Origin Story

It’s now been over a year since my last blog post. So as a refresher course of Me; here’s some of what you missed:

A Year in the Life

Last you heard about me was that I was working at the local Best Western checking people in and out (mostly doing the night shift). I was only there for a couple months before they fired me because “training didn’t work out,” whatever that means. This was after I had already turned down working in Hume Lake for the summer. I went from having two jobs, to having one job, and now I had no job. Turns out God’s timing is perfect, because a couple weeks later I found out about a job that had just opened up at the John Muir Lodge in King’s Canyon National Park. One of that summer’s ACMNP’s team members (remember that ministry I was a part of five years ago, back when I first started my blog?) had suddenly left the team, leaving a vacancy at the hotel and also on the team. It was fortuitous (and definitely a God thing) that I had just had a couple months of experience working in a hotel so that I could then easily take a job at a different hotel.

This picture was taken on the way to Redwood Canyon, where the team and I stayed overnight.

It was fun to be a part of ACMNP (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks) again. Last time I was in Sequoia National Park, this time I was the park right next to it - King’s Canyon National Park. Because I knew how to play guitar (having taught myself four years ago in Sequoia), I mostly just led the music for the services, but I also gave a couple messages. I enjoyed getting to know the other team members as well, though once again I haven’t kept in touch with any of them after the summer ended.

I was in the mountains from mid-May to about mid-September. ACMNP was only a summer ministry, but the job I had at John Muir Lodge was for as long as I wanted. In theory I could have stayed up there even until now (maybe I should have). The main reason I left the job up there was the distance. I was driving up and down the mountain almost once a week. I lived in employee housing while working there, but I also wanted to spend time with my family during the summer. Because I was torn between two places that summer, it finally got to the point where I had to make a choice. I decided to return to the valley.

During my last few weeks in the mountains I was also itching to be a part of another play or musical. That’s not the reason I left, it was just a benefit to returning home. During one of my days off I decided to go back down to the valley and audition for an upcoming musical one of the local theaters was putting on: Into the Woods. This was being done at the same theater where I played Lord Farquaad in Shrek the Musical. I knew that because of my job in the mountains I wouldn’t be able to make it to many rehearsals, therefore I wouldn’t be able to take on a main role, but I wanted to be a part of the show anyway. I was cast as Rapunzel’s Prince, a fun but small part, which I was glad to accept. My brother meanwhile had been cast as The Baker, my sister as Little Red Riding Hood, and my father as The Mysterious Man. With my Mom helping with the music, it became a fun family experience.

While rehearsals were still going on, one of my sisters and I went down to Anaheim for the day to visit Downtown Disney and see Owl City live in concert. Owl City is nowhere near as big as he used to be (you could almost consider him to be a one-hit wonder with “Fireflies”). But my family (especially my sisters and I) have been fans of his throughout his career. His latest album, Cinematic, may actually be my favorite album of his. This is the album he took on his recent tour. It was incredible seeing him performing these songs live. My favorite song on the album is actually called “Cinematic”, and is about how life is like a movie (the song also references Star Wars, which I like). Adam Young (the artist behind Owl City) excels at writing encouraging songs, and this one is no different. I also like that Adam Young writes about his Christian faith in some of his songs. I’d love to meet him someday.

A good close-up picture from the concert that my sister took.

A couple weeks after the Into the Woods cast had been announced and rehearsals had already begun I officially returned home. Now that I was able to make it to every rehearsal I was able to help out much more; which also meant I could now be a bigger character. The other Prince and I decided it would be best for the both of us if we switched parts. I was now playing Cinderella’s Prince - an equally fun character, but a much more important role. With this new part I had to learn several new lines, as well as another song, both of which didn’t take long. What made this musical even more memorable for me was that as a part of the choreography for “Any Moment”, I had my first on-stage kiss. What made it more amusing to me was that the character I kissed was the wife of my brother’s character.

The other prince and I doing our best smug faces. This picture was turned into a portrait that hung over the fireplace in Act II.

