stuck

Hi, it's me, procrastinating on a paper again. Sorta. I wanted to blog about weekend stuff anyway, so maybe I have an excuse?

I'm halfway into my Facebook fast for Lent. I'm really glad I had daddy change my password, otherwise I know I'd be weak and log on. It's awful, the first few days I gave it up, I almost had minor withdrawal symptoms. I felt mopey and just out of it and would spend time just looking at the FB login page. Yeah, I know, super lame. But doesn't that sound like I was addicted? Yep, it was definitely a good idea to get away from it, if only for 40 days.

Saturday was the Chorale concert. It went quite well, and our audience wasn't as small as I had worried it might be. There were apparently 500+ people at the Glee Club concert last week, but they were in Pierce so the house was packed. Edman, which seats ~2500, would look mostly empty with 500 people. Fortunately they roped off the two side sections and had everyone sitting in the middle so it looked better. :D

We sang quite well, I think. There were some spots where we were still unsure of ourselves, and as always, we could have had more expression and musicality in our singing. Like Dr. H was saying, we had to put on a rich "chocolate" concert, not a bland "vanilla" one. The difference between a women's choir and a men's choir is that men can just put on a tux and everyone will love them, whereas women somehow have to work a lot harder to be as popular. pft. whatever. The motions for No Thank You John went over quite well. I'd been a little "...uh...really?" about them. I thought they were a little lame but the audience seemed to like it, so that was good.

I didn't make any silly mistakes playing for the five Hebrew love songs, so that was good too. Afterwards a guy from my bro floor came up to me and was like, "I didn't know you played the piano until this evening!" Really, cadet, really? LOL I spend my whole day in the conserv...

Then yesterday we had our banquet. It was a splendid evening! Turned out almost better than I could imagine. Do you know, the night before I was subconsciously so worried about it that I had a strange dream about it. Usually the things that show up in my dreams are things that I've been thinking about a lot, whether I know it or not. My dream had something to do with not being able to find a ride, and stormy rain. I have no idea. haha.

I was going to try to get a bit of homework done in between church and getting ready, but I pretty much ended up coming back, napping, and then primping. hehe. such a girl. My hair was what took most of the time. I was wishing for curls, and K kindly offered to do it for me, so she spent an hour on that. But she did an amazing job...I'm really glad with the way it turned out. She has skillzzz :D I wore the red dress I wore for graduation (yay recycling!)

[This darn paper is ruining my life. Not really, but it really sucks to write papers with citations. This is why I am not an English Writing major. Research papers are the bane of my existence. I may or may not make it through the night.

well, I did make it through the night. Stayed up till 3am, and in peer review today C was like "uh...well, I think it doesn't quite answer the prompt..." Shoot me now.

Anyway, to continue the original purpose of the post...

The actual banquet was quite fun, nothing spectacular. We were in the outdoorsy banquet tent of a golf club, similar to biu-goh's wedding reception. Dinner was hearty, good food. We were sitting with K, of course, and Ana and Joy and Manny, who had all brought glee clubbers or concert choir guys. So I felt a bit bad for my and K's dates because neither of them were particularly musical...but A and I had some good conversation. That's why I asked him, you know, because I like talking with him. After dinner we had a slideshow, some fun awards, and the cabinet video, which was a spoof on Ocean's Eleven, because after all, it was casino-themed.

And after that, as at any event where girls get all dolled up, there must needs be oodles of pictures taken! A and A were such good sports to let us and help us take pictures.

Altogether I had a lovely time and this tedious post doesn't do justice to it.

Sometimes I fail at writing. But on with life and school...

randomosity + procrastination

I would like to be able to say that whenever I lack inspiration, I blog and then, ta-da! I'm able to finish my paper or whatever I'm writing, but unfortunately the is not the case. It's usually more like, I'm really stuck so instead of writing something I don't understand I'll write about me.

Whenever I sit and study in a coffeeshop (I'm at Caribou in downtown Wheaton right now), I feel extremely like a college student. I guess partly because I never did this in high school, though I know plenty of people who did. It makes me feel grown-up in general, simply because I'm on my own, spending my own money. Caribou is a really nice place to study. It's a lot more spacious than the Starbucks, for one. I have to say a lot of their drinks are a little too sugary though. Next time I come I'm probably going to get straight up coffee just to see how it is.

Earlier (I've been here since 1:00 pm), I was typing away, minding my own business, when I happened to look up out the window just as a couple high school guys were walking by. They decided it would be funny if they smiled and waved at me. I was really confused at first because I wasn't sure if I actually knew them. It reminded me of that time at BMC when we all waved at the random girl in the restaurant window. I think she gave us the finger or something, and we gave her the peace sign. good times.

