Almost busy

I pride myself on not being busy…ever.  Its not that I don’t have a lot of activity.  Its just that some people find their sense of purpose in being “busy”.  I have promised myself I would never do that.  Well if there ever was a day I was almost busy, this was certainly the day.  I had sooooo much activity.  It was non-stop from the moment I got up.  Its so much, Im worried if I got everything done.  There was added pressure because the classes at St. Christopher also started up today.  So I had an 8:30 AM to 10:30 PM day.  Because the acting classes are so mentally exhausting, it feels like an extra couple hours were tacked on at the end of that.  Keep in mind, I’m not complaining.  The acting classes were my choice.  I get a lot of fulfillment out of teaching them.  In a way, its my ministry.  Already, on the first day, I made a big impact.  That is so rewarding for me.  Its strange seeing how people react to the virtually the same stimuli.  I’m in a unique position to compare and contrast them against each other.  First I have the kids for two hours at 2:30.  Children generally don’t have any inhibitions, so naturally they are better actors.  They just need to be guided a bit.  When we get to the teens, the inhibitions and walls start to emerge but they aren’t overwhelming for them yet.  Then we have the real issues with the grown ups.  This is why the acting classes are so important for them.  Adults need therapy much more than children do for a purpose.  Its just something about being a grown up, we tend to lose our creativity, imagination and peace.  Maybe that’s why Christ loved children so much.  They have a magic that we big kids tend to lose as the years pile up on us. 

There was one such student in class today.  He was new at acting and very passionate about it.  We did a relaxation session and a sense memory technique.  These take a bout 20 minutes where it’s a guided mediation process for me.  The feelings that this evokes are amazingly intense.  After I bring the actors out of it, they wake up slowly like they had been asleep for hours, rather than just concentrating for a couple of minutes.  This Bahraini was confused when I brought him out.  He asked if I had hypnotized him, and I told him it was just guided meditation.  He did the rest.    This one guy was telling his vision he had in his head.  He was sitting inside in a nice house with nice furniture, next to a pretty girl that smelled good.  He didn’t have any feelings for the girl even though she was attractive.  Instead outside there were a couple of children playing and he longed to go outside and play…but he was stuck inside and he didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.  I asked him if I could have permission to interpret.  He agreed.  I told him that the house symbolized his parent’s and societies expectations of him.  Bahraini’s or Arabs aren’t encouraged to act.  They are supposed to live a certain way, marry with a pre-arranged marriage and live a comfortable life.  They are not supposed to rock the boat.    This is what was facing this guy.  Yet outside…the kids playing is what he longed for.  The kids symbolized his longing for drama and to be an actor.  It was shunned and unavailable by his society and that what he longed for.  So in his vision he was frustrated with unfulfilled desires.  I asked him if my interpretation was close, and he thought I was spot on.  That made me feel pretty good. 

I also pride myself on being stressed, but whenever I start up these acting classes there is always a little stress because I never know who is going to show up at the last minute.  I know stress doesn’t do a bit of good…and I let it get to me today.  We wound up having 10 children, 10 teens, and 10 adults.  Its not fantastic, but its not bad either.  Actually as far as managing and teaching, 10 is a lot easier to handle than 15.  So I need to count my blessings.

There is a lot of excitement on the island this weekend.  Its F1 where the international racing world descends.  There is a lot of money and glamour here this weekend and soooooo many parties.  I kind of feel “in the know” since I’ve been invited to so many.  I’m very humbled by all of it.  Im so sleep already with work, and it looks like I’ll be staying out late for a couple of nights.  Im looking forward to it…im just hoping I won’t crash.

OH!!!!!!! I almost forgot to tell you.  After I wrote my blog last night.  Max, my middle son called me.  We had an incredible conversation, we laughed, talked about visitation plans and just were what a dad and son should be.  I could tell he wanted to discuss some issues that were prompted by his mother, but somehow we got past the conflict.  He doesn’t want to fight anymore and neither do I.  The latest shenanigan she pulled was for my visitation in July. OK….after a prompting by the holy spirit…Im not going to go into details on this forum.  My hope and prayer is that someday X and I can get along because that ultimately is the best for the children.  That is what I desperately want.