brian mclaren has a new book out called the secret message of Jesus. i hate the title and i think i have probably vowed never to buy another book with a title like that again, because it seems to me like a gimmicky marketing tactic and i don’t want to succumb to marketing wizardry quite that easily. but, it is mclaren so i figured i would give it a shot.

i haven’t read the book yet, but judging by the subtitle (uncovering the truth that could change everything), and the current hype involving gnosticism and the da vinci code, i think i know what this secret is.

hint: it involves leonardo da vinci’s painting the last supper.

1.
this evening i did a load of wash for the second time at the laundromat on clay street. the first time was a little bit un-nerving, trying to look smooth while figuring out how these things work and all. i mean, seriously, there is nothing worse than looking clueless at a laundromat. i have no problem asking for directions when i drive somewhere and get lost, but it seems a fair deal more shameful to admit your need for help when it comes to laundry. it seems like something we should all just inherently know.

this laundromat is in a mini-strip-mall that also features an asian food market and a beer store. if you are of a similar demographic as i am and you are bored with being around people just like you all the time, you should hang out in this mini-strip-mall. asians frequent the asian market (shocking!), and probably two-thirds of those with business in the beer store or the laundromat are blacks and latinos. while i was sitting on the bench out on the sidewalk, reading a book while my clothes swirled around inside, a middle-aged white guy on a bicycle rolled up and went into the beer store. he had a basket on the back of his bike and in this basket was a portable radio. as he rolled away, i got an earful of linkin park for the first time in about four years, and i noticed that a small brown paper bag now accompanied the radio in the basket.

2.
also, here is a really interesting blog i came across.

see that picture? it is the only view the baseball world will have of seattle the rest of the year as the mariners speed ahead. the mariners have won five of their last six and are now two games out of first place in the wild wild american league west.

“it is only may” you may say. “and they are still below .500.”

true enough, but i don’t care. they are on fire. and this wildfire will continue raging until october when they knock out the yankees and the red sox in the playoffs (or maybe the tigers or white sox) and then stick it to the cardinals in the world series. for a hint of what it might sound like when they win in the first round of the playoffs, listen to this. the players, of course, will be different, but the idea will be the same.

it could be a confusing world series for casual baseball fans, seeing as the television abbreviations for seattle and st. louis are sea and stl, respectively, and i have known people to confuse stl for seattle. rookie mistake.

other world series predictions are welcome, but please know that yours are wrong. seattle over st. louis. take it to the bank.

first of all, i’d like to point out how awkward the word awkward is. i mean, it isn’t the smoothest way to spell a word. but anyhow…

my neighbor is a strange dude. he sits out on his porch all the time, smoking. sometimes his wife is with him, but a lot of times he is there by himself. i sometimes wonder if he actually has a job or if he is just a full-time smoker. anyway, i like to think i am a pretty friendly and personable guy, but for whatever reason, this neighbor and i have never really hit it off. several times, i would say hello and he would either totally ignore me, or act startled at my greeting as i walked through the door even though i know he watched me get out of my car and walk over towards him.

it gets weirder when i find out that my roommate josh has had quite a few conversations with the neighbor, mostly about the weather, but conversations all the same. one time, having been blown off by the neighbor once again as i walked in the front door, i said to josh that the smoker guy is such a weirdo and how he ignores me. josh then told me that our window was open and the guy probably heard what i said.

anyway, this evening as i walked out the door to go to c4 (which i highly recommend, by the way), i was about to just walk to my car, but i caught a wiff of that nicotine swirling through the air, so i turned and, seeing my neighbor in his normal seat, i greeted him with the typical “hey, how are you doing today?” he mumbled (and trust me, he is a mumbler) that he was ok, and i thought he said he was “just eating pizza.” i didn’t look to confirm this detail. as i unlocked my car, which was parked right in front of him, i felt like another question/comment was in order, so i said he had better enjoy the weather while he had it because next week it is going to be hot (i said this because i knew that he and josh talked about weather, and i had heard a heat wave was going to roll through). i said this in a very clear and coherent manner. it could not have been misunderstood. but he nodded and responded cheerfully, “yeah, i love peaches!”

stay tuned, because it is always an adventure on jimmy street.

one year ago today, i was here. it was amazing, but i was homesick.

at the end of derek webb’s song a new law, he sings “do not be afraid” sixteen times. i used to think this was pretty repetitive and pretty cool.

i admit, i still think it is pretty repetitive and pretty cool, but when i heard the first track on wilco’s album, kicking television: live in chicago, i was blown away. at the end of this song jeff tweedy rhytmically sings-yells-screams “nothing” thirty-two times.

i’m still waiting for the song with 64.