Love

Typical Stew

Yesterday after the OCSTA conference was over, Katrina popped by the Choral Library to see me. We were talking for a little while and she asked what my weekend was like. As I was going over what Sunday and Monday looked like I realized a conflict and then began to verbally work it out. Kurt then looked at me, looked at the time and then simply reached out and hugged me and said, "I don't think your life will ever not be busy." We laughed and then she had to go.

Give yourself a pat on the back right now if you've had a similar conversation with me.

Give yourself a little hug if you're still friends with me after multiple conversations like this.

Give yourself breakfast in bed and a foot massage if you love me in spite of it.

Stuck For Halloween?

Are you stuck for a costume idea for Halloween? Try this and you're sure to be the light of the party.

What Are You Doing Monday, Monday Night?

If you live East of the GTA and you like dessert, music and helping people then you might want to come to the Northumberland Youth For Christ dessert reception and coffeehouse. The coffeehouse is featuring the likes of Shamus Hannah, Jim and Sharon Connor, Christine Moss and well, me. Its the first gig I've done in a good while. I'll be doing a mix of covers, my own stuff and a hint of worship tunes.

This all goes down Monday, October 29th. From 7:30-9:30pm at the Best Western in Cobourg. The cost in 20$ per person.

My parents will be there, I will be there, Marie and Justin are thinking about making an appearance - so maybe you could too.

And Once Again Legalism Has Spoiled A Good Thing

For the past 4 years the Concert Choir has sung at the Warplane Heritage Museum Remembrance Day service. Its always powerful. Its always touching. We are the first choir to have been asked to sing in consecutive years. It is a great honour to be asked to sing at it. And it is a small thing we can do to honour veterans and current service personnel.

This year November 11th falls on a Sunday. That's right, up/op/ob Sondag. And because of the 'uncomfortableness' of some people both in and out of the choir with the choir (or more, certain individuals) singing in the morning, on a Sunday, we are not singing in the service this year.

That paragraph may have just opened a conservative reformed can of worms that is about to indignantly crawl all over me - but let me say this first - it is not about a willingness to keep the Sabbath holy, it is not about a lack of willingness to be away from home churches. For me it is about a lack of flexibility for this particular day.

I'm just gonna throw this out there - our military veterans did not have comfortable options about how they were going to spend their Sunday. So I just wonder if we can't step out of the norm and honour them with something that makes us a little uncomfortable.

Let the very well worded lambasting of me begin...

I'll Probably Go Down The Aisle To This - Heads Up Dad!

Good Try Though

Redeemer is the land of self improvement. And this extends to the building itself. There are constantly little things being made better - dorm windows, paving things, etc. Currently there are some renovations being done in the center foyer/A stairs/stairs area. The area known as 'the couches' was recarpeted and the carpet at the bottom of the stairs has been turned to tile to match the tile on the floor. There are also new couches and chairs (though I'm still not sure what was wrong with the old ones as they were only a couple years old, but the new stuff does look very nice and is veeeerry cushy and comfy... anyway).

Nearing the completion of this renovation everyone was sent an email from campus services outlining what had been changed. Apparently this also included the name of the area. This area is supposed to be called "The Commons" now and even in the email it said The Commons (formerly known as the Center Foyer). I'm not gonna lie, this got me a little riled up. Why does campus services get to rename part of the school? And why The Commons. While sitting at The Couches this week, I discussed this and people said they'd be willing to start calling it The Commons if things (aka food) were actually sold in The Commons area (Mac's food court has Commons in its name). Perhaps it was also decided that The Commons sounds like a kissing disease - "Oh man I've got The Commons!" "You were kissing Klaas again weren't you?" "Yeah, its true. Just don't tell my parents I got The Commons". There would also be a willingness to call it The Commons if there were some end tables to set things on in The Couch area (currently there is just the arms of the leather furniture - ok, if thats where you want us to rest our drinks). Possibly also the idea of having a mini-tramp built into the floor at one point and the accompanying St. John's ambulance booth.

I also decided I would be willing to start calling it The Commons, if I was able to rename other parts of the building. Example - Rename the main office, Fred. "Well, if you go down to Fred and talk to Jane she should be able to help you." Or, "Cheques can be dropped off to Zach Pillings in Fred."

Likely though, this attempt at a name change will fall to the dust like the well intentioned naming of the 3 parking lots - Luther, Calvin and Cranmer Courts will forever be known as First, Second and Third Parking Lots.

Vomit

"You see the power in that face? And those eyes, its like you're squinting, but its an open squint."
- Tyra Banks

An open squint?

Handy Tip

If you live in Aug Hall and you take the stairs on a Tuesday or Thursday afternoon, and you notice there is a sweaty woman vacuuming those stairs, you should make lots of noise while you are coming up behind her. Otherwise you may frighten her, which could cause her to poop in her pants or fall backwards down a flight of stairs. Both are not good.

That is your tip for the day.

