.: 08.05

Leslie Fidler, Sara Clerc, and a friend

are traveling across Canada. Keep them in prayer as they have the time of their life and we are all doing college or working

I couldn't help but publish this email from Chris S.

to all canadians:this is halarious!!! to everone else: this is educational ;) love from cris

> > Now that Vancouver has won the chance to host the 2010 Winter >Olympics these are some questions people the world over are >asking!!!! > Believe it or not these questions about Canada were posted on an >International Tourism Website (frightening, isn't it!) > The answers are a joke but the questions were really asked. > >Q:I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow?(UK) >A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch >them die. > >Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? (USA) >A: Depends on how much you've been drinking. > >Q:I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto-can I follow the railroad >Tracks? (Sweden) >A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water. > >Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada? (Sweden) >A: So it's true what they say about Swedes. > >Q: It is imperative that I find the names and addresses of places to >contact for a stuffed Beaver. (Italy) >A: Let's not touch this one. > >Q: Are there any ATM's(cash machines) in Canada? Can you send me a list of >them in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax? (UK) >A: What did your last slave die of? > >Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada?(USA) >A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe. Ca-na-da >is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the hippo racing >is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked. > >Q: Which direction is North in Canada?(USA) >A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees Contact us when you get here and >we'll send the rest of the directions. > >Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada? (UK) >A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do. > >Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? (USA) >A: Aus-tri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which >is ...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday >night In Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races. Come >naked. > >Q: Do you have perfume in Canada? (Germany) >A: No, WE don't stink. > >Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you >tell me where I can sell it in Canada? (USA) >A: Anywhere significant numbers of Americans gather. > >Q: Can you tell me the regions in British Columbia where the female >population is smaller than the male population? (Italy) >A: Yes, gay nightclubs. > >Q: Do you celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada? (USA) >A: Only at Thanksgiving. > >Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year round? >(Germany) >A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is >illegal. > >Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its >name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. (USA) >A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the brains >of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by spraying >yourself with human urine before you go out walking. > >Q: I was in Canada in 1969 on R+R, and I want to contact the girl I dated >while I was staying in Surrey, BC. Can you help? (USA) >A: Yes, and you will still have to pay her by >the hour. >Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go?(USA) >A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first. >

thought #5

definition of a gentleman: someone who makes everyone around them feel comfortable

I'm either the best or stupidest window washer alive

those at Rio Vida with me in Spain will love this. so, i feel so stupid. i washed windows at a house in Topanga Canyon today and after the lady made a comment about how clean her sliding glass doors were i made some comment attempting at humor. something like, "yeah, don't walk through them because i don't think my insurance will cover something like that" and not 5 mins latter i walked straight into the window i just cleaned. i felt so stupid. For those of you that don't know, one of the guest at the Capernwray Rio Vida school in Spain walked extremely hard into one of the sliding glass doors in front of all of us. we had the hardest time not laughing because there was a perfect imprint of the oils from her face on the window. i think janice even took a picture.

thought #4

i am not going to tell you where i got this one from because it might change the meaning for you. it struck a chord with me. i don't know why. but it might for you also

"our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. it is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. your playing small does not serve the world. there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. we were all meant to shine as children do. it's not just in some of us. it's in everyone. and as we let our own light shine we unconciously give others permission to do the same. as we are liberated from our own fear our presence automatically liberates others."

Ken (Ace of All Trades)

if i'm trying to be the Jack of all Trades. Ken is definitely going to be the Ace. He is going to Oregon for a 1 year program with one other guy. it sounds pretty intense. As far as i know they have to start by living in a large canvas tent. every month they are going to apprentice in a different profession. while building a log cabin for themselves to live in for the winter. every month they do something ridiculously crazy, like bunggy jump, sky dive or something equally riddiculous to test there limits. run 100 miles. ha . i don't know. but the ultimate goal of the program is to by a property, fix it up, and sell it as quick as possible. sounds cool. we'll see how Ken turns out.

world's ugliest dog (click here)

let me out!

looks like that's a kid in there to me. i don't understand how they can kill that. 2 letter difference. that's all it is. i love kids.

