2.24.2005

And here we have some boondoggle key chains. A must-have for this season's fashion.

well, i feel like writing... but there's not really anything specific that comes to mind. i guess it's time for more random thoughts and observations.

brian regan is my new favorite comedian. he's clean and he's original. check out his stuff at www.brianregan.com

now that i have all of my music in one spot, i'm listening to stuff i haven't heard in years. it's like my own radio station. i love it. that, and it's getting me back into my old ska cds i haven't listened to in a while. won't be too long before i bust out the skinny black tie again.

the mexican restaraunt i like to frequent for lunch was packed today, so i shared a table with this random chica who was also there by herself for a while, because her car was getting worked on. i don't think she realized exactly how much i could relate to her situation.

yes, i gave her my number.

no, i'm not holding my breathe for a phone call.

yes, she was a hottie.

i remember the first album i bought that my parents didn't know about was the soundtrack to judgement night. i remember i used to listen to this and think i was the toughest sixth grader out there. actually, i was mowing yards with my headphones on in suburbia and other kids at my school were joining gangs.

the first album i remember buying with my own money was 'weird al' yankovic's off the deep end.

the last album i bought was jack johnson's itunes exclusive album.

everyone is up in arms about the tiger they had to kill in the canyons behind my apt. personally, i think the real jerk here was the couple keeping the 700lb tiger that reported it dead instead of missing for a month.

it's really funny watching the ca fish and game guys on the news, because you know this is the only time they will ever be interviewed on cnn, and not the nature channel.

last night i was cleaning my room, and i had the tv on while doing so. the only thing that seemed intersting to watch (or at least have on in the background) for some reason was Project Runway, a reality show about a bunch of fashion designers. sidenote: i have plenty of seinfeld and dukes of hazzard dvds to keep me entertained, but i was looking for something that wouldn't peak my interest so i would focus on my room. anyways, i was trying to give these people the benefit of the doubt, and it was working for a little while. i'm not a fashion person by any means, but i do give these people credit as creating art. that being said, who wears this stuff? even the fashion experts don't wear this stuff. they're critiquing some weird psuedo-futuristic-overalls and they're wearing all black, or jeans and a t-shirt. seriously, how do people make money designing fashion that nobody wears?

all that from a guy that buys shorts and jeans from JC Penney's and t-shirts and hoodies from PacSun. Oh yeah, dress shirts from Ross.

i've wanted to get a tattoo as i long as i can remember, but i've never consistently wanted the same thing. that's the tough part about being an artsy person, any design i've come up with looks goofy a few years down the road. one time i remember i told my mom i got a panther tattoo on my shoulder. (kf moment) anyways, i think she was more mad that i lied to her about the tattoo to see her reaction than if i had actually went ahead and got the tattoo. my latest idea for a tattoo is to get a copy of my dad's signature and put it on my shoulder. it's original and it's out of love to mi padre so.... well, we'll see.

i have not been to mcdonald's in 2005.

trying to play guitar and sing at the same time is hard to do when you are for the most part tone def.

our small groups are talking about the five love languages. they are:
words of affection
touch
quality time
gifts
acts of service

randy moss is now a part of the raiders. now i have even more reason to not like the raiders. or the raider nation. i remember growing up in san diego thinking it was odd that raider fans were louder than charger fans. now i realize it is because the raider nation brings forth the halloween in every person that has nothing else to live for. if you thought i didn't like the red sox bandwagon, don't get me started on the scurvy that is the raider nation. they represent everything that is wrong with selling beer at sporting events. the whole ron artest incident a few months ago... that wouldn't even get you kicked out of a raiders game. i remember cars being flipped over and burned after raider's losses. way to go raider nation. by the way, halloween is oct. 31st... not every sunday in the fall.

speaking of selling beer at innapropriate times... i typically eat lunch before or after the rush of office workers for reasons like today. the table next us is being occupied by an entire office crew out for a few laughs. most of the laughs are being provided by the guy downing beers for lunch. there's a bunch of things wrong with this picture. first, who gets sloshed over lunch? second, who lets their co-worker get hammered? third, how are you going to be able to work at all? aren't you afraid of not keeping your job? what happens when you get fired for throwing up on your boss and you can't afford cable to watch the raiders games?

debates of the day:
eva mendes vs. eva longoria
jack johnson cds vs jack johnson bootlegs
cleaning the office vs playing guitar
palupa (pronounced pa-loo-pa) vs palupa pronounced (pa-yu-pa)
skeet golf vs gennis

well, it's onna be along day of work, so i think i'm going to engage in some relaxing and reading to clear my mind for tonite's small groups.

one love, one heart.

