I started the fitness regime on April 18th, and since then I have worked out every day except one, which is now a total of 41 days, not including today (I'll be leaving for the gym after I publish this post). The one missed day (ARGH!) was last Saturday, due to my friend Allison's wedding in Saskatoon - the day was just crazy from beginning to end, and the gym is only open until 5pm on weekends anyway so squeezing it in was just unfortunately not possible. Of the past 41 workout days, I've been to the gym for all of them except 4 I think, and on those days I've done other forms of exercise. The first 3 of those days were because I was out at the lake without access to a gym (but I brought my bike and running shoes), and I decided to forgo yesterday morning's gym workout as last night I spent 12 hours at the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life, and I only slept for 2.5 of those hours; the rest was spent walking around the track with a crowd of other people who had raised $$ for the event.
I am noticing a change in how my clothes fit. I bought a new dress for Allison's wedding last weekend, and it's a size smaller than anything I've worn in the past few years. My favourite dress pants for work are starting to feel baggy and fall down. When I put my hand on my stomach during band or choir to demonstrate some breathing technique, I notice that it feels flatter, and I can start to feel ab muscles. I haven't made any big changes in my diet, but the consistency of my workouts are starting to pay off.
That being said, it's now 3:46pm and I am going to ride my bike to the gym so I can get a good workout in before the gym closes at 5pm.
And on a non-fitness related note, I leave for IMC 4 weeks from today!!!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!!!!! Bring on the summer!!!! Oooooh!!! And in only 2 weeks, my friend Heath from New Zealand will be flying to SK to visit me!!!! AAAAHHH!!! :oD I haven't seen him since we sang together in Wellington Youth Choir, over a year and a half ago. He's in Whistler right now visiting his brother, and we booked him a flight a few weeks ago, so now our reunion is almost here! It will be another 13 months until I go back to NZ too, so this visit is almost perfectly in the middle. I can't wait!
I will post a couple pics of Relay for Life once I upload them from my camera.
I recorded a small CD (6 tracks) with my friend Graham this weekend in Lloydminster, and we had a ton of fun hanging out and making music together. Here's one of my favourite tunes from the session, or "sessiob," as we began calling it after Graham's unintentional misspelling of the word while saving the tracks to his computer.... which led to more intentional misspellings.... which led to our CD title, "The Lauron and Grayum Sessiobs".... long story, funny if you were there. :o) Anyway, here's the Gershwin classic, "Summertime," a la Lauren and Graham (recorded yesterday in Graham's living room):
..... 'Fiddler on the Week' roof!" (This was an exact quote from me earlier this week, when trying to explain why I was so exhausted and goofy.)
It is indeed "Fiddler on the Roof" week! I'm playing soprano saxophone and flute in the pit orchestra for St. Mary High School's production, and it's actually a ton of fun. The show closes tomorrow night, and it has been a good run. The grade 12 student that is playing Tevye is just FANTASTIC. I guess he has a call-back for the National Theatre School, which is exciting but not surprising. The guy is incredible. His delivery of his lines is just perfect, and his comedic timing is amazing. Sitting in the pit night after night and hearing the same lines over and over, one would expect to become bored or less entertained just because the scenes become obviously predictable.... but somehow Tevye keeps it fresh, night after night. There are some very strong performers in the show in general. It's tons of fun, and the audience response has been great! I'm pretty exhausted, but it has been fun. The band was hired very last-minute (long story...) and we managed to put together the entire show (a 200-page score) in a week and a half. Whew. It has been a marathon (or a sprint?!) and we're almost at closing night! Incredible.
