Things that I like about this month so far

Things that I like about this month so far:

Finally performing a Pat Metheny tune that I have been drooling over for 9 years: "Just Like the Day." Thank you, Dan Smithiger, for the magical drumset-ness. I will remember that.

A Valentine's Day margarita on the romantic riverwalk of San Antonio (tout seul, mais ce n'est pas grave).

A surprise from my niece: a frog valentine card waiting for me in my post office box.

Practice time. That's something I hadn't had much of in the past months. On the front burners: Grandjany's Rhapsodie (another drool song for me) and Mambo by Bernard Andres.

Sushi in St. Louis.

Tasting my own medicine. In my dictator fashion, I declared Wednesdays a composition day in my harp classes. The students are working on their own compositions and writing them out- sweet! Until one of them asked me to write out one of my own that she'd heard me play. Touché.

Yes we can.

I write this after more than 15 hours of CNN coverage of today's inauguration, and 15.6 miles away from where George W. Bush made his homecoming this afternoon.

What a day. I'm emotionally exhausted and I was just watching it all from my computer at school!

This was a day of "WOW," followed by Yes ... Yes... Yes.

Today was the first day in my adult life that I have been proud to be a United States citizen. I remember being patriotic as a girl, but the past decade of meg-life has been one of cynicism and discontent towards America which has slowly grown into a fluffy tree of bitterness.

I have spent many years hiding my face as an American. I have, on several occasions, apologized to my deceased grandfather for my ungratefulness of his service in the military, and for being so embarrassed for his country, our country. I had been sitting down for the USA. In the place of patriotism I have had no comment. In the place of 4th of July fireworks, I've had skepticism.

But today. Today was the first day that I had hope for us as a nation. I'm standing. In silent somberness, I'm on my feet for President Obama. With a breath of relief, I'm standing in prayer... God bless us, God have mercy on us, forgive us. God help us. You can. Yes You can. Change us. Amen.

Odd

I found myself in a strange situation this evening. Here I am in Phoenix, and the Odessa College Women's Basketball team is in town for a tournament. Odd. I am a friend of the coach, so I found myself there tonight cheering not for the Phoenix team but rooting for Odessa. "Go Odessa! That's right, Lady Wranglers! Go!" I'm not a big screamer, so it was easy for me to notice what a bizarre situation it was.

Time is odd. Life is odd. A year ago tonight, I was making a vegan dinner, walking my puppy around the village, and spending time with my friend Alexis during her visit to Cabris, France.

Time is odd. Life is odd. And I have absolutely no regrets.

As the end of 2008 is fading away, I have a thankful and dumbfounded heart. Life is funny sometimes, how you can never explain or predict or really plan anything.

I am really glad that I moved to Odessa. I'm glad to be doing what I'm doing. Since I moved there in August, various people have asked me how I'm doing with the adjustment. "So how are you liking it here? Are you doing okay?" And they lean in a little bit with a concerned eye, waiting for my face to to do the talking. I realize that I tend to do a bit of complaining in these blogs, but the truth is that I'm really liking it. Besides the Mexican food, the sunsets, and the convenience of a small town, there are many things that I enjoy about Odessa.

Such as: I am surrounded by harps all day. I am surrounded by young people who want to play their best. I love my students so much that I just want to squeeze them sometimes. I am a geek.

I know you're not supposed to have favorites, and I don't, but I REALLY enjoy working with the junior high aged students in particular. By the time 2 PM rolls around and I start wanting a siesta, I walk into the junior high harp room and spend the next 2 hours with 14 hyper, happy harpists. I've laughed until I've cried in that room on several occasions, and I usually leave that place in a great mood thanks to them. And besides all of the laughing and getting to know each other, I see each one of them making progress as a musician. I can't be happier about this!!

Once during this past semester, I was preparing for class by tuning the harps. As I was plucking away at one of them, I was thinking about how I wanted each string to be ready to be played that day for the students, and how I was excited for them to come to class. And then it was like something whispered to me: "Just as you are preparing for your students to use this harp, I also go before you to prepare your way. I have fun things planned for you, Megan."

It reminded me of a couple things: "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. He knows the plans He has for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Deuteronomy 31:8, Jeremiah 29:11)

This semester, I have encountered many situations that made me grateful for my past. Random things and significant things. Things like working at a harp store years ago, which in turn taught me how to care for harps. Things like my rock climbing days in Arizona, as it prepared me for loading the harp trailer to move 17 harps for our winter recital (now THAT was an intense weekend). I was thankful for the time I spent with my teacher in Austin, as she challenged the way I thought about teaching music. I was happy about having lived out of a suitcase for months on end, as it made me more of a flexible and chillaxed person. It was like every fun and unfun event in my past had led up to me moving to Odessa and was now affecting each breath I took.

