It was my Birthday (Part 1)

Sunday was my birthday. 21 years since I breathed my first breath. Or something like that. Plus, 21 is supposedly a milestone or some such thing.

I wanted to see if this day was important to anyone in the world except for me. I mean, I know that it is. People are born and die and do important things everyday. Surely the 25th of July has not been exempt from all activity in all years of history excepting the year 1989, right? So I did a bit of research.

Alright, I'll admit it, I just wikipedia'd July 25th.

On that day in the year 306, Constantine was proclaimed Emperor by his troops. As I recall, he went on to do some fairly significant things thereafter.

In 1788, Mozart completed the Symphony Number 40 in G Minor. You may have heard of it.

In 1868, Wyoming was made a United States territory. A couple people I've known have lived in Wyoming.

The Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union was established in 1925. I guess some people "like" the Soviet Union.

I share my birthday with others, of course. I have three friends, even, that I know were born on the 25th of July. But my name will probably never appear on the Wikipedia list of significant people born on that day. I'd have to cure a disease or conquer a country or do something worthy of this level of recognition in order for that to happen. That seems unlikely at this point.

I did discover, somehow for the first time, that I share this day of celebration with some "culturally signficiant" people I enjoy.

Namely, Matt Leblanc.

Also known as Joey Tribbiani.

This day does not belong to me alone. But somehow a part of it feels mine. It feels special - but maybe only because my friends and family make it so. Otherwise, it's just like every other day. People are born. People die. People do important things.

Somehow it still feels special. I guess I'll let it keep feeling that way. Or I'll just celebrate Wyoming Territory Day.

Longhorn Fail

Today we had "Street Break" from 1-2pm. This is basically a short drop-in, we have lunch and youth can shower, do laundry, get all the normal resources that are available to them, etc. One of my (secret) favorite youth, M (who has appeared on this blog before!) came in today wearing a University of Texas hat. All of our youth for the most part wear clothes that they are given or get for free through different drop-ins, and M is especially notorious for coming in with different items he has been given and not knowing exactly what they are.

Our youth could also probably not tell you on a map which state Oklahoma is, and if you mentioned the Sooners, they would stare at your blankly. We can discuss at another time how painful this has been for me.

But I knew that the "hat" needed to be addressed. Because M and I have an extraordinarily amiable relationship (I get a lot of "How you doin" from him), I knew that I had no choice but to break the news to him that his hat...literally was breaking my heart. Our conversation went something like this:

"M, I really need to talk to you."

"What's up?"

"M, I just feel like we're at a place in our friendship where I need to be honest with you, and I need you to know...that your hat...is from the University of Texas."

"...Right."

"Well, M, I don't know if you remember, but I go to the University of Oklahoma...and there is really...nothing...that we hate more than the University of Texas."

"Ohhh."

"And you know, I just wanted you to know, you're my friend, and I just want the best for you."

"Cool."

The hat was voluntarily off M's head ten minutes later. Score one for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Seattle Sounders

On Sunday I got an awesome opportunity to go to my first ever professional Soccer game! The Scotland Celtic FC was in town to play the Seattle Sounders. Soccer is a big deal in Seattle, so I joined about 45,000 other fans in the NFL stadium of the Seahawks (Qwest Field) for the match Sunday afternoon.

It all seemed very dignified in a way that football definitely is not!

Some Playing...

Penalty kick after the Goalie got red-carded! It was crazy weird. I don't know the rules well enough to understand exactly what was going on, but this seemed out of the ordinary.

Can't say I don't love being in stadiums though :)

An elder from my church in Tulsa, Mr O Hara, was in town on business and came to the game with me and bought me a Celtic scarf! I "like" soccer.

I've Done Some Exploring in Recent Days

Last weekend I went with my roommate Cilla and her family to Portland, Oregon for the day! Cilla and I had been planning a weekend trip, but due to some car issues weren't planning on being able to go for the whole weekend. Cilla's brother's band, which has been mentioned before on this blog (Hot Bodies in Motion) was playing a show down there, so Cilla and I drove down with her parents and her sister Lizzie to spend a little time in Portland and go to the show!

I "Like" Portland.

I think this is called "Pioneer Square." Some great shopping in this area and some street performers that were not great. Ha!

I was highly amused because the Oregon State acronym is "OSU" and their colors are orange and black. Apart from the fact that their mascot is the "Beavers" (lame) this same t-shirt design could have been used to promote Oklahoma State football! It's the little things, guys.

THE BAND. IN MOTION.

They're actually really good. They remind me a lot of the Fundamental Elements of St Louis that play at Second Wind every once in a while. I'm a sucker for good music.

I'll leave you with some live performance footage of HBIM. Let's extend their fanbase to Oklahoma! That would be fun.

Some Things That Are Awesome Lately

1. I made some cinnamon muffins that are delightfully the best.

2. I went to my first compline on Sunday, and will hopefully go to many more.

3. Some friends from Oklahoma are headed this way.

4. Laurel Dix is here and I saw her tonight.

5. I have watched this video four times today.

6. I played guitar on a football field tonight.

7. I had my first "star tripping" experience.

8. I had a legit fireworks-show-size firework set off twenty feet from me.

9. I finished season 2 of Lost with Cilla.

10. I talked to Sally and Josh on the phone.

11. I have eaten Thai, Indian, and Vietnamese food in the last 4 days, and loved all of it.

12. I thought seriously about buying some of these as expensive jokes or Dirty Santa gifts, then pretty immediately decided against it.

