Various Joyous Boredoms

Friday 12.

Marooned. Drove across town to meet a fellow and look at the car he listed on Craigslist. Mike Alongi left me in his debt by driving across town from a different direction to give a second opinion. It was a maroon-colored 1993 Honda Accord four-door, two years newer than the one I had, with fewer miles. The owner listed it for $2500, which was a good amount for a high quality car of that age and mileage, so it was likely to be in pretty good shape. I was a little worried because the listing only showed one photograph of the passenger side of the car. It was also on the east side of town. I got there a bit before Mike or the owner did, and stepped out in the suburban drizzle to look at the car. As I walked toward it, I could see the passenger side, and it looked good. Toward the rear of the car, however, my heart began to sink. The back window had a Raiders sticker in the lower right-hand corner. I thought, well, I could scrape that off. But then I saw the blunt puncture damage below and to the left of the rear license plate in the trunk lid. Bad news. The trunk didn't seal properly. Looked like it had been badly repaired from a collision, and the listing had said it had a clean record! But then my mood changed entirely as I rounded the corner of the rear driver's side. All the doors and the fender on the left side of the car were black, and ill-fitting and dented. All the windows were rolled down... in the rain. I didn't bother to stay and wait for the owner, and I managed to intercept Mike before he got there, and take him out to lunch as a thank you for participating in my wild-goose chase. The owner of the car never called me to ask where I was. I think he must not have showed at all, or knew why I didn't show.

#RUBBERBANDFIGHT I tried to start a "rubberbandfight" hash on Twitter. Being that I am an amateur of the tweet, I think I should have put more thought into how such a thing might be accomplished. Almost no-one participated in shooting imaginary rubberbands at each other, which surprised me. I even tried to get Conan O'Brien's Twitter account to do it, but no. Most of my friends didn't jump in either. Only Quell returned fire. Note to self: two points for Quell.

As an unexpected positive externality to the failed rubberband fight on Twitter, a small rubberband skirmish broke out on my Facebook page, predictably, between people who had been at the wedding, including the Grove girls and Andrew's sister Sarah. Note to self: points for Lisa, Karena, and Sarah.

Saturday 13.

Saturday morning Bible study with the Fairhaven guys was canceled, so I stayed home and studied after the 6:00 AM fantasy baseball draft for my college chum Jeremy Purves' "Hitting the Bottle League." (I won the championship in 2008, but in 2010 I don't expect to even match the 3rd place ranking I achieved last year.)

Saturday night we caught up with the old "college group" crowd at Grace McCarthy and Katie Lanet's apartment. Trent couldn't come, which is just as well since Katie's new boyfriend Steven Pinheiro was there. But Peter came, as did Faith, and the girls' childhood friend Danni was there with her then-boyfriend, now-husband Sheldon, along with his pal Matt Ehlers. A good time was had goofing around with the newer guys, and overall it was a fun reunion and minimally awkward. Amid the highlights of the evening, such as our raucous rounds of Taboo, Matt and I discussed fantasy baseball and I agreed to sign on with his dynasty league. I think I will only be in two leagues this year.

Sunday 14.

Troubadour: Church, Churched, Was Churching, Have Churched, Had Churched, Will Church, Will Have Churched Helped Mike Alongi with worship music on Sunday. I was approached by a couple people afterward who said it sounded very nice, clearly with the added, emphatic, "you should come back next week." There was a very transparent concern among some of these folks, who are seasonal interns at our church and don't know all the history, that maybe I don't consistently come to church because there's something wrong. Who knows what they think? Backslider and without accountability? Maybe just a loner?

It makes me feel like their concerns are a little silly. I need God's grace like any other creation, but by that grace I persist, and am not less joyful or diligent for missing home-church fellowship occasionally. I tend to be there at church two Sundays a month, then out of town somewhere else one weekend a month, leaving the fourth Sunday of any given month to either help out in Oakland where my parents minister, sleep in and say heck with it, or visit somewhere else. Four weeks prior I slept in, and only went to the worship service, and had to leave promptly afterward. The next Sunday I was visiting friends in the East Bay and attended Fairhaven. Two weeks back I had attended the starved little Romanian church where my parents minister in Oakland, and helped with music. One week prior I was in Oregon, and now I was back home at Grace Bible Chapel.

