4th of July Festivities

Just in case you think you are cooler than me, I am posting pictures of what I did on the 4th of July. Read em and weep my friends. This past weekend I was able to come into my own again as a true band nerd and it was exhilarating! The Chautauqua Community band is basically just a little band that rehearses one time and then gives a concert on the main plaza on the 4th of July (and we'll do it again in August I think). ANYONE can play in this band. We had a blast.

This is a picture of us playing. Presh. I was surprised at how many people came to hear us.

This isn't a particularly good picture of me, but I need to post it so that you can see the lady that is sitting two people away from me. She's wearing a red ball cap. She INVENTED ALEVE. Those little pills... she invented them. She's really funny and wants me to come over to house with the blue wrap-around porch. Hm.... maybe she will give me free Aleve.

Check out our awesome community band T's. Me, Emlyn, and Daniel. MSFO flutes. Our first picture together. Fer cute!

My fan club!!! Cari Sue and Carrie. Both girls are from BYU and Carrie is my roommate for these 7 weeks. They are fantastic! Btw, Cari Sue is concert master this week.... represent! I think it's concert mistress, actually. Whatever.

And this is a normal picture of us. I really like this flute section.

So, the 4th was fun. We went to the CSO concert at the Ampitheater that night, complete with the 1812 Overture and canons provided by paper bags in the audience. It was awesome. The fireworks weren't all that special, but it was fun to be down on the docks with everyone. It was freezing. You aren't supposed to wear jeans and jackets on the 4th of July.

I am still in love with breakfast here-- it's the first thing I think of when I wake up. The blueberries are amazing and I just load them up on my granola and I feel like I am in heaven. Really. Lunch and Dinner still make me want to vomit. Tonight we had some sort of mystery meat....

Life is starting to get crazy. I am in three chamber groups, orchestra, and I do my own solo stuff and lessons. We have to rehearse a few times each week with each group and be coached at least one time for each group, so it's pretty crazy. I rehearsed with my quintet today and I was really impressed with them-- they are all really good-- but let's face it, they aren't Funky Winds. Our first orchestra concert was last night and it was a great concert. The audience went crazy and it was so fun to see people as we were walking home and they were freaking out and asking us how old we are (that's a touchy subject for me) and telling us how much they just loved the concert. Everyone sounded really good, but I felt like poop. I did really well, except for the Tuilleries movement of Pictures. I practiced those runs so many times and I think I just psyched myself out. It's just embarrassing because everyone here is so good and I just didn't really measure up. After I played that movement I just sat in my chair and thought, "I can't do this. This isn't for me. I hate this." I was pretty much a Debbie Downer for the rest of the night. I don't know what my deal is. Sometimes this happens to me and I feel SO unsure if this is what I really should be doing, if I am really cut out for this. I look at the two people sitting next to me and they are so good and so confident and they have nerves of steel and I can just all of a sudden freeze up and freak out. That's not something that I can feel good about, especially when there are so many other people counting on me to come through. And our private teacher was at the concert which made me even more embarrassed. Bleh. Last night just confirmed the fact that I feel totally inadequate here. I'll get over it. Every day is a new one.

So anyway. After that lovely heart-to-heart. I think I've got a place to live in Boston. We'll see. I've met a few people here that are from BU and they have been so great to tell me all about Boston. I'm excited to move there! And funny story. Today at lunch, 3 of us BYUers were eating with a bunch of other people, as usual, and this clarinet player turns to us and says, "Have any of you guys ever had beer out of a frisbee?" Seriously I about died. Poor guy, he didn't realize he had turned and asked the three people at the table who don't drink. It was really funny.

Also, I finished season 5 of 24, so I have had to find alternate forms of entertainment. I didn't like season 5. Just FYI. The weather is starting to warm up here, so I can go outside this week. Wahoo.

Tomorrow we start our rehearsals for next Monday's concert. We are playing Dvorak's Scherzo Capriccioso (super awesome), Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet, Wagner's Die Meistersinger, and Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphoses. I am playing first on Dvorak, 2nd on Tchaik, and picc on Wagner and Hindemith. The Hindemith has a crazy picc part. I think the maestro is going to want to kill me when he hears me play the piccolo. I really am not going to make a good first impression! Oh well. I'm just here to get better! Peace out people.

P.S. I really like my flute teacher. He's cool.