Tag: life or something like it

Mar 20 2008

Maundy Thursday (90210)

I’m not really sure how I felt about the Maundy Thursday service tonight.  It was good, but I was still a little disappointed that only (i think) 6 people actually got their feet washed.  They were chosen to represent the larger community and reflected different segments of the parish population.  But then this is a larger church than I have ever been in as well, so perhaps it simply would have taken too long.  Normally this is my favorite service of the year, but I’m not so sure this year.

But I also wonder if it has more to do with me than the actual service.  I’m still feeling disconnected towards God and my faith.  It’s not that I don’t believe anymore, its that I’m not hearing anything right now.  I go to church each week on Sunday morning, but it doesn’t feed me like I’m used to.  Sometimes I enjoy the sermons, but that’s more of a product of good preaching than being inspired by the Holy Spirit.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Jesus’ words could also be my cry right now.

I just wish I could open my ears and hear where God is guiding me right now.  I’m really stressing about what I’m going to be doing after May.  Whether or not I’ll drift away from church for awhile or even for good.  I feel disillusioned about the institution of the church right now or at least how I fit into it.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/maundy-thursday-90210/

Mar 18 2008

Sketch 11

I find myself often overwhelmed and lost living in a city the size of Los Angeles.  So when a friend offered a chance to not only get out of Los Angeles for a couple days, but to get out of the state, I jumped on it.  My friend was trying to convince me that Phoenix is a cool place, because I had made fun of it in the past.  Mainly the thing I don’t like about Phoenix is the sprawl of urban mess, covering way more ground than is needed (and can be supported by natural water sources in the area).  Because we were flying on a seat available basis, we quickly found out that our chances of getting out of LAX were slim to none, however if we drove down to Long Beach, we’d have better luck.  So braving the Friday evening rush hour traffic, we set off for Long Beach in our quest for seats on a plane.

With plenty of time to spare, we managed to get through the rigorous security at Long Beach, and get on the plane.

On Saturday we went for a 5.8 mile hike on the Go John Trail outside of Cave Creek, AZ.  A relatively short drive from Phoenix, away from most of the sprawl that makes up the Phoenix Metro Area.

The wildflowers were in full force and it was just nice to actually get out into nature for a change.  There are more pictures here.Sunday night was the monthly dinner group I’m a part of.  I think that all nine of us ended up showing up this week.  It was a great evening of food, wine, laughing, and discussion.  I made a Guinness Cheesecake for dessert.  It was a great time for sure.

It’s spring break here, so the majority of the students are gone, and I can mainly work from home this week.  I’ve got a lot of personal projects to work on, as well as a couple work projects.  I’m hoping I can make some headway on the personal projects this week.  Good news is that I’ve got my resume updated, so now its just sending it out for jobs and what not.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/sketch-11/

Mar 12 2008

Sketch 10

Not a lot happened this past week.  Lots of work and a few movies. 

From Netflix I’ve watched:

Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (1958) — Louis Malle’s first film, which features a beautifully haunting soundtrack from Miles Davis.  The film is called Elevator to the Gallows in the US.

Balls of Fury — A silly stupid comedy about ping pong, death match style.  Mindless entertainment, not great film by any means, but it served its purpose.

Good Luck Chuck — A silly romantic comedy about a guy who is always the guy before the marriage.  Also kind of mindless entertainment.  But Jessica Alba is nice to look at.

Dan In Real Life — Another romantic comedy about a single father of three girls (two teenagers) who also happens to be an advice columnist.  He ends up falling in love with his brothers girlfriend.  Silliness ensues.

Slueth (2007) — Kenneth Branagh remake of the 1972 movie of the same name.  The original screenplay was written by Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter.  Michael Caine reverses his role from the original, playing the aging detective writer, instead of the struggling young actor (he was nominated for an Oscar in the original film version).  I haven’t seen the original however, so I can’t say which was better, just that this was enjoyable.

At the theater I saw The Bank Job.  Set in the 70s, a band of amateur thieves get conned into performing a heist for MI5.  Based on a true story (at least according to the promotions).  I enjoyed it.

I didn’t get as far in my job searching as I would have liked.  But I’m going to wrap up my resume updating by Monday (which is spring break) and really start the search in earnest.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/sketch-10/

Mar 06 2008

Sketch 9

Looks like I’m a couple days late on posting my weekly sketch again.  This week I don’t even have a good excuse, I’ve just been lazy.  I did end up making it to the Getty Villa last Saturday.  It was a cloudy morning, threatening rain the entire time.  The Villa holds the antiquities collection of the Getty.  Its designed to resemble a Roman villa from Herculaneum.  Most of the collection consists of sculptures, however there is also some jewels, coins and frescoes as well.  It is of course much smaller than the main Getty Museum, but still quite interesting.  Afterwards, I picked up some cupcakes from Sprinkles and stopped for lunch in Little Ethiopia.

