You know how they say God works in strange and mysterious ways?
Totally true.
He never ceases to amaze me.
There've been a few things weighing heavily on my heart lately, and it seems like every single time I've felt that way and then gone to church the next Sunday or read an online devotional, the topics I'm reading or hearing seem to be totally personal and directed towards me, which sounds kind of creepy, but it's truly awesome.
It's like, I know these messages I'm reading/hearing were not written by their authors specifically to help me out with my problems at that particular moment, but God works through them to make it personal and helpful to me, which is such a cool feeling, cause I know that same message is helping someone else with completely different circumstances.
So even when things seem to be going to pot, and I truly cannot see how God can make something good out of my crappy situations, he manages to do so. So my advice to anyone out there in blog land who may be reading this is simply to hold on and have faith. Honestly, it's the best (& often hardest) thing to do. Go to God with your problems; He truly wants to help, even though it doesn't seem like it sometimes when we're stuck with really awful situations, He really, truly does.
Even though I've only been on this earth for a very short 19 years, I've endured a lot of death and sadness, some of the worst being the deaths of my little sister, Hayley, and my grandpa, and yet there is not one single situation I can think of where God did not pick me up, carry me through it, and help me learn something from that situation.
So please don't lose hope. Like it says in Matthew 28, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." God is there with you and wants to help, you just need to make the small effort of asking Him for it.
So praise be to God in his awesome power and wisdom for, yet again, blessing my life, and I'm sure your's as well.
Amen & Amen.
mjl.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
thus all fairy stories end
Evita is finally over ):
I'm going to miss that show so much. It didn't really hit me until the balcony scene last night; as Jess stood there singing "Don't Cry for Me", I actually began to tear up. As I stood there I realized how much time we had all put into the show & how much I'd taken for granted the blessings of being able to hang out and perform with such amazingly sweet & talented human beings practically every day for the past couple months. I will never forget the friends I've made in the Evita cast, they are truly spectacular human beings and I love them.
So after the show we had the longest strike I've ever been involved in. I'm thinking the show ended around 4ish, but strike didn't end until 10smthg. I spent the majority of the time helping make one or two person jobs into three (or when necessity called, four or five) person jobs with Francisco and Gabriel. It was fun (: Though even though we may not have been choosing the most productive routes to getting our jobs done, we were at least working, which is more than can be said of certain people in the cast who hid in the annex and did nothing.
Afterwards, michael, francisco, gabriel, jess, and myself sojourned to our last Evita denny's trip where Jess & I were entertained with some v. funny stories about Amazing Race contestants/chemically inbalanced former CSUB theatre students/creepy old CSUB professors who talk slow and push up their glasses a lot. So overall it was a fun night.
I really am going to miss hanging out with these people, especially since I've spent anywhere from 3-12 hours a day, with some of them, almost everyday for the past two months or so. ): But I'm hopeful that we will hang out more in the future, and we still have our Disneyland trip ahead of us, so that should be awesome.
Until then,
mjl.
I'm going to miss that show so much. It didn't really hit me until the balcony scene last night; as Jess stood there singing "Don't Cry for Me", I actually began to tear up. As I stood there I realized how much time we had all put into the show & how much I'd taken for granted the blessings of being able to hang out and perform with such amazingly sweet & talented human beings practically every day for the past couple months. I will never forget the friends I've made in the Evita cast, they are truly spectacular human beings and I love them.
So after the show we had the longest strike I've ever been involved in. I'm thinking the show ended around 4ish, but strike didn't end until 10smthg. I spent the majority of the time helping make one or two person jobs into three (or when necessity called, four or five) person jobs with Francisco and Gabriel. It was fun (: Though even though we may not have been choosing the most productive routes to getting our jobs done, we were at least working, which is more than can be said of certain people in the cast who hid in the annex and did nothing.
