Well, this week is finally over. I managed to make it through my Music History midterm in one piece, and still managed to do all my other homework to a certain extent. Nothing really special going on school-wise, other than my homework for Monday that I will hopefully finish sometime this weekend.
On other fronts, I went to another birthday party for Anna (and for Josh, he finally turned 18) yesterday. That was a nice relaxing thing, especially after the midterm. And I got to hang out with friends, and see Lauren's apartment, which would probably go for $1500-$1800 in Novato but only costs them $700 (which is actually a major increase in price as tons of people are moving up here for some reason.). It's a nice apartment.
Tonight, for our second date, I took Aiko out to Tokyo Gardens, which has some pretty good Japanese food. Then we figured out there really isn't anything to do in Redding, especially when it's 40 degrees out so we went back to her house. Laura, Lisa and Annabelle were watching Finding Nemo, so I got to see most of that for the first time. It was good. (I am aware it doesn't come out until Tuesday, but Laura works for Hollywood Video and can get movies before they are officially released.)
So, now it's late and I'm tired and I think I shall go to bed so I can do homework tomorrow, although I'd rather not. Sigh.
10.31.2003
10.27.2003
A Week of Miracles
Well, there were quite a few miracles this weekend (even more if I pass some of my tests late this week).
Miracle one:
For the last 13 years my roommate, Josh, has had an unknown problem with his knees that meant he couldn't run, kneel, stand for long, or even sometimes walk without using a cane. However, last Wednesday he had the elders of his church pray over him and now he's completely healed. It's amazing, he's been running around, dancing, and so forth, all without pain, well, if you don't count his legs adjusting to being used properly.
Miracle two: Laura Jordon's parent's house is in San Bernadino where they've been having the serious fires. On Saturday they thought the house had been burned down because the fire swept right through their neighborhood, but somehow the fire went right up to the house and didn't touch it. Laura said the fire pretty much just jumped over their house and continued on. Which is both incredible and really good because she doesn't need anything else bad happening in her life right now.
Miracle three: This isn't technically a miracle, but it's pretty cool anyway. Ryan Sharkey and Lauren Calvert got engaged on Saturday. They've been dating for a while and Ryan and Lauren's dad finally had "the talk" on Saturday, and then Ryan proposed. As a little background, they're the friends I work with at the youth group, and Lauren is the one who plays the harp.
So everyone is really happy for them (and naturally, they're really really happy). They'll probably get married in the summer.
As a consequence though, I've had two seperate people tell me that Aiko and I are not allowed to get engaged for a while (it would depress them too much apparently). In fact, Anna went so far as to say (direct quote), "If you guys get into the romanticism of Christmas and get engaged, I will kill you!" Not that we needed that admonishment, but it's always nice to know people are interested, or something. And it was just funny the way she said it.
Now I need to do homework because I am really swamped, but somehow not motivated. Oh well, it will get done somehow.
Goodnight.
Miracle one:
For the last 13 years my roommate, Josh, has had an unknown problem with his knees that meant he couldn't run, kneel, stand for long, or even sometimes walk without using a cane. However, last Wednesday he had the elders of his church pray over him and now he's completely healed. It's amazing, he's been running around, dancing, and so forth, all without pain, well, if you don't count his legs adjusting to being used properly.
Miracle two: Laura Jordon's parent's house is in San Bernadino where they've been having the serious fires. On Saturday they thought the house had been burned down because the fire swept right through their neighborhood, but somehow the fire went right up to the house and didn't touch it. Laura said the fire pretty much just jumped over their house and continued on. Which is both incredible and really good because she doesn't need anything else bad happening in her life right now.
Miracle three: This isn't technically a miracle, but it's pretty cool anyway. Ryan Sharkey and Lauren Calvert got engaged on Saturday. They've been dating for a while and Ryan and Lauren's dad finally had "the talk" on Saturday, and then Ryan proposed. As a little background, they're the friends I work with at the youth group, and Lauren is the one who plays the harp.
