Convention

Long time, no post.

MC'ed, led seminars, and did some late night entertainment in Bozeman, MT for about 1,000 teenagers and adults with Youth Unlimted's yearly Convention. I had a blast.

Met all kinds of great new people. Tiger McLeun, Chap Clarke, Shane Claiborn, Olive Aneno, and the worship band Pocket full of Rocks.

Got to know Pocket's lead singer and songwriter, Michaelf Farrin a bit. He was a lot of fun to hang around with. He's written about 1 bajillion songs that have been recorded by lots of fantastically famous folks in the record industry, but my favorite bit of info I gleaned from Michael was that he's a fan of country music. And not just a fan - but an old school country music fan.

So I put this info to good use and at one of the late night entertainment shows that I led, I grabbed Michael and Jonah's Wale leader Troy Kooima for a little impromptu Morgan Valley Social Club performance.

We all took turns telling stories and singing songs. Troy and I thought we were bringing Michael along to class the show up a bit, but that guy's crazier than we are. His road stories, self written music (Ghetto Christmas, I want to tinker with you) had us rolling in the aisles and we had a great time. I lamented to Troy afterwards that I really wish we could have recorded it.

Shane Claiborne was fantastic. I had fun getting to know seminar leader JR Pittman who's just as funny as a guy can get. Getting to hang out with Dawn, Troy and Happy the Dog friend Danny Fergen was just a real blast.

We were in Montana, so the scenery was great. I got to see the new Batman. I got to sneak in to a Casting Crowns concert for free! I got to hang out with a lot of cool friends from Neerlandia and some folks from Pella, Brooten, MN, and all sorts of places we've been blessed to travel in the past.

Troy spoke at Monday night's worship and knocked it out of the park. Truly the most spirit moving Convention main stage I've been a part of in three years with the group.

My flight got delayed on the way home, but that was fine as I got to spend some quality time with YU's own Carrie Ypma at the airport. We had a great conversation about family.

What else. . . lots of YU folk there. Millie, Les, Lenny, Kristen, Jeff, Carol, Bob, and many, many others that I'm sure I'm forgetting.

I got to dance on stage with Pocket's crazy tune, Now I Sing.

I got to sing Momma, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys with Troy at a mainstage. It didn't rock as hard as Ring of Fire did last year, but it was definately a highlight for me.

Jet lag knocked me around something awful. Carson's got my inner clock waking every morning around 6 a.m. Iowa time, so I was waking up at 5 a.m. like clockwork out in Bozeman. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I wasn't going to bed until between 1 and 2 a.m.

What else, what else?

I led some seminars on journaling and poetry and then emcee'd a late night entertainment session open mic for creative writing. Wow! What great stuff we heard from so many kids and a even a few adults. Original music, poetry, and hilarious stories. I hope they let me do the same thing again if I'm asked back next year.

There's probably a ton more I'm forgetting.

My reading for the weekend was The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz which won the pulitzer. It's about a Dominican family and their trials over the last fifty some years. Just fantastic, sad, hilarious, and thought provoking all at the same time.

Thought the new Batman was great, but not quite as good as the hype. It should have been two movies, with Two Face dominating the second. With everything shoved into one, it felt rushed in some scenes.

okay, signing off for now. I'm sure Troy and/or Dawn will write more about the event on happythedog.com if you're interested.

Till next time,
Jason