I have some time, so I'll let everyone know about Winter Banquet.
It was really fun. I took Aiko (obviously), Bret took Lisa, and Josh took Aiko's housemate Genevive. They all live in a house off-campus so we had to go pick them up. We all showed up the same time and gave our dates flour. Yes, it was stupid, but they were highly amused. Of course, we also had real flowers.
The Banquet was at the Senior Nutrition Center right next to Simpson (which makes driving 20 minutes to pick up a date a little silly...). It's actually a really, really nice place. They have a ballroom with a good dance floor. There was a live jazz band and dancing. The jazz band was good. Aiko and I danced for most of the evening. Mostly it was slow stuff, but there was some songs fast enough to swing to. Neither of us is really proficient at swing dancing, but it was fun nonetheless. I've discovered it's more fun to dance when there's someone to dance with.
It was also fun to watch the other people dancing. As Aiko pointed out, you can tell it's a Christian school because no one really knew how to dance (there were some exceptions).
And the table we sat at was full of highly amusing people, so it was quite entertaining. Afterward some of us went over to Lauren's apartment and played games till 12:30, then I took Aiko home and got back to my dorm around 1. Then accidentally slept till 12. Oops.
Now I really need to write my Music History paper, but I really don't want to. Sigh.
Oh yeah, Laura's senior recital on Friday went really well. Just thought you'd like to know.
11.23.2003
11.20.2003
Free moment...
Well, I have a free moment, so I'll do a quick update. And that is...nothing much is going on. I have lots of homework coming due that I'm working on. Should be fun. Combine that with a gazillion extraneous activities this weekend and what do you have?
I don't know, but I have a feeling I'm going to find out.
In other news, I don't know what's going on, maybe the weather or something, but I've been really irritable the last couple days. Things are just randomly ticking me off. It's not fun. Maybe it's stress. That could be. Oh well, I hope it goes away.
We took choir pictures yesterday. It wasn't very fun. We had to get all dressed up, and squish on the risers and practice then stay afterward so the photographer could take upwards of 35 pictures. He was a good photographer, so it wasn't that bad, but it was just one more annoying thing. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to youth group so that wasn't a conflict, but a bunch of other people were upset because of conflicts.
I went shopping yesterday too. Got myself some new jeans and a pair of slacks, and a new tie, and a new jacket. Aiko pointed out my green jacket is getting a little ratty (which it is, I've had it for almost 4 years...hmmm...same with my jeans...I see a trend). So, I was at Ross and saw a nice jacket for $35 (regular $150), so I got it. I told Aiko and she got annoyed because she had bought me a jacket for Christmas. So, we'll see how this turns out. She thinks I should just keep both. I haven't seen the other one yet, so I don't know. Kind of a quirky thing I hadn't been expecting at all. I guess there will be a lot of those.
Okay, I'm going to go to sleep. I'll need it for this weekend. I was going to skip chapel tomorrow, because I don't particularly care for Stones of Remembrance Chapels, but come to find out that both Josh (roommate) and Annabelle are speaking, so I should be there. Anyway, goodnight all.
I don't know, but I have a feeling I'm going to find out.
In other news, I don't know what's going on, maybe the weather or something, but I've been really irritable the last couple days. Things are just randomly ticking me off. It's not fun. Maybe it's stress. That could be. Oh well, I hope it goes away.
We took choir pictures yesterday. It wasn't very fun. We had to get all dressed up, and squish on the risers and practice then stay afterward so the photographer could take upwards of 35 pictures. He was a good photographer, so it wasn't that bad, but it was just one more annoying thing. Fortunately, I didn't have to go to youth group so that wasn't a conflict, but a bunch of other people were upset because of conflicts.
I went shopping yesterday too. Got myself some new jeans and a pair of slacks, and a new tie, and a new jacket. Aiko pointed out my green jacket is getting a little ratty (which it is, I've had it for almost 4 years...hmmm...same with my jeans...I see a trend). So, I was at Ross and saw a nice jacket for $35 (regular $150), so I got it. I told Aiko and she got annoyed because she had bought me a jacket for Christmas. So, we'll see how this turns out. She thinks I should just keep both. I haven't seen the other one yet, so I don't know. Kind of a quirky thing I hadn't been expecting at all. I guess there will be a lot of those.
Okay, I'm going to go to sleep. I'll need it for this weekend. I was going to skip chapel tomorrow, because I don't particularly care for Stones of Remembrance Chapels, but come to find out that both Josh (roommate) and Annabelle are speaking, so I should be there. Anyway, goodnight all.
11.16.2003
A little late in the weekend...