Washing the Clouds

Washing the Clouds
Originally uploaded by jwk.

here is me hanging from the side of building. my side job. just kidding. insurance is too expensive to hang from sides of buildings. i just wash 2 stories

Thought #3

"no apple falls far from the tree but it can go anywhere it wants if it learns to roll"

Let the Weddings begin!

as i was so kindly informed by Janice the marriage list is growing: Rich/Kate, Emelie/rough looking Norwegian boyfriend, Elleah/Jared (that guy we tied up and carried out into the night to shine flashlights on and interogate with stupid questions)

Capernwray Craziness

this made me laugh and reminded me so much of some of the fun stuff we did at capernwray. doesn't it just look like something we would do?

Thought #2

"The greatest gift i can give you is a healthy me" josh's blog of quotes has inspired me to post a few of my own

Tree Spirit

dance competition

the dance competition yesterday was amazing. i won't even try to describe in words what it felt like. i didn't even dance much but it was still amazing. i ran the sound board for the event. i felt like Jeff Bilbro. yeah Jeff! my East Barnby Brother! anyway i didn't know what i was doing. just a little of what i had seen Jeff do. so now i can say i've run the sound board at a $100 a ticket event. there was about 300 people there and Steve Platte, the owner/ world ballroom champion thanked me for doing it. it felt great but aukward. ii guess this was the first time no one had really messed up the music. any way, i did the routine we had planed in the show and didn't mess up. over all it was great. it makes me want to be a better dancer. now i just have to find a partner.

Color isolation pictures for Josh

some people post some really magnificent pictures on flickr.com

dancing, dancing, dancing

so a little excitement. i dance in my first professional routine this weekend. it is in front of a few hundred people at a dance competition. so basically they all know how to dance and will know if i mess up. not stessed though. i feel the freedom to fail. not just fall. hear is to the hope that i don't.

all hail the wonders of mac

i am sitting here next to carl's jr. eating my subway sadwich and checking my emails from all of you guys thanks to wireless. all hail mac!

Thought #1

imagine having the last name "God". imagine what your kids would be like. I mean, who else could say they were raised by the Gods.

if any one has Beth's new address that would be great to get

Burning Grandparents Home

One of my grandparents houses burnt down in northern cal. they just finished building it. my cousin, Richy, was there two hours before it burnt down tinting their windows for them. that would suck so bad to have the entire family know it was probably your fault. don't worry though, they have plenty of other houses to live in. One in particular, in Orange County, Fullerton with an elevator in it

Castle Construction

if anyone knows how to find out how much it would cost to build a castle like this now a days. tell me.

Black Forest Academy

you have got to hear this. i found this place, Black Forest Academy. the name obviously is very atrigueing. It is a school in Germany. i am alway searching for interesting places that have some aspect of the school i want to start. this is how i fould Black Forest Academy and how i came across Capernway Hall. anyway, i check them out. it is a christian academy where they have about six seperate houses that the students live in. most of the students are MK (missionary's kids) who's parents are all over the world on missionay work. these are types of students I've never thought of or considered. there is nothing about the academy itself that really stood out to me other than the name. but the most interesting thing about all this is that my sister has been there. i told her about it and she said she had been there on a week long mime expose'. crazy! www.bfacademy.com

Should i con the US postal service?

i need some advice. ken, my brother, some of you know him (blonde, younger, better looking) anyway, he sent me my broken camera from Nashville overnighted and got insurance on it. why not just say it broke in the mail and get them to replace it? hhhmmm? Josh, maybe you should send your camera to me in the mail. ha ha!

