Hermanos, Herman's Hermits

Thursday night I went to the church on the hill for my first Hispanic pick-up soccer game. Most of them are Christian brothers, and they play every Thursday. Translation: I plan to play every Thursday, too. Sporting, I could actually keep up, especially on defense. Keeping up with the language, however, was a different story.

Friday (last) night Peter, Katie, Trent, and I drove over the hill in Trent's car and met the girls at the Boardwalk. We saw Herman's Hermits live on the beach. I am certain it was lacklustre compared to the original phenomenon, but at least it was actually Herman, still doing his thing. ("Baby, baby, can't you hear my heart beat?") Proceeding to Seabright beach by 9, Peter and I built a fire, and we roasted the hot dogs and s'mores the Callahan girls had brought. I tried to keep Beck's guitar in tune. My clothes smell like smoke. Late summer should always be this good.

De, [LAT. "down from"] (also 4th Letter of the Spa. Alphabet) | Re'ah [HEB. "companion"]

FOREWORD. I bought a plane ticket to Atlanta last week. I bought a plane ticket back home this week. From where? Virgina.


De

I also registered for Spanish 5 online. I pulled up my transcript, and got a shock. Apparently, I was misled in thinking I had gotten a B+ in the class. That must have been my grade on the final, because my transcript says I have a D in Spanish 4. No wonder, transferring from Spanish 2, which I took in 2003. Gah. De priore.

Re'ah

But the big deal is the following. Today I will write this as an altar to the faithfulness of God. I will name it Re'ah, which means "close companion," or "a good friend." May I not forget how, following the Lord, I finally surrendered my right to bring my friends with me, and consented to leave them behind (to "hate" them, as Jesus said) if He so requires. This week in Sam, and in Trent, and in Joel, and in Joelle, and in Kenneth, and in Alissa, and in others, I am encouraged that, on the contrary, the Lord will be faithful to bring His own alongside Him, and I need not strive and struggle for them, nor will He withhold the fellowship that heartens me in my faith. We serve a God who is characterized by lovingkindness, and he is faithful and just. To Him be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Headaches and Merry Hobgoblins

Yesterday I had a headache of migraine proportions. Every sound seemed a thunderclap to me. I left work early, and slept off some of the throbbing and nausea. I woke and lolled about, finishing A Midsummer Night's Dream by dim desklamp. I had picked it up, after intending for months to read it, because a statue of Puck in San Luis Obispo reminded me to. Dougie needs to read it, too; he didn't even know the merry troublemaker Puck at all. Anyway, having finished that, I began One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez. Es muy interesante.

 

Tonight, I intend either:

jugar al fútbol

tocar el guitarra con mi conjunto nuevo

ir a "The Boardwalk" en Santa Cruz con mis amigas, o

hacer nada.

Delay of Raise, Relay of Praise

Today my boss told me that due to a negative report he received a few weeks ago, the promised raise is now contingent on three more weeks of productivity mirroring my current highly approved pace. I think I can, I think I can.

Also, in the absence of our fearless elder/college group leader Beck, I am unofficially running the college group ministry. Which means that since our guest-speaker-hopeful Silvenas will not be joining us this Friday night, I will be teaching Bible study. John 19:1-16. This further means that I must pass the worship leading (i.e. glorified cumbaya strumming) to brother Peter.

Gabe's Mango Salsa Verde

As served to my co-workers, classmates, and family yesterday, to rave reviews.

INGREDIENTES

2 medium ripe mangos
3 tomatillos, (2-3" appx. diameter)
1 tomato, (2-3")
1 yellow onion (3½")
1 jalapeño pepper
1 relleno pepper
2 or 3 limes, (or ½ cup of lime juice)
salt & pepper
2/3 cup loosely packed cilantro
2 tbsp secret ingredient

DIRECCIONES

Dice the riper of the two mangos, and half the onion. Seed and cap the peppers, hull the tomatillos, and finely chop the cilantro. Puree the tomatillos, tomato, both peppers, the other mango (without the seed, duh), and the other half of the onion. Mix in the juice of two (or more) limes, the cilantro, the diced onion and mango, and salt & pepper to taste. (Oh, pour in the secret ingredient, too. Don't worry, it's still good without it. But I'll give you a hint. It's not green, and it's got antioxidants!)

Chill.

Serve.

