End of the year!

Hey all,

Lots has happened in the last 2 months. What with salsa dancing and concerts galore, I haven't have a lot of time on my hands.

November 20 was our choir fundraiser for school where a bunch of people performed and it was a great night. Afterwards, some of us went out salsa dancing at a local club and it was a lot of fun. They have free lessons from 9:30-10pm and open the dance floor until about 1am. So much fun! I went a few times with my favourite Mexican, and a bunch of other friends and we tore up the dance floor. Possibly more dancing in the new year.
A week later, we had our school choir concert where I ended up with two solos and I was really happy about it. Apart from messing up on my first note, I think it went really well.

Our Christmas program for church was on the 13th and though we had a few people missing, we managed to pull it off wonderfully. We got lots of compliments on the performances and I was pretty happy with it. Last week we had the stake choral festival where I sang with the stake choir and my friend Jocelyn and I sang a duet. I was a good night. I then had a bunch of exams and lots of studying but I managed to somehow pull it off. I've passed all my classes for the semester and am looking forward to the new year!

I flew home from Alberta on the 23rd and got in in the evening. I almost missed my flight, what with the Christmas crowds at the airport, but thanks to a number of helpful strangers I managed to jump the line and get on my flight in time. Thank goodness. The next few days was spent baking, socializing, opening presents, eating and playing games with family and friends. It was some good times.









As for this week, it's the last few days of 2009 and I plan on spending it with my friends and family. I've got a number of new years resolutions that I need to keep and I am excited for the new start. I'm also planning to change the title and quote of my blog so keep posted!

Until next year!
-J

Halloween!!

Hey all,

Wow, it's been a while since my last post. I guess it's time for an update...as I'm procrastinating studying for my music history midterm, which is tomorrow. Ok, let's see...this past month has been quite eventful. I still don't have a job, so I'm freaking a little, but I'm hoping something will turn up soon, and I keep applying to job postings on Kajijii.

As for school, everything has been going really well. My voice lessons are going really awesome this year, so I'm really excited about that. I performed in Masterclass a week ago, the video is on facebook if you want to check it out. I'm getting more and more comfortable taking on the roles of the characters I am faced with in my songs. You can't see with this video, but the working video (that's too long to post on facebook) you can see me really getting into it and being the character, with encouragement from my audience and instructor.

I have only 2 midterms left, my aforementioned music history one tomorrow, and a conducting terminology one on Thursday. I'm not too worried about that one though. All it is is terms in French, German, and Italian and we have to translate them into English...and they're all music terms that we use on a regular basis, so it's pretty easy.

My social life has really taken off the past few weeks. I've gotten to know a bunch of new people and have been to many late-night parties and movie nights. We even held our own halloween party at our house this past Saturday and about 35 people showed up, so it was good! We had our friend DJ and everything so it was a lot of fun.



















As for church, I got called 2 weeks ago as the choir director! I'm really excited this time around, since my conducting class is actually helping me learn things I need to in order to direct the choir properly. I expected maybe 10-12 people to show up yesterday for our first practice, but I was pleastantly surprised when about 25 people showed up! We even have 8 basses! It's totally awesome. I love it. I'm really looking forward to starting Christmas music for our program in December, so we'll see how it goes! Hopefully I can keep people motivated to come.

That's pretty much it for now. I'll try to give another update soon, but we'll see!

Until next time,
-J

Semester One

Hey all,

So I've been in Lethbridge for almost 3 weeks now. I like my new roommates and we get along pretty well. The house here is great; nice and big and new so it's comfy. I'm only taking 5 classes this semester, so I have it a bit lighter than last year. I'm taking music history (final semester, thank goodness!!), studio (voice lessons), Conducting, Woodwind and string methods (I'm learning violin and flute!), and choir. They're all pretty good so far...except history but this is my last semester of it and I'm done forever! I really like learning how to play the violin. I've never played a string instrument before, so it's a challenge and it's fun!

