Day 395: Commitments

Sundays tend to be one of the best days of the week. Today was no exception. Last night before I went to sleep, I got a message from one of my leaders asking if I could pull a last minute rescue for the TV crew since they were shot on people. So naturally, I accepted. I couldn't ever really turn down an opportunity to work on TV, so it was awesome to do that. I then served with choir, which was so much fun doing again; it's nice to be back in action like this. After the service, I went to pick up a cable to connect my camera to my computer; the reason why is because I recently got a 30 day trial for a stop motion program. It took a good 20 minutes to put a two second video together, but seeing how simple the program makes the process makes me want to strongly consider getting the full program. The evening service was awesome too; we got to hear from Sanga (always a blessing, this guy), and all the college students got prayed over. This is just the beginning of the week, but I can't wait to see how it unfolds.

God bless,
Steven

Day 394: Dr. Seuss's Lair

This day was awesome!! It started late due to sleeping in, but once I was out of bed, things got rolling. I just relaxed through most of the afternoon, and around 4:15 I headed to church to help with the evening service. I was asked by my friend Hanna to sub for her since she was at the Powerhouse Retreat; I'm nothing if I'm not flexible. This time, I got to reacquaint myself with the prez desk; to be honest, it's not necessarily my favorite responsibility in the studio, but someone's gotta do it. I pretty much had a crash course on how to operate prez, and fortunately I was trained by Rob and James, two of the best in the crew. The service was very good; Julia A'Bell gave a fantastic message on selfless living. TV is becoming more natural to me now that I'm getting more involved; I definitely stoked to see what gets accomplished this semester. When I got home, I found this massive fort constructed in my living room; turns out the guys finally got the chance to do what we wanted to do in 223. We were messaged by our friends Katherine and Caitlin that they wanted to have a big dinner with us (Caitlin is my roommate Michael's girlfriend, and Katherine is one of our good friends that finished college last semester. They actually made dinner for us, and we ate in the fort while watching Louie Giglio's Indescribable. It reminded me of when Alison and Becca would make dinner with us, so it's like nothing really changed. Boy, do I miss my mom's cooking...

God bless,
Steven

Day 393: From Rookie To Not Rookie

Right now, a lot of people from college are currently at the Powerhouse Retreat, a 3 day thing far from Sydney where we get another opportunity to have a full out God encounter. Things is, Powerhouse and I haven't really gotten along for the past year, and based on the testimonies I got from friends about last year's PH Retreat, I figured I would be better off not going. So I didn't; benefits did come of this though. For one, I got to be one of the last people to say goodbye to my friend Celeste, who is on her way back to Texas for only God knows how long. We all fought the urge to get all teary-eyed, and fortunately we succeeded. In all seriousness, Celeste was one of my best friends in college; we helped each other out in so many ways we were practically brother and sister. That's my favorite part of this college; it isn't just a studying environment, but more of a family environment. Especially here in the city campus, being so close to one another makes it so easy to build strong, lasting relationships with people; I could go to every building here in the Meritons and visit a friend of some sort. Now that second year is here, we see how many of our friends from last year have gone forward in their lives, and those of us that remain have the opportunity of building our friendships even further. Today, Donny and I got to help out a new student, a South African named Josh. He's in the same situation I was in last year, where everyone in my flat went to the retreat and I was alone in an unfamiliar place with no one to hang out with. I refused to let that happen to him, so we took him out for lunch and walked around the area to help him get familiar with Sydney. He's a cool guy, and I hope this year will be as much of a blessing as it was for me; one thing us veterans have noticed is that this new intake of students are considerably younger. Many of them are straight out of high school, so their young mentality shows in the way they act around here; so far, I've heard at least 4 people in the Meritons tell the kids to be quiet when they're out in the courtyard making noise while people are trying to sleep. I know I wasn't THAT loud a year ago, but I understand the situation completely. All I know is that I need to start filming, and soon. College News won't put itself together.

