Winter Break!

Hey ya'll, it's been a while since I posted in here last. Been super busy with school--percussion concert, Cynthia Yeh masterclass, Tom Freer masterclass, etc etc. All of which went really well! All and all it was a great semester for me. Music for Pieces of Wood, which I mentioned in my last post, went really well--and helped my arms out a lot. My marimba-related problems are getting a lot better too, even though they're still somewhat present. My physical therapist seemed to find the part of my arm that was causing the problems, so I've only seen improvement since.

My grad school plans have changed a lot since the last update as well. I had a long talk with Bob about what my options were, and he pretty much left me with two options: I audition for Yale this year and get in, or I don't get in and try again next year. He seemed to think taking a semester off might actually be a bad idea, and going to a different grad school first would just leave me exhausted. He told me he thought I was ready, and he didn't think I would be playing that much more at Yale than I am here now. Him saying that definitely gave me a lot more hope, so I'm feeling pretty optimistic now. All I have to do is get this freakin' recital ready first!

I'm back home in Connecticut now, on my new laptop. Just flew in this evening, actually. This computer is super awesome--it's a Toshiba running Windows Vista. However, it came with a free mail-in upgrade to Windows 7! I am super excited about that. I recently got a job working at RadioShack (to fill in the slow winter season on Spirit Cruises right now), and found this there on clearance. This computer is a huge improvement from my last one, and I'm excited about all the music I'll (hopefully) be able to create with it. I need to get my Dwelling of Duels entry ready for Magfest!

Not much to say here, really. Or rather, too much to say in one blog post. Mainly just wanted to indicate to you all (and myself) that I'm still alive!

Clever commercials

So I was watching Heroes today, and a commercial for some toy train set by Playskool came on. At least I think it was Playskool. Whatever. Anyway, the jingle for the commercial went "Play, Laugh, Grow", and the notes were something like "D, A, C". But being the nerd I am, I instinctively began singing it in solfege syllables. "Re, La, Do!"

Do you see the connection?!

Anyway, I played for the first time since So was here today. Wasn't too bad, but my arm still doesn't feel great. I hope it gets better soon. I think it will--it's not hurting anymore, so I know that's better. But it still feels pretty weak.

I'm trying to get my life as a whole super organized, now that I have some time to do that. To start, I've changed my active email address from @comcast.net to @gmail.com. Honestly, the biggest reason I wanted to switch to Gmail is because I liked the idea of being able to delete Thunderbird off my computer. Don't get me wrong, I think Thunderbird is a great program. But if I'm using Internet Explorer, I want to use Outlook Express for email. If I'm using Firefox for browsing, I want Thunderbird as my email. But I use Google Chrome as a browser now, and Google doesn't have a client-side email application. Honestly, I freakin' love Google. I use Google Chrome, Google Pages, Google Calendar... heck, YouTube and Blogger are also owned by Google. If Google takes over the world and suddenly I find myself under a worldwide dictatorship, so be it. At least I'll be able to find my shit.

My laptop is on it's way out, unfortunately. The power jack is failing more and more, the longer it's on... I have a feeling by the end of this week it will become completely unresponsive. I need to purchase a new power jack and have someone replace it for me (unless I want to try to replace it myself, but that's risky). Once I do that, I need to replace the battery. After that, I need to fix my iPod. After that, I need to repossess my desktop and fill it with memory/ram. If I can do all of that, I will reorganize my software and keep my laptop for personal stuff (homework, email, browsing, and of course chatting), and use my desktop strictly for music and perhaps some gaming (like I have time to do that anymore anyway). Apparently desktops are way more stable than laptops in general when it comes to music stuff, and if I can get the right upgrades my desktop should do me a lot of good.

I actually really miss playing video games. It's weird... during the school year, I'm pretty much scared of playing them because I assume there's something more important I need to do. However, it's one of those things that really helps me blow off steam from the stresses of school. I guess everyone needs a hobby, and gaming for me isn't like how it is for most basement-dwelling 20-30 year olds who got their degree in computer science so that they could use irc in all of their classes. Every game I play, I'm playing it like it's a form of art--listening to the music, seeing how it interacts with the artwork, the gameplay, how the art interacts with the gameplay and the script, how the script interacts with the music, etc. The game to best achieve this balance for me is by far Cave Story (or Dokutsu Monogatari, if you are Japaneasily inclined). Closest thing to a perfect game you'll ever play.

Of course, writing blog posts like this aren't really much of a better use of my time. I guess at least I'm writing, which is something you're supposed to be good at.