End of June already?

BestFriend is back from her honeymoon ... and we spent a precious 48 minutes on the phone this morning. Sooo good to hear from her. I wish she weren't moving across the country! (Still, I know it's for the best... for both her and her new husband.)

I leave this Thursday.

On Friday, I'll be arriving in a country where I don't speak the language. I'll be completely on my own.

I'm scared.

At least BestFriend and I had each other when we traveled to Italy for Spring Break ... and ... I even understood some Italian, thanks to singing and bits of the language which have cognates in the Spanish language.

I'll be traveling for about a week before my seminar actually starts. (Anyone care to join me in Austria? It's a last-minute offer ... but if you're up for randomly jutting off to Eastern Europe ... :-) I'm thinking Salzburg and Vienna ... and perhaps ... a trip to see Esterhazy in Hungary where Handel (it was him, right?) wrote extensively.)

Then I'll be at my long conference for 3 weeks! Lots of intense learning, singing, growing!

Following that, I'll have a week more of traveling ... with my sister and her friend! More Austria and ... a day or so in Prague.

I feel somewhat guilty about all this traveling ... I mean ... it seems quite luxurious to have this chance ... But ... I'm justifying it with this reasoning: Who knows when I'll get the chance to do this again? I saved money by being an RA for two years ... and now I'm simply taking advantage of that. When I have a real job after grad school ... I may not be able to just go attend an awesome conference for several weeks in the summer. Instead, I'll be taking credits towards maintaining my certification ... and planning for my classes ... and ... surely, I'll have more responsibilities than I do now.

Anyway ... those are my random thoughts at the moment ... Ill try to write again before I leave!

Another surprise!

At the wedding on Saturday (the one near CoolCity, not the one written described in the last entry) ... the following is a picture of me:

My hands are on the left.

I touched the bouquet as it tumbled in the air.

Then, of course, it fell into the hands seen on the right side of the picture.

Fine with me ... I imagine I'll have a few more weddings to attend before I'll really want to catch the bouquet! :-)

Unexpected Surprise

Wow.

Another of my friends, a year younger than I, got married this past weekend.

She got engaged only within the past month. It was a shock when she changed her Facebook status to "engaged" - she even had to tell people she wasn't joking ...

Within the past day or so, she just changed her status to married ... with a new profile picture of herself in a simple white dress (which didn't look like a wedding dress). I, like many others, thought it must have been a joke ... but today, she uploaded pictures of the wedding ceremony.

This girl and I were good friends back in high school. Her father accepted a position at our church, and she and her siblings got involved in the youth music ministry. She was very shy at first, and I thought I recognized many of the qualities in her that I saw in myself. We sang together in church and at school, in choirs and in smaller ensembles. I encouraged her and watched her grow more confident in her talent as I had done. When I held a youth music camp for my Girl Scout Gold Award, she was my assistant.

During my senior year, she had decided she wasn't going to try out for the school musical. I was incredibly excited about the musical and I just knew that I would be perfect for the lead role. She would be perfect for one of the main supporting roles. I encouraged her to try out, telling her we'd have a lot of fun. She considered it and eventually decided to audition.

She got the lead role.

Still, we were friends. I was upset at first, but I did my best to hide it from her. (I learned to enjoy my character, a lesser lead, and she played her part beautifully.) I respected and admired her. I still do.

As is often the case, we grew apart during college. We were never quite confidantes, and we talked even less when both of us were at school. She went off to a performance program at a great school but left after a year. I never understood why she'd left such a reputable program to go to another school which virtually had no music program at all. Then apparently she left that school and has been working ever since.

I don't remember the last time I talked with her. I no longer think we are as similar as I did.

And now she's married.

Wow.

Summer Camps

The camps are going well! The kids have enjoyed the songs, activities, and crafts that we've done so far. I told them on Monday that we would be "traveling around the world with music" this week, and every morning, they excitedly ask me, "So ... where are we going to travel today?!"

