Oh the White...

Well, ladies and gentlemen, it finally happened. The weather I'd been waiting for... real snow! Lots of snow! Tons of snow (literally)! And all in the course of less than twenty-four hours. This is what awaited me outside my door on Sunday morning:

It almost hides the beauty marks on my car! And aside from the car, you almost wouldn't have even known we had a driveway there.

Technically, our town only got about thirteen inches of snow, but around my entryway, the wind blew a larger amount toward my garage and door, so once I had shoveled a little bit, I could finally see the ground...

Yeah, I hadn't even gotten to the driveway proper by then.

Okay, and this picture is here just because I liked the snow drift above the front door (that's still there) that's just waiting to fall onto some unsuspecting religious solicitor...


But amazingly enough, I pulled through, as well as some or all of my back, and single-handedly cleared my entire driveway. I think it's durned impressive, as well as cool to see yourself eighteen inches below the level of the rest of the world.

So yeah, just as my always wonderful wife reminded me, my neighbor was kind enough to loan me his snowblower halfway through. And thank goodness for that, because I'd probably be dead otherwise.

It was a bigger storm than has hit the region in several years, which really just goes to show how lightweight the winters have been out here compared to the Eighties and Nineties. But who knows what the future will bring, and I'm sure there will be plenty more big storms to turn me into a proper Minnesotan. In fact, as I write this, a two-day long snow storm has just begun.

In huge news out here, Michelle got a new job working for Target's corporate offices in downtown Minneapolis. It is an incredibly huge opportunity for her with lots of room for advancement, and will be a wonderful boon for our fledgling family. I'm so excited for her, and I'm glad it finally came to them offering the position after a couple of very long, antsy weeks. After her good interview at the offices two weeks ago, what did we do? Went to bookstores in Minneapolis. How about that for knowing what makes you happy?

That's about it for now. I'm getting over some kind of rubbish that made as sick as I felt when I had a pox cursed upon me years ago. So I leave you with a couple family photos:

Some Late Christmas Pictures...

These here are mainly for Ken 'The Claus' Howenstine, but good for anyone to enjoy.




I honestly don't know where he picked up the wide-eyed smile. Doesn't it throw you off a bit? I think he knows it does, because he's done it to me at dinner, too...

My Family Just Keeps on Growing...

Meet Tyrone, the newest member of the Fryer Family:

He is my birthday present from my amazing wife. A rather large five month old kitten, Tyrone's very docile and cool, which is good since if he was high-strung, living with Austin would be a bit of a crazy nightmare. Right now he's snoozing under the couch where I'm typing in our spare room. Just to give you an idea of just how cool he is, here's him blending in well with my jazz instruments:

We absolutely love him. There's just something about having a cat around that makes this place feel more like a proper home to me. Much like my aunts and my father, life isn't quite whole unless we have animals around, cats or dogs, preferably both. Tyrone's already so big for a kitten (which makes me doubt his age a bit), but he still has big ears and some length of his tail that tells me he'll be getting bigger still. At least he's got a good looking mug on him for when he takes over the neighborhood come spring. Plus, he's got a nice strong motor in him. It's definitely a sound I have missed.



I love Tyrone already; it happened as soon as I picked him up. And I love Michelle, completely and absolutely. She was mocking me when we were driving Tyrone home, saying that if I'm this bad for a cat, how will I handle when we finally have another child. I just said that I'll probably wind up holding the baby for about a month straight.

Gotta love those birthday animals~

Since When is it February!?

Okay, please, someone explain to me how it is already a week into February. We just celebrated the New Year, I still hesitate a bit when writing the last digit of the year, and there's barely any snow on the ground. I guess it means the world needs another update from me by now. Just when I think nothing has happened, I turn around to find that worlds of change have happened without my notice.

