Well, I haven't exactly been very good at updating you all on what's going on with me. Well, this has been fun semester, mostly :-D. As far as folk dance goes, I have been having SO much fun! I've got some really good friends that I've made on my team and it's really just been a blast. We did a really fun dance for our end of the semester performance Spring Festival of Nations. It was a Hutzel dance from the mountainous region of Ukraine. One of my friends posted a video of it on facebook, but I know not everyone has facebook, so someone else posted a different video on youtube. I hope you all enjoy!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Last Weekend
Wow, it sure has been a long time since I last posted here…Well… The semester is about half over, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t ready for it to end. But, then again, at the same time, I’m really enjoying most of my classes and don’t want a few of them to ever end.
Alright. Well, for starters, I love folk dance. It’s awesome! I have so much fun and I have made so many good friends from being involved in folk dance here at BYU. Last semester I constantly had something going on with folk dance. This semester, however, has been much more laid back. So when I got an e-mail a little over a month ago from my teacher asking for some volunteers, I jumped on it and volunteered. There was a conference held by a group who does research and whatnot on 18th century culture, literature, life, etc. One of the guys who was involved in setting it up somehow knew my teacher and contacted her asking for some help. We got a group of 4 couples from my folk dance team together and practiced outside of class a few times learning some dances from the 18th century. It was a very unique experience, but still lots of fun. We learned about 4 or 5 dances and taught a few to the people who were there at the conference. I think that my teacher got a video of the performance, but I don’t know for sure. Instead of posting a video, I’m just going to post some pictures. I’m just stealing all of these off of facebook, so most of you have probably already seen them, but whatever.
This is the whole group. Aren't our costumes the coolest!?
Here's a closeup on my costume.
And my awesome ponytail.
When one of the guy's ponytails fell out, we realized that they turned into pretty sick mullets :-D
The other guy took his off, but us three enjoyed our mullets probably a little too much.
Anyway, after the night was over, the guy who had invited us gave some money to our teacher to cover her expenses and included was $50 for each of us who helped participate! It was pretty sweet. I hope you enjoyed the pictures half as much as I enjoyed last weekend.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
3 Dance Classes
My schedule this semester is quite different than I expected it would be. I had anticipated that this would be my last semester here at BYU, but through a series of unforeseen circumstances and a strange twist of events, I'm going to be here until next April instead of finishing this semester. It's going to be a lot less stressful, which is nice. But by making that decision, I realized that I don't have to take the classes I was previously planning on taking. It works out much better this way, trust me. :-D Well, one of the changes was that I am doing at least one more semester of Folk Dance where as I assumed last semester was my last one. I'm VERY excited about this. I am also in beginning tap dance and the beginning world dance class.
First of all, the beginning world dance is a class that I could probably sleep through and still get an A in. That isn't a bad thing, and I most definitely will NOT be sleeping in that class! Easy as it is, it is still lots of fun. Most of the dances we are going to do in there are dances that I have done before at Rec. Nights (a Rec. Night is when the whole folk dance club gets together and they play songs that we do folk dances to). There may be a few others I have never done before, and there are also some that I haven't ever really learned, I just sort of picked them up as best as I could over the past two semesters. So it'll be fun to actually learn them properly. But I'll most likely pick up on the dances and have them down pat before half the rest of the class really knows what's going on :-D. Oh, and my teacher for that class is really cool. His name is Rustin, and he was my beginning clog teacher. It's going to be a fun class.
Beginning tap. I'm SO excited for this class! Nancyann decided to add it with me, so that will make it even more fun. But I have always loved watching tap and wished I could actually do it myself. Clogging was fun, but I think tap suits me much better. That class might require a little more out of class work than my other dance classes, but I will actually enjoy practicing for that class, so that makes ALL the difference. The short and long of it, I'm stoked for tap!
