Will ya look at that...

I was sitting at my dad's desk last night grabbing a few minutes on the web when Fr Beau (the curate, aka Dad's assistant) came in. He then held up a church magazine for me to see, and as I looked, he turned it around to the back and pointed to something on the back...

Much to my surprise I found this:


I was very, very shocked, because you see, The Messenger Journal, is "a traditional Anglican communication" which is an international publication. It was actually published in Australia, and goes out all over the place.

So now, my dear friends, I can say that have had my work published in an international publication. While I'm not given credit in words, you will notice my mark in the corner of the "photo". Never in my wildest imaginings would I have thought that that picture would be sent around the world. And to think that it just started out as a way to humor a new friend...

The World is Getting Smaller

With all the technology we have now days, it seems to me that the world is getting smaller. I can be sitting in LA but see my brother's study in TN. I can call friends in MI and help them decide on cameras. I can go on the web and find people I haven't seen since my last mission trip to México. Who knows, in the coming years they may figure out how to the telaporting that we thought would only be in the Sci-Fi stories.

Once upon a time I thought running into someone I knew while I was at the store made the world small... now I know what that ride at Disneyland means... "Though the mountains and oceans are wide, it's a small world after all!"

Life in a Church

The life of a PK (Preacher or Priest take your pick) is always an interesting one. They generally end up spending a good deal of time at their father's church...
I've always found that that statement didn't quite fit me. No, from the time I was born I've found myself actually living in the church. Seriously, when I was born my parents were living above the church my father was serving at, so when I was brought home from the hospital it was to a church.
Over the years, since my dad hasn't had a church to pastor, I found myself not in churches that much, until NCCC that is. I quickly discovered that I did "live" at NCCC for the majority of my time there. In fact, I agree with my friend who said: "This is home [NCCC], I just sleep at my house."
Now, I find myself being a PK again. Granted I've always been one, but I realized that everyone would again recognize me as the PK when I hear them refer to my dad as "Father". The first couple of times threw me for a minute, but now I've gotten used to it.
Also, I find myself living in a church... again Yes, I'm living in the Dodd Cottage behind the church, but it's only six feet from the back door of the church. And since we're still settling in, I find myself over at SMA (Saint Mary of the Angels) more often then not. They have a fully equipped kitchen (including professional ice maker, and washer and dryer), where we find ourselves when we need to bake things, since our oven doesn't work. We jokingly call the Parish Hall our formal dinning room. Being in a ranch style one-bedroom cottage, we make up for the lack of stairs, by daily walking to the church office for our dose(s) of internet.
SMA rents out the parish hall during the week, since we aren't using it. So we have a variety of people who we see that don't go to our church. On Sunday nights, we have a choral group, who are spectacular; on Mondays we have an actors group; and on Wednesdays and Fridays there are AA groups that meet. It makes getting into the church interesting at times, I don't have all the keys I'm supposed to have yet, so I can't go through the less noticeable passages, but hopefully I will be able to get them soon. Often times, these groups will leave goodies and such for us, the actors regularly give us fruits such as watermelons.
Last Saturday, I found myself up on the roof of the cottage cleaning out the gutters that hadn't been cleaned in some time. I was the subject of attention by the parishioners (church members) who came. The choir director saw me up there when he arrived to practice the organ, and said: "The auditions for Peter Pan have been delayed." The treasurer came out and commented on the mess I was making... though when he first came out I had gone to the other side of the house, and Drew was there trying to sweep up the mess I had made. So when the treasurer said: "Look, at the mess you've made." and Drew replied: "She did it!" and pointed to the roof, I wasn't seen. It was a rather humorous day.

Anyway... that's life in church.

Communication

In a world of technology, being unable to communicate is frustrating. When you're a computer person and used to being on the internet, and having instant access to e-mail, friends and family, the world wide web in general, being without it is very, very annoying. Having been one the major techs at NCCC and having done stuff right up until I left, being without it suddenly is rather well, vexing. When the e-mail and various internet websites (i.e. FaceBook, Blogger and the like) are the only way you can keep up with what your friends are doing being cut off from it is really hard.

Really, though, I was doing well until a few days ago and started going stir crazy being cooped up in the Dodd Cottage. I started realizing just how cut off from the world I was. By the way, I don't have any TV at the moment either. How much more cut off can you get? The only way I can find out what is happening, is to hike through the church to my dad's office.

Don't think that I'm implying that "I don't like LA" or anything like that, I'm really enjoying it. It's just kind of boring at times. Trying to get settled in, get things going, figuring out what my place is exactly. At NCCC I knew what my role was and could do it very well; here they do not have a projector and really they don't have that many computers either. They aren't making flyers for events, they aren't making movies to help illustrate sermon points... I suppose you could say I'm out a job.

Anyway, back to the main point. Let's face it. The world revolves around instant communication now days, and when you're out of the loop, well, it can get rather boring.


