dc spring break, part one.

it is the end of day four of my vacation in d.c. i have had a quite enjoyable time hanging out with my bro and cousins. its been great, but also, unfortunately, been interrupted many times because of work. i knew i may have to help out some, fielding calls, but i didn't realize the quantity of calls and emails as well as the level of growing frustration with my current situation at work. which brings me to my newest epiphany about work, that i might have to agressive change my situation. many ideas have popped into my head as potentials, some options are partial influences from my brother, but right now, the item i must definitely work on is updating my resume.

so, forgetting about the frustrating interruptions, this week has been quite eventful. i must say, i love the d.c. metro. its awesome! i can now comfortable plan a trip from my brother's house in alexandria, virginia to anywhere in d.c. i really like public transportation, i don't use it much in los angeles, but have grown to love it at places i visit, like d.c., singapore, tokyo and s.f.

monday was quite uneventful due to rain. i was so cold that i vegged out (okay, honestly i did some work) at the house while my cousins visited some of the memorials on the mall, like the Lincoln, Washington and WWII.

tuesday we amazingly all woke up early. nate went straight to the museums at the mall, and jen and i traveled to the greenbelt to check out the rei and MOMS, an organic market (with really yummy "not" beef jerkies! met up with bro, giff, for lunch at a fantastic cuban resturant near Eastern Market. afterwhich jen and i went shopping sa' more looking to try on more backpacking backpacks while nate went back to the museums. met back up with nate and rode the metro home.

wednesday nate and jen woke up and heading out for some Ethopian food and check out the National Zoo. me, slept in a bit, heading out myself and had some yummy noodles and sushi at Nooshi, near Farragut North. Afterwhich I enjoyed a bit of the sun before heading out to the zoo to meet up with the cousins. I couldn't find them right away and was about to head back to the metro, when they just happened to walk out of the entrance of the zoo (what timing). we hopped onto the metro to U street and ordered some chili at this famous chili place. next stop was the REI at Bailey's in VA to meet up with Giff. We metro'd back into VA. And waited for the bus to Bailey's Center... we waited, and waited. while we waited we ate the yummy spicy chili... and we waited. it was 8:30, the bus hadn't come yet, and the REI closed at 9pm, so back onto the metro to just go home. i love the metro, but these bus schedules can mess up your plans if you don't plan them right. so much for visiting Giff at work at the REI.

thursday nate and jen woke up early again, this time, the Holocaust Museum. I didn't go, I plan to in the future, but my current state of mind i really didn't want to experience such a heavy museum. i slept in again (its nice to sleep in). got up, metro'd into the city, grabbed lunch at Sticks and Bowls (a fast food sandwhich, noodle/rice bowl place). Not entirely great, but it was okay. I headed towards the zoo, because yesterday i got there when everything was closing and folks were leaving. I made it in time to catch a glimpse of the Cheetah cubs. Got to see one of the two pandas out and about. Hung out with the four juvenile tigers. hung out with some of the aquatic mammals. then back to the pandas who were back in their enclosures. met up with jen and nate at the metro stop (woodley / zoo) and we headed towards Adams Morgan to get to Pasta Mia's for dinner. This place is a great resturant, small seating area, and a line every night for dinner. They open at 6:30pm, we were one of the first five parties in line. We were seated immediately, wheras a party of 6 had to wait over an hour to get seated. there is enough left overs for meals the next three days... just in time for our departure from the nation's capital.

and that's it for right now. i hope the zoo pics come out, we'll see. i am still learning how to deal with lighting and all. and since i don't take too many pics with my 35mm SLR, its hard to take manual shots. its 3:30am local, better log off and catch some shut-eye.

being still.

Why, why, why can i not sleep right now? Could be i am on a plane later this morning to fly to d.c. to hang out with my cousins on spring break? I wonder if i somewhat enjoy the stressed out madness at work because then i don't have to really think about how lonely my life feels sometimes. i know i blame work probably more than i should. i mean, yeah, work has its moments of absolute insanity, but do i let it, instead of putting up a strong boundary, because i am more afraid of what to do with my time if i actually had free time. whenever there is free time, i fill it with something.

i was talking to a friend today, and i was sharing this d.c. trip is going to be interesting. my cousin wants to spend time just sitting at a coffee shop reading a book, all day. part of me is like, "wow, that would be cool", and part of me is like, "oh man, am i going to be able to sit still". i hope i can sit still, and i hope while i am sitting still that i will be able to reflect upon Christ and the salvation i have by his sacrifice and gift of grace to me.

anyhow, this'll be an interesting trip, can i be still and what will i find when i am still. the Lord probably has a lesson in this somewhere, I am sure of it.

first things first.

well, i lay hear in bed with the lights out and my laptop on. so many things racing around in my head, work and those relating stresses; church and new responsibilities; creative opportunities i am not focusing on; cleaining the house; reorganizing and installing new fixtures; decorating; wardrobe... all these things or "to do" items are clouds in my head. and in the far off in the distance, is the path to growing my relationship with Christ. All of these other things seem to be unruly and keeping my mind occupied, how do a plan for this, plan for that. the source of my stresses maybe coming down to a common factor of, not dealing with first things first, which is spending time with the Lord. Seek Him and things will fall into place. As many believers suggest, seek Him in the morning, let Him start your day. The other thing, like anything, don't over commit and try to do too much, but little steps, find Him and He will lead. Oh Lord do I need you now, and do I need you to be Master of my life. Things are just so hectic that I have neglected You. Let me make sure first things first, that seeking You is my first priority. Thanks Father.

found time.

well, the past few days i have been wondering where my watch has been. i guess you could say i've found my time (um, okay, too cheesy). i've been traveling again, this time it was ten days in dubai, uae. i've got some awesome photos and stuff to share and they will come soon. back to my watch story. so, coming back from being twelve hours off of Pacific Coast time, the days end up merging together and one forgets little things, like putting on the watch or where i took off the watch. well, so i've been walking around the past four days without a watch, half the time wondering what the time is, and the other half wondering where i placed my watch. well, it turned up, and i am not sure how i missed it before, but it was just sitting on my bedroom floor next to a book. abeit my bedroom floor (and the living room floor for that matter) is a mess. So not only did i find time, but i found that i really need to clean house!

okay, sleep calls, one of these days i'll lay out all the stresses and adventures of this most recent biz trip to dubai.