The human imagination is the underdeveloped organ of the moral life, and perhaps the spiritual life as well.


- Harvey Cox
From When Jesus Came to Harvard p. 97

I forgot to slip chapstick into my pocket this morning.
Usually I have an extra tube somewhere (coat pocket, desk drawer, in my car)
But all of the "emergency" chapsticks are gone
And going a day without chapstick is slowly making me crazy.

Yes, I am lip balm addict.

Hi Kat!
I looked my site stats this evening
And noticed that someone from your area, with your internet provider was googling around for reviews the concert, and decided you must be spying on me again!
Welcome back! Feel free to leave a comment or something (to get the full blog experience!)

I was way too tired/busy to do a proper post this week. Instead you'll just have to settle for the titles of things I might have written this week (if I were more inclined to post)

Saturday - 2006 VW Family Christmas Get Together
Sunday - Annual Snow Plow Tirade
Monday - New Girl Scout Troop
Tuesday - Email Spam - invitation from a plagimist to "audition" for the role of fourth wife!
Wennesday - Fighting off a cold
Thursday - I really need to do laundry
Friday - Bluegrass Mass, The World Beloved is uber-cool
Saturday - Bad/sad news

I've never met him
But I know his mom

His unit was called to Iraq in September of 2005
His mom told me it would be 18 months
We both thought 2007 seemed like a long way away.

But 2007 has arrived, and March is just around the corner!
Except, as you've probably heard, The 1st Brigade has had their tour extended.

I don't know if her son is in The 1st Brigade
But the timing is right
And I fear she is going to have to wait an extra four months
And my heart breaks for his mom

More than a few of my loyal blog readers are Ramen Noodle fans.
And when I saw this tidbit, I thought you ought to know.

Last Friday, Momofuku Ando, inventor of instant ramen noodles and chairman of the company that makes Top Ramen, passed away.
via Defective Yeti

I myself eat generic ramen (the kind you can get for 10 cents, unless of course there is a sale and I can get REAL ramen for 10 cents. (Synders had a such a sale last week, but they ran out pretty quickly and by the time I got there the asiles were bare. Unfortunately Sunders doesn't do rain checks. But that's probably way more information than you wanted to know!)


In other college-related-death news, Robert Stafford, creator of the Stafford Loan Program also died.

I never would never have been able to afford college if it weren't for Stafford Loans and Ramen noodles. Thank you to both of these wonderful fellas who helped to ensure that I'd get an education!

As part of my job, I’m working with someone on a project.

And, the person who is partnering with me, is also a part-time student at a local seminary.

And, as a part of her program requirements she has to do some practicums.

And, because our project together includes themes such as justice and peace, her academic advisor decided it could count as one one of her ministry practicums.

And, somehow in the approval process I ended up becoming her "Ministry Supervisor"
!!!!!

(If you aren't giggling, you should be!)

My role as Ministry Supervisor is simply to sign some paperwork saying she contributed everything she was supposed to our project. So it's not like I'm actually doing any real Ministry Supervision
But STILL . . .

Guys Like That

Drive very nice cars, and from
where you sit in your dented
last-century version of the
most ordinary car in America, they

look dark-suited and neat and fast.
Guys like that look as if they are thinking
about wine and marble floors, but
really they are thinking about TiVo

and ESPN. Women think that guys
like that are different from the guys
driving the trucks that bring cattle
to slaughter, but guys like that are

planning worse things than the death
of a cow. Guys who look like that —
so clean and cool — are quietly moving
money across the border, cooking books,

making deals that leave some people
rich and some people poorer
than they were before guys like that
robbed them at the pump and on

their electricity bills, and even
now, guys like that are planning how
to divide up that little farm they just
passed, the one you used to call home.

By Joyce Stephen
As heard on today's Writer's Almanac

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN!

I was Ryan’s orchestra teacher when she was in 4th, 5th and 6th grade.
And then, when she graduated to junior high, I started teaching her privately.
She’s the only student that got stuck with me for four years.
I got to teacher her Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and take her all the way to Vivaldi.
(And let me tell you – that’s gosh darn cool!)

