Fun, distress, and classes, oh my!

Figured I'd post since I haven't done so in like two weeks. Aaron and Soloman came over last weekend. It was awesome. I had a great time. We spent most of the weekend playing dungeons and dragon and just screwing around. It couldn't have been a better way to spend the weekend. Rena's folks came on Monday morning. That was fun as well. They're trying to get onto this reality TV show called "The Great Race" or something like that. It's on CBS and its about different teams traveling around the world looking for clues or something like that. I've never seen it but I agreed to do it if our team gets picked. During the course of the visit, we made video footage of us doing crazy stuff around Ellensburg. We're also did interviews of ourselves. I let my nature geekiness reign supreme in it. Other than that, we watched Hitch which was a funny good movie and played Cranium. I am still the clay-master, though team testosterone lost. The girls must've cheated, there can be no other explanation. We went out to dinner and then they left. So, it was Monday night and I had a Woodwinds project due the next day at 2:00 which I hadn't started yet. I skipped my 9:00 and 10:00 the next morning. I finished the project at about 1:30 ish. Wow.

In other news, I registered for next quarter. I'll be taking Class Voice, Choir, General Music Methods, Private Tuba, Concert Band, Symphonic Band, Flute Methods, and Ethnic Awareness. I'm quitting my Brass Quintet because the direction its going in isn't the way I want it to go. But the rest of the quintet harbors no hard feelings, so that's good. Also, because I'll be in Choir, I can't be in Brass Choir. I'll be applying to the TEP next week (as soon as I get my last transcript in). I can see the end of the road. After this next quarter, I will only have three music classes left to take and six education classes. I'm not as close to graduating as I thought I was, but I should be able to start student teaching next spring. I got my first paycheck yesterday. And I found out that I should've received another one already. After going in between payroll and the cashier's office for an hour, I finally got it. So now, Rena and I are $167 richer! By the end of the weekend, we'll be $550 poorer. Damn you rent! Anyways, next weekend we go up to camp for another round of staff interviews. It's going to be busy, I'm very excited. That reminds me, I need to make about two dozen phone calls to past staffers this weekend. Hasta Luego!

Valentine's Day

I had a great Valentine's Day. The String studio was doing a fundraiser by doing serenades for Valentine's Day. I had a string trio come over to the apartment just after noon and they serenaded Rena. It was awesome. She really loved it. Guess what Rena got me? A Pojar! For you guys who have no idea what a Pojar is, it is a plant identification guide. But not any plant identification guide, but the BEST plant identification guide for the Pacific Northwest. This is the nature geek coming out of me. I'm very happy.

In other news, Rena got a job. We're both very excited about that. She will be working in a kitchen at this camp about twenty minutes out of Ellensburg on Saturdays and Sundays. My WEST-B exam score arrived yesterday as well. I got a 294 on the Math Portion, a 284 on the Reading Portion, and a 270 on the Writing Portion. Those scores are out of 300 and I needed a 240(?) to pass them for the Teacher Education Program. The only thing I have left now is to get my letters of recommendation in. Also, my friends Aaron and Soloman are coming over this weekend; I'm very excited about that. It will be just like the old times, playing video games and D&D until two in the morning.

Finding the Musical Truth

Here are some quotes that I got in one of my classes. I find them very reassuring to why I am in music.

"The tears come from the heart and not from the brain" -Leonardo da Vinci

"What is best in music is not to be found in the notes." -Mahler

"Music, I feel, must be emotional first and intellectual second." -Ravel

"Music is the outburst of the soul." -Delius

"Music is the speech of Passion." -Wagner

"Music is the shorthand of emotion. Emotions which let themselves be described in words with
such difficulty are directly conveyed to man in music, and in that is its power and
significance." -Tolstoy