I am now unemployed because Ninja Pirate went out of business. I'm kinda indifferent about it. The money was nice but I'll be enjoying the return of my Friday and Saturday nights. I definitely won't miss my boss.
When I applied to Rice, the application said I would be notified on Monday, December 15th about whether I was accepted. Naturally, I was anxiously counting down to that day. On the 14th, happened to check my email, which I don't do most Sundays before mass, and was surprised to discover an email from Rice. I had to read the first sentence 3 or 4 times before I was sure that it really said that I was accepted. Woohoo!!! :D
The following Saturday we loaded the car and started the drive to Cincinnati, Ohio to spend Christmas with my dad's family. The ride wasn't too bad since we had over 20 hours of Harry Potter 6 on CD's to listen to. I was amused when I saw a billboard in Arkansas that said "Hell is REAL!" right across the highway from an "Adult Superstore." When we arrived at my uncle's house on Sunday at about 7 in the evening, it was 9 degrees outside with a wind chill down to -11! We unpacked and got inside as quickly as possible. I probably played about 1000 points worth of ping pong games in the basement throughout the week. For Christmas, I got a laptop, a few DVD's, a Rice hoodie, a Stevie Wonder CD(which I am currently listening to) and a few other random things. Definitely more than I get on an average Christmas. Victoria got a Wii, which I will get to play a lot.
All in all, not a bad Christmas season. :)
Every so often, I'm hit by the realization that I'll be graduating in just a few months. College no longer seems like that distant dream that it used to be. Especially now that I know where I'll be going, it's so real and so close. I'm unbelievably excited, especially about joining the MOB, but honestly, I'm kinda scared. I've been in the same house for almost 15 years and at the same school for 8 1/2. It's just going to be so completely different. It'll be really hard to say goodbye to so many good friends. And, frankly, I'm kinda scared about the classes; I won't just be able to just coast through them anymore. It will be strange, and hopefully humbling, to be constantly surrounded by people who are smarter than me.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The most epic week ever (Part 2)
On Tuesday, I went to first period, then left to finally get my hand checked out. I got some pretty interesting X-rays(go look at my Facebook pictures if you want to see). It turns out that I had actually gone 6 days with somewhat severely broken hand. Though I was at my normal doctor's office, I met with his new Physician's Assistant, Dr. Dean Harvey. When I mentioned that I had waited so long because I was staffing a youth group retreat, the ensuing conversation went something like this:
"Oh, was that the one out at Camp Travis"?
"Yeah."
"Do you know John Hill"? (He's an adult leader in my youth group.)
"Yeah, why"?
"He's my brother-in-law! Our wives are sisters."
"Seriously?!?! That's crazy!"
To add to the coincidence, he looks a lot like my uncle, who is also a doctor, so I had "It's a Small World" stuck in my head for the rest of the day. After some more talk about that, and him calling me "tough" about 15 times in 10 minutes, I was sent to Texas Orthopedics, where I got a splint put on my hand(again, see my Facebook for pictures). The doctors were really surprised that I didn't want stronger pain medicine than the normal Ibuprofen I'd been taking. I'm not sure why, but my hand just doesn't hurt very much. (I saw Dr. Harvey again at Mass on Sunday, where he expressed amazement at the fact that I had been lifting cinderblocks on the retreat (I guess he had talked to John Hill about it). He called me tough a few more times.)
On Wednesday, I woke up after everyone else in my family, packed my bags, and loaded them into the car to leave for Houston. About an hour-and-a-half later, Victoria finished packing and we left. :P
I got there, met up with Alex, and went to the MOB practice next to Minute Maid stadium. Since my hand is broken and I couldn't play baritone, I played kazoo (along with 4 other people). We practiced the routine a few times and went back to Alex's dorm. Then we went to someone else's room (I'm not sure whose) and watched an episode of Your Mom(How I Met Your Mother) and an episode of House, which was fun. Then we went back to Alex's dorm to go to sleep early because we had to be downtown for the parade at 7.
