John McClane: I was always kinda' partial to Roy Rogers actually. I really dig those sequined shirts.

tuesdays are my mondays. we had our 'staff meeting' today which somehow ran into lunch time. seriously, so far today i've woke up, worked out, ate, talked with lawdog and some folks that are hanging out at the church and then went and got a quick bite for lunch. it's days like this that i feel guilty, like i'm not really doing anything, then end up working till 11 or so at night. at least i don't have to wear a tie. i'm not complaining, i just keep thinking to myself how different my days are from other people's. the cuz pointed this out the other day when he was talking to my uncle the other day when he said that 'you never know what d.j.s schedule is going to be like, it's not really nine to five, or one day off one day on, it's just really random.

since it's been a while, here is: top ten things i've noticed lately about being a bachelor.
10. i watch more bruce willis movies than most people.
9. i care more about beating my high score in darts than i do that the dartboard is in our hallway at the apt and there's no way we're getting our deposit back.
8. vintage tools make better wall decorations than paintings.
7. church league softball is in desperate need of some d2 love.
6. you could literally divide our fridge into four equal parts: pizza, meat, salsa and pepsi.
5. the people at the local tico's tacos, sports chalet, batting cages, driving range, and the deli dept of albertsons all know me by name.
4. you only need three cups: a giant one for soda, a mug for coffee and another when you don't feel like washing those two.
3. $150 is our breaking point on groceries. anything over that and we don't have room in our fridge.
2. bruises are a badge of honor and should be treated with a manner of pride, not covered up with gauze.
1. i have no need or desire to watch any sitcoms. my entertainment involves one of more of these things: a ball, a team, a guitar, a spy, a war, a motorcycle, tools, women/children/countries in need of rescue, monosyllabic heroes, breaking/blowing something up, a board, wheels, sweat, and three stooges.

mr rogers on being a bachelor:
"I was a bachelor for, oh about a year and a half. That doesn't mean I got married when I was a year and a half old but I mean, you know, when I was living alone in New York for about a year and a half."

other stuff...
i'm boycotting the post office. not the whole postal service, just the station here on the west side of simi. since i've moved here we have had several instances of bills not making it on-time. i've had one check lost in the mail, and we've had several packages dropped over our porch wall. we've already filed complaints with the proper authorities. a few weeks ago the cuz ordered some shoes and a jacket out of a sporting goods catalog. we check the delivery status on usps.com and it says the package has been delivered. one problem, we have no package at the apt. so the cuz calls the post office and their official response is 'we don't know where it is'. so the cuz tells the company that their package was lost by the station so they send him a replacement (which got here in two days) for free and say they'll take on the post office for the cuz. in the meantime, i get a note that says there is an oversized envelope waiting for me at the station that requires my signature to pick up. the flier is checked that the letter is a. at the post office, and b. available for pickup after 9 am. easy enough. evidently not for the mickey mouse club running the post office here in simi. i run by the post office in-between my kiddos games on saturday to pick up my letter. no dice. they don't know where it is. that's a great thing to hear when you're expecting a check and information concerning your social security information. so ask to talk to the manager, because this is unacceptable. he says that the letter may be out with the postman again. i pointed out two things to him. 1. he needs to be sure about the location either way. this guessing thing doesn't really cut it when people are trusting you with their information. 2. the note says it is at the post office and available for pickup after 9am, and it was 345 at the time. he tells me to come back after 5 (which i later found out is when they close) to check and see again, because that was after 9 am. i tried explaining that 345 was also after 9am, and if it was going to be available after 5 then that should have been written. no apology, no maybe we made a mistake, instead he's raising his voice and getting frustrated with me. i explained to him that 99% wasn't acceptable when people rely on you to transport money and information. then i reminded him that things like this were why email was invented, so that people didn't have to rely on a failing system of delivery. i think i even said i was going to email his boss. needless to say i'm all about fed ex and ups from here on out.

