'i think i'm gonna be sick'

i would tell you how many times i heard that last night...but i've lost count.

after a rough night with lots of throwing up in the health center...or really...all over camp...i'm off for seattle on a little bit of sleep.

we'll be leaving santa cruz around noon, and after a short stop in modesto we'll be on our way to seattle. hopefully we'll be there by morning?

matrimony. COTA. friends who are family. seattle. all things i'm excited for.

road trip.

yankees win the pennant

jesus come back soon. this is getting ridiculous.

aversion:: [a feeling of repugnance toward something with a desire to avoid or turn from it]

part of my job is to become a better person.

and i'm not joking. there's a guy, todd, on staff, who bears the title Staff Development Coordinator. i like that this is his title because that lets me feel like it's his job to make me be a better human-being. right? so we meet with todd every few weeks to talk about everything from the weather to escatological philosophies. we call these meetings todd time.

anyway.

i think you'll find many references to todd time here. yesterday during todd time we talked a lot about uganda and the idea of promise and the fact that if i could i'd get on a plane bound for uganda tomorrow. we talked a little bit about spirituality. kindof. only in skeptical and cynical ways. which is of course, my way.

todd: "you have a strong aversion to religion"

me: "..."

todd: "but somehow it works"

here's what i'm learning in todd time:
-apparently i do indeed pray. it just oftentimes looks like me questioning the ins and outs of the universe.
-most of my heretical tendencies are, in fact, not so much heretical and are ok and are part of a good and healthy process. phew!
-this is a good thing. all of it. where i am. the conversations i'm having. the questions i'm asking. the (occasional) answers i'm finding. the way i'm 'praying'. (although it's still hard for me to call it that and i don't say it out loud) and the places i think i want to go.

what a relief.

so here's to todd time.

power to the peaceful.

soon and very soon (and by this i mean friday/saturday)

i'll be in the city i love.

and i can't wait.

ohhh chesterton. you always get it.

as you may or may not remember...i've been missing uganda quite a bit. on top of that i've been spending a lot of time thinking about cultural relativism and the extent to which we (collective societal we) tend to ignore it. and i've been feeling a bit isolated by that. i read a great quote that i feel describes the way i've been feeling perfectly.

“The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” G. K. Chesterton