The MOB did the official opening of the parade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63BQVS4e0QQ
The rest of the parade went well, except for the fact that some genius had decided to put horses at the front of the parade, so even though we were 4th or 5th, we were smelling, and occasionally walking in, horse crap the whole way. We basically alternated between Louie Louie and drum cadences. Chuck Throckmorton (the MOB's director) told us to make sure not to walk in-step. The MOB does NOT march! Skipping and jumping through the parade are perfectly fine though, as long as they're not in-time. After the parade, we had lunch at a pretty good Mexican restaurant with Alex's friend Reagan and his parents. The TVs were set to a soccer game on a Spanish channel, so 2 or 3 times during the meal, we heard the announcer yell, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!"
which made me laugh. Later, we drove to our cousins' house for a great Thanksgiving dinner, which was preceded by Home Alone I and followed by The Incredibles. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving dinner away from home meant no leftovers for us.
Friday was uneventful except for lunch at a burger place called Prince's and dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. At about midnight, I got to taste some of Reagan's legendary homemade salsa with habanero peppers. It was fully deserving of such legends, though a little too spicy for me even though he said it was milder than usual. :P
Saturday began with a MOB rehearsal, which I was a Show Assistant for. Then we went to Mission Burrito for lunch. Mission Burrito is like Freebirds and Chipotle but better, especially because of the Saturday $5 burrito-and-drink special. Then came the Rice vs. UH game, which we dominated 56-42. Playing with the MOB was great even though I was only playing kazoo. I didn't really know what the whole halftime show was about because I was too busy paying attention to my job. When the MOB formed into 10 circles in bowling pin formation, three other MOBsters and I pushed a 7-8 foot tall beach ball through them, and they stopped playing and fell over when they were hit. It was pretty awesome. Then I had to say godbye to Rice and go home. *sniff* :'(
As closing thought, I'm kinda disappointed in this program's spell-check. It doesn't know how to spell "retreatants", "Throckmorton", "habanero", "Freebirds", or "Chipotle". It also doesn't recognize the word "goal" when spelled with a Spanish soccer announcer accent. It does, however, accept "kinda" as a real word.
"Oh, was that the one out at Camp Travis"?
"Yeah."
"Do you know John Hill"? (He's an adult leader in my youth group.)
"Yeah, why"?
"He's my brother-in-law! Our wives are sisters."
"Seriously?!?! That's crazy!"
To add to the coincidence, he looks a lot like my uncle, who is also a doctor, so I had "It's a Small World" stuck in my head for the rest of the day. After some more talk about that, and him calling me "tough" about 15 times in 10 minutes, I was sent to Texas Orthopedics, where I got a splint put on my hand(again, see my Facebook for pictures). The doctors were really surprised that I didn't want stronger pain medicine than the normal Ibuprofen I'd been taking. I'm not sure why, but my hand just doesn't hurt very much. (I saw Dr. Harvey again at Mass on Sunday, where he expressed amazement at the fact that I had been lifting cinderblocks on the retreat (I guess he had talked to John Hill about it). He called me tough a few more times.)
On Wednesday, I woke up after everyone else in my family, packed my bags, and loaded them into the car to leave for Houston. About an hour-and-a-half later, Victoria finished packing and we left. :P
I got there, met up with Alex, and went to the MOB practice next to Minute Maid stadium. Since my hand is broken and I couldn't play baritone, I played kazoo (along with 4 other people). We practiced the routine a few times and went back to Alex's dorm. Then we went to someone else's room (I'm not sure whose) and watched an episode of Your Mom(How I Met Your Mother) and an episode of House, which was fun. Then we went back to Alex's dorm to go to sleep early because we had to be downtown for the parade at 7.
The MOB did the official opening of the parade:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63BQVS4e0QQ
The rest of the parade went well, except for the fact that some genius had decided to put horses at the front of the parade, so even though we were 4th or 5th, we were smelling, and occasionally walking in, horse crap the whole way. We basically alternated between Louie Louie and drum cadences. Chuck Throckmorton (the MOB's director) told us to make sure not to walk in-step. The MOB does NOT march! Skipping and jumping through the parade are perfectly fine though, as long as they're not in-time. After the parade, we had lunch at a pretty good Mexican restaurant with Alex's friend Reagan and his parents. The TVs were set to a soccer game on a Spanish channel, so 2 or 3 times during the meal, we heard the announcer yell, "GOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!!!!"
which made me laugh. Later, we drove to our cousins' house for a great Thanksgiving dinner, which was preceded by Home Alone I and followed by The Incredibles. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving dinner away from home meant no leftovers for us.
