Life recently...

Has been busy and satisfactory. Since the semester ended, I've finished Lone Survivor and The Perfectibility of Man, and read Flying Colours (a Hornblower novel), and The Swiss Family Robinson (a hardbound copy of which I picked up at a thrift store for 50 cents. I love thrift stores). And now I'm 100 pages into Les Miserables; when I went into Borders to buy that, I discovered a store which presents a gigantic temptation to impulse buying. I only meant to buy Les Miserables and ended up with that, Glenn Gould's recording of Bach's Goldberg Variations on Piano, and Dvorak's New World Symphony. I almost ended up with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and several albums of Liszt, Saint-Saens, and Prokofiev (and some more Bach, of course), but sanity kicked in somewhere along the line....

On that note, I actually have cash in my pocket for once, because I have gone back to work at Carlos O'Kelly's. I was blessed with favor in that--it initially appeared that I'd be picking up only shifts that people had to drop, but I was put on the schedule and picked up a few extra shifts to boot. I think I worked 7 last week (there are the lunch and dinner shifts) and, especially considering it was my first week back at work, made out quite satisfactorily. Most of it is, of course, being saved for school, but some of it is making its way to expanding my literary and musical libraries.

A short digression: waiting tables is a crucible for refining patience and dependence on the providence of our Father. Waiters are paid below minimum wage by their employers, and are dependent on tips--we are, in a way, at the mercy of the customers. And there are some, that, no matter how kind and attentive you are, will be unkind and demanding, and then leave a token pittance. Then there are some that, even when you have fumbled over your introduction and brought them the wrong drinks and brought out their appetizers with their meal, will monetarily bless you far beyond the tipping standard that I, at least, was taught--not to mention the supreme blessing of their kindness and understanding and good humour through it all. And ultimately, I can have confidence that the Lord will provide all I need to work His will--their hearts are in His hands. Just as God moved the heart of Cyrus (and many others who did not know Him) to bless the nation of Israel, so does He move the hearts of men to bless His spiritual Israel and fulfill His plan for us. Amen.

And I received my Army uniform for LTC today.... :-)

I've come across about half a million references to the military life in one way or another in the last month or so, so I think I'm about due to write that series on it that's been on my mind. One should go up tonight (since it will be mostly other people's writings), and I hope to get a few others up before I go to LTC (next Friday!!!!). Some topics I hope to cover:

--The sacrifices of the military wife and mom
--Why I'm joining the military, and some sources that have influenced my thought on the matter (perhaps a two- or three- parter)
--Life as a military child

Questions

This is something I've debated before, and I have my own opinion on the matter, but I'd be curious to see what my readers think before I present mine. There are actually three closely related questions:

1) Is it permissible for men to wear earrings?

2) Is it permissible for women to wear earrings?

3) If the answer was no to (1) and yes to (2), on what do you base the distinction?

And, no, I'm not remotely considering get my ears pierced. My brothers already know what I'll do to their ear lobes if they ever come home with earrings.

In other news, I've posted again to my Theology/Philosophy blog. As I look at the previous post, I realize that I should have titled it "Presuppositionalism and "Calvinism": the Biblical Answers to the Problem of Epistemology." Not that anyone reads that blog (is it really that boring?), but it is duly fixed anyway. ;-)

And on my way home tonight I caught a portion of Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini on the radio, so I'm going to listen to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in A minor (the one on my Songspot), and retire in a mood of pure bliss...

Colin

New Stuff

Just wanted to let y'all know that I've made another post to my Theology/Philosophy blog, if you want to check it out.

Also, I've made four new recordings in the last few weeks in several different styles, which are all up on the little music webpage I have. Please let me know what you think.

I still don't have the pictures from maple syruping, so that's going to have to wait....

Fiddler on the Roof has, in my opinion, the best soundtrack of any movie I've ever seen...Here are three of the best songs, "Tradition," "To Life," and "Do You Love Me?" I could wish that the "Tradition" clip had more on either end of it (part of Tevye's monologue is cut, as is part of the violin solo), but this was provided free, after all, so I can't complain.

The Concert Last Friday and Other Stories

First of all, an explanation as to why I’m up at midnight writing this….I had a cup of tea this afternoon, a 20 oz cappuccino at about 5:15 pm, and an energy drink at about 6 o’clock…and then was irresistibly drawn into a 30-minute slumber at 6:30. For the record, that much caffeine in my system is highly abnormal. But the weird thing is that caffeine seems to put me to sleep. Until I wake back up. And now I’m wired and can’t go to sleep….I have a strange metabolism….

Anyway, the concert last Friday. Several brass and percussion musicians from the Heartland of America Band of the Air Force performed a free concert at a local high school, and we went to see them with another homeschooling family. I have seen the Heartland of America Band once before, and they are a remarkable set of musicians (the sort that has the paradoxical effect of both inspiring me and driving me to despair in my own playing…). This particular group had four trumpeters, two percussionists, three trombonists, a tuba, and a euphonium, if memory serves. They played a wide range of pieces:

Bizet’s “Habanera” from Carmen. The vocalist was quite good, and the effect of having all brass instruments in the background was interesting. I have always liked this tune; unfortunately, it was spoiled for me by the fact that the only really funny Super Bowl commercial this year used this exact same piece, so I couldn’t get the Doritos ad out of my head. Oh, yes, and then the Gilligan’s Island episode where they set Shakespeare to music and sang the “To Be or Not to Be” soliloquy to this tune. Yes, it is more or less ruined for me….

