Seeing the Musical Wicked – Again! A Brief Review
Some friends and I went to Tampa Friday night to see Wicked being performed at the Tampa Performing Arts Center (TPAC). It was fantastic … of course. I saw it in London last May and was thoroughly impressed with it there. However, the Apollo Victoria Theater (London) is a much smaller venue than the TPAC and I have to say, while the quality of the plays were phenomenal on both sides of The Pond, sitting in the 2nd balcony among 10 (15?) times the people clearly distinguished both experiences. In London, I went on a Tuesday night when all of the college students decided to go. I dressed up (a little more than business casual) for the play but the kids around me were literally in jeans and one girl had flowers all in her hair.
Connecting The Past With The Present
Today I sent a couple more facebook friend requests to High School acquaintances that I hadn’t seen or heard of in almost 24 years. To date I have reconnected with about 40+ of them. I have also reconnected with a lot of Christian friends that I haven’t seen in 8 or more years (since moving to Florida from Texas.)
I have to say that the whole experience is a little surreal. Surreal in that many of these folks have very specific memories attached to them at the age I remember them from. To see them today, their interests, their families, their beliefs, humor, joys, worries, funny pictures … random status updates … I have to say, it has been an incredible blessing to witness their lives now beyond but still informed by the context of “back then.”
Paige and her awesome career and kid, Ken is a solid Christian and very encouraging, Ed still loves gadgets as much (or more) than I do, Patrick is still making a living as an Actor and Jonathan is an excellent musician/singer. Dean and David (twins) keep me laughing. Oh and Kristi, the girl I was so mad at for beating me out as the Youth In Government President our Sr. Year is now one of my favorite Farmville friends!
Then there is Pati cracking me up talking about the time we drove from San Diego to Dallas with Blake in one straight 24 hour shot while she snored the WHOLE time in my little Ford Focus.
Wow.
Amira is crazy (in a good way) as ever and just sent me a song list for my iPod I have dubbed “The AmiraMix.” She’s a soul sister and when she says she loves me and I am her favorite Jesus freak … I know she means it in the truest sense of unconditional love and that love is mutual.
As I reflected on this tonight, sitting here at my keyboard, there is a sense of being deeply blessed. Blessed with a knowledge of many different kinds of relationships that leads to a desire to seek God’s face on how this all can point to relational wisdom. A wisdom that He has ordained to only come through the passage of time. The past brought into the context of today … it’s awesome to watch and meditate on.
I am so glad God made us to be like Him … with the desire to know and be known by others.
… very grateful.
The Best Kayaking Trip Ever – A Survivor’s Story (Republished)
I wrote this on May 20th of 2007 on a previous version of my blog. It is one of my favorite stories. Enjoy!
***Heads up: This is the longest blog post I think I may have ever written. Go grab a cup of coffee or your favorite beverage and pull up a chair. It’s a long story***
The Benevolent Trainer (TBT… I haven’t asked him if I can call him by his first name here or not yet) and I share the same birthday. I am eight years older than him but we were both born on May 14th. This year we decided to do something in honor of our birthdays. We both love to kayak but we had not ever gone kayaking together. We had planned to but it hadn’t worked out to date so we wanted to correct that delay and enjoy a nice day on the river.TBT was kind enough to stake out all the different kayaking places in central Florida and he was specifically looking for scenery, challenge and not to far out from Orlando. Where I go, Rainbow River, is pretty far north of Orlando. He even borrowed a two seater kayak and a Lincoln Navigator from a couple he knows, Mr. & Mrs. C. They were very kind to extend the use of their resources and we felt truly blessed. TBT thought it would be fun to explore The Black River. We got to the drop point and we were surprised to see that no one else was there. As we untied the two seater kayak, love bugs swarmed the car we were in and got all inside the interior. Every May the love bugs (don’t know their real scientific name) swarm over Central Florida. They are EVERYWHERE and annoying. They are nasty to clean up and really do a mess up your car when you drive. Even so, we went down to the water and instead of The Black River, it was more like The Black Trickle.
We only went down 50 yards or so and back. In that short span we:
* had to lay completely backwards into the kayak as we tried to clear the first obstruction of fallen trees.
* crashed through the second obstruction of fallen trees and brush. There were only the top branches of the trees coming up through the plane of water so we had to go through them, not around or under.
* Five paddle strokes later we were going under a bridge that was being expanded. The pile driver thing started up right about then. It was excruciatingly loud.
* We pressed forward and had to clear two more man made obstructions, one on each side of the bridge. The water in between was nasty and stagnate.
* After clearing those we went about 3 paddle strokes to the next trash filled obstruction. It was huge and there was no getting through it… and we got stuck in the Florida muck.
* Frustrated, I jumped out of the kayak to pull us out and sank in the muck up to around mid thigh level.
* The only true thing about the black river was that the water was black. I was NOT a happy camper and told TBT so. We turned back and had to go back through all of that just to get back to the car.
Oh there is more … so much more …
I See Bluebirds Whisper
Had to get my eyes dilated today. It’s been a few years and now that I am over forty … gotta’ be more consistent with these type of things.
My eye doc said, “Your eyes look fantastic. They are really really really healthy and they are really really really nearsighted.”
I really really really love my eye doc.
