Opera!

I went to see the Last Dress Rehearsal of La Boheme (the first 'e' is supposed to have a little thingummy above it.) It was quiet good despite several drawbacks. One was that Sarah Em and I were sitting directly in front of a very badly behaved set of school children, but we were sitting only about five rows from the stage so it sort of equaled out.

The other major problem was the Sarah Em and I had a tendency to laugh (mostly silently) through all the love scenes. Indeed, if it had been a real performance I think that Sarah Em and I would have (at Dorothy Sayers puts it) "disgraced ourselves very badly." The problem that Sarah and I were having was that though the lines sounded great in Italian the English translations were phrased in such a way that it sounded very much like something one of our worst characters would say. It really didn't help that the singer looked quite a lot like Sylvester as well. Now, Sylvester Chesterton is not a good person to the connected to or with. He writes a good amount of what Sarah Em calls "drivel". Since the Opera was slightly better than what Sylvester writes we decided to give it the title "Passionate drivel."So, overall it was very good. Despite having to yell during all the breaks because every one else was....

Wildlife... and the not so lively wild

CRICKETS! Well, we all know the trials of those little bundles of noise and hop. They aren't loud during the day, but if you happen to wake up at a reasonable time (something I do not always manage) you will find an entire choir (with the exception of Bellaire's bunch who are more like a jazz band) all ready to serenade (or blast) you through your breakfast. One of them (and a very large one at that) has been walking (yes I DO mean walking, have you ever seen a cricket walk? It is a rather sad yet highly amusing sight) around out basement. Which just happens to be where I spend most of my time. Ah, wildlife!Our cat, Biscuit, has gotten serious about catching her own food. Oh, she still shows up outside the back door and yowls for her canned tuna, but in the last several days we have found no less than THREE squirrel tails in out yard. So that is the not so lively wild...

Ramblings

Well, I am back. I wasn't really gone, just really busy. I learned this weekend that I share my Birthday with Camille Saint-Saens (a Composer) and John Lennon (Beatles (is that spelled right?)), as well as with three people at Tenth. it was very odd.

Did you know that music can be inductive to creativity? While at a concert I wrote five pages of my story in about two hours.

On the way to the said concert we saw a football teem, all between 9-12 (about) standing in the downpour. It was so sad...

And now, I have rambled for a bit and I am going now, this is the end, I'm leaving, Goodbye...So sorry, I got pulled into a quote...

A random thing that made me laugh
And I hope that it will make you laugh as well. Tenth's Choir Directer sometimes writes poetry other than Hymns. He wrote one for Christmas, which I will undoubtedly post nearer to that time. But now he has graced us with yet another of his poems.

Written by Paul Jones to honor Bruce McDowell and Phil Ryken on reaching their 50th and 40th birthdays.
A rumor's been heard in our halls
And through Tenth's innermost walls-
It seems that among us,
With no lack of ruckus,
"Birthdays 'r Us"-hit the malls!

Forty years old now is Phil.
He's officially "over the hill."
But few have writ' more
Than he in two score
With so much panache and great skill.

With six parishes under his care
And pastoral needs everywhere
'Twixt time on his knees
He's still able to squeeze, in
Some board games and Cardinals' fare.

At fifty is our good friend Bruce,
He's older than Bullwinkle Moose.
With five decades done
He's still on the run
And often seen bounding up Spruce.

Among his most obvious features
A moustache that may hide small creatures,
But everyone knows
That wherever Bruce goes
He's loved by both converts and preachers.

The two men oft' travel the earth
From pulpit to living room hearth
Turkey, Columbia,The cape of South Africa,
Of teaching and missions, no dearth.

The "Birthday song" seems a bit trite,
(The short version's also not right);
This requires a toast
In which we can boast
Of the grace God bestows 'midst the fight.

Therefore, today from Tenth's tribe,
To God, our due thanks we ascribe,
For brothers now older,
Whose service is bolder,
And so "to their health," we imbibe!

Semper reformanda!

Triumph!

Well, I have managed it at last! While lunch at school today Laura was reading The List of Names... At a certain point while reading one of my letters she shrieked, really she did, and whacked the book. Then turning to me she was like "How! How can you do that! How can she do THAT!"It was really quite satisfying.....Today also is the day that the first person (other than Sarah Em and I) has finished reading The List of Names...

It's a Small World.... Smaller than I had thought

Yesterday I posted about the shooting at the Amish school. It said it was strange to know that I saw one of the helicopters that took some of the girls shot to the hospital. It truly seemed strange to have been so close to something that made headline news. Hover, this News Item has gotten even closer. On NPR (National Public Radio) there was an blurb on the shooting. You can listen to it here if you wish.It tells of how, despite shunning most modern conveniences the Amish have rather taken to the idea of Mental Health. A Mental Health team was sent to the aria of the shooting, by Phil-haven, a Mental Health institution. It has recently built a 16 person lodging on its grounds that meets the standers of Amish living. It just happens that my cousin Ben works specifically in that department because he has grown up around the Amish. There is a high possibility that he is working on cases that result from this incident.

