The last week or so I've been in a funk. I couldn't figure out why, but I just felt down in the dumps and sad. Last night, I think I figured out why. I've almost always had a goal in my life, and most of my goals involved schooling. Getting through high school, studying music, studying art, getting a Masters and working towards a career. I still have the goal of getting my Masters, but at this point in my life, it isn't something I can work towards besides saving up money to do it. We don't want any more debt than we are already in with our car and David's student loan from when he first got back from his mission.
The thing that's bothering me is that I don't really have much of a direction in my life right now. I clean the house, work, and that's pretty much my life. I don't hate my job, that's not it. I just don't feel challenged. I would like a job in the arts, but around here that's not really an option. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't have many things to look forward to. The summer will be nice because it will be warm, but I'll still be doing what I'm doing now. I want something to work towards. I liked going to school because I felt accomplished. When I finished a class, I was that much closer to graduation, or being able to take the next level of classes. And then I graduated, and I don't know what to work towards. David says I need to find a hobby and I told him I feel like my hobby is laundry because I feel like that's all I do. I want to find something I'm really good at, something that I'll really look forward to doing.
Sorry this has been kind of a downer post, but I had to get all my feelings out so I can work through them in my head. That's basically how my mind works. Maybe tonight at work I'll have some epiphany about what I should do. Until then, I'm open to suggestions! (and to my family-I know you're all going to say stuff like underwater basket weaving...I know exactly where all my sarcasm came from.)
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Symphony
It's concert time again! Tomorrow the Idaho Falls Symphony will be putting on their Red Dress Concert. We'll be playing Bizet's Carmen suite (I know you have all heard of it because everyone has heard the Toreador song!), Debussy's Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (if you're a wind player you love this song, if you're a string player....not so much), and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade. If you don't know these pieces, I think you should look them up because they're all very cool!
During our dress rehearsal tonight, I was thinking about how much I love to play in a symphony. That was one thing that made me really sad about graduating, that I would have as many opportunities to play in a professional-type orchestra. Luckily, I found the IF Symphony! They play at about the same level as the college (which from what David tells me, for a community orchestra is pretty rare) and I have so much fun. I'll be sad when we move away because I probably won't be able to find these types of opportunities. I know life will kick in and I'll get busy with other things, but I hope I'll always find time and opportunities to play. I know that right now I would probably have an easier time finding a job or getting more hours at the job I have if I didn't play, but I couldn't do that. I would be unhappy because I wouldn't be able to do one of the only things that really makes me feel accomplished.
When I play, I like to imagine scenes where this music would fit, kind of like in movies. It helps me get in the right mood and feel for the piece. I try to get into the music and forget about how I look when I play or what others may think of mistakes I make. I especially love concerts. I think I always have. I love to get all dressed up and do my hair fancy. I love seeing everyone all dressed up, especially the men in their tux's. Someday I'll be able to afford a really nice black dress I can wear to concerts! I think I like concerts because that's when you can play the music without having to worry about the conductor stopping you and everyone (for the most part) is prepared and knows what to do and you can just dive into the music. Often during concerts, I forget there is even an audience there. Of course, then I remember they are and I get nervous, but then it goes away again and I can just be myself. When I play, it is one of the few times I feel graceful and at least somewhat talented.
I don't feel like that when I play a solo. I'm not a solo player...too much pressure... but I would play in a symphony any day. I just wanted to share those thoughts because I was thinking about them all tonight. I'm glad we have 2 more concerts after this! So come tomorrow night and listen to some great musicians! It's going to be a fun night!
During our dress rehearsal tonight, I was thinking about how much I love to play in a symphony. That was one thing that made me really sad about graduating, that I would have as many opportunities to play in a professional-type orchestra. Luckily, I found the IF Symphony! They play at about the same level as the college (which from what David tells me, for a community orchestra is pretty rare) and I have so much fun. I'll be sad when we move away because I probably won't be able to find these types of opportunities. I know life will kick in and I'll get busy with other things, but I hope I'll always find time and opportunities to play. I know that right now I would probably have an easier time finding a job or getting more hours at the job I have if I didn't play, but I couldn't do that. I would be unhappy because I wouldn't be able to do one of the only things that really makes me feel accomplished.
