Two cool things to report:

1. I had an interview for a youth pastor position at a church in Orange today and it went amazingly well. I'm headed back there next week to meet with the youth and the parents. There's only one other candidate for the job. This would seriously be amazing if I get it. It's a great church, I'd have a lot of freedom, the pay and benefits are great, and it's in a great neighborhood. So yeah, I hope I get that job.
2. My mom and I figured out a way to go to my brother's graduation at Berkeley this weekend. I'm taking the train up on Friday morning and coming back on Monday. I'm super excited to see my family again! It will also be nice spending the weekend in the Bay Area. Woo-hoo!

Millions

Saw this one last weekend. First movie I've seen at a theatre since "Saved." I give it a thumbs up. Very sweet and funny, but also smart and often beautiful to look at. Alexander Nathan Etel plays the main character and he is excellent. He's just adorable but never overly cute and he always seems to have so much going on in his head that he's absorbing to watch. Not the most fascinating story and parts of it didn't make much sense, but the characters and the visuals are great.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The latest book club installment. Interesting story and commentary on Soviet-style communism and totalitarianism, but I was a little disappointed. Don't know what I was expecting, but it just didn't reach out and grab me and pull me in. Probably a must read due to it's "classic" status but I'd recommend 1984 over this one.

Today's performance of Mozart's String Quartet in C Major, K.465 (very nice, by the way, and congratulations to graduating Anne-Marie for completing a difficult music/bio major combo!) made me think a lot about that age old question (in my mind, at least): what is the ultimate instrument or section of an orchestra? What emotes, what tells a story the best?

I play the piano. The benefit: I can play up to around eight notes simaltaneously, or hold some notes while playing others. The sustain & soft pedals are also a bonus.

But what is the piano missing? It can't slide from one note to another. No matter how hard I try to make a couple of measures of notes sound connected, my piano will never connect or slide along notes. I can't sound like that wailing clarinet at the beginning of Rhapsody in Blue. I can't emulate the streaming string section during everyone's part of that song. This is why one day I will eventually want to learn a stringed instrument. I feel like I'm being limited sometimes when I hear an orchestral version of a song I'm playing and realize that there's no way I can make the piano do what so many other instruments can do.

But when thinking about the ultimate instrument or group of instruments, I think the woodwind instruments eventually lose out for quality of tone. Percussion doesn't do it either. Brass is too.... brass.

I think it comes down to the strings. I'm not sure if I can narrow it from there. I'll have to think on it.

Link: http://withamightyhand.blogspot.com/

Hat tip to Jeri for finding this article stating that EVERY Wendy's location will be giving out free Frosty's this weekend. Sweet! And I mean, SWEET!

Geography Quizzes are my latest kill-time thing. Today I'm learning the Oceana area. It's difficult for me because of all those tiny little islands everywhere. I think I'll try to revisit this site at least once every couple of months to keep myself remembering where things are. It's been so long since I really studied geography (freshman year in high school) that there are some new countries for me to learn. :)

I just noticed that I missed the one-year anniversary of Kyle's Corner. My first post was May 9, 2004. I've learned a lot about the world of blogging since then, and even incorporated a blog into my classroom, something I want to continue in the future.

As the school year wraps up, I'd like to spend more time writing here. I used to have trouble finding things to write about. Now I have trouble finding time to write all the things I think of. I may have some more time over the summer, but I'll still have some busy periods. I'm working for Upward Bound in June, and I have to finish my portfolio/research for my master's in education degree. In the in-between times, expect to see a little bit more of my writing here than you have in the last few months.