Teeth Grinders Unite

One week down! I think that as long as I keep staying on top of things, I'll be ok. Oh, and buy a planner to write down when all of these crazy due dates are. How was I (the truest Virgo) unprepared like that? I feel like this week already has made me a better teacher and better person, and a more valuable resource to my students. My clarinet teacher is so nice, and I'm actually finding time to practice! I'm very excited that she studied with Hindemith, so now I'm two degrees of separation away from Hindemith. It's ok if you think I'm a dork. We are working on the Hindemith sonata so that I can better adjudicate All-State clarinet players in VT. My roommate and I have also been enjoying Chicago. We found a great Chinese restaurant, and last night found a Mexican restaurant for margaritas. This weekend, an art museum and classical music in Grant Park are in the works. We are also researching going to see the Book of Mormon and trying to get tickets to a taping of Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! It's so neat to be surrounded by people who share the same career highs and lows as I do, and understand why I grip the baton so damn hard and grind my teeth at night. I actually thought that would be a neat grad project - so many of my colleagues wear night time mouth guards because we grind at night. Some sort of stress project or anger management project might be just what I need. Anyway. Thanks for reading!

Scare Tactics

I'm pretty sure today was organized to see who would run away and never come back. We had a full school breakfast where the staff and professors served students, then a full school meeting. All morning classes were shortened due to this, plus there was an extra orientation which carried over through lunch so NO LUNCH all day! I never received the solo for 'assessments' within the band, so I went in close to cold in my audition. Just call it an audition, not an assessment! Woodwind methods began with a pre-assessment on oboe fingerings, which I half made up and got mostly right. There was also a written pre-assessment, and no joke, I had this question: Explain why the oboe reed has two crows. My answer: To get to the other side. Then, I erased it and made a more educated guess. After spending $700 on a meal plan, $200 on books... I think it's safe to say that my bank account is tapped out and I'm officially scared to death of grad school. At least I didn't run for the hills of Vermont after the first day.

Back to the Future... or, CHICAGO!

Hey Friends and Family, I'll be updating from my blog that's been used once in the past two years so that my facebook friends don't unfriend me due to my many random posts about my summer away. Here's the scoop on the first day! Important things first: if I want to walk about a mile round trip each morning there is a Starbucks! I didn't pack some of the big things because they wouldn't fit in the one piece of luggage I used for 6 weeks worth of items, so once I found my room, I found a target. It was definitely tough buying a nice comforter and pillow, knowing I'll most likely trash them at the end of this. When I returned from Target, I met my suit-mate, and can not express my happiness at the fact that she has a CAR! Good-by, public transportation to get groceries! On the way back from Target, a nice man helped a lady with directions while on the el. In exchange for his kindness, she paid him in beer, which he proceeded to open and down while in a public space where we obviously shouldn't be drinking. Welcome to Chicago!

It was suggested to me that blogging would be a good way to sort out my thoughts on things lately. Now the blogger interface is different! I typed a ton and deleted it because I do not want to be seen as unprofessional. I think that teachers have the hardest job ever. You are on a stage all day entertaining students to stay mentally stay with you. Everybody thinks they can do your job better than you. Endless paperwork and equipment to keep track of and trips to organize make prep time vanish. My personal time is not that at all, this is not a job you leave behind when you walk out the door. Appreciation is not there. And frustration is.

New Music

Review of Andrew Bird's new album, and a little listen:
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/26/147047574/first-listen-andrew-bird-break-it-yourself?ps=cprs

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Shedding is healthy — not just for cats and dogs and other animals but also for us humans. Did you know that you shed thousands of particles of dead skin every hour? And just as our bodies need to shed, so do our psyches. I bring this up, Virgo, because you are in an unusually favorable phase to do a whole lot of psychic shedding. What should you shed exactly? How about some of these: old ideas that don’t serve you any more, habits that undermine your ability to pursue your dreams, compulsions that are at odds with your noble intentions, resentment against people who did you wrong a long, long time ago, and anything else you carry with you that keeps you from being fully alive and radiant. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, the price of freedom and aliveness is eternal shedding.

I can't help it, I LOVE these horoscopes. They always say something at the right time that makes me actually want to work on myself.