When I play, I like to imagine scenes where this music would fit, kind of like in movies. It helps me get in the right mood and feel for the piece. I try to get into the music and forget about how I look when I play or what others may think of mistakes I make. I especially love concerts. I think I always have. I love to get all dressed up and do my hair fancy. I love seeing everyone all dressed up, especially the men in their tux's. Someday I'll be able to afford a really nice black dress I can wear to concerts! I think I like concerts because that's when you can play the music without having to worry about the conductor stopping you and everyone (for the most part) is prepared and knows what to do and you can just dive into the music. Often during concerts, I forget there is even an audience there. Of course, then I remember they are and I get nervous, but then it goes away again and I can just be myself. When I play, it is one of the few times I feel graceful and at least somewhat talented.
I don't feel like that when I play a solo. I'm not a solo player...too much pressure... but I would play in a symphony any day. I just wanted to share those thoughts because I was thinking about them all tonight. I'm glad we have 2 more concerts after this! So come tomorrow night and listen to some great musicians! It's going to be a fun night!
Monday, February 13, 2012
New Calling
Last Sunday I got a new calling. Well, new would imply that I had a calling before and even though we've been in the ward for about 9 months, we have been on the DL most of that time. We never had to give the customary "new to the ward" talks or anything like that. The closest we came was when we were asked to give the opening and closing prayers one sacrament meeting, but it was a holiday weekend and there weren't many people they could choose from.
Anyways, my new calling is to be on the Relief Society Activities Committee. I think it's going to be a good calling, the bishop told me it's going to be me and 2 other girls and they would like to have at least one activity a month. That was all fine for me so I gladly agreed. I was already trying to come up with all sorts of fun activities later that day, but I found it was a lot harder than I thought. Our ward is a married student ward. The good thing is that most everyone is pretty close in age. The thing that made my brainstorming so difficult was that about 3/4 of our relief society is either pregnant or has a child under the age of 1.
Most of the activities our relief society has done in the past has been something like a recipe swap, a play date for the kids, or a baby stuff swap (they said you could bring other stuff too, but most of what they wanted was baby stuff like cribs or toys or something like that). It's hard for me as a non-mother (I don't know what other term to use so I decided to make one up) to want to go to these activities because I won't be able to contribute anything and will feel super out of place.
So here is where I ask for your help. In order to help myself and the 5 other girls in my ward that aren't expecting (I just came up with the number 5, although sometimes I feel like it's only about 1 other girl....) I would like to know your ideas for fun stuff our relief society could do that would be fun for everyone. One idea David came up with was to go gun shooting. I don't think that would be too difficult because I know a lot of people that would probably let us borrow their guns for an afternoon, but I don't know if the girls would like it. I don't know the girls in our ward too well because everyone is always moving in and out, so do you think that would be a good idea? I would like some ideas so I can contribute at least a little bit. So if you have an idea, please share!
Anyways, my new calling is to be on the Relief Society Activities Committee. I think it's going to be a good calling, the bishop told me it's going to be me and 2 other girls and they would like to have at least one activity a month. That was all fine for me so I gladly agreed. I was already trying to come up with all sorts of fun activities later that day, but I found it was a lot harder than I thought. Our ward is a married student ward. The good thing is that most everyone is pretty close in age. The thing that made my brainstorming so difficult was that about 3/4 of our relief society is either pregnant or has a child under the age of 1.
Most of the activities our relief society has done in the past has been something like a recipe swap, a play date for the kids, or a baby stuff swap (they said you could bring other stuff too, but most of what they wanted was baby stuff like cribs or toys or something like that). It's hard for me as a non-mother (I don't know what other term to use so I decided to make one up) to want to go to these activities because I won't be able to contribute anything and will feel super out of place.
