Tag: s

Nov 05 2008

Sketch 44

It has been an interesting week.  Of course the big happening of the last week was the election (if you couldn’t tell from my earlier posts today).  Over the weekend, I saw two shows by Ray LaMontagne (in San Diego and Los Angeles respectively), look for more on that in a future post though.  A friendship has changed (sadly).

I am hopeful this week though.  I’m still in disbelief in some ways about the election.  Both the fact that Obama was elected President, and that the state of California pass Prop 8, eliminating the right of marriage for same-sex partners.  I am hopeful though that eventually all of the citizens of California (and the US) will be treated equally when it comes to marriage.

I’ve been in my new apartment for about a month now.  I’m really happy there.  My roommates are great.  The only bad thing is I’m watching more TV now…but oh well.  I do want to get back to some more creative pursuits however.  I need to make that a goal this month.

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Jun 16 2008

Sketch 24

Posting early this week, because I have a friend visiting for a week starting tomorrow.

It’s been a pretty slow week event wise.  Mainly I’ve just been job searching.

I did ride my bike to Pasadena last week, which was a significant ride for my out of shape self.  I did cheat and take the Metro train home.  Baby steps with the getting into shape.

I’m slowly starting to get in the swing of cooking again.  Tonight, I’m going to make my first attempt at homemade pasta.  We’ll see how things turn out…but it’ll be fun just to try.  I’m liking getting back into cooking…and who knows…maybe I’ll even start blogging about it soon like my friend Nicole at Pinch My Salt.

For those of you reading this in a feed reader…I tweaked my design a little bit over the weekend.  There are more tweaks to come, so check out the actual site every once in awhile and let me know what you think.

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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.

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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 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!

Permanent link to this article: https://www.rhinoblues.com/thoughts/2007/12/a-rhino-walks-at-the-end-of-2007/

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 22 2007

one deep breath: closeness

for S.

moonlit encouraged
waves embrace the sand, wind breathes
drawing each to us

another breath of closeness

more breaths of closeness from the poets at one deep breath

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