God bless,
Steven

Day 392: Game Time, or TV Time

Today marked the first real school day of my second year of college. It started at 5:30, since our rehearsal time was 6:15; as a result of that, I am very tired as I'm typing this blog. The rehearsal went alright; there were a couple delays, but we kept it together on time anyway (at least TV was ready; the others, not so sure). TV had such a strong team today; we even got help from our old leaders, Logan and Vanessa! Our first session was awesome; we got to hear from our college vice president, Mark Hopkins, as he gave an intro to college life for the new students. The other sessions featured Julia A'Bell and Catrina Henderson, our principal; it's awesome how God put such an amazing team together in this church. Every single leader in the church is an expert at what they do, so naturally we can consider it an honor to be taught by them. The rest of the day was dedicated to my dear friend Celeste; this was her last night in Australia (at least until she can have enough funds to come back), and thank God she had a blast. we invited a bunch of her closest friends to come and celebrate her time here in HILC, and we all hung out and munched on all kinds of snacks while listening to music. I found this day to be an awesome one; the next two should be interesting, since most of the college is away at the Powerhouse Retreat. Ah, the memories...

God bless,
Steven

Day 391: Team Building Missions

I'm a bit concerned about how my inner nerd can break out on occasion. I don't mind it, since some of the best parts of my life growing up were consumed by nerd-dom, but I wonder if that affects the way people see me. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but one can still wonder. Take today for example; the nerd I know I can be truly shined today. I found myself reliving the glory days filled with comic books, video games, and music that no one around me listens to; but it's these kinds of days that make me appreciate what I've been through to be here at this present day and age. Checking my email I received a newsletter update from Marvel, since I signed up for it way back when I was all about Marvel comics. They were advertising some big Fantastic Four news in an upcoming series, but what really got my attention was something I had a small phase of a while back: wallpapers. Instead of trying to describe them, I'll just post them to see for yourself:



You gotta admit, this looks pretty darn awesome. I love how these superheroes that have been around for decades are getting a proper introduction to the rest of the non-comic book reading world.



Josh and I want to plan an event where we get as many Americans as possible to invade the local movie theater to watch Captain America: The First Avenger while wearing red, white, and blue; seems like a good plan to me. But until then, I only have to wait a few months before this one is unleashed:



It should be great. The afternoon, as much as I hate to say it, was consumed by something called Phantasy Star Online; Donny, Josh, Kappa, and myself went through an entire four player game from beginning to end; fortunately our gaming skills made it possible. I know that seems like a waste of time, but I found it to be something memorable; if anything, it showed me what connections I have to people in college. Sure, lots of people went out to the beach or in the city; but we enjoyed just hanging out in a living room sharing laughs and incredible game experience while trying to complete these massive quests across many worlds. We celebrated by having a rather large dinner (since it's actually Australia Day, similar to the 4th of July) and watching a few movie classics. This was our last real day of vacation; kind of glad it got to end with a bang.

God bless,
Steven

Day 390: Enrollment 2011

This morning was one that gave a little deja vu to my brain. Last year, I went through this incredibly long process of enrolling into college; from payment, to student ID, fieldwork, accommodation, and eventually enrollment, I was there for quite a while until everything was settled. This year was surprisingly shorter; the only thing that took a while was the line for getting in. Because God provided the money to cover my first semester, I didn't have to go through the payment section which was the longest line the whole morning. I was pretty much done within 15 minutes, so it was relieving. In the afternoon I went with Celeste to Eastgardens so she could get a couple things taken care of; I just realized I haven't mentioned that here. My good friend Celeste will be heading back to Texas on Friday because of financial struggle; probably the roughest news I've heard in Australia so far. God's in control though, so we know she's coming back soon. Tonight, we had connect group with our new group leader Damien (to whom I credit recommending the 50mm lens for my camera). We pretty much just had a barbecue/farewell party for one of our good friends, Bart. Bart came from the Netherlands to intern in Australia for two months, so now he will be returning home; he's a really cool guy, and I'm glad I got to know him. After connect, Donny, Josh, and I went out for a "flat walk", just walking through Moore Park and talking about life and other silly things; I seriously couldn't imagine college life without them. I feel so blessed to have them as flatmates, and with our new flatmate Michael, things are even better. I'm telling you, this year is going to be good!