playstation is taking over in our apt. i'm at a rate of a season per week in ncaa05. at least i made coach of the year and took sdsu to the championship. oh yeah, every season i give my freshmen names based off of groups of people i know. one season it was 80's rappers, another was kappa, this season i'm going with girls i knew in college. needless to say this afforded some great laughter at deciding what i was going to name my tight ends and fullbacks.

now i'm on a mission to freak out the people that live in my apt complex. we have a lady upstairs who is already nuts and nothing i can do will ever freak her out. but across from us, and in the apt above that are owned by a software company who have waaaaay to many indian guys living there. not that i have anything against indians, but they have at least 6 in each apt, which is way over what could possibly be comfortable. they rotate in every year or so from what i've heard, and they all work together, go on shopping trips together, and you never see them in groups of less than 4. that, and they never cook or clean for themselves. at least 3 or 4 times a week i see ladies coming in to clean their apt and cook dinner for them. it's really weird. so i make sure every time i rock out on guitar, or watch, boyz n the hood, or 3 stooges to turn the volume up loud enough and rock out so that when they look in our window (which they always seem to do) i'm doing something different. that'll give them something to write home about. that, and i've come to a point where i'm about ready to cook them dinner one night so we can have a break from the curry smell that dominates the air every night. no joking, every night our place smells like curry. i'm never eating anything with curry again. whatever, none of them drive so we use their parking space so i probably shouldn't complain.

i love socal. at one time i was eating sushi, drinking mexican soda, and smelling curry from the neighbors. oh yeah, it was sunset over the palm trees and i was going to skate later.

one of those little things that makes a great day is when you hear a song you love but didn't know you had. this happens a lot now that i have all of my music in one place.

this weekend we went to see the cuz's bosses daughter play in a high school girls softball tournament. those chicas are tough. i stood behind the backstop trying to gauge how much time they had to swing. yeah, we all (the group of guys/parents watching the game) came to the consensus that we would be lucky to foul off half of the pitches that came across the plate. mad props to the camarillo girls softball for coming in 2nd in the tourney and just being able to get a bat on the ball against one of the meanest pitchers i've ever seen.

you gotta love baseball fans, esp yankee fans. i'm fortunate enough to live in a county that is home to the CIF baseball champs, little world series champs and countless pro prospects. so i have a feeling that i'm going to be at quite a few games this year. anyways, i had all of these people coming up to me and giving me grief about wearing a yankees hat, but right off the bat i had support from a couple of fellow yankee fans to ward them off. we know our stats! so back off. you're just jealous of the pinstripes. the highlights of the whole yankee debate had to be meeting a mom from the bronx who only got louder when someone admitted they were a braves fan. the best though, was when the cuz's bosses' son mentioned something about skipping school to watch the opening series of the yankees vs. red sox. i told him i'd come pick him up from school myself at lunch. that's my kind of ministry.

well, lunch break is over. one love, one heart.

view from my office

church view2
Originally uploaded by braddahdj.

i was sitting in front of my office playing guitar, waiting for the kids to show up when i realized what i was looking at. just thought i'd share.

You know what the problem is? It's a Ford. You know what Ford stands for? Fix It Again Tony. - Hank Hill

