Valentine's Day

Just in general, I love holidays. I think I'm attracted to themes. Colors, symbols, traditions. The habitual aesthetics of holidays make me happy. I love looking forward to thing like that, too. I'm the kind of person who save her chocolate bar for days, hoping that it will taste better for waiting longer.


I like to bring things to school. I have such lovely, good friends and it's a good time to give them stuff. And it satiates a crafting craving for me. There's the Halloween party, obviously, and the subsequent handing out of invitations in October. In December I handed out little linen bags of peppermint candy. I made Valentine cookies this year, which totally was not what I had planned (Octagonal Yellow Chocolate Lollipops were the original objective. But, alas, chocolate dyes are utter crap and turn your melting chocolate into a gritty mess.)


I got a satchel of chocolate and a temporary tattoo on Valentine's Day, which I hid in my secret stash of magnificent candy. Which is, by necessity, hidden where no one can ever find it. God forbid.
Doing a lot of cello, but extra curricularly. Now that Solo and Ensemble is over, I've had everything that I was saving for afterwards is upon me. I'm doing a show at the Peabody Waldorf, with a band from my school. The frontman (is that what you call them?) wrote everything. He's come up with a lot of new content lately and it's pretty fantastic. So unapologetically different. It's refreshing. And we got to come up with some pretty cool cello riffs.
I also have Young Chamber Players concerts coming up. I'm playing a Mozart flute Quartet (with North). And I mean. You know. It's Mozart. But I'm also playing this gorgeous piece by Prokofiev. It's called Overture on a Hebrew Themes. It's a really fun and exotic piece. But it's really quite difficult, so I have to crack down on that quickly.
I want to go to the City so badly. I can actually feel it in my belly. I haven't been in a long while.
My family has been so busy lately, with so many musical obligations and renovations to the house and science fair. It will nice when we get a chance to just be around each other and go on some sort of adventure. Especially my parents. They are working really hard. They deserve a break.
Anyway, Happy Late Valentines Day. Hope yours was splendid!

Some Stuff

First things first: Look at my beautiful case! It was given to me by my former conductor, who had just bought a new case for her wonderful french cello. I love this dear thing. It's so hearty. An I've never had a hard case before. I think it will keep my Jane a little safer. Also, it has blue velvet inside. Mum says it's like a volkswagen. And I don't know how to explain her reasoning, but she is so right.
I really love it. My conductor is so kind to have given it to me. I will take good care of it.

In other news: Miniterm is over. Which leaves me melancholy. I loved the course I took, which was all about musical history during the first half of the twentieth century, specifically in Germany, Russia and the USA. It's been an intense three weeks, because the class was college preparatory, but I enjoyed myself so much. I learned things about music that have made me feel a little out place, but I think that sort of uncomfortableness is good for me, once in a while. I had to write a final paper in the last week, six pages in all. I chose to write about Shostakovich (By the way, if you haven't to his Eighth String Quartet, do. Now. Please. And try to find the Emerson String Quartet.) The paper was difficult to write; do you know when you feel too insignificant to be writing about a topic? I was writing about a giant, and at times it made me feel small. But I ended up with a good grade and some really encouraging feedback from my teachers (who were fabulous instructors, really top rate)

Solo and Ensemble competition is just around the corner. It makes me extremely nervous. But I feel more prepared than last year, which is strange because I have been without a teacher for a while now. I've had to be working through the Lalo cello concerto without a guide really, which has been kind of scary, but has required a lot more self discipline. It's been a little frightening. But due to my schedule this second semester, I'm managing to get in an hour of practice per day (At least for these next two weeks) which is helping a lot.
I'm a little worried because Concert Performance Assessments are lurking, ever present, in the future and I do not want to be overwhelmed by them after solo and ensemble.

My second semester classes are good. I wish I could get my grades back from the previous semester, just so I can take a deep breath and concentrate on the present, instead of constantly worrying what might have gone bizarrely wrong in the final minutes of last term. In typical SotA fashion, though, last semesters grades were spirited away from the online database before anyone had a chance to digest them. Oh well. Just more waiting, I suppose.

I am happy the sun has been out, which is a first for me. It is making things clean, and quite beautiful. I will be wanting rain soon, but for now, this sun can stay without me minding.