Guess what everyone!!!

This August I will be moving to Atlanta, Georgia to be the new bassoon professor at Georgia State University.

Yeah!!!!!!

Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo

This week was Spring Break. Here is what I did:

1. Flew to Atlanta, GA on Monday for a job interview at Georgia State.
2. After a grueling day of interviews, lessons and food, went on a late-night GOLF CART ride with the Associate Director of the School of Music around his neighborhood in Peachtree City.
3. Flew back to Chicago Wednesday afternoon. Spent one full hour finding my way out of the airport and to my car.
4. Payed $62 for parking.
5. Starting out on I-88 West to head home to Iowa City, realized I didn't have cash for the tolls. Exited the interstate to find an ATM. Finally found the entrance ramp to get back onto I-88 about 45 minutes later.
6. Talked to Andrew on google talk instead of going to bed.
7. Went to Nauvoo with friends Aaron and Dave from Omaha on Thursday.
8. Talked to dozens of loving and enthusiastic old people.
9. Watched the BEST musical ever --Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo (I have now seen it no less than 4 times). Left wishing that I could fast-forward my life to age 70, become a senior missionary in Nauvoo with my husband and have a leading role in the BEST musical ever.
6. Drove back to Iowa City (after leaving Dave and Aaron at the Budget Motel in Ft. Madison), and stayed up late emailing Laura about her trip to Iowa City next month (yeah!!!!!!!!)
10. Woke up at 10:30 this morning (Friday) and spent several hours catching up on emails and phone calls, after which
11. Aaron and Dave stopped by on their way home from Nauvoo, spent the rest of the afternoon/evening with me, eating Bob's Your Uncle pizza and talking about old times.
12. Listened to "Slaughterhouse 5" by Kurt Vonnegut while driving to and from Chicago and Nauvoo. A very very very very good book, except for some dirty language and the mentioning of a few "adult" subjects.
13. Wrote this blog entry, after which I will
14. Go to bed early. Upon waking up in the morning, I will
15. FINALLY start studying for my comprehensive exams, the only thing I really should have been doing this week. (How is it possible that it's Saturday already???)

Jill Bolte Taylor: My stroke of insight

andrew: hey

i came here to find you

i need you to watch this

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/229

when you have some time

how are you?

Michele: good

i'll watch it in a sec. tied up on the phone

andrew: oh, anytime

don't worry

Sent at 9:30 PM on Thursday

Michele: watching it now

andrew: ok

Michele: interesting

wow, that was really good.

I'm not sure if I understand all of it.

andrew: me neither

but i liked it

i identified really strongly with what she was saying

Michele: yeah, it was engaging

so, help me understand what she was talking about

andrew: what part

Michele: nirvana

andrew: i think it would be amazing

if my left-brain would turn off

i would kill to feel that

Michele: but she said that she imagined a world where people could be aware of it and know that they could go there

can we?

how?

andrew: yeah that i don't know

go where

Michele: to the place where she was... being one with everything, being one enormous blob of energy

leaving behind emotional baggage

andrew: yes

i wish i could

Michele: but what was her point in telling that story

andrew: not sure

maybe that the brain is amazing

and hard to understand

Michele: yeah

andrew: yeah

ok, here's what i think

some people live physical lives

Michele: when i get a migraine headach it's like the beginning of what she was talking about with the stroke

andrew: taking this woman's description as accurate, that's a right-brain thing

yeah?

you get headaches like that

Michele: yes, finish what you were saying

andrew: well the other side of it is that

other people live isolated, internal lives of reflection

life of the mind

i think that part of what she was talking about was the power of bridging the gap

when you are stuck on one side

or

of realizing what's lost when you get stuck on one side

but also that it's just freaking amazing

total awe

at everything

i experience tinges of that sometimes

like i'll be driving down the road sometimes or when i used to hike up the mountains

and everything is so beautiful that i don't exist anymore

where my consciousness is obliterated by what i see

Michele: yeah?

andrew: or i wish that it would be; that i could be destroyed because of how nothing i am compared to everyting

anyway

that's just what i felt from her

thought i should share it with you

Michele: thanks :)

andrew: thanks for wanting to see it

thread of my (grateful) thoughts

Cafe Gratitude
Laura, friend, laughter
Gloria, kitchen table mate
Mark, patience
Valentine daisies still alive
Warm house
Warm car
Girl Scout cookies
Arts Share
The Bread Garden
Blogs
Beards
Camera
Love
God
Water
Walter, kind
Gloria's new boots
Sam Beam
Roommates, forgiving, messes
Home teachers
Relief Society, teach
Andrew, smile
Thursday is the new Friday
Melting ice
Weird people, yes
Shining sun, sometimes forgotten
Remember
Yawn
Crochet
Snowshoeing!
Melissa, Liz, Sarah, Gloria
Relief Society
Rachael, pumpkin pie, meeting
Adele, scarf
Lara, new job, Atlanta
Mary's Gone Crackers
Sister Hall
Jokes, Josh
Memories, Mel
Pure Maple Syrup
MOTAB
Distractions
Carrot Juice
Himie Voxman
No more plastic bags
Alex, remember
New locker shelves
Clem Snide, bassoon
New Mountain Goats
Words
Figurative figures
Family, pray
Warm, sleep
Home

Sam Beam, will you marry me?

Last night in a desperate act to relieve my boredom I decided to browse through the video archives of the L.A. based radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic (KCRW 89.9). Hosted by Nic Harcourt, the studio brings in a variety of non-mainstream independent bands and musicians to perform live and talk about their lives. I found and watched a lot of my favorite bands--Bright Eyes, Mojave 3, M. Ward, Polyphonic Spree, etc. And then I found the archive of a recent show with Sam Beam of Iron and Wine. I was completely taken. I couldn't take my eyes or ears away for the entire 38 minutes and 31 seconds of the show.

I was first introduced to Iron and Wine by my friend Andrew in 2004 and immediately put him at the top of my favorite bands list. If you know me really well, you know that my music listening habits usually follow a pattern--I find a band that I love, listen to them obsessively for a while, then get tired and take a break for a while and move on to another band. But throughout all of the comings and goings there have remained two musical constants in my life--the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Iron & Wine. I don't know what it is that entraps me--the poetry, the melodies, his earthy beard and locks--maybe all of them wrapped up in one. No matter how much I listen to his music, it never gets old. I was talking with Andrew about this a while ago and he said it good when he pointed out that Sam Beam can somehow sing the same tune over and over again and it never gets boring.

A lot of the time I have no idea what he's singing about and I think that's part of what draws me in. Literalness is annoying and scary and I usually prefer to stick with the abstract. But there's something more to it than that. This music inspires me to think and feel something real and I just can't forget about it. It's like a Litmus Lozenge. It makes you feel all sad and happy at the same time. I've been sitting here for a while trying to think of a better way to describe it, but I think I'll just let you listen and then I won't have to.

If you don't have time to watch it at least check out my three favorite songs around 18:24, 26:42 and 7:48.