Not eating sweets is HARD!

Also-How I Met Your Mother starts next week. I’m excited.

Party at my place this Thursday at about 9:45PM. We’re watching Survivor and celebrating Heidi’s birthday. You’re invited if you dare stay up that late…

I’m not eating sweets for two weeks. I know, be shocked. I
probably have the biggest sweet tooth of anyone in the world, quite possibly
the universe. However, I eat so healthily other than the sweets. I eat salads
(w/o high-calorie dressing), good protein, I never eat fried food or much fast
food at all. I have the whole wheat pastas and whole wheat breads. I’m a
healthy guy, except for the sweets. So I will go two weeks without a single
cookie, ice cream cone, candy bar, brownie, hot fudge sundae, jell-o pudding
pop, piece of cake, frappuccino, or anything the like. I think this might be a
good step in being more healthy, or, it might be another one of those crazy
things I do. We’ll see—however—for the record, the no-Starbucks thing is going
well. I maybe have coffee once or twice a week now, instead of the regular once
or twice a day routine I was in earlier this year—also more healthy.

I think xanga might be dying. Either that or we’ve finally
seen the transition of our circle of friends from San Diego to LA. There are some awesome folks
in San Diego
that still comment/read our blogs and post new entries all the time—to them I
say good work and thank you! But there are many San Diegans that have stopped
surfing xanga altogether. Not to say that we’re not friends with you all
anymore, we still love you all! It seems more and more that the comments are
coming from LA people as opposed to San
Diego people, since we live here now. It’s just a
matter of location, and I knew it was coming, I guess I’m just sad it’s finally
here. Thanks to all of you that read and stay connected even though we’re not
around! And to all those who come to this happy place-welcome.

On Saturday night I dreamt that Will Ferrell wanted to work for me at my church (as an assistant–I think I was the worship leader).  This wasn’t my new church or anything, it was the church I grew up at in Twain Harte. I also think I was confused why Will Ferrell would want to give up his successful acting career to work for me in a church. I think I’m still a little confused about the whole thing. It’s not like I had just seen him in a movie or something–the last time I saw him was on Anchorman with Joe about two weeks ago.
Yeah, I don’t dream often (or at least remember my dreams) so when I do, I guess they’re pretty weird.
Christy, on the other hand, usually wakes up every single day and tells me about her dreams. “Last night I dreamt I was kissing Chakotay” (the First Officer on Star Trek: Voyager)
“OK, honey. Great.”

Our whole network went down (well, not our WHOLE network, because I’m still online…) but basically when IFAS goes down at APU, we really can’t do anything–espeically Erin (my office-mate) and I. So here I am, stealing a minute to blog.

Nathianiel loves his Kindergarten class, and he is really doing well–even after only the third day. He’s coming home with motions to the alphabet and all these sayings and crafts; he really is in heaven being back in a school setting. I was thinking about what makes Nathaniel such a good student, even at this age. I’ve seen him around his Sunday-school classmates and T-ball/Soccer peers and I can see a marked difference in the way Nathaniel follows instruction as opposed to the other kids that run around and don’t listen very well. I really think that is one of the things that sets him apart right now, he does a really good job of hearing, comprehending, and following instruction. Obviously, I’m proud of him–REALLY proud of him…

I’m looking forward to rehearsal tonight…

OH–Here’s the response I got from Disney about that guy that was a total jerk to me on one of my visits (I wrote about it previously)…
It’s is so nice that it was sent to MS. Semsen…

——————————–
Dear Ms. Semsen:

Thank you for your e-mail to the DISNEYLAND® Resort. We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience with us.

The behavior you described is certainly not acceptable, nor is it indicative of our usual high standards. The DISNEYLAND® Resort has always considered Guest courtesy to be one of the most important elements of our operation. Hospitality is continually stressed to newly hired Cast Members, as well as those who have been a part of the Disney team for years. Our goal is not only to meet but exceed our Guests’
expectations. Please accept our sincere apologies for the treatment you received and be assured that the appropriate management has been
notified of your experiences.   

Again, thank you for contacting us. Comments such as yours are welcomed in that they assist us in evaluating our operation and our success in generating happiness for our Guests. We hope you will have the opportunity to visit the DISNEYLAND® Resort soon and that our attractions and entertainment will delight you in every way.
————————–

Yeah, thanks for nothing!

EDIT ADD: If you haven’t purchased your tickets for the Michael W. Smith concert, you really should.

Yesterday was a good day. A GOOD day.

It was the day of Final Registration for APU students.
Students that hadn’t been advised yet or hadn’t been through the lengthy
process that many students go through during a pre-registration event were
required to go through a myriad of stations to get signed up for school. Since
our office is in charge of all of the registration procedures and
adding/dropping classes, we were very busy. Not only was our office like a
Starbucks in Seattle
at 7:55 in the morning (with a giant line out the door…you know what I mean),
but several of us were at a different location doing the final registration
process. I was at this location, and it happens that this day was a day that a
free boxed lunch was provided for all of the workers for Final Registration.
This lunch included 2 (two) awesome Chocolate-Chip cookies. But the best part
comes next…everyone knows I love cookies, so they start passing their
leftovers/cookies they don’t want down to me. I dump out my uneaten potato
salad and apple (sorry Mom) and begin to fill my box with cookies from my
co-workers.

