1. I AM NOW A SUPPORTING MEMBER OF GRANT PARK FESTIVAL CHORUS! This is a big deal. I had a great audition on Monday and they can't hire me as a regular member yet (not enough "experience"), but I'm a supporting member! This means that they'll call me if they need me--they'll need me.
2. My recital is this weekend. I'm so glad that all of the logistics will finally be over. It's unfortunate that such a fun event gets overcome by a barrage of emails, phone calls, cancellations, illnesses, frustrations, and anything that interrupts this process which then causes a further barrage of emails, phone calls, etc. So, YAY!
3. I got a really cute bubble umbrella at Target on Monday for my audition. I didn't have an umbrella of my own and I knew I didn't want one of the stupid normal ones that doesn't do ANYTHING in Chicago weather--hello, wind. I know it's called the windy city for the politics, but it really is really windy...anyway, bubble does the trick.
4. On the same trip to Target, I also purchased a wonderful green yoga mat with a tree printed on it. I'm taking Lunchtime Yoga at Old Town starting next Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to it.
5. Cindy emailed me today and I got really excited about her visit!!! I miss her, she's awesome, and we're gonna hang. SWEET!
6. I was out of milk but I finally got some today--the good raw stuff. It's amazing how pleasing the little things can be.
7. My mom has been great this week. She sure can drive me crazy, but she's still great. =)
8. I'm borrowing an Aquinas prayer book from my friend Monica and I absolutely love it. It's revitalizing my prayer life.
9. Lent. I suck at fasting and I'm not as focused as I was last year, but in some ways I think that's a good thing. I am turning back to God in ways that were not possible the rest of the year, and for that, I am grateful.
10. JoJo has been systematically hunting down and sitting/laying on everything I've been working on this week. Right now he's sitting on our massive electric bill as if to say, "Hey, man, don't worry! This is the last big one you'll see since they turned the radiators on!" Which, actually, is much more encouraging than his usual message: "ME, ME, ME! Why are you paying attention to this thing I'm laying on than to ME?"
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
ten things thursday: sunday edition
Why is this so late? Check out the previous post. It will all make sense.
1. The sun let its happy face shine for several days this week, and not even that pathetic flicker through the clouds, but really shine. I got warm in my coat!
2. A naturalist was invited to Prairie Home Companion yesterday to tell the Midwest the little ways that we know spring is coming--apparently the owls are mating. It's a big deal.
3. Small group. It's just the best. We laugh so hard every Friday.
4. Yesterday, aforementioned small group had a dinner/movie event. We ate homemade pizza and watched Ferris Beuller's Day Off and I almost peed my pants from laughing SO HARD.
5. I was finally able to print my orchestration project despite several failed attempts.
6. I didn't sing at student recital this week for the first time in a month! Yay!
7. I did laundry on Wednesday for the first time in...well, in a really long time. No need to discuss the actual number of weeks or anything...
8. I got paid on Friday.
9. My mom is great and helped me out with some trouble I was having on Wednesday, and it was such a relief.
10. For our final project in orchestration, we have the option of orchestrating an original work of our own. I wrote a piano piece in the first semester of my freshman year, and now I will orchestrate it in the second semester of my senior year. I am actually really excited about this project!!
1. The sun let its happy face shine for several days this week, and not even that pathetic flicker through the clouds, but really shine. I got warm in my coat!
2. A naturalist was invited to Prairie Home Companion yesterday to tell the Midwest the little ways that we know spring is coming--apparently the owls are mating. It's a big deal.
3. Small group. It's just the best. We laugh so hard every Friday.
4. Yesterday, aforementioned small group had a dinner/movie event. We ate homemade pizza and watched Ferris Beuller's Day Off and I almost peed my pants from laughing SO HARD.
5. I was finally able to print my orchestration project despite several failed attempts.
6. I didn't sing at student recital this week for the first time in a month! Yay!
7. I did laundry on Wednesday for the first time in...well, in a really long time. No need to discuss the actual number of weeks or anything...
8. I got paid on Friday.
9. My mom is great and helped me out with some trouble I was having on Wednesday, and it was such a relief.
10. For our final project in orchestration, we have the option of orchestrating an original work of our own. I wrote a piano piece in the first semester of my freshman year, and now I will orchestrate it in the second semester of my senior year. I am actually really excited about this project!!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
week of DOOM
Anyone who's ever been in theatre knows about a little thing called "hell week"--the week before the performance. Well, at my high school, we also had a little thing called "purgatory week", which referred to the week before "hell week". This is that week.
I still have to design my posters, edit my program notes, schedule a dress rehearsal with four extremely busy musicians, practice practice practice, fix and dry clean both of my dresses, recopy George's music, and find time to have a coaching. Oh, yeah, and I'm supposed to eat, sleep, do my homework, go to class, work, and take care of my apartment. And buy cat litter.
Arrrgh.
I still have to design my posters, edit my program notes, schedule a dress rehearsal with four extremely busy musicians, practice practice practice, fix and dry clean both of my dresses, recopy George's music, and find time to have a coaching. Oh, yeah, and I'm supposed to eat, sleep, do my homework, go to class, work, and take care of my apartment. And buy cat litter.
