I went to one of those 'you have to hear once in your lifetime' concerts today. Christopher Herrick, a former organist for Westminster Abbey & St. Paul's (in London, England) did a superb recital tonight. I was guiltily spending some time on Facebook today in the music library when I should have been studying and saw that Steven (one of Jordan's roommates)'s status was "is going to the Christopher Herrick recital tonight and thinks you should too." Seeing as I was already looking for something to do with friends today, this worked out rather nicely. And I have to say this was one of the more enjoyable concerts I have attended in a long time; no modernistic-I-can't-understand-it music. If you've ever heard the notion of "white-people jazz" describing pleasant but not terribly musically awesome jazz, well this concert would very much fit into the "white-people classical" genre; some Buxtehude, Bartok, Bach, and a little George Shearing to keep the old people happy. I'm not sure exactly what was my favourite piece but the Minuet by Boccherini (find it on youtube or something... I promise you that you've heard it) and the See-ah-hum-bah (not sure how you spell that) pieces certainly put a smile on my face :-P.
The Alcan presentation wasn't too horrendous today; my portion definitely kicked some butt with fancy pictures (taken from their annual report) and a video, courtesy of youtube, promoting their commitment to sustainability in the bauxite mining industry. Good times.
Ok I'm going to hit the sack early so as to not fall asleep at random inappropriate times during my almost solidly-packed 9:30am-12midnight day tomorrow!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
A little bit of dis und dat
It amazes me that still so many people are reading this blog on a regular basis despite my inability to write about very much. Anyhoo here goes the general run down of new newsy items for Hutch.
I FINALLY found out that I DO qualify for the BMOS Internship today. Basically this means that providing I interview well, I will be taking 16months starting May 1 and working somewhere for pay. I am considering looking into positions with the Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet Company, Stratford Festival, and Warner Brothers Music. If you guys have any other ideas for music-related businesses that have a history of hiring co-op students let me know; I'm pretty open to just about everything. I have to say I still have some hesitations with moving to a new city, adapting to a new routine, having a life that doesn't revolve so much around playing but I am warming up to the idea with each passing day. The notion of being debt-free, owning a vehicle, replacing my aging computer with a laptop, purchasing geeky bassoon accessories all excites me very much.
After a few weeks of wondering if something strange is in the water here at the apartment, it has been confirmed this evening that alas I am the last single lady standing in our ghetto house. Times like this are always fun in a sarcastic sort of way. Thankfully though my eyes have been very open to how uber-good God is to me with respect to providing me lots of people to chat with so I don't ever feel alone instead of single. God is good and does provide for our every need if only we would recognize it.
Time to log some zzz's so that I don't look all cooky-eyed for the Alcan presentation tomorrow!
I FINALLY found out that I DO qualify for the BMOS Internship today. Basically this means that providing I interview well, I will be taking 16months starting May 1 and working somewhere for pay. I am considering looking into positions with the Canadian Opera Company, National Ballet Company, Stratford Festival, and Warner Brothers Music. If you guys have any other ideas for music-related businesses that have a history of hiring co-op students let me know; I'm pretty open to just about everything. I have to say I still have some hesitations with moving to a new city, adapting to a new routine, having a life that doesn't revolve so much around playing but I am warming up to the idea with each passing day. The notion of being debt-free, owning a vehicle, replacing my aging computer with a laptop, purchasing geeky bassoon accessories all excites me very much.
After a few weeks of wondering if something strange is in the water here at the apartment, it has been confirmed this evening that alas I am the last single lady standing in our ghetto house. Times like this are always fun in a sarcastic sort of way. Thankfully though my eyes have been very open to how uber-good God is to me with respect to providing me lots of people to chat with so I don't ever feel alone instead of single. God is good and does provide for our every need if only we would recognize it.
Time to log some zzz's so that I don't look all cooky-eyed for the Alcan presentation tomorrow!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday... A day of ... Alcan?
This morning was spent researching the four business groups that together make up Alcan Inc. I decided that it'd be best to be prepared for a meeting that I had with my finance group this afternoon as opposed to going to some churchy group that is still yet to be determined. We spent a few hours on it today and I think it's going to be ok. Things certainly would have gone more smoothly if a) there was wireless internet on campus (it decided to cut out today) b) everyone had more of an idea what they were talking about. All in all I feel quasi-ok with how this presentation is going to turn out. We're meeting with our prof tomorrow afternoon to get the official "it's presentable" sticker so let's all hope that goes well.
Tonight I finally made it out to my first Through the Roof. I was *super* excited at the sheer numbers (the Wave probably would've only held 30 or so more people) & more specifically the sheer number of people I did not recognize (well over 80%). It's always encouraging to know that there are soooo many more Christians on campus than you realize :). The speaker really hit a Holy Spirit nerve for a lot of people I think too as he felt really called to speak about how we'd rather be busy then spend still quiet time with the Lord. I cannot tell you how thankful I am that that message is being preached to the masses. Please join me in prayer that this message will not be forgotten.
Seeing as it is 1am already and I usually try and be in bed by 11pm on Sunday nights, I'll close out with a few prayer requests & explain more later:
- "Congo" Andrew has arrived safely in Mexico for a 4ish-week stay. Pray for safety/usefulness/health/ the usual ;)
- pray for the people that have heard my testimony; I've told it four times in the last three days... God's up to something
- for Rob & Ada (Ada is Andrew's sister in-law and is having some pregnancy complications)
- PRAISE GOD that He answers even our tiniest of prayers; I've been having a LOT of exciting and awesome spiritual conversations lately, just as desired :)
Nighty night night
Tonight I finally made it out to my first Through the Roof. I was *super* excited at the sheer numbers (the Wave probably would've only held 30 or so more people) & more specifically the sheer number of people I did not recognize (well over 80%). It's always encouraging to know that there are soooo many more Christians on campus than you realize :). The speaker really hit a Holy Spirit nerve for a lot of people I think too as he felt really called to speak about how we'd rather be busy then spend still quiet time with the Lord. I cannot tell you how thankful I am that that message is being preached to the masses. Please join me in prayer that this message will not be forgotten.
Seeing as it is 1am already and I usually try and be in bed by 11pm on Sunday nights, I'll close out with a few prayer requests & explain more later:
- "Congo" Andrew has arrived safely in Mexico for a 4ish-week stay. Pray for safety/usefulness/health/ the usual ;)
- pray for the people that have heard my testimony; I've told it four times in the last three days... God's up to something
- for Rob & Ada (Ada is Andrew's sister in-law and is having some pregnancy complications)
- PRAISE GOD that He answers even our tiniest of prayers; I've been having a LOT of exciting and awesome spiritual conversations lately, just as desired :)
Nighty night night
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Woe is me
So during my jam-packed Friday, I was made aware that a Finance Report on Alcan Ltd. is due on TUESDAY... I thought it was due sometime in November. Arg... Now I have to figure out what/if I'm doing anything churchy-wise tomorrow or if I'm going to allow myself to spend my time right here in front of my computer calculating liquidity ratios. Haha it is times like this I wished I had someone else (i.e. a husband) to make this decision for me :P dooo doo doo doo doooo *shifty eyes*
Ok, well apparently I am overtired (I'm doing shifty eyes on my blog page)... Perhaps I will make more of an effort to write during the day so that you guys get more substance to these posts.
