In Eckleburg's Eyes - 6/13/2008

I spent my Thursday doing my best impersonation of MLM. As he is out of town, I assumed his ministerial responsibilities at the church and hospital visitation outside the church walls. This proved far easier than we originally thought.

The morning began at 8:30 (yes, am) rehearsing the skit I would be involved with for Vacation Bible School (VBS). I learned two big lessons and many smaller tidbits about acting. First, acting is far more difficult than it looks, as I had always suspected. Secondly, I am not an especially gifted actor. Perhaps with some work, I could be adequate. Suffice it to say I am not a natural.

Things like "cheating front" that came natural to my experienced cast mates were minutia I had to learn. I played Jeremiah the prophet and TW (pictured) portrayed his scribe Baruch. Every time I said his name, I wanted to say, “Baruch! Baruch! Baruch is on fire!” Yes, I know. No one would have gotten it.

I was given a great deal of liberty with my lines. I did them differently with each take. The only time I received the veto signal was when instead of saying, “God has hidden us from the king’s officials,” I said “God has made us harder to find than Osama Bin Laden.” In the section that required me to pantomime, I simply continually mouthed the word “Jihad” for my own amusement. Other than being completely uncomfortable acting, I had fun with the job and really enjoyed the people I worked with.

ASR helped me fit into my pastel burlap sack and matching sash. ASR took her role very seriously. She portrayed the king who burns Jeremiah and Baruch’s scroll. Not only did she paint a beard on her face, but the pillow she used to simulate obesity was purple to indicate royalty. It is worth noting that her husband did not kiss her with this look. It is also worth noting that “kiss” and “lips” use the same key functions on a cell phone (5477).

I really liked ASR. In between performances, she told me of her whirlwind romance at age 32. She met her husband on August 4th, was engaged by August 24th, and married December 19th. Her version of the story was far more detailed than mine.

After two performances (I like to think of the second one as a requested encore), I went to see what hospitals I would be visiting. Believe it or not, in my huge church, not one person was sick! Perhaps they heard I was visiting and requested not to be visited. In any event, my afternoon freed up.

SMA and I decided to eat lunch at Gridiron Burgers, a restaurant with a Tennessee football theme in Turkey Creek. SMA is a far bigger fan than I. We were met by WRK and SMA's perfectly behaved nephew, SS.

I learned that SMA had visited Parkwest Medical Center on Tuesday night (June 11th). It seems he was going down his stairs and jumped. While he intended to leap forward, his body jumped up. He hit his head. His face soon became a crimson mask and WRK was enlisted to drive him to the emergency room. Unfortunately, there are no photos of him bloodied. (What could be more important in crisis than documenting the event?) He waited only twenty minutes before receiving four staples to the scalp and he is fine. Life is certainly never dull with SMA.

WRK is well. She is working Mondays and Wednesdays at WebTec Converting. She was to learn on Friday whether or not she would also be working part-time for Knoxville Furniture Alliance.

SS is also well. He recently filmed a televison commercial for Jewelry Television, where his father serves as vice president of marketing. If it becomes available online, I will post a link. We spent much of the afternoon teasing SS about his nonexistent girlfriend.

On Thursday night, I “worked” a shift with JTH at MoFoS. PCR visited with his girlfriend, Amber. They had big news. They will be getting married on October 27th, the anniversary of their first date. The event will be on a South Carolina beach. I hope this works out. PCR deserves some happiness.

Afterwards, I visited KLTW, KJW, and RAW and watched the Celtics defeat the Lakers 97-91 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. We actually watched only the second half as their DirectTV was out again. They have literally had to call after every billing cycle as DirectTV charges them more than $200 on a bill that was negotiated at $38. Naturally, KLTW handled this situation as she handles all of the interpersonal problems for this group. She soon had the problem remedied and the television working. We watched a great second half comeback as Boston erased a 20-point deficit to go up 3-1 in the series. We told the DirectTv representative we would talk to her next month...