| 2007 in Review |
[Dec. 31st, 2007|02:05 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Coastal Confessions | ] |
Wow, it's been over a month since I've bothered to update this thing... since the last post, the end of my first semester at ASU came quickly. The last couple weeks at school were an absolute blast, some last minute frantic work to get everything done by the end of classes, but for the most part, it felt like a big party. After that, couple amusing weeks at home so far, hanging out with people, getting used to not being in a dorm, and so on and so forth. Random memories...
Before finals, an incredibly bizarre stain started appearing in the floor in my dorm room. I don't feel like telling the entire story now, but pictures are up on facebook. So disturbing.
"Reading Day" was, not surprisingly, a joke. We originally skipped the night thing because the line at Hassy was too long, but ended up hitting Hassy later. Highlights included screwing around with the jukebox at Devil's Diner and then watching Brady do a perfect job of racking himself on the overpass on University.
So, one morning I had to be awake for a final at 7:40 in the morning. This was naturally cause for some concern, as I had not been coherently awake before about 9:30 in the morning since, say, October. I asked Nathan to make sure I was awake before he took off for wherever he was going that morning, and he did so with the most amazing Asian humor I have perhaps ever heard. Truly a highlight.
Margaritaville on the middle weekend of finals was definitely one of the better memories from the semester. Great group of people, perfect for my first trip to the Glendale branch of my Mecca... fudge and such afterward from Cabela's was an additional bonus, but nothing tops that first trip to Margaritaville. Cheeseburgers in Paradise, watching videos of crazy drunk parrotheads, singing along to a bunch of songs about half of my group didn't even recognize, watching the fountains afterward, good times all around...
Come Monday of finals, all attempts at doing any type of serious work completely died off. I finished my last paper, and from there it was a flat out party until I left on Wednesday night. Thanks to the loungians in general and to Brady in particular, I had been staying up later and later as the semester progressed. At the start of the semester, I was going to bed around 11 or 12, by the end of regular classes I was lucky to be in bed by 2. With the end of finals, even that was shot to hell. Aly joined the loungians, and, completely her fault, Brady and I were going to bed at 8 in the morning and waking up at 4 in the afternoon. Haha some people say college can mess with your sleeping schedule, my first semester completely inverted mine. It happens.
Along those lines, the breakfast Brady, Aly and I had at Hassy before going to bed that night at 8 in the morning was easily the most disgusting breakfast I have ever eaten. I have never before eaten a meal that so quickly and distinctly stood out as the absolute worst food I had ever consumed, so I figure it's worth mentioning now.
So my last night on campus, everyond had gone except for myself, David and Aly. Justin made steaks for us, which were absolutely delightful. We then hung out in the remnants of the lounge, and the two of them distracted me from starting my packing until my dad was waiting for me in the parking lot. Good times, though.
Something also needs to be said for the final lounge parties of the semester. The pictures and videos are all online already, but still... wild battles involving everything from dreidels and oranges to tennis balls and frisbees. If the rumors are true, and a dart board is soon coming to the lounge, I shall every reason to fear my life for the next semester. War aside, though, there were also amazing moments of blasting music, random movies, limbo competitions, jump roping, electrocution via Christmas lights, and the usual chaos that had been going on for the entire semester. I miss the wild nights of the lounge, and greatly look forward to getting back in a couple weeks...
So! That would be the quick summary of the very end of the semester. Once home, I paid a couple visits to Chaparral, started hanging out with the band folk...
Two nights of caroling, always great fun. The rehearsal at Chap was just as useless as tradition required, so all is well in that regard. The caroling itself was quite a blast, with one or two odd new twists for this year. The first night also included going to see I Am Legend afterward, which was an... inconsistent movie. Haha going from ASU to caroling with Glen, Henglefelt and Ashley... quite a change, quite a change.
Went on a "date" with this year's band council, section leaders, and Mireau. Story of the night is too long for now, but highlights included screwing with a bunch of people during the day, the YMCA and various other moments of insanity at dinner, the wildest game of mini golf that I have ever played, which included pegging Sophia three times and nailing myself in the ass, and a bunch of fun moments screwing with a bunch of buttons in the limo (although, they beat me in the end, bastards).
Went to Chap's band concert with all the other grads. Weird watching the marching band, really weird. Still, they did a decent job performing, and their show this year kicked ass, so, woo!
Watched ASU's failed attempt at a bowl game with Lipman and Brady. The game was a bit of a disaster, but I got a decent cheeseburger out of the deal (Fox Sports, woo), so I guess it isn't all bad. Was going to see a movie after that, but the jeep crapped out on me, so I'll have to see it some other time, I guess.
Since then, a couple various random fun moments, Oregano's with Danielle, ping pong-ing with Henglefelt, singing with the St. Pat's choir again, playing at Christmas mass, and probably a few more that I'm forgetting.
Made another trip out to Margaritaville with Aaron, Kelsie, Megan, Mikey and Brenon, awesome second trip to my Glendale Mecca. Met up with Brady there, went to Cabela's, spent most of the time in there with him and Aaron... we make quite the trio, so that was a blast. That night, weird ass movie with Aaron Megan and Mikey. Pretty fun time, though. Crazy times at Starbuck's afterwards, at least. Felt like high school all over again.
And now... break is only half over. Still to come, New Year's festivities, more ping pong and tennis with Henglefelt, possibly one more chance to hang out with Aaron, still undetermined get-together with low brass, another weekend with the St. Pat's group, one last trip to Chap, another trip to Margaritaville if I can possibly work it in, and God knows what else.
So, here we are, at the end of another year. This one brought such a bizarre array of change, it's crazy to think just how much has happened. At this time one year ago, I was putting off finishing my Barrett application, in the middle of the Barber competition, celebrating New Year's with caroling at a block party, humping reindeer, and telling random stories at Aaron's house. Since then, there's been so much... a final season of jazz, Little Shop, the final concerts with PSG, regionals, sleeping through my final classes at Chap, those pesky "AP" things, the awesome trip that was All-State in Flagstaff, the final band concert, graduation and Project Grad, then summer.... camping with my dad, lots of practicing, then one final trip up to Flagstaff with Aaron, one last round of band camp at Chaparral, and on to ASU... moving in, meeting the group that would eventually become the loungians, watching the natural flow of people in and then out of our group, Ashton moving out, the birth of the lounge, the martini glass, guitar, palm tree, the speakers, and so on... and all the classes at ASU, the frustration and amusement that was human event with Dr. Chew, the other fairly easy yet sometimes crazy classes, starting work on Coyote, taking my first lessons with Dr. Pagano, finally performing with the Mesa Symphony... and on from there to all of the fun moments I've already rambled about in this post. 2007's been one hell of a ride, and 2008's lookin' to be even better.
This all reminds me of a conversation I had with a couple people awhile ago... we talked about how weird it was that with this first semester of college, we just may be living the best years of our lives right now... according to a lot of people, we're at the peak now, and, while we'll be there for quite some time still, it's still the beginning of an end. I guess, all things considered, there's not much to be said for thinking along those lines for now. I'll stick with my parrothead window on the world... I knew a Buffett quote would make it's way in here somewhere, so here we go...
So let's talk about the future,
Or the consequences of my past.
I've got scars, I've got lines, I'm not hard to define,
Just an altar boy coverin' his ass.
I know I can't run and hide, but just hang on for the ride,
There will be laughter and tears, as we progress through the years,
But still it's fun, hey, I'm not done,
Gonna dance 'till I fall...
And so, the year is done. I finished high school with few regrets and I'm decently pleased with my first semester at ASU. There are some slight changes I'll be looking to make for next semester, but all things considered, I'm off to a good start and am damn excited to see what's coming next. Hope any of the crazy folk out there that bothered to read any of this are similarly content with their year, but if not, hell, there's always 2008.
Life's a dance. |
|
|
| Thoughts and Such |
[Nov. 29th, 2007|10:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  blank | ] |
| [ | music |
| | A Horse With No Name | ] |
Well. Life has been confusing lately.
But it's all good. I'm just hangin' on for the ride...
So, since my last post, quite a bit has happened. First off, various concerts that I've been mentioning off and on...
I finally performed with the Mesa Symphony early in November. Haha that was one crazy hell of a week, pretty damn stressful, but in the end I guess it was worth it. It was my first time soloing with an orchestra like the MSO, so it was definitely a good experience. The rehearsals were stressful and a half because it seemed we could barely play through the entire concerto without falling apart. But, now that all is said and done, the concert itself went rather well, I think. Granted, I'm not sure I'd choose to do the entire thing again, but once was definitely worth it...
A week after the Mesa Symphony concert, my sister and I went to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert. Not too much to say about that one, damn good music, kickass light show, TSO just being classic TSO. Twas wonderful. My official start to the holiday season in the middle of November, haha.
And... just got back an hour or two ago from the Pass in Review with a few of the Chap kids. We had a pretty fun time, eating at iHop and such beforehand, and then the actual concert was damn good. The ASU marching band has had an awesome season, so it was great to listen to them play through all of their shows. I almost regret not playing in the band this year, and, if my schedule can be made to cooperate, I just may consider joining next year. We shall see. I really don't want to think about it now, but we'll see how the spring semester goes. At this point, it is definitely a possibility.
Aside from the concerts, there really isn't that much to talk about, I guess. Time has been flying by lately; I have less than one week of regular classes left in the semester, and I just can't believe it. Tomorrow is my final EEE design presentation, Monday is my Chem lab presentation (stupid) and from there it's nothing but essays, exams, and home. So bizarre, to be almost done with my first semester of college already...
