Smiling Sting Ray, I choose YOU!

My sister said, "You should write about sting rays!" Ok, I said. Then I told her how they smile, but she didn't believe me. Google Images proved her wrong!

I don't care what anybody says, I think sting rays are cute when they smile. I was in elementary school during the Pokemon craze, and looking at this picture I think Ash Ketchum would have definitely chosen this little guy if Pikachu hadn't gotten in the way. Sigh. You couldn't pay me to watch the last few versions of Pokemon, but golly, the original storyline with Ash, Misty, and Brock was gold. I remember watching the series premier, playing the card game, playing the video game. Correction, catch me on a relapse day and I still play the video game. (FYI, I always started out with Bulbasaur. Best decision ever.)

So, little Sting up there is cute, but you wouldn't want to get stung by one. According to that never-ending well of information, Wikipedia, sting rays don't actively attack humans, but they will if you provoke/tease/step on them them. If you get stung, the bite swells up, you get crampy from the venom, and then it might get infected. So go to the zoo or Google Images instead. : )

A host of different things...

After being sick all through spring break, I'm finally on the mend. The last few days I've been really excited about college this fall, which is weird, because for a long time I was dreading it. There's something about the never ending winter that's made me want to push the fastforward button and be in late August so I can start at Concordia-Moorhead. I found out this week about my financial aid package (not too shabby) and what dorm I'll be in (the one connected to the music building!)

In other news, I'm

*trying to compose more music, trying to sort the good stuff from the crap (which is harder than it sounds), and actually finish something.

*on the lookout for summer jobs nearby. Blah. Figuring out a plan if I need to wing it. (I'm an expert weed puller/yard worker and house sitter)

*Trying to be all Buddha-like and live in the moment. Ha! Let's see how that works.

*Bracing for the ickiness that is the spring thaw. I like spring, just not the melting snow mixed with dog poop and worm smell that lasts for a couple weeks prior.

*Playing Bach's Invention in C minor. Playing anything by Bach is like broccoli--it's good for you and it helps you to be well balanced. The Inventions are super yummy and the C minor is really fun to play, what with the interweaving voices everywhere.

*Thinking about taking violin lessons this summer. I've been teaching myself for 2 years, and I'm at the point where I'm wonderfully average, but I'd like to seek some professional help so I don't hurt myself (literally). I never thought I'd like Bach so much, but the stuff he wrote for violin has been really inspiring me to practice so that one day I can play some great work of his! I don't plan to become the next Joshua Bell, but I'd like to learn enough to play some decent chamber and fiddle music for sure.

*Really wanting to travel. Anywhere. I'm going a little stir-crazy.

be still

Midweek Lenten worship this noon followed a blessed bowl of chicken soup. "Be still and know that I am God..." takes on a different meaning this week. I'm on spring break and I've been still, except for the almost constant coughing over the past twelve days.

After worship we had the option to create a cross from a variety of objects--beads, popsickle sticks, feathers, twigs, shells, stones, wire. I chose from a box of found objects, driftwood and bark, a feather, beads in shades of blue.

The cross, the place where we connect with love. A good place to rest the eyes and be still.

The Week

Mondays are weird for me. After taking the weekend off from things like practicing, using the internet, where I essentially veg in my room listening to NPR from the beginning of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" to the end of "Splendid Table," this routine of laziness makes productivity on Mondays pretty slow goin'. I don't exactly feel like I get the hang of things til Tuesday. Now it's Wednesday, and I got a list of things to do, and they will get done, no matter how many times I try to make excuses! Wish me luck.

Between trips

In the past five years, I've taken six trips to Tanzania. They are major travels, 14 to 16 days in duration. On most of the trips, I've been one of maybe two returning travelers. Each trip requires at least six months of preparation, and often several months worth of follow up work upon our return.

My last trip was in August 2010, my next will be July 2012. For the first time in years, I am not in the middle of pre- or post-travel work. I'm taking a breather.

