Jaki Volunteers

So I just volunteered for five different events. Some are long term commitments while others only last over the holiday season.

The first one is at the Oregon Health Career Center as a All Kids Are Scientists - Science Class Leader. Sounds exciting and fulfilling. Its for an hour a week for eight weeks. I get to create the curriculum and work with a small group of elementary age students. Even gives a stipend at the end of the eight weeks.

Kyle and I are also adopting a refugee family over the holidays and giving them food and needed gifts. I'm excited about this one. It is run by a Lutheran Community Center, but when it comes to helping a family in need I'm not so concerned about the middle man. That is of course as long as they aren't only helping refugees that has converted to their church. This one I will make sure to do some research on. If they are making that a requirement then I would rather seek out a family on my own and hand deliver it to them, without a religious go between.

I volunteered for two positions at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry or OMSI. One as a gift wrapper in the Science Store and the other as Life Science Educator. I love OMSI and would be willing to do anything to spend some time inside of its walls.

The last one is the one that I feel I could really bring a lot to. It is the Chemo Pal Program. I will be matched with a child going to chemotherapy and basically just spend time with them. Whether it be reading, taking a walk, or just talking. I think with my background in film and the arts I would hopefully be able to think of a few interesting and creative things to do. I'm a little wary only because I'm afraid I may screw up. This isn't like handing out soup, I'll be making a very personal connection with a child going through a very tormenting procedure.

Anyway. If anyone has any tips, or if they've done these types of things before and would like to share their stories I would love to hear them.

A slight delay in life

I have been avoiding writing anything for quite sometime. I can blame it on being busy and just not having enough time, but that would be a complete and utter lie on my part. So I'm just going to say I've been lazy. That's much closer to the truth.

The one class I am taking has been taking a toll on me. Sucks when you realize that you are the annoying know-it-all in the class and thats why no one wants to be your partner. So am I doing all of my lab projects and lecture projects by myself? I sure am.

Starting afresh:
I got a promotion at work. Very excited, although for the first week or so I was having panic attacks like mad. Being responsible not only for people, but making sure the restaurant succeeds is terribly stressful. Took me awhile but I think I got myself under control and have hit a rather comfortable stride. I still have to work on getting the place some publicity, but other than that I think I'm kosher.

My small apartment is driving me mad. I think this is one of the main reasons I haven't been writing or reading much. I just feel so completely cramped. I have enough room to watch television and eat. Where do I eat? On my bed. I need little nooks and crannies in order to read for long lengths of time. When I lived at my parents house I used to hide myself in the closet with a box of saltine crackers, cream cheese, and a Stephen King book and just read all day. That was my favorite thing to do growing up, hide and read. Completely disappear from the world and enter a new one. Same with writing. Lights off, laptop on, and music playing and I could finish a short script in one night. Nothing of the sort now. I wake up, make coffee, and play with my cat until I feel like I should leave my apartment and get some fresh air. After that - game over.

I'm terribly jealous of my mother, She's in Peru right now. Need I say more. I am a little upset about the underlying cause of her being there though. Is she there to be with her friend, sightsee, and relax? No, she's there for a Jehovah's Witness convention. To be fair she is doing quite a bit of relaxing while she is down there, I just wished that the first time my mother left the country it wouldn't be for religious reasons but her own. To be even more honest, I wish she would have taken me!

Kyle's sister, Jessica (who I might as well call my sister) has been a roadie for Invisible Children since August. I'm terribly proud of her and all that she is accomplishing. It is incredible work that they are attempting. She is over in Illinois right now and sent us this adorable video. To which we responded with this one.

Anyway, thought I would catch everyone up on the silly happenings of Jaki.

Tideland VS. Brazil

Click to enlarge

I know everyone is excited for Doctor Parnassus right? How can anyone not be. Gilliam has had his share of crap piles in the past but he has also come shining through occasionally. This may be one of those shining times. Let me know what you think.

Nothing can replace 'Bird on a Wire'

Now I am perfectly aware that Mel Gibson is most likely a raving lunatic, but I hold a soft spot for him in terms of cinema. I've missed you as an actor, Mel. I'm so glad you came back to me.

I've also been missing action movies. I don't care what anyone says - 'Die Hard' is brilliant movie, and I need more like it. The closest we've come lately is 'Casino Royale' which is probably one of my favorite movies. So imagine how excited I was to learn about 'Edge of Darkness'. It looks like a decent action flick, directed by the same guy, Martin Campbell, that did 'Casino Royale', and it stars Mel Gibson.