Thoughts on a New Car

Here I am once again to speak (or rather type) about something random that you most likely don't care to much about.Daddy just recently bought a new car. Well, really the story starts back in July. In the beginning of July we bought a Green, Volkswagen Passat TDI. We really like the car and it has been a good replacement for the old blue Mercedes Wagon.Well, Daddy decided that he needed a new business car. After all his black Mercedes leaked whenever it rained. Then when it got warm it was rather like a sauna. So, he snooped around on the Internet and after a lot of looking decided to by yet another Volkswagen Passat TDI. As I said, we are very pleased with them. However, the one that he finally bought is also green. So now, sitting is our front yard are not one, but TWO, Green Volkswagen Passat TDI cars. It is quiet funny. They look identical and from far away the only way you can tell the difference is by the hubcaps.I don't know about you, but I find it highly amusing....

Library and things....

Mom and I walked to the Library today. It was very nice because now I have books to read. Given, I don't really have that much time to read them in, but now that I have dropped chemistry I think that I shall have a bit more time. At least I will until My teachers at Westminster (my co-op) start giving me larger amounts of school work. Sigh...Well, since this post is supposed to be about going to the library I really should tell you what I got out. I got out four books all of which I have read before. And I would recommend all of them to you as very, very, good reads.Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code (number 3 in the Artemis Fowl series)Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception (number 4 in the Artemis Fowl series)Dealing with Dragons (number 1 in the Enchanted Forest chronicles)Book of Enchantment

Wondering..... And Saddened

What are we meant to think when something that we think is completely safe and peaceful is suddenly ripped open? It is even more startling when you realize that it was closer to you than you first thought.The big news on every News Station is the School Shooting at an Amish one room school house. In Lancaster. I man shooed all the boys out and blockading himself inside, shot all the girls. Seven of them have been hospitalized.I have grown up driving the two hour drive up to Lancaster PA. It has been a regular thing for me and I am used the the peaceful views of cornfields, and Amish farmers. I have been in Amish stores. Why any one would do such a thing is incomprehensible.It makes it all the more real for me because it is not just a news item. I had a doctor's appointment today and while mom and I were driving I looked up and seeing a helicopter said, "It's going to C.H.O.P.?" I saw that it was blue and wight. Later, at about 3:45, I was myself at C.H.O.P. for a short time. Thins evening while watching a bit of the news with Daddy I learned that three of the girls were in-fact flown to C.H.O.P. and the news program showed a picture of a helicopter. It two was blue and wight.

On Novel Writing...

I don't think that it has really hit me yet. Sarah Em and I have actually managed to finish writing a novel. Well, really if we go by some information that we found online our story really counts as an Epic. That's wright, an epic!135,989 Words341 Pages3,401 Paragraphs576,418 Characters (no spaces)!If you are at all observant you may gather from that rather odd list of random numbers that I just rattled off that I am a bit excited! Ant that is completely unedited!!!!!!!The List of Names: A Most Singular Story of Magic As Told By Two Young Ladies of High Quality In This Exhaustively Researched Collection of Letters Written Jointly by Annora Rosalind Bellfast And Darya Demetria Viscardi And Brought to Our Attention So As to Make This Tale Known to the General Public Be Ye of the Magical World or OtherwiseYes, that IS really the title. I know that it is completely mad but that is the title and I doubt it will ever be changed, because we love it! And we Love the story as well. We have decided that we love our Characters (Darya and Annora, or Tria and Ani if you will) far too much to simply give them up after only one bout of writing them. Therefore, we shall be starting a new story as soon as we finish editing this one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Editing it is going to take FOREVER! Specially since Sarah Em and I have to fit it in around School. I have however found that spending a good solid amount of time studying about World War One (or in-fact any other School Topic) helps get the Creative Juices flowing...

Random reflections from a Sunday afternoon

This world never ceases to amaze me. There are always things to look at and strange things that you end up seeing. But there are also things that are not what you see every day. Here are just some of my random observations from this Sunday afternoon.A Basset Hound puppy that managed to step on its ear while being walked.35 first through third graders being able to supply words for the teacher for the hymn Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.A man managing to walk in more or less a straight line while listening to music in headphones, and reading a magazine.22 second and third graders standing in a circle while being perfectly silent.A teacher trying (and mostly succeeding) it teach second and third graders how to breath properly for singing but using a large, expandable, plastic, ball.My very first choir director Paul Reece (who is also working at Schola Cantorum this year) standing in the middle of the street with a very, very, very, very orange crossing guard vest on with one hand up stopping to traffic so that the children can cross over to Tenth.Well, that is all for now.