Run, Katie, Run!

I Don't Have a Fish Anymore

2012-02-07T09:50:00.003-06:00

Yesterday was a pretty sad day.

As some of you might know, Fred and George had been experiencing some weird, undiagnosable health-problems. He seemed to have trouble breathing. When it happened, I would put him in a tiny bowl with clean water and he would feel better again. Things seemed to be going okay after that.

Yesterday before my trumpet lesson I went to my room to check on him. I had just moved him back into his big bowl the night before. He was swimming around happily, and I considered feeding him, but I decided to wait until after 3:00, like he's used to.

I had a good trumpet lesson and then took a walk around campus since it was such a pretty day. When I got home I sat down at my computer to check my email. When I looked at Fred and George to see if he was hungry...he just...didn't look very hungry. Because he wasn't really alive anymore.

How can that happen so suddenly?

I wanted to bury him outside like my parents used to do with my goldfish, but our RA told us to put him in a little baggie and throw him in the trash room. Whatever. Since his burial was so unceremonious, I decided to create a tribute video to honor his memory.

Note: I think I got the date wrong for his birth. Granted, I don't know exactly how old he was because I adopted him from a friend who received him as a gift. But I'm pretty sure he was born in 2010, not 2009. Whatever.

Today we honor a fallen warrior. He was a very good friend to me, and I'll miss him very much. I know it's weird to get this upset over a fish, but he was like a little ray of sunshine when other things were going wrong. He made me feel like a responsible pet owner, like an adult.

Maybe I'll get another fishie someday. But it'll be awhile. You can't just replace someone like Fred and George.

The Potato Masher

2012-01-04T22:11:00.003-06:00

High Time that I made a blog post in tribute to the world's most interesting looking kitchen utensil.

Step aside, sporks. The potato masher is all over you.

Without knowing what it is, one might have absolutely no idea what it could possibly be used for. But it can really only serve the one purpose, and oh what a noble purpose that is. Mashed Potatos are a tasty treat. Time consuming preparation, low serving yield, impossible mess, carbs and butter...INFINITE GOODNESS.

The patato masher waits in the drawer (a word I never understood and still think should be spelled "droor") patiently for its moment of glory. It does what no mere fork can do, creating the perfect consistency of smooth yet substantial golden-white fluff. It is the hero at the end of a long battle with a patato peeler and a pot of boiling water.

It shines strong in its special, unique moment. Than it is washed reluctantly and put away to wait for weeks and weeks until its next chance of exercise.

God bless you, Patato Masher--a true American!

Once a Riverside Kid...

2011-09-05T01:02:00.008-05:00

Well. I have successfully completed my summer as a counselor at Riverside. I feel as if I've grown a lot through the whole process. I feel like a completely different person coming into my second year of college.

But really, have I grown up THAT much?

Riverside Week 3

2011-06-26T15:26:00.003-05:00

Hi all!

I've been living at Riverside Lutheran Bible Camp for a month.

Living at a Bible Camp is a very cleansing, very uplifting experience.

Especially since I'm in constant community with other young believers. I'm learning a lot. A lot about myself. At first I was kind of scared to be here, but God is a god of boldness, and he's been gradually shaking my fears away. I'm becoming more confident about why I'm here and who I am and how I fit into God's awesome family.

Week One I was at Mason City Day Camp. It was off the hook. Aside from the fact that it was emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausting, I totally fell in love with day camp. It's awesome to minister to such energetic young children. And our host family was awesome.

This past week I had a cabin of 10 and 11 year olds with my good friend Rachel Stone as my co-counselor. Total different pace from day camp. But the girls were all super smart and super into learning about our awesome Jesus. It was fun to just be with them and experience everything that happens during a week at Riverside. And to help them put together a performance art piece for the camper talent show featuring Amazing Grace, crazy dancing, and knitting.

Yesterday I had some decent quiet time. You'd think it'd be easier to get that working here. God bless the weekends.

This week I'm working in the kitchen, which will be a radically different experience AGAIN. I just bought an awesome Riverside hat, which I am currently wearing. Made the trip to Cornerstone church in Ames this morning. I was shook up at first (nervous), and almost walked out, but glad I didn't. I really liked the church, overall, but nothing can beat zion.

I MISS YOU, DES MOINES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next weekend I'm coming home.

Um.

2011-05-17T22:33:00.000-05:00

stefani germanotta hollywood mp3 | lyrics

free music downloads | music videos | pictures

Just wanted to share...

2011-05-05T22:49:00.001-05:00

I "stumbled upon" this.

The Beatles, Jackson Five vs Green Day - Hey Jude, I'll be there (Mashup-Germany) by Mixes and Mashups #21

So...He Might Be Okay

2011-05-02T20:53:00.003-05:00

I just read an article that suggests that Fred and George's tail might've fallen off simply because it was too big and making it difficult for the kid to move around.

I'm gonna keep with the salt.

Here's the article.

If anyone has an opinion...

Emergency Fish Problem

2011-05-02T20:30:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I made a post about how much I love my fish.

Today I am making a post to tell you that something is horribly wrong with my fish.

I came in to look at him today and I noticed that a good portion of his tail was just...gone. I don't know what happened to it. And I shudder to think. His tail is just much shorter today than it was yesterday. At first I wondered if I was imagining things, but I looked at pictures and videos I've made of him in the past, especially the one from yesterday, and compared tail size. It's definitely shorter. Devastatingly shorter. Overnight.

This is a picture of him from yesterday afternoon, when I was makingmy video of homage:

And this is a picture from today:

This is the worst thing that has ever happened to him. I can't imagine it is fun to have half your tail gone. It probably hurt him. And now, though he's still swimming around, it's probably more difficult and less fun. What pains me the most is that I didn't even see this coming. I thought that he was happy and healthy. Fine one day, crippled the next.

When I first got Fred and George, I read a lot about betta diseases, among them fin rot. I used to be concerned that he might have fin rot or something similar, so I was a freak about changing the water, and I even put salt in it to kill any bacteria. When I was convinced that his fins were super healthy I stopped worrying so much, and I stopped putting the salt in the water.

This came totally out of nowhere, and I'm freaked out because I don't know what could possibly happen next. But I have already changed the water today and added salt. I'm going to change his water as often as I can, and keep putting salt in his tank. Maybe when I get back to Des Moines I'll check out some antibiotics.

I'll keep you posted.

I'm in Love

2011-05-01T14:45:00.003-05:00

I'm in love with my little betta fish.

Hopefully pretty soon you'll be able to see the song that I wrote for him, but until then, here is a video I made in tribute to him.

This video features Fred and George swimming around, eating his food, and chasing my finger. Hope you enjoy!

Why Am I Not Studying?

2011-04-27T13:34:00.003-05:00

Emma Pillsbury.

"Children, I claim my Gingerhood before you today. I was born this way. Hooray!"

Thank You, Lunch!

2011-04-22T11:02:00.003-05:00

Dear Katie,

I am the hottest soup in the whole entire world. So hot.

Just thought I would warn you.

Love from,

The Soup

Dear The Soup,

You know, you could have told me that before I took a huge sip and burned my mouth.

On the positive side, I would like to thank you for being so efficient and nutritious. Not to mention tasty.

Even though winter is over, and I won't crave you quite so often, you will always have a special place in my heart.

Love,

Katie

Dear Katie,

Love,

The Soup

Confused

2011-04-14T23:37:00.002-05:00

So, I've been living life, right? And when you do that, things DO get confusing. And when things get confusing, I tend to get confused. And when I get confused, I get angry. And when I get angry, I listen to Linkin Park.

So, I was scared and confused, and I thought about this song.

So, I had a little reprise of emo-ness. Hopefully that came through in my very artistic portrayal of the song. :P

But I'm not weird. We've all been there. We all struggle with Regret. Brokenness. Shame. Feelings of inadequacy. Loneliness.

This is a song about Mercy. It's a song about new beginnings. Forgiveness. Forgiving others, but just as important: Forgiving yourself. Moving on.

So, I'd like to take this moment to recognize how un-broken I am. How whole I have become. How much of God's love has been made apparent in my life.

Thanks for listening, watching, and reading. Y'all is the coolest.

I Love College

2011-04-10T15:05:00.003-05:00

Group of five trumpet players sitting under a tree on a sunny day, playing improvised flow studies. Reharmonized as needed. Consonance=optional.

Aaron Askam was sitting up in a tree.

On the downside, I am now in my dorm room. And someone is doing acoustic covers of Justin Bieber right outside my window.

Should I start blasting my Jouko Harjanne romantic trumpet recordings??

Film. Real Film.

2011-04-08T23:31:00.013-05:00

Patrick is on one of his kicks. He's really into lomography, and he's teaching me about it too. So he gave me a plastic camera, and is teaching me about how film works. Real Film.

We've had a lot of fun, so far, with only more on the way.

The thing about film, is that it is only affected when the light touches it.

Patrick, the very silly man, is in the habit of leaving his lens cap on while taking pictures.

But the darkness can't make a picture happen. The film is still waiting for light to

touch it. If you don't advance the film after taking a picture in darkness, the film will

still be good to use later.

I think it's cool how no amount of darkness can ruin the film,

but once the light touches it, it will never be the same.

FYI

2011-03-01T13:54:00.002-06:00

Since I haven't posted anything since the fish story at the beginning of the semester, I thought I'd give you a little life update.

Mainly, this post is dedicated to the appreciation of Frozen Yogurt and Ice cream (FYI).

Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream are my favorite types of dessert. Ice Cream is traditionally the very best thing anyone can ever eat, but frozen yogurt often gets overlooked.

Today I was eating lunch with Kristin Conrad, and we were both hoping that the dining center would be serving frozen yogurt. Fortunately, our wish came true, and we walked out eating delicious vanilla frozen yogurt cones.

Vanilla or chocolate frozen yogurt tastes good plain, but vanilla frozen yogurt goes well with absolutely anything! You can pour on toppings and sauces and mix-ins of all kinds. Traditional ice cream toppings are fabulous, but frozen yogurt is notorious for being very good with fruit. One time I got chocolate chip cookie dough frozen yogurt and the residual happiness lasted for two months.

When I went to visit Patrick in Omaha, I visited the Red Mango, a chic new place which serves many flavors of soft serve frozen yogurt, with buffet-style mix-ins.

Here's a video about how awesome frozen yogurt is:

Things at UNI are swell. The snow melted, so I can finally cut across Lawther field. Looking forward to studying/napping outside. Also I can run again. So we'll see about that.

I applied to Riverside and Okoboji. I want to be a camp counselor. This is a major goal of mine. I don't care where, or which of the two.

Otherwise I'll probably get a waitressing job this summer. It's my life goal to be a waitress. And to learn how to play the piano. And the trumpet.

And to live on a farm with a bunch of cows.

Got to go! Thanks for listening!

Fred and George

2011-01-15T22:35:00.007-06:00

High Time for another blog update.

