Moving at the Speed of Unproductivity

I turned in my last paper on Wednesday after turning in my last two "take-home" finals that morning. I took the rest of the night off, then the next day I went to work. The next day after that I went to work. And tonight I'm going to work. I did get a glimmer of hope and relief knowing that I had finished the semester, but the rest of my life seems to be moving right along at the same pace. Ah, well. I can't complain, because if given an actual day off with no obligation at work or church or home, I'm not sure what I would do. Now that I can't default to schoolwork with my freetime I'm opting for cleaning the bathrooms. Lame. Recently, though, I've been thinking about they rhythm of the seasons. During these winter months when you get about 2.5 hours of sunlight/graylight it's easy to get gloomy and depressed right along with that cloudy sky. The other viable option would be to let the low light lull you to sleep. What if God planned for this time during the year as a means of rest when you lay low, go to bed early and sleep late? I've been getting more sleep these past few months, and I think, as a result have yet to catch a cold. Coworkers, family, fellow students, friends have all managed one or two colds by now, while team Sanchez remains strong and healthy. I think it's the sleep. Because if God wanted us to slow down during winter, when the cold/sickness threat is at its highest, and his means of doing so was turning down the lights, but we ignored such an opportunity and kept running at the same pace we're messing with the created order. We're going to end up sick and depressed. But, if we go with the rhythm of winter and read and nap and sleep in and come close to hibernation, well we could be on to something here.

I'm trying to think through what my life would be if it was perfectly unproductive. On one side I want to accomplish great things. I want a biography written or at least a small memorial article that would feature the handful of things I did. On the other side I'm tired and want some of that Sabbath-rest, especially after writing a paper on Sabbath-rest in Hebrews 4. So somewhere between going to work, cleaning our soap-forsaken house, writing christmas cards and scrambling to get some christmas gifts together, i'd like to sit back and do nothing. here goes.

final countdown

it is my goal to not post until i finish finals. wait a minute. i wonder if this qualifies. shoot. talk to you later.

The LIfe Journey of a Turkey...Day.

This is the third Sanchez Thanksgiving we've celebrated in Portland. The first one was actually before I was even legally a Sanchez. This year we were joined by Andy and Anne and a dignified sense of progress from year one's turkey breast and year two's slighty frozen turkey. Here's what happened:

Andy grew up on a ranch, so we elected him as chief butcherer. Though our turkey isn't pictured, using Anderson colloquial use, the turkey is looking right at you.

Ever since we started cooking little chickens in our roasting pan, it's been a Sanchez ritual to dance a bit with the bird after it has had a bath. It gets the juicies flowing for cooking.

Seasoning is an art form in the Sanchez household and garlic an essential ingredient in all cooking. Having made sure the turkey was evenly sprinkled both outside and in its cavity, he's ready for the 325degree oven we've prepared for him.

Sufficiently tanned the turkey is ready for his aluminum oven fort.

This is as hip as our dining room will ever be, thanks to Andy and Anne's looks of indifference as they wait for the food to cook.
After we finished eating we gather enough strength to move from the dining room to the couches, where we watch Batman Begins. Halfway through the movie we were ready for dessert.


This is one of the most beautiful moments of Thanksgiving, Jon and Andy cleaning up while Anne and I sat on the couch watching the screen saver on the dvd player. It was so good. As long lost children living in Portland, we made sure to call our families for a thanksgiving hello. In the end we were happy to spend the day at home with no lingering stress of airports and travel. Thanks.

Food Service Feast

The warmth and bustle of the holidays are approaching. Tomorrow I'll prepare for our Thanksgiving feast by cleaning our bathrooms, doing some laundry and shopping for those last few items. Jon and I are sort of pioneering Sanchez Holidays in Portland. Our first Thanksgiving here was a month before our wedding. I cooked turkey breast using the ragamuffin appliances and cookware at 2nd base and if I'm not mistaken Eric Mora joined us. Last year we had the Albertson crew, who have since migrated to the East Coast. This year we are joined by Andy and Anne and a peach pie and cheesy Christmas music. And we've got a bottle of fine red wine.