So, this was, yet again, an interesting week. School is the same, except it is getting busier, and I'm doing more work for the professors, which means I get some money. So, I have a lot of stuff to do, and feel less like doing it than ever (but that's true of everyone for this time in the semester).
So, I'll give you a recap of my weekend, just for fun.
Friday was busy. Had lots of stuff to do (worship practice, piano lesson, comp lesson, etc.). Then in the evening I went over to Aiko's for dinner. Then we went to Daun Hayes' recital. She's the vocal teacher here. It was very good. And the accompaniest she brought with her was incredible. He teaches part-time at Chico, but he's graduated from Eastman, Julliard, and Cinncinnati, and done a bunch of other things. Both Aiko and Dr. Thorlakson were very impressed. Then afterward Aiko and I went out again. We've discovered that after 10pm the only things really open in Redding are Denny's and IHOP. So we went to Denny's and had hot chocolate and talked till 12:30 or so.
On Saturday, I practiced a lot and did some other homework then went to a recital of Aiko and Mrs. Nichols' piano student (the non-college ones). It was pretty cute, and short. Which is something I miss in recitals nowadays.
I sat with Lauren and we came to two conclusions. The first is that the ratio of our musical skills to the little kids performing is probably the same of our professors to us performing on recitals. So, now I know how the professors feel watching us perform recitals, and it doesn't make me feel any better. The second is that we want to go back to easy music. Learn it in a week, memorize it in a day, and be able to get all the musicality right. It would be nice. Oh well, not so.
Then I did a project for Dr. Thorlakson, after which Aiko and I went out. We walked around Barnes and Nobles for a few hours looking at books, then we got kicked out because they were closing and went to IHOP because we were both hungry. So we hung out there and talked until 12:00, again. (Don't worry, this won't be a regular habit).
Then today we had a choir gig at a church. It's a church in Shingletown, way out in the middle of nowhere. Ironically, it's name is Open Door Community Church. The nice thing is that their single service starts at 10:30, so we didn't have to leave until 9:00 (as compared to multiple service churches where we have to leave school at 7:00 a.m.). It was interesting. We did okay, but it was a dry room (their sanctuary add-on isn't done yet) and we were singing in the round, which means we were spread around the room instead of packed together. This means we all tend to push a bit because we feel like we're singing solos in a dead room. So, I kinda pushed my voice a little too hard on one of the last songs and lost my voice for a bit. Then at 2 I had rehearsal for Messiah. Thankfully, my voice was somewhat better, but I also think I'm getting a cold. So there you go. After than I ate in the un-spectacular Sunday evening cafeteria and just finished up watching Equilibrium. Oh yeah, I got my Amazon orders on Friday too. So I got some fun new music and DVDs. Yeah!
Now I have to decide what to do homework-wise. Ugh. Oh well, I must do something.
This week will be somewhat busy by shouldn't be too bad. The weekend though will be crazy. Friday is Laura's senior recital. Saturday is Winter Banquet. Sunday is Messiah rehearsal, and there's another one Monday night. It's a good thing that the next week is only two days. Well, actually, no. That just means the teachers cram more into less...and then Thanksgiving break is shot for homework and practice...not good. Oh well. I'll deal. It's only 4 more weeks and then I get to start the whole thing over again. But at least then I have the goal of graduating. Which, the more I think about it, the less I want it to happen. But I also don't really want to do homework any longer than I have to. I pretty much just want to hang out in the music department with my friends and the professors and have music classes, but not really have them count for anything. Sigh. I'll get over it eventually I guess.
Anyway, I'll wrap this up because I should go do something (and no, it will not be hanging out with Aiko all night).
Later. Love to you all.
P.S. The Messiah performed by the Oregon Bach Festival musicians and directed by Helmuth Rilling is quite good. Okay, I'm done.
So, I'll give you a recap of my weekend, just for fun.
Friday was busy. Had lots of stuff to do (worship practice, piano lesson, comp lesson, etc.). Then in the evening I went over to Aiko's for dinner. Then we went to Daun Hayes' recital. She's the vocal teacher here. It was very good. And the accompaniest she brought with her was incredible. He teaches part-time at Chico, but he's graduated from Eastman, Julliard, and Cinncinnati, and done a bunch of other things. Both Aiko and Dr. Thorlakson were very impressed. Then afterward Aiko and I went out again. We've discovered that after 10pm the only things really open in Redding are Denny's and IHOP. So we went to Denny's and had hot chocolate and talked till 12:30 or so.
On Saturday, I practiced a lot and did some other homework then went to a recital of Aiko and Mrs. Nichols' piano student (the non-college ones). It was pretty cute, and short. Which is something I miss in recitals nowadays.
