fluent in mumble is moving

Yes, it's true. This blog, which has been well-used at its BlogSpot location, is making the leap to the WordPress platform, and I'm moving on up to local hosting! (Ooh! Ahh!) That means I don't have to rely on Blogger's, well, reliability, for better or for worse. It also means I get to tackle problems by myself.

The BlogSpot blog will remain in its place for the moment, but it will not be updated in the foreseeable future. Please update your links to the new, improved fluent in mumble:

Blog URL: http://gratemedia.com/fluentinmumble
RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/gratemedia/fluentinmumble

not dead

It has been quite the hectic few weeks, and I'm taking a slight pause on both this blog and the music websites in order to take care of some small administrative tasks. Like what, you ask?

• Submitting music to a particular publisher for wider distribution.
• Beginning my last semester of undergraduate classes before student teaching.
• Tangling in red tape while trying to apply to student teach.
• Fiddling around with the mandolin.
• Replacing my hard drive and trying to find all the information it contained in other, non-crashed places.
• Rubbing my wife's back while she prepares to write her honors thesis. Very important.
• Getting another job, this time at the library, where I will sit behind the circulation desk during hours when nobody comes to the library.
• Directing the Institute Choir in Stake Conference. By the way, I love them. They sang very well after a grand total of one hour of rehearsal on the song we performed.
• Preparing extra work for the time off I take in February for the Church Music Festival.
• Trying to organize time off in April to sing in Columbia.
• Organizing and hosting an invitational speech and debate tournament this weekend with 21 high schools currently registered.
• Reading and writing submissions for the writing contest held at my university.
• A secret project I cannot currently divulge, but which is very important.

So if you don't read much from me in the next few weeks, it is not for lack of noteworthy activity - it is for lack of time and energy to report.

more really, really, really short stories

You can read more about my really, really, really short story project here. Here are three more for your reading pleasure:

#4: A Western.
Buck’s IPod was turned up so loud he didn’t hear the rustler stealing his
cattle until a brief pause between Meatloaf power ballads.

#5: Western, Part II
Tex wasn’t like the other cowboys. Sure, he would sit at the bar and argue
about Ford and Chevy (usually on the Chevy side, to be safe), but deep inside he
had the undeniable hankering for a Hyundai.

#6: A Cautionary Tale
Clarissa was bored, so she sat in her
armchair and didn’t do anything until she was buried in the sands of
time.
Moral: Even if you are bored, occasionally dusting your house may
prevent eventual suffocation.

really, really, really short stories

I gave up on NaNoWriMo. It became a choice between short-term success in novel writing and long-term success in life. I would have dropped the ball on too many other important things, including some pretty good music.

However, to keep my creative writing chops active, I added a goal on my 43 Things: "post really, really, really short stories." This gives me a chance to write short fiction without the burden of organizing it into a long form like a novel. You can monitor my progress on my 43 Things page about this goal. However, I will also post some of them here on fluent in mumble for your enjoyment:

#1: A Shocking Realization

Frederick was in his second year of culinary school when he found out that
egg-drop soup is not made from “Egg Drops.”

#2: Sunday

Pastor Morrisey’s socks did not match, and the sopranos were perpetually flat in the choir loft. Lucille stayed.

#3: A Sad Story

“What was that?” Franklin shouted; “I can’t hear you over your green and violet dress!” Debbie turned and left him there at Taco Bell, alone.

More to come later.

what's in a name?

I suppose that fluent in mumble is a stupid name for a blog. I suppose it would be an even worse name for a child, but that's not the point. fluent in mumble describes me fairly well, I suppose. I coach speech and debate (forensics) at a local high school, and in that position, I am quite well-versed in Mumble, the universal language of teenagers everywhere. Does it have anything to do with music, the ostensible focus of this blog? Not directly. Sorry.

what is this rubbish?

It's my blog. fluent in mumble. It's where I talk a little bit about my life and what I'm doing, beyond what you may know from gratemusic.com and LDSmusic.us. The first entry on something like this is always stupid. That's why I'm getting it out of the way now. Then I'm going to quit while I'm ahead.