"Tosca!"

Ahh Puccini! Thursday night I saw the Utah Opera perform "Tosca!" at the Capital Theatre. Yes, "Tosca," the opera frought with love, lust, murder, and drama. I thought it ironic that the two most famous arias from this opera are sung by Cavaradossi, Tosca's lover, instead of Tosca herself, but the solos were remarkable nontheless.

I've decided that opera is an acquired taste. I used to hate it. Then the more I familiarized myself with classical music (or anything written before 1890, really) the more I appreciated it. Of course, the fact that "Tosca" is one of the best operas ever written doesn't hurt. ;)

Quote of the Day

"In Congress, someone gets up to speak, says nothing, nobody listens, and then they all disagree."

Texas Pictures

Since my blog entry for Texas didn't include any pictures on it, I decided to do something a little different in order to still be able to post my pics. :)

The Sea Lion Show at SeaWorld

Gross!

Shamu, beached!

The windmills on the hill that are

part of the largest windmill farm in

the world. This is apparently where

those HUGE blades went that were

speeding down the highway.

Getting trampled.

Bethy!

The Austin city skyline from a Zilker Park bridge

Another shot from the Seal show at SeaWorld

Dolphins jump high!

A bridge over Lake Austin, taken from the same bridge at Zilker

I didn't include all of them, but I hope you enjoyed a taste of Texas. :)

Texas

Ahh! Texas!

Well, I guess I should begin at the beginning. :)

Mom, Dad, and I left right after I could throw together the contents of my duffel and backpack (the minute I got home from school on Wed.). We drove. And we drove. And we drove some more. I slept. And I read. And I slept and read some more, as well as snuck in a few games of Solitaire on my dad's GPS laptop thingy. :)

We arrived in Austin on Saturday at about 3--sooner than my sister had expected us. We caught her in the middle of cleaning and she was a little upset, but the shining magnificence of our presence soon chased away any shadow of the imperfection of our arrival. ;)

Beth always takes a little while to warm up to people, but she did eventually. That night we all (Rach, Lance, Beth, Mom, Dad, and I) went to Austin's Trail of Lights--it's kind of like a cross between Utah's Temple Square and Wheeler Farm. It was neat, but it was cold! Texas was supposed to warm! But no. We apparently bring cold with us. The week and before and after we were there they had/have 70's. The week we're there? 40's. Grr. Moving on, the Trail of Lights is in Austin's Zilker Park--kind of like NY's Central Park. It's HUGE. Austin being the U.S. capital of live music, all the concerts are held in Zilker. It has a river, a swimming pool, walkways galore, fields, vistas, stages, etc. and the most massive Christmas tree.

On Sunday we went to Rach's ward, which was just as friendly as I remembered it from June. The sacrament meeting was really good--Christmas music is ... simply ... the best. In Sunday School, my mom and I observed, as we were listening to ward members bear their testimonies, that they seem to be much more capable than Utahns at ... encapsulating their convictions in less words and yet being just as effective. I believe the phraseology would be conservation of diction as AP Lang. terms it. :) Anyway, my brother-in-law said something that struck a chord with me. He's studying law and commented on its inconsistency and ambiguity. He said that he observed that throughout all the uncertainty, there was One he could always count on, One that would never change or would ever be particularly difficult to find or rely upon. I loved this. Everyone has moments of confusion, be them a minute or a month, and I've been no exception. It was a wonderful reminder that I can always rely on Someone to provide me with undeviating assistance and assurance.

Next came YW that my sister happened to teach. It was combined and we went around the room sharing a Christmas storybook, a family tradition, or our testimony. I was excited to have arrived in time to share a story (since my sister had gotten the idea of what to do from me :) ) but my sister wanted me to share my testimony. She also bore hers.

On Monday we went to downtown Austin and saw the Capitol and the UT campus. The capitol was open, but I already visited it in June so I have my pics already. :) For anyone who hasn't been to Austin, to understand the devotion to the Univ. of Texas, take the devotion to BYU or the U ... times 53. Longhorn decals are everywhere as well as burnt orange. :) That night we all watched It's a Wonderful Life, I, for the first time. It was so good!!

