Adventures in Charles-land

Well - here's the blog post that I owed to the inter-webs. As promised and only 20 some days late.

If you've not talked to me lately, life has been extremely busy. January saw me in rehearsals for "Humble Boy" by the 3rd. One of the bad/good parts of being in the first spring main-stage slot at Kansas State University Theatre is that you come back early to rehearse for 8 hours a day without school. This show was a little different from the other show I've participated in that I had a bigger role and the fact that we only really had three weeks of rehearsal prior to tech week due to some of the cast's participation in the American College Theatre Festival. In addition to a lot of line memorizing, I had to grow a mustache. See below...."Humble Boy" was the first and second weekends of February. Since then, I've been trying to keep up with school which was hampered by an extended bout of Walking Pneumonia. I was given some antibiotics and seem to be completely on the mend.

March has almost passed. For me it held a trip to Austin, TX for the fraternity I'm a part of (it was our central region conference) where I gave a presentation on Risk Management. It was a great experience and loved meeting other brothers from around the Midwest. I also had the chance to see Hannah.

March also held Spring Break. Mom will no doubt cover it in her post but the quick summary is that Mom, Dad and I headed to NYC on March 18th and got to see Mary and Kurtis in their humble abode and also got to see some excellent off-Broadway and Broadway shows. Finally Mom and Dad and I ended up in Washington DC where we had dinner with Al and Donna Holsopple. The following day (also spent in DC) Mom, Dad and I toured around and saw the sights including the beginnings of the Cherry Tree blossoms. We arrived back on Wednesday afternoon and on Thursday I picked up Jinger Ferguson with my Grandma Johnston and she stayed until we dropped her off in Wichita at 4:40 pm. Mom and I came home, visited some of the people reading this blog and then went home to watch "It's Complicated". Good thing my life isn't too complicated.

Onward ho to the end of the semester.

Love to all.

Charles

Kate Returns

Dear Family:

Our biggest news is that on Thursday of last week Kate came home. Tim and I left our house at 4:30 a.m. that morning and we pulled in the drive with Kate at 1:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Wow-Tim and I are rather old for 22 hour days but it was worth it. Her dog was so excited to see her and in fact has not left her side. Shona has gotten upset with Connor for coming too close to Kate so that has proven to be interesting. It seemed fitting that Kate was discharged during National Eating Disorder Awareness week. We do not profess to be experts on eating disorders but we are much more knowledgeable and aware than we ever have been before. They are “wicked” but can be recovered from and that is the journey that Kate is on. We thought we would post some information that might be helpful and may answer questions that you may have. One of Kate’s directives from her therapist is to educate people what she needs so ask if you want to know.

When Kate was in Oklahoma, she was taught a dietary program called the Exchange program. The Center for Change uses an intuitive eating philosophy. The basic premise is that you learn to follow your natural hunger and fullness cues. Think about a baby (Adelynn and Olivia will do). Basically, they let you know when they are hungry and they stop eating when they are full. Experts say that we lose those skills as adults and if we would just listen to the cues no one would have to worry about dieting and etc. There is a good book on the subject, called Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole if you want to know more. What this means for Kate is that she can eat whatever she wants and doesn’t worry about amounts. It is much easier for her and all of those around her. She has never enjoyed desserts so you may not see her eating those much. It isn’t an eating disorder thing but a Kate thing.

Here are some things that if you can avoid, please do---don’t talk about diets and calories or how rich a food might be. It’s okay to talk about the food tasting good and similar things. Don’t say so and so is fat, thin and etc. Please no comments about your own size.

Thank you for all the support everyone has given to Kate through calls, email, mail and prayers. Even though she is home, she can still use your support and will be drawing on it at times. Plus she says now she will have time to write, call, or email back.

On another note, my fractured wrist is now healed (Yea) but Tim is down in the back. After our 22 hour day he was really hobbling and as I write he is in the rocking chair with a bag of frozen broccoli.

