Stardate: -317664.85

I did CPR/First Aid training today, rather than working my scheduled shift. It was actually really fun. We had an interesting group of people who made fun of the video and each other. First Aid videos are always corny with subpar acting, and this one was no different.

It made me think of evangelism often being helping people in crises...it's interesting that companies will train their employees to provide help in case of a physical problem, but churches don't always train their members to help people who have emotional and spiritual problems. Often, instead they will pretend there is no problem, and expect people to get all their problems figured out before they come to church and "meet God."

Stardate: -317664.01

One of the reasons I'm glad that I'm in Oregon right now is because this past week, my half-brother Jason had two visitors from New York City, Jeff and Italo. Jeff is a tall, mostly black, very funny man who I originally met eight years ago when I went to New York City to visit Jason. He both disturbed me and challenged me in my relationship to the Lord, and because of that combination of verbs, is pretty much in a category by himself where people that I know are concerned. Jason has been trying to get him to come to Oregon pretty much since Jason moved back here five years ago. He's was going to come to Jason's wedding, but didn't want to fly on the plane due to a medical problem. So he kind of owed us a visit. Apparently God thought it would be good for him to visit also, as the trip was arranged abruptly and unexpectedly in a way that makes it pretty obvious that God is up to something.

It was great to see Jeff, though he hasn't changed quite as much as I have in eight years. I also enjoyed getting to know his friend. What surprised me about this trip, that I didn't expect, is that Jeff and his family are in transition and looking for a new place to live. Because of the amazing visit they had here, they are seriously considering moving to Oregon, which is almost unheard of for someone who grew up in inner-city New York (many of those people never move out of the inner city, or even go to see the Statue of Liberty, much less another state). But I probably shouldn't be that surprised, because a strong, loving community of believers like the church I attend here is very attractive to someone in transition. I should know, because that's one of the main reasons I came here.

Godspeed in making a decision, Jeff, and we'd love to have you here with us.

Stardate: -317661.34

I'm so glad I'm in Oregon. I like it so much here. It's actually really challenging in many ways for me to be here. I'm not sure why I had kind of been avoiding it the last five years...no, wait, I think I do know. It's because my childhood here was kind of boring and I just associated Oregon with that experience. And also, whenever I visited I did enjoy it but I always left quickly. I kind of denied how much I wanted to be here because it made it easier to be away from it.

God told me that it wouldn't be the same as it was when I was here in Oregon before, if I have really changed...and I think He's right.

Stardate: -317659.15

I officially have a job and start tomorrow. I'm working temporary schedules for the time being, since they don't have any set schedules available right now that have Sunday morning off. So I'm working mostly afternoon/evenings for the next two weeks, about 35 hours per week. Hopefully within a month or two I can get a set schedule that corresponds with when I do and don't want to work. At that point, I'll also be working towards benefits and paid holidays within six months.

I'm also accepting a job with an individual client in Eugene, four mornings a week from 6 a.m. to about 8 a.m. That's through a brokerage organization that connects care providers with individual clients.

Stardate: -317656.05

Just called the organization I applied to and they want to offer me a job. I'm going in tomorrow morning to fill out paperwork and go over some other stuff.

This is the easiest job search I've ever had, even more so then many of my summers. It helped that I sent the application to this organization two weeks before I arrived back in Oregon. I'm not sure if they're going to offer me full time, so we'll see about that. I hope it'll be at least 30, because that way I get benefits and holidays after six months. I may end up having three jobs...for this organization as a care provider in homes, for individual clients as a care provider, and as a basketball referee primarily during the basketball season.

I'm hoping my schedule will be abnormal (not 9 to 5) so I have a lot of freedom with my days and schedule in general.

Stardate: -317656.02

It's weird being here. I mean, actually living here instead of just visiting. It's really the first time since I left for college five years ago. I was here for one summer, the summer after my freshman year, but it too was a short time. I guess I just got used to visiting. Now that I'm here I'm not sure what to do with myself...it's the same place that I left in '01, but I've changed and my family has changed and I'm not in touch with old friends. In fact, I need to make some new friends, because basically my only friends are through church, and many of them are married and have busy lives. I want some single friends who are in similar life situations to me.

Sounds like it's time to take some more social initiative...

