Me and My Euphonium

Always be vigilant.  It sounds like something a branch of the military would have as a motto.  I googled it to check and found the first entry referencing acute pulmonary embolism.  In my case, I'm referring to preparedness to perform.  Last Wednesday, a trombone player for the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis told me that they were playing Jupiter:  The Bringer of Jollity from Gustav Holst's The Planets.  As you may or may not know, this has a fairly prominent euphonium part.  As you also may or may not know, euphoniums are rarely scored in orchestral pieces, so any opportunity to play in one is a rare treat.  As it turned out, they did not have one.  She checked with the conductor who welcomed me into this other world.

I had one rehearsal two days ago.  I was scared out of my mind.  I'm never like that with small ensembles or concert bands, but I felt a lot of pressure with an orchestra.  It's one of those things you secretly imagine playing in but are shocked as hell when you realize that you are.  I also got to play in the opening brass fanfare.  It too had a prominent euphonium part complete with multiple solos.  It turned out to be an exhilarating experience, but, like a Vegas escort, it was only the one night of magic that I will always remember.  And, as tradition for summer concerts, I treated myself to ice cream afterwards.  My mom started this when I was a child, and she continued it making it a post-concert tradition when I played in the municipal band.  Incidentally, this concert also marked the first time I have looked at a John Williams' piece without an arranger under his name.

I got a lot of compliments which made me feel a lot better about the experience.  It wasn't like I didn't know the part.  This is something I had been practicing for years.  I could hear the voices of my last two low brass professors, David Spies and John Manning, pointing out various aspects measure by measure as I practiced it.  This goes back to my previous mention of vigilance.  When I found out that I may have this opportunity, I hadn't practiced in about 3 weeks as our concert band was on a break.  This wasn't ideal, but at least I knew my part.  I guess you never know when a performance opportunity may arise.

In other news, I played in Verdi's Requiem last night.  This was with a make-shift orchestra in the suburbs.  I expected to play the ophicleide part on my euphonium, but then no trombones or bassoons showed up.  Instead, I ended up playing their parts.  It wasn't that magical though they did have some talented vocal soloists from the Minnesota Chorale and the Minnesota Opera.  Oh well, it was 3 hours of sight-reading lip time.

Moving on, I saw my old professor's (David Spies) klezmer band, Yid Vicious, 2 weekends ago.  It was a lot of fun as klezmer groups can be.  It was a little different take from the traditional set most people experience.  I know that there are some locals who are reading this.  They are going to be performing at the Minnesota History Center on August 18th.

Okay, now for summer movies and then I'm done.  The Hangover:  Hysterical.  Star Trek:  Good but the whole alternate thing is a little weird.  I Love You, Beth Cooper:  Good story but very awkward to watch.  Harry Potter:  I stood in line with 2,000 people at the midnight showing at the Mall of America just to be disappointed.  Transformers:  Both the best and worst movie I have ever seen.  Wolverine:  Stupid fun.

That's about it.  I'll post again soon.  Ciao.

Okay, it's been a while... again.  With my impending revenue cut, I have been actively looking for new employment.  I have not netted so much as an interview yet, but I'm still trying.  Tonight, I may end up going to the University of Northern Iowa for the tuba/euphonium studio concert.  It may be a good place to network.  I tried networking at Tubonium a few weeks ago with no luck.  David Zerkel, Steve Campbell, Demondrae Thurman, and all of the other performers did a spectacular job though.

Last week, I attended the Tax Day Tea Party in Saint Paul.  I was only able to catch the last hour.  The turnout was quite impressive.  The counter protest, however, was not.  The biggest showings came out of the Minnesota Pride folks and the 9/11 conspiracy people.  It's an odd thought to think that the media was demeaning the main body's efforts.  Against popular liberal belief, the message from those in attendance was quite uniform except for a few fringe folks who were literally standing on the fringe of the crowd, but, let's face it, every side has those the majority would like to keep hidden away.  Just think of the folks that feel it's appropriate to hunt squirrels with an AK-47.  I found it a worthwhile experience and intend on going to Chicago for the one on Independence Day.

In lighter news, I was given a tour of my old high school.  It was remodeled in the last few years, and I had been previously invited by my principal to stop by and get a tour.  It was quite impressive.  It was listed by Newsweek as one of the nation's Top 10 Most Improved High Schools and the top in Illinois.  What I can really appreciate about my old high school is the sense of community that comes with it.  The town was very much behind the referendum to pay for it.  They even had donated materials and work given toward the new auditorium.  This is a stark contrast to what my brother is experiencing in Minneapolis.  Kids are bused all over the city going to schools that they are either assigned or they picked out.  Beyond being an enormous waste of money, the kids in the community are not necessarily going to go to school together.  My brother has friends at his school, but none of them live anywhere near us.  People in the neighborhood have no sense of belonging to the neighborhood school.  The rivalries are not as strong.  Children can pass each other on the sidewalk and not know who the other one is.  It's a big reason why I would like to get out of the mess and move my brother to an area where there is not only a sense of community but a decent educational setup as well.

Finally, I have decided not to go to Cedar Falls.  I don't exactly have a lot of money to spare, and, if I did go, I would be looking at a total of roughly 40 hours of driving this week counting my grandmother's 90th birthday this past Tuesday (with a menu of a salad of fresh basil, roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and balsamic vinagrette, oyster stew with fresh oysters, a spiced rubbed pork roast with steamed asparagus, and a red velvet cake with butter cream cheese frosting) and my sister's prom on Saturday.  I just hope that I don't regret it later.

