gnomes...it's the only explaination

i wear a night guard. it's like a retainer that keeps me from grinding my teeth.

so when i woke up this morning it wasn't in my mouth.

i was like "what the dang?" first my metronome disappears, then my sight singing book, and now my night guard disappears right out of my mouth in my sleep.

what's next? is my pencil going to go missing while i'm in the middle of writing a sentence? are my pants going to freakishly disintegrate while i'm walking to class? is my entire truck going to be gone while i'm driving down the road? am i going to tumble down the left side of the right lane of a two lane road head over heals getting road rash while i hopefully roll it over onto the shoulder before kicked by a frat boy on a scoot-scoot?

my guess is no.

it has to be those stupid gnomes. they're stealing my stuff and laughing uncontrollably as i completely tear apart everything looking for this stuff.
i hear them...i think.

you gnomes better stop stealing my stuff...and if you keep stealing my stuff, you better say hidden real good... 'cause i'll put you in the dumpster like a big, big bully.

what am i saying? i'm being crazy. there's no way the gnomes read my blog...which makes this threat completely useless. stupid gnomes and their dislike for technology.

oh well.



and by the way...i found my night guard.

So i suck at blogging...what of it?!

so here's a quick snapshot of a real live married music major...

i'm busier than i've ever been in my life.

marching band takes pretty much the whole thing alone. it's takes about 10-12 hours a week for a whopping 1 credit hour. i do like it and it's fun and good times and all...but it takes a lot of time.

know what the funny thing is? one of the other classes that worries me the most is worth...guess how many credits...no not 2...not 1...that's right...ZERO! yes. i actually have a required zero credit class. it's something called go to 13 recitals/concerts (without being late...it doesn't count if you are). i do have one out of the way though. it was a sitar recital that went half an hour later than it was supposed to.

now...i can understand going a couple minutes...but like...how do you not know that your program goes 30 minutes longer than you're posted time? how are you just completely unaware that what you're playing isn't 2 hours? and that it is in fact 150 dang minutes? it blew my mind a little...you know...in an annoying want to yell out from the crowd "hey! stop playing the sitar! and if your not, at least stop playing that droning D! and you! hand drummer guy! you rock a little..."

back to my life...i'm pretty much never home. i leave the house at about 7am and on most days, i don't get back until about 9:20 or 30 pm. it's a little draining.

with that said, i like my life. it's good. my mission president said, when teaching about planning, that some one whose schedule looks like this (holding up a planner that had every half hour planned out with a back up plan if the plan fell through) are the ones who are going to be the most successful at life. i guess i'm going to be successful then because my schedule is pretty much that full...you know...except without the backup plans and the actual planning...

i just know when my classes are and do homework in between and practice when i can...then i do more homework when i get home at 9 something...usually until about 11something. it's good times.

my life is good though. i'm married to a very awesome teacher girl. she's pregnant with our baby. i love her very much and don't think i could get through everything i'm doing with out her. she helps me stay focused at the end of the day to get that one thing left to do done. she makes me lunch so i'll eat before 6. she made a calendar for me so i know when things are due. and all this she does on top of being pregnant and teaching 8 college classes that's right...8. she's so wonderful. she's the best. i also feel like i'm weird. and what i mean is...the stereotype is that when women are pregnant, they're crazy and drive us men crazy. she doesn't drive me crazy. i actually feel like i'm falling for her even more.

maybe not weird...but the luckiest:)

so in short, i'm busy and frustrated...and i'm worried about not being able to finish everything...but life is good...because i choose it to be and my wife is the best wife since wives were invented on this earth...and i'm the least biased person you could ask.

i love my wife...

that's really all i wanted to say. she's asleep right now and i don't want to wake her...but i wanted to say i love her. dating and marrying her was one of the best things i've ever done in my life. lucky for me, she thinks so to. also lucky for me, it's a marriage for eternity. no till death do us part stuff. this is the good kind. performed by the priesthood and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. she's my favorite person. i don't know what i would do without her. the end.

the slotted spoon won't hold much soup, but if you try...you can catch the potato...

so...i love God by the way...

yeah. it's true. i want to do what He wants me to. i pray to know what that is. i feel like i get the same answer most of the time. also, really want to do it too.

i also feel though, and everyone who knows me can back me up here, that i'm really distractable.

i'm kinda like a kid in that way. i'm easily amused. that's good if you're just trying to not be bored. especially at work. today at work i actually practiced my chord choices for each base note in a scale...you know...for harmonic dictation...and also flicked coins into a cup... this kind of thing is really helpful for getting through the 5 hour days there.

