We continue our run of Pacific Overtures today, and after a decent review from The Sacramento Bee, I am looking forward to continuing the experience.  From what I hear, our Saturday show is close to sold out, so there isn't much more of an opportunity to catch the show.  It's a nice blend of history, comedy, drama, and action, so come check it out if you can.

I really have to count my blessings.  Although I don't have everything that I want, I do have everything that I need, and even more than I probably deserve.  Part of the problem today is that we don't appreciate enough what we do have.  Many people in the world are malnourished and starving, but in California alone, there is enough rice to feed the world.  At least I've heard that.  There's something wrong with that picture if that is truly the case.  Time to win the Lotto so that I have more options in helping the world. 

It's really different when you have an audience in the house when you are performing.  After rehearsing for a couple of months, having an audience is a nice change.  I liken it to the playoffs, where the bar is raised higher, although the only people that the cast (my team) is competing against is ourselves.  The better we do, the more the audience enjoys.  If all goes well, then everyone is happy.  I have fun doing the whole theatre thing, but it's a bonus that I have performed in shows that have a deeper meaning to them.  There was always something really important to be learned from them, or some little-known piece of knowledge.  I learn a lot too while going through the rehearsals and the research necessary to get a deeper understanding of the piece.

I've heard people use the phrase life-long student.  Everyone is a lfie-long student whether they realize it or not.  We learn more and more every day.  Our experiences teach us lessons all the time.  I take my role as a life-long learner very seriously and actively try to learn more and more.  It keeps me content, and gives me a purpose.

Pacific Overtures opens on Thursday, April 21, 2005.  I would have to say that the cast continually improves every time we rehearse.  The improvement is by significant steps as well.  That means a couple of things.  One, we had a lot to work on to begin with.  Two, we're hitting our stride, and just in time, if I do say so myself.

Even as recent as a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering if we would be able to put together a decent show.  The music is so difficult, and the set design fairly intricate, and the logistics of the whole performance have been so complicated.  However, we've made a huge push and we're good now.

I made a comment to one of the actors, about how he was doing good.  He said something disparaging about himself, something to the effect of, "I wish I were good."  I proceeded to say, "Oh you're good.  Not great, but good."  That didn't get the reaction that I expected.  I just don't see that as a mean comment.  I said they were good.  I never said they couldn't be great.  They could.  They just have to keep on working at it.

I've always been one to have high standards, and to shoot for the penultimate, however, I also try to support people that do satisfactory work.  One of the cast members was complaining about getting a "Satisfactory" on their report card.  I didn't understand why she would be disappointed, because a "Satisfactory" means just that.  It wasn't bad.  It was just right.  Oh how Goldilocks would freak if she were told that "Just right" weren't good enough.  While we should hold high standards, we shouldn't lend more credit to subjective evaluations from outside sources than they deserve.

There is a preview tomorrow, to which we were told we could invite all of our immediate family.  The director even went so far as to say "That means no aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc."  That sort of got to me because I don't have parents or brothers and sisters.  Even Amelita isn't around.  My lola is my immediate family.  However, as the passive-aggressive that I am, I didn't say anything.  The director already has enough on his mind, and it's not like my lola would want to watch a two hour show late at night anyways.  So really, it's a moot point.

I'm usually really good at keeping my composure, or at the very least maintaining a facade that resembles the same situation.  However, my uncle seems to know exactly what to say to break that, and he seems to always have the worst timing.  God bless my uncle, becuase he means well, and according to him, he is "always doing right."

The hits came for me this weekend.  My left contact officially ripped, and I realized that I had a tear in my contact for at least a couple of weeks now, which was why my eyes were irritated every day.  I thought it was just allergies.  The check engine light in my Prelude came on as my speedometer dropped to zero while I was on the freeway.  I didn't lose power, so I was able to drive a few miles to reach my destination, but I left my car there overnight.

