Another Update, So You Know I Am Still Alive

Here I am again with only 18 more days until school is over. There are a lot of you I really miss, but fear not, I will soon be free of school work. I just wanted to say that things are going pretty so so. I have a lot of work to do and very little time to do it. I would suggest steering clear of me for those next 18 days….my answer to just about everything will, or at least should be, "no" anyway. On the brighter side I am really enjoying being a part of the Jr. Higher’s Mortar Groups, at which I am one of the leaders. Those kids are nuts! but at the same time pretty entertaining and definitively worthwhile. Well, tomorrow I need to put together a case statement for the church, say a prayer for me….I will probably be pulling my hair out throughout. God Bless.

-Penner
P.S. Music is gone.

Just a Lackluster Update

So I guess I lied when I said I wouldn’t update this until mid March…so how do you like the music? A bit strange wouldn’t you say? Well guess what? Strange is fun…so just relax and attempt to enjoy. Anyway, school is going so-so. I aced my History midterm and completely and utterly bombed my Organizational Development midterm- “you got to take the wins with the losses,” my brother said. First time in my UW career I have done this bad on an exam though. My only worry is that this will hurt my chances of graduate school. On the bright side, I need to humble myself a bit and that is what this failing showed me. Not to mention worst case scenario is that I just end up with a Bachelors degree, should graduate school become out of reach...I could live with that. My life has been taking some interesting turns lately though, mostly with realization of myself and the people around me. Human beings are so complex and fascinating, the things we battle or except in ourselves…wow. Not to mention the new people in my life…again, wow…didn’t see that coming, but I am enjoying the diversity. So yeah, anyway, now that midterms are over I will start working on the churches grant proposal this week. I really hope this thing comes together beautifully; it would be so nice to help the church out financially with this purposeful act of philanthropy. Oh! speaking of philanthropy, I updated the entry “The Bravern Bellevue.” Some new shops have been released- most noteworthy of which, Ferragamo. So yeah, I am still insanely busy so please avoid calling me until mid March…ok, maybe one call would be nice though…but that’s it! All right, hope you Valentines Day was better than mine and have a nice week, God Bless.

-Penner

Chinese New Year Fun

Living in Bellevue now, it is much easier to visit Seattle and what it has to offer. Today my Bellevue family and I visited China Town Seattle where they were celebrating the Chinese New Year. There were some performances and cultural this and that, which was fun and interesting. Here are a few pics from the day, enjoy:

My crazy brother and a Chinese performer

China Town

We ate here

Overall a pretty fun day, to be honest the best part was visiting the aquariums in China Town...got myself a new guppy for my 1.66gallon freshwater :)

Enjoy the stuperbowl and God Bless

-Penner

Friday & Saturday

My Friday and Saturday were quite good; in fact they might even be on the edge of greatness. Friday was a day of days for me on the account that I finally, after years of wanting to, visited the Seattle Premium Outlets in Tulalip (not exactly located in Seattle). This outlet mall was by far the best I have ever been to. Coach, Burberry, Hugo Boss, Michael Kors, Juicy Couture, Movado, Cole Haan….it was all there and at deep discounts! To accompany me on this valiant excursion was the lovely Bethany and Hwa Young- very fun day, with some very good deals.

Coach Outlet with Bethany and Hwa Young

Bethany and Hwa Young

Saturday my Bellevue family, my friend Devin, and I explored Pike Place Market in Seattle which was pretty cool and interesting (I much prefer Bellevue to Seattle though). Later, Devin and I explored downtown Bellevue and its many wonders and amenities. I have to tell you Bellevue never ceases to surprise me…such a wonderful place to live. I am having trouble understanding Tacoma, and what makes people want to live there- to each their own.

Pike Place and Hwa Young with banana ears

Great Weekend
God Bless

-Penner

One More Fish Tank

It must seem like all I think about is aquariums...truth is I sometimes think about cars too. Actually these past few weeks have kind of been an exception for the fish/reef tankness in my life, so chances are after this post you won't hear about fish or fish tanks for some time. None the less.... My grandfather recently started another one, this time a bit larger than his 10 gallon. He upgraded to a 55 gallon tropical freshwater:

Pretty cool....again if anyone ever wants to set up a tank I would be happy to help.

