A Blast to the Past

Get Him to the Greek. MLB Showdown. Board and Brew. Strolling the Beach. Padres - Blue Jays. BP Home Run Balls. Oh Canada. Jose Molina. Not right now. World Cup Craziness. North Korea - Brazil. Del Mar Fair. Dennis DeYoung performing the music of Styx. Desert Moon. Domo Arigoto, Mr. Roboto. Come Sail Away. More World Cup. Steve Cherundolo. Vienna. Lakers - Celtics at 126. Home made spaghetti. Monopoly Deal. Moulin Rouge Singalong. Phantom Redux. Elephant Love Medley madness. USA - Slovenia on the projector. Stupid Mali ref. Donovan and Bradley. Taco Truck. Lollicup. Pick-up basketball at the arc. In-n-out. Boy Meets World. A wrench in the plans. Jamba Juice. UCI campus tour. More Vienna attempts. Toy Story 3. Korean BBQ. Three ice cream cones each. Pick-up softball. The epic socal road trip of death. Irvine - El Segundo - Montclair - Hacienda Heights - El Segundo - San Diego. Showdown comeback and an epic Game 5. Leaving on a Jet Plane.

It doesn't get much better than that.

helpless

The inexperienced boy stood like a firefighter without water, exasperation and a lingering wistful aftertaste hanging in the air.

"Just wanted to say that I love you man," he said quietly, looking at his feet. "I freaking can't wait to talk to you again."

Three Years

Today marks the end of my third year of college, as well as the end of my vegetarian challenge. On one hand, it all seems to have passed so quickly. When I think of my college experience as 3/4ths over, I shudder and can only shake my head. But then I think back to certain moments from this year, times that I can reflect on and contrast to today... and I can find a sense of peace in the year gone by.

This quarter in particular was not an easy one. It definitely was filled with plenty of good times and new friendships, but above all, it was a quarter filled with challenges.

One in particular, the vegetarian one, I can soundly say was a success. I hope that all of my challenges this quarter can turn out that well.

But all in all, God has repeatedly been good. So very good. And for that, I am thankful.

Lessons from Love & Estrangement

As daunting and challenging this class was at times, I left it saying to myself "Man am I glad I'm a LJ major..." more times than not, and that pretty much speaks for itself.

"Life moves fast. Memories fade. People die. Only storytellers have the power to slow down time, force us to pay attention to the quiver of an old man's lip, the lavender streaks in a Missouri sky, the flutter of a woman's heart. How often do we ignore these details in every day life? How lucky are we to document them for the world to read?"

"God is in the details."

"Put yourself aside. Because the stories you write are so much bigger than you. Because the people you interview deserve to have their stories told. Because it is our responsibility."

Call me a sucker for the motivational speech, but I am pretty dang motivated. How can you not be after reading that on the last day of class?