I just got out of my piano lesson, I spent all morning with Dr. Marks! Well I had Piano Lit, and then a piano lesson right after, and I have studio later today. That's a lot of Dr. Marks.

He doesn't seem the least bit worried about my recital which is really freaking me out. Because I know I should be a lot farther along than I am. That's not to say he didn't have this sort of urgent "this is the efficient type of practice you need to be doing" message throughout the lesson.

Anyway, I have a test tomorrow and a special scholarship dinner where scholarship recipients have dinner with their donors. So I will get to meet my donors for my music scholarship! It should be fun.

Next weekend I am going home for Easter and an interview for the Bodhi scholarship. It will be the last year I can apply for it (I think) and I am going to sort of miss the process. I am looking forward to going home though.

I have my wisdom teeth growing in and they haven't been giving me problems until two days ago. But it's only the bottom right one that hurts really badly.

Mu Phi is having an Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday. It's going to be really fun.

I am feeling much better these days, which is such a relief. I've just come to accept that I am doing really well in all my classes, and I have no reason to worry anymore if I can't get all the studying done. Because actually I am remarkably on top of things and I get the important stuff done and make good grades so stress is really unnecessary. (except for my recital... that's always going to be a little scary.

Hooray for good moods!

I found out my friend Kenneth won a really important scholarship/award. I was so proud of him when I found out. He's so responsible and good about managing lots of different things at once.

What else? That's all for now.

Busy Busy

So I've been really busy every day since I got back from spring break. I am also really depressed and tired and sad most of the time. I hope I get out of this slump because it totally sucks...

Some good news: I did perfectly fine on my theory test which I couldn't really study for because I was busy writing my research paper the night before it was due. The paper is probably really terrible but I don't want to look at it anymore to make sure. Also tonight I will be initiated as a Mu Phi! I am very excited about that. But it will mean less sleep for me tonight. Also I found out my Big is Melissa, who I was really hoping was my Big, and she is! Yay! Now I'm baking her cookies, I hope she likes them.

Taking a Break

I am in the middle of practicing. I think I'm probably going to be at McCrary and the library for several hours this evening working on all the junk I have to do. I am really tired of school work and not having enough time to get everything done to my satisfaction. I'm not even taking that many hours. I am accompanying a lot more than I usually do so that makes a difference I guess. Also Mu Phi takes up a little bit of time, but mostly that's not stressful. Though we have to do these pledge pages for every member and I am a little stressed about that since I only see maybe 5 out of the 18 on a regular basis.

I've already forgotton that advisement is tomorrow. At least I already have everything for that done. I figured out my schedule a couple of weeks ago. Music History, Applied Piano, Piano Pedagogy, choir, and either voice or harpsichord or something. Only 12 hours, yay! And no recital credit!

Cleyera needs to update her blog now!

Busch Gardens

Saturday we went to Busch Gardens. I loved it! I liked that we could ride a roller coaster and then look at the animals and then ride a roller coaster and then look at animals. My favorite ride is the SheiKra. I think it is the best ride I have ever ridden and a master piece of roller coaster design. I should be a roller coaster critic. It was so smooth, the view was amazing, and it was very exciting. It was soooo cold whenever we were not in the sun. By the end of the day, us girls were shivering in our sandals.

We stopped by a birthday party at Jenny's friend Theresa's apartment. I really enjoyed meeting Theresa.

Then we ended up going the The World of Beer and had our St. Patrick's day beer. Mine was Blue Moon. No green beer for me, which made me sad. But I still had a really good time.

Our flight left early this morning and I took a nap in my mom's bed while Jenny took a nap in my bed, and then we drove back to Waco. Now I am back and very sad that I have so much work to do!

Laura's Secret Beach

We woke up Friday to pouring rain. We had been planning to go to Busch Gardens. We hung around the apartment all morning, I even did laundry. Then we went to this awesome restaurant called Nikki's which had wonderful omelette's and biscuits and gravy. Jenny wasn't feeling well after so Laura took me and Mike to her secret beach while Jenny took a nap and rested up. It was about a 30 minute walk from Laura's apartment so we took Melvin along. There was a door left on the side of the path which I thought was very interesting. We saw probably a hundred horseshoe crabs, which are very ugly and fascinating creatures. Melvin thought so too. The tide was in so that the end of the trail where the beach would normally be was under water. We waded in and took pictures of a bridge and the view. Laura tossed Melvin in the water to wash him off. On the way up to the beach he found a pile of poo and decided to roll around in it. Dogs are so gross. But I still love Melvin!! Also we got some pretty good video of the dog feeling out those horseshoe crabs. He'd stick his nose out to sniff and one of the crabs would flare up his tail and Melvin would run away. We tried picking them up (the crabs) but they have an iron grip on the sand or something. My favorite part was where the mangrove trees were growing in a smallish sort of covered area. It felt like a little shelter or fort or something.

