Monday, June 30, 2008

good stuff coming soon

sorry.

i know its been awhile since i've posted. i got some grief for this recently. i'm aware. i have started an entry on my trip to NYC that i hope to finish soon. i've been busy and/or hurt and/or its been too hot to do anything except sit in front of a fan. but i promise by week's end my NYC post will be up and maybe some other stuff too. maybe even Vegas pt. 3...which would just be amazing considering that's pushing six months now since i was there last.

:D

in the meantime here's a quick update: i joined a kickball league/team and our first game was this last sunday. had a blast but possibly pulled my right hamstring. it sucks. hard. its freaking ridiculously too hot right now. i'm a seattle area lifer so anything above 75 is too hot. above 85 is just mean. mean mean seattle weather. i mean i like it nice, but i also like to be able to enjoy it. damn sun. also i just finished my 6th punch card at prost! for anyone who cares/knows what that means.

ok time to pop some advil, ice up the hammy and go to bed. work tomorrow (but took today off to tend to the hammy and friday is the 4th of july so three day work week!!!).

jeah. go cubbies.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

yogurt pants

This has not been my best pants week. Not sure that anyone has a "good pants week" but if there was ever a "bad pants week" then this would be it...for me anyway. On Monday I ripped a nice 12 inch hole in the back of my pants. See that here. Then today I decided to start my new "eating better" journey with some yogurt instead of a Stabucks Cherry Almond Scone (which is oh so delicious btw but apparently much worse for you than I thought...yikes).

I was excited because I enjoy yogurt, especially blackberry, or in this case marionberry (which is more or less the same thing). Now I've eaten plenty of yourt before and am aware that it likes to squirt out when you take off the top, so I was aware of that fact when I started to open my yogurt. I figured if I opened it slowly it would only produce a small projectile splurb of yogurt. Balls...I mean false (LOL). Instead it shot all over my black pants, and despite a quick run to the men's room to carefully wipe it off and attempt to prevent a stain from forming this is what I walked around with on my pants all day...

So this isn't the best picture, and I feverishly rubbed a wet paper towl over the stained area earlier in the day before I took this picture, but there were 8-12 highly visible little white spots on my upper right leg...pretty much just to the side of the zipper. Picture where that is. Yea. So it looked even worse than just a random stain on my pants. Maybe you don't follow...that's ok...it just means your mind isn't as dirty as mine. And that's ok.

At least there have been no pants incidents thus far today (knock on wood). And no other wardrobe mishaps of any kind (k.o.w. again). I also feel much better, health-wise, than I did yesterday. So hopefully the horrid tos de la muerte is on its way out of my body along with my pesky pants problems. Ha. Isn't alliteration fun? Yes. The answer is unequivocally yes.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

The Normal Sized Mo?

My friend Jordo (who needs to update his freaking dream blog) started calling me The Big Mo after he heard an ad on the radio for a mortgage company...or something related. In this ad, there's a family that wants to buy a new boat, or go on vacation, or do something fun and expensive but they can't because they're mortgage is too big...THE BIG MO SAYS NO! In this case "the mo" is their mortgage. He thought it was hilarious, and now I am The Big Mo, The Mo, Matty Mo, Mo, Moses, Mosephus & Mosephus the Red.

After sitting around the house all because I stayed home from work in order to try and kick my nasty cough, I've had plenty of time to myself to think about things. I've found myself being more patient, which is my current self-improvement project. Mostly its meant not getting angry at slow and/or rude drivers, but I'm catching myself before I start getting upset, keep myself calm and just go with the flow. Ha! Literally I just go with the flow of traffic. I posted about wanting to learn and exercise more patience, and I hope in doing so, those who read it will help me to keep it up. In that same line of thought, I'm hoping to start either a new blog, or recurring posts on my goal to lose weight and get in better shape. I know I'm no picture of perfect health, and could stand to lose a few pounds and eat better, but when a video game (Wii Fit) tells you that you're obese based on your BMI...it kind of sticks with you.

