Becky, Me, Jonathan (our Regional Director) and Ricardo at the Disney Store in Downtown Disney. (Yeah, I know.)
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Team Lego
Team LA smiling with the sleeping/snoring Lego man in Downtown Disney. Interesting fact: playing with Legos is one of Tyler's secret passions. (No, seriously.)
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Area 19
Our beloved Area on our last nite of Early Bird in San Francisco -- members of San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles teams.
Team LA
A nice family portrait of our (finally complete) LA team at the Golden Gate Bridge -- Ricardo, Becky, Me, Tyler.
Friday, June 10, 2005
It Never Rains in Southern California. . .
We left San Francisco Wednesday on a cold, rainy morning; arrived to a balmy, sunny Los Angeles afternoon.
It was great to be back in the City, and surprisingly great to hang out with our Area. We have all gotten pretty tight and it was fun having a staff of 13 and only 14 youth. The first two days of programming went amazingly well; since I'm alumni, I got to be on the acting team, which meant doing Club, leading meals, and getting to go out in the community with the kids. They were a fantastic group -- quite young, some only going into 8th grade -- but by last night they had all opened up, loosened up, and grown up quite a bit. It was cool to see that change in them, and it got me excited about hanging with 8 more groups of high schoolers this summer.
I got to go to the Food Program both Monday and Tuesday. Walked into the office Monday morning to see Dean and Seamus sitting at the table! I thought they were both gone for good, since I didn't see either of them last summer and Judy was weird about their whereabouts. Turns out they went on a 7-month bike trip to Northern California on the advice of some guy who told them about a great town -- but Dean said when they got there, they realized it was "the armpit of California." So they put Mijah back in her basket, hopped back on their bikes, and came home to the Haight. But anyway, it was great to see them; they told me they'd get me a job at the Food Program and said they were happy I was thinking about coming out there for good, since they tried, unsuccessfully, to kidnap me before. I talked with Judy a bunch -- she's still wonderful Judy -- and hung out with Keith on Tuesday, trying to do damage control on both sides for a group of youth and adult leaders that just weren't getting it. I don't know if YW is going to continue to work at the Program -- it takes a lot of effort to make that place work for us, and it can cause many headaches. But if a group does get it, and they usually end up getting it, it is an amazing place for them to be. I also realized that not being in San Francisco again with YW was absolutely the right decision for me this summer. I got really ticked when the group wasn't enjoying the Haight -- I took it personally, that they weren't even giving it a chance -- this place that has meant so much to me, has changed my life, has changed so many lives. They said they didn't feel like they were doing anything to serve, and I'm like, who are you to judge what service is? If they would sit on the perimiter of that dining room for 10 minutes, they would get more out of it than if they worked for 10 days at any other "urban ministry." So I don't know, we'll see what Ross and Carissa decide to do, since it's their show this year. I was happy to be there for a few days, and solidify (as if I need to) the feeling that San Francisco is a place where I need to be.
So now we're back, with a few days to detox and get settled before our first group comes. I feel ready. We're a complete team -- we picked up Becky from SFO Friday, and she's great. She's 24, teaches ESL at an elementary school in Fort Collins, did YW in West Virginia two years ago, and is an incredible guitar player -- we're both excited to play together a lot this summer. And, in this small YW world, we realized that we both went to the same site, the same summer (Welch, WV, 1999) for our first YW trip. I'm happy to be sharing a 15x20 room with her for the next 2 months. Nadine is coming here Friday to help us finish everything up, and will be here for our whole first week, which will be fun.
One thing I really love so far about LA is the weather. In the mornings it is always dreary and smoggy. Then it gets crazy hot during the day, sunny and gorgeous. Then at night, it cools down so you need to take a sweatshirt if you go anywhere. It's pretty much perfect.
I finally got down to Skid Row last week before we left for San Francisco. I was floored, to say the least. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen -- whole blocks packed with people, blocks lined on both sidewalks with tent after tent set up. And I felt uncomfortable -- very uncomfortable -- going to the Haight this week just reaffirmed that. There's something different here (or maybe something different there) that is going to take some getting used to. But it's a learning experience, and if I really do want to pursue some kind of homeless ministry/public service/soup kitchen type thing, I've got some learning to do. Carl, the homeless guy that hangs out in the ampitheatre outside our church (where we're going to have Club) is also a part of it -- I went out to talk to him last week, and felt uncomfortable, like I didn't want to be there. I think it was because he was so close to home -- before, I could go hang in the Haight, then go back to my nice church in the Mission to live and eat and be safe and happy and removed. But here, it's in your face, it's in your back yard -- literally. So, it is going to be a challenge, but a good one.
