the weekend that was: i’ve been in san antonio, texas, for our ys one day premiere. our process of developing the content for ys one day (previously ‘the core’) is rigorous, messy, and time consuming. but i think it’s a big part of what sets this training apart: it’s not just one person’s seminar thoughts. ys one day is collaboratively developed by a team of writers and presenters, and goes through multiple stages of writing, testing, and refinement. when we get to this final test (the premiere), we hope to have it finalized, but find there are still, always, lots of changes to make. this time around, we made tweaks and modifications to three of the four sessions, and completely scrapped one and re-wrote it. we tested the day, with a different presenter for each of the four sessions, in front of the volunteer team from the youth ministry of a large church here in san antonio. all of our team who are here (about 15 of us) sat in the audience and took copious notes. then we met saturday afternoon and much of sunday, giving input and reworking. now, there is a smaller team of us (4) who will stay on a couple more days to complete all the final rewrites, getting the day into its final form.
i love the people on this team, and we have a ton of fun together also; but we work really hard. i’m exhasted and brain dead.
i did catch two movies this weekend, after the evening broke up. both were excellent: gran torino really surprised me. i thought it would be a good tough movie about a scrappy old dude confronting gangs in his neighborhood. what i didn’t expect was how funny it was, how 3-dimensional the characters would be, and how much stunning christian imagery would be in the film. it’s really a film about forgiveness and redemption. i also saw valkyrie, which was better than i expected. it was intense, despite generally knowing the outcome. i loved learning about a true story i hadn’t really heard before.
finally, a few of us took a mental break sunday afternoon to watch the san diego chargers pittsburgh steelers.
where i am at the moment: still in san antonio, working on the rewrites for ys one day. we’re scheduled to fly home on wednesday, but i’m hoping we’ll be able to leave tuesday evening.
on my to-do list this week: first half of the week is ys one day work; second half of the week is catching up on stuff in the office.
procrastinating about: as i write this, i’m procrastinating on the writing work i have to immediately get to for ys one day. i think i can acknowledge that i’m also in a procrastinating phase when it comes to reading. normally, i’m jazzed to have some time to grab whatever book (or books) i’m in the middle of. but for the last month or so i’ve been very unmotivated to read, and find myself playing solitaire on my ipod during flights, while my book sits in my seat back pocket.
book i’m in the midst of: a.j. jacobs’ the know it all. fun book.
music that seemed to catch my attention this past week: not sure anything particularly caught my attention, but i’m diggin’ on some mellow, vibey bebel gilberto remixed as a write this.
next trip: a week from thursday i fly to san juan, puerto rico, for the especialidades juveniles (spanish ys) cumbre (summit). in latin america, we have 6 or 7 “regional youth specialties” that are ys for their country (we have these in chile, argentina, paraguay, peru, costa rica, guatemala, and puerto rico — which is the newest. i think uruguay is just now coming online also). each of these host their own national event for youth workers each year. i’ve never been to puerto rico, and am really looking forward to being with our team there.
how i’m feeling about this week: mostly good. i a bit too tired and weary (physically, emotionally, mentally) to say i’m pumped up or anything like that.