There hasn't been much news in the church department...that is, we've had stake conference and the long-weekend so I don't really know who's in my ward or anything yet. Plus my records haven't officially been transferred so I can't get a calling...I don't know when that's going to happen. I hope soon.

I also went out about a week and a half ago and applied for a bunch of jobs...I haven't heard back yet, so I'm a bit anxious. I'm trying to be patient but I need something to fill my time and bring me $$$. That's pretty much all my news for now. I do miss Ottawa, but Lethbridge is only temporary, so I'll be back there soon enough.

Until next time,
-J

Round 2 of Lethbridge U

Hey all!
Just wanted to post an update before I head back out to Alberta. The summer has just flown by and I can't believe school starts in 10 days! It's crazy! So I started and finished renovating my bedroom and it looks great! I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I especially like the fact that I no longer have a nasty green carpet on my floor.

In other news, I'm moving into a new place in Lethbridge this year. A whole new set of 4 other girls, who I don't know, but it has like $100 cheaper rent than last year. I'm leaving this Saturday morning and starting the long 3-day drive out to Lethbridge. I'm not really looking forward to it, but it has to be done. On the bright side, my grandpa paid $1000 to repair my car so it can make the trip. The mechanic says that everything is running great and that it should go another 200,000kms before it dies. That's a relief! Maybe I'll even get the dented side door replaced eventually...

Any other news...oh, my last day of work is tomorrow! I'm sooooo happy. I'm ridiculously sick of Subway and will avoid it like the plague if I can in Lethbridge. I'm going job hunting my first week. Hopefully I'll be able to find something! If anyone knows of anything, please let me know!! :D Other than that, I'm getting my hair cut again tomorrow. I'm going short, so I'm a little scared, but excited too. I have so much packing to do and organizing, so I'd better get on it!

Until next time,
-J

Update of Sorts

Hey all,

So summer seems to be slipping by so fast! I can't believe there's only another month left before I head back to school. It seems so far away, yet so close at the same time. I finally found a place to live in lethbridge, so I'll be living with a different set of 4 girls this year. I'm excited and also nervous because I haven't met them before.

I'm in the process of renovating my room here in Ottawa. If any of you have seen it before, it was light and dark blue for many many years. I'm now updating to a more modern, yet feminine style. I'm going with white, a purpleish-pink, and grey. I'm really excited for it and I hope I can get it all done before the end of August. My friend from Lethbridge is coming to visit at the end of August and she's driving back out west with me (road trip!!).

In other news, I have my G-test tomorrow for my driver's license. If I fail this, I have to start all over from the beginning, so I'm really nervous. I'm taking in my grandpa's car too, so I don't have much experience driving it. We're going out early tomorrow, before the test, to practice and everything. Pray for me!! I really can't afford to fail this!

That's pretty much all there is to update. My life is pretty boring and normal, working at Subway and going to church. Not much else to report.

Until next time,
-J

Year of Change?

When I re-named my blog at the beginning of the year to "A Year of Change", I was looking forward and setting goals to change my life. I am only just beginning to see that change. A familiar quote comes to mind: "Be the change you want to see in the world". It is quite ambitious to think that one person can help to change the world, but as others see you try, and notice your light and dedication to your cause, they may decide that they can change it too.

I get so frustrated by John Meyer's song "waiting on the world to change" because the rising generation are the people who can actually help to make a difference! We have that power! It has become common in the public eye to have tv shows, movies, pictures, music and books which have inappropriate subject content, namely some type of pornography. The change I am proposing is to try to cut back, if not eliminate the explicit media you are exposed to. If you do not feel comfortable, if you do not feel uplifted by something you read, listen to, or watch, then chances are, it is not good for you.

Our Sunday school lesson and one person's testimony touched on this yesterday at church and it got me thinking. What kinds of media am I exposing myself to? What am I reading or watching and how is it affecting me? When I started to think about these things, there were a number of songs, movies/tv shows, and books that I know I should not be reading. We have been de-sensitized and it may feel like a type of sacrifice to cut these things back from our lives. I am sincerely going to try, because I believe it can help change me, and maybe help change someone else too with my example.

