May - Busier than expected

Well, I didn’t think May was going to be this busy, but its actually turning out to be one of the busiest months of the year so far.

First, we started off the month with a trip to Delano Ca, on May 3rd to play for a service. The choir was also invited, and about 60% of them where able to go. The service was great. That’s all I’m going to say.

Then, On May 4th, we had the usual Elder visitation, followed with Choir Practice, and then, Service.

I was scheduled to go to work from 5pm to 7:30pm, but my body had the good sense of shutting down because it was running on empty, so i just came home and fell asleep for two hours, waking up just in time to go to Drama Practice. (Which is going great)

Today, (May 7th) we have a special service at Revival Center. And yes, they have asked us to sing. So i’m excited about that. The scary thing is that this coming sunday will be mother’s day, and i don’t think we are completely prepared for it.

We’ll just have to wait and see…

 

Choir song for Sunday

It seems I had a divine intervention, or something like that this week, because out of the blue, this song popped into my head. Thank Goodness, because I really had forgotten about it. So, i’m looking forward to singing it for Sunday.
I do hope the rest of the Choir does remember the song.

Here it is:

Cantare Aleluya

Cantare Aleluya, cantare Oh Senor
Cantare Aleluya Oh Senor

Porque tu eres lo que necesito
Por eso te alabo y te exalto
Cantare Aleluya, Oh Senor

Ladies: Nos has dado
Men: Nos has dado, lomas y montanas; Nos has dado
Ladies: Nos has dado, los rios y los mares; nos has dado
Men: Nos has dado sustento y vestido; nos has dado
Ladies: Refugio
Men: De la tormenta
Ladies: Y la lluvia

//Aleluya Oh Senor//
//Aleluya//
Cantare Aleluya Oh Senor

//Gracias Cristo, gracias Senor//
//Gracias Cristo//
Cantare Aleluya Oh Senor

There it is, ladies and gentlemen!
I think I better write it out for the choir. I had a hard time remembering the song myself.

See you at 12:30pm on Sunday!

 

Drama Practice Tonight…

Well, its friday again, and that’s great. Besides it being Pay Day ($$$) its also time for another drama practice.
I was thinking about actually cancelling today’s practice, due to our monthly “Vigilia” we have, but as my mom put it:

“The more you practice, the better you’ll be”

Which is true. And besides, the “Vigilia” doesn’t start until 9pm, and Drama Practice is at 7pm. So we will be ok.
Now I just hope everyone shows up.

Well, I better get back to work. Its almost Showtime!!

 

Haven’t been feeling too good…

For all of you who don’t know, I’m prone to getting migrane headaches. Usually, I will get one maybe every 3 months.
The other day I got one, but thankfully, It wasn’t as bad as I hoped. Still, today I got another one.
Small… but its there. I now can’t move my head fast in any direction, or it gets stronger. But if I just sit still, it doesn’t bug me.

Maybe I just need a vacation…

 

One year at The Center

This week, the original Ticket Office Staff, or at least, the ones who are still there, turn a year old. How time flies!!

I remember when I got the call to come in for my final interview. I was about to board SpaceMountain in Disneyland. I remember getting off the rollercoaster, and rapidly dialing my future manager’s number to tell her that yes, I’d come in for my final interview.

We’ve been through a lot, and I’m happy to report that I truly do enjoy working there. The people, the place, the shows, the atmosphere, the patrons…they are all wonderful.

As we get ready to announce our 2nd Season, I look forward to doing this again, year after year.

For more information about the Gallo Center For The Arts, please visit www.galloarts.org

 

Update on Easter Drama

We all had a good Drama practice yesterday night. I’m happy with the attendance we’ve gotten so far. We’ve learned two songs already, “I need you to survive” and “We speak to Nations”, and the Drama Team has been able to learn them well, which is great.

Still, we had to do some changes to the list of the songs.

As wonderful as the “Anthem of Praise” song is, we’re going to have to cut it from the list, because it look a little too complicated. I showed a video clip of it to sis. Cathy, and she agreed.

So, we’re going to go ahead and re-do the song “The presence of the Lord is here” which we have only done once before, about 2 years ago.

Ok, now going back to the “We speak to Nations” song, We have enough drama members, that we split the group up in half, and half of them will do the sign language, and the other half will dress up in their “country” costumes.
(I’m sure there’s a better way to describe this, but I just can’t think of it right now.)

So… Let the fun begin.

 

Second Thoughts on Easter Drama…

Ok, I’m happy to report that I’ve figured out how to do the sign language for “We speak to Nations”. I really like the tempo of the song, and I think we’ll be able to pull it off.
(I’m still debating what to do with the part when the song says “…fall on your knees…” and we’re supposed to actually do that… It was painful the first couple of times I did it.)

Anyways, since I thought I was on a roll, I decided to look at the “Anthem Of Praise, and see if I could start memorizing the sign language for that.

