on a brighter note
I am playing this Sunday with the debut of our little group. We're playing 'As the deer' which is fun and I've even got a solo. Then I think me and my wife are going to start singing in the choir. They've been hitting us up to help out, but I've been reluctant because I really enjoy the service more if I'm not thinking... ok what's next... etc.. I do like to sing though. We'll see how it goes Sunday, even though that wont be a good example because I'm playing the horn also.
Youth
I've been having some difficulty lately working with the church youth group. Actually I say "I", but it's really my wife also, but for the sake of this post... I. Let me start by saying... I can be easy going, but when I see something that goes against my belief list, then I dont bend. In this example, I believe that Youth group is for the youth, not the youth's parents, not for the leaders, not for the preacher, but for the youth. We started off the year with high hopes, they (the director and preacher) were changing the youth group structure around. What they did was divide the senior high and junior high during the discussions, we still play games together though. Then they brought a bunch of adults in to help out. Truthfully, I never saw this one coming as a problem, I was happy for the help, we had 2 couples helping teach the junior high and 2 teaching the senior high, then 1 leading singing/praise and then the youth leader. So we have 13 adults helping out with youth. But should have realized it like I do now, the 2 couples that help the jr. high are parents of 2 of the kids who just came up to youth and the music guy's daughter just came up too. So what I think is going on now is parents who dont want to leave their babies alone with big kids are there to PROTECT them! I am a strict believer that parents should never go to youth group anyway because it's a place for kids to open up and be kids. They are all established older members of the church and I suspect they forced their way in saying they wouldnt let their kid come unless they could also. I didnt even see it coming. Now of course, the youth is really run by the 3 couples instead of the youth director and now we do everything the couples think we should do. This is wrong of course, but being a responsible adult I must keep my opinions to myself and be part of the team. That is until the entire Sr. high comes to me and starts complaining... "what is this? youth group? or adult group?" I kept telling them that it's a little hard to change, but try to work with it and it'll get better. Now we're full blown with them running the show, but not interested in doing the youth activities, they dont participate or join in, It's almost as if they just hang out with the other adults there, and yet they control the director. So now my Sr. high is seeing all this and understands it and is pissed. Now I'm fielding comments like"why should we even come, youth is for the little babies anyway", etc, etc, etc. And that's where I have the problem. If the Sr. High stops coming (like they are starting to do) then you might as well not have youth group. Now, I dont know what to do because I have to remain diplomatic, but will not sit idly by and watch it just dwindle with each kid that leaves. We dont have a large youth group, if everyone comes there might be 30 people and that's if everyone comes, but most nights its more like 15-20. So having so many adults really isnt necessary, especially if they dont interact with the kids.
This should make our job easier
Lets see... The Iraqi people are behind Saddam 100% right? I guess this means that there will be no 'civilian' casualties then. If they are all 'ready' to fight then I dont wanna hear squat when we flatten Baghdad then. Yeah I know... it's all for show, no word on how Saddam lobbied for the Kurdish vote yet. ;-)
Yahoo! News - Saddam Says Iraqis Readier to Fight After Vote
Triangle Brass Band songs
I'm going to buy the whole cd of praise and worship songs these guys have done. Here are links to three songs off their site. I wish there was a startup brass band close to me. I'm definately not on their level, but would love to sit with some great players because I know it'd help me tremendously. Not to mention, I love brass sounds.
First: Their site Triangle Brass Band. Second: Amazing Grace. Third: Fanfare of Praise. Last: Be Thou My Vision.
Just to toot my own horn...
I got in my 'new' cornet and was let down to not get a mouthpiece with it. Stupid me thought that trumpet and cornets could interchange mouthpieces, but soon found out differently. Hopefully my newly bought mouthpiece will get here tomorrow so I can actually play this horn for tomorrow's band practice at the church. In the meantime, I stripped my old Bundy trumpet down because it was really looking bad with the laquer off on over 90% of the horn. It was a nice dull yellow after that, but I put it on the buffing wheel and with little effort it turned a brilliant, shiny, brass. It was so shiny (unlike it's ever been since I got it used back in 1982) I decided to laquer it, and that's where the problems came in. It was obvious that I didnt get everything off the horn when the laquer turned this dull color and did some funky reacting, so then I decided to try to paint it black over it... came back today to find a nice scaly black/gold trumpet. I was not amused to say the least. So I got out my zip strip and stripped it again. Thankfully, it stripped back to the shiny version and I only had minimal buffing. Now I've got it all nice and shiny, and am afraid to try to laquer it again. I'm thinking on just applying neverdull every now and then to keep it shiny. It's really been an education, and thankfully I havnt ruined the horn yet. YET!
Idiots
While I regret the loss of human life anywhere, I cant help but wonder what Al queda is trying to accomplish by the latest bombings. I wouldnt say I'm happy about them, but it does bring the whole "noone is safe with these people around" arguement. I guess it's meant to scare them into not joining us, but to me it's the out they've been looking for to get on our wagon.
