Thanksgiving and Happy New Year

**I have several papers due this week. I'm deep into one right now but have 3+ more to go. I will finish this blog when I can. Probably in bits and pieces. For now, you get an outline for topics.**

Update: I promised myself I'd write this once I got enough sleep. I finally got more than 5 hrs last night. So here we go, just in time for another one tomorrow.

Part 1: Thanksgiving summary

I had a whirlwind trip home to California where I got to see various members of the "cast of characters" in this blog. Most important thing, catching up with many of the dear friendships and wonderful family (families) that I am a part of of.

First night allowed me to catch up with Brock, Clark, Mama G RC Tequila and Alejandro. We had a nice little reunion in my old apartment, which hasn't changed a bit. Really. It hasn't. I even left Clark my bed and bookshelf, which haven't moved and still don't even have new covers on it. Like nothing changed. We had a few glasses of wine and chatting about our holiday plans.

We had a big debate over the proper way to do our annual Christmas/Holiday/Snowflake/White elephant whatever we call it Yankee swap exchange. Apparently, there were growing parties advocating for a less cutthroat feeling of stealing the best gifts from each other. Like a secret santa style exchange rather than the steal a gift and then get it stolen from you. I personally like that and felt that we don't steal from each other enough sometimes. I guess others thought we killed Christmas. Oops. Well, I'm open to compromise, though I like tradition, so I proposed a combination of a more traditional white elephant bring a used gift AND a secret santa. Or bringing a gift and then doing a mad scramble for gifts. Or a yankee swap that turns into a secret santa. Or a blind secret santa where you don't know who you are giving it to. Or a bunch of other crazy and much funnier ideas than I can remember two weeks later. Ultimately, we voted for the same thing as always, and we'll just try to slip some more Christmas cheer into it this year. It was definitely nice catching up with that group. Summary of the trip: First thing Brock says to me- "That's what she said". Yup. Nothing changed.

The first stop I went to when Brock picked me up: Awesome Burger Chain. Besides craving it for months, I was also just starving. Of course, walking in I couldn't resist an observation: I really missed diversity. I did not realize this but seeing all the different people in there made me notice how White Columbus is. There were only like 4 White people besides the two and a half of us in a store of about 30 people. And the other 26 weren't all the same race either. There were blacks and asians and mexicans and a variety of others I'm sure. I know this is a very un-student-affairsy way to describe things, and I say it with a bit of tongue in cheek, but still! Variety of people is nice!

The next day I went to the University where visited the Summercamp crew. Pokeboss, Red button, King Wrangler, Pandita, Noble Dancer, Captain Peanut, Shyly Sue Hoo, Terrific Craniac and Shy Rider (yes all of them!) had lunch with me which was fantastic. They took me to the new dining hall (of course they get more variety after I leave!) which I thoroughly enjoyed and nobody seemed upset with (first meal ever noone complained). Besides some epic Sporcle-ing and just catching up, we had dinner in ABC AGAIN, courtesy of Red Button. Then, because it seemed my staff turned 21 after I left, and I'm not their supervisor anymore, a few of us went out for a few early evening drinks at one of my favorite bars in the area. It was good times catching up on gossip older than my staff thanks to Red Button's buddy, Gogo Co 2.0, who has been around almost as long as I had. Pokeboss drove me close enough to home that my siblings could pick me up, for which I am eternally grateful.

I also got to spend a few hours with my dear friend who I call my quasi-twin. Qua Yams is one of those friends you have a special connection with, and even if you only end up seeing each other once or twice a year like we do, you pick up right where you left off. We filled each other in on our lives covering topics of life, family, love, apartments, school, and God all in about 2 hours. It is truly an honor to have someone I could call a sister in faith, a life long friend, and one of the few friends I have who will tell me it like it is. I can only think of a handful of other people in my life that I have that kind of relationship with. I'm blessed.

Cheeky Monkey and Drew York picked me up for our traditional Wendy's late night frostees. We joked and caught up and it was really wonderful. I love how they can fight so furiously and also be so supportive of each other in the same sentence. My folks had stayed up even though it was late to say hi and we talked and goofed off with the inevitable wrestling match between the three of us on one couch ensuing before my amused parents eyes. Another place that nothing has changed.