No luck.

The first words are “Praise him” and I really cant figure out what the ladies are signing.
I’ve looked at it slowly, fast, full screen, small screen, and I still cant figure out the movement they make. Its too fast. And then, I thought of looking the word “Praise” up in the ASL dictionary, but the actual sign for praise doesn’t even look like the sign they are doing in the video. So then I tried Exalt, Glorify, and Worship, and they all don’t look nothing like what the ladies are doing.

So I’m stuck. And besides, looking at the whole thing, I think it just might be a little TOO complicated and fast for our ladies. (I’m not saying they cant do it, but they might need a little more practice.)

So… I found this other skit by the same drama team. Its a skit of a song called “Everything” by a music group called Lifehouse.

The skit was about a young girl, who meets God, but then gets pulled away from God by different people: a handsome young man who offers her a rose, some drunk friend of hers, and two stuck up snobs who make fun of her. After that you can see that she’s left all alone, and two hooded figures come out, and one of them gives her a gun.

Weeeeeelll….. she obviously has low self esteem, because she points it at her head, but at the last moment, she drops it, and tries to run to God (or Jesus) who is at the other end of the stage….
But all her friends, and the hooded figures get in her way, and try to stop her from getting to Jesus. They did a great job in this part, because you can actually see the poor girl struggling against the people. Its great.

Finally, the crowd just surrounds her, and starts beating her up. (at least, that’s what it looks like) Then, Jesus steps in, and for a few moments, they beat him up instead of her, (which i guess we can use for the whole “Easter” theme we’re trying to do…)

Then, Jesus stands up, and they (the baaaaaad crowd) fall, and Jesus takes the hand of the young girl, and leads her away.

Nice, huh?

I thought so too. So I went on my Itunes, and downloaded it.
Turns out that the group is not even categorized under “Christian” or “Gospel”
It was under the “Rock” Genre.

And after i paid for it, and listened to it….yeah, it has great lyrics, and soft music, but it completely goes a bit too crazy in the end.
I can just see the look i’m going to get from the Elders of the church, and even pastor if I play that song in church.

No matter how nice it is, or how right the song is for the skit, rock music is STILL
rock music. No way Jose!

So…. now i’m hunting for another, non-rock, hopefully spanish song I can do this skit with…. Any ideas anyone???

Here’s the link to the Skit with the original song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkH8Er5Sa9A&NR=1

 

Drama Practice Recap

I was pleasantly surprised at our first drama practice of the year this past friday, when the usual 9 or 10 people turned out to be a crowd of about 20. And i even got calls from people who said they wanted to be a part of the drama, but couldn’t make it to that practice.

That’s a change. Usually, the hardest thing in the drama department is to be able to get the people to show up for practice.

Anyhow, the practice went well. I felt i wasn’t as prepared as I could’ve been, since I only knew one of the 6 songs I want us to do for Easter, but we still had a good time learning that song. Its called “I Need You To Survive”, by… I forget. Its some choir with some famous soloist.

The practice went well, and i felt we did pretty good in learning the sign language. I made copies of my notes for them to take home, and hopefully, we will all still remember how to do it all on Sunday night.

We’re off to a good start!

 

Youth Choir song for Sunday

After looking online for a while, I was able to find this song, by the POW Choir in Texas. I also ordered their CD, and I can’t wait for it to arrive.

Anyhow, I thought this song was great, so I’m going to see if the Youth Choir can pick it up on our practice on Sunday. My goal with the Youth Choir is to be able to sing new songs with them, making them seem like “a breath of fresh air”.

Now I just hope enough youth show up, so there can actually BE a youth choir.
Ok. Well, here’s the song:

En Tu Presencia

Solo quiero estar en tu presencia
Y disfrutar de tu dulce amor
Yo quiero quedarme en tu presencia
Y por siempre sentir tu amor

Yo puedo sentire en mis manos
Por eso las alzare a ti
Yo puedo sentirte cada instante
Y por siempre to te adoro a ti
Yo puedo sentirte en mis huesos
En dada espacio que hay en mi

En tu presencia quiero estar

The song itself has a very easy melody, which I think will be easy enough for the Youth Choir to pick up. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

If you’re intrested in purchasing the POW choir’s CD, or for more information on them,
Visit  http://cdbaby.com/cd/powchoir 

L.L.

 

Thursday night, almost friday morning

Well, tonight’s youth service went well.
At least, i think it did. And I’m old enough to know that there will always be people that will criticize your work, but as long as i feel that i did a good job, I’m fine.

Of course, I’m not a professional, and yes, it could have been better. Still, practice makes perfect.

Right now, I’m just here, feeling kind of sleepy. Its been a long day, and I’m happy to report that I don’t have to work tomorrow. Hooray for me!!

I’m looking forward to tomorrows Drama Practice. I hope we get a good turn out of people.

Well… I better call it a night then

Good night.