* * *
Ryan spent most of 4th grade trying to flatter me by telling me I had cool hair clips. (The coolest of which has gone missing. I’m not accusing anyone, but it is awfully suspicious the way she constantly admired my sliding hair clip, and then it suddenly disappeared - I’m just saying!)

* * *
Tomorrow is Epiphany.
I don’t usually track that sort of thing
BUT my new 2007 calendar notes all of the holidays.

If tomorrow is Epiphany, then today Epiphany Eve.
I really want to write about how appropriate it is that her birthday falls on Epiphany Eve because she herself is on the eve of a great epiphany. (But that’s just too cheesy!)

* * *
Watching Ryan grow up has been one of the spiffiest things ever.
(It’s better than television!)

* * * Welcome to the world of pseudo-adulthood my dear.
I’m so very proud of you
Happy Birthday Ryan.

This morning, the local classical radio station played one of the Seitz concertos (performed by Perlman). I knew he’d made a CD of the student repertoire, but never bothered to check it out. (Because REALLY, who wants a recording of the Seitz or Accolay??)

For those of you who aren’t violin geeks – Friedrich Seitz is a looser composer who wrote a couple of student violin concertos.
You’ve never heard of him, because the only worthwhile thing he ever wrote were a couple of stupid student violin concertos. They are difficult to learn (psychologically more so then technically) and even when you get a pro like Perlman to play it, it still sounds like a stupid cheesy student piece.
(You go through all the work to learn the piece, and have NOTHING to show for it).

But once you learn the darn thing – it sticks with you forever. As it was playing on the radio this morning, I was still able to finger (and “air-violin”) along.
(Especially on the second page of the third movement with the crazy slurs + 4th finger + string crossings) ick ick ewww!

The homeless guy (who was at the street corner trying to collect change from stopped traffic) thought I was crazy.
He didn’t even make eye contact with me.
(Usually it’s the other way around).


And now it is Seitz Storytime
One upon a time my teacher thought it would be good for me to play for a master class with Jonathan Sturm.
And there was much fear and trembling throughout the land.
Jonathan was a terrific local player - and had a reputation for being . . . Jonathan Sturn-like.

So I played it.
From MEMORY!
Just like Jennifer taught me
(with bow lifts after the second note).

And then, on the second page (where it gets really scary) my nerves got the best of me
and my fingers got mixed up,
and the memorization was forgotten,
and it was bad.

And then Jonathan yelled at me.

He didn’t like the bow lifts that Jennifer TOLD me to do.
He was angry that the memorization wasn’t good enough
(And I think he was a little insulted to be coaching a Seitz concerto – after all he was the great Jonathan and student concertos were SOOOO beneath him).

That Mean Man made me cry.
Of course I pretended that it was allergies.
But really – he was just too mean for me.

* * *
The person who played after me was named Ben.
Ben was a great player who’d taken lessons for forever.
Ben was a naturally nervous fella – and playing for Jonathan made him a little more scared.
And, after seeing Jonathan beat up me, Ben got off the charts nervous.
The poor boy was shaking

After Ben played (Vitali Chaconne) Jonathan strongly encouraged him to start taking drugs to control his nerves.

Up until that point in my life – the only thing I’d ever heard adults say were along the lines of “Drugs are BAD!” “Just Say No!” “Walk Away and Tell a Grown Up”. To hear a non-doctor adult in authority tell someone to take drugs was VERY disconcerting. Especially since Ben most of his nervousness was caused by Jonathan being mean.
It made me a little angry. (Which was good; being angry at Jonathan felt better than being scared of him).

That’s my Seitz story.
The End.

Do you remember that conference propsal I sumbitted in mid-November?
They were supposed to make decisions by mid-December
(And went I hadn't heard anything by Christmas, I sorta gave up on it.

But today I checked my email
(Yes, I check my work email on New Years Day).
(Yes, you can call me a work-aholoic)

And what to my wondering eyes should appear - but an invitation to be a presenter!!!!!!!

This is 50% exciting and 50% terriffing.
It's like I'm really a grown up professional now!!!