. I could spend at least a week going from eating, to doing things that make me hungry, like swimming, playing football, cooking (oddly enough), and then back to more eating. Lunch was in Chinatown, and delicious. I was starved! Won-ton soup and chicken-rice-noodle-thing, both of which were delicious! I loved the decor of the restaurant. Lots of cool pieces of Asian art on the walls, nice ambiance, but the funny parts were the pillars, and the fishtanks. The pillars, which were more like support beams, there to hold up the building. The funny part was the aesthetic of the pillars. They were classic Greek pillars, and just struck me as totally out of place. There were also fishtanks, with live fish, clams, and other various seafood in there, for easy ordering. Awesome! The fish were just kind of hanging out, waiting for their eventual purchase, and shortly thereafter, consumption. Feels poetically fatalist. Did those fish have a choice? Did they have any way to escape? Just patiently doomed. Dinner was at a Greek place around the corner from the Orpheum, and pretty yum. Hummus, salad, some crazy awesome bread. They even had pepperocini, my favorite! Later, the leftover container spilled all over my backpack. Perhaps the most interesting my bag has ever smelled. I loved it, and the experience of eating a fairly nice meal, with almost adult conversation, and no one asking for help cutting their meat was great. I eat alone frequently, but eating with someone, that's just great.
I also loved seeing the public transit system San Francisco has. It was pretty amazing. There were gaps, and the schedule slowed down after 5:00, but it was still rocking. The streetcars were a odd mix of cars saved from destruction from Italy, France, and somewhere else. It took me 3 rides to figure out why there were a bunch of signs in Italian. Its not even like San Francisco is known for a big Italian population.
Despite the genuine vibe of Chinatown, which reminded me of Liberia a little, a lot of San Francsico, at least the part we were in, had the obvious vibe of tourist town. Starbucks every few blocks, "cute specialist shops" (looking at you, Sock Shop!), T-shirt emporiums, all labeled with some version of "I was in San Francisco". Is it like you could forget? If you had a forgettable experience, an over-priced T-shirt isn't gonna change that. A lot of the stores could have been picked up, and moved to some other tourist town, and been fine. Pier 39 was the pinnacle of this fake, expensive, generic San Francisco. And there were people who looked like they were having a great time! Good for them.
The play itself was amazing. As a bit of a word nut, there were some great lines in there. Really good writing, and the lyrics were...award-worthy. I can see why this play won so many critic's plaudits. One really interesting detail I noticed that simultainously helped sell the character of the Wicked Witch of West, and make her seem like an actress was the way she walked. Slightly leaning forward, always about to stumble, clomping her feet, face in front, like a battering ram. It was a great impression of someone who walks like that, but, it felt a little forced. The audience was hilarious. I was one of the few heterosexuals who wasn't on an "official" date, and probably one of the least-well dressed. What can I say? I don't think blazers travel well in backpacks.
I've now lost any narrative form, and will attempt to hit a few more stories. Walking along the beach was fun, if a little intimidating. I preferred the safety of high-traffic areas, which, is actually funny, because, alone, I would have been seeking just such a place. There was a lot of garbage, which was partially understandable, due to a large storm, but the carrot was unacceptable. Once I figure out how to get pictures from my phone to computer, I'll post the carrot we found in the beach. There were also crazy people swimming. There are things we call "crazy", that aren't really, but this was toeing the line. That water had to be about 40 degrees, if not colder. And they were swimming, on purpose!
I would also like to recognize the one time Cami did well with directional stuff. She thought we were supposed to head one direct down a block, and I thought we were supposed to go the other way. (To be fair to myself, she could have just guessed.) She was right, I admit, but, I did rather well, if I may say so, with navigating for the rest of the day. I had us get off the BART three blocks away from Union Square, and at the station that had the visitor's center right outside. Wasn't even trying that hard.
My finishing story, because I am getting tired, and can feel my already small reserve of lucidity slipping away, is Chinatown. I was half-heartedly doing some shopping, until I found Poppers, 5 for a dollar. BOO-YAH!! We went into a tea store, and got pounced on by what seemed to be a very bored sales-lady, and came away with some interesting information about the tradition of Chinese tea. I have a new-found respect. There was also a pretty awesome grocery store I wanted to check out, but some people wanted to keep moving. They had these crazy looking roots just sitting in baskets outside. Most grocery stores have carts outside, and Boy Scouts on an interesting day. There was also a small, but noticable population of hipster Asian teens. So funny. The juxtaposition of a skinny Asian kid, wearing his "cool" white T-shirt, sporting some weird haircut, and a wizened Chinese grandmother, wrinkly and stooped was quite something.
I had a swell time, and I apologize for not getting this out earlier. For every story I chose to share, there were two others I could have chosen. If you have a question, or something you want me to share (this is limited to my parents and Cami), let me know. Merry Christmas!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
The Great Giveaway (Round 6)
So, I can't really remember if I talked about the Great Giveaway over the summer, or even last years. I'll give a basic rundown, because almost all of my last week was tied to the Giveaway. The Giveaway is an event that is held in my apartment complex, where anyone who wants to can give donations, and we will pick them up, and then those in need, from various low-income complexes can come and take whatever they need. Sounds simple. In reality, there are a lot of moving parts, and things that need to get organized and arranged. Fortunately, that's not my job. Mom, along with a few other brave, hard-working ladies do the organizing, and Mom is in charge of getting the pick-ups arranged. Dad and I are in charge of picking up things, and carrying them. And other stuff like that. Seems pretty simple on the surface. 10 days of this routine, culminating in a two-day marathon, one day of hauling boxes over, and then early the next morning moving all the furniture over. Its pretty exhausting.
After that little whining session, I wanted to share how many people were blessed over the course of two days. By very conservative estimates, there were 400 people that came and got food, clothes, some furniture, toys, and some were given gift baskets that they could give as Christmas presents. It was awesome!!
After that little whining session, I wanted to share how many people were blessed over the course of two days. By very conservative estimates, there were 400 people that came and got food, clothes, some furniture, toys, and some were given gift baskets that they could give as Christmas presents. It was awesome!!
Random Things
This is going to be a little different of a post, filled not with stories, but with a few reviews, of movies, music, books, and just random cool stuff.
I'll start with some movies. Up, from the movie giant that Pixar has become. I loved it in general, and there were very few weak scenes. I will say this though, that despite the surface-deep kid-friendlyness of this movie, there is a lot to this movie on an adult level. Several running jokes, and commentaries on various ideas. As a bit of a joke snob, I was on the lookout for some good jokes in this movie, and I wasn't dissapointed. There was a good bit of physical humor from one of the characters that has absolutely no lines. The really good jokes were about the universal characters though. The old man, the slightly crazy little kid, the one we all know and tolerate, (if you don't know a person like Russell, then you are that person), and dogs. The dogs provided some of the biggest laughs, and were pretty consistent. We all suspect that our dogs are that stupid, deep down, and they do all these great things, but you throw a ball, or say treat (regardless of the context) and they become slobbering, brainless dopes. Full disclosure, I had a dog like that, and I loved him. The idiot. The emotional, sentimental side of the story was....interesting, but not really what I expected. In addition, I'm not married (news flash!), and the particular kind of relationship that was being invoked was heart-warming, but I have a hard time identifying with that. It is an admirable goal for a relationships, I will give it that. Finally, the storyline I actually find the most interesting, looking back. The "evil explorer" arch-nemesis, the antagonist of the story, is obsessed with finding this particular kind of bird, fantastic in appearance. Sorry. SPOILER ALERT! That's better. The scientist/explorer guy is obsessed with this bird. He doesn't see the importance of the bird living. To remove nuance, if the bird goes, its chicks die, but this man is relentless. Additionally, he is driven by attempting to restore his reputation as a man of science. How does a man who so loves nature fail to see what he will be doing? I'm not sure, frankly.
Another good movie I saw was (saw was is some kind of fancy word thing. If you turn it around, its still the same) Food Inc. I was actually pretty familiar with a lot of the data, from reading a lot of the material this drew on, but the visuals were amazing, and really helpful. I highly recommend it. Really thought provoking, and helps blow away some of the fog that surrounds our food.
As far as music, this particular band is high on my list of favorites. Interestingly, it feels accessible, and at the same time challenging. A sweet blend of classical and indie pop, The Most Serene Republic has some of my favorite lyrics ever. "Gadzooks, gadzooks, gadzooks!" and "I thought that we'd established we are friends, now go am-scray!". Nuff' said. Its not the most well-known and established group out there, but really good.
Books. I've been reading a lot of different things recently, but two books have been excellent, and I wanted to share. The first was The Manual of Detection by Jedidiah Berry. This book last just about one bus ride. It was so great, I couldn't stop reading. This is an absurdist twist on the classic detective story, with a sly wink at the seasoned reader, and a twist about halfway through that tells you this isn't just another whodunit. The complexity of the storyline was a lot of fun, and really engaged me. Don't try reading this while multi-tasking. If you want a story set in reality, entirely plausible, find something else, but if you enjoy a break from reality, give this a look. The second is For Us, The Living by Robert A. Heinlein. If you've never read any Heinlein, don't start here. This recently found first work by one of the masters of substantive science fiction is more a preview of the topics that almost all of his later, more refined works would cover. Love, violence, science, economics, its all here. If you have read a fair bit of Heinlein, this is worth the time. Basically a short story with a lot of history and data, very much worth seeing the starting point of the journey of ideas that resulted in classics like Starship Troopers, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, etc.
Cool random stuff. The best I've got is the fact that rain and winter finally seem to have arrived here. I love rain. I wish it was snowing, but, people who live in CA can't complain about weather. I would like to point out that with the right amount of water on the ground, getting a nice skid is about as easy as falling off a log.
One final cool thing is SOC. Check the terms, this should be on the list. Our last meeting was about marine technology. Off the hook! We had 3 speakers, and each had 10 minutes allotted. In total, they went over by 30 minutes. It was really, really interesting. Exploring the ocean presents some interesting problems, and it was really cool to see the methods some pretty smart people are coming up with to work around those barriers, and all we are learning because of that technology.
I'll start with some movies. Up, from the movie giant that Pixar has become. I loved it in general, and there were very few weak scenes. I will say this though, that despite the surface-deep kid-friendlyness of this movie, there is a lot to this movie on an adult level. Several running jokes, and commentaries on various ideas. As a bit of a joke snob, I was on the lookout for some good jokes in this movie, and I wasn't dissapointed. There was a good bit of physical humor from one of the characters that has absolutely no lines. The really good jokes were about the universal characters though. The old man, the slightly crazy little kid, the one we all know and tolerate, (if you don't know a person like Russell, then you are that person), and dogs. The dogs provided some of the biggest laughs, and were pretty consistent. We all suspect that our dogs are that stupid, deep down, and they do all these great things, but you throw a ball, or say treat (regardless of the context) and they become slobbering, brainless dopes. Full disclosure, I had a dog like that, and I loved him. The idiot. The emotional, sentimental side of the story was....interesting, but not really what I expected. In addition, I'm not married (news flash!), and the particular kind of relationship that was being invoked was heart-warming, but I have a hard time identifying with that. It is an admirable goal for a relationships, I will give it that. Finally, the storyline I actually find the most interesting, looking back. The "evil explorer" arch-nemesis, the antagonist of the story, is obsessed with finding this particular kind of bird, fantastic in appearance. Sorry. SPOILER ALERT! That's better. The scientist/explorer guy is obsessed with this bird. He doesn't see the importance of the bird living. To remove nuance, if the bird goes, its chicks die, but this man is relentless. Additionally, he is driven by attempting to restore his reputation as a man of science. How does a man who so loves nature fail to see what he will be doing? I'm not sure, frankly.
Another good movie I saw was (saw was is some kind of fancy word thing. If you turn it around, its still the same) Food Inc. I was actually pretty familiar with a lot of the data, from reading a lot of the material this drew on, but the visuals were amazing, and really helpful. I highly recommend it. Really thought provoking, and helps blow away some of the fog that surrounds our food.
As far as music, this particular band is high on my list of favorites. Interestingly, it feels accessible, and at the same time challenging. A sweet blend of classical and indie pop, The Most Serene Republic has some of my favorite lyrics ever. "Gadzooks, gadzooks, gadzooks!" and "I thought that we'd established we are friends, now go am-scray!". Nuff' said. Its not the most well-known and established group out there, but really good.
Books. I've been reading a lot of different things recently, but two books have been excellent, and I wanted to share. The first was The Manual of Detection by Jedidiah Berry. This book last just about one bus ride. It was so great, I couldn't stop reading. This is an absurdist twist on the classic detective story, with a sly wink at the seasoned reader, and a twist about halfway through that tells you this isn't just another whodunit. The complexity of the storyline was a lot of fun, and really engaged me. Don't try reading this while multi-tasking. If you want a story set in reality, entirely plausible, find something else, but if you enjoy a break from reality, give this a look. The second is For Us, The Living by Robert A. Heinlein. If you've never read any Heinlein, don't start here. This recently found first work by one of the masters of substantive science fiction is more a preview of the topics that almost all of his later, more refined works would cover. Love, violence, science, economics, its all here. If you have read a fair bit of Heinlein, this is worth the time. Basically a short story with a lot of history and data, very much worth seeing the starting point of the journey of ideas that resulted in classics like Starship Troopers, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, etc.
Cool random stuff. The best I've got is the fact that rain and winter finally seem to have arrived here. I love rain. I wish it was snowing, but, people who live in CA can't complain about weather. I would like to point out that with the right amount of water on the ground, getting a nice skid is about as easy as falling off a log.
One final cool thing is SOC. Check the terms, this should be on the list. Our last meeting was about marine technology. Off the hook! We had 3 speakers, and each had 10 minutes allotted. In total, they went over by 30 minutes. It was really, really interesting. Exploring the ocean presents some interesting problems, and it was really cool to see the methods some pretty smart people are coming up with to work around those barriers, and all we are learning because of that technology.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Pranked and Re-pranked
All good things must come to an end...Alex and I are still trading pranks. After I helped him clean his room (see previous post), he decided the bathroom needed a tidying. Before I explain what he did, I would just like to highlight my parents participation in all this. At first it was tact consent, no one telling me I couldn't take everything out of Alex's room, and everyone having a laugh, but then Dad helped Alex come up with an idea, and then Mom gave me another idea. I'm enjoying my parents having fun, but also a little nervous. I think they are holding back, and could do all kinds of things to me and Alex, if they wanted to. So Alex loved the idea Dad gave him, and waited until I was taking a shower. Mom came in to talk about some trivial detail (which she claims was merely coincidental), and Alex snuck in, cleared everything he could get his hands on out, and left. I get out of shower, feel for my towel, which should have been sitting on the sink. No towel. Perhaps it fell down, so I feel on the ground. No towel. Odd, didn't feel like there was a bathmat either. No bathmat, no towels anywhere. The laundry hamper, the entry rug, it was all gone. So I had to walk down the hallway, which was suspiciously darkened, to get myself another towel. Suddenly the lights are flashed on, and Alex is laughing and clapping with delight.
