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