"This F chord is going to be big trouble". -8th Grader

Wonderful Birthday Horoscope

Avante-garde author Gertrude Stein was renowned for her enigmatic wordplay and cryptic intuitions, which brought great pleasure to her longtime companion Alice B. Toklas. “This has been a most wonderful evening,” Alice once remarked after an especially zesty night of socializing. “Gertrude has said things tonight it’ll take her 10 years to understand.” I expect that something similar could be said about you in the coming week, Virgo. It’s as if you’ll be glimpsing possibilities that won’t fully ripen for a while; as if you’ll be stumbling upon prophecies that will take months, maybe even years, to unveil their complete meaning. (Free Will Astrology)

The Three P's

Passion
Persistence
Patience

Now that the excitement of Vandercook has died down, I'm starting to think about how I'm going to be using all of this awesome new knowledge in my classroom. I'm also finishing up a Google Docs class, so my brain is exploding with good things to use.
I fear though that just like other professional developments... I'm going to go into 'survival' mode at school and get so caught up that it'll be difficult to be more thoughful and implement new things.

5 More Days...

Yesterday I had brunch with Matthew, made another J.Crew purchase, and then did something I've never done: bought a pair of designer sunglasses. I'd been thinking of them since I saw them last week... I had to do it.
I came back to the dorm last night, and somebody had moved into the room next to me; we share a bathroom. She was watching Glee so late last night and the sound traveled through the walls so clearly, that at 11pm I had to turn my computer on and find a free white noise machine. Note to self, waves do not put me to sleep and rain does...
And now, on to Motivating the Developing Band!

The first class is finished - and I'm a little sad. Being surrounded by band geeks for 40 hours this week felt like home. Reading through music, score study, administration of a program... I learned a lot. The hard part will be maintaining the momentum and continuing through school. I'm working hard this weekend to create a student portfolio process, and update the band handbook (which includes rearranging things so that there is a 4 year band curriculum and 4 year step by step goals for students).
I was delighted to be walking through IIT and find a rock that had a yarn-knit cover over it:

I was also mildly amused when I went to a water fountain and learned that it was also a water bottle fill station. It was actually keeping track of the number of plastic bottles it was saving. How cool!
Today I saw an ad for a drum circle for free... hope it's not BYOD. I'm also getting a roommmate tomorrow, which I'm both dreading and excited about.

Last Day of Week One

The days are long, even for me. A gentleman behind me fell asleep yesterday in the MORNING! I heard little snores coming from behind and usually I'd be amused and look back - but I was angry that you could have fallen asleep in the middle of such awesome conversation.
I ventured out and met Matthew for drinks. The drinks were amazing - cream soda-like drinks. Heaven! My favorite part was not the build your own frozen yogurt shop, but the "Gaymart" store. That made me very happy:

Did I mention that we were in they gay part of town with flags flying? Matthew said there was a gay pride parade with (now I had been drinking so sorry if this number is remembered wrong) 750,000 people marching. Needless to say, it was wonderful seeing an old friend.

Half Way Done: Week 1

It feels like there is so much packed in that when I finally sit at the computer, I can remember nothing. Little sparkles of what impressed me stick though. Like: one of my prof's commissioned Tichelli to do Amazing Grace. I was absolutely humbled - this is real band literature! Another hangs out with Michael Daughtry. The funny part is, you'd expect these guys wish such amazing experience and talent to be tyrants - to talk down and snub their noses and tell me I'm doing everything all wrong. They are the nicest guys I've ever met though, and it's making for a very enjoyable week to step outside of my comfort zone, and actually make myself vulnerable and learn something.
I haven't signed up to conduct in front of the class (our options are both Holst suites, Down a Country Lane, Balladeir, Chester, and Salvation is Created. The only one I've ever conducted is Salvation... so I'm waiting to see how others do before I volunteer.
Last night we were invited to go to a family style dinner at this little tiny Italian restaurant. I was sitting next to another professor here, and he turned out to have gone to Yale with the Toners - and it was neat to be so far away from home but still make connections.
I've also realized that I need to keep playing. Now that I've taught a year full time and survived, doing the VT Winds again is a must.

End of first class (after 10.5 hour day y'all)

Given that this week is a 4 day work week, a 3 credit week long class has been condensed into 4 days, from 8am to 6:30 pm. It was a very long afternoon. However, it's been amazing so far! I left my cell in the dorm, so sorry no photos today. However, a lot of what I learned from Christina student teaching has been reinforced and I feel less overwhelmed than those around me, I think. I've met some neat people, and the professors have a wealth of what union folks would call "institutional knowledge". They've been around, and have some amazing insight into the history and future of bands.
I can't wait to play my clarinet, but I wouldn't mind not having to conduct in front of 40 other educators.
They don't know what to say out here when I tell them I'm from Vermont. I joke and say that some people ask me what state that's in to break the ice... (insert nervous laugh here). Everybody is approachable and friendly though, and it's exciting to not have a feeling that we're all here to learn.
I also ran into Jordan from music ed at UVM. She's working in a residence hall and it was amazing to find somebody I know just happenstance.

