I have my choir concert tomorrow (I'm in University Chorale, the non-audition school choir) and I was working on memorizing my music last week, and I was very moved by the beautiful lyrics to one of our pieces. The piece is called "Christ Hath a Garden," and I never paid too much attention to the lyrics until now, but the song means so much more now that I've thought about them:
Christ hath a garden walled around
a paradise of fruitful ground,
chosen by love and fenced by grace
from out the world's wide wilderness.
Like trees of spice, his servants stand,
there planted by his mighty hand,
by Eden's gracious streams that flow
to feed their beauty where they grow.
Awake, O wind of heaven and bear
their sweetest perfume through the air,
stir up, O south the boughs that bloom
'til the beloved master come.
That he may come and linger yet
among the trees that he hath set,
that he may evermore be seen
to walk among the springing green.
I am so moved by the image of Christ lingering among us, the plants in His garden. He put us here, upon fruitful ground, that we may grow and share our beauty with the world.
My concert is tomorrow night, and I am so excited to perform with a choir again. My most powerful musical experiences have occurred when performing with a choir, and I have missed that so much this year. When I and the rest of the choir is focused on the director, we all become part of something so much bigger than us as individuals; when this happens, I can feel the music move and grow and live within us as an ensemble for those few sublime moments.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Random Updates, Thoughts, Plans
Can I just say how more I love studying art and music than memorizing facts about rocks and stars? I actually enjoy memorizing how to recognize art from Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Donatello, Ucello, Durer, Cimabue, El Greco, Giotto, and Vermeer. Hmmm? Art and music, or plate tectonics and the life cycle of a star? Tough call.
I took my last physical science midterm last night, and I only have the final before I can forget all about that stupid class. I don't do very well on the tests, (my highest score was an 83, and it was on the first, and easiest test) but it's because I would have to spend way more time memorizing and drilling concepts than I want to devote to a dumb GE. What was the most frustrating GE you ever took?
So, last Tuesday I declared it an official "Do the Bare Minimum of Homework and Get into the Christmas Spirit" day. It was AWESOME! After a long day of work and class I picked up Charlotte and we went to Target, which is officially my favorite place for therapeutic errand-running. I always come out of Super Target feeling happy, whether it's due to the 12-pack of Coke Zero in my shopping bag, or in this case, the Christmas tree and sparkly decorations I came out with. I bought a pre-lit, 3-foot tree for just $25, and I bought a box of small, sparkly, round ornaments in green, red, pink, aqua, and silver. Perfect. I also bought some white and green sparkly snowflake ornaments, and Charlotte bought me a bright sprig (I don't know what else to call it) to stick at the top of my tree.
When I got home, I had the suite all to myself, so I turned on the latest episode of "Chuck" and decorated my very first Christmas tree! I felt pure holiday joy, and now every time I come home to my tree after a long day, it brings me happiness and peace. One of my friends said that "It's an Emily tree!" I agree, seeing as I even tied together some of my ribbons in colors that match the ornaments to make a garland. Channeling Mom and Susan's decorating that week, I primped my tree, wove in my garland, and hung my ornaments two-to-a-hook.
This picture doesn't really do it justice, seeing as my camera screen cracked while it was in my schoolbag, so I can't see what my pictures look like until I put them onto my computer. I'll borrow Charlotte's camera soon so I can do justice to my colorful, spunky tree. I'm pretty much in love.
I took my last physical science midterm last night, and I only have the final before I can forget all about that stupid class. I don't do very well on the tests, (my highest score was an 83, and it was on the first, and easiest test) but it's because I would have to spend way more time memorizing and drilling concepts than I want to devote to a dumb GE. What was the most frustrating GE you ever took?
So, last Tuesday I declared it an official "Do the Bare Minimum of Homework and Get into the Christmas Spirit" day. It was AWESOME! After a long day of work and class I picked up Charlotte and we went to Target, which is officially my favorite place for therapeutic errand-running. I always come out of Super Target feeling happy, whether it's due to the 12-pack of Coke Zero in my shopping bag, or in this case, the Christmas tree and sparkly decorations I came out with. I bought a pre-lit, 3-foot tree for just $25, and I bought a box of small, sparkly, round ornaments in green, red, pink, aqua, and silver. Perfect. I also bought some white and green sparkly snowflake ornaments, and Charlotte bought me a bright sprig (I don't know what else to call it) to stick at the top of my tree.