So everyone is really happy for them (and naturally, they're really really happy). They'll probably get married in the summer.
As a consequence though, I've had two seperate people tell me that Aiko and I are not allowed to get engaged for a while (it would depress them too much apparently). In fact, Anna went so far as to say (direct quote), "If you guys get into the romanticism of Christmas and get engaged, I will kill you!" Not that we needed that admonishment, but it's always nice to know people are interested, or something. And it was just funny the way she said it.
Now I need to do homework because I am really swamped, but somehow not motivated. Oh well, it will get done somehow.
Goodnight.
10.24.2003
After only 22 years Justin has his first date!
It's quite possible that this site as a whole will now shift from a school emphasis to a relationship emphasis, and for that I am truly sorry. But I'm going to write this anyway.
Well, first I'll recap my week. Basically school was school. Nothing major due. A few Midterms and quizzes, but nothing exceptionally hard. In fact, on my Christian Theology quiz my gamble of answering the two hardest questions paid off (Slane has the quiz set on a system of giving us 7 essay questions worth different points based on hardness, and we pick two to answer, and he grades on a base of 28, although the essay's we pick don't necessarily add up to 28). In any case, I answered the two hardest questions well enough to get me a 33 out of 28. And last class I managed to take up 50% of the talking even though I wasn't presenting (usually it's 80% Slane, 18% Justin and Jason, 2% everyone else). Not that that's especially important, and it rather sounds like gloating, but I needed something to draw attention from the fact that actually the majority of my week revolved around Aiko (if you're wondering see my last post in which I tell you that we're now dating/courting/whatever).
Anyway, tonight (Friday) was our first date. Aiko had to go to a planetarium presentation for astronomy (yes, Redding has a planetarium. A very, very small planetarium, but a functional one nonetheless). Since we really don't get to see each other very much given our schedules (we figure we'll probably actually get to see each other, outside of class, about an hour or two a week) she invited me along and so I decided to make it our first date.
I took her to dinner at Applebee's, then we went to the planetarium. It was actually highly amusing. The program for the night had something to do with the Andromeda galaxy, but it was hard to tell because actually it was an excuse to give an evolutionary history of mankind (pausing briefly to paint Christianity as an outdated religion that supressed scientific research). On the whole it was quite hilarious, especially the soundtrack (being a composition major I notice these things). It was even funnier because it was narrated by Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek), meaning they were taking themselves pretty seriously. Okay, enough about the planetarium. So we watched the show and then went back to campus and walked around for a few bit talking (Side note: it's amazing how quickly perceptions change. Last week if I had seen a couple walking around campus holding hands I would have either shaken my head in mock annoyance or made fun of them. Now I'm part of that couple. Ah, the insanity of life.)
It's interesting because we're already good friends, so we know each other pretty well. This keeps down the "Surprise!" factor somewhat and actually lets us pick up in a slightly further along place than we would if we just started dating without knowing each other. So you'd think it would be kind of boring, but that's negated by the fact that we've never done this before and are both still somewhat in shock, so that keeps things interesting.
On the whole, I think this is a good experience. We get along well, we like each other, and we're not in any particular rush, so we can take things slow. Also, since we know each other pretty well, we don't have to try and impress the other person. In fact, it was nice because, aside from just general nervousness, I didn't have any of my usual anxiety attack stuff happening. So that was very nice.
On an amusing side note, we've kept the number of people who know about us to a minimum, at least up here. So we're waiting to see how fast information travels. For example, the only professor who knows for sure is Dr. Thorlakson, althought Dr. Slane is starting to guess, so if the other professors start saying anything we'll know Dr. Thorlakson was talking about us (On the whole we're not obvious enough to be noticeable).
To sum up, it was a good night, and my nervousness over the whole situation has diminished somewhat. Hopefully that will continue to hold true.
