‘I’m leavin’ on a jet plane…’
My bags are packed; I'm ready to go...
I've got my visa and all sorts of other documents at the ready...
And in less than nine hours, I'm outta here.
I'm really excited, kinda nervous too, and I will miss all you Arizona people tremendously.
‘The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.’
This morning I actually managed to wake up early and get to the 9:30 service, but when my mom and I pulled into the parking lot at Tempe First we discovered that the power was out.
Doug, the head of the trustees, told us as we pulled in that we'd be having a 15-minute service in the outdoor courtyard. (The sanctuary at TFUMC doesn't have any windows.) But we were soon all filing into Ross Hall, our fellowship hall that has big windows down one side of the main room.
Rob and Valerie, our associate pastors, got started on announcements. But soon someone informed Rob that the setup we had would somehow run afoul of the fire codes, so Rob led the call to worship, said a prayer and then gave the benediction, which, since he was planning to preach on Matthew 4:12-23, included a lot of references the light of God and such.
Then, just as everybody was filing out of the hall, the power came back on, so Rob ended up preaching to a doubly downsized crowd: a congregation missing the people who didn't bother to stay for the abbreviated service at all and those who kept on walkin' once they had been benedictioned the first time around. It was only the hardcore folks who heard Rob's sermon and got the bonus second benediction.
Yeha, that's right; you know you're jealous.
rainy day
Rainy days in Arizona are among my favorite things, so I'm stoked that my last day in town is a wet one!
1/26/2008: World Shopping Tour
Believe it or not, I've actually started packing for South Africa already. I've mostly made piles that have yet to be crammed into suitcases, but even this much effort exerted more than 24 hours ahead of my departure time has got to be a new Brian world record.
In my packing and packing list-ing, I made some notes of things I needed to pick up in order to pack. Since most of them could be found at Target, I drove over to Tempe Marketplace after Shekinah and had a relatively quick and productive Target run. I even found shoes on clearance, saving me a trip to a real shoe store... and moneeeey!
But then I headed west across the parking lot toward Old Navy, which is where things began to turn south.
See, I wasn't even planning on going to Old Navy until I heard a commercial on the radio about their two-button-down-shirts-for-$25 sale. Since I needed a shirt or two, the Old Navy at Tempe Marketplace became Stop No. 2ish on my ridiculously long shopping expedition.
I got to the store, found two shirts I liked that they had in medium, but wisely thought to grab a large-sized version of one shirt (the blue one) and go to the fitting room to see which size fit better. There, I discovered that the medium shirts didn't fit me as well as I had hoped.
So I go back out to discover that the store only had the other shirt I wanted (the green one) in medium and probably in some ridiculous sizes like small and XXL as well. Disappointed by this discovery, I finished up my biznass at Tempe Marketplace and headed down to the Old Navy in Arizona Mills.
There, they also had the blue shirt in large but only had small and XXL green shirts — not even a medium. Eventually, I break down and ask a cashier if they have the shirt in large.
Maria, which is either (if I remember correctly) her name or (if not) a made-up name to protect her privacy or something like that, checks the computer and says they don't have any at the Mills, but the Marketplace store shows up as having four. (Great, I think. Why couldn't I have asked at Marketplace?)
But just to be sure, Maria calls the Marketplace Old Navy to check. She and I are on hold for a good five or 10 minutes before someone on the line at Marketplace tells her they're all out of larges.
Another store showing up on the screen with four large green shirts is the Gilbert Old Navy at Stapley and Baseline. Maria calls over there, sits on hold for like five more minutes, and hears that they only have smalls, extra-larges and XXLs.
I decide to settle for an XL, and after thanking Maria, I head out for Gilbert.
When I arrive at Old Navy No. 3 of the evening (Well, it's actually night now.) I discover no XL green shirts — only a small on an XL-tagged hanger. What's more, they don't even have the blue shirt I like!
So now I've got one last-ditch hope: the Old Navy in Ahwatukee. Maria had mentioned that one more store was listed as have three large green shirts, but since the four-shirt stores both came up empty, we didn't even discuss where the supposed three-shirt store was. Maybe that store was Ahwatukee, I now thought. If I can't find the damn shirt there, I'm going back to Marketplace, getting the medium one and calling it a night.
