Runaway lawnmower!

Living in the country makes it so that there is plenty of lawn for everyone. This also means your screwed if you don't have a ride on lawnmower. I remember when we first moved from the city to the country. Once I saw the ride on mower I was quick to volunteer for lawnmower duty. After my Dad showed me the ropes I was good to go. There's nothing like driving a lawnmower at 3 mph when your 10 years old. Feelings of immense pride come over you as you mow, row by row, all afternoon. 10 year olds take these jobs seriously.

I remember once I decided I needed some company out there. After a while it gets boring so you have to come up with some sort of entertainment. Bored with the things I usually came up with, I invited my twin Brandon to ride with me. We had ourselves some real fun! Going around the yard at 2 mph (2 because of the added weight ), both squished on that little drivers seat... oh yeah. Good times! Well after a while of this Brandon got bored and decided to make things more interesting. He informed me that I needed to pop the clutch so he could change our speed. He obviously wanted a change of pace so I did it. As I clutched he threw it from 2nd gear to 6th! In the blink of an eye we went from 2 mph to 20! We went careening around the yard, both screaming at the top of our lungs, (me out of fear, Brandon out of pure delight). Once I recovered from the shock of it, I decided to get back control. I quickly went to clutch only to discover that it was stuck! At that moment Brandon yelled particularly loud. I looked up and was greeted with the sight of a huge tree stump right in our path. I yanked the steering wheel and, causing on side of the mower to become airborne, and we barely missed what probably would have been a tragic collision. At this point Brandon realized if he wanted to live he better had better help me stop the mower. I was finally able to clutch, but then Brandon couldn't change gears! I was just about to give the order to abandon ship when he finally was able to pop it into neutral and our ride ended.

We sat there for a minute or two, relishing the fact that we were alive and no major damage had been done. After making a quick recovery we decided we were done for the day. Brandon went inside while I parked the mower. Not wanting to ride the thing, I put it into neutral and pushed it. Now we parked the mower at the top of this decent sized slope. It was steeper than it looked. I had to push the mower a little ways down the hill to where we parked it. As I began to go down the hill I quickly came to the realization that I probably shouldn't push the mower down the hill. The mower had other plans though. As it picked up speed I put all I had into stopping it. I dug my feet in and held onto the back hoping that would work. Riiight. The mower shot down the hill dragging me along behind it. For some reason I thought I could stop it, even when I was being dragged spread eagle. The thought to let go didn't occur to me until I saw the tree. THEN I let go. I probably should have held on seeing as the mower completely missed the tree. I on the other hand crashed full force into it.

The mower probably planned it that way...

Blond Moment

Today I was shopping at safeway, getting some things for my mom. Usually I know where everything is, most of the time I can find what I'm looking for. As I collected the items on my list I began to feel a sense of accomplishment, I mean, how many guys aren't able to do that?! Waay too many! Anyways I got to the last thing on my list and hesitated for a second. The last thing on my list was a dozen eggs. I had to think for a second, usually I get eggs at Costco. I thought for a second then went in search of the dairy and produce section. I quickly found the section, at the back of the store, and began looking for eggs. After 2 minutes of intense searching I began to wonder where they kept the eggs (and if they even kept eggs at this store). Not wanting to ask for help I did one last scan for the elusive eggs and came up with nothing. They were not there! No big deal. I would just find a worker and ask where they kept their eggs. Luckily there was a worker right in the isle right behind me, so I asked her where they kept the eggs. She looked at me kind of funny and pointed to the little display thing I was leaning on. You know those open freezers that lay flat at the stores? The ones that usually have beef or chicken in them? Well the one I was leaning on was full of egg cartons! I didn't even see it! As I grabbed the eggs and walked away I thanked her for pointing them out to me. 

She was laughing to hard to say anything back.  

Clefs

In music there are a variety of different clefs. Treble clef, alto clef, tenor clef, bass clef... and so on and so forth. As a violist it is pretty much required that you know these clefs. Because of the violas range many composers will change the clef in the middle of a piece to make it "easier" for the violist to read the notes. Most of the time it is easier. All the time though it is confusing trying to remember what clef your supposed to be in, especially if your changing constantly from alto clef (the violas clef) to treble clef (the violins clef). 

Recently our quartet performed its first contemporary piece. The piece was composed for quartet and choir. It was a beautiful piece. The chording was very cool, with a lot of suspensions. At our first rehearsal with the choir the composer came and helped us put it together, giving us his ideas for different sections and what not. After we had played through this one spot he looks at me and says "in measure 201 your out of tune." (I only play 3 sixteenth notes in this bar). I looked at the notes, played them, then told him those were the right notes. He came over and scratching his head was like "It doesnt sound right..." We played it a few more times and he was like "please look at that at home." 

