12.09.2010

study day

wow. my last post was an ode to the en of 2009, and here I am nearly done with 2010. shit time flies.

I had long forgotten how cathartic and helpful just blogging is. saying something when you don't have anyone to talk to. and it doesn't really fucking matter what I say because this is my space. well, this year has been quite an interesting one, to say the least. I probably couldn't remember everything that's happened if I tried, so I'll try to at least remember some major events from each month. in case I get Alzheimer's and forget about my life or some shit. I'd like to think that 2010 was better than 2009, and maybe it was, but certain aspects sucked. In general the whole living situation was bull shit. Spring semester in a house that I didn't want to deal with, and fall with the black hole that is 5947 foothills dr aka my parents' house. the summer wasn't bad, considering I lived with heath at the Apartment. But personally, 2010 was a year of great triumph, or at least a move towards one. let's see how it shaped up..

January: New Year's party at heath's, finally welcomed over there by Becky, I think this was post annoyance stage, perhaps. Started my descent into bull shit and complete fuck-up lifestyle. Ha! gonna cheat and use my planner to jog my memory. God. I meant so well. but lethargy is one sonuvabitch. I even wrote in when I was going to practice. I don't really remember anything else from january so it must not have been too important.

February: Well, there was the super bowl, that was fun. I think that kicked in the sexual tension between erinn and I. maybe, can't really remember. I do remember talking to Eddie about buying the house we were living in at the time. and a lot of food. that I bought. I need to learn to be better with money. Oh and this semester was before I lost my university scholarship. damn. and was in Jazz I. DAMN IT WHY DID I HAVE TO FUCK UP SO MANY THINGS LAST SEMESTER! Oh man. Louisville Jazz Festival, and that whole weekend. Surviving on a measly 6 (I'll be generous with that) hours of sleep for an entire weekend is far too little. five hour energy isn't supposed to be a life force, I'm fairly sure. Fuck some Cheetham Scherzo though. Oh, and I interviewed for that backup job with Kroger that day too. Oh wait Kroger company, you're bull shit and would rather an IDIOT who can work 40 hour weeks have management positions than a skilled, talented, intelligent individual who could only commit to 30. Fuck you Kroger.

March: Ha! I had forgotten about that BS Sokol Fanfare. what a miserable idea, to play it before EVERYTHING(!). Definitely don't remember a damn thing about spring break. probably just worked and hung out at heath's if I had to guess. and then heath turned 20, and that was cool. but again, do not remember much. March was kind of a haze, I guess...

April: Apparently we had a show, Fourth Avenue, that is. Heck, that may've been one of our first, if not our first one. Then there was Easter. Got underpaid. Chris Click was hungover as FUCK. that's about all I remember about that one. I do remember regretting not waking up early enough to chill with david prior to leaving. Now somewhere in the midst of all this, there were numerous parties thrown at the house, which I attended until a certain point. This point being the night of complete bullshit and the first time that I honestly wanted to beat the living shit out of michael and everyone that agreed with him. I turned my back on a lot of folks that day, for some time. and by a lot of folks, I'm fairly sure it ended up just being michael. I may have been a fuck-up, I will admit that, but I sure did not deserve that bull shit. Middle of April was pretty damn good to me though. the tension between erinn and I finally came into the open. unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that relationship was doomed from the beginning, but I was too starry-eyed to realize it. michael tried to tell both of us. but neither listened. and honestly, well, I'll save the bad parts for june/july. April was good, and never have I felt so good as I did around 4 or 5 in the morning on april 15th 2010. aside from the fact that i'd smoked like....an entire pack of cigarettes in a few hours. Boropalooza happened. I barely passed jazz ped, even though I know my shit and can lead a band. damn laziness and writing a paper when I was supposed to be at the midterm. oddly enough april ended with a study day, well close to it anyway.

May: first of all, I do remember eating Taco Bell WAY TOO FUCKING MUCH in this month. Also solidified things with erinn and thought I was golden, but I was destined to fuck that up too. hmm. found out about going to bonnaroo for free sometime around here. I think. actually, may's kind of a haze. fast forward. **edit: I do remember having to deal with some serious insurance bull shit that eventually got my license suspended. I really have a problem with car insurance. and registration.

june: well, there was bonnaroo. which was probably one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. hands down. trying to get shit together an hour and a half before we were supposed to leave was probably a bad idea though. I think it was around this time that things with erinn were best, if I'm not mistaken. plans to hang out post 'roo and post her trip to south(?) carolina. which did happen. once. but I was a dumb ass and couldn't fucking allocate my time wisely. but I'll consider myself still in the dark at this point. or some bull shit like that. june came and went though. scraping by, trying to support heath and jordy. and have fun. times was rough.