2.18.2005

It's made from little pieces of real panther, so you know it's good

so i saw this on someone else's blog and tought it was kind of fun. at least i didn't fwd it through email...


TEN Random Things About Me:
1. i come up with a nickname for everyone and everything
2. i have never owned a pair of corduroy pants
3. i keep a lawn ornament santa in my office
4. i can't stand monkeys
5. i was born in texas
6. i bought a detroit tigers hat because ice cube wears one in 'boyz in da hood'
7. i do not consider nascar a sport
8. i went to my first baseball game when i was about 2 weeks old
9. i was born on the same day mt. st. helens erupted in washington
10. i can never get my sideburns to the same length

NINE Places I've Visited:
1. graceland
2. north shore of oahu
3. my own island off the coast of belize (i claimed it while i was there)
4. mt. rushmore (it was closed for the evening so we skated it)
5. my happy place
6. the first fish taco restaurant in california
7. pearl harbor
8. kentucky
9. the taylor guitar factory

EIGHT Things I Want To Do Before I Die:
1. have a line in a major motion picture
2. go to a super bowl
3. visit bagn valley in norway where my ancestors have lived since the 1500's
4. record an album
5. ride a motorcycle across the country like my dad did in the 70's
6. see the astros win a world series
7. display my art at a gallery
8. be a guest on a late night tv show

SEVEN Ways To Win My Heart:
1. smile
2. blush
3. look good in a baseball cap
4. love God
5. laugh at my jokes
6. gotta be a good hugger
7. smell like suntan lotion

SIX Things I Believe In:
1. God
2. Family
3. Country
4. Love
5. Bill and Ted
6. Myself

FIVE Things I'm Afraid Of:
1. Heights
2. Not fulfilling potential
3. makeover tv shows
4. being old
5. people that believe michael moore movies

FOUR Of My Favorite Items In My Bedroom:
1. my guitars
2. the chest my dad gave me with his old records in it
3. the surfboard hanging over my bed
4. my panther blanket we bought at some random kiosk at the mall

THREE Things I Do Everyday:
1. shower
2. talk to God
3. change clothes

TWO Things I Am Trying Not To Do Right Now:
1. drink too much soda
2. get complacent

ONE Person I Want To See Right Now:
1. a certain ladyfriend

2.17.2005

i'm ashamed...

i ran across a statement from the health dept that said in effect, that in 2005 it is predicted there will be more abortions than births this year in the u.s. basically, we are choosing to murder more than half of our children.

WE ARE CHOOSING TO MURDER MORE THAN HALF OF OUR CHILDREN.

i think i'm going to be sick.

i have a friend that gripes about civilians dying in war, yet maintains it is okay for a 15 year old girl to kill an unborn child, because it is 'an inconvenience'. and they say christians are the uncompassionate ones...

i am sick and tired of people believing they can live in a consequence free environment. our decisions, good or bad, have consequences. and yes, sometimes those consequences affect other people. choosing to become pregnant (yes pregnancy is avoidable) comes with consequences. are we so selfish that we would sacrifice an innocent life so that we wouldn't have to pay for our poor decisions. evidently so.

i'd like to thank the baby boomers for bringing in the 'free' love era, and my generation for being hypocritical enough to protest someone possibly harming the egg of a bald eagle, yet encouraging young women to murder children.

the only hint of a silver lining i saw, was a stat from a pregnancy clinic that said there were almost exactly as many families waiting to adopt a child, as there were unwanted pregnancies.


