34 and single

The time has come for this blog to be written.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends near and far, strangers whom I have never met...

I am 34 years old.

And single.

It's an odd thing. I thought (hoped) I would be married at 25. But 25 came and went. As did 26, 27, the rest of my twenties and now four years into my 30's.

I don't want this post to be a pity-party for myself. That's not productive. I do allow myself pity-parties from time to time, but they occur in my mind and they last for a short, healthy amount of time. And then I make myself stand up tall and say, "Ok you've let yourself do that. Now move on, girl."

Since I look at my blog as an online journal of sorts, I want to process the reality of being single. First, I'll share what I'm looking for. And then I will share about where my heart has been recently with all this.


THREE MAIN THINGS I'M LOOKING FOR

1) They love Jesus.
My faith is the most important thing to me and about me. I love and follow Christ. It's been frustrating because I don't meet a lot of quality guys who also love Jesus. I meet nice guys, but it becomes evident while hanging out that they are not Christians. It's a shame because they really are great. But I desire someone who shares my faith, beliefs, and values.
 

2) They are single.
Most people my age are already married and these are the people I hang out with (my community). So if there's the off-chance I meet a guy somewhere else, they always seem to be already dating someone. There have been so many times I've been chatting with a guy and I'm enjoying our conversation...and then his girlfriend walks up. Oh hi, I'll excuse myself now.


3) They are around my age.
This one is embarrassing. If you know me, you know I look extremely young for my age. So I don't know if I just attract younger guys because I look younger than I really am. Add to this that I'm the worst judge of age. I can never tell. This had led to quite a few uncomfortable moments. I'll meet a single guy who loves Jesus and I'll be stoked. And then at some point he tells me he is 22. What. The. Crap. Cougar alert.


I'm not blaming my singleness on men. And I'm not saying I'm perfect. Dang, I'm so flawed. I have issues, too. Don't we all? But I constantly get asked, "Why are you still single?"so I felt I needed to explain a bit. However, I'm ready to personally process where my heart is with being 34 and single. Here we go.

First off, let me say I love my life. It is filled with blessings. I don't want to wallow in the one thing I don't have when there are so many things I DO have. I love my parents. I love my sisters. I have the cutest nephews in the whole freakin' world. I live in a beautiful place. I enjoy my job. I live in a great house with great people. I have amazing friends. Just looking at this paragraph makes my heart swell with joy and thankfulness. I am so blessed.

So why can't that be enough?

Why do I insist that there is still one more thing I need?

The truth is, I don't know if I will get married or not. I am not promised anything. Nowhere in the bible does it say every believer will get married. God is not obligated in any way to give me a husband. I feel like a spoiled, entitled 5 year old when I look at all the blessings in my life and ignore them to focus on the one thing in my life I don't have. As if getting married will make me complete. As if being a wife will bring me eternal happiness. As if changing my last name will settle all longings I have (or ever will have) in my heart.

I think the best way to share where I am with my singleness is to tell you about the breakdown I had last Friday. I was with a friend and she asked me how I was doing with God. As I spoke, I could feel myself getting choked up. Where is that coming from? I swallowed and tried to keep talking, but the next thing I knew, I was crying uncontrollably. It was like all my emotions, fears, and heartache couldn't stay inside any longer and needed to be released.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" my friend asked.

"I am scared, B. I know I need to trust God with every area of my life. And I want to. But I am struggling with doubt. I am doubting God's goodness. I'm doubting God's provision. I feel like this has been a desire of my heart for so long. I feel like I've been patiently waiting and praying and He has done nothing. I keep praying and hoping, but I am wondering if it will ever happen. And I'm afraid that I am starting to give up on hoping. I hate feeling this way. I feel like my doubt is pushing God away. It's creating this distance in our relationship. And it's my fault. Why can't I trust Him?! I'm scared to say I don't trust him in this area of my life. It's scary to admit it out loud."

And with that, I continued to cry as I replayed in my mind what I had just said.

My friend was wonderful. She let me cry. And when I calmed down, she responded.

"Sarah, I'm so glad you admitted that. What has been in darkness has now been brought into the light. It loses some of its power over you now that you have shared it. And you're right, we are not promised husbands [she is single and in her 30's, too]. But it's not a bad thing to want that. It's not an unholy or sinful thing to desire. On the contrary, it's a wonderful and understandable thing to desire. What I love is that you are being honest about where you are with God. Satan would love for you to keep all your doubts and fears inside, where he can judge you and make you feel shame and guilt. He wants you to feel far from God. But think about this: when you feel these things, can you remember what you KNOW to be true?"

