East Coast Livin'

I finished up my summer internship on August 3rd and flew home the next day for my cousin's wedding in Lancaster, PA. What's there to do in Lancaster, you ask? Not much, except taunt the Amish and stealthily take pictures of them.

It was also really nice to see the whole extended family. My mom has six siblings so there are a lot of cousins and good times to be had. It's also death by pictures when all my aunts are around, but I survived. Here's one of my immediate fam.

My beautiful Mom and I.

Alright, enough sappiness. On Sunday I went home with my cousin Jordan and her husband Josh so I could volunteer at their ministries. Josh runs the Camp at Old Mill and Jordan runs an inner city ministry at the Bridge Academy (BACC) in Coatesville. On Monday, we got the camp ready for a group of kids from Brooklyn by doing a lot of odds and ends: fixing the zip line, getting the crayfish buckets ready, fixing the fishing poles, cleaning, and goofing off. On Tuesday, I went to the BACC and hung out with kids the whole day. It was raining for most of the day so we spent a good chunk of time playing trash can basketball in the sanctuary. You should have seen some of these little kids play. Unbelievable talent. At one point after lunch one of the middle schoolers turned to me and said I looked like Dirk Nowitzki. I told them I was Dirk's cousin and played along for the rest of the afternoon. Some of the kids were skeptical, but they all wanted to be hooked up with apparel. While they weren't paying attention I entered a fake number in my phone and titled it "Dirk N." At the end of the day I was hanging out with Javon, Naseer, Quinton, and Tiggy and I showed them Dirk N'snumber... you should have seen their faces. I couldn't leave them with a lie, so I told them I was joking as I left. They were disappointed, but still asked me when I was coming back. I don't know when I'll get a chance to go back, but I definitely wish I had more time to spend with them; such a blessing to spend time with underprivileged youth. Puts a perspective on life.

I came home late Tuesday night and got to spend a few days at home in VA. On Thursday I drove down to my grandparents house in Culpeper to have dinner. While waiting for dinner I went out to pick the last of the fresh blackberries. Blackberry cobbler may be the best dessert there is. The last few blackberries weren't enough to be cobbled, but still made for great dessert.

Don't worry, though... lots of cobbler to be made later this year.

When it's warm outside my Grandpa spends the evening outside on the deck with his dog watching the sun set over the field of grazing deer. He doesn't talk much while he's out there. He just lets peace settle around him. Sitting out there with him was probably the best 45 minutes of my entire trip.

Friday evening I went to the Georgetown waterfront to go canoeing. I've lived outside DC my entire life and never knew the Key Bridge had this hiding underneath it. I'll definitely be back.

My friend Roxie did the rowing. I tried and we just went in circles.

I'm on a (handmade) boat. Roxie built this canoe earlier this summer and it's AWESOME. I was only able to take a few decent pictures before it got too dark. Check out her blog to see what the boat looks like, adventures, and more pics of the waterfront.

(Washington Monument and Kennedy Center underneath the moon).

I'm not one to carry a camera around, so these are about all the pictures I took. It was good to catch up with friends, family... and somehow end up at a random Indian dude's suburban house party.

Back to LA tomorrow.

No Oaxacan Left Behind

I went back to the labor exchange on Tuesday to have lunch. My Amiga was there, but another man thought I was going to be teaching her English so he wanted his son, Fernando, to join. Before I knew it, Maria had joined. And then Francisco. And Adela. And Miguel. And Carmen. I felt a little bad because I only brought two lunches, but they didn't seem to mind. My little expedition to the labor exchange has now turned into an English class.

At first, I had no idea what to do. Fernando wanted to know the names of tools for his construction work, so we did an impromptu vocab lesson. After that I went around the table and asked everyone in English where they were from, what kind of work they do, what they like to do, etc. If they didn't know a word I wrote it down for them. Fernando, Francisco and a few others are from Oaxaca, Mexico. Maria is from Durango, Mexico. I learned quite a bit about Mexico through our conversation.

Francisco, Fernando's father, was the most fluent. All he wants is for Fernando to be just as good as he is and to be successful. When I left about an hour and a half later Adela said, "Bye, see you tomorrow." They obviously want to learn and just need someone to take the time to help them. I felt bad that I wouldn't be able to go down to the labor exchange on Wednesday, but I promised to come back next Tuesday with a plan. Hopefully, I can help.

Harmonica update: It's hard to get clear notes out. The song I'm working on now is Amazing Grace. You can tell what song I'm playing, but it definitely needs to be refined.

