I may not always serve the Lord as I would wish too.  In fact I quite often find myself serving yours truly.  But the last weekend had me at my church for drama, singing, and leading.  It started Wednesday night with choir rehearsal when the director announced they were looking for a few people to be a part of a drama for Good Friday.  I thought about it and sent an email back saying I could, but for only three of the four services as I had to work for at least part of the day.

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The Good Friday service was made up of a few parts, starting with singing and followed by a short announcement.  For a half hour then everyone could walk around the worship center (95% of the chairs had been removed) visiting different areas.  One area had the text of the last days before the Crucifixion projected on walls for people to read.  Another had a giant cross people could sign.  There was a section with artwork portraying these days and an area with a looping video about a medical perspective on the Crucifixion.  There was also an area with replicas of a Roman flagrum, a spear such as used to pierce the sides of the victims to test for death as they did with Jesus, a crown of thorns, and others.  So following this time was another brief message followed by more songs.  The drama was during the half-hour tour time.  Like everyone who heeded our pastor’s wishes, we were dressed in black.  We would walk around and at various points break into one of two skits.  There were two main characters in one, the scene where Peter denied being a follower of Jesus three times, and one main character in the other, the scene in front of Pilate.  The rest of us were people in the crowd whispering or shouting out on cue- “crucify him!” or “yes, he is one of them” or similar.  The interesting part of the drama was it just happening right in the middle of everyone, and then we would be done, fading back into the wave of people- and boy, were there a lot of people, especially during the final service.  One could barely move at times.

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So Friday I was there from about 3:30 to about 8:00.  Then Saturday, I had to be back again at 1:00 for choir rehearsal, dressed and ready to sing.  We warmed up on our own then joined the worship band in the worship center, put back together from the day before.  I tell you, we sang for what had to be two straight hours on the entire worship package including our three songs and the five that the congregation sang together.  Since the majority of the guys sang tenor, I decided to sing bass.  Okay, let me not kid myself.  Some of that music, if it could talk would say, “first tenors only- second tenors need not apply.”  Following rehearsal we had a short break before lining up for the real deal.  I took this time to visit the 4th and 5th grade room.  I talked to some of the other leaders and kids before I had to go.  I would miss their worship time and craft time where they made crosses out of nails, but would be back during teaching time.  The singing went well, and so did the 4th and 5th grade small group time.  The teaching went well too, but it wasn’t me teaching.  In fact, due to choir I relinquished my own Sunday teaching time to someone else.  Following two choir times, who knew how my voice would be?

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Sunday we had to be back at 7AM, when we tried to watch a video from the night before.  It was either a bad disc or a bad player, but most of the video was a rapid, silent fast-forward.  Oh, well- that’s technology for you.  We had a short warmup and practiced a few of the songs, but not the entire set this time.  We performed, then breakfast was waiting for us.  Ahh…  There’s the real reason I serve.  Kidding aside (we did have to donate for the food if we were able!) both Sunday services went great as well.  I was back in the 4th and 5th grade room after the second service where we ended up merging 4th grade small groups which was fine.

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I went right to lunch from there, meeting my brother, nephew, mother, grandmother, and uncle for an Easter lunch (not brunch).  We ate, we chatted and bantered, and afterward we went to my house for some pie and chatted and bantered some more.  I’m tired of typing so I’ll skip the detail here.  As a bonus though, here are links to videos of most of the songs we did including the video shown at the start of our service with us singing.  I couldn’t include one song because it is an original from the musicians at my church and no one has made a youtube video with it.  Most of these are not us, just videos pulled from youtube.  Most.  Oh, and let me wrap up with this- in case you did not return to the comments of my last post, I mentioned that I updated some of the pictures by adding larger versions, so check them out- it may be easier to ID me now. 😉

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So anyway, the videos:

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/10678741 [/vimeo]

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/10677420 [/vimeo]

I like a lot of movies. I have a lot of movies. So all is well with the world in that respect. I have been on a classic movie kick recently. Ok, more than just recently. Last year, just before Christmas, I borrowed the movie Nosferatu from a friend. Wonderful silent ‘Vampire’ movie. I think that movie still holds its own against some of the newer movies. After that I just had to watch all of the classic Horror movies I own. Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and The Invisible Man were jut like I remembered them. I would love to have those movies on some ‘newer’ media. I have them on tape, and never felt the need (until now) to get them on DVD or Blu-Ray. Good Movies.