I stopped crying.

Feelings vs. Knowledge.

I choose knowledge.

I choose TRUTH.

Is God good? YES. Does he know me? YES. Intimately. More than anyone else. He created everything about me. Does he love me? YES. So much he sent his son to die for me. Has he blessed my life? YES. Does he provide for his children? YES. Maybe not always in the ways we want him to. But we're not God. He knows what is best. Does God have a beautiful plan for my life? One that will not harm me but give me hope and a future? YES.

I'm 34 and single.

When I feel like doubting God in this area of my life (which still happens a lot), I choose to trust Him.

It's hard. But good. Hard but good.

-Sarah


(P.S. If you like this post, you can check out this one, too. Entitled "What NOT to say to a single adult".)

Glee season 3 spoilers

With the Glee Project taking up most of my summer, I forget about the actual kids who are on Glee. They've been filming for a couple weeks now and I have been trollin' the interwebs to find out some spoilers. Don't read if you don't want to know what's coming up at McKinley High.



GLEE SEASON THREE SPOILERS

* The first episode is called "The Purple Piano Project".

* Trouty Mouth is gone. Chrord Overstreet will not be back at McKinley High. The reason? No one really knows. Executive producer Brad Falchuk said: "We did invite him back for a portion of the season, to see if being a regular was a possibility. But he declined the offer, which we were really disappointed by." Falchuk said they had a storyline in mind for Sam. "We wanted him back because we like Chord personally and had some good stories planned for him and with Mercedes (Amber Riley)," he explained. "He decided he would have opportunities elsewhere that he would like to pursue, and we can't force him to work, so we wished him well."

* Because of Sam's departure, Mercedes has a new boyfriend she met over the summer. Friday Night Lights' LaMarcus Tinker will portray Mercedes' new love interest. Formerly known as 'Bubba', he's a massive linebacker for the McKinley Titans.


* Darren Criss (Blaine) and Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang) are now season regulars.

* Kurt convinces Blaine to transfer to McKinley and be part of New Directions.

* Santana and Brittany are back on the Cheerios. Santana is named captain. But she has a co-captain. And apparently, that person’s not too keen on sharing either. (we don't know who the co-captain is yet, but I'm guessing it's Becky)

* Quinn has pink hair in the first episode. Rumors are she's gone all "bad-girl". Rocker clothing, pink hair, smoking, etc. She doesn't want to go back to New Directions.


* We are going to meet Mike Chang's parents. Jenna Ushkowitz (Tina) said "We're going to see how Mike's parents feel about Tina not being in a traditional Asian family, because she was adopted."

* Rachel will join the school musical this season.

* Sue's running for Congress. She doesn't just wanna end the glee club. She wants to end all glee clubs. Her platform is "No arts in schools". And she will also be getting a new love interest.

* Idina Menzel is back for 10-12 episodes. More duets with Lea Michele, please! (I still get goosebumps when I listen to their "I Dreamed A Dream" song from season 1)

* While the previous two seasons have included multiple tribute episodes (Madonna, Britney Spears, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Lady Gaga, Fleetwood Mac, etc) Ryan Murphy will have just one tribute episode in season three. It sounds like it will be a two-hour television movie in the second half of the season (ie. spring)

* Finn, Rachel, and Kurt will be graduating at the end of this year, but "because they’re graduating doesn’t mean they’re leaving the show. It was never our plan or our intention to let them go. They are not done with the show after this season." -Brad Falchuk. Mike Chang is also a senior this year but we're not sure about the rest of the kids (I think I read somewhere Quinn, Puck, and Santana are also seniors). Tina is a junior so that will cause some issues between her and Mike. And they said (jokingly?) they might flunk Brittany so she can stay on the show.

* Two new female characters: Sugar, who is well-off, self-confident, and has a terrible voice played by Vanessa Lengies (did anyone ever watch American Dreams?)


There will also be "Sheila", a tattooed modern-day Joan Jett. Don't know who will be playing her.

* Two new male characters: Samuel Larsen and Damian McGinty from The Glee Project! WOOOOO!!! So happy. Lindsay and Alex will get a 2 episode arc but both Sam and Dam get a 7 episode stint with the possibility of becoming regulars if fans like their characters. Can we get Cameron on, too? Please???


