I went to see "Catch me if you can" with Tom Hanks and Leonardo Dicaprio. It was very good. I would highly recommend it! Go see it -- its certainly better than most other stuff out there. Except Lord of the Rings -- it's still selling out here! Go see. I have to go figure out what to do with my New Years Eve. No clue. Mom, Dad and I went to bed early last year -- but maybe this year we'll be adventuresome! Happy New Year!

I've found a new craft! Two actually! My friend Mary Beth made a quilt for her brother for Christmas, and now I'm in the mood for quilting. Mother said she'd buy me a starter for grandmother's flower garden. I love that pattern. And to top it off, they're selling reproduction 1930's calicos...so I can make one that doesn't look new. They have a technique to shrink it once its all done so it looks worn! I'm going to try it. After I get done turning 49 hankies into a lapquilt....And I thought after last semester it would take me a year to want to sew again!

The geese are flying north. Why? The cat likes nothing better than to sit on the table and eat the centerpiece. And the dog runs around outside perfectly happy in a red down coat. There must be something in the water here.

Boy are we grumpy over here. The Christmas fun is over, and now we're all walking around snapping at each other, and then complaining that everyone else is biting our heads off. Aren't we a blast?

Merry Christmas! May we all remember what we're supposed to be celebrating! And then, once our priorities are straight, I hope you all got gifts you can actually use! I went shopping with my mother and pointed to stuff, so no big suprises here! Staples. And legal pads. Go figure!

Tis the Season!

This christmas is strangely lacking the Kunze Christmas mania. Partially this is because my parents have spent the entire semester trying to, first, buy a house, then get the tenants to get out so they can move in. Lately they couldn't move more than the basics in because the carpet layers were coming "soon." Finally my parents decided that they coudln't wait for them any longer and moved half of the stuff out of storage and bought new furniture to replace the stuff that was left in California because it wouldn't fit in the moving van. True to form the carpet people showed up directly after we'd hung all the garland and put up three of our four christmas trees. They also made it the week of the faculty Christmas party, and were laying carpet still within an hour of the first guest arriving. Needless to say, we are short on fa la la la la around here. As for myself, the combination of being sick for a week and a half after thanksgiving, finishing a recital dress and having finals has left me with little energy to climb an orchard ladder and hang an angel on the twelve foot tree. Andrea's boyfriend has been here all week, so she has little energy that doesn't involve fawning all over him..don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy. It seems like this might be it for her, but still. Chaperoning for a week is the last thing I wanted to be doing. Luckily(or unluckily) they are extraordinarily loud, smacky kissers -- so one doens't have to be in the room to know what they're up to. Sitting at the fireplace I heard them quite clearly down the hall and could heckle them without actually having to move. So anyway -- I'm going to go wrap presents now. We bought more stuff at Costco which falls under the "stuff for the house that we get instead of presents for each other" and rather than display them, I'm going to stick a bow on it and put it under the tree. "From: Mom and Dad, To: Mom and Dad" So there! Deck the halls indeed!

Oh yes. Skiing. Every muscle in my legs is protesting this morning. More in my back are joining in the chorus. And my arms keep claiming that they've been ill-used. There's no rest for th' wicked, and th' righteous don't need none. Anyway -- I'm going to go curl up by the fireplace and try to stretch these suckers out. Before I finish allie's present, decorate the tree, and make a zillion angel ornaments! Merry three days til christmas!

Skiing! Isnt' it wonderful? Wizzing down the mountain at a breakneck speed, staying upright only by luck and the grace of God! My family went for the first time in 3 years (hard to find snow in California). Jason, Andrea's boyfriend, spent the day on the bunny slope trying to master the snowboard. He's only ever surfed before, so I hear he spent more time sprawled out spread eagle on the slope than he did upright. Allison only wiped out every 3 feet or so on the "big people trail" and Andrea and I had far too much fun racing to the bottom. Oh, except for once when we made a wrong turn and found ourselves staring over the edge of a black-diamond cliff. We made a mutual decision that neither of us had dying on our agenda for the day, so the next best plan was to hike back to the Y and take the other fork. We thought we'd just take a short cut through the powder, but ended up waist deep, so we had to truck it back uphill and around. As I see it, I planned on downhill skiing, not cross country with a good portion of hiking thrown in. I'm sore now, but tomorrow will be worse....Anyway -- we abandoned Jason to the bunny slopes, and spent the rest of the day taking Allie up and down the backside of the mountain. All in all it was a great day...and to end it off with a kick I went off a small ski jump! And landed it even -- barely, but I still feel a victory! Anyway, I'll blog tomorrow if the muscles in my body still permit me to type!

