Disneyland (and such)

Two days ago, my family left Morgan Hill and our house, and drove all the way to Los Angeles, and went to Disneyland. What follows is the events of these past 2 days.

We woke up early Tuesday morning, which was quite a task for us (I hate mornings), and started driving. The drive was fairly ordinary, lots of cars, and road. I mostly read and did some school.

Upon finally arriving in L.A. (San Dimas really) we ate lunch with our friends, with whom we would be staying, at In-n-Out. After lunch, which was great, we unloaded our stuff, and spent most of the rest of the day just hanging around the house, we played a game of basketball (plus a bit of hockey, thanks to Al's body checks), and just had fun. Breakfast Wednesday was a good nutritious start to an amazing day.

My tweets recorded the actual events, but there were a few things that I wanted to blog about that were particularly fun or memorable. The wait times for the rides were nuts! The longest wait the whole time was for Peter Pan , and that was only 20 minutes!! Dad, Alex, Nick, and I rode Astro Orbiter, which is a 2 person circular ride with optional up and down motion. Alex and I had to ride together, and Alex was driving. As soon as we sat down, I felt that Al was crushing my leg, and so the whole ride I am yelling "Al, get off my leg! Go up, go up, get off, get off my leg!"Alex refused to go up high enough to counter the centrifugal force, so I got crushed the whole time.

Another fun thing was right after I went on Winnie-the-Pooh with everyone but Mom and Dad (who were riding Indiana Jones). It was about 7:00 and a little dark, and getting cold, and I was over by Splash Mountain, and saw that the listed wait time was 5 minutes! So I started walking through the lines behind 3 other kids, all about my age, and we walked up to the front of the line, and the lady asked "How many? 3 and 1? Would you mind riding with them? No? Okay, there's your log." No waiting, just right into the log, and off we go! While we were riding around the lame story part of the ride, one of the guys handed my a newspaper section with the instructions to read it for the picture part of the ride. The pictures were hilarious! I went twice, and the second time we just switched to the empty log that was ahead of us. That few people were riding!

Last funny thing, that I will talk about, there were plenty of fun and funny things, involved one of the costumed characters. Mom saw Hook, and sent Mandy, Nick, and I off to go get pictures with him, and he was very funny, without saying anything. He was teasing a mother and her two children, and when she asked him for an autograph she called him "Mr Hook". I asked if she knew his full name (I knew because I loved the movie "Hook") and informed her that it was James T. Hook. He offered his hand in gratitude, and to tease the lady.

Right now we are still at our friend's house, and will be leaving later tommorow.
This trip was great fun, not just parts but all of the trip.
Good night!

A Few Quick Things

No, this will not be a full post, and yes, I'm sorry that I haven't posted for bit.

The first thing to point out is the poll, which asks what you want me to blog about. (The last option is a joke more than anything, I know you all love it!)

The second thing is the Twitter feed, which I will only use for the next 3 days. The purpose of Twitter is to document my family's Disneyland trip, without having to rely on my memory (faulty) or blogging every hour (irritating). Check the feed early and often, I will be putting something up frequently.

That's all I have for now!

Good Eatin'

Yes, there have been more important things happening lately than food. I heard something about a president....I'm sure things will be fine. This is actually my second attempt at this post, the first one was not saved, and my browser shut down on me. As the title suggests, most of this post will be about food.

First though, I must talk about one of the best IPTP in recent days. I was waiting at the bus stop for the driver to return from his break, which he was taking his time with, and sitting there was a man. Neck-length, straight gray hair, worn jeans, 1-year old tennis shoes, non-descript shirt, with black windbreaker on top. He eventually added a portable FM radio to the mix, with headphones. The man remarked "Two more ******* days man, then ******* Bush is out!" Since no one else was at the stop, I guessed he was talking to me. Our conversation eventually touched on the difference between wilful wrongdoing and accidental mistakes, Vietnam, the mil-indust complex, post-tramatic stress disorder (PTSD), the treatment of veterans both by health providers, and society in general, and the cost of war. While a vulgar, and sometimes one-sided conversation, it made me wish that the bus driver wold have taken more time with his break. I'm not looking forward to the day when my generation is the one with the stories to tell.

