EDIT ADD:

Let me just clarify that the reason for my  frustration with the golf balls has nothing to do with the fact that I can’t have them, but rather that the excuse for not letting them go wasn’t reasonable or logical. It’s just weird. And that is why it is blogworthy…

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Day 3
Relaxing around the house…seeing my parents off to Hawaii…visiting with an old friend…dinner with my brother John & his wife…and roasting marshmallows with family in Pinecrest.

Then, after that was all done, we drive back to Twain Harte for one final night before returning to sunny Covina and Christy says mockingly, “You should go back to the mini-golf course and try to buy those balls again…”

I was already turning around.

So I go back there and slap a 20 on the counter and say, “Have you thought any more about selling those balls?”
The golf lady looked shocked.
“Uh…I haven’t even talked to my husband about it…”
She turns and mutters something to him and he pipes up with the same nonsensical retort she gave the night before,  “What?! No! They don’t even sell those anymore!”

Now–let’s pause right there and examine the logic–because I just don’t get it. You have a box full of these old things. You never use them. You have hundreds of other golf balls that you use regularly. BUT, you don’t want to sell 5 of the 80 old, used, beat up balls to a dude that grew up playing golf at your course every day and is now an adult that JUST wants them for sentimental reasons because they don’t SELL them anymore.

Stupid Twain Harte-ians. That doesn’t make any sense at all. They aren’t worth anything to ANYONE. It’s just ridiculous! Ridiculous, I say!!
Well…needless to say, I walked away disappointed and quite confused. She said that she’d give them to my parents if they ever decided to part with them, and that she wouldn’t sell them to me–they would be a gift.
So…I don’t REALLY care about it. I just wanted one/some because it is a part of my past. But I’m really not a baby about it. Life goes on…rant over.

Day 4 we drove home–gladly. It is nice to be back home even though it is nice to get away.
Kids make vacation a little less restful than it used to be.
We ended off the evening by renting The Wizard of Oz and Casino Royale.
Strangely enough, both started off in black and white, and then changed to color later.
Another odd twist is that Victor Fleming directed TWOO and Ian Fleming wrote the Bond character. I have no idea if they are related, and I’m just too tired right now to care.
It was really cool to watch part of TWOO after not seeing it for a good decade or two. I didn’t realize that it took a great 20 minutes of the movie to actually GET to Oz–AND with the recent love I’ve developed for Wicked, it’s fun to watch the original story and see how they took details from TWOO and incorporated them into Wicked. Brilliant.

Also–I had to give back the sweet Apple MacBookPro (laptop) that Christ-First bought for me last year (one tear). It is only proper, given the circumstances, but I will miss it.
The good news is that I’m supposed to be issued a laptop from APU later this year, although it will be a PC. Hey…it’s still another machine! I won’t balk at that!

I may post photos soon.
Off to San Diego this weekend!

Highlights:

-A local pub serves Starbucks coffee. This is suspect since it’s not really a Starbucks, but we give it a whirl for good measure and it turns out to be delicious. Victory! Christy also orders a veggie egg-white omelette with a side of hashbrowns–they should have called it “butter and cheese omelette” instead. Yikes!

-We trek up to Pinecrest Lake with Christy’s parents midmorning. They couldn’t set up camp until after 2pm, so we hung out at the shore and had lunch at the local burger/ice-cream joint. I was wearing my tribute to Super Mario Bros. shirt (the one that says “this is why I’m hot” with the picture of the flower).
I cannot tell you how many people were noticing my shirt. It was hilarious. People all day were walking by and pointing out my shirt to their friends. Dozens and dozens of people. I told you it was cool! Then we rested for a bit and rented two paddle-boats. Christy, Noah, and I went on a boat, and Nathaniel and Christy’s parents on another. We paddled all around for an hour on the lake, then headed over to set up camp. Putting together their tent was a challenge, to say the least, but I finally conquered it…

-Dinner and put-put golfing with the whole family at the local Twain Harte Mini-Golf. This was super fun with about twenty of us (Jon and Erin had joined us by this time) as we pretty much took over that place. I tied for first place with a two other family members…OK, so this is the mini-golf place I’ve been going to since I was a wee lad. I mean, it’s been around for 30 years or more–same owners–same course–same snacks at the snack bar. So in my sentimentality, I ask for one of the kinds of golf balls that I remember from the days of yore–it was half-white and half colored. This lady pulls out a box full of these old, ratty, beat-up balls, and I choose white/orange. She says “You can’t buy these anymore, I keep them in my archives…” Ok, cool–whatever. About mid-way through the game I get it in my head I want to buy this ball because I love it, and it reminds me of the days my brother and I would come down 3 to 4 times a week during the summer and play game after game of mini-golf. We all finish our games and I ask the lady if she’d be interested in selling a couple of these cool balls to me–”Nope.”
 ??!! I’m a little bit shocked.
“No?” I replied.
“You can’t buy these anymore, I keep them in my archives…” repeating the same thing she told me earlier.
I’m still flabbergasted that she wouldn’t part with a couple of balls out of the large box full of them…
“Do you want to buy just one?” She asks.
“Well, I was thinking one of each color.”
(she’s shaking her head)
“How many colors are there?” I sheepishly ask.
“Five”
At this point I was about to start offering big bucks…but I was just too confused to go on, so I just walked away. Why wouldn’t this lady part with 5 golf balls they never use? When CLEARLY there are millions of other cool golf balls out there…I just DON’T GET IT. And it’s not like I’m a stranger. I’ve been going to this golf course my WHOLE LIFE!!! Weird…just plain weird…