Just this past weekend and tonight I watched another couple of movies that just don’t get old for me. I watched Casablanca with my youngest over the weekend. She may or may not comment on it. I really enjoyed it. It has been a few years since I last saw it. I just finished watching The Maltese Falcon this evening. Another movie I haven’t seen in years, but the story still works today.

Finally there is one other movie I’ve been thinking about watching. It is a bit strange that I don’t have it in my collection of movies. Another Bogart film that I saw many times from 1984 to 2003. And we were not watching it for Bogart. My lovely bride loved the acting of Katharine Hepburn, we watched a number of her movies more than once. I just don’t understand why we never purchased any. After looking through all of the movie I own, I don’t recall any movies with her in my collection. I may have to do something about that. Anyway, I really want to see The African Queen in the near future. I heard is was just released to DVD.

The point of all of this? Not much really. I just like to watch some of these old classics over again from time to time.

Excitement abounded the last few days in Etown.  Last night, I got the happy privilege of calling the boys in blue following an accident in the parking lot of the store.  No injuries, thankfully.  From what we could determine, once again, a young woman had been talking on (guess what) her cell phone and backed out without seeing another car.  She was still on her phone as she and the other party entered the store.  About an hour later, I was taking some trash out in the deluge only to find the police car still sitting in the lot with the young lady inside.  Perhaps, he was illustrating the evils of cell phone driving.

Later, the victim (a frequent shopper) returned to the store.  I tried to lighten the mood by making sure he thought it was safe to come back.  He has apparently not had the best of luck with his vehicle.  He previously hit a deer with the same car. I thought he had been having a REALLY bad day, but both accidents did not happen yesterday.

This morning when I told my co-workers about the incident, they thought I was talking about another altercation.  Our faaaaaaavorite customer was arrested earlier this week for indecent exposure.  I had to ask if it happened at the store.  I’m sure that everyone (regardless if you have ever worked in retail or not) knows the type.  He quite frequently comes into the store and tries to get everything he can for as little as he can.  He even attempts to bring back meat that he has opened, used, and tries to freeze.  This would not be so bad if it had not expired three months ago (yes, he even had the label on it).  To top it all off, he usually comes into the store reeking of alcohol.  He has been banned from the convenience store in town for running scams…. buying a case of his favorite beverage, and returning it 5 minutes later because one of the cans had a hole in it?

AH… life in small town USA!

I’m involved with another theatrical production, as I’ve stated earlier. I’ve only been to a few rehearsals, and I’m tired of it. I don’t think it is the show, or the actors in the show. I have a good time when I am there, but before I get there and after I leave I experience a feeling numbness. I’m just tired of the whole thing. I really wish I would have stayed on my theater break. I don’t want to study lines, learn blocking or any of the other things needed for this show. I have other things I feel like doing instead.

I wonder how long this feeling will last. I need to learn how to say no. I need to focus on projects I am really interested in and ignore the ones that I have just a passing interest in.

Oh well, the show must go on, and I will soldier through.

As I have said before, although I do not comment, I tend to read most of your blogs.  I just don’t comment because, well, once I comment on one I have to comment on all and suddenly my work will take a big hit…

Speaking of my work, I thought it would be fun to take a look back and some of my first websites.  (Thanks to Derek’s Way Back for getting my mind going)

Here is the link:
https://christopheravell.com/2010/04/07/a-blast-from-the-past-my-beginnings/

It is on my personal blog because, well, that is work — this is play!  So, any comments please leave there.

