petals

That John Mayer came to school today.

….and I DIDN’T GET TO GO.

Yeah, so as a result of my ignorance and stupidity, I didn’t have a ticket (which was free for students, by the way) to go to the sold-out John Mayer clinic. My friend, out of the goodness of his heart, even found an extra one for me, but silly me, I didn’t have my phone on me.

Eh, life goes on.

As a side note, school is fabulous! All my classes are wonderful, except for Intro to Music Tech, which just gets worse and worse… luckily I sit next to Brian, one of my friend’s from the summer program, and by far he is the most eccentric, absurd, and amusing people I know. Today in that class the teacher put me on the spot so badly- he noticed I had my horn on me, and made me play for the class. I wasn’t even warmed up… It was okay, I guess. He was doing an example of a MIDI song in Garageband, and recorded me as a live track. All I know is I BETTER be getting extra credit for that.

On the other hand, my lessons have been absolutely fantastic. My teacher (who I had during the summer and absolutely love) is really enthusiastic about having me, and we’re going to be doing some great things- I can’t wait! I might actually get GOOD, who’da thought. 😉 It’s also nice having the last lesson of the day- I’m only supposed to have a half hour, but today he nearly stretched it out to twice the length. Not to mention he’s almost the perfect New Jersey stereotype, haha.

Anywho, I have my first club meeting tonight– with The Groove, the student newspaper. I want to be a photographer- it means cool photos and free concert tickets. 😉

I just spent 106 dollars and 50 cents on tickets to see John Scofield, Greg Osby, Terence Blanchard, and Ron Carter (with Mulgrew Miller), all in the next three weeks.

And, Exhale… Phew. I feel like a crazy person. It will be so worth it.

UPDATE: Jessica and I just got Badly Drawn Boy tickets for November. We’re insane together. It’ll be a blast.

So I had my ensemble this morning…

I know I have high ratings for a first semester student, but… THEY DIDN’T PUT ME A NORMAL, GENERIC ENSEMBLE.

THEY PUT ME IN THE CHARLIE PARKER ENSEMBLE.

So I was already scared walking in, thinking I’m going to get my ass kicked… Then Mr. Stout walks in- “Welcome to the Charlie Parker Ensemble. We’ll be doing a lot of his tunes, a lot of bebop…” I hope no one was looking at me, because I felt like all the blood I had rushed out of my head. I nearly choked. I felt like I was going to faint…. Silly me, I was waiting for him to say “just kidding”… YEAH RIGHT.

Pray for me with everything you’ve got. I’ll need praying, and LOTS of practicing- don’t expect me to resurface until next semester.

Sarah M. Williams
Box SB-475
168 Massachusetts Ave.
Boston, MA 02115

Send me mail with love!

Ratings: 6-6-5-6 (WHOA!)

Monday:
Advanced Brass Reading Lab 3:10-4:00

Tuesday:
NOTHING

Wednesday:
Harmony 3 9:10-10:00
Ear Training 3 11:10-12:00
History of Art 4:10-6:00

Thursday:
Advanced Small Band Ensemble 9:10-11:00
Arranging 1 11:10-1:00
Advanced Brass Improvisation 4:10-5:00

Friday:
Harmony 3 9:10-10:00
Ear Training 3 11:10-12:00
Intro to Music Technology 2:10-4:00
History of Art 1 4:10-5:00
Private Lesson with Lin Biviano 5:30-6:00

Coincidentally, we started class today… and I don’t have any classes. 5 classes on Friday?! How did I manage that? And 6 ratings?! (Ratings are out of 8– most first sem kids get 2’s and 3’s. I was expecting 4’s). Now I’m scared– I’m in advanced ensembles, not to mention that I tested out of 2 levels of ear training and harmony, and I’m going to get my butt kicked. We’ll see.

Do not see The Brown Bunny. I repeat, do NOT see The Brown Bunny.

