Burritos always seem to make my life better.

For some reason burritos always seem to make things in my life better. So, it's no surprise that once again, burritos have pulled through for me.

Within the past week I got a job at Chipotle Mexican Grill. It's been really good so far. About 90% of the people I work with are from Mexico, which I'm really excited about. I've missed all the Costa Rican big mamas and now I get to work with Mexican big mamas. They are incredibly patient with me while I've been making all the beginner mistakes and have some of the biggest smiles I've ever seen. Not only that, but now I can have friends who can help me with my Spanish and who I can help with English. It's a nice exchange and a good bonding experience.

I feel really lucky to have a job where I am treated well and get to work with great people. That's all for now.

I need to go roll some burritos and learn Spanish.

The Moon, Tsunamis, and Christianity

Today is one those days where I feel like my brain is in a million different places. I feel slightly crazy and overwhelmed by all the things that there are to think about. Sorry if this blog is all over the place.

Boredom has become a rather foreign idea to me. I've been finding myself desiring to sit in one spot for a long period of time with nothing else other than a cup of tea and my own little pea brain. Sometimes it's even to the point where I feel like I can't be in social situations because it's too overwhelming for my brain to process what is already in my head along with whatever new information a conversation or new experience may bring.

One of the many things that has been filling my brain as of recent is due to the moon. Within the past year I have become really fascinated with the moon and the effects that is has on nature and human temperaments. I think that in our culture we have lost the art of being aware of nature. Evie and I were discussing this the other day and she brought up the fact that in our culture we have to check the news or some online source to know what the weather will be. I suppose the we don't have time to step outside our door and look at the sky.

The other day Evie, Tyler, and I went to our friend's house. One of the friends we went to visit is a nurse. We began discussing with her the effects of the moon on humans. She told us that no one at the hospital ever wants to work on the night of a full moon because there are so many more babies born and patients to take care in comparison to a normal day. WHAT?!

I did some more research today and found several really interesting articles about the tsunami that hit a few years ago. Here is part of one the blew my mind:

"Wild animals survive by being always alert. That's what keeps them alive. Nature is very resilient. We shouldn't forget the fact that we are also part of nature."
Amongst the news reports of the recent Asian tsunami are numerous uncanny stories from across the region of animals who appear to have sensed the disaster before it happened. In Sri Lanka, for example, Yala National Park suffered numerous human casualties, but bizarrely "the wildlife suffered almost no casualties. The elephants, wild boar, deer, monkeys and others had moved inland to avoid the killer waves." Some survivors, for instance, have described how the monkeys refused to accept bananas shortly before the tsunami arrived:

"Bananas would be something normally that would make monkeys go bananas. These monkeys were totally disinterested, staring up in a confused mode as if they were reacting to something."

Another Sri Lankan survivor described how "his two Doberman Pinschers refused to go for their daily jog along the beach about 90 minutes before the tsunami." Over in Thailand, a dozen tourists were saved from the tsunami which struck Khao Lak when several agitated elephants broke their chains and fled for the hills. At least 3,800 other people would be killed when the tsunami arrived. Over in Phuket, a survivor described "seeing dogs running inland minutes before the tsunami struck." Over in India, the authorities "have reported that the indigenous, stone-age tribes of the Andaman and Nicobar islands escaped the effects of the tsunami because they heeded warning signals from birds and animals."

WHAT?! How crazy is all of this?

Just think how many people would've survived the tsunami if we knew how to pay attention to the signs that nature and animals gave us. It really just blows my mind beyond belief.

Also, as many people of this generation are experiencing, I have grown very weary of the Christian culture (great transition of topic, right?).

I'm tired of thinking that the only way of growing close to God is through having "quiet time" and reading the Bible for x amounts of minutes or hours.

I'm tired of being guilted into "using my gifts" for selfish endeavors.

I'm tired of trying to fix people and having people try to fix me. I despise the question of "What is the Lord doing in your life? Have you been in the word lately? What church do you go to?" How are you supposed to answer that? I have no idea what God is doing!

I'm tired of older people thinking that I am just a confused young person who is incapable of possessing any self control or decision-making abilities. Not only that, but then proceeding to inflict their divine unquestioned wisdom upon me. Hm. I suppose that after a cetain age you can never be in the wrong.

I'm tired of feeling guilty for being a human.

No, I don't want a Sunday school solution for my life.
No, I don't want to a join a social clique whose main mission is to judge other people.

All I really know is that God is allowing me to be in a constant whirwind of confusion. If God can ONLY speak through a quiet time, a Jesus-is-my-boyfriend generic praise and worship song, or a white male pastor, I don't know what type of God we are believing in.

Home?

This is going to be a brief update. There is too much business to take care of.

As most of you don't know, I officially moved to Kansas City last Sunday.

I live in a house with my sister (Evie) and her boyfriend (Tyler). My other sister (Lydia) and a three-legged cat (Ganglamesh) will be joining us in a few weeks. Yeah, I know, three sisters, one guy, and a three-legged cat living in a house together. Strange. You can imagine the types of comments we have already received. But, in truth, this is pretty much the ideal living situation for all of us. I can't really think of any other people that I would rather live with. We cook together for almost every meal (mostly rice and beans) and eat on the floor. It's great to be living with people who really want to take care of each other.

We are all currenly jobless. As everyone already knows, it is a hard time to find a job. Yesterday I just got out a phone book and started calling random places to see if anyone was hiring. Out of the 8-10 places I called, only one place was possibly hiring. I started calling random businesses almost as a strange type of game to see who all wasn't hiring. We have a few possibilites of jobs that might work out, but nothing is definite. Chipotle is looking like my most promising possibility (big surprise, right?). If that job doesn't work out, I will be hittin the streets with my accordion. You think I'm kidding...

Tyler gave a little old lady a ride home from the grocery store the other day. In the midst of taking her home the old lady unzipped her pants and pulled out a package of Jimmy Dean sausages. She looked at Tyler and said, "You gotta do whatch' you gotta do sometimes." It looks as though I might be adopting this philosophy.

Our house is really beautiful. The house has 4-5 bedrooms, all hardwood floors, new appliances, two full baths, a great front porch, a nice landlord, and most importantly... $800 rent split between four people. The neighborhood we live in is relatively quiet and peaceful with friendly neighbors. Kansas City is one of those places where one block can be one of the safest places you could possibly be while the next block is nothing short of a shit storm. We heard gun shots from a few blocks away last night and then proceeded to see a helicopter with a spotlight flying around. Luckily, we spoke with one of our neighbors who has lived on our block for 5 years and he said that it was a really calm place to live and that all the neighbors really looked out for each other.

This has been one hell of a year. The nomadic lifestyle is a very romantic idea and I'm glad that I have made the decisions that I have, but I don't really think that this way of living is healthy for an extended period of time. I have come to discover that being tossed around and moving all the time is too emotionally exhausting.

Needless to say, it feels good to be living with people in a more permanent state.

I live with some of my best friends, have enough food to eat, and a roof over my head.

Please come visit soon. We'd love to have you. I'll feed you rice and beans.