Philosophy & Song

Business

2007-08-03T17:44:00.000-07:00

This week has been interesting. Preparations for Peter's wedding, first week of summer camp (I got the lead role, too, which makes it especially busy), etc. Pretty crazy, but fun at the same time. :)

Sadness :(

2007-06-25T13:28:00.000-07:00

Fiddler is now over. Cast party tonight, and then... no BYT until Summer Camp. Darn.

Whoa... That's Odd

2007-06-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

I was reminded today that, based solely on school standards, I'm now a senior in high school. Interesting thought.

Lucky Day

2007-05-15T17:31:00.000-07:00

I got an e-mail today notifying me that I'm one of six lucky winners of two free premium tickets to the Masters of Harmony Christmas concert. All I can say is, if I had to pick something to win by a random drawing, this is a very good choice. I'm happy. :)

Poe, a Poet

2007-04-25T16:59:00.000-07:00

Poe, a poet, placed a raven in a poem with skill engraven
But the poem was much too morbid for a cheerful one like me.
Death of beauty, says the poet, is the best, and you should know it;
I like life of beauty, so it's not so certain I agree.
Life of beauty is the best, and so I have to disagree
          Death's not all it's cracked up to be.

Poe's rhymes are the best around; in fact, they're always marv'lous
          soundin',
But this makes it difficult to write a perfect parody.
Fortunately, I'm not writing parodies, I am just chiding
E. A. Poe on his abiding melancholy melody.
'Tis a very much abiding melancholy melody,
          Singing so unhappily.

Poe may like his subject matter. I, for one, would be much gladder
Reading something pleasanter than Poe's poems will ever be.
However, I must admit, his poems are better far than this is,
But I'm not a poet; there is quite a lot 'tween him and me.
Since I'm not a poet, he is better than I'll ever be
          But I see life more happily.

(It's not perfectly in the meter of the Raven, but I did the best I could.)

Vacation in Solvang

2007-04-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

I got back last night from vacation in Solvang with my family. I've never been there before, but I had a lot of fun. We left Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Buellton about 5:15 PM, where we had dinner with some old friends of my parents at a great restaurant called A.J. Spurs. It was rather expensive, but it was worth it. We stayed in Lompoc for the night.

In the morning, we headed out to Mission La Purisima. We stopped by the Visitor Center:

We also saw some other interesting sites around the mission. Once we were finished looking around, we took a short hike up to a cross on the hill:

My dad took a great picture of a butterfly perching on a plant stem.

We spent some time walking around Solvang in the afternoon. The next morning, we rented a Surrey quadricycle for an hour and explored a bit more. We rode past the big windmill,

and went through a few more shops

before driving to Quicksilver Ranch to see miniature horses.

In the afternoon, we drove down to Santa Barbara and had lunch at the Montecito Cafe, a 3-diamond restaurant in Montecito on the southern border of Santa Barbara. It was quite nice. :) Then, we took a short walk along the Santa Barbara pier before heading home. All in all, it was a very good three-day trip.

Bartleby the Scrivener

2007-03-27T22:33:00.000-07:00

Interesting discussion in class today... does anybody else think that Bartleby could be an allegory? It seems rather far-fetched, but someone in my class brought it up, so we considered it. As far as I remember, we found a fair amount of evidence that could easily support it being an allegory, and none really against it being allegory, but it still doesn't quite seem right. Thoughts?

Dracula vs. the Loch Ness Monster... With Ninjas?

2007-03-09T21:48:00.001-08:00

It was amazing. :) Congratulations to all who were in the play!

How do you deal with it all?

2007-02-25T20:09:00.000-08:00

How can a person sort out all of the questions in his head? How can he come up with answers to even a small fraction of them? Why do we ask so many questions about everything? And here I am, doing the same thing...

I think that's why I like to read books. When I'm reading a good book, I don't have to think about all of those questions. Instead, I can get out of myself for a few hours. I barely even notice the time passing if I don't have anything else to do. I definitely need it; there's no way I can keep trying to answer the questions my mind comes up with. I just wish that I could put the questions aside more often.

