| At last! An update! |
[Sep. 10th, 2006|05:50 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | Grand Rapids, MI | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Dave Holland Quintet - Critical Mass | ] |
It's been a looong while since I've updated this thing, so here goes...
I'm currently in Grand Rapids at Northview High School student teaching. That's going really well. I've been working with the kids for about 3 weeks now, and I'm actually getting used to the whole "Mr. Anderson" thing. Plus, there are only about 2 or 3 kids who say it like they do in the Matrix, and I usually just ignore them anyway. I'm teaching marching band, working with the jazz band, and teaching parts of two music appreciation classes which are 9 weeks on jazz and 9 weeks on the history of rock. I'm teaching about half of the jazz part, so that will be a ton of fun. I have to teach a lesson on Thursday about the instruments and sounds of jazz. Should be fun. :-) Northview's show this year is "Hemispheres" which is based on sides of the brain. The music is Cantus Laetus by Gillingham arranged by Joe Huls. Joe also wrote the drill, and has been there all through band camp, monday night rehearsals, friday night games, and saturday rehearsals and competitions. We've got 85 of 93 pages of drill learned so far, and we should learn the rest Monday night. We have our first competition in Rockford on Sept. 23, and I think we'll be ready. The band already sounds great, despite the fact that it's still so early in the season. Max & I are really excited to see what they can do this season.
It's so weird not being at CMU in marching band this year. I went to the band camp performance of the marching band and saw a bunch of my friends who are still in the band, and some who aren't in the band anymore. That was great. I got caught up on all the gossip and drama so far in the band, and I'm sure there will be lots more to come as the season marches on (no pun intended). Anyway, it was good to see everybody. I got to hang out with Katie and Beth that weeknend and my former roommate Mark at the Cabin, so that was a lot of fun. It was raining when I got into town on that Friday, and that alone made me glad to not have to be in band this year, cause marching in the rain was never any fun.
I also still get the music major emails and Mr. Nichol's sax studio emails. Those are quite entertaining, mostly because I'm not in the studio anymore. I was sad on Thursday though, because the sax studio party was at Island park and I couldn't go because I obviously was in Grand Rapids... It made me a little sad...
I think I'm getting used to the whole living by myself thing. The thing I hate the most is cooking for myself and eating by myself. I bought a couple cookbooks at Barnes & Noble, and I'm working on making a few of those. My walls are still pretty bare, but I have a few posters to hang up. I also need to buy some nails to hang up a couple pictures I have sitting around my apartment right now.
If you're going to be in the Grand Rapids area, give me a call & we can get together or hang out or something! I'd love to have visitors.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Bigger update to come... but for now... |
[Aug. 31st, 2006|11:01 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Sister Hazel - Live Live | ] |
So.. what is it about alcohol that suddenly brings out the lesbian tendencies of some women? I mean seriously... I was at a bar in Mt. Pleasant the other night with some friends and one of my very good female friends (who's lost her tolerance for alcohol and was gone after one Long Island) was really really touchy feely with my other female friend there, and ended up kissing her on the cheek like 3 times! Why do some girls (not all mind you, just some) turn into lesbians when they get drunk? I really don't understand this. It's not like guys get drunk and start making out with other guys... well, then again... there was this one bassoon player I knew who got really friendly when he was drunk... but that's about it.
Anyway, rant over. Like I said, bigger update to come when I have more time.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Summer storms |
[Jul. 19th, 2006|12:26 am] |
So... Monday I stained my neighbor's deck until around 3:30 or so, then Nick & I swam in our neighbor's pool until around 5:30. By 6:30, the sky was black, it was blowing around 50-60 mph winds, and there were leaves and branches flying EVERYWHERE!!! We lost power around 6:30 on Monday, and it didn't come back until around 4:00 pm Tuesday. The only part of Shepherd that had power Monday night was the downtown on either side of the main drag, so we went to the Shepherd Bar for some dinner. We have a generator at my house that will run the water pump, a couple lights, the fridge, and a couple other things, so we could still go to the bathroom and such if need be. However, we couldn't cook, the AC didn't work, and none of our fans upstairs worked at all. Luckily the temperature had dropped to about 65 degrees, so while it was hot to sleep, it wasn't sweltering.
