Well… another year plus 3 days older.  This year has definitely been one of the most personally dramatic I have ever faced but with God’s protective presence through my wonderful family and once again the very best friends He has put out there for me, I feel that I am nearing as close to a full recovery as possible.

I always enjoy doing special things on my birthday.  This year, I was lucky enough to have a 4 day holiday (I will be paying for it since I now work until Tuesday without a break… I can handle that).  Saturday, my parents and my oldest brother celebrated with me at The Factory restaurant.  This is one of at least three family named (Don Hall) restaurants in the Fort: Triangle Park and the Gas House are two of the others… if memory serves there are a few others.  It had been years since we had eaten at the Factory and that being the case I decided on that.  Being only 5PM on a Saturday, there was not much of a crowd so we were seated right away.  The selection was NOT at all what it used to be.  In fact, I almost wished that I had decided to go to Triangle Park which has a small pond in which ducks and a few swans are known to gather looking for bread crumbs.  However, my surf and turf was wonderful.

Sunday (the actual big day), I was invited to spend the day with my second family.  This year, there was no other place I would rather be.  C&L saw me and continue to stand beside me as I improve more and more each week.  To say that they and their family are really special is an absolute understatement.  We met a few other friends at church service and then went to brunch.  On the way, I had two little ones trying to play with the windows in the car. Their mischievous plans were thwarted as they discovered that the driver’s door has a window lock. MWAHAHAHAHAHA!  Then back to the house and some play time with the littles.  Around 6, I had to make my exit as I had forgotten to bring my meds.

Monday, more fun.  I volunteered to take the three little ones to church while L took T to her camp.  Later, I had a meeting and was invited to help celebrate another guy’s birthday (he CAN’T be three already… I distinctly remember the day I was called informing me of his arrival).

Tuesday… a day to relax and think about nothing.  Started reading the original Gaston Leroux Phantom of the Opera. Not as dry as I thought it might be in fact it is pretty good so far.  Perhaps I will compare and contrast the longest running Broadway musical and the novel somewhere down the line.  I did get our team signed up to play Family Feud at our annual village fest on the 29th at 7.

All in all a Happy Birthday.  NOW I have to find a day to see the final chapter of Harry Potter opening this weekend.  Definitely on Tuesday since I close every night through Monday.  Anyone care to join me?

was n te mddle of wrtng a blog post on my laptop wen my keyboard’s buttons started fallng off.  You migt be able to guess te letters tat ‘m now mssng, and t’s really ard to type lke ts.   ope to get t fxed ASAP, ten   wll blog more.  Computers, ug .

How do you know when you have found love and when love has found you?

An interesting question. A very interesting conversation. How do you know when love is so very hard to define.  Many people feel like they are in love, only to find that this feeling fades in time. Do we often confuse lust, desire or loneliness with love? Do we confuse our other feelings with love? So it is a difficult question to answer.  We really need to pin down what love is.

We know all kinds of love.  Some of us “love” certain foods.  We love our pets. We love our children. We love our friends. We love our spouses, or any other term you want to use for a romantic love.  Except for the food, all of those other loves denote some form of caring or concern for someone or something else.  While we feel that animals can return our affections, most think that the love we feel toward our pets is a one way deal.  With people the love can be and often is something shared between two people.  How that love is expressed or even identified depends on who and how we love.

Now since the original query was relating to a more romantic type love, I will just skim over the other “loves”.  Love of children, siblings, parents and friends don’t always need to be reciprocated. While we like the people we love to return our caring, it is often not essential to our outpouring of love.  It is nice to have and does allow for more expression of our love. But we have all seen where someone cares deeply for another, but that caring is not returned.  It can change how we feel, but often does not.

With a romantic love, it is almost mandatory that the love be returned. Without that return it is difficult to show, expand and grow in that love.  But what is that love?  In my very humble opinion, love is a combination of many different feelings and relationship experiences.  Our physical chemistry, our mental compatibility, our communication level, our specific likes and dislikes, and various other conditions that define who we are play into what we think love is.  And through this, love grows, changes and becomes defined by the people in a loving relationship.  Knowing that it will change is important to remember.

