It's a beautiful day / Don't let it get away - "Beautiful Day", U2

I kicked off my morning commute with this recent classic from U2. The kinetic chord progression in the chorus kicked in just as my car crested a small hill to reveal the hills clearly in the distance, directly beneath a few white clouds. Combined with a good time in the Word this morning praising God with the many names He has, it was an uplifting half hour on the road with good music, good sights, and an active mind looking forward to the day.

I loved the tableau of the eastern hills underneath the moderately cloudy sky. Because of a slight bit of rainfall last night, the air had cleared up - for the first time this week, I could make out all of the bumps, depressions, jagged edges, even houses and treelines along the hills. The rainclouds let a small amount of sunlight through. As my car loped through the miles on 280 and 680, I felt like God was reinforcing a lesson to me from this past year - that extraordinary beauty can be found in imperfection and weakness.

To be frank, many of the public perceptions of Christianity portray a religion with a worldview that is "all happy all the time." Even within the Church itself, we often perpetuate this stereotype with the songs we sing and some of the evangelical messages that are preached - "Give yourself to Jesus and you'll have no more sorrows." Then, when a person accepts God's gift of salvation and commits his life to Christ, then encouters trial and tribulation, questions set in - "This isn't what I signed up for... what's so great about this life? I thought my troubles were over!"

As a matter of fact, for the Christian, his trials may only just be beginning. On the one hand, declaring faith in Christ can often essentially cause Satan to double his efforts to turn him away - once he doesn't see the life he thought he'd signed up for, people will often become apathetic and turn away from the love for God they once knew. This is the unfortunate story of many that I've known, particularly those coming into or out of college.

However, an important lesson I've had to learn is that it is through the whole of this mortal life - both the good times and the hard times - that God desires to mold, shape, and refine His people. A life following after God is not all blue skies - clouds, thunder and lightning, hail and sleet and snow and rain will all blur the vision of the traveller on God's path. Sometimes you grow weary and cold, and your heart aches. Sometimes you feel like giving up.

It is this exact process by which God works His extraordinarily beautiful process of redemption - taking something so intrinsically flawed, weak, and imperfect as human nature, and gradually changing it into the likeness of Jesus Christ, His Son. This is the hope that believers have, and the source from where joy springs. Even when it's dark, cloudy, and raining, what we can't see is that the rain is clearing out all the crud from the air so we can see clearly the beautiful hills down the road. Even when circumstances seem overwhelming and we can't help but cry out in the midst of our weakness and inability to do anything good in the face of adversity, God is taking the opportunity to clear out the crud in our lives so that we can more clearly experience the overwhelming joy of His presence in our lives.

I've had several conversations in the past, with both believers and non, as to why God chose to create a flawed world with the capacity for sin inherent in every person. I don't know all the answers... but I suspect that one of the reasons is that the God who personifies work and beauty enjoys the process of making beautiful things out of His people, and out of the whole of human history. One day He'll let us in on the big picture in all its fullness, and I fully expect that it will be a work of art so marvelous that I can hardly wait to experience it.

Till then, I'll simply have to enjoy little God-given moments like this morning - the seemingly mundane hills and sky merging and being transformed into a beautiful and touching picture - and breathe a little prayer of thanks each time.

It's a beautiful day. Might not be easy, or happy, or pain-free... but I'm not going to let it get away.

5 on 5

In honor of the NBA season kicking off, here are 5 good things and 5 could-be-better things in my life right now:

The Good
1) God-given wisdom in books such as Experiencing God (Blackaby), Don't Waste Your Life (Piper), Celebration of Discipline (Foster), all of which I'm reading at the moment.

2) Current 6 CDs in car changer: candycoatedwaterdrops (Plumb), All That You Can't Leave Behind and The Joshua Tree (U2), Crash (Dave Matthews Band), Out of Time (REM), No Name Face (Lifehouse). Thoughtful lyrics, stellar musicianship, and some songs that are just plain fun to sing along to.

3) Learning a new worship song, called "Everything", by Lifehouse. Chords and lyrics can be found here. For the Canaan folks reading this, expect to sing it this Sunday or next.

4) Relaxing past Saturday which included sleeping in, Korean bbq buffet lunch, and extended bike ride in gorgeous weather through Cupertino where I visited Memorial Park (site of my first tennis lessons), Monta Vista High School (Matadors!) and Kennedy Jr High, followed by a trip down memory lane when I broke out the old high school yearbook. Reflections to come.