A few scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet (“The Street Awakens,” “Montagues and Capulets,” and “Friar Laurence,” I believe). Very well done, and I quite liked the “Montagues and Capulets.” The martial rhythm of that scene was well suited to a brass ensemble.

In the spirit of the season, they played a few love songs, mostly jazz, but also “El Belle Noche,” from Lady and the Tramp. I had not heard that song for quite a while; it was quite good, and two of the trumpeters added some special effects by placing their bells into a bowl of water. The bubbling sound produced was quite the crowd-pleaser!

They had two soloists. One of their trumpet players played the cornet piece “Song and Dance” by Philip Sparkes. He struggled with a few of the high notes near the end, but it was still quite impressive overall, and it was a most enjoyable piece to which to listen. The other soloist played a section from Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Tuba Concerto in F minor. Had they not said he was English, I would have guessed that Williams was American by the sound of the piece; it had the rhythmic quality and heavy use of pentatonic scales that is typical of American music and evoked images of the western deserts in my mind. In any case, it was a beautiful piece of music.

The band played a few more songs, including a Sousa march and a choral piece by Bach, and then closed out with an Armed Forces salute. We stood for the Army (my brother) and Air Force (my dad), and by the time it ended, everyone in the auditorium was standing just to show their support, whether or not they’d served. They also played an encore of “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” which brought back a lot of memories and inspired me to look through our music books to find our patriotic sheet music.

It was quite an impressive concert, and afterwards, the 6 of my family who were there and 8 of the other family descended en masse upon Dairy Queen, destroying whatever hopes they may have had of locking up at a decent hour. There we had quite a good time as well, discussing over our Blizzards such things as cars, guitars, video games, PC v. consoles, Donald Duck impressions, school, making prank phone calls, and how women are so unfathomably strange....

In other news, the US History post that I shared was intended to state my withdrawal from further political discussion, but, alas, was but the beginning of a thread that ended up with 64 posts. Apparently, some people thought I was perfectly serious about the "divine right of kings" statement (and I was only half-joking, but the intention was tongue-in-cheek), and then that discussion led to discussions of the place of Scriptural morality in politics (i.e., should Scriptural law be applied in a republic), and it went downhill from there. Still learning when to keep my mouth shut....

Also, I posted a new old poem on my fiction/poetry blog, an essay comparing presuppositional and classical apologetics on my theology/philosophy blog, and a Western Literature essay on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot on my Lit Crit blog. I really want to post some original essays, but I have about half a million ideas running through my head, from literary sketches to thoughts on a Christian epistemology to the theological allegory of Moby Dick, and haven't sat down to write one of them....I need to. And I shall. Eventually.

Finally, I made a little web page with all of the recordings I've made so far that I'm willing to share. I went on a recording spree last weekend and recorded 5 or 6 songs, including one with my glass slide: "I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole," which was a Depression-era blues/gospel song by Blind Willie Johnson. It was rather a different musical and vocal direction for me, but very fun. Unfortunately, I dropped my slide today and it shattered, so I'm back to the knife blade for now...Anyway, enjoy, critique, and comment. If you like any of them, feel free to download!

Sola Gratia,
Colin

P.S. It is now 1 in the morning, and I am finally sleepy...ugh...

Rah!

Just recorded "Hushabye Mountain" on my classical guitar and vocals. Let me know what you think! Recording here; feel free to download if you like it.

I also received half my Musicians' Friend order today; strings and picks (and the footswitch for my amp is on its way) and...drum roll, please....a glass slide!!! No more sliding on my strings with a knife blade or battery or section of a recorder (yes, I've tried all those; the plastic of the recorder actually worked the best)...huzzah!!! I'll have to make a recording with that, too, sometime.

Signing off for tonight,
Colin

Odio Latinam et alterae litterae

Interesting as such chaps as Julius Caesar and Cicero and Augustus were, they certainly had a horrid taste in language. And, whatever other reasons the Reformers may have had for calling the Roman church the Beast of Revelation, I am beginning to be convinced that they would almost be justified in such an accusation solely because of the preservation and propagation of the Latin language by that body...

P.S. Ignore the fact that half the words I just used are of Latin derivation.....I did it again. Humbug.

P.P.S. Paganini's 24 Caprices for Solo Violin never cease to amaze me (I have the recording by Midori). The variation among them, the different effects achieved, especially by the double stops so often employed, and just the sheer imagination--and in many cases, the sheer speed with which the performer's fingers must be moving--are fantastic. They are very emotive works, from the fierceness of the Gypsy-inspired No. 10, to the contemplative mood of No. 6, to the mischievous good humor of no. 17, to the technical artistry of No. 5.

Nos. 5, 9, 10, 14, and the ever-popular 24 are my personal favorites.