:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

I attended my first small group meeting tonight since the final Cerritos/Artesia meeting three months ago. I asked about small groups at NewSong LA and discovered that there was a South Bay Small Group meeting in Redondo Beach on Thursday nights. It seemed like a good place to try out, being both near the beach and close to where I work... and I had nothing better to do that night anyway.

The first thing I had to do if I was going to get anything out of this was to temper my expectations somewhat relative to my experience at C/A. That group, for a church group, was quite social (read: rowdy) and the level of personal comfort one might achieve while attending that group was, from what I hear, peerless among all other community groups. The chemistry among the members made for a very entertaining, very hospitable atmosphere. I told myself to go in with no expectations whatsoever, and to not make any old vs. new comparisons. It's not healthy in relationships, it probably won't fly here.

So I drive up to Redondo Beach, walk up to the apartment, knock on the door... and I hear barking. Cool, the resident is a dog person (I'm allergic to cats). When I arrived there were only two others there (not including the dog). It seems that like every other group out there, punctuality is strictly theoretical. Which to me was a good sign, actually. People eventually started filing in but even when everyone arrived I couldn't help but think just how mellow this group was. This was a Diana Krall concert to C/A's Ozzfest.

I discovered later that it was partly due to the fact that they've only been meeting in Redondo since March, and almost everyone is fairly new. Apparently I wasn't the only one there to feel slightly awkward walking among strangers. Everyone was generally cordial and a couple of people did make an attempt to talk to me so I wasn't too uncomfortable. They're currently studying some book with the topic being something along the lines of "a purpose driven life" which seems interesting. One thing I couldn't help but notice was that out of the 12 or so people there, the guy to girl ratio is... well... favorable... for guys anyway. Which in some ways, it's better than the old C/A group. Not that it's of any relevance to me since my reasons for seeking out a small group is to find others who wish to draw closer to God as well as developing friendships among my peer group. And if I keep saying that over and over to myself, I might actually believe it. ;)

But in all seriousness, my reaction so far is neutral. There was nothing about it that stood out as an alluring draw, and there was nothing to dissuade me from going back. I was told that tonight's format was atypical of most meetings so I'll just have to see what it's really like.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:05 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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Ok, I had to modify the code for my "comments" feature since it wasn't loading properly so whatever comments made previously (all three or four of them) are probably gone. At least it's finally working properly now so give it a try. Just so you know I highly encourage feedback... whatever you want to say, type away!

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 5:46 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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A little late but happy Father's Day for any of my male readers out there with kids... illegitimate or otherwise. ;) I spent some of the evening having dinner with my folks. My kid brother (I don't refer to him as my "little" brother any more since he's slightly taller than I am... though I am a little stockier... not that I'm particularly proud of that) was in town so it was nice to have him tag along. It was one of my rare moments of participating in family functions and an even rarer moment of me making any sort of contribution, which in this case, was treating everyone for dinner. This is the first time in a while since we had the entire family together for dinner and like most our family dinners, it was somewhat awkward. At least for me. Being the black sheep of the family I've grown accustomed to that feeling. Fortunately, everyone else seemed to enjoy themselves. That the food was quite good probably helped slightly. So for me, it was essentially an awkward evening saved by the fact that the food was good enough to provide some distraction from the aforementioned awkwardness. Now that I think about it, it's like I was on a date.

The restaurant we went to is a local Korean BBQ place that my parents frequent. I'm not the biggest fan of the more hardcore Korean food (kimchee especially... ugh) but I like the barbecue since all it is is fresh meat cooked over an open fire. It's really difficult to screw up a meal consisting mainly of fresh meat cooked over an open fire. Many a country's culinary mainstay revolves around that concept and Korea does it about as well as anybody. We ordered the beef tongue, beef short ribs, pork belly, and spicy marinated pork and everything was excellent. While my experience with Korean places is limited, this place is just as good as any other place I've been to. Better even. So if any of you guys are in my part of town and crave Korean food, let me know and I'll be happy to show you the place. I probably won't join you for dinner or anything but I'll definitely provide you with clear directions.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:28 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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Keith Foulke, you noodle-armed, gutless, spineless, rat bastard of a choke artist. You sucked on my roster last year and you've cost me several W's this year. Go back to triple A. You are dead to me.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:43 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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Considering I had the entire weekend with my place to myself, I really didn't do too much. Saturday for example: I woke up around 10:00 but I stayed in bed until noon because the radio had some really good music going during those two hours (I sometimes sleep with the radio on). Got out of bed, checked my e-mail, berated myself for forgetting about and missing the historic Yankees/Cubs game (Clemens going for win number 300 vs. Kerry Wood). Ate breakfast (bacon and eggs). Saw "Black Hawk Down," though I didn't get to any of the special features on the other two DVDs. Ate lunch (buffalo wings) while watching the Stanley Cup finals (GO DUCKS!!!).

Around 7:00 or so, I finally decided to leave the house and go do some errands. Part of that included making a beer run. Since I had planned on spending Saturday alone, I bought a steak for dinner, a nice prime 1.3 pound rib steak a couple of days earlier. I didn't have any beer so I stopped at a Whole Foods and picked up a couple of bottles for the evening. This place has the most impressive beer selection I've see anywhere, carrying beers from Germany, Czechoslovakia, Belgium and Scotland among others. I picked up my favorite dark beer, a Spaten Optimator Doppelbock and bottle of something called "Arrogant Bastard Ale". I've never heard of this stuff before and being an adventurous beer lover, I just had to try it out for no other reason than that it has a really great name.

Well, I drank it while eating my steak and it didn't disappoint. Upon opening the bottle, I was dealt a very pleasant, somewhat woody scent which permeated nicely when I poured it. I was surprised by how dark and thick it was for an ale, being a little darker than a Newcastle and it accumilated a bright amber head while pouring. The flavor was excellent, very hoppy with a sweet, caramel undertone and a pleasantly bitter finish all enhanced by a rich, textured mouthfeel. Yeah, I'm a beer snob.

I gotta tell ya, as far as meals go, it's hard to beat a nice, big, juicy steak and a great beer. Not the most eventful Saturday but hey, I enjoyed it.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 1:28 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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When I can't sleep, I typically try to allay that by reading something or listening to some music. Sometimes I blog. Tonight, I killed about an hour taking some online quizzes. I've taken a few of these before so I thought I'd share some of my results. Results are all courtesy of Quizilla.

My Lord of the Rings character would be Aragorn (multiple tests, same results).

I'd enter Hogwarts as a member of RavenClaw.

I am a "Mystery Woman" (don't ask).

There were several "Matrix" quizzes and I got Neo four times, Morhpeus twice, and a Trinity. Huh? I LIKE Trinity, I don't want to BE her.

There now, don't you feel like you know me better? ;) See, this is why I really need to try to maintain a regular sleeping pattern.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 5:39 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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Today I went to the third graduation in about as many weeks. The first one was at Bah-ston College for my kid brother, the other two were for friends from church. Two of them are undergrads receiving their Bachelor's Degrees while the third is receiving a Master of Divinity from seminary. All three are what everyone would consider "good people" and I was happy to be there, even having to sit out in the hot sun today. I'm glad that despite my own struggles with life, personal dissatisfaction with my career (or lack thereof), I'm still able to pull myself out of that enough to be genuinely happy for my friends when they accomplish something. Even more so when it's people who deserve to be blessed.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 3:03 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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