My extended family just left. We had a really fun time while they were here, but I hope it doesn't kill me in the next few weeks as I try to make up school that I've missed while they were here.
We went to the Dixie Stampede, Bass Pro Shops (the obvious stop for any out-of-towners from the East Coast), and went out to the S-'s to shoot the .22. They had never shot a gun before (at least the kids hadn't), so that was a new experience for them. I thought it would have been really funny to let them shoot the .22 and tell them that's about how much kick an average gun has. Then give them a 12-gauge shotgun and let them shoot that. And video how far backwards they fall. :)
I took my cousin Max to the Knight's track meet. I figured that'd be the only chance to introduce him to some of my friends. Poor thing, having to meet of all them. I think he survived, though.
I didn't get as much time this week to be in the Bible as I would have liked. I struggle with some things, and if I don't focus on God, then I very quickly get down and depressed. I hate it when that happens, and I end up getting angry at other people too. But hey, at least I realize I am acting like the way I am, and I know what the problem is, and how to fix it. The Devil's sly as anything, and he'll take any opportunity to snatch your heart, thoughts, and mind away from God. And trust me, it doesn't take very long for me to get irritated when I'm not focusing on God.
Nothin' can wash away my sin
Nothin' can wash away my sin
Nothin' can wash away my sin
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus
Nothin' can make the devil run
Nothin' can make the devil run
Nothin' can make the devil run
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus
Nothin' can bring me peace with God
Nothin' can bring me peace with God
Nothin' can bring me peace with God
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus
Nothin' can lead me to your throne
Nothin' can lead me to your throne
Nothin' can lead me to your throne
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus
Nothin' can make your people one
Nothin' can make your people one
Nothin' can make your people one
Nothin' Nothin'
Nothin' but the blood of Jesus
~ Chris Rice
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Birthdays are Symphonic, and the evil Demon, Stress, is not.
This past week, two of my best friends had their birthdays. Happy Birthday, Josh and Owen!! You're one year closer to Jesus!! :) Oh, and I think this Thursday is Holly's Birthday. Happy Birthday to you too...I can't remember if you read my blog or not, but I think some of your sibs do. And if they don't, they need to. :0
Last year, so of my friends went to a Leadership Camp, called Worldview Academy. It's a camp where you can establish what you believe, based on what the Bible says, and learn about other worldviews. Once you've ascertained what you believe, and you've learned about what other people believe, and the potential problems with their worldviews, then they send you out in teams to talk to people on the college campus that you are living on. You take what you've learned in lectures, and try to get people to really think about what they believe, and why they believe it. All too often, people believe something only because they've been raised that way. And once they are forced to start thinking about why they believe it, questions quickly come to their mind. So this camp is to make sure you aren't a "christian with a biblical worldview" just because you've been raised that way, but to make sure that your faith is really YOUR faith, and not just what your parents have taught to you for years. The nice thing is that the staff there don't just say, "this is what's right and true, believe it or you are wrong." They show you what the Bible says about important issues, and leave it up to you and what you've learned from your parents to come to grips with what you believe.
Now, everything I've just written above is what I've heard about the camp, either through the website, through promo vids from the staff, or from my friends that have gone. So if anything is not accurately portrayed, it's my fault, cause I probably misunderstood something. Once I get back from Worldview, I'll be able to present a much clearer picture of what WVA is about. Anyway, the camp is the first week in June, in Warrensburg. I'm pretty excited about it.
I went to the Symphony Concert this past Saturday with a bunch of my friends. The guest artist was amazing!! His name is David Kim. He is the Concert Master of the Philidelphia Orchestra. He played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and oh my word, he was incredible. I would pay a lot of money to hear him again in concert.
The Violin Concerto was three movements long. Now, if you've ever been to the Symphony, you know that you aren't supposed to applaud between movements of a song. Well, after the first movement of the aforementioned concerto, when Kim had really had a chance to show off his skills (which are sweet), Ron (the conductor) ended the movement with a flourish, and turned around. Well, he usually does that only at the end of an entire piece. So everybody started clapping, and ended up giving Kim a standing ovation. Quite possibly, Ron might have meant for that to happen, since the first movement was so good. But the problem was, that the audience proceeded to clap after every movement after that. So they clapped after the 2nd movement of the Tchaikovsky, and then after every movement of the Brahm's 4th Symphony. It aggravated me to NO END. At one point, I thought the audience had been cured, and there was about 5 seconds of silence in between movements of the Brahm's. But then, just as I turned to my friend in silent approval of the...silence, people started clapping again. AARRRGGGHH!! :) oh well.
I've got a test in every subject this week. Plus I have the ACT this Saturday. And I've got family from Connecticut coming on Saturday evening. Stress cometh quickly. I must go back to fending the evil demon off. Farewell, and prayers are appreciated. Later.