Friday was uneventful except for lunch at a burger place called Prince's and dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. At about midnight, I got to taste some of Reagan's legendary homemade salsa with habanero peppers. It was fully deserving of such legends, though a little too spicy for me even though he said it was milder than usual. :P
Saturday began with a MOB rehearsal, which I was a Show Assistant for. Then we went to Mission Burrito for lunch. Mission Burrito is like Freebirds and Chipotle but better, especially because of the Saturday $5 burrito-and-drink special. Then came the Rice vs. UH game, which we dominated 56-42. Playing with the MOB was great even though I was only playing kazoo. I didn't really know what the whole halftime show was about because I was too busy paying attention to my job. When the MOB formed into 10 circles in bowling pin formation, three other MOBsters and I pushed a 7-8 foot tall beach ball through them, and they stopped playing and fell over when they were hit. It was pretty awesome. Then I had to say godbye to Rice and go home. *sniff* :'(
As closing thought, I'm kinda disappointed in this program's spell-check. It doesn't know how to spell "retreatants", "Throckmorton", "habanero", "Freebirds", or "Chipotle". It also doesn't recognize the word "goal" when spelled with a Spanish soccer announcer accent. It does, however, accept "kinda" as a real word.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The most epic week ever (Part 1)
Technically, if I start from the beginning, it's about a week and a half, but that's not as cool of a title. Here it goes...
Last Wednesday, I was playing basketball during lunch. I jammed my right hand into Ryan Brunson's arm as he was making a pass, heard a crack, and felt an excruciating pain. I went to the bathroom to run my hand under cold water, but the pain continued. Fortunately, my mom was working in the cafeteria, so I went and got an ice pack from her. I spent 7th period unable to write and trying to ignore the pain. By 8th period, my hand was kinda numb from the cold. After the bell, I went to Mr. Pollard and told him that I couldn't record my audition for the TPSMEA All-State Band that day. The most ironic part of the whole thing was that I normally would have spent lunch practicing Jazz Combo music in the band room. I had skipped the practice so that I wouldn't tire out my lips before the audition. :(
I figured my hand would heal on it's own, so I didn't go to a doctor. Instead, I went on Retreat X! I left school on Friday at noon with Trever Brightwell. After packing John Hill's truck with far more than it was intended to hold, we left for Camp Travis, which was beautiful and had an amazing view of Lake Travis. We rushed to get everything set up before the retreatants(yes, that's what we call people going on retreats) got there. In order to not divulge secrets that only those who have been on Retreat X may know, I can't go into too much detail. What I can say is this:
1) I was extremely nervous about my talk, though it went pretty well.
2) I was double-crossed when I attempted to double-cross Suva. This is a bad idea for those who were wondering. Beware of the Suva!
3) I grew really close to the other staff. I love you guys so much!
4) Life is more fun if you let yourself have fun. There are times to be serious, but there are times to just be silly and have fun with your friends.
5) I have a lot of respect for Tori and Betsy, who were running around constantly, checking on everything, attempting to make sure everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, this just isn't possible on a youth group retreat. Something is always doomed to go wrong. :P
6) Time flies when you don't stop to smell the roses. All of the staff were so busy organizing things that the weekend was gone by the time we realized it had started. This is fine when staffing retreats, because the retreats aren't about us, they're about the retreatants. However, I realized that I need to make sure I don't let my life happen like that. I can't spend so much time preparing for the future that I don't enjoy the present. At some point, things will just work well or they won't. I need to learn when to stop worrying and just pray and adopt the "let it be" mindset.
I had a great time, and miss everyone so much.