God Bless

-Penner

Fresh Water...I May Need to get Used to This

I don't know how long you all expected me to go in Bellevue without my own personal fish tank? I have a disease, much like alcoholism...except mine is with aquariums :) So, since I left my 75 gallon saltwater reef in Tacoma, I felt that I needed a little aquarium to myself (and Saben) here in Bellevue (to help ease the separation anxiety). So here it is, my 1.66 gallon freshwater fish tank. The stock list includes two male guppies and a kuhli eel loach.

1.66 gallons in all it's glory

The eel loach

P.S. A special thank you to Dianna for helping make this possible.

Bellevue is rad, God Bless.

-Penner

Fun in the Snow

I'm not going to say much here, everyone got and enjoyed (hopefully) the snow . But I just wanted to post a few of my sledding adventure pics with friends for friends. Enjoy.

Sleeping bag sledding???

Stiek

Donald

Stephanie

Abominable Snowzach

Ace...so stoked on life to play in the snow

Northwest Hardcore Snow Crew: From left to right, Steve, Fische, Justin (Stiek), Ryan, Zach, Cody, Donald, Stephanie, Spencer (taking picture) Kinda looks like Cody is punching Stephanie, but I assure you no one was hurt in the taking of this picture.

Good Times

God Bless

-Penner

Umm...

Made the Dean's List this quarter at UW (just in case you needed verification of my brilliance). Pretty good for someone who doesn't even buy the books for his classes.

I will be signing autographs at the UWT bookstore this Friday (If I can find it).

-Penner

I'm Blue Da Ba Dee

Only one more week until this quarter of school is over, and I am super stoked on life about it. And yes, this means only one more quarter until I am done for good. So anyway, this past week has been pretty fun and exciting. Of course like everyone my family celebrated Thanksgiving which was awesome. I also got my new reef lights :), which I am super super stoked on.

I really don’t feel like writing so I will, for the most part, do this entry pictorially, enjoy:

Thanksgiving dinner at the Seitz house

Saben, Thanksgiving day...he is growing up fast

Just decorated my houses Christmas tree...it could use some more decoration, but I did what I could with what I had

NEW LIGHTS!!! super-duper blue 20,000k!

My newest coral, Galaxia if I am not mistaken

Well, I am going to bed now because I am totally beat from working doors at the Viaduct Venue. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and God Bless.

-Penner

A Fish-Bit

I am getting new lights for my reef on Thursday!!! 20,000K!!! There are going to be SUPER BLUE!!! I just wish I could afford more coral :( It would help justify the $100.00 price tag per bulb....that's PER bulb....as in each (4 all together). I can't wait until I am done with school and can properly support my reef tank financially. Of course when that happens I will upgrade to a 125 gallon (mine is a 75 gallon). Expect some new fish tank pics within the next week.

God Bless

-Penner

Reject That Which Has So Conveniently Been Put In Front Of You

Have you ever been to a large city and seen all the thousands of different people doing different things, and realized how incredibly small the world you surround yourself with is? Your job, school, church, family, friends- there are billions of people on this earth and to think that your coincidental relationships are the best out of possible billions is a little ignorant…don’t you think? There is always someone better out there for you, or at least there could be, we ultimately could never know. My point is this; we have to change regularly and put ourselves in different situations, play the field, overturn some rocks and get dirty. Sure, again, it is impossible to find the “in every way perfect” person, school, or church, even if most likely there is one out there, but we should at least put an effort forward to do so. It is hilarious to me, how at my former church people would boyfriend/girlfriend swap as if their fellow church people were it for them…like there was no one else out there for them to choose from. This type of thought is incredibly asinine to me. What a small world they live in…so boring and predictable. I will never be like them, I deserve better than that. Settling, is such a terrible thing.

It is time to shake things up a little and see what happens. I will begin by going to a new church. I have attended Praise Covenant for well over a decade and in that time (with the possible exception of Mia) have received more spiritual insight during five minutes in the mall parking lot from strangers, then in all my time there. I have never really fit in there; they were the ones who drew the line though, not me. With me, they were always welcome; I would never leave one of them out. It is such an incredible shame when churches exclude people.