Now, you may be wondering why I'm going to such great lengths over a green shirt. Well, first of all, me finding clothing in a store that I would wear, period, is a big accomplishment. Second, finding non-blue clothing that I want to wear in a store is a major life event. And third, the mechanics of the two-for-$25 sale were that the shirts were $25 together but about $20 if you buy just one. So this made buying an almost similar green shirt (that I would also wear) that one or two of the aforementioned stores had in XL on the clearance rack for like $10 unworkable because I'd still want to get the blue shirt, but it'd cost hella more.
So that brings us back to our story line, when I pull up to the Old Navy in Ahwatukee, swearing that I may never shop again given tonight's frustrations. Grumbling as I go, I walk into the store and discover that, miraculously, this store has the green shirt in large (three of the actually... Ring a bell?) and the blue shirt in large!
What's more, the Ahwatukee store also has the aforementioned also-OK green shirt on its clearance rack, so I pick one of those up for good measure.
Then I drop by the Ahwatukee Target (Don't ask why. It's a long story that will just make you think less of me.) and end up buying a pair of pants from the clearance rack. And on the way home, I get a $5 shirt from the clearance rack at the Target by Chandler mall. (Again, don't ask.)
So there you have it: my four-hour, four-city shopping epic. The end.
Brian 2008: World Tour
So I haven't done a good job of announcing this, but I'm leaving on Monday morning to go to Cape Town, South Africa, where I'll be interning at the Cape Times.
That's why I haven't been going to any classes this semester, keep making references to not being around, and keep declining invitations to do pretty much anything on this side of the world from now until the end of April.
Anyway, I'm really excited (and slightly terrified) for what's ahead for me this spring. And, of course, I'm still running around like mad getting everything done that needs to be taken care of before I go and/or between now and May.
And even though I'll be on another continent for most of the semester, I'll be back before ASU's spring semester ends and so I'll definitely be back in time for SSP this summer as well!
Speaking of, I don't think I ever outright announced this either, but I'll be the site director for SSP's Los Angeles site this year. I'm also crazy excited about that!
So here's the rundown of all my crazy plans for 2008:
| Jan. 1 | - | Jan. 14 | Tempe, Ariz. with side trips to Tucson and Las Vegas |
| Jan. 14 | - | Jan. 28 | Chandler, Ariz. |
| Jan. 28 | - | Jan. 29 | Flying: PHX » IAD » JNB » CPT |
| Jan. 29 | - | Apr. 17 | Cape Town, South Africa: Interning at the Cape Times |
| Apr. 17 | - | Apr. 18 | Flying: CPT » JNB » DKR » IAD » PHX » SMF |
| Jan. 18 | - | Apr. 21 | Sacramento, Calif.: SSP hiring weekend |
| Apr. 21 | - | June | Chandler, Ariz. |
| Some time | in | June | Central Cal: Visiting Dad |
| June 11 | - | June 21 | Sacramento, Calif.: SSP training |
| June 21 | - | Aug. 12ish | Los Angeles: SSP |
| Aug. 12ish | - | Aug. 16 | Sacramento, Calif.: SSP debrief |
| Aug. 16 | - | Aug. 17 | Central Cal? |
| Aug. 17 | - | Aug. 24 | Chandler/Tempe, Ariz.: Moving back to Tempe |
| Aug. 25 | - | Dec. 17 | Tempe/Phoenix, Ariz.: Fall '08 at ASU probably splitting time between the Tempe and Downtown campuses |
| December | / | January | points unknown: a "real job," hopefully |
OMG DEGRASSI!Marco’s actually gay!
Ever since Adamo Ruggiero's character on Degrassi, Marco, started getting all weird around girls, gossipy peeps on the Internets has been all like "omg is marco/adamo rly gay?"
After a few years, the experts (read: teenage girls, Team Duckweed, me, and assorted others) had become quick to inform people that Degrassi's token gay character is just played rather convincingly by a really good straight-guy actor.
But this week we found out that the answer to the perennial Internet buzz is actually "omg, he rly is!"
See the interview with CTV's eTalk for yourself here, and check out the bola tie Adamo's wearing. So random...
Btw, thanks to Beth and Perez for tipping me off to the big Degrassi news of the week. This should make for a nice news hook for today's scheduled Brian-and-Justine Degrassi marathon! :P
ONE YEAR LATER…I’m still the ‘Drag Queen Magnet’
Tonight started out tamely enough with the usual Thursday-night gathering at Rob's to pick up on our Grey's Anatomy watching and see the last new episode, which aired over break.
