here we go! er, maybe not...

Saturday mornin' I was all giddy with excitement about driving up to Missoula. I finally got all packed, got everything I needed for the next few weeks in my car, got some last minutes pics with my roommates and a pic of me with my packed car - so proud of all that work to make it fit. And off I went.
I didn't get too far. Instead, I found myself in a wreck just 30 miles north of Boise, in a town called Horseshoe Bend. No worries. I'm fine, my violin and computer and all the other stuff in my car - these are all fine. My car that? Not so much! The passenger side is pretty messed up. The front windshield is buckled and cracked, and the back windshield and back passenger-side windows are completely gone. The hood is buckled from the right, the part immediately above the right wheel is gone, and the whole passenger side is scraped. As I rode in the tow truck coming back to Boise I looked back at my poor, poor car and thought, "Did I have an antenna? I don't remember..."

So now I am playing a waiting game. Waiting for the claims adjuster to call me, so I can tell him/her the auto body shop where the car is, and then waiting for those two to chat, and then waiting to hear if my car is totaled and, officially, whose fault it was. All signs at present point to the accident being the other guy's fault. Other's opinions about it being totaled vary more. No matter; I can't make any concrete plans until I hear from the insurance one way or the other. Grrrr. Anyone else hate waiting? Anyone else feel lost when you find yourself in an in between place - not here, not there? Sigh. :)

I'm soooo grateful that the car took all the damage. I really have nothing to complain about. To all my friends and family who are praying and helping me in these days of in between, thanks a bunch. I'll let you know more when I know more!

Walking Around the Corner

Greetings from Boise State University's Albertsons Library. I am in here for, pretty much, the last time. My classes are all done. The final 25lb-cotton-paper version of my thesis was turned in last week. It's probably on the way to the bindery now. Grades are in now, too. Wow. I'm done with school. When I get that diploma in the mail, then it will really sink in!

And now? Well, tomorrow I move to Missoula, Montana. If you only read this blog and haven't gotten any emails from me, my deepest apologies. To fill you in, for the past 8 months or so, God has been turning my world upside down. While my life plans are only slightly tweaked, and I'm only moving one state away, my life view has undergone some significant channges. This move to Missoula, to work on staff with Chi Alpha at the University of Montana, is just one step in the direction of that new view.

How am I? I'm equal parts excited and terrified. And a little sad to be saying goodbye to some folks here. But excitement for the plans God has for me long-term, and the commitment I made to do this, these keep me moving forward. The unknown waits around the corner - funny thing, though. We never really know what the future holds anyway, right? We think we do, but we don't. Every once in awhile God allows us to feel just how much we don't know. I guess that's a huge part of faith, maybe the thing in its entirety. So here's to taking the risks and walking around the corner. Here's to faith in the One who is deserving. I hope you all get a chance to live in this faith, too. :)

"eeehh!" or "about my new profile picture"

On the one hand, I really like this picture of me and Beth. It was taken in a park in Kosice, Slovakia. It was a fun, hot day of Ultimate Frisbee and volleyball and music in the midst of a very good trip. On the other hand, I feel an explanation is due: Someone said "Make a funny face" and pointed a camera at me. Of course, I really prefer to be on the other side of the camera, but the end result is that I have very few pictures of me, and even fewer that I like. Thus, for my profile pictures on MySpace and such I have to take extreme measures: half an hour taking and deleting shots on my cell phone(old picture) or cropping out my sister (flickr pic). This one is enough me that I don't need to crop but was enough someone else that I didn't feel as awkward on the wrong side of the lens. Sure, it's silly, but I like it ...okay?!?

Central Europe blog post

posted a few days ago on MySpace.

