Reflections...

So the summer is finally coming to an end. SSMT is winding down like it ain't no thang. Only 3 more performances left in 2 days. A matinee and an evening show tomorrow (Saturday) and then one last early evening performance on Sunday. I think I'll make a list of what's happened this summer.

-A few weeks of nothing (and being bored out of my skull!)
-A few weeks of violin searching
-Finding my Glier and Juzek!
-Shenandoah Performns... 2 weeks of hardcore!!!
-My amazing quartet performance (just ask me for the mp3s!)
-A crash course at sightreading alto clef on viola.
-7 Brides for 7 Brothers for two weeks...
-Justin coming down for a long weekend!
-4th of July party with Jeff, Shiff, and Andy
-Carousel for two weeks (and wanting to gouge my eyes out)
-Seussical for 2 weeks (love the music!)
-Interspersed here were various trips to Tyson's Corner and Tyson's II, a trip to Dulles Town Center, etc.
-Buying a Super Joy nintendo system with 76000 games!
-Helping Stef out however I can, since her job sucks, and it's so great to have her here with me.
-Passing a 9, 10, 11 month mark!

And now, back to a shitty warewolf movie on AMC.

Damn I'm feeling political lately...

So I've been thinking about the upcoming election, and, consequently, what a government, ideally, should do. Now, I realize that, as a subjective statement, this is a largely personal matter, and what something "should" do is different to everyone. But here's my philosophy...

1. Economy
The government has a responsibility to be fiscally sound, and create an environment that makes it possible for EVERYONE to have a chance at making money. That is, they need to make it so everyone, economically speaking, is on a level playing field. To me, this doesn't mean giving big corporations tax breaks. This would mean taxing the rich higher than the poor. It makes sense to me because the rich are already at a huge advantage over the poor, so having to pay a greater percentage of their income evens the playing field with the poor. This doesn't nullify that the rich earned their way to become rich because they are still going to be rich, and a poor person who becomes rich will be in the same boat, and have to pay his dues, so to speak.

2. Foreign Affairs
Concerning foreign policy, the government has a responsibility to act responibly in foreign affairs. They have to reflect the attitude of the majority of the people, and, if the government doesn't, then it is not serving its purpose. The government needs to interact peacefully with other countries, and, only after all peaceful options have been exhausted, consider war as an option. An important thing to remember as well is that it is not our government's job to impose its sense of morality/economy/governmental processes on another country.

3. Social Issues
My point of view is that it is not the government's job to tell it's citizens what and what not to do, socially speaking. Of course there have to be laws to protect others' rights, but further than that, the government should not have a say in what we choose to do in our personal lives. This includes imposing a religion on people, telling people what, socially speaking, is right and wrong. Today's issues relevant to this are gay marriage, the "war" on drugs, abortion rights, things like that.

4. Environment
The government has an absolute responsibility to manage the environment soundly. This includes signing nuclear limitation treaties, pollution ordinances, etc etc. And yes, this includes not polluting the sky and furthering the global warming effect. Yes, I realize that some people will say "Well, that can't be conclusively proven." Of course it can't, but it certainly hasn't been disproven. I think we need to look into the global warming effect more intensely and finally decide whether it's real or not. If we can't prove it either way, we should make ordinances against global warming contaminants, which makes sense anyway because the same particulates that cause global warming are not good to breathe or to even have around.

And finally, another word about the candidates. I've heard a lot that Kerry is just "the anti-Bush candidate." Well, he IS a democrat, and most of his ideology does conflict with Bush. I mean, if Kerry thought the same as Bush, why would the Democrats pick him to run? Of course he's Bush's antithesis. And yes, Kerry comes from a rich family. So why exactly does he run Democrat? Because he believes in the ideology. He's going to suffer from his tax plans, but he knows it's good for the country. He went to Vietnam and was injured. That last statement is a fact. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding him in Vietnam, he went, and Bush and Cheney didn't.

OK. Enough politics for now.

Democratic Convention...

I unfortunately have only seen Bill Clinton's big speech, but I feel the need nonetheless to express some political views upon my blog.

Bill Clinton was a fantastic president. I know that some of you are chuckling to yourself because of his personal matters, but regardless of how you rate his personal life, the fact of the matter is that he was a successful president. Look at the economy at the middle and end of his term. Much better than it is now. Look at his fantastic environmental policies. Look at how many of the people who were in poverty entering the middle class. Look at how the middle class expanded and how people were making money! It was fantastic. 3 budget surpluses in a row!

