Category: Reflections

I had a really nice weekend.

Tamika went out on a date on Friday, and went to The Charles Theater in North Baltimore. We went to the Juong Kak Restaurant a couple blocks north of the theater. And the food was AMAZING. I am officially jealous of my Korean friends Mipa Lee and Sujy Yoon for having been able to eat this wonderful food their whole lives.

The restaurant, despite it’s unassuming outside appearance, is beautiful inside… all rough hewn wood furniture. Every table had a grill built into the middle of it. Tamika and I ordered variations of the same dish, and in 10 minutes our waitress brought us a platter with about 25 tiny bowls of vegetables, fish, and things I had never seen before, and two heaping slabs of meat, and scattered them all over the table. Then she slid open a section in the middle of the table and proceeded to barbecue our food in front of us! She was extremely open and friendly, and patiently talked us through the various ways we could eat our food.
And everything was delicious. I ate everything, and I loved everything. The meat was the best I’d ever tasted, sweet and slightly salty, with spices and herbs that made you feel like you were in heaven. If you ever have the remotest chance to ear Korean food, GO.

We then walked back to the Charles and decided to watch Nuovomondo (the Golden Door). It’s an Italian film that follows a rural family’s journey to the United States in the 1950’s. It’s a very strange movie, that flips between reality and fantasy… but it’s very well done. And it’s very relevant, given the struggles this country with immigration. If anything, it helped me to better understand what it must have been like for my Polish and Irish ancestors to come over to the “New World”.

On Saturday I had a big wedding with my good friend and photographer extraordinaire Jocelyn Mathewes; I assisted her in shooting the wedding of Jason and Kuren Morgan in Baltimore. I’ll post up pictures from it once I get them back from Jocelyn.

Sunday Tamika and I went to church with our old college friend Twi. Twi was in gospel choir with the both of us, and since he hails from Baltimore, we joined him at his church and then went out for lunch together.
I hope we get to hang out together more.

So, Tamika and I have come to an agreement on a name for our little baby. 🙂
If you’re just tuning in, a month ago we discovered that she will be a girl, and began narrowing down what we would like to name her.
Finally, on June 21st, we decided that we would name her Nya (pronounced Nah-yah).
We were at an India Arie concert. Tamika and I had bought tickets months ago, and invited as many friends as possible to join us. Only Aebony and Derek joined us, and we packed ourselves into the Rams Head Live, a music venue in downtown Baltimore.

The show was spectacular. We got decent “seats” (it was standing room only) up on a 2nd level balcony above the stage. And it was just amazing. She sang, played piano, guitar, and even played the flute. Changing or modifying her outfit for every song, after a short while she fell silent, and just looked out into the crowd.
“You know, I’ve got this setlist here…” she said, “And I don’t feel like singing it. There are other songs that I think you need to hear.”
And from that point on, she would go around and chat with her band to decide which songs to play. And play they did. Her musicians and singers were incredible. And Arie let them perform. She had them do solos, and invited them to dance around on the stage with her, and called on everyone in the place to sing along. At one point, she even stopped in the middle of the song, and pointed out into stage right. “Someone can sing over here.” she exclaimed, “No, seriously. I heard someone who can really sing. Who was it?” With that, she put the microphone down into the audience, and had girls pass it around singing the chorus of the song.

She sang songs from all three of her albums, and even gave us previews of “songs that may or may not make it on the next album”. She gave testimonies about her life and relationships, preached a sermon, and even brought her mother out on stage to sing with her.

Tamika had suggested the name Nya some time back, as a hybrid from what had been our favourite names up until that point. She had really like Neyla, and I like Nyrobi. Nya means “purpose” in Swahili, and as we listened to India Arie’s music wafting up from the stage, I told Tamika we should definitely name her that.

In my family, my father, my sister and me all share the initials BJ, while my mother and brother share NJ. We thought this might be a cool tie back to them as well.

