Take-it-easy Tuesday

Today I took advantage of the fact that my lack of motivation lined up with, while not quite a dearth of homework, still a little lighter load.  I also did some cantor scheduling -- I'm in charge of that this semester and neglected to schedule people for the two extra Family Weekend Masses, so lining that up has been exciting!  I'm getting good at chasing down cantors who don't respond immediately to e-mails (and it's much more fun to be the chaser than the chasee in this scenario, a new experience for me).

And: this came in the mail this morning, along with a sweet note!  It made my day to get mail and know that you were thinking of and praying for me, Mrs. Vietzke; thank you. :)

Back to the Books

Today was rather uneventful, but I did get a picture:

The freezer door kept coming open, and I couldn't figure out why, so this was my short-term solution.  (It turns out that it bounces open when you close the fridge door, so it doesn't need the tape as long as you check it after closing the fridge).

As if that isn't adventure enough, we had some excitement just now:  I just came back from a Music Ministry Coordinator (MMC hereafter) meeting, and on the walk back saw a gorgeous moon.  Hannah is taking astronomy this semester, so I thought she would appreciate it; they were just finishing night prayer as I walked in, so I wrote her a note to try to keep the grand silence. :)  So we all trooped outside, but there was no moon to be found!  We went down Grand toward Cretin a ways, then came back (not talking to each other, you recall, and giggling hysterically as we are running down Grand in socks and pajamas), tried the back of the house, but without success.  Apparently the night skies change faster than I realized, but at least it made for an entertaining episode. :)

Today, I:

• ...coordinated Mass music (which, since the mic was set up and Michaela was there to play and rehearse with the other instrumentalist, meant that I adjusted the cantor volume).  Everything went smoothly, and we had two French horns, which was beautiful!
• ...had a good, long talk with my family over the phone. :)
• ...walked to Barnes & Noble with Hannah to study (and got frozen yogurt on the way back!)
• ...realized that I don't have actual television channel capabilities, so did not watch The Paradise.
• ...finished all my homework for tomorrow.
• ...forgot to take a picture.

Tommie-Johnnie Saturday

The title of this post is a little deceiving, as it implies that I actually went to the game, which I didn't.... But the campus was alive and packed with fans and revelers, and the game was the defining event of the day.  I guess that going to the library today was probably the lamest thing I could have done, but while I was there I found some new stained glass and got some pics for you:

St. Alphonsus Ligouri:

St. Francis de Sales:

(These windows made me realize that I know way too little about both of these saints, especially A.L.)

This morning we had a nice sunny study session and saw this little guy on the table:

He was really cute (this is about life size) until we realized that he is probably a baby centipede. :P  (We decided not to kill him in order to reinforce the positive behavior of being outside rather than in the house.)

Though it was rather pathetic, I did get a lot done this afternoon, and I am now off to watch Pride and Prejudice with my housemates!  So life is good. :)

Fun Friday

Hi, everyone!

There were three main highlights of today:

1)  Perpetual Adoration on campus began yesterday, and I spent my first hour there today.  It was wonderful to be back in front of the Blessed Sacrament again!  I also made a connection:  Jesus on the cross is the fulfillment of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden; by eating that fruit, Adam and Eve were separated from God, but we can come back into communion with Him by eating Jesus, the fruit of the Tree of life.  How about that??

2)  Iced tea, chat and study time with Erin this afternoon.  Always good to see her! :)

3)  Hanging out with Nick Kl., everywhere from my house to Guitar Center to Target -- Amanda, I thought of you when I saw the following instruments:

What started as, "Look, there's a guitar for Amanda!" grew quickly, as it turns out that there are lots of sparkly and colorful instruments. :)  (There were also some purple drumsticks next to pink drumsticks that look just like Advent candles!)

And here's a guitar for both Amanda and Katie (and I might have to take a turn on it, too):

It was so great to see Nick again (and I got bread and bananas at Target; so win-win ;)).

Tomorrow is the Tommie-Johnnie game, so, Go, Tommies!

