Football!!!

So as I mentioned in my last post Lauren got two tickets to the Raiders game against the Bears.  She really likes going to sporting events, though she had never been to a professional football game.  We got the tickets and planned to go to the game after attending the service at St. Paul's.  We left the church and made our way back to the 19th Street BART station.  The coliseum was not far away, only four stops away.  On our way into St. Paul's there were a only a handful of people wearing raiders gear on the train, but after the service he trains were fairly full and everyone was wearing raiders gear and colors.  After arriving at the stop I pulled out my Richard Seymour Patriots throwback jersey and put it on.  I decided to wear it to support Seymour who was drafted by the Pats and played seven great seasons in New England.  He was then traded to Oakland and he was playing that day.  However, the Pats had been to Oakland back at the beginning of October and soundly beat the Raiders.  So needless to say as soon as I put on the jersey I started to get attention and words that could not be uttered here thrown my way.  No one had the cojones to start anything with me, but they were not all too happy to see me.  And to rub a little more salt in their wounds I threw on my Red Sox hat for good measure.  What can I say, I love my Boston teams.

 

The crowd leaving the BART station, crossing over the highway to the stadium

We wound our way through the stadium to the upper level to find our seats.  I knew that they would be pretty good but I was really amazed at the view.  Of course being in the first row yo would expect to have a good seats, but there was one drawback.  Everyone in our section, and others, walked right in front of us to get to the stairwells.  Once the game kicked off the stadium had filled and the crowed was ridiculously loud.

 Our view

One thing that I can say about the fans of the Raiders is that they are extremely passionate about their team.  The Raiders have not been very good for some years now but still the stadium was full and loud.  The fans behind us were not only pretty drunk but very vocal and a bit obscene.  Now I am accustomed to this passion because it can be seen in Fenway, the Garden or Foxboro, but the crowd in the stands was very representative of the team's fan base.  The team definitely draws upon the middle and lower class of the city and while the tickets and experience may be expensive, the fans still come and represent their community and their team.  the game itself was rather boring.  There was little offense and it was a relatively close game throughout.  We left with about five minutes left in fourth quarter to beat the rush to the trains.  The Raiders won and Lauren and I headed back to Berkeley after a great day.  Now that I have seen my first regular season pro football game I can only hope to see the Patriots play in Foxboro.  One day.

St. Paul's - Oakland

Two days ago was a great day.  In one day I got to do two things I really liked, checking out a new church and go to my first regular season football game.  After many weeks of talking about it I finally made it into Oakland to begin my whirlwind tour of the Episcopal parishes in the city.  First stop, St. Paul's.  Since Lauren did not have to work this past Sunday we thought it would be cool to not only go to an Oakland parish but to also catch a game together.  Fortunately for us the Raiders were in town this week playing the Chicago Bears and we were able to grab some pretty sweet tickets, but I will get to that later.  But first things first.

Lauren and I decided that to take BART into the city since both St. Paul's and the Oakland Coliseum were easily accessible by train and that parking would be an expensive nightmare.  the ride was much shorter than I had thought and we were at the 19th Street stop in no time.  The station was less than a mile away from the church so we took our time walking through the quiet streets of Oakland.  It was cool to be walking down there because not only was this usually a busy area and was quiet at that hour, but I had not been down in that area yet.  In fact my only experience of Oakland to that point was driving to and from the airport.  As we turned the corner from one of the main streets I saw a random lake.  I didn't see any rivers leading to or from the lake but it just seemed odd to me that there would be this lake situated in the middle of the city.  It is Lake Merritt and I have no idea whether it was natural or man made but I do know that there was a real scary looking "storybook amusement park" on one side of the lake.  It apparently was built before Disney and it looked it.  The church was less than a block from the lake and we arrived in less than an hour from leaving Berkeley.  Not a bad commute at all.

