School's Out For Summer!

I'm officially done with my 4th semester at BYU. I should have this nice feeling of release and freedom from being done, but instead I'm just kind of there. I think I'm just a little nervous about some of my grades. I'm not going to fail any of them, but I'm almost positive I'm going to have my lowest GPA so far this semester... which really isn't too bad... but whatever. :P It'll be good. It's mostly Calculus 2, which was a freakin' beast this semester. I failed every test, but managed to be just about the average every time. It's a matter of how much they curve. I'm hoping for a B of some sort... which for a 4 credit class won't really help me out much. Oh well. It'll be okay. :)

Yesterday I moved out of my apartment, since they kicked us out, and am now at my Aunt Debra and Uncle Don's place for the next week until I head out to Korea and Japan for the Wind Symphony tour. I'm really excited to head out, but I've also this certain level of aprehension of not knowing exactly what to expect, nervous that I've forgotten something I'm supposed to have gotten since I was kind of late jumping on the tour bandwagon and haven't gotten all the information I'm supposed to have gotten the entire semester/year. Not to mention I have this huge solo I just got the part for about a week or so ago. I mean, I can play it. It's a matter of having a good read and whatnot. Which, I don't really have oodles of English Horn cane to kill a bunch of reeds with. It'll be okay, I'll just keep telling myself that. :) We have rehearsals on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from about 9-4 or something ridiculous like that. It'll be like an intense All-Region that ends with going to Korea and Japan for 3 weeks and performing. Oh boy, I really need to get back into practicing so it doesn't kill me when we rehearse. I think I'll do that tomorrow.

As far as Steve and I go (the boyfriend I went on about last entry), everything is going absolutely fantastically. There was the "Traditions Ball" that we went to about 2 weeks ago, and it was a wonderful night. Here we are all dressed up and such:

Aww... we're so cute. :) I love that picture. Right now he is in Korea since that's where he served and mission just visiting and whatnot. Yes, he was just "happen" to be there when I am for the Wind Symphony tour. Basically I really miss him right now, but I'm able to talk to him on gmail chat, so it's all good. I'm really excited to go to Korea to see him as well. :)

What else is there to go on about? Well, I've got a lot ahead of me in the next month or so. So, I'm going to be here for a week, rehearse like mad at the end of the week, leave for Korea at 5 AM Monday morning (ugh), fly on a ridiculously long flight basically all day Monday and get there and settle in Tuesday, including a performance, I'm pretty sure. I'll be in Korea for about a week and a half, and then we'll go to Japan (which will include a wake up call at about 3 AM...) for another week and a half. Then I'll come back to Salt Lake/Provo for another week or so. (I was going to try to come back to Texas ASAP after that, but I'm hoping to use that time to spend with Steve after a while of not seeing him... yes, I'm somewhat pathetic. :P) Then, I'll come back to Texas for about a week, and then head up to Nashville with my mom for the CMA Music Fest again and hang out with Greg and Andrew. It'll be a lot of fun. :) Then, after a week of that, I'll come back to Texas for a couple days, and then finally go back to Provo a couple days before I start the Summer term and move into my new apartment. It's pretty busy and travel-filled, but it'll be a lot of fun. Traveling really is a lot of fun, although exhausting. I'm not suspecting I'll get much sleep the 3 weeks I'll be in Korea and Japan. I also suspect that I won't really fully adjust to the new time zone (which is like 15 hours ahead...) and then come back utterly exhausted and probably sleep for 24 hours straight. Ugh.

Alright, I think that'll do for this update. I'll try to remember to update next Sunday, but then I actually have an excuse to not update for a while since I'll be out of the country. I have absolutely no idea if I'll have access to a computer. I'm hoping so since I'll have a ridiculous amount of e-mail to go through... we'll just see. I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures. :)

Happy Belated Pi Day!

Okay, so I missed last week. It'll be okay. Honestly, it will. Just to "make up" for it, I have some new videos to post. So, look forward to those at the end of this post. Or, you know, don't. You could just skip all of my ramblings and move on to the videos. It won't hurt my feelings.

The past two weeks have been pretty fun. I'm starting to actually like my CS 124 class, and Calculus seems to be getting better. There was finally a new episode of Smallville (which freakin' rocked), and I performed my newest composition in Master Classes last Wednesday. I recorded it, and I'll probably post it next week or so. It's more of a contemporary piece with some new things in it. I like it a lot.

In other news, yesterday was Pi Day! There was a Pi Day celebration thing in the Wilkinson center on Friday during my CS 124 lecture... which I totally skipped to go to it. :P The biggest reason being that there was a pi recitation contest and the overall winner got an iPod shuffle. I could seriously win this thing! In the past couple of days, Ashley and I added about 40 digits of pi to our knowledge. We are now up to 240 digits. So many! Ashley went first in reciting pi, and she just messed up right at the beginning of where we started adding digits (just skipped a set), but she was still in first place. After a guy that proclaimed before going that he was "guaranteed to win." He got to 174 digits... got me worried at first. They were about to skip me, actually. There were going to end the contest, and so I walked up and said that I had signed up. So, I went. I was so incredibly nervous! Yes, I had recited pi many many times, but they were checking while I was spouting off numbers which meant I had to go slower than normal. I kept practicing saying it slower. The first 150 digits or so I usually don't really think about what numbers I'm saying. It just flows out without me thinking. But, I managed to get to all 240 without messing up. It was awesome. Right after I recited everything (in a microphone in front of a bunch of people... holy crap), this girl came up and actually interviewed me for the Daily Universe. It was kind of weird, actually. She asked questions like, "So, do you memorize other things?" Umm... yes, I do. I usually try to memorize equations for my Calculus test I had earlier this week, syntax for programming, my friends and families names and birthdays, music theory, etc... Instead I just answered that I was thinking about memorizing "e" since I thought that it usually got left out. People just love pi. So, there's a chance that I'll be mentioned in the Daily Universe... for memorizing pi. Weird. Anyway, I did win the iPod. Though, it's exactly the same as the iPod shuffle I currently have, so I'm going to sell it on amazon.com or something and split the money with Ashley. (Since we both know the same amount.) Oh man, I freakin' love it all. Being a nerd rocks!

What else of interest happened? I went and saw a play with Steve last night, "Berenice." It was actually really good! I really didn't know what to expect. Apparently it was an adaptation written by a BYU student. Really intense stuff. Our theater department has some really talented people in it. There were a couple times that this girl screamed off stage... and it freakin' scared the crap out of me every time. One: because the first time I didn't think it was part of the play and I was geniunely scared that someone was in intense pain. Two: it was done really well! It was piercingly painful to listen to. Three: I just jump at that kind of stuff easily. :) Anyway, it was good times.

