back to it

thanksgiving recap:

went home to duluth
saw the fam
saw the dog
saw some snow
ate some food
the end.

it was pretty uneventful. i guess the weirdest part about it was that it was relaxing, but i didn't really feel like i needed that. when i think back on the weeks leading up to the break, i really should have needed a break, but i just didn't. instead it now feels like i was gaining momentum in a lot of things, then i had a week off, and now i feel lost. kinda like i forgot about all the things i had been working on and along with it, the motivation to work on them. hopefully it all comes back to me soon.

so i get to leave in about an hour to go get a physical. yay. i guess the cruise ships want to make sure you're healthy before you get on their disease infested ships. i'm kidding. i'm sure they're not disease infested, but the stigma is out there at least. i guess it's like how you can get sick when you fly because there's people from all over in a confined space. my dad told me that i had better get a flu shot before i leave. yeah, cause those are fun...

welp, all this writing (cause i've written so much...) has made me hungry and that leftover pizza in the fridge is calling my name so i'm gonna go shut it up.

love,
james

ps - i really need to quit eating pizza and get back to going to the gym...

lunch anyone?

i know this is a long shot, but i'm going to be hangin' in the mpls airport for a while on monday afternoon waiting for my dad to pick me up, so if anyone is around and wants to meet up, i'm game. i'm gonna pack as light as i can (hopefully just my horn and one suitcase) so i could possibly try finding the train that takes me to the mall of america. my flight arrives at 12:45 and my dad probably won't get there till 3ish so if you're in town and are hungry, lemmeno. otherwise, i'll probably just sit on my lappy and blog about how i wish i was having lunch with someone.

oh, and if anyone is going to be in duluth or wants to come up to visit, i'll be there till saturday. i probably can't travel too far to see people since i haven't been home since christmas and i'm not going to be home for christmas this year. mom would probably be upset if i left town. so would the dog. anyways, hit me up if ya wanna hang.

love,
james

ps - i guess it could be possible for me to grab a bite on saturday before my flight back to indiana if i got to the cities early enough. my flight is at 7 something so if that's an option for anyone, let me know :-)

whoops

i think i mentioned in an earlier post that i'd be taking an audition for carnival cruise lines and possibly sailing over my winter break. well, that audition happened today, and i must say, i'm quite embarassed. basically what happened was i played about as well as an 8th grade girl and they offered me a job. colin won't tell you how bad it was because he's a nice guy, but it was bad. they e-mailed me the music an hour before the audition and i practiced it and got some of it sounding okay, but by the time they called, i was a little fatigued and hadn't gotten some of the high stuff worked out. when i was playing i was missing a lot of partials and when that happens, there really isn't much you can do to get the notes and rhythms. i think i'm sailing on the carnival ship 'pride' from dec. 17 - 30 or something like that, which, according to their website, travels from la to the mexican riviera and back.. i don't have a contract or anything but i think that's what he told me. anyways, i've got a hella ton of work to do before i fly out for this thing. i know it's a heavy reading gig and i seriously have to get my act together in order to not be fired. colin told me afterwards that i probably would have played a little better on my bass (and i think he's right), but still, that sh*t was unacceptable.

speakin' of gettin' it together, i really should head off to practiceland. i'm reading some quartets tomorrow morning with ellefson (one of the trombone profs), a doctoral student, and another masters student and i know some of the music is written in tenor clef for me. note: don't write tenor clef for bass trombone players because we don't like it. damn you telemann.

alwighty... hope you all are well and happy.

love,
james

ps - did i really just say colin was a nice guy???

ya know what's annoying?

so i get up this morning and hop in the shower, only to realize that the new bottle of shampoo i bought was actually a bottle of conditioner disguised as a bottle of shampoo. f.



oh well. happy thursday everyone.

love,
james

ps - colin, i used your shampoo this morning.

gene kelley gets funky

i posted this vid on facebook, but it's so friggen sweet, it bears repeating on the ol' blog.



oh, and if you haven't seen the original, it's f'n amazing. so go find it.

anyways, i haven't written in a few days so i figured it's time to give the people what they want. let's see, what's new?