Starting this month, I'm not only teaching Jazz Band after school. I've started a new class called Digital Animation, where kids learn to create short films using traditional drawings, stop motion, and time lapse techniques. The digital part comes in with the tools we use, since they're all digital cameras and computers we save and edit the images on. I think the coolest idea they came up with yesterday is a human clock. I'll post up the videos as they are created. Jazz Band has been going on for a few weeks now, and the kids are coming along quickly. We're working on great classics, such as 'Tuxedo Junction' and 'Caravan'. I'm still having trouble assembling a rhythm section, but the horns have had a good showing so far, considering it is a forgettable once a week rehearsal currently. Come Monday, I think I'll be having them sightread 'Satin Doll', just for my own peace of mind.

Michelle's been seeking out better work, and has even had a couple of really good prospects come up. Soon she'll be going through all those wonderful interview processes, which are always nice and nerve-wracking. We're both quite antsy, as her having a properly paying job for once will be quite a boon for us and make our lives noticibly more stable. Also, it would give me the chance to go back to school without it being an endurance trial. Please, if you have room in your hopes, send some thoughts to her.

The big news on the home front as of late is Austin becoming potty trained. It's taken us a long time, but he's there with fewer and fewer accidents. Michelle and I were completely beside ourselves with joy. Perhaps a little too much so, as that was the higlight of our month. The way I see it, all I have left to do is teach him how to tie his shoes, and the kid is set for life; I'll be done raising him. Other than that, he's just himself, good days and bad days. Mostly, though, he's been so happy to have his Grandma Pat in town.

For a nice long weekend, my mom flew out here to visit. I took a couple of days off to spend time with her, and she managed to survive the cold and eventual snow. I had been missing my family and friends out west a lot, so it was really nice to see her and have her around. Austin just loves her, and especially having her read to him. That voice reading stories came across as strangely familiar, since I don't have any actual memory of my parents reading to me; I simply know that they did. I was a little worried that she was starting to feel a little bored out here, since we didn't get out and do anything, just puttered around town. Michelle and I both had work, so she was on her own for some large bits of time. But she never let on that that was the case.

I dropped my mom off last night. She and I are always bad at goodbyes, so we kept it brief and I took off from the airport. The tougher goodbyes had to have been for Michelle and Austin. But, in all, I just keep remembering the fact that I'll see my folks again sooner than not, so it's easier to deal with. For now, it's life back to normal, though not really. We've had less than one third the normal amount of snow for this time of year, so I'm not shoveling anywhere near enough as I'd like. I'm odd and like to physically shovel. It's some exercise for me, and it gives me some alone time with tunes in my ears.

Toodles for now~

My Job, Defined...

Oh Strong Bad, you make life better, no matter how evil the world thinks you are!

Technology Email

And there you have it~

The Amphitheater...

Okay, so this is just a little plug for myself, but I'm not sure how many of my faithful readers (both of them) are aware I keep a second blog. It's called The Amphitheater, and it's meant to be a slightly more serious attempt at thinking and writing. Although I fall short of my own high standards all too often, I think my most recent post, Great Speeches, is almost decent. I'm especially fond of, besides the Churchill speech, the Dr King speech I found.

I wish I wrote more prolifically, but my daily life doesn't always allow for free time and clear thought, so I write when I can (often at work). I've been tempted to combine the two blogs to give the illusion that I write regularly, but I still like to draw a distinction between my personal life and my 'legitimate' writing. Besides, it's not a exactly a long and treacherous bridge to cross between the two.

Toodles~

Oh the Anticipation...

I'm sure by now, you, my avid readers, have been on pins and needles to find out just what happened at my first Jazz Band rehearsal. Well, I'll tell you. It's amazing just how far months of reminders and getting kids pumped and excited for a new thing will do for its success. Even with the drastic change in scheduling, kids were still up for what would be a new experience for them. It's always nice to see some eyes light up at the prospect of learning more, completely different music. So when three o'clock rolled around on Monday, I had my horn out and a stack of music to sightread and a pair of drumsticks to click a backbeat. I was ready and raring to go.

Well, after all this preparation, four kids showed up. Just four. They were four great kids, but they were only four. So what to do? Go forward as though nothing was different. Two trumpets, a trombone, and a sax make for a nice starting point for a group. These guys were all over it, though were a little daunted by the look of the music itself. However, once they learned how to feel a bit of the groove, how to lay back and blow, it was great. By the end of the rehearsal, I felt very satisfied with their quick progress and with my own work as their teacher.

