Hey

things are rolling along with school and such.

oh yeah. pictures. they haven't gotten here. i promise i will post pictures of our trip once i get the cd of them. actually, i should look up some links to pictures from other people's cameras, and go ahead and post some of mine. sounds like a project for this weekend.

but school. round three of tests is about to come and go. the final leg of the semester is going to be a crunch. for those of you who don't know, but would like to come, MY JUNIOR RECITAL IS APRIL 29TH. that is a sunday afternoon. at 2:30 p.m.

anyway, i'm tired, but doing well. how could i not be when that pretty blond girl is always around.

i've gotta go practice. i'm also playing in two recitals thursday evening, if anyone's interested. one flute piece (with a bass flute. how sweet is that?) in concert at 6. and an awesome oboe piece in concert at 7:30. for those of you who want easy recital credit, you'd love that once since it has a grand total of three performers.

have a great week everybody.

New (Old) Date

so the pictures still haven't gotten here from nicaragua. but, since most of you are quite used to my lack of posts, it probably hasn't bothered you too much.

in other (and more important) news... the wedding date is no longer august 18th. it is now going to the 30th of june. i can already hear some of you laughing. i swear this has nothing to do with wedding rivalry among friends (though we have joked about racing to see who can get married first). no, the real reason is that we want our relationship to consist entirely of multiples of 3. the wedding will be at 3 in the afternoon on the 30th of the 6th month of the year, after dating for 3 months, engagement for 6 months, "togetherness" for 9 months, while we're both 21, and both in our 3rd year of college... how ironic that we don't have three bride's maids. but seriously. i have to go to an oboe rehearsal.

june 30

oh, and heather bought a wedding dress. for $54. after shipping. holy cow.

Safely Home

just so everyone knows, heather and i are back in town, having sustained no injuries, other than a tinge of color to our skins. since i'm feeling entirely unmotivated at the moment to write a blog post (or do anything else either, for that matter), you'll have to wait for a full detailed account. also, some time next week i will get another cd of everyone's pictures and you can be entertained with a pictorial treat of the highlights of our trip.

there is a piano recital tonight in cole (performed by our own dr parr). i hope i can stay awake, considering i was up until 5:15 this morning working on papers. too bad i couldn't have had another week after nicaragua of just catching up on homework...

i'll be back with you soon.

Itinerary

howdy, y'all. if you wanted the scoop on heather's and my (¿?) spring break week, here's the itinerary. everyone else have a great spring break as well, and i'll see you the next week with pictures and stories. adios.

Saturday 10th
2:00 am
I am apalled by the alarm clock

3:00 am
Leave lufkin for Houston Airport

for this section i don't have our times with me at the moment, but we fly from houston to atlanta, where we have some sort of a layover, and then from atlanta to miami, where we meet our team.

7:40 pm
Arrival at the Airport – American Airlines 985


Overnight at Nejapa


Orientation, schedule and safety briefing



Sunday 11th
8:00am
Church in Managua

9:00am
Managua history tour (Tiscapa, Cathedral, Peace Park)

10:30am
Depart for Leon

12:30pm
Lunch in Leon, hang out in Plaza Central

3:00pm
Leave for Chinandega

6:30pm
Supper at Don Mario’s


Unpacking and get situated



Monday 12th
7:00am
Breakfast at Don Mario’s

8:00am
Leave for El Limonal

8:30am
Introductions at Fatima’s, walking tour of community with Crespin and Fatima and others

9:00am
Half at Crespin’s church, half at comedor

12:00pm
Lunch

2:00pm
Construction work

6:30pm
Supper at Don Mario’s



Tuesday 13th
7:00am
Breakfast at Don Mario’s

8:30am
Comedor workers, Construction workers

12:00pm
Lunch

2:00pm
De-parasite Campaign

6:30pm
Supper At Don Mario’s



Wednesday 14th
7:00am
Breakfast at Don Mario’s

8:30am
Deparasite Campaign, Comedor workers

12:00pm
Lunch

2:00pm
Health prevention talk/Kids activity

6:30pm
Dinner in El Limonal/Overnight in El Limonal



Thursday 15th
7:00am
Breakfast in El Limonal

8:30am
Comedor workers, open ministry time

12:00pm
Lunch

1:30pm
Soccer game with youth

3:00pm
Community Clean-up and Despedida

6:30pm
Supper at Don Mario’s



Friday 16th
7:30am
Breakfast at Don Mario’s

8:30am
Leave Chinandega for Santa Maria

12:00pm
NicaMade presentation

1:30pm
Leave for Poneloya/Las Peñitas

5:00pm
Supper at beach



Saturday 17th
7:30am
Breakfast at beach

8:00am
Depart for MGA

10:00am
Huembes Market

3:00pm
Drop stuff off at Nejapa

6:30pm
Supper and Debrief at Kim’s



Sunday 18th
4:15 am
Depart for the airport (AA 986 at 6:50 am)

