Saturday, March 21, 2009

Mental and Physical Exhaustion

I've been so busy with school I have really been neglecting my blogs. But today I finally had a day that was eventful enough to write about, so I'm squeezing in some time for it.

I had AIM auditions(Basically a piano achievement test) today. It was the first time I've done this so I was really nervous. I have only been taking piano lessons since last January so being in 10th grade, I really should be farther along, but I'm not because I haven't been playing terribly long. I actually started piano when I was 4(I think). My oldest sister started with basic stuff and I played with her and my second oldest sister off and on until age 10. But then, being 10 and 12 years older than me were in college during most of this time so it was all hit and miss. And since they were my sisters, I didn't feel terribly compelled to work all that hard at it. So, needless to say, I never got very good. But then summer 2007 I sorta randomly sat down at the piano (after not playing for several years) and started playing around. I kinda liked it and continued to play. I heard Fantasy (K. 397) by Mozart and fell in love with it. We had a rather large book of Mozart's music left from when my sisters were at home and it happened to have the piece in it. YAY! =D

I was really excited and just started playing it. I mean, it took me ages to learn it but I finally did. I'm sure I made my family sick of it with the hours I spent trying to learn it. But they must not have been to terribly sick of it because in December(Yes, it really did take me 5 or 6 months to learn it. =P) my mom sorta hinted that I should find a teacher and start taking lessons.

So I did. I found the AWESOMEST teacher. Actually, she is the wife of the conductor of the youth orchestra I was already in, so I sorta already had a connection to her, I just didn't know it. Luckily for me, the conductor put in a good word for me(still haven't figured out why since I'm convinced he doesn't like me at all). So I started taking lessons. And, with the playing around on my own, I really liked playing piano, but Mr. Roby made me fall in love with piano.

So today, after just over a year of lessons, I had this achievement test. Well, actually four. My first was sight reading and wow did I do badly. I think it is a bad sign when the 'judge' says after you are done, "You should practice sight reading a lot." A.K.A, you are so not good at this so go practice because you definitely need it. =P

Next I had repertoire. This was the part I was most looking forward to and it went splendidly. I mean, not perfect of course, but VERY well. After the sight reading, it was a huge relief.

Then I had keyboard skills. Scales went perfectly. Arpeggios were pretty good. Cadences were great. Chords and inversions... well, let's just say that I had played a few too many keys and E flat minor was a bit too stretching for me. =P I thought I knew it, but I went to play the chord and it just didn't sound.... minor?... I dunno, but it was embarrassing. The 'judge' finally just said, "You were right." And I was kinda dumbly like, "Oh, okay." Hehehehe, but I got through fine.

The theory test I really don't know about. I am not very good at listening to intervals and identifying them. And hearing a chord and identifying it isn't easy for me either. So that part I wont be surprised if I didn't do too well. The written theory I think was fine. Just writing out scales and chords and a little stuff with rhythms. Fun stuff like that. With musical terms (tenuto, molto, maestoso, etc.) it was just a matter of matching terms with definitions so it was pretty easy.

What did I do after frying my brain there? Go home and relax? Nope! Something way more fun. I played Ultimate Frisbee for about 3 hours (with a break for dinner). When we were done, I was exhausted. Physically and mentally. I know I will be very sore tomorrow, but pain equals growth so that's good. If I don't feel it, I didn't play hard enough.

Today was great. =D =D

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Feeling silly

Ack, Ack, Ack!!! I feel so silly right now. I just did the dumbest thing ever. Yesterday I sent a letter to my senators and congressman, and somehow I forgot to sign them before sending them. =S I guess it doesn't really matter since these people don't know me from Adam. But I still feel rather silly about it. I guess this will be one mistake I will NEVER make again though. I will never send a letter without checking it a thousand times to make sure I really signed it. I guess I was just a little to energetic about sending the things and didn't double check to make sure they were perfect. But I guess mistakes are for learning so I'll learn from it and try to move on.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It got published. =)

Yay, now I'm really happy. They did publish my letter... sorta. Not exactly. I mean, it didn't actually get printed in the paper I don't think. (we don't get the paper so it's hard to tell. I've just been checking online.) But it did get put in today's Reader's Forum. So it's online at least. It's really short, and I don't know if it really even makes sense. But I guess if it got published it must have made at least a tiny amount of sense. If you care to read it, you can here. It's at the bottom. I was looking this morning to see if it was there and I didn't see it. So when Esther showed me that it was there I was really super excited. And a few days ago I was getting really discouraged about Ben Rush and I was ready to quit. But now I'm excited about it again. So I'm back on it. =) Now I'm working on looking up some stuff about my Congressman and Senators so I can do my first letter to legistlator. Oh, and if anyone knows a good way to find voting records, I'd be ever so thankful if you shared it. I'm having trouble finding anything. Thanks.

Monday, March 9, 2009

A total ramble

Uhgness! I haven't posted in ages. I've been too busy with school and everything and my blog is neglected. It's my mom's birthday today. And it was Beky's last Thursday, and Rachel's last Monday. Gotta love big families with three birthdays in one week. =D Everyone is getting older. Poor dears. =P

Riah asked me to give Ben Rush updates so here's the first. I wrote a letter to the editor today. So only two more to write. It wasn't very long really, but I guess it was okay. Probably wont get published though because, horor of all horors, I said the word...."God". Which is so not PC. I also included a quote from Daniel Webster(had to have a quote from a founding father in the letter) that talked about Christianity being the foundation of civil society. Oh, and I should probably mention that the topic of the letter was same-sex marriage. And I said that its a BAD thing. So absically, I violated all rules of "seperation of church and state". So yeah, no way they will publish it. But oh well, I had to write it and it's done now. So I'm happy.

Less happiness.... one week until the first orchestra concert. And I sorta...*cough* have failed to practice much this semester. I can play the stuff mostly okay, but yeah, practice wouldn't have been a bad idea. But that's not the only thing that happens this Sunday. If you read my other blog you know that i entered in an essay contest. And this Sunday, they let the winners know that they won. And I know I didn't win, but still.... I can't help but sorta hope. I know, I shouldn't even bother hoping, but I do because I'm crazy.

And now it's like 11 and I really need to sleep. Sorry for rambling about nothing in particular, but sometimes, I just have my days and have to. If you were totally bored, or you hate me for being so random and all, umm...well that's what comments are for. =P But yeah, sorry, I'm off to bed now. Hopefully next time I have time for a post, I'll be less...rambly.