spring break part IV: 3.26.2002 – 3.30.2002
(the continuation of part III)
the next few days had that peculiar quality some days have — agonizingly slow and boring and yet somehow able to fly by quickly. on tuesday i worked 8-5 at the wycliffe bible translators headquarters, which is where my parents work. i was a temporary employee of the MIS (some abstruse abbreviation for “all things technological”) department. i ran around the office building setting up computers, fixing problems, answering the computer help desk phone (“did you reboot?….oh..it works now?…good…you’re welcome….bye”), and writing blog entries.
it wasn’t the most exciting job, but it was more exciting than a host of other jobs i could have had, and it was perfect for a three-day stint.
that day after work our family celebrated passover. we had a quasi-authentic passover seder at our house, with a few other families (and mark) in attendance. i say quasi because while we followed the general format of the jewish passover, it was very christian, and recognized jesus as the messiah who has already come. so we had no pretentions of being jewish, but felt that it was a good way to commemorate and remember god’s goodness to his people, and see how the promises of the passover were fulfilled in christ.
later on dave and i watched the new planet of the apes. i hadn’t ever seen the original or heard anything about the movie, so it was kind of a shock to see that the whole movie was actually part of a propagandic agenda. it was fun to keep a tally of all the holes in the analogy. in the end i decided that the story related so little to the reverse scenario it was trying to caricature that the film was what we call in philosophy a ‘straw man’ argument. it was fun to watch apes fly around though.
the next day i was up before 7am again (i hate day jobs), and was at work until 5. i hung around the house that night. i think maybe i even took a nap. sweet. i ended up just sitting in the hot tub late into the evening, doing some “light reading” (a not-for-school philosophy book). my mom was an angel and showed me how to make a good smoothie to drink in the spa. eventually my dad and my brother even joined me, and we shared a cohiba, a nice cuban cigar my dad had. i think i don’t remember anything after that because i’d reached that point of relaxation where even my membranes (the things in your head that remember stuff) were too relaxed to do anything.
i was half an hour late to work on thursday because of traffic. my boss didn’t seem to care too much. last day for me, after all. a guy named shawn peterson, who’s the youth pastor at my church came to have lunch with me at the office. he wanted to see the new building, and talk to me about maybe doing some work with the youth group during the summer. he had some pretty exciting ideas about how i could get involved and help the high school kids grow, through worship and even some philosophical [apologetic] teaching/training. i feel like that would be a pretty fun thing to do, on top of being a good focus for extra time and energy.
after work i felt like i hadn’t done anything all day, so i went running. i did 2 miles in about 17 minutes. which isn’t bad, but not great compared to a lot of my friends. i think my roommate could run 4 miles in that amount of time. then dave and i went over to mark’s apartment and sat around and did nothing. mark’s roommate dave ahrens had a cs problem he wanted help on, but all the ways i could think of to do it involved boolean functions or pointers, neither of which he knew anything about. so i told him good luck and let him be.then mark fell asleep and dave (my brother this time) watched rush hour 2. it wasn’t horrible.
friday, being good friday, i had off work. i woke up late, bummed around a bit, then went shopping. first i went to panera for lunch, and ran into mark, who i was hoping could hook me up with free food. his manager was right there so he couldn’t, but he gave me a free drink. then i ran into a girl who works for my mom, that i went to honduras with last summer on a mission trip. she invited me to eat with her and her friend, and we had a nice lunch talking almost entirely in spanish. it felt good to use some of those spanish muscles that have been a little atrophied.
i got some random junk at target, some sandals at a shoe place, and a dvd for my dad at best buy. i deposited some checks at the bank, and then i was home. dave and i went running together, and did 2.5 miles in 17.5 minutes. i had improved since the previous day, and i felt good about that.
friday night was sweet–dave and rach and i called a bunch of friends over to have a time of worship. this is something we tend to do when a lot of the college folk are back in town, and it’s always really good. it was supposed to start at 9, so of course everyone showed up around 11, and we got started. i played and sang my heart out to god until 2 am. jason killingsworth played along. everyone sang, or prayed, or walked around, or just sat there, or even fell asleep. the last hour or so was just jason and nyffy and i, with a couple people who had fallen asleep on the couches and were dreaming peacefully. now that’s what i call awesome — worshiping to the point of exhaustion and sleep.
saturday we went to the beach. me, dave, jordan peterson, nate akers, hannah roberts & family, and hannah’s friend thais, who’s from brazil.
i’ll have you know, i love the beach. i love the sand, the sun (or the clouds or rain, whichever is there), the wind, the sound of the water, the bass of the surf in my stomach. oddly enough i don’t like being in the water very much–the undulating and the salt water which i inevitably drink too much of make me sick. but i love the beach.
we had a great time sitting around, boogie-boarding, playing sand soccer, and whatever else. and we enjoyed nice conversation on the car rides to and fro–most of which centered around cultural discussions with thais, since it’s not every day you get to hang out with someone who’s from another country. well, i suppose it happens all the time at stanford, but you know what i mean.
we drove 80mph with the windows down, the sun crashing through the windshield, making us all look cool, as if we were in a movie. it was good for my soul.
everyone got home more or less at 6. i wandered around the house for a bit, then prepared for “masculinity in togetherness–togetherness in masculinity” night. (that’s just the name i made up for it now, it’s not like it was premeditated or anything. geez). dave and i drove to pick up chris. then all three of us drove to albertsons to pick up some nice stogies. we went to the killingsworth’s. jason was there, and so was trey. other dudes showed up and left as the night wore on. we smoked cloves, stogies, pipes, and [that’s really it but i’m going to add this for effect and for samuel] any other carcinogen-bearing object that existed, exists, or will exist. we tried to sit in their hot tub but there was no propane. so we gathered around and let our testosterone carry us on, soothing tired feet and healing mud-stained hearts.
we watched bottle rocket. it was an excellent movie, and on my “movies to see to be cool” list. double bonus.
and that was it. jason started the drive to gainesville, and dave and i wearily drove home, daring ourselves to wake up in the requisite 6 hours for easter sunday church.
for me, awake in the midnight watch hours, it already was easter. i stood in the shower and thanked god that jesus did not rot in the grave, but was made alive. and i thanked god for the promise that i am, with jesus, an heir to that life. happy easter.