Obese, huh? I've never thought of myself as that out of shape and/or overweight but BMI is supposed to be a very accurate measure of just how overweight/in shape you are. I'm no expert, but I believe BMI is a direct correlation between how tall you are, how old you are, and how much you weigh. Most "healthy" people fall into a certain range, and depending on your career (professional athlete mostly) your BMI should fall into this range. A little higher and you need to hit the treadmill. Towards the top of the rating (yours truly), you need to start making some changes in your lifestyle.

So here goes.

I guess today is my farewell day. The day I wave goodbye (hopefully for good) to bad eating habits, poor exercise regimen & all that flabby weight hanging off my body. Again, as with things past, me and significant changes don't come very easily but I'm hoping that I can commit to posting update on my blog. As a result, I'm hoping that keeps me focused and helps those around me keep me on top of things as well. I've gotten some nice, positive feedback on the first self-improvement blog, and I'm hoping to get some of the same here.

Ok so I've decided to start a new blog about this. It will be easier to update, follow, post pics, etc. If you want to go check out my new blog then take a look over here. Or find it over here >>>> under the Blogtastic section and the name "The New Mo."

:D

Cough cough cough...blar

So my roommate has this lingering cough that likes to surface, make him cough the most wretched sounding cough of all time, then get kind of better, then almost leave but not really, then come back as wretched as coughs past. All the while I keep telling "stop dying" every time his body keels over in a fit of said wretched coughing. Wretched is a fun word, but I digress. So about a week ago now, maybe, his tos de la muerte infected my perfectly innocent throat with its sickness. For the past several days I've been walking around hacking up all my inner organs while my roommate just kind of makes this snickery grin at me (wanting to tell me "stop dying" but I always tell him to shut it before he says the actual words...but oh how he wants to say them). I woke up this morning feeling the worst I have since I was infected (don't you love how this sounds like a horror movie with all the "infect" word uses...yea...awesome) so I stayed home from work to try and rest, drink lots of fluid, and hopefully get better. After a few horrid sneezing/coughing tirades this morning, I am feeling better...tho that could be because I just took a wonderful 45 minute nap while watching Newsies.

Being sick wasn't really all that blog-worthy, but an old high school friend left a comment on my pants fiasco post and I found this little survey on her blog so here goes:

3 Joys

-How I Met Your Mother: This show is freaking hilarious. Very funny, clever and can always cheer me up when I'm down...and it has NPH so that's a whole other dimension of awesome.

-my friends: Lately I've had many moments with friends, both old and new, where they make me smile. I love that. Whether its an unexpected gesture, some reassuring words, a hug, a bier, or just a much overdue phone call, I have some great friends and I appreciate them dearly.

-Costco runs at work: Ok so this has only ever happened twice, and once (yesterday) it caused my pants to split open, but other than that its been fun both times. Gets me out of the office for at least 90 minutes, gets me a hot dog or a surprisingly tasty chicken caeser salad, and a chance to wonder around Costco, which is always fun. Except for the long lines at the pump, and the register, going to Costco is always fun for me...I just love me some wholesale shopping I guess.

3 Fears

-Failing: I know nobody likes to lose, or fail, but for me it might be my ultimate fear. Not just failing, like oh you lose Monopoly for the 8th straight time, more like failing in life. Like everything I've worked for or accomplished will all come to some horrible crashing end for some unknown reason...or due to some terrible decision(s) I make down the road. I think this lends to why I'm so über competitive. I think this bigger fear has grown out of my past fear of being alone, or rather ending up alone. Some quiet time to myself is nice once in awhile, but I'm talking about being secluded and alone...being excommunicated...that type of alone. Luckily this fear has not been realized, and I hope it never does.