Presentaciones y Cine Cómico de Lucha Libre

So last night was fine. I do need to email that stuff to la profesora though. Las presentaciones de los estudiantes last night were almost unbearably long. And we had to have the obligatory presentation about Frida Kahlo, the most overrated woman in the history of mankind. Sure, her life sucked, and she painted well. But she was sortof morbidly self-obsessed as well.

So last night my brother and I took in the new Jack Black flick. Not gut wrenchingly, I-can't-breathe-it's-so funny, but definitely a finely-tuned, chuckle-inducing piece of comic genius. The lack of one-liners will probably hurt the DVD sales.

Chewing the Homework Cud

I really don't like checking my email in the community college library. Even if it is for school. It's just sortof... naked. What makes it worse is I forgot to email myself my re-done Spanish 4 assignment. And I have 15 minutes till class. So I cannot re-chew this stuff again right now. I am an educational cow. I can't chew and swallow just once. I have to do it a couple times.

Last night I went up to the east bay. San Leandro, to be precise. I went up to see my friends from Summit this year and last year. Since they are cool guys, it was a good time. I also found out their church, Fairhaven Bible Chapel, has their breaking of bread service every Sunday night instead of Sunday morning. They teasingly say they're more correct since it's the Lord's "Supper." The perk was, one Sunday, two BOB services. And the Spirit was there, so it was good. Go read Psalm 116-118, Revelation 19:7-10, and Luke 22:14-20. If you wanna know what I got out of all that, ask me later.

Additional note: Baker's Square's "4 Alarm Burger" seems tame till it hits your stomach. The heat was mild, but the indigestion was horrible.

Bought Some Albums

Just had Bible study tonight. I admit; I hate topical studies. People who write these things approach the Bible with a topic they want to uncover, and more often than not, a point they are trying to make. Inevitably, verses get presumptively misapplied.

Last night, after finals, I went to Rasputin Records and spent the gift certificate my office people gave me for my birthday. I spent a little of my own cash too. My goal was to fill in some gaps, aquiring (a) albums I already like but haven't gotten around to buying, and (b) new albums I have been anticipating. The results:

Aftermath

Spanish 4: Last night I gave my final presentation, and took my final exam. The presentation was about Ibrahim Ferrer and Compay Segundo, (dos de los músicos más famosos de Cuba.)

I was right; I slept the night before, and I paid for it. But I probably passed.

Music: tomorrow night, I will play a show at City Espresso in south San Jose, near Blossom Hill and Cahalan.

Technical Difficulties

Sorry about the pop-ups. I will try to fix that.

In other news, today at work was my worst in a long time. Hard to please the boss sometimes. Tomorrow night's test is going to be horrible if I sleep at all between now and then. Prayer would be appreciated.

To This Date

Spanish—6/19/6, Monday—I am in a Spanish 4 class on the quarter system, at DeAnza College. This is the rough equivalent of Spanish 3 on the semester system. The final is this Wednesday; Spanish 5 begins with the advent of July. Tonight we studied subjunctive clauses for the thousandth time, and heard presentations about Brazil and Salvador Dali, among other things.

Father's Day Soccer—6/18/6, Sunday— Pete and I took Dad to buy soccer gear. He was happy as a clam, with new cleats, shorts, a jersey and everything. It was fun, especially when he got to donn it all for the inter-church soccer game the same evening. Awesome.

The Buddhist Monk Look—6/14/6, Wednesday—In a coup over our steady office boringness, I convinced my coworker (and comrade in harmless office shenanigans) Christina to go with her urge to switch her naturally blonde hair to dark brunette. She, in turn, encouraged me to change my look. Well, I HAD been thinking of shaving my head. I have thought about it for some time, but I particularly feel lately that I have no one to impress, so off it went. I now shave my head with a razor daily. Tanning is slow.

My First Full Sermon—6/11/6, Sunday—The topic: I was assigned Acts 18:1-11, to continue our church's Acts series. I spoke about Paul's retail job, and waiting for God, waiting for direction. I incorporated a section of Lamentations 3, talking about waiting for lovingkindness, hope, and purpose. If you want a copy just ask.

Major League Ballpark—6/8/6, Thursday—My birthday, but we observed Dad's, which had been 5/30, by redeeming his birthday present: Giants baseball tickets. Los Gigantes won, which was nice. After a lifetime rooting for this team, this was the first game I ever had the opportunity to attend. There are a lot of attractive girls at baseball games. Most of them seem to be suffering from a lack of substance, or something. Boring, pretty girls.