The Thursday of Free Food

Between a music major picnic lunch and a paired course dinner gathering, I was set for food today. :)  At the picnic, I ate with the other Lit music majors, all wonderful girls.  This evening, my class and our professors discussed an article, "Is Google Making Us Stupid?", which led to interesting discussion about technology and its place in our lives (the consensus being: use it, but rule it -- don't let it rule you).

Adventure of the day:  I planned to go to 5:05 Mass and to the discussion after that; however, due to a mis-communication, there was no priest (and therefore, no Mass).  So Jenna and I set off for the cathedral, but made it just as communion was about to start.  We were still able to have a short prayer time in the beautiful downstairs chapel, then rushed back to Sitzmann Hall (the Catholic Studies House) for my dinner.  As I said, quite an adventure!

This was in the chapel; I wonder if it's a mini organ (there is a keyboard behind it)?

And right outside the chapel was this:

...a Lego model of the Cathedral!  Pretty cool -- I doubt that even Wyldstyle (aka Lucy) could have done it better herself. ;)

Oh, and in other news, I got my first "Duh" sticker at my piano lesson yesterday:

My piano teacher is great and very artsy (her studio is full of color and modern art).  She is quite sweet but has Ugly Dolls that she throws at students when necessary -- or so she says, though it hasn't happened to me yet; as you can see, however, I earned my first "Duh" sticker for not ordering my Cowell music (whoops)!

Piano Day

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday; at 10:00 I remembered my Theo homework, so I did that instead of posting.  However, I wasn't really feeling the sit-in-the-dark-downstairs-by-myself vibes, so I studied in the closet:

(It wasn't as dismal as it looks in this picture.)

On Wednesdays, I practice piano, have piano ensemble and a piano lesson all within 5.5 hrs -- so only 1.5 of them are not spent at the piano.  Thankfully, I enjoy piano, though if practice was last instead of first, I don't know if I could do it.  (Herein lies the reason that I am not a Piano Performance major!)

Somehow I have the feeling that I'm not making very much sense, so I will bid you all goodnight and leave Philosophy for tomorrow morning. :)

Post-Freshman-Retreat Monday

This past weekend I went on the Freshman Retreat put on by Campus Ministry (with the help of my wonderful roommate!); it was a fun, if exhausting experience.  (There is a silent retreat in October, and I may have to look into that.) :)  There were great talks and we had Mass outside next to the lake: an awesome experience (and I mean that literally; it was thrilling to assist at Mass right in the heart of creation - we even saw a bald eagle!).  There was a little rain during the Gospel; thankfully one of the Freshman was on top of things and brought an umbrella that he held over Fr. Rutten -- it made an already unique experience quite memorable. :)

Friday night before the retreat, I attended an "Evening of Conversation" held at Dr. Boyle (my Theology professor)'s house for his students.  We read an Angelus address by Pope Francis, Dr. Boyle commented (the verb form of "commentary"?) on it, after which we chatted over delicious apple cider and gingersnaps made by Mrs. Boyle (and by "chatted," I mean we discussed abortion, marriage, the Old Testament and Jesus :)).  I don't believe that it gets better than that!

Though I was surrounded by nature all weekend, I didn't get any pictures until today -- but I hear that you can't see them anyway?  I'll work to improve that for the future.

Goodnight, everyone!

Back from the Freshman Retreat

...and so very tired.  Goodnight!

Five-Minute Friday

This will be a 5-minute post; if it stops abruptly, it means that I ran out of time!  Ready... go!

Hello, all you folks back home!

Today I saw a crane with some pretty cool outriggers.  Can you see them in this picture?  (They are on the truck, not the blue vehicle in front of it.)  I was just so impressed by how tall it was!

(Hmm, can you tell that I have little brothers?)

This was quite the day for cool machinery, as a truck came by and picked up the dumpster left by the roofers.  It's a fascinating process, and I got a video, but apparently my videos haven't been working.  So here's a test; can you see this one?

