May Recap: Now is the month of maying...

...or at least of meltdowns.

The May Recap: The Complaint.

This month has been entirely too stressful. Prepare to be overloaded with garbage. (or you can skip reading completely, which is also okay with me since I don't really want to recall it either).

Unfortunately for May, it happened to follow April, which was also entirely too stressful. April was my boss being hospitalized and near death, computer chaos, trying to somewhat manage the shop and being overwhelmed with social gatherings of whatever kinds. May has been Mothers Day, crazier computer chaos, boss still recovering, Memorial Day, being overwhelmed with social gatherings of all kinds, dance recitals, proms, graduations, weddings, learning to take weddings... May is also the annual emotional minor crisis of Mothers Day & dad's birthday, which happened to fall on the same day this year. And this year that was just particularly worse because I was already so worn that I was not mentally capable to handle the anniversaries. I have broken down in tears more times than, well, okay, since December, but nonetheless I have let it all spill over moreso than usual. My emotions have been completely disrupted. I have missed my parents so much the thought of them has plagued me daily this month, or actually more accurate, the thought of what it would be like to have parents at all. Blah.

There. Release.

Other stuff also happened. I don't remember it all and I'm sure you're grateful.

So, seriously, May? Seriously? Notably, it's always my worst month. While December is also busy and emotional, May doesn't have the joy of Christmas or the afterglow of Thanksgiving. In school, it was always finals stress and getting out of the dorms and what do I do now plus the emotional loss. Now, especially because of where I work, it's end of year arrangements and Mother's Day, the second (if not largest sometimes) holiday of our year. This year was almost a bit more than I could take.

But today...was good. Today was glorious. I did not leave the house. I did not get out of my pajamas. I had a lovely healthy lunch and dinner with my grandma, and then brownies to top it off, played video games all day, made progress on my pictures overhaul and essentially hid in the shelter of my room. Also, I'm going to bed. At 11:30. Ha. Take that May. This is me sticking my tongue out at you.

Hello June! Lovely to see you. Care for some coffee? Tea? Brownie? I'll play nice if you will, I promise.

Three Day Weekend

Oh my goodness.... can I express how grateful I am for a three day weekend? Three days. (sort of. two and a half days, but let's not quibble.) I've been begging for an "extra day" for weeks now.
"Can there just be one more day in the weekend? Just one more day?"
Yes. Now there can. Awe-some.

I spent the evening eating grilled hamburgers and other tasty items at the Nickersons house with Brad, Regina, Eric, Cambria, Colin & Lacy. Afterward we spent the remainder of the evening on their porch, in the dark, watching fireflies and discussing life, the universe and everything. It was incredibly peaceful. There were two sweet dogs to love on, as well as two cats, and there was beautiful company. Perfect. I believe it's the first time I've fallen into a rocking chair on a soft summer evening and I now see why it's considered the penultimate country atmosphere.

Other than that, my grandfather's 80th birthday was this past week-- we had a surprise party for him last Saturday and he wanted to take us all out to eat on Thursday which was his actual birthday. The party was a huge success it seems and Thursday was amusing & a lot of fun watching all the cousins interact in the confined restaurant space. Dr. Pepper for almost all seventeen of us? Yes, please!

Tony, Tony, Tony, Tony....

I survived! And so did my car. Thankfully. And instead of taking six or so hours (as I was initially nervous about), it only required three. Awesome. Chick-Fil-A was involved and therefore the entire trip was worth it. Sadly, however, I did not get started on Till We Have Faces. This summer, it has to happen. It's a must.

Apparently the Tony Awards are around the corner (June 13th). I, however, haven't kept up with the broadway scene in general this year. Truthfully, I lost interest a few seasons ago. Somewhere along the way I began to feel jaded and tired of defending something that kept turning out musicals like, oh, Shrek and Spamalot.
(Note: I've actually seen Spamalot. And I thought it was hysterical! This is merely an example of a genre. )

Nonetheless, I went and looked at the lineup. Essentially, I only recognize American Idiot and Fela!, but practically only in titles alone. Yes, I realize the former is the Green Day musical based off the record. And that pretty much ends my knowledge of all the Best Musical nominees (for anyone interested, the other two are Memphis and Million Dollar Quartet.)

But what really interested me was Best Performance of a Leading Man in a Play. Check out this loaded category:
Jude Law... Hamlet
Alfred Molina... Red
Liev Schreiber... A View from the Bridge
Christopher Walken... A Behanding in Spokane
Denzel Washington... Fences

Also, American Idiot is only up for Lighting & Scenic Design Awards. Explain to me how you can be up for Best Musical and not even nominated for direction or book categories? (It's not an original score, hence, it cannot be up for the music.) Blah, this is one reason I became so frustrated.

