2017 Year in Reflection

January

"Shine your "light" through each of us"
https://youtu.be/v1oZtN7HBag

Sal w/fam at Afton Alps Snowboarding (Hastings, Minnesota) https://youtu.be/6VfZOqZ-SyU

I also went with my family to Mall of America to celebrate my younger brother's birthday. We went out to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Restaurant and walked a little around the mall. For work, we did our 2nd annual BINGO game with the kids at St. Mary's Elementary School. It was nice to see folks I work with mingle with the local kids. Great exposure for both sides of our diverse community.

February

I wore shorts on February 10th of 2017 as it was an unusual "above average" warm winter day. We had our annual "Valentine Dance" at Clinton, MN with my workplace. Usually, it's single digits or below zero each year during the dance.

"This Child is Yours" https://youtu.be/q8FCrCQwMME

March

I went to the cities on my birthday weekend to attend my older sister's future brother in -law's "Bachelor's Party". We did geocaching in Bloomington and did various activities in downtown Minneapolis. We had a unique encounter with a guy begging for money as we were heading to our car in the parking ramp...

"Satelite Guy" asking for money in streets of Downtown Minneapolis-What would you do?
https://youtu.be/R6ie5W0jg7M

Went to the annual "Philippine Day" at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood, Minnesota. This event grew out of the St. Paul Landmark Center, so they started this in a bigger venue at it's current location 2 years ago...

I saw a former college friend, Andre and a high school friend, Sean (no picture).

Music: New Song-“Deliverance”
https://youtu.be/uUNLVK9EuvY

April

The biggest highlight of the year was being part of my older sister's wedding with James in Chanhassen Dinner Thetre in Chanhassen, Minnesota..

Pictures are personal, so not posting it here. However, I'll post this selfie snapshot (click on pic for video) when I visited Prince's Paisley Park Studios in the same city.

I just wanted "thank God" for an awesome wedding and to see the whole family present, which was an answer to prayer!

Music: Karaoke-“Unforgiven” (originally by Metallica) by Crazy lil’ Sal creativemusicartsy.wordpress.com

May

The Minnesota Vikings (several current players) visited our town of Morris, Minnesota on May 3rd..

"MN Vikings @BigCatStadium -Kai Forbath Personal Interview

https://youtu.be/wPwug0MYMm8

"Stop F'n & Start Prayin' for the World" by Crazy lil' Sal youtube.com

June

I created a blog on installing a ceiling fan for the first time, which I hope viewers/readers can learn from some of my installing mistakes-> Home: Installing a Ceiling Fan Step by Step autohomeandgarden.wordpress.com

Praise the Lord, I won tickets to this annual family music concert festival. I never ever been to this annual event in Blaine, MN. I won a pair of tickets (via Minnesota Gospel Twin Cities that ministers and feeds the "poor"), so I even bought extra as a gift to some family members I took..

Joyful Noise 2017: "Life Challenge" to All by Nick Hall from youtube.com

Please prayfully consider donating, giving your time or blessings to the "poor" or the "least" amongst you throughout 2018 and beyond!

I took a day off from work to attend one of the 2 day Morris Local Flavors Celebration -Rural Arts & Culture Summit Conference hosted by my local college alma mater .

I visited my sister and her husband in Mahnomen and then we drove together to watch a baseball game in Fargo..

North Dakota: Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks vs Gary Railcats Baseball Game

https://youtu.be/T5tnLaFwAl8

Here is another Praise God report: We were walking to the ball park to buy tickets when a couple in a motorcycle (I saw this as a "symbol" and reminder of this book a college friend wrote called-"About Face", which was my first book to read in it's entirety in one setting!) came by offering their tickets for FREE! They said they weren't able to watch the game and just wanted to give it away! What a blessing from the Lord!

I would later doing my annual visit to the North Shore by going to Duluth, Two Harbors, and the surrounding area with some college students that one was my renter at the time...

Minnesota: Duluth-Lift Bridge Visit youtube.com

We visited this place called "Fitzgers Brewhouse, which we found via "google map" as my friend Wahid was looking particularly for "good root beer" (see foodsofallkinds.wordpress.com blog I wrote afterwards.

Minnesota: Jay Cooke State Park Visit-Drive https://youtu.be/NDdicRpP-KU

"Let Your Kingdom Fall"

July

Minneapolis: Boom Island Park-Bridge "Chillin'"
https://youtu.be/FrWFoSUB47E

I had a week off during July 4th, so I took advantage of that time spending with family down in St. Paul. We rode bikes around Minneapolis. Afterwards, we went to see fireworks at Maplewood Light It Up Fireworks

I then biked more by going towards the St. Paul Bike Trails (Battle Creek-Pigs Eye-Mounds Park), but they were closed by the Highway 61 underpass bridge.