As far as college itself goes, things have been going quite well, I guess. Ashton has moved out, Brady is in the process of moving in, my room is the ever-improving lounge, and the crazy times just keep on a-comin'. For better or worse, classes are slowly drawing to their conclusions, and overall, I guess I'm glad this first semester will be over. Piano lessons are shakily starting to move in a new direction, God only knows where that'll lead me. Coyote could be a success or a mess, but we only have one more rehearsal this semester. ASU only has one more home football game, but, hell, I just don't know. This is really my last normal weekend of the semester; next weekend, I'll have a final on Saturday, and the weekend after that, I'll be home, probably playing for a couple of masses at St. Pat's and doing all that other stuff. So, I guess I'll enjoy it while it lasts, hm? |
|
|
| Spring 2008 Schedule |
[Nov. 6th, 2007|03:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Standing Outside the Fire | ] |
CSE 100: Principles of Programming with C++
Lec: MWF 10:40-11:30
Lab: F 2:40-3:30
EEE 120: Digital Design Fundamentals
Lec: TuTh 12:15-1:30
Lab: OPEN
HON 273: Human Event, Science Focus
Lec: MW 1:40-2:55
MAT 275: Modern Differential Equations
Lec: MW 4:40-5:55
PHY 121/122: University Physics I
Lec: TuTh 10:40-11:55
Rec: M 3:40-4:30
Lab: Tu 2:40-4:30
So yeah. The beautiful thing is, I do not have a single class starting before 10:40 in the morning... delightful. My schedule's looking pretty decent, though, Physics won't be too hard, I'm taking DiffEq with MATLAB, so that should make it a little more interesting. Human Event will hopefully be less crazy than this semester's, but EEE120 is going to be pure hell. C++... don't know why I have to take it, would rather start off learning java, but nothin' much to be done about that, so... at least I never have to get out of bed before, say, 10 :) On the cheery side, a whole group of us from my floor will be in the same human event class next semester, so I'm sure we'll have a good time with that.... on the not-so-cheery side, I've heard the EEE lab really really really blows... it's open, so apparently there isn't actually a class time, we each go in individually to do the lab whenever we want. Apparently the labs are really long and the reports take several hours. So, cheers. I'll enjoy my robot-building EEE101 while I can :)
So anyway... this is my pure hell week of the semester, in pretty much every possible way. I'm probably screwing myself over by taking the time to make this post, but it's all good, I need the break... it's been a long week, and it's just getting longer... haha oh well. Enjoy it as it goes, hm?
TSO concert on the 17th? Oh yes, have tickets. PIR2007 on the 29th? Will have tickets shortly. In this aspect, life is good. Damn good, even. |
|
|
| Asbestos, Chap/SHS, ASU/Cal, PIR2007 |
[Oct. 23rd, 2007|07:37 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | ready for the weekend | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Continuum | ] |
Things have been getting exciting in the dorm lately. Our RA was living in the room next to us, but he left because it was so messed up. There was a bunch of mold in there, so they decided to rip everything out of the room. Including the asbestos-filled carpet. Haha. So, we have a nice little quarantine going on here (pictures on facebook). Makes for an exciting week, at least.
So the past few weeks have been quite entertaining. Last weekend, went back to Scottsdale for the Chaparral/Saguaro game. Beforehand, my sister and I went to YC's... awesome to have that good of food again. Anyway, got back to Chaparral during the last period in the day, and... it was really weird to be back. Turns out there were a good 20 or so people from the band that was skipping their last class (the tradition's still alive! yes!) so I hung out with them for a while, then went to Uncle Sam's with the brass line and a few other random people. Good times, good times. Kind of like senior year, sans Aaron and with a couple random freshman. The non-low brass freshies were kind of annoying, but it was still quite fun. Really odd to be with them all again...
Anyway, the game itself was quite amusing. I ended up grabbing a sousaphone and marching out with them and then playing in the stands for most of the game. It was so much fun to play in the stands again... haha didn't really have any lips, but it's all good. Also, I learned that dancing in the stands after not playing for a couple months and without being in uniform is a really really bad idea. Shoulder absolutely hurt like hell the next morning, but it was worth it, haha. Always great fun to play in the stands. Although we never got around to the "GO BIRDS!" chant, we did have a damn good round of Tequila towards the end of the game. Also, the half time show is really coming together. I'm hoping I'll be able to come to either a playoff game or the season-end concert so I can see the entire show, but so far, so good. There's a lot of work still to be done, but they're definitely on their way...
After that game on Friday, went to an ASU game against Washington. That game was an absolute blast. Turned out to be a pretty good game, lots of good stories from the stands and all that. Afterward, met with Karen and a couple of her friends, had our now-infamous game of dorm baseball, haha. Quite intense, but definitely a hell of a lot of fun at 1 or 2 or whatever-it-was in the morning. Good times. That resulted somehow in kicking around a water jug outside the dorm and then throwing a football around the Gammage lot, not really sure how that all happened, but hey, good times.
Things since then have been rather amusing. Classes and such are getting busy, finally. Lots of practicing for me to do, and so on and so forth. This weekend could be amusing, homecoming and Cal game etc. etc. We shall see.
For anyone who doesn't know already, the 2007 Pass in Review is going to be on November 29th (a Thursday) at 7:30. I'm planning on getting a group of people together to go see it, so if you want to come with us, let me know. I've got an event posted on facebook for it, as well. Anyone who sees this on livejournal or facebook or wherever is welcome, just let me know. I'll probably buy the tickets in a week or two, so we need to get this together quickly. The concert's going to be a blast, so let me know if you want to join us... |
|
|
| Woo! |
[Oct. 7th, 2007|11:41 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ka' | ] |
First off, congratulations to the CHS Marching Band! It sounded like you guys had an absolute blast on Saturday, and it's so great to hear that you guys are doing so well already! It was awesome to talk to some of you last night, and I can't wait to see all of you again on Friday! Woo!
Moving on, a quick "what the hell" moment for the Pac-10. So last week, ASU completely slaughtered Stanford; this week, ASU very narrowly beats Washington State, and Stanford narrowly beats USC...? Not sure how that works out, but it's all good. Frustration that I did not watch the SC game and only found out they had lost when I checked the other scores around 1 or 2 in the morning.... dammit. But, now we're 14th! Woo!
Anyway, this has been a fairly uneventful weekend, I guess. Last night ended up seeing Kingdom again (still, if you haven't seen it, go see it, it's good) and then later watched Fight Club. It was the first time I saw Fight Club, actually... pretty weird movie. Good night, though. Relaxing. Went to bed early and so on.
This should be a pretty busy week. Lots of practicing, more rehearsals, work on our first engineering design project for EEE, an English paper that makes no sense at all, and probably some other stuff that I'm forgetting. Still, definitely looking forward to the weekend, Thursday-Saturday should be quite amusing.
ASU has moved into the top 15 in rankings, woo! Also, Bears/Packers game tonight should be quite amusing... and yeah, enough procrastination for now, more later, I'm sure... |
|
|
| Back Home in the Country, When the Storm Blows in... |
[Oct. 4th, 2007|12:05 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Carolina Rain | ] |
So I really don't have time to consistently update anymore, so this'll just be quick and random stuff from the past few weeks...
Things are really starting to pick up pace. Classes in general aren't too horribly challenging, but they are pretty time consuming. It's causing a bit of time crunch for the next couple weeks, as I'll be balancing the classes with the first couple weeks of Coyote rehearsals and my piano lessons... sleep is getting a little harder to come by, but it's been fun so far, so I'm not complaining.
Along those lines, I really like how my piano lessons are turning out so far. I've only been to a couple, but they're really challenging. My teacher is absolutely awesome; it's crazy how much we can get through in an hour. I have a pretty big performance coming up in about 5 weeks, it'll be interesting for me to see how I'm playing by that point in terms of a balance between my high school style of play and my college style. My college style is badly underdeveloped right now, but I really like how it's turning out, my lessons have been just incredible so far...
I know I've brought this up in a post or two already, but I'm really liking the whole dorm life. So far there have been just so many benefits to being a dorm, it's crazy. This afternoon I talked to a friend of mine who was living in an apartment, and he was saying that he's gotten to know people through classes, but not at all through his apartment. With us in the dorm, it's the exact opposite. It's so easy to meet someone completely random and then end up talking to them until like 1 in the morning, haha... good times, good times.
Last weekend was quite amusing, mainly Saturday night... I watched the ASU/Stanford game with a group of people from my dorm, then played some frisbee, then went to a midnight showing of Kingdom (good movie, if you haven't seen it yet, watch it sometime, it's definitely worth it), and then ended up playing with the frisbee again until about 4, 4:30 ish. I'm pretty sure it was the first time since I got to ASU that I went to bed as some people were getting up... haha, frisbee games turn pretty damn amusing around 4 in the morning, weird stuff happens...
And yeah, this was a bit of a ramble. I'm ready for this week to be over, I guess. This weekend should be decent, mostly lots of sleeping, but I'm rather looking forward to next weekend. I rescheduled my engineering lab, so Friday morning I'm going to come back down to Scottsdale, get lunch with my sister (YC's for the first time in WAY too long) and then will actually go back and visit Chaparral. Anyway, that night should end up being an absolute blast, I'm really looking forward to going back for the homecoming game, especially since it'll probably be the only time I watch the Chap band march this season... sad. Anyway, I'll stay in Scottsdale for the night and then come back to ASU sometime on Saturday. After I get back on Saturday I'll meet up with a group and go to the Washington game... quite excited for that night, should be a blast. This weekend, though, sleep. And maybe another post. But probably not. |
|
|
| You'll Never! Work! In Dis Bidness! Again!! |
[Sep. 2nd, 2007|01:24 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | sleepy | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Miracula Aeternitatis | ] |
So since I kind of let my livejournal die for a few weeks or so, there's a lot I can update about; I'll probably bring up a couple of memories over my next couple updates...
Tonight was our first football game, 45-3 over San Jose State (woo...). It actually was quite a bit of fun, it was my first football game sitting in the student section instead of with a marching band, and I really had a good time with it. Since it was the first game there was so much energy in our section, we just had a blast through the first half or so. After the third quarter, we were up 38-3 and were really bored, so we decided to leave. Remember how many times we wanted to leave a Chap game early, but couldn't? Haha it was a nice change. Also, I simultaneously loved the ASU marching band and came to the definite decision that I will never march again. Seeing as I didn't go through with setting up any concert band rehearsals for this semester, it would appear that my time as a tuba player is indeed over. Rather unfortunate, but after tonight, I am quite sure that I am ready to move on music-wise and focus entirely on the piano.
However, the ASU band really did kick ass. Absolutely awesome, both in the stands and on the field. Since it was the first football game, they recognized all the national-level scholarship freshmen that decided to come to ASU (we set a record this year, there are about 300 of us). Anyway, we all were supposed to come onto the field after the marching band performed, so we got to watch the performance from the sidelines. It was like the Tower of Power game all over again, except this time we could actually hear the band. And, wow. Great sound. Well-balanced (25 sousas!) and a damn good trumpet line and drumline (and in the stands, their baritones and trombones, of which there are several rows, are quite amusing to watch). They played music from the Doors, so it was a good show, too.
