March 2008 Archives

Thanks to the kind folks at Losanjealous, I was able to see The Avett Brothers last night at the El Rey Theatre. It was my first time seeing them, as the couple times I had planned to see them in Portland, it ended up falling through.  The brothers were full of energy, which was good for me as I had just returned from Salt Lake City, and was a little tired.  It was my first time seeing a show at The El Rey, and its a pretty cool venue.  Anyway, if you like bluegrass/alt-country, check out The Avett Brothers, they are great live.


Here is a clip from their show Saturday night in Solana Beach, CA (there weren't any on youtube from the the LA show yet):

Its the end of the month, and that inevitably means a late weekly post.  Work of course has been incredibly busy, with the monthly MiX event and the upcoming Prov Gathering happening at the same time.  I'm behind in my job search, which is to say, I've only applied for one job and never heard back.  I've basically got a month to find a new job.  Yikes!

Easter was ok.  As I said in my last post, I didn't really enjoy the Maundy Thursday service at Beverly Hills.  I missed the Good Friday service at Beverly Hills, because I thought I had to work (which I found out I didn't 3 hours after the Good Friday service).  I ended up not going to one of the evening options for Good Friday, because I wasn't feeling well after eating too much pizza while watching basketball in the afternoon.  The Easter service was pretty good though.  It was a little long for my sore back (I had pinched a nerve or something, somehow).  After service, I drove out to Pasadena and met the Canterbury Group for Easter Brunch.  So I at least got a Easter dinner of sorts as well.

I'm off to Salt Lake City for the annual Province VIII Gathering for Ministry in Higher Ed this weekend.  It'll be nice to get out of the smog of LA.  It may even snow in Salt Lake City.

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.

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. 

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.

sunkissed clouds embrace
wind blowing through your absence
spring returns with you



more impressions of kindness can be found at the new community at one single impression (formally one deep breath)

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.

"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