for erin

Erin had a post recently. Go read it. Then agree with me that she's the only reason why I find this T-Shirt funny. ------------------------->>>>>>>>>>

love meagan

p.s. I just noticed that the photo changes three times! Just keep watching. I have no clue how I saved a changing photo. But anyway, she'll know which one I'm referring too :-)

p.p.s. I know this isn't worthy of a whole blog entry of its own. It would have made the most sense as a comment on Erin's blog, but I don't know how to post photos and/or links in comments. Do you know how? If so, will you tell me? Thanks a bunch :-)

busted

Re-posted by special request from Mike. (and if you check out his last blog entry you'll see why special requests from him are even more special!)



(for leaving the Black Sheep without paying for our drinks once)

love meagan

poco

Poco a poco and I had a little weigh-in/photo shoot last night.

One of my mom's friends left this little "Weight Watchers" food scale at her house. When my mum and I discussed whether either of us wanted to keep it we both laughed greatly. And then I exclaimed, "Wait! I do want it!" This perplexed my mum briefly because she knows quite well that if I were to actually do a diet program it sure as hell wouldn't be a sit-around-in-a-circle let's-motivate-each-other group type program. (Sometimes the phrase "sure as hell" is just too appropriate.)

But as you see it's the perfect size for my little baby turtle! I bought a scale at Crap 'n' Save (aka Big Lots) several months ago but she is too tiny for anything to register on it. I'd never even considered a food scale.

Awww, a close-up. Too bad Smartypants (my cameraphone) doesn't show her adorable surly face clearer. Fun in this photo (above) is the books in the background. A sappy "To My Daughter With Love", a photo memory book type thing my mother gave me on my 21st birthday and "The Best of the Onion." Guess which one I read more.

So dear little baby Poco (well, really a toddler, as she is now 3 years old) weighs 150 grams.

Good to know, huh?

love meagan

weather

Yay little weather "sticker"! With special thanks to Erin and Rebecca, I just added this little weather thing to my sidebar. I'm excited mostly that it will tell me sunrise and sunset times. You know, in case I ever actually step outside that early. I do love sunrises. This morning I had a piano lesson at a student's house at 6:30 a.m. Yes, I am that devoted of a teacher, hee hee. Anyway, not my point. So, 6:30 a.m. meaning I left my home at 6:10 and boy was that exciting. No really, it was. I used to LOVE early mornings, leaving my home at approximately 4 a.m. to practice piano. Such special times. Now, when I get up extra early, I check those frequently updated blogs such as Jim and Stan and Daniel to see how many times they've posted while I was asleep! Those boys are dedicated.

Now, back to the weather sticker. Sticker. It says 87degrees F here. No way. It is so hot outside, so hot that my usually trusty air conditioner can't even cool the house below 76. So we'll see how long this new sticker lasts if it's not even saying the right temperature. Maybe it's trying to fool me into thinking it's cooler than it really is. Which, in that case, thank you little sticker my new little friend!

Speaking of stickers. I LOVE STICKERS! Being a piano teacher and all, they are a very important tool of the trade. Not so much in the last year or so since all of my students are older, but back when I had 6 and 7 year olds? Oh man, those stickers could be the high point of their lesson! Now the majority of my students are at that 11-14 year old age where they are way too cool for stickers. Unlike my older teenagers who, like myself, think my stickers (especially the Care Bears ones) are the coolest thing, in a retro way! Retro? Stickers? People use that word retro to apply to anything now. When I randomly surfed to retro.com just now (blogging research, you know) it is nothing like the common use of the word retro. HOWEVER, this website is fabulous! I discovered it when I was watching the complete first three seasons of Punky Brewster, thanks to Netflix :-)

Yeah.
Useful entry, huh?

love meagan
p.s. If anyone from around here reads this entry, tell me what you think about the weather sticker... 87? Really? Doesn't it seem way hotter to you?
Oh wait. I forgot nobody from my home actually reads my blog. :-(

p.p.s I messed up the html accidently on this post and didn't know how to fix it. Hope it shows up for you. I really don't know what I'm doing.

grrr

yet another one of those stupid online quizzes.
What is your ideal career? Is this supposed to make me happy? Because it doesn't....

