Beauty and the Beast ticket info

Step into the enchanted world of Broadway's modern classic. Based on the Academy Award winning animated feature, the stage version includes all of the wonderful songs from the film, written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman (the team responsible for Little Shop of Horrors), plus new songs written especially for the Broadway version by Mr. Menken and Tim Rice (Aladdin, Aida).

The show was 60% sold by the first rehearsal, so don't wait too long to order your tickets!

NOTE: if you order online or by phone, there will be an extra $2.50 service charge AND a $2.75 handling fee (this is out of our control). You can avoid these fees by going to the box office at the Aronoff or by making arrangements for someone to order them for you. If you're looking at the seating charts, look at the one for the Jarson-Kaplan Theater.

Show Dates

May 9 @ 8pm

May 10 @ 8pm

May 11 @ 2:30pm

May 14 @ 7:30pm

May 15 @ 7:30pm

May 16 @ 8pm

May 17 @ 2:30pm & 8pm

Ticket Prices

$21.50 & $20.50*

*20.50 for 1st and 2nd side balconies AND for groups of 10 or more for each performance

Tickets can be purchased in person, by phone, or online

In Person: At the CAA Ticket Office - Aronoff Center

By Phone: Call (513) 621-ARTS (2787)

Online: Click Here to Order Tickets Online

wasted?

no, i haven't been drinking. but i wonder if my day was as the title suggests. i've been trying to be conscious of taking a sabbath every week - one day when i set aside any responsibilities and rest. so though i have a ton of grading to do, i decided to not do any of it. i wonder if that's more attributable to my laziness or my wanting to follow God's commands. perhaps a bit of both. it wasn't a completely wasted day - i spent a good deal of time getting my computer in shape, including finally deleting all the mp3s off my hard drive that are now on my portable drive. did a disk cleanup and a defrag. went out tonight, grabbed some dinner, picked up my redken water wax and looked for a car mount for my ipod. no such luck. the only one i found included a car charger, which, while nice, is not something i think i will need, especially at $53 dollars. so i'll wait. i also watched beauty and the beast tonight, something i probably should have done before rehearsals started. it's my favorite of the modern disney movies, with good reason.

and now i need to be heading to bed. gathering in the morning. meeting afterwards. rehearsal in the afternoon. and then time to grade. i don't think it will be too bad, but i have been wrong before. i'm sure my students are going crazy waiting for their grades. ok, so maybe only a couple. i just want to get it done so i can stop worrying about it.

i always think i'll have more to share when i come here, some deep thoughts of some sort or some clever observations on the world we live in and life in general. but then i get here and it turns out to be just the highlights of a mediocre day. of course, when you do little to nothing, it shouldn't be surprising that your writing isn't so exciting.

i need to take another class so i can write some more poetry. sad that it takes a deadline for the poetry inside me to come out.

off to bed.
Æ

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Now playing: Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth
via FoxyTunes

it's the thought that counts

tonight one of the drama students, robyn, was presenting her capstone final - a production she directed starring some other students i have had. though it meant another 50-60 minutes in the car, i figured it would be a good way to show support and a good way to spend the evening. so i left around six, drove up to moe's, enjoyed dinner and then headed to the play - only to discover the show started at 7:00, not 7:30 like i thought. so it was over and done by the time i walked in late. felt bad i had missed it. but hey, at least i didn't spend friday night alone in my house, right?

first day of classes went well, even with the abbreviated prep time. not a lot of returning students this trimester. huge classes again, which always seems to happen third tri. so glad there are no major papers this tri - grading 120 papers is a bit overwhelming. speaking of which, guess what i'm doing this weekend. that's right, yet another pile of essays and research papers. i have until wednesday to post grades, but need to get these done so those students who failed can start saving up money for summer school. joy.

not sure if anyone out there is a connoisseur of frozen pizza, but if you've never tried jack's frozen pizzas, do not, under any circumstances. sauce is too sweet, not enough veggies on the supreme and like television during the summertime, it just kept on repeating. bleah. little sleep yet once more. had to break my lenten promise of no carbonated beverages to try and settle my stomach. that and sucking on a peppermint eventually helped, but miserable until then. as if i needed more proof that i'm getting old.

finally got online and figured out where i am registered to vote so i can do so on tuesday. not sure why it always comes down to ohio, but i guess it's better than feeling your vote is meaningless. would love to believe it will all come to an end tuesday, but somehow i see this stretching out for months more, even if obama wins texas or ohio. i wish i could believe hillary would step aside gracefully, but i don't think it's part of her personality.

started reading laughing gas by p.g. wodehouse, a book sarah loaned me last year at her wedding. enjoying it immensely. not sure why it's taken me so long to get around to it. when douglas adams declares someone the funniest writer, i should have listened. clever and vedy vedy british. not sure i'd say he's funnier than mr. adams, but definitely an enjoyable read.

ok, time to try and sleep again. feel like it might actually happen this weekend, unlike last friday when i was up until 5am. someday i'll fall into a normal sleep pattern. i hope.
Æ

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Now playing: Rufus Wainwright - Across The Universe
via FoxyTunes

one thing without stain unspotted from the world

i believe we do not so much choose our passions as they choose us. something about them strikes a chord in our being, ringing through the years, until we cannot tell their booming tone from our own heartbeat. for some it's a hobby. for some it's a sports team. for some it's a religion.

for me, it's cyrano de bergerac.

where i first read the story is lost in the peeling facade of my history. i assume it came through an english class but what year i could not say. junior high? high school? all i know is at some point i was introduced to this tragic hero, cyrano-savinien-hercule de bergerac and ever since i've found myself shaped by this piece of beautiful fiction, so much more true than reality at times.

tonight i watched the jose ferrer version for the first time on the big screen. strangely enough, it was part of showcase cinema's "heartthrob thursdays." it certainly is a romantic story, but not like most of the other choices, like charade or when harry met sally. which probably explains why i was was one of two people in the entire theater. should have known when the theater didn't even know what movie i was talking about that it wouldn't be well attended.

as i sat there in the dark, watching these lines that have been woven into the very fibre of my being come to life, i realized how often some of these lines come up in my thoughts.

"i carry my adornments on my soul"
"what a fool - but what a gesture"
"to make myself in all things admirable"
"i seemed to see over some flower a great snail crawling"
"my old friend - look at me and tell me how much hopes remains for me"
"she might laugh at me; and that is the one thing in this world i fear"
"BRING ME GIANTS"
"oh...i have done better since"
"to sing, to laugh, to dream"
"never to make a line i have not heard in my own heart"
"those pretty nothings that are everything"
"lady, o read my letter with your lips"
"night making all things dimly beautiful"
"what am i, what is any man, that he dare ask for you?"
"there comes one moment, once"
"love, i love beyond breath, beyond reason, beyond love's own power of loving"
"a secret whispered to listening lips apart"
"a moment made immortal"
"somehow that news fails to disquiet me"
"it is a little thing to die, but - not to see her, that is terrible"
" i did not wait for you to say i might"
"i have missed everything, even my death"
"i have had one friend not quite all a friend"
"ah you too vanity! i knew you would overthrow me in the end"
and of course...
"my white plume"

and so many more. i cannot tell if i love this play because of who i am or if what i am is because i love this play. i wonder if i had read the play at a different time in my life - perhaps after i had become a little more cynical - if it would still hold the same resonance it does. there are perfect moments when you are exactly who you need to be to connect with something. that definitely happened with me and rostand's play.

the strangest moment of the night came after the movie had ended and the lights came up. as i turned around to put my coat on, i glanced up and looked for the first time at the other member in the audience. there, four rows from the top, was an older gentleman, looking very much the literature professor type. and before he slipped his coat on, i noticed something: we were wearing similar shirts. and i had a strange, sci-fi moment, where i wondered if perhaps i was looking at myself from the future, doing much of what i do now - sneaking off to catch my favorite movie alone. a little eerie. a little scary. a little thought-provoking.
Æ

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Now playing: U2 - I Fall Down
via FoxyTunes

unexpected package

when i returned home from school yesterday, i found a door hanger saying that i had missed a package from fed ex. this struck me as odd since i hadn't ordered anything. so i got online and looked up the door hanger code, which told me the package originated in memphis. this only deepened the mystery as i know no one in memphis and had no idea what it could be. i toyed with driving to the warehouse to pick it up but figured since i didn't know what it was i could wait one more day. so i signed the form and left it on the door so they would leave it for me this time.

