Immersion Worship

I have a pile of books on my desk that is my current ‘To Read’ pile. I just got done reading ‘Gerrard’ by Steven Gerrard (which, funnily enough, is the autobiography of Liverpool legend and footballing demi-god Steven Gerrard), and I’m currently half way through my second read of Kary Oberbrunner’s ‘The Journey Towards Relevance’. Following that, in the following order, waiting to be read, are:

1. ‘Slash’ by Slash
2. ‘Velvet Elvis’ by Rob Bell
3. ‘Recoil’ by Andy McNab
4. ‘Well Connected’ by Phill Butler
5. ‘Crossfire’ by Andy McNab

What are you reading right now?

I know there’s not been much posting of any substance on here since I got back from England really. There’s been a lot going on bringing turmoil to my usually peaceful world.

1. I’ve had a bit of a hard time dealing with the aftermath of seeing my mum.
2. One or two major events at work are just getting under my skin a little too much.
3. Rhonda was involved in a car crash. Nobody was hurt, thankfully, and they were also all nice people so nobody is suing anyone, but our Vue got pretty smashed up and we have a large enough deductible for it to hurt.
4. Being back in England for such a short amount of time wasn’t long enough; I’m homesick.

Some good things have happened though. The good folks over at BBE have come through in stunning fashion again with a couple of new toys for me, which I shall be properly reviewing and posting about. I also got a steal on a new Pedal Pad AXS pedalboard, so I’m reworking some of my rig. Details on that will follow sometime soon as well.

That’s it for now. I’m going quiet again.

Galaxy vs. Chivas is the US equivalent of Man Utd. vs. Man City, or Arsenal vs. Chelsea, or Liverpool vs. Everton. Chivas Los Angeles’ second team, and they also call the Home Depot Center their home (although, as the Riot Squad will dutifully point out, there’s only one team in LA, and this is OUR house).

Last night’s game was just spectacular. Great atmosphere, great crowd (first sell out of the season, the place was packed), and a great game. I don’t need to go in to specifics, other than to say that the Galaxy owned Chivas. Final score, 5-2. Who said MLS football was boring? A hattrick for Donovan, and a brace for Gordon.

Next Saturday it’s Salt Lake away, next home game is in two weeks against New York. The march up the table has begun. Bring it on…

Contrary to the trash talking going on at the blogs of the various other people involved in this battle, this OC-er doesn’t need to talk smack. Actions speak louder than words. I’m bringing it. The 951 are going down at the hands of The OC. Who’s coming with me?

As my wife so eloquently put it, why say “The 951″ when “The Hill People” will suffice?

When Christian and I first started the Reveal Podcast a year and a half ago, we thought it would just be a bit of a laugh. Honestly, we thought that if we maybe hit 50 downloads, we’d done what we came to do; have some fun, chew some fat, waste some time, and perhaps cause a few people to think a little bit along the way.

So a massive, massive, massive thank you to you if you are amongst those that have caused it all to turn in to a bit of a hot mess. Reveal has hit twenty thousand downloads. That’s 2 with four 0’s after it. 20,000. 19,950 more than we could ever have possibly imagined. And if the recent few weeks’ worth of activity is anything to go by, it shows no signs of stopping. Thanks for the emails, thanks for the songs you’ve sent in, thanks for the Monkey News updates you’ve supplied, and most of all, thanks for listening to two guys in the trenches and on the frontlines of the local church, just trying to figure out how to do this thing we call worship, and doing it shamelessly and with everybody listening. Reveal is a listener’s podcast; we owe this to you.

THANK YOU x 20,000!

I missed the second home game of the season against Toronto FC, as I was England. I sold the tickets to a friend at work and he said it was great, even though the Galaxy lost 3-2. Galaxy had a lot to prove going in to this game again Houston; they have one of the most expensive and potent attacking partnerships in the MLS with Beckham and Donovan, yet they’re leaking goals at the back like a tea bag.

Last night’s first half was the same story; a half completely dominated by Houston, who opened the scoring, deservedly, mid way through. Galaxy’s defense was absolutely shocking. Shocking shocking shocking.

But the Ruud Gullit made some inspired half-time substitutions; Abel Xavier and Joey Franchino on, Josh Tedula and Alan Gordon off. And the game changed. Galaxy were a different team; passing well, moving well, playing intelligently. Galaxy equalized with a fine goal from Donovan, set up by Beckham. Unfortunately the defense was still leaky; it was soon 2-1 in favour of Houston, until a fine move in the 84th minute between Beckham and Donovan again, making it 2-2.

Now here’s where the Riot Squad’s chants were bang on the money…”I’m blind, I’m deaf, I wanna be a ref!”, The referee made a terrible decision, ruling a perfectly good Galaxy goal had not crossed the line. Utter BS.