After defining love (at least I hope I did), we can ask how we know if we found love or if love found us.  You need to open your heart, emotions and mind to see what you feel.  You need to ask and talk to your partner to find out what they think and feel.  If compatible, and the two define their relationship as love, then you have found love and love has found you.  But, and this is a big but, you must always remember that love changes.  People change and the relationship between those two people will change.  By keeping the lines of communication open, two people can keep love open and growing. Everything else is really secondary if communication is absent.

Many may ask how in the world I know any of this.  I have experienced love in my life, and that love grew and changed for 20 years.  I’ve known feelings that were close to love, but the lines of communication were never really open.  I’ve confused feelings of desire and loneliness with love.  I know what love did for me and how it changed my life.  I also know that because of the love I shared, I am open and would welcome a new loving relationship. Love made me a better person than I was, and opened my eyes to all two people could be together.

We were better together than we ever could have been apart.  

Or to answer the questions posed. When you are you better together than you are apart, you have found love and it found you.  

WOO HOO!!!!!!  Captain Jeter has done what few other have done and the first Yankee to do it!  I have always thought (well for the past several years, anyway), that Derek has been and continues to be a star in not only the way he plays but the in way he presents himself off the field.  A real classy guy!  Yesterday at 2PM, number 2 hit a homerun in his second time at bat.  Why is this so special?  This homer was DJ’s 3000th lifetime hit in the ‘stripes!  Something else the superstar shortstop did that he has not done in a bit… he went 5-5 at the plate!

The fan who nabbed the ball showed a tremendous amount of class himself!  Instead of cashing in, he gave the ball back to Jeter.  In return, the phone salesman was awarded with four tickets to each of the remaining Yankee’s home games as well as autographed balls and bats.  I know what some of you are thinking… he’ll sell those and make a mint that way!  😉 I hope not.

Why couldn’t he have hit it when the game was carried in our area?  AH, WELL DJ3K!

Well… it has been just over a year since I BEGAN taking voice lessons.  For obvious reasons, I have not had a full year’s worth.  However, I think I have made fine progress in the 8 or so months I have had.  I am SOOOOOO close to polishing the 10 songs I have chosen to put before an audience including 3 or 4 selections which require more than one voice.  One piece was described by K as being very difficult to sing not because of the notes but because of the character.  Perhaps, but it is a fun character piece that I am so excited to finally be performing… definitely the one which needs the most polishing considering I just picked it a few weeks ago.

One of the other pieces is having a bit of intonation problems.  Written in the key of C… one of those that should be easier than I am making it.  As a test, it was suggested that I put my finger in my ear to hear what I was flubbing.  VOILA!  Not only did it help the intonation but created a fullness that was missing from the song.  Now all I have to do is get the finger out of my ear.  Not one of the most comical of songs.

As far as the repertoire… old favorites, new challenges, ALL FUN and I can’t think of any that all ages cannot enjoy (well… maybe one, but that has been taken care of).  So… now I need to get these other talented individuals on board whom I have had in mind since picking these songs.

Just finished the latest 007 novel (if it is going to be a few more years before the next movie… glad someone was commissioned by the Ian Fleming family to write a new one).  Carte Blanche is yet another reboot of a classic character.  Bond is introduced as an agent in his early 30s who is a veteran of the Afghan War.  To me the last two movies which combined as a reboot failed horribly by being something the franchise is not.  They are WAY too serious and totally dismissed what is so fun about the classic Bond movies.  However, they are all back in the pages of the first official Bond book penned by an American, Jeffery Deaver (author of such suspense novels as The Bone Collector which became a Denzel Washington/Angelina Jolie film).

Supporting Cast:

• M… Bond’s boss is once again a male character.  I enjoy Dame Judy Dench as the head of MI6 but liked a return to the classic male figure
• Q… Quartermaster… weapons guy who provides agents with the most advanced weaponry available…. whether or not it comes back intact at the end of the adventure is always fun to see.  Sadly missed in the last two movies.
• Miss Moneypenny… a bit different role in the books than in the movies but also missed in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.
• Felix Leiter… CIA Agent who has more of a cameo role in this one.