5) Did I mention the start of the NBA season?

The Could-Be-Better
1) Minor recurring RSI pain in forearms. Not panicking or getting down, just need to get back into a rehab rhythm.

2) Busyness picking up again at work. We're aiming at releasing before Thanksgiving; till then, will be pretty much nose-to-the-grindstone pressure-wise. Hopefully won't have to come in on too many weekends.

3) The Southern California wildfires. Prayers go to the brave folks fighting the fires, and for the ones who've lost lives and property.

4) I'm behind on a couple of ministry items I'm in charge of.

5) One of my fantasy league teams is missing several players this week (R Allen, T Chandler, J Richardson, L Odom). Okay, this is sorta stretching it.

Random
Here's a fun, yet addicting game that's perfect for relieving stress in the midafternoon.

Hearty welcomes to Eva and Joseph to the blogging world. Dive on in, the water's fine.

Happy birthday to Joy!

Came across the last few minutes of "Joe Schmo" last night on Spike TV, and due to 5824's enthusiasm over the show, I watched for about 20 mins where they revealed the whole hoax to poor Matt. It wasn't as mind-blowingly shocking as it could have been, because while the star was shocked, he was too nice and "pleasantly dense" to really have a fly-into-a-rage fit. Nice to see that he's not holding any real grudges though.

Spontaneous glimpse into my odd personality - I have a weird tendency to mentally associate everyday events and situations with similar scenes from books, TV, or movies, often muttering a quote under my breath to amuse myself. I also sometimes use strange metaphors and similes. For example, yesterday as we went for a walk, I attempted to describe the post-Daylight-Savings evening as so dark that "It's like being in a boat and hitting a giant squid."

It's FANNNNNNNNN-TASTIC

I am extremely happy that the NBA season is here. I've been a fan of the league since the early 90's, and this season should be extremely exciting: the combustible Lakers, Lebron-mania, Mavs' 5 All-Stars, my Spurs attempting to retool on the fly... I'm also happy that ESPN likes re-showing games they had on earlier in the evening at midnight, so I'll be able to get some hoops in before bed.

I took a trip down memory lane on Saturday afternoon and I have some thoughts to offer, but have some work to get done first. I have changed much since high school.

A hodgepodge

- Observation: ever since I started cutting my hair short, people tend to guess that I'm younger.

Back in high school and through soph year of college, I parted my hair from one side to the other. I regularly was mistaken for late twenties and early thirties with the long-ish hair and part. Incidentally, my hairstyle has been the source of much mirth among my friends over the past almost-decade - when I had the part, people would bug me to change my hair, and I'd reply in all earnestness, "I did change it... the part's on the other side today."

I ended up cropping it to the current style and length midway through college because, when playing basketball, I found that having a part was distracting when running laterally (like when you're playing defense) because if you run in the opposite direction of the part, the airflow will push your hair up unless you have a prodigious amount of gel and/or sweat weighing it down. Yes, believe it or not, basketball was the impetus for my style change. Anyhow, I originally tried for the "Clooney on ER" short and straight look, but eventually opted to comb the front up, which is what I have today. Nowadays people usually guess my age correctly. My old piano teacher tells me I look younger now than I did in high school.

Anyway, I got a haircut last Saturday that oughta last me until December sometime.

- Stomach-wrenching: seeing the replay of the sack on NFL QB Steve Beuerlein that left his right pinky broken and jutting out at a 90 degree angle from where it should be pointing. Gruesome. I had to avert my eyes when it happened. As someone who has dislocated both pinky fingers, and who has broken bones before, I could sorta imagine what he was going through looking at his own body part pointing in such an abnormal direction.

Oh BTW, best wishes to Sam H from the youth group for a quick-as-possible recovery from his broken thumb.

- Breathtaking: went to the Palo Alto Philharmonic symphony last Sat night, where the featured violin soloist was my old piano teacher's daughter. She just finished undergrad at the Peabody and is now studying musical performance at USC, so I guess this was sorta like returning to her 'hood before she goes out and makes it big in the world of classical music.

