Home now

Home now. Very tired.

Acquire the Fire

And we're off

to Acquire the Fire in San Diego. OH my gosh it's early!

April Fool

April Fool!

Tasha and I went to a diner this morning for breakfast. As we ordered, the waitress paused to call a fellow employee to tell them they were no longer working Saturdays. Earlier they had called the manager to say the cook hadn't come in and they needed him to come in.

So that set us off. What can we do to get the team. And I thought, "Wouldn't it be great if on the first of our days off we tell the team we've picked up a last minute show." So, half kidding, I told Tasha. And it grew from there into the best April Fool ever.

We asked the diner staff for the smallest church they could think of in the next town over. Our waitress said she had driven past a little turn-of-the-last-century white country church a number of times. So we looked them up in the yellow pages. Community Presbyterian Church. Perfect. We texted all of the team members with cell phones: Wear your Wycliffe shirts!! Then we spent the rest of breakfast concocting the perfect story:

Woody and Jean called us this morning to tell us of a last minute show. 15 minutes from the venue. Instead of going to LA for our days off. Tasha and I got up at the crack of dawn to take the trailer in to be fixed, then drive it to the new venue. Homestays had been arranged. The next morning we'd drive to San Diego for the conference we'd planned on attending.

So in the car on the way to pick up the drama trailer Tasha and I changed into our work clothes. Then we hit a snag. The drama trailer was completely dismantled and wouldn't be done until after we'd need to leave for a normal show day. We unhitched the truck and formated plan B. We'll say we took the drama trailer down early. So we arrived at the church. In come Torrie and Austen. "What's with all the black. Do we have a show or something?" Tasha answered in the affirmative. "Ok." And they unpacked their work clothes and went to change. (Unbeknownst to me, Tasha told Austen what was up at this point so she could give him the actual trailer news.) The rest of the crew showed up. Some very upset about a last minute show. Some mystified about how quickly it had all come off. Two thought at first it was a joke, and came with their regular clothes under their Wycliffe shirts. When it became obvious that everyone was serious, they changed. Two upset about missing the conference. One irate that his parents were coming into town and he was supposed to be meeting them to go to Disneyland. I played my part -- panicking about how to do a show with half the food we'd need, and Grusha not being able to find the address. I got three fresh made chocolate chip cookies out of the deal. We loaded vehicles, climbed in, and headed to Acton.

I had programmed Grusha with the address. 15 minutes of bad attitudes later we pulled up to our 'venue.' It was exactly what we'd hoped it would be. One small white steepled sanctuary, and a little fellowship hall next door with the rectory across the street. Everyone stared. Then, being the flexible people that we are, managers unloaded and began searching for kitchens, bathrooms, exterior outlets, and a place to leave the trailer. And we called the crew to a circle up as Tasha faked a frantic call to Woody and Jean about the coordinator who was nowhere in sight.

With the crew standing around, peeking into windows and strategizing how to make the show work, Tasha made and announcement. "The truth is....We're not doing a show. April Fool!"

And the crew laughed. Jonathan had to look sheepish over his Disneyland trip. Johnny'd started the day determined not to be taken in, but he was anyway. And everyone had to laugh. At how hard we worked to figure out how to make it work.

And the cool part happened after we prayed for our drive to LA, the church we'd just left, and the church that we'd visited briefly for a gag. We said our amens and turned around, and the rector of the church and her husband and granddaughter came to see what was happening in her parking lot. And it turns out when she was a little girl, her family were good friends with Cameron Townsend. The founder of Wycliffe. And she was thrilled to learn that his vision was still being carried out. She offered to pray for us, and we left for Los Angeles.

Miss Mae Agrees

Miss Mae Agrees.

Week Six and Counting

Week Six and Counting...

It's week six from the end. The hardest week of tour. Because up until this point you're committed for four months. And the end is nowhere in sight. It's just this nebulous amount of time. And then you're six weeks out. And suddenly you can see the finish line. And the honeymoon is over. And you have to love people by willpower instead of feelings.

One day it comes to you all of the things you miss about being settled. Internet. Bubble baths. Tea. A library of books that couldn't fit in a tupperware. Featherbed and down comforters. Going anywhere without taking into consideration thirteen other people. Driving your own car. Web surfing. And on and on for all of week six.

The job is routine. Tear down goes easily. The show is old hat, and as you pass the 20 mark and near show 30 you struggle to find new motivation for stale lines (No one is ever going to laugh at "Well, it's the good book.") and wonder in passing how they ever did 5,000 performances of Fiddler. You wake up and realize you don't know where you are, and you've forgotten the names of the people who drove you home. You frantically search for mail to fill out the thank you card.

Team relationships solidify. By now they've seen you at your worst, and in week six you don't much love yourself (am I really that whiney?) or anyone else (are THEY really that whiney?). But you know about them. And their aunt with cancer. Their cousin in a coma. The friend they pray for every day. The girlfriend who doesn't believe. The boyfriend that just became more. Struggles with parents and money and growing up and moving out and where-does-God-fit-into-it-all. So even when you want to blow everyone off and go home you can't, and really don't want to when you stop and think about it.