Then I went to bed in my niece's room on her trundle. She was so funny. She'd wake up in the morning and watch me until I awoke and then throw all her babies and blankets onto me. Then she'd slide out of her bed and pile her books on me. I'd get through about three pages of each when she'd get restless and transfer her attention. She also had me sing to her by prompting me with "Look? Look? Pop? Pop?" with her little hands around her eyes so I sang her "Popcorn Popping On the Apricot Tree" then she would say "Beam? Beam?" and I'd sing her "Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam" while she simultaneously jounced the bed, lol.

On Christmas morning I tried my best to detain her energy because I knew her parents wanted to be the ones to lead her out into the bounty of presents that were inevitably hers. That time came and we commenced opening presents, my mom constantly reminding me that she'd get me something more because I had gotten the least amount of anyone, haha. I'll spare y'all the details, but (YAY) I finally got an MP3 player. :)

I called Zach, as he asked me to, then I went out and watched Transformers (funny/cheesy/and totally a teenager movie) and then Ratatouille (cute) ((yeah! I spelled that right on the first try!)).

On Wednesday we went to the mall. Funny how the people who are looking never find anything and the people who aren't, do. For din-din we went to Chuy's, Austin's infamous Tex Mex restaurant. This restaurant is small but its personality is magnanimous. :) It has pink walls that are plastered with Elvis pictures and Superman paraphernalia. In one room (the room I ate in in June) has hub-caps cluttering the ceiling and people stick the stickers that come on the napkins on the walls and ceiling. It serves the best food, however. SPICY!!

On Thursday we went to SeaWorld! We got there and it was cold! -which meant not too many but too few were there. My bro-in-law, Lance, and I went on the "eel" or something that was an awesome roller coaster! I remember just being ecstatic for a ride, but when we were almost to the top I thought, "Oh my. We're going up. That means we're going down!" ... It went down a lot, too! Then we went on a hanging roller coaster that kicked The Bat's buttolli! Lots of cork screws. Yow! j/k

Then we saw shows. We went to the seals' show that was corny was funny. They were trying to solve a mystery!! ;) Then we went to the dolphins' show that had neat divers. I liked how all the shows had pre-shows of sorts. Someone would come out and entertain people ten minutes before the show started. Last, we went to "Shammy Mumu" as Beth termed him. I'll be honest, the show was chokingly cheesy at some points--especially when "Jaime" started talking about her experience at SeaWorld and how she knew she wanted to work with whales and how the "first time [she] looked into a dolphin's eyes, it was a moment [she'll] never forget ..." But it was a good show. One girl (and surprisingly only one girl) did neat things with Shamu. The other whales basically just soaked the audience and beached themselves and got rubbed, haha. We saw the penguins and the sting rays and the "Nee Owes" (Nemos) and the octopus stuck to the glass. Gross picture, huh?! We were shuffled out when we were gaping at the sharks. We drove through downtown San Antonio, but I'm glad I got a better look in June. And that "better look" was awesome. :) ... not to mention, warmer!

Friday brought with it our departure. We left in the morning and drove all day. I was prepared for lameness, but there were a couple interesting things on the way home. We passed two semis going the other way that were heralded by two pickups with flashing lights and signs warning OVERSIZED LOAD. Huh. You can say that again. The semis they preceded and followed were carrying the biggest, longest things I've ever seen. Big, long, and silver, I initially thought they were boats, then I thought they were wings to a jet, then my dad informed me they were windmill blades--which was congruous seeing as how we were passing through the town that boasted "the largest windmill farm in the world." They weren't kidding. (haha, I accidentally typed 'kissing') We saw windmills dot every horizon, and when it's that flat, you have long horizons. We passed some closely and they were enormous. After that, we passed fields and fields and fields of cotton. This was a novel sighting for me. And naturally we passed the oil wells, which inescapably remind me of a methodical praying mantis.

We stayed in Blanding, Utah Saturday night and the parents were again talking about how they "could live there, yeah, [they] could live there..." just like half of the towns we passed through. Talk. They like to talk, but it unfailingly takes them five years to make the smallest of decisions. (Are ya feelin' me, Bonnie?!)