Krazy Kaylie Weekend

i spent the weekend with Kaylie. we had a blast. this is a short audio clip of us at Newport Beach. this is the place that Rob Whittaker said was his favorite in the world. of course to an Englishman unlimited sunshine, girls walking the streets in bikinis, and large expanses of white sand would sound great. sadly though Kaylie and i didn't get any pictures because, just like Schrecky, my camera is in camera heaven. i broke it at Capernwray before spring break by droping it when me and Jesse were throwing it up in the air with the timer on, trying to get a shot looking down on ourselves. anyway, the weekend was great. Kaylie got to meet most of my family. the audio post of my siblings was recorded while she was here. ask her and she might tell you about my siblings.

New interesting music i found

"il divo" i think it is some italian music or something but i like them. you should check them out this is how good i want you guys to dress at my wedding ... or funeral. whichever comes first.

Audio from my siblings

me and my mime

Jessica is my only older sibling. She is the one that i told some of you is a mime. i found this cool pencil drawing of a mime on the internet because i don't have a picture of Jessica. She is an artist also so it kind of fits. So she is really fun and turns 21 in sept. and i din't tell her to say that stuff in the recording. well, mostly.

405 freeway gore

I drove to go wash a client's windows this morning and saw that the other side of the 405 freeway was completely backed up. A lot of emergency vehicles and police cars and one stretch hummer-style limo were all apart of the main action. I couldn't see any wreckage so I wondered what was up. Maybe a movie star threw something out there Lima window and caused an accident. Turned out it wasn't a movie star in the Lima and the "something that was thrown out was the non-movie star person. At 4:30 am the passanger jumped out from the back of the Lima while it was going 80 mph (someone want to post the Kph conversion of this figure for all the foreigners) this is faster than normal freeway, motorway, autobon speed. You can imagine what happened to the woman. Picture that... Got it... And then she was hit by three other cars. "life is short, don't jump out of the back of a Lima" ~advice from Benjamin Clark-Mitchell

Hitch-Hiking

Apparently I didn't work this habit out of my system completely when I was in England. I was talking to Kaylie Wilson on one of the rides home from work on a day that I had to ride the bus. (hour 1/2 ride, what a pain) for those of you that don't know I don't finish at the studio until around 10:30. Because I was distracted so much by Kaylie I missed my transfer bus, the last one of the night. So no problem, with half my concentration on finishing talking to Kaylie and half on how the heck am I going to get home I stuck out my thumb, not thinking it would work but feeling better at taking some type of action until I could devote the problem full attention. I'm there a minuet and just as I finish talking to kaylie a car full of Mexicans pull over. I hoped in and we started drive. Found out they didn't know any English, non existent vocabulary, and they were my age. Who my age in California does not know how to speak any English, I know who, I met all three of them. Of course lazy me hasn't learned Spanish yet (all you talented, bi-lingual people make me clench my teath real hard and wish i was an MK that grew up in another country, not really, completely) anyway, luckily it was pretty much straight dive all the way home so i just motioned "keep driving for 20 min. and made it. Kids, don't try this in America.

