WORLDS ARE FORMING

Recent Posts

  • Not what I thought this summer would hold.
  • Serious business.
  • Have you seen Jesus my Lord?
  • I love my job.
  • My lament: I didn't realize I live in Antarctica.
  • Beautiful Boy by David Sheff
  • The Guest Room.
  • Too Much Snow + Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar.
  • WILBUR HUCKLE: He Has His Freedom
  • The Wizard of Oz. Or, What Have I Done?

Recent Comments

  • gitidwile on Burt Reynolds Day at Princeton Seminary.
  • sobbiortBrent on Elisabeth.
  • Illublike on Elisabeth.
  • dynctildins on Elisabeth.
  • hiefiashy on Elisabeth.
  • NuammaTot on Elisabeth.
  • online jobs on I love my job.
  • MelienseSarse on 2,821 Miles of Sheer Goodness.
  • Quoperulleype on 2,821 Miles of Sheer Goodness.
  • Agexuague on 2,821 Miles of Sheer Goodness.

Friends

  • Adam Walker Cleaveland
  • Amy Porter
  • April Szuch
  • Becca Sanders
  • Dan Morehead
  • Don Coleman
  • Erin Dung
  • Hannah Snelling
  • Janelle Stauffer-Boothby
  • Jenny Smith
  • Jill Good
  • Kyle Garst
  • Liam O'Donnell
  • Melissa Bills
  • Meredith Holladay
  • Michael Chapman
  • Michelle Sanders
  • Orangette
  • Rebecca Jordan Heys
  • Reno Lauro
  • Robert & Heather Mitchell
  • Todd Hiestand

Listening To...

  • Rogue Wave -

    Rogue Wave: Asleep at Heaven's Gate

  • The Innocence Mission -

    The Innocence Mission: We Walked in Song

  • Brandi Carlile -

    Brandi Carlile: The Story

  • Jose Gonzalez -

    Jose Gonzalez: Veneer

  • Rosie Thomas -

    Rosie Thomas: These Friends of Mine

  • Patty Griffin -

    Patty Griffin: Children Running Through

Reading...

  • Sittser: Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries

    Sittser: Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries

  • Sheff: Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction

    Sheff: Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Meth Addiction

  • Buechner: The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days

    Buechner: The Sacred Journey: A Memoir of Early Days

Not what I thought this summer would hold.

Denise My aunt Denise died unexpectedly on June 17th here in Spokane.  I hadn't seen her for several months, even though we lived three miles apart.  It was a privilege to serve her and my family during that crazy week.  I find it hard to believe that a month has passed since that week she died, a week which is both foggy and vivid in my mind.

This picture was taken last summer on a liberating trip Denise took by herself to my Dad and Mom's farm.  I now hold memories from her visit really close.

I was out reading at a coffee shop today when Frederick Buechner's words in The Sacred Journey struck me, words pertaining to his experience of his father's death.

"God speaks to us through our lives, we often too easily say.  Something speaks anyway, spells out some sort of godly or godforsaken meaning to us through the alphabet of your years, but often it takes many years and many further spellings out before we start to glimpse, or think we do, a little of what that meaning is.  Even then we glimpse it only dimly, like the first trace of dawn on the rim of night, and even then it is a meaning that we cannot fix and be sure of once and for all because it is always incarnate meaning and thus is alive and changing as we are ourselves alive and changing." (41)

I miss Denise a lot - her laugh, her voice, her loyalty, herself, and am grateful to God to have known her.  I appreciate Buechner naming the fact that meaning changes even as we change, that as we try to figure out this loss of Denise, we will be learning, we will be changed. 

So the task now is to continue to look for Denise's legacy in my life and in the life of our family.

July 20, 2008 at 01:34 AM in Current Affairs, Faith | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Serious business.

Saturday night, I sit in my living room, hear some rumbling outside.  Curious, I go to my office window and see two men in full camoflauge fatigues climbing out from the pit below the window.

I open the window. 

"Gentlemen," I say, "What are you doing?" I say.

Instead of running, they earnestly exclaim,

"Well...there were these girls...they were NINJAS...we had to run from them!"

Onnnnnnly here.  Camouflaged men running from Ninja women.

May 06, 2008 at 01:04 PM in How to make me laugh. | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Have you seen Jesus my Lord?

He's here in plain view...

Have_you_seen_jesus_my_lord_2

Ha.  Seriously.  In my couch, thanks to the aid of my niece's jeans.  I think I'll start charging admission to my apartment.  AND.  No one will ever sit on that cushion again.  Ever.

April 20, 2008 at 02:50 PM in How to make me laugh. | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

I love my job.

N59401856_30629673_7596 Spent the last day with my RAs, having an in-town retreat. 

We did an Italian mobster murder mystery, and I was both host and the family priest, Father AlFredo.  Old Pepi Roni (seen in the picture) was murdered by one of the guests.

It was a brilliant time. 

Our menu included a dinner prepared by me: ensalata caprese, caesar salad, bread, rigatoni, and tiramisu. 

Hooray for old-timey photos!  Great time with amazing and hard-working people  I love my job.

April 06, 2008 at 07:51 PM in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

My lament: I didn't realize I live in Antarctica.

