Christmas Outreach

Today was a pretty busy day for your ol' pal Shooey. My church, Northwest Fellowship, had our Christmas Family Dinner and Community Outreach tonight. It was a great time, and not only did we get to celebrate and hang out with our church friends, but we invited people from the community and some of Austin's homeless people to eat with us, and enjoy the festivities. My role, in all this, was the emcee of the Christmas production. My character was actually scripted as the "Credible Host" and I had a couple of bits with the "Comical Host". It really was a great time, and the show went off absolutely 98% without hitch or glitch.  I was actually sorry it was over.  One thing tonight's experience impacted me with, is how much I miss live theater. I'm primarily a film guy. I love being on set, working with the cameras, doing cool stuff, and take after take of intense acting. But—after tonight, I realize how much I miss the excitement and energy of live theater. I think I'll insert myself back into theater world. Austin is a great town for it.
Another thing I really was impacted by was my heart for the homeless. Tonight I was drawn to three young people—"Sideshow", "Phoenix" and a girl who called herself "Toxic"—who lived in a homeless camp that my ministry feeds. They couldn't have been more than 22 or 23, but probably younger.  I took an instant like to these three, and made sure they got enough food and felt loved and wanted there. After they told me their names, they tripped out when I introduced myself as "Shoehead".  They even stayed behind and helped us stack up chairs and clean up. I plan to visit them, and help them as best I can, especially during the winter months.
So that was my weekend. Tomorrow, I go back to work. Oh, yeah... I haven't blogged in a while. I'll tell you about my new job, and bring you back to speed about what your ol' pal Shooey has been up to recently.
In the meantime, hasta tamale!

OK, the day AFTER Christmas...

So I survived my in-laws. It really wasn't nearly as brutal as I thought it would be. Very pleasant; niceties all around. The turkey dinner was awesome! They even sent me home with a plate of leftovers. My mother-in-law claims she uses tradition family recipes, but I think she used a cookbook! My wife, the lovely Mrs. Shoehead, was gonna stay a few more days, so I drove back alone last night, but suddenly decided to come home today. I picked her up from the Madera train station (really just a bare platform--not even a shelter or a soda machine!) It was good to have her back, even though I was looking forward to a couple of days of watching my favorite DVDs. Now we're gonna have to watch all of her DVD's! Oh well...
So I've got a few more days 'til the new year, then it's back on my fitness program! There's no gym where I live, so I'm gonna put together my home gym in the spare room. Wish me luck!

I do wanna highlight two very cool social networking sites I've been spending alot of time on. Instead of Myspace and Friendster, which are just a little, well-- juvenile (but fun!)-- I'm trying to spend more time in a business environment. And the two communities I really like for their ease, functionality, and friendly people are AdLandPro, and Directmatches. take a look at both of these. I love both of them, and recommend them to any web entrepreneur.

So this is Christmas...

Well, it's now Christmas. It seems like this year just flew by. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all my faithful readers. My Christmas wish list is six-pack abs, solid muscle, and a no-nonsense workout I can stick to. I don't think that's too much to ask... Oh, yeah--peace on earth, goodwill toward man and all that, too.
OK, Merry Christmas everybody! Ho, ho,ho!