A really busy few months ahead!

I have finally entered my last (undergraduate) term! In just 2.5 months, I will have a Bachelor's Degree in History! My only regret is that I was unable to squeeze in a Writing minor. With my transfer credits figured in(online courses while in the Army), my three years at OSU is equivalent to graduating a semester early. I could have squeezed in the minor, but I did not want to add another Fall term-- the added stretch of Summer makes that one-term extension a bit too long. Good thing too, since this was decided before we found out we would have a July 2nd due-date for our first baby!

In the mean-time, a LOT of things are happening:

I am wrapping up my research project. Last term I finished my paper on spirit and traditions at OSU. I will make it available online later, after doing some edits recommended by my instructor. After it is touched up, I plan to follow her urgings and enter it into an undergraduate competition of sorts for large papers in the History Department. I think there might be a money (scholarship perhaps) prize involved, but I'm not exactly sure. If I end up being lucky enough to earn a scholarship, I hope it can transfer to a private school rather than be used just at OSU.

I am starting a new research project. I needed four more upper-division credits to graduate (since then it lowered to three since I added another band one more time), so I implored my instructor to let me basically retake her thesis course as an independent study for four credits. This one will be the first-ever extensive program history of OSU's Track and Field program (it was actually quite a big deal back in the day). I have started research on it already, and look forward to spending more time in the Archives, as if I didn't spend enough time there already! If only I could get a job researching OSU (especially athletics, band, and ROTC)... I would be fine with that!

I am wrapping up my undergraduate studies. Besides my Independent Study, I have Biology 103 (anatomy), History 341 (Russia post-1917), German 213 (only 9 weeks left!), Horn Ensemble, and a German conversation class (easy one-credit class that reviews for GER 213 and offers time to just talk in German). Related to German, I am also getting together with classmates to watch The Two Towers auf Deutsch. Wir hat "The Fellowship of the Ring" (auf Deutsch) gesehen letzte klasses. (We saw part one last term). Gimli is awesome as an angry German! They are just the dubbed German versions, with no subtitles. The Elfish is still Elfish, though it was mostly dubbed by the German actors for continuity. The History of Russia class is also pretty neat-- the instructor tailors the class towards those serious in their studies instead of those trying to fulfill requirements, and his lectures are basically 2-hour presentations rather than just boring lectures. Awesome.

I am still working at the OSU Archives. 17 hours per week, not including my hours researching Track and Field. My main task involves researching minorities in baseball, and I have already taken one field trip to the Sports Information Office's super-secret archives. Ok, not actually secret, just not generally for public use unless you ask very nicely, and maybe have a good reason to go.

I am preparing to be a dad. We toured the labor unit and had a one-on-one meeting with the nursing coordinator, and I have to say, I am very impressed. With just one exception, every single concern about hospital birth addressed in my Anthropology class is covered at our hospital. (I took a class which included a lot of information on midwifery, from an anthropologist who became a midwife in order to study the culture of midwifery. She has attended over 1000 births, holds her own practice, and along with her doctorate, is the first person called as an expert witness in pretty much any court cases involving midwifery in the state of Oregon.) I have also been signed up for numerous classes. No idea what they are, just that we (or sometimes just I) am going to. Thanks Deanna! I am excited... but also nervous. But also excited. I also feel ready, but also not at all. But still ready to take on the challenge, I think. All I know for sure is that I will miss sleep terribly, but can't wait to 1) try the patient's menu that I was denied while staff, and 2) hold my son for the first time. Not necessarily in that order. (Well, chronologically, the order is right, but you know what I mean...)

I have a ton of reading to do... for fun. Book 14 of Robert Jordan's (and lately Brandon Sanderson since Robert Jordan did not live to see the end of the series)The Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, is coming out in January. In preparation, last Fall I decided to do a re-read of the series so I would be ready. This genius plan had a few hitches. First, I was using the audio book for book one, The Eye of the World.Great plan, except it only worked during car rides and in the gym. Then I discovered that Brandon Sanderson is an AMAZING writer. A. M. A. Z. I. N.G. Really. That side-tracked me over Christmas, and getting an XBox 360 during Black Friday didn't help either. During Spring Break, I dug into book two since I had the time, and now I am reading between classes if I don't have time to research (if only an hour break), on the bus, and sometimes instead of computer/XBox time. I am back to my former fast speeds in High School when I would slam through one a week... just required a reduced use of electronics. Only 10.8 more books to go! I want to be mostly done by the end of summer (maybe leave one for Christmas Break) so I have fewer things going on when I start school in the fall. Studies + Pleasure reading = not a good combination sometimes.... that is when I will switch to mindless video games to unwind at times.