Arrrgh.
Friday, February 12, 2010
ten things thursday: friday edition
Yeah, yeah, I forgot again. It's been a crazy week.
1. JoJo rubbing his face on my arm right now as I'm trying to type. Seriously, this ridiculously grumpy cat just makes my day too often to say.
2. Reba was again amazing--I shared in my small group about my reconciliation with Alethea for the first time, and David (small group leader) ended up asking some really great questions. It was so great.
3. Julie Bentley master class was AWESOME. I was nervous and exhausted so I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it ended up being just wonderful and I sang pretty well and made great progress.
4. Dad and I had a small miracle. My car wouldn't start, so we called my ex-mechanic grandfather, and he told us to try starting it fifteen times in a row. We thought, "Yeah, right. He's crazy. That's the definition of crazy!" But we tried it anyway. Lo and behold, fifteen clicks of the starter later and my car was fixed. Go figure.
5. Small group!! I love it. I love everyone in it. I love that it's a blessing that just sort of dropped into my life.
6. Speaking of dropping into people's lives, I'm quite grateful that Greg has let me drop in to his. I had a beautiful meeting with him on Wednesday which I would love to talk with y'all about if you want to hear it. The point is that he has been another surprise blessing and I am so happy that he cares about me.
7. Oh yeah, and we got fourteen inches of snow earlier this week. The first two days were SO PRETTY when the snow was still white and fresh! I couldn't believe how quiet it was the morning after the snow began. Snow silence...
8. My girl Gina has commissioned me to make her a big floppy tam in two "cute-ass" colors. 'Nuff said.
9. Monica. She just makes me smile. We had lunch today and it was wonderful bonding for us. I hope that we will get to hang out some more soon!
10. I reread Matilda these past few nights. It sounds weird, but it's terribly comforting to me especially when things are emotionally tiring. I laugh at how much I thought I was like her when I was younger. Tee-hee!
1. JoJo rubbing his face on my arm right now as I'm trying to type. Seriously, this ridiculously grumpy cat just makes my day too often to say.
2. Reba was again amazing--I shared in my small group about my reconciliation with Alethea for the first time, and David (small group leader) ended up asking some really great questions. It was so great.
3. Julie Bentley master class was AWESOME. I was nervous and exhausted so I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it ended up being just wonderful and I sang pretty well and made great progress.
4. Dad and I had a small miracle. My car wouldn't start, so we called my ex-mechanic grandfather, and he told us to try starting it fifteen times in a row. We thought, "Yeah, right. He's crazy. That's the definition of crazy!" But we tried it anyway. Lo and behold, fifteen clicks of the starter later and my car was fixed. Go figure.
5. Small group!! I love it. I love everyone in it. I love that it's a blessing that just sort of dropped into my life.
6. Speaking of dropping into people's lives, I'm quite grateful that Greg has let me drop in to his. I had a beautiful meeting with him on Wednesday which I would love to talk with y'all about if you want to hear it. The point is that he has been another surprise blessing and I am so happy that he cares about me.
7. Oh yeah, and we got fourteen inches of snow earlier this week. The first two days were SO PRETTY when the snow was still white and fresh! I couldn't believe how quiet it was the morning after the snow began. Snow silence...
8. My girl Gina has commissioned me to make her a big floppy tam in two "cute-ass" colors. 'Nuff said.
9. Monica. She just makes me smile. We had lunch today and it was wonderful bonding for us. I hope that we will get to hang out some more soon!
10. I reread Matilda these past few nights. It sounds weird, but it's terribly comforting to me especially when things are emotionally tiring. I laugh at how much I thought I was like her when I was younger. Tee-hee!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
pompous profs
I really don't want this to be a super-bitchy, whine-y blog, but some people are just pompous. There's a guy at my church (yep, it just got ten times worse) who's really smart. He a philosopher. I think that's great--I have a lot of very intelligent friends who are biblical scholars, philosophers, theologians...cool. So what's my beef? I assigned myself to be one of the Writing Advisors for this guy's class, and I'm already regretting it. He sent us an email at 10:00pm telling us that a batch of papers is ready for us and can be picked up tomorrow and conferences are to be held next week, and also, could we print out our sign-up sheets and deliver them to him at the all-class lecture tomorrow morning? That'd be great, thanks. I'm giving you twelve hours. No big deal.
In case you're not getting it, which is understandable because you're probably not a writing advisor, this is a problem because 1) responsibility is clearly not his strong point, meaning that the rest of the semester is not likely to be very pleasant, 2) conferences take time, as in, approximately seven hours which is a lot when you work 25hrs and are in school full time, and 3) he apparently expects us to just be able to cater to his every whim, like printing out a schedule that we weren't expecting to make twelve hours before we need to drop it off at a lecture we weren't planning on being at, because he apparently can't print the damn thing off himself (oh, and 'we' live off-campus w/o a printer). I mean, really. We're not your minions. Treat me like a colleague, or hell, even like an intelligent human being who is in all other ways inferior to you, and I'm fine. Treat me like garbage, and I will p'own you (namely, I'll send you a polite and well-worded email that carefully masks my frustration). For shizzle.