when i got home today, i found a medium-sized box on my porch. i shook it and could hear something moving around inside. intrigued i ran my key along the seal and opened it up. inside was...a phone. from verizon. one of those fancy ones with a camera on one side and then a screen that opens up to a mini-keyboard. only, there was no battery with it. nothing i could actually use. not that i would have any way since, well, it's obviously not mine. looks like i'll be making a call to verizon to figure out what i should do with it. i'm guessing someone somewhere in cincinnati is not happy right now.

another long day. early rise to make sure my exams were ready for today. finally knocked out the persuasive essays. talked with christina about the start of the trimester friday. went to an inane meeting about proctoring the ogt where we were reminded once again that we could lose our job and/or our license if we screw it up. no pressure. then off to the academic team coaches' meeting. ray missed getting on first team all-conference by one point. but both he and ahmed made second team, so i guess that's something. mark and i had hoped we would resolve the challenging questions issue, but basically everyone decided to go by "home court advantage," meaning, each school could choose to do what they want. we're going to always go by the book as i think the majority of schools will. but i'm not convinced that will be true everywhere. as the sycamore coach pointed out, once you open it up to questioning, then you're going to have to be googling everything. not a good idea. anyway, i finally made it home around 5:15 - just enough time to watch the daily show before i headed out to grab a bite to eat on my way to another dance rehearsal. turned out the director didn't care for the choreography we worked three hours on monday night, so we had to mix it up a bit. wasn't too bad, except he came back in and wasn't completely happy with the changes. ah well. at least we're having a good time doing it.

today in my continuing quest to avoid being productive, i stopped by andy' s room and talk turned to politics. he said he could never vote for a democrat because of their stand on abortion and gay marriage. he then asked how i as a christian could justify voting for a democrat knowing their stand on these issues. i tried to articulate what i was thinking, but i don't think i did a good job. and i'm still not sure i could articulate it (which is one of the reasons i hate discussing politics - i always end up feeling like an idiot). when it comes to the presidency, i don't see them having much say in issues like that. not like anything changed under clinton in those areas. but then i look at the precedent set by the current administration and i fear the executive branch can now pretty much do whatever it wants, congress and judiciary be damned. so maybe those are valid concerns - if you think those are important issues in our society. me, i guess i have different priorities.

ok, it's almost midnight and i have to be sure to get up on time tomorrow so i can drive rachel to work - her car's been on the fritz all week. will probably try to at least get my classes loaded into my gradebook before sleep - one less thing i have to finish before friday that way. here's hoping sleep comes soon, though it doesn't feel like it right now...
Æ

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Now playing: Billy Squier - All Night Long
via FoxyTunes

i'm the baker

found out tonight. at least that's what i am in the opening "bonjour" number. others will be coming, i think. who knows. i get to be uninterested in belle's reading. fun.

been a bit absent this week. final week of the tri - two days of classes, two days of exams and then we start the new trimester on friday. usually we get a teacher work day, but no such luck this time because of the ohio student government convention being held at mason in april. we exchanged the day for one in april. when we don't need it. ah well. all that to say, my time has been severely crunched. between school and rehearsal, haven't had much time for sitting in front of the computer typing my thoughts out. and i'm afraid it's only going to get worse.

cannot stay long, but wanted to let you, my faithful readers, know that i haven't forgotten my lenten promise to write here. will share my initial thoughts on being in BatB soon. suffice it to say, i am enjoying myself immensely. lots of singing, lots of dancing, lots of new people to get to know.

must sleep so i can be awake enough to grade tomorrow morning first thing. so much to do, so little, little time.
Æ

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Now playing: Phil Collins - Take Me Home
via FoxyTunes

oscar recap

so since i cannot seem to fall asleep again, i figured i'd jot down some initial impressions of tonight's oscars. i watched them at gina's. this, her 38th annual oscar party, was probably the most laid back, mostly because a month ago no one knew if they were happening or not. spent the evening with her and the havens and angela. good times.

thoughts....

• jon stewart rocked again as the host. i hope people are kinder to him this time than they were last time. my favorite moment: after the orchestra ushered off marketa before she could give her speech, jon brought her back out and let her speak. class.
• so glad "falling slowly" won. amazing. i wasn't impressed with the full orchestra version they did at the show - if that's your only exposure to the song, get thee to your favorite video store and rent once. the version in the movie beats the oscar version (and the soundtrack version) hands down. so happy for both of them.
• impressed by the number of non-american winners. at least it seemed that way. loved javier's words to his mother. great moment.
• the bit on failed montages was hysterious! seriously brilliant.
• made it to see there will be blood saturday afternoon. and i decided why i was so disappointed with the best picture nominees this year: lack of hope. other than juno, all of the best pictures were hopeless films. i suppose if movies are a reflection of our culture, then our culture is feeling rather hopeless right now. given the state of everything, it's not surprising. but i get enough hopeless with every day life - i don't need movies to remind me of it. i want them to give me something more. it's why once was my favorite film of the year and why i cannot rejoice of no country winning.

i should be heading to sleep, but it feels far away again. after the insomnia of friday night, i slept until 10 or so saturday morning and was up late last night. perhaps i should see my doctor about this, though last time i did that, they put me on anti-depressants instead of sleep aids so i'm a little wary. going to be a crazy week - after only two days last week and two days left in the trimester, we're going to be playing catch up. luckily i planned to lose a couple of days at the end, so it shouldn't be too bad. still need to put together my exam for my sophomores. maybe i'll go work on that to put myself to sleep.

this morning ended my run with the house of blue leaves. going to miss being with those people. such a great group to work with. strike was a bit sparse, which is why i prefer to do it right after the show - you don't lose nearly as many people. no time for post-production blues, though - beauty and the beast rehearsals started this afternoon. in fact, i drove right from strike to rehearsal. fun. found out they've already sold 60% of the run already. before we started rehearsals. wow. i'll post ticket info here soon as well as a way to avoid the nearly $5 in service charges. cast looks to be fun - i look forward to getting to know them over the coming weeks. dance rehearsal starts tomorrow. here's hoping i don't pull something. still no idea what "role" i'll be playing other than ensemble. hopefully that will become clear soon.

enough lollygagging here. pray sleep comes to me soon.
Æ

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Now playing: Ben Folds Five - One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces
via FoxyTunes

is this why i'm still awake?

so i just realized i didn't write on friday, but since i still haven't gone to bed yet, i think i should be allowed to count it. i have no idea why i am still up. i'm just not tired. at all. decided i should try to go to bed, but then realized i'll probably just lie there, unable to fall asleep. and i hate that.

the penultimate show went well tonight. only one more to go. hard to believe it's almost over. of course, when you put together a show in five weeks, i suppose it will seem to fly by. going to miss seeing everyone. the show was a lot more fun than i thought it might be. wish i had invited more people to see it. i know a couple of people came, but no one stayed around after it was over. hmmm. wonder if that should tell me something about the play...or my performance...

the sophomore research papers are graded. of course the seniors won't turn theirs in until monday with all the snow days - and i'm sure a few of them will think they're not due until tuesday because of the snow. i wish i had told them monday was the final deadline no matter what the weather held. ah well. will give them the option of comments or just a grade. worked remarkably well last trimester.

of course, i left all the persuasive essays at school, which means i have to drive all the way to mason to pick them up so i can get them into the gradebook on sunday. must have reminded myself over a dozen times to pick them up thursday. that sound you hear is me thwacking myself in the head. am thinking i might stop by the mason showcase to see there will be blood. seems only fair to see all the best picture nominees before making my choice.

still no idea why i'm still awake. and not feeling any closer to nodding off. maybe i'll go watch the house episode that taped tonight. better than lying in the dark praying for sleep.

