Music and Lyrics

Dear Readers, I must say that tour turned out to provide much more enjoyment than I had expected. The bus rides passed by quickly on most days and Disneyland highlighted a big day of the trip. However, it did highlight the funnest parts of the trip. Those times came at the least expected times. Riding a bus for 8 hours straight does not sound particularly fun, but it can go a lot faster with people who know you and how to provoke a smile. One can observe many things about people when sitting next to them for that long. It's unfortunately very revealing about some people. Some wrap themselves up with tedious things that won't help them at all. On the other hand, I got to know some people who are already set pretty well and we talked about their families or just their interests. One thing I hate about Tour involves relationships. You guessed it: Tour Romances. at lunch on the way to Vegas, a couple of guys were comparing numbers of girls they had kissed on that trip. The 'win...

Dear Readers, One may not notice, but I lead a pretty busy life. Today, I've discovered...no, reminded myself why. Our Choir left on tour yesterday and I'm flying down to meet them later. What happens until then? Nothing. Sitting around waiting for the next event in your life to come around makes someone go crazy. Already today I have been up for 6 hours and accomplished nothing. So to those who wish their lives could just slow down and let them breathe, be grateful. Having things to do makes a person much happier than they could possibly be doing nothing, what they seemingly wanted for all that time spent doing other things. On the other hand, don't over schedule yourself either. There are some days where literally I am running from one thing to the next and don't have enough hours in the day to do everything needing work. I hope everyone is having fun on tour. You'll have someone joining you tonight.

Dear Readers, Preparing for anything makes it better, which presents a problem. I have never felt more unprepared than I have felt this week. Though not entirely my fault in a couple of aspects, I take full responsibility for any insecurity I feel in the near future. Just thought I'd share my despair so those who read this know to prepare early for whatever may come their way. Whether they go through tough performances or muddle their way through hard emotions.

Dear Readers, Holding up the end of a bargain can done by anyone. Unwritten/unspoken bargains create a level of difficulty most people cannot manage. No level of intelligence could figure out exactly what one needs to do their share of the work. That sums up a good portion of the thoughts that run through my mind each day. I find it hard to do what I'm supposed to do. I can't help but think of superheroes who, despite their amazing powers, cannot always perform the acts needed to progress in life. Sometimes they are held back by the need to conceal feelings, sometimes it's merely because the task at hand is not within their amazing skill set. With this in mind, how does a person do their share of work on an idea that hasn't been planned out? It doesn't really help when the others around seem to be doing a lot more work than them. We are told not to compare work loads because we are all blessed with unique trials. There are some trials that have to be undertaken in g...

Dear Readers, I would just like to take some time and recognize some people who are amazing and don't always get the recognition they deserve. First off, Ms. Boucher has done a wonderful job with the musical over at the Junior high my family all attended. She put countless hours of work into a show that turned out spectacular, despite what the talented(yet somewhat immature) young people she works with. Thank you, Lindsay! Of course Mr. Ulmer deserves a big thank you. Not only him, but his wonderful family. If I recall correctly, his wife and kids came to every performance of the show and many of the rehearsals. Thank you Ulmer and Family! Mr. Jackson, though a kid in many ways, shares his time diligently to progress the musical. Big thank you to him for working the music with everyone. Thank you to Mr. Florence for his great ideas. We all should give him another educator of the year award. Thanks to Mr. Bateman for spending so many hours doing everything that needs to be done. Not...

Dear Readers, You know how frustrating it makes a person when their NCAA bracket is totally done in the second round? Ok, it's not completely done, but all of my final four teams have already lost. And it's the middle of the second round. It makes one mad. Every year I fill out two brackets, one which I think will happen and the other what I wish will happen but never will. This year my wish bracket has better stats than my real one. Sad, huh? In other news, Choir tour begins this next week(depending on when you start your week: sunday or monday) and I figure it's not going to be all that bad. It's Disneyland on one hand. Yep, maybe it won't be so bad. Jazz Festival is also this week, which is really exciting. I was practicing our songs yesterday and I was nailing every lick! Even the high F#'s and G's. That probably means nothing to most people who read this, but that is really exciting. Our band plays on friday, which means I'll be sitting around for a...

Dear Readers, You know how fun it is playing in an orchestra for a musical? I have to tell you this story about what happened last night. There is one part in the production during which the orchestra switches off between two styles of music, one being very fast when the waiters on stage are running around and the other slow when the leads are talking. For the most part, it switches off between fast and slow. There is one spot, however, where two slow parts are back to back. Every night, the other trumpet player picks up his trumpet, getting ready to play at that part. Last night he finally got the hang of the fact that two slow parts came together...until I picked up my trumpet to see what he would do. He totally fell for it! Haha, it may be one of those moments when you had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious.

Dear Readers, As I'm sure you know, the Madness of March(I like to be unique in my language) has begun. Basketball, music festivals and tours all take their place among the activities that people enjoy this month. First off, the NCAA Tournament starts tomorrow and as happens every year, our family has a competition pool with the Tournament brackets. For those who don't know about this challenge, we make "educated" guesses of which teams will win each of the playoff games, eventually coming out with a champion. As my sister so foolishly thinks she will win this year, I proudly throw down the guantlet on her confidence(Despite the fact that our challenge is based on luck...). As for Musical competition, our Jazz band qualified for state Jazz Festival this year. This will keep up a 20-year streak for Olympus High in Jazz competition. Mr. Bateman has amazingly qualified for state competition 21 years out of the 22 years he's been teaching at Olympus high. Our Vocal co...