Thanksgiving with my family occurred at our house this year. Maybe in the near future I'll do a little blog about family traditions, but the short version includes rotating between my mom and dad's sides of the family (this year was moms), fighting for the crispy skin of the turkey, preferring gellied cranberry sauce to real cranberry sauce, epic gravy on mashed potatoes, and still having a kids table that my grandparents ended up sitting at! This year, we had a new potential tradition. We got my family to play kings cup! Yes, the drinking game King's Cup. We modified some of the rules a little bit (noone wants to play 10 fingers with their parents/kids) but ended up having a really really great time. Some played some watched, my aunt was kinda bad at it and my mom and Tia Favorita ended up getting the "mate" card which meant they had to drink every time the other had to drink. When the rule of Chipmunk voices only got instituted, they kept messing up and yelled at each other in squeeky voices and then caused each other to drink even more! It was a riot. Ahh good times with a growing, changing, but still loving family.

My brother, father and I put up all the Christmas lights, a tradition for Black Friday. I always spider monkey onto the roof and this year they didn't make me put all the lights up because I was the tallest. Funny thing though, we got a little cocky and didnt test all the lights before we put them up. This resulted in a long strand of lights that ended up not working, so we had to rethink our plan halfway through. The engineer that is my dad (and in both my brother and I) felt a bit embarrassed. Oh well it was fun.

Since it was my birthday this week, we went to dinner at a local Mexican food restaurant with my parents grandparents and Tia Favorita. Cheeky Monkey was exhausted from working Black Friday but overall we had fun with margarita and joking around like usual. It was a simple birthday, a theme for the year.

But the night continued with drinks with Drew, Dungeon Daddy and Heavy Spy where we out on the town. I'd never gone bar hopping in my hometown, only in the beach city where University is, so it was a new experience. Dungeon Daddy and I are drinking buddies, and since Heavy Spy was kind enough to drive, the two of us were able to match each other. I stocked up on all the drinks I can't seem to find out here. We played our traditional Smashed Smash and really had an amazing last night in California. I'm glad I'll be returning in a week to do it all again!

Part 2

Changes to the Catholic church occurred on the first day of advent, so last Sunday. This meant a retranslation of the Mass, which hasn't happened in as thorough a way in about 45 years. So some of the phrases that we all say from memory without thinking have changed. Meaning we have to pay attention to those parts in Mass again. It's really great! I have been continuing my goal of a new look on my own faith so this lines up quite nicely with shaking things up.

A new year in the church is a good time for new resolutions. Advent = new year in the church calendar because its the season that precedes Christmas. It is a time of reflection and hope. It isn't quite as heavy as Lent, which more people are familiar with, but still a more mellow feeling than the celebrations of Christmas and Easter. I hope to make the most out of this with a bit of extra prayer and set the right tone for the rest of the year.

Amongst my reflections included thoughts about religion amongst friends. As I look at the friends I talk to the most, religion isn't a topic that necessarily comes up a lot. Some friends who when I met were pretty Catholic have drifted away from that. Other friends have gotten more devout in their faiths. Some are angry at religion. Some refuse to have an opinion on it. Some see me as very conservative and uncompromising. Others see me as very open in my faith. I'd like to think I am the latter, even if I hold myself to a very conservative standing. I try not to impose my beliefs on others if I can at all help it or assume that everyone must believe what I believe. That said, because I value my faith so much, I would love that everyone could find that same value I do. It's a tough balance then, to talk about religion without sounding like I'm imposing it, while at the same time not shying away from it.

Dandy Woo is a very devout Christian, as is Sunshine Knives and Faithful Filmer. Spam Boa and Micki Granger and Qua Yams are devout Catholics too. These are the few people I consistently talk religion with and aren't afraid to tackle heavy topics with me. I appreciate having these people in my life. There are others that will talk religion but often get frustrated or worse, the people that I'm not sure if I can bring religion up with. Those are usually people I want to talk about it with the most, but I also feel are the mostly for me to offend. Moral of the story: let's talk religion! It doesn't have to be every time, but as I once told Shy Rider in one of those drives where she was feeling less than shy, religion is such a big deal in our world its at least important to consider talking about it.