If I were extremely diligent and responsible, I'd have written more than the basic outlines for each session I'm teaching. Instead, I've stayed up late every night in order to write a detailed lesson plan for the next day. Yesterday, I couldn't manage to get much done so I gave in and went to bed at 10:30pm, setting my alarm for 4:30am. Somehow I do feel rested even though it's at least an hour before sunrise!

Must get to work now ~ I have to finish my model of today's craft (an ethnic tambourine), print out the script written by my older campers for their musical production, figure out exactly what parts of the [African boychoir concert] video I'm going to show the younger campers, write a formal lesson plan, make my lunch, and ... um ... get showered and dressed!

Preparations

My first year at the camp, I had 14 kids. So last year, I planned activities for 20. I had 35 show up. This year, I've been planning activities for 40 kids. I just found out last night, after spending hours making paper mache balloons for one of our crafts that I will have 10 kids next week. Hmm.

I have to leave home in 45 minutes or less for CoolCity once again. I didn't realize I'd be returning so soon (after I drove through there 2 weeks ago tomorrow). As it turns out, it's just easier for me to stay in CoolCity than to stay in the town where I'm attending a wedding today! This makes Wedding #2 of the three I've been invited to attend this summer. (Alas, I can't make #3!)

After purchasing my gift for this couple at the store, I read in Miss Manners that one is not supposed to bring a gift to the reception; mailing the gift or dropping it off at the house is more acceptable. Oh well! I'm breaching etiquette and bringing my gift with me today.

Now I need to eat a quick breakfast, put on my makeup, and change out of my bathrobe into my pretty outfit so that I can get on the road! Happy weekend!

Excuses

I've been having a difficult time trying to write this summer. I mean, I love my life, but I haven't felt motivated to write about trips to the bank, yard sales, concerts ...

I have a confession to make: I have not done my sunrise walk for over two weeks. When I find myself going to bed at 11pm, it seems so cruel to set my alarm for 5:45AM and deprive myself of sleep I need. And if I were to wait longer ... well ... it might be too hot or sunny. Lame excuses. I need to force myself to go to bed earlier so that I can get up and be active! Plus, this can be my unofficial training for all the walking I'll be doing in two weeks.

Two weeks from tomorrow, I'm leaving for Europe! I'll be traveling a little before and after my conference! (Might as well while I'm still able to defer my student loans!) I'm very excited ... but I haven't really planned much beyond a very vague general idea of where I'm going to be and when. I haven't planned transportation beyond my overseas flight ... nor have I booked hostels. I need to get on that ... but ...

This week, I also have to write my "lesson plans" for my two camps next week (not really lesson plans, because I'm not teaching so much as I'm directing). I've done it the past few years, and while one camp pretty much stays the same, the second changes every year. I know the general idea of the activities I'll be doing ... but I need to plan out specifics and map every moment of the camp time so that the kids have no opportunity to be bored (or act out)!

I hadn't really wanted to do the camps this year ... which is why I was procrastinating ... but as I've delved more into my planning, I've gotten more interested. Still ... I should not have left all of this work until now!

Oh, and my room is atrocious. I mean ... boxes, clothing, books, papers ... everywhere. I can hardly stand to sleep there at night. My dad's advice when faced with huge obstacles is to break the larger issue down into more manageable chunks to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Good advice, but difficult to follow.

Plus, when I clean ... I'm way too sentimental. I'll discover a figurine in a box, and I'll hold it in my hands, looking at it, daydreaming, thinking about when it used to sit on my grandmother's bureau. Multiply that by the way-too-many things in my room and ... it takes forever for me to get anything done!

I have made some progress. I'm getting rid of many things I no longer need or use. No more keeping frou-frou things that I keep only because they were received as gifts and I haven't kept them the appropriate amount of time. These and other items were sold at last weekend's yard sale! Hooray!

