Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in will's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, May 13th, 2007
11:11 am	Hospital Blog 2 One to two of these per week is a pretty good frequency, yes? I think that my last update was written on Tuesday, and things actually have changed quite a bit since then. (Don't worry, though, this won't be nearly as long as the last hospital blog, simply because not nearly as much has happened since those first couple of days, in which just about everything in the world happened) The biggest change comes from the fact that Kim is now quite alert/stable just about all the time. She's still on the magnesium, but I guess her body's started getting used to it because it's not having nearly the same effect on her brain. It's keeping the contractions down, though (we think). Generally, she has a few each day, but without any regularity or severity, so they're generic Braxton-Hicks contractions, which she'd be having even if she weren't at the hospital. She's resting easier and more capable of carrying on coherent conversations with callers and visitors. Now, it seems, we're down to what amounts to nothing more than a waiting game. As I've said many times, every single day that the baby stays where he is is a victory. We're one full week into this ordeal with four to go before they release her to be on bed rest at home. Of course, there is another side to this good news coin. While Kim was mostly out of it, her mind wasn't wrapping itself around ideas like being in the hospital for a month, being unable to do anything for herself, being alone much of the day, etc. Now, some of these things are starting to set in with her. She's still, you know, "okay" for the most part, but it does wear on her a bit both emotionally and psychologically. In addition to keeping the baby put and insurance concerns, please be praying for Kim's sanity. She reports that she's not too bored yet, but then friends and family have brought her multiple puzzle books and Readers Digest, plus she has the baby blanket she's been crocheting for the last couple of months to keep her busy. As for myself, I started going back to work with regularity toward the end of last week. Everyone at work has been great about stepping in to help me out so that I can spend as much time either at the hospital or getting other things done so I can spend time at the hospital. I feel kind of like the protagonist in a comic book storyline in that I'm trying to find the best balance between three different lives right now: the one where I'm taking care of Kim at the hospital, the one where I'm taking care of things at work, and the one where I'm taking care of things at home. Fortunately, I've managed to find a pretty good balance of the first two; unfortunately, there don't seem to be enough hours in the day for the third. Yesterday was a bit frazzling, and Kim and I had a talk about it last night at the hospital. It's likely that I'll start taking people up on their offers to help out around here sometime in the next week. Oh, and I want to say Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers and grandmothers out there! Praise God, Kim hasn't joined your ranks just yet! Thanks for reading, praying, commenting, calling, visiting, and everything else you've been doing. Your encouragements have played a huge part in keeping me going this past week. I love you all. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 9th, 2007
12:06 am	Hospital Blog 1 Been awhile since I posted to this one. Hello, and welcome to Hospital Blog. This will be your one source online for all things concerning Kim's stay at the hospital. I honestly can't say how often I'll update this, but I'll attempt to make it fairly frequently. Other good ways to get updates include calling, emailing, or leaving nice little myspace or facebook messages. Okay! Now, some of you likely haven't heard yet, so I'll go over the story once more. Saturday (Cinco de Mayo!) I went to bed at around 1:30 in the morning and noticed that my beautiful wife got out of bed at around that time. That was strange, but I was tired, and she is with child, so getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom is not unheard of, so I went all the way to sleep. For about 45 minutes. Soon I'm awaken, Kim's crying and saying that she called the doctor and we needed to go to the hospital. I'm very much un-awake, so I just sorta go with it without it really registering what is/could be happening. First thing in the morning is usually me on a one-thought-at-a-time basis anyway, so I got ready and tried to wake up while she got ready, then we were off. Apparently, Kim had been having contractions about every 3 minutes for about an hour. Our doctor told us to come in and made it sound like we were a couple of shots away from coming back home and catching a few more hours of sleep. Indeed, even after 3 hours at the hospital or so, it still looked like everything would be a-ok. Then came the bombshell: upon examination, it turned out Kim was actually in labor. She was already 2-3 cm dialated and her bag of waters was visible. Now premature labor is unfortunate enough, but 11 weeks early? That's downright dangerous. So, the room was then a small tornado of activity, as Kim was given shots and hooked up to an IV that pumped magnesium into her system non-stop. She was also injected with steroids to help give the baby's lung development a bit of a boost, just in case the labor couldn't be stopped. The whole thing was frightening and incredibly uncomfortable for my poor wife, but successful. The early labor was stopped. Then came the next bombshell: they were going to keep Kim in the