Expect the Unexpected

That's the motto of the television show Big Brother on CBS, but also summarizes my day quite nicely.



I fully intended on starting a more regular attendance to RidgeView this morning. I got up in time, got dressed, & headed down to the bus stop with time to spare but something wasn't just sitting right. I felt physically sick to my stomach and turned around to head back home as the bus was approaching. By the time I got home I was so feverishly out of it that I had a three-hour nap, despite having slept a good nine hours the night before. I'm still not exactly feeling 100% right now, but sheesh, "weird" timing... It's definitely making me reconsider what I thought was going to start today [regular attendance to RidgeView].



To top off my new-found reconsideration, I've been invited x2 to attend another smaller church just south of town (one invitation from someone who can't seem to get me & this opportunity off their mind either...). Next Sunday, First Lobo Baptist is having a Community Day where people who attend there regularly are to bring their friends. Here's the official invitation if my description needs further clarification:

I am sure it's a great group of people where I would be ministered to; just looking at the people that come out of there make me think this. And I am getting increasingly concerned with how what RidgeView lacks takes a toll on my spiritual growth. Despite all this though, I am feeling quite reluctant to pick up and move. Why? I wish I really knew. I think part of it has to do with feeling like I failed to make an impact in many of the people there. I also think that with a few more people on board, the leadership's hope for revival could actually happen and I would so love to be a part of that. It also pains me because I know the leadership would really miss me, someone who echoes their vision, leaving. I also hate being perceived as someone that gives up when things aren't "going my way." On the other hand though, I really do need to keep practising the concept of "moving on quickly" after a purpose has been fulfilled. And I have had this inkling [that my purpose with RidgeView has been fulfilled] for much of the summer. Gah. It is all one big never-ending thinking circle. I seem to be having some difficulties here.

On a lighter note, yet still on the 'expect the unexpected' theme, I finished five reeds today, and, *gasp*, all five of them worked. Thanks to a technique I learned from Gabriel at the summer programme, I also was able to make all of them non-buzzers (caused by excess water vibrating where it shouldn't even be in the first place). The success rate of the reed day was a pleasant surprise as my normally for about every 10 reeds I make, 6 or 7 might play properly, despite thinking that I've done the steps all correctly. Further compared to my 30% success rate two years ago, this 100% day is much cause for celebration.

Another surprise of the day was my attempt at dinner. I attempted to make meatloaf, however, as I went to pull it out I discovered that I had used waaaaaaaaaaaay too much water. Note to self: halving a recipe requires more than halving the liquid ingredients (probably not true for all recipes, but at least for meatloaf). I was able to save it by dishing it into a baking pan, on Erin's suggestion, and baking it for a little while longer. It turned out to be very good & just like I anticipated. God only knows why I wanted meatloaf in the first place though; I used to hate it as a kid. To top off the dinner good times, I also managed to somehow undercook my Lipton SideKick despite following the instructions to a tee. Yay for crunchy-ish noodles!

Time for surprise #4 (I think). I found out from Prof. McKay today that my chamber group will be doing L'histoire du soldat (The Soldier's Tale), by Stravinsky. Courtesy of Wikipedia, I enjoy these comments on the piece: Composer Constant Lambert described pieces such as Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier's Tale) as containing "essentially cold-blooded abstraction".[18] He continues, saying that the "melodic fragments in Histoire du Soldat are completely meaningless themselves. They are merely successions of notes that can conveniently be divided into groups of three, five, and seven and set against other mathematical groups", and the cadenza for solo drums is "musical purity...achieved by a species of musical castration". He compares Stravinsky's choice of "the drabbest and least significant phrases" to Gertrude Stein's: "Everyday they were gay there, they were regularly gay there everyday" ("Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene", 1922), "whose effect would be equally appreciated by someone with no knowledge of English whatsoever".[19]

I know I am a bassoonist, so 99% of all other musicians will be shocked to hear this, but I strongly dislike Stravinsky's music [Stravinsky is widely known for "great" bassoon parts]. I have somewhat of a disdain for most of the twentieth-century repertoire (yes, the same kind my roomie LOVES), but throw in thoughts of communism, the things angry & powerful men do, & incest (he married his cousin...) and you really have a recipe for some uneasiness. I am thankful that they thought of me to be the solo bassoon in this major work, but at the same time, it makes me want to run the other way. Yay non-tonal music / music by guys that would creep you out if you ever met them face-to-face.

Well I think that is enough randomness for one day. Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to participate in World Hug Day; we'll see how that goes... hopefully I'll find some others who're enthusiastic about it...