Wedding pics
Here are some photos from Saturday’s wedding.
The groom getting ready.
The bride getting ready.
Wedding shoot
I assisted with a wedding today. I was, again, late showing up for taking pictures of the guys because I don’t have iPhone service at the moment. The groom’s mom was not happy with the situation, but I did my best to smooth things over and took some shots. Then, I heard that the principle photographer wasn’t at the bride’s house yet so I high-tailed it over there to get some shots of the bride getting ready. I didn’t get to go in for the putting on of the dress (more’s the pity), but the girls called me in right after and I got several shots of the jewelry and garter and shoes going on. Such a beautiful bride! The photog did show up soon after and took a crapload of photos. She’s a nice woman, but not super organized. Good thing she’s a talented photographer! All told, I took something like 750 photos throughout the day. I showed some of them to her, and she was complimentary. That was nice.
Anyway, I’ll TRY to post a couple of the shots I took here tomorrow.
Though I saw it all around, never thought I could be affected
I had a meeting with my photographer associate today about helping her with a shoot tomorrow. I was 30 minutes late because I couldn’t find her house. I went to use Maps on my iPhone only to find out that I’ve had a service interruption. I was sure I’d paid that bill, but maybe not. I don’t know. It’s just one thing after another sometimes.
When I went for my run today, it was really hard. I am just feeling down and dispirited and the difficulty of the run was almost too much. Just when are things supposed to get easier?
I mentioned my difficulty in a Twitter/Facebook post and a couple of friends replied with some words of encouragement. Yeah, it made me cry a little.
I submitted a couple more job applications today. We’ll see.
Consensus?
Tonight, we had another meeting to discuss and plan the implementation of the New Translation of the Roman Missal. I think it was a good meeting. It was Fr. Ramon, Deacon Jose, John, Jody, Cynthia, and me. We talked about how it went last week and whether we wanted to continue with the plan. We also talked about the selection of a new setting of the Mass. Last month, I had suggested and hoped that we would agree that the entire parish should use one common Mass setting for at least the first year. However, last month, that was not everyone’s position.
Fast forward to tonight. Fr. Ramon thought that we had agreed last month to use one setting for all the English Masses, so he was sort of pushing that course of action. There was still a little resistance, but I do believe that the consensus os that we will indeed all be using a common setting of the Mass. Yay!
We also revisited the choice of assembly resource in the pews. It looks like we will be ditching United in Christ for either Breaking Bread or the Music Issue. That too is good news.
License to Ill
Left work early today. My stomach was troubling me a little, and I hardly needed convincing. It’s not that I was so sick that I couldn’t finish the day. It’s actually that mentally and emotionally, I don’t feel good being at the office right now. I have so much sick time built up, it’s ridiculous. It would come out to well over a month of time off. The biggest problem is that when I’m let go, all the sick time I’ve built up will go away and be gone for good. It’s really quite a disincentive.
After a few hours of being home, I went for my run. Did 5 miles in 57 minutes, which is a slight improvement over the same distance last week. As a result of all this running, I have lost as much as 20 lbs in the past few months. That’s good news!
Bullfights
As promised, here are a couple of photos from last night’s bullfights.
The first Cavaleiro
The Forcados (Suicide Squad) biff the first attempt
The Matador
The second Cavaleiro (Cavaleira?)
Blue Monday
2 things of note today.
#1 I was informed that, once again, I am being bumped by someone more senior with the district. I will be unemployed after July, 31st. This sucks. I’m tired of fighting to continue working in a place that has done none of my requested/suggested things to ensure that they retain me. I don’t want to lose my job, but I’m at the point where I feel I just have to make the best of it.
#2 I went to the bullfights tonight. Photos tomorrow.
All weekend in a day
Wow. Today was busy. Busy but fun.
This morning, the 10 AM English Mass moved to the new church. It was oh so familiar to me, but it was really new for Mike. After Mass, he went on and on about how I really stepped up and saved the day for the group. At the risk of being overly modest, I didn’t do anything that he won’t be fully up to speed with in two weeks. Still, it’s nice to be appreciated. I’d say that music went well. We have lots of room in which to get better, but it was a solid start and I am very much looking forward to the weeks ahead!
Right after Mass, Cathy, Joey, and I went to the California Ballroom to watch the Modesto Portuguese Pentecost Association parade and then have some sopas. In all the years that I’ve gone to festas, I’d never had sopas before. Well, that streak has ended. It was pretty good. I LOVE all the cultural shiz!
Spent four hours over at the House of Robot Pets playing the new Star Trek game that Ross and Mike have created. It went pretty well. It calls for a lot of creativity from the players. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll stick with the game, but it was fun.
Then back to the festa for dinner. More sopas. I scored a pair of tickets to the bullfights tomorrow. w00t! After dinner, I sat and enjoyed the music of a group from Terceira, even though I had no idea what they were saying. I stayed for a bit of the dance, but as I had no dance partners, I left before 10.
Finally, I managed to get in my run for the day. 3.65 miles in 41 minutes. This was 5 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking, rinse and repeat. Not sure why it should surprise me, but breathing while running is getting easier. 🙂
Tomorrow: the bullfights!
Remember albums?
Today, I list 5 of my favorite albums of all time. Of course, these days, albums are somewhat anachronistic, so this list will be heavily weighted towards the past.
So, in no particular order:
- Some Great Reward – Depeche Mode
This was the first DM album I ever heard and to me, it is the peak of the ‘sound’ that I like most from them. Not every song is the greatest, but the album as a whole is so significant in the development of my musical aesthetic. - The Joshua Tree – U2
U2 was on my musical radar before this album, but this is the point at which the band became mega-stars. So many good songs and some of my favorites aren’t even the ones that were released as singles. - 2.0 – Garbage
I’m not a big fan of a lot of the music from the 90s, but this album was really solid. It’s one that I could happily put on and listen to in its entirety. - Abba Gold – Abba
Scoff all you like, there is not one dud among all the songs on this album. - Stunt – Barenaked Ladies
Like Some Great Reward above, this album marks my first real introduction to the band. I’d heard other songs before this, but it was during their tour for this album that I first saw the band perform. So much fracking fun at that concert! I didn’t appreciate the band before I saw them live. Since that first time, I’ve seen them perform another 6-8 times. Love them!
What are some of your favorite albums of all time?
Stress-free, Lazy Afternoon
Today was about the best day of doing nothing that I can remember. Got up late. Played LOTRO. Cooked and ate. Went for my run. But no responsibilities, no one needing me for anything, no place I had to be. Pretty darn good.
I did realize that I shouldn’t cook food just before I go running. The temptation to eat it then was very strong. The reason I did cook at that time was that I wanted food to be ready when I got back. I’ll have to look for other ways to work that. Maybe something that would go into the oven… Or in the crock pot.