I start Seminary in the Fall... hopefully. The plan is to start in the Fall as I begin a journey of earning my Master of Divinity in four years (can be done in three, but new baby means I will go slower). I am accepted by the school and my denomination, but am still waiting on word from the Army. I just got my fingerprints scanned, so hopefully my packet is now finally done and will go forward to the review board, unless my physical needs to go with it. If not, I will also look into the Navy and Air Force before giving up and finding a new direction in life. Hopefully that does not happen, though God does sometimes have a funny sense of humor! The biggest challenge there will be income. Tuition will be paid, but not by the GI Bill, so no more living allowance. Deanna may go part-time to her culinary school (which has a job placement program) so maybe I could transfer it and we could still get some of that income, but I still need to find a job as well. And even worse, unless we live in a drug-infested complex, we are going to have to get a co-signer for our lease, unless something amazing happens with income, like a huge influx of scholarships, etc. More to follow on that I guess... But really, it is to be expected. I mean, going to Seminary, how could I not expect some hard testing? At least I know enough to expect to not be able to expect anything.

So that about sums everything up...

Oh! Except for this blog! When I am a Seminary student, I can't very well leave this as "Tales of an Archivist," can I? We'll see what happens, but I think I'll need to find a catchy name describing the adventures of a seminary student/new dad... we'll see!

MENCNW Concert

This weekend was the MENC (Northwest Division) Biennial Conference. MENC is the National Association for Music Education, though don't ask me how that ends up standing for MENC because I have no clue dispite spending a small amount of time considering the matter. This year, it was in Bellevue, Washington, and among the vast multitude of events was included a combined concert by local Army bands. The Oregon National Guard (234th) headed it up, with augmentation by the Washington National Guard (133rd), and my band, the 204th Army Reserve Band, and we had a guest conductor from DePaul University.

Except for some lodging the night before for a couple people (me!) pretty far away, the 204th's experience started early Thursday morning when we gathered into a couple vans and personal vehicles and drove up to Camp Murray in Tacoma for a rehearsal. Once there, we decided on parts. In the horn section, we had five players, and we settled on one per part with first being shared between myself and a horn player from Oregon. In the 204th, we had been given our parts in advance, although we had no idea what parts we were playing nor did we rehearse as we were only augmenting (in our case, rehearsing would be pointless just as testing an engine that is missing half the pieces would not work either), though it was evident that the "core group" had not either when the director made a comment to the effect of "it sounds like you are sight-reading," which was actually the case. The day went on with several hours of rehearsal, and we did get the pieces quite presentable. I even got a fun, albeit short, solo in the closing piece, although while the end result was decent, there were a few moments which many of us were nervous about.

The next morning, we arrived early to the convention center where we were surprised to discover some miscommunication had given us the wrong time; our warm-up time was cut short as we did not arrive early enough to really take advantage of it, but we persevered and even had a "singing-only" rehearsal before the performance.

The performance itself was somewhat bittersweet. The first piece was very exposed of and some further rehearsal time might have saved it from some mistakes, though the overall performance got better as the concert went on. It was not the best of concerts, and although I wish the audience might have been aware of the circumstances, it was a pretty good job for only having one rehearsal.

After the concert, I was amazed at how many of my Army colleagues knew people that they passed by in the halls of the convention. Most them are music educators, so of course it is reasonable that they would see colleagues and former classmates at the biggest event of their profession, but I admit that I did feel left out and wished I would see someone I knew. At the very end of my day at the convention, while waiting for our van, I saw a member of the OSU Marching Band staff (who I also know from participating in community theater), so I got my wish and felt like one of "the guys," actually knowing someone at the convention.

Overall, the MENC Convention was a fun experience, and dispite a few hiccups, my experience and invovlement went well.

You'll Thank Me Later!

If you have ever seen the hit show Monk, you probably have heard him tell people "you'll thank me later" when he would straighten a picture frame, someone's tie, or anything else that was not his due to his extreme case of being OCD. Thankfully, Mr. Monk is an extreme case, but I have been known to at least show a few mild OCD symptoms; if I go up the stairs two at a time, I am bothered if my legs do not skip the same number of stairs, and if I am touched on one side, I like to be touched on the opposite side to make everything symmetrical.