Also, the Barrett kids sat in the student section closest to the marching band section, and a lot of the students actually reacted to the band. Nearly all of us clapped along, chanted with them, etc. etc. It was great to see- it may have just been because it was the first game, but people really seemed to like the band this year. It made me happy, haha.
And since I now care about Pac-10 football instead of 4A-1 high school football, I'll point out that there were no real surprises for us for the first week of play- for now, at least, common expectations are for ASU to place 4th this year, behind USC, UCLA and Cal. Not bad, and definitely an improvement from last year. Anyway, U of A lost to BYU 7-20. Ha! When they showed that scoreline during the game at ASU, everyone started cheering and such and the drumline played a cadence. It was quite amusing...
So that was tonight. Before the game we hung out at center complex and had some ice cream and such, after the game we went to one of the honors dorms and ate pie. Damn good pie, too. Apple, delightful. Also, two of the wings of the Irish dorm are starting a rivalry with each other? Interesting.
Since two of my closer friends live in Irish C, I've spent a lot of time there instead of in Best (my dorm). They've really got a great group of people there, always fun to spend time with that. Same can be said about the Best C peoples, although I actually only really know like half of them, haha.
Since right now I'm kind of tired (didn't get back to my dorm until 2 this morning, got up at 6:45 to play tennis, so... not a smart thing to do, perhaps? haha) I'll save my other stories for later, because there are many of them. I'll throw this one out though, because I was surprised by it: a lot of the people that I've met actually kind of care about marching bands and drum corps and such. In my ASU 101 class, I ended up hanging out with one guy who marched with the Academy and is planning on auditioning for the Blue Devils next summer. There's a guy on my floor who marches sousaphone at ASU and used to march at Westwood (Chaparral people, you should recognize that school name). We had some time to kill in the dorm one afternoon, and a group of them were curious about marching and such so I showed them the clip from Spin Cycle (if the name doesn't ring a bell, it was a Cavaliers show that involved a cross dissolving into a series of spinning circles), and they actually kind of liked it, haha. The whole music-engineering connection is actually really apparent here, and I like it. A lot.
More to come later, perhaps. I really don't know how often I'll update this, so we'll see. I'm pretty sure I'll continue to check facebook, though, so if you'd like, leave me a message sometime, let me know how you all are doing with the whole college (or high school) game and such... |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Aug. 31st, 2007|01:51 pm] |
|
Hm so I haven't really decided if I want to bother with updating this anymore or not. Anyone read it anymore (facebook people included, it should copy itself over there)? Let me know... |
|
|
| Camp Reflections |
[Aug. 9th, 2007|09:26 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  nostalgic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Quidam | ] |
So this is probably going to be long and rambling, so I apologize.
I just got back today from the Chaparral band camp- I was a counselor, along with Megan, Aaron and Zane. Overall, it was a great time. Now that it's done, my thoughts...
Watching the band rehearse this morning was somewhat rough. I can say with 99% confidence that it was the last rehearsal I will ever watch. As far as the rest of this year goes... well, at best, I'll show up to a football game or two. At worst, I will not watch/listen to them perform again. So strange.
I am incredibly proud of my old section. Incredibly. They completely blew me away these past few days. Cody is playing about as well as Brenon was at the beginning of last season. Ashley is playing with an authority and flair that I would never have believed possible one week ago. The freshmen are showing an enthusiasm and work ethic better than I could have hoped for at the start of the camp. Even Casey, although still a weak player, has made a big improvement in his marching technique. And Brenon... is well on his way to becoming a very strong leader. I can honestly say that, although I don't think Brenon will ever pass me up in a concert band setting, if he continues to improve as he has over the past year or so, by the time he graduates he will have easily surpassed my own abilities on the field. Overall, I can't believe the pure ability that low brass displayed at the camp. During one music rehearsal, I wandered around the front of the band while they played the contest series. Although there were problems all over the place, I could easily hear Ashley and the sousaphones in the blend of the entire band. For the end of camp class drill downs, 3 of the 4 winners were members of low brass (I'm still considering tenors to be low brass, whether they are this year or not- I taught them during sectionals at camp and at school the past two years, so that's that).
The most nostalgic moment for me came when I watched the sousas learn to dance to the stand tunes the last couple days of camp. It was at that point that I realized that, without myself and Aaron, this year's low brass will be a much stronger section than the one that I used to lead.... there is great potential in the section this year, and it will be realized without us. Without me. The section that at one point I could basically drown out by myself will now be much stronger... without me. Haha. It's so good to see them doing so well, but still. Nostalgia. A large part of me still wants to be with them.
Yesterday night was a bizarre experience. This was perhaps the first time the seniors really realized that they are, in fact, seniors. It's something I tried to talk to some of them about earlier in the summer, but at that point they really couldn't understand. Now that they've gone through their final leadership days, band camp (the summer after graduating doesn't count), etc., it's starting to settle in. It was interesting to watch. That being said, I listened to all the seniors talk last night, and at no point did I sense quite the bond to the program or to each other that I felt between all of the '07 seniors. This is a disappointment, I will admit, but not a surprise. Maybe I'm wrong. I doubt it.
Overall, though, the music is starting to sound good and the marching technique is slowly beginning to improve. Marching this year will have an incredible experience, I'm sure, and a large part of me wishes I was sharing in that experience.
Now that I'm back, reality sets in. Today is Thursday. Tomorrow and Saturday I will hopefully get together with various groups of people one last time. Sunday I will play at St. Pat's for the last time and we'll celebrate my sister's birthday. Monday I will likely spend the day with Aaron and Megan and some others if possible, Tuesday I will pack, and Wednesday I will move in to the dorm in Tempe. Most likely, I will not see the majority of the Chap marching members for a few months, at least. Aw.
Back to camp, random amusing moments:
*shopping in Payson with Aaron and Megan on the way up
*meeting everyone in Forest Lakes and being an hour or two late to camp
*wildly intense games of Uno
*great stories and food courtesy of Sean's parents
*air horn wake up calls every morning
*the skits- with the exception of the senior one (sorry, but it was a disappointment), all the other skits each had some really entertaining moments. Even/Especially the woodwind ones (a little painful for me to admit, perhaps, haha but still). Great fun.
*watching the knot game without having to participate
*wild ping pong and dodge ball moments
*slipping out to heber one morning to replenish our stocks of drinks and ice cream
*taking a quick nap while everyone else worked on the grid
*greatly amusing times watching low brass during rehearsals, especially while playing pure disco
*the more relaxed moments working on the field, joking around with Katie and Kelsie and the section leaders
*Kelsie falling (sorry, but still, amusing moment, hm? haha)
*senior auctions being surprisingly entertaining (they all seemed to have a good time, i had a good time watching)
*hanging out with a great group of people at the house
There are more, but I am tired, so I shall stop for now. Once again, it was a great experience. I'm happy I went. At some point, I shall post pictures (some of them turned out rather well).
Your world is yours
not mine, Quidam.
Your dreams are yours.
You may have touched the stars
but they weren't moved.
And if you reach for me
I may not choose
to hold your hand.
I might smile
or I might turn away...
An ordinary man, Quidam.
I'm everyman.
I'm anyman.
Quidam, Quidam... |
|
|
| An Ordinary Man, Quidam... |
[Aug. 3rd, 2007|08:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | ecstatic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Stella Erans | ] |
So, in general, life is good. A quick update:
First and foremost, I officially have a piano teacher at ASU for next year.
I went to a marching rehearsal Thursday. I'll keep most of my thoughts about this one to myself, but I will throw out some quick thoughts on the show...
Atmandja- Stock opener that consists of a dramatic..... single line. Wow. Also, not a fan of the freakish double crescendo thing leading up to it. Still, that one line is decently catchy.
Ninkou Latora- Much better than prune juice. Not as good as the original, but that can't be helped, a marching band really can't effectively imitate a full orchestra and singer, so... On a side note, Mireau doesn't know how to pronounce Ninkou Latora? Really? Now, I know the words look odd (I guess) but if you listen to the original soundtrack (which Mireau has, as do I), it starts with a timpani, basses, and the singers first two words... Ninkou Latora. It may look odd, but the pronunciation isn't exactly hidden.
Quidam- This song is actually the encore of the real show, so I don't really like it not being the closer. Also, as the encore, it was a very cheery song. I love nearly all of the marching arrangement, but the bizarre ending chords were a really unnecessarly liberty to take. Gah.
Incantation- Will be an entirely different song once there are decent drum parts. With the stock parts, it sucks. With the stock singing, it sucks. Without singing, and with a completely rewritten drum part and feature, it should be really flippin' cool.
Since I've been decently Cirque-obsessive all year, I took the show as an excuse to buy the DVD of Dralion (already had Quidam). Anyway, Dralion is absolutely awesome, my favorite of the Cirque shows I've seen (that, Mystere and Quidam). The DVD is just plain amazing.
Went to Beth's party last night. Got a chance to talk with some people I normally don't get a chance to talk to, so it was quite fun. Also, it is very very odd to go to a big dance-ish party and be the only college student there...
On to band camp! |
|
|
| Flagstaff! |
[Jul. 29th, 2007|08:20 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Miracula Aeternitatis | ] |
So, spent the last couple days in Flagstaff. Awesome times.
Aaron and I drove up late Friday afternoon- traffic sucked, so we didn't get to the town until around 7. Anyway, we were camping at the KOA, so we set up our tent and such and then wandered around the town for a while.
Saturday we hiked Mt. Humphreys (after eating at KOA, awesome blueberry pancakes). The hike is pretty tough, it's 4.8 miles and goes up around 3,500 ft., to a final elevation of 12, 633, if I remember correctly. So, yes. Difficult. With breaks for lunch and such it took us around 7 hours.
Saturday night we went to a pizza place that was kind of an NAU hangout, spent a while there, mainly because it was too painful to move, haha. Aside from that, there was an awesome thunderstorm later Saturday night, and we drove back Sunday morning after an absolutely amazing breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
Great times. |
|
|
| 24 Days Left... |
[Jul. 23rd, 2007|09:47 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Semi-True Story | ] |
Random thoughts...