To some, this may seem like such a small act, but by removing these harmful influences in our lives, we can feel uplifted, enriched, and blessed by the more positive things we find to fill our time. Our spirits and minds will be more open to inspiration and the "stage of our mind" will be occupied with the things of the Lord and not the things of the world. I hope you can take this challenge with me, and if you are already trying or have mastered this in your own life, I congradulate you!

Until next time,
-J

Summer Time!

Hey all,

So I know it's been a REALLY long time since I last wrote, but I've been busy. I'm glad to say that after all the stress and craziness of finals that I passed all of my classes. :D The UofL singers went on a choir tour throughout Alberta and we had some pretty fun times, including visiting the music museaum in Calgary, eating at a really nice Indian food restaurant in Edmonton, spending 4 hours in the bus because it broke down on the way to Lake Louise, harmonizing Gospel music in the pool in Banff, and everyone getting sick and hoping it wasn't H1N1. Overall, some good times.

After the choir trip, I started the 3-Day treck back to Ottawa. Somehow my little car made it back again with no problems along the way. Thank you Honda. I'm now back in Ottawa and have been home almost a month (where does the time go?!). I'm working at the Subways here that I work at all last year and making good money. Minimum wage has gone up to $9.50/h and it's sweet.

We also have done a bunch of renovations on our house so it's finally starting to look like it belongs in the 21st century. That's pretty much all to update right now, nothing really exciting going on in my life.

Until next time,
-J

Update

Hey all,

So this is a short update. School is continuing to go well. I'm back working at Subway and it's a dull as ever. I bought a new computer yesterday (finally) and it's great so far. It takes some getting used to with Vista, but that's ok. It's not as bad as everyone made it out to be. Church is also going well. I'm planning a big Enrichment celebration for the Relief Society anniversary next month, so that will be lots of fun. Hope all is well with everyone and hopefully I'll have more to report soon!

Until next time,
J

New Semester

Hey all,

Just a short update on the new year. So far things have been going pretty well, other than getting bronchitus, but that's almost past now. I've started classes, and most are the same as last semester, just the next section of it. I now have voice studio II, music theory IV, music history IV, Musicianship skills IV, U of L singers, and intro to Computer Science. At the end of this semester, I never have to take musicianship again, and I only have one semester left of history and theory, woo!

I'm taking computer science because for our degree, we need some science and/or social science classes, and this was the only one that really fit in my schedule, and also, I didn't really want to take psychology or women's studies. It's so easy, I don't really know what to do with myself. So far, we've learned how to create a folder inside of another folder on the computer. Fascinating, really. Apparently we're supposed to learn how to create websites and stuff later on, so I'm looking forward to that, but for now it's total dullsville.

As for work, I'm now back at Subway working Thursday to Saturday evenings and it's actually not too bad. Hopefully it won't become too stressful. That's pretty much all for now, but I'll keep you posted!

Until next time,
-J

Change

Hey all,

Some of you may have noticed a change to both the title and layout of my blog. I've decided that this year, 2009, will be my year of change. I was inspired by President Thomas S. Monson's talk "Finding Joy in the Journey" from this past general conference.
(http://lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-26,00.html)

He quotes the familiar adage "nothing is as constant as change". I loved this quote because it is 100% true. This inspired me to find other quotes on change:

"Butterflies are God's way of saying change is beautiful"

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves."
~Victor Frankl

"Change is inevitable - except from a vending machine." ~Robert C. Gallagher

"They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom." ~Confucius

"Continuity gives us roots; change gives us branches, letting us stretch and grow and reach new heights." ~Pauline R. Kezer

"Our only security is our ability to change." ~John Lilly

I want you to seriously think about these quotes for a minute. Those who fear change are only fearing growth and new situations that bring with them all new opportunities to find joy and happiness in the journey. I like the quote by Confucious, because what it's basically saying is that what makes us happy today, may not make us happy tomorrow. Our interests change an evolve as the world around us changes and evolves.

