It’s been a week filled with adventures of sorts:

1) A week ago, the kiddos and I went to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, an event that in retrospect makes me think of that scene in the Matrix where Morpheus shows Neo infinitely long racks of weaponry, except with books! We supported the artist of MelonPool by buying one of his books, we got stacks of free stuff (including 15 lbs. of free Buddhist books), renewed our MoJo, and talked to artists, authors, bookstore owners, non-profit volunteers, and more. A book-lovers heaven! And my children want to return next year–albeit with greater care in planning, so we can get books signed by famous authors and attend panels.

2) I got my first photo published in a religious newspaper with serious circulation. Ironically, it was a pretty crappy photo, but it did take some aggressive shooting to get the subjects together. I learned that taking photos of a celebrity in a crowded environment within a limited timeframe is very different from the leisurely sort of vacation photography.

3) I went to UCI’s OS X Tiger release party with The Family, and won the grand prize drawing for the brand spanking new
ADOBE CREATIVE SUITE PREMIUM CS2!!!! The software package is probably worth more than my PowerBook! Maybe this software will inject design life into the MindOnFire redesign…

4) And, believe it or not, #3 pales to complete insignificance compared to this morning’s news: I’ve been accepted into Cal State Long Beach’s Religious Studies Master’s program. After almost a decade of wandering (and some serious plumbing of depths this past year), I’m finally back where I belong. I was born to be Scholar of Religion–it’s what I read for kicks, it’s almost all I want to talk about (witness this blog). It feels good to have the self-conception and the external label match once again. Classes don’t start for months, but I want to begin my readings already! Isn’t summer over yet?