The first wave of storms ended about 7:15 or so, and the wind caused a HUGE tree branch to fall across my street and strike our mailbox. My dad, Nick, and I spent about 20 min. or so cutting up the tree with a chain saw and dragging it out of the street. No sooner had we done that, then the 2nd wave of storms hit, along with a TON of rain! I drove to Alma with Dad around 9:00 or so to get gas for the generator since none of the stations in Shepherd had power. It POURED rain all the way down and all the way back, and there were flashes of lighting about 2 per second or so. We also heard some cracks, meaning the lightning was REALLY close. But, we made it through the night okay, and by 4:00 Tuesday the power was back. It was really fun to watch the lightning display, and I'm glad that we didn't have any trees hit our house. One house up the street had an enormous tree branch fall, but only a small part hit the house, so I don't think there was any damage.
An interesting night, to say the least.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| 4th of July, Rib Fest, Cousins Weekend, etc. |
[Jul. 14th, 2006|02:20 pm] |
Nick & I went to visit our aunt, uncle, and 2 cousins in Naperville, IL over the 4th. We took the train from Lansing... for those of you who have never taken the train before, it's an experience in itself. We stayed one night in the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Chicago, and that was a lot of fun. We went to the Taste of Chicago, which is this giant group of food vendors from all over the Chicago area in one place. You buy tickets and trade them in for food. Some of the food was great! That night we went to Second City comedy club, which is the place where the original Saturday Night Live cast was discoverd. Man, was it ever FUNNY!!! The show was called "Immaculate Deception," so there were lots of references to sex, religion, politics, etc. Basically a really funny show.
On the 4th of July we went to Rib Fest in Naperville, which is like Taste of Chicago, only a lot smaller, and with only BBQ restaurants. That was also VERY tasty. That night we went to the top of this parking structure in Naperville and watched the fireworks. Nick & I got some pretty decent pictures from that. I'll try to post them somewhere if I get the chance.
Wednesday Nick, myself, and our cousins Megan and Robert drove to our cottage at Higgins Lake with a short stop off in Shepherd for Nick & I to exchange our clothes and such. We all stay at the cottage wednesday and thursday night. That was good times. We went swimming, had a fire, cooked food, and basically hung out and had a good time.
So, on my mom's side of my family there are 13 grandchildren, including me, meaning that Nick & I have 11 cousins. Well, 9 of the 13 of us got together last weekend at my grandparents' cottage on Walloon Lake, which is up by Petosky. No parents, no significant others, just us cousins. The age range for those who were there was 17-25. I took my video camera, and as you probably would expect, I got some GREAT footage of everyone doing all sorts of things :-) We swam, took out the kayaks onto the lake, had campfires, made smores, launched fireworks, played chess, Risk, Apples to Apples, Mille Bornes, and Jenga. If you don't know what any of those are, you need to play all of them at some point. The weekend was a smashing success, and I really hope we can do it again next year. The oldest ones are out of college and looking for jobs, so who knows where they'll be at this time next year, but hopefully we'll all be able to get together. Maybe next year everyone will be able to come, cause having all 13 of us there would also be a great time :)
Let's see... what else... I'm still working at my dad's office, and now I'm also staining my neighbors' deck for $10/hour. Plus I get to swim in their pool :-) Yay for that, especially since it's been HOT here over the last few days. Basically I do this during the summer to remind myself why I go to college and toremind myself of all the reasons I DO NOT want to spend my life staining decks, cleaning out basements, and mowing lawns.
One of my friends just got a job at Breckenridge High School, and I've been hired to write his marching drill. The band is about 35-45 kids, so that should be a lot of fun. It'll have to be easy since the previous band director didn't like marching band at all, and none of the kids have any practical experience with moving and playing at the same time.
I recently went and saw Pirates of the Caribbean with Valerie and her friend Dan from Traverse City. She cooked us both dinner beforehand, which was sooo good. :-D When she invited me I was worried about being the 3rd wheel or something, but man, I think I spent most of my time trying to keep Val from beating the crap out of Dan! I would describe the movie as the typical 2nd movie in a trilogy, similar to Matrix: Reloaded, The Empire Strikes Back, etc. The bad guys are reigning supreme right now, and the end leaves you hanging like... well... I can't think of anything remotely PG right now, and since I don't know who reads this, I'll leave it at that. Let me say though, I'm REALLY looking forward to the third one.