-Strangers at night: I think everything is a little scarier at night, but I'm pretty terrified of being jumped, mugged, beaten up, etc by strangers that pass me by at night time. I know part of this comes from being beat up and robbed at my own house my senior year of college. We had a house warming party in summer before school started. By the end of the night my house was filled with mostly strangers. Turns out the house had a history of being a big party house, and all of Spokane, at least the Northside, knew this. We didn't. So when I walked down the hall to my room and saw four or five people looting through my roommate's room, and then noticed my room had been gone through, I went upstairs to tell the few remaining people I knew. Went out the front into our huge, dirt driveway...well more like a giant hilly parking lot...only to get turned on by an angry fighting mob. I distinctly remember the fist as it flew at my right eye and I fell backwards to the ground. I remember trying to scoot away on the ground and having this chunky kid hover over me, kick me, and demand my wallet...which I didn't have on me. I then ran around back and called the cops. Through a friend, who's mom worked for the police, we found out the incident was officially labeled as "house party got out of control" and nothing to do with our stuff being stolen or us being beaten up. Tough lesson to learn I guess.

-Horses: I've never had much contact with them but I've heard too many injury riddled stories to not be afraid of them. Plus they are soooo strong and so much bigger than I am. Like I'm afraid to even go up to a horse and feed it a carrot, or pet its face, or anything like that. I respect their power and haven't been around them enough, with the right supervision or support, to see their gentler side. I hope I can get over that because I'd love to go horse back riding at some point. That seems like too much fun that's too easy to access to pass up. We'll see I guess...

3 Goals

-Throw out the first pitch at Wrigley Field

-Become a grandfather. Yes I know this seems off, by skipping the obvious step that has to happen first, but I know I'm going to be a father. I love kids too much to not have at least one of my own. What I really want is to live long enough to see my kid(s) have kids of their own. I can only imagine how wonderful that's going to be...to have this little child calling me grandpa and it being 100% true. Simply amazing.

-Work in the sports industry in some direct way. Whether its back office, financial work for the Cubs, or owning the expansion NBA team in 2040, or coaching...though that seems far less likely because I never played any sport passed high school. I love sports too much to not make it part of my career at some point. It only makes sense. Sports make me happy, so why not work in/for what makes me happy?

3 Current obsessions/Collections

-Sadly, the Real World Hollywood probably falls in the category. I'm usually more drawn into the Real World/Road Rules Challenge shows, but this Hollywood cast is so dynamic and explosive. I can't really explain why I'm so drawn to these shows but I am. I don't idolize them or anything, but they're like my little guilty pleasure when they're on.

-Facebook: OMG is that so true right now. Not only do I get text alerts for messages, pokes & wall posts, but this new chat feature has been logged in all day at work. Its nice to be able to chat to people throughout the day, but it doesn't end there. I get home and probably check my page about eight times before the night is over. Its never been like this before, so I have no idea what's going on now. Rar!

-M's games: Back before the season started I decided I was going to attend one game from every series. So each time the M's play a new team at home, I'm there. This includes teams they've already played at home, so long as there's time in between. For instance, the M's played the Angels from June 2-4, but will also play them again later in the summer. Each new Angels series is one more game I go to. So far I've made it to at least one game from each series. Its been fun. I've made friends with Dewayne who works the beer booth out in center field. He's hilarious. He looks like the guy in the foreground from Three 6 Mafia.


3 Random, Surprising Facts About Me

-I've never broken a bone. Ever. Never even sprained anything. Bruised a bone once when I kicked a chair because I was mad at my mom but that's it.

-The longest job I ever had was working for WaMu. I moved within the company, and had three different title, but nothing else even comes close. Before that it might been a part time job for like six or seven months, but I'd definitely not held a full time, 40 hour/week job, for any longer than a summer job. Funny thing I was laid off from WaMu and worked there for exactly two years. May 15th, 2006 was my start date and my official end date was May 15th, 2008.

