Yes, I want to go see Superman Returns again. ASAP. It’s pretty much all I’ve been able to think about…but perhaps that’s because I’ve been running the soundtrack non-stop in my office–which in turn, runs the movie in my mind as I’m listening. It’s my own fault…
I suppose I’m a little more of a fanboy about Superman than most. I did grow up watching the movies (although, I’m pretty sure I had nightmares after Superman III)–I even have a pretty clear and vivid memory of riding in the back of my dad’s brown Toyota truck coming back from seeing Superman IV in the theatres in 1987. Yeah, that was almost twenty years ago. I think I also saw Star Trek V in the theatres a couple of years after that…so I’ve been looking up to The Man of Steel for decades. He really is the best superhero…just think about it. Even Jerry Seinfeld loves Superman, and for that, I love Jerry Seinfeld even more.

On a not-so-lighter note, our hearing date for Noah was set for July 10th. Now, as good as this might sound, because it is a week from Monday, it is very very bad.  I contacted our advocate (lawyer) today about it, and she said that even if she didn’t sleep between now and then, there is no way she could be prepared for that hearing. Making things trickier, if we ask for a continuance–postponing the hearing–there is no way to know how long they would postpone it for. Noah turns 3 in September, and we have to have this figured out by then. Even worse, they may not take VISA at the lawyers office…uh-oh.
However, there are several possibilities. The lawyer said if they can’t do a short continuance, we can always withdraw and re-apply. OK. Whatever you say…

---

EDIT ADD: yeah, they definately don’t take VISA.

---

Please join us in praying!

Pirates tonight, San Diego on Saturday (Congrats Mel & Chris!), and all next week I’m playing synth for Beaty & the Beast in Baldwin Park. A sweet gig. Christy will have some free time on her hands since I’ll be rehearsing/performing pretty much every night and all day Saturday and Sunday. Give her a call! Go hang out! She’d love it! Right dear?

OH MY GOSH.

I just finished watching Superman Returns with 17 of my friends and co-workers at a special preview (10PM) showing at AMC Theatres in Covina. I cannot possibly express to you how good this movie is. In all seriousness, it is the best movie of the summer, and quite possibly the best Superman film.

-Pause-
OK, Listen, I know I recommend a lot of movies on this blog, and I say a lot of extravagant this about Starbucks and this or that song, or whatever…but this is different. SO different. I like things that are new, and I like technology, and I like creativity, and sometimes I just like a lot of things. But this was amazing. Simply amazing–and I won’t possibly be able to capture an ounce of its amazingness in this or any entry. You just have to experience it yourself–with your Superman T-Shirt on…
-UnPause-

Have you ever heard loved an original song so much that you think a cover of that song by a different band couldn’t possibly do it justice? Then you hear the cover version, and you are  pleasently suprised at the way they put a fresh taste to the song, but still paying an incredible amount of respect to the original version–even down to the most minute detail?

Yeah, it was kind of like that.
I was shocked at the way this new actor played Clark Kent/Superman. It was like watching Christopher Reeve all over again–from his looks, to his speech, to his mannerisms–it was uncanny how well he played the character. However, never for one moment did I think “Oh, he’s trying to be like Chris Reeve…” Never. Good job Brandon Routh. Amazing job.
I also have to give a shout out to both the writers, who made an incredible story AND premise, but also to the composer, who composed a brilliant new score around John Williams themes, bringing something new and respecting the old. It is inspiring and humbling to see such creativity.

Honestly, it will blow you away. Go see it. If you are waiting for that ONE movie to go see, this is it. GO.

2 Predictions:

1) Number one grossing movie of the summer–bar none.
2) My personal favorite movie of the summer–possibly the year.

EDIT ADD:
-Starbucks has new drinks today…and they’re delicious. So fruity and tasty! Go try one. Tangerine and Pomegranite. I swear they’re good…
-There are about 12 people that are going to Superman Returns tonight with me, not to mention Joe is bringing another 7 or so…It’s gonna be sooo good.

---

First off, a huge thank you from the bottom of our hearts to
Uncle Lee and Patti who have personally funded Noah’s entire first month of the
extra 10 hours per week of therapy from Lovaas. We are tremendously blessed.
Thanks.

Secondly, if you’ve read Christy’s blog then you know that
we are getting a parent advocate (lawyer) for Noah. This lawyer is different
from the one that we will be meeting with on July 24^th (please pray
for that meeting). This lawyer will fight the regional center for us to get the
additional hours for Noah during this time before he turns 3. She has never
lost a case, and specializes in these types of cases. She also says that often
they will just settle out of court before the hearing. Great.

