Oh Boogers

Sometimes life just throws boogers your way.  Literally.  So, I was called to be the primary chorister in my new family ward.  For those of you out there not of the LDS faith, that means I was asked to lead the children in singing time during the last two hours of church.  It's been a real blast.  I get to play games and inspire the children to sing.  However, there are moments where I can tell the children are having fun testing my patience.  We have a big primary program that the children prepare for all year and present to the congregation in the fall.  This means that we teach them a new song every month and try to get them to memorize it!  So, we've been working and working on this piece.  Get this vision: I'm standing in front of the children waving my arm about.  I wore a black top, a black pencil skirt, and a purple sweater.  Scott chose my shoes for the day and he chose what my grandmother would think of as "call girl" shoes.  They are tall.  Very tall black satin beauties that are purely for fashion.  So anyway, I'm standing there in front of the kids and the youngest ones sit in the front so that means the little 3 year olds are the ones RIGHT THERE.  I sometimes feel like I need to present a broadway musical complete with a tap number to get their attention.  Well, I was noticing two of them were turned around in their chairs facing the back of the room and the one who was facing the front was picking his nose.  This little guy was digging DEEP.  All of a sudden something flew my direction.  It was a booger.  That's right...a booger.  And this thing was HUGE.  It was the size of a green pea at least.  I look down at my skirt and there it is.  This booger managed to make it all the way past my music stand, through my waving hand, and onto my beautifully pressed skirt. What did I do?  I wiped it off and kept conducting.  I didn't even think twice.  I guess that's one less nasty child thing that has the potential to gross me out as a mother.  (I've already dealt with the projectile vomit thing...that was nastAy! But I survived).  The moral of my story, when life throws a booger your way, just deal.

I'm having a ___________ day

I've been working as an instructor at The Little Gym since January. Let me tell you it's been one challenging but rewarding experience. I'd say I've learned as much about myself, teaching, and parenting as my kids have learned about coordination and confidence.

My kids always say the cutest things. Some things that stand out in my mind from throughout the semester came from my Funny Bug classes. I teach mostly the 3 and 4 year olds and they are the sweetest most energetic little things. I used to say that I felt awkward around young children. Infants, I was good. Pre Teens, I was good. But, 2 up until somewhere around 8 I didn't know how to talk to them or play with them. Not anymore! These kids have opened up my imagination, tested my patience, and proved to me that I will one day be an awesome mom. Well, anyway, back to the cute things my Funny Bugs say. One day *Nicholas looked at my toe nail polish. I had my nails done for Christmas when I was at home with my family. Nicholas touched my toe and said "oooh, I like your nails!" I imagined him hearing that phrase from his mother or aunts. It was so funny to me that he noticed. Another time, this little girl *Becca said "I'm pretending to be a puppy". I said, "ok, let's pretend to be a puppy while sitting here listening with our friends" (not my most creative teaching moment but hey, I was allowing her to be creative right?) So she joins her classmates as I demonstrate the skills we were to do at that station. Then all of a sudden as I sit down to tell everyone the magic word (which means they can finally explore the gym and run around after 30 whole seconds of sitting still) Becca licked my foot!!! Another time, just recently, I was subbing a grade school class (so a class of 6-12 year olds) and this one little girl was fawning over my engagement ring. I guess I thought it was so funny because it's quite simple and not really "eye catching" like some of these pillow diamond engagement rings you see these days. I was impressed that this little girl could appreciate it's simple beauty. Last but not least, in my dance class just this week I was bringing the girls over to our station to do our bar routine (which by the way is a level 1 USA Gymnastics routine aka my 3 and 4 year olds are doing REAL gymnastics) I was having a hard time convincing *Lilli to play along. I asked her why she didn't want to do the routine and she said "I'm having a bad day". I thought she was doing rather well actually but to her it was a bad day. I wondered if this was something her mom told her or if she thought it up herself. Kids really do say the darndest things.

