the art of complimenting...
this morning, after the church service runthrough meeting, pastor mitchell saw me afterwards, asking me how doc was doing... i told him that he emailed me recently, and that he seems to be doing well, and pastor mitchell was glad to hear it... he then walked out of the room, then after a couple of seconds, called me again... i went over to him, and he began with saying how valuable i was to the church here, b/c of my openness to be involved in music of all styles... he said that there are so many people that believe it should be one way or the other, but that i have an open mind, and am willing to take part in everything, and enjoy all types of music...
of course, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but not only b/c of what he said... but b/c he made the effort to make a rare compliment, not one that he was just throwing out to make me feel good about myself... he looked me straight in the eye, and i could tell that it was sincere, heartfelt, and meaningful...
i think it sprung from his thoughts of doc, who showed appreciation of all music, and maybe i'm reading between the lines, but there's not much of that going on lately... it's almost as if the music took a step back from progression, from last year... especially in vespers...
throw that on top of jessica's joke that, if she could, she wouldn't let me graduate, and hire me for the church...
there's an art to compliments... they need to be given rarely, which makes them more meaningful when said... the same ol' compliment over an over gets really old... i've experienced several of those from a particular new music faculty, and a couple of others...
yeah, i know one of my greatest love languages is "words of affirmation," but only when given sincerely and when called for... the whole idea of "too much of a good thing is a bad thing..."
- - - - - - -
so thursday...
i had lunch with yvonne, megan, and josh... afterwards, i ended up hanging out a bit with megan and yvonne in paulin auditorium in the dark, where they confessed some of their fears about next year... fears that i share as well... the dynamic i've had with friends this year will definitely be different, especially since new years always bring about great change... i hope that what they predict doesn't come true, although it would be hard to avoid...
i had a talk with dr wheeler today, which ended up leading in directions i never expected... i tried to be as nice as possible, but it became a mini-vent session, and surprisingly, dr wheeler agreed with me on a lot of points...
andy came back, so josh and i stopped by to say hi... ended up reeling in ryan meller, and the four of us talked for over an hour... receding hairlines, hair thickness, the weather... yeah, it sounds superficial, but the conversations were really interesting! apparently, having less hair equals more body, b/c the lack of hair allows air to fill in the void... of course, anytime you get choir people together, choir comes up, and we all know how those stories end up...
we started talking about doc, and andy pointed out that since he's such a quiet guy, everything he says has depth and meaning to it... and since he's such a respectable person, anything he respects is worthy of respect...
rasmussen said during performance class that if we didn't want to put in the practice time required, then we might as well find a new major... i almost considered looking at a math bulletin, to change to a math degree... i was so angry to the point that i was willing to stay here an extra year, to get it done... he would've been the reason why a potential music teacher switched to another field, b/c since to him, the issue's so black or white, without gray area... should i not be doing music, just b/c i get bored while practicing...? b/c i hate how i sound as a solo vocalist...?
bobbi's email came at the right time, though... i was so discouraged from music, that hearing that doc still believes in me really gives me strength... i know it sounds really lame, but i've been through stages where i don't feel adequate, and special enough to be a successful music teacher, much less a teacher... and since i don't feel like i'm getting the amount of education i need, it adds to the stress that my future holds...
- - - - - - -
friday, i had books of moses... some profound thoughts from dr sheldon... she points out that in the creation story, there are two instances where God doesn't state that His work is "good..." the first came after his separation of air and water on the second day... but you'll see that when He finally creates land, he calls it good twice... the second instance was after the creation of man... now why isn't man "good?" sheldon mirrored my thoughts, when she shares her idea that God created us a little less than perfect, in order to give us that choice of what direction we want to take our life... he could've created us perfect like the rest of His creations, but He'd rather give us the option... it was profound...
matt, marla, and i met about our plans for upcoming projects... we talked for about an hour about how we were going to approach the problem, then see where it goes from there... afterwards, marla help me set up for interactions, together with josh and yvonne... we ended up chilling in the fireside room until vespers started... didn't stay in vespers long, the four of us, including jerilynn, served soup for interactions... made fun of josh and his fungus soup, haha!
sabbath, i was part of the praise band, so i played piano and sang in church... i feel honored that jessica asked me to take part in the first sabbath of the new quarter... she asked me last quarter as well... had lunch with the usual, it seems... talked about argentina, necrophiliacs, and morbid short stories... we found our way towards winning lobby, where kristen showed up, since she's up here for the weekend! she broke the sad news to me, and shared her thoughts... eventually, angela came, and the three of us shared stories about our classmates...
pamela called me when andy and i were playing andy's argentinean math game, "numeros..." she updated me the praise band's progress, as well as talking about our "one year Bible" experiences so far... we had dinner, and made our way to the opening of the faculty's art projects...