Is it normal to be obsessed with a betta fish?

Is it normal to sit there and stare at him every time you come home?

Is it okay to worry about him and hope that he lives forever?

These were questions that I would have found ridiculous two weeks ago. But ever since Fred and George swam into my life I've been seeing things differently. I feel directly responsible for his health and his well-being. I want him to be a good little fish. And I want him to have a happy little fish life. How the heck can you tell if a fish is happy?

I think the reason I am so attached to this fish is because I'm convinced that he was given to me by God himself. This is my destiny fish. Let me tell you the story.

At the end of last semester Gretchen and I discussed getting a pet to live in our dorm room with us. Pretty much any animal is out of the question at college, but we were perfectly happy with the idea of a little goldfish bowl on our refrigerator. So when I went to Rick's apartment over break I asked Christine, who knows quite a bit about aquarium fish, about keeping goldfish. She told me that a bowl is a horrible place to keep a goldfish. She also said that bettas make good pets and are easy to take care of. So I resolved myself to think about it a little more and do a little more research. That research bit may not have actually happened.

Then one day my good friend Chad came over to my house. What are the first words out of his mouth? He says to me, he says, he says, "Do you want a fish?" I darn near flip out on him. Of course I want a fish! But he had no way of knowing that. So I excitedly explain to him about Gretchen's and my plan to adopt a fish and name her Fred and George, in honor of Gretchen's alternate selves (long story. Basically, she was supposed to be twin boys). Chad explained to me that the fish was somewhat of a product of a bad relationship, and naturally, since the relationship was over, he had to get rid of the fish. That's how Fred and George came into my possession.

I spent the first couple of days flipping out about everything from the color of his scales to the size of his gills to the temperature of his water to the silly little look on his face. In those first few days I was super terrified that he would die within the week. I went to every website on the internet having to do with betta care. I learned about the symptoms and treatments of every known betta disease. I even talked on the phone with a poor man at an exotic fish store. Eventually, when Fred and George started eating like a pig, blowing bubbles, and flaring his fins out, I decided to stop worrying so much and just enjoy the pretty little fish. I love it when he looks at us. Gretchen likes it when he waves at us with his fins. Yesterday we were watching "The Little Mermaid" and we caught him actually dancing during "Under the Sea". I think it's adorable when he plays in his plant, swimming in and out of and around it. Hiding in the plant is much less cute when I'm trying to catch him to change his water. Especially since I don't have a net. I have to chase him into the cup using a plastic spoon.

Can't remember where I was going with this. Basically, I like the fish. God bless you, Fred and George!!

On a side note, my hair is blonde again, thanks to my clever ginger-making trick. But I'm terrified that it will somehow wash itself back to green again. The staining powers of that koolaid are phenomenal. I had an awkward moment with a sweet old lady at Walgreens when I was buying my ginger hair dye. She obviously had bad eyesight; she asked me if my current hair color was natural. At first I thought she was joking. But she looked at the box of hair dye in my hands and warned me to be careful, because her daughter once tried to dye her hair blond, and it turned out green. How horrible!!

Bed Intruder Song

2011-01-06T21:20:00.003-06:00

Was trying to be productive over winter break. This is something that I've wanted to try for a long time. I recorded all the parts myself. Even the really low notes that I can't really hit. I wanted to be my own a capella group.

At Pat's.

2010-12-24T17:14:00.002-06:00

Spent some time in Rick's apartment with my sister in law, Christine. Fun things tend to go down when the three of us get together.

Home Again

2010-12-23T11:56:00.000-06:00

By the way. Kool-aid is magic. This is how green my hair is after 7 days of amazingness and then 7 more days of vigorously trying to wash it out. What can ya do? It's not that I don't love it.

There are some things I can't get out of my head.

Friends!

2010-12-14T18:02:00.005-06:00

So, I've taken to drawing pictures of my friends on paint. Here are some cool people I've met since coming to college.

Living with Gretchen

2010-12-13T00:17:00.004-06:00

Living with Gretchen is so much fun. I came home from practicing today to find the room in disorder with my room-mate sitting in the middle of the floor surrounded by papers, pencils, books, and art supplies. Apparently, she was studying, and then decided to make a birthday card.

Life here is so much fun.

Kool-Aid Kraziness

2010-12-05T21:43:00.004-06:00

So, basically, I just wanted to see if this would work. Pat told me it might. I am now officially an expert on kool-aid hair dying. Except that I have no idea how long it'll stay before it comes out.

Sorry, Mom!!

Sorry that it's kind of a weird picture. I was playing with my bangs and then I was brushing my teeth, and then Gretchen grabbed her camera. lol.

Crazy Weak

2010-12-02T19:48:00.003-06:00

Some days I cannot forgive and these days mercy cuts so deep

If the world was how it should be maybe I could get some sleep

It has been a crazy week. It's amazing that I've only been back at UNI since Sunday night. The whole experience of going home and coming back seems so surreal. So much more happens when I'm here; It feels like each day stretches into years. In a good way.

While I lay I dream we're better

Scales are gone and faces brighter

When we wake we hate our brother

We still move to hurt each other

I've been working a lot on my jury piece.

And I've been crying out to God. On the ipod that I stole from Patrick, I found an old Jars of Clay song about all of humanity crying out for God. It was a really neat find, especially since this week I've been feeling things go pretty far south pretty quickly.

Sometimes I can close my eyes

and all the fear that keeps me silent falls below my heavy breathing

What makes me so badly bent?

I've been thinking about my weaknesses, and about how vulnerable I am. You've all read The Screwtape Letter, right? (Recently I discovered that I have obtained the faithful readership of Pat and Christine. Assuming that these are my main readers, I will venture to say that yes. They've all read that book). I liked the book because it shows how demons (Satan) can find all of our tiny little innocuous shortcomings and use them to drive us completely away from God. My frustration is that my weaknesses are so obvious, and so easy to pick at. I get so distracted so easily, and I'm driven so far away.

We all have a chance to murder. We all feel the need for wonder

We still have to be reminded that the pain is worth the thunder.

Even when I'm here, surrounded by Christian brothers and sisters that I can pray with, study with, worship with, goof off with, and totally lean on, I feel like I'm merely posing as a Christian.

Because when I'm all alone, trying to get to sleep at night, I listen to Jars of Clay over and over and over again, knowing that we're all weak, that we've all fallen, that all I need to do is cry out and claim my greatest defense--the greatest power in Christ...but I can't. I think about God. I listen for God. I watch for God. But I cannot pray to God. Not on my own.

Sometimes when I lose my grip I wonder what to make of heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give up.

It must be shame.

So, here I was. At this dark place. Wondering how I could reconcile who I am and who I should be. And that's when my catholic friends told me about RECONCILIATION NIGHT at St. Stephen's (catholic church on campus).

Basically, it was the coolest thing ever. We sang a hymn and read some scripture (Matthew 15:29-37) and talked about how Jesus can take us when we are most broken, heal us, and satisfy us. Then we prayed as a group and broke off into time for personal prayer and reflection, and one-on-one confession with a priest. Since I'm not catholic, the priest wasn't able to give me the sacrament of absolution (I think that's what it's called??), but he talked to me and prayed with me.

Babies underneath their beds

Hospitals that cannot treat 'em

All the wounds that money causes

All the comforts of Cathedrals

It was so cool. It didn't feel like I was having a conversation with another person about my problems. I really believe that God was talking straight to me through the priest. I spoke very briefly about what I was struggling with, and then he just nodded and started telling me Bible stories. And each time he put me into the story. He prayed with me, and then I went back to the pew to pray by myself for awhile. That was such a cool way to experience God's presence.

All the cries of Thirsty Children

This is our inheritance

All the rage of Watching Mothers

This is our greatest defense

It's kind of hard to describe how it feels when God intersects with you in a completely unexpected way right when you most need him.

Oh my God.

The Saddest Girl To Ever Hold a Martini

2010-11-25T00:04:00.007-06:00

This is me.

Kind of.

Minus the skanky dress.

And the martini glass.

And the whole homicidal craziness thing. For those of you who have seen vanilla sky. Great movie.

But that facial expression. That's it exactly. Maybe it's because I'm tired. Maybe it's because I'm bored. Maybe it's because I'm trying to find ways to procrastinate studying and practicing. But this thanksgiving break has been uber weird.

I'm back in Des Moines, sleeping in my old bedroom, chillin with my parents, spending time with the people I went to high school with. I drive around the streets I'm so familiar with, and I have this > facial expression on my face. It's like the world is moving on. It's like the world doesn't care. It's like the world is just here to use me, and to make me feel lonely.

But this post is starting to sound super emo. I really didn't mean for it to be like that. I just really like the picture, and I was gonna run with that for awhile. Seriously. Vanilla Sky is a crazy bizarre movie. I had to watch it for psychology and it took me about five hours because I had to pause every twenty minutes to stop and say "WHAHT?"...or to run around the hallways in Hagemann. Or to go outside and check out the gorgeous Cedar Falls starry night sky. Or to drink Naked Juice. Green Machine. It's got broccoli in it. I couldn't focus on Vanilla Sky because I was busy drinking broccoli.

Needless to say, a week off from school is very welcome. I spent all of Saturday pretty much dead in my bed (sleeping). And then I've been lazing around, and then running around trying to catch up with people. On Tuesday I visited my highschool (it's hell) and got to talk to my old band director, who is such a cool teacher. I feel like there is so much yet that I can learn from him. And I stole a suit coat from his office. I didn't really steal it...It didn't belong to anyone.

Um.

So now it's midnight and I'm rambling.

The point of this blog is that it's really weird to come home to visit, because my true home right now is in Cedar Falls. And I can't wait to get back there. But in the meantime, it's fun to reflect on how much everything and everyone has changed and how much I, myself, am changing. It's good to spend time with the friends who have known me all throughout highschool and somehow love me anyway.

In the words of Cpt Hammer: Home is where the heart is, so your real home's in your chest.

Well spoken (sung).

Looking forward to a huge Thanksgiving tomorrow. Gonna get to see my grandparents, my brother, and my brand new sister-in-law. Hooray!!!

heheh. This thing has been with me all through high school as well. Good to know my readership is consistent, if nothing else. Peace out, home-blog!

Well, Here's What's Going On

2010-11-14T19:54:00.002-06:00

Various People have been encouraging me to update my blog. Mainly my family members who would like to know what I'm up to. Also Noah Alvarado. But I can't tell if he was joking. Anyway. The point is that I'm updating my blog. But am I doing it for any of those people? No. I'm doing it for me. Because suddenly I got the sudden urge all of a sudden to let the whole world know that

I ALMOST CUT OFF THE CIRCULATION IN MY FRICKEN FINGER.

