Update Bonanza

Where to begin? Life has been packed since I last posted. Palpazione continues to be a dream come true. Last night I was trying to see how high I can jump above the pans rack. My goal is during one of my solos to stay air borne for at least two beats while playing a fun rhythm. It's good to have goals!

Last week included Hershey Park and New Attitude. The day before leaving for Na, I spent 17 hours with 53 choir and instrumental students from one of my schools. We had a blast. The choir, conducted by Chris Fominaya, was the only elementary school choir to perform three part harmonies. And I had my string and winds play a version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" in D major (easy for the strings, very hard for the winds). It was a great experience, next year I hope to take all three of my schools to a music competition in an amusement park.

While all of this was going on, my Mom went to Manchu Pitchu, or however you spell it. Congrats Mom and making one of your dreams come true!

After Hershey Park, I went to New Attitude to be a courtesy ninja. The best part of this was being able to spend the whole weekend with my wife. We had such a good time, and it was neat to see how well we worked together. Below is my baby in her ninja shirt.



Well, enough writing, check out some pics below (Captions are below picture).

Me Conducting the Band @ Central Dauphin High School which is 20 minutes away from Hershey Park.

One cool thing about Hershey, was that my Dad was there to see me conduct the band and than we went on the bumper cars together. It was interesting to see my Dad talking to some of the students parents. They were there to see their children perform and my Dad was there to see me perform.

This is our Care Group playing a secret Ninja game ... Psychiatrist.

I had the chance to play a real djembe. The question is, do I look like this everytime I play? Yikes!

Some people from the Virginia Beach Sovereign Grace Church challenged the ninja's to a game of ultimate frisbee. Of course, the Ninja's won.

PALPAZIONE DATES:
If you would like to see me perform w/ Palpazione, I would suggest either Saturday June 7 or Saturday June 14. Be sure to check the Wilson Bridge situation if you take 495 to the National Harbor.

Oh, one more thing, check out this robot conduction the Detroit Symphony, crazy!

Palpazione

I auditioned and made it into a real junk percussion group. The name of the group is Palpazione and will be performing @ Pienza in the National Harbor. We play junk percussion along w/ pre-recorded tracks. It's a lot of fun. Right now, we are on a trial basis until the middle of June, and if it goes well, we will probably sign a year contract. I'll be posting the dates I am playing soon. Let me know if want to come check it out.

Pienza is in the bottom right of this picture between the trees.

Recipe #1

OK, since cookbook is in the title of my blog, I may as well contribute to the greater cooking community. For the last 3 weeks I've had an idea that could be revolutionary in the cooking world. OK, not at all, but I thought of it myself. Here is the picture and see if you can guess my secret ingredient.

Here's the recipe: put any flavor coffee mate powder on a dish. Put chicken on top of coffee mate powder. Cover chicken w/ powder. Let powdered chicken sit in fridge for a little bit. Take chicken out of fridge and marinate w/ olive oil. Then, grill to perfection. Wala, I call it Hazel Nut Chicken.

Bringing the Hand Drum Back

It's time to bring the "Hand-Drummers" back in "Christian Hand-Drummers Kosher Cookbook: The Blog". On Sunday I had the privilege to play conga's at Covenant Life Church. It was a blast! It has been a long time so I was hoping I'd remember how to play. It is like riding a bike a little bit. One aspect I enjoyed was playing with Ben Koo. He is so passionate about worshiping expressively, that it reminds me that I can worship the Lord because there is joy in knowing I've been forgiven of all my sins. That's good news and Ben's excitement about singing truth is contagious. Another aspect I enjoyed was using the HPD-10. I used a foot pedal to trigger a bass djembe sound. That was fun.

On another musical note, I've been working on a rap called, "Wind Goes". Once I get it copyrighted, I'll post it here. I think it has the possibility of being as popular as the "Soldier Boy" rap. I will be performing it at one of my elementary schools on June 4th. I've been practicing with Mari and some of my 5th & 6th grade students. It has been interesting to see their reactions. If you want me to practice when you're around, let me know.