Anyway, it was a fun trip. It was awesome to see my sister and bro-in-law and Beth was fun to wake up to, despite the feel of blunt objects on my head and her squishing her face as hard against mine as possible. :) She gives the cutest kisses--she puckers up well!

Once again, Texas hugged me and I hugged it back. Hopefully I'll be going back this summer--only this time it'll be to Dallas! :)

I hope y'all had a sparklingly memorable Christmas--I don't doubt y'all did.

Musical Week

Well, I must say it has been a very musical week. Last Friday we ( the Jordan High School A Capella Choir) performed at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. The acoustics were amazing! :) But BEST of all . . . . I got to play on a $194,000 Steinway & Sons piano. Mmmmm . . . I just about melted. It was the shiniest thing you've ever seen, the longest (about 9 feet) with the purest sound and the most comfortable keys to play. It was like the piano gave you a hug every time you played it--playing came with ease. A lot of new pianos' keys are slightly harder to push down than old pianos. I have an old piano and the keys are very easily played, my friend's piano is new and they're harder to push down. This piano's keys were perfect. When you had the key pushed down about 2 mm it felt like a new piano, but the rest of the way was easy, but not too easy, or plunky. Needless to say, I did not want to leave that piano. I concluded that when I'm rich and famous, the first thing I will buy won't be a car, it won't be my fetish-pleaser, a sailboat, it will be a Steinway.
On Monday we went downtown to practice with the Utah Symphony. Wow. They're amazing. . . as well they ought to be. :) However, I'm used to accompanying the choir on I Saw Three Ships, but to hear a symphony play what Caroline and I usually play on one piano ... yeah ... they sounded much better. Our conductor was snowed in in Michigan that morning, but luckily he arrived by nighttime because that night, we had a performance with the symphony at Weber State in Ogden. It was quite fun ... all except for when I had no idea what the words were to "Ships" because I am always accompanying--never singing. The sour thumb in the back row that doesn't know the words? Yep, that was me.

As if that wasn't enough, Jordan High had its Christmas concert Tuesday night that featured all the choirs. I must admit, after all the excitement of performing for thousands, the school choir concert was a bit anticlimactic. :) The climax of Christmas for A Capella would have to be the performance on Saturday with the Utah Symphony in Abravanel Hall. Too bad Em can't go. She leaves for Texas on Thursday. But don't worry, I'll have my own climax on Saturday . . . I get to see my sister, brother-in-law, and niece!!!! --not to mention, TEXAS, my good friend from last June. ;)

Christmas Dance

The dance on Saturday was a blast for all who went ... which consequently wasn't too many because it was a guys'-choice dance and ... well ... guys stink at asking! (almost all guys)
For our day activity, we played dodgeball. I hung back as I usually do because I've always been afraid of the ball--especially when it's coming at about 60 mph! I remember being terrified of how fast the boys used to throw the ball in elementary gym dodgeball .... well .... the scariness becomes exponential in high school, haha, and I picked out the two hardest throwers: Brant and Jared. Now as I was playing it safe and hiding behind Parker, he moved his head and WHAMO! The ball collided with my face. And naturally, it was Jared's ball. It hurt so bad! I went into the bathroom and tried to cool it down with my inescapably cold hands as my right cheek and half of my forehead turned purple and as the injury literally radiated heat! Yikes! I wasn't exactly in any sort of hurry to get back into the action, so Zach and I took some pictures on the stairs (a few of which are featured). Eventually, the red/purpleness went away and we went back in. After we finished the game, he dropped me off at home again.


When he came back to pick me up for dinner and the dance, we were both in our new snazzy jammie pants--or should I say, Aeropostal sweats and J-Fan shirts. The group we went with decided to do individual dinners and then meet back to eat together. He got ours at Fizzoli's. :) Now as Marie was going around taking pictures of all the couples eating, I couldn't resist letting my noodles hang out just a bit. That seemed to be a hit so we ran with it with Zach's camera (I forgot mine).