We went out to Santa Monica last nite; it's weird how close all these "famous" places are to us, but they are all their separate cities, communities, everything, and none of them are in LA proper. The 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica is quite interesting -- a combination of St. George Street in St. Augustine and Walnut Street in Shadyside. There are lots of ritzy shops, movie theatres, coffee places, street performers doing Beatles and Hendrix and Dylan covers, and a plethora of homeless people camped out on benches and fancy fountains. We also went down to the Pier, kind of a cheesy amusement park/carnival, but there was beach access, so we walked along there for a while and I dipped my toes in the Pacific. It felt quite symbolic to be in front of the Pacific Ocean again. The last time I saw it was with Jut in Big Sur last summer, and the last time I was actually init was my San Francisco YW summer. So it felt good to be back but in a different place, still carrying both those things with me, but in different capacities.
Made our first Costco run of the summer today. Spent $873.90 -- not bad, considering we had nothing here, and even though we only have 25 people to feed next week, we have to buy bulk. It only took about 2 hours, and was fairly stress-free. A good start, for sure.
We went to this awesome warehouse in Hollywood this afternoon that gave me a new appreciation for that poor rundown part of town. A guy from our church is the warehouse manager at Grosch Scenic Rentals, a company that has been making backdrops for movies, commercials, concerts, etc for 60-some years. They used to do work for Walt Disney when his studio was in Hollywood; they made and still rent out the beach backdrop used in Jaws; they are currently working on backdrops for Eminem's fall tour and wallpaper at the Cheesecake Factory. So I think we're going to take the kids there for an evening activity, show them a little about Old Hollywood.
Becky and I went to the Y to play beauty shop this afternoon -- we took long, leisurley showers and even used the blow dryers there to dry our hair. Then we drove around Burbank for a bit and finally decided to eat at a good Mexican place called the Green Cactus -- I ate a burrito the size of my head, and it was delicious.
So, I'm going to go downstairs to post this (finally, it's like a 3-day-long entry) and then come up to jam a bit with Becky, get to bed early, and enjoy my last day of freedom tomorrow -- probably celebrate with a trip to Amoeba. . .
It was great to be back in the City, and surprisingly great to hang out with our Area. We have all gotten pretty tight and it was fun having a staff of 13 and only 14 youth. The first two days of programming went amazingly well; since I'm alumni, I got to be on the acting team, which meant doing Club, leading meals, and getting to go out in the community with the kids. They were a fantastic group -- quite young, some only going into 8th grade -- but by last night they had all opened up, loosened up, and grown up quite a bit. It was cool to see that change in them, and it got me excited about hanging with 8 more groups of high schoolers this summer.
I got to go to the Food Program both Monday and Tuesday. Walked into the office Monday morning to see Dean and Seamus sitting at the table! I thought they were both gone for good, since I didn't see either of them last summer and Judy was weird about their whereabouts. Turns out they went on a 7-month bike trip to Northern California on the advice of some guy who told them about a great town -- but Dean said when they got there, they realized it was "the armpit of California." So they put Mijah back in her basket, hopped back on their bikes, and came home to the Haight. But anyway, it was great to see them; they told me they'd get me a job at the Food Program and said they were happy I was thinking about coming out there for good, since they tried, unsuccessfully, to kidnap me before. I talked with Judy a bunch -- she's still wonderful Judy -- and hung out with Keith on Tuesday, trying to do damage control on both sides for a group of youth and adult leaders that just weren't getting it. I don't know if YW is going to continue to work at the Program -- it takes a lot of effort to make that place work for us, and it can cause many headaches. But if a group does get it, and they usually end up getting it, it is an amazing place for them to be. I also realized that not being in San Francisco again with YW was absolutely the right decision for me this summer. I got really ticked when the group wasn't enjoying the Haight -- I took it personally, that they weren't even giving it a chance -- this place that has meant so much to me, has changed my life, has changed so many lives. They said they didn't feel like they were doing anything to serve, and I'm like, who are you to judge what service is? If they would sit on the perimiter of that dining room for 10 minutes, they would get more out of it than if they worked for 10 days at any other "urban ministry." So I don't know, we'll see what Ross and Carissa decide to do, since it's their show this year. I was happy to be there for a few days, and solidify (as if I need to) the feeling that San Francisco is a place where I need to be.