Naturally, this could not be tolerated without revenge. So.....after waiting 3 days, which was almost too much for me to bear, Alex finally left, and I was at home, alone. Its really not that hard to pull the hinges out of a door. I had a harder time, once it was off the hinges, getting it out of the doorway and into the bathroom, where it would wait for Al to return home. I was sitting in my chair, much like I am now, and I heard him, down the hall. "Where's my door?!?" He came storming in, stood over me, almost menacingly. It would have been scary, but I was laughing so hard. I helped him put it back on, and listened to his repeated commands to not take any of his things, and the reiterations of how not funny this was.
I knew Alex was going to get me back. I just wasn't sure how good it was going to be. Sometimes his jokes hurt, and sometimes they just aren't funny. This was painless, smooth, and funny. Friday afternoon, I came home, and set my backpack down in the living room. Saturday morning, I wondered where my bag was. Oh well, I didn't need it. Saturday afternoon, my bag isn't in my room, the car, or the living room. Saturday night, perhaps I should ask my family if they know where my bag is. Mandy, Nick, Mom and Dad, all don't know. I walk into Alex's room, ask him, and he gets this gleeful look on his face. I realized I had been gotten, and I had just made his day. It was good. Now the burden lies on me. Any ideas? I need to get this kid, and it needs to be fresh, funny, and smart.
That's all for tonight! Its been a long week, and I'll have an update eventually.
For now, enjoy the Christmas season!
Naturally, this could not be tolerated without revenge. So.....after waiting 3 days, which was almost too much for me to bear, Alex finally left, and I was at home, alone. Its really not that hard to pull the hinges out of a door. I had a harder time, once it was off the hinges, getting it out of the doorway and into the bathroom, where it would wait for Al to return home. I was sitting in my chair, much like I am now, and I heard him, down the hall. "Where's my door?!?" He came storming in, stood over me, almost menacingly. It would have been scary, but I was laughing so hard. I helped him put it back on, and listened to his repeated commands to not take any of his things, and the reiterations of how not funny this was.
I knew Alex was going to get me back. I just wasn't sure how good it was going to be. Sometimes his jokes hurt, and sometimes they just aren't funny. This was painless, smooth, and funny. Friday afternoon, I came home, and set my backpack down in the living room. Saturday morning, I wondered where my bag was. Oh well, I didn't need it. Saturday afternoon, my bag isn't in my room, the car, or the living room. Saturday night, perhaps I should ask my family if they know where my bag is. Mandy, Nick, Mom and Dad, all don't know. I walk into Alex's room, ask him, and he gets this gleeful look on his face. I realized I had been gotten, and I had just made his day. It was good. Now the burden lies on me. Any ideas? I need to get this kid, and it needs to be fresh, funny, and smart.
That's all for tonight! Its been a long week, and I'll have an update eventually.
For now, enjoy the Christmas season!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Football, and Pranking Al
I'm sorry faithful (or semi-faithful) blog readers, but there has just been too much for me to write about, even if I gave everything 1/4 of the justice I would like to. So, keeping that in mind, I'll take an event, or two, and write about that a little more in depth. Please, if you really liked the day-to-day style, let me know, but if this is just as good or better, still let me know.
Football is a big part of my life. I love it, both for viewing and participating. The ability to watch could come out of the play perhaps, because I can see things before they happen, and appreciate tough plays, and feel the players' pain when they get hit, and when they mess up. I've been playing for a long time, and I remember my grandpa playing catch with me, one of the few positive memories I have of him, so football will always be something I treasure. A few years later, I played flag football in Iowa, (two undefeated seasons, raising our town's winning streak to 13), and learned a lot of skills that I still use, and I learned that football brings people together. I can still hear my coach yelling if I make a really stupid play, and I still know how to run the option, and I still love playing safety. When we moved to California, I missed the formality of league football, and tried to get some stuff going in my neighborhood. This didn't work often, and I spent a lot of time playing with Alex. The upside to this time is when we moved to the apartments, he was a good quarterback. Really good.
The first few games were hard, as most of the guys who were playing didn't have much experience with football. They were great at futbol, but didn't get the other rule differences. We must have spent 3 hours on forward laterals alone. Eventually we had a nice little group of guys, who would play fairly regularly. Fast forward 3 years, most of those guys think they are too cool, or have moved, or are busy with work. New group of guys, much younger, more versed in rules and tactics, but not quite on my physical level. The last game we played had a new addition to the mix, Uriel, and for while his brother, and two cousins. One of the most socially challenging moments I confront from time to time is when girls attempt to play football. Don't get me wrong, there are girls who can play, but it makes things more tricky for all the guys. Do we block them, do we have to watch where we tag them, what if we miss because we watch where we tag? Its hard. I had to deal with this, because one of the cousins who was playing with us was a girl. 14, 15 old enough to handle herself, pretty athletic, not so small she would get trampled. And then we were running a kickoff back, and I was blocking, and she was coming from the side, and I instinctively dropped my shoulder, and knocked her on her butt. Whoops. I felt awful, and she rubbed it in a little, partially because she was shaken. Probably wasn't expecting that.
Another thing I love about football is how it can come down to that last moment. One last touchdown before dinner, last play of our drive. We have to get a touchdown, or its a turnover. Alex bombs the ball, way down the parking lot field. Everyone looks up, I'm sprinting after the ball, catch it, jump over the little tree divider thing, and get the touchdown. It was a good ending, and we all know it. Game over, handshakes and man hugs all around, and then we trot inside, till next time. I love football.
And then this, well this is just too good to keep to myself. A few nights ago, Alex gave me a wedgie, like big brothers do. No good reason, it was just there. Fine, that's fair game, but he can't complain if things escalate. This morning I realized, things hadn't escalated yet. I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I hit on it. Alex was going to be leaving the house for a while, and I would have just about 45 minutes before I had to go somewhere. I know there is a long tradition of winter cleaning in some places, where you cleanse your room of everything that holds you down. I wanted to share that with Al. So Nick and I cleaned out everything we possibly could in the amount of time, and moved it to our room. It looked like a wasteland in Al's room when we finished. There was almost nothing left, except all his books. (I think he should spend more time reading.) What makes this funny is the approval of my family, and even enjoyment to some degree. Alex, when he walked in, was not amused. He spent a few minutes taking inventory of what he didn't have. Which was a lot. He then strode fiercely out into the living room, accused myself and Nick of taking his stuff, and he demanded it all back. It took me almost a minute to stop laughing enough to get a sensible response out. I helped him get his stuff back into his room, but he really didn't see much humor in it, and as the scope of the prank dawned on him, he got more and more mad. He's gonna get me back, but I've already got a response planned. The door, which he always closes, off the hinges, and somewhere else, like, the dining room. Simple, fast, hilarious. Thanks to Mom for the idea!
I hope you all have a joyous Thanksgiving!
Chris
Football is a big part of my life. I love it, both for viewing and participating. The ability to watch could come out of the play perhaps, because I can see things before they happen, and appreciate tough plays, and feel the players' pain when they get hit, and when they mess up. I've been playing for a long time, and I remember my grandpa playing catch with me, one of the few positive memories I have of him, so football will always be something I treasure. A few years later, I played flag football in Iowa, (two undefeated seasons, raising our town's winning streak to 13), and learned a lot of skills that I still use, and I learned that football brings people together. I can still hear my coach yelling if I make a really stupid play, and I still know how to run the option, and I still love playing safety. When we moved to California, I missed the formality of league football, and tried to get some stuff going in my neighborhood. This didn't work often, and I spent a lot of time playing with Alex. The upside to this time is when we moved to the apartments, he was a good quarterback. Really good.
The first few games were hard, as most of the guys who were playing didn't have much experience with football. They were great at futbol, but didn't get the other rule differences. We must have spent 3 hours on forward laterals alone. Eventually we had a nice little group of guys, who would play fairly regularly. Fast forward 3 years, most of those guys think they are too cool, or have moved, or are busy with work. New group of guys, much younger, more versed in rules and tactics, but not quite on my physical level. The last game we played had a new addition to the mix, Uriel, and for while his brother, and two cousins. One of the most socially challenging moments I confront from time to time is when girls attempt to play football. Don't get me wrong, there are girls who can play, but it makes things more tricky for all the guys. Do we block them, do we have to watch where we tag them, what if we miss because we watch where we tag? Its hard. I had to deal with this, because one of the cousins who was playing with us was a girl. 14, 15 old enough to handle herself, pretty athletic, not so small she would get trampled. And then we were running a kickoff back, and I was blocking, and she was coming from the side, and I instinctively dropped my shoulder, and knocked her on her butt. Whoops. I felt awful, and she rubbed it in a little, partially because she was shaken. Probably wasn't expecting that.
Another thing I love about football is how it can come down to that last moment. One last touchdown before dinner, last play of our drive. We have to get a touchdown, or its a turnover. Alex bombs the ball, way down the parking lot field. Everyone looks up, I'm sprinting after the ball, catch it, jump over the little tree divider thing, and get the touchdown. It was a good ending, and we all know it. Game over, handshakes and man hugs all around, and then we trot inside, till next time. I love football.
And then this, well this is just too good to keep to myself. A few nights ago, Alex gave me a wedgie, like big brothers do. No good reason, it was just there. Fine, that's fair game, but he can't complain if things escalate. This morning I realized, things hadn't escalated yet. I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what to do. Finally, I hit on it. Alex was going to be leaving the house for a while, and I would have just about 45 minutes before I had to go somewhere. I know there is a long tradition of winter cleaning in some places, where you cleanse your room of everything that holds you down. I wanted to share that with Al. So Nick and I cleaned out everything we possibly could in the amount of time, and moved it to our room. It looked like a wasteland in Al's room when we finished. There was almost nothing left, except all his books. (I think he should spend more time reading.) What makes this funny is the approval of my family, and even enjoyment to some degree. Alex, when he walked in, was not amused. He spent a few minutes taking inventory of what he didn't have. Which was a lot. He then strode fiercely out into the living room, accused myself and Nick of taking his stuff, and he demanded it all back. It took me almost a minute to stop laughing enough to get a sensible response out. I helped him get his stuff back into his room, but he really didn't see much humor in it, and as the scope of the prank dawned on him, he got more and more mad. He's gonna get me back, but I've already got a response planned. The door, which he always closes, off the hinges, and somewhere else, like, the dining room. Simple, fast, hilarious. Thanks to Mom for the idea!
I hope you all have a joyous Thanksgiving!
Chris
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
What A Week!
Wow. This has been such a crazy week for me. I'll start at Monday, and then skip over a day or two, and finish on the bang that was my weekend.
On Thursday, I went over to OTRA, to do some moving around of cars, and more importantly, doing the prep work to make the moving around possible. Across the way, in the same industrial park as the shop, is a repossession shop, where cars that are being repo'd are taken, and stored. The lot is used as storage, but part of the business is taking the cars, from wherever they may be, and cleaning the cars out. The prep work was cleaning out a pile that was all the unclaimed rubbish that had been pulled out of various cars, and left there. I was talking with one of the employees at the lot, with a few questions about all the stuff. Legally, the owner of the vehicle is entitled to all possessions contained within the vehicle, and has the right to reclaim said possessions, without fulfilling due obligations that would allow them to regain ownership of their vehicle. Furthermore, after a time of 60 days, the agency in current possession of the vehicle is no longer required by law to retain the personal effects contained within the vehicles, if said effects have not been reclaimed. Furthermore, the agency is allowed to charge a nominal fee for the reclamation, as a charge for storing the effects. Now, naturally, the guy I was talking with didn't use similar language, but that was the point. I didn't know any of this, and found it pretty interesting stuff. It was equally interesting to see what was left in cars. A baseball bat and glove, tons of car seats and clothes, and even a wallet. Most of the valuables were reclaimed, but there are a few who know their vehicles are going to be repo'd will actually load it up with junk or debris. The most interesting moment came as we were moving the cars around, and there was one with a flat, so instead of filling up the tire, the guys at the lot used one of the trucks for us. I didn't know how easy it is for a tow truck like that to pick up a car, and maneuver it. It's scary easy. Under a minute to start driving away. The guys were talking, and they showed me a picture of a pickup truck that looks exactly like a regular truck, but has the equipment sitting in the bed, and can pull up, grab your car, and drive away, without you ever knowing. Life lesson, don't get your car impounded.
Friday was pretty fun, got to go down to Monterey, work at the Aquarium, which is always fun. I had some fun interactions. I have to share a few with you guys, because they were just too great to keep. I was at the Seafood Watch cart, and I offered a card to lady wearing a New Mexico shirt. Turns out she was from Fresno (shout-out to my Fresno readers!) and had some issues with the environmental movement, particularly restriction of water to prevent the die-off of smelt in the rivers. We had some amount of back-and-forth about how we, between the two of us, did not understand the role of the smelt in the eco-system, and imagined that they do play some role, but were not sure of the importance. She walked away, unhappy with my agreement with her point that people are more important than fish. It's not like I, or anyone, is going to argue with that point. People are more important than fish, but we boil it down to people or fish, which is where the problem comes in. How do the fish affect people, and would the loss of the fish have more of a negative impact on people than the actions taken to prevent the loss of the fish do? I don't know, but it is a complicated question, and one that I feel is worth the time it will take to gain an understanding. I also talked with several students from a community college, and found out how much fun it is to help other people with their homework. I also got a nice compliment from two guests, who said I have an accessible way of talking about ocean stuff, and make things understandable for a younger generation. Nice compliment, good to know that people appreciate what I try to do.
Friday night was a football game, at Valley Christian, a local high school. The only reason we were there was because Alex attended a football camp VC held for Down Syndrome kids, to give them a chance to feel like stars, and have some fun playing football. As this was the last regular game of the year, all the campers were invited. It ended up being myself, Dad, Alex, Mandy, and Nick. Mandy and Nick had a great time, as this was a new experience for them. I was mostly cold, and bored. Valley Christian was far better than than their opponents, and it was just a killing. Its hard to watch sports when you've played, particularly if you still play. The most important fact about that night was when we got home, and when I went to bed. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere around 11:45, which isn't great, but isn't as bad as it could be.
