What She Doesn’t Want

Malia has been in a musical theater class this semester. She took the class last year and really enjoyed it, so she decided to use another elective to take it again. Unfortunately, they reworked the class, making the 2.0 version a whole different beast from the class she took last year, and she really ended up hating this class. That may seem like a strong sentiment, but it’s valid. She has participated and done what was required of her, but she has not enjoyed it. Having said that, this week was performance week and despite not really digging the whole situation, she did a great job. 

Rather than rehearsing and presenting an entire show, this second version of the musical theater class focused on preparing for future auditions. This was great for those kids who really dig theater and want to pursue professional performance options, but not so great for kids who just really like singing and being in the chorus. There was a lot of focus on selecting and preparing solos as audition pieces and the natural performance that comes from that curriculum was a musical revue. The theme for this review was “What We Want” and the songs included were ones that showcased the desires of a particular character.

After all the in-class auditions and such, Malia was given the part of Edna Turnblad in the song “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now.” She also participated in a bunch of the chorus parts. She has to concentrate really hard on the choreography parts and we can definitely see that focus on her face when she performs, but when she wasn’t thinking quite so hard to make sure she got the steps right, she actually looked like she was having fun. And that’s a win!

For Malia, I think the biggest takeaway from this class is the knowledge that she really doesn’t like participating in theatrical productions. She is not a natural when it comes to dancing and choreography was a struggle. She much prefers to sing in a group in a choral setting rather than solo. And she is so over all the social drama that so very often happens in connection with a show. But I feel like learning what she does and doesn’t enjoy is a big part of taking classes in a bunch of different areas, so in the sense, I feel like this class was a success for her. And honestly, she did a good job! She is her own worst critic, and it can be hard not to compare yourself to kids for whom this type of performance comes naturally, but really, I think she did well. She worked hard, she was courageous, and she learned that she can do hard things. So, kudos to my kiddo. 

Knuckle Head

Malia has attended a different middle school than all the boys. There were some boundary changes that sent her to a school that was further away and where far fewer of her elementary school friends were going. At first, it was incredibly stressful. None of us were happy about the change. Malia in particular was equal parts angry and terrified as she started 7th grade. But the change ended up being so good for her and in retrospect, we are all glad that the Lord knew what she needed better than we did.

As a mighty 9th grader, her time in middle school is coming to a close and with that comes all the classic end of year activities, including the 9th grade awards night. Our other middle school handled things differently, and while there were awards given throughout the year that included an invitation for the parents to attend, the 9th grade awards were given during school hours with only the students in attendance. For Malia, however, the ceremony was a semi-formal evening event with parents invited to come and support their children.

The ceremony was handled differently than any other I’ve attended, but I think it streamlined the process. Rather than hand out awards by category, having students come to the stage multiple times if they received multiple awards, each student came to the stage alphabetically and was highlighted only once. A slide showing which awards each student received was shown for everyone, and after a photo op with the principal, they received a packet with all their awards included. The whole shindig lasted just over an hour, which was pretty great considering how many kids were invited.

Malia received multiple awards, including ones for math, language arts, fine arts (she is a choir kid after all), and the presidential fitness award. She was pleasantly surprised by how many of her peers cheered for her, and I was super pleased that she has so much support at the school. Considering the rough start and the small number of other kids she knew when she started, she has come a long way, made a lot of friends, and found her place in the little world of her middle school. Even the principal knows who she is, and in a good way! She is energetic and outgoing and over the course of the past three years, she has made an impression on him as he mingles with the kids during their lunch periods. There have been high fives, short greetings, and other such normal interactions, but Malia counts her relationship with the middle school principal by the number of times she has touched his head. Yes. You read that correctly. She had indeed touched the principal’s head on more than one occasion. Four, to be precise. 

The first two noggin nudges came to pass because the principal’s hands were filled with dirty lunch trays that he was helping to collect. That required a modification of the traditional fist bump turning it into a head/fist bump. The third was a result of a bet/dare with Morgan, one of Malia’s best friends. They were engaged in a water bottle flipping contest where the loser had to rub the principal’s head. As the loser, Malia was the one who had to do the rubbing. And the principal was the one who was good natured enough to let it happen. And I’m sure Morgan was the one laughing her head off. 😜 With that triple head/hand contact in mind, I jokingly told Malia that she should rub his head instead of shaking his hand when she received her awards. She did not go all wacky and do so during the actual ceremony, but after the formal portion of the evening was done, she sure did ask Mr. G if she could rub his head. And he sure did let her. 😂

Malia has done well in middle school. Not only has she found her place there and left her mark (the kids who were in the science class for which she was a T.A. first semester still call her “Closet Goblin” 😂), she has learned a lot both in and out of the classroom. She has grown up a lot and although I know she is nervous, I think she will do well in high school. She will be a little fish in a big pond again, but as she has done in the past, I suspect she will make new friends and find her place fairly quickly. At least I hope she will.