hospital on bed rest for the next 5 weeks, or until the baby was born, whichever came first (hopefully the 5 weeks, for the baby's sake). Clearly, something had gone wrong with the "couple of shots and go on home" plan that she and I had concoted. The rest of Saturday was contacting people: family, friends from work, friends from school, Kim's boss, our pastor. At one point I went home to catch a quick nap (once we appeared to be out of the "danger zone"), but I didn't get too much time to sleep, as every 20-30 minutes someone was calling to check up on us. I know that sounds incovenient, but we really, really appreciated it. All Saturday afternoon and evening was keeping in touch with people and monitoring Kim's contractions and the baby's heartrate. (The baby was and has been doing just great, by the way) Poor Kim was so drugged up she doesn't remember much of Saturday, but really after the initial panic and small tornado, there wasn't much to remember. One standout thing about Saturday: about 10 a.m., I started alerting people to our plight. By noon, there were over 100 people praying for us. And that was before our church had even found out. I think that's awesome. Anyway, apparently the fact that they were able to stop the labor at all was a very good sign. I guess they often have women come in at the stage Kim's at and they aren't able to stop it. So that was just one in what has become many fortunate turns. Sunday Kim was moved from a Labor and Delivery room to a more comfortable living quarters, complete with a couch-type-thing where I supposedly can sleep if she needs me to stay overnight. (I did catch a 2-hour nap on it yesterday, so I suppose it is possible) Softer bed, window, everything closer to Kim...overall, definitely an upgrade in living arrangements. Also throughout Sunday, the doctor continued to turn down the dosage of medication, making for a much more coherent Kim as the day went on. A revelation from Sunday: hospital food does NOT suck! It's actually quite good! What else have I been blindly believing all these years??? I almost said "Swallowing blindly," but thought that would have been confusing, given the circumstances. Other notable thing from Sunday: the nurse let Kim's "fluid restriction" slide a bit, which was a blessing, because without frequent intake of water, Kim was getting incredibly warm and dehydrated. Things pretty much stayed the course Monday, with the fluid restriction officially recinded by the doctor and the medicine dose brought down even further. This, however, provided new complications, as last evening Kim started having more contractions close together. It was back to the same shots from Sunday, and the magnesium was kicked up a notch, but again, her system eventually calmed down. Today, she had smaller contraction bouts twice. The first was this morning, and they upped the magnesium back to level A, and they subsided, but now Kim was back to realtively drugged and out of it. The second hit this afternoon, and made us a bit nervous, as we were now at a place where we couldn't really knock the mag up any further. This was the first time since Saturday that I actually became concerned that our son may indeed be coming now, and there was nothing we could do about it. The nurse called the doctor to inform her of the new round of tightenings, but in the meantime they subsided on their own, and since they were irregular to begin with, the doctor said that it was nothing to worry about. That was GREAT news! We weren't sure up to that point if her body would calm itself back down without extra medication. Now we know we don't have to be terrified at every contraction that comes her way. I can't tell you what a relief that was. Anywho, enough of the synopsis of events, I know everybody wants to know how Kim is. Well, she's doing fairly well, given the crappy circumstances. She's got a ton of magnesium going into her system right now, which is working, but making her incredibly fuzzy-headed. She often feels "not all there." People have commented that she must be bored out of her skull, but the truth is, so she tells me, that she's too out of it to know she's supposed to be bored. Thanks to some generous contributions from others, she's got some reading material, a book of puzzles, and of course the baby blanket she's been crocheting for months, but she's usually content to lie there and try to rest. Which, really, is the best thing for both her and the baby right now. I want to thank EVERYONE for the prayers, the kind messages and emails, the phone calls, the visits, the books, the food, the taking me out to late-night movies so that I can stay sane, the offers to bring in movies so that Kim can stay sane. We are both blessed AND lucky to have you all in our lives. I mean that. I'd like to thank everyone individually who I've heard from, but I know I'll forget some off the top of my head, and come back adding "Oh yeah, and thanks to so-and-so! And so-and-so!" for the rest of the week, so let me just say that no single act of kindness is forgotten or unappreciated. Not a single phone call, hospital visit, hunk of break, hang on my shoulder at Bible study, email message, or volunteer for help is not appreciated. We really are undeserving of all the support we've received, and I personally am humbled by it. Finally: I hear a lot of people asking what they can do to help. Honestly, we're still figuring that our ourselves! Here's what I know for now: --Don't forget us! I know when crises hit, it's a lot easier to pray for someone that first couple of days than it is three weeks later. We're hoping this is in for the LONG HAUL! The best place for that baby to develop is in his mother's