Orientation Weekend

Well, I've come to the end of my orientation weekend, and I'm pretty excited to get classes started. Here's a blow-by-blow of what happened:

We packed up my mom's car Thursday night and then headed out Friday morning. I drove my car with my mom and my dad followed in my mom's car. We got there around 8am. Katrina, my roommate, had already moved in about 2 weeks before that to do a hiking/nature trip. They had gotten back Thursday night, so she had been up for like 10 min when I showed up : P I'm on the 3rd floor (3rd New), and a bunch of the sports guys were there to help the girls move in, which was really great, because they got everything up to the room in no time at all. So for a while I had to figure out where all of my stuff was going to go. Thankfully Katrina already had the desks and beds all configured, so I didn't have to deal with figuring that out. After I got stuff situated, it was time to run around the campus dropping stuff off and picking other stuff up. Then it was lunchtime. At that point, I had run into Luke and his family, so we ate with them and my roomie. And Connie stop by too. Luke proceeded to scare Katrina, mainly by being himself. The next major thing was the New Stuent Dedication Service. It was really cool and then we marched around the Quad, following a single bagpiper, mimicing the walk that seniors do for graduation. Following that there was an Ice Cream Social and then it was time to say goodbye to my parents. There were no tears, so that was good. We ate dinner with the people on our floors, where I met Alissa (fellow Music major, except that she is a piano performance major) and Autumn (her very cool roomie). After the Student life Office Town Meeting, we got put into family groups based on floors, which meant I got to hang out with Hannah even more! It was pretty crazy. We did some activities on the Quad, including having to form the shape of a lawnmower. When they needed someone small to sit on top of some guys hands (we did a riding mower), Luke and Connie were very quick to volunteer me. Love them. They ended up dropping me. After that we went to the Campus Center Lounge to watch some You Tube videos.

The next morning we had some meetings in the chapell and then spent most of the morning with our First Year Intro group, which also happens to be my honors program group (East Meets West). So we played some games to get to know each other, then we had a picnic on the Quad. Afterwards I happened to bump into a transfer student named Jessica and we talked for an hour or so. We have so many similiar views on Christianity and its role in today's society, it was very cool. We took a bus trip to Letchworth for the afternoon and then later in the evening there was a Karaoke party. I did not go up and sing, but I did participate in the singing/dancing that was occuring out in the audience : P Mainly because Hannah left me no other choice.

Today was much more laid back. We had a New Student Worship Service at the Chapel, followed by the President's Reception where we got to meet and talk to President Mullen. I went and walked to the local gas station/video rental/grocery store/laundry mat/car wash. No joke. I'm thinking Bath might even be bigger than that : P I spent most of my time hanging out with Alissa, Autumn, Bethany and Hannah. We even took time to play a small/quick game of Apples to Apples. I finished getting stuff organized in my room, and finally took some pictures. At dinner, Kyle and Garrett from my FYI group joined the silly girls from dinner. One word : Crazy. OUSTA!!! (inside reference). Our FYI group had dessert together at the Flats, so I got to hang out with Kyle and Garrett and went with them to the Koinonia service. It was really Contemporary, which was slightly different from what I'm used to, but still pretty good.


Tomorrow classes start (MWF):
9Am Theory 1. The books: Kostka-Payne: Tonal Harmony, 5th Edition (text and workbook)
Benjamin/Horvit/Nelson: Music for Analysis, 6th Edition

10Am: Biblical Literature. The books: New Revised Standard Version Bible.
Varughese, Alex, ed. Discovering the Bible: Story and Faith of the Biblical Communities. Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 2005.

11Am: Chapel

2Pm I have my (literally) 5 min chair placement audition for Symph Winds

4pm Symphonic Winds

And my Tuesday/Thursday classes:

9Am: Music in the Christian Perspective. The books:
DeMol, Karen. Sound Stewardship: How Shall Christians Think About Music?. Dort, IA: Dordt College Press, 1999. ISBN 0-932-914-44-6.
Green, Barry. The Inner Game of Music. NY: Anchor, 1986. ISBN 0-385-23126-1.
Levitin, Daniel. This Is Your Brain on Music. NY: Dutton, 2006. ISBN 0-525-94969-0.