OK, enough excuses. I'm gonna go be proactive ... because I've just come up with the perfect reward. The satisfaction of having finished my plans or uncovering a livable bedroom is apparently not enough. I'll set some goals for myself ... and for each goal I meet, I'll let myself read a chapter of Harry Potter. See ... I really want to re-read all 6 books before I read #7. I won't be here when #7 is released, but ... I need to get started on my re-reading goal before I leave ... so that I can read #7 soon after I get back! So ... I'm off!

Summer Road Trip #3

Home again after yet another brief road trip (not quite 600 miles ... and only about 12 hours of driving this time) ... Only one more independent study session left at RuralSchool for this summer term.

I stayed with a friend from MySchool. (I suppose my undergraduate institution needs a new name as I've just gotten my student ID for RuralSchool ... Guess I'll be super original and call it AlmaMater from now on instead.)

On Wednesday night, my friend enlisted my help. She'd been asked to record a few songs onto a cassette tape for the memorial service of the father of a family friend, but she needed me to accompany her. I was ready to record after sightreading through them once, but it took much longer to figure out the appropriate settings for the boombox! We finally got it working properly, and my friend received a glowing phone message yesterday thanking her for the recording. :-)
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While in RuralSchoolArea for my class yesterday, I took advantage of my time there to look for an apartment! After living on campus for four years and being an RA for two of them, I feel it is high time for me to experience living off-campus.

Four guys had lived in Apartment#1 this past year. That was reflected in the state of the apartment. (Dirty, smelly, drawers broken, nasty bathroom.) A definite NO.

Apartment #2 was much nicer. The gentleman showing me the place was very congenial. It too was not in the best state as the prior tenant had moved out without advance notice and he hadn't had time to clean it up before showing it to me. Definitely possibility.

Apartment #3 ... the most promising as it includes all utilities (and trash removal! and internet! and laundry! and furnishings!!!) ... but it is a little pricier too. Still affordable ... and I'm going to crunch the numbers to see if having all of those amenities would be a better deal anyway ...

Then I got a phone call last night about another place ~ from another RuralSchool student who'd gotten my name from landlord of Apartment #2. Her roommates had moved out and she was looking for a roommate so she could stay in her current apartment. So ... Apartment #4 ... decent deal ... though the large collection of empty liquor bottles on display made me wonder about how loud/quiet the apartment would be.
~*~*~*~
Road Trips left? 1 wedding & 1 more class at RuralSchool! Summer is flying by so much faster than I'd expected!

Thrust back into reality

Yesterday, I arrived home in the mid-afternoon after a total of some 1600 miles and probably 24 hours of driving over 8 days of solo road-tripping.

I do plan to write about my trip, random singing fun, the lovely wedding and reception ...

Right now, though, I can't write too much because I have to call about apartments for next year (so that I can visit them when I'm back in RuralSchoolArea later this week) ...

I'm also trying to book flights for my international conference next month! I figured that if I'm already spending so much money to fly over there, I might as well stay a little longer than the 3 week conference and travel! So ... I'm trying to figure out my options and buy the best ticket for the cheapest price I can find at this last-minute date. (It looks like the cost of me flying over there will equal the cost of the conference itself.)

So ... more to come soon!

My Life as a Romantic Comedy

My second road trip of the summer has been fantastic! I went to CoolCity to sing at church one more time before making my way to RuralSchool for another lesson ... I returned to CoolCity to hang out with Former Roommate ... and am now here in yet another city for BestFriend's wedding which takes place tomorrow!!!!! In my 1300+ miles traveled since last Saturday, I've listened to audiobooks (Bridget Jones' Diary (author?) and Teacher Man by Frank McCourt ... so far) they make the drive go so much faster!

It appears I have a new possible romance ... but I'm nervous about this ... perhaps because the potential seriousness is a bit surprising ... and a bit scary to me.