Your Career Type: Artistic

You are expressive, original, and independent. Your talents lie in your artistic abilities: creative writing, drama, crafts, music, or art. You would make an excellent: Actor - Art Teacher - Book Editor Clothes Designer - Comedian - Composer Dancer - DJ - Graphic Designer Illustrator - Musician - Sculptor The worst career options for your are conventional careers, like bank teller or secretary.

What's Your Ideal Career?

...it is so much more sadness than happiness because it says I "would make an excellent musician" and that "the worst would be secretary".

Now, I am a much more levelheaded person than to believe any stupid online quiz could define my life in any way, but when it so obviously confirms my emotions in such a solid way, well then, that is just freaky.

love meagan

wispy

This is my new favorite thing! i have become such a housewife! (a housewife because an air freshener, an air freshener that I actually researched on epinions.com, is my "new favorite thing".) The citrus and herb scent is so wonderful. It makes my house happy. It makes Meagan happy. It makes Me love my house. For some unknown shallow (or perhaps very deep) reason, it is important to me that my house smell good. No party-preparation is complete without a spray of Pier 1's Ginger Apple in every room. And the office! Oh my gosh, our office goes through spurts of disgusting stinkiness. That comes with the territory of owning a turtle as a pet. I love poco, but, man, her poop stinks greater than the farts of the fattest man in the whole wild world. Also, when we let Madeline's filter get gross she tends to stink too. So a stinky geriatric goldfish and a stinky baby box turtle in one room create a bad mix of scents sometimes. It sure is a good thing we don't have any actual human babies! Imagine how they would stink after ignoring them for a couple days!

commercials

Lately I've been thinking I should go into advertising.* Because I watch TV a lot these days (as you well know by now, because I'm not doing a production and have TOO MUCH spare time) and am oftentimes more interested in the commercials than the show itself. It's so cool when a silly little 2-minute spot makes me laugh out loud or moves me to tears. Then there's the commercials that are so unbelievably stupid that I've just got to get into the industry so I can know if they're for real or if their end goal is indeed to be stupid. Like the Ovaltine commercials. "More Ovaltine, please!" Every bit of the acting in those is ridiculous! At least those Mentos commercials are aware of their geekiness and use that to their advantage.

* Really, I have no intents of changing careers. Really. I only said that for the purpose of this blog entry! Besides, if I were to change careers, it would just be to face reality and stop defining myself as a musician and face the fact that I spend much more time being a secretary than a musician. :-( {sadness}

love meagan

funniness

"When I first moved to San Francisco it was rainy and foggy for two months solid. At first I thought, 'Well, it's kind of romantic, really. I'll open a bottle of wine, break up an old chair for kindling...'. Two months later I'm a hopeless alcoholic with no furniture..."
---Paula Poundstone

___________________________________________________

Karen: The word is 'doily.'
Jack: Doily?
Karen: Doily.
Jack: Doily?
Karen: Doily.
Jack: Could you use it in a sentence please?
Karen: He walked doily down the street.
Jack: Ah, yes. Doily.
----Karen Walker & Jack McFarland, Will & Grace

__________________________________________________

A father passing by his son's bedroom was astonished to see the bed was nicely made and everything was picked up. Then he saw an envelope propped up prominently on the center of the bed. It was simply addressed, "Dad."

With the worst of premonitions he opened the envelope and read the letter with trembling hands.

"Dear Dad. It is with great regret and sorrow that I'm writing you. I had to elope with my new girlfriend because I wanted to avoid a scene with mom and you. I've been finding real passion with Joan and she is so nice--even with all her piercings, tattoos, and her tight motorcycle clothes. But, it's not only the passion, Dad, she's pregnant and Joan said that we will be very happy. Even though you don't care for her as she is so much older than I, she already owns a trailer in the woods and has a stack of firewood for the whole winter. She wants to have many more children with me and that's now one of my dreams, too.

Joan taught me that marijuana doesn't really hurt anyone and we'll be growing it for us and for trading it with her friends for all the cocaine and ecstasy we want. In the meantime, we'll pray that science will find a cure for AIDS so Joan can get better; she sure deserves it!