womb. Five more weeks would put as at 34, still 6 weeks early, but considered a pretty "safe" time for him to be born. Please pray that the baby stays put! Also, please pray that everything goes through to the insurance company properly. If so, this should all be manageable. If not, I have no idea how we'll pay for it all. --As I start going in to work more frequently, Kim will probably get a bit lonely. I know she appreciates phone calls. Visits are fine, too, but I recommend calling first to see if she's feeling up to it, because sometimes, she's just not. --I will probably need people to help with the house sometime in the near future. I feel bad, because so many people have stepped up and volunteered to help, that there's not going to be enough need to go around. If I don't ask you to help, it's not because I don't like you, or because you're not a good worker. Please don't take offense. That's it for now. If you have questions, again, please feel free to contact me. (Comment on this)
Thursday, December 14th, 2006
2:20 am	Random Nintendo Game of the Week! ***And now it's time for a new weekly segment, Random Nintendo Game of the Week, in which I play a random Nintendo game for about half an hour and then blog about it. For more random video games, please see http://www.everyvideogame.com This week's random video game is an old 8-bit offering from Konami called Antarctic Adventure. Long before the marched, and definitely before they tap danced, penguins would journey out individually and sprint down the Antarctic coastline, picking up flags and things that shot out of holes in the ice along the way, to raise international flags at various research stations positioned around the outside of the continent. The reason for this activity appeared to be boredom. Therefore, in AA, you are one such penguin trying to raise such flags at such stations. The game is incredibly simple: you move left and right with the arrows, press "up" to speed up and "down" to slow down, though slowing down isn't recommended cuz you're on a time limit, and once you run out of time, it's instant game over, no continues. You can also jump over obstacles. There are three levels of play, aptly named "Level 1", "Level 2", and "Level 3". The difference in these levels appears to be the number after the word "Level" on the title screen. Otherwise (granted, this was just a quick play-through) there isn't much different, as they bost almost-identical to identical maps and obstacles. Through the first five levels of the games, the obstacles are holes in the ice, seals poking their heads out of the holes in the ice, and bigger holes in the ice. One thing that kind of sucks is that there are certain obstacles lined up in such a way that if you hit one, you're going to hit all three and lose some serious time. The seals in this game are much friendlier than recent computer-animated films have made seals out to appear. They seem to be content just to be annoying and playful, popping out to let you run into them full-speed and head-on while they smile their amusement as you flap your little wings trying to hop around them. One plus to this game: along the way, you pick up little flags sticking out of the ice. They come in different colors. The flags serve the all-important purpose of misleading you into picking up something that might distract you from a safer route, and racking up your score. (In this game, score serves the function of "having no purpose whatsoever", as is often the case in older NES games) Occasionally, you will come across a flashing flag. If you grab the flashing flag, your penguin will suddenly have a propeller hat, and you can tap the jump button repeatedly and get the little guy to fly. I wasn't able to control my penguin in flight (at least in Levels 2 and 3, I don't remember Level 1 too clearly, it was almost half an hour ago), but he seemed to avoid most of the obstacles pretty well while in mid-air (though occasionally a seal will still be able to put you back in your place...at the BOTTOM of the Antarctic food chain! Bwuahaha!) The music is maddeningly cheerful and repetitive. The color scheme is pretty set at grayish-blue on white. But if you're into mindless penguin sprinting, then I suppose this game is most definitely for you! (16 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, December 7th, 2006
12:02 am	Important Question! Hey guys, I actually really want serious feedback on this question: If you met somebody who had never heard a single fairy tale, and you had the time to tell them three, which three would you choose? You can say why if you want, though that's not required. Thanks! (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, November 19th, 2006
4:41 am	It's amazing how one little "+" sign can change your life forever... (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 8th, 2006
