Here's what I'm looking to buy next. I'll post more about the benifits of this later today.

I have a novel idea. Well actually I had it after a lazy afternoon game of Ultimate in the church mini park with a bunch of friends and the weather was nice and relaxing was on the agenda.

Seeing that many of us were in a stage of readiness to do something different with our lives. I suggested that we should all go and live on a farm and be self sufficient. How cool would that be????? Seriously!!! It would be the radest to live on a farm with a bunch of friends and totally work and live together. Albeit it would be sort of "real world"ish. But the hope would be that we wouldn't have so much drama. Being christian and all. But I'm sure there would be some. You're probably thinking to yourself, Andrew you don't know the first thing about farming. Very true. But I know someone who does know the first thing about farming, be it he only knows the first thing and no other things but a first thing is a start. I could cook and I think between all my friends we could get the farming and the house things together, we even have a John to be Farmer John. We all agreed that we would have electricity and indoor plumbing. And even internet, since we are all techno junkies. We would make it work. I said I'd even be the one to kill the animals if needed be.

I wonder what it would be like to actually live detached from all the rest of the world, that in its self is a really interesting thought. Actually read this, proof that it could work, and we'd actually have a house, well farmhouse. And even a BARN!!! Oh yea!!!

Someday...maybe.

This post has nothing to do with being a hobo-blogger. I thought that finally leaving college and living in a house with roommates would put an end to a hobo lifestyle that is commonly associated with college. Moving in and out ever four months or so, never really feeling like you have a permanent place to call home. After moving into my current house was such a blessing because it meant that I was in a more permanent place to live and it wasn't my mom's garage. But alas as of the 31st of May I will be moving back to my mom's house. It's really probably a good thing. 1 I'll be saving money and 2 I think I just need my own space. I like having roommates but with such a hectic schedule I feel as if it is better to have my own space. The worse part of this whole experience will be having to pack up all my stuff and relocate it to my mom's house. It wouldn't be so bad if I was just moving right into a room, but one of my friends is currently staying in the room that I will be moving into, so essentially I have to move 2 times. One back to my mom's and then again once she leaves and then I can have the space to myself. Bugger!!! I think I don't do well with transition. And then there's the question concerning what I'm going to do with my life. If you know me at all then I'm sure you know Jamba is not my lifelong career choice. Ultimately I'd love to be in a full time youth ministry position. As for now I've committed myself to LA through summer. Especially for 2 reasons. 1 The youth groups I work with and 2 ULTIMATE FRISBEE. After that, who knows. I guess I have about 3 months to figure things out. So don't be totally surprised if by Sept I'm living in another state or town. Who knows...lots o prayer will occur between now and then. Then there's the dreaded transition again. Great. I guess that's one of the main reasons I've stayed where I am now. Suffering in a way.

I guess that's what it comes down to. Maybe my life is supposed to be exactly like "Lost in Translation" but I'm the asian guy in america trying to find my way, minus the girl and all.

Found this VERY INTERESTING
andykaufmanreturns.blogspot.com

Yesterday was John's birthday, today was Gretna's and tomorrow is Rebecca's, nonetheless there was a lot of partying to do.
For dinner we headed out to P.F. Chang's which I had never been to. We ended up with a party of 19 people, basically making it a serious event. As a sophomoric food critic, I'd have to say that the fare was fair, somewhat overpriced for the portion size, yet taste and quality was apparent in the selection of produce and meats making for a well rounded experience. Yet I was fairly unimpressed when I ordered a black russian and found that what the server brought me had cream in it, making it NOT a BLACK russian but a white russian. Although the best black russian I have had came from the Cheesecake Factory, mainly because the barkeep put a maraschino cherry in the drink which added depths and levels to the drink. But back to P.F.'s, unfortunately even with sharing a few dishes with people, I left unfilled and somewhat disappointed. The evening was capped off with one of the best pieces of chocolate cake called "the great wall of chocolate" that came complimentary for John's birthday.

