NY'06 Entry #1: Early Morning

Note... I just finished the NYC'06 Entry #9, and to you people who are reading the blog for the first time, welcome. I'm going back through the entries, correcting grammar and such, and perhaps correcting info that I had wrong, but you are welcome to read away. You can comment for free (as in, you don't have to register) by clicking on "post a comment", then typing what you want to say and entering the spam-blocking letters (you'll see what I'm talking about) on the page bottom. Anyway, thanks for reading, and as you read it now, I hope you enjoy what transpired in the last week... and in, say, March, I hope you enjoy reading what you had forgotten. -- Dave, 7/30/06, 916pm CST

The Blog Begins The Morning We Leave...
Okay, so it's that in between time when you don't really have enough time to do what you wanted to do (go grab breakfast at Waffle House), yet there's too much time to skip ahead to your planned events (meeting at the church at 445am)... so I figured I'd talk a little about the night...

I opened the store on Wednesday and Thursday, meaning I had to be there at 5am, then I had to be at work at 630am on Friday, and now this early morning, so I'm suffering from a lack of sleep right now. You know when, like, you have lots and lots of things to do before something major the next day, so you start planning mentally about your evening's time frame... "Okay, so I get this and this done by 7, then I go here and do this, be done by 9, I'm in bed at 10, get up at 330, thats 5 and a half hour's sleep, right?"

Then, 7 goes by, and you still have stuff to do that you were already going to accomplish by then, so you back up your "I'm in bed at 10..." statement to say, "I'm in bed at 11..." then "...midnight..." and then, you just figure you'll sleep when you can.

Had to run across town to pick up Steph's dry cleaning, and with I-459 being shut down in places due to a fire, traffic was re-donk-ulous... I mean, just awful. Took me an hour to come from 280 to the Wal-Mart on 150, then another hour to get home... I did stop by Ross' Dept. Store and buy some shorts, though.

Vegged out for just a little while, then left at 7ish to make a doughnut run for the ladies at the Creative Memories crop at church, grabbed a big to eat at Burger King, made it to church, was reminded by Steph what I had forgotten to bring, went back to get it from the apartment (she didn't ask me to, I just wanted to help her), stopped up at Starbucks, zoomed up to Steph's parents house to get a suitcase (they had already let me borrow one, but with a 50 pound weight limit, I was afraid I wouldn't cut it--the one I have is like a flippin' bodybag, so I had to go smaller), and then, went to Wal-Mart... yes, late at night. You can imagine how this turned out.

I often wonder if, when the Wal-Mart schedule maker guys are sitting around making the schedule, they say to themselves, "You know, we always have two cashiers late at night, and a billion customers, making the lines really, really long... should I schedule a few more? No! Certainly we won't be busy like that again!"

Then went up to Barnes & Noble, where I saw young Laura Posey and ended up talking to her for a few minutes. One of my former WalkAbout students in drama--such a pretty young lady. Makes a big brother feel proud.

So, after all that, I got home at 11. Then I figured it was time to actually pack... MTV has a "Pimp My Ride" marathon, so that's been on all night. I consider myself a pretty up-to-date guy when it comes to music, even hip hop, but I can honestly say that I have never heard a single Xhibit song (Xhibit is the host) even though he's supposed to be some kind of bigtime rapper.

Here I am at midnight, scurrying around the apartment, trying not to forget anything, getting sleepy, putting stuff in the suitcase... right now its at 39 pounds, but that's a wild guess because I put the suitcase on our bathroom scale and weighed it. Don't know how that will translate at the airport.

So, who's going on this trip? Faith Pierson and her two children Nathan and Abby... I had seen all three around the church, but never knew their names. Tim Harrington and his daughter AnnaLynn, who went last year. Tim's wife, Gerryl, also went last year, but is sitting out this time around.

Chuck McCammon, the children's pastor at Valleydale Church (an sbc fellowship), and his son Daniel, who both went last year, are returning. Mark Warner is going back, this time with wife Cindy. The Eubanks family--Gary, Margie, Megan and... Josh?--are going. Georgia and Jennifer Boutwell are on the team, as is 18 year old (17?) Emily Reynolds. And me, of course. Am I forgetting anyone? I'm sure I am...

Margie is the drama director at the church, which should be fun--when she finds out what little work I've done on my lines for the stuff we are doing, she'll be real proud, and is sure to cast me for one of the leads in the upcoming dinner theater.

Alrighty... its 430... time to git. I'll talk to you guys tonight... pray for a safe trip, and personally, for boldness, and that God will let me see things around me, in the airport, in the van, wherever.

Next... NYC'06 Entry #2... Encounter(s) in Stamford