That's about it for now. If you find yourself in the Mt. Pleasant area, call me! I only live 10 minutes away, and I'd love to get together and hang out and such. Maybe grab some Doozies or something. Who knows?
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Short update... I am le tired. |
[Jun. 7th, 2006|11:54 pm] |
I just got back from a fantastic four days at Conn-Selmer University. Basically the best $99 I ever spent on professional development. If you've never heard of it and you plan on teaching, ask me about it cause you definitely need to go next year. The clinicians are amazing, you get around $300-350 worth of free stuff, and the FOOD is OUTSTANDING!! And for only $99, it's so worth it. Midwest Clinic and Michigan Music Conference are good and all, but this thing only had 230 people attending, so it was one of the most intimate environments with music educators who truly care about what they're doing and want nothing more than to learn from the master teachers.
Driving there and back I drove by Buchanan, which is where this one person lives. Those who know me and know about last semester well enough should figure it out. It made me really really sad and brought back a lot of memories which I thought I had pushed out of my mind. I don't know why I just can't get over it. I don't know why I just can't let go and forget. I don't know why I let this eat away at me like this. I just don't know...
Anyway, the highlight of my week was getting to introduce myself to and meet the following people:
Dana Messina - CEO of Steinway Musical Instruments
John Stoner - President of Conn-Selmer
Marcia Neel - Music coordinator for Clark County Schools, Las Vegas, Nevada
David Circle - National President of MENC
Peter Boonshaft - Professor of Music, Hofstra University
Ken Dye - Director of Bands, University of Notre Dame
Paul Lavender - composer/arranger for Hal Leonard (and a CMU alumnus)
And...
Tim Lautzenheiser - Music advocate, most excited person I've ever met.
I got my picture taken with Dr. Tim. If you've never heard him present before, it will change your life.
My family & I leave for Florida tomorrow. That should be a great time. I'm soooo excited!!!!
I alos picked up a copy of Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, which I'll be reading while in Florida. I'm looking forward to it. I've heard wonderful things about the book.
I'm rambling now, which means it's time to go to bed... or keep packing... haven't decided yet.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Weekend fun |
[May. 29th, 2006|10:21 pm] |
Memorial Day weekend was awesome! I went to my grandparents' cottage on Walloon Lake on Saturday to put their dock in. The water was wickedly cold, but luckily I didn't have to spend much time in the water. One of my family members compared it to Lake Superior... in August. We also went into Petosky to shop. I went to this used book and CD store called "The Book Stop" that had some of the best used CDs I'd ever seen! I picked up CDs by Dave Matthes Band and Chicago. Also bought a couple shirts at the Life Is Good store, and tasted some absolutely yummy fruite concoctions at the American Spoon store. That night, we had brots for dinner & watched the Pistons lose to Miami. Arg!! Anyway, had fun, played cards, roasted marshmallows by the campfire, stayed the night, & left the next morning.
Sunday was my birthday... and that was good times. Left Walloon Lake in the middle of a totally unpredicted rainstorm... stopped off in Gaylord to Jay's sporting goods. I bought some shoes, then went to Big Buck Brewery for lunch. Yummmm!!! Spent the afternoon at our cottage on Higgins Lake. The weather was decent. My dad taught me how to sail my aunt's sunfish... about a 10 foot long or so sailboat with one sail and very easy to maneuver. We had BBQ ribs, cheesy potatoes, caesar salad, and pasta salad for dinner. Also had punch bowl cake for dessert. If you don't know what punch bowl cake is and you want to know, I'll tell you sometime. Just trust me: It's wonderful! For my birthday, I got a couple polo shirts, a "Life Is Good" shirt and hat, US road atlas, some gift cards, some money, and some other stuff. It was a great day. Had a fire in our fire pit that night, but didn't roast marshmallows... basically we sat around and burned up a bunch of brush and sticks that had been thrown there over the last couple of weeks.
