Can I just say that I love my job? I just got here after having taken three days off last week, and one of the band students that I played accompaniment for last weekend just came into my room and brought me two pieces of homemade cake. Last week, another of my students brought me a Johnny Depp collage she'd made for me. Could life be any better? Now I get to sit at my desk, eat cake for breakfast, and stare at Captain Jack Sparrow. Phew.
I am definitely behind, but I needed those days very badly... if only for the mental health aspect. Until I'm able to sort out all the new loose ends in my life, the stress is going to make me even more wack than I normally am. I'm still not sleeping as well as I'd like, although it's better than last week, and my eczema has gone crazy (always exacerbated by stress and lack of sleep).
Saturday I finally found the athletic shoes I'd been looking for. I always wear Vans, and my pink-and-white ones were finally getting a bit too worn. I would've rather the new ones also had the "V" design on the side, but they have an embossed thing on the side of the sole that says "shoe nineteen sixty six" which is my birth year. They're white with a green stripe and green undersole.
Yesterday's worship services went without any untoward incidents, at least from the technical analysis perspective. No broken strings or missed pickups, PTL. The girl that was singing the offertory song had dug up an oldie from the 80s Sandi Patty era, and it was one of the ones that was originally a duet with Larnelle Harris. She was practicing it early yesterday morning before the service, and I picked up a mic that was next to the piano and started singing Larnelle's harmony part. I was a little surprised at myself that I could remember that thing, even though it's probably been nearly 20 years since I heard it, much less sung it. Anyway, she loved it and asked me if I'd actually sing it with her (!!), so I did. It ended up pretty nice; I haven't done much singing at FCC, mainly because they have more than enough talented vocalists and because they need me behind the keyboard. Occasionally they give me a mic while I'm playing, if they need the extra soprano line for some reason. But anyway, this was the first time I'd sung any sort of special music. And it's the first time I've sung with a canned accompaniment track in probably 20 years as well... I prefer live music, or self-accompanying. I've gotten used to "hiding" behind the keyboard, too, so it was a little weird to stand up there holding only a mic.
Yesterday they had baptisms in all the services. In the early one, the guitarist's eleven year old son was baptized and that was just the coolest thing. I could tell Mark was really, really happy about that. I got a very nice view of the whole thing because they have a portable baptistry that they roll onto the stage area whenever they do baptisms, and it's set up basically in front of the keyboard. So I get to see it really close up, and I love it. In the bigger picture, that's one of the reasons I love this church so much -- they are growing because they're sharing the gospel and people are accepting Christ... many of them from very difficult life circumstances... and lives are being transformed. It's not a church full of "been to church my whole life and I know how to play the part of the good Christian really well now because I've been practicing for years" people. No, these are people who have chosen Christ, and who take that choice very seriously. That is refreshing.
I'm going to get a little work done before the students come into my room wondering why I abandoned them last week. Ta for now.
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