I've found that I tend to prefer more uptempo and nonstandard classical music, so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the selection for the evening was a 5-part Spanish symphony, with lots of uptempo minor keys and lively Mediterranean flavor. While I thoroughly enjoyed the overall mostly uptempo symphony, it was during the "slow" 4th part where a single note collectively took the breath out of the entire audience. The last note was repeated 3 times, with the final stroke so hauntingly soft, longing, and vulnerable that I involuntarily felt my heart flip. Never felt that before. Even though you're not supposed to applaud between parts of a symphony, I think everyone did.

Wonderful performance.

- More music: Here's an interesting article about "earworms", or the melodies/jingles that get stuck in your head (like "DANGER ZONE!" from my previous posts). Interestingly, there appears to be a connection between frequency of earworms and a person's level of neurosis. I get songs stuck in my head all the time. This explains much.

- Why don't we have this in America? How cool would it to be say, "Okay honey, I'm gonna go hang out at the Maennergarten. Have fun shopping!"

- Remember that guy last year who got stuck under a boulder while hiking, and sawed off his own arm with a dull Swiss army knife? I think this guy could give him a run for his money. Dude tackled a 660-lb shark with his bare hands, pulled it onto land, and stabbed it to death. I mean, like, wow.

Weekend's here! And the basketball season is upon us!

We are experiencing momentary difficulties

Sup everyone, sorry 'bout the lack of posts this week so far, but it's been somewhat busy (not just with work stuff) and I'm also feeling an occasional twinge of the familiar RSI pain from a few months ago, so I'm also taking steps to deal with that. Might not write as much though. Some things I'm planning to write on include: modern music (Lifehouse and U2), classical music (symphony last Sat), a few interesting news items including a "kindergarten for men" in Europe somewhere, and the gruesome pinky break that Steve Beuerlein (sp?) had this past Sunday.

Lyric of the moment:
You are the light that's leading me to the place where I find peace again
You are the strength that keeps me walking, You are the hope that keeps me trusting
You are the life to my soul, You are my purpose, You are my everything
And how can I stand here with You and not be moved by You?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
- Lifehouse, "Everything"

Memories and ramblings on another Friday afternoon

I admit, I've been rather laid back overall, and somewhat lazy with regards to my blog, this week. Perhaps the BCS glow has made me complacent, but I mentally take a few days off and poof! The end of the week is upon us. Work has been a bit more relaxed (meaning "normal workload") and I've been trying to do some daily exercise to increase my metabolism again.

If the ground shakes, and you don't feel it, is there really widespread damage?

Today marks the 14th anniversary of the Loma Prieta earthquake, way back in 1989. I was in 6th grade then, a handball star (Charles C and I dominated doubles - he played tennis and so could hit "skimmers" forehand and backhand, I mostly played like a "volleyer" close to the line), the Giants were playing the A's in the Bay Bridge World Series, and later that year I'd break two teeth and my left arm during the Little Leauge baseball season. During the week before the earthquake, my 6th grade elementary school class was away at Science Camp in Sonoma/Sonora (I can't quite remember), doing all the usual science camp type stuff - going on nature hikes, keeping a log of "discoveries" during the week, and so on.

On the 17th, one of the boys came running over to where we were cleaning up and yelled, all in one breath, "There's been a big earthquake back home and the Bay Bridge has fallen and they've cancelled the World Series." Actually, it sounded more like, "There'sbeenabigearthquakebackhomeandtheBayBridgehasfallenandthey'vecancelledtheWorld Series." Since he wasn't one of the more "popular" guys in the class, no one really believed him, but then the teachers gathered us around the meeting area and told us the exact same thing.

Riding back home in the school bus was a little surreal, as we went through damaged neighborhoods - telephone poles knocked over, broken glass on the road, people milling outside... and this was the day after. There were several aftershocks in the days following. I knew that the big one had been serious when an aftershock caused my then-8-year old brother to start whimpering and scurrying to my mom.

Here's hoping we're better prepared for the next one.

Random

Overheard today at lunchtime, when a few coworkers saw a V of flying geese on a gorgeous, 70+ degree California October day: "Well, wintertime's approaching, we're supposed to fly to warmer climates for the winter. Why don't we just fly around in a few circles and call it a day."

Who's playing in the World Series? Does anyone care anymore?

Caught the last few minutes of the Cavs-Lakers preseason game, where Kobe and Shaq didn't play but Payton and Malone did. The Lakers will be very good. This annoys me greatly.

