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There has been so much happening in my life since I last posted on this blog – much of it very purposeful and some rather serendipitous. Thanks for your patience and your continued interest (or is it just curiosity?!)

I began interviewing schoolmates whom I perceive to be successful. The video and audio quality was terrible, so I decided to wait until after this trimester of school is over and do it right.

Also in the time I’ve been away from this blog, I’ve been doing a tremendous amount of work on myself. That has been the most resource-consuming and rewarding of all my efforts. I intend to share with you elements of my journey and especially how it relates to those of us in medical school.

First, I intend to write two terms papers and prepare for my last final exam, then finishing packing and be out of this dorm apartment before 12/21.

I’m also in the process of taking lessons on how to enhance a blog, so look for some nice changes in the next month or so.

Until we meet again, happy holidays and holy days, whichever set you celebrate.

Peace, Love and Blessings to All.
Lisa

We’re off (H, Patsy, and me) to the historic town of Occoquan today. When we lived in Maryland, we often met my buddy, Patsy, there. She lived in Virginia, and Occoquan was about the halfway mark between our house and her house….about. She would drive up, and we would drive down.

We always ate in a little restaurant there…I can’t remember the name, but if it’s still there, we’ll eat there today. Then we would wander around the little town, exploring its many shops. It’s suppose to be in the 60s and sunny today. We couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

I haven’t been to Occoquan for over eight years. It’s hard to believe. My experience is that after we have a few years under our belts, we look back and see entire decades as if they were another lifetime. It’s almost as if it happened to someone else.

H and I drove by our old apartment yesterday. We lived there at the beginning of our marriage. It was the first place we brought our son home to. It felt strange to look at the front door and realize that almost four decades ago we lived out three years of our lives there.

Patsy brought a home video over the other night.  There we all were, captured when we were young. I recognized everyone on the video except me. “I” looked like someone vaguely familiar – no one I ever knew intimately, but rather someone I only knew in passing.

So we’re off to Occoquan, another visit to a piece of our past, another time, another life when I had a teenager, and shoulder pads, and big, curly hair and a smaller waistline.

Look for photos of Occoquan here soon.

After my daily epic walk, where I noted several businesses with signs in their windows, going out of business soon and no help wanted signs anywhere, I sat down for a rest in a park.  Sitting on a bench and watching the people with other people or with their dogs can be a melancholy exercise for someone like me who is alone in the City, yet I am there every day.  Am I hoping someone will talk with me?  No.  Am I hoping to meet someone?  No.  I am only an amateur anthropologist, taking mental notes for the future tome I will doubtless one day pen.  Some day I might be that person with a friend, laughing and talking, but not now.

When I arrived, the bench next to mine held a man who was relentlessly toying with his iPhone or similar device, not speaking with anyone or looking at anyone else,  just pushing things around on the screen.  Not too much later, he got up and left, and immediately his place was taken by a curious fellow who I assumed was a middle aged burnout on unemployment or perhaps even homeless or close to it.  He was rolling his own (tobacco) cigarettes that looked like joints and had a tall can of beer stashed in the inner pocket of his tattered professor’s blazer that he would sip on from time to time.  At one point he brought out what looked like a digital camera, but only pressed some buttons and didn’t take any photos.  Some Mexican guys came by with bikes, as if they had just gotten off work, said hello to him and he proceeded to get high with them.  All around, children and their parents walked by.  I know this is typical San Francisco, but it was a bit surreal in the afternoon, not even near Haight and Ashbury, plus this was the first time I’ve seen anything like this in the park in the six months I’ve lived here.

At the same time, three twenty-something hottie gay guys sat next to me.  They discussed their Halloween plans and coveted the French Bulldogs in the park.  They also brought out the weed and had a good long smoke out.  As if they somehow sensed they were sitting next to an unemployed friendless person, they ignored me completely, but one was nice enough to say hello and then goodbye as they left.  I wished them well.  After all, this is the best city in the whole country to enjoy such a life and to be able to dress up and get crazy on Halloween if you want to, and no one will think less of you for it.  In fact, I think this is the best city in the country, period, despite my inability to find work.  I left the park lonely as ever, yet satisfied and refreshed.

I was in town having a strum today and came up with an idea. That idea then turned into this song!!!

I titled it “Forest” Let me know what you think.

DOWNLOAD IT NOW!