God, i'm speechless right now and disgusted beyond description. i pray for your mercy and compassion on the innocent lives lost due to our selfishness. i pray for your mercy on this country. i ask you to forgive us of the sins we choose to commit every day. i pray that we would stop trying to kick you out of our lives when you are exactly what we need. i know that when we choose to look to you for guidance you do not fail us, your word is not just a bunch of rules, but a way of protecting us and caring for us. i pray i can do my part to follow, and lead others in your word. God, please do not turn away from us, even though we have done everything we can to push you away.


i'm not sure what i can do to make my voice heard, but i am going to look into this and hopefully have something posted soon on what we can do to stop the genocide of the next generation.

one love, one heart

2.15.2005

"have a happy v.d."

so here's the valentine's day post that should be expected from me.
it's just another day.
seriously, it's not really a day for single people, esp those who aren't too keen on changing that status anytime soon. actually, today is the cool day for me. all that leftover candy is 70% off. i'm not a candy person, but at those prices, who can resist? so the calls are already coming in asking what i did for valentine's day. well, it was my day off so i stayed in bed as long as i could watching dukes of hazzard on tv. i had to drive out to port hueneme to settle a bill dispute, so i stopped off and ate lunch at one of my fave hole in the wall mexican restaurants wit the cuz. i decided to see how close i was to the beach and ended up driving down the pacific coast highway to malibu. i stopped on a few spots on the side of the road including neptune's (from point break) and county line beach to check out some waves. sidenote: i think i may need two wetsuits to surf ventura county. i called up nursegirl to see if she wanted to hang up, and realized halfway through the message that it was valentines day, and she probably wouldn't believe that i was just calling simply because i was passing by. fortunately, she never called back so that akwardness was avoided. so i chilled at a couple of beaches, it was overcast and i didn't have a hoode with me so i didn't stay for long. i came home, rocked out on my guitars for a while and cleaned up my truck and my room some. sidenote numero dos: cleaning my room has gone down so far on my priority list, its really something to do to fill time more than anything. i simply did it to fill time between me getting home and going out to loosen the ol arm up for softball season.
so the cuz got home at his normal time and we decided to watch shaft (the remake) and blazing saddles. we grilled up some brats, ate wheat thins and spray sheese, threw darts, drank too much pepsi, and polished off a jar of salsa. needless to say it was just another day.
so i was doing some thinking while i was checking the view from the office today. i've said it before and i'll say it again. socal is awesome. yesterday it was kinda overcast, but i could still manage to see the ocean and snow covered moutnains from where i was standing. surreal to say the least. i'm actually glad that i went by myself because the experience would have been ruined by having to talk to other people. there's something about being on top of a mountain overlooking the ocean that soothes the soul. one of those times where you can almost hear God talking to you in the wind. i had hiked up to the cross on top of the hill behind our apt with the cuz on sunday, but it wasn't the same having someone else there. not sure what about that situation wasn't right, but it was awesome not having to say a word for a few yesterday afternoon.
so it's been said of me before that i'm bitter when it comes to valentines day. bitter might not be the righ† word, but i really don't get it. why should we have to confine all of that stuff to one day of the year? personally i think it's more romantic to do stuff on days when society isn't breathing down your neck to do so. nothing like facing ridicule to motivate you to tell someone you care.
so i'm not really a romantic in the traditional sense. at least i wasn't watching high fidelity all afternoon, which is how i spent last vday.

anyways, i think i feel some random thoughts coming on:

public enemy is the greatest rap group ever. i think it would be awesome to have flavor flav to do classic books on tape.

i've given up on flying cars, but weren't we supposed to have video phones all over the place by now?

how do people that make weird pots and jars and stuff make a living from doing so?

how do you get a job on the golf channel?

if this home-makeover trend continues, every kitchen and living room will look the same.

there needs to be an apartment depot store, for people who aren't allowed to do stuff to their apartment.

blogging is an addiction. or therapy. i guess it depends on who's reading.

my alltime favorite quote for valentines day goes to my friend keitha back in college, when she told me to 'have a good v.d.'.

i've never heard a reggae song that was depressing. seriously, they could be singing about apartheid and have me stoked and dancing around the room.

my favorite movie quote of all time is: "Where the white women at?" -Sheriff Bart from Blazing Saddles.