Saturday morning-4:45. Yes, I really did get up at 4:45, on purpose, and I stayed awake, also on purpose. This particular Saturday, I was headed up to Sacramento, carpooling with someone else. The occasion was a get-together of students who are in online classes, similar to the one I take, perhaps even the same class. We stopped after about 30 minutes to pick up another student, whose parents did not fancy the idea of driving for 3 hours at 6 a.m. Can't say I blame them. The ride up wasn't too bad. There was lots of talking, listening to music, arguing about various characters in the books we read. Creon was right! Sorry, just had to get the last word in. I'll just give a basic rundown of the events of the day. We did some basic getting to know you stuff, which was mostly a going-around-the-circle-remembering-names game. I rock those games. Thanks to my parents for the good genes! We then did some Greek practice. I surprised myself with how much I still remember. Next was a movie, which I really enjoyed. Stranger than Fiction. First, there was a tie-in with what we had just discussed in class, but was also well written, acted, and most importantly for me, featured several songs from one of my favorite bands. 4 or 5 Spoon songs were scattered throughout the movie, and I really enjoyed it, because in addition to being good music, the titles and lyrics of the songs related to what was happening in the movie. This clip, the opening sequence, features "The Way We Get By".
After the movie, we had a discussion, which wasn't super lively, but still enjoyable. It was then time for break. YAY!! Tortilla soup, thanks to Mom and her magic leftovers. After lunch, we played some 3 Flys Up, then volleyball, and then a super-fun game, called chaos tag. Chaos tag features every player as "it", and tags result in the tagged sitting down. Once a tagger gets tagged, all those he (or she) tagged are allowed to get up. Any tags above the wrist don't count, and simultaneous tags can be settled by walking away, or Rock, Paper, Scissors. I walked away from the sports time feeling pretty good about my athleticism.
We then watched Macbeth, the Roman Polanski version. The adults and I were the only one who knew the story behind Polanski without any help. The movie itself was good, but long. Poor Wesley, one of the kids I rode up with, started to doze off for a second. Fortunately for him, I nudged him awake before he started snoring too much. Again, there was a discussion of the story, and then we did a reading of the classic scene with the witches and apparitions. "Double double, toil and trouble." Hilarious to watch these sweet, innocent, homeschool girls attempting to pull off anything close to a evil witch. I was the second apparition, the little kid. We then moved on to some singing, which I felt like a total fail at. Not really much of a singer. Then was the music recital. There are some pretty talented kids in this group. Then dinner time, which was yum, and another round of chaos tag, and finally, dancing. Lots of traditional dancing. Reels, and polkas, and other things. I did all right, and had fun. After one more round of singing, we went home. The drive was killer, and everyone in the car was exhausted. We stopped in Vacaville, which I know, because the bathroom at the Starbucks had been tagged all over the place. I finally got home at 2:30.
I had to wake up the next morning for church, at 7:30. This took its toll, when, in the middle of a really interesting talk on poverty, I put my head back, and crashed. Next thing I know, the room is really, really quiet, and the girl sitting next to is poking me in the ribs. I felt awful. Fortunately, I have talked with the speaker before, he knows it was nothing personal. I actually really enjoyed his talk. After church was the play-off and championship for church softball. The first game was won fairly easily, and I was finally getting to a place of satisfaction with my play at third base. The championship we lost, but just barely. The bats, on both sides of the diamond, just could not get going. I had a good play at third, spearing a HARD line drive. Felt great. After my ride dropped me off downtown (Thanks Chaney!), I walked the 5 blocks to my stop. But the sun was setting, and I needed to go.....bad. Turns out it isn't that hard to urinate in public, provided you are standing in a corner, with the sun setting, and lots of trees casting shadows. I stopped a fro-yo place, more to use to bathroom to change into my pants. (Can't do that in public, no matter how shady it is.). Got on the bus, tried to stay awake for a while, and then woke up in Gilroy. Oops. I was now 10 minutes past my stop, at least. Found a payphone, as my cell phone was dead (of course) and my family came and picked me up. Thanks guys!
That's been all worthy of note for the past week. Hopefully I'll have more, in a more timely fashion.
Night!
On Thursday, I went over to OTRA, to do some moving around of cars, and more importantly, doing the prep work to make the moving around possible. Across the way, in the same industrial park as the shop, is a repossession shop, where cars that are being repo'd are taken, and stored. The lot is used as storage, but part of the business is taking the cars, from wherever they may be, and cleaning the cars out. The prep work was cleaning out a pile that was all the unclaimed rubbish that had been pulled out of various cars, and left there. I was talking with one of the employees at the lot, with a few questions about all the stuff. Legally, the owner of the vehicle is entitled to all possessions contained within the vehicle, and has the right to reclaim said possessions, without fulfilling due obligations that would allow them to regain ownership of their vehicle. Furthermore, after a time of 60 days, the agency in current possession of the vehicle is no longer required by law to retain the personal effects contained within the vehicles, if said effects have not been reclaimed. Furthermore, the agency is allowed to charge a nominal fee for the reclamation, as a charge for storing the effects. Now, naturally, the guy I was talking with didn't use similar language, but that was the point. I didn't know any of this, and found it pretty interesting stuff. It was equally interesting to see what was left in cars. A baseball bat and glove, tons of car seats and clothes, and even a wallet. Most of the valuables were reclaimed, but there are a few who know their vehicles are going to be repo'd will actually load it up with junk or debris. The most interesting moment came as we were moving the cars around, and there was one with a flat, so instead of filling up the tire, the guys at the lot used one of the trucks for us. I didn't know how easy it is for a tow truck like that to pick up a car, and maneuver it. It's scary easy. Under a minute to start driving away. The guys were talking, and they showed me a picture of a pickup truck that looks exactly like a regular truck, but has the equipment sitting in the bed, and can pull up, grab your car, and drive away, without you ever knowing. Life lesson, don't get your car impounded.
Friday was pretty fun, got to go down to Monterey, work at the Aquarium, which is always fun. I had some fun interactions. I have to share a few with you guys, because they were just too great to keep. I was at the Seafood Watch cart, and I offered a card to lady wearing a New Mexico shirt. Turns out she was from Fresno (shout-out to my Fresno readers!) and had some issues with the environmental movement, particularly restriction of water to prevent the die-off of smelt in the rivers. We had some amount of back-and-forth about how we, between the two of us, did not understand the role of the smelt in the eco-system, and imagined that they do play some role, but were not sure of the importance. She walked away, unhappy with my agreement with her point that people are more important than fish. It's not like I, or anyone, is going to argue with that point. People are more important than fish, but we boil it down to people or fish, which is where the problem comes in. How do the fish affect people, and would the loss of the fish have more of a negative impact on people than the actions taken to prevent the loss of the fish do? I don't know, but it is a complicated question, and one that I feel is worth the time it will take to gain an understanding. I also talked with several students from a community college, and found out how much fun it is to help other people with their homework. I also got a nice compliment from two guests, who said I have an accessible way of talking about ocean stuff, and make things understandable for a younger generation. Nice compliment, good to know that people appreciate what I try to do.
Friday night was a football game, at Valley Christian, a local high school. The only reason we were there was because Alex attended a football camp VC held for Down Syndrome kids, to give them a chance to feel like stars, and have some fun playing football. As this was the last regular game of the year, all the campers were invited. It ended up being myself, Dad, Alex, Mandy, and Nick. Mandy and Nick had a great time, as this was a new experience for them. I was mostly cold, and bored. Valley Christian was far better than than their opponents, and it was just a killing. Its hard to watch sports when you've played, particularly if you still play. The most important fact about that night was when we got home, and when I went to bed. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere around 11:45, which isn't great, but isn't as bad as it could be.
Saturday morning-4:45. Yes, I really did get up at 4:45, on purpose, and I stayed awake, also on purpose. This particular Saturday, I was headed up to Sacramento, carpooling with someone else. The occasion was a get-together of students who are in online classes, similar to the one I take, perhaps even the same class. We stopped after about 30 minutes to pick up another student, whose parents did not fancy the idea of driving for 3 hours at 6 a.m. Can't say I blame them. The ride up wasn't too bad. There was lots of talking, listening to music, arguing about various characters in the books we read. Creon was right! Sorry, just had to get the last word in. I'll just give a basic rundown of the events of the day. We did some basic getting to know you stuff, which was mostly a going-around-the-circle-remembering-names game. I rock those games. Thanks to my parents for the good genes! We then did some Greek practice. I surprised myself with how much I still remember. Next was a movie, which I really enjoyed. Stranger than Fiction. First, there was a tie-in with what we had just discussed in class, but was also well written, acted, and most importantly for me, featured several songs from one of my favorite bands. 4 or 5 Spoon songs were scattered throughout the movie, and I really enjoyed it, because in addition to being good music, the titles and lyrics of the songs related to what was happening in the movie. This clip, the opening sequence, features "The Way We Get By".
After the movie, we had a discussion, which wasn't super lively, but still enjoyable. It was then time for break. YAY!! Tortilla soup, thanks to Mom and her magic leftovers. After lunch, we played some 3 Flys Up, then volleyball, and then a super-fun game, called chaos tag. Chaos tag features every player as "it", and tags result in the tagged sitting down. Once a tagger gets tagged, all those he (or she) tagged are allowed to get up. Any tags above the wrist don't count, and simultaneous tags can be settled by walking away, or Rock, Paper, Scissors. I walked away from the sports time feeling pretty good about my athleticism.
We then watched Macbeth, the Roman Polanski version. The adults and I were the only one who knew the story behind Polanski without any help. The movie itself was good, but long. Poor Wesley, one of the kids I rode up with, started to doze off for a second. Fortunately for him, I nudged him awake before he started snoring too much. Again, there was a discussion of the story, and then we did a reading of the classic scene with the witches and apparitions. "Double double, toil and trouble." Hilarious to watch these sweet, innocent, homeschool girls attempting to pull off anything close to a evil witch. I was the second apparition, the little kid. We then moved on to some singing, which I felt like a total fail at. Not really much of a singer. Then was the music recital. There are some pretty talented kids in this group. Then dinner time, which was yum, and another round of chaos tag, and finally, dancing. Lots of traditional dancing. Reels, and polkas, and other things. I did all right, and had fun. After one more round of singing, we went home. The drive was killer, and everyone in the car was exhausted. We stopped in Vacaville, which I know, because the bathroom at the Starbucks had been tagged all over the place. I finally got home at 2:30.
I had to wake up the next morning for church, at 7:30. This took its toll, when, in the middle of a really interesting talk on poverty, I put my head back, and crashed. Next thing I know, the room is really, really quiet, and the girl sitting next to is poking me in the ribs. I felt awful. Fortunately, I have talked with the speaker before, he knows it was nothing personal. I actually really enjoyed his talk. After church was the play-off and championship for church softball. The first game was won fairly easily, and I was finally getting to a place of satisfaction with my play at third base. The championship we lost, but just barely. The bats, on both sides of the diamond, just could not get going. I had a good play at third, spearing a HARD line drive. Felt great. After my ride dropped me off downtown (Thanks Chaney!), I walked the 5 blocks to my stop. But the sun was setting, and I needed to go.....bad. Turns out it isn't that hard to urinate in public, provided you are standing in a corner, with the sun setting, and lots of trees casting shadows. I stopped a fro-yo place, more to use to bathroom to change into my pants. (Can't do that in public, no matter how shady it is.). Got on the bus, tried to stay awake for a while, and then woke up in Gilroy. Oops. I was now 10 minutes past my stop, at least. Found a payphone, as my cell phone was dead (of course) and my family came and picked me up. Thanks guys!
That's been all worthy of note for the past week. Hopefully I'll have more, in a more timely fashion.
Night!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Kayaking!
Like the title says, I went kayaking this Saturday, and it was pretty fun! There was also some other funnish stuff that happened over the past couple days as well, so I'll try and cover almost everything.
The trip down to Monterey was mildly boring, so I slept. This is something of a slight hobby at the moment, as I'm working on the ability to be able to sleep, and then wake up, then go back to sleep. As someone who does a fair bit of public transit traveling, this is a skill I need to have. I was quite proud really.
Shift was good, though we were short a fair amount of people. There wasn't really anything super interesting, which is odd, but I did get to talk with someone from Americorps, who was in town for a retreat. Her particular job was hosting homeless people in L.A., while they were trying to find more stable housing and a job. I found out there were 80-90 Americorps folks, all there for a retreat that was taking place at the Asilomar conference center. It was pretty interesting getting to talk to this lady. Very representative of the interesting people who come to the Aquarium. After shift, I went to the store, bought myself some rolls and fruit and carrots. I then walked the mile and half to where I was staying, and then spent a mild night working on my paper.
The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed, showered, etc, then walked the 3 miles to where we would be kayaking that morning. I did stop at a coffee shop, got my fix, and grabbed a cranberry scone. A really good, rich cranberry scone, which lasted my whole walk. As I was enjoying the great weather, and seeing a nice sunrise, a rarity for me, I was also noticing the large amount of people out getting "exercise". I then realized I was eating a scone that probably had more calories than they would burn, and just walking along, I was burning off those calories. I tried to not gloat too much, but smirking as I chewed my food might have been a giveaway. I finally arrived at the shop, with 5 minutes to spare, and took a little time to brush my teeth, and rest my feet.
While we waited for everyone to arrive, I led some games for the group, and then we got started. Basic instructions, make sure everyone was there and listening, then breaking into groups, and getting our gear. At first, it looked like I was going to be the only guy under 18 in the group, but fortunately, I was saved, and two more guys got roped in. Once we got out there, I realized that my partner, Johnathan, is just as much of a troublemaker as I am. Probably shouldn't have been in the same boat. The paddle was great, good weather, nice waves, just enough to make it interesting, and a good group. There was the obligatory splashing, a race, wherein I got whacked in the back of the head with a paddle. That kinda hurt. All right, it hurt, a lot at first. My eyes were watering. I also got to collect some cool snails, and enjoy that piece of creation. There were some really nice looking ones, but my personal favorite, was the jewel-top snail. See picture. Awesome!
As we were coming back in, getting ready to land the boat, we decided to capsize our boat. It was remarkably easy. We just leaned to the side, and in we went. We popped up, shook the water from our faces, flipped the boat over, got back in, and landed the boat. As one of the guides was pulling us up, he remarked our shenanigans were "excellent!" The rest of the group was abuzz within a few minutes. Did we really flip our boat? Someone heard we fell, someone heard we needed help, someone heard we got in trouble.
