L'Ilisir d'Amore

Tonight, I went to the opera for the first time. UNCSA put on Donizetti's L'Ilisir d'Amore, and a friend of mine got me and a friend free tickets. However, my friend was feeling under the weather, so after scrabbling for a few minutes, I talked another friend, E, into going with me. So we went to pick up the tickets from my friend who got them for me, and then we headed into downtown WS to eat before the show.

At this point, I need to apologize to the film school at UNCSA. While getting lost in downtown WS, I drove into a one-way street... going the wrong way. While this is embarassing enough, what made it worse was the fact that the film school was shooting on that street... and I had to drive right between their cameras and the actors they were filming (there wasn't enough room to turn around by the time I realized my mistake). So, I'm sorry. It was an accident, and I hope that the whatever you all were filming went well, despite my blunder.

Anyway, I found where I was trying to get to, parked my car, and then me and E ate dinner at Quizno's, after finding two other restaurants with a 45 minute to an hour wait time. While there, J showed up. It was wierd, because I hadn't seen J since this summer, and before that it had been a good year and a half. Our interactions this summer and the time previous were slightly awkward, and I had started to think that he was a jerk (complicated reasons), and I didn't completely recognize him, but he said hey. And then I recognized him and now I don't think he's a jerk anymore.

And then... the opera.

It was amazing. Outstanding. All of those positive adjectives.
I got chills, I laughed, and E said that she loved it, too.

On the way home we stopped by Starbucks, ran into my original intended date, who was still feeling kind of puny and was coughing a lot.
I hope she feels better.

Tonight was so much fun.

ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

So my chorus teacher wasn't at school today because she's sick.
She sent an email, via the next-door drama teacher, about what we're supposed to do:

• Work on language for Muie Rendera
• Go over parts for Walk In Jerusalem and Seal Lullaby

However, the sub didn't see this email, me and **** (another section leader) did. So the sub takes attendance, and then says that he sent someone up to the library to get a movie for us to watch. **** and I exchange a glance, and then we tell him what we were supposed to be working on. However, everybody was all like "Let's watch a movie! I wanna watch a movie!"

So I turned into chorus-nazi. I made sure we worked on stuff we were supposed to be working on, and we went over parts of the aforementioned songs that we'd not learned yet. However, *** decided he wanted to be a douche, and complained. Loudly.

We also ran through the Star Spangled Banner once or twice, even though the majority of us have sang it six trillion times.


Later, I get bitched at by ******** about how I'm all power-hungry, and how I didn't have to work on one song the whole time (I didn't. We worked on four separate things. Count them: Language for Muie, running through SSB, and parts for Walk In Jerusalem and Seal Lullaby), and how she hopes our teacher is back tomorrow (which I hope for, too. I hate leading the class) so "we [the class] don't have to put up with you" and how people were throwing imaginary grenades at my head, and how funny it was.

I mean, whatever. If people want to throw imaginary grenades at my head, then so be it. I don't care. But I'm not going to ignore the instructions that our teacher left for us to follow while she's too nauseous to come to school. (Besides, the movie was Hello, Dolly, and this is the class that couldn't stand to sit through Mamma Mia.)

I hate being chorus-nazi.

I never EVER want to be a teacher.

I could really go for some Galatine right now. They're this italian candy that my friend ***** brought me when he was visiting the states two years ago. They're DELICIOUS. It's like a tablet of powdered milk, only sweet and amazing. I know I don't describe it very well, but it's amazing.

And I can't find it anywhere. After finally remembering the name of it about a week ago, I am having difficulty finding anywhere I can order it from.

Please Disregard the Previous Post

I tied for third chair at all-district band!
*is excited*

Evidently, this behaviour is very much like my sister's. She'll call home, dead set that she flunked a major test or something, and she'll have gotten like a B+ or something.

What Sucks

Do you know what sucks? What sucks is when you don't well at something that you expected to do well at, especially when that something is rather important to you.

Like today.

Today, we had all-district auditions. I got my audition piece last semester, so I had plenty of time to prepare the music and practice and whatnot.
Here's a rundown of my audition.

• Room 1
  

1. Chromatic Scale- not catastrophic. I think there might have been a shrieky moment somewhere in the high A or B range on the way up, but I don't remember.
2. Solo Piece- (Quantz Concerto in G) Didn't go horribly. I had this gross, airy tone some of the time, and some of the runs weren't as phenomenal as they could have been, but whatever.

