Pics, anyone?
Hey all. I have a bunch of pics from Oxford I've scanned in and I'm going to try to get them online. I'll probably just post a link to photobucket or something like that so you all can go look at them there; if I posted them into an article, our blog would take forever to load.
Anyway: If you have pics from Oxford (or since then) you want people to see, e-mail them to me and I'll put them in an online album. I haven't done this before but I think it'll be cool.
My address is hamche_03@hotmail.com.
Happy New Year.
(Oh, and you newer signees? You need to get your profiles going and update us on what's happening in your life!)
Beans are quite nourishing
A hearty welcome to Sean!
Hooray!
One more Canterbury pilgrim on the list.
It's official!
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released on 16 July 2005!!
Let the countdown begin...! :)
I kissed updating goodbye
Or not.
Here goes, a long summary but oh well: After Oxford I went back to Biola where I ended up being an RA. This was probably the best thing for me, since otherwise I would have sat in a dungeonous (I know that's a crab, but is it also an adjective? Ana Maria?) dorm room reading books and lamenting the loss of Oxford. Despite my much improved sociability stemming from being an 'example' (you can smirk, it's funny) for a floor full of freshmen guys, I was reminded why I wanted to get away from Biola in the first place, and did my final semester at the American Stuies Program in Washington, DC. There I not only reconnected with several of you now reading this, but met my girlfriend of two-and-a-half years, Jen. ASP was an excellent experience and got me very interested in politics, justice issues, and international peace (especially in the Middle East). I liked DC so much that I moved back for a year after graduation, and Jen did too. I spent two months sleeping on couches, working in a coffee shop, and going to interviews (some may find amusing the story of my interview at my Republican congressman's office -- it didn't go too well). Finally, I ended up working as a sort of live-in housing manager for an addiction recovery program for homeless men and women in the Columbia-Heights/Adams-Morgan area. That was a profoundly difficult and stretching experience, which also let me get to know some people working really hard to get their lives in order (not always successfuly). Jen and I went to an awesome church there, which I continue to miss being away from. It was tiny and quite mixed racially and socio-economically, but we all came together to worship and to be active in the church's inner-city neighborhood. They are good people.
The next fall (2003) Jen started law school at Notre Dame, and I went to Chicago to work at the local L'Arche community for people with developmental disabilities. Those of you who have read a lot of Henri Nouwen will have heard of L'Arche (that's how I did). This was another very intense community living experience, with many joys and frustrations. One woman there with Down's syndrome (who despite everything is a darling, really) was harder to deal with than any two of the recovering addicts I lived with in DC (and that could get interesting, let me tell you). Thanks to her I learned a great deal about managing anger and stress, but I was also truly delighted by how warm, accepting, and loving the four 'core members' were. It was also nice being a short train ride from South Bend, where I usually went to visit Jen on my days off.
Now I am living in London where I am studying theology for a year at King's College, part of the University of London. This worked out great, since Jen is also here for the year with Notre Dame's year abroad program. I live in an ugly building spewn out of the ground in the 1970s, where everything is rather 'dodgy' (as the Brits say), and practical jokers set off the fire alarm at 3am on a regular basis. On the other hand, for all its crappiness it is still completely adequate for me. Although it has its draw backs, I must say that living in a dorm that reminds me of the inside of a submarine seems like paradise after two years living in community with very little privacy or personal space. As wonderful as community living is, it's not something I could do forever. Although money is too tight to do exciting things too often, Jen and I have been able to get around a bit. I am loving visiting the pubs, where the atmosphere is vastly superior to American bars, and I have missed them since Oxford. Each day I walk along the Thames to class, and pass all the postcard sights. I am quite enjoying being here and, to boot, the workload is a piece of cake in comparison to Oxford. It is quite fun seeing Nicole around as well. I am going home for Christmas tomorrow morning, and as much as I love London I can't say I'll miss the freezing rain and wind those two weeks I'll be back in 'the OC.' Speaking of which, the only good thing that's come of that show (I admit, I haven't actually watched it) is that it's made my home famous, so that even here in England I no longer have to say 'I'm from L.A.' to avoid lengthy explanations of my origins.