This morning marked Day 21 of the fitness plan, with not one missed workout. Woop! 49 more days to go until IMC!!!!! :o)
Don Ross. AMAZING. My friends Graham and Justin and I went to Saskatoon on Monday to see Don Ross play at the Broadway Theatre. Tickets were only $20, which was crazy considering the level of talent..... the dude plays the guitar like I have never seen anyone play the guitar before. Brooke Miller played the concert with him and was surprisingly incredible (and I say surprising only because a friend, before the show, commented that "anyone will look like a hack on the guitar next to Don Ross".... but she was really great). The whole thing was just amazing. I bought 3 CDs, 2 of Don Ross and 1 of Brooke Miller. Unfortunately my very favourite tune by Don Ross was not on any of the CDs available for purchase, but apparently it's available on amazon and iTunes. And, of course, YouTube:
Don and Brooke were both incredibly funny too, and their back and forth banter was super entertaining. The quote of the night goes to Don, who told the crowd about a shirt that a friend of his had made that read, "If you fear the banjos, the banjos have won." There was also another shirt made by the same said friend that had a picture of a 9-pound hammer and the caption, "Banjo mute." Amazing. Haha. (Sorry, Bela Fleck!)
Also, while I'm at it, fitness days 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 are done. :o) Early morning workouts are no longer painful and I feel like I have more energy overall and am much more patient and optimistic in my classes at school. I've really been enjoying my students a lot over the past couple weeks and I think part of it really does have to do with the refreshed feeling I get after going to the gym before work.
Also done. Today is Day 8 and I'm going to hit the gym before I get into the zillion other things I have planned for today. I have to admit, although the goal of going to the gym for 70 days straight is lofty, it feels good to have stuck to it through the first week (even when it meant 2 days of getting up at 5:30am because I knew I was busy after work and wouldn't be able to make it then), and it's fun to have a challenge to prove to myself that I can do it.
On a totally unrelated note, yesterday I brought 6 wine bottles to school and spent one period of grade 7 science talking about acoustics and resonance with my girls, and how it is affected by physical space (i.e. the more open space inside the chamber, the lower the pitch of an instrument will be, etc.). So then we took those wine bottles and tuned them to a pentatonic scale by adding or subtracting water and played "Amazing Grace." The school's Green Club was judging each homeroom class' recycled structures that we were to be building this week, and the homemade recycled musical instrument was ours. We even ended the song with a chord (5-1-3, or second inversion). It was absolutely hilarious and fun, and the girls loved it. We videotaped it and I'd love to post it here but privacy laws won't allow me to post material with my students in it, which is really too bad because they were so cute. I've always wanted to do something like that (although my original plan was to perform "Fur Elise" at a Greystones variety night fundraiser, but that plan never did pan out.... so "Amazing Grace" with grade 7s took its place!). :oD
Today I'm rehearsing with a pit orchestra for the musical "Fiddler on the Roof." I'm playing alto sax (probably, or maybe bari) for the St. Mary High School's production which starts in 2 WEEKS. Oy. We've got our work cut out for us! It should be fun though - I've always been onstage and never in the pit, so this will be a different experience for me. Pretty awesome though I think. We'll see how it comes together soon I suppose! We've got a very small core group of music teachers and semi-professional musicians, so I'm thinking we'll be able to pull it off.
9 weeks until IMC!!!!
(PS - Top photo = Danielle and me at the Forks in Winnipeg over Easter break. Photo immediately above = Kaleigh and me in Brandon over Easter break. 1, 2, 3, JUMP!)
Have you ever wondered how to make vodka infused with the delicious taste of Skittles? Have you ever wanted to "taste the rainbow?" Well, look no further my friends. Here, in picture form, is the recipe for Skittles vodka, as documented by Ivy, Aaron, and me last weekend in Saskatoon (also posted in an album on Facebook).
To begin, you must assemble your materials:
- 1 bag of Skittles
- 1.14L bottle of vodka (we used Smirnoff)
- 5 bowls
- 5 plastic water bottles
- a funnel
- coffee filters
- a measuring cup or other container (to use during the filtration process)
- 5 glass bottles to store the finish product
- a freezer (to store the vodka overnight before serving)
- Sprite for mixing :o)
(We used a 320g bag of Skittles)
Step 1. Separate the Skittles into 5 bowls in their respective colours
Step 2. Divide the vodka into approximately 5 equal parts and pour into the 5 plastic bottles. Put the Skittles in the vodka.
Step 3. Shake well!
Step 4. Allow the Skittles to soak until the entire candy has dissolved. Shake sporadically to ensure that the Skittles haven't gotten stuck in a huge lump at the bottom of the bottle. The process of dissolving the Skittles will take several hours. Soaking overnight is recommended.