july: normally one of my favorite months each year was rather lackluster this year. fourth of july....I honestly don't even remember what I did. maybe shot fireworks with the family. actually, yes that's what I did. I think I went to memfrica shortly thereafter and had a good ass time. stressful, but fun. things in my life started deteriorating at this point though. it was around...well the middle of the month that I started having my slow, painful breakdown, I think. It started when I realized the inevitable, then thought about how much I was fucking up my life, in school, friendships, relationships, with my folks, in just about every aspect of life I was fucking up, and hard. and I freaked out. like. freaked. the. fuck. out. and I didn't know what to do. I remember just sitting in my car for a long time outside the apartment. by myself, with heath, on the phone with erinn, just freaking the fuck out. and part of me likes to think that maybe, I could have completely changed things around at that point. but I know that's probably not true. well, sometime shortly thereafter, was my birthday. and needless to say, I was extra fucked up. all. day. we went to chili's! and saw inception and smoked entirely too much. entirely too much. but it was fun. at some point the day after, however, I got the text that made my stomach leap to my throat. and it was at this point that I knew I had failed. however, damn it, I wish I could've gotten a straight fucking answer instead of some "it's not you, it's me" bull shit. fuck that. be real, or you're just a phony like everyone. maybe I was just too damned optimistic, maybe I wasn't that fucking terrible, maybe maybe may be. oh well. july kinda sucked in 2010.

august: officially moved back in with the folks, which meant time to go to jordy's more often and that I did. still working at Kroger, although I think it was around this time that I had finally reached the last straw with the bull shit. smoked with his daddy, which made me feel cool. but I think I was on the up at this point. I think. band camp. section leader. awkward as fuck. had fun, face hurt. met eli though, and that shit was important because had I not, I do not know how this semester might have turned out, for good or worse. also started hanging out with rick more, which was pretty sweet. this inherently allowed us to hang out with katy jones, and this is important later. but yeah, band camp. hung out with eli quite a bit, and this freshman chick wanted my nuts. and got them a few times, much to my future self's chagrin. but the dick does what it does. bring a freshman was pretty ruined because of this though. and jordy. he got waaaaay too fucked up, which I don't think I have told him, but I was pretty pissed about that. actually. really pissed. which is why I fucked on his couch! umm...school started and I had high hopes.

september: I feel like september was the month of bad luck. shit just went wrong. life was still awkward post break up. and I was sorta kinda talking to this girl, but shit. she was a freshman and really annoying and just.....not someone I could seriously date. I also almost go a DUI sometime in this month. thank you officer....whomever for not taking me to jail and ruining my life. tags have been expired since june at this point (and still are in real time). and license had been suspended back in may. oh! (see may edit) so..yeah. that happened. actually after a party at the Slums of Shaolin, at which I made out with a quite sober Hannah (as aforementioned, I almost got a DUI, I was pretty drunk). That started that whole thing. and I feel like that's one of the more important september events. however, there was also the fact that, after four years, I finally left Kroger. Interviewed for BAM after I made it my goal to have a new job by the end of the month. how I forgot I do not know, but september is the only month in any kind of recent history that I did not smoke the least bit of herb. which is pretty fucking impressive given how my life had been going.

october: blacklight party. underage citation. "you can't bullshit a bullshitter". first day at BAM, learned it was easy as fuck and that apparently most people there weren't terribly intelligent or something because I was being primed for promotion from day 2. Also pinned my second little, Derek. who is a BAMF. love that kid and I'm damn proud of him. and my first grand little was pinned, and I'm extra proud of Clay. middle of october is when billy told me to stop dragging my feet with hannah, essentially. so that's when things started moving along there and we discussed a relationship. which is pretty monumental since up until this point I had not been over erinn in the slightest. to be real, it still hurts and I'm still not completely over it. but it's not so hard. in the meantime, couple of football games, lots of smoke trips to ricks and jordy's. had a pretty big gig with the Features and released an album with fourth avenue, which was pretty damn cool. Conducted our National Anthem at the Homecoming game, which was FUCKING EXHILARATING AND TERRIFYING. but fun as hell, regardless. also had visits with most of the 16 PMs this month and that was annoying as fuck because of the drain it had on my free time. I also worked a shit ton and that was starting to wear on me. CoC was in there too. that was ok. I don't remember what I did afterwards though.

November: celebrated eli's birthday pretty early on, that was cool. dr. arndt's recital at fumc...meh not as much. granted, I was also pretty sleep deprived at this point. went to court the following day. I don't understand how you can charge a $2 fine, but $350 in court fees. fuck the system. watched steve davis play trombone and be badass, and the opera was cool too. gold night was much better than last year. and we collected about 50 or 60 cans so, word. sometime around the vet salute game was when I actually spoke to erinn again for the first time since the summer. just couldn't handle it prior. hurt too much, and I know me and I know that my optimistic dumb ass would have hoped for another chance or some bull shit and that just would've hurt more. but like I said, by this point I was feeling much better about the situation and I was talking to hannah, so I wasn't too concerned. actually, shortly thereafter is when hannah and I started going steady, on thanksgiving, to be exact. and then I worked my first black friday. what a long ass-fucking that was. but by the end I was numb at least. came back to school and felt pretty damn good about things. still skipped a lot of class, but I felt like I could do it all. granted, that's probably just the beatnik about me. oh. before the whole thanksgiving thing, my first arrangement was debuted at the jazz two/arranging concert. and I felt pretty fucking cool about that. and proud of myself.