The best part of this story is the part where Zach had us start at each end of a noodle ... Now heavens no, we never made it to the middle (although he gave me quite a scare!), but apparently Brant had an interesting little incident with a french fry once ... where he did make it to the middle, haha. Karli, who was taking the picture, said that we should've seen his face when he saw us. HA! In the picture, I am trying so hard not to laugh because what was going through my mind is exactly the aforementioned.
After Zach heard that, he took it as incentive and started eating the noodle as fast as he could, it half scared me to death -- you'll most likely be able to pick out that picture without my help.

After din-din, we were off to the ball ... or the school ... either one. We barely squeezed into the group picture (We always have the biggest group--this one happened to be 52) because we weren't assertive enough, apparently, but our singles picture is HILARIOUS. When I get them back ... heh-heh-heh ...

The dance itself was really fun. We had it in the Commons for a change so we played on the stairs and such. Throughout the night, I also had a "secret admirer" that, frankly, wasn't so secret. My friends gave me a hard time about how he'd spontaneously show up and do all sorts of things that they found funny because they were all attempts to ... interact ... with me. I won't go into detail ... you can ask Brant about it. He was VERY amused. . . . the stinker . . .

After the the last song played, we went back to 'headquarters' to watch Elf with the group that was mostly already there. And after that syrup-and-spaghatti-y experience, we went home! It was once again, great fun to be with my best friend at the dance that I've always wanted to go to! :)



"OH!"
The End!

Christmas Dance/Service

(Thank you, Rach, for telling me how to orient my pictures!)
Well'm, I got asked to Christmas dance! This is the dance that I always wanted to go to because of its cozy feeling, with the matching jammies and all. :) Anyway, my best friend, Zach, and I were ushering at our school's musical Aida on the 19th of Nov. and we had some free time before it started. He got out some cards and told me how he'd been practicing a magic trick so I said, "Practice on me," since I love magic tricks. He bent down and proceeded to do some fancy shuffle/dividing of the cards. He picked up the smaller of the two piles and told me to pick a card. I thought it a bit odd that he was looking at the faces of the cards--I thought he was going to guess my card--but I decided to humor him. I picked a card and it said "Will you go to Christmas dance with me?" I thought it was pretty original! So I'm excited, needless to say. :) It's coming up in just a week! We've gotta find matching jammies! We both want footie pajamas, but they're hard to find...

The next thing on the agenda is a new service project. Our stake learned of seven families who came from Belize with practically just the clothes on their backs and apparently need clothes--winter clothes--badly. The Laurels of our ward were assigned to provide the clothes needed for one of the families. This Friday us Laurels will be decorating a Christmas tree to put in the foyer. We're putting little ornaments on it and listing certain items of clothing on the ornaments. We're hoping that people in the ward will take a certain ornament and then sign up to bring the specified items of clothing. I really like the idea and am excited to be doing another service project. I haven't really done much toward an organized service project since I finished my Young Womanhood projects and got my medallion. I just hope that, with all the other obligations parents have during this season, they will still be able to help us and that family out.

Last but not least, something funny happened last night.
The irony actually started on Monday. Zach dropped me off after our biology lab at around 6 p.m. He drove away and I tried to get into the house through the garage. It didn't work. Nobody was home and my family doesn't believe in cell phones. I happened to have Brant's cell for no particular reason and called a plethora of people, which ended with calling Zach, who turned around and came back for me. Fast forward to Saturday night. I was "researching" MP3 players when I get a call from Brant. He was currently standing outside his door in the exact same situation as I had been in. Remembering how cold I'd been on Monday, I knew I had an obligation. I checked and the driveway was icy. I inched down--literally by inches at a time because I was scared of sliding into our truck that was parked at the bottom of the driveway. I was so thankful to make it down safely. Needless to say, when we got back to my house, I left the car at the bottom. Brant held onto me all the way up since he was in dress shoes (he'd just gotten back from a Madrigal performance) and I gave him one of Lance's old sweatshirts to change into to warm up so he could change out of his tux--or at least the top half. Then I popped him popcorn (at Dad's bidding) and we watched "Blast From the Past" (at Bonnie's bidding). :)