I work part time for a company called Prairie Community Services, which I started full-time back in the summer of 1999 after graduating from the local university. I was asked to fill-in and work a weekend as they were short staff. It was probably my funnest time of my job as I got paid to supervise the "developmentally disabled clients" (young kids-teens-adults) at this annual camp they attend called Camp Confidence Learning Center in Brainerd, MN. Awesome place as a resort "escape away" for this particular population. Please consider donating your time and and money to see what this place is all about and how you can make a difference!

August

“Smiley Face” (originally “Poker Face” by Lady Gaga) by Crazy lil’ Sal

I went to the cities several times this month, which was the most of all year. I drove my renter a couple of different weekends to the UofM TC Campus looking for his new "home". I then went to the Minnesota State Fair with family, which we went to our favorite area-"Midway: Games"..

My parents rode the Sky Ride for the first time since we were "kids". I would also go to Red Lobster twice with the family to celebrate my dad's birthday and another time with just my parents...lots of seafood this month!

September

I started the month with my only softball game(s), which my friends from my former softball days decided to do a "last minute" weekend tournament. Unfortunately, we were double eliminated , which I felt very bad as I had a poor batting average (1-2 hits out of 10 or so???).

I then celebrated "Ramadan" with my renter and friends by going to Alexandria to a former ESL (English as a Second Language) student of mine.

I drove my work 15-passenger mini-bus to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to watch "Grease". It was great weather and the whole trip went well..thank God!

The Minnesota Twins baseball team were getting hot, so I wanted to watch as many games at Target Field..

First game was on 9.15.17

Second game was on 9.30.17 with a friend (Chris, who doesn't like pictures), which I left in the middle of UMM Coming Weekend (despite friends came all the way from Florida and St. Paul). This is how HUGE of Minnesota Twins fan I am.

Unfortunately, the Minnesota Twins didn't make it past the Wild Card (against the Yankees) :(, which I watched with some friends at the local bar in Morris, MN.

October

I went through a drawing streak during fall, which here is one of my favorites

I attended "Grandparents Day" with my parents at Capitol Hill in St. Paul, which my niece and nephew showed us around. It was nice to see the school where my younger brother went to when he was growing up.

November

For work (ft-job), I was asked to drive some clients to the annual regional Special Olympics Bowling tournament in Moorhead, MN. It was very windy driving back, which I'm thankful to God for getting us safely home!

“The Stand” (originally by Hillsong) by Crazy lil’ Sal


https://youtu.be/krtlwd17gPQ

I went home for Thanksgiving (every we should be thankful and grateful!) and did some "family time" (e.g. went out to eat at a Vietnamese restaurant, walking around Como Park/Lake, and "window shopping" at Rosedale Mall)..

During the weekend, my sister wanted to workout, so we decided to go to Maplewood Community Center..

Fitness: Plyometric-Jumping Exercise w/ "HealthFitnessLifeGuy"

*this is the launch of my youtube channel focusing on health, fitness, and lifer overall as my instagram account is named after-> #healthfitnesslifeguy

Fitness: Various Plyometric Training Exercises goodnewshealthandfitness.wordpress.com

December

Fitness: Warm-up Stretches while Standing Up to Psalm 33 Reading Pt. 1

I went with some friends "early" Saturday morning to watch "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"..

It was actually not that bad as I didn't bother to read/watch any reviews-> Movie: Star Wars -“The Last Jedi” Reflection goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com

But, a "better" movie I went to see later in the month down in the Twin Cities with my younger brother's family was...

Movie: “Jumanji-Welcome to the Jungle” Reflection goodnewseverybodycom.wordpress.com
This movie ended up beating Star Wars the 3rd week I believe??

Karaoke="Hark the Herald Angels" (originally by Charles Wesley)

This is just some of my reflections from 2017, how about yours? What were some of your highlights? What are you looking forward to in 2018?

more coming soon!

November 2016

I started the month with our monthly worship practice (Thursdays) on the 3rd. I played some soccer after work the week after (10th) as the weather was still "ok". It got really cold, but I braved it with Luciano on Friday (11th) to cheer for our local high school football team in the 1st round of the state playoffs at Alexandria..

Unfortunately, the Morris Alberta-Chokio Area High School football team lost, but it was a hard fought at the end. If they won, they would've played at the newly built U.S. Bank Stadium the week after.