a letter i wrote for Heidi Tullman's newsletter

"To the people who were apart of the best year of my life, I wish it could of been longer, but all things have to come to an end. I still haven't quite figured out what made the time at Capernwray so unique and special. It seems more and more that way the farther away we get. i guess that's what happens when you throw a goup of people into a castle for so long with a little dash of creativity and willingness to grow and experience in the mix. It was one of the most growing year in my life so far. There are things that i feel I've learned and taken away from each of you. If you know it or not you were observed and learned from by others. (mmmh. the melting pot effect. gotta love it) Since we left i haven't kept in touch with all of you, but would like too. It is just not practical. But I love recieving e-mails and will answer them, no matter what they are. (benisin@gmail.com) seriously, if you want to contact me about anything just drop me a line. i check my email after work every night. Tell me what those that you have kept in contact are doing because alot of people don't like to toot their own horn. That is part of the reason I appreciate so much Heidi putting together this newsletter. Thanks Heidi! I am not one of those that minds tooting his own horn by the way. For those of you that don't know I started training as a ballroom dance instructor when i came back to California. Sort of by chance because i wasn't planning on continuing seriously in dancing. I have now started working at an Arthur Murry studio in Costa Mesa and get paid well. I also moved out of my parents home in Bakersfield to OC (Orange County!) This has the added benefit of the beach and after Capernwray turning me into such a well rounded person it was hard to go back to taking my mom's opinions as law. Overall it was just time for me to go. The slightly less glamorous side to my life is that i am living in the corner of someone's garage with their dog (literally) as i am trying to get the money together to find a place to live. OC is expennnsssive! Another fun fact on the dark side of a coin that i call my life that many of those that hitch-hiked with me will appreciate is that I have hitch-hiked out of necessity since I have returned to the States. Not far but with completely non-English speaking Mexicans. Anyway, if any of you don't mind riding some of the ups and downs of my life with me feel free to come visit. Honestly, anyone, anytime. And if your ever curious what Ben is up to I have a blog that i try to keep current. www.true2life.blogspot.com Other than that I'm out. To All Benjamin Clark-Mitchell" if you want the newsletter contact heidi tullman

Rob MacAlister, Happy Birthday

Sorry i missed your birthday. i didn't even know when it was. here is a picture tribute to the birth of Rob MacAlister.

Violine Concerto

for those of you that know me well you'll love this story because you'll see how similar my family is. So my younger siblings are all staying down at the beach with my mom and every morning there is a long line of people waiting for the boat to catalina island. so my siblings take there violines (just violines not big harps) and go play for the people, at 8:00 in the morning, every morning. they were make about $60 between the 3 of them every morning in an hour of playing. Noah, i hope you like my brother standing there with his harp in the picture because he reminds me so much of the nights you would stand there and play your violine in our room. gotta love the fam

Ballroom Dance

It all started at Capernwray. I've got a great new job as a Ballroom dance instructor and i'm loving it. it was about 6 weeks of training everyday and now that i am teaching i get more training every day. I think i can officially thank Sarah Rowley for getting on this unexpected route. i hear she is in a dance troupe now or something in Canada. Anyway, just wanted to put out there that i have a new amazing job and i am living in OC, and enjoying the beach. out

Beth Gross Shop'd

this is just a picture that i made while trying to figure out more how photoshop works and i liked the way it turned out. Yeah Beth, it's a picture of you.

.

Wednesday, August 31

Leslie Fidler, Sara Clerc, and a friend

Tuesday, August 30

I couldn't help but publish this email from Chris S.

Sunday, August 28

thought #5

Saturday, August 27

I'm either the best or stupidest window washer alive

thought #4

Friday, August 26

Ken (Ace of All Trades)

Thursday, August 25

world's ugliest dog (click here)

let me out!

Washing the Clouds

Wednesday, August 24

Thought #3

Let the Weddings begin!

Capernwray Craziness

Thought #2

Tuesday, August 23

Tree Spirit

Monday, August 22

dance competition

Friday, August 19

Color isolation pictures for Josh

Thursday, August 18

dancing, dancing, dancing

all hail the wonders of mac

Thought #1

Burning Grandparents Home

Castle Construction

Wednesday, August 17

Black Forest Academy

Tuesday, August 16

Should i con the US postal service?

Krazy Kaylie Weekend

New interesting music i found

Sunday, August 14

Audio from my siblings

Thursday, August 11

me and my mime

Wednesday, August 10

405 freeway gore

Hitch-Hiking

Tuesday, August 9

a letter i wrote for Heidi Tullman's newsletter

Rob MacAlister, Happy Birthday

Sunday, August 7

Violine Concerto

Thursday, August 4

Ballroom Dance

Monday, August 1

Beth Gross Shop'd

Links

Previous Posts

Archives