* Speaking of the winners of the Glee Project, one of them is going to be Sue Sylvester's archrival. "The winner of The Glee Project is the person who she hates the most in the history of the show." Her motivation to take down her new opponent will keep her tied to McKinley High (in the midst of running for Congress). "The Glee Project winner is Sue Sylvester's new archenemy and she is going to destroy their life." Apparently, she hates them more than the glee club. Between Samuel and Damian, I think it will be Samuel. He won't put up with her crap. Haha.

And so my fellow Gleeks...what say you?!

to ad or not to ad

You may have noticed something new on my blog. In the right column under "Cool Peeps - Followers", my blog now has ads.

I honestly have no idea who reads my blog. But I thought it'd be fun to see what happens. I also have no idea how much the blog makes if you click one of the links. Half a cent? Haha.

Feel free to ignore them if you come to this site to read my random ramblings. (Hey, alliteration!) But if you're just dying to help pay my rent, I'll take a half cent from your click.

summer movies

With summer winding down, I figured I do a summary of the movies I saw the past 3 months. In order from least favorite to most favorite.

10) Pirates of the Caribbean 4. This one was better than the third, but the third was so bad, it's not saying much. Jack Sparrow is back. And thaaaaat's about it. There were mermaids which I liked. There was Blackbeard, who was not really scary as a villain. And there was Penelope Cruz who is not that great of an actress. I'd give it a C-.

9) Water For Elephants. I wanted to see this one for two reasons: 1. I enjoyed the novel it is based on and 2. my sister Emily spent much of last summer doing background work for it. I was looking forward to seeing her. Sadly, Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon didn't have much chemistry and I didn't see my sister in any of the crowd scenes. The big-top circus scenes were pretty good, though. This one gets a C.

8) Transformers 3. I wasn't planning on seeing this one because the second one was so bad (like the third Pirates movie). But someone told me it was better than they thought it would be, so I caught a matinee. There were some really cool scenes (ie. the snake-like "Driller" going through the roads and buildings, the sky-flyers, etc). And yeah for not having Megan Fox in this one! I also enjoyed Shia LaBeouf in this movie (not so much in the previous 2). It still wasn't a fabulous movie. The writing and plot are lacking. I'll give it a B-.

7) GLEE 3-D Concert Tour movie. The only reason this one is down the list is because I had seen the concert so it wasn't new and unexpected. I went with my sister, Liz, who hadn't been able to go to the concert. One thing that was great about the movie was seeing all the kids singing and dancing close-up. Our concert seats had been pretty far back. (By the way, it didn't need to be 3-D). It gets a B.

6) Thor. God of Thunder! Before this movie came out, all I knew of Thor was from the 1987 movie "Adventures in Babysitting" where the youngest girl, Sara, idolized him and wore his helmet everywhere. I kind of went into this movie with low expectations but was pleasantly surprised. I loved the guy they picked for Thor and I liked the conflict within his family dynamics (Thor and his father, Thor and his brother) - it felt very Shakespearean. I even laughed a bunch which I was not expecting. This film gets a B+.

5) Super 8. Do you like E.T. and the Goonies? Then you will like this movie. It takes place in 1979 and the nostalgia was wonderful. Before the age of internet and cell phones. Kids played and went on adventures together. Small town. Your first crush. So so good. The kids (and their dialogue) in this movie were my highlight. B+.

4) X-Men First Class. I've seen the 3 X-Men movies and Wolverine so I was on the brink of X-Men fatigue. But THEN I heard James McAvoy was going to play Charles Xavier. Done. I'm going. I luff him. I don't care if he is Mr. Tumnus in The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe or the doctor in The Last King of Scotland or Tom Lefroy in Becoming Jane. I will go watch him. And yes, he was my favorite part of this movie. Actually him and his co-star Michael Fassbender (who plays Erik/Magneto) were the best part. It takes place in the early 60's and shows how they meet, become friends, and start recruiting kids for their school. B+.

3) Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Again, this was another example of not being interested in seeing it and going in with low expectations...and then being pleasantly surprised. I haven't seen the original Planet of the Apes, but I've heard it's about life in the future where apes have evolved into creatures with human-like intelligence and speech. And humans are their slaves. So this movie was supposed to be a sort of pre-quel to show how the apes became so intelligent. I really liked it! The eyes of the apes look freaky realistic. And then I found out Andy Serkis (who did motion capture for Gollum in the LOTR movies and also did King Kong) did it for the main chimp in this movie, Caesar. I recommend it. B+.

