2 finals down, 1 to go

Not too much to report:  I spent a relaxing morning appreciating the fact that my paper, and most of my big studying, is done.  Teresa and I did some final review for Music History, then took the final, which was fun, as usual... but you probably shouldn't tell my classmates I said that... ;)  (One of them just realized that I was a Freshman today. :D)

Played some 500 with Katie, Nick, and Nathan this afternoon, then got Davanni's; one more final tomorrow, but I'm definitely entering break mode already!

No picture specific to the day, but I admit that I spend quite a bit of time wondering how this chair got here:

I guess putting your organization's initials on your stuff doesn't ensure that another group won't end up with it in the end....? :)

First Final

That was Theo, this morning, and it was fine. :)  Now just two more to go - Music History tomorrow and Philosophy after that.  I also turned in my Music Media project this afternoon; I'm so close!!

Don't get me wrong, the semester has been great -- but when you start thinking about taking a break, it begins to look very appealing.

My pictures reveal other fun things:

Snow this morning!

Last sisterhood dinner tonight; we had an "Advent Angels" exchange, and here's my ornament for Jessica:

"Paul the Penguin." :)  Isn't he cute?  And he looked just as cute wrapped up:

Study Monday

Thus begins finals week!

I started strong at Coffee Bene:

(Tilt = how I felt about this paper going into the morning...)

I got a lot done, though, before heading over to BEC for a little piano ensembles performance.  Fun to both play and listen to duets!  Then more work on the paper until 5, when: I finished it and turned it in!!!  This evening, I studied Theology, then sang with the choir for a memorial Mass for Erik Nielsen.  Sad, but good.

So let it not be said that no one studies on Study Monday.

Gaudete Sunday

Advent is flying by, as is my preparation for finals.  Pink candle, Jephte draft, Theo ideas...

Last Lit Choir Sunday of the semester, followed by a Campus Ministry brunch.  Changed quickly for skating!  Haven't skated all semester, so it was fun to be back on the ice. :)  Many people haven't skated before, or at least not for some time, which surprised me; I'm not used to being one of the impressive skaters... but I can't say that I minded it. ;)

Then it was back to the house for studying and paper writing -- and a Peer Ministry party (Whitney is in charge of the Peer Ministers), which filled the house with energy. :)

And now it's time for bed.  Tomorrow begins Finals Week with Study Monday!

The End of the Last Week of Classes - Happy Feast of St. Lucy

...of my first semester, and I hear that it goes even more quickly from here!

Highlight of yesterday: it was the Feast of Our Lady of Guadeloupe, and I made the St. Louis de Montfort Marian Consecration (like my chain?)!

Today, I had my first UST piano jury (which went very well), worked on my paper, had lunch and went to the Pulse show (basically a dance recital; anyone can sign up for a dance - or many dances - at the beginning of the semester, and each dance meets to practice once a week; it was mainly hip-hop [cool hip-hop, not just white-suburban-girl hip-hop], but there was also a ballet number [3 people on pointe, in a gym, and no one got hurt!]) w/Katie W.  (We have resolved to join the swing dance club next semester!)

Tonight, I went to an Extraordinary Form Mass at SJV in honor of St. Lucy.  It was amazing!  I am all inspired for Latin now. :D

Now, it's time for some more study (note how late I'm going to bed, brothers -- aren't you proud? ;))!  Only finals left: here we go!

St. Lucy, pray for us.

P.S. A timely pic:

Thursday Before Finals Week

Greetings, everyone:

This morning was my last paired-course Philosophy class w/Dr. Coulter.  It was wonderful, as usual; we talked about marriage the existence of God, and I will miss it next semester. :(

Lit choir party this afternoon -- see my cute Secret Santa owl:

I think she appreciated it, and I certainly enjoyed making it!

Later, Daddy came down, and we had a fun study/work time. :) 

And, for my final big accomplishment of the night, I fixed our curtains that wouldn't close:

I'll save you the technical explanation of how it works (but that can be provided in person upon request :)).

One more day to this crazy study week, then a crazy study weekend and finals week!  Almost there!

Last Wednesday of my first semester

Wed. can get kind of long, so that's a bittersweet subject line.

A few notes:

Dr. S. brought her dog in today in case anyone needed puppy therapy; she's very cute, and she reminded me of my Timmy puppy!  It made me excited to see you all. :)

We had a listening quiz in Music History, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm not sure if there's something wrong with me, or if I should just be majoring in Musicology?

Speaking of Music History, anyone remember Libby Larson from MLC?  Well, here's a picture of her I saw in a hallway:

Also in that hallway was something for you, Mama:

Looks like something you would like, right? :)  (They're doing "Mighty One of Israel" hands and everything!)