Afterward we went back to the apartment and decided to go swimming in the pool. Jenny and Laura reminisced about the pool games they would play as children. I knew some of them like Sharks and Minnows and Marco Polo, but there were a few that they had invented like Two Knees Strong. Laura also demonstrated some very cool synchro moves. I was totally impressed. It was also extremely cold even though we stayed mainly in the hot tub.

Afterward we all took showers and went down to Ybor City where there is so much fun to be had. Restaurants, shopping, a movie theatre, all sort of clubs and bars, and this arcade place called Game Works. We went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner and the most interesting thing that happened there was that Mike ate this huge plate of meat, garlic bread, and lasagna. Laura kept giving him this look like "what in the world are you doing?" And it was so hilarious. She would just watch him cut his lasagna in these perfectly equal portions and eat them in one gulp like he was from another planet. Anyone who can eat that much meat probably is from another planet. Or I guess he is just a big guy.

Then we went into this really cool store that sold a bunch of imported products like jewelry, hats and bags, clothes, furniture, incense, good luck objects, musical instruments. So much stuff. I bought some chopsticks to put in my hair. Yes I can wear my hair in a chopstick.

Then we went to Game Works where we played arcade games for hours. Games played include: Ms. PacMan, Ocean Hunters (or something), a horse racing game, ski ball (where we earned the most tickets), and this bowling game where you spin this bowling ball and the ball on the screen rolls around and you try to knock down the pins with it. It was a really physical game and really fun! I actually won by one point, though Mike sort of took turns for playing for Jenny, Laura, and me. We had like 500 points to spend on prizes so we bought play dough, fans, army men, and fun dip.

Another very exciting day! Whew! I am tired just remembering it.

Howl at the Moon

Thursday evening we went to Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar. It was really fun, especially after a few beers. They had four pianists that would alternate and they played and sang popular songs and took requests from the rowdy crowd. We requested "Walking in Memphis (not Cher)." I don't know why Laura and Heather put "not Cher" since they are all pretty much the same on piano. They also did "Yellow Submarine," "Family Tradition," and "I will Survive," which was accompanied by a bachelorette party. It was super funny and it was the most silly Jenny and I were all week. We also sang "Friends in Low Places" which is Jenny's favorite song ever. Laura thought I should open up a piano bar and I though that it would be sooo easy to do what those guys did, but I think I'll take it back now.

Also on Wednesday we went to Channelside hoping to see the dueling pianos but it was closed. We went to Margarita Mama's instead. (I think that was what it was called). I had a Mango Margarita and it was pretty discusting. Afterward, we saw a real live wild dolphinin the bay! Jenny was very excited and had to call Stephen who thought she was really drunk, but she really wasn't.

That was our experience of Channelside.

More Fun Stuff

Today we went to Honeymoon Island. And it was really fun. But Really Windy. Mike dug a really big hole, it was quite beautiful. Jenny helped him a little. Also we brought back a ton of seashells that are very pretty. We still haven't had our beers on the beach yet. I think we are always just thirsty for water when we're out getting toasted by the sun. I don't think my back pack will ever be the same, with all the sand everywhere. I got a lot of water in my ears. I took pictures of strangers and even stranger birds and of Mike and Jenny and myself of course. We played punch buggy in the car and the Team thinks they are always winning, but I think I hold my own pretty well, thank you. I loved watching the waves and I loved swimming in the frigid bay waters. I wish I could stay on a beach forever!

Fun in Florida

Jenny and I drove to Houston on Sunday and spent the night at my parents house and played with my brother James. Well all we did was watch Jim Gaffikin (I think that's how you spell it). Then on Monday we flew into Tampa. And the plane absolutely killed my ears. That pressure things causes immense pain, and I don't think it's normal. But it felt like my head would explode. But then we were in Tampa and it was worth it.

I really like Florida and Tampa. We have already gone to the beach, a kickball game, and a bar. And we have played Karaoke on Laura's TV and have walked the dog Melvin who is the best dog in the world because he is really more like a cat, and we have tried to get the cat interested in being petted but she is just paranoid or something.

