Sometimes you just need to know that you are needed. Not that I don't feel this currently, but it's on my mind quite a bit lately. I have a great job, and an AMAZING wife, and I live in a beautiful home with cute doxie pups, and I have NOTHING to complain about (right now..) but I have been sort of sensitive to how everyone needs to know that what they do is meaningful.
I am the worst person to be writing this, as I probably don't say it enough to others. But how many people in your life make a difference? Tons, I imagine. Who was the last person you told? So, in order for me to feel right about all of this, Let's start a chain of "THANKS" and "YOU ARE A MAJOR PORTION OF MY LIFE" to everyone on our facebooks, twitters, emails, REAL LIFE encounters for the next week. Let's see what happens when people start making OTHERS feel needed and important. I am sure that as we make other lives more meaningful and full of hope and joy, our lives will as well.
Everyone who reads this....you make me feel needed. I try really hard to not focus on the crap that I REALLY want to dish here, but focus on something positive, and good. It's not easy, but because I don't want to bring you down...it brings me up. So, THANKS. You make me focus on what is great in my life, and what I can do to make the world better.
Isn't there a Michael Jackson song about this???
Too soon?
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Holy MORRY.
It's been WAY too long since I last posted. Sorry about that (for those 2 people that read my blog). Things in my life are going great. In fact, this morning on the way to work, I was overwhelmed with joy, which is sort of a long-lost feeling. But when that feeling is present, nothing can pull me down (knock on wood).
I just started my 5th year teaching at Tuacahn, and it's a great new year. There is an air of positive energy that is really nice to have here. I am in charge of the Student Council, and they are just awesome, and really selfless...which is a rare find in teenagers these days. Jan and I are on good schedules, and we have a new source of help in our dear friend Josh Scott. He is coming in as a teacher of our advanced Tech classes, and is TD for our productions. HE IS AN ANSWER to many prayers. With all of this, and an impending show on the horizon, I am feeling great.
I start rehearsing a new show in a few weeks. "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" is running at SUU this November. I was asked to return in a alumni/guest artist position to play Pseudulous. I am so ready to get back on the boards, but I am really super nervous. I have not been in a Musical since 2007, and I fear that I am going to SUCK. However, I find this a great opportunity to get in front of an audience again, and that excites me. PLUS, I get to work with some of most favorite people in the freakin' world, so that helps. :)
I also have started becoming quite the little webmaster. I started two new websites this month. The first is my new calling as Chapter Director of the Utah Thespians. It's www.utahthespians.com. Check it out, and tell me what you think. Remember that I just started, and I am learning a whole bunch.
Jan and I also started a new 'business' of our own. We are going to be web bakers. We are going to offer our services as cake decorators to the world wide web. I have spent NO money on this site, but it's fun. www.jandyscakes.yolasites.com. Again, tell me what you think. Really simple, but really fun.
Wow...so much to catch up on, but I need to leave you with some words of wisdom:
Capture the moments of joy, and keep them safe, keep them sacred, and when you need them again, find them.
Not so POWERFUL as Mother T, but what is in my brain right now.
TTFN
I just started my 5th year teaching at Tuacahn, and it's a great new year. There is an air of positive energy that is really nice to have here. I am in charge of the Student Council, and they are just awesome, and really selfless...which is a rare find in teenagers these days. Jan and I are on good schedules, and we have a new source of help in our dear friend Josh Scott. He is coming in as a teacher of our advanced Tech classes, and is TD for our productions. HE IS AN ANSWER to many prayers. With all of this, and an impending show on the horizon, I am feeling great.
I start rehearsing a new show in a few weeks. "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" is running at SUU this November. I was asked to return in a alumni/guest artist position to play Pseudulous. I am so ready to get back on the boards, but I am really super nervous. I have not been in a Musical since 2007, and I fear that I am going to SUCK. However, I find this a great opportunity to get in front of an audience again, and that excites me. PLUS, I get to work with some of most favorite people in the freakin' world, so that helps. :)
I also have started becoming quite the little webmaster. I started two new websites this month. The first is my new calling as Chapter Director of the Utah Thespians. It's www.utahthespians.com. Check it out, and tell me what you think. Remember that I just started, and I am learning a whole bunch.
Jan and I also started a new 'business' of our own. We are going to be web bakers. We are going to offer our services as cake decorators to the world wide web. I have spent NO money on this site, but it's fun. www.jandyscakes.yolasites.com. Again, tell me what you think. Really simple, but really fun.
Wow...so much to catch up on, but I need to leave you with some words of wisdom:
Capture the moments of joy, and keep them safe, keep them sacred, and when you need them again, find them.
Not so POWERFUL as Mother T, but what is in my brain right now.
TTFN
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Mother Theresa Knows best!
WOW. I have been such a SLACKER with this blog. I guess that is what happens when you are a crazy drama teacher with no life. So...UPDATE!
Since I returned from California, I have continued to lose weight. I am currently at a loss of 98 pounds. I have been stuck here since the end of December, and I am struggling to get through the current plateau. My trainer got hired by THE BIGGEST LOSER at the local fat camp here in Southern Utah. It's great, but I only get her once a week. This makes it really hard to motivate myself to workout. But I am doing great.
