Large Spaces

It's funny how you can take one thing out of a room, and instantly it feels larger...more empty...and more lonely.

Photos of a Graduation

Well, commencement has come and gone.  I don't have a whole lot to say yet, as not much has happened outside of the ceremonies.  So, I'll let my photos speak for themselves:

These two are perhaps the best folks a person could meet up with if one was having a bad day.  While we jokingly call each other "not so kind" names......these two girls are awesome.

We are the senior trombones.  I was blessed when I get to play next to these three.  They're all excellent musicians and individuals in their own ways.  We have easily spent into the hundreds of hours together at rehearsals and traveling.  It's hard not to enjoy someone after that much time together.

This is the CIVITAS class of 2012.  Civitas is the honors program.  We're the second class to graduate from it. 

Ah, mah friends.  These two girls were the first ones to befriend me at Augustana and we've kept in touch ever since.  On the left you can see how we were 3 years ago compared to the girls we are now on the right.  Okay, to be honest, we're still giant goof-balls, the gowns and mortarboards just make us look exceptionally intelligent.

Oh Augustana, it's been fun (sometimes).  I will always have both fond and fearsome memories of you.  But the greatest things are the opportunities that are presented to me now, as a graduate.  So of course I'll remember the past and everything I learned....but I look so forward to the future.

Until then...

-A

(I apologize for the not very interesting entry....I'll make it up by having some awesome links at the bottom from now on)

Good Food: Three Cheese Beet Ravioli by Eat, Live, Run.com

Good Drink: Melon Agua Fresca (for a hot day) by SmittenKitchen.com

I'm a Teacher! (Almost)

My undergraduate career is finally coming to a close. Well, almost finally coming to a close.  I have one honour's project left to do this summer and then I will be officially done.  The trickiest part of all of this is that I yet have a job.  However, from my understanding, teaching hiring goes all the way into summer and right up to the next fall.....so no worries?

Okay, small worries. But nothing to get upset about.

Yesterday, I was talking with Mitch at Queen City Bakery  about a few of the states that I have applied to work in.  While he definitely is staunch in his opinion on some states, and while I might not completely agree with all of his opinions, he did give me an incredible kernel of wisdom,

"You don't know how good your first job is going to be;  how much you're going to enjoy it.  The best thing you can do is make sure that you're in an area that you love living in when you're not working."


While it saddens me to think that I may not find the "job of my dreams" on the first go-around, he made a good point.  I've lived in the Upper Midwest my entire life.  It's beautiful here. The people are kind and hard-working (most of the time).  But it is time for me to approach life from a new angle, and why not start right away?  Thus, I have applications ranging from Oregon to Maine...but the main operative is to land in an area that is slightly mountainous (to very mountainous) with a lot of outdoor opportunities as well.

So, that's currently on the radar.

Also, after wanting a dog for approximately 10+ years, I finally have the time and location to have one.  With the coming of graduation I have moved into the upper level of a house.
Thus, meet Koda.

I adopted him from the Humane Society.  He is part Weimaraner, part Australian Shepherd.

He had a ridiculously rough start, thus has been sleeping a lot.   With the help of a great veterinarian friend, he is on the fast-track to getting better though.  We hope that, within a week, we will be able to do walks and other exciting outdoor activities with him.

Alas, it is time for me to go explore the world of cleaning out the dormitory.  I hope to do regular updates (perhaps every Thursday and Monday) incorporating daily life, coffee, recipes, and arranging/composing works in progress.

Best,
A

Snow Days

Even as a student teacher or a teacher,

Waiting for snow days is one of the most gut wrenching experiences.

Mostly because you want them just as badly as the kiddos.

7 months later

v


Hello again.
Often I forget that I have this blogosphere to post upon.
Life has been going well, I believe. Not much has changed. The past summer was spent doing summer classes in order to finish the college career in 4 years. I took one class online (Literacy in the Content Area), which, to be honest - I don't know if it was a good idea or not. There were quite a few evenings of utter despair and feeling as though I've wasted and was wasting my time. So much busy work and I hardly remember the key points to the class.
Que Sera, Sera.

One of the other classes I took was Cinema and Culture, it was considered a "Capstone". I don't entirely understand the point of making students take a Capstone class - but it's over and done with. Some days were interesting, some days were the long. The worst part was that it sucked up my day from 10am-1pm or so - that's a long time to sit in a classroom.

The final class was Brass Pedagogy. As a trombonist, I wasn't too worried about concepts like buzzing and embouchure, as I've been fortunate enough to have been buzzing since I was in the 5th grade (11 years now!). The fingerings were tricky - but the class was valuable. I think it's the only class I had where I feel like I've learned applicable ideas for my future.

I'm sure everything will come around in the end, though, in regards to the other classes.

Then August rolled around and Nathan and I headed out to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. If anyone is going, PLEASE contact me - I can tell you so much about where to stay, what to take extra time for, etc. And I was only there for a week and some.

There are just a few photos at the top of the post- between the two of us, we took somewhere around 400-600 I believe.

Then came September. I'm back in school again. Things went well. I auditioned and made it into a slimmer, sleeker version of the Augustana Band - which was pretty darn exciting. So now I spend an average of 7-8 hours a week in rehearsals, sometimes less and sometimes more.

Here is October. I'm still learning from school. I'm still enjoying most everything. I've learned that I'm going to Baltic School District for my student teaching starting in February. Things are starting to come centerfold.

I'm going to try to blog more. I can feel my mind changing weekly (growing, I mean). I think it's important to track from where you've been to help you understand where you are and where you're going.

Peace out my fine friends

On Any Given Day

This morning I was privileged enough to be able to go in to work. And truly, I view it as a privilege. Not every person who needs a job, has one; here I sit, a college student well on her way to graduating and a career, have a part time job that I enjoy.

As I was working in the drive-thru (not my favourite place to be at the coffee shop) I looked through the window and up into the sky. You see, the coffee shop is located next to the bike trail (it's less than 3 blocks away) and along the bike trail runs the Sioux River. Flying due north above the river were a gaggle of geese.

I'm not openly saying that I adore geese, but to see them flying north is beautiful. It has been a good old South Dakota winter - meaning it's been dragging on for quite a while. But, the geese were beautiful. More than anything though, as I was steaming milk feeling for the correct temperature, I marveled at how the geese knew which way was north. There isn't a compass built into the leader (which is constantly changing, something that should be admired, a goose acknowledges when it is getting tired and it falls back and lets a different one lead). Mother Nature has given them this beautifully strong instinct.

Often, I wonder what instincts humans have lost through the passage of time and modernization. Would we have that beautiful instinct of directions? Perhaps we could sense things like water beneath the Earth.

Perhaps we knew the creative spirit.

Results of Intermezzo Project

the video of the intermezzo was too large for this.
Here's the youtube link




(LtoR: Jason Roseth, Allyson Wingert, Jeff Burwitz, Alexis Preheim)