Visit.

Tonight I made the most of my life, and went out on a Tuesday night. This can be difficult to do after a long day of interacting with emotionally needy high schoolers. I could not resist the pleasure of the company of my dear friend, Julie, and the opportunity to catch up on her life.

We went to Ono Sushi, a delicious restaurant in San Diego, and took advantage of their Tuesday night half-off specialty rolls, which were phenomenally amazing. Patrick and I shared the Crunchy Roll, the Ono Sushi Roll, and the Triple Fantasy Roll, and it was divinity in the form of fish and rice.

Meanwhile, we swapped our happenings, and laughed and took pictures that Julie complained "made her look huge," and I defended "I can't help being miniature" and we smiled, laughed, and finally, after a cheerful celebration, devoured together the tempura fried ice cream with berries.

It felt good to be out, to catch up, and I wish all of the best people didn't live so far away, and the visits could be more like "hanging out" and less like "visits" but I am not complaining, not really, not at all.

Mix.

Mixing music and I go way back to when boom boxes and cassette tapes were in fashion. It was much more difficult then -- when you had to hit play and press record at the same time -- and you couldn't skip tracks. You just took the tape for all it was worth.

These days, Groove Shark and 8 Tracks make it simple to playlist-and-go, but that's still not the way I roll.

Tonight I visited a coffee shop whose Internet connection makes me grumpy, and I really meant to be productive, but it was just a lot more fun to feel out the beats, emotions, and lyrical significance of my new mix.

The mix, I believe, shall be entitled:
"What I Held in My Hands",
which refers to a poem by Marge Piercy
which I love, and can practically quote by heart.

Let's see:

I said, I like my life. If I
have to give it back, if they
take it from me, let me only not
feel that I wasted any, that I forgot
to love anyone I meant to love,
that I forgot to give what I held
in my hands.

There's more, but that's the part that sticks with me every time I read it.

My mix features some great finds from music blogs that I've been perusing lately.
You can peruse them to:

Ear Farm
Said the Gramophone
I (Heart) Music

This is one of the happier songs (it might get cut):



I used an exceptional lot of colons in this post.

Climb.

Today I went rock climbing on real rocks.
It was only the most perfect of days to do this.
San Diego looked like a different country; the canyon was so green. (Yes, I did just slip a semicolon into that sentence to make it that much more sophisticated.)
Why is climbing on rocks so entertaining?
Does it matter?
I liked today.

Play.

I sit inside a dark class, along with oh, 8 or so students. A remix is playing loudly on the speakers. At this point in the long evening, most of the students have drifted into the half-sleep, half-wake phase of existence, while just a few of them continue to play virtual soccer. And it is 5:03, and I am still awake.

More-or-less, I have been awake since this time yesterday.

The cause? A LAN Party. This is a baffling event wherein you bring game systems and computers and everyone sits together and plays game literally all night long. We are raising a small amount of money to cover travel costs for debate tournaments of future, and I am the debate coach, and I am chaperoning.

I remember when T came to me initially with the idea and suggested it. I thought, I can say yes, and this will probably never happen. Yes, I then said hesitantly. From now until forever, I will remember, when T has an idea, it will become a reality, no matter how many people have to be persuaded to get involved. She is an unstoppable force.

The exhaustion aside, I have had a ton of fun tonight.
In addition to random conversations about eating gross things, disturbing/funny cat situations, and life-in-general, I learned how to play Call of Duty (I'm not very good at it) and Just Dance 2, which is that awesome game for Wii that somehow senses where your controller is, and you have to dance what you see.

It was so fun. I wanted to dance all night.
Watching everyone play is so fun, too.
So yeah, I may have lost an entire night's worth of sleep,
and yeah, my flu may never go away,
but this was a worthwhile cause,
and a worthwhile bunch of students,
and this even serves as a persuasive technique to get parents to find more efficient fundraising techniques!

Watch.

Lina and I are becoming more impressive long-distance relationers. Tonight we got on video chat and pressed "Play" at the exact same moment on Hulu and watch the two latest episodes of Glee.

Serendipity is that we got to watch the Justin Bieber episode on Justin Bieber's birthday! (happy birthday, Justin!) ahahahahahha!

It was nothing short of absolutely amazing.

We laughed until I lost my voice.
And then we typed and laughed some more.

I post this love song mash-up with several songs featured in tonight's episode as an anthem of my love for her.

Recollect.

What happened to February?

This project began as a simple autobiographical experiment to remember my verbs, and to spend a little less writing time up in the clouds. It went well for January, and then gradually lost steam, until I am left with a single entry for February and hardly any memories beside.

I barely remember February.

Here are some verbs that I do remember.

Congratulate: My team of students stayed late on a Thursday and worked very, very hard to get their mini-comic pages together for their collection of stories about Learning Differences. That Thursday was full of high fives and happinesses.

Sit: Patrick took me to Shelter Island, I think it was, for Valentine's and we sat on the sand with our own miniature bonfire and ate good foods from the Linkery, and the best part was the peppermint white mocha he saved in a thermos, and everything felt very serene as the lights of San Diego reflected off the waters of the bay at night.

Drive: I took my advisory students to UCLA for college day. I drove 7-8 hours up and back from LA and got painfully stuck in traffic on the way back home.

Writhe: I got wicked sick after college day, and spent a good part of the following day writhing in a flu-induced stupor.

Explore: Patrick & I went to Angel Island and explored old barracks that looked haunted, but were just getting a little rotten.

Hike: On the one beautiful, sunny day we got to spend at Angel Island, we hiked up in the trees and grasses and trails. Sunset point, or something? I don't know. The sun was indeed setting, and it was beautiful.

Coach: We had State Quals for our debate team on February 25, I think it was, and I drove just a few students up to Encinitas and back on a Friday night that went late, late, later. I helped out with all the postings and ballots and things, and helped to coach the students and encourage them in the better ways I know how.

That's only 7 days, or so, and I barely remember the others. I know, though, that I spent very many of the February days feeling sick sick sick, and there was nothing to do except keep surviving and make it through.
So that's what I did, and I went to bed early, and cried when it hurt too bad, and somehow made it all the way to March.

Read.

I picked up a book by Henry J.M. Nouwen a while ago at my favorite used book store in San Diego. As opposed to other books that Nouwen has written, The Inner Voice of Love doesn't really have a plot or direction. You don't have to read it from start to finish. You can do that fated thing where you just let it open, and see if what is written speaks to you.

When I do the fated thing, it really does usually work.

Today I read "Come Home." It was something good to accept today.

There are two realities to which you must cling. First, God has promised that you will receive the love you have been searching for. And second, God is faithful to that promise.

So stop wandering around. Instead, come home and trust that God will bring you what you need. Your whole life you have been running about, seeking the love you desire. Now it is time to end that search. Trust that God will give you that all-fulfilling love and will give it in a human way. Before you die, God will offer you the deepest satisfaction you can desire. Just stop running and start trusting and receiving.

Home is where you are truly safe. It is where you can receive what you desire. You need human hands to hold you there so you don’t run away again. But when you come home and stay home, you will find the love that will bring rest to your heart.