Era of Perpetual Bachelordom, Day 173- Yet Another Year in Review
So, after a considerable hiatus, I have returned... I had originally intended to abandon the blog given the repetitiveness of apartment life and my ongoing observation that no one cares. However, as the year draws to a close, I found myself re-reading some of my disjointed rantings of days gone by and realized that this thing still serves some purpose, mainly for tracking my own progress, and thus can continue. And so, away we go...
(First, a note on pronoun usage, which has been, and will continue to be, wildly inconsistent. In general, ongoing situations, activities, states of mind, et. al. which would be easily understood not only by me, but also by a hypothetical casual observer who knows me well are dealt with using either the majestic "we" or passive voice, as in a lab report. I reserve the right to break this at any point.)
The biggest thing that happened in 2008 was the Urbana recital back in April. For all the trouble that surrounded it, it beats out everything else due to the sheer improbability of its success. It also was a prerequisite for...
Graduation! 2 degrees/ 241 credit hours in 5 years, including 26 hours last semester. Take that, everything in general. Which paved the way for...
Employment! Over break, I've come to the alarming conclusion that work is more interesting than my life. Although work is pretty awesome. And I totally clobbered my performance evaluation. And along with it came...
Moving! I'm now 5 months into apartment life, and I still haven't starved, broken anything, burned anything down, or blown anything up. One of these days I'm going to need a new accomplishment. At this point, life can best be described as "paper-intensive." So many bills, all of which get paid, with enough money left over to explore...
The joys of stock ownership! Well, somewhat. With the economy sucking ass in six different directions at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that stocks were cheap, and that I should buy some. So I did. It's been a mixed blessing so far, mainly due to the aforementioned ass-sucking of the economy. And there's no segue in the world that could possibly get me from here to...
Church music! Linear thinking is for the weak. Last Sunday was Organ Service 8, this Saturday will be Saturday Evening Service 40. I'm coming to terms with the Conundrum of the Organist, which is loosely that hymn assignments are given on short notice, and failure to screw up horribly during the service for lack of practice time will be even shorter notice the next time around. It's not too big a deal on piano, but still a bit of a problem on organ. Composition/arranging activity has really fallen off the map, due primarily to lack of motivation. Then there was...
The St. Louis recital! This was sort of a victory lap after school let out, and it went considerably better, mainly because I didn't have to keep track of an ensemble as well. It was also the first time I made a conscious decision to play the best I could for the audience I had, which was heavy on church people and light on my friends. Actually, turnout was surprisingly good. It just goes to show, yet again, that the collective grandmother of the congregation thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread and the girls my age could care less. Owell, at least half the population likes me. Elsewhere in the music world, we have...
Orchestra! I found an orchestra to join. So far, it seems to be a fairly informal affair with attendance issues, but everything magically works out by the concert. I base this on one performance. Beethoven VI is up next, so we'll see how that goes. There's a huge age range, everything from (junior?) high school through well past retirement. But of course, there's the one big issue that I've been skating around so far, which is...
The complete and unqualified failure of my social life! See last year's post, except the difference between now and then is my parents live somewhere else now. For a while, there was stuff with people from work, but that died off when the interns left. It might pick back up again. And there's a bible study group, but that's on hiatus. I haven't been in orchestra long enough to really meet anyone there yet. And of course, there's the high school group, who (except for one, who came to the recital and who's also in orchestra, and married) I've barely heard from in months. So much for that. No idea how any of this will play out in the months ahead. Bottom line, here I am ranting instead of at a party. Again.
So, screw you, 2008.
So, what's on tap for 2009? Well, work will continue. The first promotion typically comes after two years, but I'll see if I can beat that. In organ-world, church will be afflicted by my attempts to learn the Bach Passacaglia (so gloriously loud) in time for Lent. And for this year's big project/crazy scheme, I've tentatively selected the Mendelssohn 2nd Piano Concerto (affectionately referred to as the "other Mendelssohn" when I learned a movement of the first one back in high school)--- simply because I can. I may or may not end up playing it with orchestra- it's a long shot, and I'd avoid it if it's going to be stressful. And of course I'm not learning it to impress girls, because we all know that doesn't work. Never has, never will.
