Special Musical Number on the Organ

Two Sundays ago, I was sitting in the foyer a couple hours after church when my bishop walked by. We chatted a bit and then he asked me if I would like to do a special musical number in church sometime.

"Sure," I said. "I could play something on the piano."

"Oh, you can play the organ," Bishop said.

"Uh, ok."

So, I am going to perform a musical number on the organ at some point in the near future.

Performing a musical number on the organ is significantly more difficult than performing a musical number on the piano, for (at least) three reasons:

First, it's the organ. The organ has multiple keyboards, plus the foot pedals, plus the volume and crescendo pedals, plus you have to pick all the stops. On the piano, you just sit down and hit a key and the sound that comes out is always the same. You can make the note louder or softer, but that's more or less it (I'm ignoring modern techniques of plucking the strings and whatnot). On the organ, you can have a mellow tone or a sharp tone or a nasal tone or a brassy tone or a billion other tones. That's a lot of choices.

Second, I don't own any organ music. I do own one little book of Bach fugues or something like that, but that's not something I'd play in Sacrament meeting, even if I did have the skill to perform them.

And third, to perform a musical number on the organ requires that I practice the organ. It is exceptionally difficult to practice an instrument when you don't own one. And as much as I'd love to buy an organ, it's not exactly at the top of my grocery list.

I do happen to have a few books of piano arrangements of hymns. I took those to church yesterday and found one I could modify to play on the organ. I've practiced at the Institute before, so maybe they'll let me do that again, but I don't like having to ask someone to let me into the chapel. Maybe I'll just practice on my piano (which is digital and has an organ setting) and hope for the best.

The Best Part of October

This is my favorite cereal in the WHOLE WORLD.

The end.

Present on the Porch

Tonight when I got home, there was a peanut on my porch.

I'm not sure how it got there, but it made me laugh.

How many people get to find a peanut on their porch?

Black and White for a Purpose

Today, to the general public, I look like I'm wearing a white shirt and black pants. But actually, I'm wearing the black in memory of Steve Jobs, and I'm wearing the white in honor of Apple.

Addendum to Previous Post

I just ate some of the casserole and it wasn't as fabulous as I recalled, so never mind.

Here's a fun optical illusion to make up for it instead. When I showed this to the physics instructor at my work, he had me print a copy so he could take it and look at it until he figured it out (which he did rather quickly). :o)

Google+ and Zucchini Casserole

I keep thinking of things to post, but then I end up posting them to Google+ instead. Now I know how Facebook fanatics feel (I never use my Facebook account).

Here is something to tide you over until I write a real post: I made zucchini casserole today. It's really fantastic zucchini casserole that tastes nothing like zucchini, and is probably more unhealthy than healthy, which is why it's so delicious. It won a ward cooking/baking/whatever contest once. For real! It's not my recipe though, it's just one I found on the internet. But boy is it good!

The end.

P.S. Someday I will be able to take something out of the oven without burning myself. I don't know why my flesh is so attracted to that metal...

P.P.S. My cat just got a whiff of the casserole and came zooming up from downstairs. That's how good it is.

Betty as a Lego Minifig

Last night I created my Lego counterpart:

Ta-da! A Ravenclaw minifig! And she looks just like me, too!

"But Betty," you say, "Lego has never produced a Ravenclaw minifigure*. How is this possible?"

I will tell you: it is possible with an extra old-style Gryffindor torso, some extra body parts from Lego Pick a Brick, a Harry Potter sticker book, a pair of scissors, an Exacto knife, a cutting mat, and lots of time and patience. But hey, I think the end result is worth it (and I wasn't going to use that sticker of Cho anyway).



*Lego has produced a Ravenclaw microfigure, but that's not nearly as good looking as my personalized minifig, don't you think?

How Tired Am I?

This morning Anya woke me up sometime between 5 and 6, as usual. I was falling asleep even as I opened her can of food and dumped it onto the plate, but instead of going back to bed after I'd fed her, some part of me decided to eat a bowl of cereal. I got out the Wheat Chex, the milk, the bowl, etc., but when I sat down to eat, I opened my eyes and saw that I was holding a fork, poised and ready, over the cereal. A fork. I'd also gotten out a butter knife to go along with the fork.

Sometimes I wonder where my brain goes when I'm sleepy.