Afterwards, michael, francisco, gabriel, jess, and myself sojourned to our last Evita denny's trip where Jess & I were entertained with some v. funny stories about Amazing Race contestants/chemically inbalanced former CSUB theatre students/creepy old CSUB professors who talk slow and push up their glasses a lot. So overall it was a fun night.
I really am going to miss hanging out with these people, especially since I've spent anywhere from 3-12 hours a day, with some of them, almost everyday for the past two months or so. ): But I'm hopeful that we will hang out more in the future, and we still have our Disneyland trip ahead of us, so that should be awesome.
Until then,
mjl.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
it was like love at first sight with my ears
COME SEE EVITA at CSUB this weekend and next!
It's amazing!
Opening night went fabulously, last night was pretty good, and tonight will be spectacular cause we have an adjudicator coming so we have to be.
So come enjoy our amazing musical that we've worked so hard on (:
See you there,
mjl.
It's amazing!
Opening night went fabulously, last night was pretty good, and tonight will be spectacular cause we have an adjudicator coming so we have to be.
So come enjoy our amazing musical that we've worked so hard on (:
See you there,
mjl.
Monday, May 12, 2008
music is the inhaler to my proverbial asthma
and schubert's "Erlking" is my inhaler stuffed with tobacco.
that is easily one of the scariest songs written, so it's not surprising that it's considered one of the great "German Art Songs" (or "lieder" in the tongue of mein stämme)
So, "erlking" (or erlkönig) translates into "elf king" or something similar, and he's essentially this demonic creature who lures children and has a fatal touch. He was basically made up to scare little German kinder like myself. Here's a picture of the lovely fellow and one of his victims.
Tres terrifying, non? Though, I think he's usually depicted as being more handsome because he is supposed to lure little children.
I can recall Amy playing it for Megan and I when I was about Megan's age now and thinking it was terrifying then, how fortuitous, then, was I, when I discovered that we would get to discuss it in class and in even more depth at home for homework?
Here's a translation of the terrifying piece of art into english:
Narrator:Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
Father:"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?"
Son:"Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?"
Father:"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain."
Erlking:"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
Full many a game I will play there with thee;
On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold."
Son:"My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?"
Father:"Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;
'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves."
Erlking:"Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
They'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep."
Son:"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?"
Father:"My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight."
Erlking"I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy!
And if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ."
Son"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last."
Narrator:The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,--
The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
.........so....yeah. That's pretty much it. Though, arguably, it's a lot creepier in German. And to get the full effect, you really need to hear the music that goes with it and the creepy/sweetness of the Erlking. So, now that I've been able to share with you the terror of my people, let me enlighten you with some good news.
I left my two weeks notice via voicemail this morning at the country club (:
At this point, I'm just waiting to get the call that I'm assuming is inevitably going to come from my boss, but whatever, I will be strong this time and not be a doormat. I've been praying for strength and it's going to hold.
In other, other news...Evita opens this Thursday!!!!
We had our first run through with costumes yesterday and I have, approximately, 83billion.98734 costume changes! It's quite chaotic. Plus, my the underwire lining on my corset has bruised my sternum and I now have, what looks like, an infected cut on the back of my ankle from my character shoes...but apart from that, I'm really excited about the show :D
Come and see it this weekend or next! It'll be awesome! (I hope :D)
mjl.
that is easily one of the scariest songs written, so it's not surprising that it's considered one of the great "German Art Songs" (or "lieder" in the tongue of mein stämme)
So, "erlking" (or erlkönig) translates into "elf king" or something similar, and he's essentially this demonic creature who lures children and has a fatal touch. He was basically made up to scare little German kinder like myself. Here's a picture of the lovely fellow and one of his victims.
Tres terrifying, non? Though, I think he's usually depicted as being more handsome because he is supposed to lure little children.
I can recall Amy playing it for Megan and I when I was about Megan's age now and thinking it was terrifying then, how fortuitous, then, was I, when I discovered that we would get to discuss it in class and in even more depth at home for homework?
