Skipped Corners

I kept really busy today. Too busy to realize how fast everything was happening, which made everything easy. Woke up bright and early this morning because I had to do a few things by 11:00. Got my mail forwarding set up. Don't know how much longer anyone will send me stuff at my Pepperdine address. Took care of some employment paperwork for the lectures, and packed up every single thing in my room. I had everything done already, I just had to get all the suitcases and boxes stacked and everything so I could vacuum, and so that when the RAs came through I could look like I was honest when I told them I'd be able to leave just as soon as I had the key to my new room.
I had my move planned out very well, but unfortunately, my plan was very strenuous, and had no flexibility. See, I've tried for about a week to find somebody who'd be able to help me move my stuff, my simply loaning me a car or driving their car for me, for about 20 minutes, that's all I needed. Unfortunately, among the few people who are still here, most of them were using their cars to take people to the airport, help people move stuff to off-campus storage units, or their cars were just full of their own stuff because they'd cleared out of their dorm. So, my next plan came when my room mate produced this double decked service cart from the fine arts office. It's like an overhead projector's cart, but about twice as big. He used it to move all his stuff to his truck last night, and told me I could use it today if I just took it back to the Fine Arts office afterwards. I experimented with it in the room, and found a way that I could move every single thing in just two trips. Well, walking up to Drescher isn't that bad. I did it once before for exercise, and it wasn't easy. But I figured that's what I had to do.
So here was the plan:
2:00 - This is the earliest time that I can get the key to check into my new room. So I get the key.
2:00 - 3:30 - I had all of this time to make two trips up the hill. It would be hard, I would become extremely sweaty and tired, but I'd get it done, and I was grateful that it would only take two trips, and not one trip per suitcase.
3:30 - Shower, get dressed for the bacclaureate ceremony I was to play at, return the cart.
4:00 - Be exhausted, but clean and have all the moving behind me.
But, of course, this could not happen. I get an e-mail from my room mate (who has already left) and he tells me that the FA office needs their cart back by 3. Well, no big deal. I'll go to the check in spot about 20 minutes earlier, explain my situation, and if they can, I'll get the key early. If they can't, then worst case scenario, I have to walk the hill twice in one hour. A gruesome task, but not that bad considering it's just one hour of hard labor, and afterwards I have a whole hour to rest and shower before I have to be clean again. But here's what actually happened:
11:00 - I am packed up and good to go three hours earlier than I was supposed to be.
1:45 - I go to the check in place. They don't have my key yet. I just need to wait until 2. two o'clock comes along with a set of Drescher keys. Sadly, none of them were right, so we had to call in and ask for the correct keys. The guy who does all of this is a mentally handicapped guy that works for the housing office. The check-in people made good use of me while I was waiting, and sent me on many personal runs back and forth to relay messages. Because all the people in housing are so busy getting people out, this poor guy, Luke, was doing the lecture keys all my himself, and taking his precios time, I might add.
2:50 - I get my key. At this point I have lost all respect of my schedule. I'm so frustrated and illogical, I'm thinking that even if I don't give the cart back or get a shower, I must get my stuff up to Drescher and be at the playing gig at 4. As I'm pushing my first load out of the parking lot of towers, it dawns on me that it's a lost cause. Getting one load up to Drescher, and then walking back down could take 45 minutes, and at that point, I'll never get dressed for the thing at 4. So, I decide to just leave everything in my old room, and when the housing people get on my case about not being out of the room, I'll kindly remind them that they did not have anybody watching or helping Luke today, and so things got behind schedule. Maybe at that point, somebody would have a car I could use.
As luck would have it, on my way back, I run into my friend Amber, who is loading a Uhaul truck. How's this for luck? Her truck is over half empty because she's taking it to a storage place to pick up the belongings of her sister who graduated a year ago and left all her furniture in storage. Amber was going to get everything in her U-haul and drive it back to Kansas. And what's better, I run into Amber, and she's three hours ahead of schedule! Does she have room for my stuff? Yeah. Does she have 20 extra minutes to run me up to Drescher and let me unload? You bet! So not only did I not have to push all my stuff up the windy uhill road, I had somebody else who helped me unload it when I got there. That's the good ending.
The bad ending was that I didn't get the cart back to the office until about 3:40, but they didn't seem like they'd been waiting for it. The worse ending is that I had to grab my dress clothes for tonight and take them down to the music building to change. By cutting my lateness for the performance down to 5 minutes, the closest I got to a shower was a washed neck and face, and a clean undershirt. I felt terrible the whole time. Didn't want to sit near anybody, didn't want any goodbye I'll never see you again hugs. It was terrible. A few people came up to say goodbye because they were leaving, and I apologized for my smell. I know it's not tasteful, but I couldn't stand the thought of people years from now remembering how the last time they saw me I was stinky, if they don't know that there was a perfect explanation, and that I was aware and ashamed. Most people lied and said they couldn't notice. I know they were lying. I could smell myself. That means it's very bad when you can smell yourself.
Anyways, this blog is titled skipping corners, because I'm staying in Drescher, the grad school/faculty apartments, while the rest of the lecture workers are crammed four to a room in a dorm. I'm in a four bedroom apartment with five guys. Everyone has a bed, we have a full kitchen, living room, and a huge bathroom. They reserve these rooms at lectures for the people who actually run the lectures, the guest speakers, and the shuttle drivers. I'm simply up here because I'm working in child care, and there are only three males working child care, which is not enough to make a suite in the dorm, but just the right number to fill the leftover spaces up here.
Yep, skipping corners has been the story of my housing experience at Pepperdine. When I first came here, I started out in the dorms like everyone else. In fact, I know of a few seniors who lived in dorms all the time they were here. Second semester, I got to move to Towers. Coveted, because it costs no more than the dorms, but it's a bigger space with thicker walls and private bathrooms. It's most juniors and seniors, with a few sophomores who got luck of the draw. I got in because I was invited by my room mate who had a medical condition that allowed him to room with whoever was willing to sleep through the noises of his condition. Sleeping through anything is no daunting task to me.
And here I am now, in a Drescher apartment. I did not have to wait until I was a graduate student, much less an unmarried faculty member. But that is how I will finish my stay here at Pepperdine. While most people in my class are returning to the dorms next fall, a few lucky were drawn for towers, and some who can afford it will be off campus. But in one school year, I've gone all the way from bottom to top.
I suppose I'll visit here some in the next few years, and stay with friends, but the next time I come here to live, I suppose I'll have to live in one of the townhouses as a faculty member with a family. It's the next step up.

