Holy Week Update

It has been a great week outside of schools for Spring Break/the Holy Week/Earth Day, and although I have given you plenty of material this month, I understand that the best thing I can give some people this week is an update on life.  So let me turn the wheel a bit before Easter Sunday (but after Good Friday… and Passover):

Freeze. Defrost. Preheat. Prep. Bake. Serve. All with my eyes closed.

-I’ve been starting to cook a lot more this month.  I was off to a good start in the fall, but after coming back from Philadelphia I got caught in the day-to-day trap of late nights and fast food.  Which tasted great by the way.  But there is a sense of accomplishment when I’m able to either A) fry catfish without blowing up the kitchen, or B) survive the seaborne invertebrates I’ve been cooking.

-While I’ve been doing more cooking, I have been making it a point to be on the computer less often.  In fact, just this week, I spent three whole days off the laptop.  Considering my lack of efficiency on the computer (by my standards), I consider my time away well spent (even if I wasn’t doing much more than watching NBA playoff games).

-The other thing that I’ve had limited involvement with?  My cell phone.  Specifically my personal phone number that I’ve had for over seven years now.  I’m pretty sure my contract/family plan with T-Mobile ends in December, and if I ever had to change or lose the number, the only person to miss it would be my mother.  Seriously, my mother calls me as much as anyone else does combined.  Don’t even get me started on texting either!  My favorite text that I get these days is “Who is this”. I play a game from time-to-time, unofficially called “How many days can I go without getting any cell traffic”.  I’m not even complaining!  I’m just acknowledging the fact that having the same number is way overrated.  I know having the “business Blackberry” is a factor, but nobody has that number outside of CY connects anyway!

-Enough ranting about technology.  Let me briefly talk about Camp For A Day at CYLA.  That’s right, one day.  Which may not be a week, but is one more day of camps than I had last year in City Year.  I was paired up with Evan on the Chase/Hollenbeck team, and up at Malabar (other locations were the RFK campus and Normandie), we had well over 100 kids go through a space station of activities (the Funiverse, if you will).  Evan and I had the

What is this? This ... Is ... NASA!!!

“Lunar Lander” at NASA station.  Basically, an egg drop activity with limited materials.  Evan and I made it fun though.  He was the good guy in all of this, leaving me to be quite evil, threatening to drop eggs (moons?) and preventing the kids from having fun ever again as a result.  After the kids finished their devices to protect the eggs, Evan and I reminded the kids that “THIS IS NASA!” in order to introduce the egg drop countdown.  Yeah, we did this eight times.  Exhausting, but I feel like we contributed to great moments.

-We have moved into our environment awareness part of Stevenson After School Heroes (SASH), and Brittany and I ran the last session before Spring Break.  We did Smog in Los Angeles … and we turned all of the lights out and emerged from the back in gray sheets as “Smoke” and “Fog”.

-I don’t get bored, but I do have a habit of allowing myself to get sidetracked by trivial matters that I just want the answer to.  And because I am so good at research battery, I don’t rest until I quickly find an answer.  Example: BLUE is the primary color of 15/30 MLB franchises, and 18/32 NBA franchises.  In case you were wondering.  Because I was.

-I’m on LinkedIn now.  I’m very much looking forward to everyone complaining about LinkedIn changing their settings without consent and not adding a dislike button.

-CY had Global Youth Service Day at Gompers Middle School last week, and there were several projects around the school.  My job was to manage the paint station, meaning I’m the only one who can pour paint in an effort to keep things clean and effective.  I was definitely on my Dwight Howard grind.

-This is about three years late, but I was having a discussion with some people I know about Ray J’s song “Sexy Can I” from his 2008 album All I Feel.  All I’m saying is that 1SKILLZ-NetworksUnited has uncovered Ray J’s inspiration for the song:

The origins of "Sexy Can I?" ...???

$5.6 Milli

-And now, Fun with Lyrics, featuring Lil Wayne: Weezy was recently hit with a tax lien.  He doesn’t owe “A Milli“, rather $5 million.  Lil Wayne says that he keeps his “Money on My Mind“, but this isn’t the first time he has had to deal with late payments!  One more time, and it will be a “3 Peat“.  The government knows that Wayne “Got Money“, but he better hold on to his “Receipt” or he’ll have more than just “Mrs. Officer” at his door to remind him that when it comes to taxes, he is not “Right Above It“.

-Willie and I were discussing the point of having cartoons for cereals (I like dry cereal, but refuse to mix it with milk, that’s the only reason I can think we started this conversation), and it led me to this video:

San Jose City Hall.

-I took another random trip to the Bay Area over the weekend.  I didn’t go with anyone, I didn’t see anyone while I was there, and I didn’t meet anyone.  This was the definition of a get outta Dodge type of trip, since my last random adventure was to San Diego.  I took a midnight Saturday night Greyhound out of LA and got to San Jose 7AM Sunday morning.  I found the CY site at San Jose, then proceeded to ride around the VTA all day before deciding to shoot up to San Francisco.  After eating at a sports bar near AT&T Park, I went to Oakland across the Bay.  I was there for maybe 15 minutes before starting to move back to San Jose to catch the midnight bus out of there; I was back in LA 7AM Monday.  I got through over 400 tracks on my iPod.

-The CYLA corps had a service day at Long Beach this week as we worked to help preserve the Los Cerritos Wetlands.  Best part of the day was probably banging up rocks and digging a hole well enough to fit a new plant.

-The day after Long Beach was an incredible opportunity.  As part of a “Leadership/Life After City Year” Day, I shot up to Burbank and the Warner Brothers Studio.  We got a VIP tour as well as an opportunity to talk to a panel of WB members.  We also got hooked up with some DVDs and other spoils.

Spring Break: Destination Education

-And finally, my Saturday night before Easter is a big deal for City Year.  More on this as it develops.

I leave you all with what has become my track of the moment, “Rope” by the Foo Fighters off of their album Wasting Light.  I don’t know why, but I have always liked the Foo Fighters… Happy Easter!

-1SKILLZ