the "B.A.Q."...
feeling slightly misanthropic lately...
why is it, that the year that i try to give to God, to actually spend time reading my Bible, and be enlightened by the religion classes i'm taking, seems to be the year that causes me the most conflict, internally and externally...
guess that's why it's hard to be a Christian sometimes...
i'll leave it at that... i don't need to explain myself...
- - - - - - -
sunday, since kristen was up here for MLK weekend, we had our usual mini-GAA reunions, as we always do when any GAAer's come up for the weekend... we ate at tra vigne's... good food, and good fellowship, as always... it's always great to see our lives progress, especially since we've shared those critical years of high school together...
afterwards, andy came over to the my room, and we spent four hours, just talking away... ethnicity, the future, family, occupations were among the topics... i became frustrated almost to tears, but it's good to know that you can be around trustworthy and understanding company in those situations... it was 1 in the morning, and the two of us weren't even tired, so we decided to have movie night, and watched "minority report..." that was one awesome movie! we were both planning on sleeping through whatever movie we chose, but of course, i wanted something filled with action, and not once did we nod off...
monday was a day of sheer laziness... i had intended on practicing several hours... how many did i practice...? zippo... zero... zilch... guess i'll have to make up for it at the end of the quarter... i did get some grading done, though... cory, josh, and andy confirmed the song we were going to sing for this friday, so i got down to working on it... found all four parts within three hours, without a piano, and even wrote a bass part, since the song only had 4 parts, with tight harmonies...
today, i spent four hours, photocopying music for doc... geez, my back ached after that... good thing janer was there to keep me company for some of it, as i shared with her my career musings... there wasn't much time afterwards until our meeting with dr wheeler, so very little paulin chill time... matt, marla, and i met with dr wheeler to discuss some of our frustrations, and surprisingly, the meeting went well... he was surprised to hear some of the facts we were presenting, and hopefully, some good can come out of it...
at six, josh/andy/darrin/cory and i met to practice... man, within an hour, we pieced together the song, and man, it has great potential to sound great! our blend is impeccable! they were blown away with the sheet music i worked on, impressed with what i could do without a piano and by ear, claiming that they should note my name somewhere on the announcement slide, saying that i arranged the hymn... i thank God for that talent... we got so excited after singing through the piece a couple of times through, even trying to find a name for ourselves... we came up with some joke names: darrin came up with "B.A.Q." standing for "bad-ass quintet," or "the baritones," since all of us are naturally baritones, who just happen to cover a wide range of notes... if anyone would ask what the B.A. stood for, we would say that it stood for the "bachelor of arts," and we would laugh it off... i couldn't wipe that smile off my face, since it sounded so great... man, i can't wait until vespers! thank goodness we're meeting everyday to practice... those practice are going to be the highlight of my week! as darrin joked, "hey, how about we just ditch choir to practice?" haha! i think the smiles on all five of our faces tonight, just showed how excited everyone was... talk about an intrinsic reward!
andy had to ask me if there still was any question in what i needed to be... no doubt i wanna have music as a big part of my life... i enjoy it too much, but one can think about what else there is to do with one's life... like i said, i couldn't wipe the smile off my face... he brought me back to a reality check, as we discussed one of the problems i've been having lately... i decided to write a letter, since i'm horrible with confrontation... i couldn't even concentrate on my schoolwork... throw in quick texts and an MSN conversation with jordan, making me aware to certain bits of information, and a potential plan of having a three-man room next year with him and josh... i was "lying on the floor, dead" when the two of them were chatting online... josh and i headed over to the caf to eat, and here i am now...
man, these are the moments... this is one reason i love PUC... for those awesome times you can sing together with some of your closest friends... for those late burrito runs... and for those conversations that seem to last hours... yeah, and the list goes on, of course, but these things have put a smile on my face lately...
that, and the tiny flakes of snow that seem to be falling tonight...
why is it, that the year that i try to give to God, to actually spend time reading my Bible, and be enlightened by the religion classes i'm taking, seems to be the year that causes me the most conflict, internally and externally...
guess that's why it's hard to be a Christian sometimes...
i'll leave it at that... i don't need to explain myself...
- - - - - - -
sunday, since kristen was up here for MLK weekend, we had our usual mini-GAA reunions, as we always do when any GAAer's come up for the weekend... we ate at tra vigne's... good food, and good fellowship, as always... it's always great to see our lives progress, especially since we've shared those critical years of high school together...
afterwards, andy came over to the my room, and we spent four hours, just talking away... ethnicity, the future, family, occupations were among the topics... i became frustrated almost to tears, but it's good to know that you can be around trustworthy and understanding company in those situations... it was 1 in the morning, and the two of us weren't even tired, so we decided to have movie night, and watched "minority report..." that was one awesome movie! we were both planning on sleeping through whatever movie we chose, but of course, i wanted something filled with action, and not once did we nod off...
monday was a day of sheer laziness... i had intended on practicing several hours... how many did i practice...? zippo... zero... zilch... guess i'll have to make up for it at the end of the quarter... i did get some grading done, though... cory, josh, and andy confirmed the song we were going to sing for this friday, so i got down to working on it... found all four parts within three hours, without a piano, and even wrote a bass part, since the song only had 4 parts, with tight harmonies...
today, i spent four hours, photocopying music for doc... geez, my back ached after that... good thing janer was there to keep me company for some of it, as i shared with her my career musings... there wasn't much time afterwards until our meeting with dr wheeler, so very little paulin chill time... matt, marla, and i met with dr wheeler to discuss some of our frustrations, and surprisingly, the meeting went well... he was surprised to hear some of the facts we were presenting, and hopefully, some good can come out of it...
at six, josh/andy/darrin/cory and i met to practice... man, within an hour, we pieced together the song, and man, it has great potential to sound great! our blend is impeccable! they were blown away with the sheet music i worked on, impressed with what i could do without a piano and by ear, claiming that they should note my name somewhere on the announcement slide, saying that i arranged the hymn... i thank God for that talent... we got so excited after singing through the piece a couple of times through, even trying to find a name for ourselves... we came up with some joke names: darrin came up with "B.A.Q." standing for "bad-ass quintet," or "the baritones," since all of us are naturally baritones, who just happen to cover a wide range of notes... if anyone would ask what the B.A. stood for, we would say that it stood for the "bachelor of arts," and we would laugh it off... i couldn't wipe that smile off my face, since it sounded so great... man, i can't wait until vespers! thank goodness we're meeting everyday to practice... those practice are going to be the highlight of my week! as darrin joked, "hey, how about we just ditch choir to practice?" haha! i think the smiles on all five of our faces tonight, just showed how excited everyone was... talk about an intrinsic reward!
andy had to ask me if there still was any question in what i needed to be... no doubt i wanna have music as a big part of my life... i enjoy it too much, but one can think about what else there is to do with one's life... like i said, i couldn't wipe the smile off my face... he brought me back to a reality check, as we discussed one of the problems i've been having lately... i decided to write a letter, since i'm horrible with confrontation... i couldn't even concentrate on my schoolwork... throw in quick texts and an MSN conversation with jordan, making me aware to certain bits of information, and a potential plan of having a three-man room next year with him and josh... i was "lying on the floor, dead" when the two of them were chatting online... josh and i headed over to the caf to eat, and here i am now...
man, these are the moments... this is one reason i love PUC... for those awesome times you can sing together with some of your closest friends... for those late burrito runs... and for those conversations that seem to last hours... yeah, and the list goes on, of course, but these things have put a smile on my face lately...
that, and the tiny flakes of snow that seem to be falling tonight...