Easter Movie/Song

Wandering Stranger from Emily Brown on Vimeo.

Sweet.

My great-grandfather, Francis Raymon Brown, said some important stuff in a letter to my great-uncle Albert. Here's an excerpt:

"I want you to remember, when you have those moments of discouragement and doubt, that in any event the good life is best and do not commit any sins or take on any habits which will prevent your changing your mind when you get more information about the subject. I hope you will always feel free to seek only the truth and to seek it fearlessly and without favor. If you have any specific areas about the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, I hope you will keep track of these doubts, admit that they are doubts, and seek further knowledge and enlightenment on that subject and don’t discard the whole tree simply because you can’t yet understand a part of it."

I love the weighty matters that letters used to carry. I love that my grandfather felt inspired to write these things to Albert before he went to college for the first time. My grandma lets me read her old letters sometimes and once I found a beautiful letter to her future daughter, which she wrote on her wedding day. I feel so lucky to be part of this family and this tradition of writing.

From a letter:

PPS: Funny story about your music - All of us elders that serve in the Epsom Ward were in the car one day, and 'Somewhere' was playing in the background on shuffle. Elder Peach, my district leader, was talking about his teaching appointment that day, which was scheduled to take place at a train station in his area.

*music softly playing the background*
"Man, I'm starving," said Elder Peach. "Definitely should have packed lunch."

*music continues*
Elder Turner quipped, "Well, your investigator is Muslim, so won't he feed you?"

"Feed me at a train station? No way," said Elder Peach.
*TRAIN STATIONS ARRRREEEE NEVER FORGIVINGGGG*

All burst into hysterical laughter.
The end.

As promised, some church songs.

  Eine Kleine Churchmusik by Listen to Emily Brown

Diez

My blog is boring. I know. I am always much worse about updating it during the school year. Maybe in November I will FINALLY succeed at NaBloPoMo and be a good blogger forever.

Unlikely. Ha.

Anyway, ten things I have been doing lately:

1. Making creepy cookies with Maddison and Pearl:

This clearly, is my actual finger. Gross, huh? Read the full post at Pearl's blog here

2. Thinking about Halloween. I have an idea for a costume, but I don't want to post it here because you will ALL steal it. Just kidding. It's not that cool.

3. Working on new songs, as always.

4. Taking antibiotics and eating pineapple for my nasty finger. (Google chat status: explained.)

5. Going to the C.S. Lewis Society on Wednesdays.

6. Visiting the Pendulum Court in the ESC. Today they had Pirate Day. It was delicious.

7. Doing a ton of Spanish homework. Yuck.

8. Practicing for Fork Fest. (Tonight: Book on Tape Worm!)

9. Sending fun letters to Sam the missionary.

(Remember this? I miss this.)

10. Slowly working my way through the Book of Mormon in Spanish.

P.S. My family is coming to town on Friday!! Yessssssss.

Editing!

This site editing is taking a lot more time than I expected it to! I get so picky about designs and the feel I want that I can't make any decisions. :P

In other news, Happy Easter! I stayed up until about three yesterday dying easter eggs and doing stuff to surprise my roommates for today. It turned out pretty well. I love holidays. :)

I've also been watching General Conference this weekend, which is a meeting Latter Day Saints attend or watch (it's broadcast worldwide!) and listen to the teachings of our spiritual leaders, including our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and others. It's been a great edifying experience watching it so far, and I've got one session left to see, from 2-4 this afternoon!

Also, I've updated my music blog, so check it out here!

Sunday, Domingo, Sonntag, Dimanche.

BLAM. Sunday in the four most influential languages on earth. Not bad, eh? Too bad I only speak/understand two of them, and one of the two very poorly. :/

Anyway...

It's been a good Sunday. I got to fast and pray for some pretty significant things right now and I felt good about them. Meetings at church were great, too. Tonight, I'm going to meet Greta's family, since they're visiting from Fallbrook. I'm pretty psyched.

I'm going to go get ready.

I'll pick this up later if I have anything more interesting to say.

I forgot to post yesterday. AGAIN.