4:07 pm	There and back again All righty, so this may've been the best 3-day getaway to Oklahoma I've ever had. Seriously. In all honesty, it sucked having to come home. It was, oddly enough, probably harder leaving this time than it was when I actually left for good back in '05. Crazy crazy. And now, for the recap! I don't think I like driving 8.5 hours at a time. I don't think I like Friday night Houston traffic. Yet that's what it takes sometimes to get where you wanna go. (Now, just wait until Thanksgiving! Yeesh!) Got in quite late Friday night, slept in pretty late Saturday morning. Actually, I think I missed Saturday morning altogether and just woke up to go have lunch with Mom in "The City." (It feels weird referring to OKC as The City after living in Houston for over a year) We went to T.G.I. Friday's despite the fact that it was, in reality, Saturday. We also did some quick birthday shopping for my sister at the mall. It was good times with Mom, and we had to leave around 2:30 since Kim was going to meet her sister in Shawnee at 3. At this point, I got a call from, of all people, Susan, asking if I wanted to hang out. Turns out, I did, so I visited her apartment and just sorta took it easy and chatted for awhile. Sherri and Tarvis the Mighty showed up, too. Once we were all partially caught up on each others' personal lives and professional ambitions, Susan had to go get ready for some show, so Sherri, Tarvis, and I, realizing that it was creeping close to dinner time, went to the most logical spot possible: Game Stop. There, I blew almost my entire monthly entertainment budget on Marvel Ultimate Alliance, which to this day I enjoy quite a bit. ("Now I'm even better at whatever it is Wolverine does!") Then we munched on Arby's sandwiches before dropping Tarvis off at the theater and cruising for awhile, jamming to about 2 minutes each of about 20 songs. THEN, Sherri and I went to OBU's The Tempest, which is a play about bad weather written by some British guy. It was a very, very pretty show. Loved the costumes and set, particularly. BUT...*minor spoilers ahead* The stage does not collapse. *END OF SPOILERS* Hm...as far as I know, everybody who checks this blog that was involved in the show did very well. So that's all I need to say about it in this blog. :-D Afterwards, it was time for one of the greatest late-nite OBU traditions of all time: Kim, Julie, Tarvis, Sherri, Philip, Mike, Susan, Eric, and I went to...DENNY'S!! It was our waittress' first day on the floor, and she got ripped a new one by some customers sitting nearby. So we tipped her pretty handsomely. And that was it for Saturday. Long day. Sunday consisted of getting up early and driving from Guthrie to Shawnee for chuch back at Hilltop. Man, I miss Hilltop. I like our new church, but it's not Hilltop. It was good to see everyone there. Well, everyone that's still there, that is. Then, Long John's for lunch, then a staged reading of The Hero Squad vs. The Iron Lung's Girlfriend. Again, everyone who reads this did well, so give yourselves a pat on the back. Now. Do it for real. That's better. After that came the grand unveiling of previously-purchased Marvel: Ultimate Alliance at the Casa de Eric y Philip (freshly cleaned!). Playing video games is fun. Watching Tarvis and Eric play co-op video games together is entertaining, though perhaps a little scary at times. The first 10 minutes or so of gameplay was us figuring out the menu screens; the next 6 or 7 minutes was spent trying to figure out that we had to put the square peg in the square hole. Other than that, much wailing upon of villains by many heroes. And we shot a dragon. Then, BACK to Guthrie (I left my game with the guys; later, they learned that you can't play a game on one of the newer PS2's from 5:00 to 12:30 without it freezing up. Go figure) for dinner and family time (Kim spent the full afternoon with her grandparents, by the way). J.D. and I watched the Indy/New England game. Horrible football. Exciting game, though. Monday involved talking to the Acting I class back at OBU after a very mysterious yet time-costly traffic jam in Edmond and then going to Sherri's flower shop to pick up my Hero Squad DVD along with a few surprise presents for Kim. Kept the warm fuzzies going on the 8-hour drive home. So that's all! Many thanks to EVERYBODY who spent time with me/us, or even just made an effort to walk over and say hi, how are you doing. I've never been someone who longs for what's past, so I didn't realize how much I miss you all. I'm already seeing if I can't plan another trip up next semester sometime. Let's see, there's Brer Rabbit, Six Characters, and Dorland that would make suitable excuses. Or maybe I could just finish The Hero Squad vs. Nikolai's Birthday Party and justify it that way. Or heck, I could call it a recruiting mission. ;-) (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 1st, 2006
9:34 pm	I'm going to be in Oklahoma... Final Halloween grade: D+ Trick-or-Treaters: 0. (Apparently, just having the porch light on isn't enough. You have to decorate, too. I'll get you next time, Halloween! NEXT TIIIIIIME!!! *evil cat meows*) Man. Even little kids in Houston know that I'm lame... Godzilla movie: Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. (Not to be confused with Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, totally different film) Bad. I actually think it was the worst film of the Godzilla Millennium series. (The final tally, in my book, goes Final War; Giant Monsters All Out Attack; Tokyo S.O.S.; (insert quite a gap between #3 and #4 on my list); Godzilla 2000; Godzilla vs Megaguirus; Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla) Funny hat joke: Lameness. And why? Because of the disturbingly apathetic work ethic surrounding a particular McDonald's at Fanin and US 59. (Seriously. Frequented the place for the last year and a few months, and never once had a good experience there. Sometimes we just drive 10 minutes to the next one) Way to ruin the funny hats. FOR THE RECORD: I actually really enjoyed my Halloween. It's just that everything about it was a miserable failure. But since when has that stopped me from enjoying my friends and family and life in general, right? The only thing that saves this Halloween from receiving an F is the fact that my wife managed to Trick-or-Treat us a pizza. And it's from the good place that doesn't put their name on the box, but our church always gets pizza from. Cuz she's awesome. Anyway, onto the point of today's post. Kim and I are going to be back in Oklahoma (affectionately nicknamed "The Oklahoma State") this weekend. Current plans include going to The Tempest at OBU on Saturday night, going to Hilltop Baptist Church on Sunday morning, and attending a script reading of The Hero Squad vs. The Iron Lung's Girlfriend at OBU on Sunday afternoon before going to First Baptist Church Coyle (little church I "pastored" for a month once) Sunday night. Then, Kim wants to see some profs, so it'll probably be back to Shawnee Monday morning before heading home. I would like to see people. Saturday afternoon funtime anyone? Or dinner before or after the show? It would be good to catch up with people. All righty, tomorrow's post will be the work update, which will include the back injury story. Cuz people hurting themselves is funny. (Comment on this)