Suddenly, the summer is moving quickly. I start classes in less than a month, and all that other stuff. I can't wait....
I finally relented and created a facebook for myself. I'm pretty sure everyone who reads this already knows that, but there ya go.
Newest church stories: sadly, the "Mikes" have finally taken over our group. Last weekend I counted seven instrumentalists playing with our group, and four of them were named Mike. This makes them very easy to screw with, I have found. Furthermore, our director returned after being on vacation for the past two weeks- the second song of the mass, he started playing a half step higher than the rest of us. Things are exciting again.
I saw the movie You Kill Me. It is good. My type of humor.
I now know the name of my roommate, and we have gotten in touch. I am excited.
I have only one more piano lesson, and only two more masses to play at St. Pat's. As I said, summer is going by quite quickly, now...
Chaparral marching stuff beginning already? Oh my. |
|
|
| My Finalized Schedule |
[Jul. 17th, 2007|03:30 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | One Particular Harbor | ] |
It's so good to finally have this thing finished....
ASU 101- The ASU Experience (bah)
W 1:00-2:30
CHM 114- General Chemistry for Engineers
Lecture MWF 9:40-10:30
Laboratory M 12:40-3:30
EEE 101- Introduction to Engineering Design
Lecture TuTh 10:40-11:30
Laboratory F 2:40-5:30
ENG 105- Advanced First-Year Composition
MW 6:15-7:30
HON 171- The Human Event
TuTh 1:40-2:55
MAT 267- Calculus for Engineers III
TuTh 7:40-8:55 (AM)
So that's that. My advisor told me I could choose to skip Calc III (and the following Diff Eq class) and go right to Linear Algebra, but I'm thinking it might be a good idea to go back and do Calc III again, seeing as it was kind of a blow off class the first time around, and this version comes with engineering applications and such. I'm still not entirely sure, though. Any math peoples want to comment?
ENG 105 and HON 171 both come automatically with honors credit, and honors credits are also available through all the other classes, except stupid ASU 101. |
|
|
| Life Lately |
[Jul. 8th, 2007|09:01 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  irritated | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Shambala | ] |
So the past few days have been decent...
I met with the music advisor at ASU, and overall it was a thoroughly irritating meeting. I won't go into the details, but there are now a few options open to me (Irena, if you see this, I need to talk to you sometime)...
Wimbledon ended today. I'm sure no one who reads this actually cares, if anyone even reads this anymore, but the championship match between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal was one of the absolute best matches I've ever seen. Absolutely incredible.
I'm slowly becoming aware of just how little time I have left before college. I cannot wait.
AP scores did arrive. 5's on the english tests, 3 on gov. Even though it doesn't do me any good, I'm rather pleased with getting a 3 on gov. Haha.
I played for a couple masses this weekend; I was added to the Sat. night group since Paul's on vacation. I've gotten chances the past couple days to get to know a lot more of the group, and they're all quite fun people. Suffice to say that they have all been professional musicians for quite a while, and they have some stories to tell that are quite interesting... it's good fun.
My computer has arrived- we set it up yesterday, and I rather like it. |
|
|
| At the Bama Breeze, You're One of Our Own Down There |
[Jul. 4th, 2007|09:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Party at the End of the World | ] |
And in the blissfull nothingness that is summer, another random update:
Wimbledon has been going on for about a week and a half now. Despite seriously irritating rain delays and incompetent television coverage, there have been some really great matches, and the remainder of the week should be awesome. If you've never watched it, watch it.
After a month or two off from lessons, I've been practicing the piano quite a bit; my first summer lesson is next week, so I'm quite looking forward to that.
We ordered a computer for me for ASU. Dell Dimension. Should be nice.
This morning Fr. Vernon wanted music at the daily mass since it was 4th of July, so Paul had me play for it... it turned out quite well... it was my first mass playing without anyone else, just myself and the cantor, but aside from a miscue or two, things went fine. Good experience.
For the fourth my dad grilled a bunch of stuff from Omaha Steaks- awesome food.
I've got an appointment set up with a music advisor at ASU for this Friday to figure out what music classes I'll need to take freshman year. I've already given up on marching band.
Wimbledon trivia: A Wimbledon scoreline record was broken today in the second round of the men's doubles when Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa, both of Brazil, defeated Paul Hanley of Australia and Kevin Ullyet of Zimbabwe, 5-7, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (7), 28-26. For those of you who understand how tennis scoring works, pretty crazy, hm? |
|
|
| Bug Zappers, Music Mishaps and ASU |
[Jun. 24th, 2007|09:52 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | hopeful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Last Mango in Paris | ] |
And so, the weekend...
Saturday was a good day. The quick version: I woke up at 11, went out to lunch, got home around 4:30, went to Joe's graduation party, got home at 11:30 and then went back to sleep. Sunday, played at a couple masses, played the college game some more. Random thoughts:
Joe's Barbecue is an amazing place to eat (Aaron and I went to lunch there on Saturday). Great food, great atmosphere, just lots of fun in general. If you have never been there before, go there.
When Aaron and I go shopping together, we suffer from horrible ADD. Specifically, random CDs, a potentially obnoxiously loud car horn, tribal war chants, an improvised portable bug zapper as a torture device at band camp (heh), and the world's longest torque wrench. Interesting.
Joe's house is a rather amusing place. The party was quite fun. The main highlights were crazy ping pong and tennis games, everything else was kind of sitting around and talking. Good fun, overall. Good mix of people.
I played synth for a couple masses today, which was... interesting. Our director is mixing things up a bit before he leaves on vacation, so I switched places with our normal synth player (I usually play the piano). And... synths have some really bizarre sound effects. I had some fun pressing random buttons to see what would happen. It was a nice change- all of our charts consist of the melody line and chords, so when I play the piano I play the melody and improvise some chords underneath it, and when I play synth I usually switch it to an electric piano and then use the chords to improvise a counter melody to blend with the piano and choir. That's a rather simplified version of what we do, but point being, it was kinda fun to switch places, slightly different style of improvising and such.
The masses themselves went along as usual, with the usual one or two mishaps: at the morning mass the choir decided to come in two measures early after the refrain on one tune, so we had an interesting phasing problem for a second there. At the evening mass, our director gave a nice miscue, so I made a complete fool of myself for a measure or two. The nice thing was, I think by that point most people listening were so far gone that they didn't really notice. Anyways, all in all it went quite well.
I'm finally getting around to preparing a bit more for ASU- we'll hopefully be ordering a computer this week, and I'm also hopefully going to finalize my schedule (with marching, I'm really hoping, but at this point there's no guarantee).
I got a letter from the ASUSDMB, complete with forms to reserve one of the new sousaphones, forms to move on campus early and go to camp, and a list of the rehearsals, performances, and shows. The shows sound like so much fun, I really hope it works out...
Wimbledon starts tomorrow. Watch it. |
|
|
| Banana Winds |
[Jun. 21st, 2007|03:55 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Only Time Will Tell | ] |
So the last week or so has been rather amusing... Last Friday, went to Ashley's graduation party. It was ok, not as amusing as Megan's or Rachel's, but it still had its moments. Interesting times playing pool with Aaron and Kelsie, and that's about it.
Monday and Tuesday, spent both nights hanging out with the Sams. Lots of good times there, I can already tell the three of us are going to be quite the combination in college. All three of us will be going to Barrett, and the Sams will be roommates, so I'm sure I will be spending quite a bit of time with them... haha, the plans that are already beginning between the three of us...
Anyway, some fun moments there... hanging out at G's house, watching movies (he has the nicest surround sound setup I've seen, I will admit); on Tuesday Jordan and his girlfriend and a couple other people also showed up (can't remember all the names offhand) but it turned out to be quite the group. Apparently at some point I will be hanging out with Jordan, Shyam and Kelly, which should be quite entertaining.
Interesting that so far I've spent most of the summer with Saguaro and Desert Mountain people instead of Chaparral people, but it should make for many good times next year, so I'm quite content.
In other news, Henglefelt and I now have a bit of a rivalry going in tennis; he has yet to flat out beat me in a three set match, but he's come quite close. Also, there have been a couple times where we've split the first two sets and not played the third; if we had, he probably would have won. Point being, he's playing a lot better now than he was before, so our matches are quite fun.
In yet other news, I've started working with baby Mishler on baritone and he's started to frustrate me, and already rumors abound over next year's show... all in all, I'm glad I don't have to play this game anymore...
Is it the answer, or just a suggestion?
Is love what we truly want, or merely a protection?
Is the music made to last, or crumble like a shell?
Is there heaven here on Earth, or is this really hell?
Only time will tell... |
|
|
| And Summer Begins |
[Jun. 16th, 2007|09:18 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | First Circle | ] |
The trip was a blast. Random thoughts...
Tornado warnings in New Mexico are apparently fairly rare, and the NM state patrol has impressively no idea whatsoever as to how to handle them. Their improvised solution: set up a roadblock 10 miles north of Albuquerque so that cars fill the highway and have nowhere to go, and then send patrol cars north one at a time to decide if the road is "safe." Then, lift that road block after the storm moves further north, and then promptly set another one up 5 miles further north to wait for the storm to move north again (1. Tornadoes move southwest to northeast, so if it starts north of us it's no big deal anyway, and 2. it is quite possible to drive with tornadoes around, folks). So that one wasted about an hour of our time, but it's all good. We got out of the Jeep, wandered around the highway, and met some interesting people.
Drivers in New Mexico are quite possibly worse than drivers in Scottsdale. I've come to the conclusion that Scottsdale drivers are bad because they're arrogant and choose to do what they want, assuming that drivers around them will just solve the resulting problems for them. New Mexico drivers, on the other hand, aren't arrogant, just stupid. They don't ignore the possible problems, they just don't see them in the first place. Given the choice, I think I prefer conscience negligence over obliviousness. I have heard that drivers in Texas are worse than in NM, but we didn't travel that far east, so...