this one's a doozer

Warning: This one is long, even for me. Took me an hour to write all of this. If you are supposed to be doing anything else right now or anytime soon, leave this one for later. - Sam

What a strange feeling this is. My time as a Pepperdine student is over. It's so weird. Right now, I honestly think I'm feeling more nostalgia and emotional attachment than I did when I graduated high school. Why is that? I was in high school for four years. Those friends, teachers, building, traditions, groups, etc., for four years. I've only been at Pepperdine for eight months, and yet packing everything up today was really hard. After my room mate left, it made me feel really sad to come back to an empty room. At first I thought it was really nice, because once I was packed, it was the first time I'd ever seen this room clean (no, really. The first time I came over, the whole room was filled with his stuff. When I moved in, we only moved his stuff as we needed to in order to make room for my stuff. We've picked up a few times, but it's never been clean.) But after about five minutes of the cleanness, it just feels sterile.
I cleaned out my locker in the music building, and then I went to the storage room and brought all my cello stuff, and the cello itself, back to the room. It's weird, I remember now that I'm going to need the cello down there tomorrow for this party I'm playing at, but I just moved it up here, because it felt like I was supposed to clear out of here.
The whole campus is a ghost town. Today was the last day of finals, and very few people had tests today anyways. Those who are around only come out of their rooms to throw something away, or carry stuff to their cars. I went down to the campus center to get some food tonight, and it was late enough that the Oasis is the only food service still open. I expected there to be a pretty good line, as there always is after everything else has closed, but there was not. Just two guys cleaning behind the counter, a little suprised to have an actual customer. Weird. I went up to the Sandbar to eat my food, again, nobody. Big screen TV wasn't on, nobody was banging on the piano. No study groups at the tables. Nobody on cell phones (it's one of the best places on campus to get reception.)
I know that my time at Pepperdine isn't over. I'm still here for a week and two more days, but that's for lectures. That's a job. The experience of going to school here is over. It's weird.
I think the reason it's so much harder than leaving high school is this:
Before a high school freshman ever sets foot in the school for his first day, everything is set. His class requirements are set. His schedule of hours is set. His calendar is there. Sophomore year he will take the PSAT. Junior/senior year he'll take SAT. Sophomore year is (was) the exit TAAS. Senior year he joins in the senioritis of filling out college applications, scholarship forms, and slacking off in his classes. Then, in May of his senior year, he graduates, just like everyone knew he would before he ever started high school. I mean, in my 8th grade math class, we had a day where we sat there and planned what courses we would take every semester of high school. In 8th GRADE!! It was hard to leave high school. I'm sure a lot of people had a much harder time letting go of it than I did. But there was the excitement of leaving for the next thing. Nonetheless, the seniors had had a year to say goodbye. We had all the traditions: homecoming, powder-puff, *senior musical*, prom, senior banquet, and project graduation, all year long to help us celebrate, bond, and say goodbye at the same time.
With Pepperdine, it's so much different. When I came out here in August, some things felt alot like the beginning of high school. I was excited to be at "the next thing." There were new people, new classes. Of course the significant noticeable differences were that I was in Malibu, slept in a dorm, lived in a practice room, ate in a cafeteria, worshipped in a gym, paid quarters just to wash clothes. But the most significant reasons that I think make leaving Pepperdine hard, were that I chose this school from among some great options. I'd considered going to, and looked into, University of Houston, UNT, ACU, Texas Tech, and those were just the ones I looked at during my senior year of high school. They'd been narrowed down from a list that included USC, Indiana, Michigan, Eastman, UT, UCLA, and Rice. Of all those schools, I went through a very careful process of choosing, and Pepperdine was my choice. I had visited schools, talked to people on the phone, written who knows how many e-mails, read websites, asked for everyone's opinions. I had prayed, fasted, lost sleep, lost appetite, cried, and even slipped into depression over this decision, and Pepperdine was my choice.
When I went through all of those orientation days and welcome activities, I was home! I was thrilled that this was where I would receive my education and degree. I was so happy! These were the people I'd remember the rest of my life, and work tooth and nail to get back to every ten years for reunions. Even my parents were on top of the world. After hearing all the presentations about Pepperdine, I think they were just about ready to throw fiscal responsibility to the wind and enroll themselves.