Monday, October 30th, 2006
10:36 pm	My novel is already dead! How sad is this? I didn't even get to start NoNoWriMo before I had to quit! Not that I've ever really had an ambition to write a novel, but I was actually looking quite forward to this project. I really was looking forward to doing something that was hard that didn't come naturally to me in any way shape or form. Why the quitting, you ask? I will tell you! But not today. For now, suffice it to say that it all stems back to an injury sustained during a show last week, and my contractual obligations to the Christmas show here at work, and that point in my life where those two factors collided like two trains, one leaving Houston headed toward Toronto at a speed of 73 km/hr and another having left Florida travelling toward Los Angeles travelling just fast enough to intercept the first a day and a half later somewhere around Dallas. This unfortunate turn of events does, however, free up some time for my playwrighting projects. I was looking up children's playwrights recently. Some of them (the ones who are actually considered to be playwrights, not just people who have written a few plays) have many, many plays written. Currently, I've got 3 that are (for the most part) "finished," at least the main writing portion is done and now it's down to tweaking. Ya know what, though? At this point in my life, this is what I really want to do. I've spent my artistic career up to this point either voluntarily or out of necessity refusing to choose a "niche" in my field. So far it's worked well for me, and it's been a good thing, as (assuming this remains my "niche") my niche will probably not actually earn a livelihood and I may be stuck acting or whatnot as a day job while I moonlight as a playwright. BUT! How does one suddenly become "serious" about writing? I've contemplated grad school, and I believe pretty firmly that would be a step in the right direction. But now? When? How much? What do I really benefit from it? Do I get a degree in children's theatre, children's literature, playwrighting? Dentistry? (Once again, supporting my "hobby"?) I don't think that's in the cards right now. I don't know when. Maybe not ever. I don't know how to take something like this "seriously." So here's where I'm going to start for now: I may not write a novel in a month, but I definitely plan to pen a new play each month until I run all the way through the list of stories I currently want to tell. (That would take me 8 months, meaning that by the end of next June, I've got a rough draft FINISHED on 11 different plays) I may later take a month in the middle somewhere to tweak and fine tune everything I've got done up to that point. This is crunch time for me. I wanna see what I can accomplish, how I can improve, in the next year. (For the record, that tally of 11 doesn't include Dante's Divine!, my musical adaptation of the Divine Comedy. Not sure where that project fits into all of this) (Comment on this)
Sunday, October 29th, 2006
9:47 pm	*Blows the collective dust off his many online blogs* So. Much has happened. It seems a somewhat gargantuan task to cover it all. This will be the week of "little entries," rather than one major one trying to catch up with everything (as I've done in the past). As such, I will make a concerted effort to stay on topic with every entry. Tomorrow will probably be an update/reflection on my recent/future writing endeavors. ************************************************* "The question isn't whether it's true; The question: is it working for you? Marshmellow skies, and custardy pies, And nothing's too hard to do. Here's five happy verses or so, They told me all I needed to know. Ignore all the rest, trials and tests, And threats to my comfort zone. You could name a blessing yourself, Stake a claim on power and wealth And strong healthy teeth, a spot at the beach, And romance that's really swell. All the saints and martyrs alike, Well they would've called a national strike; Demanded less pain, more personal gain, If only they'd known their rights. My Jesus decal does quite a trick, Right above my dashboard I stick it. My good luck charm, it keeps me from harm, And saves me from speeding tickets. Well I take it very personally, Yeah I've gotta know what's in it for me. It feels grand, living in la la land..." (Comment on this)
Saturday, October 21st, 2006