The year is coming to an end quick, so I had to use up some vacation days. I took 3 days off during the 3rd week of November, but gave up one since my workplace was short staff. I plan to make it up by the end of the year. I took advantage of the 1st day off (Monday 14th) by visiting my sister and her boyfriend after visiting a friend in Wadena. Along the way from Wadena, I took a beautiful sunset along Detroit Lakes..

'

When I got to my sister and boyfriend's house, I would join my sister to a local group fitness class. I ready worked out earlier before this road-trip, so I didn't push myself too hard. We had some supper at the house and I slept a great 8+ hours!

On my way back to Morris, I took some great photos along the way and stopped at Fergus Falls' Walmart to stock-up on some supplies.

I had 2 additional days of the following week before Thanksgiving weekend. I had to go to Alexandria on Monday (21st) for my quarterly teaching training meeting (for Adult Basic Education). I spent most of that day doing some house cleaning and various errands.

For Thanksgiving weekend, I spent the 4 days visiting family and help with house projects (e.g. cleaning ) . We had our annual pot-luck at my younger brother's (family) house. Great time to reflect on God's blessings and to continue that throughout the year. What blessings are you thankful to God for? I'm thankful to God for many of his blessings (life, family, friends, work, and than many gifts/talents/skills to enjoy life and bless others).

During one of my days off, I came up with this parody worship-praise song as a dedication to what's going on in Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Reservation in North Dakota..

"Come & let your Justice fall in this place..."

The last week of the month, I had 2 days off from work, so I spent most of them catch-up on some house "maintenance" projects prior to my every 4 year city inspection as a landlord. I did some painting and making sure all the detectors (smoke & carbon monoxide) were working. I had my inspection on the 30th, which I took a list (e.g. fix leaks in some plumbing) of more projects to do for next month before the deadline (17th of January).

April 2016

I started the first weekend by going to the annual "Taste of Asia", which I used to take part in organizing this event when I was attending the college here at Morris. It's nice to see this event still go on since graduation and enjoy watching the new students of ASA each year organize this...

"Picture of Kevin C., who I got to know through my current renter"

I spent the first weekend doing my taxes, which is a little later than last year due to no snow days this past winter. I like to do it on days with bad weather, which there weren't that many. I was then able to have some "fun" by going golfing on Monday (4th), which I took a couple of my English students from Brazil (1st time)...

"Trying" to teach golf (driving range)

The second weekend of April, I joined thousands online around the world watching the #Azusa Now Revival 2016 that was being web telecasted "live" via online. This comes in a critical time in our nation-world with the up-coming "crazy" Presidential campaign election.

I went to the cities the 3rd weekend to celebrate both my mom and sister's "be-lated" birthdays. We celebrated at a Chinese restaurant (House of Wong) in Roseville, which was a good quality time spending with family.

I got back on Sunday evening, so I can attend a concert some friends were putting on at the Platform. I bought a CD and was flattered to see my name on the credits (thank you)...

The Platform Present: Matt O' Leary & Friends (Nina & Kurtis) 4.16.16 Pt1

I then came home to upload this video (above) and realized my name was mentioned in the song ....aww :)..thanks Matt O!..

Passover (around the time of Jesus' resurrection) was the 4th weekend of the month. I "tried" to recognize this "feast of unleavened bread" by not eating "bread" for some days as a rememberance of God's blessing. I attended a concert by a guy from IHOPKC on Sunday name Ryan Kondo, who will be going to New Zealand by the end of the summer for a mission calling.

The following day, we had our annual staff board -appreciation supper, which my co-worker's husband (Fred M.) cooked some great ribs. I rarely eat "red meat", but was opened to it just this once ;) Thanks Tammy & Fred M!

February 2016

The first week of February was busy with my new photo-video project for a local resident in Morris. I would work on this almost daily after work on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the entire month. I saw it a blessing. On the 4th (Thursday), I would have to then quickly go to my local church for our monthly (every first Thursday) worship team practice (learning new songs for the month). I started the first weekend by getting "pumped" at Body Pump (fitness class) at the local gym. I then went to get my first fishing license in years to go ice fishing for the first time in my life...

...with a friend/co-worker (Paul J.) as another friend/co-worker couldn't make it. I brought various sporting equipment to make it more enjoyable as we waited for a bite (never got one-probably we made too much noise). It was fun to be out as it wasn't too cold (notice I was wearing my "fall" jacket only). It was like our pre-Super Bowl party!

On Thursday (11th), I went to the local elementary school to watch my first high school basketball game this season. I mainly went to give my support for the 2nd annual "Morris Special Olympic Fundraiser" (see pics). The game was actually fun to watch as the Tigers lost a "nail-biter" at the end.