Love

Auntie and Uncle Tim

Last Semester of High School

Sorry for the late post. My life is sorta hectic right now. To sum up the activities I'm involved in during this final semester would take a very long sentence or many short ones, but I'm not one to take the easy way out so here it goes. My activities this semester include: ultimate, IB(which has many categories of its own), playing with the Southwestern Quartet and orchestra, college auditions visits and applications, State Orchestra, hopefully some down time, and East Orchestra, AP Statistics and Film Studies which aren't IB classes so they don't fit within its envelope so I guess they needed to be listed separately.
It feels really odd being a senior, especially in these last few months of my high school career. While my life may not be as exciting as many of the books in which I find myself engulfed, it does have its moments. Throughout my childhood I can always remember seeing these amazing things that Hannah and Andrew were doing, but it was all past a misty barrier, as if the things I was witnessing were in a dream and not a place I could enter. This is not so anymore. When I sat upon the stage with the East High Orchestra at Midwest Clinic this past winter, I had fulfilled one of my many childhood dreams. This is true for many things other than this I've also come to realize.
State orchestra has been an incredible experience for the past two years. My musical repertoire has grown exponentially and my skills as a cellist have as well. The people I was able to meet due to these events are some of the most interesting individuals I have come to know. I have also made into state for the third year. This is definitely a highlight for my life and I am excited to play Stravinski's Firebird as well as the First Essay(the composer is either barber or boyer can't remember). Also in the category of orchestra I have also been granted the honor of sitting principal cellist in the East High Orchestra.
One more place in which my life as come full circle is Ultimate. Once again we have the chance of going to the national tournament. This is taking place in Oregon which has put some strain on us in that we need to fund raise ludicrously fast. Over the last two years we have accumulateda healthy sum of around 4000 dollars but a trip to Oregon would be best done by plane and due to a really inconvenient and kinda dumb rule that club money cannot be used for individuals. An understandable rule in many cases, but apparently this also applies to plane tickets which are bought individually so any chance of going by plane is going to be out of our own pockets or outside of the school fund raising. Several ideas have been suggested for getting around the rule such as investing it in stocks or buying a "club pot of gold" which we would then trade for money that wouldn't be in the clubs name; however we are nothing if not determined and are prepared to do what it takes to get there. It may end up being the many seniors doing a hardcore 30 hour drive with a few people flying. Fun stuff.
I'm happy to say I feel really good about our ultimate team. Two years ago we lost 5 or so incredibly gifted senior players and we weren't sure if we could pull our team together after that but I'd say our team is better now than it ever has been, or at least has that potential. Its in this instance I again see myself having grown as an individual. Freshman and sophomore year I looked up to the upperclassmen as the elite. In my mind they were everything I wanted to be. I'm sure as a tiny underclassmen I admired them almost to a fault and did everything I could to be as awesome as they were. Looking at my skills in the current moment, I feel as if I have mastered the sport of ultimate. I'm not perfect but I believe if I could make a pie chart of the things for which I am in possession of a significant amount of awesome skill, Ultimate would take up the largest percentage, closely followed by cello, and the ability to create unnecessarily wordy sentences. I don't want to sound like a narcissist but I think I can safely say that if my freshman self saw me now, I would be just as high on his list of who he wanted to be, and that is a really good feeling.
Life isn't all good, but it wouldn't be fun without a few challenges to overcome. When I find myself wishing my life were different and that so many things had never taken place I like to think of my favorite Lord of the Rings quote: "So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in the world than that of evil." So as this chapter of my life closes I look forward to the new. As far as I can think I have no specific dreams or accomplishments that I have set out in front of me once I graduate (other than the usual make it through college, get a job, make millions, discover Atlantis kinda stuff), so it'll be a whole new adventure. I hope to find my limits, pass them, and keep on trekking.
Erik Shook
Also the two videos below are just fun. One is cute with some very well done filming and the other is just funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09hLxQE5Zuo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LBKVXyrHcw&NR=1

A Birthday to Remember!