God bless,
Steven

Day 389: Good Friends, Good Pizza

To be honest, I had things planned for today, but I just didn't do many of them. However, did pick up a couple shirts I ordered before my break; very pleased with them. I remembered that Threadless has this deal that if you take pictures of you with your shirts, each picture goes towards store credit. I'll probably being doing that sometime soon, but we'll see. It's really cool seeing so many new students around, but I feel like I won't be connecting with many of them. That doesn't bother me though, so it's all good.

God bless,
Steven

Day 388: We Meet Again, TV

This morning marked the true beginning to my return. A few days ago, my former TV oversight asked if I could help in the Sunday 8 a.m. service, since it seemed to be shorthanded. There was honestly no way I could pass on this opportunity, so I almost instantly agreed. Upon arrival, I set up a few cameras and was on standby; what happened later on was I had to switch from 1 to 3 since our original camera 3 operator wasn't going to make it. We managed to have a great team, including a German named Johannes who I'm getting better acquainted with. Johannes is one of the best camera operators I've ever seen; he knows his craft, and I always consider it an honor to work alongside him (I learn quite a bit too). After the service concluded, the guys of 236 decided to invest the afternoon in rest; it's been a crazy past few days, and we really just needed to wind down a bit. It was cool to do that, because I don't feel as exhausted (despite not having done much lately). Tonight's service was awesome though; we got to hear from Louie Giglio once again, and it was an absolute blessing. It's so cool how many connections Hillsong has to other amazing churches and pastors; throughout the year, there will be people from different nations coming out here to speak to the Australian congregations. I honestly can't wait for that.

God bless,
Steven

Day 387: Going Back to Church

This morning I reunited with my flatmate Josh; it was like one of those bromantic movies where the friends see each other after a long period of time. We went out for breakfast, and after that we stopped by church so he could print out some papers. We met up with Donny and headed to the city; Josh and I decided that we need new phones (since the one I had last year is basically retired, and his was lost) so we visited Vodafone to see if they could help us. We ended up getting these Nokia phones for a reasonable price, and now I only have to pay $29 a month for credit (compared to $30 a month last year; that dollar I save could make all the difference, I think.) Afterwards, Josh and I went to Saturday night church, where we had the honor of seeing Louie Giglio preach on speaking up about what we believe in; since it's a two part series, we get to hear the second part tomorrow! The whole time we were listening, I couldn't help but think of the DVDs my dad got me; Louie has been one of my favorite communicators, and to see him in person gave a whole new light to how God is using him. I pray that God will use me to a similar degree; probably not in preaching, but in whatever calling I am given.

God bless,
Steven

Day 386: The Last Night

The only thing you need to know about today was the fact that I got the privilege of seeing Skillet in concert tonight in downtown Sydney. Even the fact that the line for the concert went all the way down the street and around the corner showed how big of a fanbase they have in Australia, and they certainly put on an epic show. Fortunately, I got to use this opportunity to give my stereo microphone a final test (because I don't think I'll be in a louder situation anytime soon), but I'll get back to you on that soon. The highlight of my week, hands down.

God bless,
Steven

Day 385: Dark Alliance

Today, there were only two missions: to welcome my new roommate to flat 236, and to help Donny find a video game that means the world to him. Around 11, Michael (new roommate) came to the flat to drop off his stuff; at this point he's the only one with a girlfriend, so he has reason to be outside more often. Around noon, Donny and I headed out to Eastgardens to find this game called Balder's Gate: Dark Alliance 2; after a long time of searching and searching, I eventually found it. To quote Gabriel Iglesias, "The look that came over his face was like he got a gift from God.". He was almost at the point of tears, which was kind of funny. After an amazing lunch at Oporto's, we came back home; I can honestly say the rest of the day was invested in this game. Pretty much against my will. But it matters to him, so I'll oblige and play along. I also got to see Laz again; he flew in this morning, and seeing him again was awesome. Things should be better with all of us this year; I just hope we'll be as excited about Josh coming back tomorrow.

God bless,
Steven

Day 384: Reunions are cool

I spent the majority of this day trying to organize my room in preparation for my roommate, who is coming tomorrow. Lots of cleaning and sorting of things, and then lots of saying hi to friends I haven't seen in a long time. At one point I tried to see my creative oversight Mary about the video team, but she was out on an important meeting so that's gonna have to wait until Friday. Things are moving a bit slow at the moment, but very soon it will all be in top gear once again.