Dear Readers, You'll all be pleased to know that I accomplished something recently. It involves music and I feel very proud of myself. I was selected by our music director to play in our school's concerto night sometime during the month of May. This is one of the few things I've been hoping to do for a very long time. Although, there are a few reservations about being part of this honor. One of which deals with how the selection process works. I know it doesn't matter in the least bit, but I can't help thinking about me being picked as a senior. I tried out last year and did not make it as one of the soloists. I have to assume that had to be part of the process in selecting someone when looking at the list of soloists. They are all amazingly talented people in music, many of which were part of Concerto night last night. Most of the ones who were not participated in the Spring Concert as soloists. See what I mean? It could be possible that I was picked merely because...

Dear Readers, I'm sure you have all had moments in your life when there comes a realization about something you've had no idea about; an epiphany, if you will. I had one of those moments today. When it comes to Sunday, I have thought a certain way since the day my parents told me I couldn't hang out with friends on Sunday back when I was about five. That line of thinking has been something along the lines of, "What can't I do on Sunday?" trying to find out what was appropriate for Sabbath activity. It hit me today, "What should I do on Sunday?" Think about it. :)

Dear Readers, I was going to share some photos with you, but the natural man prevails with its lazy side and I don't want to go through the hassle. Instead, I would love to share a story with you. Once there lived a little boy named Josh. Josh grew up. Now Josh's old. Josh turned out well. Good boy, Josh. Did you like it? Oh well, maybe next time it will be better.

Dear Readers, So I randomly asked my brother and his friend what I should write about today and they suggested girls, followed by the top ten reasons men don't understand women. I can sum it in one: Men are stupid. They laughed at this comment and my brother agreed. So, why is it men and women are so different? I'll try to come up with some differences. 1. Women are much more effective when it comes to communication. I once heard a funny phrase about the fastest way to speak an idea, "Telegraph, Telephone or tel-a-woman." Although this is meant to mock women, the idea couldn't portray more truth. Women are great communicators and can spread any kind of news like wildfire. I'm pretty sure the origin of this speed can be found in the ancient tradition of going to the restroom in herds. Not to mention, when guys get together they usually only discuss three things: women, sports and their choice between cars, sleep or food. Thus, women are much more informed. 2. M...

Dear Readers, At EFY every year, the organization gives away a CD full of LDS-based songs as part of participation. One year, song entitled "More" made its way on to the CD, explaining that to become a better person and to draw closer to our Heavenly Home, we must give more. More of ourselves and the gifts given to us from God. However, I don't believe the mortal state of our souls can handle giving more and more. There comes a point in which we give too much and we physically cannot do everything needed to fulfill our responsibilities due to time constraints. To put it in other words, we can keep giving more every day, but we must carefully watch what we do with our talents and time. To demonstrate, look at the example of a typical student(high school or college). They may have the talent to give more to others and draw closer to God. They unforunately do not have the time to properly utilize them. Forgive me, I do no mean to say that we cannot give more and more each da...

Dear Readers, Here we are on a nice spring day during which we have seen rain. This form of weather brings great joy to my life. The air smells wonderful during rain and you can see how the flow of life goes down each street and flows through each gutter. It's only unfortunate when you don't have the time to enjoy such weather. Running around all day is great, but I would prefer it if I could attend every event I have as a whole, instead of missing half of one to get to another. Sometimes there should be 30 hours in the day instead of 24. We could still sleep 8 hours, but you could do so much more with 22 hours. Although, I would rather wait 24 hours for something to happen than 30. Waiting is terrible. (As described in my last entry)

Dear Readers, Waiting is the worst possible punishment one can receive. Have you ever wanted to know something and you know when you'll find out, but you want to know sooner than that? And yet there's nothing you can do to make the information come sooner. It's a great way to build patience, but it is definitely not fun in the process. There is a great song entitled, "Waiting" that was recorded on an Especially for Youth CD about 2007. It's all about how a boy waits for his mission call and how he can't stand the wait and a girl who waits to turn sixteen so she can go out dating. In the end of the song, they end up getting married in the temple, so I guess waiting doesn't have to be the worst thing in the world. They both got what was best for them in the end.

Dear Readers, Someone once said that "Silence is golden." The person who said this was either very experienced or simply stupid. First of all, music brings one of the most important aspects of anyone's life. More importantly, some of the greatest men and women in history were loud and proud of what they accomplished. Looking on the other side, though, silence is sometimes the hardest yet most important part of one's lifestyle. Sometimes, nothing can be done about what you think except remaining silent. It would be wonderful if everyone could just speak their mind. Unfortunately, people cannot share everything they want to tell because someone else cannot hear it. Not to mention that person sometimes could not even hear it if you were to yell at them, sharing what you want them to know. Yes, silence may be golden, but gold has a price.

Dear Readers, I hope you all enjoy attending the temple once in a while. I certainly do. Today marks the first time ever I will visit two in the same day if all turns out right. It's so nice to go to the Temple and connect with people who you may never see again, such as other wards from Tooele or a Temple worker who's moving to Hawaii. A great spirit resides in the temple that just calms a person down, no matter what they're thinking about. Thank you to the lovely Meredith for giving me a big smile this morning and thanks to my Bishop for answering his phone at 6 in the morning to put a date on my Recommend. That's a pretty big deal, I've discovered. Go enjoy a Temple Trip!

Dear Readers, I just have to say how grateful I am for talented people that can save you when you find yourself in a jam. Especially friends. I would like to particularly thank Shelley tonight, becuase she is amazing and doesn't get nearly enough credit. I don't know how many people she has accompianed for solos and concertos the past few years, but it is definitely a lot more than anyone could count. Thank you, Shelley! :)

Dear Readers, Imagine you are just days away from what you consider to be one of the biggest challenges of your life. You've been preparing for almost a year and then suddenly then there's a couple of small stumbling blocks that threaten to destroy all that you've worked for. Sounds like the Olympics. Is it really worth the world?