i'm saving a bunch on car insurance. unfortunately i had to spend that money on getting my truck towed off of the freeway last friday.
so this past weekend was our big 'blank page' retreat with the youth group. we were all stoked to get up to big bear, see some snow, and hammer out a mission statement and name for our ministry. i was pretty stressed out, it's my first retreat to plan and i was already over budget with food alone. so we head out and get as far as azusa when the truck makes this unhealthy noise. so i pull over and the truck dies on the side off the freeway. i've got four kids and all of the food for the weekend with me, so i'm not exactly excited about having to turn the hazards on in the middle of rush hour. ) sidenote to pasadena commuters: when you see a car with it's hazard lights on try and get off of the freeway, let them go. the alternative is that the vehicle will die right in front of you causing a traffic jam. jerks.) so a couple of the other cars in our caravan stop and pull over to see what's going on. we're already running 90 minutes late because it started to snow despite every news report that stated it wasn't going to, and we had to buy chains for three of our vehicles, that i find out later are not returnable even though we haven't busted the plastic. sidenote: jim's tire co. in simi valley is a rip-off and thier staff is not courteous. so back to me on the shoulder of the freeway. i call up one of the parents back in simi to see if he can ditch his weekend plans and take me and the kids+stuff up the mtn. for the weekend. mr clutch comes through and meets us on the freeway. in the meantime, two of the cars are already on their way up the mtn, and the other two are at a grocery store parking lot, patiently waiting to see what's going to happen to the youth minister's crappy car. also, another one of my parent's who is mr. clutch with cars has called a tow truck friend of his to pick up my ride and haul it back to simi valley for relatively cheap. so three hours later we're back on the road, tired, packed in like madmen, and ready to get to big bear.
other sidenotes about the truck situation: the kids were completely awesome about the whole thing. not single complaint or negative comment. one of my sixth graders even bought me a new car (think postcard) which was an awesome gesture, totally putting me in a good mood. that, and the group hug i got when we finally got going again. the big thing... it looks like i have a case against the geniuses at jiffy lube who apparently didn't tighten the oil plug enough when i had my oil changed last week. if the repairs for the truck are more than the value i can declare it totaled and get a check from jiffy lube. that'd be nice.
on to the good stuff. the retreat went awesome. better than planned. one of those 'God is def here moments'. we got started late but the kids were high energy.... surprise surprise. we had a quick little session, some snacks, but mostly relaxed and hung out. the morning session went as planned, and then we went sledding. this part was nuts. one of the other youth ministers had told me about a spot they found in a little residential area. i'm expecting a backyard with a little slope to it, and what we got was what used to be a green diamond ski run. it was awesome. one of those things where the kids were already charging up the hill pretending not be be intimidated while the parents looked at me like i was nuts. i told them that's what the medical releases were for and hiked up the hill myself. it was pretty insane. the best part was that we had the whole hill to ourselves for a few hours. not a soul in sight till past noon. gotta love being able to have an eight man sledding race. so we wrecked ourselves pretty good, but the crash of the day had to go to one of my chaperones that had never been been in the snow before and went tandem from the top of the hill. the girl in front could have jumped over me, and the girl on the back crashed so hard and fast that her jacket left a blue streak down the hill. i've seen some wicked cool sledding before but nothing that left a streak in the ice.
and on to the main reason we went up there: the whole point of the retreat was to come up with a name and a mission statement for the youth ministry. the kiddos came up with ignite, which i really like. there's an element of not being in control that i like to the name. considering this is what i did in college for four and a half years i didn't think i'd be able to remember how to pull off getting the group into this, but they seemed pretty stoked. despite all of the peripheral stuff that went down, watching the kiddos have fun together makes my day. that, and they seemed pretty driven which def makes my job easier. we'll see how this carries over into other stuff, but i'm pretty excited for the next few months.
other stuff....
monday wasn't exactly a day off because the cuz had his mom in town and we went up to visit santa barbara. it was cool for several reason. 1. it's always good to go visit a beach town for the day. b. i found a vinyl copy of johnny cash-live at folsom prison at this thrift store. that's been a bit of a white whale in my vinyl collection for the past 8 years or so. 3. since we were up in santa barbara, home of ucsb, home of jack johnson, we declared it jack johnson day and listened to nothing but his mellow tunes all day.
not so cool things about spending the day in santa barbara 1. all we did was go shopping. sorry, but shopping as a tourist should be confined to picking up local stuff for non-locals. b. all we did was go shopping, which meant we walked all day between overpriced stores (which exist all over the us) and not a step on the sand that separates the land from the sea ( i like to call that area the beach). 3. lastly, we had to drive to go shopping. there's a mall ten minutes in either direction of where i live, and we drove an hour and a half to find one that was more expensive.
all in all it was a good day. chillin with an ocean view and jack johnson songs stuck in your head is pretty hard to beat, no matter how many 'specialty shops' you have to wade through to see it. did i mention i found some johnny cash on vinyl too?
more other stuff...
the girl from palapa has called me a few times, which is somewhat surprising. unfortunately she makes jessica simpson sound like a genius. that, and i'll be the first to say that there's a big difference between being a ditz and being just plain dumb. all good though, at least i can say i've given my phone number to a girl that i've met at a mexican restaurant. is that a good thing?