Wow, where do I start?  I went to Yo Yo Ma and a wedding.  There, that should catch you up to the big part.

Today, the Minnesota Orchestra announced a whole lotta cuts.  As an hourly person, my hours will now be cut to less than half of what I was getting.  Holy shnizzle.  I suppose that at least I didn't get let go but still.  The frustrating part is that the union workers in the organization are not taking any cuts.  The musicians are a major reason why we are needing the cuts as they recently received an undeservedly large pay raise.  They are not about to give it back.  Our music director took a voluntary 10% pay cut.  While this all sounds well and good, you have to consider that, according to unnamed sources, he donates his money back to the orchestra in exchange for a bigger cut of the royalties from CD sales.  In other words, this cut isn't doing anything as his real income comes from Sweden.  One of our violinists was talking about putting in a bid for a farm yesterday.  A FARM!  You can probably read my mind.  The stagehands are not in any trouble either being unionized.  They are being paid between $45-$65 per hour to move chairs.  Sometimes, I really, really hate unions.  They allow the unskilled and uneducated to make more than what they're worth in exchange for passing down higher prices to the consumer. 

By the way, my hours will start being affected May 4th.  In the meantime, I am going to have to look for other work which I've been doing for a while.  I have other thoughts as well.  I'll just have to see how things pan out.

I was hoping to talk about other things, but this turned up today.  *sigh*  I'll let it go for now.  Later.

Hi, all.  It's St. Patrick's Day, and it's early.  I couldn't sleep this morning.  What's bad about that is I have a long day ahead.  Not only do I have work, but I also have tickets to Yo Yo Ma for this evening.  It's kind of cool to think that in a month's time I will have seen Joshua Bell, Wynton Marsalis, and Yo Yo Ma.  If my wife didn't have a dress fitting, I could have seen Eugene Rousseau this past weekend as well.

Last week was a serious rough one by the way.  My car was damaged after going from ice to wall in a steep-spiral area in the parking ramp.  After dropping off my car, I slipped and hurt my knee.  I went to the ER after work only to remain there for hours mostly waiting for a worker to get me crutches and a knee brace.  When I approached the nurse's station, they were ALL sitting around gossiping and doing nothing.  This is our health care cost problem-solution, folks.  We have, in reality, way too many nurses.  They think it was a ligament by the way.  I got passed over for a job that was arbitrarily handed out to a housewife returning to work.  Incidentally, she spent some time yesterday excitedly talking about how she could use that as a springboard for a career.  It was an interim marketing position that I was hoping for.  It turned out that I was passed on it without interview because they wanted me in the position I was in.  This came from the boss's mouth.  I lost out on a party election because Ron Paul people jammed up the convention.  And, finally, I missed out on Eugene Rousseau which I had planned on for weeks.  Oh, I forgot to mention that my sister was kicked out of her foster home for stealing from the church where her foster dad is minister.  *sigh*

This week has at least been warm.  It was 65 yesterday which was awesome.  It hasn't been too long since our last big snow.  I had a hunch that there would be problems with it when I saw a weather channel truck and a reporter doing a live forecast from a downtown street corner.  It reminds of a time I was out and about to hit an ominous looking storm.  I was wondering how bad it was when a convoy of flashing cars and trucks passed me bearing the identification of "storm chasers".

That's the scoop.  I'll update a little better in the future once I sort out last week.  Later.

Hi again.  Since I will be unable to catch Joshua Bell in concert this week, I decided to slip into the only rehearsal he was to have with the orchestra.  Naturally, me being me, I didn't expect much.  It's not exactly an original concept to have a violin soloist perform with the orchestra.  In fact, it gets a little old listening to them and the multitude of pianists rolling through.  You figure that eventually we would run out of the "greats", but apparently there is an unlimited supply.  

Josh Bell's playing though was quite different.  To start, what they say about Stradivarius violins is true.  They have an amazing sound.  Bell's playing was superb to top that.  He could float in and out, disappearing into minimalistic orchestral accompaniment and then reappearing out of the mix as if he was hiding and waiting for the perfect time to spring.  While other violinists I have heard sound, at times, a bit strained during the difficult stretches, he never sounded as if any of the Barber Concerto was anything of a challenge.  I could go on and on about his playing, but it would be overkill, and it's late.

In other news, I've been working on the 4th Bach Cello Suite.  It's fantastic practice.  Celli have the ability to make large leaps and play long passages without having to stop and breath.  A euphonium doesn't have that luxury which makes playing cello a great exercise.  I've been trying to expand on my practice sessions again as I kind of got away from it some for a few months after my arm surgeries.

Well, those are my thoughts for the evening.  Later.

 Did you know that I've never seen an episode of American Idol?  It's true.  I've just never had any desire to watch it... until now.  I just watched a commercial saying how our votes are now worth more than ever.  Only the top 3 vote getters will advance.  Why does this interest me?  I can help decide someone's future.  I can crush dreams.  These folks' lives are climaxing right now.  My vote can help decide who comes spiraling back to earth.  It's sick but amusing, and that's the way I roll.  Mwah, ha, ha, haaa.

 Hi again.  Yes, posts on consecutive days is a bit out of character for me, but I'm bored.  I tried sleeping, but a couple of phone calls put a stop to that.  It wouldn't have been so bad if they were for me.