The rest of this post is being written more than a week later, and therefore, will be slightly more compressed.
Sunday was the make-or-break softball game, my team against the one undefeated team in the league. Interestingly, we played our best game, and won easily. My play was not up to my standards, but I did out-hustle a dribbler to third. Hustle is surprisingly rare in this league.
The week was somewhat of a blur. However, I can account for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Thursday was a long day of helping a family from our church move. The stand-out event was me dropping a table on my toe. That hurts. I did get paid, which is an upside.
Friday, I was at the Aquarium, got to talk with a couple from New Zealand, and a group of students from Cabrillo College, a local community college. There were several hundred other people in there too. I then rode the bus with 3 high school students, we talked, they were surprised I was their age, I got complimented (I think) on my long eyelashes, and then I got off. I then proceded to get on the wrong light rail train, realize that fact, get off, miss the right train, and finally end up in the right place.
I don't really remember Saturday, but I'm sure something happened that Mom will remind me of.
Sunday was church, which was good, then softball, which was a "fun game" meaning score didn't count, and the regular rules didn't apply. Again, I was just all right, but my running was pretty solid. It really unsettles people when someone is sliding into their base, and the ball is coming towards them. I actually slid twice on the same hit. Once at 2nd, ball dropped, and then again at 3rd, where the ball was caught, and I slid masterfully in, below the tag, and got called out, because it was a fun game and the ump was tired and sweaty. I was not happy. Let's be clear. I have nothing against umps making judgement calls, but when they tell you they know you were safe, that, that is what I have a problem with.
Today was a homeschool day at the MBA, and I went as a "regular person", which was totally absurd, because I'm pretty sure I was the only guest saying "hi" to everyone, talking, etc. My cover was blown to pieces when I was "part of the group" headed over to the teen program, which involved deep ocean camoflauge. (Way cooler than army camo, gotta say.) The staff member who was leading the program introduced a volunteer who was helping out, and then said something along the lines of "and Chris, right back there, is also a volunteer here, so if you have any questions about volunteering, feel free to ask him. I probably just made him turn about 5 shades of red." Yes, she did. I should have just worn my badge, would have been a lot easier. Regardless of that, I really enjoyed being able to share one of my favorite places with most of my family. Nick and Mandy had some really good questions, and it was cool to walk around with a captive audience. I loved the energy level. I usually have to create the excitement and energy in an interaction, but I could just feed off of Mandy, Nick and Beth.
I'm caught up, and feel really bad for my blog silence for the past week and couple of days. Things get busy, and I only have so much time I can devote to writing, and sometimes it goes to other topics and projects.
Anyway! I hope you all are doing splendidly, and I'll be back with more later.
The trip down to Monterey was mildly boring, so I slept. This is something of a slight hobby at the moment, as I'm working on the ability to be able to sleep, and then wake up, then go back to sleep. As someone who does a fair bit of public transit traveling, this is a skill I need to have. I was quite proud really.
Shift was good, though we were short a fair amount of people. There wasn't really anything super interesting, which is odd, but I did get to talk with someone from Americorps, who was in town for a retreat. Her particular job was hosting homeless people in L.A., while they were trying to find more stable housing and a job. I found out there were 80-90 Americorps folks, all there for a retreat that was taking place at the Asilomar conference center. It was pretty interesting getting to talk to this lady. Very representative of the interesting people who come to the Aquarium. After shift, I went to the store, bought myself some rolls and fruit and carrots. I then walked the mile and half to where I was staying, and then spent a mild night working on my paper.
The next morning, I dragged myself out of bed, showered, etc, then walked the 3 miles to where we would be kayaking that morning. I did stop at a coffee shop, got my fix, and grabbed a cranberry scone. A really good, rich cranberry scone, which lasted my whole walk. As I was enjoying the great weather, and seeing a nice sunrise, a rarity for me, I was also noticing the large amount of people out getting "exercise". I then realized I was eating a scone that probably had more calories than they would burn, and just walking along, I was burning off those calories. I tried to not gloat too much, but smirking as I chewed my food might have been a giveaway. I finally arrived at the shop, with 5 minutes to spare, and took a little time to brush my teeth, and rest my feet.
While we waited for everyone to arrive, I led some games for the group, and then we got started. Basic instructions, make sure everyone was there and listening, then breaking into groups, and getting our gear. At first, it looked like I was going to be the only guy under 18 in the group, but fortunately, I was saved, and two more guys got roped in. Once we got out there, I realized that my partner, Johnathan, is just as much of a troublemaker as I am. Probably shouldn't have been in the same boat. The paddle was great, good weather, nice waves, just enough to make it interesting, and a good group. There was the obligatory splashing, a race, wherein I got whacked in the back of the head with a paddle. That kinda hurt. All right, it hurt, a lot at first. My eyes were watering. I also got to collect some cool snails, and enjoy that piece of creation. There were some really nice looking ones, but my personal favorite, was the jewel-top snail. See picture. Awesome!As we were coming back in, getting ready to land the boat, we decided to capsize our boat. It was remarkably easy. We just leaned to the side, and in we went. We popped up, shook the water from our faces, flipped the boat over, got back in, and landed the boat. As one of the guides was pulling us up, he remarked our shenanigans were "excellent!" The rest of the group was abuzz within a few minutes. Did we really flip our boat? Someone heard we fell, someone heard we needed help, someone heard we got in trouble.
The rest of this post is being written more than a week later, and therefore, will be slightly more compressed.
Sunday was the make-or-break softball game, my team against the one undefeated team in the league. Interestingly, we played our best game, and won easily. My play was not up to my standards, but I did out-hustle a dribbler to third. Hustle is surprisingly rare in this league.
The week was somewhat of a blur. However, I can account for Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Thursday was a long day of helping a family from our church move. The stand-out event was me dropping a table on my toe. That hurts. I did get paid, which is an upside.
Friday, I was at the Aquarium, got to talk with a couple from New Zealand, and a group of students from Cabrillo College, a local community college. There were several hundred other people in there too. I then rode the bus with 3 high school students, we talked, they were surprised I was their age, I got complimented (I think) on my long eyelashes, and then I got off. I then proceded to get on the wrong light rail train, realize that fact, get off, miss the right train, and finally end up in the right place.
I don't really remember Saturday, but I'm sure something happened that Mom will remind me of.
Sunday was church, which was good, then softball, which was a "fun game" meaning score didn't count, and the regular rules didn't apply. Again, I was just all right, but my running was pretty solid. It really unsettles people when someone is sliding into their base, and the ball is coming towards them. I actually slid twice on the same hit. Once at 2nd, ball dropped, and then again at 3rd, where the ball was caught, and I slid masterfully in, below the tag, and got called out, because it was a fun game and the ump was tired and sweaty. I was not happy. Let's be clear. I have nothing against umps making judgement calls, but when they tell you they know you were safe, that, that is what I have a problem with.
Today was a homeschool day at the MBA, and I went as a "regular person", which was totally absurd, because I'm pretty sure I was the only guest saying "hi" to everyone, talking, etc. My cover was blown to pieces when I was "part of the group" headed over to the teen program, which involved deep ocean camoflauge. (Way cooler than army camo, gotta say.) The staff member who was leading the program introduced a volunteer who was helping out, and then said something along the lines of "and Chris, right back there, is also a volunteer here, so if you have any questions about volunteering, feel free to ask him. I probably just made him turn about 5 shades of red." Yes, she did. I should have just worn my badge, would have been a lot easier. Regardless of that, I really enjoyed being able to share one of my favorite places with most of my family. Nick and Mandy had some really good questions, and it was cool to walk around with a captive audience. I loved the energy level. I usually have to create the excitement and energy in an interaction, but I could just feed off of Mandy, Nick and Beth.
I'm caught up, and feel really bad for my blog silence for the past week and couple of days. Things get busy, and I only have so much time I can devote to writing, and sometimes it goes to other topics and projects.
Anyway! I hope you all are doing splendidly, and I'll be back with more later.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Climate Change
So, last night was my Earth Ethics class, which I am trying to count as a skewl class, not just something fun, or interesting, or enjoyable. How I'm making that happen, besides really paying attention, is I'm writing some research papers, and then the pastor leading the class, Tony, who used to be my youth pastor, is going over the papers, sending them back, I'm making revisions, etc. Last night, in addition to going to class, I finished a paper on environmental justice. All of it was fairly outrageous. Lack of access to clean water, destruction of habitat in poor countries, exploitation of resources in poor countries, rich countries dumping waste in poor countries, etc. The issue (I boiled it down to a longish paragraph) that really got me going though, is climate change, and how it is going to effect the poor, and poor or developing nations, in particular. The whole issue of climate change is one I have strong feelings on, but this particular aspect of it really drives me up the wall, and then breaks my heart.
I feel like I need to clarify things just a little here. I think there are poorer nations that will do fine. Heck, some might benefit a little. There are rich nations that will be totally screwed. But of the nations that will be screwed, the rich ones, even if they get hit harder, are still better off. They have a strong infrastructure, allies who will help them, economic wherewithal to incentivize behaviors that help deal wit the problem, and many more assets, assets that poorer nations don't have.
When I was in Liberia (you regular readers understand this) one of the things I brought back was a realization that we really are trying to do a lot about climate change here in the states, and we would have a pretty good handle on things when/if it gets dicey. A majority of the population lives in one of two cities, both of which are port cities. If you check out my web pictures, you can see how close they live to the water, and how devastating even a rise of a few feet could be. Look at the last 4, and then pictures 145-148. Devastating, sure, but everyone can just move, right? Well, when most of the roads are one-lane, bumpy roads, and not very man people have their own cars, moving gets tricky. Also, where would you go? No village is equipped to shelter refugees without any but the most vital possessions. In addition, what little clean water there was would be gone, food would be even harder to come by, and what industry and farming was in the area would come to a halt, due to a combination of drought and flooding. This volatile mix would result in hundreds of deaths, and these conditions would not be isolated. Millions of people would be displaced, there would be riots, battles, and trillions of dollars in loss.
What really irks me though, the bottom line that always pisses me off, is the fact that those nations, cannot make the changes to soften the blow of climate change. Without technology or education, they cannot save themselves from their impending doom. That responsibility falls on us, the privilaged few who contribute a disproportionately large amount of the GHG's in the atmosphere, and also have the ability to make the choices to deal with this problem. Why don't we?
Night!!
Now I think I'll sleep deep, untroubled dreams. Right.
I feel like I need to clarify things just a little here. I think there are poorer nations that will do fine. Heck, some might benefit a little. There are rich nations that will be totally screwed. But of the nations that will be screwed, the rich ones, even if they get hit harder, are still better off. They have a strong infrastructure, allies who will help them, economic wherewithal to incentivize behaviors that help deal wit the problem, and many more assets, assets that poorer nations don't have.
When I was in Liberia (you regular readers understand this) one of the things I brought back was a realization that we really are trying to do a lot about climate change here in the states, and we would have a pretty good handle on things when/if it gets dicey. A majority of the population lives in one of two cities, both of which are port cities. If you check out my web pictures, you can see how close they live to the water, and how devastating even a rise of a few feet could be. Look at the last 4, and then pictures 145-148. Devastating, sure, but everyone can just move, right? Well, when most of the roads are one-lane, bumpy roads, and not very man people have their own cars, moving gets tricky. Also, where would you go? No village is equipped to shelter refugees without any but the most vital possessions. In addition, what little clean water there was would be gone, food would be even harder to come by, and what industry and farming was in the area would come to a halt, due to a combination of drought and flooding. This volatile mix would result in hundreds of deaths, and these conditions would not be isolated. Millions of people would be displaced, there would be riots, battles, and trillions of dollars in loss.
What really irks me though, the bottom line that always pisses me off, is the fact that those nations, cannot make the changes to soften the blow of climate change. Without technology or education, they cannot save themselves from their impending doom. That responsibility falls on us, the privilaged few who contribute a disproportionately large amount of the GHG's in the atmosphere, and also have the ability to make the choices to deal with this problem. Why don't we?
Night!!
Now I think I'll sleep deep, untroubled dreams. Right.
Fresno, and Catching Up
Aquarium Stuff-Going well, good to start meeting a new group of kids, and working with a new group of ambassadors and mentors. Also, frozen yogurt is really not the best dinner. Adding berries and nuts doesn't help either.
Work-Pulled the front bumper off a MGB. Got dirt in my eye, repeatedly. Waxed the floors. Wouldn't want that unseemly floor hair. I'm really not a huge fan of gorilla shelving anymore. It's pretty absurd.
School-Reading City of God, by Augustine. Taking an "Earth Ethics" class with Pastor Tony. It's kinda hard for an average person to find good sources on say.....environmental justice. The rest of my classes are going well. GBT is interesting, as always. I'm having some inter-classroom conflict in a couple classes though. Don't really get along too well with my classmates.
Habitat for Humanity-The site is looking good, some serious work is getting done. Makes me sore just looking at it.
Softball-The only game I've played in so far, we won, and we still are undefeated. Supposedly the "tough" games are coming up. I scoff at tough games. How I knew I still had the knack for the game was our team's last at bat. Tie game, 10-10, bases loaded. Grand slam. Chris Hays. I think everyone there was surprised. Including me. I've still got it.
The news-Everyone in America agrees President Obama does not deserve the Nobel. No one knows who should have gotten it. Perhaps the most moving story I have read for a long time. Military Contractors Suffer Due to Lack of Care
Just a little gloaty moment, I got an invite to Google Wave, the new Google product/service that is being rolled out, bit by bit. As of now, there are 700,000 invites being given out, and then those 700k are allowed to invite 8 people. Roughly comes out to a lot of people, but not a lot really, considering the amount of people that use the internets.
So Alex and I left for Fresno on Thursday, about 8:50 in the morning. The ride was normal for public transit. Slightly creepy driver, alternately scary or scared looking people, and uncomfortable seats. This last fact is my personal theory for why more people don't ride buses. The seats are awful. It's like someone paid a 5-year old to look at a comfortable seat, and then draw a picture of that seat, and built the seat from that drawing. Also explains the lame fabric patterns. Like I said, the ride was pretty normal, except for the part where we picked up about 20 women who had just gotten out of jail. That was interesting. Unless my grasp of slang failed me, one of them had already gotten her hands on some pot, and was discussing its street value with the other ladies. They looked like they had just gotten out of jail, with the shirts, the boxes of stuff, the tattoos, the hair, but if you had just heard the tone of the conversation, they sounded like a book club headed off for some trip to a romantic field mentioned in their current book. Lots of laughing, having fun, and being "normal". We arrived fully inctact, and bundled off to where we were staying (Thanks again!!) Then I sat through about 4 hours of speech and debate class, in which I was not enrolled. Taking books with you is a good thing. John Le Carre's latest book is pretty great.
