What's going on with me

Things that have happened since my last post:

1- Celebrated my 2 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 2 years. Some days it seems like it's been so much longer, some days it seems like it was just yesterday. In any case, I look forward to many many more anniversaries.

2- Saw Collective Soul live at the Fairfax Fair. They are a good "have fun and feel good" kinda band. Their live show was pretty good. Though I was kinda bummed that they used pre-recorded tracks along with their live instruments. Boo to that. There was a woman next to matt and I who felt compelled to dance through the entire show. Only she didnt really dance dance. It was more like a work out dance. She would do these punching motions, and stretching motions, oh and I think she did the funky chicken in there somewhere too. I told matt that it looked like she owned "Sweatin to Collective Soul."

Also, I always feel better about myself when I go see a professional, successful band that has been together for many years and they have some of the same problems we have with the band at church.

• Example 1: At this concert, the bass player/back up vocals couldn't hear himself in his monitor and kept motioning to the sound guy that it needed to be fixed. This pretty much describes every conversation matt and I have on a sunday morning.
  
• Example 2: At the Rolling Stones concert we went to last Oct or Nov, Mick Jagger messed up on a song form (went to a verse instead of a chorus). This used to be a fairly common occurance with our band, but we have managed to communicate much better so now it only happens on the very few occasions when someone makes a genuine mistake (as opposed to everyone thinking the form is something different.) If it happens to the Rolling Stones, I figure that it can happen to anyone.

Not that I go to concerts and just listen for mistakes. I go because I like the music and want to have fun. Any the things I notice certainly don't take anything away from the show, but I just cant help noticing these kinds of things. I spend a good amount of time making sure everything in our band goes smoothly, I guess I can't turn that switch off when I am watching other bands.

3- Went to the Arts Conference at Willow Creek near Chicago. I went out with matt and the lead singer of our church band. We had a great time. And it was my first business trip (it wasnt officially called that, but I'm calling it that anyway). I've always wanted a job that would send me on a business trip, so this was exciting for me. The conference itself was very helpful. I was exposed to leadership, teamwork, and artsy ideas that I wouldnt normally be exposed to. I tried as best as I could to soak it all up like a sponge, but I took notes as well so I wouldnt have to remember everything. I also want to say that it was my first time in Illinois, but I'm sure I've driven through that state at some point in my life.

4- I thought of other weird Jessica-isms:

• I count when I walk up or down steps. I dont necessarily count the steps, or anything in particular. I just count. Usually I will start over when I reach some kind of a landing. Though I will say this, there are usually 13 steps going from one floor to the next in a standard house. I have no idea if this is true in my own house because we have a landing at some point on all our staircases.
• I cant stand it when doors, cabinets, or drawers are left partially opened. Either it is opened all the way, or it's completely shut. Every morning after my husband goes to work, I have to close it sock drawer. He has a lot of socks, so sometimes it's tough to close the drawer; you have to smush the socks down first otherwise when you try to shut it, a sock with get in the way and prevent it from closing completely. I don't think he really cares that this happens. But every morning I feel compelled to fix it. Also, because of the way it was hung (improperly), the closet door in matt's office at home doesn't shut all the way. It drives me crazy, and I constantly try to force it to shut, but it never works. Good thing I dont spend too much time in that room.

That's about it for now. I just got home from class a little while ago. We learned about javascripting and xml. I could barely follow it and I took a programming class. Though some of the general concepts made much more sense than when I took the java class (which by the way, was probably the hardest class I have ever taken) since our teacher never really talked about how programming works in general. And if I dont understand the general concepts, it's nearly impossible for me to understand the smaller details. What I dont understand is that everyone says that musicians make good programmers... I just dont see the connection. (no matter how many times someone tries to explain to me that repeat signs are just like loops. that's just not enough of a similarity for me). So I'm ready for bed. Good night