I'll Be What You Want Me To Be

So I haven't written in this blog for quite a while. Since February, about. And in a little change of pace, I'm going to save the "this is what I've been doing in my life" rambly post for a little later (hopefully not too much later, I do have a dismal memory and I might keep forgetting memories of Winter Semester at BYU...), and I'm going to make a post a little reminiscent of what my friend Beth Root is doing over at her wonderful blog. Hopefully I can write something half as good and inspiring as she does. Well, here goes...

Today (Sunday, the 18th), I played the organ in Sacrament meeting for the fifth time. That's right, I got home from college...and got called as the ward organist. My first Sunday back, my Bishop called out to me in the chapel after Sacrament meeting and had a little talk with me. I noticed that Sister Fitzhugh, a wonderful lady in our ward who has years of experience with the organ (and I believe piano as well), and used to be the stake music coordinator, was with him. I didn't have much time to process that before he asked me if I knew how to play the organ...and after I answered that I didn't, he told me that Sister Hart, the then-current organist, was moving, and that he'd like me to take lessons with Sister Fitzhugh...and then call me as the ward organist. I was kind of surprised (OK, understatement, I was pretty dang surprised...). I expected to be called as a Primary teacher, or a member of the Activities Committee, or some similar calling that's usually given to college students home for the summer. Don't get me wrong, it was a bit exciting (I mean, there's only a few music-y callings in every ward, and here was the Bishop offering me one of them), but I kept thinking at first, "Me? Playing the organ? In front of the whole ward?" and stuff like that.

It got kind of worse when I had my first lesson with Sister Fitzhugh...it went pretty well, but I was definitely not playing up to Sacrament meeting level my first time. I didn't quite feel discouraged, but I wondered how I could ever be good enough to play for the whole ward every week. I also kind of wondered if I'd be able to handle this calling. But every time I had doubts creep up like that...first, I took time to breathe, and then I remembered my previous calling. At BYU, I got called as the Priesthood chorister and music coordinator. You may think, "Oh, Brandon loves music. Being a chorister is an awesome choice for him!" Well, that's not very accurate...you see, when Bishop Whitchurch extended that calling to me, I was kind of worried. I've never been that great at leading music...I always couldn't keep the rhythm too well, and in previous instances I had to conduct like Seminary Conference and the occasional Priesthood meeting in my home ward, it usually ended in disaster/me looking like a malfunctioning robot. :) I told the Bishop that I accepted my calling, but just like my initial thoughts with the organ, I thought I wouldn't be good enough, and even had thoughts that I'd rather be the ward pianist or something. I didn't really feel comfortable with it at all. Well, obviously I still went along with it...and the next Sunday, I was set apart after Elder's Quorum in my calling (after a not-TOO-terrible first time leading the music in Priesthood). And that's where my doubts all went away. (Some of them returned briefly every so often, but they never stayed long, and that's not the point. :) ) Having Priesthood leaders laying their hands on my head, and being set apart by God to perform a calling in His Church...it was just an amazing feeling, and I just knew afterwards that however uncomfortable I might be with my new calling, it would be alright, and I would be able to handle it and do my best.

Well, I actually didn't get set apart as the organist until last week, so I can't say the same exact experience happened with this calling. But I remembered the experiences I had as a reluctant chorister (I grew to love the calling...and I got to pick the hymns, which if any of you know me is something I love to do, moo hu ha ha ha :D), and that, along with remembering just who I was called by (our Heavenly Father) has helped me feel better about playing the organ every week. I definitely haven't been perfect (there's wrong notes all the time, and then last week I overslept, barely got to church by nine, and nearly missed playing the opening hymn...oh, did I mention the stake president and a billion people were there because it was someone's farewell? :) ), but I've been able to get through every single hymn (even the National Anthem, which I was worried about), I've (hopefully) been able to bring the Spirit, and I feel confident that I've given my best every week. I still have room to improve (and I still have yet to use those dastardly foot pedals), but I know I can do it with my Heavenly Father's help. :)

And before I go/end this post, I'd like to switch gears briefly and bear my testimony of the Priesthood. I had the opportunity to be ordained as an Elder last week, and it was a wonderful experience. My dad was able to ordain me, and in my opinion, if you didn't feel the Spirit in that room as he did so, you're crazy. :) I have a testimony of the power of the Priesthood, that it guides our church, and that it has been ordained upon the earth by our Father in Heaven. It is the greatest privilege for me to able to hold it, and I will always strive to stay worthy of it. Always. :)

I've Been A Long Time Gone...Part 2: New Soul

A cheesy song reference? (Sorry, I couldn't come up with anything adequate that was related to BYU, mountains, Utah, or school. :D) A "part 2" that's basically a hapless attempt at organization? A bunch of rambling words that make you wonder when crazy Brandon will stop typing nonsense? All this and more should tell you one thing...it's time for another blog post! :)