What's not good times is that it seems I'm starting to get sick or something. I can't really tell what it is, either. Like, I just feel kind of weak with the occasional feeling of nausea. I took a nap today, though. That seemed to maybe help. Hopefully it doesn't turn into anything else, but I don't really see how I could "catch up" if I took some days off from school. Ugh... that'd be bad. It'll be fine. :)

Okay, so here are some videos. I really don't remember being that weird. Sometimes I worry about myself. These were all taken the same night. The "random" numbers that we're talking about are from pi... yeah... weird. But, it just makes it that much more fun to watch! Or something.

Into March

Here I am in March, still surviving my 4th semester here at BYU. Things are going pretty well for the most part. My most frustrating class by far right now is Calculus. I really think I'm going to get some sort of B or C in that class, which will of course lower my GPA a fair amount since it's a freakin' 4 credit class. Though, I figured it out and it really wouldn't lower it too much. It'll be okay... I really am learning a lot. The most frustrating part is that my grades don't seem to be reflecting that very much, and our teacher hasn't really structured the class to give you much credit for trying really hard. Well, I guess he kind of has... but it's not really working for me. I got really frustrated on Friday night. There was an online homework due and I had literally spent hours on the last 4 problems that I just could not figure out what I was doing wrong. Some of them I just flat out didn't know how to do, and some of them I felt like I did but kept getting the wrong answer. So I ended up getting about a 50 on the assignment and just wasting a bunch of time trying to figure out the problems and getting no credit for using that time. It was rather frustrating. Though, I know that it really did help me learn more to go through it, right? Sure. I don't know, I'll just be happy to be through with this class.

I was complaining about CS 124 before, but now life should be a fair amount easier in that class since I passed off my last assembly lab on Friday. Now we get to do labs in C! I'm so excited. We have our second test this week, and I'm hoping to do well on it. I have learned a lot from doing the labs. Let's hope that shows on the test.

As far as other things going on, it's great. :) I absolutely love Music Theory, I seem to be doing fairly well in Dictation, Sight Singing exists, I love my Music Education class, private lessons are surprisingly going well, and work is fun. It's just the two classes for my Comp Sci major. There's this nagging thought in the back of my mind that's saying, "Why are you doing this again?" Then I remember that I'll love having the knowledge and that I really do love to learn it all. It can just be frustrating at times. I promised myself I could do it, and I'm going to stick to the plan. I can do it, gosh darn it! Prove all the people that don't believe that I can do it wrong! Mwhaha! :)

In other news, I'm actually going on dates. I know, it's incredible. What's even more incredible is that it's with the same guy! Well, I least I think you'd call them dates. We haven't really officially titled anything, but he has paid for my food and such. He's another CS 142 TA, and we were chatting on gmail, and then he said that I should come over and watch V for Vendetta with him since we were talking about it. He hadn't seen it and I was telling him how awesome it was. He happened to have it. So, about a week or so later, I actually did come over and watch it with him. Then I ended up coming over for dinner a couple days later and staying until about 10 just talking and whatnot. Then we went to Taco Bell and got ice cream on Friday night (which was somewhat unexpected), and then today I went to his place with Ashley to have dinner and play Settlers of Catan. Oh boy, it's been fun. We'll just see where it all goes. :)

I have another song that I wrote that I've somewhat deemed "finished." It's called, "Suppression." Some of the things in it have been somewhat experimental, but I like it a lot. Hopefully I can play it in Master Classes sometime and maybe record it or something.

Alright, I should head off to bed. Until next week! :)

So Quick!

It's the last Sunday of February. Weird! It's gone by so quickly! That means that it's almost March, which means that we're already more than halfway done with the semester. That's actually somewhat worrisome. I don't feel like I'm more than halfway done with some of my classes, but it's all good. :)

So what happened of great importance this past week? Well, I suffered through yet another Calculus midterm. I think I did better than I did on the last one, but we'll see. I at least did better on the multiple choice, so that's somewhat encouraging. I also finished my CS 124 lab and even did the extra credit for an extra point, so I got 11 out of 10 points. I'm actually getting assembly, it's great. There's just one more lab in assembly, and then we finally get to start programming in C. I'm so excited! I'll actually know what's going on, and it seems like the labs won't take me as long. I plan on trying to do the extra credit most of the time and turn in my labs early to make up for the exam and some of the homework I've only done okay on. I could still pull off an A fairly easily if I keep that up. Oh boy, it's such good times. It's hard at first, but I love having the knowledge.

What is kind of depressing is Calc 2. There was online homework due on Friday and I worked for hours on it... ended up giving up when I had spent two hours on two problems that I just could not get. So I got a 67 on it. It just doesn't seem fair to spend that much time on something to only get a 67. I really hate the way that the class is structured. It doesn't reflect how much time you put into it very well. I really miss the way it was last semester. Our teacher likes to get behind on his schedule, so we have to shove all of these little things at the end before every test. I like him, he's a good teacher and obviously knows what he's talking about. I just miss the way it was. I am learning quite a bit, I suppose that's what matters most. I have a strange feeling that this semester will lower my GPA. It'll be okay. Maybe getting a better grade in Dictation will make up for it. I got a B+ on the last pace test! At this point I really think I have an A- in the class. That won't quite make up for some kind of B in the 4 credit Calculus class, but it'll do something. Oh well, I'm okay. Learning is what matters, and I'm definitely doing that. :)

Oh, how could I forget?? It's now official that I'm going to Korea and Japan with Wind Symphony this May! They are going on tour there, and I wasn't going to go because they just don't take the English Horn player. It's a money issue. But I found out last week that one of the Clarinet players has been having some financial issues and couldn't go, which left open a spot for me. So, I'm going!! It's insane! It only costs $1000, and then there's the fees with getting a passport. It is $1000... but this is the chance of a lifetime. I'm never going to be able to do something like this ever again. It's insane to think about, actually. I'm so excited. Which, with that means that I have to go to this culture class at 7 AM on Wednesdays. It's a fairly small price for being able to go, but that means that I'm on campus from 7 AM to 7 PM, at the least. Last Wednesday I was on campus from 7 AM until about 10 PM taking my Calculus midterm. It was such a bundle of fun. So, anyway... that's exciting. I'm also going to Fan Fair with my mom a couple weeks after that again. Man, I'm just getting into this traveling thing this summer. It'll cost some money, which I fortunately have saved up, but it'll be so much fun. I love seeing the world and different cultures. Oh boy!