Monday... Sunny and 91!! Man, it feels like Fourth of July weather! The lake was hella busy, but still manageable. I sailed my aunt's sunfish by myself, and that was interesting. I didn't crash, but the wind was a little inconsistent. Spent a lot of time outdoors and... yeah... definitely have the sunburn to prove it! I just finished lathering myself up with aloe sun gel, and I'll probably do so again before i head to bed.
Let's see... this week... classes... classes... more classes... hopefully I'll get the chance to ride my bike some... my cousin's graduation in Ludington on Saturday, then off to Notre Dame for four days to Conn-Selmer University. I'm really excited!! It's a four-day intensive workshop for band directors. I'm really looking forward to being there.
Thanks everyone for all the calls/messages/wall postings on my birthday :-) It's great to know people are thinking of me out there. If you're around Mt. Pleasant, call me! We'll hang out, eat, go to the bar, get ice cream, whatever! I'm bored as hell at home, and I'm always looking for a good time.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Summer' starting |
[May. 12th, 2006|12:25 am] |
Well, summer's here... supposedly. The weatherman says 46 degrees and rain tomorrow... doesn't sound much like summer to me, but we'll see where it goes from here. This week has involved me moving my stuff out of my apartment and back into my room at home. I've spent the last four days cleaning up my room and sorting/cleaning/throwing stuff out, and i still have a ton of stuff left to go through.
Grades came out today. My overall GPA is a 3.90. I guess that means I'm smart or something... I don't enjoy telling people what I got because I always feel like I'm bragging or something, and I'm totally not like that. So if you want to know what I got for grades, ask... cause while I'm very proud of my achievements, I don't feel the need to shout them from the rooftops.
Plans for summer: taking HEV 100 and HST 325 (African Americans in the 20th Century) from May 15-June 2, then going to Conn Selmer University June 4-7, then going to Florida June 8-18 with my family, then loitering around CMU for Summer Music camp during the week afte that. Then I'll be working at my dad's office doing some filing stuff and cleaning out his basement more. So, May and June will be busy months for me. If anybody is in Mt. Pleasant at all, give me a call!! Shepherd is waaaay boring, especially during the summer. Mt. Pleasant isn't much better, but having cool people to hang out with makes it so much better.
I went and heard the Brass Band of Battle Creek last weekend. If you've never heard of them, you NEED to check them out. While the name sounds like a community brass band or something, the personnel consists of the top professors from colleges and ensembles around the world. Example: Principal Trumpet in the US Army Band; former trumpet of the Dallas Brass; Professors from MSU, EMU, WMU, Arizona, Florida, Julliard, Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Lawrence University; bass trombone from the Chicago Symphony; and more. Man, these guys are the best of the best. And they sound awesome!
I also rode my bike 8 miles a couple days ago. I hope to get my stamina back to ride 15-18 miles like to Mt. Pleasant and back like I did last summer. That was fun, and a great workout.
I think that's enough of an update for now. If you want to know more, call me sometime. I'd LOVE to hang out with you.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| End of the year |
[May. 3rd, 2006|09:33 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day | ] |
It's Wednesday, and I'm now done with exams for the semester... and I realized shortly after that I am now done with undergrad exams forever. That's a weird thought, let me tell you. Yeah, I'm taking two classes this summer, but I'm basically done with college... man that feels weird to say. End of the semester was fine. I got all the projects done I needed to do, my exams weren't as horrible as they could have been, and my light class schedule made it so I only had 3 written exams.
This past Saturday I sang in my first Barbershop Harmony Society contest with the Mountain Town Singers, and we took first place!! I was blown away by the amount of energy given off by the chorus and how well we did. I didn't know if I'd like this whole singing thing back in June when I went to my first rehearsal, but I can honestly say now that I love singing in the barbershop chorus and it's a ton of fun.