Some of us may complain about being in "a rut" because what used to make them happy doesn't any more. That may not necessarily be because they don't enjoy that activity, but we as human beings, need change in our lives in order to stay motivated and to grow. When we do the same activities day after day, they become monotonous and meaningless as times goes on (for most people). By changing how you do something or when you do it in a day, though it is a small change, it can make all the difference.

What I'm trying to say by all of this is simply, change is a good thing. If it weren't for change, we would never be able to be better in our lives. We'd never be able to progress or learn new things that make our lives more interesting. I like the last quote also, "our only security is our ability to change". Because of my ability to change, I've been able to become someone completely different, in action and thought, in the last year. All of that I attribute to my Saviour for the Atonement and for the love He's showed me.

As my faith in the Gospel and in the Lord grows, so does my ability to love others. My ability to see blessings in the midst of trials grows also, and I begin to have a gimpse of that perfect love that the Saviour has for us. It is an amazing thing.

The advice I give to you all this year is to embrace change. If you're unhappy with how things are going, do something about it! Don't put it off and wait for the "right time" because you'll soon find that that time never really comes. Take action, make changes, and do what will make you happy in this life. That is what this time is for. My new year's resolution: make positive changes that will make me a happier person.

Until next time,
-J

Sorry for the Delay!

Hey all,

So, much has happened since November, including a birthday party, exams, 2 car accidents, Christmas and New Year's. That's a lot of ground to cover. First off, there was Nath and Mike's birthday party in Medicine Hat. We had cake and presents and Sali even made a pinata for us to break. We had a lot of fun with that.

Next, was exams. I was studying like mad, trying to get everything together, and apparently I did because I passed everything with pretty good marks. Thank goodness for that. I finished my exams on the 16th and at 5:50am on the 17th I flew home. The next 2 weeks flew by in a flurry of work, baking, parties and fun.

From the moment I got home, I had a million things to do. My mom had purchased a big screen tv and hadn't hooked it up yet, because she didn't know how. That was my first project. Then there was the baking. I sort of roped my friend Joe and his friend Marly into helping me with my holiday baking. In about 5 hours we made 2 batches of shortbread and 2 amazingly awesome New York style cheesecakes (which I'd never made before). The day after that I made another batch of shortbread, butter tarts and sugar pie.

Then Christmas came along, all too quickly, and we had presents, food, and time with family for the next few days. It was really awesome. Throughout all of this I was working for my previous bosses at Subway just to earn a little extra cash to cover expenses. It's a good thing I did, because in the past month I got in 2 separate car accidents. One in Lethbridge and one in Ottawa.

The one in Lethbridge was not my fault, but my car is basically a write-off. We're not sure what the insurance company is doing about it, since it was the holidays and no one was working. The second one only happened 2 days ago. I was in Ottawa on my way to work and driving my sister's car, when the guy in front of me (who was lost) decided he was going to turn into a parking lot to the right. The sun was shining on the back of his car, so I couldn't see his brake lights, and he put his signal light on at the last second, which was too late for me to stop, and I slammed on my brakes and rammed right into the back of his car.

Both my airbags deployed and I got severe whiplash, but thankfully the Lord watched over me and it wasn't something more serious. My sister's car was also a write-off, but she didn't have collision insurance for it, so we get nothing. That being said, I have to start working again so that I can help her pay for a new car. I'm going to talk to my old boss (the Subway nazi!!) and ask if I can start working there again. Hopefully I'll be able to manage my schedule!

Anyway, I got back to Lethbridge yesterday and have basically spent most of my time sleeping and trying to rid myself of this cold I got in Ottawa. My roommates get home tomorrow and I start classes again on Wednesday. It should be fun. Wish me luck!

Until next time,

-J