accomplishments and stuff

accomplishments and stuff

Friday I met with my ankle doctor and we talked about my upcoming surgeries. He wants me to call him when I'm done with my antibiotics and when my ankle is all healed up (so probably in another few weeks) and he'll take the metal out of my leg. I have a choice of having just some of the metal taken out or all of it. I'll probably just have it all taken out. My doctor said it's okay for me to go back to work on a (very) limited basis, which I'm happy about. I love my job (at a one-hour photo lab), so I've missed it. I'm glad things are going to start getting back to "normal". It will be kind of weird though because I'll be working like once a week for a few weeks and then I'll be laid up from another surgery.

We had a marching band staff meeting on Friday, which went pretty well. Unfortunately not many people could be there - it's a busy time of year. Andrei and I will probably be writing some mallet parts, which could be kind of stressful because I can never figure out how difficult of parts to write, but we'll figure it out. I don't think there's a whole lot to say about the meeting, except that it kind of hit me how many things we have working against us. It's always hard to coordinate a band that size, but on top of that we're dealing with the fact that one of our band directors, who wrote most of the show every year, is no longer with us. Also, there's that part about us all having to get back on a bus to go to/from the competitions. Then there's the fact that we, as a band, went through a horrible event and we're still working through it. It should be an interesting season, that's for sure. I'd be lying if I said I'm completely pumped for the season to start. I definitely have mixed feelings, but I know it will be very rewarding in the end.

After the meeting, we hung out at C's house for a while and then Liz, Raji and I went back to EC. We had a good talk on the way home. I tend to feel like people don't want to talk about the accident anymore, or are "over" it, or whatever. When my friend Paul died four years ago, I remember there was a period of time afterwards when people had a hard time talking or thinking about anything other than his death. Then gradually people were probably still thinking about it but didn't want to talk about it as much anymore. I'm not sure if people got over it or if they just felt like they shouldn't talk about it anymore. I think it was the latter. People probably didn't want to seem like they were dwelling on it, and didn't want others to think they were just looking for attention. In truth I think it was on everyone's mind for a long time. For a lot of us, it was the first time we'd lost a peer, and that's a hard thing to come to grips with. I think, when it comes to the accident, we're in that phase now. I talk about it probably too much, but it helps me to do so. I hope people don't think I'm dwelling on it or whatever, but it was a huge life-changing event, so of course I'm still going to talk about it. I hope everyone else isn't trying to censor themselves because they're worried about what others will think of them. It affected so many people on so many levels - I don't think most of us will ever "get over" it.

Anyway... Today's wind symphony concert was fun, but I can't help feeling like I was a little underprepared. Practicing is usually my top priority and normally I wouldn't be caught dead being underprepared for a concert, but I guess these days boring things like appointments and resting have to take a higher priority. Anyway, I played fine, just not as well as I could have under different circumstances. Just the fact that I could play at all is an accomplishment.

After the concert and going out to dinner, I came home and finished my music history paper. I'm DONE!! I just have to proof-read it and add an appendix and it will be ready to turn in. My independent study paper is pretty much done also, and now I just need to write a short research paper for my women's studies class and take a couple finals and then the school year from hell will be over. Good riddance.

It was such a nice day out, I decided to try going for a bike ride after I finished my paper. I tried it once like a month ago and it really didn't work out so well - I couldn't get my bike going, and it was scary trying. It was scary when I tried again today, but once I got going, it was pretty easy. I rode around my neighborhood for a few minutes and then came home and now I'm exhausted. I used to ride about eight miles a day, and of course I'm still a long way from that, but it feels so good to reach my goal of being able to get back on my bike.