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/X_ywSbu_knh4Ao7GiZruvLaysT5YZEA4x_QThPx2Pww=w270-h480-o

A Thursday in Pictures

Chocolate oatmeal:

A beautiful staircase in Aquinas Hall:

 New roof!  Doesn't the house look cute? :)

An interesting diagram of Wagner's theater in Bayreuth from my Music History textbook:

Exciting family trip to Target:

Goodnight!

Made it through Wednesday!

I have to admit that that's how I feel at 5 o'clock when coming out of Music History -- all my classes are great, but taken almost straight from 8:15-5:00, they get to be a bit much.  However, I have only 2 classes tomorrow, so I'll have a chance to recuperate. :)

Pictures today:  two Earl Grey tea bags, one decaf and one regular.  Only the decaf tag was flipped for a little while and I wasn't sure which one was which -- thankfully, I found the words "decaf" on the tag and applied my newly-hewn logic skills (see the following photo) to deduce which one I should use tonight. :)

Next is the argument I promised!  Here it is in sentence form...

... and here it is laid out:

1.  If one doesn't reject personhood for animals, then humans are not "special" relative to other animals and, therefore, deserve no "special respect."
2.  Humans are "special" relative to other animals and, therefore, deserve "special respect."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.  Therefore, I reject personhood for animals.

What makes this argument so cool is that Premise #2 is actually an argument itself (indicated by the word "therefore").  It is especially fun when put into symbol form (see the bottom right hand of the picture - that's probably how the sentences should be laid out, but I don't have the Word processing capabilities here, so you can all use your imagination :))!

Finally, someone being a smart aleck:

(In case the picture isn't clear, the post-it says "Use your ego!"  Haha. :))

Tommie Tuesday #3

I began this morning with early Mass, then made a stop at the library.  While there, I found some books for Amanda...

...some books for Davey...

...and a book for me, in which I learned the story of the opera Faust (it's very weird -- but they mentioned the Jewel Song! ;)).

There were also two beautiful stained glass windows by my table:

I'm not sure what the significance of the keys are in the St. Thomas More one, though; any ideas?

On coming home, I discovered that our roof is being re-shingled:

Given the way that noise carries throughout this house, it sounds like they are jumping up and down upstairs and liable to fall through the roof at any moment!  Hopefully that will not happen.

And a preview of the exciting Philosophy argument of the day:

P1: -R > -(2/3)
P2: (2/3)
---------
C: R

It's even cooler with the actual sentences -- the way that they fit this structure just blows me away!  Stay tuned for them tomorrow. :)

Nature-Sighting Day

These were very citified nature sightings: a bunny and raccoon.

A (very) short clip of the bunny:

(Poor bunny; it sounds like Darth Vader is approaching!)

And you'll have to just trust me on the raccoon, because it was dark and the picture didn't turn out. :)  He was raiding the dumpster and not acting guilty one bit!

Also, an adjective coined by Dr. Boyle: Jesusian -- something pertaining to Jesus.

Lit Choir Retreat

Good evening, everyone!

This weekend, I went on the Liturgical Choir Retreat.  Lots of fun with great people, music, an insanely intense workout, a fancy dinner, rolling chairs, and more!

The window seat in my hotel room (it was a nice hotel!):

Nature during my quiet time:

The first autumn-colored leaves!

A cool tree (you can't see them in this picture, but there were turtles on it):

Weird white stuff that we think is not bird poop; anyone have other theories?

All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm feeling rejuvenated and ready to hit the books (or hoping that I will after a little sleep)!

Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary

The excitement of today was finding a little farmer's market on the quad!  I got some little gems to add to my salads:

(And for those keeping track, the clementine isn't on the statue anymore, but a burrito has joined the fruit snacks. :))

Tomorrow I leave for the Lit Choir retreat, so no post tomorrow night.  Please keep me in your prayers; I think it will be fun but such a thing is always also a little unnerving.  Aaron says that, if you're an introvert and this sounds overwhelming, just come anyway and you'll have a good time.  So there I am. :)

To close, an exciting insight I read tonight: Mary (Ave) is the new Eve (Eva). Ave = Eva backwards!  Neat, huh?

