Food

So my most recent joining of TasteFresno.com made me think so much about food today, that I have to write it out to get it out of my mind so I can get back to work.

Working at a German/Russian slanted school in a Hispanic area of town, across the street from a really good Asian cuisine restaurant, I get a lot of different types of food choices. This morning I had Zwiebach with home-made jam for breakfast. Lunch was Chinese food. Dinner will most likely be Italian.

Living in America, we have TONS of different choices on what to eat. Why? Because we do. This is what makes our country so great: there are so many cultures and people groups living right within our boarders, that it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to travel to a certain place to experience what their lives are like, and eat their tasty and interesting foods.

If you stopped one person on the street and asked them their favorite restaurant, they would know exactly where it is, why the like it, and why everyone has a wrong opinion. We are very particular about our food, and this comes along because of our freedoms. We are free (due to constitutional rights as well as financial ease) to say "I would rather not eat rice." In other places throughout the world, saying that meant that you were probably going to die due to self-starvation.

I guess what I'm getting at is: America, we have all this wonderful food just waiting to be tried! My policy is not to reject something as not tasty unless I have for a fact tried it and told myself that it was unappetizing. We have the money, we have the means to travel, we have the adventurous spirits, so why don't we get out of our McDonald's Double Cheeseburger routine and go down to a small Mexican, Thai, Mediterranean, French, German, Italian, or one of many other types of restaurants instead? Let's get out of our normal, boring routine and try something that we haven't. Maybe you'll discover a new favorite food, or a new worst enemy. Either way, you found out something else that you can talk about around the water-cooler tomorrow.

Time

There are tons of things that I can do with my time. So what should I spend it on? This is a question that I constantly have to answer.

I am one of the worst at maintaining relationships. I have this thing about making so many friends that it makes keeping up with them all very difficult. I also have this thing about making friends who don’t get along with other friends of mine. This makes things “fun” to deal with sometimes, and a lot of my time is spent either helping mend relationships, or giving out advice that people really didn’t want in the first place, but they really need to hear.

Managing my time isn’t something that I do very well. I have a calendar on my phone, my iPod, and my computer at work and at home, but do you think that keeps me organized? Nope. The thing is, I don’t remember to write things down like I need to and I lose track of what I’m doing. So when I sometimes think that I have all this extra free time, a lot of the time there is something that comes up from three weeks back that I totally forgot about. This makes budgeting time pretty tricky, seeing as I plan to work on something in a time slot that is already taken.

I also seem to bite of more that I can chew - all the time! It’s a mix between my needing to be busy all the time and my need to please people. I hate letting people down, that gets me in such a bad mood. At times it would be nice to have a small “I-don’t-care” attitude for situations like that, but the thing is - I really do care! This really takes up a good chuck of time, time that I could be used to work on previous commitments. I’m constantly trying to improve in that area.

So this is where I am - in this constant “not enough time” phase. The quote “I have all the time in the world” seems so untouchable, unreachable to me. I’d love to one day know what “all the time in the world” feels like. Next weekend sounds like a good time to do that…or am I already doing something?

The Season of Fall

Autumn is my favorite season. It becomes cool, starts to rain, and the earth turns so many vibrant colors it's hard to keep track of them all. It's also a time of transition. I love the fall because I can look forward to seeing family at Thanksgiving.

The air is cooler, more crisp and fresh, and easier to breathe. The smell of woodsmoke fills the valley (The Honey Lake Valley), and the first snows of the mountains and rains of the valleys come, finally bathing the earth after a long, hot, dry summer. Cow herds move from their summer pasture to their winter grazing grounds, and plump Canadian Geese fly overhead as they head south for the winter. Seasonal things like the Pumpkin Patch, Hickory Farms, and Christmas Tree patches start to open for business, and for some reason, people smile more.

I always start my life over in the fall. When I sense that summer has finally passed, and that the fall season is now upon us, I check my life to make sure I'm still where I want to be. I don't start with the New Year, since that never works. I like to get an early start, get ahead of the crowd.

Fall is simply amazing. Though my favorite time of the year is Christmas, by far the best time of the seasons is fall.

Holding onto the Past

Every Tuesday Night, there's a Bible Study / Discussion time at our house. We watch a Brad Bell film, about 10 minutes long, and then talk about how it hit us, or what we can take away from it. This last week's was titled "Today." It talked about embracing the future and letting go of the past.