About 2 hours after I got home from Retreat X, I left for a campus visit to ACU. As soon as I got there and met my host, we went to the Sunday 9:00 chapel. There were probably nearly 1000 people there singing praise and worship. It was so amazing; I could barely hear my own voice. After some really great skits and more singing, we went back to his dorm in Mabee Hall and hung out with the other guys there. We just walked into his friends rooms unannounced and talked with other guys. After playing soccer in the hallway, we went to sleep. That is definitely an advantage to all-guy dorms. I'm not saying that I don't have extremely close friendships with girls, but there is just something different about friendships between guys. I'm pretty sure most guys feel the same way. I feel more honest and open around other guys; it's easier to just be myself.
Monday morning, I went and started the official "Wildcat Preview Day" by winning an ACU blanket for knowing when ACU wad founded. I guess I learned something at the other events when I was getting free food. :P I visited a really good Bible class, a decent band rehearsal, and a great cafeteria: The "World Famous Bean." Then I met Mrs. Dauherity and her husband, a physics professor at ACU, who showed me around. He introduced me to the Jazz Director and a few people at the Physics Department, including Dr. Rusty Towell. Dr. Towell talked about how much research Physics get to do in summer internships and things like that because ACU doesn't have a graduate program in Physics. I talked with a couple other people about admissions and the Honors College, went on an official Residence Hall tour, and went home.
To be continued... (BUM BUM BUUUUUUUM!)
Last Wednesday, I was playing basketball during lunch. I jammed my right hand into Ryan Brunson's arm as he was making a pass, heard a crack, and felt an excruciating pain. I went to the bathroom to run my hand under cold water, but the pain continued. Fortunately, my mom was working in the cafeteria, so I went and got an ice pack from her. I spent 7th period unable to write and trying to ignore the pain. By 8th period, my hand was kinda numb from the cold. After the bell, I went to Mr. Pollard and told him that I couldn't record my audition for the TPSMEA All-State Band that day. The most ironic part of the whole thing was that I normally would have spent lunch practicing Jazz Combo music in the band room. I had skipped the practice so that I wouldn't tire out my lips before the audition. :(
I figured my hand would heal on it's own, so I didn't go to a doctor. Instead, I went on Retreat X! I left school on Friday at noon with Trever Brightwell. After packing John Hill's truck with far more than it was intended to hold, we left for Camp Travis, which was beautiful and had an amazing view of Lake Travis. We rushed to get everything set up before the retreatants(yes, that's what we call people going on retreats) got there. In order to not divulge secrets that only those who have been on Retreat X may know, I can't go into too much detail. What I can say is this:
1) I was extremely nervous about my talk, though it went pretty well.
2) I was double-crossed when I attempted to double-cross Suva. This is a bad idea for those who were wondering. Beware of the Suva!
3) I grew really close to the other staff. I love you guys so much!
4) Life is more fun if you let yourself have fun. There are times to be serious, but there are times to just be silly and have fun with your friends.
5) I have a lot of respect for Tori and Betsy, who were running around constantly, checking on everything, attempting to make sure everything went smoothly. Unfortunately, this just isn't possible on a youth group retreat. Something is always doomed to go wrong. :P
6) Time flies when you don't stop to smell the roses. All of the staff were so busy organizing things that the weekend was gone by the time we realized it had started. This is fine when staffing retreats, because the retreats aren't about us, they're about the retreatants. However, I realized that I need to make sure I don't let my life happen like that. I can't spend so much time preparing for the future that I don't enjoy the present. At some point, things will just work well or they won't. I need to learn when to stop worrying and just pray and adopt the "let it be" mindset.
I had a great time, and miss everyone so much.
About 2 hours after I got home from Retreat X, I left for a campus visit to ACU. As soon as I got there and met my host, we went to the Sunday 9:00 chapel. There were probably nearly 1000 people there singing praise and worship. It was so amazing; I could barely hear my own voice. After some really great skits and more singing, we went back to his dorm in Mabee Hall and hung out with the other guys there. We just walked into his friends rooms unannounced and talked with other guys. After playing soccer in the hallway, we went to sleep. That is definitely an advantage to all-guy dorms. I'm not saying that I don't have extremely close friendships with girls, but there is just something different about friendships between guys. I'm pretty sure most guys feel the same way. I feel more honest and open around other guys; it's easier to just be myself.