My mind is still swirling around yesterday's all state music festival.  I really enjoyed things like that in high school.  Ah, I do like to reminisce about those simpler days now and then.  It's not that I'm at that Worther's Originals carrying point.  In fact, I'm quite far from it, but I do have a lot of memories coming from that time in my life.  It was the time when people thought as high of you as they ever would.  Like I had mentioned once upon a post, you really peak your senior year in high school.  Everyone is patting you on the back, giving you encouragement, and passing along unsolicited advice.  Once you're out of college, no one pays attention to you outside of marriage and child birth.  Being without parents, that's even more true.  I suppose that's what friends are for... to give you support like fellow alcoholics on Wednesday nights.

Still, there's the notion of where my mind has wandered in response to the festival.  I would definitely love to have a fulfilling music-related career.  Music education is an idea that has shot its way through my synapses many times but has not fully caught on.  One of the drawbacks is that you watch students grow up under your tutelage.  Before you know it, they're sending you pictures of their third born.  How's that for reminding you of your age?  It sounds kind of depressing, doesn't it?  Besides that, there is the question as to whether or not I would hit a point where I wished for something far more dynamic like being an advertising executive or evil tobacco lobbyist.  Yeah, I need a career coach or something.  Too bad life doesn't come with a reset button.

I guess a lot of this is coming to mind as we are going through cuts at work.  It's not that we're suffering.  Actually, we're far from it.  Our sales and donations are as high as they've ever been.  We just have the added expenditures where the stage hands are making between $45-60 per hour (grunt, unskilled labor but unionized) with their raises, the musicians just got a $20,000 increase which makes them possibly the highest paid in this country factoring in the lower cost of living in Minnesota, and the elitists in the organization who want to save money to renovate the hall which will stand as part of their bronze-plaqued legacy.

Outside of everything, the concert was good.  The symphonic band was very impressive for a bunch of high schoolers.  I suppose it would be a lot of fun to help develop a great band.  Right now, I just have to continue to look for my little niche while keeping tabs on my last living grandparent, help my sister transition to college, support a brother who is already there, raise* one who is still in middle school, and try to find any worthwhile opportunity with my education and shaky experience.  The rest will have to wait as I'm no where near the point of buying a house, and my wife has no interest in kids until I'm not sure when.  Whew.  

Wow, a lot of thought came from that concert.  I should probably avoid weekend rock festivals.  It's like a scene out of a comedy where the plane starts to go down, and the mother inadvertently tells her children that it was only their father who wanted children.  Well, umm, I guess that's about it.  Toodles.

*Yes, I know that "rear" would be the appropriate word, but it sounds mental.

Wow, I'm starting to rethink my title.  I wanted a way to at least somewhat abbreviate "Valentine's Day".  V Day, of course, is reminiscent of some WWII military victory day.  I suppose it's a little better than going with VD which is somewhat appropriate in its own right.  I think that V Day will work.  Now that I've over thought the subject of this entry, I will continue with the rest of my post.

These past 3 days have almost seemed holiday-like.  It went from Lincoln's Birthday to Friday the 13th to Valentine's Day.  We could always stretch it out to Monday for President's Day.  I really haven't done anything to observe any one of them.  Why?  It's because I'm a bit on the poor side.  There isn't much one can do for Lincoln's Birthday, but I still feel as though I need to do something when it comes around every year.  That's a reflex likely left over from grade school.  Friday the 13th debuted the newest Friday the 13th.  That I do want to see at some point.  Incidentally, the superstitious nature of this day came from 13 people participating in the Last Supper and Jesus dying on a Friday. 

As for today, I worked.  The Minnesota Music Educators Association had its all state festival today.  I handled the choir performance which was insane.  Somebody had purchased a few too many tickets in advance and gave them to us.  I took one and listened to the band concert.  I'm a bit of a band repertoire junkie, and there were a few pieces being played that I had not heard before.  Other than that, I think my day is pretty well over.  My wife spent the day at a Knitting Expo at the Mall of America.  That is definitely something I would never want to participate in.   I'm allergic to cats.

I'm actually going to cut it there.  I may retire a little early this evening.  Then again, I may read, arrange music, practice, or whatever else I may be lead to do.  Sure, V Day was a bit lame, but I always have President's Day.

Oh.  My.  Word.  So... I was talking to a Black member of our community while waiting for a bus when he asked if I voted for Bush.  I didn't get a chance to answer when he said that I had to because I was White.  He continued on with his unsolicited message of how great Obama is and how much good he's going to do for the country.  The talk continued to the point where I found that this man actually thought Bush had run against Obama in the election.  Plus, he thought it was a landslide.  Umm... 53% is not a landslide.  The others that joined in were the same as well.  They had no clue.  I tried to fill them in and debate about the other topics they brought up, but there was nothing to debate with.  Holy shnizzle!  Did they even take the time to get a close look at the ballot?  They had no grasp whatsoever about economics.  It was scary.  Obama is Black.  They're Black.  I guess that means that they should vote for Obama.  Folks, racism wasn't a hinderance to Obama.  Racism was everything to Obama.