Last year, so of my friends went to a Leadership Camp, called Worldview Academy. It's a camp where you can establish what you believe, based on what the Bible says, and learn about other worldviews. Once you've ascertained what you believe, and you've learned about what other people believe, and the potential problems with their worldviews, then they send you out in teams to talk to people on the college campus that you are living on. You take what you've learned in lectures, and try to get people to really think about what they believe, and why they believe it. All too often, people believe something only because they've been raised that way. And once they are forced to start thinking about why they believe it, questions quickly come to their mind. So this camp is to make sure you aren't a "christian with a biblical worldview" just because you've been raised that way, but to make sure that your faith is really YOUR faith, and not just what your parents have taught to you for years. The nice thing is that the staff there don't just say, "this is what's right and true, believe it or you are wrong." They show you what the Bible says about important issues, and leave it up to you and what you've learned from your parents to come to grips with what you believe.
Now, everything I've just written above is what I've heard about the camp, either through the website, through promo vids from the staff, or from my friends that have gone. So if anything is not accurately portrayed, it's my fault, cause I probably misunderstood something. Once I get back from Worldview, I'll be able to present a much clearer picture of what WVA is about. Anyway, the camp is the first week in June, in Warrensburg. I'm pretty excited about it.
I went to the Symphony Concert this past Saturday with a bunch of my friends. The guest artist was amazing!! His name is David Kim. He is the Concert Master of the Philidelphia Orchestra. He played Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, and oh my word, he was incredible. I would pay a lot of money to hear him again in concert.
The Violin Concerto was three movements long. Now, if you've ever been to the Symphony, you know that you aren't supposed to applaud between movements of a song. Well, after the first movement of the aforementioned concerto, when Kim had really had a chance to show off his skills (which are sweet), Ron (the conductor) ended the movement with a flourish, and turned around. Well, he usually does that only at the end of an entire piece. So everybody started clapping, and ended up giving Kim a standing ovation. Quite possibly, Ron might have meant for that to happen, since the first movement was so good. But the problem was, that the audience proceeded to clap after every movement after that. So they clapped after the 2nd movement of the Tchaikovsky, and then after every movement of the Brahm's 4th Symphony. It aggravated me to NO END. At one point, I thought the audience had been cured, and there was about 5 seconds of silence in between movements of the Brahm's. But then, just as I turned to my friend in silent approval of the...silence, people started clapping again. AARRRGGGHH!! :) oh well.
I've got a test in every subject this week. Plus I have the ACT this Saturday. And I've got family from Connecticut coming on Saturday evening. Stress cometh quickly. I must go back to fending the evil demon off. Farewell, and prayers are appreciated. Later.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Ahhh...Catch up, quick!!
My word. It's been forever since I posted. Sorry.
I think it's funny, though. I get 70-80 hits on my site every week, even when I don't post.
In case you haven't noticed, I got a new play list. It will automatically play the songs when you load up this page. It doesn't have as many songs as my previous player (which I still have on the page) did, but you can see and select any song at any point in time on this new player. Most of the songs are Christian genre, of course, but I do have a couple that aren't. The first two are by a couple of artists I found while searching for music on project playlist. I liked them, so I added them. :) And I happen to really like Josh Groban's voice, so I added a couple of his. Hymn to Red October is from the movie, Hunt for Red October, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. An excellent movie that I highly reccomend. The only caution is the language, which really isn't too prevalent.
Okay, on to other things. Unfortunately, I received a 4 in my piano solos. So that means I have 44/45 points I need for my 3rd gold cup in piano. *sobs* But, hey, I like performing, so it'll give me the wonderful opportunity to memorize a full length concerto and perform it next year. Yipee. :/
Our church had a Easter Production that I was involved in. I played the part of one of Jesus' twelve Disciples. Only Peter, James, John, and Judas were actually named, and had speaking or definite action parts, so I don't know which disciple I was supposed to represent. I decided I'd be Luke, who was a doctor, since I also want to be a doctor.
We had two performances, one on Saturday evening before Easter, and one on Easter morning. Our Saturday evening performance had about 250ish people there, which is quite a good turn out, I thought. Sunday morning had 700ish people, so again, not too shabby.
Hilary, I don't know why you sometimes faint when you are nervous and your knees lock. I just know that it happens, and that I didn't want it to happen to me. :) I'll look it up when I have a little more time, and post the answer.
One of my best friend's sister, Rachel, got married this past Saturday to another one of my best friend's brother, Colin. Yeah. Get those families all intermarried, and make it confusing, why don't ya. :) If you want to see pictures, go to my sister's blog. 
But here's a picture on my blog, just so you can see who it was and what they look like. Jessi's got like 8 pics on her blog, I think.