But then there was Drag Queen Bingo, which was not quite as tame.
See, Justine came over to Rob's after Grey's and invited me to go along with her, Ross and Anna to the Wild Card in Chandler for bingo fun.
The Wild Card, for those who didn't go to Chandler High, is a bar on Arizona Avenue that used to be called the Wild Hare. But the Hare moved out and its old building on Arizona Ave. became a gay bar with the changing of a mere two letters on the sign out front.
Even though it's just a mile north of my high school, I had never been to the Wild Hare or Card, so I decided to tag along with Justine et al.
Oh, and for those who have never before played Drag Queen Bingo, I should explain how the name is derived (because I had to ask before agreeing to go). A drag queen serves as the number caller for the bingo games; no one else is required to (or did) dress up in drag.
Even with that assurance, though, I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing since my last run-in with drag queens was... memorable, to say the least. (Also horrifying, hilarious...)
Well, some things haven't changed from what still stands as the craziest night of my life, which was just more than a year ago.
For one, I'm still a drag-queen magnet, apparently. Our bingo caller, Erika, was somewhat fond of me, so I was rather involved in the evening's entertainment. And it doesn't hurt that I'm generally a good sport and don't get embarrassed easily, last January's incident(s) notwithstanding.
But I'm happy to report that this year's January drag-queen event was much less frightening and much more entertaining for yours truly.
You can see photos from tonight here, but many of the photos are marked as friends-only since most of the bingo prizes were a bit, uh, explicit. For instance, listen to what Ross got after he won a round:
So if you're not already my friend on Flickr, now would be a good time to request my digital friendship as a nice companion piece to my real-life friendship.
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…except for all this stuff
Click here to see
all my Vegas photos
It's a little bit later than promised, but here are all the things about the Vegas trip that just couldn't stand to stay in Vegas like they're supposed to:
"They should just call it Jizz & Split." –Barnaby
Chris: I can't piss into a Gatorade bottle. I tried it once, but your junk is in there and it's all pointing up.
Luke: You have lived a full life, haven't you?
The Gay Challenge, Thursdays at 8/7c
| The final standings | ||
| Chris | 724 | |
| Brian | 70 | |
| Barnaby | 18 | |
| Luke | 2 | |
Kenny Loggins making us look like badasses at the Monte Carlo
On to the Bellagio
Dinner in Paris
"Dude, I'm married and my leash is longer than yours." –Barnaby
"He's lost in ass thought." –Barnaby
me: Wait. There's another ass in the picture?
Chris: There are lots of asses in this picture.
Luke: It's ass-tastic.
"If it's four hours, I'm going to be sitting in the back of the class shooting up heroin by the end of the semester." –Luke
Barnaby: So where's the bathroom?
me: That's the guy!
"I love the fake quad stretch to see her. ... I'm gonna do some lunges." –Luke
"So will he, like, come over and watch ESPN? Oh, he's a dancer?" –me, on the phone with Vicki from 696-9696
"I dated a five-foot 1-year-old girl..." –Chris, with a little sentence-completion help from Barnaby
potential pissing places
Barnaby: I'm looking at the bright one right there on the left.
Luke: Is anybody watching the road?
Luke: There are so many bad things you could say, but there are so few right things to say.
Barnaby: You could be like, "I'll call you back when I'm 50, like everyone else."
Luke: If I have to slash a tire, it'll be 10:17.
Barnaby: That's fine. Not my car.
Chris: It had better be the tire of the car ahead of us.
Luke: She can't argue with that logic.
Chris: Ohhhh...
"You should just record your calls like what's his baseball face does." –me
"I might talk loudly sometimes because my dad's from Long Island." –Chris
One A few down and 13.1 tomorrow…
Finish line, here I come!
a shot from the '06 finish line
In less than 12 hours, I'll have set out from downtown Phoenix to walk more than 13 miles back into Tempe. Yes, as I've told many of you, I'm not so much running a marathon, but I am walking a half-marathon tomorrow.
For the past two years, I've volunteered for the P.F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll Arizona Marathon on the weekend before the race. My mom and I both volunteered the two years ago, mainly so we could get free tickets to the post-race concert. (I think the Gin Blossoms played that year.) Last year, my mom walked in the half, and I still volunteered beforehand. And this year I'm following Mom's lead and actually doing the half, walking alongside her and Jolene.
