All the Same

Ever just think about people? It’s funny to observe people and how they act. People watching. I always find it kind of amusing how people choose their seats in public places. No one ever sits next to each other unless they know them or unless there are absolutely no more seats left. I was at the airport last week and as I looked around, people were sitting in every other seat and I too when looking for a seat tried to find one where I could sit one spot away from a person on each side. Then I also think about how people aren’t just completely friendly to everyone or just that everybody doesn’t just talk to everybody. I mean, we are all the same, just people. Like if you think about it, sure people are different races, different classes, different jobs, different personalties, but when it comes down to it, we are all the same, we are people. So sometimes I think its weird that we all just try to mind our own business. It’s also interesting that when people do talk to us, we often get weirded out or feel uncomfortable. It almost seems like if everyone should just be able to talk to each other without caring what other people think of them or without intruding in anyones business. I mean, shouldn’t that be natural?

Enduring the Heat

San Diego is on fire. The whole situation is a little surreal considering that I do live in an area that is near the fires. The air is very smoky and ashy. Its hard to breathe outside and it is irritating on the eyes too. I can’t believe how large the fires are and how quickly and vastly they have spread. On Sunday afternoon, I realized that it looked kind of red outside and as I went outside, I could smell the smoke. None of us thought the fires were nearby. We knew there was a fire somewhere, but we had no idea that we would be packing our things and leaving the house.

Sunday night I had still planned on going to work and going about my normal activities the next day. However, my roommate made me a little nervous as he contemplated packing his stuff and was saying that the fire would be in the area by like 2am. I slept fine that night and got a phone call at about 5am from my coworker asking how I was doing. At that point I still didn’t know the severity of it. I woke up and watched the news for about an hour. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t really fall asleep. All of my roommates were up around 6-7am all watching TV. The fires had come a lot closer and the area just north of us had been evacuated. Houses <1 mile from my office were burning down. One of my roommates left around 3pm and my roommate and I left later that evening. It was surreal thinking of what things I wanted to pack and bring with me. Also imagining everything being burned and gone forever was a little stressful. Since I had did have time to pack my things, I took a lot of my clothes, photos, keepsakes, my computer, my snowboard, and my guitar. To think as we left that this place could be gone was unreal.

I was able to stay at a friends house in La Jolla for the past two nights. The air over there is still bad even though it is further away. It’s been two days and it looks like we can return back to the house. The area by work is still under mandatory evacuation and our offices were open. How ridiculous is that?! I went there today to email myself a few files and it was so smoky and difficult to breathe and see. I can’t believe there were people actually working in the office. Its insane.

So many people lost their homes and so many people have been evacuated. I don’t think these fires are going to end very soon.

Please keep your thoughts and prayers with the people in San Diego as well as with the firefighters who are doing their best to protect people and homes.

Innocence

Today at church, the kids joined the adult service. The pastor had a message for the kids and at one point was asking the kids questions. He asked a question and called on a little girl. The little girl replies, “I didn’t raise my hand.” Awesome! Why didn’t I ever think of that as a kid. I always hated when the teacher called on you if you didn’t raise your hand. Obviously, if your hand isn’t raised, you don’t know the answer or don’t want to answer the question. What a great line, had the whole church chuckle a little. Ahh..the innocence of youth. :)