I went down to Northview High School last week to meet Max Colley, who I'll be student teaching with in the fall. I'm super excited about that. The band program is awesome and the atmosphere in that school is like none I've ever felt in a school before. It should be a great time and I'm really looking forward to learning all I can from a master teacher like Mr. Colley. I think I've found where I'm going to live, now all I have to do is fill out the appropriate paper work, pay the fees, etc. I'll hopefully be living in Northview Harbor, which is literally 1.5 miles from the high school. It's definitely NOT a trip I'd want to make on a bicycle, but I won't have to get up super early to drive 20-30 minutes to my school, so that will be good.
And now, my soliloquy on the semester...
As always, this semester has been... well... interesting to say the least. I've definitely had my ups and downs, and thankfully the good moments outnumber the bad ones. I've grown closer to some people than I ever thought could be possible, and I've connected with people I barely knew before this semester. My friends were there for me this year like no one ever has been before. There was one point in the semester where I started to lose faith that there were still genuinely good people in this world, and you all (you know who you are) helped me realize that even though some people are petty, and manipulative, and immature, and so afraid of actually telling people how they feel about something or someone, there are still people who care about their friends and are willing to support them when they need it most.
I'm going to miss college... Parties at Parkplace K-4, Lisa Dunn's house parties with the funk band (Mike Bruce singing Tower of Power) especially the graffitti party, The LL Dynasty, the LL Rite of Spring, Hardy Parties... all of those... Marching band after hours, Jack Saunders' funeral procession, late night Phi Mu Alpha meetings, staying up late studying for music history, the final atonal singing test, Doc Gillingham saying "Give tutti the booty" (Take MUS 304, you'll understand), Mr. Williamson saying "If you want to skip class, that's fine... the class is offered every fall.", walking randomly around the dorms stopping in random people's rooms, all of that too. And of course, all the people that have made the music building the memorable place that it is. I would list them all here, but I think my entry would be waaay longer than anyone would want to read.
But through all of it... the classes, the studying, losing friends (who obviously really weren't your friends if they stopped being friends with you), making new friends, the parties, meeting all the new freshman, saying goodbye to all the seniors... college is as good as you make it, and it will be as fulfilling or as unfulfilling as you make it. So make the most of it, dammit! Cause sooner or later, you'll realize that college is over... and you deserve (well, most of you deserve) to look back on your college career and think "yeah... it was good."
Here's to the good times, the bad times, and all the times in between.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| End of semester crunch... |
[Apr. 20th, 2006|09:57 pm] |
| [ | music |
| | Dave Matthews Band - Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95 | ] |
It's been awhile since I've written an update to this, so here we go. This was a decent week for me. It started out good cause I found out that the presentation I was supposed to give on Tuesday in my EDU 495 class has been moved to next Tuesday. Yay for that. Mandy G, Nick dot Stokes, and Jourdan Armstrong and myself gave a presentation in our EDU 450 class on Monday titled "Enhancing Literacy Through Music" also known as "How to Use Music In A Non-Music Classroom." It was sweet. Our professor said it was one of the top 5 presentations he's ever seen. We were all excited about that. Plus, we got to listen to Coldplay, Low Rider, Animaniacs songs, and School House Rock during class.
Tuesday I skipped my 9:30 class because I was working on a project for my 9:30 class and lost track of the time. Oops. Studio was Mr. Nichols' "State of the Sax Studio" address. That's always interesting. He talked about all the awards this year, who got into what grad schools, who won what awards, etc. Tuesday night was the Wind Symphony/Symphony Band/University Band concert, and oh man... was it a looooong one. Wind Symphony's concert was sweet. Neil Anderson-Himmelspach wrote a euphonium solo with band accompaniment for Dave Biedenbender, which he played marvelously. It was a really cool piece, and had really cool saxophone parts. Our final piece, "Godzilla Eats Las Vegas," was a hit with the crowd. I got to yell "VIVA!!!" in an Elvis impersonator/drill sergent type of voice. That was fun. We also got to scream, stomp our feet, and play "Ugly, Nasty Rips." I played percussion with University Band, and that was also a riot. The only bad thing about playing percussion is having to stand still there for five minutes while you count out around 30 measures of rest. But, it was a great learning experience for me. After the concert I helped put away percussion equipment to the point that by the time I was done, my Phi Mu Alpha meeting was already done!
