Ask Again

If you let your pride get in the way of your pursuit of people, you're missing something wonderful - an essential piece of the kingdom. No one owes you anything - including the desire for you. But you have something to offer. And walking away by the suggestion of your hubris, you are denying someone - everyone - the chance to be transformed by the presence of God in you.

Icarus

Lately my roommates and I have had a ‘seize the day’ theme. Cliché words, I know, but the idea of seizing a day can never become old and overdone. Last night we made cupcakes and delivered them to people we love, around town. The cupcakes turned out worse than we wanted, took longer than expected, and we probably didn’t need 6 of us to deliver them (I rode in the trunk).

So today, Devin looks me in the eyes at about 2 this afternoon, and asks, “How are we going to seize the day today?” We looked out the window and saw the trees full of excitement. “It’s windy,” he says.

I’m four feet off the ground, with Flu holding me down, the wind fighting him hard. I land and we both get dragged about 30 yards. The wind picks me up again, this time eight feet off the ground. Flu (6’6”) is holding me at the waist with full arm extension. Then I’m tossed to the ground. We are dragged again. If he lets go of me, I have no clue what will happen.

“Let’s fly a kite…”
“Yeah… that sounds fun…”

It wasn’t until Devin suggested that we get full face helmets, that I realized it wasn’t such a bad idea. Flying a kite is okay, but flying a 12 meter, $1,000 kite, complete with harness, in 30mph winds, is reckless. We were in a reckless mood.

I feel alive when the skin is stripped off my wrists, my legs are still shaking from the adrenaline rush, and Devin and I are being dragged behind Flu as we try to stop him from floating away.

Consider today seized, cliché and all. This doesn’t even include Sean on train tracks with helmet, Sean breaks into a car, or Sean jumping off 15 foot balcony in an effort to rescue his bedding, during a blanket heist. I rescued it.

The Progression of Devin's Sushi

Devin (Resident Badass) decided to do homemade sushi today. Ingredients included: Cucumber, Carrots, Avacado, Crab, Nori, Rice (vinegar, salt, sugar). Lets say there was a learning curve. Here it is documented by pictures.

Attempt #1:

Attempt #1:

Lets just say it didn't take long from there, for Devin to break out his mad Sushi skills. Attempt two was success:


Best night ever! (I ate the first one)

You're Gonna Want To Be On My Good Side

I broke a receiver once by simply touching it. They said it became overrun with electricity and just shut off. This happens to me often, frustratingly often. I have fried watches, computers, cars, video game devices, car stereos, receivers, and TVs. The other day my car broke. It just decided it didn't want to start anymore after it had been working perfectly. So I borrowed Daniel Carter's car, drove it to Panera, came outside, and it wouldn't start. Today at work, the desktop wouldn't work. It made this strange beeping noise and refused to start. Luckily I brought my laptop. Turns out, my laptop starting making this burning smell and probably could explode at any minute. I go through about five computer chargers in a year, and two batteries.

I was beginning to move from frustrated to mad, when I realized I needed to see the glass of milk half chocolate, instead of the glass of milk half skim. If there is ever a computer uprising in this world, if nano-technology, A.I., or anything else tries to overrun mankind, I will be the chosen one. Suddenly I'm not so frustrated anymore. See! If you look hard enough, things aren't so bad... maybe.

We've Been Given Superpowers

I've always known that I was gifted. My whole life I have been so lucky that I was surrounded by people who made sure I knew. I have a lot of talent in a lot of different areas of my life, and my gifts have provided me with courage. From day one I knew that my heart and my desire to give it away, make me who I am. I've always known I was a special kid.

If you don't feel this way about yourself, you're missing something huge. We are all special kids. And as cliche' and bs as that sounds, I absolutely mean it. We were created to be extraordinary, to do something, to change this world. You are brilliant and you are beautiful, but that isn't enough. You have to give it away.

It never seems that simple though does it? First you have to know who you are. Then you have to be inspired. Every single day that you wake up, look for something to inspire. Get fired up about life, about living. And then go out, open your heart, and offer yourself. There are few things I believe, as much as I believe in the people around me. You are incredible.

Love big, and give yourself away. Be inspired and change the world. If you use those gifts and talents only for yourself, then you are being selfish. I want to hear stories about the lives that you have changed. And you will forget, and you will fall down. I feel like the last five years of my life have been forgetting and falling down. So, maybe this is more for me than anyone else; but just the same, go.

Goaaaaaaaaal!

I think people might have liked me more than I give myself credit for, but I never felt like I fit in when I was a kid. In elementary school I was pretty insecure and it took me until I was about 13 years old to finally begin to understand how to operate socially. I feel like I have been excited about chasing after the hearts of people since the day I realized I could. Now I just wait for opportunities.