Okay, so yesterday I went to church and everything was really slushy, so my feet got all wet. In church, I played the organ, since I'm the ward organist. However, this was our last Sunday with our callings, so it was the LAST DAY of that calling. :(

Later I went home, researched random things on my computer, did some work, talked to my family, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

Oh! Something funny happened last night! One of my friends came over to my apartment because he wanted to hear my music, and afterward, he, Charné, Marissa, and I were talking. We told him about how we sometimes spy on people from our top-floor window and stuff. Anyway, he left later and Charné went to take the trash out. A while afterward, Marissa and I were looking out the window to see where she was when we noticed a group of people to the side. We were looking for Charné among them when we realized our friend was there, and he looked just as I wondered aloud if it was him!!!

Marissa and I went down behind the windowsill like little kids when suddenly we heard a snowball hit our window. We popped back up and he and another friend were throwing snowballs at us! We cracked up and made faces; I fell off the couch, I was laughing so hard. Charné came up again later and they were still throwing snowballs at us, so we opened a window and yelled at them a bit from it. Eventually we waved goodbye. :)

10 Things I've Been Doing Lately

Hello, my dears! So much has happened in the past month or whatever that I think I will just make a list.

1. Last Friday, I bought my first pair of TOMS. TOMS is a wonderfully humanitarian company that gives a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes you buy from them. It's really a beautiful thing. I bought the Aira Cordones, and they're adorable!

2. Registration has begun at last. It's pretty near impossible to get exactly what you want; therefore, I'm enrolled in Psych 111 and trying switch it for an impossibly full creative writing class.

3. My roommate Charne and I Skyped each other from adjacent rooms yesterday. It was hilarious.

4. I have written a new Sestina and a Villanelle, which are both really good.

5. I was accepted into BlazeVOX Fall 2k9 yesterday! Once the issue is up, please read my three poems here.

6. I finally have a job as an accompanist for a friend of mine. He's taking voice lessons here and needed someone to play his pieces. This is really good for me, because it gives me a more concrete reason to practice, and I have to learn pieces I wouldn't have picked myself.

7. If you are near Provo, check out the newest exhibit at BYU's Museum of Art, "Mirror Mirror." It's a really interesting look at how people perceive each other-- and who can beat the flaming moustache? (also, admission is free!)

8. I was a flapper again for Halloween, only this time I was Daisy Buchanan and I friend of mine was Jay Gatsby.

9. I'm trying to write a song in G, since I have this idea that I'll do a show and move up a key for every song. G is such an awkward key for my voice, though. I don't really know what I'm doing. :/

10. Sammy's has the best milkshakes EVER. They are also having a "Hot Chocolate Kickoff" this weekend that I really want to go to.

I am BYUSA!

Yesterday Charne (one of my roommates) and I went to the Wilkinson Center and signed up for BYU's Student Service Association! BYU doesn't have a student government like most schools, but BYUSA is a kind of equivalent. As a church-subsidized school, 80% of every student's education is paid by the tithing of church members; we are here, in many cases, because of the widow's mite. BYUSA is one way we give back to our school; it's a volunteer association in charge of many student activities and leadership.

Anyway, Charne and I went on a tour of the office and we talked to a guy who helped us get involved, and now, we are in charge of planning a formal dance in February!!! Thankfully, there are people over us who will help us when we start planning our event. We're super excited!

I have to get to the testing center soon, so I will update more later!

Come, Listen to a Prophet's Voice!

Today, President Thomas S. Monson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whom we members regard as a latter-day prophet, came to speak at the BYU Devotional! I was super excited, so I got to the Marriott Center three hours early in order to get a good seat. Even by then, the line was really long, but luckily, my friend Mike was in it and he saved me a spot with that group. When the doors finally opened, we RAN down the stairs to try and get floor seats, and miraculously, Mike and I ended up with some of the best non-reserved seats in the house! In these pictures, I am the girl in blue on the right side, in the fourth row aisle seat. You can also find me standing up as the prophet leaves in the second picture.

Aside from being wonderfully close, I was so glad to be spiritually edified today. When President Monson entered the room, a wave of happiness came over me like nothing I have ever felt before. I knew that he speaks for Jesus Christ. I could see it in his face and I felt it in his presence. I was one of the first to see him, and almost as immediately as I sprung out of my chair to do so, I began to weep. I must have cried for a solid ten minutes or so. The Spirit of truth was so strong and I could really feel the love he and the Lord have for everyone when he spoke his first words to us: "You are quite a sight!" I feel so blessed to be here at Brigham Young University, and every day, I am aware that the experience I am having here is vastly different than one I would have at any other school.

