i finally saw the new Bourne movie today. It was pretty darn good. i think it ended well too. Plus i was glad the parts that could've become really lame and cliche didn't. For instance when Julia Stiles' character is trying to explain why she's helping Bourne she makes some vague comment that thankfully didn't turn into one of those "you don't remember that we were madly in love?!?!" scenes, which would've been lame. Oh and at the end when Bourne is talking to the other assassin, i like how they recycled Clive Owen's line from the first movie.

i started at Children's Hunger Fund last week and it's been going great so far. For the first month and a half or so i'm gonna be setting up an internship program for them, and then i'll probably get moved to another division to do some other stuff. It's a really neat place to work. i'm seeing how amazing it is that CHF can have such integrity and transparency in everything they do, and how amazing it is that they move so much product and do the things they do with the few people they have. The people are so friendly and it's kinda cool working with so many people that love God and people.

Future of Forestry's last two shows with Nick and Luke were Fri and Sat. i went to the Fri show in Laguna Hills since i couldn't make the Sat one in SD. it'll be interesting to see where everyone ends up...

i'm currently obsessed with Eisley. Spence from FoF has told me he really likes them and i'd heard their singles "Telescope Eyes" and "Marvelous Things" but i never listened to them much until they posted their entire new album on myspace a few days ago. www.myspace.com/eisley
i've only heard clips of the songs from their first album on itunes so i don't know if this sophomore release is better, but i just like their sound in general.

camping trip with some of the extended fam!

setting up camp

Cara

my cousin's fiancee and my other cousin

boys digging project

the boys

the girls' table

the boys were obsessed with the fire

the girl pink posse

Mimi, cousin, dad

my cousin's cute hapa baby, Sophie and my aunt

"So you sailed away into a grey sky morning..." (10 points if you can name that 90's tune by that one album 90's band)

This past weekend was my extended family's 2nd annual family camping trip. Only part of our whole family goes but it's still fun. Actually the whole point of the trip is so that all the little kids can see each other and play together. It was nice though. We were at a super plush campsite at El Capitan in Santa Barbara. My parents and I had to leave a day early because I had work today and my parents left for India for 2 weeks. It was a fun day and a half though.

Yesterday, i was standing outside The Habit (a burger place) waiting for my friend to meet me for lunch. This guy walks up to me and says, "You know, South Americans are brown but people don't know that South Africans are black." Had i been more quick to process what he said, i would've done something intelligent like engage him and ask "whatever do you mean, sir?" or at least make a smart remark like, "well that bit of nonsensical wisdom just made my day!" Instead, i smiled awkwardly and said, "oh" and he walked away. i am still puzzled by the situation. He didn't come off as mentally ill or sleazy, and he was a solitary older man (meaning it wasn't some teenage boy trying to be funny and random in front of his friends). He just leisurely walked up to me and made this strange comment with a calm and knowing look, like he was sharing a great pearl of wisdom or something. shrug.

In other news i went to the north San Diego County area today to see my not-anymore-roommate and my sister-in-law's sister and her family, who are visiting from England. Little kids with British accents are too cute. It was such a beautiful day too, and i must once again affirm that San Diego beaches are THE best beaches in southern California. The water is warm and clean, and there aren't inordinate amounts of rocks or seaweed. i think i'm going to add SD beaches to my list of current favorite things...

why is August 3rd going to be the best day of August this year? three words...
The Bourne Ultimatum

i haven't been up to too much since getting back from Israel. my little brother was here for a week from Albuquerque and that was fun. i'm still waiting to hear from Children's Hunger Fund about my schedule and everything, and i'm thinking about applying to Cal Lutheran for a part-time administrative job. hm what else...i have jury duty again Monday. my life isn't that exciting right now...

being home has been nice but i definitely need to start working or something. it's nice having time to just relax, but it does get old after awhile. i've also been contemplating moving out of state somewhere just for the heck of it. i love California and being near my family and friends, but the idea of starting over somewhere is exciting too. we'll see...

a true photo blog

Israel really does have every landscape imaginable. these are just some of my favorite pictures i've taken throughout the trip.