God bless,
Steven

Day 383: Sydney, we meet again..

So the past 3 days were all part of my return to Australia. It started on Sunday, where I went to the Garcia's church to say bye; it was nice for them to pray for me, because Lord knows I need all the prayer I can get. After that, we went home so I could pack the rest of my stuff/hang out with my dogs for the last time until December. Once my sister and Derek came to the house, we went to have dinner; saying bye to the little guys tends to be the hardest thing for me, even when I was there with them all day. Sausage was the one that knew what was going on; he gave me a goodbye lick and watched me go (one of the most emotional goodbyes in my life. Not kidding.) After an awesome dinner at Benihana's, we headed to the airport; I said bye to my family and headed to the gate. After 17 hours of travel (including not having a January 17th), I arrived in Sydney. I got picked up by Alison and Becca, since Donny was working at the time. So I headed to Toys-R'-Us and reunited with my good ol' flatmate; he's extremely happy I'm back. It's felt as if I never left, really; the only difference is that I haven't really done anything so far. I am still in need of finding my phone in my room, as well as building my new bed frame before my roommate flies in tomorrow. God's been so good to me so far; not to mention it's nice to be back. This next week will be a bit low key, but that's cool; that should give me enough time to get used to 70-85 degree weather.


God bless,
Steven

Day 380: Gettin' Murried

So I haven't written in my blog for the past few days... but I have an incredibly legitimate reason: MY SISTER IS MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!



It's about time, really. I am so happy for her and her new husband/my new bro-in-law. I couldn't even try to describe how it all went down, so I'll just say it was a massive success and we're all overjoyed/extremely tired from how long this day was. And to think all this has taken place the day before my return to the land down under... this should be interesting..

God bless,
Steven

Day 377: Tales and Tuxedos

So today was fun! I got to catch up with Hannah while hanging out at Stonestown and Westlake, sharing stories of the past year. It was great to hang out with her, considering we were trying to find some time to do so since I've been here. Just traveling in that area of the city made me realize how long it's been since I was home; my sense of direction was out of whack. I did, however, manage to not get completely lost, so it's all good. After that, my dad, Derek, our friend Brian, and myself went to the Men's Wearhouse to pick up the tuxedos for the wedding; I know the guy from the commercial said "You're gonna like the way you look, I guarantee it.", but... I would say it's ALMOST accurate. Don't get me wrong, it looks nice, but if the pants are supposed to be that large feeling, then I guess I'll let that one slide.

God bless,
Steven

Day 376: 3D, Oh the Mystery

I saw Tron: Legacy in 3D this afternoon with my dad =)

God bless,
Steven

Day 375: The Pursuit Completed

Today, through the grace of God, I worked alongside my good friend Johnny to make my vision for a video project a reality. My intention was to take two days to film everything, since I figured I might not be able to get all the shots in one day. My dad accompanied us so I could show him exactly what I'll be doing in second year. With my trusty Canon Rebel T2i and 50mm f/1.8 lens in hand, I was ready to make this happen. It's amazing what happens when you put something to prayer; I was actually blessed with getting ALL the San Francisco footage today, and completely on schedule. I got to take the images in my head and place them in my hands, and very soon I will be editing this video in preparation for the Exchange Film and Art Festival. This day was fully blessed; thanks for everything God.

God bless,
Steven

Day 374: Kitaro FTW

In exactly one week from today, I will be on my way to Sydney to start the second half of my journey. How quickly time has gone. I was just starting to get accustomed to San Francisco life again, and I'm already having to get ready to leave. But this week should be good; lots of people to visit/hang out with, working on my video project for the Exchange, and eating lots of food for hibernation (just kidding, I won't be doing that). Church today was nice; it's good to be in the house of God, isn't it? I feel that way. After that, my family took me to my favorite sushi place in the world, Kitaro. I loaded up on all kinds of sushi, and I'm still feeling the satisfaction now. I also found time to watch a movie called Hachi with my dad and also edit the video from my family's vacation. Now I'm finishing the evening by watching Are You Being Served? with my sister; tomorrow's a big day, so I'm gonna need sleep.

God bless,
Steven

P.S. Sushi rules.