Don't worry, guys. I fixed the problem. It's going to be alright now. But what happened is that I got a minor cut on my finger while taking out garbage at work. I decided not to tell anybody because you're not supposed to get hurt at work I think. It generally makes things complicated. Anyway, my shift was almost over, so I just wrapped it up, put on some huge gloves and went on with my business. Then I went home and put on a band aid. I'm so glad that I have band aids in my room. I was so enthusiastic about the band aid. Here was my thought: "I'm going to wrap this on my finger SO TIGHT! It'll be AWESOME!!". So that's what happened. Five minutes later I experienced a burning sensation and looked down to realize that my finger had turned dark purple. I'm kind of proud. Dude, that band aid was SO TIGHT.

Anyway. College is fun. I have good friends. I love my room mate. I go to recitals and concerts all the time. I'm in marching band, symphonic band, and jazz 3. I like jazz band a lot, but it's really frustrating cuz I'm so not good.

I'm getting better under the tutelage of Dr. G.

That's all I have time for. I'm gonna go eat.

Being in a New Place

2010-08-25T22:31:00.001-05:00

The second week is always the hardest.

Final Hurrah. Summer 2010

2010-08-05T17:09:00.002-05:00

So. I had quite a few things to say last night, but now I finally have about five seconds to myself, so I'm gonna try to just type for awhile. You know what? Don't even expect it to make sense. Your low standards will help my story shine.

Well. There are less than two weeks until I move to Cedar Falls to start band camp up at UNI. That's pretty exciting. Yeah. That's right. I'm excited. I can't believe how many opportunities await me in the next couple of years. I'M GOING TO COLLEGE. I'M GOING TO COLLEGE! I'M GOING TO COLLEGE!!!!

Voice from outside: "Your Mom goes to College."

Shut up.

The point is that I'm happy. We met a family from Iowa here and we got to talking. Justin is a saxophone performance major at the University of Iowa, and we were geekin out together, gushing about our professors and our favorite pieces; complaining about the necessary practice time, and the inevitable lack of practice over the summer. So now I'm SUPER PUMPED to be a music major. It's just kind of my thing. I can't wait to go someplace where I fit in. Not to mention that I have a lovely wife/room-mate waiting for me when I get there.

Anyway. Justin and his girlfriend, Oakley, are really fun. We bonded over apples to apples and monopoly. They kind of have the same creepy sense of humor that we do. Go Iowans. Meeting people that we get along with definitely makes spending a week in Branson, Missouri more enjoyable. Not that it lacked excitement before. I'm here with a group of close friends. It's me, Brenna, Krista, and Kassie. Unfortunately, we had to leave Alyssa behind on this one. She's getting her wisdom teeth out. Anyway. We've been friends since middle school, and this is our last hurrah before we all head off to wherever. Also, I think it's the first time I've ever spent this much time with this particular group of people. I mean, we always hang out, but here we're cooped up in a little cottage together where we hang out 24/7. With this much estrogen, we could be going crazy, but we're all loving it. I'm so lucky to have such great friends. I'll miss them so much. Last night we watched How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. What a great movie, eh? And every time we get in the car we put in the Jersey Boys soundtrack. So now we always have the Four Seasons in our heads. That gets...loud. Achlja;dhf;oas. I love my friends.

What was I going to say? The shows we've seen so far: The Hughes Brothers (a musical family of four brothers and four hundred children. They're from Utah. I think that explains it.), Kirby Something (The prince of magic. He won a Merlin Award for making a Helicopter appear out of thin air. He won my heart with his smile and his sarcasm), Shoji Tabuchi (a fiddle player. With a chorus of singers and dancers. Um. They did glee covers. And there was this one guy with curly brown hair who danced with so much energy, thusly stealing the show), and then today we saw Six, an a group of six brothers who perform all styles of music using nothing but their voices. They were so talented. My own voice is raw from screaming so much at their show. Honestly. I almost crapped my pants about twelve times. Especially when they did their homage to the four seasons. And.....I don't know. Not even words. No words. Just trust me. They were awesome.

Branson is weird. Everyone is either a senior citizen, or a small grandchild. You drive down the street and when you look from side to side you see nothing but theatre after theatre after theatre, most of them filled with musical families covering country hits. What? And you go to a show at 2:00 in the afternoon. The theatre is half filled with old people. And the performers come out, doing the same thing that they've done for the past twenty-six years. Branson, Missouri. How does one end up performing in Branson, Missouri? I always thought of it as a stepping stone in the showbiz hierarchy. But I don't know. A Branson show is kind of a genre of it's own. How would I feel if my only audience was a half-filled theatre of old people in Branson, Missouri?

I would feel fabulous.

You know why? Because performing is the greatest feeling in the whole wide world. If anyone is lucky enough to do that and get paid for it, then it doesn't matter where they live, and who their audience is, as long as the music makes people happy. The old people sure are happy. They've had long lives filled with God knows what, and now they're enjoying a happy retirement by watching a japanese fiddle player who can make them feel like a child again. Branson is about never growing up. The performers get to goof off onstage wearing sparkly jackets with their siblings. When balloons fall from the ceiling of the theatre, senior citizens bat them around the way I used to at my birthday parties. Um. Maybe I still do.

I think that's what life is about. Finding that place where you never have to grow up. Wherever you are, whatever you end up doing as a career...if you never grow up. You win.

I'm gonna get off the computer now.

Someone Died

2010-07-07T15:42:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure quite what to say. But writing (typing) is always a good idea.

Somebody who went to my school was killed last Friday in a freak accident involving a runaway parked car. I didn't know him very well. At all. I didn't even know his last name until after his death. But I do know that he was close to some of my good friends. I can't imagine how much they are hurting right now.

At this point I would like to say something very profound about death:
...

... ... ...

I don't know. It's hard to find meaning in this thing that nobody expected. He was here one day and gone the next. One minute he was busy impacting the world...and then the next minute he was crushed by a car. Those who loved him will never see him again. Those who would've loved him will never have the chance.

I can't help but feel some kind of sick relief. Relief that if a teenager had to die in Des Moines...that it wasn't mine. That it wasn't MY best friend. That it wasn't MY lover. I hate myself for thinking this, because I know that for some people, that's exactly what Logan was. Someone special. Someone essential. Someone irreplacable.

When I met him (it was only in February), I had no idea that he would be gone in just a few short months. He didn't look like a doomed teenager. He didn't stick out to me as special...except that he was particularly good at cello and that he had a big smile on his face. But there was no evidence that he would die. No otherworldly premonition. Nothing in his eyes that made me suspect that he was anything other than one of us. Forever.

Maybe he will be one of us forever. After all, he is in my little Central Academy yearbook. Among all the other vivacious young teenagers I barely knew. One by one they will all cease to be people and start to be memories. And that's what Logan is right now: a memory.

I don't have too many memories of him. But I'll always remember his face, his smile. I'll remember that he had amazing talent and an amazing presence and that it wasn't fair the way he was taken. It could've happened to any of us. It's just not fair.

Humph.

2010-06-22T00:06:00.004-05:00

A little poem.

I only post this because I know I have no readers.

Empty words
Sitting sullenly at the bottom of my feet.
Empty tears
Hot and tired,
Pressed unwillingly from my eyelids
Silently.
Empty Hearts--
Lined up and waiting for each new chance to break.
Empty silence,
Quiet Regrets,
Surrounding each mistake.

I'm a Murderer

2010-06-17T21:28:00.006-05:00

We had a really long winter this year.

I hate the winter. At first it's lovely: the snow falls and covers the earth in sheets of silence...icicles hang like icing off the roofs of houses...the wind brings color back into my ever-pale face...I get to wear warm mittens and soft scarves...and then it gets ugly. After the tenth snow day the nine feet of snow become disenchanting. It's no longer a fun challenge to clear the driveway so that I can drive to the store without getting stuck multiple times. It's too cold to go outside. It's too wet to go outside. I stay inside all day and get DEPRESSED.

But my point wasn't winter depression. My point was that during a long winter such as this past one, it's easy to forget all the fun little nuances of spring. Out of sight, out of mind, right? I mean, just because we can't see any signs of grass or leaves in the winter doesn't mean that we forget how green the earth is when spring gets here. But it's the little things we forget about. Like clovers. I forgot all about clovers. One day in early April I was walking around without my shoes on, and I felt something unusually (that word has a lot of u's) soft under my bare feet. I looked down and noticed that the ground had erupted into beds of clover. I was delighted. Clover comes in huge patches. It smells sweet, and it's softer than a pile of feathers (I don't actually understand why people are so into feathers. They're like needles with eyelashes).

Another thing that I forgot about was lightning bugs. Fireflies. I don't know where I've been these past few summers (I suppose my twilight hours have always been filled with CI rehearsals. I just assumed they didn't have fireflies in Decorah), but I forgot all about those little buggers. Now I'm free to wander around after sunset, watching hundreds of little bugs wink at me. It's almost as if they're choreagraphed, like those Christmas lights that blink in weird patterns. The lightning bugs look so happy. And they're everywhere.

I killed a lightning bug.

Just by looking at it.

I was walking...really slowly...staring at the scintillating wonders all around me, and then I noticed one in particular. He was beautiful. Maybe it was a she. I really can't tell. Anyway, I stopped to look at it, and it stopped to look at me. I smiled at it, and it winked at me with its little butt-light. Several times. Now, I'm no fool. I know what that means. The light for a lightning bug is its mating call. This insect was falling in love with me. And I'm pretty sure the feelings were mutual.

It was flying lower and lower, closer to the ground. And then it dropped. Dead. I screamed and ran along on my merry way, unbelieving that I had killed that poor, innocent creature. But then I remembered that Fireflies don't only fly, but they also walk around sometimes. This made me sigh with relief. I hadn't killed the bug; He was just tired of flying.

I walked a few more steps and then a thought occured to me.

I turned around to see if the bug had transformed itself into a handsome prince waiting on the sidewalk to whisk me away to his enchanted castle.
But he hadn't. Better luck next time.

*peace*

How I became a Music Major

2010-05-31T21:01:00.010-05:00

It just kind of happened.

Le Petit Prince

2010-04-14T17:29:00.005-05:00

In Antoine de Saint-Exupery's popular children's novel, a young prince from a small planet falls in love with a flower. He thought it was the most unique and beautiful thing in the world, so he loved it.

When I read the book, I thought it was beyond the realm of silly. The prince was a person, and the flower was a flower. It's one thing to draw a sheep in a box, but it's quite another to be in love with an inanimate object.

But then I saw this rose.

And now I think I understand.

It just goes to show: Don't judge anyone else's love.

I don't know whose point I'm trying to prove with this.

I Love Music!!!!

2010-02-03T15:16:00.005-06:00

Why I chose to major in Music Education

One of those college entrance essay things.

Enjoy!

It is 8:30 on a Friday evening. First Semester finals just ended. Most of my friends are out together having fun, but I've been in my bedroom practicing the same two measures for the past twenty minutes. Why did Handel's trumpet piece have to be so difficult? Why do I need the fast Locrian runs to feel so flowing and effortless, when I am doing all I can just to keep filling my lungs with air and keep blood flowing to my frantic fingers? Why did I decide that I needed to spend hours a day practicing my trumpet instead of doing something...useful?