i love the fact that mom still sends care packages.

the few weeks between the super bowl and the beginning of the baseball season are alamost unbearable, but it's a good time to get dog's jumping into water highlights onto espn.

i actually watched the grammys on sunday night. i wasn't impressed.

how long are people going to leave thier kerry/edwards bumper sticker on thier cars?

the cuz and i put a dart board up in our hallway. how bad we are at darts is in direct realtion to how little of our deposit we are expecting to get back.

chinese food is overated.

my top five not quite a-list hotties are:
5. the chica from the italian cooking show on the food network
4. tracey from extreme home-makeover
3. monica potter
2. elisabeth hasselbeck
1. kristen kreuk

the cuz watches too much reality tv

i need to comment more on other people's blogs.

well, it's time to go for now. one love, one heart.

2.08.2005

Push it to pop it! Rock it to lock it! Break it to make it!

there are some moments that define a generation. there are some people that redefine humanity. there are some works of art that inspire people to a new way of thinking.

last night i bought breakin, the 1984 breakdancing classic.

i watch a lot of movies. i consider myself a connosuier of fine 80's cinema. but i have to say that my collection would have never been complete w/o this movie. through the inspirational storytelling of director joel silber, i was taken away to my own xanadu where kelly, ozone and turbo and i are the kings of linoleum and cardboard. we wear bandanas everywhere but on our heads, our jerry curls gleam under the lights at the club, and our chances of getting through a metal detector are none. there are no fistfights, it's all settled on the dancefloor. and jobs... they are only there to support the only true passion... the dance. i mean the breakdance.

here's a list of my observations/ interesting facts about breakin:
1. turbo and ozone's reall names in the movie are tony and orlando.
2. thier names on the billing read; adolfo 'shabba-doo' quinones and michael 'bugaloo shrimp' chambers.
3. ice-t makes his film debut as 'rapper', starting the legacy that is his acting career.
4. christopher 'shooter mcgavin' mcdonald plays the potential love interest/ agent to our heroine kelly (or 'special k' depending on if you're street enough to call her by her street name)
5. the term 'street name' is used in abundance.
6. so are scrunched up anklewarmers.
7. so are metal studded belts (not necessarily around the waist though).
8. the rate of scenes to musical montages is 3:1, the highest of any movie made after the 50's.
9. the guy at best buy knew exactly where this movie was w/o looking it up on the computer.
10. venice beach looks a lot different than it did in the 80's, most notably the absence of portable cardboard dancefloors and van damme in a leotard clapping along to street performers.
11. there'd be a lot less violence in this world if we had more boomboxes around. then people would be encouraged to out-robot each other instead of fight.
12. members only jackets will always be cool, as long as they hae an excessive number of zippers and metal objects hanging from them.

well, i've waxed enough on the joys of breakin. its time for me to throw on my b-boy gear and pop-and-lock my way home.

one love, one heart.

2.03.2005

No regrets, that's my motto. Well... that and everyone Wang Chung tonight.

so i def need to remember to save stuff when i type.
i wrote this big long blog about everything that's been going on the past few weeks and its gone. ouch. so now that i feel enough time has passed by to try this again, i guess i'll do the recap.

the past couple of weeks have been pretty insane. two weeks ago at this time i was helping put up molding in a new house for some folks here at the church. the next day we had a game night w/ the youth group that involved me, 21 kiddos, guitars and boardgames that was one of those awesome but insane evenings. i'm loving the fact that the kids are starting to bring their friends to events. anyways, it was a crazy night that had me leading the kids in a rousing version of johnny cash's 'ring of fire' to start off the evening. then on saturday i woke up at 700 to help that family move into the new home, which consisted of 10 hours and two full loads in a 26 foot truck. needless to say they had a lot of stuff, but it really wasn't that bad because everything was organized. in fact, they were the picture of what a move should be. everyone had work to do the whole day, every box was labeled, just the right amount of people, and those that couldn't lift the heavy stuff were really cool about helping keep the rest of us organized, fed and hydrated. normally i put a 6 month policy on helping people move, but if were going to be that organized i might knock it down to 3. that being said, i was sooooo incredibly sore on sunday. i really don't remember what i taught or how i even managed to get to the building sunday morning. later that afternoon, i drove up to big bear with a few other youth ministers for our first annual 'stay at one of our members' free cabins and go snowboarding' retreats. the first notable thing that happened was that i made the mistake of using a really bad analogy over dinner that provided the comedy ammo for the entire trip. needless to say we all laughed till our sides were splitting from too much comedy and pizza. interesting sidenotes here: 1. even when we have our own retreats, youth ministers still end up eating pizza. 2. there's something inherently funnier about youth minister jokes than other friends. i think it's being able to say things that you would have to hold back normally due to the discretion that we live under. that being said, we stayed up till 4am joking and trying to play a game of risk. this created a problem the next morning when we got up at 8 to go snowboarding. so i'm completely sore from moving, i'm tired, and i have my first try on a snowboard at a time in the morning that i'm barely getting up on a good day. that being said,