Speaking of my generation, and our stories. I was wondering with Mom what will be the legacices of the Generation Y. What do you think?? What will we be telling our kids and grandkids about?

Now! On to the food! My first version of this post just touched on two good meals recently, but throughout the day, I kept thinking of more generic meals I love, and decided that some good food was the one thing my blog desperately needed. Let's begin!

Breakfast, one of my 5 favorite meals of the day. A good breakfast is at 10ish, and is precluded by a small snack, probably a bowl of cereal. Recently I made cinnamon rolls, which were yummy, but the most enjoyable part of the meal was the smell. Better than any coffee. More great breakfasts. Extremely early in the morning, with lots protein and fiber, not a lot of taste, and strong black coffee, followed by hard work. While camping, I wake up first, (usually by having my cell phone which is sitting in the mesh net in the middle of tent fall on my head) go shower, make and drink coffee (unless at Big Sur, in which case I run to the shop and get it there), start the fire, and begin with my camping dish. Take enough eggs to feed everyone, begin to scramble, once the eggs have stopped running, add rice and chopped ham, continue to scramble, once fully scrambled, sprinkle cheese on top and cover, once the cheese is fully melted, cut into portions and serve. YUM! Pancakes and waffles are good too, pancakes are great when they are fresh off the griddle. I love hashbrowns for breakfast but rarely have them, due to the amount of work required. I must say, IHOP, while border-line revolting in the amount sugar in most of their food, has really good hashbrowns.

Lunch......
Lunch and dinner are considered interchangable, because the food is similar, but not indentical. I like sandwhiches and salads for lunch. Panera, a great regional bakery, serves a great salad/sandwich combo. I personally like the Greek salad and Italian sandwich. The salad has Kalamata olives, Feta cheese, peppericinos, and a great oil and vinegar dresssing. The sandwich has peppericinos, salami, lettuce, mystery spread, tomatoes, and cheese. (I never paused long enough to identify the cheese) That meal is for dignified conversation (usually), the next meal is for having fun, being crazy with family or friends. BLT's! 'Nuff said! Last lunch meal has a required prequel to be fully enjoyed. Hard work, in uncomfortable conditions, (mud, wind, dirt, rain, sun, snow, cold, heat, etc.) without conversation, followed by an authentic meal of tacos, with salsa and limon. My favorite place to eat this meal is a great little local chain called "Super Taqueria". Very authentic, filling, tasteful, relatively inexpensive food.

Dinner.
I like dinner....
Old Spaghetti Factory! I love that place! Mostly Californian chain, with great 1920's decor, and amazing food. My favorite entree is salad, spaghetti with meatballs, a sausage, and eternal bread (bottomless or endless doesn't do it justice). On the topic of Italian food, I vaugely remember a hilarious place in Portland, OR, where I used to live. (I was 8, so memory is a bit fuzzy.) Outside the resturant was a water feature, made up of 20 spouts, which would go off in a "rythmic" fashion. Once inside a plate of bread and roasted elephant garlic (must try it!) would be served upon seating, and along with the garlic would be crayons, but not just for the kids. Everyone, age regardless would color on the table, sometimes even writing out their order. I just remember having a lot of fun with that. I really want to go back to reminisce.

Meals have very vivid memories associated with them for me, or very vivid emotions or sensations. I love eating, it can be a time of conversation and pleasure, or just a time of refueling needed nutrients. Speaking of meals, time for dinner. We are trying a new tradition, once-weekly "reading dinner" in which reading and coloring are allowed at the table.

Until next time.

Solutions from the Green Economy

Got this article from an email list, with the instruction to put it on my blog, with the enticement of being back-linked. I thought, "ok, just put it up, and get backlinked", but once I read it, I knew I had to add some comments to what is on here. My comments will be in blue.


Solutions from the Green Economy
January 15, 2008
Everyone now understands that the economy is broken.
While many name the mortgage and credit-default-swap crises as culprits, they are only the most recent indicators of an economy with fatal design flaws. Our economy has long been based on what economist Herman Daly calls “uneconomic growth” where increases in the GDP come at an expense in resources and well-being that is worth more than the goods and services provided.  When GNP growth exacerbates social and environmental problems—from sweatshop labor to manufacturing toxic chemicals—every dollar of GNP growth reduces well-being for people and the planet, and we’re all worse off. Not only is this true for the U.S., but even more keenly felt in other nations where the employment options are less diverse, and the government is less reserved about ravaging the land for natural resources.
 