Day 373: Family Matters

I love my family. I couldn't ever think any other way about them. God gave me incredible parents that are more than a blessing, and I have a sister that's awesome at life; plus I can't forget my dogs who bring all kinds of joy to the Gomez household. We spent the morning with my grandma, who I'm also grateful for having in my life; when I was little she helped raise me, and now that we're here for her we can show appreciation for that (I certainly can). My sister decided to steal me for the day so we could hang out, which was so much fun. Our afternoon was pretty much hanging out with our dogs, taking her to see Tangled for the first time (which she ended up liking; not surprised at that, it's an awesome movie), and getting some grub at In-N'-Out; nothing's quite like the double double. I just finished watching a disc of Are You Being Served?, a British comedy that I watched with my sister growing up but never really understood until recently. When you're a Hispanic kid, hearing British talk can be confusing, but now that I've been so well exposed to that sort of dialect, I found it much easier to understand. In less than an hour, the countdown to my last week of break here in the States will begin; may God have mercy on my soul.

God bless,
Steven

Day 372: Out In the Field

Today was a special father and son day. My dad took me on a trip to his office, since I've never seen where he works. We made a stop at IHOP for breakfast, just sharing random stories from the year that just ended. When we got to my dad's desk in the office, I saw that he sticks to his tradition of keeping pictures of our family from way back in the day (like when I was a chubby bunny); that made me smile inside. On the way back, we contemplated seeing Tron: Legacy in 3D, but I think we'll save that for sometime next week. Most of the afternoon was spent at home, which was unusually colder than normal. I mean you know it's bad when you can see your breath in your living room despite having all doors and windows closed, right? It sure was intense. Around 4:30, the men (as in dad, Sausage, Albert, and I) headed out to pick up my sister from work; upon return, I decided to try out Lego Star Wars for the Wii (Derek frequently brings his Wii over, and we play often). Let's just say my inner Jedi truly shines in this game, and I'm looking forward to wasting a couple more hours of my life playing it haha.

God bless,
Steven

Day 371: A Half Family

So as you would notice, there's a lot of posts today; this is because due to a lack of internet access in Disneyland, I couldn't update it. The last several posts were a culmination of what I could remember without being way too vague. But now that I have caught up with the system, I can tell you about what REALLY happened today. Let's begin, shall we?

I've had little experience with family reunions. When they happen, it can be either straight up awkward or full on fantastic; it's a shame that with my real relatives, most of the time it's awkward. The main reason for that is my Spanish; it's not exactly up to par with every other Hispanic in the Bay Area, but I am doing the best with what I've got. It's weird how being in Australia helped improve my Spanish, considering I've been surrounded by Spanish speaking people my whole life; THAT'S awkward.... anyways, back to my point. Today was indeed a reunion, but with someone I consider family, even though they're not. Sure, we share the last name, but we're not actually related (it just so happened that we would share the Gomez title I guess). I was invited to visit my "half sister" Adriana's youth group, called the Unit. I commandeered my mom's car for the evening and headed to san Carlos (I brought along Family Force 5 to keep me company and lighten up the mood for the trip; perfect choice). This youth group is definitely one of the most solid I've seen in a while; I was glad that I got the chance to check it out. Another super big highlight was reuniting with my mini me from the New J era of my life, Cristian. We both didn't recognize each other at first; for me it was due to his new haircut, and for him it was my new hair style (leave it to the hair to confuse us.... man.... "I whip my hair back and forth, I whip my hair back and forth [just whip it]..") Once he recognized me, he gave me a big hug; I have missed his hugs. He was just like my little brother, and to this day I see him the same; hopefully I can hang out him sometime soon. Oh, and it was also great to see their mom too; looking back at how much our families used to hang out, it's amazing how quickly time flies by. Worship was cool, and the message was spot on; it was on activating your anointing (study David's life pre-Bathsheba, and you'll learn how). Afterwards, we went out to chill, and it was great to catch up on things with Adri. I'm strongly considering visiting next Thursday, but we'll see for sure. Today, a success? I think so.