Alright, I think this'll do for now. Have a wonderful week! :)

A Week of Extremes

I missed Sunday's update... but oh well. This'll do. :)

This past week I felt somewhat bipolar. Maybe not in the precise definition of the condition, but just that one day I felt somewhat depressed and sad about certain things, and then the next day I was exuberantly happy. It was kind of weird. Since, though, I've mostly stayed with "exuberantly happy." Wednesday in general was a very stressful day. I wanted to get my CS 124 lab done so I wouldn't have to worry about finishing it on Thursday (since it was due on Thursday) and I had to perform the first movement of the Mozart Concerto in Master Classes that night only rehearsing with my pianist for the first time an hour before we performed (not to mention I was basically just learning the second half of it), and I had a couple other things that were due that day as well. I just wanted it to be over. I didn't seem to have much done with my lab by 8 o' clock that night, and after performing in Master Classes, I felt like I didn't do very well at all. Right after performing I was rather proud of myself for just making it through since I had only really rehearsed it once and was hoping to just get the notes and rhythms right with a couple other things. And I did just that! The 3 or 4 hours before I had spent at work listening to various recordings of people playing the first movement on youtube so I could just get it in my head. It probably would've helped to have the music in front of me, but I had that thing stuck in my head like nobody's business. I was feeling pretty good. Then came the comments. They weren't terrible, it was just nobody said anything good about it. It was all, "This should've been more exaggerated, the style needed to be more this and that..." Someone mentioned that I needed to just get a recording to know how certain things go. I knew there was one spot that many people played a certain way, but I just chose not to. I guess that made her think I didn't know how it was supposed to go. I did play one half note as one beat because I had gotten in the habit of doing that in my practicing just out of stupidity. Maybe that's what she was thinking of. After sitting down I just felt like I had completely insulted a standard in Oboe literature. Like I should've just nailed it and failed. All I wanted was one good thing said, and nobody said anything. If anything, it was like people were eager to tell me everything I did wrong. 

So, needless to say, I felt pretty down. I think in retrospect it's just that it is one of those pieces that everybody knows and so the whole time I was playing they had a certain recording in their head and all they could think of was how what I was doing didn't match what they had going in their mind. I'm not a terrible Oboist, I know that. It was fine. I'm just learning it, and it's a freakin' beast. It'll be alright. :)

I got home and was just thinking about how I really needed to finish my lab, and I just wasn't getting it. It's frustrating because with Computer Science stuff I normally get it. I've had so much experience with it, and I freakin' teach it to people every day. I feel like I should catch on quickly. But in CS 124, we are dealing with stuff that's completely knew. Gates, latches, MDR, Program Counter, etc. So much information to absorb. I've found that usually with this type of stuff, I feel slower than normal right at first. Like I just don't get it as fast as most people are getting it. Then, one moment, it just makes sense. It's like an exponential growth of knowledge as things click here and there. I'm finally hitting that point where things are making sense. But, Wednesday night, I was still at the beginning slow stage trying to figure things out. All I had to do was making a program that took single digit numbers until you pressed "=" and it would output the sum. Sounds simple. In Java I could code that up in about 2 minutes. But in this class, I had to do it in assembly. I was actually excited to learn how to program in assembly. It's like the base level of programming. You have to tell the computer how to do everything. Right at first, it's just giberish. It makes no sense. Well, needless to say, Wednesday night I finally got it to work! Things made sense! I went to bed happy.

Thursday morning came and life was grand! Except for the fact that I had an incoming Calculus test I didn't feel ready for, I loved it! I was at work and I was just giddy. I taught a help session for CS 142 and I think I was just a little too excited for the students to teach loops and conditional statements. It was so weird. I felt odd being so happy after feeling so depressed the day before.

Oh! I also had a Dictation Pace test on Thursday--I got a B+ or A- again! (I'm not completely sure, but right around there.) I keep feeling like I'm getting lucky. I might just be able to pull off a B+ in that class. That'd be so grand. It'd make up for whatever grade I'm going to get in Calc 2. Ugh, that class is the death of me. It just takes so long to do everything. I'm planning on taking the second midterm tomorrow night. It's going to be torture again, I just know it. I'm hoping to pass this one, but we'll see. I attempted to study today, and it took me two hours to do the first 3 problems on the review. Well, we looked at some other things. Oh boy. It'll be fun, I just know it.

Let's not forget that this was a three-day weekend! We had today off! I know it's somewhat rare to get President's Day off in college, but this will sadly be the last day we get off until the end of the semester. Which, in terms of working is good. In fact, I'm not too torn up about it because we get out so early. Oh wow... we are already in the middle of February. It's actually kind of worrisome that we are already so far into the semester when I feel like so many of my classes shouldn't be close to finishing. Like I haven't done enough to really sustain my grade where I want it to be. *cough* Calculus! *cough*

Oh boy, I'm typing quite a bit. Today there was a kind of Music 276 party again. It was fun as always! We watched "Much Ado About Nothing" and had pizza and cookies, as well as played Mad Gab. What a fun game. It was somewhat frustrating to hear everyone complain about Keanu Reeve's "terrible" acting everytime he'd come on screen since I was somewhat obsessed with him back in the day. I didn't say anything. I wouldn't say that the first thing I thought of when they suggested watching that movie was that it had Keanu Reeves' in it. In fact, when they first showed his face, someone said, "Oh, I forgot he was in this movie!" Then people went on to say how he was Neo, was a horrible actor, and his best movie was Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. They'd say that he probably didn't have any idea what he was saying and was just repeating lines he had memorized with certain feelings associated with it. If there's one thing I know, it's that Keanu Reeves is not dumb. He's actually very smart. I'm not gonna say he's the best actor I know, but I know that he's not as terrible as people make him out to be. Maybe I should've said something. It obviously kind of bothered me. Oh well! :)

Alright, I think I'll stop here and head off to bed. I've got to get up early tomorrow to do my sight singing homework. What a joy!

Happy February!

It's officially into February for the 2009 year. How thrilling. Let's see, what happened of interest this week? Oh yes! I took my Calculus exam. It was basically toture the entire time. It was so hard and took so long (about 2 hours and 40 minutes) and my brain just felt like mush. I don't think I did that well on it, but we'll see. I think I'll find out my grade tomorrow in Calculus. I know there's going to be a huge curve on it already, so that's encouraging. I'm still aiming to match the A- I got last semester. We'll see.

I also got my first Dictation pace test back. I got an A-!! Wow! I'm so happy! Maybe I can pull off a B+ in that class. If I keep it up, it'd be amazing to get an A-, but I shouldn't expect too much. I was really worried because it's so hard. Oh boy, that was amazing to see that.

Then there's Music Theory. Yay for Music Theory! We had our first exam and I got a 96 on it. The two things I got off for were silly. I misread the directions so I just didn't do something he asked to do, and then I misunderstood another question. That class is so much fun. It's going into these intense patterns in music and how to analyze things to death. My specialties! My professor is really funny and intelligent, too. I love it.

