Smatterings

Today I made a revolutionary discovery that will change my piano playing forever!  Well, I didn't figure it out on my own, Google taught me, but still.  The discovery is this: The correct way to play a downward gliss is with your THUMB.  I don't play glissandos (glissandi?) very often because they're painful haha but I've always used the knuckle at the base of my pointer finger.  Then today I was accompanying my sister and some of her friends singing You Can't Stop the Beat, and the choir director told me I should add in a gliss.  I was happy to oblige but after playing it about 10 times, I now have a slightly swollen knuckle with a large purple bruise.  Ouch.  The girls are performing their song in 3 days so I figured I should learn how to play a gliss properly, since I've never really been taught.  Using my thumb is not only (mostly) painless, but sounds better too!  Seriously, this makes me super excited.  I just love the piano.
For those of you wondering what a glissando is, here's a video with more glissandi than you could ever want.  Notice the thumb in the first clip??

Also, this week I went to the ENT (ear nose & throat doctor) to get checked out.  He looked at my vocal cords by sticking a flexible laryngoscope down my nose (way less unpleasant than it sounds!) and asked lots of questions.  And he gave me a clean bill of health!  My vocal cords looked healthy and everything else was good too.  Hooray!  I think God has finally healed me.  Hopefully I remember the lesson that my attitude does not depend on my health because my God is big and good.  Two medical statements: Flexible laryngoscopy is completely fine and not scary at all if you have a good doctor, so don't worry if you ever have to have it!  And if you ever need an ENT in Portland, go to Dr. Wesley Lewis at PDX ENT.  He was great and very knowledgeable!

In other news, I'm home now!  I have bade Michigan farewell until late August.  It's been interesting being home because after two years at school I have completely adjusted to my new life, and while being home in my town with my family is great, it's also kind of weird.  (Also, do the words "At Home in My Town" ring a bell for any of you?  If you've listened to Adventures in Odyssey, there are a few episodes when Odyssey is a finalist in a Best Small Town in America contest, At Home in My Town is the name of the show that documents the finalists and winner.)  Anyway.  I took about 4 days to get over jet lag, which is unusual for me.  It's only 3 hours behind and I usually adjust right away, besides a couple days of waking up early.  I get headaches (mild migraines) when I mess up my sleep schedule, which are more annoying than painful, but they make me irritable.  So I am very glad to be over that so I'm more tolerable to be around.  But that hasn't been the main part of my week.  I've been playing piano and singing, eating lots of good food with my family and that's been great, and having lots of goofy time with my sister, and good talks with my parents.  It's strange not to have schoolwork and a myriad of things vying for my attention all the time.  I can dig it.

The thing that I've been having a hard time with since coming home is spending regular time with God.  Especially now that I don't have school and my job hasn't started yet, I should have hours to give to him!  So why don't I?  I think part of the reason is that I am tired of the regular read-the-Bible-and-journal thing.  And while those things are good, and reading the Bible is super important to get to know God better, it's also good to mix it up.  I like going for walks and talking to God out loud--I'll have to do that more.  If any of you readers have ideas, please comment and let me know!  Also in regards to reading the Bible, I really need to spend time in the Word because I'm seeking God's will in an important area of my life and in order to hear what he wants, I need to just be with him and get to know him more.  Praying and asking for wisdom is good but it's not enough.  I love the New Testament so that's kind of my default but this semester I've been reading the Old Testament a lot more.  I read Ruth the other day and now I'm reading 1 Samuel.  I like reading the stories in the Bible.

One time I was talking to my dad about what to read in the Bible and how so often I just have no idea what to read.  His response was simple but memorable.  When I hang out with a friend, we talk about really random stuff.  Our families, movies, God, food, adventuring, music, pets, and many random anecdotes.  It doesn't matter what we talk about, we're still spending quality time together and getting to know each other.  It's the same with God!  The entire Bible is inspired by God, whether it's commands from John, or stories from Ruth, or promises from Psalms.  No matter what I read, I'm still giving God my time and getting to know him better!

"There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God."
1 Samuel 2:2