Watched a History Channel "Modern Marvels" show on the history of the bullet, and saw this gun in action. Unbelievable. 1 million bullets per minute. They showed a demonstration... the target just disintegrated. "Metal Storm" indeed.

Thought of the day: It was 10-11 years between God's anointing of David to be king over Israel, before he actually ascended to the throne. It was 10-11 years between Saul/Paul's conversion experience, and him beginning his ministry to the Gentiles. It was 30 years before Jesus began his formal ministry. The moral? No matter how impatient we are, if we seek after God's purpose, He will prepare us in His timing, which may be a bit longer than we anticipate.

Oh, I almost forgot... I must bask in my ascension to the coveted #1 spot in the BCS.

[bask]

Okay, that was nice. I figure I'll be usurped by next Monday so I need to enjoy this while I can.

Oh, what the heck...

[bask] [bask]

Weekend recap

Weekend revelation: I am woefully out of shape.

The combination of working long hours, eating restaurant food provided by the company, not running full-court as much, and turning 25 have resulted in my gaining excess poundage. This annoys me. I guess it's true that the metabolism begins to slow down at age 25.

So motivated, I attempted to go running on Saturday morning and promptly realized that I don't like running. Haha... ran up to the hills behind my house, and attempted to run up a fairly steep hill. It's been quite a while since I've felt like my quads were too tired to lift anymore, but I achieved that on Saturday. Played ball yesterday as well; we ran full court for the first time since Retreat. Ever since some of the regulars started having kids, it's been harder to get people to go out to play full court (since they want to be close to the wife and baby). I've decided however, to crack the whip and make us go out there as often as possible. Probably gonna keep a closer eye on what and how much I'm eating too... I can always save some of the dinner food for the next day.

Bowing to peer pressure, I made my way to Nordstrom Rack (you gotta love refurbished, obsolete, and/or "slightly irregular" stuff) to attempt to find a pair of dress shoes before Winnie and Jonathan's wedding. Was able to pick up what I figure is a decent pair for $75 including tax, which was much easier to swallow than the projected $100 people had been telling me about. It helped to read the tag, which said that the shoes were originally priced at $200(!) but were "refurbished". They're maybe a smidge big, but I'm not gonna complain too much.

Attended Winnie and Jonathan's wedding later that afternoon. It's been cool to see this couple from when they began to attend Canaan, to the current day where their faith clearly influences their lives. I knew Winnie's bro Derek back when we were in high school, and chatted with him a bit at the wedding... but his duties as a groomsman and brother of the bride pulled him away before we could really catch up much.

While dutifully dinging away with chopsticks against my glass, I looked down after the couple's kiss to see a chunk of glass on my plate. Apparently my attempt at holding the chopsticks like drumsticks was a little too effective. Whoops.

I was seated at a table with William and Shirley, and James and Luwen, along with their babies Sarah and Lucas (respectively). 'Twas quite amusing to see how they instantly quieted down after being given a balloon to play with. Why does it feel so rewarding to make a baby laugh?

"Alias" commentary: It would appear that Weiss is the new romantic interest for drama queen Syd. I still can't get used to him as a field agent. My vote is to get Dixon back as Sydney's partner. I sure hope the writers of the show don't dwell on the whole "love triangle" thing... some of it adds good tension, other parts are plain cheesy (like the actual scene where they show the three of them in a triangle around a room - subtle, real subtle). Also, you just know that Jack's sabotage of the Sydney-incriminating surveillance video is going to come back and bite him in the butt somewhere down the line.

Fun with Eric H

At 3PM...
Bob: are you going to get out of bed today at all?
Eric: yeah
Eric: gotta eat

Stinkin' people w/ Columbus Day off...

Later...
Eric: warriors are good
Eric: they killed the kings :-)
Bob: PRESEASON :-)
Eric: who cares!!
Eric: 2-1 baby!!
Bob: they might be okay
Bob: they have a decent balance of young and old
Bob: just no superstar talents
Eric: watever
Eric: tmurph
Bob: not exactly :-)
Eric: trust me
Eric: he's the next white poor man's garnett
Bob: HAHAHAHAH
Eric: serious man :-)
Eric: i think we're gonna take the 8th spot
Eric: and knock the lakers out first round
Bob: I love your enthusiasm
Eric: it's true man

Idle thoughts on a Friday afternoon

I wonder if the absurdity of having Schwarzenegger as governor would be lessened if it was a more respectable actor/celebrity running for office. Would we have the same level of suspension of disbelief if it was, say, Tom Hanks? Would we give him more benefit of the doubt?

