Gratitude-A-Day Dec 31, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for fun. Simple as that.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 30, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for self awareness and the opportunity for reflection. This last week has been emotionally exhausting and I'm planning to spend some time today reflecting on the source of these feelings.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 29, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for productive days. I got a lot accomplished yesterday and that pile of work that was looming yesterday feels much more manageable today.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 28, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for self-determination - at least to some extent. I have a pile of work I'm facing and I'm glad that I have the opportunity to determine how to approach it rather than having it dictated to me how I should do things.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 27, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for generosity from others. Generosity helps to soften my perception of the sharp edges that can, at times, seem to dominate the world.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 26, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for having an opportunity to be gracious. I'm not going to explain the details about this but it feels good and I know is the right thing to do.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 25, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for being alive. This sounds a little simple to my ear but it's how I'm feeling this morning.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 24, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for wonderful friends. I've been around a number of people that a really care for over the last week and I feel fortunate to have such a wonderful group of people around me. For me this is the holiday spirit.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 23, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for rhymes. I like word play, though I'm not very good at it. I just heard the song "Bullet" by Rhymefest and realized I was grateful for the wordplay in songs and poetry.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 22, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for my physical therapist and the gift she has given me this holiday season of being able to ride, run and hopefully race - really race - again next season. This is such a big thing - it's hard for me to contain my excitement!

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 21, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for the inspiration and motivation that comes from having something new emerge in my life.

Altar Boyz

A couple of weeks ago I alluded to receiving an offer for free tickets to a show. The show was last night and it was Altar Boyz. It's a spoof on boy bands (think NSYNC, or the Backstreet Boys) as well as the trend in evangelical churches toward the inclusion of pop music and youth culture in their salvation campaigns.

I'm not a theater reviewer, a huge fan of boy bands or a deep well of knowledge about saving souls but here are a couple of thoughts:

• The singing was great. I guess I was a bit surprised by the quality of the performances. At times they really drew me in and I could feel the power of their performance.
  
• Of the five guys on stage Mark stole the show. His "attention to detail" came through in everything he did and provided never ending entertainment. Abraham's character kept growing throughout the performance and came in a close second to Mark who started off strong and finished just as strong.
  
• The dancing and choreography was excellent. As an amateur dancer I was fascinated by some of their hip-hop moves.
  
• Best song of the show - "Something About You" If you see the show you'll understand what I'm talking about!
  
• The show left a lot of room for interpretation. Was this a spoof or was it a subtle way to save more souls? I'd be really interested to know how other people respond to it. Did it offend you? Make you laugh? Make you think about going to check out a mega church some day soon?
  
• There were some really funny moments. This is a show to talk about after you leave the theater and laugh at some of the jokes again a second or third time. If you decide to go make sure to go with great company, I know that put a shine on the experience for me.
  

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 20, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for sleep. I'm getting off to a groggy start to the day but I'm sure I'll perk up soon. The grogginess makes me really appreciate my soft warm bed and I'm already looking forward to crawling back into it this evening.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 19, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for darkness. I was awake for a bit last night around 2:30 AM and it was very dark. Not quite complete darkness but by keeping my eyes closed it seemed that way. I really enjoyed this time as it forced me to tune into my other senses and experience them without the visual filter. This isn't the only time I've had this sort of experience - just the most recent.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 18, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for kind people. I had a really nice experience last night and it was the result of the kindness of a number of people.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 17, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for my neighborhood. I love all the different energy that exists just within a few blocks of home. I went to a couple of different areas of the city recently and it allowed me to realize how great my neighborhood is.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 16, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for having a family that is open to exploring new ideas.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 15, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for self-determination. Sure, in many ways the concept of self-determination is a fallacy as we're all dependent on our communities, but every day I'm discovering new ways to determine my own life course that I hadn't know were possible.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 14, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for gift giving. I tend to be a bit of a humbug when it comes to giving holiday gifts. This year I'm exploring a different approach to this holiday tradition and I'm grateful for the opportunity to play in this way.

Gratitude-A-Day Dec 13, 2006

Today, I'm grateful for great storytelling. This time it's inspired by the film The Fountain. This film reached deep inside of me. Here is another article in Wired Magazine about the movie.
I tend to agree with the some of the comments about this movie that you will either love it or hate it - no middle ground. Problem is that I don't know if I love it but I know that I loved experiencing it. Not sure that makes sense but it's what the film did to me.