U2 is going to be in LA in April. Man, I wish I could go to that concert. Just costs 190.00 for a nose bleed seat.

Does anyone want to go with me? ...and pay for my ticket, too? :-)

I rambled around my kitchen this morning with the distinct feeling that I had been engrossed in a very intense conversation, that I had been very involved in something but I couldn't remember what it was. Which, of course, must have been my dreams.

I had a weird one right before I got up. ha,ha I've started setting my alarm to radio, so when my alarm goes off I hear the sudden booming voices of NPR.

This morning there was a story titled something like, "What do neo-conservatives and environmentalists have in common?" It was a story of one prominent Republican’s commitment to having an electric-gas hybrid car.

But suddenly in my dream I was with a bunch of Portland-like hippies carrying grain and supplies into an African hut. Apparently, we were on a relief mission. As we were all laboring carrying heavy sacks Dick Cheney was following us around spouting this long spiel about why he got a hybrid car.

When I finally heard someone say, "Thank you, blah-blah, for talking with us today" (not Dick Cheney) my mind started to drift towards consciousness.

mishmash

Listened to an interview with Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics: Why the Right gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It and editior of Sojourners Magazine today. Very, very interesting. I agree with a great deal of what he said. I HIGHLY recommend that you listen to this interview for a refreshing voice in the Evangelical community.

If you're more of a TV kind of person here's Jim Wallis on the Daily Show. (however, the radio interview is more in depth)

On a different note, while I was watching the Daily Show on Comedy Central I also looked at their other videos. Their "Top 5 Bush Inauguration Videos" were really funny. Especially "Black Bush" and "Speechalist" (Warning: Black Bush has way too much profanity (thankfully it's beeped out), however, if you can get past that it's really funny.)

The sad thing about the "Speechalist" video is that I totally relate to Bush because when I'm nervous I mess my words all up, too.

Philip Johnson, a famous architect died yesterday. Check out his most acclaimed building called the "Glass House". Amazing-isn't it? Never seen anything quite like it. It was actually the house he built for himself.

Saw "House of Flying Daggers" tonight. It was good but lacked the well-woven plot of Crouching Tiger.

My sis got in an argument with a girl and her boyfriend sitting a seat away from us in the theater. That was crazy...apparently we were whispering too loudly. But if you ask me both June and that girl were way too combative.

Actually, it seemed that whole theater was full of interesting characters. Four rows ahead of us a pair of girls yelled out, "yes!" when what seemed like a sex scene started (unfortunately for those girls it was cut short) Then later in the movie some older guys behind us started talking loudly and laughing in an intense moment. The audience was also more reactive in surprise scenes than normal.

At one point I looked at my sister and whispered that this crowd was wacko...of course, hoping that girl wouldn't go off on me for whispering again. :-)

I'm in SD right now because I have to finish the Community Economic Development program I'm in. So I'll be coming back to SD every other weekend until April.

I've just gotten settled in LA. It took me a while to gather the furniture I needed and now I've finally got all my stuff off the floor. I have my orientation next week and I don't start classes until the 31st.

So I still feel like my life is in slow motion just punctuated by cleaning and moving. The month before I left SD I was cleaning and decorating my grams house. And now I'm cleaning and organizing again. To be honest, I just feel like my life is never going to have the same sense of meaning again. Seems like it's just a never-ending river of mundane nothingness.

Part of me wishes that the audience of my blog wasn't so big (big for me). It's definitely expanded beyond my close friends. That's cool and everything but I guess I write this blog like I'm talking to really close friends. The knowledge that people I don't know are reading sometimes taints my view of my entries....instead of seeing them in light of the meaning I intend I start to look at them the way others might perceive them. But oh well, I think I have to blog that way and if I look like a big whiner...well, that's probably true anyway. :-)

By the way, I'm going to be writing people back from my back-logged emails now that I know where my underwear is.

I'm on the move!