Next weekend is home to Chivas. Local derby match. Really looking forward to that one.

Hello peeps, tweets, and creeps. No, scratch the last one. I just put it there because it rhymes. I’ve duly recovered from a nasty but thankfully short lived bout of ManFlu, and with my neurons once again firing on all most cylinders, it’s time for an update.

Those of you who followed the rock and roll blogathon already know this, but I arrived in England in one piece, albeit pretty knackered. I didn’t sleep much on the plane on the way there on account of the lack of legroom and noticeable turbulence. But that’s okay. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.

In retrospect it appears to me as if my little transatlantic sojourn was less of a vacation and more of a series of appointments that made the time fly all too quickly. Friday, of course, meant dinner at The Raj, and it was fantastic. Excellent food, excellent beer, and my dad as excellent company. The Raj even gave us a complimentary after-dinner drinks; brandy for my old man and Glenmorangie for me. Very relaxing evening.

Saturday and Sunday all kind of ran in to each other, really. On Saturday morning I went and saw my sister and brother-in-law and their two kids. Ridiculous as it is, I’d not seen them in almost seven years. Absolutely marvelous to see them again. It’s quite scary how fast kids grow up. My niece, Emily, was born on the day that I took my last GCSE exam. Now she’s not that far off taking GCSE’s herself. How time does fly.

And speaking of time flying, Saturday night was all about time flown. I met up with seven old college friends for dinner and drinks. We ate, we drank, we laughed, we joked, we witnessed a fight break out in the pub, and we all parted ways at some unearthly hour of the morning. An excellent, excellent night on all accounts. It’s really great to be back in touch with friends that I’d not see in a decade or more. Furthermore, I think it’s a true mark of friendship when it feels like we’d never been out of touch. I had a really good time with really good people. I hope to see them again soon. Especially since one of my best friends, Kieran, is marrying his good lady next year and asked me to be his best man. The honour is all mine. Can’t wait.

Of course, the late night (or rather, early morning) meant I was all messed up on Sunday. Not only had I not adjusted to the timezone, but then I went and made it worse by staying up pretty much all night and getting minimal sleep. And there was no time for it, because I had also said to my sister that on Sunday I wanted to go and see my mum. My mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease about eight years ago, and I hadn’t seen her for seven years. Of course, she was merely a shell of her former self. She can’t communicate these days, and doesn’t really respond to much, but she responded to my voice with a flicker of a smile. She knew I was there. That was awesome. Really awesome.

And then before I knew it Monday rolled around and it was time to head back to Heathrow and hop the ocean again. There was an amusing moment in the airport an hour or so before my flight. I decided to have a bite to eat before flying, so found myself at a seafood and sushi bar. I sat down, ordered a glass of Chardonnay, and had just been served my smoked salmon and oysters when on the other side of the bar, directly opposite me, sat Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Hook, Super Mario Bros etc.). He was on his mobile phone most of the time, and all I could think of was the series of commercials he did for British Telecom back in the 90’s (see below). I wanted to go up to him and just say, “It’s good to talk”.

Anyway, the flight home was, how shall I say, interesting. I dozed for a while, but got awoken just as we were passing the tip of Greenland by turbulence like I’ve never known. I’ve been through some storms in aircraft. It seen parts of aircraft bend that you would swear shouldn’t bend. But I have never, in my entire life, been through turbulence like this. There was stuff flying all over the place. Cups of water that weren’t in hand were suddenly splattered on the ceiling. Overhead bins were falling open. Someone’s oxygen mask fell down. Kids were screaming. Everyone’s knuckles were white, including mine. I wasn’t scared of the aircraft breaking (I’m an engineer, I know they can take these kinds of beatings and so much more), but I was scared of puking on my neighbours, especially as they were on their honeymoon. Anyway, it all settled down after about 20 minutes or so. I tried to get back to sleep but failed, so I watched ‘There Will Be Blood’.

If you haven’t seen this movie, you need to. It’s weird and odd and eclectic, but it’s very very very good. And I finally know the context of the line that’s been quoted in the media here…”I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!”. Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Well I think that’s about it for now. I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Mr. Bob Hoskins…

Just received in my mailbox:

Hi, englishguy.

longer_sex (longer_sex) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out longer_sex’s profile here:

http://twitter.com/longer_sex

You may follow longer_sex as well by clicking on the “follow” button.

Best,
Twitter

That’s perhaps some of the funniest reading spam I ever read.

I’m back from my all-too-brief trip to England.

And in the fine tradition of me getting sick when I fly long haul, I caught ManFlu on the plane home.

More when I’ve taken control of my head again.