La Guitarra Clasica

We found a bunch of ancient film the other day and had it developed.  This picture was taken in 2003- I was 13 or 14 when this recital took place; at this time I had probably been playing for about 5 years.   Brady and I began taking lessons at nearly the same time; our first teacher was Norma McNamara and she was the ultimate perfectionist.

Sometimes her perfectionism would drive me crazy because she'd drill certain things over and over and over again- I spent the first two months of lessons learning how to carry the guitar, walk to my chair, and sit in the correct position.  Last semester Brady and I played in the BYU classical guitar ensemble (he is majoring in music and is way good... probably the best guitarist at BYU)- we both owe Norma a HUGE thanks for demanding we learn everything correctly.  

When I heard some of the other guitar majors play in ensemble, I completely cringed! I am a biology major/music minor that practices a tiny-smidgen-of-a fraction of what the majors do, and have way better technique than some of them (not to toot my own horn). Technique in classical guitar- in any instrument- is vital.  The guitar majors may be able to play 20 min sonatas by big-whig composers, but what good is it if they don't sound good? 

I am not taking my guitar with me to Argentina...

Because I plan to buy another one!!!

There is a classical guitar shop in Buenos Aires that has been around since the late 1800s- I've heard that they made two guitars for Andres Segovia that he played on his Latin American tour (he's pretty much the father of classical guitar).  The guitar I'm playing in the picture above is the one I have to this day- it's a cedar guitar- I love this guitar and would die if I had to sell it. Though I love this guitar, I think it's time to buy a spruce guitar; spruce guitars have different sound qualities than cedar.  More on my next guitar purchase later...

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Happy Chinese New Year!

We had a fun night at the Rice King.  We certainly don't go there for cleanliness or service, but the food is pretty good.

"You Were Meant for Me, and I Was Meant for You..."

                 My Birkenstocks came back from the shoe-shop today and are as good as NEW...

  I was going through my tie-dye/rock- concert shirt and hightops phase when we moved to Malaysia.  At Dalat International School we had to wear school uniforms- other than rubber flip-flops not being allowed, shoes were fair game. Bright orange birkenstocks seemed the best way to "spice" up my look.

It turns out, my feet are meant for Birkenstocks!
  My foot is shaped exactly like footbed of a birkenstock...

...And my toes perfectly follow the curve of the shoe. 

La Princessa has a larger than average gap between her big toe and second toe...

 

I was bugging her for a picture and Chiquita was sure to mention that the right foot has more of a gap than the left- how she knows this I have no idea. Maybe it's because

My whole family is freakishly obsessed with feet and toes.  

(pedicures in the middle of winter? yes, we are obsessed with feet)

La Princessa- with her larger than average toe-gap is meant to wear flip-flops

And flip-flops were meant to be worn by her.

It must be what Jewel was talking about in that song... 

Too Much Time on My Hands...

Stay Tuned for the Next Installment...

Getting Ready To Go...

I started my blog a month ago so that I would be good and "practiced up" on the basics of blogging before my Big Trip!

It was close to this time last year that I was beginning to apply for the Patagonia PIRE (Partners for International Research and Education) program.  BYU has been developing international relationships with universities throughout Chile and Argentina- the Patagonia region- to learn more about phylogeography and speciation, and to give undergraduate students (like me) opportunities to get international research experience.

I applied for the program last winter, interviewed for it, and then didn't find out I was accepted until the last day of the semester (mid April).  I moved home once I found out I was accepted (to save money and because my famly is awesome), and took a required  preparatory class fall semester.  There was a cultural portion of the class, and a portion devoted to preparing a research proposal and learning more specifics about the PIRE project.  

I will be going to Cordoba with one other student- Amanda- who took the prep class with me last semester. 

After nearly a year of preparation, planning, and saving money, It's almost time to go! In less than two weeks I will be flying off to Argentina.

I bought my backpack this weekend at REI and got a really amazing deal.  

Amanda and I plan to take "small" weekend trips to nearby locations during the time we are supposed to be making scientific discoveries.  After we finish up our research (we constantly have to remind ourselves that's why we're going), we want to spend three weeks backpacking throughout Argentina and Chile.

We spent time throughout last semester looking through numerous travel guides that we checked out from the library.  We made our final decisions on the books we liked and we each purchased a book to take down with us (to plan our amazing backpacking trips).

• My Birkenstocks are in the shoe-shop getting a new cork bed/insole put in (can you be a true backpacker without Birkenstocks?)...
• My passport is back from the almighty passport people with new pages put in...
• My Ralph Lauren shorts that were only THREE DOLLARS a pair at Dillard's are out of storage...

Slowly but surely I'm getting ready...

