I realize that bilious pigeons are supposed to croon. But this one tweets as well! I've had my eye on twitter for a few months now, and when I learned that even my sister is a twitterbug, I hopped on yet another networking bandwagon. So friend me, or follow me, or whatever!

http://twitter.com/biliouspigeon

It was a comparatively busy day today: four tours and time spent in the church garden. The historian swears she'll make a gardener out of me yet. Good luck. At least I know now that half of the tall green things that really look like they're supposed to be there are actually weeds.

I had one couple in this morning, Catholics from Massachusets, who weren't terribly interested in the church itself, but badgered me for ages about the differences between the Catholic church and the 'Angelican' church. The lady huffed for a little while about us not having any of those little prayer candles (whatever they're called). The other two people came in at the same time, talked to each other for a while about their significant others' health problems (while I stood there getting antsy), and then asked me to play some Messiah. Just for the record, not all the tourists are like this.

At least it's Saturday. Despite the fact that I'm going to be at church at 9:00 tomorrow morning anyway, and despite that fact that I really do enjoy my job, it still feels a bit like getting out of school on Friday afternoon.

Morning Prayer tomorrow = happiness

Wow. I cannot believe I'm 20 years old. ANCIENT.

Okay, so I don't feel ancient. Actually, I'm happier this birthday than I have been on my birthday for a few years now. 18 and 19 both came with feelings of inadequacy and dread of making up for wasted time. I'm not saying I've checked off everything on the do-in-your-teens list, but I feel older than I did this time last year.

I still can't believe I'm officially in my twenties, though.

I won't do the 20 things about me on my 20th bithrday thing, but just to mark the occasion: 20 random things, most of them having something to do with me.

1. Apart from family I've only led about six or seven tours in 2 and a half weeks of of work. And out of those I've gotten the 'which denomination is this?' question at least four times. Sigh.

2. I've had the best sort of birthday this year: a long one. It started in mid-June with new clothes and new books (am I the only one who celebrates by going to the bookstore?), kept going with the 'official' supper with cakes and presents when Mom and Dad visited last week, held on for our trip to the Tattoo on Monday, and finally blew itself out - long after the candles - today. I feel loved.

3. Dad called me this morning all upset that he didn't have any more teenage daughters. Aren't people usually relieved about that?

4. Part of actually feeling my age for once may have to do with my feeling financially viable for the first time EVER. I'm actually looking forward to income tax time.

5. Grammy keeps telling people that I play the organ with such 'authority.' I haven't had the heart to point out that, if you pull out enough stops, it's hard NOT to sound authoritative on the organ.

6. Grammy goes on to say that the choir has been commenting how uncharacteristically assertive I am during practice. "They all get such a kick out of it," she chuckles. I may be twenty, but I'm apparently not old enough for people to stop 'getting a kick' out of my knowing what I'm talking about.

7. I'm going through a Vaughan Williams obsession at the moment. Rhosymedre has officially been conquered (not that I'll ever stop working on it, of course), and I think I'll tackle Bryn Calfaria next. And I want to go to England for the full bucolic RVW effect.

8. Speaking of obsessions, I thought, after the Bones finale came out in May that I would finally stop checking the spoiler sites every time I went online. No such luck... spoilers are already coming for September, and I've got the blog bookmarked on Grammy's computer. *headdesk*

9. Nothing to do with me, but I just heard a news spot about an airline exclusively for pet-owners. *biggrin*

10. I'm using far too many *actions* lately. My inner fangirl is manifesting. *facepalm*

11. I've fallen for a new TV series lately: Castle. It's sort of a modern cross between Remington Steele and Bones. Right up my alley.

12. Uncle Rod has a saying: "I'm human and therefore greedy." Well, my own version of that would be: "I'm human and therefore I'm a show-off." I have to admit that my favorite tours are the ones where people ask about the organ and then humoroursly wonder whether I can play it, not actually expecting me to say yes. The best part (for that all-too-human ego of mine) is when they gasp and point at the pedalling.

13. Just so that that last one sounds justified, people tend to make bigger donations to the church after I play for them.

14. I promise I'll stop blowing my own pipes after this, but I was so happy when someone actually commented on their tour in the guest book the other day, using my name and everything! I bounced through the rest of that day.

15. There aren't too many things I find myself homesick for when I'm in Digby. But I REALLY miss my cat.

16. Another thing I've been missing is Father Kevin. Now, a priest might be a strange thing for someone to be homesick for, but Kevin is the only one that I feel I know well enough to talk to freely to. I never know what to say to preachers. Some have great senses of humor, and some just... don't. I don't know Father Bill well enough to tell which category he fits into, and so when I'm talking to him I always come across as even more conversationally challenged than I already am. And with him being a priest and me being a churchmouse, we tend to see a lot of each other.

