Wow.... no journals in a looongg time. Oops! In addition to catching up on lots of stuff, I'm testing the ability to use journal skins! Sounds pretty awesome to me even if it's only until the 27th.

I shall catch up on band stuff. So, All-State results came in November, and I didn't make it, but neither did the other 3 in my band who tried out, and I wasn't expecting to anyway. In January it was preparation for All-County auditions on the 13th, which, by the way, was less than a week after we got back from winter break. By then, I had my new oboe (Marigaux <3 Awesome instrument), but wasn't used to it yet and played the audition on my plastic oboe--it happened to be the same piece from All-State. I made All-County, then had a few months of waiting before once a week 2 hour practices started in March. On April 1, there was an all-day rehearsal, and they mean it--8 hours, which is a lot for middle schoolers to handle, haha, our mouths were dead by the end, but wait! We had our first concert that night with only an hour to relax in between. I had a solo in "You Raise Me Up," (this time on my new oboe), as did the awesome horn and my flautist buddy, but the vocal soloist who had a mic pretty much covered us up completely, though I didn't mind because my reed was being obnoxious. The next concert was April 15 for incoming band students (elementary school), but sadly I had to miss it because I went on a super fun Disney fieldtrip with a program at my school

In late March my school band went to district MPA and earned straight superiors onstage with an excellent in sightreading, and I had a solo in one of those pieces as well. In late April, it was off to Atlanta, Georgia, for us where we competed in the Music Showcase Festival and earned first in our division, whilst I was a soloist again, and got a trophy!

Then it was my last spring concert with my amazing band director from two-thirds of my middle school experience, and immediately after, time to practice an audition piece for Symphonic band at high school (where I'm going has one of the best bands in the area, plus, the other two oboists are seniors, and I didn't expect to make it. However, I was told I had a really good audition and emailed my results a few days after, and I got in! I was crazily excited about that.

I mustn't leave out my latest obsession. I got Andrew Lloyd Webber's 2004 Phantom of the Opera movie for Easter. I had no clue what it was about, and was actually like "waitt, opera? o.o" Well, my awesome friend ~FinyB forced me to watch it and I am soooo soooo glad she did. I fell in love with the story. I started reading fanfictions obsessively, and as you can see, my favorites are filled with art that shows plainly--I am a phan. I devoured Susan Kay's Phantom, amazing book, and it made me even more drawn to the character of Erik. I watched more takes on the movie this past weekend too. I love the 1990 miniseries which at first I was frowning upon because I had just finished Kay and adored it, and it's quite different. But things are allowed to be different, so I came around! I also am really fond of the silent 1925 version... I never thought I would like a silent film, but here's my proof that I lied to myself So yeah. I also began to watch the 1989 horror/slasher version, and, ugh. XD Quit halfway through. Hated it. But, I am interested in other versions of the deformity besides the sunburn of doom and so I went looking on dA and really like people's portrayals! I found amazing makeup tutorials as well, and found a stuffed monkey with cymbals on his hands sitting on a box... lying around my house, and it makes me want to be Erik for Halloween, hahaha. With the monkey, I even have myself a prop.... Now I have the original Leroux book on hold at the local library. And I'm still hungry for more Phantom reading material.

Now school ends: after one.more.exhausting.week.of.finals. Thank goodness! But I only have the weekend to relax, because the Monday after school gets out, band camp starts, and this isn't even the intense one--four days long, five hours a day of learning how to march in Florida summer on an instrument that isn't what I'm used to--I'll be marching on flute this year and seeing how it goes. I guess I should enjoy this time, because in August, it's six days long, twelve hours a day, in the hottest month of the summer in the intolerable heat of Florida! -sigh-

~xOriii