once again, i forget at the moment what our exact times are, but after we fly out of the managua airport we go to miami, where we have a somewhat short layover. then from miami we fly to orlando ((¿?) i don't know why i decided i like doing two question marks like that) where we have an amazing 8 hour layover from about 2-10 pm. then we fly from there back to houston, and then drive back to home sweet home and fall asleep and not go to monday classes.

did i mention i'm getting sore again? my body is punishing me for not having worked out enough. it's hard to get back into it properly.

i performed in studio today. mendelssohn's rondo cappriccioso, op. 14, if anyone cares. i'm working on polishing it for my recital. which, by the way, is coming up really fast. it's on april 29th (sunday) at 2:30, in cole concert hall. i'll probably post more about it at a later date, but if you would like, go ahead an make a mental note or calendar scribble. it will be a very romantic concert, consisting of three beethoven bagatelles (from op. 33), a brahms intermezzo (op. 117 no. 1), and a chopin polonaise (op. 44), as well as the before-mentioned piece.

i shall now go play raquetball.

today i entertained thoughts of going ahead and fixing my car...

hmmmmm...

i'm so pleased that that last post got such brilliant accolades. the truth is, i opened the browzer to post, and suddenly decided not to. in case you haven't noticed, that's been happening with increasing frequency the past few months. only you usually don't get the one liner.

my bicycle is up and running now. i'm sorry. forgive me for that. anyway, since the car is officially out of commission, i'm back to my two-wheeled transportation. i shudder to think of karen's dad's reaction to hearing about the death of "his" car. it's a very shameful thing.

you might say the worst part about a lack of vehicle is that i can't get to work. that would be WRONG. it's going to be painful not to have a car to get to lufkin. of course heather is the reason for that (besides going part way to lufkin for guitar building). i may just have to increase my bicycling mileage and ride to lufkin a few times a week. gah.

lots of piano practicing today. i am playing again for studio in tomorrow. there will be some auditioners there to hear me. maybe i should freak out and get really stressed.

i mailed my last envelope to food for the hungry today. besides taking a few more pills and getting packed, i should be good to go. other than the fact that i should REALLY be spending extra time with god in preparation for a mission trip. it's quite difficult to do with a busy schedule. i guess when things are most hectic your priorities become apparent. hmmmm. rather convicting, i must admit.

time for some spanish and a nice jog. later.

surreptitious \suhr-uhp-TISH-uhs; suh-rep-\, adjective:1. Done, made, or gotten by stealth.2. Acting with or marked by stealth.

"While men's appetites are driven by availability, women's are often driven by cravings. A dab of chocolate here, a pinch of sugar there, and some surreptitious midnight Dairy Queen runs lurk behind a woman's oh-so-virtuous bran breakfast, salad lunch, and grilled fish dinner."-- Wendy Hubbert, "The skinny on male/female dieting", Redbook, October 1, 2001

haha!!

i am going to sleep

Saturday

yesterday i killed my car because i am an idiot. sad day. think i let it run out of oil. for some reason when the oil light came on, i was thinking that it was reminding me to get an oil change (which i knew it was about time for). this may be really expensive. if not impossible.

this morning i monitored a little piano thingy (i don't even know the official title of the event. sonatina festival, or something...). i smiled at people, checked names off lists, handed out critique sheets, told people where to find practice roms and bathrooms, and most importantly - did spanish homework.

today i must (finish a TINY bit of spanish) read music history, practice, prepare two lesson plans, write 7 composer bios and composition papers, two repertoire books to compare, and tons more.

i feel a sense of gloom whenever i think about my car. i just thought about my car. i feel gloomy.

however, since my car broke down (on the way to lufkin) heather came to visit me instead and it was great. she is an excellent reason not to feel gloomy.

ha! my dad just called about coming to look at my car. i don't feel like being gloomy anymore. whatever. my writing skills are growing even poorer from lack of use. maybe that means i should go write some papers for dr. gavin...

everyone have a fine weekend.

