It's been far too long since I've last posted, and even longer since I've actually written about what I've been up to. Think of this as a "state of the luke address." Chances are most of you have given up trying to figure out where I am or why I'm there, and I certainly don't blame you because I have as well. I feel as if I'm as much along for the ride as anyone else is. Below I'm going to give you a little month-by-month account of my life, starting when I left Nashville and ending a couple of minutes from now.
June 2011
I left Harvest Hands and Nashville on the 11th, the day my second nephew Caden William was born. I was in Kansas City for a little under a week, and then I went to Columbus for a wedding. After the two days in Cbus (as the natives call it) I flew into Boston, and drove up to Alton, New Hampshire for camp. During June we went canoeing a couple of times, camped on an island, learned about Jesus through a guy with my name's eyes, and generally had a pretty good time.
July 2011
Spent the entire month of July at camp. More of the same, but that wasn't a bad thing. Spent the time deepening relationships with campers and co-counselors alike and learning more about leading a program than I ever had before. Saw the first part of Captain America, figured out I was in the wrong theater, then saw Harry Potter.
August 2011
First couple of weeks spent at camp. Some of the most challenging weeks of my life. Spent three days on a hike I was supposed to be on for six, wallowed about that for a while, helped my campers put on one of the most original and exciting banquets I have had the privilege of witnessing, and then left camp. Ten days in KC with the family, then a flight back up to Boston.
September 2011
Worked the first part of September in Keen, New Hampshire at a "Bivouac" program for BB&N, a private school in Boston. Lots of firsts at this camp: self-repelled down a tree, set up and tore down ropes courses, picked heirloom apples, baked a couple of giant apple pies, etc. It was a great experience, and I hope to do it again sometime in my future. After Biv I went to Boston, bussed to New York, and then rode from there down to Charleston, SC with a camp/biv counselor. Long boarded around downtown and shrimped. Flew out of Charleston to start my life again in KC.
October 2011
Started looking for work in Kansas City while living with Mom and Dad. Applied a bunch of places and eventually started back up at Subway. I found a job at PT's in Topeka, worked in their roasting plant for three days, and couldn't bring myself to move to "Top City." Told them, got another offer to work for Parisi Coffee in their roasting facility (great location), but didn't feel happy in KC so I turned that down as well. Visited Boston at the end of the month. Played through Assassin's Creed: Revelations
November 2011
Continued work at Subway. Thanksgiving with family, more time with nephews. They're the cutest, don't even argue with me about it. Played through all the Uncharted games, while mom watched.
December 2011
Christmastime with family, more working at Subway. Switched my phone service from T-Mobile to Sprint and got a new iphone. Continued the process of thinking about moving. Loved being home for the holidays. New Years Eve at the Saucer with Melissa, Neal, and Sam (for a bit).
January 2012
Worked at Subway until late in the month. Bought my first car (2000 VW Jetta TDI, diesel) and got that squared away. Moved to Columbus, OH after an awesome geocaching roadtrip with Dad.
February 2012
Got a job at Northstar Cafe in Columbus, and an offer for another at a Chase bank. Went out for a lot of coffee with Chris during the beginning of the month.
March 2012
More work at Northstar, roadtrip with Chris to New York. I continued on through CT up to Boston seeing friends and going to National Parks. Another trip to Nashville to visit friends and gloat about Kansas doing so well to the Kentucky fans down here.
April 2012
Another trip to Nashville for Easter/to finalize work for the summer. An unexpected trip to KC for my Grandma Lucille's funeral, and a visit from Mom and Dad in Columbus. Quit Northstar on great terms, packed up the car, and moved to Nashville. Working at Harvest Hands for the summer while trying to get a research job at Vanderbilt.
That brings us to May 2012, but as it isn't finished I thought I would leave that for another time.
I hope you enjoyed being caught up on my past year, at least as much as I have enjoyed living it.
Next week I'll be posting a piece that one of my campers from last year wrote, so look forward to that. I have shut my facebook down, so if you enjoy any of my posts please feel free to share them with anyone in any way that you'd like. I'll be writing soon about why I did that, but I felt like this might lay the groundwork for that. And that nobody knows what's going on in my life and that some folks may like to know.