Memorable quotes:

“So you cooked this chicken with Extra Virgin Olive Oil? So what’s the opposite of Extra Virgin Olive Oil?” -John, about the tasty dinner we had.

btw-much discussion on that poignant question ensued…

EDIT ADD:

Memorable quotes from vacation: Day 1 (and the day’s not over yet)

“I always do my exercises while watching ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’” –My mom, about her daily exercise routine. There’s nothing like some Chuck Norris in the mornin’…

“I’M ON VACATION! I don’t have to touch anyone else’s urine but my own for the next two weeks!!” –My sister (she works at a hospital).

priceless.
I can’t wait to see what Day 2 brings…

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Twain Harte.
Not much has changed in the past decade or so in this quaint little town.
I went on a run this morning. I decided to take the 3-mile route, not realizing that altitude would be a factor in my ability to intake oxygen and provide my muscles with the proper fuel to actually work like they did on Friday; (needless to say, I had to do some walking.) I took the same trail that everyone takes; the same trail I took growing up. It was on this brisk, August morning that I crossed paths with at least two dozen other walkers/joggers–all of them smiling to say “hello” or “good morning”. I barely huffed a reply. It was just to darn early to be nice. Put your smile away! Humph!
Hmmm…people are far nicer up here than in So-Cal.

That said, it’s such a drastically different culture up here in Nor-Cal than down south. It’s very interesting to observe, but I don’t feel like talking much more about it right now…

Yesterday was our last Sunday at Christ-First Baptist Church in Covina.  It is bitter-sweet to leave. We enjoyed the things we did there, and I know we learned quite a bit from the experience. It certainly gave us another perspective on church ministry and exposed us to a unique atmosphere that taught us a lot about ourselves and the world around us. We are looking forward to Midway this next Sunday!

Speaking of Midway…we still don’t know where we’re staying this Saturday night. Anyone have any ideas? Once September rolls around we’ll be able to use Rose’s apartment, but for the next two weekends we need a place to crash. Let me know if you think of anything…

I ran 3 miles today without stopping. Phew! I haven’t done that in years, and it has taken quite a while to work up to that point. I was about to stop at 2 miles, but then I thought to myself, “Hm. I’m not really tired at all. I could keep going…I should keep going” and I did. For those of you that run all the time, three miles is no big deal. But it is for me…
If you’ve been reading for a long time you’ll remember that I have three goals that I want to accomplish before I turn 30.
1) Finish my master’s degree
2) Run a marathon
3) Work on a feature film score in some capacity

Who knows if #2 will happen (and it’s certainly not a big deal to me) but I’m continually working towards completing the other two goals.

Here’s the exciting part:

Comes out August 28th

Comes out early December

Oh, come on! I know excitingness is not a word…I was just testing you!

A long time ago I wrote down a something from a passage of scripture onto an envelope that stays in my Bible. Almost every time I open it up I see the phrase from John 3:30 that says “He must become greater; I must become less.”

These words were spoken by John the Baptist in reference to Jesus. It was at this time the people were coming to JTB and complaining that there was another teacher that was baptizing that was becoming more popular than he. “Everyone is going to him” they said (John 3:26).

PAUSE

This is the point where nowadays most people when faced with a situation similar to this usually gets insanely jealous of the other individual and either gives up, or develops a highly competitive spirit. Usually then bitterness towards the other individual is accompanied by feelings of hatred…rage and violence ensue…it’s not pretty…

UN-PAUSE

John the Baptist knew his place. The words from John 3:30 tell of his submission to his subordinate role to Jesus.

Although I have probably seen this scripture in front of me for a couple of years now, I have continually struggled to find how it applies to my life in a real and tangible way. I understand my life functions and success are dependent upon my surrender to the Lord–but how do I balance that with the fact that as an artist/musician I have to constantly “sell myself” to potential employers or clients? I have only learned the value of being able to talk about all of my good qualities and accomplishments to others in the past few years. But it is very difficult to somehow tell someone how “I can do this” and how “I’ve done that” and “accomplished all of these things” and “worked for these people” in order to let them know what kind of skills and experience I have–all the while trying to keep it straight in my own mind that I’m only able to do these things by using the talents and drive that God gave me.

He must become greater–I must become less.

Man–that’s just one big enigma to me. I’m really trying to figure it out, but its’ HAAARRRD.