Sometimes I forget that I'm overly observant and realistic(or cynical), sometimes too much for my own good.


I hope I'm not as oblivious to other people and their feelings as some of my best friends are to me.

I really hope we go to Deep Creek this year. I just want to be back home again.

I have had the worst headache combined with a really sore throat all day. It sucks. I refuse to go to the Health Center, because all they will do is charge me $10, give me an EPT and/or tell me exactly what I already know. And I won't go to the doctor unless I'm about to die. So now life just sucks for a little.

This may have been the result of going to see Bayside last night, which was fun, but not as great as previous shows. The Ottobar's a little sketch, and across the street is a randomly placed bench that has painted on it: "Baltimore: the greatest city in the world." Lolz.

The MCs are taken written in my apt, and we had to cancel tonight's stuff because Kristine had a seizure right before I came downstairs. This semester has been quite a shit show in terms of everyone's health. I can only hope we can prepare enough to keep the insanity to a minimum after Thanksgiving.

On top of all this, I have to teach twice tomorrow, and I am in no way excited about it.

I also have to miss the last marching rehearsal on Monday, and thus won't be able to watch everyone drunkenly try and stay on two feet at Chapel Field. I'll make up for it, rest assured.

Speaking of band, I hate it. I have absolutely no idea why I came back, other than for BH reasons. It's a waste of time. At least for me. And it does not help at all that our team is absolutely terrible. I don't even think I'll be sad during the last pregame. I just don't consider myself an actual member in band. None of the new men from my year except Bert are still around, and the fact that I never go to band nor do I care about it does not help at all. It's just a lot of lamesauce.

I would just like this semester to end. And maybe on a good note.

I will go into great detail when I have time and am not incredibly tired and stressed.

JMU is one of the best places to visit. Seriously. It is so so sooo nice to get out of the College Park bubble and just go party for a whole weekend with friends that know me in an entirely different capacity. As much as I love overcommitting myself and not having a life outside of band, having a weekend getaway is just so refreshing. Granted I still talk about all my CP friends to my JMU friends and vice versa, it's still so crucial to have like 24 full hours of stress free fun. And JMU's one of the top two party schools in the nation...soooo awesome.

I love Clarissa and Sally to death, and I can't wait for them to come up to College Park to meet all of our crew.

More on this later.

Also, after we graduate Shana, Liz and I are getting a house together. It's going to be phenom.

I can not WAIT to see Clarissa and Sally in 5 days, and also finally spend some QT with Dave. I am apparently meeting his parents on Sunday, which could and probably will be super awkward(they're supposedly super conservative Mennonites), but probably funny just the same. Oh what a road trip it will be.

I am too freaking busy. This week is going to blow, worse than the last. Homecoming was absolutely miserable.

However, Red Meat was not. I am so glad I went. Let me tell you.

The night began with me driving 6 new men in my tiny ass Honda to Abe's house. Goober sat on Ass Jeebes' lap in the front and kept putting my car in neutral. They're all really nice, and(for the most part) not complete idiots. I byob'd, and drank a sixer of PBR. Always classy. That ish is so cheap. I like hanging out with everyone outside of practice, when everyone isn't in foul moods and sassy. A shit ton of old people came, including but not limited to AUBREY EFFING ADAMS. That was pretty awks, but also hilarious. I talked with Tater Salad for a while, he has to be one of my favorite Drumliners. And he's not too far from being Dr. Salad, which I only mention for hilarity purposes. I pretty much stayed the entire time, which also never happens, and drove some new men and Jumanji back. Good times all around. And lots of keg stands.

In other news, I have two big papers coming up that I am in no way prepared to write. That's going to be a shit show. AND I haven't practiced for my lesson. FML. Tony's so awesome, I feel bad always coming pseudo-unprepared to lessons, even though he probably doesn't really notice.

Teaching 6th grade band is sometimes awesome, and sometimes a complete nightmare. Kids are just so insane, it is so hard to reel them in. At least Hewitt isn't being a complete douche about us having issues. And I don't think I ever want to teach middle school now. Ever.

I feel like I've been very sassy lately, probably because I'm a) constantly exhausted and b) tired of giving reminders. I mus say I've been on my game this semester, with most everything. And when this rarity happens, I get really irritated when other people aren't, or they make my life more difficult. 19 credits, teaching lessons, and being VPM is hard enough. Please help me. But my apologies if I have snapped at anyone for no real reason.

I just don't have time to do anything anymore.

