Fort Collins

Is looming like the Rocky Mountains, even though I won’t be leaving L.A. until August (which, p.s. is shaping up to be a huge month: Beijing Olympics. Verizon contract runs out = iPhone. Birthday. Move across the country, again). Good thing this is all six months off. But really, only six months? I feel like I’m just getting settled in Southern California as far as church, friends, place, work, routine. It’s really taken me this long to feel comfortable (October to February = 4 months?) so the idea of doing this all over again doesn’t sound like too much fun. The other thing I’ve been asking myself lately is, what does Fort Collins really accomplish? If my heart is truly split between Pittsburgh and Asia, then why Colorado? Is it my dream job? Nope. Is it a good job? Yeah, it is. It’s a good fit for me for now, and I just have to trust that staying with ELIC will be the right thing for me for another year, at least. So what makes it hard? Well, I’m starting to really love my church here in California. Will I most likely find a new church in Fort Collins? Most likely. Will I dis-like leaving a church two times in a year’s time to follow a job? Absolutely. Will I find new people to connect with and invest in and build friendships with? I’m sure I will. But there are friends from high school, college, China, Providence, and now California, that I will miss when I move on (most that I already do). I’ll find new coffee shops and brewpubs (serving  Fat Tire, I’m sure) to frequent and if there’s a good Thai restaurant anywhere in Colorado, I’ll know about it. I’ll figure out the cool thing to do on a Friday night (but it won’t be Pinkberry), plus I’ll be within an hour of awesome dudes like Matt Stewart, Adam Wing and Tim Wilsey, and about 1500 miles closer to home, but I’m feeling a strange mix of a desire to stay and a desire to leave, just not really to leave for Fort Collins. I’m sure it’s a great town, but my heart is so many other places, and I’m not sure if I’m ready to invest in somewhere new again. Neither am I sure if I’ll feel ready to leave L.A. when it’s time. Six months from now, just 26, with the Olympics fresh over and iPhone in hand, I’ll be packing up my life once again (with no real thought this will be the last time) for Colorado. Six months. Maybe I should say half a year instead–sounds longer. [NOTE: I apologize; WordPress isn’t letting me add paragraph breaks to my text. It’s a little bulky anyway, so thanks for reading, and sorry for the lack of white space.]

Justice at Giant Eagle

So tonight I found the first season of 30Rock (which is hilarious, by the way) for $19.99 at Giant Eagle, or at least that’s how it was labeled which I knew couldn’t be right. It’s available at Amazon for $32.99 and rang up at Giant Eagle for $39.99. Because of the discrepancy I called over a cashier and he gave me the DVD for the 20 bucks the price tag said. He just sort of did it without letting me point out that I was sure it was mis-labeled and if it really was $40, which I knew it had to be, I didn’t want it. But I said nothing and walked out of there with the half-price DVD and a guilty conscious.

If I could steal a car as easily as I can download music or, in tonight’s case, rip off a grocery store, would I? Is it a big deal that I didn’t pay Giant Eagle and its employees $20 when I knew very well that I should have, even though one of them let me have it for the wrong price?

Is this how I practice justice??

A couple of notes on the switch and the move

I imported my posts from Doddfodder as well as all my posts from China, which were on separate Blogger blogs. I’m working on organizing “tags” and “categories” which I don’t quite understand the difference between, or at least the use, and hopefully with another move here to California coming up and another step in my adult life (with continued blogging and updates), a pretty full picture ought to come together.

You’ll notice if you check out the archives that they go back to August of 2005 now, because of adding the China posts, and you ought to notice a big gap beginning in July 2006, the month Nate died. There’s a reason I didn’t write or blog until December, so yeah, there’s that. I’ve spent most of the day today organizing my “Internet” life, which is probably stupid since there are so many other things I should be working on, but this has been good, and it’s something I think I needed to do before I leave next week (actually, I ought to be in or on my way to Columbus in exactly 7 days).

The quick itinerary is that I’ll leave home Tuesday evening to stay the night at Bill and Stacy’s before starting the intense driving Wednesday morning. I’ll meet Jason for lunch in Indianapolis Wednesday and hope to make it to Tulsa that night. Thursday will be Tulsa to Albuquerque, and Friday Albuquerque to San Dimas. I’m still somewhat considering making the trip through the mountains to stop in Winchester and Longmont, but I’m leaning towards the I-40 desert route.