When I got home, I had the suite all to myself, so I turned on the latest episode of "Chuck" and decorated my very first Christmas tree! I felt pure holiday joy, and now every time I come home to my tree after a long day, it brings me happiness and peace. One of my friends said that "It's an Emily tree!" I agree, seeing as I even tied together some of my ribbons in colors that match the ornaments to make a garland. Channeling Mom and Susan's decorating that week, I primped my tree, wove in my garland, and hung my ornaments two-to-a-hook.
This picture doesn't really do it justice, seeing as my camera screen cracked while it was in my schoolbag, so I can't see what my pictures look like until I put them onto my computer. I'll borrow Charlotte's camera soon so I can do justice to my colorful, spunky tree. I'm pretty much in love.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
I'm Alive!
My recent blogging break was due to severe tunnel vision leading up to Thanksgiving Break. I'm back from break now, and working on getting through the end of my classes and finals, so that in just 14 short days I can return home, hopefully satisfied with my grades and ready to forget about everything else but being home with my family.
Last week was wonderful because I was able to do all the things with my family and in my home that I don't get to do here.
I was goofy with my siblings!
I mopped!
I hugged my family and smelled Mom's perfume again!
I ate a lot of really good food!
I listened to hours of Christmas music, free from roommates who think it's too early in the season!
I also:
-watched the tv shows that my family has been saving on our DVR, which primarily included hours and hours of "House."
-went to Costco with Mom and Grandma.
-did some Christmas and personal shopping. (At the Banana Republic Factory Store by our house, everything was 50% off, and I did have to keep myself from splurging too much.)
-sat on real couches that don't have hard wooden beams in them.
-didn't do any of the reading I brought with me.
-wore warm, cozy pajamas because I was sleeping where it actually gets pleasantly chilly at night.
-benefited from my Mom's laundry day, and I didn't have to swipe my card to start the machines.
-had time to iron all my clothes, and came home with a crisp stack of freshly ironed jeans. Ahh, the luxury.
I LOVE BEING HOME!
Last week was wonderful because I was able to do all the things with my family and in my home that I don't get to do here.
I was goofy with my siblings!
I mopped!
I hugged my family and smelled Mom's perfume again!
I ate a lot of really good food!
I listened to hours of Christmas music, free from roommates who think it's too early in the season!
I also:-watched the tv shows that my family has been saving on our DVR, which primarily included hours and hours of "House."
-went to Costco with Mom and Grandma.
-did some Christmas and personal shopping. (At the Banana Republic Factory Store by our house, everything was 50% off, and I did have to keep myself from splurging too much.)
-sat on real couches that don't have hard wooden beams in them.
-didn't do any of the reading I brought with me.
-wore warm, cozy pajamas because I was sleeping where it actually gets pleasantly chilly at night.
-benefited from my Mom's laundry day, and I didn't have to swipe my card to start the machines.
-had time to iron all my clothes, and came home with a crisp stack of freshly ironed jeans. Ahh, the luxury.
I LOVE BEING HOME!
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Destination Imagination: Turkey Edition
For almost all of elementary school, I participated in the program called Destination Imagination. This program involved being on a team of other students and creating skits and doing improvisation activities. The objective is to develop creative problem-solving skills, and looking back, I feel like I have really benefited from it. (If they offer it at your kids' schools, I highly recommend looking into it!) One thing my team did every week at our meetings/practices was find ways to creatively interpret the end-of-meeting snacks. For example, if the snack was Tootsie Rolls, we would go around the circle and everyone would say something that their Tootsie Roll was, i.e. a log on a fire. I introduce with this information, because I was able to put my D.I. skills into action this week!
Last week, I volunteered to plan Family Home Evening for my group this week because I thought that it would be fun to make the chocolate turkeys that my family makes every year on Thanksgiving. Though a good concept, the execution tested my creative problem solving skills to the max! The supply list for this project is fairly simple, requiring Whoppers, red decorating gel, chocolate frosting, and chocolate stars. I forgot in my planning that the chocolate stars, which are crucial to the composition of the turkeys, are tricky to find. We find ours at an over-priced, obscure grocery store near our house, and I was hoping to have similar luck out here. I hoped in vain. Charlotte sent me to Allen's Family Grocers, which is more ghetto and sketchy than obscure, and they had nothing in the area of chocolate stars.
