Supafly.com

I got back this afternoon from a three-day trip to Los Angeles. This was the fifth and final stop on Life Teen’s “Inspiration Tour” that began earlier this fall in San Antonio, Texas. Over 3000 people came to the event, which was awesome. Some Inspirations only had a few hundred people attend, so to finish the tour with this many people meant a lot to us.

I know the people don’t show up at the event to hear me speak or to hear Matt Maher play music. It’s not like it’s ME that is on tour. We call it a “tour” because if you called it a “prayer meeting” nobody would show up. We charge for the tickets because it costs money to organize the event. The people who attend don’t show up because they are fans seeing their favorite entertainer, but they are Catholic teens who love their faith.

When I was standing on stage, I was truly humbled. I could say almost anything and they would be impressed. They didn’t show up because each of parishes us flew the Life Teen banner back home. They were thrilled to be in a amphitheater with so many other Catholic teens. They were excited to take over a theme park, to walk around knowing that they were a part of something bigger than anything else this day at Six Flags. They were filled with life because of a loving God. But what happened down on stage at the end of the day didn’t matter in the bigger picture.

This is such a contrast to previous stops on the tour. When the attendance was lower, I felt like I had to be a more dynamic, compelling speaker. I had to scramble around the park getting to know more people. Really, I was reminding the teenagers and myself that it was worth coming out for the night.

Last night in Los Angeles is an example of what I long for–that something becomes bigger than me, bigger than “our ministry”. I mean, many Protestant churches fill their pews by recruiting Christians away from other churches. Almost any Christian organization can put together and quality event and then get good attendance.; And at the end of the day, they’ll feel really good about themselves. Certainly God will reach out to His children at any event, retreat, or on the sidewalk. As someone as involved in ministry as I am, it’s important that I don’t lose perspective on what’s actually happening.

I don’t know if last night was any more successful than any of the other four Inspirations this fall. It’s difficult to measure the success of a ministry. It says in the Bible that you will know a tree by its fruit, but we leave and come back home before we can see any fruit.

What I do know is that I am glad it’s done. It’s been a fall with weekends of long, hard traveling. It’s been physically and emotionally exhausting. I am ready for Thanksgiving with Candyce’s family. Then I want to spend December at my house with a fire in the fireplace with no place to go.

I didn’t bring my laptop on the plane to Ohio because my battery is so week that it barely keeps my computer alive ten minutes. Yet for months I’ve lugged it around the country, believing I’d occupy spare minutes in the airport terminal, or maybe an hour at the hotel before I fall asleep. But that never happened, so I decided to just leave the computer at home.

I didn’t get bumped up to First Class and that always sucks. I know I’m supposed to be grateful that I am not being hauled to and from Ohio in a camel caravan, but it doesn’t change the fact that I had to spend four hours sitting next a massive man. I probably shouldn’t have forced him to lower the armrest, but I couldn’t stand the fact of him scooting ever closer to me. Even with the plastic and metal barrier, his copious figure spilled into my space. To pass the time, I imagined I was an Eskimo child curled up next to him the gentle Polar Bear for warmth through the cold night. I imagined my pack of Siberian Husky sled dogs curled up at my feet.

I traveled to Ohio to speak at the University of Dayton. I was scheduled to speak there last year, but the plane tickets were wrong and we had to reschedule.; Speaking at a college campus on a Saturday night is always gamble because you never know how many people will show up. You can usually get twice as many students at a lecture on a weeknight as you could on the weekend.

But all of that uncertainty melted away when my two new friends picked me up at the airport. Our conversation on the car ride was amusing and lively. Their enthusiasm for the coming night was contagious. Once I was on campus, I dropped off my bag at one of the campus houses. The university; owns hundreds of century-old houses that line the campus streets. Students live there in the houses like you would a dormitory. The homes are immaculate from the outside, but once inside, you see how different it was 100 years ago. The rooms are small and squarish… nothing grand at all. But it’s a perfect for college friends. Every pack of friends has their own front porch. It’s pretty fun.

A few students started the group “Catholic Life” a couple years ago. The University of Dayton is a Catholic school, but with a student population of 8000, you tend to lose your Catholic identity. So this group is trying to recapture that Catholic spirit, and they seem to be doing it. Their numbers are high, and the people who come to their weekly meetings are delightfully happy. Its rare that you can look across a room of college students and see so many smiling faces. Most of the time you get a herd of pessimistic young adults strapped with ego.

After the event I went to their weekly “dry party” where everybody parties but nobody drinks. With the campus houses as they are, it’s okay to drink on campus as long as you are old enough and you do it in your house. When you line up dozens of beer-soaked households, campus becomes an endless landscape of rap music and staggering students with brown bottles. The dry party was just as rowdy, but there wasn’t as much vomit.

