Do you ever have one of those days where you just don’t know where your life is going? What in the world is happening right now? I can’t even tell you…it feels like so much is in limbo and I’m just on the outside of where I want to be–looking in, drooling…knocking…praying and hoping…knowing that it will take time and work, but feeling like I have no idea where to even turn my head. It’s the weirdest feeling in the world. I’m used to having much more purpose than that.

I have a presentation to the President’s Cabinet at APU in a few weeks. Yes, THE President’s Cabinet of the United Azusa Pacific University (you thought I was going to say United States of America…but no…) and please think the name of APU now starts with “United”…geez…it was a dumb joke. But nevertheless, these are the top of the top level executives here at the University. I will be presenting on what I’ve done in the past year (plus) in my job. Should be pretty easy once I get  what I want to say organized. However, it will probably also be quite nerve-wracking as well.  This is the meeting my boss’s boss is a part of.  Big stuff…

The iPhone comes out in about an hour. There are people in line that have been there since Tuesday. There is at least one dude that I know of that is in the front of the line just so he can sell is PLACE in line to someone else for $300 (minimum). He doesn’t even want an iPhone. Crazy. I’ll wait. Maybe for Christmas–or next year.

We had a pretty grueling rehearsal last night with our choirs. It was REALLY hot in the rehearsal space, and things just went bonkers. It was really bad! It was complete chaos…and Daniel doesn’t handle chaos very well.

Today was the day of prayer at APU. It was great. I read some really good stuff, and have much more to do. It feels good to have some devo material again to look at. I’ll get some good mileage out of the booklet they gave us.

There is no A/C in this house and with my big MAC G5 PowerPC cooling fans going full speed I think it’s a good 10 degrees hotter in this room. And for that reason, I say goodbye…

Die Hard 4 was by far the best movie I’ve seen all summer–and I’ve seen most of the big ones so far. Go see it. It’s fantastic. It’s also probably my favorite of the entire Die Hard series. It’s also PG-13, and has less cussing and blood than the previous films with the same humor and a superior plot. Ten thumbs up!

---

We’ve been on a Die Hard marathon. Christy had never seen any of them, but we were definitely going to go see the 4th installment of the series tonight and I thought she should get caught up. We were unable to complete Die Hard with a Vengeance last night or early this morning (what a way to start off the day!) so we’ll grab the last thirty minutes tonight before we head out. These movies are good, and I think my favorite so far is still the original. However, they sure do use a lot of the F word, and that’s probably the biggest negative about them. DH 2 was more violent than 1, and 3 so far has seemed to be less violent than both. I guess we’ll see about DH4 tonight…

Kelly Clarkson’s new album “My December” came out yesterday and it rocks. I pre-ordered it on iTunes, and what I’ve heard so far leaves me very impressed. It is more edgy than her previous albums, but not too dark like many critics mused it would be (at least from what I’ve heard so far of the album).

Mike left a link to an excellent review of the iPhone. It is by far the most objective thing I’ve read about the device so far. Take a read before it comes out on Friday. I think I’m going to wait until the flash memory capacity grows a bit. 4GB or 8GB is just not enough space for me for anything.

I hope everything is going well with Mike Cathey at Midway! Christy and I are dying to hear about it.

No news on the job promotion–I think it will be a few weeks until I know anything more about it.

APU’s Day of Prayer is this Friday. It is pretty cool that APU will pay me a full day’s wages for praying (attending the event). There are not too many other workplaces that do things like that.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged. So much has been happening and I guess I haven’t had anything huge to say. But lucky you-here I am!!

The cat is out of the bag among my co-workers. I applied for a promotion in my office. I hadn’t really told anyone up to this point (except for a few people), but I had to mention it at a meeting recently where we were talking about recent risks we took. This would move me from a peon to a management position, and would really fit my skills-but we’ll see what my boss thinks! Be praying please-this would be a really good thing for our family as well.

Evan Almighty was very funny, albeit more geared towards “family fun” than Bruce Almighty. It had a great message though, and is worth watching just for Steve Carell. I recommend!

Live Free or Die Hard starts Wednesday. In order to get Christy ready for this (since we’ll go to the movies to see whatever is out now that we found a theater that offers top-notch childcare) we’re watching all of the first three movies. We watched Die Hard on Saturday night. This was the first time I had seen it since I watched it originally a good fifteen years ago. I was astounded at how tame it was compared to what I remember from my first viewing; I was also suprised at how little I remembered. It was great. And it was no less or more violent than any episode of 24–so Christy was cool. Die Harder tonight…

Mike Cathey is auditioning/interviewing at Midway this week. I hope everything works out! It would be phenomenal if he took the job, for him and for the church. What a great musician Mike is…hope all you San Diegoans are having fun!

