Track State Championships

Yesterday, two friends and I went down to Shippensburg University to watch the first day of the PIAA Track and Field State Championships. We had plenty of fun watching every kind of event and seeing our friends kick ass on the track and elsewhere. (On that note, I super uber proud of all our runners and jumpers and throwers and pole vaulters who did so well!)

Here are four of our INCREDIBLE runners (in the red and black uniforms, center): Christina, Alexis, Lauren, and Morgan. Go Bloom! Woot!

BURRELL! That's our favorite teacher's name so Meghan and I had to get a picture with them, they both look really creeped out! XD

The ride home took about four hours, because we ended up missing an exit because some guy in a really messed up car cut us off, not five minutes later, he's somehow behind us! Later on traffic was backed up like crazy.... BUT it was fun! Life is an adventure! I can't wait!

As the school year ends...

I've been reflecting quite a bit, over the past two or three weeks, about this past school year (my sophomore year in high school), and what has changed in my life, in my school, in the community; how I feel about all what has happened and how I am different than I was when school started in August.
This past school year has been the most fun and most versatile, has held the most surprises and the most accomplishments, has brought the most satisfaction and, yet still, the most want. My sophomore year has brought about many changes in my life, both exterior and interior. I can honestly say, without a shadow of a doubt, that this year has been the best year of my life.

So many new people, new friends, new dreams, new goals, and new activities. I've made more new friends this year than any other two years combined, wonderful, kind, loving people who make my life complete! Getting to know these spectacular people has helped me to better understand myself and what I want. These friends have helped me to become more gracious, committed, and selfless, even if they don't know it.

To work with Evan, Sam, Meghan, Hugh and Andrea, putting together a performance of Windowsill for the Pops concert. To sing to cows across the road. To roll down the hill, as that's what hills were made for. To have to completely change our performance style and volume just hours before performance time. To watch Courtney in awe as she sang 'Danke Schoen'. To realize how wonderful life is, watching friends sing their hearts out, watching such incredible talent.

To dance and sing and joke and laugh at prom. To get a tuxedo that actually fit well. To dance with Hayley and Trevor. To see Riannon wear a dress for the first time. To have the most gorgeous date ever. To be a total grouchy pants at Ashley's house because I was tired. To learn that a certain person thinks I'm extremely annoying and can't stand me. To not care and think that was funny.

To play my first professional recital. To see so many lovely people there. To hug Dillon's grandmother, Aileen. To be so overjoyed that Walker's grandmother could make it. To see Elizabeth Dowd cry afterwards. To sign peoples programs by request. To raise twice our goal in donations.

To sit next to Matsha at the first home track meet. To make Molly and Cheyenne laugh with my ridiculous cheers. To get the worst sunburn of my life, and to have Mr. Coy inspect it under the stands. To go to Kaitlin's bonfire and have more people inspect it. To love red grapes too much. To walk around the infield and meet Majpup. To stand in the rain and cold for hours without a coat or umbrella at the last meet.

To have a 'Producer's' party without the movie's biggest fan. To love Trevs' expressions as he watched the movie. To watch Trevs set Andrea's porch on fire... actually, that never happened. To actually have fun playing Apples to Apples!

To stay at the school from 4:30-10:30 several days in a row for the Great Latsha and still have to juggle with homework and studying. To finally get to know people (whom I'd seen passing in the hallway for years) back stage. To realize that I simply must act in next year's production and the following! To paint mountains to go in a window. To break Meghan's heart by having to re-paint her clouds! To sing at Perkins with the cast and crew at 1:00 in the morning! To hold back tears during Green Room because I'm too proud to let people see me cry!

To go sledding with awesome people on a snow day. To slam a snowball into Meghan's eye. To have a snowball fight with Henry and Sam after endless hours of other snow activities. To play the piano for Walker's grandmother. To walk all the way down to the lagoon just so we could walk all the way up to 3rd street to sled down that big hill. To watch Amadeus with splendid dudes and dudettes. To wipe out every time I went down the big hill in the big toboggan, and look like a total fool. To help Walkman get out of the thorns at the bottom.

To have no clue why somebody said I look exactly like Paul. To wonder why Paul even came in the restaurant in the first place. To walk up third and fourth street after getting Chinese. To escort Walker to his house on that chilly night. To walk down 2nd street with two of my very bestest friends.

