Sunday, October 25, 2009

Overheard

My parents are in town, so this will be quick, but it had to go up now.
Today we all went to my brother-in-law Stephen's high school choir concert. And by all, I mean 17 of us. Travis has a big family. The concert was called Cabaret, and it was a selection of songs from musicals. Each song was performed by some combination of McCallum's 5 choirs, though about half were solos. There were lots of beautiful numbers, especially the pieces from Big River. (Seriously, check it out.) About halfway through the show, Stephen had his first solo, Bring Him Home from Les Miserables. As the spotlight came up, a little old lady behind us commented (just a little too loudly) to her friend, "Now that's a tall drink of water."
Made my week.
I am going to tell that story to everyone, and it will never get old.
Needless to say, Travis and I spent the next 5 minutes trying really hard not to burst out in laughter. But we were still able to appreciate that Stephen totally rocked it, giving everyone chills and even hitting the really high note at the end. My brother-in-law is super talented.
And, apparently, easy on the eyes.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Travis quotes: golf edition

My parents are coming into town tomorrow! I am counting down the hours. And now, some wisdom from Travis (from memory, since I still haven't found my notebook!):

Me: What would you do if you ever hit a hole in one?
Travis: . . . I'd probably quit.

Me (after a particularly frustrating day): I'm not used to feeling angry!
Travis: You should play golf. Then you'd be used to it.

Okay, time to go put ballet shoes on 3-year-olds (me) and golf (Travis). But wouldn't it be awesome if it were the other way around?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Lost

Once again, my habit of disorganization has me searching for something I had no business losing in the first place. This time, my notebook.
I have never kept a journal. The mere thought of journaling, saving my embarrassing reactions and cliched insights for someone to possibly find (and worse, for me to find later) makes me shudder. Other people's journaling doesn't make me feel this way, because I know that other people are good at writing journals which are not embarrassing or cliched. Me, not so much. The fact that I am writing this while blogging is not lost on me- but since I blog about the kinds of things I tell my friends, and not the kinds of things one would tend to write in a journal, I am comfortable with this mild personal inconsistency (side note: a close friend once told me that I was a very inconsistent person. Turns out she was pretty much exactly right).
But I always keep a notebook. I have a collection that is probably more than a dozen, less than twenty, starting with my first summer working at Island Lake Camp when I was 17. In my notebooks are lists, schedules, outlines for bible studies, sermon notes, and lots of choreography. Most of them wouldn't be embarrassing if found by another person, just boring and mostly unreadable (unless you like reading choreography, in which case: awesome!)
The notebook that I am currently searching for was my 3rd to last, but holds something very dear to me, something that I do not want to lose: my collection of Travis quotes. Travis is hilariously, makes-me-laugh-so-hard-I-cry-on-a-regular-basis funny, but he is most often funny in a quiet, almost unintentional, and mostly-for-himself-kind of way.
A few months ago I realized it was essential I start documenting Travis' best one-liners, mostly because it would make a really good blog someday. I kept them in a finished notebook with a few pages left (since my current notebook goes everywhere with me) and left it on the desk here at home.
But alas, missing! I am very distraught. And now it is time to go to work and I can't even try to write them from memory, as I intended. I will try to get to it tonight after rehearsal. In the meantime, I leave you with this:
After seeing a promo for the tv series The Real Housewives of Atlanta,
Travis: A thousand years ago those people would not have existed. They would have been weeded out. . . probably by lions.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

I love visuals

I found this really cool graphic today that sums up a lot of the key differences between a liberal and conservative political ideology. They should use it in Core 350. Click the link above to see a bigger readable version.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Lists are scary!

I'm not great at moderation. I blog three times a day, or not at all for 2 months (sorry mom!). When I find a song I love, I listen to it 100 times in a row before moving on to something else. And I can't start a Red Robin Teriyaki Chicken burger without finishing it off, as well as all of the steak fries on my plate and everybody else's plate, and usually a mile-high mud pie too.
I am praying that this will be my season of learning to balance all of the pieces of my life with out getting to absorbed in any, or letting anything fall by the wayside completely. I would like to continue working full-time at Capezio, teaching at ADC, dancing with Borealis, and leading a d-group at church. I would also like to make time for God's word, for prayer, for calling and writing family and friends, for blogging, for spending time with friends in Austin, for cooking and eating actual dinners with Travis, for keeping my apartment organized, for getting enough sleep (this is doctor mandated- apparently I'm giving myself migraines by sleeping 6 hours a night), preparing lesson plans, baking, dates, meetings, and the church drama team. It feels really overwhelming, but I guess I don't know anybody who doesn't feel daunted by all the things they want to accomplish. The solution, it seems, would be to cut out anything that is not these things. No extra choreographing, crafts, watching tv, or naps. No down time.
I am really looking forward to my parents coming to visit this weekend. My dad always says that surfing is a good substitute for sleep. To me, seeing my parents is a good substitute for a weeklong vacation. In college, they always seemed to come visit at just the right times, the times I was in the middle of some big show or working too many hours and needed some rest but couldn't get it. Instead, I would get the world's best hugs, a lot of prayer, and breakfast at Rosauer's.
Mom: do you think Rosauer's Family Restaurant would consider opening a branch in Texas?