I take a moment to remember what has brought me to this point.

When I was in eighth grade, my Civics teacher, Mrs. Dunley, told me that with my test scores I was fit to be ruler of the universe (remember that? And some people were destined to become ship captains...lol. She was nuts). Knowing that I wanted to change the world someday, I decided that I would grow up to be a politician. This was not an unrealistic goal for me, since my interest in Mock Trial led me to contemplate a future in law school. However, as the years went by and I moved through high school, I grew skeptical of Politics. If the face of Humanity is going to change, it is going to change from the inside, not from the top. (Here's an article that helped me come to that conclusion. click here Totally worth the read)

I have always loved music. I was singing songs as soon as I learned to talk, and I jumped at the chance to join band in fifth grade. Right now it is my goal to become a music educator and performer. Music, especially my high school music program, has done so much for me. I know that if i can help provide music to youth for the rest of my life, I will be able to change the world.

Although I have always loved singing, playing my trumpet, composing, and performing, I was hesitant to become a music major. There were several sources of fear and uncertainty. Music is such a competitive field; I was worried that I would never be good enough. Also, it is difficult to find steady work as a performer, and jobs are scarce even for educators. I was very worried about making a living and my parents were quite concerned about my finacial security. Success in music requires an excess of discipline, knowledge, skill, heart, and inpiration. I eventually decided that the benefits of studying music outweigh the risks, and now I am willing to do whatever it takes to have a career in music, because I know that I would never be able to give it up. I knew that no matter what I chose for my career there would always be the fear of failure. Since I am so passionate about music, the fear is slowly becoming irrelevant. I am proud to be entering college as a Music Education major, and I know that no matter what happens to me in the future, I will be glad that I made that choice.

why is music so important? Humans are trapped inside of themselves. Technology forces us into seemingly efficient yet grossly inexpressive ways of communicating. In a world with an increasingly globablized economy, communication barriers are being broken down right and left, yet the individual remains isolated unless he has some way to relate to his past, his society, and his emotions. Music is that vehicle. Music forces us to be expressive; to not just speak, but to lesten, to understand, and to feel. Music frees us from our inner prisons and helps us to truly experience life, so that we are more than just robots.

Hopefully, with the skills that I've been developing over the past eight years and with the skills and experience I will gain from UNI, I will become effective with my trumpet performance so that I can help listeners connect to society. It is my aim to help other musicians to do the same. There is nothing better than helping and watching someone else grow.

Now it is 8:55 on that same Friday night. I turn off my metronome and do one last run through of the final movement to the Handel piece. The notes flow out of my horn like a cascading waterfall. Each note seems to have a life of its own. I get chills. This is what it is all about. This is what I have decided to dedicate my to.

Over the years my teachers have encouraged me to do great things in the fields of science, math, law and politics (.......maybe not math. or science. hehehehe...), but I decided that I want to change the world, so I decided to major in Music Education. Music has changed my life, and I hope that through my future performance and teaching, I can change others' lives as well.

RIP MB

2008-12-02T14:51:00.004-06:00

My thoughts as of 8:30 this morning:

I never saw this coming. Not in a million years. It's what all band geeks secretly hope for. Some not so secretly. But at any rate, several people are pleased that Hoover will no longer be doing marching band.

Or course, a few are upset. Many have looked forward to being in the band since they were younger. A marching band is the epitome of power, discipline, and majesty in the musical world. those who feel this way are now severely disappointed.

Marching band wasn't fun for most people, but as the first thing that happens in the school year, it brings us together and forces us to learn to work together. If it wasn't for marching band, I wouldn't know any of my classmates except for the two that sit right next to me. Marching band encourages student leadership, responsibility, and discipline, setting the tone for the whole school year.

Even the negative aspects of marching band bring us together. Marching band is the price of admission for the Hoover Band program. It serves as initiation. Everyone who is in band has had to sacrifice the August evenings to learning how to march. Everyone has had to wake up TOO early to make it on time to a 7:00 am rehearsal. Everyone has had to freeze their fingers off in October. Everyone has had to spend extra time standing at attention because Oswald and Bickle like to fidget. Everyone has been yelled at by Miss Young. Everyone has to wear the uniform, whether it be a symbol of pride or the stamp of dorkiness. These are all things that we suffered through together to form a common bond and a spirit of togetherness. People who suffer together can also celebrate together, which we did when we put on a great show.

What about the tradition? When are we going to do Maple Syrup? Will we still all go to Famous Dave's together?

Despite the great loss that this is to our band program, I can't ignore the positive opportunities. We finally get to start jazzband at the beginning of the year. EXCESSIVE JOY. The lack of marching band will save a ton of money for more worthwhile things. We don't have to deal with a marching band tone and mentality whilst we prepare for our all-state audition, which is really the most important thing anyway, isn't it? *has a violent coughing fit*

So this could prove to be very good for our band program. There are so many positive aspects of this decision that it is impossible to stop it.

There are so many changes in the band program lately that it's hard to focus on anything. It'll be strange to come back in a few years and talk to underclassmen who don't even understand what marching band is.

I kind of hated marching band, and I'm not going to pretend now that I always loved it and I want to keep it. But I did take a lot of pride in it. I'll never forget the day I marched on a sprained ankle because I didn't want to miss our last performance of the season. I was so looking forward to senior year. It's the year that we finally get some respect and recognition as reward for our three years of hard work in marching band. I guess mine will be the first senior class to not have a wearer of the golden dinkle, and I know that I always did really want to be drum major, but there are about a million other things to be excited about in the high school band world.

heheh...check this out: Click Here!

Why do I Think the way I do?

2008-11-23T15:44:00.004-06:00

This week was a crazy psycological rollercoaster of a spiritual journey.

It started out with desperate disillusionment. This happens occasionally when my pictures of the world are turned inside out by new information or insight. I won't share with you what started it, because none of you would understand. *curls up in her little emo corner*

In this vulnerable state I began to question my friendships. Who are those that I am really closest to? Am I making those relationships a priority? I've always believed that relationships are the most important building blocks of our lives. If those aren't worth anything, then what am I living for?

Then I began to ponder whether the things we leave behind are more important then the people we connect with. If it is indeed possible to really "connect" with anyone. *retreats again into the emo corner*

So I started analyzing the people around me. I didn't like what I saw. Nobody in this whole goshforsaken world seems to care about anyone but himself. All around me were lazy people, impatient people, stupid people, boring people, people who are too tall or too ugly or just generally hopeless.
This differs dramatically from my previous opinion that all people are good and have pure qualities that are revealed when one pays close and special attention. I also used to believe that everyone is equally physically beautiful. This week my mind was opened to the possibility that there are ugly, really ugly people out there.

So here are all these people with evil qualities and horrifying personality traits. Maybe they're not even trying! Does this make them...bad? Are there bad people in the world? What is a bad person, and how do they get to be that way? Were they just unfortunate in their childhood experiences? Or were they born that way? Is it a choice?

At least I'm not like that.

....am I?

.................what if I am?......

I need to fix it.

But the more I focused on trying to be a good person, the more frustrated I became.
And what about my "friends"? Are they good people? Are they hurting my goodness? Do they think I'm a good person? Do they love me? Who loves me??

It was as I lay trying to fall asleep after a long day of rehearsing at all-state music festival, in a hotel room with my very best friend on this earth that I remembered something that I learned a long time ago.

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus"
-Romans 3:23-24

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord"
-Romans 6:23

Wow. Why was I so worried by the thought that there might be bad people in this world? Open your eyes, Katie, We're ALL bad people. We screw up and we make stnanks and we're lazy and selfish and we can't save ourselves, because no matter how witty you are, there is nothing charming enough to make your life less pathetic.
Lucky that there IS someone that loves you, that cares about you enough to pay a ginormous price to make up for your stnanks, for your human sickness and wrongness, to give you hope so that your life doesn't have to be grounded in this fault of humanity.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."
-Romans 6:8-12

What am I living for?

By the way:
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful"
-Psalm 139:14

We really are beautiful, because He made us.

And that's how I thought about a lot of things this week and ended up coming back to the most simple beliefs of the religion I was born into. Funny how that works.

*peace*

The only way to feel emotions...

2008-10-11T22:29:00.002-05:00

...is to type all of your sporadic thoughts into a nifty little blog.

Here's my life story:

I am MT Nside.
I come in roughly once a week to occasionally sneeze.
I was terrified for a few moments roughly twenty minutes ago. Terrified of what?
I used the word roughly twice.
I'm a little stressed out, though I know that I'm not doing as much as I could be doing, and i absolutely NEVER (except for sometimes) do homework.
Hey, okay? I'm worried because i have an important audition coming up.
And I'm sad because I auditioned for the play and didn't make it. *Sad Day*
*Das Yad*

Huh. I thought this blog would be longer. I guess i just don't have that many thoughts any more. It make me feel stupid to see everything laid out like that...

Yay! But since you went to all the trouble to read this, I might as well make up a fun little story to make it worth your while.

I found the basement of Hoover High School. Living in it were three men: Coach Tate, Mr. Boughman, and the former drama instructor. they were living off spam and baked beans, worship-ing a giant octopus. when I called them on the octopus thing they came to their senses and decided to come out of the basement and become Hoover High School's new and improved Mock Trial Coaches/Teacher Sponsors. Now every Monday nite the Mock Trial team visits spaghetti works downtown to hear live funk music played by the Celebration Iowa JazzBand, which lives in Nebraska.

The End.

My Prayer

2008-07-14T13:12:00.002-05:00

my thoughts on a quiet bus ride across Iowa:

Don't let me forget who I am
And how I got here
And let me pull through
Bring me to the place
Where I need no comfort
Or safety
Because everything I need
Is in you.

Help me find a way
To show these people
What really matters, Bo
And show them how much I love them
And help me to love myself
Maintain the slightest bit of dignity
But throw my silly self-perception out the door
and away.

Don't let me forget who I am
And everything I've been through
Show me how to leave my comfort zone
Show me how to be
The perfect servant
And what you intended for me
Thank you for the music
That brought me here
And keeps me here
Tying me back to my past
And driving me towards my future
Let the music show me
Who I really am.

On Tour!

2008-07-06T23:21:00.002-05:00

I'll keep this short, because I don't really have much to say, and because I don't want to be rude to the nice family that is letting me use their internet.

Tour is nice. It's both fun and stressful to put on a show every day. some host families are really interesting, but so far I've only gotten the really nice ones.

I miss everybody. A lot.
And I miss my home town. I miss Des Moines.

Our show is a lot of fun, and I can't wait for every single one of you to see it. I think we do well and we keep improving.

It's frustrating not to have individual practice time with my instrument any more. I'm always either performing, or running through things for a performance.