(This is entirely worthy of my next sentence, don't you think?)

This I believe.

Update. Sort of.

I'm not really sure what to write, but since you wanted an update, I will give it you.

We need a vosotros in English, by the way; I meant "you" as a plural.

Today, I got up. Really! I got up, for once this week! I walked over to the church building at Wyview with my roommate, Chelsee. We had interviews this morning. Guess what my calling is?

The best calling ever, of course! Ward Organist!

I'm really tired, so that will have to be all.

Love you, Mom. Dad. CollinMadelynSpencerMelissa.

Various family members. :)

Trip to Europe!

Due to popular demand that I write about my trip (Leslie) (haha) I am writing about my trip.
So far we have been to Paris, Riomaggiore in the Cinque Terre, and now we are in Florence.
I will write about the best parts of every day, since I'm sure you don't want an account of my boring multitudinous train rides. :)
On our first day in Paris, which was Thursday, we took a bunch of trains and went to Versailles, which was very pretty. Of all the inside portion, the Hall of Mirrors was my favorite part. :) I can't post pictures yet, because I didn't bring a USB cord, but I will post an album when I get home. After we went through the palace, Madelyn and I explored the gardens there, which was the coolest part. We took lots of pictures. There was a part of the gardens where they played very loud classical music, which I liked, of course.
On Friday, we went to Caen, where the Normandy beaches are, and we had fun going on a tour for a long time and seeing all the cool war stuff there. It took a long time and it was fun going to a lot of different places. Also, on Friday night, something interesting happened. We went to eat dinner at a hamburger place, and when we sat down to eat, there was a guy sitting diagonally from us who stared at me the whole time. When we had finished eating, he waggled his hand in a "call me" signal. I looked away and laughed, sort of embarrassed, and he borrowed a pen from someone, wrote his number on a napkin, and held it up. When we were about to leave, I got up to tell him that I'm American and I wasn't going to be in Paris long. He introduced himself and he said he really wanted to contact me. He wouldn't take no for an answer, and he gave me his email and asked for mine. I thought, "What's the harm?" so I gave it to him. And now I have a friend in Paris.
Saturday was the best day by far. We went to Notre Dame first, which was just as majestic and beautiful as you'd expect it to be. And when we went to the Louvre, a miracle happened. During the morning, I tried to contact my friend Megan, who was with my school's tour group in Paris, but I couldn't reach her, so I gave up. Somehow, impossibly, they happened to go to the Louvre on the same day we did and we ran into members of the tour group. It was so exciting and amazing! We went to dinner with them that night before taking the night train on our voyage to Italy.
All day Sunday we traveled, and eventually we got to our town in Cinque Terre, which was Riomaggiore. Because we got there so late, we didn't get to spend a lot of time there, so Madelyn and I explored the city together for a few hours. At night we had a testimony meeting because we couldn't go to church (click for more information about my church), which was pretty cool.
Today we took a lot of trains and made it to Florence. Once we got here, we got a cab driver to take us to our hotel, the Hotel de Rose Palace, which is very pretty and well furnished. Shortly after we arrived, we went to lunch together and when we came back, we talked to my mom for a while on Skype and told her what's been going on. A while later, Madelyn and I went exploring around Florence, which, around here, is kind of dirty and not very pretty. Plus I was really scared a lot of the time because I have heard it's not the safest city in the world. When we came back, there was a very cute boy at the hotel desk. Later that night, we went to dinner at a pizza place, and I made up stories to myself about each table.
For instance, at the table across from us, a middle aged couple was out with their son and their daughter's fiancee, and he was trying to impress them because he wanted to marry their daughter. The son liked the fiancee, because he has a cool car and because he signed the son's cast really well. The mother also approves of him and thinks her daughter has chosen a handsome man. But the father is still trying to ascertain whether there is the potential for success behind the young man's scruffy beard.
Et cetera.
When we came back, we Skyped our family some more, and Madelyn and I went to the lobby to ask the guy if we could take a picture with him (and to ask for a wake-up call). He said no. It was really embarrassing and I felt pretty stupid and depressed. After that, we ran up the stairs and now we are back in our room.
Ah, well. At least one person in Europe liked me, right? I guess I'll post this now.
By the way, Leslie, you need to sign on to AIM or something so I can tell you more. And, which Euros do you have in your foreign currency collection? Do you want any more?
That's all for now, then! Bye!