I’m back at the gym running. Pretty much just running. I enjoy the treadmill now because it keeps track of how far I’ve gone and for how long (and so on…). It helps me stay motivated. I’m also just going in gym clothes, running, and coming home to shower and get ready for work. I think I like that better than trying to get ready there–it’s much less work.

Speaking of work…I gotta get back to it!

This is just messed up. Who in the world would want to name their kid “4Real”. Ridiculous…
Thanks to Angela in the UG Registrar for passing this on…
I’ll copy and paste the article just in case the link doesn’t last forever.

---

New Zealand authorities have blocked a couple’s bid to officially name their new son “4real,” saying numerals are not allowed.

Pat and Sheena Wheaton said they decided to name their new baby
“4real” shortly after having an ultrasound and being struck by the
reality of his impending arrival.

“For most of us, when we try to figure out what our names mean, we
have to look it up in a babies book and … there’s no direct link
between the meaning and the name,” Pat Wheaton told TV One on
Wednesday. “With this name, everyone knows what it means.”

But when the parents filed the name with New Zealand’s Registry of
Births, Deaths and Marriages, they were told names beginning with a
number were against the rules.

The government office has opened negotiations with the parents about
the name under a policy that says all unusual names must be given
case-by-case consideration.

“The name has not at this stage been rejected,” Registrar-General
Brian Clarke said in a statement Thursday. “We are currently in
discussions with the parents … to clarify the situation.”

Clarke said the rules are designed to prevent names that are “likely
to cause offense to a reasonable person.” Satan and Adolf Hitler were
proposed names that have been declined, he said.

If no compromise has been reached by July 9, the baby will be registered as “real,” officials say.

New Zealand law requires all children born in the South Pacific
nation to be registered with the Births, Deaths and Marriages registry
within two months of birth.

I really like Snorg Tees. They are hilarious. There is just something witty and clever about them that tickles me.

This is my new favorite…I LOVE shirts about Nintendo games.

Don’t ask me why…I just think it’s brilliantly funny…

EDIT ADD: Here’s a link to the facebook album of Jon & Erin’s Wedding. Click here to view the photos. You do not need a facebook account.

---

Jon Mann got married today. It was a grand occaision. I actually took dozens of pictures with my digital camera. I’ll upload them to facebook later and post a link or something.

Congrats to Jon & Erin!

So, after the ceremony…we got into the car to drive to the reception and I said to Christy, “Well, I guess this is it. That was the last wedding we’ll ever be a part of.” (Thinking to myself about how Jon is the last family member on both sides to get married–not that there’s anything wrong with that).
Christy looks at me and says, “Are you crazy?! ALL of our friends are single!” <naming off all of our single friends> “We have TONS of weddings ahead of us!”

Good call, babe…

And seriously–I think a good 90% of our friends are single. Hilarious. I didn’t even think of it…

Happy Father’s Day!

EDIT ADD:
Nathaniel gradutated from Kindergarten today. Christy went to the ceremony. Apparently he was honored among his peers…one of only two Kindergarteners out of 60 or so of them that was honored. Yes. You heard me. Nathaniel is awesome. Let’s just put it at that.
Take THAT…uh…EVERYONE!

---

Someone in our office is getting married in a month. We celebrated yesterday.
This is a game we played (kind of like hot potato, but with flowers). In this round there were two bouquets going around, and I was in the finals…

So much has happened in the past few days, I feel like it’s been months since I’ve posted…

Wednesday: We met my parents in Tulare, CA to pick up the 1998 Jetta that they were able to find for us. What a blessing it is to have two cars again–and I think that this car is potentially the nicest second car we’ve ever owned (and the nicest that I’ve driven on a regular basis…all the way back to 16 years old, but not counting our 2004 Nissan). It was such a tiring drive. We didn’t get there until 7:30 or 8pm. Had dinner with my folks, and then turned around to drive 3+ hours home. We did NOT make it. We stopped at the North base of the grapevine at around 11:30pm and crashed at a motel. Best $75 I ever spent. I literally could not keep my eyes open–so it’s a good thing we stopped. We woke up at 4:45am and hit the road so we could get back for school/work. I even had time to iron my shirt…

Friday: Camp Barranca. This was a very crazy thing. It was supposed to be a camp-out at Nathaniel’s elementary school for all the families. There were several hundred people there eating dinner, playing games, and getting their faces painted. Most people brought tents. We did not. Forget that. We stayed a long time and let Nathaniel play a lot, but went home and then woke up early the next morning to go back for the pancake breakfast. It was crazy to see all of those kids running wild. Oh goodnes…it was chaos…

Saturday: Saw Ocean’s 13 at Harkins (the theater with childcare) which was cool. Good movie, but nothing mind-blowing. It was better than the second one, and the popcorn was delicious as usual. Fun times. Then we drove down to San Diego…I forgot my suit pants at home so I had to go by Macy’s and pick some up. While I was there I found an incredible navy blue suit on sale. It was “price marked is 50% off original price” and THEN “take an additional 40% off”…which by my astute calculations equals 90% off the original price!! (Hey, I’m no physicist…). Anyways-so cheap-I picked it up…hallelujah! Then we stayed at a brand new hotel down there that was fabulous.