Ciao
Ok, well apparently I am overtired (I'm doing shifty eyes on my blog page)... Perhaps I will make more of an effort to write during the day so that you guys get more substance to these posts.
Ciao
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Business
To get this out in the open, "I'm too busy right now for xyz," is one of my most pet-peeved statements. Busy means I'm the President of the United States; I'm an astronaut and I'm on another planet; I'm in a really successful rock band touring the world. I do understand that we're all busy people in this world but to say you're too busy to make time for friends or reading a book or doing your devotions isn't so much of a case of being busy as it is with having a different set of priorities. Next time you're "too busy" for something, think about how you can explain that better, particularly if I'm the one you're explaining it too; I promise you that you'll learn an important lesson from it.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Awesome Day
Today was a really great day overall. It started out with a pretty good rehearsal with my accompanist, Rudin. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for having a musical accompanist that works so hard to learn the part. He's such a pleasure to play with.
After a nice break we headed into my lesson and for the first time in a while, the McKay we all know and love made a break through the extreme business and overwhelmed Jim that has been present for the last little bit (working the equivalent of 3 full-time profs this year, it's no wonder he's so different!). I got a lot of really good ideas for what to do with the Hurlestone piece I'm doing and also really appreciated his excitement for how I'm progressing along. We also chatted a bit about the '5-year career' thing (see the previous post) and he had the same 'hmmmmmmm/ thinking' look that I had when I first thought of it. His response was kind of two-fold in that a) I really should consider having kids before 30 (he's recently a grandfather & has been newly reminded of the energy it takes to raise a young child) and b) that's why you get involved with administration. So go team! Music admin all the way! Don't let me quit!
After a rather not-prepared-enough-on-my-part rehearsal of L'Histoire tonight, I had one of those purely God-ordained visits. I was hoping to go and see a concert that Zach Havens (a friend from Brockville) was doing at the Spoke (a campus bar) with a good friend of mine, but alas, turns out he couldn't make it/didn't want to go. Anyhow, as God would have it, I was able to go with Jordan (the 6'6" violinist that I'm sure almost all of you have heard me talk about) and chat with him. We haven't really talked since Thanksgiving-ish and there was so many new things to share that we ended up talking for close to three hours! Before you get all concerned about me talking one-on-one with a boy, there were so many moments where I was sooooo thankful to have someone to talk about whatever with that I was moved to almost-tears. We have had such similar journeys faith-wise with similarities in our family upbringings, relationships, decisions for schooling, housemates, and friendships. There are so many times, moreso in the past than now, that I think I'm the only one around here who's had to deal with xyz and it is SUCH a blessing to find someone else strong in the Lord who's able to fully understand and share similar experiences back. We're both incredibly grateful that the Lord has allowed us to develop such an awesome friendship to help each other through the battlefield that is school.
OK, seeing as it's 1:30 and I'm in a fantastic mood, probably a good time to head for bed.
After a nice break we headed into my lesson and for the first time in a while, the McKay we all know and love made a break through the extreme business and overwhelmed Jim that has been present for the last little bit (working the equivalent of 3 full-time profs this year, it's no wonder he's so different!). I got a lot of really good ideas for what to do with the Hurlestone piece I'm doing and also really appreciated his excitement for how I'm progressing along. We also chatted a bit about the '5-year career' thing (see the previous post) and he had the same 'hmmmmmmm/ thinking' look that I had when I first thought of it. His response was kind of two-fold in that a) I really should consider having kids before 30 (he's recently a grandfather & has been newly reminded of the energy it takes to raise a young child) and b) that's why you get involved with administration. So go team! Music admin all the way! Don't let me quit!
After a rather not-prepared-enough-on-my-part rehearsal of L'Histoire tonight, I had one of those purely God-ordained visits. I was hoping to go and see a concert that Zach Havens (a friend from Brockville) was doing at the Spoke (a campus bar) with a good friend of mine, but alas, turns out he couldn't make it/didn't want to go. Anyhow, as God would have it, I was able to go with Jordan (the 6'6" violinist that I'm sure almost all of you have heard me talk about) and chat with him. We haven't really talked since Thanksgiving-ish and there was so many new things to share that we ended up talking for close to three hours! Before you get all concerned about me talking one-on-one with a boy, there were so many moments where I was sooooo thankful to have someone to talk about whatever with that I was moved to almost-tears. We have had such similar journeys faith-wise with similarities in our family upbringings, relationships, decisions for schooling, housemates, and friendships. There are so many times, moreso in the past than now, that I think I'm the only one around here who's had to deal with xyz and it is SUCH a blessing to find someone else strong in the Lord who's able to fully understand and share similar experiences back. We're both incredibly grateful that the Lord has allowed us to develop such an awesome friendship to help each other through the battlefield that is school.
OK, seeing as it's 1:30 and I'm in a fantastic mood, probably a good time to head for bed.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Finito
Yay! My finance exam is finally all done with! Now I can go back to resuming a more regular lifestyle for the next few weeks :) All things considered, the exam went fairly well.
The rehearsal with Symphony Hamilton went *much* better this week; funny how having a working instrument makes such a large difference. I have to admit though, I'm getting pretty frustrated with myself and these rehearsals. I am making too many stupid mistakes for my own liking and the only thing I can really blame it on is tiredness (Wednesdays are very long days for me). Tonight I made special point of counting like a madwoman & it did help considerably but I was still doing STUPID things like throwing in random G-sharps where they CLEARLY would never exist. 'Tis nice that I get a chance to work through all these "new person in the industry" kinks before I start bigger gigs.
Speaking of bigger gigs, it's kind of neat that I noticed the ticket prices for this upcoming concert ($5-$28). $28 is the most I think I've ever had anyone to pay to come and hear me play (in some form or other... it's not like I have any huge parts). Neato, eh?
Well it looks like another long day lies ahead for me tomorrow; 9:15am rehearsal through to a 10pm concert at the Spoke put on by a Christian guy friend from Brockville (Zach Havens anybody?). I'm in pretty chipper spirits though.
The rehearsal with Symphony Hamilton went *much* better this week; funny how having a working instrument makes such a large difference. I have to admit though, I'm getting pretty frustrated with myself and these rehearsals. I am making too many stupid mistakes for my own liking and the only thing I can really blame it on is tiredness (Wednesdays are very long days for me). Tonight I made special point of counting like a madwoman & it did help considerably but I was still doing STUPID things like throwing in random G-sharps where they CLEARLY would never exist. 'Tis nice that I get a chance to work through all these "new person in the industry" kinks before I start bigger gigs.
Speaking of bigger gigs, it's kind of neat that I noticed the ticket prices for this upcoming concert ($5-$28). $28 is the most I think I've ever had anyone to pay to come and hear me play (in some form or other... it's not like I have any huge parts). Neato, eh?