So now we're back, with a few days to detox and get settled before our first group comes. I feel ready. We're a complete team -- we picked up Becky from SFO Friday, and she's great. She's 24, teaches ESL at an elementary school in Fort Collins, did YW in West Virginia two years ago, and is an incredible guitar player -- we're both excited to play together a lot this summer. And, in this small YW world, we realized that we both went to the same site, the same summer (Welch, WV, 1999) for our first YW trip. I'm happy to be sharing a 15x20 room with her for the next 2 months. Nadine is coming here Friday to help us finish everything up, and will be here for our whole first week, which will be fun.
One thing I really love so far about LA is the weather. In the mornings it is always dreary and smoggy. Then it gets crazy hot during the day, sunny and gorgeous. Then at night, it cools down so you need to take a sweatshirt if you go anywhere. It's pretty much perfect.
I finally got down to Skid Row last week before we left for San Francisco. I was floored, to say the least. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen -- whole blocks packed with people, blocks lined on both sidewalks with tent after tent set up. And I felt uncomfortable -- very uncomfortable -- going to the Haight this week just reaffirmed that. There's something different here (or maybe something different there) that is going to take some getting used to. But it's a learning experience, and if I really do want to pursue some kind of homeless ministry/public service/soup kitchen type thing, I've got some learning to do. Carl, the homeless guy that hangs out in the ampitheatre outside our church (where we're going to have Club) is also a part of it -- I went out to talk to him last week, and felt uncomfortable, like I didn't want to be there. I think it was because he was so close to home -- before, I could go hang in the Haight, then go back to my nice church in the Mission to live and eat and be safe and happy and removed. But here, it's in your face, it's in your back yard -- literally. So, it is going to be a challenge, but a good one.
We went out to Santa Monica last nite; it's weird how close all these "famous" places are to us, but they are all their separate cities, communities, everything, and none of them are in LA proper. The 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica is quite interesting -- a combination of St. George Street in St. Augustine and Walnut Street in Shadyside. There are lots of ritzy shops, movie theatres, coffee places, street performers doing Beatles and Hendrix and Dylan covers, and a plethora of homeless people camped out on benches and fancy fountains. We also went down to the Pier, kind of a cheesy amusement park/carnival, but there was beach access, so we walked along there for a while and I dipped my toes in the Pacific. It felt quite symbolic to be in front of the Pacific Ocean again. The last time I saw it was with Jut in Big Sur last summer, and the last time I was actually init was my San Francisco YW summer. So it felt good to be back but in a different place, still carrying both those things with me, but in different capacities.
Made our first Costco run of the summer today. Spent $873.90 -- not bad, considering we had nothing here, and even though we only have 25 people to feed next week, we have to buy bulk. It only took about 2 hours, and was fairly stress-free. A good start, for sure.
We went to this awesome warehouse in Hollywood this afternoon that gave me a new appreciation for that poor rundown part of town. A guy from our church is the warehouse manager at Grosch Scenic Rentals, a company that has been making backdrops for movies, commercials, concerts, etc for 60-some years. They used to do work for Walt Disney when his studio was in Hollywood; they made and still rent out the beach backdrop used in Jaws; they are currently working on backdrops for Eminem's fall tour and wallpaper at the Cheesecake Factory. So I think we're going to take the kids there for an evening activity, show them a little about Old Hollywood.
Becky and I went to the Y to play beauty shop this afternoon -- we took long, leisurley showers and even used the blow dryers there to dry our hair. Then we drove around Burbank for a bit and finally decided to eat at a good Mexican place called the Green Cactus -- I ate a burrito the size of my head, and it was delicious.
