The Beast

Practice, practice, practice, practice for Concert Band auditions. After playing around with string instruments for an entire semester, it's a little hard to get back into the swing of practicing for band. Pray it all works out!

Natural Refrigeration in NE Ohio

For when the indoor refrigerator seems a bit small... it's like having our own walk-in cooler. Except of course, you wouldn't put a bike in a walk-in cooler.

Today's picture is about how I FINALLY bought a new and amazing planner and organized my life. Let me give you the nickel tour around the planner:

• Yellow = all classes I am a TA for, and my office hours for those classes
• Orange = all of my graduate classes and rehearsals
• Green = meetings/hang outs with people, h2o stuff
• Pink = to-do (currently, it's also h2o stuff, but that'll change next week to the above)

There's also my copy of "Seven Longings of the Human Heart", which I'm currently reading through. These were on my desk, because I took the picture right after I got back from taking my "Hour of Sanity"... or "Sanity Hour". See, I've stopped "pleaing insanity" because I'm a Music Educator (yes, I can call myself this now... I own an Ohio Pre-K-12 Music License and Undergraduate Degree), and I'm a Music Ed. grad student. At this point, one stops pleaing insanity... you know you're insane... and starts taking Sanity Hours... you know, when you're not insane.

And that friends, is how you stay alive in music.

Well, it's official ladies and gentlemen. I am now a co-instructor for a college course... which means lots of grading. Fortunately, it appears Kent's Blackboard system is a little more advanced than BGSU's (maybe that's why they call it Vista), so students can submit their work online, and I can grade it directly from Blackboard. Which is a relief, because I hate carrying stacks of paper around. What you can't see is my unneccesarily wordy Educational Research book to the left, and all the notes I've been taking, because I probably won't remember the information I read later on.

That's right, check the name on the right side under "Instructors".
I'm listed as an instructor for a college course. Oh yeah.

I know there was a picture of the desk yesterday... but that was when it was clean, and not being used. Here's a picture of what I spent my lunchtime doing: reading my Research in Music Education book, and eating rice. Mmm, yumm. Next to the bowl of rice is my laptop, which was (and still is) playing a mix of "The Album Leaf" and "Explosions in the Sky". I needed something better to listen to and more conducive to doing homework than hearing the tuba studio across the hall and the choir practicing around the corner. There was a small reward for all the craziness I've put up with this week: Dr. Resta gave me a box of chocolate wafers as a means of congratulations for surviving Week 1. Now the question is, will I successfully be able to survive the rest of the weeks in the semester, and even more questionable... will I get a reward for each week I complete successfully? (probably not, but I can always hope!)

Well, here it is. My portion of the office. There's only 3 of us that share it, but Raquel and Terri aren't here as often as I am. I set up shop pretty quick, since I knew I'd be spending approximately 87.9430% of my life in here (the real question: factual statistic, or arbitrary? You decide!). There's colorful pictures of some of my favorite hikes/places in Colorado, pictures of some of my favorite people, friends and family, the crazy pictures my students made for me last year, candy, coffee, a BGSU Falcons cheerstick, and of course, one of the best BG News Blotters I've ever read. Oh hey, and check out all those papers and books that are starting to pile up in the wire bin, and my steady supply of caffeine. To the left of my desk are my instruments... hey, I even have my own practice room now! I can do it all from the comfort of my office! (Whether or not that's a good thing is to be debated)

Today's picture was taken at "Scribbles", only the best coffee shop in Kent (and the only local one in Kent). Because Starbucks is right next to Kent, generally everyone goes there, but down here in the small downtown area next to the river, not many people come here. It's been nice and quiet, a good place to work on things, and spend time with God. As you can see from the name, the tables are generally covered with paper and crayons are sitting around (I did NOT draw the peacock, it was already there). It's been a good, relaxing afternoon... as long as I don't check my e-mail to see what work I have left to do today.