Finally Friday

I had every intention of posting this on Friday and completely forgot once I got to work! So, although it may appear that it's Saturday, just close your eyes and imagine it's Friday again.

Well, you can't close your eyes if you're going to read this. And you might not want to revisit your Friday if it wasn't the best day of the week. Hmmm...well, just think in the back of your mind that this post isn't late but that it has been mulled over and thought about for more than one day.

My week was pretty eventful. We had VBS this week: Sunday through Thursday. I was a helper in the craft room. It was a pretty good time. It was nice to take a break from being the "music guy" for a bit. My wife did the music with the kids, so that worked well.

I led two of the crafts: one was decorating a "rucksack" which is a simple canvas backpack. That one went pretty well. The kids used fabric markers to color all over their sacks. The 4th graders got to use puff paint, which wasn't so wonderful. We had to keep their sacks overnight to dry. I only mention that since we hadn't given them a craft to take home yet. All of them had been multi-process projects.

The second craft I led was the God's Eyes. That takes me back to sitting in an outdoor picnic shelter winding yarn around sticks. I don't know when the last time I made God's Eyes was, but that is how I remember it.

The craft, to me, was pretty simple. But telling the kids who had never done this before how to do it was quite difficult. It was hard to figure out how to communicate the steps without going too fast for them. It was a lesson for me, since that is usually what I have trouble with.

I didn't go to rehearsals for Hello Dolly this week and let me just say that it was liberating! I hadn't realized how stressed and angry those rehearsals made me. I knew they were bad and I knew that I wasn't sleeping because of them, but I have had many sleepfilled nights since I haven't been going!

I think I have to return next week, though.

Friday was a pretty eventful day and Saturday is shaping up to be the same. Friday I went to work and practiced with a kid for the Johnston Green Days celebration. There is a Bill Riley Talent Competition at the festival and I'm playing for a few kids I know from show choir.

Friday afternoon I sat at home, did some laundry, and worked on editing the Christmas program for this year. There were thunderstorms in the afternoon, which looked like they were going to put a damper on going to a charity Garden Party for the Interfaith Hospitality Network.

The rain stopped, though, just in time to decide not to go to the Garden Party after all. This put me in a very bad mood. I wanted to go to the party, but my wife didn't seem to want to. Then after pressuring me to make the decision not to go, she was mad that we didn't. At least that is how I perceived the events.

So, instead we ate dinner at home and went to a movie. We saw "Year One." I would highly recommend this movie. It's a little slow at first, and you think, "This will only make me chuckle," but before long you are laughing hysterically at Jack Black and Michael Cera, both of whom are playing themselves. Jack Black talks too much and Michael Cera is the bumbling, nice (but effiminate) boy. It was a great picture.

Now I'm sitting at church, doing sound for a conference about old people. I had asked my sound people if they would be willing to work this day, but understandably, nobody wanted to work for free all day on a Saturday, which is turning out to be the nicest day this week (and by nice, I mean not dreadfully hot and rain-filled).

I also have the Green Days festival that I mentioned before to play for this afternoon and after that I'm heading to Redfield to play for another talent show. It will definitely be a busy day. I wish I had more time to spend doing nothing, but as the weekends have been going, that won't happen.

I forgot, we bought half price tickets for the opera this weekend. We are seeing "Tosca" on Sunday. I'm very excited. "Tosca" is one of my favorites, especially because of the Act I Finale. The chorus is singing a classic Te Deum while the action on the stage is dramatic and depressing. It's a beautiful moment in music and opera.

We actually got the tickets because we follow DMMO on Facebook. They advertised to their followers that they had the tickets and we snatched them up. We even get to sit the very good middle section. Any of the other sections are all to the side, so these are prime seats! I'm very excited.

It will be refreshing to have culture back in my life. Culture that I don't have to create and be a part of. I feel drained because of creating so much culture at the church. This will be a great opportunity to recharge my musical batteries.

I think it proper to mention that we were going to try and stick one more thing into this busy week and that is the home show up in Johnston. They were going to have fully decorated multi-million dollar homes open for the public to view, but unfortunately, I don't think we are going to be able to swing it.

I hope you have a nice weekend!!