Music for Winter's End

Monday turned out to be a very long day. I had stayed up most of the morning to catch up on reading for class and then finishing up on a short paper. In class, I had nearly fallen asleep until discussion began. In odd fashion, I felt newly awakened and participated deeply in our topic of French Gothic architecture in Medieval Italy, driven by a subconscious knowledge of the subject.

A short nap was desperately needed before going into Kendo practice. Unfortunately, the nap caught me a bit behind and even a little groggy. During practice, Mark gave us the paperwork and details for the 17th Annual Cleveland Kendo Tournament for the weekend of April 16th. Looking ahead in my schedule, that leaves me this week of practice and another 2 weeks after returning from Italy before I leave again for Cleveland. Furthermore, somewhere in all that craziness my first rough draft of the term research paper is due.

Leaving practice, I had to shower quickly before heading into work. I'm scheduled to work many more hours this week since I'll be out most of next week. The plan is for me to leave next Wednesday evening and arrive in Florence Thursday afternoon. I have still much to do including my taxes, buying a good backpack for the trip, and some last hanging out with my friends before I go.

I had to work again tonight but as it turns out the call volume was low enough for me to duck out early to attend the East High Concert Band's Music for Winter's End concert. My sister plays the oboe and she has taken my place as the second in the family to play that instrument for East High, under the direction of Dr. Scott Eckel. In fact, he had surprised her earlier in the day when he gave her a new oboe after practice. This is the last of their performances before heading down to Orlando to compete in the All American Music Festival.

I remember my band trip in high school. The long road trip down wasn't particularly enjoyable except for the brief stop in Memphis and my first visit to a White Castle. In Orlando, I especially remember our dinner at King Henry's Feast where knights battled each other throughout the meal. At some point in the night, I got on the stage to participate in a kid's storytelling--I was the biggest kid (and still a kid at heart). After this particular dinner, Sam had tried to engage me in a fight because of some jealousy thing, perhaps spurred on by my hanging out with Beth (who for the record, doesn't even like him). I had my black belt test later that year to think of and fighting meant getting sent home. It was also this weekend that I remember Claire challenging me to a game of tennis at the hotel and later that night, Kepera and I snuck out from the supervision of our chaperones for some late night coffee nearby.

This trip was also my first time to the Atlantic Ocean. After a storm had passed the waves coming into the shore were massive, nonetheless, I found myself swimming out so far that I could barely see land. The only other person who had swam so far out was Claire (swim team) so I had no concern but rather enjoyed riding the swells coming back in. I had the most incredible time on this band trip and I'm sure Diana will too.

Fei-O-Meter
Activity: 3 | Energy: 2 | Friends: 2