On a related note, is it possible to take anything Arnie says seriously?

Fun link of the day, provided by Kachiu: Check out this short movie clip illustrating narcolepsy with a cute little daschund. Thud. It's really funny and kinda sad at the same time. At least, being a daschund, he doesn't have far to fall when the consciousness zonks out. Danny says that he's seen similar videos with bigger dogs. THUD. Can you imagine being both narcoleptic and a heavy sleeper like someone we know? You wouldn't even feel the ground when you hit it. Bruises everywhere, all the time.

I have a feeling that last paragraph is going to drop me a few spots in the BCS.

Interesting fact for the day: a "fiance" is a man engaged to a woman, a "fiancee" is a woman engaged to a man. Why the woman gets two "e's", I don't know. But don't you feel richer now that you've learned something new?

My parents celebrated their 27th anniversary last night. We had sashimi. Mmmmm...

Seriously though, I'm really thankful for my parents. They've always had a good, mature, loving relationship with each other, and did a pretty good job raising two off-the-wall boys. Plus, it's also been nice living at home the past few years since college, because I think they almost treat me as a peer/adult now - they give me advice when I ask, and they ask me for my opinion on issues they think I might have a better handle on. I know some friends who've moved home after college and can't wait to get out of the house; I'm just grateful for the time I have to spend with them before I eventually do move out.

A toast to 27 years! clink

Getting ragged on...

My cousin cracks me up:

little_cousin (5:56:37 PM): I have piano lessons later
little_cousin (5:56:41 PM): :'(
Bob (5:57:07 PM): do you like piano?
little_cousin (5:57:25 PM): not lessons
Bob (5:57:31 PM): why not?
little_cousin (5:57:59 PM): cauase I have a new teacher and becaus ei always have to spend a long time on one particular pecee..wehich I hatye
little_cousin (5:58:10 PM): THe clown by kalbavskyt
Bob (5:58:13 PM): maybe this makes me sound old
Bob (5:58:18 PM): but you'll appreciate it more when you're older :-)
little_cousin (5:58:26 PM): okay. daddy
Bob (5:58:27 PM): I wouldn't mind re-learning some old piano stuff I used to do
little_cousin (5:58:44 PM): you don;'t ahve a ton of HW
little_cousin (5:58:49 PM): to go along with it
little_cousin (5:58:53 PM): dad
Bob (5:59:35 PM): true
Bob (5:59:36 PM): but I'm working... I don't have the option of piano
little_cousin (5:59:53 PM): grreat
little_cousin (6:00:04 PM): u nno u reely do sound old
little_cousin (6:01:24 PM): 25..ur growing old
Bob (6:01:28 PM): yeah
little_cousin (6:01:29 PM): :-P
little_cousin (6:01:42 PM): want a cane?/
little_cousin (6:01:49 PM): to help u walk?
little_cousin (6:01:59 PM): my GRANDPA has some
little_cousin (6:02:10 PM): maybe u could like borrow them
Bob (6:02:31 PM): hahahaha
Bob (6:02:38 PM): I'm getting dogged on by my own cousin

Other

- We are now led by the Governator. Lord have mercy.

- Current reading: a series of Perspectives articles that I'm helping to review for a possible youth version of the popular missions-oriented course, previously aimed primarily at young adults and collegians. Interesting stuff, including case studies of historical churches and testimonies from current people in the field.

- To get myself into the mood for the NBA, I've been playing a game of NBA 2K2 on the PS2 the past few nights to refresh my memory of plays, angles, and other subtleties. Yes, yes, I know I'm a freak.

- I think I've doomed myself. Every time I pull up my own blog I get "Danger Zone" stuck in my head. Whoops, there it goes again... ba dum bum BAM BUM

Ramblings

It's time to ramble...

A's just lost again in the first round for the fourth time in four years. They need something to shake them up. They're taking on kind of a "Spurs from 2000-2002" aura, a good team that folds in the playoffs because no one could come up clutch. The Spurs broke through this year, let's see if the A's can regroup after this loss and the imminent loss of Tejada to free agency.

By the way, that series of collective groans you could hear this past weekend was the sound of all the sports fans in the Bay Area, taking hit after hit. Giants go down. A's go down. Raiders go down. Berkeley football goes down. And now we have to wake up tomorrow morning to participate in the joke that is the California recall election.

