Not an Organist

You might remember this post where I played the organ in devotional for the first time, right? And that went really well, right? Well, I knew that after that performance I would probably get asked to play devo for the rest of the time I was here, once a semester. Sure enough, (sooner than I thought,) I was asked to play. The hymns weren't too difficult, but I didn't know any of them at all and I had just one week to prepare them.

Oh boy.

I paced myself, didn't overplay them, didn't let myself get frustrated, but when I played them for my organ teacher last Friday, they were horrible. We both panicked. I didn't know what to do. I knew I could play these hymns, but I kept messing up left and right (and foot). We agreed that the weekend should be enough time to tidy up the hymns.

Come masterclass on Monday, I played for the other organists and... it didn't go so well. I was embarrassed, but I was trying so hard to play them as well as I knew I could. They weren't perfect, sure, but I kept messing up passages that I knew I could play. It became a consistency issue- I knew I could play the hymns but I couldn't play it well even twice in a row, and each hymn has 3-4 verses. (And the one, "I Believe in Christ", was the same three lines repeated twice for one verse!) The organ teacher still seemed optimistic, and asked me to review them and try to pick up the speed a little before devo on Tuesday.

So on Tuesday I go to the building that devo is in, and meet both teachers so that I can review the hymns one last time before I debuted them. They weren't any better. It was still frustrating and upsetting, but strangely by this point I was calm. After I played them the organ teacher came over to me, and I knew that what I had been able to prepare wasn't enough.

I looked right at him and said, "If you want someone else to play today I'm not offended. I completely understand." He nodded, and said, "I think if you had another week then they would be great. But... we only have an hour..."

So my organ teacher had to play the hymns, and I only did prelude and postlude. I felt so horrible because she had to play impromptu and it's all my fault... but I feel like I did my best...

So, these things happen. I know I'm not the greatest organist to ever walk the earth- I'm nowhere close to that! But I felt like I was being honest with myself, and that is what is important to me. I did what I could, and just wasn't at the skill level required for the situation. Husband Man told me later that he was proud of me because I didn't insist on playing them even when I knew I couldn't.

It was a good learning experience, however, as I did pick up a few practice techniques that can help me in the future. The organ instructor told me that I would probably be asked later in the semester, when I would have more time to prepare, but honestly I feel kind of crappy about playing the hymns. I'm focusing on my other pieces for my lesson right now, and maybe I'll try the hymns again after Memorial Day weekend.

[Sorry about the depressing post! Would knowing about impending posts make things better? Of course it would! I have a really funny story about me playing organ at last semester's convocation that involves me literally choking over the organ. Also, this weekend is Memorial Day weekend, AND my birthday! And Husband Man says he has lots of things planned, since my family was going to come and then couldn't because of work and my cousin's graduation.

That's not enough to counter my depressing post? Here, have a picture of a kitty.

This is a good interpretation of Husband Man after school is over for the day and I make him wait while I make him dinner.]

Grandpa's Baptism, a Family Sealing, and Why I Didn't Get a Plant For Mother's Day at Church This Year

We've got a few things to cover in this post. I have so many things I want to share!! (Because apparently I'm too lame to keep up with this blog!) So this might be long, but bear with me because it's all really good stuff. You can also go here to see what's happening on the writing side of life.

The first weekend in May Husband Man and I drove down to Utah for my grandfather's baptism. (My mom's dad.) I honestly never thought I'd ever see this happen, but ever since my grandmother passed away when I was a freshman in high school my grandfather has had a roller-coaster of attempts to be baptised and get his life in order so he can be sealed to my grandmother. It was a wonderful blessing to be a part of this huge step in Grandpa's life, and it was the most beautiful thing to see my mother cry with joy and the Spirit because of this decision my grandpa has made. I love my grandpa so much, and I can't wait until next year when I get to be in the temple with my family! (Hopefully I can be there, anyways.)