• Room 2- I go in, they ask for my name and audition number. My audition number was 234, which means that I would have been number 134 in line if we went in order, which we didn't. Since I was thinking 134 (that's how they were calling for us in the warm-up room, not by the actual numbers on the nametag) I said, "134... so 234." And they looked confusedly at me, and as I was clarifying my thought process, the lady cut me off with a tone that said "whatever, shut up" and said "C scale."

1. Scales: I played my C scale, and it was okay. After I finished, the lady looked at me expectantly, and I was thinking... what does she want? Then I played my A-flat scale, and as I was playing the arpeggio, it occurred to me that I hadn't played the arpeggio for the C scale. I apologized, asked if I could, and they looked at each other and said, "...sure," in that tone of voice, the one that says, It won't help your chances because we've already made up our minds that you're not worth paying attention to. So I played the arpeggio, and it was not terrible. Then I played my D scale.
2. Sightreading: While I got all the notes right, the rhythms were... interesting. I messed up some very easy stuff.

While not getting into all-district isn't the end of the world by any stretch of the imagination (there's no possible way I got in.), it's quite disappointing. One of the things that particularly gets on my nerves is that you can play something extremely well one day, go back the next day, and completely bomb.

So then I left the audition in a bad mood. It was 3. I had planned to be in Greensboro at 3 to see the all-state chorus concert, but I thought, Whatever, better late than never.
I got in my car, got out my online directions to Greensboro, and I couldn't follow them because none of the roads I was supposed to be on were labeled the way they were on my directions.
I gave up and went back to the school.

Thus ends the part of my day that I didn't like.
I got to see some GSE people, though! Mostly Instrumental Music people, but I saw some others as well.
In that sense, the day was not a waste.

Then I watched Cloverfield at my house with friends.
Why is watching a movie so much better as a group activity?

The musical next year is Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat.
I'm jealous. I wonder if I'll be able to help out in the orchestra pit at all?

**** is really, REALLY obnoxious. More on this later.

I can't say it right

Do you ever get overcome with emotion at how beautiful everything is, and how unworthy we all are to be here?
I don't see myself as a very religious person in the traditional sense, but sometimes I get into this mindset where I look at things and I can't help but wonder at how great God is that every single sensation we experience springs from His imagination.
Like, I understand that a lot of my friends are atheists/agnostics/whatever, and they're going to disagree with me on this, and that's fine. But right now, I feel like such a child, and everything is new, and beautiful, and exciting.
I just watched my GSE Digital Summerbook, and I saw all of the people I got to know, and I listened to all of the music, and saw all of the performances, and the people liking each other, laughing, and I remember how truly awesome it was to be with so many people that loved each other enough to disagree without fighting, and to come together to create so many beautiful shows, concerts, and it astounds me.
It's simply astounding how vibrating air particles can hit our eardrums in such a way that we percieve music, or speech, or laughter, and that we feel what the person making those vibrations are feeling...

I can't accurately express what I'm feeling right now.

But it's beautiful.

People may disagree about the technicalities and structure of religion, and I'm sure that I could find a TON of people out there who would tell me I'm wrong (Do it! Come argue with me about religion and God. I love hearing what you have to say, especially if you'll hear what I have to say. Come argue with me, debate with me, because we can. I hope we disagree. I hope I get something new from you. I hope you get something new from me, if you want it.) but I think that THIS is what God is about. This complicated, frustrating, beautiful sense of wonder and awe at everything around you. THIS thing that I can't say right, but I try anyway.

I love you. Yes, you. You, who are reading this.
I love you. I may not know who you are, but you are beautiful.

Auditions

Tomorrow, I leave for Indiana with my parents. We're stopping to spend the night in Kentucky, and we'll get there Friday. The audition is Saturday. I'm playing the first two movements of the Bach Sonata in E Major, and the first movement of the Hindemith Sonata.

My reading list for the drive:

• Watchmen
• 1984
• Queen of Babble Gets Hitched
• Eragon
• Eldest
• Brisingr
• Chicken Soup for the College Soul
• A David Sedaris Memoir, the name of which escapes me. The one with the skeleton on the front. Not Me Talk Pretty One Day, Not Naked... that other one.
• Several issues of the New Yorker that I still haven't read, beginning with the Dec. 6th issue. Oops.
• I might have packed something else, but I forgot about it if I did.
• I'm also taking: Cloverfield
• Thank You for Smoking
• Sweeney Todd

Just in case we have nothing to do in our hotel room.