Wednesday was uneventful. I went and observed at Shepherd for a few hours in the morning, from around 7-10 or so. That was... interesting. Joann Gross is the only band director I've ever met who actually WANTS to write her own drill. I offered to write her drill for next year... and she said no... couldn't believe it. Classes were monotonous as ever. I was excited for no U-Band. Don't get me wrong... I love playing in U-Band, but having a break is always nice. I ate cheddar brots with Katie around 6 after working on some homework. That was a good time. We wanted to go get Doozies, but the line was like a mile and a half long, so she bought me Coldstone instead, cause she owed me Coldstone from a couple weeks ago :-) We bought Coldstone, then went to the Delta Omicron Mad Hatter Musicale. We walked in and everybody was like "awwww... I want ice cream...." Needless to say, it was funny. Technically we weren't supposed to have food in Chamichian Hall, but Corinne wasn't around, and frankly... I've got two more weeks here... go ahead and yell at me. The concert was funny. Krystal playing trumpet was mildy entertaining :-) As was DO singing Bohemian Rhapsody... Lisa & Jessica played air guitar... everybody headbanged... it was good times. Katie & I went back and watched CSI: NY (also known as Lieutenant Dan CSI), then watched Sex & The City. I got back to my apartment and Mark and three of his frat brothers were playing beer pong. That was FUNNY!!!! They were all pretty drunk when I got there, and got even more drunk as the night went on. I'm pretty sure they drank around 50 beers between four people. I went to bed before they were done and immediately fell asleep cause I was so tired.
Today in my EDU 495 class there was a guy from career services that came in and talked about job interview tips and how to look for teaching jobs. I swear this is the first time all semester I've actually learned anything in that class. My professor is an idiot, and I'm seriously going to go to town when we do SOS forms next week. No band today, but scoring project read-throughs next Tuesday. That's always fun. Tonight was the Wind Ensemble concert. I really don't feel like writing 10 pages worth of ranting, so all I'll say is that most of it was cool, Nick played well, and the oboes were out of tune on Harrison's Dream. Enough said about that. You want to know more, ask me later.
Friday is going to be my "get shit done" day. I've got no classes, so I'll be spending the day working on my multimedia project, EDU 450 paper, scoring project, and maybe going to my house to earn $30 by mowing my lawn. We'll see.
Jill Turner is having a party tonight, so I might head over there eventually. If I do go, I'll make sure to take my camera. There are always funny drunk people at parties who for some reason love nothing more than posing stupidly for pictures.
Please donate to Dr. Woods' jar for Delta Omicron's "Pie The Professor." All the money is being donated to the Children's Hospital, so it's a great cause. Plus, it's Dr. Woods. C'mon, people... who wouldn't want to see him get pied? That's all for now. I hope everyone out there is doing well.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Life as a saxophone... |
[Apr. 13th, 2006|10:49 pm] |
So... the saxophones are definitely the black sheep of the music building. We're woodwind instruments made of brass, which means we really don't associate with anybody else. We don't go to woodwind area recitals, brass area recitals, and don't participate in the woodwind studio scavenger hunt. And for the past few years, this has kind of bothered me... especially because I hear from everybody that it's a lot of fun and MaryBeth Minnis' cooking is amazing. Or maybe it's just her caramel brownies... I don't know. I've obviously never had them.
Anyway, I must say that this semester is one time I'm very GLAD that the saxophones don't have to go to area recitals... cause after looking at the program for the one today... yeah... definitely would have skipped it. I'm not a big fan of certain people in the woodwind studios right now... and I relish the fact that I don't have to be near them or be around them at ALL... except during band sometimes... but then I have the antics of our wonderful conductor to entertain me.
So, despite the fact that saxophones are universally disliked by a lot of people, mostly for leaving our stuff in practice rooms for long periods of time, always winning the Nixon, and being really good musicians, and even though I'm pretty sure if we actually did the scavenger hunt we'd kick ass... being a saxophone major does have its upsides.