KOA "kampgrounds" are awesome places to stay. Always. We stayed at three different ones on this trip (Santa Fe, Buena Vista, Durango) and each experience was quite enjoyable (Durango was probably the best). The people that work there are some of the nicest people I've ever met, the campgrounds are in beautiful locations, and some of the locations offer all-you-can-eat pancake breakfasts which are absolutely delightful. Whenever my dad and I go on road trips we've almost always stayed at KOA sites, and they're always like that. So cool.
Rafting on the Arkansas is quite a fun experience. The water is moving quite quickly this year and is nice and cold (50 degrees-ish). The area was just beautiful, I've got quite a few pictures, may post some later, too lazy to do so now.
Driving up Pike's Peak is also great fun. The peak itself was in the middle of a cloud, so it was kind of like driving in really heavy fog, which I thought was quite fun. The road was kind of creepy at times, but it was still quite fun. Again, beautiful views (except for the peak, given the cloud). Pictures to come later.
We forgot the rain cover for our tent (and it rained almost every night), so we improvised, bought a bunch of garbage bags and duct taped them to the tent. Worked perfectly.
I greatly enjoy driving through mountain ranges. We crossed the continental divide in Colorado, and it was just a great trip. Much different from Arizona, and very enjoyable. Pictures to follow.
Gallup, New Mexico is easily one of the most miserable places I have ever been. We've passed through it on several trips and I am yet to find a single redeeming quality in the entire place.
Actually, New Mexico in general really sucks.
I really like Colorado, though. |
|
|
| Final Thoughts |
[Jun. 8th, 2007|02:20 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | relaxed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Going to Another Place | ] |
So it's finally over. As of June 6, 2007, I am no longer a student at Chaparral. It's crazy everything that's happened this past week...
Last Saturday was Megan's graduation party. Quite a good time, hanging out with a bunch of band people (and even a couple non-bandies). It was a fun night of food, cards (spoons and bs, ha), volleyball... a chance for all of us to just enjoy being together. Megan, Aaron and I have become quite close over the past four years, we still haven't really accepted the fact that we'll be scattering in a few months... plans are already being made for us to spend as much together as we can this summer... on a lighter note, my team (Kelsie, Aaron, Casey, myself) owned at volleyball. Ha!
After school on Monday I went out to YC's with a group of friends from middle school and freshman year. After middle school we separated, Sam and Sam went to Desert Mountain, Jordan and Shyam (who couldn't make it Monday, but still part of the group) to Saguaro, along with Boston, a girl we all met at a dance freshman year, and then I was pretty much the only one to go to Chaparral. Anyway, we had a good time reminiscing about all the middle school memories and telling stories from the past four years. The Sams and I flipped through the Saguaro yearbook, we found all the people we went to school with at Copper Ridge, so weird to see them all after four years... I also showed them the Chaparral yearbook, they found the like 5 people who came from Copper Ridge, and I showed them pictures of some of my closer friends from Chap. Good fun!
After YC's on Monday I went and played tennis with Henglefelt... unfortunately, he actually beat me this time (just one set, 7-5) haha so I'll have to make sure that doesn't happen anymore when we play this summer. Anyway, we spent a while talking about the past few years and about everything that'll be happening next year, good times...
After school on Tuesday I hung out with Aaron- we went and saw Fracture (decently good movie, better than we expected) and then just hung around for a while, remembering all the crazy things that have happened in band the past four years, but I'll get into that more later... we also briefly saw Kelsie and Hailey that night, which reminded me of just great it was to not have to really care about finals... ha.
Wednesday... finally arrived. I actually got to school a little bit earlier than normal, hung out with band kids and then went to the football field to help set up for graduation... after we finished with that, went to Denny's with Joe and Elizabeth, talked there for a while, more reminiscing and such, and then back to the band room until the end of sixth hour, talked to Mireau for a while and then I watched kind of off to the side the first few minutes after school ended as all the non-seniors came back to the band room, all hyper from finishing their last finals, talking about classes, graduation, etc. etc. Memories!
Anyway, after sixth hour ended on Wednesday we had this quick graduation meeting that didn't really seem to have a purpose, but whatever. It was still a good chance to just hang out with people, just enjoying being together etc. After the meeting, absolutely nothing, went home and hung out until graduation...
Graduation started at 8, the graduates were expected to be there around 7, so Aaron and I were there around 6:10ish. Hung out with band kids some more, said goodbye to a couple of the teachers, wandered around the 200 building (day of graduation, and people still couldn't find the right rooms... quite entertaining to watch). Anyway, around 7 I met up with the rest of the top 5% peoples, we all just kind of hung out for an hour or so. Lots of fairly bored/nervous moments that I found to be greatly entertaining... great group of people to hang out with, though, one that I will definitely miss next year; lots of picture taking, Irena posted a picture of us all here. The ceremony itself went quite well, I have to say once again how great it was to not have to play pomp and circumstance with the rest of the band (also, they sounded quite good). Anyway, the ceremony was fairly dull- the speeches went quite well, when they started calling all the seniors there was one fairly awkward moment, one of the two microphones wasn't working, so after Dicus called his first name, Neha, there was a long pause, and then Dicus gave up on the other speaker and called my name, so things started to flow again. Also, when the called to recognize the "outstanding seniors" Eric, who was sitting next to me, either wasn't paying attention or just didn't realize what was going on, so I kind of dragged him up with me... anyway, the beach balls were fairly unsuccessful this year, the wind made them kind of hard to keep with the seniors, but we tried, so that's that. After the ceremony, lots of time spent with the other graduates and band kids on the field, such a great moment... afterward Aaron and I ran to the band room to see everyone again, then we changed and met up again with Megan and the Stansels to leave for Project Grad.
That night was an absolute blast. Awesome food from pretty much everywhere, blackjack etc., arcades, and (of course) the racing. I spent the entire night with Aaron, Megan, and the Stansels, good group, lots of entertaining moments, especially after like 3ish, when people started getting tired (Megan and I had one of the most bizarre conversations ever on the busride back around 4:30- nothing quite liked sleep deprived ramblings!). All in all, a great night, lots of fun memories.
I spent Thursday morning sleeping, the afternoon doing absolutely nothing, and then went to Rachel's graduation party at night. It turned out to be quite a good time, great group of people... lots of fun memories (ping pong, Indian dancing, foosball, etc. etc.). Quite a great night.
...
So, it's still weird to think I'm finally done with my time at Chaparral. I've gone through so much with that school: the classes, the dozens of perofrmances, the people... I want to take some time to recall each year individually, and then separately remember the memories and performances of four years of bands... So, a quick (well, not so quick) moment to reminisce one more time, recall the memories of the four years that were...
first, the classes
FRESHMAN YEAR
*Marching/Jazz/Symphonic Bands... more specifically later
*Algebra II H, Lack- meeting Jay, Camille, Matson & co.... one of the easiest classes ever, then all the memories of us screwing around- the marker game, hitting around the pieces of paper, the Legos, all the random times...
*English I H, Wissmann- all the grief (haha)- the essays, the vocab, the rewrites, the tests, the crazy stuff we did during class, the debates, the contests, the conspiracy reports, Wissmann's craziness as she worked herself to exhaustion at the end of the year...
*World History, Le Duc- good times with Adam Gushgari, Rebecca, etc... all of Le Duc's crazy moments, she actually made that class somewhat entertaining even though I normally hate history...
*PE- the bizarre mix of people (Rachel, Foote, Paul, Madison, etc. etc.), all of the fun times, the crazy days of tennis, dodgeball, etc.... good times
*Spanish II- haha, McEwen! fun times, lazy seniors, irritating work... wow
SOPHOMORE YEAR
*Marching/Jazz/Wind Ensemble... always there, more to come
*Trig/Precalc- with Akin and Barefoot... haha, all the fun times... Akin letting us do pretty much anything, then Barefoot coming in, us watching all of his calculator games, chasing the circles, etc. etc.
*English II H, Marsh- first class with Marsh, all of the essays etc., the entire quarter or so we wasted on sentence diagramming and such, the Frankenstein research paper, the mix of people in the class, good times...
*World Geography H, Bullard- oh man... the stupid topics, the easy assignments/tests, having the schedule for the next few weeks or so read to us pretty much everyday, the bright green room, the stupid in class projects, the days of just screwing around, the weeks of Belford subbing when Bullard was gone, the movies, the parties...
*Biology I H, Rosenshein- one of the most irritating classes of my four years... being the only sophomore, with a bunch of freshmen, being one of like 3 guys in the class, Rosenshein threating all three guys with something or other (I don't even remember what now, haha) when one of them threw a pen at me but hit her accidentally, Quaylark, K-lark and Lisa keeping my sanity through that class, the bizarre tests over things Rosenshein didn't actually teach, all the random memories...
*Spanish III, Atkinson- fun times with a great teacher... the parties, the dialogues (working with Adam), the irritating work, the vocab, the grammar, the refrans (however you spell it), entertaining moments with Adam and Ali...
JUNIOR YEAR
*Marching/Jazz/Wind Ensemble
*English III H, Dicus- one of my favorite classes ever... all the great times with Dicus, ASU vs UA, first meeting Danielle, Kelly, etc... all the novels, the essays, the group essays (haha), Dicus's monotone, the round tables...
*Calculus BC AP, Cohen- blowing off most of the homeworks, passing the tests to get an A, Cohen's ever-amazing sarcasm, overall fun times with a great group of people...
*Spanish IV H, McEwen- a second year of McEwen, this time not even trying to care about the subject, bs-ing all of the work, attacking the desks, the fun times with Adam, Doug, etc... the parties, McEwen not showing up for classes usually once or twice a week...
*APUSH, Mama P- hahahaha all the great moments of that class... the ever shrinking class... the frustrating tests, the reading quizzes, the Mama P chants, Mama P's songs, the extra credit movies and interviews, the current event games...
*Chemistry I H, Peterson- Pete! haha again, being the only junior in a class of sophomores, all the jokes with Peterson, the labs, the tests, Pete's awesome sense of humor, Lisa and Henglefelt keeping my sanity through the class (test tubes!)
SENIOR YEAR
*Marching/Jazz/Wind Ensemble- as always
*Advanced Calculus, Cohen- another great year with Cohen, only doing work a couple times a week, the group tests, working with Liat and Irena during first semester, all the fun times with them before they left at the semester, my group with Elizabeth and Jeff, all the fun moments...