And then we'll be through it and week five will be upon us, and by week three the end will be looming and there won't be enough time to spend with people who for a short time were your family and will all be going separate ways. And then it will be the lasts. Last show. Last drive. Last song. Last homestay. Last trip. Last packing. Last flight. And life will go back to normal. And you'll realize how much you miss it all.

But all that's still to come. We still have to survive week six.

So Proud of Me

Mary Hunt would be so proud...

Oh I am so proud of me. I had my credit card all paid up from my car repairs (had to charge it to the card while I transferred money from my savings account in Tightwad, MO), but my balance showed 49.98. I thought I'd paid everything off within the grace period, so no interest should have accrued. And, being a little shaky on how quickly interest accrues anyway, I thought it sounded a bit high. But I didn't want to have it increase while I wasn't looking, so I opted to pay it off today.

But then I looked at my statement one last time before I paid it. My records are in too good of shape right now for it to be an oversight charge. So I went over it with a fine tooth comb. And voila! My movie rental store has continued to charge me for unlimited rentals in a state which I don't currently inhabit. So I called them. And I called the store. And their refunding the charges (in a long circuitous way) back to my card. So, for once, I didn't end up shelling out money needlessly because of a financial oversight on my part.

It feels very good. Ha.

The Fitting Bookend

The Fitting Bookend to Spring Break

Today was it. We woke at the crack of dawn, ok, 6:30, to pack, clean and be out by the time the maid arrived in "The Upper Rooms." And we took the Pacific Coast Highway - six of us squashed in the truck - to Manhattan beach.

It was a lovely drive. The sun has come out after two months of rain. Other than debris littered beaches and extraordinarily green hills there's no sign of the clouds that have covered the entire state for most of tour. The bouganvilia which hasn't bloomed yet in Santa Barbara County was out in full force by Malibu. And we found a one bedroom apartment. For Rent. $3,000 a month. I suppose if you worked two jobs and had a roommate you might have time to ... Listen to the ocean crash on the jetty (what is a jetty anyway?) on the way to your second shift.

Much rejoicing occurred upon the reuniting of the team. Thank God the other seven are back with us. One with much altered hair. Another with a new shiny ring on her finger, winning the best quote of the tour award ("Yessssss!!"In response to Bret's "Will you marry me?"). And we have our guys back! Oh the balance! Oh the logic! Oh the standing by and rolling their eyes as the girls one by one heard the engagement news and deafened overhead seagulls with the shrieks.

And then we got on the road again. The I-5. At 4pm. Bad planning, that. Four hours later we were forty miles down the road.

Minus a trailer. Because the brakes went out again. Which nicely puts us right back where we were before the break.

Old Shadows

Old Shadows

Chris: "The Ichaw Bird is massaging Chalingguy."

Aaron: "It's frightening, yet strangely comfortable."



Signpost: "Don't be a crab. Eat one."



Austen: "I like tanning. I like being brown. It gets me closer to black. Which helps when I rap."



Rachel: "I don't think this is a one-way street."

Julie: "I think you may be correct."



Rachel: "Mermaid Sushi. Does that sound sick to you?"

Aaron: "Is that like 'kind of' cannibalism?"

Rachel: "Depends. Top half or bottom."



Sam Myers (The coolest homestay ever. Builds windmills): "I don't like soy sauce. They's grasshoppers in Oklahoma. They's spit look like soy sauce."



Vicky: "There aren't enough words in the alphabet."



Vicky: "I have trust issues with people. I don't trust them."



Aaron: "Adam, they need your foo-foos."



Adam: "Half castle. Half mansion. It's a cansion."



Torrie: "I'm sorry I'm such a prayer monopolizer. I just love talking to you Jesus."



Vicky: "I turned pinker than a red thing."



Vicky: "My family is the funniest one I've ever had."



Rachel: "Vicky, you need to stop talking. You're monopolizing the quote book."

Thai

Partial Day Off

Thai food with Wendy, lining up options for summer jobs, and then off to work.

Last night we watched Sleeping with the Enemy and tried not to wake the entire household with screaming in the scary parts (7 girls you know - we feed off each other). Good movie. Puts me in mind of What Lies Beneath. Similar ending in a way.

I'm off to work.

P.S. Tucson may have cheap rent, but it's blasted hot in the summer.

Spring Break

Spring Break

We're in Solvang for the week. Finances prompted my calling the Alisal and asking if I could work. They're in the throws of Easter with their off-season staff, so they gave me six shifts this week. Part of me was a little disappointed that I won't get a break this week. Part of me really is relieved at a change of scene. It's been raining all week, and we've been indoors a good deal. The noise level keeps on rising...

For now there's seven of us in town. All the guys and two girls have gone off to various places. The "married couple" are back home putting their things into storage. Several hooked up with friends and family in California. And one flew home. So, I go to work, and the other six of us bum around doing touristy things. While I'm checking email and blogging, they're thrift shopping. I bought a Solvang patch the other day to add to my tourist jeans.

Yesterday was a torrential downpour, and I found myself bartending the golf lounge. No one was golfing, so I got paid to sit by the fire and read for the last three hours of my shift. Alone. And Quiet. It was lovely. I've read three Francine Rivers books I found at the church library (And the Shofar Blew, Redeeming Love, and Unashamed), and I'm working my way today back through Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers. It was the first Lord Peter book I read, and I'm enjoying the re-read.