Wallops...

I don't really have the time to say everything I want to about Wallops, so I'll save that until later.  But for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Wallops refers to the field trip that Magnets take as sophomores to Wallops Island to study marine biology.  Real hands-on marine biology.  It was pretty good, but I'll get to that another time.

Even ignoring Wallops, I've got a lot going on.  The play and the gig are in less than two weeks and things are getting frantic.  I have to carefully budget time between the two.  The gig will probably take higher priority because of the commitment I've already made.  We need to play for three hours (three hours!) and it has to be good, because we're getting paid to be there and we've had plenty of time to prepare.  The play, on the other hand, isn't even written yet, and is not as much of a high pressure situation.  I want to do well, of course, but I don't think that it's going to be as big of a deal if it's not perfect.  I still think I can pull them both off.

Tony Coello and I had some fun yesterday.  We have Weight Training together first period, and we had a sub, so no one was doing anything.  Tony and I weren't feeling up to doing any running, so when the water break came, we got dressed and left.  We walked over to the band room where the kids in orchestra were walking around and warming up.  Mr. Lucas wasn't around, so we slipped through into the storage room and climbed up to sit on top of the storage compartments.  No one comes into the storage room in the middle of class, right?  Definitely not Mr. Lucas.  We were feeling pretty safe, when suddenly the door opens.  We tense up and stop breathing.  In walks a student.  Okay, just a kid, nothing to worry about.  We relax a little, just before Mr. Lucas walks into the room behind him.  Crap!  We immediately sink down and lean left so he can't see us (we've got our backs to the wall).  They start talking.  What are you doing here? Getoutgetoutgetoutgetout!  Kid: Okay so it's the Eb, the D, and the chromatic?  Mr. L: That's right, why don't you start?  Crap! He's going to audition him!  Meanwhile we're both carefully, gradually sliding down to be completely out of sight, I'm trying very hard not to fall off the damn thing, and Tony is about to crack up laughing.  The kid finishes his auditon piece and I mock applause, but stop abruptly realizing that it might make Tony burst out in revealing laughter.  After about 10 minutes of suspense, the audition is over and the two leave the room.  When we're absolutely sure that he's gone, we quickly jump down from our perch and get in two of the larger storage spaces, where we wait out the rest of the period, cracking up at random intervals and then trying to quiet each other and ourselves.  In about 10 minutes the bell finally rings and we walk out.  Hilarious...

Well...

Today I wrote up a resume.  It was pretty short, but it said some good things about me.  I needed it to apply for an internship with MCPS web services, where I'd do some web development.  I'd much rather be working in some company, or maybe run my own little business than work for the government, but I'll apply, and make a decision later on.  I should consider doing some entrepreneur stuff this summer, rather than getting a job.  If I put some effort into it, I could make a lot of money.  I just need to find out if I could do anything fun or interesting, and maybe get some friends involved.  Anyway, that's something to ponder in the coming weeks.

At 5 I went to Blair with my mom and help her set up for the dance.  There was a fundraising dance for parents to raise money for the music program.  I spent a lot of time carrying tables around before it started, which sort of tired me out.  That left me pretty subdued for the rest of the evening.  Overall it wasn't bad.  We played my feature song, Yardbird Suite, and I also had a solo in Due's Blues.  We did not, however play Tunisia (Sean Kelly's featured song) and I think he was a little upset.  My dad MCed.  I got a lot of comments on that.  I think the majority were good, though.  He got a little too carried away sometimes, but at least you could laugh at it.  Oh well, I don't think my social status is in jeopardy.

Blair is a very serene place at night when there's no one in the halls.  I guess that's pretty much true of any place, though.  I like serenity.  Sometimes I can go up to my room, put some Miles Davis or Chet Baker on (cool jazz), and just sit and listen and think.  Sometimes I'll read too, and that's even better.  I like my brother's apartment at night with the balcony door open to the street.  You can sit and hear the cars drive by, and faintly hear people talking on the sidewalks outside.  It's cool at night in NY.  There's a very slight breeze coming in over the balcony.  If it's not too cold, you can sit on the balcony and look up at the lights on the Empire State Building.  That's when I want to take out my trumpet with a harmon and start playing some bluesy ballad.  I want to learn how to play piano.  It would be great to just be able to play a chord progression and mess around with it.  Maybe I could learn a few songs and accompany myself singing.  That's another thing I'm putting off until the summer.  I need to figure out what I'm doing this summer pretty soon.  I want to work, and I want to be in a show, and I want to take some jazz camps, and I want to rehearse with my band, and I want to do a million other things.  If you can think of anything else to keep me busy over the summer, tell me.

Well... aside from a few trips with friends, summer break was pretty uneventful.  A few band practices, a lot of reading and sleep.  Finished computers program.  I always finish my programs early because I sometimes feel guilty about spending a lot of time without doing any work, and the most interesting (even if not most pressing) assignment to work on is a program.  Yup, I like programming.  It's all about problem solving, which always keeps me interested.

Speaking of which, I've been looking for a summer job recently.  Found a couple of internships for web programmiong (php and databases).  One's with a company in DC, one's with MCPS.  I'd much rather work for the company than the government, but both are paid and both are nice opportunities.  I also applied for a job at CompUSA and Borders.  I need to find out how to write a resume.  I'll talk to my brother about that.  Okay, just IMed him.  I'm so easily distracted sometimes...

Most of my time in the next few weeks will be consumed by band rehearsals and play practices.  Yeah, I'm in another play, just as soon as West Side Story finished.  I can't stay away.  It's going to be performed on Thursday May 15th and Friday May 16th.  Then I have a gig with my band, Skosh, on the night of Saturday May 17th.  Hrmm...  That will be tough.  I'll manage, though, I always do.  Okay, about the play.  Let me first say that it's not all written yet.  It's being written and directed by Dani Prados, a senior at Blair.  It's set backstage of a theater, and its story is based around the interactions of the thespians who are performing in the theater on a particular night.  Most of the play is about developing interesting characters, which will make a very tough acting job.  I play Michael, the young, shy, boyish guy who doesn't have much experience with women, but is deeply enamored of the gorgeous, talented star Amanda played by Lynn (who else?).  Things get interesting.  Come see it.

I got a cell phone for my birthday (a while ago) with a really nice plan that includes free long distance and unlimited night and weekend minutes.  So now I can call my brother up late at night and we can talk for as long as we want.  I've never really done that, although I guess I was able to before.  He's been out of the house for about 6 years now, and I only really talked to him when he visited, or when we visited him.  That means I only had real conversations with him at most every two months.  I'm really glad we can catch up now.  He's a great guy, and I value his advice.  Isn't it great that you can talk to people so easily and cheaply when they're so far away?  I love Capitalism.