Trader Joe's

Today has been so wonderful! I slept in, watched "Gilmore Girls," did a five loads of laundry, and then hung out on Alki. I also picked up a few things from Trader Joe's - GORP, pineapple bites, high protein cereal, oj, pita bread, and blueberries...yum. I find shopping at Trader Joe's to be quite relaxing for me, even when it is busy. For one, there aren't millions of choices as to which brand of food to buy, and for the most part, their prices are way lower than Safeway or Fred Meyer. Also, Trader Joe's doesn't carry Nestle and Kraft brand products, which is wonderful, since I boycott them! It's good to know that I am not supporting them in any way.

Off to pick up my room and head to bed. Early service at church tomorrow!

Grateful

I had an interesting experience this evening. I was trying to get to I-5 from Capitol Hill when I missed the connecting street, which caused me to go to Beacon Hill (for those of you not familiar with Seattle, just pretend and go with it). I was highly frustrated with this as I was sitting at a stop light, so I bent down to grab a map when I heard a loud crash. A suburban had hit a Saturn in the intersection 200 ft in front of me. At first I froze, then I put on my hazards and went to help. The driver of the Saturn, an older Asian woman, was having trouble breathing, but was able to shift to the passenger seat. All the other people were okay. Then I remembered I have a cell phone, so I called 911. I waited with the Asian woman while the ambulance was on the way. I asked if she was alright, if there was anything I could do for her, and I told her that the ambulance was coming. I don’t think she really understood what was going on or what I was saying, and I didn’t know what else to do to help, so I just knelt down beside her and held her hand until the ambulance arrived. The paramedics threw a bunch of questions at me and then told me I could leave, so I did. As I was driving away, I thought about how ticked off I had been at missing my turn and ending up on Beacon Hill. I left that accident really grateful. One, I was grateful that I hadn’t run that red light. Two, I was grateful that I was able to help by calling 911, and three, I was grateful that I had been there. Being a rather huge fan of divine providence, I lifted a prayer of thanksgiving up to God, thanking God that I had missed that turn and witnessed that accident. I also thanked God for that little Asian woman, who’s going to be okay. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the way she looked at me as I held her hand and comforted her.

Oh, Paint Crew

I ache. Painting ceilings stinks. It's really hard to get paint out of your hair and off your body.
Ok, I'm done complaining now :)
Paint crew is actually going really well, and has been pretty fun this past week, despite the heat. We play pool during our breaks, and today I won our game by knocking in mine and Mike's last stirpe, with the eight ball following right behind! We also made up a game we like to call "Tape Golf." It's quite like frisbee golf, but instead of frisbees we use our rolls of blue masking tape. Only a few have mastered the technique of whipping a roll of tape down the hall at the right angle and with the right amount of velocity to get it to hit the ground and roll the rest of the way. It's quite impressive and addicting, to tell you the truth.

I had coffee with Pastor Lynne this afternoon. Well, I actually had a Raspberry Tango from Tully's,since it was 82 degrees this afternoon. It was good to sit and talk with her. I was able to share some stories from paint crew, as well as some struggles and frustrations I've been having lately. We've actually decided to study the book Space for God together, by Dan Postema (a Dutchman - woot!). I look forward to our evenings together; she's one of the most genuine people I have ever met.

Off to bed to read Under the Banner of Heaven. It's so good!! The summer reading list is coming along quite nicely :)

A Good Definition

In light of some interesting conversations, I have decided to once again post what I believe to be the most accurate definition of "feminism":

Feminism is the perspective that views gender as one of the most important bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status and value than men, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and opportunity to make choices about their lives. Feminists further believe that although this gender-based world may be organized around certain biological facts, such as the exclusive capacity of men to create sperm and the exclusive capacity of women to bear children, gender inequality is rooted in the social construction of human experience, which means that it should be possible to eradicate it. Finally, feminists believe that these inequities should be eliminated and that to do this, feminists cannot simply try to do better as individuals in the social world as it exists but must work together to change the structure of the social world. Any other action means making the best of an unjust situation.

e.e. cummings referenced in this morning's sermon

i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

***********************************
Pastor Lympus read this poem during his sermon on Luke 17:11-19 this morning. It fit well with the theme of gratitude that was woven throughout the liturgy this morning.

I've now been to California!