I think I've found my life calling for the next 2 years.

Anyone wanna loan me 5 grand?

Thursday, due to a cancelled 40 night, a bunch of us went to E.J.'s, and I had a fantastic time singing ridiculous numbers while mildly intoxicated. The regulars are quite a riot as well. We need to do that more often, maybe make it a weekly pregame time before 40 night.

Friday was the UMSO season opener. It was a little nerve-wrecking, but I think it went really well. Danny, Tim, and Lee all played fantastically, and the rest of us managed to get by. My crash in Bartok made a presence, and a good presence at that. I was happy with myself.
Afterwards I went to see La Coterie at E.J.'s, which I did not know Ben was a part of. It was awesome to finally get to watch them play, they really sounded great by the end, all awful mic problems aside. Then I went to the UMSO after-party with Dave. That got busted, to no one's surprise. That place was PACKED. Then we went to Dave's for a post-game filled with awesome. It was Adam, Dave, Ernie, Nick, myself, and some random guy that NONE of us know. We all just assumed that he was a music major because he had a bass clef tattoo. We hung out for a while, and then I drove all the smashed people back. That car ride was a RIOT. By the time we got back to the garage Adam was almost completely hanging out the window. I did not realize how bad he was until he got out of the car and passed out on the floor. An epic ending, as should be expected of this group. I love Adam Stephens. Apparently we're starting a combo, and I'm playing guitar. I'm pretty excited about it. And we teach together in 420, which is also awesome.

Yesterday started rough, mainly due to lack of sleep. I got in the elevator to go to practice, and someone TORE UP the roof of it. There was broken light bulb all over the ground, and all the ceiling "tiles" were gone. It was a DISASTER. Worse than I've ever seen it after a weekend night.
After the game I took an epic nap, and then headed over to Dutchman. I DJed, mostly because that's all I ever want to do now. The party kind of dispersed really quickly. I blame the Redskins.

I got to sleep in until like noon today, which was AMAZING. I still have a ton of work to do, and I'm about to find myself overwhelmed with midterms and midprocess shenanigans. It's going to be a long month.

I'm taking 18 credits. I'm teaching what will soon be about 6 students in Bowie every week. I'm VPM. I'm going on about 3(maybe 4) road trips this semester. And I'm trying to put a recital together.

I am kicking ass and taking names this semester. Watch out Fall 09.

I'm really bad at drawing the line between doing favors and letting people walk all over me.

I absolutely love BH, my babies, Baby Bee, Shanaynay, B.Dog Funkmaster, etc. If it weren't for those people I would probably have been hospitalized by now.

I would list my problems and complaints and funny stories, but there are too many. JUST WOE.

If you've never seen Nurse Jackie, you need to watch it. So funny. There's an episode where this one retired nurse who has lung cancer goes to the hospital basically so her nurse friends can kill her via a mix of drugs in a champagne glass. The final toast before she snuffs it, she says "Here's to you, and here's to me, and if we ever disagree, Fuck you. And here's to me." =Things I will be saying all semester. Fuck you, and here's to me, aaaaahahahaha. KEEPER.

English is the one class I haven't ever felt tired in yet(I swear I might have narcolepsy or something). I kind of like it, even being surrounded by a bunch of hippies.

I dropped a class, leaving me with 18 credits. I'd just rather not drive myself into the ground, and plus, I convinced my dad into letting me take a winter class.

There are around 15 students that want lessons at this Middle School I'm teaching at, and I can only teach about 5. Dilemma.

One of my dad's really good friends died. His heart apparently just stopped. He was really nice, I used to see him at the golf course all the time. I feel really bad for my dad though, and Henry. Their foursome's now down to two.

Shana made me a fantastic dinner, after which we watched camp videos, gymnastics and band bloopers, and Maury clips. Quite fabulous, I must say.

I am aware that I am responsible for many more things than the average gazooba. During the few moments when I'm not consumed with a never-ending to-do list I like to catch up with my friends that I can never see during the year. When floods of texts and calls and i.m.'s interrupt those very precious moments, I sometimes lose it. I should probably just not expect to have any more free time for a while.

I didn't come into this year with the right mentality. I really enjoyed summer, and it was so nice not having drama surround my life. I can already feel school and band sucking me in to the point where I'm either running around or locked in my room all the time, and I'm really trying to fight it. I can only hope my resistance will sustain longer than last year.

Sometimes, I get really excited for my birthday. And sometimes, I just don't care.