In case you're not getting it, which is understandable because you're probably not a writing advisor, this is a problem because 1) responsibility is clearly not his strong point, meaning that the rest of the semester is not likely to be very pleasant, 2) conferences take time, as in, approximately seven hours which is a lot when you work 25hrs and are in school full time, and 3) he apparently expects us to just be able to cater to his every whim, like printing out a schedule that we weren't expecting to make twelve hours before we need to drop it off at a lecture we weren't planning on being at, because he apparently can't print the damn thing off himself (oh, and 'we' live off-campus w/o a printer). I mean, really. We're not your minions. Treat me like a colleague, or hell, even like an intelligent human being who is in all other ways inferior to you, and I'm fine. Treat me like garbage, and I will p'own you (namely, I'll send you a polite and well-worded email that carefully masks my frustration). For shizzle.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
procrastination post delayed
Haha. Just kidding. I'm just putting off writing this book report for my Pluralism class. I feel a bit overwhelmed with the size of the project--not the paper, the project. The paper has to be 8-10 pages, and I'm hoping to get around five today...rough draft due tomorrow, final due next Tuesday. The project itself? It's a book review of MacIntyre's After Virtue, which is quite the formidable text. I guess I just have to write it...
Anyway, the good week mojo from last week has carried over into this week and even into the problems of this week. I'm glad of this and hope it continues.
Anyway, the good week mojo from last week has carried over into this week and even into the problems of this week. I'm glad of this and hope it continues.
Friday, February 5, 2010
ten things thursday: friday edition
So, I forgot yesterday. So, what?
1. My mom called and told me she doesn't want me to work so much because I'm a kid and should play more. She's sending me more money soon. Yay, Mom!
2. My friend Heather (yes, really) lent me a switch timer for my electric blanket so I can have it turn on at 4:00am until about 6:00am because that's when I FREEZE. I've been getting much better sleep since then.
3. I went to Reba on Monday! Much to my surprise, I ran into quite a few people I've met before and/or know well, which was encouraging. I could say a lot about this experience, but I don't have space here. It was great! (Hi, Helen and Rick. ;-))
4. My senior recital was approved yesterday! That was the last hurdle, so now I can just focus on having tons of fun in three weeks!
5. I also qualified for the Performance Awards finals, which are the evening before my recital, and I can't wait! They'll be lots of fun.
6. Also in the world of singing, I sent in my resumee and head shot to Grant Park Chorus and my audition was just scheduled today for Monday the 22nd. OMG.
7. I went to my new small group for the first time today and I think it will be great. I can tell that I am already feeling safe with these people and we had such a beautiful time together this morning. Great!
8. I finally got a violinist for my recital! That was such a long saga...oy. I'm so glad it's over, and not only that, but my violinist is also wonderful! We're getting along really well and I don't foresee any future problems.
9. My run-through last Sunday was fantastic. That might be why my jury was so fantastic on Thursday. The "problem" pieces that we put on the form were hardly problems, so this next three weeks should be a breeze.
10. I met with Greg on Wednesday and we nailed down my research topic for this semester. That would be great all by itself, but he also seems really excited about it. It's so much better when your professor is excited about your work. =)
YAY!
1. My mom called and told me she doesn't want me to work so much because I'm a kid and should play more. She's sending me more money soon. Yay, Mom!
2. My friend Heather (yes, really) lent me a switch timer for my electric blanket so I can have it turn on at 4:00am until about 6:00am because that's when I FREEZE. I've been getting much better sleep since then.
3. I went to Reba on Monday! Much to my surprise, I ran into quite a few people I've met before and/or know well, which was encouraging. I could say a lot about this experience, but I don't have space here. It was great! (Hi, Helen and Rick. ;-))
4. My senior recital was approved yesterday! That was the last hurdle, so now I can just focus on having tons of fun in three weeks!
5. I also qualified for the Performance Awards finals, which are the evening before my recital, and I can't wait! They'll be lots of fun.
6. Also in the world of singing, I sent in my resumee and head shot to Grant Park Chorus and my audition was just scheduled today for Monday the 22nd. OMG.
7. I went to my new small group for the first time today and I think it will be great. I can tell that I am already feeling safe with these people and we had such a beautiful time together this morning. Great!
8. I finally got a violinist for my recital! That was such a long saga...oy. I'm so glad it's over, and not only that, but my violinist is also wonderful! We're getting along really well and I don't foresee any future problems.
9. My run-through last Sunday was fantastic. That might be why my jury was so fantastic on Thursday. The "problem" pieces that we put on the form were hardly problems, so this next three weeks should be a breeze.
10. I met with Greg on Wednesday and we nailed down my research topic for this semester. That would be great all by itself, but he also seems really excited about it. It's so much better when your professor is excited about your work. =)
YAY!
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