Our fatally flawed economy creates economic injustice, poverty, and environmental crises. It doesn’t have to be that way. We can create a green economy: one that serves people and the planet and offers antidotes to the current breakdown. The "new economy" also needs to have an eye towards sustainability, and developing industries that are do not need to worry about depleting the resources they need.
 
Here are six green-economy solutions to today’s economic mess.

1. Green Energy—Green Jobs
A crucial starting place to rejuvenate our economy is to focus on energy. It’s time to call in the superheroes of the green energy revolution—energy efficiency, solar and wind power, and plug-in hybrids—and put their synergies to work with rapid, large-scale deployment. This is a powerful way to jumpstart the economy, spur job creation (with jobs that can’t be outsourced), declare energy independence, and claim victory over the climate crisis.  Yes, this is a huge goal, and very undefined as of now, but will become more refined and palpable. Besides the environmental incentives, a major economic incentive is to free the nation to develop further, without worrying about the constraints of energy.

2. Clean Energy Victory Bonds
How are we going to pay for this green energy revolution? We at Green America propose Clean Energy Victory Bonds. Modeled after victory bonds in World War II, Americans would buy these bonds from the federal government to invest in large-scale deployment of green energy projects, with particular emphasis in low-income communities hardest hit by the broken economy. These would be long-term bonds, paying an annual interest rate, based in part on the energy and energy savings that the bonds generate. During WWII, 85 million Americans bought over $185 billion in bonds—that would be almost $2 trillion in today’s dollars.
This idea is.....intriguing, considering the current state of the economy and the market's love of steady bonds, regardless of return.
 
3. Reduce, Reuse, Rethink
Living lightly on the Earth, saving resources and money, and sharing (jobs, property, ideas, and opportunities) are crucial principles for restructuring our economy. This economic breakdown is, in part, due to living beyond our means—as a nation and as individuals. With the enormous national and consumer debt weighing us down, we won’t be able to spend our way out of this economic problem. Ultimately, we need an economy that’s not dependent on unsustainable growth and consumerism. So it’s time to rethink our over-consumptive lifestyles, and turn to the principles of elegant simplicity, such as planting gardens, conserving energy, and working cooperatively with our neighbors to share resources and build resilient communities. This goal is more on the part of citizens, requires sacrifice and self-denial.

4. Go Green and Local
When we do buy, it is essential that those purchases benefit the green and local economy—so that every dollar helps solve social and environmental problems, not create them. Our spending choices matter. We can support our local communities by moving dollars away from conventional agribusiness and big-box stores and toward supporting local workers, businesses, and organic farmers. Many areas would find this hard to do, without a farmers market or CSA (community supported agriculture).

5. Community Investing
All over the country, community investing banks, credit unions, and loan funds that serve hard-hit communities are strong, while the biggest banks required bailouts. The basic principles of community investing keep such institutions strong: Lenders and borrowers know each other. Lenders invest in the success of their borrowers—with training and technical assistance along with loans. And the people who provide the capital to the lenders expect reasonable, not speculative, returns. If all banks followed these principles, the economy wouldn’t be in the mess it’s in today. This one is pure pipedream. Community investing is usable on small scale, but for a nation, a national lending system is needed, but with more transparency.

6. Shareowner Activism
When you own stock, you have the right and responsibility to advise management to clean up its act. Had GM listened to shareholders warning that relying on SUVs would be its downfall, it would have invested in greener technologies, and would not have needed a bailout. Had CitiGroup listened to its shareowners, it would have avoided the faulty mortgage practices that brought it to its knees. Engaged shareholders are key to reforming conventional companies for the transition to this new economy – the green economy that we are building together.Unless a major stockholder attempts to influence company policy, shareowner activism is nearly impossible.
It’s time to move from greed to green. Who says greed can't motivate green??
--Alisa Gravitz

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Of all my posts, this one has the highest concentration of fun events, which is a great thing.

The MBA was great, albeit quiet. Either Friday 2nd got used to the craziness of the holidays, or guest traffic to the MBA has really slowed down. Perhaps a little of both. The experience of the MBA can be very different from day-to-day, and never exactly the same. There are days that are similar, but never identical. The interesting event of this week was not actually out on the fllor, but in the guide lounge.