Last year's marathoners
Now, unlike many of the people I know who are actually jogging or running the thing, it's not like I've been on any sort of regular training regimen. But I've gotta say that my off-and-on efforts to get ready for the half-marathon have gotten me into a slightly healthier lifestyle — Vegas buffets notwithstanding.
Especially over winter break, when I've wanted to go somewhere in Tempe I've usually opted to walk instead of driving or even taking the bus. My inclination toward walking started out with close-by places like campus and Mill Avenue, but lately I've been walking all the way over to places like Tempe Marketplace. And I've also gone out to walk just for exercise's sake, especially up around Tempe Town Lake, which is one of my favorite spots in town anyway.
Tomorrow should be fun. I feel like I'm ready, and the Rock 'N' Roll is designed to be fun for the runners(/walkers), what with the bands they have playing along the course and all. So the moral of the story is that walking for longish distances is fun, especially in the Valley, and I think you should all try it sometime, whether in a marathon-type setting or just for funsies.
Chuzzle!
Yesterday, I got a laptop to replace my finally-bit-the-dust desktop, and today I discovered that it has Chuzzle Deluxe preinstalled on it!
That means I don't even need to find the CDs Michael burned me back when I first got addicted to this move-fuzzy-things-around-while-listening-to-disco-music game!
So needless to say I just played a game... even though I have more important things to do (packing, moving, etc.).
Speaking of photos…
Check this one out. That's me behind the wheel as captured by Scottsdale's speed cameras on the 101. I'm alleged to have been driving 79 on the 65-mph freeway, which would have been right along with the flow of traffic until just before the cameras, when people started hitting the brakes.
In fact, I was following another vehicle (probably the truck that cruised by in the middle lane on the video) that moved over the the right and slammed on the brakes right before we passed the cameras.
I thought the other guy was just crazy until I saw the flash go off... and right in the middle of "Spice Up Your Life" to boot. (We were on our way back from seeing the Spice Girls in Vegas.)
And just when I thought it had been so long that another car must have been blocking the cameras' view of mine, the ticket came in the mail on New Year's Eve. And so now I'll be going to traffic school on Saturday. Fun times.
Photos, photos everywhere!
As expected, I've been taking just short of a bazillion photos since getting a new camera for Christmas.
I took a bunch while I was out walking on Sunday.
There's also the requisite hundred or so pictures from New Year's.
And there are also a few photos from my recent trip down to Tucson, where I hung out with Marissa and Melinda yesterday and today.
‘This is the best New Year’s ever!’ –Marissa
So I agree with Marissa that New Year's this year was pretty awesome. On New Year's Eve, Marissa and Melinda (who I worked with in LA this summer) came up to Tempe, along with Dave and Addison. The five of us went to the Tempe block party, where we met up with Alyssa, Courtney and Tess.
And, you know, while we were at the block party, some of us met some new friends. There was...
Addison and Natalia? Natasha? Mmmmm...
Tess and Justin
Courtney and... uh... Kevin?
Alyssa and John
Yeah, we're a friendly bunch. Addison and Tucson-girl-whose-name-no-one-remembers get the prize for being the friendliest, since they hit it off almost immediately after discovering that they had gone to the same high school.
We met the rest of our new friends during the man hunt, when Tess, Courtney, Alyssa and I were on the lookout for hot guys to kiss at midnight.
So that's how we found Justin and Kevin(?) and rounded out our midnight crew:
So as you've seen, Tess and Courtney had midnight kisses. Alyssa has a boyfriend, so she got a midnight hug from John, another guy we found on the man hunt. And the rest of the crew got all kissy at a house party.
That left poor me as the only unkissed one by the time we got back to my apartment... and led to one of the last and least clearly remembered activities of the evening (except for, of course, the popcorn). At like 2 a.m. when Addison found out that I didn't kiss anyone, he decided to kiss me. So, as Marissa noted, Melinda and I "shared a man." (Addison was Melinda's midnight kiss.) Yeah, that's awkward.
Anyway, the next day, Melinda wasn't feeling well but the rest of us hit up In-N-Out and Tempe Town Lake and then Addison also hit the sack while the remaining three of us got all Swedish up in the hizzy at IKEA.