Yup, I'm driving up to LA tomorrow (technically today) with my car stuffed full of my loosely boxed clothes and stuff. That's one of the many weird things about moving to a city so close. I don't really have to pack my stuff up in boxes and suitcases. Definitely not the way I have to if I'm moving to another state or country. I've never lived this close to San Diego. It's going to be different to be able to say, "I'm going to San Diego for the weekend."

By the way, for those that I haven't emailed back. I haven't forgotten...I'm going to email soon!

Didn't want to share this while I was in a grumpy mood but I can't sleep. So here I am. I'm grumpy because my grandma and uncle are making me crazy! They are so overly independent. They think they don't need anybody, that they're just dandy on their own. Well, they are SO wrong.

This next announcement is not directly related to my late night grumpiness. Are you ready? Are you sitting down?

I'm moving to LA in the next two weeks.....to start my M.A. in Intercultural Studies at Biola University.

Surprise! And it was kind of a surprise to me, too. It all came together rather quickly. Another pleasant surprise is that I'm going to be living with Margaret whom I had only met briefly at Sandy's wedding and bridal shower.

It's funny because even while we were in Korea Sandy would tell me that I had to read Margaret's xanga because Margaret and I had so much in common. Unfortunately, I didn't heed Sandy's advice until after the wedding when I read her ad for a roommate in LA on her xanga. However, at that time I had no plan to go to Biola this semester. Yet I kept reading her site and to be honest (don't be embarrassed, Margaret) I was so fascinated by her thoughts and realized that Sandy was so right.

So long story short about 3 weeks ago I met my future roommates Annie and Margaret over some Japanese food. We were all three so amazed at how similar our passions are. (Annie will be starting her M.A. in Intercultural Studies at Fuller next semester.)

So meanwhile I'm trying to prepare my grandma and uncle to have someone live with them but that's getting sticky. I'm also redecorating and putting up pictures like a mad woman. Within the next couple days I'm going to start packing up my stuff to drive it up to LA.

To be honest, now that going to Biola is a reality I'm feeling more fear about going back to school. It's been a long time. I guess I just feel nervous about everything. Starting over in a new city, feeling afraid that the dull meaninglessness I've felt here in SD is going to somehow follow me wherever I go.

Ro and I were talking on the phone the other day about our next semesters. Both her and I have struggled with a dull, lifeless boredom swallowing up our lives. However, she shared with me how she eventually reached a breaking point and came to an understanding with God about what He was doing in her life. And ya know, that understanding is so key-isn't it? It's usually the beginning of the end of a lesson God is teaching you.

I realized when she was telling me this that I hadn't come to that point of understanding yet. I know in my mind and even believe in my heart that God truly loves me and is involved in my life. But I have often felt this semester that God has left me to my own devices, that He isn't guiding me but is just letting me wander blindly even though I have semi-consistently called out to Him.

Reaching an understanding is not necessarily having my questions answered or knowing God's reasons but is having peace despite not having those answers. I'm not there yet but I look forward to the maturity I'll have hopefully gained through this.

It's 2005. Wow. 10 years since I graduated from high school. 5 years since I graduated from college.

Wow

Some 2005 hopes and prayers...

Speedy restoration and relief as well as hope in Christ for survivors in South East Asia

Stability and self-rule in Iraq

(this one's a stretch but I want to hope anyway) A Nelson Mandela type to replace Arafat as the leader of the Palestinian people

My niece accepted into the Spanish/English immersion elementary school

All my Uzbek friends to know the Lord

My mother to find peace of mind and peace with God

To move a couple more feet away from my one-dimensional understanding of God and closer to knowing the depths of His character and love

Find an awesome church and community in the US of A

All my friends to prosper in all the right ways

Greater maturity and depth as well as more self-acceptance

Learn how to make a website for myself and my students

Mentor inner city/refugee youth

Fall in love with my partner in life and ministry