This trip was rewarding for me because I got to meet several college students who were involved in Life Teen when they were in high school. This is always an affirming experience, because I never know if their experience in Life Teen is way for them to pass time in high school, or if it really does connect with their soul.

My flight back to Phoenix passed through Atlanta then finally to Phoenix. It was six-and-a-half hours of airports, tight seats, and unsalted peanuts. I couldn’t find my car in the parking deck, but I enjoyed the thirty minutes of exercise. I’ve come to savor the first mile of the drive out of the airport. It’s an experience that I relish like no other.; I look in the rearview mirror and watch the airport disappear in the distance. Ahead is nothing but wide open land with plenty of leg room. I make the sign of the cross as a humble prayer of gratitude. I turn up the radio, roll down the windows, and drive fast.

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Last night Candyce and I went to Mass at the Catholic Center at Arizona State. I like my home parish, but I’ve been going there for so many consecutive Sundays, it was nice to get a change of scenery. Plus, it was kind of nostalgic watching all the college students fumble in late wearing their weekend slacker clothes.

After Mass we walked down Mill to the Bamboo Club for dinner. It was so nice to spend time with Candyce because her school work has kept her ridiculously busy. I actually saw her more this summer while she was in San Diego than in the past two months with her only ten miles away.

Over dinner Candyce and I talked about what to do with interests and passions that you don’t get to do because of your job or your major in college. I love ministry and web design so that’s why I do it. But I also love graphic design and landscape design. I’d love to design and build skyscrapers or charming neighborhoods.; I’d love to create a thriving coffee shop out of a misunderstood street corner. Candyce thinks I should get my Masters in Architecture and just be done with it. Who knows?

Today I finished Tom Wolfe’s book from the late 1980’s called “The Bonfire of the Vanities.” I got hooked on Tom Wolfe after reading his newest book, “I am Charlotte Simmons.” So now I’m going back and reading all of his books. I picked up “Bonfire” at the bookstore a couple weeks ago when my plane was delayed.

Having a novel around the house is a great way to calm my nerves and forces me to be still. I read several books in elementary and middle school when teachers are trying hard to get youngsters to become readers. But by seventh grade, I knew the only thing I wanted to do was to draw. Others would bury themselves in a book, and I’d lose myself with pen and paper. But in the last five years I’ve begun reading more to pass the endless hours of traveling on airplane. I can see now why teachers try so hard to get us to read. It keeps you imagination sparkling, and it improves your use of the language. It really is sad when I meet someone who does not read. They are missing so much.

So I got this “Bonfire” book, curious to see how Wolfe told the story of the high life in New York City in the late 80s. He’s a great writer, so I have little more to say about that. But it’s comical to hear about what parts of town had what stereotypes back then. Through the 680 pages, it became clear that the only good part of the city was the Upper East Side. When I lived in Manhattan in 2001, I worked out at a club in that part of town. It was tidy and well manicured, but it was an otherwise lifeless part of town. One character in the book was embarrassed to live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which, ironically, is now home to the rock stars and celebrities.

I read the last chapter while laying in my hammock on my patio. It was such a perfect evening. It was in the high sixties and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The new plants and soil in the backyard filled the air with a comforting earthy aroma that I’ve never had at my house. I usually can only smell sun on concrete.

It’s exhilarating to finish a book. When you begin a novel, you constantly fighting back the bulk of pages in your right hand. You lift your thumb and hundreds of pages will flutter to your left hand, reminding you how much you still have left to go. Half way through the book, you hold a balanced book, weighted equally in each hand. But nothing can describe the tingly feeling you get when you only hold a dozen pages in your right hand. The thinning pages between your fingers matches the climaxing story. I love it!

I don’t like that I’m talking like this because I sound like someone in Oprah’s book club. I remember as a kid watching Oprah one day after school, and she described the times and places that she liked to read. I was embarrassed for Oprah. How could she talk like this on television? Now, here I am, writing the same stuff on my website.

I’ve learned that there is only so much planning and coordinating you can do before you finally jump in and get started on a project. My backyard is almost finished, and I’ve decided to just go in and get it done. Today, I purchased:

1. $200 for outdoor lighting fixtures
2. $70 for outdoor shutters, paint
3. $350 for trees
4. $15 for soil
5. $10 in hardware and pipes

With all of this sitting in only remaining bare corner of my backyard, I was both intimidated and excited. I was like a little kid on a huge playground. Where would I start? How long could I play over here before I run over and start something else? I picked up my shovel and started digging holes.

I can’t describe how difficult it was to dig such big holes in dense, hard soil. After an hour and a half on one hole, I figured it’d be easier to soak the soil with the hose to make the job easier. The shovel did go down with less effort, but the soil attached itself to the shovel blade like dry concrete. Every thirty seconds, I’d have to drag the shovel over a cement block over and over to peel off the soil. Within a minute, my sharp shovel would again become as blunt and heavy as a sledge hammer, unable to break the soil. By sunset, I had three large holes.

