Category: life or something like it

Feb 20 2008

Sketch 7

I’m really thinking hard about what I’m going to be doing after my contract ends in May.  I’m thinking about trying to do some schooling/training in wine making (aka oenology) and/or fermentation science (with an emphasis on brewing).  But I have to figure out where and how I’ll do that.

The skinny on schooling:
There are a couple community college programs I know about in oenology.  One is in Santa Maria, CA at Alan Hancock College.  The known pros so far: I’m already in California and technically a resident.  CC tuition is super inexpensive in Cali…$20/credit.  Also basically in the middle of one of the major central coast wine regions.  Would be good for eventually transferring to one of the BS programs at UC-Davis or Fresno State.  The cons:  Santa Maria is a small town.  I have no job, place to live, friends there.  Chemeketa CC in Salem, OR also has a wine making program.  Pros: in Oregon.  Good for transferring to Oregon State’s program.  Close to Oregon Wine Country.  Cons: Much more expensive ($70/credit).  In Salem, which I’m not too excited about the prospect of living there.

*update: I just found a program in Santa Rosa (which is a little north of San Fran). Pretty much the same pros and cons of the Santa Maria program. Only instead of central coast wine country, i’m close to Napa and Sonoma and in the Russian River wine country.

What I don’t know yet…is it enough to just go to one of the community college programs? Should I just take some targeted science classes at a community college and then try and apply to one of the BS programs?  Is there a CC program in WA that would help facilitate transferring to WSU’s program?  Should I just stick to beer and try and find a brewer to apprentice with in Portland?

Anyway, that is the main thing stewing in my head (at least when I get a few moments away from work).

I finally made it up for a brief visit to Griffith Observatory on Friday night.  By the time I got up there it was only open for twenty minutes, but it was still pretty cool.  The sprawl of LA is both impressive and depressing at the same time.  Saturday was largely a day of relaxation, running a few errands and trying to get my desktop computer working again (I didn’t succeed).  Then I went to Sub-Level with some friends later that night.  It was out in the middle of nowhere in an empty warehouse Sun Valley (ewe…i went to a party in the valley).  I was out until almost 6am Sunday morning.  I had lots of fun, but getting up at 10am for church and then working Sunday afternoon wasn’t as fun.  USC observed President’s Day, so I got an extra day of relaxation over the weekend.  Made a trip to Venice Beach and finally did some long overdue cleaning on my room.  It was a very nice weekend.

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Feb 12 2008

Sketch 6

Finally a day off!!!

Saturday, I decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather here in So. Cal. and I drove up to Malibu to check out one of the beaches up there.  It was in the mid-70s.  I just sat on the beach, read, and listened to the ocean.  Oh and called some friends in less friendlier climates…from the beach…to rub it in.

In the evening, I met up with the “Cuddle Call” group at Masa in Echo Park.  It’s a group of young adults doing some sort of ministry.  A place where we can learn and build up each other.  I’m glad to finally have something like this.  I’ve really needed some place where I could find support.  Even though it has pretty much come too late, but that’s a different story.

Work is still incredibly busy and stressful.  Compounding it all, I’m feeling pretty disconnected from God, faith, spirituality.  It makes it difficult to come to work with passion for my projects.  I feel defeated by my job and the largely only negative feedback I’ve been getting pretty much the entire time I’ve been working here.  I know that should challenge me to make things better, but right now I just don’t feel like there is anything I can do.

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Feb 05 2008

Sketch 5

Well I mostly survived last week, despite working every day of it.  My next day off won’t come until Saturday, but the major stress of last week has lessened. 

The week was one full of meetings.  It started off with a meeting at the Diocesan offices on Saturday (my normal day off).  The meeting was a visioning meeting about campus ministry in the Diocese.  It actually ended up being a pretty good meeting (and not as drama filled as I thought it might be).  On Monday, there was a Religious Director’s Meeting talking about the search for a new Dean of Religious Life.  Interesting, but something I didn’t really have the time for.  On Tuesday, we had a Board Meeting for Canterbury.  Then on Friday, I flew to Salt Lake City for a provincial gathering planning meeting (that lasted through Saturday).

Smack in the middle of all those meetings, Wednesday was our third MiX:USC event.  This is the project that is supposed to take just under half of my time at work.  In reality it takes much more (as do all my projects).  I was really worried about the event, but over the last week, things really came together and the event was really good.  If only more people could have been there to see it.

