I am feeling a lot better about choir now. Yesterday's rehearsal (at least what I was there for) with the other choir went very well, and afterwards we got an encouraging email from our normally freaked-out director. Among other things, talking about sunday's service where our song was a disappointment to some of us but very well received by the congregation: "Keep seeking for elusive perfection. In our search for perfection we make imperfect beauty." Aww. Cool. Anyway. One week.

This week will be so busy! Okay, I love how I spend like hours every week here complaining about how busy I am. Work is the only place where busy disease hasn't infected my life, but then I'm here for 8 hours no matter what so I guess it doesn't matter.

Today I will go up to school and do math problems for a few hours. Until I am done all of chapter 8 and most of chapter 5, I think. Tomorrow I will go home and make a big ol' math review sheet. Wednesday I will go to school and do problems like mad, have dinner, write the exam and kick ass goddamnit, and then come home and sleep sleep sleep. And then MATH CLASS will be OVER. Thursday there's choir, and friday there's choir, and saturday there's the first concert, and sunday there's the second concert and after all that I will be a total shit-for-brains, but very relieved. Next week is kind of busy too, but in a much less stressful way. Going to see sing-along Sound of Music. Studying halfheartedly for BIO, where I'd totally have to be on drugs to get less than an A. Going to a choir rehearsal that will actually be more of a wine and cheese. Going to a play. Then the weekend and having a celebration meet. In the middle of these two weeks will be getting the papers for the house, arranging the final mortgage details and maybe inspections and things. Cooing and squealing over the new haus. Eee!

So: busy. But the further along I go on my to-do list, the more fun it gets. Really there's just three days of dread left for math, and everything else is delicious busy CAKE. Mmmmm, chocolate busy cake.

Yesterday I saw boy's mom's choir's first concert. They were wonderful! I am so happy for them. It was held in a united church, since their congregation doesn't have a church. Sitting in the pews I picked up a membership card. One of the categories you had to tick off Membership: [] by transfer [] by profession of faith. Whoah, that totally floored me. I had always kind of thought of the united church as a close cousin of unitarianism, but visiting that church and visiting the church of the choir we are singing in concert with makes me realize that there are some very fundamental differences. Profession of faith, having everyone in the congregation believe some common things as fact and truth. It's the rock of their church. Jesus is everywhere present in a united church, and God's love, &c. &c. I had thought maybe that our seven principles were something similar, but they're not, really. Our churches both embrace respect & peace & love, but that process and feeling is where our creed ends but where theirs begins, and they use it to embrace the christian tenets. And we use it to embrace doubt. Sunday's sermon was on humanism's role in our church's history and present, and at one point the minister had us look in the front of the hymnals to where our principles and purposes are printed, and asked how many sources were listed that we draw from. He counted out loud and said "Five!" and someone yelled "Six!" In the 10 years since our hymnals were printed we (we as one of the free congregations of our association; we go in for congregational polity) had voted to adopt a sixth source. It's never long in my church between proofs that change is what we are.

Not meaning to dis the united church. The united church is a beautiful example of how the love of jesus can be a force for goodness and inspire the practice of love and acceptance in the world. They are a wonderful liberal tradition. It's just been kind of astounding to me this week to realize what incredible differences populate the gaps between our similarities; I'm glad that I am where I am.

(okay, brief aside: one of the hymns in their hymnal is "Oh Lord what a morning." hee hee hee, I feel that way sometimes...)

Speaking of where I am, I discoved that the KARAOKE CAR belongs to someone who goes to my church. Or anyway someone who was using our parking lot. FREAK OUT! Hee hee hee.

Oh, math. I was doing calculus problems at choir practice the other night, and one woman was telling how her son had taken mandarin and calculus at the same time last year. He had sticky notes with mandarin characters and sticky notes with formulas to remember stuck up all over his room, and she couldn't tell which was which. heh.