one last breath

Yeah, I should be studying, but you know what? I have been sitting in this chair for Heaven knows how long... hours, days, dare say even weeks. This paper is killing me, slowly but surely. Fortunately death is only a day or so away, so not all is lost completely. I would gladly take on all of your seven testing center finals you are all complaining about--trust me, they are a million times easier, or at least kill less brain cells. Oh well, what can you do; I chose this route, so I will put up with the ulcers that come with it, and in the end I am actually rather proud of myself--if I ever finish. Anyway, yes, I have been sitting at my desk for hours on end for the past two or three weeks working on this theology research project; the only breaks I get are to go to the gym and shower. It's quite the life, let me tell ya.

However, last night I decided to take a few hours off and attend Christian's band concert at Timpview--now that was definitely worth the effort. Their bands are amazing for sure, but this one piece really stuck out to me; just before it started, Sean turned to me to inform me that it was at least 15 minutes long. Great, that's a good 15 minute nap--but there was no napping here, in fact, this piece was so beautiful I ended up crying instead--not out of sadness or happiness, but out of the sure beauty and power that accompanied the notes. I loved it. I don't have a recording, but if you Google it you can listen to it and see how wonderful it is: It's called "Russian Christmas Music," by Alfred Reed, 1944. Reed was commissioned to write a piece of "Russian music" for a concert in Denver to improve Soviet-American relations through premieres of Soviet and American works. Prokofiev's March, Op. 99 was supposed to be played, but they discovered that it had already been performed in the United States just a few weeks earlier. Thus, Reed was commissioned to write a new piece--his first composition for band--with only sixteen days before the concert. Of course, he did it, and in only eleven days--they had four days to learn it. Amazing. And he was only 23 years old. Yup, pretty awesome.

If I don't make it to Christmas next week, a very Merry Christmas now with some wonderful music. <3