The past election was largely won by the Black voter.  There was no split like you would find with White or Asian voters.  The Obama campaign registered new Black voters by the hundreds of thousands.   The Black electorate also supported Obama by an estimated 98%.  If White voters opposed Obama by that margin, could you imagine the racial outcry over it?  Apparently, it's okay to oppose a White man by that much.  I hate to take it here, but I truly believe that in order to oust Obama in the next election, the White vote needs to be mobilized.  I'm sorry Dr. King, your dream will have to wait as we are still living in a time where a man's worth is not based on the content of his character but by the color of his skin.

Hey, everybody.  I'm working one of my box office shifts.  It's below zero outside, but in here it's a balmy 60 degrees.  The coolness gets to you after a while.  Between the cold temperatures and low pay, I kind of feel like Bob Cratchet.  I sent out an e-mail asking for solutions to the temperature in here.  So far nobody has responded with any thoughts.  I'm about ready to crack the thermostat lock and crank it up to 80.

On to happier news, I was selected as employee of the month.  Yay for me.  I got a pin, a certificate, and 6 hours of paid time off.  Any additional money is always welcome.  Right now, my wife is looking for gainful employment.  She has all but finished up her schooling.  She did write a couple of articles for an educational magazine.  I'm still looking as well.  Now that there is nothing here to tie me down, I've been looking regionally except for one job.  I applied for Smucker's in Orville, Ohio.  Hey, it's a solid company.  Plus, if I could work my way up to jelly/jam taster, I would be quite happy.

One of the attributes that was listed during the little speech they made about me was having a sense of humor during the workday.  Actually, I'm a bit surprised that it hasn't gotten me in trouble yet.  I poke fun at wealthy wives and the French.  I send mass informative e-mails which skirt the liberal laws of political correctness.  Once, I even drew a face on my hand and made the reps speak to it for a day when they had questions.  I'm going to need a good backup plan in case I get fired.

I should at least pass on some opinions to what's in the news.  Here's the abbreviated op ed.  Dubya, way to stick to your guns.  Palestine, don't kick a big guy in the nuts and be surprised when he beats the hell out of you.  Obama, does this mean that I'm getting a bailout too?

Finally, I should pass on my New Year's resolutions albeit a little late.  I didn't get in shape or practice nearly enough as I wanted to this past year.  Of course, I had 2 arm surgeries that kind of hampered that.  Here is my list for this year.

1.  Get a much better job.  I've been trying of course, but I'll try even harder now.
2.  Get in much, much better shape.  I'm looking to expand quite a bit on what I have been doing.
3.  Go to fewer orchestra concerts.  There have been times that I picked up great tickets because they were there.  Then, I went to the concert and wondered why.  No more.
4.  Practice much more.  My lips can be in better shape.  I need to get them there and keep them there.
5.  Work up 3 euphonium pieces including Mantia's Auld Lang Syne.
6.  Arrange more.
7.  Read more.
8.  Compose.
9.  Finish my book.
10.  Write more.
11.  Eat more fruits and veggies.  As they say, you only get one body.
12.  Drink more water.
13.  Play a sport.  Slow pitch softball would do.
14.  Get to church more. 
15.  Listen to more music.  I'm thinking that I would like an iPod at some point.

Hey, all.  I've had a busy last month, but before I go any further, I would like to give a shout out to Elvis who is celebrating his 74th birthday today.  If you're out there reading this, stay retired.  Paula Abdul is a judge on lame television competition.  Queen Latifah puts out bad movies.  Madonna writes bad children's books.  Kanye West is doing cringe-worthy vocals.  Imagine what the world will do with you.  You are still alive, aren't you?

I returned to a restful stay in Minneapolis this past Monday.  Where was I at you ask?  I was in Florida.  Beautiful, beautiful Florida.  On a whim, we headed to Orlando to spend 4 days soaking up the sun, enjoying Disney, and take in an awesome football game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay.  The Outback Bowl was spectacular.  I don't think South Carolina even scored until our 3rd string defense was in.  My beloved Iowa Hawkeyes spanked them 31-10.  Yup, those poor Gamecocks didn't stand a chance.  What I love is that the SC fans chanted, "Go Cocks!"  Funny, that's the first time I ever witnessed a cock blow itself.  As it stands, Iowa was the only Big Ten team to win a game.

My voice didn't last long this game.  I used up some of my endurance booing their marching band.  Yes, you heard me right.  The SC marching band was horrible.  They sounded bad and looked even worse.  I was embarrassed on their behalf.  Fortunately, the HMB looked very sharp outside of some errant saxophones during the halftime show.  Why is it always the saxophones that mess things up? 

Disney was an awesome time.  My favorite ride is probably Mission Space.  It simulates a trip to Mars.  It was most excellent.  My thought is that any ride that includes barf bags and has killed multiple people must be terrific.  My brother really enjoyed it.  It was his first real vacation.  He was particularly fond of the Fantasmic laser show in Disney Hollywood Studios.  Naturally, I could type up quite a bit about my days at Disney, but that would be about equivalent to sharing ugly baby pictures.  I'll spare you, but I may drop bits and pieces over the next week.

With that trip, I am now somewhat on the poor side.  Alas, I am still working for the Minnesota Orchestra.  Our sales are up, but they're making cuts.  This means that there is now less money going around.  I think that part of the motivation is that the musicians all got a huge raise.  The reasoning behind the raise was to make their salaries consistent with other major orchestras.  It sounds simple enough except that with the lower cost of living in Minnesota, one could argue that they're actually coming out well ahead of other musicians elsewhere.  I remember one day, some musicians were conveying how much they loved New York but would never move because, even with their lower income, they would not have near the quality of life in New York due to the cost of living.  Now that they make as much as they do, they're living a whole lot better yet.  Unfortunately, that means that others have to give up something for them to have this.  You can probably read my mind.

