Sunday, October 28, 2007

Hymns: An exploration

I've mentioned previously that I've played the piano for a number of years.  When I went on my mission, I assumed (correctly) that I'd be playing the piano a lot.  In one of my branches, I was the first pianist they'd had in nearly two years.  I felt a bit like a musical "prophet of the restoration," correcting apostasy in the melody and rhythm of our beloved hymns.  I was happy to share my talents, as having a pianist made the meetings much more reverent and conducive to the Spirit.

My mission president likewise encouraged me to share my musical talents, but he encouraged me to limit my playing to spiritual music.  I once got called out for playing Debussy's Claire de Lune before Zone Conference, so it wasn't just Billy Joel that was banned either.  The hymns are great and all, but after a while they can be a bit musically uninteresting, so I started experimenting.  One of my favorite games was to accept nominations for three random hymns and create a medley from them.  (It always impressed people, which was fun.)

After a while, though, even that wasn't enough, so I started making my own arrangements.  I quickly discovered that playing a normally-trite song in a minor key can produce some unexpectedly poignant musical moments.  It's something that you'll hear occasionally in arrangements of A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief, for example, and it really turns out well.

The point of all this is that when I was leaving the Talmage building the other night at about 9:00, I passed someone who was whistling Come, Come Ye Saints in a minor key.

I was so pleased.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Records

Today I spent 16 hours on campus. 8:00 AM to 12:00 AM. I think that's a new record for me.

And yet, somehow I feel more invigorated and productive today than I have for weeks.

Hopefully it carries through.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Advice to CS Majors

Dear C.S. majors of the BYU,

If you don't know how to use a debugger, please learn. I promise you'll be glad you did.

Please.

-Yellow

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Thoughts

Things I dislike:
Having my heart broken preemptively.

Things I can't blame her for:
This particular incidence.

Things I wish were different:
Lots.

By the way, if you aren't sure you know what I'm talking about, then you probably don't. I don't want to inadvertently defame a good friend here.

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

The solution

Okay, so I got some interesting guesses, but nobody correctly guessed the answer to my riddle.

I woke him up when September ended! Green Day style!

It was so cool.

Monday, October 01, 2007

A riddle

On October 1, 2007 at 12:00 AM, I called my brother's cell phone. In return, he gave me "mad props" and said I "totally made his day."

The first person (who wasn't present) to guess why gets mad props.
And maybe free creamery ice cream, if I happen to know you.

Hint: I expected that he'd be asleep.
Hint #2: This was the only time this year that this would have worked.