The people here are great. And the level of musicianship is awesome.

Yesturday was a rec day and we went to a water park. Storm Lake is so pretty and it reminds me of Okoboji. because I won't be visiting Okoboji this summer.
*tear*.

overall this has been a crazy positive experience.

that's it.

C.I.U. 4

2008-06-22T10:56:00.003-05:00

my fourth update on the marvel that is Celebration Iowa Rehearsal Camp.

The Luther Campus is so beautiful. I love it here.
It's Sunday, so we were allowed to sleep in, if we choose. I went to Church. It was a Lutheran Church, but not at all like my church at home. I'm glad that it was different. I enjoy contrast.

I discovered the track here and have gone running a little bit. I always forget how much I love it until I have a lot of bottled up emotions that all get released when I run. Running on a track is different from running around my neighborhood, but I like it because you don't have anything to distract you and it's harder to keep track of how far you've run. It's better that way. All the same, I'm getting sick of making left turns.

We've gone through all three of the vocal sets. Right now we're working on the Broadway set, which has a lot of problems in the band arrangements. The British set had some problems too, but I think we fixed them more quickly. The British set is still my favorite, but Broadway has its moments.

Guess what we worked on in improve class yesterday.
Impressions.
yeah. I'm serious.
anyone from 7th hour jazz class would know what I'm talking about.

It's still weird for me to play the 3rd trumpet part. They're always telling us to listen up to the lead, which I'm perfectly fine doing, but I'm just not used to it. I feel like I really stick out of the sound sometimes. This is probably the tightest band I've ever been in, so whenever I screw up it's really noticeable. On the other hand, when no one screws up, we end up sounding really good.

I wonder how often the average band member makes a stnank.

C.I.U. 3

2008-06-17T06:57:00.003-05:00

this one might be kind of short because I'm really hungry for breakfast.

The only day we have to sleep in is Sunday, where rehearsals start at 12:30pm. I didn't sleep in because I went with a couple of others to a church in Decorah. It was interesting.

Yesterday was '80's day. a lot of people went all out for it. especially the singers. My room-mate put my hair up in a side pony-tail.

Yesterday was also our first performance. We played 45 minutes of music for the middle schoolers from Dorian Music camp, which is also at Luther this week. Our director says that it was a better first performance than they have had in years past. So that's a good thing.

Yesterday night I went running on the track. It was my first time running since I've gotten here. That's a good thing.

So, ever since I've gotten here I've been really addicted to facebook, getting on at every opportunity. Yesterday, I'm proud to say, I went the whole day without getting on at all. Go me! I'm breaking the addiction.

Did I mention that we have to stretch with the singers in the morning? It can be anything from yoga to an ab workout to a dance. Some of the band people don't like doing it. I could go either way.

That's it for now.

*peace*

C.I.U. 2

2008-06-13T17:33:00.002-05:00

Blegh...i guess it's high time for another celebration iowa update.

this week has been full of ups and downs. I was really homesick for a couple of days, and i got a little overwhelmed with all of the rehearsals, but now I think I'm pretty happy. In my last update I believe I mentioned that time moves slowly and the days crawl by. It's totally the opposite now. I feel like the past two days have gone without me barely noticing. The first two days felt like a year, and now I can't believe that I've been here for a whole week!

At first it was really weird for me to be on the Trumpet 3 part, because I play lead at home. Someone who's never played lead trumpet in a big band can't understand how much of an adjustment that is. Now i think i'm learning to deal with it. Kevin actually gave me the lead part for one song ("Mercy, Mercy, Mercy"!), because he figured both of our lead players would be really tired and need a break. It felt so good! thank god it doesn't go that high.

We play a lot of Frisbee during our breaks, which I am absolutely incompetent at, but all the practice has got to make me improve a little bit.

For those of my friends who like British stuff like the Beatles, the Police, and the Rolling Stones, you guys really have to come see one of shows. Our final set is called "British Invasion" and it is so much fun to play, I can't even describe to you. I can't wait until we get to rehearse it with the singers.

"Every little thing she does is magic"....that song is forever in my head.
which isn't a bad thing.

;P

C.I.U. 1

2008-06-10T17:16:00.003-05:00

Celebration Iowa Update
Part One

I guess since I want to tell everybody everything that's happening here (rehearsal camp) the smartest thing to do would be to post updates on my blog. So I think I will. End intro.

I feel like I've been here forever. There's so much crammed into one day that the days last an eternity, and they all blend into each other. I spend a vast majority of the time not knowing what day it is. When I found out that it's only tuesday today i flipped.

We rehearse so much. 8:30am-11:00am, 12:30-4:00pm, 6:30-9:30pm. Of course we get breaks in there...and the jazz band experiences of variety of things such as big band rehearsals, sectionals, individual practice, theory/improve sessions, and listening. I can't imagine the shape our chops would be in if we didn't have those little theory/listening interludes.

In rehearsals back at home I'm used to people telling me that I'm doing a great job. that doesn't happen as much here. It's just because talent isn't an issue. It makes me feel a little insecure, but then my insecurity makes me feel really needy. It's always been really easy for me to get discouraged when I think about the vast world of trumpet playing. There's the stuff which I can do, and I'm pluggin away at it, but then there's a whole world of things I can't do, because I don't have the skills. and those are the things that I need to be a good performer.

at least I did have somewhat of a breakthrough today. It's so easy for me to ignore breathing. To breathe correctly doesn't come naturally so I decided a long time ago to just ignore it. It can't be that important, right? all year this year people have been trying to get me to breathe differently, and today I think I finally understand. It's that trumpet guy from UNI. He came bursting into my practice room, scared me half to death, and then told me to make the inhale and exhale in one fluid motion...and to breathe bigger. So now I have something to practice! :)

Is there a barfing face?
:()<~<

I don't think that works.

this is the most rambling blog I've ever posted. I love it.

HEY!

2008-06-07T17:51:00.001-05:00

so i heard yesturday that my band director, that rascal, is planning a celebration iowa show AT MY SCHOOL. i don't know how other CI people knew this and I didn't, but it made me so incredibly happy.

so, that's where it is. the des moines show, it's at hoover.

If you love me...

2008-06-01T10:42:00.002-05:00

...then you will want to see me this summer.

This is a tour schedule that I got off the Celebration Iowa website. When I get more information about the Des Moines show I will post that as well. Take particular note of when the breaks are because that's when I will be home, frantically trying to hang out with friends and family...and do laundry.

2008 Celebration Iowa Schedule
Rehearsal camp at Luther College begins June 7 and ends June 26.
Thursday, June 26th - Luther College (Dress Rehearsal)
Saturday, June 28 - Vinton
Sunday, June 29 - Manchester
Monday, June 30 - Newton
Tuesday, July 1 - Fairfield
Wednesday, July 2 - Solon
Thursday, July 3 - Sheldon
Friday, July 4 - Storm Lake
Tuesday, July 8 - Jefferson
Thursday, July 10 - Pella
Friday, July 11 - Jesup
Sunday, July 13 - Davenport
July 14, 15, 16 & 17 - BREAK
Friday, July 18 - Eldora
Saturday, July 19 - Ottumwa
Sunday, July 20 - Waverly
Monday, July 21 - Oelwein
Tuesday & Wednesday, July 22 & 23 - CD Recording, Luther College
Thursday, July 24 - Nordic Fest, Decorah (Opening Ceremonies)
Friday & Saturday, July 25 & 26- Nordic Fest, Decorah
Sunday, July 27 - Dubuque
July 28, 29 & 30 - BREAK
Thursday, July 31 - Ft. Dodge
Friday, August 1 - Des Moines
Saturday, August 2 - West Branch
Sunday, August 3 - Clear Lake
Monday, August 4 - Cedar Falls
Tuesday, August 5 - Sergeant Bluff
Wednesday, August 6 - Spirit Lake *
* Final Show
Please check back for more additions to our tour.
Thank You!

Also...click here for something nifty.

A memory

2008-05-14T09:27:00.001-05:00

So there I was
Stuck
Inside a gumball machine
Not knowing why I was in there
Not caring if I ever could get out
I was a happy kid
Not even three years old
There were gumballs
All so brightly colored
And I was happy.

I looked out at the world
And smiled
And laughed
Because my brothers were freaking out
How to get her out?
But I smiled.

I didn't realize it was candy
Until it started to get sticky
Really sticky
I put one in my mouth
I was not used
To the consistency
They'd never let me have gum
before
So I started choking on it
I wasn't even three yet.

Luckily I did not stay
In the gumball machine
Forever.

Free Will: Chess

2008-05-04T18:17:00.002-05:00

I was recently involved in an epic game of chess. I really like chess and it was a lot of fun. Especially since I was playing with someone who didn’t know any more about chess than I did.

Chess is a game about strategy. My problem with it is that I can’t think ahead. I can’t visualize all the possible moves that my opponent or I could make in the turns ahead. I see the small picture. It’s hard to form a strategy when you’re focused on moving one piece at a time.

In this particular game that I was playing, there were several people watching. Several people that are much better at chess than I am. They CAN see the big picture. They CAN see the best moves to make. The big thing is that these chess-savvy people can think just a few turns ahead, so they can see what the best moves will be in the future. This is why they are good at chess and I am not.

These chess-savvies ended up giving a lot of advice throughout the game. Unfortunately, most of it was directed at my opponent, but every once in a while someone would tell me what to do.

Throughout the game I was exercising free will. There were people telling me what to do, but I had the choice to listen to them or not. Of course the smart thing to do is to listen to them. Why? Why not make my own choices? Because THEY are the ones that can think ahead. They can see what will be good for me in the long run. It’s my choice to trust the experts.

It’s kind of like God (parrick, isn’t that your line?). We, as people on earth, are like me in the chess game. We usually can’t see very much outside of ourselves. And we definitely don’t know what will happen in the future, so we really are clueless as to what choices to make. God is like the chess-expert. He invented the game and he knows it so well that he knows every move that could or ever will be played.

So, when God tells us to do something, it’s probably a really good idea to go ahead and do it, even if it doesn’t make sense to us. He can see the big picture and we can’t, and you know that he only wants what is best for us. However, sometimes we ignore what God tells us to do, or we’re simply not listening for it. Maybe it’s because we think we know what’s best for us, or maybe it’s just because we like to make our own choices. Sometimes we make the WRONG choice, and it turns out really bad for us.

So, wait a minute. If God loves us so much, then why does he let us make those wrong choices? Why doesn’t he just MAKE us do what’s best for us? Because then we wouldn’t have free will, would we? I think it’s cool that he allows us the option of choosing whether or not to listen to him. I’m sure that it hurts him to see the people he loves hurting because of the bad decisions they make, but it’s better than a bunch of robots just doing whatever he says without thinking about it.

We have free will.

Near the very end of the chess game, it was as if I wasn’t even playing anymore. In fact, I just let one of those Chess-savvies take over for me. I wasn’t even paying attention to the game anymore.