Some of my facebook friends were worried about me driving the mile from my appointment to home. I took this picture to show them how I got home safely: Bionic sun-shades.
After looking at this picture, don’t you agree that some seriously random super human capability should be attributed to these shade roll-ups? The “I see whispering bluebirds” title was my contribution to the amazing abilities of these bionic shades.
I know, not that funny but … come on … my eyes are dilated.
The other thing I discovered today is the brightness adjustment thing on my monitor(s) … I don’t like waiting for the dilation stuff to wear off.
Countering Disillusionment From the Political Process
My disillusionment with the political process started back in ‘05 shortly after the ‘04 Presidential election cycle. It was cemented during the ‘06 cycle and cynicism has set in since the ‘08 Presidential election cycle.
I attended the Tea Party Protests back last spring (videos on my youtube channel linked in the tool bar below) and those were cool and inspiring. They were nothing like what you typically see (if they actually cover it) on CNN or disparaged by liberals. As you will seen in the two videos I made, they were normal people doing their best to make a difference we felt is best for the country. At the same time, I have a good number of friends who consider themselves liberals and they don’t act at all like the liberal elitists in power.
Well, unless I mention the name Sarah Palin. They get all bonky in the head over her. 
Sarah Palin Joins Fox News, KA-POW!
Big Journalism talks about how this will cause liberal heads to explode. <– hover your mouse over the link .
::: laughing ::: I posted this on my FB page:
Who didn’t see this coming? One of my libber friends ::: grin ::: sent me a condescending email but … you know … It kind of works in Sarah’s favor how you all underestimate her.
And I just posted this …
How long do you think it will take for someone to come up with an online game where cartoon Sarah talks as fast as you can hit your enter key and if you hit it really fast a libber’s head explodes? The more libby heads that explode in a minute will determine on how far you rise in the Fox News room (from Intern to Bill O’Reilly fill-in when he is on vacation.)Ok… if anyone actually makes that game … I want credit.
2009 OUT! Come On In 2010 – Some Favorites
So, it’s a little late in the day to be posting this but … I am determined to get it done before Midnight! (it is a long post, most of it and a video after the jump.)
Favorite Movie – Avatar
Hands down. I know that most of my conservative brethren break out in hives over the movie as being liberal propaganda … all I know is , it was a great, simple, epic story with amazing artwork and technological advances. It is a historic moment in movie making history and liberal ideology infused or not … I know what I believe and I know I believe this was one of the best movies ever made.
Favorite Song – Pocketful of Sunshine
Pocketful of Sunshine is a song by Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in 2008 but it remained my consistent most played song on my iPhone. I love it. It is a great song and reminds me of my prayer journal time with the Lord. It helped inspire me to go back to handwriting my prayer journal. Also, Kim Hill did an amazing job singing this song at our Exodus conference last summer.
Thanksgiving 2009
Today is the day we in the United States eat way to much to celebrate what we are thankful for. I am thankful for:
- Family: Goes without saying but must be said! I love you all so much and have the most beautiful, intelligent, creative and awesome nieces ever.
- Friends: Online – been online since ‘93 and have met some amazing people and have a real appreciation for the good that online communities can bring. You (blog readers) have seen me go through quite the travails of whether to keep blogging or not in 2009 and I appreciate you hanging in there with me.
- Friends Offline – When I came to Christ He eventually released my unabashed extroverted-ness . Now, I have the honor of enjoying friendships with folks all over North America. PLUS I have great new friends in England and Mexico that I met this year .
- Food: oh yeah … I like my food … a lot. Especially ice cream food.
- The Gym: maybe I like food a little too much? I actually like the gym a lot. Some cool folks go there and it isn’t a meat market. That plus a reasonable gym membership price, no waiting for machines and great spin class schedule. Ok… the spin class schedule is great even though I don’t ever go to it.
- Live in a *great* country and we will leave it at that for the day . Live in a great state. I love Florida. And I have great neighbors and a nice home that brings rest.
- I am grateful for my church family. Especially grateful that we are based in the grace of Christ’s atonement for us.
- Grateful for art and creativity. Still trying to learn how to paint with acrylics.
- Grateful for being able to read and write.
- Grateful for prayer, private worship and communion
- and of course grateful to God for His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who dwells within.
- … and much more.
So, what are you grateful for?
Utah Vs. TCU – Don't Worry It's Not Really About Soccer
Can I tell you how happy I am to have a reason to create a sports category … SO very happy.
You know that whole story about the Bionic Woman from yesterday? Well, there was a whole sub-plot that happened simultaneously on the cram-packed shuttle bus.
The Bionic Woman was wearing purple but I don’t think she was a part of the whole other scene happening on the bus. EVERYONE was wearing either purple or orange. Except for me. I was wearing a black sweatshirt.
That’s how I roll … comfort-wear.
Before I got all into it with Bionic woman, I said to the man next to me, “at the risk of sounding stupid…what’s going on here?” Pointing to the mass of purple and orange.
He said, “It’s Utah vs. TCU!” And several approving heads of the almost all male crammed packed shuttle bus nodded in knowing agreement.
I said, “So what do the Mormons have against the Texas Croquet Union?”
Just kidding… I didn’t ask that. I really really wanted to.