Climb Every Mountain

On Tuesday I went with Brynn and four youth on a hike in the mountains! The Issaquah Alps are about 30 minutes East of Seattle and so we went out there for a hike up Tiger Mountain. I really haven't done much hiking, mostly because I'm from a fairly flat state and people just don't do that much here, so this was a new experience for me! It was a beautiful, beautiful day for it though, and I was ready for the challenge.

The woods were beautiful, beautiful. I didn't consistently take pictures of the trail because it was just difficult to capture those surroundings adequately, but here are a few shots from the way up:

This was the view from the first viewpoint we reached - it was breathtaking!

Really, really gorgeous.

We made it to the top! Not an Everest, by any means, but it was a good hike for all of us beginners! The youth smoked at least 3-4 cigarettes each on the way up the mountain... and still beat Brynn and I. Impressive, to say the least.

Yours truly.

Brynnster!

So, this is C, and he is awesome. He was a super speedy hiker. And he wooed birds into his hands! So then the youth spent the next 45 minutes or so feeding our trail mix to birds, chipmunks, and squirrels. We all got a pretty big kick out of it.

This is T. He got on the birdfeeding bandwagon as well.

This is J. She's just great.

This is Brynny with flowers in her hair.

We had a great, great time! And I climbed my first mountain! An unsuccessfully attempted to twist my ankle three separate times on the way down the mountain. Fortunately, unsuccessful.

You all are beautiful. Miss you.

Love,

Katie

Fireworks at Gas Works Park

Here's the way the fireworks looked from our end of the lake:

Gas Works Park looking out over Lake Union, Downtown, and Space Needle. Classic Seattle.

This week! (I might finally be caught up!) or: "Am I really putting pictures of animals on my blog right now?"

this week has been full, in only the best way that it can be.

I've made a church decision, which I think will be really great,

and so far, it has been. In the mornings I'm going to go to

Greenlake PCA, which is where Ryan and Amy Hughs

(the RUF campus minister) attend, and a few others from RUF.

In the evenings, I'm going to go with my roommate to

Mars Hill. I think that more than anything I just find this church

fascinating,but besides just wanting to observe the phenomenon

that this church represents, I think it will be great to go

to church with Cilla.

After church this Sunday, Mark Ribera, Carter Butaud, Cilla

and I went to Greenlake Park (not coincidentally right across

the street from Greenlake PCA) and had lunch.

Mark Ribera, he does a lot of music for RUF and GPC.

I play the guitar and make faces at you.

On Monday, I went with Brynn and a few youth to the Woodland Park Zoo in Ballard. Now, as some or most of you might know, I'm not exactly an "animal person." I know that some people are, and I think those people are still great, wonderful people. I just happen to prefer that animals keep their distance from me, in 9 out of 10 cases. I had not yet realized, though, that while this does not make me a candidate for pet ownership, it does make me perfectly suited for zoo trips: where the animals stay behind their bars and I like it that way.

Here's my friend, Elephantus (a very respectable distance away and chomping on some tasty hay -- everybody wins):

This is a Komodo Dragon. At the moment I started taking pictures, he started moving towards us. Luckily: glass cage. So I was not alarmed, and snapped several photos for your enjoyment. This friend doesn't have a name because his eyes were too scary.

This is about the cutest f-ing bird I had ever seen. It's some kind of owl, and I love him. I think because he is small and raised in captivity, so he doesn't fly, and just perches on old lady zookeeper's finger. CUTE.

Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.

This dude was just chillin like a villain.

Eagle and the sweet awesome nest.

These are a couple of our youth that came to the zoo with us! This is C, and she is around pretty often these days, which is awesome. She has a kitten in that grey frontpack of hers. She didn't steal it from the zoo.

This is M and Brynn. He is awesome, also. His birthday is three days before mine, so we are super buddies.

On Tuesday, we had the first Summer RUF! It is really awesome to go to RUF. This summer we are studying spiritual disciplines, and going through The Celebration of Discipline, which many of you have read and gone through with OURUF Relish and maybe hated. I'm looking forward to seeing/hearing Ryan's perspective on it, it should be great. :)

After RUF we went to a nearby highschool football field and played Ultimate Frisbee. It was almost 10 by the time we got there, so we had glowing frisbees and glow-wristbands in pink and green to indicate teams. It was actually really awesome. Here's Mark and Jessie brandishing their glow things.

Jessie had organized an event on facebook for some people to go to see the midnight premier of the new "Twilight" movie. While I had not read the books or seen the earlier movies, I really enjoy midnight premiers, and since Twilight had come recommended by many and also hated on by some, I thought I would take the opportunity to see for myself how it was. Here I am, post-ticket purchasing, with friend Jillian showing up in the background. :)

On Wednesday after work, Cilla called to pick me and up and see if I wanted to drive down to Tacoma with her to her parents' house. Her sister Lizzie had just that day gotten back from a missions trip to Belize, so Mark and I joined the Johnsons for an awesome steak dinner and picture slideshow from Lizzie. After dinner, Cilla somehow talked Mark and I into jumping into the lake with her.

It was cold.

:)

On Thursday after work, I walked over to Cilla's brother's house and met her there. Her brother's band, "Hot Bodies in Motion" was playing for their neighborhood block party, so they got to set up right outside their house and play to the street full of neighbors. It was a really fun party to crash! Plus the band is really great.

This is Cilla's brother Scott! That guitar in his hand is handmade. By him. He's going to fix my guitar before I leave! Huzzah!

This is tambourine sweater man. That is all we know about him. And thus, we love him. Because even if that is all you know, how can you help but love him?

Love

Katie