On the other hand, it's a sunny 70 degrees in October. Take that, all you chortling people enjoying a laugh at our expense :-).

Overheard at the dinner table tonight at the office: "It would be poetic justice for Arnold to get elected tomorrow, only to get recalled because of all his past shadiness. It would be a Total Recall."

In last night's Alias episode, we see that Vaughn is unrepentant and somewhat psycho ("I could hear you in my head"?) over his relatively quick, but intense, grieving period over Sydney's supposed death. I'm curious as to whether this makes him a more sympathetic or a more despicable character in the eyes of the female fans that used to idolize him.

Enjoyed the nice respite last week from work, where we got to go home at the normal cutoff hour (~7 pm) like most people did, rather than the normal startup hour (10-11 pm). Unfortunately, we're busy again, starting this week, and running up probably through Thanksgiving. Goodbye, primetime TV. We hardly knew ye.

There's nothing quite like getting into your car in the morning, turning the ignition, and while it warms up, the speakers blare "Danger Zone" from the "Top Gun" soundtrack.
Revvin' up the engine, listen to her howlin' roar / Metal under tension, beggin' you to touch and go / Highway to the danger zone / Ride into the danger zone

(Did I get that stuck in your head yet? Danger ZOOOOOOOOONNNNE, ba dum bum BAM BUM)

Revelation of the weekend: you're supposed to wear dress shoes with a suit. Apparently my black Nunn Bushes don't fit the bill, they're just "casual shoes." Well, I've worn them with my suit for 3 years, and now people are noticing? Now I'm apparently supposed to slap down ~$100 for a real pair of shiny dress shoes. Let's get one thing straight - to me, "formal" = suit and tie, "semi-formal" = button-up shirt and khakis, "casual" = T-shirt, shorts, and sandals. It'll be a long, hard process for me to change my thinking on this. Heheh.

Hey, does that last paragraph mean I have to deduct points from my metrosexuality score?

The best of times, the worst of times

Quick notes...

the worst...

Florida 7, San Francisco 6. Season over. Even if you hated Barry Bonds, you still had to want to see him win the World Series for his dad, kinda like Jordan in '95 (or '96?).

Boston 3, Oakland 1. Walk-off homer by Trot Nixon. Unfortunately, I saw it coming when Hernandez set up on the outside - Nixon was crowding the plate and Harden was throwing hard enough that you just had to get a little bit of wood on it for it to go out.

Oregon State 35, Cal 21. Sigh.

the best...

Flea market in 70 degree, sunny weather. Biking to get there. New shades and 4 used CDs, all for $30.

Syeffy and William's wedding in the afternoon.

The NBA coming up in one month... and the impending creation of fantasy basketball teams.

Will elaborate more tomorrow or Monday...

Quiz results and other ramblings

Here are my results and selected answers/explanations to the "Metrosexuality quiz" on the 5824 blog, 9/23 entry:

1. How frequently do you check yourself in the mirror?
Answer: You've used the rear view mirror in your car to check your hair -> 2 pts
Explanation: Sometimes you just want that cowlick to stay down.

2. Give yourself one point for each of the following products you own:
Answer: Face soap -> 1 pt

3. When it's time to get a haircut, you think to yourself...
Answer: Where's the nearest Chinese hair salon? -> 1 pt
Explanation: Nothing like an Asian barber to do an Asian fade. Plus, all the amateurs I know are either good and slow, or bad and fast. I'll pay 10 bucks for good and fast, thank you.

4. Your friend suggests the two of you should go in for a pedicure. Your reaction:
Answer: No way! -> 0 pts

5. Aside from sneakers, how many shoes do you own?
Answer: 1-2 -> 0 pts
Explanation: Aside from 3 pairs of sneakers, Tevas, and Nike soccer sandals, I have 1 pair of brown Rockports and 1 pair of black Nunn Bushes to wear with khakis and suit, respectively. Hm, I guess that means I get the 1pt bonus for "how they'd look with an outfit".

6. Which would best describe the way you shop for clothes?
Answer: My mom shops for my clothes -> 0 pts
Explanation: No joke. I hate shopping and am not big on fashion. Just about anything "nice" or "trendy" that I own, I got as a hand-me-down from my little brother (who has infinitely better taste than I do).