Well, it's getting late, so I suppose I'll go.  Besides, there is 3:01 on the clock in the 4th quarter in the Orange Bowl, and I really want to pay closer attention.  Later.

Hi, again.  While driving to the in-laws today for a brief visit, I looked in my rear view mirror to see Santa or a man dressed like him notice me and wave while laughing.  He stayed behind us for a while continually looking and waving.  At first I was amused, but then it got creepy.  

Right, now, I'm back in scenic Iowa spending Christmas at my grandmother's.  Christmas this year seemed a bit different that the usual.  For starters, I slept way too long after I got in yesterday which made me miss getting the necessary groceries for the Dickensian Christmas I had planned.  Instead, we had turkey, potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie.  For breakfast, I did make banana foster French toast.  I thought it was quite tasty.

This year was also different in that it was difficult finding traditional Christmas wrapping paper.  By traditional, I mean religious.  I couldn't even find it at Christian bookstores.  Christmas is becoming less and less of a religious holiday.  I supervised a concert last week where Doc Severensin was having one of his annual Jingle Bell Doc concerts.  Some people were offended that he hit on some religious aspects of Christmas and that he had the audacity to even wish folks a Merry Christmas.  Yeah, it's a Christmas concert.  Get over it, freaks. 

This was also the second Christmas without my mother.  She passed away 2 weeks ago this past Monday.  I had to collect my sister from her foster home 45 minutes away on icy roads.  I guess, the ice actually made the trip closer to an hour.  My other brother is already in town which is quite helpful.  It turned out to be a shortened day as the weather map showed ice moving in, so I had to take her back as she can't spend the night anywhere else.  It wasn't the holiday that I was hoping to have. I suppose that it would be hard to make it as Christmasy as I'm used to.  I think that it'll take a bit of time.  It's like coming home from vacation or from the hospital.  It's an odd feeling.  Home doesn't seem quite like home, but, in time, it does.

I did make out alright for gifts.  I got this new Foreman stand-up awesome grill thing.  I also got a rug, 2 Hickory Farms gift sets, cologne, gift cards, cash, antique cash, Thomas Kincaid mugs, an Onion Calendar, and an alto horn.  What is an alto horn you ask?  It's like a euphonium that got left in the dryer.  I'm excited.  A former coworker gave it to me.  I don't sound nearly as good on it as I do on my euphonium, but it's slowly coming along.  I'll be great one day.  You watch.

In other news, I'm going to Florida next week!  I'll be combining 2 of some of my favorite things:  Disney World and Hawkeye football.  We are so going to destroy South Carolina at the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay on New Years Day.  Oh yeah.  We're going cheap all the way too.  On that note, I really need a better job.  Any leads, anyone?  Anyone? 

I need to cut it off there.  I took a moment of time away from my grandma where we were watching True Grit together, so I need to get back to that.  Then I can turn around and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation with my brothers.  Merry Christmas!

Happy winter, gentle readers.  It's cold out this morning, and by cold I mean almost zero.  I guess that I should be wishing everyone a happy fall a it's technically not winter yet.  Let's just say that I'm not thinking fond thoughts of Al Gore right now.  

I got a good feel for the cold this morning when a fire alarm woke up my wife.  Initially, our little dog Baby tried to wake me up by furiously digging at my head with his paws.  I kept brushing him aside as I was really tired.  My wife then go up and frantically woke me up.  Smelling smoke, I looked down the hall to see it filled with said combustion by product.  I called 911 (yes inside as we obviously had some time).  I then grabbed my horn on the way out and beat on my neighbors' doors to get them out of bed.  Luckily, I have a car, so I could go in and out to keep warm.  

Eventually, a news camera man showed up.  I went back to the car where I had an epiphany.  I grabbed my little dog, Baby, and walked back over to the building where I positioned myself close by where the camera guy was standing and began regaling those watching the building a story of Baby the Wonder Dog.  The camera quickly turned around on me and the dog who I had picked up so as to be in a good position for the TV.  Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but if you have kept up with my journal, you shouldn't be surprised.

By the way, I'm back in the building now.  One person was hurt, so all isn't so bad.

Later.

 Okay, so we're not going to the Citrus Bowl, but the Outback Bowl is still cool.  Plus, it's a New Year's Bowl which I guess makes it even better.  Steve Spurrier and the Gamecocks are so getting stomped.  I guess I was hoping for an Orlando bowl game, but Tampa Bay is still fantastic.  I guess when you consider this time of year, St. Louis would be pretty exciting compared to Minneapolis.  It's flippin' cold out.

In other news, I took my brother to the Swinging Nutcracker yesterday.  Doesn't that sound like a poorly planned Jackass stunt?  Anyway, it was fun.  They had a little ceremony to light the Orchestra Hall Christmas tree... at 12 degrees.  My brother kept wanting to leave, but I said that he should at least wait until our British orchestra president spoke.  I told him that he sounded a lot like Burt from Mary Poppins.  At this point, a lady turned around and gave us a sour look before turning her attention back to the tree.  I then realized that the gal was his wife.  You would think Mary Poppins would have been a little cheerier.