My CS 124 class, which is doing Electrical Engineering stuff right now, is pretty hard. So far I've managed to do pretty well on the homeworks (29/30 and 59/60), but this last homework I'm not too sure about. If I just take enough time to do them and research enough about them on wikipedia and my notes, I get it eventually. It's starting to fit together nicely. There is a textbook for the class that I would most likely use to understand this stuff, but the one I bought from the bookstore I found online for about $50 cheaper... and I still haven't gotten it in the mail yet. I ordered it on the 7th of January and haven't gotten anything. I e-mailed the person I ordered it from yesterday to ask for either a refund or to just have it sent ASAP. I think I'd prefer the refund at this point since I'm already halfway through this semester of the hard stuff I'd actually need the book for. I could save myself 90 dollars. I'll take it. We'll see about that.

Oh, I said something about posting a video of myself last week... here we go. I just barely made this. Enjoy!

[Insightful Title]

Another week has gone by and I'm surviving. :) I had my first private lesson of the semester on Friday. Friday at 9:00... PM. Yeah, it was rather exciting. We don't have Geralyn this semester because she's busy recording a CD and doing a mini tour thing with her trio. So, we have Sarah Holden for the semester. She's really nice and really knows what she's talking about, I just can't help but miss Geralyn. Sarah got a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Oboe at Juilliard. So she definitely knows what she's talking about. :P The only problem is that she has to arrange her schedule to fit her husband working so that at least one of them is home with her kids. So, she could only have lessons on Monday and Friday evening, and Saturday morning. I ended up being stuck with the Friday time at 9, which I actually switched to be at 8 now. It went well, though. She had some good things to say.

Other than that, Ashley and I got pizza Friday night and rented House Bunny. I've recently discovered the amazingness that is RedBox. It's so convenient! There's one about half a block away and Ashley and I can just go and rent a movie for the night for a dollar. I'm getting caught up on movies I haven't seen that I wanted to.

I had my first Dictation pace test last Thursday as well... I think I got a B+! I'm not exactly sure yet, but I got between a B and an A-. I was so proud of myself. I didn't do that well on the mock pace test. This semester is so different... and it's so much harder than the other semesters. I was getting worried, but if I keep this up, I'll get the highest grade yet in the class! Yay for that!

So far in Calculus, things are going okay. Our first exam started on Friday and goes until tomorrow, Tuesday being the late day. If I study I should do alright... there were just a couple things I wasn't exactly sure about. This semester doesn't require me to do all of the written homework, and I'm totally not. So I'm not doing Calculus as much, and it's not sinking in as well. Oops. I should try to get in the habit of doing that so I actually learn better. This class is structured a lot differently than last semesters was, it's taking some adjusting. I'm just going to hope for at least an A-, like last semester. I've got to really learn this stuff as well, since I'm taking multi-variable Calculus this Spring. It'll move faster and it seems like it'd be harder. If I just apply myself I can do really well at it, I know I can. It's just a matter of applying myself. :) It should be fun. I really do like math.

I started taking these online classes this summer: Biology 100 and Doctrine and Covenants 1. I didn't really do much... I only have until mid-May to finish them without paying an extension fee. They cost a lot of money! I just need to remember when I finish them I'll get reimbursed 75% from my parents... which would certainly be nice. It's nice to have money. I'm happy that I have quite a bit more money than I did at this point last year. Not to mention I'm making $1.40 more an hour than I was last Winter, and the same number of hours. I should be making a lot of money this semester! Maybe eventually I'll buy something big... like a laptop or a car. I really like my desktop, and it was a lot cheaper than buying a laptop, but the mobility would certainly be nice. I wouldn't really need it with the classes I'm taking right now, but this summer and on I could use it in my computer science classes. I can't decide if I'd want a Mac, PC, or a Linux machine. I want to get used to Mac and Linux like I am with Windows. I'm not sure I'd want a PC if it had Vista on it... or maybe I should so I can get used to that. Blech, I should worry about that later. Yay for having money!

Okay, I think that'll do for now. Maybe next week I'll have a new video to post since I do have a camera that can take videos now. Oh, that sounds like fun. Look forward to it! :)

I Can Make It

I just finished my term project for Sc Ed 276 (my Music Education class). It was all about my reflections on the 4 lessons I had to teach to 6 students and how to be a good teacher and all that. It was concluded with a lovely paper about 5 pages long. It really wasn't too bad since I basically just rambled for 5 pages and then edited that. Thanks to my website I've gotten pretty good at just putting my crazy thoughts into words and sentences that go on too long. I was intimidated by the length, but to be honest 5 pages double spaced is just about a page more than my average Smallville Rambling. I just go!

There are 4 more days of classes left of this semester, and then it's just finals. Which, I only have 2 scheduled finals. The other ones are either take home or I don't have them. Oh, and then there's juries on Friday. Yuck. It should be alright... I just need to make sure I have a good reed. Ugh! I've been making so many reeds lately and I thought I had found one that was going to be good... and then it suddenly started sucking. I have my last lesson tomorrow and I'm just hoping my reed will be working then. I'm planning on getting to school early to work on some reeds/practice/do sight singing/do other homework. Like I always do on Mondays and Wednesdays. Fun times. The end is so near... I can make it. Then it's Christmas time! So close! I'm so excited to go back home.

I still don't know which Bowl game we're going to for Marching Band, which also means I don't know when I'll be coming home. I have a plane ticket for the 18th, but they'll be changing that ticket for me according to which bowl game we're going to. I should know by Tuesday what's going on... that'll be good times. The good news is that Christmas is on a Thursday, so if we go to the Las Vegas bowl (which it's looking like we will), then I'll probably come back home either Saturday night, or Sunday morning which is the 20th or 21st! Last year I didn't get back until Christmas Eve. Or was it the 23rd? Something crappy like that. This is earlier. I'm thinking I might just tell work that I can't work until the 26th. They already had my soul for the past 2 Christmases, I won't let them have it again! I'm not in that much need of money... I'd rather spend it with family. Awww... family. Fun times.

Let's see... all I have left now is my Calculus midterm (the 4th freakin' one!), which I have to take tomorrow for a 5 dollar late fee, Calculus final, Music Education final project (yeah... another one), Music Theory analysis paper, my jury, 5th dictation pace test and final, and the final concert for Wind Symphony on Wednesday. Oh boy, this week is going to be so much fun! Yay! Like the title says... I can make it! Wish me luck!

Two More Weeks!