An oddity about Grace is that if you don't go to the Breaking of Bread service at 9 O'Clock every week, people think you've left the church, and they feel bad, but they don't call to see what's up. They just give you quizzically concerned looks when you do inevitably reappear after your one- or two- (or in this case three-)week hiatus. The thing about that service is that it has changed. It used to be alive, but a lot of people have left, and it feels like a ritual, a formality. So I have not made it as much the priority as used to be my wont. I miss it, but thus far, attending the dead-wood versions of the last year-and-a-half hasn't brought it back yet.

Practice with Martha and the Chores, the current name of the ever-slightly changing lineup formerly known as the Summit Worship Band and the Fracehavenview Worship Band, was frustratingly bad. But practices have been so good most weeks, as we get ready for Summit and for John and Kaitlyn's June wedding, that one bad week will be okay. Tessa Devaul sent me a text afterward encouraging me not to worry that the practice was so frazzled, that it was okay and I'm doing a good job. Note to self: yeah you guessed it, 2 points for Tessa. The point, whether helping Mike, helping the Romanians, or practicing with the band, is to worship. In the end it's a mercy I didn't totally lose track of worshiping Him amid everything.

WEEKEND SCOREBOARD
Mike Alongi	10
Quell	2
Lisa Grove	1
Karena Grove	1
Sarah Keyarts	1
Tessa Devaul	2

Week Off, Week On

The week of April Fools' Day I had off from school. There were no April Follies. I got back my grades, which amounted to another 4.0.

Thursday, April 3, I had the day off work, so I crashed at Trent's house the night before and we set out on the road after breakfast. We decided to go north, try out Highway 1 and see how far we could go in a day. Ate lunch in a tiny town on Hwy 1 called Point Reyes Station (which Trent kept mispronouncing RAH-yez). We ended up continuing north, and disembarking at a beach for a bit. (Check out these maps. I labeled everything and included pictures. Linking to the larger version might be easier.)

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That was good, but we hadn't even gotten as far as Jenner before we decided we ought to head back. Well, that didn't take long. Heading south on Hwy 101, we made up most of the afternoon's distance in about 15-20 minutes. Crossing the Golden Gates again, we arranged to meet up with my old friend JP and his girl Christine. Ate at an Italian restaurant, and it was good.

Friday, April 4 was relatively uneventful other than the fact that two of my new classes were canceled so I had to reshuffle my schedule. This quarter I will be working for P. Svalya, Inc.(my old boss), on MWF, and my new job in the Marketing Department at the college will occupy my Tuesdays and Thursdays. I will be carrying 11 college units and working roughly 40 hours. Woo.

Over the first weekend of April we saw this movie called Stop Loss, which was pretty much depressing. Went with Aundrea, Katie, Bethany, Chris and Peter. Katie wanted to see it because she thought it was going to be a chick flick. After all, it had a bunch of boy-toy non-actors in it, like Channing Tatum and Ryan Philippe. But in the end it just made Bethany scared that David's going to get stop-lossed once he's deployed. Note to Self: No more war movies with significant others or members of the military. I felt bad, it really messed with her head. It's gotta suck being a military spouse.

On Sunday, April 6, I gave a lecture during middle hour, about being a good witness. Pretty difficult topic to teach, considering I've never been that successful, that I know of. (Witnessing, that is; sharing Jesus with people...proselytizing.)

The first week of classes was rather boring, although it did make the quarter look like it's going to be challenging. I managed to say the wrong thing a couple times at my new job already. Note to self: I am going to need some remedial training in distinguishing how to talk to different races. I am just not used to treating people differently depending on their skin color. To me it seems backwards, but if it makes people feel respected that I acknowledge that they look different, then I guess it's worthwhile. I am so post-race in my Silicon Valley mindset, it's really odd to think in terms of tiptoeing around potentially racially charged situations.

Thursday, April 10, I had an unusual day in that about five times in one day (which is about five times more than usual) some random but very cute girl made eyes at me or flirted with me in some overt way. Must have been wearing the right clothing or something.