ok, better go give this sleep thing a shot. night.
Æ

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Now playing: Stevie Nicks - Edge Of Seventeen
via FoxyTunes

the agony and ecstasy of living in cincy

two hours. it took me two hours to drive from mason to home. i left at 4:30 after i allowed film club to talk me into staying after school, even though every other activity had been canceled; even the media center closed early. things were fine until i hit just north of fields ertel, when everything came to a stop. literally. for the next hour and a half, we didn't break the 10 mph mark. miserable. the combination of weather with everyone letting their workers out early caused the slowest traffic i've been in for quite a while. i despise cincinnati drivers on good days. on days like today, i downright loathe them. i was so done by the time i pulled into wendy's for some supper. and then they were out of the beverage i wanted (i gave up carbonated beverages as part of my lenten fast). grrrrrrr. but i eventually made it home and got to relax a bit since our line rehearsal was canceled because of the weather.

and then, just before i was heading to prayers, i got the call - no school tomorrow. nothing better than knowing the night before that you don't have to get up early in the morning. completely screws my end of the trimester plans, but hey, i think i can live with it.

everyone see the eclipse last night? quite fun to walk the neighborhood and see groups of people staring at the sky. so strange to think about what it must have been like for people before we knew what it was. the moon slowly disappears, then turns red. no wonder they told tales of monsters.

had a great conversation tonight with my friend candice. she never fails to lift my spirits and help me be more aware of God. He truly is around us all the time, if only we would open our eyes to see.

deeper thoughts will have to wait until later. right now i need to take advantage of my ability to sleep past 7 tomorrow. nothing like a two day work week, though there will be plenty of school stuff to keep me busy tomorrow. but i'll be sure to sneak in here some time.
Æ

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Now playing: Drive-By Truckers - Let There Be Rock
via FoxyTunes

God smiled on me

i was up late last night, finishing off the OGT literary term activity i wanted to do - it always takes me longer than i anticipate, mostly because i enjoy putting stuff like this together. it's a sickness, i know. anyway, when the alarm went off four hours after i went to bed, i could not find the energy to pull myself out of bed. so i let the snooze go off. and off. and off. then, three minutes before the last snooze would ring, my phone rang. snow day said the screen on my phone. two hour delay. sweet. so i reset my alarm for 6:45 and went to get more sleep (which unfortunately didn't come easily, but lying in bed was enough).

when the alarm rang again, i jumped up, grabbed my shower and waited for 7:20 to roll around so i could get in my car and drive to morning prayers. i pulled on my coat, grabbed my bookbags and headed to the car. as i opened the garage door, my phone rang. snow day calling. we were canceled. i laughed all the way up the stairs and out the door to walk to prayers. so much for the weather reports that said little accumulation. the second call actually said the roads were getting worse in mason. glad i don't have to go anywhere. of course, it will throw my lesson plans out of whack, but i already have ideas on how to adapt them to work. will make my seniors happy since their research papers will now be due on monday instead of friday.

i wish i didn't have to wait for snow days to start my day with communal morning prayer. really starts the day well.

of course, being home will make fasting a little trickier. as i found out this weekend, grading is not enough to keep my mind off my hunger. but perhaps it will give me impetus to finish. that's the hope, anyway.

more later, perhaps. need to go do my snow day dance of celebration.
Æ

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Now playing: U2 - What's Going On
via FoxyTunes

i think i've caught it

obamania
noun
The national obsession with presidential hopeful Barack Obama

caught the tail end of his speech tonight where he talked about his use of the word hope. and i know he's been attacked for being all rhetoric and no action and being full of ideas but not full of solutions, but after hearing him speak, i find myself wanting to believe what he says, that the time of politics as usual has passed and it is time to build a new future together.

and he's better than the other alternatives. mccain will give us the same old failed ideas and policies of the current administration. and clinton will give us, well, politics, politics, politics. i was wary of her before the primary season; i despise her now. she represents what i hate about politics. and i know obama is at heart a politician, but at least there's hope that things could be different. i still don't trust him to be able to implement all of his ideas. but at least he's willing to try.

i don't often talk about politics because, well, i despise them. and i can never adequately articulate my feelings or argue coherently. like stephen colbert, i go with my gut. and my gut says of the choices out there, obama is my man this time. maybe eventually i'll figure out why.
Æ

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Now playing: Me First & The Gimme Gimmes - Over The Rainbow
via FoxyTunes

better do this now

need to head back down for the final push on today's grading - nine more inp book reviews to grade. been a relatively productive day. at least i didn't sleep it away, though it was terribly tempting. was cold all day long and just couldn't seem to warm up. but i got a chunk of the grading done and all my laundry done, so i declare it a success.

talked to the 'rents today - turns out they know of my blog and have now shared the link with their sunday school class. seems my discussion of the great spaghetti monster raised some curiosity. now not only do i have to concern myself with my students, but with my mom and dad's sunday school. actually, i'll probably forget and type something terribly offensive. sorry in advance mom and dad. just tell them you did the best you could raising me. blame it on the rock and roll. and television. and the internet.

good to go to prayers this morning. wish i could do it every day. i'm somewhat surprised it wasn't better attended - just angela and me, much like it is for evening prayers. but then i suppose not everyone gets the day off.

i have so little to share. at least nothing of interest. kurt loaned me the first season of arrested development. i can see why people like it, but am not quite getting the passion for the show. kurt said it was the best tv sitcom ever. high praise, but not sure it's deserved yet. we'll see how i feel when (if?) i finish the first season. certainly is better than most of the "popular" shows out now. so of course it got canceled.

i enjoyed watching the snow drift down this afternoon. peaceful. comforting. then the winds came and forced it to swirl a little more violently. still beautiful, but with an edge. just enough of a dusting to cover the brown grass and make everything a little brighter. i've missed winter this year - too much rain, too many drastic temperature changes for my taste. but glad i could enjoy today's moment.

ok, time to grade again. this will be a common theme for a while. six days of classes left in the trimester plus two days of exams. and them boom!, we're in the last trimester. scary.
Æ

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Now playing: The Beastie Boys - Three MCs And One DJ
via FoxyTunes

just under the wire

spent the better part of the last two hours trying to get together stuff for tuesday's class. i had hoped it wouldn't take as long as it has, but alas, it's taken far longer than it should. didn't help that i've been trying to multitask and get some of my emusic downloads onto cd. got eleven done, but still have a lot of work to do to organize my itunes folder. bleah. not a fan of itunes. maybe it's better on a mac, but it's so annoying on my pc.

church this morning was excellent. my "sister" judy and her husband robin were there. surprised to see them, though i shouldn't have been, since they know the mcneely's who have been coming. steven hamilton spoke. he was here to talk about human trafficking. he started by saying how hard it was to work for justice, which echoed some of what i wrote about yesterday. he spoke about agape love being a reorienting of ourselves, which makes sense, though it's odd to think of God "changing" to reorient himself. it struck me how easy it is to let things like human trafficking to go unchallenged. reminds me of the "what i have left undone" part of our confession.

got to spend time with the havens tonight again. really need to do that more often. they're getting ready to transition from kenny staying at home and marisa working to marisa staying at home and kenny working. i pray the transition isn't too tricky for either of them.

ok, i should get some sleep if i hope to make any headway against the mountain of grading waiting for me. discipline - i must have discipline tomorrow. Father, help me in my weakness!
Æ

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Now playing: Morphine - The Saddest Song
via FoxyTunes

dilemmas

i'm not in my normal hallway fortress of solitude - instead i'm sitting in the dressing room with everyone else. which i supposed is a bit of bad form, writing while people are being social.

i spent a lot of money today - more than i like to. yesterday, one of the guys working on my neighbors roof stopped me as i got my mail and said while they were up on their ladders, they noticed my gutters were clogged with leaves. he offered to clear them out for $60. since i own no ladder and i hate cleaning them, i said sure. so they came over this morning. sometimes you spend money to save yourself time and frustration. then i mailed a package, which set me back another $10. dinner, $10. gas, $35. post-show revelry, $15. spending money like you have it - priceless.

saw atonement this afternoon. three down, two to go. it was good, but like most of the oscar films i've seen, it left me wanting a bit. pacing was a bit slow, especially the war section. loved the long tracking shot on the beach and thought the music was fantastic. i liked the incorporation of the typewriter as a rhythmic element. it's my pick for best picture of the three i've seen. it won't win. no country has that wrapped up. but i personally liked atonement better. still want to see michael clayton. i think it hits dvd this week, so maybe i'll try it that way. and the cast tells me i should see see there will be blood. so maybe i will. only one week left. better get a move on.