December: it's a work in process, but it's been interesting. found out about an awesome apartment deal, lost it thanks to jordy not being able to get a co signer, the bastard. had a pretty sweet symphonic band concert. got patronized by dr. arndt. passed the macgamut final, after having to retake it since I couldn't make it in time for the first one. and that's where I am right now. post macgamut retake. sitting in the sfa lobby writing about my year.

By no means is this comprehensive, I just needed something to do for a little while. and writing is some damned cathartic. hopefully my demons of the past year will leave as I enter 2011. It's going to be a pretty ridiculous year post-7.23.11. but before then I'll have to make it. and that's a whole spring semester and summer away. not to mention the winter break just around the corner. I do believe that's all I have to say for the moment. I think I'm back to stay. still willing to barter.

12.31.2009

good bye.

2009 is just about done.
thank goodness. It's had many good moments, but far too many shitty ones.

2010. A new year and decade.







now, just to grow up.

11.25.2009

creole and cake for thanksgiving.

I have to say that I am extremely glad that I happened upon this song. Creole by the Charlie Hunter Quarter, featuring Mos Def. It's pretty damn bad ass, if I say so myself.

Michael was right about the library, it's a great place to go just to focus. However, I haven't actually done any homework, just done some thinking and listening. Sometimes it can be rather nice to be completely shut off from everyone. I mean, I still have my phone, my computer, so I can technically connect my self to anyone at any given time. But the option to shut away, it's cathartic. These past few weeks have all been a blur. Of parties, school, auditions, practicing, stressing, Beethoven, thinking, not eating, eating one meal a day, parents, work, money issues, bitching, overthinking. And even though most of these things have been painful, or at least a pain in the ass to deal with, I really do feel better having experienced all of them.

Thanksgiving. Hmm. It's the holiday that tells you what to do. Give thanks. I have plenty to give thanks for, not the least of which all those things I already listed. But that's not what this is about. I'm not really one to get all sentimental and shit, at least, not in a blog. That's cliche.
If I can just make it through today, I think everything will be better. Regardless of how things turn out, I just know that having all this stress lifted from me will be nothing but beneficial. That being said, I feel fairly good about everything. Nerves aren't necessarily the worst thing in the world. Let's me know that I really do care, at least. Cake has a pretty darn good trumpet player.

It's funny. How life works.

11.15.2009

what's wrong son?

gotta say something, somewhere.
suppose here is as good as anywhere.

reminds me of so long ago when just a simple note saying "my life" on my twelfth birthday probably saved me from doing something so very stupid. just saying one thing can bring such immense relief. hopefully this silly journal, of sorts, can accomplish that, though I know full damn well it won't.

(60-40/75-25)

anyways. enough catharsis. I have to keep some kind of pressure on myself. otherwise I'll never get anything done. back to work. I have auditions to kick ass in in just over a week. there goes my real focus, everything else is just icing.
...and now I've begun to ramble.

good.

11.11.2009

eroica, coffee and beta eta

of all nights to decide to post on here, I choose tonight. go figure.
not that tonight's anything special, good or bad. I just have a busy ass day ahead. got in a fight with michael. and the bad thing is, he was completely right. he just about always fucking is. and I hate being wrong, I've discovered. this comes as a huge detriment to me because people really hate that shit. I also have terrible time management issues--michael's case in point this evening. that is also why I am still up. I must finish this damned assignment. still have no clue what the hell to do about all the things I missed in Woodwind Tech...........

So here I am, sitting in my living room, surrounded by our ten PMs. I do really like these guys, they're a good group of kids; just need to work on getting closer. coffee is keeping me alive right now. as it will do so tomorrow as well. I just can't afford to build an immunity.
I really do hate not having anything to say.

....yet actually having so much. I also hate focusing on things that don't matter. just have to get shit done. enough said. now to diagram an exposition and talk about subjectivity. oh. and whatever the fuck question 5 was. possible practice in the near future as well.

8.22.2009

gravity

it's for sure working against me. damned isaac newton and his apples..
other than that, a lot of much needed practice, and the foregoing of a lengthy explanation of the crazy shit's been going on the past few days, I have little to say.

so what if I like john mayer? he's a damn good guitarist.
keep me where the light is.

-enter B.A. solo-

8.14.2009

davy, davy crockett. king of the wild frontier.

I'm not quite davy. but I was born and raised in Tennessee, so I think that makes me closer than many. point being, I'm going camping tonight. in my dad's backyard.
yes that sounds lame. but if it sounds lame, you probably haven't seen where my dad lives. it really is the middle of nowhere. and I've never explored behind his house, across the bridge over the creek.

taking a few good pals along is gonna make it better, as will the hobo packs for eating and summer brew for drinking (in our Bubba Keg!) watching the stars at night is truly peaceful. and making a wish on a shooting star or two gives me hope sometimes that this crazy life of mine just might make ends meet. (ha, didn't plan on making the end of that statement as alliterative as it was).
otherwise, I'm really in a good place right now. I could be doing more with my time, but I don't always. such is life. if you always made the most of every single second you'd inevitably explode. because some moments are supposed to last longer than others.....or something like that? camping. I was talking about camping.

heading out soon.
nature is calling me.
and I think I'll heed this call.
this time.