Phoenix Photos

Hurts So Good

The other day I went with my dad out to a piece of property that he owns, 4 acres of trees and brambles. We walked around it, hacking our way through the brush, him telling me stories about when he did this there or that here. He imparted some wisdom to me, and we had a good time. I was sore afterwords, as he probably was, and a little bit bloody from blackberry attacks, but it was good. This is a rare thing in our relationship. Tomorrow I am going to go out there again and hack away for a little bit, and I know, strange as it is, that in the land I will feel closer to my dad. I know that on Sunday I am going to be so sore that I probably won't want to move, but I will appreaciate every ache.

My dad and I have a tenuous relationship. We don't always get along, but when we do I genuinely have a good time with him and I genuinely feel a kinship, in the truest sense of the word. But the thing is, we have to work so hard to get to that spot. While I wish it weren't that way, I am beginning to accept it for what it is. Growth comes through suffering, this is one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned; it never comes easy. So too I think is the truth that the really good stuff always hurts at first, or maybe just at some point. Nothing worth having comes easy, cliche but true.

I suppose I didn't really have much to say, I just felt like letting some if this out.

Still Around

It's been just over 5 months since I've been here; I was afraidI forgot the password. It's easy to let things like this slide when there are so many other things happening. I plan on writing, and then something happens and I think that waiting one more day won't matter, and one more day turns into a week which turns into a month which turns into a, well, at least I'm sure that I didn't leave a gaping hole in anyone's life other than mine.

Things are changing.....

Some things have gotten bad, so bad, so very bad. Some things are getting better, but it's happening so slowly. And some things just aren't moving at all.

It's time to reconcile some things, it's time to end others. I'm so unsure, but I am becoming more sure with every word I write (well, type).

Things are going to change, I can't stop it......

I hope this works.

Wicked Little Things

Yesterday I took my daughter to the little playground and the Clackamas Town Center mall. This has become somewhat of a tradition for us, as I don’t work Monday’s but Jenny almost always does. It is Daddy-Daughter Day, and so we look for fun things to do together. Often that means French fries and the aforementioned play structures.

Now, for someone looking to study the behaviors of parents and/or their children, the play structure at the mall (hence forth referred to has “the toys”) make an excellent learning environment. There are so many fascinating behaviors to be observed, speeches to be heard, and so on, but it is two things in particular that spur me to blogging this day, and they are two opposite extremes.

The first is the very small children. Specifically, the very small children that are allowed to wander about virtually (and sometimes literally) unattended by parents, who for some reason think these big toys provide some sort of magical protections against injuries and evils. A few weeks ago when we were there and I was waiting for my daughter to slide down the slide there was a little girl who was a bit overzealous in her climbing and took a bit of a tumble. Other than the slight violation of social moirés that took place when I caught her, I don’t mind helping out like that; I mean, were all parents with toddlers, right? One big, happy family? What I do mind is when I have to actively intervene to protect a child that somebody else should have been watching in the first place. I am not a busybody parent, I don’t make it my business to police the toys and in fact I try my best to stay out of whatever it is someone else’s kid is doing, so you know if I am intervening than things have come to a head. So, having said that, please parents, do not let your 6 month old sit at the bottom of the slide and get run into by child after child coming down it. Please don’t make me move my daughter, who is going about it the right way, so she won’t injure your kid, who is not. THAT REALLY IRRITATES ME.

On the other end of the really little kids are the really big ones. The worst violation of this I ever saw was a child and his friend who were somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12. Generally though this applies to the kids are about 4 or 5, still young enough to play on the toys, and darn well old enough to know how to play nicely. Listen, every kid is naughty sometimes. My daughter sometimes has to work very hard to repress her urge to hit, and sometimes she needs my help to do so. So I will not judge you if I see you stopping your sweet little boy from pushing and then pinching my kid; I will be grateful! I will be somewhat more judgmental as I watch your kid beat the snot out of other little kids and shout about how the slide is his personal property all while you remains blissfully absorbed in your book or on your cell phone. My daughter, who is not yet two, made her way up the stairs to the slide a happy little girl, and by the time I made it around the other side to cheer her on she was in tears as some older boy was pushing her out of the way. She actually isn’t that big of a crier, this kid was making some sort of point, I think. We got through that, and to her credit she responded by reminding another group of kids not to push when the really little kid, who I mentioned earlier, decided to try his luck with the slide. That was much better than my reaction. Right after she was pushed several times I told her that next time she could punch him in the face. I should work on that, probably.

