Choir Blooper

Okay, first of all, there's nothing X- or even R-rated about this blog post, even though that's what first comes to mind with the word "Blooper."  But we definitely had a "blooper scenario" last night at choir rehearsal.

The rehearsal itself went really well.  We worked on two numbers pretty extensively--made a lot of headway in getting both pieces down.  So far so good. 

After the music was rehearsed, we moved into "prayer request" time. There were some very heart-wrenching and heart-warming requests and praise reports that occurred.  

Just as we were ready to pray, one of the members had this request for a neighbor of his who had become suddenly ill this week with some kind of lung disorder.  The neighbor's wife had called the family doctor who told them to get to the hospital immediately.  The husband didn't want to have to summon an ambulance (probably from embarrassment or the understandable avoidance of the usual $1000 ambulance fee), so he insisted the wife drive him there.

She let her husband out at the emergency room entrance so she could park the car.

Still--so far, so good.

Then the prayer-requester said quietly, "But by the time she got into the hospital, he was already gone. (Pause)"

During the pause, the whole choir groaned loudly in sympathy for the poor wife who'd obviously been left behind.  I remember thinking, "Oh, no.  They SHOULD have taken the ambulance.  Maybe that would have saved his life!"

When the groans began, the requester realized what the choir was thinking he'd meant.  He got really panicky and shouted, "Not DEAD! Not DEAD!" He'd only meant to say that the man had already been taken up to surgery!  Well, the choir lost it in their laughter--I think there was even a guffaw or two.  It was so funny to be yanked from tragedy to comedy with just two words.  It would have been a great scene from SEINFELD , THE OFFICE, or some other quirky sit-com.

It's always good to be reminded that words spoken or written take on a life of their own, depending on context and assumed meaning. 

Beware of the poorly timed euphemism!  

Or the overly-extended pause.

A.I. Returns!!!!

The show that launched a thousand careers. Well, maybe 25 or 30. Americans love talent--but they also love a good freak show.  A.I. in January gives us the best of both worlds. 

LOVE IT!  Can't wait 'til tomorrow night.

The White House--Then and Now

Last night Lyn and I were having a hard time finding anything to watch on TV.  We wound up watching a wonderful program about The White House.  It was a great HD tour of the mansion with some amazing photos and historical footage. (The picture above is said to be the very first photograph made of the White House, taken in 1846.)

One of the things that really moved me in watching it was the section on its original construction.  It was built almost entirely by slave labor.  It struck me as unbelievably poignant and ironic that in a mere nine days, an African-American family will be moving into that beautiful space--not to serve at the pleasure of the President, but AS the presidential family. Remarkable.

And then the thought hit me . . . if all the hooplah and speculation about Obama's birthplace actually being Kenya rather than Hawaii ultimately were proven to be true, it might be historical justice. Granted, it technically would be contrary to a Constitutional proviso; however, when one considers that most of the framers of the Constitution were themselves slave-owners or were in agreement with the practice, would such an infraction REALLY be all that big a deal?  

On January 20, history will once again be profoundly made.  Although I didn't vote for our new president, I am nevertheless in awe of the historical circumstances, and am thrilled to be alive at this amazing time.

Angel Unaware?

It's almost 3:15 a.m.  I'm having one of "those" nights.  Sleep came easy when I went to bed, but my brain is awake and my hands are hurting, and I have a meeting in less than six hours.

The hands?  No big deal.  Just lots of little scratches from the one-on-one I had with the Christmas tree yesterday afternoon.  It's an artificial tree (only 2 years old), and should have been a piece of cake to put back into its box for its 10.5 month hibernation.  It decided, however, to be jackass-stubborn.  I couldn't separate the middle and bottom sections.  I worked a long time on it myself.  When Lyn got home, she and I tugged and pulled and fussed over it. (Video of that would have been quite entertaining, I'm sure.)  Then I went next door to conscript the help of a big, burly neighbor guy. He and I together couldn't make anything happen either--even after 10-15 minutes of tug-o-war with the tree.  