The musical ran for two weekends, though I almost wish it had gone on longer. It was tiring, but it was a blast. But now that it was over I could refocus my full attention on finding a job again. I had been looking for a job even before I left the mountains, but now I really needed something. Eventually, through a contact from church, I was able to get a job working for an after-school program. I was hired about mid-October, so I had only been about a month without a job. When I started I first worked in two different schools, one about 15 minutes away, the other about 20 minutes away. At these schools I taught computer science, or rather I was supposed to teach computer science. The curriculum we were given involved Lego Robotics (something I had always wanted to try). At one school we didn’t have enough tablets and robots to go around so we were only kind-of able to do the curriculum. At the other school we weren’t able to use the tablets or robots at all, so we just did engineering projects with the Legos (projects like building tall, structurally sound towers, as well as bridges that can hold a certain amount of weight). Once during those first couple months I was also able to help out with First Lego League (FLL), a Lego Robotics competition - something that I always wanted to try as a kid after seeing it on kids shows like Zoom.

During those first couple months at this job I found out about another upcoming local musical that interested me: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. This was being done at the same theatre where I did Big Fish, Pecos Bill, Oliver!, and Pippin. I auditioned and was pleasantly surprised to be cast as Charlie Brown. This was super fun musical that was unique in that it only had six cast members. I wasn’t familiar with this show before auditioning so it was a lot of work to learn all the songs and lines - including a long monologue at the beginning. This stuff comes pretty easy to me though, and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Snoopy, Sally, Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Lucy, and Linus performing "Beethoven Day"

I know that music runs in the family, but apparently theater does as well. In 1981, when my dad was working as a high school teacher, he and some of the other faculty put on a production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and my dad played Charlie. This version they did was slightly different than the one I was in, which was based on the Broadway revival. Still, it’s fun that I had the same part in the same play almost 40 years later. Maybe if I ever have a kid someday I’ll try to get him to play Charlie Brown.

That's my dad as Charlie Brown in the center and in the top left corner.

A couple weeks before Christmas, I had a break from work (because school was not in session), and also a break from Charlie Brown rehearsals. One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a fancy display case to hold Lego minifigures (of which I have many). After Christmas my siblings and one of our cousins did an escape room for the first time and also saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, both of which were excellent. Around this time my parents told us that we were finally officially planning on going to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios, something we had been talking about for a while. They set a date in late March, which was then changed to early April because that worked better for everyone’s schedules (more on that later…).

After Christmas break ended, the after-school program sent me to a local school to help out for a couple weeks before I began teaching computer science again at the other two schools. But this school I was helping out with temporarily just happened to be within walking distance of my house, which is much more convenient for me travel-wise. I submitted a transfer request, which was quickly approved, and began helping out at the after-school program there (not teaching computer science, just working as an after-school program leader). I was now responsible for a group of about 20 kids for almost 4 hours every day. It was a challenge, but I was determined to take it on. After all, if I one day want to work as a film or stage director or something of that kind, I would need to have leadership experience.

Every day I signed kids in, played a game or two with them, took them to snack time, and led the kids for about an hour on a  specific program. When I first starting working there I took over for a teacher who was leading a class on Spheros, which are small spherical robots controlled by tablets (similar to the Lego robotics I had done before). After that ended, I then got to choose my own program to lead - I chose drama. This is something I know much more about; plus it would be good experience for me. The after-school programs are meant to be mainly student-led, so I had the class vote on a play out of a few options I chose for them. They opted to do a Scooby-Doo play, which I was super excited about. I found an episode of the classic show Scooby-Doo Where Are You? and converted its screenplay into a stage script - something else that was probably good practice for me.

During the later part of the Spheros program, I asked for a Friday off in early April for the Harry Potter trip. The supervisor said that should be fine. When it got to about a week before the trip, I got a message from the supervisor saying that she could not approve my time off request because one of the other teachers was still sick. The two-day tickets (Friday and Saturday) had already been purchased, and there was no way to get a refund. Plus if I only went on Saturday, I would have had to buy a whole new ticket, because the other tickets are specifically two-day passes. I explained this to the supervisor, and talked to a couple of the other after-school teachers about it. The other teachers said it shouldn’t be a problem to just take the day anyway, since it’s something my family had been planning for a while. The supervisor herself said she couldn’t stop me from going, but that it would just reflect poorly on any kind of employee evaluation. I figured this was alright; I hadn’t missed a single day of work, and Fridays are much more laid back because many kids don’t go to the after-school program on those days anyway. I explained that I was sorry, but I really couldn’t come on Friday.

