According to this site, using my last post, I write like a guy. I guess that could be expected because at least 90% of the stuff I read is by male authors.

Speaking of writing, I've been entertaining the idea of participating in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) this year. Since I don't have a job, that makes it easier, but I want to be flexible and able to start a job any time... we'll see how it goes. I have been praying for more creativity because that seemed (upon exit interview) to be the main improvement point in my apprenticeship. My creative tendencies have tapered off in the last few years, and I think that's unfortunate because I have a pretty good history of art and writing that reached its zenith in high school. I have several unfinished stories... some short stories, one could probably work out to novella length, and another could be a full-blown novel if I manage to get back on track and am lucky enough to get my friend who was co-writing it with me to continue to do so...

Anyway, regarding Nanowrimo, I had an idea (not a minute too soon - Nanowrimo is November) this evening for something to write it about. Oddly enough, it's not really sci-fi unless I set it in a sci-fi world... and I don't think I really want to do that. I think it will be better in a more or less modern-day setting. I have two days to plan and decide if I really want to do this. Then in November I would have to write over 1500 words a day. That's daunting. I don't think I've done that much in any day at school... I think I've considered participating in previous years, but when I saw that you have to have 50,000 words in a 30-day month, I gave in to the saner voice and didn't do it. Now I'm unemployed so I don't have much excuse, have wanted for a long time to write a book, and am losing my mind sitting around the house all day so I really am seriously considering it.

Sorry about that. Time flies when you're working. Kinda drags when you're unemployed. I'm the latter now again so I have time to write you all something. I'm typing this on my "new" computer. It's actually my mom's old computer, with new RAM and monitor so it performs a lot better than my old laptop.

Also news: I have a new pet - a crested gecko. A woman at church's gecko laid a bunch of eggs, which hatched into little baby geckos. She knew I was an "animal person" so she immediately offered to give me one of the babies when they were big enough. So now I have a baby crested gecko. And it's really cute (still working on an androgynous name for the little critter - too young to tell if it's a male or female). I'll have to take pictures and upload them sometime before it grows up.

My apprenticeship at the zoo was great. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. And I earned money, which I didn't do before as an intern or volunteer. Unfortunately, there isn't a job for me at the Oakland Zoo right now, so I'm on the lookout for a job. I currently have an application in at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and I plan on sending one to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum which is nearby. I've been a little bit lazy about that. Sometime I'll show you some of the photos I took at the zoo too.

Meanwhile, my grandma's health hasn't been so good lately. A few months ago she was diagnosed with cancer - small tumors in several parts of her body. Last week she had her first seizure in almost 50 years, so they raised the dose of dylantin she was taking. She's still in the hospital recovering and will have to spend some time in a nursing home for physical therapy. She's been living by herself (my cousin and his wife live a couple blocks down the street) for over 12 years now. Very cool, independent woman.

I also have a political soapbox to get on briefly. Not that I have much of a readership, so I don't know how much good it'll do... Barak Obama is a charismatic leader. That's good, you say? Please, please, do not make me remind you of the history of charismatic leaders.

That's it for now. Stay tuned in case I ever update this thing again (I plan to!).

Yep, I'm still alive. I just haven't been blogging much. Sorry about that, faithful readers. Or should I say bored webizens.

I've been busy lately because I got to start my JOB early (wasn't supposed to be until June), plus this weekend, my brother's birthday was Saturday, Mother's day was Sunday, I was pet/house-sitting two very energetic cocker spaniels, and got my smog check Saturday morning. So of course, I don't feel like I had much of a weekend. I think I'll make up for that this following week by partying as much as I have cumulatively since 2007 - Sunday is my birthday, and before then I will probably be going out to dinner with some co-workers, and with some old friends. For my birthday I'm going to see Prince Caspian (just re-read the book), and out to dinner at one of those Japanese grill restaurants where they make the food in front of you. And having yummy chocolate pie for dessert. Yep, I have it all planned out.

And now for the more entertaining part of this blog - the part where I impart on you some of the random musings of my rather silly brain.

After house sitting and watching some episodes of an old TV show that will be named later on, I realized that two of the television characters I find most dreamy have quite a lot in common:

-Very intelligent/large knowledge base
-lonely
-gentlemen
-time travelling
-sensitive
-nearly asexual
-have many faces...