Also, I want to make it very clear: devout does not equal expert, it just means we are trying. What I like so much about my Catholic faith is that it is open to forgiveness and support over the PROCESS of faith, not just the destination.

One more note: Since this was on my brain last week, interestingly, last night religion came up with a few of my student affairs friends after several hours of alcoholic consumption. It was great to have a fair, non judgmental though differing conversation about polarizing topics like abortion. I guess that means alcohol makes for safe spaces! Don't tell the undergrads...

As I said before "Yea it'll be light hearted and heavy. Might split this second part into a diff blog" I kept it all one but you'll have a fun one tomorrow. Gloves vs Umbrellas: The Showdown!

-JTY

Currently listening to: Coldplay. All of their songs. Its good for papers. Also, Plug In, Baby by Muse was stuck in my head while we were putting up Christmas lights. Amusing.

Reading: A Feast of Crows by George R.R. Martin - 4th game of thrones book. good so far.

Playing: The Old Republic, a preview to what next month will look like. I and got a beta for it. Its fun. Sigh. I don't have time to game!

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.1

I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 25...

I had a poignant moment the other day. Three in fact. The first was I noticed some leaves spiraling upward like glowing embers from a fire and realized that autumn is basically built for similes and metaphors. But we discussed this last week.

The second was how much I like tractors, which I realized as I watched this big CAT tear apart a building on campus. It was so cool! There was actually a crowd of people watching the pure demolition, the majestic power of the claw knocking down heavy concrete and brick walls that you just don't see everyday. When I was a kid I used to play in the backyard with tractors and dump trucks and the like. They were my first "favorite toys". My dad and I used to make aqueducts and mud quarries and get nice and dirty just playing for hours under the lemon and orange trees. I think that was before my sister and maybe even my brother was born.

Which brings me to my third realization: I turn 25 this week. This is no surprise. Age changes occur every year. In some sense, its a day like any other. I have work, class, and a presentation, so it's definitely not going to be a big party or fiesta. I have a presentation the day after too, so no late night shenanigans. My birthday will be a workday.

Normally, I think this would bother me. I've downplayed my birthday for years now, but I still tried to make the day itself something special, a day just for me. It is a special day. It's the celebration of life. The celebration of being a son, a brother, a friend, and a person doing his part in this world. That is not to be belittle. So I will celebrate. But I don't have to celebrate on the actual day. I should celebrate EVERY day. Everyday take an appreciation for the gifts I have received, the blessings, the hardships that have made me a stronger, better person, and the hope that tomorrow and the day after will see new growth, new experiences and hopefully many more birthdays to come. And with Thanksgiving around the corner, as it always is for my birthday, it is important for me to remember to be thankful for everything that makes a birthday meaningful.

I will celebrate when I go home this week. It's my first trip to California since September. I'll get to see my siblings, my parents and my extended family. I'll also spend the first night in my old apartment with Brock and Clark and probably others. I will then head to the University to see the old Summercamp crew. SOMEHOW I will get from University to home. Maybe I'll be able to talk my sister into retrieving me (Eh Cheeky Monkey?) though I think Pokeboss also offered me a lift, which will bring our friendship full circle since I took her home during our first weeks on staff together. I'm really excited to be back and can't imagine it will be in just two day, but I honestly am not thinking about it very much. Gotta get to those two days first. Then I can breath. And of course do the mountain of work that won't vanish in California.

So, taking one liberty for myself, in honor of this milestone, quarter of a century of life, and in hopes to a future of greater wisdom, maturity, but never losing my boyish good looks (ha!) and childlike, carefree attitude, I present my top 25. This is NOT supposed to be one of those Facebook chain posts. Instead, I will go through each year of my life and highlight a top event or two that I remember or associate with that year. I am always really reflective around my birthday, and this is one way that it will play out. You may not be terribly interested in this, but all I have to say is, It's my birthday, I'll do what I want!

Age 1: Birth. Kinda a big deal. I don't remember it. I just know that I was a financial challenge because my dad had been laid off a few months beforehand. To this day I have been very conscious of costing my parents money. I am so thankful for the sacrifices they continually make for me, starting with day 1.