Lake Merritt

St. Paul's in the distance

Front entrance of St. Paul's

When we walked into the church I was struck by both how beautiful it was, yet also rather rundown and old.  The stained glass was beautiful but it looked as if a lot of the windows were not complete.  While there were high walls and beautiful architecture structure inside, the walls were made of the red brick and conflicted with the feel of the rest of the building.  The floors were some red marble like stone but it was cracked and uneven in many different places.  The building was unique and definitely had character.  As we first walked in the baptismal font was directly on our right with a painting behind it.

 Looking into the church, just inside the entrance

The baptismal font

What was most impressive was the sanctuary up front.  There was a beautiful rail of while marble and off to the left a raised pulpit made of wood.  To the right, just behind the rail was an ornate lectern made in the shape of an eagle.  The alter was set a few feet behind the rail and was also made of beautiful white marble.  On the altar were huge silver candlesticks, also ornately made.  Finally behind the altar were the bishop's chair and the rest of the seating for the clergy and other participants in the service.  The choir was off to the right and left and they were not really large in size, maybe 10 or so people, but well rehearsed and they performed well.  We were lucky because since it was First Advent the parish was doing an Advent Lessons and Carols with Holy Eucharist.  At first I thought this service was going to be long but they pulled it off in an hour and a half, of course there was no sermon.  Interwoven with the traditional scriptures for a lessons and carols service for this season were a mixture of hymns and choral anthems sung by the choir.  As I found in most of my previous experiences I once again was familiar with the choral anthems.  The service then followed the traditional Rite II form and like I said before we were done by 11:30.

I really like the make up of the congregation.  There were people both young and old.  The congregation is multicultural and there is certainly a variety of income.  The music program was great and the church not only operates a school in a separate building off to the left of the church but they own and operate an elderly housing building across the street from the church that was easily thirty floors high.  They have many different outreach programs and offer many different services each day.  It seems like a vibrant community seeking to live out their baptismal covenant in their section of Oakland and the wider Bay Area.  I briefly talked with the rector, Father Mauricio, a middle aged African American who is large is stature and in personality.  This place satisfies almost all of my own personal field ed parish criteria.  It is a large parish in an urban setting, with strong outreach and music programs, a multicultural and multi-generational congregation, and finally a young rector.  I will come here again to hear him preach and I think that this would be a great place to do my field ed.  We shall see.

And then came football!

Thanksgiving

Just like a majority of the country I spent yesterday with friends, feasting and giving thanks for the many blessings that have come my way in this past year.  I was fortunate in that I was not resigned to spending this holiday by myself in my dorm room.  Instead I was invited by Lauren to her parents house.  It was a large gathering and there at least eight people from CDSP, including Lauren and myself.  We arrived the night before and spent a few hours relaxing and even spent an hour in the hot tub.  I haven't been in a hot tub in years but it was quite relaxing and reminded me of my days in banyas in Petersburg and Moscow.  Lauren and I hung out with her mother while everyone slowly drifted off to their room for some rest before the big day.

Lauren woke up with Jonathan, an MA student from CDSP and the cook for the day, and they began the preliminary preparations.  I did not get up until about 9:30 when breakfast was ready.  We had a great egg, potato, bacon, onion and cheese frittata with turkey shaped biscuits.  I then proceeded to hang out with Lauren's dad and watch football.  The kitchen was busy with many different people doing many different jobs, all orchestrated into a seamless and continuous effort by Jonathan.  everything that was prepared was made from scratch, with one exception, Lauren's cranberry sauce had to come from a can even though we had a homemade cranberry sauce as well.  As the afternoon progressed more of Lauren's family arrived.  Her sister and brother-in-law and their children arrived.  Other family members slowly trickled in, including an "aunt" who traveled all the way from San Diego, an eight hour drive.

By 4:00PM the food was prepared and everyone was assembled around three different tables and ready to eat.  Lauren's five year-old niece Ava, sang a blessing at each table and we proceeded to enjoy the many diverse dishes that had been prepared for our enjoyment.  Everything was great and very delicious.  While there are certain things that I will always crave from my mother's kitchen, like her pecan pie and stuffing and her entire Christmas dinner, the food was excellent.  After about an hour and several plates later everyone was filled to the brim and we were ready to get up, stretch, and get ready for dessert.  We had an array of pies, most homemade and a few store bought and my favorite was the coconut creme pie.  It was still a little cold from thawing out, since it had been made the day before, but it was still good.