Una Nueva Amiga

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

In college I interned in the Immigration Services Department of the International Rescue Committee assisting refugees with various immigration applications and helping them settle into their new lives in Charlottesville, Va. My favorite family was from Burma. They had a young child named Sa Pwa Nan who would terrorize our office by carrying around the welcome bell and ringing it incessantly. For some reason, though, when she saw me she would calm down. I don't really know why; I couldn't communicate with her because she didn't know English. She was probably just scared of the BFG. It was even harder to get her to smile, but when she did she lit up the room....

If you remember, a couple weeks ago I wrote that in the fall I wanted to start having lunch down at the Malibu Labor Exchange once a week in order to get to know the day laborers and practice my Spanish. Well, last Saturday when I dropped sandwiches off at the MCLE I decided I couldn't wait until the fall; I told Oscar, the manager, that I would come on Tuesday. So today I made two lunches and drove over to the MCLE at noon.

When I got there, Oscar paired me up with a lady from Peru and we went outside to a picnic table to eat. Just to be safe, I'm not going to use her name. Until recently, she had been working as a nanny for nearly 10 years. She came to the MCLE to look for new work; I'm pretty sure she didn't come to the MCLE expecting to share lunch with a guy like me, but I think she enjoyed it. She was very patient as my Spanish started coming back to me. We talked about her family and previous life in Peru and why she came to the U.S. It turns out that she taught Spanish grammar when she was still in Peru, so she was the perfect person for me to have lunch with today. At one point she asked me what I'm studying at school and I told her that I'm studying Immigration law. She got nervous and looked away for a moment. I couldn't understand everything she said about her immigration status, but from what I could gather her legal status is questionable. She said she would have to go back to Peru in a few months if she isn't able to find any work.

Despite the fact that she seemed a little worried at first about my involvement with immigration, that fear was quickly diffused. I told her about my work downtown at an immigration defense firm to assure her that I wasn't out to get her. We got to laughing when I told her that in 10th grade I accidentally told my Spanish 2 teacher that her dress was "fea" in front of the entire class. "Fea" means ugly. She got a kick out of that.

I opened with the story of Sa Pwa Nan because I love connecting with people and being a friendly face. If I helped my new amiga from Peru forget about her struggles for an hour then my time spent at the MCLE today was worthwhile. It was such a pleasure practicing my Spanish, helping her with her English, and getting to know her story. I'm excited about what these lunches will teach me and where they will take me.

While I was at lunch today the interim executive director happened to stop by the office trailer. She came over to the table to inquire about what we were doing. She really liked it and asked me if I would help her plan a fundraiser in the fall for the MCLE. We'll be trying to put together a showing of "A Better Life" at Pepperdine's undergrad campus with the director, Chris Weitz. I can't wait to help.

It's been a great summer so far learning about immigration law through working at the Law Offices of Carl Shusterman two days a week. I've received a lot of good feedback and I've been placed on really interesting assignments, including research, motions, and applications for citizenship and adjustment of status (green card). The other days I spend working for Judge Einhorn. I've met with Asylum Clinic clients and researched about domestic violence in Guatemala. Right now, the other research assistants and I are helping Judge Einhorn draft chapters for a book about the basics of immigration law for criminal attorneys whose clients get picked up by immigration officials through the Secure Communities Program. It's really interesting stuff. I'm extremely privileged to be working for Mr. Shusterman and Judge Einhorn; they are both well respected professionals in immigration circles. Mostly, though, I'm glad to be working in immigration law this summer because I get to interact with people who have amazing and sometimes quirky stories. It certainly doesn't feel like work.

HOORAY...

I know I said my next post would be about my work this summer. That will come soon, but in the meantime here's a short post about the USA v. Mexico Gold Cup final. We went to Barney's to watch it, and look who we found:

What an awesome dude. Doesn't have much to say, but a nice guy nonetheless.

The scarf I'm wearing is from Rijeka, Croatia. It was fun to put it to use; obviously not American apparel, but the red, white, and blue were good enough. At halftime I added an American flag around my neck and went downstairs to get a drink. When I was down there I ran into three Mexico fans who were equally decked out. We made a bet about who would win, and since the game was tied at the half it seemed like a pretty fair bet. Forty five minutes and 2 Mexico goals later, I went back over to their table. They couldn't believe that I showed my face. We shared a drink and they told me about their pick-up games. Hopefully, I'll be able to make it out to the pitch with them.

Switching Gears

Switching gears here. I'll get back to cooking expeditions in a bit. Something's been weighing on me so I thought I'd share.