Saving Money For New Pants

Some of you long time readers may remember that I am broken. And by that I don't mean in the spiritual sense (though there is always that too :| ), but that my back sucks. If you are a current in-the-flesh friend, especially one with strong hands then you likely hear me bitch about my back, legs, butt and solicit your strength to alleviate the worst of the pain. Its been like this for a few years and you'd think that my Mom's multiple surgeries, the injections she gets in her spine for pain management or the fact that most of her conditions are genetic might push me into action to build up core muscles, drop extra weight and just make things better for my body. You might think that. But you'd be wrong if you did.

I started a rehab program today (for my back, you jerks - you're just gonna have to live with all that other stuff). Its a build up my core, drop that extra weight that sits in my 'here' and save myself from surgery or explosion (when I try to have kids) program.

What prompted this you might ask? Women's fastpitch. I want to return to women's fastpitch. I'm not asking for PWSA Tier I or anything. I realize that I have to ease back into that windmill with a hop. I know I've been away from competitive ball for a long time so I'm gonna be rusty. But man, watching Chelsea play last month may have moved me to tears because I miss that game so much. May have. So I want to play competitive ball next summer and I can't be a chubby, broken women to play it (well).

I enlisted the help of one of the Phys Ed profs at Redeemer to help me set some realistic goals, and to help with the know-how. 'Cause I really didn't know what I needed to do to build things up, pare things down, and tone things around. I got the help, the routine has been worked out. I'm getting a how to use scary machines review later this week and well, I'm doing it.

I figured if I blogged about it, it might bring up some accountability. So you have permission to ask me about it. Ask me how its going, where my struggles are, where the victories have come, etc. Oh, and even though I'm working out and such, you can still take me out for Big Macs, pizza, cheesy bread, and buffalo chicken fingers. Its ok. I promise.

An Important Message From the DFO

nataliedee.com

So There!

Washley (in response to something said on America's Next Top Model): So let that be a lesson you to you!

Andrew Marting (to me): Yeah Laura. I want to see you take those lessons and bring them to the ball diamond next summer.

Me: (dumb look)

Christmas Gift

"This essential field guide for all things Reformed offers a blend of tongue-in-cheek humor and easy-to-read insight—and ensures that we don't take ourselves too seriously! Organized into "Church Stuff," "Everyday Stuff," and "Bible Stuff," this new handbook encapsulates essential principles of the Christian life and uses humor to make the complexities of our religious tradition accessible to all."

I for serious want this as a Christmas gift. I'm not sure if there is a more appropriate gift for someone in my position.

In Honour Of The Day

(be sure to listen to the song sung in the background during the campaign. it may be the best part)

The Current Storm

There is a thunderstorm happening right now. I'm quite sure it is doing little for wedding preps.

But from the 7th floor view, this thing is magnificent. The last two thunder/lightening strikes set off car alarms. Everything really echoes up here because we are a big wall for sound to bounce off of, but also because there is another apartment building near by.

Wow.

Its A Musical Day

Some interesting (at least in my mind - which I do not in any way declare as a normative one) things about music in my day today...

I spent 4ish hours in the choral library today. You can now move in there, but you cannot pick up one of about 150 of Marianne Vogel's business cards.

After work the lovely Mrs. Chelsea Laarman and I attended Janet Obermeyer's contribution to the Great Romantics Festival. This was um, consummate. As a vocal student I find myself in awe of the space that Janet is able to create within her mouth - the whole hard and soft palette thing. Anyway, it was delicious. When Janet was done Chelsea and I were exiting the concert area and who did we spy in the back, but Valerie Tryon. Maybe we (and by we, I really mean me - though I'm sure you already knew that) fussed a bit over her. I said something to the effect of being from Redeemer and needing to get her to sign the program along with the other Redeemer peeps performing (Valerie and Janet teach lessons at RUC - plus Dr T was a performer in this festival too - ps, does anyone else have a problem typing festical instead of festival?). Chelsea and I left with our hearts aflutter and our brains full of vocal technique wonderment.

Now tonight I learned how to sing in Russian (I'm pretty sure its not Ukrainian, but I could be wrong). Dan and Mira's wedding is tomorrow afternoon. And in true fashion to pretty much any wedding I have been a part of, the music has had to come together at the last minute. So about a dozen of us learned a Russian song tonight. Its a nice anthem. Very pretty. While we were rehearsing I was reminded of rehearsing for Brian and Jenn's wedding which was around this time last year. For their wedding a very similar group of us was singing in Dutch. Russian, Dutch, what is it with my friends? I decided that I'm getting a choir together to sing some UEL hymn for my wedding.

And that was my musical day. Don't let it slip away.

The Downfalls/Benefits Of Having An Art Major As Your Best Friend

Bondage and Freedom

I heard a great sermon on Labour Day weekend about rest. I won't summarize it for you, but if you're really interested you can find it here.

The result of having heard this sermon is a lot of thought on true sabbath rest and what I can do to set up for it.

The result of that is this: I am now laptop free on Sundays.

I had to bend it a little for the first CITB service day, but otherwise it has been quite successful. Yesterday was the 3rd week into this experiment/project/life change.

So if you want to get a hold of me on a Sunday don't look for me online. Call my home, call my cell or drop by.

I'll keep you updated on how this goes and how it changes things for me.