There was a quote that I really liked. It went something like: 'if you're too busy holding onto the past, then you're arms aren't free to embrace today.'

I thought, "man, how much did I miss today because I was thinking about something that I did yesterday or last week?" I could have enjoyed the moment that I was in instead of worrying about something I couldn't change.

The other point that he made was that if you're one of those who says "I can do that tomorrow." "I'll get around to them tomorrow." One day, you're going to wake up and tomorrow hasn't come, it's now yesterday, and you missed it.

Now I take one of those phrases that people have quoted for years. "Live today like it's your last." A lot of people can take this as do something crazy. Don't do something TOO crazy, you'll probably regret it later. I'm more talking about living and enjoying life NOW instead of waiting until tomorrow and possibly being too late.

I'm going back to what my great grandfather said: "I enjoyed my life. I did what I could and enjoyed it." He had no regrets, because he didn't make any. If you live in the moment instead of someone else's moment, then you will have no regrets.

You're going to be able to look back on your life and say:

That's MY life.

Most needed update

Well I have again neglected my blog, every time I sit down to write on it something seems to get in the way.

School started already, we're just about two weeks into classes.

I've been excited about this year for a long time already. Since the day I realized that campus was very very lame without all the awesome people (say...the third week of summer), I have been awaiting the start of the school year.

It seems as though there are going to be many amazing things happening this year. It's one of those weird feelings you get, like knowing there's going to be a storm. I can just sense that lives are going to change in amazing and spectacular ways. I'm letting God take the whole year and just mess with it, see where He takes us.

I have my coffee and my music, so work should go by pretty quick. I'm hoping that this year I've balanced everything pretty well so as to not get too busy and stressed out. We'll see. Cross my fingers.

In the World recently:

Senator Kennedy died. A heartbreak for the family indeed, and as well for America. The conservatives might not think that way, however. I'm indifferent. He did a lot of questionable things, but he was a good leader and believer in the things that he lived for

Burkina Faso now has 150,000 more homeless people because of a recent flood. I stand back and ask God how he lets such an already impoverished country take blows like that. Then I remember that there is a purpose for everything. Since this just happened within the last two days, there hasn't been near enough time to see God's plan in work.

Japan had it's most recent election, making this the first in many year that the democratic party has won the vote. They plan on trying to be more independent of the United States. They can at least try, yes?

The United States is becoming more and more dependent in China now. We are billions of dollars in debt with that county, and they are making some changes that, I believe, will make them the next World Super Power. My history professor is so serious about this, that he is starting to tell us the Chinese names for certain events in history. He also gives the the old Chinese and new Chinese name for everything, just so we will be educated. Not that I'm going to be able to remember these, but at least I'm writing them down.

That should be all for now. I'm going to get back to work (aka, check my Facebook again).

Technology

A couple days ago was furniture moving day at the University.

I just wrote that and realized that I haven’t explained what my job is.

I work at Fresno Pacific University as the Summer Housing and Conference Coordinator. My job is basically to check in groups who stay on campus overnight and make sure they have what they need. I then check them out when they are done and clean up after them. I also make sure everything is in line for students who live on campus over the summer either for work or for summer school.

ANYwho, my job falls into the Residence Life Department, and this morning we received a shipment of new furniture for the living areas of the modules (residence halls). I was supposed to be up at 6 to receive a call from the guy driving the furniture truck. I set my alarm for 5:30, it went off, and I decided to go back to sleep and wait for the call to wake me up.

Welllll the call never came and I ended up sleeping past the initial off-loading of all the furniture. Needless to say when one of my coworkers called me asking where I was at 8:45, I was a bit put off with myself.

This made me realize how much I rely on alarm clocks to get me going in the morning. If it weren’t for the simple function on my phone, I would be so lost, and probably without a job. I just think it’s interesting how so many of us rely on a little gadget to tell us when to start our day.

Back before there was such a thing as a digital clock, even a wristwatch, people were able to get up exactly at the time that they needed. They relied on the rooster or the sun to wake them. Children were woken by their parents instead of a screeching beep. If you hit mom, you were in trouble. If you hit the alarm clock, it’ll just try to wake you up again in 5 minutes and not think anything of it.