I'm set.

Getting annoyed with Vampires.

New movie called 'Daybreakers' about a plague in 2019 that effectively turns almost everyone into vampires - What would be the problem you might ask? Well they are running out of blood. Damn.

I don't care if it is futuristic and sci-fi... I am sick of Vampires and people who want to be vampires.

Bill O'Reilly trying to sound smart - fail

Oh Bill O'Reilly... you make me laugh.

Richard Dawkins at Portland State.

I had VIP tickets to see Richard Dawkins this past Saturday evening. It was all I could have asked for and more.

First let me tell you that walking past a line that wrapped around the building and getting to just go right in and pick a front row seat is probably one of the best feelings ever. Right up there with not being able to find a place to pee for five hours and finally being able too.

There were no crazies out in the park blocks and no disruptions or rude questions. Everything ran rather smoothly. That is except for Stott Center's sound system which kept ringing and pissing Richard off.

He read sections from the chapters,

"Missing Link? What do you mean 'Missing'?"

"Missing persons? Missing no longer"

"Arms races and evolutionary theodicy"

and

"There is grandeur is this view of life."

He was very eloquent and I felt myself getting all teared up during a few certain parts of the Q & A.

He answered questions on:

Homosexuality

Life on other planets

What deity he would be if he could choose

When children should start learning about evolution - asked by a 10 year old

What's the difference between design and non-randomness

Why do you think biblical literalism in our country is so common

When is okay to be religious

Do you think the human race is still being affected by natural selection

Don't you think the creationist won't read your book- to which he had a great response

What effects do you think sexual selection has had on humans

Do you read your rebuttal books - also had a great response

He also gave us an english lesson out of nowhere. In the middle of his sentence he stops and tells us, "By the way, there is no such verb as impacting." Sarah and I just stared at each other like we were missing something. Maybe we were. ( about 10 minutes after that though I caught him stating, "that was a subset of betterness." Yeah, "betterness."

He also told us a delightful story about a misprint in one of his books where instead of the phrase, 'large hadron collider' it was printed, 'large hardon collider'. Great response from the crowd. Oh Portland, how I love thee.

Afterwards I went the wrong way and got stuck at the back of the line to get my book signed. Finally made it to the front and was so unprepared to actually see him. He signed my book and please don't laugh at me guys but what happened after that was a blur. I remember I said something to him but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. For all I know I could have told him that I am scared of E.T. and once screamed while taking a shower because the shower head resembled E.T.'s face, but I really respect you!

Yeah. I know words came out of my mouth, but what they were are anyones guess.

Las Vegas - Day One

I shouldn't even really call this Vegas - Day One, I would be more accurate

in labeling it "Hopping from airport to airport - Day One." For the sake of keeping everything coherent I will stick with my five hours actually spent in Vegas and call this Day One.

Woke up early, excited to be leaving the state for a few days. No work, no nannying, no homework - nothing.

Got to the airport at about 9:30am. Now sadly the last time I was on a plane was 3 or 4 years ago. Many may find this hard to believe but I have never had a hard time at an airport before. Always breezed right through. No complications or anything. All that changed on October 5th.

Problem 1- My flight carrier was changed last minute so I had no idea where to get my boarding pass.

Problem 2 - Airlines now charge you for checking a bag. $15 to $20... News to me. Money down the drain.

Problem 3 - Huge line for security. Takes forever. I have old people cutting and nuzzling their way in front of me. Why is it that we are required to show respect and be conscientious to people older than us, but for some reason they are allowed to be hateful and rude? And please don't tell me they've earned it - just because you've lived a long time does not mean you automatically earned the right to be an ass AND get respect.

We ate at a Gustav's at the Portland Airport. Sadly might have been the best meal we had during our entire trip.

Okay so made it on the plane. All was dandy.

Arrive in Los Angeles.

Ate a burrito - spent the next 40 minutes in bathroom, was afraid I wasn't going to make my connecting flight. Horrible Horrible Horrible. Throwing up felt like an immanent threat aboard the plane. Alas no puking.

Speaking of puking - Kyle saw Brooke Hogan getting o

ff of a plane from Nashville. She's big.

Finally in Vegas - Its 7pm. Our friend Ivan has been waiting for us by the slot machines for almost 2 hours.

This is when I realized we were truly in Vegas. Also seeing Kyle illuminated by a chippendales sign was a pretty big indicator as well.