First day wearing gloves

Yes, I got out my gloves this morning due to chilly fingers, and my hands were so much more comfortable that I don't regret it one bit. :)

Highlights of my day:

-- Discovering this library while searching for books for a Music History assignment -- it's right next to BEC, the music building.  I foresee many hours of study in this quiet, beautiful, Catholic space (pictures of Pope Francis and PEBXVI not visible in this picture, but definitely present!).

 -- Cantor training and some singing afterwards with Michaela, Micaela, and Margaret; stay tuned for the end result this weekend....

-- Mass, dinner (and gelato!) with Daddy!  It was great to see him again and fill him in on all the college excitement (i.e., doing homework ;)).

Goodnight, everyone; "May the Lord grant us a restful night and a peaceful death. Amen."

I hear it all the time: you have so much free time now compared to what you will have in the future.  Somehow, I can never bring myself to really believe it -- and yet, it's true; my schedule is finally finalized, and it is like nothing I've ever seen.  I think I can handle it, but it's going to be a lot of work.  So on that note, I'd better get some sleep. :)

Oh, but before I go -- the clementine is just what this statue needed:

Goodnight, everyone!  Please keep me in your prayers, and know that you are in mine as well.

Normal Monday

Happy Feast of the Birth of Mary!

We (the girls in the Sisterhood) began the morning early, joining the Men's House for Morning Prayer and Mass at 6:30.  Since it's a feast, we chanted Morning Prayer, so it was worth the early wake-up. :)  A pretty normal day followed; highlights below:

A letter from Amanda!  Sweet and very purple. :)  Thank you, sis! <3

First Music Ministry Coordinator meeting (it is held in the Chapel, which is why I was taking a picture of the beautiful tabernacle.  Amanda, I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but it has colored stones!).  Funny story about the (8 o'clock) meeting: I showed up at 7, thinking that it was already 8. :P  But it gave me an extra hour I didn't think I had, so that's fine with me!

The inaugural entry in my practice journal!  (Can you believe that you missed out on hearing this great 2 hours, family? ;))

Finally, I saw this thing on my way back from the BEC.  (Sorry for the video quality; I was trying to look inconspicuous as no one else seemed interested in the little bug on the sidewalk.)  It was fascinating; it didn't seem to walk, but just slide!  I thought you all might appreciate it (certainly more so than my fellow students). :)

The Weekend of Beautiful Churches

This past weekend began and ended with a visit to a beautiful Church: Saturday morning Mass at the Cathedral...

and evening adoration at the Nativity parish adoration chapel.

And here's one from the Cathedral for Daddy. :)

Saturday was my equivalent of C.S. Lewis' "normal day" -- after Mass I simply caught up on e-mail and homework, then visited with my housemates in the evening (and watched Anastasia :)).

Sunday saw the first use of my new apron!  The pumpkin pancakes produced while wearing it were delicious.

Next I sang in the choir for Mass: a wonderful blending of two of my favorite things!  And after a phone call with Hannah, my lovely family came to visit. :)  Here are some of them in front of another beautiful Church -- the St. Thomas Aquinas Chapel on campus:

This was an attempt to get the "Purple of the Plaza" sign, but I think Timmy's photo-bomb is what really makes it blog worthy:

Some more of my, um, unique siblings... ;)

(I think the phrase "That happened" was made for moments just like this: )

:)  Love you all; it was so wonderful to see you!

First Friday

Today, Erin, Sheila and I took the shuttle to Minneapolis to go to Target:

(Sheila had choir and headed back one bus earlier -- here's Erin and I on our way back to campus.)

And the excitement of my morning (aside from Dr. Boyle's assertion that the Gospel writers were awful at creative writing) was finding this in the practice rooms:

Yes, you read that correctly: we have Steinways in the practice rooms!  Probably not the best Steinways ever made, but they're definitely a step up from the AR pianos. ;)

My day ended with Cor Jesu, a time of adoration, confession, and P&W -- similar to Lifeline and just as great!  (Local college students should definitely come! :))  But I have Mass at 8 tomorrow, so I'll bid you all farewell for now.  Almost done with my first exciting week of college....