Age 2: I was told that I pretty much skipped crawling and went straight to walking. I get my thirst for independence started early. We also moved in my first house, where most of my childhood memories were formed.

Age 3: I'm pretty sure I was really active and needed lots of means to channel my energies. One of my earliest memories is being in a Mommy and me preschool-like class. I remember climbing a tree, which would be a consistent them in my life until about age... 25 or so.

Age 4: At this point, I now had a brother, which is another really early memory of mine: when we got him from the hospital. I was also in pre-school now and my first best friends were named Michelle, Ashley and a boy whose name I cannot at this time remember. I want to say Simon, but I think that's just the Chipmunks. I know the bully from that year turned out to be a good friend, and his name was Tino. BTW this is some serious 90s nostalgia at this point (which we probably think of as the 80s too). I was super into He Man (though I can't remember an episode), Ninja Turtles, and about to hit X-Men and Power Rangers obsessions.

Age 5: Kindergarten! I met several of my closest friends this year. Though many are not recorded here in this blog, I do stay in touch with these people, who I spent the next 9 years with at Catholic School. One particular name of note: Spam Boa. Yup this birthday marks 20 years of friendship! Happy anniversary? Let's not also forget a small little detail (haha short jokes)... my baby sister was born! Cheeky Monkey was the first thing I remember consciously praying for. I had a brother but wanted a sister too. God granted me that wish, though I wanted to name her Michelle, my parents opted to give at least one of us an ethnic name. Yup. Cheeky is my great grandmothers name. Well... You know what I mean!

Age 6: I need to point out that, since I am one of the older kids in my class, age 6 was actually more of kindergarten than first grade. So the ages don't quite line up perfectly. I remember really enjoying first grade. One particular memory is singing A Whole New World as a class. This was also where I really became an avid reader and writer. I had already written an illustrated several stories at this point. I think I still have them...

Age 7: First and second grade was all about action figures, boys vs girls, kickball and dinosaurs. In the second grade, I had more dinosaurs memorized than most of the college students in the dinosaurs class at University. I begged my dad to let me see Jurassic Park, but he said it was too scary. Fortunately, Tia Favorita was much kinda and she let me watch it with her when we used to spend the night at her apartment. Those were really awesome times and we loved those getaways. That was probably one of the last times it was just me and her for a weekend. Good times.

Age 8: There is a great picture of me going down Splash Mountain with my mom at Disneyland from this time. I know it was at this point because I did a show and tell in school with where I recreated Splash Mountain with my Hot Wheels. I was such a nerd! My parents used to take us every other year to Disneyland, partly so we wouldn't be burned out and partly cuz it was and is really expensive.

Age 9: This is probably one of my favorite years in life. I got a bike and it'd ride around the neighborhood for hours. There was a true sense of freedom with you had your own transportation. Other times in my life that replicated the freedom I associate with my bike: Getting my driver's license, going to college, and moving to Ohio. So few and far in between. This also was my last year playing Little League baseball, a very formative time in my life and to this day I love the sport, even though I was never competitive when I played it at that age. That was also the only time I ever went by Jimmy. It was fine on the team, but never EVER again.

Age 10: I associate this age with the 4th grade. This year I started reading Animorphs, which propelled me to levels of book reading never before seen! Scholastic Books was my favorite company and I loved it when my mom would splurge on books for me. This year, I had a dream that we would travel to every Mission in California, since that's what we studied in school. My parents took me to one, but that was cool too.

Age 11: I met a lot of new friends this year. We were getting older and approaching the middle school years. I was the straight A teacher's pet student and did not know it. I also wrote my first poems in 5th grade. One of them was published in a contest and I won my mom some amethyst earrings. I was destined to be an English major from then on.

Age 12: 6th grade may have been my favorite year ever. Spam Boa and I finally had class together again (we hadn't since 3rd grade). We had the best teacher, who did things like an ongoing Greek Olympics or a sleepover in an aquarium, or mummifying chickens or teaching us Scripture through puppets. It was really great. I also started writing short stories and reading books like Redwall. Also, I had been in love with video games for a long time, and even bought my cousin's old NES. But then we got an N64 and went to new levels of gaming that opened a whole new world for me.

