Just a quick bit of news from here at the Herm.  We have had the opportunity the last couple days to host some of the CAL Fire units who have been hard at work fighting the Martin Fire just a few miles from here.  I’ve got a couple shots up on Flickr (link here) from when the arrived yesterday evening.  It’s nice to know that we have been able to help them out in this way.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, most of the photos I take during the service at Vintage are off limits, but since there aren’t any faces in some of the ones I took today I put them up on my Flickr too. This is a pretty good sample of what I do most weeks at Vintage. It’s a lot of moving around trying to find new and interesting perspectives each week. The lighting is always an adventure as in the morning it is often very harsh and bright light coming in through the stained glass windows while in the evening it almost feels like a cave some times. Usually I end up with a good batch of shots though, so I can’t really complain. Sometime I’ll write a post about my thoughts on taking pictures during a service and where I draw the line between when to shoot and when to just sit back and participate. Not right now though, cause it’s 1am and I’m tired.

PhotoWalk12
Originally uploaded by Jonathan Assink

I know I said that I was going to be posting photos from the concerts after church at Vintage but I really don’t have any exciting on interesting shots, so here’s one from the photo walk we did yesterday instead. Not sure who “J” or “L” are but their tag made for a cool shot. I took several from different angles but this is the one I liked the most. This was on a bench at the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf.

After I got off work tonight I went down to Santa Cruz with Brandon.  To hit up one of the local bike shops in my search for a new bike.  I actually got a lot of great tips from people at Spokesman Bicycles that firmed up in my mind what it is I want in a bike.  I feel a little bad though because I will probably be going over the hill to take advantage of the 20% member discount I have during this month.  If it weren’t for that discount, I would definitely buy from one of the local shops.

After we walked around Spokesman for a while (I did buy a helmet so I didn’t leave empty handed) we headed back to the car and I had every intention of leaving.  Brandon insisted we couldn’t leave 45 minutes on the meter so we headed off down the street to find a coffee shop that is apparently the favorite of people who like to be different as a crowd.  We kept walking down the street and happened across MetaMusic Records.   MetaMusic is the kind of record store I’ve wanted to find since I got down here.  I’m sure any real local thinks I’m an idiot for taking this long to find it but, well, I now know and I’m sure I’ll be going back sooner rather than later.  Anyway, MetaMusic is one of those rare stores that actually caries new vinyl.  And not just unopened records from decades past, but new releases.  So I picked up a couple by two of the groups I’ve really come to like in the last six months.

I really like listening to records.  I can’t claim the audiophile ear that actually hears a real noticeable difference versus CD or digital format, but it is definitely more of an experiential exercise in listening to music.  Listening to a record is the only time that I will put on music, and then just sit there with my eyes closed and listen.  I also really like playing records when I have people over or I’m cooking.  I was playing my Taj Mahal blues record last night while we were BBQ’ing for St. Patrick’s and it made for a great backdrop.  Anyway, Coffee Cat is about to close up shop so I’m going to head home.  Later!

So for the last couple of weeks there has been a part of me afraid that I would land in Seattle and suddenly realize this is no longer my home.  Well, I have been on the ground here for about two hours and I can tell you this is most definitely still home.  The whole way home I was smilling while looking out the window as the city went by.  We came up from the airport via hwy 99 and when the whole city opens itself up to you at night it is just about one of the most beautiful sights in the world.  The redwoods of Mount Hermon and the dramatic beaches of Santa Cruz are great, but no place is quite like my home.  This is my home and I’m looking forward to spending the next week back in civilization!

So the traffic camera post is actually from a few days ago, it just got lost in the aether of the interwebs.  Fortunately, I rescued it from the draft bin before it faced the horrible fate of irrelevancy.  Anyway, I just wanted to share two experiences I had today in the brief period I spent at a custom frame shop in Capitola.  First of all, custom framing of a print that is 20″x30″ is ridiculously expensive.  How expensive?  Try $200 for the cheap option!  That lesson learned, I was then faced with the next perplexing dilemma.  Why would a man, not in drag, wear stiletto heels?  This question, I can find no answer for.  If you can think of anything. . . let me know.

Had my first Santa Cruz Halloween experience tonight. Definitely an interesting event! Head over to flickr to check out my latest shots.

Just found a website that posted one of my pics a few weeks ago. You can find them here. It’s fun to see my stuff getting featured more and more!

Well, it is finally my weekend (I worked today) and I need it bad!  I’ve worked 9 of the last 10 days to finish off the last of our summer camps and I am just about completely exhausted.  I’ve forgotten how much more sleep I need when I’m working 8-5 instead of even 9-6.  Aren’t people supposed to work jobs from 9-5?  Being hourly really bites.  I keep saying I’m going to stop working jobs that are on hourly pay but I keep ending up in them.  Oh well.

I was at Home Depot again tonight and bought a work lamp.  We are doing an art project at Vintage tomorrow where we are going to trace people’s profiles onto canvases and then hang them up in the coffeehouse.  The idea is that the coffeehouse is a place where the church family gathers so we are going to put up family portraits.  It is really fun to now be involved in a project that I can get behind instead of the wacky cotton ball fiasco.  It is fun to keep meeting people too and feel like I’m more a part of the church.  I think to really feel at home in any church I’m attending I’ll need a role other than just parishioner.

There is big news at Vintage too.  I went to an “All-Serve” meeting yesterday night where the staff’s of Vintage Faith and First Presbyterian announced that they will be formally merging the churches come January.  Everyone is very excited on both sides of the table but there are a couple bumps that have to be dealt with.  Most comical I think is all of the Emerging church folk who are now in panic mode thinking Josh and Dan will go all Calvinist on them.  In a lot of ways it really is funny how at home I feel in an Emerging community considering I believe myself to be a Calvinist.  While I do find it very comical, there is a part of me that feels sad people have such a frightened reaction.  To me, being a Calvinist and being an Emerger are not at all incompatible.   My Calvinist side submits to the all-powerful creator of the universe while my Emerging side worships His beauty and mystery.  I didn’t want to push things to far and stumble over my words but I also am excited that Vintage will be joining the bay area presbytery.  I think being part of a denomination (or any form of formal church governing body) is very healthy for a church also.  Not to say that there is anything inherently wrong or bad about non-denominational churches, but more because I think the accountability encouraged by being part of a presbytery (or classis, for us RCA types) is healthy.  We talked about how being part of a denomination brings in a rich history and tradition and deep liturgy the Emerging church movement lacks while Vintage can hopefully bring new life and fervor to a system that has been sagging in recent years.  The VFC/FPC staff talked about how they want this to serve as an example of how an established church can partner with a new “upstart” to better reach the community.  Traditionally on the west side of Santa Cruz churches have floundered and sputtered along until they died, yet Vintage is now poised for near explosive growth.  I’m not a big fan of the numbers game because there are a lot of ways to get people in the door without really making an impact on their lives, but when it’s a God thing and the church is a community that is encouraging people to change how they live and be a source of light and salt, then keep the doors open wide!  How exciting it is to see God move!