i know...

...i'm long overdue for an update.

last time i wrote, i was a on boat out in the ocean, but so much has happened since then, i'll just wrap that up by saying that it was an awesome experience and i'm looking forward to goin' back out.

so i'm back at school now and this semester is lookin' sweeeeet. i didn't have a ton of time (or should i say time when practice space was available) to prepare for auditions while i was out on the ship, and playing tenor the whole time wasn't so good for my bass chops, but despite all that, i managed to get 2nd placement this semester, which i was really happy about. there are many good bass trombone players here and i had never placed better than 3rd placement (or maybe 4th...that first semester is a blur) so this was a much needed confidence boost for me. ordinarily, 2nd placement would put me in the top orchestra in the spring semester because top placement is wind ensemble, but, unfortunately, the guy who got top placement couldn't play in wind ensemble, so that's where i was placed. i'm gonna miss playing in an orchestra, but the section for wind ensemble looks pretty killer. also, i get to play alpine symphony with the top orchestra in april, as it requires two bass trombones. it's sure to be one of the performance highlights of the year for me. i love that piece of music. another performance highlight for me is coming up in february. i got an e-mail from carl today asking me to play in the faculty quartet for the audition eve recital on feb. 1. seriously? i get to play in a quartet with lenthe, ellefson, and fabio (dee's sabbatical replacement)? hot damn! words can't really describe how excited i am for that.

in addition to the performance opportunities, my classes totally rock. i'm taking a history of jazz since bebop class with pat harbison and a duke ellington class with david baker. and ya know what's sweet about the ellington class? it's my last music history class ever - with david baker. i rule. yeah, so those are my only two classes. oh, and i'm taking an orchestral rep class with ellefson that meets on tuesday nights.

on to non school related things...

my ultimate team played a great game on friday night against the #1 team in the league. we held the lead until about the last 10 minutes, when the other team realized they were about to lose and started calling some really cheap stalls (a stall is when you are marking [guarding] and you count to 7 and they haven't passed the disc yet) and fouls. ultimate is played without referees so it's kind of up to the players and observers to work that stuff out. i love the attitude of my team because i think we all realized how awesome we played and it didn't really matter that they beat us. plus, i think it's just gonna make us hungrier for the next game. i can't wait.

well, i think that pretty much gets us caught up. maybe i have more stuff to write but i think i've sufficiently covered the important stuff.

love,
james