For those of you who haven't been part of my physical life here in Bozeman, you may not know that this week is one of the biggest weeks of my year. I just wanted to let you in on a little snipit of what's going on in my life.

One of the groups I used to work with, the College & Young Adult Group at BUMC, is having their Spring Fundraiser. Last year, when I was the coordinator, we did this fabulously successful fundraiser called "Sabbath Night Live" where we had a silent auction and a live sketch comedy/music night. I wrote a five-sketch play where I took a TV show and a Biblical story and morphed them together. We ended up only doing two of the sketches last year, so the people who took over after I left contacted me and asked me if we'd like to do two more sketches this year at the Spring Fundraiser. Of course, I said yes.

So we started out casting the roles. We chose to do Babylonian Idol again this year (because it was phenomenally popular last year, thanks to our great singers and the band), and Gideon's Island (a mash-up of Gilligan's Island and the story of Gideon and the fleece). We have a great actress playing the role of Gideon, and a guy doing the Mr. Howell character that I swear sounds so much like the real Mr. Howell, it just gets me every time. The band, once again, is absolutely phenomenal. It's basically the same band as last year, with the addition of a new bass player. I switched from piano to keyboard, and Sarah took over at piano.

It has been fantastic.

But once we had the casting finished, we hit the rehearsing hardcore. I feel like, everytime I leave the house now, I'm saying, "I'm off to rehearsal. I'll be back at 9." :-) But I love it. I got home last night from our dress rehearsal and was just so overflowing with joy at our experience that I immediately emailed everyone and said, "I don't know how we managed this, but we are SO awesome." (Can you tell how humble I am? Hah!)

Anyway, these next couple of days are the hard days. They're the detail days. We need a fur for Deborah's fleece. I need a hat to play Skipper. We need nametags for the Idol judges. We need new fishing wire to hold the Idol sign up. We need more sand-colored sheets to hide the tree bases. We need a mult-directional microphone for the actors on Stage Left. We need to check the multi-directional microphone to make sure it won't feedback with the speakers where they are. We need someone to turn the mics on and off during the play, because I can't do it now that I have to be Skipper. We need tables and chairs set up. We need a box for voting. Those kinds of things. (Actually, writing that down just now helped me make a great list! Haha!)

But then, once Friday comes, I will be on Cloud Nine. I love events like this, where a whole bunch of creative people get together and sing and play and act and have a great time. I am just so excited. I feel good about where we are, and I'm psyched. It is definitely making it hard to get through these days, though. It's like I have too much energy for my own good. :-)

I hope to post pictures and/or video on here, when Monday rolls around. Because I think it's going to be fantastic, and I can't wait to see everyone's full costumes and makeup.

What about you? Do you participate in any volunteer shows or musicals or writing events? What does that feel like for you? What do you like about it? Any great stories to share?