Although exciting, all this moving around can be a bit disorienting. To quote a certain member of this blog (who expressed this feeling far more poetically than I ever could to another blogger), the past four years I have felt sort of 'like a cat, jumping from cushion to cushion but not quite able to get comfortable anywhere.' Since I went to Oxford I haven't lived continuously in the same place for more than a year at a time. I am looking forward (well, not right away) to that changing next year when I (presumably, I still have to apply) start grad school back in the States. I am applying to a couple of divinity schools/seminaries to continue feeding my interest in theology (and particularly what it has to say about political life), but I am most interested in the Peace Studies program at Notre Dame, which is top notch and close to Jen. Since I am not from Rwanda or the West Bank, my chances of being accepted there are pretty slim, but that would be my ideal. I would really like to get involved somehow in inter-religious dialogue, especially with the Islamic world, either as a part of the Church or a non-profit/NGO. I also would be interested in helping educate people in American churches about Islam, to curb knee-jerk reactions and hopefully promote better reasoned, less fearful, responses to current conflicts. No need to get too political here, but that is really what I am passionate about (and I'm tempted to say something I feel 'called' to do). Becoming a 'pastor' (or a vicar) isn't really my 'thang', but I will need a job eventually, so who knows what will happen.
Well, long update, several tangents, probably lost some of you. Hope this is of interest. By the way, Chelsey, this blog is a fabulous idea, and I have really enjoyed hearing what everyone's been up to (and laughing) the past couple weeks. For now, 'Cheers!'
Who the %&*£$! is this ambassador person?
Ambassador: who are you? How can you be so rude as to join the blog under an assumed name, and provide no details about your identity? Are you a 'double' of an existing member of the blog? In the name of God identify yourself! (Please, I'm terribly curious).
Okay, it's time for gossip.
Zack started it, with all the CMRS news & such. Now let's do some internal gossip about each other: Who's married, where do people live, who has famous jobs, who's died, etc.
Here's what I know:
Married people = Me, Mike, Ryan (or so I hear), Laura, Jesse?, Betsy?
Where people live = Not the West Coast (except me, apparently)
Famous jobs = None that I know of, though Missy comes closest
Please please please gossip. If this post goes without comments, I shall delete it in a blush of embarrassment and never show my red face again.
The whirling world
(title courtesy of Mr. T.S. Eliot--see how well-trained I am? I must cite everything!)
Zack, I had no idea about any of that! Please continue to post news as you get it. If CCCU isn't using CMRS, what program do they now have? (Did this happen recently?) Are they still going through Keble? Also, is Katie overseeing this other organization or CMRS? This is all very interesting...
It is Saturday afternoon and the sky is slightly overcast. I'm listening to the latest from Joseph Arthur (
Our Shadows Will Remain--great, great album!) and procrastinating...
My current project has consumed most of the autumn: I've been transcribing interviews from the footage my sister Deborah shot this past summer in Colombia. She's making a documentary (for her BFA thesis at Emerson in Boston) on the crisis of displacement in our fatherland. It's been an exhausting but incredibly rewarding ordeal. She's in the editing process now (final product due towards the end of spring) and I've been able to help out by typing all the interviews and then later translating them into English (her partner in the project doesn't speak Spanish). We have great hopes for this little film. She eventually wants to be able to channel aid to a couple different organizations who are working to improve the quality of life for Colombia's displaced (basically, refugees of the civil conflict).
Have I mentioned how proud of her I am?
Meanwhile, my little marginal existence continues. Christina Rossetti wrote to her brother (the dashing, electric Dante Gabriel), "Beautiful, delightful, noble, memorable, as is the world you and yours frequent, I yet am well content in my shady crevice--which crevice enjoys the unique advantage of being to my certain knowledge the place assigned me..." I feel this exactly. I've found contentment with my books and tree-filled backyard. Now I only have to figure out what to pour my life into...
My immediate plans involve applying to a couple of masters programs in the UK--namely, the Univeristy of Leeds. I've finally recognized that this is my next step, but I'm not altogether sure about where I go from there. More school and the PhD route to become a professor? Or do I return to the good ol' US of A and try to get a job teaching the vibrant, scattered high-schoolers of America? Nevermind the fact that the thought of teaching *anything* scares the hell out of me! But after all these years of internal and external wandering, I've realized that I love literature so much I am willing to dedicate my life to it...(especially since I learned that publishing isn't for me).
So. It's either that or the Peace Corps.
What I miss from Oxford
10) Chips 'n' hummus from Ali's kebob stand
09) Scruffy Dave and the rest of the Starbucks crew
08) Zack vacuuming his skin (why, why,
why was that so funny?)
07) Being one of not just two or three, but four or five people up at 3 a.m. writing a paper
06) Dean Philpott running his hand through his hair and tossing his head back in that quasi-Paris Hilton manner
05) G & D's ice cream/the Creperie/that Pizza Hut excursion at the beginning of term with like 20 of us
04) Sean's 8p Baked Beans. I wish I could live on that man's budget.