That's why leaving Pepperdine is so hard. It's unnatural to leave here for another three years. I've disrupted the pattern. I've only known these people for eight months, but it's hard to say goodbye, because we haven't had the proper time to know it's coming and prepare for it.
Today's weather was so beautiful. The kind of weather they wait for to take pictures for the Southern California post-cards. It wasn't hot at all either. As I was walking to my room from the music building, a voice in my head said, "You must really love music, because you're giving up all of this willfully." And that's just it. If eight months ago, anybody told me that by April I'd be preparing to leave Pepperdine, I would have been sad, and "known" that something was going to happen to my family's financial situation. One of my parents would lose a job, or the music department would lose their scholarship funds. But if that person had corrected me, and told me I'd be leaving because I didn't want to stay anymore, I would have only laughed, and not believed it for a second.
When I first started looking into schools, Pepperdine seemed the most unlikely for a long time. North Texas was going to surely be tough to get into, but I was making connections within the department well before my audition time, and everything seemed very positive. Same with Texas Tech. ACU, in all likelihood, would have taken me in a heartbeat. All I had to do was say I wanted to go, and I could. Pepperdine was the "Impossible Dream." It seemed that way to me at first, and to alot of the people we talked to, and maybe even to my parents at first. It's really tough to get in to Pepperdine. On the west coast, it's regarded along the lines of schools like Berkeley or Stanford. Even if I did get in, it's a rich kid's school. $40,000 a year to go. How much scholarship is available for an average A/B student like me? Making all the pieces come together for Pepperdine to be one of my options was possibly the biggest accomplishment of my life, up to that point. Now, I've done it. If anyone doubted I could, they've been proved wrong. I've made grades out here that are better than what I made in high school, and I've done it taking more than the recommended number of hours both semesters. I got involved with campus life, doing things like praise team at church, campus ministry retreats, and even participating in the musical which took hundreds of hours out of first semester. Now, I've done it, and it's over. Time to go to the "next big thing."
Earlier, I said that leaving high school was exciting, because of what was coming next, Pepperdine. Well, that's true in this case as well. I am very excited about the program I will be a part of this fall. I can't wait until I get to play in that orchestra (even though it could be this fall, or a year or two away) , I can't wait to play with those musicians, I can't wait to go to concerts and hear all of those ensembles, choirs, madrigals, jazz bands, marching bands, drumlines, trombone choirs, woodwind and brass ensembles, operas, musicals, all right there on the campus. Most of all, I cannot wait until I have regular cello lessons with Mr. Osadchy. I have never been more excited about a cello teacher than the times I've had lessons with him.
But still, I'm in this paradox. With Pepperdine, I'm leaving extremely prematurely. I've been here for the part where the class of '08 acclamates and gets to know one another and become part of the school. Now that we're off the ground and going, I leave while this whole world is just beginning. But on the other hand, UNT feels like a better late than never thing. It'll be great to be there, and why haven't I been there already?
Oh well. Tomorrow I move out of my room, and have a week to enjoy the scenery and save up some money without the stress of classes and grades looming over me. Then I have a whole summer ahead of me to sort through the thoughts and experiences of Pepperdine, while the anticipation of UNT grows and grows. All the while I can enjoy driving the tram and guiding tours, and hopefully working on a United Players show, which I miss doing.
By the way, I should have blogged this yesterday. Last night was absolutely one of the coolest nights of my time out here. At about 2:00, I was going back to my room after taking a lunch break from packing, and my friend Alex tells me that he's got VIP tickets for "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno. He invites me to go, but we have to leave in 15 minutes. Luckily, I had no tests or anything, so I just stopped everything I was doing and went. It was so much fun. We didn't have to stand in line, because we had special tickets. We were on the very front row, and got to be part of the crowd that rushes the stage to shake hands with Jay when he comes out. Rosie O'Donell was on the show and gave out free Polaroid cameras to the entire audience. Carmen Electra was also on, and Howie Day performed at the very end. Really fun time. My parents taped it for me, so I can watch parts of it again. I got on camera two times that I know of. Only once where it's clear enough that anyone could recognize me.