Well it looks like another long day lies ahead for me tomorrow; 9:15am rehearsal through to a 10pm concert at the Spoke put on by a Christian guy friend from Brockville (Zach Havens anybody?). I'm in pretty chipper spirits though.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Wow.
MCD 10381. Wow. Sibelius Violin Concert performed by Itzhak Perlman with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Andre Previn conducting.
Apartment building fire alarms being tested the morning of my big finance test. Wow.
Six couples either newly formed or ended in one weekend. Wow.
498 pages in a week and a half. Wow.
God's love & mercy on an ever-failing person like me. Wow.
Apartment building fire alarms being tested the morning of my big finance test. Wow.
Six couples either newly formed or ended in one weekend. Wow.
498 pages in a week and a half. Wow.
God's love & mercy on an ever-failing person like me. Wow.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
A 5-Year Career
So I did think of something I could post later last night but the silly blogger site wasn't working again...
Yesterday I was chatting with a classmate about what age we thought we'd have kids by, and it dawned on me that if I think about having kids by age 30, by the time I finish school at 25 (if I do this internship & do a masters), that leaves a FIVE-YEAR CAREER?!?! I know many good musicians who are able to balance a family with a performing career but I'm really pessimistic that that will work out super well for me...particularly if we wanted to home school. I know that these things are soooooooo far down the road and so I wouldn't worry about them, but at the same time, sheesh!! All this work for 5 years out in the 'real world' uninterrupted?!?!
Believe it or not, I only have about 20 or so pages left to cover for my finance exam tomorrow. Every time I do this 100s-of-pages-read-in-a-few-days thing, I tell myself I really should never do it again but alas this has not sunk in yet. Oh the joy. My legs actually feel funny because I've been sitting down for way longer periods than normal. This can't be healthy :-P
Well that's enough procrastinating the final 20 pages; here I go!
Yesterday I was chatting with a classmate about what age we thought we'd have kids by, and it dawned on me that if I think about having kids by age 30, by the time I finish school at 25 (if I do this internship & do a masters), that leaves a FIVE-YEAR CAREER?!?! I know many good musicians who are able to balance a family with a performing career but I'm really pessimistic that that will work out super well for me...particularly if we wanted to home school. I know that these things are soooooooo far down the road and so I wouldn't worry about them, but at the same time, sheesh!! All this work for 5 years out in the 'real world' uninterrupted?!?!
Believe it or not, I only have about 20 or so pages left to cover for my finance exam tomorrow. Every time I do this 100s-of-pages-read-in-a-few-days thing, I tell myself I really should never do it again but alas this has not sunk in yet. Oh the joy. My legs actually feel funny because I've been sitting down for way longer periods than normal. This can't be healthy :-P
Well that's enough procrastinating the final 20 pages; here I go!
Monday, October 22, 2007
Blase
Nothing too exciting to report today; accounting wasn't terrible, no studio drama, & made an edible meal for dinner. Perhaps I will think of something to write about later...
A Surreal Weekend
Sorry I have not posted in a while; the blogger site seems to be having some difficulties.
The above picture is from my high school auditorium, taken this past Friday night. Going into high school, one of my biggest problems was that I could not find any other Christians that were actively seeking the Lord at the time. While I do not blame my falling away period of high school on the lack of Christian fellowship, I certainly do recognize that it played a huge role. Knowing this, I imagine you can catch a mere glimpse of my answer-to-prayer emotion to return to BCI four years later to find a *crowd* of teens worshipping and praying in that auditorium.
To add to the surrealism, I got to hear Andrew (Congo Andrew as many of you know him; from my house fellowship) quasi-preach for the first time (he was representing Teen Missions International). It is a bizarre thing indeed to see someone whom you've had so many spiritual conversations with, share the same concepts and ideas in a sermon. Seeing him preach & pray for kids that are exactly in the same place I was many moons ago also added to the memorableness (I know that's not a word) of this moment. I took pictures (kind of a rarity for me) because I couldn't quite get over the shock of it all in the moment, even though I knew he'd be speaking in the area for quite a few weeks. I think I'm still in a bit of shock to be quite honest; perhaps I will blog on this more at a later time, after I've had a chance to think through why God allowed this to happen and why at this time...
The above picture is from my high school auditorium, taken this past Friday night. Going into high school, one of my biggest problems was that I could not find any other Christians that were actively seeking the Lord at the time. While I do not blame my falling away period of high school on the lack of Christian fellowship, I certainly do recognize that it played a huge role. Knowing this, I imagine you can catch a mere glimpse of my answer-to-prayer emotion to return to BCI four years later to find a *crowd* of teens worshipping and praying in that auditorium.To add to the surrealism, I got to hear Andrew (Congo Andrew as many of you know him; from my house fellowship) quasi-preach for the first time (he was representing Teen Missions International). It is a bizarre thing indeed to see someone whom you've had so many spiritual conversations with, share the same concepts and ideas in a sermon. Seeing him preach & pray for kids that are exactly in the same place I was many moons ago also added to the memorableness (I know that's not a word) of this moment. I took pictures (kind of a rarity for me) because I couldn't quite get over the shock of it all in the moment, even though I knew he'd be speaking in the area for quite a few weeks. I think I'm still in a bit of shock to be quite honest; perhaps I will blog on this more at a later time, after I've had a chance to think through why God allowed this to happen and why at this time...While I was back in Brockville for not even 24 hours, I did get in some quality chat time with my parents & sister, Erin. For all of you who pray regularly for my family, I thank you immensely; God is moving.
Here's a cute picture of me with my sister Erin & my dog, Starsky:
Anyhow, time for bed! Hopefully the blogger site is runner smooth again tomorrow and I shall have another exciting post for you all!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Home Time!
Well I am preparing to head off to the land of Brockvegas for the weekend. This time tomorrow I shall hopefully have arrived safe and sound back at home to visit with my family for the weekend. I haven't made it back since the first weekend in August so it's about time!
Today was a pretty sweet day in that both my lesson and my two-hour orchestra rehearsal were canceled so I got a lot more time to run some errands / study for finance. We had a guest for our masterclass this evening too which was SUPER awesome; Shane Wieler from Marcus Wieler Bassoon Repair in Brampton drove down to give us a lecture on maintenance & other related topics. Turns out he went to school for commerce & music as well and is actually a certified CGA! I wish I could have stayed to chat longer but I did get a few answers to questions I've been having:
- The case I have (a Yamaha) is about as light & good as I'm going to get. I've been hoping for something lighter (I'm at about 18lbs now) but alas any of the lighter cases don't provide as good of protection as he recommends. Today was also the first time I've ever heard that Wiseman cases aren't super-awesomely-amazing (a $600 case I've had in the back of my mind for a while)...
- My ritualistic double-swabbing is doing a lot of good for my instrument. Most people just do it once, but I have two sets of cloths anyways so I've always done it twice. Turns out this is what he recommends now anyways.
- The silver plating on bocals do peel. My freak-out incident earlier this fall was also not an isolated incident :)
- The waiting list for a brand new Yamaha (my make) bassoon in North America is over a year-and-a-half right now!! Cha-Ching! My resale value went up a few pretty pennies more since I last had it appraised (not that I'm planning on selling anytime soon... but still; yay!).
