smoke on the water

did you ever notice that lakes are always really clam in the morning? does the wind not blow when the sun goes down or what?

Art

So I was just reading a friend's blog and she has this to say about art.

"I think a lot about art. I'm not an artist, really at all. But art is one of the things that moves me the most. At one Christmas symphony I went to in Omaha, I was tearing up even before the curtain had risen."

I thought a lot about that. I went to a concert a while back, one of the truly great chamber ensembles in the world (yeah, they came to L-town) and I sat there, listened, and was unmoved. I am an artist in some respects but I wonder if in my attempt to become so close to what I love, if I haven't destroyed my appreciation for it. I listen to performances, live or on recording, and find myself mostly thinking about the technique of the thing. Who it is and how they did, or didn't, make it sound good. I rarely find now what once gave me simple pleasure. One might think that I had just refined my sense of what "good" music was, but I find that my so finely tuned ears Far, far exceed my talent.

Not to say music doesn't bring any joy to my life, but I find that the moments I so greatly long for-the spine tingle moments when you realize you're in the presence of something truly beautiful-are so few and far between that I am relegated to listen to the same recordings over and over again to satisfy my desire. As I look over my itunes library I find that I tend to play the same 30 or so recording over and over. Am I so picky, I have so many and I gloss over so many of them after a few casual overviews.

big apples

Yes i am back from the land of big apples. I came, saw, and partook (is that a word?) in much that was musical. Overall I had a blast! The conference was very good, though I realize more than ever that I actually know nothing and I really ought to be practicing and listening constantly just so I can keep up with the Jones. I met a lot of cool people, it's amazing who you will sit down next to at a jazz club in NYC. After the conference my dad flew up and we spent a couple of days being men about town, seeing the sights and all. The highlights from the trip were definitely walking the Brooklyn bridge, seeing Maynard play (the dude is getting OLD, but still has some juice left), and walking around chinatown (mmm, reminds me of the trip in '04).

Also I found out, via blog, that Miss Lauren also spent some quality time in the apple. Her trip was well documented, i'm way too lazy to drag a camera everywhere, but she has some sweet pictures of the bridge!

I've started rehearsing with the new kiddies, they seem like a good time and i have high hopes that we will get started off on a good foot (i'll let the reader decide which) and hopefully we can establish some good trust! I really want to win them over so we can go some places, please be lifting up our time together in prayer. Also please pray for wisdom, love, and patience in my decisions and interactions with the kids. I am trying to bear this burden of responsibility with joy, but it's a daunting task. What strange feelings that I get at the start of a new season. . .

the cliff hanger

I'd be willing to be within the next couple of years we're going to see a move with that title.


Okay people, there's been tons of stuff that's gone on since the last post. I moved to a new town, everything expect that bed, and have started to work my way through the community making first impressions and the like. It's scary thinking that i'm going to be the primary representative of the fine arts to the community!
I also got vertical on the wakeboard, i say vertical because i didn't actually get out of the water-or at least didn't get out long enough for it to really mean anything. I also had an experience which has brought some things into crystal clear perspective-which has had a lot of ramifications in my life. God is giving me some meaning to events and struggles I have had over the past year or so which has given me direction for this coming season.
I've also noticed some friends who seem to be struggling in their current situation and i'm not sure what i should do. I know i need to do something but i'm not sure what that is-what i really don't want is to withdraw from the situation or do nothing. I think some prayer is in order.

I'm such a pyro!

so yeah, i'm pretty much a hard-core pyromaniac.....luckly i'm a reallly poor pyro so i can't blow tons of money on things that go "Boom."

I spent the day with the fam playing games and the like, it was much fun. I also hung out with friends and peoples which was also a really good time. I'm moving soon which ought to be really interesting, I'm going to rent a U-haul and hopefully move all of my stuff in one go. When i get settled and ready, i'll throw a huge house warming party for all my peoples so keep your ears perked for the good word!

cats and half-life

so there's this hypothetical experiment where this famous scientist proposed that if he put his cat into a sealed container with a poison bomb set to go off when a molecule of radioactive "something" reached its half-life, that he would never really know when the cat actually died. Has something to do with the decay rate of the material....

well it's something like that, anyways life has been in a transition period lately. I'm packing all my stuff at my old place and getting ready to move to my new job. Yeah i'm kinda nervous because I'm leaving a place I know to go someplace i don't. Then again, it is also an opportunity to start over and learn from my previous mistakes.

I'm going to L-town tomorrow for the 4th, see my friends and maybe try and con them into helping me move :-D

skydiving anyone?

I'd like to try that sometime.

So i found a new place, a house, and am going to move into it next week! I'm pretty excited, my landlord is pretty cool and is even going to let me paint it however I want! I'm also looking forward to being in a place with more people my age.

I have a going away party tomorrow night, arranged by parents and former students. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this. On the surface it seems like a really sweet thing to do, but I guess i just felt that i never was that well liked-making this more of a compulsory thing. There was even an add in the paper about the party and the times and stuff. I think what bothers me the most is that some of my favorites, yes i did have a few (but i treated them the same!!), didn't know about it which begs the question, "who will show up??" (gulp). Maybe this is just low self-esteem talking, but i really don't want to show up to a party like this, that i didn't organize or ask for, and then get embarrassed by the fact nobody shows... plus, there's swimming. I said swimming people! Who wants to see my nasty white skin......ehh, it's their fault i guess ;-)

one more thing, i'm dealing with a sin addiction in my life right now, please pray for my strength of conviction, that God would make me see my sin as he sees it, and that he would rid my heart of this cancer and replace it with christ's likeness.