So there wasn’t much time for much other than work last week.  I started Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra.  Its going to take a little time to get through, as its 914 pages long.  I watched Ratatouille one evening.  It was enjoyable, but not the best of the Pixar animated films.  Maybe its just the premise of rats cooking that’s just too much to get over.

Salt Lake was beautiful.  There was a few inches of snow on the ground, but we were between storms, so the weather wasn’t bad.  Most everyone else at the meeting found it a little cold, but I loved the cold, crisp, clean air.  Plus I just love the sight of the snow covered Wasatch Range.  I had a couple pints at Squatters Pub, aka Salt Lake City Brewing Co.  Both the “Captain Bastard’s Oatmeal Stout” and “Organic Amber Ale” were quite good.  I also had a sip of the “Provo Girl Pilsner” which was not bad for an American Pilsner.  It’s nice to have good beer, and I don’t get to have it as much living in Los Angeles.

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Jan 29 2008

Sketch 4

Tis going to be a short sketch this week.  Work is pretty insanely busy right now, lots of meetings and a major event happening this week.  I’m heading to Salt Lake City for a meeting on Friday and Saturday.

Basically I’m trying my hardest to survive without doing something stupid like quitting.

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Jan 22 2008

Sketch 3

The big excitement of the past week was a friend visiting for the long weekend.  She arrived Thursday evening, slightly delayed (as was I from picking her up at the airport).  The next morning we took off for a couple days in Paso Robles, CA (a little over 200 miles north of LA).  Paso Robles is the center of one of Central Coasts wine regions.  On the way up we stopped at Sanford Winery which is in the other main Central Coast wine region. 

We made it to the hotel in Paso Robles a little after 1pm on Friday.  We decided to do some exploring of downtown Paso Robles in search of a good place for lunch.  Since my friend had a craving for fish and chips we ended up at an Irish pub called The Crooked Kilt.  This was after stopping by the Firestone Walker brewing company, hoping they’d have some food (they didn’t, but we did taste their beers, which were quite good).  After that we just relaxed at the hotel until a little before 8pm, when we had an appointment for an hour in one of the outdoor mineral spas at the River Oaks Hot Springs & Spa.  It was a nice cool night, which made the hot tub even more enjoyable.  It was nice to just sit and relax under the stars.

Saturday was spent exploring a few of the vineyards in the Paso Robles area.  We visited and tasted at Eberle, EOS Estates, Clautiere, Tablas Creek, Four Vines and Rotta.  We also stopped by Robert Hall and Justin, but didn’t end up tasting there.  At Justin, we did stop and eat our snacks we had brought along for lunch.  My favorites were the Port at Clautiere, the Zinfindel Rose at Rotta and the Port at Rotta.  The Tablas Creek wines were also good and interesting, as they are doing mainly French inspired wines.

I had to be back in LA for work on Sunday evening, so we had to head back on Sunday.  Monday was a rainy day in LA, so we stayed in all day (after going out for breakfast) and watched movies, at least until my computer decided to go kaputz on the forth movie.  After breakfast at The Kettle in Manhattan Beach, I dropped my friend off at the airport and headed back to work.  It was a good weekend all around, I wish it would have been longer if only because it’ll be awhile before I see my friend again.

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Jan 17 2008

Sketch 2

This weeks sketch is a couple days late because of a teensy mistake at my webhost, taking down the site for a good portion of 24 hours.

Largely due to a minuscule bank balance, I didn’t do much outside of work the past week.  Most of the students didn’t arrive back in town until the weekend, so it was still pretty quiet around the office.  I was able to attend both of the USC Men’s Basketball games last week (another loss and then finally a Pac-10 win over the Fuskies).

Payday finally came on Tuesday and my checking account was quite happy to finally see some action.  After work I drove over to the Beach Cities and picked up a birthday present for a friend.  I haven’t been over to the Beach Cities since before I left for the holidays, and it was nice to get out of the neighborhood for a bit.  It’s nice having the students back around the campus, I’d forgotten how odd it is to be around a campus when classes aren’t in session.  (Though that also means a return to the loud parties going to 1am across the street from my apartment.)

I’ve got fun plans for the weekend, but I’ll wait until next Tuesday to tell you about them. 🙂

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Jan 08 2008

Sketch 1

Inspired partially by one of my friends weekly emails, I’m going to write weekly entries in my blog that focus on what I’ve been doing the past week.  Little sketches on what is going on in my life. 

