Goings on in life

So I'm positive I'm going to be buying Rodger Perrin's violin. None of the bows though. None of them are really right for me. The violin was made by a fellow named Glier in Cincinatti in the year 1918. It's a really nice fiddle and has a crisp, wonderful projecting voice. It's a great soloist instrument, and it'll blend well with orchestra too.

I'm going home tonight, well, actually, Stef and I are coming home tonight and staying through Monday afternoon/evening. Tomorrow I have to get my emissions tested, my savings bonds put in my bank account (to buy the fiddle), my hair cut, and then I have to go to Uncle Jay's for a family party to see Grandpa. He's finally home from Spain for a little while... I've not seen him since November.

I think I'll go to Jeff's party tonight. Probably won't be until really late, so I might be kinda tired. But if not, I'm there.

And tomorrow is 9 months for Stef and me. It's been one heck of a great ride. Lots of great memories and experiences, and I'm sure there'll be many more to come.

can't sleep.

3:48 AM and can't sleep... various reasons why which I won't really go into here, but suffice it to say that I've got a lot on my mind. Actually, perhaps I will go into it here. Might help some.

Well, I technically did get about 4 hours of sleep tonight, so it's not really insomnia, but just a night of a full head of crap.

Trying to decide what violin to get, and bow, etc. Olivia really liked the same violin that I like, so I'll probably end up getting that one, but I'm not really wild about any of the bows. So, I'll be searching for bows for a while to come I'm thinking.

I'm a bit.... no. scratch that. I'm really pissed off that I settled for playing viola this summer. Really, it'll be a good head start for next year, but I wish I had applied to the box office. It's more money and I think I'd be happier than I will be in the pit watching people who I could've killed at an audition playing violin while I'm stuck on viola. And the money's not that good, either.

Actually, if it wasn't for Stef, I'd probably be home right now. And I'm almost regretting staying here, if it weren't for her and for the experience to put on my resume.

And, maybe it'll be different once orchestra people start getting here (Maryory, Cynthia, Chris, Ben, etc), but I hear the same things OVER and OVER from the people I'm hanging out with. "Oh, you remember last summer?" "Hey last summer when..." "Hey last summer was great." Really, it's just like being at home except I don't know what anybody's talking about. Not that I think they shouldn't talk about the fun they had last summer. It's a great way to get back in the swing of talking to all your old friends. It's just kind of interesting, and it reminds me of the whole "senior week stigma" that I suffered last summer (me being one of the few who didn't go on a week-long drinking binge in Ocean City.... not that there's anything wrong with that, and I probably would have if I didn't love the Outer Banks). "Hey you remember at Senior Week when...." "Oh man Senior Week was so great" "Hey remember when we were all really wasted at Senior Week and..." But, at least the people here aren't saying "Man you should have totally been here last summer. It was so much fun and awesome and nothing will ever be more fun than that in my entire life." (replace "last summer" with "at senior week" and you've got my last summer pretty well described). So, I guess this probably is better than listening to senior week stories all summer (which I would have anticipated this summer too).

And probably the biggest thing on my mind. I feel totally useless. Jan hasn't emailed a thing to us about the Festival Schedule, so I don't know if/when I'll be free for about two weeks in June. Problem with that is that I can't get a job and be like "oh yeah, for the next two weeks I can't work." So I'm sitting at home, going with Stef to do posters when she has to, but mostly feeling like a useless piece of crap, not making ANY money whatsoever (as I don't have students or a quartet to do gigs). So basically shit. That's about all. Shit.

Maybe I'll just go take a damn NyQuil and fall asleep.

Annnnnnnnnnnd more violin-related stuff

Let me just enlighten you guys as to what I've been up to this week so far. Monday I helped out Stef with her job putting up posters and then we picked up a costuming intern from Dulles airport. She was pretty cool, and when we dropped her off at the dorms we met a few people (technical interns), and they seem pretty cool. I'm hoping to make a bunch of friends this summer.

Tuesday I went to Gailes' Violin Shop in College Park, MD. When I got there, the woman who helped me out was really friendly, and ushered me to a room with something like 10 violins to try out. She was always very accessible, but she didn't really know much of anything about the instruments. But Mr. Gailes helped me out when I had questions about the instruments I tried out. All in all, I ended up with two instruments and two bows that I liked. Really just one insrument, I guess, but the other one was really inexpensive and sounded great for the price. I still haven't found a better bow than the one I tried at Perrin, though. Oh man that was such a great bow, and so cheap too!!

Wednesday I went to Brobst Violins in Alexandria, VA. They were a bunch of shit faces. A bunch of arrogant assholes who hardly even gave me the time of day. They gave me violins a thousand dollars above my price range, and I had to ask for lower prices just to get fiddles within the middle of my range. They had signs up that said "If you have a Doetsche violin, go to Potter's to get it adjusted or repaired." Because apparently they are too good to set up any fiddle under, say, $2000. I found one good violin there, and one decent bow, but there's no way in hell I'm giving those shit holes my business.

Today Gary Frisch (a private dealer) is coming over to show me some instruments. Actually, he'll be here in about 35 minutes. Hopefully he'll have some good finds priced well. He seems a lot like Rodger Perrin.... they both really care about what instrument you need, and they take a lot of time finding instruments that they think will suit you, all in a bunch of price ranges.

Tomorrow I'm off to Baltimore, MD to Perrin Fine Violins, to pick up at least one violin and bow, and try out several others to see if I find them to my liking. I really hope I buy his violin because he's such a fantastic guy, and I'd love to be doing business with him now and in the future.

So, hopefully by next Friday I'll have a new violin!!

.....then I've gotta start looking for a viola.

*groan*

Finally, a lull in the crazy-go-nutsiness

So after Apple Blossom ended, I had finals. Then went to try out violins. Then Stef's Mom and Aunt came. Then my parents and brother came. Then it was her graduation. Then I got sick as a motherfucker. Then (still sick) we went to Disney World for a week. And now we're back and I'm sick (round 2).

Finals went well. I aced the hell out of music lit, which I was the most worried about. I got a couple Bs this time, which I'm kind of upset about, but oh well. I think 2 Bs out of something like 9 classes is pretty damn good. And it still keeps my GPA comfortably above 3.8.

Went to Perrin and Associates' Fine Violins in Baltimore, MD about two weeks ago. Tried a bunch of different instruments, and the last one I tried was really nice. It sounded almost as great as the ones that cost twice its price. So this week I'm going to pick it up and keep it for a trial period (two weeks). I also found a hell of a nice bow for practically nothing. I mean, this bow is as good as a bow I tried that was literally ten times the price. Needless to say, I'm excited about finding some great things. This week I'll be heading to Brobst, Gaile's, and probably this independent dealer I heard about.

Disney World was pretty hardcore. Spend four and a half days there, and hardcored around at all the parks, went on all the rides. It was cool. My favorite park would have to be Epcot, with the honorable mention going to MGM. Animal Kingdom was ok, but it just isn't big enough to spend the whole day there. It's great as a part of a package "park-hopper" deal, but I wouldn't pay the 50 some odd dollars to go just there for a day. Magic Kingdom was fun, but it was the most crowded (especially with the little shits.... i mean kids) and geared the most towards kids. Speaking of kids, Disney World is a great form of birth control. So many whining kids, strollers hitting you in the legs, and of course the bitching little kids in the restaurants with $35 entrees. That's great. So yeah, I'm not going to be having kids for a long long long long long long long long long time, if ever after that trip.

Well damn, looks like that's about all for now. Nothing else too interesting to talk about, but I'll probably update about the new fiddles I find in the coming days.