THE BLOG @ jonathanerber.blogspot.com: February 2006

Competition Recital Pictures

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday's competition recital.

Here are the winners in the senior piano division. The three people in the middle of the group are also students of my teacher Charlotte Bendorf. There is Travis Repke in back left center, I am standing just to the right of him, and Stacy Weidner in front center.

Here are the eight winners of the senior division on stage, with one of the honorable mention winners walking up the stairs.
We are standing in order of placement from right to left.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture with my teacher this year, but here is one from last year.

Chandler Starr Miller Scholarship Competition

Well, Well, Well... Another year, another competition.

Today was the Chandler Starr Miller Scholarship Competition in which I was a participant in the Senior Piano Division. This competition is an annual competition sponsored by the Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center in Rockford, IL. This year I was scheduled to play the third movement of J.S. Bach's Italian Concerto, and Fantasie Impromptu by F. Chopin.

We arrived at the church around 4:25pm, and proceeded inside around 4:30pm (my performance time was 4:45pm). The Senior Piano Division was performing in the 2nd Congregational Church this year, instead of in the Emerson Auditorium where it has been hosted in the past. The Church is a beautiful place, and they do have a very nice piano there, for which I was very grateful. After registering just outside the Sanctuary, we headed up to the warm-up room, where I was very pleased with the warm, flexible, and relaxed state of my fingers at the time. We headed back downstairs and waited around for the monitor (who this year happened to be my piano teacher) to take us into the sanctuary.

When I got into the sanctuary, I was able to play a few chords, and a scale to warm up. The piano was very beautiful, except for a C# (the one an octave above middle C) that was terribly out of tune. Unfortunately, due to a number of things, I had a very hard time concentrating on the music.

The performance went very well, except for a couple things. At one point at the end of the Italian Concerto I made a mistake that just came out of the blue. I'm not sure why it happened, but it did, and I was able to make a quick recovery from it. Over all, I felt good about the performance of that piece.

The Fantasie Impromptu went well, except for a couple of rolling left hand chords that I didn't get right. These wouldn't have been too bad in my mind, except for that on the repeat, I did it again. That's the killer, especially since it wasn't a difficult part at all. Then, the last problem that I had was that as the piece was winding down, getting quieter and quieter, my hands got a little out of sync. In getting my left and right hand back in sync, I had to repeat a measure. Ouch!

When we were leaving the place, I had no clue where I was going to land placement wise. I knew that other than these few mistakes, my performance was rock solid. But I also know that bad music makes a stronger impression than good music. And I wasn't sure how strongly those mistakes had tipped the scales.

Needless to say, I was very surprised about an hour and a half later, when I found out that I had won second place! People always say that second place is the worst, and I'm here to say that I think it is. But it got even worse when I found out that I lost to a girl who won first place in the junior division last year!

Argh!

Oh well, there's always next year, and the College Division. (proof I'm from Chicago)

A Dead Snowmobile

This week I almost traded my go-kart (that is literally almost in perfect shape) for a Polaris Indy 650 Snowmobile.

On Tuesday I drove my go-kart to Capron and looked at the snowmobile that the guy wanted to trade. I fired it up, and it ran great, and very powerfully. After looking it over, I thought it was definitely worth the trade. I told him that whenever he could get it to my house, he could take the go-kart.

Wednesday while I was helping pack Nathan and Jeanine's apartment into the trailer, we got a call from the guy asking if he could come by and drop off the snowmobile that night. I said that was fine, and that since Dad was at home, he could do it whenever he wanted. Well, when he found out that I was 17, he decided to wait until I got home, because he was afraid that Dad didn't want me to make the trade, and that Dad would be all mad at him. I assured him that it was fine, but he still didn't want to. I told him that I'd be home at 6:30 so anytime after that was fine.

When we got home, he was already there, and the snowmobile was unloaded. I walked over to where they were standing, and started asked a few basic things about the snowmobile. He answered the questions and then proceeded to show me where all the fluid filler caps are, emphasizing the point that I should check them often. This didn't sound good to me, and we asked if he had any leaks. "No" he said "but I always like to check my fluids, especially the coolant, since being water cooled, it overheats fast if it doesn't have any coolant". Something seemed a little fishy, so I asked if I could take it around the yard a few times before he took the go-kart. He said sure, and I fired it up. It ran so well, and was scary fast the first time around the yard. But when I was coming around the second time, I saw a dense fog ahead. When I got to it, the smell told me that it was without a doubt, two-stroke exhaust. This thing was smoking up a storm. I knew that this is somewhat normal for a two-stroke engine upon start-up, but this should have quit smoking by now. Anyway, after I stopped driving it, it kept smoking. I stood there and watched it for a while to see if it would stop smoking. The whole time it just kept idling slower and slower. I hopped back on it and gunned it, it slowly went up to 4000 RPMs and didn't budge, I let off the gas, and eventually it died.

Needless to say, I didn't make the trade. I'm not sure if it overheated, or what happened. But come to think of it, I never did check the coolant.

An Impromptu Prank Phone Call.

Tonight I got a phone call:

Me: Hello, this is Jonathan!

Unknown: Um, hello I have some engines I want to sell (I have a wanted ad out for small engines from 8 - 14HP).

Me: Oh, ok, (taken a little off guard) um, yea, so what... Ok, well, tell me about them!