There are only two more weeks of classes, finals, bowl game, and then I'm going home for Christmas! It's officially the Christmas season now that Thanksgiving is over and I'm definitely feeling it. I went to Don and Debra's place for Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving I help them decorate their house for Christmas. Now that I'm home, Ashley and I are playing Christmas music and slowly decorating the apartment. Ashley had some nice window Holiday stickers and she already put them up. Aww, I love Christmas so much. I'm so looking forward to going back home and being back with my family and seeing how much my nephews and neice have grown! Yay!

While I was at Don and Debra's house, I made some of Mom's delicious chocolate cream pie! Debra just asked what my favorite pie was, and I told her that chocolate cream pie was among my favorite. She immediately followed my answer with, "Do you want to make it?" Uhh, sure! Why not? So, I called my mom to get the exact recipe and ended up making it all from scratch Thanksgiving morning. Well, I didn't make the crust. Debra had some graham cracker crust she had bought and I just used that. I think it probably would've tasted much better with regular crust, but it was still delicious. I just ate the crust first and then would enjoy the wonderful taste of the chocolate cream. MMmm... so yummy. We had a total of 9 pies! It totally reminded me of home, and I even got to participate in the pie making! They had two pumpkin, two apple, two lemon meringue, my chocolate cream, and two pecan pies. Wow! It was great stuff. Thanksgiving is good times. :) It was even better that the food was free. :P

Right now it's just a survival game until the end of the semester. I had my 4th and hopefully final pace test for Sight Singing right before the break. Then there's one more dictation pace test (which I got an A- on the last one! Wow!) and then I have my Music Theory project/final to do. There's one more Calculus midterm and then the final, my jury, and then that's it! Well, I have a final project for my Music Education class, too, but I've basically finished that. I taught all of my lessons, and now it's just a matter of commenting on how I did and getting peer feedback. Which, I already gave my videos to two people to review. Speaking of which... I need to do that for someone else. Fun for me!

I gave a talk today in church. I got a call Friday evening from the Bishop while I was at Don and Debra's place asking if I could speak in church. Something about the Spirit... so I ended up speaking on "listening to the Spirit." There were four speakers, and the other three talked about being "led by the Spirit", "following the Spirit", and "living by the Spirit." I think he did tell us all the same thing, but we all ended up remembering it differently. He told me Friday and I didn't end up preparing it until Saturday night. Don't call me on procrastinating that... I usually end up writing talks the morning of. :P It turned out alright, though. I ended up telling about 3 or 4 stories to apply the topic I was trying to talk about. They always tell us in our Music Education class that there should be little information and a lot of application. You actually remember more and learn from the application more than lecture. And it's just more fun to listen to stories in Sacrement meeting than someone reading a General Conference talk to you again. I got compliments from people about it, so I guess it turned out alright. :) I was surprisingly not that nervous. I think all these performances they make me do as a music major are helping me not be nervous when I perform or whenever I speak. It's nice.

I should really try to finish some of my homework so I can try to get some sleep tonight! Yay for sleep! :)

More ramblings!

Ashley pointed out to me the other day that this semester is actually very close to its end! There's this week, and then a 2-day week for Thanksgiving and then two weeks and then finals! The Friday of that second week being a "reading day" to prepare for finals. Which, for music majors is jury day. It's really so close! Then we'll have our bowl game and then it'll Christmas/home time. :) Yay!

This week I finished the 4 music lessons I was supposed to teach for my Music Education class, and I performed a little mini recital on Monday. It went pretty well, I guess. I got many complimentary things said to me about it. For me, though, it could have been much better. At least I had a pretty good reed I had just made that weekend. People were commenting on how good my tone was, so I guess that's good. :) There are just this high F that I've hit so consistently and it's like a climax, and I totally missed it. I was still getting used to the reed, and I was used to a reed that was dying that would hit those high notes too easily. Oh well... people didn't seem to care. At least it's overwith and now I just listen to everyone else in the class perform.

Trombone is a lot of fun! It's so much fun to actually use my air again. Though, the Trombone is much bigger than an oboe and has much less resistance. I have to take so many breaths... I run out of air so quickly! Now that I have some basic slide positions down, I can sound somewhat like a real Trombone player while I'm playing easy stuff. Aww, it's so much fun. I can't wait until I start my workshops and all that we focus on is playing the instruments. Well, I heard it's a lot about how to teach it, too. That's fine. :) In this class, though, we are literally just thrown into the group with the kids and just kind of learn as we go. It's great.

I'm trying to decide if I should take an Exercise Science class next semester. I'm thinking about beginning weight training. I was going to take that class last Winter, until I realized that it wasn't very convenient in my schedule at all. The only drawback this Winter is that I'm already taking 17.5 credit hours and this class would bring that to 18 hours. It would also take away two hours of time that I could work. That would add up to a lot of money by the end of the semester I'd miss out on. Not only that, but it'd be time at work when there would hardly be anyone in the lab: 9 AM. People are in class then. So it could basically be like a time to do my homework and get paid for it. I'd really love to be more in shape, though. It's be right after sight singing, too, so I'd have half an hour to get ready for it and leave early to take a shower or something. I can sign up for the class tonight... someone help me decide!

Okay, what else is new... I took yet another Calculus midterm. I felt pretty good about it, not as good as the last midterm, but pretty good. This one took me two and a half hours to take it! The other ones only took me about an hour and a half, probably less. This one I just kept checking things and reproving things I wasn't sure about. It took so long and made my brain so tired. Let's hope I did well on it! I should find out later this week. Either Tuesday or Thursday. I'm hoping Tuesday. :)

So I think it's decided that my camera is broken. Sad day! I went to the Kodak website and the fact that it broke after I dropped it makes the warranty invalid. Understandable. I got an estimate of what it would cost to repair it without the warranty... they estimated 70 dollars. Umm, I think not. They have refurbished cameras that are just about as good as the one I have that are like 75 dollars or so. I'm thinking I know something I'll get for Christmas. :) I'll try to be extra careful with this next one! What the heck is wrong with my luck and cameras! I need a camera, though. It's so nice to be able to take pictures and videos and share them with people. Not to mention I'm planning on going to Fan Fair again, and I'd really like to have a camera for that. It's just nice. If I could just stop breaking them then life would be grand. I even tried just fixing the camera myself... instead I just go some plastic pieces that apparently broke inside the camera to fall out. I don't get it. It's fallen down before, what the heck made it break so dumbly this time? The battery was dead at the time... so maybe I should try a new battery before completely junking the camera. I don't know.

Okay, I should really go and practice or something. I've got a lesson tomorrow and I've got some things to practice. Oh the joy of it all. :)

Sarah had a date??

