But it’s so far away and everyone else is asleep. I can’t play because I’ll wake them up. They’ve told me before that I could always just play the electric keyboard and use headphones, but it’s simply not the same. A electric keyboard is great for practice and almost passable in performance if it has a pedal and is touch sensitive for dynamics, but it’s not at all good enough for REALLY playing. It’s not expressive like a real piano. Real pianos are imperfect. Their overtones are further apart than they should be due to the metal wires that create their pitches. Because of this, they are not truly tunable. Electric keyboards simulate the sound of a real piano, but their overtones are in tune. Synthesizers are perfect. That’s why they will never be more than synthesizers. The imperfection in the real piano is what makes the sound so appealing—so human. It’s much more effective to use for expressing emotion because of this.
I’m not a writer. I’ve written and I can enjoy writing, but it doesn’t make me feel any better to place emotions in words. It’s much too confining. There aren’t words to describe what music can say. This is why I it’s frustrating to not be able to play my piano late at night.
I finally got around to checking my e-mail after Anizona and this is what I saw:
Hello everyone I must thank you all for attending anizona 3. I see by the forums that there is alot that needs to be done and or changed to make this con what you the attendies thing it should be. I humbly ask that you understand all staff and volunteers did there best under the current situtation. I take all critisism and put it towards making a better con for the years to come. Don't think I have turned a blind eyes to what has been said in the past couple of days. I am carefully looking throught it to best see how to move forward. I hope you all stick with us. I would also like to thank all the staff and committie heads they did what they could for most of them it was there first time and started with little to know help. Mind you this is not a excuse. We all will do better next time. At this time I will ask that if you have any other gripes please pm me with them. Once again thank you for your time and look forward to hearing from any and all of you.
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I don't think I need to restate all of the problems I'm sure everyone else is telling him about, but I do think someone needs to point out all of the errors in his writing. This number of HUGE errors doesn't look good from the Chairman of the convention. I would tell him myself, but I don't know what his name is on the forums.
School: I have 4 classes this semester. I wanted more, but the online teacher never got back to me, and since I was dropped from all of my classes on the second day of school, and couldn't get back in to all of them, I have just 12 units. My classes are MUS 474 (Methods for teaching instrumental music), ELPS 417 (Diversity class), SED 511 (Teaching in a diverse class setting), and EPC 420 (Psychology of adolescents). The music class is okay, and the psyc class is tolerable (though the teacher is ineffective). ELPS 417 is getting on my nerves because the teacher keeps making judgments on people (like having only the men work the electronics, and calling the black guy African American even though we all know he’s Jamaican) and it’s a class on not doing that. SED 511 is really interesting, but a lot of work. On Thursday we went to Mexico to teach English, visit an orphanage and give clothes to the poor.
Family: My immediate family is doing well, and I still like them even though I’m living with them again. My extended family (on my dad’s side) on the other hand is annoying. My great-grandma died several months ago (she was 101 years old), so my dad has been at her house every Friday since then dealing with clearing things out and distributing things since he is the executor of the will. It seems like everything he tries to do to make things fair just gets him criticized for past issues. When everyone was there on the day where we did the actually distributing, they went through as looters and took things for value. It was extremely upsetting since the members of my immediate family were the only ones there who had actually visited her on a consistent basis for the past 20-25 years. I could say a lot more, and in a lot more detail, but there would really be no point in that.
I haven't been doing much since I got back from Disney World, but some pretty important stuff has happened:
New Car- I now have a Meteorite Metallic (bluish silver) 2007 Yaris. The insurance from my old car paid for most of it, and I had the rest in the bank, so it's completely paid off.
CSUN- They FINALLY accepted me today. I registered for classes... but I don't actually know what most of them are. They don't have good course descriptions like ASU does. I do know that I need all of them though. I need some kind of special signature for a music class though (one of 3 I need for CA music proficiency). I'll talk to the teacher about that when class starts on Monday. I'm fairly certain that a degree in Music will fulfill the required pre-requisite. The class meets MW, which is good because it actually looks like ALL of my classes will be either Monday or Wednesday (except for the online one(s)).
Wedding Planning- A few choices have been made. The wedding will be in CA in the summer of 2008 (most likely June). It will probably be at my church, and the reception will probably be at the Odyssey (fancy restaurant type place with big rooms for this kind of thing). It will also probably have a Disney theme. We also decided that since Brian is allergic to alcohol, I don't drink, and alcohol is expensive, there won't be any alcohol (anyone who knows me and my opinions on alcohol will also know that they would be an idiot to complain about it).
