State MPA

So today was the last of our away-from-GHS public performances.  We ended up with a 1 and two 2s, better than almost anyone expected, but at least we managed to give a better run than our average.  The first band we heard was so together though!  They were able to play for entire sections with no conductor, which allowed her to actually spend most of her time cuing and bringing emotion into their performance, something I wish Id seen more in our ensemble.

Afterwards, 11 of us went to the Flying Biscuit - which was fun and delicious as always.  Anyone who hadn't been before was an instant fan - there's no way they'll ever have any problem; the whole town loves it!

Then this evening I think I may have fixed our internet issue - we got a new coaxial cable splitter, which may have been the problem w/ our spotty connection, because we haven't had any problems tonight *knock on wood*.

I've been given even more new music from Joe!  Bruckner is the composer of the day, and I'm really liking his work so far.  I'll have to listen to more of it later.

So although my voice ran away last night, it came back this morning - so there wasn't really any major problem.

We listened to [title of show] in Owens today, my choice for TRL.  About 5 people seemed to love it, 5 seemed mildly interested, and the other 40 had no clue what they just listened to.  On the whole, a successful venture.

I've spent most of my evening ripping DVDs of The Office, which I've borrowed from Joe.  Around 45 episodes on the whole I think - definitely a lot of Steve Carell Comedy, and of my new 3rd favorite show or so.

The day's been pretty uneventful on the whole.  Happy 2-month anniversary TJ!

Musical Reviews

I've listened to a few new musicals this week, all noteworthy in their own ways.

Bounce - Stephen Sondheim (2003 Original)

This is Sondheim's newest musical, still not all the way to broadway yet.  This recording's from a few years ago - its since been through several iterations and is right now running as Road Show off-broadway with Michael Ceveris.  While a bit slow at the start, a song or two in, Sondheim's unmistakable style was evident.  A bit of a blend between Merrily We Roll Along and A Little Night Music, it isn't my favorite Sondheim show by far, but it's pleasant to listen to.  The cast is good and the music is interesting on its own merit (the plot seems a bit sketchy, but hopefully it's been improved in the new version).  I'll definitely be getting the updated version when it comes out to see how it's changed

Candide - Leonard Bernstein (1974 Revival)

While sometimes referred to as an opera, the frequent spoken lines of this show, plus its highly comedic, modern nature, classify it as a musical for me.  I haven't read Voltaire's Candide, but it seems like it follows that plot only loosely.  Rather the closest comparison I could make is probably Pippin, by Schwartz, but with better music and a more epic plot.  It follows the adventures of Candide, a budding philosopher, and his many encounters and seperations from his love Cunaganda.  The bizarre story includes people dying and then returning to life, several social criticisms and a few wars, but its pushed along by well-crafted songs and a nice, full orchestra.  Fun to listen to and a quality piece of work.

Jekyll & Hyde - Frank Wildhorn and Leslie Bricusse (1997 OBC)

I am actually listening to this as I type.  I haven't finished it all the way, but it seems to be in the same vein as the modern literary classic shows such as Jane Eyre, A Tale of Two Cities, and The Secret Garden.  While I've never read the book, the story seems easy enough to follow and the actors all have great voices.  Of course I'll point out a show that makes heavy use of complicated vocal harmony, for that is all to rare in modern theatre.  It will definitely join the list of my most-played shows in the coming months.

Other than listening to broadway CDs, I've spent my day working on Ms. Bergeron's Poetry Project...analysing and presenting Fleur Adcock's "The Telephone Call" for my 5th Period class.  Oh, and finally getting over my cold - that's a big plus!

Week of Apr. 13

I haven't posted in a while, but then again I haven't done a whole lot this week.  I've been sick now for a week and a day...and while it's showing signs of clearing off, I wish this cold would just go away.

Positives...our Chemistry class has been practicing Cambridge tests every day, and now we're all doing ridiculously well, so that's definitely a plus.  Economics we finished our teaching on Friday, so now we're gonna take Corbett's method for review.

The best part of the week was definintely finishing up The Battery's Down Season 1.  One of the best shows ever, even if its not on TV at all.  For a musical theatre freak like me, a show with numbers referencing 20 to 30 musicals in quick succession is hilarious and amazing to watch - and now I've got the CD of it too! (Thanks to Joe!)

I have a Poetry Project due on Monday for Bergeron....don't really want to do it, but I have to put together a presentation and an essay - analysing a poem that, while fun to read, doesn't really have much poetic merit.

So I was still sick today, but I managed to drag myself to school and decided there wouldn't have been much point in my going home - I wouldn't have healed up at all.  School was pretty monotonous, but nothing particularly bad.  The highlight of my day was in English when I looked at my essay passed back and saw a 9 sitting there (AP Scale, so Perfect)!  It was the first time Bergeron had given a 9 in over a year she said.