Moral of the story: parent your child, don’t make me do it, because I am not nearly as good with your kid as I am with mine.

I Work for A.I.G.!

I heard there was a recession
But I ain’t felt a thing
That’s why I fly
On my private jet
And wear this hidden bling

I work for A.I.G.!
Yeah you know me!
I work for A.I.G.!
Let’s throw a party!

My maid, she has been crying
Says she can’t feed her child
I had to let her go
Cause don’t you know
Her emotions were too wild

I work for A.I.G.!
Yeah you know me!
I work for A.I.G.!
Do you see me?

I heard my company’s tankin’
But that’s ok, I found a chump
Hey Uncle Sam,
Could you lend me hand?
And get me over this financial hump?

I work for A.I.G.!
Yeah you know me!
I work for A.I.G.!
So give me more money!

They said there was a ruckus
Up on Capital Hill
But I never saw a thing
(cha ching!)
Except my stimulus bill!

I work for A.I.G.!
Yeah you know me!
I work for A.I.G.!
Gimme my bonus please!

Can't Think of What to Write, So I'll Let Them do it:

"The thing I have to work on in myself is this issue of belief. Gandhi believed Jesus when He said to turn the other cheek. Gandhi brought down the British Empire, deeply injured the caste system, and changed the world. Mother Teresa believed Jesus when He said everybody was priceless, even the ugly ones, the smelly ones, and Mother Theresa changed the world by showing them that a human being can be selfless. Peter finally believed the gospel after he got yelled at by Paul. Peter and Paul changed the world by starting small churches in godless towns." – Don Miller

"I mean that to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love. We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people. That is why God tells us so many times to love each other." – Don Miller

"The church has been preoccupied with the question, "What happens to your soul after you die?" As if the reason for Jesus coming can be summed up in, "Jesus is trying to help get more souls into heaven, as opposed to hell, after they die." I just think a fair reading of the Gospels blows that out of the water. I don't think that the entire message and life of Jesus can be boiled down to that bottom line." – Brian McLaren

"My goal is to destroy Christianity as a world religion and be a recatalyst for the movement of Jesus Christ," –Erwin McManus

“I think it is worth saying again that theology is not the same as the story of God. Far too often, in my opinion, this becomes an issue, and when one disagrees with our theology, we can too easily assume they have abandoned Scripture or the story of God. Theology is explanatory - answering certain questions or addressing certain issues. But it must never be confused with the life of God or the story of God” – Doug Pagitt

"Too much debate about scriptural authority has had the form of people hitting one another with locked suitcases. It is time to unpack our shorthand doctrines, to lay them out and inspect them. Long years in a suitcase may have made some of the contents go moldy. They will benefit from fresh air, and perhaps a hot iron." – N.T. Wright

This is probably my favorite of the group:

"The point of following Jesus isn’t simply so that we can be sure of going to a better place than this after we die. Our future beyond death is enormously important, but the nature of the Christian hope is such that it plays back into the present life. We’re called, here and now, to be instruments of God’s new creation, the world-put-to-rights, which has already been launched in Jesus and of which Jesus’ followers are supposed to be not simply beneficiaries but also agents." – N.T. Wright

Dinner for Two

Drinks at this resteruant were around $4.00 each. A minimally decent tip would be $13.00, which makes this dinner $60.00 per person. OR you can buy this stuff on sale at Safeway and have the same dinner for about $7.00-$10.00 per person. I'm just saying...