Oh, and I have a new fascination with sending postcards. Shoot me your address in an e-mail and the next time I'm on an adventure (let's be honest, it'll be soon) I'll drop one in the mail for you.
luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
how to: dish like a pro
I started reading "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck the other day (a couple of weeks ago, but "the other day" rolls off the tongue a little nicer). My copy was purchased from a used book store here in Columbus for $3.50, which makes me think the we should all be buying used books from used book stores. But that is a discussion for another day and another post. I bring up "East of Eden" because in it one brother is writing to another, and begins with: "Dear Brother Adam, I take my pen in hand to hope you are in good health" Steinbeck continues "he always started this way to ease himself gently into the task of writing."I feel that I need some phrase to ease myself into the task of blogging, because it always seems I use a paragraph to do it.
This week I hope you'll learn something. I have been working at Northstar for about two months now and wanted to pass of some of the handy tricks I have learned while busing tables. If you have any serving experience I'm sure this will be old hat, but I thought it might be fun to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of picking up after other peoples kids.
First: let's start of with the glasses. Northstar is a classy joint (the owners would shudder if they heard me describe their restaurant like that) where we don't have customers: we have guests. Because of this we only stack things two high, and pint glasses don't get stacked at all. When you get to the table you'll need to assess how many items you'll be able to carry. Don't worry if it seems overwhelming, you'll get it down quickly enough.
Ok. Step one in carrying glasses. Put on in between your thumb and index finger and grip. Like this:
Great! Now you'll add another glass, taken care of by your other fingers (middle, ring, pinky in case you forgot which ones you had left).
As you can see, the glass is being gripped in between the pinky and index, while being supported by the middle and ring fingers. If your grip is sure enough you'll be able to hold the glasses upside down without any problem. Don't do this at work though, the partners will get a little cross. On to the next glass!
This one is a little tricky. Balance the third glass in your palm, resting it against the first two if need be. Don't try the upside down trick now. Glasses are expensive.
Now on to plates. You can hold up to six at a time like this, but I'm going to show you three. I've been doing it all day, so I thought I'd take a break.
Place the plate in between your thumb and pinky finger, supporting it with your index, middle, and ring fingers. Easy peasy.
The next plate goes under the first, with your middle finger under it and your index and ring fingers above it. These three fingers act like a kind of vice to keep the plate steady.
Balance the third plate on the platform created by your forearm and palm, above the first plate. If you double up each plate you can get six without too much of a problem. You should also be able to carry plates full of food like this pretty easily, give it a try!
Bonus:
Mix it up! Try to carry a combination of plates and glasses! See what you can accomplish!
----
I realize that this is all a bit silly. But during my orientation at Northstar I (for some reason I've not forgotten) brought up an idea: the idea that everybody is looking to grow and develop, to become more than they are, to learn. Kevin, the owner, said that he simply didn't believe that was true. And while it may not be his point still made me sad. I have a desire in me to learn, to master things. To be better tomorrow than I am today. And I hope that you have the same drive in you. I don't know if you have learned anything today, but I hope that by reading this you are a bit more developed. A bit more knowledgeable. A bit more ready to serve even.
Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
This week I hope you'll learn something. I have been working at Northstar for about two months now and wanted to pass of some of the handy tricks I have learned while busing tables. If you have any serving experience I'm sure this will be old hat, but I thought it might be fun to anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of picking up after other peoples kids.
First: let's start of with the glasses. Northstar is a classy joint (the owners would shudder if they heard me describe their restaurant like that) where we don't have customers: we have guests. Because of this we only stack things two high, and pint glasses don't get stacked at all. When you get to the table you'll need to assess how many items you'll be able to carry. Don't worry if it seems overwhelming, you'll get it down quickly enough.
Ok. Step one in carrying glasses. Put on in between your thumb and index finger and grip. Like this:
Great! Now you'll add another glass, taken care of by your other fingers (middle, ring, pinky in case you forgot which ones you had left).
As you can see, the glass is being gripped in between the pinky and index, while being supported by the middle and ring fingers. If your grip is sure enough you'll be able to hold the glasses upside down without any problem. Don't do this at work though, the partners will get a little cross. On to the next glass!
This one is a little tricky. Balance the third glass in your palm, resting it against the first two if need be. Don't try the upside down trick now. Glasses are expensive.
Now on to plates. You can hold up to six at a time like this, but I'm going to show you three. I've been doing it all day, so I thought I'd take a break.
Place the plate in between your thumb and pinky finger, supporting it with your index, middle, and ring fingers. Easy peasy.
The next plate goes under the first, with your middle finger under it and your index and ring fingers above it. These three fingers act like a kind of vice to keep the plate steady.
Balance the third plate on the platform created by your forearm and palm, above the first plate. If you double up each plate you can get six without too much of a problem. You should also be able to carry plates full of food like this pretty easily, give it a try!