And last, but most definitely not least, my Folk Dance team. Ahhh... So much fun! I'm on one of the Wilk teams, which means nothing to probably 99% of you. Basically, the Wilk teams are much easier than the RB teams (we meet in the Wilkinson Center instead of the Richards Building). There is somewhat of a hierarchy of teams. The Wilk teams are usually the people who just made it onto a team, the RB teams are people who have been dancing for a while (my team last semester, 9RB, being the best of the RB teams), and then you have SPAC and PAC (Spring Performing Arts Company and Performing Arts Company). Because I wasn't even planning on dancing this semester, I didn't even try out for SPAC. I'm on 10WSC and my teacher is the same one I had my first semester doing Folk Dance. She thinks very highly of me and was rather surprised to see me in her class the first day. In fact, she actually told me that I should have been on SPAC. It's a nice change going from the intensity of 9RB and barely keeping up to already know half of the things we are doing and catching on to the rest really quickly. I will kind of miss being pushed and stretched to see how much I can do, but it's also lots of fun to actually know what's going on and to be able to help others. Plus, when you do partner dances and you actually know what you're doing, the girls have more fun dancing with you! :-D
So anyway, I have at least one dance class every day, which is really nice. My schedule isn't quite as conducive to naps as it was last semester, so I'm going to be really tired all the time this semester, but I'm still very much excited for it. Anyway, I just thought I would let you all know how much fun I'm having and how much I'm enjoying being so involved in dance. Aren't you jealous? :-P
First of all, the beginning world dance is a class that I could probably sleep through and still get an A in. That isn't a bad thing, and I most definitely will NOT be sleeping in that class! Easy as it is, it is still lots of fun. Most of the dances we are going to do in there are dances that I have done before at Rec. Nights (a Rec. Night is when the whole folk dance club gets together and they play songs that we do folk dances to). There may be a few others I have never done before, and there are also some that I haven't ever really learned, I just sort of picked them up as best as I could over the past two semesters. So it'll be fun to actually learn them properly. But I'll most likely pick up on the dances and have them down pat before half the rest of the class really knows what's going on :-D. Oh, and my teacher for that class is really cool. His name is Rustin, and he was my beginning clog teacher. It's going to be a fun class.
Beginning tap. I'm SO excited for this class! Nancyann decided to add it with me, so that will make it even more fun. But I have always loved watching tap and wished I could actually do it myself. Clogging was fun, but I think tap suits me much better. That class might require a little more out of class work than my other dance classes, but I will actually enjoy practicing for that class, so that makes ALL the difference. The short and long of it, I'm stoked for tap!
And last, but most definitely not least, my Folk Dance team. Ahhh... So much fun! I'm on one of the Wilk teams, which means nothing to probably 99% of you. Basically, the Wilk teams are much easier than the RB teams (we meet in the Wilkinson Center instead of the Richards Building). There is somewhat of a hierarchy of teams. The Wilk teams are usually the people who just made it onto a team, the RB teams are people who have been dancing for a while (my team last semester, 9RB, being the best of the RB teams), and then you have SPAC and PAC (Spring Performing Arts Company and Performing Arts Company). Because I wasn't even planning on dancing this semester, I didn't even try out for SPAC. I'm on 10WSC and my teacher is the same one I had my first semester doing Folk Dance. She thinks very highly of me and was rather surprised to see me in her class the first day. In fact, she actually told me that I should have been on SPAC. It's a nice change going from the intensity of 9RB and barely keeping up to already know half of the things we are doing and catching on to the rest really quickly. I will kind of miss being pushed and stretched to see how much I can do, but it's also lots of fun to actually know what's going on and to be able to help others. Plus, when you do partner dances and you actually know what you're doing, the girls have more fun dancing with you! :-D
So anyway, I have at least one dance class every day, which is really nice. My schedule isn't quite as conducive to naps as it was last semester, so I'm going to be really tired all the time this semester, but I'm still very much excited for it. Anyway, I just thought I would let you all know how much fun I'm having and how much I'm enjoying being so involved in dance. Aren't you jealous? :-P
Monday, January 11, 2010
A Much Needed Update
Wow, well, there has most definitely been an eventful month or so... Well first of all, for those of you who don't already know, I am once again single. When I made the decision to end it with Paula, over a month's worth of frustration, anxiety and a whole mess of other less-than-fun feelings all seemed to dissipate. I could go into a whole explanation of why I decided to break up with her, but I won't. Basically, we weren't nearly as right for each other as we thought. Most of the pain was dealing with crap before I decided to end it, but there was still frustration and annoyances after it was over. I wish I could say I was completely over everything, but I'm not completely over everything. The relationship, yes, I'm over that. It's just the residual junk that is inevitable when a relationship that close/intense ends. Whatever. Even with all of that staring in my face over Christmas break, I still enjoyed myself while I was at home. I got to see friends and family that I haven't seen for quite a while. I did come to the conclusion, though, that I don't want to go back to Missouri this summer. I love my family and my friends there, but there isn't enough there to warrant living at home all summer. And I'm probably not going to take any classes either, so I'm just going to be working early morning custodial, probably sleeping all afternoon and hanging out/partying all night! I'm really excited about it, but I still have a whole semester to enjoy before I get to the summer! And I really do think I'm going to enjoy this semester. I have 3 dance classes :-D all of which I'm really enjoying. Nancyann decided to add beginning tap at the same time as me too, so we now have two classes together. I'm excited. It's already been a lot of fun having her out here, even though we haven't really done much of anything yet. We are planning on doing a double date this week or next and I'll probably just set her up with one of my friends. As I was thinking about who I could set her up with, I realized that almost all of my really close friends are either dating someone or are girls... I do have a few people I could set her up with, but really, almost all of my really close friends are girls. Anyway.