Saturday, April 12, I spent the morning at a conference for church elders and "interested men" in San Leandro, at Fairhaven Bible Chapel. It was hot and I got a free book and some homemade salsa, and talked with an inspiring church elder from San Diego. Note to self: I like driving to San Leandro. Perfect driving distance. Long enough to think or talk something through. Saw the Fairhaven guys. They're awesome dudes.


Larger Map

My Aunt Karin and cousin Kim came into town for the day, so we saw them over pizza and beers in the evening. They're visiting California from Alabama, where they live now. Also saw most of the other cousins including Jessi, Adam and Ange, and even Josh. I talked to cousin Chris on the phone, so if only I'd talked with TJ that would have been all the Ballard-side cousins in one shot.


Sunday, April 13, I saw Run, Fat Boy, Run with Trent, Peter and Brett. Was a pretty good flick. Brett didn't not like it, Pete liked it alright, Trent was disappointed that it wasn't a Hot Fuzz paced comedy. I liked a lot of things about it, especially his rock band tee shirts. That's an old Siouxsie & The Banshees tee in the pic, people, which is instant cred in my book.

A Good Week in the End

Sunday, February 24, 2008 - Went to church at 9 as usual, but a little more dressed up. Lectured and led discussion from 10-11, on the topic of temptation, like I mentioned before. See the last post for my notes. We couldn't find any chalk, so Ajay went and found a thick stub of blue sidewalk chalk, and I scrawled on the blackboard with that. The result was quite messy, but I think the lecture went over pretty well.

After the preaching service the same old crowd, along with Bethany's visiting friend Aundrea the ballet dancer, went to lunch at Eric's Deli Café and chatted it up for a couple hours. I then went home and tried to work on my solo project that would be due on the 26th. Not making much progress, I decided to go over to the office and work there. My idea for the concept was based on Hannah's new blog; I was thinking that of all my friends an Art Nouveau (which was the style I wanted to try) would best fit her style. She encouraged me to look through her pics on Facebook, of which there are thousands.

I didn't get far that night. Which was bad. It was a bad night in general and I stayed up late when I should have just gone to bed. I also had to work on a paper on the Chagoya exhibition, but I didn't do much on that either.

Monday, February 25, 2008 - I was all of a panic. I was on low sleep and would have to work all day then stay up all night finishing the solo project that I had NOT been able to design on the computer and didn't know how to paint. I mean, I literally don't know how to paint. But God's good: I went to the office all dressed in a tie and all for work, only to find that the boss was out and there was nothing to do. I puttered on a few details for an hour, then left for home and homework. I drew and painted all day and all night.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - I hadn't blown it. I had finished it beautifully, by taking my design from the computer, printing it out, tracing it over graphite paper onto foam board, then painting over the outlines. The painting was daunting but the colors were so shocking as to make the creative process a joy even at four in the morning. The following is a lousy phone picture of the final product.

The solo project was well-enough received by my classmates and prof to be considered a moderate success. I got my midterm grade, basically just a progress report from the professor to let us know how we're doing at this juncture. Mine was 100%. I went to Saltworks, a college outreach put out by our sister church, Hillview Bible Chapel. It was good, as we were talking about John 3-4. Talked with this middle-aged black musician named Eric who wants to try to connect with me about doing some kind of music project together. We'll see if anything comes of that. I went back home after study, to work on my painting for my afternoon class, because even though I had missed it last week while vomiting, I was told the project and accompanying one-page paper were due. So I missed the guest speaker who was on campus talking about political cartooning, and did homework until I was so late for class that I had to find my prof in his other class during the next time period just to get it in to him on time. He gave me a quizzical look and told me it wasn't due till Thursday. I went home and crashed.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008 - I worked all day, then worked on homework for a while, went to Katie's house and watched Eragon, which despite the presences of John Malkovitch, Jeremy Irons, Djimon Hounsou and a cute chick was pretty much uber-lame. Went home and finished my one-page Chagoya critique paper.