am trying to decide if i can take a second sabbath tomorrow and just spend monday working. we'll see. maybe i can pull together my OGT stuff tomorrow and grade all day monday. so much for a three day weekend.

things that thrill my soul: found out there's a moe's at the levee. much closer than mason. went there tonight before ths how, which may turn out to be a bad idea. feeling a bit bloated at the moment.

i thought about going to the human trafficking gathering - how to stop it, not how to participate in in it. but decided, selfishly probably, that i didn't want to spend my saturday that way. and i wonder if i should care more than i do. and i despair of what i could do to help, which i know is no way to view a problem, turning a blind eye. which obviously i'm beating myself up over, yet i don't know why other than my penchant for guilt and martyrdom.

i think the abyss from yesterday still lingers.

time to get my habit on. i might have people in the audience tonight - be the first ones. guess i'll stayin in costume tonight instead of changing immediately, in case there are pictures to be taken. mustn't keep my public waiting...Æ

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Now playing: The Urban Hillbilly Quartet - Nightmares
via FoxyTunes

the scottish play

so right before the show our illustrious director and billy in the show spoke the most terrifying word an actor can hear backstage. yep, he referenced the scottish play. i know many of you are unbelievers, mockers even of such a superstition. but let me demonstrate why it is verboten anywhere near a stage.

• bunny's earring broke and fell off - no problems previously
• lines were dropped that had never been dropped before
• music fell off the piano and scattered about
• our bananas got confused, thought we were at the end of the scene instead of in the middle and completely missed an entrance
• bunny forgot to bring her purse and keys onto the stage ,which made it very difficult for her to give the little nun her keys
• worst of all, we had the deadest. audience. ever. so quiet you could hear the flopsweat dripping from our brows

so thanks ted. thanks a lot. of course, perhaps it can't all be blamed on the invocation of the scottish play. the day seemed off from the time my alarm went off this morning. i hit the snooze the max five times, then reset the alarm to get ten more minutes of sleep. took my shower and still wanted to go back to bed. got to school and wanted to go back home, even though it was a short friday. even free folksong friday failed to fill my feelings with fullness of life. an inexplicable sadness filled me all day. didn't help that i struggled with my fasting today for the first time. i seriously entertained cheating. but i held fast (pun intended).

time for curtain call. more later, perhaps, after the revelry.

(later) or not.
Æ

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Now playing: Jake Speed - Ben Franklin Screwed Me Over Again
via FoxyTunes

cheating

i have no thoughts of mine own for today. so i share this that i found.
Æ

A Prayer For Valentine's Day
from Out of the Ordinary by Joyce Rupp

Praise to the One whose love stirs the ancient embers
sparks the breath of prayer

Praise to the One whose love entices the wandering
beckons the confused

Praise to the One whose love grows wings on the weary
dreams hope in the discouraged

Praise to the One whose love soothes with the ointment of mercy
transforms with the touch of compassion

Praise to the One whose love threads the energy of friendship
stitches the strength of fidelity

Praise to the One whose love tickles the soul with laughter
urges the heart toward joy

Praise to the one whose love embraces the untamed
dances with the passionate

All praise to this Gracious One
All gratitude to this Beloved
All love to this Mentor of Friendship
All devotion to this Shaper of Hearts.

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Now playing: Old 97's - Valentine
via FoxyTunes

lost, now found

so i found this a while ago, but hadn't updated my blog. so for those who didn't know, my good friend brian has a great blog that was stolen from him. he has found a way back.

http://therealbigrockcandymountain.blogspot.com/

it's over there on the right for future reference. glad to have him back.

saturday night after the play, the cast went out to the york street cafe for some post-show revelry. while there, discussions turned to religion, specifically the craziness of the creation museum and the small-mindedness of those who believe the Bible to be true. i listened to their conversation, hearing their arguments and realizing the church has done a horrible job of presenting itself to many people. they brought up the great spaghetti monster, declaring it a brilliant argument against religion in general. now i have to admit, i find the great spaghetti monster amusing and it does point to some of the ridiculousness preached in the name of God. but it also points to a deeper question, one i ran across again last night in my nightly buechner reading: "what's so good about religion anyway?" buechner talks about the question this way:

...I found myself speechless. I felt surely there must be something good about it. Why else was I there? But for the moment I couldn't for the life of me think what it was. Maybe the truth of it is that religion the way he means it - a system of belief, a technique of worship, an institution - doesn't really have all that much about it that is good when you come right down to it, and perhaps my speechlessness in a way acknowledged as much.

Unless you become like a child, Jesus said, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and maybe part of what that means is that in the long run what is good about religion is playing the way a child plays at being grown up until h finds that being grown up is just another way of playing and thereby starts to grow up himself. Maybe what is good about religion is playing that the Kingdom will come, until - in the joy of your playing, the hope and rhythm and comradeship and poignance and mystery of it - you start to see that the playing is itself the first-fruits of the Kingdom's coming and of God's presence within us and among us.

i think sometimes it's hard to talk about faith with my friends who don't believe because they have valid points. religion does sometimes seem to cause more harm than good. wars, division, intolerance, self-righteousness, small-mindedness. hard to argue against those things that are often done in the name of religion. but they miss out on the joy that can be there when you find yourself "playing," pretending you are something that you wish you were and then eventually, hopefully, discovering you've become just that.

Father, help those of us playing to be better at presenting the joy and hope you offer. help us to experience that joy and hope ourselves.
Æ

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Now playing: Bruce Cockburn - The Whole Night Sky
via FoxyTunes

the final hour

fasting from sunrise to sunset is most difficult when you don't have anything to do, when you don't fill your time with enough activity to keep your mind off the fact that you haven't eaten in 22 hours.

that's where i am right now.

God smiled on us today and brought just enough nasty weather mason's way to keep us from school. i knew last night going to bed that i had a two hour delay, so i got to sleep in until 6:30 and just as i was pulling on my clothes, the phone rang and the news that they had canceled school rang loud and clear. so i through on some jeans and a sweatshirt and headed to morning prayers. spent the day catching up on stuff i've been putting off. relaxed a little. but as great as it was to be off school, it was a tough one fasting-wise. very aware of my desire for food. found myself several times today praying, which is the point, of course.

everyone in house church is sick, so we'll not be meeting tonight. been struggling lately with my role as leader - truth is, i feel i mostly suck. and i wonder if we wouldn't be better off without me leading. if one of my roles is to help set the vision for the church, i'm not sure i've done much to help with that. the vision i had has not come to fruition. and i know there's been a lot going on in our lives and i realize ultimately it is God's hands, but i can't help but feel like i'm hindering - not so much because of what i'm doing, but more what i'm not doing. and i'm not sure if the rest of the group is feeling that or not. probably something we should talk about.

my head is all wonky from lack of food. not a good idea to blog right now.

these lyrics just ran through my itunes:

tension is to be loved
when it is like a passing note
to a beautiful, beautiful chord

always have loved that song.