Don't worry, Dad, I'm 15 years old now and I know how to take care of myself. Someday I'm sure we'll be back to visit so you can get to know your granchildren. Your son, John.

P.S. Dad, none of the above is true. I'm over at the neighbor's house. I just wanted to remind you that there are worse things in life than my report card that's in my desk drawer. I love you! Call when it is safe for me to come home.

movie

I’m watching the movie “The Life Aquatic” right now. When Mike noticed I was blogging at the same time he said, politely, “you know, this is the kind of movie you have to pay attention to.” Well, I have been playing close attention throughout yet am still un-entertained. What did you think of think of this movie? I keep expecting funny lines; perhaps they’re just over my head.

I’m also currently compulsively driven to read every single {worthwhile} post on the broadwayworld.com message boards.

oregoncountryfair

So, I am now TWO TRIPS behind in posting! Oh dear. As much as I am internally conflicted about the fact that I am doing no theatre right now, I am also enjoying the free time to celebrate summer. I continually cannot decide if I am depressed or relaxed.

So the weekend of July 8-10 was the 36th annual Oregon Country Fair in Veneta, Oregon, outside of Eugene. This was my first time working this fair and it was unbelievably amazing. I am so glad I went and hope to go again next year and for the next 36 years. Some of my good friends manage a Fresh-Squeezed Organic Orange Juice booth at the fair and he is also the chaplain at the fair, spending hours walking amongst booths, greeting old friends who have also been there for all or part of that 36 years and listening to their "God-thoughts" that they have saved up for a whole year to discuss with him, the only pastor-type in their lives.

Now, when you hear "Fair", I hope you are not picturing the Jackson County Fair that I and anyone from this valley grew up with. Following are some photos of the Oregon Country Fair to give you a bit of an idea about this self-proclaimed counter-culture event. 50,000 people come to these acres in the woods for a weekend of fun, excitement, drugs, relaxation, magic, spirituality of all sorts (except for Jesus-inspired spirituality), freedom, nudity, food, and all around anything that is pleasing to the surface level of our most base fleshly nature.

So here are some photos I acquired (stole?) from random sites online. I didn't actually take any photos of my own (but the captions are mine) because I had to walk soooo much that any little extra item to carry around was such a burden...

(note: click on a photo to see it larger. Yay for blogger's new photo-posting!!)


this parade (above) marched through the streets of the fair multiple times a day. It was hilarious and so fun to think of these musicians actually rehearsing together and planning what they'd play, just because it was such a ragtag group. I loved it.

Above is just one batch of stilt-people. Stilts! Who knew? Apparenty stilts are a big thing at the fair. So much variety. My favorite was the school of fish. About 5 people on stilts, dressed all in blue, holding a cut-out of a huge blue fish on each side of them "swam" throughout the fair.

Oh my gosh. I walked so much this weekend. This road (above) is the main path to the fair. I arrived on Thursday, the day before the fair officially opened. But the "real" fair actually began as early as Monday when the 5000+ workers started arriving. The fair itself is only open to the paying public Fri., Sat., and Sun. from 11a.m.-7p.m. Outside of those hours it is a whole different event amongst all those who work and camp at the fair. There are no rules after hours. It is a constant party filled with every connotation that "party" suggests. Oh yeah, so about walking: I was NOT part of the priveleged 5000few that camped at the fair. And I am quite okay with that because as you all know I really am used to privacy and the thought of setting up my little tent in the tiny stip of space allotted to us behind our booth, along with the 9 other tents already there was so unappealing. However, I was sad to miss out on the camaraderie amongst the campers of our booth. I camped across the highway from the fair at a horse meadow that is converted to a campground for fairgoers during that one weekend. So, do not picture a campground. Picture a big open meadow with lots of hay and lots of hippies.



Throughout the fair various musicians and other artists classified as "strolling vendors" would be tucked away in treed alcoves and I was just constantly overwhelmed by the beautiful serendipity of this! This piano player (above) actually had a full-size old upright beater piano that he must rolled the miles into the fair from the highway (no vehicles, no electricity on fairgrounds). I must say honestly, I was more impressed just by the fact that he was there with a real piano than his actual playing. It was nice. Just nice, floaty, new-agey/ yanni/ jim brickman type piano playing. You know what I mean.