Here's a translation of the terrifying piece of art into english:
Narrator:Who rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp'd in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
Father:"My son, wherefore seek'st thou thy face thus to hide?"
Son:"Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?"
Father:"My son, 'tis the mist rising over the plain."
Erlking:"Oh, come, thou dear infant! oh come thou with me!
Full many a game I will play there with thee;
On my strand, lovely flowers their blossoms unfold,
My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold."
Son:"My father, my father, and dost thou not hear
The words that the Erl-King now breathes in mine ear?"
Father:"Be calm, dearest child, 'tis thy fancy deceives;
'Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves."
Erlking:"Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go with me there?
My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care
My daughters by night their glad festival keep,
They'll dance thee, and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep."
Son:"My father, my father, and dost thou not see,
How the Erl-King his daughters has brought here for me?"
Father:"My darling, my darling, I see it aright,
'Tis the aged grey willows deceiving thy sight."
Erlking"I love thee, I'm charm'd by thy beauty, dear boy!
And if thou'rt unwilling, then force I'll employ."
Son"My father, my father, he seizes me fast,
Full sorely the Erl-King has hurt me at last."
Narrator:The father now gallops, with terror half wild,
He grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child;
He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread,--
The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead.
.........so....yeah. That's pretty much it. Though, arguably, it's a lot creepier in German. And to get the full effect, you really need to hear the music that goes with it and the creepy/sweetness of the Erlking. So, now that I've been able to share with you the terror of my people, let me enlighten you with some good news.
I left my two weeks notice via voicemail this morning at the country club (:
At this point, I'm just waiting to get the call that I'm assuming is inevitably going to come from my boss, but whatever, I will be strong this time and not be a doormat. I've been praying for strength and it's going to hold.
In other, other news...Evita opens this Thursday!!!!
We had our first run through with costumes yesterday and I have, approximately, 83billion.98734 costume changes! It's quite chaotic. Plus, my the underwire lining on my corset has bruised my sternum and I now have, what looks like, an infected cut on the back of my ankle from my character shoes...but apart from that, I'm really excited about the show :D
Come and see it this weekend or next! It'll be awesome! (I hope :D)
mjl.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
there's an inexplicably catatonic mexican woman behind me, isn't there?
So, after months of threatening to do so, I finally cut my hair for charity.
The Verdict: ...Eh.
It looks ok, I suppose, but it's sooooo short :(
in other job news....it's like i was just hit by a hurricane of job chaos this past week or two.
it started with me leaving a note at the country club saying I was going to be gone 3 wknds in May and that I'd gladly take the shifts of whoever could fill in for me.
Little did I know this was going to cause my boss to freak out and call me, telling me that when I was hired I agreed things like this wouldn't happen; which was news to me. He then proceeded to ask me how often "this is going to happen" (this being the shows I perform in), to which I replied, "Well, my next show probably won't be until November", enter the Boss: "*Napoleon Dynamite siiiiiiiigh* You know, I really don't need this right now, and if this problem is going to be a regular thing, we're going to have to find a reliable worker to take your place."
What the heck?! I'm not going on holiday here, bud, this is school! So this conversation ended with him saying I'd have to come in from 8-12 on the two show weekends and work anyways and that he'd try to find someone to take my other shifts.
Gah!
So this situation ended with me calling the next day and leaving a voicemail with my two weeks notice, telling him that my schedule is obviously too unpredictable for their liking so I'll leave. This resulted in him calling and saying "You're a valued employee, and we don't want to lose you. It's hard to find someone we trust and obviously it's not economical right now for us to go through training with a new employee. So, if you will, do you think you could hold on through may til june and we'll see how it goes for the summer?" Which, to me, sounded like "We don't want to hire someone right now and train them. Please stay"
But, being the doormat that I am, I agreed to stay on T_T My chums in Evita say I'm being too nice and offered all sorts of "advice" on how I should quit (my favorite was dropping one fire ant down my boss' cast on his leg)
So, that kinda stunk...especially since this past weekend was the invitational and I had to work about 12 hours both Saturday and Sunday, which was torturous, but apart from that, I recently got really great job news that makes this all ok!