Here’s why it’s important to get the hours approved before
Noah turns 3. When he turns 3, financial responsibility for his care gets
turned over to the public school district, who will provide what they call
“adequate” care for Noah by putting him in a classroom with 8-10 other special
needs kids, and one or two teachers. Obviously, this is unacceptable for us,
especially since Noah would probably be fairly quiet and not demand a lot of
the teachers attention (he wouldn’t be throwing fits or punching the wall,
etc…like some other sp needs might). This class basically just becomes a full
time babysitter, and one that doesn’t interact with Noah much at all. We desire
the one-on-one interaction, with specific goals developed with Noah in mind. We
desire the training given by Lovaas, a company with decades of research behind
it—research that proves their methods work.

In order to continue with Lovaas beyond Noah’s 3^rd
birthday, we will have to fight the school district for funding. This is
becoming more and more difficult all the time. Lawyers are losing more and more
cases due to slight changes in the law and in the verbiage pertaining to the
school districts and their responsibility to the children. It’s a tiny bit
frustrating.

Even if we DO win that case, it will likely come with less
hours than what we get going INTO the fight with–so having 35 hours (or even
40) funded by the Regional Center when going into court may give us 25-30 when
it’s over–IF we win. On the other
hand, if we went into the court battle with 25 hours, we’d get even less…

 

We knew when we started this that it would be expensive. We
also made a decision that we would do whatever it takes to get Noah the
best care in the world, no matter what the cost or the sacrifice. So here we
are. This parent advocate requires $5000 upfront, and she works at
$150/hr—taken out of the $5000. If they settle out of court, and do it quickly,
we could get a large portion of that money back (it’s kinda like leaving a
deposit for a car rental or something). So please pray this is settled quickly.

In addition, the lawyer we talk with on July 24^th
is supposed to be more expensive than this lady. I’m praying about looking into
some part-time church jobs. Anyone know of any?

OK- that’s a lot of stuff to be praying about. Did you guys
get all that?

We appreciate your support and prayers. Thanks a ton.

I had some truly sweet time yesterday with Nathaniel. It was
darling. I woke him up telling him that if he had a good attitude all day and
obeyed really good (I know, great English) that we would go see the movie Cars
after lunch. So he was on his best behavior all day. It was awesome.

 
But the coolest times I had as a father came throughout the
day:

First off, Christy dropped us off at a Starbucks about ¾ of
a mile away from the church I was playing at that morning. She went over to
check out Paz Naz and their special needs programs (of which she has a funny,
long story about). So after getting Nathaniel some milk and myself some water,
we I walked from the Starbucks to the church, on the sidewalks of downtown Arcadia. It was awesome.
There we were, holding hands in the early morning (about 7:45 AM) walking
mostly in silence, observing the lawn sprinklers and bird chirps along the way,
and looking both ways before we crossed the street. I really soaked it all in,
‘cause times like that are few and far between. I loved it.

Then, when we got to church, Nathaniel watched Pixar shorts
and our home movies on my awesome iPod while I rehearsed for an hour with the
band. Now, if there was ever a time for an iPod, that was the time. It was
great. He didn’t come up and bug me every few seconds wanting to do something,
or go to the bathroom, or go get a drink, or to tell me he was bored—he just
watched the magic movies on the iPod. I loved it, again. Although, the best
part came when he was watching the home movies and singing along with the Clay
Aiken songs in the auditorium loudly
for all to hear. So funny. There was one time where we stopped to fix something
in the rehearsal and there he was, “It’s gonna be a perfect day…” so loud.
Precious.

Then we hopped off to lunch at Souplantation (a winner every
time) and then dropped off mom and Noah and ran back to the theater to see
Cars. I got a free popcorn coupon but Nathaniel didn’t want any ‘cause he was “so full”,
and frankly, so was I. However, about an hour later he sent me back out to get
the popcorn. Sure, buddy, no problem. Well, Nathaniel loved it, and can’t wait
to see it again. I, however, did not like it as much as I thought I would. Mike
was right when he said it ranks somewhere below the Toy Storys and Finding
Nemo, but probably above Monsters Inc, and A Bug’s Life (in the scope of Pixar
films). I didn’t laugh as much as I was hoping, there was really only a few
funny parts. On the upside, it did have a good message about not being
self-centered—ok, that’s a GREAT message, but I just didn’t enjoy it that much. EDIT ADD: Let me add this, CARS by far has the most sophisticated, detailed, believable, and stunning animation of any film I’ve ever seen. Better than any other Pixar flick, better than any cartoon could dream of, and honestly, probably better than any live action film I’ve seen also. The animation and cinematography was top notch. Go see it just for that. It’s amazing.

Nathaniel and I finished off the day by having some more fun
times playing Nintendo together, and I finally beat Bowser (for the millionth
time since the game came out in 1990) on Super Mario World (SNES).

It was great.
A proud day for a father, and a very memorable one, too.