The rest of that weekend was nice and relaxing. We traveled up to Philadelphia to visit her grandparents. I got to swim in the pool (one of my favourite things to do) and just rest. It was very nice.
On Sunday we got to go to downtown Philadelphia to see the musical “Hair” at the Prince Music Theater. I’m designing brochures for their upcoming cabaret and season, and so I was offered free tickets to come see their final show. It was very well done. Tamika and I got front row seats, and the performance literally happened all around us.
When I was at Messiah College, we performed Shakespeare’s “As You Like It“, but in a 1960’s setting. After seeing “Hair”, I now see how much our director, Valerie Rae Smith, pulled from the musical. We even opened with “Age of Aquarius” and sang “Let the Sunshine In”. My role was to be “William”, a minor character.

I’ve got the clutch on my motorcycle fixed, finally! Troy, a neighbor from down the street who is a highly-skilled handyman, helped me re-thread the cable and taught me how to adjust it with a screw on the side of the engine.
All I have to do now is buy some oil, a filter, and a new set of gaskets and it’ll be ready to run! Of course, I’ll have to take it to inspection (which it may not pass), but at least I’m headed in the right direction. I miss riding it…

Don’t worry about the wicked, or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.

Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence radiate like the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun…

part of Psalm 37, the Bible.

Tamika asked me what to read last night (we’ve been trying to get into the habit of reading to each other every night (usually it’s her reading to me), and without knowing why, I said “Psalm 37”. It turned out to be just what I needed.

If you can pray for us, we can use it right now. God is blessing in many ways, and I’ll talk about my fabulous weekend later… but right now we need some prayer.

..Girl!

So, I am a little (ok… very) late in delivering this, but we found out our baby (still affectionately known as “Munchkin”) is a girl!
We do have a couple names we’re considering, including Nayla & Nyrobi, and whole bunch of other ones.
But those are our favourites right now. You can see pictures of her here!

We drove out to Ohio this past weekend, to join Tamika’s old roommate Vinny and her fiance Paul for their wedding. Vinny was Tamika’s roommate in college, and she also lived with her after she graduated.
Cleveland is beautiful. Very very flat, but pretty. Rolling countryside, with lots and lots of trees, and Amish carriages every 500 feet. We were introduced and welcomed in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Miller, a couple that Vinny had gotten to know.
They reminded me a lot of my parents; just really nice welcoming people. Both in their 50’s, (though you’d never guess), she loves baking wedding cakes and cooking, and he loves archery, woodworking, pool, and makes his own wine. Yeah, you heard me. His own wine. He grows fruit trees in his yard (which is huge) and mixes it in with a “grape base” as he called it, and makes specialty wine which he stores down on enormous wine racks he also made himself. Very cool people.
We were miles from anything too, and it was the first time in a long time I really felt peaceful. I slept like a baby while we were there. It was just… quiet. It reminded me of home.

I miss home.

The storm was beautiful yesterday afternoon. It shook the whole building and beat against the large windows of my office.

I turned the music down low, and just listened to it.

I went outside and took some pictures of puddles. Here’s one of the ones that turned out nice:

It DID knock out my internet connection last night, though. So I wasn’t very productive last night.
I’m running 2 PCs in our tiny little office. One is serving as a Library (the slower one, with bigger hard drives) and the other is the one I work off of. So I spent the evening editing photos and sorting through files.

Tonight Tamika and I are going to her next doctor’s appointment. Just a routine checkup.
Tommorow evening, I’m going to be picking up some pictures I had framed.
I have an art show up in Harrisburg this weekend. You can check out the gallery of the art dealer who is running the show, or see them in my own gallery.

The Gallery opens on Saturday, May 19th, from 4PM – Midnight
The Cathedral Room (Above The Harrisburg Maennerchor)
221 North Street Harrisburg Pa. 17101
You can read more details about it here.

After dropping off the artwork, Tamika and I will be traveling to Philadelphia to photograph a wedding reception.

Aloha!
So, I’m writing this in between projects, ’cause it’s crazy & insane.
Want to work for me? Now’s the time. If you think you’d like to do some stuff for me, email me immediately and let me know what your skills are. If you can, I’ll work you in.