2_2
MARCH 29th 2008. I was going to go on a hike today.  Instead, I was awakened at 6:30 this Saturday morning to the sound of the small Bobcat snow plow clearing the concrete outside of my apartment.  AWESSSSSSOME.  Four inches of snow, we have a "heavy snow warning," and Spring Break is about to come to an end. 

I live in Antarctica.

If you'll excuse me, I am going to go weep salty tears into my cup of coffee.

March 29, 2008 at 10:16 AM in How to make me laugh. | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)

Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

So, I haven't been able to devour any books since Christmas break.  I've toyed with a few, but none have stuck...mostly because I didn't have time to commit to reading a sub-par book.

Beautiful_boy_2 At the end of this oddly snowy Spring Break, I've picked up Beautiful Boy by David Sheff - a story, as its subtitle states - about "a father's journey through his son's meth addiction." Just today, I sat at The Service Station,  pouring through this book.  Sheff writes honestly and the content is quite accessible and engaging.   (Both Anne Lamott and Thomas Lynch are quoted throughout the book, and his writing style is very similar.)

As a person who has studied, loved, and worked with addicted persons, I find this to be a "real" book.  Sheff's son Nic wrote a companion book, Tweak, which I imagine I might read after I am finished with this one.  I imagine that I will finish this book by the end of the weekend.   

I realize I am gushing over a book I have yet to finish...but even after reading just a few chapters, I really think it is worth checking out.

Has anyone else read it?

March 28, 2008 at 07:21 PM in Books | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

The Guest Room.

Dscf3677_2Dscf3673_2Dscf3674_2

Dscf3693Dscf3691Dscf3707Dscf3704Dscf3697
My favorite room in my apartment. Aaaaand, I don't spend much time in there. 

The guest room.  I finally finished it mid-January, and really am pleased with how it turned out.  It is approximately the size of a miniature matchbox, but it is a good little miniature matchbox.  I used things that belonged to my Grandpa Nicholls or Papa Cleveland as inspiration - or things that reminded me of them.  I want to add a few more things here and there: pictures of them in the service, some curtains, a little this and that.  You'll also see my orange "Josh" Attic Journal from Michelle on the trunk.  That's the guest book. 

When in Spokane, come, stay, and sign it, ok?  (Don't you dare say its too small.  If there are two of you, you can and will use my humongous bed while I happily sleep in the guest room.  I am a good host, promise.)

February 16, 2008 at 09:14 PM in My Photography | Permalink | Comments (22) | TrackBack (0)

Too Much Snow + Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar.

Dscf3591 Dscf3604
Winter is getting old in Spokane, and there isn't an end in sight. See the picture above?  That's looking out of one of my windows.   It hasn't stopped snowing here in over 24 hours.  I needed a good snack, and found a recipe for this Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar here.  (Some great looking recipes there, for sure!)  Here's to comfort food.

January 27, 2008 at 06:57 PM in Food and Drink | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

WILBUR HUCKLE: He Has His Freedom

He Has His Freedom is the newest album from my new favorite band: Wilbur Huckle. 

My favorite tracks: 1. Not So Crazy about the Crazy Cat Lady 4. Where's my Whiskas?  6. Don't Bother Me (I'm Kind of a Big Deal Around Here)  and 12. So Emo.

Wilbur_huckle_he_has_his_freedom

(Thanks to Adam, April, and Amy for helping to make me laugh.  My first time playing with Photoshop in awhile, too.  Good times.) 

January 26, 2008 at 01:55 PM in How to make me laugh., Music | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

The Wizard of Oz. Or, What Have I Done?

I joined Oz Fitness.  A gym. 

No, you are not reading the wrong blog...this IS Josh Cleveland's. 

A good friend has joined, and another might...so...let's see some magic happen.

January 09, 2008 at 01:24 PM in How to make me laugh. | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

»

About

My Photo

Photo Albums

  • Spring Blossoms...better late than never.
    Spring Semester 2007 || East Coast
  • What is this?!
    A Shot of the Day
  • Mmm.  Cheesesteak.
    Best Week Ever 2007!
  • Elisabeth and Uncle
    Christmas 2006
  • Burtreynoldssm
    Fall 2005 & 2006 Burt Reynolds Days
  • Dscf5457
    Fall 2005 || Disneyland
  • Good old New Jersey Transit train.
    Fall Semester 2005 || East Coast
  • Shrimp Bounty.
    Home || May 2005
  • Flat tire on our longest day of driving.
    January 2006 || Brotrip to Florida
  • That was a great day.
    Spring 2005 || East Coast
  • Old Man Bro, Bro, Alpha Male.
    Spring Semester 2006 || East Coast
  • Shaky face with the boys.
    Summer 2005 || Austin
  • Dscf4030
    Summer 2005 || Austin to Princeton
  • Sunset near Wichita Falls, TX.
    Summer 2005 || Seattle to Austin

Categories

  • Art
  • Blog Vulnerability
  • Books
  • Catching Up
  • Current Affairs
  • Faith
  • Film
  • Food and Drink
  • Games
  • How to make me laugh.
  • It's Not Bad to Be a Man.
  • Music
  • My Photography
  • On The Road to Austin 2005
  • On the Road to Princeton
  • Poetry
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Sermons
  • Sports
  • Television
  • Travel
  • Web/Tech
  • Weblogs
  • You know what hurts?

Archives

  • July 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007

July 2008

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
    1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31    
Blog powered by Typepad

...