a day in the life

I have a few unrelateds stories I need to share before I go to sleeeep.

In chronological order....

Story #1

I was walking to the caf for some middeal meal action when out of nowhere, some guy stepped out of a flock of guys, looked me straight in the eye and emphatically stated,

"The Beatles SUUUUUCK."

Never seen him before in my life. Nor was there anything on my person that would suggest I even know who the Beatles are.

Story #2

For Vespers this year chamber strings is playing some good ol' Corelli from the balcony above the foyer, as people are walking in before the service. After rehearsal today I felt the need to start throwing stuff off the balcony. It started with one moccasin aimed at Sam as he walked by, and digressed to Rachel and I in the chapel balcony chucking shoes, hoodies, etc., into oblivion, trying to hit a target of an open violin case on the front pew.

Now chamber strings generally puts one into a state of bewildered hysterics, what with the dangerous combination of Sam's... how shall I say... "antics" (have to see them to believe them); and Dr. Svanoes equally... well, "indescribable" comments/behavior, of which I tastefully will refrain from great detail.

Today these hysterics took the form of high-pitched, uncontrollable laughter. Seeing stuff fly through the air and again and again land NOWHERE NEAR their intended target was about the funniest thing since that time George Harrison couldn't remember going to Shea Stadium twice. (never mind.) So (all of this making a short story incredibly long) Rachel and I were HOWLING with laughter flinging all unbreakable items we could find off the ledge of the balcony when we here a gentle "good evening..." from down below.

Lo, it was Harlan Van Oort. Discreetly carrying a cymbol for centering prayer. That was starting in like five minutes.

Like ninjas we dropped to the floor. "do you think he saw us?" I whispered. We low crawled to the stairs and nonchalantly retrieved our goods from the expanses below.

Story #3

Someone had the really brilliant idea of doing a 24 hour prayer vigil for World AIDS Day. But instead of doing the normal prayer vigil thing, they invited musicians from around campus to play for half-hour slots, offering their music as a prayer for AIDS victims.

I was very excited about this. We NWC musicians talk a lot about using music to talk to God and to help others do the same, but honestly I'm not sure if I've ever consciously set aside time for that. It's more like a concept, a buzzword (buzzphrase?), than something I feel is actually put into practice and an un-praise-team level.

I learned some things about myself. I learned that I think about myself a lot. I kind of already knew that, but it hit me like an anvil tonight. I was trying, at least trying to try, to use my craft for something bigger than myself, but I couldn't focus on that for more than a few minutes at a time. My mind would wander to the most random selfish things... e.g. what if the person in the next time slot comes in and hears me screw up? or how very notable it is that I am here giving up sleep/homework to pray for helpless children with my violin!!!!!!!

I'm not sure why I am letting all of you know this. Maybe it's because I know you already know. But I am selfish. Incredibly, unmendably selfish. And I don't know how to fix it.