Hello everyone! I'm in UIL season with the orchestra. I have 3 more rehearsals until our Pre-UIL Clinic and 7 more rehearsals until the UIL Concert and Sightreading Contest. I believe all of you have experience from which to relate (band members, parents of band/orchestra members, grandparents of band/orchestra members). Now triple the pressure and stress and remember everything is bigger in Texas :-). My emotions are currently in a constant flux. We've done the work, we're going to be fine... I'm going to only have two violins in my second violin section if they don't learn their parts.... We can do this.... We haven't spent enought time sightreading.... etc. You get the idea. Of course my own high expectations of myself and my students is putting the most pressure on me. Last year we were able to bring home a sightreading plaque. We were so close to bringing home the sweepstakes trophy (straight Is). That is our goal this year, and I truly think we can do it. I just have to set the students up to do it. They are capable, it just all falls back on me :-). Enough of that.

The title of the post is A Birthday to Remember because I have to tell you about the amazing birthday James put together for me. Since my birthday was on a Monday, James decided to make it a weekend full of fun. I'll try not to make the post too long :-). First, he told me I needed to dress up for a fancy dinner. So, Friday after school I put on dress pants and a nice sweater (that's as nice as I get when it's below freezing) and we went to Andiamo, an Italian restaurant in Austin. He ordered the 5-course Chef's Special for each of us, and a flight of wine which meant we had a different wine with each course. I cannot even begin to describe the meal. It was fantastic. I've never eaten like that before and I've never tasted anything like it. Each course was the perfect combination of flavors, and when it came time for the fourth course and my stomach was beyond full, I somehow found it easy to eat the last two courses because they tasted SO good. It took us two and a half hours to complete the meal as each course was created as we finished the one before. There is no set menu. The chef just decides on the spot what he will make. If you want more details about each course, I'd be happy to tell you all about them!

We finished just as the restaurant was closing and made it to a 10:15 pm showing of No Strings Attached at the Alamo Draft House, an Austin original movie theatre. I'd need to watch it again to give an objective review, but it was certainly entertaining following such a great meal.

Saturday we started the birthday festivities with lunch at a little grocery store in Hyde Park (historical neighborhood in Austin full of beautiful homes and other gems from Austin's past). The grocery opened in 1902 and has remained open every year since. They serve tasty fresh sandwiches of which we partook.

We then went to Elisabet Ney's home and art studio, also in Hyde Park. It is a free city museum that is definitely worth your time when you get a chance to visit us down here in Austin! There is even a room in the tower with a secret entrance to the roof through a bookcase in the wall.

Next we went to a local winery where we were able to tast eight of their wines while munching on a plate of cheese and crackers. We've been enjoying coupons from websites like Living Social, Groupon, and Restaurant.com. The coupon for this wine tasting included two bottles of wine, our choice, and personalized labels (picture below).

Last but not least, we went to the UT basketball game against Texas Tech. On our way there we stopped for tacos at one of my favorite taco restaurants. If you haven't been following men's basketball this year, Texas is doing pretty well. Kansas is up there too, so I couldn't be happier :-). All in all, my birthday quickly became the most eventful I think I've ever had and most likely will ever have. I had to share so that I could brag on James a little bit and give you all an idea of just how wonderful he is. I could not feel more lucky than I do to know that God created a path to Texas for me so that I could find him :-). (Who would have ever thought I'd be in Texas....).

We found this view (picture below) of Austin's capital building on UT's campus with one of the most recognizable buildings in our downtown on the left (the Frost Bank building) and our newest addition to the skyline on the right (the Austonian). Sometimes it is hard to be so far away from you all. Know that your cards and gifts warm my heart, that I miss you always, and that I cherish the days I have with you. Looking forward to seeing most of you in March!

All my love,

Hannah