Mindless Juices

'Canes won! We're moving on to the second round with a couple days to rest up. The "Habs" captain, Koivu, went out in Game 3 with an eye injury after an accidental high stick from Justin Williams. Montreal will probably forever hate Justin, but he called Koivu in the hospital and apologized. The replay shows a completely unintentional high stick. We'll be playing the Devils in the second round. My little sister roots for the Devils, so, hopefully, I can find some time to give her a call during the series. This past weekend was the Big Event at newhope. I put in a lot of hours, but it turned out well. Angela covered it well in her blog. I'm looking forward to hearing how all the hard work we've all put in over the past month has helped move the hearts of people and helped us drive our stake in the ground near Southpoint. One note: Todd, our sound guy that helped us setup, is, apparently, a freaking genius. Skipped some grades, graduated college early, masters degrees, etc. and he's been in the theatre A/V game since he was a kid. Upon being asked if it sounded good and he could make any recommendations, *HE* said (about Angela), "She's a rock star. Let her do her thing!" At the time, I had no idea how huge of a compliment that was for Angela, but now I know about Todd's talent, experience, and knowledge... if he couldn't make any suggestions, we've got ourselves a top notch sound person at newhope. While Angela says, "Steve taught me everything I know" that's hardly true. She's taught herself about compressors along with the rest of us and no one can teach how to listen. She's got a hell of an ear and she's good. Very good. If you're not sure about newhope, but you're an audiophile, come any given Sunday when Angela is running sound and you'll be impressed. I guarantee it. On a similar note, I received what I will take as a compliment from another Creative Vision genius. At Jessica and Kelly's wedding on Saturday, Andrew, bass player for WAM and aforementioned CV integration genius, turned to his wife, Sarah, and said, "Is Steve running sound?" Sarah turned around to look and saw me, indeed, running sound. Upon confirmation, Andrew told Sarah that he thought so, I have a distinctive style/sound. I'm assuming it's a good style/sound and I will let my A/V ego grow... just slightly. On another similar note, Jessica and Kelly's wedding was absolutely perfect. Now, I've been to/ run sound and/or lights at/ helped out at a lot of weddings. I can honestly say I have a great amount of experience with weddings. I can tell you that most don't run smoothly. Many have minor to major emergencies. Others have poor planning. Still others have issues well beyond the control of anyone other than God. Almost ALL of them have started late. Jessica and Kelly, on the other hand, had a completely perfect weddings. Jessica timed everything, covered everything, asked all the right questions with time to change anything, pre-lit the candles. Her wedding coordinator, Emily, synchronized watches with me and this is where it became perfect. The wedding ran completely smooth as other weddings I have been a part of that were well planned and organized... but this wedding STARTED ON TIME, TOO!!! Listen, it's a big accomplishment to pull of a perfect wedding. The reception was at the University Club, the top of the only many storied building in Durham. Kelly has a razor wit. He was celebrating well (meaning he was drinking, but I don't think he was drunk). I really like them and I feel like we became almost instant friends. Which is not normal, but happy. It should be noted, apparently, Jessica does not have a track record of instant friends. According to the toasts given at the reception, people have to grow on Jessica and the crowd even agreed. So, I feel very honored to have been so quickly brought into their circle of friends, even if it's only on the outside edge.