"The Resplendent Gender"

I am getting a lot of flack for having not posted anything about women. For this I apologize. But I'm sure you all have much more investment in my love life than I do ;) All snide comments aside, this is meant to be a light post. Don't worry, it's not like I'm not on it. But it is true, I have not been heavily on it. And the last day of classes is tomorrow and finals are next week. And then I'm back for Christmas (Dec 12-31, come visit me). So it's not going to get much attention in the immediate future. Sorry.

Happy American Thanksgiving

Well folks, for those of you who are up on your American Hollidays (and even for those of you who aren't), you ought to know that this is a big one. American thanksgiving. The fourth Thursday of November. So in honor of it (or more precisly, the day off that I get because of it) I'm writing a post.

It has been mentioned that I haven't been writing all that much interesting and personal stuff on here. I guess it's true. I would have to admit that I have become so successful at procrastinating in other ways that I'm having a hard time justifying yet another procrastination tool, like blogging. Also, as previously noted, blogging requires thinking and writing, which resembles school, so it is even harder to procrastinate in this way. Nevertheless, it is hard to pretend that these are more than just excuses.

So I'll talk a little about what I'm thankful for, and hopefully you'll learn a bit more about my life in the process.

I am thankful for my move to Pasadena to study at Fuller.

I really have to say that things are great here. I have said it before to people here and there (maybe even on the blog), but it seems worth reiterating. Given the opportunity to be anywhere else and doing anything else, I wouldn't take it. Why, you ask?

a. The program. A combination of psychology education, theology education, clinical training and research integrating the three together makes for a pretty unique program.

b. My cohort. I know a few people have expressed distate at the use of this word. But suck it up. Anyways, my cohort is the about 40 or so 1st year doctoral psych students (I wrote about this previously). Getting to know the class, having social activities, having study groups and collaborative learning, has been really fun. Our class is really social and supportive. Actually, we are downright voiciferous, you should hear us standing outside during break, it's so funny because we are so loud.

c. My research group. Working with Al Dueck, the Chair of Integration of Psychology and Theology, means we have two lab meetings. One is a theoretical group, where we investigate "integration," which means reading and discussing literature relating to clinical psychology, theology and philosophy, and an empirical lab, where we're coming up with research questions based on data from interviews and questionnaires from Prostestants, Catholics, Muslims and Jews. The integration lab is really interesting. Every one has a very different background and interest. But it is also very warm and personable. I feel welcome there. Which isn't a word one might normally expect to hear in describing an academic discussion group. But I would use it, and it is really significant for me.

I am thankful for my family.

a. Immediate family. On the whole my familial relationships are as good as they've been, I'd say. I speak semi-regularly with my parents and brother on the telephone, and I'm looking forward to spending time with them when I get home. My family is very supportive of what I'm doing, which is really good. I can share what's going on, or not, and that's okay. And they are respectful of my time, which can be busy.

b. Extended family. I have meaningful relationships with my extended family. They are sometimes sporadic, depending on location and circumstance, that hasn't generated animosity or resentment, only appreciation when present. Specifically noteworthy is time spent chatting with my cousin Blake on messenger, who is studying journalism. And a phone call earlier this week from my Aunt Doria in Providence (which came at like 10:15pm Pacific, so 1:15am Eastern!!). And emails from my cousing Monica. I also think of my grandparents, with whom I am privileged to share a very close relationship since they opened up their house to my during my undergrad study. And I am thankful for my grandpa, who is now able to spend time overseas with family and doing well and receiving support. I am thankful that Teta is no longer suffering.

So there you have it. Expansions on two elements of thankfulness in my life for American thanksgiving. You go and be thankful now too.

