Monday, June 25, 2007

The Seven Deadly Sins: Envy

I've met a fair number of people I admire. I'm even related to a few of them. :-) I haven't met that many people that I envy, though. Don't get me wrong - I know plenty of people who are more talented, smart, wise, witty, etc., etc., etc., but at the end of the day I can't say I have a bad life at all. Pretty good, actually. Every once in a while, though, I meet someone who is willing to pursue their dream so faithfully and fearlessly that I'm awestruck and, well, envious.

World, meet Rebekah Scott. Rebekah, readers. Rebekah and her husband pulled up stakes and moved to Spain, right along the Camino Frances in Moratinos, Palencial, Spain. Read her blog sometime for a story of someone who has realized that life is too important not to do some living.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Resurfacing

It seems like almost every blog that I have ever read has at least one entry wherein the writer says, "Sorry I haven't written lately. I've been really busy."

Well, I've been really busy, but today was a turning point. On Monday, the Good Lord willin' and the Creek don't rise(?), one of my clients will 'go live' with a new software system.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

School of the Pilgrim

My copy of Brett's new book, School of the Pilgrim: An Alternative Path to Christian Growth, showed up yesterday. I wrote him a quick note to which he replied, "You know most of the stories in the book. Hopefully the framework BEHIND the pilgrimage makes sense."

Even in a citation in the book I've already found a comment I like very much: "Huston Smith writes that since we are embodied souls, we have to act out our faith with our bodies as well as our minds and spirits."

I still struggle with my personal definition of a pilgrimage, and I don't yet completely understand Brett's thesis of the Christian life as pilgrimage, but I do believe that Brett's core notions are good ones. To say that you are a pilgrim is to say that you are seeking God.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

2nd Concert of the Season

Well I am late posting about it, but we did have our second concert of the season on June 2nd. We sang two pieces from our repertoire
I thought we did well on both pieces, but once again we evoked very strong comments from the audience regarding the Chesnokov.

Afterwards, Mike R (another 2nd tenor), my wife and I walked to a nearby cafe to have a celebratory cocktail and to discuss the performance. I think we are doing well on the Chesnokov because we are singing in Russian, not in spite of it. That is, since almost all of us are singing phonetically, I think we are focusing heavily on the dynamics of the individual syllables, rather than focusing on how we should sing them rather than how we normally say them. Since we know only one pronunciation, we skip all the vowel complexity and concentrating on making good sounds.

Or at least that's my working theory.