- I really should have my instrument serviced more than once every two years. It is $100/hr for them to look at it, but it kind of needs to be done on a yearly basis to maximize my instrument's playing potential.
I know there has been a LOT of bassoon-talk on here lately. Hopefully I haven't driven too many of you away from reading... I'm sure my posts from home should be much less bassoon-centred.
Starksy here I come!
Today was a pretty sweet day in that both my lesson and my two-hour orchestra rehearsal were canceled so I got a lot more time to run some errands / study for finance. We had a guest for our masterclass this evening too which was SUPER awesome; Shane Wieler from Marcus Wieler Bassoon Repair in Brampton drove down to give us a lecture on maintenance & other related topics. Turns out he went to school for commerce & music as well and is actually a certified CGA! I wish I could have stayed to chat longer but I did get a few answers to questions I've been having:
- The case I have (a Yamaha) is about as light & good as I'm going to get. I've been hoping for something lighter (I'm at about 18lbs now) but alas any of the lighter cases don't provide as good of protection as he recommends. Today was also the first time I've ever heard that Wiseman cases aren't super-awesomely-amazing (a $600 case I've had in the back of my mind for a while)...
- My ritualistic double-swabbing is doing a lot of good for my instrument. Most people just do it once, but I have two sets of cloths anyways so I've always done it twice. Turns out this is what he recommends now anyways.
- The silver plating on bocals do peel. My freak-out incident earlier this fall was also not an isolated incident :)
- The waiting list for a brand new Yamaha (my make) bassoon in North America is over a year-and-a-half right now!! Cha-Ching! My resale value went up a few pretty pennies more since I last had it appraised (not that I'm planning on selling anytime soon... but still; yay!).
- I really should have my instrument serviced more than once every two years. It is $100/hr for them to look at it, but it kind of needs to be done on a yearly basis to maximize my instrument's playing potential.
I know there has been a LOT of bassoon-talk on here lately. Hopefully I haven't driven too many of you away from reading... I'm sure my posts from home should be much less bassoon-centred.
Starksy here I come!
Because everyone needs a break sometimes
Note to all: I do not function well on a week's worth of 5ish hour sleep / night (see I couldn't even make that into a sentence!).
Also thank goodness there are Christians around to build you up when there are some people that seem sooooooo determined to tear you down. Yay music faculty! P.S. Juggling video is from a Christian staff to kill some stress. Yay team!
P.S. Feel free to steal the video Joia :P
Also thank goodness there are Christians around to build you up when there are some people that seem sooooooo determined to tear you down. Yay music faculty! P.S. Juggling video is from a Christian staff to kill some stress. Yay team!
P.S. Feel free to steal the video Joia :P
Worst. Rehearsal. Ever.
So I'd be surprised if anything else could have gone wrong with the Symphony Hamilton rehearsal tonight:
1. Had to leave late because I had a scheduled rehearsal that went until 5:20 (we usually leave at 5)
2. Left at 5:40 because said rehearsal ended late & Fil got talking to Dr. Stokes.
3. Got lost on the way there **N.B. GIVE ME DIRECTIONS ALWAYS... even if I have been there three times**
4. Arrived with 10 minutes to spare to find out that the other bassoonist was sick so I had to sightread all of the first parts.
5. The player who was sick conveniently did not send all of her music to the rehearsal so I was reading the bassoon part from cues on another part's music; i.e. the notes were insanely small & I had no idea what the key signatures/clefs were on a regular basis; yay me.
6. Start noticing that my B-flats and A's are EXTREMELY flat. Assume my one and only current performance-worthy reed has died. Cue mad knife frenzy during rehearsal.
7. All other low notes start going flatter than a pancake and I lose all notes above middle C. WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!
8. Blow out bocal like a mad woman; whisper hole must have had something stuck in it as I regain my high register but still have WONKY tuning issues that are extremely evident on my exposed parts.
9. 10 min left to go in the rehearsal and I sense that my regulation (how far the keys physically press down when I touch them) is REALLY strange... discover that a set of keys on the boot joint is about to fall off because one of my screws in about an inch out of it's socket. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN WITHOUT ME REALIZING IT?!?!?!
10. Spend last 10min sounding like my normal self only to be living with screaming feelings of embarrassment and stupidity for not checking my rods (a fairly uncommon occurrence for the screws to come out, but still, given the symptoms I should have checked) inside.
11. Ran into the worst fog I've ever experienced on the way home; couldn't even see the lines for much of it... took about 40 min longer than normal to get home.
12. Broke my no-eating-after-7 rule and had a Frosty around Brantford. AND I'm not foreseeing any exercise time until at least Saturday.
Tomorrow better be a better day for me and Paul Anka (my bassoon)...
1. Had to leave late because I had a scheduled rehearsal that went until 5:20 (we usually leave at 5)
2. Left at 5:40 because said rehearsal ended late & Fil got talking to Dr. Stokes.
3. Got lost on the way there **N.B. GIVE ME DIRECTIONS ALWAYS... even if I have been there three times**
4. Arrived with 10 minutes to spare to find out that the other bassoonist was sick so I had to sightread all of the first parts.
5. The player who was sick conveniently did not send all of her music to the rehearsal so I was reading the bassoon part from cues on another part's music; i.e. the notes were insanely small & I had no idea what the key signatures/clefs were on a regular basis; yay me.
6. Start noticing that my B-flats and A's are EXTREMELY flat. Assume my one and only current performance-worthy reed has died. Cue mad knife frenzy during rehearsal.
7. All other low notes start going flatter than a pancake and I lose all notes above middle C. WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!
8. Blow out bocal like a mad woman; whisper hole must have had something stuck in it as I regain my high register but still have WONKY tuning issues that are extremely evident on my exposed parts.
9. 10 min left to go in the rehearsal and I sense that my regulation (how far the keys physically press down when I touch them) is REALLY strange... discover that a set of keys on the boot joint is about to fall off because one of my screws in about an inch out of it's socket. HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN WITHOUT ME REALIZING IT?!?!?!
10. Spend last 10min sounding like my normal self only to be living with screaming feelings of embarrassment and stupidity for not checking my rods (a fairly uncommon occurrence for the screws to come out, but still, given the symptoms I should have checked) inside.
11. Ran into the worst fog I've ever experienced on the way home; couldn't even see the lines for much of it... took about 40 min longer than normal to get home.
12. Broke my no-eating-after-7 rule and had a Frosty around Brantford. AND I'm not foreseeing any exercise time until at least Saturday.
Tomorrow better be a better day for me and Paul Anka (my bassoon)...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Oh musicians...
So a friend of mine wrote this on her Facebook, but I thought it interesting to share with everyone [and she is a horn player, so this probably is a true story]...
So one day I was walking down the street with my horn and some guy said "HEY, IS THAT A HORN?"
"Yes..."
"COOL! HEY, I'M A MUSICIAN TOO!!! I PLAY THE STICK!"
"Right, well..."
"YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, BUT GO TO STICK.COM IF YOU'RE BORED!"
