Parrots of Destruction!

it's been a crazy week.

So, I was out in Claremont last weekend, to celebrate their end of the semester. I got to eat dinner with Buck, Heather, Mina, and Philip and Dave G. We saw Eragon, too, which was... well, not Narnia. Nor LOTR. But also not bad.

Saturday morning found me wandering the streets of C-town when suddenly I was intrigued by a very loud and slightly-familiar noise... lots of parrots! Yep! Wild Parrots of Claremont, baby! And there were literally several hundred of them in a park near Foothill. They were making a TON of noise, and were in the process of kicking out (yep, kicking out) the local crows. Did I mention there were HUNDREDS OF PARROTS ALONG FOOTHILL BLVD IN CLAREMONT? It was crazy. Here are some photos:

Fig. 1: Every tree around the border of the soccer field looked like this... I should stress that it was noisy and that there was a ridiculous number of birds.
Fig 2: Here is one caught by himself... there is a crow further down the line he proceeded to chase off. It was quite the turf war.
Fig 3: It was seriously like something out of "Birds."

In other news, my sister is in Germany! For pretty much the month of December. She is visiting her german boyfriend Sascha - here is the little town where he grew up, and my sister, who is definitely enjoying herself. I am very happy for her! She's quite the sister.

Fig 4: Jilly, and Biberach. I saw the photo and thought, dang! she is living the dream.

Fig. 5: His front door... his family has been really welcoming and they stuck a photo of Jill and Sascha on the door for when they arrived. So cute.

Speaking of cute, this... is a Mini Cooper... belonging to a friend I know at Mudd. It was pranked... and I have to say, that, for being a 3M and not an Avery product, those Post-Its really do make a nice addition to an already stylish car:


Fig 6: The most colorful Mini in the world... note the checkered roof, even. I was not a part of this prank but I heartily applaud whomever it was who had WAY too much time on their hands. :-)


I haven't had much time even to think, this week. Tomorrow I fly north to the Bay Area, and I'm looking forward to seeing my family. And on Wednesday I'm flying out to Hawai'i for Michy and Brian's wedding! I am psyched for them, and excited to get to tour around Oahu with some good friends. I'm sure I will have many more photos and tales to tell when I return in the New Year! Meanwhile, to anybody reading this, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Remember:
"No one is a failure who has friends."
and
"This is Love, that a man should lay down his life for his friends." From before he was born down here, Jesus' life was all about us... making it so that rather than being mere servants of God, we could be able to call him Father.

We are loved. Whether it's through the waves on the beaches in Hawai'i, through crowds of colorful parrots, or through the Christmas story itself... let yourself be reminded that God is the giver of all good things, and that he's madly in love with you.

work-stuff

Things have been interesting lately. Several observations of late:

I have done more christmas shopping this year than ever before. This is a good thing. I am truly thankful for the chance to give cool things to my friends.

For the first time, I was not carded for alcohol... sigh.

I'm currently working on my third alcoholic beverage in as many weeks - this has got to be some sort of record for me. :-) Also: beer and taquitos, baby. Oh yeah.

Brenhaug's bachelor party was last weekend. Poor guy, going and getting married like that... thankfully I get to go to Hawaii (in 2 weeks!) and go to the wedding - Michy and Brian are great, individually, and together.

Work has had a "secret santa" thing over the last week - it's been crazy-fun. In addition to tons of chocolate, I received a snow-globe with like ten puppies around it ( =overload of cuteness), a glass chess set, and a "The Office" calendar. I think everybody who participated felt as loved as I did - and it felt really good to give, as well.

Speaking of work, here's a photo taken by our Safety Coordinator, who was documenting the state of things in lab and decided that Lizbeth and myself were also worthy of record. Anyhow, I thought it captured us quite well:






(Fig. 1: Liz shows me how to run the DMA, or "Dynamic Mechanical Analysis" machine. Oh, it's as exciting as it sounds, trust me.)

Love...

Love advice from the Jordy:

"I've had a lot of conversations that did not go as I would have liked... but only very few that I really regret having."
***

"I have felt various levels of attachment to multiple females at once, before... I dunno about polygamy, though... I'm still looking for even one."
***

"If you have good reason why God may be opposed to such a match-up... then your choice has already been made for you."
***

"I suppose you could say that real love may make one do silly or preposterous things... but not unwise things."
***

"You (hopefully?) have a very different road ahead of you than my own. :-)"
***

"Wait until you find somebody that your heart and brain can agree on."
***

All of those are things I've said, on different occasions. Some thoughts from wiser folk than I:

"Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." - G.K. Chesterton

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." - C.S. Lewis

"And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her." - Genesis 29:20

"Open rebuke is better than secret love." - Proverbs 27:5

(This follows the Scripture not because it is greater but because this is long, and because it's, well, very apt.)

"Danny and I spent another late night over pancakes,
Talkin' 'bout soccer
And how every man's just the same.
We made speculation
On the who's and the when's of our futures -
And how everyone's lonely
But still we just couldn't complain.

And how we just hate being alone
Could I have missed my only chance
And now I'm just wasting my time
By looking around -
But you know I know better,
I'm not gonna worry 'bout nothing
Cause if the birds and the flowers survive
Then I'll make it okay.
Given a chance and a rock
see which one breaks a window
And see which one keeps me up all night and into the day.

Because I'm so scared of being alone
That I forget what house I live in -
It's not my job to wait by the phone
For her to call...

Well this day's been crazy
But everything's happened on schedule
from the rain and the cold
To the drink that I spilled on my shirt
'Cause You knew how You'd save me
before I fell dead in the garden
And You knew this day
long before You made me out of dirt.

You know the plans that You have for me
And You can't plan the end and not plan the means
And so I suppose I just need some peace
Just to get me to sleep."
- "Table for Two"

Rain!!!

It is raining in SoCal! Woot!

And, I got to drive home in it, from a great party down at the Brocks' place in Long Beach. It was overall a very fun evening involving many old and a couple new friends, Taboo, chocolate-dipped fruit, a couple different kinds of cheese, and some apple cider. On the way home, I benefited from my "Night-Driving" playlist... the first song up was a perfect one for the first rainy day in a long while... and a good example of why you should carry around an umbrella.

"Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say,
'please share my umbrella.'
Bus stop, bus go, she stays, love grows
under my umbrella.
All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain... and shine
That umbrella, we employed it
By August she was mine

Every morning I would see her waiting at the stop
Sometimes she'd shop and she would show me what she bought
All the people stared as if we were both quite insane
Someday my name and hers are going to be the same

That's the way the whole thing started
Silly, but it's true;
Thinking of a sweet romance
Beginning in a queue.
Came the sun, the ice was melting
No more sheltering, now
Nice to think that that umbrella
Led me to a vow." - The Hollies, "Bus Stop"


Good ol' sentimental Hollies. :-) Also, I've found that it's a great feeling when a Linkin Park song starts up and it's in time with your windshield wipers. It worked out well.

Anyhow, other recent events include Brenhaug's bachelor party, my acquisition of some new Legos, and some major Christmas shopping (during which I ran into an old friend from high school, even - it's funny when the clerk at Borders comments on a book you're purchasing from the "religion" section... and he's met the author... and he's a theology student at Fuller... and a guy who went to your high school whom you haven't seen in 6 years). It's been good times. But for now, I'm tired.

Buying gifts is fun. I worry that I may have inherited my grandmother's addiction to buying stuff for other people. :-)