Back Again

So I am back again and am starting to realize just how busy I am going to be these next couple of weeks.  With all my classes coming to an end and with my jury and piano proficiency test coming up I am going to have a lot to do!  I'll just have to take it one day at a time :)

This evening my roommate and I put up our Christmas tree.  We have it on top of our microwave.  Its pretty cool- there are mini ornaments on it and pipe cleaner garland.  We even have a makeshift tree skirt and presents under it!  I brought back a  poinsettia as well, so our room is starting to look festive.

I am really looking forward to December.  I love Christmas, I love snow, and my birthday is in December too, not to mention break!  Christmas is one of my favorite holidays.  I really enjoy getting together with family and it is fun to exchange presents.  I love the music that comes this time of year as well.  I feel like it is a happy time, with everyone focused on giving and helping others.  Unfortunately I know this is not always the case.  Christmas, like nearly every holiday, has become overly commercialized.  The holiday that was originally created to remember the gift of Jesus' birth has turned into "how much stuff can I get."  Santa has been created, a figure who exists solely to make and deliver toys, stores have sales months in advance so that presents can be bought, excessive amounts of food is eaten, decorations are bought and displayed, and electricity bills increase due to all the added lights.  And we are told that all this hoopla is to celebrate the birth of a baby.  A baby that was born in a barn, mind you.  As much as I enjoy all of the traditions that accompany Christmas, I feel like many of them have become excessive.  I have always have difficulties coming up with things that people can get me.  I have to come up with twice as much stuff too, because my birthday and Christmas are so close.  While I appreciate the willingness of my relatives to purchase me gifts, I never feel like I NEED anything.  I would be happy with minimal gifts and just having my family around.

I guess I just have mixed feelings about the holidays.  While I enjoy the giving atmosphere that prevails during this time, I detest the cries of, "More more more!" that so many are yelling.  Everyone should be thankful for what they have and be appreciative if they receive a gift rather than expecting that they receive something.

Even though I feel like some people are stupid when it comes to Christmas, I still really enjoy it and am anxious for it to come!

I Love the Holidays!

Break has been so much fun. I'm a bit sad to go back tomorrow. It will be nice to see my Wartburg friends again though.

I got back Wednesday night, luckily without any storm related complications.  My family went to see Harry Potter that night.  It was a lot of fun!  I sat by my youngest brother.  He made me laugh during the movie.  There was one part when a snake jumps toward the audience suddenly that causes you to jump.  Right after this scene he said to me, "I don't like these glasses."  I laughed so  hard!  This statement was in reference to when he was little and was watching a 3D movie in an IMAX theater.  We were watching the previews before our movie about underwater creatures was going to start.  During the preview a ladder "fell" on the audience.  Matt whipped his glasses off so fast and then proceeded to say, "I don't like these glasses," and then never put them back on again. We tell that story all the time because we all found it so funny.  It was hilarious that he thought of that during the movie on Wednesday.  It was completely out of the blue and yet perfectly appropriate!

Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.  We ate turkey and all the sides and such for lunch then hung around the rest of the day.  We played games and that sort of thing.  All the girls went to Michael's to hit their sale.  They started their Black Friday sale the night before!  I didn't get much.  Just some yarn for crocheting and some Christmas ornaments to put up on our little tree in our room. 

For me, Friday was homework day.  I met my grandma and aunts for lunch (they had all gone out shopping earlier that morning).  I ended up going to Gordman's with my mom that afternoon.  We found some gifts that she could give me for Christmas and/or my Birthday.  I found a Christmas present for my roommate as well.  We ended up watching Toy Story 3 that night.  I had never seen it before.  Its really cute!  I love that series.  After that I went and saw Harry Potter again, this time with some friends from high school.  I was really happy to see them again.  I wish I could see them more often than I do!

Today was Christmas.  Everyone came over for soup at lunchtime, then we opened presents.  I got a couple new shirts, some socks, a jacket, staff paper, and a Christmas ornament.  I was super excited!  I gave my uncles and my grandpa Wartburg mugs.  It was really funny seeing their faces when they opened them!  My grandpa went to Wartburg, so he appreciated the gift, but both my uncles went to Luther!  It was really funny to see their faces when they opened them.  My one uncle was speechless!  He then sat there deep in thought trying to decide what he is going to do to retaliate.  I have a feeling there will be some Luther stuff coming in the mail in the next few weeks!

