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.