A Few Quotes: Part 2

So today I'm continuing last Friday's post and I'll be giving you a few more quotes that I love!!! Most of these are from movies, but a few are from books and real life. 

“You cant be late until you show up”

"A good teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary." --Thomas Carruthers

"No more ryhming now and I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?" -- The Princess Bride 

"When all is said and done, more is said than done." 

"At any given moment, you are older than you have ever been." -- Michael Bechtel

"...if you are already treading water, it doesn't matter how deep the water is..." -- Michael Bechtel

"Are you so unobservant as not to have found out that sanity and happiness are an impossible combination?" -- Mark Twain

"The trouble with jogging is that by the time you realize your not in shape for it, it's too far to walk back."

"OK! No problem!" ... snap ... "PROBLEM!!!" -- Babar

"Talent only takes you so far..." - R. M.

"It's unfortunate that a hug doesn't solve all of life's problems." - R.M.

"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something." -- The Princess Bride

"Everyone has the ability of making someone happy, some by entering the room, others by leaving it." 


"You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles." -- The Princess Bride

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?" -- Dr. Seuss

"Whatever you are, be a good one." -- Abraham Lincoln 

"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." -- The Princess Bride

"You're never too old, too wacky, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." -- Dr. Suess

"What day is it?"

"It's today."

"My favorite day." -- Whinnie the Pooh

"Hold it, hold it. What is this? Are you trying to trick me? Where's the sports? Is this a kissing book?" -- The Princess Bride

"You know your in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." Dr. Suess 

"We are all a little weird and life's a little wierd, and when we find someone whos weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in a mutual weirdness and call it love." Dr. Suess 

Well, that's all for now!!! However, I know I could come up with a billion more. :) So here's some Piazzolla to make your day better!! :) 

Orchestra

So on Monday night I had an orchestra rehearsal. It started out with an awesome car ride with my brother and two awesome friends! It's so nice to talk to people who know your language. :) So after that awesome car ride we arrived at orchestra and we were pretty much 15 minutes early. So we sat around talking and playing spoons (or rather knives). Since there were only three of us that got rather boring rather quickly. So we watched Rebekah play solitaire and gave her all the best advice we knew how. Shortly after that rehearsal started.  We started with the Strauss Lightning and Thunder Polka.  That went pretty well, we actually legitimately made it through the piece and then we spot checked. After that we played the Bach piece, which was incredibly out of tune and at some parts sounded pretty awful. Then we played Roman Carnival Overture by H. Beriloz, ha ha, that was pretty terrible. Mr. Cibor (our conductor) worked very patiently with us, but we could all tell that he was getting frustrated. He told us that our playing was unacceptable. There was this really funny incident when all the seconds played a 'c' natural instead of a 'c' sharp, but the Mr. Cibor got mad and it wasn't funny anymore.  The best part of Monday night had to be the ride home!!!!  :D :D We had to drive my dad's Honda which isn't very big, believe it or not, short as I am, there wasn't enough room behind my dad's seat for my knees. :) However, Bekah and I talked the ENTIRE way home, and it was the bestest. It was the perfectest ending to my Monday night!!! 

So I will leave you with one of the pieces I just talked about: Roman Carnival Overture by H. Berlioz.

Prokofiev Violin Concerto #1

So today I'm going to tell you all about one of my most favoritest violin concertos!!! It is: Prokofiev Violin concerto No.1 in D, Op.19!!! It's really really amazing!!!! The first time I heard it was when my brother was told that he needed to learn a romantic concerto. He got many different recordings of many different concertos and it was a ton of fun listening to the different ones. (He ended up learning the Sibelius violin concerto, maybe I'll have to talk about that one next week!! :)) However I didn't like it when we were listening to it in the car!!! I can't believe it!! Later on though I was listening to it and I just fell in love with it!!! I listened to it every single day for a few months!!!  :) I don't do that so much anymore but I still love the concerto!!!

The first movement is awesome!!! Having some very melodious sections, it is in some ways epic, but it's a different kind of epic compared to the Mendelssohn Octet.  It has this amazing part in the middle of it where the soloist plucks a four note chord for 4 or so measures!!! There's also this one part where it's just glissando octaves!!! It's amazing!!!!!