 

EDIT ADD: I just found out that Superman Returns is not showing at midnight on Tuesday night. It IS however showing at 10PM (2 hours earlier). I’m not sure why this is or how it  is possible, but I don’t care…it certainly can’t hurt anything! I’m so there! Who is with me?

---

God has been tremendously good to us. I had been feeling a
little discouraged because I was muddling through some smaller jobs and feeling
like nothing new was coming in—a dry spell of sorts. I just started praying
about it, like “God, what’s next? What do you want for and from me?” Not too
long after that, phone calls starting coming in…the most random stuff ever. I
got a call from an old friend that wants four arrangements for the Cal Baptist
University Male Chorale. I got an email from another friend that is in a
musical that needs a synthesizer player. I got a call from Al Clifft, and Yorba Linda Friends Church
this week to play a wedding and a funeral (respectively) on Saturday. I got
another phone call (this is the most random one yet) from a guy in Tuolumne. Get this—I took a few voice lessons from his
wife about 10 years ago in preparation for a young-person vocal competition
(for which I ended up getting honorable mention), and happened to play the
piano a little for him on some songs that he had written, apparently impressing
him…well fast forward ten years, two kids, years of arranging and
orchestrating, and a bachelor’s degree later, and this guy calls me asking to
help out his crooner son who wrote some songs in the style of the “American
Songbook” (Frank Sinatra/Michael Buble). Wow, it was really random—and it turns
out that the lead trumpet player for this dude happened to be the lead trumpet
player for Tower
of Power for 20 years.
YES, I’ll arrange some songs to be played by that dude…heck yes…

Needless to say—God has been blowing me away with His
provision.

 

Some other random
thoughts:

-Going to see Wicked on opening night in San Diego (July 26). I can NOT wait! Thanks
to JD and Shannon who bought out tickets. Wow—that’s such a huge blessing!

-Going to see Superman Returns on opening night at 12:01 AM.
The soundtrack is awesome, and you can download for free a 2 ½ minute-long clip
of the movie to watch from iTunes for FREE. Do it, now! This may be the best Superman movie yet, similar to Batman
Begins last year (the best Batman flick so far…). However, let me clarify, my
favorite Batman and Superman will forever be Michael Keaton and Christopher
Reeves (again, respectively).

-Saw a screening of THE GUARDIAN last night, with Kevin
Costner and Ashton Kutcher, and I liked it a lot. I bet you a million dollars
they cut some of the movie out, simply because it was a little too long. But
overall it was cool. I predict a fall opening. Wait for it—I liked it, and I liked
Ashton K in a dramatic role. A great screening.

 

 

 

Just wanted you to know, that I’ll be going to see Superman Returns on June 28th at 12:01AM. (I guess that’s technically the 28th…but really, it’s next Tuesday night).

I’m pretty sure that it will be awesome.

Also- I saw Nacho Libre a night or two ago, and I laughed my tooshie off! I thought it was hilarious. Not in that “smart” way, but in a Napolean Dynamite way for sure. Jack Black is great–such a great artist.

Yeah, I like Jack Black…
and I like Jack Bauer too. He is a great CTU agent…and a patriot…

OK- BIG NEWS concerning Noah.

I just got a phone message from our Regional Center
saying that we were approved for only 25 hours a week of therapy for Noah,
although we applied for 35. Not only did our psychological assessment recommend
35 hours, the Lovaas assessment recommended 40 hours. It is against the law for
the Regional Center to deny services based on cost,
so Christy is inquiring right now as to why we were denied the full 35 hours we
requested. In addition, she will be filing an appeal, which is somewhat of a
moot point since Noah is almost 3 years old and by that time his funding will
be switched from the RC to the Public School system. However, we need to be
approved the 35 hours so we can continue to get that much after Noah turns 3.
It’s all so complicated…
 
Please pray for us.

When Noah starts his therapy with Lovaas (in a week or two),
we will have to self-fund the additional hours we want since the Regional Center will not fund the complete 35
hours. It’s not that expensive, since we are paying the therapists $10 an hour—and
Christy had set up a schedule that was currently only 30 hours—so we will only
have to self-fund an extra $50 bucks a week, but still, we’re already not
making our monthly budget. Oh well, God has it in His hands, and who cares if
we go into debt? I mean, it’s our SON. I’ll pay for it the rest of my
life if I have to, and it would be totally worth it. Noah, I love you!

---

You can read some more about it on my wife’s site.

EDIT ADD 2: Forgot to post this pic. I think now with my new high score the only person that has a higher score than me (that I know of) is DHawk. But I’m pretty sure he cheated somehow…Noah still has zero.

---

EDIT ADD: Yeah, I won at Nertz. I guess I am the Nertz King of SD again. Sweet.

---

Hey Dad–Happy Fathers Day!
I actually got you a present this year-really. I didn’t mail it in time, or at all (yet). But here it is:

You’re going to be stylin’ in the 21st Century…and I got one for myself too.