03) Being threatened that our kitchen would be shut down if we didn't clean it...a day before our Integral papers were due
02) Our community dinners in the common room, right above...
01) Greg
Lifetime Student
That's meant to mean I am a student for life, not that I am a student of Lifetime, Television for Women. Crap. Ah, well...
Yes, I'm still in school. After I finished up at ORU, I headed off to law school at Saint Louis University. After a year of that, I decided 2005 was just too soon to be done with school and I didn't hate myself enough. So I decided to go to business school at the same time. So, in May 2006, I will have my bachelor's, master's, and a doctorate. If at any point after that I decide to go back to school for any reason other than the fate of the free world, I officially give you permission to come to wherever I am and pull my hair or kick me or force me to listen to the Spice Girls or whatever.
You should be happy to know that some things never change. As of right now, I have a take-home final for an international business class due tomorrow that I have yet to start on. (Somewhere Betsy and Andrea are getting misty-eyed.) In my defense (no pun intended), I had a 3-hour criminal procedure final today so I think I deserve a little time-wasting. And if after 20 years of school (wow, thats depressing), I can't pull off a paper in one day, I don't deserve to get it done. If there is one thing I learned in the jolly ole land of Eng, its that you should never write today what is due tomorrow. And that you should never start researching today what is due tomorrow. Goofing off on the internet is ALWAYS priority. Although, I will probably keep that bit of advice to myself when talking to potential clients. :)
It has been so good to hear from people though. I swear that I am going to be cleaning Carrie's toilets when we get to heaven. Geez! She's amazing! Same with Nicole. They're off helping the street rats, aids victims, and refugees of the world, while I whine about finals. Mad props to all you guys who are actually out there making a difference. I'm so very proud to be associated with you. If you ever need a procrastinating lawyer, I'm yours!
Bustling about
In my ridiculous giddiness at seeing if this blog thing really works, I had to jump the gun and post a comment myself! I'm off to Taiwan tomorrow to see a bit of the Orient--a quick trip, just enough time for lots of business meetings, a bit of pre-Christmas shopping, and a couple hops over the international dateline. I had to dust off my passport, which boasts only a lonely stamp from a beautiful trip to London to visit Nicole two years ago. I love international traveling, especially when an interpreter is accompanying us!
I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around Christmas this year--even though next week's trip has forced me to finish all my Christmas shopping already. Jason and I even attempted to celebrate Christmas this past weekend (he's headed to Africa as soon as I get back from Taiwan), but my subconscious still seems to be waiting for the first snow-fall before Christmas can really come!
Of note
Welcome to Canterbury Road. Has it been awhile since you've been here?
Missy's last e-mail, and the replies it elicited, led to the idea of creating a blog where we Canterburians could get together and chat. Here it is.
Once you're invited and have officially joined the group, catch us up on what you've been up to. It's been about four years since many of us have seen each other. Hopefully this will be a little more permanent and reliable than our e-mail addresses.
Eventually, we'll be getting some custom links going--if you have a personal blog or website you'd like us to visit, e-mail me (Chelsey) and I'll try to get it working. (Keep in mind I majored in English, not CS.)
This site has a few issues. Here are the kinks I've noticed:
One, if you have any troubles posting or viewing comments, go to blogger.com (the orange B in the top LH corner of the screen) and login again. Tell Blogger to remember you. (If you share a computer, you can sign out later.)
Two, if you want to upload a picture, you don't have to use Hello--I use Photobucket just fine for uploading my pic.
Three, the admins are Missy, Ana Maria, and myself. If another user has questions or problems, s/he can e-mail one of us. We all work full-time, so we'll respond as soon as we can.
Four, people have to be invited to join this group. You must be a group member to post comments or blogs, as we don't want Joe Schmoe coming in here and trolling on our site. If you missed your invitation or didn't get one, e-mail me.
Any other bugs to report or that need fixing? Check the help link in the upper RH corner or e-mail me or post below.
Off we go. Cheers.
the swing of things
Ah, nothing like wasting time at work on a Friday afternoon... Seriously, this may become a problem...but it's the best kind yet! My current UVA temp job is better than my last...and I recently discovered that Faulkner was the first "writer in residence" here in 1956. I can imagine him crossing these green lawns by the buildings Jefferson designed...and it doesn't feel so bad to be here after all.