10Am: Percussion Instruments. The books: Percussion Manual, Second Edition F. Michael Combs. Alfred's Drum Method Books 1 and 2. Beginning Solos For The Complete Percussionist Contributing Editor Gary Stith

11Am: First Year Introduction (Lecture/Discussion). The book: Serve God, Save The Planet

2Pm: Aural Skills 1. The book (and software!): Benjamin, Horvit, and Nelson: Music for Sight Singing. 4th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson Schirmer, 2005.
Blombach, Ann: MacGamut 6 (ear training software)



And here's a link to some pictures from the first few days! http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=7213&l=fba2d&id=1018706386

I'll hopefully get a chance to write by Wed. how everything goes!

How to Survive HoA

I really wish I had realized/remembered this before I started cramming for the IB History of the Americas HL exam this past May.

Everything you need to know can be found in the lyrics to:





(suspense)






We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel


Okay, so maybe you should do some actual studying and occasionally read/take notes on the pile of books you have to read, but the song really is a good summary of all the important parts of that era. When I was listening, I realized that I recognized most of those nouns alll because of the second year of that class. And here's a link to a great video (which I think Hurd showed some time or another)

http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html

Seriously, check it out!

And here are the lyrics inc ase you're too lazy to look them up:

"We Didn't Start The Fire" by Billy Joel

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, "The King and I", and "The Catcher in the Rye"
Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

CHORUS
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it

Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron
Dien Bien Phu and "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, "Peter Pan", Elvis Presley, Disneyland
Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Khrushchev
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

CHORUS

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball
Starkweather, homicide, children of thalidomide

Buddy Holly, "Ben-Hur", space monkey, Mafia
hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no goU2,
Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land"
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs Invasion

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex
JFK, blown away, what else do I have to say

CHORUS

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon, back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline
Ayatollolah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan

"Wheel of Fortune" , Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, Crack,
Bernie Goetz Hypodermics on the shore, China's under martial law
Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can't take it anymore

CHORUS

We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
Will it still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

Hangers

What is it with hangers? They are very simple objects. They don't have a complex shape. So how is it that they become so tangled together? When I went on the cleaning frenzy in my closet, I simply threw the hangers over to one side to save time. It just took me about 25 min to get them untangled. I don't understand it.

Book Numero Seis!

I've finished by 6th book of the summer. It's called "Serve God Save the Planet" by j. Matthew Sleeth. It's the book that everyone is going to read and discuss at Houghton this year. That's why I'm not going to write much on this one - I want to wait until I get a chance to discuss it with others who have read. I will say this - it's motivated me to clean out my closet (I now have two huge piles in my room - one of clothes that will be donated to the Salvation Army and another of empty hangers) and to stop turning on lights in my room during the day and just use natural light as long as I can. And today when I did my laundry, I hung it out to dry on the clotheslines. We'll see what other changes I end up making.

In other news, my life has been divided between good-byes, college prep, band camp, and activities around my house. At the band camp, I've been working with the woodwinds with both drill and music (not exclusively). It's been a lot of fun, but it does get a little stressful when I go there on little sleep. But in general, it's been a good time, and I always love having the teaching practice.

Most of my close high school friends are heading off this week, so everyone has been scrambling to see each other one last time. And they all agree that my future Houghton friends (or ones that I've already met) need an instruction manual on how to handle my craziness : P

And then there's college prep. Which is consisting of sorting and packing. And more sorting. Followed by packing. It's a long process, mainly because I get bored/distracted.

My clarinet teacher said this about college: "The first few days you're going to cry every night because you'll be completely overwhelmed. After that, you'll say to yourself 'This is great! I should have done this years ago!'"

Mas Musica

Thanks to Katy for this!!!!

Rules:
1. Put Your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on Shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS.
4. Put any comments in brackets after the song name.
5. Put this on your journal. It's great fun just for the interesting answers!!! If you have time, do this!

