Finals...finally

It's been awhile since I've posted, but I just had to get through that whirlwind known as the end of the year. The last day of classes was Thursday and it seems like I had some sort of paper or project or presentation due every day leading up to it. At the beginning of the year I made a Semester-long to-do list and it was nice to be able to cross them off. Now we're in finals week. I think this is probably my favorite week of the semester. Most people think that finals would be the worst, but the way it works out in college is that I may have one or two things to do every day, but then the rest of the day is totally free. Me and all my friends are pretty much just spending this time hanging out before summer comes and we all go back home. I'm not too worried about the finals I have. None of them seem too hard, and some of them I just have to show up and fill out a class evaluation.

Since I last posted I had my Junior Recital. In the music department you have to give a 15-20 minute recital your Junior year and then at least a 45 minute one your Senior year. I think I mentioned before how I heard an art major talking about her art show by saying that it was cool to show off her homework, what she was up til midnight most nights doing. These recitals are sort of the same thing. I guess I should say that it went really well. I was mostly just glad to get it over with so I can start thinking about the Senior recital.

With the weather finally turning nice around here it's amazing to see everyone coming out of their dorm rooms like bears coming out of hibernation. The window in my room faces out on a lawn between three residence halls and there are constantly people out there throwing balls around, playing cornhole, or just relaxing in the sun. And there's always tennis going on these days. And especially this last week all of the trees and shrubs and flowers are coming into bloom at once. It sounds dumb, but when I visited as a senior in HS the campus was part of the reason I really wanted to go here.

But on to more manly things...I played Tennis Ball Golf for the first time the other day. It's pretty much just golf with a tennis ball and trees instead of holes. I have always seen other people play but never gotten the chance to myself. Needless to say I wasn't very good. I did win one hole and it even went over the Riley Creek. I think I was the only one in the group who didn't go into the creek. I've also been getting out to play Ultimate Frisbee more and more these last couple weeks. Usually I have choir when it's going on, but that's all ending now. I really appreciate that the hard-core Ultimate guys that play three or four days a week are welcoming enough to let people with no talent to get into the game. I even scored a goal the other day (mostly on accident, but who's keeping track?).

I think that's it for now. Maybe I'll keep you all updated on all the exciting things I get to do this week in all my free time. Until then, peace out.

Finally Spring

So it's been awhile, but that just means there is more to update on. This past weekend was probably the best weekend of my junior year so far. First of all the weather is finally getting nice and seems like it is going to stay that way. I had planned for Saturday to be my homework day, but when my Google weather alerts said that it was sunny and 57 degrees out I decided against that. But first, Friday: Friday night MCB held an open mic night. It wasn't very well attended, but those who were there had a really good time. It didn't look like there was going to be many acts, so I quick wrote a poem to read and it went over really well. Then I got to sing the song "Bubbly" with one of my friends.

After open mic night, we all decided to head out to Denny's where I officially became a Lumberjack. They have a breakfast platter there that includes: two pancakes, two eggs, two pieces of bacon, two sausage links, a pile of hashbrowns, and a slab of ham. Once you eat it all, you get to join the Lumberjack club. The meal in itself wasn't that exciting just because I tried to trick my stomach by eating really fast so I was done in under 10 minutes. But the fact that we had a group of over 25 people all being really loud and pretty much taking over the restaurant was so much fun. I thought the manager would keep coming out to tell us to be quiet, but he actually kept encouraging us. He even made us do the Beaver Call at one point.

I came back and took some tums and I slept fine all night. Like I said, Saturday was supposed to be my homework day, but that didn't turn out so well. It was such a nice day that I just decided to go walk around campus and see what I could find to do. I met up with some friends in the student union and we decided to check out the Nature Preserve. It is a little over a mile hike out to the preserve, but our whole group was all about getting outside to enjoy the sun no matter the walk. At one point we got on the trail and I realized that there was about an inch of mud/water covering the path. I thought I would turn around to see my three friends turning around to go back, but I turned around and they were all rolling up there pant legs ready to stick with it. It was probably the most fun, random Saturday afternoon I've ever spent. We got back and we all had mud splattered up and down our backs. Awesome.

That night, my roommate and my other friend and I took a campus tour to every floor on campus just to see who we could hang out with. We got a lot of free food, and some really good company from people we normally wouldn't hang out with. Another great activity.

This morning I got to go hear quite a few of my friends lead worship at a local church with Shining Through, the music ministry on campus. It is the first time I've ever gotten to hear them do their entire program and it was relaly good. I used to think that there was a lot of tension between Shining Through and Camerata because we're both about music and worship, but more and more I realize that there's is a completely different setting and they do it really well. I was really touched by their sincerity and joy they had just for worshipping God.

