i have been in the field

just yesterday i began my field placement at jenison high and boy do they have one of the most spectacular programs i have ever seen in my life. i wish i could remember as far back as high school to even get an idea of where we stood in comparison to these kids. the directors seem like really wonderful people and i am looking forward to getting to know them in the next month or so. we have had a couple of snafus, but i think we are going to be okay. tomorrow i will head out there again for some nice quality time with the mens and treble choruses. hopefully they will be really responsive to me on all accounts. i am quite sure they will ask me to lead a warm-up or two and so i am preparing to do so in the event that that does happen. i am thankful for the opportunity to be in such a great situation (dr. k called it a 'bed of roses'...we'll see about that!), but i just pray that i do not become overwhelmed by the enormity of the program. i want to be confident; after all, i have worked very hard in the last three and some odd years to be successful in these final stages of my pre-professional career. i plan on being the competent individual for whom they are looking. so that is that. no more worries regarding any troubles or traumas. ooh...that felt good. we will see you on the flip side. until then!

the funny thing is

i work in an italian restaurant. in fact, i will be working there this very evening as i struggle to earn the all-mighty dollar. well, not really struggle. my responsibilities consist of: packaging tasty looking food for customer who are willing to pay for it, cleaning off tables for customers who are unwilling to do so for themselves, and being a smiling, helpful face for anyone who needs one. i love working at the 84 east. for some reason, when i go there i can, for as many hours as i am working, forget about everything that i have to do and focus on taking care of people. i like to take care of people. and people like to be taken care of.

actually, the word "of" should never, ever end a sentence. to the best of my knowledge, the word "of" is a preposition, and doesn't like to go at the end. instead, "of" is most comfortable residing within the context of a prepositional phrase like "of the world" or "of mice and men". at any rate, periods should never go outside of quotation marks at the end of sentences, but that, friends, is a grammatical issue for another day (we will deal with capitalization as well).

i would eat at the restaurant all the livelong day if i could just afford it. but let's get real here. tuxedo chicken at $8.95 a pop ain't no bargain basement price. oh, but i would patronize that lovely establishment if only i could live with myself at the end of the day. anyway, tomorrow i will patronize the famous dave's in grandville, michigan for the first time and i cannot wait to do so. until then (well, not really until then, because you most likely will not be there, but until again i post to this blessed piece of blogdom, i bid you farewell and wonder how i will get out of these parentheses...

two more days until we all get a nice break from this thing that we call school at which we love to learn but from which four days' absence will be a

welcome change. fall break is the most wonderful time of year. no wait, no christmas is. but fall break is wonderful as well. there will be a golden ladder, tests for teacher certification, participation in a campy church production of "the phantom of the opera", lazy sundays, apple picking on a chilly fall afternoon, humongous amounts of homework, and best of all, relaxation and rejuvenation. fall break is a wonderful time of year.

i've been informed that i am to have an interview with the jenison public school "powers that be" in order to determine whether or not they will accept me for field placement and student teaching. this is absolutely daunting in a place where the choirs have produced no less than five compact disc recordings and plenty of significant concert engagments. wish me luck on that one.

what else is new? well, candide continues to go swimmingly and will no doubt be a huge success, if for no other reason than the woman choreographer that commented that i have big ears. i am still growing into them. that's all i have to say about that.

have a great day all, and be sure to check out a very special new blog at http://waltdisneywhirled.blogspot.com. see you all very soon...

it has been way too long

since i posted on this mofo. i apologize for the lack of posting in this past week. things have been a bit frantic. they continue to be, but now i find myself at work with a few minutes of downtime, wanting to expound upon those things that so fancily draw themselves to the surface of my immediate consciousness.

it was a wonderful weekend. after enjoying the princely players and the second of three presidential debates ("that's news to me...need some wood?"), i attended what some might have thought to be an ill-fated homecoming hoedown that turned out to be a blazing success! i was most delighted to be in attendance, however there were no doughnuts.

saturday was splendid, a little alumni service rehearsal in the morning, followed by a jaunt along the homecoming parade trail in a chrysler sebring convertible with my good friend and fellow education student amy huizen. we spend the better portion of our trip waving ecstatically to those whom would give us the time of day and not those who would make comments like "who are these people on the homecoming court?" then the game. a little twelfthstreet, a little football, some homecoming declarations, and the alma mater. that brings me to a great issue; i suppose at my roommate's parents' place of education they would call it the "alma alma mater". just a thought.

then, dinner at jimmy carrino's and a homecoming ball. it was a wonderful evening for all. thank you for coming. and thank you for a special time.

that's all for now...until again we meet.

monday morning

thank you for making me work out this morning. it felt very good to get the muscles moving and the blood flowing today. now i take a few minutes to expound upon my current thoughts on this brisk, chilly monday morning in which the sun is shining wonderfully.

i had an unfortunate incident with a water bottle today. having only carried water for the last month or so, one wouldn't think it could get really gross or anything, but it began to carry a sort of unsettling stagnant water type smell, so i thought, let's wash that. went to the sink, used a little soap, rinsed, and dried her off. i then proceeded to fill it for my consumption. i had not taken one full sip when i got a mouthful of soap. i was instantly hearkened back to that fateful day in my seventh or eighth year of life when i told shelly passinato (i'm not sure that was her name) that girls were very dumb and very stupid. mother was not pleased. i feel ill.

anyway, that was that, and i've recovered nicely. have a wonderful day friends...