Evangelical Survey

I always appreciated the UofA's joke issue newspapers at the end of the semester. It was certainly something to look forward to. So what does a seminary do for their joke issue at the end of the semester when all the students were stressed? I think you'll find this example quite amusing. I did. I've also included the link to the rest of the paper.
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How Evangelical Are You? Part II

1. After seeing the movie Jesus Camp, you were inspired to:
a. Look up the camp in question — you’d love for your kids to get a solid foundation in matters of spiritual warfare!
b. Write a series of angry letters to editors of major newspapers, protesting the misuse of “evangelical” in that movie.
c. Vomit.
d. Jesus

2. A seeker-friendly service means:
a. Your congregation finally agreed to improve church signage.
b. Lots of drums, strobe-light, and a Rob Bell clone in charge of “sharing” some “random thoughts” as the “message”
c. Good intentions, lousy theology.
d. Jesus

3. When you heard about the Gospel of Judas you:
a. Downloaded the PDF from National Geographic
b. Immediately identified it as one of Satan’s snares
c. Wondered whether Mel Gibson had already picked up the movie rights
d. Jesus

4. Your myspace bio says:
a. Gurl4GOD!!!
b. Christian -- Other
c. Theologically, I sort of align with Moltmann, although I’m a little skeptical of his
Barthian influences and really wish his liturgical theology allowed for the incorporation of more Cappadocian elements.
d. Jesus

5. You think false teaching is:
a. A damnable heresy that will keep someone out of the Kingdom.
b. The beginnings of a really good theological discussion.
c. Whatever comes out of a Dr. Thompson/Karkkainen/Kraft’s course.
d. Jesus

6. Your idea of a summer vacation is
a. A Dobson family cruise
b. A couple of months spent witnessing in Honduras.
c. Retracing the steps of John Calvin across France and Switzerland.
d. Jesus

7. When Rumsfeld resigned you:
a. Said a prayer of thanksgiving.
b. Cried out to God in despair.
c. Secretly wondered whether you should know that name–until you realized that it was unlikely to show up on any midterm.
d. Jesus

8. A good sermon includes:
a. An altar call.
b. A half-dozen references to the “original text,” with powerpoint presentations in Greek and Hebrew.
c. Three points starting with “B.”
d. Jesus

9. When someone sneezes you say:
a. Gesundheit.
b. Can I pray for that nasty cold?
c. Stay away from me! I’ve got a paper due!
d. Jesus

10. When you see a homeless person you:
a. Try to share Christ with her–or at least give her a tract.
b. Take him to dinner and provide him with a list of resources for victims of the capitalist system in your local vicinity (...You carry a copy with you for just these kinds of occasions.
c. Scream and run.
d. Jesus

11. Born again means:
a. That biblical translators still don’t grasp the notion that another really means “from above”
b. That you’re saved/one of the good guys/going to that happy place/on Jesus’ team.
c. That you’ve entered a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, leaving behind your sinful nature.
d. Jesus

12. You started to suspect that your church may no longer qualify as evangelical when:
a. A sermon referred to Cain and Abel as “archetypes.”
b. The number of fish-stickers in the parking lot dropped below 50%.
c. You discovered that your pastor dates Luke-Acts considerably later than you do.
d. Jesus


A true evangelical knows that the only real answer to life’s questions is Jesus. If you chose any other answers, you’re a sketchy evangelical at best. My advice? Review the four spiritual laws, pray the sinner’s prayer, evangelize five friends, have a quiet time, rededicate your life, and then go church-shopping. If all else fails, go on a mission trip. Nothing stirs the evangelical heart like seeing how much more fortunate we are then others in the world.

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For those of you who are offended...Feel free to email me or comment on this blog with your critique if you must, and I will reply. Or just lighten up.

Just an update

Hi folks,

I don't really know what to say here 'cause nothing extraordinary is going on. I'm just doing school most of the time, socializing too often and doing the life the whole time. And I don't have the energy to put into a great exposition on the experience of and taking the bus to south central LA today. So I'm sorry if I don't have it. I want to keep ya'll informed, but I get busy and tired. And if I'm writing papers, the last thing I want to do is organize another set of thoughts into a cohert structure and then articulate them cogently. But I'll hopefully blog some reflections over Christmas if I don't blog much know. Oh BTW I'm coming back to Canada from Dec 12-31. I'd love to see you then. I'll probably do some skiing and visiting of family in that time as well, tentatively 14th-19th give or take a couple days on either side. But other than that I should be in E-town. Peace.