Sunday, June 03, 2007

It's my last full day in Central Europe and I'm finally posting something! It's been quite good, but too much has gone on, both in and around me, to sum up here. Just some snapshots:
- cute little Fiat's parked half on the road and half on the brick sidewalks.
- shy Slovak teenagers insisting that they can't speak any English, and then carrying on full, if broken, conversations
- Krakow's Ryneck Glowny ('nuf said. love that place.)
- a Slovak teen who says she wants to travel around the world, and my heart goes out to her: "Be careful," I say, and try to remind her that there are some who would take advantage of her deisre to work in another country.
- Roma villages and ghettos full of poverty and beautiful faces.
- "football" (aka soccer) with a team of American folks and Roma girls against a group of little Roma boys. they were losing pretty badly til and older guy (teenager?) joined us, helped them win by one and then proceeded to professes his love to me! :/
- internet cafes where I meet people from all over the world and see local kids playing computer games.
- Turkish coffee and peach tea at a little Roma church near Kosice, Slovakia

I must confess that at this point I still don't really want to go home. Sure, there's people I miss and I miss having access to a washing machine and a dryer and kitchen where I can cook my own meals and being able to read the signs and all my musical activities (like really practicing!). But I think I like it in this part of the world. I suppose I'll be back someday...

just thinking...

...it seems appropriate with all the violence in the news and hardship in the world to remember the words of a few famous dudes.

"The land [of Mordor] seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or foot. Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever above its reach."
-J.R.R. Tolkien. The Return of the King p. 244.

"In this world you will have trouble; but take heart, I have overcome the world."
-Jesus. John 16:33

Peace.

ich mag Google.

Last year they brought us Google Romance, the year before something called Google Gulp and now... Google Paper. Last year, still relatively new to the google universe, I fell for the foolishness and posted about it, unaware of my ignorance 'til cuchillo commented. And then of course I felt like an idiot but then recovered in my response... This time, I got halfway through the page before I remembered, "Oh yeah! ohhh, Google..." I think it was the goofy pictures next to the goofier "testimonials." What really puts it over the top is the claim that "Gmail Paper is made out of 96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum [huh?!?], and thus, actually helps the environment."
There is another Google April Fool's joke out there, according to some folks on the web way smarter than me, but it all reads like Greek to me so it's a little less funny, somehow. Anyway, happy April Fool's and don't be afraid to laugh at yourself.
:)

some feel good tees

hi all.
just wanted to point out my new link to the blog for Off Your Back Shirts, a little company that some folks from my corner of Boston started. it's headed up by Paul Daigle, who was assistant pastor at my church, River of Life, for a few years before starting a house church with his wife Diana. Paul is really passionate about Jesus and people and social justice. he's pretty involved in the One Campaign, and recently he started Off Your Back Shirts to sell organic and fair trade clothes. if you go to the website where they show the company's products you'll see pics of a couple folks I went to church with. this cracked me up, to see these folks, including the pastor's daughter, modeling. :)

the interesting and the curious

(Subtitile: Post of things I found on the internet today. Enjoy!)

First...
I'm still on the email list of my church in Boston, River of Life Chruch in Jamaica Plain (aka JP). The folks there are like a family to me, so I like to know what's going on and stuff. Today I got the weekly update nad it was called "RoL - Wears Name Tags - Refreshments & this Sunday. " Nametags? That got me curious, so I followed some links and was like, "Oh, this is interesting." If you are not familiar with JP, this "Name Tag" organization is so JP. Here's a few links. First, to the blog site talking about RoL Church. Second to the org's about page.

Second...
I'm not much of a bandwagon jumper (or jumper-on-er, if that's a word), so when new things come out, I tend to view them skeptically, from a distance, and wait til I have a good reason to waste my precious time/money/other resource on them. Or maybe it's the fact that I am so skeptical that keeps me from jumping on wagons... Anyway! All that to say that in the past few days I have finally been getting into video on the internet, YouTube in particular. Then to really get the interest up, today I got this email from my violin/orchestra prof:

String Players,
I thought you might get a kick out of this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5MLNMgpywk
Mr. Purdy

kick i did. i mean, wow! so much fun!