Today was my Young Womanhood Recognition, an evening in the Mormon Church in which girls are recognized for their accomplishments in the church. It's pretty cool. My mom wrote a really sweet blurb about me and it made me cry when they read it. :) Good night.

Not So Much Today...

Today was just my last assembly in high school, but it's not like I'm going to miss those. I didn't really do anything after school but work on composition and stuff, since I had to stay home with my little brother and sister. I'm going to more one-acts tomorrow, so that should be fun. I love watching plays and concerts and stuff. 

Leslie's boyfriend Justin is coming soon! I'm so excited to meet him! :)

Leslie, don't worry... I don't really know what's going on, but I'm vaguely depressed too.

This too shall pass.

Twin Day

Today at Palm Desert High School, we had, for the third day of Spirit Week, a Twin Day. Since my sister and I already look so much alike, and we could find clothes we have in common, we decided to dress up. This is what we looked like!

A really funny thing happened involving this after school ended today. Madelyn and I were walking out to the parking lot to go home when some boys from Madelyn's English class walking behind us said stuff like, "Awww; how cute; they dressed up together." I turned, and little did I know that Madelyn turned, too, and at the same time, we both kicked up our left legs and smiled in unison. I was on the outside, so I couldn't see what had happened, but the boys went, "Whoa!" and Madelyn said, "Yeah, we're that good." It was so funny. They wanted us to do it again. Ha ha ha. :)

Another thing: today was my last Chamber Singers concert ever. EVER. I've been in Chamber Singers for the past four years and that was my last official concert. Well... I guess there is graduation, but at least I'll never have to wear that dress again, right? The experience is still kind of surreal... we sang really well tonight. It was great! :)

A Piano.

Piano

Perfect! I just had to do this the other day... :)
When I need to relax (i.e., because of Prom nerves, college freak-outs, etc.) I ride my bike somewhere, which lets me think more clearly. Sometimes I go to the library and I read or look for books of music or art to take home.
Primarily, I guess (I probably should have put this first), I play the piano and compose music. The wonderful thing about playing the piano is that pianos turn up all the time whenever you go somewhere. You sit down on the bench and see the keys, and whether you're in Shanghai or Visby, you're at home. Playing the piano gives me a sense of gravity when I feel like I'm not anchored to anything.

Sorry about that post last night; I didn't have the time or energy to write coherently, so that's just what happened. I guess I could edit it later and write something interesting about yesterday.

Today I took the AP Microeconomics Exam, which is not as bad as I thought it was. I felt all right about the multiple choice, and I know I did really well on the last question of the free response bit of the test. True, I am not positive I aced the thing, but I have a feeling I passed. I hope.

Anyway, I have been composing a very lovely piece that I am obsessed with playing very fast, and very often. In fact, all the time. It's not actually finished yet, but hopefully I will find some more inspiration and get it done. (Hmmm, Leslie; guess what it's about. :) Yay!)

(Augh. It's weird to do a smiley within parentheses.)

That's all for tonight, then!

More News About BYU!!

I know where I'm going to live next year! Last week I got my housing all ready and such and I also found out who my roommates are and added them on facebook! They seem really cool! One is from South Africa.
I am so psyched about being able to study what I want to study at college! I am going to be double majoring in English and Music Composition! It's going to be amazing!!!
Plus, I have all these cousins who will be there and we are going to rule the campus!
In unrelated news, I took the AP Government Test today and it wasn't half bad. :)

Just a quick post!

I'm home this morning because, due to Standardized testing, seniors don't have to go to school until 10:50! It's really nice and I don't have to get up quite so early. 

Anyway, I just wanted to post about this: 

My friend and I wrote a song for graduation which we've been working on all year. Recently, we invited our other guy friend to play the guitar with us. We rehearsed the song a few times and it sounded really good. We all sing, so I was on the piano, this guy on guitar, and all of us harmonizing. We tried out last Friday to sing at graduation and we won! I am really happy about it. :))))

Also, I am working on a new classical song! We'll see how it turns out! :)