Pictures

I'm hoping to start posting pictures to complement your blogging experience. I'm using Picasa, Google's version of an online album set-up. Sometimes I may wish to add pictures retrospectively to correspond to a specific post. Such an example has just occured, so scroll down to see the first album I've published (it's now on the "First Couple of Weeks" post). Keep your eyes out for other pictures. Should be fun.

Who know a bball game would inspire such a post?

Hey folks,

I know I only posted a couple days ago, but I'm at it again. What do I want to say? Well, I played basketball tonight. There is a large church near by and they have a small gym for drop in bball. We play 4 on 4. There's often many guys that come out. I'm quite out of practice and out of shape, but I think I'm improving on both counts. What I wanted to mention, though, is the multicultural dimension. I'm not used to playing with such a diverse crowd. I'd say on average the guys that come out are 25% caucasian, 25% latino and 50% african american. It's a new experience for me. I don't think I'm very good at it. Or rather, I don't know what good at it looks like. I'm not sure how "different" I should see everyone. At times you think you shouldn't look at someone and see their color, their race, their ethnicity; you just a person. But at the same time a person is made up of many features, and those are parts of them; denying that denies who they are. I'm just babbling as I usually do. I don't have any problem playing with any of them. Though I do feel like the african americans seem to be slighlty more of a "group" (which isn't surprising 'cause I think they've all gone to school together). But I've felt it. But I'd be lying if I didn't see people differently. We didn't have much ethnic diversity growing up in Devon (and then I remember that my dad isn't caucasian - this is a very new realization for me, actually). And that I am half "ethnic minority." But anyways, to illustrate, it went something like this. If any team we played against in high school had an african american on it, they were automatically good. It was like, "shit, they've got a black guy. We're gonna get smoked." It didn't even matter if that guy was any good, if he started or not. And we didn't believe that we would lose; we planned to beat everyone. It was more of a joke than anything. And obviously that wasn't an overtly degrading mindset. But it was still something. And I don't really know what it was. But it's my background. And I'm preparing to go into a field where cultural sensitivity is EXTREMELY important. I'd argue that it is as important in clinical psychology as any other field. I think it's good that I get the chace, because I'll get lots of opportunity to learn about it, to be directly trained in it, to experience it, etc. And it was a consideration in moving to southern California. At many stores (e.g. the Target a block from here) signs are in Spanish and English. I've gone to till's at small stores where the person speaks primarly Spanish only. There is a very large african american presence as well. And there is also a substantial asian community near by. There of course is varying levels of integratedness. I've never really had a close friend who wasn't caucasian. I hope that changes. Our psych doctoral cohort represnts to some degree diversity as well; we have caucasian (still the majority) with asian, latino/latina, african american, eastern european (in that order from most to least). It's just been a neat experience for me. We'll see how I grow.

Happy Halloween

This post has nothing to do with Halloween. I didn't celebrate it today or anything, either. But I didn't know what to title this post. It's just an update.

This week is midterm week, so I'll keep this short. I've got a midterm tomorrow and two on Thursday. I handed in a paper, a stats homework and four journal article reviews. So it's been busy. Also, my bike was stolen last week. That was a bummer. I don't have a car, so my bike is how I get around (to the grocery store, to church, etc.). And I had to buy a new one. I guess it's an expensive lesson in obsessive locking (I did have my bike locked, just single locked with a cable lock; I have a U-lock which I almost always use, but I looked at it that morning and said, meh, I don't need it today). It was on campus (but some how I don't think a seminary student tood it). So anywaysm, that was just a nuisance. I borrowed my roommate's bike for a couple things. My new one should be arriving from the warehouse in the next couple days. Oh well.