2) Bridesmaids. Oh my goodness, I loved this movie so much, I saw it twice. And I laughed my head off both times. Seriously, one of the funniest movies I've seen in a really long time. I love Kristen Wiig! And Melissa McCarthy! And we were introduced to a Mr. Chris O'Dowd, who plays Irish policeman Officer Rhodes. He was presh. If you are female, GO SEE THIS. Take some girlfriends. A-.

1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Of course this is my number one summer movie. I blogged about the experience here. A.

So there you go, friends! Now...what movies did YOU see this summer? Are there any I missed that I should check out?

Bat Girl

My sister Liz came to visit for for a couple days. It was just what I needed after a hard week. We had a great time. We went to the beach, explored some tidepools, made dinners, saw the Glee concert movie (in 3-D....why?), went to our favorite ice cream place, etc. But my highlight was what happened when we went creekwalking.


I had taken a bunch of college students creekwalking last Sunday and Liz and I wanted to go to snag more blackberries. Once we were in the creek, I noticed something flying around. At first I thought it was a bird. But then it got really close to my head and I realized - it was a BAT!

Um, aren't bats nocturnal? We see them by our house when the sun sets. I have NEVER seen one flying around in the middle of the day. And it was flying SO close to us! It would barely skim over our heads or fly by waist-high. I thought maybe he was deaf and his echolocation wasn't working. Whatever the case, he was small (maybe a baby?) and super cute. I know I know...how can bats be cute? I don't know, but this one was. Fuzzy with big ears and big nostrils. It landed on a tree stump and I got a good look at it. Cute!

So anyway, we're picking berries in the creek and he's flying around like he's our new best friend. Seriously, I felt like he was our pet. At one point he dipped down into the water, mid-flight, to drink. He turned and started coming towards me. "Come here, little guy!" I sang with my hands out as he flew toward me. (In retrospect, that was dumb.)

At the last second, he turned, and LANDED on Liz's shirt.

ON HER SHIRT!

To say Liz freaked out is the understatement of the year.

She immediately started jumping up and down and screaming, "SARAH! IS HE ON ME!!??! GET HIM OFFFFFFFF!!!" He was hanging on for dear life on the bottom right part of her shirt.

"Liz! Stop moving!!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO get him off me!!!!!!"

"Ok, but stop moving!! Stop jumping!!"

She finally stopped and I was able to get nice and close. There our little bat friend was. Just chillin'. Like Liz was his mom and he found a nice new place to perch. I was admiring him (when I should have helped scoop him off her shirt) and finally Liz couldn't handle it anymore. The jumping continued.

"Eeeeeee!! Is he still on me?!?!?!? GET HIM OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The more she jumped, the more the poor bat slid down her shirt. He was trying to stay on with his little claws (attached to his wings) but he kept falling lower and lower. Finally he was clinging on to her shorts and continuing to slip down. At the last minute (before he touched her leg) he finally let go and flew away.

And we never saw him again.

We think Liz gave him a heart attack and he died.

Here is Liz's re-enactment when we got back to the car:

dads, love your daughters

Do you like John Mayer's songs? Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I really like "Dreaming With A Broken Heart", "The Heart Of Life" and especially his live acoustic version of "Free Falling". But I'm not a fan of songs like "Your Body Is A Wonderland". You wanna swim in a deep sea of blankets? Sounds a bit suffocating. Oh what, you're looking at her "bubblegum tongue"? That's weird, John.

Anyway, the reason I bring up Mr. Mayer is because of a lunch I had today with a student. I sat in horror as this 18 year old girl told me what has happened in her life to bring her to where she is today.

When she was 3, her grandfather began sexually abusing her. When she was 6, her father started physically and verbally abusing her. He never told her he loved her. He never told her he was proud of her. He never did anything but hurt her in every way. She spent her childhood in and out of the emergency room.

Her parents got divorced and she went to live with her mom. Her mom has multiple sclerosis and was so busy dealing with her life she became neglectful of her daughter. Because of this, this 18 year old went through high school eating ramen noodles 3 times a day.

And now, across the table from me with her eyes filled with tears, she tells me why we're meeting. She met a guy from the college group 2 months ago and they started going out. He wasn't a Christian and was actually stoned the night they met. He told her he loved her. And because she had grown up with a daddy who never told her he loved her, she was desperate for any man's love. All she had known was abuse and neglect. And here was a guy who told her he loved her. She gave him all of herself. Anything to keep him. Anything to have him stay and keep telling her he loved her.

