The World According To Chris Brewer

It’s true. I took Aftan to a Saturday afternoon performance of The Nutcracker at Keller Auditorium in Portland. Our seats were on the second floor balcony, and even though we were two rows up, we got a great view of the performance. Added bonus: the Oregon Symphony was there and provided musical accompaniment, and it was awesome to see how the symphony and ballet dancers synchronized everything perfectly.

Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. We had to dress a little nicer than we usually do, but I didn’t mind that at all. I gained an appreciation for how hard each of the performers train — and the result of their training was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that uneducated individuals in the crowd kept clapping whenever someone did something amazing — even while the music was still playing. Grrrr. If only people knew proper etiquette for events like that.

Suffice it to say that what I thought were going to rank among the most boring hours of my life turned out to be a wonderful memory for Aftan and myself, and it kicked off my Christmas state of mind.

Sunday I went to church at Grace Baptist in St. Helens with Aftan, her mom and her aunt. The worship was boring — stand up, sing one song one time through, sit down, sing the second song one time through, stand up again to ensure you’re not asleep yet and sing the third and final song one more time — oh, and make sure not to raise your hands too high or sing the song more than once. The pastor’s message more than made up for the worship session as he spoke on how Noah was a parallel to Christ in many ways. Good history lesson, and good thoughts that I honestly had never really pondered before. It wasn’t a message that made me reflect on anything or cry out to the Lord for healing, but it was still good in its own way.

Oh and after the service I saw Aaron Stansbury, an old friend from high school. We talked for a bit then I left with the Rehling gang. We went to eat at some Mexican restaurant, then went home where I watched football and saw my fantasy football team complete a scintillating comeback from down 20 points to win and send me to the league championship, where there are $500 up for grabs. I kinda need that money about now.

No new news involving a job search. I’m still looking.

Tomorrow, Aftan and I are gonna finish up Christmas shopping in Portland and then come back, and join the family as we all go to a U-Cut Christmas tree place to get the tree. I’m excited about that.

Cheerio.