As I left the gym the other day I decided I was having a bad day. I left and locked the place, headed into my car, and tried to check my phone. I couldn't find it anywhere. I searched through my bag and found nothing. I decided I needed to go back into the gym, get the phone there, and call my cell. Well, I got back out to my car and heard it ring. I searched my bag again but no luck. As I was digging around I found my rasberry chocolate bar that I got from a dance recital the night before. I have been substituting for a friends performing class where she teaches song and dance. It's been an AWESOME gig and they performed really well. I digress. So, at the end of the performance the owner of the studio gave the teachers Ghiradelli chocolate to thank us for our hard work. Well, mine melted in my bag!!! Still no luck with the phone. So, I emptied the contents of my bag on the passenger seat and finally found it. I went back into the gym and locked everything up...again...and headed on my way.

I was just pulling onto center street in Orem and I realized my car was running on fumes. I had to get to a service station and quick! So I pulled into Will's Pit stop which is on the way back to Provo and only got a gallon of gas. Prices are rising now that we're closer to the summer. I just needed to get to the next, more reasonably priced, station. As I pulled onto the street a car rounded the corner and honked up a storm at me. As far as I could tell he was the one speeding. Geez. So, I'm continuing my drive home and all of a sudden this big SUV slows to the speed of a small turtle and pulls into a doctors office without even signalling. ARRRGH! I slammed my breaks and everything that I had just dumped out of my bag (in the search for my phone) went flying down to the floor of the passenger side. Now that's just annoying. By the time I got to my street I decided that this was just a bad day. I looked at the clock to calculate what I was going to do with my afternoon. I realized it had only been about 15 minutes since I left work. Thus, I decided that it was only a bad 15 minutes and that the rest of my day was going to be awesome. It was. :)

Where the heart is

They say that home is where the heart is. Well my heart is physically in California right now. Literally, I'm at home with my fam and celebrating my bridal shower tomorrow. I love the people that live here so yes, my heart is here. However, I've also built a home in Provo Utah where my school friends reside, where many of my family members reside, and where my dearest Scott resides. Can I call him that...is it too mushy to call him dearest publicly like this? Well...he is my dearest. I am happy to share the love in my heart and divide it so I can call many places home :) I heard once from a Sunday school teacher that love is the only thing that multiplies by division.

Speaking of home: I brought a shutter guy into the home Scott and I will be living in to measure the windows and give us a quote for shutters. My parents own the place and we're taking care of maintenance and upgrading the place a bit before they put it on the market as a vacation rental. In the meantime we get to live in a quality community and get way more bang for our buck because we are paying rent to the best landlords money can buy. So, back to the shudders. Dan the blinds man came by and quoted a reasonable price and my mom put money down on the shudders that same day. Then Dan sent an official measuring guy my way. He gave me a call and set up an appointment for the following Thursday. Then I got a call from him asking me if we could reschedule for Tuesday. I had Scott call him and as it turned out, he didn't even come down to Provo on Tuesday at all. So, I thought we were still on for Thursday. Our man Cameron said he'd call after Tuesday and oh surprise surprise he never did. Needless to say when come Thursday I was waiting at the house and didn't see the guy I was pretty ticked. I called Dan and informed him that Cameron rescheduled not once but two times and I wasn't cool with the lack of communication he gave. Mainly that he said he'd call and oh...didn't. Boo I say. I requested that, whether or not Cameron decided to show at our new appointment the following Tuesday, I pretty much demanded that Dan be there to make sure everything went according to plan. Takin. Care. Of business.

In other news I'm working at The Little Gym of Orem which is a total blast. The kids I teach are awesome and I've been teaching there since January. I teach the 3-4 year old classes and these little gems make me smile every day. Sometimes I get done teaching a class and suddenly realize how exhausting it is to chase after 12 3 and 4 year olds for an hour. But then I realize how rewarding it was to see them accomplish something like walking on the high beam by themselves or using the springboard to do an awesome jump forward roll or doing a tummy roll around the beam. They wow me every day and I can tell that they wow themselves because I constantly hear them say "I did it!" with surprise and excitement. I love it.

