The View Up Here

Remnants of the previous occupant's life are still present in this apartment, despite the makeover. The artifacts of his journey of self-development are still kicking around:  his Korean language books (now on my shelf, for which I am grateful) and a stack of emergency first response and CPR books still on the floor of my office.  In the entrance way cabinet, a drawerful of cords, tools, tape, even a soldering gun. Many power strips that he must have used for his gaming set-up. He also left a monitor here, which I'm using at this moment. In fact, that monitor has made it possible for me to replicate, more or less, my office set up from my last home. I just needed speakers and a desk fan to outfit my desk for writing and working (and watching videos). I bagged up several handfuls of redundant flatware and cooking utensils. I found some pillar candles, which I have put to good use.  I wonder sometimes how he is (I met him for one day to help me learn the ropes at the academ...

not an ad for Delta Today is my first full day in Ulsan, my new home. And by "new" I mean the 2nd time around. I lived here from 2002-2003 and visited twice more. Then in 2024, I made a pilgrimage to the sites of the Korean Catholic martyrs  which included a week in Ulsan. It was then that I realized I could easily call this place home. (You can read about my Korea Dreambus film screening here!) The process of getting ready to apply for a visa began months before I even had a job offer. The job search was also months long, and the position I accepted came out of the blue. I'd applied for several teaching positions at a variety of institutions and programs, and even interviewed for two university jobs. None of that worked. But the job I took was exactly where I want to be, and although it's teaching in a hagwan (private after-school academy), the conditions are exemplary and the couple that owns the academy are solid. So here's a bit of a rundown on the last 48 h...

I've been offline quite a bit this year. Another year of changes, as it has turned out. The big change is that I was invited to interview for an open Director of Faith Formation position at a parish two hours north of Elmira, in Macedon, NY, and I was offered the job. I accepted, but it meant a 3-week turn around on a move. Whew! That's not the fastest bug-out I've ever done - two weeks from interview to start date is my record (for the job at Cornell in 2005, NYS Move #2, incidentally). Because God is in the details, I have friends from college who live in Palmyra (next door to Macedon) in a giant 1800s farmhouse they've renovated over the last 20 years, and they invited me to stay with them while I looked for an apartment. I moved in on August 1st, started my job August 5th, and tomorrow, September 6th, I'll move into my new apartment just up Rte. 31. How wonderful! But really, moving, AGAIN. The older I get, the harder it is to move. God certainly keeps me o...

When God closes a door... or in this case, opens a door I wasn't expecting. I was invited to interview for and then got the position of Director of Faith Formation/Director of Religious Education/Catechetical Leader II (all synonymous and interchangeable in the Diocese) at a new parish about 30 minutes east of Rochester. So yes, I have moved (again...) and have started a position with more responsibility in a wholly different kind of parish. Today was Day 4 at the new gig, and it was as chaotic and wonderful as could be. For now, I'm staying with friends until I get a place that suits me (hopefully soon!), so most of my things are in storage. It is, as you can imagine, very disorienting. But, it's good change, and I've felt that it was the right thing to do from the beginning. So God opened this door and I was free to say no or to say yes. I said yes, but I do need more in the way of total surrender. Things at this parish are very different than they were in my las...

2018 ended with a grinding, gasping, crushing sound in my little world. I found out a couple weeks before Christmas that a registered sex offender had been living downstairs from me, and although his crime was 20 years ago and had nothing to do with children, he had somehow violated whatever parole he was on. I saw the Staties leading him to a police cruiser as I returned home from work one night. I made eye contact with him; he threw me this sad little smile. I'd known for some time that he was lost and drifting, very nervous and paranoid. Now I know why. I pray for him because he seemed gentle but lost, not evil by any stretch. But it was distressing, and since I'd just moved into the apartment in October and had experienced quite a difficult transition, even more jarring. A few days after that, I discovered some very disturbing news about someone who once meant a great deal to me. The reverberations of this are still rippling through me. My judgment of character, so...

The answer, of course, is yes. Everyone around me seems so relieved that summer is over and can't wait for fall to look like fall. Not me. I barely noticed the summer months because I was immersed in discernment, decision making, and moving. I tried to move to Massachusetts, but interviews and trips out there notwithstanding, it didn't happen. In fact, I wasted a whole lotta time worrying about that. As if... as if Jesus weren't right here, as if God doesn't have a plan for me, as if he's not guiding me. I am sometimes haunted by the past, which as we know, doesn't exist. What God has forgiven, what right have we to keep dredging up? Renounce it and stay with God in the sacrament of the now. Ultimately, I made my peace with staying where I am with the parish in Elmira, but I did end up moving apartments (not without some drama involving mice, a parking ticket, and random weirdness in my new neighborhood - but that's for another post!). In June I mad...

I have consciously decided not to blog for the last few weeks, because my life took a left turn that I didn't see coming, and I really wanted to see where I ended up before chronicling any sort of epic (or debacle, depending upon the outcome). Because God has blessed me, it's been epic, but anything but a debacle. Dig it: I am now the (full time) Office Manager at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Salt Lake City, Utah. Yes, Utah. Land of "Mormanity" as my friend PJ called it. I'm working for the Catholic Diocese here, and today was my first day on the job. Everything turned around so quickly, I'm still a little disoriented. Here's the timeline: Aug 5 = realized I wouldn't see a paycheck from the Part Time Job #2 until Oct 1 even though I'd have started working on Aug 25. Hours at Part Time Job #1 had been cut to 12 per week for the rest of the summer. I emailed Sarah, my dear former roommate who now works on Simon's Cat over in London to...

As you know, I'm gearing up for my big move to L.A. on January 5, 2012. Big news on that front: I've just confirmed an apartment - different from the one I was going to take - that will keep me in Burbank and cost a fraction of what the other place would've cost me. I'll have a roommate, a friend of TL's who also works at Disney. Really looking forward to it! I'm so grateful this worked out, because I was stressing over the high rent of the other place. Next big hurdle (other than getting a job, OBVIOUSLY) will be getting a car. Well, actually the next hurdle is selling my current car at a decent profit so I can afford to buy a car in L.A. Speaking of which: FOR SALE: 1998 Nissan Sentra, 134,000 miles, in great mechanical condition, some cosmetic sadness here and there, just inspected, 4 snow tires with a couple seasons left in 'em AND 4 new all-season radials. Automatic, 4-door, maroon color, Ithaca Sufferjets and Bluestockings bumper stickers. It d...