I'm a "Can-Do" person, so I didn't give up hope. Rather, after asking a couple workers about the stars and realizing that they had not such thing, I returned to the candy aisle and let my creative juices flow. What could be used as or turned into roundish, flats disks of chocolate? I started by grabbing a bag of miniature Reeses, which I figured could be cut in half to produce the desired thickness necessary for the turkeys. I then selected a bag of Hershey's nuggets (you know, those little rectangles of milk and dark chocolate, Krackle, and Mr. Goodbar?) The chocolate is soft enough that I decided that they could be used to carve out the round base and back of the turkeys. My friends weren't sold on that one, but I had confidence in my plan. Finally, I found some chocolate covered gummy ring things in a box up front, so I bagged about a pound of those. These turkeys would not be classic Wood Family Thanksgiving turkeys, but they would be inventive, unique turkeys.
As is to be expected by any circumstance which involves sixteen college freshmen and a table full of chocolate, we didn't end up with many actual turkeys, but some very creative chocolate sculptures. Jace made a tractor, Greg made a snowman and a Christmas tree, (note how these are both guys) and the other guys mostly stood around eating the Whoppers. It was fun though, (not to mention delicious) and I considered it a success. Displayed below are my attempts at turkey creation with my limited supplies, and I don't think they're half bad!
This was made by slicing a Reeses in half horizontally.
It looks more like an oyster in my opinion.
This was my attempt at being creative with the chocolate covered gummy rings. The ring is on the bottom and what looks like a run-down fence behind it is Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate trying to look like feathers.
Last week, I volunteered to plan Family Home Evening for my group this week because I thought that it would be fun to make the chocolate turkeys that my family makes every year on Thanksgiving. Though a good concept, the execution tested my creative problem solving skills to the max! The supply list for this project is fairly simple, requiring Whoppers, red decorating gel, chocolate frosting, and chocolate stars. I forgot in my planning that the chocolate stars, which are crucial to the composition of the turkeys, are tricky to find. We find ours at an over-priced, obscure grocery store near our house, and I was hoping to have similar luck out here. I hoped in vain. Charlotte sent me to Allen's Family Grocers, which is more ghetto and sketchy than obscure, and they had nothing in the area of chocolate stars.
I'm a "Can-Do" person, so I didn't give up hope. Rather, after asking a couple workers about the stars and realizing that they had not such thing, I returned to the candy aisle and let my creative juices flow. What could be used as or turned into roundish, flats disks of chocolate? I started by grabbing a bag of miniature Reeses, which I figured could be cut in half to produce the desired thickness necessary for the turkeys. I then selected a bag of Hershey's nuggets (you know, those little rectangles of milk and dark chocolate, Krackle, and Mr. Goodbar?) The chocolate is soft enough that I decided that they could be used to carve out the round base and back of the turkeys. My friends weren't sold on that one, but I had confidence in my plan. Finally, I found some chocolate covered gummy ring things in a box up front, so I bagged about a pound of those. These turkeys would not be classic Wood Family Thanksgiving turkeys, but they would be inventive, unique turkeys.
As is to be expected by any circumstance which involves sixteen college freshmen and a table full of chocolate, we didn't end up with many actual turkeys, but some very creative chocolate sculptures. Jace made a tractor, Greg made a snowman and a Christmas tree, (note how these are both guys) and the other guys mostly stood around eating the Whoppers. It was fun though, (not to mention delicious) and I considered it a success. Displayed below are my attempts at turkey creation with my limited supplies, and I don't think they're half bad!
This was made by slicing a Reeses in half horizontally.
It looks more like an oyster in my opinion.
This is an example of carving a rectangle of Hershey's milk chocolate into a circle. This is probably the closest thing to the real deal.
This was my attempt at being creative with the chocolate covered gummy rings. The ring is on the bottom and what looks like a run-down fence behind it is Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate trying to look like feathers.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Catch Up
Well, my "12 Days Before Thanksgiving" series lost momentum quickly amidst my week of studying, so I'll just stick with one big recap of the week.
Tuesday: 11 Days Left
-Spent 14 hours up on campus, which was spent at work, in class, studying, in a review session, and taking a test.
-I got my second D ever. My first was the 60 I scored on the last Physical Science test, and this second one the 69 I got on American Heritage. At least I'm showing improvement. I was pretty disappointed, though, because I really thought I understood the material, but I'm realizing more and more that multiple choice tests don't work with my brain very well. It was pretty frustrating to score that low after having studied for about 10 hours over the course of two days. I know a lot of people who scored low as well, so hopefully the curve will help me out. Also, I felt good about the essay portion, so that will hopefully bring me up a little.
