VBS!!

I think the best subtitle for this entry is "Just How Dorky Ben Beck Really Is." "Excited but Exhausted" is a close second (between getting back from MI, the 2 days of 6 hour long workshops, Homeland performances, the insomnia from the other night (see previous entry), Wizard of Oz rehearsals (and trying to find time to learn the book. . .) and VBS setup and planning, I have been going and going and going. So worth it, but still, my body is not exactly happy with me. . . at least I'll get a good 6 hours tonight! Right? . . . right?).

Anyway, I've been working with the worship/music crew headed up by the amazing Uppercue duo (trio if you include Hannah). My role is two-fold: I run the Powerpoint (Keynote for Mac) for the morning rally and then I am the rehearsal pianist for the 30-minute music class for the bigger kids rotation in the second half of the day. We spent last Saturday and Sunday decorating the foyer and sanctuary, making it into an Egyptian prison and palace (it's the story of Joseph) (he goes from the prison to the palace, fyi). It looks amazing- the people who came up with the columns and camels (pretty sure that was Gowen & Co.) did a wonderful job. We've been staying up late writing scripts (yeah OM and DI!) and making the A/V presentations, and I've been having a blast. I don't really think of myself as much of an actor, but I think I am a pretty decent writer (at least in the sense that what I write is written in an interesting style, even if sometimes it's verbose and/or of an uninteresting topic to the reader). And playing with colors, effects, transitions, hyperlinks, timings, adding audio, etc. in Keynote is a major tribute to my dorkiness (I made a Christmas list on Powerpoint when I was 10 years old; I think it even had hyperlinks. . . I also remember making a PP for Spanish in high school, and unbeknownst to my partners on the project, I added a slide at the end where an alien landed and then it blew up the screen (OK, OK, it was about Aztec or Mayan religion, and there was some connection to extraterrestrials; it wasn't THAT random) (c'mon, didn't you see the new Indiana Jones movie?) (on second thought, I hope that you haven't- it was pretty terrible)).

All that to say this: today went really well, and I anticipate the rest of the week to go just as well. I LOVE sharing God through sharing music. And to get to do it with children? Amazing. Truly amazing. Though I prefer older ones (like MS and HS) I like to work with younger ones too. Truthfully it doesn't matter the age as long as its music; I just think with my personality I connect better to students who are a little older.

Besides, there's not much that can beat watching your pastor full-body tackle the worship leader on stage (Craig was Joseph, and myself, Dan, and Hank were his brothers, and we were jealous so we beat him up and threw him into a well. Except that some of us did not anticipate such a. . . forceful portrayal of the story, so we ended up busting up laughing on stage) (and by we I mean me).

I have so many other things to update with: MI stories and pictures and job stuff are the first two that come to mind, but I'm sure there's more. There's so much more. There's always mooooooooooooore.

(reference to Falsettoland, if you didn't catch that)

Wow. Somebody's tired. I think this is my most spastic entry yet.

I'm 22!