So, I'm going to go downstairs to post this (finally, it's like a 3-day-long entry) and then come up to jam a bit with Becky, get to bed early, and enjoy my last day of freedom tomorrow -- probably celebrate with a trip to Amoeba. . .
Monday, May 30, 2005
Greetings from Hollywood. . .
So, I'm chillin at a cafe on Sunset Blvd., filching someone's wireless connection, working on my talks, and hanging out with my Area Director, Nadine, who's here for the week.
I got to LA on Saturday, after a horrifying 4 days of training in Denver. It was just a really busy, stressful time of forced sociability, people reading us pages and pages from our training manuals, and slim-to-no free time. The fact that the California/YW jinx has followed me and our Kids Club staff decided to go home on Thursday morning didn't help, either. (Yeah, that's right, the only staff at training to lose a team member, and it's mine. I'm starting to see a pattern here. . .)
The drive from Denver to LA was amazing. The scenery through Utah and Arizona was some of the most incredible stuff I've ever seen. There was a 35-mile stretch of I-15 that went thru Arizona, and the kid I was riding with fell asleep, so I balanced my camera on the wheel and tried to take pictures while I drove. Colors, textures, mountains, grass, sky, clouds. Breathtaking.
My team members are awesome, and the loss of Emily actually helped bring us closer together. Tyler, our Site Director, is from Seattle and just graduated with a degree in youth ministry, and is totally on the ball and excited about the summer. Ricardo, our Urban Staff, is from Chicago; his parents came to the US from Mexico and became citizens through the 1986 amnesty. He's my age, and he's planning to go to law school at Notre Dame when he graduates. He's a hilarious guy who always keeps us our spirits up. On Friday, we will be meeting our new Kids Club staff, Becky, who's flying in from Colorado. A quadrant we will be again.
So, despite a few minor snags, things are going really well. YouthWorks is being totally supportive of us, and the situation is about 500 times better than it was in San Francisco. Our Regional Director, Jonathan, and Nadine have been here for us the whole time, reassuring us that they'll find a permanent replacement and that they'll do everything they can to keep things under control. So, despite all the work that goes into starting a new site (setting up the church, buying $1,500 of permanent equipment at Wal-mart, finding ministry sites and evening activities and nagivating the city), things have been going pretty smoothly.
LA is incredible - I like it so much more than I thought I would. We are living in Silverlake, which reminds me a lot of the Mission. It's a kind of eclectic, artsy neighborhood with lots of different people, shops, restaurants and cafes. Jaime is the volunteer youth pastor at our church (he grew up in Los Feliz and is a Harvard-educated architect in Burbank, by day) and he rocks. On our first night, he invited us over to his apartment for a cookout with him and his friends (mostly grad students at USC and UCLA), where we are delicious grilled fish and veggies and hung out on the roof with his neighbor who was having a party to celebrate his newly-signed record deal. (It doesn't get much more LA than that.) It's just awesome to have a bunch of people my age to hang out with, learn about the city from.
So now I'm excited to get more into the community; I'm hoping to get down to Skid Row later this week just to get a feel for it there. It feels so good to be back out west, to be back in a Californian city, to have an incredible number of people to meet and hang out with and learn about. 38% of the nation's homeless population is here in this city, and I can't wait to spend time with some of them.
I'll be heading up to San Francisco on Friday to spend Early Bird week there. I had no idea I'd get to go back to the City this summer, so that's definitely a bonus. I'm looking forward to going to see Judy and spend some time in the Haight, as well as helping the staff in San Francisco this summer get their stuff going, give them any advice or help I can. Although it will be awesome to get back up there, I'm really excited to be in LA this summer and get a taste of what Southern California life is like.
I'm hoping to get some pictures up soon, once we get things settled a bit more and have more of our Prep Week chores accomplished. For now, I'm going to go back to enjoying the sunshine and the Nickelodeon studio across the street. . .
I got to LA on Saturday, after a horrifying 4 days of training in Denver. It was just a really busy, stressful time of forced sociability, people reading us pages and pages from our training manuals, and slim-to-no free time. The fact that the California/YW jinx has followed me and our Kids Club staff decided to go home on Thursday morning didn't help, either. (Yeah, that's right, the only staff at training to lose a team member, and it's mine. I'm starting to see a pattern here. . .)