My shift is a self-proclaimed shift of mavericks, wackos, rebels, and grumps. I love it! There is a resistance to the mainstream MBA way of doing things, and a desire to change things for the better in how things work. Two of my shift members, Harry and Tobie, as well as an ex-member of the shift, Juliette, had a great discussion/venting session about problems that the MBA has, and how they can fix those problems. Amazing, just astounding to hear these minds.

My bus ride was fairly action-packed. When I arrived at the bus stop, there were 3 other bike already there, owned by 3 college-aged men in a group. The bus can only hold 2 bikes on the rack provided for bikes. Myself and one of the college kids ended up sitting on the bus, holding our bikes in place, with our hands, the whole trip. Slight soreness of the arms was experienced, but aside from that, no problems.

Friday night was the River youth lock-in, which I did not attend. But Dad and I were there until about 11:50, and we had tons of fun. First was mini-golf, which was hilarious! I was awful, not one hole in one, and many 7's, which is the worst possible. Amazingly enough, losing was not such a big deal, because the other members of my group were hilarious. Big thanks to Jose, Dad, and Kyle for being great fun! After mini-golf, the whole group which numbered perhaps 10 or 11, plus 6 or 7 adults. At the ministry center we played games. My personal favorite used nerf balls from Dollar Tree as ammo for a chaotic game of ball tag, but without anyone being "it", just throwing the ball at whoever. So fun!!! A multitude of great shots, head shots, face shots, jumping-up-in-the-air shots, everyone-throwing-at-one-person-at-the-same-time shots, and my personal favorite, laughing-so-hard-that-you-aim-at-one-person-and-hit-someone-else shots. Tragically, we were missing a key element of our group. Jesse, broke his ankle the day of the event, and as of last notice needed minor surgery if all went well.

After sleeping about 5 hours, I woke up to get ready for the SOC oceanography cruise. The cruise was delightful! The weather was amazingly good, almost summer-like. Last time I went on a SOC cruise the weather fell right between awful and plague-like, so this trip was delightful. Add in the fact that we saw at least 5 gray whales coming up for air, going back down, repeat, the trip was pretty fun.

My cool thing of this weekend was finding out that I will be involved with SOC next year, and hopefully the year after, but not as an Ambassador, but as an intern, making a documentary about SOC, which will be awesome! Thanks to Jefferey for making things happen!!!

SHARKS BEAT RED WINGS!!!!

This weekend has been a great weekend, a lot, lot of fun.
Thanks to those who semi-contendedly stayed at home!

My other cool thing is Gmail stickers, which show me shortcuts in my Gmail, as well as brand me a Gmail user.

Good night!

(And It Feels So Good!)

Yes, you are seeing things, that picture is a compilation of ingredients for cinnamon rolls, which I made last night. The second picture is the finished (unbaked) product. I love baking, actually I love cooking, it is so much work with such a tangabile reward. I had an extra good breakfast this morning, but more of the pleasure was in the making. Measuring all the ingredients, mixing (OK, I used the power mixer), rolling out the dough, cutting the dough into rolls. I felt so connected to other people who have done the same thing, perhaps with different tools, or ingredients, but with the same result: food. Not many male teenagers cook, or cook willingly, but I love it. No one mocks a man who can make great meal! Next project is hashbrowns!!




The second set of pictures was on my camera when I took the cinnamon pics. No, there was not dust on the lens, no I was not trying to take a picture of something else, no there is nothing odd about taking pictures of clouds and sky. I find the sky so amazingly unfathomable. There is something inspiring and terrifying about seeing clouds that are nothing and hundreds of feet tall at the same time. I like clouds, and ptthb! at those people who mock my building clouds in the clouds.

I just got off my transfer bus to the MBA, and the trip reminded my that I have a great IPTP, but this time the second P stands for People. Two people got on the bus (68 southbound VTA) both with HUGE backpacks, dressed in rather tough-looking leather, very thick, harsh, clothes. One of them had a dog (cute little thing) which was a service dog for agoraphobia. (Fear of crowds) Listening to these men talk to a woman who struck up a conversation with them, I gathered they were hobos. Inspired by John Hodgeman, I shall call them Peter Crowdfearer and Mark Who Hasnowheelsonhiskateboard. Peter said that he had been traveling the US on trains, buses, hitchhking, and walking for 4 years.  Mark had been traveling for about 2 years. These men were so interesting, not just for the smell, but also the backpacks, dog, tattoos (one on the face!) and total lack of identity.