17. I love weeks when we do Morning Prayer instead of Eucharist. Sooooooooo relaxing...

18. Amber and I keep coming up with things we're looking forward to in September... English classes, cooking up vegan masterpieces together, Bones (yes, I know, we're hopeless), and Oreo study parties.

19. All glory, laud, and honour to whomever made Oreos vegan.

20. It's late and I don't have a twentieth thing.

My days off...

You know that feeling when you finish something you've been anxious about and suddenly it seems like there's nothing immediate to worry about at all? That's how I feel right now.

Both of my gigs yesterday were fine, and both fairly lucrative (pay checks coming from all directions *biggrin*), and today Grammy and I are off to Halifax for the Tattoo.

I love Mondays.

So much for blogging every day. I never was good at keeping resolutions.

Also, I got a call yesterday evening asking me to play for a wedding tomorrow... first wedding I've done since taking up the organ and I have two days to get ready for it. I knew there was a reason I was putting off learning the wedding march. At short notice like this, they'll just have to put up with Rhosymedre instead.

So I'm watching Star Wars VI on TV and trying not to think about tomorrow. Gotta love the Ewoks.

And dude... I just saw a promo for a new sci-fi series starring Sully. Not as Sully, of course, but it made me smile that special smile that's reserved for all things Bones-related.

So... day two in July and I've got absolutely nothing new to talk about. So I'm going to mention something old instead. Like, 83 years old. I have an 83-year-old roomy.

In some ways living with Grammy is easier than it was last year. Since I've got a job (ahem, *cuddles book*), she's not pushing me out the door and worrying about me being bored. And since Kacy's around fairly often she's got somebody else to argue with (apparently I'm the easy one).

But it kind of sucks to be in Digby with no Grampy. Without anyone to worry about herself, Grammy worries the rest of us; her health, how lonely she looks, whether she's eating enough. And there's that too-frequent comment she makes about only waiting around till she can mix her own ashes with Grampy's. As much as she does try to keep herself busy, it's obvious that there's only one, really depressing thing on her mind.

But to end with happiness, it's really awsome how cool Grammy is about the vegan thing. She'll try anything: black bean flautas, cous cous salads, chickpea korma... she actually likes it all. And she's been using soymilk on her cereal in the morning, which tickles me. Every now and then she'll still ask if I want chicken for supper, which is understandable. I can see how it would be hard to change your way of thinking about food after 83 years... but she's doing it. With sad little spurts of vigor.

... to all those Canadian and otherwise who haven't totally given up checking my blog.

I've decided that July will be my blog-everyday month, since I need a way to force myself back to it, and because I won't have time come September. So hopefully updates will be frequent for the next few weeks.Now if I only had something interesting to write about...

I've started work at the church in Digby, and it's turning out to be a dream job! At least, it's turning into MY idea of a dream job: a regular schedule and LOTS of time to practice and read. I only get Sundays and Mondays off (which for me really means Sunday afternoons and Mondays), but since I mostly spend my free time reading anyway, it doesn't matter much. Tourism is dead, the weather is a few notches below shitty, and so in seven days of work I've only given about five tours so far. And - not trying to blow my own pipes - I've been told I'm good at it. (love you too, Mom)

So May kind of... didn't happen on this blog. Not because I haven't been doing anything blog-worthy. I've just been lazy about updating. But in a nutshell, I've been:

-adjusting to life as a regular organist. I'm going to be playing every Sunday from now till the end of August, which isn't really worrying me. Hymns happen easily now, and my repertoire of preludes, postludes, and offertories is getting big enough to keep weekly services from getting repetitive. And I'm enjoying my newest party (church) trick: Dorian-style improvs. Maybe I'll get brave enough to try some improv in slightly more modern tonalities soon.

-GETTING HIRED! The regular organ job I talked about is at the Anglican church in Digby (will be spending the summer there again), and they've also taken me on as their tour guide for July and August. I am SO looking forward to my summer as a church mouse, getting paid to practice and read, and lead the occasional tour.

-Singing. Lots and lots of singing. Liz, James, and I spent the Victoria Day weekend with the New Brunswick Youth Choir and my new favorite conductor: Scott Leithead. Anybody remember last year when I had a few weeks of spazzing over Kokopelli and all the amazing stuff they did, African and otherwise? Well, us lucky 50 kids in NBYC got their conductor to ourselves for a too-short weekend, which will get its own post (with videos) soon.