George Bush has been a terrible president, in some respects. He went into Iraq without the consent of the UN, creating a vast schizm between the US and the rest of the world. Regardless of how you feel about Saddam, Iraq did not pose as great a threat to the US's future than alienating most of the world has. He broke nuclear arms treaties, environmental pacts, and is destroying social security so he can fund his (entirely unnecessary) tax cuts. Before 9/11, he was so preoccupied with tax cuts and helping big buisnesses that he let national security atrophy. Now he tries to show himself as the guy who's going to keep the US safe. I'd personally rather have a president who got a BJ in the office instead of the guy who makes me unsafe. Oh, that and we're 5 trillion dollars in debt, and losing money every second we're in this "war."

I'm voting for John Kerry, because he is the best candidate for the job. He has a much more realistic world view than Bush, and I think he'll repair much of the damage that Bush has done, globally speaking. He'll get rid of some of the frivolous tax cuts because he realizes that for the country to be a stronger America, we need to keep some money in the government and try and get out of the red. He'll start making college more affordable (again) for middle class Americans. He's been a congressman for years, so he knows the ins and outs of how the system works. He'll give more funding to schools and more funding to police officers, which is currently being taken away by Bush and his cronies. And he's not going to back down on terrorists. What he certainly is not going to do is go to war without global support, or at least consent. People will say that John Kerry can't stand up to terrorists, but he's just going to stand up to them in a different way (a more intelligent and thought-out way than Bush has done). Kerry knows that just going out and showing your brute strength makes you come off as a bully, and it makes you a hell of a lot more enemies than friends.

Well, now that I'm done that rant, I just urge everyone that reads my blog to vote. Research both candidates, and vote responsibly. Don't vote for Bush because he is a Republican, and don't vote for Kerry just because you hate Bush.  Look at what they both stand for, and VOTE!

Monday!

So I really look forward to Mondays and Tuesdays, as they are my "weekends" over the summer. This is my last "weekend" before SSMT is over, and I'm really excited. It'll be so nice to get home for a while. Actually, I already have some things in mind to do when I'm home. I want to go to 6 Flags with Justin, go downtown a whole lot, play lots of pool with Warren, and perhaps go to Hooters with some of my male friends. Actually, since I have to go to Baltimore twice anyway, I think that 2 Hooters runs are in order!

So I've really fallen in love with rock music the past few days, like (good) metal like Ozzy and the like, some 80s bands (Van Halen especially), and, excitingly, rekindled my love of Led Zeppelin.

Oh boy...

Don't really know why I picked that title. Nothing too interesting has been happening as of late. I've gotten to practicing the violin again for extended periods of time. Today not being one of them, as it's really hot here and I don't feel like going to school for an hour's worth of practice. So maybe I'll do some work here tonight. Or maybe not. Damn I'm so burned out right now. Winchester is not conducive to practicing. It's so boring, yet I have so much to do. When I'm here (and school isn't in session) I get so winded down that it's hard to do much of anything. I also think that taking up the viola wasn't such a bright idea. I mean, it's great to finally be fluent on another instrument, but it's absolutely sucked my violin practice time out of existence. I think I've averaged 5 hours of violin practice a week since I've been doing pit. THAT IS PITIFUL! Especially since I would easily be doing that in a day over the school year. I suppose I wouldn't feel so bad if I were playing violin in the pit because then at least I get to work on intonation and technique and stuff. This is why if I can't play violin in pit next summer, I'm seriously thinking of doing the first two shows and then counseloring the arts camp. It would end up being a bit less money than just pit, but I think it would definitely be worth it.

So when I get home, here is my schedule. It's going to be much like last summer.

Before noon, practice 1.5 hours.
Before 3, practice another 1.5 hours.
Before 6, practice another 2 hours.

That makes 5 hours a day. And it's all before night (at home I can't practice at night like I can here, which is usually when I would do an hour or two). Now, granted, I'm not going to be able to do this every day. And that's ok. I mean, Olivia did say to take it a bit easy over the summer so I don't burn myself out. Which is nice, because now I have such a rekindled love of music, I'm so ready to work really hard and get some shit done.

Well, now I'm off!

Where did the music go?

So today was pretty uneventful.....

Until about 4:30 PM! Nick and I were going to pick Stef up to go to an early dinner before the show, and when we got in my car, we realized something funny had happened. Well, not so much funny as my stereo was missing. Well, not so much missing as it was stolen. Yeah, it was great. So I called the cops and an officer showed up at the house (I didn't and don't expect to get it back, but I know you're supposed to call the cops if something happens to you, so that's why I called them). He did the usual... asked me for some ID, the last time I saw the stereo, the last time I was in the car, and all that crap. So basically it was a fantastic day.