SNOWBOARDING IS AWESOME.

i found a new love, mtn. snow is thy name. dantheman brought up some extra boots and a board for me to try out, an i'm completely stoked he did. all i had to pay for was a lift ticket. i'll take time to mention a few things here. all of my life i have considered myself a subpar athlete, and do everything i can to chicken out of things that i can, and not even show up when something that i haven't tied before is on the docket. so the fact that i got up over and over again and really tried to learn how to snowboard all day is the biggest feat of the day for me. no chickening out, no being a wimp. me vs. mtn when i knew the mtn was going to win the first few rounds. needless to say i was even more sore by the end of the day, to a point where i could barely stand up on my toes, which is a problem when it comes to snowboarding. continuing the theme of me providing the comedy ammo for the weekend, i wish i could watch a video of me learning how to snowboard. my first time off of the lift i ate it as the next chair was about to hit me. good comedy. then, as i was learning how to stand, dantheman had me getting up on my toes with my back facing down the hill. even better comedy. i was learning how to go down the hill backwards, hoping that my pants weren't down past my crack mooning everyone on the lift. still more comedy. i almost ran into the lift a couple of times, and i caught an edge trying to avoid an adult ski school and did a sweet flip and landed tailbone first somehow right in front of them. i would like to thank the snowsummit ski school staff for encouraging their clientele to clap their poles together in applause for my gymnastic feat. regardless of all the spills i kept getting up and had a blast, and was sort of in control by the end of the day. the point was that i did it and had fun. enough fun that i'm stoked to go back and try some bigger and better runs.
my new stoke for snowboarding also brings up an interesting debate. snowbunnies vs. surfchicas. i was trying to get the guys on the trip involved on this but i was the resident single guy which leaves for very limited discussion. so my new infatuation for the mountains may have a some peripheral motives, maybe it was something in the hot chocolate, but man those snowboarding chicas are unreal for the most part. they're def a lot more approachable than surfchicas in their element, and i think there's something about the cold weather and snow that adds to the atmosphere. the real question is, why wasn't i snowboarding earlier? i'd kick myself if my feet weren't stuck in my bindings.

so last week was spent with me being sore. i got home late tuesday afternoon and pretty much zoned until that night when me and the cuz were supposed to be go and be social with some of his friends. anyways, weds and thurs of last week were spent painting the youth room and hanging out with a bunch of the kiddos. both of those things are awesome and make it easy to be tired because i was getting dirty and having fun, two of my favorite activities. then, another saturday of moving and stuff... not near as bad as the weekend before, but it just cracks me up how these things always come in pairs.

so sunday comes around, and after church i headed south to s.d. to see the godfather, my old youth minister who is moving up to portland in a couple of months. he needed help fixing up his condo for him to put on the market, and my part involved putting up molding around the place. like i said, these things always come in pairs. more to the point, you gotta love being around spiritual people. i call him the godfather because he is seriously responsible for the most significant spiritual growth of most of the people my age in san diego that still go to church. there's a lot to be said for that. anyways, we had quite a few long talks, which means seriously deep conversation that is going to rock the mind a little bit.
this round we talked a lot about how we fall into the trap of looking for fulfillment from our jobs. this is pretty tough for ministers because our jobs are so closely tied to our spiritual lives. long story short, it was good to get a reminder that as long as i was in line with, and getting my fulfillment from my relationship with God, the rest would follow. easier said than done, but important to remember when i'm worried about trying to build relationships with the kiddos.
the biggest thing that amazed me about spending time with the godfather is the level of conversation. talking football or sports just isn't going to happen around him. everything turns into a spiritual matter. man, to be able to pull that off would be awesome. baby steps though. one thing at a time. needless to say it was a bittersweet past couple of days spending time with my mentor who is going to be moving away.

