Long time, no blog

I hope that you'll forgive my brief hiatus from the blog world. I got really busy with work and school. You see, I've always wanted to become a Seminary teacher in the Church Education System. As part of a two-year training course at BYU, I spent two weeks being observed and evaluated by CES employees and students while I taught a Seminary class in Payson, Utah. Now, I'm just waiting around to hear from the CES teacher trainers whether I get to move forward to a full semester of student teaching, or if this is the end of my religious educator road. Hmm, a lifetime of hopes and dreams rest solely on my two-week performance. Talk about pressure.
Along with the whole Seminary thing, I've been busy trying to make sure that my GPA goes up, not the alternative. In any given day I can be studying Shakespeare, Hitchcock, the music of Bali, business Japanese, the Haydn Trumpet Concerto, and/or the church's position on whether or not a person can progress from one kingdom of glory to another. Not bad, eh?
I had some fun opportunities over the last few weeks to see some of my music heroes. Thanks to a generous gift from a loved one, Ai and I went and saw Billy Joel perform in Salt Lake City last month. He's a little less mobile than he was ten or twenty years ago, and he's got more salt than pepper in his beard, but has the same ability to create energy. It was so fun to see the man who made me want to be a musician.
The other music hero that I got to meet is a trumpet player from L.A. named Wayne Bergeron. He's played lead trumpet for just about every major movie since 1992. Don't believe me? Check out his website: www.waynebergeron.com and see for yourself. He put on a couple of great clinics at The Music School, where I teach trumpet. He was so nice and down-to-earth.
Well, Christmas seems to go by so fast with each passing year. It's hard being in school and not able to really focus on the season. At least I get to celebrate it with my boy again this year. He can even say "Santa" now!
I hope to spend some more time on my little cyber-journal over the course of the month. Stay posted!