So my wonderful wife Tamika threw me a surprise birthday party on Saturday. I had NO idea at all. And I was surprised at all the people that came! Thank you all so much, all who came, sent me cards, wrote me emails and sent messages on Facebook. I feel very loved. 🙂 You have no idea how much I miss all of you (though Tamika knows, she hears about it all the time). 🙂
She got her parents to come, and her mom cooked the most amazing ribs & chicken wings… I brought some for lunch today. We watched our wedding DVD (I’ll be putting up clips on here sometime soon), ate food, laughed, talked… it was just really really nice. I was really floored. Thank you all sooo much. 🙂

I’m definitely planning more stuff this summer. Trips to the beach, barbeques & such.
We’re going to an India Arie concert on June 21st. Come with us! The tickets are only $35 (which is a steal).
I’ll post more events here, and also on Facebook as I think of them and plan them out.

We’re going to the doctor’s on May 24th for our second sonogram (you can read about the first one). I’m excited, because we might be able to find out whether it’s a boy or a girl. Some people advised me to bring a videotape, because they might let us record it. If they do, I’ll put it up.

Speaking of pictures n’ such, with the help of my Mom & Dad, I’ve been organizing the photos in my photo gallery. All of them except for a few on pg. 5 are organized by date & place.

I’ve got a couple projects I’m working on right now.
I just finished a brochure for a breakdancing company called Chosen Dance Company (I also did their website). You can find more like it in the Booklets section of my services.

I also just finished a business card for Funkai Dakii, a clothing designer. You can find more like it in the Stationary section. I’m going to be doing her website and doing a couple t-shirt designs for her as well, but nothing I can post until they’re being sold.

I’ll write more later. 🙂

Aloha!

I went to the 2007 Messiah College International Banquet with my good friend Timothy Laux tonight. Tamika had wanted to go and visit with one of her close friends, and Laux needed someone to hang out with (he’s been having a rough time), so we went.
It was very very weird.
I mean, the show was awesome, the food was excellent, and it was wonderful to see such great friends again.
But I was filled with an overwhelming feeling of loss and sadness. This is the very last group of ISA MuKappa kids that I know as close friends. I graduated from Messiah College in 2004, and they were the freshman class.
I know that everything on a college campus must cycle; the new come in and old go out… but I miss it. I really do. I miss being around such wonderful people. I know not everyone liked me; many thought I was too loud and too outspoken… but I can definitely say I cared very deeply for everyone. Even those I butted heads with on occasion. They are all dear friends… They are the best friends I’ve ever known…
-sigh-

A few of you asked where the wedding photos are.
I’ve put them all up in a gallery; here they are.

http://www.zerflin.com/Benjamin/Wedding/

Peace,
~Benjamin Jancewicz

Aloha!

We went to our first sonogram last Thursday!
That place was the neatest doctor’s office I’ve ever seen. The waiting room was design like a spa; with hardwood floors, fancy aluminum track lighting, and exotic plush chairs.
We were led into a darkened room, and they lay Tamika out on the semi-reclined bed. There were a couple of screens on the wall, and a sleek hulking computer to the right of the bed.
The lady smeared some gel on Tamika’s tummy, and then pressed a device that looked like an overgrown remote control to it.
It made strange whooshing sounds as she searched around, and then finally, there it was.

Strange calling it an it. We’ve been struggling not to apply a gender to it, and it’s hard. Tamika likes to call it “Munchkin”. 🙂
It was the coolest thing in the world to see. I teared up a little, I must admit.
The doctor flew around the computer; quickly measuring this, zooming in on that, showing us the different features of our little baby. I was amazed at how deftly she managed the machine; she must feel how I feel when I’m in my element designing something in Illustrator.

And yes, there is just one. A few people thought there might be more, but there is just one. They’re only about 3 or 4 inches long at this point.
It was pretty active, and swam around, in and out of view. At one point, it spun slowly toward us, and crossed it’s arms. 😀

We don’t know the sex of it yet, but we will at the next sonogram visit.

Aloha!