I'm only taking one class this term (which was the best idea I ever had), studying for the GRE, and having fun playing house with Scott as we get the place ready for August when we finally share our home together.

Game Day 9/4/10

Today is a game day in Provo! I woke up at 8:30 to the sound of text messages. There was a girl who said a week ago that she wanted my contract well, she's been dragging her feet and she said she'd give herself until 9 this morning to make a decision. I get the texts at 8:45 annnnd it was a no. I was thinking arrrrgh! what does she have to lose? Nothing! Park Plaza is where her brother lives even annnnd it would save my life. By life I mean it would save me $1000. Sadly, she chose to stay where she is at. boooo I say to that.

I got dressed for a run to hit campus and look at the wilk board. I wanted to see if girls had picked up my posts...and they had! I figured they would just take my number and leave it there but they didn't. I ran back to campus plaza to make more cards. On my way back I decided to stop by Park Plaza to see if I could talk to my roomies there. I had this crazy thought that maybe, just maybe, since they were already living in a two person room they might be willing to pay the two person price and have management take the bunk out...just in case I couldn't sell my contract. It was just a thought. Keep in mind that I'm trying every angle I can think of to sell this thing. I'm about two days away from printing up a bunch of flyers and putting them in all the women's restrooms on campus. How's that for desperation? There are MANY bathrooms on that campus. Well, the roomies weren't there so I left a note. I decided that my situation totally sucketh. What could be worse than paying $1000 for something you're not even using???

So, I start freaking out. I text the girl that was interested in said girl's contract to try and convince her to buy mine. She didn't want it. I say...why not? yargh. Well, I went back to my apartment eventually to make those other posts for the wilk board. I changed into my swimsuit and decided that after running a few errands I would hit 7 Peaks for some fun. I'm trying to squeeze every penny out of that thing. It's more than paid for itself by now but I'm sure the gross earnings of that water park are large large large. So, I hit the bank and the grocery store. I said a prayer in my car aloud asking God to help me figure out what to do with all my stresses. Right now, mainly the sale of my contract. I continue to run my errands and not more than 10 minutes after that prayer, I get a call about my apartment. God really does hear our prayers. Not that I'm saying he always makes it all right or answers right away but, he is mindful of us. I could attribute this to "chance" or "luck" or "coincidence" but, I prefer to believe that God's hand is always in my life and why?? because he loves me. Because I am his daughter. He and my Heavenly Mother created me. If you're not familiar with this terminology, I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- which means I'm Mormon...so these terms might sound a bit silly but, it makes sense to me and I like it. Give it a try. Try on that thought. You have heavenly parents who gave you life on Earth along with all the joys and trials because they love you. Let that thought marinate in your mind. You might like it too. :)

Thursday 5/13/10

Rehearsal with The Sixteen (which actually is comprised of 18 singers tee hee)

The Prime Mer.  (I'm going to call it that because it sounds cool.)

Yea, that is the OLDEST THING ON EARTH...it's a piece of an asteroid.  awesome. 4.5 billion freaking years old.

Hey look ma, I'm on two sides of the world at once!

Scott and I are on opposite sides of the world.  I can feel his love on the other side of the world!!! (aka, I could still hug him across the prime mer! haha!)

