Halloween is Nigh

Needless to say, I am excited for Halloween! Last year I really didn't do anything, just stayed home and passed out organic "treats" to anyone who came by. They weren't too thrilled- probably thought it was a trick. Hopefully Mom has something slightly more artificial this year.

Thankfully, there are many, many options for how to spend the night this time around! I'm hoping some of the Late Service crew can get together and pass out candy (and fliers...) and party like it's hot. If not, I'm going to dress up in my costume and walk around anyway, scoring some caloricious goodness.

Hey, can you believe the fog that's been around here lately? I love it so much. If you don't live here, it's been warm but cooling down during the day and really delightfully foggy at night. The fall season is here here HERE. That means, less Slurpee, more coffee (tea when feeling the vibe). Less ice cream, more warm baked goods...maybe both...! Time to get new fall scarves and maybe a jacket, too. Yay.

So the last couple weeks have been very interesting, and I've come to realize that pretty much all of it in some way or another has a connection with a Mike, Mikey, or Michael! In the last couple weeks:

Mike left for the Army... today actually... :( I'm sad to see this guy go- but he'll be back at Christmas! Hopefully he can hop in and rock the drums at Late Service when he visits.

Mikey is really a splendid amigo. Late-night music and Denny's is the way to go, I'm just saying. Also, he gets full credit for putting me in the disco and Death Cab mood I'm currently rutted in.

Michael (Parker) is the friend I can rely on to boost my self-esteem (calling me a one-woman crime spree helps) and talk to about the fine lines of the law (did you know flicking someone can be a crime? Now that's just silly).

Shout out to the Ms! You keep my world going 'round!

Speaking of awesome people, I just love Jason and Ashley and Tyler Hylton. They rock and are funny and are cool. At the same time. Oh, and drama-free. Now that's a Godsend. All for the monthly price of...just kidding. I hope I'll get to know them better, because it isn't often you meet people who love God and are realistic and whose senses of humor just click...yay!!!

The Late Service has been going well- since Mike left, we'll have our new drummer Lee start with us this Sunday. He practiced a couple songs with us this last week, and he's a solid player, which is good. Now we just have to get to know him...he's a cool guy from the times I've talked to him. (His wife is really nice too, and I've watched their little girl before- adorable!)

Musically, the Late Service is starting to stretch my normal routines and uncool practice of not practicing what I need to on the keyboard... and I'm really happy about it. I tend to stick so much to classical that I don't practice chords, or I'll play the chords I already know and not learn any new ones! This isn't happening too much anymore, because a lot of the new songs for the Late Service are piano driven (and I don't have the base chords to begin with so I have to find it by ear which is also good for me because I'm horrible at it) and I'm determined to stretch myself to make it sound awesome and flawless. I listened to a CD copy of the Late Service and was not satisfied at all with the keys. It sounded exactly like I feel when I'm playing: like I'm using the same patterns for every chord. It's annoying and I'm going to stop it! On the other hand, for one of the new songs, I was surprised that for the first time in my life I knew exactly where the notes were on the keyboard without touching the keys- I could see it in my head. I did a little dance and almost cried. Breakthrough moment for Veralynn!

So what's going on with the flute? Well, I'll tell you. Mr. Rackley officially asked me to play in the Christmas program this last week, to which I emphatically said "Yes, please!" because one of my favorite things in the whole world is playing Christmas songs and I loved playing last year at Grace. Mikey got on me the other day for not practicing like I should, to which I wholeheartedly agree and rather shamefully apologized to my flute today about it. I'm going to clean it and start practicing my Christmas offertories pronto. I have my heart set on playing a jazz version of "We Three Kings" somewhere during the holidays. I've never dared venture into the realm of jazz with my flute before. Ah, I just love how much I don't know about music- that means I have so much more to learn and so much to enjoy and give to others.

Well, this is a HUGE blog and enough to tide you over until I think of anything I've forgotten, so I'm going to sign off now!

~V.L.~