PS ~ I will be getting my cable and internet soon. Hopefully tomorrow. :-)

Welcome to Hollywood...

I suppose a bit of me has been un-able to believe that I'm actually living in Hollywood/LA. I think it finally sunk in the other night as I watched a film crew turn the next block over into mini-studio. How often do you see that in Michigan?

Anywho, yes, I watched a crew film a few scenes of The Shield. We even got to stand with the crew and talk to the Location Manger who told us about what they were filming. It was fun to watch them setting up the lights and the equipment. My mom made the comment at one point: "I see a lot of interesting things, but where's the camera?" Watching the crew do there job, hearing the classic: "Rolling!" Be on "set" was just cool.
The crew themselves were interesting to watch because they were characters themselves, you just don't see them on camera, watching them do there job in a very devoted way... reminds you just what goes on behind the scenes of a movie or film. It also shows you why tickets for movies are so expensive, they have to pay all these people that are never seen on camera (unless it's one of those behind scenes documentaries). They were all having a good time and joking around (when they weren't filming); doing last minute things the director decides to to...

I guess it's like the song says: There's No Business Like Show Business

Funny Stuff on Road Trips

I've noticed that there tend to be some funny stuff that happens on road trips. Either you see a sign or someone says something funny, or then of course there are those random moments when something random happens. So here's some things that we thought were funny.

Directions
Here's an excerpt from our directions we got from the AAA trip-tic to go from Pulaski, TN to Frisco, TX:
2. Go STRAIGHT to get on US­64 W. Drive for 34.8 miles.
3. US­64 W becomes US­64 E. Drive for 6 miles.
4. US­64 E becomes US­64 W. Drive for 42.6 miles.
5. US­64 W becomes US­64 E. Drive for 4.8 miles.
6. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT to get on US­64 W. Drive for 3 miles.
7. Go STRAIGHT on US­64 E. Drive for 1.9 miles.
8. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT to get on US­64 W. Drive for 4.5 miles.
9. Take exit. Drive for 0.2 miles.

Signs
I saw some signs on the way that I thought you all might find interesting:

Quartsize Town Limits - really? that would be a pretty small town, I mean, how many people can you fit on a quarter? ;-)

Green Burrito - I don't know about you but that doesn't sound very appetizing (That might gag a buzzard...)

or then of course, we saw a PT Cruiser that said: Oversized Load. This might have been more convincing if it had actually had an "oversized load" in the area.

Warning Dust Storm May Exist Next 20 Miles - It was a thunderstorm the entire time

Random
Ok, so we're going down this road in Tucson, AZ and the street is being repaved as we're going down the road (I'll point out that it was around 9 o'clock in the morning) so we're going down the road heading toward the Mission San Xavier Del Bac and the next thing we know we're passing a mini-van that had fallen off the road and right into wet concrete. It was hilarious. The construction workers were digging out the concrete feverishly cause it was already super hot and the concrete was drying fast. But anyway, the van was up to its axles in concrete, with three wheels firmly planted in the concrete it was a funny sight. On our way back from the Mission we saw a couple standing nearby, we figure it had to be the owners of the van cause the woman was yelling at the man and the man looked rather sheepish. Also by that time they had gotten the car out of the concrete and on to a tow truck.

So, this didn't happen on the trip but it was while we were unloading the truck so it kinda counts. Anyway, I went to Costco to pick up some water for everybody. So I get three flats, and head to the check out. The guy at the check out asked me if I was doing a movie shoot. ;-)


Anyway, that was just a few of the things that made us laugh on the trip. James Herriot, did the majority I think, but you'll just have to hear his stories yourself, because it would take me a lot of blogs to cover his funny stories.
Ta-Ta for now... pray that I can get some internet in the Dodd Cottage soon.

Of Deadlines and Blackouts

I'm not a big fan of deadlines. I see their purpose but I don't like them at times. Like Friday for example. We arrived in LA early (as in 1 am) on the 30th. Once we got up the next morning we got up and started figuring out the arrangements for unloading the trucks... to make a long story short we ended up having 12 hours to unload the trucks, pack the storage stuff, move the things going to the cottage to the cottage, and get the Immanuel Banners stuff where we needed it to go. Oh, and did I mention that LA is having a major heat wave so that it's actually over 100 the past couple of days? In fact on Friday we heard that it was 109 and we estimate that it was probably in the 120s in the truck. We were outside all day, so we were very tired, and very very hot. So anyway we did get the trucks unloaded and most of the stuff got where it needed to be. Because it was a Friday there weren't a lot of people from the church who could help, but a few did come and we hired professional movers to help unload and pack the storage unit and they took the IB stuff to its new location.

As of right now, the majority of the furniture is in the Dodd Cottage. We all have beds (a very, very good thing) the boxes on the other hand, or mainly out on the patio until we can sort through them for what we need or get them situated in/on the furniture.