This afternoon were two Senior recitals of two of my friends. They were both really good and it just got me really excited next year for my hour to shine. This next Sunday, though, is the Junior recital. I'm pretty excited about that, but it's considerably less time/work than a Senior recital. It will be good just to have this over with. That's all I can think of for the best weekend ever. Here's to many more.

A long, hard week...

So I never got around to filling everyone in on how Chicago was. Let me sum up: pretty sweet, but pretty cold at the same time. My friend Derick and I went the first day to the Art Institute and walked about the museum for about 2 hours. It was a lot of art. Then that night the group went to see Wicked. It was really, really good, but with all the hype it's gotten I kind of expected it to be really, really, really good. I wasn't disappointed at all, I just wasn't blown away as much as I thought I would be. That was pretty much my experience in Chicago. The rest of tour went really well, and I could definitely tell by the end that we had all grown closer together. Someone asked me this week if there was any drama or any bickering throughout the tour and I couldn't think of a single thing that happened. It was all just a really good experience.

But, the only thing I felt cheated on was my ability to have at least a day or two to completely relax which made this week sort of hectic. First of all, I was completely worn out by tour, and added on to that I had a couple major things due this past week. I ended up living out of my suitcase the whole week because I didn't feel like/couldn't find the time to do laundry. Then there was a streak of about three days where I hadn't showered because I hadn't had time to do anything active. In the end, it was a rough week for me and everyone who had to be around me for extended periods of time. But, I got the paper done at 2:30 Thursday morning, and the rest of the week was smooth sailing through the weekend. My roommate and I did some major laundry, cleaning, organizing of the room and I was finally able to feel like my life wasn't a mess by Saturday afternoon.

The weekend was probably one of the best I've had in awhile. I don't have anything major coming up this week, so I got to hang out with some great friends and not have the threat of papers looming over me. Friday night we had Live Band Karaoke on campus. I don't do Karaoke, but it was a lot of fun to watch everyone else. Then Saturday night a bunch of us went to see the new Dr. Seuss movie. I haven't laughed that hard at a movie in a long time. It had everything I'd ever want in 2 hours of cinema. I even found myself almost wanted to cry at the end even though it was a movie about a talking elephant. If you get nothing else from this post, then hear this: you should go see "Horton Hears a Who".

We had our Camerata home concert this afternoon. Beforehand all the seniors went around and got a chance to talk about what being in Camerata meant to them. I had never really thought about how much Camerata means to people. But when I think about it, next year when I'm in the senior position I will probably be the one nearly in tears trying to articulate how honored I felt to be part of such a great group. The concert went well. My parents and my grandma came down and it was good to be able to sing for people I knew and show them what I did with my spring break. If not that, then it was good to get my mom's Rice Krispie Squares she made for me. Any chance to get home cooking is always a great time when you're in college.

That's all for now. Peace.

More tour updates...

I almost forgot to post these last couple entries. I'm sure you're anxious to hear about Pittsburgh:

Wednesday March 5, 2008

We sang at my church in Pittsburgh today. I was sort of nervous at first just because I felt weird bringing 40 people through the church on a Wednesday afternoon and I figured that most of the other members of the choir would be uninterested in seeing the church. But, when we got there there was this great moment where I was trying to herd everyone into the sanctuary and at first they just stood in the doorway in awe of how beautiful it was. I assured them that it was ok to go in, and they all seemed like they were at least mildly interested in seeing the stained glass, or the famous organ, or the soaring architecture. We only had time to sing two songs, but it was just for the 4 or 5 staff members who were around. I think they were really impressed. It was cool to be able to show them a whole other side of me that I didn’t really get to express while I was there. This was the last trip I have planned out already to be back in Pittsburgh. Every time it is harder to leave, but I keep finding my way back somehow.
The rest of Pittsburgh was pretty cool just because I got to tell other people a little bit more about what my last semester was like. I didn’t really understand what it was about until I got there, so I think the tour of the Pittsburgh Project and the city really helped give people a better idea of what I did.
I almost forgot to talk about the concert we did in Scottdale, PA. It was my first concert being completely out of my music. I think that because of that, I was able to worship even more freely. That coupled with the fact that we are getting really good as a choir really provided for some great moments. There was one in particular where we finished a song and I could feel everyone in the room holding their breath for a good 8 seconds. And then another where we finished a song and there was a barely audible “wow” from the back row. It’s moments like those that really make the trip what it was meant to be.