There's my thought for the night. Take it or leave it.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| "It's party time! P-A-R-T-why? Because I gotta!" |
[Apr. 9th, 2006|05:37 pm] |
So Friday night I get a call from my roommate... "Chris... I'm really drunk. Can you come pick me up?" This was at about 11:30 or so, so I went and picked him up & brought him back to our apartment. All the while he kept saying "Chris, please don't hate me... do you promise you don't hate me?" It was really really frickin' hilarious!! There's much more to the story, but it would take waaaaay too long to write it all out here, plus drunken stories are so much better to hear in person :-) So if you want to hear the full story, come talk to me. After I dropped off Mark, I called Nick (my brother) to help me get Mark's car from the fraternity house where it was parked. So we brought his car back to our apartment complex and I took Nick home. Then I went and hung out with Katie and Kelly for awhile. Kelly Stuible, by the way, not the other one. They made these cool cupcakes by putting the batter in ice cream cones. I'd never had those before, and they were yummy! They also made Bailey's milkshakes, which were also delightful. Somehow Katie and I ended up going over to Rutkowski's place in Tallgrass for awhile. As usual, most everybody was drunk, and the tubas kept trying to pet Katie cause she had a fleece jacket on... Needless to say, it was funny. Jamie Devoe was there... as were two of his students from Grandville HS, where he's student teaching. I can only imagine Monday morning... "Hey guys, guess what? I saw Mr. DeVoe wasted on Friday!"
Saturday was recital day with Carole's, Andre's and Jeff's. Free food Saturday for Chris. Yay for free food. Saturday night I ended up at Bush's place with a bunch of people. Denver and Eric played beer pong together, and almost got their asses whomped on by a couple girls who I didn't know. The conversations were interesting... including Jamie comparing beer to underwear. Apparently Guiness is like lumberjack boxers, and bud light is like fruit-of-the-loom briefs. We decided that Smirnoff flavored drinks are the equivalent of Victoria's Secret. I had a lot to drink... and I was way more drunk than I have been in like a loooong time. The last time I was even remotely close to that was Jazz Weekend, and I'm pretty sure I was much worse last night. I walked to the party with Valerie, who ended up crashing on my couch because she drank a bunch too, and although I was mildly intoxicated, I wasn't about to let her drive home. We stayed up just talking for about four hours. It was a good time though. She's nice to talk to. After finally going to bed around 7 and waking up around noon, I went to the Jazz Central Concert at 3. That was a good time, and Nick played some good solos.
Jazz Lab I concert is at 8... I'm having mixed feelings about it... not because I don't think we'll do well, because we're so gonna rock out tonight. But all I have left is this concert and a band concert, and then I'm done. It's such a weird feeling when you consider it. Anyway, the concert will be a good show. We're playing some sweet tunes, so if you read this sometime in the next 2 hours, come check it out. Music majors, get your last MUS 097 credit for the semester!
All in all, it was a great weekend. Here's hoping this week is as good or better. I've got a huge project to start this week, and the first draft of a paper to write. The year is winding down, and I'm trying as hard as possible to have as much fun as possible before the year ends. Gotta go warm up for Jazz Lab. It's gonna be sweet.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| What a great week! |
[Apr. 7th, 2006|12:28 am] |
| [ | music |
| | We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister | ] |
This has been a terrific week! I showed my latest saxophon ensemble arrangement, "Hoedown" from Rodeo by Copland, to Mr. Nichol at my lesson on Tuesday and he liked it so much he's going to play it with the sax ensemble at music camp this summer!! Now all I have to do is finish it. But, that shouldn't take too long. I'm so excited that it turned out so well. Saw Beth on Tuesday... she was up for the job fair. We ate dinner and talked for awhile... a bit awkward. But it was fun. Not sure what will happen with that... We'll see. Tuesday's meeting was out by 10:30, by far the shortest in a loooooong time. So yay for that. Wednesday Doc Gillingham wasn't here because his mother-in-law passed away and he was out of town. Please send thoughts of sympathy and prayer his way. I had waaay too much homework to do Wednesday night, and as a result I stayed up waaay too late. Thursday was good. Went to lunch at Las with Sara P. Band was interesting, we played through Godzilla Eats Las Vegas for the first time with piano. Phil Pfaltzgraff is an amazing pianist. Enough said. Concert band concert is April 18th at 8:00 pm in Staples. Wind Symphony plays first, followed by Symphony band and U-Band. I'm playing percussion in U-Band!! It's so much fun! After band, ate food, did some homework, then went and got taco bell & ice cream w/ Katie. On the way, we talked about different marching shows for next year... Everybody should come to the marching band meeting Monday, April 24th at 4. We'll be revealing them then :-) I guarantee you'll laugh. After that and a new episode of CSI, it was back here for the night.
