steel drum videos!

Friday was my last steel drum class. I left early last week, so I missed the announcement that friends and family could come watch. I'd been hoping we'd have a recital, but we only learned two songs, so it would have been a very short recital (as in under ten minutes). Instead, I borrowed a friend's flip video to document the fun.

First, here are all the different kinds of drums:

Then come the double pans, which are what I played. Sorry about the "Blair Witch Project" filming quality on these videos.

This was a fun class to take. I would do this again-- provided we could move a little faster through the music. One of the lead drummers had absolutely NO sense of rhythm, so that slowed us down, and another lead drummer had almost no memory for what we'd learned the week before. Amazingly, we pretty much pulled together at the end for our "performance." That always seems to happen. I wonder why.

Some of you may be thinking, "Hey, where's the footage of actual PLAYING?" I tried to upload the video three times. It never worked. I think there was too much for the system to handle. So, sorry. I really did play these drums, honest!

Time? Time? Where does it go?

Let's revisit one of my goals I set for the semester: not overpacking my days. Hmm. What's my typical daily schedule?

4:30 AM- Alarm clock rings.
4:35 AM- Alarm clock rings again (I hit the snooze).
4:40 AM: Alarm clock rings yet again. This time I get up.
5:40 AM: Head out the door to teach early morning seminary.
6:05 AM: One student (sometimes two) is present for the start of class.
6:55 AM: Seminary ends and everyone rushes out the door. Someone generally gets left behind, so I end up joining the high school car pool line.
7:30 AM: Finally get home and change into running clothes.
8:30 AM: Done with running. Time to get ready for work.
10 AM: Suddenly very hungry while sitting in office. Why? Oh yeah-- I've already been up for almost six hours.
12 PM: Wonder where the morning went. How could a meeting with no point to it eat so much time? Realize I have a conference presentation to write, a stack of papers to grade, and a mid-tenure portfolio to compile.
2:30 PM: Hungry again. Who has chocolate? Time to wander the building and see.
4 PM: The minute I intend to get out the door to go home and rake leaves before it gets dark, three students stop by with emergency situations. Happens every time.
4 PM on Wednesday: I'm teaching until 7. Hungry again by 5:30 PM.
6 PM: Hopefully eating dinner.
7 PM: Working on tomorrow's seminary lesson. Also catching up on e-mails and whatever phone calls need to be made.
9:30 PM: Whoa! Where'd my evening go? Time for a shower and getting ready for bed.
10:30 PM (hopefully): Bedtime!

This actually doesn't look all that busy, but it seriously feels like the minute I wake up four hours have suddenly vanished. Don't get me wrong: I love teaching seminary. I'm wondering, though, how I did it and grad. school at the same time. I thought this semester's pace would be slower. Boy, was I wrong!

I think ultimately what matters is that my priorities stay in the right place. I'm coming to terms (well, sort of) with the fact that I will never, ever get everything done that I want to do. What matters is that I pace myself and do first things first.

Good night!

Any costume ideas for these hats?

First, let me give some background. A week ago, I was in the creative arts building on campus for a friend's double-bass recital and saw signs for a pre-Halloween costume sale in the costume workshop. I was hoping for the makings of a Renaissance costume. Either lots of other people were as well and got there first, or there weren't any Shakespearean costumes up for purchase. Instead, I bought three hats for a quarter each.

Let me also apologize for the lousy facial expressions. I couldn't figure out the timer feature on my camera, so I was just trying to get pictures from arm's reach.

So here's the game: what costume would you suggest for each of the following hats?

First, the hat I have unofficially named the "itty bitty hat":




Next, a hat that looks much better than the photo suggests. It's lavender and the veil extends all the way down if you let it:

Finally, my favorite (although you'd never know by the facial expression)-- I have named it "pansy fantasy":

Okay, send the suggestions!! Maybe I'll use one next Halloween!