Life has been fairly crazy here & finals week is now looming on the horizon. As much stress as finals week is as a student, imagine being a student AND a teacher. So at the same time, I'm frantically trying to pull everything together for papers, students are knocking on my door complaining about their grades and asking me to explain to them the importance of some court case because it might be on the exam!!!!!!
You may not see me for the next two weeks, but then, I'm hoping to post more about my quilt and other miscellaneous adventures. If I get enough courage to bring a hymnal to class, I'll share that as well!!!
Showing posts with label autobio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label autobio. Show all posts
Friday, December 2, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Surprise!!!
Life has been hectic. Sometimes I feel like I'm going around in circles, trying to plug one hole in the dike only to discover yet another and then another. School, work, medical, church... the circle goes on and on.
The one thing that keeps me sane: friends!!!! They're people I can call whenever I need someone to complain to or a shoulder to cry on or a haven to escape to. They're there to listen to me, to laugh over the ridiculousness of circumstances, and to give me advice. They're also there to sit in my office hours, advise me on grading & interactions with students, read my papers, and encourage me. Everyone needs friends.
Which brings me to the point: awesome roommates are essential!!!
My roommate's birthday is coming up in a couple days, and one of my friends & I got in cahoots to plan a surprise birthday dinner for her!! Figuring out how to invite her friends, how to have enough food for twice the number of people (without her figuring it out), how to surprise her when she's doing a bunch of cooking too, and what her favorite foods are.... It was quite the expedition.
But it was a lot of fun, too. I love thinking about people in my life & what they really like and how to make them happy. Picking the perfect gift is SO much fun. :) Seeing the smile on her face when she opened the door to her friends: it was priceless!!!
So, when life gets hectic, don't abandon your friends. They're your lifelines. Plus, they can make you extra happy!!
The one thing that keeps me sane: friends!!!! They're people I can call whenever I need someone to complain to or a shoulder to cry on or a haven to escape to. They're there to listen to me, to laugh over the ridiculousness of circumstances, and to give me advice. They're also there to sit in my office hours, advise me on grading & interactions with students, read my papers, and encourage me. Everyone needs friends.
Which brings me to the point: awesome roommates are essential!!!
My roommate's birthday is coming up in a couple days, and one of my friends & I got in cahoots to plan a surprise birthday dinner for her!! Figuring out how to invite her friends, how to have enough food for twice the number of people (without her figuring it out), how to surprise her when she's doing a bunch of cooking too, and what her favorite foods are.... It was quite the expedition.
But it was a lot of fun, too. I love thinking about people in my life & what they really like and how to make them happy. Picking the perfect gift is SO much fun. :) Seeing the smile on her face when she opened the door to her friends: it was priceless!!!
So, when life gets hectic, don't abandon your friends. They're your lifelines. Plus, they can make you extra happy!!
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Why was the floor made?
One upside of having a large living room floor is that I can use it for multiple purposes. While it might also demonstrate my lack of furniture, it is definitely a useful space.
The question is this: would you rather be grading blue book exams or laying out a quilt???
If you were writing verse three for this song, what would you say the floor was made for?
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Something new in the works...
Monday, September 12, 2011
Changes in my life = changes to this blog
To my faithful readers (I'm not sure there are any),
As I have moved to a new state & gone back to school, I'm expanding the parameters of this blog a bit. I'm still taking violin lessons, so I'll continue to write about those adventures. But I also need an outlet to write about those things in life that have nothing to do with school!!!!
So, I'm adding things like thoughts on crafts, reviews of cool books, observations on teaching, and more!!! Let me know if you want to know about something in particular.
As I have moved to a new state & gone back to school, I'm expanding the parameters of this blog a bit. I'm still taking violin lessons, so I'll continue to write about those adventures. But I also need an outlet to write about those things in life that have nothing to do with school!!!!
So, I'm adding things like thoughts on crafts, reviews of cool books, observations on teaching, and more!!! Let me know if you want to know about something in particular.
Monday, March 21, 2011
A confession
Even though I'm doing much better over all, it seems that I've had a few exhausted days. Every activity feels laborious, and I've even resorted to going to bed at 8:00 p.m. All that goes to tell you that I've neglected this blog not out of lack of things to write about but out of lack of energy. In fact, I have a few exciting things that I want to write about, so stay tuned!
In the mean time, on the violin front, I have still been practicing. Never fear. I have read my own columns! I have decided that a little bit of practice is better than none, especially if I'm focusing on the project at hand. So the Froggie is still goin' a-fiddlin'. :)
In the mean time, on the violin front, I have still been practicing. Never fear. I have read my own columns! I have decided that a little bit of practice is better than none, especially if I'm focusing on the project at hand. So the Froggie is still goin' a-fiddlin'. :)
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Who am I, why the violin, and why now?
I suppose every blog needs an introduction. This one certainly begs one.
I am a twenty-something graduate of a top 20 college in the United States where I studied history and physics. I even earned a master of arts in history and am currently working as a historian for a prominent institution and serving as a freelance editor on the side. That makes me the perfect candidate to begin learning violin, right?
Music has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started taking piano lessons when I was six after having picked out the upright piano I wanted in the piano store. (It turns out that I picked a good one.) While I'll be the first to admit that I never had the talent to perform professionally, I enjoyed playing the piano and performed quite complicated pieces rather well in high school. In ninth grade, I gave a joint recital with my younger sister, performing a number of pieces including Mozart's Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" known in plain English as Twelve Variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".