-The first beer I ever drank was a Busch Lite. I hated it, but asked for another. My first legal drink was a pint of Guiness. I actually loved that, but don't ever really drink Guiness anymore...and really only did a few times after that first one.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Wardrobe malfunction

OK...so here's a little lighter post for everyone. Lately my blog has been pretty serious and heartfelt, which is fine and good and happens from time to time. Lucky for all of you (but unlucky for me) I had a bit of bad luck today, but now its just funny so I'll share it with everyone. Today at work, while returning from a Costco run and attempting to bend over and pick up a 35 pack of bottle water, 24 pack of Gatorade, box of Grandma's cookies, giant mixed bag of candy, and the new Indiana Jones Lego game for the 360 (looks AWESOME but haven't played yet) while in the elevator...wait for it...yea ok that was enough build up...the back of my pants split wide open. Yep. Full on ripped at the seams to show the world my bum...well my stylish boxer briefs anyway. Luckily I was alone in the elevator and had a coat. It was somewhat terrifying at the time but now its just funny. So here's some pics of my pants...and the nearly 12 INCH HOLE IN THE BUTT.





Here's the proof that it ripped almost 12 inches. Seriously...that's some serious rippage :/ good thing I only had to look an idiot with my rain coat tied around my waist for the last two hours or so of the day :)



This is also the first time I've uploaded pics...its kind of fun. I'm going to have to start doing that more. Maybe I'll even start taking some real photos. Hmmmmmmm...

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Learning hupomone

Unless you've ever taken an interest in Greek, or perhaps if you were a Theology major, you probably have no idea what hupomone is. Even I had no clue until I did a little bit of research on Wikipedia (what a fantastic website). That funny Greek word translates as endurance, or "patient endurance." The word combines hupo, "under," and mone, "to remain." It describes the capacity to continue to bear up under difficult circumstances, not with a passive complacency, but with a hopeful fortitude that actively resists weariness and defeat.

I consider myself to be a good person, usually seeking to do what is right and true. Now I often stumble, or veer from these good intentions, but ultimately my effort to do good remains. A big part of my inability to always do good lies in my glaring lack of patience....of hupomone. Unfortunately I am easily discouraged if I can not pick up something easily and quickly because often times I am able to learn new things in that way. The same principle, for me, applies to people. I admit that I can be quick to judge people, but have learned that giving people and other things a second look often leads to unexpected joy and success. To be honest, I should really be better at not judging people at first glance because I have heard on numerous occasions how people (many of whom are/were good friends) had a strong aversion to me at first meet but after taking a second look realized I'm not as bad as they originally thought.

So my patience isn't so strong and sometimes completely lacking. I am actively trying to work on this. A few weeks ago I was watching Evan Almighty and (I feel like I've posted this before but it works with the theme of the post so here it comes again :)...deal) there's a line about patience that really stuck with me: "When people pray to God for patience, do you think He just suddenly gives them patience or the opportunity to be patient?" Good point, right? So that's been in my mind lately, and then about a week and a half ago I believe God set a beautiful example of learning to be patience right across the table from me. In this case beautiful takes on double significance in that this opportunity to be patient is so beautifully constructed and is going to really teach me to endure and be patient...and at the same time this example manifests itself in the form of a beautiful woman: stunning outer beauty and from what I can tell, true inner beauty as well.

Fast forward to today, a week or so after God blesses me with this opportunity to learn and practice patience but also the chance to make a great new friend. Not only am I learning to exercise patience, but I truly feel God placed this girl in my life, at this time in my life, to draw me back closer to Him. She was a breath of fresh air into my life that's been more or less unfulfilling (if I'm completely honest) since I left college...and maybe even after my sophomore year. I've had fun, met new people, experienced and seen new things, but all the while He was absent. Not totally out of sight/out of mind, but not nearly as present as He used to be, and that's been of my own doing. Thinking back He's been that little internal voice that would say "maybe you shouldn't do this" or "have you thought through the consequences of that," trying to be the voice of reason, of caring, of love...and I wasn't listening. All God is trying to do is love us unconditionally, what the Greeks called agape but instead I did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it...whether that was staying out too late after a Mariner's game on a work night and drinking way too much to go to work the next day, or dating someone without really knowing why or a variety of other poor choices.

