Thursday, December 31, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 137 (Phase One)
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 136 (New Year's Eve Eve)
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 135 (Golf)
Monday, December 28, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 134 (Tennis)
Woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon today after going to bed at 5:30 in the morning. My clock gets really messed up when I'm on vacation. When I got downstairs, my family was in the living room watching TV marveling at my ability to sleep in. Dianne and Brian immediately asked if i wanted to go play tennis, and I immediately agreed, even though I had woken up telling myself that I would study Hebrew today.
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 133 (Aebleskiver)
I went to Solvang today. Haven't been there very much; I think it was only my 3rd or 4th time. It's a cool place, great tourist trap, and it's fun looking at the ostriches at Ostrich World. It was my first time having aebleskiver. I've always wanted to try it, but the line at the window was always too long. I was hanging out with the Chows and with Woody & Alicia. We were just chillin', so nobody was in a rush and the line didn't seem like such a big deal. Plus the fact that I had always wanted to try it. They were pretty good. Probably would have been better if I hadn't been stuffed from lunch. Also had a veal hot dog just so as I could say that I did. I also have to say that veal makes a good hot dog. On principle, I suppose I am against the idea of veal, and I used to refuse to eat it, but I think I heard somewhere that we don't actually lock up the calves in little boxes anymore, so I guess I justify my eating it now. Not that I have it that much.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 132 (Second Self)
Chapter One
Clara looked down from the top corner of the living room. The others were quiet today. They had been quiet for almost two years now. The only thing that would pull them from their stupor was a new set of students moving into the house. She didn’t blame them; every four years, the new students seemed less promising than the last and they were beginning to lose hope. Clara, being the youngest, was still hopeful and she knew today was move day. So, she waited.
Jordan lifted the large cardboard box up the three steps to the front door of the house. It was a small three-bedroom, old looking but well kept. The white paint on the siding was not as bright as it must have once been and there was a green cast to the roof, but it might as well have been a castle for all he cared. He was the first one in his family to go to college and the surge of pride that rushed through his body overshadowed the faintly musty odor that greeted him as he wrestled open the door.
He set the box down on the counter and ran his fingers through his short black hair as he looked around. The tiny specks of dust drifting through the beams of sunlight threatened to mesmerize him until a sudden revelation snapped him out of it. This was going to be his home for the next four years! He took a deep breath and released a slow and contented sigh and smiled.
It looked like he was the first to arrive. His two roommates should be arriving at any moment. Sweet! he thought. Dibs on the best room! He ran outside to grab the rest of his stuff.
Clara watched the boy bolt from the house and mused to herself. It was too early to tell what kind of person he was, but already she could feel the air of confidence about him. It wasn’t arrogance, he was just sure of himself, sure of his ability and experience. He showed promise, even if she had only observed him for thirty seconds so far. She could feel one of the others stirring, but she couldn’t tell which one it was. She hoped they would stay awake longer this time. Two years is a long time to be by yourself.
Jordan rushed back through the door with a backpack slung over one shoulder and a suitcase in one hand. He took the stairs two at a time and opened the first door. It was a closet. The second door was the bathroom. The third door revealed the first bedroom. It was small; twin bed, closet, drawers, small window.
He found the next bedroom and it was pretty much the same as first, except the walls were white instead of beige and there were two windows instead of one. The room behind the last door was the master bedroom, no larger than the others, but it had its own small bathroom. Jordan set his backpack down on the bed and the suitcase on the floor.
He flicked the bathroom light on. Like the rest of the house, it looked old but clean. The medicine cabinet squeaked as he pulled it open and he thought he saw the movement of the air stir up a tiny swirl of dust in one of the back corners. He ran his finger over the surface of the shelf, but his finger came away clean. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. His thoughts drifted back to his car and all he had left to unpack, so he made his way back down the stairs.
Clara felt a presence beside her. It was Dergen. Dergen was disoriented and she could sense slightly grumpy.
“He woke me up,” Dergen said in his usual gruff manor. Clara giggled. Dergen liked to sleep in the master bath medicine cabinet; she could never figure out why. The boy must have chosen the master bedroom for himself. They both watched as he made his way past with another large box in his arms. Dergen didn’t like to talk, not usually anyway. Clara was just happy he was there.
“Hello! Anybody home?” The voice came from the tall boy with spiky brown hair in the doorway, the second of the three boys that would be living in the house. His sunglasses seemed a little too large for his face and his baby blue T-shirt seemed just a little too tight for his well-toned body. If Clara had eyes, she would have rolled them. She could never keep up with the current fashions.
Jordan bounded down the stairs and almost ran into the newcomer. He held out his hand, “Hi, are you living here too?”
Val pulled his sunglasses down and gave a quick appraisal to who was apparently his new roommate. His no-name jeans were baggier than Val would have worn, but the red Converse shoes he was wearing were cool. He was pale, but cute and the one dimple he sported on his left cheek probably drove the girls crazy. He seemed friendly enough.