-Bonesing. I probably would have read a lot more this month if it hadn't been for Bones. And for anyone else in the loop, yes, my first reaction to the finale was extreme disappointment, which quickly turned into anger, which in turn has morphed into acceptance and tentative trust in the writers, whose record has been pretty impeccable till now. But... is it September yet? I really REALLY hate cliffhangers.

loving the grass, the flowers and the buds.

finding it hard to believe it's been two weeks since my last post.

looking forward to getting my braces off next week, after TWO AND A HALF YEARS.

hoping I get on as the tour guide at the church in Digby. I'm already hired as the summer organist, but having the other job would be perfect.

wishing I could free myself from this endless eating disorder cycle.

wondering what the hell I'm going to do with the huge stack of NB Youth Choir posters I'm supposed to find places for.

basking in my students' success at the music festival last week.

waiting for tomorrow night, because...

SQUEEING!!!!! about what's coming in the last two episodes of the Bones season! Shit, I think I'm turning into a fangirl.

Amber's visit came and went faster than a week should ever go, in my opinion. But we had a good time: did lots of book shopping, lots of latté-making (Amber introduced me to the true love of my life, my new (soy) milk frother), lots of watching (how lucky were we that there just happened to be two new episodes of Bones last week?!!!), and lots of planning. Liz came over for drinks (only a few, I promise!) and Audrey Hepburn movies on Saturday, and I think I've lost count of the number of time we drove 45 minutes to eat at Calactus.

We chose courses for next year, which was both fun and disappointing. It sucks majorly when something you've been WANTING to take is at the same time as the stuff you NEED to take. So it looks like I'll be doing art history all next year. I'm kind of ambivalent about it at the moment, but a few people I've talked to found they really liked it. I'll also be doing some classics (just basic Greek and Roman history), and some English. At the moment I'm thinking of doing a minor in English Lit, but I'll see next year whether I think I'm good enough!

And with everything going on, I completely missed my blog's first birthday yesterday! I'm not usually so consistent with things like this, so I'm WAY too excited about this. (Check out the shelf of briefly-used and quickly-discarded diaries in my room.) For the first time in my teenagerhood I feel like I've actually come a long way since last year. Mia's still around, but everything else is feeling a whole lot better. And after spending a year at university, I think I'll be even huger amounts better next year. So... happy birthday to my blog.

Easter came and went here as usual: six services, lots of good food, and the traditional blizzard on Saturday night (ugh). I don't know whether Easter means spring anywhere else, but this was at least the second snowy one we've had in the last few years.

Easter Vigil was perfect. It always feels a bit like being in a medieval church service at the beginning, with nothing but candlelight, and about ten minutes of chanting before we sing the Phos Hilaron and turn the lights on. Father Kevin has this beautiful cope (I think it's called a cope... it's definitely not a chasuble) that he only wears on Palm Sunday and Easter Even. It's deep red, fringed with gold, and don't ask me why, but it's one of the parts of Easter that I love. And I think the choir sounded better this Holy Week than it has for a really long time.

This Stanford Psalm 150 isn't necessarily an Easter video, but we used it as the psalm this morning, so I suppose it can be. I hope everybody else had a beautiful - warmer - and familial holiday!

I have a thing about church at night... candles, quiet reflection in the dark, and oh, I am so NOT a morning singer. So Easter Vigil is by far my favorite service of the year. I love the way it starts in the dark, then the fire spreads slowly from person to person, the choir sings the Phos Hilaron, then we turn on the lights, and finally end with the first Easter hymn with a full organ and a descant and the church bells ringing outside and... could it possibly get any better?

And from my favorite service my favorite music is the Palestrina Sicut cervus. We've done it every Easter Eve for the past six years, and I think both Liz and I just sing it for memory now. I always feel as though this piece is continually rising, which, come to think of it, is fitting for Easter Eve.

I really wanted to post When I Survey the Wondrous Cross today, but - surprisingly - there weren't any really good versions of it on YouTube, so I guess I'll have to settle for the Allegri Miserere instead. Gee, what a shame.

Here's my favorite group (you must have noticed that by now), King's College, Cambridge. We DON'T do this at St. Paul's, not because we don't want to, but... small town church. We do really well to get through the Raminsh Ubi caritas and Darke in F at Eastertime. But here it is, for those of you who want to sit through the ten minutes. Hell, it's good Friday, I was feeling contemplative, and it was exactly what I wanted.