Why I was reminded of those interesting people was because of the interesting people on my transfer. From what I could gather, a handicapped group, and their normal helpers were taking a trip, and they all piled on the bus. All 10 kids and 3 adults. The bus is not very big, think....Ford F-450, with seats instead of cargo space. Now add 10 handicapped kids, one in a wheelchair, and all the regulars, total is about 25ish people on this little bus. Pretty fun eh?

Well, time to eat. Then I need to change for shift, uniform is navy shirt, khaki pants, blue apron.

The Doldrums

When I got my shots required to travel to Liberia, I heard some small print at the end of Nurse Jane's spiel, most of it old news. "Arms will blah blah blah for a couple days, take off blah blah blah, in order to blah blah soreness be sure to blah blah blah, blah blah blah flu-like symptoms, not a blah blah." WAIT! Flu-like symptoms?? From what? Turns out yellow fever immunization can cause flu-like symptoms 5-10 days after the injection. I know this to be true, because the past two days I have been experiencing those blah blah blah. No vomiting, no contagiousness, but plenty soreness, tiredness, and this hilarious stomach twitch.

Since most of my time has been spent in the mental equivalent of a San Francisco fog, I don't have much to talk about, things have been either forgetable, or I just forgot anyway.

My one thing is something called "Intelligence Squared". Hosted and organized by National Public Radio, 4 guests come on, all experts in the topic, which changes every time. The one I just heard had the topic of "George W. Bush Is the Worst President in the Last 50 years". A stimulating 50-odd minutes, but the most striking thing was how any discussion on such topics, such broadly sweeping discussions, no matter how organized, swing through the areas of ethics, economics, logic, history, and other diverse fields. In case you wonder, more people were persuaded that Bush is not the worst president of the last 50 years.

That's all I have for now. Back to being a slug-a-bed!

Variety Show

What seems like an eternity ago, but was really just Saturday morning, I woke up to what would be a crazy weekend. This weekend was a collage of people from different walks of life, different socio-economic sections, different generations, different mindsets. It was lovely, I love diversity!

Saturday evening was spent at the Luke 14 party. A Luke 14 party is a party in which a house is opened up to homeless people, dinner is shared, and time is spent with what our society views as "undesirables".  This party was hosted and organized by a River small group which my family is part of.  The attendance was unprecedented, both for the guests and the hosts. There were 11 hosts and 22 guests, and 6 of the hosts were under the age of 10. I felt like my role was more by-stander and observer, and not so much converser and connector. This was not too surprising to me, because I am not the most immediately outgoing person. Alex had several buddies by the end of the night, and the guests were asking what my name was. The things I noticed and heard and saw and wondered about were many and confusing.

Many of the guests were middle-aged, I think only 3 or 4 were under 30. My big question was "How did they come to be here? What was the life story that brought them to this place?". Hearing some of the guests talk, they were not always homeless, and at least 3 were from different states. One was from Ohio, one was from Texas, and one from Minnesota (or somewhere around there). 
There are two class of homeless, in my opinion, those who you would expect to become homeless. The mentally handicapped, those from poor homes, disadvantaged neighborhoods, and opressive circumstances. The other group are those who ware slightly surprising, they are ambitious, learning languages, taking college classes, and showing a general intelligence on par with the rest of society. How can we understand those two groups? What drives either of them to homelessness? What can be done to prevent their becoming homeless?
I spend enough time out and about that I have talked to a few homeless people, and the one thing I noticed they all had/have in common is a desire for relationships with "normal people", wanting to talk, about anything, and a willingness to share a whole life story with little prodding.

END SATURDAY!
BEGIN SUNDAY!