This afternoon I came home and...slept, surprise surprise.  I tried to work on my Senior Will some, but didn't really get any farther.  The best part though, was when my family decided to go to Flying Biscuit, the new restaurant near Fresh Market.  Its from Raving Brands - the Moe's old parent company - and serves awesome breakfast all day!  The cheese grits are absolutely the best ones I've ever had, and their biscuits are insanely good too.

Sick

Today was already set to be the busiest day of the break.  I had to get up at 6:45 A.M., be @ church by 7:20, then proceed to ring handbells, play trombone, and sing, (all in various combinations and orders) for the next four-and-a-half hours through our 3 Easter services at my church.

Oh so luckily, I came down with a sore throat a few days ago which, last night, blossomed into a fever and full out illness.  So not only was I set to do an insane day, I was going to do it on little sleep and in a state of not-well-being.

Starbucks was a must on the way, but even that was unable to ever fully awaken me.  Somehow, I managed to make it through the services in one piece.  As usual, Trinity was packed to the gills!  At our middle contemporary service, there were so many people we were seating overflow with us in the choir loft.

After the long morning, I came home and we had a full-out Easter feast, with anything and everything one could imagine or want, after which I lapsed into 3 hours or so of fitful naps, trying to recover from this cold.  Yay end of spring break :/

Last weekday of spring break

Despite thinking about it today, I am yet to actually put any effort into working on our Poetry Project.  The first part's due next Thursday I think, but I just have no interest in trying it yet.

This morning, I was driving down 13th St. when I saw that Fazoli's is out of business!  I'm glad not to have to deal w/ that next year on football game days - I don't know where I'd eat, since I'm not a fan of subs in general, and Moe's is too far away.  Chipotle might work, but luckily that's all theoretical.

Most of the afternoon revolved around setting up a trampoline.  An odd job, you may say.  Well it certainly is.  To raise money for our summer tour, my church choir always hires out youth for whatever jobs we select as wanting to do; then we go to the house we're told to and do stuff, and get paid.  Well Tyler and I were called about setting up a trampoline today for someone, so we're like sure, why not.

We drive out to Haile Plantation, not getting turned around at all thanks to the navigational prowess of Sally the GPS (once she finally made connection with her mother satellite).  However, once we got there, it took 3 tries before we actually walked up the driveway of the correct house.

We are shown a box sealed up with tape, a recycling bin full of netting and parts, and a backyard with a partially disassembled trampoline and rusting supports.  Apparently the trampoline had been up at one point, but it had some accident with the netting getting torn and it was taken down.  So first we had to figure out how to get the trampoline mat attatched to the frame - not anywhere near as easy a task as would be expected.  There were about 100 spring-slots where a spring was supposed to attach to the frame and then stretch to the mat.  We started by beginning at one side and working counter clockwise and clockwise around, planning to end on the other side.  That failed quickly; about halfway across the springs were stretching far to far for everything to work, and since F=kx^2 for a spring, each extra cm they had to stretch made it exponentially harder to pull.

The next plan was to go every 3rd, and then later every 6th, but each of those only allowed about one spring farther than our initial plan had.  So we took all the springs off of the mat and planned it out anew.  We decided, well if we do one spring on one side, and one on the opposing side, they should cancel each other out.  Then if we each move clockwise from there, we should never have too much excess force.  That plan was working by far the best, but it still got tough to attach the springs near the end.  So we started hooking two springs together to pull the original one into the hole.  Finally after about an hour of work, we managed to have the base trampoline all together.

Then it was time to get the enclosure up.  Only hard section of that was getting the screws in the holes, which eventually required a power drill with screwdriver attachment.  Yay power tools!  But in the end it all went up and looked great, and didn't fall apart when we got on it so it must've been put together well.  Sonny's on the way home for sweet tea!  'Cause Sonny's tea is just pretty much the best ever.

2 hours of NBC comedy! That was my night from 8 - 10.  Yea, its pathetic, but I love 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and I'm starting to adore the Office as well.  No other shows on tv really appeal to me that much, but I'm happy that I don't feel addicted to hours of TV each day.

Flying Biscuit, the Raving Brands all-day breakfast café, opens Monday!  In my eating at Moe's today, I heard about a Friends & Family VIP trial they're having this weekend; I might see if I can find a way to get in :P.

My trombone came back home from Hoggetowne this afternoon.  Apparently there had been an almost invisible bend in the slide, but now it's running as smooth as ever before.  It's nice to have a place literally a minute away to run to for quick repairs/supplies.