American Girl Dolls Pee to, You Know...

Don't ask how I got stuck being dragged to an American Girl Doll store... but it was like Charlie and the Chocolate factory. They had a doll doctor, doll salon.. and even in the human bathrooms, they had a special hook inside the stall to place your doll... I was very amused:

I had the worst mole of my life for dinner (it was as if the cook has accidentally dropped an entire jar's worth of paprika onto my plate). Then I came back to my hotel room and was a good busy bee: I worked on my school UBD unit, created chromatic scales for all band instruments in Sibelius, and started the creation of a student portfolio. Then the fireworks began!
I thought I was going to see the "Chicago Fireworks" from Navy Pier from the top of my roof at IIT. Well... It turns out we counted a mimimum of about 15 different spots all around the horizon around the city doing fireworks, many of them at the same time! They were over the stadium, over the city, over the water - everywhere! Enjoy the photos.

My first class starts in an hour!

More Photos

I just had to snap a shot of the world's coolest bathroom, the view from under the L at IIT, and the Vandercook sign.

Chicago Update No. 1

Ok, let's see where to begin...
My first flight had so many screaming and pooping kiddos on it... The parents of the screamer in front of me were young and had a great sense of humor, but it didn't mask the child who made noises louder than my high school percussionists. I wished I had my earplugs...
The overall travel experience was good until I got to Chicago. The L was difficult to manage when it was time to change from one color line to another - the stations were not well marked and I had to ask for help. My room is at IIT and my roommie never showed. Dinner at a college caf was less than nostalgic. They have some great vegetarian and vegan offerings that will help keep the WW struggle in check, but I did help myself to a slice of pizza. Oh, and an Auntie Annie's pretzil yesterday at the airport. What, I had 5 minutes between getting off a flight and boarding the next one and it was the closest lunch in sight...
I fell asleep feeling a little alone and at a loss for resources. Maybe it was just overload that had me down. At least I saw a great sunset over the city:

This morning I woke up and missed my morning coffee so much that I had to download the app for Starbucks. I'm a block away, so I walked over. On my way in, a dude said, "good morning" to me and I just ignored him because I couldn't tell if he was being friendly or had a maliscious intent. The barista told me where the nearest supermarket was, and also explained that the stadium I saw along the way was the home of the White Sox. Along my walk to the store, every single person I saw said, "good morning" and I realized: Everybody out here is just super friendly! Score one for Chicago.
I was able to get what I needed and get back to the dorm, and now I feel so adventurous that I might go find my room for class tomorrow, eat at Gino's East for dinner, and see the fireworks. Maybe Chicago is not half bad.

Horoscope

“The passion to explore is at the heart of being human,” said Carl Sagan. “This impulse — to go, to see, to know — has found expression in every culture.” But Steven Dutch, a professor at the University of Wisconsin, disagrees. He says there’ve been lots of societies that have had little interest in exploration. Africans never discovered Madagascar or the Cape Verde archipelago, for example. Few Asian cultures probed far and wide. During a thousand years of history, ancient Romans ignored Russia, Scandinavia, and the Baltic, and made only minimal forays to India and China. Where do you personally fit on the scale of the human exploratory urge, Virgo? Regardless of what you’ve done in the past, I bet you’ll be on the move in the coming months. Your hunger for novelty and unfamiliarity should be waxing."
-Free Will Astrology

On another note, the trip to San Antonio didn't interfere with WW that much - I stayed the same for the week. I'm hoping that the trip to Chicago for 2 weeks and being on a college meal plan will make salads more accessible.

Roomie Search

This time last year when I was meeting potential roomies, the following phone conversation sums up my experience:

Phone conversation, after polite introductions:
Me: So, would you like to schedule a time to come over, meet me and view the apt?
Dude: Well, I should be honest and tell you that I'm not looking for myself. I'm looking for my girlfriend. She is trying to move closer to me from out of state.
Me: Oh, it's nice of you to do the searching for her.
Dude: I should also let you know that she just got out of jail...
Me: Uh...
Dude: Oh no, it's not like that. It was just assault because she was drunk. She has her drinking under control now.
Me: Oh... Good for her.
Dude: She has her drinking under control now because she's pregnant.
Me: So... Once she gives birth there would be a baby living with me?
Dude: Yeah
Me: I don't think this is going to work with what I'm looking for in a roommate, but good like finding a place.

Yeah... You can't make that stuff up!
This time around, folks are responsible, have real jobs, are polite, no unusual surprises. We shall see what happens.