Well, it's been a long time

So, it's admittedly been a while since my last blog entry, when I was feeling particularly politically motivated. I haven't really lost my political motivation, but I figure that I vote and I know where I stand, so perhaps that's enough for now. At least, it'll be enough until election season when I'm sure to start complaining about the lack of arts funding and stuff because I don't have a full time orchestra gig yet.

Anyway, lots of stuff has happened since my last blog. Instead of writing a long paragraph, I should probably just list the important stuff:

-I finished my senior year at SU, and graduated in May with honors, which is pretty sweet.

-I was accepted to University of MD, and rejected at Peabody (which I expected) and Boston Conservatory (which I didn't expect, but I wouldn't have gone anyway). I didn't even bother auditioning at Temple, NYU, Miami, or Catholic because UMD has a better strings program than all of them. It's actually getting really competitive: this year there were around 90 violin applicants and they took 15 of us, so I feel really privileged to have been admitted.

-Despite the fact that we're long distance now (but not THAT long, just 90 miles), Stef and I are still together and still going strong. She's been applying for jobs: the most recent being a managerial position at the Warner Theatre in DC. That would be pretty sweet if she got it. Even if she doesn't get it, I know that if she applies herself she's bound to be successful. She's put in the blood, sweat, and tears in her education and jobs, and now I think she's more than prepared to start her career.

-I won a job with the Loudoun Symphony as their assistant concertmaster, which is a really sweet gig. The conductor is really nice, and so are all the other players there. It's a per-service thing, so it doesn't pay a ton, but it's great to have for extra money. Plus I get a ton of gigs from it (church gigs, weddings, etc) because the concertmaster, Teresa, gets more gigs than God.

-I had a little brother in PMA and he made it to the end! Dustin (the aforementioned's name) is basically the man, and I'm really glad that I got to know him. I hope that our friendship is one that lasts a long time, because I can definitely see us being friends for a while. Hopefully when I visit Winchester I can hang out with him (and his cool as hell girlfriend, too).

-I had my senior recital, and by all accounts it went really well. I played two movements from the Bach g minor solo sonata, the first movement of the Khachaturian, and the whole Beethoven g major sonata. I was going to play the Wieniawski Scherzo Tarantella, but I had to cut it for timing and technical purposes. It wasn't as ready as the other pieces, and it would have pushed me WAY over the time limit (my program as it was already had pushed me over by about 10 minutes, and the Wieniawski would have added at least another 7-10). I had it recorded in both audio (by the one and only Brian Smitty Smith) and video (by my dad), but I haven't really listened to either. I listened to the CD for about a minute, and haven't looked at the video at all. I should probably do that.

-My brother and I went to Disney World for 5 days in June as a joint graduation gift from our parents. It was really awesome -- I can't really remember a time where I've had so much fun. It was awesome to hang out with my brother, and I think we got a lot closer over that week. Hopefully we can do some kind of trip every summer; that would be awesome.

-I was a counselor at the Performing Arts Camp again, and made bank. It was really fun, and all the counselors were really cool again. A lot of us came back, and there were some new ones who were also really cool. I think it was a successful summer, overall, and I hope I can go back next year (as long as I don't do any festivals or anything that conflict with it).

-While at the PAC, I was also in the Shenandoah Performs Festival Orchestra. We played Shosty 5, Mahler 5, and a violin and trumpet concerto. For each concert (one symphony and one concerto), we only had like 4 rehearsals, so it was really intense, but it made me a much more confident player, and it forced me to learn how to get music up to a good level with not a lot of practice time, which was a very important lesson to learn.

Of course there were a ton of things that happened over the past year, but that's all I feel like writing right now. I'll hopefully be updating this more regularly. I should, considering I'm just hanging at home and practicing until school starts. I wish there were more August gigs....