Saturday, December 27, 2008

going home for Christmas

Hey everyone! Happy New Year and a belated Merry Christmas. I am sitting on my sister-in-law's couch in the tiny village of Magnetewan, which is four hours north of Toronto. It is 10:33 currently. Unlike Nova Scotia, there is snow everywhere. Tons of it. And I can wait to go out in it today. Ice skating is on the agenda, along with the thrill of getting pulled behind a snowmobile on a sled. It's gonna be saaweet!

We're going to be up here for two weeks and it will be a very nice break from our busy lives of the past five months.

We flew on Porter Airlines yesterday to Toronto. The plane had propellers instead of jet propulsion. Very retro! They served beer on the plane and let me tell you; a beer at 30 000 feet makes the anxiety melt away! Anyways, after we landed, Ruth and I had to take a shuttle to the Royal York Hotel and from there, we headed to the Subway. A guy we met in the Subway was asking for directions to Missaussaga from Ruth and I. He was from Peru and didn't speak much English. He asked Ruth if I was a Latino. That was a first!

So we got on the Subway and headed to the Yorkdale Mall where Ruth's brother Matt met us at the GAP. Oh, going through the mall on Boxing Day in Toronto was what I imagine to a small glimpse of Hell to be. It was literally a zoo in there only without the cages. It was packed person to person and we had to drag our luggage through the massive crowds. Luckily we found Matt and got the heck out of there!

And now we are here. Last night was fun. Caught up with the family, made plans for today and just relaxed.

So yeah, that's it!

Bye!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Free music

Who doesn't like free music?

Check out www.myspace.com/ruthandsean

Hope you enjoy!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Am I missing something?

I'm usually not a very content person. I often become obsessed with how I can upgrade my current job. I, like my fellow man, seek to find every flaw possible in my superior and how the work is carried out. I end up feeling frustrated, abused and exhausted (the joy's of physical labour). So is my answer to quit and move on to some other job where I will encounter the same set of logistic problems? I'm not entirely sure.

You see, when Ruth and I moved here in July, I had high hopes The Chronicle Herald would hire me full-time. I was fresh off a month of a stellar internship at the Belleville Intelligencer. I was hungry for stories and felt I had enough experience (combined with a year's work of campus reporting) to jump in the big pond. Unfortunately, this was not the case and I ended up landscaping for three weeks; the complete opposite of journalism. Needless to say, it upset me and I didn't do anything about it until the job started taking a toll physically on my body. I gave my boss a weeks notice. The excitement of leaving propelled me to start looking for journalistic employment. At the time, the Herald was looking for freelance photographers to shoot for their business/advertising department. Not quite what I was looking for but I figured it was better than nothing. And it looks good on my resume.

So I started taking picture of Herald clients. Shook hands, smiled and pressed click. Not bad money for two hours worth of work. Oh, I also had to find another job because this one wasn't steady. So after a few family connections and phone calls, I began working for Coca-Cola Bottling Enterprises. I was sure this job would be less difficult than weeding, mowing and sweating for 12 hours a day. I was wrong. You see, I expected to just be filling coolers in gas stations and such, but I was wrong again. It is the most physically demanding job I've ever had and it is destroying my body. I'm sure I won't stay after Christmas which means I have to quit and find another job. I guess I'm establishing a pattern in my life. Ideally, I would like to be a full-time journalist but that just doesn't seem realistic in Nova Scotia. All j-work opportunity lies in the West and we're not sure we want to move so far away from both families. So, it seems I am stuck. And feeling stuck is a feeling that is hard to shake off.

So to keep my mind fresh, I began editing my sister's Grade 10 English papers. I'm actually keeping my average above 90 per cent which is good. I am also sporadically writing in a book I someday hope to publish. Yeah.

Ok, that's it for today.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

thoughts (i'm back)

As I was driving down Oxford Street today to pick up Ruth, aside from feeling the cool Fall air brush past my face at a neat 60km before slowing down to stop at the intersection, I was troubled to see a homeless man asking people in their cars for change. The path he walked on must have been at least 50 feet or so. It has been like this for two weeks now. Some days, car people give him some change while others awkwardly pretend he's not banging on their window. It is also unusual for me because every time I reach for whatever change I have left, the light turns green and I have to go just before he gets to my car. The homeless man has saved me quite a bit of money.