The bottom line:  the tree won the battle, but I won the war.  It's in the dumpster as I type. Its "hibernation" will be a little more exotic this year!

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. My insomnia.

As I said earlier, in addition to my battle-scarred hands, my wide-awake brain took me from my bed and down the stairs to the computer.  

I was thinking about a lady I met on the street New Years Eve.  It wasn't on Times Square for the ball drop--it was on Restaurant Row NEAR Times Square where Lyn and I had dinner a few hours before midnight.  As we were approaching our restaurant-of-choice, I heard a little voice call out.  It was an African-American woman, standing on the opposite side of the street, wrapped in an old blanket, trying to cope with the very cold night.

I walked over to her and was struck by her simple beauty.  Wrapped up in the blanket like she was, she looked rather majestic--certainly not like the stereotypical "homeless person" that comes to mind.  I didn't have much cash on me...a $5 bill and a few ones.  I gave her the $5 and kept the ones for a tip I figured I might need to give someone before the night was over.  (I should have just emptied my wallet for her, but "strategy-mind" trumped "compassion-mind.")

She was so appreciative of my little hand-out.  We chatted a few moments.  Restaurant Row is on 46th St.  She said she usually stayed up around 100-something.  I couldn't help wondering what had brought her so far from her normal area...I assumed it was the New Years Eve throngs.

She seemed a bit familiar to me, for some reason.  Maybe it was my mind playing tricks on me, but she reminded me a lot of a homeless woman I'd seen the day before.  That woman was lying on a cold street, too miserable to even call out to the people who passed by.  I noticed her, but walked by, giving only a glance in my haste.  But the image of her lying there stayed with me.  I felt really badly about not giving her anything that day.  Especially after meeting her Doppelganger the next evening!

I couldn't help but wonder if the two women might really have been the same person.  In fact, part of me wondered if she was really a "person" at all, but really someone placed there just for me.  I know that notion is probably from all those Hallmark shows I watched before Christmas, but whether or not she was an angel, she certainly fulfilled the role of one:  a messenger. They/she spoke volumes to me, even though I only conversed with the second. 

THEN, in his wonderful message Sunday, Dan (our outreach/missions pastor) spoke about daring to do more for God in 2009.  I once again thought of my Angel Lady in New York.  Is God laying this on my heart?  

My meeting this morning is about establishing a more organized system of volunteer visitation of the sick and shut-ins of our church. My small group is really passionate about taking this on for an in-church ministry.  At the same time, we are wanting to become involved at some level with the Orange County Rescue Mission, an organization that works among the poor and disenfranchised of the affluent OC.  

I don't know if my New Years "Angel" was human or heavenly, but I think her presence on that street was Providential to my 2009.  

Isn't it ironic that today is January 6--a.k.a. The Day of Epiphany?

GOOD to be home!

It's so great to be back home!!  Our 5.5 days in New York were so very special.  It's been fun chronicling and sharing the pictures with everyone.  Thanks for all the comments and feedback on the postings. I hope all NYC lovers have the opportunity to spend some extended time there at some point.  It really gets in your blood!  (Even if your blood has gone "thin" from being in California too long!)

SPECIAL thanks to "Dr. Ron" for being so kind to loan me his great coat (pictured above in front of the NYC Public Library) to do the city in.  It was so warm without being heavy and bulky.  Jeanne Zenk made me the scarf for the trip, too. Thanks much Ron and Jeanne!

Good Morning America - Zzzzzzzz

We were up bright and EARLY this morning to head over to ABC (about 2 blocks from our hotel) for the taping of Good Morning America. All the regular crew was on vacation.  Bill Weir and Kate Snow (the weekend anchors) were hosting today.  They were great, but the show itself was a major sleeper!!! Lyn and I were on the off-camera side of the studio, so the only time we appear in the show is during the 8:00 sign-in and weather spot--both OUTDOORS!! So, we no sooner got warmed up in the studio than we had to put our coats back on to go out for that bit. Even tho it was an awful show and we didn't really have any studio on-camera time, it was fun. The pictures below speak for themselves.  