The next day, my workplace would go to Clinton for the annual Valentine Dance. This was the first time I can remember we had above zero temps :)

We had President's Day (15th) off, so I took advantage of it to visit a friend (Cory) in a group home he was staying up north. I ended-up blessing him with some "healthy" grocery foods to promote "healthier" eating. I would be later blessed by winning a $30 dollar gift certificate from my pt-teaching job during a teacher's training meeting on the 22nd to a grocery store in Alexandria (where I bought the groceries from). Praise the Lord! On my way back to Morris, I stopped at Andes Tower Hills to do more snowboarding as they had a "holiday" discount :)

One of the parody songs that came to my mind earlier was the Ghostbusters and thought of "Bug" busters..

Music: Parody-“Bug Busters” (originally Ghost busters) by Crazy lil’ Sal

I went to the cities (St. Paul) for my monthly family-friend visit the 3rd weekend. I would spend some quality time with parents and my sister (e.g. went grocery shopping in our neighborhood) by sharing some pics I took from the past year.

I started a food blog recently and did one on French Toast..

Breakfast Starters: French Toast of Different Flavors

We have been having some newer students (e.g. Mexico, Brazil, etc..) for our weekly Wednesday ESL classes, which many of us happen to be at the monthly Community Meal the same time on Monday (29th).

October 2015

It was the annual UMM Homecoming the first weekend of October. It was another year that a couple of friends came up to visit, which one of them didn't make it for the first time last year. It was good to see both of them again as we caught up on how each of us have been doing. I would "try" to meet all of them at the Tailgate Party by Big Cat Stadium, but they ended up coming late as I left. However, I would try to keep occupied and do some wall climbing...

..before I left. This year, my friend Shannon brought up his girlfriend, which was the first time for her to visit. We would take her to one of the newest restaurants in town-Mi Mexico...

..., which we decided "last minute" as we walked by the popular crowded "Don's Cafe". Unfortunately, they had to leave early Sunday morning, so they weren't able to attend some other events going on around town on Sunday (4th): I had my monthly worship team service and then I attended the annual "Options for Women" Banquet at the Morris Evangelical Free Church. There was a guest speaker that encouraged us supporters to not just wait for this annual banquet to support this organization, but we should try to support them all year round.

The following day (5th), I would get a chance to catch up with a married couple that I haven't seen for a long time (since their wedding earlier this year). We would meet at Common Cup, which I ended up doing a fundraiser video to encourage friends to come to their "spaghetti feed" (help cover medical expenses for his scoliosis) later this month while I'm at Hawaii. I then went to meet with my pastor to catch-up for a dinner at Old #1 before our weekly "Focus Prayer" (church prayer group).

I would take the day off on Friday (9th) from my ft-job, so I can get on the road to visit family in St. Paul before heading to Waseca for a friend's (former housemate/renter) wedding. Yuu just got back with his wife (coming to America for an American wedding after being married in Japan last year) from Japan a week or so ago. It was nice to explore some new towns I went through along the way as I was thankful to God for a beautiful drive.

I arrived around 1ish in time for the wedding rehearsals, which I would meet friend of both the groom and bride. It was such a great bonding time and I had the most fun with the wedding reception (karaoke party)!...

I ended up leaving right after the reception and would get home a little past midnight.

I woke up early Sunday (11th) morning in St. Paul to ride my bike along the newest open bridge trail (Warner to Shepherd road)...

Biking along the "newest" Warner-Shepherd Road Trail Bridge (Oct. 11th 2015)

...I've been waiting all summer long for this to open. I had a tight schedule, so I wasn't able to ride all the way to downtown like I wanted to. However, I got pretty far, which it was an hour round trip. I ended up meeting this "stranger" who would share about some interesting "sights" (e.g. deer carcass eating up to the bones-possible creature???) and stories of the caves nearby (Mounds Park).

I had about 5 days in Morris before heading back to the Twin Cities in preparation of my trip to Hawaii with family. I was able to visit a friend (Steve) who was somewhat going downhill health wise. I'm glad I took the time to see him as he would pass away 5 days or so later. I've learned to really take advantage of the time you have with family, friends, etc..-love ones period.