Blackouts. Sure in Michigan we had one occasionally, have the power go out, but here... as I mentioned earlier, we're in the middle of a heat wave. So, I'm not sure if it's just the amount of power being used or if the power company is doing it to prevent the grid going out, but we have had blackouts for the past four days. Last night, it was out for so long, that we were about to go to sleep on the patio in our camp chairs and we ended up coming inside sometime in the middle of night, but the power didn't come back on until after 6 am. By the way, it's out again, for the fifth time. I might add that when the power goes out so does our AC, fortunately the power has been going out in the evening when the air temperature is cooling down.

We're all extremely tired (we've crashed), and we miss everyone in MI. But I'll remind everyone: I'm only a phone call or e-mail or Instant Message away.

Of Caverns and Cars

(*This was written on Aug 30, but due to having no internet access at the Dodd Cottage yet, and having no time to go to the church office for an extended period of time I am just now posting it*)

My time in Texas was very good. I saw my aunt, uncle, and four cousins. The time was well spent, I set up the stereo system for my aunt which she was very thankful for. It was nice to see my cousins and enjoyed the time with them, they are significantly older than I am, but it's always fun we're together.

Then, we hit the road again. Off into the TX plains, it felt like I could reach up and touch the clouds at times. Though I must admit that I did not feel very good. But I am better now, so you needn't worry. We drove a long time and found ourselves in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Arriving around 2:30 pm mountain time, we put some stuff in our motel (Inn), grabbed some sweat shirts and walking shoes and then headed, about 20 miles away and then proceeded to go 750 feet underground. I know you're all wondering why in the world I went 750 feet underground, so I will tell you: Carlsbad Caverns.
The Caverns were really cool, literally and figuratively. It was a nice break from the heat outside. Anyway, we had the cats with us... the park had a kennel were we kept the cats while we went into the Caverns. The thing is, we were going to go see the bats come out that night. The thing is, is that the kennel closed before the bat show, so we took Fiesty and Braveheart with us to the bat show. I'm not sure if they saw them, because they never seemed to react to them, but we were the novelty of the night. How often do you see two cats at a bat show? Everyone kept looking at us, so Mom and I kept moving about to try and minimize our distraction factor for the other people.
One reason we were more of distraction is because Fiesty kept meowing. But not just any meowing, if one has a trained ear to understand him you could distinctly here him say: "Anrew" which is "An(d)rew". He wanted Andrew but Andrew was not with Mom and I, so he kept calling his boy. Braveheart only meowed when he thought I had had him sitting in one place to long, so occasionally I had to get up and walk around with him.

We arrived back at the motel, called up Chili's on my laptop and then ordered to go. After eating we all slept... a long time. We were later getting out than we would have liked, but I drove most of the day that day. Going through (around really) El Paso and off through the desert where we seemed to be surrounded by thunderstorms. The lighting striking around us off in the distance the sun making clouds a variety of colors made for an interesting drive. The wind was blowing making it difficult to drive at times, and other than a torrential down pour at one point the drive was fine. We arrived in Tucson, Arizona with the lighting striking in the distance. We stayed at Holiday Inn Express that night. ;-)

The next day, we headed out our purpose clear: arrive in LA. As it was we had a few stops. We stopped at an old mission, Mission San Xavier Del Bac, it was nice, they're in the process of restoring it, so it was interesting to look at. We then went to Casa Grande an ancient american indian ruin. It was baking hot and we had to have the cats with us or they would have cooked in the car. It was still very very hot. So I came up with the idea of putting ice in zip lock bag and putting it in the cats' carriers. They were leery of them at first but quickly realized the benefits to the cold bag. Fiesty realized that it was great source of cold water and Braveheart took to sitting on it. While we were sitting in the visitor center after exploring the ruins Mom said: "The ice bags was a really good idea, Elizabeth." I replied: "Thank you, I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night." My mother laughed uproariously at this and so did the others when they heard. What can I say? How often do I get the chance to actually say that and mean it? ;-)

Anyway we drove to Phoenix, AZ where we saw an old friend of the family how hadn't seen me since I was 3 or 4 or maybe younger I'm not sure. After visiting with him we drove on to LA were we found that I10 had been closed... all for lanes of it. Let's just say that it wasn't a very easy to change lanes on to a freeway that would have taken us to San Diego if we had let it. As it turns out we ended up in Ontario.
Yes, Ontario.... California. We then were able to get on to the 60 without much fuss and arrived at our new home around 1 am locally. We then proceeded to unpack the car cook some food and then collapse into bed were we slept till about 8 something locally... or at least I did.

So there we are. We are in Los Angeles now, and enjoying it. Now we just have to unpack those trucks... Where's the Man from Kalamazoo when you need him? ;-)