For those of you who may not know, Lyn is a real GMA junkie, so it was a Mecca-like pilgrimage event for us to do this. We were there in August 2007 also. The whole gang was there that day...except for Robin who was undergoing cancer treatment at the time.

I'm posting this to publish tonight at 10:00 Pacific. We'll be back in CA by then (hopefully) and our NYC adventure will be history. It's been great, but we're VERY glad to be heading home this afternoon.  California, here we come.

A WICKED Day in New York -- Day #4

After stuffing on the breakfast buffet (they call it the "Broadway Buffet" here), we headed out for another bus tour...this one is the "Downtown Tour."  We had a fantastic tour guide today...her knowledge about the City was broad and deep.  She talked brilliantly about everything: architecture, history, art, music, theatre, demographics, literature, science, and international affairs.  And she did it all with this great winsome and funny manner.  It was a great way to get to know Downtown Manhattan. Definitely had some show-biz in her past, you could tell.

One of the first stops this morning was the great Carnegie Hall.  The picture looks like it was raining...that's actually these gross smears/stains on the bus window.  Just pretend it's rain, ok?

This is one of the original sites of the Macy's Department

Store.  Macy tried and failed THREE TIMES 

to get a store off the ground.  He lost 

everything he owned on three different occasions.  The

fourth time, it worked...he eventually moved 

to the present 34th St. site.

This is one of the downtown Bloomingdale's Stores.  It

occupies what used to be a factory building "back in the day."

I forget what these buildings are...there are just

SO many gorgeous places downtown.

(Again, pretend rain!)

Love this building with the clock.  Like Bloomingdales

in the picture above, this was originally a factory

 building way back in the 19th century.

This is the very famous jazz club in the Village--The 

Bitter End.  Has been around for YEARS and still

quite the hot spot for musicians and audiences alike.

This is one of the city government buildings.  If

I recall correctly, the original theatre district was

in this area...it moved along with the NY Times to

the "Times Square" area where 7th Avenue and Broadway

converge.

This is just one of the many city streets we

passed this morning.

This wall mural was one that DKNY had posted

at the time of the 9/11 attacks.  (Note the Trade

Center Towers in the "N").  Because the

Towers were featured in the mural, it became a

protected landmark...so DKNY will be advertised

there from now on with the City's protection and

blessings.

After 9/11, children all over the world painted their

"feelings" on little tiles.  These tiles were 

attached by an artist to this fence near Ground

Zero.  It has become one of the most poignant memorials

of the great National Tragedy.

We got off the bus at the Waldorf-Astoria for two reasons. 

 A) We neededto go potty;  B) We wanted to see this world

renowned hotel.  Glad we did.  I can see why

the Obamas (and every other world leader) like

to stay there!

Here's one of the many trees in the beautiful lobby

of the W-A.  We didn't take pictures of the

restrooms, but they were gorgeous.  The men's

was white marble, with fancy chandelier in the center,

and beautiful crown moulding on the ceilings.

A guy handed me a paper towel after I washed my

hands.  AND, he wasn't expecting a tip!

(At least he didn't make it blatantly

apparent when he didn't GET one!  haha)

A shot of Lyn in the lobby.  She looks like

she belongs there, huh?

This was Cole Porter's piano....it's prominently 

displayed in the hotel lobby.

This marble mosaic is part of a HUGE 

circular design in the lobby floor.

After we left the W-A, we went to St. Patrick's

again.  I wanted some daytime shots.  Here's a long

shot of the nave ceiling.  Gorgeous.

More ceiling and some beautiful pointed-arch

blue windows.

One of the rose windows at the north trancept.

Tonight we ate dinner at Bobby Flay's 

Bar Americain near the Gershwin Theatre

where we saw WICKED.  The restaurant

was really pretty.  The waiter was great, and

the food was excellent.  Lyn's a huge BF fan.

These wreaths were on a wall opposite our 

table.  Kinda sad to realize that soon these and

all other decorations around the city will soon

be put back into their storage boxes for another 10-11 months.

It was a great day...But we're ready to go home tomorrow!

(After we do ABC's Good Morning, America)

Hope you had a Happy New Year!