The drive from Denver to LA was amazing. The scenery through Utah and Arizona was some of the most incredible stuff I've ever seen. There was a 35-mile stretch of I-15 that went thru Arizona, and the kid I was riding with fell asleep, so I balanced my camera on the wheel and tried to take pictures while I drove. Colors, textures, mountains, grass, sky, clouds. Breathtaking.
My team members are awesome, and the loss of Emily actually helped bring us closer together. Tyler, our Site Director, is from Seattle and just graduated with a degree in youth ministry, and is totally on the ball and excited about the summer. Ricardo, our Urban Staff, is from Chicago; his parents came to the US from Mexico and became citizens through the 1986 amnesty. He's my age, and he's planning to go to law school at Notre Dame when he graduates. He's a hilarious guy who always keeps us our spirits up. On Friday, we will be meeting our new Kids Club staff, Becky, who's flying in from Colorado. A quadrant we will be again.
So, despite a few minor snags, things are going really well. YouthWorks is being totally supportive of us, and the situation is about 500 times better than it was in San Francisco. Our Regional Director, Jonathan, and Nadine have been here for us the whole time, reassuring us that they'll find a permanent replacement and that they'll do everything they can to keep things under control. So, despite all the work that goes into starting a new site (setting up the church, buying $1,500 of permanent equipment at Wal-mart, finding ministry sites and evening activities and nagivating the city), things have been going pretty smoothly.
LA is incredible - I like it so much more than I thought I would. We are living in Silverlake, which reminds me a lot of the Mission. It's a kind of eclectic, artsy neighborhood with lots of different people, shops, restaurants and cafes. Jaime is the volunteer youth pastor at our church (he grew up in Los Feliz and is a Harvard-educated architect in Burbank, by day) and he rocks. On our first night, he invited us over to his apartment for a cookout with him and his friends (mostly grad students at USC and UCLA), where we are delicious grilled fish and veggies and hung out on the roof with his neighbor who was having a party to celebrate his newly-signed record deal. (It doesn't get much more LA than that.) It's just awesome to have a bunch of people my age to hang out with, learn about the city from.
So now I'm excited to get more into the community; I'm hoping to get down to Skid Row later this week just to get a feel for it there. It feels so good to be back out west, to be back in a Californian city, to have an incredible number of people to meet and hang out with and learn about. 38% of the nation's homeless population is here in this city, and I can't wait to spend time with some of them.
I'll be heading up to San Francisco on Friday to spend Early Bird week there. I had no idea I'd get to go back to the City this summer, so that's definitely a bonus. I'm looking forward to going to see Judy and spend some time in the Haight, as well as helping the staff in San Francisco this summer get their stuff going, give them any advice or help I can. Although it will be awesome to get back up there, I'm really excited to be in LA this summer and get a taste of what Southern California life is like.
I'm hoping to get some pictures up soon, once we get things settled a bit more and have more of our Prep Week chores accomplished. For now, I'm going to go back to enjoying the sunshine and the Nickelodeon studio across the street. . .
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Down into Los Angeles / With dirty hands and worn out knees. . .
So, I'm going to be spending the summer in Los Angeles. From what I've gathered about my housing, it will be quite close to Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard. I leave for training in Denver on the 23rd, and then start the road trip to LA on the 27th.
Embarking on another YW adventure is probably either really stupid or really wise. The last one definitely made me crazy, but it also changed me, made me who I am. And I know that this summer is going to be much different from the last one. For one thing, it's going to be a much healthier experience -- even if I have to make it so all on my own. I'm going to take care of myself physically, emotionally, spiritually, something I definitely did not do in San Francisco. I'm not going to be afraid to take time for myself, in other words, to get my job done and then do what I need to do to stay sane -- including exploring LA, where I will be living for free! That alone is something to be excited about.
The most interesting part of the summer will be my actual job -- giving the talks at night. In my interview, I talked exclusively about Urban Staff, how I might want to go into non-profit work, what I learned about that in San Francisco. So it was quite a shock to recieve this position, especially after my bleeding-heart-liberal application essay, railing on the Christian Right and disucssing my individualized serach for truth. Granted, YW essentially has these nightly talks written for me, complete with built-in spaces where I am to infuse my personal experiences. But I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to challenge these suburban kids, talk to them about poverty as a moral issue, tell them what people like Jim Wallis or Don Miller are writing about, encourage them to really figure out what their faith is. I don't think I'm the norm for Program Staff, but maybe that's why I have the job -- because I can bring something different to it.