New Year’s was spent at Zanzibar in Santa Monica with some new friends.  There was a DJ set by Jason Sole (of KCRW) until the countdown at midnight.  Breaking in the first hours of 2008 was the band Breakestra, a funky hip-hop orchestra.  It was a great night of dancing and meeting new folks. (Pics Here)

After sleeping in and watching football for much of the rest of New Year’s Day, it was back to work on Wednesday.  My first day back in the office since getting back to LA (but not my first day of work).  Caught a showing of There Will Be Blood, the new film by Paul Thomas Anderson at the Arclight Cinemas in Hollywood.  The movie was amazing and the score was mindblowing, a character in itself.  I still like No Country for Old Men as my favorite for best movie of 2007, but There Will Be Blood was definitely nipping at its heels.

I went to the dentist on Thursday.  The dentist actually cleaned my teeth, which was kind of weird.  I don’t think I’ll be going back to this dentist though.  She wasn’t horrible once I actually got in, but I definitely felt as I was just a $ sign to her.

Friday was back in the office and a long conversation with my boss about goals for the coming semester.  The weekend was full of NFL Playoffs, reading and relaxing.

Classes don’t start here at USC until next Monday, so work is pretty quiet, but I should be able to get a bunch of stuff done this week as well.

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Dec 31 2007

a rhino walks at the end of 2007

I made my first trip back to Oregon since moving to Los Angeles for Christmas.  It was an interesting experience, having been so homesick for much of my time here in Los Angeles.  I drove up to Eugene with a friend (though in separate cars), stopping in one of my favorite places, Ashland, OR, to break up the drive.  A nice relaxing evening in Ashland was just what was in order after a long day on I-5.  We were lucky going over the Siskiyou Pass, as if we had been another 10-15 minutes later, we’d have needed chains (which neither of us had).  After a late breakfast and a walk around downtown Ashland, we headed North on I-5 to continue our treks to our respective homes.

It was good being at home, seeing my Eugene friends, dancing at 80s night.  There was the typical family drama/stress…but really it was ok (I can say that now with some distance…while I was there, I was ready not visit the folks the next time I went to Oregon).  Really the important thing is that I was able to see my sisters.  I just have this feeling that any time now, we won’t all be able to gather as a family for the holidays.

As I look to the new year, I am still trying to settle into life in LA.  I’ve been here five months now and am just really starting to find my places around here.  My job is much more challenging than I ever thought it would be.  I often feel as if I am over my head.  I’ve been thinking a lot over the past couple weeks about whether or not I’m really ready to begin the process to go to seminary.  My thoughts are definitely leaning towards that I am not ready.  This of course brings up the question of what do I do in meantime.  Do I go back to school to teach or for law school?   Do I stay in Los Angeles beyond this school year?  These are the questions I’ll be trying to answer over the next few months.

That’s it for now, one of my goals for the new year is to make at least a weekly post here…so keep checking for updates 😉

I hope everyone has a great New Year!

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Nov 24 2007

on thanksgiving…

I realized that this was first thanksgiving I’ve ever had without spending some time with my family.  It’s kinda weird how much its got me down, since holidays at home are always kinda stressful.  It is a weird dynamic, even though they often get on my nerves, I would give pretty much anything to have been home this weekend.

I’m struggling a lot right now.  I’m not adjusting as quickly (or easily) as I thought I would.  I’m not doing my job as well as I thought I would.  I’m doubting if its really the right fit for me.  Which makes me doubt whether or not the vocation I’ve been journeying towards is really where I should be going.  I miss Portland.  I miss the rain and grey skies.

But yet, I do not doubt that Los Angeles is where I am supposed to be right now.  I can’t completely explain it and it often doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  Things aren’t all gloom here either.  I’ve got a couple of old friends that live down here that I get to hang out with once and awhile (though not enough).  I’ve also got a new close friend that I’ve met since being here.  I’ve found a really good church (in Beverly Hills of all places) to be a part of.  These are some of the things I’m thankful for this weekend.  I’m also thankful for my friends in New York, Portland and Eugene…who’ve listened to my whining over instant messaging chats.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2007/11/on-thanksgiving/

Oct 13 2007

Finally…it rains!!!

It took over two months…but the rain has come tonight…I’ve missed it so.

(Yes I even walked around the block when I got home…just to be in the rain a little longer)  

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2007/10/finallyit-rains/