1.If someone says, "Is this okay?" You say:
Get Down (Denver and the Mile High Orchestra)

2.How would you describe yourself?
Hook: Main Themes (City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra)

3.What do you like in a guy/girl?
The Call (Regina Spektor) [The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Soundtrack]

4.How do you feel today?
The Song That Goes Like This (Monty Python's Flying Circus) [Spamalot Cast Album]

5.What is your life's purpose?
Hallelujah (Jeff Buckley)

6.What is your motto?
In My Life [Les Miserables OBC]

7.What do your friends think of you?
The Night [Les Miserables School Edition]

8.What do you think of your parents?
This Love (Maroon 5)

9.What do you think about very often?
Unwritten (Natasha Bedingfield)

10.What is 2 + 2?
Come Together (Third Day)

11.What do you think of your best friend?
Drumrun (Martin ODonnell) [From Halo: Combat Evolved....given to me by a friend]

12.What do you think of the person you like?
Feelin' Alright (Joe Cocker) [House MD Soundtrack]

13.What do you want to be when you grow up?
Goodnight My Love (Harry Connick, Jr.)

14.What do you think of when you see the person you like?
Thank You For The Music (Amanda Seyfried) [Mamma Mia! Movie Soundtrack]

15.What will you dance to at your wedding?
The Medallion Calls (Klaus Badelt) [Pirates of The Caribbean Soundtrack]

16.What will they play at your funeral?
Think (Areatha Franklin) [The Blues Brothers Soundtrack]

17.What is your hobby/interest?
Betrayal And Desolation (London Symphony Orchestra) [Braveheart Soundtrack]

18.What is your biggest fear?
Clever Girl (Tower of Power)

19. What is your biggest secret?
Over The Rainbow (Chet Baker) [The Majestic Soundtrack]

20.What do you think of your friends?
Rose Garden [Becoming Jane Soundtrack]

21.What will you post this as?
SOS (Pierce Brosnan) [Mamma Mia! Movie Soundtrack]

22. When's your birthday?
Spier's Sppech (Michael Kamen) [Band of Brothers]

23. What emotion are you feeling right now?
The Basingstoke Assembly [Becoming Jane Soundtrack]

24. Where are you going tomorrow?
Alien Corridors (Martin ODonnell) [Halo: Combat Evolved]

25. What are your taste buds craving right now?
Beautiful (Elvis Costello) [House MD Soundtrack]

I have 878 songs on my mp3 player. And 18 of the 25 songs are from musicals or soundtracks :P

Christianity is like Flossing?

I have very random thoughts. And I guess today was the culmination of everything I've been learning over this summer. I went to the dentist, and as usual, they ask if I've been flossing. Like the average American, I dread that question. "I've been doing so-so" I reply, not wanting to admit that I'm doing good if I floss once a week. I've always rationalized it to myself whenever I don't floss - it's too late at night and I need to get some sleep, or that I'll start tomorrow to get a good routine set in place. Then it hit me, while I'm sitting there having my teeth cleaned - there are no excuses for why I'm not flossing. It's simply a choice that I have to make every day. I can choose to floss, or I can choose not to floss. It's not complicated at all.

So I'm running errands after my appointment, and the song "Slow Fade" by Casting Crowns comes on the radio (lyrics will be posted at the bottom for those of you who aren't familiar with the song). And I realized, that Christianity is a choice. And this is something that I've slowly been learning this summer. Life is just a bunch of choices, one right after another. but instead of making the choices that I know I should make, I make the wrong choice, then proceed to rationalize it. Some people will tell you that it's rationalizing that keeps people from becoming Christians, but I think it's even worse among Christians. And I think it's because we keep holding ourselves to a crazy standard - perfection. Yes, we're supposed to strive to be like Christ, who is perfect, but we can't do it on our own. So instead of working towards that goal, we simply become comfortable where we are. Then, just like when the dentist asks about flossing, we squirm in our seat, and begin to rationalize everything. Christianity doesn't have to be as hard as we keep making it. God says that He can do everything, and that He'll do it all for us, so why not let Him take care of the work? It's just a choice.

Slow Fade - Casting Crowns

Be careful little eyes what you see
It's the second glance that ties your hands as darkness pulls the strings
Be careful little feet where you go
For it's the little feet behind you that are sure to follow

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
It's a slow fade, it's a slow fade

Be careful little ears what you hear
When flattery leads to compromise, the end is always near
Be careful little lips what you say
For empty words and promises lead broken hearts astray

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day

The journey from your mind to your hands
Is shorter than you're thinking
Be careful if you think you stand
You just might be sinking

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray
Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paid
When you give yourself away
People never crumble in a day
Daddies never crumble in a day
Families never crumble in a day

Oh be careful little eyes what see
Oh be careful little eyes what you see
For the Father up above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little eyes what you see