I really miss the anticipation, the excitement, the wondering of what new experiences I'll have next. I miss my friends in Tanzania. I miss the bananas, the singing, the drumming, the walking, the conversations, the relationships. I miss getting to know a whole new crowd of travelers.

But there are compensations. Time with my kids, time to read, time to reflect. Time for jigsaw puzzles, long baths, short trips closer to home. Time for concerts and plays and dinners out. Time to host a visiting niece or nephew. Time to let my hair grow.

Encyclopedia

My dad read these encyclopedias when he was a kid--he really likes history.
My older brother spent hours flipping through them as a five year old, looking at the pictures and absorbing the information. And they still sit there on our shelf, still being used.



Most of the time if I have a question I'll ask my mom, or Google it, or when I ask my mom she'll tell me to Google it. But a lot of the time I still like to crack open these dusty smelling books. Most of the pictures are black and white, but every once in awhile a page will just jump out in color



I like looking through the books because I usually stumble on a random something that I hadn't noticed before. There are silly pictures illustrating how a bill gets passed into law in the Canadian government, and also of the dangers of space travel.



And since it was published in the 1960s, there's a bit of information on countries that don't exist anymore and gadgets that have been proved obsolete.




Even encyclopedias are in danger of becoming obsolete. But as long as they're around, I'll keep reading.

You'd think playing 6 instruments would be enough for me already, right?
Well, think again.

I was basically in bluegrass heaven on Saturday. After I did a music scholarship audition at Augsburg College (which went very well, thank you), my parents willingly accompanied me to entertain one of my newest musical interests, the mountain dulcimer.

I was born in the land of beautiful-- but flat--prairies, and ever since trips to both the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains, the culture that's evolved in those areas fascinate me. And what would the mountains--especially the Appalachians--be without the music of its people?

The name is pretty self-explain o' tory, but it looks like this:



It's not too common a sight in Minnesota, but the store we went to in Richfield had them. It's a place called Homestead Pickin' Parlor. The name alone tells you how awesome the place is, and it can basically cater to all your bluegrass/folky needs. If you want an interesting field trip, I would start there whether you're a serious musician or not.

When I asked the saleswoman if I could look at a mountain dulcimer, she sat me down with the last one they had in stock. It was a beauty and was shaped like an hourglass, with such a warm, bright, and happy tone. The saleswoman said she called it the "instant gratification instrument," because it's so easy to play, and anybody could learn in minutes. It had four strings tuned AAAD, and I sat with it in my lap, fingering the frets with the left hand and strumming with the right. After a few minutes I got the hang of it and was just about to abort my initial plan of only looking at the instrument. It was so cool and so fun to play!

But after seeing the price tag, I thought it better to stick with my plan. It wasn't an outrageous price, I just want to see if I can find good quality with a good deal. No impulse dulcimer buying for me. I was told that they had just ordered a whole bunch more, which should be there in the next few weeks, so they're going to call me so I can come back in and try some more.

~~The audition earlier in the morning at Augsburg went well, I think. I always feel slightly awkward during the whole thing. Beforehand I was really calm, and then afterwords I felt this shaky adrennaline rush thinking "what did I just do?!"

But once I get down to it, I really did make a positive impression. I'm just glad the whole process is over!

Some colleges wanted me to play 4 songs, some only wanted two. So, after my four-piece audition, I brain dumped the two extra pieces, a Beethoven sonata and Barber's 1st Excursion. I just didn't play them for about three weeks. It's amazing to me what those three weeks have done to them. I don't play them badly, but I don't play them as sharply, either. Heck, even if I don't play them for a couple of days they--by my own weird standards--start to suck.

Rachmaninoff said, "If I don't practice for a day, I notice. If I don't practice for two days, my critics notice. If I don't practice for three days, everybody notices." I would say that Rachmaninoff's worst performance is probably still better than my best, but he has a point. At the level that I'm at--and the next one that I'm aspiring to--I can't really afford to slack off. Except today, of course. Shoveling snow after a blizzard so I can get out of the driveway is a pretty good excuse, I would think.