On The Road Again

CARLSBAD, CA - After three years starring in CPE: Razor Sharp, a spin-off of the critically acclaimed CPE: The Movie, Chris Sikora has decided to leave the show.
“I had a great run. I worked at a world class hospital. I got to really stretch myself with all the roles. I developed some amazing relationships. I touched a lot of lives. And I got free meal tickets everyday. You can’t ask for too much more than that.”
Or can you? It seems that Sikora is doing just that. Starting this fall (actually tomorrow) he’ll be joining the cast of Hospice By The Sea. You’ve never heard of Hospice By The Sea you say? Well, you’re in good company. But says Sikora, “While it’s a local show and smaller in size, it’s got great heart and it feels like just what I want to be doing at this stage of my career. I know that working with death is going to bring me life. Besides they have a really rad seahorse logo!”
Some believe that Sikora was drawn to the part after experiencing his grandfather pass away on hospice this May. Others are wondering about an underground ACPE conspiracy or clashes with Razor Sharps’ writers. Still others think the chance to cruise around Southern California visiting patients in a classic 1997 Toyota Corolla, listening to 80’s hair metal on the many daily trips was just too enticing.
“When I heard, I immediately shipped him the new Bret Michaels solo album and some Motley Crue – the early stuff. Keep it rockin', my friend.” Commented CPE: The Movie star Nicole Stritzel.
“I think actually that having to wear ties to work everyday for Sharp finally got to him,” said fellow CPE: The Movie star Anthony Silano. “I kept telling him about my Hawaiian shirts at work and I think that made him really reflect.”
CPE: The Movie star Brook Heerwald commented, “Way to go Chris. Glad you’re going for it and following your heart. You only live once. Unless you believe in reincarnation, and then you live a lot of times.”

Look Ma, A New Post!

Friends, Friends, Friends! I was just reading through the blog, and thought, man, why not add a new post, almost a full year since the last one, not even sure if anyone will see it, or ever read it, but it's my hope that one day soon you'll be inclined to visit the ole blog and you'll read this and it will be joyously exuberant for you. I hope you're all doing well. If you have not done so, join facebook and let's chat it up, it's good fun and let's face it, it gets you through the 3pm-4pm slump of your day, ok, 11am-5pm slump of your day. I miss you guys, you're all fun people to know in this crazy world. Christi and I are doing well. Still on the island. Yep, been driving in circles ever since leaving your company almost 2 years ago. I can't even believe its been two years, time here flies by soooo freak show fast, it's amazing. Maybe the no season thing has something to do with it, so there's no real benchmark in time, i don't know, but it honestly feels like weeks ago, rather than years. Crazy sauce.

Anyway, we're still here, and we now live in a 2 bedroom place rather than a studio which means you can come and visit and it won't be as awkward. Did we have friends visit us while we lived in our studio? Yes we did. Was it awkward? Slightly, but mostly just funny, because I slept on the floor with my head by the toaster. I dreamt of pop tarts and eggos and walked with a bit of a limp for a few days, because I'm no college kid anymore although every time I tell people I'm a pastor they say, "your so young to be a pastor," and then laugh the same giddy laugh, that makes me laugh giddily in return when I'd really rather ask how old they think I am anyway. I don't think 30 is too young, 13 yes, then I would be young, but probably on TV, because everyone would want to see the 13 year old kid pounding the pulpit in his tee-ball uniform. I'm getting off track.

What I meant to say is I hope you're having an awesome summer! Wishing you the best-a-

Monday Musings - A Real Public Affair?

Spending the weekend near Hollywood is a lot like being a hypochondriac in a hospital. The concentration of stars is so much greater than in any other city that after just a short time walking along Sunset Blvd you can’t help but do a couple double takes of people along the street, thinking for just an instant that they look like someone famous. I suppose that because I was well aware of this, I was a bit hesitant to give people second looks while we out and about this weekend. However, as we sat down for lunch in a small café on Saturday I found myself glancing at a girl two tables away who was facing me, though her face was partially blocked by the shoulder of someone sitting opposite her. I wondered, “Could it be? It sort of looks like her.” But not wanting to be that Hollywood hypochondriac, I tried to settle back into the conversation at the table and let it go. In the end it was a losing battle. I whispered to the others at the table and after a “strategic” bathroom break, my friend Jordan returned and announced to us, “Yep, that’s Jessica Simpson alright.”

And now the question is – what do you do? Do you go up and ask her for her autograph? Do you walk up to her and say hi? Do you just continue staring at her? Do you pretend you don’t notice her and try to be as normal as you can? With silent agreement, we opted for the last choice, figuring that it was probably the most preferred one and the most polite. Thinking about it now, I realize that regardless of what I did do, what I really wanted to do was just stand up and sit down next to Jessica (I’m sure it would soon be “Jes”) and start talking to her. The reason being that after watching several seasons of Newlyweds on MTV and countless interviews with her, something in me felt like I knew her. No, no, hold the restraining orders please. As fanatical as that sounds as I type it, I have a sense that it all comes back to the reality of relationship.

Relationship at its most basic level is nothing more, nothing less, than shared experiences. Sharing the same “El” platform waiting for a train puts me in some sort of relationship with another person. However apparently remote or self-evident, however unacknowledged, it’s always common experience that places us in relationship to each other. What happens with celebrities, especially those from reality television, is that we feel that by watching their lives we are sharing experiences with them. We feel that we know them. At some level we feel that we have some relationship with them, when in fact we’re merely unconnected observers.