Speaking of the British, do you ever feel as though they all have some sort of mutant inborn etiquette?  I can't help to feel that sometimes.  Jamaicans carry a similar image for me.  Ever since Ms. Cleo, anytime I see one I wonder if they're psychic.  Don't lie.  You've wondered this too.  It's kind of creepy really.  Even though you know better, you wonder if they are scanning your thoughts as you walk down the street.  This might be why I don't have any Jamaican friends.  

Well, that's about it for now.  Later. 

I guess it's obvious to say that life's experiences no matter how messed up mold us into who we are.  I often wonder what I would be like if a number of things never happened in my life.  Now, I'm not about to claim the tortured soul title even though that's somehow considered hot unless of course you're a girl.  Then we call it baggage.  Would I be shallow?  Would I be cooler?  Could I have ended up a priest or even a home wrecker?  It's like that movie Mr. Destiny with James Belushi.  He gets to see how his life turned out if he hit a game-winning homerun in high school instead of striking out.  The differences were big.  I'm really not going anywhere with this.  I'm just throwing it out there as I was pondering this recently when I couldn't sleep one night.

Speaking of tortured souls, I was out with some people, and we talked about the new James Bond movie.  The gals thought Bond's tortured soul aspect was quite attractive.  In case you don't know, as a married guy in a bunch of girls, I do, in it's own weird way, carry the title of gay best friend.  When you're a guy with no potential, I guess you just fall into that category.  I can't help but feel that I missed out on some fantastic strategy in my past.  I never attempted surly with girls.  I always went with the humorous, light-hearted approach.  Thinking back, the tortured approach did yield some fantastic results for some guys who otherwise didn't have much of a personality.  I can recall a number of times girls saying that they need to be with their guy that night because he's going through stuff.  My unsympathetic reply that what they needed was Prozac let's go bowling never seemed to do anything for me as far as impressions go.

Even though I'm married, I have hypothesized that the talents that fellows use to pick up the ladies can be used in other areas.  I had a brilliant professor in Communication Studies who pushed me into theatre as he felt that as knowledgeable as I was, I thought too much in the stringent world of academia offered in the program and needed to learn to look at things differently.  It helps.  I studied theatre, varying areas of post-modernism, and marketing on top of my other communication curricula in college.  More recently, I picked up the "great" books of picking up gals to see how such approaches can be integrated into the workplace or interviews.  Okay, I'm looking for a new job and trying, and anything I can find to help would be most welcoming.  Plus, I have no interest in sleeping with my boss.

On to happy, less awkward stuff, I went to the Iowa vs. Minnesota game at the Metrodome Saturday night.  It was Minnesota's last game there, and we demolished them as a send off.  When the smoke cleared, the Hawkeyes crushed the Gophers 55-0.  It was a sweet, sweet game.  I read recently that we were projected to go to the Champs Sports Bowl (Citrus Bowl) against the Miami Hurricanes in Orlando.  If we do, we'll crush them too.  

Last Sunday, I took my little brother to a stage production of A Christmas Carol.  It was pretty bad.  It came off like an assignment that someone had 6 weeks to work on and instead pulled an all-nighter on while doing shots.  The high point of the evening was probably the Guthrie Theatre.  It is wicked cool on the inside.  I thought Orchestra Hall where I work was nice.  It's like comparing a 5-star Parisian restaurant to a McDonald's in Compton.  Realistically, way too much money was spent on that building, but it's pretty neat.  It's 5 stories high with a 4 story escalator, numerous stages, a variety of dining areas, a gift shop, an observation deck overlooking the Mississippi, and all of it is impressive, but the play.  It sucked.

That's pretty much it.  I'm heading off to Iowa in the morning for Thanksgiving.

Gobble, gobble.

Once when I was 5-years-old, I sat out on the front steps at home and pondered what I had heard someone say only days before about how you can look at something memorable and take it in like a snapshot that you can remember for the rest of your life.  I don't think that I got the whole gist of what was being said, but it was an idea I put some thought into nonetheless.  I decided to take a snapshot to keep in my mind the rest of my life.  I looked down the street to see an old blue car with a middle-aged man driving it with poofy hair.  As he turned the corner, I made an imaginary shutter noise in my head and captured that picture in my mind.  To date, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this to anyone until now.  I've thought about it from time to time.  Even still, I can tell you about the weather that day, the direction of the breeze, and that the old car needed its suspension checked.  It it's own bizarre way, I like having this memory as it seems to give an odd connection to a time when my life was far less complicated.

I've taken to pondering a bit more recently.  Yesterday would have marked one year since I sprung my mother from my hometown hospital to take her out west to try one last treatment.  I suppose a year ago right now, I would be driving across Wyoming.  The trip was a slow one due to my mother's condition.  It was definitely a difficult trip which has kept me from getting adequate sleep since it happened especially more recently.

Well, on to happier news.  A week ago this past Sunday, I took my wife and little brother to the 2008 Superstars of Gymnastics Tour.  It can best be described as what you would get if Disney and the Olympics mated.  About half of it was a concert featuring split time by KSM and Jordan Pruitt.  The other half was a cheesey but impressive gymnastics show.  I guess the highlight for me was when the Olympic gold medalist for the all-around Nastia Liuken said, "Excuse, me" to me.  Yes, that is how mediocre my life is.  I get excited when famous people bother to notice me.

Later that day, my brother and I went to see Savion Glover dance.  He was the fellow who choreographed Happy Feet and is considered the greatest dancer in world currently.  The show was great, but I left at intermission as I was dozing off due to fatigue.