Step 5. Using the funnel and approximately 4 coffee filters per colour, filter the vodka into a measuring cup or another container. This process is also tedious. Remember, patience is a virtue. :o)
Step 6. Filter each colour, and "ooh" and "ahh" over how much sugary sludge you are removing from your alcoholic concoction.
Step 7. After the colours have all been filtered, pour the vodka into bottles and arrange the colours in the obligatory ROYGBIV order. :o)
Step 8. Put the bottles in the freezer for a few hours. We left them in overnight.
Step 9. Test all of the colours, making note of your favourites so you can claim them for yourself as you and your friends divvy up the final products. *Note: straight vodka burns. I recommend mixing with Sprite!
Enjoy!
(PS - I went to the gym this morning at 6:30am.... Fitness Day 3 done!)
I think posting my gym visits on the blog keeps me accountable to someone (or something), so please excuse the repetition of this theme. I'm also keeping a calendar with star stickers on it as a visual thing, which is exciting in a kind of kindergartenish way. 2 stars down, 68 to go.... every day until June 27th (not including that day, as I will be driving to IMC). Oy. Baby steps.
I went to the gym today, almost immediately after returning home from a 6-hour drive from Hamiota to PA (I even made it on one tank of gas.... I love my new Matrix!).
I was exhausted from six hours alone on the long, straight, open roads, but I went to the gym. I promised!
Photo updates to come shortly on the Manitoba trip, and a delicious recipe for Skittles vodka!
I used to be in great shape when I was in high school, grade 11 specifically. Over the past 6-7 years since then I have grown through a series of amazing experiences, relationships, travel opportunities, education, friendships, etc. etc. And as my character grew, so did my pant size. Haha. Anyway, I still fancy myself somewhat athletic (ok, quite athletic I think, as I used to play everything from softball to speed skating and only stopped due to repeated knee injuries), and so I figure now I don't have any excuse not to get back in shape. Sure, my job as a first year teacher is exhausting and sometimes I just don't feel like going to the gym after a long day of teaching noisy (but wonderful) bands and other classes. But I figure that if I just suck it up and get there, I will accomplish something. Thus, fitness goal #1 is born:
I want to go to the gym every day between now and my first day of work at IMC (June 27th or 28th... whatever that Saturday is). I realize that this is a bit of a lofty goal, but never being one to pace myself much, I figure I can go hard at it for 9-10 weeks and see where it takes me.
I was having this conversation with my Auntie Diane tonight about how I really am healthy, and all of my internal numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, etc.) are just peachy, and my desire to hit the gym has everything instead to do with my outward appearance (and of course, that feeling of productivity and accomplishment that one feels after a good workout). I miss my fit days! And really, with a conscious and consistent effort, I know I can get back there. I'm in Winnipeg visiting friends and family right now, and should be back to PA on Saturday or Sunday. So, starting then, I will go to the gym (or do something active like go for a run or a bike ride or something if I'm out of town and thus not near my gym) every day until June 27th.
Watch me go!
PS - Kick me in the pants if you hear me complaining. :op
As per usual, it has been too long since I've updated. This past weekend I attended the 50th anniversary Greystone Singers reunion at the U of S, which was HUGE and incredible and musically rewarding and historically significant, etc. etc. etc. I'm just about ready to go to bed here, so I'll make it quick, but basically what the day entailed was one rehearsal from 1-3:30pm, a banquet, lots of visiting, a nearly sold-out concert, and a dance at the end of it all to celebrate our reunion with such great friends. I sang with the Greystone Singers from September 2003 - April 2008..... 5 years, save my one semester that I was in NZ..... so I was able to catch up with a ton of my former choir mates from any number of those years. The massed choir consisted of members of the Greystone Singers from 1958 to present.... 220 auditioned singers. INCREDIBLE. We put together 12 songs in less than 2 hours, and had an absolute blast singing together and under the direction of 5 past GS conductors, including Bob Solem, who directed the group for a whopping 31 years. AMAZING. Truly. You should have heard the sound of that group.
This write-up doesn't do the event justice, really, but I am fading fast and I need to get to bed. It is report card week at school. Oy vey. This, too, shall pass!
