In my last post I put the word frienemy in quotes. But just now I heard on the radio that Websters dictionary has officially recognized it as an actual word. Not sure how I feel about that.

I decided to decline the invitation for an interview at the church I have been writing about. I sent the pastor an e-mail outlining how I feel a partnership with Young Life would be impossible in light of my recent experiences. From talking with the pastor I got the feeling that this Mr. Younglife.com would probably be the best fit for their job anyway.

With the job market so tough, especially for church jobs, it sucks closing a door. However, I don't think I would be happy living out in Thousand Oaks making very little and trying to scrap together a youth group based on poaching kids from another ministry that has a "frienemy" as the area leader.

There are still two churches on the table. One in Redondo Beach and the other in Pasadena. I'll keep you posted.

I called up the church today that I am interviewing at on Sunday. I wanted to get some questions answered that would help me shape my presentation. After talking to the pastor for about fifteen minutes I brought up the fact that I talked to that Young Life guy yesterday. Turns out Mr. Younglife.com is actually in the running for the position I am applying for. that would explain his tight lips yesterday.

Laura: how's the job hunt going?

me:  It's been ok I've been working on this presentation for a church interview on Sunday. It's kind of frustrating. they basically want me to pitch them a vision for there youth ministry that involves working with Young Life.  So I called up young life to ask them what their church partnerships look like. The guy I got on the phone tells me that he is working with the pastor at the church I am applying for and that he would not give me any specific information. Instead he offers to e-mail me some info. "better something little than nothing at all" I thought. But when I got the email it simply read : younglife.com

I drove down to have lunch with Tim, Doug, and Tanya. It was a good time of seeing a bunch of old friends. Tanya is going to Africa for the summer to help orphans. It was good to catch up with her since none of us had seen here for months.

I have finally pushed past what I think was the worst of my cold. It was a totally aggravating endeavor that has left me with the need to spend some serious time in the gym. On the plus side, the unwelcome pause in life has instilled in me a need to make up for lost time. I'm all ready to get back into the swing of things.

I've been prepping for classes next fall by simply starting to read more. I've asked my seminary friends what books I should read to get ready for the semester. Their firm advice was to enjoy the summer and not worry about it. "Your head will get filled uop quick enough," one said.

I can't help it. Not only do I want to go back to school I want to be exceptionally good at it. This is the real deal. The stuff I'll be learning will directly affect my job and my future. I want to be the best that I can be. If I were to choose a student I would like to model my Master's level education on it would be Hermione Granger. I guess that would be kind of weird since she studied witchcraft and I'm going for a master's in theology but I'd say the comparison still stands.

I'm not talking about the fact that North Korea today threatened nuclear war on their peninsula. They have so much hot air they could fuel the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

No my war is squarely with in the walls of my Los Angeles Compound. I'm speaking of my Korean neighbors. This morning, Sunday morning, they woke me up by blasting their radio. This is not the first time, just last Tuesday they decided that 3:30 am would be a good time to share their Korean pop with the neighborhood.

This morning I went to their door in my PJs and knock firmly for about five minutes. No answer. Eventually, another neighbor came out and started to complain. I went to their kitchen window, which was open, and started to shout over the noise. He finally heard me and turned down the music. But tomorrow I am going to call management.

Yesterday was the death of analog television and very few people seemed to notice. My family, specifically my dad, has been the only person I've known who is still holding onto their analog television. And he decided not to make the switch. So no more TV at my house.

Surprisingly it doesn't change much. The TV shows I wanted to watch are now either on Hulu or Netflix. I realize now a day after the transition that I haven't watched television on a regular basis for years. I don't miss the medium one bit.

Here is one of my favorite comedic Vloggers and his take on the situation.



A side note about digital reception, it's not very good. It's true that the picture is cleaner but that's only when you have a good signal. Analog television used to have a marching order of decreasing quality as the signal got worse. Digital is all or nothing. A slightly mixed signal and the whole TV freezes.

After I posted this morning I took a shot of Dayquil and started writing. I figured since I feel like the undead I should write a short about them. I'm knee deep in a story about a monk and a murderer that find themselves the last people standing in small Scottish town after a zombie outbreak. So far it's been a lot of fun.