*English IV AP, Marsh- such a great group of people in that class- Elizabeth, Katie, Jordan, Liann, Jenn, Jason, Steve, so many great times... the random class discussions, all the reading, the crazy essays, the damn multiple choice packets, breakfast parties the days of the AP tests, dodgeball against Hammond after the Lit test, the movies etc. afterward...
*Physics H, Hammersly- the irritatingly easy work, Hammersly's sense of humor that wandered between greatly entertaining and disgustingly cheesy, the god-awful projects, the stupid labs, and then all of the fun moments, Karen keeping me sane through the year (thank you)...
*Econ/Gov H, Neer- the amazingly dull lectures, the tests over things we'd never heard of before, the Stossel videos, and then the class itself, one of the best mixes of people I've ever been with in a class (Joe, Eric, Rachel, Elizabeth, Neha, Danielle, Ben, Irena, although only for a short time)... this class will always stand out in my mind because of how much I hated coursework but how great the people were... and the memories... the random discussions, Joe's "general people vs all people" and then just getting to know everyone in that class a little bit better- I really didn't know any of them until this year, but of all the non-band seniors that I've known, I'll miss this group the most...
and...
BAND- PERFORMANCES
*four years of marching the halls
*four years of football games
*four years of pep assemblies
*four years of performances for the parents before the school year
*four years of caroling with Chaparral Brass Choir
*North Canyon Marching Invitational, freshman year
*fall band concert, freshman year
*University of Arizona Band Day, freshman year
*winter band concert, freshman year
*Concert Band Regional Festival, freshman year
*Jazz on the Mountainside Festival, freshman year
*Jazz Band Regional Festival, freshman year
*Pop Concerts, freshman year
*spring band concert, freshman year
*Chaparral Graduation, freshman year
*Northern Arizona University Marching Band Day, sophomore year
*Agua Fria Marching Festival, sophomore year
*State Marching Festival, sophomore year
*winter band concert, sophomore year
*Parada del Sol marching parade, sophomore year
*Concert Band Regional Festival, sophomore year
*Regional Honor Band, sophomore year
*Florida festival, sophomore year
*Northern Arizona University Jazz Festival, sophomore year
*Jazz Regional Festival, sophomore year
*Jazz State Festival, sophomore year
*Pop Concerts, sophomore year
*spring band concert, sophomore year
*Chaparral Graduation, sophomore year
*two performances with the NAU Summer Music Camp Honor Band, sophomore year
*Agua Fria Marching Festival, junior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild Retreat concert, junior year
*Arizona State University Marching Band Day, junior year
*District Marching Exhibition, junior year
*State Marching Fesitval, junior year
*Electric Light Parade, junior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild winter concert, junior year
*winter band concert, junior year
*How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying pit orchestra- junior year
*Regional Concert Band Festival, junior year
*State Concert Band Festival, junior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild Estrella Mountain Concert, junior year
*Northern Arizona University Jazz Festival, junior year
*Deer Valley Jazz Festival, junior year
*State Jazz Festival, junior year
*Solo and Ensemble, junior year
*Regional Honor Orchestra, junior year
*Pop Concerts junior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild final concert, junior year
*spring band concert, junior year
*Chaparral Graduation, junior year
*two performances each in jazz and concert bands at NAU Summer Music Camp, junior year
*Agua Fria Marching Festival, senior year
*Goldwater Marching Festival, senior year
*Northern Arizona University Marching Festival, senior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild retreat concert, senior year
*District Marching Exhibition, senior year
*State Marching Festival, senior year
*Las Vegas Marching Festival, senior year
*Electric Light Parade, senior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild winter concert, senior year
*winter band concert, senior year
*Regional Concert Band Festival, senior year
*Northern Arizona University Jazz Festival, senior year
*Regional Jazz Band Festival, senior year
*Little Shop of Horrors pit band, senior year
*Solo and Ensemble, senior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild Estrella Mountain concert, senior year
*Regional Honor Orchestra, senior year
*State Jazz Festival, senior year
*Pop Concerts, senior year
*All-State Honor Band, senior year
*Phoenix Symphony Guild final concert, senior year
*spring band concert, senior year
BAND-MEMORIES
*the carwash before freshman year, meeting the seniors
*freshman year band camp: the suicidal low brass skit, learning the drill for the parents, Frank as a slave talking to the National Guard, Frank trying to catch that bug, rehearsing in the middle of the storms, my first candlelight
*the Chaparral Kite Flying Club
*the random part of the drill during Captain and Mermaid
*the barrels
*U of A band day, unbearably hot outside, Danny having to go to the bathroom so bad that he was in tears by the end of the show
*skipping our last state qualifying competition because we were tired of the show
*getting detention with the rest of low brass for playing Tequila during the third quarter of a football game without permission from Meyers
*getting ripped apart at the regional concert band festival
*first experiences freshman year in marching and in high school jazz
*not showing up to the first summer rehearsals sophomore year because no one told me the times had changed, so people thought I had quit marching
*sophomore year band camp- meeting my sophomore year's freshmen, who were easily the coolest class of people that I've known at Chaparral, then sophomore year skits, all the memories
*watching the marching band experience a complete turnaround when Mireau took over sophomore year
*sophomore year marching, marching sousaphone with Rob
*Braden denting Rob's sousaphone with a podium
*sophomore year, playing with brass choir at a couple basketball games, bringing out the bass drum and gong with us, Nick and the gong...
*winter sophomore year, finally working up the courage and asking out Hailey
*NAU band day sophomore year, Mireau taking us around NAU for the first time, the hotel room with Henglefelt, Greg and Braden, the pillow fights, the weather channel, people falling off beds
*celebrating new year's sophomore year in a bizarre chat room with a bunch of band people
*Jazz and Marching Regional Festivals- Mireau completes her turnaround of the program and both ensembles qualify and compete in state festivals for the first time in several years
*the regional honor band, my first year at regionals
*sophomore year dinner sectional at Denny's which resulted in a frozen furby
*the great times in wind ensemble, good music etc.
*the sophomore year trip to Florida: all the amazing memories- the hotel room, the parks, the performance and clinic, all the great memories
*after sophomore year, the memories at the NAU summer camp: clinics, meeting Kelsie and Lauren, the concerts, the great times in the dorm
*junior year, becoming a section leader in the marching band
*junior year leadership days, getting caught various times with Isaac, Aaron etc., all the fun times with that group
*each year, getting awesome people to join low brass: Ashley, Brenon, Hailey, Cody, Casey... they made low brass the awesome section that it was
*one day at lunch junior year, Aaron and I decided to see how many people we could fit in the bari sax locker... we got 4 or 5 people in the middle shelf so it was bending underneath us, and then Mireau came in... not good
*before the electric light parade junior year, buying the extra lights and putting them on the sousaphones etc.
*joining PSG, once again being with Kelsie and Lauren, all the fun times with the other Chap people in the band, and all the other great people we met there (the low brass section was unforgetable, hm?)
*taking Brenon and stuffing him in trash cans... repeatedly
*getting Aaron to learn the baritone, first for parades, and then for the season itself
*junior year BOA- great times with Glen and Aaron, making fun of Aaron and Shannon, the amazing marching bands we saw at the actual festival, the group of us coming back from a bathroom holding hands and skipping, so that Mireau pretended not to know us
*after a marching competition junior year, going to YC's, screwing around creating visuals for the show, then going back to the band room for some gymnastics that went horribly wrong
*junior year, regionals with Brenon and Isaac, Brenon telling a random story that went absolutely nowhere, fun times with Isaac and Joey in the orchestra, getting sick after going to Pizza Hut
*junior year, California- the festival, the irritating music, the parks, getting people to ride Ghostrider for the first time, the Knotts berry juice, the funnel cake, the miserable night at Disneyland getting soaked in the rain...
*junior year, going to Dairy Queen after the jazz state competition, the wonderful tradition that that became...
*at the end of junior year, once again going to NAU Summer Music Camp- the honor band and the jazz band, this time, Carmina Burana, Aaron's antics in the dorm, from shaving cream to pouring water out the window, walking around Flagstaff on the middle weekend...
*summer after junior year, going to the DCI show, watching the Blue Knights perform Barber's piano concerto as a marching show
*enduring three years of pomp and circumstance...
*senior year, leadership days... the fan, the music stands...
*Herbie
*the baritone and the baritone case
*Aaron's clarinet mouthpiece
*Aaron's clarinet bell
*senior year band camp, memories with the other seniors, the skits, the senior nights, the final candlelight
*Hey Casey, there's a hole there!
*Cody: Why is the ceiling shiny...?
*taking the low brass section to YC's after one of the summer days, good times there telling stories and such
*all of the low brass moments: the sectionals, the dinner sectionals, hanging out at football games, just hours upon hours spent together over the years
*NAU band day, senior year: more great memories, combining that with the PSG retreat, running around before performing, all the other memories...
*earlier senior year, a great relationship with Hailey finally coming to its end
*NAU Jazz- UHF, the awesome, awesome concerts each year, the clinics, the snowball fight (this year), the hotel rooms, the great moments
*BOA senior year- going to Cracker Barrel, wandering around the shops, singing "99 Bottles of Beer" on the bus, the entire song, so Mireau made us get out and run around, and then ditched us, haha
*continuing the tradition of Dairy Queen after Jazz State, more good times
*final PSG memories: greatest tuba section ever, getting Kelsie a "grow-your-own-frog" for Christmas, working with Hunter, all the concerts, all the great times during rehearsals, all the fun moments going out to eat before the rehearals, getting to know Beth this year, all the great people- low brass...
*regional orchestra- meeting Dr. Butorac, one of the coolest directors ever, hanging out with all the orchestra people, Ashley, the freshman flutes
*band trip to Las Vegas- awesome marching competition, beating the band with 100+ members, the buffets, Mystere, the craziest night I've had in high school...
*all state honor band- one of my favorite trips this year, all the great memories with Rachel and the other orchestra kids, playing the best music I've worked on in high school, and then the other memories: dinner Friday with Allende, Mireau, Rachel and Rachel's random friend, the movie afterward, the late night poker games with Allende after that, staying up until 3ish in the morning hanging out each night, all the great times...
*the last month or so of school, working with Coach, one of the coolest people I've been able to work with, awesome guy, one of the best marching directors of all time, a lot of fun to just hang out with at pop concert etc., his crazy stories from ASU- EGT!