Davey, I came across these sitting on a table in the library this afternoon.  Let me know if you want me to check them out and bring them home for you -- a little light reading you could do over break. ;)

I did some knitting tonight, which was great fun!  Here's my creative mess:

 But it's mostly finished now, and I need to get to bed.  (Fully finished pictures to come tomorrow!)

Christmas Concert and Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Happy feast day, residents of the Americas!

Yesterday, I sang in the UST Christmas Concerts, which I'd say were a success.  We were at Orchestra Hall from about 8:15am to 9:15pm, but there were enough breaks that it was a doable day (though I hear that it gets longer each year...).

Being onstage at Orchestra Hall was such a different feeling!  Here's us entering for rehearsal (just like members of the MN Orchestra!):

Here's the view from the back row of Lit Choir:

Why I'm in the back row remains a mystery -- understand that I'm holding my phone up to get this picture!  Seeing the director was a challenge. :P

Concert Choir kicked us out of our original room, a stuffy little place downstairs. We complained all the way up the stairs, where we were given this room:

Amazing how the complaints stop as soon as we entered it. ;)

The concerts went smoothly -- actually, from what I've heard, this was one of the most uneventful (in a good way!) concerts in recent memory.  I played quite a few hands of 500 and, at the end of the final game, stole Mr. Vance's bid (7 no trump; I had two aces, and the rest is history)!  He's super competitive and stomped us every other round, so that and our "world premiere" of "The Light of Christmas Morn" were probably the most satisfying parts of the day. :)

(Wow, that makes me sound like a kind of awful person... If it makes it any better, he had just won at least two games prior to this, and some justice was in order.)

And it's been a singing couple of days, because I made my cantor debut today at 12:10 Mass!  That also went smoothly and uneventfully (not counting that part when Jesus came down and we all got to receive Him -- doesn't get much more eventful than that!).

To end on a terribly sad note, please keep Erik Nielsen and his family in your prayers.  He is a Catholic Studies student here at UST who was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm today and brought to the ICU; they have just decided to take him off life support.  We're all shaken and appreciating our families and friends -- put in perspective, life really isn't that bad.  Again, please pray for him, his family and friends.  Immaculate Mary, pray for us!

Love you all!

Feast of St. Nicholas

Happy Feast of St. Nick!

I began the morning with Mass, then went to a brunch with the Handmaids in the Heart of Jesus -- they're the best!  After that, I worked for most of the rest of the day on my Music History paper, though I don't have nearly as much to show for it as I'd like (I was on a kind-of-successful search for a thesis).  However, I did manage to finish the pink candle for the Advent wreath, so it is now complete:

(Do you like the plate of rose petals in the middle?  They were just too pretty to throw away... :))

Also, at the beginning of the year, Amanda (et al.?) expressed a desire to know if the banners on each side of the sanctuary in the chapel are different colors during the different seasons of the liturgical year, and the answer is "yes":

(They were green before. :))

This evening, Hannah and I made banana bread and talked poetry.  Did you know that she is a poet?  Neither did I, but it turns out that she has some amazing poems (well, at least one amazing one, and I'm willing to bet that the others are good as well)!  She introduced me to Chesterton's poems, too.

Tomorrow is the Christmas concert!  My cold is on its last legs and, I think, should be gone by tomorrow.  It will be a long day, though, with a ton of people to put together on stage, so please keep the whole operation in your prayers.

St. Nicholas, pray for us!

Cor Jesu/Katie W's Birthday

Happy birthday, Katie!  This evening, we had a little surprise gathering (with cake!) to celebrate.  Later, I went to Cor Jesu (I had hoped to go to Dr. Boyle's in between there, but no one was quite sure of their plans yet and, since I couldn't miss Cor Jesu and didn't want to walk a mile in dark St. Paul by myself, I skipped that...).  This was for the best, though, as I got to work a little more on Music History and to practice the litany.  This went pretty smoothly; I had a new part, but I think I did all right -- being the only person on your part is just a whole different experience!  I feel a little bad in that all my music performance opportunities are a result of knowing the right people rather than being a phenomenal musician...but I think that's just how the music world is, and anyway, it's hard to feel too bad about that for very long. ;)

Today's quote of the day -- Michaela on why a cope is better than a chasuble:  "It's a cape, not a tablecloth with a hole cut in the middle of it!" :D

Finally, today's "picture" is a headline from the Catholic Studies Newsletter worthy of Best of the Web, or at least a Catholic fail blog, though the following paragraph does redeem it:

Thursday...