So, when I asked my uncle for some help, not only does he say, "No," but he lectured me on how I'm ruining my life and not thinking about my future.  He commonly does this and most of the time, I'm able to just shake it off.  However, I was pretty irritated at this point, probably due to the combination of circumstances arising this weekend, all on top of my lola's frail condition, the petitioning of Amelita to America from Canada, work, and the musical. 

More than being disappointed in these small potholes in the road of life, I am more disappointed in my inability to maintain my cool.  I pride myself on that.  Lisa Macapinlac, from UC Davis, as a character witness for me, once said, "Bobby doesn't get stressed out."  My previous manager, in a letter of recommendation wrote, "One of Bobby's best features is his ability to maintain an even level of emotion, no matter what the circumstance."  I myself, have a mantra, "Don't stress, because stress, in and of itself, does you no good."  Basically, if you've got a problem, what are you doing to do about it?  Don't sit there and cry about it.  Work on it to make it better. 

Some new things going on in the Department of Education.  I just found out that the Superintendent received his Bachelors in History.  The natural thing for me to do is to invite him to a History Day competition.  More importantly though, the continuing attack on the budgets of education here in California is ridiculous.  I received a call asking how one commercial could say that the Governor cut the budget on education and the one right after say that he raised it by $3 billion? 

Here's the run down, as far as how I understand it.  Governor Schwarzenegger took money away from education of about $2 billion, saying he would restore the normal funding according to Proposition 98, which guaranteed minimum funding for schools and pay it back this year.  That means he would give the regular $59 billion on top of the $2 billion he took away.  He hasn't though.  He gave $50 billion, short of minimum funding and isn't paying back the $2 billion.  The result?  A shortage of $7 billion.  Do the math.  So yes, he put a lot of the budget towards education.  But he's not putting enough.  Of course schools will close down.  There isn't enough funding. 

It's crunch time for the musical, since it opens up on April 21, 2005.  I have to commit myself more.  There's so much going on right now, that I'm having a hard time balancing everything.  Time management.  I used to be very proud of my time management skills.  Either they have deteriorated, or the combination of everything has adapted to my abilities.  Such is entropy.

Work is very rewarding right now.  I'm learning a lot of information, and am having a moderately decent time remembering all the steps and processes and what structures handle what issues within the ENTIRE California Department of Education (CDE) and its thousands of employees.  I've even learned a few things about the structure of education.  For example, much like in federalism, where the states maintain a certain level of autonomy to govern themselves in regards to certain issues, the same is true of the relationship between the school districts and CDE.  So if you're going to complain about something that's going on in a school, go get and submit a Uniform Complaint Procedure (UCP) Form first at the district office.

I still feel extremely busy, but that's just me making the most of the time that I have here on earth.  I knew very little about Pope John Paul II, but as I read more and more about him, the more I do believe that he was a strong example of morality.  I wouldn't call him perfect nor a saint, as some people done, but I do think he was better than most people.  A lot of people knock the Catholic church for the whole molestation scandal, but blame must be shared between the system of the church, and the individuals that committed the reprehensible acts.

I'm also moved at how strong the Full Equity campaign is right now.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the veteran's issue was listed as a hot story on the Yahoo! home page.  I give all the credit to those dedicated individuals that are bringing their skills and talents to the care of the veterans.  We are blessed to have you.

The world is in a constant state of change, some of it good, some of it bad.  While it is difficult to right the wrong, and fix the broken, it is worth it.  We could always use the help.

Here's an idea.  Since the daylight savings time adjustment is pretty difficult to get used to, and waking up a whole hour earlier because of a drastic hour forward switch during the first weekend of April is hard, I think we should implement a 15 minute skip for four consecutive weekends in March and April.  That way, by the time April is half over, we're still doing our daylight savings time, and the change isn't as hard to adjust to.  Daylight savings time isn't even done in every state.  The states that don't implement it are Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii.  What's the deal there?