Lady-less Weekend and Orchestra Concert

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It's Sunday right now. The ladies spent the weekend in London starting from Thursday, doing whatever you do when you're young and free in a major European city. Which left the guys: Ryan, Kevin, Brandon, and myself home alone for the weekend. Ryan left on a caving expedition on Friday, which left only three of us to run the flat. It was a really good weekend. It was very relaxing to have so few around the flat, and everyone just got to chill out a bit. Those of us left behind had some good times. On Thursday night, the four of us watched an entire disc of Arrested Development season 2. For those of you not familiar with Arrested Development, it was a Fox sitcom that won a ton of Emmys, but since no one watched it, it got cancelled after 3 seasons. Ridiculous, because it is so funny. I'd recommend it. Anyways, Friday brought class, and another strangely beautiful day. It's weird, because you're always expecting it to rain, so you never trust anything, even when it looks perfect out. So even as the sky is filled with blue, I'm always convinced that a downpout is imminent. Anyways, I was able to go downtown and take some photos of the city, so everyone can maybe get a better sense of what downtown Nottingham is like. Check it at the photo site. I had orchestra rehearsal at night, and made it back to the flat around 10:00. Brandon and I were craving cheese Doritos, so we thought we'd take a little walk across the bridge and go to a 24 hour convenience store. Thing is, "across the bridge" means the shady part of town. That didn't really bother us, so we went to this convenience store probably around 11:30. I was wearing a very un-ghetto black sweater, gloves, a hat, hiking boots, and carrying a most unfashionable travel mug of coffee. Needless to say, the convenience store (Spar) closed down into a full service place after 10 or so, so you have to line up and tell the clerk what you want, and he'll go and get it, whereafter you pay him through a little window. We got some good natured ribbing about our style of dress from some of the locals, who curiously enough, were all buying cheap beer. One girl wondered why we thought we were in Iceland (given our hats and gloves, along with my coffee), while another really liked my sweet hiking boots. Not really. It was a cultural experience. We then came back alive, ate Doritos, and watched A Fish Called Wanda with Kevin.

Saturday brought more orchestra rehearsal in the morning. I'm not really in the mood to write about how frustrating it is to play in a group that doesn't have the same standards of excellence as Luther. But you get the idea. Anyways, after orchestra got done early, I came back to the flat. We have this assignment to write a paper about the arts in Britain, which requires you to go to an artistic performance. So I went and saw a play called "The Caretaker" with Brandon at the Nottingham Playhouse. It was about an eccentric guy who invites a homeless guy to stay with him, who is consistently berated by the guy's younger brother. It was one of those really artsy plays that you really can't explain all that well. To be fair, I didn't really like the play all that much, but I appreciated the experience. We got back, and I decided to indulge in that most English culinary delights: fish and chips. So I walked down to the local fish and chips shot, paid 3 pound, and got what seemed to me to be a whole freaking fish, along with about 5 pounds of chips. A ton of greasy, completely unhealthy food. I couldn't finish it. The guy packed it up in this cardboard box, I thought it was funny. Next time, I think I'll get the "mini fish and chips." Anyways, after much confusion at the transportation system, Brandon, Kevin, and I headed out to the Savoy cinema to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America to Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

The movie was extremely offensive, incredibly ballsy, and mind numbingly funny. It really is a very clever satire of the intolerance and stupidity of many many Americans. I thought it was great. You'd think the theater full of English college students would find it funnier than the 3 random Americans, who the movie spent the whole time laughing at. But we were almost always the first to laugh stupidly at all the outrageous situations. If you see the movie, can you believe that they actually did that hotel wrestling scene? I can't either.

After the movie, we had nothing better to do, so Kevin was like, "Let's climb out onto the roof of the flat and smoke cigars." Being in college, in a foreign country, up late, and out of female supervision, we thought, why not? Outside the kitchen, there is a landing which is the roof of the entry area. Needless to say, the only way out to the landing is a small window maybe 1.5 feet by 1.5 feet. It took some finagaling, but all three of us managed to squeeze out the window, along with a stool and a blanket, where we enjoyed a victory cigar, and also discussed the place of music in society. Meanwhile, we're all wearing these hats that make us look like three 1920's Chicago gangsters. Some intense photos were taken. It was a really good time. I apparently almost died coming back in. Upon re-entry into the kitchen, I inadvertantly knocked a bunch of knives off a magnetic strip on the wall, sending knives everywhere. Meanwhile, I am half sprawling half falling out of this tiny window, contorted in a most uncomfortable position, with my ankle caught in the hinge. Kevin told me that I was near death. I believe him. It was intense.

Today was my debut as principal trombone in a real orchestra. Let me tell you, playing lead in an orchestra is a lot different than playing bass trombone in an opera pit. Yikes. Especially when you're playing an alto part, like the Schumann. I felt like I was having heart palpitations the entire time. Thankfully, I survived, and although I did have my fair share of fracks and botched high notes, I'd say the first concert was a success. The two other trombones still sucked, but I can say that I am happy with my performance, given the situation. I feel that I will continue to improve in this capacity, and am sure to have my part solidly down for our next concert sometime in the winter. It's not like I couldn't play my part today, but it was a challenge, especially being so high. A lot of notes, it was just sort of hope for the best and smash the mouthpiece to your face. Sorry Dr. Smith, I know, it was bad. Really bad. I'll work on that. But Kevin, Emily, Mary, Anna, and Hilary came to hear me play, so that was really cool. It's always so much more satisfying to play for people you know. You actually have a visible reason to do your best. So, thanks for coming folks. I really appreciated it. This has gotten way too long. I'm out.