Any recommendations for a new stereo??

Monday...
 
So it's Monday morning, and Carousel is finally over. It's a nice show the first time or two you play it, but after, oh, 13 shows, you start to get sick of it. REALLY sick of it. Luckily, I actually got to play violin at the Saturday evening show! Cynthia called out, and I got to sub for her. Which is nice because I didn't have to play viola, and I make a little extra money for being a substitute for that show. Oh yes! Now we start Seussical performances (after a few rehearsals) on Wednesday. I really love the music for Seussical. The story is kind of strange, but it's a lot of fun and great music. I think that the audiences will really like it.
 
*Fast forward about 10 hours*
 
A couple days ago, my front left tire decided that it was time to eat it. So today (I'm writing this at night now, since I didn't finish it before I left for Dulles) I got 4 new tires for my car, along with some tire in a can. Well, tire fixer in a can, just in case this happens again. And damn are these tires great!
 
Today we headed off to Dulles Town Center. Very disappointing. I went to H&M and found two fantastic shirts that would have looked really good on me.... had they fit. They were (of course) too short and too tight in the shoulders/arms. Being my size kind of sucks when you're looking for buttoned shirts because frequently the XL size (usually the largest size at the store) is still too small for me, and the stuff at a tall person's store is too big. So I'm in the middle somewhere, just looking for a good shirt. I'm hoping I can find them at the H&M at Arundel Mills, because they frequently have a better selection than other places.
 
And Olive Garden = fantastic!

Stolen from Stef... who stole it from Jackie... who probably stole it from someone else.

I AM: a violist... i think.
I WANT: to practice violin more than i do now.
I HAVE: a heck of a great relationship with my girlfriend
I WISH: i had a good sub right now... i'm hungry.
I HATE: when people think life owes them something
I MISS: hanging out with certain friends from home
I FEAR: having to play in SSMT forever!
I HEAR: the fish dropping rocks
I SEARCH: for everything! i'm really damn unorganized.
I WONDER: what happened to your mom last night. i mean, we had an appointment and everything, but she never showed.
I REGRET: not really much of anything...
I LOVE: when someone on the price is right says "1 dollar!" when they aren't the last person to bid and then the next person says "ummm... 2 dollars!" and they win. that and stef.
I ACHE: in my stomach when i eat thai food... and then in my anus about 2 hours later.
I ALWAYS: take a shower... except when i don't.
I AM NOT: naked.
I DANCE: never. because i'm male. and white. and thus have no rhythm in my feet.
I SING: in sightsinging class. well, i try, anyway.
I CRY: never. i'm a badass.
I WRITE: really damn sloppily, but gramatically correct.
I WIN: lots of games at apple blossom.... well, some anyway.
I LOSE: my pencils. all the damn time.
I CONFUSE: the stupid when they don't understand me.
I NEED: to practice.
I SHOULD: not be wasting my time watching the price is right.

[YES OR NO]
You keep a diary: other than this deal, no.
You have a secret journal: nope.
You set your watch a few minutes ahead: no. i don't really wear watches.
You bite your fingernails: constantly.
You believe in love: of course.

[DO YOU]
Take a shower everyday: yes. except for yesterday, when i didn't.
Have a(any) crush(es): besides your mom, no.
Think you know you've been in love: yeah.
Want to get married: eventually...
Have any tattoos/where?: nah... for a tattoo you need something called pain tolerance.
Piercings/where?: nope.
Get motion sickness: nope.
Think you're a health freak: nah.
Get along with your parents: yeah, better than most people do i think.

[WHEN YOU SEE THIS NAME YOU THINK OF?]
Ryan: my cousin
Rob: that i don't know anyone by that name.
Drew: Stinson
Heather: Kenney
Will: Evans
Paul: and Clark
Eve: summer's
John: stef's brother.
Laura: brockson
Alex: St. Johns
Ricky: Ricardo

[FAVORITE]
NUMBER: 7894275908247592873457293487529348572309
COLOR: Green?
DAY: Monday. No work.
MONTH: I hate that lousy Smarch weather.
SONG: oh, that's a tough one.
FOOD: again, can't really pick.
SEASON: spring. except for the pollen.
SPORT: foxy boxing!
DRINK: gin 'n juice.
VEGGIE: i've always been partial to the cucumber. even though it is technically a fruit.
FRUIT: stawberries are pretty good.
FAST FOOD: hah... "Super Size Me"