After dinner we headed to a concert that Amy's boyfriend Justin was putting on with Andrew Enns as part of one of their classes in the music industry department at CSUN. There were a number of bands playing at this venue called Songs and Flight which is basically run out of a guest house at this guy's house in northridge. There was this band called Relax to Paris and as I was watching them I had the strange feeling that most of the members looked really familiar. After a while and a few discussions with Megan Rockney I realized that I went to high school with the bass player in the band. But although I knew I went to high school with her, I still had that feeling that I couldn't place her. But then I spent my attention on the other members in the band and realized that I also went to school with 2 of the other 3 members. And finally it dawned on me. That Matt and Cassie had been in the same Jazz ensemble with me. It did not come sooner because they didn't sing with us but had been the instrumentalists with the group. After their set I said something to Matt the guitar player and he nearly flipped his lid when he rememberd who I was. It was quite a sight to see.
Our time at the show also brought two other unexpected visitors to my attention. None other than my fellow bloggers Jenny and Kathryn. What fun to have 3 of my blogging community in the same room, Amy, Jenny and Kathryn.

After the show we headed back to Laura, Jen, Rebecca and Gretna's apt for some hangout time. It was a fun evening to relax and enjoy some good company. But by far was Angela Michael saying "that was a Seinfeld moment". Basically what it boils down to was a bunch of us were sitting around talking about laundry room etiquette, i.e. whether or not it's ok to take other people's stuff out and place it on a table or other surface if you need to complete your laundry and then time has expired and the person is nowhere to be found. Not really a exciting topic, but everyone at the table was absolutely engaged in the conversation and someone else walked up in the middle of the conversation and Angela looked over at them and simply stated it was a Seinfeld Moment and enough was said. A really fun night was had by all. We ended the night sitting in Rebecca and Laura's room playing guitar and myself dozing on the floor.

And today I spent all day at a training class for the job that I've been doing for the last 8 months, a bit unproductive since I should have gone to the class 9 months ago. But not too bad to get paid to sit around a talk about what I already do. I did get a bit of sad news today though. A few days ago I posted about how I was getting my promotion to assistant manager at the brand new Simi Valley store, but today I found out that there was some miscommunication between my manager and the district manager and the manager of the new store, so my final destination will most likely not be Simi, which is somewhat disappointing since I had really wanted to go there. The good news is that I do get to still go to the new store for a while but not permanently, but I will have the opportunity to do some training there and spend sometime in a new store, but as to where I'll permanently be, that is yet to be determined.

Now that you've read all the way through this incredibly long post I'll leave you with something to do to make up for the time that you've felt like you've wasted reading this. Here is something fun and entertaining that will occupy more of your time. (play any of the games they are all really fun)

PS
I spent time at home tonight and watched Adaptation. How I love that Spike Jonze. If you haven't seen one of his movies or music videos stop what you are doing and go and rent one. Interestingly enough Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotlessmind and Being John Malkovich where all written by Charlie Kaufman. Who I think is genius.
Anyways this could be a separate post. But 3 movies I think are splendid.

I thought of something to post about. I was feeling hungry and decided to make some Top Ramen. Knowing it had been sitting in my cupboard for a while I decided to do a quality check, and so I sniffed the noodle cake. It smelled of 1982. Seeing as how the stuff only cost 10 cents when on sale, I guess it didn't really suprise me that it could go bad. But at the same time, somewhere in the back of my mind, and after having consumed 1000's of packages of the stuff, I didn't really ever expect the stuff to "go bad" and I would have to say you could probably still eat it, but justifibly tasting stale and like 1982. So that is my post for today. Man, I love this stuff. In college I had a whole drawer in my desk devoted to Ramen, people would periodically drop by my room at 3 in the morning asking if they could have access to my "stash". One night when I was an RA, I hosted a dorm activity of Ramen night, all I had to do was spend 3 bucks and break out my hot pot and everyone was enjoying the full and robust flavors of Ramen.

don't really feel like writing anything, so here are a few pictures, a few from Bill's 30th B-day bash (yes that is a REAL bowtie, I even learned how to tie it myself, and John helped too) and I guess a pic of me and J-Liu (Joseph) bowling. 