Taxi ride to our hotel was pleasant. We arrived at night so at least our first view of everything was bright and exciting. We stayed at the Luxor which was just tacky enough to be enjoyable and wasn't filled with shops. Something I grew to hate as our stay progressed. Each hotel is basically a mall. Not my favorite.

This is the sphinx we decided to meet at

if we ever got lost. Ivan got lost immediately - he ended up over at Excalibur without ever leaving the building. We started walking up the strip, but our bearings were so scrambled we just kept going in a circle - Luxor to Excalibur to Luxor to New York New York back to Excalibur. It was a mad house.

We tried some gambling - lost.

Found some roulette machines - win.

Love me some roulette.

There were guys handing out VIP passes to Cathouse - a club in Luxor. We went in and had a drink. It was terribly lame and my Malibu with orange juice costs $11. No thanks. - Give me a dive bar any day. Nightclubs are not my scene.

I've been but a shadow...

So school has begun, I got a promotion at my new job, and I have a Vegas trip to plan for...

I know I probably haven't been too missed, but I've missed my own ramblings. Call it self indulgent, call it egotistical, whatever - I need to be able to write about something on a daily basis in order to feel sane.

Last weekend was our trip to Ashland, Oregon for the Shakespearean Festival. We originally only had tickets to see Macbeth at the Angus Bowmer Theater. I was thrilled to see that Kevin Kennerly was to play Macduff. I saw Kevin when I was sixteen playing Segismundo in Life is a Dream written by Pedro Calderon de la Barca. He was amazing and so to my complete enjoyment I was able to see him also play Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in 2002. Kyle brought up a funny little musing about how modern day p

eople go about pronouncing Macbeth, as if he was the proprietor of McDonalds or some descendent of a McCormick. No, he is not MC Beth.

After finishing Macbeth, we felt the need for more so went to the box office and purchased two tickets to Don Quixote. The set and costume design was incredible. The language they chose to use was a bit to modern for my taste. There was a lot of "oh craps" which just put the fifteen year old girls in front of us into a giggle fests whenever they weren't texting that is. I hate kids.

We had the best milkshake ever at a place that used to be called BJ's. It was a coconut crunch milkshake and we nearly melted with enjoyment. I wish I had more photo's to share but I wasn't really allowed to use my camera much in the festival and so I mostly forgot I even had it with me.

Oh and a ferret put a gypsy curse on Kyle in Lithium Park. Beware of gypsy ferrets in parks!

And now for something completely different...

I received an email a few days ago and being the busy tyrant that I am it has taken since then to actually sit down and talk to you few dear people about it.

So... Ken Ham is coming to Portland on September 27 and 28th to give talks on defending christianity against secular attacks and describing Darwin and his racist roots. How exhilarating!

Here's the lineup:

What: Know our Cultural Competitors - Ken Ham in Portland (Day 1)

When: September 27th 2009 11:00 AM

Where:

Rolling Hills Community Church

3550 SW Borland Road

Tualatin, Oregon 97062

*9:00AM Ken Ham: Answers from Genesis on Darwin and the Culture Wars

*11:00AM Ken Ham: Answers from Genesis on Darwin and the Culture Wars (repeat of the 9:00AM service)

I guess one just isn't enough. I also like that it isn't advertised until 11:00AM but he is giving the same exact talk at 9AM. Is it only for those at church service already, arming them in case a heathen decides to show up?

*6:00PM Ken Ham: Defending Christianity from today's Secular Attacks

*7:30PM Dr. Jason Lisle: The Ultimate Proof of Creation

Now as sad as I may be I am unable to make it to the Sunday lie service, I will be able to make it to the Monday ones. I do have a good excuse mind you, I will be in Ashland, Oregon partaking of the Shakespearean festival and watching Macbeth. Filing my brain with CULTURE something Ken Ham should think about doing.

I apologize for teasing you with the Sunday lineup. Here is Monday. The one I can actually go to.

What: Know our Cultural Competitors - blah blah blah

When: September 28th, 2009 6:30PM

Where: ( no location has yet been chosen )

* 6:30PM Ken Ham: Answers for Racism: Darwin and Evolution's Racist Roots

* 8:00PM Dr. Jason Lisle: The Darwin Connection to Astronomy

Admission is free! Woohoo I don't have to pay for this lunacy. Is there anyone around Portland that would like to partake in this with me? I would go alone, but would rather have someone there with me.