However, these are not the thoughts I wanted to share. What I was really musing about was this: When someone passes by a homeless person, do they validate themselves as a good person by giving the homeless person whatever change leftover from their expensive lunch or shopping excursion? Do I, Sean McMullen, really think 75 cents will change that mans life and then I can move on, thinking "I helped the poor!"? It is sadly true. But, I have learned coins and bills aren't the answer. I believe time spent with them, caring for them and listening to their story is worth far more than a few quarters and pocket lint.

Don't get me wrong. If you have money, it is a good thing to give it to someone less fortunate. It is tough however to gauge how they will use it, whether for drugs or alcohol. You'll never know unless you use that money to take them out for an expensive lunch or buy them some new clothes.

Or something like that.

It's good to be back in the blog hemisphere.

Friday, June 06, 2008

on the move

Hey folks,

For those of you who haven't heard, Ruth and I will be moving to Halifax in mid-July. It is a recent decision but one that has been gnawing at our minds for a few months now. We don't really know what we're going to do when we get there but we feel it is the right step for our life at the moment.

Friday, April 25, 2008

bonjour!

Last published February 19? It's hard to believe I still remember this thing. Well, I'll tell you in point form some life moments of the past couple months.

- Finished college and will be graduating in June
- Completed an internship at the city paper (to which I say, "That was friggin' awesome"
- Found out Ruth and I were going to Myrtle Beach, then found out we weren't
- We have about 7-8 songs we've been trying to practice. Demo recordings are on our to do list
- My winter tires are getting changed over today
- I'm grateful for so many new bands to listen to (Wilco in particular)

I'll try and update again

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

prayer please

My parents had an accident on their way to Ontario and my mom went to the hospital with neck fractures. My dad hurt his back.

I don't know who reads this but can you pray for my parents? I would really appreciate it and I know they would too.

Sean

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A collection of some things I've been pecking away at

*Editor's Note - The first is a song I recently wrote. The second is something I'm trying to desperately figure out.



I Want None Of This

Capo 3
A F# E

Verse 1:

Killing in God’s name
I want none of this
Stealing from the poor
I want none of this
Forgetting who you are
I want none of this

Chorus:

Could you look the other way while I try to hide?
Burying myself in a cloak of black

Verse 2:

And I forget sometimes
I want none of this
And I run all day
I want none of this
Far away from You
I want none of this

Bridge / Chorus

And all I can think of is you
Coming after me
The sound of your army
is louder than my cries

Copyright - Sean David McMullen



Luke 12:31 – A small look into something vast

“Seek first the kingdom of God above all else and you will be given everything you need.”

What does it mean to seek?

How do you seek? Is it through consistent prayer? Going to church? Reading your Bible? These all sound great and they are. Don’t get me wrong. But something tells my heart there is more to the kingdom than those things.

An online dictionary website provides nine examples of the word seek. Only several were helpful. Seek when used as a verb – to go in search or quest of is used as “to seek the truth.” Another example used is to try to find or discover by searching or questioning—to seek the solution to a problem.

I found an article on the Internet pertaining to this verse. David R. Bickel said, “The first step in understanding what it means to seek the kingdom of God is to determine what Jesus meant by "his kingdom." This is because Jesus used the word translated as kingdom in a way that is very different from the typical usage of kingdom in English as the land or people ruled by a king.”

Judging from the range of definitions for the word, seek is a verb. A pirate sought after the gold doubloons. I will seek the answer that baffles me.

However, in the context of the verse, can we seek out God on our own accord? Would we? By our most basic nature, we reject our Creator, so why would we seek Him and what he has to offer? We can do it ourselves, right?

Wrong.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

organization

I need to get a box to put junk in.

See ya!

Sean

Monday, February 04, 2008

a microphone explodes

Wow. I forgot I had this blog.

Well, it's about time I say something. Yesterday marked the first Superbowl in five years I never watched. But you know what's funny, I didn't really miss it. I hung out in Kingston with some close friends and it was fun.

I'm on my couch right now with my little cat Thomas perched on my chest. We're watching some Rage Against the Machine on TV and enjoying it.

Ruth is writing on the computer right now.

Umm... I'm in a good place in my life and really looking forward to end of this month.

see ya!