I love my wife. I dont love musicals.

I can appreciate the talented singing and the effort they put on of the huge production. Its pretty intense. But I truly dislike musicals. Its not only because musicals are cheap ripoffs of the opera.... Last night to celebrate my wife birthday Lisa demanded that we go see Wicked. I have always told Lisa of my disdain for musicals. So it took a hurculean effort for me to be motivated to go. To quote the musical giant Meatloaf, I always said "I will do anything for love. But I just won't do that(musicals)." For 8 yrs that I have been with Lisa I stood firm on this stance. As I was sitting there at Segerstrom looking around at people who were SUPER excited to see the production, I felt little uneasy. Once again I was really annoyed watching this musical and I will tell you why.

Before I tell you why I dislike musicals I will tell you that I can see why people loved Wicked. The anti hero that was misunderstood. It defines the thespian types that probably always felt misunderstood. But as much as I wanted enjoy this, I was truly happy when it was over. The number one reason why truly dislike musicals? Those crazies that's seen the same production 6 times and they laugh at jokes before the punchline. They anticipate the actor to tell the joke or when a funny moment is coming up, they laugh out loud little bit louder letting you know that they have seen this before. They are showing off their broadway supremacy. Then there are those that sing along. But the worst was when I saw and heard some one lip syncing. How did I hear the lip syncing you ax? Because as they are moving their mouth I can hear the whisper that comes out as they act out the scene. If purgatory existed, that would be it for me. Surrounded by the miserably happy musical lovers reenacting there favorite scene from Cats. Full grown adults in feline suits prentending to be cats and lip syncing to memories....

But even this reminded me of the sacrificial love that Christ bestowed upon us sinners. I am sure as Christ sees us for the sinners that we are, its thousand times worse than how I see those who embrace that sinful show Glee. They refer to themselves as "gleeks". So last night I did my version of sacrificial love. I went against my vow of never watching a musical again and watched Wicked. But so much greater is Christ who died for all the gleeks no matter how infinitely detestable we are. Obviously me sitting through Wicked is not even a comparison of Christ's work on the cross. Baby steps. All I am saying is that I still suffered.... Its my version of suffering for love. You can see how great God's love is. There I was complaining sitting through a musical... Jesus actually gladly died for us.

 For those who are fans of musicals and feel offended by what I wrote here don't be. Its just how lame I am as a sinner.

Perfection

Beethoven's 9th might be the greatest piece of music ever written.  I love classical music.  I love many composers.  But as "played out" as 9th might be, to me there is nothing better.  Beethoven is so much more grand than any other composers.  Its incredible.  Its perfect.  

There are extraordinary moments in life where you come across an unbelievable experience.  You taste something and it is so good that you reach a pinnacle of what this world has to offer. 

Recently I had a beer that was so good, I didn't know if I can ever have better beer.  If you have ever had Pliny the Elder, you might know what I am talking about.  It so hard to find that beer that when I actually found it at a liquor store, I wanted buy all of it.  But any place that sells this beer, they only allow you to buy one bottle at a time.  Its a crime.

Then again... Maybe its a good thing.  You won't appreciate it as much if its plentiful.

As blasphemous as it might be to describe heaven with this man made beer, that is what exactly  I thought about as I was drinking this wonderfully tasty beer. 

Most of the great things in life has a limit.  Its like any great things or experience I've had.

There is a pinot noir that I once had that was so good. It was a French Burgundy made by some monks in the early 90s. I will never find it again.  At that moment I had no idea that
I will never have it again.  So I keep drinking other Pinots to match that experience.  Sometimes it comes close.  May be my pallet has become more sophisticated and may be if I had an opportunity to drink that wine again it wont be as good.  But like a coke addict, I keep searching for that experience every time I drink Pinot.

I was talkin about this with my boy Jongmin.  Having something so good can only be achieved by experiencing lots of other examples that are not that good.  Have you ever experienced perfection?  How would you know what perfection was without experiencing imperfection?  Once in a while I achieve perfect cup of coffee.  Many different things that are out of my control has to happen in order for this coffee to happen.  When it happens, for that moment nothing else matters.  But this does not mean that I can ever produce that exact cup of coffee all the time.  Even if it is the same beans....  Because coffee bean is seasonal, every year it changes a bit.  How it is roasted might not be the same...  you get the point.

The scary thing is how companies like Starbucks and McDonald's can produce the same consistent taste every time and everywhere.....  So this can only mean one of 2 things.  Its either genetically engineered like micky-d's or in the case of Starbucks the beans are so cheap and plentiful they cannot help but to produce the same taste. 

Do you remember the first time you had Krispy Kreme donuts?  It was incredible right?  But what happened over time?  Its never the same as your first couple of times right?  

So going back to the heaven thing....  May be if Pliny the Elder was plentiful it will become another Krispy Kreme.  I don't know.  But what is just too wonderful for me to understand is concept of heaven.  Perfection that keeps its definition forever.  All things will be at a optimal level of perfection all the time.  Perfect righteousness.  Not only is this something that I cannot understand, its almost scary.  Its because I cannot imagine absolute perfection all the time due to the fact I am so imperfect.  I cant imagine how I would react to something like that.  One day it will happen.  One day it will be better than having Pliny with a perfect slice of pizza that I once had in New Haven Connecticut.  One day I will feel more elated than that incredible moment when Kirk Gibson hit a home run in the 9th inning in the World Series.  

In fact it will be better than all the incredible experiences I've had all put together.  Till then, I will go on with my life.  Hopefully experiencing many great moments looking ahead to greater things to come.