it's not so good however for doing specific things you need to do.

i think it's because i started leaving my planner at home when i went to work. i WAS taking it to work everyday just to plan a list for that day and other days of the week. i stopped because we were moving and there was nothing to plan. i was just to unpack. nothing that needed to be written down.

anyway...this "distractability" and not bringing my planner makes me forget things. even the important things. and because i forget, i feel like i am the worst follower ever. i feel like i give a luke warm effort...and that doesn't feel to good. i feel like: "He's only been asking me to do one thing (mostly...you know other than keep the commandments and all...) for a while...and i still haven't done it.

i'm going to try really hard to remember tomorrow to do it.

in fact...can you hold on a minute? of course you can. thanks.

i just had to go get my planner and put it int the middle of the floor to remember to take it with me in the morning. that'll help for sure.

i just feel like a let down to Heavenly Father. i know he doesn't think i'm not good enough. that's not how he works. he wants for us only to realize of how much worth we are...and then act like it.

i also feel like there's more He wants me to do...but why would he give me more if i can't do what i got?

this thinking came to me tonight because i was wondering tonight why i feel like He's not giving me more direct instruction. it could be because he thinks i'm doing good and trusts my judgment and is letting me just do it...or it could be because i'm already not doing the stuff He already told me what to do. there's a way to find out...and i think i'm gunna try it.

i feel like i'm just rambling now... and i probably am... sorry.

i'm just going to try to do better.

i guess if i want people to read this, i should write regularly...

so...as i've said before, my work is pretty boring. today, however, i had something kind of interesting happen. i won't be specific because of the whole confidentiality thing...but i was talking to this lady on the phone (because that's what i do) and she had a complaint. i understood. i knew where she was coming from. i would even say that i agreed with her if what she thought happened really did. i doubt it...but that's beside the point.

she complained...repeating herself...many times...about 1 or 2 things...FOR 35 MINUTES STRAIGHT!!!

i don't even think breathed but twice. she didn't let me talk. she didn't even actually give me the information i needed to help and actually make a difference. she just kept going, and going in a loop...for 35 minutes.

is this necessary?

the answer is no. but i'm sure you know that because you're smart people. i can see if she was letting me try to get the info and do something about it... or if we were having a discussion trying to calm her down...but it was a monologue of epic proportions. she just kept saying how wrong i was and what i should have done...even though it was the first time i've spoken to her. i didn't take offense or anything. i thought it was kind of funny after about 10 minutes.

it actually reminded me of my missionary days. i'm sure all you proselytizing missionaries know what i mean. when you knock on a door and they just start going off about how wrong you are and all the horrible things you've done and how their church is right and yours is not. those doors were more sad than funny though because they were so closed minded and hard hearted. this phone call was funny though.

so if you have a complaint with a company, here's what i suggest...

A. don't give a 35 minute monologue

2. let them help you. let them talk some too. they want to help you. they probably have nothing more exciting to do if they're in a call center.

D. call someone who's not me.

thanks.

so...a couple weeks ago, my wife, teachergirl, looked up this thing online that was like your work out type by your zodiac sign. it said that since i'm a scorpio, that i'm more likely to get good work outs and be motivated to do them if it's training for something specific. it suggested something like a triathlon or something like that. you know what?

it was right.

i remembered that there's a rugby club a the school i'm going to start attending in the fall. i also know, from spending time in Australia, that rugby is a pretty physically demanding sport. it's 40 minute halves and there's no stopping in between plays like football. there's no subs...unless you're injured or bleeding. there's no pads-accept a mouth guard and a cup. it's kinda tough.

"rugby is a beastly sport played by gentlemen..."

i thought hey...i'm gentlemanly in some form. i'll train for playing rugby in the spring.

so i've been running a lot more than i have before. since i didn't really run at all...if possible. i didn't like running for running's sake. i mean...i played soccer and stuff in the past. i liked that because i was chasing the ball and stopping the forwards and all that jazz. i didn't like just running for the fun of it. to my amazement, since i decided to train and get my stamina for rugby, it's been much easier than i thought.

i thought it would take a while to get into it. i'm so excited that it's been much quicker than i thought. today i ran a 10 minute mile, walked a while a ran another mile. this was all while teachergirl was in a mixed martial arts exercise class...yeah, she's hard out too. don't mess with her.

i mostly just wanted to say that i'm doing much better in the running department than i ever thought. granted, i was running on a treadmill and not on the normal ground. it is a little easier that way because you're not actually propelling yourself. you're just holding yourself up. i'm still happy about it though. hopefully, i'll be ready when it comes.