Knockin' 'em down

Well, a few weeks ago I blogged about all the things I had to get done in what was then the next three weeks. Since then, I've turned in my composition, my research paper, gone to the wedding, and today I gave my last music @ 3 performance.
I'm not going to be able to attend the Foy Draper tree dedication, because I have to work the Bible lectures that day. I hope someone else from the family can be there on our behalf.
So, still to go: voice jury, for which I need to memorize; cello jury, for which I need to memorize; a Religeon final, for which I need to read; and a speech final, for which I need to read.
Should be okay. The performance today went really well. I played the first movement of Vivaldi's concerto for two cellos. I played the second part, and my friend Rumi played the first part. It was a lot of fun to play with Rumi, because she is a very talented and highly experienced player, and when we play, I can feel myself being pulled up to her level. It was the last music @ 3 performance for the year, and my last for Pepperdine, ever. The crowd loved it, and we received a standing ovation afterwards.
This afternoon was the fine arts dept. end of year party. The In 'n Out truck came up to the park in the faculty neighborhood, so we all hung out and had burgers and played on the playground. I challenged Dr. Cobb to race me down the slide, he conceded. So I challenged Mrs. Pullen, and she accepted. On the stairs going up (it's about a 25' slide) we exchanged a healthy amount of trash talking. She went first, and according to our judge, Tim, she made it down in about four counts. Determined not to let her beat me (I could tell she was going to hold it over me if she did) I grabbed the bar and literally threw myself down the slide. Tim was counting, and before he even made it to two, I was all the way down. Unfortunately, the slide is only about 18'' off the ground, and I did not land on my feet. It really hurt to get up, and Mrs. Pullen was laughing at me, although when Mr. Pullen found out I'd won he congratulated me. So although I endured pain that lasted about five minutes, I will always have the satisfaction of knowing that I beat Mrs. Pullen down the slide.
Tomorrow is my birthday. Does anyone know anything cool about 19? It's weird to turn 19. 15 was learner's permit, 16 was the liscense, 17 was R-rated movies and blood donating (oh yes, giving blood), and 18 was a whole string of things. 19 doesn't seem to have anything like that which comes to mind. Yeah, it's the last year of being a teenager, but is it that exciting to turn 20? Anyways, if there is some new privilege or right that comes at 19, and I'm not thinking of it, please do not hesitate to let me know.
I guess that's it for now. Astros had a bad week. But they've started to wake up these last two games, so it seems.