I've heard the Jars of Clay song "Two Hands" before, but never paid much attention. This time, the song came on as I pulled into the parking lot at work today and I decided to sit and hear it out. One line simply says "I use one hand to pull You closer the other to push You away."

About two months ago I made a decision to live out my faith more purposefully, but over the last few weeks it's been a struggle. I finished Today Matters last week, and I'm halfway through C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, but I still feel like I've pushed and resisted disproportionately.

Listening to this song made me realize that I've cheapened my relationship with Jesus. I've taken Him in when convenient, when I felt like it, and, sadly, when no one else was looking. That's not how relationships work. In Matthew 16, Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?" That whole "losing your life to save it" seems foreign to me. It's tripped me up. I've been up to a lot of different things so far this summer that have brought fun and enjoyment and I've been distracted. It's time to start pulling closer to God daily. I'm ready.

Preview: I'm really excited to share my experiences so far working with Judge Einhorn and interning at the Law Offices of Carl Shusterman. Coming shortly.

Oh, this has gotta be the good life

Saturday got off to a really solid start. Patricia and I went to campus to make sack lunches for the Malibu Community Labor Exchange with Al and his family. I’d participated in making sandwiches several times, but before Saturday I'd never gone to the MCLE to drop them off. When we got down there, Al introduced me to the director, Oscar Mondragόn. I asked him a question about his background and he told me he would give me a “two minute” run-down of his life. A couple of minutes later, I found out that Oscar was a long-time friend of Cesar Chavez and a former Board Member of the United Farm Workers. Based on that information, I'm not sure that our ideologies are in agreement, but there is no denying that Oscar has admirably given his life to serving the less fortunate. When we were leaving Oscar told me to come back more often; when I’m back at school in the fall I plan on doing so. I want to bring a packed lunch with me at least once a week and talk with the day laborers and hear their stories. Many of them are Latinos so it will be good to practice my Spanish. On a more important level, the immigration status of many of the workers is questionable, so it will be good to get their perspective on issues facing immigrants in America. I’m really excited about this opportunity to serve, and, more importantly, learn and be challenged.

Fast forward to about 7:45PM. There were about ten people in our apartment hanging out and waiting to eat (side note: this was the first time we had a get together at our apartment). The zucchini and squash were almost done steaming. The Mac & Cheese had 10 minutes left in the oven when my mom finally called me back. Here's a gist of how the conversation went:

Mom: Sorry, I just saw your missed calls. Did you need something?

Me: Yah, I've been calling all afternoon

Mom: Was it about the dry mustard?

Me: Yah, I didn't use it because the recipe said it was optional

Mom: Oh no, Tim! I've never made it without dry mustard! (Strike 1)

Me: Too late now!

Mom: Did you make the sauce thick?

Me: Eh… kind of. Was I supposed to?

Mom: Yes! Oh gosh, Tim! (Strike 2)

Me: But I did remember to put the breadcrumbs on top

Mom: Did you dip them in butter first?

Me: No.... You didn't tell me to do that! (Strike 3)

After I hung up the phone I quickly melted some butter and spread it on top of the bread crumbs in a last ditch effort. Then, I gave everyone a warning that it might not be that great.

In the end, I guess I didn’t really make my Mom’s Mac & Cheese. But it turns out that Tim’s Mac & Cheese isn’t so bad after all. Everyone seemed to like it. Ann told me I should never have said that I forgot a few things because it tasted great; Brian licked the pan clean, if I needed any more confirmation.

After we finished with dinner, we went out to the patio to smoke some cigars before heading to the Promenade. Not a bad day.

Shoutouts:

- Sean: Thanks for helping me shred the cheese and spread the bread crumbs (even if we did forget the butter)!

- Meredith: Thanks for bringing the salad!

- Ann: Thanks for bringing cookies!

- Brian: Thanks for the cigars!

Memorial Day

What a great Memorial Day. This morning I finally got around to hiking Runyon Canyon. Ben, Nick, and Lily went with me. You've probably seen the views below in movies or on TV. I was hoping to get some good exercise out of it, but it's a really short hike. It's amazing that you can get these kinds of views after walking for only about 30 minutes.

"Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more that what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God."

- George Washington Carver

I made it home just in time to watch the UVa-Maryland National Lacrosse Championship (WAHOOWA!). Afterwards I hit the beach for about an hour and continued digging into C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity. When I got back from the beach Ben invited us over to his place for a cookout - so good to eat something off of a grill again, I may just have to buy one for myself....

EnchiLOTTAs

It always amazes me how much you can get done in a day when you get up early. It's never easy for me, but today felt good to get up and exercise: I could get used to getting my feet wet on a beach run at 8:15am.

