And speaking of Broadway...

This is the coolest and perhaps creepiest poster I have ever seen. It may takea moment, but OH the moment you see it!

Alex finally catches a break!

Paul Gordon's romantic musical, Emma, seen in a 2007 world premiere by TheatreWorks in California, will have a fall 2008 co-production by Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

And Alex Organ will play Robert Martin, the well-to-do farmer who has eyes and heart for Harriet!

The same person who wrote the score, book and lyrics for Jane Eyre has written for Emma, which means it will be haunting and breath-taking. And the costumes from that era certainly fit his body type. He will fit right in, and hopefully stand out to reviewers as the "why haven't we scene this kid on Broadway" actor.
How exciting to be involved in a new, and likely to be successful, project like this one! we are all so proud, Bro, and wish you many broken legs!

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116040.html

Walt Disney World Countdown

We are now 75 days from WDW!! I cannot explain how excited we are! My Disney vacation planning book is my Prozac right now. Seriously; car crash stressing me out? Read up on restaurants in Disney resorts. Money trouble getting me down? Compare the rides in Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. No lie, it is my crack.
Our stimulus check cannot come fast enough, either. I want to pay off more of the trip and put aside more spending cash. I am going to buy souvenirs like it is my JOB, people!!

My Wreck

I was in a pretty messy single-car accident yesterday. I had gone to work as normal, but I had to go back home. I hadn't even been on the Beltway one minute when I had to swerve, breaking my tire rod (?) which caused me to spin out of control. I hit the median wall pretty hard, but thankfully it was with a corner and not head on. My car is totaled. I have some scrapes and bruises and at least one minor burn (from the airbag), but I am miraculously well for the condition of the car. God sent at least one angel to call the police for me, keep me calm and wait with me until they got there. One HUGE blessing is that I have GAP insurance on this car; even though the insurance won't pay me the full of what I owe on the car, the GAP insurance fills in the rest. My loan will be completely taken care of. I will be starting at zero with the new car; no down payment, but at least I won't be upside-down!
Please pray for guidance (and healing) as we go through this process.
Pray for thanks that I received such minimal injuries.

My English Boss

..is, in many ways, a f***wit. It is not entirely his fault, of course, because of the culture difference. When they decided to transfer him over here for a while SOMEONE should have explained how "we do things over here". I am adding up a list of tiny grievances - insignificant issues that are adding up like baby bunnies.

In fact, this anger will create my first ever PostSecret.

My mother has worked for this company for 11 years, and she has NEVER had a boss who did not celebrate Administrative Assistant Day. Even the ones WHO. WERE. ENGLISH!! Neither of us got so much as a "Thanks" from him. And a week later we went to lunch (to what turned out to be a very expensive restaurant) expecting him to pay. Nope; I paid $36 for lunch. Even before we had plans with him, my mother was going to buy my lunch somewhere else, so I had two chances at free lunch, but she couldn't afford to pay for both of us at a place like that! If we had known we are paying we would have walked out.

He is not a rude guy - nothing like it - he is simply CLUELESS. That is almost worse.

Post Secret

I am always so far behind the times, it seems. I am just now hopping on the PostSecret bandwagon, and I am floored. What a great basis for catharsis (with more than a hint of voyeurism) for thousands of people. I want to meet Frank Warren and shake his hand.

I am going to include some I have found. Some of these are funny, some are heartbreaking, and a few of them made me think of people I know. And no, I have no intention of saying who (so don't ask).

Ugly

Dr Richard Beck has written an amazing blog series on the topic of Ugly as seen from an intellectual Christian perspective. It is truly fascinating and humbling stuff.

I recommend anyone read it, although I will issue a warning that it can be quite heady at times. Be patient and let the meaning come through to you, like divine reading.

Dr Beck is flipping definitions on their head concerning the outlook/viewpoint of the world and how it (should) differ from the outlook/viewpoint of a Christian. It has an air of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" with a twist of "since God created all things, are not all things beautiful" mixed in. He references many works of art, some very religious and others secular, and all with some suggestion of ugly. Some of these pieces are truly gutteral and visceral; it is challenging to see beyond pain and shame, but that is his challenge exactly. We define beauty in our own world, and everything outside of that realm is considered to be 'less than'. We sell oursleves very short to think in those terms. Think about the moments where your life has been ugly. Can we afford, spiritually and emotionally, to shut out those in need just because we find them unpleasant? Read his blogs and really absorb their message. It is a humbling journey.

