We're no longer Sonic Death Monkey. We're on the verge of becoming Kathleen Turner Overdrive, but for tonight, we are Barry Jive and his Uptown five.

my head may explode in the next few weeks. with the astros clinching the wild card spot in the playoffs, and the ever present yankees making their annual postseason appearance I am torn. I always talk about the yankees vs. astros playing against each other in the world series knowing that is so unlikely, I’ll just be dismissed as a guy dedicated to his teams, nothing more. hmmm, with the realistic possibility of these two teams squaring off I am forced to make a decision of who I am going to pull for in case of my dream coming true. let it be known, that in the event of an astros vs yankees world series, I will be officially going for the ASTROS. my uncle still works for the astros, I have been an astros fan my entire life (my indoctrination into baseball came two weeks after my birth when my mom took me to the astrodome for the first of many trips) and I have suffered for many years as a fan of a somewhat mediocre team. the yankees did not come into the picture until I was in jr high or so when I got my don mattingly autograph, and the neighbor down the street (who grew up in the bronx) became my 'adopted' dad, passing on his yankee love to the son he never had. as much as I love the yanks, this is the time for me to step out and be proud of my years as an astros fan. for the record, I have never NOT been an astros fan, it's just hard to be loud about loving the astros when they choke come the end of the season. (unlike cubs fans who get louder when their team continues to choke). I know I have been very vocal about the yankees in the past, and I still have a lot of love, especially against the red sox... but not enough to go against my roots.

in other news, things are settling down here in simi as of the last few days. my office is finally set up to a point where I can manage hanging out in here, my apt is functional but not really complete, and my truck is to a point where its running well enough that I’m not thinking about the fact that the tags are now expired, and it still needs a new muffler. oh well, I live literally a mile door to door away from work so im not really transportation concerned as of right now.

as far as the new apt goes, I think I’m taking the 'bachelor starting out on his own thing' to a new degree. I have zero furniture in my place as of right now. it's actually empty enough that the apt is somewhat awkward to stay at, so I don't, unless I’m ready to go to bed. yesterday I spread my stuff out across my room so as to make it look 'more full'. yesterday morning was odd, because I had yet to purchase a shower curtain, and I had to throw down some dirty shirts on the floor to act as a bath mat. there's something really weird about showering without a curtain. I know it's a see-through piece of plastic, and there's no one else at my apt for a few days, yet it was still a little unnerving showering without that $3.99 piece of target plastic there to separate me from the world. before any trading spaces fans get all excited and start talking to me about what they want to do to my apt, I did go out and buy a bunch of stuff yesterday afternoon for my bathroom, and it even matches somewhat. I’m not really big into interior design, but having all of these blank walls and rooms is driving the artist side of me nuts. as soon as I can draw out some sketches I think a home depot trip is in order. all I know is that I don't really want any symmetrical design going on. we'll see.

other stuff on my mind... I haven't been able to get a hold of topgun girl in over a week. Friday was her birthday and I sent a card and all that, but zero returned phone calls has me kind of bummed. we'll see I guess, I know she's busy enough to earn the benefit of the doubt, still lame on my end. not a lot going on in simi though, one of the drawbacks of living in an upper middle class town is that not a lot of 24 year olds can afford to live here. a road trip to san diego may be in order sooner than later.

yesterday was the first day that I really got to hang out with a bunch of kids at once and we had a blast. our church is at the base of the mountain where the reagan library is, and after service yesterday a bunch of families hiked to one of the peaks along the ridge where there is a giant cross, and had a devo up there. it was supposed to be an event for the whole church, but it ended up being mostly families with youth group ties. I had a blast hiking with the kids, and I think they had fun too. the one thing they def aren't lacking is energy, and it's so contagious. this is my last week of free dinners with families, and that's going really well so far. it's cool to be able to see what the kids are like around their families, in a non-church environment. even more importantly, I feel like I’ve been able to do some ministry so far that is really going to pay off in the long run. I’m still getting used to that mentality though. I’ve become so accustomed to having an end date in mind that I’ve really had to switch gears from sprint to marathon mode. it's a good feeling though, I realized today that I am planning on being here in simi longer than most of the kids in my group are. kind of a weird feeling, but good to have.

something else I love about simi so far is the weather. the breeze is blowing and it actually feels like fall today. I am still rocking my shorts and a t-shirt, but it's tough to go at nights w/o a hoodie. the school that we are next to provides for the sounds of kids playing all day, which always makes for a peaceful afternoon. as soon as I figure out how to get pix form my phone to computer I’ll try to post a few up.

well, I think I am going to head out and pick up some more stuff for the apt. food isn't an issue yet since I won't have a fridge or microwave till the cuz moves in on sat, but there's all the fun stuff like mattresses, bedframes, lamps, light bulbs, etc... that make for comfortable living.

one love, one heart.