Next day I got to meet one of the host family's good friends, who I will call Joshua for anonymity. He is a good guy, and a fun addition to the group. We played gatorball that night, which is a sick combination between soccer and football. The game starts with kicking the ball, but as soon as the ball is up in the air, anyone can catch it, and then run with it. The point of the game is getting the ball into a goal, by kicking or throwing. It was hilarious, and tiring. The next day I woke up around 9:00, but it felt like 11:00, so I guess that's better than the other way around. The girls were off to a bridal shower, and two of the boys were at a swim meet, which left me, Alex, a 9 year old, and a 5 year old alone. We did some dishes, cleaned up a bit, and then played guns. Yes, guns. My favorite moment was scaring the daylights out of the 9 year old. He was looking for me, I was hidden well, and then I killed him. Done.
Later that night was "contra dancing". Not totally sure what that means, but it was traditional dancing, with simple music, and confusing terms. Sounds fun huh? I actually did all right, and enjoyed myself. My personal favorite move was the California swing. Easy for the male. Just spin the girl, then smirk at the other guys who can't pull off the move. Good times. Then we went to Sonic, which is one of the best places in the world. THEY SELL TATER-TOTS!! I know, right?
Riding home was pretty much the same, just without lady prisoners, and with two men who had been in jail, and at least one had gotten out recently. Got to hear some jailyard philosophy. Very 12-step program meets Chicken Soup meets Reader's Digest.
The picture is the grassy shared area in the complex, which is flooded, thanks to a 24-hour plus a little rainstorm. First one of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome......El Nino!!! Anyway, we had a little wading pool for a while.
The rest of my weekend is busy. If I get a chance, I'm blogging about Earth Ethics, a great class I'm taking, which is simultaneously enjoyable and depressing. How's that work?
Hope you all are doing well!!
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The Way Things Were
So, this post is going to sound a little random, but I think it will be enjoyable.
I was bored, and decided, for old time's sake, to read one of my favorite series from when I was younger. That's right, The Bobbsey Twins. I jumped in the middle, and was immediately enthralled, not by the story, or the writing, but some of the details of the story, and events that take place. Children going on picnics, just because, small children sleeping in haylofts, citizens calling up the sheriff, who they know by name, and my personal favorite, two boys who are having some conflict of personality being told by an adult to get it out of their system, and to have a good old-fashioned wrestling match. Crazy, right? Amazingly enough, it sorta worked. There are some great examples of how things were way back when. Way more relaxed, much more communal, and everyone was a lot happier and healthier. The healthier seems a little odd to me, because everyone is eating ALL the time, and the most awesomely rich food. Homemade cake, coleslaw, ham, just outrageous. Perhaps the fact that everyone was outside+the fact that there wasn't a lot of processed foods, lots of things were handmade from scratch could account for that. Huh. Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of random thought process, prompted by a passage from a children's book from 1950. Isn't it interesting how children's books reflect the times?
I was bored, and decided, for old time's sake, to read one of my favorite series from when I was younger. That's right, The Bobbsey Twins. I jumped in the middle, and was immediately enthralled, not by the story, or the writing, but some of the details of the story, and events that take place. Children going on picnics, just because, small children sleeping in haylofts, citizens calling up the sheriff, who they know by name, and my personal favorite, two boys who are having some conflict of personality being told by an adult to get it out of their system, and to have a good old-fashioned wrestling match. Crazy, right? Amazingly enough, it sorta worked. There are some great examples of how things were way back when. Way more relaxed, much more communal, and everyone was a lot happier and healthier. The healthier seems a little odd to me, because everyone is eating ALL the time, and the most awesomely rich food. Homemade cake, coleslaw, ham, just outrageous. Perhaps the fact that everyone was outside+the fact that there wasn't a lot of processed foods, lots of things were handmade from scratch could account for that. Huh. Anyway, I just wanted to share a bit of random thought process, prompted by a passage from a children's book from 1950. Isn't it interesting how children's books reflect the times?
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Fresno-Kingsburg Trip Photos
Since I'm working on getting the photos out, here is the link to photos from the Fresno-Kingsburg trip, as well as two photos from a recent beach trip. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/FresnoKingsburgTrip#
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Liberia Pictures
Hey All,
I know I have derlict in posting all the pictures from my trip to Liberia, but I am working on it now.
The link is here. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/LiberiaFromBaker#
And there will be more pictures coming on throughout the day. If you don't like all the captions, particularly the obvious one's, I'm sorry, but it helped me remember, and weed out the bad ones.
Thanks!
Chris
I know I have derlict in posting all the pictures from my trip to Liberia, but I am working on it now.
The link is here. http://picasaweb.google.com/Iskid2astop/LiberiaFromBaker#
And there will be more pictures coming on throughout the day. If you don't like all the captions, particularly the obvious one's, I'm sorry, but it helped me remember, and weed out the bad ones.
Thanks!
Chris
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Summer of Our Enjoyments
Whew! Summer is over. School is begun. I said I wouldn't blog for the summer, but would start up again when school began.
I probably should summarize my summer, just because having some backstory is always nice. This is not a Marvel comic, so unexplained gaps in the story are not acceptable.
Most of my summer was doing some kind of volunteering, in some fashion. I belive I have talked about Village Harvest. We did a few of those harvests, and a lot of another aspect of VH. There is a small, local, fruit farmer in Morgan Hill, named Andy Mariani. Appropriately enough, his orchard is called, "Andy's Orchard" (He is located, for you locals, just across from the LO ball field.) He has something called "seconds". If he can't sell all of a certain fruit before it starts to go bad, or at least too bad for him to sell. Instead of letting the fruit go to waste, he wants it to go to those who need it. That's where we come in (and Village Harvest, by proxy). We take the fruit, give as much to a local food bank as possible, and then pass out the rest at various low-income apartment complexes. While I'm immensely proud to be involved in this work, it can be a bit grueling. The crates (or as some call them "lugs"), when filled with fruit weigh somewhere around 25 pounds per. Enough of those makes some hard work. The record was over 30 crates in one night. That's 600 lbs of fruit.
In Silicon Valley, there comes a time in the summer, when every church is having a VBS. (Vacation Bible School) I call this VBS month. It is like an all-you-can-ship-your-kid-off-for-a-week-buffet. Perhaps this is partially because kids can't just go out and play (at least not without some kind of liability), but regardless, why do kids always have to be doing something? I console myself with the thought that while I participate in this bizzare ritual, I try and make things a little more.....silly. I was at the San Martin Presbyterian Church VBS. We were a small but goofy group. There were about 25 kids, and about 10 adult and teenaged helpers. I was the game czar, and mission proclaimer. For the missions part, I talked with the kids about my trip to Liberia, and encouraged them to give money to support kids, just like them, in Liberia. For games, I just kinda flowed. We quickly exhausted the games I had planned for, and so, we moved to a more casual game set. There were also some boys who had a LOT of energy. I ran them ragged. That was pretty fun. I also made the mistake of making water balloons. (Thank you Josiah!!) I did learn from that mistake, namely, that I make a great target, and everyone loves throwing water balloons. Was that a mistake?
Another standby of my summers has become the Los Alto United Methodist Church (I just remembered that, without looking at anything) rummage sale. This is a huge rummage sale. Last year, they made $45,000. Quite a few things, and a lot of work. I am one of manual laborers, and usually the youngest person, excluding my little siblings. I pick up things, carry things, and do whatever the sweet little old ladies ask me to do. My favorite part is the cool stuff I get there, for prices that are outrageously good. Examples-The Agony and the Etsacy, 25 cents. An college level Environmental Science textbook, free. For Whom The Bell Tolls, 50 cents. Nice shirts, $1 per. I like it. Plus, I got to work with one of the coolest guys I have every worked with. Dolph, perhaps about 65-70, quiet as all get out, a great worker, and he brought snacks. I loved him.
Instead of my usual stint at the Aquarium as a student guide (docent is another way to think of it), I got to do some pretty cool stuff this summer. I was involved in pilot program, helping develop a new teen program for the Aquarium. We were looking at how to unify various student programs, and develop a new direction for teen programs in the future. I got to spend time behind the scenes, and enjoy greater freedom around the Aquarium, as well as spending more time out on the floor. I had a great team, and really enjoyed working with them all. My time there is a whole post worth of stories. One more bonus of being in Monterey was the fact I got to spend two nights down there, by myself, more or less. A couple from my guide shift offered to let me stay in their guest house, on Wenseday and Thursday night, then my parents would pick me up on Friday afternoon. Those two days, were like a Costco sample of living on oneself. Except no one was wearing those goofy beard nets. I got to shop for myself, get myself home, do my one dish, and having down time for the rest of the night. Got to read, exercise, and go to sleep early. Made my own coffee, turned off my own alarm, and ate my own breakfast. On the front of food, one of my favorite things, I got all my food from the grocery store, and kept things pretty simple. Mostly fruits and veggies, with the addition of bread and cheese. Brie was my favorite, but Irish cheddar was pretty nice too. My favorite meal was breakfast. Warm bread, white nectarines, an orange, a banana, and some Brie. Good times.
One of the weekends this summer, the entire family took a trip to Fresno, to see our good friends, the Vehrs. It was pretty fun. As much as I enjoyed hanging out with my friends (which was a lot), I enjoyed something else even more. We took a trip to Kingsburg, where my grandma and "gramma auntie" grew up. I didn't know that Kingsburg was a heavily Swedish town. Certainly led to some interesting pictures. This question is just for Auntie. In the picture with the Viking, do I look like Rick? Mom thinks I do. I had a lot of fun seeing a small town thriving, without exploiting its small-townness.
One final thing I did over the summer was some work at On The Road Again, a British auto restoration shop. If you are not sure why I'm doing this, check out my other blog. Most of my work is janitorial, sweeping, mopping, etc, but, from time to time, I get to do some new, fun stuff. Setting up a extra level of industrial shelving, installing a paper towel holder, strapping a car to a trailer, sandblasting a brake drum, and other such interesting tasks. I'm really enjoying my time there, and over the school year, I hope to be doing enough mechanic-related tasks, on my car and others, that I can count this as a school class. I have to say, I got some pretty cool teachers. One has been working on cars since he was 16, and raced for 20 years. I'm looking forward to it.
I'll include a link to pictures in a later post.
That is more or less my summer, with lots of details excluded, because I forgot, or because they aren't worth the effort to include. Now, on to everything after!
Thanks.
Chris
I probably should summarize my summer, just because having some backstory is always nice. This is not a Marvel comic, so unexplained gaps in the story are not acceptable.
Most of my summer was doing some kind of volunteering, in some fashion. I belive I have talked about Village Harvest. We did a few of those harvests, and a lot of another aspect of VH. There is a small, local, fruit farmer in Morgan Hill, named Andy Mariani. Appropriately enough, his orchard is called, "Andy's Orchard" (He is located, for you locals, just across from the LO ball field.) He has something called "seconds". If he can't sell all of a certain fruit before it starts to go bad, or at least too bad for him to sell. Instead of letting the fruit go to waste, he wants it to go to those who need it. That's where we come in (and Village Harvest, by proxy). We take the fruit, give as much to a local food bank as possible, and then pass out the rest at various low-income apartment complexes. While I'm immensely proud to be involved in this work, it can be a bit grueling. The crates (or as some call them "lugs"), when filled with fruit weigh somewhere around 25 pounds per. Enough of those makes some hard work. The record was over 30 crates in one night. That's 600 lbs of fruit.
In Silicon Valley, there comes a time in the summer, when every church is having a VBS. (Vacation Bible School) I call this VBS month. It is like an all-you-can-ship-your-kid-off-for-a-week-buffet. Perhaps this is partially because kids can't just go out and play (at least not without some kind of liability), but regardless, why do kids always have to be doing something? I console myself with the thought that while I participate in this bizzare ritual, I try and make things a little more.....silly. I was at the San Martin Presbyterian Church VBS. We were a small but goofy group. There were about 25 kids, and about 10 adult and teenaged helpers. I was the game czar, and mission proclaimer. For the missions part, I talked with the kids about my trip to Liberia, and encouraged them to give money to support kids, just like them, in Liberia. For games, I just kinda flowed. We quickly exhausted the games I had planned for, and so, we moved to a more casual game set. There were also some boys who had a LOT of energy. I ran them ragged. That was pretty fun. I also made the mistake of making water balloons. (Thank you Josiah!!) I did learn from that mistake, namely, that I make a great target, and everyone loves throwing water balloons. Was that a mistake?
Another standby of my summers has become the Los Alto United Methodist Church (I just remembered that, without looking at anything) rummage sale. This is a huge rummage sale. Last year, they made $45,000. Quite a few things, and a lot of work. I am one of manual laborers, and usually the youngest person, excluding my little siblings. I pick up things, carry things, and do whatever the sweet little old ladies ask me to do. My favorite part is the cool stuff I get there, for prices that are outrageously good. Examples-The Agony and the Etsacy, 25 cents. An college level Environmental Science textbook, free. For Whom The Bell Tolls, 50 cents. Nice shirts, $1 per. I like it. Plus, I got to work with one of the coolest guys I have every worked with. Dolph, perhaps about 65-70, quiet as all get out, a great worker, and he brought snacks. I loved him.
Instead of my usual stint at the Aquarium as a student guide (docent is another way to think of it), I got to do some pretty cool stuff this summer. I was involved in pilot program, helping develop a new teen program for the Aquarium. We were looking at how to unify various student programs, and develop a new direction for teen programs in the future. I got to spend time behind the scenes, and enjoy greater freedom around the Aquarium, as well as spending more time out on the floor. I had a great team, and really enjoyed working with them all. My time there is a whole post worth of stories. One more bonus of being in Monterey was the fact I got to spend two nights down there, by myself, more or less. A couple from my guide shift offered to let me stay in their guest house, on Wenseday and Thursday night, then my parents would pick me up on Friday afternoon. Those two days, were like a Costco sample of living on oneself. Except no one was wearing those goofy beard nets. I got to shop for myself, get myself home, do my one dish, and having down time for the rest of the night. Got to read, exercise, and go to sleep early. Made my own coffee, turned off my own alarm, and ate my own breakfast. On the front of food, one of my favorite things, I got all my food from the grocery store, and kept things pretty simple. Mostly fruits and veggies, with the addition of bread and cheese. Brie was my favorite, but Irish cheddar was pretty nice too. My favorite meal was breakfast. Warm bread, white nectarines, an orange, a banana, and some Brie. Good times.