Now the second movement... ahh!! I love this movement! I don't know why though! It has some really awesome parts that make me think "I want to play that!!!!" It's just really intense and amazing. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't have a good ending. It just goes up and ends. Other than that it's just awesome!

The third movement, which starts with a bassoon solo, is pretty cool as well. It has it's epic moments, but like the first movement it just kind of ends. You think "Oh. That was it? That was the end? Ok."  In spite of all that it's still cool, and I hope someday to learn it!!

It's just plain awesome and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!!!

A Few Quotes: Part One

So today, I'm going to share a few of my favorite quotes. These are from real life, movies, books, and just cool stuff that people said/wrote. :) (and yes, I have had an entire conversation made up entirely of movie quotes... ;):)

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife."  -Jane Austen

"He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless still dead." Annonymous

"I can't believe it's not butter!" 

"And besides, you'll need people of intelligence on this mission...quest...thing"
"Well that leaves you out Pip" - Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

"It's working!"
"I know it's working! Run!" - The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring

"Gentlemen, you will always remember this as the day when you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." - Jack Sparrow

"So I have made the decision to trust you."
"A horrible decision really." -Tangled

"Something has brought you here Flynn Rider. Call it what you will, Fate, Destiny..."
"A horse." -Tangled

"All the things we've seen and it's only 8 o'clock in the morning! Gentlemen this is going to be a very big day!" -Flynn Rider

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all." -Elizabeth Bennet 

"Uhh Boss where is his appendix exactly?" 
"Well, I think it is either on his right or his left side... we'll just cut open both sides..." -Appendicitis 

"Crowds are like tea..."
"No. Crowds are more like coffee..." -Melissa and Dad

"Just one day of my life I'd like to be as happy with the universe as the average labrador." - Ellie Withnall

"Sticking your foot farther into your mouth will not make it taste better..." - Anonymous

"Some sentimental attachments are important, however irrational..." -Anonymous

"If you've never felt like a marshmallow, then you don't know what true happiness feels like!" -Michael Bechtel

"Linux was not designed for non-geeks..." - Joyce Lin

"What if we all get caught and killed?"
"Yeah that would be a big problem." -National Treasure

"'Common Sense' how appropriate." -Abigail Chase


Since there are so many of them, you'll have get the rest of them next week!!!  Here's a song!!! :D

Chocolate Chip Cookies! :D

Today, I'm going to discuss Chocolate Chip Cookies, which are undoubtedly the best kind of cookies in the world. :) (and also a necessity for living!:))  However, as everyone knows, every chocolate chip cookie is different, and mine (if I dare say so myself) are the best!!! Do you need proof? Here's a picture: 

Indeed, it tastes much better than it looks. These cookies are the best, and no one can make them like I can! ;)(Ok, I know, I'm really proud of myself, but it's taken like 6 years to get to this point, I would either put in to much flour or not enough or make some other drastic mistake and they wouldn't be all that great... so it took a ton of practice to get them good!!!! :))  So now that your mouth is watering, I'll give you the recipe to try it for yourself!!!!!! :D


Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 lb. Butter room temperature    (which is also four sticks or two cups)
2 c. Dk. Brown Sugar
1 1/2 c. White Sugar 
4 T. Vanilla

3 Eggs

6  heaping cups flour
1 1/2 t. Salt
2 T. Baking Soda

4 c. chocolate chips

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the first four ingredients (the butter the sugars and the vanilla) on med. speed until mixed. Add Eggs. Beat in eggs on med. speed until batter is the proper consistency and color (it should be a light brown color) Mix dry ingredients together, add to mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the flour is mixed in. Add chocolate chips. Stir. Drop small ball shape pieces of dough on cookies sheets or baking stones. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool, and enjoy! 

Here's a song!!!! :D 

Mendelssohn Octet

So tonight, I want to talk about the Mendelssohn Octet. (Also known as, the mostest awesomest piece of chamber music ever.)  This piece is so epic I often find myself bursting with passion when I listen to it. (And despite what my sister says, it is not possible to listen to it with the volume not all the way up...) ;) I have had the fortunate experience of performing the fourth movement in a concert once! I must say it was one of the best experiences of my life!

The first movement is very soloistic for the first violin, but it's amazing... even if you don't play first... :) (which I never have.) The music soars and is just plain epic at the end.

