Suzy and Nessa's Big Adventure

Saturday night was so very interesting. I saw and heard a lot of things I've never seen or heard before - some of which were completely awe-inspiring and others of which I don't care to ever see or hear again. I guess I should start at the beginning.

Friday, I came into possession of 2 tickets to see Andrew Bird in concert on Saturday at the State Theater in Kalamazoo. Cool! I'm a big fan. Well actually, it might be more appropriate to say I'm a big appreciator, meaning I have a few albums that I listen to from time to time, but I couldn't tell you the names of songs, albums, or even what the lyrics are. All I know is Andrew makes it cool to play the violin. I decided to take my friend Suzy with me because she introduced me to his music Sophomore year I think.

We set out to what actually was a Bright Eyes concert for which Andrew was opening. We were really only going to see Andrew, so it didn't really matter to us that it was indeed a Bright Eyes concert. We approached the theater and made our way through the throbs of sulky Emo college kids inside, where we made a move for the bar. Never missing an opportunity to try another locally brewed beer, we payed 8 bucks for a large plastic cup of beer and headed to our seats in the theater, which by the way, is beautiful. Who knew this little gem existed in Kalamazoo? The interior was decorated to look like the facade of a Spanish style building, with stuccoed walls and red tile roof, niches with statues of various saints, and a ceiling painted midnight blue that had been lit up with constellations. Beautiful! Our seats were glorious. All was shaping up to be a great concert.

Andrew was amazing. He played a one man show with his violin, guitar, xylephone, whistle and voice. He surrounded himself in a circle with foot pedals that would repeat what he was playing at the time, so he'd start a song by plucking out a line on the violin, hit a foot pedal, which would keep that line repeating, then play another line, hit another foot pedal, which would keep that line repeating, then put his violin down, flip his guitar around to the front, play a line, hit a pedal, toss his guitar around to the back, pick up his violin, play a line, hit a pedal, whistle, hit a pedal, and sing, until he had like 20 different things happening at once. It was amazing. I was so impressed. Having finished our beers on empty stomaches by the end of Andrew's set, we decided it was best not to stay for Bright Eyes and thus we left the theater in search of food and Andrew Bird. He had to be staying in the nicest hotel in town, so we headed to the Radisson. Though we never did find him that night, we saw enough interesting things to make up for it. We went to Zazio's, a really nice restaurant (just in case he decided he needed a drink at the hotel bar before bed), got some drinks and split a pizza. Suzy and I bonded over many a philosophical conversation, good martinis, good pizza and good bread (even if my forehead did somehow have a run in with the angular breadbasket in a fit of laughter, which left a bruise on my head).

On our way out, we decided to pop into the hotel lobby restroom. I saw something I never want to see again. Keep in mind, this is a nice hotel. We walked in, and standing near the sinks were two girls, about our age. The one had her back to us, but we could see she had her shirt pulled up, exposing some major stretch marks. This was a little weird on its own, but it wasn't until I came out of the bathroom stall until I realized what was really going on. The girl with her shirt up had two little bottles dangling from her breasts, which were quickly filling with breast milk. This girl was pumping her breast milk in the middle of the bathroom of the Radisson. What the HELL? SO strange. So, we went around to the other side and we overheared a conversation between two ladies in their 40's. The one woman says: I mean, I just feel like I can't leave him because of the kids... Ummmm...WHAT? Where are we? We left the bathroom and Suzy said she didn't see the woman with the breast pumps, so I made her go back in. So WEIRD.

Suzy and I then hitched a ride with her roommate to a party that a friend was having. What another strange experience. Freshman year, we waited to catch word of a party and then we'd all show up in hordes to the home of some Seniors who we didn't know, and who we were sure hadn't a clue who we were. Now, my friends are the ones having the parties, and I'm the one walking around yelling at people to close the doors after themselves, turning off the gas stove after some kid knocks into it, turning it on by accident, and closing the kitchen cupboard doors, trying to protect my friend's food. Life's a funny thing.

Much fun was had, and all in all, a really great night. Thanks for sharing in my adventure, and please, don't pump your breast milk in public restrooms. Oh, and check out Andrew Bird. He's amazing.

I have some jobs.