speaking of moving, this past weekend is the ten year anniversary of our move to seattle. weird feelings. i can think to ten years ago how my world got turned upside down. not that i'm really into looking back on that time, actually i think ive blocked out most of those memories. hmmmm, just weird how much has changed in ten years. i don't feel like an old man, but part of me wants so much of that time back. at least the first half of that... i feel ripped off. like i was doing so well and got flipped like i was in some sort of wicked science experiment. of course who knows where i would have ended up if i had stayed in san diego. yeah, this whole line of thinking is getting dangerous and its not even close to the rainy day that i need to really want to think about these things.

in the other bad news dept. i had a pretty tough conversation with one of my long time close friends who has completely turned his back on God. It's tough because he hides behind politics as his reason for his decisions, but he's trying to push me away in the process. the toughest part is trying to forgive him for the things that he says to me, and still try and be a representative of God's love. there are a couple of underlying issues that keep popping up in our discussions though. first, it seems that the smarter you think you are, the less you need God. we as humans are so demanding of control that we refuse to believe that we aren't' at the pinnacle of existence. hearing my friend talk just reinforces in so many ways that trying to deal with deep scars without giving them to God is nothing but damaging. secondly, it always cracks me up when people do not give Christians the same rights that we are accused of taking away. part of our conversation was debating over the christian role in not allowing gay marriage. he said it wasn't right for christians to make up the minds for other people. true. every person in this country had the right to voice their opinion in the election. however, i'm wrong because i vote along my moral lines? is this double standard not completely obvious? i'm the one who is impeding rights when i exercise my vote? no, i'm voicing my opinion. if i was voting to not allow gays to vote that would be a whole other issue. but i'm not telling anyone that they can't be gay, but i'm certainly not going to endorse it, or allow yet another institution that God has created to compromised. people have every right to choose to disobey God. we are not robots. God gave us that freedom of choice, and i'm not going to condemn anyone for exercising free will. i will not however stop reminding people that there are consequences for CHOOSING TO LIVE A LIFE AGAINST GOD. i'm not perfect, but when i recognize that i have made choices that are going to have dire consequences i do my best to not make those same decisions again. once again, this falls under the easier said than done dept., but what this doesn't allow for is consistently choosing to go against God without attempting to do better, and not expecting to suffer the consequences. back to the point, i told my friend that if he felt that voting to encourage people to destroy God's plan for marriage, and allowing people to choose if their baby was convenient enough to live, was something that he felt was glorifying to God, then he had that right to choose ow he was going to vote. i'm not going to force him to vote any certain way, but i am sure not going to require the same respect.

this goes back to what i was writing about my mom a few months ago. she worked in a high school science dept where she was ridiculed for her beliefs in God. IF the situation had been flipped around and someone felt that they were not getting fair treatment because they weren't christian, the aclu would be in there in a heartbeat (with cameras probably getting every sobbing detail on the evening news), but would they take a case of a christian being ridiculed, or being put in an uncomfortable situation? double standard?

well, the before i get too much more worked up, i need to get back to my small group study for tonite. gotta love having the kiddos as a reminder to spend time with God.

oh yeah, embarrassing moment of the day... our preacher rode his scooter to work today since he is having issues with his car, so i decide i'll be cool and ride the scooter around... and i def ate it on a gravel driveway down the street. yeah, me+scooter=bad idea/comedy. needless to say i'm cracking up because i haven't had road rash this bad in a while. nothing like a few pieces of gravel to let you know you're still alive. well, i'm off to buy a new pair of jeans.

one love, one heart.