NEWS FLASH!

you can't search for living people.

how am i supposed to find my ancestors if i can't even find the family i know?

i mean...doesn't that make sense?

i guess it also makes sense that i should be able to fill out my own pedigree chart by typing more than my name and birth date.

man i'm lazy.

my turn...

so...i guess tonight is the night for musicboy to not be able to get to sleep. that's why i'm here.

at church today, we were talking about the new.familysearch.org thing. it sounded really cool. it's a family history site. so i though...since i'm still up and not tired...i might as well give it a try.

so i registered...

and then i felt like an idiot.

first of all, all that came up was me and teachergirl when i started. i tried searching for my parents and they weren't in there. i don't know their birth dates. i can't find them. so i added them to the system. what's the point though?...i only know their names and birthday. no year. i'm up on things as you can tell.

i thought maybe since my grandma has used one of the LDS family history sites that the stuff she did would be in there. it wasn't that easy. i decided i'm not good at this. i'll try again another time...

if any of you have some experience with this, feel free to share your fountains of knowledge with me. i'm sure you've got water to spare. just some advice or opinion would be welcomed too.

It feels Good

have you ever not played trombone for a while...and then practiced...like really practiced and your lips get that tingling in them that only playing brass can actually do? you know...when your lip gets swollen and you look a little funny but your happy it's puffed up because you finally started doing it again? it's like when all the calouses on your fingers are gone and you finally play guitar again and it hurts? but in a good way?

well my lips got swolen today and it was glorious.

i always feel like i've lost so much ground when i don't play for a while. but i'm always amazingly pleased with myself. it's the first time i've really played trombone since carnegie hall. i've played a couple times before now, but i've never really practiced. i kinda just blew a few notes...but today, after a couple long tones and lip slurs, my tone was back...up until my lip got swolen...but that's not the point. the point is...if i can be almost just as good at reading new stuff and technique exercises (sort of...) without practicing, i can be beastly if i actually practice everyday.

it reminds me of after i came back from australia and haven't played for like 3 years literally...and not even blowing any notes. that was because in australia, i decided to follow my heart and be a music major instead of a pre-veterinary major. i was amazed at how almost near good i kinda was.

i think everybody has something like that. something their good at but don't do for a while for some reason or another...and then when you finally do it, it's still awesome. sure. you have to woodshed a bit and sand the edges...

i just wanted to let you know that i did it today.

Church is for Learning

so i went to church today. there was something there that bothered me...other than forgetting to brush my teeth...but that's another story...and i don't think it was intended as it sounded. plus, that's that the kind of thing you're supposed to take away from church anyway. so i'm not going to worry about it.

i wanted to just say what i liked about going to church today.

in sunday school today, the lesson was about Saul in the old testament. the part i remember was in 1Sam13. so you don't have to look it up, that's when Saul, who's the king, was to wait for Samuel to come back to make a burnt offering and peace offering before going into war. Samuel wasn't back by the appointed time, so Saul went ahead and made the offering himself. he didn't have the priesthood authority nor the calling to do that but that's not the point i learned. i learned this:


one of the HARDEST things to do in the gospel is to hold out to the end. to wait actively for the appointed timing of the Lord.

the ironic thing is that as soon as the offering was made, Samuel showed up. it seems to always happen like that. right when you do something that you shouldn't have is right when your personal Samuel shows up. think of how bad he must have felt for not waiting another 20 minutes! he must have felt like a faithless wimpy little man.

and then i was reminded of Nephi.no, not the one who was large in stature, but the one in 3Ne1. he was the one, so you also don't have to look this one up, who waited it out and stayed faithful. there were signs prophesied by Samuel the Lamanite (ha. another Samuel) that were said to show the Savior's birth in Jerusalem. the non- believers set a date that if the signs didn't come, they'd kill all the believers. there were people who gave up. they renounced their beliefs and their faith. not Nephi though. he waited. actively. through prayer, and teaching too i assume. it was the day before and he was still going to wait it out. and you know what? the sign did come. just like it was prophesied.

i'm sure the people who gave up that afternoon felt real stupid when the sun went down and it wasn't dark.