this trip really was amazing. i didn't have too many expectations going into it, but it was infinitely above and beyond anything i thought it could be. IBEX is definitely the way to go if you're going to Israel. the trip is much longer than any other tour you could go on, and it's more intense mentally and physically than any other tour. Nate did an absolutely phenomenal job teaching us the history, the land, and the Bible. it's so true that the Bible comes to life once you've been. now as i'm reading through things i can picture how the story unfolds geographically. i also enjoyed getting to know all the people that went too. we are all very different, but somehow God orchestrated it that a large majority of us are in a transitional stage in life, not sure what the next step is. it was neat to be able to encourage each other in what we're going through.

there were so many highlights-swimming in the Sea of Galilee, the Banyas hike, getting to know Erica a lot better, hanging out with people, tackling Masada, long and tiring yet richly packed days...but i think i will overall take from the trip a renewed appreciation of God's awesome grace and faithfulness over time. He truly is an eternal God that doesn't change and is always faithful to an unfaithful people. Selah.

Israel photo blog pt. III

Sea of Galilee taken from the bus

it's Aldrich Park in Israel! haha this is near Aphek

Arbel Cliffs - we literally climbed and hiked down from the top

beautiful Banyas waterfall hike

Banyas waterfall

Nate (leader) & Na-El. Na-El was our bus driver. he's a Bedouin and had to leave his village when he became a Christian.

Laura and I at the Sheraton in Tel Aviv on our long journey home.

the Sea of Galilee is perhaps the best body of water i've ever had the privilege of swimming in. in the evenings the winds pick up and you get some good sized waves. the great part is that it's fresh water and it's the PERFECT temperature. so you go swim and have fun in the waves and everything, but when you come out you're not salty and gross. it's great.

on the cardo at Bet She'an, a huge Roman city

Shechem/modern-day Nablus

Scott playing Israeli Pac-Man at our final dinner

beautiful Yad Hashmonah where we stayed for 4 days

gorgeous Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast

lunch @ Na-El's house.

thanks and Israeli military in the Golan Heights

4000 year old Sea of Galilee boat pulled out of the mud

4th of July BBQ!!! (you can't see it in the picture but we had country music too :)

Still not back...

so anyone want to guess where i am right now? a holiday inn in new york. am i saying this with a smile on my face? not so much! why you ask? therein lies the tale...

so our group was slated to leave saturday night/sunday morning at 12:04 a.m. well as happens with many flights, El Al overbooked and gave the option to passengers to give up their seat in return for a flight the next day and either some monetary compensation or a free round trip ticket to Israel. myself and 4 others said, what the heck, we don't have to be back right away and promptly volunteered to possibly give up our seats. of us five, myself and Laura were the only two that ended up randomly being selected to stay. so Laura and i thought, what a fun adventure. and for the first half, it was. El Al put us up in a beautiful beachfront Sheraton Hotel in Tel Aviv and provided breakfast and transportation back to the airport. we hop on our flight and have a lovely time watching "300" and that (surely) drug-induced story "the last mimzy" among others. then the tides turned...

we ended up getting to JFK in new york a little after 4:00 p.m. what time is our connecting flight to LAX? 5:00 p.m. let's do some math...

sitting in literally the LAST row of seats/last to get off the plane + going through customs and immigration + finding out we have to claim and recheck our luggage + JFK being the most inefficient airport i've ever been to = definitely missed flight. after that we got to wait around for 4 hours while connecting flights for tomorrow and hotel arrangements were made, all the while with extremely frustrated people yelling. it was lovely.

the compensation i received for giving up my seat on the El Al flight was worth it when i was set to arrive back in LA the same day a mere 14 hours later. as of now, it's just turning into a story i'll be able to tell people (aaaand yeah, you're right, it's not even a good story).

in any case i feel like i've been tested to the max (in a good way) in the areas of faith and patience over the last two days.

i'm not super tired right now, just physically exhausted. i'll post another blog with more pictures of Israel and commentary on the trip over the next few days or so.