Of all who took the journey, and managed to endure.
The ones who knew such tenderness, the ones who weren’t so sure.
The ones who came before you, the others yet to come.
And those who you will teach it to, and those you learned it from.
You are part, part of the human heart.
You are part...
-Once On This Island
I guess it's weird knowing the theatre kids who came after I left, who never knew the people who I knew... Even the ones who were freshmen my senior year, who didn't know all the kids who were upperclassmen when I graduated. Everything is always just being passed down, and the new kids will be old someday, and the new ones after them probably won't think anything of me, just as I don't really think much of the ones whose names came before mine in the book.
I like getting to know them though, maybe it'll help my memory last there just a little bit longer. I'm terrified of losing it completely, the day when I walk in there and don't recognize anyone.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Church Update #4- Catholic Church
Hooray for Christian charity.
Anyway, the main thing about Catholic Church is that it's majorly boring. It was the first church that we've been to that didn't give us a program at the beginning to let us know how the service was going to go (actually the Gospel Church didn't either, but that was way more basic and all the words you needed to know were projected onto a big screen at the front.) There were parts of this service where everyone recited words, or sang songs that weren't from the hymn book, and at those parts I was completely lost. I'm actually getting pretty good at the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, etc.)
Most of the songs were prettier than other services, they had a more haunting melody and were way easier to catch on to, so that was nice.
Communion was weird, I guess communion is always weird, but more so here. Most people didn't have the wine, just the bread, because the wine is in a chalice and everyone drinks from the same one. They wipe it off after each use, but it's still a bit bizarre.
Sydney and I are getting really good at faking it. We stand up, sit down, kneel, pray, shake hands, and respond perfectly. At Catholic (and Episcopal) Church, you say "and also with you" a lot, so it's a good fall-back phrase if you don't know what to say. And it's easy to quickly change it to "Amen" if need be.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church is actually way bigger than it looks, and sort of pretty inside. Not French Cathedral, Place of God pretty, but nice. Probably the nicest, after the Episcopalian Church.
As we were leaving there was a woman with a sign, asking for money. Everyone leaving church just looked past her. I didn't see a single person stop to help her out. So much for "Christian Charity."
Oh yeah, I want to go to the "Life Teen" mass, because I bet that's where all the hotties are.
Anyway, the main thing about Catholic Church is that it's majorly boring. It was the first church that we've been to that didn't give us a program at the beginning to let us know how the service was going to go (actually the Gospel Church didn't either, but that was way more basic and all the words you needed to know were projected onto a big screen at the front.) There were parts of this service where everyone recited words, or sang songs that weren't from the hymn book, and at those parts I was completely lost. I'm actually getting pretty good at the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, etc.)
Most of the songs were prettier than other services, they had a more haunting melody and were way easier to catch on to, so that was nice.
Communion was weird, I guess communion is always weird, but more so here. Most people didn't have the wine, just the bread, because the wine is in a chalice and everyone drinks from the same one. They wipe it off after each use, but it's still a bit bizarre.
Sydney and I are getting really good at faking it. We stand up, sit down, kneel, pray, shake hands, and respond perfectly. At Catholic (and Episcopal) Church, you say "and also with you" a lot, so it's a good fall-back phrase if you don't know what to say. And it's easy to quickly change it to "Amen" if need be.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus Church is actually way bigger than it looks, and sort of pretty inside. Not French Cathedral, Place of God pretty, but nice. Probably the nicest, after the Episcopalian Church.
As we were leaving there was a woman with a sign, asking for money. Everyone leaving church just looked past her. I didn't see a single person stop to help her out. So much for "Christian Charity."
Oh yeah, I want to go to the "Life Teen" mass, because I bet that's where all the hotties are.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
FYI
I saw As You Like It at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival (again) tonight, and it is AMAZING. Seriously. GO SEE IT.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Church Update #3- Gospel Church
This week we went to the City on the Hill Gospel Church.
Oh man, I loved it, especially coming from Episcopalian. It was really fun to just stand up and sing and clap, to songs that were meant to be sung (unlike the hymns, which are either way too high or way too low.) Everyone there seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It also seemed like there were more young people there. At the other churches, I didn't see hardly anyone even remotely close to my age, but at the Gospel Church there were tons of them.