Monday morning, I went and started the official "Wildcat Preview Day" by winning an ACU blanket for knowing when ACU wad founded. I guess I learned something at the other events when I was getting free food. :P I visited a really good Bible class, a decent band rehearsal, and a great cafeteria: The "World Famous Bean." Then I met Mrs. Dauherity and her husband, a physics professor at ACU, who showed me around. He introduced me to the Jazz Director and a few people at the Physics Department, including Dr. Rusty Towell. Dr. Towell talked about how much research Physics get to do in summer internships and things like that because ACU doesn't have a graduate program in Physics. I talked with a couple other people about admissions and the Honors College, went on an official Residence Hall tour, and went home.
To be continued... (BUM BUM BUUUUUUUM!)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
7th graders and tuba solos
Wow, I've been posting a lot. My life isn't usually this exciting...
Monday morning I was at Brentwood at 6:30 a.m. to leave for Camp Buckner. I was a counselor on the 7th grade retreat along with Colleen, Catherine, Ben, and Jay. Each of us had a group of 9-10 7th graders and a teacher sponsor. I was with Mrs. Morin, and our "low ropes" team-building exercise was disaster. We were attempting group juggling, and most of the guys were completely uninterested and wouldn't cooperate. After lunch, we found out that one of the groups would have to be split up because there were only 4 high ropes courses. My group split up, which worked out pretty well. During the high ropes, I was amazed at how far some of these kids were willing to push themselves. The first one we did, we had to walk across a steel cable only holding onto ropes hanging from above us. This wouldn't have been too bad, but they were pretty far apart, making it hard to grab onto the next one. Our instructor was Robert, an 50-ish black guy who was about 6'4." When we were preparing to climb and going through the commands, whenever we said, "Climbing," instead of saying, "Climb on," he would say, "Climb on witcha' bad self." For some reason, this entertained me to no end, and I doubt I'll ever forget it. Next was "The Screamer," which was a 40 foot high pole. The whole group would pull a rope to pull you to the top of it, then you would let go of the rip-cord and swing toward the other pole. This was the easiest, but most fun. That night, I led a devo for the guys in my cabin, which had me really nervous. Shockingly, all 10 of them stayed quiet for the whole time. Tuesday morning after breakfast, we did the other 2 ropes courses. First, we did the "Power Pole" which was a 30-foot pole with rungs on it. We had to climb up, stand on the top,(which was about a foot across) and jump to a trapeze bar. I was really proud of Co Ho, who stopped climbing before he got to the top and said he was coming down, but when we cheered him on, he eventually made it, jumped, and grabbed the bar. Unfortunately, I got one foot on the top, lost my balance, and fell. The next course was a 30-foot high balance beam, which Mike Lee and I crossed blindfolded. Good times.
After getting back to Austin, I went to UT for a tuba recital by Oystein Baadsvik, one of the best tuba players on earth(www.baadsvik.com). He played Carnival of Venice at a speed that would have been really impressive on piccolo. Then, as the second encore, he played Fnugg. Fnugg is so awesome, it cannot really be explained. It must be witnessed. Fortunaltely for those of you who weren't cool enough to be at the recital, a really good arrangement of Fnugg is on Youtube. Listen carefully and you will hear that he is singing through the tuba while playing.(multiphonics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHMyrhilkdo
There is also a good recording of Carnival of Venice played by Baadsvik on Youtube.