 

 

 

Watch it bub, or Sal Mo Nilla will have to open up a can on you. 


see Matt's blog for some backstory. It's kind of a feud.

I got the official word today that when my promotion comes around in a few weeks that I'll be moving to the BRAND SPANKING NEW Jamba Juice in Simi Valley as the Assistant Manager. I'm so excited for this, I get to train my own team so they know how to do things right in the first place and, oh this makes me drool, the store will be sooooooo clean that I won't have to spend half my time cleaning a dirty, dirty, dirty store. For now I have to keep at it in my store until I get moved.

Sad thing is that I won't get to see a lot of the people I've become friends with now. Even some of you bloggers out there. Sad times. Well if you are ever in Simi Valley and getting off at Tapo Canyon head to the new shopping center on the west side of the north side of the freeway, and most likely I'll be there.

Toodles for now.

Found this quite interesting amongst all the perverseness that exists in our world.

I was being a little vain and hopped over to google.com to see what page my blog would be on if I entered the phrase "non-blogger". Let me tell you something, I guess I'm not the first one to use it, cause I didn't see my blog until page 32!!!!! Not like the 10th page or even in the 20's but freakin page 32!!!!! Geez.

But I did notice my definition of a non-blogger was not the same as their's. The majority of people used the phrase to distinguish between people who had blogs and those who didn't. So in a way my usage was innovative. But somehow I don't think I'll ever gain recognition for it.

So here is my attempt to astound and revolutionize the blogging world by coining the phrase:

"hobo-blogger"©(thanks to Matt for the little c)

So all of you who read this blog on a regular basis please replace your use of my definition of a non-blogger as someone who doesn't blog for at least 5 consecutive days with the phrase hobo-blogger.

Make it known around the blogging community. You have the power.

Really who wants to be known as a hobo. (I can think of a few people, but the majority shouldn't). That'll teach those people who think they can only blog when they "feel" like it.

Please, please don't live the life of a hobo-blogger.

brought to you by audioblogger.com

Here you go Matt let me know what you think.

Same goes for the rest of you.

(hard to read, good, bad, color scheme, etc.)


Please use the NEGLECTED "prayer you" section. How can I be praying for you guys?

Once again I have stayed up way too late changing things. Hope you like em.
- recent posts on right by title
- audioblogger (see trogdor)
- profile on right at bottom of black box (now red box)(as of 2am 5/15)
- smaller font, so that you don't have to scroll for hours to read long posts
- permanent pic of me near the profile thing
- new position of sidebar contents (as of 2am 5/15)

A while ago I talked about a musical gal named Nellie McKay, click here to view my post about her.

I think I have found a male counterpart for Nellie. His name: Jamie Cullum
NPR did a story about him and now I'm a fan. Check him out. Let me know what you think.

whenever you see TROGDOR click him to hear my audio post brought to you by audioblogger.com
(Trogdor will only appear once I get home to my computer and change the image file so that you see him not the standard audioblog button, but click either one to listen in)

After taking a nap last night (Tues) I decided I was hungry and wanted something to eat. It was around 10:30 and I had a hankering for some good ol' Zankou Chicken. But alas Zankou was closed, so I hopped into my car and started driving trying to decide what I could consume. I stopped off at Ralph's for two purposes 1 to get a bit of cash in case I decided on a restaurant that only took cash, i.e. In N Out or small mexican restaurant. And 2 I needed some face wash. Clearasil to be exact, but Ralph's had the stupid stuff priced at over 6 bucks!!! No way Jose. Being 10:30 Target was not an option to find the face wash I so desired.

The only other option was to venture to...da dun da...WalMart.