They broke up a week after they started dating.

And last week she found out she is pregnant.

If she tells her mom, she will get kicked out of her house and have nowhere to go.

You can stop reading if you're already having a bad day. But I freaking hate this world sometimes. We are so messed up. I hate seeing these girls so broken. Sometimes it's because of their choices. Sometimes things happened they had no control over. But when I see them so young and so hurt, my heart breaks. It breaks.

In my mind, all I can think is, how DARE a man abuse his daughter. How DARE he not shower his little girl with love and hugs and sweet words. HOW DARE HE.

That's where John Mayer comes into this. Do you remember that song "Daughters"? It's so random to think of a John Mayer song at a time like this, but it kept popping into my head when we were talking. This is the part that stuck out to me: "On behalf of every man looking out for every girl, you are the guide and the weight of her world. So fathers, be good to your daughters. Daughters will love like you do."

Dads, LOVE your daughters. Her view of men (and how she views herself) will be formed by the way her father treats her growing up. And even more than that, her view of her Heavenly Father will be formed by observing her earthly father.

I feel like I'm barely scratching the surface here. I could blog about this for another 5 pages. But I am so angry and upset so I think I will stop here.

creekwalking

I love creekwalking. It's one of the best, most peaceful, most soul-invigorating things you can do outside. You're down in a creek (which means you have a million trees above you and sunlight occasionally peeking through) with cold, refreshing water running around your ankles and nothing but fresh air and bright blue dragonflies around you. Ahhhhhh!

Yes, you might slip on a rock and fall bottom-first into the water, but that's part of the experience.

We took some peeps to the creek after church yesterday. Not only was creekwalking fun, but it's wild blackberry season!! And they are ready to be picked. So as we walked through the beautiful water, we plucked blackberries off branches and vines and ate them as we went.

Lovely.

progressive dinner

Last night was our last Wednesday night for the summer (with the college group). Intern Scott came up with an idea: let's do a progressive dinner. I have never done one before, have you? You go to one house for appetizers, another house for the main course, and a third house for dessert. How cool!

To make it more fun (and because I can never pass up an opportunity to dress up in costume), I decided to be Flo from the Progressive commercials.


I've had SO many people tell me I remind them of Flo. Or Flo reminds them of me. In fact a year and a half ago, I made a video to audition to be Flo's assistant in a commercial. I didn't get chosen of course, but it was still fun.

Anyway, I dressed up as Flo (wore my black Converse shoes, bought a white apron, wore a white collared shirt, made a "Flo" nametag and I Heart Insurance button, wore a blue headband, ratted my hair in the back and put on bright red lipstick. When students showed up, I'd approach them enthusiastically, "WELCOME TO THE PROGRESSIVE DINNER!" (And then I'd ask them questions about their car insurance.)


Most of the students got it and loved it. A few students gave me weird looks like, "Why is Sarah wearing an apron? Is she cooking for us tonight?"

We headed to our first stop. A girl hosted us at her condo's pool for potato skin appetizers and iced tea.


Our second stop was 20 minutes away at another girl's house where we had pasta, salad, and bread. Everything was home-made and SO delicious.


Our last stop was ice cream sundaes at the intern house (which is located on the church property). We gave hugs and said goodbye to summer. Now we are on break till our Fall Kick-Off Sept. 7th. Intern Scott and I are going to use these couple weeks to plan and prepare for the fall semester.

The Glee Project

I think we can all agree that television in the summer is lame, yes?

As in, all our favorite shows are on hiatus. So our only options are really bad reality shows like "The Bachelor Pad", "Toddlers & Tiaras", and "Keeping Up with the Kardashians".

But a new show began this summer that has entertained me and made me look forward to the next episode week after week. The Glee Project!


The premise is they are looking for a new character to bring to the Glee cast for season 3. The winner gets a seven episode arc this season, with the possibility for a full season pick-up if people like their character. Thousands of people auditioned, and The Glee Project follows the top 12.



I LOVE THIS SHOW.

Here's why. (It's the same reason I love the Glee concerts.) It's JUST singing, dancing, and acting. No issues forced down our throats. Just super talented kids who love to sing and perform and want to be on their favorite show.

A typical episode goes like this:

* Homework assignment. They kids get a theme for the week (ie. Individuality, Danceability, Pairability, etc) and a song they have to perform for a Glee actor/judge. They've had Blaine, Mike Chang, Coach Beiste, Tina, Dave Karofsky, Puck, Lauren Zizes, and Idina Menzel as judges so far.