Meadow (above) where people learned to juggle, hula hoop, and yoga throughout the day.

A common sight at the fair. Did I mention that costumes were strongly encouraged amongst everyone? Not just performers. Really, one of the cool and unusual things about this fair is that it is the cast of everyday people that come to really feel that they can be free/crazy/ whatever for one weekend. At the entrance gates the first day 4-5 or so volunteer staffers were cheering and applauding and calling out "Welcome Home!" to cars as they drove in. So nice!


This is the "intersection" sign pointing towards the little alcove-glen that our orange juice booth was in. Coincidence that our area was named "Graceland"? Hmmmm....


Fire fire fire. I don't know what this is. Probably something from one of the midnight parades or performances. Remember how I mentioned it's a whole event of it's own after hours.


The dragon parade (above). The dragon is a sort of mascot of the Oregon Country Fair. I'm not sure of the official story behind that. Once a day the dragon comes through the streets of the fair doing ritualistic things at some of the booths. I witnessed this twice. It had an extremely dark spirit surrounding it constantly.

Crowds. (above). Crowds. Pressing crowds of hot, sweaty, smelly, and often topless (see below) people.

Bare and painted breasts (above) were so prevalent that honestly it can only be labeled as trendy for the fair. I'm sure the women who felt they were being cutting-edge, revealing, whatever would be offended at me saying that, but that's what it seemed to me. And, just so you know, I'm being nice to you by only posting a photo of young, physically fit women above. This freedom was enjoyed by women of all sizes and shapes. Some of which, must I say, really umm should have been covered up. Wow.

With all these photos this is possibly a very long and slow-loading post. Sorry about that. I have more to say about the fair, some notes from my journal while I was actually there that I want to share, but I think I will wait a day or two and then do a fair post part 2; a post of some of my own personal thoughts of the fair, not just these random details listed here.

Well, hope you enjoyed it.

love meagan

love

a recent email from mike:

"I was just kinda kicking back watching nothing on TV and started thinking about my wife... and I realized how amazing it is that God said, "I'm going to give Mike a woman that is going to bless him every single day of his life, just so that he will know just a tiny fraction of how it will feel to be in heaven!"
Isn't that cool?
I wish you were me, then you'd know how much God has blessed me by giving me an amazing wife like you!"




Awww!
I don't blog about this to be sappy or anything like that, but just because I am so amazed at him and that not only does he say things like this to me, but he even believes them!! I want to be sure not to lose these words, so that is why I am posting them in my blog.

I am blessed.

love meagan

hollywood

I still haven't posted about my recent Hollywood trip. I think Mike has given up on me. I mean, given up on me for blogging about that. Not given up on me for good. Oh my goodness that would be the worst thing in the world.

So, Hollywood. It was an amazing vacation. Amazing that it was me and Mike together constantly for all those days. Just enjoying being together. We travel so well together. We marvel at ourselves often about what a great marriage we have. Yes, we are that sappy. Not in public though, I promise.

The day I got home from Hollywood I wrote down notes about all the things we did on our trip, with the intents of sharing them with you all. But it is now two weeks later and my notes never materialized into an actual blog entry. :-( The notes follow. Don't expect complete sentences :-) Don't expect intriguing reading material. But if you're looking for a random diversion then you're in the right place!! Also, near the end I get really tired and my sentences become more and more fragmented. Yes, this is a pretty pointless blog. Don't feel bad if you just stop reading right now :-)

The long-awaited Hollywood Blog. Well, long-awaited by no one other than Mike. But he’s the most important one there is so that’s well worth it!

Thursday:
drove to PDX, had Gustav’s fondue without fondue forks. This was my plan for Thursday: to have Gustav's fondue. It's so so good. However, fondue without fondue forks is not so good. It's just weird eating fondue with a normal fork. Good martinis at Gustav's. Mmmm, martini at 11 a.m. Yay for vacation :-) Mike had bloody mary. ick. Ick ick ick. What's with a tasty beverage made of vegetables?! Whacko.

Flew into Burbank-TV stations everywhere, WB, Fox, NBC, CNN, Universal Studios

Drive into Hollywood-Wicked banners along every block!! I found it very validating that even in a town such as Hollywood that Wicked was still a big deal.