One of the weekends this summer, the entire family took a trip to Fresno, to see our good friends, the Vehrs. It was pretty fun. As much as I enjoyed hanging out with my friends (which was a lot), I enjoyed something else even more. We took a trip to Kingsburg, where my grandma and "gramma auntie" grew up. I didn't know that Kingsburg was a heavily Swedish town. Certainly led to some interesting pictures. This question is just for Auntie. In the picture with the Viking, do I look like Rick? Mom thinks I do. I had a lot of fun seeing a small town thriving, without exploiting its small-townness.
One final thing I did over the summer was some work at On The Road Again, a British auto restoration shop. If you are not sure why I'm doing this, check out my other blog. Most of my work is janitorial, sweeping, mopping, etc, but, from time to time, I get to do some new, fun stuff. Setting up a extra level of industrial shelving, installing a paper towel holder, strapping a car to a trailer, sandblasting a brake drum, and other such interesting tasks. I'm really enjoying my time there, and over the school year, I hope to be doing enough mechanic-related tasks, on my car and others, that I can count this as a school class. I have to say, I got some pretty cool teachers. One has been working on cars since he was 16, and raced for 20 years. I'm looking forward to it.
I'll include a link to pictures in a later post.
That is more or less my summer, with lots of details excluded, because I forgot, or because they aren't worth the effort to include. Now, on to everything after!
Thanks.
Chris
The Story
I know I said I would start blogging after summer was over, but I had so much happen, getting it all into one post would be a challenge, as would be writing that post. I was kind of wait for a story, something short, sweet, and interesting, as a way to get back into the groove of blogging. This is that story.
My church has a tradition of a summer/post summer softball league. Ever since I played baseball/football/basketball in Iowa (another story entirely), any chance I get to play organized sports, I do. The games started this week, but my team had a bye. (We didn't play) Instead, we got some of the team together, and had a little practice. This went swimmingly, I think I did fine. I was more concerned about my batting than my fielding, and I hit consistently well. Out of 25 or so pitches, I fouled two, and hit the rest. My fielding was ok, if a little rusty. How do I know it was rusty?
We were taking turns getting some batting practice, and the rest of the team was shagging the flies. One got hit right to me, and it was coming down, and then I had one of those scary lucid moments. I saw the ball, coming down towards me, and then, I realized it was going to hit me right in the eye. Sure enough, it did. Odd how that worked out. I'm a good enough ball player that I don't miss an easy fly without some reason. My guess is that the wind blew it just enough that I missed. Or, I'm just rusty. Either way, it hurt. I didn't see any stars, just people, so my eyes worked. I stayed awake until I went to bed at 12, so I think my brain is mostly fine. Aside from the nasty bruise I have (black eye baby!!), the only other possible effect is my nose, which has some cuts, and hurts. Did I mention I have a cold too? Sneezing with a bruised nose is a real joy. Included is a picture of my poor eye. I'm not sure how well it will show up, it feels worse than it looks. My eyebrow hurts.
Looking forward to another year of blogging with you all!'
Chris
My church has a tradition of a summer/post summer softball league. Ever since I played baseball/football/basketball in Iowa (another story entirely), any chance I get to play organized sports, I do. The games started this week, but my team had a bye. (We didn't play) Instead, we got some of the team together, and had a little practice. This went swimmingly, I think I did fine. I was more concerned about my batting than my fielding, and I hit consistently well. Out of 25 or so pitches, I fouled two, and hit the rest. My fielding was ok, if a little rusty. How do I know it was rusty?
We were taking turns getting some batting practice, and the rest of the team was shagging the flies. One got hit right to me, and it was coming down, and then I had one of those scary lucid moments. I saw the ball, coming down towards me, and then, I realized it was going to hit me right in the eye. Sure enough, it did. Odd how that worked out. I'm a good enough ball player that I don't miss an easy fly without some reason. My guess is that the wind blew it just enough that I missed. Or, I'm just rusty. Either way, it hurt. I didn't see any stars, just people, so my eyes worked. I stayed awake until I went to bed at 12, so I think my brain is mostly fine. Aside from the nasty bruise I have (black eye baby!!), the only other possible effect is my nose, which has some cuts, and hurts. Did I mention I have a cold too? Sneezing with a bruised nose is a real joy. Included is a picture of my poor eye. I'm not sure how well it will show up, it feels worse than it looks. My eyebrow hurts.
Looking forward to another year of blogging with you all!'
Chris
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Temporary Hold On Posts
Got an announcement. I will not be "blogging" over the summer. I just don't have enough time spent in one place. I will be Tweeting, and collecting those into posts, and occasionally writing up a short story, but regular blogging will resume once the school year starts up again.
Sorry all.
You can be secure in the knowledge I am having a great summer. I hope you are too!!
Thanks, Chris
Sorry all.
You can be secure in the knowledge I am having a great summer. I hope you are too!!
Thanks, Chris
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Check Me Out on Twitter
Hey loyal readers,
I recently moved to an unlimited text message plan for my cell phone (thanks Mom and Dad!), so I started Tweeting several times a day. I will do my best to not have it be boring, but have it be a catcher for little things that fall in between the cracks of this blog. In case you aren't on Twitter, or don't have the time to check it frequently, I added a gadget to the site that shows all my recent posts, and if you are an email reader, I will be compiling all my Tweets and posting them once a week.
Thanks for reading!
I promise, I will have a new post coming soon.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
One Bus Ride, and Its Stories
I really enjoy riding or walking through the same area again and again. Even riding the same bus route. Every time I notice something different, talk to new people, hear new things, and have thoughts that are foreign to me.
The street that spurred this train of thought was 1st Street in san Jose, and I am usually walking to my church's office/Ministry Center, or walking from there to the bus stop. I have walked down it at different times of the day, on different days of the week, in diiferent seasons of the year.
Something I realized, as I was observing people, and thinking about them, is that each person has a story. I know that sounds cliche, and I knowing calling it cliche is cliche, but it feels very true. Every single detail about every personhas a story, and that story is interesting. The man in front of me, how did he afford that phone? Where did he get his job? Why did he get that tattoo? The two black men who just off, why were they friends with each other? The white lady who is about to get off, what did she buy at Wal-Mart? How come she walks like that, all choppy, and slightly stooped? Her purse, the Dolce and Gabana one, did she buy that new, or did someone give it to her? Every car, every hat, shoe, pants, shirt, every bike, every stroller, grocery cart, laundry cart, every tattoo, every bag, every packpack, every book, every friend, every pet, every laugh, song, greeting, farewell, they all have a story, and they are all important to that person.
Those people living in that horse trailer at the fairgrounds, what stories would they tell me about? How about the Latino boyfriend and girlfriend sitting in the front of the bus. What caused that huge tomato plant I rode by to be planted, and what caused it to grow? What is important to that man watching new tires get put on his car? I don't know, but someone does. and someone cares. Why don't I care? Is there an excuse for not caring why people talk to themselves, or why people are totally drunk, or why people are pushing a cart filled with everything they own? Should I be worrying about wether the woman sitting next to me has access to as good of an education as I do? How would I be able to think about that for everyone, because that is what would be required, not just thinking about some people, but about everyone. I'm waaaaay out of my league here, after all, there are 7.something billion people in the world, and a tiny percent have it "good". Just thinking about the stories, let alone the problems is fairly over whelming. Everyone has jokes, best stories, highs (of all kinds) and lows to tell about. There is something so fulfilling about telling those.
I was up in San Jose for a meeting with CityTeam, a non-profit organization that does a lot of really good work in the San Jose/Sillicon Valley area for the disadvantaged. First, why I was there. Actually, it was myself, and my youth pastor, Kyle, and we were there to meet with one of their guys about the youth group doing some volunteer work with them over the summer. We got a tour of one of their locations, and I think, the biggest and most important one in San Jose. We saw the men's shelter, where they help rehab men, the learning center, where both men and women can learn practical skills, the community kitchen, where anyone can come and get a free meal, the food pantry, the clothes rooms,and the furniture room. We also heard about some of the other, seasonal programs they do, like "Backpacks of Success", "Coats for Kids", etc. It was really interesting, because it sounds like they do a fair amount of middle-manning, but in the non-profit sense of the word. There are large donors out there, and give in quanities that just cannot be handled by small groups, but there are also small groups out there that wouldn't even get a sit-down with one of those large donors. What City Team does a lot is find all those small groups, and break up what the huge donors have given. I don't have numbers in front of me, but I will post those when I do, but they talking in terms of hundreds with things like winter coats, backpacks, toys, and other things that would be overwhelming to a group of 7 in one neighborhood. To me, this is a really important function, partially because I have seen how well it works for the for-profit system.
School is out here, so I'm seeing lots more kids my age around. Most of them look bored, angry, or tired, and often a combination of all 3 at the same time. Walking around, with no real goal, hanging out, with no plans at all. Perhaps my hanging out skills are a little weak, and my summer sensibilities are underdeveloped, but hanging out with zero plans sounds like the most awful way to spend the summer, which has the nicest weather. I guess I shouldn't talk, because doing school isn't exactly the funnest either.
Some guys act around girls like they take no pleasure in being with a pretty girl, which is a shame. Why has being nice to someone become something that can only happen if two people are in a relationship?
I love seeing two people who really like each other, coming back together after being apart. They
One of other things I was thinking about as I was walking was the setting. What brought those buildings into existence? Why was the courthouse built there? Who is that statue of, and why is he so great? What are all the things that have happened at that park? I think it would be so interesting to just stay in some public place for an entire year, just to take in everything that happens.
Even more so for things like trees, streams, and hills. What natural disasters, human dramas, changes in the environment has that bid old tree seen? What animals have nested there, who has taken a nap under it? How did that tree even get there? Some squirrel?
Friday and Saturday were pretty fun, and very exhausting. Did I say exhausting? It was exhausting. After the Aquarium, which will get a little mini-post later, I rode the bus/rode with my dad (Thanks again!!) to Manresa Beach. The youth group was having a beach party. Highlights included a group of college kids coming over and playing football with us, just the youth playing tackle football (I was savage!), and jumping over a huge pit. For a whie I sat in an inflatable couch someone left behind, and watched the pitjumping, while eating my bratwurst and drinking my cream soda. I thought of a new term. "Beach Potato".
We left the beach at 10:30, and didn't get to the Ministry Center, where we would be spending the night, until 11:30ish. We played some video games, I got demolished, we played Sardines (one of the most terrifying games ever), ate some unhealthy food, then did it again. Someone, perhaps Kyle, perhaps not, got the bright idea of t.p.'ing someone's house. One of the youth had said she would be there, and she wasn't!! Like signing her own order of exucution. Actually was my first t.p.. outing, and I can see why it is fun. Unfortunately, the father of the house is from Pittsburgh, where t.p.ing is really malicious. This was in good fun, with no harm intended. Intentions do not make actions though, because if they did, we would have found so many WMD's in Iraq the globe would have been tilting in that direction.
Hold on!! What is a Christmas tree farm sign doing in the middle of June?
Morgan Hill, my town, is really trying to have a vital and ineresting downtown, but tjere just isn't the heighth for it. Almost everything is single-story, which really limits the amount of people, or stores, or anything that can be in any given area. I am waiting and waiting for them to get this. Probably doesn't help that the only people buying much of anything right now are leperchauns, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and quiet little dogs.
A bunch of handicapped guys just got on, and Alex bowled with them for a while. They are all so darn nice, they all have buddies that they see on the bus, and they talk to them, and build up a relationship. Why do the "misfits" make up some of the most beautiiful interactions in our society? How do people how are learning disabled learn multiple languages? I'm still trying to get mine down perfect. I wonder if the uses make a difference? The hardly write anything, and use their language for a different magnitude of communication. Still amazing. I know a guy the same age as Al, he speaks Tagalg, English, fluently, and is learning Spainish.
I just had an interesting idea, looking at San Martin, which is an unincorporated area between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. In ecology, there are places known as "ectotones". They are places of transition between different biomes. San Martin is one of those places. Not quite suburban, not quite country. Can you guys think of others places like this?
That's all I have for now.
Have a good day!!
The street that spurred this train of thought was 1st Street in san Jose, and I am usually walking to my church's office/Ministry Center, or walking from there to the bus stop. I have walked down it at different times of the day, on different days of the week, in diiferent seasons of the year.
Something I realized, as I was observing people, and thinking about them, is that each person has a story. I know that sounds cliche, and I knowing calling it cliche is cliche, but it feels very true. Every single detail about every personhas a story, and that story is interesting. The man in front of me, how did he afford that phone? Where did he get his job? Why did he get that tattoo? The two black men who just off, why were they friends with each other? The white lady who is about to get off, what did she buy at Wal-Mart? How come she walks like that, all choppy, and slightly stooped? Her purse, the Dolce and Gabana one, did she buy that new, or did someone give it to her? Every car, every hat, shoe, pants, shirt, every bike, every stroller, grocery cart, laundry cart, every tattoo, every bag, every packpack, every book, every friend, every pet, every laugh, song, greeting, farewell, they all have a story, and they are all important to that person.
Those people living in that horse trailer at the fairgrounds, what stories would they tell me about? How about the Latino boyfriend and girlfriend sitting in the front of the bus. What caused that huge tomato plant I rode by to be planted, and what caused it to grow? What is important to that man watching new tires get put on his car? I don't know, but someone does. and someone cares. Why don't I care? Is there an excuse for not caring why people talk to themselves, or why people are totally drunk, or why people are pushing a cart filled with everything they own? Should I be worrying about wether the woman sitting next to me has access to as good of an education as I do? How would I be able to think about that for everyone, because that is what would be required, not just thinking about some people, but about everyone. I'm waaaaay out of my league here, after all, there are 7.something billion people in the world, and a tiny percent have it "good". Just thinking about the stories, let alone the problems is fairly over whelming. Everyone has jokes, best stories, highs (of all kinds) and lows to tell about. There is something so fulfilling about telling those.