I had my last day of work. It was kind of sad, but mostly a relief. It's always kind of sad leaving there, but I'm sure I'll be back sooner than later.

Classes are a mofo. I don't know what happened, or how it happened, but I'm taking 21 credits. I'm not very fond of it right now, but I'd rather get all of this out of the way in the fall than deal with it my recital semester. And I'm also teaching lessons this year. Yayyy making money and adding more things onto my already overbooked schedule.

I'm studying with Tony this semester. I had my first lesson, and all I could think of was how much better I could be if I had just been placed with him freshmen year. Such a shame. I'm so much more motivated though, even with all of the shit I have going on.
I just ordered some recital pieces, from which I will choose at least one for the big recital. I also picked up a mediocre transcription of Clair de Lune which, if I amp up a little, will be really fun to play for noontime.

Some crazy chick hit my car in the CVS parking lot today. I was grabbing shit for the rush event, and as I was backing out to leave(I was inching...if even that), girl completely blows by my car. She stops, gets out and tells me she needs my info, insinuating that this was my fault. It was not. I was still shocked that it actually happened, so I ignore her and go look at my car. I can probably wipe the damage off with my thumb(thank God). So whatever. I gave her my phone number, but if that girl calls...mmm. I'll probably just laugh and hang up.

I think Dr. Sparks is passive aggressively trying to mess with me. Operation avoid-him-as-much-as-possible may come to a halt very quickly.

I'm already starting to get a little too stressed out with everything I have to get done. The beginning of the semester always seems to be the worst for me though. We'll see how it goes.

I'm very excited for my birthday. I hope you are too.

Clarissa's last night was tonight. I will miss her a lot.

At the beginning of the season, I was convinced Natalie and I would not get along. We have become a fantastic duo. Work is so much more fun with her in my section, and also I'm really jealous of her major.

I have never been more myself than I have been this month. August has made the summer one of the best of my life thus far.

I feel like every school year I lose sight of myself. At this point I will explode if I let myself get caught up in all the shit that happens every semester again.

I have absolutely no idea why I decided to major in Music Education. People always ask me why I chose it, or what I want to do after I graduate, and I always make up some bullshit answer. Sure, I don't mind teaching, it's sometimes fun. I think I could be good at it, but I've never thought of teaching as a dream or a goal or anything. I think I've just gone too far to stop now. Do I know what I want to do? Hell no, but I like people, and live music...and parties. So maybe I'll start with that. My Dad always tells me I have the rest of my life to work, and if nothing else I should at least try out something I really want to do. I think I'll do that. My Dad is the shit.

I haven't even thought about Early Week yet. I feel like it hasn't even registered that I'm doing band again.

I'm going to try and road trip to both NYU and JMU in the fall and spring. If anyone wants to join, you're welcome...but be warned, there will be a lot of drinking and/or thrift stores involved.

Dear Liz and Shana, I can't wait to see you both at Early Week.

Summer is unfortunately winding down. Wolf Trap is almost like camp, and I will miss my camp friends.

My dad's bff told me a story about his car being stolen and how he stole it back. That man is one bad ass mother.

After an exciting day at Tysons and Unique, we witnessed a robbery in which the thief jumped off a bridge and stumbled to a collapse in a parking garage.

I'm definitely hitting up thrift stores more often. They have the craziest shit, including but not limited to silver and gold sparkle pants and head statues of famous composers.

Our family crest, or my sister's epitaph, should read "no shame in my game."

I'm rearranging my room. The big things are moved, the rest needs to be organized.

Apparently my dad tended bar when he was 15.

I'm really digging the ladies of the 80s...and Michael Jackson. I apologize in advance if Hump Day Dance gets a little crazy.


aaaaand The More You Know *shooting star*

My sister's a moron, though we do get along much better now than we ever have.

I can not get 42nd Street out of my head. The musical was pretty awesome, so I'm not entirely annoyed.

Some of the people I work with are absolutely fantastic. Northern Virginia is like a whole new world, and they definitely treat me like a foreigner, which I frequently laugh about.

I can't tell if I've changed, or if everyone else has. It's throwing me off a little bit. And it's probably me.

I'm alright with that.

