(This was meant to be posted yesterday.)

The weekend got off to a good start when I acquired a new instrument for my collection. Yes, friends, be envious, because Nate Diehl gave me a one octave set of desk bells, key of C. We recently saw/heard these magical instruments put to use by the lovely ladies in Amina, and Nate found them in one of his educational instrument catalogs. There are optional chromatic expansion packs, so if I keep practicing, perhaps the set will grow. Needless to say, there will be a new timbre on the next hymn CD.

Friday night Erica and I saw Thank You For Smoking. I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, though, I missed Tsotsi at the local independent theater. I’ll have to wait for the DVD release, I guess.

The weekend got even better on Saturday when I received a shipment of music from Jared and the Village Green. Why did it take me so long to give in to Richard Swift? His music is classic and enchanting. Along with his double LP, I got the Metal Hearts’ latest, which is good, though not as intoxicating as their live show. The Asmathic Kitty comp is enjoyable, and not nearly as annoying as I was afraid it might be. (And incidently, the Combovers and I recently played with Sam Rosen, who appears on the disc. [Sorry, just name-dropping in hopes of receiving some sort of validation.]) I’m listening to Jens Lekman now, an album I have waited much too long for, and I’m about to listen to the Appleseed Cast’s new album, which will hopefully make up for missing out on their Good Friday show, but will probably only make me even more upset.

(Now, don’t get the wrong idea, I paid good money for these CD’s. And you should support your local record store, too, even if by "local" you mean "your friend's which is located 10+ hours away.")

Speaking of missing shows, I missed Why? and Islands last night. I don’t really want to talk about it. I should move to Philly, because the hour and half trip, while not impossible, isn’t exactly convenient.

Saturday afternoon consisted of a rainy spring festival on the Southside. It was nothing special, but the art exhibit at Home and Planet was. The artist, Tres Taylor, incorporates a lot of scripture and spiritual themes in his work which was cool, but he takes the love theme to a new-agey-somewhat-creepy-or-at-least-uncomfortable level. Nevertheless, his work is very enjoyable.

Saturday night, Steve and I finally broke our long-time losing streak and beat our wives in a best-of-5 Sequence series, three to one. So we have earned bragging rights, at least until the next rematch.

Sunday morning was youth Sunday where the youth group was in charge of the service, and I got to pretend I was in youth group again by helping Wes with worship. I got to play percussion, which is quickly becoming my new favorite musical endeavor. The entire weekend I was really weird and giddy, and I blamed it on the percussion, and I'm pretty sure that was in fact the reason. I was especially excited because I reached a new milestone. You see, I always enjoy the shaker and tambourine combination (listen to pretty much every track on my hymn cd for evidence), and I always enjoy the djembe, but I always thought the only way to play both at the same time was to have two people. Well, I disproved my theory this weekend by finding a way to play all three at the same time: drum in front, egg shaker in the right hand, tambourine resting on the stomach, and beating away. It probably looked pretty ridiculous, but if I may say so myself, I’m pretty sure it sounded pretty dang good.

Mark preached, and I think it was a style of preaching our church needed. He wants to be Kimber Kauffman, who is his latest obession, Yoder.

Yesterday at my parent’s dinner table, my mother asked if I wanted any coffee. I passed, saying that I felt I had already exceeded my coffee quota for the weekend. Erica informed her that I had drank 7 cups on Saturday. For pure shock value, I added, “AND I smoked 2 packs of cigarettes!” My parents are pretty good at ignoring me by now. They just roll their eyes.

Then Dad led our Bible study last night. I asked him if he was really nervous, because I taught last week and it’s a tough act to follow. He said he didn’t even think about it, but I’m pretty sure he was lying. I think he was scared stiff.

I went back to school today, even though I really didn’t want to. The kids are pretty much done. There’s no getting them back. My diaphragm hurt by the end of the day.