What else? Things are pretty good, all in all. It is lots of work, partly because it's taken me a while to adjust to being back in school. I kind of forgot how to optimalize my time and efforts. But I think I've improved a lot; returning to a higher level of efficiency that is needed for academic success. I'm looking forward to getting into my research. That is good, cause I was worried about it and whether or not I'd like it. But so far all the lab meetings and data and proposals we have seem really interesting. I find myself frustrated that my classes take up so much time that I can't get into research. But it will come. It's really cool that philosophy is a big part of our lab's focus. Some of the readings we do and the discussions...wild. Such huge implications, too. For the way we see culture, psychology and psychotherapy, religion...the list goes on. Very neat. I mean, it's not going to be all roses. But at least I don't hate it right off the bat.

The weather has cooled off quite a bit recently. Today it the forcast said 20C but it was probably closer to 16. I haven't worn shorts in 2 or 3 days. But it's supposed to be back up to 24 for Friday so that's good.

Somehow I've earned this reputation as social convenor. Which is funny 'cause I havne't organized that much of social stuff, and I haven't taken every opportunity to be social (tho I have taken a number of them). But I don't think considerably more than others. I think it's more a result of timing, first and general impressions and relational heuristics that lead to confirming those hypotheses. Oh well. It's not a bad thing.

Okay, well, wisdom says..."It's midnight. Either go to bed so you can study tomorrow, or, if you can't sleep, study, so that you don't fail your 50% midterm tomorrow." So I'm gonna do one of those two thigns. Peace.

First Celebrity Sighting (and other tidbits about me)

Well folks, it was bound to happen. I live in (okay, very near) L.A. So I was going to see a celebrity before too long. It happened on Thursday night. I was at a swing dance thing (not a dance club, but you know, that type of thing which is weekly, and where they have a lesson at the beginning, then just a specific type of dancing the whole rest of the night).

Can you guess who it was. A few clues, some from my (and your) past and some as trivia from his website...

If you're my age, you would have watched him on a t.v. show with his own name, about 10-12 years ago. You also may have watched him in late elementary or early jr high classes. He's funny and educational.

He owns about six dozen bow ties. He has a degree in mechanical engineering. He wears a lab couat size 38 tall.

If you guessed, "Bill,Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill Nye the Science Guy," you'd be correct. Interesting fact: Bill Nye the Science Guy is a great swing dancer. As I mentioned, we were out at this dance thing, which is every Thursday. And he was there (I guess he was there last week too. So I'll probably see him around.) I'm pretty sure it was him; my friends pointed him out to me, and he came pretty near. He looks older than I'm used to, but I probably haven't seen him in 8 years (or live, for that matter).

Anyways, enough about Bill. About me...

I'm doing okay. A much different sentiment now than the last post, but still good. School is in full swing (and has been since quite soon after classes started. A quarter system goes at a quicker pace than does a semester system. My classes are pertty good. My favorite one is my theology course. It is a New Testament (NT) Biblical Studies course on the Gospels. I've never really had a course like this, so I think that's partly why it's so interesting. And the prof is fantastic. So smart, so funny. Actually, that would be a good way to describe pretty much all my faculty to this point. Bright but down to earth. And approachable, and caring. Quite a good combo, actually. A few of us are going out for happy hour with my NT prof on Tuesday, just to talk about what we're learning in class, and its applications in all its forms.

My social life is decent. I'm really just getting to know people and find where I will fit in. I like my psych cohort, but I do want to have friends outside of it too. And friends outside of Fuller - though I haven't made too much headway on that one. I am excited about the potential for a wide range of cultural backgrounds of people here and the opportunity to expand my horizens by having meaningful relationships outside the tradition I'm used to.

Enough for now. Keep it real. Oh BTW sorry about my phone situation, if you've tried to call me. It's been a real nuisance. We'll see if we can get it figured out here.

First couple of weeks

Yo. What's up? I'm procrastinating from studying. I think a good number of my blogs will written in this context.

So, what do you want to know? I told you about my first few days here. Once Mom left, I was really on my own. It was a good time, I was quite alone but having some time to just be myself was okay. I think I sometimes run from loneliness, but it's not such a bad thing. I rode around on my bike and took public transportation to get a feel for what was around. I read a lot. It now seems like a long time ago, and it was uneventful, so that's about all I can think of.

