tacet

tacet

Well, I suppose I should update. Today was the first day of class. I missed world politics because I had an appointment. My other class is "science of musical sound", which should be a really cool class. I was really uncomfortable after 50 minutes of sitting there, but that should get easier with time.

Physical therapy went really well this morning. I've been making so much progress every day. I'm glad that my hard work is finally starting to pay off. I tried using one crutch again, and it went a lot better this time. Last week I could only take a few steps, and my left foot barely left the ground - I just kind of "skidded" it. Today I was able to make a lap around the small gym. My walk bore almost no resemblance to normal walking, but it's a start.

I went to an ears/nose/throat doctor today to see if I broke my face. It's not like they could do anything for me if I did have a fracture, but it's important to get everything checked out. As it turns out, my face is not broken - I just have some bone bruising on my cheekbone and around my eye. Unfortunately, the doctor said it will probably take a year to heal :( Oh well.

I stopped in at the fine arts building today and picked up audition music for large ensembles. I still haven't really decided if I want to be in an ensemble, but I think I'd like to do it. It would be easier to not join an ensemble, but it would make me happier if I were in one. I'm going to talk to Dr. C about it and see how auditions go. I'm going to practice the excerpts tomorrow and see how well I'm physically able to play the instruments. As far as auditions go, I have a lot working against me: not only do I have to learn the parts and be able to play them well, but I have to overcome the pain and difficulty of standing and keeping my balance while playing. It's a challenge I look forward to, though. I miss playing music. This is the longest span of time in the past 19 years that I've gone without playing anything. I have a lot of free time tomorrow, so as long as my mom is willing to sit around and wait for me, maybe I'll wander over to the piano practice rooms too.

My ankle has been so sore since the surgery. There isn't a lot of spare skin around the ankle, so when my doctor cut some skin out and stitched the surrounding stuff together, it made the whole area really tense. I have stretch marks on my ankle, it's weird. Now that it's healing, the skin is pulling even more agains the stitches. I'll be so glad when I don't have to worry about this anymore.

On Saturday Raji and I went to EC for a while and bummed around Target and the mall and I got some good exercise. I'll be so glad when I'm not on crutches anymore - the tendinitis in my shoulders has flared up. We took a break and met Sean, Ben, Ben, and Jeremy for dinner at Panera. It was really fun! I miss seeing people. That's one nice thing about school starting - I won't be so lonely anymore.

While we were driving to EC, Raji had a Chuck Mangione CD playing. We used to listen to his stuff all the time when we were in high school, and I realize that probably makes us dorks. The song "Bellavia" came on and we were brought back to my junior/his senior year, when we played it in G's jazz band. We used to have so much fun in that band, and I can picture our rhythm section playing that song - me playing my Rhodes in unison with Ryan on bass, Raji playing drums, and Jim playing the sweet triangle part. "Bellavia" was a favorite of G's, and I remember a rehearsal when he yelled to Raji during the loud section to play louder (not something a drummer hears often), and you could see his passion for music as he threw his arms up and yelled "YES! JUST LIKE THAT!" and we played our hearts out. It's a beautiful song to begin with, and that memory makes it even more meaningful.

On that note (haha, I'm punny), Chi-Hi's annual Valentine's Day Big Band Bash is coming up in about two weeks. It's always been my favorite concert of the year - everyone dresses up for it and dances to music provided by the high school's three jazz bands, a band made up of community members, and an alumni "all-star" band, which I've been a member of since I graduated. I have so many good memories from years past. My sophomore year my friend Tony and I won a swing dance competition. We practiced for months ahead of time to get our aerials just right so we could show off. My senior year, the all-girl band I played bass for (Spoonful of Sugar) got to play a set. I'm playing in the alumni band this year, but it will be strange without G there to direct us. The alumni band was something he looked forward to every year. It will also be a little weird because I haven't played piano in three months, and these days I play jazz once a year, at the V-day bash. That's okay, it's fun, and that's all that matters. This year's Bash is on Saturday, 2/11 and Andrei can probably tell you what time it starts. The photo is me dancing with G, and Brian dancing with my friend Melissa. It was probably taken in '99.