Well, that was a month ago, and I have finally been bored enough to go to:http://www.stick.com/
You learn something new everyday
So one day I was walking down the street with my horn and some guy said "HEY, IS THAT A HORN?"
"Yes..."
"COOL! HEY, I'M A MUSICIAN TOO!!! I PLAY THE STICK!"
"Right, well..."
"YOU PROBABLY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS, BUT GO TO STICK.COM IF YOU'RE BORED!"
Well, that was a month ago, and I have finally been bored enough to go to:http://www.stick.com/
You learn something new everyday
Monday, October 15, 2007
Here We Go Again
Monday through Wednesday are always my crazy days of the week, and this week isn't looking like it will be any sort of exception. Thankfully I have no concerts *gasp* this week so I should be able to resume better practising/sleeping/cooking/eating patterns. Yay :D
I was really blessed by many visits that I had today including one with Rob Wood's mom. She was a super neat lady and offered me a lot of encouragement within the ten minutes I talked with her. I heart when God brings those people along at just the right time, without them even knowing it. :)
I also got to meet up with Patsy, my professor's wife, after the show and was also very blessed by her comments about studio politics and my best violino bud, Jordan. Good times :)
After the concert I went to a LifeTeen Mass with Beth, her roommate Nikki, and Lorne. It was much different than any of us girls anticipated but I really felt ministered to through the music & ample prayer time. I am coming to the conclusion that I am SO picky when it comes to the teaching part of a service. After spending so much time within the house group setting where nearly all of the discussions/teachings feel so relevant & seemingly biblically sound (if you have an objection, you raise it!), I don't think I will ever come across a more traditional-style church where I am seemingly fed through teachings in the same way. I'm not exactly looking for this anyways... just an observation!
Ok, I'm getting too tired to collect my thoughts again; time for bed!
P.S. I procrastinated business readings by starting up http://westernneedsaperformancehall.blogspot.com. Feel free to stalk my connections to the faculty there too. ;)
I was really blessed by many visits that I had today including one with Rob Wood's mom. She was a super neat lady and offered me a lot of encouragement within the ten minutes I talked with her. I heart when God brings those people along at just the right time, without them even knowing it. :)
I also got to meet up with Patsy, my professor's wife, after the show and was also very blessed by her comments about studio politics and my best violino bud, Jordan. Good times :)
After the concert I went to a LifeTeen Mass with Beth, her roommate Nikki, and Lorne. It was much different than any of us girls anticipated but I really felt ministered to through the music & ample prayer time. I am coming to the conclusion that I am SO picky when it comes to the teaching part of a service. After spending so much time within the house group setting where nearly all of the discussions/teachings feel so relevant & seemingly biblically sound (if you have an objection, you raise it!), I don't think I will ever come across a more traditional-style church where I am seemingly fed through teachings in the same way. I'm not exactly looking for this anyways... just an observation!
Ok, I'm getting too tired to collect my thoughts again; time for bed!
P.S. I procrastinated business readings by starting up http://westernneedsaperformancehall.blogspot.com. Feel free to stalk my connections to the faculty there too. ;)
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Pants!
Yay! I feel so successful; It is only 11:18 and I am at home and ready for bed :) It is a good thing to as I will most definitely benefit from a good nights' sleep.
Today I finally got around to hemming some jeans I got in August... Seeing as it probably only took about 20min, I'm trying to figure out why I didn't do this sooner. I also finally broke down and found a pair of awesome black dress pants. It dawned on me that I have been looking casually for over a year and now that I'm playing contrabassoon, I *really* had to break down and find some (I usually wear skirts when I perform, but playing the contra involves having the instrument in between your legs, which is not so conducive to skirt-wearing). While I really enjoy fashion and shopping for clothes, I quite detest trying things on. After about four rounds of clothing, I tend to beeline it out of the mall telling myself that I'll just do it another day. I've been doing this for over a year with respect to finding a pair of dress pants, but today I buckled down and tried on, thankfully, only about ten pairs before I found the lucky on sale ones.
Tomorrow is our first orchestra concert. We'll be playing Mendelssohn's Overture to Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Esultate Jubilate, & Brahm's Symphony No. 2. There's been a lot of extra talk in the London newspapers about the music faculty, largely because of petitions to get a new hall but nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if that effects the audience numbers at all.
I'm pretty sure I will be going to my first Life Teen mass tomorrow night with Beth (a girl I lived across from in first year). Hopefully the timing works out; the concert starts at 3pm & we'd have to leave for mass by 5... I'll let you know how that goes.
P.S. Sorry for the poor grammar/arrangement of thoughts... it comes with the tiredness.
Today I finally got around to hemming some jeans I got in August... Seeing as it probably only took about 20min, I'm trying to figure out why I didn't do this sooner. I also finally broke down and found a pair of awesome black dress pants. It dawned on me that I have been looking casually for over a year and now that I'm playing contrabassoon, I *really* had to break down and find some (I usually wear skirts when I perform, but playing the contra involves having the instrument in between your legs, which is not so conducive to skirt-wearing). While I really enjoy fashion and shopping for clothes, I quite detest trying things on. After about four rounds of clothing, I tend to beeline it out of the mall telling myself that I'll just do it another day. I've been doing this for over a year with respect to finding a pair of dress pants, but today I buckled down and tried on, thankfully, only about ten pairs before I found the lucky on sale ones.
Tomorrow is our first orchestra concert. We'll be playing Mendelssohn's Overture to Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozart's Esultate Jubilate, & Brahm's Symphony No. 2. There's been a lot of extra talk in the London newspapers about the music faculty, largely because of petitions to get a new hall but nevertheless, it will be interesting to see if that effects the audience numbers at all.
I'm pretty sure I will be going to my first Life Teen mass tomorrow night with Beth (a girl I lived across from in first year). Hopefully the timing works out; the concert starts at 3pm & we'd have to leave for mass by 5... I'll let you know how that goes.
P.S. Sorry for the poor grammar/arrangement of thoughts... it comes with the tiredness.
Notes to self...
Note to self: Being exhausted affects your playing negatively.
Note to self: Protein is your friend.
Note to self: God is good. Listen to Him more and everything will turn out swimmingly :)
Note to self: My roomie Erin never ceases to amaze me with her random stories.
Note to self: Look up definition of impairment (with respect to financing). You needed to know this for your exam.
Note to self: GET SLEEP
Note to self: Protein is your friend.
Note to self: God is good. Listen to Him more and everything will turn out swimmingly :)
Note to self: My roomie Erin never ceases to amaze me with her random stories.
Note to self: Look up definition of impairment (with respect to financing). You needed to know this for your exam.
Note to self: GET SLEEP
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Freaky Friday
Tomorrow is going to be a pretty insanely stressful day; a big midterm from 5:30-7:30 & a concert on an instrument I've had for just over a week at 8:00. I definitely felt the stress setting in already today and have discovered that I seem to have forgotten what it feels like to:
- be so tired that I can't keep my eyes open, even when someone is talking directly to me AND I am standing up
- not be able to form a proper sentence, no matter how hard I try
- have some sort of body ache (this time it is my right shoulder) that interrupts the most normal of activities (something's so funky with it right now that it is particularly painful to open doors... I blame lugging around the contrabassoon)
- completely forget when "now" exactly is... time, day, month, season, year...