So, I'm excited to get things rolling, to begin my 6 months of travelling, to meet my teammates, to see what the heck is going to happen to my life. Everything is up in the air right now, but these next few months will prove to me that I can make it on my own; it will give me the chance to put to the test the ways I've changed and the benefits I've gained from my last YW summer.
Last time, I allowed the summer to make me who I was, to define me. This time, it will enhance the person I've become; it will refine me. Which can't be bad.
Embarking on another YW adventure is probably either really stupid or really wise. The last one definitely made me crazy, but it also changed me, made me who I am. And I know that this summer is going to be much different from the last one. For one thing, it's going to be a much healthier experience -- even if I have to make it so all on my own. I'm going to take care of myself physically, emotionally, spiritually, something I definitely did not do in San Francisco. I'm not going to be afraid to take time for myself, in other words, to get my job done and then do what I need to do to stay sane -- including exploring LA, where I will be living for free! That alone is something to be excited about.
The most interesting part of the summer will be my actual job -- giving the talks at night. In my interview, I talked exclusively about Urban Staff, how I might want to go into non-profit work, what I learned about that in San Francisco. So it was quite a shock to recieve this position, especially after my bleeding-heart-liberal application essay, railing on the Christian Right and disucssing my individualized serach for truth. Granted, YW essentially has these nightly talks written for me, complete with built-in spaces where I am to infuse my personal experiences. But I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity to challenge these suburban kids, talk to them about poverty as a moral issue, tell them what people like Jim Wallis or Don Miller are writing about, encourage them to really figure out what their faith is. I don't think I'm the norm for Program Staff, but maybe that's why I have the job -- because I can bring something different to it.
So, I'm excited to get things rolling, to begin my 6 months of travelling, to meet my teammates, to see what the heck is going to happen to my life. Everything is up in the air right now, but these next few months will prove to me that I can make it on my own; it will give me the chance to put to the test the ways I've changed and the benefits I've gained from my last YW summer.
Last time, I allowed the summer to make me who I was, to define me. This time, it will enhance the person I've become; it will refine me. Which can't be bad.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
New fascination: men carrying flowers. Especially beefy, jock-ish men. Especially when the flowers aren't for me and I don't know the men.
They carry them so daintily, only an index finger and a thumb timidly pinching the cellophane that encloses a rose and its baby's breath. Holding the flowers upright, in front of them, an arm stretched out uncomfortably. Almost like a torch, but lower, below eye-level.
Why don't they just grab them with their fists, with all their fingers wrapped around the stems? Why don't they carry them at their sides and swing them like clubs, like cavemen? Are they civilized? Do the flowers somehow make them dainty?
They carry them so daintily, only an index finger and a thumb timidly pinching the cellophane that encloses a rose and its baby's breath. Holding the flowers upright, in front of them, an arm stretched out uncomfortably. Almost like a torch, but lower, below eye-level.
Why don't they just grab them with their fists, with all their fingers wrapped around the stems? Why don't they carry them at their sides and swing them like clubs, like cavemen? Are they civilized? Do the flowers somehow make them dainty?
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
"I love this bar." - Toby Keith
Went to the bar last nite and got trashed on $5 pitchers of Budweiser with 2 old friends and 4 new ones. It was awesome.
I was having a bad day - I've been having a string of them - and it was confounded by a too-much nonfiction readings class with Lee Gutkind. There's something almost erotic about listening to people reading things they've written. It's interesting enough reading other people's stuff, but to hear them read it is almost overpowering - it's vouyeristic, but not listening-to-the-people-next-door-doin'-it vouyeristic, it's like creepy, emotional vouyeristic. I don't know. . .you can learn a lot about the way someone acts or carries his/herself from listening to them read something they've written. When you're doing that, you can't hide your insecurities, you can't always keep up the act you keep up the rest of the time. So I don't know, I was just struck by a sadness in people around me, an emptiness, a numbness, that rubbed off on me. It makes me think about whether or not I can actually write this San Francisco memoir I'm planning to do. . .the other day, I couldn't even get through reading some old notes and drafts on my computer from a story I tried to write about Doug. But anyway. . .