Not more than a few mnutes later, Mr. Purdy also sent this email:

Okay, we may need to start a BSU fan club, this is pretty clever.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG6Ef-NQCi4
Mr. Purdy

So I thought I'd pass these on to you, to enlighten you, and to let you in on how very silly string players are in what we do and in what we love to watch others do. Let me know if you can recognize all the tunes in this video. I think I know the older ones. It's the rock/metal stuff from the late 20th century that throws me.
Til next time,
-later.

a set of coca-cola flatware

ever had one of those days? one of those when you feel like hitting your head against something very hard with the hope that you can knock some sense into your brain? i guess you could say it's a bad day. not a "this-is-the-lowest-point-of-my-life" day but a "wow, am-i-really-that-much-of-an-idiot?" day. well, that was my day today.

first, i realized this afternoon that because i had thrown away the box my new printer came in, without taking the UPC code off it, i can't get my $80 refund. groan. so, basically, i threw eighty dollars into the dumpster. ohhh, that hurts. of course, the only reason i bought the printer in the first place was i could get it free when buying it with the PC. oh well. it's only money, right?

about an hour before i realized this i had been talking to my dad on the phone. he mentioned the Patriots v.s. Colts game was gonna be on and asked if i was going to watch it. i said, "oh i have so much work to do... but i guess i can leave it on in the background like you dad." the joke is that my dad often does this "on-in-the-background" thing, but repeatedly gets sucked back to the TV, much to my mother's dismay. :)!! anyway, that happened to me, too, but it was fun, and i didn't feel too bad since i thought that i had enough time still to get my work done. and even though i was bummed the Pats lost, it was good to see Payton Manning and the Colts finally get to the Super Bowl. so hooray for the underdog. turning off the tube then i resolved to really get to work. i went to my computer and opened up my school email. then i saw "Brittany's Violin Recital", an old email, and i remembered that it was today. at 7:30 pm. it was 8:25 pm, and i had a pie in the oven. ARGHH! i had promised Brittany that i would be there...
so i turned off the pie early and ran across the street - super hooray for living on campus! - and made it for the last piece of the recital. sometime soon i'll have to confess to Brittany that i forgot about the recital and ask to hear the recording the sound guy makes of these things.
sigh.
after getting back to my apartment i was feeling low, so i pulled out the Waterdeep Worship cd. i love these guys. i love these songs that ooze with God's patience and grace.
"You are beautiful my sweet, sweet song... All my worries and my shame, rest in You... Those who trust in the Lord are as Mt Zion... You alone are faithful..."

by now you gotta be wondering what deep spiritual concept i will be pulling out of the title of this post. sorry, but i can't think of one. but the set does make me smile. i found it at the thrift store today, and i'm really proud of myself for it. :)

anyway, another day another dollar. here's to tomorrow.

happy, happy, merry, merry

"On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me,
two turtle doves,
and a partridge in a pear tree."
The twleve days of Christmas - what a great invention for procastinators like me! :)
But seriously, Merry Christmas to all my friends around the world.

a sappy true story

i usually post on blogger and myspace cause my friend in China can't read blogger there... huh?? anyway, in response to my last post about Switchfoot, she wrote...
"So the violin is a him not a her! hmmm interesting. Now I am wondering the gender of other instruments? Are all violins hims? or just yours?"

so in response to that...
i don't know about other violins never mind other instruments, but my violin is a he because it's name is Vio III (yes, that's "Vio the third") and that sounds more male than female, right? back in the day when i was in elementary school i found myself calling my first violin "Vio" so i decided that was its name. my family is notorious for naming inanimate objects. all of our cars have had colorful names and my mom calls her flute "her first baby", so that's where i'm coming from. anyway, since i was too lazy to come up with new names for the two violins that followed, they have been named after their "forefather." :) and last year, late one night after a long day (or maybe it was early in the morning after a long night; either way it is imperative that i blame my goofiness on a serious lack of sleep), i decided to name my violin bow cause it's also important, and it deserves a name, too, right? i decided on "Lino", because "vio" plus "lino" is "violino", which is Italian for "violin." and, yes, "Lino" is female, because, well, a bow just has to be.
yes, this is all very sappy. so embarrassing. can hardly believe i'm posting this for the world to see... but that's what blogs are for, right?
:)

the silence is broken ...