Candyce came over tonight and we had a good time. This semester has been busy for her, so we haven’t had much time to spend together. The gaps between our visits get wider and wider, and it becomes awkward when we do see each other. But tonight we had dinner and relaxed at my house. She was too consumed in her design problems with her homework to admire my holes in the backyard, but I know she’ll appreciate it eventually.

So far, here’s my list of projects completed this fall in my backyard:

1. Brick patio and walkway. Beautiful!
2. Put arbor over the gate, trained up the flower vines
3. Toted away one ton of dirt with several full trash barrels
4. Installed new wrought iron light fixture
5. Scraped off old lawn, fertilized, added new lawn
6. Repaired the sprinkler system

Still left to go in the backyard:

1. Install curb
2. Plant three Oleanders trees
3. Order boulders, scrapple (small granite rocks the size of; your fist and as big as a loaf of bread)
4. Kill weeds, spray weed preventer, lay down landscaping fabric, then cover with granite gravel.
5. Plant two more Oleander trees, Trailing Lantana, and Ocotillo plant
6. Replace clay bricks in the walkway with concrete paver bricks to match the patio
7. Repair the rest of the sprinkler system

Getting my landscaping done is a deep thrill. I love it!

Today is the third day of my month of staying away from the studio. I still check my email, get back to phone calls, and have a meeting here and there. But for the most part, I am taking this month to get my life back together. I’ve worked too hard for too long, and my home life desperately needs some attention.

Before I left for Georgia, this was the list I compiled of things I need to do:

Outdoors:
- Take pictures while I do all of the landscape work
- Contact city to get permission to dig for new landscaping
- Cut down unhealthy Mesquite, plant a young Chilean Mesquite tree and a Bougainvillea vine on the corner of my lot. Make a metal trellis and attach it to the wall. Add fresh decorative gravel.
- Add landscaping mounds and a dry creek bed in the front yard, plant a Texas Ebony tree.
- Finish backyard with a concrete curb, three different kinds of rock, a weed barrier, and two new plants.
- Plant a wall of six Oleander trees in the backyard
- Install and paint outdoor shutters on the front of the house
- Spray weed preventer on all gravel surfaces
- Install security lighting around house
- Install two new ceiling fans in the back porch.
- Touch up paint
- Train the yellow-flower vine out front
- Plant ground cover out front to replace the hibiscus
- Paint all gates

Indoors:
- Demolition the kitchen and dining room
- Design and install new kitchen cabinets, appliances (this is a big job)
- Pull up all flooring in non-bedroom rooms
- Install new lighting and flooring
- Refinish dining room table
- Get rid of fish tank
- Paint the garage, install cabinets and work bench
- Install French patio doors in the master bedroom
- Install new sink and cabinets in master bathroom, fix tile
- Recessed lighting in the hallway

Web:
- Finish designing and then launch the new nomoho.com
- Print five shirts, launch nomoho.com store
- Send out promotional emails to friends and family
- Find shipping solution
- Re-outfit the guest room to be a second office
- Make splash pages for all my sites that aren’t up: jp2hero.com, sayhitome.com, kustoms.com,
-Make simple, CSS-driven new version of this website, supafly.com.

Cars:
- Element: get new black rims, install a different alarm, design outside graphics, pay someone to do it
- Chevy: get it moving, licensed and insured, new exhaust, begin suspension work, put on nomoho.com decals, get a trailer

Random Personal:
- Get a new laptop battery
- Business transactions
- Set up auto bill-pay for all utilities
- Real estate transactions
- Pray a rosary each day

So I hope to get all of that done in the next month. I know it probably won’t happen, but I at least want to give it a chance.

On the way home from the airport in Phoenix, I stopped off to see Candyce at her college. It was only fifteen minutes, but it felt good to see her again. I haven’t seen her that much in the past two months, and it’s getting very difficult. She has a busy semester at school, and it is getting irritation. The last sixty days have been an endless chain of class, homework, work, homework, sleep, homework… I’ve never seen anyone go like this for so long.

I resent her professors because all they have to do is snap their fingers and she pours twenty hours into a project. I’m left on the outside of her life, trying to be a supportive boyfriend. This is just not a good time for me. But the 15-minute visit was awesome.

Feeling jealous of the time Candyce gives her school work, I decided not to drive straight home, but to drive to the nursery instead. If she was going to obsess over her homework, I could do the same. I needed to pickup some Oleander trees for my backyard. Oleanders are a flowery bush that is sometimes trained into being a tree. I have a total of six now, and they will make a screen so I don’t look at my neighbors anymore. I have lived in this house for three years now, and I’m tired of going into my backyard “sanctuary” just to make eye-contact with a woman washing her dishes. So my plan is to plant the three today.

This next month is going to be very good for me. I need to work with my hands in the backyard and not on a computer. I need to exercise and pray. I need to get my life back together.