Then, at the end of the day, I saunter over to the boxed
lunch table and see several leftover/uneaten boxed lunches…my mind starts
reeling…“They’re just going to throw all of this away…what a shame…I can’t let
them waste all those cookies…”and so on. I start digging…quietly, stealthily
opening up boxes looking for that beautiful pair of delightfulness. I knew
better than to take ALL of the cookies–I’m not that greedy—but I did get a
good portion into my boxed lunch box…and gleefully walked back to the office.
It was only after I got back to our office and wandered into the break room
that I noticed that some of the employees that had eaten lunch in the office
(instead of at Final Registration) had
also left cookies up for grabs!

All of that to say, I have a freezer and a tummy full of
tasty cookies.

Christy has a funny story about getting Nathaniel to school
today. You should read it whenever she posts it…so funny…

Everybody’s going crazy around here. It’s back-to-school time, and APU is hopping with students. It’s pretty cool to see all theses little babies frantically getting ready for school. OK, they’re not babies, they’re 18-22 years old, they just look like babies. They don’t look old enough to be in college, or I am just getting really old…anyways, our office is a madhouse.

Nathaniel starts Kindergarten today. He’s such a big boy. He happens to be going to the best elementary school around, we hear. They have these huge expectations and “smart classrooms” and most of the parents drive ’06 BMW’s and Lexus convertables. Christy said they mentioned in the parent meeting a couple of months ago, “If you’re office is upgrading your computer systems and is looking for a place to donate their old computers, don’t call us. We only want the best for our students…” OK! He had to learn printing and all of this before school; many props to Christy for getting him ready. I mean, a few months ago he was having trouble identifying letters, now he can write his first and last name by himself and has learned a lot. Good job to my wife!

Happy 55th Birthday to my dad. He said that the older he gets, the more chance I’ll have of living longer, because longevity of life is shown through genetics–it’s all hereditary. My grandpa is still kicking at 84. Christy’s grandpa died at 94 or something, so the two of us are probably going to be some cranky old farts–just beware. Don’t say I didn’t warn you in 60 years when I’m grumpy 24/7.

Four years ago TODAY, Christy and I left from Twain Harte for San Diego to go to a little place called Midway Baptist. What a wonderful portion of our life. We had an incredible life in San Diego–we grew and changed in ways unimaginable. We experienced community and made friends that will last forever. Thanks for touching and blessing us so much, Midway folks! We love all you San Diego-ites…San Diegoans…San Diegans…right.

Wow-seriously, there are a lot of you that just aren’t writing anything (AHEM, Mike!)

A funny thing happened the other day at work. I work in the Undergrad Registrar office at APU–you know, that place that does registration, grades, diplomas, graduation, and the like–well I overheard one of our employees mention to a Freshman that it was very important to get good grades in your first semester, otherwise it can take a while to pull up your GPA. So I thought to myself, “Hm. I wonder what my grades were in my first semester…” and proceed to pull up my record in the database. The way our system works, it scrolls through all the data while it’s loading, leaving you looking at the very last semester first. My eyes briefly caught an F in University Choir & Orchestra in my last semester! WHAT?!?!?! Now, I had skipped tour because Christy was 7 months pregnant with Nathaniel, but Al Clifft and I are best buds and he totally gave me this huge copywork job that I could do for him to make up for it–and instead of dropping my grade, I would just get a late withdrawl. HA! Something must have slipped through the cracks…so now I’m petitioning a grade change only 5 years later…hopefully it gets approved…(haha).

Today’s church services were awesome, thanks be to God. Seriously, the Thursday night practices were OK, but not great (you try getting through 7 songs of all new arrangements on your first day in 75 minutes–it’s hard!) we just didn’t have enough time…but the services flowed very nicely and the music was awesome–obviously a testament to God’s power and hand guiding us all through the services. I had a great time, and am very glad to be here. We loved  it and came away from the services very filled up.

I also got to hear Jody McBrayer yesterday at Yorba Linda Friends, along with two of the three transcriptions/arrangements I did for them this week. Shannon & JD came up and had lunch/payed Nertz with us. We only played 3 or 4 rounds with the four of us, but Shannon actually had the highest score at the end (foiled again!). It is always fun to see them! Thanks for visiting! Oh, and Mike came to church with us, and we also talked some with Jody afterwards. It turned out he arranged the version of IT IS WELL that I transcribed. He talked about it a bit and it was cool. Good arrangement, I thought.