Thursday March 6, 2008

Another long day. This was one of the two days on tour where we had three concerts. Added onto that, we had to be on the bus at 6 in the morning. I don’t usually find it that easy to sleep on the bus, but at 6 in the morning I think I could’ve slept anywhere. I actually curled up in my two seats as comfortably as I could manage. I fell asleep in Wooster, OH and woke up around VanWert.
Our first concert was at a Christian School in Goshen, IN. I really like singing for high school kids because there is such a wide spectrum of reactions. There are the kids who look completely bored, then at the other end of the spectrum are the music kids who either look completely awed or like they think they could do a better job. I also think I like singing for this age just because it’s not something they’re used to. I have definitely gained an appreciation for “higher” forms of music by being in this group, and I think it is neat to think that maybe some of the kids might get at least a little bit of that same appreciation in the half hour we’re there.
The second place we sang was the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. The only real notable thing about the performance was the fact that the chapel where we sang was really live acoustically. After that we drove back to a church in Goshen. The other great part of tour is getting to try all the different church meals. This church ranks up there with a great soup dinner. I think it was just what I needed after too much junk food, and pizza, and greasy fast food. Before the concerts we always have devotions led by choir members, and I led last nights devotion. I told a story about an experience I had with a child who had ADHD and how a lot of times we were just like this boy. At least for me, it seems like sometimes I have a hundred things going on inside my mind, but God just wants us to “be still and know that [He] is God” (Ps. 46:10). When I looked it up, I found that the Hebrew word for “be still” can also be translated as “become weak” or “let go”. God wants us to “become weak” and “let go” of the things of the world that we hold on to so tightly and worry about so much. I thought it went well. At least it helped me to focus on the music and worship rather than on what the audience might be thinking.
Tomorrow’s Chicago. It is my first trip to the windy city and I’m pretty excited. Woot!

Tour

I finally found some WiFi connection, so here are a few updates I wrote so far:

Sunday March 2, 2008

We set off for Pennsylvania, Chicago and everything in between yesterday. The trip started off looking like it might be crazy when the bus was 20 minutes late, but apparently he just got stuck behind a train somewhere. But we got on and all settled in. I was surprised to find that I had a set of seats to myself. I guess in my head I was picturing hours on end in a bus with little to no space crammed up against the window while one of my choir mates drooled through a nap on my shoulder. Not the case. Besides the fact that it is a bus, I’m pretty much living in luxury. I started out in the back of the bus, but decided that the back-of-the-bus crew was a little much for me who just wanted to do a lot of reading throughout the trip. But, by the end of the day I had found some empty seats up toward the front where it is a little more docile.
Enough about the stupid bus. We didn’t sing the first day. We drove for about 2 to 3 hours and arrived in Millersburg. All we did there was get hooked up with our host families and head off for the night. I ended up staying with my roommate Derick at the house of someone who actually goes to Bluffton. They fed us brownies and ice cream and we sat around and talked for awhile. Like I said before I love awkward host family conversation. It’s not always awkward, but it is always the same thing. I think it’s just nice to have people so interested in me…even if they are just trying to fill the silence.
I would say our first concert went really well. We didn’t do the whole program because it was part of a church service, but we did a good portion. It is hard for me because I have only really been with the music for half a semester whereas everyone else has almost everything memorized. The director says we can take our music up with us if we need it, but there was one time when I looked up and realized I was the only one with my folder. From now on, I will probably just fake when I don’t know as best I can.
We did another concert at the end of the day. This was our first full concert. Once again I thought it went well, but a lot of times I apparently can’t tell when we’re doing poorly. If nothing else, I’m having fun. I actually really enjoy doing these concerts. It’s kind of a rush. But then again, it is still early in the week.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

We’re at our first mall. When people talk about tours in the past, they always joke about how we always find ourselves with free time so we end up going to a mall to waste time. This is that time. We’re actually in Pittsburgh right now, which is semi-exciting simply because I kind of know where we are and can tell people fun facts. I think I was actually at this mall at one point last semester. Yesterday was a really busy day. We did three programs total, but only one of them was the full concert. We sang at a Christian School, a Retirement Home, and then a Church in the evening. My first though was “Retirement home? How lame.” But it turned out that they were our most appreciative audience. The were a far cry from the Christian School kids who were forced to come listen to us. To be fair, they were pretty attentive, but the elderly audience had such joy in their faces while we sang.
By the time the evening concert came around I could already tell that we were really starting to get better as a choir. They always talk about how by the end of tour the choir sounds really good. Dr. Suderman was saying before we left that he was really excited about where we were then and where he thought we could be by the end of tour. Now that I’m getting better at having the music memorized I am starting to actually get into the meaning of the songs. One of my favorite songs we sing is in a Latin chant style and the translation says something like “Where love and charity are, God is. There is such immense joy, forever and for all time. Alleluia, God is here.” One of the things I really appreciate about Camerata is the fact that we do try to create worship with our music and portray the meaning and depth behind the songs. There are some moments in our program that are absolutely beautiful every single time we sing them. There are others that are truly powerful. And then there are even others that are just fun. I felt like such a dork when I said before that I really enjoy doing these concerts, but each one is a great worshipful experience.
We sing tomorrow briefly at the church where I interned last semester. I’m excited to see everyone again, even if it is for a short amount of time. Plus, I never really got to show them the “choir” side of my personality. Well, half and hour left in the mall. I’ll probably just read the book I bought so I don’t do any more damage to my wallet.