...with apologies to cuchillo

So I go outside to eat a late lunch, since it's a gorgeous sunny day and the leaves are all dressed up in their special colors. On the way out from the Morrisson Center I grab a copy of Thrive, the free weekly 'zine that the Idaho Statesman puts out. I glance through to find some decent articles then just happen to catch a glimpse of an ad with the word "Switchfoot" as I am flipping through. I go back and find the page, read "This Saturday!", and my brain cries, "Nooo! How did this happen. They come to Boise and I can't see them!! Any Saturday but this one, not this one!"
See, I have to work this Saturday because there is some Marching Band ...thing in the afternoon/evening. And after that I'm in a performance of Orff's Carmina Burana, which should be really cool, actually, and I am looking forward to it. I will be playing "in the pit" for Ballet Idaho's presentation of this masterpiece, and two choirs are involved as well. Great music and lots of fun to play... But Switchfoot, why did it have to be this weekend?
When I was in Slovakia this summer and found out that the band had been in Pocatello the week before our trip started in May, I said that if they had come to Boise that week "I would have given up my first child!" Well, I guess my violin is almost like my first child and, no I can't give him up for even Switchfoot, so, alas, I will miss their concert this weekend. Sigh.

And that's what brought me to break my blog silence today.

oh, i know you!

As promised, I've been too busy for blogger, for mySpace, even for much email, but this week I got back some pics of my week in Boston, and I wanna show 'em off. So here are a few. Enjoy.


I was so excited to make it to the beach once this summer. A lovely sunday afternoon/evening at Horseneck Beach with the ladies. The water was just warm enough, the waves were perfect and the sky was clear and sunny. Quite lovely.



Mid-week I had a chance to hang out with my friend Vanessa and her little family. It was great to meet baby Joshua in person for the first time.


The big event of the week was my sis' wedding on Saturday August 5th. Here we are behind the church during the reception. More pictures of the wedding will be up on flickr... eventually. :)

oh dear

It's August and my blog is so, like, outdated! I've been a little busy and so blogging has taken a backseat. So no for some quick updates:
1) My sis got married in Boston, last Saturday Aug 5. It was beautiful. I played the "Romanze" from Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht Musik for her aisle-walking. My dad, now 10 weeks post hip injury, was able to walk her down the aisle but had to use a walker. This was quite an accomplishment considering what he has been through these last few months. Anyway, the wedding was a great end to a great week in Boston with friends and family.
2) I finally got to enjoy a sunny float down the Boise River this Sunday. I flew into Boise from Boston around noon and then headed to the park. The Pursuit had an outreach of sorts, inviting folks to float the River and then hosting a BBQ in the park where folks get out to of the river. All passers-by were invited to free chicken and chips and Coke and such. I met some cool folks, including a guy who just got back from 11 months in China. And we think we have pollution!
3) I filled up my gas tank for the first time on Tuesday. Hope I won't have to do that again for awhile. I'm trying to ride my bike alot still. Anyway, I felt real proud of myself after I filled the tank by myself and didn't forget any important steps or cause any explosions!
My life is about to get ridiculously busy, so this post could be the last one for a month or so. I still love you all. I just need to make time to eat and sleep and all, ya know? So, 'til next time.... peace.

so i guess i'm a grown up now

keys to my "brand new-to-me" 1991 Saturn SL2

summer fun

For six of the seven weeks between my Poland/Slovakia trip and my week in Boston (just two weeks til then!), I'm working full time in the Marching band office. I've had some fun, too, and wanted to share with you folks some "firsts" I've had this summer.
FYI: Since I'm trying to save money after developing 204 pictures from the missions trip, I don't have pics of my own for any of these events, but check out the websites that I've linked and get the full multi-sensory experience! (hee-hee)

Floating the Boise River
It's a Boise institution, this river, and floating it on a tube (or raft or whatever else will float) is the thing to do on hot afternoons, especially this past July 4th weekend since the "powers that be" finally opened the river to the public just before the holiday. So, on Sunday July 2, after a hot, sunny morning, I was excited to join some friends for my first river float. By the time we got on the water, it was cloudy, but the air was still warm. Then we saw it: lightning, and lots of it. Beautiful and only a little frightening. Later when folks asked how the trip went, I said...

the lightning was cool.
the thunder was cool.
the rain was just cold.