Each month, I have duty for the Army Reserves for a weekend, and for a few months, I knew I had this month's duty this weekend. It was on the calendar, so of course, I knew I was right. At least, I thought so. In retrospect, I do remember some talk of a change, though several boring factors kept me from realizing the switch was made.

I finally realized the change when I online to check the unit's online calendar. We just switched to a new system where our request for the hotel is done online, and I wanted to double check to make sure everything was ready to go, when to my surprise, not only did I not have a hotel request, but I did not even have duty! Four hours of driving, a very long night, and almost two tanks of gas were just barely saved by my OCD tendency of quadruple-checking everything. I have a habit of double, triple, and quadruple checking my suitcase, alarm clock, schedule, etc, and this time Mr. Monk's saying finally held true.

Alaska!

I am sitting in the Fairbanks airport, about to return from the great state of Alaska! For our two-week annual training, my Army Reserves unit ventured to Fort Wainwright to backfill for the 9th Army Band as its members went on block leave. For two weeks we spent our time rehearsing our various groups, doing Army training, and performing at several local venues, including a park, a live broadcast on NPR, and the state fair (twice). The NPR performance can be found here, however the link may only last a few days before it expires. No guarentee on the quality of the performance as I have yet to listen to it, and it was, shall we say... slightly eventful!

During the two weeks, we were extremely busy with our rehearsals, but to balance out our hard work, we had one completely free day. For my day off, I went with a few other band members to Denali National Park and enjoyed the scenic views along my hike, which was well worth the two hour drive. I even saw a moose! No pictures of that though.... yet. A lot of pictures will come later when I can get the files from people with cameras superior to mine.

Being the geek that I am, this kind of reminds me of the border to Mordor.

Maybe upriver to where Arwen crossed with Frodo?

Rohan!

Also, the weather in Alaska was surprisingly milder than I expected, with the exception of actually being too hot for the first couple of days. The length of each night expanded quite a bit even from one day to the next (I heard seven minutes each night), and the days were quite bright, especially in the first week. The two weeks ended with an afternoon of “mandatory fun” which pretty much consisted of food in a park. I did play some horseshoes and a card game (Egyptian Slap Monkey), but the really exciting part of the day was when a dragonfly landed on me to eat its captured yellowjacket. Thank goodness it did not sting me as it was being eaten alive. Pictures will come later after people send them to me.

Another Chaplaincy Update!

It's time for another Chaplain update! It has been a while since I have had anything worth mentioning about it, but after a phone call a few minutes ago, I have a lot! I had a lot of questions about my eligibility, ministerial experience, and the Chaplain Candidacy Program. I just got off the phone with the nearest Chaplain Recruiting office, and here is what I found.

For my eligibility, I was (and still am) concerned about my knee. I have a permanent profile (for non-Army folks, medical documentation laying out physical limitations, to be reviewed every five years) which states that my running is at my own pace and distance, and that I use an alternate event for the PT Test (I walk instead of run). I AM still fully deployable-- I am able to run, but the pain it causes is the reason for my limitations. However, if deployed, you betcha that I will run if under fire! So needless to say, my concern is my ability to pass my commissioning physical. I was correct in my assumption that I would need a medical waiver, and I was given advice to try to track down my medical records currently held by the VA and request a copy. Once I have acquired all applicable records, the Chaplain Recruiting office will forward the records to a doctor who does the physical and get a preliminary verdict. Because of the current shortage of Chaplains, as well as the nature of my profile, my chances are fine, though not certain.

I found out that I have two options for the Chaplain Candidacy Program: I can either accept or decline tuition assistance. If I accept, I will owe the Reserves four years as a Chaplain before going to Active Duty; if I decline, I can skip those four years and jump straight to Active Duty once I have fulfilled all of my requirements. Let us look at each option:

• Reserves (accept tuition assistance): The tuition is fully covered, so financially the only issue is rent and bills. It also, however, means four more years before I can collect an Active Duty paycheck. Boo! But the plus side is that the two years of ministerial experience is much easier; first of all, it is only required to go Active, so that gives me an additional four years to get it out of the way. Secondly, four years in the Reserves can substitute those two years, although if I can get some full-time ministry during those four years, that helps my application for Active Duty. The drawback is I have four more years in which I have to find a way to survive financially! (But if I can get a full-time ministry position, that will certainly help!)
• Active Duty (decline tuition assistance): Financially more burdensome, but not impossible. I do have $10,000 available from the Reserves for tuition, and student loans are not impossible to pay off, especially with an Active Duty paycheck, especially once I am an officer. I also have the rest of my GI Bill, though I am hoping to transfer that to Deanna, though as long as one of us is using it, it doesn't matter who as long as it helps pay for schooling for one of us! Active Duty also would require those two years of experience to be gained during my three years of Seminary, which would require a full-time leadership position at a church before being fully qualified for such a position-- a hard sell, but not impossible depending on the church and pastor. My Seminary years would definitely be more stressful, but the light at the end of the tunnel would come four years sooner than in the Reserves.

I also will have five or six years during which I can be in the Chaplain Candidacy Program, so it is not impossible to get my ministerial experience done during and after my schooling, though it would depend on discussions with my Chaplain Advisor. Also worth note, I do not have to choose right away; I can use my $10,000 of unrelated tuition assistance, and if, when it runs out, I look at finances and say "WHAT am I DOING?" I can still opt to accept the tuition assistance and do the Reserves option.

Phew... that is complicated! So anyways, the quick summary is: after getting my B.A., I'll need about three years of Seminary, and depending on my path, either four years in the Reserves, or any remaining time needed for my ministerial experience before I can go active.

From the Mall of America to the ER

This last weekend, I accompanied two other soldiers from my unit and flew to Minneapolis. After enjoying free snacks in the lobby area of the finest hotel I have ever stayed in, we also enjoyed going to another Hard Rock Cafe location downtown and an evening spent previewing the Mall of America as it was closing for the evening.

The next day we went to Hammond, Wisconsin, where we played in two ceremonies, at some cheese in America's Dairyland state, and got to hear the locals say "Wiscaansin." Afterwards we ate an early dinner in the Mall of American and then flew home. Unfortunately, we never got to hear the famed Minnesotan accent.

During the connection flight to Eugene on the way home, I started to get a terrible headache right above my right eyebrow which only seemed to hurt worse the lower we descended, quickly becoming the worst headache of my life. I have experienced this before, but the last time, also a small connection flight, the headache went away. This time, it did not, and an hour later I found myself in the Corvallis Emergency Room where the doctor explained to me that my sinus probably is a little bit more sensitive in how it is built, and flying in the poorly pressurized connection flights two days in a row was too much for me. He gave me some Oxycodine and nasal spray, and since then the pressure in my head has lessened, and hopefully it will be gone tomorrow. He told me that I may just need to use some nasal spray before I fly in the future.

Join the Army-- See the World!

This summer and late spring, I am really going to be travelling a lot! Next weekend I will be flying to Wisconsin for the weekend for the Army Reserves. The band there needs some extra bodies to help augment their numbers, and I am one of the lucky ones. Later on, in July, I will be part of a group driving out to Walla Walla to play at a ceremony there as well, with a possible trip to Seattle afterwards before coming home. In late July and for half of August, I will get to spend my time just outside Anchorage Alaska, and then a few weeks later in September, I will be flying out to Chicago for another weekend with the Reserves.

That is a lot of travelling, but I am looking forward to it; who would have thought that I would go more places with the Reserves than while on Active Duty? And as a bonus, the more of these I do (in addition to our monthly drill), the easier rent becomes.

A Month at OSU

I have been a student at Oregon State University now for about a month, and things are going well. I have three academic classes: Writing 121 (required for all OSU students unfortunately), Intro to Film Studies (Film history part 1 of 3), and History of Africa prior to 1840. So far, Writing 121 is the most annoying, but also the easiest and least painless. Sure, I've had to write an essay and have a research paper and another essay to go, but it is relatively pain-free. History might be ok, but I won't know til after the midterm. Film is great, though its grade is 100% based on the final, which could be good, or it could be bad! It is the most fun class though.

The job search is still just a search, and if I haven't found a job by Christmas Break, I will grudgingly look into working at a fast food place. I've applied at Staples and left my resume with a Christian store which sounded a little interested, but I am still looking for other possibilities. I will check with the OSU bookstore again fairly soon. At the very least, I will soon be getting a small paycheck again from the Army as I soon start my Reserve contract, and I will be getting a decent stipend from the Marching Band at the end of the term, and of course, the GI Bill will give me the equivalent of a low-paying job just for going to school.