this friday colin and i will be going to chicago for a blues/blackhawks game. i'm really looking forward to it. not only do i get to leave b-town for a bit, but i get to road trip it with my favorite boy and see a sweet hockey game. i haven't been to a hockey game probably since high school, which is completely unacceptable. i only wish a decent team were playing, like detroit, but oh well.

also looking ahead, i've got an audition coming up with carnival cruise lines next wednesday. i'm hopin' all goes well because it'd be nice to try something like that. i mean, it 100% blows that i wouldn't get to spend christmas with my family (and my dog :-( ) but i need to make some money, play my horn, and put myself back in a situation out of my comfort zone. wish me luck!

i guess that's about it in the world of james for now. school is going well and if i can just get my butt back to the gym, i will have recovered from my insane week of recitals/concerts.

hope ya enjoyed the vid, and until next time, refrigerators, bunny rabbits, and coffee beans!

love,
james

thewheelsonthebusgoroundandround

feelin' a lil better today. last night was round one of the concerto competition and i was really happy with my performance. i didn't advance, and i didn't even get 'honorable mention' but i dunno, i guess it doesn't even bother me because of how great it felt to play the way i did. it was for sure the best performance since i've been here and it's not even close. the nerves decided they were gonna stay home and watch 1930s musicals while eating cucumbers and banana bread instead of come to the performance class and mess with my head. for that, i thank them. as for not advancing or even getting the slightest hint of recognition for playing well, i just don't give a damn. i know i played the hell out of that concerto and i had fun doing it and that's really all that matters. can i play it better in the future? sure. but last night i exceeded my own expectations and it feels awesome. so yay.

why else do i feel better today? because its as;ldkfj'n friday! i'm pretty sure friday was the best day ever invented and mr. friday should get honorable mention for thinking it up. i just got back from my only class of the day and the only thing i have to do tonight is play at my teacher's recital. when i got back from class i tried to wake colin up to go to bob evans but he wouldn't budge. colin, you suck. i'm hungry and you need to wake up. it's f'n 11am and my belly wants a delicious bob evans omelette and you are depriving it. congratulations jerk. i hope you're having an awful dream with lots of bears attacking you.

i'm just kidding. but not really.

okay, i guess i'm gonna go make some oatmeal and watch the new episode of the office on my lappy. happy friday everyone.

love,
semaj

if you're gonna spew, spew into this

warning, this post will probably contain nothing positive.

you know you're having a rough day when it feels like your stupid internet blog is your best friend. i remember back in high school when i had an amazing friend, matt, who i could tell anything to and he always could either cheer me up or at least sympathize in a way that made me feel okay about whatever it was that was bothering me. between him and the girl that i was dating at the time, i was never without someone i could talk to.

things seem quite different now. i definitely feel like i'm all on my own. i know i have friends, and i know a lot of them care about me very much and if i told them i really needed someone to talk to they'd be there for me. i guess it's just those rare people that have a way of making you not ask for someone to talk to that i'm missing right now. like my blog. my blog isn't asking me if i need someone to talk to. somehow, it just knows that today is not james' happiest day ever and it's gonna let me spew all my problems onto it without making me feel bad about spewing.

i mentioned the other day that my horn is no longer doin' it for me. well, my teacher reminded me of that again today during a dress rehearsal we were having for his recital. colin and many others have said it as well that i sound so much better on this other horn was playing. if i wanted to put a positive spin on it, i would say that it's a good thing that i can sound much better by simply playing a different piece of equipment. the negative side, and the more daunting side of this whole problem, is that i seriously have no money for a new horn. new bass trombones are upwards of $5000. if i sold my car and my current horn it would still not cover the cost of a new instrument. so, it's not like i'm helpless right? i just need to find a way to afford this. yeah, but the hard part of this is that everyday i don't have the money for a new horn, i'm playing on my current one, knowing i could sound better on something else. and not only do i know it, but so do the people listening to me. it's hard to play music with those thoughts going through my head and it's hard to get those thoughts out of my head. alsdkfj;asdlkfja;lfkj

yeah, so, i'm pretty realistic about life and i know that music isn't everything, so obviously i'm not going to let that whole thing bring me down everyday on it's own. other things have been eating away at me too.

i really just need to go play frisbee or take a walk or something...

thanks for reading.

love,
james