(First, a note on pronoun usage, which has been, and will continue to be, wildly inconsistent. In general, ongoing situations, activities, states of mind, et. al. which would be easily understood not only by me, but also by a hypothetical casual observer who knows me well are dealt with using either the majestic "we" or passive voice, as in a lab report. I reserve the right to break this at any point.)
The biggest thing that happened in 2008 was the Urbana recital back in April. For all the trouble that surrounded it, it beats out everything else due to the sheer improbability of its success. It also was a prerequisite for...
Graduation! 2 degrees/ 241 credit hours in 5 years, including 26 hours last semester. Take that, everything in general. Which paved the way for...
Employment! Over break, I've come to the alarming conclusion that work is more interesting than my life. Although work is pretty awesome. And I totally clobbered my performance evaluation. And along with it came...
Moving! I'm now 5 months into apartment life, and I still haven't starved, broken anything, burned anything down, or blown anything up. One of these days I'm going to need a new accomplishment. At this point, life can best be described as "paper-intensive." So many bills, all of which get paid, with enough money left over to explore...
The joys of stock ownership! Well, somewhat. With the economy sucking ass in six different directions at the same time, I couldn't help but notice that stocks were cheap, and that I should buy some. So I did. It's been a mixed blessing so far, mainly due to the aforementioned ass-sucking of the economy. And there's no segue in the world that could possibly get me from here to...
Church music! Linear thinking is for the weak. Last Sunday was Organ Service 8, this Saturday will be Saturday Evening Service 40. I'm coming to terms with the Conundrum of the Organist, which is loosely that hymn assignments are given on short notice, and failure to screw up horribly during the service for lack of practice time will be even shorter notice the next time around. It's not too big a deal on piano, but still a bit of a problem on organ. Composition/arranging activity has really fallen off the map, due primarily to lack of motivation. Then there was...
The St. Louis recital! This was sort of a victory lap after school let out, and it went considerably better, mainly because I didn't have to keep track of an ensemble as well. It was also the first time I made a conscious decision to play the best I could for the audience I had, which was heavy on church people and light on my friends. Actually, turnout was surprisingly good. It just goes to show, yet again, that the collective grandmother of the congregation thinks I'm the greatest thing since sliced bread and the girls my age could care less. Owell, at least half the population likes me. Elsewhere in the music world, we have...
Orchestra! I found an orchestra to join. So far, it seems to be a fairly informal affair with attendance issues, but everything magically works out by the concert. I base this on one performance. Beethoven VI is up next, so we'll see how that goes. There's a huge age range, everything from (junior?) high school through well past retirement. But of course, there's the one big issue that I've been skating around so far, which is...
The complete and unqualified failure of my social life! See last year's post, except the difference between now and then is my parents live somewhere else now. For a while, there was stuff with people from work, but that died off when the interns left. It might pick back up again. And there's a bible study group, but that's on hiatus. I haven't been in orchestra long enough to really meet anyone there yet. And of course, there's the high school group, who (except for one, who came to the recital and who's also in orchestra, and married) I've barely heard from in months. So much for that. No idea how any of this will play out in the months ahead. Bottom line, here I am ranting instead of at a party. Again.
So, screw you, 2008.
So, what's on tap for 2009? Well, work will continue. The first promotion typically comes after two years, but I'll see if I can beat that. In organ-world, church will be afflicted by my attempts to learn the Bach Passacaglia (so gloriously loud) in time for Lent. And for this year's big project/crazy scheme, I've tentatively selected the Mendelssohn 2nd Piano Concerto (affectionately referred to as the "other Mendelssohn" when I learned a movement of the first one back in high school)--- simply because I can. I may or may not end up playing it with orchestra- it's a long shot, and I'd avoid it if it's going to be stressful. And of course I'm not learning it to impress girls, because we all know that doesn't work. Never has, never will.
posted by Kevin H | 5:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home