I was up in San Jose for a meeting with CityTeam, a non-profit organization that does a lot of really good work in the San Jose/Sillicon Valley area for the disadvantaged. First, why I was there. Actually, it was myself, and my youth pastor, Kyle, and we were there to meet with one of their guys about the youth group doing some volunteer work with them over the summer. We got a tour of one of their locations, and I think, the biggest and most important one in San Jose. We saw the men's shelter, where they help rehab men, the learning center, where both men and women can learn practical skills, the community kitchen, where anyone can come and get a free meal, the food pantry, the clothes rooms,and the furniture room. We also heard about some of the other, seasonal programs they do, like "Backpacks of Success", "Coats for Kids", etc. It was really interesting, because it sounds like they do a fair amount of middle-manning, but in the non-profit sense of the word. There are large donors out there, and give in quanities that just cannot be handled by small groups, but there are also small groups out there that wouldn't even get a sit-down with one of those large donors. What City Team does a lot is find all those small groups, and break up what the huge donors have given. I don't have numbers in front of me, but I will post those when I do, but they talking in terms of hundreds with things like winter coats, backpacks, toys, and other things that would be overwhelming to a group of 7 in one neighborhood. To me, this is a really important function, partially because I have seen how well it works for the for-profit system.
School is out here, so I'm seeing lots more kids my age around. Most of them look bored, angry, or tired, and often a combination of all 3 at the same time. Walking around, with no real goal, hanging out, with no plans at all. Perhaps my hanging out skills are a little weak, and my summer sensibilities are underdeveloped, but hanging out with zero plans sounds like the most awful way to spend the summer, which has the nicest weather. I guess I shouldn't talk, because doing school isn't exactly the funnest either.
Some guys act around girls like they take no pleasure in being with a pretty girl, which is a shame. Why has being nice to someone become something that can only happen if two people are in a relationship?
I love seeing two people who really like each other, coming back together after being apart. They
One of other things I was thinking about as I was walking was the setting. What brought those buildings into existence? Why was the courthouse built there? Who is that statue of, and why is he so great? What are all the things that have happened at that park? I think it would be so interesting to just stay in some public place for an entire year, just to take in everything that happens.
Even more so for things like trees, streams, and hills. What natural disasters, human dramas, changes in the environment has that bid old tree seen? What animals have nested there, who has taken a nap under it? How did that tree even get there? Some squirrel?
Friday and Saturday were pretty fun, and very exhausting. Did I say exhausting? It was exhausting. After the Aquarium, which will get a little mini-post later, I rode the bus/rode with my dad (Thanks again!!) to Manresa Beach. The youth group was having a beach party. Highlights included a group of college kids coming over and playing football with us, just the youth playing tackle football (I was savage!), and jumping over a huge pit. For a whie I sat in an inflatable couch someone left behind, and watched the pitjumping, while eating my bratwurst and drinking my cream soda. I thought of a new term. "Beach Potato".
We left the beach at 10:30, and didn't get to the Ministry Center, where we would be spending the night, until 11:30ish. We played some video games, I got demolished, we played Sardines (one of the most terrifying games ever), ate some unhealthy food, then did it again. Someone, perhaps Kyle, perhaps not, got the bright idea of t.p.'ing someone's house. One of the youth had said she would be there, and she wasn't!! Like signing her own order of exucution. Actually was my first t.p.. outing, and I can see why it is fun. Unfortunately, the father of the house is from Pittsburgh, where t.p.ing is really malicious. This was in good fun, with no harm intended. Intentions do not make actions though, because if they did, we would have found so many WMD's in Iraq the globe would have been tilting in that direction.
Hold on!! What is a Christmas tree farm sign doing in the middle of June?
Morgan Hill, my town, is really trying to have a vital and ineresting downtown, but tjere just isn't the heighth for it. Almost everything is single-story, which really limits the amount of people, or stores, or anything that can be in any given area. I am waiting and waiting for them to get this. Probably doesn't help that the only people buying much of anything right now are leperchauns, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and quiet little dogs.
A bunch of handicapped guys just got on, and Alex bowled with them for a while. They are all so darn nice, they all have buddies that they see on the bus, and they talk to them, and build up a relationship. Why do the "misfits" make up some of the most beautiiful interactions in our society? How do people how are learning disabled learn multiple languages? I'm still trying to get mine down perfect. I wonder if the uses make a difference? The hardly write anything, and use their language for a different magnitude of communication. Still amazing. I know a guy the same age as Al, he speaks Tagalg, English, fluently, and is learning Spainish.
I just had an interesting idea, looking at San Martin, which is an unincorporated area between Morgan Hill and Gilroy. In ecology, there are places known as "ectotones". They are places of transition between different biomes. San Martin is one of those places. Not quite suburban, not quite country. Can you guys think of others places like this?
That's all I have for now.
Have a good day!!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Cool Stuff I Want to Share
Perhaps one of the funniest sites I have ever seen that actually has function besides inducing painful laughter. Some of my favorite excerpts.
"how heavy is that fattest person?", "did joe cheated on my mom in the past?", "who will win the stanley cup tomorrow?", "what kind of bait should i use to fish in Palo?".
The amount of questions that can't be answered is really interesting to me. The concept is amazingly cool.
This is another example of the Internet flattening the Globe, and bringing people together who would never meet in any other circumstances.
Music+news+comedy=AWESOME!
I love this, on so many levels. It is fairly good music, but it is also a joke about autotuning, and it is news, and a joke about the news, and a joke about the people who make and deliver news.
The first video, at the beginning until about 15 seconds, is absolutely hilarious. "What's wrong with fantasy? I fantasy, and I live in the sea!"
The second video, my favorite part is the beginning till 45 seconds in, and 1:23 till 1:50.
The third video, my favorite part is 31 seconds, till 1:25. Ron Paul!! Also, watch Rachel Maddow's lips. 1:35-2:10. This one is probably my favorite.
The fourth video, my favorite part is the beginning until 1:20. Any song that uses "jurisprudent" and "shawty" is awesome in my book.
This is an amazingly silly, yet funny video.
Make sure to check out the other two that are part of the same set.
If you happen to be part of the nerd news cycle, you probably already heard about Google Wave, but in case you aren't, and you haven't, here are some of highlights, according to Lifehacker. There is something fascinating to me about seeing new technology. I can't wait to get my hands on it, see how it works, and just play with it in general.
This was hailed as the next Google killer, but then it got booed for insufficient results, and inability to pull results from inside sites. Good for some kinds of searches, but awful for other kinds.
Again, the next Google killer. Good for particular kinds of searches, but lacking in others. The most useful features have to be manually turned on, which can be a turn-off for those who don't know how, or don't have the time.
A fun little oddity of the Web, where anyone can tag San Francisco, legally.
One of my favorite news sources, due to the user-generated gathering of news, and the ability of the collective to pass judgement on anything and everything.
A great new experiment in journalism. The contributers are required to interact with the comments, and each other's articles. I also happen to be the 6th most active reader at the time of writing. I really enjoy that the content is broken up by writer, not content. Plus, the content is fairly broad, and not bland like network news and main-stream articles.
A super-interesting article about social behavior, and what can be learned from non-verbal communication.
Google's upcoming treasure hunt "Day in the Clouds". Co-sponsored by Virgin Air, the cloud refers both to metorlogical and technological. The tech cloud is something like Google Apps, which can store data on your computer, but the default is to keep everything on the Internet, so you can access it from anywhere.
Two of my favorite blogs. Landscape+Urbanism and Ve.itcuture. First, I love Portland, and second, I love architecture and nature, so I love these blogs.
That's all my cool stuff to share for now.
I want to hear some comments on this one. Even if they are mean, just something, some kind of feedback.
I would like to hear what you think of this. More sites, more articles, neither, both, corn-on-the-cob, whatever you would like to see out of the blog.
"how heavy is that fattest person?", "did joe cheated on my mom in the past?", "who will win the stanley cup tomorrow?", "what kind of bait should i use to fish in Palo?".
The amount of questions that can't be answered is really interesting to me. The concept is amazingly cool.
This is another example of the Internet flattening the Globe, and bringing people together who would never meet in any other circumstances.
Music+news+comedy=AWESOME!
I love this, on so many levels. It is fairly good music, but it is also a joke about autotuning, and it is news, and a joke about the news, and a joke about the people who make and deliver news.
The first video, at the beginning until about 15 seconds, is absolutely hilarious. "What's wrong with fantasy? I fantasy, and I live in the sea!"
The second video, my favorite part is the beginning till 45 seconds in, and 1:23 till 1:50.
The third video, my favorite part is 31 seconds, till 1:25. Ron Paul!! Also, watch Rachel Maddow's lips. 1:35-2:10. This one is probably my favorite.
The fourth video, my favorite part is the beginning until 1:20. Any song that uses "jurisprudent" and "shawty" is awesome in my book.
This is an amazingly silly, yet funny video.
Make sure to check out the other two that are part of the same set.
If you happen to be part of the nerd news cycle, you probably already heard about Google Wave, but in case you aren't, and you haven't, here are some of highlights, according to Lifehacker. There is something fascinating to me about seeing new technology. I can't wait to get my hands on it, see how it works, and just play with it in general.
This was hailed as the next Google killer, but then it got booed for insufficient results, and inability to pull results from inside sites. Good for some kinds of searches, but awful for other kinds.
Again, the next Google killer. Good for particular kinds of searches, but lacking in others. The most useful features have to be manually turned on, which can be a turn-off for those who don't know how, or don't have the time.
A fun little oddity of the Web, where anyone can tag San Francisco, legally.
One of my favorite news sources, due to the user-generated gathering of news, and the ability of the collective to pass judgement on anything and everything.
A great new experiment in journalism. The contributers are required to interact with the comments, and each other's articles. I also happen to be the 6th most active reader at the time of writing. I really enjoy that the content is broken up by writer, not content. Plus, the content is fairly broad, and not bland like network news and main-stream articles.
A super-interesting article about social behavior, and what can be learned from non-verbal communication.
Google's upcoming treasure hunt "Day in the Clouds". Co-sponsored by Virgin Air, the cloud refers both to metorlogical and technological. The tech cloud is something like Google Apps, which can store data on your computer, but the default is to keep everything on the Internet, so you can access it from anywhere.
Two of my favorite blogs. Landscape+Urbanism and Ve.itcuture. First, I love Portland, and second, I love architecture and nature, so I love these blogs.
That's all my cool stuff to share for now.
I want to hear some comments on this one. Even if they are mean, just something, some kind of feedback.
I would like to hear what you think of this. More sites, more articles, neither, both, corn-on-the-cob, whatever you would like to see out of the blog.
Assorted Anecdotes
There a lot of things that I could share, but they are marginally interesting, so I will just share the things that have a precedent on this particular blog.
I texted in a couple of IPTP, but there is one I would like to add, and also explain what made that trip out of the ordinary. What made that trip unique was the people I had with me. Mom and Dad went up to the Sunset Idea House, which is up in Menlo Park, and they left directly after church, which left Alex, Mandy, Nick, Beth, and myself in San Jose, needing to ride the bus home. Now I will not try to say that I did not volunteer, but when I volunteered I did not fully understand what would be entailed. It was not awful, but I would not to do it again, at least for a while. I got off, and my shoulders were so tense, all I felt like doing was laying on the ground. There were some interesting people, besides my family, though, so the trip still had redemptive value. As I texted in, the first IPTP was Latino, and what made him interesting was his general talkitiveness, despite the fact absolutely no one was listening. Plus he had those old-style sunglasses, the round ones, that are totally black. Tragically he got off pretty quickly.
The one I didn't text in was a Asian gentleman, between 50-80, dressed entirely in white, including hat and shoes, with a neat little goatee. He was one of the IPTP I wanted to talk with, if only to see if he could teach me karate so I could deal with a bully at my school. Perfectly quiet, really normal IPTP. I guess the "I" for him stands for "Intriguing".
The final IPTP was, as I said, the bus driver. We stopped at a stop, and I noticed a man sitting on the bench in a VTA shirt (VTA stands for Valley Transit Authority, whose bus I usually ride). The current driver got off, and he and VTA shirt talked for a bit, then VTA shirt started singing, not too badly, but certainly not good. He plopped himself down in the driver's seat, and off we went.
I noticed he was either a very experienced driver, or a very brash one, probably even a brashly experienced driver. Several times I saw the speed limit sign, and I knew we were going at least 10 mph over that. We were tootling along, and then I noticed one of the other passengers holding a $10 bill out to the people around him. Couldn't really hear, but then I hear the bus driver say over the intercom "Sir, we will stop at Starbucks, and you can get your change there." I didn't even know the buses had an intercom. So we stop, which is totally out of the norm for bus drivers, and we waited for a couple minutes, then he says "Forget it!", and then the guy comes running after the bus, and he let him on. Probably 20 minutes later, he picked up a large group of students, and after they sit down, he busts out another announcement. "Y'all need to have your money ready when we pull up. I have to wait while you get out your change, and that wastes a lot of time. There is even an announcer voice reminding you. (This is true) Its really rude, and I don't appreciate the attitude behind it." That's when I knew, this bus driver was a maverick. Perhaps he was a bus driver for John McCain. Moving along, and he comes over with an announcement that we would be stopping for a "courtesy stop, not an official stop, since I know how hard it is to get to Wal-Mart if you get off at Curtner" His last little tirade was against people who try to get off without pulling the cord. "If you don't pull the cord, I don't know you want to get off. I've been noticing a lot of this behavior too, and you people should know, I'm not physic." As we were coming into Morgan Hill, there is part of the route that doesn't have a lot of street signs, so it is harder to know which stop is the one you want. He solved this problem by announcing the name of every street we were about stop at. Nick had caught on to the fact that this driver was a cut above, so he started mocking the street announcing thing. I, unfortunatelly, had to shush him, because Nick has not mastered the concept of subtlety, so he was doing this as loud as possible. I wished I had been able to ride until the end of his route, just to if he did anything else.
This Saturday was the end of National Neighborhood some about beautification Week, and an event was held at the apartments, which we attended.It was marginally fun, I certainly enjoyed finishing, and seeing all the new growth around the complex. Lots of little plants, and flowers, all around. The planting of the flowers was just ok, but I did pick up on a Spanish phrase. "Is that the first flower you planted all day?" Darn proud of myself.
Today I picked up one of the kids we watch when we are housesitting, but I picked him up on my bike, so he rode on the seat and I peddled. He was really scared, but we didn't fall even once.