All in all it was a great day, especially being over three thousand miles away from my family and friends.  Over this last year I am thankful for a lot.  Here is a brief list:

Everyone Lesley for helping me graduate
Everyone at GS for supporting/helping me with my education goals and for understanding my call that took me away from a great company and great people
Everyone in DioMass for seeing the call in me that I have recognized in me since I was 14
Everyone at St. John's for being a family and their unfailing love and support that they showed me through some amazing times and some very rough times
For my friends Mike and Dave for being friends for over 20 years each, you truly are my brothers
For Jaime, KO and Donnie and Robin for being warm and welcoming and always generous with their time and resources
For Will and Alec, who though you all may be pain in my butts sometimes , you are my brothers and there is nothing I would not do for you all
For mom, you are the rock upon which I have built my life and nothing I can ever say or do will ever truly express what you mean to me
For dad, Uncle Richard, and Grandpa for teaching me everything I needed to know to be me...we will see each other again, that much I am certain about

Here's to another year of great family and great friends.

Awake my soul

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life"

I was listening to this song this afternoon as I was walking through the Cal campus.  There has been a lot happening on the campus recently.  So much so that there have been a regular parade of helicopters that have been hovering over the area for two days straight.  The Occupy movement has hit Cal, and hit it with a vengeance.  For the past several weeks we have been witness to some serious protests and police interactions that have resulted in violence.  Given all the activity occurring across the street I decided to walk down there and see for myself exactly what was going on.

At first glance it may be hard to understand why students would be supporting the Occupy movement that has spread across the world, but they do have a purpose.  The students are making their voices heard in the hope that they can influence politicians and school officials to revise their approach to program cuts and financial aid support.  As the state of California struggles to make ends meet the burden is being passed to the students who, year after year, have had their tuition rates increased and their aid reduced.  The end result is that students are taking on more debt and are forced to shoulder that debt in a weak economy.  I can see why they are frustrated.

 One of the buildings on campus with tents setup outside, the center of Occupy Cal

 Another view of the square, notice the police presence

One of many makeshift pieces of art

The bookstore opposite the admin building

Group of people

Another shot of the tents

As I was walking through the campus I heard the song above by Mumford & Sons, and in particular that line that I quoted at the top struck me.  I was struck by the idea that we all have a set amount of time here and we are inevitable defined by how we spend that time.  For the people that run our financial institutions and continue to benefit off of the backs of the "little people" it is fair that they be judged for how they conduct business in this present economic climate.  I know that it can be a bit unfair to lump everyone together under one category but it seems as if we keep hearing promises and see no results.  I also know that we are in this situation because it is an inevitable result of our capitalistic economy, which invariably separates the rich from the poor.  But how much longer will this go on?  How much longer will the people that can make a difference continue to to ignore the voices of those struggling to live and eat?  When will people invest their time into finding a solution to our problems?  Where you invest your time, you invest you life.  Where do you invest your time?

De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord

The alarm pierced my sleep, as it always did every morning.  I rolled over to slap the snooze button and the clock read 6:00AM.  I knew that I only had a few more precious minutes of sleep left, so I hit snooze and rolled back over.  Again the alarm shook me back to reality and whatever dream I was having whisked away and it was soon forgotten.  I sat up in my bed and while a part of me wanted to get back to sleep, another part of me was glad to be up.  I had just been transferred back to the Watertown warehouse and I was looking forward to really getting back into the swing of things.  I pulled on my pants that had been lying on the floor from the night before.  I pulled out one of work t-shirts and threw on some socks.  I grabbed my shoes and lumbered down the stairs, still in a daze.  It was 6:30AM and I knew I had at least twenty minutes before I had to leave.  I laid on the couch and turned on the TV to ESPN so I could catch a bit of Sportscenter.  I didn't see a thing but I heard as the anchors went through a myriad of stories and highlights.  Before I knew it it was almost 7:00AM and time for me to leave.  I locked the door behind me and stepped out into the new day.  It was cloudy and it looked as though it might rain.  As I descended my stairs to the street that morning was just like every other day, nothing special, just another day.

