Hakkuna Matata…

How many of you can remember this song? That’s Mr. Larry Norman. And why should the devil have all the good music? 

First time ever that Starbucks (evil empire) has gotten my name right on a cup of mine. Yea, pretty awesome. I told the guy that the training had paid off and I gave him a dollar tip. Any of you guys have stories about Starbucks getting things right after that little training session they had? I’ll even fill you in with the Trip-D’s for today.

 Favorite Song: I was totally bumping Santeria by Sublime in the car, twice. Great song to just drive to. 

Favorite Food: I got down on some gnarly sushi last night. It was great. A whole platter plus with a couple shrimp cakes. I’m hungry again now. 

Favorite Person: The barista, or baristo, what is it if it’s a guy? But yea, like I said, he spelt my name right. And we all know thats the only way to spell it. 

Favorite Blog: Obvious choice here. loveisthemovement.com. If you hadn’t noticed yet, or hadn’t been reading which I see some haven’t, I have been guest blogging over there while Mr. Joshua White is on vacation…. lucky guy. But yea, go over and check it out.

As for me, I’m out. Gotta a lot of music to listen to and sleep to catch up on. It’s the freakin weekend baby. Movie night Saturday, our place. Be there. Peace. 

Go over to loveisthemoevement.com and check it out. It took me ages to complete and try to find something to write about. Hopefully it makes sense and people will like it. It’s long, but very, meaty, if I can use that word to describe it. 

Come with me. Let’s be in the front row. And lets give what we got. I want to go to this really badly, I missed the one in SoCal, but I would be up for a trip. It’s in April. And it’s in Atlanta. Come on, you know you want to and I know you want to. Besides, I hear Atlanta is gorgeous this time a year. Peace. 

 So recently I received an opportunity to guest blog at a fellow blog-mates site, loveisthemovement.com,  and I have to say, I’m pretty pumped. Make sure you are checking it out often. I won’t be the primary “blogger”, but I will have a couple posts up. I’m sharing duties with a couple other people and even the “biggest loser”. Yea. should be good. So go over and check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks a lot. Now for the trip-D’s:

 Favorite Song: Today’s song is from good ol’ Rodney Atkins. I have been on a bit of a country binge lately and his song “Cleaning This Gun” is awesome. Makes me think of how I’m gonna be when I have a daughter. 

Favorite Person: Erica. Inspiring Aca and Patch, thank you. It was a good night. 

Favorite Food: Carne Asada burrito from Aca. Hands down. 

Favorite Blog: Go over and look at Carlos’ blog and his new series, Throwing Rocks at my BooDady. Its great. 

If your out on a Friday afternoon, and are looking for something awesome to see, go over here and check this out. Joshua Longbrake put together a series of photos. It’s pretty nifty. Yea, I said it. Go Now! Peace. 

So today started out great, went great, and ended pretty darn well. I woke up this morning to the sound of rain through my open bedroom window. It made me smile. I love sleeping with the window open when it rains. It’s neat. Got up, grabbed a banana on my way out the door and made it to class on time. Got all my stuff I needed to have done today and sat and chilled with Max. He’s the guitar guy I mentioned a couple blogs back. I played a little guitar, showed him some stuff and then he told me I should join the intermediate class because I supposedly knew how to do everything he already knew, and then some. Which then seemed to boggle his mind when I told him I had been teaching myself. Anyways, after that, had my last class, got out early and came home to work on some art. Which I’m still thinking of stuff. We have an exhibit Monday, so pray I get some stuff out on paper. Went to the gym, go a great workout in and met up with an acquaintance which was cool. Came home, showered and then moseyed on down to Starbucks and rocked out to some Andrew Orsenga and wrote some songs and created a sweet tune. But now I’m hungry, so I’m gonna go look. Got the Daily Dilly Dallies for ya as well, so enjoy! Peace!

 Favorite Song: I was jammin to some Earth Wind and Fire today, and I have to say, my song will and always will be “Got to Get You into My LIfe.” Go check it out. I love it. 

Favorite Person: Sarah. She knows who she is. And that she’s awesome. Makes my day brighter, despite the new storm system passing Chico. 