Today began with another round of rehearsals.  We met all together to chat about our plans as a group for the day then divided to conquer our music for Oxford.  Dr. Staheli asked which groups thought their music was easy enough to just go with the roll out keyboards for the day.  For some reason, we all needed to rehearse at the same time today and couldn't do the come early stay late thing.  Nobody was volunteering so I raised my hand.  Based on our rehearsal the previous day, I thought we had a pretty decent grip on the music.  I hadn't realized that our rehearsal leader didn't feel the same nor did the other members of our group.  Oops.  Well we rehearsed with that and I think it made us stronger in the end.  It forced us to find and fix our problem spots. Right after rehearsal we dashed to the South Kensington tube station and then to the boat station where we boarded a little day cruiser and headed for Greenwich.  I have no idea why we didn't just go to the tube station right across the way from the boat loading area.  Whatever!  Scott and I napped on the boat ride naturally.  I remember being the flag girl on my family's boat when we went out to water ski and falling asleep on the boat all the time.  mmm sweet memories. As soon as we arrived Scott and I found an information center where they were answering questions and selling maps.  I asked the lady behind the counter if they had free maps.  She smiled this sassy smile, as if she was saying good job.  Way to figure out that you don't need to pay us 5 pounds for information and maps.  Our first stop was, of course, the Prime Meridian.  Is that the kind of thing you capitalize?  Is it a proper noun?  Anyway, we walked through this museum about space and astronomy.  I got really excited about Newton's "Principia Mathmatica", his book about physics and astronomy.  It was said to be bound with leather from his desk chair.  Being that I studied physics this last semester, I Got pretty excited about this book!  

gtttttttt555555555jjjjjjjj <---this is Scotts Contribution to my blog entry...he typed this with his nose trying to get in my way and obstruct my view.  Silly boy.  

Anywho, we walked through this lovely garden at the base of the prime meridian observatory and finally reached the prime meridian!!!  I think we accidentally entered the back way because the prime meridian we took pictures of vs. the prime meridian our friends took pictures of were very different!  Well, we took some pictures standing on opposite sides of the world...yada yada bla bla bla.  They are pretty cool I guess.  I think I was more excited about finding this back entrance!  It had the most beautiful view of Greenwich and the Royal Naval College.  I enjoyed learning about the connections between astronomy, time, and sailing.  There were also a surprising number of connections between what I learned there and what I have learned in the recent past.  When I was with Scott's mom, Bonnie, during General Conference, we went to replace Scott's watch battery.  There was a certificate on the wall saying something about horology which is the study of time.  As you can imagine, there is a school of horology there in Greenwich and there was a display of some of the oldest maritime clocks in the world.  In fact, this maritime clock collection is considered to be the finest and most expansive.  Oh boy!  Another interesting bit is that apparently if someone was trying to calculate longitude they were jokingly said to be insane.  Words to refer to the mentally ill actually became something like this "look at him, he's over there trying to find longitudes again".  In a really well known painting depicting Bedlam by Hogarth, there is a man in the background who is drawing latitudes and longitudes on the wall.  This ties not only to what I learned in abnormal psychology class but also into the text of a song that the BYU Singers performed last semester called "I Love My Love".  The opening line talks about a lover in Bedlam which was, historically,  an institution for the insane.  Thank you education. I feel so intelligent when I make connections like this!

Oh my lucky stars, today I got to hear The Sixteen rehearse and then perform.  It was such a unique opportunity to have their director, Harry Christophers, rehearsing them and then taking the time to chat with us about the group's history and the repertoir for that evenings concerts.  Blessed day.  I think it finally hit me today that these singers are 1: incredibly well trained and 2: incredible sight readers.  It's always interesting to me to see how a conductor puts his program together and Mr. Christophers took the time to explain that to us.  In 2000, the group began a sort of musical pilgrimage back to English roots.  Perfect for what we are studying!!!  We were delighted to hear the works of Byrd, Tallis, and Shepherd.  We've mostly looked at Byrd and Tallis and I felt well prepared to hear lot's of polyphony.  I loved hearing polyphonic music move the way it did.  There was such a beautiful shape to every line.  The typical shape for a musical line, if you were to draw it out, would be an arch.  I felt like each of their arches had so much variety!  Thank you Sixteen!  Their pitch was not as spot on as the Tallis scholars but they sure blended in an incredible way! Scott was feeling like the bass/ bari sound was a bit overwhelming at times but, my argument was that was what allowed the sopranos to sing so freely.  I could have cut the concert a smidge shorter because it is very difficult to remain focused after so much polyphony. :)

At the end of the concert we headed back for London with Emily, Steve, Jeff, Nathan, Sister Hall, and a member of The Sixteen who is also a member of the church.  Awesome!  This train from Greenwich was super cool.  There was a part where we were crossing over a water way leading to the Thames which reminded me of Oakland for some strange reason.  Then I remembered...silly Michelle, you're in London.

