What a great way to start the holidays...

So this morning was my History final.

I went to bed early last night (2300) and woke up early enough to shower and grab some breakfast before my 800 exam. 25 Multiple choice, two essays. I wrote about the causes of World War I in one and argued the justification of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II. So, fairly easy stuff. I was out of there just before 900.

So, I then went back to my dorm to clean and pack. I checked out at 1030, and was on the road by 11. Wooo! Holidays!

So I was just cruising home, you know, when all of a sudden, I get pulled over. Apparently, going 84 in a 65 zone is bad (I was in the slow lane, people were passing me to the left- of course he goes after me), and I got a ticket. I called and talked to the people, and the ticket will cost $169.50, which is a lot of money I don't have. BUT the nice lady on the phone said that it's possible I'd be able to do a short Drivers thing either online or through a 4-hour course instead of paying the ticket, which is KICKASS. I mean, yeah, both of those options suck (Online course doesn't sound too bad), but it's better than paying close to $200 bucks. I'll go and talk to them about it when I'll have to be going through there for the Bowl Game anyway. But anyway.

I'm back in town. Tomorrow is Uppity Collective at Moe's, and then who knows? Operation: Dragon Roll is still in its primary stages of planning, but it will come to fruition soon.
Also, it's really hard to type this when my dogs are fighting on the couch next to me:


Anyway, Happy Holidays to all of you, especially those of you still in school. :P


-David

Operation: Dragon Roll

I can't go into much detail, because this is a secret operation... but I'll tell you what I can.

Operation: Dragon Roll is fast approaching. This has potential to be ten times better than the postponed Operation: Hemingway, so you know that this shit is legit. I'll fill you guys in as more details are given to me. Just be sure to keep this on the "DL."


Moving on, tomorrow is my last day on campus until next year. I'll have to take my History final in the morning, but I am not worried at all. If any of you have had Starling as a History teacher, then you'll be familiar with the style of test that my final's going to be. As I said, no biggie.

Going back to my Jury piece for a bit: I got my grade sheets today. Each of the judges filled one out (And I can't tell who said what. Not because the sheets are anonymous, but because all of them have completely illegible signatures. Blech.) and then they were stapled together and handed to me.
Overall, my score was a B+. Not as good as I expected, but looking back, it seems fairly accurate. I'm still pretty proud of it, and Dr. Tychinski says I did a good job. That's what matters, I guess.


So, Friday. I'm going to go see Uppity Collective play up at Moe's that night, hopefully with Rin. It looks like it will be a good night. More details on that later, too. :)

So, that is all. Due to my lack of sleep last night (lol, going to bed at 7 AM), I will be "hitting the hay" early tonight.


-David

Ninjasaurus Ginger

Hello folks.

There's been a new species of dinosaur discovered recently, in the Genus "Ninjasaurus." There's some speculation as to some of the finer details, but evidence points to a reddish pattern decorating these raptors' neck and back, thus leading scientists to propose the name "Ninjasaurus Ginger," or just "Ginjasaurus" for short.

Here is an artist's rendition of what these dinosaurs may have looked like:



That is all.


-David

Finish me these finals three...

Blech. Busy day, busy day.

I had three finals today, Aural Skills at 8:00, my Jury performance at 10:12, and my Theory final at 13:30. Woooo.

Anyway, so I woke up bright and early to go over to the Fine Arts building for my Aural Skills exam. I trudged through the rain, my umbrella shielding me from the torrent. I was wearing a suit (I looked pretty nice, too.), so I didn't want to get wet. The suit was for Jury, I wanted to look nice. :)
So I arrived at the classroom at five until, and was feeling anxious. The test would be simple, there were only two parts:
1) Sing a song that you have prepared out of our Sightsinging book. We'd been doing various sightsinging exercises throughout the half-semester I've had the class, and he could ask you to do any one of those to sing for him. I didn't have a copy of the book, so I couldn't prepare for this part. Blech.
2) Sightsing a song he gives us when we go in to take the test.

So... as you can tell, I was extremely unprepared. The teacher was running late, so in the time we spent waiting, the class decided to go over some of the songs. We only had time to do one before he arrived. Needless to say, this did little to quell my growing fear of failure. After taking care of some business, we were all shuffled out of the classroom to wait in the hall- we'd be taking the exam one at a time. I waited outside, talking to people and such. Since I didn't have a book, I made a deal with a friend to borrow his once he was finished with the exam. After a while of waiting, I decided I wanted to go pretty soon, to prepare for my Jury.

And at last, my time came. I walked in the door with my borrowed book, ready to bomb this. The teacher (I still don't know his name, haha.) sat down at the piano and told me that I was going to sing Exercise 2.29 from the book. Luckily, not only was that the easiest one of the "prepared" pieces, it was the one we had gone over while waiting for him! Relief flooded through me as he played me my starting pitch. I belted out the first "Do" and proceeded to sing the whole thing perfectly, to the very last "Fa Mi Re Do." He told me he was glad I prepared for this (Ha!) and handed me the page I'd be sightsinging. I had a minute to look over it.