So here is where I ask for your help. In order to help myself and the 5 other girls in my ward that aren't expecting (I just came up with the number 5, although sometimes I feel like it's only about 1 other girl....) I would like to know your ideas for fun stuff our relief society could do that would be fun for everyone. One idea David came up with was to go gun shooting. I don't think that would be too difficult because I know a lot of people that would probably let us borrow their guns for an afternoon, but I don't know if the girls would like it. I don't know the girls in our ward too well because everyone is always moving in and out, so do you think that would be a good idea? I would like some ideas so I can contribute at least a little bit. So if you have an idea, please share!
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Dali
Salvador Felipe Jacinto Dali I Domenech, aka Salvador Dali is one of the worlds most known Surrealists. His most famous painting is "The Persistence of Memory" (see below picture). He is a Spanish painter, but had his hand in many American productions. In my Art History class, we talked a bit about him and I'd like to share a little about what I have learned and my reflections on it.
Dali, like Monet, was the son of a wealthy family. He was born in 1904, just making it to the 20th century. He grew up and went to a fine art inistitution in Spain. He built a home there with his wife and many of his paintings deal with his love for his home country. In one year, he held his first one-man art show, joined the Surrealists ( style of art in the 20th century stressing the subconsciou or nonrational) which were led by a former Dadaist (basically a style where they tried to change everyone's perceptions on art), and met his wife Gala who eventually started taking over the business side of his art. It is after all this that I think Dali's life really got interesting. War was brewing and in 1934, Dali's lack of political fervor got him kicked out of the Surrealist group although he did show with the Surrealists for the rest of that decade. After WWII started getting more and more serious, in 1940 Dali and his wife moved to the United States where he eventually met up with none other than Walt Disney.
In 1946, Salvador Dali and Walt Disney started on a collaboration that took 57 years to complete. It was a cartoon, but as you can imagine, with Dali involved, it wasn't going to be your run-of-the-mill show. Dali and John Hench (Disney studio artists) spent 8 months on the storyboard. They even managed to get 17 seconds of the actual cartoon produced. But the project was suddenly abandoned when the Disney company started to run into financial problems. In 1999, while Walt Disney's nephew was working on Fantasia 2000, he found all the old storyboards and the original clip and decided to bring it back to life. It took 25 animators roughly 3 years to complete the project, but they did it. Here is the clip of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. A cartoon that, in my opinion, exemplifies the Surrealist idea. Not just a story about a girl, but a look into the creative mind of a wonderful artist. I give you: Destino
Dali, like Monet, was the son of a wealthy family. He was born in 1904, just making it to the 20th century. He grew up and went to a fine art inistitution in Spain. He built a home there with his wife and many of his paintings deal with his love for his home country. In one year, he held his first one-man art show, joined the Surrealists ( style of art in the 20th century stressing the subconsciou or nonrational) which were led by a former Dadaist (basically a style where they tried to change everyone's perceptions on art), and met his wife Gala who eventually started taking over the business side of his art. It is after all this that I think Dali's life really got interesting. War was brewing and in 1934, Dali's lack of political fervor got him kicked out of the Surrealist group although he did show with the Surrealists for the rest of that decade. After WWII started getting more and more serious, in 1940 Dali and his wife moved to the United States where he eventually met up with none other than Walt Disney.
In 1946, Salvador Dali and Walt Disney started on a collaboration that took 57 years to complete. It was a cartoon, but as you can imagine, with Dali involved, it wasn't going to be your run-of-the-mill show. Dali and John Hench (Disney studio artists) spent 8 months on the storyboard. They even managed to get 17 seconds of the actual cartoon produced. But the project was suddenly abandoned when the Disney company started to run into financial problems. In 1999, while Walt Disney's nephew was working on Fantasia 2000, he found all the old storyboards and the original clip and decided to bring it back to life. It took 25 animators roughly 3 years to complete the project, but they did it. Here is the clip of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. A cartoon that, in my opinion, exemplifies the Surrealist idea. Not just a story about a girl, but a look into the creative mind of a wonderful artist. I give you: Destino
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