"Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.
I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty,
believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”
~~Louisa May Alcott
Hi all,

So we have a couple newsletters coming up that are date-specific.  With John's birthday on the 31st, I generally like to send that newsletter on the actual date.  Further, Valentine's Day is right on the heels of that.  Thus, regular Sunday delivery for the newsletter may switch to Fridays for the next month.

Because of this, I'm afraid all I have is another thrown together one for today!  But what else is new?  ;-)

God bless,
Jenni
Looking Ahead to JABB in 2014

Last time I brought you the New Year's resolutions of assorted Dyelanders.  Today I'm going to share my own personal 2014 to do list.  Here's hoping I can actually stick to it!  My goals are...

1.  Get the last of the THC logo infested TBAA snaps off the Photo Gallery!  I will be glad when I can look at photos from any episode and not see a monstrous animated creature in the corner promoting some new Hallmark product.  ;-)

2.  Speaking of the Photo Gallery, while I have no expectation of actually finishing this during 2014, I would like to at least start redoing the S1-4 galleries.  I have no idea why I made those photos so small.

3.  I've recently started organizing the JABB web site files and hope to further pursue that in the year ahead.  If done correctly, you probably won't see much change.  Although if you have various pages bookmarked, you might have to alter those bookmarks in time.  There's a chance that this may lead to temporary broken links as I transition to a more sensible web space filing system (as opposed to what I have now which basically involves dumping everything into one huge folder!) so I hope you'll let me know if you run into that.

4.  I've really missed doing commentary over on the Author's Cut so would love to get back to that.

5.  I sometimes get feedback from folks who don't visit the site so much because of John Dye or TBAA but rather because they're working on stories or projects and use my "sources" lists.  So I'd like to get all those gathered together on one page.  It might not be of much use to us JABBers but I figure making things easier and helping people learn things is very much in keeping with John's and TBAA's efforts to help others.

6.  As recently discussed on the JABB YG, I would love to get some sort of character chart going for the Dyeland stories.  I've made a couple for subsets but never even attempted a full "family tree."  It would be nice to have, though, especially for people who try to get into the stories while the whole saga's already in progress.

7.  I'd love to get into a pattern where I'm not writing these the day they're due.  ;-)

8.  I'll try to focus more on what I have done with JABB instead of just what I want to do and haven't gotten around to.  I realize this list may not really evidence that as a goal... but I'm a contradictory person sometimes.  Ha!

9.  I will continue to work on my Monica angst.  ;-)  But, really, I think comparing it now to even a few months ago... I've really improved!  I promise!  No, really.

10.  I promise to not let eventually finishing "The Carpenter" turn me into an emotional mess who gets weepy over hammers, blocks of wood, and Andrew Lloyd Webber music.  I understand that I will completely fail at this because I am a sap.

11.  I will not let Annabelle turn into a convenient sitcom-style baby who only ever gets mentioned when plotlines are specifically baby-focused but is otherwise treated as a non-entity. 

12.  I'll still try to address difficult issues but strive to avoid telling jaded stories.  Terrible stuff happens.  That's reality.  But I believe that, while the characters of Dyeland may be fanciful, their bonds aren't.  There are way more people out there loving each other and trying to do good than the opposite.  I want to tell stories about those sorts of people.

13.  I'd like to not do quite so much while fueled only by caffeine.  This may be the least likely to happen item on this list. 

14.  I will continue to be grateful to John Dye for portraying Andrew so beautifully that, over a decade after the show ended, I just can't seem to let Andrew go.  I'm glad for that.  And I'm glad that at least one of my characters really has a real person behind Him. 

Season 2 Episodes in Two Seconds*
*Give or take a few seconds...
I don't even know where this idea came from.  Maybe just from reading tiny synopses on TV schedule grids.  But I got to wondering what it would look like if we tried to give super brief Andrewcentric descriptions of TBAA episodes.  I'm giving Season 2 a go first.  Admittedly, it probably woulda made more sense to do this after watching S2 episodes...  Oh well! 

"The One that Got Away"- Andrew is an uninvited guest to a wedding yet manages to be one of the most charming despite horrid shoes.  Monica acts like a snot.  Tess eats meatballs.  Psychopath is caught.  Love blooms.  Fun times were had by all.

"Til We Meet Again"- Tess steals Andrew's football.  The angels help a family come to terms with a secret and say good bye to their dad.  The football is never seen again.

"Rock 'n Roll Dad"- Andrew dances with his umbrella then spies on a couple in their bedroom.  Viewers feel a little uneasy.  Tragedy strikes.  Rock star takes drugs.  Tess protects his daughter.  Rock star becomes less Ozzy and more Steven Curtis Chapman.  Yay!

"Indigo Angel"- Andrew lives in a basement and later wears an awesome tux.  Blues legends sing.  Monica can't.  Tess is the Countess.  Club owner goes to Heaven but only after straightening a wall sconce cause, dude, priorities!

"Lost and Found"- Andrew loves computers.  Viewers feel giggly about him being so nerdy but then have a mood crash.  Most bittersweet dream sequence ever commences.  Kathleen is totes creepy.  Monica wins in a show down.  Happy reunion commences!

"Dear God"- John Dye becomes a regular cast member.  Andrew fans rejoice!  Angels read their Dad's mail.  Curmudgeon looks after an orphaned girl.  We all bask in TBAA's ability to sensitively handle one of the darkest chapters in human history.
   
"Portrait of Mrs. Campbell"- Dr. McLovely.  That is all.

"The Quality of Mercy"- Andrew fences!  And is in a Shakespeare play!  Oh and there's something about some guy cheating on his wife but... Andrew fences!

"Birthmarks"- The angels school Mr. Feeny.  Andrew loves computers again.  Angels talk more about conception than ever since that one time in Nazareth.

"Statute of Limitations"- Andrew produces a scummy talk show and ponders Monica's lower lip.  PLAID!  Big time revelation and it's not from the angels. 

This newsletter is dedicated to John Dye for signing on with TBAA and then agreeing to stick around.  Seriously.  Look at your life.  What all would be different if he hadn't?  Okay, maybe you would have spent the last ten minutes doing something a little more productive than reading me blather.  But other than that... I bet your life wouldn't be as cool.  Enough said.  Thanks, John!

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(Photo Credits: The photographs used on this page are from Touched by an Angel and owned by CBS Productions, Caroline Productions, and Moon Water Productions. They are not being used to seek profit.)