I know, it’s been forever.
I will do a real update soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to let anybody who is still reading this about a fun new website called NoiseTrade. It’s a website where musicians can get the word out about their music, and you can get cheap (or even free) music downloads! I’ve gotten lots of new music to try out, and found some artists that I really like already. It’s a great way to try out some new artists, and get the word out to your friends about musicians you already like. Check it out!
https://www.noisetrade.com/index.aspx
OK, I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting til I had some solid answers about the future, but as it seems my life will stay in a state of semi-chaos for a while longer, I figure it’s time to catch y’all up with the goings-on.
First of all, in case you’ve forgotten, in my absence, what I look like:
And, even though I posted since then, I don’t think I’ve actually said that Rebecca and I have moved into a cute little house in Ardmore just over a mile from school and less than that from church:
We love it – it’s been really nice to be close to school again (not that I was that far before, but it’s still nice to be closer), and to have enough space to have people over regularly (despite having a couple issues with neighbors), and Dinah appreciates having more people to regularly love her. 
Also, this has been my life recently:
I’ve been running gels like mad, trying to get things wrapped up so I can finish this thesis and graduate in the near future – for those counting, it will likely be either May or June, so stay tuned in for the last-minute thesis issues that I’m sure will be coming along shortly. I’m looking for jobs in the area, as I’d love to stay here, but I might end up looking farther afield, but still in the state at least. Let me know if you hear of any good teaching jobs (preferably small, liberal arts colleges, but I can be flexible).
The brother is still doing well out in Cali:
Well, he doesn’t look like he’s doing well there, but he just wasn’t pleased with all of my picture-taking at Christmas. He’s working at Sony, doing some writing, and looking for a good production job now that things are gearing back up after the strike. Dad got to fly out and visit him this past week, so I’m very jealous. Maybe when I have a real, grown-up job…
Mom is still adjusting to her new job and schedule – and she and Dad are having to make some tough decisions in the next little bit. I’m going home tonight to celebrate Dad’s belated birthday, so that will be good.
Hopefully I can keep this more updated than it’s been lately – entering the home stretch may make that difficult, but I will try.
I submit the following photo for your viewing pleasure. Mom brought back these shirts from her trip to Disney World last year (without us, I might add), and we finally got around to taking a picture of us in them this Christmas while Matthew was home from Cali for the holidays. Enjoy!
We used this Advent prayer in church a few weeks ago, and it struck me again with the paradox of Christ’s incarnation among us that we celebrate at this time of year.
Almighty God, who, having created all worlds and mankind, has profoundly pitied us; who has come to us that we might be saved, not of our merit, but of your unquenchable love; look on us who worship in comfort, in light and warmth, in health and prosperity, in pride and in presumption.
For, having all glory,
you became incarnate in the dishonor of a defeated line of kings;
having all riches,
you became incarnate in the poverty of the working class;
having all illumination,
you became incarnate in the darkness of night and obscurity;
having all wisdom,
you became incarnate in the confounding simplicity of a child;
having all life,
you became incarnate in the emptiness of a virgin’s womb;
having all power,
you became incarnate in the weakest form of human life – a male infant.
Help us to recognize our shame, our poverty, our darkness, our foolishness, our emptiness, our weakness, that we may know our need of you. And then … become incarnate in us. We pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We’re about to head into our last, crazy week of rehearsals for this year’s production of Handel’s Messiah with The Mozart Club of Winston Salem. I was looking back through my posts for this time last year and found this, and it pretty much sums up how I still feel about Messiah, so I’m re-printing it here. The 2007 performance will be at Reynolds Auditorium at 3pm on Sunday, December 2nd – hope to see you there!
I’m performing in the chorus of Handel’s magnificent oratorio Messiah this weekend (Dec 3rd at 3pm in Reynolds Auditorium, for those interested). The community group that sponsors didn’t perform it last year, but I’ve done it every other year I’ve been in Winston Salem since I started graduate school. And moreso this year than any of the years previously (mostly cause I haven’t been doing any choral singing for over a year now), I’m so grateful for this chance to sing a masterpiece with other people who love Messiah as much as I do, with really great soloists and instrumentalists who do the work justice in performance.
We’ve had our rehearsals this week with the guest conductor who’s come in from NYC (he’s the choral conductor for the NYC Opera), and it’s amazing how much physical work actually goes into singing something like this. I was exhausted after a 2.5 hour rehearsal last night, and in pretty much the same place tonight after another one. But there are times in the middle of rehearsal where you can catch these glimpses of the genius of Handel, things that no matter how many times you’ve sung it will suddenly catch you by surprise; the power of a lyric you hear in a different way, or the clarity of an ascending line from the sopranos that brings a deep emotional response.
And every year, I’m amazed at the poignancy of his description of Christ’s birth, and the vitriole and anguish expressed in the Passion section, and the joy found in the Resurrection. Handel’s choruses describing the trial and death of Jesus are full of text-painting, with chorusmembers representing at one point the angry mob calling for Christ’s crucifixion (’He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him’), and at another the whips during His beatings (’The chastisment of our peace was upon Him’). Our guest conductor this year describes Messiah as more opera than oratorio and I think I agree with him – singing it, you feel like you’re living in the middle of ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’, not just standing by watching it.
And it’s a good reminder as I kick off the busy holiday season, that beyond the ‘Jesus is the reason for the season’ platitudes, there is this: that Christ’s arrival on eath as a baby, while miraculous and glorious on its own, fits in the much larger scheme of God’s plan for redemption, and that His birth would mean little to us without his subsequent death on the cross. And that, friends, is what Messiah means to me.