the point is, when God or one of his prophets says something, it's right. it's going to happen. you may not believe it or may not understand it, but it's real. it can be said on a smaller scale too. we may not be threatened to be killed or have the philistines gathering, but we might be threatened with the disapproval of some of our "friends." it might look like the odds are stacked against us if we don't give in. the truth is though, the odds of us getting where we want to be is not too good if we do give in.

stay strong my friends. wait it out. be like Nephi. it's the true way.

my wife is pretty.

just so you know... she's very beautiful. that face melts me every now and again. those eyes are amazing...and she's very funny and smart and wonderful. she's virtuous, faithful and awesome. she takes care of me. i hope i can be as good to her as she is to me. she's my favorite person. i'm proud to be her husband. marrying her was one of my best decisions.

lights, camera, ......

i had my first paying gig this week of my whole life. it was only $20 but it was probably about the normal pay for the amount of time i put in as a performer this time. we did a medley of the 50's (happy days, come and go with me, the laverne and shirley theme song, etc.) and a michael jackson medley at a retirement community.

this is the second time we've performed this particular show for an audience. last time we had this awesome stage built for us to use with lots of different elevation layers and all...we didn't have that this time. the first thing i asked when we got there was, "what are we going to change because of our lack of stageage?" the chorus teacher said "nothing"...and then we proceeded to change about half of our spots we needed to hit.

can i just take a moment to talk a little bit about the suckage that it tech rehearsals?

thanks.

so...last time we did this show, and every other time i've done a show, at this college, that wasn't run by the music staff, we've had about 4-6 days of rehearsals that ranged from about 4 to 6 hours each. and usually, i'm singing as well as playing instruments. that's cool and good times and all, but they normally tell those who need mic checks to get there an extra hour early...

does any one else think that this is absolutely ridiculous?

i mean...it takes literally about 20 seconds each to check the microphone. and there's normally about 12 of us. the time just doesn't really add up to me.

plus, every time i've had to do this, a majority of the 16 TO 36 HOURS of rehearsal is spent doing absolutely nothing. since it's normally a collaborative thing, we (the instrumental music people) sit around, stare at the wall and wait back stage for the other people to practice.

PRACTICE?!

i'm sorry. but when you get to the tech rehearsal, you should only need to check the lights, mics, and stage changes. if you're going into the dress rehearsal, the night before you perform for a real audience, and your instructor is saying that you don't have memorized what you need to and that you have to come in 2 hours early to the performance to do it again to prove that you actually can do it or you'll be cut out of the show, you need to get your act together(literally) or change majors.

anyway...

luckily we didn't have but one of those and we needed it. because we were changing half of the spots we needed to hit and we had a new backup band, who did awesome by the way. it was a good performance over-all but it wasn't as good as the first one. we got paid a little this time though...and that made it better.

i did other things that weren't just sitting around...but if you're like me, you're probably bored by now and don't want to read about them. i'll put them in another post...maybe...probably not though. i'll probably forget. oh well. you'll deal.

PEACE!

The first blog post ever...

so...i was about to write in my on-line journal that i write in like once a month if i'm lucky... (because my wife was writing in her blog and that reminded me)...and then i thought...why don't i just make a blog of my own.

i'm hoping that the whole other people reading it will give me a little more motivation...you know...like my public awaits or whatever. it can't hurt right. plus, you're interested. i mean you're still reading. right?

what i wanted to write about in my journal is something i just named the summer time doldrums. i feel there. the doldrums of the summer, to me in my college life, are when you've gotten in all the relaxing you can really handle for and are ready to get back to the crazy of the semester.

right now i feel like i'm doing the same thing every day. i kinda am. i go to work everyday at 9 and get off at 2...except for saturday which is 10 to 2...and sunday which is a non-work day being the sabbath and all. i go to a gym class every now and again too. but it seems like i'm just sitting around (probably because i am when i'm not at the gym...i even work sitting down).

my work is pretty boring. i do mostly the same thing about 200 times and go home after 5 hours. don't get me wrong. i'm totally grateful for my job and the flexibility it gives me to change my schedule according to my classes and not the other way around. but it's boring let's face it.

i suppose i could get myself out of the summer time doldrums by actively choosing to do so...and maybe i should. maybe i should get out there and try to accomplish more than beating the Lord of the Rings video game. maybe i should practice one of the many instruments i have laying around. maybe i should take my wife and box hunt for our move in 24 days...but it's hard to get moving in the doldrums. people used to get stuck in those. i suppose i could try though......

alright. you talked me into it. productive updates to follow.