TLLT 2

I typed in the word "tear" and came up with these pictures:

There is a fascinating diversity in the interpretations here. I can only assume that the auditorium-like shot that they meant 'tier'. The picture of the bed has a sad, lonely vibe. The others are basically self explanatory.

TLLT Inspiration

I found a fun blog called Things Look Like Things which is pretty entertaining. It has inspired me to post some image blogs. This morning's inspiration: the color green.

Bad Employee

Stupid Re-Imaging!!

For a week now, or so, I have dealt with this new computer...crap. I understand exactly why certain things are blocked (like Facebook and MySpace) but Jeezy Creezy I am b.o.r.e.d... You may have noticed an increase in blog entries lately... now you know why.

I spent a good deal of my Monday eagerly awaiting DC's LOST recap. He always posts them the Monday after an episode, and it STILL is not up on Pajiba!! Boo...

There was a new House last night. It was good, but not as good as some others. Plus I took some Tylenol PM when it started, so I missed a few things towards the end. That falling asleep feeling, when you are kind of floating in your own body, is sooooo tranquil. Unless you are in the driver's seat of a car. Then it is terrifying. Pull over and take a nap, people; you are endangering lives!

I went back and read several older blogs this morning. Man, I am the queen of randomness sometimes. But oh well, this is better than yammering on the phone all day to one poor person who has to pretend to be interested; at least this way no one HAS to listen/read...

I found a fun blogger who writes recaps of Step It Up and Dance. The recaps are funny, but he writes from a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery gay perspective, so if you can't get behind that humor, don't bother with the link. He doesn't seem to be the biggest fan of Nick, but I get the feeling most people find him unremarkable right now. He isn't generally disliked, he just hasn't gotten to show off yet, you know? C'mon Nick, show'em that H-town sparkle!
I want a nap. And a new job; one that interests me and doesn't just pay the bills. Wah.

Bible Study

So the high school girls want to organize a summer Bible study where they teach the middle school girls. Is that not the sweetest thing?
I am really looking forward to seeing this work. I have (potentially) offered our tiiiiny apartment to them for their weekly meeting. Hopefully I can sign up Kelly to attend these with me, and possible teach/lead one. I am certainly no expert on the Bible, but between the two of us we could come up with a seriously kick-A lesson.
I am so proud to see these girls take the initiative on this. It is a great opportunity to learn from each other, but also to teach others and help them grow spiritually. What a blessing to use those gifts God gives us! Sure, sometimes I wish God had given me the gift of mass-money-making, but I can work with what I've got. ; )
I hope I can be helpful to the group in this endeavour, but I am most excited to sit back and absorb - I'm sure these girls can teach me a thing or two!

Money is a Gas

Grrrrr
Yesterday Brad's car was hit on 249. He is OK (thank the Lord) but his driver side door is completely jammed shut. He got the insurance and info from the other driver (it was her fault) so now we are wading through all of that mess. We had to go get a rental car this morning, and it was so stressful. We were supposed to get a "free rental" on behalf of his insurance, but we still have to pay for gas on it. I am wondering if they wouldn't reimburse us for it; we should ask. So we have that HUGE additional expense (because we got a truck, so gas would cost loads more than filling up Brad's little car).
PLUS they re-imaged the computers at work, so now everything is all wonkified! It looks like all of my iTunes library was wiped away (twitch), but the IT guy left me a note that said, "I'll get your iTunes stuff back !!! : ) " So I will cross my fingers on that...
I have been having short dizzy spells on and off for over a week now, and I am sick of it. I was going to go to the doctor, but I'm starting to wonder if what I need is an optometrist. I haven't been to an eye doctor in a reeeeeeeeeeeally long time, and the headache-y dizziness usually starts behind my eyes. It is probably strain. So I may get hot new shades soon. My benefits are pretty good, so I'm gonna see if I can afford the kind that get dark when you are in the sunlight. That way I wouldn't have to worry about sunglasses! Who knows how long that will actually take me, though.....

Basically this week has been kind of BLECH, with some wonderful exceptions. And at least I have LOST to look forward to tonight, and Nick's dance show. Le sigh... life goes on.