I got to St. Paul on the 17th (Saturday), so I can have some day of preparation before heading out of the state early next (Sunday 18th) morning (around 6ish). I was looking forward to a week-plus spending time with family and just enjoying this much to say vacation island destination. When I got to St. Paul, I went to visit my uncle at a senior living center. It seems like my work follows me. While visiting my uncle, I can hear one of his neighbors screaming. My uncle told me to not worry as she does this at times. I would find out later that she was screaming because she fell from her wheel chair. I felt bad as I could've helped her get back on. I could hear the commotion of some staff helping her up on her wheelchair. When I arrived home, I checked my luggage for additional items to pack. I went online to look-up surf videos as I wanted to find the cheapest way possible to learn before paying the expensive rates. The next morning, we got up early and were thankful to Khua's side of the family for taking us to the airport. Yes, my work continued to follow me as I went on the plane. I would meet this interesting lady that would share some of her interesting life story-> Flight Passenger Travel Stories: Round Trip Minneapolis-St. Paul to Seattle-Tacoma to Honolulu (my first blog on my travel adventures!). We had a 12 hour delay in Seattle along our flight to Hawaii from Minnesota. My brother and his wife already scheduled a rental car to drive around Seattle, which was a very beautiful city despite the rainy cloudy afternoon.

“Sleepless in Seattle” Downtown Visit 2015 smiletravelingblog.wordpress.com

We still had several hours to "kill", so we drove out of Seattle and looked for a popular attraction. Seattle is surrounded by many high mountain ranges and one of the closest popular one was Mount Rainier. Unfortunately, the cloudy weather prevented us seeing the mountain, but we did see the base.

It was getting close to departure, so we went back to the Seattle-Tacoma Int'l Airport and were anticipating for our 5-hour flight to Hawaii. We arrived in Honululu Int'l Airport around 11ish at night and had to drive an additional hour to our hotel in Laie (North Shore). We were all tired and I remember asking the lady in the front desk about the nearest place to surf. I would sleep pretty good in the room I shared with my parents. I would get up early and was excited to walk the town to see what we couldn't see in the dark last night. I walked to the nearest grocery store in Laie after googling. It was a humid-muggy morning already, which was nice! When I got back to the hotel with some grocery items (e.g. gallon of water since the hotel charged a-lot!), my brother shared about our road trip along the North Shore. It was a beautiful day for a scenic drive along the shore! We stopped by one of the beaches and I would just marvel the scenery..

Hawaii Visit: Oahu’s North Shore Drive Tour smiletravelingblog.wordpress.com

My first theatrical experience (Aladdin the Musical at the Park)

It's the morning (Sunday, September 13th 2015) after our last of two nightly theatrical performances. I wanted to share my thoughts of my first experience in theatre while it's fresh in my memory. First, I can say I can cross this off my checklist of my "bucket list" in things I always wanted to do in my life. I was too shy growing-up, but got more "social" during my college years due to many factors (e.g. small college campus community and mostly because of my new growing "faith" (see personal testimony).

I decided to audition for this particular performance because I'm a huge fan of musicals overall. I love singing..."I try". Since growing-up, I somehow just love the movie musical ("Sound of Music"-Music: Karaoke-"Edelweiss"). If anyone that reads this and knows of any auditions for this, please let me know :)! In fact, it's coming "locally" (St. Paul's Ordway Theatre this winter-Christmas season). I first heard about these auditions from the local paper (Morris Sun Tribune (Community invited to join Plays in the Park By Kim Ukura on Jul 18, 2015 at 5:13 a.m.) , which I regularly read online almost nightly to read "whats happening" in my local community. I got very excited and clicked on a link on "Plays in the Park". I immediately started practicing the lines of Aladdin's song "One Jump". I thought after competing in the Kiwanis Talent Show the month prior (June), I felt confident to do this. However, my original intention in auditioning for Aladdin was to get a "minor" role with this being my first theatrical experience. When I auditioned the second of two days on Friday (August 7th 2015), I didn't know what to expect. It was my first auditioning experience. They asked me to sing one of the character's songs. I decided to choose Aladdin's "I Can Show You the World" since I've done this song many times. I even told them I know it by heart, so I didn't even to bother to use the song lyric sheet. However, I would realize I really didn't know the lines as I was "messing-up" mid-way of the song. I felt very bad and they told me that was it for auditioning. I felt really bad as I wish I could've shown more. However, they did ask me to fill out an application, which I shared my "resume" of musical performance experiences (e.g. playing the trumpet back at middle school, doing some video recording skits for work (e.g. training videos), etc..) . I wrote down about my participating in the month prior "Kiwanis Talent Show" when I performed "Somewhere Out There" (also a Disney song).