Bonus:
Mix it up! Try to carry a combination of plates and glasses! See what you can accomplish!
----
I realize that this is all a bit silly. But during my orientation at Northstar I (for some reason I've not forgotten) brought up an idea: the idea that everybody is looking to grow and develop, to become more than they are, to learn. Kevin, the owner, said that he simply didn't believe that was true. And while it may not be his point still made me sad. I have a desire in me to learn, to master things. To be better tomorrow than I am today. And I hope that you have the same drive in you. I don't know if you have learned anything today, but I hope that by reading this you are a bit more developed. A bit more knowledgeable. A bit more ready to serve even.
Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
Monday, March 19, 2012
the grass is always greener
I was thinking about this statement the other day. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I asked a friend, Laura, what she thought of it and she gave the answer that most of us probably would:
In the classical, romantic sense we have a tendency to idealize what we don't have. "If I just move, get another job, date someone prettier/more like me/less like me, THEN I'll be happy." I think there's truth to thinking about the statement like this. We have desires placed inside of us that we seem unable to satiate, no matter how hard we try. We find that our life situation isn't making us happy, so we seek to change it. We look for greener pastures, for wells that haven't run dry, or for easier living. Everyone, at some time, has thought about a change. But it also seems to be true that everyone has, at another time, cursed change when it comes without being invited.
That's neither here nor there, back to the point I'm wondering to.
I work at a restaurant called Northsar Cafe. Northstar was an early-comer the organic food craze, and because of this and their continued commitment to serving food that is good and good for you they've been successful. I was given a book called "The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" during my orientation to the company. I, somewhat begrudgingly, started to read. Four days later I put it down and was a little more informed and opinionated about what constitutes "food" and what "food" I want to put in my body. I bring this book up because in one section the author, Michael Pollan, visits Polyface Farm. The farmer, Joel Salatin, practices a somewhat complex system of crop and animal rotation with the goal of a "closed loop" farm system. This means that the soil is naturally replenished, the animals are fed with what we cannot eat, and the crops are planted and farmed in a sustainable fashion. For a self-professed intellectual this fascinated me.
I bring up Joel's farm because after reading about it I started thinking of this cliche in a much more pastoral sense. When looking through the worldview of farmer Joel, the grass is always greener on the other side. The grass is always greener simply because the animals are not there. Where the animals are the grass has been eaten, processed, and pooped out. Where there aren't it, the grass, is lush and ready to have that whole process done to it. This is all a part of the plan of this farm: turning solar energy in to caloric energy that we can process.
So what if Jesus is the good shepherd, as He claims to be? Isn't there the chance that the grass is greener on the other side? That He is preparing these green pastures for you, and for me? And that by holding onto anachronisms all we are saying is that we don't trust, don't have faith?
I understand the need for being stationary, but I also feel this desire in me for movement. For travel. For being someplace new and exciting. Someday I may "settle down." But I choose to believe that not only the grass is greener on the other side, but that it's greener because the good shepherd is preparing it for me. And you.
Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
In the classical, romantic sense we have a tendency to idealize what we don't have. "If I just move, get another job, date someone prettier/more like me/less like me, THEN I'll be happy." I think there's truth to thinking about the statement like this. We have desires placed inside of us that we seem unable to satiate, no matter how hard we try. We find that our life situation isn't making us happy, so we seek to change it. We look for greener pastures, for wells that haven't run dry, or for easier living. Everyone, at some time, has thought about a change. But it also seems to be true that everyone has, at another time, cursed change when it comes without being invited.
That's neither here nor there, back to the point I'm wondering to.
I work at a restaurant called Northsar Cafe. Northstar was an early-comer the organic food craze, and because of this and their continued commitment to serving food that is good and good for you they've been successful. I was given a book called "The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" during my orientation to the company. I, somewhat begrudgingly, started to read. Four days later I put it down and was a little more informed and opinionated about what constitutes "food" and what "food" I want to put in my body. I bring this book up because in one section the author, Michael Pollan, visits Polyface Farm. The farmer, Joel Salatin, practices a somewhat complex system of crop and animal rotation with the goal of a "closed loop" farm system. This means that the soil is naturally replenished, the animals are fed with what we cannot eat, and the crops are planted and farmed in a sustainable fashion. For a self-professed intellectual this fascinated me.
I bring up Joel's farm because after reading about it I started thinking of this cliche in a much more pastoral sense. When looking through the worldview of farmer Joel, the grass is always greener on the other side. The grass is always greener simply because the animals are not there. Where the animals are the grass has been eaten, processed, and pooped out. Where there aren't it, the grass, is lush and ready to have that whole process done to it. This is all a part of the plan of this farm: turning solar energy in to caloric energy that we can process.