Organ Donors (It’s Not What You Think)

One of the joys of Nathan’s time at USU was his organ lessons. And as his time in in college approached its end, he decided that he wanted to do a senior recital. As he began his last semester of school, he mentioned his desire to his organ teacher, and she supported his idea wholeheartedly. As an organ professor, she has some connections and intel about the many organs in our area and had a perfect location in mind. There is a Methodist church in downtown Salt Lake that not only has the oldest pipe organ on the Wasatch front (yes, older than the famous tabernacle organ) but also invites community members to use their organ and church as a performance space. Apparently, the donors that help fund the maintenance and running of the church want to make the organ accessible to musicians because it allows more people to play and appreciate an amazing historical instrument. They generally charge a fee as this helps give them the funds they need to run and maintain the church and the organ, but for students they waive the fee. Nathan was completely on board with that location and scheduled his recital for two weeks after graduation. Since this recital was not a graduation requirement or anything like that, he figured that it would give him several stress-free weeks to practice. In fact, one of the really good things about this particular recital is that because Nathan is not a music major, he could approach his senior recital as a completely optional, totally enjoyable experience. There were no juries and no faculty with the power to nix his graduation. It was a stress-free way to share the joy he has found in playing the organ with his friends and family. 

Nathan’s recital was this afternoon. Kevin, Malia, and I picked Kevin’s mom up on the way, so she was able to attend. Daniel and Tawni as well as one of Tawni’s sisters and a good friend accompanied them. Nathan had other friends from Logan drive down and Stevie, one of his roommates during his first semester in college prior to his mission, drove up from Provo. Nathan’s first ever piano teacher and a beloved neighbor of ours was in attendance with her husband, whom we also adore. One of Nathan’s good friends from high school arrived with her one-year-old daughter in tow. Her husband, another longtime friend of Nathan’s, had to be at work, but Maddie and her daughter, who loves music and behaved perfectly for such a little soul, made attendance a priority. And there were a few others connected with the church that came. Nathan was so pleased with the amount of support he got. It was nice to see a goodly sized group of young adults drive down from Logan for the event, especially since Nathan’s friends rarely stick around long term. And he was so pleased to be able to play yet another amazing historic organ. 

And it was a beautiful organ with a wonderful sound. Nathan chose a variety of contrasting pieces that allowed him to showcase everything from the quiet, gentle stops to the big, building rumbling moments that only a pipe organ can create. This particular organ has such a warm, rich sound and as always, I loved being able to feel the vibrations when Nathan played the big, loud parts! The folks from the church that Nathan worked with to coordinate practice times were so happy to accommodate him and they mentioned to us that he is welcome to go back and play the organ whenever he would like. He just needs to check in with them to make sure the church is open and that no one else is scheduled to use the space. I love their great desire to see their organ played as often as possible and their willingness to invite all to do so, not just members of their congregation! They have a good relationship with our church and have consulted with them in matters concerning repair and preservation of some of the stained glass in their building, and honestly, it was so good to rub shoulders with other Christians who just love and accept regardless of denomination. It was a reminder to me that there are good people all over. 

This afternoon’s events feel like the end of an era to me. It has been a great four years as Nathan has learned to love playing the organ and has had the chance to play so many great instruments. I don’t know when he will have a chance to play one of these historic organs or have an opportunity to play for others besides the times he plays for regular church meetings. But for now, he is basking in the glow of a recital well played, well attended, and well loved.

She’s Moving On

This evening was Malia’s final concert of the year and her final concert of middle school. It was also the event where her choir teacher recognized the students who participated in choir all three years of their middle school tenure, of which Malia was one. Malia has loved being in choir. She has gained confidence in her musical abilities and has found joy in singing. While there have been some frustrations as well, overall, her choir experiences have been positive. And her choir teacher is fantastic, just the right mix of dedicated, chaotic and insane that works perfectly in a middle school classroom. She has loved being in his classes.