The next day, I checked my email to see if I passed the auditions. I would find out later in the evening and I got a part and was very excited. I kept it a secret from family and friends until weeks later when the topic came up. Our first practice started immediately since the first performance will be a little over a month. We started on Monday (August 10th), which was somewhat an ice breaker and wasn't intense. We had to read the lines of our characters together and got to know each other briefly. However, the number of lines for Jafar was a little overwhelming. It was more than I thought I could handle. I even pondered about quitting because I was thinking this was too much for me. At the time, we didn't have anyone to play Aladdin, so I decided to stay. In fact, I looked around, and I was like the only guy there for the major roles. I decided to stick with it and help out. I believe 2-3 practices later, we found our Aladdin (David), which I even asked Joe earlier if I should advertise around for this missing role. I even emailed and texted a couple of guy friends. Also, I placed a post on one of our facebook groups (Community Needs) . Then the director (Joe) gave us our schedule of rehearsals. I was able to make to most of them except two due to scheduling conflicts. I really needed as much practice as I can, so I decided to skip one "schedule conflict" (annual A.B.E. Consortium "training" meeting). I'm glad I took voice lessons earlier this summer because it helped sustain my voice. I remember the first week of rehearsals, I left early to be part of my local church worship practice. I started to lose my voice this early, so I did a lot of voice exercises my voice lesson teacher (Kurtis) taught me. Also, the necessary "natural remedy" tips (e.g. moisten your throat frequently). On August 26th (Wednesday), I was asked to drive the work bus to Chanhassen Dinner Theatre for our annual trip. I asked my boss if I can have someone work for me because we had rehearsals for the whole of Act 1, which I needed as much practice as I can. Unfortunately, there were no co-workers that could. I wasn't totally disappointed because I was somewhat anxious to see Mary Poppins, which I looooove musicals! I'm glad I was able to go since it gave me some inspiration and ideas to go about doing my theatrical performance with Aladdin!.

During the time of our practices, I decided to do a parody of "I Can Show You the World" from my character's (Jafar) perspective. Here is what I came-up with => Music: Parody-“Creepy Old Cave” (originally from “I Can Show You the World” from Aladdin) by Jafar. Also, I took sometime to reflect on my character and how all of us can be a "Jafar" in life-> Disney Character: Jafar-"Why M-E?"

Our last week of rehearsals were moved from indoors (St. Mary's) to outdoors at the actual performance site..

East Side Park

Related:

Plays in the Park presents Disney's Aladdin from morrissuntribune.com

It was somewhat a challenging transition, but it was good to have preparation on the actual site of our performance. During our practice outside, after repeatedly rehearsing the scene where I sing and tease "Prince Ali" being merely "Aladdin". I started to feel sorry for Aladdin while singing. It was one of those moments where I just got out of character. It was one of those interesting acting experiences. On Wednesday (September 9th 2015), our director (Joe) shared about how the local paper will be coming and that we might need to bring sharpies to sign autographs. One of the kids from the ensemble team replied softly to me, "Wow, wee are going to be famous!". I then thought to myself, "I don't want to be famous, I want Jesus to be famous" (I thought of this song rancesca Battistelli - He Knows My Name (Official Audio)) . I responded softly back..."yeah..like Hollywood", but wasn't too excited saying it. During the performances, I would pray-"Lord, help me do well, so that I glorify you!". I want to use this opportunity in this blog to thank my Creator for giving me these "creative gifts, talents, and skills to do what I was able to do during and after these performances.

The day of the performance, I would create a blog to record my list of Theatrical Performance Tips? for future reference and help others that might go through similar challenges in preparation for a similar or bigger performance. When I got to the park an hour before our performance, one of the kids from the ensemble gave me his autograph after I gave him mine (signed "Jafar...keep shining")

My biggest tip would be getting yourself spiritually prepared. I would meditate on a Bible verse (Psalm 121) the morning before my first performance, which would help me during the performance. I somehow felt "down", so I remembered this particular verse and prayed. I asked God to give me strength to finish this show. Despite missing some lines (one obvious one in the last scene if you watch the video below :( ), I thank God for helping me get through this first one.

Here is a pic from a scene from our 1st evening show..

Plays in the Park: Aladdin the Musical-1st (Sept 11th 15) Performance Pt 1of2

Plays in the Park: Aladdin the Musical-1st (Sept 11th 15) Performance Pt 1of2 from Sal Photo Biz on Vimeo.

