Recital coming up

Practicing for the big recital next weekend.  The church (actually, their organist) has issued press releases calling it an "organ concert." Sounds more important, no?

This promises to be a difficult week. On top of regular duties, I must travel to practice each day week except Friday, which is oldest son's first Mock Trial competition (he's an attorney this year.) I have a French exam that morning, so I pray that his side has their trial in the afternoon, else I will likely miss his performance. And that would make me (and him) sad.

In other news, I'm maybe, possibly starting to see God's plan in all this mess that's happened over the last few months.  I'll keep you posted.

Life just improved, and I can stop losing IQ points!

Just received the word that the COMS 101 requirement has been WAIVED!  I'm so incredibly happy right now.  That class was sucking the life out of me. I'll be buying doughnuts this afternoon for the SOM faculty member who has been "going to bat" for me.

Hooray!

In memory of the 54 million killed by surgical abortion in the USA since 1973

Ice storm

The whole event wasn't nearly as bad as predicted at our location.  Still, it makes for good photo opportunities.

A Contorted Filbert tree.  Fairly ugly in the summer but spectacular in the winter:

Fountain grass and miscellaneous weedage:

Which way is East?

photo credit: Husband

Next recital

I will repeat my Senior Recital program at the First Lutheran Church in [city where I work] on Sunday, February 5 at 3:00 p.m.

A reception will follow. Email me for address and directions if you need them.

Last slides

Seven hundred twenty-two photos!  Maybe we should set to scanning the hundreds of prints in a box.....

Even though I should be studying for a French exam, and also finishing a Counterpoint assignment, I've decided to instead offer a selection from the last slides.

There's really no reason that Big Bro is dressed in jeans and long sleeves, and I most decidedly am not.  This is why I don't criticize my children for the same behavior. This also may have marked the beginning of my love for red shoes.

I distinctly remember building this with Li'l Bro and being quite proud.  These blocks were my most favoritest things in the whole world.

Dad and Big Bro.

Lookin' good, Mom.  Lookin' good!

I simply couldn't decide between the next two photos of Li'l Bro, so here are both of them.

You knew there'd be more family pics.

DH scanned about 200 more, but this is all you're getting. :-)


Beautiful Mama:

 

Dad and Little Bro on Dozer with Sprayer:

Handsome Papa:

Orchard in Fall, with Dad's plane:

LOVE this pic of Mum.  Compliments to the photographer (Dad):

Grandpa L.  He was a fine man and true gentleman.

Happy times:

Just try to get five kids to look happy for the picture.

Tobacco harvest:

See how high those very heavy crates are stacked?  Don't try this at home. This room is a huge cooler.

Building a cistern.

Avoid immortality!

Haven't we all heard it one time or another, when the lectionary calls for the infamous reading from 1 Corinthians?

"Avoid immortality."

"Our bodies are not made for immortality."

The last time I heard it, the priest made sure to correct the error during his homily.  Tonight?  Nothing.  The priest was probably not listening, and was thinking instead about golf, the initial subject of his homily.

At the non-Catholic parish where I play, the following text was used:

"The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body."

"Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the fornicator sins against the body itself."

Clearer?  I think so.

Humorous pics (and others) [UPDATED]

Looking through the family slides has been a blast, and they're still not all scanned!  A few are notable for reasons other than extreme cuteness.

There is definitely a nose-pickin' goin' on here. (Hope she doesn't get mad at me-- she's the sweetest person in the world and I love her immensely.)

The damage on this photo makes it look like same sister's head is on fire. [Dad informs me that the girls are standing on the fresh grave of a dead horse.  The grave was hard to dig....because it's for a horse. Also, the flames on the hill are the result of a Pentecostal gathering. ;-) ]

Playing dress up?

This is one of my best photos from toddlerhood.

On the surface this looks like an ordinary praying mantis.  Well, it actually is an ordinary praying mantis.  However, it reminds me of the time I took a cocoon into the house and hid it somewhere around the clothes dryer.  Eventually, they hatched......