Work, aside from the doing work part, is pretty fantastic. Natalie and I get along, Alina and I aren't on the same side, Don's manageable, and fingers crossed I might be a 4 by the end of the summer. $1.50 more an hour goes a surprisingly long way. Clarissa, Molly and I have finally set plans to do something. Between the two of them, I always feel motivated to get off my ass and practice more. I have been practicing more than usual though, for the summer. They're both performance-focused, so I mean, they're basically fucked if they screw around for four years. But still. Clarissa might come to UMD for Grad School, which would be awesome, though we wouldn't be in school at the same time. I'll probably still be in crap housing for a while if I'm teaching. Anywho, things are good at the Trap, though C-Money's car broke down tonight. Mark, a questionably effeminate volunteer, gave me a copy of Thriller tonight. I was so pumped, I've never actually gotten around to buying that album. Molly finally came back to work, and now she's staying over at the 12 and working Wilco tomorrow night. We're probably hitting the Mexican Strip tomorrow...I feel like when we go past the Ledo's some type of Spanish rendition of Viva Las Vegas should be playing over loud speakers...as we pass by Tick Tock, Value Village and onto the many many Spanish signs for every store. Alas, I think of my life as a movie, and I always want a good(and hilarious) soundtrack for it.

The Golf Course work is alright. I really don't do anything. I'm hoping once it opens to the public in a few weeks I'll get more hours. Brian's really nice though, and the intern's kind of funny, but almost always pissed off. He's the pros' bitch.

4th of July celebrations this year were fantastic. We were supposed to meet up in DC with my sister and go out to dinner for my dad's birthday. Molly ended up getting off because her show was cancelled(who the fuck would go see a mediocre play in DC on the 4th of July?), so I picked her up and went home to find out we were all going to a barbecue next door. And of course, all the neighborhood crew was there, sans Emily, Hannah and Meghan. It was pretty awesome. All the moms talked about how drunk they got the time we all caravanned to the Outer Banks, among other times when we were all little. Apparently my mom was the drunkest of them all. We are a classy bunch. Ms. Liz got real drunk after two drinks and starting sassing everybody outside. It was quite entertaining. We heard many fireworks, and then some car screeching, because of course it's South County and that's what people do. And then everyone gossiped more. My dad discovered Wii Golf. I made fun of Sally's sunburn. Etc. Etc.
Quote of the night:
Ms. Adele: So you know they have Guinea Pig Rescue?
Sally: What is wrong with you???
This among many others I don't remember. It was a good night. I laughed a shit ton.

I think I'm gonna be really busy in the fall. Hopefully it will be a good thing. I might have like 7 private students, should I be able to manage them with UMSO/UMWO, marching band, VPM shit, etc. It'd be nice to finally make money during the semester. I need to start looking at things to work on for my recital. I really don't want to do anything that's been done 5 million times, though I might do 3 Transformations with Keith. Either that, or try and start on Merlin, though I only really like the super easy first movement. And I think I'm going to arrange Hey Arnold! for the end. I'm still pretty proud of myself for figuring out all the notes by ear.

I think that's all I got. I love summer, though I do miss seeing everyone all the time...at least a little bit. Hanging out with Dave all the time is fun, but not quite the same.
Keep it classy, everybody.

I feel a massive update coming on, but I'm probably overestimating. Expect it soon.

No mix yet, I found a new Scott Melker hour of AWESOME(go download it...just google scott melker and DO IT). But soon another will come.

I got a tattoo today.

I have a Will & Grace scene stuck in my head, the one where Grace is looking through slides and comes across bat mitzvah pictures, and says something like "today I am a woman" and then sings something ridiculous. Good scene.

Coming back from the grocery store I was walking through the garage and heard the most ghetto subwoofers booming/buzzing really loudly from a car almost identical to my grandma's. Ohhh College Park.

This past weekend was really busy, though for the most part fun. I'm glad the work part is over though. Working 15+ hour days with a hangover is no bueno, in case you hadn't already figured that out. In between double shows at the Trap we all caravan to get food, which is usually an adventure. Clarissa and I started making a rap, entitled "I'M IN A VAN!" Pretty ridic. Some of the college kids that work there though...they are some crazies. Mostly just sheltered Northern Virginia kids who are afraid of P.G. However, Clarissa is legit, and we're definitely hollering at the Mexico strip, aka the Tick Tock side of 193 for some thrift store exploring sometime soon.

I'll have some work quotes up soon. I swear, they only hire crazy people. I'm certainly one of them.

( QUATRO )

Almost finished the last two week run for a while, looking forward to 4 days off next week. NOI's ending soon, so I can finally use our practice rooms in a few days. I still need to fix my line jacket. Blurgh.