In the second show (Saturday, September 12th 2015), I continued more of my preparation tips. While doing some errands Saturday afternoon, a couple of young teenage boys shouted "great job last night" while biking back home from Thrifty White to develop pictures. One thing I did differently was standing up while practicing my lines earlier and later in the day. I found this tip through a google search too. I then wrote down the lines I missed during the 1st show, so I can get it really on my head. Then I did some meditation (after biking -a pedestrian shouted "great show last night" on my way back home-to the local fitness center to wake me up after a power nap) by listening to some worship song (from Real Ministries last Saturday evening) while putting on my character outfit. I was still a little nervous during our 2nd performance. Another additional activity that helped me was just praying for my fellow cast members when they were performing. Even during the middle of one of my performances between lines, I started praying blessings for the audience in attendance. This somehow helped me get through the nervousness. All this made the 2nd show a lot better. I missed one line and didn't say of my last lines clearly, but thankful I finished! We ended the last night by having a Cast get-together at Pizza Ranch, which we stayed till 10:20ish that evening.

Overall, it has been a great 5+ weeks getting to know some of my fellow cast members and it was fun overall. It was a lot of work memorizing lines, our dance routines, etc... It was definitely a great experience and willing to do this again..hoping for another fun musical!

Good News Theatre
https://www.facebook.com/groups/676072462404186/

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August 2013

I started the month with continuing my Metal Roof Project. We (Ed & Adnan) did the north side of the roof, which we got 2/3 of the shingles off. Fortunately, we get Fridays off, so the next day (2nd) I finished taking 1/3 of the shingles by myself early in the morning. I then clean-up the yard of shingles by throwing it in the rented dumpster. I took a break during noon lunch by going to the 1st "Community Meal" of the 2013-2014 academic UMM season. I then worked on the garage, which I was able to take all the shingles within 2 hours by myself. I then started putting black tarp, which I wished I bought more as I was able to patch some holes of the previous old tarp. Ed then came over around 4ish to help put the circular sky window in the north side of the roof. He would help me finish tarping the garage roof before calling it a day. I decided to clean as much of the scattered "old" shingles on the ground until sun set as I wanted to prepare for tomorrow. It was a long day, which I slept good (overnight) at my other job.
The following day (Saturday-3rd), I started early preparing the garage roof for the metal sheets. Ed would help me later in the morning, which I had a slight accident (fell from the unstable ladder, which I took the risk before climbing it. I landed hard on the concrete sidewalk with my right elbow. I found out later after an expensive $250 X-ray that it wasn't broken...thank God!). My housemate (Adnan) would help me do the east side of the roof. We did pretty good overall (wo/ Ed's help) despite a slant angle as we did our best placing the the first sheet, but didn't know how to use my balancer tool right. We did this within 1 hour and a half as we wanted to check out the annual "Flekkefest" parade 30 minutes north-Elbow Lake. We were running late, so I drove towards the end of the parade route to catch as much of it

On Tuesday, August 6th-We had another hail storm. Some parts of town had softball size. Ironically, I was doing my metal roof (1/2 of north side already done), which it was replacing the damaged roof shingles from last summer's storm. Well, this hail storm did some damage on my new metal roof. I decided to cancel my claim to my home insurance because it wasn't worth it. We would finish (I was trying to get it done after 2 rain storms and didn't want to tarp it again before another forecast rain the next day, which never happened) doing the last half the following day (7th) , which we had some challenges (Ed had a hard time seeing the screws, so I had my lamp light on-hand. He almost slid down the slippery newly "oiled" panel, but Adnan caught him as he was going down-thank God!) as it got dark (9:45pm). Once we got the last panel, we celebrated with pizza (Casey's). Hallelluah!

On the 8th (Thursday), I took Adnan to the Steven's County Fair, which was his 1st time. On our way there, I popped my bike by accidentally putting too much air from the gas station. Earlier, I thought of just using my regular pump, which I should've followed my gut earlier! We live and learn! On Friday, we (Ed and Adnan) did some last finishing touches (put sides, which we ran out-short ordered. I would wait for another month or so to continue this as the parts took awhile to be delivered-due to custom order) of the metal roof for the "major paneling" part.
On the 10th (Saturday), I went to the cities and attended a couple of cultural ethnic events-Indian Fest & Irish Fest-both in St. Paul. It was great time hanging out with family. It was my dad's birthday on the 13th, so we did an early family celebration while I was in the cities.
On the 14th, Ed and Aisanne invited Adnan and I over for a BBQ with other friends (Elena & Plamen), We would do some Bollywood dancing! The next day (sorry-it was moved to the following Thursday, so the 22nd), I attended another BBQ, which my softball team hosted. Despite an "ok" season, it was a great way to end the season with a picnic. I had the 16th off, so I spend most of this day and part of the following morning to help Ed with his work as my gratitude for helping me with my metal roof project. Ed's been teaching me a lot about carpentry, gaining handi-work skills!
It was that time of the year-State Fair! I would go hangout with family on the 24th, which we decided this date because it would be the "less hottest" of the rest of the fair while I was in the cities. We went 9ish in the morning and stayed till 1ish in the afternoon. I'm glad we went because the rest of the fair the entire last week of August had temps around the 90's, which had low attendance. Good timing!
Even though I had 1+ week vacation from my full-time job, I had to go back to Morris on the 27th because of work (pt-job) the next evening and I was going to bring my newest housemate (Yuu-referred by my current housemate-Kazu-also from Japan) from MSP-International Airport to Morris. I would "last minute" bring another UMM International Student (Hannah-from S. Korea). I spent my less than a week of vacation (from my ft-job) doing some errands and community stuff (e.g. annual "Feed my Starving Children" & "Welcome UMM Community Picnic" on Thursday 29th).