Val flashed his too-white smile and firmly grasped the outstretched hand. “Hi, I’m Val. And yes, I’m going to be living here.”
“I’m Jordan. I claimed the room at the end of the hall; I hope you don’t mind. It’s not any bigger than the other rooms, but it has its own bathroom. A small one.”
Val smiled through Jordan’s little explanation. At least he had the good sense to appear sheepish for grabbing the master bedroom before his roommates had gotten there. He held on to Jordan’s hand just long enough to make him uncomfortable, then released it. “That’s fine,” he said, smiling. “So, does that mean I’m sharing a bathroom with the other guy?”
“Yeah,” said Jordan, pointing up the stairs. “It’s the second door on the right.”
Val climbed up the stairs to claim a room for himself.
“Interesting dynamic there,” Dergen commented after they both left the room. If Clara had a head, she would have nodded.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 131 (Christmas Day)
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 130 (Christmas Traditions)
Christmas Eve. (Technically, it's been Christmas for almost an hour, so Merry Christmas!)
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 129 (Congestion)
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 128 (French Pumpkins)
I bought one of those "fairy tale" pumpkins a few months ago as a decoration for Halloween. My original plan was to carve it into a Jack-o-lantern, but I didn't have a chance to. I wasn't really sure if it was something that people ate, but after doing some research, I found out that it was actually a french squash that was great for cooking. I figured I would be able to turn it into a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, but I didn't have a chance to do that either. So, I trucked it down here for Christmas break. It has since been cut up, peeled shredded, stewed and baked. If I remember correctly, I only paid about $4.00 or $5.00 for it. That sucker was huge! I must've been over 15 lbs! We now have a huge pot of pumpkin curry, pumpkin bread, plus more pumpkin to make 2 more loaves, and some pumpkin to make some pie. This might be the making of a new holiday tradition!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 127 (Avatar)
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 126 (Home)
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 125 (Day Before the Drive)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 124 (Chick Flick Day)
Faith and I had a total holiday chick flick day. It started with The Family Stone at Holy Grounds, but then the DVD player stopped working, so we moved it up to the student lounge for Dan in Real Life and While You Were Sleeping. Popped some corn, popped open a nice cab, had some cookies. It was a nice night. Neither of us were in a Christmas party mood, so we just had a tiny Christmas movie viewing instead, although technically Dan in Real Life is not a holiday movie. The weird thing about these particular movies though is how similar the plot lines are, but I suppose that is the danger when you watch 3 romantic comedies in a row. I'll have to remember that the next time I want to have a movie marathon.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 123 (Semester's End)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 122 (Church History Final)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 121 (Finals Week)
Finals week. Technically started yesterday, but we didn't have any finals yesterday, so I didn't think to comment on it very much. It seems I have passed the flu on to my roommate, as he has been coughing a lot the past few days, but he keeps insisting that he got it from his church. Hopefully he's not just being nice.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 120 (Insomnia)
Because of the horrible jolt to my circadian rhythm the night before, I had my first bout of insomnia up here in lovely San Anselmo. As I had taken my last two Benadryl a few night ago for their advertised purpose, I had no more left for "off-label" uses. For those that don't know, the active ingredient in Tylenol PM that makes you drowsy is basically Benadryl.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 119 (Mountain Dew)
I woke up this morning around 11:00. Personally, I am going to blame the Mountain Dew which was brought to the D&D game by Ian... so I am going to blame Ian as well. But, also had a Cherry Coke during the game, as well as some black tea before AND after. This is well beyond the amount of caffeine I would consume in a day. If anything, I have ONE black tea. But, I was feeling a little drained because I am not totally well yet, so I thought, "Why not? Faith drinks Mountain Dew all the time. She talks about it all the time. Maybe it doesn't taste as bad as I remember it." It does. The caffeine kept me up until 3 am.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 118 (Dorkness Rising)
So, I played my first D&D (Dungeons & Dragons) game tonight. Totally not what I expected, but it might have been because half of us were n00bs <----newbies <---- new players. It's so strange that it has such a horrible reputation because it's basically a math game. Hmmm... kind of like Magic!!! I guess people just like to form opinions about things that they know nothing about.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 117 (Marijuana)
Alarm went off early this morning so I could go to class. Wasn't feeling up to it, so I turned it off and went back to sleep hoping I would wake up in time to get some studying done for the Hebrew quiz. Next thing I know, the bell tower is ringing 10 o'clock, so I pull myself out of bed and manage to get about a half hour of vocab study in before the quiz. Thankfully, there was no parsing and 2 of the 3 sentences we had to translate were pretty much lifted straight from the homework, so it wasn't bad at all.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 116 (Sick Day #3)
Sunday - It started as a tickle in my throat and an overall feeling of lethargy. Missed church.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 115 (Sick Day #2)
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 114 (Sick Day)
Monday, December 7, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 113 (Magic 2010)
2nd Magic post, please excuse me all those who are not interested in this kind of thing, but I didn't really have too much else to write about today. Magic 2010 is the current expansion where they changed a lot of the rules. There has been a small revival of Magic: The Gathering here at SFTS, but most of us are not familiar with the current rules, or even the rules that came before the current rules change. (I'm looking at you Russ) So, this has been an interesting learning experience for all of us.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 112 (Margaret Cho)
I was about to start writing my blog when I realized that I should have titled one of them "Margaret Cho" by now, so I had to actually stop and look through my past blogs to see what I had written about her. It turns out, very little. I can't believe I haven't blogged about her yet! She's my favorite comedian of all time! For those of you who don't know, she is a raunchy Korean American fag hag who had just come out with her 5th stand-up comedy movie "Beautiful." This woman is brilliant! I have no idea how she keeps managing to come up with new material; it's just amazing. One word of warning before anyone goes running out to watch one of them: Margaret Cho is a dirty girl. She is not afraid to say anything and everything that comes to mind, and trust me, her mind is a lot dirtier than almost anyone else that I know about. But, this makes for a good time when watching her. I've seen her twice in concert, and each time I was laughing so hard it was hard to breathe.