At RuralSchool, I met a Former Student there, who has just graduated in the program I'm entering. At my last lesson, I ended up running into him because he's still in the area ... and he gave me his phone number, asking me to call if I had any questions at all about the program or the area. (I met him on the day of my audition 2 months ago ... and thought he was attractive ... :-))

I called FS last week to ask if he wanted to get together earlier this week when I'd be visiting the town again. Delighted, he said, "Sure!" and he didn't even mind that I wanted his help finding a place to live for the next year.

After my lesson on Monday, we drove around and got phone numbers for all the places with "For Rent" signs ... We drove all around town, enjoying pleasant conversation as I got to know the area better. Then we drove to a neighboring town from which other students commute to RuralSchool. We passed a silly little miniature golf course which I pointed out to him, and he told me he'd never gone mini-golfing! I asked if he wanted to go, and he said, "Why not?" So ... we mini-golfed (and I beat him by one point). :-) Then we decided to get dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant in town ... more good conversation there. (He paid!)

After dinner, we headed back to RuralSchool area and he asked if I wanted to go for a walk on the paved trail along a river. It was still light outside, nearing twilight, and I agreed as I still had a little time to spend here before I needed to head back to where I was staying for the night.

We lazily walked down the trail, passing some other folks who were pausing to gaze at the water. We reached a small bridge, and FS suggested we walk down closer to the creek. He helped me down (I was wearing flipflops) ... and we stood on rocks at the water's edge. After reveling for a few moments in the serenity, he helped me back up to the path. Twilight was now upon us, and we spent a few moments trying to catch fireflies before heading back to the car at the end of the trail.

As we began walking, I heard a rumble in the distance. I asked if he thought it was thunder, but he fiured it might be a loud truck as we weren't far from the road.

A few moments later, it rumbled again. This time, there was no question that it was thunder. A flash of lightning in the sky and more thunder. No rain yet. We started to walk faster. One drop, then two more ... and then I put on the sweater he'd gotten for me from his house. Now it was lightly raining. OK. Then it began to pick up ... and there was more lightning and more thunder. At one particularly offending clap of thunder, I linked my arm in his, a gesture more instinctive than flirtatious, and we hurried faster. The fireflies had hidden themselves, the sky was dark, and the trees overhead made it seem even darker. Still, we laughed as we hurried along ~ what an adventure!

"You're never going to forget this!" He told me as we dashed along the path.

When we reached the edge of the path, my car was parked on the other side of the grassy bank. Without any warning, he hoisted me up and carried me over the mud to my car.

We drove back to his house where he retrieved a towel for me. He was trying to get me to stay longer, but I refused to change into the dry clothes he offered to get for me. As I was slightly chilled by the rain, he made tea for both of us. I couldn't linger after finishing my tea ... and I knew I needed to get back to my friend's house, an hour drive away. We parted ways, promising to meet up the next day.

After spending the morning with my friend (where I was staying), I drove back to the RuralSchool area. I returned FS's towel, and then we drove around some more to another nearby town to see if they had any apartments for rent. (We didn't see any, but I enjoyed the excuse to drive around and converse.)

He asked if I wanted to see the other end of the trail because we hadn't traveled the full 3 miles. We drove to the other end of the trail ... and ended up walking past a picnic area to an unmarked trail in the woods ... where we ended up sitting on a log, gazing over the water, still under the cover of the trees, and talking ...

As much as I would have liked to have lingered there longer ... I knew I needed to get on the road, as I had 5-6 hours of driving ahead of me. As we made our way along the makeshift path to the clearing, he guided me by the hand ... and we kept holding hands even after we'd reached steady ground, dropping them only when we reached the car. Then in the car on the way back to his house, I jokingly reached over, maybe to slap his hand for a teasing remark or something ... and he held my hand for the remainder of the brief trip.

Text messages and phone calls have been exchanged since then ... and he'd even requested that I let him know when I reached my destination that evening. (Same thing my mother does .) :-)

Alas, he will not be in town when I have my next lesson ... but when I return early next month, he'll be there ... so ... my life as a romantic comedy is to be continued ... :-)