Singing Fail

In January, my friend announced that her Teaching Musical Theory class required her to train one boy and one girl to sing in a recital. She picked the singer with the least experience and that's how I got the job. So for the last 12 weeks I spent an hour every Saturday learning different voice mechanics.

During the months of training, I would read the exchange of letters between my family and my brother who's on a mission. In one of our family letter, another brother told a story about a hard trial he had to overcome. After the incident, he summed up the experience by using his own snowboarding adage: "If you're not falling, you're not trying hard enough." A novice snowboarder myself, I took the quote to heart and wrote it down.

When the day of the recital finally arrived, I didn't feel too nervous. My singing ability hadn't risen to some miraculous level and given me a confidence boost, believe me, but I had performed in front of live audiences before, and I knew my song well enough. My turn came up, I stood in front of everyone, and started singing. The first note came out a little weird, like I had something in my throat. I muscled through the next few lines just fine, but soon forgot where I was and mumbled a forgotten line. Then, I came in ahead of the music and thanks to the amazing pianist, she covered up for me.

By the time I got back to my seat, I started to harshly critique myself. I put myself down into an ashamed state. I wanted to walk out of the recital. Then the words of my brother came into my head: If you don't fall, you're not trying hard enough. In my mind, I failed the test, but I had learned so much. I dismissed any thoughts of "I wish I never tried out back in January" because I had obtained a new skill from the experience. And now if I am ever asked to do something like that again, I have some knowledge to go off of.

Oh Ye of Great Faith

I like personal stories, especially from general authorities. I appreciate the examples these stories give and the inspiration they create. I only have a few personal spiritual stories in my head that I share, and I want to share one I had last weekend.

To start, I suppose I should wrap up the story of Julianne. We stopped dating back in December because of strong impressions we felt that this just wasn't right. As heartbroken as we both felt, we followed the promptings. We still keep in contact and whenever Julianne comes to Provo, a hang out is a must.

This last weekend, Julianne came to town for a brother's blessing. So we planned to go out with her sister and her date. The night was both fun and a breath of fresh air.

Before I dropped Julianne off for the night, we started talking about what had happened between us. We talked about the reasons for why we felt to split up and tried to make some sense, but we couldn't think of anything. Finally, Julianne quietly said:

"We got our answer, and that's why we need to follow it."

Our conversation ended on that and we said goodnight. On my way home, I started thinking about what she said. She understood that the Lord knows best and that was reason enough for her. What faith! I was so impressed I nearly changed my Sunday School lesson entirely to talk about faith and following personal revelation. Thanks, Jules, for the inspiring thought.

Volleyball with the Old Men

I receive an email every week to go play volleyball with some of BYU's alumni. Most of them played at BYU in the 70s or 80s, but they still have what it takes. The funny thing is that besides playing for the team, this is the best volleyball around. You would be amazed at the ability these guys play at in their 40s, 50s, and even 60+. I feel challenged and humbled when a 60 year old man can hit a ball with such speed and perfect placement that I have to sacrifice my body to even have a shot at putting it back in play.

The guys enjoy having me there, too. I think since my shoulder has yet to give out, I add a different level to the game. Not that this level is higher (because I even got beat by the oldest guy in the gym today), but different. I can't make it every Friday, but when I do, it's always the highlight of the week.

A New...Everything?

After a few weeks of inactivity, I figured I should take time during my Data Mining class to update my blog (my priorities are definitely in the right place...trust me). Here's a rough breakdown of what happened:

- Finished my first semester of Grad school
- Started my first semester of Grad school electives
- Became the Ward Mission Leader
- Became single
- Started paying taxes for the first time
- Got a new cell phone
- Began pursuing cell phone development education
- Took up voice lessons
- Accomplished the 100 push-up challenge
- Finished the first two books of "The Hunger Game" Trilogy and now anxiously await the third
- Agreed to a return offer to USAA for this coming summer

I guess I have a bit going on. I'll do what I can to keep you better updated this time around (and include some pictures...maybe).