Baseball

In the summer, when I discovered Nottingham had a softball team, I made up my mind to join that. Not being able to do softball, I made up my mind to play baseball. So, I've now experienced 2 practices of English baseball. Hmm, where to begin. On Monday, we practiced for an hour in this big gym. I didn't get to bat, but they had two net like batting "cages" where these two guys where pitching. I somewhat question their methods, as they were throwing as hard as they could, to people who didn't seem to have much experience batting. I know if I would have batted, I would barely have hit anything. Anyways, we did some fielding drills and such. There are a lot of different ethnicities on the team. 2 or 3 Americans, a guy from Mexico City, a guy who is half Iraqi half English, a guy who is half Japanese, half English, etc, etc, etc. People of foreign ancestry I am sure outweigh native English, with good reason. People of varying abilities. I guess, I'm not really bad, but am definitely not good. Right in the middle. Today, it was the stereotypical British day that everyone thinks of. Meaning, rainy and dreary. After a very wet bike ride to campus, and a class on Islam, I showed up to the sports center for practice. No one was really expecting to do much, as not many people were expected to show in such inclement weather. But, probably around 7 or 8 guys showed up, so the leader figure decided it was a perfect day to practice sliding and stealing bases. Needless to say, my beautiful new Umbro athletic pants, Twins Territory T-shirt, and hiking boots are covered in mud. The majority of us do not own baseball or soccer cleats, so we were definitely slipping all over the place. I either need to get some baseball shoes shipped over to me, or fake it and buy soccer shoes. All in all, I think it's going to be a good experience. The past few years, I've been so consumed with music at Luther, that I can't really do anything else. So, I think it's good to take a bit of a breather from ensemble playing, and do something that I normally could not do at Luther. I figure this is one of the only chances I have remaining to play baseball, a game I really love. So, it's good, and I'm sticking with it, no matter how much it may damage my self-dignity or sore up my arm. The people on the team are nice. I guess the two leaders are really "sporty" people, so they're not really the type I would normally hang out with, but I can dig it. It will surely be a learning experience. I just hope I don't suck too much. I'm really worried about how my batting ability is going to turn out.

Anyways, I have my first trombone lesson tomorrow, so that should be exciting. I've also been practicing my orchestra music. I picked it up the other day, and it turns out I have at least 3 pretty significant solos in the Shostakovich symphony no. 15. It definitely is intimidating, as the only orchestral playing I have ever done is bass trombone in an opera, which certainly didn't feature any solos. It's giving me a little fear, which is good. I need to learn it, and learn it well. It feels like Concert Band first year, sort of. Speaking of Concert Band, a big good luck to those of my readers who are members of said ensemble on their upcoming fall tour. You have no idea how much I want to be going, and every imaginable effort is going to be put into being in the band next fall. Benjamin, how can you live with yourself, going on a band tour and not rooming with me? I know they'll sound great though. I heard from Mr. Nyline, the Luther band director and Dr. Smith, my trombone professor in the past few days, which was really good. I don't want to completely fall off the face of the planet for 9 months or whatever. Speaking of months, it's been a whole month since we arrived in England now. It can be labeled a success overall, I think. Although, I can already see where I am going to miss the considerably more independent Luther life. As good as the group meals and such are, it effectively takes away around 4 hours of your day if you cook, which could be better spent practicing trombone, doing homework, exploring the city, or something like that. I feel as if I have a lot more control over how I spend my time at Luther, and consequently, do things a lot more efficiently. We always complain about having to trek to Jenson from Miller or Farwell or whatever to get our instruments, then go to the CFL. Try navigating a city bus, or a 45 minute walk in the rain, or a bike with your trombone, and you can appreciate the immense comforts that a small, residential college in the middle of nowhere presents. But, I suppose, it's the burden you take upon yourself when you choose a large instrument. This has gotten way too long. I have to hit this music. Later.