...you get home from Wednesday choir practice at 11 pm... you feel you'd strangle someone if they say the word 'supplication' once more... you don't want to see another page of Anglican or Gregorian chant until next Holy Week... your weekend schedule goes something like:

Thursday - practice, church
Friday - practice and church TWICE
Saturday - practice, church, followed by the annual Resurrection Hootenanny at the Rectory
Sunday - practice, church, mad dash from St. Ann's to St. Paul's, then the BIG Easter Eucharist for which you no longer have any voice

Does it mean I'm irredeemably weird that this is my favorite weekend of the year?

I've been finding out that there aren't actually many videos of the standard (Anglican) Holy Week music on YouTube. So here's one of the Lent Prose, which we start at the beginning of Lent, add a verse every week, and then forget about after Passion Sunday.

Okay, so I've been depressing myself with Wuthering Heights for the last few days, the world feels like nothing but a big soggy ball of rain, mist, and mud at the moment, and I couldn't feel less like listening to yet more music for Lent. So now for something completely different...

A word about my family first: NEWFIES! I really meant one word. So yes, my Dad are Newfoundlanders, the lot of 'em, and his first cousin is the one in the middle in this video. His group, Buddy Wassisname and the Other Fellows (of which he is Buddy) is a fairly well-known Newfie comedy group. So... this is Is You 'Appy which works wonders for my down moods.

And yes, the outfit is part of the act. He's actually fairly normal in real life.

This is one of my favorite Lenten hymns, and I'm so glad they've added the text to this video.

So. It's Palm Sunday. Also known as Choreography Sunday at St. Paul's for the number of times the choir has to remember where to process, which verses of All Glory, Laud and Honour to sing while doing it, and which shoulder to hold the palm branch over... if you manage to hold it at all while balancing the music and processing. It also means the start of Holy Week, of course, AKA you-might-as-well-just-bring-a-sleeping-bag-to-church week. We complain about it, but secretly we can't wait for Holy Week since we love being together, we love all the great music we get to sing, the aesthetics of an Anglican Holy Week are really kinda fun, and honestly, getting up and down off the kneelers ten thousand times is terrific exercise.

So since I'm having a music-filled week, I decided I might as well share some of it. Palm Sunday is usually when the St. Matthew Passion is done, so here is a short bit of it: Herzliebster Jesu.



And of course, for Palm Sunday - Hosanna to the Son of David. This Gibbons has always been my favorite setting. We can't quite manage it at St. Paul's. This group isn't too bad.

What is it people always say about March? In like a lion, out like a lamb? Yes, well we got the in like a lion part. THEN we got the out like a snowy, slushy, wintery lion part.

I'm always so glad when April finally comes, but I'm especially glad this year. For one thing, surely, surely the snow will stop soon. This year April also means Easter (I always like Easter better when it's late), and NO music festival for me (for the first time since I was five years old), and graduating to my first big Bach Prelude & Fugue on the organ, and Amber coming. And then there'll be that wonderful first day when it's warm enough to go out with only a blazer or a sweater on instead of a winter coat. And maybe even sandals if it isn't too wet. It's been a bad winter, both the weather and everything that's happened at home, but coming out of it into spring, as a scholarship-holding, advanced placement-worthy university student is the best feeling.

I hope everyone else has such a hopeful start to April too.

I never sleep well before any big events. Like last night. I woke up about every ten minutes with the first page of my opening piece (Buxtehude) going through my head. And then I had a freaky dream where I got to St. Paul's to practice and the organ was gone. Just one big hole in the sanctuary wall and Hans sitting on a wooden chair in the middle of it singing the Advent Prose. I think I remember trying to tell him that it was Lent and he'd get into trouble with Fr. Kevin if he didn't stop.

Oh, and the audition? Success! The chapel organ was exactly where it was supposed to be, and I played more or less what I supposed to play. In fact, I think I made it through two of my four pieces without any mistakes at all, which is a fairly rare occurrence for me. I tend to be one of those musical and earnest people with an unfortunate tendency to hit wrong notes. Everything was pretty informal, probably because I was the very last person to audition this season, and because we all fought our way through a blizzard to get there. It was only Gayle and Dr. Runge on my jury, and they both seemed happy.

And apparently I got %100 on my theory assessment, which means they want me to bypass first year theory next year and go straight to second year. It might not be a bad idea. I'd only have to have Dad for one course next year instead of three, and I could be with Liz.

I haven't felt this positive about myself in a while.