Sunday: One of the best Sunday’s I’ve had in a LONG time. I led worship at Midway Baptist Church in the morning services. We did worship music, choir specials, and I sang a couple of solos. It was a highly energized morning and it was quite rockin’!! Praise the Lord! Then we hung out with Chris & Melody for lunch–and Brad and Audrey came to (Audrey is Brad’s baby daughter, sooo cute!). That was followed by one of the best concerts I’ve ever taken part in. The choir was attentive, focused, surrendered, and prepared. They were singing their hearts out and it was a magnificent result. Not only that–but the orchestra did an amazing job as well. I was blessed beyond belief to be a part of the whole day. It was an awesome music and worship experience. I’m glad to have the fortune to come down at least one more weekend, and possibly two (depending on whether or not they hire someone that soon).

Frank gave me an cherry wood baton case. There is room for two batons in it, and one was already there…it is an incredible gift! I used the baton already…it was totally touching.

Tuesday night in San Diego is party time…plus I have a couple new songs with orchestration that are fantastic…

On Facebook, people who become your friends can write about you–mostly how they know you. It’s an option and not a requirement, and you get to confirm these details before they’re posted.
For example: If I were friends with Nathaniel Nienaber, I might say “You were roommates freshman year at APU in Smith.” He would approve, and it would publish on Facebook.  Yippee.

Well, tonight I went on and confirmed these details:

You met randomly in 2000: He was my music teacher in middle school and his passion for music sparked mine. He taught me how to sing, play the flute and sight read music in choir… He is also the reason why I am in college right now believe it or not! You’ll never know the impact you have on someones life….thanks Mr. semsen!!!!!!

That is pretty freaking amazing…and totally unexpected. It certainly is amazing the people we touch and change without knowing it. I certainly don’t write this to pat myself on the back, but more to tell you that I actually sucked as a teacher. I was horrible. I can’t have actually taught this person anything–however, it is humbling to know that in my feeble attempt at one of the hardest jobs on the planet God still chose to use me to inspire another worshipper. VERY humbling.

Saw a tiny bit of the Celebration send-off concert tonight. Mike Lee did an excellent job preparing them.

Then we went to “Camp Barranca”–an annual end-of-the-year event at Nathaniel’s school. It was fun, but also a little bit weird since we really don’t know anybody there. They all are actually camping overnight on the school grounds…I’m at home typing this, and scooting back in the morning for the pancake breakfast…shhhhh–no one will ever know…

I drank too much caffeine today…and this evening…oops.

Well, I’m up, so here I am.

San Diego was really fun today. We have a concert at Midway Baptist Church on Sunday night, along with a the normal Sunday morning worship time. Tonight was the dress rehearsal for both of those things, and despite a few hiccups, it went surprisingly well. I’m really looking forward to the weekend. Joli actually made me sing a couple of special music numbers that I would have never volunteered to sing, but it turns out really fun and awesome, so I’m glad she made me do it. (I also had to transcribe them both–and for the second one, I went ahead and wrote orchestration for it, ’cause why not?) All that to say–this should be awesome. I’m stoked–great rehearsal tonight everyone!

My work is going really well. I’m making great progress with my ongoing process of reviewing every course from every community college in California (just think, there are 109 of them). Additionally, I seem to be getting very positive feedback from upper management folks. This makes Daniel feel good about doing his job. Having a big sense of competition also brings about a sense of wanting to feel like you are winning. Success is very tantalizing–I want it always! So, in order to achieve this, I work very hard at what I do, just as a natural outcome of wanting to win. It’s an odd way to operate, but it’s working right now. All that to say, I really like my job–it’s great.

I went to a very interesting seminar last weekend. I saw Paul Riser speak to a small group of composers/arrangers in Hollywood. This is not the comedian, Paul Riser (from Mad About You), but rather, the arranger that worked for Motown back when it first got started, and went on to arrange for Stevie Wonder and other top artists. Amazing record of work. We’re talking The Supremes, Ashford & Simpson, The Temptations, Holland-Dozier-Holland, and a billion others. It was a crazy place to be. All of the folks there had huge, impressive resumes, and many were currently working on films, TV, and so on…it was absolutely an awaking experience.

Finally getting tired…