And on that note, I shall leave you with this. I have to admit that I find this outrageously hilarious:
....... but they didn't believe me when I told them that I was turning 80. And, save for one rather clueless student (and I say that with love, of course), they also didn't believe me when I told them that I was turning 42. Their guesses were very close. 22, 25, 23, 27, etc.
But, ladies and gentlemen, I am 24. Officially. As of 12:05pm today.
Happy birthday to me! :o)
Another year gone, and many more lessons learned and things discovered. The biggest things that I have discovered this year are that it is never wrong to love, and that at this point in my life I feel that I have truly found myself in the profession that brings me the most joy imaginable. Pretty good year, I'd say.
Victoria was amazing! I was attempting to upload more pics than this, but the uploader thing wasn't working properly, so in the meantime here are a few photo highlights of the week out west:
Went out for supper with Brianna and Todd to Sookjai Thai (best curry I'd had since Palmerston North, NZ!)
The Parliament building at night reminds me of Disneyland. :o)
Sitting with Liam on top of Mt. Doug
Liam looking very peaceful and reflective after a hike up Mt. Doug
A visit to the wax museum
It was a great 4-5 days out on the beautiful west coast of Canada. Liam was a great host and tour guide, and I saw and did a lot of very cool things. On my first day he took me to McIntosh Point, the Gonzales observatory, the Oak Bay marina (to see the seals up close!), and to his parents' place for supper. It was great to catch up with him again, as we hadn't spent any quality time together in about 5 years, and it was wonderful to catch up with his family as well, as it had been even longer since I'd seen them - I'm sure it had been since I was 16. Wow. Anyway I caught up with the whole family, and even met their cousin Regan, who graduated from the U of S Music Dept. the same year that I started, so we had just missed each other on our Music Ed paths.... but we sure had a lot to talk about over dinner (reminiscing about certain profs and their quirky personalities, etc.). I also got to spend some time with Brianna and Todd, my friend Tim whom I hadn't seen in 3 years, and my former voice teacher Cheryl, whom I hadn't seen in probably 2 years or so. It was a great trip, and a real whirlwind of activity to say the least, but worth every minute of it. I miss it already. Victoria is AMAZING, and I WILL go back there again. I have to.
More pics to come.
Oh, and while I was out there, Cheryl gave me the music to "Butterfly" by Rajaton, so I decided to record it as best as I could. It's a very difficult piece, and I found it tricky to line up the parts rhythmically while singing them all myself. Also the Bass II part is cut off on the copy I have so the part is missing in several places. Overall though, considering I recorded it just onto my laptop (no special effects or reverb or fancy editing, etc.), it's actually not too too far off of the original recording. I put this one together tonight. Take a listen and tell me what you think, especially if you know the original.
I'm going to Saskatoon tomorrow right after work to celebrate with my best girlfriends from university (Jana, Sarah, Allison, Jasmine, Shelly, and Anna). We're going for dinner at the Barking Fish, then to Jana's to watch our DVD from our 2007 choir tour to Austria and the Czech Republic. We're going to take a bunch of pictures of the group so we can frame one for our friend Brianna who can't make it tomorrow night. Bri lives in Victoria, where she goes to CCPA (Canadian College of Performing Arts)...
..... and I am going to Vic on Saturday so I will hand deliver it to her!!!! YAY!!!! I've never been there before but I've heard nothing but amazing things about the city. I'm going there to visit my friend Liam, whom I've been friends with since we were 3 or 4 but haven't seen in about 5 years, and I'm CRAZY excited to see him again. Also, my former voice teacher Cheryl lives out there, and I haven't seen her in a couple years... aaaaaand my friend Tim, a former Greystone Singer, moved back to his hometown of Victoria after a year (or two?) in the choir, and I haven't seen him in about 3 years. So all in all it's going to be a wonderful 4 1/2 days spent out on the beautiful west coast of Canada. Liam apparently lives only 5 minutes from downtown Victoria and 10 minutes from the ocean. I haven't seen the ocean since I was in New Zealand, so I'm really excited about that.
