Thursday, November 29, 2007
conference
Sorry another busy couple weeks. Last week I spent the whole time that I wasn't eating food writing a paper on the Tower of Babel. This week my employer, World Orphans, is at the Global Summit on AIDS and the Church at Saddleback Church. We have a booth and our president is speaking at a couple breakout sessions, so a big chunk of the team in Colorado Springs flew down to LA, and I've been hanging out with them. Marcello and I have had a blast hanging out and goofing around. I'll be heading back to Pasadena tonight (I think!) and then I need to write a final paper for another class and study for one more final! But then I'll be heading back to the Springs! YAY! I'm really looking forward to that and I hope to catch up with as many of you as possible!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Best Political Ad Ever
If you haven't already picked a presidential candidate to support, I may have found your man...
More here
More here
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Buy Nothing Day!
Speaking of consumerism, this upcoming Friday is Buy Nothing Day!
Also known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving is the most celebrated shopping day in the country. People line up outside stores at 4am to get the best deals and instead spend far more than they planned. Employees at these stores miss Thanksgiving because they have to spend the day preparing for the shopping zombies. Trust me, you don't want to mess with the undead, even though these are only armed with credit cards. Just stay home and enjoy the day off, or better yet, have a Turkey Bowl football game. Yes, that would be brilliant.
I normally don't like protest things, cause they are always "against" something and angry with something, but don't offer a better solution. But this is different, because consumerism is anti-human, so by being anti-consumerism, you are anti-anti-human, which is pro-human. See, all those logic classes in college are paying off. And if you ABSOLUTELY must buy something on this day, because you always have and you don't know what else to do, buy clean water for some folks who can't get it: blood:water mission. One dollar gets clean water for one African for a year.
Also known as Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving is the most celebrated shopping day in the country. People line up outside stores at 4am to get the best deals and instead spend far more than they planned. Employees at these stores miss Thanksgiving because they have to spend the day preparing for the shopping zombies. Trust me, you don't want to mess with the undead, even though these are only armed with credit cards. Just stay home and enjoy the day off, or better yet, have a Turkey Bowl football game. Yes, that would be brilliant.
I normally don't like protest things, cause they are always "against" something and angry with something, but don't offer a better solution. But this is different, because consumerism is anti-human, so by being anti-consumerism, you are anti-anti-human, which is pro-human. See, all those logic classes in college are paying off. And if you ABSOLUTELY must buy something on this day, because you always have and you don't know what else to do, buy clean water for some folks who can't get it: blood:water mission. One dollar gets clean water for one African for a year.
Monday, November 19, 2007
where are we?
Yeah, it's been a while again. This is all a plan to decrease my active blog readers from 8 to 4, so if you are reading this I guess I haven't worked hard enough. Just kidding!
I've been thinking and learning and questioning a lot over the last few weeks. That would probably be the best time to blog about stuff, cause it's the most fresh and hasn't been cleaned up for public consumption yet. So it's the most honest, but also the hardest to put down on paper, or bytes, or whatever this is. So that's why I haven't written much. I want to find a way to communicate ideas that are raw and wild and odd in a way that allows others to interact with their own raw, wild, and odd thoughts, but that seems to work best around a small table face to face. Actually, that has been a source of HUGE frustration, probably my biggest, with being in CA and not CO, cause I get new ideas and learn fascinating things but can't really talk with anyone about them! GAH! This blog is so one-sided, but it's all I got. So...
Today in class we talked a lot about how technology affects culture. For example, right now I am sitting in my room, on the 2nd floor of an apartment somewhere in Pasadena, at 1:42pm PST. You are reading this from some-where and some-time else. And it won't really be me that you are interacting with, but who I was or how I represented myself. So then you could ask, where and when are we? Are we in my time and place, or yours? And if more than one of you reads this, are we all in 3 places and times? This brings up a bigger question: Where is cyberspace?
Maybe you are thinking this is a little overly dramatic, but think about it like this. When I am writing this, I am more in my blogworld than I am in my room. I may physically be present in Pasadena, but my mind, my concentration, my thoughts, etc, are all in blogworld. It's kinda like when I'm watching football and "talking" to someone else at the same time. Most of me is in that stadium with the Chargers. I'm far more aware of what is happening there than I am of what is happening on the couch. So, where am I? Or if you are at home but are constantly on the phone talking business or thinking about work problems, aren't you still at work? I guess this has probably all been talked about before, but I've never really thought through this. You'd think this would be common among computer geeks, but it wasn't among the students I hung out with in the programming labs. Maybe cause we were lost in another world playing video games...
