What a Wonderful World

A friend from school found out his dad is dying and probably won't last the week. Life is sad isn't it? But still, we need to look for humor and beauty in the world. Another friend shared this video with me. Maybe it will cheer you up.

glumbert - A Wonderful World

Life = School, still

So welcome to my what seems to be my weekly blog update. I feel like there isn't much to update unless you want to hear what my grades are, how depressed I got this week in my flute lessons, or how I don't have time for anything but homework and practicing.

Being a music major has its perks. I get to hear awesome performances and meet up-and-coming composers and musicians. I did get to go to the fabulous Huntsville Symphony Orchestra concert this weekend. A flute concerto was premiered, (I got to personally meet and chat with the composer) and they also played Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Everybody should hear a live performance of that piece sometime in their life... it's the Ode to Joy song... you'd recognize it. There was a huge choir and four soloists. I had goosebumps on my arms and tears in my eyes. I love how music can do that to you. My teacher says that is my goal as a flutist... to move people with my music. Maybe some day.

I'm starting to tire of being a student. I want to be a Grammie, a better mom and shoot, I'd like to play with my scrapbooking stuff...

Sometimes I wonder why I am doing this to myself. On Friday I was so down about it (not about school, but about being a flute performance major when I can't play the flute worth a crap, and yes, I said crap) that I went to my Wind Ensemble director and told him I needed five minutes of his time to tell me why I should stay in college. It turns out he had a great speech prepared because his dad just graduated from college, doing the same thing I'm doing. Sometimes his dad would call him and ask the same thing... "why am I doing this?"

Why? Because of that little piece of paper that says I earned a college degree. But it's got to be bigger than that. Maybe someday I'll find the answer.

What I am Doing

So many people ask me how things are going with me being back in school. My response most often is "I'm overwhelmed, but not stressed". I'm really just busy, busy, busy. And it's kind of fun. Only the night before a test or an essay is due do I start to feel a little stressed.

So, what am I doing that keeps me so busy? Of course during the week, school is pretty much 24-7. But there is life outside of school and the weekend is my catch up time.

This weekend I'm:

*finishing up copying the extra dvd's for Lauren's wedding presentation
*finishing the flute/oboe transcription for "Lead, Kindly Light" (I'm so close to done)
*cleaning my dining room including cleaning the carpet!
*going to a faculty recital
*watching a movie with my husband
*doing a load of laundry
*practicing
*going to choir rehearsal
*catching up on my blog

and yes, doing school work, too
*making study cards for my Monday morning theory test ( six-fours, cadences, non-harmonic tones, suspensions, etc, if you were interested)
*making study cards for my Monday morning music tech class (MIDI, digital audio, sound system hook-up...)
*working on my Western Civ research paper (my husband says "when is that due?" ...well, in November, yes, but there's nothing like doing a little every week because I KNOW that on November 14th I'll be freaking out.)
*40-50 pages of reading for Western Civ... man, I just remembered about that!

Time to go read I guess!

Send Chocolate...

I feel like I'm lost in another world, another time dimension, another something. My mind is somewhere else almost all the time, and the real world, the world of my family is way in the background. My mind is in inverted imperfect half cadences, and in Henry VIII's court (and Anne Bolelyn... did you know she had 6 fingers and three, ahem, breasts?!?!), and in Hawthorne's world of Young Goodman Brown, and correct spelling and no run-on sentences... well I screwed up there didn't I? My mind is in the world of Telemann's f minor flute sonata, and Kujala and de la Sonorite, and Debussy and Blue Shades and random run's in Kennan's Night Soliloquy. I'm having trouble thinking about anything else... let alone doing laundry, washing dishes (not that I ever did that job), fixing meals, vacuuming, cleaning toilets. Please, nobody come to my house right now.

I do have two "forced" meeting times with my son, though. I pick him up from school twice a week. (I know, only twice?) We were driving home from school one afternoon and had a *discussion* about how he needed to be outside waiting for me as I had to get home for flute lessons, and he said "why don't you just let someone else take me home? Then I wouldn't have to rush." My response? "Ah, then we wouldn't have these special bonding moments!" Josh has gotten the teenage rolling eyes response down pat.