We went to the doctor this Wednesday! Tamika’s test all came in positive, and she’ll be signing up for a sonogram soon.
The coolest part, though, was listening to the heartbeat! The doctor came out with a plastic wand attached with a wire to a speaker. She rubbed some conductive gel on Tamika’s tummy and pressed the want first on her right side and then on her left. It crackled and popped through the speaker as she moved it.
Finally, we began hearing a faint sound. The doctor adjust the wand slightly, and suddenly we could hear it! It was a very cool sound. It almost sounded like PacMan, going WOWwwWOWwwWOWwwWOWww… Tamika’s was deeper and slower in the background, going WUUMmmmmmmWUUMmmmmmWUUMmmmmm…

Later that day I bought a new camera! I found a Canon EOS D20 (a digital SLR). I know I said I was going to go for the D30, but I realized that the ONLY upgrade between the D20 and the D30 is a /slightly/ larger screen. That’s it. For a difference of about $300. The really should have called the D30 the “D20 Mark II”. But anyways.

I got a really good deal too. The camera came with a 4GB memory card, a case, another extra smaller memory card, and (the coolest part) a beautiful 28-135mm lens. The lens is Ultrasonic (which means it’s REALLY quiet when it’s focusing, you can barely hear it) and also has Image Stabilization (which means that is has a gyroscope built into the lens, that keeps the camera steady). The image stabilization is great for me, because I hate lugging around a tripod in all the crazy places I go to take pictures. It helps keep shake form your hands or even your heartbeat making a blurry image.

The seller was a guy who owns a moving business, so if you need a mover (even if you need a truck for moving your stuff from your house), make sure you check him out. His name is Javier, and he bought the camera originally when his daughter was born (I saw pictures of her; she’d beautiful!).

I’m finally able to come off my hiatus of taking pictures! No more film for me! 🙂

The images at the top of the post are a few tests I’ve done so far.

Aloha!

I am worn out! My chest, arms and legs are all aching. Yesterday was my 3rd Karate class at Kim Studio. Grand Master Roberts had us do sit-ups and push-ups; my arms and stomach were on fire by the time they were half way through! I haven’t done any real steady exercise since 2002, and it shows.

After that, we did a lot of stretches, and then practiced kicks and punches with a partner. Although my partner didn’t punch hard, he was firm. And I didn’t know I was supposed to exhale when being punched, so I’m still feeling the first dozen of those hits. 😛

This will be very good for me, though, and I’ve signed myself up for 6 months. I was even awarded a scholarship, which will alleviate some of the strain it will take on our budget.

Tamika is doing well so far, though yesterday she felt very nauseous and decided to stay home and rest. She’s taking all kinds of vitamins now, which is very good.

My Passat was towed away the other day!
Yup, it’s the same one that I offered for free a while back. However, the longer I had it, the more things I discovered were wrong with it, and just couldn’t in good conscience give it to someone. It would have cost someone $1000 to fix the thing up to get it in running condition, and it would be far better to take that money and just buy a used Toyota that already runs.

Anyhow, it was sitting in front of our house for a while as I procrastinated donating it to Car Talk, when about 2 weeks ago we come home from being away for the weekend, and discovered 3 of the wheels are gone!! After asking around the neighborhood, we finally guessed that it was this one fellow down the block who is a little shady.
We knew a couple things; that is was someone in the neighborhood who could see when we came and went, that it was someone with the tools, and that they were desperate.
This guy (nicknamed Lil’ Danny) is the only person who fit that description, and it’s well known that he both sells and uses drugs (the neighbors have been trying to get rid of him for some time).

Because of all this happening, the neighborhood has been a little on edge, and keeping a closer watch on things.
So, last week, my neighbor Wayne hears a noise (he has the night shift and sleeps during the day), and goes out onto his porch. There is Lil’ Danny, the car all jacked up, and he is tugging on the last wheel trying to get it off!! My neighbor yelled at him, and the guy almost went into shock! Wayne told him he wasn’t going to put up with his crap, (in much more colourful words) and told him he better scram. Lil’ Danny makes up some excuse about how he’s trying to put the wheel back ON the car, and gets out of there. 😀

So, when I got home, I was ready to break down his door.
Tamika convinced me just to call and get the car towed away, though, so I did. And couple days ago, they put it on a truck and hauled it off. With the last tire. 😀

I’m glad I’ve got such good neighbors. 🙂

~Benjamin