Church at the River is always a bit different, any expectations or preconceptions based on previous experiences are usally thrown out the window. Youth group was fairly distracted this week, with minimal discussion, minimal interaction, and a lot of non sequiters. I admit, with my youth group there is a lot of potential for such a lesson. After class the small groups met, after eating lunch at Pizza My Heart. (Great Cali place) The young men (that's right, we are not "boys") met at the ministry center/church offices. The "topic" was How Can A Loving God Let People Go To Hell?, and we did discuss that, but we also discussed lots of other great stuff. Personal highlights: hearing two brothers discuss the ethics of killing, hearing everyone get in on a discussion of sin, and if all sin is equal, and why. After the great discussion, I played 3 games of foosball (3 wins, 0 losses), and then everyone began milling around aimlessly, as we all do sometimes. In my wanderings, I found 4 of those little beanbags covered with plastic sports ball covers, and threw one of them at Jesse. Fast-forward 3 minutes and Matthew and Jesse are sneaking up the stairs each with a ball at the ready, waiting for me to pop out and just peg them. (Kyle, I think if we got some of those Nerf balls of similar size, that would be a hecka fun game for the lock-in!) We must have played for 15-20 minutes, and for some reasons beyond my comprehension Jesse and Matthew, who were on a team, were scared of my, who had no back-up. Age has its benefits!

Tonight long-time family friends came over for dinner. We have known them since I was 1ish, so a long time. At the end of this year my family will be going to Disneyland for one day as part of a handicapped thing. (Thanks Al!) Our friends are lovers of Disneyland, they must go at least 3 times a year, and they know people who work there, and they know all the little secret cool things. As they were helping us plan what rides to go on at what time, I had a small eureka moment. The way they feel about Disneyland is how I feel about the MBA, I want to share all the stories, and the little secret cool things, and show everyone around. Passions are such interesting things!

Just for an overview, I spent some time with strangers from one of the most disadvantaged populations in the U.S., then time with friends from my generation, then time with well-off long-time friends. Tommorow, I know holds no such diversity, just cleaning.

Since I said that I would include more pictures, I chose my favorite pic of me, a pic of my favorite place (the MBA), my favorite pic that I took, and my favorite piece of art.

The reason that this post is coming now instead of last night is that I was baby-sitting last night, and was too tired to assemble a post that sounded like it was written by a person. The baby-sitting itself was pretty fun, the highlight being once everyone was winding down for the night, the youngest, aged 2, and myself in the kitchen doing the dishes and listening to U2. The little one was bobbing his head and singing along. If 10 years from now he has a love of anthemic rock with morally high-minded lyrics, I'll know why.

Going back to one of my pictures, I want to talk about the MBA, and in particular the Friday 2nd volunteer guide shift. The volunteers at the MBA are orgainized into 3 shifts per day the 1st from opening to 12:00, the 2nd from 12:00 to 3:30, and the 3rd from 3:30 till closing. I am on the 2nd shift, the best shift all week! My bus down to Monterey has me arrive at 10:00, and the shift meeting starts at 11:30, so I hang out in the guide lounge reading, eating lunch, etc. Once the rest of the shift arrives we begin working on our schedules which decides who will work at which station when.

The organization of the shift schedule is totally thanks to Tobie, one of the shift captains. There are six rotations (on my shift at least) in the MBA which volunteer guides work: 1-Marine Mammal Cart, Greet, Rove (which means wandering around talking to people), 2-Kelp Touch Pool (R), Rove, 3-Aviary, Rove, 4-Touch Pool, Rove, 5-Seafood Watch, Under A Lens, Rove, 6-Kelp Touch Pool, Rove. There are six teams on my shift (named after sea stars). The 1st team starts on station 1, the 2nd on station 2, etc. then after spending 30 minutes at that station, moves on to the next station. This ensures that every team works at every station, it is up to the members of the team to decide who works at Under A Lens, Seafood Watch, and who roves. That sums up the basic explaination of the Friday 2nd shift.

I recently finished a really interesting book called The Big Necessity. I was loaned it by one of my shiftmates. The whole book was about human waste, and how it is dealt with around the world. Much of the book focused on people without sanitation, and the many harms that can arise from such a situation, and the difficulties to overcoming that situation. Aside from the depression of that, the most striking chapter dealt with how some sewage is spread on fields as fertilizer, and how that affects the neighboring people, and other organisms. If just having sewage spread near people can be harmful, what would the effects be of eating food treated with that sewage?

