Tempus Fugit

Listening to: The Liberty Jazz Band (Christmas album)

Jonathan, I doubt you'll read this, but if you do, thanks for the music.

Wow!  I remember writing that last post, but evidently I forgot about it pretty quickly.  I'm still working out a few details on Operation: Instrumental, but I can tell you what it's going to be.  The area I'm living next to and working in is a small shanty town just South of San José - not exactly a wealthy area.  I've switched from larger music classes to smaller or even one-on-one lessons because, frankly, I can't handle more than three of the kids at a time.  Unfortunately, many of these kids' families can't afford to outfit them with an instrument no matter how bad they want to play.  Even without their own instruments, I can already see a lot of potential in some of them.  My goal, therefore, is to get an instrument into the hands of every child in that church community who wants one.  I hope that those of you who have the means to do so will pray about this and help if possible.

On the right hand side of this page, you should be able to see two things under Operation: Instrumental - a link to the spreadsheet and a Donate button.  Click on the Spreadsheet link and check it out - this is my basic plan.  I may edit it a bit as I figure out which instruments the students do or don't want to play, but I think this is a safe starting point.  If you are moved to donate, click the button and donate the amount of the instrument you'd like to purchase.  Please put your name, address, and instrument selection in the box for additional information when you do so.  If you'd like to donate an instrument you have laying around, send me an email; depending on the instrument, that may or may not be feasible.  Once you send either a payment or an instrument, I will update the spreadsheet to reflect your donation.  That way, anyone considering a donation will be able to see exactly what our remaining needs are.

Ok, that's out of the way.  Quite a bit has happened since my last post, though I don't think I have time to write about all of it.  Here's a highlight reel:

Wednesday the 9th: I walked around San Jose all morning/afternoon looking for and pricing instruments.  En route, I got hit by a truck.  Yes, a real truck with a radiator high enough to hit the left half of my face.  It looked something like this.  The red line is my path, the green path would be a normal route for a truck to make a left turn, and the light blue line is what he did.  When I crossed into the far lane, I looked to my right to make sure no one was coming, and he hit me about two seconds into that look.  I stumbled a bit, but I didn't fall over.  The driver was yelling at me from the cab like it was my fault, but some older lady saw the whole thing, made sure I was ok, and then proceeded to scream at the driver until he pulled away.  I knew I wasn't hurt, so I just kept walking.

Friday the 11th: Heather and I celebrated ten months together.  In the scheme of human history, that's little more than a blink, and honestly that's what it feels like when I think back on it.  I feel incredibly blessed to be dating someone so beautiful in so many ways and I can't believe ten months have already gone by.

Saturday the 12th: Valpo won a football game.  If you don't understand why this matters, read this article.  Nebraska also won - I don't even know what to think about that whole Penn State situation.  So sad.

Monday the 13th: I have (sort of) hot water!  Gregorio and I installed my heated shower head in a very not-up-to-code way, but after getting in a shower that wasn't cold enough to make me scream like my girlfriend seeing a mouse (which I have only heard in my imagination), I didn't care.  It's warm, and everything's ok.  I still don't love my shower, but I no longer fear it.

Tuesday the yesterday: I went to two very different concerts.  The first was the Municipal Orchestra of Heredia (a NW suburb) performing a concert of Costa Rican and Cuban composers at the National Theatre.  There was an unbelievable composition by Eddie Mora for a flautist/ocarinist and string orchestra called ¿Quién Amanece?  This literally means "who dawns?"  and I have no idea how to translate accurately.  The flautist entered through the rear doors of the concert hall to start the piece, played the majority of it on stage, and then exited stage right to end it with the same initial solo.  Look it up if you're curious - it was very cool.  The second was at the San Pedro Jazz Café.  I went to see one of Kat's coworkers play a show with his jazz/funk/rock band, which was a lot of fun.  They have some cool sounds, including an occasional jazz clarinet solo.  I hope to go back sometime, though I'm not sure I'll be able to afford it too often.

And that brings us to today.  I need to get moving - I need to shower and eat before I leave for class in half an hour.  Thanks for reading and considering your involvement in Operation: Instrumental - together, I really do believe we have the potential to positively impact many lives in this way.  I'll be back in the USA in less than a month!