To be asked to go up to Phillips with the rest of the Oootm crew after practice. To realize I was just simply hanging out with people my age for the first time in my life. To invent the wink and the "Watch out!" as Meghan killed Courtney with an axe. To be asked to go to Denny's. To stay up until 3:00 in the morning writing a script we never used. To have the best friends in the world.

To realize how much I love life, how much I love Bloom, and how much I love my friends. They're all such wonderful people and have made this year an utter joy, and as this year ends, I leave it happier, with more confidence, higher hopes, and greater dreams, content in the knowledge that I have wonderful friends I can love and cherish.

Liturgy

It’s amazing how many different ways people find the faith, how many different ways people find God. Some go through a traumatic experience and find the refuge that is the church, some convert, some are convinced, and yet others are born into ‘the’ faith. I’m sure most of us know at least one person who has found Christ through one of these vehicles, but there is another way that is not quite as common: through liturgy. Some encounter the liturgy first, then discover faith.
I stumbled around many ideas. I raised Episcopalian, eventually I decided I didn’t believe in a God, then eventually I decided I really did believe in a God, started attending a Presbyterian Church, decided Anglo-Catholicism was for me, developed strong opinions, and now I simply cannot believe or comprehend that I could ever have once been an atheist (and a staunch one at that) for two and a half years!
The liturgy is what saved me from a self-serving life of ignorance and arrogance. I attended Solemn Mass one Sunday at the Church of the Advent (an Anglo-Catholic parish in Boston) and I was so fascinated with the liturgy that I had to learn more, my research on this officious liturgy led me to try to find and to search for understanding in what was behind the liturgy, the faith itself. I did such, and I am forever indebted to that wonderful Parish for saving me from a future I’m glad is no longer mine.
There many who claim that high liturgy is superficial, irrelevant, disconnected. Some even go far enough to call it idolization and paganism. They are very wrong.
I am disheartened by the immense lack of faith I see in so many congregations and parishes of all denominations. I’ve attended such empty worship services, devoid of anything remotely spiritual or divine. I’ve seen children confirmed and never attend church again thereafter. I’ve seen children graduate atheists from Catholic schools. I cry inside and I fear inside, not only for the ever unsure future of the church as an institution, but also for my neighbors, as the church, the faith provides an incredible structure in human life.
The church provides a structure for community; a structure for outreach and for inreach, for help and for refuge, for understanding and for thought, for friendship and for love. The church as an institution, is an incredible way for us as humans on Earth to live and to love as Christ wants us to, to live an to love as we must.
I truly believe that the disrespect and disregard for divine liturgy is one of the (many) causes for the recent unacceptable short fallings of the church, for the loss of membership, for the loss of faith, for the loss of commitment, for the loss of ministry. There is little faith to be found in most mainstream churches these days; I cry inside and fear inside because of it.
It makes no sense to attempt to understand the divine in an earthly manner, yet so many try. Why not try to understand and encounter(!) the divine in a divine manner? I should think that an obvious conclusion, but few see it.

One of the first steps to fixing our broken church, is by fixing the liturgy in our congregations, by restoring high liturgy, and by embracing the divine liturgy.
Peace and Prayers.

Poster for my first professional recital

Hi Everybody!

So things are great momentarily! I've just had a simply gorgeous poster designed by my friend Courtney, with photography courtesy of Mr. Bidleman. I couldn't have asked for a better design, it just so wonderful.

The background is a small portion of one of the BIG windows at the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg, where the recital will be. I would have never thought to use that part of that window in such a manner, total genius on the part of Courtney is you ask me. The way she worked the info into the grooves of the window, the way she used the four circles to fit in pictures of the console and me playing... all totally brilliant.

Even with such a burst of various colors and intensity, it still manages total simplicity in the presentation of the info an is incredibly easy to read. Fabulous!

I'm going to have fourteen of these posters up in my High School and twenty-five around town and in area churches. Quite exciting I'd say!

Destiny's Blog

This is the blog address of my friend Destiny. She and I have acted in BTE productions before and she's a fabulous actress and brighter than you could believe!
http://destinydeater.blogspot.com/

Life is great

Hello All! Recently everything has been going wonderfully for me and I just thought I'd share!