[IN THE LAST 24 HOURS, HAVE YOU]
CRIED? negative
HELPED SOMEONE? sure, i think so.
BOUGHT SOMETHING? yeah, a soda.
GOTTEN SICK? nope
GONE TO THE MOVIES? "The Terminal" ... I liked it.
GONE OUT FOR DINNER? Chili's before the movie. (ok, maybe these last two were like 30 hours ago, but if you don't like it you can lick my taint)
SAID "I LOVE YOU"? yep!
WRITTEN A REAL LETTER? nope
TALKED TO AN EX? nope... don't really have any though.
MISSED AN EX? nah.
WRITTEN IN A JOURNAL? other than this one, no.
TALKED TO SOMEONE YOU CRUSH ON? a prerequisite to that would be actually having a crush.
MISSED SOMEONE? yeah.
HUGGED SOMEONE? yeap (combination of yeah and yep)
FOUGHT WITH YOUR PARENTS? nah.
FOUGHT WITH A FRIEND? negative.

Well that survey blew. In other news, I have a rehearsal for "Seussical" at 2 and an evening show of "Carousel" at 8.

Tuesday! (and a recap of Monday.)

So today is Tuesday. Which means it's the last day I have off until next Monday. That also means that next week I have ONLY Monday off. Shit. But that's ok. I'm looking forward to not having to play Carousel any longer. It's getting real old. Real fast.

But now, a recap of yesterday!

So yesterday Stef and I decided to go to Tyson's Corner. There's a fantastic "Chinese Bistro" there called P.F. Chang's, and we haven't been in a while, so a murder (like the terminology there? anyone who can tell me what gathers in a "murder" first on my comments wins a prize) of us decided to go to dinner there. Stef and I, however, wanted to get some shopping done, so we left Winchester a bit before 2. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a slew of rain along the way (we were driving INTO a storm), so it took us an hour and a half to get there. When we got there, we met Chris and Marietta at Brookstone and proceeded to get our proverbial shop on. Marietta took us to the store where she works, Lane Bryant (a women's clothing store). So whilst Stef picked out some things to try on, Chris and I went next door to Radio Shack. Because it's manly(ier) than Lane Bryant. When we returned, Stef had several things to try on, 3 of which I heartily approved. She bought a pair of really nice jeans (with a flared bottom of the leg, which is really hardcore), a big pink jackety thing (which is far far more attractive than it sounds), and a blue shirt deal type thing. Then the 4 of us parted, and Stef and I decided to meet up with the other people upstairs at the mall. It ended up being mostly just me and Stef, or any combination of me, Stef, Anthony, and Allyson for most of the shopping spree. I am proud to say that I found a hardcore shirt (that I'm wearing now) at Banana Republic for over 50% off, and some good Ray-Ban knockoffs at a sunglasses stand. I also decided that I don't think I want a hemp necklace any longer.

Now comes the slightly confusing part. McLean, VA is home to 3 malls. Dulles Town Center (which we did not "hit up"), Tyson's Corner, and Tyson's II. Tyson's Corner is the basic mall that you'd find anywhere, with stores like Gap and Banana Republic, Brookstone, etc etc. Tyson's II is the "upper class" mall with the ultra super hardcore expensive stores (i.e. J. Crew, Anthropologie, Versace, Saks 5th Ave, etc). Tyson's II also has about twice the stores (it's 3 levels) of Tyson's Corner. Ordinarily, I wouldn't go to Tyson's II, partly because it's so damn expensive, and mostly because it doesn't have any stores that I like. But, it's where P.F. Chang's is (PF Chang's being surprisingly not that expensive), so we had to go there for a few hours (an hour to wait, and another hour to eat). Anywho, PF Chang's was fantastic, as usual. I went with the Kung Pao Chicken this time, and would heartily recommend it.

And... that's about it for today. I'm waiting for Stef to get on her lunch break (should be any minute now), and then I'm going to go practice, etc. Hopefully the performing arts camp kids won't be hogging all the practice rooms.

Hot damn!

So it looks like Stef just put my blog address (along with those of some of her other friends) in her most recent post. I guess I should reenable comments (because naturally I'm assuming I'll get a bit more traffic around here). Wow, I just used two sets of parentheses in that sentence. I really should stop mumbling when I type (actually, I think parenthesis are used not so much as a mumbling, but rather as an off-to-the side thought). There I go again! What the crap (mwahaha... he doesn't expect a thing... soon I will control his mind)! AHHHH!!!! Must... stop... symbiotic... parasite... in... brain... (you'll never stop me!!! hahaha!!!)

*Climatic duel between Tommy and alien parasite ensues*

Success! I have finally beaten the parasite dwelling in my brain. And on that note, (I'm off!)

... I mean... I'm off!

Wow.