Anyway, despite what you may have heard I most likely will not be attending the Catholic Church, I just wanted to see what people would say. I more than likely will be attending Urban Grace Church in downtown, because I can walk there and it seems like a good place to start…so we will see.

I hope you don’t think I have deleted you from myspace, in actuality it was my myspace that was deleted…so I hope there is no hard feelings. I really only got back on to get peoples e-mails. Sorry for putting you through that again.

Well I really wanted to put some pictures of my fish tank up for this entry because Saturday I did its bi-monthly water change and it looks amazing right now. I am sure that most of you have seen it though, so I guess you’re really not missing out on anything that mind captivating. For those of you who heard about Murphy’s accident, he has made a full recovery and is back to his old flirtful self.

Next quarter of school (starts early January) is going to be nuts as I will more than likely be taking on 20 credits which includes an “internship.” I will still be graduating in March from UW with a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts and Science- General Studies, and with a minor in Nonprofit Business Management. So that will be nice and I am really looking forward to my grad party in June which is going to be awesome- everyone is invited.

To end, school is starting to heat up now so I will have very little free time from now until mid December. None the less, feel free to give me a call or come chill within that timeframe…word is we turned the hot tub back on (idk how true this info is) but if you need to come relax in our tub, I would be more than happy to oblige your wishes should the rumor be true.

I will now leave you with a word of advice that my good friend Jonny gave me (Jonny is the black dude who wears the colorful suits in the Tacoma Mall):

“Instead of telling God how big your problem is, tell your problem how big God is”

God Bless

-Penner

Not Quite Thanksgiving Yet But...

When life gets you down you have to consider what is good in your life, what you are thankful for. Over the years I have been slowly and carefully surrounding myself with some of the finest freethinking people this earth currently knows. Meticulously, I have picked the myriad that is my best friends. Each one different and unique in their own way- each one I love more then life its self. They after all, are my life. Here is a little tit-bit about them. In no particular order:

Andrea: My buddy, always there with a caring mind when I need her, always there with a glass of wine and a chick flick to ease my mind. I love shopping with her (and I think Daniel loves it too…so he doesn’t have to). When I am with Andrea I can be myself, I can relax. Her insecurities and my insecurities are the opposite, which together makes us one really confident or really insecure person…usually confident though. I always have fun with her. Our friendship is built up on a foundation of respect. Other then that one time she forgot to pick me up…I have never felt rejected, down, or worthless when with Andrea (and Dan). She is my true best friend, my #1 buddy, my amiga, and I am so thankful just to know her.

Stephanie: The Denny’s friend, the best friend that I can’t seem to get rid of. I am pretty sure I have clocked in more hours with her then anyone else on this earth. In the past month I have seen her 8 out of every 10 days…at least. I love being with Stephanie. I love pushing her buttons. I love making things awkward. I love laughing with her. We always have a good time. We always push the bar. We regularly try new things. I care for her like I would a sister; I think I treat her pretty much like a sister. None The less I love her, and no matter what, will always have a special place for my Stephanie. Always.

Bethany: What can I say about the sweetest, kindness, most awesome human that has ever lived? Bethany is my hero. She is the model of how people should live and think, the closest thing we have to perfection. She is my ideal friend. She respects people, she cares about people, she is there for you, oh!, and she loves shopping and has good taste. Perfect. Bethany is the best. With her I always feel loved and comfortable. She is and will forever be one of my best friends and I love her to death.

Hannah: Oh my Hannah, we have had so many good times together. Remember the time you stole $8 from me? I forgive you. I miss the days of chillin at the mandolin. But alas, we both go to universities now and thus are busy. You have no idea how much I miss you. Just hanging out with you is so much fun. Talking “stuff” about the church and friends…I miss that so. Don’t forget about me as you make all these cool new friends. I do and will always have a place in my heart for my Hannah. MY HANNAH!!!

Ashley: Some day I am going to buy you a “nigger fish” (aka Niger Trigger). Every time I see one now I nearly hit the floor laughing. That is one of the many things Ashley brings me, the gift of laughter- also unconditional love and understanding. She is a true friend, and I love her so much for it. I will never under any circumstances part with her. She forces me to try new things and make a fool of myself and I love every second of it. When I am with her, I am 8 years old again. Who can I say I have had better times with? We can do so much with so little. I LOVE HER!, not a day goes by I don’t think about my Ashley down there in Cali.