God bless,
Steven

Day 370: A Day With Ma Dogs

Today was all about the dogs. Well, not literally, but you should know what I mean. It was mainly chilling with them in the morning, using a penguin huddle to stay warm in this cold winter weather (kind of contrasting that I used "chilling" with "staying warm"). In the afternoon, my dad and I took them out for a walk in Brisbane (pronounced "Brisbayne" unlike Australia's "Brisbin"), but for some reason Sausage wasn't really in the mood for the big walk; probably because of the cold weather again. A reflective part of this day was the walk; I noticed that most of the time the little guys would stay close to me and my dad, either next to us or behind us. Every time I glanced down, they would up at me with happiness; those are the moments that make me realize how much I'll miss home when I return to Australia. Even something as small as missing out on two years of my dogs's lives makes me a wee bit sad inside, but I know that regardless of what happens I have a God that is mighty. I find myself in a place that's secure thank to His grace; life for me isn't as hard as others in the world. I have everything that's considered an essential: a roof over my head, food, clothes, a bed, and other material things that people of today can't live without. I am blessed to have a life that's "easy", where most of everything is already taken care of for me; but that won't last for long, since soon I'll have to take care of the big things on my own. So I shall enjoy the easy life while it's still here.

God bless,
Steven

Day 369: Doctor, PLEASE!

Today was all about appointments; literally. In the morning I had to visit my orthodontist, Dr. Fred Warren. So near the beginning of last year, my lower retainer got seriously damaged, and near the end of last year, they wouldn't fit on my teeth at all. Seeing as how I was halfway around the world, I couldn't get them fixed, so it had to wait until today. At first, they seemed to be repaired, but when Fred was readjusting the wires, he discovered a massive crack on the front. Turns out all the times I was trying to get them to fit made the brokenness even worse. So now I have to wait until they get my retainer fully repaired; at least my upper ones are fine. The other thing is I have to make contact with a dentist/orthodontist in Australia so I can stay in procedure with my orthodontist here. After this appointment, I had a little bit of time before I had to go to my regular doctor for a physical/shot check. The perks to this visit is now I know my height and weight, and I only had to take the standard flu shot. After this trip, I could head back home and enjoy the rest of my day with my dad. Father and son days are the best =)

God bless,
Steven

Day 368: Well.. =)

Let's just say that this was a chill day. Very little happened on my part, but it was a God given day, so it was blessed either way. Sometimes I feel like I can take these days for granted; like, I won't do much that's progressive, but I can disregard the fact that every day of our lives is a gift from God. Do you ever think about this? I tend to a lot when these days come up. If you've never seen it that way, try it out; you just might get a whole new outlook on life (see what I just did there? That's a Grinch reference!!)

God bless,
Steven

Day 367: Homeward Bound

Today was the big trip back home to San Francisco. We headed out around 6 a.m., since there are some big things coming up that we have to get ready for. We made it home around 1 p.m. (I think?), and the rest of the day was half rest and half prepping for my sister's wedding. I know I'm generalizing quite a bit with this entry, but.... I don't mind ;)

God bless,
Steven

Day 366: 2011: Hello.

The first day of 2011 for me was quite the day. To experience California Adventure one last time before the trip home was great; getting on the newfound classics like Toy Story Midway Mania, Screamin', and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was awesome! At one point we went into the Blue Sky Cellar to check out the new plans and updates; there was one specific thing that seriously caught my attention. It wasn't one of the upcoming attractions or a new layout/design; it was a quote from Walt Disney himself. He said "As long as there is imagination in the world, Disneyland will never be finished." To see a man with such a massive vision made me really draw back and think to myself. Disney started this park back in 1955; yet even back then he had incredible vision for the future of his parks, his company, and ultimately his legacy. I admire Walt for that; I've spent a lot of my life only thinking of what's around me in the present. There have been those small moments of thinking to the future, but I don't do much of that. I want to have some more vision this year; especially since I have some big responsibilities waiting for my return down under, I want to make sure I'm more than ready for it. Ultimately, I can put my future in God's hands and be available for His work now. 2011 is gonna be a good one; much better than any other year. I'm believing it; won't you?