Moving forward I'm really taking this all to heart: patience, endurance, love, not being impetuous, seeking to do good, listening (especially to that little voice inside of me), having fun but balancing that with my relationship with God. Have I done some things I'm not proud of in my life, unfortunately yes. Did many of those choices result from me relying solely on my own foolish and selfish desires, yes. Now I'm not saying that I can't think for myself anymore, or that I'm going to submit every and all decision to God. I don't think that's what he wants, otherwise why would we have such highly advanced and cognitive minds? I do think however, that He wants us to think things through and exercise more patience, diligence & restraint...and that's exactly what I'm hoping to do.

Its funny after writing all this to reflect on why I sat down to post: I thought it was just about this girl and how she was going to help teach me patience, when its more far reaching than that. Will she help me to learn more patience? I hope so, and in doing so I hope I get to know her better and get back into a better, closer relationship with God. But I'm also hoping this permeates into other areas of my life, strengthens other relationships, brings a stronger sense of purpose to what I'm doing with my career & ultimately fills my life with joy. I am also aware that I'm notorious for making promises and deals with myself about making significant personal changes and then not completely following through, but I think the fact that I'm posting about this so that others can hopefully read it and help keep me accountable is a positive step in reversing that trend. That and I've not felt God's direct presence in my life as strongly as I do now.

While I was thinking about all this, and patience, and how to put my thoughts into words, I discovered these verses online and found them all to have relevance to my life right now.

Hebrews 10:36 - "For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise."
I felt this was the most overarching of the three verses, in that it applies to my life as a whole. The fact that I'm realizing my relationship with God has diminished, and wanting to restore that will ultimately benefit me throughout my life as I continue to endure and show patience.


Pslams 37:7 - "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes."
I thought this was very good for how to show patience even when others may be doing better than I am, whether at work, in relationships or whatever the case may be. I like to be right/win, and have a hard time accepting when I'm not/don't and someone is/does, but that's another part of showing patience...not worrying about what others are doing, enduring when I fail, and just striving to always do my best. And always knowing that regardless of the outcome, God loves me.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 - "The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride."

I thought this one applied well to the amazing new girl I recently met. I was so excited when we were talking because she's a very cool, chill girl, and I felt we hit it off pretty well. I'm still excited that she's in my life, and while at first I was all school boy giddy, now I'm more excited for the chance to form a worthwhile relationship. There is something different and special about her. I don't yet know how that's all going to play out, but I can tell its a good thing. In the past I would've been so initially excited by a girl liking me that I would've rushed into dating or getting validation that she liked me too that it would ultimately fail.

This time around, with this girl, I'm not going to press or try and force the issue. Doesn't mean I like her any less than girls in the past, it just means that instead of trying to force things into my timetable and my selfish wants, that I'm going to be patient and see what happens. Obviously I'm being vague and there are many details I'm leaving out here, but that's not for everyone to know. As with anyone new you meet, there are circumstances and things past that influence the present and the future. You can't plan when you meet new people, so you just have to put your hupomone to the test, and do your best to be understanding and supportive as these new relationships develop and you get to know each other better. Right now I'm excited to have a fun new friend who's helping me to get right with God (even if its indirectly), and I truly believe He had a hand in our paths crossing.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

i have never know the like of this...

...I've been alone and i have missed things and kept out of sight but other girls were never quite like this.