So this is my question:

Since that person made all my moves for the rest of the game without me even looking on, did I still have my chess free will? After all, it was MY CHOICE to let him play for me.

At what point does free will crumble?

Our Special Place

2008-04-25T19:47:00.006-05:00

I have a best friend, and her name is Becky.
Becky and I have a place. You know, a special place that we always want to go to when we go out together.

Our place.

That place was Silvestrini’s Pizza.
So yesterday I was having kind of a rough day, and I called Becky. After talking for a while she decided that we should go out to lunch today, just to do something together. She asked me where I wanted to go.
I replied that I wanted to go to Silvestrini’s. Our place.

Unfortunately, Silvestrini’s Pizza has been closed since February 29.

It was Becky’s idea to go to Scornovacca’s. It’s kind of like the Silvestrini’s of her neighborhood. Except that none of the employees go to North High school.
It wasn’t a very lovely place, but the food was really good. We sat in a booth in the back corner of the restaurant, so it was as if we were just there alone. There was a mini TV in our booth, and we could pay a quarter to watch it. Neither of us had a quarter. So we didn’t watch the TV.
We ordered a medium combo pizza, some garlic cheese bread, and a pitcher of Dr. Pepper. Next time we will order less food, because we were both really full and ended up taking a lot of it home with us.
After we had finished eating, I had a pile of mushrooms on the side of my plate. I tried to make a tower, but it fell over.

Becky and I have decided that we want to go there a lot. We love it at Scornovacca’s.
And we are going to encourage our friends to go there too.
So,
Scornovacca’s Homemade Pizza.
It’s delicious.

Alright...Alright...

2008-04-22T17:42:00.002-05:00

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats since my post this morning...*cough, no one's read it yet, cough*...

I thought I'd let you know that I've given it a lot of thought and I've decided not to give up on music. One friend of mine tried to convince me that playing in tune isn't really that important after all...I could start a new kind of musical movement! Another friend told me that I have too much potential to give up now.

Than I remembered something that the former mock trial captain told me in my time of distress:

"When you care enough about something you work hard and find a way."

This quote isn't the wittiest, most inspirational out there, but it's simple, straightforward, and so true.

It may seem like it'll never work out.
But I care about music so much.
I guess I can keep trying.
At least for a while...

I'll find a way.

Giving Up

2008-04-22T09:29:00.002-05:00

It is 8:36 am, April 22, 2008. It's a Tuesday morning at Hoover High School, and today I decided to give up.
On Music.
It's ridiculous.
Seriously.
There's nothing making me stay anymore.
I was sitting in band this morning and I realized how impossible it is to play in tune.
That's all it took.
I'm done with this.

It's kind of immature, I suppose, to quit something that I've invested so much time in for something as trivial as that. But it's not trivial! It's the most important, most fundamental thing! And I've gotten this far without being able to do it.
Playing in tune.

I'm sick of dealing with my limited range and poor tone quality. I'm sick of the valves that stick and don't go down all the way. I'm sick of third valve slides.

I'm just done with this.

Whatever.

Climaticism

2008-04-09T20:19:00.000-05:00

The gospel.
Let's say that everyone has a destiny. Here's the catch: You can choose whether or not to accept it; to live it out.If you don't choose to accept your destiny, than your life will be monotonous. It won't be amazing or thrilling.

But it won't be bad.

Once you accept your destiny your life will be both good and bad. Probably mostly bad, but you don't know.

This life is boring.
And nothing will happen to us once we die.

So in order to experience climax we must make a choice.
Some people make it early on.
Some wait until the very end.
Some don't make it at all.

It'll change your life. Forever.

There's B.C.
And there's A.D.
Soon there'll be A.S.C.

Heaven: A.S.C...infinity.
I'll be there.
Will you?

But it's not about going to Heaven or Hell.

It's about moving up to that next level of being.
Experience that which everything has led up to.

It's the one climax your life can ever have.
Your one opportunity for change.

You don't want to miss this.

But it

Anticlimaticism

2008-04-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

The one true religion/life-philosophy...probably not so much a religion.

climax-a thrilling event that changes the course of your life. the high point of action in a novel. or something like that.

We believe in an eternity.
We believe that everything that is happening has happened before.
We believe that exterior forces will not cause you to change your life.
We believe that you cannot change yourself from within.

Life is a series of quests. When you complete one you move on to the next--a smooth transition.

Ever since the beginning of time all the forces in the universe have been building up to a certain event, but due to the heat death of the universe, that event will never happen.
The universe will never suffer its heat death
At least not wile we're around

So what happens to us when we die? We go to heaven, of course! And gosh knows nothing new will happen once we're there.

So if you don't experience climax in this life, you sure as hell won't get it in the next one.

So, what's so great about climax anyway?
The universe is always changing, always building up, so we have both everything and nothing to look forward to.

My life is anticlimatic.
Is yours?

up next: climaticism---the gospel!!!

Major Events

2008-03-11T15:05:00.002-05:00

Yeah, so here are some of the things that have been going on in my life right now.

I got a job. I work at Ocean Beach Fries. I really like my job, and further, I think that it is the perfect job for me, coming at just the right time.

I decided to audition for Celebration Iowa, some kind of show choir/jazz band thing. If i get in, it would be all summer long. I hope that turns out well.

I'm captain of the Mock Trial team, and our competition was yesturday. There was so much for me to do, and I've really been working hard on this for a long time, so I'm really glad that we finally had the competition. I feel like the team was really able to pull itself together and do a good job. Because we went up against two really advanced teams, we will not be going on to the playoffs.

I'm doing really poorly academically right now. It's just hard for me to keep up with everything. I'm failing European History, the class from Hell.

that's about it right now.

*peace*

My Dream

2008-01-17T20:14:00.000-06:00

I have a brother.

Ben.

My brother and I had a plan.

The plan is simple:
A road trip.

We'll take a road trip to all the places we ever dreamed of.

RHYMES WITH PAIN: MAINE, SPAIN, AND NORWALK.

The Maine, Spain, Norwalk trip.
It'll be great.

We'll get to meet Stephen King!
And see a bullfight!
And...visit...norwalk...?

If anyone would like to come along, please let me know.

We WILL go.

It's my dream.

A Very Happy New Year

2008-01-01T15:39:00.000-06:00

I kinda wanta keep postin' on this thing. I might have a for-true and real blog ready in a while. For now I will just type the crazy things that come into my mind as I type them.

My favourite movie is Moulin Rouge, and I was watching highlights from it today. I'm gonna watch it tonight with my mother, because she has not seen it.

The new year's eve bash that I went to was a murder mystery/sleepover. good times. Have you ever done a murder mystery? It's great, you get to act out this great big scandolous thing and then try to figure out, out of all the people that really wanted to kill the guy, who actually did? Than, after all the guys went home we watched hairspray. The plot was...yeah. But I thought it was really fun...fun. And I guess it had a good message.

I...forgot what I was gonna say.

School starts up again tomorrow, and next week is finals. I'm scared sh**less, but I think I'll be okay. Won't I?

1:11AM

2007-12-28T23:58:00.000-06:00

Last night I was awake past midnight. At around one o'clock I remembered that somebody told me once that if you stayed awake until 1:11, you could make a wish. I decided that that's exactly what I would do.
At 1:10, I began to panic. If you're going to make a wish, you have to have a wish in mind. But I was drawing a blank. I was almost there, but then the clock turned, and it was 1:11.
A million things went through my mind. I made wishes for myself. I made wishes for my friends. I made wishes for material things. I made wishes for abstract things. I wished to fix the world, for the world not to be broken anymore.

The very last thing that went through my mind before the clock turned to 1:12 was, "I wish for God to be on my side."

What does that even mean?

God doesn't move. He won't move. He's everywhere all the time, he's unchanging, unchangable...and he's got his plan.
If anything, I should be wishing to for myself to be on God's side.
What does that take?
Is it something that you need to wish for?

And why am I so reluctant?

y r u?

2007-12-18T16:43:00.000-06:00

A blog is a blog for to publish thoughts from. This is where I will publish my thoughts. I've never had very many loyal readers, oh no I have not, but the few I had have probably all left me by now. For because I type nothing. I type nothing on my blog. So I have decided that I'm going to stop waiting around for something to say and I'm just gonna say it for christsakes. I mean look at the title of this one: y r u? What does it mean? y is it 4? Me don't know. Me no like game days. What? Sorry.

Commencing the random thoughts.

I believe that my last blog was on October 26, 2007. It's still 2007. That's good. This has been shaping up to be a pretty good year for me. I mean look at this: I got into All-state honor band! I still can't believe it. That was LAST MONTH and i still can't believe it. What a cool thing to have happen to me.

I lot of stuff like that has been happening to me. cool things. granted, none of them are quite as prestigious as All-State, but it's the little things, you know? The little things.

Since I last posted, I have become addicted to facebook. Mainly I just add applications and than delete them. I don't really even talk to anybody that much. I can't quite get into talking to people on the internet. Well, I have always been kind of a social freak. From Africa.

There are several people that I have gotten closer to, and people that I don't talk to at all anymore, and then those people that I see all the time, but I wish I were closer to. Story of my life. Story of all of our lives.

Speaking of stories and lives, I have begun to write a novel. Expect an excerpt to be posted VERY SOON. I like to blog.

I'm sorry that this blog had absolutely nothing to say.

Sorry.

Harry Potter Rip-Off

2007-12-11T20:09:00.001-06:00

Okay guys, ever since I was young it's kind of been my dream to be a writer. When I was eight years old, I wrote my first book, an American Rip-off of Harry Potter called "Poppy McEnnin". Today I unearthed the beginning of a second draft to this book, and I would love to share it with everyone. It's not good, but it's pretty good for a third grader.

Chapter 1
Full House

Poppy Mcennin was a nine year old girl who lived with oridanary people. She lived in a log cabin in minosota. She lived with her many sibleens, Even, Magie, Billy, Jessica, Ben, Garry, and ash, and her grandparents and her parents. Evan was short with brown hair. Magie was bossy sometimes…all the time! Billy had no charisticks. Jessica only cared about fassion. Ben could get studip, but mostly smart. Garry and Ash were always lost in a world of fantasy. The grandparents were boring. Her parents were strict. The funny thing about Poppys family was that Poppy was the only one in the whole family with red hair! Pretty weird, huh? Once Jessica had brown hair but when Poppy wished it was red the next morning it was blond!

Poppy was fascinated with magic. She Dreamed of being a magiceon when she grew up. She already knew a few card tricks. She was stuggeling on changing things into other thing. Her grandparents weren’t interested in magic aat all (they weren’t interested in any thing!).Poppys favoret boods were the cronicles of narnia.