- do the bouncy-head thing in lecture; when you're falling asleep and you jerk your head up at the last second to prevent you from doing so
- have such difficulties concentrating on a particular passage that it takes a good 1/2 hr to do what can normally be done in five minutes
- misrepresent what I'm trying to say in such a way that it comes out as insulting, even when it's not meant to be in the slightest
- totally brush conversations off because I simply don't have it in me to have *any* form of meaningful conversation beyond "Hello. I am tired."
- be so tired, that everything is HILARIOUS
The last one makes me happy, so if you're thinking I'm feeling blue about being stressed, think again. I may not be able to form a sentence, but I can still smile and laugh at you when you do stupid things.
Speaking of laughing & dealing with business-related stress, this video always seems to help. I'm sure *many* of you will really appreciate this. March 22. Don't forget.
P.S. There was another article in the student newspaper today quoting moi, not supremely accurately btw but n/m... so read it when you want to prevent your own bobbity-bop-bop moment in class.
- be so tired that I can't keep my eyes open, even when someone is talking directly to me AND I am standing up
- not be able to form a proper sentence, no matter how hard I try
- have some sort of body ache (this time it is my right shoulder) that interrupts the most normal of activities (something's so funky with it right now that it is particularly painful to open doors... I blame lugging around the contrabassoon)
- completely forget when "now" exactly is... time, day, month, season, year...
- do the bouncy-head thing in lecture; when you're falling asleep and you jerk your head up at the last second to prevent you from doing so
- have such difficulties concentrating on a particular passage that it takes a good 1/2 hr to do what can normally be done in five minutes
- misrepresent what I'm trying to say in such a way that it comes out as insulting, even when it's not meant to be in the slightest
- totally brush conversations off because I simply don't have it in me to have *any* form of meaningful conversation beyond "Hello. I am tired."
- be so tired, that everything is HILARIOUS
The last one makes me happy, so if you're thinking I'm feeling blue about being stressed, think again. I may not be able to form a sentence, but I can still smile and laugh at you when you do stupid things.
Speaking of laughing & dealing with business-related stress, this video always seems to help. I'm sure *many* of you will really appreciate this. March 22. Don't forget.
P.S. There was another article in the student newspaper today quoting moi, not supremely accurately btw but n/m... so read it when you want to prevent your own bobbity-bop-bop moment in class.
OT
Uhhhhhhhh. I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo over-stretched right now. I forgot how bad midterms + concerts season is. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
I have exhibited so many signs of exhaustion today it's not even funny. Despite not having to travel to Hamilton tonight, I'm going to keep up this Wednesday blogging tradition and keep 'er real short.
Here's a funny video for you to enjoy, because nobody likes a baritone at the best of times:
And I'm just kidding about the baritones... they truly do have a special place in my heart.
Here's a funny video for you to enjoy, because nobody likes a baritone at the best of times:
And I'm just kidding about the baritones... they truly do have a special place in my heart.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
A day I will be remembered by...
Today at approximately 5:05 pm, not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not even six, but all SEVEN of my reeds on regular rotation were found to be in a disgusting state of moldiness. It's not uncommon to lose one at a time to mold, but for whatever reason, one decided to infect all the others and I've lost them all. I considered taking a picture (they'd even moved beyond the normal 'growing black stage' into the 'growing a white spiderweb-like material' stage... never seen before by my prof... yay for something to be remembered by!) but it was honestly to gross to hold onto, even for me to run home to get my camera. I'm trying to salvage three of the least-moldy ones by letting them sit in hydrogen peroxide for the night, but I think it's going to be a lost cause.
What does this mean to the non-bassoon players of the crowd? Basically that I will be spending a few hours everyday for the next week or so in the reed room trying to make a whole nother set of great reeds. With concert week starting on Sunday and midterms abounding, this should make for a fun scheduling frenzy. In all fairness though, reed making doesn't take a whole lot of brain power, so it is a pleasant break from the world of finance & accounting.
Emmm so some non-reed talk would probably be most welcome...
Tomorrow is election day! God only knows where my registration card is... I know that I put it in a safe place... arg... at least I already have some experience navigating how to vote without one.
Today I discovered that a quick 1/2 hour in the nap really does help my energy levels for the rest of the day. I was really slow in getting going after I awoke though, so I think I'm going to have to give a little bit more thought as to the cost-benefit ratio of this concept.
Bed time for bonzo! See ya tomorrow!
What does this mean to the non-bassoon players of the crowd? Basically that I will be spending a few hours everyday for the next week or so in the reed room trying to make a whole nother set of great reeds. With concert week starting on Sunday and midterms abounding, this should make for a fun scheduling frenzy. In all fairness though, reed making doesn't take a whole lot of brain power, so it is a pleasant break from the world of finance & accounting.
Emmm so some non-reed talk would probably be most welcome...
Tomorrow is election day! God only knows where my registration card is... I know that I put it in a safe place... arg... at least I already have some experience navigating how to vote without one.
Today I discovered that a quick 1/2 hour in the nap really does help my energy levels for the rest of the day. I was really slow in getting going after I awoke though, so I think I'm going to have to give a little bit more thought as to the cost-benefit ratio of this concept.
Bed time for bonzo! See ya tomorrow!
Monday, October 8, 2007
A Sweet Deal of a Weekend
YAY! 38 pages to go for the assigned readings covered on Friday's Accounting Midterm! 3-8! Not 308 (which is probably still under the number of pages to go for my Finance midterm a week from Wednesday). I feel like I 100% understand probably about 85% of the material already, so this is very good news. Another bonus is that there's a strings' only rehearsal this week with Symphony Hamilton so I can hit the books for another few hours on Wednesday night. I've never been so happy to stay in Londontown. :P j/k
A way to Heather's heart... (p.s. this isn't the actual pie... it is an actual pie, but only from someone kind enough to take a picture of it and then post it online for me to find and 'borrow')
In other exciting news, I had my turkey dinner today with the Woodford family. Yay turkey! It's not quite exactly the kind of meal we'd have a home, but it was most definitely tastier than my wildest not-dad's-stuffing-dreams :) Judy even made pecan pie, one of my absolute favourites, without evening knowing that I liked it! Another bonus of the day was that I didn't get a headache; usually I get one from eating too much refined sugar, but I was a good girl and hoarded down a lot of water to balance out the sugary goodness of the dessert time. Sweeeeeeet deal :)
A way to Heather's heart... (p.s. this isn't the actual pie... it is an actual pie, but only from someone kind enough to take a picture of it and then post it online for me to find and 'borrow')I think that is all the exciting news for now. It is surprising what a weekend of getting caught up in school work, organizing/cleaning piles up, eating properly, and sleeping more than 6 hrs/ night can do for a gal; I feel FANTASTIC. Yippee!
