A Little Rambling

A new school year has begun.  Funny that that should be the time I finally sit down to blog again, when I feel like I have no time to breathe amidst the rush of things that have to be done now .  Especially considering I spent my entire summer reading Harry Potter in German, watching Dr. Who, and staying up too late with John every night. It's been a victorious day for me.  In my two freshmen classes, my boys are tripled by the number of girls in their sections.  They also can't sing (yet).  The first day of school, one boy asked, "Wait...we have to sing in this class?  Everyone?  Even the boys?!"  They were aghast. Freshman year is a rough time for boys.  Their instruments are so wonky, poor things.  All those changes...or worse, none of the changes just yet.  I do have one boy alto still.  He bears it well.  Individually, they can all match pitch pretty well.  Stick four of them together, and something goes terr...

Having classes full of freshmen is a wonderful thing when you need to get a lot of something done.  I was facing the prospect of folding three hundred some-odd programs this weekend in my apartment when inspiration struck.  What was a daunting couple hours of tedious folding and likely paper cuts became a five minute diversion that my students enjoyed a disproportionate amount.  At the end of the day, my room was a disaster - this has been that kind of week - and for some reason my floor never gets vacuumed over the weekend.  Dismayed at all the little tiny chads and bits of paper and hair ties and pencil stubs and goodness knows what else littering my floor, I again though, ooh, I have freshmen.   In less than a minute my floor was spotless.  Well, almost spotless, they are just freshmen.  But still.  Free labor is fun! I also noticed something interesting in my classes today.  We had our first combined rehearsals with both sections yester...

Today was my first day of teaching, at a school which shall remain nameless for the sake of privacy.  Just know that it's a pretty big school somewhere in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area. I've looked forward to this moment for quite some time now, with varying degrees of excitement and trepidation.  I wasn't too nervous...and even that turned out to be for nothing.  I really did almost nothing today.  I got to do some warm-ups, but only one choir actually sang.  I took roll in a few others, and then sat at the desk listening to the explanation of the handbook over and over, doodling a new choir poster at the desk. I was so underwhelmed by my activities today that I am now eagerly looking forward to getting to teach actual things tomorrow instead of being terrified.  I guess that worked out well. It's weird to look at my little photo id card and see "Faculty" instead of "Student."  It's weird to eat lunch in the fine arts office with all...

People always talk about breaking habits, but I find it difficult to go on unless something else replaces the old habit. If you don't, you have a 'gap' where that habit used to be. So for the sake of alliteration, and because it then made me think, I like the idea of healing a habit - not only getting rid of a bad one, but replacing it with a positive one. But I digress. I have a habit of pouting when I don't get my way. I throw myself a little pity-party and sulk in the corner for a bit, indulging my whiny self as I moan that I've been abandoned or betrayed or made to look silly. I sometimes take it out in passive-aggressive texts or moody silences, harumphs, and sometimes actual pouty lips. I'm also the proverbial boy who cried wolf, because I do many of those things in a joking manner quite often. Most of the time, if I'm pouty, it's playful. It's fun and silly. But then there are the times when I feel like I can't control the reaction...

It's amazing how good it feels to eat a bowl full of raw vegetables, even if Chris mocks me for eating rabbit food. Salad is just so good! I love meat and don't want to give it up, but I'm pretty sure I could make it happily as a vegetarian. I think I'd end up counting bacon as a veggie though. It's been a busy week! 3 concerts in the last 2 weeks, including one down in Tucson with The Chieftains . It was pretty darn awesome. JD, Austin, Chantel, and Toby and I loaded up into my car and headed down on a gorgeous day, Irish music playing as they tried to teach me a song in Gaelic by rote so I would be able to sing it by the time we got there - and of course, we didn't even sing it. We got to sing two songs with them, one of which we did learn in the car on the way there, since we'd gotten the music that morning. The other we'd had for 5 whole days already, so of course we knew it perfectly. The concert itself was lovely. Traditional Irish music i...

update is just that the ending is slightly altered with the addition of another picture. Continue reading as you were. :) I love laughter, and boys, and friends - and especially all three at the same time. I went out to The Sugar Bowl after a dress rehearsal for our last ASU choir concert this semester (which you should totally come to - tomorrow night!!). At first, it was a whole lot of boys (Marc, Michael, Drew, J.D., Austin, Tom, Zach, and Galen) and me. Wheeee! A whole crowd of handsome, singing men all to myself, mwa ha ha. Then Kendra came and I was rescued from drowning in testosterone. Then Kira came, and life got even more fun! Fabulous fun. Wonderful people. My face hurts still - an hour+ later - from so much laughter. Several people had never heard me her hee before, so that became a target. There were many jokes, some synopsisizing, food stealing (and subsequent plate licking), and - No, I have to share that, because it's too funny not to, though at the e...

Ohhhh it's so late! We had another massive rehearsal for Belshazzar's Feast , a beast of an atonal choral/symphonic work. And then I got talked in to going out for doughnuts with the boys. I'm working on putting together a group power point for a project due tomorrow and I'm sooooo tired! Verses. I don't know how to pick! So, as usual, here are several. One of my recently rediscovered favorites - because it so often applies - is Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." Another that I turn to over and over is Phillipians 4:6-9 "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is comme...

So, Monday came and went and I forgot to do the next installment of my "Multitudes on Mondays" growing list of 1000 things I am thankful for or blessed by. But I'm improving - I'm only a day late, instead of a couple weeks (or months!) To continue on... 9. a steady job 10. really enjoying that job! 11. only having one piano in my studio instead of the old broken one taking up space 12. a friend who hung my mirror in my studio 13. tuition for the semester being paid...and having more than $2 left to my name! 14. time in my schedule this semester to keep hiking 3 days a week 15. a text at 2:30 am from a friend across the world 16. ham and avocado sandwiches 17. movie night with Amy 18. did I mention my amazing parents? 19. free shipping on a textbook 20. a good audition yesterday for a new choir

My truest passion is choral music. I love singing. I love piano. I love teaching both of those. I enjoy singing in a praise band. I love working with little kids, and reading, and cooking, and a whole host of other things. But I have no passion [for any earthly thing] that compares to singing in a choir. A GOOD choir. I have been in choir of some sort for as long as I can remember, starting in little kids' church choirs at Bethany. In 6th grade, I joined the Phoenix Children's Chorus, which built the foundation for this passion. In high school, I practically lived in the choir room. At 16, I left PCC and joined the Phoenix Symphony Chorus, and enjoyed being in a professional-level volunteer chorus, singing with the Symphony, under the best director I've known, Bob Moody. At ASU, I was in the women's chorus, which, while not on par with either PCC or TPSC, was still enjoyable. Then came Southwestern. Not being a student there anymore, I can say this out loud - ...