It’s interesting how we have fallen back on our technology to the point that without it, we are out of luck. This flows into the world of computers, cars, elevators, phones, and many many other things. Since this post is already a bit long, I’ll let you answer this question for yourselves: have we relied on technology too much?

God v. Science??

The biggest question/issue I get from those who don't believe there is "God" is that it cannot be proven.

Welllllll DUH. The mere fact that we as humans aren't even able to look upon God without dying is one little reason. So not being able to see God and live through it might hinder the ability to tell others that He in-fact does exist (with concrete "I actually saw Him" evidence).

HOWEVER, to the person who doesn't even believe there is a God to look upon in the first place, I finally received some insight into a great explanation as to the differences in beliefs. "Finally" isn't really being truthful, it's more from my Earth Science Class that I took Spring Semester last school year. Sooo, what, 5 months ago?

I have had a couple people mention to me they don't believe in any form of "God" because science can't prove it. This is another "duh." Science is the study of concrete things that we can see, touch, smell, etc. An atom is VERY small, and the naked eye, it is invisible (meaning NOT able to be seen by the naked eye - this doesn't mean it isn't there). With a high-powered microscope, however, we do know that atoms are present in the chemical makeup of everything on this planet. So, now onto the reason for this note.

My professor (yes it was Ron) told the class this profound statement: Once you introduce God into science, you can no longer call it science (don't quote me on that, because I didn't write the exact quote down, but that is the jist of what he said). This doesn't even have to be about God. Once you introduce the notion of "ghosts" you can't even call it science. Since science is about the concrete, once you introduce something that cannot be physically seen, then you can no longer use the scientific process.

For example:

Animals are present on earth - science
Animals are complex organisms - science
Animals had an origin - science
God created the animals - no longer science

You see, the "science" of God has it's own category - theology. So we can change the last example to:

God created the animals - theology

So no, there is nothing concrete to prove God is out there. There also isn't anything that can prove that God does NOT exist. Science cannot prove (either way) anything about God.

As the age-old comparison goes, "we cannot see the wind, but we can see the effects of the wind." We cannot see God, but in each of our lives, in our own ways, we can see the effects of God's presence.

We as Christians believe in God by something we call faith. Faith, just like God, is also invisible. Other invisible things include emotions like love and fear. With faith, I know that there is a God. With faith, I know that He sent His Son to pay the price for my way into Heaven. By my invisible faith (deep down in my gut), I believe that I will die and, when said dying does happen, I will be taken to see God (finally) in heaven.

So as for the epic argument: "is there a God, or isn't there a God?" I must tell everyone: I can't change that opinion in your mind unless you want it to be changed. I believe that there is a God. You believe that there isn't. One of us is wrong. I believe it's you, and you believe it's me. We aren't going to get anywhere, because I have faith that God exists, and you have faith that He doesn't.

The real answer will lay within your soul, in your heart, at the core of who you are. What do you honestly believe? The question isn't "what do you WANT to believe." I want to believe that the World will one day be at rest, I want to believe that I will wake up in the morning and the World will be fed and given drink.

Nope, the question really is "what DO YOU believe?"

So, what do you believe?

Can't wait until winter

Today has been one of the hottest all summer long. I hate the fact that going outside instantly makes me feel like I'm about to melt.

I can't wait for winter to get here. I don't know if it's the heat, the fact that "Christmas in July" is on Disney Channel, or that I want a cup of hot chocolate, but I just can't wait for it to get here.

The A/C in my apartment is set to 60 degrees, I'm looking sadly at my warm jacket hanging all lonely in my closet, along with all the awesome long sleeves shirts I own.

I guess it isn't just the weather that I miss the most, it's the memories that come with "being cold."

Naming a few: Hot chocolate after a day of sledding with my brother or friends, walking on a crisp morning, hearing the crunch of snow as I head down the road to get the paper, the haze and smell of wood fires burning in fireplaces, the sound of melting snow dripping off the trees onto the ground, and most of all, knowing that when it gets cold, I'm closer and closer to being able to see my parents and brother, as the semester ends and Christmas break begins.

Winter isn't all about Christmas to me. For some people it is. I actually enjoy January and February more than November and December. The holidays are over, and I can finally enjoy the winter months in peace, without having to worry about planning anything.