12:16 am	Stolen from Philip, who stole it from somebody named Matt. How am I feeling today? "It's Not Unusual"--Tom Jones, covered by Five Iron Frenzy (no comment?) Will I get far in life? "Solla Sallew" from Seussical the Musical (Whoa!) How do my friends see me? "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady (um...?) When will I get Married? "All That Is Good"--Five Iron Frenzy (Logically there's room for our questions, though the answers aren't all known?) What's my theme song? "Woe Is Me" from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (as Sherri would say: O_O) What is the story of my life? "Babies Breath" by Brave Saint Saturn (Eh. Sure) How am I in bed? "No Good Deed" from Wicked (And I only have 2 Wicked songs on my computer. That figures) How can I get ahead in life? "The Sun Also Rises" by Brave Saint Saturn (Woohoo!) What is my best feature? "Stars" by Switchfoot (yeah. I do like my stars) How is today going to be? "See the Flames Begin to Crawl" by Five Iron Frenzy (the touring unit is breaking up?) What is in store for this weekend? "New Year's Eve" by Five Iron Frenzy (I have a lot of Five Iron Frenzy on my computer, yes) What is my life like at the moment? "Smile at Me" by Philmore (I concur!) What song describes my secrets? "Cannonball" by Five Iron Frenzy (That can work) What is my current lover like? "Angels" by All Star United (Like Philip said, not necessarily a fitting song, but a perfect title!) What song will they play at my funeral? "Like a Child" by Jars of Clay (Aw..I hope so!) How does the world see me? "Skid Row" from Little Shop of Horrors (wow. Just wow) Will I have a happy life? "Tonight" from West Side Story (Well, that doesn't bode too well) What do my friends really think of me? "Original Species" by Audio Adrenaline (It's true. It's very true) Do people secretly lust after me? "Suckerpunch" by Five Iron Frenzy (I guess if by "lust after me" you mean "get in line for a wedgie" then yes, yes they do!) Will I accomplish my goals in life? "Hello Lamewads" by Roper (I guess that's a no?) Will I find true love? "Let It Go" by Newsboys (well crap) How do I treat others? "Now (It's Just the Gas)" from Little Shop of Horrors (That's disturbing when you think about it) Okay, now that life soundtrack everyone else is doing: Opening Credits: "Handbook for the Sellout" by Five Iron Frenzy (Heck. Yes.) Waking Up: "A New Hope" by Five Iron Frenzy (This does not bode well for the rest of the movie) First Day At School: "The Book Report" from You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (At least A New Hope wasn't this one) Falling In Love: "Lullaby" by All Star United (perfect) Fight Song: "Farewell to Arms" by Five Iron Frenzy (Great. A theological debate) Breaking Up: "The I Love You Song" from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Ack! Heartbreaking!) Prom: "All Good Gifts" from Godspell (Recently voted the top prom song of the CENTURY!) Life: "Raised in Harlem" from Hero! The Rock Opera (Oh come on, who didn't see THIS coming?) Mental Breakdown: "Only Wanted" by Stellar Kart (I don't even know this song) Driving: "Estrella" by Brave Saint Saturn (This will be a very sad driving scene) Flashback: "Poor Wand'ring One" from Pirates of Penzance (Um...flashback to WHAT??) Getting Back Together: "The Riddle Song" from Floyd Collins (Ah. Getting back together with my estranged brother who is stuck in a hole. Excellent) Wedding: "Stand Up and Walk" from Hero! The Rock Opera ("Don't let nobody hold ya down"? Uh...) Birth of Child: "Let Go" by PFR (Again, not a good sign) Final Battle: "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" from...well, Sweeney Todd (I was really hoping for "One Winged Angel" here) Death Scene: "Snowfort" by Room Full of Walters (Hm...how Brechtian) Funeral Song: "Say Sayonara" by Roper (Wow. Well, I guess that works) End Credits: "With Cat-Like Tread" from Pirates of Penzance (YES!!!!) This has been a Disturbing Experience (TM) (Comment on this)
Monday, October 2nd, 2006
10:20 am	It would appear that this is a good year for me to play NaNoWriMo. Don't know what it is? Do a google search for it or something. My user name is Major Penalty, and my home region is Houston. If, in my life, I ever were to write a novel, I suppose this as likely a time to do it as any. (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 30th, 2006
11:57 pm	Not that it has, but... It may have escaped your attention, but I haven't really had a real update in something like 2 weeks. (I could check really quick, but I'm a bit lazy and tired and don't really feel like it, so I'll go with gross approximations) There is a reason for this: not a whole lot has been happening that I find interesting enough to post about. Why, then, am I posting anyway? Uh...um....hey, look! Shiny thing! YOINK! I never realized how incredibly useful things mousepads are until I went without one, using an old notebook. Found one today while unpacking some stuff. Ah yes, unpacking. That's the theme of this week, as there's still, believe it or not, some unpacking left to be done. The goal is to be finito and make this place an official "home" by the weekend. Unfortunately, I have to work the Houston City Fest all weekend, so there will be no exciting housewarming activities just yet, BUT SOON! It's almost officially Christmas season (workforce wise), and this year I'm actually gonna be pretty busy in it. For the third time in my A.D. Players career, I'm first-runner-up, meaning I'll be understudying all three guys in the chorus for Rock Nativity. Really, this is good for me, and will be all kinds of fun, because I'll get to/have to learn all 3 vocal parts and all the dances, and I miss music a whole lot. Means I'll be busy pretty much every night for awhile, with those rehearsals and with rehearsals for the musical at church which I'm directing. Please pray for that, by the way. Immense prayers requested. It could go great, and then again...it's got potential to be one of the biggest headaches ever. Hockey season opens Wednesday! That's really all I've got to report. Work is work; lots of performances coming up of Say No, Max, thanks to D.A.R.E. week at local schools. Jason and Cassie are performing at the City Fest, so muy kudos and leg-breaking to them. Oh! Go see Trip to Bountiful at the A.D. Players if given a chance. I very highly recommend it. Probably our best show not called Smoke on the Mountain since I've been here. (I personally liked The Mousetrap a bit better, but that was purely because this script is a bit slow for me at the beginning. Brilliant, nonetheless) Mmmm...k, that's all for now. Bye! (Comment on this)