Age 13: I think back on 7th grade and don't have as many fond memories. There were fights in schools, friendships changed, and those awkward middle schools were in full effect. Two particular memories: Three Way Calling. Yes these were the days before cells and texting. The days of AIM. And the days where you could make a big phone chain if one person three way called the next who three way called the next etc. etc. We used to have like 7 or 8 people on the phone. Good times. I also began playing Starcraft and Diablo and learned about internet gaming. This was important because I started learning about computers and really using them for all their capabilities, not just a few games here and there, but for communication, searching and the like. This is where I joined the technology generation.

Age 14: I was co-class president this year. 8th grade was great. School dances, lots of end of the year stuff. Lifetime friendships were beginning to change. This was the big breakup of friends for the last 9 years. Fortunately, most of us went to the same high school. At this point, I was an established writer. One project had me make a portfolio. I read my favorite book of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird, and my first Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing. I was also avoiding the bandwagon Harry Potter series to read the more intense and ambitious Wheel of Time. I'm one of maybe two people I know who have read all of them (each of the 13 are about 900 pages and the last one comes out next year!!) I did eventually read Harry Potter, but not til high school. This was also my first real experiences with social justice issues and learning about topics like the Armenia Genocide, The Tuskegee Airmen, the Cambodian Genocide, of course the Holocaust. I studied Gandhi and his work in India. We went to a museum about these tragedies and read books on Japanese Internment. We learned some really powerful things that year.

Age 15: High School. I was 15 when Sept 11 happened. I remember being woken up by my dad and watching the stuff on the news with Spam Boa and another friend and my parents. It was surreal. That was also the year I learned to drive and effectively my last year in the Boy Scouts which I'd done for about 5 years. I still peaked in but lost interest as I got more involved in high school. Also, I would like to pay homage to Sr. Marie, the most terrifying teacher I ever had. And one of the best.

Age 16: Besides a license (at the end of sophomore year), I spent my first two years of high school doing cross country and track. It's where I met friends like Jabbertalky, my first new friend in HS. He ran all four years and since I had gotten involved in yearbook, I would still go to a lot of meets. I also met my favorite teacher of all time in World History. I also got confirmed this year. I knew it was a big deal, but I did not recognize how much my life would change from that decision to stay Catholic. I signed up to be a young adult leader and began going to retreats. Powerful, transforming retreats. I began learning about my faith in ways the classes never fully captured. Steubenville will always stand out in my mind as a defining moment in my Catholic journey.

Age 17: Another big year. My group of friends had changed as I got more involved in ASB. This was my best year of classes, with subjects like British Literature with Brother, Ethics, US History, Algebra II (hardest but best math class ever) and Chemistry (hard but often fun). Besides meeting friends like Mama G and Ms Peacelove, I also had my first girlfriend and hundreds of grand memories at dances, parties, and hangouts. I was always the good kid and look back on high school with no regrets, which in and of itself is a huge blessing.

Age 18: Also a great year. Senior year of high school. Got into my dream school, loved most of my classes and ended my career there right. The summer of parties followed with a graduation party every day it seemed. We had a huge, good group of friends (including Bridges at this point) and even had one party where we all swapped CDs of our favorite songs, many of which I still listen to on my computer.

15 of us ended up at University together where we started a grand new journey. This was where I met the like of Brock, Alejandro, RC Tequila, Sunshine Knives, Clark, Nemesis and Penny (in that order no less). There were plenty of other good friends and one memory in particular is our 80s Dance Party, which I've recounted before but I think captures first year really well. Our family was born and with additions like Kareem, Jordan and AVP among others it kept growing.

Age 19: As I started second year (in which I also turned 20) I became much more involved in ResLife. This year ended with me meeting Dungeon Daddy and El Bandito. Who would have thought how much my college career would shift when El Bandito named me External Vice President. I haven't mentioned music much. In HS I was really into Classic Rock and I also had a large religious music collection from various retreats. At this point, I got my first iPod and subsequently would play music on my laptop more too. I remember Brock listening to my religious songs and being, actually I liked that one play it again. haha Random Roomie Memory!