The Bond Girls:  There are three in this one.  One of the three MORE than lives up to her name.  Another is as icy as Pussy Galore, herself.

The villain: Severan Hydt. Quite memorable.  I don’t think there has been a Bond villain quite as interesting in quite a while.

Of course, 007 is sent on a hazardous mission with Earth shaking consequences and millions of lives at risk.  All of these elements combine to bring James and company into the 21st century.  The reader is even provided with quite a bit of backstory into the life of the secret agent that ties directly into the action.  Exotic locales, breathless action sequences, and twists, including an ending most unusual for a Bond vehicle.  Let’s hope the movies get back on track.

Okay, it looks like I focused a great deal on one small aspect of camp last time, but hey- it was new, and I enjoyed my role as director as much as how the skit went.  How about something a little less focused?  A lot of the camp activities was same-old for me, but how else could some thing be after seven years, even with a new cabin each year.  The camp staples were there- archery, riflery, crafts, competition games, food, bedrest (Michigan law- an hour each day must be spent in bed during the day to avoid overexhaustion).  Some things are new every year, like the Zorb this year as I already mentioned.  Also new this year was a game in the courtyard called gaga-ball (nothing to do with the pop star, actually a game imported from Israel) and one in the swim front area called nine-square, though we never played the latter.  Also new this year was the almost daily rain.  Years past have had no more than a couple days with some rain, but until the last day we had some rain every day.  Last year that rain canceled our wacky water sports instructional, but it was replaced by- a different wacky water sport the entire camp engaged in.  What they did was lay a tarp across a large portion of the game field and create a giant slip ‘n’ slide.  On it they had races and wacky games like an extreme duck-duck-goose.  Well, we had one time like that this year as well, during our canoeing time and free time after that.  That time started out normal, mind you.  By the time we actually got into our canoes, however, the rain started.  Meh- a little rain never hurt anyone.  But then it turned into sheets of rain accompanied by thunder.  Whoops- time to get out of the water.  No one overturned their canoe, but by the time we were ashore it sure felt like it.  We spent the next 15 minutes or so in a shelter before heading out, ending up in the tarp-encrusted game field.

Erm- so much for unfocused I guess.  Let’s see now.  Besides raining out part of an instructional, one of the competitions got rained out, except that time we all raced for the shelter of the lodge.  Our infamous counselor hunt also was nearly rained out, but it did stop in time for the hunt.  Last year I hid so well that no one found me.  This year I made it easier for them.  A group of three leaders were hidden as it turned out not very well, and I went downhill from them.  All the kids had to do was look down and there I was!  Then they had to climb down a steep hill to get to me- mwa-ha-ha-ha.  Well, once they saw me not a single group passed up the chance, but not all saw me oddly enough.

At the end of the week, the students were given an opportunity to give testimonies about their week at camp, and I was happy to see two of my own cabin go up to the microphones.  There they talked about accepting Jesus if they did, rededicating themselves, how they learned what kind of heart they had (shallow, crowded), and how they wanted a fruitful heart (see the parable of the seeds being sown on different soils).  A testimony that really touched me was from a boy from Iowa who started his testimony out with “I thought I knew God, but I really didn’t.”  I may be paraphrasing a little, I don’t remember the exact words.  How many of us think we really know who God is only to find out through some teaching somewhere, or some action by someone, that we really don’t know Him at all.  That’s the point where God enters into our lives as He revels Himself, and we either gladly grab on to the life preserver he gives us, or we utterly reject it and spend the rest of our lives trying to manage on our own.  Has He revealed Himself to you?  Did you grab on, repent, and become His adopted child?

I will leave you with these few pictures and videos from camp.  By the way, did anyone catch the title of my last post?  It is from a song we sang daily at camp, one where I witnessed the Holy Spirit at work more than some of the other songs, Like a Lion from the Passion Awakening album.  The Youtube video is at the end.

