What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?....

Hello again, constant reader. It is now the end of December, Christmas has come and gone and we are now facing a new year yet again. Lots of things have happened, let's start from where we left off. My last twitterpated post was funny to me, since really not much has progressed in that relationship very much, but we seem to like each other and she has agreed to another date with me (this would make #4) so I think it's safe to say she is interested and I will see where it goes. The semester at school was wonderful, I've made and forged some lasting friendships with some incredible peers who make me glad to be alive. I played Keyboard 2 in the pit orchestra of Seussical the Musical, in which my ridiculously talented little bro played the lead role of Horton the Elephant. He actually made us all cry, he was so touching. I also got 3 leads in the next 3 operas: Cesare in "Giulio Cesare", Papageno in "The Magic Flute", and The Representative in "A Game of Chance". I'll be doing these in January, February, and April. My senior recital will also be in April. I sang my junior recital in November along with my good friend Kevin Diehl. We had a terrific time and everyone was pleased with our performance. My birthday was fantastic this year, despite the fact that I am now 27 in a culture that considers such an age to be a sign of either insanity or extreme personality flaws. But I digress. I went to a great birthday dinner at Olive Garden with a small group of my closest friends and afterwards we all went to see an awesome production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" on the USU Campus for free. After some successful choir concerts and a few finals which I actually did quite well on, I traveled back to Kuna for "a fun old-fashioned family Christmas" (to quote Clark Griswold), where I am now writing this entry on my parent's trusty Dell desktop. But my biggest accomplishment is that I will finally be able to participate fully in my ward and receive a calling. I am most excited for this. As I reflect on this last year and prepare for a new one, I can't help but feel great about all that has happened in 2010. My bishop advised me in our last meeting to write down each day in my journal the ways that my Heavenly Father has blessed me that particular day, even if they seem trivial. Since doing that, it is remarkable the way my attitude has changed. I can only hope that this trend continues in 2011. Next on the agenda, New Year's Eve bash at the Rose's with all the cousins and Mom's family. Can't wait! More to come...

That Old Feeling...

Every now and then, I am reminded that I am a typical man in many aspects, though my choice of career seems to dictate otherwise to the cynical world that demands that anyone with any degree of masculinity should not be pursuing a career in the arts. Tonight was one such moment. Have you ever felt just absolutely twitterpated and lovesick just being around someone you don't know very well? You should know, constant reader, that I don't very often. But I did tonight. Now comes the fun part of finding out where my feelings will take me. I actually felt my heart leap a few times as I stared at the object of my newfound affection and quite frankly, it felt really good, especially since I kind of get the feeling that she may feel the same way about me. Hopefully, if this is true, we will be seeing a lot more of each other. But even if it's not, it's still fun to find out isn't it? Okay, so now you're probably thinking "Where the hell is he going with this?". The answer is, "Really nowhere. But it's just nice to put positive feelings on the page instead of venting negative ones sometimes." More to come...hopefully! :D.......

Time marches on...

Hello again, constant reader (whoever you are). In my usual craze that is my life, I have once again failed to keep my blog updated as much as I would prefer. I am now knee-deep in rehearsals with the Utah Festival Opera Company, which is just as rewarding and fun as I imagined it would be. I am currently cast in four shows: The Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Guys and Dolls, and George M! (the latter being presented as a radio drama with black binders and minimal costuming from the 1930s'-40's era). So now I am musing on what I should write about besides my usual thoughts about music, family, friends, but ironically can't come up with anything "better". I suppose this is what is important in my life and I'm really okay with that. I have been thinking a lot about my Daddy lately, seeing as how it's almost Father's Day and also his birthday in about a month. I know I say this a lot in these entries, but I am truly blessed to have a family as great and non-dysfunctional as mine. They are my whole life and I'm grateful that they feel the same way. The only thing I am not particularly enjoying as of late is my new ward. They have combined 4 different student wards into one, huge, "conglomerate" ward and it doesn't really make it convenient to get into see your bishop, especially when your daily schedule isn't known until the night before basically. But I digress...
So in short, a happy entry. Things in summertime Logan are going smoothly thus far and I am strapped for cash, but not starving. More to come...

Musical Schizophrenia...

Often, I refer to myself as a musical schizophrenic, simply because I love both listening to and actively participating in many different musical genres and styles. However, I don't think I've EVER been this actively involved in so many drastically contrasting projects at one time before...and quite frankly, I'm really enjoying myself. I finally feel like I am blossoming into the type of performer that can put on different hats with ease and not miss a beat. And that feels really really good. Not to brag, but here is a list of all the musical projects I have either accomplished already this semester or have coming up:

1. Was the Co-Stage Manager/Supertitle Technician for the January Operas.
2. Became the bass of a VERY successful barbershop quartet, The A-Chords, and made a butt load of money off of some sweet Singing Valentine gigs, also receiving an invitation to be featured in the upcoming USU Women's Choir concert in April.
3. At the request of Drs. Cory Evans and Craig Jessop, became the bass in USU's new vocal jazz quartet, Serenade in Blue Singers.
4. Was assigned the role of Marco in USU's upcoming production of Gianni Schicchi at the Caine Lyric Theatre in April.
5. This past weekend, I have been finishing up recording a fantastic new album featuring the beautiful music of Daniel Gawthrop as a member of USU's Chamber Singers.
6. Signed up with USU's Opera Theatre Director to travel to Guatemala and El Salvador in May for a series of concerts and master classes.
7. Received a scholarship to sing with the Utah Festival Opera for their Summer 2010 season in three shows: La Traviata, Barber of Seville, and Guys and Dolls.
8. Never felt better about my own personal progress in my voice lessons and I'm loving what my voice is turning into.
9. I'm accompanying for my friend Bridgette's junior recital in March.
10. I'm currently in the process of organizing musical ideas for my very first opera, which if successful, I hope to have at least halfway done by this time next year.

Life is good, music is essential, and I am one happy camper. Bring on the challenges, I'll knock them all down one by one, HUZZAH!!! More to come...

The Balance of Faith and Fear

I am the very first to admit that I am terrible about keeping my blog up to date. Since I haven't written anything since October, I felt it prudent to continue with my entries as much as possible.
Today in church my brother and I attended a wonderful Sunday School lesson. The kind that you always wish you could have every week instead of having a lesson read out of the manual with no spiritual connotations whatsoever. This guy knew his stuff, but not in an overly prideful way at all. He has the rare gift of being able to allow the discussion in the class go where it will be the most relevant to each class member without letting it get completely out of control.
Anyway, he brought up a point that really made me think: all the decisions, and consequently, actions that we make in our lives are a direct result of either faith or fear. There is no middle ground. (Though many times we'd like to think there is.) As I pondered about that, I wondered how many times in my life I had chosen a certain path out of fear instead of faith. I know I'm mostly talking to myself out loud but I thought that it was something worth recording here. I'm not sure why. I hope that in the past year I've been able to make more of a conscious effort to let faith dictate my life. The future is bright if we're looking for the light, but if we look for the darkness we'll find that we're already surrounded in it. More to come...