Although I know she harbors some nostalgic feelings about her middle school choir experiences, I also know that she is ready to move on to a choir where the kids have more focus and she is less bombarded by the social drama that seems never-ending at the middle school. Don’t get me wrong. I know there is drama aplenty at the high school as well, but adding a bunch of new kids to the mix is something that Malia is looking forward to. It will dilute the crazy she has been dealing with and hopefully give her opportunities to make new friends. 

Malia said she only almost cried once this evening. I saw that moment on her face as the last notes of the last song of the evening were sung. She is comfortable in her little middle school pond and wading into a bigger pool, while exciting, can also be scary. But she will be taking some of her middle school choir friends with her, so hopefully she won’t feel like she is taking those big steps alone. And there will be more music and more laughter and more joy to be found. Kudos to the school choir teachers of the world. They have made my world, and my daughter’s world, just a little bit better.

Mata Kite Kudasai!

Since he served his mission in Japan, Kevin is pretty picky about his Japanese food. We have found several good sushi places around here, but something we hadn’t looked for was a place that serves good ramen. Last week I did a bit of internet searching and discovered a ramen place that received high praise for having good, authentic Japanese ramen. The last really good ramen we had was in Hawaii a year and a half ago, so we decided to give it a try. It always helps when the folks doing the cooking know what authentic international foods should aspire to be, so when we walked in and saw that the owners and cook staff are all Japanese, it inspired some hope. And our tastebuds were not disappointed. The ramen was delicious. Kevin had traditional Japanese style curry, and he said that was delicious too. The takoyaki were also good, albeit the amount of sauce was a bit on the heavy side. And the gyoza handmade in the restaurant did not disappoint. To sum it all up, we came away happy with our meal. 

In addition to the good eats, we discovered that this establishment doesn’t use any nuts. That means it is a safe spot for Malia. She has been all about the ramen for the past sixish months, eating a package for a snack after school, for lunch on the weekends, on nights when I make something she hates for dinner, etc. As such, we were all pretty excited about the opportunity to let her taste something more authentic than Top Ramen. So, this evening we made the trek back to the east side of the valley to expose Malia to a little bit of Japanese culture. 

In addition to authentic eats, this particular restaurant wants to give their customers an all-encompassing Japanese experience. As such, the décor and atmosphere of their shop is modeled to mimic such establishments in Japan. Everything from the music, the art, the anime on the big screen, and the way the wait staff greets the customers just screams out, “Hey!! I’m Japanese!!” It makes it kind of fun. Kevin and I have both been exposed to such situations at previous points in our lives, but our Utah born and raised youngest child has not. We walked in and Malia’s response was, “What IS this??!!” I must admit that I was amused at her reaction. Her life experiences have been fairly limited after all, but she’s not exactly subtle about her opinions. 😂

Malia and I both ordered ramen, and Kev opted for the curry again. Have I mentioned that he really likes Japanese curry? And that I’m not a fan so it’s not something I’ve bothered to learn to cook during our twenty-seven years of marriage? Probably not. So with those tidbits of info, you won’t be surprised to know that he ordered the curry. I was pleased with my ramen, but Malia, who really didn’t know what to expect, was less than thrilled. She described it as different than she expected. And weird. And I’m not sure she super duper loved it. It wasn’t gross or anything, but I think some of the flavors were less…American than Top Ramen. And as such, a departure from what she is accustomed to. But she ate all the noodles, tried a bit of the spicy oil, and enjoyed the gyozas. 

I suspect Kev and I will be return customers of this little shop from time to time. In fact, it is just down the street from his office so on the days when he needs to be in the office, he might just dash over for lunch. And there are some other things on the menu that I’d be interested in trying, so I know we will make our way back there from time to time. I’m not sure Malia will join us. Or if she does, maybe she will opt for a giant platter of potstickers. I really don’t know. But whether she decides to give it another try or not, at least she can say that she’s tasted the real thing!

Calculating a Career

You know that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel? The one I mentioned yesterday regarding Daniel’s academic career? Nathan has been seeing that light as well and today it was his turn to step into the bright light of being a college grad. While Daniel knew what he wanted to do career-wise when he was about five minutes old, Nathan was more normal. He went through several ideas over the years. As a middle schooler, inspired by Mr. Davis, his beloved choir teacher, he was thinking that being a choir teacher would be absolutely fantastic. In high school he realized that being a public-school teacher would make it difficult to support a family and his focus shifted. He had a fantastic physics teacher (a teacher that my dad worked with years ago while he was still teaching) and his thoughts turned to majoring in physics. As a junior in high school, a brand-new high school opened that covered our area and he was instrumental in building what has become a large and successful math department. His enthusiasm for the subject and his desire for upper-level math classes helped prioritize some of those classes as the math department structured their class offerings. He would frequently come home from school and use the whiteboard I have on the fridge to show me what he did in his math class that day. He was just so excited that he had to share it.