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2mq5mjvj23d

For older tracks:

“For You”

“Passing Time”

I feel I should explain what NaNoWriMo is. It stands for National Novel Writing Month, basically thirty days to write a 50,000 word novel. For some it doesn’t matter about quality and the content of the novel, just quantity. I’m under the first group more so than the second. Since this will be the first year that I can actually participate in the last 3 years that I’ve known about it, I don’t plan on aiming for 50,000 words. Maybe half of that, 25,000 and I’ll be happy.

First I have to come up with the novel I’m gonna work on. I have some story ideas already for upcoming projects. But which one should I go for. I have no idea. I thought about just going with Passing Time, but I think it has to be a novel that you haven’t done before. I’m not sure if that is allowed. At any point I need to come up with a to do list and due dates for myself.

The first thing would be to pick a story to work on. I’ll have that due Monday 3pm. I have class at 5 so that should give me enough time today and tomorrow to decide.

Anyone else out there participating in NaNoWriMo this year?

Okay I’ve just got my scholarship paid for laptop and its a Macbook…that’s right I’ve left the PC world and have crossed over. I’m one of those now.

Anywho…lots of things happening in my life in the few months I’ve been gone. Back in school, got my own place, moved to a new city and lost my Dad to a massive heart attack.

I’ve finished Do You Take Cream in Your Coffee. I posted it on FictionPress. It’s not the best work but what do you expect I had to hand write the finish. I’ve gotten some good reviews back. Thank you all for being so patient. I’ve got no excuse now I’m going to be writing as much as my schedule allows me.

I’ve got school and an internship. Alot of reading for school and I don’t know what for my internship it starts this month.

Luckily I was able to save my old laptop’s hard drive and turn it into a external drive so I have all the up to date copies of my work. I think I’m going to start working on Passing Time, it’s been speaking to me lately. I manage to plan out Locked Away to the 11th chapter so I’ll be working on that too. I really need to get hardcore about getting something published…in honor of my dad. He would be so pride.

I will continue the writing series that I started as soon as possible I have to go back and find my notes.

Hope everyone is well! Later!

Last night I walked a few blocks to spend some time at one of my favorite corner stores.  It’s different, somehow, from the others lining the street, possibly because it’s on a corner rather than in the middle of a block.  It has the same kind of setup these stores all do, which is that they have a lot of the necessary items, food, toiletries and so on, in a cramped and usually somewhat dusty environment.  The store appears to be run by a family, most often men rather than women.  Sometimes the same guy is in the store, no matter which day or time of day you go in.  It’s a miracle so many markets can survive at all in the City, given the high cost of rent for these storefronts.  Somehow, they do survive.

As I entered the store last night, a woman in her 50s was shopping.  She had a basket, and she was filling it to the brim as if she were in UnSafeway (which is only a few short blocks away).  She asked the clerk if the store carried a certain item.  No, they did not.  A minute later, she asked for something else and seemed discouraged with her shopping experience.  Would you do your weekly shopping at the corner store?  I sure wouldn’t.  I wanted to ask her why she was, but she didn’t seem to be in a mood for a friendly discussion or even a friendly hello.

Next, a breeze of entitlement came wafting through the store.  A tightly packed group of college students barged in, the males sporting matching team t-shirts and flip flops, the females tossing their hair and ordering the guys around.  What do you suppose they were looking for, slumming it in my hood?  Yep, alcohol.  Forcing their way past me to the beer cooler, they were dismayed with the selection but evidently had to have it now and didn’t want to shop elsewhere.  As I attempted to get out of the way, I was placed in their path anyway as one of the group decided to avail himself of the bulk bins as a snack depot.  They ended up buying a lot of beer, so the shop keeper probably didn’t mind a bit of grazing.  After all, it’s probably the booze that pays the bills.

That crew departed and there was a long line of people buying single items, many more people than you would expect at the corner market.  Me, I’m just there for the entertainment.  I chat with the cashier, always a pleasant guy.  He deals with the rude, the impatient and the barely sober all with a casual ease.  I ask about his cat, who probably shouldn’t be hanging around on countertops in a market but is nice to see nonetheless.  I used to be able to support this place more often, back when I thought I would be finding a job soon.  Now I’m afraid to let loose of some pennies for a stick of gum.

My pennies. I have four, which won't go very far.

Back out on the street, the night is winding up.  Restaurants are full, parking spaces unavailable, bars are packed, iPhones are snapping pictures on the sidewalk, people are dressed up hailing cabs to go to some chic nightclub or other, and the roar of the normally quiet neighborhood increases.  Arriving home, I tuck myself away in my room, not having spent any money but satiated by the experience.