gotta give props to mi madre as well. the constant thing going through my head, (and i think through the cuz's too) was how stressful it is entertaining parents who visit. got me to thinking about mi madre and how easy she is to be around. it's cool to be able to do anything or noting and still have a good time. that, and i don't think she'd let me take her all day to go shopping on a trip out to socal. we'd prob end up mexican dive hopping instead, and run across something no tourist would ever see.

gotta give props to me padre as well. we always did the typical national lampoon type vacations, but they were always fun. no reason why, except that my parents weren't that bad to hang out with. my parents will prob debate this, but i can't really recall a whole lot of times that i absolutely refused to be around them. i may have blocked some of that out of my memory, or something like that, but i can't remember mi madre or padre ever contributing to a vacation being lame.

then there's my sister... hehe. she's trying to spend the summer out here with me and the cuz. i wasn't too keen on her staying at our place, but she said she wouldn't come otherwise. the more i think about it, i think it's gonna be fun having her around for a while. i know me and the cuz could use someone else to make fun of. actually, shar is pretty cool and we've always got along really well. despite her being a dork, and me being the best brother ever, we get along famously. enough that i wouldn't mind having her sleep in our dining area on an inflated mattress for ten weeks or so.

while i'm handing out props, i keep going back to my kids and how cool they were with everything that happened on friday night. we were stuck on the freeway, they had to pile into other cars, we ended up being 4 hours late, and not a single complaint or negative comment was said all weekend. one of my sixth graders even bought me a new car (picture). man, if i were in the youth group i'd be all over the smart alec comments. not one all weekend from the kiddos, or the parents for that matter.

tax season is creepy. supposedly ministers are supposed to get off pretty easy, but i have a sinking feeling about this. i even went out and bought some turbotax program at bestbuy. fingers are crossed as of right now.

underrated hottie of the week goes to lacey chabert.
overrated hottie of the week goes to halle berry.

oprah and martha stewart have a plan to take over america. they may act like they have nothing to do with each other, but i think we've got evil plans on the bond-villain scale in the works. call it a gut feeling, but i think martha is more dangerous now that she's been in prison.

wal-mart is a front for their plan.

walking around barefoot is one of the joys of not working in an actual office.

i had breakfast today with the sr. saints of our church and didn't hear one mention of any health issues. call gennis.

the last thing i need to hear is another uk band that sounds like the strokes. are we ready for the 4th wave of ska yet?

after our weekend at big bear, i ended up with a lost and found pile that was made up almost entirely of wet socks., yeah, i think it's safe to say those are okay to throw away.

well, thats all for now. i gotta go pick up some pizzas for the kiddos for small group tonite.
one love, one heart.

Let me get back to you, will ya, Charlie? I got a guy on the other line asking about some white walls.

so the theme song for yesterday would have been 'caught stealing' by jane's addiction. lemme explain...
i have officially joined the ranks as 'one of those guys' and am now a part of a church softball team. sweet. check another thing off of my to-do-to get-old list. anyways, we were playing last night and i was a little stressed out. i haven't thrown a ball in years and had to spend a good part of saturday afternoon trying to get some muscle memory back so i wouldn't flat out embarass myself. so throwing is not necessarily the problem. i made a pretty decent throw from the outfield and mad a double play so i was getting pretty stoked. not cocky, just stoked. so get on base with this brilliant alice of a hit a la ichiro suzuki. the rule in softball is that you can't lead off until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand, and there is no stealing. easy enough. i was reminded of this from every guy on the team individually. so i beat out the soft dribbler and end up on first base my first at bat. nice. now i'm out to get a couple of bases to make up for my weak hit. so i take off as soon as the pitch leaves the guys hand, and the next thing i know theyre throwing me out at first. i got picked off at first in a softball game. i didn't think it was possible, but i proved them all wrong. and managed to quench a much needed rally. seriously, the only thing i can remember thinking was that it was a fat pitch and i was sure our guy was going to going to nail it. evidently some guys like to take a pitch. i'll keep this in mind for next week. anyways, it was really embarassing to play softball again, but i think i'm gonna have to join the crew and just laugh at this one, and keep my anger reserved for off of the field.

