Crazy, Crazy Time

This is the first time I've gotten a chance to write even a short note. Or do anything that doesn't involve IB or Music. Here's what's been going on:

The 17th was the evening of my grandma's memorial service. We had some interesting problems with the music cds, but I could see her laughing at those. And everyone said I did a great job playing the piano....and they were surprised that I knew how to play. In the approx. 10 years I've been playing, that would be my first public performance (except music theory 1 last year) on the piano. And I'd like to thank all my terrific friends who came out to support me. And save me from random people and family members I didn't know.

Following the Virginia Tech tragety, everyone was worried about something similar happening in their own school; even at EHS. On the afternoon of the 18th, someone made a threatening phone call about doing "something" on Friday the 20th (Columbine, Hitler's Birthday). Thursday, 3rd period, we didn't have a teacher in our English class (not that uncommon having the IB coordinator for your English teacher). We didn't even have a sub. Thankfully, Baker was going in and out of the room, so she was there to check her e-mail when they asked teachers to do so. Of course, everyone in our class was totally freaking out, especially when she couldn't find a new e-mail after 3 tries. She finally found someone who told her we were on lockdown. Then when that period ended, apparently the lockdown ended and we went to 4th period. I had a dentist appointment scheduled for a little bit into 4th period, so until it was time for me to leave, I went to the band room (like that's a surprise). Well, I was in there talking to Benson when Tobia called a "modified lockdown" for the rest of the day. Wonderful. So after Benson finally was able to find the right number to call the right person to get me an escort out to the lobby, I waited nearly 10 minutes. I guess they weren't sure where to find me, and my dad had to tell them to check the band room. After that my parents decided to take me back to school to grab my stuff and then I was going to stay home the rest of the day and Friday. (This is due to all the losses in our family over break....my mom didn't want to take any chances). So I ended up getting a day and a half off from school. It ended up beign a prank. They caught the person, who is getting prosecuted right now and will get 1-4 years in jail. And I heard only 30% of the school showed up on Friday.

This past Monday I went on a campus visit to Roberts Wesleyan up in Rochester. It's a beautiful campus, and I liked a lot of the aspects of the college, but there was just something that didn't rub me quite the right way. I guess it's because 1) the campus is so big, so unlike Houghton it didn't have a family feel 2) they seemed to stress the liberal arts more than music 3) "Wesleyan" is actually more like free, united Methodist, which is great for summer camps, but not exactly what I'm looking for in a college. In the fall I'll be contacting RWC, as well as my other colleges, to set up a lesson with their clarinet professor, and that's probably going to be the deal breaker for me.

Then I had to leave early from my visit in order to be back to school around 4:15 to have a lesson w/ my clarinet teacher and HC (getting ready for All-State). Overall I'd say it went really well, minus the fact I'm in a constant state of freaking out about auditions and they keep trying to calm me down.

Tuesday was not the best day. Something to do with missing 2 1/2 days of school really throws you off. Started out with jazz band at 7 in the morning. I don't do improv on the sax that early in the morning. Honestly, I don't really remember how band went. Then I get to 2nd period and find out from Caitlin W that we had to present our English project on the last unit (that we had finished) and I didn't have my book. Thankfully, Caitlin did have her book, and I still had the notes, so everything went smoothly. In TOK we set deadlines for our various IB papers, which totally stressed me out. And caused me to work on my Copland essay with Benson during lunch. In Spanish we had a quiz which I wasn't ready for, but Senora told me to take anyway ("for practice"). Music class was fine since we just got a handout from Benson and started listening to a random piece of music. In Gym we went outside and got pummled in speedball (actually, Eleanor took most of it....and Hannah). Then in Math Conway wasn't there, so his student teacher tried to help us and ended up in an arguement with Hoffman which left me totally confused and with a major headache.

The good things from Tuesday?
The planning/venting session at the beginning part of lunch with Katie and Eleanor about band (with our planning skills, I'm sure we could take over the world)

The amazing job the 17 YEAR OLD (still don't believe that) did singing "You'll Never Walk Alone" on American Idol. It almost made me cry.

And the superb episode of House. It was great. If you missed it, I pity you. You can find it online someplace. But it was basically an amazing episode. Can't really describe it more than that.

Today was much better than Tuesday. In HOA we watched a bunch of hilarious "education" videos from 1950s. Then in English we argued about the meaning of Pedro Paramo. I've come to the conclusion that there is no meaning. 4th period HC and I worked on the All-State solo and talked about college prep and other geeky stuff. During lunch my pb&j sandwich was semi-frozen, so I didn't eat it. Then I talked with Benson about a bunch of different things regarding parade season, next years field band season, drum majoring and some other stuff. I think it was actually semi-productive. In Spanish we did some practice with gustar verbs. In IB Music I did the first full run of my solo. With a bad reed. Which meant I couldn't breathe. Which isn't good. Oxygen is very important. Benson started to talk over stuff with me, then Beth was ready to go. She did great, but then ran out with a distressed look on her face. So I went over to Benson to finish getting his review of my performance (this was counting as a make-up lesson) then HC came back and told us Beth was apparently sick to her stomach. I guess she got a really bad case of the nerves. After that we had a double period of Math, otherwise called, The-subject-I-remember-nothing-about-and-am-going-to-fail-the-exam. Plus we had a quiz, which we all decided we bombed.

Tomorrow I'm living at school. Jazz band sax sectional in the morning. School. Conducting lesson going no later than 3:25. Then clarinet lesson around 4ish.

PLEASE- If you are considering trying out for drum major- DO IT! If you don't want to commit by signing up, please let me (or Benson) know. If you can make it to a conducting lesson, that would be amazing. And if you're wondering what a drum major actually does (since no one watches us anyway), ask! You should join the most amazing section of the band!!!!