Yesterday when we were trying to go to the beach we got a little bit lost (not really). And so we had to change our plans and go to a different beach. The weather was gorgeous and perfect. The water was cool and their was such a nice breeze.

Today I think we are going on a picnic and we may eat pie at 1:59, because it is 3/14. (or pi day).

Yay!

Something New

So I have yet another project due the Tuesday we get back!! Yay! (I mean, NOOOOOOOO!) I worked out at the SLC today. Our yoga instructor couldn't teach this week because of an injury so she just let us do whatever we wanted to do at the SLC. It was fun and I think I should start going on a regular basis again when we get back from Florida. I wish I didn't have so much homework to do the next two days. Oh well.

I think I found the most beautiful French song in existance (well at least of the ones I know). It is called Esclave by Edouard Lalo. It is sooo gorgeous. I'm thinking about taking voice lessons next semester just so I can sing this song. Well, and also because I like to sing. I think I'm going to be in choir again too so I can have 12 hours.

Okay, well I better stop blogging now and get to work.

I never know what to title these things...

So I got the written portion back, and with the curve I got a 93! Hooray!

Also I survived all the little performing things I had yesterday and today. Actually music hour went really well. Dr. Marks was very happy with the progress. Even Dr. DeVries said it was excellent!

Unlike Jenny, I had taco bell for dinner last night.

And I practiced from 8-12 and got sooo much done, but Stephen thinks that's 'Ewww.'

We have two Mu Phi meetings, one tonight and one tomorrow. I wonder if Sharon is spending the night.

I am going to go to Cricket's now with Stephen and Jenny.

Eating a Banana

So I got my listening test back yesterday, 57/60! Yay! Not as bad as I thought. But we're still waiting for the written test, which was the one that was really bad...

I have to play today. I am slightly nervous, but I have so much to think about I can't get too nervous about anything really. And I am eating a banana which supposedly helps calm your nerves. I have a long day ahead of practice and performance and more practice after that. At least I don't have any homework for the rest of the week pretty much. Just getting ahead on my paper, listening journals, and theory project. Doesn't sound so overwhelming anymore.

The piano lit. test this morning wasn't too bad thanks to my studying two hours before. I made it to the library by 7:30 this morning. I am so thankful I didn't have to work this morning.

I am really happy to hear about Cleyera's adventures in Germany! I hope one day I can experience another country. But I am really excited about going to Florida. I am not going to worry about one thing while I am there. I am going to sleep, and get sun, and visit cool places, and play games probably, and read for fun, and celebrate St. Patrick's Day (I am looking forward to trying a green beer). If I can get all this work done this week, spring break will be such a refreshing change of pace. Too bad it's not time for summer.

A Very Busy Week Ahead

I have a theory project due tomorrow (that's almost finished), I am playing in Music Hour on Tuesday, I am playing in two studio classes and three lessons and my own accompanying class (I need to make copies of the music!) and my own studio class, I have a piano literature exam Tuesday morning, I have to finish my term paper for music history, I have to finish memorizing my music, I have to get ahead on my listening journals for history b/c they are due the Monday we get back, and I have to go to class and my lessons and work and rehearse and eat and sleep, (probably prioritized in that order). Will I make it??? We shall see.

I got paid today! February was such a short month.

Ummm...

I am bored, at work, working on my paper... blah...

Only 2 hours and 13 minutes more.

All that Paino Jazz

Kristen made a blog on Tuesday and it is pretty cute and hilarious; she mispelled piano as paino... which is how all of us piano majors feel sometimes. I had an exam today of course. It was not terribly difficult but I should have prepared a little more for it. But I decided practice was a tad more important, so I practiced. I am playing on Music Hour on Tuesday. Get exited! I know I am soooo excited... (she said with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice... but only a slight).

Today is a busy day of recital attending. I am very glad because I need the recital credit. It is my last semester for getting recital credit and I am farther behind then ever before. I can not wait for when I don't have to get recital credit. RECITAL CREDIT! Grrrr...

I don't think I have any HW for tomorrow. That is Really Wierd. Maybe I can actually practice for real for once this week. I had lunch with Jenny today and it was lovely. Also yoga was fun, our quiz was super easy. The best poses for helping with upper back pain are turtle and thread the needle. I like those poses a lot because they're 'relaxing poses.'

Ummm...I just remembered I should probably start working on my paper tonight. That would be very beneficial indeed.

Okay time for recital credit.