Monday morning I was at Brentwood at 6:30 a.m. to leave for Camp Buckner. I was a counselor on the 7th grade retreat along with Colleen, Catherine, Ben, and Jay. Each of us had a group of 9-10 7th graders and a teacher sponsor. I was with Mrs. Morin, and our "low ropes" team-building exercise was disaster. We were attempting group juggling, and most of the guys were completely uninterested and wouldn't cooperate. After lunch, we found out that one of the groups would have to be split up because there were only 4 high ropes courses. My group split up, which worked out pretty well. During the high ropes, I was amazed at how far some of these kids were willing to push themselves. The first one we did, we had to walk across a steel cable only holding onto ropes hanging from above us. This wouldn't have been too bad, but they were pretty far apart, making it hard to grab onto the next one. Our instructor was Robert, an 50-ish black guy who was about 6'4." When we were preparing to climb and going through the commands, whenever we said, "Climbing," instead of saying, "Climb on," he would say, "Climb on witcha' bad self." For some reason, this entertained me to no end, and I doubt I'll ever forget it. Next was "The Screamer," which was a 40 foot high pole. The whole group would pull a rope to pull you to the top of it, then you would let go of the rip-cord and swing toward the other pole. This was the easiest, but most fun. That night, I led a devo for the guys in my cabin, which had me really nervous. Shockingly, all 10 of them stayed quiet for the whole time. Tuesday morning after breakfast, we did the other 2 ropes courses. First, we did the "Power Pole" which was a 30-foot pole with rungs on it. We had to climb up, stand on the top,(which was about a foot across) and jump to a trapeze bar. I was really proud of Co Ho, who stopped climbing before he got to the top and said he was coming down, but when we cheered him on, he eventually made it, jumped, and grabbed the bar. Unfortunately, I got one foot on the top, lost my balance, and fell. The next course was a 30-foot high balance beam, which Mike Lee and I crossed blindfolded. Good times.
After getting back to Austin, I went to UT for a tuba recital by Oystein Baadsvik, one of the best tuba players on earth(www.baadsvik.com). He played Carnival of Venice at a speed that would have been really impressive on piccolo. Then, as the second encore, he played Fnugg. Fnugg is so awesome, it cannot really be explained. It must be witnessed. Fortunaltely for those of you who weren't cool enough to be at the recital, a really good arrangement of Fnugg is on Youtube. Listen carefully and you will hear that he is singing through the tuba while playing.(multiphonics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHMyrhilkdo
There is also a good recording of Carnival of Venice played by Baadsvik on Youtube.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Another strange story from Ninja Pirate
Yesterday I found out that one of our regular customers, Bo,(or Beau or Bow or something) had, for no apparent reason, set Brandon's(another regular) beard on fire. It was caught on the store's cameras and he spent about a week in jail. I'm not sure when(or if) the trial is. When people asked Brandon why Bo/Beau/Bow did it, he responded, "because he's a douchebag."
Oh what a strange world we live in.
Oh what a strange world we live in.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Start it off with something deep
Just as a disclaimer, I will likely be "thinking out loud" a lot of the time, so please don't start arguments. I like to throw out a lot of "what if's."
I decided to start a blog for various reasons. I don't really feel like writing all of them. Based on past experiences, I will either lose interest in this within a few hours/days/weeks, or become obsessed and post blogs 12-30 times a day. :P
One recent thing that made me want to start this was something that happened while I was at work on Saturday. I work at a comics and games store called Ninja Pirate, for those of you who don't know (http://www.ninjapirateland.com/)
It was about 6:30 when Chris Duran, one of the regulars at the shop showed up at with his face and arm covered in blood and bruises. A middle aged woman, who none of us knew, was frantically helping him keep pressure on his head while asking for paper towels. I rushed to get some, and she explained that she had driven up in front of the Subway(a few doors down) to see Chris on the ground, surrounded by 5 or 6 guys, and being beaten up by one of them. She yelled at them, causing them all to jump into their pickup truck and speed off. While Amy(one of the store owners) was calling 9-1-1, Chris was saying that he didn't even know the guys. He just looked at them and they jumped him. As far as we could guess, they were probably racist rednecks who attacked him just because he's hispanic. Soon, a fire truck, ambulance, and police car showed up. They checked Chris out, saying that he would need a few stitches, and took him to the hospital. One of the witnesses gave the police a description of the truck and the liscense plate number, and there was soon a helicopter circling in the direction they had driven. Apparently, several other similar incidents had happened that day, probably all the same guys.