Seeing how I pretty much deplore WalMart. (These people don't like em either)

Funny story about the last time (not counting last night) that I went into a WalMart. So it was around xmas time and I had purchased some DVDs off the internet for my sister and I accidently bought two of the same DVD and forgot to get another. So I took my extra copy of Bruce Almighty back to WalMart thinking I could return it and pick up Bend it like Beckham for my sister. But when the lady went to ring up the return price it came up as $30,000 and some change. WOWZERS was I excited. Goodbye student loans. Unfortunately I wasn't able to convince her to give me that exchange rate. And they didn't carry Beckham in stock, so therefore I had to go over to Best Buy and wait in a horrendously long line just to get one item.

But back to last night...
Once inside the store and past the elderly "greeter" who I'm sure isn't getting paid to stay up past her bed time, since I walked into the store at around 10:50. The Clearasil hard to find, no, no more like almost impossible to find amongst disorganized shelves, it took me almost 10 min to finally track down a tube of the stuff. But to my elation, it was 2 dollars cheaper than Ralph's therefore making my trip worthwhile. On my way out I had the sudden impulse urge to see if there were any DVDs that might catch my fancy. What I stumbled upon was a bin marked 2 for $11. Let me reiterate "BIN" full of DVDs. With such amazing titles as The Never Ending Story 2 or Wild Things and many more "forgettable" or "unbeknownst to me" titles. But my digging paid off. As in most bargain bins there are the jewels. My 2 jewels were a classic Jackie Chan movie called First Strike and a classic work of Mr. William Shakespeare retold in a modern motif, A Midsummer Night's Dream starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Stanley Tucci, Kevin Kline, and unfortunately Calista Flockhart.

I don't know which is worse, Keanu Reeves in Much Ado About Nothing or Julia Stiles in Hamlet or the afore mentioned Midsummer Night's.
All despicable performances, of a master's work. They should all be ashamed of themselves for bringing death to Shakespeare's masterpieces. I would almost rather watch any of Jim Varney's Earnest movies. Seriously people, why almost ruin great movies by simple casting choices.

Anyways...so I ended up leaving WalMart with more than I expected, but all in all I found a few good bargains worth the extra drive to the store.

Oh and by the way if you were wondering where I ending eating, I drove to the nearest Tommy's for a chili/heart attack fest. Mmmm Mmmm Good!!!

On Saturday the Surge advisors and I traveled to Glendale for The Core which is put on by Youth Specialties. It's a time for youth workers to gather and be trained and encouraged in their call to work with youth.

During one part of the day we were asked to reflect on a passage of scripture. John 5:1-9. And as part of the exercise we were to place ourselves within the story as one of the characters. Be it a main character, or an observer, or even an inanimate object. And then we were to write about what we experienced or a poem or just journal while reflecting on the events in the story.

I didn't really choose any one character but I did write a short little poem.

Quiet waters begin to stir,
but my heart is paralyzed in fear.
My feet unable to walk,
my soul unable to sing.
The God unknown,
whom I know not,
lifts me up,
not by strength.
Standing now,
wet only by tears.

There you go...my sensitive side.

For February 1st
BURNISHED LILAC

"You have a strong independent streak and know how to do things for yourself. Making decisions, following an outlying and doing anything is mental in nature comes easily to you. It is important for you to honor the emotional side of life, especially in regard to relationships and expressing your feelings. Your personal color helps balance the aggressive and sensitive side of your nature. Wearing, meditating or surrounding yourself with Burnished Lilac helps you to yield when necessary and increases your receptivity, flexibility and compassion."

I saw this on Jenny's Blog and it is brought you by the good people over at www.pantone.com

if only there was a place on the internet to find a wife based on her color, I really am curious about what color is compatible with Burnished Lilac??? Hmmmmm....

STUPID ASS-MONGER

&$^#%**@#(@)#$*#))@*#&$


Let's impeach him.