The sermon was about free will, and how God fits into that. It was really fascinating, and parts of it actually made a lot of sense to me. The pastor was talking about how he doesn't believe that God controls everything that we do. He believes that God granted us free will, so that we're not puppets, so that we can choose whether or not to love him. He pointed out how there was nothing impressive when someone loves you because they're forced to, and what makes it really great, really special, really LOVE, is when they do it because they choose to. The thing about free choice, though, (according to pastor Steve) is that it can't be revoked. Like, if you want to grant free will, you have to grant it all-out. The second someone tries to make a bad decision, you can't tell them not to, you just have to let them go ahead and do it, and take the consequences. I guess there's no such thing as boundaries...?
Also, they seemed really interested in converting people, not through coersion, but through persuasion. They think that by loving people, they can convince them that God loves them too, I think, or something like that. I guess that's a bit weird, not that I mind love or anything, but if anything seems just a bit off to me about them, that's probably it.
I really liked the singing, though. I wish they did that more places. And pastor Steve is pretty awesome, he tells stories about blowing up someones perfect lawn with M-80's.
I want to go back to that one next week, but Sydney says we have to try new ones every week, and we can only go back to that one every other week.
Oh man, I loved it, especially coming from Episcopalian. It was really fun to just stand up and sing and clap, to songs that were meant to be sung (unlike the hymns, which are either way too high or way too low.) Everyone there seemed to be really enjoying themselves. It also seemed like there were more young people there. At the other churches, I didn't see hardly anyone even remotely close to my age, but at the Gospel Church there were tons of them.
The sermon was about free will, and how God fits into that. It was really fascinating, and parts of it actually made a lot of sense to me. The pastor was talking about how he doesn't believe that God controls everything that we do. He believes that God granted us free will, so that we're not puppets, so that we can choose whether or not to love him. He pointed out how there was nothing impressive when someone loves you because they're forced to, and what makes it really great, really special, really LOVE, is when they do it because they choose to. The thing about free choice, though, (according to pastor Steve) is that it can't be revoked. Like, if you want to grant free will, you have to grant it all-out. The second someone tries to make a bad decision, you can't tell them not to, you just have to let them go ahead and do it, and take the consequences. I guess there's no such thing as boundaries...?
Also, they seemed really interested in converting people, not through coersion, but through persuasion. They think that by loving people, they can convince them that God loves them too, I think, or something like that. I guess that's a bit weird, not that I mind love or anything, but if anything seems just a bit off to me about them, that's probably it.
I really liked the singing, though. I wish they did that more places. And pastor Steve is pretty awesome, he tells stories about blowing up someones perfect lawn with M-80's.
I want to go back to that one next week, but Sydney says we have to try new ones every week, and we can only go back to that one every other week.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Today
mind eraser
tower of doom
half pipe
boomerang
the one where you get wet
lunch
twister 2
shake rattle and roll (?)
sidewinder
wave pool
raft ride
underwater 'nam.
shake rattle and roll (again)
dairy queen
Pretty sweet, huh?
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Church Update #2- Episcopal Church
Episcopalian= not quite my thing.
The service today was at St. John's Episcopal Church.
According to Wikipedia, there are 3 Saint Johns- The Baptist, the Apostle, and the Evangelist, so I don't know which John they mean.
Oh well.
Anyway, everything at this church seemed a little bit high-strung. It was hard to follow along, to know what to say and when, when to stand, kneel or sit, and which verses of the hymns to sing. I like the part of church where everyone there is really really nice, and this church was good for that. There was even a part of the service where you were supposed to turn to everyone around you, shake their hands, and say "peace be with you." That was nice. I like interacting with people in faith-based situations.
The Eucharist was a new experience for me. I've never eaten the symbolic body and blood of Jesus before. That's one thing I could do without. I always imagined the wafers to be thinner, so that they disolved on your tongue easier, but alas, that thing is thick. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you're supposed to chew it, so I just left it in my mouth for a while. I also don't particularly like wine, so having a wine-dipped piece of bread in my mouth was not the greatest. The aftertaste is still in my mouth.
The sermon was short, which was nice. It definitely didn't drag on like the last one I saw did. It had to do with stopping sexual abuse, in the home, in the workplace, in the church, and everywhere. That was kind of nice. It made more sense to me than Jesus telling a man he wasn't allowed to bury his father, or say goodbye to his family.