There are several things from that incident that really made me think. First, I was stunned that people could be so cruel as to beat up someone based on race. They may have just been drunk or complete idiots, but with this financial crisis, they may be going through hard times, and wanted someone to take out their anger on. It doesn't excuse their actions, but if things keep getting worse, I wonder if we may see more incidents like this all over the country. History class discussions of the Holocaust came to mind. If we really go into a depression, people will get desperate. I can see how an inspirational leader like Hitler could convince his people that if they just got rid of the Jews, their lives would get better. People like to find scapegoats for their problems, rather than just accepting that life isn't fair and trying to make the best of their crappy situations. One very true cliche which I like very much is this: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Don't go around throwing lemons at people who aren't the reason you have them.
The second thing is that I was amazed at the kindness of that woman. She saw someone who needed help, and she did whatever she could to help him. She stayed for half an hour, helping him clean up, talking to the firemen, police and paramedics, and trying to contact his dad. I also have a new appreciation for firemen, policemen, and paramedics. After seeing them in action, showing so much kindness and care to that traumatized young man made me realize the truth in another cliched saying: they are the real heroes. That kind of selfless kindness, from them and that woman, gives me more faith in humanity, especially after something like that.
On a much simpler, less profound note, head wounds bleed a lot! No kidding. If he hadn't gotten direct pressure on the wound so quickly, he probably would have passed out and needed a blood transfusion, all from a cut that will only need a few stitches.
Please pray for Chris, for physical and emotional healing, but also pray for the guys that did this terrible thing to him, for whatever reasons they did it.
I decided to start a blog for various reasons. I don't really feel like writing all of them. Based on past experiences, I will either lose interest in this within a few hours/days/weeks, or become obsessed and post blogs 12-30 times a day. :P
One recent thing that made me want to start this was something that happened while I was at work on Saturday. I work at a comics and games store called Ninja Pirate, for those of you who don't know (http://www.ninjapirateland.com/)
It was about 6:30 when Chris Duran, one of the regulars at the shop showed up at with his face and arm covered in blood and bruises. A middle aged woman, who none of us knew, was frantically helping him keep pressure on his head while asking for paper towels. I rushed to get some, and she explained that she had driven up in front of the Subway(a few doors down) to see Chris on the ground, surrounded by 5 or 6 guys, and being beaten up by one of them. She yelled at them, causing them all to jump into their pickup truck and speed off. While Amy(one of the store owners) was calling 9-1-1, Chris was saying that he didn't even know the guys. He just looked at them and they jumped him. As far as we could guess, they were probably racist rednecks who attacked him just because he's hispanic. Soon, a fire truck, ambulance, and police car showed up. They checked Chris out, saying that he would need a few stitches, and took him to the hospital. One of the witnesses gave the police a description of the truck and the liscense plate number, and there was soon a helicopter circling in the direction they had driven. Apparently, several other similar incidents had happened that day, probably all the same guys.
There are several things from that incident that really made me think. First, I was stunned that people could be so cruel as to beat up someone based on race. They may have just been drunk or complete idiots, but with this financial crisis, they may be going through hard times, and wanted someone to take out their anger on. It doesn't excuse their actions, but if things keep getting worse, I wonder if we may see more incidents like this all over the country. History class discussions of the Holocaust came to mind. If we really go into a depression, people will get desperate. I can see how an inspirational leader like Hitler could convince his people that if they just got rid of the Jews, their lives would get better. People like to find scapegoats for their problems, rather than just accepting that life isn't fair and trying to make the best of their crappy situations. One very true cliche which I like very much is this: "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Don't go around throwing lemons at people who aren't the reason you have them.
The second thing is that I was amazed at the kindness of that woman. She saw someone who needed help, and she did whatever she could to help him. She stayed for half an hour, helping him clean up, talking to the firemen, police and paramedics, and trying to contact his dad. I also have a new appreciation for firemen, policemen, and paramedics. After seeing them in action, showing so much kindness and care to that traumatized young man made me realize the truth in another cliched saying: they are the real heroes. That kind of selfless kindness, from them and that woman, gives me more faith in humanity, especially after something like that.
On a much simpler, less profound note, head wounds bleed a lot! No kidding. If he hadn't gotten direct pressure on the wound so quickly, he probably would have passed out and needed a blood transfusion, all from a cut that will only need a few stitches.
Please pray for Chris, for physical and emotional healing, but also pray for the guys that did this terrible thing to him, for whatever reasons they did it.
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