I got hired at Edwards Cinema! Yay! Free movies for Missy! Aaaaand, I got a call the other day from Dr. Falconer at the Tutoring Center at Cal State, so I may have 3 jobs come next school term (including Rabobank, if I ever decide to work there)! Yay! Praise the Lord! God is good!
So now I'm really going to have to quit the country club for real, which should be disasterous, but hopefully I'll have a back bone and actually quit this time :/ (I'll bring an ant just in case :D)
So that's that. A lot has happened in the past couple weeks, but God has gotten me through it :D And now we approach tech weekend, which should be fun :D and soon we get to open! yay Evita! I love this show and my cast member so much!
Sorry you all had to endure a whole lot of ranting, but I really needed to get it all out, thanks for reading my dear listeners, and I will see you next time!
Until then,
mjl.
The Verdict: ...Eh.
It looks ok, I suppose, but it's sooooo short :(
in other job news....it's like i was just hit by a hurricane of job chaos this past week or two.
it started with me leaving a note at the country club saying I was going to be gone 3 wknds in May and that I'd gladly take the shifts of whoever could fill in for me.
Little did I know this was going to cause my boss to freak out and call me, telling me that when I was hired I agreed things like this wouldn't happen; which was news to me. He then proceeded to ask me how often "this is going to happen" (this being the shows I perform in), to which I replied, "Well, my next show probably won't be until November", enter the Boss: "*Napoleon Dynamite siiiiiiiigh* You know, I really don't need this right now, and if this problem is going to be a regular thing, we're going to have to find a reliable worker to take your place."
What the heck?! I'm not going on holiday here, bud, this is school! So this conversation ended with him saying I'd have to come in from 8-12 on the two show weekends and work anyways and that he'd try to find someone to take my other shifts.
Gah!
So this situation ended with me calling the next day and leaving a voicemail with my two weeks notice, telling him that my schedule is obviously too unpredictable for their liking so I'll leave. This resulted in him calling and saying "You're a valued employee, and we don't want to lose you. It's hard to find someone we trust and obviously it's not economical right now for us to go through training with a new employee. So, if you will, do you think you could hold on through may til june and we'll see how it goes for the summer?" Which, to me, sounded like "We don't want to hire someone right now and train them. Please stay"
But, being the doormat that I am, I agreed to stay on T_T My chums in Evita say I'm being too nice and offered all sorts of "advice" on how I should quit (my favorite was dropping one fire ant down my boss' cast on his leg)
So, that kinda stunk...especially since this past weekend was the invitational and I had to work about 12 hours both Saturday and Sunday, which was torturous, but apart from that, I recently got really great job news that makes this all ok!
I got hired at Edwards Cinema! Yay! Free movies for Missy! Aaaaand, I got a call the other day from Dr. Falconer at the Tutoring Center at Cal State, so I may have 3 jobs come next school term (including Rabobank, if I ever decide to work there)! Yay! Praise the Lord! God is good!
So now I'm really going to have to quit the country club for real, which should be disasterous, but hopefully I'll have a back bone and actually quit this time :/ (I'll bring an ant just in case :D)
So that's that. A lot has happened in the past couple weeks, but God has gotten me through it :D And now we approach tech weekend, which should be fun :D and soon we get to open! yay Evita! I love this show and my cast member so much!
Sorry you all had to endure a whole lot of ranting, but I really needed to get it all out, thanks for reading my dear listeners, and I will see you next time!
Until then,
mjl.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
"hey, i've got The Hives for you" "i beg your pardon"
two words.