40 more minutes. think i'm going to find something other than this to occupy my time. might blog later. who knows. not me.
Æ

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Now playing: Sixpence None The Richer - Tension Is A Passing Note
via FoxyTunes

at last

went this afternoon over to cinema de lux (after calling first to make sure their imax projector wasn't broken again) to finally catch U23D. it was me, sam from school and a couple of ladies who were there to avoid the winter storm that is supposed to be moving into the area (can't say i'm terribly confident it will actually make it here). the small crowd didn't matter - i wasn't there for the crowd. the film was what i knew it would be - U2 writ large. the 3D effects were cool, but not overused and really did give the sense of being right there at times. for me, though, the best part was the sound. this is how i wish i could listen to U2 all the time - crystal clear, loud but not overbearing. reminded me of the sheer power of their music, the sonic wall they are able to create with their four members (and a little boost from technology). my biggest complaint was it was too short - so many songs i would have loved to have heard in that format. but i was happy with what they gave us. having the vertigo dvd, i can't say it's my favorite way tour - too much preaching for my tastes. but this distilled U2 to the moment and it captured them well. i'll probably see it at least one more time, if only to see how it plays in a pure digital environment.

did a little filming today - students asked me to be part of their film submission for the mason film festival. their film is about what super heroes do after they're done being heroes. i played thor, of course, which would have been much more impressive if i still had my beard. still, i think it went well. we'll see how the whole thing turns out in two and a half weeks. should be fun.

at the same time conrad, one of the film club leaders, came in and was putting together a video about the american dream and interviewed me - in my thor costume. very strange to be in costume answering the questions. my answers came off the top of my head and i kind of wish i'd had time to prepare. the more i think about it, the more i believe the american dream, at least how it is presented, is more nightmare than dream. it's all about the individual and the attainment of things, something i think is a dangerous idea to chase. not sure my answers came off that way, though. guess we'll see when he cuts it all together. funny moment: they asked if i thought the sixties changed the american dream, with me sitting there in a long, hippie wig. i twirled my fake hair before giving an answer. i hope it makes it into the final cut.

so turns out the other tournament academic team could enter coincides with an SAT test date - and our best player ray is taking the test that day. so we're left trying to decide whether we should try it. the thought is the competition won't be too bad since the really good teams have already qualified. was going to talk to mark about it today, but i got caught up in the filming stuff and we didn't get to sit down. at the very least we need to sit down and figure out what we want to do for the end of the year banquet. i think we should take part in the blazing challenge at bw3s, but we'll see what everyone else thinks.

*phone*

it's an hour later - my friend candice called and since we hadn't talked in three weeks, we had a lot to catch up on. need to be heading to bed. g'night.
Æ

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Now playing: The Pogues - A Pair Of Brown Eyes
via FoxyTunes

meet gilbert

seems when i was in kc last month for a visit, i left behind a friend of mine. and now he is writing a blog of his own:

http://www.theadventuresofhat.blogspot.com/

looks like after a rough start, he's getting along well out there. and already his blog is more interesting than mine - it's even got pictures!

enjoy his story.

just finished watching network - tmc is running oscar-winning films during february, so i've been filling some of the holes in my movie history. i really enjoyed network and am again flabbergasted that it lost out to rocky. this 32-year-old film seems like it could have been written yesterday. if anything, television is worse now than it was then, which is a frightening thought. great performances all around, exquisite direction, thought provoking, self-aware...everything a great film should be. made me want to throw open my window and shout "i'm as mad as hell and i'm not going to take it any more!"

but that would just be silly.

to bed must i be. morning will come far too early as always. another day spent in the lab. my poor students. and yet so many will still say they didn't have enough time to finish their paper. at least i know that going in...
Æ

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Now playing: Cake - Mahna, Mahna
via FoxyTunes

the tournament

You know, when I thought about the Academic Team GMC Tournament, I pictured groups of trivia nerds huddled in classrooms for four hours until one group was finally declared the winner. Definitely not the most exciting of ways to spend an afternoon.

Boy, was I wrong.

It started with barely enough students showing up for the bus. We told them to meet at 11:15, expecting to leave at 11:30. But 11:30 rolled around and we had the bare minimum - four. And our best player, Ray, was a no show. So we sent out reconnaissance to find the Science Olympiad competing in the building and they returned with Ray in tow. So at least we had a team, with one substitute even.

When we arrived at Hamilton, we figured out the tournament seeding. Based on the regular season total points, we finished in third place behind Lakota West, who we beat, and ahead of Lakota East, who destroyed us. But the good news was we ended up in the pool opposite from the 18-0 Sycamore team. Our pool included West, Princeton, Fairfield and Colerain. I liked our chances.

I spent the afternoon keeping time for the other pool so I didn't get to watch the matches. But I checked in during the breaks. Going into the final round, we needed a win by Fairfield to put us in a three-way tie with Fairfield and Colerain. We beat West (who dropped every match - so much for 2nd seed) and Fairfield won, so now we had to decide who would battle Sycamore in the Championship Round. We beat Fairfield, who beat Colerain, who beat us. So we went to the second tie break, which was point differential. Fairfield was at -5, Mason was at +3 and Colerain at +2. So going by the book we should have been in the the Championship Round and on our way to a second straight state tournament. But there was one tiny problem: seems during the Mason/Colerain match, Colerain had challenged one of the answers. They claimed the Catholic Reformation should have been accepted along with the answer in the book, Counter Reformation. The moderator didn't give them the points, so instead of winning by 5, they won by 2, meaning that question changed the point differential.

Still with me?

So we called a coaches meeting to figure out what to do. Technically, we should have won. When this had happened in the past, the book answer stood, which makes sense because otherwise you could end up having to google every question. But wanting to be fair (well, fair to Colerain anyway), we decided, since Sycamore was already going to state, to do a playoff, Colerain vs Mason, the winner going to state and taking on Sycamore in the final round.

The round was tense, Colerain feeling they'd been cheated by a bad question, Mason believing we had won according to the rules. But at least this way there would be no lingering questions. The set used was a nine, the hardest of the questions. At the end of the category round it was all tied, 24-24. I realized time was slipping away, so I stepped outside to let the bus driver know the situation and came back after the alphabet round was over and the lightning round had started. I looked at the score - Mason was behind by three points. The questions went back and forth. We'd get a question, they'd get a couple questions, we'd come back. When the dust cleared and all was finished, we tied the lightning round but found ourselves three points down. Three points away from state. But we had lost and so we loaded our bus, buoyed by our showing, but disappointed to have come so close to continuing our season.

The irony of it all is that in the category round, we technically got a question right, which would have given us three points, which would have made us tied at the end of the match. Unfortunately, by the time we figured out we should challenge, it was too late. But like Mark pointed out, we lost twice to the same team and if we were meant to go on, we would have beat them. Still disappointing and while I tried to put on a good face, it was hard. I felt the worst for our seniors, who were so instrumental in making this team what it was this year.

There's still a slim possibility we could make state by attending another tournament, but I'm not sure how realistic that is. I will definitely be looking into it on Monday though, because after the excitement of today, another day spent at a tournament sounds like the best way to spend an afternoon.
Æ

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Now playing: Wally Pleasant - She's In Love With A Geek
via FoxyTunes

opening night

been a while since i've used this notebook. currently sitting in a frigid hallway backstage waiting for act i to end so i can get into my habit and veil and become a bride of Christ for act ii. at first i wasn't sure about this play - it's a little out there and a little artsy-fartsy at times. but it's turned out to be a hilarious farce, and not just because it has men dressed as nuns (though that definitely helps). If you're reading this and are in the cincinnati area, it's a fun night at the theater. Probably not good for younger viewers (especially the end) but there's plenty of laughs for everyone.

it's always strange to talk about my fasting, as happened today at school. i'm afraid, i think, to have it sound like i'm bragging. my sacrificing at Lent doesn't bring me pride - it makes me realize just how weak i am the rest of the year. my students today pointed out how unhealthy my fasting was. quite true, but then that's not why i'm doing it. no grand epiphanies yet, though falling into the rhythms of the season has already helped.

i've been grading while i'm waiting backstage, just read a story by one of my students - amazing piece of work. such a mature writer. however, the assignment was due last december, which means she should only get half credit. but it's so well done i'm tempted to forgo the consequences. but iwll that teach her procrastination will pay off? i sometimes need to be careful of the hidden curriculum i teach my students. i'll have to think about this this weekend, figure out how to approach it. what will most help her?

another long day tomorrow, but at least i'll get to sleep in. i hope. here's hoping the team is well-rested and in good form. looks to be all guys - my other female-type cannot make it. been great fun coaching the team this year. next year will be even better since i'll know what i'm doing, assuming we have enough students for a team. must do some recruiting. ray cannot do it alone (well, he probably could, but be good to have some backup).

ok, time to get my habit on. more later, perhaps.
******************************************
later. act ii, scene ii is on and i am finished. it went well - small but reactive audience. helped to energize us. of course, my wimple/veil fell off at the end of my scene, but i think it probably only added to the hilarity.

i had hoped there would be revelry tonight, but most of the cast is sick and everyone is heading home. for the best, i'm sure. there'll be plenty of time for revelry during the run when everyone is feeling better.

irony: today i was discussing Lent with christina and asked her what church she went to. turns out she's nazarene - attend springdale church. ironic that i agreed to hep mvnu because of my nazarene ties, but holly turned out to be non-nazarene. and so i'm able to help allen out and his student teacher turns out to be nazarene. funny how God works sometimes.

looks like U23D is around for one more week. will try again on Monday. Thought about doing it today, but figured it would be pushing it to try and squeeze it in. so i came home and took a nap instead, after watching my daily dose of stewart/colbert. always good to relax before the show - i feel it helps my performance.

babbled on long enough. the show is nearing the end and i have to put my veil back on for curtain call. three down, 37+ to go. here's hoping i find time tomorrow....
Æ

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Now playing: Ty Tabor - Another Day
via FoxyTunes

sick

second day of lent and i'm already sick. not good.

by the way, one of my promises for lent is to blog every day. we'll see which lasts longer - not eating until sundown or blogging every day.

many have asked why i celebrate lent - why sacrifice? why set your self aside? what is to be gained? here are buechner's words:

In many cultures there is an ancient custom of giving a tenth of each year's income to some holy use. For Christians, to observe the forty days of Lent is to do the same thing with roughly a tenth of each year's days. After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent forty days asking himself the question what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask one way or another what it means to be themselves.