Renaissance Hollywood Hotel is awesome. Window spanning the wall to view Hollywood hills and mansions and the famous Hollywood sign. Our suite was on the 19^th floor, a “concierge level” meaning access to private lounge and key-card access only to floor from elevator. Since Mike travels so much I get to partake in all the special honors he gets from hotels and airlines.

Above the mini-bar the hotel room had a sign announcing "your little blue friend"--a fish!!! A beautiful miniature blue beta in a bowl in the hotel room! This was a new thing to me. Of all the luxury accommodations a hotel room such as this could have, I was most excited about the fish. I named it Smurf. Of course. Because it was blue.

Walked out right into Conan O’Brien. Neither of us really recognized him right away. Mike and I are not the "gawker types" or ones to fawn over a celebrity. But still, kind of fun. Did I mention our hotel was right on Hollywood and Highland? Yep, same complex as the Kodak Theatre, the famous Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame with all the stars and handprints in the cement. TLC's TV show "10 Years Younger" was filming there Thursdsay and Friday. I signed up to be the "person on the street" giving my opinion on the subject's age, but got impatient and left. Stimuli overload. Hollywood&Highland is a crazy place. That first evening Mike and I walked along Hollywood Blvd. just taking it all in and enjoying being there.

We had dinner at Twist, the hotel restaurant. Yum Carmelized Ginger Chicken. Best martini of the weekend.

Friday:

- Slept in (well, like 8 p.m.). Had sesame bagel from concierge lounge (LOVE FREE FOOD!), watched Harry Potter, while I took as much time as I wanted putting on makeup because… we went to Beverly Hills (thought I should look “put together” for Rodeo Drive, you know!). Drove through, didn’t even get out of the car. Aren’t Mike and I just so exceptionally exciting. We drove through lots of the famous L.A. towns and did our sightseeing that way. We are so silly. Yet such great travelers together. We were both so content with our long drive. With Bob & Chippy (Mike's laptop and GPS receiver) we know we won’t get lost. W. Hollywood, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Malbiu, Topanga Canyon (had lunch deep in Topanga Canyon at a great outside restaurant, it felt like we were at home, at Union Creek!)

- Back to hotel for nap around 3. Hard day. Need nap before WICKED!

- Wandered around H&H shopping complex. Bought some random accessories at Hot Topic that I totally could have got at home.

- Walked the mile down Hollywood Blvd. to Pantages theatre. awesome place. very “broadway” style theatre. smaller than the modern overblown concert halls, very ornate, incredible gilt and sculpture and architecture. crazy ornateness every single place you look.

- bought alex a shirt. medium was tiny. bought her xl. Hope she's not offended

- martinis & nice grandpa-bartender who told us not to walk back to our hotel after our show because of safety. We did anyway. It was fine.

- binoculars. We were sitting in the VERY BACK row (I'm not exaggerating, it was seriously against the back wall), so the binoculars were a nice bonus.

- SHOWTIME!!

- bests: wizard and I, galinda’s hoppiness, sound balance, being able to see conductor.

- worsts: fiyero, galinda’s meaner than I expected at the beginning

- Walked back to hotel, against everyone’s judgement. No problem.

- Lobby bar. Martinis & clubsoda to “scratch my throat”

- Burger King. Ha ha ha. I guess we'd had enough luxury for the day. Around 11:30 p.m. when we arrived back in our room Mike was hungry so he walked to the Burger King nearby and brought us back cheeseburgers. Funny.

Saturday:

- Drove to Manhattan Beach to see Marcia and Betsy. on the strand. Olympic beach volleyballers. Multi-million dollar houses. Unbelievable. In so many ways.

- Some weirdness with Marcia

Took Marcia and Betsy all the piano project newspaper clippings, flyers, etc. I didn't listen to the CD of Aaron's solo concert before giving it to them. I hope it was okay!

- Back to hotel to nap again. Apparently afternoon naps are a necessity of this vacation. :-) Watched 50 first dates. I love Adam and Drew. Yes, we are on a first-name basis.