So, I had a date Saturday night. I know, weird! This guy randomly called me on Tuesday and he did just what you'd expect. "I was just wondering if you would like to go out with me this Friday night?" Whoa! Weird! "Well, I actually have a band social Friday night I was planning on going to..." "Saturday night?" So quick! So, I couldn't say no. "I'll pick you up at 6." Now, before everyone gets all excited and whatnot, this guy isn't someone I would really date seriously. He's a nice guy, but not someone I could really see as a boyfriend.

We ended up going to dinner at this El Salvadorian place and had some delicious food! I don't remember what it was called, but it was nice. And it made me think of Flora back at home. :) Our waitress didn't even speak English. Oh boy, it would've been nice if Flora were there to translate for me. Though, we were able to point and figure out what we wanted easily enough. After that, we went to this comedy show called "Divine Comedy." I'd heard a lot about it and how funny it was. It was great! I loved it. :) We got there about an hour early to wait in line, and it's a good thing we did. There were already 20 or so people there waiting in line for it. It was a packed show. They even handed out these little activity packets with a word search and crossword puzzle to keep people busy. So we ended up doing that while we waited. After the show, I thought it would be it, but then he offered ice cream. Nice! So we went to Baskin Robbins and he bought me a single scoop of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream... yum. He was a real gentlemen and paid for everything. Free food! I always love free food. :) And there was no awkward moments when he wanted to hold my hand or anything. Man, that would've been really awkward. I hope he knows I wouldn't really want anything more than friends... man, I'm bad at this. I hate saying things I know disappoint people. Oh well, we'll see. :)

So, other than that I also had school and such this week. Thursday and Friday I normally go to schools to observe for my Music Ed class, but the Utah schools didn't have school! So I didn't have class!! It was wonderful. I got to sleep in and not have class until 10. Oh boy... it was so incredibly nice. Though, I realized about 10 minutes ago that I had a Sight Singing pace test planned Friday morning that I completely spaced about... I guess I'll have to make that up later. Yay!

In other news, there's another Calculus midterm that I'm planning on taking tomorrow. I feel like I should be able to do well, because I honestly understand all of the concepts and have most if not all of the things memorized that I should have memorized. If not... I should be able to at least figure them out from the other things I know. I'm hoping to pull off an A in that class. If I just keep up with the work and everything, I should be able to pull it off. Then it'll just be Calc 2 and all the other fun math classes I plan on taking after that. I really do enjoy math, though. It just takes up time. :)

Speaking of Calculus, I really should do my assigned reading and take the quiz that goes with it. Lucky me!

One month down

Okay, not quite a month, but almost. Wednesday is the first and that marks the one month of this semester. How is it going so far? I have my first midterm for Calculus that I need to take by Tuesday (Wednesday if I want to pay $5) that I intended to take yesterday. I should study for that so I can take it tomorrow. That'd be nice. My Music Education class is still a lot of fun and it's starting to get more intense. We are starting to prepare lessons that we are going to teach to a group of 6 or more. We have to teach four 15-minute lessons at different times on different days. Just to get a small taste of what it's like to be a music teacher. We turned in our initial plans on what we were going to teach, and basically everyone was too ambitious--including me. I wanted to try to teach rythms, time signatures, and subdivision all within that time. Yeah. Right. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure the majority of the group has absolutely not musical experience whatsoever--besides whatever they've done in church. I still need to re-write that plan and make some objectives for tomorrow... how fun that'll be.

Then there's the Oboe world. I had a lesson last Thursday that went well. I even had a reed that I made myself that was pretty good! She looked at it and complimented me on it. It's amazing. I might actually know how to make good reeds. The priority right now is to shape the cane that I gouged the other day (which took like 2 hours--freakin' insane) so that I can make more good reeds. Oh how wonderful it is to have a good reed to play on. :) Bad news is that the Thursday lesson was made up from Monday that she couldn't do. So everything she told me to practice that would normally be a week of practice would have to be until tomorrow, Monday. So I had to practice today (which I normally don't) to make sure I knew it. It's not as fast as I'd like it, but it'll be fine. I'll just ignore the fact that the good reed I had is really sharp... I don't have perfect pitch. Doesn't bother me when I don't look at the tuner. :P

Today was the first fast Sunday we've really had as a ward. We had a "break the fast" together. We all were assigned to bring a type of dish so we could all eat together. It was great! It was like a real meal... insanity. I love having food to eat. :) I've yet to get a real calling, though. We'll see how long that lasts. Last year I was a Family Home Evening Group Leader, or as they used to be known as--a mom. That was alright, but I'm hoping for something different. Then I don't have to worry about getting people to come and having something that people will like. I like other people planning that sort of thing. :P I'd really like to get a calling as a teacher, actually. It would take more time Saturday night (probably early Sunday morning), but it'd give me more experience being a teacher. It seems like it'd be kind of fun. I guess we'll see!

So my Dictation pace test--I passed! I didn't pass by much... but I passed. Hopefully I can do better on future pace tests so I can maybe average another B. That'd be nice. I really am getting better at hearing certain things. It'd be nice if the grade reflected that. :)

Yesterday we had our first cleaning checks. We got up at about 8 (on a Saturday morning... what the heck) and cleaned for about 2 hours. We all had different jobs we were assigned to do. It wasn't that much fun while cleaning, but it's nice to have a clean apartment. The area around my bed was getting rather cluttered.

Oh boy, I really need to get to working on my homework. I've got to do Sight Singing (which will probably end up being done in the morning), redo my Music Ed thing, Music Theory, read/study Calculus, and finish my observation sheet from my observation on Friday. Fun! I so should have done some of this yesterday... that's what I get. :)

Have a wonderful day!

Procrastinating is Phun!

I should be reading my Calculus and taking a quiz saying that I read my Calculus, but I feel like procrastinating it a bit longer. Since I've written a blog the past two Sundays, I'll make it a goal to try and write a blog at least once a week--on Sunday. So here I am! Writing another blog. Good times indeed.

I took my first Dictation pace test last Thursday--not exactly sure how it went. This teacher, who is another grad student, grades them on his own. I guess to ensure that we don't cheat. But now I don't know what I got on it until Tuesday. A little nerve-wracking since I'm positive I messed up the last harmonic dictation part. I... had some weird stuff there. At least I'm pretty certain on the bass... and he grades nicely on the analysis. Even if the analysis is wrong, if we analyzed what we wrote as the chord correctly, we get points. I didn't do so well on the mock exam... I'm positive I did better on this one. Whatever. Passing the four semesters of dictation is my goal. I was able to pull off a B last semester--which was awesome. Having a B again would be cool. B+ to an A awesome--but highly unlikely. I guess we'll see!