I hustled back in order to make it to my 10am DMV appointment to register my car in California. One failed smog test and $350 (to fix the smog sensor) later, my car still isn't ready for registration. Apparently, I have to drive it 50 to 100 miles before it can be tested again. Dumb.

From there I came back to the apartment to clean up and then headed to the grocery store to get ingredients for Day 1 of learning how to cook: I started off with my Mom's Enchiladas recipe:

Ingredients:

- 1 large package boneless, skinless chicken breasts

- 1 16 oz. container sour cream

- 2 cans chopped green chilies

- Salt to taste

- 4 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese

- 2 cans enchilada sauce

- medium size flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Cook chicken in boiling water for about 30 minutes or until done.

2. When chicken is cooled, cut up in bite size or smaller pieces and put in large mixing bowl.

3. Mix with chicken the chilies, salt, 2 cups shredded cheese, and container of sour cream.

4. In bottom of casserole dish, pour one can of enchilada sauce.

5. Put about two spoonfuls of filling on each tortilla and wrap up and put in dish, seam side up

6. After filling dish with enchiladas, pour second can of sauce on top.

7. Cover top with shredded cheese.

8. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

I wasn't sure about the servings, so I called my Mom and she told me to buy 6-8 chicken breasts and that would feed about 7 people. My Mom's mom was a caterer and her recipes always leave tons of leftovers, so I should have known from experience that that was going to be WAY too much chicken. By the time I was done preparing the enchiladas, I had way more than necessary to feed a few friends who were coming over for dinner:

Brave guinea pigs: Gene, Keren, and Ann came over for the main course along with my roommate, Brian. Ben and Meredith stopped by while I was cooking, and Patty P took home some leftovers.

We had so much food left. I couldn't pawn any off on Keren because she doesn't eat anything that's more than 12 hours old, unless it's pizza. I saved a few enchiladas for myself and Brian for tomorrow, and then decided it would be a good idea to take the leftovers to the homeless. Patricia and I packaged them up and then headed out.

On most nights in Santa Monica nearly all of the benches are used as makeshift beds for the homeless. Tonight, however, Patricia and I couldn't find a soul. We started off with 8 boxes of food, and after walking about 20 blocks we had only handed out 2 or 3 boxes. After about 30 minutes we made our way to the 3rd Street Promenade. What did we find? A volunteer group serving soup... and all of the homeless (Okay, not all, but many) were in line! I guess I picked a bad night to try to be generous, but we were still able to give out most of the boxes after awhile. It was a good experience, and all of people I met on the street were very gracious and thankful. It's always good to see a smile on their faces. At a minimum I can chalk it up to exercise.

Chapter 4

I think I just read the best chapter of any book I've ever read. As I mentioned in my last post, I recently started reading Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow's Success by John Maxwell. I didn't have much time to devote to reading it during finals, but after I finished my last test I picked it up again. The first three chapters were really good, but Chapter 4 was phenomenal.

This evening was already shaping up pretty well even before Chapter 4. I took a much needed afternoon nap and then broke in the pots I bought yesterday by making some Spaghetti. You're right - not a challenging meal to make, but it felt so good not to use the microwave after weeks of Lean Cuisine sweet and sour chicken and frozen CPK. When the Bulls game was over around 8 I walked down to the Coffee Bean on 2nd and Santa Monica, posted up by the window, tuned my iPod to Jack Johnson's In Between Dreams, and cracked open my book.

Quick side note: The Good and Bad of a coffee shop window seat:

- GOOD: One of the nice things about a window seat at any coffee shop is the people watching you can do. When the Third Street Promenade is just one block away, people watching gets really interesting. There are definitely some funky people in this town.

- BAD: When you're reading a really good, motivational book and a cheesy smile wells up as you think about how some of the advice in this book is changing your life. Okay, maybe that's not so bad, but I'm sure people thought I looked super stupid.

Alright, back to the book. The title of Chapter 4 is 'Today's Priorities Give Me Focus.' One of the noticeable themes - probably the main theme - in this book is the concept of Time: success and personal satisfaction are functions of time spent wisely. I could try to tell you about the chapter, but I probably wouldn't do it justice. Instead, I'll list a few of the quotes that I found encouraging and helpful, and if I have a specific thought about one quote in particular you'll find it directly after the quote.

1) Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life."

- I don't know about you, but the times I feel most sluggish are not when I've been super busy. Rather, when I have a lot of free time I find that I waste it and become even more tired, which negatively affects my performance when I have to do something important later. I've also realized that I could be a much more interesting person if I were to devote my spare time to hobbies instead of sitting in front of my TV and watching 3 reruns of the exact same Sportscenter segment. You can check out the beginning of a list of hobbies here.