With the public school year ending, people keep asking me when my school year ends. It never really ends, which I like, because it discourages me disconnecting education from the rest of my life. Another reason I like doing school in the summertime, is because I can study outdoors, which is fun. Today I discovered the dark side of studying in natural light. I was laying on a blanket, reading Shakespeare, (Much Ado About Nothing), and suddenly I woke up, went inside, and realized I had taken about a 10 minute nap, accidentally. First time I fell asleep during school hours unintentionally. Might have been the Shakespeare.
The next post will be a collection of cool articles, music, videos, and sites that I have collected over a while.
That's it for now!
Enjoy!
The one I didn't text in was a Asian gentleman, between 50-80, dressed entirely in white, including hat and shoes, with a neat little goatee. He was one of the IPTP I wanted to talk with, if only to see if he could teach me karate so I could deal with a bully at my school. Perfectly quiet, really normal IPTP. I guess the "I" for him stands for "Intriguing".
The final IPTP was, as I said, the bus driver. We stopped at a stop, and I noticed a man sitting on the bench in a VTA shirt (VTA stands for Valley Transit Authority, whose bus I usually ride). The current driver got off, and he and VTA shirt talked for a bit, then VTA shirt started singing, not too badly, but certainly not good. He plopped himself down in the driver's seat, and off we went.
I noticed he was either a very experienced driver, or a very brash one, probably even a brashly experienced driver. Several times I saw the speed limit sign, and I knew we were going at least 10 mph over that. We were tootling along, and then I noticed one of the other passengers holding a $10 bill out to the people around him. Couldn't really hear, but then I hear the bus driver say over the intercom "Sir, we will stop at Starbucks, and you can get your change there." I didn't even know the buses had an intercom. So we stop, which is totally out of the norm for bus drivers, and we waited for a couple minutes, then he says "Forget it!", and then the guy comes running after the bus, and he let him on. Probably 20 minutes later, he picked up a large group of students, and after they sit down, he busts out another announcement. "Y'all need to have your money ready when we pull up. I have to wait while you get out your change, and that wastes a lot of time. There is even an announcer voice reminding you. (This is true) Its really rude, and I don't appreciate the attitude behind it." That's when I knew, this bus driver was a maverick. Perhaps he was a bus driver for John McCain. Moving along, and he comes over with an announcement that we would be stopping for a "courtesy stop, not an official stop, since I know how hard it is to get to Wal-Mart if you get off at Curtner" His last little tirade was against people who try to get off without pulling the cord. "If you don't pull the cord, I don't know you want to get off. I've been noticing a lot of this behavior too, and you people should know, I'm not physic." As we were coming into Morgan Hill, there is part of the route that doesn't have a lot of street signs, so it is harder to know which stop is the one you want. He solved this problem by announcing the name of every street we were about stop at. Nick had caught on to the fact that this driver was a cut above, so he started mocking the street announcing thing. I, unfortunatelly, had to shush him, because Nick has not mastered the concept of subtlety, so he was doing this as loud as possible. I wished I had been able to ride until the end of his route, just to if he did anything else.
This Saturday was the end of National Neighborhood some about beautification Week, and an event was held at the apartments, which we attended.It was marginally fun, I certainly enjoyed finishing, and seeing all the new growth around the complex. Lots of little plants, and flowers, all around. The planting of the flowers was just ok, but I did pick up on a Spanish phrase. "Is that the first flower you planted all day?" Darn proud of myself.
Today I picked up one of the kids we watch when we are housesitting, but I picked him up on my bike, so he rode on the seat and I peddled. He was really scared, but we didn't fall even once.
With the public school year ending, people keep asking me when my school year ends. It never really ends, which I like, because it discourages me disconnecting education from the rest of my life. Another reason I like doing school in the summertime, is because I can study outdoors, which is fun. Today I discovered the dark side of studying in natural light. I was laying on a blanket, reading Shakespeare, (Much Ado About Nothing), and suddenly I woke up, went inside, and realized I had taken about a 10 minute nap, accidentally. First time I fell asleep during school hours unintentionally. Might have been the Shakespeare.
The next post will be a collection of cool articles, music, videos, and sites that I have collected over a while.
That's it for now!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Minor League Baseball
I learned some interesting things about baseball games and everything that surrounds them. I'll start at the beginning.
I rode the bus up to San Jose, tragically, without much drama (though I am assembling some interesting observations on NPTP), and walked the .7 mile to the San Jose Municipal Stadium.
My group showed up, eventually, and we went inside. The group is some of the homeschoolers who graduated from 8th grade at the same ceremony as myself, and most of whom will be graduating from high school with me as well. Actually, the main organizer didn't come in right away, because he was waiting for one of the girls, who was bringing a bunch of people with her. I was sitting with Matt, who I walked off the stage with in 8th grade (we wanted to jump, but that got nay-sayed), and on the other side was some mother who I didn't know. Before we were even inside the building though, we saw at least one interesting person. There were other marginally interesting people, but one who was an obvious choice. This man was Caucasian, between 50-55, 5'10", with shoulder-length grayish-blonde hair. He was wear a purple tank-top that looked half a size too small, and cut-offs that suggested they were not designed for a person of his size. His tank top, which was really unflattering, showcased his strikingly hairy arms. I have pretty hairy arms, and even by my standard, this guy was hairy. He was also pushing a stroller, with nothing in it. My biggest question, why have a large stroller like that? It looked fairly new, and nice. This guy confused me.
Inside the stadium, once we got our seats, on the away team's side, we all rose for the National Anthem. This was, perhaps, the most disgusting National Anthem ever. The singing was nice, though a little echo-y, due to the warehouses around the stadium. One member of the Stockon Ports however, did not have proper respect for the Anthem. He was standing in the line of players, all facing the flag, and he had each of his hands firmly planted on one of his teammates' butt cheeks on either side of him. One of the them was just accepting the reality of the situation, while the other kept brushing the hand away. The guilty party seemed to be relishing his teammate's discomfort, because he ratched things up a notch, and started spanking them. When the Anthem, perhaps the longest one ever, finished, all three of the involved parties turned, red-faced, and one of the fans shouted something to them, and the guilty party gave him a little smile. My theory was that there was some kind of bet, but it was hard to tell. Hilarious, but really awkward, and a little innapropriate.
The game was ok, and it was great to talk with friends. It was interesting seeing how the population differed from a major league game. Less drunk people, more families. The drunk people were louder, and the families left earlier. I also accomplished a personal goal, I got on the Jumbo-tron. I happened to be wearing a sombrero at the time.
One more thing. I want to rave about In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. This book is, to some degree, a follow up to The Omnivore's Dilemma, just more practical. The concept I most enjoyed is the mystery of food, how we don't know what makes certain foods good for us. We, as partakers of nutritionism, try to find things in foods that are good for us, isolate them, and put them in other foods. When we eat it, we find out that particular nutrient doesn't do the same thing when it is isolated. I really like this idea, and really loved his concrete rules for eating. Eat food. Not a lot. Mostly plants.
I want to leave you with that.
Thanks for reading, good night!
I rode the bus up to San Jose, tragically, without much drama (though I am assembling some interesting observations on NPTP), and walked the .7 mile to the San Jose Municipal Stadium.
My group showed up, eventually, and we went inside. The group is some of the homeschoolers who graduated from 8th grade at the same ceremony as myself, and most of whom will be graduating from high school with me as well. Actually, the main organizer didn't come in right away, because he was waiting for one of the girls, who was bringing a bunch of people with her. I was sitting with Matt, who I walked off the stage with in 8th grade (we wanted to jump, but that got nay-sayed), and on the other side was some mother who I didn't know. Before we were even inside the building though, we saw at least one interesting person. There were other marginally interesting people, but one who was an obvious choice. This man was Caucasian, between 50-55, 5'10", with shoulder-length grayish-blonde hair. He was wear a purple tank-top that looked half a size too small, and cut-offs that suggested they were not designed for a person of his size. His tank top, which was really unflattering, showcased his strikingly hairy arms. I have pretty hairy arms, and even by my standard, this guy was hairy. He was also pushing a stroller, with nothing in it. My biggest question, why have a large stroller like that? It looked fairly new, and nice. This guy confused me.
Inside the stadium, once we got our seats, on the away team's side, we all rose for the National Anthem. This was, perhaps, the most disgusting National Anthem ever. The singing was nice, though a little echo-y, due to the warehouses around the stadium. One member of the Stockon Ports however, did not have proper respect for the Anthem. He was standing in the line of players, all facing the flag, and he had each of his hands firmly planted on one of his teammates' butt cheeks on either side of him. One of the them was just accepting the reality of the situation, while the other kept brushing the hand away. The guilty party seemed to be relishing his teammate's discomfort, because he ratched things up a notch, and started spanking them. When the Anthem, perhaps the longest one ever, finished, all three of the involved parties turned, red-faced, and one of the fans shouted something to them, and the guilty party gave him a little smile. My theory was that there was some kind of bet, but it was hard to tell. Hilarious, but really awkward, and a little innapropriate.
The game was ok, and it was great to talk with friends. It was interesting seeing how the population differed from a major league game. Less drunk people, more families. The drunk people were louder, and the families left earlier. I also accomplished a personal goal, I got on the Jumbo-tron. I happened to be wearing a sombrero at the time.
One more thing. I want to rave about In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. This book is, to some degree, a follow up to The Omnivore's Dilemma, just more practical. The concept I most enjoyed is the mystery of food, how we don't know what makes certain foods good for us. We, as partakers of nutritionism, try to find things in foods that are good for us, isolate them, and put them in other foods. When we eat it, we find out that particular nutrient doesn't do the same thing when it is isolated. I really like this idea, and really loved his concrete rules for eating. Eat food. Not a lot. Mostly plants.
I want to leave you with that.
Thanks for reading, good night!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Read This Post
Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I did clean up the last post, and you should read it. In fact.....here it is.
Caucasian, 40-45, white dress shirt, unbuttoned, with tatooes on his chest. Snatches of his conversation included "I ******* got up at 5:00 in the morning, went out 'zip' into the liquor store, got ******* plastered by 6:00, went back to the shelter (homeless shelter), went back to sleep, woke up at 7:00 something, there's ******* Sticks (nickname?) perched at the end of my ******* bed like a ******* gargoyle or some **** like that." "Sticks and I were out all night, and this ***** is totally strung out, we had such a fun time ******* with her head, she was going nuts."
Caucasian, 30-35, shorts and button-up short sleeve shirt, shopping bag from Trader Joe's.
The bag was a total give-away, the guy didn't belong on the bus, he wasn't comfortable. Didn't say a word, but it was that awkward not saying anything. The best part of this guy was his twitching. Not twitching like someone who can't help it, but like someone sitting uncomfortablly, trying his very hardest to get comfortable, then realizing that his new position is even more uncomfortable than the previous. I felt bad for the guy, but at the same time, don't ride the bus if you that uncomfortable with it.
A group of 3 people, who all seemed to know each other. Discussions of work, kids, spouses, all of which gave the impression of fairly intimate knowledge. My question was, do they know each other from outside the bus, or is this strictly a transit friendship?
What is it about riding the bus that makes people talk to each other? Is it the proximity to people for a fairly long amount of time? I saw a grandfatherly looking man talking with a 2 1/2 year old, who was not his for at least 30 minutes, then a woman about his age sat down next to him, and then they talked for at least 30 minutes. Is it a probability thing, the amount of people who are inclined to talk are more likely to ride the bus, so the proportion is thrown off? Hard to tell, there certainly are plenty of people who don't talk. Is it a negative filter? I only notice the anomalies in the system, I certainly don't write about people sitting calmly on the bus, keeping to themselves.
I was waiting at a transit center for a bus driver to get off his break, and there was a decent sized group there, also waiting. Then this man comes staggering up, pretty obviously drunk, and knocks on the bus door. He begins talking, presumably to the driver. But the driver is not inside the bus. He must have talked to this invisible driver for 15 minutes, and I was able to understand some of it, not exactly worth repeating. A lot of what he had to say was some combination of English, Spainish, and absolute nonsense. Pretty amazing. Another man walked across the parking lot, talking loudly. I thought he might have been on a Bluetooth. Maybe he was on something else. This guy kept talking, and I couldn't see a earpiece, and realized that he wasn't having a dialouge, but instead, some kind of monologue with an internal audience. Some of my favorite lines follow. "I know what the fools want, and I got it!" "They got the paperwork, and I got the money. I want the paperwork, and they want the money. All I need to do is get the ******* to listen to me." "I'm the protector, and they have to go through me, no matter what they try to do, they have to go through me." And my personal favorite......."What *****?!?" What makes this so hilarious is the context. This guy is standing in the middle of a parking lot, and then just shouts this, at the top of his lungs, he hadn't been talking, just standing there, pacing for a couple of minutes after finishing a good rant. Totally out of the blue.
.
This next guy was on a totally different scale from almost everybody. I'm pretty sure he is fairly intelligent, in good mental health, just choosing to live in a way that is hard to swallow. He was Hispanic, 30-40, wearing a 49'ers jersey, shaved head. What he was saying was so amazing, that I had to write down quotes on some paper I had with me. "If the ******* cops show up, there better not be any crack or any other **** like that around." "Did you hear about that MOB kid that got ******* up? Yeah, John and Victor's kid. Somebody knifed him. There's gonna be some major **** going down, and I thought you should ******* know. I'll send you a picture." "I'm still waiting to hear from Housing. I just went over there yesterday to change my status to 'Homeless'. The ******* clerk said it will go faster like that. Lying *****." "You better get your Negro working then! He just sits around all ******* day, on his ******* fat ***, just talking ****. Not even ******* trying to find something to do that brings in some ******* money." 'Nuff said.
This is written on Friday, riding back from Monterey. Sitting 4 feet away from me is a guy who is tied for best bus outfit ever. The previous champion was the guy with the "World Peace Through Marijuana" shirt. This guy has an entire outfit though. Fedora, Purple dress shirt. Kind of a shiny Barney purple. Electric blue tie, coat,and pants. Oversized coat, with shoulder pads. Amazingly shiny black dress shoes. Sunglasses hanging out of his coat chest pocket. A large necklace, with what looks like an axe for the charm. Perfectly manicured nails, 3:45 shadow, brushed back long, black hair. I shall call this guy, 40's Disco Guy.
Over the next couple weeks I will be collecting observations about the dynamic on buses, and the non-interesting people, and coming back with those. Those people will be called NPTP (Normal Public Transit People)
By the way. Just because you see me frequently, or talk to me, doesn't mean you can't leave a comment. All of you should be leaving a comment. Or two. Whatever you feel like.
That's it. Thanks for reading.
Sorry about forgetting to bleep all the language. I kinda forgot what was in here. Whoops
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