How does this affect us? We can't escape it. Maybe this is a big part of why so many people feel fragmented and long for a holistic lifestyle. We need to wrestle with how to live a cohesive life even though we are in a very real sense split all over the world. I think having a sabbath where you cut turn everything off and rest is essential, but is that all there is? I've never thought of it before, but isn't it a little warped if the best hope we have is "I'm so overwhelmed and stressed, but if I can just get past this and make it to the weekend..."? That can't really be life to the fullest like Jesus promised. It's almost another form of escaping, and therefore dividing ourselves yet again. So what do we do? The world is chaos all around us, and that's only going to keep increasing. We know it's not good to escape to our protective bubbles, because we can't live split between the sacred and secular. How do we live in a world that pulls at us constantly and live healthy, whole lives? We have to learn a balance. I have no idea what that really looks like in day to day living! Thoughts?
Okay, that was not what I intended to write about. I went off on about four other tangents while writing, and ended up with about 20 paragraphs. I'm not going to post that all right now. You would hate me. More to come later. I promise!
I've been thinking and learning and questioning a lot over the last few weeks. That would probably be the best time to blog about stuff, cause it's the most fresh and hasn't been cleaned up for public consumption yet. So it's the most honest, but also the hardest to put down on paper, or bytes, or whatever this is. So that's why I haven't written much. I want to find a way to communicate ideas that are raw and wild and odd in a way that allows others to interact with their own raw, wild, and odd thoughts, but that seems to work best around a small table face to face. Actually, that has been a source of HUGE frustration, probably my biggest, with being in CA and not CO, cause I get new ideas and learn fascinating things but can't really talk with anyone about them! GAH! This blog is so one-sided, but it's all I got. So...
Today in class we talked a lot about how technology affects culture. For example, right now I am sitting in my room, on the 2nd floor of an apartment somewhere in Pasadena, at 1:42pm PST. You are reading this from some-where and some-time else. And it won't really be me that you are interacting with, but who I was or how I represented myself. So then you could ask, where and when are we? Are we in my time and place, or yours? And if more than one of you reads this, are we all in 3 places and times? This brings up a bigger question: Where is cyberspace?
Maybe you are thinking this is a little overly dramatic, but think about it like this. When I am writing this, I am more in my blogworld than I am in my room. I may physically be present in Pasadena, but my mind, my concentration, my thoughts, etc, are all in blogworld. It's kinda like when I'm watching football and "talking" to someone else at the same time. Most of me is in that stadium with the Chargers. I'm far more aware of what is happening there than I am of what is happening on the couch. So, where am I? Or if you are at home but are constantly on the phone talking business or thinking about work problems, aren't you still at work? I guess this has probably all been talked about before, but I've never really thought through this. You'd think this would be common among computer geeks, but it wasn't among the students I hung out with in the programming labs. Maybe cause we were lost in another world playing video games...
How does this affect us? We can't escape it. Maybe this is a big part of why so many people feel fragmented and long for a holistic lifestyle. We need to wrestle with how to live a cohesive life even though we are in a very real sense split all over the world. I think having a sabbath where you cut turn everything off and rest is essential, but is that all there is? I've never thought of it before, but isn't it a little warped if the best hope we have is "I'm so overwhelmed and stressed, but if I can just get past this and make it to the weekend..."? That can't really be life to the fullest like Jesus promised. It's almost another form of escaping, and therefore dividing ourselves yet again. So what do we do? The world is chaos all around us, and that's only going to keep increasing. We know it's not good to escape to our protective bubbles, because we can't live split between the sacred and secular. How do we live in a world that pulls at us constantly and live healthy, whole lives? We have to learn a balance. I have no idea what that really looks like in day to day living! Thoughts?
Okay, that was not what I intended to write about. I went off on about four other tangents while writing, and ended up with about 20 paragraphs. I'm not going to post that all right now. You would hate me. More to come later. I promise!