As for this weekend, I have a ton of work to do for school, and a party from Anna tomorrow and Messiah rehersal on Sunday. So, my weekend is going to be pretty well packed. I'm glad I got my computer working again yesterday rather than have it fritz out when I have no time to mess with it (XP doesn't like Nvidia's video card drivers very much).
Okay, it's getting late. I hope everyone else has an equally interesting week coming up.
Love you all.
Well, first I'll recap my week. Basically school was school. Nothing major due. A few Midterms and quizzes, but nothing exceptionally hard. In fact, on my Christian Theology quiz my gamble of answering the two hardest questions paid off (Slane has the quiz set on a system of giving us 7 essay questions worth different points based on hardness, and we pick two to answer, and he grades on a base of 28, although the essay's we pick don't necessarily add up to 28). In any case, I answered the two hardest questions well enough to get me a 33 out of 28. And last class I managed to take up 50% of the talking even though I wasn't presenting (usually it's 80% Slane, 18% Justin and Jason, 2% everyone else). Not that that's especially important, and it rather sounds like gloating, but I needed something to draw attention from the fact that actually the majority of my week revolved around Aiko (if you're wondering see my last post in which I tell you that we're now dating/courting/whatever).
Anyway, tonight (Friday) was our first date. Aiko had to go to a planetarium presentation for astronomy (yes, Redding has a planetarium. A very, very small planetarium, but a functional one nonetheless). Since we really don't get to see each other very much given our schedules (we figure we'll probably actually get to see each other, outside of class, about an hour or two a week) she invited me along and so I decided to make it our first date.
I took her to dinner at Applebee's, then we went to the planetarium. It was actually highly amusing. The program for the night had something to do with the Andromeda galaxy, but it was hard to tell because actually it was an excuse to give an evolutionary history of mankind (pausing briefly to paint Christianity as an outdated religion that supressed scientific research). On the whole it was quite hilarious, especially the soundtrack (being a composition major I notice these things). It was even funnier because it was narrated by Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek), meaning they were taking themselves pretty seriously. Okay, enough about the planetarium. So we watched the show and then went back to campus and walked around for a few bit talking (Side note: it's amazing how quickly perceptions change. Last week if I had seen a couple walking around campus holding hands I would have either shaken my head in mock annoyance or made fun of them. Now I'm part of that couple. Ah, the insanity of life.)
It's interesting because we're already good friends, so we know each other pretty well. This keeps down the "Surprise!" factor somewhat and actually lets us pick up in a slightly further along place than we would if we just started dating without knowing each other. So you'd think it would be kind of boring, but that's negated by the fact that we've never done this before and are both still somewhat in shock, so that keeps things interesting.
On the whole, I think this is a good experience. We get along well, we like each other, and we're not in any particular rush, so we can take things slow. Also, since we know each other pretty well, we don't have to try and impress the other person. In fact, it was nice because, aside from just general nervousness, I didn't have any of my usual anxiety attack stuff happening. So that was very nice.
On an amusing side note, we've kept the number of people who know about us to a minimum, at least up here. So we're waiting to see how fast information travels. For example, the only professor who knows for sure is Dr. Thorlakson, althought Dr. Slane is starting to guess, so if the other professors start saying anything we'll know Dr. Thorlakson was talking about us (On the whole we're not obvious enough to be noticeable).
To sum up, it was a good night, and my nervousness over the whole situation has diminished somewhat. Hopefully that will continue to hold true.
As for this weekend, I have a ton of work to do for school, and a party from Anna tomorrow and Messiah rehersal on Sunday. So, my weekend is going to be pretty well packed. I'm glad I got my computer working again yesterday rather than have it fritz out when I have no time to mess with it (XP doesn't like Nvidia's video card drivers very much).
Okay, it's getting late. I hope everyone else has an equally interesting week coming up.
Love you all.
10.20.2003
And so on...
Well, this was certainly an...interesting...Monday. Had a 20th Century Theory Midterm, which I did passable on. Should have some more fun mid-terms coming up, such as a Theory Lab sightsinging midterm tomorrow (with the ear training portion on Thurs).