This afternoon, walking through part of Castro and Mission was the goal after a morning of fruitless internet job searching.  It took more than an hour today, the back and forth criss-crossing of streets, hoping there would be a help wanted sign in a window.  No luck.

There were a lot of people in flip flops and tank tops walking around, mostly two people or a group of people.   Stores were bustling, cafes were crammed, bars were hopping, smokers out in front.  A few desperate looking businesses were holding sidewalk sales, 50% off whatever goods happened to lie on the tables.  Impromptu garage sales were happening, sellers setting up sales featured on blankets on any available stretch of sidewalk which wasn’t already claimed by cafe tables or home owners.

No Green Tortise, this

A celebration in the Mission looked intriguing.  A mysterious bus which would have blended in innocuously at Haight and Ashbury, parked in front of an alley, held a second story with people whooping it up on top, drinks in hand.  Colored streamers decorated the alley.  What was going on?  Who knows: invite only.  Walking away, a band started to play.  Not so interesting after all…cover tunes, a lackluster “Do You Wanna Dance” a la Bobby Freeman.  Turn the corner a few blocks later and there’s a wedding happening at Mission Dolores, stretch Hummers y todo.  Best of luck, newlyweds.

Later, more street art.

More sidewalk wisdom

There were more homeless people out and about than usual.  Or, perhaps, their numbers are increasing.  Some didn’t look that different from you or me.  Female homeless, not as conspicuous in the City as other cities, were out in number today.  It was tempting to throw some change their way, but watching obviously well-to-do people passing them by, decided not to.  When someone who is on the verge of being homeless themselves feels like throwing a bum a dime but the fashion plate with the Whore Foods bag won’t, what does that tell you about society?

Back home, neighborhood quiet and cool, the sun is going down and tomorrow is another day.  Feliz Sabado, amigos.  Viva la Folsom Street Festival manana!

A few weeks ago, I was browsing the stacks at the library when this title caught my eye:  Divided Highways by Tom Lewis.  The inner leaf described the book simply as, “the monumental story of the largest engineered structure ever built:  the Interstate Highway System,” so I decided to check it out.  I know this subject doesn’t exactly sound like a real page turner, now, does it?  I know you’re probably wondering what I like to read when I really want to be bored, right?  I admit, it’s a rather dry read most of the time and the whole idea of people having to figure out how to build roads, coming up with the recipe for asphalt, not even 100 years ago, is hard to grasp as we see our roads being torn up and rebuilt all around us every day.

Think about it:  In the early 1900s, people in small towns or out in farm land could get stuck at home and not be able to go very far until the muddy season was over because the quality of roads was so primitive.  Could you imagine having to stock up groceries as if it were the apocalypse and having to tell your employer you wouldn’t be in for another couple of months?  Not only were the roads bad when it got muddy, it sounds as if they were bad most of the time.  A car trip from coast to coast could take months, yes, months, and it wasn’t just due to the cars being slow.  Having smooth surfaces on which to drive made a big difference.

"It's OK honey, I'll come back for the car in March."

Consider how many acres of land had to be purchased to be put aside to create these new roadways.  Houses were bulldozed, farm land was divided, communities were split in half.  There were road crews to hire, expenses for materials, engineers to pay to figure out the proper grades of the road and plan the bridges.  The Federal government bought that land and materials and paid all those people for years and years while still shelling out money for other things.  So that’s where all that tax money went.

Some places got royally shafted when it came to where the highways would be placed because the planners couldn’t see into the future and didn’t really care about the social ramifications of their designs.  Cities like DC and Boston got stuck with inner city rings that caused traffic problems from the start and still do today.  Other cities got lucky due to some people realizing what an impact these roads would have on their cities.  New Orleans escaped having a humongous multi-storied highway that would have blocked out the light and ruined some of their great old neighborhoods.  A grassroots campaign started and eventually the idea was scrapped.  This book was written before Hurricane Katrina, so it’s interesting to read the author’s take on the levees.  Even our own fair City averted roadway blight when we managed to stop construction of the Embarcadero Freeway, which would have gone into downtown and connected us with the south bay.  A part of it was built and stood until after the Loma Prieta earthquake, when it was finally torn down.  What we have right now going through the Potrero Hill area ain’t so pretty, but imagine what it would have been like if this had been extended.  No picturesque view of the Ferry Building for the farmers’ market folks, huh?