Adorable little brother in the outdoor smoking section of the airport. 

Me as "Anne Frank" in a high school production.  Yeah, go ahead and sneer, but our drama teacher (RIP) had a Master's from Yale drama school, and she was fantastic. Our productions were top-notch (for a high school.)

Curtain call for The Diary of Anne Frank.  I'm still astonished that I was that much shorter than everyone else.  How did that happen?

My favorite picture of my very first nephew.  He was blowing out the candles, too! The clothing colors are seventies-tastic.

This poor child always got drafted as school accompanist *cue sad violin music*.

Family pics

The three oldest cutie pies, again:

We've had a bunny cake every year at Easter.  Don't know when Dad starting trailing the black jelly beans behind the bunny (not shown in this photo.)

Orchard in winter.

Handsome older brother.

Mum hanging clothes in winter!

Adorable older brother, again.

Joyful Dad with (probably fourth) daughter.

Third girl crawling up the steps to the bedroom.  I think we all fell down these steps multiple times, especially at night. But we only went down when we absolutely had to go to the bathroom, because we were afraid of the ghosts.

My little brother.  He was always so doggone cute.  He still looks exactly like this, but older and hairier.

A lovely letter received

I opened an email from the secretary at my place of employment, and read the following message:

By the way, people are very impressed with how well you fit in here.  They say it's as if, you have always been here.  You can't tell that we ever had a missing link. I've been a parishioner here since I was 6 yrs. old.  I've seen several organist come and go, some very good and some not so good. And believe me, we have experienced a "missing link". Your playing is very impressive and we are all well pleased. You are very much appreciated.  Thank you.

Made my day.

A good day!

Beautiful weather.  French spoken and understood. Counterpoint explained.  Recital program practiced. Monks rehearsed.  COMS 101 mercifully ended early. Recital posters hung. Reporter's query answered. Dinner competently improvised.

And most importantly, I'm CLEARED for June graduation.  A good day!

Yet more family pictures

Dad and Little Brother by what appears to be a lettuce bed.

Grading apples:

A tobacco field (correct me if I'm wrong, Dad.) The farm grew tobacco between 1899 and 1964.

Recital date

Senior recital will be at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 17 at Christ Lutheran Church.  For the uninformed, this church has dead acoustics.  Great.

Also playing Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern by Buxtehude in a small Epiphany concert on Friday. Should be an easy gig.

Communication Science 101 and You (well, Me, actually)

Today marked the beginning of what I hope and pray is my penultimate quarter of degree study. The day began with French, which would have been fine if 1) I had reviewed last quarter's material, and 2) if I hadn't gotten one of the teachers that speaks only French in the classroom. (I switched sections today as soon as I got the chance.)

But that's not what this is about.

In order to fulfill degree requirements, I must take the class mentioned in the title of this post. (Never mind that this requirement DISAPPEARS in the Fall when the switch from quarters to semesters takes place.) I knew that this would be a large class, but didn't quite understand how B-I-G.

When I entered the large lecture hall (as far as I know, the largest at the university) I was overcome by the stifling heat in the room.  This is significant because it was darned cold outside with a brisk wind which made the contrast even sharper. I found a seat and fidgeted with my phone while waiting for class to start. More people entered the room.  And more.  Wait, there are a few more!

The professor confessed the number of students in the class.

Four hundred fifteen.

We were instructed to watch the large screens in the front of the room (hey--this could be a church!), find our names, and note our "group number." When everyone found their group numbers, all 415 of us had to get up and move to a different part of the room where our groups would be gathered. Chaos.

When the nearly-impossible was accomplished, our "group leaders" talked with each of the groups about...well...not much.  Imagine group leaders talking to their groups, in the same room, simultaneously.  I could barely tolerate it and got a terrible headache.

