Turns Out

I feel that since it's been over a week since my last post, I owe my loyal fans a new one.

It's really funny how things seem to never turn out how you expect them to, in varying degrees, of course. Sometimes it's a good and welcomed thing. Sometimes it's not. For example, for my Writing and Reasoning class, each student had to write a 5-page personal narrative on one normal day of our lives. As some of you know, my writing style can be verbose. I cranked my narrative out the day before it was due, which started out pretty decent, then got tedious as my brain got tired of the task and moved on, leaving me to finish the paper on my own. I kept writing and realized that it was all utter nonsense. So, after fetching my brain and forcing it to rejoin me in my task, I cleaned my writing up a little and finished the paper. After printing it out to turn in, I read it aloud and only cringed at one or two parts. However, after handing the paper in, one would think I had vomited all over the paper, listening to me. Okay, that's definitely an exaggeration (I just like the expression), but I still wondered if my teacher was going to tear it to shreds or not.
The technique my teacher uses is one-on-one conferences with his students. Instead of class the week after a paper is due, we sign up for a time to meet with him so he can talk to us one-on-one in his office. The day of reckoning came and he actually paid me some very nice compliments. He thinks I'm a very good writer with plenty of talent, he wants to help make me even better. He gave me a suggestion on what I could do with this paper to make it better, just one, and sent me on my relieved and happily surprised way.
That's just one example from my life. I mean, one could even think of my experience with University Band as well. There's just a lot more examples in all our lives than I think we really notice; big or small. Is it because we're just used to life being, well, life and we've begun to take it all for granted? That goes with appreciating it all. Even if something turns out worse than we expect it to (like when I had to teach Elder's Quorum this last Sunday, and even then, it turned out more people liked it than I had supposed). There's always a silver lining to dark clouds. I have a roommate who once posed a question asking if the "clouds" are actually silver with dark lining and we just focus on the lining too much. Well, another subject to ponder on and even address at a later time, perhaps.
Yep, turns out that life is pretty darn unpredictable. Sometimes it's we would deem to be fair, but it's usually not. However, with that being said, it's interesting to see just how our lives are shaped by that and how we've grown and learned from all those "unfair" times.

Auditions and Bewilderment

You're now reading the blog of a musically-doomed man.
I play trumpet in the University Band up here and we had auditions today so that the director could place us in what he deems to be our proper chairs. All eight of us trumpeters were given the audition piece on Wednesday. Last night I practiced with a good friend of mine who's also in the band until we felt comfortable with the piece, and that was it. Today we were lined up outside the band room and taken to a "secret location" around the corner that was open so everyone in the building could hear your audition. My nerves were through the roof. For those of you who know me well enough, this is typical.
After a few minutes of tense waiting and pacing, I was up. Everyone before me sounded so good! I consigned myself to just play and go straight to 3rd chair; dead last. A little chit-chat was made with the director which didn't help things at all. As I was playing I was sure the director was bracing himself to catch my shaking body which probably looked like it could crumple to the ground at any moment. I began by missing the first note several times. He suggested a different part of the piece, which I promptly fumbled over. Finally, I told him that I had practiced the part he marked out and I was going to hit the note this time, just he wait and see. I did it, sprinted through it, and trudged back to the band room. I butchered it, big-time.
One other trumpet played after me and then the director came back to give us our new positions. I was blind-sided by "1st" chair and SOLO! I couldn't believe my ears. I was dumbfounded.
So here I am, first chair after not having regularly played my trumpet in 4 years, 2 of those years being on a mission (meaning NO playing). I know where my weekends are going to be: the practice rooms at the music building. Okay, so it's not going to be as bad as I'm making it out to be, but I'm still nervous about being in this position and think that there are 7 other trumpeters who could fill this better than I can. However, I guess I can trust my director knows what he's doing and he put me where I am for a reason. I'll just keep my fingers crossed...

The First Day of the Blogitry

Well here we go, down the rabbit-hole of blogging. This blog is solely for the purpose of keeping interested family, friends, acquaintances, stalkers, and associated parties updated on all the goings-on of yours truly in the fantastical world of Rexburg, Idaho. As such, it will only be updated while I'm here, meaning roughly 8 months of the year minimum. For those of you who don't know, BYU-Idaho, the university I'm attending up here, is on a track system. When a student is accepted, they are assigned a track containing two semesters (Winter-Spring, Spring-Fall, Fall-Winter). The student then attends school for those two semesters and is "off-track" during the other semester and is free to do whatever he/she wishes...basically. I was one of the fortunate ones to receive the Spring-Fall track, thus effectively dodging the bitter winters that Rexburg (sometimes affectionately called "Iceburg") is known for. The reason for the track system is to allow more students into the small-but-ever-growing school. It seems to be working because they haven't changed the system yet. As a side-note, this blog will be updated roughly once a week, or however often I feel like it. With that being said, it's time to get down to business.

As of today, I have officially started all my classes. It's a hodgepodge of classes this semester: Auto Maintenance, Human Nutrition, University Band, Writing and Reasoning, New Testament, and International Latin Dancing. It's looking like another semester of 6 classes and 12 credits. So far any attempts to add more classes that I actually need have left me disappointed. I'm not too beat up about that, however, considering my workloads are foreshadowed to be lots of time-consuming assignments that will take up a large portion of my time. Once I find a job in this seemingly job-barren land, my time will practically be gone. I guess we'll really see how things pan out as time wears on.

It's always good to see familiar faces and meet new ones. Although I have a naturally reserved personality, I enjoy meeting new people and making new friends. It's fun to be able to walk around campus or town and always be saying "hi" to people I recognize along the way to wherever I'm going. It's even better if I have classes with friends from previous semesters. One of the downsides of knowing a lot of people is not having the time to see everyone as often as I would like to. Having classes together makes it easier. Using a planner is a good idea as well. Being as popular as I am (HA), keeping organized and knowing the "whats" and "whens" of my busy school life is a necessary and priceless thing. Those of you who know me well enough know that I can become quite scatter-brained and forgetful which usually gets worse as stress and demands pile up.

In closing, I feel I should warn you readers that this blog will most likely be very boring and such. If you are a faithful reader, you may receive a little nugget of humor or pleasing material, but read at your own risk. I absolve myself from being responsible for your enjoyment; how much you enjoy this blog is entirely based on your tastes and is your decision and I can't control that.
PS: I'm still feeling my way through this, so bear with me.