this got me to thinking though, and i think i've alwas been an anti-competitive person. probably because i've never been much of an athlete, but have always enjoyed playing. actually, my anti competitiveness probably goes back to the nintendo days when dantheman used to beat me at every video game we played. my mom never bought me a nintendo so i could never practice to beat him, so i just got it in my mind that i don't care about winning. thanks mom. just kidding, i actually used to be somewhat competitive, i just get frustrated when people stop having fun with sports, and when people turn everything into a competition. at this point, i would rather play catch, or throw the football around with my friends than try and get an organized game together. either that, or come up with some sport like gennis or my fave, calvinball, where no one really has to be the loser.

the pinnacle of this was our D2 basketball team in college. as much as it was a joke, it really had an underlying purpose to put some fun back in intramurals. i remember guys during basketball would get so worked up over games, and they forgot they were playing in D league, and the final score would be somewhere in the teens. the worst part, a lot of guys, including guys from our club seemed to forget that we were all christians. when D2 came in fruition, we made it a point to lose every game, fouling out if necessary, but bringing the focus back on having a good time and esp goofing around. we had guys playing in wheelchairs, we had one short guy on another guys shoulders with a jersey over the both of them. i think a bear suit was involved, and i def remember the game we all wore cheerleading outfits. (sidenote: while i'm not one to condone or participate in wearing women's clothes as a regular or comedic practice, this also served a purpose of clarifying that men should not wear skirts. also, if you're not scottish, it's not a kilt, it's a skirt.) whatever... we had fun and we had more people show up to our last game then most of the varsity basketball games. we were all winners. that was the whole point.

it's one of the things i stress with my kids in the youth group a lot. this whole idea of winning and competition translates into so many other things that drive people. one of my peeves is the whole one-upper attitude that drives so many people into fits. seriously, we don't have to have the best story, car, excuse, ticket... whatever. i know competition can be healthy, but that doesn't mean we should step on other or stress ourselves out trying to be or have the best whatever.

moving on...
it's hard to not enjoy today. the new jack johnson cd came out, so i've got some sweet mellow tunes to go with the cool breeze that's flowing through my office. i've got most of my work done with getting the retreat ready, so the next few days are details, minor details. the chica i met the other day at lunch called me yesterday. i don't think she was too impressed that i was a religious guy, but we'll see. whatever, the sun is out and it's a gorgeous day here in simi valley. i went skating this morning for a little while in the neighborhood across the street from the apts, had a good conversation with lawdog, the preacher here, ate lunch with one of our elders, and have a free evening to go do whatever i want. nice. oh yeah, i started a dynasty with sdsu on ncaa 05 last week and i'm playing in the championship in my second season with them. and finally, i've got that good sore feeling that comes from throwing too much, and a jitter in my hands from hitting the batting cages yesterday. real nice.

in random thought news...
when i get old, i'm going to make sure that i'm not just talking about my health issues. i love eating lunch with one of our elder's here, but i'm not to keen on hearing about strokes, bowel obstructions, or coughing up blood right before lunch.

being good at church league softball is like the movie bull durham. sure, you're great at church league softball, but there's always the question... why aren't you playing somewhere else? that's why having fun is more important.

every guy should have some reason to own a pair of cleats.

i can think of a billion other things i would rather watch than all of the fashion reviews of the oscars. thank goodness for dukes of hazzard on dvd.

the cello is my new favorite instrument. not sure why, but i think it is due in large part to this jack johnson song with a cello in the background that sounds awesome.

i was finally able to listen to a song and play it on guitar. this is a big deal for a guy who plays guitar all the time to battle his inherent tone-defness. unfortunately that song was 'lose yourself' by eminem.

there should not be a reason for the word celebutante.

i'm going outside to play.

one love, one heart.

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.

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

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

"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.

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.

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.