Our story starts one buetiful June morning. Poppy got up and looked inside her bueatiful Dresser. It was made of bueatiful smooth red wood. It was carved beautifully. Poppy looked in the dresser to find that the ugly dress her mother bought was no where in sight. “Good riddence.” Mumbled Poppy. She put on her best dress (Her uncles family was comeing to live at the log cabin today) and she went downstairs to breakfast. All the boys in the house were digging a tunnel that led to a small underground room in the Kitchen. The room was for Poppys four year old cousins Anna and Susana who both had short black hair. Right now they’re probably getting ready to move to minsota while singing “We’re going to live in a whole! We’re going to live in a hole!” Just then Billy walked in. Poppy couldn’t wait until Uncle Bob moved in. He was bringing Uncle Rob, Ant Dolly, Anna, and Susana. Uncle Bob and Uncle Rob. were comedians. Aunt Dolly was an elegent lady. Anna and Susana were stirring up trouble all the time. Speaking of time, it was 10:30. Uncle Bob and his family showed up at midnight. The whole family stayed up and had a party. All seventeen people stayed up all night watching Poppy try magic tricks and Uncle Bob and Uncle Rob tell Jokes. What a full house.

Rhymes with Sad: The Story of my Plaid.

2007-10-26T17:33:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time I woned a plaid jacket. It wasn't really a jacket, just a heavy man's shirt. But I used it for more than I've ever used any other garment in my life.

I got it on Thanksgiving in 2006. We were going to go for a walk around Gray's Lake and my Dad was worried that I was going to be cold. At the time I was prety anti-jacket and I kept telling him that I would be fine.

Anyway, Dad didn't want me to be cold so he brought out one of his old plaid shirts for me to wear. It was plaid on the outside with some weird, cold, smooth material on the inside...I don't know what to call it, but it was dark blue. Anyway, once I put on the jacket I fell in love with it. For some reason it just made me feel beautiful. Maybe it was just because deep down I felt really touched that my Dad had given it to me.

From Thanksgiving on, the plaid and I were inseperable. I wore it whenever I could get away with wearing it. Not even just when i was cold, but all the time. I think I even slept in it a couple of times.

So the days roll on...when February comes I'm forced to think about the physical status of the thing...it's got holes in it. The holes were always there, but now they're getting bigger. Buttons have fallen off. There are so many imperfections in the fabric that I can tell that I am going to have to throw it away soon, or watch it slowly destroy itself. My beloved plaid jacket: reduced to mere rags. But I couldn't bear to throw it away. Never. I needed a miracle.

One night I'm wearing it at one of my band concerts, over my uniform. I know that I can't wear it onstage so right before we go on I take it off and put it on a bench. I'll be able to find it after the concert. I know I will.

What happens next is the most magical part of the whole story. To the unbeliever it might seem as if a custodian had seen the rag of a thing sitting so near to a trashcan and thrown it away, assuming it was trash. Mayhaps that is what happened. I wouldn't blame anyone for assuming that thing was trash. But it's more likely that my plaid jacket pulled an Elijah: taken straight up into heaven without ever having to die. Personally, I like to think that it was taken to the lost and found, where someone else found it and made it their own, having just as much fun with it as I did. If my plaid can make someone else happy than it was worth losing it.

It's the mystery of the story that I like best. All I know is that when I cam back for it, it wasn't there. I'll never know what exactly happened to it, which is much better than having to finally bring myself to throw it away after it falls apart. I compare the story to that of Marilyn Monroe. She died young, in a mysterious way, so that she would remain young forever in our memories.

Sometimes I still miss my plaid jacket, but I was never sad about it being gone. I'll always have the memories.

Chad is Chad

2007-10-07T21:00:00.000-05:00

Chad is Chad.

Chad is my friend.

I am friends with Chad.

Chad is cool.

Chad is crazy.

Chad is obsessed with Jack Sparrow.

Chad is too lazy to come to my marching band show.

I didn't go to his either.

Chad is a marching band nerd.

I am a marching band nerd.

Chad and I are both marching band nerds.

Chad and I are friends.

Chad is the star of Chadtalk.

Chad wanted me to write a blog about him.

Chad is a lot of things.

Chad is Chad.

Witnessing Doesn't Work

2007-10-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

So we're Christians, right? We believe in Christ, and now we know our next job: to spread the word. Spread the word of Christ to all the nonbelievers.
And that's hard.
But it also doesn't work.

I only say this because it is the title of my blog entry. But let me explain how I came to this opinion.

Today after school I was talking to a very good friend of mine who happened to be carrying around a book about Wicca. A christian guy at my school that I know asked her if she was Wiccan. She said no. He asked her if she believed in Heaven and Hell. She said that she believed in Heaven, not so much Hell. He asked her that if she died tomorrow, where would she go, heaven or hell. She said she didn't know.

And here's the thing. She was appalled by his behaviour! I think she saw it as a personal attack on her. I have another good friend that was trying to tell her that she had to pray a special prayer to get into heaven. I think she misunderstood this as well. She thought that we were trying to force weird beliefs on her.

I didn't know what to say. I could've used this as an opportunity to try to witness to her, or see where she stands with the whole religion thing, but after hearing her tell about those two experiences with christians that I know, I had no idea how to approach it.

Now I have questions for you, reader. And by that I mean Patrick. I'm not trying to make a point or looking for a specific answer. I just don't know.

-What's more important about witnessing: that you are preaching the word of God to them whether they accept it or not, or that you are listening to them and trying to make sense out of their beliefs, even if it means not saying everything that you want to drive your own point home?

-Did you think that that was a really long confusing question?

-How would you, readers, talk to my friend in this situation (assuming that all my readers are chistian)?

-Is there a point when you decide to stop driving your point and just decide to let it go?

In my opinion, witnessing is the hardest part of Christianity. The hardest part is when you're so emotionally attached to one of you're friends and they can't understand the very most important part of your life.

What a Day. What a Life.

2007-09-25T16:25:00.000-05:00

Be happy everyone!

This is my reminder to you to be Happy!

Cross-Country

2007-09-08T11:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I'm back in the whole cross country thing! Last Thursday was my first race, and I think I did pretty well considering that I haven't run in a while. I wanted to do better, but I know I will do even better next time, even though next time is Valley and I hated that race last year.

Yesturday I experienced a speed workout. We were supposed to run as fast as we could for one lap, and then walk half a lap. We did this four times. I'm not used to doing stuff like that. I can only actually sprint for a little less than 200 meters, but I had to do the whole 400. That was really hard and I hated it, but looking back, I think it was really good for me. Today I can still feel where I had been working the hardest (the back of my thighs...are those called hamstrings? and my calves). Today I think I will go for an easy run on my own and see how far I can go.

That is all.

Poison Ivy

2007-08-26T15:10:00.000-05:00

Originally, the whole point of this blog was to write about the crazy adventures (and misadventures) that I experience as I strive to become a functioning member of the Cross-Country Team. That is why the Title is "Run, Katie, Run" and the url is "runningkatie". The idea was to allow my readers to go through the whole running experience with me, and to watch me improve.

Well, I've had this site all summer, and I haven't done much writing about cross-country. But now I have a horrible problem. About a week ago I stumbled into a patch of poison ivy. Now I have a hideous rash. It's on my face. It's on my arms. It's on my legs. It's on my stomach. It's on my back. It's everywhere. And my biggest fear is that it's still spreading.

I've been getting treatment for it, so now it looks a lot better, but it still itches. I'm supposed to stay inside, in the air conditioning, and keep cool. I shouldn't do anything that would cause me to sweat. And that means no running.

No running.

No running. I can't believe it. At first I thought that the rash would clear up right away and that I would only have to skip the first meet, but this thing could take weeks.

It's already been about a month since I've done any serious running, due to a combination of vacation, respiratory problems, and laziness. But now it's TIME for me to start running again, and I just can't.

I don't know how much more of this I can take.

What I Want: Destiny

2007-08-08T15:40:00.000-05:00

It seems like even when fate is working in my favor I can still manage to screw everything up. If destiny is the force that brings me towards what I want, than what is the force that keeps stalling? Is it my own screwiness? If that is so, than I am worried, for if a force assmall as I can change the course of even one destiny, than destiny is hardly something even to put hope in. But maybe all that is frustrating me is just a small part of a larger destiny, more flexible yet immovable: one that not even my screwiness will be able to screw up. I'll just have to trust that somehow, someday, all of these horrible frustrations will resolve themselves into something beautiful. Am I a hopeless romantic for thinking so? Unfortunately, that "beautiful" thing is probably not the thing that I am hoping for presently. I could sit here pouting about that fact, or I could accept that the stuff I deal with now is just temporary, but anything good that comes out of this mess, that beautiful thing I am waiting for, will last at least a bit longer. Maybe even forever.

I believe that the force behind all this "destiny", which is hocus-pocus talk, is God. He is orchestrating my life so that I'm always learning and always having opportunities to become a better person. I pray for what I want, but even than I know that it's silly. I, comparatively, have no idea what I want. God knows what I want today, wanted yesturday, and will want tomorrow. He knows what's best for me. The best prayers that I can pray ar that I would be willing to accept whatever he deems fit, and that my screwiness wouldn't ge in his way.

That's what I really want.

My Biggest Stnank

2007-08-05T15:47:00.001-05:00

If I learned one thing at camp this past week it was this: Do not judge people.

In my life I’m always having opportunities to meet new people, but I’m always judging them. Sometimes negatively, and sometimes positively, but it always ends up building a giant barrier between the person and myself. There are so many people that I will never be able to love, never learn from, all because I would rather look at them from a distance than take a chance on getting to know their heart.

I feel like crying right now, as I am typing this, because it is my biggest regret. People enter and leave your life all the time. And sometimes you only have one chance at friendship.

I urge you, readers! Get to know the people around you! Start a conversation. Ask them questions. Build relationships. It’s the only way to live. You cannot spend your whole life being afraid of the people around you. Don’t judge them.

RLBC

2007-07-28T23:52:00.000-05:00

Well, for the few loyal readers that I have (and I'm sure there are a few out there), I would love to let you know that after a week of blogging almost every day, I have decided to leave you and not blog at all for one week.

Why, you may ask? Well, I'm off to RIVERSIDE, a place of fun and enjoyment, praising god and living the gospel. I'm oh so excited. i always have an amazing time at Riverside, and i'm really looking forward to the week and what God has in store for me.

See you on the other side.

Anticlimatic

2007-07-26T20:20:00.000-05:00

All my life, always and always I'm always looking forward to these things...seventh grade I started looking forward to my freshmen year...

Everything will become clear

When you start your freshmen year

...That's when life would become EXTREME. That's when life would fall into place. Freshmen year came, and freshmen year went. I was so busy waiting for it all to happen and I never realized that nothing happened at all.

And it's not just stuff like that. Little things, you know? I went to jazz camp earlier this summer (and i wish i still had the blog that I wrote about that), and i was expecting to become the super-trumpet-player-jazz-fanatical-phenomenon! But, even after an amazing week, my life remains basically the same.

