a different kind of orchestra

a wave of nostalgia hit me as i watched some of the amazing things that He has been doing at ucsd so far during this quarter. i remember sophomore year when the vision team met, researched, contacted, inquired, re-grouped and prayed for a bigger LG venue. back then peterson 108 was the best we could get. the ballroom was out of question and PC theatre seemed highly unlikely. but we still dreamed. we dreamed the possibility of holding our LGs outside, on the soccer field. how about RIMAC? doesn't matter that there were intramural games going on every night; we still dreamed.

mandeville was the dream of all dreams. the 800-seat theatre seemed like the perfect fit in so many ways. the stage space was more than adequate (if it can fit a whole symphony, surely it can fit a worship team!) and the theatre had a good balance of being roomy without being too cushy. the venue itself wasn't the only thing we dreamt about. we dreamed of filling that space with people who instead of watching a group of graduates and retired folks playing Handel (which is great, since that's what the venue was originally built for...in fact i was one of their season subscribers that year), worshipped God passionately in one voice. it ended up that mandeville wasn't available due to rehearsals then...and then due to other reasons for the next 3 years. but since then an ubber rich philanthropist has endowed the music dept with enough money to build a world class concert hall and UCSD IV became an indirect beneficiary...we got to have our first LG at mandeville! sigh. i so wish i could've been there.


it's been over 15 months since graduation, but my post-college transition still feels abrupt and undone. i wasn't ready to move out of costa verde towers, to live apart from the roommates i considered family, to stop learning in the academia...but then again, i suppose most aren't ready to grow up quite suddenly either...