It was in the key of G, and was mostly scale patterns. "Do Re Mi Fa Sol" and such, fairly basic. I was a bit shaky on the pitch (I know for a fact that I sung a "Le" instead of a "La" at one point- 6ths are bitches. So it was in E Minor for a measure, wooo.) but overall, I didn't stop and made no major mistakes. He gave me a thumbs up and told me to send in the next person.

Aural Skills Final: COMPLETE

So, my next mission would be to secure a practice room for the next 30 minutes and prepare for my Jury. If you know me at all, you know that I've been freaking out over this performance for just over a month now. It's a big deal (20% of my grade for lessons), and I was scared I wouldn't be ready for it. Especially after my sub-par recital, I felt I needed as much practice as I good. So for thirty or so minutes, I ran through the piece and went over all the tricky spots. At 10:00, I figured I needed to go ahead and head down there. I was nervous.
I waited outside the door with my accompanist. He's actually a pretty cool dude. We talked about some stuff regarding the piece (How fast to play the Allegro Maestoso, dynamics, when to come in at this one part...) and in what felt like no time at all, the doors opened and I was beckoned in.

I entered the Choral Hall with my trombone and music. Sitting at the table was the entire brass faculty- Dr. Lucas, Horn; Dr. Kelly, Trumpet; Dr. Perry, Tuba/Euphonium; and Dr. Tychinski, Trombone. I put my music on the stand and got ready. The judges nodded to me, indicating they were ready to start. I gave a quick glance to my accompanist to let him know I was ready, and we began.

Eight minutes later, as I held out my final F, I was ecstatic. That was my best performance yet! Sure, I made a few small mistakes, but those were overshadowed by my awesome 16th note runs and keen dynamics. It was brilliant. They smiled and I left. I thanked my accompanist and went on my way.

Jury: COMPLETE

And then, I ate food, slept until 13:15, went and took my Theory exam. I didn't prepare for it, but I knew the stuff so I wasn't worried. It was as easy as I thought it would be, and I turned in my paper within 15 minutes. There really isn't that much to say about it.

Theory Exam: COMPLETE

And so, that's about it. I'm SO glad to be finished with all of that. One more final to go, and I'll be home for the holidays!


-David

iBone

I guess it seems inevitable that there would be an iPhone app for everything, but a trombone?

I was skeptical at first, but after seeing this video, not only am I extremely impressed, I would also be willing to get an iPhone just for this. Not really. But still.




Like I said, I want.


-David

Images are the devil.

I would just like to take a moment to iterate how much of a pain it is to post pictures on my blog.

Having to go and resize all of them so they fit, pah!
You'd better appreciate how much I love you all.


-David

Continuity error.

Haha, hey.

Yeah, I haven't posted in a while. I've been afflicted with Jury rehearsals, finals, studying, and general laziness. But, luckily for you, I have returned!

There's been so much going on, I'm not even going to bother trying to cover it all. Blech. I've been a busy boy, and if there's one thing I hate, it's being busy. Like seriously. Busy sucks.

So some quick highlights of the last week before I go into my usual ramblings:
-Thanksgiving break was amazing, as noted in my previous few entries.
-OH SHIT FINALS WEEK
-Performed my first recital, playing the solo piece "Concertino in F Major for Bass Trombone and Piano" by Ernst Sachse*, and I think I did a fairly decent job with it.
-It snowed here on Friday night, and it was pretty much AMAZING. I mean, look at this shit:




WOOO SNOW
-Math Final was on Saturday morning, and it SUCKED but now I am finished with math forever and ever
-And now it's today, so I'm done with this list.

So, I have absolutely nothing on my schedule until Tuesday, when I have my Aural Skills and my Theory finals, plus my Jury performance. And then, nothing on Wednesday, an 8:00 final in History on Thursday and then HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS.
I am even more excited about Christmas break than I was for Thanksgiving break, because I have even MORE time to spend with friends, I can resume playing Pokemon Rumble! (My latest video game addiction that I haven't played since Thanksgiving), live off Pizza Rolls and Coke at Macey's house (While playing through Dragon Age: Orgins, of course), spend time with Rin, and get my hands on this bad boy:


The new Zelda game for DS. It looks like it will be a very innovative addition to the Zelda series, and an overall great game. It comes out tomorrow, but because of monetary issues, I won't be getting it for a while. :(

As I (very) briefly mentioned earlier this post, another reason I'm looking forward to Christmas break is because I get to spend more time with Rin. I haven't spoken to her in a few days, actually. She went up to an acting competition in Troy for the weekend, and apparently forgot her phone charger. I have no clue when she's getting home (I assume sometime today, but it's getting late and she hasn't texted me), so. Blech. I want to talk to her. :(

Oh shit! Two paragraphs ending with a ":("?!
Gods have mercy. Blogs DO turn people into emos.
I'll leave you for now, before I start crying about how my parents don't love me and how much I "connect" with Linkin Park lyrics.


-David


*If you'd like to hear the song I'm doing, here are links to Ben Van Dijk playing the three movements:
Movement I
Movement II
Movement III