I was playing with the program "Audacity" tonight and I came up with this recording - I am singing all of the parts (soprano 1 and 2, alto, and the solo). It's certainly not perfect, as I did each part in one take only (I didn't have the patience to go back and fix mistakes.... haha), but I had fun doing it. I hope this works! Have a listen and let me know what you think. :o)
PS - And while I'm at it, here's a completely a capella recording of "Someone to Watch Over Me" - again, each part was recorded in one take so there are definitely some things that could have been smoothed out, but it was mainly experimental so I'm not too worried about it. Enjoy!
- My students crack me up all the time (like today, when one of my senior band percussionists had timpani mallets in her hand and then was caught off-guard when I said "Back to the beginning" - where she needs to play a roll on the triangle. Not wanting to disappoint, she quickly grabbed the triangle in her hand, and picked up the triangle beater in the same hand that was already holding the timpani mallets, and proceeded to do the most awkward roll I've ever seen... while laughing uncontrollably the whole time).
- I feel comfortable asking any teacher or administrator for advice at any time, and they're always willing to provide it. They ask me for ideas as well, which makes me feel like a competent and creative teacher.
- I get to choose music that I love, for EVERY one of my 4 bands and 2 choirs.
- The thought of how many amazing new scores I'll get to learn, rehearse, direct, and perform over the course of the next 30 years is incredibly exciting.
- Having a Grade 7 homeroom class feels like being a camp counsellor every day - I get to be a role model for young students, and while I have to keep them in line at times, we always have a lot of fun.
- I have the freedom to plan fun lessons that will entertain the students while also teaching them important concepts (like the scavenger hunt we did this morning in my Grade 7 Science class, where I had hidden 18 exam review questions around the room and teams had to find them and answer them).
- My students tell me when I've made a difference, and it gives me warm fuzzies every single time.
- My school has a beautiful auditorium with gorgeous marble steps leading up to a stage where I get to rehearse 4 bands full of girls in green kilts who work hard, play expressively, make me laugh, drive me insane, frustrate me to no end, make me smile, inspire me, and remind me why I love my job..... sometimes all in one day.
- Hearing the difference in sound, technical ability, etc. of my bands from September to now makes me feel like I really AM making a difference. Whew.
- On Monday a group of senior students arrived from Japan and are now visiting our school for 3 weeks. Yesterday 4 of the girls joined my jazz choir rehearsal. We had a ton of fun, and our sound was awesome. Today I had the same 4 girls in my senior band (3 on trumpet and 1 on flute), and I was SO blown away by how well the group played, the Japanese students and my own students alike, that I sent my trombone player to the office to get our principal to the auditorium to listen. She came back with the principal and another teacher who sat and listened to the group play Sousa's "Nobles of the Mystic Shrine" (love love LOVE that piece). The trumpet section knocked everyone's socks off, and the principal insisted that we perform at the school assembly on Monday. Rehearsing with these girls was such an amazing experience for me as a music teacher, and it was awesome for my girls to hear what a balanced band sounds like, not to mention what technical and musical proficiency can be achieved with regular practice. Everyone was in a fantastic mood after that rehearsal, and our Japanese students will be back again for another rehearsal tomorrow... I CAN'T WAIT!!!!
I found this in my facebook account but had forgotten about it because it wasn't in my video section. In any case, I wanted to experiment with embedding videos in my blog, so I thought I'd post this. Let me know if it plays for you.
For the record, this is me singing "Ev'ry Day I Have the Blues" with the U of S Jazz Band in December 2006, so it's an oldie, but I loved this tune and my mom had videotaped it at one of our concerts at the Bassment in Saskatoon. It's not perfect by any means, but it was fun. I miss these days!
And I realize that, due to the lighting, I'm completely invisible... but I promise it's me. Haha.