Oh, and then the dudes walked into Caribou and waved at me. weird.

We have our Women's Chorale concert tonight. I'm super-excited...going to be accompanying a set of Hebrew Love Songs. Unfortunately it conflicts with J's gig at La Spiaza. I really wish I could be there to support her...but I'm sure she'll do fine without me.

And then tomorrow is banquet, which I'm really looking forward to as well. I hope it will just be a chill time for me and my date, no awkwardness please! But A's a really nice guy and we have lots to talk about (which is why I asked him, haha!) so it should be good.

On Thursday, we were doing rhythmic dictation in Aural Skills, and one of the kids asked Dr. O if he could demonstrate his shorthand method for us. He finally agreed to do it on the board. I volunteered to play for him. It was hilarious...it's so great that he was willing to do that. He actually got the last note wrong haha. His excuse being that he hadn't done this in a while.

Did I ever say here that I lost my flip flops a week or two back? Well, I did, and it's the strangest thing ever because they're my shower flip flops which I never wear out of the dorm. And now they're just nowhere to be found.

in the spirit of full disclosure...

I shall write now about anything and everything, and maybe awkward things.

I walked downtown today, because I wanted to check out the popcorn store (and maybe buy some to send to a certain someone who is currently out of country) that Wheaton is famous for. Apparently it's the narrowest store in the world/country? and it's supposed to be awesome and everything. But. I was less than impressed. The candy was all commonplace stuff you'd find in any supermarket, and the popcorn was...well, I didn't really get in to see the popcorn since there were people in the way. So I'm not dissing their popcorn, but suffice to say it was in paper bags and therefore would not survive a week+ long trip in a box.

I ended up walking all the way to Caribou Coffee (about 15 min from campus) to study. I managed to write most of my poem there, so it was mostly productive. Caribou is definitely a nicer place to study than Starbucks. For one they just have more space. Walking back I also passed another non-chain coffee shop, i.e. not La Spiaza, that I think I'll try next time I go downtown to study (Saturday?)

I was getting sort of annoyed by my oily scalp recently, so I just googled "oily scalp" and found some simple ways that just might help me get it less oily. It's annoying you know, having to wash my hair everyday when it's getting so long.

Care group today was a huge blessing, as usual. We had some together time just sharing and laughing and praying, then we split into guys and girls. It was lovely to spend time with such a wise group of women. We did talk about "girl things", yes, guys, mainly. But in a very God-honoring way of how to wait patiently for them, to respect them. It's just interesting to see the different stages we're at - one married, two sort of going through break-ups, and two who've never had a boyfriend.

Then when we got back, had a long discussion with Zanna that somehow moved into modesty and honoring our brothers in Christ. I don't remember how we got started, but mummies and clowns were in there along the way.

In Asian Lit today, Dr. N showed us a youtube video of the process of dressing up in a kimono. One wears 10+ layers of sumptuous silk, layered to create a beautiful color gradient. Fascinating! I wonder if there's similar stuff online of traditional formal Chinese-wear. But Zanna and I were just wondering how in the world they could go to the bathroom in those things. gee. It must be difficult and awkward. Sometimes I get annoyed just have to unbutton and unbelt and unzip my pants.

Dr. H has asked me to be the primary accompanist for WC next year. I feel like I'm on MG level!

note: I do put abbreviations because I'm writing about a whole bunch of real people, and because the main purpose of this blog is as a personal record. So down the road I'll probably know who I'm talking about if I just put J, but if you don't...sorry!

Nelson fever

LOL I just got a missed call from some random number, so I called back and this lady picks up the phone and denies that she called me..."No, I didn't call you, my phone must've called you." okay lady...

So I've been really really super quiet on this blog lately...for the past...4, 5 days? The reason is, of course, that I've been super busy. Like, ridiculously. Last week most evenings 6-11 were taken up by Jukebox rehearsals and performances. This week is Brahms/John Nelson week, so 2 or 3 hour rehearsals everyday. Not nearly as long as Jukebox, so I still have time to practice, but it's extremely taxing on my voice. I can't imagine how all the voice majors do it...practicing voice on top of 3 hr choir rehearsals.

