Days 17, 18, & 19: Thanks Cliff Lee... But I Had Fun Anyway.

June 29, 2011


15 days - Arts Fest 2011
41 days - Blue Band Officer Week
48 days - Blue Band Marching Auditions/Band Camp Begins
66 days - Penn State vs. Indiana State


I'm quite exhausted after the past three days, so this will probably be pretty short and to the point, since I'm nodding off and I still have lesson planning to do (and figure it's only 8:47pm).  Time is seriously flying.  I'm on day 19(!) of this blog already, and after only nine posts I have over 1,000 views from over seven countries.  It seems like a lot of people enjoyed Monday's post, which is what I was hoping for.  Anyway, the last three days have seriously been great, and now I'm about to settle into a steady week and a half of working, teaching, and gym time.  I tacked on the Arts Fest countdown since that's the most significant thing happening pretty much for the rest of this summer until I head back for good August 9th.


Tuesday was a pretty great day.  I taught my first private music lesson with a sophomore alto sax player.  I thought it went extremely well.  She's at a good level for me to teach her, there's a lot of basic musical things I can cover in the next seven lessons... phrasing, breathing, exaggerating dynamics, articulation.  It's also tough when the kid has a sax that hasn't been serviced in four years, and is using reeds that are way too soft.  I was a bit nervous at first, especially when the parent ended up sitting in for the entire lesson... but, I proved myself to be "satisfactory" for teaching her, so, "success", I guess.  Woodwind Methods coming through in the clutch.  After my lesson I went to my friend Brandon's place and we laid out on Lake Wallenpaupack for 3 1/2 hours and I got some decent color, despite how cloudy it was.  We're planning on doing that again Friday before we go to Scranton to pick up the bass cabinet I'm buying.


Wednesday I slept in pretty late and then I started the drive down to Doylestown, where I stayed overnight after the Red Sox/Phillies game.  I don't know what kind of logic Google Maps is following, but it was quite the adventurous drive down... only took a little over two hours with a stop though.  We got to the game a bit early and tailgated in the lot and made it to our seats just in time for the first pitch.  The game, well, at least I can say I saw the Red Sox play at game this year, even if they only managed two hits against an ace pitching like an ace.  Tonight's loss was even more painful.  I went with my best friends from back at PSU.  Posted a small photo album here... I think if you click on it it'll work, I don't even know myself.










Today was a pretty good day overall.  I woke up quite early in Doylestown (yes, 8:30am is quite early for me, at least the way my sleep schedule is oriented right now).  I didn't want to take the crazy way home so I took the Turnpike up to I-80, and it was routine from there.  A bit longer, but I was home before noon.  I did some things around the house and then hit the gym around 2:00.  I'm not sure if it's the new supplement that I'm on day 3 of, but I had by far the greatest workout I've had in an extremely long time - a 90-minute full-body workout... cardio, upper body in the gym, and then core in the 160-degree sauna.  I sat outside and worked through my lesson plan for tomorrow after that... got a little bit of sun too, not a bad deal. 


Tomorrow I'll be teaching another lesson in the afternoon, practicing percussion a little bit, and then working 4:00pm to 10:30pm, and then coming home to watch the Paterno/Coach K special, since I have to tape it.  Friday I plan on doing some flips out on the grass since it's supposed to be nice out...


That's all for now.
Thanks for reading.