Are we there yet?

4.5 more classes, and then my college career is OVER!

ASU lost on Saturday, which was pretty depressing. I was really hoping to go for four. At least my toes will stay attached next weekend, but still. After ending the season at the championship game for the past three years, it was quite unpoetic to finish my marching band career with such a pathetic loss. Eh. So it goes. I was trying very hard not to care after the fourth interception.

My new fervent hope--please, please, not JMU...anyone but JMU...I just couldn't handle it.

On a completely different note...there was a span of time last week where I was completely bummed. It was a combination of weather and crap going on and everything else. I wasn't sure exactly why I was getting so down, so much more than I have this semester (especially since I've started dating Derek.) I took an afternoon to just relax and hang around Derek, and try to piece my brain back together. I finally figured out what it was that was getting me so down.

I started taking everything too seriously again, all this shit in university that doesn't matter. I forgot how absurd it all is, the hoops we have the jump through and the games we have to play to get the accreditation we need to have an affect on the world in the way we hope. Everything became so important again, the rubbish papers and the endless memorization.

As soon as we stop laughing at the ridiculous it holds power over us. When we don't recognize the insane we begin to think it holds credence. We have to always hold in our hearts what really matters--who we are, the people we love, centering on God, finding ourselves in the mess we have to wrap up in to get through this world. You have follow the rules of this world and keep it from touching you, play their games and don't let it in your soul.

So laugh at some authority figure, even while you're writing a paper. Celebrate that you see how inane the busywork is. This is your life, your soul. They can make you stay up all night studying. They can force you to piece together stuff you'll never use again.

But as long as you're laughing, they can't touch your heart.

IS IT DECEMBER YET?

So, the thing about recitals...you kinda need a piano player.

And the thing about mine...I don't have one yet.

DILEMMA.

We'll see how that all works out. In other news, ASU football needs to wake up and stop sucking. You should not lose if you have a 21-0 lead at halftime, no matter how awful the refs are.

Fun story! Last night I was practicing the E-flat trumpet, which I'm playing one of my recital pieces on. (It's basically the same as a B-flat, but in a different key and a little different to tune.) It's AWFUL. The stuff that was open worked fine, but anything using any valves was dreadfully out of tune.

Blake was there with me, and we couldn't figure it out. Finally I look in the case, and there's another set of slides.

We stare at each other for a minute.

I switch the slides.

AMAZING! It's now actually an E-flat trumpet, as opposed to an F trumpet with an E-flat bell! So one part of my recital might suck a little less than previously thought.

But the piano thing is still a problem.