Nathan started college with a plan to major in physics, but as he got going in college-level classes, he discovered that the math was what he really liked about physics. That realization led him to shift to a major in math. When the chronic headaches and migraines brought him home from his mission earlier than anticipated, he also discovered that he loves reading all the statistical data that’s included with the prescription medications that he was given. Most of us throw those informational leaflets away, the ones that detail all the FDA studies that were done prior to approval of the medication, but Nathan read them for fun. That fascination led him in the direction of statistics, and he settled on a major in math with a degree in math statistics composite and a desire to work in the field of data analytics.

During his time at USU, Nathan has made his mark in the math department. Students taking math classes at USU register for a recitation in addition to their main course. The recitation is basically a smaller class led by an upper-level math student and designed as a supporting class period in which to ask questions and get help with the concepts taught in the larger classes. Nathan was encouraged to apply to be a recitation leader a few years back and it has been one of the numerous jobs he has worked concurrently over his college years. This past summer he was also asked to work with the Aggie Math Learning Center to compile data relating student visits to the AMLC to how well they do in their classes to show correlation between visits and success in classes as well as to supply justification for funding. In addition to using his math prowess to make sense of the data, he used the programing skills he had gained in a basic programing class to create an online dashboard as an easy-to-understand visualization of his results. The professors in the math department were enormously impressed with his work, and it has already been useful to them. 

During this graduation season, he was the recipient of awards for both the outstanding undergraduate recitation leader and outstanding math/stats composite undergrad. He also graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.95 GPA and a minor in ASL. As one of the top students in the undergrad math department, he was invited to be interviewed for a series of short videos highlighting exceptional students from all fifteen departments in the newly merged college of arts and sciences. (More on that massive merger upcoming.) Snippets of a few of these videos were played as we waited for the ceremony to start, and Nathan was one of the lucky winners of a minute on the big screen. He was also featured in the Utah Stateman, the USU student newspaper.  While he never makes choices based on how much attention he will gain, he does strive for excellence and that has obviously been noticed throughout his time at USU.

I promised more info on the huge college of arts and sciences, so here it comes. Due to state mandated budget cuts, the university decided to merge the colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences, the College of the Arts, and the College of Science into one massive college. That merger decreased day-to-day running costs, but it also means that half of the university is contained in that one college. Which also means that half the students graduating were doing so in one massive ceremony. Having said that, the graduation definitely could have been worse. Although about 1100 students graduated, only 700 actually participated in the commencement. It only took an hour and 15 minutes to read all the names. And they didn’t play Pomp and Circumstance, which was a bit surprising, but at least we didn’t have to hear the same two minutes of music repeated ad nauseum for over an hour. The entire program lasted just over two hours, but it could have been shortened if the person introducing the valedictorian had given a briefer introduction. It was one part of the proceedings that was far too long. The valedictorian didn’t speak for a terribly long time though, so that was good. The other speaker was a grad from 1998 and a current doctoral candidate. He is from Iran and his story of coming to the U.S. for college was interesting until he asked for donations and a QR code was flashed up on all the screens. In my opinion, that was in poor taste. And I wasn’t the only one who thought so. I have not talked to anyone who had any idea what he said after that. Anyway, lack of tact aside, we survived the graduation and had pizza and Aggie ice cream at Daniel and Tawni’s apartment to conclude our evening. 

Nathan is not sure what is next for him. He is planning to stay in Logan for the summer and then move back (almost) home if he doesn’t have a job and somewhere else to live by then. The job market is tough right now and both he and Daniel are dealing with a multitude of resumes and job applications submitted with very few responses of any kind. That brings with it a great deal of uncertainty. And so, Nathan has plans to study for his next ASL professional certification test so he can hopefully pick up more interpreting hours while he is looking for a job in his preferred career field. And if finding that job takes longer than hoped for, at least he will have a lucrative side job that he is well qualified to do.