Unknown: Um, do they need to run?

Me: Well, not really, but of course I'm not going to pay a whole lot for an engine that needs repair. So what size are they?

Unknown: Um, i-it's a twelve horse engine.

Me: Oh, ok what brand is it?

Unknown: Uh, K-Kohler

Me: Oh! What size was it again?

Unknown: F-Fourteen Horse.

Me: Ok, so how many cylinders does it have? (I'm beginning to tell that this guy isn't mentally with it)

Unknown: T-Two.

Me: Oh nice, um how old is it? (I don't think they make 14HP twin cyl. engines)

Unknown: It's fourteen years old.

Me: (surprised that this guy who appeared to be thinking so slowly even knew how old it was) Well, if it's ok, can I look around at other engines like this a little, and get back to you with a price?

Unknown: Sure.

Me: Ok, do you want me to call you back at the same number that you just called me on.

Unknown: Uh... No!

Me: Ok, then let me get a pen and pad and I'll take down your number.

Unknown: Juan!

Me: (thinking that he was now shouting off the numbers slowly starting with one). Just a second, I don't quite have a pen here yet.

Unknown: Juan, it's Dave.

Me: (thinking he wants me to know his name also) Just a second, I've just got to get a pad of paper.

Unknown: (more shouting into the phone, but I can't tell what he is saying at all now because of the amount of noise in our kitchen made primarily from Corrine yelling "Ma-Ma" "Ma... Ma, Ma, Ma, Ma", the CD player playing the Jonathan Park Audio Adventure Series, Josiah telling Corrine to be quiet so that he can hear what's happening, and Joanna washing dishes).

Me: (finally out of the kitchen with my pen and pad) Ok, sorry I couldn't quite tell what you were saying, can you start over with the number.

Unknown: Juan! It's me... Dave Inyart!

_____________________________

Well, I don't think I've ever been so fooled over the phone by anyone before. Good job Dave!

BTW: That voice you were using, hang on to it for our next film. That was really good.

Anybody want to start a Museum?

Hey, if anybody out there want's to start a computer history Museum, check out this auction on Ebay.

Click HERE to see it.

Honda Ad

Have you ever wanted to start a "band" that played only instrumental music, with nothing more than a talented group of vocalists? Well, I have.
And when I saw this ad, I thought it was so good that I'd share it with you all.

Click HERE to watch it.

Another tag...

Hi Everybody! This is Jessica. Since Jonathan's out of town I thought I'd hack into his site (which is fairly easy to do since I know his username and password).

Anyway, like nearly everyone else in Bloggerdom, I have finally been "tagged." I thought I'd make it through the epidemic without getting caught, but as I have now been tagged by both Ethan and Kristalyn over on Anthony's blog and also by Nikkae on the Huber blog, I guess I'll give in and do it! But I'm posting it here rather than on the family blog because... well, just because! :-) It might be good to have a salt shaker nearby as you read some of these answers. And don't hold me to them tomorrow morning, I may have changed my mind! (What good is a mind if you can't change it??)

Seven things I'd like to do before I die:
1. Visit the 11 states I haven't been to yet
2. Tour Europe - and maybe a few other places 'round the globe
3. Reduce the deer population without the aid of a vehicle
4. Create a home that is warm and welcoming for family, friends, and all who may seek rest or refuge within its doors
5. Be a better daughter/sister - and in general more purely reflect Christ's beauty and holiness
6. Write something that I actually enjoy reading afterwards and don't continually edit!
7. Attend the weddings of all my friends and siblings - which is already a vain hope as a friend that I have known for her whole life is getting married in southern Alabama on March 4, 2006! Obviously, I won't be able to be there.

Seven things I can't do well:
1. express myself verbally
2. make a pie crust look nice
3. anything remotely artistic
4. teach music theory
5. teach anything!
6. stay calm when in a hurry
7. storytelling

Seven things I say often:
(My family was even unable to help me fill in the last two...)
1. Children!
2. Must we! (usually said in conjunction with the previous statement)
3. Gravy boats...
4. Hey, hey, hey!
5. I'm still using that! (generally in reference to the computer)
6.
7.

Seven things I'd like in a husband:
1. Rich
2. Charming
3. Intelligent
4. Handsome
5. Talented
6. Interesting
7. Someone who has *won his spurs* and, of course, wears the radiant attire associated to his rank

Seven books/authors I've enjoyed(aside from the Scriptures, of course):
1. Worthy is the Lamb
2. Woman: Her Mission & Her Life
3. Dictionary
4. Thesaurus
5. Encyclopedia
6. O. Henry
7. Carry On, Mr. Bowditch! or maybe By the Great Horn Spoon...

Seven movies... (a general disclaimer regarding this list is appropriate, if redundant):
1. Home movies can be excessively boring but we've got some real gems, too!
2. Henry V (love quoting it!)
3. Ironwill (we just watched it for the first time, so it had to make this list)
4. A variety of musicals and parts of musicals
5. Secondhand Lions was fun
6. Do Roy Rogers, the Lone Ranger and other such 'movies' count? How about the Popeye cartoon that we wore out the tape on???
7. I enjoyed the A&E Pride & Prejudice, too (it's the only version I've seen)
(Can you tell I'm not much of a movie person??)

Phew! There it is. Done. Taggers, I hope you are pleased!