I got to work and quickly immersed myself in my work.  It was easy to get lost in work especially as the manager.  You would think given the demands of the customer and the promises of the call center that we ere dealing in vital organs.  But we weren't, we sold auto parts.  Don't get me wrong I truly enjoyed what I did as a job but sometimes I often wondered about the nature of the business.  Like I said before, it was easy to become so involved with the day's events that I easily forgot about everything else that lay beyond the concrete walls of the warehouse.  There was a lot to forget about and push outside of my mind.  Was I ever going to get my butt back in school and finish my degree?  Was my job as manager lead somewhere better within the company?  Was this to be my career?  Was my hope of becoming a priest just a pipe dream?  Was he going to get better?

He had been in the hospital for several weeks as the doctors were trying to clear up some minor issues before going through with a major surgical procedure.  I was so happy that this was finally a reality, that he might just be able to get things under control and become healthier.  There was a lot of hope for the future.  However the operation kept getting postponed for one reason after another and I just prayed that it would happen soon so that we could move on to a new chapter of our lives together.  He had celebrated his birthday in a hospital bed five days earlier.  It was nothing major, just a few cards along with my mother, my brother and myself.  We were all just so hopeful about what was to come.

Thursdays were my early day, a day in which I was able to leave around 2:30 and have the rest of the day off.  I was looking forward to that early day as a chance to go home and relax.  Then around 1:45 or so my cell phone rang, it was mom.  At first I couldn't tell anything in her voice, but she told me to come to the hospital after I get off work because he had been transferred there.  I hung up with her and something washed over me.  I knew something wasn't right.  I kept looking at the clock and anxiously waited for 2:30 to get there so I could leave and see what was up.  I became more and more unnerved.  Finally I couldn't take it anymore and I bolted to my car and sped off.  I don't remember stopping for red lights or stop signs, and I have no idea how much time had passed but I pulled up to the emergency room parking lot and left my car illegally parked.  The sky had become dark as I drove and when I got out of my car raindrops were falling.

I ran into the emergency room and I was directed down a hallway.  I was moving quickly, unsure of what awaited me.  I saw my mother and she was in tears...and then I knew.  I just stopped.  My world just came crashing down around me.  My heart cringed with pain.  My stomach turned.  My eyes teared up.  He was gone, like that...he was gone.  Our parish priest arrived and for what seemed like hours, though it was only a few minutes, we sat there trying to understand what had happened.  We were then escorted in to see him.  It was like a dream.  I kept thinking, Rob wake up, this isn't real.  But I could not wake up.  It was my reality.  My mom slid his wedding ring off of his finger, it was the first time it had ever left his hand.  We said a few brief prayers and we left.  I walked outside into the pouring rain, got in my car, and drove off.

I drove back to the Watertown and walked straight to Jeff's office.  I shut the door and sat down.  I filled him in with the details of what happened that day.  He offered his condolences and support.  I never forgot that nor the support that I received from everyone with the company and for that I am forever grateful.  I was only in there for about five minutes and then I got up and left.  I know that everyone in the call center watched me enter and leave Jeff's office and were curious as to what was going on, but I walked right by them and made my way to the parking lot.  After a few minutes of standing there in the rain I got in my car and left.  What had started off as just another day turned out to be a day that I would never forget, a day that changed my life forever.

I learned a valuable lesson that day.  Don't wait to tell someone that you love them, or that you are sorry for something, or how important that person is to you.  We always believe that we will have tomorrow and that we can do it at a later date, but tomorrow is never guaranteed.  I learned the hard way.  What we do have is this time, the time that God has given us right now.  Don't put off something that should be done today, because you just might miss that opportunity.  And just like that...it's gone.

Your light was extinguished too early, but I know, as surely as I believe in God, that we will meet again.

SRS

11/10/52 - 11/15/2007

Into paradise may the angels lead you.  At your coming may the martyrs receive you, and bring you into the holy city Jerusalem.