Embarassing Day

 First, a slight rant against a religion class.  On my final I was asked a question about my study habits. Through the semester our teacher posted several videos online of apostles speaking about New Testament doctrine, stories, and characters.  The last question of the final (worth 12 points out of 200 so 6% of the test) asked how many of the videos did I watch through the semester.  I have watched maybe half a dozen.  I couldn't play them on my computer.  What I saw was information I knew and mostly came from General Conferences of the past.  I answered honestly knowing I'd lose 11 points.  I do not know why I answered honestly.  I'm not even glad I did.  I'm frustrated that my study habits were being questioned.  The test is to prove acquisition of knowledge not how it was obtained.  The test shows understanding of a subject not how often it has been studied.  The test is to permit passage to a higher difficulty in the subject not show the diligence in work to get there.

Sorry friends, I have one more thing.  I do not like BYU's grading system.  It produces what appears to be an influx of B students.  I have classes that require a 94% to get an A in them.  Maybe that is the standard we should be graded on.  But I've shot for a 90% my whole life.  Well, a 92% in case I mess up on a final.  So I'm getting an A- in many of my classes.  This would appear as a 4.0 at NAU and at many other universities I'm sure, but here it appears as a 3.75 (which is not even high enough for most scholarships mind you).  3.75 came from having a few B's, not by having straight A's.  Also frustrating, but something I'm slowly caring less about.

Honestly, today might be the most embarrassing I've had in a very long time.  I just missed my Arabic final.  All week I've been telling myself 2 to 5, that's my last final, Friday from 2 to 5.  Well, it was actually 11 to 2 today, which is what I wrote down in my planner.  But why would I check that when I knew it was from 2 to 5...  On my way to the final I ran into a guy from the class riding away.  I asked where he was going.  So I even found out I had completely missed it before walking into the class in front of everyone.  Instead I got to quietly wait around the corner, talk to my professor, and figure things out.  What this means is an answer to a prayer, honestly.  I've been wondering a lot if I should retake Arabic 101.  I love the language and I want to be good at it.  I want to understand this stuff but it never clicked this semester.  If I had gotten a C in the class I probably would have tucked my tail and kept going, never catching up.  But this forces me to retake the class.  I failed.  Outright.  First F in a class of my life.  But when I retake it I'll be able to focus on what isn't clicking.  I can learn the names of letters, get better at numbers, do all the homework, memorize more, and speak more clearly.  It is not what I would have said I wanted (a good grade) but it is what I want (to really understand Arabic).  Hey, life is good.

I'm the King of New York!

Well, not really, but I do wish.  On that note though, Newsies is set to hit the Broadway in a few months.  This might be one of the few events I've honestly waited the majority of my life to happen.  It's weird.

New York was glorious.  Such an adventure.  Just getting there was fun.  I was walking to the bus and was early (6:30 pm).  A bus was leaving right when I walked up, but that was no big deal because the had planned on was a little later.  Except a little later became a lot later because it was rather late.  Which made me late for my train.  Which made me late for my second bus.  Barely late.  Like, I can see the bus I need to get on pulling into the parking lot as the train is slowing down late (9 pm).  So I had to take a taxi instead because no more buses ran that night.  My cabbie is a Sudanese refuge who moved to Salt Lake City at the turn of the millennium.  Crazy.  Awesome too.  Good man.  I get to the airport and find I can't check in my luggage because it is too late.  Well, that's fine because my flight isn't until 5:30 am the next day.  I make a call though to see when they open up to check baggage.  I was told 5 am.  Thirty minutes to get through security and get to my gate?  Sounded like an adventure.  It ends up they opened at around 4:30 am so it worked out fine.  But I slept in the airport that night.  Not too bad actually.

New York is so neat.  I met up with JJ and Kelli at the baggage claim and then we traveled to Grand Central Station (we stayed in a hotel over it, the Hyatt).  The graffiti in Queens is quite superb.  Not only the symbols and designs but locations.  And many of them were advertising which I think is neat.

We ate so much food.  It was nice to be full.  And we sang so much.  My voice is not used to singing for four hours straight.  We sang under the direction of John Rutter (you would probably recognize his music.  He was commissioned to write one of the songs for the Royal Wedding in England this last summer).  So, I had six songs to practice before arriving in New York.  We ended up performing more than twice that many.  None of them were too difficult, but I've never had to use sight reading types so desperately.  Thank you Mr. Manz.  And the concert was just a delight to be in.  The orchestra and the power of the music and the audience, it was all great.  Carnegie Hall is unlike any other performing space I've been in.  The wings are walled off so they don't mess up your acoustics.  Also, there is also no light above the stage so that there is less open space to take away from the acoustics.  Which would make quick entrances and lighting a nightmare.  But this is Carnegie Hall, where the audience is in no rush to be entertained and they aren't here for dancing or acting.  The sound is all that matters and the hall delivers.

And we traveled all over the place.  We saw Follies on Broadway.  Lovely show.  It is by Sondheim so the emphasis is on social commentary through the music, which is almost an overwhelming focus.  We went to the Bodies exhibit (which was shorter than I was expecting).  It was neat to see the real parts of the body connecting and doing their thing.   I do like New York pizza.  We went on a river cruise after the concert.  When we got to the pier and things looked familiar, but I didn't know why.  Well, that was true until we walked up the ramp onto the boat.  It was the exact same company, the exact same pier, and the exact same ship I had been on for the exact same river cruise in 2005 with Alyssa Fabia while in New York for the People to People conference.  Ridiculous!  Other neat places were the Manhattan Temple (I got to participate in sealings for the first time!  Natalie-the-Elder and I really wanted to go, so we just made it happen), Battery Park, Central Park (so big, so varied, and so cool.  There was a musical group that just started playing and some roller-skating group came up and started dancing with them.  Fun to watch), the Brooklyn Bridge, and Grand Central Station.  I love New York.  It has such a feel to it.  A real pulse.  A life unlike any other.  The variety is so wonderful.  One of my favorite moments was watching a Hasidic Jew being helped by a Sikh at a food stand (Sikhs are the ones who wear the turbans and are often mistaken for Arabs).  It just seemed so right and good.