Yeah, and we bought a car. WHAT?!?! Yes, we don’t have any money, but here’s the deal–the payment is only a tiny bit higher. Yes, the loan starts fresh, I know. We know…but here’s the thing–our current car had a badly cracked windshield, a broken door handle, a broken window, a very bad alignment, and a very testy VHS player. Noah would scream every time we tried to watch a movie and it broke. So, it was kinda worth it to us to get a pretty new model of the same van (’04 Nissan Quest) and have only 19,000 miles on it and a bunch of cool stuff–including DVD player with a pair of wireless headphones and remote-control doors. The payment is only a tad more and the car is awesome. So, yes, we’re still pretty broke-but hey, now we don’t have to pay the late car payment from last month, or the one for September either…saving us some cash in our budget for immediate purchases…and we have a kick-butt new minivan. It has SO much more room in it, and it’s one of those where the seats (all of them) fold ALL THE WAY DOWN into the van, making the back completely flat. SO AWESOME.
Oh yeah, and it has a DVD player…a DVD PLAYER!!
We’re so excited!

School at APU is definitely starting. When I pulled into work today a little before 8AM, the freshman were already moving in! Not only were people everywhere, I heard the yells and cheering of all the residence life people, welcoming each car as they pulled up. How fun-AT 8AM!!! Our office was pretty slammed, and will continue to be over the next few weeks. I’ll even be working a bit this Saturday while our office is open for a few extra hours.

It’s been pretty hot down here lately, and I hear the weekend is supposed to be even hotter. At least it’s not as bad as that heatwave we had a while back. That was horrible.

JD and Shannon are coming up tomorrow to see us and Jody…we’re pretty excited about getting to hang out with them. Go San Diegans!

We went to see Little Miss Sunshine tonight with some friends. Now, this is not one of those movies Daniel usually goes to see. Like I’ve said previously, I’m not usually a big fan of the independent film type. I saw Junebug last January because Entertainment Weekly put it on their list of 25 movies to see before the Oscars and I thought it was dreary and abysmal. I was not too opposed however, to seeing this flick because it did have Steve Carell in it–who I love. This was not his typical role, but he was amazing in it. The film itself was also very good. It had a lot of cussing (there’s your warning) and wasn’t a typical comedy or anything, but it had some very good themes–mostly about community. Community, community, community. Man–there have been so many films about this topic in the past couple of years, and the only thing I can think of is that our culture is very tapped into how much COMMUNITY is a necessity in our lives. We cannot live without it! I’ve really been giving this some thought, but can’t talk too much about it now due to the wheels still turning and all of that…anyways–the film had an incredible ending. It was worth watching the whole film for the last ten minutes. I loved it!

Also-side story:
You know how there’s always those stupid idiot high-schoolers that are coming into the theaters being noisy and a total nuisance? Yeah, it’s like every time I go there’s some jerks that think the whole world revolves around them and their cell phone…well tonight 4 kids come running into the theater in a very quiet, reflective time in the movie and start being super noisy and running up and down the stairs (stadium seating). Next thing you know, my hero, this big dude in the front starts yelling at them. He got up out of his seat and literally chased them out of the theater, yelling and cussing at them to get out! It was AWESOME!! I actually turned to Christy and said, “That’s what I’m talking about”, because we ALL don’t want to pay ten zillion dollars a ticket to see a movie where kids are being a distraction–kids that aren’t in the movie, but are just running about from theater to theatre.  This guy just did what the rest of us wished we could do (profanity aside) and told them to get out!

I actually went up to him after the movie and thanked him. I almost wanted to be his friend and bring him to all the movies I go to from now on…wouldn’t that be great?

I think Mikenaj’s absence from all civilization, and more specifically, xanga, is the reason why I’m only getting 2-4 comments per entry. It’s like we’ve lost our leader again…MIKE! COME BACK TO US!

I had rehearsals last night with Christ-First Baptist. It was great, but also pretty crazy. We ordered all this choir music from Chandler, and they had shipped it overnight (their error, not mine, I actually placed the order a good 2 weeks ago) via UPS. Well, it finally showed up at 6:45PM, for our 7PM rehearsal. It was a bit nervewracking. Then we had the worship team after choir, and it is pretty hard to stuff 7 songs into 75 minutes. This week was a little bit different than the rest, so we had extra songs…it was a tiny bit chaotic (mostly to me, probably, not necessarily the rest of the group–they did great).

I was thinking about my first rehearsals with Midway, and how dramatically things had changed from the beginning to the end. I remember playing that keyboard with a mic headset on, with Jaime Reagle saying (in the middle of his “prayer”) “with the keyboard playing a little bit louder now…” and me thinking, “what in the world is this guy DOING?!?!”
Anyway…I’m just hoping God can use me, and gives me the clarity of mind and patience to get through this crazy time of life right now.

Super special thanks to Leanne and Heidi for playing/singing last night. It was really helpful to have you both there!

Classes start up for me at CSULA on Sep 21! I’m taking Commercial Songwriting and The Business of Music. I’m looking forward to it a lot.
ALSO-How I Met Your Mother starts on Sep 18th, and The Office starts on Sep 21st.
That is also very exciting!!!