I had to take my car in to the shop, it was making a rubbing noise anytime I turned.  Turns out it was just that the power steering fluid was low.  Apparently the power steering box could use to be replaced, because its got a small leak, but its also $750 for the part.  So the mechanic said, just make sure to top off the fluid if it starts making noise.  With an oil change and a few other minor maintenance things, I managed to escape for under $200.  That made me happy, I was expecting something closer (or exceeding) my $600 budget (which I didn’t really have either).

One of my friends posed an interesting question last week.  Which is worse: getting drunk or pre-marital sex?  As I was thinking about my answer to this question, I also thought about how my answer has changed from when I was in high school to now a few years out of college.  My simplistic current answer would be getting drunk is worse.  Not only does heavy drinking damage your body, it has the potential to damage people around you in both your actions and emotionally.  Pre-marital sex…well my views about the institution of marriage in our current political environment effect my answer on that.  I personally have issues with the “civil” side of marriage.  I don’t think we should be regulating who people can or cannot marry, I mean, if two adults love each other and want to commit to each other, than they should be able to.  So back to the pre-marital sex thing, I believe that sex is an important part of our expression of love towards our chosen partner.  It is still something that is very special and should only be done in the confines of a committed relationship.  So for those people that marriage isn’t an option or that have problems with the institution of marriage, should they not be able to express their love physically?

This weekend I’m going to focus on working on my resume and looking for jobs for after the semester is over.  Right now I’m focusing on three places for my job search, 1)Santa Rosa, 2)LA, 3)Eugene/Portland.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/sketch-9/

Mar 03 2008

When things are good…

“When you are going good, you’re not that good.  When you are going bad, you are not that bad.”

— John McKay, former Oregon football player (and USC Head Coach)
as related by Mike Garrett, current USC Athletic Director

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/03/when-things-are-good/

Feb 28 2008

Sketch 8

Last week was a busy work week, as it was the week leading up to my big monthly event.  Since my event was on Wednesday night, I didn’t quite get to writing up my sketch as I was preoccupied with last minute details for the event.  Mainly, I just worked this past week, but I did manage to fit in a couple trips to the beach though, so that was nice.  It is definitely one of the things that keep me sane in LA.

I had a good conversation with my boss/housemate about what will be happening after the semester is over and my job ends.  We talked about the different scenarios I’m considering, and how we can work on making one of them work.  I really think my top choice is trying to figure out a move to Santa Rosa.  Its in Northern California, which is closer to home, and has at least a little more rain than LA.  Its also about an hour outside of San Francisco, a city I enjoy quite a bit.  The challenge now is to find a job, that I can start in May.  At the very least, I need to work through the end of April, but I’ll probably end up working through the end of finals.  Either way I’ll get paid through May 15th, which is a good thing for my finances.

I’m trying to relax a little today, and will definitely be relaxing this weekend.  I think I’m going to check out the Getty Villa on Saturday.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-8/

Feb 22 2008

Whole Wheat Couscous with Feta, Sun-dried Tomato, Porcini and White Truffle Honey Asparagus

Because my favorite food blogger, Nicole at Pinch My Salt, hasn’t been posting much, I thought I’d do a food related post tonight.  Since I’ve been in Los Angeles, my diet has definitely deteriorated and I haven’t been cooking near as much.  So when I was thinking about my Lenten discipline this year, I thought it would be good to break a bad habit.  So I decided to give up fast food.  For the most part, its been pretty easy so far, however it does mean I’ve also given up In-N-Out for the course of lent.  Sad.  Anyway, one of the things I hope the breaking of the fast food habit would lead to, is more home cooking.  I haven’t cooked at home as much as I would like so far, but I’m getting better about planning time into my busy schedule to do it.

Tonight’s dinner was something that just came together in my head while grocery shopping last Monday.  I was thinking about how I could prepare the couscous I was planning to buy.  While in the produce section I noticed that the organic Asparagus looked pretty good and was a good price.  Remembering the White Truffle Honey I have in my pantry, the dish began to come together in my mind.  I don’t really have a recipe per say for dinner, I just did things by personal taste preference.

Ingredients:
Whole Wheat Couscous
Feta Cheese
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Dried Porcini Mushrooms (Rehydrated)
Asparagus
Butter
White Truffle Honey

Preparation:
Pan-steam Asparagus for approx 5 minutes.  Drain water.  Put some butter in pan (being careful to only brown, not burn the butter) with asparagus, add white truffle honey to taste.  Cook approx 2 minutes longer, making sure asparagus is fully coated with butter/honey mixture.  Remove from heat.  Prepare couscous.  Stir in Feta cheese to taste.  Stir in porcini and sun-dried tomatoes to taste.  Put couscous mixture on plate and top with asparagus.

couscous-asparagus_0004.JPG

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/whole-wheat-couscous-with-feta-sun-dried-tomato-porcini-and-white-truffle-honey-asparagus/

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.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-7/

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.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-6/

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.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2008/02/sketch-5/