The Twin Towers! Amazing! Everyone who hasn't yet needs to go see it. I love it. They kept nearly everything from the book, and Gimli has the best lines (basically all of the comic relief) but they aren't just ploys to add some lightening. They're actually in the book! YAY! I can's even critique it! Even the stuff they changed was ok (and granted it wasn't much -- they were pretty much purists). Wow! Glowingly positive reviews from me! I can't wait for the third one. Until then I'll just have to read the book again....and again....and perhaps again! (on a side note, I'm so happy to know what happened in the battle scenes. Normally I skim over them because I can't keep the names straight -- are they talking about a city or a person. Now I know!)

I went ice skating tonight! I haven't done that in years. At first I just kind of flung myself from one wall to another with reckless abandon, but the third time around I remembered how I'd done it before. By the 5 time around the rink, everyone get out of my way! I stop for no one. (Except of course for those annoying little kids who flail around, cut you off and then fall....then you look like an idiot flailing around trying to develop some coordination in time to avoid landing on them) Then Eric Benson did a really neat trick of turning around and SKATING BACKWARDS! Of course I had to learn how to do this. Winter sports are the only things I'm good at (actually, just skiing, come to think of it). So he was skating forwards facing me, as I drunkenly staggered around backwards. I never did quite get upright all the way -- I felt much safer bending halfway to the ground. That way I was that much closer to it when I fell. But I didn't fall. not even once, and pretty soon my coordination had picked up enough to the point where he didn't have to catch me when I lurched nearly as often. It could have been a scene from a movie though...skating around, losing your balance, falling into the arms of the man in front of you. Eric of course is years younger than I am, but the thought did cross my mind that this is the first time I've been in a man's arms (relatively speaking of course, with a few technicalities thrown in) in...wow....lets see...well the last time that happened I don't think I could have technically labelled him a "man" since neither of us had reached 18 yet. Has it been that long? ouch. Well...speaking of depressing news on the homefront, new years is rapidly approaching. I've never kissed anyone on New Years. Is that just a myth hollywood has started to make us feel bad? Meg Ryan movies seem to make it seem necessary, or wait -- how many movies has she been in? Maybe it's only Meg Ryan that gets kissed on New Years, and a few background extras. oh well. I'm not going to think about it. That will just put a damper on my whole holiday to get all sloppy now. I just finished watching When Harry Met Sally for the first time (sacrilidge I know) and I'm a bit of a funk. I'm only 22...I should give myself a break. And on that rather depressing note, I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight all, and Merry Christmas if I don't have 3 seconds to blog until afterwards!

I am so tired. This semester just about wiped me out. Usually I'm the big pusher of the Christmas season, and right now I couldn't care less if we actually put the rest of the ornaments on the tree or not. Part of this funk may be lack of sleep combined with multiple appointments. 8:00 and the dentists office don't mix...but on the plus side my eyes have remained the same for the first time since I was 5 years old. Yay! No more wondering when exactly I'm going to go blind. Now I'm eligable for laser surgery. On the minus side, I found out that being a singer is bad for your teeth. Yep. Did anyone else know that mouth breathing causes halitosis and gum recession? Me neither. Also I don't grind my teeth, but I clench my jaw when I sleep. I have been informed that if I keep this up I will not have teeth in another 40 years, and it's contributing to my gum recession. Plus genetically I'm pre-disposed to, you guessed it, gum recession. They keep throwing around words like "grafting." I asked if they knocked you out when they did that. They both looked at me and laughed. I wasn't being funny. If someone is going to be taking skin from one part of my mouth and stitching it to another, do they think I want to be awake for it? But anyway -- that's quite a ways in my future. When my parents are no longer paying for such things I'm sure. Anyhoo. I'm going to bed. I have to go to Bonnie's house tomorrow to wash her mirrors and vaccuum her floors (I'm not complaining, she's paying well!) Night!