• When we last left our heroes (AKA when I finished the last blog post about myself, you can decide whether or not I can be classified as a hero...if I am one, though, I want to be "SUP...................er Grover!" :D) ANYways...I had just gone on our epic semi-family road trip to Spokane and back. (By the way, the trip back was nice and fairly quiet. I can't remember if my dad got stopped by the police on the way back or the way there...lol, that's a long story I won't go into here... :D) It was early August--and well, if you remember my previous posts, I had online classes to finish. The less said about that whole thing, the better. Same with the days running up to BYU...let's just skip to August 31st, shall we?
• So now we find me at BYU. (Don't ask how. The story is incredibly awkward.) (And is that even proper grammar? If it isn't, feel free to shame me. :D)  This is going to be a very brief recap...dang it, this is what happens when I procrastinate, I have to find an engaging and efficient way to talk about a whole dang semester of college (and it's my first semester, too)...you know what, I'll just give the Reader's Digest version, and then anything else you blog readers would like to know, post a comment. :D
• I've made lots of cool friends. (BYU + you = a social life. It's like impossible not to find something fun to do at least every so often here, and if you try even a little bit, you'll find LOTS of fun stuff to do. With people. Sometimes people you don't know. :) ) My classes last semester were nice--EXCEPT FOR PHYSICAL SCIENCE. As for grades...another thing I'm not at liberty to discuss. Except for that I got an A in Jazz Voices and Men's Chorus, and a B+ in voice lessons and Book of Mormon (the second half, I took the first in Institute). That's all I'll say. (As for classes, I also took Old Testament, History Since 1877, Intro to International Relations--a class & professor I highly recommend, Dr. Hudson is a brilliant woman and a terrific teacher.) Men's Chorus, which I am also in this semester, is an absolute BLAST. Sister Hall is truly amazing...she's SO MUCH fun, and she really knows how to make all 186 of us crazy college guys sound good. And she's Welsh! Epic win. :) It would have been worth it to come to BYU just for being able to sing in a choir directed by her alone. And Jazz Voices is a great experience. There's a few less people in it than Men's Chorus...as in, 170 less :D ...but it's still terrific, and I love singing in a jazz choir. In other words...BYU's music and choral programs rock. Forever. :D
• Speaking of music...and jazz...and BYU...and the music program (OK, I'll stop this mishegas :D)...I've changed my major. As most of you know, I was originally planning to do Jazz Studies--but I sent off an email to the director of the Jazz Studies program, Dr. Ammons, about a month ago, and he broke me the news I had kind of been expecting/told about already, that the vocal emphasis for Jazz Studies here at BYU doesn't currently exist. The old vocal jazz professor, Kelly Eisenhour, left two years ago, and since BYU instituted a hiring freeze, they haven't been able to replace her. Add to that the fact that they're restructuring the entire major...and yeah, it's not really an option for me right now, unfortunately. Good news? I switched to Media Music, which I can basically turn into Jazz Studies, with a few differences...the Media Music major is primarily designed for those wanting to go into contemporary music, mostly songwriting, producing, etc. But it's also very flexible in terms of what classes you can fulfill the requirements with...and there's a lot of jazz classes available. (At least, more than I thought there would be.) So while I'm bummed about no Jazz Studies for now, Media Music is a great second option. I'm currently waiting to hear about whether I made it in or not (I auditioned for the second time just two weeks or so ago), and I hope I do. (I also continued my tradition of forgetting/flubbing words in college auditions--last year, I had to start "It Don't Mean A Thing" over because I couldn't remember the starting verse for the life of me, and this year, I sang the wrong words in "I Get A Kick Out of You" twice, and plumb forgot them for a few seconds at one point--but it still went very well. :) )

And as for this semester...I'll leave that little puppy for Part III. For now...I need to actually be responsible or something. :D Cheese out! :)

I've Been A Long Time Gone...Part I: My Last Summer

I actually met my goal of updating my blog today! This makes me very happy. But now...where the heck do I begin? :) It's only been...um...6 months since I updated. So not that much to talk about, right? OK, not fooling anyone there. Let's skip all the pleasantries (hey, guess the song references in the title and win a cookie! :D) and just get to the actual blog post...which I will most likely split into multiple pieces, so you won't be overloaded...and so you can read them at different times. Like this one now, the next one tomorrow, and so on. Or this one today, the next one in January 2017, and the third one sometime next century. Whatever floats your boat. :)