Hi everyone; welcome to the almost-end-of-the-week!  Christmas concert, finals, and final Music History paper are coming up way too quickly....it's that time of night where I'm not sure how I'm going to fit it all in, so I should probably just go to bed.

Though I'm rather overwhelmed right now, it hasn't always been so -- this is how my day began:

Beautiful, isn't it?  And then we talked about happiness in Philosophy, though not very satisfactorily.  I think we resolved it that you can be happy...maybe?  In Heaven, for sure, and on earth, possibly.  But it was a fun discussion. :)  And this afternoon we had the last Lit choir rehearsal before the concert, which is always nerve-wracking and exciting at the same time.  We're ready!

Please pray for my project of handing out the HLA fliers: there is no soliciting on campus, publications sent to student mailboxes must be advertising a particular club event, and the Student Center is a "paper-free facility."  So I think my last option is to take this off-campus (and maybe leave a few stray ones behind me in the library); I'm hoping that I get enough volunteers to make it doable and don't get the pro-life in trouble in the process!

To close, I must add that the ASC really isn't a paper-free facility -- this commercial came to mind:

P.S.  I forgot to mention today's great quote -- it takes a little background info, so stay with me here.  Dr. Coulter mentioned that upper-level philosophy courses are made mostly of men with a few women (one of his courses had only one girl: his daughter).  He then said how, if he was a student and the positions were reversed, he wouldn't have liked to be the only male in a class of thirty students, and he looked to the guys for agreement: you wouldn't want to be the only boy in a class of all girls, right?  And one of my classmates said, "Why not?  That's, like, 29 numbers!"  General outcry/uproar; it was pretty hilarious. :D

The Catholic Edge: Is There a Masculine Genius?

My day consisted mainly of going to class and playing piano, and this evening attending the Catholic Edge, a monthly event put on by the Catholic Studies Interns.  As you can see, tonight's topic was the "masculine genius" (the counterpart to the "feminine genius" promoted by Pope St. JPII).  Dr. Savage spoke; after years of research, she has developed this theory and will be publishing a paper in the next issue of Logos, if any of you are interested. :)  The main gist: while women are concerned with people, men are focused on things.  That is how society can function and survive -- the fact that men build things and fix problems is the reason that society can progress out of the Stone Age.  She argues that this idea is immensely important right now, when so much attention is given to women (not, of course, a bad thing in and of itself) that the men are falling by the wayside and don't know who they are supposed to be.

On a different note, today was the Christmas tree lighting.  While I'm the Chief of the Advent police and all that, I do have to admit that the lights look beautiful:

This is outside BEC, and there's a big tree in the ASC as well.  I don't know if all the trees have lights, or if it is just these two; I'll have to keep my eyes open. :)

Fourteenth Tommie Tuesday

I enjoy Tuesdays.  Philosophy was especially good -- Dr. Coulter talked about our attitude toward the marginalized in society; lots of food for thought.  In studio class, I played Brahms, smoothly and with hardly a memory slip. :)  (Which is good, because my jury is in less than two weeks...)  And in choir, we rehearsed with the Concert choir!  Dr. Broeker, their director, directed, and took most tempos at 1 1/2 to 2 x faster than we normally do, so that was exciting.  But we mostly kept up, and the basses sounded so great!!

Finally, I have discovered the secret to staying warm: layers.  So here I am, looking slightly sinister but very warm:

Unfortunately, some of my face is still exposed to wind, but I'm also learning how to get across campus with a minimum of actual outdoor walking -- not to scare you away from college, Amanda, but trying to find the fastest, yet most-indoor route is almost like my search for the "optimal train." ;)  (Thankfully, I personally enjoy that kind of thing!)

Less (or should it be fewer?) than two weeks of classes left before finals; please keep me and all the students in your prayers these last few weeks!  And stay warm. :)

First Monday of Advent

Back to ordinary school life!  I did all the Monday things: morning prayer, Mass, mocha, Theology, piano practice, last Piano Proficiency Exam lesson (we went over choral accompanying, since I passed the exam last week :D), Music History, Circle, MMC meeting.  So, brothers (and whoever else is bothered by the fact that I retire early): one, it's not really that early, and two, even if it was early, I have every excuse to be going to bed early tonight. :)

One of the benefits of being at UST is the amazing amount of purple that is all over campus.  Not only does that make me happy (peaceful? :)), but it also ensures that any Christmas trees that get put up during Advent are at least appropriately decorated:

So, while one probably shouldn't choose a school based entirely on their colors, it's not a bad thing to keep in mind during the college search.