Three Bible verses were read- "lessons" but they weren't elaborated upon so they were kind of in-one-ear-out-the-other for me.
Also, 8:30 was a bit too early for me. I was up late catching up with some friends, so it was painful to have to wake up that early, especially since I knew that there was another service at 10. I also think I'm getting sick, so sleep deprivation hits particularly hard.
Next week I think I want to go Lutheran.
The service today was at St. John's Episcopal Church.
According to Wikipedia, there are 3 Saint Johns- The Baptist, the Apostle, and the Evangelist, so I don't know which John they mean.
Oh well.
Anyway, everything at this church seemed a little bit high-strung. It was hard to follow along, to know what to say and when, when to stand, kneel or sit, and which verses of the hymns to sing. I like the part of church where everyone there is really really nice, and this church was good for that. There was even a part of the service where you were supposed to turn to everyone around you, shake their hands, and say "peace be with you." That was nice. I like interacting with people in faith-based situations.
The Eucharist was a new experience for me. I've never eaten the symbolic body and blood of Jesus before. That's one thing I could do without. I always imagined the wafers to be thinner, so that they disolved on your tongue easier, but alas, that thing is thick. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you're supposed to chew it, so I just left it in my mouth for a while. I also don't particularly like wine, so having a wine-dipped piece of bread in my mouth was not the greatest. The aftertaste is still in my mouth.
The sermon was short, which was nice. It definitely didn't drag on like the last one I saw did. It had to do with stopping sexual abuse, in the home, in the workplace, in the church, and everywhere. That was kind of nice. It made more sense to me than Jesus telling a man he wasn't allowed to bury his father, or say goodbye to his family.
Three Bible verses were read- "lessons" but they weren't elaborated upon so they were kind of in-one-ear-out-the-other for me.
Also, 8:30 was a bit too early for me. I was up late catching up with some friends, so it was painful to have to wake up that early, especially since I knew that there was another service at 10. I also think I'm getting sick, so sleep deprivation hits particularly hard.
Next week I think I want to go Lutheran.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
"...But right now, we need to break this down into male-based, fact-driven logic."
Watched Red Eye again today.
I remember seeing that in theatres in Ithaca... What an interesting night that was, eh? Interesting in a good way, unlike the nights that followed.
Oh well.
Anyway, Cillian Murphy can be hot, even with a pen jabbed into his neck. Impressive? I think so.
I remember seeing that in theatres in Ithaca... What an interesting night that was, eh? Interesting in a good way, unlike the nights that followed.
Oh well.
Anyway, Cillian Murphy can be hot, even with a pen jabbed into his neck. Impressive? I think so.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
So I went to Church this morning for the first time in my life that wasn't a funeral.
It really wasn't that bad. I guess I have to listen selectively and take only what works for me, and ignore most of the God/Jesus stuff.
This church is pretty cool, it's the First Congregational Church on the southwest corner of Broadway and Pine. That neighborhood is the place for churches, and we walked past the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, and the Episcopalian Church while we were choosing which to go to.
Anyway, I like the singing, even if I don't know the song, and I like how nice everyone is. The sermon was about how some of Christ's followers wanted to do other stuff (one of them wanted to bury his father, another wanted to say goodbye to his loved ones) before they followed Christ to Jerusalem. Jesus wouldn't let them follow him unless they didn't do the things they wanted to do. I guess the point was that if you want to follow Jesus, it has to be your number one priority, which doesn't seem right to me. Following an ideal doesn't seem as important to me as family. When my friend's mother died last year, her brother didn't make it to the funeral because he was doing mission work. Everyone in the church seemed to praise his decision to skip his mother's funeral to continue with his mission, but I don't understand that. It seems selfish to me, to think only of you and your mission, and to ignore the rest of your family, and your little sister who has lost both of her parents. Maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway, I didn't like THAT part of the sermon, or the part where we have to make a choice, and not just any choice, we have to make the RIGHT choice. As an actor, I've always heard, "make a strong choice. It doesn't matter if it's wrong, you can always change it. Experiment, try different things." That's the kind of choice I believe in.
