I miss KI.
I misss all y'all.
I miss working all day and all night.
Then going to bed just to...
Get up the next morning and
Do it all over again.
I'm going to miss being out in the sun
24/7
And yes, maybe even the blue polo
And microphones and plush
And maybe even those nasty hot afternoons
The screaming and yelling from rollercoasters
The bells and sirens... oh yeah, and Ice Ice Baby
Yeah, there's definitely more I'm forgetting.
But I'll definitely be missing
All the fun times we had.

If there is ONE thing I could say to everyone in high school out looking for a summer job it'd be: DON'T WORK AT KINGS ISLAND.
Why?
Yes, it's fun, yes there's some great benefits to working there. But, sadly, it's kind of like alcohol or crack cocaine. It's an addiction. You have so much fun working that you get addicted to it. You get addicted to being on a microphone, running a game and being in charge. You get addicted being with your friends 24/7, working together, playing together, making money together. It's your own community, your own world. You don't realize it, because it's a seasonal job, and it's normal not to work outside when it's 30 below, snowing, and cloudy. Because we work out in the sun, the hot and sweaty sun, and don't complain, because that's how it is, every day. With clear nights, full of stars and fireworks. And at the end of the day, you fall asleep in bed, ready to get up the next morning to do it all over again.
It doesn't hit you that it's really an addiction, that you have an addiction problem, until you decide to do something else with your summer. Your body automatically realizes when it's warm, that's when KI opens, and where you should be. But, you'r not there. And that's when the struggles begin.
I sound like an expert. Trust me I'm not, this is going to be my first summer away. I'm already starting the battle, the battle of wanting to go back to the person I was (something I should never want), wanting to be there working, wanting to be with all those friends, depression, being upset, and sad.
I've only started the battle, but there's other people, lots of other people, who have already gone through this.

So like I said, if there was one thing I could say to all of my friends in high school back home: don't work at KI, it'll really screw with you later, when you leave.

The Danger Music

Have you ever been watching a movie where there was a scene, one that brought you to tears, filled your heart with pain and anguish, maybe because of what the character was going through, or the situation he or she was put in, and you wished you could do something about it? Wished you could take it away, wished you could change it?

The reality is that there are many things in this world right now going on, situations that break our hearts, bring us to tears, and make us want to change the world. For me, my life, part of my world, is music. For those of you who don't know, I happen to be a Music Education major. Right now, I'm writing a research paper on music education in our public schools. It breaks my heart, it pains me, to see what is going on, how the arts are being cut from kids lives. I remember back to my elementary school days, way before I ever dreamed of picking up a horn or a string instrument. I remember really enjoying music class... it was one of my favorites, as was art class. Did you know that since the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act 22% of our elementary schools have altogether eliminated music programs? Budget restrictions have a hand in this, but the biggest reason for cutbacks in our public school systems today happens to be the NCLB standards for testing in the subjects of reading and math. More and more schools are cutting time for the arts, and arts programs altogether to facilitate more time for reading and math classes so that students will pass state standardized testing. Passing these tests is essential to public schools if they are to continue receiving government funding and stay alive.

My heart is saddened by this because I want to see kids learning music, as I believe it is vital to a student's development. However, my heart is saddened just as much by all this because what all of this equates to is having a harder time finding a job after college. There is a higher demand for those that teach Math, English, and Reading, and less of a demand for band and orchestra teachers. In fact, because of this, quite a number of music educators are being laid off or fired. Some music education graduates have yet to find their first job for years because of this. What could this mean for those of us planning to graduate in the next few years with a degree in music education?

If the trend continues, schools will continue to cut arts education from their offered curriculum (despite it being listed as a 'core subject' in Title Nine of the NCLB Act). If schools continue to cut music, less jobs will be available for music educators, and those few jobs that are offered, will be filled by those more experienced. So, unless the government does something to put a halt on this devastating downfall in music education, those of us planning to graduate better get comfortable working at McDonald's or the local instrument resale/repair shops teaching privately or fixing instruments until we can finally fulfill our dreams by getting a job in a public school and taking those steps in front of a band or orchestra we can call our own, and striking a chord.

COLORADO LT 2007!

2 MONTHS AND 1 DAY!

Alright, so I finally have the LiveJournal site up and running. I'll still be posting here for the normal every day wackiness that occurs every now and then, but the LiveJournal site is for those that are supporting me this summer while I'm serving and learning to be a better spiritual leader at GCM's Leadership Training! Woot! Here's the link, even if you already know what LT is all about and know what I'm doing this summer, I still encourage you to visit my LiveJournal site, as I will be updating there about my support raising, and other great things God is doing in my life! Here's the link:

www.livejournal.com/consumingfire01

There are also pictures up from h2o's New York City missions trip over Spring Break. I didn't post an entry on LiveJournal about it, but the pictures speak for most of the trip (but not all).

That's all I've got for now.

Prepared?

There are days when I wonder why I didn't take that blind shot in the dark and try for journalism or writing. Days like today. Today, when I can sit back, get onto my weblog and free write, look back, and see the beauty in it. Maybe that's why I didn't take that blind shot in the dark.
I'm starting to see the ugliness to college. The brutal, glaring, and yes, possibly even fatal truth to college. Whatever it is you sign up to do in life, you better not be too attached to. I'm warning you now. Don't do something you're in love with, unless you're prepared to face the brutal fate that college holds for it. Because, in college, you will treat what you love like those frogs you dissected in junior high. You'll cut it open, and then proceed to poke at its innerds. Only, this time, you won't be laughing. Because it's not some dead frog. It's alive. It's passion. It's love. And now, you get to dissect it. Enjoy. I bet you never knew that every phrase in a piece of music is part of something bigger, called a period. I bet you never knew that a IV chord precedes a V chord, or what IV and V chords even are. Or a half cadence, or wait, my favorite a deceptive cadence?
Music loses its beauty when you dissect like a lifeless frog. But indeed, music is not lifeless. It is living and breathing. Every time a musician strikes or vocalizes a note, they give it life.
And maybe that's why I didn't go into writing. Because then I would have to scrutinize every thing I ever wrote, dissect it and then poke at it. There would no longer be meaning or beauty to what I wrote, because I would be writing to please my professors, not express my emotions. Tonight, I was thinking about life a year ago, and for the first time I think in a year, I felt a sense of longing. Not for the person I was. But mainly, for the familiarity, the comfort. I felt compelled to write, so I got onto my other weblog and wrote, of course. And, now, I'm not one to think highly of anything I do in life, to be honest, but it was beautiful. But, if I had to go through and edit it, I mean my spelling's great, and I had a wonderful Honors English teacher who taught me well in the ways of grammar, so it is well there. But no, I mean, if I had to really edit it, look for the thesis, the metadiscourse, synthesis, etc. of what I wrote, it would no longer be beautiful in my eyes. I would have to add and take away to appease my professors and those experts. And there would no longer be beauty in it.
And I'm seeing, in more than just these majors, that if you go into what you really love, you better be prepared for the glaringly ugly. Because it's going to stare you right in the face. You better have an undying passion for what it is you're going to do, because when you get to this level, you're going to go on a journey through the wilderness, and you're going to encounter things unlike anything you've encountered before. And it's going to change you, and the way you view what you love.

I promise everyone, that the LiveJournal will be updated and running soon. Very soon. Right now, I'm very busy trying to stay on top of my ENG 112 research paper and MSE 2, my two final papers for the class, along with everything else for my other classes. But I have pictures from NYC and lots to write about. And soon there will be lots of info up about Colorado LT, as we have a meeting on Sunday afternoon. So, with that, there's more to come!