Once Roger, my roommate, arrived from Laramie, Wyoming, things changed quite a bit. He got in on Friday, Sept 15. It was good to finally meet him after talking on the phone and with email. He is quite a social person, so we went out and met some people. It turned out some guys from upstairs had their door open, so we just walked in a met them, then hung for the evening. We have since learned that 305 in our building is the location of frequent parties. 4 guys live there, so it is affectionately known as the "Isle of Man" I actually mentioned it in my last post. But anyways. The next day was the office of admissions party, where I started to meet more people. A group of us formed which lead to enjoyable activities over the next fews days. Example: the beach, on Sunday. But I am beginning to realize that a day by day description of activities will be long and tedious. So here is the gist of things...

Orienation week was from the 18th-23rd. This week was predominantly spent with my cohort. My cohort is made up of the 43 Students (15 guys, 28 girls) who are entering the PhD (25) or PsyD (18) program of clinical psychology this year. We had lots of activities to get to know them and also the faculty of the program. There was also lots of free food. It was good to learn about our program and classes etc. It was a different feel because for the 4 days leading up to it, I had hung out almost exclusively with the group formed at the office of admissions party. Then, I hung out almost exclusively with people from the psych group, because we had so many cohort related activities. I will be a little more work to spend time with people not in the same program, I think.

Another beach trip was made on Saturday at the end of orientation. So I'm glad I made it to the beach twice. I'm not sure how many more times I'll be able to go now that school started and it might cool down in the future (but it's in no rush to do so; it's still usually about 30 every day).

Okay, it's a couple weeks after this draft, which I saved and then left and then forgot about. At least I've got the blog back online; it was inaccessible for a couple weeks there. Umm...so what else? I don't know. So I'll curtail it here and then give you a more recent update soon (hopefully).

Early Cali Pics - Beach and Dancing

I can't believe I'm at seminary

Honestly. I can't. I wouldn't know it was seminary unless someone told me. I mean, there are times. This week has been quite unlike anything I've ever done.

Where to start. I want to start at the very beginning, when I arrive, 'cause I haven't talked about that. I want to contrast the last 7 days with the 7 days prior, because they've been so disparate. I want to talk about the future and what I'm excited for. I guess that what I've just laid out is actually a reasonable outline. The only problem is I know there's no way I've got enough energy to write all that.

Okay. Lets start from the beginning. I arrived to LAX on September 5, 2006. My mom flew down with me. In Edmonton, we managed to miss our flight, but after some clever re-routing, still managed to arrive the same time we would have. And they processed my entrance to the US, as I am an international student. The we is me and my mom, she flew down with me. We rented a car (an '06 Mustang convertable, courtesy the free double upgrade in the entertainment book). We then spent the next 6 days getting me set up. That involved a lot of driving around to Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Costco, Target and elswhere. It's funny 'cause I know we did lots of stuff but when I write it down, it doesn't seem like much. I think we made numerous trips to Target, also to food stores, bed/bath stores, etc. I got some furniture from International Students Office. The community coordiators also gave us some furniture. We also cleaned the place and laid down shelf paper, etc. Mom did lots of that (thanks!). So by the time mom left on Sunday, I was pretty much settled. We didn't do tons of fun stuff. We did hit up the Huntington Library, a huge botanical garden with lots of different theme areas, as well as an art gallery. And then she flew back to E-town on Sunday the 12th. And then I was actually on my own.

Next post will continue with "what I did once I was actually on my own."

Just a note...It's about 10 minutes to 12:00am here, on a Friday night. I've just written a little bit before going to bed. But I can hear the party in my building that I just recently left, it's still going on and apparently increased in loudness, as the sounds of it are wafting down the floors from where it is (305) to where I am (104). Bits of my are curious, but I think I'll just have to live with decision to get home, slow down and get to bed to make tomorrow a day I'll enjoy that much more. But it's things like that which actually inspire a the title for this post. You'll hear more about them soon. Cheers.

Test

Just a test post, as the last one didn't seem to work.