• I was originally going to make a whole mammoth post about my vacation (last summer...wow, it's been a while since I've blogged...), but now I'll just combine it into a bullet, devoid of pictures (which you can find rather easily on Facebook, if you want to see them). Let's see...we (meaning me, my dad, grandma, and Nate and Livi) went on an ultra-fun road trip through California and Oregon, to Spokane to visit my great-grandma and other family. We stopped in Sacramento the first night (that hotel was nice, and dinner was even better...oh, the joys of seafood :) ), which I found out later is where my roommate is from. (Small world...) Then we drove like crazy to the northern border of Oregon...it was a LONG car ride, folks...stopped by my aunt's house in Vancouver (Washington, if only it was Canada... :D), then drove about an hour (including a significant amount of time across the HUGE Astoria Bridge, partly covered by clouds, at NIGHT...the high part was scary, but then it sloped down and before we knew it, we were basically on the ocean, which was cool) to Long Beach (Washington, again...that state really needs to get creative with its names... :) ), where we...get this...got to stay in a lodge! It was kind of old (more like a hotel room), and Internet/cell phone access was basically nonexistent, but it's the freaking BEACH...it was wonderful. :) (Thanks to my Aunt Katie and Uncle Dan for letting us stay there.) We could just walk out onto the patio, and go down the path, and there was the ocean. Yep. I love the ocean. :)
• New bullet! But same subject. (I didn't want to make a bullet that would take the whole page...I'm not THAT disorganized... :D) Anything else about the lovely 2 days we spent in Long Beach? We buried my dad and grandma. And the weather was beautiful. So after that...we drove to Seattle and spent two AWESOME hours there (Pike Place Market...amazing. I wanted to stay longer--and we found a cheese shop across the street! Their "signature" cheese was kind of sharp, but good...and Ivar's is the most delicious seafood stand I have ever eaten from. EVER.), before we had to fight the horrendous traffic to get back on the highway sometime that decade...then we drove some more (about 6 hours this time...which was, no joke, the shortest drive we ever had on that trip...) to Spokane. It was nice being back--we went there about 5 years ago or so (dang, I had this figured out! I'm pretty sure it was 2005...), but this time we got to visit a lot of places close to our hearts (my grandma's old house, my dad's high school, etc.), and even better, we got to spend a lot of time with my Grandma Nana (that's what we call my great-grandma, she's 91), Grandpa Dick (great-uncle? or grand-uncle? help me out here...he's my grandma's brother), and "Auntie Sandra" (she's my great-aunt...or grand-aunt, dang it, she's my grandma's sister...and in our family, most of us kids call all our aunts "Auntie," even me still :D). Yay for family! My Grandma Nana is really sweet, and I hope I get the chance to see her again sometime soon.
• STILL the same subject. Maybe I will just make this a vacation post, who knows...we spent a few days in Spokane...we got to go to a family fun center, and we played minigolf (let it be known, minigolfing with 4 children under 10 and 3 under 7 is a pill and a half :D), bumper boats, and other sundry activities of fun and togetherness. :) We also visited with the Lynds and Turners, two excellent families who we are good friends with. (Cali Lynd, now Cali Walters, just got married...we came a week too early to be at her wedding, darn it...) And after about...3? 4? days in Spokane, we drove back...this time, we stopped at Tillamook in Oregon. Holy cow, that place was my dream...cheese and cows together. I almost died of excessive joy and happiness. :D We got lots of cheese samples, I got pictures with cows both inanimate and living (I even got to pet one! That's almost fulfilling my cow-hugging dream...), and we had ice cream at the end to top it all off. (Plus I got a shirt!) Of course, there was a catch...the road was so twisty out of Tillamook that my cheese samples, cheese curds, slices of cheese we had bought (oh, you bet we stocked up on Tillamook cheese :D) and ice cream ended up on the side of the highway (in fact, like 10 feet from someone's driveway, poor them... :D). I hate my motion sickness. Hate it, hate it, hate it. And so did the dairy products in my stomach that never even got a chance. :)

OK, I have indeed decided to cut this post short and start a new one posthaste. (Love that word! :) ) I'll keep you all POSTED...haha, that was a typically lame pun, as always...and for now, cheese out! :D

I WILL Update! (Tomorrow?)

I think people stopped reading this thing because they realized it wasn't going anywhere...and every time I look at it, I think, "I need to update my blog...I will..." and then weeks later, I go, "oh great, I didn't update it...I will update it soon!" and...yeah, you get the point. (The same goes for my DWTS/American Idol blog too. I still have a draft of a post from last week that's unfinished on there...) So guess what? Since I have a glorious 5-hour break from classes (as usual) tomorrow (it's Tuesday, but we have our Monday classes instead, because of NO SCHOOL TODAY! It was so nice...), I am making a goal to post like there's no tomorrow. It will probably be bloated, rambling, and full of bullets and crazy events that have happened--after all, I have a vacation and 4 1/2 months of my freshman year of college to tell you all about--but it will be a post, something I have not properly done in nearly half a year. So get ready for blogging from Brandon! Again! And not about one of two excellent reality shows that he really needs to stay caught up! Stay tuned. And cheese out. :)