In preparation for this year's Thanksgiving my mind has been mulling over the holiday meal we got at Drake, hosted by the cafeteria staff. It was a food service oddity, the holiday meal. All the staff would smile, slicing roast beef and setting up the tables of pie. I remember live music and Christmas lights. By my junior year every meal I ate in the school cafeteria gave me some sort of stomach ache, but those holiday meals are good, warm, well-fed memories. It seems that at the cusp of a homemade Sanchez feast, what I really want is to use my meal card for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving.

Huzzah.

I'm lame. I'll be the first to admit it. I have a couple excuses I could throw your way. First, I nearly maimed myself in a bread cutting incident that involved a sharp serrated knife and my left index finger. Second, my typing skills are slowly declining making this harder to do. Did I mention I'm lame. Moving on though I just wanted to share a small triumph of mine. I recently discovered this Web site where you can sell and buy things in what they call an "online auction." It is called Ebay. I discovered the site shortly after discovering how amazing my feet feel while wearing very expensive hippie, negative heel shoes made by the company Earth. I wanted a pair to ease those long hours micromanaging people at work and Ebay was my means. So I've been spending the past few weeks passively viewing every pair of Earth shoes in my size, comparing styles, sellers, ending times, over and over and over again. Finally I took the first step and placed a bid on a pair. Then I waited patiently yet excitedly by the computer, clicking refresh every 19 seconds to make sure I was not outbid or "snipped" in the last few seconds. Jon's brother and sister-in-law are Ebay participants of legend status. In a way my own victorious shopping today made me just a little more of a Sanchez and less of an Anderson.

As an extreme sidenote: If you want to come to our home for Thanksgiving, you are invited.

what to say

all is quiet in the sanchez home. jon is sleeping and has been for forty-five minutes. i got off work about an hour ago and am awake. in rainbows by radiohead just finished another play through making things more quiet, more still. it feels nice. i feel a bit more calm than yesterday when i found a magazine blog by some college friends and began to feel completely inadequate, like i had just wasted the past three years in seminary, the past week at work and my entire degree. i had to remind myself that i was only at part b of my plan and part c is as of yet undetermined. i felt like dignan in "bottle rocket" pointing to the photo of the lawn wranglers. i had to get comfortable early on in college that my career path wouldn't look much like my classmates. in the past three years i've only drifted further away from the magazine mecca that is new york. though, i never wanted to go there. and i never wanted an internship at meredith. so, i suppose i'm doing fine. and though there are dishes stacked in the sink and bits of this and that strewn about the living room the house feels settled, because may will come soon enough and i'll graduate and move out of our apartment and someone will have an idea of what i should do next.

God Bless the Queen!...and Possibly Cadbury

Recently my dad was on a business trip in London. My initial plan to take full advantage of my dad's traveling ways was to get a flight out there the same weekend, shirk my work and school responsibilities, stay in my dad's hotel room and walk around the city, pretending I still lived there. I also attempted to have my dad live out certain key features of my time in London, going to church, going to the pub with friends, walking to Trafalgar and then Leicester Squares for a film, visiting various museums, taking advantage of the donation only admission by not paying. In the end I acquiesced. Could he just bring back some candy bars for me?

During the four days he spent in the city, we had a lively email conversation to determine the type of candy bars, how many and what purpose they would serve in my day-to-day life. He did a good job along with the work of my mom to get me the small packaged bits of joy I was after. We got a box on Wednesday chocked full of sweeties and since then I've been doing my best to show some restraint and pace out our recently acquired candy supply.

What else is going on? I felt a little despondent yesterday. Blamed it on getting up way too early for work and slept in a little too late today. I'm researching two papers right now for school. One is on civil disobedience and possibly civil disobedience as part of a holistic approach to living out the Kingdom of God. I'm also researching the concepts of Sabbath and rest in Hebrews 3-4. Andy thinks it's eschatologicial, which is pretty ambitious for an amillenialist, and part of the great meta-narrative set up by the seven creation days. That Andy, always has a theological answer for everything. In the immediate future I plan to eat some hybrid of breakfast and lunch.