Don't worry my zombies are vegetarians. They only eat Graaaaiins. j/k

Today sucks. I've been in the 'walking dead' zone for three or four days now. At first it's fine to tend to an illness. It's an excuse to stay in bed, drink tea, and not worry about the day. we have moved way beyond that point. I've got cabin fever. I want to get out and do something but my body smacks me around every time I try to get something done. I can't even focus enough to do house chores. You know it's bad when I am looking for an excuse to do the dishes.

On Sunday I went to an interview at a church. They basically put me in front of the youth group and let them ask questions. It was a little nerve wracking but all in all I think it went well.

In other news, I'm sick. I think I got a cold at the movie theater while watching The hangover. I think this because Doug was sitting right next to me and he got sick the next day as well. It's not the end of the world. I'm not even bed ridden. I'm in a state of being that I like to call "Walking Dead." I'm healthy enough to get up and do stuff but I'm sick enough to be grumpy and bullish about everything.

I spent most of yesterday afternoon and evening watching a BBC mini series called Jekyll. It's a modern retelling of the the famous Victorian story about a doctor with a serious split personality disorder. It was SO good. I ended up watching them all on Netflix back to back.

The only side affect was that when I went to sleep I had some seriously crazy dreams about murder and revenge.

Today is going to be a quiet one. There is nothing on the schedule. June gloom is in full affect. I'll probably play some pool then go exercise. I have my third round of interviews on Sunday. If you are the praying type don't forget to mention me to the big guy.

I went for a hike today to Eagle Rock in Topanga. it's a really beautiful five mile trail, out and back. I brought my bible, a sandwich and my camera hoping to get some alone time with God once I got to the top of the giant rock out cropping at the top of the mountain. The weather was perfect, sunny with a cool breeze. The trail was empty for the most part so it left a lot of room for my mind to wander. When I arrived that the outcropping I sit down at the peak that over looks both the ocean and the Valley and crack open my bible.

Then I hear something rustle beneath me. I figured it was a bird of a squirrel. A minute later I hear a giggle, then a moan. Hidden in a cave directly below me were two young lovers totally going at it with reckless abandonment. So I decided to make some noise just so they knew I was there. But they didn't really seem to care.

Now, I had hiked for a good forty five minutes to get to this spot. I had my whole day planned out and it included reading my bible up there. So I made a little more noise. Nothing. I decided to just plow through it and do what I came to do.

Not more than three minutes goes by when a gaggle of middle aged women come up on to the rock. They look like they were just old enough to have graduated from the soccer mom stage of their lives. Now the group of them have taken to a geological survey of the Topanga National Park. They are copiously documenting the sandstone outcropping with their digital cameras. Just as they turn the corner the couple looks up from their throws of intimate pleasure to see five older women with cameras prepared to take their picture.

Awkward silence from the stunned ladies.
Equally Matched awkward silence from lovers.

She puts her shirt back on. And they leave with out a word.

It was really funny.

Alright kiddos. If you are still in school I want to take a minute to tell you how important math is.

Last week I was in charge of paying for a pizza. The guy was late. I was hungry. When the guy came up to the house and told me the total I gave him two twenties. Not being the sharpest mathematician AND also being too hungry to bother with this poor service I told him to give me seven dollars back. The math in my head said that he would get a two dollar tip.

It wasn't until 15 minutes later that I realized I gave him a twelve dollar tip. I'm still kicking myself about that.

I've been MIA for some time now. But you've been on my mind little journal. A lot has happened in the last month or so. I am on my third round of interviews for a job by my new school, Fuller. They called me up last Saturday and told me that they were "thoroughly impressed" by my last interview. Getting this job would be key because it is so close to the campus that I could hopefully afford to life, work, and study all with in a few blocks of each other. How cool would that be!? I go in next Sunday for a meet and greet with some of the kids in the youth group.

I sorted out the financial aid package issues. It's not great but it's also not as bad as I thought. It looks like that is going to work out. I start in late September.

Catie and I have parted ways. I don't think it's really appropriate to talk about it online other than it happened. It sucked but I'm a big boy and I'll get over it.