Big freaking final in an hour. After getting roughly three hours of sleep the night before last, I got a grand total of 5 hours of sleep tonight. Woohoooo-getting up at 5 to study for an 8 o clock final may not be the best way to go, but at this point I don't care. Then I have to come home and pack and go HOOOOOOMMMMMMEEEEEE!!!! For "all y'all" in Yakima -- I'll be home in a bit!

FA LA LA LA LA!!! I go home tomorrow! I have had less than three hours of sleep this past night, and I have a huge final tomorrow that, at least for the present, I seem to be unconcerned with! I have a random guy crashed out on the floor of my apartment (actually not so random -- Matt, who came home after his final to finish writing the term paper he must turn in this afternoon) and I am in desperate need of a shower. Ah well. Perhaps after my nap....

The Worst Movie Ever

I just went to see Star Trek: Nemesis. Wow. Let me say that I am somewhat of a Star Trek fan. I don't do conventions, I don't have technical readouts scattered about my apartment. But I am relatively versed on the time line (next gen at least), and I do enjoy the occasional debate about alternate timelines/multiple universes. Having said that -- this movie blew. It was horrible. I'm now going to ruin it for you.....

We open the movie with a "best man" speech that even Patrick Stewart can't make sound well written. Then Data breaks into a chorus of "blue skies" and Worf-with-a-hangover growls "Irving Berlin." Right. Then we get positronic signals from an uncharted planet. Picard grabs Data and Worf to go try out the new ship -- which turns out to be a ....ready for it...DUNE BUGGY! Oh yes. There's all that spiffy technology for you. Rubber tires. No windshield. And a cleverly fixed Star Wars-esque rotating machine gun on the back...which is a good thing too, the star wars part that is.....because they are found by SAND PEOPLE!!!! So now we know that the uncharted and nearly uninhabited planet in the middle of nowhere (if there's a bright center tot he universe it's the spot furthest from) is Tantooine. And the Jawas help load them into their own dune buggies. Aha. So we rescue the Data-in-pieces (no it isn't Lore) and get the heck away from a long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

Now we're back on the ship. We've been called to Romulus to witness our 35th government takeover since the series began. Suddenly a ship uncloaks in front of us. It's big. It's mean. And its loaded with ...... orcs. Apparently Sauroman the Wise had been busy this week. Funny, I don't recall Romulans getting rings. But apparently the elves took a little detour to another quadrant of the galaxy after leaving middle earth.

So we meet the real bad guy. A very bald twenty year old with a complex. Turns out he's a clone of Picard. To prove it he cuts himself with a big stinking knife and hands the blood stained knife to Data. On the ship Crusher takes an EYEDROPPER and sqeezes the blood into a PETRI DISH. Wow -- my guess is that they used all of the money for this film in the spectacular dune-buggy chase sequence. Or perhaps in stealing other movies' props....because Picard and Data get captured by the bad guy (who by the way watched a little TOO MUCH princess bride beforehand "Oh, and WHAT AM I!!!!?")....and escape using the cute little black ship from Independence Day. As they burst their way through a labrynth of hallways, I kept waiting for a "must go faster...must go faster."

So we've reached the crisis. The Enterprise is crippled. No other ships can help them. Picard decides that he must see his double face to face. So he beams over, and after killing off a few orcs, beats the crap out of his dying nemesis. Complex boy makes one last ditch attempt to stab Picard with a knife -- when Picard pulls something from wall, and the poor boy's momentum impales him.....(wait for it)....the boy looks down at the shard of metal sticking out of his chest -- looks defiantly at picard, and taking a hint from the Uruk hai (so if you cross orcs with what -- Klingons?) -- pulls the shard further in, killing himself. Wow -- somehow it isn't as cool without the face paint, the dreds, and the growling.