So what if Jesus is the good shepherd, as He claims to be? Isn't there the chance that the grass is greener on the other side? That He is preparing these green pastures for you, and for me? And that by holding onto anachronisms all we are saying is that we don't trust, don't have faith?
I understand the need for being stationary, but I also feel this desire in me for movement. For travel. For being someplace new and exciting. Someday I may "settle down." But I choose to believe that not only the grass is greener on the other side, but that it's greener because the good shepherd is preparing it for me. And you.
Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
instablog
The other night Jessica and I were hanging out and instagram came up. I mentioned to her that the reason why I like instagram is because it looks like what I want my social media experience to look like. If I were to have a "do-over" with facebook I'm sure that it would look a little different for me, which is to say that certain people wouldn't show up so much on my homepage. I like instagram so much because I'm so selective about who I follow. I do this because I don't need to see how much one person loves another person every day. I'm glad, but that's just not something that needs to go into my head, because it makes me feel lonely. That, I'm sure, says more about me than you.
But why bring up instagram at all? Well lately I've been wanting to take a picture, throw a "retro" filter on it, and write a witty caption. But I find myself not interested in doing that. For example: this evening the moon was out, and it was making a statement. It wanted to be felt. It was a pale blue, larger than you could believe, and was forcing itself onto the coming evening.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But who's words? If you are looking at a picture I took, are they my thousand or yours? Or perhaps someone else? Or maybe five hundred of mine, five hundred of yours. I think that if you are looking at my picture you are thinking all your own words. You're thinking about how pretty it is, how hungry it makes you, how much you want some pie, about why I took that picture of myself, et cetera. But you are thinking your words.
I wanted to take that picture of the moon because it was making me feel things, and I wanted to communicate those feelings. And I didn't take the picture of the moon because no instagram photo, facebook status, tweet, letter, phone call, or text could convey the moment. Nothing short of being there with me could do that. I wanted to share that moment in it's entirety with someone and I don't think there's any other way to do that other than being present. I don't think that there will ever be a way to share the kinds of feelings you experience in a moment through radio waves, phone lines, or the internet.
While I was thinking about this I was trying to come up with a conclusion, because that's what I've been taught to do. And I couldn't really think of one. I wanna be with someone? Well, yeah, but that's already known by anyone who: 1. Knows me, and: 2. Is a person who also wants to be with someone. A post on the evils of technology and their inability to communicate the human experience? I suppose that's what it's turned into, but I didn't want it to feel like that.
So I don't know how to conclude this. Enjoy other people? If you get the chance to look at the moon, do it? Don't get your feelings hurt if I don't follow you on some form of social media? Yeah, I think those work.
Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
But why bring up instagram at all? Well lately I've been wanting to take a picture, throw a "retro" filter on it, and write a witty caption. But I find myself not interested in doing that. For example: this evening the moon was out, and it was making a statement. It wanted to be felt. It was a pale blue, larger than you could believe, and was forcing itself onto the coming evening.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. But who's words? If you are looking at a picture I took, are they my thousand or yours? Or perhaps someone else? Or maybe five hundred of mine, five hundred of yours. I think that if you are looking at my picture you are thinking all your own words. You're thinking about how pretty it is, how hungry it makes you, how much you want some pie, about why I took that picture of myself, et cetera. But you are thinking your words.
I wanted to take that picture of the moon because it was making me feel things, and I wanted to communicate those feelings. And I didn't take the picture of the moon because no instagram photo, facebook status, tweet, letter, phone call, or text could convey the moment. Nothing short of being there with me could do that. I wanted to share that moment in it's entirety with someone and I don't think there's any other way to do that other than being present. I don't think that there will ever be a way to share the kinds of feelings you experience in a moment through radio waves, phone lines, or the internet.
While I was thinking about this I was trying to come up with a conclusion, because that's what I've been taught to do. And I couldn't really think of one. I wanna be with someone? Well, yeah, but that's already known by anyone who: 1. Knows me, and: 2. Is a person who also wants to be with someone. A post on the evils of technology and their inability to communicate the human experience? I suppose that's what it's turned into, but I didn't want it to feel like that.
So I don't know how to conclude this. Enjoy other people? If you get the chance to look at the moon, do it? Don't get your feelings hurt if I don't follow you on some form of social media? Yeah, I think those work.
Luke
luketlancaster@gmail.com
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