I didn't really do much this weekend. Between sleeping in, a few b-day parties (a trend that will continue next weekend), and rehersal for the Messiah on Sunday, I wasn't very motivated to do extra work. Oh well, more to keep me occupied now.
Back to Monday, I signed up for classes today. Looks like I'll only be taking 17 units next semester, which is nice, it being my last semester and all. And that is a sad thought in many ways.
The thing that made today so interesting (I might as well just tell you all) is that after a long discussion, Aiko and I are going to start dating. Well, more accurately, we're going to hang out more to get to know each other better. So, there it is. All those shocked at this sudden reversal (two week turn around time) raise their hands (oh me...oh me). It wasn't quite what we had expected to happen, but...yeah...that's what happened. And, yes, there is no question that I will be finishing school, so no one worry about that.
Well then...I think it's time to go do homework, or something.
Goodnight. Talk to you soon (I'm assuming).
I didn't really do much this weekend. Between sleeping in, a few b-day parties (a trend that will continue next weekend), and rehersal for the Messiah on Sunday, I wasn't very motivated to do extra work. Oh well, more to keep me occupied now.
Back to Monday, I signed up for classes today. Looks like I'll only be taking 17 units next semester, which is nice, it being my last semester and all. And that is a sad thought in many ways.
The thing that made today so interesting (I might as well just tell you all) is that after a long discussion, Aiko and I are going to start dating. Well, more accurately, we're going to hang out more to get to know each other better. So, there it is. All those shocked at this sudden reversal (two week turn around time) raise their hands (oh me...oh me). It wasn't quite what we had expected to happen, but...yeah...that's what happened. And, yes, there is no question that I will be finishing school, so no one worry about that.
Well then...I think it's time to go do homework, or something.
Goodnight. Talk to you soon (I'm assuming).
10.18.2003
Nite Life
Well, this week was interesting. On Tuesday I was in classes, Wed I was in Reno, Thurs I was back to classes in time for my quizzes. Yeah. Then Friday was rather easy, which was nice.
So this is Celebration weekend, which means that tonight was nite life. It's gone downhill somewhat. Instead of funny talent, it was mostly serious, "musical" talent. 98% was music peformances, 95% of which was completely unnecessary. And while I do say this as a Music Major, I'm more coming from the viewpoint of a breathing human being. If someone wants to be goofy and they perform poorly, then that's understandable, as long as they don't take themselves seriously (see Andy and Jon being Milly Vanilly, which was one of the good ones). But, oh well. Probably the absolute best was the "Gap Rappers." Two years ago they were called "The White Guys." Basically, they're a group that dresses up as preps and raps stereotypically white, and are absolutely hilarious (the title of their last "cd" was "Keep Smiling.") Anyway, they made a fake movie trailer clip that they played on the overhead. It was awesome. Very well done, and a complete spoof on action movies. Plus, it had Dr. Slane as "The Chief." Next nite life they're selling copies on DVD. I am so there.
But, for the majority, I was just sunk in my seat. Well, there's always next time.
For the rest of the weekend, I'm going to be doing homework and practicing, and studying for Mid-Terms. Now I just need to figure out what homework I have, and when my Mid-Terms are. Should be fun.
And now, for sleep.
So this is Celebration weekend, which means that tonight was nite life. It's gone downhill somewhat. Instead of funny talent, it was mostly serious, "musical" talent. 98% was music peformances, 95% of which was completely unnecessary. And while I do say this as a Music Major, I'm more coming from the viewpoint of a breathing human being. If someone wants to be goofy and they perform poorly, then that's understandable, as long as they don't take themselves seriously (see Andy and Jon being Milly Vanilly, which was one of the good ones). But, oh well. Probably the absolute best was the "Gap Rappers." Two years ago they were called "The White Guys." Basically, they're a group that dresses up as preps and raps stereotypically white, and are absolutely hilarious (the title of their last "cd" was "Keep Smiling.") Anyway, they made a fake movie trailer clip that they played on the overhead. It was awesome. Very well done, and a complete spoof on action movies. Plus, it had Dr. Slane as "The Chief." Next nite life they're selling copies on DVD. I am so there.