It's interesting, I always make an effort to be observant of all the seasonal changes, I think we can learn allot about life from them. As, recently, it has been changing from Winter into Spring, I am, as every year, full of joy for that reason in itself. We see from the dead, cold, and blankness of winter, emerging great life, color, vibrancy, and general vivaciousness when Spring arrives. Not only in nature do we experience these changes, but in people too. The seasonal changes affect our attitudes whether we realise it or not.
That being said, I'm delighted to find a wonderfully interesting anomaly in this particular change. I've always thought it a no-brainer that the change into Spring is by far the the most lively and flavorful, but above all, the most optimistic. At the same time, as it changes from a frigid Winter into a cheerful Spring, I find that there are many things unrelated to the seasons that are going so very right for me.

I am full of excitement and optimism! I am glad beyond glad to have been born when I was and to be who I am. I am blessed beyond blessed to find myself in the circumstances I do. I am grateful beyond grateful for the people I know and who surround me.

So what's up? What wonderous happenings have been a-happening?

1. I have scheduled my premier organ concert for Sunday the 25th of April, 2010 at 3:00 in the First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg! I will be playing a program of Bach, Franck, Boellmann, Messiaen, and MORE BACH! Addmission is free and it will be fantastic I know!

Below is a picture of th First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg, where my premier organ concert will be held.

2. In addition to my premier concert, I will be playing a 30 minute recital at Christ Church Cathedral in downtown Indianapolis as part of their weekly Friday afternoon organ series. It should be great fun as the church has an incredible music program and two incredible pipe organs: a 70 rank French-Romantic tracker by Hellmuth Wolf in the chancel, and a gorgeous 53 rank Baroque tracker by Taylor and Boody in the gallery. It should be great fun!

Below is a picture of Christ Church Cathedral, home to two large organs, and where I will be playing a recital in late June.

3. I will be attending a six day 'Pipe Organ Encounter' at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University at Bloomington. This is six days of residential organ camp on the Jacobs School of Music campus. There will be organ lessons galore from world class, and world renowned, organists and professors. Also, we will be playing various different instruments in Bloomington and Indianapolis, including the brand new 68 rank C.B. Fisk organ at the Jacobs School.

Below is a picture of the new Fisk recently installed.

In short, there are innumerable happenings a-happening and these just *happen* (hahaha) to be three I'm going to brag about. Life is great! Spring is great! Go outside and have fun!

I've been in plays before...

... but this one was different.
I've acted in four or five professional plays with the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble and in my 8th grade year, I played the main antagonist in my Middle School's play. I enjoyed all these experiences and cherished many memories from them. That being said, I also participated in my High School's 2010 production of 'The Sound of Music' which we closed just a few days ago, and this play far, far outshines the others in my mind. The interesting thing is, I didn't even act, I was on the tech crew, changing sets!
Something about the play, the story, the music, our cast, our crew, our directors, our dedication... all this made it so much more worth while and so much more touching.
I made new friends, Danielle and Ashley, and learned what the high school musical was all about. I had plenty of fun and there was goofing around at times, but I also accomplished a ton and felt fantastic about the work I'd completed. We started a new play tradition, backstage rubber band wars during intermission and before performances (one which had us in trouble when we were too loud!) which I'm sure we will continue for years to come. I saw wonderful actors and singers struggle with their roles a few months before performance time. I saw confusion and everything else that comes with learning, but what I didn't see was people giving up or giving anything less than their best. Because of this, we were able to put on an incredible show and I saw wonderful actors and singers play their parts perfectly when the big day came around and we performed in front of an audience of over 700. I could not possibly be more proud of every last member of our wonderful cast and crew. Great job to all!
After the last performance, we spent roughly two hours taking the set apart, which was very emotional for me, though I didn't show it. I took a picture of some of the screws which had held our set together. Many people cried for different reasons before, after, and even during the last performance, but it wasn't until the next day when I looked at this picture that I cried. There are great memories in these screws and they've had a huge impact on me.

Every second I spent in that auditorium with you lovely people was one I will never forget!
Endless thanks to Latsha, Kate, Mamma Yates, Danielle, Ashley, Zach, Trevs, and Darbs. I love you all so much!
AND MEGHAN ASHFORD, THANK YOU SO, SO, SOOO MUCH FOR CONVINCING ME TO JOIN PLAY!