What's Been Going On

Life has been busy and good lately. I'm preparing to take one of my schools to Hershey Park for a Music Festival. That should be fun ... 15 hours w/ 10-12 year old students, anyone want to join me? Moving on .... Today's entry will consist of food pics, random spiritual thoughts, a brief Mari update, and honoring a friend. We will start with food ... I've been grilling like there is no tomorrow. Check out these pics:


Last night @ our married Care Group we discussed briefly chapter one of Dave Harvey's book, When Sinners Say I Do. One aspect about the chapter I want to apply is the simple fact that what we think about God is one of the most important aspects of our marriage. As Mari and I continue to read through 2 Chronicles, I wanted to learn about who God is so that my thoughts about Him would be shaped by His Word, not my subjective feelings. There will come a time when things will be hard, and I will have to believe that God is gracious, merciful, and faithful (2 Chronicles 30:9). If I can call to mind truths about God's character now, it will help my marriage with Mari by increasing my trust in the Lord. If you're reading this, thanks for sticking with me on how I process how to apply what I learned on Friday.

Moving on # 2 ... life with Mari has been great. Everyday I get to come home to this beautiful woman whom I do not deserve.


On Wednesday we went to Bonefish Grill because one of our friends gave us a gift certificate for our anniversary. This is the same place I had my bachelor party so it was cool to go there as a married couple.


On a different note ... lately at Church we've been going through a series on the Psalms: Real Help for Real People. The last two Sunday's I've been thinking about my friend Madonna who passed away last August. The reason I've been thinking about her is because every message has talked about living a life that exalts Christ no matter what our circumstances are. Madonna did this as she went through her battle with cancer. I thought to honor her memory I would put the "YouTube" video of her memorial slideshow:

Journal Entry - April 10, 2001

Occasionally I will post some entries from my old journal. I want to find the one's that are 10 years old, because ten is a cool number. But my first electronic journals were written on a Macintosh SE from February through June of 1997. Then, from July 1997 until August of 2000 they were written on a Mac Performa Desktop. I saved those entries on a 3.5 floppy and I don't have a way to transfer them to my iMac. Anyway, it is interesting to read this entry almost 7 years later.
Tuesday April 10, 2001 AM
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.
Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
for anger resides in the lap of fools.”
ECCLESIASTES 7:8-9
How do I know that the end of a matter is better than it’s beginning? Well, first of all, God’s word tells me right here. And because we know that all Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, correcting, and rebuking, I know that the end of a matter is better than its beginning. So when a situation comes up at work and I don’t feel like dealing with it, remember that the end of a matter is better than it’s beginning. I can have faith that God has placed this opportunity before me to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
God has placed this opportunity for me to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Remember this, and remember to be patient. If I abide in Christ and His law, which is not burdensome, I will know that being patient is better than letting my pride rule my thoughts and actions.
“The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
and patience is better than pride.

PG Solo & Ensemble Festival

This was another Saturday filled with music. I had the opportunity to take four string and ten wind students to the PGCPS Elementary Solo & Ensemble Festival. It was a rewarding experience.

The highlight of the day was listening to two clarinet players from one of my schools. We rehearsed the piece on Thursday and it was very rough. These two young ladies are very hard working and I knew they could do better. So I challenged them to spend the next two nights reviewing the hard parts and practicing with the CD that Roger Hooper help me make. They exceeded my expectations. When they played their first notes, the classroom on Saturday was filled with a great clarinet sound. They did not play perfectly, but they worked their hearts out between Thursday @ 12:30 PM and Saturday @ 11:30 AM.

Overall, all the students did well and the main purpose of the festival is to motivate them to continue playing their instruments. All the young instrumentalists had a great time and received excellent feedback from the judges.

Sometimes as someone who loves playing congas to a funk beat, it is hard to teach clarinet. But yesterday was one of those experiences that help me enjoy teaching elementary school instrumental music in PG county.