My fondest memories of childhood music were chamber music. In tenth and eleventh grades, I had the honor of working with a local violinist who was just about my age. Together we performed Beethoven's Spring Sonata for Piano and Violin. It was so much fun to work with another instrumentalist and to see music come and alive in dialogue between instruments. I fell in love with the different textures, and the power of music to convey dynamic emotions. I knew I was lucky to have the opportunity to play with this talented friend, and I learned a lot by watching her perform. (She recently graduated from Curtis Institute of Music as a violist and is performing on the international stage!)
I always intended for music to be a major part of my life, but some unforeseen health conditions manifested themselves towards the end of my high school career. All of sudden, it seemed that I couldn't practice three hours a day, no matter how much I wanted to. My connection to music all of sudden became a physical impossibility. As days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, I ran away from the music I had grown to love, unwilling to face the loss of something I loved.
To be sure, I found new ways to make music a part of my life. I began playing in church meetings and continued to accompany my younger sisters. But for the most part, I avoided recitals and concerts because they reminded me too much of the past I had lost. Even studying music history was hard; I loved learning about the role of music in culture and its contributions to philosophy, but it all reminded of me shattered dreams.
Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. I'm learning to confront my fears with an inner strength that is my own. And I'm learning to make the most of my circumstances by finding new ways to grow. Rather than allow my limitations to shape who I am, I'm actively creating my own person within the confines of my life. It's finally time to make music, classical music, a more central part of my life, not in the way that it was before, but in a new way, a more mature way, a way that embraces that person that I'm becoming.
Why the violin? I've always liked the violin. I like it for its shape, its beauty, and its portability. (Imagine bringing your piano with you everywhere to perform, and then imagine playing a brand new instrument when walking out on stage.) I love the rich texture of its music. And I love how it has different musical capacities than the piano.
Learning the violin has been brewing in my mind for a long time. How did it came to fruition? I commented on a friend's photo on facebook and jokingly asked her if she could teach me to play violin. She was, after all, a violin teacher! Would she be willing to take on a long distance student? I really didn't expect to hear back from her, and I actually forgot about the whole saga until the following message appeared on my Facebook wall: "I'm thinking Skype might work for long-distance violin lessons. I haven't downloaded it yet, but I do have a webcam. This is assuming the sound-picture delay isn't too bad... What do you think?"
Three months later, the journey begins. My violin frog is going fiddlin'.
I am a twenty-something graduate of a top 20 college in the United States where I studied history and physics. I even earned a master of arts in history and am currently working as a historian for a prominent institution and serving as a freelance editor on the side. That makes me the perfect candidate to begin learning violin, right?
Music has been an integral part of my life for as long as I can remember. I started taking piano lessons when I was six after having picked out the upright piano I wanted in the piano store. (It turns out that I picked a good one.) While I'll be the first to admit that I never had the talent to perform professionally, I enjoyed playing the piano and performed quite complicated pieces rather well in high school. In ninth grade, I gave a joint recital with my younger sister, performing a number of pieces including Mozart's Twelve Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman" known in plain English as Twelve Variations on "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".
My fondest memories of childhood music were chamber music. In tenth and eleventh grades, I had the honor of working with a local violinist who was just about my age. Together we performed Beethoven's Spring Sonata for Piano and Violin. It was so much fun to work with another instrumentalist and to see music come and alive in dialogue between instruments. I fell in love with the different textures, and the power of music to convey dynamic emotions. I knew I was lucky to have the opportunity to play with this talented friend, and I learned a lot by watching her perform. (She recently graduated from Curtis Institute of Music as a violist and is performing on the international stage!)
I always intended for music to be a major part of my life, but some unforeseen health conditions manifested themselves towards the end of my high school career. All of sudden, it seemed that I couldn't practice three hours a day, no matter how much I wanted to. My connection to music all of sudden became a physical impossibility. As days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years, I ran away from the music I had grown to love, unwilling to face the loss of something I loved.
To be sure, I found new ways to make music a part of my life. I began playing in church meetings and continued to accompany my younger sisters. But for the most part, I avoided recitals and concerts because they reminded me too much of the past I had lost. Even studying music history was hard; I loved learning about the role of music in culture and its contributions to philosophy, but it all reminded of me shattered dreams.
Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. I'm learning to confront my fears with an inner strength that is my own. And I'm learning to make the most of my circumstances by finding new ways to grow. Rather than allow my limitations to shape who I am, I'm actively creating my own person within the confines of my life. It's finally time to make music, classical music, a more central part of my life, not in the way that it was before, but in a new way, a more mature way, a way that embraces that person that I'm becoming.
Why the violin? I've always liked the violin. I like it for its shape, its beauty, and its portability. (Imagine bringing your piano with you everywhere to perform, and then imagine playing a brand new instrument when walking out on stage.) I love the rich texture of its music. And I love how it has different musical capacities than the piano.
Learning the violin has been brewing in my mind for a long time. How did it came to fruition? I commented on a friend's photo on facebook and jokingly asked her if she could teach me to play violin. She was, after all, a violin teacher! Would she be willing to take on a long distance student? I really didn't expect to hear back from her, and I actually forgot about the whole saga until the following message appeared on my Facebook wall: "I'm thinking Skype might work for long-distance violin lessons. I haven't downloaded it yet, but I do have a webcam. This is assuming the sound-picture delay isn't too bad... What do you think?"
Three months later, the journey begins. My violin frog is going fiddlin'.
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