Monday night, our office at the Minnesota Orchestra took on the corresponding office at the Guthrie Theatre in dodgeball at the YWCA.  Basically, I got bored one day, called them up, and called them out.  It was a good time.  My arm was rather sore afterward.  Today, it's really more stiff than anything which I think is a good sign.  I've been supplementing with vitamins, arginine, and protein powder to help the healing.  No, I'm not that buff.  The highlight was the last game when I was outnumbered 3 to 1 and still came out on top. 

Other than that, I have a full week ahead with Japanese drumming Thursday night (with my brother and his classmates), the Iowa vs. Minnesota football game at the Metrodome in Minneapolis (go Hawks), and possibly a stage production of A Christmas Carol on Sunday.  Incidentally, the last time I went to an Iowa vs. Minnesota game in Minnesota back in 2002, we won a share of the Big Ten title.  After the game at the on field celebration, police came in with riot gear and tear gas to dispurse a pretty tame celebration.  In response, fans snapped off the goal post, broke it into pieces, and ran out the door with it where they proceded to strip the bark off the trees downtown before heading out to the Mall of America.  I guess that's what happens when Iowa fans are able to access beer at the game unlike every other Big Ten stadium.

Ciao.

Hi, everyone.  I'm actually at work typing up this entry.  My body is slowly wearing down as I haven't spent an evening at home since last Monday and won't get one until Wednesday.  I suppose you're wondering what I've been up to.  Well, I'll tell you.

I suppose the best way to do this is to start from the beginning of it all which would be last Tuesday.  Some coworkers and I went on a ghost hunt in St. Paul.  I guess you can say that we really were not so much looking for ghosts as we were trying to photograph spectral orbs and scare the bejeebers out of ourselves.  We went to some notably haunted areas, at least according to websites, to find some general spookiness.  I think the highlight of the evening had to be jumping/going under a fence into a spooky cemetery.  The lack of lighting and the presence of gravestones really added to the excitement.  I did get some orbs on my digital camera which really aren't scary at all.  If I'm going to find a ghost, I went some slightly disfigured and pissed.  This light ball thing just doesn't do it for me.

Skipping to Thursday, I took my brother out to the Trail of Terror in Shakopee.  It turned out to be a really good time.  We went on the Haunted Hayrack ride which took us quite a ways out into the woods where an impressive setup of mechanical ghouls and actors waited for us.  After that, we went through an indoor haunted maze that kept my 13-year-old brother perpetually freaked out.  Have you ever noticed how most every Halloween attraction has the word "haunted" in the name?  Anyway, it was definitely worth the trip out.

On Halloween, I went to a Halloween party.  Seriously, what else is there to do when you're an adult with no children?  I dressed up as Shaggy and went with a Velma and Fred.  Earlier in the day, I won a prize for my costume at work.  I went as LuvStud287 who is a tragic figure still living in his parent's basement.  His greatest accomplishment is being able to play Through the Fire and the Flames on Guitar Hero on expert at 93% accuracy.  Oh yeah.

I still have some election-related stuff to do tonight and tomorrow.  I don't know how much good I'm going to do as a Republican in the middle of Minneapolis.  After the Halloween party, I had a coworker say she was voting for Obama because he's Black, and people are "hating on him" because they're racist.  I quickly jumped all over that.  It turned out that she couldn't give details on any of his policies.  Sadly, this is what so much of our electorate is made up of which is why I'm against voter drives.  If a person can't make the effort to go to city hall to register to vote, are these the people we want at the voting booth?  Voting is a responsibility that involves not only showing up but educating yourself on what is happening.  Going to areas to register voters only brings in the lowest common denominator.  Whew, that's my rant. 

Anyway, I'm off to go on break.  Posting entries is hard, hard work.  Later.

Hi, all.  It's been a bit, but I'm still out there having lame adventures.  I'm at work right now typing away and daydreaming about being elsewhere.  I had a long weekend at Iowa.  When I got in, I snuck into my brother's room, put my hand over his mouth, and said, "If you make a sound, I'll f#*^ing kill you!"  His look was priceless. 

I took my sister in to go over senior picture options and also took her and my other brother out to a Halloween extravaganza in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, complete with haunted trains, trolleys, a midway, carnival, food, and other fun stuff.  It was kind of lame and fun at the same time.  I loaded up on goodies and went home tired.

To top off the weekend, I went to a Peter, Paul, & Mary concert last night.  To be honest, I didn't know any of their songs outside of Puff the Magic Dragon.  This was a concert I originally intended on taking my mother to before she became ill and passed away.  I went with a coworker who couldn't make it until the second half.  Until then, I sat with an empty seat where oddly and sappily I imagined my mother watching and enjoying the concert.  Is that normal?  What I did find interesting was that the group did a rendition of I've Been Working on the Railroad which I arranged for small ensemble for my mother's funeral as she worked as an electrician for Burlington Northern for a number of years.  It was interesting that the group took a moment to praise JFK before delving into some anti-Vietnam songs apparently forgetting that it was their beloved President Kennedy's idea to go in there the first place.