Looking forward to a Luke 14 party tonight. I'll explain what that is, and how it goes/went tomorrow.

Community

I live in a low-income apartment complex, and this means a few things. All of my neighbors quailify as "low-income" for the amount of people in their household, and a majority of my neighbors are Hispanic. My family has lived here for 3 years, and I would say that the experience has shaped me in a way that few other times have. I can name nearly all the kids within 5 years of me that live in the complex, or at least the ones that play sports. Due to the communal nature of apartment life, a few things happen that are very interesting. I can walk around the complex and smell who is cooking and who is smoking something, I can knock on 4 doors and have a football game going, I can open the door to find a neighbor bringing tameles (YUM!), or sopa, or produce, I can open the door to find a neighbor asking for help moving a couch he was given by his neighbor up to his place. (By up, I actually mean up a flight of stairs) I love my community, dysfunctional and disadvantaged it may be.  I can see kids my age bound for gangs, kids victim of their circumstances, and kids trying their hardest to break the vicious cycle of poverty, disenfranchisment, and poor education.

All of that to say, I played football tonight, last night too, but tonight was really fun. I played with Alex, Justin, Fidel, Dominick, and Pedro. Pedro is the newcomer to the group, everyone else has lived here for at least 3 years, he moved in along with the rest of his family 6 months ago. As I was playing, it struck me how much the fun of playing is about being part of the community, making jokes, pushing, trashtalking, all that guy stuff. The actual playing is fun, but not the wholeness of fun.

Having played football for two nights in a row, and excercising last night, my body, particularly my legs, are very sore. I love that feeling of crawling into bed, and aching. It is such a vital feeling, such an awareness of being.

I did not excercise tonight, because I got my immunizations for my trip to Liberia, and my left arm is pretty sore. Tetenus is a pretty serious shot, it can really hurt. I imagine all of you have gotten tetnus shots, and you know what it can feel like afterwards. Thanks to Jane the Travel Nurse for doing a great job, I barely felt the needles. I found out that the maleria drugs I will need to take can cause "vivid dreams" in 25% of the population. I totally hope I get "vivid dreams"!

Well, MBA in the morning, I need my brain sleep.

More later!

Catching Up

Every once in a while my life gets really busy, which is great for me, because I love to be doing things, but without downtime to blog, you readers don't get to hear about all the cool stuff I'm doing.

Before I forget...Happy New Year!!

Bringing an end to 2008 was a great experience, I attended a youth conference in San Jose, thanks to Korean Baptist Church of San Jose!! One of the volunteers with my youth group at the River attended KBC, and was able to hook myself, and one other of the River youth, Kassy, up with hotel rooms and everything. I became part of the KBC group, which was really fun. The conference was "Tsunami" and the theme was Phillipians 4:12. The speakers were Will Snipes and Chris Simning, music was provided by Charlie Hall Band, Addison Road, and KUTLESS! All the bands were pretty cool, the talks were typical youth conference fare. "God is more than enough, once you trust him". There is nothing wrong with that, but I was hoping for more. The best part about the conference I would say was hanging out with the other kids.

The conference lasted 2 1/2 days, ending on the 31st. While at the conference, I went to sleep between 1:30 and 2:30, and got up at 7:15. To celebrate New Year's Eve, my youth group had a party. A small party. A party of eight. That phrase is typically applied to groups of people going out to eat, not New Year's Eve partys. The highlight was the discovery that those little fireworks that you throw and then they pop can pop on body parts. Elbows and knuckles are ideal.

The Liberia trip is looking interesting. Plans changed, in the middle of a meeting about the trip (thank you wonder of technology!). One voicemail and SHAZAM! the event will be held  in a suburb of Monrovia, the capital city. Jacob's Town, here we come!

I love running. As part of my New Year, I totally redid the schedule I wasn't using, and included time for blogging and excercising. By excercising I mean running to a local trail, running the trail, doing some push-ups/sit-ups and running home. But there is something invigorating about running, a simplicty that cannot be found in many other places. Oh yeah, I run at night, so everything is dark and cold and wet.

Now a bit for you, dear readers. I realized that I write what I think is important, if I mention something in passing you think would be cool to hear more about, leave me a comment. I will also start posting pictures (not of me) but just things I see that I think are cool. I think first some art.

Good Night!