Seeing as my enthusiasm is probably scaring you off, I shall call it an early night so as to start my morning with a blessed run in the predicted rainy cool weather...YAY!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Potluck & No Luck
Tonight Erin & I hosted a Thanksgiving potluck for those left without celebrations this weekend. It happened that all of our dishes ended up being vegetarian, which was really good seeing as 5/10 people in attendance don't eat meat! My spinach lasagna seemed to be a big hit which is an answer to prayer in that I didn't use a recipe :$...
This morning I 'played' (and I use the term lightly...) flute for RidgeView's Thanksgiving service. It was definitely fairly interesting trying to remember key signatures, read from lead sheets, play in the treble clef; all things I do not do regularly. I'm fairly convinced that how well I play doesn't matter anyways; it's more the colour / change in sound that helps to focus people's minds for worship. The musician side of me still has a bit of a tough time with the improv thang though.
After chatting with some people this week about it, I'm wondering if we can take the assumption that the average Christian doesn't feel comfortable sharing Jesus-things with their friends and extend it to include talking about Jesus-things to most Christians. There are so many unwritten rules about questioning certain aspects of your faith walk, or discussing it with certain people, that create such an unwelcoming environment for Christians to grow. I'd be interested to know more about how the persecuted church, a growing church, deals with this. For instance, 90% of the time it is considered improper for a female to pray aloud/ talk about spiritual things with a married man, or even a single man to some degree for that matter. I find this truly bizarre from a spiritual point-of-view. Why am I, as a sister in Christ, restricted in my sisterly activities? (I should assure you that this issue arises out of no particular situation... just me having some time to finally think things through). Perhaps I have missed out on some biblical principle here? Anyone have any ideas?
Tomorrow is turkey time with the Woodford family from the house fellowship. I'm looking really forward to having spiritual discussions, with whomever. Thankfully family environments tend to devalue a lot of these unwritten rules...
Burdened for the saved again...
Heather
This morning I 'played' (and I use the term lightly...) flute for RidgeView's Thanksgiving service. It was definitely fairly interesting trying to remember key signatures, read from lead sheets, play in the treble clef; all things I do not do regularly. I'm fairly convinced that how well I play doesn't matter anyways; it's more the colour / change in sound that helps to focus people's minds for worship. The musician side of me still has a bit of a tough time with the improv thang though.
After chatting with some people this week about it, I'm wondering if we can take the assumption that the average Christian doesn't feel comfortable sharing Jesus-things with their friends and extend it to include talking about Jesus-things to most Christians. There are so many unwritten rules about questioning certain aspects of your faith walk, or discussing it with certain people, that create such an unwelcoming environment for Christians to grow. I'd be interested to know more about how the persecuted church, a growing church, deals with this. For instance, 90% of the time it is considered improper for a female to pray aloud/ talk about spiritual things with a married man, or even a single man to some degree for that matter. I find this truly bizarre from a spiritual point-of-view. Why am I, as a sister in Christ, restricted in my sisterly activities? (I should assure you that this issue arises out of no particular situation... just me having some time to finally think things through). Perhaps I have missed out on some biblical principle here? Anyone have any ideas?
Tomorrow is turkey time with the Woodford family from the house fellowship. I'm looking really forward to having spiritual discussions, with whomever. Thankfully family environments tend to devalue a lot of these unwritten rules...
Burdened for the saved again...
Heather
Saturday, October 6, 2007
I'm Famous Again!
Back in the summer sometime, I was roped into helping out with a library project. Seeing as I live in the libraries (and they needed another singer when I happened to be there anyways) I got to guest star in the Western Libraries 2007 welcome video. There are no really great visuals of me, but you can hear me singing!
The overall quality of the video is kind of poor, and I think most of you won't find it as hilarious as those who know multiple people in this video will. Anyhow, I hope you laughed even a little bit!
Land of the libraries,
Home of e-journals,
Where still the mighty book,
Can be signed out.
CDs and scores and more,
Means I can practise 'til I'm sore.
Boom dideedahdah boom dideedahdah booooooooom
Seriously, I am having way to much fun here at Western :)
The overall quality of the video is kind of poor, and I think most of you won't find it as hilarious as those who know multiple people in this video will. Anyhow, I hope you laughed even a little bit!
Land of the libraries,
Home of e-journals,
Where still the mighty book,
Can be signed out.
CDs and scores and more,
Means I can practise 'til I'm sore.
Boom dideedahdah boom dideedahdah booooooooom
Seriously, I am having way to much fun here at Western :)
Chicken at the King of Pigs
I went out with three of the office staff for lunch today. We went to "The King of Pigs", a London staple, and had chicken (ironic I know). I really enjoyed having some down time especially with people as funny as this bunch.
The Stratford concert went really well tonight. Scott St. John & his soon-to-be-wife Sharon Wei did a fantabulous job of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. I *really* appreciated their mutual supreme musicality. The orchestra had a reception afterwards and I finally got to talk to some non-UWO people at length about their musical background. Yay mingling!
Tomorrow shall be a mad day of exercising/reading/practising/cleaning/laundry. I'm not exactly sure how I will get everything done but I trust that what needs to happen will happen... I'll let you know how that goes.
The Stratford concert went really well tonight. Scott St. John & his soon-to-be-wife Sharon Wei did a fantabulous job of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante. I *really* appreciated their mutual supreme musicality. The orchestra had a reception afterwards and I finally got to talk to some non-UWO people at length about their musical background. Yay mingling!
Tomorrow shall be a mad day of exercising/reading/practising/cleaning/laundry. I'm not exactly sure how I will get everything done but I trust that what needs to happen will happen... I'll let you know how that goes.
Friday, October 5, 2007
A Sheherezadian Good Night
I am alive. After another crazy week comes to a close, I am re-evaluating all that I have taken on this year and whether or not it is in my best interests to keep up with them.
Today was McKay's birthday. Elena & I wore our "I heart McKay" t-shirts all day and thoroughly embarrassed him. In our masterclass we broke out Pat's 8-part arrangement of the Nutcracker and let him play. Needless to say, great fun was had by all; I haven't been this hyper reading through music in a while.
I went to see OL do Sheherezade & Shostakovitch 9 tonight. Fred, the first bassoon player, did a really good job. I always appreciate his musicality. OL, courtesy of A & P, added FREE FOOD after all of their Ovation concerts. This most definitely improved my impressions of the evening.
Tomorrow I am going out for chicken with some of the office staff to celebrate the increased publicity (and its successes) for getting a performance hall. There's been a *LOT* of stuff in the LFPress lately. I shall post some of these entries when I get some time...
Time for bed. See you at 6am for a run...oh wait... that's my shoes... n/m... I'm tired.
Today was McKay's birthday. Elena & I wore our "I heart McKay" t-shirts all day and thoroughly embarrassed him. In our masterclass we broke out Pat's 8-part arrangement of the Nutcracker and let him play. Needless to say, great fun was had by all; I haven't been this hyper reading through music in a while.
I went to see OL do Sheherezade & Shostakovitch 9 tonight. Fred, the first bassoon player, did a really good job. I always appreciate his musicality. OL, courtesy of A & P, added FREE FOOD after all of their Ovation concerts. This most definitely improved my impressions of the evening.