Age 20: At this age, I became single again. Which is fine because I was super involved in school and my gf went to a different school. I lived in a building with Steakhouse, Tenshi, Spotty Sister, and Micki Granger. I also was good friends with P-Diddy at this point and by this age's end would have met Heavy Spy and Mother Mapster.

Age 21: But it wasn't until this year that we all became the second "family" I allude to in my cast of characters. I had my first drink when Mother Mapster, P-Diddy and El Bandito blindfolded me and took me to P-Diddy's room for a few shots of pretty nice Vox vodka. It wasn't as bad a taste as I thought but chasing it with Dr. Pepper sucked. That year was a really great college year, with awesome road trips, crazy fun alcohol stories, and perhaps the best summer of my life living on campus with all my friends and not having school hanging over our heads.

Age 22: Whew this is taking longer than I thought. If only I were so dedicated to my paper writing. Graduation and end of the year festivities were awesome. I had really good friends in Dr. Beeker Flipz, Math Magician and Yellow Piggy. I also ended my RA career and began my role in Summercamp.

Age 23: This was probably the hardest year of my life. I know you can't really see the themes underlying some of these brief snippets of life, but for one thing, religion was less and less common. At this point my best friend had moved several states away, I had a kinda rough breakup with Tenshi (though we did get back together), I was out of school for the first time since age 2 and trying at a new career as an entry level employee in a department going through significant identity changes. Oh, and I was DEAD BROKE because I had moved and moving and rent coming in before paychecks do wipes you out. I did start working for Naysayer and later Santa Claus, which helped my financial and professional woes. And things got better like they always do. And I knew I had to go through stuff like that. Welcome to the real world. But that didn't make it fun.

Age 24: This my most recent year, was for the most part great. Summercamp was in full force with the likes of Pokeboss, Red Button, Captain Peanut, Pandita, Nobel Dancer, King Wrangler and the like. It was a great year at work, I really figured out what I wanted, not just professionally but next steps which was grad school. I got into OSU and took the leap for a completely different life. Not without some resistance. But I was working on my faith life more and God gave me a clear sign of where to go next. And I began traveling, with England, Ireland and Italy under my belt now. So here I am.

Age 25: What's next? Well I have a good group of friends in Dandy Woo, Powder Climber, Tall Bear and many others in my cohort. Tenshi and I are no longer together, which is hard at times, as is being away from most of my past friends. Still, that Fitzgerald article I referred to last week talked about the best things in life can only really be achieve after 25 years. So who knows what's next. After school and job, I have that other dream that's starting to creep in more often now... family. I'm a long way from there, but just as you can see, the people in my life have shaped every year of my life, I think the next 25 years will be shaped by the family I began forming of my own. Today was the last Sunday of the Church year. Next week, there will be many changes in the Mass. I think its fitting that a milestone birthday falls right at this point. Things they be a changin' and the future is going to be exciting. But first, there's whole grad school thing. Back to paper writing!

-James

Listening to: Soul to Squeeze Red Hot Chili Peppers. It seems to be my theme this week, not sure why. I also have a 25 song playlist. Maybe I'll list the songs there next time.

Playing: Too much League of Legends, not enough school work. Spam Boa only things I'm kinda of terrible now. Improvement!

Reading: The Bible. Not sometimes I do nearly enough, but since this one is blessed by the pope, I've been making more of a point. Plus, I went to Theology on Tap, a grad school gathering to talk theology and have drinks. We unpacked the changes coming to the Creed. So I needed some Bible thumping for some context. Good times. I'm really going to make it a point that these next 25 years have a good God focus underneath everything.

Fall AKA Autumn

A lot of hype was made to me about how I would actually get seasons now that I've moved to Ohio. Unlike California where we have sunny, a few days of rain, a month or two of cold, sometimes windy, usually dry just about year round, here in Ohio the weather is, well... varied to say the least. Since coming here it has rained every week sometimes almost every day of that week, there have been thunderstorms, gusty winds, high humidity, I think there was hail once, and temperatures have steadily been decreasing. What I described there could have been a given week here. It is fickle. Last Friday the high was 48. Today we were in the mid 60s after nightfall. What?!?

