Determination vs. Technicalities

Try this out:

Sit cross-legged on the floor, with a box that's about six to eight inches high in front of you. (Dimensions are approximately 24" L, 10-12" W, 6-8" H.) Now keep your hands on that box for 24 hours; you can't put the box on your lap; you can move your hands around but not even one finger can come up off of the box.

This is what Jason and 135 other contestants were trying to do last night.

Jason and I got to the music store at 5:45 last night and got him all signed in for the trumpet contest (they ran two contests simultaneously; trumpet and saxophone). The Summerhays people went over the rules at about 6:30. The game is played like this: You must keep all ten fingers on the case at all times; if the judge sees you lift even your pinky just 1/4-inch, you are disqualified; the judge's ruling is final. For the first 24 hours no pillows, blankets, chairs, etc. are allowed (space limitations; fire codes). Contestants would get one ten-minute break within a six-hour block of time (so ten minutes any time between 6 and midnight; another ten minutes any time between midnight and six, etc.)

And at 7:00 the contest actually started. I made sure Jason was settled in, and then ran home to get the other kids so we could run to the store for supplies: chips, candy, drinks, a big mug with a straw, a sandwich, a cushion for him to sit on if he needed it. We got back to Summerhays at 9:00, just as they were doing a roll-call; Jason was hungry, but doing great! I left Michael there to feed Jason and keep him company, help him stay awake, etc. They were both in great spirits when I left, and there was no doubt in my mind that Jason would win. He is a determined young man, and if it was simply a question of will-power I knew he would do it.

Michael was awesome! He willingly and cheerfully stayed there to keep Jason going last night.

Back at home, when we went to bed, Bruce set his alarm for 3:00 a.m. so he could go and give Michael a break. When he arrived at 4:00 Jason was one of only 19 people left in the trumpet contest; tired, but toughing it out. But at 5 a.m. the unthinkable happened: As Jason was shifting his weight, one thumb slipped over the top of the other and he was disqualified. Oh nooooo! What a total bummer!

Jason said, "It's not as easy as everyone thinks!" (But really, I thought it sounded pretty difficult.)

I am so bummed out that it turned out that way, because I know Jason would have won otherwise. But I am really proud of him for his determination, and his good attitude. Good job, Jason!!

Support for Jason

Summerhays Music Store is holding a "Hands-On" contest this Friday (April 24) beginning at 6 PM. Whoever can keep their hands on a saxophone or trumpet case the longest will win a very nice trumpet or saxophone.
The catch?

Apparently this contest will last all weekend (the Summerhays people said that going through Sunday is not unusual). Contestants get a ten-minute break every six hours, and they can have family and friends there to support them (feed them, tell them jokes, help keep them awake), but they must keep both hands—including the thumb and all fingers—on the case the rest of the time. (If even one pinky comes off the case, you are disqualified!)

Well, Jason really wants his own trumpet, so he's registered for the contest. It should be quite the weekend!

Neither Bruce nor I will be able to stay the entire weekend at the music store with Jason. So I'm asking any and/or all of you Salt Lake City friends to pop by Summerhays Music at 5450 S. Green Street (just west of I-15) some time this weekend and help us support Jason! :-)

The 2009 Calendar

Yes, it's taken a while—we are 1/3 of the way through 2009—but our family calendar is finished at last! Well, almost. Some people still haven't drawn a picture for it, and no amount of nagging has gotten them to do it yet.
Hmm. Maybe we should start on next year's calendar today.

For three years running now, we have made our own family calendar. Besides having the regular, ordinary holidays on it, we print it up with all our birthdays on it. It also has school and church activities, as well as special North Family days printed on it, like Library Day, and Family Movie Night and Decorate for Christmas Day. But the really fun part is that each member of the family draws the picture for each month. Except I'm still waiting on two people (who claim they are either too busy or just don't know what to draw).

Anyway, here is our wonderful artwork:

"Snow Falling on the Grass"
January 2009 by Jessica

"Tree and Different-Colored Sky"
February 2009 by Rachel

"Clover Hallway"
March 2009 by Kaylie

"Playing in the Rain"
April 2009 by Loralee

"April Showers Bring May Flowers"
May 2009 by Kaylie

"Cats"
June 2009 by Rachel

"Dangerous Fireworks"
July 2009 by Ryan

"The Coal Hauler"
August 2009 by Brandon

"Back to School"
September 2009 by Michael

"Ghosts and Halloween Costumes"
October 2009 by Jessica

"Mountain Morning"
November 2009 by Lindsey


"White Bunnies Throwing Snowballs at Polar Bears in a Blizzard at the North Pole"
December 2009
and January 2010
by Bruce and Jason

(I am hoping for revisions of the last two pictures. Major revisions!)

But, so far, that is our calendar for this year. Cool, huh?

Hallelujah! I Can Walk!

Melanie and I have started taking a body-conditioning class that is being offered by a lady in our Stake. I was pretty excited on our first day, April 11, to find out that "body-conditioning" is really a dance class! It's a one-and-a-half hour class on Saturday mornings.