There was a part in the sermon about how our lives are so hectic and chaotic and busy. The pastor said something like, "busyness destroys intimacy" which I believe in. I know people who are always rushing around, meeting everyone, in constant communication with everyone, and that's cool, but whenever I'm with them, I feel like they're not all the way there. I feel like people like that are just impossible to get really close to, and who knows, maybe it's impossible for people who are so all over the place to really get close to anyone.
Actually, that brings me back to the Superman Vs. Batman issue that I was pondering last night. (My analysis is based on Christian Bale as Batman in Batman Begins, and Brendan Routh (??) as Superman in Superman Returns.)
Superman is one of those types who is just all over the place, saving the entire world, while Batman is primarily concerned with saving what is close to him- Gotham City and Rachel Dawes. When Lois Lane is drowning in the boat, and the entire city is about to crack apart, Superman stops in the middle of the ocean, pondering which to save, and he chooses to save the city first, before coming back to the woman he loves. If I were dating Superman, I could never let myself get fully attached to him, because of his capacity to care aboutand be committed to so many people, I would be afraid that he was never fully committed to me. There wouldn't be anything really special if he cared about me, because he cares about every person he saves, while he's with them, but probably doesn't give them a second thought once they're safe.
Anyway, I'd rather have someone at least remotely normal. Not to mention, it's way more impressive if you can be a superhero as a human than as an alien. Being an alien is just cheating.
It really wasn't that bad. I guess I have to listen selectively and take only what works for me, and ignore most of the God/Jesus stuff.
This church is pretty cool, it's the First Congregational Church on the southwest corner of Broadway and Pine. That neighborhood is the place for churches, and we walked past the Lutheran Church, the Baptist Church, and the Episcopalian Church while we were choosing which to go to.
Anyway, I like the singing, even if I don't know the song, and I like how nice everyone is. The sermon was about how some of Christ's followers wanted to do other stuff (one of them wanted to bury his father, another wanted to say goodbye to his loved ones) before they followed Christ to Jerusalem. Jesus wouldn't let them follow him unless they didn't do the things they wanted to do. I guess the point was that if you want to follow Jesus, it has to be your number one priority, which doesn't seem right to me. Following an ideal doesn't seem as important to me as family. When my friend's mother died last year, her brother didn't make it to the funeral because he was doing mission work. Everyone in the church seemed to praise his decision to skip his mother's funeral to continue with his mission, but I don't understand that. It seems selfish to me, to think only of you and your mission, and to ignore the rest of your family, and your little sister who has lost both of her parents. Maybe I'm wrong.
Anyway, I didn't like THAT part of the sermon, or the part where we have to make a choice, and not just any choice, we have to make the RIGHT choice. As an actor, I've always heard, "make a strong choice. It doesn't matter if it's wrong, you can always change it. Experiment, try different things." That's the kind of choice I believe in.
There was a part in the sermon about how our lives are so hectic and chaotic and busy. The pastor said something like, "busyness destroys intimacy" which I believe in. I know people who are always rushing around, meeting everyone, in constant communication with everyone, and that's cool, but whenever I'm with them, I feel like they're not all the way there. I feel like people like that are just impossible to get really close to, and who knows, maybe it's impossible for people who are so all over the place to really get close to anyone.
Actually, that brings me back to the Superman Vs. Batman issue that I was pondering last night. (My analysis is based on Christian Bale as Batman in Batman Begins, and Brendan Routh (??) as Superman in Superman Returns.)
Superman is one of those types who is just all over the place, saving the entire world, while Batman is primarily concerned with saving what is close to him- Gotham City and Rachel Dawes. When Lois Lane is drowning in the boat, and the entire city is about to crack apart, Superman stops in the middle of the ocean, pondering which to save, and he chooses to save the city first, before coming back to the woman he loves. If I were dating Superman, I could never let myself get fully attached to him, because of his capacity to care aboutand be committed to so many people, I would be afraid that he was never fully committed to me. There wouldn't be anything really special if he cared about me, because he cares about every person he saves, while he's with them, but probably doesn't give them a second thought once they're safe.
Anyway, I'd rather have someone at least remotely normal. Not to mention, it's way more impressive if you can be a superhero as a human than as an alien. Being an alien is just cheating.
Monday, July 03, 2006
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