I always have Calculus homework to do. Luckily, I mostly enjoy what I'm doing so it's not that big of a deal. It's just every night when I'm thinking of what I need to do for the next day, there's always Calculus on the list. I either have to read the chapter and take a quiz about it, or do written homework. There are also quizzes due on Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, but I luckily work on all three of those days and I usually just finish the quizzes then. I should try to get out of that habit though. There are going to be days that I'll be actually working the whole time and I won't have time to finish the quizzes. Not to mention the material is going to be getting harder and the quizzes will take longer. Calculus 2 should just be a load of fun. :) It is nice having a math class. I like math. In fact, I think I decided I wanted to minor in Math. Yup, a double major in Music Education and Computer Science with a Math minor. Three of the classes I have to take for the minor are already required for the Computer Science major, and one class can replace a class that's required for the Computer Science major. So really it's just a matter of taking 2 or 3 more classes. Not a big deal. I might as well, right? :) Somewhere down the road if I really wanted, I could probably get a job teaching Math. I hear those people are in short supply. That'd be fun.

I'm slowly getting better and better at the Viola. I got another oboist who also played Violin/Viola in high school to show me how to bow correctly. Now I actually play the instrument better! Now I just need to try and train my fingers to find the spots on the Viola for the notes so I can be in tune. Supposedly lots of string players are out of tune, even some string performance majors. At least that's what some people tell me. I'm not going to be one of them. :P I can try at least. I figure this is the time to try and get my fingers in the right places and train my ear to be in tune. I'm probably dreaming. Oh well!

My lesson last week went fine. Besides the fact that she asked me to play my E scale stuff. Which that just happened to be the one scale that I hoped she wouldn't pick. Literally, every other scale I worked on until it was back to where it was last semester. But 30-45 minutes later when I finally got to E, my mouth was getting pretty tired. I just ran through it until I played it right once. I didn't really get my fingers to remember sufficiently. It kind of came out with my fingers got confused up high. But, it's all good. I did practice it again so my fingers remember now. She'll probably pick another scale tomorrow--or forget. That'd be nice. :P I can play my freakin' scales. I practiced them to death my first semester. Literally, I played them an hour a day. For the first 20 or 30 minutes each hour that I practiced I would run through all my scales. I remember once spending an entire hour on just scales. It was rather boring and monotonous. Thus why I kind of am losing the will to practice them as much. I should try and be better about practicing. I scheduled practice rooms--but lots of them are in the evenings. Which means after I've already gone home and eaten and settled back in, I have to walk back to the HFAC and practice for an hour. It's not that big of a deal--it's just a matter of getting myself up and doing it. I need to get in the habit... habit... I just have so many classes this semester. Well, not really classes, just lots of classes that take up a lot of time. Then if there's anytime before 6, I'm working or practicing or something. I'm not like really stressed out, just have a lot to take my time. In fact, I'd say I'm pretty happy right now. I enjoy my classes for the most part, and I know how everything goes. Regardless, I'll be happy when this school year is over. :P I'll be done with the silly music core! (Music Theory, Sight Singing, and Dictation) I really like Music Theory, but I could definitely do without Sight Singing and Dictation. Oh... I just remembered. I have Sight Singing homework to do tonight. Blech... that'll be fun.

What else? Oh, I finally did my wash. Good for me. It costs so freakin' much here! I wonder if the prices went up at Helaman Halls, too. It cost $1.25 per wash, and $1.00 to dry each wash. I had three loads--it cost me a freakin' $6.75 to do my laundry! Insanity. Especially when you're used to umm... free. Oh well. I'll just remember to have more naked days. Anything to save money. Ooorr... I could just never do my wash. Be smelly! Totally worth the money.

I hope you all know I'm kidding.

I suppose I should end this post and do my homework. Fun!

A New Week!

A new week is about to start. I have a private lesson tomorrow, and I'm not sure what to think. I always get nervous about them, and it always turns out just fine. I did practice what she wanted me to, and I have a fairly good reed. It just takes a bit to break in... so if I just warm up on it before the lesson or something, it should be okay. Right? I don't know. We'll see! :)

Calculus is turning out to be fun! I missed having a math class, and it's really not too hard of stuff. We just started limits, and it's making perfect sense. A nice review of what I once knew. I just need to make sure I have all this trig stuff down that I never truly had down in the first place. Let's hope I can pull off an A! That'd be awesome. Then there's just Calc 2 to worry about... but I'll worry about that next semester. Double majors are fun! :P

I taught my first help session for CS 142 last Friday as well. It was fun! I hope I didn't confuse people too much and that I actually helped. I'm pretty sure I did. They were all so quiet and attentive! Listening to every word I said and writing stuff down I said/wrote. It was crazy! I know when I actually get a teaching job (wow... that's so cool to think about :)) it definitely won't be that easy to have them listening. The help session is a special group of people. They aren't coming because they have to, they are coming to listen to get some help on the lab. So of course they are going to listen attentively and be quiet. It's nice.

Speaking of teaching, we've been going to schools and observing and I've officially learned the D major scale on Viola! They just taught us how to use the bow. Man, it's so many things to think about at once. Though, I don't think it'll be hard to get the hang of it. Just at first there's how to hold the bow, how to move my arm, where exactly to put my fingers/be in tune, what note is what fingering, and the freakin' clef! That took me by surprise. We first walked in and joined them and they were reading through this song. I look at the music... "What is an E# doing in here??" Oh! It's the freaking alto clef! Surprise! Okay, so a C is really a D... it's different. That's for sure. But it's oh so fun! :) If I could just get GOOD at it, that'd be even better. But I have a feeling it'd take a while to get good at it. I could just get proficient at it by the end of the semester. At least I have String Workshop to look forward to so they'll go over in more detail how to play a string. It seems like fun. You can eat while you play! Insanity! And there's to stinkin' reed to worry about!

Yesterday (Saturday) BYU had a football against UCLA. Which, I'm pretty sure is the team that we barely beat last year at the Las Vegas bowl. Yesterday, we smeared them 59-0. At the half we were ahead 42-0!! Insane! They just were fumbling and throwing interceptions everywhere! We just couldn't be stopped. It would have been more, but I heard we were playing all of our second and third string players during the last two quarters or so. Had to give our offense a break since they were playing basically the entire first half. We played the freaking "Cougar Cub" song that we always play during a first down so many times! That and the fight song for each touchdown and field goal. It was exciting. We have such a good football team this year. Yay!

Oh yeah, last Wednesday I had Master Classes and I performed my song for everyone. It went pretty well! Everyone seemed to like the song and Jesse played the piano part very well for not having it for very long. It had the tendency to go too slow (as opposed to too fast like in Sacrement meeting), but it was still good. Geralyn seemed to like it too and had some suggestions for me. But that's all they were, suggestions. She was encouraging me to keep adding to it and write some more pieces to perform in class. Yikes! We'll see how far that goes. :) Either way, I'm glad it's over and went well. Yay!

