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Feeling Very Blessed

Even though I don't have many real-life friends around that I see on a regular basis, I feel quite blessed to have a plethora of friends online. In fact, I talk to many of these friends on the phone, and I'm slowly working on meeting all of them. Tonight, I talked to yet another online friend for the first time, and we had a wonderful chat.

Also, I'm looking forward to moving to Michigan. I've been vetting potential roommates and doing a lot of phone talking, and it's nice to know that I've got an initial click with some people out there.

I will miss Seattle so much, but I want the summer to go by fast.

What's your theological world view?

I'm very much of the opinion that there is more than one way to look at God. For some people, that even includes refusing to look at (believe in, invoke, etc) God. I believe the bible is a good teaching tool but should not be taken literally; rather, it is a great starting place for discussion, self-examination, and thought. I also firmly believe that churches should crusade for social justice in the world. Perhaps all of these thoughts are how I scored as an Emergent/Postmodern on the theological world view (see below after the cut). Also, maybe it's just because I thoroughly dislike altar calls. I feel like they're mainly a vehicle for showing off how amazingly righteous you are to others through your ability to speak about God and Jesus in jingoistic terms; I'd much rather see someone's faith through their actions than hear about it through their words.

Going Old School

I spent the evening babysitting for the 7 year old across the street. He tends to feel entitled to lots of attention (only child with very attentive parents). I'm never quite sure what to do with him, as I feel like I have to keep him entertained. Board games are no fun because he cheats like crazy and pouts if you call him on it. I didn't just want to plop him in front of the TV, and there was no way I wanted to do something crazy physical like have lightsaber battles.

In the end, we went old school and spent the evening reviewing the finer works of the Mario genre during the SNES years (Super Nintendo Entertainment System for all the non-geeks out there). We played Marios 1 & 3 (Nintendo games revived on the "All-Star" combination game) and Super Mario. We also hit up some MarioKart action.

It was actually a lot of fun. I love playing video games, and I have a fun time playing things that are more familiar. Somehow, the uber-3D graphics of today's systems are often confusing to me. I love the low-tech, comforting familiarty of the games I've played since I was 6.

That said, I also did get a new game console this week. A year ago, I gave my brother my xbox so that I'd actually be able to pass my last semester of college (I was pretty addicted). Recently, I've been pining for some of my old games. I mentioned this while I was in New Zealand, and Josh reminded me that everything I like playing is also available on the gamecube (the most recent Nintendo system until they release their upcoming Wii). As the gamecube is significantly cheaper than the xbox, I got one (and for a pretty minimal cash outlay, I might add). I'm still collecting games, so all I've played so far is Legend of Zelda. I'm looking forward to getting back in to Tony Hawk (skateboarding) and all the new Mario games. Should be a fun way to pass some free time this summer and in grad school.

Feeling like I should post

(with apologies to April, because her update has prompted me to also update)

I've been back from New Zealand for over two weeks now. Strange how time passes. I've just seen one friend here at home, and I haven't been overly social. Somehow, my impending move to Michigan has made me more of a homebody than ever.

Speaking of Michigan, I now have a house. I'll be living with 5 other graduate students in a nice house right near the neighborhood of Kerrytown, which is apparently a great place in Ann Arbor. I'll be 15 minutes or so from my building, and I'm hoping to find a second hand bike that will serve to get me around most of the time (in fact, I'd love to get a cart for it so I can use it for groceries. Just because I need a car for field work doesn't mean I have to use it all the time). To date, I have 3 confirmed roommates, and they're all guys. We're looking for 2 more people, and at least one of those people will be female. We've got a few prospects, and I just need to sort stuff through from their emails and weigh in with my thoughts.

I'll be leaving Seattle in mid-August; the exact date has not yet been determined. I'm hoping to drive across WA, ID, and MT with a possible stop at Yellowstone. On my must-see list is Glacier National Park (MT) and Teddy Roosevelt National Park (ND). Then, I'll hit up the twin cities to visit the zoos there before heading to Ann Arbor via Milwaukee and Chicago. I'm still planning out details so that I can start reserving camp sites and whatnot. If anyone has ideas of where I should visit, feel free to comment.

Life here has been good. I'm starting to paint the back stairwell in the house, and someday soon I need to start decluttering my room (honestly, I can't move all the stuff I own to Michigan. I'll be living in a room that is 12x12. Time to pare down my belongings). I've been working at Mariners' games, and I'm finally seeing the fruits of my several months of running/weight lifting at the Y, because work is much easier than it used to be (now if only the Mariners could pull together more wins).

I'm itching for a new macbook, and I'll have one by the time I start school this fall. Waiting for awhile to make my decisions about exactly which configuration I want.