On the whole, today was spring break at its best: not much to do other than relax and unwind.

Spring Break - Wed.

There really wasn't that much of note that happened today.  I uncovered the plants I'd sheltered last night, happily noting that not one was even slightly damaged by the storm.  Then I spent several hours at or near my dentist's office, serving as chauffeur for my brother and Dad, both of whom had filling-type operations.

This morning I'd practiced with our brass ensemble at my church for Easter.  I can't say it was exceedingly exciting, but we sounded ok and it went smoothly, so I guess I can't ask for more.  Easter is going to be a busy day, that's for sure.  Between handbells, choir, and this brass ensemble, I am doing something about every 5 minutes from eight to noon.

The remainder of my day has been spent reading, finishing Brisingr, which I still hold to be a member of a quality series of literature.  There's a time for profound writings and a time for light adventure tales, and I can appreciate both equally.

Since earlier in the day, I've customized my blog a bit, and intend to continue customizing it to perfection, using the CSS skills I learned back at Bishop.

Over break I've been taking care of a family friend's house/plants/fish while he's away, so of course I was quite disheartened to hear it was potentially freezing tonight.  Protecting his yard from the cruel tongues of frost is a massive undertaking involving pulleys, 10 foot long tarps, and potential hernias....not exaggerating at all.

Annoyed, but unwilling to allow dozens of plants to shrivel to their death under my watch, I set out bringing in all the pots and covering up anything immobile due to size.  Luckily, I managed to contact him (in Singapore) and determined that at these temperatures, the tall plants would survive fine (so no pulleys needed).  Almost two hours later, I've returned home exhausted, but pleased to know I've done my duty.

A Day of Not Much Happening

Because of Joe's inactivity on his blog, I'm going to be determined to outlast him in this endeavor - even though I haven't really done anything worth noting on a blog.

Yesterday we went down to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa; they had a bit, but it wasn't that great.  However I do love the fresh sea breeze which blows through every corner of a coastal city like Tampa.  That was the best part of the entire trip.  That and the gelato.

After the aquarium we headed over to International Plaza - a mall extraordinare with far more shops than could ever be necessary.  A delicious repast of sushi later, I strolled through the mall, not finding much of value aside from a sweater or two that I bought on clearance sale.  The local gelateria (Italian super-dense ice cream) was the highlight of the trip, for they also serve authentic italian espresso shots.  I got a small white chocolate hazelnut gelato and a 2oz Espresso Chocolate Macchiato, both blissful little shots of their respective desserts.

On the way home, my Dad decided to "take an adventure" so we swung 20 miles west to Tarpon Springs, the little Greek Spongeland.  I had a dinner of 5 panfried full Sand Perches, eyes and all.  It was the first time I'd ever eaten a fish that was whole on my plate, but each one of them was quite delicious, their deaths most happily filled my appetite.

I listened to a few Mahler symphonies (courtesy of Joe) and read about half of Brisingr, the finale to the Eragon trilogy.  Some people say they're overrated, but they're quick reads, and always interesting.

Now I prepare to clean my room, practice, and enjoy another day of relative nothing on Spring Break '09

First Entry - Palm Sunday

So, I've been sitting here, enjoying my first few days of break.  Joe finally talked me into making a blog, and I decided to comply, since I don't have a whole lot better to do right now.

This morning our choir sang as backup to our Assistant Preacher's wife - a really cool gospel tune.  It was actually a lot of fun, even if our parts weren't that complicated; it worked nicely on the whole.

It was lunchtime and there was a lot of hunger in my family.  After a momentary debate on what to do, it was decided that we would head somewhere new...not much of a decision, but we went down Newberry Road, intending to find something eventually.  We made it all the way to the town of Newberry and ended up @ Backyard BBQ there, which was absolutely fantastic!  I had fried green tomatoes for (I was informed) the second time - definitely an amazing southern appetizer.

When I came home, I sat on my futon for a while just trying to conquer the triple-tonguing beast that 4 Scottish Dances is.  (I never actually spent much time with Double or Triple tonguing...and now it's coming back to haunt me).  After a relatively uneventful Sonlight Choir/Band practice, I came home and finished up Son of a Witch, a great sequel to Wicked (both by Gregory McGuire).

Since then I haven't accomplished a whole lot - a bit more triple tonguing practice and some reading Economics books trying to figure out the last few chapters we have to finish next week.  Tomorrow morning I'm waking up and we're heading to the Tampa Aquarium, so that's gonna be a long day - luckily my espresso is brewing as I type, which I'll then chill and turn into an iced mocha tomorrow morn.

Who can say if I'll blog regularly, but at least for today, that's a window into my life...