5/12/10 Wednesday

Wednesday morning we had a rehearsal for our weekend at Oxford.  We met in the chapel and decided who would be using the roll out keyboards and who would be using the real pianos.  Like I've said before, the building coordinators are very particular about who gets to use what pianos and what rooms and when.  Luckily we were able to split our entire class in half so that three groups would come early and rehearse on the pianos and three groups would stay late to rehearse.  My group met early and what an exciting rehearsal that it was!  Our parts are a bit unbalanced.  I am the only alto and Chris Buttars is the only tenor which doesn't bother me one bit but it sure makes for a challenge when we are singing a piece with two choirs.  We had fun reading over our music and I especially had fun really testing my sight reading skills.  I must say I was rather proud of myself for holding my own through that rehearsal.  

Our next stop was the Science Museum which is just right down the street from the chapel.  We spent about three hours there and had a total blast!!! The first exhibit was experienced was about early household appliances such as the record player and it's evolution to the cd player, the vacuum, the toilet, power tools, the coffee maker, the clothes iron, central heating, and home security.  My favorite part was the home security interactive stuff.  We were challenged to get through some light sensors without setting off the alarm.  I tried and totally failed.  Scott tried and failed.  I tried a second time and I just got down on the floor and scooted along army style.  muahaha.  Scott managed to make it happen his second try also.  The next exhibit we saw was this sort of exploratorium.  There were just a bunch of random things to touch and set up and experiment with.  There was an ice block that you could pour water over and use a special magnifying glass to see the ice crystals formed.  There was an infared camera that showed us our body heat and I discovered that my nose is rather cold.  Scott and I decided it might be fun to attend a special presentation on bubbles and it was a blast.  There were small children bouncing all over the place just giddy with excitement about these bubbles.  Interestingly, they call liquid soap "washing up liquid" and this is across the board!  In the grocery stores, in conversation, and in bubble presentations.  I also really enjoyed this sound box head resonation demonstration.  They had some speakers in a sound box with a metal rod attached.  There were straws that you could put over the rod and bite onto.  You could not hear the music (which was R&B by the way) from the speakers until you bit down and this demonstrates how your head can resonate sound as clearly as if you had ear buds in. So, picture this: me, crouched over this box that was clearly made for the height of an average 9 year old, dancing around to the music in my head.  Fan-tastic.

The museum closed and we headed back to our flats to grab a quick bite to eat and deposit some groceries we just purchased.  We headed out to get rush tickets for Les Mis but didn't make it in time.  I was totally bummed out.  We had just barely missed the start of the show and tickets would have been discounted in a big way.  I sort of moped for a minute while Scott suggested all the different things we could do to entertain ourselves.  He had some good ideas.  My favorite was "let's jump over stuff" or "let's go pan handle and try to make some money".  We looked for some instruments to play but couldn't find anything so, we decided to go with the jump over stuff option.  More like, I watched Scott jump over stuff.  I was nervous I would hurt myself.  Eventually I gave it a go and found that I'm a pretty good jumper. :)  We happened upon an amazing looking cafe and popped in for some dessert.  We saw some decent prices and decided to have a bite.  We went in and took a seat only to find that the prices were twice as expensive to dine in! Ridiculous. So, we ordered and took it out to the fountain around the corner and ate it right there.  I laughed at all the tourists walking by taking pictures of this random fountain as if it was important to them.  Pssssh.  Scott and I plopped right on there and chowed down.  Eventually we got on a bus in search of adventure.  Scott said, we'll just get off when we see something fun to do.  Before we had even reached the next stop we found the new Robin Hood movie was playing. It was fun to watch this movie in England, where the legend took place!  I actually found a few connections to what I've experienced in my travels.  There are parts of the movie that take place in places we have visited and there are people we've studied about in culture class.  It was neat.  BYU Singers performed a song called "When Allen-a-Dale Went a Hunting" which is all about Robin Hood and his buddies.  Look at my learning experience coming full circle!