Now its back to school tomorrow.  The next few weeks should be a busy, but fun time!

Bird Poop

Well, seeing how a bird decided to use me for target practice today, this blog bears the title "Bird Poop."

I was on my way to the FAC this morning to meet my quintet so we could go to a church in Waterloo to play for their service.  It was a bit rainy out, but I figured, no big deal, I have a coat.  I had just walked under some trees when I felt something land on my head.  My first thought was that it was water that had fallen from one of the trees.  Then I noticed that I was not really under the trees anymore and that a few birds had just flown over me.  Reluctantly I reached my hand up toward my head and discovered that it was, in fact, bird poop.  I was rather annoyed as I had just taken a shower not an hour before.  There wasn't much I could do about it though.  I ended up going to the FAC and washing it out as best I could.  Luckily it wasn't too bad!  Then we went and played for the church.  That was fun.

Other than that today was pretty good.  I lost $10 which was sad, but oh well.  Hopefully it made some one's day when they found it.  I was able to attend the hand bell concert and the jazz band concert today.  All of the groups did really well.  I like going and seeing all the different musical performances on campus.  Even though I am required to go to so many, it is more fun than it is work. 

Going to the different recitals makes me nervous for when it is time to do my own.  I am nervous enough for my jury at the end of this semester.  I only have to play one movement of a song for that.  For a recital I am going to need to learn a lot more literature.  Luckily, I do not have to worry about a recital in the near future.  Another thing coming up in the world of Katie is another audition.  Several of the horn players in Wind Ensemble are studying abroad next semester, so the hornists in the Symphonic Band have been given the opportunity to audition for the open spots. 

I would like to move up to the Wind Ensemble, but I would miss the Symphonic Band if I made it.  I feel like I have really grown close to some of the members in that band and I would miss seeing them as often.  I would like to move up though because I want more of a musical challenge.  I also don't want to play first part anymore.  I'm probably the only person in the world who doesn't want to play first, but I have been on first part, if not first chair, pretty much since I've started playing.  I was the only horn player when I was younger and gradually as I got older, more horn players joined, but I always had more experience so I got placed higher in the section.  Most of the other horn players had switched instruments at some point in their musical careers.  A lot of them were really good players though, and would have easily been able to play first.  Its just the teachers always put me there instead.  The one year that I got to play a part other than first was my sophomore year in high school, and the only reason I got to play a different part is because my teacher would have all the sections switch who is playing first and second and so on so that everyone got to experience the different parts.  Even so, I still played first a lot that year.  I want to play a lower part because it is challenging in a different way.  It would require me to hear harmonies rather than melodies.  It would also be harder to hear because it is lower.  I would have to listen harder and use more air to project even more.  My last few reasons for wanting to be in Wind Ensemble are not as good, but still true.  I am competitive when it comes to music, so I want to be in the "top" band, I want to be able to travel to Japan in a couple of years, and my good friends are both in Wind Ensemble.

So, that's a little of whats going on in my life right now.  Everything from bird poop to music auditions.  Life is never boring!  Next time I blog I will probably be at home celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas, so until then... happy break!

The Debate

I was frustrated with the debate that we did in class.  It was difficult to prepare for the debate because not everyone brought in information on our workday Friday.  We ended up deciding who was going to be working on which part and then discussing in general different points that we could make.  When it came time to debate yesterday, everything kind of fell apart.  We probably did not split up the jobs as well as we could have, but the way we had it, everyone was supposed to have a chance to speak.  Heidi, Sarah, and I were going to give the background information during the first 15 minutes, Andrew, Max, and Kingsley were going to do the 5 minute rebuttal, Sammi and Sonachi had the 2 minute rebuttal, Zach and Ryan had the question/answer session, and Jawanza was going to give the summary.  Everyone came with information to fill their time slot.  When Heidi was not able to come, things got thrown off track.  We had extra time in the first 15 minutes that someone needed to cover.  Max talked through the entire 5 minute rebuttal, giving Andrew and Kingsley no time to speak.  Sonachi did not have time to speak as well.  She did not want to butt in while Sammi was talking.  In order to compensate, Andrew helped answer some of the questions during the question/answer session, as did Sonachi.  Max answered and asked questions there too.  Jawanza was nice enough to split up his one minute of speaking time between himself, Ryan, and Sonachi so that everyone got to say something.  Ryan did not get to speak during the question/answer because everyone else was butting in.