As we (the quartet) packed up and left I vented a little. "I dont care if you wrote the piece those were the right notes, and they WERE in tune!" My brothers and sister agreed with me. Obviously the composer was thinking of something else. Well 2 days later we went for our weekly coaching session in Portland. Having worked on this piece with our coach a few times he wanted to know how the rehearsal had gone. We promptly told him about the notes in question and he asked us to play it for him. After we played it he told us he thought it sounded good. He didnt see anything wrong with it. Then all of a sudden he was like "Oh! what clef are you in?" I look and was like "uh... alto?" He shakes his head and says "treble". I leaned forward and took a closer look. Sure enough I had been playing in treble clef 2 measures before that and should have still been in treble clef. Instead I automatically switched back to alto clef, and thus was playing the wrong notes. The problem with that kind of mistake is that when you play in alto clef instead of treble, the pitch is off by a seventh. In other words its plain way off. 

I was so embarrassed! Here I had been playing this part for a month and a half and the whole time I was playing it wrong! To make things worse, I thought the composer was crazy for thinking my notes were wrong. Talk about a major lesson in humility.

If you play viola take my advice. Watch out for those evil clefs!

Posts

Hey everyone, 

Due to some complaints, I have decided to post something at least once a week, if not two. However, I do not promise anything. 

Have a great day. 

The Slide of Death

Have you ever been in an embarrassing and scary situation? Embarrassing cause its... well embarrassing and scary because you don’t see a way out? Well these situations seem to happen to me quite often. I don’t really know why either...

 

Anyway about 2 years ago my family was visiting relatives in Sisters, Oregon. If you've ever been there then you know that there's nothing once you get outside the city limits. Its like you're in the middle of nowhere. After a week of fun and visiting we left for home. For some reason we made a stop at this motel headquarters place thing and while my parents went in the rest of us decided to hit the little playground. 

 

We had the whole place to ourselves. Not a single person in sight. Dating back to my youth, I have always liked slides. True story. Never met a slide I didn’t like. Well this playground had a little enclosed slide. Nothing to get excited about really. I went down a couple of times, just for kicks and decided it wasn’t worth it. A little while later my youngest sister, Katherine, 5 at the time, challenged me to a sliding competition. Not one to turn down a challenge I accepted her game of slide. Big mistake!!!

 

If you're youngest (and smallest) sibling EVER challenges you to something find a way to "try" then politely decline. 

 

I politely let her go first and she started things off with a bang! She doubled up over her legs and went down the slide backwards! I was impressed. As the oldest brother I take pride in the feats that my siblings can pull off. After she had gone down I gave her the proper amount of applause and prepared for my attempt. I was just contemplating what I should do when Katherine turned to me and said "Ha! You cant do that!” Challenging me in fun is one thing. Taunting and daring is another, even if you are family. I turned to her and said "oh yeah? Watch this!" Looking back I see that I should've put aside my competitive juices and declared her the winner, like something out of "Little House on the Prairie". 

 

Anyway I got up there, sat, turned around, doubled up over my legs, and launched myself. It was a good run, till I got to the point where the slide curves at the bottom. I came to a sudden and complete stop. Not good. There I was facing backward, hands reaching toward my feet, stuck in a little kids slide. After a few seconds, in which my siblings expected me to come hurtling out of the slide, I made my mayday call, "hey guys! I’m stuck!” There was a shocked silence. Then pandemonium broke out. People began to laugh, ask me how I was stuck, try to get me out... complete chaos. One brother tried pulling me out the bottom, but that didn’t work cause every time he pulled I could feel each disk in my spine stretch to the point of severe pain. My other brother tried to reach down the slide to pull me back up, but envisioning him falling in and killing me (or worse, crippling me) I screamed at him to keep himself at least 5 feet away from the slide. 

 

After those failed rescue attempts I did what every kid in a precarious situation does. I yelled for my mom. Screamed is more like it. Usually a mothers voice has a soothing effect on the victim in question. Not this time. As she came walking over (yes, walking) I could hear her laughing hysterically. That really didn’t have a "calming" effect on me. There I am stuck in a slide, panicking about how their going to get me out, and my own mother is laughing at the whole thing! And I have to say that I was in a lot of pain. My body was not made to be in that position for that amount of time. 