Good news or bad news?

2007-02-19T13:27:00.000-08:00

Good news! I get to be the bringer of bad news! I will be Avram the bookseller in Fiddler on the Roof. :D

Callbacks!

2007-02-15T14:38:00.000-08:00

Well, I called about half an hour ago, and found that I did indeed make it to callbacks! I'm not entirely surprised, but I didn't want to be too sure of it before it happened. Now I just need to pray that I get called in for at least one of the parts that I really want, and that if I don't, I can still be happy with what I do get called back for...

Auditions

2007-02-12T16:18:00.000-08:00

Two days until my audition... I will be seeing some of you there. Good luck to all who are auditioning today or tomorrow!

My Fair Lady

2007-01-14T12:55:00.000-08:00

We had an amazing opening weekend. Praise God, and pray the next one goes at least as well! :)

Micro-Miniatures

2007-01-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

Micro-Miniatures

Read this. It's simply amazing.

Satisfaction... Revisited

2007-01-10T23:51:00.001-08:00

I think I've gotten my satisfaction back, and it's in large part due to the devotion tonight at rehearsal. I'm very happy now. :)

Satisfaction

2007-01-04T12:33:00.000-08:00

How do we find satisfaction? I know that lasting satisfaction can only be found in God, but can we have any other sort of satisfaction other than God? Do we only have satisfaction from things in which we include God? If so, how do we include God in everything?

Lots of questions, to which I wish I knew the answers. Last night, I noticed that I felt rather dissatisfied. I don't know with what, though; just dissatisfied. I wish I knew what I could do about it, because I don't like the feeling. I'm not even sure what caused it, because I've been really happy recently. *sigh*

Decisions, decisions...

2007-01-02T17:26:00.000-08:00

Winter Formal is on February 4th... to go or not to go? My youth group's winter camp is that same weekend, so I could go to that. On the other hand, I haven't felt as connected to my youth group recently, although I think I'd still enjoy it. In one way, I'd like to go to the Winter Formal, though... and I know who I'd like to invite, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to invite her to something like that yet, and that's the other problem. I want to, but I'm not sure I should...

I think the cost would be pretty comparable between the two, so money isn't an issue, at least.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T08:52:00.001-08:00

It's 2007! Funny to think that in one day we go from writing 2006 to 2007 on everything.

Ah, To Sing Is A Wonderful Thing!

2006-12-27T10:19:00.000-08:00

What with Barbershop, musical theater, and voice lessons, I've been thinking about various kinds of singing. I find that I like musical theater and Barbershop noticeably more than classical music. I think I like Barbershop due to the fact that it was one of the first kinds of "choral" singing I ever did, and it's just an interesting way to sing. Plus, it's very rewarding to hear amazing overtones when you sing well. :)

I'm not really sure as to why I like musical theater more than classical singing, though. Perhaps there's enough difference in the style. Maybe it's the fact that most of the classical songs I've learned so far seem somewhat sad, but then again, I really like songs like If I Can't Love Her. Whatever the difference is, I find that I like musical theater singing quite a bit. I'm practicing what I hope will be my song for Fiddler auditions - Santa Fe from Newsies - and I really enjoy the sound of it. Is there more inherent beauty in some musical theater songs than in most classical songs? Is it just a personal preference? It's not as if I like every theater song more; I've looked through other possibilities for audition songs, but I find that I don't really like the words, the music, or both. Some songs I really wished I could have done because the words were amazing, but then I played through and found that the music didn't really sound very good. I do like my classical songs, as well, but whenever I have a Barbershop song or a theater song, I never seem to end up practicing the classical ones...

Christmas: And What Of It?

2006-12-25T22:21:00.000-08:00

Well, hello everyone. I've decided to make my own blog... which is rather obvious, or this wouldn't be here. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure what I want to do with it yet. My posts will likely be spread out, both in time and in subject. Then again, a lot of other people do that, too, from what I've seen, so I guess I'm not so odd in that respect.

So long, and Merry Christmas to all! Hope you all enjoy your time with family as we celebrate Christ's birth.