-My boots made their on-campus debut paired with my skinny jeans, and I feel I definitely gave them a good breaking-in. Once again, I failed in my documentation due to the fact that by the time I got back to my room a little after 10:00 that night, my feel were blistered and I was so mentally and physically drained, it was all I could do to get my boots off, put on pajamas, and get ready for bed.
Wednesday: 10 Days Left
-I wore my boots again, this time with less pain.
-At work, I was excited because there were brownies, but was sorely disappointed when they tasted like PlayDough. What's worse is that I at an entire brownie, even though it tasted very little like the baked good it claimed to be.
-I was only on campus for 11 hours, but stayed up studying for my third Physical Science test until about 1 a.m. Wednesday night was rough, because I felt so discouraged because even when I study hard, I feel like I can't do as well in my classes as I'd like.
Thursday: 9 Days Left.
Thursday was an interesting day. It started off pretty horribly, because I woke up with a headache and felt completely wiped out. I was late to work, and spent my five hours there running down the clock and feeling completely drained. My day steadily improved, climaxing when I broke my streak of D test scores by getting a 70 on my physical science. I was so excited because after Tuesday, all I was praying for was to get better and get a C, and I got exactly what I needed! This was a good reminder to us that God rarely answers our prayers with miracles, but rather gives us just what we need to keep going and stay motivated. Not only did I feel great about my score, but I was thrilled to be finished with my last midterm before finals. I took a celebratory trip to Target with Charlotte, during which I splurged on a twelve pack of Cherry Coke Zero and some Honeycrisp apples, which are our family's favorite variety. Thursday night was one of those times when I just felt happy and smiled for no apparent reason. I sang along with Supertramp in my car, and I just felt happy. I am so grateful that because of the gospel, even though life is crazy and I'm getting D's on tests and spending 14-hour days on campus, I can still feel happy.
Tuesday: 11 Days Left
-Spent 14 hours up on campus, which was spent at work, in class, studying, in a review session, and taking a test.
-I got my second D ever. My first was the 60 I scored on the last Physical Science test, and this second one the 69 I got on American Heritage. At least I'm showing improvement. I was pretty disappointed, though, because I really thought I understood the material, but I'm realizing more and more that multiple choice tests don't work with my brain very well. It was pretty frustrating to score that low after having studied for about 10 hours over the course of two days. I know a lot of people who scored low as well, so hopefully the curve will help me out. Also, I felt good about the essay portion, so that will hopefully bring me up a little.
-My boots made their on-campus debut paired with my skinny jeans, and I feel I definitely gave them a good breaking-in. Once again, I failed in my documentation due to the fact that by the time I got back to my room a little after 10:00 that night, my feel were blistered and I was so mentally and physically drained, it was all I could do to get my boots off, put on pajamas, and get ready for bed.
Wednesday: 10 Days Left
-I wore my boots again, this time with less pain.
-At work, I was excited because there were brownies, but was sorely disappointed when they tasted like PlayDough. What's worse is that I at an entire brownie, even though it tasted very little like the baked good it claimed to be.
-I was only on campus for 11 hours, but stayed up studying for my third Physical Science test until about 1 a.m. Wednesday night was rough, because I felt so discouraged because even when I study hard, I feel like I can't do as well in my classes as I'd like.
Thursday: 9 Days Left.
Thursday was an interesting day. It started off pretty horribly, because I woke up with a headache and felt completely wiped out. I was late to work, and spent my five hours there running down the clock and feeling completely drained. My day steadily improved, climaxing when I broke my streak of D test scores by getting a 70 on my physical science. I was so excited because after Tuesday, all I was praying for was to get better and get a C, and I got exactly what I needed! This was a good reminder to us that God rarely answers our prayers with miracles, but rather gives us just what we need to keep going and stay motivated. Not only did I feel great about my score, but I was thrilled to be finished with my last midterm before finals. I took a celebratory trip to Target with Charlotte, during which I splurged on a twelve pack of Cherry Coke Zero and some Honeycrisp apples, which are our family's favorite variety. Thursday night was one of those times when I just felt happy and smiled for no apparent reason. I sang along with Supertramp in my car, and I just felt happy. I am so grateful that because of the gospel, even though life is crazy and I'm getting D's on tests and spending 14-hour days on campus, I can still feel happy.
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