Stardate: -317655.98

Crazy day yesterday. Biked to Jason's house early, went to church with them, potluck after, lots of hanging out at Jason's house along with two prayer meetings (one worship-oriented and one testimony time) with two mostly different, quite eclectic groups of people, each taking longer than two hours. I like prayer meetings when I'm with people that I trust.

At Jason's house last night I slept in the guest house, which is another building behind the house. It's a fishbowl (lots of windows and skylights) with short counters that I've dubbed the "midget retreat center." It's quiet, I'll probably sleep there whenever I need to stay the night. It's pretty often that I go over there, and I usually bike, so whenever I'm there late I don't want to come back when I'm tired.

Stardate: -317650.87

I finally got all my stuff moved in yesterday to the room I'm sharing with my younger brother Simon. He's been gone all week at a camp, so certain things of mine have been strewn across the floor in various piles. It actually looked about the messiest any of my rooms has ever looked, but the piles were organized and I could still find whatever it is I needed to find at any given moment.

There's a wooden ledge in our room that comes out from the wall at about waist level, and I put all my books on the ledge of one side of our room. It's almost twelve feet of books, I think. Maybe someday I'll have a house or an office with a library. Books are one of the few things that I care enough about having to lug with me wherever I go.

Stardate: -317650.84

I hate weeding. And really anything that falls in the category "manual labor." But I did it anyway this morning, working for my parents in the yard to decrease the amount of rent I have to pay. As long as my schedule allows it, I think I'm going to work for 3-4 hours around the house on Saturday mornings.

The ironic thing about manual labor and me is, I'd rather do it for free, for a cause, than do it for myself to get paid. That's what happened when I went to Mississippi to do hurricane relief work...most fulfilling manual labor I've ever done. But I was still glad when I got to stop.

I don't know exactly what kind of work I want to do during my life, but I know that I'm not going to enjoy manual labor.

Stardate: -317647.7 Supplemental

God is moving in my life to:

• Heal my left knee (it's been bothering me for almost a year, doctor said it was probably inflamed tendon or ligament from the right knee being stronger than the left)
• Improve my existing relationships with family and friends
• Make new friends
• Interact more with non-Christians and people who are different from me
• Break my own molds and masks that have kept me from growing

God is moving in my heart so I desire to:

• Get married sooner rather than later (that'll be an adventure!)
• Go to graduate school in the near future, probably seminary, possibly as early as August '07
• Denounce disappointment (especially from my experience this summer in Texas, which, while being an overall very good experience, was hard to swallow because of the hopes I had that didn't happen)
• Be open and vulnerable with people more, rather than being withdrawn or closed off

Stardate: -317647.7

Have you ever been around a person with an obvious prophetic gift? You'd know it because you barely meet the person, and he or she starts telling you about you, things they shouldn't know, or maybe what God wants to say to you.

Jason (my half-brother, and one of my closest friends) has a friend from NYC who is that way. He's here in Oregon right now, visiting Jason for about a week. He's tall, mostly black, and completely nuts (in a good, funny way). I met him when I first went to NYC to visit Jason (I went twice, once in '98 and once in '99), and he was so personally and spiritually extroverted that he freaked me out and I didn't want to be around him very much. He disturbed my neat little powerless, passionless "relationship" with God. (I had made a genuine Christian commitment, but I wasn't yet living it out fully).

I saw him on Wednesday night at Jason's house at a makeshift prayer meeting. He prayed for me, and confirmed basically everything that God had already been doing in my life and heart. I'd like to share those things in brief in the next post.

Stardate: -317647.59

Anyone want to see what my car looks like? Click on the link below. On that website, there are several pictures of a light blue Rabbit. Mine is more dinged up and needs a paint job, but otherwise looks the same.

Stardate: -317646.15

My job interview this afternoon went well. I was actually interviewed by three different people at the same time in various administrative positions in the organization. Probably would have been really intimidating if they hadn't been so easygoing. They did ask some really interesting questions though.

They were really passionate about their work. At the end of the interview, I had a chance to ask questions to them. I asked if they enjoyed their work, and why, and all three said they did and raved about certain parts of their work. Then I asked them if they received an inheritance tomorrow and didn't have to work for the rest of their life, would they come back to their job? They all said they would...perhaps after taking a couple weeks off, but they said that if they left they would miss it too much to not come back. And they said they would use their inheritance money to provide resources that the organization and the clients lack.

It's hard to find people that dedicated. We'll see what happens...they're going to call me tomorrow. (If you want a peek at this organization, check out the link below.)

