Amy J. Bennett

Extraordinary Faith for Everyday Life

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Archives for July 2009

The Bachelorette Episode 8

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*puke, puke, puke*

Wes was just BEYOND a unbelievable tonight.  I am completely flabbergasted.  My jaw is literally dropped.  I have never, in all my Bachelor(ette) watching years have I seen someone so inconsiderate and just..just…a JERK!  At least we got it out of his OWN MOUTH…he was there for his record and he had a girlfriend.  Does he think he’s going to win fans that way?  Are people seriously going to support him now??  And then not only to admit he was acting, not care to explain himself to Jillian and then act like a pompous jerk, he had to put down Reid and the other guys.  OMG!  I really don’t know when the last time I’ve seen someone be so conniving.  Jake, thank you for stepping up because I don’t think Jillian would have pushed him so hard had you not come to tell her.

OK, so now that I have that out of my system.

Reid moved ahead to the front last week for me and I think I’m going to keep him there another week.  They were more than adorable in Spain.  To me, she seems to have the most comfort level with him and yet keeps that physical attraction as well.  The thing about Reid is he’s wanting to move too slowly and he has a hard time communicating and Jillian is really having to draw it out of him.

Obviously Jillian and Ed have serious chemistry.  I think the family thing is a serious issue.  Melissa and Jason had the same issue last year and I think it will be an issue going forward.   I’m not totally sold on Ed and Jillian together but I like him a whole lot.

I continue to love Kiptyn and Jillian together and see no issues but what scares me about Jillian is she’s questioning herself about them so much. I did feel good about their conversation about him voicing his opinions (or not).

Now on another random note, can you believe she turned down all the fantasy suites?  I think first time in the show’s history not one guy got an overnight (well, technically Ed did)?  Good for her though.

Hawaii looks amazing and I’m guessing all those fantasy suites go down then.  We still have yet to see who has the “malfunction” and let me say I am NOT happy to see that it is any of those 3.

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Non-novel First Reaction

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This weekend I got one of the best emails I’ve gotten in a very, very long time.  Outside of those that helped me write, Sarah was the first person that read my non-novel and sent me her reaction.  And ya’ll, it was good.  Yes, there is a list of things that need work but I knew that.  It really didn’t get me down at all because these few sentences made my day:

I loved it, I really, really loved it.

I think it’s really wonderful. I cared not only about Sam, but about Dominic, about Beth, about all the peripheral characters. You made them interesting and real. And I forgot that I was reading something that you wrote – it just flowed and drew me in. I really, really loved it.

*squeee*

Thank you, Sarah!!!

July 4th Recap

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So most of July 4th was spent cleaning surprisingly.  The kids spent the night at IL’s Friday and we had no plans until Saturday evening so we used the time to straighten up and clean out.

Sometime that afternoon the pool Sirens finally called loud enough and I settled in with my book just as the girls came home.  We stayed in the pool for the afternoon.  Mom, Dad and Heather joined us.  Mom had brought crab legs so we had those as well as hamburgers.  We finished out the night together watching Confessions of a Shopaholic.

The girls and I went to see some fireworks courtesy of our local minor league baseball team.  Both girls barely made it through the fireworks they were so late but it was a nice evening to be out.

The Phantom of the Opera

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I have other stuff to blog about this weekend but I want to get this one out.  A few months ago a few friends tried to get a group of 15 together to go see Phantom of the Opera but we never could seem to get it together.  Finally last week I decided to get tickets for me and Scott for today’s 2:00 show.  I was really excited.  In fact, I remember twittering buying the tickets was the best thing that had happened that day.

Cut to today.  Drama at church.  Lunch after church.  Long conversation about drama at church after lunch after church.  It’s 3:30.  I lie down to take a nap hoping to forget most of what happened that morning and within a minute, pop straight up and yell, “SCOTT, WE’RE SUPPOSED TO BE AT PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!”  Scott was in the middle of sleeping, pops just his head up and looks at me like he’s trying to determine if someone is getting ready to attack.

After a few minutes of complaining from me over my inability to remember anything and the amount of money I paid for the tickets, I call the ticket office and the lady says there is probably nothing that can be done.  She can’t do anything over the phone.  We could try to go there in person and see if there is anything they can do but she doubts it.  The last show in Charlotte was tonight at 7.

The show is 2.5 hours long and I figure at the very, very least, I could catch the last 30 minutes of the show.  We make the 20 minute trip to downtown Charlotte, make a mess of trying to park only to have Scott drop me off at the front to run in.

I find the place desolate save one man eating his packed lunch at the ticket booth.  He listens to my story but says he can do nothing.  A manager will be there at 5 who can help me.  At this point it’s about 4:15.  It would be pointless to go home and come back.  I get Scott to pick me up and we go park and then wait for 5 at the theater.

Workers begin taking their places and the man finally waves me over just after 5.  The manager doesn’t even flinch at my story, offers me Limited View box seats and I gladly accept.  I victoriously walk out with a handwritten ticket for two, even waving it in the air at a few people that we had chatted with during our wait.  We make plans for the kids who were already spending the afternoon with family.  We decide to run home, get me out of my heels that are already giving me blisters, grab a quick dinner and then head back.