Today the coolest couple on the planet took their adopted son to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. I love these people! I call them my big brother and big sister, because they pretty much were older siblings for me when I first went away from college. Their home was our home. We watched movies there, played games, had dollar birthdays, played guitar hero (or was it rock band? I don't know. It was fun!), we laughed there, we cried there (ok, I cried there.... a lot), I got a priesthood blessing there when I got an abscess in my mouth and almost went to the hospital for dehydration, we stayed there over a weekend when the entire college town got drunk over football (there was a lot of alcohol around, no joke), and so much more. I'm so glad that they finally have a little boy that is theirs for eternity, and I can't wait for more to be adopted! Congrats! (You can visit them here)

Finally... Mother's Day. The ward gift was pretty hilarious- So about mid-April I go to a council meeting thingy with our bishopric members in place of the Relief Society president, and at one point the men talked about the upcoming Mother's day and what gift they should get. Then they turned to me and said, "You should ask the sisters in Relief Society what they want. We have no clue what to get them. Do they want a plant like last year? Or something different? Chocolate? What?"
So I agreed to ask, and a couple weeks later the question was brought up in Relief Society. When asked whether the sisters would appreciate chocolate or a plant like last year, the general consensus was a plant and that most sisters had enjoyed receiving that as a gift. That lasted for about two minutes, however, until a sister raised her hand and said,
"Can I change my answer? I voted for flowers, but I killed my plant last year."
This caused a murmur among the sisters, and calls of "Oh yeah, I did too..." and "Now that you mention it, I think I'd rather have chocolate."
So this last Sunday, as we left the chapel, we had a selection of candy bars that most of us shared with our husbands. That's probably the real reason why they asked the women to pick- it occurred to them that they could just default with flowers again, but if we happened to choose chocolate then they could have some too....
Oh, you want to know what Husband Man got me? He didn't get me anything, and I told him he couldn't. I'm not a mother! So I told him he couldn't get me anything. I'm not sad, so you shouldn't be either!

Idaho: The Windy State

This last Monday dawned bright and early. I dragged myself out of bed and peered groggily through the blinds to see the sun lighting the outside world. I got ready for my grueling school day of non-stop 7:45AM to 5:30PM classes, pulled a light jacket out of the closet, and donned my backpack. After family prayer with Husband Man, we stepped outside of the house to walk to campus.

The entire 10-minute walk we were buffeted about with headlong winds that threatened to force us to walk backwards instead of forwards. My carefully-brushed hair was blown all around my face. My eyes squinted against the dry gales. I thought I would never make to campus.

The same wind guided me home, but in true SE Idaho fashion still blew me almost face on despite the fact that I was walking in the opposite direction as that morning.

The same wind walked me to and from school for FOUR DAYS. I stopped styling my hair. I almost gave up going to my Doctrine and Covenants class because walking uphill with an unrelenting headlong wind seemed impossible.

I hate the wind. With a passion. The wind makes me hate Idaho, which makes me hate going to school. Even the sunshine doesn't make it better. Today it's not quite as strong, but that's not saying much.

As for school, Husband Man and I are doing all right. We've gotten to the point where we feel that school is our life, and there's nothing beyond that. We are trapped in a black hole of papers and books and reading and research. Husband Man dropped an extra class so he wouldn't have 18 credits, so he's holding up. My workload isn't too bad, thank heavens... but by the end of this semester I'll have done five semesters in a year and a half. I'm so ready for the seven-week break! I'm so ready to be graduated! But alas, no graduation for us until next April...

Let's see... I haven't killed any of the plants...

Oh! My grandpa is getting baptised tomorrow! I'm super excited for that! He asked me to play the piano for it. We're going back to Utah tomorrow so we can be there. I'm happy that he's getting baptised, and I'm happy that I get to get out of Idaho for a day! Woohoo!

(Honestly, my life isn't this depressing.... but it is pretty mundane! Haha)

Flowers!

Did I mention that Husband Man got me flowers the other day? He wanted to get them for me over finals week of last semester (to celebrate my last 18 credit semester!) but we were going to Utah right after finals so I wouldn't get to enjoy them. So he got them for me after we got back!

By the way- the flowers had a sticker that said "NOT EDIBLE" on them. That was weird. But also made sense, because they have dye in them so that they turn colors.

Easter was really fun! In the last post I told you we took pictures, (and if you want to see a goofy movie of us you can go to the sister blog,) and I got to see all of my family and Husband Man's parents too!

And I got my Easter basket from my mommy! Only one of the boxes of peeps came in the basket, though- the rest came from other people who were given peeps and they don't like them. Husband Man eats them, though. I don't like that they put granulated sugar on the outside- blech. No peeps for me.