Alive

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive." -Howard Thurman

The Time Traveler's Wife

I'm still working on those photos. I've got most of them uploaded to flickr, but I still have to go through and describe everything. Then, I'll put the pictures into these posts here, add a few more posts about other stuff I did, and you'll be all caught up. I'll be gone for the next two days, so give me a little more slack please.

Part of the reason I don't have it done yet is the excellent book The Time Traveler's Wife. I got it from the library on Thursday afternoon, and I had it completely finished by Saturday night. This took a dedicated bit of reading, though I was assisted by my lack of work this week (I worked on Wednesday, but other than that have been blissfully work free).

The book is an engrossing love story between a couple that is divided in time. No, this is not the same as the movie that's soon coming out (at least, I think not). In TTTW, Henry is a "chrono-displaced person," which means that he can time-travel. The catch is that he can't time travel at will, so he will start to feel ill and randomly end up somewhere else in time. Generally, he ends up in the past, but it's not always so. He seems to go to significant events in his life or a particular meadow in Michigan. It's in this meadow that he meets his wife, Clare, as a child.

From Clare's point of view, she first meets Henry when she is 6 years old. As the years go on, she continues to see Henry from a variety of different times in Henry's life. Eventually, she meets him in real life, and their combined path begins.

It's honestly quite sweet, and I enjoyed the read. Like always, I cried a lot at the end (it was so sad; I couldn't help it!). I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys some good fiction and is willing to follow the strange twists of time-travel.

Ty Wigginton Wigs Out

Today, I went back to work for just one game before a week off (turns out I probably could have spent one more week in NZ with no significant work issues). I sold cotton candy, and everything went just fine. It was a day game, so there were lots of kids around. Hopefully, I'll be moving up the rankings during the next homestand to get in a good selling position.

The Mariners vs. Tampa Bay game (for 5/10/06) was quite close. Moyer, as always, pitched well; the Mariners, as always, produced no run support for Moyer. Tampa Bay ended up winning by one run in a shutout victory.

Lateish in the game (7th inning, I think), Ty Wigginton came up to bat. I believe he fanned; I wasn't watching too closely, since I was selling. I happened to be one section towards home plate from the dugout, and I was perhaps 20some rows back. As Wigginton went in to the dugout, he yelled "God dammit!" quite loud and slammed his bat against the stairs. A few seconds later, bat chips flew in to the air as he obviously broke his bat in frustration of not getting any hits in today's game (bringing his batting average down to .256, which isn't bad, but he's currently in a .194 slump of the last 10 games).

Immediately, the surrounding crowd booed at him, and deservedly so. Safeco Field disciplines people who swear loudly in the stands, and the players should be held to the same standard. I hope he got a stern talking to from his manager about his visible poor sportsmanship.

On Gas Mileage

Since gas has gotten so expensive, there's a plethora of information about saving gas mileage. I've been keeping track of mileage since I bought my car last year, and just watching my driving has resulted in lots of savings. My best record so far is over 40 mpg, which I achieved driving straight on a whole tank from my home in Seattle to Coos Bay, Oregon (for those familiar with the area, yes, I managed to drive my compact that far on a single full tank). I used cruise control the whole way and drove at the speed limit (or sometimes lower than the speed limit), and it made a major difference.

I'd suggest perusing the list to see if there's something you could be doing differently. At the cost of gas, saving a chunk of fuel economy could honestly pay off. Oh, and you'll probably be glad to notice that running A/C is a-okay by gas mileage; I know I'll be glad of that in August when I drive across country.

Back Home

I made it back home safely on Saturday evening. I've been processing through my pictures for the last day (and running errands, doing laundry, hanging out with parents, etc). Hopefully, by the end of the week, I should have all my pictures up and many more posts about my last activities in New Zealand. I'll let y'all know when to check things out. For now, it's nice to be home and back on track. My only thing left to do is get my sleeping back on schedule -- I don't have jet lag, per se, but I've been finding it hard to go to sleep before two in the morning. Will have to remedy that.

NZ = Stunning

I can't wait until I get home so I can share my pictures with everyone. I had a second amazing day on Milford Sound complete with lots of wildlife, but I'll wait to share until I have pictures. I get back on Saturday, but I don't know how quick I'll get pics up b/c I have to work sometime (can work Sunday if I want -- we'll see how I feel. Definitely back to work on Monday). I will do some back posts as well to cover things I didn't have time to blog about, because my trip has just been scenic, for the most part -- more pictures than words are necessary.

Queenstown seems nice, even at night. Wellington, which everyone seems to love, felt really inhospitable to me. Well, not inhospitable -- just impersonal (even more so than Auckland). But Queenstown feels homey and snug. I think I'll have a good last 2.5 days here.