Danielle Blog

Second performance of our band (unofficial)

As I mentioned yesterday, the lead singer (CK) and I sang (and played (he plays guitar)) with another band last night. This would be the other band that our lead guitarist (AG) plays with. It went really well!

We ended up just making the whole night a bit of a hybrid of our 2 bands. We all went ahead and sang/played on all of the songs regardless of whose repertoire they were really in. The drummer and bass player caught on really fast to the songs that my band usually plays. I went ahead and attempted to sing harmonies on everything that is in the other band’s repertoire. Most of it was stuff that I know pretty well like Peaceful Easy Feeling, Margaritaville, and Brown-eyed Girl. But a few of them were a bit less familiar, like Toes. I was told it is a Zac Brown Band song, but it sounded like Jimmy Buffett to me, so I’m not sure what was up with that one.
For one of them, Susie Q, I pretty much just played tambourine to it, because I really couldn’t think up a harmony. The bass guitarist/harmonica player complimented me on my tambourine playing, so I guess I did well with that one too.

At one point, CK had us switch over to doing songs that were in our band’s set list. It was a LOT more comfortable for me, and probably for him, to be doing songs where we didn’t have to work so dang hard at figuring out what we were doing.

I went ahead and debuted my solo on Landslide last night with CK’s and AG’s prompting, and it went well! I didn’t have any vocal hiccups, which will really help me go into it in the future feeling confident. The entire song is in my lower register, which was an intentional choice when we chose the song and key. I think I’ve mentioned this before that when I get nervous, my head voice gets wobbly, but my chest voice always remains strong. It is such a melancholy, emotional song. I’d love to find some low songs that are more upbeat; that can be rather challenging.

We also sang Bubba Hyde last night and it went really, really well. It was a ton of fun. CK and I think we need to find some more songs with that kind of sound. It was SO much fun!

Did I say how much fun it was?

Better week

I had a pretty good week this week.

I continue to have more work than hours in the day, but I think that I’ll be able to catch up today and tomorrow so that I’m not so far behind. Some people are confused by how a professor can teach a couple of hours a day and have too much work to do. I suppose I used to not really understand either. Some of it is that designing quizzes, grading quizzes, writing exams and grading exams takes hours and hours of time when they aren’t just scantron (bubble sheets).

Some of my time is filled up meeting with students. This week for example, I advised a club for which I’m a sponsor – that ate up an hour of “free” time really quickly. I advised a freshman who wants me to be her official advisor. I advised a senior who asked me to be her mentor for her senior capstone project. I advised the students who are doing Honors Genetics projects. And I advised a student who was in the middle of a disturbance that occurred in a lab that needed to be reported to the department chair (and has already been officially reported).

Some of my time is filled with running lab. I easily spent 8 hours or more this week dealing with lab stuff: cleaned out the failed fridge/freezer, ordered supplies for the rest of the semester, delegated/helped by TAs get solutions and equipment ready for next week.

Then there are the hours that I spent doing committee work for the search committee. That is about to come to an end, which will help.

And various 10-15 minutes here and there coordinating info with my colleagues related to summer research, fall class schedules, upcoming scientific conferences, classroom behavior problems, etc. etc.

Several days this week, I literally had 15-30 minutes “free” when I wasn’t in meetings, lecture, or lab. And I’m supposed to get grading done amidst all of this? Or lecture prep?

And this was a better week!

Tonight, I’m singing at a last minute gig that came up. The lead singer is sick in a fellow band (the other band that our lead guitar player is in), so the lead singer in my band is going to fill in for him. And then I’m going to go and our band will do some songs here and there. It is all a bit tenuous right now in that I don’t know how much our band will really be singing and playing at this fundraiser. BUT even if it is just a few songs, it will be good to get our name and sound out there. It is also good for us to to perform together in some “low stakes” settings. We’ll have a sound person, so that ought to help with sound quality and balance.

Well, it is 8 am, I just heard my clothes washer click off which means I need to move stuff to the dryer, and I ought to work on all of that lecture prep and grading for next week in my attempt to get caught up!

Rough week

As you see from the title, this has been another rough week. It wasn’t like last week where I had migraines 3 days in a row, but I was just barely meeting deadlines all week. There were a couple of small instances, where I forgot to tell students something or do something for them, which is not at all how I like to operate. I had multiple nights of only sleeping about 4 hours with a 1 hour or so nap somewhere earlier in the evening. I really can’t do that day after day and feel good about my job. It ends up making me bitter and resentful.

Some of it is that our department has used up most of our payroll for TAs already! So, I had tried doing more of the lab prep myself and having my TAs do less of it. But honestly, what a f-ing waste of my time. I have lectures to write, exams to grade, recommendations to write, advising to do, and I’m also supposed to do all of the lab prep, because the faculty who had labs in the fall spent too much payroll???? Give me a break. I talked to my dept chair and he is okay with me going back and having them do more prep again.

We also had a refrigerator/freezer fail. Fortunately, it will only cost a few hundred dollars (or less, I hope) to replace the things inside that were ruined. It was mostly storing stuff for a different faculty member who isn’t teaching right now and likely won’t need those chemicals/solutions anytime soon.

AND I found out that a couple of power supplies for running gels don’t work anymore. And the instructor who used them last semester never bothered to A) tell me or B) deal with ordering replacements. We literally cannot do our upcoming experiments until we get replacements. So, I’ve been dealing with figuring out where to get the best deal AND how to design a new lab for next week to make up for the one we can’t do.