Stardate: -317645.12

Hey, all you non-Oregonians, want to see what the weather is like where I am? Click on the link below. (Texas friends, be warned, it's kind of unfair for you guys.)

Stardate: -317645.1

I have a job interview this afternoon. Sounds positive. They said on the phone that they may not have any full-time jobs available. But that's okay, because it looks like I'll also be working through this other organization (both of the organizations provide care for people with developmental disabilities and the like) for independent clients. So hopefully I'll get about 40 hours a week between the two, and if not then I have other options as well.

I'm also looking into becoming certified as a basketball referee in the state of Oregon. Not sure what's involved with that, but I'll definitely find out. I was a basketball referee for several years in high school, working weekend games for 5th-8th grade leagues.

That would be during basketball season, so it wouldn't start for a couple months. In the meantime, I'm either going to referee fall basketball or soccer. I really enjoy being a referee, and I love sports, especially basketball. I like soccer too, having played it one year when I was younger, and I've worked a couple games as a linesman, and one as the referee. So I have some experience.

Stardate: -317642.09

So has anyone looked at the stardate converter (under Links) yet? Those stardates that I'm using are real! How cool is that! I'm definitely a certifiable Star Trek nut in at least one small way. If the stardates don't make sense to you, the stardate converter link explains how the futuristic dating system works.

Supplemental: Saying stardates are "real" is kind of like speaking Klingon (which, if you didn't know, is a complete language created by a linguist which Star Trek freaks can actually learn and then communicate with each other in -- see the "Klingon language" article from Wikipedia, linked below). If a language is used by real people to communicate with each other, how can it be fictional?

Stardate: -317642.06

In view of my car situation, my limited budget, and the ever more intolerable gas prices, I decided that it would be a good longer-term investment to find an alternate form of transportation. So I walked to 53rd St. in east Springfield (about 5 miles away) on Saturday to buy a used bicycle from an old man who is an antique bike collector. In case anyone is wondering, the bike itself is a Viscount Aerospace, a road bike made in the early 70s by a British company. I've already used it for transportation on three different trips. Eugene-Springfield is one of the best areas for city bicycling in the country, with several long bike paths, multiple bike lanes in addition to wide shoulders and sidewalks, and motorists who for the most part respect and watch out for bicyclists.

Because my bicycle is also light blue, and from the same generation as Wally (see prev. post), I decided to name him Willy. They can be friends, or maybe distant relatives. Well, maybe not relatives. But they are both made in Europe.

I got a bicycle headlight yesterday, so now I have one vehicle with adequate forward illumination for nighttime travel.

Stardate: -317641.99

I own a car now, for the first time in my life. It's a '78 Volkwagen Rabbit, and I've had it for about 3 months. It belonged to my half-brother, Jason, and I actually drove it often when I was staying with him and his parents in Medford, OR, five summers ago. We named him (do vehicles have genders?) Wally, after a fictional one-eyed character we co-wrote a short story about. Wally's running pretty well, though he had a couple problems I had to get fixed this summer. He has lots of little problems, which I think just give him lots of character. The most significant one is that the left headlight goes on and off for no apparent reason. Must be loose wiring or connection (I already replaced the headlights and that didn't make any difference). I should get it fixed...hmmm. Maybe after I have a job. In the meantime, I'm not driving Wally at night.

Stardate: -317641.96

I'm rooming with my youngest brother, Simon. Our room is on one end of our relatively large house, and is good sized. He sleeps on the bed and I sleep on the floor. I don't mind, I have no difficulty or problem with sleeping on the floor. We have a loft in our room that we finally cleaned out (there was a bunch of stuff being stored up there before) and made into a entertainment center/hang out place, with my TV and XBox set up, and a couple beanbags. Simon likes going to XBox parties, and being able to host them, so he wanted to have his room set up with potential for that. As it is right now, we could have two TVs up in the loft, and two TVs on the ground floor, which could mean a gaming party of up to 16 people.

Stardate: -317639.74

These are the voyages of the starship...oh wait, back to reality. I'm living with my parents temporarily. My priority for this season of my life is to become financially independent. My priority right now, this week, is to find a job. I've submitted two applications to work as a caregiver/care provider for people with developmental disabilities and the like. One is an organization that I would work for directly, and the other is a "brokerage" firm that connects potential clients to potential providers. I have an interview at the organization later this week, and an interview with a client through the latter firm also later this week.