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. :)

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!

Here we go again

Another week is approaching. I'm definitely glad that this past week is over, though. It got kind of insane. I actually just remembered something else I was supposed to do last week. All of the Education majors taking some form of Sc Ed 276 have to take this Technology test to make sure we're somewhat literate in Word, Powerpoint, Excel, and possibly Outlook. I'm not sure, though. I was supposed to take that last week, but I can still take it this week and it'll be alright. I just need to remember to do that...

Luckily this week we don't have band rehearsal Thursday or Friday! YAY! Theoretically, I should actually have time to practice then, or maybe even go to reed class... finish shaping my cane. Oh boy, I should be able to be productive this week. Key word: should. This week is the first midterm for CS 142 which means I'll have more time to myself. Like tomorrow... people will just be picking up midterms. I won't be constantly helping people. I shouldn't have a problem finishing the quiz and maybe even working on some of the written homework.

So yesterday was the homecoming game against the University of New Mexico. We won... again. :P 21-3, I believe. It was rather worrisome at first when they were the first ones to score a field goal. Too bad those three points were the only time they scored. I love having a winning football team. It's nice to cheer for a winning team. :) Though it was so cold! I couldn't feel my feet when we were walking back. We have these nice parkas that they let us use for the semester, but they are surprisingly not that warm. They are when we are parade marching, though. I was sweating in that thing. In the stands when we were just sitting there, though. I was freezing. I wasn't as cold as I was last year when it actually snowed at the game... but I was still pretty cold. Couldn't really move my fingers very fast and was probably playing about 20 cents flat all around. Good times.

The month of October is basically half over now, which means it's pretty close to November. Which means it's close to Thanksgiving break. Which really means it's not that far from the end of the semester! Right? No... I definitely shouldn't be counting down yet. That should happen after Thanksgiving break when we are actually close to finals and everything. It's kind of sad. I'm planning on staying for Spring and Summer. That means this Christmas is going to be the last time I'll be home for a while. In fact, I'm even planning on staying for the Spring and Summer after this one and then the following Spring after that too. It may sound like I'm setting myself up to disaster some sanity loss... which is inevitable for me... but, I really don't mind too much. I've really found that I like going to school. Of course I'm not a big fan of the stress, but I've realized I've grown accustomed to it. It's like I feel lazy if I don't feel that stress every once in a while. And I love being here on my own. Not that I don't like home and my family, I love my family. :) I just like feeling like I'm doing something with my life. Being home and working at the theater... doesn't exactly scream progression in life. I'm pretty excited thinking that this Christmas will be the last time I'll work at the theater. I even played with the idea of not even working this Christmas, though that'd be kind of silly. I might as well. It'd give me like an extra 400 bucks or so. Maybe even more. That's some money that's always nice. 

Oh... speaking of money. I really need to pay my tithing. I definitely haven't paid anything yet this whole year, and I have made more money this past year than I ever have in a year. The good news: I have enough money to pay it. In fact, I have quite a bit of money. Especially compared to last Fall when I didn't have a job and was just spending money. It ran out fairly quickly. I like living at a cheaper place and actually earning money. It's nice. That and books weren't nearly as expensive as they were last Fall. Last Fall was absolutely ridiculous.

Okay, I think that may be enough rambling for now. Maybe I'll even go to bed on time today and won't be falling asleep during Calculus tomorow! Maybe! I could maybe even wake up early to practice tomorrow morning... it's an idea. We'll just see. :)

Until next week!

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!

Life is almost awesome

After Wednesday I shouldn't have too much to worry about. You know... just the rest of my finals. That will include Music Civ 202 (which is online), Book of Mormon (as long as I do the review... I should be good), CS 235 (which shouldn't be too bad), Music Theory (which is take home... shouldn't be too bad), and Dictation. As long as it's a good day for Dictation, it should be alright. If I get an 85 or so, I'll get a B in the class. Let's hope for that. It's much better than a C-, that's for sure. :) Last semester I was hoping to pass, this semester my goals are a little higher. Yay! :) So, those other finals shouldn't be too bad. It's just that and working. Just grading CS 142 finals. I'm all for getting more money. I wasn't counting on getting money for working during the finals week. So, yay for more money! I suddenly have realized that I have a good amount of money. Well, a good amount considering I was basically out at the beginning of the semester. Good thing I got that job. :) I think this'll be the only semester that I'll be able to pull off working 17 hours a week, though. I just don't think I'll have the time otherwise. Either way, I should be able to make enough money to go through college without debt. That's my goal. I think we'll get there. w00tness!

