Go BYU!

You may not believe me, but this title is not in jest.

I am a fan of BYU football.

No, I am not lying.

For those of you who may be scratching your head in confusion, let me help you out. Notice the placement of the word 'football.' Notice that it's there. I still say that Current School of Choice is the best place for me to be. School and football are not necessarily the same.

I was, however, raised in the home of BYU football fans. I happen to be spending a lot of time with an avid BYU fan. It's amazing how easy it can be to become interested in the things your interest finds interesting.

For those who may be confused as to why this is very significant in my life, let me somewhat briefly sketch the background.

I started piano lessons when I was five. When the kids my age were learning to play sports, I was practicing the piano. When I was in junior high and high school, I picked up the flute and was involved in a bit of drama. Still no interest in football. I have memories of watching my normally very composed and mellow father get excited, jump up and down and yell at the TV while watching a BYU game. Can we say....bewildering?

My freshman year at the Y, I was taking 16-ish (I think...) credits, was working part time, was on the swing team, and was in the marching band. I dove into all of this not having any sort of concept of the time involved with all of these things. Especially marching band. I'd plan to catch up on homework on a particular Saturday, only to have forgotten that it was a Game Day. Marching band steps off to do pre-game stuff an HOUR before kickoff, and is required to stay until the very last moment of the game. I hadn't been planning to take an entire six hours (or more, plus the six hours of rehearsal during the week) out of my Saturday to freeze to death (I also had very severe anemia). I knew that each team had an endzone, and that they were trying to get the ball to the opposite endzone to get a touchdown. That was about all I knew. Then, I'd get to the game and look around me. I'd see fans that were out of control about the goings on of the game. I quickly got to thinking that football was just an excuse for men to go back to their neanderthalic roots, and I was NOT impressed. At all. I vowed to never attend a live football game ever again if I could help it.

To make things a little shorter here, I reached the low point of my bitterness, and started to find myself a little curious. What could draw people so strongly? Why would people arrive at my place of employment (a bookstore) wearing [team's color] head to toe and still happily spend hundreds of dollars for more stuff?

Almost a year ago, Scottro hosted a football party. By this time, I'd decided that enough was enough, and that if I was going to function in the world, I needed to be able to have a basic foundation of what this sport was all about and why it ran peoples' lives. Figuring that there would be people there that I respected and that had the potential of being knowledgeable and helpful, I decided to go. (Great chili and other friends being there helped too, of course.) Much to my amazement, the men in the room did not act like neanderthals! Even better, they were willing to answer my questions! They were able to cheer, and be quite excited, but they seemed to be somewhat dignified about it. And they weren't annoyed with me, either. I was SO pleased, and had a great time.

Fast forward about five months. I started dating The Franchise, and things seemed to be going well. I decided it was really time to figure out a thing or two about sports. So I bought a cool book. About sports. Learned the basics. That created a framework, so now, I just learn from the best. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes knowing some of the inner workings of the sport. I watched my first whole football game over fall break - USC vs. Washington. It was great! I just watched the entire BYU/New Mexico game this weekend. SO fun. The more I learn, the more I can follow, and the more I enjoy.

Who knew that being a BYU fan could be so...unifying?

I make a very dry martini. I make a very wet souffle...

Okay, so the concert went pretty well. We did not fall apart, despite the fact that the first time the Copland was played all the way through was on stage during the concert. Unfortunately, the Beethoven was the weakest. That made no sense to me, but whatever.

What a bizarre semester. That's all I can say.

Oh, and the Gala concert is this Saturday eve. Should be a lot of fun.

Symphony Orchestra

...is tonight. I don't recommend coming, but I can't stop you if you want to come. We're playing a Copland, a Sibelius, the last three of five movements of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony, and a Weber concerto with Viola solo.

It'll be . . .interesting, to say the least. I'm the most worried about Copland. I don't recall having played it all the way through. Ever.

Concert Tonight!

Wind Ensemble, 7:30. Paula Crider conducting. Should be fun. Student tix are $3. Let me know if you want to come.

One word.

All I can say is, Wow.

Apollo 13

After showing some pictures of my trip to my family, my dad naturally wanted to watch Apollo 13. It's amazing how much more this movie means to me after seeing the Saturn V and Historic Mission Control in person. It's amazing that they did what they did with the technology they didn't have.

Oh. . .and if you're ever in Houston, close to NASA, go to Frenchie's. Good food. I recommend the crepes, if you're not too opposed to mushrooms.

Pet Peeve

To the freshman flute player who has come in during my lesson two weeks in a row:

Strep is contagious. So is the flu. Please, just call Susan and let her know you can't come to flute choir. I'm flying to Houston in a day and a half. I'd really like to NOT get the flu before then.

Yeah...it drives me crazy when people come to school when they're really sick. Especially as music majors. We can't afford to get sick, either!

To all freshmen out there: Going to bed at decent hours is a good thing. Trust me.

I've Got the World on a String

Amusingly, the opinion request was about the new blog format. I got bored with it, switched to beta (thanks, Bawb!) and decided to mess around with it.

Thanks, JB and Eleka.*

LB: I can understand your frustrations with women not taking compliments. My roommates (bless their hearts) have a difficult time with that, too. Especially Shy and Violin. Great girls, but all they can see are their own shortcomings and weaknesses.

Maybe I should write a post sometime on "Why It Seems Women Have A Difficult Time Accepting Compliments." :)

Maybe if guys (in general) were more prone to giving no-strings-attached-compliments more often (like, a LOT more often), girls (in general) would get used to them and would be more ready and willing to accept them? I think sometimes that the rarity of compliments makes for a bit of paranoia. Any guy says anything complimentary (especially a stranger), and our inclination is to wonder, "What does he want from me?"

The non-creepy older (50+) guys at my work are so sweet. This morning, I got "Hey, beautiful, thanks for bringing those books up." Last week, from a different one, I got "I just love your green eyes." They're really nice, and very appropriate. They're excited for me that I get to go out to Houston this weekend. They're my friends. I've had to make myself chill out and say, "They're just being nice, Cinderella. They don't want anything from you." Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe it's not. The Franchise is really great at being complimentary. :)

*I must admit, Eleka, that I have not actually seen Pay It Forward. I had to Google it to know what you were talking about. :)

P.S. This was not meant to be a repeat of the other post, even though it kind of turned out that way anyway. Oops! :)

Ready, Set, Go.

Opinions?

A Challenge

I am issuing a challenge:

Help me come up with a way to convince women (as a whole) that we are more physically beautiful than we give ourselves credit. SOOOOOO many women feel fat and "funny-looking," when they should NOT. Like Violin Roommate. I love her, but dang. That girl needs some self-confidence.

Guys, I am issuing a separate challenge in addition to helping me figure this out: The next time you see a woman of your acquaintance that you think is beautiful, I want you to tell her. It doesn't have to be "I think you're beautiful. Want to make out/go out/whatever?" I don't think it matters if you have a SO or not. Do it in a non-creepy way, with no strings attached, and just let her know that you think she is beautiful. Even better. . . say it to the next five women. Or even better. . . tell three different women every day. I cannot fully express the impact this could have on the women you know. And if I had to guess, if there are other guys around when you do this, maybe they'll pick up on it, too. Maybe they'll go home and tell their wives they think they're beautiful. The world would be a much better place - and trust me, guys, you'll reap the benefits - if every woman knew how beautiful she is.

*Edit: I changed half of the grammar, but not the other half. How funny. :D