- Then to Improv. The Original Hollywood Improv Comedy Club. I love it! I love stand-u comedy!! If I lived in a city that had like real comedy clubs I would totally be there all the time. We sawCraig Shoemaker. Hilarity. Big beers with glasses to keep! Sierra Nevada no-name. Sierra Nevada is a brewery, not a beer! That's what I hollered at the waiter who couldn't tell me what kind of beer it was, just kept saying it was Sierra Nevada. Okay, well I didn't really holler at him, just mocked him. “Boom!” <--ask Mike about that. Hee hee.

- Walking on Melrose.

- Taxi

Sunday:

- Had to check out of hotel. Talk about BET awards/security.

- Drove south towards O.C. for final night at new hotel near airport.

- Had all day to still vacate, decided along the way (thanks to bob and chippy) to go to Downtown Disney in Anaheim.

- ESPN Sports Zone. toilet tvs

- New hotel way cool! Hung out lots in concierge lounge. Free horsderves and jdesserts.

- Later Sunday, bored for the first time. Went to lobby bar, had martinis. Had doink bartender-dakotas. Gin samples.

Monday:

- Fly out early. Uneventful

- Leave Mike at p’land airport. sadness

- got to introduce poppy to chippy. went to nike to see Katie, have lunch.

- drive home. listened to lots of rent.

apology-----so as you see, this blog entry deteriorated greatly as the trip went on. Sorry! I don't even have any photos to post :-(

But! I will soon be writing about my Oregon Country Fair experience of last weekend and for that I have lots of photos!

love meagan

for aaron

Yes indeed, an entry just for Aaron, even with his name in the title. Because I know you, Aaron, will be looking at this blog for the first time (I think) in the next few days. At least, I hope you will be. While housesitting I assume you will hang out with Poppy at least once :-)

I have no qualms about sharing my musicme blog and my myspace blog with my students, but this blog, while not all too revealing or exceptional in any way (and not at all consistent), is still a bit more, ummmm, private than the others. A bit more, ummmm, real me, the real randomness, the real shallowness, the real depth. The real life.

But NOW!.... Now that you are an "ex-student", :-) well, here you go. Just promise me that you'll comment! As all the dear blog buddies know, comments are EXPECTED! So, comment! Share your thoughts and be real. Oh yeah, and if you've got lots of random online time to spare, scroll all the way down and start at the beginning so you can read in order. Blogspot blogs go backward so the most recent blogs are at the top.

And comment!!


love meagan

p.s. that's the scary "comment mannequin". Just so you know. Scary, huh?

piano teachers

I'm thinking right now about the various piano teachers I had growing up. More specifically, I'm thinking about the random memories of each one that have stuck with me and why exactly is it that those memories stuck which leads to thinking about which memories I'm not remembering.

My very first teacher, an elderly man well known around the valley for one thing only: falling asleep during lessons. Falling asleep! Yet, the parents kept hiring him. He was quite popular with the young students. I guess he was a good teacher for a beginner. I enjoy looking back over my notes from my first year of lessons with him. It's baffling looking at those notebooks where he'd explain what a treble clef is, teach me about quarter notes, amazing me with the fact that Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge (Whatever! What do the good girls deserve, then? Huh?! Huh?!). He'd draw little graphics of my name, doodling away, apparently bored by my playing, I suppose.

My next teacher was the sweetest woman. I had such a love for her. I wonder where she is now. I heard she got divorced and moved away, which is unfortunate because I live right near her neighborhood now (in your neighborhood, Tanya!). She was a 4th grade teacher and music teacher in Butte Falls. Butte Falls is a tiny town up in the mountains about an hour from my home. Tiny town, like the Norman Rockwell style of town. No chain stores, no department stores of any kind, all volunteer fire dept., 12 kids in graduating class. That kind of town. I describe the town to you because it was a major part of my studies with her, actually a major part of my early musical education in general. I was in 7th grade when I started with her and I guess she was excited to get me, a pretty decent and dedicated pianist, as a student since apparently there were ZERO piano players in Butte Falls. Suddenly, I became the school district's accompanist. Special times driving up there with her for a full school day and hanging out in her class and sometimes the 6th/7th grade class and eating in the cafeteria, playing at recess, etc. Not every day, of course, I had to go to my own school, too. But enough days that I got my very own Butte Falls boyfriend out of the deal!! Hee hee. I played for their choir concerts throughout the school and the high school graduation. First time I ever played Pomp and Circumstance. Man, I wish that song had never been written. Or at least written with a bit more variety. Butte Falls is a very woodsy snowy logger town and sometimes we got snowed in because the narrow winding road back to the valley was too icy.