...To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are but of both what you are becoming and what you are failing to become. It can be a pretty depressing business all in all, but if sackcloth and ashes are at the start of it, something like Easter may be at the end.

i sacrifice what matters to me to find out what makes me me. am i my possessions? my appetites? my time? where do i find my identity? Lent forces us to strip away what we sometimes think of ourselves and face what really lies there beneath. at least that's what is supposed to happen. the problem is, we become too focused on finding out what it means to be ourselves and we lose sight of the fact that ultimately it's not ourselves who are most important.

need to run out and get some stuff for this weekend - basics like underwear/undershirts/vitamins, etc. i might do some grocery shopping but fasting all day has made me hungry and i'm afraid of what i would buy. don't want to spend too much time out and about - still feeling really tired.

just checked the academic team standings - mason ended up tied for second record-wise, but should end up third in the standings since we lost twice to lakota east and beat lakota west twice. this bodes well for our tournament. tournament starts at 1:00 on saturday - the championship round is supposed to be at 4:30. here's hoping for an excellent showing, though we'll be down our literature expert. but i don't think it will hurt us too much.

oh and for those who are far away, i am once again beardless for the play. and my hair is quite short. i joked yesterday that i had given up being hairy for lent. but i guess i'm not completely sold out because i didn't shave my head. i don't have the head to be bald. would not be good for anyone. it's times like these that i wish i had a camera so i could upload pics. there will be pics from the show, so you can see what i look like as a nun. i'll link to them as soon as i know they're available.

ok, time to get the necessities. that's two days straight writing. here's hoping i don't slack off.
Æ

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Now playing: Galaxie 500 - Melt Away
via FoxyTunes

wednesday of ashes

quick drop in to say hello on my way to bed after seventeen hours away from home. school. academic team. rehearsal. and now bed, if i can get my brain to slow down enough to fall asleep. hasn't happened yet this week. add to that feeling a bit queasy to my stomach, and it could be quite the long night.

so today officially starts lent. i heard no clear call from God this year on something to give up, so i fell back on my default - ye olde sunrise/sunset fast. and chocolate. i always give up chocolate. none of my other ideas seemed to call to me. we'll see how it goes. usually not too bad until around an hour before the sun sets. then it gets rough.

academic team finished the regular season with two wins over middletown. not sure what that does for the standings. currently we're fourth place - it will depend on how the teams tied with us and lakota west did today. we're really hoping for second or third, which will keep us out of sycamore's pool. they didn't drop a match. they'll split us into two pools for the tournament - the winner of each pool goes to the championship. fingers crossed.

ok, must to bed. not feeling well. here's hoping my brain lets me sleep tonight.
Æ

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Now playing: Phil Keaggy - Round About You
via FoxyTunes

the play's the thing

still at school - winter play is this weekend and as i'm not sure what my schedule is like, i figured i was best to stay late tonight and see it. i am hoping to sit down and do some grading, but right now i'm a little off-kilter from the day and want to take a break before doing some serious grading. i am seriously behind. and i'm seriously tired of whining about it.

i toyed with going to see U23D, which i still mean to see, but my better instincts have won out. i'll get there eventually, though i ought to make sure that it's still going to be playing next week. i am assuming it is, but then i have been mistaken before. i am actually surprised i haven't seen it yet. i may lose my standing as an uber-fan if i'm not careful, though i did get my U2.com t-shirt and cd in the mail yesterday. sucker!

finally carved some time out last weekend to see two of the five best picture nominees - juno and no country for old men. let's start with the easy one - i didn't like no country. i wanted to. the acting was good. the directing was good. the cinematography was outstanding. but the film as a whole lacked something. i sat there after it was over wthinking, "was that it?" gina compared it to my feelings for clint eastwood directed films - a sense of hopelessness. and i had that, though not nearly as bad as any eastwood film. i like the coen's other work. this one just left me feeling bleah.

as for juno...this one's tricky. i definitely enjoyed it more than i did no country. and i agree with those who have mentioned it avoids the usual teen-movie cliches and steers clear of afterschoolspecial territory. but everyone has been raving about the dialogue and the cleverness of the characters and i found it, well, annoying at times. don't get me wrong - it's not as some have claimed that they don't sound like real teenagers. i love heathers and buffy, even though no teenagers i know talk like they do. but the characters in juno seemed to be a little too aware at just how clever their dialogue was. maybe that's me just reading into it and tired of the mountains of praise being lavished on diablo cody. it certainly wasn't a bad film and definitely deserves it's place among best screenplay. but best picture? guess it just shows how weak a year it was for films.

three more to go, though i'm not sure i'll see one of them. i am not a fan of paul thomas anderson, so there will be blood is not high on my list. but i'll probably see it, just to be safe. i'm most interested in seeing michael clayton, which looks excellent and atonement, though i've heard mixed reviews of that one. not really worried about seeing them in a timely manner - i'm guessing with the writer's strike that the oscars will be delayed or drastically changed.

doesn't help that i am overextending myself yet again. i'm in the final rehearsals for falcon's the house of blue trees where i am playing a nun, which i suppose is all you really need to know about the production. me in a habit and a wimple - what better way to spend an evening? it's a bizarre story and to tell you it would either confuse you or chase you away. just know it's a bizarre evening of theatre fun with just a touch of melancholy around the edges. we open in a week (aaaaaghhh!) and run for three weekends. follow the links for more information.

and i guess i never mentioned it, but i did indeed get a part in beauty and the beast this spring. the rehearsals for that one start the day after blue leaves closes. lovely. i don't know what part i'm playing yet - i keep telling everyone i'm second fork from the left, though that may not be true. i'm in the ensemble, which could prove to be lots of fun. i hope. not really thinking about it yet, though we're less than a month from rehearsals. we go up in may and my understanding is that tickets are already going quickly. yikes. they're on the pricier side for community theatre, but CMT does excellent productions, so start saving up.

ok, killed enough time. i should get started on grading something before the pile tumbles on my head and i find myself unable to call for help and the custodian finds my body covered in a million paper cuts from the piles of ungraded persuasive essays. the horror, the horror, the horror....
Æ

tunes: concrete blonde - still in hollywood

it's always hard coming back

a week from the end of january and i'm just now doing my first post of the new year. sad sad sad. i've thought many times of coming back and posting but often times found myself unsure of what to actually write about, what to say. most things seemed unimportant, unnecessary. but then who cares? i mean, anyone who has read my blog can tell that this isn't about making important pronouncements about life and such. it's just the random thoughts that meander through my head. sometimes they're interesting. sometimes they're not.

feels like january has slipped away. been busy with academic team and film club and trying to get caught up on all the grading i didn't do over christmas break, only i keep giving my students assignments and they keep turning them in and i don't see that stopping any time soon. so there's most of what's kept me away - the busyness of life.