Small tangent: My education classes are a friggin' joke. My EDU 495 professor acts like she's constantly shooting from the hip and has no idea what she's doing. I have to do a group project for the class, and luckily the other four people in my group are hard working, cause I really didn't want to have to do all the work. That was always a problem in high school... I was always "the smart kid," so everyone wanted to shove all the work my way and then take credit for it. So glad I don't have to do that anymore... at least not a lot.
So I was listening to "We're Not Gonna Take It" by Twisted Sister... and I swear at the end of the song he says "A PLEDGE PIN?!?!?!?" So I looked it up... and sure enough... as the song is fading out he actually does say that. If you don't know what movie that is from, you need to watch "Animal House" about 10 times. It's a great movie.
I still lapse into a semi-depressed state sometimes when I think about what has happened recently and what I've lost... but I'm pretty sure what I've lost in one friend I've gained in like 4 or 5. And I'm a big fan of that. Although it's taken me awhile to get over this, I've gotten to be great friends with people I barely knew at the beginning of the year. I love that.
But anyway, it's almost the weekend. Friday night is the Nixon Woodwind Competition, and while I'm not playing, i'll probably be going cause a bunch of my friends are in it. Saturday has lots of recitals. Public Service Announcement: JAZZ BAND CONCERTS!!!! SUNDAY AT 3 & 8 PM
Both will be AWESOME!! You should come! I'll be playing flute! That's all for now. I'm tired, and it's time for this guy to get to bed.
Enjoy the music, I'll talk to you later. |
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| Yay for friends! |
[Mar. 28th, 2006|11:38 am] |
Last night, I was up until 3 am talking to someone because they needed a friend... just someone to talk to and listen. It felt great to just be able to be there for someone when they needed me. It's moments like this that make all the shit that's happened to me this semester seem a little less significant. It's a comfort to know that there are still people who want me around and who want me as a friend. Because as those of you who know me have probably found out, I value my friends... and I really do care about them, and I'll always be there when they need someone. So... yay for friends! :-)
On a completely different note, I'm still not sure if I want to go to the Spring Formal this weekend... should I go or not? Let me know... |
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| Hi everybody! |
[Mar. 21st, 2006|08:39 pm] |
Well... what's there to say? I'm a senior right now at CMU, and I'll be student teaching in the Fall 2006. You know, while some people might think it's weird that I'm in my fifth year of college and just now starting a Live Journal, but whatever. I really don't care. I figure I have some time on my hands, why not start one now? If you don't know me, I consider myself to be a really nice guy. And I don't mean to sound arrogant or egotistical when I say that... I'm just a nice person. Chances are if you see me wandering the halls of the music building I'll say hello, and probably offer to give you a hug if you're feeling down. You know, sometimes I think women don't know how to react when they meet a nice guy. I think there are so many guys out there who are only nice because they want to get the girl in bed or get into her pants, that they constantly build up walls to protect themselves from those type of guys. Then they meet someone nice, who really does care about their feelings, and doesn't want any kind of romantic relationship, and has no clue how to behave. He has no ulterior motives, he just wants to be friends. This is the kind of person I am.
Friends are a great thing to have. It's only when you're so depressed and so down you don't know how it can get any better that you realize who your true friends really are. If you hang around people that try to run your life, or build themselves up by putting other people down, or have opinions about people that are un-educated and as a result usually wrong, take my advice: GET THE HELL AWAY FROM THEM!!!!! You don't need people like that in your life. There are plenty of truly good people in this world, and I can guarantee all of them are willing to be your friend. Seek out the people who make you feel good, that make you laugh, that are willing to give you a shoulder to cry on when you really need it. It's these people who will be there for you when you really need them, and even when you don't.
If you see me, say hello. I'll be glad to meet you. |
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cmusaxplayer's journal