So it was quite an adventure. But I guess I'm a glutton for punishment since I headed out to float the river again on the 4th with another group of folks. Mind you, the forecast said nothing about clouds or rain, but by the time we had rented our tubes and were on the water, the sky was again covered with clouds. This time we missed the rain by about 5 minutes. Every day I ride home from work along the river and watch folks basking in the sun on their tubes and rafts and laugh to myself because it hasn't rained in Boise since those two days, nearly two weeks ago! :)

A fellow Boisean and flickr geek took pics of some other folks on the river Sunday July 2 in the middle of the rain storm. Check out his photoset here.

National Fiddlers Contest and Festival Weiser, ID
A big deal for this cute little town in rural Idaho, close to Idaho/Oregon boarder, the fest has been held every year the third full week of June since 1953. It draws something like 350 contestants from 35 states. I just went out there on the last night of competition for the Grand National final rounds. It's a family thing, with kids as young as 5 and as old as 80 competing in 7 age divisions, in addition to the Grand National division. Lots of fiddlers! In another part of town, an open-air stage showcased local bluegrass musicians and other oldtimey stuff. We saw a bunch of kids from a local clogging school perform. Cute. While oldtime fiddling is not my favorite of the fiddle styles - I'm a Celtic girl all the way :) - the event was definitely a cultural experience, deep in the heart of rural America.
For pics and to hear some tunes (Real Audio), check out this site set up by Idaho Public Television.

DCI (Drum Corps International)
So what is DCI?
Before this summer, I had no idea. But this past week I was initiated into all things marching band-ish with the goings on in my office: "Cavalcade", a camp for high school marching band kids and their directors; and "Thunder in Boise", my first drum and bugle corps show. It has been "the off season" (non-football/marching season) ever since I first started working in the office in February, so it has been pretty quiet most of the time. Not so last week! The phone was ringing off the hook with parents calling about last minute stuff for their kids in camp, and the office was full of directors schmoozing, and I took so many ticket orders over the phone for the DCI show I think I could still recite the schpeel in my sleep. The day of the show was long. On the other hand, even though I worked 10 hours, my boss and supervisor worked something like 14 hours each. Anyway, I enjoyed the show more than I expected to. There is something cool about all the uniforms and choreography and dance and flags. The kids who do these shows range in age from 14 to 22 and they tour all summer long, with rehearsals every day and adjudicated shows two to four times a week. I suppose you could say they are "uber" band geeks and many of them are quite talented. At these shows you discover a whole 'nother world, and folks get quite passionate about the groups, evidenced by the corps' paraphanelia for sale at each show. Also, don't ever confuse a marching band with a drum and bugle corps, at least not to those in the know, or you will receive a lecture on the differences between the two. :) To get the lowdown - you know you want to know - and even see one of those multi-sensory experiences I mentioned, go to the About DCI site. Warning: the video is a promo for DCI and kinda sappy!

So that's some of the things I've been up to. I heard rumors a few weeks back about some friends going to a rodeo, and there's always a chance for more River floating, so more firsts may be coming soon. And I'll let you know if I ever make it down the river without rain!

Big Sky Expeditions 2006

"Big Sky Expeditions" is the name of the Chi Alpha group that has been doing this trip to Central Europe for the past 4 years. This years' team - mine! - went first to Krakow, Poland and then to two different towns in Slovakia: Banovce and Banska Bystrica. Here are a few pictures from the trip. To see more Slovakia pictures, you can go to my flickr.com photostream. Eventually I'll have all my Poland pictures there, too. Enjoy.







Our first morning in Krakow, we found out that the city was greatly anticipating the arrival of Pope Benedictus XVI the following weekend. These posters, the first outward signs of Krakow's preparation, were found all around the city and reflected the hope that this new pope will "walk in the footsteps" of their beloved John Paul II.












Here is the picture I mentioned in my first post from Krakow.






We spent most of our time in Krakow working with University students. Our first Saturday in Europe we did the tourist thing with some of the Polish students as our guides. I took this picture of my group - three Poles and four Americans - in the Ryneck in front of the Medieval Linen Building.












the Pope, the Polcja, and a lot of cameras









After leaving the hustle and bustle of Krokow, we settled in lovely little Banovce, Slovakia. Our three days there were packed with activity, including minstry among the local Roma kids.