That reality hits me hard. In the weeks since we moved to San Diego and before I’ve started working at the hospital, my schedule has been inconsistent. I’m running around doing all sorts of little miscellaneous tasks, but I’ve felt unsettled, restless, and just sort of “off” much of the time. I’ve been disconnected with everything, finding little solace in a world that seems foreign. What I seem to have forgotten, in part, is that God is really here, sharing these experiences with me. Infinite Mystery is not a detached observer, but a relational partner, sharing in my exhaustion at the end of a hard run, my anxiety in starting a new job, my joy in pausing to remember my friends from CPE. Nor am I a detached observer in this Spirit-filled world, but a real participant in ongoing creation, building emotional bonds, touching nature, making meaning. To share these experiences with God is to be in real relationship.

Sorry I didn’t get the autograph for you Les or the sweet photo for you Anthony, but what I got from Jessica - insight into the reality of relationship, was far more valuable. And for all of you in the Chicagoland area who want to see a (soon to be) famous actor in person, check out Joe Sikora in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline from 9/1 – 11/11/07 at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. He might even let you buy him a beer after the show and get to know him in person!

What Kenya Do?

Jambo! (Hello) It feels years ago by now, but I'll kick off the posts with my immersion trip to Kenya in May through school. The day after I walked for graduation (even though I didn't take my last class until last week…) I hopped on a plane with 7 other classmates and our professor and flew across the ocean to Africa and into Kenya, one of its 53 countries, for two weeks. It was an amazing trip – amazingly sad at times, amazingly hopeful at others and all amazingly new to me. I tried to soak in as much of the culture as I could. There are unique stories behind all the pictures I took, and if you feel like checking some of them out paste this address into your browser window: http://picasaweb.google.com/sikorch/ChrisKenyaTrip

Most of all I think the trip made me much more globally aware than I was before. Also, now I can appreciate the African sense of “ubuntu” which basically means “we are therefore I am; I am therefore we are”. It’s seeing the world through a lens of interconnectivity that changes the way one thinks about actions and decisions. It’s a community value that I think we did a good job of connecting with last summer. It means something like, if Anthony is in Hawaii, then we all should be in Hawaii, I think…

Request for Sweet Photos

Calling all Chaplains; former, current, and future: If you have participated in one or more of the following in recent weeks, I want to see some sweet photographic proof:

Relocated to a new city and moved into a house, apt., grass hut, condo, etc

Started a new job/Internship at a hospital, church, or otherwise

Traveled to Africa or anywhere else on an educational and/or missions trip

Ran in any marathons, half marathons, or other organized races, even if you were the sole participant/organizer

Climbed the Alps or simply ordered hot coco and lounged in Switzerland or at home with anyone of Swiss descent (I'll accept Swedish/Italian/African/German/Irish/Danish/Other descent as well)

Ran with the bulls, drank cocktails, pondered Gaudy art, or any other activity in Spain

Taken a road trip

Welcomed a new addition to your family

Went Camping

Watched or Played Soccer

Anything randomly summer entertaining such as sharing shave ice with a loved one (see example photo)

Ok, that should cover about EVERYONE. Happy posting!!!!!!!!!!!!! Peace-a-

Rene' Full of Grace or Expanding the Genogram

I could tell you about walking around in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya this year or running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain the other week (and perhaps they'll find their way into a future post), but they'd probably just make you yawn after bigger news for the CPE: The Movie crew. Some might have thought we were getting together because it was the last week that the Sikora's will be Evanston residents before they head back to San Diego, some might have thought it was to celebrate the anniversary of the Scorpion necklace, but in truth Les and I and our spouses gathered for a much more significant reason.

It was to celebrate the big news from Rene'. She is pregnant! She's expecting around New Years and I'm sure she's contemplating right now which chaplain from last summer she'll name her child after. If you have a chance, drop her and Andrea a congrats email, or put in a gratitude prayer request for morning report at the hospital for her. Hooray for Rene'!!!

Mother Cheers, Dad Snoozes

In the lull between checking out of their Waikiki hotel and hitching their flight back to Central Illinois, parents of one chaplain featured in CPE: The Movie finally sat down for a viewing nearly 7 months after its release. Apparently the numourous acclamades, media attention, and pending lawsuits were not enough to spark curiousity with Anthony's parents until a need for filling time arose. Upon suggesting a viewing of the film, his mother and step father finally gave in after realizing the famed Honolulu fabric store, Fabric Mart, was closed. "It seamed obvious that this was going to be our only option for the afternoon, so we just decided to sit down and watch it", his mother said, tossing her aloha print fabric coupons in the trash. Both his mother and step-father appreciated the film's heartfelt summer memories by all chaplains, but questioned the film's off color humor; the quote, " very interesting music;" and the need for pick-up lines in a health care setting. In between cat-nap two of three during the 35 minute feature, Anthony's step father was jolted awake by the "Not So Glad You Came" sing along portion. "For a second I thought we were going to watch a Cheers re-run," he said before dozing off again. Overall, Anthony's parents said they enjoyed the film, but when asked if they would watch it again, quickly looked at their watches and headed for the airport.


(This report was only loosely based on actual events that took place on the afternoon of July 5, 2007......Have a good weekend everybody.......:)