I also love to bundle up. For some reason, being all toasty warm inside my jacket while it's freezing outside is fun. I'm a little odd, so that may be why.

So this year when you hear me say "it's cold," I'm not complaining, I'm actually very happy that my nose is a bit frozen. Again, a little odd, but everyone has their own kind of character.

Happy Almost June

Aaaaaaaand I haven't posted on this blog for six months. Oops. There was this thing called second semester that seemed to get in the way. This summer hopefully there will be more up. 

So we're over half a year into Obama's Presidency, and we can see that all going "oh so very well." You know that a President has lost their zing when the tabloids start running stories on their "Gay Cover-Ups." We'll see what else happens in the course of his term, and we'll also see if these out of the park theories on his being the Anti Christ come true. Hoorah.

 I noticed today that one of the only things in life that I can't seem to go without is Mac N Cheese. Here's why: Two nights ago I made the last box of good Mac N Cheese (Kraft). There was one box left of the kind that I found out tasted nothing like Mac N Cheese. It was some weird brand from the Mexican Market across the street. Sorry Mexico, you have squat on America when it comes to Mac N Cheese. 

This box of Mac N Cheese was HORRIBLE. Well, for lack of something else to make for dinner, I ended up eating anyway, but not without a bunch of additives: basil, oregano, salt, twice the butter, 1/4 of a block of cheddar cheese, and a whole lot of milk on the side to wash it down with. Case in point: I will eat Mac N Cheese one way or another.

So I went to sleep. I got up in the morning and ate some cereal and remembered that I had no more Mac N Cheese left. There were a few other things in the cupboard to eat for dinner, so I made a (hard) decision to not go and buy more. Well, the day went on and my lack of Mac N Cheese issue would not leave my head. I then realized that I had an addiction. Mac N Cheese were my cigarettes. I could not live without it. So off I went, to the store.

Now the other funny thing about me is I'm frugal with my money when it comes to small things like boxes of Mac N Cheese. I refuse to buy Mac when it's a dollar or more. I can't make myself come to buying it. It's SO WEIRD. So for example today I went to Vons (because sometimes they have great sales, and it isn't very far away). They were on sale for $1 each. I almost died. If they were 98¢ I probably would have bought a couple. Well, no worries, there was a Savemart across the street. They too, were "on sale" for a dollar a box. Now this was getting serious. I had NO intention of paying a dollar or more for a box of Mac N Cheese. Then I remembered Wal Mart, just down the street. 

Now. The Wal Mart "just down the street" has got to be the lamest Wal Mart I have ever been to. Everyone and their Chulos, Bruthahs, and white trash uncles are there - WITH their food stamps. I swear I'm probably one the select few who do not own a single food stamp who shops at that particular Wal Mart. After I had navigated through the sea of people talking in different languages (yes, we're still in the US), I find the Mac N Cheese isle. 50¢ a box. MY WAIT WAS OVER. I grabbed a few and headed to the front of the store. 

Here's where my patience gets tested the most. 

Not only do the people in line have food stamps, they also have coupons, and pay the change with pennies. If they happen to have a $100 bill, they will at times use that, but only when the cashier is unable to make change. Then, for some reason, the customer claims "that is all I have" when they probably have enough food stamps to choke a small rhinosauras. The cashier then must turn on the blinky light switch and wait for their supervisor to come over and help them. There is a whole LIST of other Wal Mart experiences that I will post at a later time. 

So I wait in line for about 15 minutes. I'm the second in line. The people in line were already there before I was standing in line. They were just buying diapers. The lady behind the counter looked annoyed and the lady standing in line looked like she just woke up from a long trailer trash hoe-down at the nearby rv park. I don't judge, I just observe.

30 minute after entering the store, I exit with my Mac N Cheese and pack of gum. Yes, the sneaky pack of gum. The ONE grocery item that you never have on your list the seems to slip it's way onto the belt every time you're standing in the checkout counter. Whoever invented chewing gum and then decided to display it at the front of the store by the register was the most genius man alive. He should die happy if he hasn't already. 

The thing about my Mac N Cheese is that I have no plans on making it tonight. I just know now that I can be at peace knowing that I can, at any time, open the cupboard door and see that I can make myself a box of Mac N Cheese. It's about the principle of it all, I swear.