This is no Photoshop trick, this is an actual photo of what used to be standing in front of the Ferry Building.

Reading this book was a good exercise for me.  It might not be the latest Dan Brown novel, but it’s been helping me keep my brain active.  While I’m waiting to be hired somewhere and trying not to spend any money, I got to brush up on my history, re-acquaint myself with which men were presidents during which historical periods, learned about what it takes to build roads from scratch, and developed a new found respect for the complex web of systems that has allowed me to drive all over the country countless times and brought me here to live in this wonderful city where the highway ends.

Part 6: Smallest of the small pleasures

You might be down to your last month’s rent in your savings account, but don’t neglect those little things that keep you happy from day to day.  If you keep your body healthy and your brain active, you’ll be keeping your spirits up, so there’s a better chance you’ll eventually pull through and that job will appear and then you can enjoy more of the fabulous things to do around San Francisco.  To accomplish this method of survival, sometimes you have to indulge a bit every once in a while.  My indulgence is coffee.  A big press pot of coffee every morning helps me look forward to browsing the endless lists of jobs available (that I’m not qualified to do) and spurs me on to hit the apply now button for whatever I think I can handle.  I don’t have the luxury of being as picky about the quality of which beans I purchase any more, but I do know that I’m saving a hell of a lot of money by making my own coffee at home rather than going to a cafe every day.  If I denied myself the daily coffee, my job seeking attitude would be a lot less enthusiastic, plus I probably would not be in a very good mood most of the time.

A lot of people online mention going to a cafe with their laptop to do their job search or going to happy hour from time to time.  I suspect these people are getting unemployment or have a lot more savings than I do.  I would have been out on the street by now if I weren’t keeping an iron fist clenched around my savings.  Sure, it would be nice to hang out in a cafe nursing a coffee or sharing a happy hour with happy people, but for the time being, libraries, parks, walking around and checking out the sights and free museum days will have to do.  Fortunately, San Francisco has a lot of free days at museums.   Here’s one of the most concise lists online.  There’s also occasionally 100% free things to do listed on SFist or Broke-Ass Stuart’s websites (links to the right in the Blogroll section) such as free concerts or films in Dolores Park.

As you’re using a computer to read this, chances are you have a computer at your home.  If you don’t mind sitting on your ass in front of the glowing screen for hours and hours more, take advantage of all the free sites for entertainment.  Movies, music, discussion boards, blogs: whatever hobbies you have, you are likely to find a site to distract yourself when you’re through with the job search for the day and need to decompress.  If you don’t want to stare at a glowing screen any more, check out a library book about how to learn to do something you’ve always wanted such as learning another language or making origami (There’s always free paper everywhere to use for that.).  Write a letter to a friend or family member.  While snail mail is on the decline, you’ll find that people sure do enjoy receiving a hand written letter, and you might be surprised at what you have to say in writing as opposed to a hasty email.  Whatever you do, don’t spend your nights sobbing into your checkbook, fretting over the dwindling numbers inside.

...but it doesn't have to be that way.

Maybe you’re fortunate enough to have a nice roommate or a friend or two in town?  Suggest getting together for a night of doing something free, such as going on a walk together, playing cards or a game, drawing or making art, playing music, watching a DVD together, etc.  It’s an old fashioned concept that not too many people seem to engage in here in the City.  Throw out the bait and see if anyone will take it.

If you’re like me, with no contacts in the City, you’re just going to have to tough it out until you make some.  It might make you feel that you’ve got a big “L” branded on your forehead, and it can be difficult, not having any money to spare, but you’re lucky enough to be in a place with a lot of free options to occupy your time.  Be glad you’re not stuck in some middle of nowhere town without a library or WiFi.  The last free idea tip is to start a blog.  Write about something you know well, or something that gives you joy.  It might not make you money or make you new friends, but there’s a lot to be said for the satisfaction of spending time writing and sharing your thoughts with others.

Dear Readers, what are your favorite things to do that are free in this great City?  How do you cope with your lack of funds and unemployment?  Share your thoughts.

The art of Audrey Kawasaki

And just a few other things you might or might not find interesting…

And for those of you who have not downloaded or heard my music, get it for free here:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fzwhmmokyiy

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mmlmjyy2zng

So you’ve got no spare change, had your fill of looking for work and you’re bored and don’t know what to do?  Don’t let the bastards get you down…go to the library.  San Francisco has got to be the tops for availability of libraries in every part of town.  Most of the branches, unless they’re closed for renovation (or is that permanently closed?), are open every day.  Yes, every day.  A library card is completely free and even the smallest branch has a good selection for keeping the brain occupied and in shape.

