Welcome to mistersite.net, home of... well, something unique, I hope. Be sure to check out all those lovely links to the left to see who I am, what I do, and what I like. Read my blog too... it's right under this paragraph. And leave a comment, so I know you've visited.
On July 27...
...I and a mystery guest will be at Wrigley Field, in the bleachers, watching the Cubbies play the Giants in what will undoubtedly be the decisive game of the season. I bought my tickets today for my yearly hajj to Wrigley Field, and it's nice to have that out of the way so soon, so that now all I have to worry about baseball-wise is getting tickets for Spring Training and the Cubs@Dodgers series. Oh, and I have to single-handedly win the division for the Cubs, somehow. I'll find a way...
posted by jimmy at 23:58 -
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Cacti
Yesterday Alisa was hugging me and she asked me "have you lost weight?"
Sure enough, when I looked in the mirror this morning, I noticed that my trademark gut is a bit off its usual form. I think all that non-carnivorousness is taking its toll.
The Lent Weight Loss Plan: You heard it here first, folks.
posted by jimmy at 16:56 -
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Simon!
I don't have anything to say right now, so I'll just leave you with some pictures of the cutest cat in the world*.
* Simon is, objectively, the cutest cat in the whole world. I'm still waiting on the certificate in the mail.
posted by jimmy at 11:32 -
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Glad tidings
I get to go listen to Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and a person who inspires me greatly, not once but twice next week. Wallis is one of the most influential voices among the evangelical "Left" and an advocate for social justice and just peacemaking. He's coming to California for a few days and I'm going to see him speak Sunday and Monday nights. I'm so excited I could just... just... well, nothing comes to mind at the moment, but rest assured it would be an adequate expression of my excitement. You'll see.
I finally finished (mostly) the "Prayer Wall" I was building for Tribe. I don't have any pictures just yet, but it's a 7' tall, 5' wide monstrosity made out of metal fenceposts, wire netting, and a flowerpot... the idea is that it's going to be a surface onto which little pieces of papers with prayers on them can be pinned, taped, or stuck, rather like the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Building this wall has been one of the highlights of the last few weeks for me... mostly because I got to do manly, gruff things like cut through metal pipe with a hacksaw and spend hours on end at hardware stores. I'd grunt, belch, and scratch myself at this point, but I'm at work and that would look a little odd.
My chest feels a little hairier.
Now that I've finished nauseating my audience, here's something else: pitchers and catchers reported today to Spring Training. That's right, folks, baseball has begun! I'm already planning my Spring Break trip to Arizona to catch some Spring Training games and hopefully get a few more autographs... Nomar's John Hancock on a baseball would look mighty nice on my bookshelf.
That is all. Resume your daily business.
posted by jimmy at 15:53 -
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Lent! The Musical
For some reason, I've always resisted the whole Lent thing. I've had friends and girlfriends who did it and said it was great; the churches I've been going to since college have acknowledged it. Maybe it was my non-liturgical upbringing, maybe my resistance to authority, maybe my unwillingness to give things up because I'm just that kind of person, but I just never really did anything for Lent.
But this year, I'm going to participate. Being at Tribe, and reading about the lives of the saints, has convinced me that I need a little more liturgy in my life, and recent experiences have convinced me that I need a little more sacrifice in my life. So I'm going to do the classic thing - I'm giving up meat* for Lent.
It's not just about the sacrifice, though (though that is a part of it). It's about making better choices. I've noticed lately that in my life, food is an afterthought... I spend so much time doing other things that the very act of sustaining my life - eating - is something I have to do quickly. Food should be more a part of my life than that; even if I don't eat food in abundance (my lifestyle isn't active enough for that), I want my food to be abundant, to be full and thought-out and flavorful. If I have to think about avoiding meat - and all that entails in our carnivorous society, even in SoCal - that's another step.
It's about health. Because not many fast-food joints have filling meatless options, I'll have to eat at home/cook at home (saving money) and eat less processed food (making me healthier.) I think a lot of the reason I'm tired and irritable a lot of the time is because my body isn't getting what it needs.
But it's also about justice. Meat is, all told, a really inefficient way to get energy; even the proteins can be gotten elsewhere at a lower energy cost. And as an American, already consuming well more than my due as a citizen of Planet Earth, that's quite a selling point. I read the other day that if every American were to eat meat once less a week, enough grain would be saved to feed every starving mouth in the world. That's significant.
So that's the plan for Lent. I'll keep y'all posted throughout the course of my journey, to let you know how things progress.
* Yet to be determined: Do fish count as meat? The Roman Church says no; others say yes. I'm still not sure where I'm going to fall on that one; after all, fish are more sustainable than cows. I don't like fish anyway, so maybe I will eat fish in order to develop a taste.....
posted by jimmy at 23:05 -
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Log
Archives:
After
2.9.2003
9.23.2002-2.6.2003
6.1.2002-8.21.2002