Yesterday, I received an email from one of my fellow actors from The Odd Couple.  He organizes a comedy/magic show for an animal safari park in the area.  He sent out a mass email looking for anyone interested in spending the summer at the park performing in the show… 7 days a week/ 7 times a day… $80 a day and the possibility of housing being arranged.  I seriously considered it but I am already committed to Miracles at the end of May which surely would conflict with rehearsals and the opening of the park.

I even got an email from another recipient who thought that I would be interested.  Interested, definitely… so why not tell the original sender that I was interested.  So I sent an email explaining my situation and that, unfortunately, I would be unable to involve myself.  I was not got going to bail!  I did however ask him to keep me in mind next year.  To which he replied:

You would have been perfect for this one!!!  I have gotten a few candadites (how it appeared in th email) we will see, thanks for the reply.

WOW!  What a compliment!  Not looking back on it but what an opportunity… to perform in front of an even broader audience from who knows where… statewide, countrywide, or dare I say… worldwide?

Right now I do not feel very optimistic. I feel like crap and start crying at just the thought of what happened today. I have been a head cashier for about a month now and in that time, I have been over/under my drawer at Goodwill by five dollars or more at least three times! I have never had that problem before when I was a cashier and now I am worried that it could cost me my job! Tony and I cannot afford for me to have no job. If I lost my job, we would have to move in with his parents and that wouldn’t be good. They don’t really have any money either, plus, Amie just moved in with us! That isn’t fair to her.
I have been thinking of asking if Sarah would let me go back to being just a cashier, but what if she won’t let me, or my hours get cut back a lot! We can’t afford having my hours cut back anyway. I just don’t know what to do.
I have no job skills, no one is hiring anyway. I really don’t have any good talents to help me find a job.
I am good with animals, but I have no school to do anything with them, I cannot make a living out of babysitting, I would go crazy and eating chocolate isn’t going to help with anything! I just don’t know what to do anymore. Apparently math isn’t one of my strong suits anymore. I apparently can’t count money, no matter how many times I recount before I hand it back to the customer. Well, enough on that. Who wants to hear my rantings.

On a happier note, both Beru and Padme came out of their surgeries just fine. Padme is just finally starting to eat again, so hopefully she will put on the weight that she lost from not eating for a little less than a week. She was really starting to scare me, but she’s much better now. I know that most people didn’t know that Padme and Beru were going in to get spayed, but my blog wasn’t working for awhile. Unfortunately, Padme isn’t any more cuddly than she was before she was spayed, but at least she is healthy. I miss when she was a baby and would cuddle and want to be picked up and held. She’s still my little baby and I love her. She’s just growing up, that’s all. At least that what I try to tell myself.

So, you wanted some more pics, particularly pics of me?  Well, I’ll meet you partway- here are some pics, most with me in them, but you have to figure out which of those younguns is my younger self. 😈

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Oh, most them are clickable for larger versions.  Maybe I’ll go back and rescan some of the other ones in larger versions later. (done)

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Let’s start with extracurricular activities.  Outside of band, this was something I generally had nothing to do with, even in high school for the most part, but way back in 6th grade I seem to have partaken in one, though I have no memory of it.  And I only did it for that year apparently, perhaps because my aforementioned nemesis was also in the club.  Which club?  Well, it wasn’t a sport- shame on you if you know me and thought that! 😀 )It wasn’t drama as I wouldn’t take an interest until my final year of high school.  It wasn’t choir as that interest came even later.  It wasn’t backgammon, debate, french, leathercraft, comic books, D&D, or CO2 cars.  Wait- the school had backgammon and D&D clubs??  I think you might be able to guess it, it was none other than the beginning computer club.  Here is a picture- at least I’m 90% sure it is me in the photo- the 6th grade yearbook doesn’t give names under the photos for these group pictures.  The geeks among you might make a connection from this photo with the title of this post.