As a little therapy I decided to get really good at pool. There is a pool hall a block from my house that has free pool until 7pm. I used to go there a lot any ways. But last week I took it to a new level and bought a pool cue. When I roll into the bar with my thin black case I feel like Minnesota Fats. This new kick is invoking a wide variety of emotions from friends and family. My mom is afraid that she has raised a pool hall junkie. My dad wants to go play with me. Some of my friends think that its awesome and wonder when I am going to start hustling people, others think that I'm wasting my time.

I am house sitting for Doug for the next two weeks. While he is having fun scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef I am having fun watching movies on his big screen TV and having time to myself.

How all this free time has been actualizing itself is through hours and hours of playing Civilization Revolution on his PS3. I have been having trouble getting to sleep lately. A couple nights ago I was up until 5 in the morning. It's true that Civ may have had something to do with that but in the broader picture of things I haven't been getting to sleep much before 230 for some time now.

I got my financial aid package from Fuller today. It is not looking good. I have to call them up and see if we can work a better deal. I don't understand how they expect pastors to pay so much for their Master's degree. It's 32k a year for three to four years. So like 120k worth of debt by the time I am all done. For a job that only pays 40-50k a year this seems to be unreasonable.

I'm going to start looking into other options for schooling. A friend of mine says that they offer a MBA and a MDiv at once at Vanderbilt. That would be pretty sweet. I have always though pastors need more business training. After all they are in charge of a non profit organization and that includes all sorts of stuff like staffing, property management, etc.

I'm pretty discouraged right now by the price tag of all of this. If anyone has an uncle with deep pockets feel free to give him my e-mail... as long as he is not a deposed Nigerian prince. ;)

This week was good.

I had two interviews for youth worker jobs. Both went well. I worked all week with my dad generating some much needed money. And I finished it off with an awesome romantic dinner with Catie.

I'll keep you posted as more details surface about the potential youth ministry work. until then all I can say is "W00t, life is good."

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The year of no excuses has been anything but. I'm trying to pull it all back together but the last month or so has been filled with excuse (why I shouldn't go to the gym, write regularly, take certain jobs, read more often, etc.)

I find that after an initial push friends started to try to get me to do stuff that I didn't want to do by telling me it was the year of no excuses. This is not what I was thinking when I came up with this years theme. I was more thinking about the stuff I want to do but do not pursue because I am afraid of failure, rejection, or hard work.

The last really big thing I did that was a "No Excuses" moment was asking a certain someone on a date. That worked really well. So starting right now I'm going to get my act in order. Even writing this blog is part of it. I've been lacking in my writing. BTW if you haven't been reading my other blog I think you should. It is more about STUFF than about my life. But that one I can track my traffic.

I'm getting back in the swing of writing. I decided today I was going to share a little story with you all that highlights how healthy of an ego I have.

I like watching documentaries. Ever since I was a kid I always thought that they were interesting. Especially the historical ones. They parade a long line of scholars in front of the screen. All of them have some take on someones life who has been dead for hundreds if not thousands of years. They came to those conclusions through pouring over thousands of documents written by primary sources.

Here's where my ego comes in. I have this image of a scholar living 150 years from now that is carefully trying to piece my life together. When ever I write something down on paper or even online I think to myself, "What conclusion is the scholar going to derive from this piece of information?"

I've told Catie about this because recently I have decided that it is really funny. Last Tuesday I lost my bible at church. It had some personal letters written in it. I was freaking out about someone finding it. Catie asked if my name was written on anything. I told her no. Then she says, "Well then the scholar will never be able to pin them on you."

She was joking and it was kind of funny. But what I find more amusing is that while outlandish as that reasoning may seem to me it was a very sound argument.

The last in my prayer/poetry series. But not the last in my prayer book. e-mail me if you want to get the rest. I will snail mail you a copy for free.

The novelty of my has long since worn off
At first the Kingdom of Heaven felt like the Magic Kingdom
But now I see past the fairy dust and I am satisfied

The Mouse offers nothing more than a feeling
It's a whimsical repackaged nostalgia
It is fleeting and absent of substance

The Eternal Kingdom is found in the margins
It is wrapped in the ordinary
It is with beggars outside of coffee shops
It is in the wrinkled hands of the elderly
It weeps with the hurting
It gives strength to the weak
It is heaven incarnate

In our charity and love we go beyond ourselves and participate in this new world
A kingdom without beginning or end
I pray that my life may be lived margins