The Wild Blue Yonder

You know that light at the end of the tunnel? The one Daniel has been seeing all year? Well, today he finally emerged from the darkness of undergrad academia into the light of having earned his Bachelor of Engineering with a major in aerospace engineering. This kid has been leaning towards a career in engineering almost all of his life. He did take a brief foray into the study of dinosaurs as a preschooler (At his preschool graduation when most kids announced that they wanted to be firefighters, policemen, or superheroes, he proudly proclaimed that he wanted to be a paleontologist. The people sitting behind us murmured that the parents must have coached him, not knowing we were the parents. I can assure you there was absolutely no input from us. It was 100% Daniel.) but by first grade he was firmly grounded in space travel. And his fascination with all things that fly has not diminished over the years.

Starting at about age four, Daniel turned his eyes and his aspirations to the sky. That was the year I sewed an astronaut costume for Halloween. In first grade he had the opportunity to meet a real astronaut and that solidified his desire to fly. As a fourth grader he discovered origami and a lifelong hobby was born. Within a few years, he progressed far enough that he became aware of the work of origami master and mathematician Robert Lang, who was deeply entrenched in the field of space origami. Meeting Lang was another experience that reinforced his passions. Cub Scout space derbies and teachers who gave him opportunities to build and launch rockets added further fuel to the fire. He visited as many airplane museums and attended as many airshows as he could, and his love of flight continued to grow. (In fact, the first time anyone in our family besides Nathan-who you will remember was one of Daniel’s roommates-met Tawni was at an airshow. Malia and I missed out on that one due to a complete lack of caring about the whole airplanes bit, but Kevin and Matthew got to meet her!) As his schooling progressed, he leaned into his strengths in math and sciences and decided engineering was the route he wanted to take. Post mission, he enrolled at USU and began the process of learning the nuts and bolts of engineering. I think one of the amazing things about Daniel is that despite the years of study and hard work, the many tests studied for and passed, and the many hours spent head down in his homework, he still gets just as excited about space travel as he did as a four-year-old. Only now that he has a better understanding of all the many things that have to be designed, produced and deployed perfectly to make it all happen, I think he appreciates it even more. As an example, he closely followed the launch and mission of the Artemis II last month with complete fascination. If you ask him about it, expect to get a detailed and enthusiastic account of the mission. His eyes light up and everything when he talks about it.

Today, Daniel reached a major milestone in his journey towards the sky. With his finals finished and his capstone project completed, it was finally graduation day. The college of engineering is one of the larger colleges at USU (although nowhere near as massive as the college Nathan is in-more on that tomorrow), so Daniel expected the graduation to be long. However, the speakers kept things concise, and with only about 340 graduates participating in the ceremony, it only took about 35 minutes to get through all the names. I had planned for a long haul and had my kindle and an audiobook all ready to go to quell the boredom, but I only ended up reading a few pages. 

After we were done with the official portion of graduation, we retired to Daniel and Tawni’s apartment for lunch followed by a copious amount of Aggie ice cream. Tawni’s parents and her youngest sister drove down from Idaho for the occasion and her two other sisters, both of whom live in Logan, came as well. It was so nice to visit with them on a day that was a bit slower than a wedding day! Unfortunately, Kevin and I were short on time as Malia needed us back home in time to help with her Arena scheduling for school next year. So, our visit was short. But I suspect there will be more occasions over the years to get to know Tawni’s family a bit better.

Now that Daniel has completed his undergraduate work, he will begin preparing to take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, which is basically a certification showing that he does indeed have the skills necessary to work as an engineer. He has been submitting job applications throughout this last year, and now that he is officially done with homework, he is going to lean into the job search. Tawni is gainfully employed so they will stay in Logan for now, but that is not their long-term plan. However, Daniel doesn’t know exactly what is next. It all depends on where the work takes him. He and Tawni are not only open to moving wherever they need to, but they also have a desire to live somewhere other than Utah. So, there may well be adventures in their future. The sky’s the limit and Daniel would love to be in a job that focuses on the broad expanse of the heavens. And I hope and pray that he will have that opportunity. 

Sounds of the South

While we were talking to Matthew this evening, he used the colloquialism “dadgum” in a sentence. And not ironically, either. It was a seriously legitimate comment. The funny thing to me is that it was totally natural. He didn’t pause or anything. It just rolled right out. 😂

I think he is going to come home with a little bit of the south deeply ingrained in him. He is loving the people and loving the area. He is embracing the culture and the linguistic tendencies. He is already talking about where he wants to take us when we get to Arkansas. Maybe I should ask him what southern foods smell the best so I can figure out how to make some authentic southern eats for him to sample at home. Because that is the one aspect of the traditions of the area that he doesn’t get to experience. Other than the Slap Ya Mama, that is. 😉