My friend la falda with "her kids". She's spending her whole summer there. So cool.

We finished our trip with five days in Banska Bystrica, a small city in central Slovakia. The team picture above was taken there in the city square, which I was told is the most beautiful in Slovakia. Our time there was spent doing some outreach and some work projects. The latter included cleaning out some rooms that a local church is renting. After removing a dumpster-load of trash that was under years - decades? - of dust, the team painted the room that will eventually be the new sanctuary.





My last picture in Slovakia. We left Banksa Bystrica, Slovakia at 3:00 in the morning on June 5 to catch a flight out of Vienna at 8:00.



Back in the States the next day, I finished up my last roll of film with some shots of Montana on the eight hour ride home from Bozeman.

Boston dreaming on a sunny Boise day

so i am looking at flights to Boston for my sister's wedding and suddenly i'm imagining flying into Logan and seeing my friends and my family and the ocean and going to RoL Church the next day. i'm getting all itchy with anticipation just thinking about it and it's 5 weeks away. i guess i'm just gonna have to visit boston.com to tide me over for the day.

i'm so excited to be going home.

Mission Trip Story

For all you folks who keep asking to hear more, here's a taste. Because I don't know how to say it better than this, here is what Curt and Sara Hobbs, the missionaries we worked with in Krakow, Poland, wrote on their blog. Some brief background info: the Hobbs hail from Wyoming, where they were campus ministers with Chi Alpha before going to Poland about 4 years ago.


Bucking Broncs + Jesus!
May 28, 2006

This past week we finished up our time with the Chi Alpha team from the Big Sky Region. God showed His amazing love and the way He draws people to Himself. Maria was one such person He drew to us. She is a lady in her mid-late 30's like us. She had left Poland and traveled, checked out Buddhism, and New Age stuff. She has mixed it all together with the Catholicism of her childhood. But she saw our group praying and worshipping in the Blonia (field/meadow/park) near the student hotel. She said she saw "white light" around us and joined in. She showed up the next day even though the rain kept us from doing "devotions" in the Blonia.

Then several days later I was waiting to pick up the kids from school and I saw SOMETHING straight out of the Cowboy State! Across the street I see an automobile that had a WYOMING bucking bronco sticker on it So being the rude, loud and brash American that I am not, I went up to the car and knocked on the window to a surprised woman. I tried to assure her I was not going to hurt her or rob her.

I asked her where she got that wonderful bucking bronco WYOMING sticker and during the conversation, Maria came up. She was as surprised to see me talking to her friend as I was to find out that someone in Krakow has even been to Wyoming and liked it so much that they'd buy such a sticker.

So that was an exciting confirmation for her that God is indeed working and drawing her to Himself. They joined the group for our last outing with pizza and waiting to see a glimpse of the Pope. Please pray that we can connect her with some Poles in the next couple weeks before we go [on furlough] so that God can continue to work on her.




Waiting for the pope after eating pizza, Maria and her friend chat with members of the Big Sky team.

quiet weekend

so i'm back, in Boise and just about adjusted to the time zone, the new apartment, and my new roommie who likes to keep our suite at about 65 degrees fahrenheit year-round. these days i am really enjoying tall glasses of 2% milk and Boise sunshine and sleeping in my own bed. but i miss my "team" and Europe and the red-tiled roofs and green rolling hills. i think that the hardest thing to get used to now is how quiet it is. for three weeks, i was hardly ever alone. i was part of a family of 22 and most meals and bus rides were accompanied by chatter and laughter. we were almost always loud enough to broadcast "We are Americans!" to all the folks around. more often than not, this was quite embarrassing, but now i miss that, too.
okay, enough melancholy. i have a full summer ahead of me and the trip to Poland and Slovakia got it off to a wonderful start. up next, working at BSU's week-long chamber music camp for junior high and high school kids. and soon my 7 rolls of Poland/Slovakia pictures will come and i can have a blast remembering and sharing the memories with folks. so i'm off to enjoy the quiet of my own, somewhat chilly, room. :)