But here's a picture on my blog, just so you can see who it was and what they look like. Jessi's got like 8 pics on her blog, I think.This Saturday the Symphony performs...I can't wait. It's been too long since the last performance. Like, a whole month.
We have family coming down from Connecticut in 10 days. I don't know if they read my blog or not, so I won't say anything else about them. They are a wonderful family, have 3 great kids, and have never come down to visit us. Hehe...we'll show 'em what it's like around here. Show 'em how real hillbillies live. Van bench on the front porch and all.
Okay, back to school. Post later. :)
Friday, March 7, 2008
Happy Anniversary
So I missed my 1st anniversary of my entry into the blogging world. Oh well. I've been blogging since the 5th of March, 2007...time goes by quick. I think I've posted once every 6 days on average...I'll have to try and increase that this next year.
I performed my choir solo today...I didn't think I did too well, but apparently I did, cause the judge came up to our choir right after we finished, and told our choir director that I had "stolen the show"...I guess that's a good thing. :)
But, I must say, God should get the glory in this case, cause even with my head and sniffles, I was able to sing all my parts, where previously I hadn't been able sing them very well. Praise the Lord. I was soooo incredibly nervous. The only thing I could think about was "don't lock your knees...cause you'll pass out and fall over in a millisecond if you do." So I just be-bopped to the song and really got into it. :-)
So now all I've got to finish out with music is my piano solos tomorrow...that I still don't have memorized...so, instead of blogging, I bid you farewell. Until another time.
I performed my choir solo today...I didn't think I did too well, but apparently I did, cause the judge came up to our choir right after we finished, and told our choir director that I had "stolen the show"...I guess that's a good thing. :)
But, I must say, God should get the glory in this case, cause even with my head and sniffles, I was able to sing all my parts, where previously I hadn't been able sing them very well. Praise the Lord. I was soooo incredibly nervous. The only thing I could think about was "don't lock your knees...cause you'll pass out and fall over in a millisecond if you do." So I just be-bopped to the song and really got into it. :-)
So now all I've got to finish out with music is my piano solos tomorrow...that I still don't have memorized...so, instead of blogging, I bid you farewell. Until another time.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The Ultimate Viewpoint
Our world is very interesting. Take for example, a person. We will call this person MaryAnn. From person A's perspective, MaryAnn is a ultra-conservative, elitist, shy kind of a person that is rather socially awkward. From person B's perspective, MaryAnn is neither elitist or shy, definitely not socially awkward, and by no means ultra conservative.
But both people could be telling the truth. Let us assume that both are correct. All the things mentioned DO apply to MaryAnn in every way. They also DO NOT apply to her in any way. Go figure.
"It depends on the situation," you might say. Well, perhaps, but it could also depend on the point of view of the one viewing.
So we've discovered that depending on what sticky situation a viewer is in, the view will change. Interesting....meaning that while short skinny people would call you fat and tall, Tall skinny people would call you short and fat...and while some may say I play the piano well, when looked at from the viewpoint of Chopin's abilities, I am a lowly beginner. So we also see that one does not have to adopt the view from their own sticky situation, but can also adopt the view of an entirely different persona, even one which is not even alive.
Also, if viewpoints depend on the situation, then are inherent character traits and vices really non-exsistent?? Since viewed from one way, they exist, and viewed from another, seem to disappear, then perhaps evil and good do not exist.
Ah, but we must factor in the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omnicient, God. Relativity finds it's stable base in the all-knowing viewpoint of the One who can be in every sticky situation and adopt all viewpoints at all times. So while the world viewed from our any human eye could potentially be classed as neither good nor evil, with no absolutely correct viewpoint, we discover that one must attempt to adopt the viewpoint of God, a nearly impossible feat, since one cannot know everything, see everything, and be everywhere at once.
But of course, this God knows that, and has provided a textbook outlining His viewpoint, providing a stable base from which to relate the rest of the world to. Even human eyes, viewing the world from this God-given text, will start to see the world through God's eyes, and will begin to change their own viewpoint to match that of this God. When viewed from an eternal perspective, their own sticky situation becomes negligable, and one can focus on what really matters.
The Cross of Christ.
But both people could be telling the truth. Let us assume that both are correct. All the things mentioned DO apply to MaryAnn in every way. They also DO NOT apply to her in any way. Go figure.
"It depends on the situation," you might say. Well, perhaps, but it could also depend on the point of view of the one viewing.
So we've discovered that depending on what sticky situation a viewer is in, the view will change. Interesting....meaning that while short skinny people would call you fat and tall, Tall skinny people would call you short and fat...and while some may say I play the piano well, when looked at from the viewpoint of Chopin's abilities, I am a lowly beginner. So we also see that one does not have to adopt the view from their own sticky situation, but can also adopt the view of an entirely different persona, even one which is not even alive.