It is probably part of my introverted, multi-tasking personality that I take in everything that's going on around me, and am seemingly unable to filter out "noise." I'm the student who gets up to shut the classroom door when the prof doesn't do it. I'm the one who must go to an empty, quiet room to talk on the telephone.  I'm the one who stopped in the middle of wedding prelude music to tell that girl in the loft to STOP drumming her fingers. So having to listen to everything going on in that lecture hall was sensory overload, and I was exhausted by the time we were mercifully dismissed early.  But hey, it's only ten weeks, right?

In other news, the recital date has been set and is awaiting approval from a university god.

More family pictures [EDITED]

Welcome to all family and friends who are stopping by to view these bits of history.

Dad flying around the farm in le Cessna.  This picture was part of a series taken for a [state] Department of Agriculture publication, although none of the pictures made it into the book.  You'll probably see a few more of these in a future post.

Delicious peaches.  We won't discuss how it feels to pick fuzzy peaches on a hot summer day.  And we definitely won't talk about what happens when you reach around to pick a peach and the other side is being eaten by seventeen bees.

 

Baby Me!

Never saw this picture of Mum before now.

The last three troublemakers.

"10 Myths About Introverts"

I came across this article via Little Catholic Bubble, which I will re-produce here from  Carlkingdom. I wish this information was known to me years ago, perhaps I wouldn't have felt so freakish.

In late-2008, I was lucky enough to discover a book called, The Introvert Advantage (How To Thrive in an Extrovert World), by Marti Laney, Psy.D. It felt like someone had written an encyclopedia entry on a rare race of people to which I belong. Not only had it explained many of my eccentricities, it helped me to redefine my entire life in a new and productive context.
Sure, anyone who knows me would say, “Duh! Why did it take you so long to realize you’re an Introvert?” It’s not that simple. The problem is that labeling someone as an Introvert is a very shallow assessment, full of common misconceptions. It’s more complex than that.
A section of Laney’s book maps out the human brain and explains how neuro-transmitters follow different dominant paths in the nervous systems of Introverts and Extroverts. If the science behind the book is correct, it turns out that Introverts are people who are over-sensitive to Dopamine, so too much external stimulation overdoses and exhausts them. Conversely, Extroverts can’t get enough Dopamine, and they require Adrenaline for their brains to create it. Extroverts also have a shorter pathway and less blood-flow to the brain. The messages of an Extrovert’s nervous system mostly bypass the Broca’s area in the frontal lobe, which is where a large portion of contemplation takes place.

Unfortunately, according to the book, only about 25% of people are Introverts. There are even fewer that are as extreme as I am. This leads to a lot of misunderstandings, since society doesn’t have very much experience with my people. (I love being able to say that.)
So here are a few common misconceptions about Introverts (not taken directly from the book, but based on my own life experience):

Myth #1 – Introverts don’t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don’t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won’t shut up for days.

Myth #2 – Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don’t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don’t worry about being polite.

Myth #3 – Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don’t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.

Myth #4 – Introverts don’t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you’re in.

Myth #5 – Introverts don’t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don’t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don’t need to be there for long to “get it.” They’re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.

Myth #6 – Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don’t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.

Myth #7 – Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don’t follow the crowd. They’d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don’t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.

Myth #8 – Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It’s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it’s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.

Myth #9 – Introverts don’t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.

Myth #10 – Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
A world without Introverts would be a world with few scientists, musicians, artists, poets, filmmakers, doctors, mathematicians, writers, and philosophers. That being said, there are still plenty of techniques an Extrovert can learn in order to interact with Introverts. (Yes, I reversed these two terms on purpose to show you how biased our society is.) Introverts cannot “fix themselves” and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

“You cannot escape us, and to change us would lead to your demise.” <-- I made that up. I'm a screenwriter.

It can be terribly destructive for an Introvert to deny themselves in order to get along in an Extrovert-Dominant World. Like other minorities, Introverts can end up hating themselves and others because of the differences. If you think you are an Introvert, I recommend you research the topic and seek out other Introverts to compare notes. The burden is not entirely on Introverts to try and become "normal." Extroverts need to recognize and respect us, and we also need to respect ourselves.