San Diego Day 1

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Day one... leaving town.

Alot of times this is a hard thing to get done and rarely is it an easy task. I worked hard to get alot of things ready for the National Outreach Convention. Lots of late nights and long days. Kevin left to China and we didnt talk much about what all I was gonna need to get done, but Rachel was a huge help to bounce things off of.

I stayed up like till 3:00 the night before trying to get everything together to leave. I wasn't suppossed to stay up that late, but while trying to get the car ready for Valerie I accidently put some brake fluid in the power steering fluid in the car. Not to mention trying to clean up outside and sneak into my shed so the neighbors dogs would stop barking. In others words... LONNGGG NIGHT.

I woke up at like 8:00 and packed some more, cut my hair and washed clothes. I got alot done and then Val came home to pick me up. I took her to work and then went to House of Faith to get my records and other stuff I needed to take. After I finished up there (thanks Steven for doing my mailout!!!) I went and saw my dad in the hospital and then I picked up Val and headed to the store.

I went to Ross to get another piece of luggage cause I needed more room to take everything. I stressed about the bag stuff cause I'm always overweight on luggage and it sucks to pay extra for my luggage. I saw some bags at Ross the night before that were pretty cheap and nice and decided to start there. I ran inside and found one that had a 12.99 tag on it. DOPE! I raced that mug to the counter and my luck the tag fell off. The cashier opened it up and found at price of 29.99. I went back to find the fallen tag and spotted it on the floor, but when I read it it said it was for like a shirt or something. Oh well... I grabbed another one that said was 99.99 now 30.oo bucks... awwyeahhh!!! I took it (and a dope new wallet I found on the way) to the counter. And guess what?! THE TAG WAS MISSING. I was like No Way... the cashier called for a price check but I knew that tag was attached. I ran back to the luggage and sure enough it was on the floor. Crazy junk! I looked at it and it described the bag I had, but when I took it to her she was like, "No, it has to be the same brand as the luggage." I asked her what that tag was for and she said it wasn't for that bag. I felt so dumb cause it was almost like I was switching tags and trying to get a deal. I felt real dumb... and I guess upset. I was so frustrated by then that I told her nevermind and that I would just head to Target and pay full price.

I went to Target and ended up buying an expensive bag there. As I was walking I started getting more upset about it all. Mostly the situation. I was running late and still had to go home to pack all my stuff, and now I'm buying a bag thats twice as much as I wanted to pay. I asked Val what she thought about it all (she's my best friend). In the end I felt dumb cause I should've just tried again but I just got upset and bounced from Ross. She said I wasnt rude at all, but I just felt stupid for now being in Target purchasing expensive stuff without anymore free time to go back to Ross and try again.

I couldnt really figure out why this was all happening. You know, like is God teaching me something or is satan messin with me. Mostly I was tired and trying not to be late to the airport. Oh yea I forgot Thursday was crazy too cause we had Refuge Young Adults the night before and I didnt get home till about 9:00 or 10. Im glad we didnt cancel it though cause I think everyone really needs the encouragement on Thursday nights and it was really heavy on my heart that we get everyone refocused before I left... anyways... That was all extra... lol

So yea.. I go home and pack everything hoping to have time to eat and see my mom before I got on the plane. I called my mom but she was like wayy out of it from her back pain and medication she's on for all that. That made me feel better about not stopping by before I left even though I was sad to not get to say good bye since shes been in alot of pain lately.

I think by now its like almost an hour and thirty till the plane leaves so we jet straight to the airport. We figured we'd just stop at that Chinese place inside if there was extra time.

When we get to the airport I get in line and remember I needed to weigh my bags. I used the empty lane at United Air and good thing I did. I was like way overweight on my big bag. After like three trys we got pretty close to 50 pounds. A lady saw us trying to re-arrange all my stuff and told us that they were letting people slide, so I was all excited. Good thing we prayed before we went in. It always makes things like "getting on a plane" that much easier. After we checked my luggage they started boarding to the back... but wait, Im starving. It's like 2 and we still hadnt eaten anthing.

The line was long so we rushed into the Chinese restaurant to try to get something FAST. I asked the lady if I could get like some rice and eggrolls or something and pointed out the line going through the security check. She was like, OK!!! and jetted off like real fast. I guess they get that alot there. She came back in two minutes with rice, egg rolls, sauces and two plates for me and Valerie. It was so awesome cause she had my drink and receipt all back to me quick. I slammed that rice down and the two eggrolls, chugged some Dr.Pepper and told Val by. She stayed and finished off the rice and I went to board the plane (did I mention my wife was my bestfriend... just checking).

So yea... I made it through the detectors cool this time and waited to board. I guess they are redoing the ariport right now. That's gonna be real good. Except right now you gotta walk real far to get on the plane. Whew... them records were HEAVY too. I got on the plane and was in Dallas fast. In Dallas I had only an hour layover for the plane to San Diego. I sat there listening to these business guys talk about work and jotted down ideas for the confernce.


This flight was full to the top. I sat wayyy in the back of this plane next to a big burly Samoan pastor and a crossword puzzle doing older lady. Lucky me... jp. It was actually cool. They were both real nice and quite so it was comfortable to sit by them. On the plane the special of the day was like pretzels and what not... :) Most the time I just looked through the catalogs with all those crazy products. They are those catalogs for things like, automatic golf ball washers, gps locating systems and everything else that cost a grip of money but "you wish you had one" type stuff...

I got off the plane and walked forever to the baggage claim. Mostly, I was tired of carrying around all them records in that heavy case.... whew. But I made it.

I called up Man of War and waited for him to pick me up. I actually have some photos of that. I waited around watching all the Navy guys and cabbies until he came and got me. I was really excited to see him again and meet all his family. He's got a cool wife and kids for sure.

We went to his crib and then headed out for the night. We dropped off his kids at his parents house and then scooped up Tim from Syntax Records. Wait I just lied. We got Tim then dropped off the kids. Tims one crazy dude man... We went to this Mandarin restaurant that was real small. Man of War ordered all this food and we like just got to pick and choose what we wanted when it came out. It was real good. I ate calamari for the first time. Im glad I didnt eat alot cause I could tell it was gonna jack me up later :) .

After that we went downtown and walked the streets. The highlights of that outing were numerous. Let's see... I saw these reallly fresh Adidas. I think they are the anniversay edition ones. The BBQ ones are crazy. I saw those, the LA Lakers ones, and I love TOKYO ones too. Ewww... and a humpty hump tshirt that was pretty pimp. I got to see some HarryKrishnas jammin out. Also a "ruepaul" gettin wild on the street corner, a limo bus, some fresh new ideas for canvases, hotrods, and a the padres baseball stadium I think. It's design was nuts cause we drove up the street and it was like opened up. Like If you cut it in half or something. You could see it like from the street. Kind of like being in the outfield but we were on the street. It was real pretty. I also saw where all the bums sleep (sad stuff) and oh yea... an gay dude that worked at the cafe gave me a free frappucino. We think he liked me cause as Man of War's wife says, "Ain't nothing for free here..." After that we went to this expensive choclate store, rolled around the parking garage and dropped Tim off.

We picked the kids up, went back to the house and I think we just crashed. I did talk to Threat on the phone (graffiti artist) and he said he wanted to head out to Tijuana early in the morning to paint with H.E.M. Crew.

By now I'm tired and excited to crash out.