My room looks as though a tornado ripped through it. You can tell its Friday. Not only should I be cleaning my room, I should do my laundry, go grocery shopping, take a shower, do some work, pay some bills...all that stuff I've been meaning to do all week but just haven't gotten to yet. I just can't do it. Not yet. I need to decompress. Today I was on campus from 8:30 to 5:00, and none of that time was spent doing work in the library, like I wish it had been. What was I doing with my time then, you may ask? Well, let's see. 4 and a half hours were spent in class, one of which included an exam (already!), and the other 4 hours were spent with a violin in hand. 4 hours with a violin in hand? I know! Well, I have a new job. Well actually, two new jobs, only one of which requires the violin. I didn't go looking for this job by any means. The job came to me and I accepted reluctantly, but only because I have a violin and there is money involved. My orchestra conductor conducts a conducting class for an hour and a half three times a week and he needed individuals to play in a "laboratory orchestra" that his students could conduct. How could I pass up being in a "laboratory orchestra"? Sounds like we're going to be doing fun and sciency things. So basically, I get paid to go to a class I don't get credit for and play the violin. Its really really interesting. These kids have never conducted before so when they approach the podium they look like they're going to vomit or die, or vomit and then die. It's really kind of cute, if you can imagine. They're fun. They have no idea what they're doing. I'm learning so much though - there is a lot more that goes into conducting than you would ever imagine, and this is coming from a musician of 15 yrs! The downside to my job is that I have to practice all the music, and that eats up a lot of my time. Then, because my orchestra conductor is a rather unpleasant fellow, I have to play in a chamber ensemble to fulfill a requirement of our orchestra class (a class I'm actually enrolled in as a student), but my job doesn't count as the chamber music portion. So, that's an extra hour a week of violining, plus practice time. Now you can see why I spent 4 hrs today with a violin in my hand. That ensemble met today too. There are 7 of us, and I'm the only senior, so everyone is looking to me for direction. Too bad they don't know yet that I'm the laziest violin player ever and will be practically of no use to them. I hate responsibility.

My other job is fun too. I tutor an older woman in French. A senior French Major tutored her last year, and another the year before that, so this is my lucky year. She's pretty much precious. She told me she's been struggling with the language for 30 yrs. All of that time she was teaching herself out of various text books, and while she can read and write decently, she's not so good on the speaking end of things. She is a piano teacher and has a few beginner books in French, so I told her I play a little piano and that next week I want her to conduct a lesson in French with me as her student. I'm looking forward to that. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that next week.

So, those are my jobs. I'm keeping busy, that's for sure. I'm kinda ready for a break already. Good thing its the weekend.

If you're happy and you know it clap your hands (or don't)

Hi Nat.

I know you're the only one that may or may not be reading this thing anymore, so just in case you do happen to check my blog, I just wanted to say hi. I'd like to know more about this bet you placed having to do with McDonalds joints in France. Today Sarah and I turned on Paul Simon's 'You can call me Al' in the apartment and we 'kindergarten danced'. 'Kindergarten dancing' is a very accomplished art form popular amongst the younger crowds, generally ages 3-4. It requires a certain lightness of foot accompanied by a high level of physical and emotional inhibition, freeing the limbs of the body to move as they wish. Naturally, I thought of you. I even borrowed a few of your better moves, including the 'I'm gonna fake you out and make you think I'm gonna play the air flute', as well as the 'ooom, ooom dip'. Oh, and I like you.

Suppose someone else is reading this. Life is good, life is busy. Its interesting to go away for a summer, get a real job, and come back to school for 9 final months and realize how detached college is from the real world. To be perfectly honest, I think I prefer the real world. Maybe its just that whole getting ready to move on thing. I sit in the library, holed up in a corner listening to Mozart on my iPod (hoping desperately and in vain that Mozart will make me smarter) slaving away on my thesis and I hear Freshmen giggling over cute boys in their 1st year writing seminars (never mind the fact that their prof told me their first writing assignments were so horrible that not a one would have merited a C so she threw them all out). There was a day that I went to the library to discuss my classmates with my friends, but let me tell you, that day has long since passed. I didn't go to a K-party on Saturday. I baked cookies at home and watched a pollination video by David Attenborough. I'm becoming lame. Although, I did drink with my Bio profs on Friday. We killed a keg. We also made references to DNA polymerase while playing card games. LAME.

Ah well, these are the best days of our lives, are they not? I'll miss them when they're gone. I hate transitions.