I don’t want to be keeping any of you on edge, but I promise pictures and entries on China are in works.
I’ll be MIA for a couple days– my grandmother had a heart attack and kidney failure and hasn’t been doing well, so we’re heading out bright and early Tuesday morn to go visit her in New Mexico. Bright way to start your week, eh? I’m just glad that she’s not in any pain, they’re pumping her so full of drugs. Send a nice thought her way.
Straight from the little hole-in-the-wall internet cafe across the street from the Motel 168 in Shanghai, China. Short and sweet I think is the theme for tonight, seeing as how I’m not sure how much time I’ve got left (or how much I got in the first place, for that matter), and seeing as how I speak painful conversational Chinese (HA, not really), I don’t forsee myself asking anytime soon, haha.
So, CHINA IS SO MUCH FUN! It is so completely and utterly different from what we are used to as spoiled, fat Americans. Details are later, after I’ve ironed out my letters that I’ve written (versus keeping a log of my experiences)… Though I will have you know I bought a completely and utterly REAL leather Prada bag for a good 25 American Dollars. Yeah, eat it. 🙂
Right now it is about 2am Wednesday (China time… 1pm on Tues in Houston), and my wake-up call for the airport is in 2 hours. I figure I’ll suffer jet-lag anyway, and what better way is there to pass the time on 20+ hours of flight than to snooze it through?
So, sorry guys that I didn’t have anything more meaningful to say. I’m just checking in after my 2 weeks… Just wait til you hear about my whole trip. 🙂
I’m packing for China… I’ve just started, and I’ve roughly 6 hours until we leave for the airport. Woo! I’m excited.
I’ll be back August 4th! So until then, don’t have too much fun without me. 😉
When the books first came out, I said I was never going to lay a hand on one. Children’s books, right? Who wants to read 700 pages of rubbish.
Then the movies came out, and the first one was… okay… the second one was a little better… I’ll admit the third one I caught the midnight screening for…
But the real test was when someone, my Grandmother, had finally sent me one of the books (HP and the Order of the Pheonix). One fateful day, I saw it lying around and thought, hey, why not. Those two words led to 700+ pages of the 4th book (Goblet of Fire) and roughly 100 pages into the 5th book.
And you know what? I have no shame!
So many people can’t believe “what I’m doing”. Or they won’t “lower themselves” to read the books. You know what? Eat it. 🙂 I just wait for that one day they falter and pick up a book.
Besides, isn’t Rupert Grint a bit of a cutie? It’s that red hair, I’m tellin’ you. Gets me every time.
😉
It had been so long since I last wrote an entry that I had a relapse in memory nearly resulting in a forgotten password.
Yeah.. So I’ve been busy. It happens.
First of all, I would like to implore you all, if you will, to tell me exactly what it is that apportions to every third male of this human race with the mental incapacity that afflicts them and agitates the rest of us. Tonight, while I was on my way home, in an ever-so-pathetic attempt two men tried to pick me up… And I hadn’t even left my car! I had my window down, and they pulled up beside me, paced me on Bissonnet, and were trying to talk to me. For future reference, in case there is any further confusion, I am not a hooker. I will not be yelled at out of a car window.
Moving along now…
I must make a point to mention something… The Northwest Houston Symphony Orchestra is having a fundraiser concert (July 15th, i think?), and yes, you are required to purchase a $10 ticket. I must say it’s not the best orchestra in the world, but right now we’re the only ones going to China. Come on, man, everyone is doing it. 😉
Anywho, I guess life has been treating me… alright. With college looming in the near future, my departure from all that I know is approaching faster, substantializing itself and growing out of the vague notion it was just a couple months ago. And it’s left me with plenty to think about, and too many decisions to make. Already I’ve grown distant from so many people, and the fact that I’m entering a new and completely different stage of my life is becoming more and more apparent. But that’s all okay, I guess. I’ve got to grow out of my skin sometime. Oscar Wilde once said that most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event. I can’t lay around on my ass in Houston forever, I’ve got to go out and do everything that I’ve always wanted to do. Hoorah!
On the upside of things, I’m finally getting a new camera. Just in time for the Great Wall of China!
Wow. I love being a musician.
The oppurtunity has presented itself to travel to China. Apparently the Northwest Symphony (don’t know them? I didn’t either until last night) got invited to play over there, are taking a bunch of HSPVA kids, and is a little shy of a full trumpet section. Woo! We’ll see how this plays out.
The only thing I’m worried about is having my braces off next Monday– if the director wants me to audition sometime in the near future, I will not be able to play, though I will be more than ready by the time they leave for China. Maybe he’ll just give in to my beautiful new smile (wishful thinking). 🙂 Will they take me on good faith, or will I be stuck with Denton, Texas, and the vast North Texas wasteland as my huge exciting summer trip?
Cross your fingers.
Blogging at the speed of light. Let’s see how I do.