I suppose that my classmates could have spoken up if they had something they wanted to say, its just that I feel like our side of the debate was a bit scattered and random because we were trying to fill in holes the entire time.  In hindsight, we should have assigned more people to talk during the 15 minutes and fewer later on in the debate.  I think we wanted to make sure that there were enough minds working on those parts though to ensure we would have intelligent points to make.  Everyone came into class prepared to say something though.  Unfortunately the way the debate played out, not everyone got to say all they wanted.  That is what frustrated me the most.  The fact that my team members put the time and effort into preparing something and then did not get to say it.

Needless to say, I am glad that the debate is over.  While it was a good experience, I also found it to be stressful and frustrating.  I had never done a debate before, and now that I have, I realize that I would do some things differently for next time.

To believe or not to believe...

... that is the question.

I think that a lot of our time is spent trying to figure out if we can believe what we are being told.  As a child we believe everything we hear.  We somehow convince ourselves that a fat man can fly around the world all in one night in a sleigh that is being pulled by reindeer, of all creatures, so that he can deliver toys to all the children by stuffing himself through a chimney.  We believe that our teeth are taken away by a magical fairy who repays us with money.  We believe that a bunny brings eggs and baskets at Easter time.  As we get older and realize that these are simply stories, we become a little more cautious in what we believe.  We do not have such blind faith anymore.  Yet, in some instances, we are still asked to maintain that same child-like faith.  Religion constantly asks this of us.  We are asked to believe in something that happened long ago and to trust books that have been re-written and translated so many times that they could have lost some of the original meaning.

Even outside of religion we are constantly determining whether we can believe a source or not.  In research projects, part of the assignment is to assess how well the article or website can be trusted.  So often a source looks like it is believable, but then we discover it is not.  My favorite example of this is http://dhmo.org.  This site looks very scientific, but after consulting a different site, it is discovered that this "dangerous chemical" called Dihydrogen Monoxide is more commonly known as water.  It isn't just sites like these that we have to watch out for.  We have to determine whether or not we can believe politicians, commercials, salespeople, movies, books, even research.  We are talking about global warming in class right now.  It is hard to know who to believe, Al Gore and his strong belief in the human causes of global warming, or Michael Crichton and the picture he paints of global warming being more of a publicity stunt rather than a huge issue.  We are daily confronted with situations like these that cause us to question others and the information we are receiving.

This leads me to wonder, what would happen if we did not have to question the motives of others.  What if everything that we said and did was true?  What if no one lied or twisted the truth?  What if we were able to spend our time building each other up rather than wondering if the other person is going to tear us down? 

What if we were all genuinely good people?

I think one thing is for certain.  The world would be a much different place.

For Good

Alright. I'm going to do a song lyric analysis for this blog. This song is so overdone, but I really like the lyrics and feel like they relate to me and my life.  The song is "For Good" from the musical Wicked. I was first introduced to this song in choir.  Many years later I saw the actual musical.  It is a great musical if you have never seen it. I would highly recommend it!  The lyrics that have always struck me are the ones that follow:

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are lead
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you....

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I've learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

I really like these lyrics a lot, especially after graduation last spring.  A lot of the people that I knew from high school I may never see again.  Even though I may no longer talk to them, I have been changed simply because I knew them.  I am a believer in the idea that everything happens for a reason, so therefore everyone I come in contact with during my life I meet for a reason, and because I got to know them I am forever changed.  I really think that I have met all of my friends for a reason.  From them I have learned how to be a good friend, how to listen, how to be accepting, how to be kind, patient, understanding, and just a good person in general.  Most often I learn because my friends are good examples.  Other times I am able to learn from their mistakes, so that I do not make the same mistake they did.  Even the people that I do not care for I am able to learn from.  I learned how to stand up for people I care about when a mean individual was picking on one of my friends.  I have learned how to pick good friends as well.

