Black Friday at the Beach

Ahh, Venice Beach. My favorite locale. And what's better than being at Venice Beach? Being there on Black Friday.


Yes, I'm still thoroughly enjoying the Californian version of "winter." You can still hit the beach - it's just slightly too cold to go swimming. And cold rain? It's actually kind of like our version of snow. Any rain at all, actually, is exciting.

Anyway, it's Friday and I've been working my little fingers off all day, but I felt a blog post was necessary for whatever reason. I guess there's just some random stuff I have to say - like how much I love our 2 cute, friendly cats when it's cold and rainy. Or how working in the kitchen area on a Friday, even though I only work here because it's warmer and there's more light, turns out to score you food gifts from most people in the house throughout the day. They take pity on me, I think - and they should because Warren has been pacing around and generally stressing me out all day.

And then there's the other stuff that came up days before but I never remembered to write it down. Like the alarming environmental news in the L.A. Times every day that is encouraging me to find a "green"-focused job. Or how nice it was a few days ago when all of my east coast friends just happened to try to contact me on the same day. Or how I went to my first professional basketball game last night (Lakers!!). Unfortunately, a lot of what I would have had to say is lost in the moment.

But I can still do a little update of what I'm up to, right? Well, obviously I'm still working my job for Warren here out of the house. And I'm very much hoping to wrap this all up before I leave for Xmas at the end of the month. I'm also hoping to interview for jobs starting in January, so I've been doing a little research on different organizations in the area via the LA Chamber of Commerce website. I've started some career counseling with a very cool lady named Mary who lives at the bottom of the mountain. So I'm maybe a quarter of the way into "The Passion Test Book," at her recommendation, and it's kind of exciting ("The effortless path to discovering your destiny" :P ). In alignment with a suggestion from a woman my age in media development, I've also started working a little more on a digital portfolio (aka, "webpage") with an emphasis on photography and digital graphics. It's gotten my creative side going again :) I'll post the link when it's more complete.

And, of course, I've been going to capoeira a few times a week, emptying my pockets on gas money going to my autocad class, and eating lots of peanuts (the only easy and consistently available snack food in the house).

Oh, and Thanskgiving was a huge amount of fun. Dinner for 22, very nice ;)

Suggested Reading (articles)

I got lucky these past couple hours and have been on a creative streak. The sketch/reflection to the right is a production of another recent one of these. And, fyi, all the images I use on this blog are my own.

Anyway, since I'm up and I meant to post this before, here are 2 articles that I highly suggest reading:


1.) "What It Will Take to Build a Sustainable U.S."
(by Kenny Ausubel)
http://alternet.org/environment/66725/

-This is a very well-written and I think somewhat inspring article on where our country needs to go. It's the best environmental article I've read for some time. Here's a taste:

Andrew Revkin reported in the New York Times that "The physical Earth is increasingly becoming what the human species makes of it. The accelerating and intensifying impact of human activities is visibly altering the planet, requiring ever more frequent redrawing not only of political boundaries, but of the shape of Earth's features themselves."

Mick Ashworth, editor-in-chief of the annual Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World, said his staff of 50 cartographers now updates their databases every three and a half minutes. Commented the editor, "We can literally see environmental disasters unfolding before our eyes."

2.) "The Roots of Islamic Reform"
(by Ali Eteraz)
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ali_eteraz/2007/09/the_roots_of_islamic_reform.html

-Another exceptionally well-written article that I think addresses the idea of "Islamic Reform" in a very comprehensible way. It's much more concise than anything I've ever read, particularly in mainstream sources like Newsweek, the New York Times, etc. Some of the terminology might be strange to you - but many of the references he uses are linked to explanations (or you can just ask me). And it's relatively short! Summarized, really- but if you want more he's written a series on the topic for you and has links to it. So read it! Here's a taste:

Islamic reform occurs when a Muslim dissents from this traditional orthodoxy, and provides an alternative which he or she believes more accurately captures the spirit of Islam. Some dissenters argue that their view was part of the orthodoxy all along - just overlooked - while others agitate for the orthodoxy to open up and assimilate views from the outside.

There are various reasons for Muslim critiques of traditionalism. Some critics are dissatisfied with traditionalism for being liberal, citing its connection to Sufism and its receptivity to local customs. Others accuse it of conservatism: primarily its views towards women, minorities, and freedom of conscience. Others agitate against its political quietism, arguing that it does not speak out against terrorists or tyrants enough. Many critics have a problem with traditional conceptions of religious hierarchy, believing that Islam should be democratic and not install de facto priests in the guise of scholars. Others complain about traditionalist monopoly on methodology, arguing that there are other methods of deriving a "way" or "Sharia" than the usul method invented in the 9th century. Finally, some simply believe that traditionalism is anachronistic, should be deconstructed and replaced by radically individualistic ijtihad.

Most of these critiques are in conflict, not just against traditionalism, but against one another as well. However, in terms of history, all critiques against traditionalism stems from Ibn Taymiya, a largely self-taught scholar in the 13th century, who challenged the traditionalists of his time. His views are worth examining.

Enjoy :)

Christmas Travel Plans

Many thanks to my grandparents who paid for my plane ticket with their miles, I will be returning home for Christmas. I'll be flying in on :

December 20th

and out again on

December 31st.



Hope to see some people when I'm in town :)

2 Months

Well, sorry for the prolonged absence. You see this picture to the left? This is what my life has become. The cat and TV. As much as I try to avoid them both they're just sort of constantly around.

I guess I should update a little bit - I went to NYC, I had a very good time with some friends and some Brazilians. Then I went home and spent some time with my mom and Khadoujah. Mostly, though, I ate a lot of good food. Because that's half of a good vacation.

And my job, well, seems to continuously extend itself beyond the horizon. Its end is a mirage that I keep thinking I see off in the distance - but I have relatively little hope of ever actually getting there, even at this late date (we originally talked about the job being over in September). Things are better, I'm not calling up ridiculous numbers of organizations anymore. It's not so much of an "all seems lost" situation like it used to be. But I'm not feeling great about it.

I don't have much time to spend looking into future housing or income (free time isn't very easy to get when you live and work in the same house as your boss), so what little I've looked into is also kind of dismal. I'm really hoping this is the low point in my life. I don't like thinking about anything more depressing than this. A few highlights:

-Liz said she had a client who rented properties who had one near USC for $400/month (incredibly low for L.A.). I didn't expect much. The broken door, bad neighborhood, peeling paint, fine, I saw that coming. But I didn't expect it to smell like poop and the ocean. Or that it seemed to have the plumbing/design of a janitor's closet from the 1920's. The bathtub scared me. But what was worse was that there really wasn't any work in close proximity. Thankfully that ruled it out for good.

-One of the things that I like about living with my family in L.A. is that their neighborhood friends are always suggesting ideas for work and study. One neighbor left a message the other day about a job starting at $17/hour with paid 3 month training. But it sounded in the message like she said it was because there was a shortage of lobotomists. I was relieved to find out that she'd actually said "phlebotomists." These are people who are trained to take blood. So maybe not such a bad job, right? I'm not sure. There are things that would be difficult to come by for this program - it requires you to have health insurance, CPR certification, a list of immunizations, etc. But quite honestly, I might just avoid it because I don't want to know what all "specimen processing" involves.

I'm gonna stop there. I wrote more but it just starts to get pessimistic. You know what though? I don't think anyone really reads this blog for travel updates. I'll still do them, but I think I'm just going to start using this for more general writing. Whatever I feel like. What do you think?