Obviously, there are books.  In the recent acquisitions section, you can find copies of the latest blockbusters, fiction and non;  sometimes there is more than one copy.  Recently spotted in the Western Addition branch were Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food and Sarah Vowell’s The Wordy Shipmates.  Looking for something older?  Use the library search computer or ask one of the sometimes reticent but always helpful librarians and find what you need.  If they don’t have it at the branch where you are, it’s easy to request it on inter-library loan if you’re willing to wait a few days.  Cruising the stacks and browsing will often turn up something you hadn’t ever thought about reading but now that you have so much free time you might as well.

Plenty of books, waiting, just for you

If you’re in need of ego bolstering due to feeling like a pathetic useless nobody for not having a job, you’ve found a friend in the library.  There’s self help books, books on how to jazz up your resume, how to write an effective cover letter, and how to search for the job your heart desires.  Comfortable with that?  How about social networking to find a job?  Already doing that, too?  How about a how to book on becoming self employed in California?  If you’re totally at your wits end, there’s also books on how to sell things on eBay and how to make the most of grocery purchases.  You can even check out a copy of Broke Ass Stuart’s Guide to Living Cheaply in San Francisco (Sorry Stuart, will buy when job is procured).

Other than books, there are current issues of magazines and newspapers from local to national.  You are allowed to sit in the library and read them and no one will hassle you or make you feel uncomfortable for hogging the New York Times or Psychology Today.  Best part about this is that you won’t be tempted to spend money to purchase one of these periodicals.  The seating might not be as comfy as a Barnes and Noble, but you’ve saved money once again, which is a good thing.

There’s also audio/visual media.  If you still have a VCR (and you should, as tapes last far longer than DVDs if you’re getting them from rental/borrowing places and a lot of older films are still not out on DVD), your horizons are even more expansive.  There’s a lot to choose from, and the library keeps their A/V media in good condition.  Sure, you won’t have the options you would if you went to Blockbuster or a similar rental establishment, but now is the time to bone up on your cinema history and to explore films from other countries.  The Western Addition branch has a lot of Japanese and Russian films, for example.  There’s a large selection of self help videos;  learn how to fix that leaky sink the landlord hasn’t,  perfect those yoga stretches or learn about the likelihood of another big earthquake in the near future.  If you don’t have a VCR/DVD player or TV, you most likely have a media player on your computer, so check out a DVD or a music CD.

Other than books, periodicals and A/V media, there are also computers for public use or simply a chair in which to rest for a while.  Keep in mind that there are still many people without a computer in their home.  If you want to use one, call your branch (or book online if you have that option) and use the handy booking in advance option or wait your turn if you are patient.  There’s often a nice spot outside to sit on a bench or in a garden around the library.  Hang out, pass some time.  Strike up a conversation when you notice someone else showing interest in Lynne Truss’ Eats Shoots and Leaves.  If you’re looking for work at a public library, don’t count on it unless you have an MLS, and even then, you’d be lucky to find a job here.  For that matter, with shrinking budgets and furloughs increasing, many librarians might be joining you in the work hunt soon enough.

Libraries are a lovely thing and reinforce one’s faith in the goodness of social services.    You don’t have to be hip to be seen here and you’ll run into everyone from little children to the homeless to grandmothers looking for books in large print. They’ve got books, A/V media, computers, copiers, printers, water fountains, bathrooms and provide refuge from inclement weather.  Check out the San Francisco Public Library website and visit one near you*.

*MonoNoAware is in no way affiliated with the SF Public Library except as a grateful patron.

The refuge that is called the Western Addition branch

Got a new track for you fans of Carrion’s music!

I got some really awesome feed back from the first song I did a couple of days ago, so here is another! Something I wrote very roughly nearly six months ago has now come to life and is free for everyone to download! This one is call Passing Time. A song about me serving my time in National Service! hahaha I hope you like it and give me some response, good or bad!

Here’s the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mmlmjyy2zng

& here’s the link for the earlier song, “For You”:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fzwhmmokyiy

ENJOY… more to come

I’m not an app junkie.  I don’t own an iPhone or any kind of smart phone.  The phone I have has a number of features that I have no idea how to use, nor do I care.  I’m on Facebook, but I don’t even check out my notifications on a regular basis. In fact, I’ve been known to let them stack up there till there are 90+ notifications.  The requests to participate in the applications that are those virtual worlds like Farmville, FarmTown, Sorority Life and YoVille have gone unnoticed by me…until lately.