I have since sent them out to recruit more players, and I have done the same. I think with them having a good first impression and telling their peers about it, this fledgling music program could get on its feet. I do have hope.

Along with the Jazz Band, I have started the Jazz Combos class. Open to all instruments wanting to learn styles and improvisation, it is intended to be a reinforcement of the Jazz Band proper. Many flute and clarinet players expressed intense interest in playing jazz, even after being told the Jazz Band would not be open to non-big band instruments. So what could be assumed is that Jazz Combos would have a larger attendance than that of the big band.

Reality and assumptions rarely line up, do they? I had one kid show up yesterday, the trombone player from Jazz Band. I felt so unmotivated and heartbroken that he and I just sat around talking jazz and hanging out until the early bus could take him home.

I was at a loss, and I still am. I'm not sure what it'll take to get these kids that say they want to play jazz to actually get up and play it. Jr High Jazz Band was what motivated me to learn saxophone at all. I started playing clarinet in elementary school because I loved Benny Goodman and old style Dixieland jazz. But when I got to Jr High, that's not how it worked. So I made a very conscious decision to learn tenor sax over the summer and make it in my eighth grade year. I picked it up and learned every single note of the horn and some scales, and sealed my fate as a saxophonist. I wish I knew how to evoke the same motivation for music from these kids.

Now, I know that I was a different case, since I went on to become (nearly) a music major. I still don't really know what to do with myself in music. I play a little bit with the beginning band kids during my lunch breaks, but it is mostly me exploring the unfamiliar world of brass and helping keep percussionists' heads in the game (hand an eleven year old boy a pair of drumsticks and see how long he'll stay still). Nothing I do now is for myself in music, nothing to expand my playing ability, or even to bring it up to where it was at this time last year. I'm languishing in music, as well in general because I don't play anymore.

I miss dearly playing in my old jazz combo and working with a great teacher. I felt as though I was finally on to something, then I had to leave it, far far from finished. (Alliteration anyone?) I have said numerous times to my wife that I have to truly admit to myself that I am actually a musician. And I have said many times that I wish I had had one more year at Stanislaus to dive deeper into jazz and finish my bachelor of arts in music as well. C'est la vie, though. There really is no time for or point in regrets.

The best thing for me to do, I think, is to find an outlet or two for playing. Get myself into a big band that plays during evenings, find a group of people to jam with and learn from. Anything, really, to get my fingers wiggling and my toe tapping. The world is so much duller without music, and I truly am an incomplete soul without that magic art in my life.

Ta~

Nerves of Noodles...

I can't believe how incredibly nervous I am right now. In about an hour, I will be starting the first rehearsal of my school's jazz band. I'm doing my best to remind myself how raw these kids are and how I still have the feeling of jazz in my gut and feet, even though I'm desperately out of practice. I'm just nervous as hell, and that feeling won't go away until I've done this more, this being the primary teacher for a group of students. I still remember how nervous I was as a young music student and now know how I feel these days that getting up and performing is no big deal.

What makes these nerves a little tougher is that although I love jazz and love trying to play, I always feel as though I'm just trying. Maybe I hold it in too high of regard and myself to too high of standards, but my sense of self worth in this field is somewhat lacking. Okay, greatly lacking. Regularly I find myself wishing I had just one more year back at Stanislaus to learn more jazz and become more fluent in its expression.

Oh well. I'm here, and I'll be fine. I know it. People have most certainly survived through worse. I'll probably duck downstairs a little early to prep myself a bit, but I'm somewhat discouraged toward doing so because of a rather tiresome substitute who was the former band director at this school. I pity the kids sitting through his rehearsals right now, because he has a tendency to talk a lot with the few kids that are related to his former students. Those poor kids get so bored, especially the ones coming in there, dying to play.

Wish me luck, it's one of the few things I believe in this world~