nevermind

Umm, nevermind. I guess it's okay.

Help!

Does anyone know how to get this "blogger news, edit me, edit me" off the top of my blog?

The envelope, please...

It's Farmers! Hopefully. I can't actually remember whether or not the guy said I'd be hired or not. I'm pretty sure he did. He's in Aruba right now so I can't contact him. So I guess I'll REALLY find out when he gets back on Friday.

I'm excited about it--excited to see where it can go and what I can learn from it. And I know Alicia's excited about it!

Good day.

Favor

My wife just made me an awesome omelette--pepperoni, of course. I was introduced to them when Aubrey felt sorry for my caved in torso and made them for me occasionally. So I just had one of those and an English muffin. A Bri-ish muffin.

I actually have a piano performance coming up! I don't know when the last time was that I performed a piano piece. It may have been my graduate recital in February (or whenever it was) of '04 in Dallas. So, two years later, I'll be performing Liszt's 3rd Liebestraum and Chopin's 4th Ballade for some folks at a retirement village here in the KC area. So we'll see how that goes.

Today I was reading in Genesis about Joseph and God's favor on him. I wonder what he was thinking while being mac'ed (macked?) on by Potiphar's wife. Here he was, already having been despised by his brothers, now a slave for Potiphar, thinking, "God, what's next? How can I keep myself from getting in trouble?" So, as a slave, do you succumb to your flesh and to sexual pressures from the boss's wife, perhaps giving you the much desired favor along with ecstasy, fleeting as it may be, or do you succumb to your God-given conscience, subjecting you to more punishment, unfulfilled sexual desires, and etc.?

It's kinda like receiving directions from a trusted friend to their home, looking at it, and thinking, "Isn't there a quicker way?" So you get on Mapquest and look up directions and find what you think is a quicker way. Well, say your friend has a satellite view of where you live and they track your car the whole time. They see you go the way Mapquest says, even though Mapquest doesn't know about construction. You get stuck in a jam-packed construction zone for trying to spare a few minutes while you're friend's thinking, "Oh, boy. I guess I could've told him about the construction, ...but why didn't he just trust me?"

Joseph trusted. He saw the satellite view. And he had God's favor, particularly in the following chapters. That echoes what Paul said in Romans 8:28 about God working for those who love him and who are called according to his purpose.

So, anyway, that was that. Probably more to it, too, but I had to take a typing break for an interview. It went okay--for a mortgage company. That or Farmers... stuff to wrestle with. With which to wrestle.

Oh, and...

It's kind of a funny thing, this switching from music, something I've done for the past 20 years of my life, to something completely else. There are two ways to look at it: a) You're a musician! You've come this far! Why stop? or b) You're not a musician! You're still young! Why stay? I guess there's a third way, too: c) What the heck kind of path is this that God is leading me on?! (Probably the correct perspective, though gramatically incorrect.)

I guess A and B are more humanistic views, whereas C leaves little room for my own impetus. It's so easy, sometimes, to cling onto a catch phrase or even just doing what you're used to. But, yeah, especially the catch phrase thing. Either way, you don't have to think. And then you let God take control and you do all sorts of thinking!

The switch has been very good for me and I know Alicia does, and will continue to, appreciate it as well. It's definitely been better than it probably would have been had I tried to take the same courses (and interests, for that matter) 4 or 5 years ago. It's funny moving from music school to real world. Real world, to me, is actually having time for church because I'm not sleeping on a piano in a practice room somewhere. Anyway, it's funny because musicians are supposed to be the open-minded, creative, all different kinds of people type environment. But you move out of a music building and into a church building and you learn so many different things and achieve the glorious "open-minded" status. Until you get back into the music building and tell people where you've been. Then you're closed-minded. To most people, at least. There are a few wonderful exceptions.

Old Man Carnes

Okay, I'm just stalling here before I go to bed. Sleeping's so boring. It's great when I get there, though.

Alicia and I had an interview with Farmers Insurance this morning about the possibility of my becoming an agent. Pretty interesting prospect. I think I might like it! I'd be selling insurance that everyone has to have--it's not like I'm selling life insurance or something. Though it's (life insurance) something I'll get, I'll probably get it when I want it and not when someone else tells me to get it. Maybe. Okay, I'll probably get talked into it from a sales rep.

Anyway, about the auto insurance thing, I figure that I could at least ask people if they want to save some cash and get a cheaper rate. I know I'll deal with rejection, but I did telephone interviewing for about three years. I think I can handle it.

Can anyone out there see me as an auto insurance agent? Does anyone know of any Farmers agents that could give me the down-low on it? I know there's a lot of potential for growth, but I also know that there's a lot of potential for working a lot of hours and making a teacher's salary, too, which won't really support a family. I don't expect to make six figures after the first year, but hopefully I'd be over $50K after 2 -3 years? Hopes too high? Hmmm...

Okay, going to bed. Three more interviews tomorrow!

Picture Practice

Here's my attempt at inserting a picture:

Did it work? If so, that's obviously my wife and me. It was about 2-3 hours before we got married.

"I have seen the top of the mountain. And it is good."

--Head, Butt.

Up too late

Okay. I'm sorry. It's late. Wait... my wife is in bed. Who am I apologizing to? To whom am I apologizing?

Blogging. Huh, huh. So... I'm tired. Hey--but I'm not teaching anymore! What should I do? Actually, sales. Maybe car insurance? Maybe financial advising? Who knows. Something with numbers and other not-music stuff.

I don't know what's harder--a) performing classical music on a weekly basis and wondering when and if I'm gonna forget everything and fall off the bench while assuming the fetal position, or b) leading worship (particularly a new song) and forgetting the words. Here's one of last week's songs: "Be still and know that he is ...sorry." Oops.

Okay, I just got the crap scared out of me with some lightning. I mean, thunder. I saw the lightning, so you'd think I'd be prepared for it, but nope. I still shook.

So, does anyone know what would be a good job for me? I'm good with numbers and recognizing patterns, I'm pretty good with peeps, I have an education degree, a little bit of office experience, a little bit of sales experience, and I'm currently pursuing a master's in business administration degree with finance emphasis here in KC at Rockhurst. I like to pretend like I'm a rapper and say, "Rockhurst." So, Suzanne and Andymaninoff, since you're the only ones who ever read this, I guess I'm talking to you. Not that I'm excluding opinions from anyone else.

I LOVE YOU ALL!

Hello? Is anyone there? I just remembered my user name and password. Woohoo! I can blog again. Okay--I need to go work out. More later.