I'm Back!

Well, I'm stumbling around on the internet here at almost five in the morning. Really, why do I have to stay up so late?! Anyway, just came across my old blog here and found it really interesting to read what I wrote and thought only a short four years ago; although it seems like an eternity.

Regardless, I'm gonna try and get back into this blogging mode. It really was pretty cool to see what was happening in my life then and my take on things. You forget a lot of things over the years, and this was quite a refresher, even if it was a small one. 2004 was a pretty pivotal year for things, especially the start of school at the SF Conservatory. Now I'm at the Colburn school in Los Angeles on the brink of another big audition for a real job (isn't it crazy to think back to that first one now?). I'm sure this next won't be my last, but I have high hopes for it. Definitely a much different attitude than the first.

Well, I can't stay up any longer to write. Gotta sleep and get up in a few hours (no kidding). Now that I've rediscovered this, I think its time to start sharing some more thoughts on life, love, and all that good stuff. Just a few quick updates before I sleep:

1)Marcia and I are married now!
2)Marcia also got her Masters in BioScience and is currently looking for a job (as am I).
3)Marcia and I now have a niece and nephew from her brother.
4)My younger brother is also married.
5)I'm currently living in LA now at the Colburn School. If you don't know what it is, check it out cause it really is the music school to be at right now. Very lucky here.
6)The audition I'm referring to is the San Diego principal percussion audition in a week! Wow...so that's why I've been practicing hours and hours a day.

Alright folks, g'night.

Concert Went Well

The percussion concert went well this afternoon. For the most part, everything went off very well without any hitch.

Looks like I'm gonna play piano accompanyment for Nathan Johnson's trumpet scholarship audition this Friday. That will be a first for me.

I just sent off my student employment application to the San Francisco Conservatory. Hopefully I'll get the job opening currently in the Admissions office. Looks like things are startin' to get busy again.

Later...

Been a Few Days...

Nothin' much new over the weekend here. Today is Marcia's Dad's B-day. He's now 60, but doesn't look any older than about 45 to me! We had a BBQ in his honor yesterday. Got to have some nice Filipino pancit among other meats and such. Played some pool with Marcia's older brother. Went and saw Shrek 2 (very nice). All in all, a nice day.

Saturday I did a teaching observation in the morning for the percussion ensemble I'll be teaching over the summer and next year. After that, Nathan and I installed a fan in the room I'll be moving into next week; we'll be installing three more within the next week for the remaining rooms. In the evening I went to my buddy Aaron and Phil's joint junior recital. It was a good recital combining some classical double bass and saxophone with a set of jazz tunes.

Friday, had work as usual, then percussion ensemble rehearsal for the concert tomorrow, and went to see my wonderful housemate Jason (guitar player) play a recital with Meghan (flute player). It was all duets for flute and classical guitar; good stuff.

That's pretty much it. Coming up, like I mentioned, is the percussion ensemble recital tomorrow. I'm also playing a gig with the New Millennium String Orchestra at the beginning of next month. And for one of my younger students, I'm playing some piano accompanyment for a chior concert at her school.

Next month I've also got tickets to a couple of SF Symphony concerts (Mahler's 9th and Holst's Planets). I also have plans to go to Disneyland in the third week of June; in fact I'll probably get annual passes for my sweetie and I again. It gives me a nice excuse to visit my mom down there more often.

That's all for now...

I Finally Did It!

As some of you recall from my post last week about bathroom breaks (Back from Lunch), I had a hard time pinching off a loaf if another man was in the public restroom at that time, but today I have conquered that fear. In the middle of doin' my thing, someone walked in, and well, I had to finish. So in a way, I planted a steaming bouqet of brown roses while another male was in the stall next to me. YAY!!!

Oh, and in case you actually thought I came up with that last euphemism, think again. I'm not that witty; I actually did a search and found this webpage through Google. Pretty funny stuff.

Dungeons and Dragons

8bit DandD

This is HIIIIIIIIIII-larious. Check it out!

The Blue Devils Forums

Stan has a blog!

LOL, Kevin over at the BD forums posted this last night. To all BD forumites who stumble across this now, leave a comment on this post! To anyone else who stumbles across this blog, click on the link above and go check out the BD forums. Cool people! ;)

Warped Mind

Not many people know it at first glance, but I can have a pretty sick sense of humor on occasion. Like many have said about me, I cross the line quite a bit. Case in point, I just got a new "Random Question" from the blogger profile. If you go to my profile and read it, you will see a small glimpse of the gutters my mind sometimes dwells in.

Aren't those random question just horrible? I went through probably 20 before I found one that I could put any kind of response to. I like the idea, just not the questions (at least, not most of them).

Today for lunch we had a pot-luck for Darrick's birthday (I guy that works here). It was his 50th, but in all honesty, this guy could pass for 30. I was shocked to learn that he was that old. I have a feeling he'll live to be past 100.

In other news, this past weekend Jerry Seawright, the founder of the drum and bugle corps the Blue Devils, passed away. It is a sad event for the activity as a whole (drum corps). I never met him, but have heard so much about him. I only wish I would have had a chance to meet him.

That's all for now. Ta ta.

The Weekend is Over

So last Saturday I had the symphony audition, and all I got to say is "poo". I'm glad to finally have done a real professional audition and expect to do MUCH better in future auditions, but that one did not go as well as I wanted it to (in my opinion). I didn't go in with much expectations, but now I know what to expect so hopefully things will improve.

On the plus side, I met a lot of great percussionists, a couple of which I'll be going to school with next year. There were also a few old friends there as well. Cathleen (french horn) was auditioning after flying out all the way from the Peabody Conservatory, and it turns out she's coming back to live in the bay area after she receives her Masters degree THIS WEEK! Pretty sweet. I also found out that her and Mr. Sanchez (clarinet) are dating! What a cute couple.

A quick overview and review of my audition:
Kreisler's "Tambourin Chinois" played on xylo; a few too many wrong notes in places that I never had troubles with before (must be the nerves)
Copland's "Appalachian Springs" xylo excerpt; not too shabby, probably the best part of the audition
Mozart's "The Magic Flute" bell excerpt; ugh, WAY too many wrong notes and too loud, I guess I wasn't consistent on this to begin with
Cirone's "Etude #32" for snare; went alright, flubbed a little on the presto top of second page
Sousa's "Star's and Stripes Forever" snare excerpt (last 16 bars or so); didn't see much wrong with this, probably could have played a little more open rolls

And that was it. I didn't get to show off any tambourine or cymbal skills. No "Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Dukas bell excerpt. Well, this is why I'm going back to get my Masters. I'm sure Jack has a lot to teach me, and I have a lot of room to improve.

After the audition, Marcia and I went and saw "Supersize Me", a new documentary where this guy goes on a 30-day all McDonald's diet. It was funny and very eye-opening. After that we went out to get sushi at Fuji-san Sushi in Milpitas. They're Special Spicy Roll is quite simply the best sushi I have ever tasted. Overall, I highly recommend it.

...Alright, just took a quick lunch at work here. Gettin' back to the weekend activities. Saturday night, Marcia, Dan (one of my housemates) and I watched Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" that night (Saturday) and then Marcia and I went to bed. The next day I did some errands, chilled a little bit, and then we went out to eat again that night at Fuddrucker's. All in all, it wasn't an incredibly eventful weekend. Anyway, its time to get back to work now. Bye bye.