I Hate Winter

Can you see the frost on the windshield?  It's one reason I don't like this season...

This righteous dude here is Antonio Vivaldi and I guess he was a fan of all Four Seasons...get it? (I know, I'm a dork).  The Utah Symphony was reduced to a chamber orchestra and tonight they played the Four Seasons, a set of Baroque violin conceros.  The best part about the reduced orchestra was that there were no flutes.  I don't know why, but I absolutely despise the flute; I'm sure a lot of fabulous people play the flute, but I still hate it.
It was a fantastic performance... but of course there were those people that wouldn't shut up -the kind that always seem to be seated next to you.
I was pleasantly suprised to see a harpsichord (baroque keyboard- like a piano but plucked not struck) as part of the Basso Continuo.  The basso continuo usually consists of a harpsichord and a few cellos and a bass, and is a key identifier of most Baroque music.  The basso continuo kind of keeps time- like the rhythm section of a jazz band; from what I recall of Music 101, the composer would write out the "chord progressions" and the basso continuo would kind of improvise- like a jazz band.

Isn't the Bass completely awesome?  I played the upright bass in my middle school orchestra; my kook-of-a-stand partner used to twirl her bass by its neck when the teacher was working with the violins.  By the looks of this guy's expression, I'm thinking maybe most bass players are eccentric?

(*Embarassing Story: so when you play the bass, you have to set the music stand up really high. One time during class a piece of sheet music floated off the music stand and to the ground... so I reached down to get it while propping my bass up with one hand- genius right?  Surely enough, the bass slipped right through my fingers and just about took out one of the cellos.  There was a loud, attention-getting WHACK, and then dead silence as everyone looked up to stare at me.  Needless to say, I wanted to crawl in a hole- especially since the freaking scroll (part with the pegs) broke off.  I wish I could tell you that this was the only bass that was ever damaged while in my posession, but then I'd be lying...)

You should check out Chiquita's blog...

(P.S. we ate at El Pollo Loco...you're all probably starting to think that I'm a little loco.)

Messy Person

Office...

Room...

Purse...

It's a wonder ANYTHING gets done.

"I Got You Babes..."

My poor sisters are dealing with some stuff right now...

I really like this picture of La Princessa; I got a camera for Christmas a few years ago and was playing around with the different settings.  We drove from Penang to Kuala Lumpur that year and stayed overnight before our flight to Cambodia the next day.  As we were waiting in the lobby for my parents to check us in, I snapped this photo.  La Princessa is dealing with some stuff I won't mention here, but I want her to know "I Got You Babe..."

The Veg recently got her braces off and has the most beautiful smile.  Sadly the pain and hastle of maintaining that beautiful smile is not quite over with- she got her wisdom teeth out today and is totally miserable.  I want the Veg to know that I'll fetch pudding and yogurt and ice packs- whatever you want cause "I Got You Babe..."

New Year's Eve and The Magic Kingdom

My friend Joyce and I had a fun New Year's Eve at Provo's First Night; the greatest part was that it was inside at Provo Town Centre.  There were circus performers, oldies bands, singing contests, jazz bands, swing bands, and dancing; there was also a cool fireworks show at midnight. 

While listening to a fun jazz band outside of Dillard's, I couldn't help but notice the big red signs in the front window that said:

50% off all Permanent Markdowns

Needless to say, I went the next day because in my mind Dillard's is right up there with Disney Land as being one of the most magical places on earth.  I started in the shoe section- it was like a mad house with crazed women darting around and boxes of shoes piled up- this didn't deter me, I am an experienced shopper.  I asked Eddy, a nice sales associate to bring me these to try on... 

... and then couldn't leave without them when they fit.  As I was about to escape the shoe section and make my way to the purses, I saw these:

I took one of the display shoes over to the try-on-your-shoes chair, and it fit perfectly.  I went back to the display to get the other, and it had gone missing! To my dismay Eddy told me that the display shoes were the only ones left; she was so swamped with customers and told me that I would have better luck searching for the shoe then she would.  I can be quite tenacious when the mood strikes and a $15 pair of Converse put me in the mood.  It took at least 20 minutes searching high and low and a second trip back to the shoe department, but I found it! I don't really need anymore shoes, I might, MIGHT take one pair back.

My next exploit was a pair of Steve Madden glasses that were too good a deal to pass up...

...and an eggplant coat that was WAY, WAY too good a deal to pass up- never mind that I'm leaving for Argentina in a month and the last thing I need is another coat.

                                                               

                          (Too bad I don't look as good in it as the skinny model)

Overall, I think my shopping exploits are an auspicious sign that this will be a very good year...

Hope everyone out there has an awesome year in 2009!