But there still are seasons. The trees have just about finished changing colors. And this was something I was kind of looking forward to. And there have been moments when it was really spectacular. So bright reds and pinks and yellows. Deep oranges and and burnt oranges and most every shade in between. Sometimes there is a tree that is yellow a tree that is green a tree that is red and a tree that is orange. And with a bright blue sky with a few puffy clouds as a backdrop, that is really fantastic. I tried to take some phone photos, but they did not do justice. It really is something to behold through the eye. The other day, the wind was blowing really hard and these yellow leaves darted across the street like a flock of sparrows or magpies. (I don't actually know what a magpie is but it seems literarily fitting). Other leaves already fallen rolled across the street like a wave crashing on a concrete shore. It was quite a sight. It reminded me of some of the scenes in the Jet Li movie Hero. Something like this:

The problem is, one I was not carrying a ninja sword. And perhaps more importantly, those moments have been few and far in between. I really thought the whole place was going to look like fireworks for a month or two. Instead, its like one burst here and the another there, like when the neighbors buy the really nice nightflowers from Mexico for 4th of July but only can fire one every hour or so in order to avoid the cops catching them. There will be a brilliant colored tree for about a week, but all the trees around it are either already bare or still green. It's like they take turns. Which doesn't make for a particularly awe-inspiring autumn. It makes for the slow degeneration into the despair that will be a gloomy, cold winter. At least go out with a bang weather! Maybe there is still time for a finale...

Speaking of winter, I'm kind of getting excited. I bought some boots and gloves and a jacket this weekend. I have decided that every day possible I will try to throw at least one snowball. I also think I want a standing snowman outside my apartment for which I can aim that snowball. Though I'm sure Dandy Woo and Powder Climber, among others, will be open to random snowball attacks when they least expect it. I have these dreams I must live out from my thorough reading of Calvin and Hobbes. I have seen snow before, but I can only imagine having it every day and if it's as annoying and inconvenient as Spam Boa has warned me, then I will have to compensate with activities like this:

I don't usually have nightmares, but the other night I woke up and kinda freaked out because my black desk chair, with my thick black jacket draped over it, to my half-asleep glasses-free eyes looked just like a grim reaper standing over the edge of my bed. Maybe I've had death on my mind. Maybe it was because I just found out that my good friend, who I haven't asked her permission to talk about this, lost her mother recently. Then the next morning I found out that my uncle had passed away. I dont know what time I woke up but it was probably only an hour or two after he died that I had this image. It's a little unsettling. Yet, I said a prayer or two and went back to sleep. All the readings at church these last few weeks have been about the end of the world and being ready for when Christ comes again. It is because the church year ends next week, but still seems like a bunch of coincidences coming together. I'll say an extra prayer and take the lesson that life is a treasure, we should value and protect and appreciate every moment. Too bad I have final papers coming up....

I think that's all I shall discuss today. BTW, if you haven't seen Hero, its a very pretty movie that I've only seen once but is well worth it. Similar feel to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. Also, if you are a big Calvin and Hobbes enthusiast like I am, then here is the cure for you. Pick a world any world and every comic that features that word will appear before your eyes: http://michaelyingling.com/random/calvin_and_hobbes/

Have a good week y'all. It'll be a doozy for me...

-JTY

Listening to: Snow (Hey Oh) -Red Hot Chili Peppers I feel like this song represents the blending of californian music (if such a thing exists) and the fact that I'm in Ohio.

Reading: A fascinating article by F. Scott Fitzgerald about his thoughts on turning 25 that someone posted on Facebook. Since this is something I am about to accept, it resonated with me. The article can be found here: http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/Jazz-Age_Writer_F_Scott_Fitzgerald

But the big quote I take away from it is: "If you believe in anything very strongly—including yourself—and if you go after that thing alone, you end up in jail, in heaven, in the headlines, or in the largest house in the block, according to what you started after." He goes on to say, paraphrased: If you are in that category, then you'll have the most fun in life AFTER age 25.

Food for thought.

Playing: League of Legends with Spam Boa, Math Magician and Dungeon Daddy, Brawl with my OSU buddy Tall Bear, and lots of Catan, card games and the like.