*finally arriving at graduation senior year, walking out onto the field listening to the band play pomp and circumstance, for the first time in four years, performing without me...
So there it is.
Four years of incredible moments, incredible memories that will stay with me forever, wonderful people whom it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know...
In a way I'm sad my time in high school has come to an end. At the same time, I can't wait for college. One chapter ends, another begins.
There are dozens more memories I could have given here- what I wrote about for band only scratches the surface of all the great times we've had, and I barely mentioned anything at all outside of music.
I know no one will read this entire thing. I can't say I'm expecting anyone to, although it's there should anyone want it.
Band people who may have skipped to the end, find the "band-performances" list and skim over it. We've been through a lot together, hm?
One more thought: A couple times over the past few posts I've mentioned the phrase "EGT," courtesy of Dr. Robert "Coach" Fleming. Simply put, it stands for "Expect Great Things." As you all move on to whatever the future holds, whether it's more time at Chaparral or colleges scatter across the country, keep Coach's phrase in mind. As Coach told the bands many times, don't be afraid of the potential for success. Commit to excellence, and always Expect Great Things.
Finally, to everyone: take a minute to comment, if you'd like. Throw out some memories, whether I mentioned them or not. There's a lot to remember...
The past four years have been absolutely incredible. My deepest thanks to all of you for all of the amazing memories. |
|
|
| The Beginning of an End |
[Jun. 1st, 2007|10:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | overwhelmed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | My Favorite Things | ] |
So... wow. First, the past few days...
Honors Assembly, Thursday afternoon- Rather uneventful. I had a lovely surprise Tuesday morning, Prideaux asked me to play for about 15 minutes before the assembly actually started. I had absolutely nothing prepared, the last time I had played my solo pieces had been to prepare them for my ASU audition in March, so I grabbed a couple of those and frantically tried to get them back up to a presentable state in two days. I really don't know why I agreed to do this... anyway, people didn't really pay attention while I played, so my major mistakes went relatively unnoticed (I think/hope). Aside from my fairly inadequate attempts at performing, the assembly itself went quite well. Most of it was rather dull, but it was a good special moment, time to hang out briefly with the other seniors. Nevertheless, when it ended a couple hours later, I think I was quite possibly the first senior out of the parking lot. So. That's that.
Senior Breakfast, Friday morning- I met Aaron at Chaparral so we could carpool to the breakfast. We got there around the same time as a lot of the Saguaro people, so we had quite the time trying to find the Chaparral room. On a side note, while we were wandering around the resort I saw an old friend of mine from middle school, Sarah, that I hadn't talked to since eighth grade. We didn't get a chance to talk or anything, but it was weird seeing her again. Moving on... the breakfast itself was quite a fun experience. The food was damn good, and everything seemed to go quite well. The senior choir people sang (side comment, it was good to hear two people play together and actually do so in tune... Liann and Rachel are awesome). The presentations etc. went well enough, more yearbook signing etc., "memory lane" and the senior video thing at the very end, all of which went quite well. It was just a lot of fun, a great way to spend a little bit more time with all of the seniors...
Sean & co. performed a bunch of RUSH tunes today- they were awesome as always. Not much more to be said about that, just that Sean's solos on YYZ (heard it both 3rd and 4th hrs) were damn good. Woo!
Band Picnic, Friday afternoon/night- Ummm, overall quite a bit of fun. Our preparations worked out well, all of our water supplies went to good use. Didn't get around to drenching Mireau this time, but that's ok, we exhausted ourselves during the water fight. After that, more time spent hanging out talking to people, enjoying the time we have left...
Which leads to the second part of this...
The end of this school year came completely out of nowhere. Senior Breakfast and Megan's graduation party (tomorrow night) always seemed to be so far away, and now they're here in the present, and moving past way too quickly. It's been hard signing yearbooks these past couple days, there are so many seniors out there that I pretty much won't see ever again after graduation (and Project Grad). I'm going to miss them. Plain and simple. We can struggle with the yearbook game etc. all we want, but there is just no way to convey the extent of the emotion behind all of this. There are so many seniors that I've gotten to know over the past few years (for many of them, I never got the chance to know them nearly as well as I wanted) and even those I didn't know too well... it's become such a normal part of life, going to classes with them, joking around, complaining about whatever teacher/assignment, just being together during school, that I really can't imagine what it will be like in a few days, when I'll no longer see them everyday, and most of them I'll likely never even see again... So many of them now mean so much to me... these next few days will be so bittersweet, a simultaneous celebration of everything that's already happened, the difficult resignation that these times are coming to an inevitable close, and terror/anxiety/excitement of looking to what's ahead... |
|
|
| Random Thoughts |
[May. 28th, 2007|07:42 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Orpheus Suite: III. Ascent from Hell | ] |
(partially a continuation from the last post)
Gov on Friday was one of the most entertaining classes I've been to in a while. We screwed around with a mellophone, took a quiz (kinda), threw a stuffed football around, hung out for a while, I talked to Neer about being a parrothead, and then we ended the day by blasting Final Countdown using Pam's iPod and Neer's speakers. Great fun.
Friday night Henglefelt and I played our best tennis match so far. We stopped playing tied 5-7, 6-4, 2-2 because we were hungry, but the first two sets were quite entertaining. Good sign for the summer... I'm looking to play more often, so if anyone else would like to play, let me know...
I played with the church group again after missing last week. College people are coming back again, it's great to see them- it's still weird to think that next year I'll be one of those people coming back around this time...
Possibly going rafting with my dad the week after graduation. Could be fun.
This week should be a great way to bring things to an end. Couple days of classes, assembly thing on Thursday, Thursday night Aaron and I have some preparations to finish for Friday afternoon, then Friday is senior breakfast followed by band picnic, and that will be the end of regular classes... wow.
Sam Golestan and I hung out today for the first time in a while... good to see him again (Lipman, we need to hang out)...
French Open started Sunday, the Red Sox are miles ahead of the Yankees, and all is right with the world. |
|
|
| EGT |
[May. 25th, 2007|03:59 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | O | ] |
It's been one hell of a week.
Tuesday night was the last band concert of the season, my last real performance while in high school. The concert itself went pretty well, some intonation issues in some groups, but jazz went great, not much to complain about there. The concert was just a great time in a general; to me it felt like one big party. After the concert I went to Dairy Queen with Aaron, Kelsie, and Beth- good time just hanging out there, reminiscing and planning the rest of the week...
Today was Coach's last day teaching at Chaparral. It was an absolute blast of a day. Jazz band played through some tunes and then played "pomp and circumcision" (Oh, Coach). For the concert bands, Coach brought in a CD of his last year directing the marching band at ASU, and he talked to us a while about pretty much everything. I skipped some of first hour so I could hear him talk to Symphonic Band as well, and then in Wind Ensemble we gave him our card, gift card, and Herbie and the pictures. It was a great day all around.
Is it possible to describe just how awesome an experience it has been working with Coach? I feel as though I've gotten more from Coach these past few weeks than I've gotten from the past few years of concert band experience at Chaparral. Coach is an expert at pointing out every fault in a performance while still remaining upbeat and motivating. He really revealed the level of mediocrity in our program (for those who cared) and began turning us into an actual ensemble (EGT). I am once again motivated to pursue marching and concert bands at ASU; if Coach were still the director there those groups would basically be my top priority for now... the details won't make sense to those who don't already know them, so I won't go into them here, but suffice to say that Coach is easily one of the best marching directors of all time, and that excellence came through brilliantly in our concert and jazz rehearsals. Oustide of the rehearsals he was hilarious to just hang out with; I've lost count of the number of inside jokes that have come up between him, myself and Aaron, just in the past few weeks alone.
In a way it's very unfortunate that he couldn't stay with us through the rest of the year, but this past month or so has provided a very satisfying conclusion to my high school music career. It's been a blast, Coach. I can't thank you enough. |
|
|
| Long Update |
[May. 21st, 2007|07:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | contemplative | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Fresh Aires I, II & III | ] |
So this past week has actually been quite busy. Random thoughts...
Pop Concert Rehearsals- Monday and Tuesday, although we didn't really sit through either one- on Monday Prideaux just had us show up for an hour or so. Aaron and I ate at YC's beforehand and then mostly avoided the choir people during the rehearsal. I still find choir rehearsals fairly irritating, they're even less productive then band ones, and people seem to complain even more. With that in mind...
Concert Band Rehearsal Tuesday- This one started off in wonderful fashion- I forgot we were rehearsing with the combined band, so during sixth hour Aaron and I had to drive back to my house to pick up the other tuba... stopped for lunch at Paradise Bakery though, which was quite tasty. I got a club sandwich but they had unfortunately run out of croissants, so that was depressing. On the plus side, Paradise Bakery has the best cream cheese brownies I've ever had... Anyway, the rehearsal itself went ok... Mireau was back... with her kid, already... vague irritation. Also, points to Mireau for scheduling a full concert band rehearsal for the exact same time as the full run through rehearsal for pop concert, even though the pop concert was the next day, and the band concert wasn't for another week (I'm not sure if I mean that sarcastically or not, actually- the whole double-scheduling thing caused all sorts of problems for me, since it was Mireau's fault and she wasn't around, I had to go between Prideaux and Coach and work something out myself, but at the same time Mireau gave us a great excuse to not have to sit through the entire run through... we were expected to be there, but being there would have sucked... so.....). Anyway, the rehearsal showed just a little bit more how much of a difference there is between Mireau and Coach...
AP Language Exam on Wednesday- We met early for breakfast again, which was quite entertaining. The test itself went quite well- it took a section or so to get used to the multiple choice because the questions were phrased somewhat differently than on the Lit test, but once I got used to them they were pretty straightforward. I was pleasantly surprised by the essays- I didn't do much to prepare for them, but the prompts were quite kind, so I think it went quite well anyway. Woo! Anyway, after the test, I went with Ben and Jen (ha) to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch (Rachel and Joe should have come with us, but they decided to go to government instead, psh). This reminds me... my leftovers are still in the fridge at school, have to take care of those at some point. Anyway, good day all around!