First of all, congratulation’s to my darling Matt! We all thought this day would never come, being the numero uno Matt on google. I always knew it, it just took google some time to figure it out. 🙂 At least now he won’t bug me to endure his wordy latin/computer-talk blog entries (it all reads “blah blah blah WordPress blah blah blah XFN”) … Kidding Matt. 😉
Secondly, to put the random icing on the cake, I’M IN A ROCK BAND. Way to be adventurous, right? These two guys (bass, drums) called Near Dark have been looking for a trumpet player to gig with, and hey, it’s a payin’ gig… So I said, hey, try everything once, right? I must admit that I am slightly, okay, heavily biased against amateur rock bands- 99.999% of them don’t know the first thing about music. Amateur rock bands = LOUD, noisy, and obnoxious. I was actually quite pleased with how our jam the other night went, though. The drummer actually studied jazz at Berklee for a year, so that was double brownie points for him in my book… Not to mention that these two were two of the most genuinely and sincerely nice people that I’ve met. So, make sure to come see me make a fool of myself as soon as i post show dates.
The reason I’ve been so behind in blogging is because I’ve been doing The American Festival for the Arts here in town, for jazz. It’s fun stuff, I’ll post more later as well as upcoming concert dates.
As a comment, Matt is always talking about how energizing naps are. I took my first one in a long time today… and I remembered why it had been so long. Naps are black holes of energy! Once I sleep in the middle of the day, my activities are pretty much shot for the rest of the day without the utmost self-discipline and will power. After I oversleep (I always do), I spend the rest of the day and my night in a half-dreamy haze of living. Naps, as of today, I wash my hands of you.
And for the big fat cherry on top, I’m due to have my braces off on Monday, June 21st! God knows I’ve been waiting for this day to come. I’ve been going to that orthodontist longer than most of his employees have been working there… I’ve been going to that orthodontist longer than his office has been built. I was the first one to get the new, cutting-edge damon braces, and now, four and a half years later, they’re old-fashioned. I’m contemplating throwing a party with lots of gummy foods and hard candies. 🙂
And for now… I’m off! Kyle, Corey, Earl, etc etc, have a gig at Ovations, beginning at 8pm. Go check them out!
(So much for blogging in 5 minutes…. and being on time to the gig)
It’s now 1:30am, and I’ve been lying in bed for a good half hour.
Oddly (or in the opinion of some, sadly) enough, I cannot sleep because I’ve got trumpet on the brain.
As I’m lying there, trying to fall asleep, Nica’s Dream is running through my head, over and over, my mind going over the changes trying to weave a line through the tune, my fingers repeatedly following the melody in the entirety of each chorus.
Think about having a couple lines of a song stuck in your head. This is much worse.
I’ve got to start getting my practicing done earlier in the day.
A – Age: 18
B – Band listening to right now: The Yonder Mountain String Band, and other Bonnaroo ’04 Bands (while I’m savagely envying my friend that he gets to go)
C – Career future: A musician? An entrepreneur? A teacher? I’m going to play all the clubs and teach lots of music and run a record label and love jazz until I die.
D – Dad’s name: Michael
E – Easiest person to talk to: Lizzy Conley in VA! Ohh man I miss her.
F – Favorite song: You can’t make me pick!
G – Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms: Worms, though biting gummy bear heads is better therapy than a stress ball.
H – Hometown: Houston, Texas
I – Instruments: Trumpet and occasionally voice, when I can manage to practice and learn tunes
J – Job: Student Musician BUM.
K – Kids: Check back in 30 years.
L – Longest car ride ever: With my aunt/uncle/cousins to Kenosha, Wisconsin. We pulled all the seats out of the van to put mattresses in, fed on McDonald’s the whole way up there, then it didn’t even snow once the whole week we were there.
M – Mum’s name: Shirley
N – Number of people you’ve slept with: Hahhh, no.
P – Phobia[s]: Flying insects with stingers, and, sadly still, sometimes the dark.
Q – Quote: Hmm.. the one I told someone today was a Dan Haerle original at an 8am theory class– sipping on coffee, “there’s too much blood in my veins.”
R – Reason to smile: I have an absolutely darling boy who set up my blog but can never manage to salvage my address book off of his old server.
T – Time you wake up: I’m shooting for 9:30 the rest of this week… Next week, with AFA, it will be 7am again for me.
U – Unknown fact about me: I check the multiracial box on my school forms- I’m part Japanese.
V – Vegetable you hate: Mushy, squishy, COOKED CARROTS.
W – Worst habit: Procrastination, Nail biting
X – X-rays you’ve had: Orthondontic
Y – Yummy food: French toast, orange juice, and anything Tex-Mex.
Z – Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
This world is full of weirdos.
Apparently someone has gone through Matt’s photolog and picked out the pictures of myself and my glasses…… and then posted them all on a German glasses fetish website. Now, all of a sudden all these weirdos are leaving comments as well as bothering Matt, trying to get my contact information.
…I’m not sure whether, in some deranged way, I should feel flattered, or mildly disturbed by all of this.
As the heat and humidity sets in, the laze of summer has bared me down to the fundamentality of action- sleep, eat, breathe- with the occasional bout of productivity. Enough! Starting next week I think I’m going to begin a loose routine to keep me busy and productive. Starting next week…
A little ambitious maybe? Nahh. I’ve got so much I want to accomplish this summer!
Lethargy is a baaad habit.
