Entering a new phase!

Yes, it's been years since I've published on here. I still have followers though, so how about a little update?

In the years that I have been away, I've done nothing but practice the piano. And you know what? Doing the same activity 4-5 hours a day, every day, can really produce some great results! I'm working on my first set of real virtuosic repertoire, including: Mozart's c minor Fantasy and Sonata, Chopin Ballades, Liszt Paganini Etudes, and Messiaen Catalogue of the Birds. It's all very exciting.

And I'm starting my teaching career! You can see my website at tjohnsonpiano.com, or visit my page at Thumbtack: Piano Studio of Thomas Johnson. Let me know if you have any tips. I'm getting my name out there and hopefully the students start enrolling this month! So far I have one...

New New York.

At 6am this morning, as I pulled my overly-packed full vehicle up to the Starbucks drive-thru, I turned on my Garmin GPS.

I hit: "Set Home Location" and entered: "New York, New York, 10040."

"Go."

Tonight, I sleep my first night as an official resident of Manhattan.

(come visit!)

Carol Lynn Pearson Interview

I have followed John Dehlin's "Mormon Stories" podcast/website for the past 2-3 years. It is great. And I must share this:

http://mormonstories.org/?p=1091


I hope you all watch this captivating FIVE HOUR interview with Carol Lynn Pearson. What could be better?!

I don't have a Facebook anymore to spam this across!

Please, share it around!


(Also, watch the recent Bruce Bastian interview that is on there.)

Bliss.

"Follow your bliss. If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.

"there is no security in following the call to adventure"

-Joseph Campbell

Radio Star

My dad's friend Laura Lavigne is a life coach from Seattle. She has a weekly radio show called "Chez Laura" (she's French), and I am one of the guest speakers this month! My show is called "Let's talk about 'being seventeen, Mormon, and gay!'"

"After graduation, my friend Tommy went to Brigham Young University. He was 17. A few months later, he called his family and told them that he needed to come home to tell them something important. This was three years ago and I have invited Tommy to come talk with me and share more of his story. A story of authenticity."

Check it out live on Jan. 12th at noon PST or hear it in the archives any time after that.

http://www.lauralavigne.com/Tommy.html
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/lauralavigne/2010/01/12/chez-laura--lets-talk-about-being-seventeen-mormon

Moments that touched me

It was February of 2008, and I was in the deepest throes of dealing with being gay and Mormon. Probably due to the fact that I hadn't been sleeping or eating much, I came down with the flu. It wasn't a good time to get sick, and I was already feeling extremely down with life as it was.

One day a box showed up in front of my dorm room. It contained all sorts of medicines and sick/comfort foods. Each item had a sticky note attached to it with something creative written on it in bubbly writing. It was all anonymous, and I never found out who it was from. It was quite the care package and must have cost quite a bit for a college student's budget.

To this day that may be one of the nicest things anyone has done for me.

Thank you.

Whatever floats your boat...

How random is this? I saw it while I was biking today.

16? What is wrong with 14? Or 17?

I love it.