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Preface

Someone complained to me the other day that I haven't updated my blog recently. I guess life has been fairly uneventful recently. I signed myself up for more credits that I probably should have because I was bored, and now I'm not bored ever so that's good. The only unfortunate part is I worry about homework that I haven't done yet because I'm doing other more fun or more important things like river rafting, cleaning my house, playing on my new piano, making English horn reeds, or playing soccer. I can hear your voices now---River rafting? New piano? Didn't you say your life is uneventful? Fine. I'll explain more. I guess. I generally intend for this to be a picture blog, and seeing as my camera is not waterproof, I don't have pictures. I tried to add links to spice it up a bit.

Piano Buying Adventures

On labor day, I bought myself I new piano! A digital one. I told myself at the end of last semester that if I got the job I wanted that I would spend some of the money I made during that summer on a piano. I really like the few opportunities I have to play around on the piano. I'm not serious about it or anything, but it is a nice escape. I feel like it helps my mind focus better after I play on the piano. Whenever I had some free time this past school year, and the LDS Institute building was open, I would play the piano. I even compiled a notebook of a few fun songs to play on the piano. So now I can play anytime I want! Being a big purchase, I had a rather difficult time choosing a piano, but when the labor day weekend sale came up and all of the pianos were I sale, I couldn't resist. After much deliberation, I finally chose this one. I have no regrets, and it fits beautifully in our living room. I owe my roommates some credit as well. Thanks for being my moral support and letting me use your car for transportation!

Rafting Down the Nolichucky

Last weekend, I went on my first ever river rafting trip. I went with the other young single adults from church. In total, there were over 40 of us that went. We rented a cabin  for the night, and began our descent down the river in the morning. When I say cabin, I mean old, rusty, bunk bed filled cabin that was built before the civil war. It was quite the experience. I felt like I was at a summer camp again having to walk to the bathroom and shower with the spiders. I think that just added to the experience.

As for the rafting---it was amazing! I want to do it again! Our rafting guide was a true North Carolinian. His accent added to whole experience, and he's been doing rafting since he was 7, so he was an expert. My favorite part was when I fell out. Seriously. The drops were all really fun, and towards the end I started getting confident. I looked at one small drop and thought, "Oh this is nothing compared to the last one. No Problem." Consequently I didn't brace myself and was flung from the raft. The guide promptly held out his paddle for me to grab and advised me to keep my feet up until we arrived to the calm section of the river. That part totally added to the experience. Falling out was really not that bad. No problem.

Orchestra

I've recently discovered that most people have no idea what an English horn is. Well, I'm happy to report that I am officially an English horn player now. Here is a picture for those of you who thought it was a brass instrument. That's right; it's a woodwind. It's quite similar to an oboe but longer with a really cool shaped bell. I've began making English horn reeds, and I need to start practicing for our second concert because there is a huge solo in Pines of Rome. It's a really neat piece. Listen to it if you get a chance.

Closing Remarks

While I'm at it, I might as well make this a five section blog. Kind of like a five paragraph essay except since this isn't English class I can write poor sentences like the one you're reading right now. Anyway, school is pretty much awesome. I might be crazy by taking 12 credits + orchestra + dealing with 240 students + learning more about family history + student congress + LDSSA, but I love my life and don't want to drop anything, so I'll just see how it all turns out. Hopefully I won't make future mistakes like I did yesterday when I posted the solutions to the turkey extra credit problem rather than the problem itself. And hopefully now that I spent today cleaning my house rather than doing homework, I will spend all of my free-time this week doing homework and practicing the English horn and the oboe. Although, I did really get into a book today while cleaning. I listened to Inkheart on CD which really made the work enjoyable. Unfortunately I can't do that while trying to figure out my complicated homework.