7. Give yourself a point for every name you recognize:
Answer: none -> 0 pts

8. What is the last book you've read?
Answer: Just finished Tolstoy's Divine and Human (after quite a long time). It's not non-fictional or a current best-seller, so I'll give myself 1.5 pts just for the heck of it. Plus I guess I need to tack on a bonus 1 pt since it was recommended by my mother.

9. You're going to the movies with your girlfriend, and she wants the two of you to see the sappy romantic comedy. What do you do?
Answer: Is it Jerry Maguire? I can handle that -> 1.5 pts

10. When is the last time you cried?
Answer: See this post -> 1 pt

11. When watching "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy", you...
Answer: What the hell are you talking about? -> 0 pts

12. I took this quiz because...
Answer: I'm bored at work -> 0 pts
Explanation: Waiting for a script to finish running

Total
Two 3-pointers and a miraculous 4-point play to get a total of 10 pts, which makes me a:
Dude. Still unaware that you carry an X chromosome.

Other stuff
- Overheard from Midwestern coworker while walking outside yesterday around 2 pm: "It's just not right for the weather to be this nice." California, baby.

- How much fun was it watching the A's pull out a totally improbable win last night? While I don't count myself as a real A's fan, I don't mind rooting for them (especially since my Giants played horribly yesterday). Ramon Hernandez simply fooled everyone in the park. Brilliant play. Lost in all the hoopla about the bunt were the clutch at-bats by Durazo and Foulke pitching 3 strong innings in relief.

The Passion

Got this in the email today. Nice backstory to the upcoming movie by Mel Gibson about the last hours of the life of Jesus Christ. Didn't realize that Jim Caviezel (very underrated actor of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Frequency") would be playing Jesus:

Actor Mel Gibson has been getting closer to God. That led him to Colorado Springs, where he visited New Life Church and Focus on theFamily and previewed his upcoming film, "The Passion."

Gibson, star of such films as the "Lethal Weapon" series and "Braveheart," said it was his Christian faith that inspired "The Passion," which depicts the final 12 hours in the life of Christ.

"I'm not a preacher, and I'm not a pastor," Gibson said. "But I really feel my career was leading me to make this. The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just directing traffic. I hope the film has the power to evangelize."

Although the film won't be released until March, Gibson brought it to Colorado Springs - a national hub of evangelical Christianity - for one day to make sure its depiction of the Gospel is acceptable to leaders at Focus on the Family and to hundreds of church leaders, including Ted Haggard, New Life's pastor and president of the National Evangelical Association.

"It conveys, more accurately than any other film, who Jesus was," Haggard said based on clips he viewed at New Life.

As word spread that Mel Gibson was at Focus on the Family screening the film, almost 300 giddy staff members and visitors gathered outside the visitor center, hoping to catch a glimpse and get an autograph.

Gibson financed the $25 million film and is looking for a distributor. He co-wrote the script, directed and produced the movie, which stars James Caviezel as Christ.

He received feedback Thursday on the film, which has generated a buzz because it was shot in the Aramaic language of the time. Gibson, who has said the film will "transcend language barriers with visual storytelling," wants to release it without subtitles.

But subtitles were in place during Thursday's showing for a small audience at the Focus on the Family visitor center, and local religious leaders told him the subtitles should stay in place to help spread the movie's message to those not familiar with the story.

Based on the reaction of those who saw the film, they enthusiastically endorse it. "I was very impressed," said Don Hodel, president of Focus on the Family. "It's certainly the most powerful portrayal of the passion I've ever seen or heard about. The movie is historically and theologically accurate."

Wearing a gray shirt and black slacks, Gibson appeared onstage at New Life Church before the screening to address an audience of more than 800 ministers gathered for the Life Giving Leadership Conference, an annual event.

He was candid in relating how events more than a decade ago led him to become a more committed Christian. "I've been pastor at New Life Church for 18 years, and I don't remember anyone displaying a fear of God on our platform the way Mel did today," Haggard said.

A Catholic, Gibson attended Mass every morning during shooting because "we had to be squeaky clean just working on this," he said. "It was a strange mixture of the most difficult thing I've ever done, along with this incredible ease," Gibson said. "Everyone who worked on this movie was changed. There were agnostics and Muslims on set converting to Christianity."

When Haggard thanked Gibson for making the film, Gibson said, "I was afraid not to."

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