Thursday, February 28, 2008 - Read something that made me really sick to my stomach. Bad emotional dayl. Morning class was fine. Got a handout from my professor that was due today but I had never gotten it because it was handed out the day I was sick. Told him I'd finish it and email it to him in the evening. Went to work for an hour and a half. Then went to Color & Design class and turned in the same assignment again. Got that and the previous assignments/papers back by the end of the class; both were A's. Went home, feeling down, pulled together a pile of artwork examples for my interview the next day. Went to Kinkos to get some things printed in color, but they didn't look that hot, so I wondered if it had been worth the time. Got a little road rage, knew it had nothing to do with the guy stealing my parking space. Prayed a lot, went home, crashed.

Friday, February 29, 2008 - Worked all morning, part of the afternoon. Needed to buy myself lunch and get some portfolio folders for my work, but realized I'd left my wallet at home. Drove home at 90 mph and back, still took forever on my lunch break. Boss was gone when I got back, so I printed out some more things to show in my interview, and put things in order. Met with Lori, the head of Graphic Design for the De Anza College Marketing Department, to show her my work and interview for a part-time job. Interview went well, was fun seemed very promising as a career step. Went to pick up Robert to take him to Bible study. Went home, fell asleep for a bit. Got an unexpected call from Ali, which was a good sort of call and left me in a much better mood than the one in which I had been. Went to Bible study, which was on the topic of patience and gentleness, among other things, as well as preserving the bond of unity among believers. All that was good. Got to play a banjo for a while, worked out a couple of Avett Brothers tunes, or at least the skeletons of them. Went home, talked to Brian in my car till 1:30 AM. Went to bed in a generally good mood, thanked God for a good week. Couldn't sleep for a while, so I just kept thanking Him.

Saturday, March 1, 2008 - Woke up mercifully late. Talked with my parents good-naturedly for a while about this and that, in my pajamas. Changed and mowed the lawns. Got green stuff all over my hands and my brown boot-cut cords. Went to get coffee and run some errands. Decided to do my devotions with my coffee at 'Bux. Buccino came in with Jake Galleau, and we talked about blazing and boy scouts while drinking Tony's concoctions of iced tea and Red Bull. Gave them a ride back to the Buccino residence and visited with their family a bit. Watched Tony sand some boards, then gave him my burned copy of this album:

...because I was pretty sure he'd dig it. Came home and researched building bookshelves and closet shelving, pretty much wasted the evening instead of doing homework.

True Dreams, Artificial Awakenings

Monday I helped Mike with his house. The guests from Italy are coming, because the intern program starts soon. I got paint on my jeans. Octavia asked me about some events that happened a couple months ago, and how that's going. I didn't know what she was referring to at first, and the poor gal was trying not to say anything too specific, and making faces like it might be a sensitive topic. I finally figured out she was talking about a girl I had sortof dated. I made nothing of it, because I really hadn't thought about her in a while. But then Monday night I dreamed about it. Must have gotten my subconsious stirred up. Anyway, the funny thing about the dreams, which woke me several times in great discomfiture of mind and heart, weren't your typical fictional fare, but a mere tape of the relationship rewound and replayed, with everything but the awkward parts edited out. I woke up early, glad the night was over.

Tuesdays are 65¢ night at The Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, so we went over. We spun ourselves sick, rode rollercoasters, drove bumper cars, and watched people. I played the original Tetris arcade game for a bit. The sticky "Rotate" button made it a little challenging. I also went into the bathroom to wash my hands, and found on the way out that I had been in the women's restroom. Some lady looked at me funny, but I looked at her funny right back, like "what're YOU doing here?" She had to go out and double check that she was in the right bathroom, but by the time she came back I was gone. Anyway, our whole crowd had ice cream at this decent little joint that had a lot of unusual flavors. The goateed, ponytailed, snaggletoothed late-twentysomething guy started making Big Lebowski references. Overall, a very fun Tuesday night with friends.

The Times, Quickly Becoming a Weekly

Nothing is going on.

I have spoken a lot on the phone with Kenneth, Cannone, Julia and a little with Rob and Jacob. Hung out a bit with Trent, Katie, and the posse this weekend. Played some old songs with Peter for the new girls. Saw the Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Funny, but sadly overrated. Seeya when something noteworthy happens. I shall duly note it.