then there's the fear that students might be reading. i found something hilarious and wanted to post it, but then thought, "what if a student reads it? what then?" which is not helpful at all for the purpose of this blog. something i wish i had thought about before agreeing to the interview. oh well. maybe enough time has gone by and the students have forgotten and i can post what i found and anything else that comes to mind. doesn't help, though, that right before christmas break we got a letter from our union talking about why we shouldn't do facebook and myspace. no danger of me doing those, but i wonder if the same liability exists for a blog. so many horror stories of employers using blog postings against employees. add to that the frustration a friend of mine has been having because of something i wrote on my blog and, well, i've been a bit blogshy.

fun with smart people update: after a slow start, mason has moved into either 2nd or 3rd place, depending on how middletown did in their match today. we've swept three straight matches (fairfield, hamilton and lakota west) and are hitting our stride. which has absolutely nothing to do with me as a coach. i think they're just getting into the groove of the competition. last week they all dressed in sombreros for the match. hilarious. good thing we didn't try that today because our opponent was a little touchy. we are overloaded with seniors, so we've been letting them play during the JV rounds, which is technically against the rules but the other teams we've played had no problem with it. but today a parent called us on it, so we had to forfeit the alphabet round. we still beat them, but it showed that though we tend to be laid back about the matches, not every team is like us. which is too bad, because i'm pretty sure we're having more fun.

we're doing compline early tonight, so i need to go. i think angela might be going to see the new U2-3D at the imax tonight. i'm afraid if she asks if i want to go, i might have to say yes, though it will make for a late night. we'll see what happens...
Æ

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Now playing: The National - Apartment Story
via FoxyTunes

waiting

waiting...just before seven on sunday evening. my steelers are currently either winning or losing to the over-hyped patriots. as is my wont, i'm waiting until it's over before i watch the game - much better for my heart. sometimes i check in and see how it's going before it actually ends but not tonight - i'm just going to sit here and type and wait until it's all done. i will either have a glorious evening of football ahead of me followed by getting my act together for the coming week or an evening of getting my act together for the coming week.

waiting...the gathering this morning was all about waiting, the major theme of this season. the already and not yet. the looking forward, the looking back, the wondering what lies ahead. we heard the words of isaiah echoed in the gospel this morning. "repent! for the kingdom of God is at hand!" this was the phrase that stood out to me during lectio divinia this morning. and i found myself wondering what happens if i get so used to waiting that, like john, when the kingdom of God does arrive, i begin to doubt if it's true? how do i know? Jesus's answer was to look around, see what is being done

The blind see,
The lame walk,
Lepers are cleansed,
The deaf hear,
The dead are raised,
The wretched of the earth
have God's salvation hospitality extended to them.
"Is this what you were expecting? Then count yourselves fortunate!"

here's hoping i don't bury my head in my waiting and miss the evidence.

waiting...no contact from CMT about beauty and the beast. the longer the time drags on, the further my hope of getting in. won't be too disappointed if i don't get cast - as always, i probably don't have time to commit to something like this. but i have such a great time doing them, i cannot help myself. i wondered this weekend as i drove all over ohio if i would accept a chorus part - you know, third fork from the left or whatever. and i probably would. fewer rehearsals. more of a chance to get to know people. all a moot point if i don't hear back. patience, thurman, patience.

waiting...so last night on the way to laurie's party with brent, steve and angela i heard a horribly loud noise. i thought i had run over some road debris and as it rattled around for what seemed like an eternity in my wheel well, i wondered how i hit it but brent and steve and angela, who were only a couple of car lengths in front of me, had missed it. but it soon stopped, so i kept driving - only to discover when i got to the party that one of my new tires was completely flat. upon further inspection, it turns out that the tire didn't go flat - there's a huge hole in my wheel. huge. and the back end of my car under the wheel well is completely shredded. speaking from my own ignorance, it looks like my wheel gave out and blew - either that or i did hit some debris and it tore up the wheel and the tire. the amazing thing is i was able to drive all the way to laurie's on the rim with little change in how my car drove. of course, it means i have to buy a new wheel for my car. i tempted to blame tire discounters and force them to take care of the damage, but i'm fairly confident they'll be able to shift the blame to me somehow. "we only deal with tires, not wheels. not our fault the wheel went bad. and since it wasn't technically road debris, the $15.00 per tire insurance you bought is completely worthless to you. that will be another $500 please."

no, really, i'm not a pessimist.

so i have another monday afternoon of waiting to look forward to - waiting on them to fix the wheel, waiting on getting the alignment done, waiting on them to tell me i'm screwed yet one more time just before christmas. yay.

this is a lot of waiting. here's hoping it's not like exercising and that God isn't building up my waiting muscles for some major waiting ahead. not sure i can handle it. time to go check and see if the steeler game is over. i hope the waiting was worth it...
Æ

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Now playing: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Fish In The Dish
via FoxyTunes

i love me a two-hour delay

probably because they felt guilty about not giving us a delay on wednesday, mason city schools called early this morning, saying we didn't have to be at school until 9 today. glory! the only thing that would have made it better were if i had found out before i had showered and gotten dressed. but i'm not complaining - at least i wasn't already on my way to school.

and with a two-hour delay, i get to do one of my favourite things - go to morning prayers. something i desperately need. been an exhausting couple of days - i was in bed by 9:00 last night. haven't done that since...well, so long ago i cannot even remember. only one day this week was i home before 6 pm. waiting for new tires monday, academic team wednesday, film club thursday. and i'll probably go try and get an oil change and alignment this afternoon. we'll see.

i know you're sitting there reading, thinking, "tires? why did you need tires?" on saturday, on the way home from celebrating my mom's birthday (yay mom!), my left front tire decided it was tired (sorry, couldn't resist) and literally shed its skin and went bad. i sat on route 4 across from eastwood lake for a good two hours before help arrived. i called my mazda roadside support, who originally said i was covered, but then said i needed to give them $65 to have someone come help me get my tire off. i had jacked up lorelai and gotten the lugnuts off but the tire would not budge. turns out i need to buy a rubber mallet so i can crawl under the car and whack the tire until it comes off. gee, thanks for making it easy, mazda. what's the point of having a spare if you can't get the tire off? anyway, i finally got home after driving on the donut (bad, bad, i know) and figured i better just get all four tires replaced since winter was on its way and my tires were abysmal in the snow. so i went to tire discounters monday. who told me it would be a two hour wait for new tires and an alignment but only an hour for just the tires and i could get the alignment later. so i went with the latter option so i could get home at a decent hour. an hour and 45 minutes and $715 later, i had four new tires. just what everyone wants right before christmas. to make it worse, when i went back to try and get the alignment done, the wait was now 4 hours. no thanks.

speaking of christmas, i'm not there yet. my tree's not up and i haven't even begun shopping and laurie's christmas party is tomorrow and i have yet to get my exchange gift. this year i'm acutely aware of the overwhelming consumerism surrounding christmas and am just not feeling it. hopefully that will fade soon. i do love christmas and would hate to see it spoiled by my inner scrooge.

been reading coupland's latest, the gum thief. this is the longest it has ever taken me to finish one of his books. not sure if it's the book or if it's just my life right now, but i cannot seem to read more than a few pages at a time. probably a combination of both. i already know i'm going to have to reread it before making any judgments. the list has been pretty quiet about it, other than a slew of reviews from publications posted (well, except for anne's lovely review). cannot say it's blown me away, but i think that has more to do where i am right now than the book itself. it's why i'm a big proponent of rereading - we're never the same person we were when we read it the first time.

need to get going. didn't hear back from CMT about my audition, so no call backs for me. not surprised - i'm not really lead character material. could still make it as a fork or something i suppose. we'll see. my biggest asset is my ability to sing bass - most of your musical theatre boys are baritone/tenors. not me. i prefer to rumble. anyway. more waiting. we'll see what happens.

ok, to kroger, then to prayers, then to school. i wish every morning were like this. but no, we have to start at the ungodly and unhealthy time. not that i'm bitter or anything....
Æ

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Now playing: Over the Rhine - This Daring Light
via FoxyTunes

stumbling through

thursday. cannot wait for the weekend, though a new mountain of grading looms before me. OGT practice tests. jekyll and hyde essay tests. so much for my brief respite. but at least i have dinner with the owp crew and a pomegranates show to look forward to.