The kids each sing a part of the song for the judge and the judge chooses the person they think stood out the most. That person gets 1) extra footage in the weekly music video (more on that in a minute) and 2) personal one-on-one training and practice time with that week's Glee judge. Sweet.

* Vocal recording. One by one, the kids go into the studio and sing the song for their weekly video shoot.

* Choreography. Zach Woodlee, who is the Glee choreographer, teaches these kids the moves they'll need to know for their video shoot.

* Weekly music video! The best part. All the kids get make-up, hair, wardrobe, etc. to look all spiffy and then shoot a music video that also goes with that week's theme. Here's one of my favs. They covered "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister (the theme that week was "Theatricality"):



Another favorite was during the Pairability week. They paired the contestants up and each got to make their own video. These two covered "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League:



Fun tidbit: the video director told the girl (Marissa) to secretly kiss the guy (Samuel) at the end of the song. Samuel was totally not expecting it. All the other Glee Project kids were in another room, watching them film their video and when Marissa kissed him, they all gasped and freaked out. It was awesome.

* Bottom 3. After the video, the kids are brought together and told who is in the bottom 3 that week. Those 3 are assigned a song and have 2 hours to practice it before they do a "last chance performance".

* Last Chance Performance. Also known as: Ryan Murphy's Pompous Time. Ok so Ryan Murphy is the creator, main writer, producer, and sometimes director or Glee. It's his baby. I get it. But the man has such a God-complex! Dang. He's like the American version of Simon Cowell. Maybe in real life he's nice, but on the show he comes across as arrogant, blunt, intimidating, egotistical, and Mr. Top Dog In Hollywood. It's hard to watch the way he talks to these kids. I'd probably wet my pants if I had to sing a song in front of him.

* Elimination. After the bottom 3 do their "last chance performances", Ryan, Zach (choreographer), and Robert (casting director) discuss and choose who will be going home that week. It is revealed to the kids and there's a lot of tears and hugging. And then the episode ends with the cast-off singing "Keep Holding On" while the other ones sing back-up.

As of now, there are only 4 contestants left.

I must quickly share my saddest moment. *SPOILER ALERT* My favorite since Day 1 has been Cameron. He is the tall, skinny blond guy with glasses. He came onto the scene with his beautiful voice and his adorable nerdiness and I was sold. Did you see him in the Twisted Sister video WORKING that David Bowie look? Woooo! Love him.

Well sadly, two Sundays ago Cameron quit. He was getting uncomfortable with all the kissing and sexy stuff because he has a girlfriend back home. And I think he just realized it wasn't for him. Because let's be honest, if he got on Glee, his character will kiss many girls and possibly have sex with them. (Grrrr Ryan Murphy...)

On one hand, I am selfish and sad because I loved watching him on the show every week and wanted him to win. But on the other hand, I am SO proud of him. He made the decision and did what he felt was right in his heart. Even if it meant giving up a huge opportunity. And he was up against all this peer pressure that was telling him to stay. But he stayed strong and went home with dignity, saying The Glee Project was the best experience of his life. He made 11 new amazing friends. He got to sing and play his guitar and share with the world his love of music. He even made Ryan Murphy consider putting a Christian kid on Glee (Cameron was always upfront and real about his faith). Such a cool guy. I will miss seeing him on TGP but maybe he will have a career aside from Glee. Here's his goodbye video.

Anyway, just wanted to share my love for this show. It has redeemed summer tv for me. I'm looking forward to seeing who wins and how they are incorporated into Glee.

And now Amy (and anyone else watching the show), time to hear YOUR thoughts!

pictures from vacay

Home! I had a wonderful time in southern Cal. A huge highlight was seeing Les Miz. For the 25th anniversary, they've taken away the circular stage and replaced it with all new staging, sets, art (some taken straight from Victor Hugo's sketches), and some really cool video moments. I won't spoil it too much, but if you get a chance to see it on tour, GO. Even if you've seen it before, it's better than ever. (If you live in the Bay Area, it's coming to San Francisco next summer 2012!)

Fishing in San Diego, seeing friends from college, going to Disneyland and finally seeing the World of Color (SO GOOD!!!), lots of reading, walk/talks by the river by Mike and E's house, hanging out by the pool, watching movies, etc. I came back to work this week feeling very refreshed. Yeah for breaks from life.