Highschool was magical for me. To be with 2000 people every day was undeniably one of the greatest gifts of my life. What intrigued me the most was how different people are. Sure, everyone is different in personality, but what caught my attention was how people fit into different social categories. People defined themselves by the things they participated in, and the lifestyle they chose to live. I was determined to break those social walls.

My whole life I have found absolute joy in bringing people together. It is my passion and it is my gift. Nothing is more meaningful to me than introducing friends, who wouldn't otherwise know each other, and giving them something common to strive for. I have been fortunate enough to be a part of some really cool experiences, including weekly meals with 30 guests, Sunday night dinners at Old Chicago, and random events including slip and slides, bbq's, glow frisbee, etc. I love having fun. I love having fun with people I love. I love having fun with people I love, having fun with people that I love.

It was a blast to watch a community form around all of this, to watch people band together and go beyond events; they started doing everyday life together. But even this created a clique and left a lot of people out. Some people simply didn't desire to be a part of it, and that is okay.

Soccer wasn't something I was ever interested in growing up, but I got to start playing with middle-school friends at an after school program and decided to start a soccer team for adults. This has become the absolute joy of my life. Sure, soccer is a blast. I love the game more than any other sport (to play). Yes, running is fun and free, and competition is addictive. All of these are reasons to love soccer, but that isn't enough for me.

People are why I love soccer. And while, given my health issues, it may seem unwise for me to play as much as I do, it is the best thing for me. I have gotten to see people come together who would never be in a room together, and laugh, and play, and compete. Not only is everyone in the same room, but the group is fighting for a common cause. Nothing brings people together more than that. Those who would never come to a bbq, will come to a soccer game. I have gotten people to play that I haven't seen since sixth grade. I have witnessed people with very different walks in life, celebrate together, cheer each other on. It is absolutely beautiful. We even have a teammate that I met at a breakfast restaurant that I frequent.

Being on the field is fun, but if you see me on the bench I am just as happy. I love watching. I love sitting in the presence of the people I love, together fighting for something. I love watching us win together, and lose together. So when you hear that I am on four soccer teams don't worry about my health or an addiction problem. It isn't for soccer, it is for people. People are a worthy cause, and I will give all of myself away to see the boundaries of love transcended for the people in my life.

Come watch us play.

Craig, I Want Off Your List

Melissa called me on Friday. I couldn't answer because I was at work. She left a message and told me that she would love to watch my kid on Wednesdays from 6-9, and she left me her number and asked me to call her back. There were a lot of candidates really, from young to old, but all of them were female. The most qualified and top runner for the position was Karissa, who graduated with honors from Berkley, is trilingual, can cook, clean, has great references and agreed to a meeting before hire. I can honestly say, it wasn't a tough decision for me to make in regards to any of them.

You see, I'm not married, I didn't just recently move to California, and I don't have a kid. If I did have a kid I certainly wouldn't pay someone $150 dollars to watch them once a week for three hours. I felt bad that I couldn't hire any of them, because they all wanted the job and Berkley was obviously the best choice. But I can't hire someone for a job that didn't exist.

Melissa was helpful enough to inform me that she got my info on Craigslist, and so I googled "Craigslist (And my phone-number)." I found the article about my wife and kid and moving to long beach. Phone number and name was correct and everything. My phone continued to ring, and eventually died. When I got home from work I plugged it in to find that I had 30 voicemails. About 10 voicemails in, the messages started to sound like this, "Hey, I'm interested in the Ford F-150 you have for sale. Is $250 dollars the correct amount or is that a typo?" The last twenty messages, and about 30 texts were about the truck.

I got a great lead when someone said they were referenced to me by my roommate Lance. A text came in from him from a few hours ago that read: How is your day going? I replied: Interesting that you ask, how is yours? We talked on the phone and he admitted to the Long Beach Babysitting Craigslist ad, saying that he and Flu came up with it. He asked how I found out, and I told him that someone mentioned his name in the truck messages. He told me that he knew I had posted the Truck ad on facebook to get him back. I hadn't. Someone had posted a truck ad on Lance's behalf, and thinking it was me, he made his answering machine say, "Hi you've reached Lance, if you are calling on behalf of the truck please contact Sean at #." He told me he had gotten 80 calls in 90 minutes.

We knew it was Flu, so Lance changed his answering machine to Flu instead of me. Flu eventually called me, asking why he was getting calls about a Truck, and after a long arguing match, he proved to me he didn't post the ad about Lance. Turns out one of Lance's friends did, who Flu and I hardly even know. I laughed a lot that day. It was a very fun April Fools day, to say the least.

I am still getting phone calls about the Truck.