Random Thoughts From Brett: Grad school, Worship Band & American Idol

I didn't quite make the "weekly" installment quota for the past few months...oh well! So, with every intention to have more regular contributions on our blog, but with no promises, here's a new installment of "Random Thoughts From Brett":

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You may or may not have known that I was supposed to begin a master's program this week. "Supposed to begin?" you ask. Yes, much to my disappointment, it fell through at the last minute. Without going into too much detail, the school was rather misleading (okay, they flat out lied) about the cost of the program and when I received my bill 2 days before I was to begin classes, I found out that it was going to cost more than double what I had been previously told. I was pretty upset about it and really very shocked at how the school had presented everything. Ironically, the program was a marketing program. How's that for good marketing practices? As my boss would say...shady grove.

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Some good news...I met with the Worship Pastor at our church, Westover, last night and beginning in a few weeks I will be singing with our band on Sunday mornings on an occasional basis. I'm very excited about this opportunity that God has given me as music is such an important part of my life and I haven't been involved in any music ministry since getting married. About 9 months ago, after attending a Christian concert, Jes and I both felt that God was leading me to get involved in music ministry in some capacity and since then we have been praying about what this was supposed to look like. I know that this is a part of God's plan for me and I am humbled to be able to serve in this way, especially at Westover as there are so many extremely talented individuals involved in the Worship ministry. I hope to grow as a vocalist, musician and disciple of Christ through this experience.

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Tonight was the beginning of this year's season of American Idol. The auditions from tonight's show were in Boston. I was at these auditions this past summer. Or should I say, I was at the American Idol auditions this past summer in Boston, not exactly the auditions presented in tonight's show. I was there on the rainy day, but the judges weren't. It was cold and rainy and I was outside waiting for 14 hours for what ended up being a 1 minute audition in front of a nobody! You see, you don't audition for the "real" judges until you make it through a few other rounds and months after your initial audition. I think from the Boston auditions only about 150 out of the 9,000 made it through to the judges....including the crazies. Which means those crazies make it through several rounds of auditions - no wonder they think they can sing! I must say, it really was a neat experience to watch it on TV tonight having been there and seeing how differently they portray it. Let's just say American Idol is more of an over-produced reality TV show than a singing competition. I was pretty disappointed that I didn't see anyone I met at the auditions on TV - that would've been cool!

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Well that's it for today's "Random Thoughts From Brett". Until next time...