I'm here

Hey folks...I'm here. I'm gonna keep it short. But I've arrived to Pasadena California. I'm getting set up in my new place. I'll send an email with address and phone number once I've got that. The campus is really beautiful (except of course where the construction is still going on to get stuff ready for back to school). The area is an interesting mix. I and the campus are basically right in the heart of Pasadena, right in/near downtown (this doesn't mean skyscrapers, but lots of shops, lots of people, lots of concrete, etc). But just a few blocks in the right direction and you can get away from it all. It's going to be a pretty good mix. I'll post more in the future (I don't have a computer yet; I'm at the library). Peace.

From Camping

Here's the group shot of us before we get ready to head out from camping. The girls are on Mark's bike (which as you can see is almost as hot as that tall guy in the white "Wildcats Basketball" shirt).

From L-R, front: Kasha, Monique, Heather; back: Adam, Cam, Mark, Jeremy. (Bethany had left by this time) 

Looking back, looking forward

Okay Dave, this one's for you...

So I never really intended to blog on my summer because I've never blogged while at home. But then I moved to Calgary. However, I was too busy and unmotivated to blog there. But also, I've realized that sufficiently enough of my friends now live far away from beautiful Edmonton Alberta to warrant it. And, since I told Dave to post and he did, and how he's asked, I owe it to him and all you globetrotters (a group I will soon again be a part of).

Looking back:

Most of you have heard me complain about my summer job this year, but for those of you who haven't, I'll spare you details and keep it brief. I jumped into a middle management position with Statistics Canada for the 2006 Census of Canada. I was a Field Operations Supervisor, looking after about 17,000 square miles of South-East Central Alberta (that estimate is very rough, but when you've only got Google Earth, you do the best you can). And that was divided into a number of areas, so at my peak I was managing 14 people, each of whom had their own team working in one of the areas. Anyways, the bottom line is that I worked a lot, was on a salary so didn't get overtime (though I did get a bonus near the end but it definately didn't cover it all) and found Calgary quite lonely as I really didn't have time to make a life. I did make a friend through work, Rhonda is a pretty cool person. And some of my friends (John, Jeremy, Mark) came down in that order to come and visit me and stay for a little while. Which was awesome. I also made it up to Edmonton a few weekends.

The highlights of the job were mostly two fold: experience and work ethic. I got supervisory experience in a big way - interviewing, hiring, training, managing, firing people. And I learned how to work hard, so hopefully Grad school won't be too much of a shock.

The lowlights were the long hours, the high stress, the loneliness and missing out on my last summer here.

But I'm back (I actually worked the last 3 weeks out of Edmonton, as I took a contract extension to make a bit more cash, to carry the job as far as I could until I had to get back to school, and to help finish up, since we were way behind, because stupid Canadians don't do their census forms!).

Other comments on the summer...

Oilers playoff run. Very exciting. Got to go to games, thanks to dad. Game 6 of Stanley Cup finals with Jer was absolutely out of this world (you may have seen us as we made the highlights behind a huge hit by the Oilers). Shame we didn't win the Cup.

Went camping only twice this summer, but what lacked in quantity was made up for by quality. Over Canada Day long weekend, Jeremy and I put about 100km on a canoe he got from work as we paddled from near Drayton Valley to Devon. (Thanks mom for driving). We just camped along the river where we could, enjoyed the peace, enjoyed the heat and cooled off by swimming and dumping the canoe :)

Camping trip number two was this past weekend out to Rochon Sands at Buffalo Lake. There was great irony in this as this area fell within my census territory and it was a huge problem chile area with work needing to be done, redone and complications throughout which cause me and everyone else large headaches. But it was a sweet trip, with Bethany, Kasha, Monique and Heather kindly putting up with Mark, Cam, Jeremy and myself. It was a very relaxing trip, just drove out there, ate a lot, sauntered over to the beach and back. And tos of fun, so much laughing and goofing off. We got some rain but even that was fun, especially when the thunderstorm was right overhead and the lighting was so close your eyes were illuminated even when looking straight down and the thunder was instantanteous and deafening.