I wasted who knows how much time dealing with the fact that a low-key scientific conference that I’m attending in a couple of weeks never (and still has not) published their schedule, so I couldn’t make hotel reservations and everything is full. Fortunately, our admin overheard me complaining about it and she found hotel rooms for me and my advisee through Expedia. Yay for fabulous administrative assistants!!!! She has also been the one contacting companies to find out prices for power supplies; it really helps having someone help with that kind of stuff.

In happier news:
Band practice on Monday night was good. It is one of those things that I need to have in my life to enable me to keep pushing through my workload. A couple hours dedicated to music and not thinking about school is really valuable right now.
We worked up my singing lead on Landslide (Stevie Nicks or Dixie Chicks). I’m doing it probably closer to the Dixie Chicks style. We also made some attempts on Black Water (Doobie Brothers) and Falling In And Out of Love/Amie (Pure Prairie League). We’ve got plans to perfect those songs and also work on American Honey (Lady Antebellum) this coming Monday. That should be a good time. We named our band and talked about some upcoming charity gigs in April. We may have a bass player joining us who is also a really good tenor, evidently. That could be cool; it is always a bit odd to add another person to the mix when you’ve got a really good working relationship with members of your band, but the lead singer (CK) tells us he is a “really nice guy.” So, hopefully that will work out well.

Bible study on Thursday night was good. Again, it was good to focus on my spiritual life and not just work, work, work all of the time. I had more trouble blocking out work that night, because I’d just come from a dinner with a person who is interviewing for a position at school (I’m on the search committee). But it was still really valuable.

I went out to lunch on Friday with a friend (this would be TriviaKing) whom I haven’t really talked to for a couple of weeks. It was good to catch up with each other.
ViolaGirl and I are having trouble meshing our schedules to get together for a meal, but we talked on the phone a bit this week, which was good. We hope to go out dancing sometime soon! I haven’t been out dancing in….
… well…. probably since I lived in Maryland, which would be something like 15 years ago (very approximate). I dance at wedding receptions/parties, but that is about it, these days. And I DO so love dancing.
Dance-move ping-pong is really not the same as going out just to dance.

I’m glad it is the weekend. I hope to not have such a rough week next week. BUT if it is another bad one, at least I can hang onto the idea that I can collapse on March 10 when we start Spring Break!

Google on Valentine’s Day

Go to the google homepage and check out the google doodle today. Make sure you have the sound on, because there is music to accompany it.

I love y’all!

How’s that working for you?

Here is a follow-up with regards to putting my intensity toward God and school (i.e. in response to “How’s that working for you?”): it is generally going well. I’ve had some really, really busy weeks at school that have required a lot of intensity. Now, the reason why I cannot say it has been “fantastic!” is because I had a stretch of 3 days this week where I had migraines every day. I ended up taking my prescription medication and teaching all of my lectures and labs. I also did interviews and went to committee meetings, wrote emails, and all of the other things that are expected of me at work, even though I had all of this residual pain. If I hadn’t had that medication, I would’ve been completely non-functional. However, it still made for a really rough set of days. Lot of carbs. Lots of attempts to sleep it off (attempts, being the key word there).
I suspect that they were triggered by the storms and rain we were having here in TX. Interestingly (at least to me), the lack of storms has been fabulous for my head the past couple of years. People who know I’ve moved here from MN ask me how I like living in Texas, and I always tell them that it is fabulous! And it IS fabulous for reasons related to family, church, work, and my social life. But it has also been fabulous for my head. The lack of pressure changes due to storms is really terrific.
Of course, being in a drought is awful for agriculture and can be challenging for everyday living in Texas, especially in the summer, but the positives far outweigh the negatives (at least for me). Of course, my livelihood doesn’t depend on the rain, so it is easy for me to feel that way.

My bible study has been really enlightening the past couple of weeks. We are focusing on Romans Chapter 12 in a book and series designed by Chip Ingram. I’m discovering some interesting things about myself and about how to be more like Christ.

Here are 3 things that really spoke to me this week and prompted me to write them in a journal:

1. God uniquely created you. You are eternally valuable.

For you created my inmost beings; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. – Psalm 139: 13-14

Isn’t that great?! “…I praise you, because I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”
As a biologist and someone who teaches anatomy and physiology, I am continually amazed at our bodies and the way it works. I may need to put that in my office at school.

2. God placed you in His family. You are unconditionally accepted.
(scripture passage for this one is Ephesians 3: 19-21, but that one didn’t speak to me as much, so I’m not going to retype it here)

3. God gifted you to fulfill His purpose. You are uniquely significant.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10

I think so many of us want to be significant. Significant to our family, significant to our friends, perhaps significant to the world. Many people struggle with the “what will they remember about me when I’m gone?” feeling. Trying to be significant can be a great motivator to do something really positive with your time and energy. However, striving for significance can also be a great detractor when someone strives for worldly significance (popularity in a fame type of way).
I have less of a problem when significance is based on talent (singing, dancing) and not just general behavior (i.e. people who become famous for tweeting/texting/or saying/doing something (generally) dumb).

I don’t think anyone would argue that becoming significant to the world in a way that glorifies God (like what Mother Theresa did) is worthy of our time and energy. But the hope is that people do those things not so much to feel significant, but because they truly want to help the poor and sick, and help all people feel loved, and consequently feel God’s love.

Finding out what gifts and talents you possess and how they can be helpful to others can be challenging. I continue to reflect upon and discover what makes me unique. I hope you do too.