Month: March 2004

It’s Monday Already?

by

I feel like I wrote several entries since my last post… but they’re not here. In fact, they were never actually finished. So here I am back at the drawing board.

I had an anxiety dream the other night. I was conducting and teaching in ony of my band classes, and the tuba section was acting up. In my dream, they sat on the opposite side of the room in relation to where they sit in reality. Anyway, I threw something and swore at them. So other than the bad dream, things are going very well. We’vee just started preparing for a concert taking place at the end of April. That’s a little nerve racking.

I wish I had more things to write about, but this is about it. I don’t really surf the web much anymore. I’ve started doing yoga with a video and walking outside now that the weather is nice. Maybe that has replaced surfing the internet for now.

Mobile Music

by

I picked this up for my car:

Now that I’m driving to and from work, I want to listen to my music With this little goodie, I can make MP3 CDs at home and play the tracks in the car in random mode… Even 128 kbps MP3s sound decent on this stereo. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to make negligible the effects of the typical 16 kHz MP3 drop-off that makes low-bitrate MP3s normally unlistenable to me… or maybe it’s because I have the bass pumped up.

Sleep (Re-) Cycle

by

It’s only 10:15pm but it feels like 4:00am. This probably has something to do with the fact I went to bed last night around 9:00pm and woke up this morning, initially, sans alarm(s), at 4:30am, and felt ready for the day. What is happening to me? I must be getting old. I would be in bed already if it weren’t for the fact I have only a vague idea of how I’ll be teaching my Intro to Music Theory class tomorrow. I gave them a test today — a listening exam (intervals and chord quality identification) — and I’ve been scared to grade the papers because I know they didn’t do well at all. We’re moving on to note length values, with the hope of eventually learning to read rhythms.

Well, That Didn’t Work

by

After a promise to get back to pure weblogging, I have failed. I’ve had no time to surf lately. The computer in the band office at school is painfully slow (it took 6 hours to install Finale 2004) so I try to avoid it as much as possible. Besides that, I have no time at school to look at websites or read email. After school, I’ve also had no time, between getting insurance for my car, getting a physical, staying after school with the students, preparing for class the next day, etc., etc.

We had the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York today. It was great, although it snowed the entire time.

I can’t believe they’re actually paying me to teach music. I feel so lucky to have found such a great school music program with a great bunch of students. Even the intro theory class, with all the behavioral problem kids, is going well.

Again?

by

It’s time for another long, journal-like post. This should be the last one for a while. First of all, my birthday was very nice. Thank you to everyone who sent me nice birthday wishes through email or otherwise. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to check my email until just now so I’m in the process of getting back to everyone.

My last day at work was good, but long. My coworkers took me out for lunch at a nice bar/restaurant and I said goodbyes to many people I’d been close with (in a not-so-close kind of way). My boss decided he’d keep me on the payroll so that whenever I have time, I can do extra work and get paid for it. Not such a bad deal. Extra money never hurt anyone, unless they tripped on it and got a concussion. I picked up my old Civic from my father and decided I would just buy it back from him instead of getting a new car. It’s saving me tons.

I went to my new school today and taught with the current teacher to prepare myself for Monday. Now I remember why I wanted to do this in the first place. Although my second period class is going to stress me out — the current teacher had to call security five times already and the class has only existed for a month — I think I’ll be able to manage them, and the rest of the day will make up for any of that stress, anyway.

I’m going with them to a local parade tomorrow morning. They also happen to be leading the New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade later in the week. Oh, and their marching band will likely have 200 members next year. Fantastic!

My last train commute, on my birthday, gave me time to think about the last year or so. I’ve certainly learned a lot about myself and about people in general. I’ve discovered if I just try to be who I think I should be, so many other things will just fall into place. Eventually, people who are aligned in my way of thinking become the people closest to me. With this, I’m also finding that I miss even more the special people who used to be a part of my life. People can change, if they really, really want to, and after they decide that they really, really want to, they make a good effort to change the way they think.

That will be my last personal message for a while. I think I’ll stick to weblogging and such.

Stop The World

by

So much to do, so little time. Hopefully, if I can actually get home before 8:30 tonight, I will be test driving a car. The St. Patrick’s Day event at work went surprisingly well last night, and now I have many, many things to do before I can leave for good. This is going to make tomorrow, my last day at the company (and my birthday) a very long day in the office.

Confusing Weather

by

It wasn’t supposed to snow today. Even though people told me it would, I didn’t believe them. Even though weather.com told me it would, I didn’t believe them. Oh well, I can admit when I’m wrong. It was such a beautiful weekend, it just wasn’t supposed to be winter again.

Getting It Done?

by

So far today:

  • I was given the most abusive hair cut I’ve ever had. I think the stylist was on drugs, but I’m not entirely sure. My head has never been shoved in so many different directions in so little time. I didn’t feel safe in that chair with this woman standing close to me, looking over my body with a pair of sharp scissors in her hands. However, I did escape unscathed and without giving the angry young girl more than $1 tip. It was just a trim, anyway, but boy was she in a mad rush… and “mad” is the operative word.
  • I picked up a new, nice-looking belt and nine pairs of assorted nice socks.
  • I bought three new CDs: two film soundtracks and one film score compilation (Bernard Hermann — Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, et.al.) New music is always a good thing.
  • I finally was able to get to Russo’s Music Center to pick up trumpet and trombone mouthpieces.
  • Lastly, I headed to the Sports Authority to pick up two weights and a Yoga set. I’m motivated.

Unfortunately, I have to make a decision about a car right away. I need to decide whether to buy my old car back from my father or to just go ahead and get something new. The Toyota Prius is nice but there’s several-month wait. I need something right away.

Secret Societies

by

I’ve been invited back to my alma mater for a weekend-long celebration commemorating the tenth anniversary of my fraternity chapter’s founding. I’m condering going if I’m not overwhelmed with my new job.