Our family spent most of the first day in the Harry Potter part of Universal Studios. It was a little weird seeing all the buildings covered with “snow” while the temperature didn’t match, but overall it was exciting experiencing everything there. One of the rides, Flight of the Hippogriff, was short, but fun. After that ride we ate at the Three Broomsticks and had a delicious feast of chicken, ribs, and vegetables. We also tried the butterbeer, which I was not sure about at first but I actually liked it. The other main Harry Potter attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, had a long wait, but it was worth it. I got a little bit of a headache from screens that were a part of the ride, but my dad felt much worse. After getting off the ride he looked almost green. We figured, for my dad’s sake, that we should go on something nice and calm next. We decided to go on the Universal Studios Tour, which was one hour of just sitting on a bus taking a ride. I loved seeing all the sets and sound stages they took us past, which made me wish that one day I could return here not as a tourist on a ride, but as a filmmaker or actor. Unfortunately for my dad, we didn’t realize that there were a couple 3D experience parts to the ride, one of which nearly made my dad throw up. He was done with rides after that.

My siblings and I posing with the Scooby Gang.

Aside from the rides, we also did a Walking Dead walk-through attraction, saw a trained animal show and watched a special-effects show. One of the highlights of the trip for me however, was meeting Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne. I also met Frankenstein and shook his hand, though he didn’t have much to say. I saw Shrek and Princess Fiona, but unfortunately Lord Farquaad was nowhere to be found (they didn’t even have Farquaad merchandise in any of the stores). On the way out of the park I got myself a Jurassic Park mug, which I then broke the handle off when I tripped trying to go up the down escalator. I then accidentally cut my finger on a sharp shard of the mug’s handle and had to spend the whole trip back with a large bandage on my finger (the mug has since been repaired with glue).

We were all exhausted from the trip, but I was eager to tell my students about it, especially about how I met the characters from the play we would be performing. I returned to work on Monday, and everything seemed to be going fairly well. Then near the end of the day the supervisor’s supervisor approached me and told me I needed to attend a meeting at the main office the next day. From the way she told me about it, it didn’t sound like it was going to be a good meeting.

It wasn’t.

That Monday was my last day at the school, and the next day at the meeting was my last day of work with this after-school program.

I could have just told them I was sick that Friday, but that would have been lying. I did contact people to try to get someone else to cover for me on Friday, though no one could. I had perfect attendance up until then. That Friday was the only day I missed. Even in the short time I was there other after-school teachers had missed several days. Now I won’t get to see the Scooby-Doo play that I put all that work into, and I am now without a job…

…again.

The next week was spring break, so I wouldn’t have been working anyway. My dad, my sister, and I took a road trip out to Ohio to get my sister’s things from my Uncle and Aunt’s house. She had taken a semester off of college but has now decided to not return, so we needed to get everything she left behind. It was a long trip, but it was nice to be away for all that time.

We got back, celebrated Easter, watched Avengers: Endgame (twice), celebrated my 27th birthday, and now we’re here.

So now what?

Origin Story

I’ve titled this post Origin Story because, like nearly all superhero stories, this story has a sad beginning. I don’t mean to say I consider myself a superhero; I just mean that I am seeing my story from my point of view - and it’s not going so well right now.

Almost all superheroes have a sad beginning. Or maybe their life is going okay for a while, but then something sad happens to them. It’s at this point, when the hero is at their lowest point (or at least the lowest so far), that something amazing happens that turns their life around. Suddenly this hero can be who they were meant to be - who they were destined to be.

I’m still in that sad origin story part, waiting for something, anything to happen. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be waiting here.

I applied for unemployment, at the suggestion of the very people who made me unemployed. I’m still waiting to hear back.

I have no idea where to begin looking for a job, again. I feel like I can’t stay in this town anymore. There are too many people I have to avoid now - former employers and former fellow employees.

I know this isn’t nearly as important, but in terms of plays and musicals, I’m wanting to be a part of some stage production again. A local theater will be putting on a stage adaptation of Prince Caspian, following their recent play of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I love Narnia so I’d like to audition for this play, though I’d also like to be in a musical again as well. Though this all needs to take a backseat for now.

Prayers would be nice.