What else? Oh, so I am capable of making good reeds. I ended up making a pretty good reed on Tuesday, that worked okay at Master Classes. It just wasn't quite broken in enough. Geralyn did make a comment after I played about how the reed wasn't good enough for me. Eh, it's a lot better now. It's not perfect (I don't think the perfect reed actually exists) but I think it's pretty good. I'm trying to make some other good reeds... but so far it's not working too well. We'll see where that goes. Oh, I need to call my accompanist and run through my jury again with her. We really need to work out a couple parts in the Hummel. I thought we got it worked out before Master Class on Wednesday, but then at the performance, it wasn't together. Ugh. Hopefully that doesn't happen this Wednesday. I guess we'll see. Even if it does... whatever. I'm not going to fail my jury. I'm just hoping to end up with an overall A.

Wow, this semester is actually ending. I've pretty much survived one whole year at BYU. I had a really hard time seeing this in August last year. I was so intimidated by college. I didn't know if I could handle it and be able to practice and whatever. It's been fun! Yeah, I get busy at times, but it's mostly fun. I enjoy pretty much all of my classes, I have my own computer, and I get to completely manage my own time and schedule. It's lovely to have freedom like this. Though, of course, as much as I love it, I'm excited to go back home for this summer. Just to be back with my family and not stress about school. I think overall I'm less stressed here at college than I was in high school. Eh... that might be a lie. I think I'm just overall happier here. Yes, I think that's it. There isn't the politics in band like there was in high school, and I just love the fact that the church is mixed in with learning. Almost everyone is Mormon! It's crazy!

Okay, well I still need to read about 60 pages of the Book of Mormon in about 2 days, so I'll get on that. :) I love it, it's just time consuming.

End of semester, here I come!

One week left...

A week from today is the last day of classes. Then we have "reading days" which are supposed to be days for studying for our finals. For music majors, though, it means jury time. A week from tomorrow is my jury... and I'm in need of a good reed. I made a good reed about 2 or 3 weeks ago, but guess what? Yeah, it's dying. That's what happens to reeds. I'm surprised how long it lasted, actually. It still plays... okay... I guess, but I really need another one. Just now in the past hour I attempted three. They all have the same problem: FLAT. I would love them if they weren't 50 cents flat on every note. There's something that I'm doing wrong... consistently. I thought I had it figured out with the last good reed I made, but I keep doing something wrong. I don't get it. I'll probably just come begging to our grad student for help and get something good for Master Class tomorrow. Yeah, I'm playing AGAIN. I played the past two weeks, and I get to play again. And guess what I'm playing? My jury. I'm playing two movements from Telemann and the Hummel. Not only need I need to practice them to make sure I still know them (which, I do, but... whatever) but I need to have a good reed. My good reed that was working so well, suddenly didn't work well last week when I played. I definitely can't use it again. And I need to rehearse with my accompanist and make sure we have some parts that are hard to get together...

Basically, it's be nice for it to be a week from Thursday. :)

Anyway, in other news I finished sight singing today. I turned in my last two assignments, had my last pace test, and was told I had an A for the semester. So the optional last pace test that could replace the lowest score... I'm definitely not taking. So, that's one class down. Well, actually two classes down. My Music 176 class ended back in February. Anyway, I just have the rest to worry about. :P If I just get an A on my final in cs 235, I'll have an A in the class. I turned in my last lab on Monday. I just have one more homework assignment due on Friday (which I'll try to actually turn in on Friday this time) and then the final. So... hopefully I can pull that off. I deserve an A in that class. I understand everything, go to lecture, and turn in my labs on time. It's just my homework I kind of slack off on. But, I slack off in a way that still gives me credit for it. :p

What else? Oh, I made a video of Allison Mack's challenge on allisonmack.com. She challenged her fans to make videos of their favorite scene from a TV show, movie, book, or whatever, and recreate it! So, I did. :) I remade the scene from the episode "Justice" from Smallville. The scene between Bart and Lex. Ashley was gone at work, and I didn't feel like working on homework or reeds or practicing (which I should have done... but whatever) so I used my lovely camera and filmed myself playing both Lex and Bart. Then I just quickly edited it using Windows Movie Maker and picked a song. Voila! I have a nice scene of me playing Bart and Lex from "Justice." I'll go ahead and post it here for your viewing pleasure. :) Yay!



It was a lot of fun to make. :)