Friday, September 26, 2008

Eggs, Existentialism, and Egos...

It's been a while since I posted my last entry. I need to keep better track of my blog (and reading all my friend's blogs).

I really like fried eggs. Random, I know. Today is my dad's birthday, and my mama's good to him. She made him, my entire family (including a seminary student) breakfast. We had eggs, bacon, home fries (with onions, peppers, and tomatoes), and toast. I love all of them, but mostly eggs. I don't know what it is, but I truly LOVE eggs. They always make me happy and make me remember the olden days (in my family), when we used to have eggs almost every Saturday morning. Now I'm lucky if I eat eggs once a month. Sure, they work their way into recipes and such, but nothing is as good as a plain-ol' fried egg. Mmmmmmm.

In my AP Lit class we've been doing a unit on Existentialism. My mom's not happy, mainly because I have become slightly indifferent about certain things now, and I kinda just do what I want to do when I fell like it. My teacher laughed when I told him the subtle changes I've started to notice since beginning The Stranger. He wonders if it's possible to have an Existentialistic Mormon (Mormonism and Existentialism...hmmm). Anyway, the book I've been reading, The Stranger, is a great book. I recommend it to anyone who wishes to step out of their comfort zone and take on this challenging story. There are a few (mainly only three) parts I edited for myself, and if you want to read it I would ask you to ask me which parts you'll need to skip.

I'm not egotistical, but I do sometimes seem very narcissistic. I like how I look, generally, I like my cute dimple (yes singular, I only really have one), I like my eyes, I like my laugh, and I like to smile. I do not like my smile right now (due to the metal in the mouth), but I do enjoy making others happy by smiling. All this was brought on by my choir practice on Wednesday. The male voices (comprised of the Tenors, Basses, and Baritones) went to do a sectional under the direction of our student section leaders. There are two section leaders for the three groups, but miraculously one of them took charge, again, unfortunately. He made many errors throughout the entire rehearsal but there are four main things that infuriated me:
1.) He yelled at ME! Someone asked me a question, and I said THREE words. There was a room full of people and he singled me out.
2.) he mocked me for being in the wrong spot. I am currently trading between two parts in choir, I'm switching between 1st Tenor and Baritone. That is not easy in and of itself, not to mention that I also have to remember with which section I need to be during each piece. I forgot that I was supposed to trade sections, so he told me that I need to not be so forgetful and just move because I was making him mess up his notes.
3.) He took charge. There are two section leaders, and he should have shared the power.
4.) He was toying with the tempo. That's the conductor's business. Not to mention, he took it very slow the first ten times we sang through the piece, then he sped the tempo up too much. He was confusing everyone in the room.
If I weren't a Senior with eight years of choir experience under my large belt, I would love to just quit. But I only have months left, so I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

I had my Senior pictures taken yesterday. I absolutely LOVED Hilton Photography Studios. My sister had her pictures done there, so my mom and I decided to go there again. The photographers were great, and I loved the flexibility that they gave me with the styles, etc. I highly recommend, to anyone living in MA to consider letting Hilton photograph their children. It was a great studio. Maybe my experience would've been different if I didn't have a very attractive young woman taking my pictures. But, anyway, I loved the whole experience, and I'm sure I will share pictures (after I pick which ones I want) with y'all.

3 comments:

Cheri said...

Hey Braden...Adam goes to the MTC on December 31st (he could potentially only be gone for 1 Christmas). For Prop 8, Spencer goes door-to-door almost every Saturday for a few hours, talking to people and educating them (so many people have weird ideas about what it really is). I've been making phone calls since I can't really walk for hours at a time. Phone calls are much worse, I must say. :)

The Howard Bolton Family said...

No, you can't be Mormon and an Existentialist, because we believe that the universe has a purpose. You could slightly tilt to their belief that we shape our own destiny through our choices and our actions, because Mormons believe that we are in control of our thoughts and what we do with them.

As for teenage conductors, wait until you get your higher education and the Lord calls someone in your ward to be your Choir Director. I had three that thought they were the next Dr. Jerold Ottley. Patience, long-suffering, easy to be entreated....

Myrna said...

Braden, I just wanted you to know that: 1. Your mom is right, and 2. Gramps and I love you! You can use number 2. to fill in the rest of the numbers from two to infinity and beyond.