Small world?

I know stuff like this happens to people all the time, and it seems like more and more people are spending time in China so it’s not that big of a deal I guess, but it still sort of blows my mind. Two girls I liked in high school (of say, five) have China ties. One I dated briefly and is living there now (with her husband) and the other I really wanted to date and has been to China twice, once with ELIC even!! (She’s married, too, by the way.) It seems really weird to think back to when I knew Kayla and Amanda (when I was a sophomore/junior in high school) and that we would end up in the same country on the other side of the globe at different times. It makes me think maybe John Stuart’s six-degree thing is possible, but mainly it just makes my head hurt.

It’s all that thing I try to explain to people sometimes: I like big things to be big, and small things to be small, and it scares me when they aren’t. OK that’s enough randomness for a while.

Doddi California

I want to fill you all in on some details of my sooncoming relocation, if you don’t know this stuff already. I’m taking a job with the English Language Institute/China, the company that sent me to Beijing as a teacher in 2005-2006. I’m not going back to China, though, instead to California. Specifically, San Dimas, home of a famous Circle K where some strange things once were afoot.

San Dimas is also home to ELIC’s North American headquarters and is, for some reference, about 45 minutes east of downtown LA, an hour from the beach, 2 minutes from the mountains, and 25 minutes north of Anaheim/Disneyland. (A year pass will be purchased.) My job title will be “Communications Typographer.” My primary responsibility will be newsletter layout and I start October 15th.

Oh, this is cool. Here’s the skinny on 19773 (my new zip) from ZipSkinny, via Chris. Also, go ahead and compare your Zip to San Dimas, or Moon Township (15108) or Beaver Falls (15010) or wherever. Lots of interesting stuff there.

But, just so you know, I’ll only be living in San Dimas for about a year (maybe less) until all of ELIC relocates to Fort Collins, Colorado, which means I too will be moving–again–sometime next summer, most likely.

I’m trying to approach this big step in my adult life with proper preparation and thought, which means I’ve been reading up on surviving earthquakes, how far I’ll be from Google/Apple/Pixar (the answer: 7 hours) and when Blade Runner is showing in LA theaters in advance of The Final Cut DVD release in December (the answer, I think, is starting October 5. First movie I’ll see in California? I think yes.)

Which leads me to my question: What are some must-see/read/listen to LA/California films/books/albums I should get to know before or after my Westward trek?

I’ll start the list and you all can help me put something complete together.

Films:
Chinatown
L.A. Confidential
The Big Lebowski

Music:
The Beach Boys
Weezer
Red Hot Chili Peppers

Books:
The Grapes of Wrath (not LA specifically, but the book I think of when I think California)
Shoot… I need help with books.

While we talk must-sees, be praying that I can find a church home in LA, and somewhere to live. My buddy Ryan has graciously provided me with a bed/couch until Thanksgiving-ish, but I’ll need lots more than a pillow leaving home, Providence and friends and family behind. Somehow I’ll survive without the Steelers (I left before and they won the Super Bowl), but Wednesday nights at the Stuarts, dinners at Sweet Basil and staying above mom and dad’s garage will be harder.

I’ll have lots more to say on lots of stuff soon. But for now, good night.

Groceries

I seriously have no idea how to shop for myself. I went to Giant Eagle last night and came home with:

2 cartons of Arizona Iced Green Tea (mmmm)
1 half gallon of 2% milk
1 carton of low-fat yogurt
1 case of Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper
Hotel Rwanda
Strictly Ballroom/Moulin Rouge!/Romeo + Juliet box set (…that movie section in Giant Eagle kills me)

And that was it. I need groceries and I buy drinks, yogurt and movies. Ugh.

In my defense, I also bought s’more stuff for our youth group bonfire tonight, and it took me about 20 minutes to find marshmallows which drove me crazy. Speaking of, tonight’s our Fall Semester Youth Group Kick-Off Extravaganza. We’re building an awesome bonfire, there’ll be food and crazy games, and our talented musicians are plugging in outside for a jam session that will rock Phillips Lane all the way to Clever (Eric’s autoharp included). Should be sa-weet.

Before that though I have a phone call with California.