So I went on my first date in a long time on Saturday. I took one of my really good friends from work. She's in a beginning clogging class and we both had to go to a percussive dance performance. Well, there was one not too far away on Saturday, so I went over to her place and we walked to the theater. It was a really fun performance, we both really enjoyed it. After the show, we walked back to her place, had some hot chocolate to warm up and talked for about an hour. Then I headed home. It was just really simple, but it was a lot of fun. Like I said though, now I just need to figure out who I'm going to set Nanc up with and who I'm going to go with for our double date we are planning... Hum.... I'll attempt to be better about updating my blog this semester... No promises though, I know myself too well :-D. Anyway, I'm hungry. I'm going to go get myself some lunch or something. Later!
So I went on my first date in a long time on Saturday. I took one of my really good friends from work. She's in a beginning clogging class and we both had to go to a percussive dance performance. Well, there was one not too far away on Saturday, so I went over to her place and we walked to the theater. It was a really fun performance, we both really enjoyed it. After the show, we walked back to her place, had some hot chocolate to warm up and talked for about an hour. Then I headed home. It was just really simple, but it was a lot of fun. Like I said though, now I just need to figure out who I'm going to set Nanc up with and who I'm going to go with for our double date we are planning... Hum.... I'll attempt to be better about updating my blog this semester... No promises though, I know myself too well :-D. Anyway, I'm hungry. I'm going to go get myself some lunch or something. Later!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Where Can I Turn for Peace Hymn # 129
Where can I turn for peace
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?
Where, when my anching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.
He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.
Where is my solace
When other sources cease to make me whole?
When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice,
I draw myself apart,
Searching my soul?
Where, when my anching grows,
Where, when I languish,
Where, in my need to know, where can I run?
Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish?
Who, who can understand?
He, only One.
He answers privately,
Reaches my reaching
In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend.
Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching.
Constant he is and kind,
Love without end.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Christmas Around the World
Well, As a few of you know, I've been involved with BYU's Folk Dance program all year. It's really been a lot of fun. Well, every December BYU has a program called Christmas Around the World. It's a big dance concert centered around Christmas and how it's celebrated around the world. This year is the 50th anniversary of the program so they are making a big deal out of all of it. So that means I have been rather busy with all of that. The performances are the first week in December, which is right after I get back from Thanksgiving break. So if anyone happens to be in Provo that weekend, you aught to see if you can get tickets to the show! Grant it, the cheapest tickets are like $12 and they go up from there. Also, they've been on sale for a while so I'm not sure exactly what all is left. At any rate, we had a performance last night at some 5 stake youth activity not too far from here. As part of the activity, we performed almost all of our dances that we have learned this year. So we got to perform the dance we are doing for Christmas Around the World. We are doing a Scottish dance, which means that we got all dressed up in traditional Scottish garb. So I got a picture of me in my kilt. It's great! I just thought I would share the picture and without a little bit of background the picture doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
想爷爷奶奶的家
I know that most of you who read my blog can't read Chinese, but whatever. We had an assignment in my Chinese class to write a short essay about a place that we love. No surprise for those who know me, I wrote about Grandma and Grandpa Adams' house. Perhaps I'll get around to posting an English translation of this within the next few days, perhaps not. Well, without further adieu...
想爷爷奶奶的家
假设你问我世界上最美的地方在何处，我只有一个地方可以提出：我爷爷奶奶的家。父母亲的家离爷爷奶奶不远，开车几分钟就到。小时候我们经常去看他们。无论是谁，大人好，小朋友也好，大家都特别喜爱拜访爷爷奶奶。
他们的农场有田，树林，山丘，一个水池，独木舟，和一个瀑布。夏天我们小孩玩得超开心。一整天躲在树林中跑来跑去。偶尔爬一棵树，偶尔建一个小堡垒。天气特别热时，我们去水池玩水或划独木舟。天黑了以后大家一起去瀑布旁边的壁炉烤肉。 没有云的话什么星座都可以看得很清楚，连银河都很明亮。
随着季节的变化，爷爷奶奶家的美也有所变。秋天来的时候整个树林的叶子便彩色，就像树林起了火似的。冬天带来雪。树林变成一个冬天奇景。春天让雪溶化，整个树林重生。夏天之绿战胜冬天之百。我期待回到那个叫做‘爷爷奶奶家’的天堂。
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