Jaw Stuff- I should get my braces off in less than a month. After that, the next big date is July 16th (1 year post surgery). That's when I'll be allowed to play wind instruments and eat extremely chewy/hard foods again... though I had some steak in Disney World anyways.
After graduating from ASU, I moved back home. I am kind of unpacked now, and all my grades are in. My lowest grade was a B. I still have no diploma, and I haven't heard anything from CSUN about my application. If they don't send me anything while I'm in Disney World, I'm going to force them to give me an answer when I get back.
... Okay, okay. I know that's not the new you read this for. I am engaged. It happened at Disneyland at midnight at the entrance to the gallery in New Orleans. We were there because my parents had gotten tickets to watch the midnight showing of Fantasmic from the balcony.
The ring is pretty. It's white gold with 5 stones (they are real). Ask DaemonX for more details. I just wear it and look at the sparkly. He bought it.
I'm going to Disney World tomorrow. After that, wedding plans shall commence. Which state the wedding with be in is still unknown, but the reception will probably either be somewhere in the Disneyland/California Adventure/Disney Hotels, or on ASU campus. As far as a date goes, we're looking at summer 2008. I get back from Disney World on Jan. 10th. I'll know more after that.
All of my finals went pretty badly (I don't have the grades back, but that's my general feeling). It's okay though since I had all Bs before the finals, and I got A+s on both of my major term papers!! Here's what I'd estimate my end grades to be:
Form and Analysis B- Music Philosophy A- (this grade is actually posted already) Spanish C+ Acoustics B Marching Band A- Color Guard A- (this grade and band should be As, but I don't want to be disappointed if they aren't) Concert Attendance Y (that means pass)
These estimates are on the lower side, but are probably fairly accurate. If these are the grades I get, I can fairly safely assume that I will be able to go to grad school next semester. Go me!
I don't actually love Mondays, but this one is particularly good. Why? Today is the last day of classes, and I am going to graduate! I turned in my last form and analysis assignment, I went to my last class for music philosophy (there is no final in that class), I took the first part of my Spanish final (it was easy, and I found out I got a B on the oral test last week), and I turned in my 20 page acoustics paper (and it actually was 20 pages). I currently have no grade lower than a B in any of my classes, and all I have left to do is turn in my band stuff and take 3 finals. I'll turn in the band stuff tonight, and my first final is a week from today.
I'm going to Disneyland this weekend. :) next week I'll take my finals, graduate, and go home. Then, to celebrate, I'll go to Medieval Times with my family, and then I'll go to Disneyland some more. I go to Disney World with my sister on Jan. 2nd.
I still have 4 assignments to do, 6 tests to take, 1 convocation to attend and 2 marching band events to perform in. Other than that, I am set to graduate. CSUN still hasn't decided whether or not they will accept me, but that is the only thing I don't know... other than what my grades will be this semester. There really isn't any reason for me not to pass everything though, and I don't anticipate any grades lower than a C.
On Thursday, the jaw surgeon finally removed the hooks from my upper and lower lips. Since the hooks were really big and physically connected to my gums, their removal cause some bleeding. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic to prevent infection. I am allergic to penicillin, so the doctor prescribed Clindamycin instead.
I am supposed to take 3 pills of this a day for about four days total. I took only one pill on Thursday because I didn't actually get them until about 5pm. I only took two Friday because I forgot to take one, and I took all three yesterday.
The first time I took the pill, I noticed tasted rather metallic like an iron pill, which I thought was odd since it is a capsule and theoretically they shouldn't have any taste at all. I wrote it off immediately because pills aren't supposed to taste good. The second and third times, I felt some mild chest pain for a few minutes. The third day, the chest pain got progressively longer and stronger and I had to stop writing (I am way behind on nano now because of this) due to the fact that the pain was rather distracting. Finally, the last time I took the pill last night, it got so bad that I went to Brian to distract me from the pain (he was working at the Ocotillo front desk at the time). He looked up Clindamycin on the internet and apparently this is all an allergic reaction to the medicine. If I keep taking it, I could potentially have a heart attack, so I think I'll take my chances with an infection.