Until this weekend actually. 

I don’t know quite how it happened.  I was just there minding my own computer business.  I was working on a writing project that was for all intents and purposes going nowhere and I needed a break.  Everyone else was out having a life and sucking the last few days of summer for all they were worth (read they were not at home anywhere near their computers).  I needed a break so I decided to clean out some of the requests at Facebook.  Now that I actually have a computer that works this is an easier project to undertake…or so I thought.

Big mistake.

I got hooked on ALL the apps I just mentioned plus some others and wasted a boatload of time yesterday dinking around with virtual worlds that I neither really care about or will have time to visit or maintain after summer ends and I head back to the real world of leaving home and going to a job everyday.  I mean, what was I thinking? 

Seriously.  It is a day of my life I’ll never get back.  Yet already this morning instead of getting to work on the tasks and things I know I need to do, I fizzled another couple of hours there again.  This is the new best procrastination tool ever for me apparently.  Sigh. 

I’m going to have Facebook withdrawals starting tomorrow.  I just know it.

In the end, it isn’t about the Facebook apps or procrastination.  It’s really about missing Oz and Number 1.  Three wonderful weeks and Oz became a part of our lives in a way none of us, including him, ever expected.  Now he’s gone back to that continent several oceans away.  This makes having a cup of tea a lonely endeavor…so I turn to stupid Facebook apps to ignore the feelings.  Now our oldest daughter and sister is gone to college and we are all feeling the big gap that is left when someone you love leaves the proximity of your physical location.  We know they are alive and doing well.  We talk to each of them daily either digitally or by phone and sometimes both.  It doesn’t replace the emptiness you feel when you are fixing dinner and you think, he would have been here and been doing that and we would have been talking or joking or having tea and telling me to relax and take some “me” time. It doesn’t fill the silence that exists when I think she’d have been in here already this morning chatting my ear off about her date last night or her plans for the day. 

Sigh, clearly, this transition is going to take some getting used to.  In the meantime, I refuse to waste any more of my life on Facebook apps.  Really!   I mean it.

O slack-water of time! O diffusion of days!
I once set out to find the edge of the world
but weary self double-crossed me
and home-bounded the way.
O slack-water of time! O diffusion of days!
Perpetually learning novel tinges of grey,
I have grown up and old.
O slack-water of time! O diffusion of days!
I had once set out to find the edge of the world.

Today’s July 6th, meaning…summer is already halfway over. WHERE HAVE ALL THE DAYS GONE BY?! It seems just yesterday that school ended, and everyone was all “omg summer summer summer beach blahblahblah.” I think the main reason why I’m so disappointed that summer is already halfway over is cause I haven’t accomplished anything that I was supposed to. Among those…

• get a job (nope.)
• at least halfway done with Bright Futures hours (not even close).
• discover something time-worthy (obviously not).
• figure out how to make Keylogger computer cookies (nope, and don’t ask xD)

Everyday I’ve been getting up at around 11, and doing nothing but eat, sleep, hang out with friends, watch stupid movies…every single day. I think if my summer continues like that anymore I’m gonna have to kill myself Haha not really, but seriously, I need a change. I want to make this summer the best yet, and the way it’s going so far, that’s not gonna happen xD

Any ideas? Leave me a comment, bitches.

The summer is here, and for many of us that means much more free time – time for doing all those things that we had wished we were doing instead of incessantly researching, teaching, and writing. Of course, the irony is that many of us fill our free time with more BS stuff (that is, biblical studies stuff ) I know I do. But we all need some non-BS in our lives, something “other.” Something that doesn’t involve reading and reviewing books or researching and writing, something mundane. So, I thought I would list some non-BS stuff I do to pass the time.

1. Hanging out at the pool with my wife.
2. Playing the Wii with my wife.
3. Facebooking.
4. Twittering. (I really am only including this in honor of Jim West’s love for Twitter.)
5. Feeding the pigeons and squirrels by hand at our apartment complex.
6. Watching Arrested Development, one of the greatest comedy shows of all time.
7. At some point, I’d love to try brewing my own beer. Perhaps I’ll give this a go after graduation.

So, what your favorite non-BS pass time(s)?

Will we meet again someday? I’d love to. Even if it’s in like 5 years. I don’t mind the time, it’s always passing anyway.

…he said.

Life does go on, wether you’re ready for it to or not ,…