the weekend that was: a few things (all of which were at home, in san diego); but the dominant feature was walktheirwalk, a 12-mile walkathon my family participated in to try to raise money for two clean water wells in twachiyanda, zambia, africa. jeannie got up at 4:20am (she was part of the planning team, and had to work set-up); so she had a pretty good excuse for only doing 9 of the 12 miles. liesl, max and i all did the whole 12 (though max was on his razor scooter for a good portion of it). i know people all over the world walk longer than this on a regular, even daily, basis. but it’s sure more than my body is used to, and it kicked my butt. my feet and hips were killing me that day, my back and shins the next day. saturday afternoon i vegged, watching my beloved university of michigan get beaten by the fighting irish of notre dame. sunday (after a hollow experience of church), was more of the same, as the san diego chargers got seriously robbed (no, really, read about it – two wrong calls that, due to quirks of technology and rules, couldn’t be undone, either of which cost the chargers the game). and, i’m getting another wicked cold. so, yeah — good weekend through the end of the walk, weary and sad weekend since then!
where i am at the moment: in my office. we have a ys staff retreat this afternoon and evening. we’re all a bit worn out and working at 110%, and the craziness of convention season is just beginning. so we’re getting away for the afternoon to remind each other why we do this.
on my to-do list this week: i was supposed to travel to new york on wednesday, then on to a CORE test in the LA area of friday, coming home saturday. but my boss casually mentioned that i should cancel the new york trip, and i instantly knew she was right. so, i’m in the office until friday morning (i still have the 30 hour trip to azusa for the CORE test friday/saturday). i have a presentation to make to the CEO of harper collins (my parent company’s parent company) the following week, so that’s a biggie this week. i also have emergent village work to do, CORE test to prep, a dcla planning meeting, and a wide variety of other stuff. one of the good things about canceling my trip to NYC is that i get to meet my new 6th grade guys small group this wednesday night!
procrastinating about: yeah, the book. i think i was procrastinating about a few boxes that needed unpacking in our bedroom, but they’re done now. i didn’t realize i’d been procrastinating about them until i got to them.
book i’m in the midst of: two right now…
jesus wants to save christians, by rob bell
the almost moon, by alice sebold
music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: been diggin’ me some chouchou (seriously, check ’em out. i bought them off amiestreet, the coolest music download site in the world). here’s what chouchou’s website says about them:
Chouchou is a Japanese music group which exists only in SecondLife.
It was formed on July, 2007 searching for new possibilities of music.
next trip: now that i’ve cancelled my nyc trip, i’m only driving up to azusa (a suburb of l.a.) for one night, friday and saturday. but i leave sunday for a 5-day trip to grand rapids and holland (michigan, that is), for a zondervan leadership team retreat, speaking at baker book house in grand rapids (wednesday morning — kind of a late “youth worker appreciation day”; if you’re a youth worker in the grand rapids area, come on out!), and a presentation to the CEO of harpercollins.
how i’m feeling about this week: relieved that i’m not traveling to nyc, but wishing i could shake this new cold.