Monday, November 12, 2007
the latest
My mom was in northern California for a conference at The Mission, a church in Vacaville this last weekend. (This is Graham Cooke's home church, for those of you who get excited about that!) I guess the conference was really cool and God did some special things, but for me the best part was Sunday when we met half way in San Luis Obispo. This is where my brother and I were both born, but this is only the 2nd time I've been back since we moved away about 24 years ago! It's was really great getting to spend some time with my mom and enjoy the ocean a little. Here's a pic:
It was a great escape from the normal urban city life.
I haven't been writing a lot lately. I don't really know why that is. It might be cause I'm just kinda bored right now and feel like there is nothing worth talking about. There is lots that I should be doing, but I'm kinda, well, not. I mean, with school there is always something you should be reading or studying or writing. But it's not really interesting at all anymore. It's become a bunch of intellectual stuff without no practical application for today, or tomorrow. I guess that's the role the students are supposed to play, but I don't have any where to do that. I'm discovering that is doesn't matter if you have all the right ideas if you don't have anyone to share the ideas with or apply them with. And since I can't really apply this stuff, I am less and less interested in learning anything else. Maybe that's lazy, but I'm done with going through the motions so I look excited and ambitious. That didn't turn out so fulfilling last time either.
Instead, I'm finding things I want to do, but I don't even know how to start. And since I have all the "supposed to" stuff hanging over my head, I don't invest time doing the things I want to do either. Instead I waste it away on random stuff. I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with my life that is exciting and real and I'm passionate about and will help other people... I don't really know what to make of it, so if you got any thoughts, fire!
In the meantime, check out a quote I found during some of my random time-wasting. It's from Aaron Niequist, who was the worship pastor at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI. I really love some of the songs he's written. They are deep and insightful and fresh. He recently stepped away from that position to pursue other dreams, one of which is a new cd. You gotta hear a demo of one of those new songs called "resistance": http://www.myspace.com/aaronniequist. It's really really good! Anyway, check this quote out. It's really sticking with me right now cause I've been thinking a lot about what worship really is.
There are parts of life that make sense and are easy to wrap our arms around. For the other 99%, there is music.
There are parts of God that make sense and are easy to wrap our arms around. For the other 99%, there is worship.
-Aaron Niequist
It was a great escape from the normal urban city life.
I haven't been writing a lot lately. I don't really know why that is. It might be cause I'm just kinda bored right now and feel like there is nothing worth talking about. There is lots that I should be doing, but I'm kinda, well, not. I mean, with school there is always something you should be reading or studying or writing. But it's not really interesting at all anymore. It's become a bunch of intellectual stuff without no practical application for today, or tomorrow. I guess that's the role the students are supposed to play, but I don't have any where to do that. I'm discovering that is doesn't matter if you have all the right ideas if you don't have anyone to share the ideas with or apply them with. And since I can't really apply this stuff, I am less and less interested in learning anything else. Maybe that's lazy, but I'm done with going through the motions so I look excited and ambitious. That didn't turn out so fulfilling last time either.
Instead, I'm finding things I want to do, but I don't even know how to start. And since I have all the "supposed to" stuff hanging over my head, I don't invest time doing the things I want to do either. Instead I waste it away on random stuff. I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with my life that is exciting and real and I'm passionate about and will help other people... I don't really know what to make of it, so if you got any thoughts, fire!
In the meantime, check out a quote I found during some of my random time-wasting. It's from Aaron Niequist, who was the worship pastor at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, MI. I really love some of the songs he's written. They are deep and insightful and fresh. He recently stepped away from that position to pursue other dreams, one of which is a new cd. You gotta hear a demo of one of those new songs called "resistance": http://www.myspace.com/aaronniequist. It's really really good! Anyway, check this quote out. It's really sticking with me right now cause I've been thinking a lot about what worship really is.
There are parts of life that make sense and are easy to wrap our arms around. For the other 99%, there is music.
There are parts of God that make sense and are easy to wrap our arms around. For the other 99%, there is worship.
-Aaron Niequist
Thursday, November 1, 2007
could it really be fall?
I'm on break from a class, so this won't be long. It is currently, according to weather.com, 60 degrees in Pasadena at 7:43pm. it is definitely the coldest it's been since I've been here, so I think it's colder than that. I'm thrilled! It finally feels like fall. Kinda. The air is still all think and gross from the smoke, so I'm not enjoying the crisp fall air I love so much, but at least I had reason to wear a hoody. I know, you are thinking that 60 is hot. Pssh, just let me enjoy this for a little bit. Fall is my favorite season and I don't want to miss it.
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