Hopefully more to come...

And Now Introducing...Mr. Junior Chairperson

I have no idea where this semester went. We're already in mid-term season and spring break is next week. I had meant to write about Spiritual Life Week which was last week. It was probably the best one that I have been here for so far. We had Tony Campolo speak on campus all week long. Out of the three days that he was here, I heard him speak 5 times. He just has such great stories and insights to share. I think one of the things that I was most impressed by about him was how confident he was about all of his beliefs and opinions. At one of the speaking events he went through a bunch of different "hot button" issues like the war and gay marriage and everything in between and gave his insights in what it means to respond to those issues from a Christian perspective. His big thing was that he wanted to be known as a "red letter Christian", someone who takes the words of Jesus seriously and views their entire lives in lights of those words. Even though I was somewhat skeptical about some of his ideas for how we should react or what we should do in these situations, just the fact that everything he said seemed to have been contemplated, weighed, and thoroughly thought out really gave him a lot of credibility in my mind. That's the kind of person I want to be: intentional. I want to be intentional about what I think and believe instead of just letting other people impose their thoughts on me.


Other exciting news: I was elected as Junior Chairperson for the May Day Celebration this year. I am not sure exactly what all that entails at this point, but I am pretty pumped just because I don't think I have ever really won anything by election. From what I do understand, I think I just have to look nice, read off some stuff before the dance, and be at the front of the line when people are walking from place to place. I'm not exactly sure why I'm excited about this. Maybe it's just because I love May Day so much...well, I do now that I'm not wearing crazy leiderhosen and prancing around.

That's all for now. I am supposed to be updating next week througout Camerata's spring break tour, but I may not have access to a computer until I get back. Stay tuned.

Volvo's are Dumb

I want to update on my past weekend before I get around to talking about this week. As I mentioned before, this past weekend I spent in Pittsburgh at what was called the Jubilee Conference. Basically it was three days of worship, large group seminars, smaller group workshops, and Christian exhibitions. I was really excited to be back in Pittsburgh and get to see my church family. But, more than that, I was also really anxious to just be able to get away from everything else going on in my life recenter myself. I realized last week that I just haven't really been worshipping lately. For the class Christian Worship, we have to attend various worship service traditions so for awhile now I have been going to worship but spending the entire time trying to analyze what was happening. Added onto that is the fact that I am working in the sound booth for the chapel services offered here every Thursday. I love these services, but it is really hard to simply worship when I'm trying to make sure the violin can be heard or that the awful buzzing noise is taken care of. So, I was really excited for this past weekend to just be able to be open myself up once again to the presence of God through worship.

I definitely think this happened, but it wasn't until Saturday night. I spent most of Friday worrying about getting there, finding my host family's home, trying to find food, getting lost in downtown, being angry about how much I had to spend on parking, and on and on. At first it seemed like the weekend was just going to be another endless cycle of worries getting in the way. But Saturday came, I found the place without getting lost, I felt ok about paying $10 for parking because I'd be there all day, and I knew a little better what was actually going on. Saturday night during the evening group worship session I finally felt the presence of God again. As someone planning to go into ministry, I know that this will be a constant battle I will have to fight. I think it's good that I am realizing the need to make sure I find time to worship without distraction now instead of getting to my first year in a job somewhere and burning out.

Besides this, the speakers for the weekend were pretty good. The lady who wrote a book called "Finding God Beyond Harvard" read part of a chapter during her message and I was completely blown away by the experience she described. They had already sold out of the book at the book table, but it's definitely on my list to check out. The other speakers included Chuck Colson (one of the guys sent to jail for Watergate who had a radical conversion experience and completely turned his life around) and Donald Miller. These two were a really interesting contrast, one being more the older generation, the other being more the postmodern-searching generation. Both were really inspiring. The only "sound bite" I can really remember from either of them is that Donald Miller talked about how our lives are like stories and we should evaluate what goal the main character of our stories is fighting for. Stories about overcoming obstacles to get that Volvo don't really do much for the reader because that's dumb. We should be living heroic lives that have real goals ahead of them. Our lives should be page-turners. I'm sure he said it all much more eloquently than I ever could within the confines of this blog.

I did get to spend some time with my church family. It's always good to see all the kids and the adults I spent the entire last semester growing to love. It hurts to leave every time, but for some reason I keep finding excuses to go back. Maybe my work there, in some way, isn't finished.

I'm going to go try to figure out something to live for besides the Volvo...because that makes for a pretty dumb story.