Sunday, September 17th, 2006
10:55 pm	You ever have that problem when your mind wants to work too quickly for your eyes, your fingers, your mouth, whatever, and you end up reading/typing/saying things that make no sense? Or you just sorta meld two sentences together because your brain has moved onto the 2nd before your eyes really took in the first? That just happened to me regarding a few headlines. Here's what I read: "Pope apologizes for Islam remarks, kills 2 infants in hospital." Man. That guy is having a rough week. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, September 15th, 2006
9:26 am	AWESOME!!! Finally, something GOOD in the news! http://www.gbtribune.com/topstory.html *Note: the article will probably only be up for Friday, so if you missed it, sorry!* (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 11th, 2006
10:36 pm	Bleh! The prolonged absence is over. AT&T finally fixed the DSL connection at the new apartment, and here I am. The move was terrible, mostly because I was so incredibly sick the day we did the brunt of the moving, and somehow lost my voice for the few days following, when I had 2 rehearsals a day to worry about at work. It also rained. And for a point in time, it looked like the van wasn't going to work. AND YET, in each one of these things individually, something good resulted. I think, sometimes, the miracles of God are not that things go our way, but that we are able to see the way that good was done through all the crap that frustrated us to no end at the time. Rejoice, my Xanga and LJ readers! For hockey season is almost upon us, and yet, thanks to MySpace, I have a new avenue for my incredibly long season preview! No more scrolling through several pages of team-by-team commentary; if you care (and you don't!), you simply click a link on my MySpace blog, and voila! Not to be confused with a viola, which is a cousin of the cello. You're welcome. I think I've finally found a direction I can go with for Hero Squad 3. I'm gonna let #2 rest for awhile; in fact, I'm ready for it to be read, I think. I don't know that I can do much more with it until I've heard it spoken by actors. Speaking of, Princess Snatchers is going up this weekend at Great Bend High School! Go Panthers! So, my insomnia's back. Please pray and/or leave suggestions below. I really wanna sleep regularly again... And, with all that said, life is great! I love my job, I love my coworkers, I have an amazing and beautiful wife, and even my hobbies have yielded joy and excitement lately. I'm a very blessed man. Love ya, guys. Hope everybody out there is having as much fun as I am! (Comment on this)
Friday, August 25th, 2006
6:36 pm	Goodbye, LJ!!! Oh, calm down, it's just for a few days. Tomorrow's the big moving day. Kim and I are taking our stuff and putting it somewhere else for the next year or so. Phone and internet will be down until Tuesday. (I'll still have my cell working, obviously) Please pray for us (and our volunteer helpers!) tomorrow (Saturday) if you think of it. Long day of hot weather and lots of lifting, moving, and going down stairs ahead. Plus, some of us (them, actually) have places to be later that night. Pray also for no rain tomorrow. In fact, just about anything you could throw up for us is muy appreciated. Next week, I'll probably post a Who Wants to Be a Superhero? recap on Xanga. 'Till then, adios mi amigos! (Comment on this)
Saturday, August 19th, 2006
10:54 pm	And furthermore... Okay, it's official now: The Hero Squad vs. The Princess Snatchers has been accepted. Now it'll be read, reviewed, and judged and in March I should learn if it'll be produced at this new plays festival in NYC. Of course, most of the past winning-playwrights have plenty of playwrighting credits to their bio; I've got high school productions of Big Liar, Little Liar and Princess Snatchers, so I really can't get my hopes up. I guess it's kind of nice to get somebody to read your stuff, though. Not many people will even look at an unsolicited script. Which reminds me, I've finally got the updated "final" draft of Princess Snatchers on my computer again, so I can email it to anybody who has interest. Also almost done re-writing the 2nd of the series. Part of me wants to get back onto writing #3, and part of me wants to work on another project or two. (Be on the lookout for a Snakes-influenced offering at some point....) In other news, everyone loves magical Trevor 'cuz the trick that he does is ever so clever. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 14th, 2006