God bless,
Steven

Day 365: The Eve of A New Era

New Year's Eve; probably one of the most crowded days I've ever experienced in Disneyland. Seriously, there was a lot of people; even the smallest of shops had lines going outside the building! But nonetheless, it was still a fantastic day; the family had an awesome time. Today one of the top priorities was to get on Indiana Jones; two days ago, the fastpasses were all gone by the time we got there. This time, we were determined, only to find the fastpass line going from the entrance all the way to the Enchanted Tiki Room and a little bit past that. That was... a shocker to be honest, yet I wasn't surprised since it's an awesome ride. Throughout the day, the only obstacle was the hundreds (maybe even thousands) of people everywhere; thanks to this, I didn't go on Space Mountain, Matterhorn, and Alice In Wonderland. It's not catastrophic news, but I still would have liked to get a full experience of the park this year. The fireworks was cool; even though it was the same holiday show as last year, it's always a highlight. I personally would have liked some more personal space, but hey who am I to complain? As 2010 was coming to a close, the Gomez family ended the year in prayer; as the clock counted to 2011 and everyone around us was shouting and cheering, we huddled up and said a prayer for this year. I couldn't have wanted it to be any other way; this is the halfway point of my journey. Second year, here I come.

God bless,
Steven

Day 364: Back In Cali Adventure

It's amazing how much a theme park can change when you haven't been there in a while. California Adventure is shaping up to be a potentially epic park, considering what they're working on. Last time I went, I got excited thanks to the Blue Sky Cellar, which is where they actually show you updates on new attractions for the forsee-able future; this time, I got to see a couple of those attractions as the real deal. The coolest parts of this day was experiencing World of Color for the first time, and man do these imagineers know how to put on a show. It's like nothing I've ever seen/experienced, and it was well worth the super long wait. The other highlight was entering The Grid, thanks to ElecTRONica. ElecTRONica is the result of the Hollywood Backlot section of the park getting zapped by Kevin Flynn's laser, and it transports the visitors to the world of Tron (anyone else think Bruce Boxleitner should have had way more screen time in Tron: Legacy? I mean, the guy's program carries the name of the movie, you think they could give him some more credit). It included spotlight, lasers, a giant Recognizer checking people, the End of Line club (minus the two French DJs rocking epic suits), and even a recreation of Flynn's arcade; this place was just awesome. The only thing is if you wanted to stay there for the duration of the evening, you'd have to deal with some serious stereo bass for four hours straight; I can't even handle that. Hard to believe that after this evening, I was already halfway through vacation; Disneyland can make time seem like it slows down, but once you leave the park, it's a whole different story.

God bless,
Steven

Day 363: Christmas Fantasy, After Christmas!

Wednesday, December 29th, I went to Disneyland, and it was awesome as always. What I like most about this place is that no matter how many times you go on a ride, it still finds a way to be enjoyable. I will probably never get tired of rides like Pirates of the Carribean, It's A Small World, Peter Pan, and ESPECIALLY Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. It was one of those days where you go to as many rides as possible and see all the shows that matter (like Fantasmic; why wouldn't you watch that?). And yes, even the Christmas parade (which hasn't changed in ANY way) was cool to see as well.. although they did manage to cut out the cool snowflake ladies on skates.. but anyways. This was all part of the general plan: one day in Disneyland, one day in California Adventure, and the next two days exactly the same. To quote Liam Neeson circa A-Team 2010, "I love it when a plan comes together."

God bless,
Steven

Day 362: A Drive Like No Other

So the next several posts will be reflective ones from the past week, since I was on vacation and in no place to update the blog. Here we go:

On Tuesday, our plan was to head out to Disneyland after my mom was off work. The morning and afternoon didn't involve much since we had just about everything packed the night before (on these kinds of trips, I can leave everything last minute and still get it all together). Getting on our way was a bit tricky, since we had to drop off keys to one of the cars and then go pick up my mom from work. Once we had everyone in the car, we headed to Anaheim. My mom's boss told her heading towards Gilroy could shorten the trip, so we tried it out; it actually ended up taking an hour out of the trip compared to our usual route, so it was a cool suggestion. The sun was pretty much gone before 6, so the majority of the trip was in the dark of night. By 11, we arrived at the hotel and by midnight, we were all asleep (with the exception of Sausage occasionally barking at whatever noise he heard outside the door). I was more than ready to get this vacation started.

God bless,
Steven