In just a little over a month, I will get my first OSU credits and officially have the 3rd most from OSU in my family! Ok, so one got hers at another unversity that calls itself a college, but I'm not letting that get in the way of that sounding like a real accomplishment!

Recording, Day Two

Day Two of the recording was much better than Day One. As I mentioned before, playing by ourselves is a lot less stressful.

We started the morning with a Korean Folksong medley. It didn't go the best because of some instrument malfunctions on the oboe, but we made do, and did a couple of takes with a trumpet using a straight mute instead of the oboe as a contingency. After the medley was done, we moved on to Inchon, a piece commemorating the Korean war and the services of the composer's father in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Yes, I said "wars" instead of "conflicts." I don't care about the politically correct definition of things, especially since the definition is "a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air."

After Inchon we had lunch before coming back to record a Korean song about longing for a mountain in North Korea... kind of like if the USA was split in half, and one half had a song about wishing they could see Niagra Falls just one more time. By that time, the oboe was in a better condition, so we redid the medley a few more times with the oboe. By that time we had a long break while some people did solo sections and/or a small amount of dubbing due to either mistakes or lack of personel, and I started a game of Phase 10. (We had already played Apples to Apples earlier in the day.) Midway through the game, though, I got called back into the recording room because while my short solo had been fine in the recording, the section it leads into needed to be redone, and as there was no break between mine and the solo after, I was still needed. It went fine, though I am glad it is over as it was the type of solo that looks like it wouldn't be that hard, but is one of the more challenging parts I've ever played. It is deceptively hard because of the intervals needed, the rhythm (or lack of it with the implied tempo change), and exposure at a point in which the player has no spot to breathe. Needless to say, while I am glad I had the part, I don't long to play it again-- three times is enough. (Music in May-- High School honor band, Army concert, and now an Army CD).

Tomorrow we get back into the thick of things, but the hardest part for me is now over as I get to enjoy the rest of the week of recording.

Out of the Morning Calm

This week at work we are finishing the recording of our CD: "Out of the Morning Calm." This is the second CD project I've done here at the 2nd Infantry Division Band, and I think it is (for the most part) the better of the two. I feel more prepared for the pieces, and I think the band is too. Also, this year our guest groups were better. Last year we had the Uijeongbu Junior Symphony Orchestra... a nice gesture in the name of community relations. Unfortunately, while the introduction to "America the Beautiful" was beautiful, the violins seemingly decided to all go a quarter step flat all at once when the verse started, leaving the ears in pain as you try not to wince. They were good kids, and there were some phenominal musicians, but the first half of that track was not a good representation of our musical abilities.

This year, we have the Uijeongbu Philharmonic Symphonic Orchestra, or something like that. I don't remember the exact name, just that they use two descriptive words in their name rather than deciding not to be redundant. They were a decent group-- same organization, but the adults instead. There were still some intonation issues, but not nearly as pronounced. The orchestra had no string basses, but that was not an issue as our own low brass managed to fill the lower registers just fine on their own. There were also a handful of highschool students that were on the same level as the orchestra last year, but since they were few and far between, the good ones blended and the not-so-good ones were covered up enough. What really was awesome though was the Uijeongbu City Choir! Again, I'm not sure of their actual name, but that might be it. They sung in two pieces, but by far the best was the Korean National Anthem. Hearing it with that full choir and our band accented by an orchestra was simply amazing!

Tomorrow we begin the portion of the recording with just us. I feel confident; the only part I am nervous about is a very short solo, mainly because while still figuring out how I was going to do part of it, I got a comment from my commander to get it fixed, and it sort of put a mental stress point in there for me that freaks me out whenever I play it. The last note tends to sound really wobbly sometimes because not only am I out of air by that point, but my heart is beating too hard to keep it steady! I will do fine though. If not, we'll just do another take, so it is not the end of the world.

In the small group portion of my recording, I am with the Woodwind Quintet. Last year we had no oboe so we used two flutes, and I had some of the best tone of my life. This year, we have the proper quintet, but I have a boring part that is entirely up-beats, but I can't complain too much because that also means that I didn't have to spend valuable time working on any tough sections in my practice time.

It will be a packed few days as we go to KBS studios, full of a packed recording schedule, as well as lots of down time as other groups are recording.