Going back a bit, two weeks ago I went down to Iowa as well to get my sister's pictures taken in the first place.  She had a good time with that.  After that, we went to the Amana Colonies for Oktoberfest.  It just wasn't the same.  For starters, it was the first time my sister had been there without my mother.  On top of that, the 2 German Christmas shops had both closed down.  It was a bit of a shock as they had been there for many years.  On top of that, there were 2 major wineries before one bought out the other leaving less of a selection.  The carnival for the children was no longer there.  Plus, in years past, there were polka bands everywhere and an accordion on every other corner.  The accordion players were all gone and the polka bands were replaced by rock groups.  The changes were a bit of a shock.

Going back to the evening before, I went back to my high school for the homecoming game.  When I got to the stadium, I found there was no one there.  I asked a gas station attendant where everyone was, and they said they were in the neighboring town.  Apparently, there have been a lot of mergers with schools and athletic programs.  I found the game only to see that our mascot and colors had changed.  On top of that, we were playing one of our traditional rivals who had also changed mascot and colors.  It was like I wandered into a random high school game in another state.  I didn't recognize anyone outside of the high school faculty who all were dealing with the lack of identification remaining from the sudden lack of tradition.  *sigh*  I guess I hit a point where there is no way to really go back.

Okay, okay, so my post is semi-depressing.  Try to think of it as thought provoking instead.  I did do something happy.  I went to see American Carol.  I had a very good time.  It was refreshing to finally see the other side of things.  I highly recommend it.

Well, I'll cut it there as my post is getting a bit long.  Ciao.

Hi again, everyone.  I spent the day at a Renaissance Festival.  No, I'm serious.  I can't say that I ever visualized myself doing this, but I had a great time.  The thing was enormous.  It takes a day to see everything there.  It's kind of weird bringing this up, but what they say is true.  There really are a lot of ladies dressed, umm, not so very conservatively.  More to the point, there is more cleavage at one of these festivals than the Playboy Mansion.  As with any festival, I ate quite a bit.  I'll need to go back next year, but I refuse to dress up.

One thing that I discovered today is that I'm still rather out of shape.  I could walk around all day without any issues, but I had some difficulties with the games.  My accuracy was off on the dunk tank throw and the vegetable toss, and I had a pretty shabby showing with that strength test.  You know the one.  It has a big hammer-mallet-thingy you use to smack against another sort of thingy that makes a little metal thing shoot up with the hopes that it will ring the bell at the top.  Yeah, that thing.  Remember still that I had two arm surgeries over the summer.  I just need to keep my workouts up.  It's going to take some time yet.  I guess it wasn't so bad.  I was likely in better shape that 95% of the attendees.

 In other news, how about that economy?  Yeah, it's quite a mess.  It almost resulted in there not being a debate.  Obama was quite determined to make a show in response to McCain talking about backing out.  My thought is that the current economic situation is not the ideal time to have a debate over it.  What our elected officials should be doing is hammering out a solution.  After all, isn't part of the job they were elected to do?  I would have rather seen McCain stick to his guns and not show up.  He was kind of a follower in the debates as well.  Obama seemed to not like to answer all of his questions directly.  Sure, he could address the question head on, but why not answer something else?  What was McCain's response.  Sometimes, he would just address what Obama did.  I didn't get a chance to catch the whole thing.  I'll try to see the rest on Youtube.  It's just that so far, it's been an epic disappointment.  It's certainly not as interesting as the 2000 debates.

Well, that's about it.  I'm watching Robin Hood Men in Tights right now.  I'll cut it here.  Adios.  Au Revoir.  Auf wiedersehen.  Good night.

Hello, gentle readers.  I'm sitting comfortably at home after my band rehearsal this evening.  I would be more thrilled about it, but I'm really not that into the music.  I like to play a piece or two with some real punch to it, but the ones we're doing just aren't doing it for me.

This week has certainly been interesting though.  Two days ago I had to speak to an orchestra patron about a problem of hers.  During the conversation, she kept alluding to a Debbie Boone concert she went to 2 years ago.  Odd.  After talking with her, I went on to a tuba/euphonium blog/forum that I frequent to see a notice that it was Debbie Boone's birthday.  Far out.  It gets better.  Today, I had to review an account over something that came up.  I went to someone with a few more computer privileges to look at it.  I told him that the first name on the account was Tomomi, and he would likely be able to find the account that way.  The moment it popped up on his screen, a lyric from an old rock song came up saying "Tomomi is calling you".  That's downright creepy.

I watched part of a news bit (like Dateline or Nightline or some sort of Line) where a reporter and a crew spent a day going down the Amazon to visit this tribe that had not had outside human contact.  It was the same tribe that was photographed from that airplane flying over where the tribesmen were freaking out and pointing arrows at the plane.  It turned out it wasn't that cool.  As the crew approached, members of the tribe came out to greet them with flashlights.  I guess there really is not a whole lot of pure left in this world.

But could you imagine being able to visit an actually tribe that had not had any outside contact from the world?  That would be pretty awesome.  I'd likely have way too much fun with it.  I would probably load my backpack with lighters, sparklers, glow sticks, and other "magic" objects to thoroughly wow them.  Their culture would forever be warped.  Years later, crews would come back and find an altar with a likeness of me on it along with old glow sticks and a glitter pen.  Yes, I'm juvenile, but so are you if you laughed at any part of this.

That's about all that I'm up to writing this evening.  I have the day off of work tomorrow.  I have a lot of stuff that I need to address, but I'll probably just waste my day.  Maybe if I make my goal tomorrow to waste my day, I won't be so disappointed in myself afterward.  Huh?  Huh?

Later