Hmm. What characters am I talking about? Am I aware that a couple of those characteristics aren't realistic... at all. (And yes, I've been watching WAY more tv lately than I was at Purdue).

Well, the show I was watching with the spaniels was Quantum Leap. (and Sam was the one I was talking about, not Al) I should watch reruns of that one more often.

Sam Beckett

Yes, that's Scott Bakula. But I the actors are not what I'm looking at as much as the characters they portray...

And, the other character is The Doctor from Doctor Who, currently:

The Tenth Doctor

Because everyone likes to look at pictures. Yay Wikipedia.

Today our Sunday morning service met at 10 am instead of 9 and 10:45. We were told ahead of time that it would be a sort of groundbreaking event. The pastor in charge of the region of the denomination (American Baptist Churches of the West) gave a sermon that, I think, will mend the major problems we've been having as well as greatly improve morale for the pastors and elders.

He began by telling us the story of Eli and his sons from 1st Samuel 2:12-36. He went to great length telling us about Eli's sin, and what God honors and dishonors (v. 30). Then he went on to tell us about how, since the regional headquarters is in the same town here, he has prayed for our church frequently since he's been here. He explained some of the church's historical problems - how it had been like a "country club" for members (there were only about 90 people attending when pastor Mike came about 4.5 years ago - now he's built it up to 400+), how pastors had been mediocre at best, and how whenever they showed any leadership at all, the church chewed them up and spit them out. He really didn't mince words. Then he read a letter that had been sent to him anonymously. It was hateful and slanderous toward the leadership of the church - at one point you could hear one communal gasp of disbelief going around the sanctuary. As he said, that sort of infectious behavior is not welcome, and if whoever wrote it wanted to live that way, they had better find some other church to infect.

Then he gave anyone involved a chance to repent before God (nobody did, even with the promise of anonymity - I suspect the culprits {I have no idea who was involved and don't really care to know}). And followed by having the congregation (whoever would) commit to doing the following whenever they heard anything about another member: say "That's nice. Now I'm going to tell him or her what you said and that you said it." Pretty good policy if you ask me. Then he had the pastors and elders stand at the front of the church and enlisted us to come up, shake their hands, and tell them "As you serve God, I support you."

The whole thing as WAY overdue, but very much needed. When I came back here last summer, most of the members I knew were gone. From then until now, the elders and pastors have been stressed out about all the gossip and divisiveness to near the breaking point. I should know, my dad's one of the elders. Pointing out and doing so much to exterminate this corruption is an answer to many many prayers. Now, as the speaker said, we should be a Blues Brothers church - "On a mission from God" to reach out and save the lost of our community. Praise the Lord.

This evening I fully intended to go to the meeting of the Bay Area chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK). I left right after eating dinner with my parents, music pastor, and his wife (first time we've had company in a looooong time). The place the meeting was this month was the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. As is my habit, I got directions on Google maps, wrote them down on a piece of paper, and then took that with me.

Well, I got royally lost. I would say that I've never been that lost in my life, except I was about equivalently lost on my way to a friend's wedding last spring. This time, though, my directions vanished about the same time I got lost. I pulled over several times to look around for them, and couldn't find them anywhere in my truck. Eventually I stopped at a gas station for directions - they didn't know where Lindsay is, so they gave me a phone book. I only managed to confirm that the street I thought it was on was not the street it was listed on. Then I looked through  my maps - I didn't have one that covered Walnut Creek (if I were trying to drive to Utah, I'd be ok though). After 40 minutes of driving around, at least a dozen U-turns, and most the rest of the gas that was in my tank, I gave up and headed home. I wish I had had the presence of mind to copy down the names and phone numbers on the meeting flyer for directions, but I never looked at it with a pen to write that down. So, I guess I'll go to my first AAZK meeting next month. I'm kind of upset that I missed this one.

If anything, this proves that horoscopes are a load of manure. I happened to glance at mine this morning (something that is surprisingly rare considering I always read the comics and they're on the same page). It said something along the lines of "travelling will be a pleasant experience for you today." Ha! The only time I left the house was to go to the AAZK meeting and that was far from pleasant.