What a weekend...

I had quite an experience this weekend. It’s been one of those sensory overload weekends. Right now I am struggling with keeping up with life and trying to not let it pass me by.

Friday night I left work and ended up going to a rehearsal for a show where I am more or less a sound consultant. I am trying to make sure everything goes well for them. It was an interesting experience and realized that this place is a little out of sorts and I hope I don’t spend much time getting attached. That night I came home and found a movie on that I had heard was interesting and started watching it. The movie is called “Pan’s Labyrinth”. This movie gave me an interesting perspective on how cruel people can be and how powerful the human and especially a child’s imagination can be. It left an impression on me that I don’t think I will soon forget.

Saturday, I went to a birthday party for my family and realized that there are so many great things about my family but also realized that there are many things I wish I could change. But past attempts to do anything haven’t yielded me much success, so things are here for now. After that, I went and set up for General Women’s Conference at my stake center because I’m the media specialist, so I set up the projector and any TV’s that need to be set up.

I went swing dancing in the evening with some incredible people. It was such a wonderful time to reunite with friends that bring me such happiness. I have to say though, that as much as I enjoy the dancing, Jazz music isn’t my favorite. It’s not bad but that it’s just not what I would listen to in my car if I was driving to work.

After swing dancing, I had the first “club” experience of my life. I can’t really say that it was an actual club experience because there wasn’t a bar and there really weren’t any people drinking, but there were WAY too many people cramped into a small space that were all sweaty, listening to the same 5 songs over and over (literally), body parts brushing up against me that I’m just not comfortable with, and dancing some pathetic attempt at being awkwardly close to each other. The best I could do was bob my head (as these situations don’t lend to a Charleston or Lindy all that well). I’m the kid that barely makes it out of an institute dance with my decency and sanity. So when that gig was up, we tried to find some frozen yogurt but most of those places close at midnight and had closed by that time so we stopped by the Malt Shop. As usual, the swing dancers had converged on the Malt Shop patio and were dancing, so I decided to show my club friends what my flavor of dancing consists of. That pretty much ended that night because it was almost 1 am.

Then church today was interesting. I wasn’t too particularly interested in the talks. I had a conversation with the person next to me about how I feel completely incapable of getting the attention of the girls I want attention from (probably a good thing). I realized that the Sunday school teacher for this week wasn’t my favorite (but for the sake of any chance blog readings, I will leave out why). I just remember making that comment that many of the people that are in my singles ward are on a path and are lost and need the help and direction of Christ in our lives but that often, instead of embracing what He would have us do, we leave his teachings and rely on our own intuition and personal expertise to get by in life. Not the way to go, and yet I do it over and over again in life.

After church, I wanted to watch a movie. I found that I have “The Pianist”, so I decided to watch it. I now remember why I bought it. There were SO many emotions that I experienced while watching this movie. I felt so happy to know that I live in a place with so many freedoms and the peace of mind. I’ve realized I have a fighting chance at life and have freedom from oppressive forces. I was sad to be reminded of this human condition – that evil is such a persuasive force, that fear keeps you from acting, that the will to live can overcome even the greatest of opposition, other people will exercise power to do terrible things, move people will exercise power to do great and heroic things, and that music can bring immovable peace to the heart.

I feel angry that such an evil force was allowed to bring so much destruction. I feel glad to have my freedom. And I feel a resolved that I will stand against forces that threaten my family and freedom. I am grateful for those that give their time and even their lives so I can live free.