So after class, Jut, Josh, Thomas and I went down to P.D.'s, and had just finished a pitcher when Caitlin and Jen showed up, and later Jen's friend Greg. We had a good time getting drunk and gossiping about nonfiction and laughing and trying to figure out how old the bartender was cos she looked about 14. I haven't gotten that drunk just on beer in a long time. It was a fun, stereotypical social situation that was just really good to be a part of.
I'm listening to Rent and enjoying it - a lot. It's so cheesy, and it's a flippin opera, but it's great.
Giving myself a snow day today and getting stuff done around the apartment, getting some schoolwork done, working on internship and study abroad stuff, and maybe getting my hair cut.
Just got this joke in a stop-paying-high-prices-for-your-meds piece of spam:
Three brothers bought a ranch in Texas and planned to raise cattle. They couldnt think of a name for their ranch so they asked their mother, who said, You should name it Focus. The brothers were puzzled. Why? they asked. Because, said their mother, Focus is where the sun's rays meet. (Note: this joke is famous because it is a triple pun! In physics, a focus is the point at which rays of light come together or meet. The mothers sentence also sounds like, Focus is the place where the sons raise meat.)
Wow.
Went to the bar last nite and got trashed on $5 pitchers of Budweiser with 2 old friends and 4 new ones. It was awesome.
I was having a bad day - I've been having a string of them - and it was confounded by a too-much nonfiction readings class with Lee Gutkind. There's something almost erotic about listening to people reading things they've written. It's interesting enough reading other people's stuff, but to hear them read it is almost overpowering - it's vouyeristic, but not listening-to-the-people-next-door-doin'-it vouyeristic, it's like creepy, emotional vouyeristic. I don't know. . .you can learn a lot about the way someone acts or carries his/herself from listening to them read something they've written. When you're doing that, you can't hide your insecurities, you can't always keep up the act you keep up the rest of the time. So I don't know, I was just struck by a sadness in people around me, an emptiness, a numbness, that rubbed off on me. It makes me think about whether or not I can actually write this San Francisco memoir I'm planning to do. . .the other day, I couldn't even get through reading some old notes and drafts on my computer from a story I tried to write about Doug. But anyway. . .
So after class, Jut, Josh, Thomas and I went down to P.D.'s, and had just finished a pitcher when Caitlin and Jen showed up, and later Jen's friend Greg. We had a good time getting drunk and gossiping about nonfiction and laughing and trying to figure out how old the bartender was cos she looked about 14. I haven't gotten that drunk just on beer in a long time. It was a fun, stereotypical social situation that was just really good to be a part of.
I'm listening to Rent and enjoying it - a lot. It's so cheesy, and it's a flippin opera, but it's great.
Giving myself a snow day today and getting stuff done around the apartment, getting some schoolwork done, working on internship and study abroad stuff, and maybe getting my hair cut.
Just got this joke in a stop-paying-high-prices-for-your-meds piece of spam:
Three brothers bought a ranch in Texas and planned to raise cattle. They couldnt think of a name for their ranch so they asked their mother, who said, You should name it Focus. The brothers were puzzled. Why? they asked. Because, said their mother, Focus is where the sun's rays meet. (Note: this joke is famous because it is a triple pun! In physics, a focus is the point at which rays of light come together or meet. The mothers sentence also sounds like, Focus is the place where the sons raise meat.)
Wow.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
Monday, December 27, 2004
The future is now.
Call it wishful thinking - because that's what it is - but I'm setting up this blog today so I can record the exploits of my future. After this semester, I'm going to start traveling, and as of right now, I don't know when I'm going to stop traveling.
So, I hope to update here about what's going on, post pictures, etc.
Until then, I'll probably post pictures and write rants from time to time, just to get the feel of things.
Call it wishful thinking - because that's what it is - but I'm setting up this blog today so I can record the exploits of my future. After this semester, I'm going to start traveling, and as of right now, I don't know when I'm going to stop traveling.
So, I hope to update here about what's going on, post pictures, etc.
Until then, I'll probably post pictures and write rants from time to time, just to get the feel of things.
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