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.