Special thanks to The Beatles for that opening line. :)

this last week has been a jumbled journey of emotion...both in the highs and lows but also in the oddities and unique nature of my emotional hodgepodge over the past seven days.

last thursday started like any other (well except that i played hooky from work). ok so it didn't start like any other, but as is customary, i headed down to greenlake for some thursday evening frisbee. it was great. get to see friends. run around. play frisbee and awesomeness abounds. then, as is also customary, we head over to Prost! (my favorite bar in Seattle) for some tasty German biers. luckily for me, that's the night i met a friend of a friend. granted, we didn't talk much that night but i thought she was very cute and seemed totally chill. and she liked beer. so, win. win. win.
**funny side note: my friend told me she had two friends coming to meet us at Prost! and as i usually do (but rarely follow through on bc that's not what i do) i asked if her friends were single and if it was ok for me to "hit on" them. yes. i said "hit on." i know i'm terrible. so when one of her friends caught my eye i thought it was pretty funny bc of my comment before she arrived. go figure, right?**
so there that is. anyway. this new girl ends up coming to the impromptu party we threw on saturday, and this time i actually talked to her. a lot. and she is totally chill, totally hilarious, totally funny, fun, sarcastic, grounded, real, genuine, intelligent, adorable and a handful of other awesomeness. to keep a longer story short, we hit it off really well and i was downright giddy.

fast forward to today, when i saw her again for the first time since sunday (met up with some of her friends at a pub but i didn't get to talk to her at all bc of how the seats were arranged and how many people were there), and again i couldn't stop smiling at the thought of seeing her. over the last several days though, i've realized a few important things:

-she recently got out of a very serious relationship, so if we "hooked up" now i'd be the rebound guy...which is absolutely not what i want, and i hope the same goes for her.

-i definitely think there were vibes at the party, but she wants to be cautious bc we barely know each other and take things slowly (which i completely respect and understand).

-i truly believe that God and His divine intervention led her to me. if you know me, then you know i've never said anything like this before, but i sincerely believe it to me true now. i have not maintained the best relationship with God over the past two years and then this amazing girl enters my life and completely pinpoints exactly how i've struggled to find the balance between having fun and following Him.

-beyond that, there is something different and special about this girl. as yet, i have no idea how she is going to play a role in my life, but i do feel like i've made a fun new friend.

-as such, i am absolutely going to slow down, get to know this girl more and wait for her. i know i can do it. i know this bc the other night my friend said waiting for a girl is stupid, then his fiance (and the friend of this girl) was shocked at this response and said something to the effect of "so if i hadn't been ready to date, you wouldn't have waited for me?" to which he obviously had no reply bc his foot was lodged so far into his mouth. but when she said that, my very first thought was "yes, i can absolutely wait for her."

now i don't want this to sound like i've decided i'm going to date this girl (or rather that at some point she's going to come around and decide to date me) but rather i'm saying that the timing of the vibes is wrong, and i have the patience to wait and see if those turn into something.

its like this quote i heard in a movie (Evan Almighty actually) in which Morgan Freeman (playing God...hmmmmm) says something like this to one of the characters: "when a person prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience, or does He give them opportunites to be patient?"

right now i truly believe the second half of that line is totally true.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Another birthday come and gone...or not?

Pretty good birthday today. Definitely could've ended better, but overall I can't complain much about my day. I wish I could sift through and organize all the thoughts racing through my head right now but I'm tired and that would take way more concentration that I am capable of right now. I would like to thank everyone for the copious amounts of good birthday wishes sent my way, and for those who joined me in lunch, dinner and/or trivia tonight. It's only Monday but I feel like I had such a quality, fulfilling day (and I didn't even get to see K-Diggity) and yet the rest of the week promises to be just as awesome...M's game Wednesday (thanks Mom) and bday party Saturday! How awesome remains TBD but for now I'm optimistic for a quality week.

:)

ps> Cubs won their eighth straight with a win over the Padres tonight...ah jeah!

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Happy happy happy real quick like

Happy June!

Happy Luau!

Happy ME!

The impromptu luau we threw tonight was amazing. Not only was it a great party but I met this fantastic girl. I am trying like crazy not to get ahead of myself but WOW. We have a lot of the same interests and same views on things that are important to me. I kid you not, if a person were to fall from the sky based on the things I like and what's been running through my head most frequently, she would've fallen directly next to me...and that's more or less what happened.

I have to get up earlier than I want to tomorrow, and I'm kinda drunk and tired but man am I all kinds of giddy right now :)