Carol Channing.
oh my goodness.
so, thursday night we got to hear her talk for an hour or so about her childhood, theatre, and the meaning of life...you know, the usual. and let me tell you, any fears i ever had about getting old are gone when i see that woman. she is 87 and not only is she still kickin', but she is hilarious and still the tony award-caliber performer she was 60 years ago.
towards the end of her lecture, she started into this beautiful monologue from Hello Dolly and then started singing "before the parade passes me by" (or whatever it's called)....it was AMAZING. it was like "is this really happening? am i really watching this legendary Broadway star perform in front of me?" wow, it was amazing.
so Friday night, as if i wasn't geeked out enough already, we got to perform on the same stage as her. we sang "santa evita" (among other awesome songs performed by the amazingly talented CSUB theatre students) and after a brief intermission, got to watch her perform. it was spectacular, to say the least.
she invited us to sing a chorus of "Hello Dolly" with her.
.............
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
i geeked out even more.
oh, and she blew a kiss at me and smiled at me a lot :D
she's such a sweet lady!
so yeah, all the carol channing-ness gave me some happy thoughts for the weekend of boredom at work i just endured while some of my besties were out having a grand ole time in frazier park...but now the weekend is over, thank the Lord :D
until then,
mjl.
Carol Channing.
oh my goodness.
so, thursday night we got to hear her talk for an hour or so about her childhood, theatre, and the meaning of life...you know, the usual. and let me tell you, any fears i ever had about getting old are gone when i see that woman. she is 87 and not only is she still kickin', but she is hilarious and still the tony award-caliber performer she was 60 years ago.
towards the end of her lecture, she started into this beautiful monologue from Hello Dolly and then started singing "before the parade passes me by" (or whatever it's called)....it was AMAZING. it was like "is this really happening? am i really watching this legendary Broadway star perform in front of me?" wow, it was amazing.
so Friday night, as if i wasn't geeked out enough already, we got to perform on the same stage as her. we sang "santa evita" (among other awesome songs performed by the amazingly talented CSUB theatre students) and after a brief intermission, got to watch her perform. it was spectacular, to say the least.
she invited us to sing a chorus of "Hello Dolly" with her.
.............
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
i geeked out even more.
oh, and she blew a kiss at me and smiled at me a lot :D
she's such a sweet lady!
so yeah, all the carol channing-ness gave me some happy thoughts for the weekend of boredom at work i just endured while some of my besties were out having a grand ole time in frazier park...but now the weekend is over, thank the Lord :D
until then,
mjl.
Friday, April 18, 2008
"she was young, but now she is dead. dead like any animal who's ever died."
i love The Office.
i am beyond ecstatic that it's back on the tele.
last night's episode was awesome.
i love jim halpert, as well as everyone else in the entire show, but especially jim.
news for today:
-got a 62.5/60 on my music exam :D (we got 4 EC points to "curve" it out, but i had already missed 1.5 for getting a song name wrong)
-went to the gym & re-fell in love with the ab machine *sigh*
-made more cookies (=cancel out any good things brought about by the gym)
-i do NOT want to go to work this weekend. i'm not-so-secretly hoping that the country club burns down so i don't have to go back there ever again
oh, and i'm going to see the Jonas Brothers this summer.
sure this is old news, but it just kind of hit me that i'm going to a freaking awesome concert this summer that will totally be amazing :D
that is all
mjl.
i am beyond ecstatic that it's back on the tele.
last night's episode was awesome.
i love jim halpert, as well as everyone else in the entire show, but especially jim.
news for today:
-got a 62.5/60 on my music exam :D (we got 4 EC points to "curve" it out, but i had already missed 1.5 for getting a song name wrong)
-went to the gym & re-fell in love with the ab machine *sigh*
-made more cookies (=cancel out any good things brought about by the gym)
-i do NOT want to go to work this weekend. i'm not-so-secretly hoping that the country club burns down so i don't have to go back there ever again
oh, and i'm going to see the Jonas Brothers this summer.
sure this is old news, but it just kind of hit me that i'm going to a freaking awesome concert this summer that will totally be amazing :D
that is all
mjl.
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