Tuesday 5/11/10

T is for Tuesday and Tallis!  Today’s class was all about Palestrina and Byrd.  We looked at and listened to Byrd’s “Mass for 5 Voices” and Palestrina’s “Pope Marcellus Mass”.  We made comparison, in particular, of each composers Kyrie.  A student made the assessment that she feels like she’s swimming when she listens to Palestrina.  This is understandable because he uses points of imitation with lot’s of melisma.  At first this was interpreted to mean that she gets lost in the music and can’t follow it or that it gets real old real fast such that she drowns.  She didn’t actually really explain her feelings but, based on the comments of the students who followed her, I gathered that they interpreted her comment to mean that she finds Byrd more enjoyable because his Kyrie was more melodic, short, and simple.  Eventually people began sticking up for Palestrina.  He was, after all, the one who made it into the history books.  Most of us have probably at least heard of the Pope Marceullus Mass, if not listened to it.  

In the afternoon we went with Logan and Jessica to the British Military Museum.  Logan picked up a children’s interactive activity backpack.  He was pretty enthused about using his spy gear to go through the museum.  The first display felt more like a huge advertisement for this children’s book called “Billy The Kid” about the authors experience growing up as a little boy during WWII.  I found it interesting to see the war from a British child’s perspective.  Next, went through England’s war history from ancient times until today.  There were suits of armor, old flags, so many wars.maps, and the classic red coats!  There was so much to see and England has been through many many wars.  It was surprising to stop and think about how many countries England attempted and many times successfully controlled or at the very least, influenced.  After we were done there we headed off on an adventure to find some dinner before the Tallis Scholars concert in Cadogan Hall.  We boarded a bus and decided that we’d get off wherever looked yummy.  We found a little cafe and sat down to a nice fresh meal.  Scott ordered for me which is always an adventure.  He likes to do that and I’m happy to indulge him.  He typically orders things for me that I wouldn’t think to order for myself. He got me this strange curry chicken dish.  It was served cold.  WTC?  A savory crepe cold was just strange.  Well, it was ok :)  My favorite part of the meal was dessert! We got a crepe with chocolate, bananas, toffee, and clotted cream and swiss chocolate ice cream.  All four of us split this scrumptious dessert and the cost.  We attacked that thing like ravenous bunny rabbits. (you were expecting me to say wolves weren’t you.  muahaha)  Before we knew it we had 5 minutes to be at the concert hall and in our seats so we made a run for the bus and then a run for the concert hall after we finally got off the bus two stops in the wrong direction.  I was sweating by the time we got in our seats and we were there just in time! Boom baby!

This concert featured the works of Palistrina and an incredibly talented group of musicians.  I was most impressed by their intonation and bright free sound.  This music was obviously well rehearsed and yet the singers did not look disinterested in their work.  I was a little distracted by what I felt might have been an attempt to connect with the audience.  Each of the performers made eye contact with different sections of the audience throughout the performance.  To me it was as if they were distracted and looking away from the conductor but, because all of them did it I’m assuming it was intentional.  The music was beautiful and precise like nothing I’ve ever heard before but I felt that it lacked expression. A truly emotionally penetrating performance will captivate my attention and by the end of the set I will be compelled to stand and clap.  I did not have this experience at the end of this concert.  I will say that perhaps it is because the nature of the music that was being featured wasn’t necessarily meant to make a statement but more to create an environment for worship. 

After the concert we came back to the flats and just relaxed, blogged, and hung out with our posse.  Nothing too exciting for a tuesday night.

cheers everyone!