5:55 pm	Ah, anniversary... Anniversary did not go well, sad to say. We had a good time, don't get me wrong. We enjoyed our time together very, very much. Just that nothing really went....right. I want to state first that I hold no ill will toward San Antonio. In fact, we plan to give the city another chance one o' these days. So, yay San An. Boo not packing any socks and having to wear my dress shoes with no socks, causing massive scraping blisters on my heels the entire first night. Boo, also, to the restaurant billed as "The ideal place for your romantic occasion" being FULL of people (including a rowdy batchelorette party that seemed to bother my bride just a bit). That is forgiveable, but putting us in a corner table RIGHT next to the kitchen, meaning there are waiters and waitresses constantly rushing by your table, occasionally bumping into you. I will point out, however, that my food was excellent! I had steak. I realized I'd never actually had restaurant steak before. So good! Kim's food was only passable, sad to say. Then we went walking for this really cool place we found on the internet called the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I'm pretty sure it's not there anymore. Not only could we not find it after thoroughly investigating about four city blocks where it was supposed to be, but not a single Riverwalk pamphelt we could find had it listed, either. There are some very pretty places to go walking by the Riverwalk, though. And the night was beautiful. Not all was lost, just nothing went as planned Oh, and the "shuttle" from our hotel to the Riverwalk drove through some back alleys by buildings with broken windows and smelled like vomit covered up by air freshener. No exaggeration. The next day was Sea World, which is fun, but my wife is unused to heat and sun and can only tolerate them for so long, so we had to go home by 6. Which is fine, we still saw pretty much everything that was there (no roller coasters though ). High marks given to the sea lion, otter, and walrus combo, and a serious pbbbbth to Shamu and his/her new Believe show. I believe, Shamu, that you're just not trying like you used to. The dolphin/beluga show, entitled Viva!, was kind of like Cirque do Soleil with dolphins and belugas. Highly entertaining, though a bit too busy at times. And I could have down without the synchronized swimmers. Had pizza for dinner Saturday night. Always a good thing. And a pleasant drive home on Sunday. We really did enjoy ourselves. Next time, we'll just look into a different hotel/ shuttle/ restaurant/ chocolate factory/ killer whale. (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 10th, 2006
4:04 pm	New spin on an old fave. I've been tagged to do this suddenly-popular "One book" survey. With permission of the tagger, I have modified it to be a "One play" survey. Still limited, of course, to plays that I have read, not necessarily seen. For the sake of the purist, I'll limit this discussion to straight plays and not musicals. Discuss. 1. One play that changed your life: Actually, The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood, by Mary Lynn Dobson. This script had a massive influence on my own writing style. 2. One play that you’ve read more than once: Take Me Out by Jay Greensburg. 3. One play you’d want on a desert island: A one-man show of some sort; as I haven't read any good one-man shows, I'll have to say The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron? I could memorize and rehearse it to pass the time. 4. One play that made you laugh: The Hero Squad vs. The Princess Snatchers. A masterpiece. Okay, okay...I would say Urinetown but I promised to keep away from musicals. Oh, duh! The Foreigner by Larry Shue! 5. One play that made you cry: I may have wept during Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, but only because it didn't appear to be ending any time soon. I would say Caryl Churchhill's Serious Money, but I honestly didn't read much of that one. 6. One play that you wish had been written: Free Willy: An Exploration of Man and Nature through the arts of Dance, Storytelling, and Puppetry, by August Wilson. 7. One play that you wish had never been written: I know I'll probably get shot for this, but The Effects of Gamma Rays on Man-In-The-Moon Marigolds. 8. One play you’re currently reading: Say No, Max! by Gillete Elvgren. Also the next one that I'm going to be in. 9. One play you’ve been meaning to read: Corpus Christi. Tag: Tagging is atrocious. Nevertheless: Lee, Laurel, Rex, Sherri, and Tarvis the Reader of Plays. (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
12:15 am	Hockey Russia is dumb. You've got to be freaking kidding me. Here's some very QUICK backstory for those who find interest in idiocy: Last year, the National Hockey League ended a year-long labor stoppage. Strike, lockout, what have you. One of the first matters of business after the NHL settled accounts with the Players Union was to settle things with the International Ice Hockey Federation. Chief among IIHF concerns were NHL participation in the Olympics and working out a system that would allow NHL teams to transfer their highly-touted prospects playing in other nations to the NHL in return for financial compensation for their homeland team. Eventually, every country in the IIHF signed the transfer agreement except for one. Russia. Russia had the most dynamic 20-year-old hockey player in the world, and didn't want to give him up. He found an obscure out clause by signing with a new Russian team that allowed him to jump to the U.S. to play hockey. His name was Alex Ovechkin and he scored over 50 goals and 100 points as a rookie. At one point in the year, A.O.'s old Russian team tried to sue the Washington Capitlas for Ovechkin's playing rights, and lost because he had done it quite legally. This year, same situation. The new player's name is Evgeni Malkin. He wants to play in the NHL. He has a contract in Russia. Russian ice hockey has agreed to sign the transfer agreement months ago, but they haven't done it yet. At one point, they demanded $25,000,000 for Malkin. And then today, this: http://postgazette.com/pg/06215/710757-61.stm A full year of drama, and this is it? Malkin's giving a two weeks notice and he gets to leave the country? And Russia isn't entitled to anything? And they refused to sign a transfer agreement why??? (Comment on this)