happiness is a productive day

More good things....

At 8 PM tonight I received from UPS the third piece of the new suit I just bought for the upcoming interview season. The bad part is that I am heavier than before and thus needed a new suit. The good part is that it's a wonderful, classic cut navy suit with both trousers and a skirt. It's beautiful, it was on sale and it's Ann Taylor, my all-time favorite for work clothes. Now I just have to decide whether black pumps will work or whether I need to buy some blue ones. A good friend of mine told me recently that navy blue connotes honesty... I like that idea.

Additionally, today was a really good, productive day, the type of day that makes me really happy to be alive. I worked out, I went grocery shopping and I studied for more than five hours. I have an appointment with my career counselor tomorrow morning for the first time since I decided on a specialty in law, and an appointment with my professor to discuss my last midterm exam. And tomorrow night marks the second Spanish Conversation Table that I organized at church (if you're in town and speak a little, it's at 6 PM at Davis Lutheran), which went swimmingly last month so I'm hoping it'll be just as good this time around too. Life is just good.

they're not ivories but I'm still tickled

Lots of good stuff happening for me this week.

I got a new keyboard. This is because I was embarrassed to have to play my old Korg at gigs and can only borrow my friend's keyboard for so long... plus hers didn't have a sustain pedal, so what's the point? It's beautiful. It's a Yamaha with 88 weighted keys, and we're ordering an X stand to go under it and a three-pedal set JUST LIKE a piano!! I didn't even know those existed. Technology has definitely improved since the last time I went keyboard shopping (for a keyboard for Woodland Christian when I was their organist). And it has a built-in music stand and it sounds so much like a piano that my mom wasn't sure which one I was playing after we bought it and set it up. I spent the entire first night of owning it playing it. It's only new for awhile, right?? I'm probably only really going to use the piano sound, but I was quite entertained by the harpsichord and the xylaphone sounds and of course, playing Phantom on the organ setting.

Anyway, this beauty is going to make playing for gigs like fundraisers and dinner parties soooo much simpler. It is heavier than some of the other keyboards out there, but those keyboards aren't professional; one of them I tried felt and sounded more like a kid's Tinker Toy than anything real that I could perform on. And besides which, isn't that what all you men are for? Carrying keyboards, opening doors and whatnot?

Suffice it to say that I am delighted with the acquisition and am looking forward greatly to the next time I get to play for a function. Me, my keyboard and a fake book... what else do I need for true happiness??? :)

a productive day

I love the feeling that comes from a full, happy day filled with work and school and working out and friends and family. From finding out that I'm getting a new keyboard to talking with friends I haven't seen for a month. From getting homework done but spending time with people too. I don't have much more than that to report, but simply... life isn't all that bad, most of the time.

Disappointment and disillusionment

Disappointments happen at all stages of life. That job we didn't get, that grade that wasn't high enough, the guy who says he'll call but never does. What do we do to deal with disappointment? Sometimes we cry, and have an emotional release. Sometimes we pray to God and ask him to help us cope with it. Sometimes we take a nap, watch a TV show, anything to distract ourselves from the pain.

What do you do when you're disappointed?

humdrum, daily life

I love holidays. One less class, one more day to do my homework for the week. It's good all over. The only bad thing is, I've been shopping online at Target and want to spend money when I should be saving money. If I can just get myself to hold off until I visit R&R agin, I'll spend less. Yay for thrift stores in college towns, where rich college students get rid of clothes for one of a myriad of reasons, but usually not because they're old or worn out.

I've got to study lots today since yesterday was a bust. And go grocery shopping. Where did all the milk go??? I'm going to try my roommate's recommendation that whole milk helps you lose weight. Any excuse to drink whole milk is fine by me. Hmm, I think I'm breaking that promise about not blogging about humdrum boring mundane life. I shall stop here.

Mr Hatch ends

We had a pleasant end to the three week run. I'm glad it's over, but also glad that I did it. I have never had such a participatory role in creating music for a show. It was fun to test my skills at arranging music everyone knows and, additionally, creating an accompaniment for the music that Jeni made up in her head. The show was short and adorable and I feel like that desire I had to play a show while still in school finally came to realisation, without even sacrificing much of my studies because of it. So I'm happy. Happy to have made friends, to have created and performed music and also happy that it's over and I can give myself over fully to the studying I need to do. Have a happy holiday, people.

To See (Lance) or Not to See

Well, after much prolongued discussion with my mom about when to head down to the races, we drove into downtown Davis about 20 minutes before the whole Tour de California started. Arriving at Steve's, we were given our complimentary Davis pins and cowbells, and tried to stay away from the cold and the wind and the wet. One of the volunteers was amusing herself by shouting from time to time, "There they are!" and of course, I looked every time. Fool me five times, I'll ring my cowbell at you! Finally, there they were, there they were.... and they were gone. I looked for Lance but all I was thinking of vaguely was the yellow jacket he always wears... oh yea, the yellow jersey from the Tour de France... oh yea, this is California not France... darnit. So I was stuck looking at about 20 riders wearing yellow realizing that he might not even be wearing that color. Then there they were agin! And.... once again... Lance? No Lance? No idea. Oh well. It was cold but fun, I loved all the carnival booths selling donuts and hot chocolate. I can't remember a time that downtown Davis was that full, not even at Picnic in the Park over the summer. And of course, the Davis Rule was not broken... I see someone I know every time I venture out of my apartment, and today was no different; we ran into two couples who used to go to Davis Lutheran. All in all, a wonderful if cold and wet morning. Hope they keep it like this next year!

new blog! and Mr Hatch

Ok here: it's been awhile since I had a public blog... I've been for the most part flying under the radar by blogging in LiveJournal, but seriously, I don't think my thoughts or my life need that much censorship... so here I am agin on Blogspot.com. Hope y'all enjoy these thoughts. I promise if I'm boring or weird I'll try to keep that to myself, and only share the good stuff. ;)

The biggest news of my life right now I guess is that "Somebody Loves You Mr Hatch" is closing this weekend. We had a great three week run including three school performances, and I think it's fair to say all involved enjoyed the process and the final product. I've been a bit of a Mr Hatch myself, because I have made more friends and had a better time with this show than any other DMTC show I played for before. I guess I just needed law school to loosen me up and give me some confidence to talk to people... or I just don't care anymore what people think about me. Whatever it is, we have an awesome cast and I love them to death. Especially the director: her thoughts and my piano knowledge basically created a musical score out of thin air, which is more than delightful, it's plain amazing. :) If you're in Davis, I encourage you to come to the show tomorrow at 2:15... brownies and lemonade are included in the ticket price!!!