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 111 (In Defense of D&D)
Yes, I am a gamer. When I say that, I am mostly talking about Magic: The Gathering because that is the only real "gamer" thing I have experience with. I had a run in with D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) in high school, but I have never actually played it for real. Now, this is not directed at anyone in particular, because I am fully aware that everyone was joking...well, I'm pretty sure they were anyway. No, this is directed at all of those people out there that spend way to much time listening to James Dobson and his radio program "Focus on the Family."
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 110 (Lessons and Carols)
First off, I need to apologize to any SFTFers; I realize this picture is not from this year's Lessons and Carols, but I wanted to show what the inside of Stewart Chapel looks like. The music was really good. Anyone in the area for a Lessons and Carols weekend should stop by and check it out.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Gay Guy in Seminary Day 109 (How Close is Too Close?)
How Close Is Too Close?
Have you ever had a fly,
Actually fly into your eye?
Like, actually into your eye?
And before you realize it,
Your eyelids are closing around it like a Venus flytrap,
And it’s stuck in there,
Way too close for you to see it,
And it hurts!
And at first, you’re in denial about it,
Because, really, how often does a fly,
Actually fly into your eye?
And then you start to freak out because you think it might actually be moving around in there!
And, when you finally manage to get it out of your eye,
And you look at its tiny mangled body on the tip of your finger,
You realize,
You did that.
You caught a fly with your eye.
There’s a woman in Eastern Europe that will actually lick your eye for you.
She’s known throughout the region as a healer.
If you get something in your eye,
You can visit this woman,
And she will lick it out for you.
With her tongue!
She’ll brush her teeth first,
Gargle,
Rinse it out real good with water,
But after that she’ll get right up in there with her tongue,
And lick your eyeball!
And, I bet while she’s doing that,
You won’t really be able to see her tongue all that well.
She said that the strangest thing she’s ever licked out of someone’s eye was an apple peel.
So it was kind of like having a snack at the same time.
A wise person told me that you can’t figure out shape of the ocean by sitting on the beach,
But there’s something to be said for sitting on the beach,
Because books can’t tell you everything.
Because, when someone asks you about the beach,
You need to be able to tell them about the salty sea spray,
And you need to be able to tell them about the warm sand between your toes,
And the roaring thunder of the crashing waves,
And how sometimes at night,
At the right time of year,
When those waves crash,
They crash glowing green,
With bioluminescent algae,
And it’s the most magical thing you’ve ever seen in your entire life.
You need to be able to tell people about that.
But, the ocean is huge!
It’s enormous!
You need to be miles above it to even begin to get an idea of what it’s shaped like.
You need to be an astronaut!
But, that’s an awfully far way to go when all you really need to do, is grab a map.
There’s a scene from the movie Clueless,
Where one of the characters is commenting on how pretty one of the girls is,
And another character tells him that she’s a total Monet,
Like the paintings,
From far away she looks good,
But up close, she’s a big old mess.
But when you’re that close to something,
You’re part of the mess.
So, you need to remove yourself from that mess,
From that tangled weave,
You need to work the shuttle backwards,
So you’re looming cloth into thread,
So you can separate the strings of yourself,
From the strings of what you’re not,
Because you can’t see the pattern when you’re part of the pattern.
And, you can’t fix the problem when you’re part of the problem.
You can’t watch TV when you have your face pressed up to the TV screen,
Because all you’ll be able to see is a random assortment of Where’s Waldo pixels,
And none of them are going to be wearing that red and white striped shirt,
And there won’t be an answer key in the back of the book telling you how to live your life.
You need to move back far enough so that you can use your magic eye to find the 3-D image hidden inside the fractal design,
Because life is just a bunch of 3-D images,
We’re just usually too close to notice.