Valentines

in light of the fact that my extended absence has gotten out of hand, and a request for specific stories, i am here posting when i should be doing spanish homework. which, sadly, i REALLY don't want to do. i fell angry with my teacher for giving me so much homework. he gives us so much that i spend hours finishing it without actually having enough time to do detailed study. if i do my detailed study i'll never get around to filling out his pages of spanish worksheets and answering a gazillion questions. but that has nothing to do with what i got on here to write about.

yesterday was valentine's day. feliz día de los enamorados. or something like that. if yours wasn't happy, i'm sorry. mine was. if you consider kitchen fires fun.

where was i. oh yes. yesterday was valentine's day. so of course i bought things. chocolatey things, and flowery things that make girls smile. being the way i am, i actually wanted heather to think that i hadn't done anything, and that i wasn't going to see her last night. of course i ended up just acting strange and suspicious, but whatever. i told her that i was going to call and let her know if i could make it, since i would probably be too tired from lack of sleep... (which, if i actually used that as my excuse and remained absent would have received a lameness score of 10). i didn't call. instead, i came straight to lufkin and hid behind her house. that's not a creepy thing to do.

she called me (wondering why i hadn't called yet) and i told her i was still in nac. then after she went inside i brought her flowers, chocolate, card (and myself) to the front door and apparently made her day. it was such a joyful occassion of love and chocolate delight that we decided to do laundry.

with the laundry in el maquina de lavar (or some similar thingy) and a dvd getting started, heather whipped out the chicken t...... don't even ask me how to spell that. sounds like "terry" and "hockey", except without the "h" in hockey. the oil went into the pan. the stove went on high. i went into the living room. heather went... to change clothes? bad choice. as i waited and regarded the passing previews blandly, something caught my attention. i realized that the remarkable flaming picture on the tv was in fact a reflection of the exciting proceedings taking place behind me in the kitchen. a 2 ft tower of flame was quietly swirling up and licking the cabinets. being the quick thinker that i am, and knowing that it would be a shame to burn those fine cabinets, i removed the offending pot of flame from the stove top. the oil swirled around nicely, causing the flames to leap out after my hand. logically, looking out for the best interest of my skin, i set pot of flames on the floor. the linoleum floor. after some more quick thinking, it occurred to me that the sink would be a better place, and there the bowl of fire soon extinguished itself. don't worry, i didn't put any water on it.

i'm sorry. that's the end of the story. the house was full of smoke. the "no-stick" pan was damaged. there is a black ring on the kitchen floor. a smoke detector might be in order.

my friends, i must finish spanish and find my bed. quickly. goodnight!

Dew

just noticed that my mountain dew bottle says "DEW. Be. Dew. Be DEW." so i said it to myself. and then i said it a little faster. "dewbedewbedewww." then i chuckled quietly to myself.

my legs feel sore. in a good way. if it can be good to feel lots of pain walking up stairs. it's from not running at all for a month, and then suddenly running again and doing squats and lunges. i hurt. speaking of sore legs, i had a flat tire this morning. i was so going to be on time for church. then my car was like, "good idea, but no." so i changed my shirt and crawled around on the ground and got it off. has a hole about the diameter of a pencil. then i put on my tiny retarded spare tire. seriously, it's the dorkiest thing ever. i think it's not so much a space saver as it is a business incentive worked out between the car company and the tire people to make people buy a new tire as soon as possible so they won't be embarrassed at having to limp around with 3.5 tires.

i know where my phone is. according to an email i got from a friend yesterday it's with "the kyle" at the front desk of the rec center. i hope "the kyle" takes good care of it till tomorrow.

i had delicious potatoes for lunch. karen made lunch (there was also pork bbq with brownies and coffee ice cream for dessert. by which i mean we ate all those things, not that they were all for dessert. cuz that would be weird to eat bbq for dessert. tasty, but weird. it just isn't done.) and then we sat around talking and having a grand ol' time, part of which was spent curled up on a jumbo bean bag. then i went running and lunging around for a while and got sorer but didn't puke.

heather came to church with me this evening. i was glad. we ate dinner with the fam. it was delish. it was potatoes. except it was papas con chili, instead of papas con bbq pork (all that means is that i'm not even pretending to make complete sentences in spanish). i then weighed myself and found out i'm only slightly larger than last time i checked. i wasn't shocked. you shouldn't be either. i saw that it wouldn't be necessary to consume any more ice cream.
then we returned the movie about murder. i forget its title. apparently it was very old and very funny. i got a mountain dew and heather got a nutritious and delicious strawberry slushy. now i don't want to do spanish or anything but sleep. please let me sleep. dew be dew be dew...