But, for the majority, I was just sunk in my seat. Well, there's always next time.
For the rest of the weekend, I'm going to be doing homework and practicing, and studying for Mid-Terms. Now I just need to figure out what homework I have, and when my Mid-Terms are. Should be fun.
And now, for sleep.
10.09.2003
Happy Birthday to me...
Well, another birthday come and gone. Overall, it was pretty uneventful. I had classes almost solidly from 8 - 5:30 with two quizzes and a presentation, but other than that...
I got some Birthday cards, and was sung to twice, once in choir and once in the cafeteria. And I got a present from Aiko, Lisa, Laura, Annabelle, and Josh. Well, two actually, one was a gift card to Best Buy, and the other was a pink feather boa. The boa is a joke going back to Aiko's birthday party.
As can be seen here.
But as for celebrating, I didn't really do anything. Aiko, Lisa, and Laura had worship practice and then tomorrow they're going down to Laura's home for the weekend to do a concert. Annabelle is busy, and my other friends, like Josh and Anna are in Ashland for the evening seeing a Shakespeare play. Wait...that means I get some peace and quiet. Nevermind, that's a good birthday present.
As for the rest of the weekend, my top three priorities are homework, piano practice, and composing. As well as working on my car a bit (just to get it ready for Wed.), and maybe setting up my new computer, if Ryan gets it to me this weekend. Should be fun...or something.
Anyway, thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday. Love you.
I got some Birthday cards, and was sung to twice, once in choir and once in the cafeteria. And I got a present from Aiko, Lisa, Laura, Annabelle, and Josh. Well, two actually, one was a gift card to Best Buy, and the other was a pink feather boa. The boa is a joke going back to Aiko's birthday party.
As can be seen here.
But as for celebrating, I didn't really do anything. Aiko, Lisa, and Laura had worship practice and then tomorrow they're going down to Laura's home for the weekend to do a concert. Annabelle is busy, and my other friends, like Josh and Anna are in Ashland for the evening seeing a Shakespeare play. Wait...that means I get some peace and quiet. Nevermind, that's a good birthday present.
As for the rest of the weekend, my top three priorities are homework, piano practice, and composing. As well as working on my car a bit (just to get it ready for Wed.), and maybe setting up my new computer, if Ryan gets it to me this weekend. Should be fun...or something.
Anyway, thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday. Love you.
10.04.2003
Choir Retreat
Well, today was a long day. The choir retreat was mostly fun, good food, got to hang out with lots of friends, and so forth. But now I'm tired and all peopled out. Good night.
10.03.2003
Fun, fun and more fun...
Well, this was an interesting week. Lots of stuff going on, all of it school related, so not worth mentioning.
Tonight was the Professors in Performance, which was spectacular as always. Then a group of us went to Marie Callendar's and had a good time.
Tomorrow is shot as we have an all day choir retreat. Should be fun(even though it means leaving at 7:30), but the lack of homework-doing time is going to kill me (and lots of other people).
So, this weekend should be very busy, and so will next week. On the plus side, it's only a four day week (which is actually my week every week), on the downside I get to spend the four day weekend with homework. Mostly practicing piano and composing (have to get my senior recital done).
Now I'm going to move in the direction of bed, as I want sleep.
Tonight was the Professors in Performance, which was spectacular as always. Then a group of us went to Marie Callendar's and had a good time.
Tomorrow is shot as we have an all day choir retreat. Should be fun(even though it means leaving at 7:30), but the lack of homework-doing time is going to kill me (and lots of other people).
So, this weekend should be very busy, and so will next week. On the plus side, it's only a four day week (which is actually my week every week), on the downside I get to spend the four day weekend with homework. Mostly practicing piano and composing (have to get my senior recital done).
Now I'm going to move in the direction of bed, as I want sleep.