Also, if viewpoints depend on the situation, then are inherent character traits and vices really non-exsistent?? Since viewed from one way, they exist, and viewed from another, seem to disappear, then perhaps evil and good do not exist.
Ah, but we must factor in the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omnicient, God. Relativity finds it's stable base in the all-knowing viewpoint of the One who can be in every sticky situation and adopt all viewpoints at all times. So while the world viewed from our any human eye could potentially be classed as neither good nor evil, with no absolutely correct viewpoint, we discover that one must attempt to adopt the viewpoint of God, a nearly impossible feat, since one cannot know everything, see everything, and be everywhere at once.
But of course, this God knows that, and has provided a textbook outlining His viewpoint, providing a stable base from which to relate the rest of the world to. Even human eyes, viewing the world from this God-given text, will start to see the world through God's eyes, and will begin to change their own viewpoint to match that of this God. When viewed from an eternal perspective, their own sticky situation becomes negligable, and one can focus on what really matters.
The Cross of Christ.
Federation
2 days till doomsday. But if I survive, then...um...I'll be a doomsday survivor, I guess. Okay, so it's not really doomsday, but about this time every year, it feels like it. There's this fine arts competetion called Federation. In general, you perform some type of fine art in front of a judge, and he judges you according to the guidelines set down for your specific art. In my case, I'm playing the piano this year. I have two songs that I've been memorizing over the last couple months. I'll play those in front of the judge, and he'll score me on rote memorization, dynamics, rythm, etc...I'm competing against myself, trying to do the best I can. You get a score from 1-5, 5 being the best. After you accumulate 15 points, you earn a gold cup. The quickest time frame you can do this in is 3 years, if you got a score of 5, 3 years in a row. Each 15 points accumulated earns you another gold cup, each one succesively bigger than the one before. This is my ninth competition, and in each previous event, I've received a 5. So if I get a five on Saturday, then I'll have a total of 45 points, a record of 9 perfect years, and my 3rd gold cup. Plus I could stop doing this competition and relieve a lot of stress out of my life. :)
I'm playing Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin, and Epilouge, by Stephen Heller. Epilouge has over 1600 notes. I counted all of them. It's not a long song, it just is quick-paced, and gets intense in some parts. It's definitely my kind song. Lots of dynamic changes, and a beautiful range of notes. It'll sound really good on the grand piano at the competition. I've been wanting to play it for my senior recital since I heard it 4 or 5 years ago at a piano recital. I can still remember how it sounded.
Once I get past this week...things will get so much less stressful. I can't wait. Okay, I'm bushed, or I'd write something a little more spiritual. But right now, I'm afraid I'd say something completely opposite of what I mean, so I'll refrain from typing any longer.
I'm playing Maple Leaf Rag, by Scott Joplin, and Epilouge, by Stephen Heller. Epilouge has over 1600 notes. I counted all of them. It's not a long song, it just is quick-paced, and gets intense in some parts. It's definitely my kind song. Lots of dynamic changes, and a beautiful range of notes. It'll sound really good on the grand piano at the competition. I've been wanting to play it for my senior recital since I heard it 4 or 5 years ago at a piano recital. I can still remember how it sounded.
Once I get past this week...things will get so much less stressful. I can't wait. Okay, I'm bushed, or I'd write something a little more spiritual. But right now, I'm afraid I'd say something completely opposite of what I mean, so I'll refrain from typing any longer.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Ice, Ice, go away, don't come again another day.
Back from vacation, and feeling blah. I think I stayed up too late and ate too much junk while away from home. I got my school eked out today, but just barely. My stomach's felt bloated all day long, so it makes it hard to concentrate.
Hearing the rain last night makes me long for spring and summer to come. I love the sound of rain. But alas, it's all icy and snowy now. Ah well...I live in the Ozarks, what do I expect?
Jessi made some wonderful clam chowder tonight...even though it didn't sit well on my stomach, it still tasted pretty good going down.
I was asked to play the part of one of Jesus' disciples in our church's Easter Production. How very lucky I am...I've been Jesus' father, and now I'm about to be one of His famed disciples. The first practice was this last Saturday, but since I was in Branson, I had to miss it. Only 3 weeks of practice left, and I've still got no idea what I'm doing. :P
Hearing the rain last night makes me long for spring and summer to come. I love the sound of rain. But alas, it's all icy and snowy now. Ah well...I live in the Ozarks, what do I expect?
Jessi made some wonderful clam chowder tonight...even though it didn't sit well on my stomach, it still tasted pretty good going down.
I was asked to play the part of one of Jesus' disciples in our church's Easter Production. How very lucky I am...I've been Jesus' father, and now I'm about to be one of His famed disciples. The first practice was this last Saturday, but since I was in Branson, I had to miss it. Only 3 weeks of practice left, and I've still got no idea what I'm doing. :P
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