So we get there at 6:45 thinking it started at 7 only to find out doors open at 7 and the show starts at 7:30.  We finally get settled in our box seats only for the lady to say she has sat all 6 people in the box next to the one we should be in.  Ahh…it’s a comedy of errors.  Story of my life lately.  Anyway, we get settled in, Scott complains to all his buddies through text that he’s having to sit through this and I chat it up with the people next to us that have seen it several times and fill me in on a few details.

And then finally.  The show starts.

So.  The Show.

I have to preface this and say I’m pretty clueless about all things Broadway and Opera.  My experience is very limited.  I’ve only seen CATS and Grease so this opinion is coming very much from a novice.  And I know I’m really, really late on any kind of review but I still have to do it.

  • The cast was extremely talented.  They blew me away with their voices.  I wanted so many times just to close my eyes and listen but I was scared I was going to miss something on stage.
  • Very randomly, Raoul looks just like Peter Facinelli.
  • I enjoyed the love triangle story.  I liked the idea of light vs. dark and physical vs. inner beauty.
  • The plays within the play was a cool idea.  I liked how we got to see many different types of costumes and types of things in one setting.
  • I had a hard time understanding what they were saying/singing.  I think I could’ve followed it better if I had read the script first.  Maybe I’ll be able to relax a bit more after seeing it a few times and I know what’s going on.
  • My favorite song by far was “All I Ask of You”
  • I hated the ending.  While watching it I found myself rooting for Raoul.  He was very charming and obviously loved her.  Meanwhile, Erik is busy hanging people and terrorizing everyone.  But something in me just assumed she would go with Erik.  They seemed to have that ingrained, meant to be kind of connection.  I really thought she would get over his appearance and give in to the night and love him.  Not knowing the story, I just felt that’s where they were leading us.  Raoul was the “right” guy but in her heart she really loved Erik.  But at the end, the only thing we got was her sailing off in a boat with the “right guy” and a mask in a chair.  Well, thanks.  What was all that for anyway then?  Talk about a tragedy.  The unloved masked man turns out to be unloved in the end anyway.

I don’t say all that about the ending to say I hated the whole thing. I enjoyed myself immensely and would recommend the show to others.  I want to watch the movie because from what I understand, there’s a different ending I’d probably enjoy more.

As for Scott, he got home and said I feel like I need to watch something else to clear my brain and then promptly turned on some show about people surviving getting stabbed in the neck.

So yeah, that was my experience with The Phantom of the Opera.

July 4th – Remember

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This is The Mayflower Compact. If you’re like me, you haven’t read it in years, if ever.

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.
Having undertaken, for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith and Honour of our King and Country, a Voyage to plant the First Colony in the Northern Parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, Covenant and Combine ourselves together into a Civil Body Politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini 1620.

I know our Independence is about so much more than religion, just read the Declaration of Independence one more time.   I get that there is a First Amendment and separation of Church and State.  And I know this can start lots of arguments.  I don’t really want to go there.  There was just something about reading The Mayflower Compact that got my attention.  It’s sad to think if any politician or political group tried to put “for the Glory of God and advancement of the Christian Faith” in any speech or document, they’d be blasted for it.  I don’t know if I have a point to this except to say…Remember.

Patrick Henry
Ratifier of the U.S. Constitution

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.” 
–The Trumpet Voice of Freedom: Patrick Henry of Virginia, p. iii.

John Jay
1st Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court and President of the American Bible Society

“In forming and settling my belief relative to the doctrines of Christianity, I adopted no articles from creeds but such only as, on careful examination, I found to be confirmed by the Bible.” 
–American Statesman Series, p. 360.

John Adams
2nd U.S. President and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“Suppose a nation in some distant Region should take the Bible for their only law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there exhibited! Every member would be obliged in conscience, to temperance, frugality, and industry; to justice, kindness, and charity towards his fellow men; and to piety, love, and reverence toward Almighty God … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.” 
–Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, Vol. III, p. 9.

“The general principles on which the fathers achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of God.“ 
–Adams wrote this on June 28, 1813, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson.

“The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.”
–Adams wrote this in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.

Thomas Jefferson
3rd U.S. President, Drafter and Signer of the Declaration of Independence

“I am a real Christian – that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus Christ.” 
–The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, p. 385.

“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever; That a revolution of the wheel of fortune, a change of situation, is among possible events; that it may become probable by Supernatural influence! The Almighty has no attribute which can take side with us in that event.” 
–Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XVIII, p. 237.

James Monroe
5th U.S. President

“When we view the blessings with which our country has been favored, those which we now enjoy, and the means which we possess of handing them down unimpaired to our latest posterity, our attention is irresistibly drawn to the source from whence they flow. Let us then, unite in offering our most grateful acknowledgements for these blessings to the Divine Author of All Good.” 
–Monroe made this statement in his 2nd Annual Message to Congress, November 16, 1818.

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