Rhona: Oh my precious Rhoner! I miss her SO much. I miss her more then anything or one ever. Every day I wish I was giving her a hug and ordering us some Mojitos. She is and will always be one of my best friends; I don’t care in the least how long we are apart. She is the older sister I wish I had. She is the cherry on top of my Andrea and Ashley Sundae. She is one of the best advise givers ever, because lets face it, what hasn’t Rhona done? She is amazing. I miss and love her.

Meredith: Even though our friendship has taken a huge hit ever since she got that pesky boyfriend of hers, I hope she knows she is still one of my best friends- I won’t let that change. Meredith is fun and sobering at the same time. She keeps me in check; she won’t let me get too carried away. At the same time I have so much fun with her. She is such a good friend to have.

Kyle: Ehh…who cares?


Ok those are some of my best friends. I do have a lot of really cool, really loved, friends that are worth mentioning too. In no particular order:

Mia: What an awesome friend and dare I say mentor? Always inviting, always there with a well rounded word of advice.

Jamie: FUN. I love her never wavering hugs. She is so caring and kind. Also keeps me on the right track at times…or at least tries to.

Dianna: My fish tank bud. Truly a great person to talk with and receive insight from, and a great friend that I am enjoying getting to know better.

Rebecca Jodine (aka Becky Jo): Is a delight. I love her, and wouldn’t trade our friendship for anything.

Alaina: You know what Alaina, you are a better friend then I think you think you are.

Alexis: Always makes me smile. She is like no one else on this earth and I will never let her go because of this.

Nichole: What a b-day present giver! I love her dearly and it was so nice finally meeting her adorable baby girl.

Female Bobbi: Umm, there is no one other then myself that knows more about me then Bobbi. She is the least judging person ever, and we have no secrets. I love her and am looking forward to chillin with her and Will soon.

Ali: My heart always skips a beat when I see her at church. I love her… she is amazing and so talented.

Traci: I look forward to knowing her better, I love the way she views life. She makes me laugh.

Darren, Josh, and Devin: Cool dudes.


I feel better now. I feel loved, and I love you all. God Bless.

-Penner

School, Friends, and Life

Life is funny, and not just in the comical sense. It amazes me how quickly people that are important, can disappear from our lives. Time it seems, whether past, present, and most likely the future can be just as much an enemy as a friend. I guess it really all depends on ones perspective or attitude. Currently a lot is changing, both in my life and some of the lives around me. It scares me deeply to loose friends, especially when there is nothing I can do about it. On the other hand such is life, and I guess all I can really do is keep my head held high and move on- hopefully to better things.

My summer ends tomorrow. School starts and I am happy to say that for the first time I got into a class that I wanted/needed. My classes consist of Black Labor, Grant Writing and Fundraising, and International Interactions. Random, I know. With that said though, this was a great summer, however short. I did do summer classes so I could get a head start on the “real world.” As soon as summer classes were over, I got a month break, which was full of good times such as the Italian Concours d’ Elegance, camping at Millerslyvania, and of course the Oregon Coast Aquarium (featured below).

I am excited to see what life has in store for me over the next year, I am sure it is going to be like nothing I have ever seen before. I will graduate, and I will be out on my own (more or less). I can only hope that the people that come into my life this year will be as fantastic as the ones that have stayed with me or drifted away. Time, hopefully being a friend, will tell. God Bless.

-Penner

For My Online Friends

So here I am blogging now...who'd a thunk. The main reason for this is to create some form of connection between myself and my online friends and family. This blog is an opportunity for me to keep people updated (mostly about myself), and express my thoughts and self. This will be a big change for me, but I am always pro-change, without change we never grow- it is so important to try new things. Even if our new change brings failure it is worth it. A wise man once told me that "failing is succeeding," and I don't doubt this quote for a second, if you give it some thought I doubt you will either. On top of that I just think it will be fun. So to conclude, I would love to welcome you to my new blog, I will post regularly, and I hope you visit often and enjoy. God Bless.

-Penner