Umm... hi.  Sorry I've been secret blogging.  I've been thinking a lot about the weird role blogging plays in society and I wanted to see how I felt about writing the same sorts of things without an audience, I suppose to see why I was blogging and evaluating the merits of my motives.  But talking to Dana yesterday (two days ago?) made me realize that when I was secret blogging I wasn't real blogging and now she knows nothing about my life.  But I'm not too keen on new xanga, so here I am.  I'm still not sure how I feel about the student teaching updates, but what I have to say will be here.  In other news, a quick summer wrap-up in pictures:

first,  Physics of Music. POM was so hard, but very interesting. I'm not sure it made me a better musician, but I'm definitely more of a snob now.  And look! I can use a calculator!

I came home... and went to the zoo. 

We visited my brother and his fam in Wisconsin: this is my sister and her kid Hannah, my brother and his kid Ramona. They're a few months apart in age.

Melissa and i went to the dunes and it was gorgeous.

And the state fair! I like animals.

And now I live here!

And, oh yeah... I drive this :D

Well. I start teaching in 2 weeks.  How crazy is that?  Before that, I'm...

• getting my eyes checked (hopefully tomorrow)
• leaving for NY Friday
• getting there and moving in Saturday
• Going down to houghton, getting my things out of storage and then back to Buffalo
• Driving Katie and Jody to the airport (I think) Sunday
• Trying my best to settle in
• Trying my best to assemble bunk beds Monday
• Flying back to Indiana Wednesday
• Yeah, that part's ridiculous. RIDICULOUS!
• Back to NY Sunday
• Driving to Menno, fingers crossed
• Sleepover with LD
• Making pancakes for her floorlings
• student teaching orientation on the first 
• Yes, that is a national holiday. So?
• School orientation on the second
• Teaching on the third. Eeep.

Two weeks ago, I referred to the week (quietly and to myself) as The Week in Which I Make Plans that are Completely Unlike Myself and Then Back Out At The Last Minute.  This is the week of Sucking It Up and Doing Things Even Though They Make Me Uncomfortable. (I think June will now be The Month In Which I Use Titles That Are Entirely Too Long.)

O LORD my God, I called out to you for help and you healed me.

He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand.

Blogging Happens More When I'm Bored

I never know whether or not to capitalize every word in a blog title. Thoughts?
Oh, right. No one reads this. Nevermind.

I just wanted to brag about scoring a free lesson (though I do feel pretty crappy about still not having a job).
And about an awesome new uke site I found.
And I wanted to mention that Carnival of Animals by Saint-Saens is AMAZING and that I think Bekah and I are going to play "Elephant" for our recital. You should Ruckus it. Go! I downloaded the album that also has Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and, of course(!) Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice. I am too much of a wuss to play that at my recital, but I can play enough of it to impress children at school concerts, and that makes me happy. Anyway, I am rather fond of the narrator on that album, though I'm not sure who he is. Johnny Morris? He's no David Attenborough, but he is quite good.

Catch Up, Mustard!

I know, I know.. I hate puns. But that one is probably my favorite. I'm not sure if you're allowed to have a favorite in something you don't like, but I hate that one a little less, ok?

anyway.

Semester? Decent. Too big to talk about, really.

Finals? So many of them were performance that actual finals week wasn't so bad. I totally choked on the "List the three minimalists we've studied in class" question in music history (this might have something to do with me not going to class for a week, but only one of those was my fault!)... so I answered "Philip Glass, Philip Glass, and Philip Glass." It's funny if you know who he is, promise.

Week at Bekah B's? Homeschoolicious. Which is odd, because, "how can you want to be a teacher if you were homeschooled?" But I like Bekah B anyway, so I'll let the intense homeschooling slide (just this once. I know, this post is all about exceptions.)

Physics of Music? oh-holy-crap. I took Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language for two years in high school, and for the longest time it made no sense at all. (it was, after all... chinese.) And then one day I decided to just accept it. "Ok, Chinese. That 'H' looking thing is a horse and those boxes are mouths and when you put them together, it means...mother. Sure Chinese. I'll take your word for that." And then this funny thing happened: it made sense. One day, I totally understand how a little man wearing a hat represented the number 6, and why the word for tea had hair in it... Made total sense. And PoM was kind of like that. Once I just accepted that there is no way any of it will ever make sense, I was pretty decent at it. Unfortunately, I didn't accept it until after my 46% on the midterm. Oops. But, overall, I got a B, which is totally good enough for me. And, we went to Darien Lake (in the rain) and I had numerous coffee dates and watched quite a few movies (that may or may not have contributed to the 46%).... so, probably not the worst class ever. The best part, however, was probably when our TA (grumble) had just finished (butchering) explaining something long and complicated on the board, and had written out a number of practice questions next to it for us. He gestured vaguely and asked "clear as Chinese?" and I could honestly say that no, Chinese is considerably clearer.

And now? I'm home, have no job, have no car, nothing to do. I don't have any new music yet, so I find myself quite unmotivated to practice. Woot?

Things That I Miss Terribly

It's like a happy list, but retrospectively.

1. Orchestra. For reals... HS orchestra. There's something completely different about the cultures of orchestra and band programs, and orchestra? Way better.
2. People at Houghton
3. Being able to walk anywhere I need to go
4. More people at Houghton
5. Menno
6. Free coffee from Diana, and sitting over at that table where Java employees sit, talking to her about life.
7. Having a practice room
8. Seriously... people at Houghton.

In other news

1. There was just a J.G. Wentworth commercial that was supposed to be like an opera.  It warmed my heart, even though I should probably have thought it was stupid and poorly-composed and I'm pretty sure it was making fun of opera.
2. There's no such thing as normal life.  There's just life.  I have trouble remembering that.

1. 
   

MHis IV

Things that have no place being on my study guide for my Music History IV Final:

1. Synesthesia
2. Le Corbusier, a famous architect (read: not musician)

Synesthetes that would make my Music History IV Final more exciting if I was studying them instead:

1. Kanye West
2. Wassily Kandinsky
3. Duke Ellington
4. Eddie Van Halen
5. John Mayer