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The next several are of the one extracurricular activity that I was a part of for eight years.  Once I failed to make the army band, and then proceeded to fail an army physical (don’t ask, but- phew!) I quit altogether.  That was okay, I picked up singing a short time later when I became interested in musical theatre.  The first three are the normal concert bands.  In 6th I was in the lower band of course, strangely called “intermediate” as if there was another, lower band.  I suppose if you counted 5th grade band as the lowest instead, then I guess intermediate worked.  In 7th and 8th grades I was in the top band (symphonic), a trend that would not necessarily continue in high school.  The last two photos were from jazz band, which I was a part of in 7th and 8th grades.

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No, I don’t remember why I put a big X through the saxophonist in the last photo.  I guess I didn’t like him.  I believe I had something nasty written on his other photo too.  I do remember he introduced me to the handheld Donkey Kong game & watch from Nintendo which he brought back from Japan.  When I discovered it was being sold on this side of the Pacific too, I obtained one for myself using the tried and true method every young income-free person uses at one time or another (“Can I have it Mom? Pleeeeeeze?”) 🙂

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The next few photos are just some random photos without me:

Just a photo to show what our gym uniforms looked like. Check out those socks we once wore!
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Urg- one of the two intramurals I have vivid recollections of. One was floor hockey when I didn’t understand what an “assist” was and tried to enter my name as one who assisted a goal which I did not. In one of the grades, I don’t remember which, I remember I truly stunk at wrestling and won the first game not because I actually remembered how to do the wrestling moves, but because my opponent was even worse. The next game saw me pinned within seconds.  And those socks again…  Nowadays intramurals are optional, but not in the early 80s.
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Even worse than the socks were the trousers on that teacher! 😛
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Two gym activities I know for a fact the school doesn’t do anymore- too bad. Current kids do get ping-pong instead though…

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A photo of the old junior high building. I think someone had said it was built in the 1920s, but I may be remembering wrong. It was replaced by a new one in the last 10 years or so.

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Couldn’t figure out which one was me in each photo, maybe because you never met me? Okay, okay- here’s a little help from the lunchroom:

My youngest and I spent part of the weekend cataloging the movies in the house. What do we have on DVD, VHS and Blu-Ray? Not too many on blu-ray yet, but I’m sure in the coming months there will be more movies I want to own.

I was thinking of this, because I never can remember if I own a specific movie or not. I have a number of VHS that I did by DVD replacements for. I’m wondering if there will be any that I ‘NEED’ the Blu-Ray replacement for the DVD. I can’t see that yet, but I do like the quality of the Blu-Ray. I guess I enough of an audio-video geek that I can tell the difference, even in cartoons.

Anyway after counting the movies, I have 400+ movies in my collection. This collection started when the kids were small, so in some cases the movies are 25+ years old. I’m surprised those old VHS tapes still play. And with all of those movies, I have seen all of them at least 1 time. Most of them at least twice. Over 3/4 of those movies I’ve seen 3 times. And there are others that I lost count of the number of times I’ve seen them. Now of those movies, the rest of the family also so a lot of them numerous times.

Interesting fact, if the movie was ‘full’ price, I know I’ve seen it more than 3 times. That only makes sense with the cost of a movie and the cost of a rental. If I know I’m only going to watch a movie once or twice, I like to rent them. If they were bargain basement movies ($5.00 dollars or less), I may only watch them once, but usually at least twice, it depends on my mood.

So at an average of 2 hours per movie (give or take), it would take at least 80 days (watching 8 hours of movies per day) to make it through my collection. So back to books… Around the movies in 80 days??? Should I make a wager to see if I can watch all of them? Nah, there would be no time for books!

I’m not a sports fan at all, but as a kid’s ministry leader and former substitute teacher (if not a parent) I can find certain actions by kids cute.  This was a speech done at the opening day Red Sox game by a 5-year old boy.  He was very articulate, and great memorization (I would guess it was memorized) for his age.  Warning- you might be offended if you are a fan of a certain New York team or if you dislike strong language (not f-bomb strong, but fairly close) coming from a child’s mouth, though he only uses such language once I believe.