Gratitude: April 2013

I started this April Fools Day working my 2nd part-time job after my full-time job. I just worked several hours only. When I came home, I saw some friends doing some "April Fools Day" jokes on their facebook, so I decided to share a couple (e.g. changed my relationship from "single" to "relationship" & "Found new job teaching English in China"). I "fooled" a lot of my "friends", which a cousin of mine suggested I actually do one of them (teach in China). This is something I should wait and see!

On Friday (5th), I hosted a former UMM Alumn (Ryan F.) over as he was recently accepted on the UMM Alumni Board. I treated him to the newest "Mexican" Restaurant located in the 2nd floor (formerly Jose Burritos) of City Centre Mall. It was great to "catch-up" on how a former UMM friend/resident (from residential Clay A. Gay Hall) is doing nowadays. The following day (6th) was a packed Saturday as I took my newest housemate (Adnan from Pakistan) to several community events (e.g. CNIA Pow Wow, WCA Cattleman Steak Dinner, and Jane Adam's sponsored "Spoken Word Rodrigo" at Common Cup.<

"With a former UMM Alumn (Clayton A. Gay Hall Floormate 95'-96')"

After a busy fun-filled Saturday, I went to the local gym for their "Fitness Frenzy" (Zumba and Abs exercises). The next day, it was "Holocaust Rememberance Day", so I decided to share one of my video project...

It was "Multicultural Heritage Week" at the local campus, so I took Adnan to check out as many of the cultural events (e.g. Blacktino the movie-> see Facebook Blog, Diversitunes, etc..)

On Thursday (11th), we had a another "Snow Day", which I took advantage of the day to take care of some "house stuff" (replaced my "old" water softener with one made from Valnes $1K). The next day after work, I was still in the mood to "Spring Clean", so I cleaned my "old" bedroom on the on the main floor to rearrange the bed of my newest housemate (Adnan). It was much needed cleaning, which I haven't done a thorough clean like this since I moved in 2006! During the 2nd weekend, I worked on my taxes, which I procrastinated before the 15th deadline.

On Thursday (18th), we had another snow storm, which we got off work 1 hour earlier. This gave me time to do some more "errands" before my housemate hosted a birthday party for his friend. Due to the "bad" weather that continued the next day, the local school closed. However, my workplace remained opened and I would ended up driving home (St. Paul) for the weekend as I would follow a little of the Boston Bombing "Drama", which the "last suspect" was found.

I spent the weekend visiting family and didn't do much (e.g. shopping with my mom & sis at Kohl's in Woodbury, watch my niece & nephew swim at the "old" Arlington High School, and watch Twins baseball on t.v. with my sis and her boyfriend).

On Tuesday (23rd), I went to support co-workers/friends at the "Annual Women of Today Talent Show" at the American Legion in town. The next day (24th), I took the "Defensive Driving Class", which my part-time job requires all of their employees to take. It was a great "reminder class" to learn to "slow down" in life.

It started to feel like "more" Spring on Thursday (25th) as I came home from work and put up the bird feeder out in my yard for the first time. I then put the solar lights along the sidewalk.

I went to a spaghetti feed fundraiser for the local fitness center at the elementary school on Friday (26th) with Adnan and some friends. They had a little dance going on at the gym of the school, which was fun! On Saturday (27th), I played outdoor "street-basketball" with a couple friends at the nearby court across the street from my house since it was a beautiful day. The following day (28th-Sunday), I took my housemate to my local church potluck after service. Then we went to a bowling fundraiser for the local Morris Life Care Pregnancy Center. We ended the eventful day with a "scream" (rock) concert at campus, which various bands ( Lessons + Word Will Spread + Zealot + Tracings) performed.