Life is crazy around here, and I always intend to blog more than I do, but admittedly I haven't been keeping up very well. To sum it up, over the past week at work I've listened to and graded approximately 293 band playing tests (this is, of course, on top of the other classes I teach, including choir, vocal jazz, science, computers, etc.), and then I've entered all marks and report card comments into the computer system. Our students have been writing midterms and finals for the past 2 days, and tomorrow is an admin day where all of the teachers race to get all of the grades and report comments entered in the system to meet the deadline of tomorrow at 3:00pm. It seems funny for me to complain about the stress of this time of the year, as I know a million other people who are going through the same thing and are probably even busier than I am.... but to be fair, I think there's something written in the unofficial guide to first year teaching that affords me the right to complain about stress levels, because everything I'm doing is my first time doing it. I've learned some hard lessons (for example, I've learned that doing nearly 300 playing tests in one week is ridiculous and should not be attempted by any one single person, anywhere, at any time). I've figured out what works, and what doesn't. Next time it will all be easier.
This morning before I went to work to supervise the students writing midterms/final exams, I had to make this impulse purchase on eBay. Materialistic retail therapy, maybe, but it actually brightened my spirits this morning. Perfect for a Canadian music teacher in (-40C) winter. :o)
On a totally unrelated note, I'm looking into changing cell phone companies and buying a new phone that uses a sim card so that when I come back to NZ in 2010 I can remove the sim card and replace it with one from NZ. That way I'll be able to use the phone for the whole time I'm in kiwi land, and I'll have a local NZ number so I can just top up my credit with Vodafone as I go. I know the NZ trip is a year and a half away still, but I've said it before and I'll say it again - I'm crazy excited already!!!!
And on that same note, I received an e-mail from Kiwi Experience telling me that they couldn't send the $$ I won in their video competition through a cheque or money order like I had requested (they had initially asked for my bank account info for direct deposit, which I wasn't comfortable with). So, instead of the $500 prize, they offered to give me a free "Rangi" pass.... a north/south island tour worth $1,129!!! Of course I responded with an emphatic "Heck YES!" (provided the pass doesn't expire before I get to use it) - now my plans have changed from just a north island trip to a combo north/south adventure.... this means another go at the "Southern Roundup" trip that Fish and I went on last year - Poo Pub fancy dress party and all!!!
As you probably figured out from my last post, I traveled to Minneapolis over the holidays to visit Grace. I kept the visit a secret from Grace for an entire MONTH (ugh, it was SO hard not to say anything!). Her husband Barry knew I was coming, but Grace had no idea until I showed up on her doorstep, crouched and hidden under a giant box that was wrapped like a present - complete with a big red bow with gold sparkles! The video of the surprise is on Facebook, if you want to check it out. She was very surprised, and the $22 I spent on the box at the UPS store was entirely worth it to see the look on her face! :o) Unfortunately, we didn't get any of the photo challenges provided by Richard... but we had a blast nonetheless and did take a million pictures after not seeing each other for a year and a half.
The next trip on the agenda is a 4 1/2 day excursion to Victoria, BC in 4 weeks to visit my friend Liam. I haven't seen him in about 5 years, and I've never been to Vic, so I'm very excited for the trip. It'll be great to see the ocean again (first time since I left NZ!), and to spend some time with Liam and my other friends who live out west... Brianna (one of my girlfriends from the Music Dept. at university), my former voice teacher Cheryl... it'll be great! And 4.5 days will FLY by, I'm sure!
So that's basically my update. Life is chugging along as usual, and while things seem to be perpetually stressful (but wonderful) at work, overall I'm happy and healthy and enjoying where I am in life at the moment.... yet excited for things to come. :o)
And now, for no other reason than it kicks major butt, here is a video of my dear friend Danny Fong singing "Go the Distance" from Hercules in a wonderfully fabulous multitrack recording. I love this guy. Hehe.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Grace and I have a hard time coordinating whether or not we're going to make stupid faces in pictures. Fortunately, out of 3 takes over the course of New Year's Eve, we managed to get one good shot. Haha.
I realize that for my kiwi readers, 2009 is already underway. I was reminded of this at 6:57am when my cell phone rang and rang and rang until I finally woke up, realizing that the ring wasn't in fact part of my dream.... I missed the call. It was Jude, presumably wishing me a Happy New Year from the other side of the world, as it was 3 minutes until 2009 by the clock on my phone.
In Minnesota, where I currently am (and have been since the 26th) visiting Grace, 2009 will begin in 8 hours, 1 minute and counting. :o)