In other news, I'm watching a few plants for a couple of friends. The cactus belongs to one gal, and the orchid and the bush belong to another. I'm not sure why they asked me to because if I inherited my mom's green thumb then I haven't discovered it yet!
But... at the same time I'm thinking of getting a plant for myself! Hm....
I'm not sure if the plant from last year will grow again, but the irises by the steps are coming up. Hopefully they put out flowers soon!

This semester is going well so far... to be honest, I really just want to be done with school! I'm so sick of it! I honestly don't think I'll be like those people who graduate and then say, "Well now I miss it!" I'll be super excited to be graduated.

Husband Man's older sister and her family are visiting this weekend and I'm so happy! I love it when family visits!! Woohoo!!

Semester "Spring" Break

Good-byyyyye 18 credit semesters! Bahahaha! I gave them to Husband Man, so while he takes 18 credits, I'm going to take a leisurely 14. I've already had issues with a couple of my classes, which is SO lame, but I'm going to get answers whether people want to give them to me or not! Take that!

Between semesters was pretty fun, though! Over Easter we went down to Utah, where my baby sister got her prom dress and where all three of us got together and partied it up!

One thing my parents wanted to do was to take a picture of us in our fancy dresses. My dad really likes this picture of us girls (as in he ADORES this photo) and we thought maybe we could do an updated version...

(The order in this picture is not the same as the little girl one, ps)

This is about how the entire thing went. Our eyes were closed, we were being goofy... hahaha!

 And of course posing by the trees got lame pretty quickly so we all ran for the playground!

 Ok, here's a serious one. Husband Man thought that I could take my wedding dress and do a shoot like this. The idea is that when Meema gets married that we'll do another shoot with her and I in our wedding dresses, and then eventually there will be all three of us in wedding dresses! Another updated version of us sisters!

 I LOVE MY MOMMY! This is one of my favorite pictures. I love my sisters so much! You can tell that we're all related, but we're all different and you can tell that too!

Seriously we had so much fun! My mommy brought me baked goodies and my Easter basket (although she said I have to keep it now... I cried a little) and I got to spend the weekend with them! We also saw my aunt and my grandpa (Mom's dad) and my uncles and it made me so happy!!

Husband Man and I stayed in Utah for another two days, and we went to SLC and walked around both of the malls and around the temple, and I got to go clothes shopping and get a few new shirts! And we went to A&W which was super tasty. And then we came home and he worked a bunch of night shifts... The only sad thing is that the semester starts tomorrow and I'm SO not looking forward to that.

I can't wait to see my family again next month!!

Happy Easter!

I'm so grateful for the resurrection of our dear Lord and Savior.

I'm also grateful for my parents and husband, who have thoroughly spoiled me this Easter.
And I'm grateful for the hot tub last night. It was glorious. No more classes for a week! Huzzah!

"Death and Transfiguration"

So I'm in the symphony orchestra on campus, and it's so awesome!! We've played some pretty awesome things in the past, like Beethoven's Fifth Symphony (which was cool for me because that was my second time playing it, but the first time on trumpet), Brahms Academic Overture, Hanson's Romantic Symphony (that one is one of my super-favorites!) Tchaikovsky's First Symphony... We've played a lot of really good literature.

Our first concert was normal- we played Borodin's Polovstian Dances and the overture to Prince Igor. Our second (set of) concerts was the Sacred Music Project.

But this last concert was the greatest of them all. We started by playing Brahms Tragic Overture, and that was really fun... there's so many great moments in that piece. We then finished the concert (it was a short one) with one of Richard Strauss's symphonic poems- namely, Death and Transfiguration.

It. Was. AWESOME!!

If you haven't heard this song, or any of Strauss's symphonic poems... you need to! Your life will be so much more complete after hearing it!! It has such a huge orchestration and the sound and the complexity... it's SO good!! And we played that concert darn well! That was the best brass section I've ever been part of in orchestra.

I'm so glad I'm a BA. I went to a trumpet recital last Saturday, and it really reaffirmed what I thought I already knew- I don't want to be a big solo performer. I really don't like solos as much as symphonies, and I never have. The bigger the ensemble, the better. I ADORE giant orchestras, and giant symphonic songs for giant orchestras.

Go listen to Strauss! Now! I command you!