Favorite Food: New creation, fried egg sandwitch, yolk still runny, it’s the only way, toasted toast, and hot sauce to egg, fry turkey, and add a little garlic salt (also a must ) and place it all together with a glass of milk makes for a healthy late afternoon lunch.

!!NEW!! Favorite Blog: So I am pretty new to the whole blogging thing, only been about 5 or 6 months, but I have found it to be very interesting and am exploring whenever I can. Today’s blog is one I started out reading. The Shlog. It’s great and today, Mr. Groves placed ShlogTV and it is pretty sweet. Go Check it out. 

Now, as a Californian, I love this state. I love what it has to offer and what it has in store for me. One thing I have taken for granted is that we have a pretty decent law enforcement system in place, hopefully, to help deal with anything big that might come up. Well tonight, I was reading and came across this on Forbes.

It’s a map portraying which cities in the United States have the highest ranks for the seven cardinal sins. Pretty interesting. Well what I wanted to point out, is that I can understand some, but these make me laugh, and feel real safe. The only sins that Northern California comes in ranking in is in greed, pride, and wrath. Oh yea, go Bay Area. You guys rule…. I don’t know id your from California, but I just found this interesting. Go here to check out the other rankingsand what not. Peace. 

About me over there on the Me Myself and I link. Now, off to art class. Have a fantabulous day. Peace!

So I have been reading up on the bloggers as they came back from the trip and Shaun Grovesposted a blog about how he wants people to tell their story of how they adopted a child through Compassion International. So I thought I would give it a whirl. 

Around this time last year, a couple fellow bloggers (Emelia and Bryan) and I went to see Shaun Groves in Auburn, California at a church showing he was doing for Compassion. It was a great show, I mean its Shaun, always a good show, but it was great that he also gave a message as well. If you have never gotten a chance to listen to him speak, try and get a chance, its just awesome.

Anyways, at the end of the show and the message, and after listening to him and the stories he was telling of how much this organization changes lives, I was convinced.  The ushers were walking around handing out random packets of the kids and when he got to me he asked me, and with out hesitation, I took the packet from his hand and opened it to see little 6 year old, Jonathan Alexander Sibrian. I don’t know what it was, if it was just the Holy Spirit reaching in and slapping me around, but something was telling me that I needed to help this child. 

So I went to the back and signed the rest of the information and within 10 minutes, I became the sponsor for Jonathan. It was an incredible feeling. As I was standing by the counter of the sea of faces, Shaun came out into the lobby and began to mingle. I was able to chat with him and just get some encouragement that this program really does save lives; it really does create a sense of ease in this child and his family. And all I was giving up was 32 dollars a month. Something which wouldn’t be hard to come by. 

Months went by, letters were sent to me, and I just knew that I was doing something to help someone, and it made me feel like a better person. Not sound conceited. It just did. Well a couple months later, I received a letter from Jonathan and his family and the Compassion staff saying that Jonathan was no longer in the program. That he had been taken out by his mother. This came as a shock to me. At the time, finances were getting tight and 32 dollars, even though it doesn’t sound like a lot, was hard to come by for a college student supporting himself. Then Compassion called and told me the news which I had already received and they said it was my choice to choose to continue or not.When I got home one night after about a week of thinking about it, I went on Compassion’s website and was glancing over the different kids that were without a sponsor for x amount of time, the ones that had been without the longest. I came across a young boy, from the same country as little Jonathan, El Salvador. He is a year older than Jonathan and his name is Aldair Ricardo Diaz Echegoyen. And I thought, this is the kid. This is who I am going to try and support. 

And to this day, even after moving out on my own, having to pay for school, food, and shelter, this kid has remained in my life as something to humble myself with. I have his info on my bulletin board and every time I glance at it, it reminds me at how much we have every day. And how much my 32 dollars a month means to these kids. I’m looking into sponsoring another little girl from El Salvador as well, but I haven’t been able to due to the lack of job right at the moment.

So if your reading this, I mean, I know its long, but this is so worth it. What can you give up that is 32 dollars a month. I know the average American spends roughly 35 dollars a month of soda drinks. Could you cut back on some? Just think about it and know its for a good cause. These kids need our help. Save a life today.