But we're singing with the Orchestra for the Brahms and the Band for the new commissioned work so I guess it's worth it. No, it definitely is worth it. I get goose bumps every time we sing the "Denn allles Fleisch..." part (All flesh is as the grass, etc.). And I've never sung with a band so that's new and exciting. A lot of people seem to not like the Kellogg piece, but I actually really enjoy it. It's a very unique text and there are some almost ethereal parts, despite the big band. I won't say much more than that since Saturday will after all be the world premiere. ;)

And whew, having Maestro Nelson conduct us is an experience in itself. He's simply amazing. One of my friends remarked that he didn't know M. Nelson was such a big deal. This was after the Q&A session we had with him for Wednesdays at 3:15. He has such a beautiful conducting style - precise yet passionate. I think he's going to be my conducting hero. I so so so enjoy it. And to know your conductor is a Christian who believes the text, yet immensely successful in the world. Wow. I'm in awe.

Back to the Q&A session - not only is he a phenomenal conductor & musician, he's also very personable. He answered questions about integrating his faith with his work, how he met his wife, how his time at Wheaton affected him. Then someone asked him to tell us about the pranks he pulled with Dr. Whitaker when they were students here. So he told us some really funny stories. His story about his wife was great too. I asked him if he could tell us about a piece of music that was especially meaningful to him. At first he went off on a tangent about how people in interviews always asked him about his favorite composer or favorite music and how he never could answer those questions because everything is so different and they bring unique aspects to music as a whole. I was afraid he was saying my question was silly and regular. But then he said, "But you're asking me about a piece of music that has special meaning. Well, if I could only conduct one more piece, my last work, it would have to be the St. Matthew Passion." Wowza. To think he would choose that just blows my min. In a good way.

After rehearsal yesterday, Zanna suggested we go up and thank him for the rehearsal. At first I was hesitant because he was busy and I was like...two measly freshmen going to say "hi"? But Zanna convinced me, so we went up and introduced ourselves. Boy, am I glad we did. He asked Suzanna about her heritage and talked about India. He tried out his Chinese on me, ni hao and xie xie. :D It was great. boy oh boy. I am so excited for Saturday right now.

Except have to start working on my paper. Well, Schumann, good friend of Brahms, you shall soon be my good friend as well. Nuthin' can put me down!

I went to the Career Services office today to talk to the Study Abroad lady. Looks like my best bet right now would be to wait until Spring of Junior year, so all my required music theory classes are done with. That way I could even focus on English that sem, taking private lessons on the side, which would give me options. I think I'm looking at the UK (England, Scotland, OR Ireland. Or maybe even Wales...after all I've never been there. Well I've never been to England either.), Italy, or China. We shall see and we shall see.

LESS THAN A WEEK TILL THANKSGIVING WOOT WOOT

my crazy week

This has definitely been a week of crazy ups and downs. Every time something bad happened, something good would come up and counterbalance it. Just when I thought it was smooth again, my boat would tip and something stinky would happen.

I'm gonna go backwards because that's how I remember things. Jessina had a mini "Welcome October" party in her room today which was quite relaxing and fun. We just snacked and talked. She is absolutely wonderful. I think she felt like she had been away for too many weekends and wanted to connect with us all again.

In English today, Dr. Schreck had me read aloud my essay to the whole class. I totally wasn't expecting that. She had asked for a clean copy but I didn't know why and it didn't click. And I thought she would talk to me beforehand. Oh well. I guess I'm fine with it...it is weird reading your own work out loud to a group of people though. But I got some really good feedback. The most surprising thing was the flow. Quite a few people thought the flow of my essay was very good. I feel like my transitions were still really choppy but perhaps reading out loud, or speechifying, is different from just reading mentally.

We sang for Dr. Hopper's award ceremony today. Kaitlyn and I ended up wearing the same shade of salmon without planning it. And people actually noticed. We have a really cute picture together ^^ I'm so glad I got to be a part of that ceremony as a member of WC...maybe there are advantages to being in WC after all.

I skipped Wellness to finish writing for English. I'm glad I didn't skip Chapel though. It was a very good chapel today. Homecoming is this weekend, so lots of alumni are back. The speaker was an alumnus who is now a successful businessman, President of some company or something. He spoke on appreciating what we have here and making choices to capitalize on our time here. But it wasn't just another motivational speech; I think he was really speaking from the heart. He teared up several times while talking, like when he talked about still being single after so many years. Which is like the anti-poster boy of Wheaton grad- not a missionary, not married. But it was so good.

Finally got a better score on my theory hw. Got two Fs this week, which was the lowpoint of my week.

Another lowpoint was finding out about Mrs. Dugle. It was such a shocker. I think Schuyler is hanging in there...will just keep praying for him and Mr. Dugle.

And I found out right after our raid on our brother floor too. I was so excited and hyper after that, logged onto Facebook and found out. Could not concentrate on writing the paper.

The raid went well, I guess. I think I enjoyed it...maybe a little too intense. Good cookies.

I'm sleepy. Tomorrow we're hopefully going apple picking, if it doesn't rain.