So, it's once again the morning, and I once again am moderately bored. Watching Price is Right and waiting for the oven to preheat. I'm going to make some mozzarella sticks.

I finally got around to practicing the violin yesterday. It was actually not as bad as I'd thought. I forgot what a violin sounded like under my ears (since I'm so damned used to viola). I really have a bitchin' fiddle. I changed my G yesterday too, so it's sounding really nice. Were it a car, I'd say it was purring. I'm really excited to be working on Khachaturian, Bruch, and Mozart. They're fantastic pieces of music. The only thing I'm sort of missing is playing Bach. The end of my junior year and my senior year of high school I was hardcore focused on playing Bach. I got the E Major Partita under my fingers really hardcore... the first movement I played better than anyone I knew (not just bragging, seriously). I love playing Bach, and I can't wait until I start some with Olivia. I get the feeling she'll spring some on me over the school year, once I'm done one of these concertos. I was thinking C Major for a while, but that's really hard. I definitely want to play a sonata (not a partita) so I think I might try the G Minor one. It has a bitchin' fugue and a hardcore presto section at the end.

In social life, nothing of real note. No parties that I want to go to, no new friends or anything. Just hanging around. Jason's bringing in viola concertos to the pit, so we're sort of bonding through trying to hack through the Bartok concerto. Hopefully he'll bring some Bach to rehearsal, too. Nothing like Bach to bring two people together. I can't wait until next year when a bunch of new freshmen come to school. I'm hoping that I'll make a few new friends... it'll be nice to have some new faces at SU.

Anyway, the oven is done preheating and I'm going to go make some lunch.

Update...

So the 4th of July party was all right. Andy, Jeff, and Shiff came from Annapolis, which was cool. Andy ended up coming to the show that night, and he seemed to like it. The cookout included me, Justin, Stef, Nick, Leah, Andy, Jeff, Shiff, and Leah's sister Megan and company. Trey and Brian showed up for a few minutes, and Annie and Jen got there a bit late. It was pretty damn good food. I think I ate 3 burgers and a piece of chicken.

Then was the last show. It was pretty good I think. Dave did a hell of a good job conducting. Better than Dr. Laster. In fact, I think if Dave had been conducting from the begining, we'd have been in better shape.

Then was the party. It was the same base group of people at the cookout (minus everyone I listed after Shiff), and Josh (tromboner... er... trombonist) and Mark and Megan. It was also crazy go nuts raining, so we had to put fireworks off for a day. It was a pretty good time, but it kind of sucks that we took the time to invite lots of people and not many showed. Especially the people who said they'd show and didn't. But, oh well. I'll attribute most of that to the rain (not really, everyone just sucks).

Then we had a couple run throughs of "Carousel." It's a pretty good musical, just really damn long. The violins, clarinet, and flutes (as usual) sound really dreadful. But, whatcha gonna do. I'll just complain in my blog.

So it's now Wednesday. Opening night of "Carousel." We've got the final dress at 1:30, then a show tonight at 8. Hopefully it won't suck.

By the way, my hometown friends! I will be home from the eve of August 1st through August 20th. I'm probably going to Ocean City/Assateague/etc for a day, and DC for a day, and Baltimore for a day. So leave notes if any of it tickles your fancy (or if there will be any social gatherings in that time).

Annnd morning.

So, it's 10:39 in the AM, and I'm getting ready to head out. I'm going to take Chris to pick up his Jag from the shop (because it's broken down once again... hopefully this'll be the last problem it has for a while). Then it's off to return the movies to Blockbuster and mail off the cable bill. Then, hopefully off to practice the violin (though probably not since I have at least 4 and a half hours of violing today). Damn viola, it's taking away from my violin practice time. But fortunately after Sunday I won't have rehearsal in the day and shows at night. I'll be able to practice the violin a bit.

In other news, my brother is coming down today to spend an extended weekend in Winchester. It'll be fun because I haven't gotten to hang out with him in a while, so it should be a fun weekend. I imagine he'll be lighting most of the fireworks for 4th of July (because, well, most of the people here are going to be wayyyy to intoxicated to do so). I'm pretty excited for the 4th. Should be "a real nice clambake" (to steal from "Carousel").

On another side note, I can't freakin' wait to go home. It'll be so nice to get out of Winchester and back home. Going downtown all the time, over to Jeff's, to Bill and Billy's with Warren. Hanging around with Nate and Andy. Damn I can't wait. Although Stef will be gone for the first, oh, 10 days that I'm home, I think it'll be nice because I've got a lot of stuff to do and I don't want to be dragging her to the doctor's, dentist's, optometrist, etc. And she has to do the same things when she's at home.

Well, that's about it for now.