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Home Sweet Home

Ahh, it's good to be home. We pulled in around 3:30 in the morning, and headed right to bed. Yes, we did indeed drive all the way from San Francisco to Seattle all day yesterday. We only stopped for gas, bathroom breaks, and food. It was a long 16ish hours, but sleeping in our own beds made it well worth it!! I go back to work tomorrow morning, so I have today to rest up, read Harry Potter, and do lots of laundry.

Our trip was amazing. I have so many rolls of film to get developed! Here's the nutshell version of our past week:

Day 1:
-Stopped at Mt. St. Helens, where we ran into Dr. Caddell, one of our professors. All three of us were a little disoriented at first, but then had a friendly conversation about our respective summers.
-Drove into Oregon and over to Hwy 101, to the Oregon Coast. Took some beautiful back country highways, ate dinner on a floating restaurant, and spent the night in a little beach town called Alsea.

Day 2:
-Drove down more of 101, witnessed breathtaking views of the OR coast, and stopped at the Sea Lion Caves for an hour. Very cool!
-Got back onto I-5 and drove to Crater Lake, in southern Oregon. Amazing! Probably one of the highlights of the entire trip. I want to go back there and camp sometime.
-Slept in Medford, OR.

Day 3:
-Cross into Cali! Finally! Meet a man from Napa at breakfast, who gives us an "easy route" to Bodega Bay, where we were going to camp.
-The "easy route" turns into a 12-hour drive through CA, including ALL - every single one - of the Redwood Forests! Beautiful, but lots of tight curves and canyon roads that only allow you to go 40 mph.
-Stay with Karin and her family in Bodega (rather than camping, because we got in at 10:30pm, instead of 2pm)

Day 4:
-Checked into our campground, Bodega Dunes
-Pitched Karin's tent, which I didn't know had instructions. I did very well at pitching it, though, and it only took me two attempts - pretty good, considering I had no idea what the finished product was supposed to look like!
-Explored Bodega and Sebastopol
-5pm wedding rehearsal
-Very yummy rehearsal dinner

Day 5:
-Horseback riding on the Sonoma Coast!!!
-3pm, warm up for wedding
-4pm, WEDDING! Amazing, and one of the most beautiful weddings I have ever been to. It was perfect, and the reception was especially fun. I won a case of beer!!
-9:30pm - head to San Francisco and spend the night

Day 6:
San Francisco!!
Golden Gate Park, Japanese Tea Gardens, Flower Conservatory, got to see part of the AIDS quilt, Fisherman's Wharf, In-N-Out burgers for dinner (started by an SPU Alum!!)

Day 7:
DRIVE.
San Francisco to Seattle - approx. 16 hours in the car. Ugh.

It was tons of fun, but I am ready to chill and head back to work tomorrow!!

Here are two pictures of Karin and Jake

Roadtrip!

Emily and I leave for our CA roadtrip tomorrow morning! I can't believe it! Time has flown by. We have our trip all planned out, and have decided on some definite places to stop on our way down:
1. Mt. St. Helens (maybe she'll be more active!)
2. Sea Lions Cave, in Oregon -- it's where hundreds of sea lions hang out
3. Crater Lake, Oregon, the deepest lake in the U.S.! I've wanted to go there since eleventh grade
4. CA redwood forests - we'll at stop at at least one of them

We also plan on driving part of the way down on Hwy 101, which goes entirely along the coast. You can only go about 50 mph along there, so we'll do the majority of the trip along I-5.

We're going down to the Sonoma Valley for my dear friend Karin's wedding. I'm playing my flute in it (and am the one and only musician). It's so funny to think back to Feb. of 2001, when I saw Karin for the first time when she picked my group up from the airport in Belize. Neither one of us would have ever figured that she'd be getting married four years later, that I'd play my flute in the wedding, and that we'd keep in touch and be such good friends. Craziness! God is so good with providing such an amazing friend for me :)

Emi and I hope to get to northern CA early on Thursday, so we can go horseback riding on the beach, set up our tent, explore, etc. Friday morning we are going fruit picking with the rest of the wedding party, and friday afternoon is the rehearsal, with the rehearsal dinner afterwards. Sat afternoon is the wedding! It's outside at Oceansong, a nature preserve type place, so the wedding is taking place on a huge cliff, overlooking valleys and hills. SWEET. After the reception, Emi and I are heading to San Francisco for a few days. We're staying in this awesome bed and breakfast called the Red Victorian. We'll be back in Seattle on the 19th sometime. I can't wait!!

Ok, time to load more songs onto my iPod and finish packing!