Pop Concerts, Wednesday and Thursday- Both concerts went decently well, I guess. There was a major, major phasing issue between the brass and rhythm section during Guys and Dolls and Wednesday night... on the plus side, it didn't necessarily sound worse because of it, so I'm not sure many people even noticed. The jazz bands sounded ok- we weren't exactly prepared to perform each piece after having such long breaks in between; Wednesday's version of Macumba suffered the most, we barely got on stage in time to play, and my mouthpiece was quite cold, and I assume everyone else's were as well, so we didn't sound quite as good as we could have, but on the whole, good performances. A couple teachers showed up for the Wednesday show and they told me the jazz bands did a great job, so that's that, I guess. On the bright side, Aaron and I spent quite a bit of time just hanging out with Coach- he's incredibly fun to talk with, many good stories. Haha, dirty old man... lots of inside jokes from our conversations, it was really great to spend more time with him. In terms of the choirs, I must take a moment to praise pop concert for it's remarkable consistence in abysmal performances. With the exception of a few songs, the rest were quite disappointing. Many of the soloists should not have been allowed to perform, and the concert was, as always, way too long (Coach agrees with me on all of that, so it's really not just me). On a lighter note, Prideaux gave me and Aaron this really bizarre jacket (black with lots of gold shiny stuff on it) that we made Coach wear for Macumba on the second night. We insisted that it brought out the color of Coach's eyes, but I don't think he believed us. Another unrelated Coach story: we were hanging out in the band room during the first act, and I was sitting at the keyboard just screwing around. Coach randomly walked up to me and said, "Pretend I'm 5'8", blond and beautiful. Play for me." Coming from Coach, it was quite hilarious. The two of us then somehow went from that to making fun of Jacque, which was quite fun.
Thursday afternoon- was my last regular piano lesson. I'm going to have a couple lessons over the summer, but it's really, really weird to think that my last semester with Mrs. Maison is over. Suddenly stopping something after over a decade is very strange...
Senior Ditch Day- Unfortunately for me, it was not really a ditch day. My parents refused to call me out (I'm not sure why, it was quite frustrating) so I went to school anyway. Needless to say, I was the only senior there. It was actually a somewhat fun day, easiest day of school I've ever had. First hour I just hung out with Anthony and Cohen, since the rest of the class wasn't there. Second hour I didn't have a class or a teacher, so I hung out in the band room. It was decently fun; I've got a couple videos on my phone of myself screwing around with the 2nd hour kids and Coach, it was pretty fun. Third hour was more like 2nd, more partying in the band room etc. etc. Physics there were only four people in the class (are the rest really seniors?) so we talked to Hammersly for a while and then watched the really weird video of her being on a game show in the 80's. Odd. Fifth hour didn't exist either, so I went to the band room for a while and then went home. Woo!
Physics Project- Saturday morning I went to take pictures for my physics project, with help from Henglefelt and Aaron. My theme is tennis, so we screwed around on the courts for a while, took a bunch of pictures, and maybe played a total of three real points. I haven't seen the pictures yet, so I'm hoping they turned out; if they didn't I don't have much time to come up with something else, the damn thing is due Friday.
Prom- Saturday night turned out to be absolutely great, which was quite a surprise. People bought me a ticket for prom anyway, so I ended up going to everything. Dinner at Palm Court was definitely amazing, one of the best meals I've ever had. We had a kind of weird group of people at the dinner, so the meal kind of alternated between amusing moments and awkward silences. Overall, though, it was quite fun. The dance itself was also quite entertaining, basically just hung out with a bunch of people for a couple hours. After the dance I briefly went to the Stansel's house- they had lots of great food, so it was good. I've only been there a couple times but it's always been quite fun, so I'm glad I stopped by for a little bit, it was a great group of people to hang out with...
Piano Recitals- On Sunday I performed in my last two piano recitals with Mrs. Maison. We played one of the movements from the Beethoven, so we basically just screwed around and had a good time. People seemed to enjoy it though, so it's all good. Once again, it's really weird that I'm done with recitals, they've been great fun, I've met a lot of cool people through them, and I still can't get over the fact that I won't be performing in one again...
Monday, Darfur- The gov trip turned out to be quite fun. I rather enjoyed the speaker and his pictures, so yeah. Pretty odd group of people to be with on a field trip- no other band kids, I was all alone. Spent time with Danielle, Rachel, Irena, and Joe- quite good fun, great group of people.
Random Thoughts
A Different Perspective on Musical Maturity- So this is something that I've slowly picked up on over the last few years at Chap; it really hit me at state and it's been bugging me since. At state I was the 5th chair tuba in the band, so I was one of the lower chairs (out of 8), so I spent a lot of time talking to Parker, the 4th chair. We came to the conclusion that one way to identify the most accomplished/mature players is to see how much attention they draw to themselves while playing, whether it's warming up, during an actual rehearsal, whatever. Generally, the top players find ways to warm up quietly without drawing attention to themselves, and then sit and wait for the rehearsal (or concert) to start. It's the lower players who like to warm up with lots of flashy stuff and draw as much attention as possible to themselves. There was a really noticeable difference between the two, and now that I'm back at Chaparral it's been bugging me ever since. Granted, I know that a lot of the time I'm one of the people somehow drawing attention to myself- that's why I pointed out the chair placements- in the state band, I was one of the lower-middle chairs, so I learned a lot from looking for differences between the people sitting below me and the people sitting above me. For any band people who may read this, keep it in mind during the next couple band rehearsals...
"Music Therapy"- I mentioned earlier how I spent the last period of ditch day in the band room. I could have just left, but I decided to stick around instead. I turned on the keyboard, set it to a mellow electric keyboard setting, and then just starting playing... really basic improvisation, simple chord pattern. I wasn't trying to be technically impressive or anything, I was just playing for the sake of playing... it was incredibly relaxing. The rest of the day had been rather irritating, what with being the only senior at school, frustration and all... Anyway, it was wonderful to have an oppotunity to spend an hour alone in the band room, just working things out through music. Something I shall have to do more often, I think.
11 School Days Left- The main thing that's been hitting me recently is how there are so many people that I won't really see much after June 6th. That particular realization hit home again today, kind of wandering between groups during the gov trip, talking briefly with Joe, Rachel, Danielle, etc. etc., lots of people that I spent time with today that I will definitely miss once this year is over...
Band Concert This Tuesday- On a similarly cheery note, this band concert is the last performance I'm going to be a part of while in high school... I've been through so many performances over the past four years, to have it finally come to an end is really hard to accept. On a plus side, the concert itself should go quite well, I truly believe Coach has worked wonders over the past couple weeks at Chaparral, I just hope we can adequately reflect that change at the concert itself. We shall see.
There is more I wanted to talk about, I'm sure, but I'm done for now. To be continued, perhaps... |
|
|
| Way Down Here, You Need a Reason to Move |
[May. 13th, 2007|03:18 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | lethargic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Mexico | ] |
Random thoughts from the past week:
This has been a very lazy weekend. I've spent lots of time listening to music and reading, some time practicing, and maybe five minutes considering doing some work for school and then deciding against it. Basically I've accomplished absolutely nothing over the past couple days, but it has been pretty damn fun.
APs really screw with time. Monday through Thursday flew by, then Friday went unbearably slow.
The English AP went about as well as could be expected- my last essay was pretty bad, I think, but I was pleased with how everything else went, so whatever. It's good that that's finally over. I'm tired of actually having to work in that class.
After the AP I went to Islands with Matt, Brandon, Danielle, Joe, and Matson. Good group to hang out with, we had quite a fun time. Lots of random moments- stories from Joe, Brandon, and Matson, stuff randomly flyin around, screwing around with the light thing... good times.
Confirmation masses are rather long.
Unfortunately, I seem to be missing more and more of wind ensemble and jazz band for various reasons. Last week I missed rehearsals Monday and Thursday for APs and Friday to work with the choir kids; this week I think we're going to work with choir again Monday, then another AP Wednesday, then obviously Friday, then the Monday after I'll miss wind ensemble for a government field trip (oh boy). I really like working with Fleming; it sucks that I'm kind of missing every other day or so of rehearsal... |
|
|
| Just Because I Really Am That Bored... |
[May. 11th, 2007|09:58 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Tom Sawyer | ] |
50 actual headlines...
1.Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says
2.Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers
3.Safety Experts Say School Bus Passengers Should Be Belted
4.Drunk Gets Nine Months in Violin Case
5.Survivor of Siamese Twins Joins Parents
6.Farmer Bill Dies in House
7.Iraqi Head Seeks Arms
8.Is There a Ring of Debris around Uranus?
9.Stud Tires Out
10.Prostitutes Appeal to Pope
11.Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over
12.Soviet Virgin Lands Short of Goal Again
13.British Left Waffles on Falkland Islands
14.Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms
15.Eye Drops off Shelf
16.Teacher Strikes Idle Kids
17.Reagan Wins on Budget, But More Lies Ahead
18.Squad Helps Dog Bite Victim
19.Shot Off Woman's Leg Helps Nicklaus to 66
20.Enraged Cow Injures Farmer with Ax
21.Plane Too Close to Ground, Crash Probe Told
22.Miners Refuse to Work after Death
23.Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant
24.Stolen Painting Found by Tree
25.Two Soviet Ships Collide, One Dies
26.Two Sisters Reunited after 18 Years in Checkout Counter
27.Killer Sentenced to Die for Second Time in 10 Years
28.Never Withhold Herpes Infection from Loved One
29.Drunken Drivers Paid $1000 in '84
30.War Dims Hope for Peace
31.If Strike isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last a While
32.Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures
33.Enfields Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide
34.Red Tape Holds Up New Bridge
35.Deer Kill 17,000
36.Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead
37.Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge
38.New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group
39.Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft
40.Kids Make Nutritious Snacks
41.Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy
42.Arson Suspect is Held in Massachusetts Fire
43.British Union Finds Dwarfs in Short Supply
44.Ban On Soliciting Dead in Trotwood
45.Lansing Residents Can Drop Off Trees
46.Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half
47.New Vaccine May Contain Rabies
48.Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing
49.Deaf College Opens Doors to Hearing
50.Air Head Fired
Yeah, today's been a good day for not really focusing on anything... I was going through one of my old e-mail accounts and I found this... actual update coming soon... |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=88.8){kind=small}
stickle22's journal