Meanhile, the crew is still in ultimate danger of the weapon-o-mass-destruction that the ship carries...the transporters are down....the ship is crippled...so what do we see coming to the rescue? Its...a bird! It's a plane! No -- it's SUPER DATA! (This was the coolest part of the movie. seriously) He hurls himself through a hull breech using his momentum to get him to the other ship. Great in theory right? But we somehow ignore the fact that the same momentum that will carry him to the other ship, also would cause him to do somersaults through space on his way over..thus negating the superman flying routine.

I won't spoil the ending completely....but isn't it amazing that, somehow, in a plot twist before Data sends himself into a life or death situation.....Him and Picard on an exploding vessel and there's ONLY ONE PARACHUTE (ahem...emergency transporter).....and just prior to that he's downloaded his entire memory into the newly discovered positronic B-4 (prototype date)....hmmmm sounds to me like the writers were keeping their behind covered in case, for some goodness knows what reason, they decide to make another movie after this one.

So that's the story. Have a missed anything? Oh and for those that do go see it...the cheerful tune that data sings in the holodeck that they all smile over but can't remember what it was....Pop goes the weasel.

I have two finals tomorrow -- or rather, today. It's three o clock in the morning. I have a jury tomorrow that I'm beyond being nervous about. I have a final in Music History that I'll BS my way through as usual. And I'm tired. I don't want to have a voice tomorrow. I want to go in sick as a dog -- sing my one song and go. Anyway. I'm off to bed for a few hours. Then up to study. And cram one final song into my head. Ouch. Cram...cram...cram...

My first final is tomorrow, and my voice jury. I've been sick, and haven't been practicing as of late to save whatever voice I have left...so the crunch has begun. My birthday was so much fun once the party got rolling. Some friends took me an hour south of Waco to see a drive through Christmas Light display! It was awesome...everything had moving lights, and there was a carousel, and all 12 days of Christmas...and hot chocolate at the end. Anyway -- I need to get back to studying and all that -- but I thought I should blog and let all who read know that I haven't fallen off the face of the planet!

Wow, let me pause a moment to unscrew my smile. Heeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaarrrrghghg. Ok. Better now. I just got done with a recording session for our Christmas Concert PBS premier (set for christmas, 2003). We're being videotaped. So we have to look happy, and joyful, and greatful to be there.

ha. Dr. Bailey looked at the dress rehearsal that they taped to fix problems, and he said it looked like we were chained to the risers. Pretty close. We were just trying to make an acurate portrayal. We recorded in front of an audience, and then locked them in so they couldn't leave for our re-recording of several songs. Ha. When they paid for their tickets, I bet they didn't know they'd be held hostage. I'm sure whoever watched the concert next year will really enjoy it. It will look great, and be very uplifting. Look for me up and to the right of the mezzo soloist smiling away. Looking happy, and joyful and greatful to be there.

Especially during the symphonic pieces that we were, essentially, a curtain to mask the risers. No other reason for us to be there -- we could have filed off and come back on after three movements of Vivaldi, but no. We had ugly risers to mask. So we stood there looking happy, and joyful, and greatful to be there.

Especially on the camera close ups -- the we were positively glowing. At least during the Forest scene from Tchaikowsky's Nutcracker I could envision all of the beautiful dancing. I made up whole ballets this week in dress rehearsals. So, it wasn't too bad tonight...but tomorrow we have to hold the audience longer to make up all the mistakes they find tomorrow in the review of tonight's performance. Oh goodie. (ok, now can we do measure 30-35 of the Sir Krisemas piece...ok that was great..thanks) Oh, and in between concert segments, we have a sing along with the audience. But...someone forgot that WE don't have words in front of us (the concert is memorized). So here we are three verses into "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" -- and the cameras are doing closeups of us going: Hail the ...hm hm....prince of peace...la la la la righteousness....light and life to something bring..........watermellon in his wings......mild he something something by...la la la la hmmmmmm hmmmmmmmmm la la la la la la la la.....HARK THE HERALD ANGELS SING! GLORY TO THE NEWBORN KING! That ought to look wonderful. Ok, I'm going to bed. I have a recital dress to finish for Jen's dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon. Then I have to head to part two of happy, and joyful, and greatful to be there.