so mbc (the school broadcast news magazine) ran their story on teacher's who blog, which seems to be just me. they had this lovely site on the screen several times. and in a strange twist, they had me saying that i don't like to publicize my blog while the whole time there was my blog on the screen. they didn't give the exact address, thank goodness, but enough of my students are bright enough to find it by the title, which could definitely be seen. so much for all the cursing i do here.

kidding. kidding.

i'll still be cursing.

kidding. kidding.

academic team (or as i like to call it, fun with smart people) had its first scrimmage yesterday against little miami. a bit intimidating - we walked into the band room with our nine students while their 50+ students (!) sat around eating pizza. but we soon proved that size does not matter. our varsity team annihilated their varsity team in both rounds, 72-27 and 73-38. and our JV did well - the first round ended in a tie, which we lost in overtime. and they were close in the second round. a couple questions here and there and the outcome could have been very different. i'm still frustrated that we miss so many literature questions, but then so did the other teams.

hilarious moment: the team is composed mostly of guys, and they give out what they call "man points" when they answer "manly" questions - sports, certain literature, etc. and they take away man points when you answer something "unmanly" - opera, show biz gossip, etc. so i was a little worried when we got to the fine arts section of the match and the topic was the top 100 romantic films of all time. i had to convince them they would not lose man points for answering. we got jerry maguire, but missed the toss up, much to my relief - the answer was the bridges of madison county, which was a bad book and a worse movie. bleah.

called tonight for an audition slot for cmt's beauty and the beast. figured i needed something to steal away all my time this spring, right? not sure what i should sing for the audition - my usual is "stars" from les mis, but i get the feeling it might be overused. trying to think of some other options - perhaps something from carousel or south pacific? unfortunately, i don't have sheet music for those. will have to see what i can scrounge up before monday at 9:00.

been doing some reading on reformed theology lately in response to some discussions i've had. now i'm a born and bred wesley-arminian, so of course i'm going to be biased. but i have major problems with much of what i've read so far from calvin. just the five points make me cringe. and then to hear how they are often interpreted and applied.... i truly appreciate the emphasis on the sovereignty of God, something desperately needed in most churches. but it seems such a hopeless way of viewing God and humankind. and i have a major problem with the idea that some are created just to be punished. that is not love. that is not grace.

enough blathering for now. feeling worn out tonight and am just needing to sit back and relax a bit. here's hoping i can actually do that.
Æ

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Now playing: Phil Keaggy - I Always Do
via FoxyTunes

about time

so today i was interviewed by the school tv for a special they're running on teachers who blog. so i suppose i should, you know, actually do some of that.

new trimester has started and i'm back to teaching sophomores, with one final class of seniors. i feel bad for my sophomores who took their summer reading test last week and are now being subjected to four days of practice ohio graduation tests. they are going to hate me by the time the week is over. but there's no way around it. though i'm not sure it's going to get much better for them this trimester. i'll be interested to see how the class goes with the new way of doing things. i'm going to have to find some ways to keep them - and me - from burning out.

so much to catch up on...guess i should explain the last post. the one about the beautiful girl. you probably should begin looking for signs of the apocalypse because the rumours are true: i am actually dating someone. i know, i can't believe it either. completely unexpected. probably won't be too many details here - i've never been good at sharing this kind of stuff. but she really is quite amazing. lovely. intelligent. surprising. and, unfortunately, far, far away. God's got a great sense of humour. so much for my wanting to get away from long distance relationships. been hard being this far apart, but we're trying to make it work. i got to spend thanksgiving with her, which was wonderful. nothing like nearly twelve hours in car.

(funny moment: we got stuck for over an hour in an accident on I-70 - ok, that's not so funny - but i turned off the car so i didn't waste gas. only... i forgot to turn off my lights. so my battery died. luckily, i figured it out before traffic started to move again, so i asked the over-sized pickup next to me if he could give me a jump and got her restarted before lifeflight flew away)

advent starts this coming sunday. hard to believe it's already here. not sure if anything special is going on or not. i hope so. we started meeting in st. e's again during st. e's, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. really is one of my favourite times of the church year.

ok, so the new coupland book arrived at my house today - only, it needed proof of delivery, so i have to go and try to pick it up at the post office tomorrow. grrr. hopefully it was worth the wait - i ordered the special box set from amazon.ca. was a little worried with all the fluctuations with the loonie and the dollar, but i still think it ended up cheaper ordering it from there - 40.03 canadian as opposed to the 60 dollars at amazon. com. good week for it to arrive, while i'm giving the practice OGT. will give me something to keep me occupied. that and the student teacher i have right now.

ok, time for sleep. hopefully i'll be able to get back into the swing of things here now that my end of the trimester grading hell is over. later.

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Now playing: Elvis - Vertigo
via FoxyTunes

the song i can't get out of my head

i promise this isn't going to turn into a music blog. and i'll do a posting sometime if the end of the trimester doesn't turn my brain to mush (whose stupid idea was it to collect the research paper the weekend before the trimester ends. oh right, that's mine). in the meantime, go here to enjoy the song below (warning: it's terribly catchy - you'll probably sing it the rest of the day). it's one of my favourites and (cryptic alert!) explains a bit why i've been silent.

more later.
Æ


I'm in love with a Beautiful Girl,
Yes I'm in love with a beautiful girl.
Well I thought I knew all about everything,
but I'm in love with a beautiful girl.

And she's staring through a crack in the sky,
Yes she's staring through a crack in the sky.
Well I thought I knew all about everything,
but I'm in love with a beautiful girl.

And she's in love with a wonderful guy,
Yes, she's in love with a wonderful guy,
Well I hope she's in love
with whom I think she's in love,
I'm in love with a beautiful girl.

I'm a charming and dangerous guy
Yes, I'm a charming and dangerous guy.
If you don't expect too much it's alright,
I'm in love with a beautiful girl.

And we're going through a hole in the sky,
Yeah, we're going through a hole in the sky.
We'll be up there for the longest while,
'cos I'm in love with a beautiful girl.

Yes, I'm in love with a beautiful girl.
Well I thought I knew all about everything,
but I'm in love with a beautiful girl.
Yes, I'm in love with a beautiful girl.
Well I thought I knew all about everything,
but I'm in love with a beautiful girl.

Robyn Hitchcock

my new favorite song

click here to hear the song

It’s Hard to Be Red
by: Jake Speed
3/21/06

The tulips are up, the robin’s singing
The sun’s come back, it’s finally Spring and
I’m supposed to cheer or smile or dance or
Something like that but Spring to me means cancer

I’m red-headed, don’t you know that
My skin is whiter than a bucket of snow
If freckles connected, I’d be allright
But I guess that’s impossible, I already tried
I wish it were Winter again, and it’s hard to be a Red.

Spring Break time, you’re all on a cruise
While I’m inside with the sunburnt blues
Your golden brown tan soaks sun by the ocean
While I sit and soak in 80 proof sunscreen lotion

I’m red-headed don’t you see
I’m the one you made fun of as a kid, that’s me
Big Red, Carrot Top, Sunkist Melon
You can take your tan skin, and go to Hell and
you prolly won’t burn but I will
‘cause it’s hard to be a Red.

Woody Allen, Danny Bodaduce
Richie Cunningham and don’t forget Lucy
Queen Elizabeth, Bloody Mary Queen of Scots
Anne Boleyn had a redhead but Henry cut it off
General Custer, Napolean too
Both red-headed, both got screwed
Trotsky and Lenin: two Communist Reds
even Gorbechev had a red thing on his head
Art Garfunkel, not as talented as Simon
But I like him better ‘cause he’s red-headed, kind of
Jefferson and Grant, even Dwight Eisenhower
All White House men with Red Head Power
Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt
Both love singing their songs in the shade
Vincent Van Gogh may have cut off an ear
But he never cut off his dark orange beard
Mark Twain’s a great writer, there’s no mistaking
But put him in the sun and he’d burn like bacon
Little Orphan Annie sang a gem
The Sun won’t Come Out till Tomorrow, Amen!

I’m red-headed, don’t you get it
I’m the reason the whole country of Ireland was invented
It’s hard, I say, to live this way
When people only like you on St. Patrick’s Day
Yet with all these difficulties said, I’m glad to be a Red. At least I’m not bald. Thank god I’m not a blonde. I’m glad to be a red.