After working so hard, not working is sweet.

Looking forward:

Two weeks, one day until I board a plan for Los Angeles International Airport. I've been thinking of this time at Fuller as going away for school. It's not really that. I need a bit of a mindset shift. I'm moving to Southern California for (at least) 6years, it's a totally new life direction, and I don't know if/when I'm coming back, who'll be here when I do, and what all our/their lives will be like. Masters/Ph.D. programs are different, they don't have your 4 month summers to come home to. It's gonna be good, but It's gonna be bigger than I realized, it's only barely starting to hit me. It's increasing my sadness as it does. I'm still learning about what is all going to be involved and that's a slow process, I think I'll figure most of it out down there as I go.

But I know that I have to go, have to grow. It'll really the be the first true, true, on my own experience. Living at Norm's, moving to Egypt, living in Calgary, they don't quite count. It's hard to place this in the bigger picture of life, but in a 70 year lifetime, 6 years is less than 10%. And it's just time. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared. Most of these realizations I haven't shared directly with anyone so I read them before I tell you, it's nothing personal, it's just that they are very, very recent (including coming as I type).

But I must also look forward to the positives. I'm gonna meet a lot of cool people (and here's hoping that includes a fantastic and gorgeous girl to spend the rest of my life with!). I'm gonna gain a whole lot of new skills. I'm going to be humbled because I'm gonna struggle with the adjustment. I'm hoping for a clearer sense of direction and calling for my life.

So there you go Dave, and the rest of the world. I'm not sure if I post again before I travel. And once I go, I'll do my best to post while I'm gone, but we all know how it can go. I don't know what my schedule, my life, will be like when I get there, so we'll see what we can do.

Adam

It's getting closer

It's getting closer. Target: Labour day weekend (give or take a few).

Home sweet...?

The Fuller Experience...

...is starting. I've been offered a place with Fuller housing. So I can start to get excited. I should expect to be living about 3 blocks from campus in a 2-bedroom with a guy from Wyoming. While I won't move in for a least a month and I'll probably have to pay 2 weeks rent before I show up there, it feels good to have that weight off my chest. Roger seems like a cool guy, and I'm excited to be living close. And the 860 sq ft should be decent enough to handle a few guests I would think ;)

I'm done work next week, so I'm looking forward to having a few days where I can actually get into all this stuff. Because even if I'm at home, my brain is by no means free of the black hole that is Census 2006.

Sometimes you just gotta write

...and now is one of them, even though I have no plan for my writing.

Tomorrow is my last day in my basement suite here in Calgary. Some of you may not have known I was in Calgary for the last 3 months. That's how sad my life has been. Work. Oh, work. Statistics Canada. Census, 2006. Gong. Gong.

I tell you what, I am looking forward to having some time off before school. Because I need to debrief. Decompress. De-stress. But especially debrief. I think I've learned a lot in the last 7 or 8 months of being on the road, but I haven't had much time to process. Yes, I processed in Egypt, and blogged on it. But I didn't have time to process upon return. And I haven't done much thinking about my life in light of this summer, either.

All of that, to be honest, is just an excuse. It allows me to suck and not feel so bad. Lets be honest. I make poor decisions, choose negative coping, fail to set boundries, etc. Then I get miserable. Then I just say, well, I'll debrief. I'll reevaluate. And the hard part is the tension that exists because partly it's just a cop out, but on the other hand it's just really true. I do suck. And all that I can hope to do is notice it, think about it and try to learn a little about it so as not to repeat it.

I have more thoughts but they are mildly dangerous given the difficult medium of posting, with an absence of non-verbal communication and an absence of regulation as to who reads my post.

Peace.

It's good to be home

'nuf said.

This is the end

Last full day in Egypt and going fast. Don't have much time. If anyone is buying Oilers playoff tix, can you please buy me one - I'm going to be flying when the go on sale, I think.

See you soon.

Home stretch

Barring any unforseen complications, I will be returning to Edmonton in less than one week. Is anyone besides me excited about this fact?