And no, I'm not ignoring Best Play. I simply just don't recognize any of them either:

In the Next Room or the vibrator play...Author: Sarah Ruhl
Next Fall...Author: Geoffrey Nauffts
Red... Author: John Logan
Time Stands Still... Author: Donald Margulies

Actually I recently read an article on Red and that it was about artist Mark Rothko starring Alfred Molina, and how Molina began his Broadway career in Art and is now coming full circle with Red but that's all I remember. I also read an article about In the Next Room but I remember nothing, so that certainly doesn't help you now.

Really, the only names I recognize are in the revivals and there I recognize them all. Ragtime, Finian's Rainbow, La Cage aux Folles, and A Little Night Music.

And Best Original Score:
Addams Family, Enron, Memphis, & Fences

Best Revival of a Play:
Fences, Lend Me a Tenor, A View from the Bride & The Royal Family

For any other nominations, click here.

Also, I love this. And am highly amused by this. (Thanks Will!)

G'night everyone! Sweet dreams!

Aaaand More Car Stuff....

So tomorrow will be another trip to MWC. Apparently my car already has a recall on it. (And I thought "This is why I didn't buy a Toyota people. Seriously.") According to the people at the service center it will take "several hours." My boss, who is wise on these matters, considered it an "all day" project.

And at first I thought "Really? Another day off spent stuck in MWC for car work?"
And then the lightbulb went off and I thought "Really?! A whole day in MWC by myself, stuck there for good reason and purpose? A whole day to entertain myself as I please? Brilliant!"

I'm excited. Maybe I'll finally get started on reading Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis. If there can be Chick-Fil-A involved, I'm okay with this. Awesome.

On another note, my cousins are #2 on the referral list for their Ethiopian adoption!!

And your news of interest for the day...that's right. Invisible.
DiscoveryNews.com: Sharks Can Become Invisible

Also,
Playbill.com: Multimedia In-the-Round Peter Pan to Tour US

No Reality Check Yet, Please

Sundays are nice. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're busy. Sunday School. Morning church. Lunch with grandma. Study for drama. Drama rehearsal. Evening church. Sometimes rehearsal before Sunday School if the skit goes up that day.

But in the few hours after lunch and before rehearsal, I can usually escape back to my room. Curl up on my bed, warm under the covers, hiding under the mess that is my hair. Quiet. Solitude. Alone. Nothing. Peace.

I've been so tired lately and felt so run-ragged that unfortunately the time I do get to stay home, I usually sleep. But that's not the kind of rest I need. I need to be fully awake but with nothing going on. Hidden off somewhere, away from the world. Quiet time with God in the very literal sense, not necessarily wrapped in a bible study but simply resting in His presence. And God is kind-- usually the hour or so that can be devoted to that seems stretched out on Sunday afternoons and I savor every second. It's wonderful. So I'm not quite ready to give up my Sunday. Can we hold off one more day? Can I sit at the Nickersons for just a few more hours and almost fall asleep on their couches? Just watching tv? I'm jealous of the normalcy.

But I'm home and about to crawl into bed. Tomorrow will be Monday and sleep will certainly enhance my chances of making it on time. And in the meantime I'll wait for next Sunday and pray it's as beautiful as today. :)

I leave you with some awesome travel wear:
"You Built What?! A Real Iron Man Suit"

(My favorite part is that he visited a hospital in it to cheer up local kids and the staff was so delighted they gave him his own nametag. Labeled Iron Man.)
Also: Steampunk Overlord

May 19th, 2010: The Serbian Sensation

Of all the things I expected to wake up to this morning, this was not one of them. I expected to sleep in. I expected severe weather. I expected a trip to MWC. I expected Chick-Fil-A. I did not expect to log onto a blog I've been caught up in reading for weeks now and see the post that occured at 5:30 this morning.

All Are Precious In His Sight is a blog chronicling the hospital stay of Christyn Joy, a girl from Serbia recently adopted by a couple in the states. They knew before they adopted her that she had medical problems. Honestly, I can't remember the whole list. Basically her entire pulmonary system was failing (to my tiny understanding) and her blood vessels needed to be completely replaced for being too small. Chrissie has already died and been revived twice and had signs of major brain activity afterward both times. But today, it just wasn't enough. Today Chrissie went home with Christ.

I wish I knew something to say to the family. I've never met them personally, but that's irrelevant. Hundreds, if not thousands, all over the world have been following their story. Some (maybe more) have turned to Christ because of the miracles worked so far in Chrissie's life. It just seemed like by this point, God wasn't going to let her die. And while I'm glad that Chrissie is no longer suffering (which she has been - the family has been in the hospital for this visit alone for a month), I'm at a loss for the family & loved ones left behind.

Through the Christian viewpoint, I know God has numbered our days. He knew exactly what would fall on each one. Chrissie's four years were greatly used by the outpouring I've seen of kindness and love to this family and what Chrissie has done through her family. And now she's home. Some days what catches you off guard are more overwhelming than others. Goodbye sweet Serbian sensation. Rest easy in the arms of Christ.

Love and prayers.

The fear, oh, the fear.

This totally sounded like a good idea until I actually pulled up the "post blog" setting and stared at the screen. Now I sense the fear.

Ah well.