Tales From The Yellow Brick Road

Okay so the new WordPress for iPhone application became available in the App Store today. I am now testing it out.

This is a test to see how long it takes me to type something accurately.

About 44 seconds.

This ends the test of the WordPress for iPhone application.

This was only a test.

Today was probably the hardest day of my life so far. Unfortunatly I now know that there will be a few more to come in the near future.

Today I fought in a battle. It was not just a physical battle but it was an emotional and spiritual battle as well. There were casualties on both sides and no real winner can be determined. I have simply lived to fight another day.

Much like the end of The Two Towers, the story hasn’t gotten any better… In fact, things are as bad as they have ever been and there are more sinister things in store.

And so with the battle of Helm’s Deep behind me, I turn now and focus my energy on the battle for all of Middle Earth.

Today I’m on set all day doing green-screen work. I’m the DP for this project which is super cool and a whole lot of fun. This project is a product of our Video Production 2 class however I am not the director. Last semester we each were the director for our own project. This semester we all have to work as a team, each of us with our own responsibilities. We have a great crew in this class which is a relief. Last semester the class had a lot of first-timers and so I had to make sure I grabbed the more experienced people first. This semester the pressure is different but it’s still there. This time, if I screw up, someone else is screwed up too.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I have a huge test today, a huge quiz Wednesday and all for the same class! I’ve been studying non-stop for 2 days after the teacher put the fear of the Lord in us on Friday with his warning.

I also have a paper I’m working on that is past due and I just can’t seem to get the silly thing done. Spring Break is next week and there is a lot to be done before I go home to spend some much needed time with the family.

Anyways, I’m sitting here in the gym waiting for chapel to start so I guess I’ll look at me flash cards one more time.

2:25pm - Well here we go for the matinée. Two of the understudies are performing because one of the lead actors has a baseball game to play in. At any rate I’m sure they will do a great job and get the energy going to set up the second Act.

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2:34pm - Here is a picture of the crowd. (I need to clean my iPhone!)

Our director told us we are half full which is pretty good for a matinee.

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3:06pm - OH MY GOSH! Our understudy for Algernon is OUT OF CONTROL! He is HILARIOUS! He is ad-libbing so much that if he keeps it up we may have to change the end of the play! I hope I can keep up with him! This crowd is picking up a lot of the subtle jokes as well. They’re laughing at parts that no other audience has laughed at before.

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3:39pm - My matinée curse is still strong… I had a bit of a melt down with my lines but fortunately the other person on stage covered for me. I hate it when that happens cause it zaps the energy and gets ya scared instead of relaxed and having fun. I think what happened was I looked at the audience and lost my concentration. Looking at the audience is about the same as looking down from a tall building if you are scared of heights. It disorients you and reminds you of what’s at stake if you screw up even a little.
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4:43pm - The matinée is over and I made it through the rest of the show without anymore line flubs. Glad those got worked out now instead of tonight.

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7:25pm - Well I had a wonderful birthday dinner with my Mom and Dad at Claim Jumper. The only problem was our waitress was… S L O W… She took forever to bring us our meal. I was suppose to be back by 6:45pm but didn’t make it back until 7:00pm. Oh well. I’m back, we’re pumped and ready to get this show on the road! We are sold out and there are still people trying to pay at the door for tickets we don’t have!!!

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8:48pm - Act 1 is over and so far so good! The energy was great the crowd is very responsive. It took them a while but they’re warmed up now.

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9:14pm - YES!!!! That was by far the biggest laugh I have gotten so far! Of course I was waaaay over the top but still, the crowd was roaring! I can’t believe this is the last time I get to do this…

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10:47pm - Well it’s all over… what a run of performances for this team. Everyone from the stage crew to the cast was so fun to work with. What a breath of fresh air from my High School days. I am so thankful to God that I had the opportunity to be a part of this.

The Ranch Fire Near Copperhill at about 12:45pm on Sunday
(As seen from Rio Norte Junior High)

The Buckweed Fire in Agua Dolce at about 3:15pm on Sunday
(As seen from the Hotchkiss Parking Lot at TMC.)

Right now I am blogging from my iPhone. Of course this is nothing new to most of you except I have downloaded a template that allows me to post using a special modified interface that works better with the phone.

Right now we are at the youth group playing youth group games. Today has been a great day and I can’t wait to tell you about it but blogging ok the iPhone can be pretty hard when you have a lot to say. Internet is sketchy here so I haven’t been able to blog on a real computer yet. Sorry if the posts slow down a bit.

WE MADE IT!!! Time for bed! More tomorrow!

We are in Texas about 200 miles from Oklahoma City!!! We should be in Tulsa in about 4 hours or so. Today’s trip has been uneventful but long. Keep us in your prayers as we are on the home stretch.

Well we are back on the road and are 131 miles from Albuquerque. If I get a chance later I’ll post some road trip pictures.

Well we are here in Gallup, New Mexico. We’ve checked into the hotel and we are gonna get up in approxamatley 4 hours. It’s been a long night. After my lasst blog we stopped at a gas station in the absolute middle of nowhere and one of our teammates accidently locked the keys in the car! Yep it’s been that kind of trip. We made it the rest of the way without incident but we’re all pretty tired and ready for some sleep.

More tommorrow…

So there have been some set backs and we are just now on the road for real this time. Our main SUV broke down about 8 miles from the college. We were able to get alternate transpiration but it definately took a while and some convincing. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to convince someone to let you borrow a vehicle for 9 days and for 3000 miles!! Anyways, I’ll try to post a video tonight if we have wireless at the hotel.

Well we are on the road!! More to come!

This morning I woke up and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise. I’ll post a picture later, but I love mornings after it’s been raining. It was a good start to the day. Anyways, Brian Howard is getting ready to wrap up the sermon so I better pay attention.

EDITED: Sunday 8:43pm

Here is the picture I promised :