I normally am really into art films, and don’t get me wrong, some of these shots were gorgeous… But oooohhh my gooodnesss. The whole thing is extremely anticlimactic (“oh.. drivin’ around… drivin’ around… talkin to some people… knockin on a door… drivin’ around…”) all to end in a scene almost seemingly tailored just so he could whip his penis out. Even Max (who I believe picked the film) was uncomfortable.

Aside from the film, I had an absolutely splendid night. I love Max and Helene to death, and it was fantastic to see them. I had never talked to Blake in high school, but I’ve always really liked him nonetheless. I got him a rockin birthday card- it’s a blank one, but the picture on the front is a little kid making a scrunchy face with a box of french fries in front of him…. and he has a fry in each of his nostrils and ears. YES! I want to be that kid in the same way that my roomie Allie says she’s always wanted to be a paperclip.

Max, Helene, and Blake ended up being really late, so I sat and chilled out with Jesse (from Houston, he goes to school down the street at the New England Conservatory) and Jessica (from San Diego, a vocalist). I love these two! Jessica is my new favorite person- she and I compliment each others personalities nicely, not to mention she does a fabulous impression of her surfer neighbor who has a porsche SUV (“YEAH, i’m seein the future, and, YEAH *hair toss* I see.. SUVs…DUDEw”). And Jesse is just hilarious! I was being a dork and knocked Jessica’s shoe off, and Jesse, like a gentleman walks over there to pick it up… but instead bends down close to it, points his finger at it, and says very politely “You dropped your shoe!”. Ahahaha. I guess you had to be there.

So guys, this is the first time I’ve been online, the first time I’ve been to college, and the first time I’VE OWNED A MAC. It’s quite nice, I might say, though I have no clue how to use a single thing on it. So this is the good life.

I might start by saying, Boston is awesome. Most of my worst fears have been nulled- my roommates are the most awesome girls ever, my room is NICE, I’m meeting lots of rockin’ people… the only thing left to worry about are the winters. I’m at a friend’s house in Lexington right now- it’s almost noon, and outside it’s already as cold as a november in Houston. I love being the Texan in Boston- everyone wants to try and make fun of me. I spent the night in the guest room last night, and my friend wakes me up this morning banging on the door and yelling “DO YA WANT SOME GRRRRITS!”. Honestly, I think I can say that I’ve never had grits. Or, I have, I just don’t really remember when or what they are. And being from the south, when I introduce myself of course I must do so with an intentionally overexaggerated “I’m from tey-axas.” I’m so cute, I know.

I’ve met other people from Houston at Berklee, but I don’t think they’ll be talking to me anytime soon- I’ve already managed to heavily embarass myself and one other person. I met these guys from Houston briefly on the elevator… It was a fleeting moment, I didn’t really get good looks at them, etc etc.. And one of them comes up to me later and yells “heyyy Houston!”. Of COURSE my mind works slower than my mouth does, and I gave him this puzzled look and asked him if I knew him- I was sincerely confused for that brief moment. Well, I think he was mortified and RAN. Of course I don’t realize who he was until after the fact, so bah humbug. Whatever chance I had of making Houston friends got blown away in the wind. I just hope he realized I was being an idiot and that I wasn’t trying to blow him off.

On the brighter side, I got an email last Wednesday… Apparently I’m one of may six or seven people who’ve been chosen to “represent the entering class”. I was freaking out because they wanted me to turn in 2 tracks of music, a bio, and a photo by that Friday- which isn’t that bad except that the only recordings I have of myself are awful. Luckily, I had met someone on the next floor up who is a sound guy with his own equipment, and Jesse- my guitar player of choice- lives right down the street. *phew* The two of them saved my butt. We hauled all of Ken’s equipment to the practice rooms, and the recording session went real well- we ended up taking the first takes, and It’s a good recording of myself. Hooray.

Tonight will be fun- it’s Blake Williams’ birthday. Blake, Helene, and Max all graduated with me, and now they live in Mission Hill in Boston. After they get back from the beach, Jesse and I are meeting them for a movie. But alas, until next time.

And Elaine, my dear, I have something for you. 😉