Church was incredible last night. Andy Balch was there! He came to play string bass. Boy, I love that guy–he did change my life! I think his wife is going to church this morning with him. She just finished several years touring with Women of Faith singing on their worship teams, and now she’s going to be touring with Sergio Mendes. Yes-THE Sergio Mendes. She starts with him in September. Sweet gig.

But I did get to conduct the song I arranged, which was super fun! Everyone did a good job on it. I would love to do more full orchestra charts for YLFC.

San Diego-here we come!
See you at the Olive Garden, 5pm…

EDIT ADD:

I just got the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER. We got a message
from our contact at the Regional
Center, and she didn’t
receive a packet of info that we dropped off on Tuesday. I left her a message,
and then I called the front office to speak with someone. They transferred me around
to this person or that and they are looking for the information…then I call
back because I was put on hold for ten minutes and I asked the receptionist to
transfer me back to where I just was and she told me

“Well, they’re looking for it right now, sooooo just call
back later. I’m sure they’ll find it.”
I asked politely if she’d take my phone number so they could
call me back. She said, “No, I can’t take your number.”
“What? Why not”
“We’re getting way too many calls…”
“You can’t take my phone number? And have someone call me
back?”
“No, we’re way too busy to take phone #’s and have someone call you back.”
“Even though YOU are the ones that lost a VERY IMPORTANT
packet of information in your office, you won’t call me back???” (getting
pretty angry at this point)
“Oh God…” (under breath) “Fine…”

 
And she transferred me back to my case workers voice mail,
where I politely left another message about what just transpired.
I also followed up with a message to their collective
superior about the situation. It doesn’t take a lot to get Daniel upset—and I’m
upset.

---

Did you know that they are coming out with flavored M&M’s? I didn’t either. They’re only available online right now, and they sound interesting.

Also, in iPod news, Nike and iPod have teamed up to bring us wireless inserts in our shoes that connect to our iPod Nanos to give us fitness info as we’re excercising. It’s pretty sweet. This thing will tell you how many calories you’ve burned, the distance you’ve run (or walked) and so on…it’s also very cool. I don’t have an iPod Nano–just the awesome black iPod Video (60 GB)–but seeing this just makes me want to get one…and a new pair of Nike’s…but don’t worry dear, I won’t….probably…

Alright, enough advertising…

We spent the last several days at Disneyland and California Adventure with my immediate family and all of their families (I think there was 18 of us total). It was really awesome. This was a really big deal because I think this was the first time my family has done something like this in forever. We have all gathered together at one time or another up in Twain Harte for a meal or two, or spent some time doing this or that (or a rousing game of Nertz), but I don’t think we’ve all actually traveled somewhere together and spent an entire vacation together. It was a landmark time for our family and super fun, and I truly hope it is something that we can do again and again-it doesn’t necessarily have to be at Disneyland (although it was cool), just the time set aside together in a place away from home where we can come together for some bonding and life-time together. I loved it.
Oh yeah, and it was totally exhausting…I mean, my feet HURT those nights after we got back…but totally worth it. I loved it. Thanks to my family for coming down and spending a zillion dollars to be close to our family for a vacation–and spending a zillion dollars on us! Thank you all.

Other news:
Not only is the song I arranged and orchestrated going to be performed this weekend at church, but I will also be conducting it on Saturday night (Al will be conducting it Sunday morning, since I won’t be there). I have to be honest-I never expected that awesome honor! I feel totally priveleged to be as involved as I am at this wonderful place. I had a super fun time directing it last night at the rehearsal, and I can’t wait for this weekend. Everyone is invited to come see! The service is Saturday at 6PM. Check out the website for directions, it’s really an incredible church.

Christy and I will be in San Diego this Sunday afternoon & evening! If you want to hang out, we do too! We’ll be at The Olive Garden in Chula Vista at 5PM for dinner and then heading over to Chris & Melody’s new apartment in National City for some swingin’ games. You’re all invited! Everyone! Seriously, you should come…I don’t know where Chris & Mel’s apartment is, but hopefully I’ll find out soon…

Oh yeah, and Nacho Libre comes out this weekend. Anyone? Celina?

Christy is feeling better. She’s on the mend, but now Nathaniel
is sick, too. I found him asleep with his head on the toilet this morning at
5:30AM. When I asked him how long he had been there, he sweetly said, “Um…I
think…about six minutes?”. So sweet. Well, you know what you do when you’re
sick, right? You watch movies all day! So I just kept him in the bathroom,
brought in his Care Bears couch/pillow and the laptop, and made a little living
space for him. Now he can stay in the bathroom all day watching movies and if
he has to throw up—bam!—the toilet is right there…I think it’s brilliant,
personally.