Funny- one of the things I missed most when I was in France (besides my family) was Mexican food. Even as I type this, I smirk as I picture the quantity of Mexican food establishments in Odessa.

Time is odd. Life is odd. But I'm starting to see that there's some kind of weird and positive plot going on here with a weird and positive, ever-present Plotter behind it. And this is only the prologue.

Odessa won the game tonight, by the way. They creamed Phoenix. Who would have known.

Christmas Blisters

So. Christmas. I try not be a scrooge when it comes to all of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, but sometimes I can't help it. Jingle Bell Rock and Santa Baby do not help the situation, nor do Walmart and Rudolf.

But God was wise when he introduced me to the harp. It may be the only way I can get into the season.

Years ago I admitted to some close friends (after a couple glasses of wine) that one of my biggest regrets in life was that I didn't know the words to the Christmas carols. It's still the case to this day, but I've been trying to remedy this remorse. Now, when I'm sitting behind the harp during the holidays playing for various events, I try to read the words to the music as I play. There's some good stuff in there! And worth taking a look at. To me, the holidays are empty without music, and the the music is meaningful because of the spirit behind them.

December 1st kind of jumped into the picture before I was ready, and 17 concerts and 15 days later, I had the infamous Christmas Blisters. But it happened. And it happened earlier than expected. I was playing at the Dolly Neal Chapel in Midland for a Christmas open house a couple weeks ago, and it happened. It was a reflective and quiet bunch of people, and as I was reading and playing along my merry way, the words sunk into my head, my fingers, my heart...

Joy to the World. Emmanuel. God is with us. Fall on your knees.

O%20Come%2C%20O%20Come%20Emmanuel.m4a

Thanksgiving 2008

Things to be thankful for, things you can never replace:

A hug from my mom.
Going along on a house visit with my dad the amazing horse vet.
The smell of the desert after the rain.
The Squaw Peak mountains by moonlight.

Santiago de Mexico

My favorite blog topics are my friends and the people in my life that I admire. And one of my favorite ways to pass the weekend (since moving to Texas) is actually getting OUT of the State to spread a little lone star love to other areas of the world. Which leads us to this blog entry. I call it "Santiago de Mexico."

Earlier this month, I made a quick escapade to Guadalajara, Mexico to visit a harpist friend I know from France. We had both set up camp in the Cote d'Azur to study under the same teacher, and he was one of the first people I met when I arrived there over three years ago. His name is Santiago Morales. He's originally from Veracruz, and I had never seen him on this side of the Atlantic. We were past due for a visit.

Santiago is the kind of person that inspires you to be a better person... to enjoy life and to be your beautiful self. I would have been happy to visit him for 10 minutes, but I got to spend the entire weekend there- playing music, meeting his friends and students, drinking coffee, eating amazing food, and visiting the market. Our usual.

During our overlap in France, we spent a lot of memorable time together. We laughed till we cried, cried till we laughed, commiserated about the French, celebrated the French, explored, practiced, performed, and pushed each other to be better musicians. With Santiago, you can talk about anything from skin exfoliation to Jesus to relationships to fears to homemade salad dressing. He's the kind of person that lights up an entire hotel lobby upon entrance (namely, the Negresco). Maybe it's the giant smile. He laughs easily and tells stories like it's his favorite pass time. When I first heard him play, I wept- I just couldn't hold it in. But it was a good cry somehow. He has a very musical, rich sound. Hearing him play makes you want to go home to practice and be a better harpist. A better person, even.

And what I like about Santiago is that he's not perfect, and he knows it. He is his humble, loving, lovable self 24/7. So- cheers to Mexico. Cheers to harp playing. Cheers to being yourself. Cheers to Santiago.

The numbers are in.

2= the number of students I've made cry since the first day of school
35= the number of school-owned harps in this county (I think of it as me suddenly adopting 35 children)
.0004= number of harps per capita in Odessa
1362= the collective number of strings on the harps in Odessa
1099= number of harp strings tuned per school day
486= the number of harp strings I've changed since the first day of school
62= the number of days that it's taken me to change strings and make sure every harp is in tune and in playable condition
.05= number of chihuahuas per capita within the city limits of Odessa (estimate)
97= percentage of chihuahuas in Odessa that are stray
92= percentage of stray chihuahuas I see during the course of the school day
.008/1= harp-to-chihuahua ratio in Odessa

Now, if we plug those numbers into this equation:

5d+3a-2(3[25])-psum-i-(d+t)= profit

Our profit turns out to be:

.06