Alright, since my birthday is in 3 days, people have started asking me what I want for it....so I'm going to post a "wish-list" here:

1. coloring books -- my favorites are precious moments ones

2.victorian reproduction die cuts, greeting cards, namecards, punch outs -- anything I can use for my decoupage screen that's sometime in the future.

3.girly stuff -- bubble bath, nail polish, potpourie, candles (vanilla, cinamon, etc), and picture frames, gold or victoriany so I can frame some of the pictures I have of all of you!

4. The Silmarillion -- JRR Tolkien

5.pretty teacups. I love them -- I have them all over my house, and they're all over the place at antique shops and gifty places ....or

6. Of course gift certificates are always nice -- Hobby Lobby is Mecca, and The Compass too -- anyway. So, I've covered my bases for this year...and these are just ideas -- no one needs feel obligated, but I told some people I'd post ideas up...so there!

I've been having my feelings hurt by a friend of mine this semester, and have been mulling over what to do about it. My first reaction was to get irate, yell about how I "deserve" to be treated, list off all the things I've done for him, and then stalk off. Hmm.... then I read this from the book Christy, by Catherine Marshall (and by the way, Miss Alice is a Quaker -- hence the language)

"David, no Christian ever has a right to sever any relationship with anybody out of anger or pique, or even injustice, no matter how much he disapproves of someone's actions. It's our place to demonstrate reconciliation - not judgment or revenge or retaliation. That's God's business, not ours. Beware the chasms in thy life, David. Sooner or later thee will fall down in the chasm thyself. I suggest that you make the poing of talking to Ozias. Extend the hand of friendship. At least try it. After all, David, when the lines of communication are cut so that two people can't even talk, what have you gained then? All you've done is sever what may have been God's only route into a man's heart."

So what is a Christian to do when they are being treated poorly? "Turn the other cheek" comes to mind, but how does one do that without becoming a doormat. And then, should that be a consideration? Do we even get to take into account self? In the case of friendships, we're told that we need to set boundaries, and assert ourself when we perceive that we're being put upon? How does one draw the line? Any comments anyone?

I feel absolutely terrible. Mia sorella e stato simpatica e ora, io sono malata. (ie: My sister was kind enough to give me her school's running cold.) Did she stay sick however? No. In fact last night I hear she was running around in a snowsuit injoying Yakima's first snowfall. Darn it. Me? Sick as a dog. Not anything that one can skip class, or perhaps a choir concert over. Nope. Just walking around hacking up lungs, and blowing my nose every 32 seconds. And to add to the fun, waco temperatures, knowing full well that I'm homesick, decided to rival Yakima upon my return from thanksgiving. And I thought I was being clever when I left a suitcase full of my winter clothes at home so that I wouldn't have to cart them back in two weeks. I miss my hat and scarf too.

On the plus side, I am currently passing all of my classes -- I don't think my GPA is going to be very high. If I do well on finals -- and I do mean all of them, I might be able to keep them all b's -- but I currently have a C+ in Italian -- my lowest grade in a class since Spanish, my freshman year of highschool. I'm not happy. This will probably blow my 3.8 (probably, heck I know it will), and I'll have to make a 4.0 next semester to recover from slacking off this semester....oh did I mention I'm taking 17 hours next semester? Ah well. I'll worry about finals and money first. Then I'll worry about my 4.0 next semester. Ouch. Alright..I have to go finish a recital dress. Talk to you later -- after the recording session from hades tonight

Check out my lovely plug here

I hate choir. I don't care how many times I've written "submit yourself to the governing authority" all over my music, I still hate it. We had a three hour rehearsal tonight which stretched its way 29 minutes over. It was horrible....I'm sick, and that didn't help the mood at all. I hate the fact that since we aren't professionals they can take as much time as they want, keep us late, not give us a break (illegal were we paid) and then lecture us when we groan at "just another two minutes" and then threaten to flunk us if our attitude doesn't improve. Oh man am I tired.

On the plus side, opera is over...I'm registered for nearly all the classes I need to graduate, it looks like my independent study may actually go through, my birthday is coming up, and on the 17th I get to fly home. How's that for positive? Alright, I'm going to sleep now. Too tired to write, and I'm our of kleenex. I'm going to have to be creative.