As I said, the first class we went to was on Saturday, April 11. I have lost a LOT of flexibility over the years, but I have good muscle-memory for the things we were doing, and I felt really good—that I'd get it all pretty soon. We were both soooo sore after that first class, but it was a good soreness—the kind that says your body has been moving and working.

But the next day, Sunday, was another story. After a full day and night of resting, my body stiffened up and did not want to move at all. The good part of the soreness was long forgotten—a thing of the long, long ago, and far-distant past. Walking was hard, climbing stairs was nearly impossible; I couldn't get in or out of my van without using my arms to hoist myself up. Oh nooooo!

Well, after all, that was to be expected. I figured with some good stretching I'd be OK by Monday.
Nope.
By Thursday I was pretty much back to normal, although my legs still knew that something unusual had happened to them recently. Still, I was looking forward to the next class (this past Saturday).

So we went to the class and Bethanie (our pretty, young, flexible teacher) started us warming up and stretching, and I was so stiff and everything was so painful that I was thinking, "I hate this! I am not coming back again next week!" (What a baby, huh?) But by the end of the class I was warmed up and loving it again—my body really is made to move. Melanie and I stayed after the class and stretched out quite a bit.

And, Hallelujah! I was able to walk yesterday! I think I'm going to like this. :-)

Wednesday's Child is . . .

Well today is the day! Before I post the entries, I'll just start in by listing some of the ideas I came up with (with the help of an online rhyming dictionary):

Wednesday’s child is the C.E.O . . .
Wednesday’s child looks like a Van Gogh . . .
Wednesday’s child is not status quo . . .
Wednesday’s child walks to and fro . . .
Wednesday’s child's a tennis pro . . .
Wednesday’s child’s sweet from head to toe . . .
Wednesday’s child enjoys Thoreau . . .
Wednesday’s child has gifts to bestow . . .
Wednesday’s child can win a game show . . .
Wednesday’s child has eyes that o’erflow . . .
Wednesday’s child likes Curly and Moe . . .
Wednesday’s child wins best of show . . .
Wednesday's child is just so-so . . .

Some of those do have a few extra syllables in the meter, but mostly they work. (My personal favorite is "Wednesday's child enjoys Thoreau.")

All right. With the preliminary preliminaries out of the way, I will give you my own entry:
Wednesday's child is rollin' in dough;
Thursday's child is on the go.
Not too fantastic, but for good measure I also changed Saturday:
Saturday's child is full of thanksgiving.
(Why must Saturday's child work hard for a living?)

But let's get on to the real contestants' entries:

Tami's:

Wednesday's child is always true.

Thursday's child has much virtue.

A good answer to the second challenge; definitely in keeping with the spirit of the original poem. My only problem here is the accent falling on the "chue" sound of virtue (virtue).

Becky's:
Wednesday’s child is clever and smart,
Thursday’s child is true to the heart...

Very sweet; again it keeps with the original. There are more syllables than the original poem, but because of the way the words fall, it doesn't actually sound like too many syllables.

Ann's:
...Wednesday's child is full of trust,
Thursday's child is good and just...

The feeling fits very nicely into the original, and with perfect meter.

Ben's:
Wednesday's child is full of dough ($$$$) . . .

Perfect meter again. And, funny enough, it is the first thing I thought of too (without the rhyming dictionary)—although I think "has lots of dough" clarifies that it's money and not food.

Brad's:
Wednesday's child's softly aglow . . .

Pretty good; the idea fits nicely into the original poem, with the right number of syllables. But, to my brain at least, it reads with the accent on the "lee" part of softly (softly aglow) which seems weird. Stretch the meter a tiny bit to say "is softly aglow" and I like it better.

Jason's answer to challenge 1:

Wednesday's child learnt to row

Add the word "has" and the meter is perfect. We won't talk about Jason's answer to challenge 2.

Kaylie's:
Wednesday's child has no sorrow.
Thursday's child has 'till tomorrow.

For a seven-year-old I think this is Fantastic!! I might have said "Wednesday's child will have no sorrow" and I might have changed Thursday to "no need to borrow." But, wow! It really fit well with the spirit of the poem. Good job, Kaylie!

And here is Bruce's:
Monday's chile ain't nevah shy,
Tuesday's chile ett daddy's pie,
Wednesday's chile don't feel too well,
Thursday's chile will give 'em hell,
Friday's chile likes huntin' an' fishin',
Sattaday's chile just a sets there a wishin',
But the chile that wuz birth't on the Sabbath day
Don't nevah fuss 'less he's fixin' ta pray.

I really could say a lot of things about Bruce's. First of all, he went way beyond the mark here, although it all does rhyme and is in meter. I don't think he paid attention to any of the rules of the challenges. I also suspect he spent too much time in the South, and probably stayed up too late at night thinking of this. However, I find it very entertaining—and probably of equal value to the original poem. :-D

So it's kind of a toss-up. Well, maybe not really. Anyway, if I choose Bruce people will say we've been sleeping together. ;-) So, I declare Ann the winner! (wild applause here) As for the fabulous prize—I'll have to think about that, since it has to make it to Illinois.


I will post our new and improved poem in the sidebar as the poem of the week.

Thanks for playing!