2) Lin Yutang: "Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists of the elimination of nonessentials."

3) Maxwell: "You can have anything you want, but you cannot have everything you want. You have to choose. Excellence comes from doing the right things right. You've got to let go of the rest."

- Good is the enemy of Great. I do a lot of things okay, but I can't say I'm great at any one thing. I hope that daily discipline will lead to greatness in just one thing. If I can do just one thing really well and glorify God with the talents He has given me I believe that will be more successful than doing a lot of things decently.

4) Maxwell: "Have you ever noticed that the people who have nothing to do usually want to spend their time with you?"

- Maxwell 1, Parrish 0. I've been someone with nothing to do for too long and I'm tired of it. I want to lead my life by planning fun events, learning about new things, and investing in relationships along the way. I'm tired of answering the question "What are you up to?" with "Nothing, I'm bored." Here's to being active and engaging life.

5) Maxwell: "People don't pay for average. People don't go looking for a mediocre restaurant and middling movie when they go out at night. Employers don't award the contract to the salesman known as Mr. Average. Nobody says, "Let's give the contract to the company that will do a merely adequate job."

- I've tried to skate by before by doing the bare minimum. That's not going to cut it this summer. I'm going to go into work each day with the mindset that this is Big Time. I may not be working for the most prestigious law firm out there, but you have to start somewhere and you never know where you'll find success. As Benjamin Disraeli said, "The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his time when it comes."

Those were just some of the quotes I found encouraging. The rest of the chapter gives much more perspective on the importance of prioritizing. I highly encourage you to pick up a copy.

Two posts in less than 24 hours. I don't know if I'll keep this pace up, but definitely looking forward to updating regularly. Now to pack for my trip home to Virginia!

"Cause if you don't know where you're going...

You might end up somewhere else." I'm pretty sure Toby Keith just won the award for the most obvious statement ever made.

I wish he were wrong. Life would be so much easier if every aimless path led to success and personal satisfaction. Not too long ago I had no idea where my life was headed. Sure, I've set goals for myself in the past, but they were mostly short-term goals such as achieving 'good' grades. How many goals had I set for myself that would require years of hard work and day-in/day-out focus, discipline, and perseverance? Count 'em: zero.

So that's where this blog comes in. Originally, I created a "Summer Bucket List," but I realized that the things I list below are not things I plan on quitting at the end of the summer. As John Maxwell writes in his book, Today Matters, "Real sustainable change doesn't happen in a moment. It's a process." The life changes I'm making won't be very significant if they can be accomplished by the time school starts again in August.

So, I've created two lists: one for Character and one for Hobbies. I expect them to change as God reveals new things to me, but for starters...

CHARACTER based on 2 Peter 1:5-8. Ok, I admit, I can't really take credit for this list, but I don't think God will mind if I steal it:

"[M]ake every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

This will require spending time in the Word and praying daily.

HOBBIES:

1) Exercise daily: I've dreamt of posterizing someone on the basketball court. Who knows if that will ever happen, but I need to take exercising more seriously.

2) Learn the harmonica: For the past three or four years I've wanted to learn, but I never even bought one. Today I bought a Hohner Special 20 and watched countless YouTube videos on how to get started.

3) Prepare a challenging meal at least twice a week: Cooking is enjoyable. Let's hope what I cook is edible. Let me know if you want to be the guinea pig.

4) Learn more about immigration law: I have a passion for immigration law. This summer I am working part-time for an immigration attorney in downtown Los Angeles and part-time for retired Judge Bruce Einhorn. Both should be great learning experiences.

5) Santa Monica Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings.

6) Inner-city volunteering.

7) ....

None of this will be possible if I don't take each day seriously and stay disciplined. In the past, I've always put things off until tomorrow. I'm beginning to learn that each day matters. In "The Lifebuilder's Creed," Dale Witherington writes:

Today is what God has entrusted me.

It is all that I have. I will do my best in it.

I will demonstrate the best of me in it -

My character, giftedness, and abilities -

To my family and friends, clients, and associates.

I will identify those things that are most important to do Today,

and those Things I will do until they are done.

And when this day is done

I will look back with satisfaction at that which I have accomplished.

I told a friend a few hours ago that I was going to sleep, but I'm excited to get started on this journey so I dug up my old blogspot to write these thoughts down. Check back for updates on my successes, failures (hopefully not too many of these), and other thoughts.