READ THIS
(i.e. I'm a retard. OR i.e. How bout we pay 25 Billion to essentially assinate our own troops. OR i.e. Let's go and send our troops to find a long bearded guy who's on dialiasys who's hiding in a cave and is about to die anyways, oh and we CAN'T find him. OR i.e. I have no regards for anything like eduaction or healthcare or _____ (insert here) OR i.e. We'll find Osama [2 weeks before the election so I can win, so I can spend more money on a war we shouldn't be in but I'll never admit that] Bin Laden)

P.S.
And then there's Bush's "Let's just pissoff more middle easterns by giving a speech on Arabic TV" Speech.
Listen here
also listen to a bit of commentary from an Arab point of view Go here and scroll down to the story called "Analysis: Goals of Bush's Arab Interviews"

P.P.S.
I found this slightly amusing considering all that is happening. Go Mr. Moore!!!

At high school group last night and we started a new lesson series focusing on Christianity in culture, and last night we talked about Acts 17 where Paul is in Athens speaking to the Greeks.

I got to thinking about this whole idea of our culture being very "spiritual" or "religious" but not wanting to proclaim anything, especially Christianity. And also I was thinking about how much our culture reflects a need or desire for Christianity but at the same time how lost and put off by the thought of discussing or believing in a God or Christ.

One pretty blatant example of this I thought of was our (culture's) infatuation with disaster movies or disaster scenarios. Here is a small (not comprehensive) list of recent or notable disaster/end of the world movies/tv programs.

10.5

Armageddon

Deep Impact

The Day After Tomorrow

End of Days

Bambi (no not really)

Mad Max

The Postman

Left Behind

Back to the actual commentary:
I find it funny that we LOVE these kinds of movies or shows. We are so intrigued when someone comes up with a new idea about how the world is going to end or be destroyed. It seems that we'd much rather be blown up by a giant asteroid or a epidemic plague than be saved and enjoy an eternal life in heaven. Is the idea of eternal happiness and joy so boring compared to that of dying a painful or short life cut short by some disaster that we have no control over. Ladies and gentlemen we have TOTAL control over our fate. And isn't everyone searching for eternal happiness anyways?

I'm not really sure what to say anymore, I hope you get my point, being that, I just wanted to raise more of a question about Christianity and culture, and how evident Christ seems yet so many people still openly and adamantly deny him.

So I was listening to the radio during my lunch break/dinner tonight as I often do as I sit in my car in the parking lot outside of work and watch the store. And on KCRW they broadcast a show called All Things Considered (produced by NPR) they were talking about how Middle Eastern journalism portrays the war vs how US journalism portrays the war (you can listen HERE, click on the story called Arab Media Reacts to Charges of Anti-American Bias). Listen to the whole thing, it's only 5 min long, it will help in understanding what I'm talking about. But today they were discussing today was the recent pictures of US forces beating and treating Iraqi captives badly.

I think it's interesting to think about the slantedness of news. Really what is unbiased journalism?? From our point we see "our soldiers" fighting, and the Iraqi people see their town being "occupied and destroyed". Quite impossible for news either US or local (Iraq) to be lopsided in making their point. I'm sure if the local Al Quezra (I think that is right) news channel would have broadcasted the pictures first then this whole "beating captives" would have turned into a obvious "THE US HATES US" story, but because 60 minutes (2) brought the story to light the US has to first cover it's own butt and then since they did that they can in no way say that Iraq is just trying to make us look bad. Interesting huh??

I guess this blog has turned quite political and biased, and slightly critical of the US. I wonder if I'm violating the US Patriot act??? So if you don't see me in a few days or my blog gets shut down you know who's come to get me.

I'd like to finish this conversation about biasness and the seemingly corrupt US government that wants us to feel a certain way about the war and our current political climate, but once again I am up WAY later than I need to be and now will be getting around 4 hours of sleep before returning to work.

I will see if I can come up with anymore coherent thoughts about the subject and will try to post later this weekend. Otherwise leave your thoughts in the comments or post about it on your blog with a link back here.