Sometimes i see that my life is going in a wrong direction and i'm getting some bad habits, so I say "This is it. My super life-turnaround point. From now on things will be okay."

I'm always waiting nothing ever happens...Why can't i just accept that my life is anticlimatic?

If I want change, I have to make it happen. And I'll have to keep making it happen.

Katie's Big Day

2007-07-25T15:42:00.000-05:00

Yesturday I ate Five Pounds of fudge. Seriously! Five Pounds!!!

Do you know how much that is? And of Fudge!!! It took me like an hour because I had to sit down and take a break every once and a while...
and let it settle in my stomach...which never really happened....

I Almost Spewed!!!

Can you imagine? Five Pounds of Fudge. The world's richest food.

And it wasn't even very good fudge. Mediocre...at best...actually...it didn't even taste like

anything. Patrick had some and he would barely eat any of it. He thinks I'm crazy.

Wow. I still can't believe that yesturday I ate all that fudge.

Yeah.

The Very Sad Man

2007-07-23T19:58:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time there was a very sad man.
He was sad because he had lost his puppy and did not know how to find it.
He looked all over, high and low, but he could not find his little puppy. He asked every person who crossed his path, but none could tell him where his little puppy had gone.
Weeks went by. Months went by. Even years went by. But the sad man still had not found his puppy, and he was still sad about it.
The man could not even remember what his little puppy looked like.
One day, the man heard laughter coming from down the street. The man followed the sound, because he had been sad for a very long time, and liked the sound of laughter.
Running down the street was a delighted little boy, followed by a large, handsome Golden Retriever.
Tears came to the man's eyes as he remembered the love that he had shared with his long-lost puppy.
The boy tackled his dog playfully, and then hugged it. The man cold see the height of joy in the little boys eyes.
Just then, the dog walked up to the man, sniffed him, and wagged his tail. Suddenly, the man understood.
This was his lost puppy. It had grown into a handsome dog, and found a home with the lonely boy.
"His name is Pat," said the boy, "He's very nice--my best friend in the whole world! Would you like to pet him?"
The man looke down at the boy and remembered his years of sadness.
"No thanks," the man replied, as he turned his back and walked away, glad that his lost little puppy had found a home.

Harry Potter and What I Want

2007-07-22T15:51:00.000-05:00

After all the grumbling i did over the hype of the final Harry Potter book, i did the hypocritical thing.
I bought the book.
The day it was released.
And stayed up all night reading it.

But maybe that's a good thing, and I'll tell you why. At five thirty a.m. this morning, after resolving to stop reading for the night, i just could not fall asleep. I had a lot of time to do a lot of thinking about what i really want.
Many of you know that i play trumpet. A few of you know that i really struggle with the fact that i am a trumpet player. It's been pretty important to me in the past, and i haven't really been able to figure out how it fits in to my life with God. When i finally decided to stop worshiping trumpet and to put my main focus on the big guy, I seriously thought that i would stop playing trumpet. And that's when the confusing part came...do i drop it right now? or do i wait until after highschool to call it quits? or does it just mean that my future career won't be as a musician after all? do i even bother to keep taking private lessons?

this caused me to stop practicing...it's just too much. A week without playing trumpet AT ALL...it's not what i'm used to...my lips were actually starting to hurt...and my fingers kept up their jittering...yes. I have actually been known to go through trumpet withdrawal.

Last night as the sun rose and i struggled to get to sleep i realized something. God gave me the trumpet. It was more than just something to test my loyalty or trust or whatever...it was a gift. a talent. something that i am supposed to give back to him. "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (James 1:17) When God gives you something, you DON'T just let it lay dormant. I decided that before i could even touch the Harry Potter book (which i am now thoroughly addicted to) today, I would have to suck it up and play that darned (insert non-churchy word here in place of darned) horn.

When I picked up me trumpet today...and held the valves...i can't even explain the feeling. It was like coming home.

Forget Harry Potter. This is where God wants me. This is what I do. This is what i want. And that will never change.

What I Want

2007-07-21T00:31:00.001-05:00

1 Corinthians 13

I must be patient and kind. I must not envy, I must not boast. I must not be proud. I am not rude, I am not self-seeking, I am not easily angered. I will keep no record of wrongs. I do not delight in evil, but I rejoice with the truth. I must always protect, always trust, and always hope. God will help me to ALWAYS persevere. I must do all these things because I am a servant, a follower, a child, a friend of God, and God is Love. Even if I become the ultimate super-Christian, but have not Love, than I become nothing. If I desire God and let him teach me to love, than I can become the woman that god made me to be.

All my relationships should spur me on towards God. They must bring out the Love in me that is patient and kind. My relationships should not cause me to envy or boast. They will steer me away from pride and from selfish thoughts. My relationships will not be about me. They will help me to be a classy young lady. In my relationships, I will keep no record of wrongs. I won’t delight in evil, and no one will cause me to delight in evil. I will NOT let my friends make evil seem attractive to me. When I am with my friends, we will rejoice in the Truth. We will protect each other, we will trust each other, and never be cynical with each other. We will spur each other towards God and help each other in our faith walks. I will never leave a friend out of hatred. All my relationships must be full of Grace and full of Love, or else they will get me nowhere. I must do all I can to demonstrate love to everyone I meet, or else why meet them? A relationship that brings out the bad qualities in me is not worth my time. I want to become the woman that God created me to be.

I love God because God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. God is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered. He keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the Truth! God IS protection. God always protects, and he WILL protect. He is a trusting God, and he will help me learn to trust him, because there has never been anyone in the world who is more deserving of my trust. God is my only hope, and without him I have nothing. God was in the beginning. And God is in the end. God goes past the beginning and the end, and he never changes (James 1:17). I can try to do everything a Christian does, I can do a million good deeds, I could hug a puppy, I could try to be the ultimate good person, but without God I will fail, and none of it would be right. God is Love.

I need Love. I need God.

I love him, but he loved me first. I love him because he loved me first. I love him for who he is, and I love him for what he’s done for me. I love him because he is there for me to love. I love him because he is the only one who can help me become the woman I was created to be.

That is what I want. I want God.

Harry Potter?

2007-07-20T11:13:00.000-05:00

As you all know, tonight the seventh and final Harry Potter book comes out. Several people are excited, and for many a good reason. I mean, they are good books. I myself am a fan of the series.

But i was shocked to find a story about Harry Potter on the front page of the Des Moines Register this morning. Seriously, the front page! That's in addition to having a Harry Potter story in the IowaLife section EVERY DAY THIS WEEK. Never before have i realized just how many people are obsessed with these books.

NO! THEY'RE NOT BOOKS! They are beautiful stories upon which we should build our society and raise our children!!! *gag*

Listen to me. I'm excited to read the book too, but there is so much more to life than Harry Potter!

They say that the world needs magic...

Open your eyes! There is magic all around you!

I'm going to go running now. *peace*

Um Ya Ya

2007-06-18T15:15:00.000-05:00

Um Ya Ya is the title of the Saint Olaf fight song. I've always wanted to hear my oldest brother sing this.
I went on a wacky confirmation trip with my church one time to Saint Olaf. This inevitably led to my brother singing the Um Ya Ya song. Unfortunately i wasn't paying attention at the time. Later i wanted him to sing it again, but he wouldn't.
Here's the point: I lot of times in life we're looking for something, something specific. That something specific is often times God. That thing is around us constantly, and even reaching out to us...but we're just not paying attention.
And then we ask the age-old question: "Where were you when i needed you? Where ARE you, God?"
Fortunately, God is much more patient than my brother. He will always sing the Um Ya Ya song. Just make sure that this time, you pay attention.

Crazy (But True) Stories From Jazz Camp

2007-06-16T15:55:00.000-05:00

Crazy (But True) Stories From Jim Widner Big Band Jazz Camp
aren't you glad I wrote the title twice?

I saw a very good looking guy (and I said VERY good looking!) who looked like Emaich but with amazing long hair. He talked with a lisp, but that was okay. Unfortunately, I couldn't think of anything clever to say to him. So I didn't.

Well, it's a lot better than not having anything clever to say, but saying it anyway. Trust me.

I amused myself for 30 min, timing my watch with the flashes on my meteronome.

I amused myself for 2o min staring at my name backwards in a mirror.
I drew a face on a roll of toilet paper.
I saw Gavin. I said, "Hi."

The door to the room for my theory class was confusing. People kept trying to pull it open while people inside the room kept yelling "PUSH! PUSH!" which only brings one question to mind: "Where's the father?"

How to Play an Amazing Solo at Contest

2007-04-14T14:56:00.002-05:00

Step 1: Open the ketchup.

Step 2: Go to teacher and he will pick out concert etude by Alexander Goedicke.

Step 3: Smile a little.

Step 4: Practice for 4 months.

Step 5: Sign up for 3 other events at solo and ensemble contest.

Step 6: Wake up at 6:oo on the BIG DAY. eat a large breakfast. No more eating for you until you're all done.

Step 8: play your other 3 events in the morning. Make sure to drink TONS O' WATER.

Step 9: Go to grounds for celebration. Yummy!

Step 10: Freak out for a half hour.

Step 11: Warm up, then get to your performing center early because They moved you up a slot.

Step 12: Blow everyone's brains out. !!!!!!

Step 14: Close the ketchup and put it back into the fridge.

Given all this, I had a really great day today.

Pointy Blog: Cranes

2007-03-29T14:54:00.000-05:00

So I've been making a lot of paper cranes lately (I've got to reach one thousand somehow), and as i sat on my crane-littered floor Saturday, making them time after time again, i realized that there were so many paper cranes, all of them were different, and not one of them was perfect. I thought it was a metaphor for life.
My thoughts: "Maybe this is how God feels."
But then, while contemplating whether or not that last statement was blasphemy, I realized that People are not like paper cranes.
The beauty of a crane comes from the details and the crazy perfect perfection of it.
In people, it's the crazy little quirks that make us awesome. Every buddy is different! Every buddy is perfect (not taking into account the whole thing with human imperfection. ugh...that's a whole other story. and with this little bit in parentheses i have contradicted my whole blog and only succeeded in confusing you).
Learn from this.

Physics, Chemistry, and Everything in Between

2007-03-01T14:37:00.001-06:00

I wink at you.
All right, so if you're reading this blog, you're probably expecting to hear about Physics, chemistry, and everything in between.
I hate Chemistry. It drives a me nuts!
"In the end, physics is all about the events that coincide in space and time." -Dr. Carlos l. Calle
Determinism-The world obeys the precise laws discovered by science and, after the universe is set into motion, everything that happens is predetermined because the universe must obey these laws.
I like physics. i think it's cool. Part of it might be cuz i like schoneberg, but not really because i thought he was a pretty bad teacher. Awesome coach, pretty bad teacher.
I love cross-country!
Note to self, i need to run more.
Here ends this blog.
Now tell me what you think!