Gaga ball: dodgeball with nowhere to run!

[vimeo]https://www.vimeo.com/25938602[/vimeo]

Just a minute to win this…

Help- I’m upside down!

[vimeo]https://www.vimeo.com/25938827[/vimeo]

Humans + Foosball = life-sized foosball

[vimeo]https://www.vimeo.com/25938716[/vimeo]

Now this is a worship time!

This past week saw another great musician and conductor leave the confines of his earthly existence (morbid way to start, I know).  Ray has been ver instrumental in the formation of a community choir in my hometown for the past several years.  Each summer at our hometown festival, he gathers a good size group and leads them in a selection of patriotic songs.  I also recall singing Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus in an alumni choir directed by this fine man at high school Christmas concerts a time or two.  Each of Ray and Joan’s children developed and nurtured a passion for music.  Kevin, their oldest, is the music director of a school in Texas. Growing up,  I remember seeing Kris, Kermit,and Kyle in musicals and in show choir.  After graduating from THE Ohio State University, Kermit subbed a number of times for band and choir.  He would grab the second sousaphone and we would jam out to some pep band music… GOOD TIMES!

This summer’s Festival of Flags chorus will be in need of a new leader.  Unfortunately, Ray suffered a massive stroke and heart attack and was called to direct an even larger chorus.  Emily must have needed some help directing up there… of course, nearly three years is an awful long time 😉

Rest in Heavenly Peace.

Nope, didn’t even make the callbacks.  There was a message waiting when I got home the day after stating that I did not make the show.  It’s been a long time since I didn’t make a show.  This is not what it sounds like- in recent history I have only tried out for Oliver! and It’s a Wonderful Life before Dracula.  I didn’t even try out for Jekyll & Hyde, only responded to a plea for more actors.  Unfortunately along with a rejection comes a void that can’t be filled, a void of never knowing why.  Was something wrong with my audition?  It was only a singing audition and I feel I sang just fine.  The accompanist didn’t always keep up- was that counted against me?  I did a performance, not just the song.  Maybe I should have stood there and just sang?  Maybe my hair which I forgot to get cut bothered them?  Maybe they used the “Will you be willing to be in the ensemble/chorus” question as a weed-out tool- I said no because I would rather try out for Noah than be in the chorus- at my age I have this privilege, do I not?  Did someone find this blog and see I would rather be in Noah?  Was it even about me at all?  I do know it is a relatively small cast for two groups- yes it is a joint production between two groups.  Oh, well.  I am now free to try out for Noah whenever those auditions happen, assuming they don’t just pre-cast it since there is such a small cast.  If I make the show I will know for sure not making Dracula was a God thing (someone was praying for me).  Of course, considering the message of the Dracula story, it may just be a God thing no matter what happens.

Come to think of it, I was rejected more recently- when I did a general tryout for Metropolis last summer.  I was never called back for anything.  Well, that was professional theatre so it was expected.   I do so wish I could just call and ask, but I know that would be improper, so I will just continue to wonder.

NOTHING beats the sheer spectacle of a live theatrical performance.  However, when those of us do not live within reasonable driving distance to take in a professional show less than occasionally and scraping the $100+ for a single ticket… WELL…. Fifty years ago or so many of the bigger shows would be given the big screen treatment at “Affordable prices.”  However, the popularity of the movie musical has all but gone by the wayside.  There is the occasional offering… Chicago (good), Evita (ok, I suppose), and The Phantom of the Opera (not so ok).

It was announced today that a cinematic treatment of Schoenberg and Boublil’s Les Miserables (really, is there any other?) is finally in the works.  “In the works” insofar as the announcement that Hugh Jackman is attached to the project and a screenplay is being written. Wolverine as the “pup” Gavroche… I can see it now… with an Australian accent.   Of course, I have heard that the musical has been in development for ten years or more and we got nothing more than a Liam Neeson starring flick that “is not the musical” and I have not seen. So, we will see if this comes to fruition.

Until then, the musical itself is coming to the area in November!