So those are my biggest memories of that teacher. Oh yeah, and her candy/sticker basket, even though, as a pre-teen I thought I should be too old for that yet still strove to "earn" something from it!

This teacher stopped teaching after a while and I was very sad. Not devastated, because, as she told my mom in secret (with me eavesdropping), I'd advanced beyond her abilities anyway. Ooh! Whether I believe that or not, it's certainly a nice ego-boosting thing to hear!

These next few memories will be quite a bit shorter. Not to lessen the signifigance of them, but , because I was older, I just have more of the actual "random memories" that inspired this post.

One woman teacher I honestly only have two memories of her, total: 1) Always pulling up her slipping bra straps; 2) She once referred to the first movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata as "boring as hell." The fact that she said hell in a piano lesson was, I guess, enough of a shock to this little girl to stick in my mind.


Another teacher, one I went to in high school for several months solely for the purpose of learning chords/worship styles was quite a character. Since we were learning an accompanying/vocal style of playing she always sang along. Which is not an exceptional memory. The weird quality of her voice is what's an exceptional memory. I can still hear it in my mind. Also, she drank Pepsi out of a 2-liter bottle during lessons. Sure, we all drink out of 2-liter bottles. The oddity here is that she didn't use a glass.

Yet another teacher always had chipped fingernail polish and a little dog that barked all during lessons. I had a single male teacher who lived by himself in an amazing house off Hillcrest (all you locals know where I mean, the "rich neighborhoods"). I suppose it was very sexist and naive of me, but I was just amazed that he had this beautiful, expensive, well-decorated house for just himself, an aging bachelor. He had bad breath. That's the other memory I have of him.

I think I have written of a memory for each of my teachers. Except for, of course, the one with the most memories of all. And that must be a whole blog entry all to itself. How is it that those kind of teachers become such a.... force in our lives?

Okay, enough about him.

So here's my thought now. With all these random memories of all these various teachers in my life, I can't help but wonder what my past and present students will remember about me. Like remember my memory of the teacher with chipped nails? Well, I remember looking at her nails and thinking "If I'm ever a piano teacher I will always have perfect nails." Ha! Sometimes my nails are even dirty! Ick. What random things will my students remember about me? Will they remember how they could see me in the reflection of the polished piano checking my hair in the mirror? Maybe they'll remember sounds of Madline clicking around in her rocks. I'm sure they'll remember the pond scum greeting them at the front door. By reflecting on "random things" memories, I'm talking about the things that really have nothing to do with music, just with the unusual interaction of piano teacher/student. What else? Will that one particular student remember how I'd occasionally grind my teeth together when she screws up that Czerny etude in the same place again? Gosh, I hope she never even notices that! Will the older students remember how I occasionally say "shit" or "damn" in lessons and be shocked, as I was by that one teacher saying "hell"? I wonder if any of them will remember the green-hatted gnome and his big fish in the corner of my studio. Will they remember that my baton is named "Tulip", my computer is named "Poppy" and my piano is named "Petrof"?

Such fun thoughts.

love meagan

4th of July

4th of July Sadness.


outside:
Barbecues, Fireworks, Barking Dogs, Perfect Weather, Joyful Kids, Parties, Friends, Families, Excitement, Sparklers, Music, Happiness.


inside:
Meagan.

books

Within the last week I have read two books which I must immediately and briefly blog about because these are the kind of books that I am amazed by their relevancy. There's plenty of book review blogs in existence and I'm not quite ready to let go of my thoughts yet to say anything else. So google them yourself and perhaps I'll write more later...

Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller (I know this is a pretty popular book and many of you have probably already read it, I'm just a little behind :-)

The Light that was Dark, by Warren Smith (I started this book this morning. I will be finishing it in about 10 minutes; I just HAD to stop and write this blog entry before I forgot to do so.)

read these books.

love meagan