The second movement is slow. It has some awesome viola parts!!! (I don't play viola either...) But the movement is pretty and flows really well into the third movement.

The third movement is basically impossible. When you play it you pretty much have to be perfect because if you get off, you'll never get back on. It's so hard to get all the rhythms and notes in the correct places... maybe if I tried playing it without the CD at performance tempo I wouldn't have so much trouble. :)

Now the fourth movement is beyond epic! Going at lightning fast speed with amazing melodies, I mean seriously what's not to like?? The end of the movement is just so perfect! I can't imagine what Mendelssohn thought when he finished writing it, did he write the last notes and think "Epic! The whole word is just in this piece." or did he just start writing another piece as soon as he was done. I'll never know, but I love this movement so much I'm leaving you with it :) I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!!!

Zucchini

So, it's Saturday and we're all still here so we can discuss zucchini bread!! :)

Zucchini is amazing! You can use it in all sorts of foods. My family likes to coat it in egg and bread crumbs and fry it!! (So good!) We also like to make a stir fry with it, mixing our homegrown tomatoes and homegrown spices in with it and serving it with noodles. Once we tried Chocolate Chip Cookies with it, but ahem, that didn't go over too well. All that being said, our favorite use of zucchini is making bread with it!!! It's absolutely delicious and we love it!!! Since our zucchini was late this year we haven't had it as much as we usually do, but I've started making it and everyone loves it.  Since we love it so much and want to have it all year long I'll be freezing some in the next week, and we'll have a few loaves of zucchini bread to eat on special occasions during the winter!!!  I wish I had a picture of zucchini bread to share, but, sadly, I don't.

Have a great weekend!!

Epic

Alas, it is only Thursday, that means there is another day of school before the weekend. Will we survive? I don't know, I'll have let you know if I do.

Since we've had this depressing news we'll have to discuss something to help us make it. What on earth could help???? Epicness.  Yes, that's a word. So how did I finish my school this morning and am now actually in semi-good-humor? I did something I learned from a relative of mine, after I finished one subject before I started the next I said "This is gonna be  Epic!" Believe it or not, it works!! For once, learning names and dates in History was actually interesting. I wouldn't say it was epic but it wasn't boring like it normally is.

However, epicness applies to much more than school. Just tell yourself "This is gonna be epic!" before you practice your scales, and guaranteed they'll be more enjoyable!

Epicness isn't just to make your day better though. There are tons of epic things in the world: mountains, music, books, Michael's favorite game, Mendelssohn Octet, my favorite shoes, Shostakovitch String Quartet #8, movie soundtracks, and a billion other things!!!! :)

Just remember: This is gonna be Epic!

I'm leaving you with some Pride and Prejudice epicness but due to some technical issues I'm having to just give you the link. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IISaqrS_XpQ

Growth

While I was practicing one day I remembered that my teacher had (the day before) corrected something that was wrong about what I was playing. So I tried what he told me to do. I changed the way I was practicing and by doing that I was able to fix the problem that he said was wrong.  Shortly after that I realized something very interesting.

As musicians we have private lessons every week, our teacher hears us play and he/she tells us what we can do better, and (if you have a good teacher) tells us how to make it better. So in our day to day practice we change what we're doing to fix the problem that our teacher pointed out to us. In that way we grow to be better musicians and play our music better.

Likewise, as Christians we go to church every week, we hear a sermon preached from the pages of scripture. This sermon is teaching what the Bible says and shows us how to live a more godly life. So in our lives the week following we should change the way we're living. We shouldn't leave the church building that Sunday and live our lives that next week exactly the same way we did before! We need to change the way our lives are, the way we do things, the way we treat other people and the way we commune with God.

But our growth shouldn't only be once a week, we should be changing on a day to day basis. As violinists, we practice every day.We don’t just go to our lessons once a week and expect to get better.  We have to make an effort daily to get better.  Striving for perfection. As Christians we read our Bibles every day, we study His word, enjoy His Creation. We are striving each day to become more Christlike. So every day we should be growing and changing. That is really how we improve our skills and become better Christians.

So in order to grow as musicians and Christians we need to change the way we live, the way we do things. Nothing will happen if we don't do anything different. We have to realize that in order to grow, and get better we have to practice right. This is how we get to be better musicians and to be better Christians.