Our ever after is so happily we don't even DISAGREE--our opinions slash preferences . . . may DIFFER, but we defiantly don't disagree . . . we VARY.

Sometimes it's uncanny how similar Kevin and I are. Same major, same interests within the major, same interests in general (piano, reading, nerdy stuff, movies, etc.), similar senses of humor . . . we're even basically the same height.

But just when I start to fear that we're too much alike, we have conversations like the one we had yesterday:

*Lunch time*

Me: "Did you ever watch Fantasia?"

Kevin: "Parts of it. I could never make it through the whole thing."

Me: "Because of the dinosaurs? That was so boring! I mean, it was lame music and then a mud pit would bubble. I hated that part. I'd always skip it."

Kevin: "No, the part I couldn't stand was the Sugar Plum Fairy part."

Me: "What??? That was my favorite! The fairies, the dancing flowers . . . "
Kevin: "I thought the dancing flowers were stupid. Come to think of it, that was the part I always hated in Alice and Wonderland, too."

Me: "That was the only part I liked!!! I can't believe you didn't love those talking flowers."

Kevin: "I really didn't like them at all."

*Stunned silence*

Conclusion: We are not exactly the same. Shocking, huh? Who would've guessed I liked fairies and flowers more than Kevin? Oh well. At least we agree on the things that matter in life, like tacos and chocolate donuts.

A published post about publishing music

When I'm feeling especially nostalgic, I like to go through my folder in my mom's filing cabinet. It has the scribbles from preschool, the finger paintings from kindergarten, the calendars from first grade, and the thankful journal from third grade. But my favorite piece of paper in the folder has a bunch of lines and circles and an awkwardly formed "Fall in Love."

It's the transcription of my first composition, written in 1994. The words basically go like this: "Fall in love with everything. And this is what it is."

And then it stops. I remember why. Up til there, I just played the song with my right hand. But after that, I thought the song needed left hand too. Only problem was, I didn't know how to play with both hands at the same time. And so the song just ended since I didn't know where I could go with it given my limited ability.

Sixteen years later, I find myself running up against the same problem. I've written quite a few songs since then for Reflections, seminary, Freshman Ward Musical, and other purposes. Although these songs are finished, they might as well be as unfinished as "Fall in Love" because I haven't done anything with them.

And that's partially my fault. I was afraid of becoming a Composition major because (a) there's plenty of music out there, so my stuff would just be another pile of sheet music thrown into the melting pot of music, (b) I didn't want my "style" to be changed by a well-meaning professor who thought I needed more exciting rhythms, and (c) I didn't want anyone to criticize my music. In my mind, sharing my music with someone knowledgeable was like letting someone see into my soul. If they disdained my music, it was the same as disdaining my soul.

Since then, I've been able to counter some of these arguments. (a) I've done math and engineering research for about a year now, and when I get my papers published, they will just be other papers thrown into the melting pot of research. At least someone could get some enjoyment out of music I've written. (b) I'll admit it . . . my style isn't all it could be. Exposure to other music could expand my horizons. At any rate, I doubt it would hurt my style. (c) Like basically every other college student, I've had to do a lot of writing, which means I've had a lot of my writing torn apart. I'm finally realizing that if someone disdains my writing, they don't disdain my soul. The same thing probably applies to music.

While it's a bit late to become a composition major, I still think there's hope for me. I may not see Talitha cumi on the 2012 EFY CD or make Mediocrity the theme song of incoming freshmen, but it's still possible to achieve my childhood dream of getting a song published.

At least, it's worth a try.

Adventures in Provo

I've taken to reading people's blogs recently. And it seems like everyone is somewhere "cool," be it Cambridge, Taiwan, Austin, Arkansas, Philadelphia, South Africa, or Uganda.

Well, not to make anyone jealous or anything, but Provo is waaaaay more exciting than any of those places. Yeah, you might have seen a penguin the other day, but I saw a robin. A real, live robin. And although getting lost in London is exciting, I get lost in my church building just about every week. It's that complex.

In all seriousness, though, Provo is a fun place to spend a summer. Granted, it's boring enough that I have time to read everyone's blogs, but we've still managed to have a good summer.

Here are some of the adventures we've had since we got married:

~Cooking. We have had lots of fun looking through all the cookbooks we received for our wedding and experimenting. In the process, we've learned some valuable life lessons:

--don't leave butter on the stove when something is in the oven

--don't leave a cookbook on the stove, particularly on a burner that's on. Oh well. The charred-on concentric circles will make a great story for the kids

--don't melt chocolate kisses in a pot. The pot still has little kiss-sized circles burned on.

I guess the moral of the story is this: Don't use the stove at all.

~Piano. Fortunately, we haven't had any mishaps with the piano like we have had with the stove. It has been such a huge blessing to have the piano. We checked out the Liszt Rhapsody #2 duet from the HBLL and it has been a blast. I'd say it ranks up there with Sleigh Ride, the Sugar-Plum Fairy, and Heart and Soul. Besides being able to play duets, it's just been nice to have it there. If Kevin wants to play the Revolutionary Etude or I want to muddle through Liebstraum, we can just turn the piano on and practice. It's also helped reawaken some of my creativity, for better or for worse. Poor neighbors.

~Squaw Peak. This has probably been our biggest adventure yet. Especially since it hasn't happened yet. It always begins the same way.

"We should hike Squaw Peak."

"Yeah. Do you want to try for this Saturday?"

"Sounds good to me."

. . . . then Friday comes. "I bet it's going to rain tomorrow."
"You're probably right."

. . . . then Saturday. "Um, it's raining, and we can't even see the mountains for all the clouds."

"Well, that's lame. We'll try again another time."

And so it goes. I'm sure if we ever get to hike Squaw Peak, it will be epic. But in the meantime, we'll be super busy having crazy awesome adventures.

(Note: I apologize for the roughness of this post. It's been a while since I've written. I promise later posts will be more interesting.)