Jan and I put up a new show this year; White Christmas was a BLAST to produce, and see do so well. Our students really caught the vision, and did an amazing job. We sold out, and were able to really showcase how great our school and students are. If anyone has any question about doing this show, DO IT! We loved our experience with it. We also competed in the Shakespeare Competition at SUU. We had a great time, and our students did very well. Currently, I am directing The Mousetrap. We also go to a Musical Theatre competition in Disneyland next month. ALSO. I am so damn proud of my wife.....she was asked to direct the Utah Shakespearean Festival's touring show this year. The show is Taming of the Shrew, and she is doing amazing work there. If you get a chance to see the show...DO. Maybe this is the reason that the last entry I have is from September!
I have been feeling a strong draw to go back to school, and get my Master's Degree. I am feeling like I am stagnant and not doing anything to change the world I live in. This past week, we attended the UTA conference (Utah Theatre Association) with our students in Orem, Utah. This was a great place for my students to attend workshops, and audition for schools. I was trying to do as much politics for the Thespian Chapter in Utah, but we also had the privilege of hearing ANNE BOGART speak to us. She was so inspiring! She told a story that I want to recall, and which helped me get over my feelings of unimportance. She told of a good friend of hers that was working as a general dogsbody in an NYC theatre company. She was feeling down, and just as I am, in that she was making no difference in the world. She was also obsessed with Mother Theresa, who was visiting NYC at the Indian Embassy that very day. She left work, and just stood out on the steps of the embassy trying to catch a glimpse of the saint. A few hours passed, and she finally saw MT come out to the yard, and when they passed her, Theresa asked this woman "you look sad?" This was the final push of emotion, and with a breakdown, the woman sobbed, "I am not making a difference in the world just doing theatre, and I want to quit, and move to India and clothe the naked, and feed starving children!" Mother Theresa answered, "My child, my country is in a famine of the BODY, and yours is in a famine of the SOUL. Keep doing theatre, as you are changing the famine in this country." I was in tears....I needed to hear this. I felt like she was speaking to me. It made my weekend.
All in all, I am feeling a bit of the winter blues, and although things are moving, and are moving well, I am in a bit of a strange place. I want to move on, and do what I LOVE doing, but I am also finding the joy and love of teaching, and damn Mother Theresa telling me that I am making a difference puts me in a lurch. UGH. I will just keep my eyes open, and use Ms. Bogarts advice and follow my pulse to the next adventure. BUT, Disneyland is only a few weeks away. :)
Advice/Words of Wisdom: Sometimes people, even Mother Theresa can make the good bad, and bad ugly, and the ugly.....beautiful. It's all a matter of perspective.
Since I returned from California, I have continued to lose weight. I am currently at a loss of 98 pounds. I have been stuck here since the end of December, and I am struggling to get through the current plateau. My trainer got hired by THE BIGGEST LOSER at the local fat camp here in Southern Utah. It's great, but I only get her once a week. This makes it really hard to motivate myself to workout. But I am doing great.
Jan and I put up a new show this year; White Christmas was a BLAST to produce, and see do so well. Our students really caught the vision, and did an amazing job. We sold out, and were able to really showcase how great our school and students are. If anyone has any question about doing this show, DO IT! We loved our experience with it. We also competed in the Shakespeare Competition at SUU. We had a great time, and our students did very well. Currently, I am directing The Mousetrap. We also go to a Musical Theatre competition in Disneyland next month. ALSO. I am so damn proud of my wife.....she was asked to direct the Utah Shakespearean Festival's touring show this year. The show is Taming of the Shrew, and she is doing amazing work there. If you get a chance to see the show...DO. Maybe this is the reason that the last entry I have is from September!
I have been feeling a strong draw to go back to school, and get my Master's Degree. I am feeling like I am stagnant and not doing anything to change the world I live in. This past week, we attended the UTA conference (Utah Theatre Association) with our students in Orem, Utah. This was a great place for my students to attend workshops, and audition for schools. I was trying to do as much politics for the Thespian Chapter in Utah, but we also had the privilege of hearing ANNE BOGART speak to us. She was so inspiring! She told a story that I want to recall, and which helped me get over my feelings of unimportance. She told of a good friend of hers that was working as a general dogsbody in an NYC theatre company. She was feeling down, and just as I am, in that she was making no difference in the world. She was also obsessed with Mother Theresa, who was visiting NYC at the Indian Embassy that very day. She left work, and just stood out on the steps of the embassy trying to catch a glimpse of the saint. A few hours passed, and she finally saw MT come out to the yard, and when they passed her, Theresa asked this woman "you look sad?" This was the final push of emotion, and with a breakdown, the woman sobbed, "I am not making a difference in the world just doing theatre, and I want to quit, and move to India and clothe the naked, and feed starving children!" Mother Theresa answered, "My child, my country is in a famine of the BODY, and yours is in a famine of the SOUL. Keep doing theatre, as you are changing the famine in this country." I was in tears....I needed to hear this. I felt like she was speaking to me. It made my weekend.
All in all, I am feeling a bit of the winter blues, and although things are moving, and are moving well, I am in a bit of a strange place. I want to move on, and do what I LOVE doing, but I am also finding the joy and love of teaching, and damn Mother Theresa telling me that I am making a difference puts me in a lurch. UGH. I will just keep my eyes open, and use Ms. Bogarts advice and follow my pulse to the next adventure. BUT, Disneyland is only a few weeks away. :)
Advice/Words of Wisdom: Sometimes people, even Mother Theresa can make the good bad, and bad ugly, and the ugly.....beautiful. It's all a matter of perspective.
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