Well, I should try to finish up my Sight Singing homework before I head off to bed. Though before I do, I'll go ahead and post another video of a little snippet of something I wrote a week or so ago. On a whim I named it "Mixed Feelings." Just because of the switch from major to minor. Like I couldn't decide what it was supposed to mean. I don't know. Go ahead and listen or something. :P

P.S. I love getting comments. :) If you read this blog, please comment and let me know! It makes me feel like I'm not writing to a wall/myself.

So... school

I've finished my first week of my sophomore year in college. Yup, sure have. I did my audition on Tuesday, which went just fine. I ended up making Wind Symphony playing English Horn! I'm so excited. I know that Wind Symphony is also going on tour to Japan after next semester... but I don't know I get to go on that. But, you know what, it's all good. It'd cost like 600 or 700 dollars to go (for a foreign trip... holy cheapness) and it would cut into the Spring term that I want to stay for. I'm just excited to be in a band that meets on Tuesday and Thursdays because it works out much better for my schedule. Oh, and being able to be in the same ensemble as Natasha... again! I can't believe it! We'll have a blast. :)

My Music Education class seems like it's going to be pretty fun. We get to go to middle schools and observe the teachers and take notes and such. Oh, and we get to learn two instruments: one string and one wind. We've basically split into two groups for the two middle schools, and one starts with the orchestra and the other with the band. I'm in the orchestra group first and I just found out that I'll be learning the Viola! So, that'll be fun. It doesn't seem like it'll be too terrible. Just takes up a lot of time since it's every morning for two hours, and for when we go to the middle schools we have to be there by 7:20 or so. But, it's fun. Great fun.

Calculus so far isn't bad. Just a review of trig and algebra, really. We'll be getting into the good stuff soon, which should be a review of the Calculus class I took in high school. So far I have an A in the class. The whole two online quizzes that I took that you can answer until you get it right. Yeah... we'll see how long that A will last. :P I shouldn't be too hard on myself yet. I could pull it off if I work hard enough.

So my song that I wrote this summer for sacrement meeting... I brought it up to my Oboe professor during my audition as a way to not talk about the fact that I didn't really practice that much this summer. She asked if I would play it at Master Classes this Wednesday. In front of all of the other oboe players and herself. So, I am. I just finished adding in all the dynamic markings I should have added in the first place, and I re-wrote a couple other parts. There were some parts that could sound basically the same (if not better) and be easier for the piano, so I changed them. And the end. I changed the end a bit. I'm probably going to end up showing the music to my professor tomorrow in my lesson. Nervous? Yes. She only has a doctorate in music and has analyzed a bunch of music written by real composers. We'll see what she thinks. I don't think she'll be too hard. It'll be interesting to see what she has to say. I'll guess I'll just wait and see!

So right now I'm in my room writing this blog while Ashley is off with her brothers and such visiting their grandparents and having dinner with them. My roommates and some of their friends are over talking and having a great time in the living room type-room. This is fairly typical. I tend to just kind of be in my room doing whatever on the computer or working on homework while they are out socializing. Interesting. I swear I'm not that anti-social. Every once in a while I semi-awkwardly walk out and just say hi or try to be part of the conversation somewhat. I just don't really know them very much. I guess if I just interjected myself into the group I would get to know them. Whatever. I like having the time to myself. My introverted self likes having that alone time to not have to talk to people.

Speaking of being social, Anthony and Curtis have come over every day for the past couple of days to play games and just hang out. It's been great fun! Too bad it prevents me from getting things done such as homework, practicing, or sleeping. But it's still a lot of fun. 

I have little songs for each of my two nephews and now my neice! I'll go ahead and make little videos of them and let you all listen to them! Awww... they are all so freakin' cute. :)

Creepy Phone Calls

Today was a good day. All last month Wednesdays sucked because I was basically swamped with stuff to do and things to go to all day long. I had a class from 7:30 to 9:00 PM that only met four times, and now it's over! Well, we aren't meeting anymore, anyway. We have a final project due by the 15th, which is basically just our application to get into the Music Education program. I'm hoping to make it in... it doesn't seem like I should have too much trouble, but you never know. But, even if I don't it's not like I don't have enough classes to take to fill the void. It'd just throw off my schedule a bit.

Anyhow, about today. I didn't have Music Theory! I just went to Music Civ, and then finished my Theory homework, turned it in at my Professor's door and took a nice 20 minute nap on a bench. I met Ashley and we went to Book of Mormon. It was a fun class, too. Today our personal application papers were due, so it was nice to know that it's done with. Not that it was very hard, at all, but it's nice to be done with it all the same. After that Ashley went to class and I had lunch. Mmmm... they had such delicious choices for lunch. Chicken Fajitas Wraps and Navajo Tacos. Those are two of my favorite lunches ever.

Orchestra was pretty much the same as always, and CS 235 was thrilling as ever. Actually, it was interesting. I normally find that class interesting... I guess that's why it's one of my majors. :p Anyhow, we talked about "Big Oh." It's basically estimating how fast an algorithm runs. It reminded me a lot of limits. It was like being back in a math class. Aww... math, how I miss thee. No worries, I won't miss it much next semester and the semester after that when I'm taking Calculus 1 and 2. It'll be hard, that's for sure, but I'll be glad that I took them in the long run. I like knowing Calculus. It's actually a lot of fun once I get it. If I don't understand the concept... then it's just confusion to the max.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. There's a new Smallville, there'll most likely be Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner, and I don't have a TA meeting at 6:30! We usually have TA meetings from 6:30 to 7:30 on Thursdays... which very inconveniently conflicts with Smallville. Though, I've just been finding streaming links and watching them online. Though, it's just that much more fun to watch it on a TV right when it first airs. It's just cool to know that you're watching it for the first time with so many other people. So, yeah. Tomorrow = good times.

In other news, I've been getting creepy phone calls. The caller ID just says "Unknown Number" and they just call and leave a silent message. They called on Monday at about 11:00 (I believe), and then twice on Tuesday at 11:00 and 3:33, and then three times today at 11:00, 3:41, and 5:48. All at times that I'm not at the dorm. A couple times I can hear something in the background, like faint voices, but it's so quiet I can't make it out. So, I'm suspecting they'll call again tomorrow at 11:00, and I'll be there this time. I'm going to answer it this time and figure out who it freakin' is. I was asking some other oboists at master classes tonight about it, and one figured that it was just telemarketers. Which, that makes a lot of sense... but why not leave a message? That'd be very disappointing if that was it. Though, I'm not sure what to expect otherwise. What if it was something "exciting?" What if it was some creepy stalker guy? Yeah, right. It's probably something dumb. I guess I'll just have to find out! :)