 

Once my mom came over she called for my dad. He couldn’t think of anything either. I was starting to get desperate. Thank the Lord I didn’t have to go to the bathroom! We would have been in BIG trouble. So finally (I really don’t know how) they were able to pull me out the bottom without causing damage to my back. Once I was out I just lay on the ground, stretching out my back, breathing in the fresh air, and just being thankful for freedom. After a few seconds I became aware of laughing. Like a lot of laughing. You know how I said we were the only ones there? Well as soon as I got stuck people began to pop up out of nowhere. Seriously. There must have been at least 10 other people besides my family. They all came over thinking it was some little kid stuck in the slide, and when they saw me pop out they busted up. I don’t know if I’ve ever been so embarrassed. It was quite humbling. So after I had recovered we got back in the can and drove happily into the sunset. 

 

Oh, and in the van, Katherine was like "see, I told you you couldn’t do it!" 

 

She was the undisputed champ. 

 

Give your all.

Are you giving your all?

 

Ponder that question for a while, it’s important. Are you giving your all, going the extra mile, or are you just doing enough to get by? It’s easy to fall into the trap of mediocrity, especially in this day and age. Personally I like nothing better than perfection. Yet quite frequently I find myself doing just enough to get by. Talk about lame! That kind of work ethic will get you nowhere.

 I know this isn't at all like the normal post you expect from me, but it's something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. 

As a follower of Christ, I try to serve Jesus in all that I do, even the little things. It’s hard though. I am far from perfect. It’s only by prayer, and the grace of God, that I am able to put my best foot forward.

 

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23

 

Remember this verse brothers and sisters in Christ, the next time you are tempted to do enough to just get by. Don’t sell yourselves short!

 

For everyone reading this post, it takes hard work and endurance to get anywhere in life. Don’t fall into the trap of mediocrity and “going with the flow”. Be the best that you can be in every situation you find yourself in. Don’t settle for less.

 

Give your all. 

Problems

Playing in a quartet has given me opportunities to see different places. Near and far. I like to compare the experience from one place to another, and see what difficulties (better known as problems) always come up. 

One problem that always seems to come up is space. Two violists, one violist and one cellist cannot fit into a small space with chairs and music stands. Especially when all those players are over six feet tall. Its just not happening. For some reason though people think we can fit anywhere. Here's how a typical conversation will go, regarding "where to put the musicians".

Lady #1: "Where should we put the musicians?"

Lady #2: "Oh put them up against that wall"

Lady #1: " I was going to put a table there"

Lady #2 "That's fine, way too much space just for the musicians anyway"

Lady # 1 "What about that small nook over there?"

Lady # 2 "Oh that's perfect! We'll just shove em back in there. Perfect!"

They think that we can fit in a space 3' x 3' no problem. What's really annoying is when we get there and have to try to squeeze ourselves in there. Its pure torture I tell you! 

I always seem to have the misfortune of doing what I call the "bob and weave". Since I sit on the outside I have to constantly be on the lookout for people who think they can somehow walk through me. That's where the "bob and weave" comes into play. When someone is coming close to walking into me and or my instrument (whichever is "in their way") I bob or weave out of their path. Usually I only have to move a few inches. Sometimes though, its like they expect me to move a few feet. You can only do so much while your playing, in a chair I might add. 

Whenever I think about this problem my mind takes me back to a gig we had a few years back. We were playing for a wedding at a mansion. It was a gorgeous place. I was just beginning to think that we might be in luck, looked like there was plenty of space for everyone, but at that moment the wedding coordinator said, "You can set up right in there." as she spoke she pointed to a small alcove off to the side. I looked at the space and shook my head. How can anybody look at a group with two guys over 6' 5" and put them in a small space like that?! Without a second thought! 

Anyway... after we did the limbo getting setup it was time for the wedding. Wouldn't you know it that the whole wedding party had to walk past us to get to the designated spot for the ceremony. Seriously there were only 2 feet between me and the wall, and the whole wedding party had to go through there. Not good. As we played and they came by, I was desperately trying not to poke anyone with my bow or trip anybody. All in all nothing major went wrong. Sure I poked a few people, but I did my best. At least no one did a face plant because of me. 

After the ceremony, (yes I did have to dodge the wedding party again) we played for the reception. Unfortunately the reception was at the same place, so we stayed in the same tiny place. As the party wore on, the room attached to our "space" (this room was small too) began to fill to overflowing. It became impossible to play without poking someone, or having someone bump into me. I pretty much gave up hope and began counting the minuets till we left. During a climatic moment in the party a guy backed into me and leaned on me like I was a piece of furniture! He was there for a good 90 seconds! And when he finally moved he didn't apologies, or acknowledge me as anything more than a piece of furniture!! I mean come on. Give me a break. 

There's really nothing you can do about these situations. You've just gotta go with it and come out on top, being the victor. It's up to us to rise above it all in the face of adversity. Let that be your inspiration for the day. 

Go forth and rise.