Let’s see how this goes.
VIOLIN RECITAL – On Tuesday, June 1 at 7:30 pm in the church, you are invited to a violin recital presented by Eric Jose Rodriguez, an AFS foreign exchange student at HSPVA who has lived this past year with Lynne Aiken, music teacher at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. You may have seen him as a member of the Bells of St. Stephen’s. Eric began playing the violin ten years ago in his homeland, the Dominican Republic, and his ambition is to become a professional musician. As there is no university in the Dominican Republic that offers music as a major, Eric auditioned and was accepted at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston on scholarship. Even with the scholarship, however, attending university here in Houston is still just a dream for Eric and he is seeking financial sponsorship to enable him to return for the Fall of 2004. If you would like to help, please contact Eric at eric_violin@hotmail.com or Lynne at lynne_a@swbell.net. For more information, please see the flyers posted in the gathering area.
—————————–
The church is located on the corner of Alabama and Woodhead
he needs to raise around $6000
Help Eric stay in the country!
I had a funny poem awaiting me in my inbox yesterday. Matt thought it was much better than the “po-ehm” he wrote last Valentine’s… I’ll let you decide.
———————
Collards is green,
my dog’s name is Blue
and I’m so lucky
to have a sweet thang like you.
Yore hair is like cornsilk
a-flapping in the breeze.
Softer than Blue’s
and without all them fleas.
You move like the bass,
which excite me in May.
You ain’t got no scales
but I luv you anyway.
Ahh!
First of all, to start things off, graduation was wonderful. I didn’t cry, though I almost slipped once or twice. It’s so sad to see everyone leave! “Take care of yourself… We’ll keep in touch… We’ll hang out this summer” Yeah yeah, we all say it, but the harder part is really doing it. It makes me feel awful that, this time next year, the people I consistently keep in touch with from high school I will probably be able to count on one hand. Give me an excuse to come see you! Ahh, I’m going to miss going to HSPVA. Switching high schools halfway through was one of the best decisions I’ve made yet.
Now, I’m off for a wedding weekend.
Today, Matt’s two friends Mike and Christine are getting married down in Galveston, and he’s asked me to go down there with him.
….And tomorrow evening, a friend’s mother has hired me to play for ceremony and reception…. in Brenham, at the Texas Rose Emporium. I’m going to be spending significant amounts of time in the car- I wish Matt would give me my CDs back 🙂
Congratulations to all who are getting married and graduating this weekend!
So, hey everyone, I guess I’m graduating tonight.
7pm @ George R. Brown Convention Center, Downtown Houston, if you care to see it with your own eyes.
There is a petrified fly on my window sill.
I wish I could open my window- let the night into my room. My room gets so stale, I feel as if I could bite into the air and it would crunch like styrofoam in my mouth. I hope to never live in a basement, I would wizen without windows.
I feel so in-between right now- stifled and precarious and unsure. Unfortunately my mind is always ahead of me or behind me, my thoughts so diffused over time and places I am unable to amass them. I can never think straight.
But you know, sometimes change is good.
Awesome! I just found once-lost transcription of an interview I did with musician Carol Morgan for a project I did a couple years ago- the topic, Jazz History and it’s influence or something along those lines. She is a wealth of knowledge.
————–
Sarah M. Williams interviewing Carol Morgan
Saturday March 30th, 2002
University of Houston- Downtown
SW: For the sake of the interview, would you please state your occupation as well as any credentials you might have.
CM: Okay, well, my name is Carol Morgan, and I am… I like to be though of mostly as a jazz trumpet player, but I am also an educator. I teach at San Jacinto College, its north and central campus- trumpet and jazz improv. I studied classical music and jazz in college at the University of Texas and later at Juilliard.
Man to my right.
He’s round, he’s plain.
He’s autistic? Or his brain
has been stunted from
lack of stimulation. He speaks
loud and s-l-o-w-l-y.
———
He’s lonely. I can tell.
His days blend together, in need of
something distinguishable.
something edifying,
interesting,
enlightening,
inspiring…
“I used to go to church when I was a kid”
he says…. “but now I only go for the AA meetings.”
As I furtively listen, his life unfolds to my ears
poetic injustice makes itself known
Home is a box with no holes, a container with a plastic lid, a cell in which he
cannot seem to find the key
Where he can stay up as long as he likes
(the nights are endless)
Chatting it up with Jay Leno, who’s audience loved him so much
They offered to buy him another drink.
“But I like Good Morning America… Channel 13.”
He only wakes up because Diane Sawyer is
the only female in his life
Otherwise his days meld together,
his body not knowing when to rise.
He meets people all the time, but he is lonely.
It’s in the way he says hello to a man with a dog.
It’s in the way he asks a man with a bag to “take a seat”
“Sorry…. gotta run. See you at the meeting?”
He used to go to sunday school.
I went to a Baptist church, he says…. But now
I only go for the meetings.
I am inspired by the Night.
enveloping, fresh darkness
everything has a different meaning
the light air and cooled smells are poetic to my senses
making me fluid
my movements lighter, unseen
so ephemeral, so unending
time becomes a variable
and I am the only constant.
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