I sat with Lauren and we came to two conclusions. The first is that the ratio of our musical skills to the little kids performing is probably the same of our professors to us performing on recitals. So, now I know how the professors feel watching us perform recitals, and it doesn't make me feel any better. The second is that we want to go back to easy music. Learn it in a week, memorize it in a day, and be able to get all the musicality right. It would be nice. Oh well, not so.
Then I did a project for Dr. Thorlakson, after which Aiko and I went out. We walked around Barnes and Nobles for a few hours looking at books, then we got kicked out because they were closing and went to IHOP because we were both hungry. So we hung out there and talked until 12:00, again. (Don't worry, this won't be a regular habit).
Then today we had a choir gig at a church. It's a church in Shingletown, way out in the middle of nowhere. Ironically, it's name is Open Door Community Church. The nice thing is that their single service starts at 10:30, so we didn't have to leave until 9:00 (as compared to multiple service churches where we have to leave school at 7:00 a.m.). It was interesting. We did okay, but it was a dry room (their sanctuary add-on isn't done yet) and we were singing in the round, which means we were spread around the room instead of packed together. This means we all tend to push a bit because we feel like we're singing solos in a dead room. So, I kinda pushed my voice a little too hard on one of the last songs and lost my voice for a bit. Then at 2 I had rehearsal for Messiah. Thankfully, my voice was somewhat better, but I also think I'm getting a cold. So there you go. After than I ate in the un-spectacular Sunday evening cafeteria and just finished up watching Equilibrium. Oh yeah, I got my Amazon orders on Friday too. So I got some fun new music and DVDs. Yeah!
Now I have to decide what to do homework-wise. Ugh. Oh well, I must do something.
This week will be somewhat busy by shouldn't be too bad. The weekend though will be crazy. Friday is Laura's senior recital. Saturday is Winter Banquet. Sunday is Messiah rehearsal, and there's another one Monday night. It's a good thing that the next week is only two days. Well, actually, no. That just means the teachers cram more into less...and then Thanksgiving break is shot for homework and practice...not good. Oh well. I'll deal. It's only 4 more weeks and then I get to start the whole thing over again. But at least then I have the goal of graduating. Which, the more I think about it, the less I want it to happen. But I also don't really want to do homework any longer than I have to. I pretty much just want to hang out in the music department with my friends and the professors and have music classes, but not really have them count for anything. Sigh. I'll get over it eventually I guess.
Anyway, I'll wrap this up because I should go do something (and no, it will not be hanging out with Aiko all night).
Later. Love to you all.
P.S. The Messiah performed by the Oregon Bach Festival musicians and directed by Helmuth Rilling is quite good. Okay, I'm done.
11.09.2003
Music, music and more music.
Well, this was an interesting week/weekend.
I managed to get through my various presentations and quizzes okay, well, excepting my theology quiz which I have no idea how I did on it.
Aiko is finally done with her competition. She did well for the most part, but is a little disheartened that her abilities lag a bit behind piano performance people from other colleges. But she also got to spend some good time with her family, which is nice.
As for me, on Friday I helped Becky Levy set up for her senior recital, then yesterday night I was there for many hours getting things ready and then recording the senior recital. She did very well. She's a vocal person, for those who don't know, and she put out probably the best senior recital to date. It was very nice.
Then today, I had church, then Messiah practice, then a Sinfonia concert, then went out to dinner with Aiko and Lisa, and now I"m back to do homework. Fun fun.
The Sinfonia concert was good. They've improved alot. The strings were reasonably in tune, and there were only a handful of 'wince' moments.
So, now I get to do lots of homework for the upcoming week. It's like everthing got pushed back and is all coming due at once. Oh well, I'll survive. But I still need to work on it.
Later.
I managed to get through my various presentations and quizzes okay, well, excepting my theology quiz which I have no idea how I did on it.
Aiko is finally done with her competition. She did well for the most part, but is a little disheartened that her abilities lag a bit behind piano performance people from other colleges. But she also got to spend some good time with her family, which is nice.
As for me, on Friday I helped Becky Levy set up for her senior recital, then yesterday night I was there for many hours getting things ready and then recording the senior recital. She did very well. She's a vocal person, for those who don't know, and she put out probably the best senior recital to date. It was very nice.
Then today, I had church, then Messiah practice, then a Sinfonia concert, then went out to dinner with Aiko and Lisa, and now I"m back to do homework. Fun fun.
The Sinfonia concert was good. They've improved alot. The strings were reasonably in tune, and there were only a handful of 'wince' moments.
So, now I get to do lots of homework for the upcoming week. It's like everthing got pushed back and is all coming due at once. Oh well, I'll survive. But I still need to work on it.
Later.