Tomorrow I am going out for chicken with some of the office staff to celebrate the increased publicity (and its successes) for getting a performance hall. There's been a *LOT* of stuff in the LFPress lately. I shall post some of these entries when I get some time...
Time for bed. See you at 6am for a run...oh wait... that's my shoes... n/m... I'm tired.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Show Me The Meaning of Being Holy
Many have heard the stories, but few have seen the videos.
Well the 'few' shall now become 'many' as my guest appearance in a music video for the Back Street Boys, *ahem*, I mean, Boyface, was entered into the public domain today.
For those that haven't heard the story, here's a brief summary of what the following video clips are...
A friend of mine, Nicole, had gone through a bad relationship and partly as a joke, created boyfriend applications. Her roommates followed suit & any interested guy could pick up an application on their way out of the Bat Cave. On the front side were the usual questions one might expect to be on such an application. The back side got a little more creative, however, and including many 'Herculean' tasks like writing a childrens' story book with a given title (I think it was something along the lines of 'Johnny & the Pink Party Truck'). One of the tasks was to write and perform live with choreography, a rendition of BackStreet boys hits using only texts found in the book of Psalms. After checking it out with Nicole to make sure it was ok, Murph coordinated efforts to make it into a music video instead of performing it live. This is where I come in. A group of guys were going through the book of Psalms (I remember seeing each person with about 3 or 4 different translations each when I walked in... quite the sight! :P ) and decided that they needed some female help. Being one of the few C4C girls in London I went over with David and the writing/choreographing/dressing expedition began. It was probably one of the highlights of my summer 2006. When it came to filming time I got to play the "Legions of adoring fans" part with my 8"x12" sign. Ahhhhhh good times. My stomache hurt from laughing for days. I hope you can all appreciate the fun in this & that the lyrics don't get too ingrained in your mind.
Here is the final music video:
Here is my cameo in "Behind the Music" (an interview with Boyface):
And finally the rarely seen, "The Making of Boyface"
I hope this made some of you guys laugh!
P.S. All of these guys are still single (except for Murph who is now engaged to Nicole! Yay! Our video worked!) so if you're interested, I can hook you up :P
Bedtime for bonzo. Night night!
Well the 'few' shall now become 'many' as my guest appearance in a music video for the Back Street Boys, *ahem*, I mean, Boyface, was entered into the public domain today.
For those that haven't heard the story, here's a brief summary of what the following video clips are...
A friend of mine, Nicole, had gone through a bad relationship and partly as a joke, created boyfriend applications. Her roommates followed suit & any interested guy could pick up an application on their way out of the Bat Cave. On the front side were the usual questions one might expect to be on such an application. The back side got a little more creative, however, and including many 'Herculean' tasks like writing a childrens' story book with a given title (I think it was something along the lines of 'Johnny & the Pink Party Truck'). One of the tasks was to write and perform live with choreography, a rendition of BackStreet boys hits using only texts found in the book of Psalms. After checking it out with Nicole to make sure it was ok, Murph coordinated efforts to make it into a music video instead of performing it live. This is where I come in. A group of guys were going through the book of Psalms (I remember seeing each person with about 3 or 4 different translations each when I walked in... quite the sight! :P ) and decided that they needed some female help. Being one of the few C4C girls in London I went over with David and the writing/choreographing/dressing expedition began. It was probably one of the highlights of my summer 2006. When it came to filming time I got to play the "Legions of adoring fans" part with my 8"x12" sign. Ahhhhhh good times. My stomache hurt from laughing for days. I hope you can all appreciate the fun in this & that the lyrics don't get too ingrained in your mind.
Here is the final music video:
Here is my cameo in "Behind the Music" (an interview with Boyface):
And finally the rarely seen, "The Making of Boyface"
I hope this made some of you guys laugh!
P.S. All of these guys are still single (except for Murph who is now engaged to Nicole! Yay! Our video worked!) so if you're interested, I can hook you up :P
Bedtime for bonzo. Night night!
Sunday Continued
Well after an afternoon spent with my accounting textbook and an evening listening to the sweet sounds of my bassoon with the Stratford CO, I must now mentally prepare for Crazy Week Before Crazy Week [Crazy week being the one with my accounting midterm in it]. This week promises late nights for Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday and very early starts to Tuesday and Wednesday.
I should find out either tomorrow if I qualify for an internship opportunity organized through the M.O.S. (business) department of the university. It would involve an 8-, 12-, or 16-month placement with a business starting in May. You can read up on it here: http://www.mos.uwo.ca/internship/. I would get to test out my skillz whilst making enough money to get rid of my student debt entirely, live, and still have some left over for my last year of school. While I don't know if I even qualify yet, here are some pros & cons I've come up with:
Pros:
- No more debt! Yay! This is a more biblical way of living. It would reduce a lot of stress. I could go into a masters programme being debt-free.
- I wouldn't have to work during my last year of school. This would allow more time for practising & preparing for grad school.
- I could test out whether or not I actually like the non-music world... I honestly think I have forgotten what it is like.
- I could live in a new city & meet new people.
- The younger friends that I have made recently would still be at school when I returned so I wouldn't have to worry about feeling alone when I came back.
Cons
- I would be a year older when I come back to school. This means that a lot of my friends would be gone.
- I might get sucked into the world pursuit of money and give up on music and/or ministry work.
- My chops might fade away due to decreased amounts of practise time.
- I might have to live in a new city... moving stuff & making new friends... uprooting to London did not go so hot last time.
- I'd remain in debt with no real concrete plan to get out of it.
- I might have to call London home for another two years. There are times when one more year than the norm seems very tough & annoying.
Ahh decisions, decisions. Thoughts anyone? Mike I know you took a year off to work: How'd that pan out in the grand scheme of things?
I should find out either tomorrow if I qualify for an internship opportunity organized through the M.O.S. (business) department of the university. It would involve an 8-, 12-, or 16-month placement with a business starting in May. You can read up on it here: http://www.mos.uwo.ca/internship/. I would get to test out my skillz whilst making enough money to get rid of my student debt entirely, live, and still have some left over for my last year of school. While I don't know if I even qualify yet, here are some pros & cons I've come up with:
Pros:
- No more debt! Yay! This is a more biblical way of living. It would reduce a lot of stress. I could go into a masters programme being debt-free.
- I wouldn't have to work during my last year of school. This would allow more time for practising & preparing for grad school.
- I could test out whether or not I actually like the non-music world... I honestly think I have forgotten what it is like.
- I could live in a new city & meet new people.
- The younger friends that I have made recently would still be at school when I returned so I wouldn't have to worry about feeling alone when I came back.
Cons
- I would be a year older when I come back to school. This means that a lot of my friends would be gone.
- I might get sucked into the world pursuit of money and give up on music and/or ministry work.
- My chops might fade away due to decreased amounts of practise time.
- I might have to live in a new city... moving stuff & making new friends... uprooting to London did not go so hot last time.
- I'd remain in debt with no real concrete plan to get out of it.
- I might have to call London home for another two years. There are times when one more year than the norm seems very tough & annoying.
Ahh decisions, decisions. Thoughts anyone? Mike I know you took a year off to work: How'd that pan out in the grand scheme of things?
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