Everyone that I have come into contact with throughout my life has had some sort of impact on me, whether they intended to or not.  I am sure I have had an impact on others as well.  It just goes to show that it is important to remember who you are and to be the best person you can be so that the impact you have on others is a positive one.

State of Fear

I am really enjoying reading State of Fear.  When I began reading this novel I was a believer in global warming.  I thought that the evidence for it was undeniable and I bought into the idea that the extremely cold weather we have been getting in the winters and the excessive amounts of precipitation were all linked to the climate change.  When I started reading State of Fear I realized that I really had not seen any scientific proof that global warming existed.  I believed in global warming because the media told me it was happening.  I may have seen some graphs, but these graphs could have been doctored to make the situation appear worse than in actuality.  Now that I am nearly finished with the book I am on the fence as to whether global warming is as big of a deal as everyone says it is.  I need to go looking for scientific evidence so that I can make educated decisions.

Even if global warming is not happening or is not as severe as it is made out to be, I still think that all of the "green" campaigns are beneficial to the environment.  I think that it is still a good idea to try and find an alternative to fossil-fuels.  I think that recycling should be continued.  A majority of the "green" programs help maintain a clean earth.  It encourages responsible use of our natural resources.  I think that people, Americans in particular, have a hard time looking outside of their own needs.  I am just as at fault as anyone else.  It will be difficult to get out of the rut that we are in, but I think that we need to be good stewards of the land.  Loyd from Animal Dreams had the same point.  The earth is ours to use, but eventually it all goes back to earth.  It is not ours to keep or destroy.

This Weekend

This weekend was great fun, but super busy.  On Friday night we had a band concert.  I thought it went pretty well.  I had to play a couple solos.  I messed up in one of them so I was not totally content with my performance, but overall the band did a good job.  After the band concert I watched the last part of Rent with my roommate.  I had never seen Rent before and I really enjoyed it.  I liked the message of accepting everyone for who they are.  We then went and hung out with some friends.  We watched part of How to Train Your Dragon and then sat around and talked for a while.  I really like being able to just hang out with my friends!

Saturday I slept in since I was up late the night before.  I had quintet practice with the brass quintet that I am in.  There are two trumpets, a trombone, a tuba, and a horn.  Its an interesting experience being in a brass quintet.  I had only ever been in woodwind quintets prior to this year.  Brass quintets have a different style of playing than woodwind quintets do.  I feel like I am never playing loud enough in the brass quintet.  I stuck out if I played too loud in the woodwind quintet, so this is new!  My family came after that and took me out to dinner.  We ate at Applebees.  Then we came back to Wartburg and my parents went to the band concert.  For me, the Saturday night concert went better than the Friday night one.  I nailed all of my solos, which made me happy.  It will be interesting now in band since my band does not participate in Christmas with Wartburg.  We will be learning some new music, but we won't be playing it in a concert until after Christmas break.  After the concert there was a Halloween party.  I went as a basket of laundry.  It was a good time.  There was a scavenger hunt that had everyone running all over the FAC.  I discovered that running with a laundry basket around your waist is rather difficult!

Today my quintet played in the church service here on campus.  I think it went pretty well. We had not practiced the pieces very much, but I was not too nervous about it.  The pieces were not very difficult and we have some excellent musicians in our group.  I went to Laura Mackey and Kyle Fleming's junior recital today.  Laura plays the trombone and Kyle sings.  I really enjoyed the last piece they performed.  It was the only one they did together and they acted it out really well.  It was really funny!  I had a follow up session with my Psych of the Exceptional Child class today as well.  We talked about how our field experience went and turned in our final papers.

This weekend was a lot of fun, but now I have to finish up my homework.  I really enjoy weekends and wish that they didn't end so quickly!