I found out (again, because evidently I opened this email earlier, and never actually showed it to Elizabeth... oops) that my FSU piano audition is February 7th. The only problem is that I don't feel very confident with my piano audition music anymore. I peaked last month, and haven't played it very much at ALL since. So I have to re-construct all my music. May God have mercy on my soul.

I'm going to go to bed now. Tomorrow, we begin the trek... after I eat breakfast at the local Greek restaurant with Madrigal Singers.

grin

Flirting with straight boys is funny.
Their awkardness in such a situation is priceless.
That's all.

I=dork.

So, I've been revisiting my childhood likes lately.
I've watched nine episodes of animorphs on youtube, and I've gotten out the books to re-read them.
I've been discussing pokemon with a couple of my friends, and I'm filled with a strong desire to find my old blue and play it again.
I'm a dork.
BUT I DON'T CARE! IT'S FUN.
At the beginning of senior year, Anna and I planned to have a little-kid senior year: Piñatas, hide and seek, other little kid stuff. I haven't done that much of it. But I'm catching up with where I should be!

Tea

When you can have a small ceramic cup
off-white, with a chip on the lip
near the upside-down teardrop handle
steam lazily lifting its swirls from the lake
the little brown ocean, sleepily warming your chilled fingers
warm bitter taste nestling inside you, making everything better
sore mood, sore throat...

Why would you want cough medicine?

Insomnia

I hate it so much.
I know I should be sleeping, but I don't want to. Therefore, I can't. I need to get back into a normal sleep pattern, because (AUGH) school starts again on Monday.
Speaking of which, I need to finish my english assignments (bah.) before they're due.
I could be doing them now... that would certainly make me want to go to sleep...
nah.
I could go play computer games...
nah.
I WISH I could practice, but that would wake everybody up. GAH.
I don't want to sleep, but I don't want to do much of anything that a person is allowed to do at 3 in the morning.

I think I'm supposed to do something tomorrow (today, technically). What is it?

My Dad got an iPod for Christmas. He's having WAY too much fun downloading songs.
His purchases so far:

• Jolene- Dolly Parton
• I Will Always Love You- Dolly Parton
• Good Hearted Woman- Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
• Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys- Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson
• Crazy- Patsy Cline
• Sweet Dreams (Of You)- Patsy Cline
• She's Got You- Patsy Cline
• Coal Miner's Daughter- Loretta Lynn (which rhymes the words "hard" and "tired." Not as a slant rhyme. Literally, "tired" is pronounced "tahrd." And my father wonders why we don't have the same taste in music.)
• My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys- Willie Nelson
• Georgia On My Mind- Willie Nelson
• Proud Mary- Tina Turner
• What's Love Got to Do With It- Tina Turner
• Piano Man- Billy Joel
• She's Always a Woman- Billy Joel
• He Stopped Loving Her Today- George Jones
• A Country Boy Can Survive- Hank Williams, Jr.
• Stand By Your Man- Tammy Wynette (Which reminds me of a show Dad's newspaper sponsored once... The Honky Tonk Angels. A musical celebrating the woman's voice in country music. Frankly, I enjoyed it. I won't ever tell Dad... except he reads this occasionally... but I did enjoy it. EXCEPT when they came down off the stage and plucked three audience members to dance with them... including myself. I was 10. I was mortified.)
  
• Hello Darlin'- Conway Twitty
• Rocky Top- Osborne Brothers
• Orange Blossom Special- Dr. Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
• The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down- Joan Baez
• An American Trilogy- Elvis Presley

Now, I love my father. However, I am very glad that I did not inherit his taste in music.
Frankly, I like some of the songs. However, country music has never been, and unless things change drastically, most likely will never be my first choice when it comes to music.
I suppose if he's going to purchase country music, he at least has purchased the some of the finer examples.

He did get Tina Turner and Billy Joel. I suppose that redeems him slightly.

Random thought: If you are one of those people who reads my blog for inexplicable reasons, kindly write your name down as a response to this post. I'm curious.

New Years Resolutions (Courtesy of McSweeney's)

BY TEDDY WAYNE AND GREG WAYNE

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