got an email from doc... i plan on calling him tomorrow, as well as make that tedious trip to costco for interactions supplies... then dinner with the GAA alums, since kristen's here... should be an eventful day tomorrow... good thing it's a long weekend!
of course, it made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but not only b/c of what he said... but b/c he made the effort to make a rare compliment, not one that he was just throwing out to make me feel good about myself... he looked me straight in the eye, and i could tell that it was sincere, heartfelt, and meaningful...
i think it sprung from his thoughts of doc, who showed appreciation of all music, and maybe i'm reading between the lines, but there's not much of that going on lately... it's almost as if the music took a step back from progression, from last year... especially in vespers...
throw that on top of jessica's joke that, if she could, she wouldn't let me graduate, and hire me for the church...
there's an art to compliments... they need to be given rarely, which makes them more meaningful when said... the same ol' compliment over an over gets really old... i've experienced several of those from a particular new music faculty, and a couple of others...
yeah, i know one of my greatest love languages is "words of affirmation," but only when given sincerely and when called for... the whole idea of "too much of a good thing is a bad thing..."
- - - - - - -
so thursday...
i had lunch with yvonne, megan, and josh... afterwards, i ended up hanging out a bit with megan and yvonne in paulin auditorium in the dark, where they confessed some of their fears about next year... fears that i share as well... the dynamic i've had with friends this year will definitely be different, especially since new years always bring about great change... i hope that what they predict doesn't come true, although it would be hard to avoid...
i had a talk with dr wheeler today, which ended up leading in directions i never expected... i tried to be as nice as possible, but it became a mini-vent session, and surprisingly, dr wheeler agreed with me on a lot of points...
andy came back, so josh and i stopped by to say hi... ended up reeling in ryan meller, and the four of us talked for over an hour... receding hairlines, hair thickness, the weather... yeah, it sounds superficial, but the conversations were really interesting! apparently, having less hair equals more body, b/c the lack of hair allows air to fill in the void... of course, anytime you get choir people together, choir comes up, and we all know how those stories end up...
we started talking about doc, and andy pointed out that since he's such a quiet guy, everything he says has depth and meaning to it... and since he's such a respectable person, anything he respects is worthy of respect...
rasmussen said during performance class that if we didn't want to put in the practice time required, then we might as well find a new major... i almost considered looking at a math bulletin, to change to a math degree... i was so angry to the point that i was willing to stay here an extra year, to get it done... he would've been the reason why a potential music teacher switched to another field, b/c since to him, the issue's so black or white, without gray area... should i not be doing music, just b/c i get bored while practicing...? b/c i hate how i sound as a solo vocalist...?
bobbi's email came at the right time, though... i was so discouraged from music, that hearing that doc still believes in me really gives me strength... i know it sounds really lame, but i've been through stages where i don't feel adequate, and special enough to be a successful music teacher, much less a teacher... and since i don't feel like i'm getting the amount of education i need, it adds to the stress that my future holds...
- - - - - - -
friday, i had books of moses... some profound thoughts from dr sheldon... she points out that in the creation story, there are two instances where God doesn't state that His work is "good..." the first came after his separation of air and water on the second day... but you'll see that when He finally creates land, he calls it good twice... the second instance was after the creation of man... now why isn't man "good?" sheldon mirrored my thoughts, when she shares her idea that God created us a little less than perfect, in order to give us that choice of what direction we want to take our life... he could've created us perfect like the rest of His creations, but He'd rather give us the option... it was profound...
matt, marla, and i met about our plans for upcoming projects... we talked for about an hour about how we were going to approach the problem, then see where it goes from there... afterwards, marla help me set up for interactions, together with josh and yvonne... we ended up chilling in the fireside room until vespers started... didn't stay in vespers long, the four of us, including jerilynn, served soup for interactions... made fun of josh and his fungus soup, haha!
sabbath, i was part of the praise band, so i played piano and sang in church... i feel honored that jessica asked me to take part in the first sabbath of the new quarter... she asked me last quarter as well... had lunch with the usual, it seems... talked about argentina, necrophiliacs, and morbid short stories... we found our way towards winning lobby, where kristen showed up, since she's up here for the weekend! she broke the sad news to me, and shared her thoughts... eventually, angela came, and the three of us shared stories about our classmates...
pamela called me when andy and i were playing andy's argentinean math game, "numeros..." she updated me the praise band's progress, as well as talking about our "one year Bible" experiences so far... we had dinner, and made our way to the opening of the faculty's art projects...
got an email from doc... i plan on calling him tomorrow, as well as make that tedious trip to costco for interactions supplies... then dinner with the GAA alums, since kristen's here... should be an eventful day tomorrow... good thing it's a long weekend!