Ketchup

There's nothing on TV tonight except "You've Got Mail" (Meg Ryan, purrrrrrrrrrrr!) so it's a good time to blog....with the chick flick on in the background of course.

It's been a busy week - even though I am currently unemployed - this sleeping-in and doing whatever the hell I want all day long is rough stuff, let me tell ya...(I know, I can hear you all saying 'Bite Me' right now).

Children's Sunday

I had rehearsal for Children's Sunday this past Sunday. I put together a play for the kids based on Matthew 9:35-10:23 (Jesus sends out the 12 disciples) and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. We have a 12-year-old girl playing Jesus and she really hammed it up so it should be great!
Thankfully, this will be my last duty as leader of Religious Education and Sunday School Superintendent (it's two, two - two jobs in one!), and the new victim..ahem....I mean 'volunteer' takes over after on the 15th of June. Seriously, she's been a big help already. In fact she's covering for me this Sunday and during the actual Children's Sunday service as I will be off preaching elsewhere.
I put together a whole RE/Sunday School info box for her, detailing everything I did over the past two years and I included a chronological cheat sheet entitled "Things I Wish They'd Told Me I Had to Do as RE Team Leader (But They Didn't)"
I tried to include all the little things that no one ever tells you, like how many plastic eggs to buy for the Easter Egg hunt, and what exactly are people expecting at the "Happy Birthday Jesus" party....you know, earth shatteringly important stuff.
Hey, it's a lot more than anyone did for me.
All they said to me was "You're in charge, go do it."
***slap, slap*** (that's the sound of me wiping my hands of the whole kit'n'kaboodle)

Preaching

I finished my sermon for this Sunday and I've got a good chunk of next week's sermon done as well. I just emailed my pastor to tell her that this preaching every week stuff is easy, especially when you don't have meetings to attend, shut-ins to visit and a whole congregation clamoring for your attention (I'm pretty sure her response to that will be 'Bite Me' as well...I'm starting to notice a pattern here).
I started out writing this monstrosity of a sermon that seemed to be going in two different directions, so I took out all the bits that didn't fit and they actually fit better with next week's gospel reading so it worked out pretty well. It was kind of like separating the J writer from E in Genesis. Once I separated the bits into two different sermons they actually made sense! (and for those of you who haven't taken Old Testament 101, google JEDP and have all your previously held assumptions shattered, enjoy!)


School

I spent Tuesday getting poked and prodded at the doctor's office in preparation for entering seminary. I had a laundry list of shots that I needed to get for school, including Hepatitis B, which I learned it's actually a series of 3 shots given over the course of a year. My arms are killing me but at least I have a signed document that proves I'm good to go!
I also received my financial aid info and on top of the full-tuition scholarship I qualify for the full subsidized Stafford loan amount ($8,500 a year) which should just about cover room and board.
Shots - check!
Money - check!
Toaster oven for dorm room - check!
All I need is a hair cut and I'm ready to become one of the few, the proud, the brave - those entering a low paying profession with high grad school debt...whoo hoooo!


Misc.

Also on Tuesday I had the pleasure of presenting a "Physics of Cycling" presentation at the school where my SO works. I basically wheeled my bike into the classroom, talked about frame materials, race tactics, and why Lance Armstrong is a medical miracle. Afterward I sat in on my SO's GSA (gay-straight alliance) meeting with her students. We talked about gay marriage in California and listened to "I Kissed a Girl" on iTunes. High School is certainly a lot different from what I remember.

Last Friday, one of the teachers at my SO's school got box seat tickets to the Mets vs. Dodgers game from one of her student's parents. Yay! I was hoping I'd get to see the Mets at Shea one last time. We got a primo parking spot, the seats had easy access to the concession stands and the bathroom, and it was my first trip to Shea where the Mets looked like actual human beings (and not the 3" tall blurs they appear to be from the nose-bleed seats). It was so cool!
Of course, the Mets went ahead and lost the game, to which I only have one thing to say....
AARON HEILMAN SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew....I feel so much better getting that off my chest.


"What's that lying all crumpled up in the dirt, David?"
"I dunno, I think it may be Heilman's career."