APPRECIATE YOUR CARS!!!!!!

To everyone out there who owns a car:
Please, for my sake, this week, make a small effort to notice the times that the car makes your life so much simpler. I'm thinking about how for the first month that I had my driver's liscence, I was so appreciative of having the means to get myself where I needed to be, and hardly ever having to worry about if I'd be able to get a ride or find somebody to take me somewhere.
After awhile, I took driving for granted. I got used to, and almost expected, that I'd be able to drive myself wherever I needed to go, and that I'd be able to give rides to people that needed them. I think I forgot how nice it is to have a car.
Now, I'm fully realizing just how convenient it was to have a car. I thought I had the car-less business down these last few trips home when I found people to take me to the airport, but it's not that simple.
My cello teacher is a member of the LA Chamber Orchestra, and Friday he offered me a free ticket to their concert this evening at 7 in LA. The LACO is a very well known group, their concerts are said to be amazing, and tickets are VERY expensive. I thanked him, but told him I'd just buy tickets at the door if I came, because I'd need to buy a ticket for whoever gave me a ride. He then, generously told me that I could have two of his comp. tickets, so that I could treat whoever my ride was.
Well, guess what? I still don't get to go, because from that Friday afternoon until when I gave up about 15 minutes ago, I have invited every single student on this campus whom I know and has a car. Can you believe it? Nobody can/wants to go. I was pretty sure that most of my non-music major friends wouldn't be interested, but 96% of my friends here are the music people. The thing is, three different people are giving their junior/senior recitals today, and so all the music majors (at least the ones with cars) are committed to attend at least one of those. I even invited a few of my professors, but that was a long shot to begin with. So, here I am with two tickets to an amazing concert that starts in 2 1/2 hours, and I'm not going. If I had a car, I would have never appreciated it, because I would just hop in it in about 30 minutes and drive downtown, and never realize how fortunate I was.
Additionally, I'm going to Fresno next weekend for a wedding. I'm riding the Amtrak train, and if I had a car, I'd just go to the station and park, but I don't. Now, this would appear to be simple, because I do not need a ride, but it's not. You see, there is a bus that comes right by the campus on PCH and makes a stop at the station in LA. All I have to do, is book a pass on the bus, and I can just walk down the street and catch it. The only problem is, there is no way to find any information on this supposed bus. The Pepperdine Information Center knows nothing about it. Amtrak does not deal with public transportation, so they say (kind of ironic for a govt. organization trying to innovate public trans. to not deal with public trans.) So, my best option would then be to talk to the LA County Mass Transportation Authority. Their office hours are Mon-Wed 9am - noon, what kind of office hours are those? But I have to. Again, I've probably called 15 different 800 numbers, and been re-connected dozens of times, I've visited too many websites, just to get this far. Again, you people with cars, you have no idea that even though your car gets dirty, costs insurance, uses gas, gets hot in the summertime, and has the occasional repair job, your biggest frequent problem is finding a good parking space, never anything like this.

The stats

Well, baseball season has begun, and there's no way to see just how many different places the students represent quite like walking around the morning classes and seeing the variety of team hats that are being worn by the over-slept baseball fans. All the sports talk is stats, predictions, odds, etc. Therefore, in the spirit of seasons, stats, schedules, and all that stuff that seems to help us understand the baseball world, here are some stats of my own to help anyone who actually reads this to understand what's going on with me.
Days until the chamber music concert: 2
Days until my speech paper is due: 5
Days until my trip to Fresno: 6
Days until my composition is due: 6
Days until the orchestra/choir concert: 10
*Days until my birthday: 12
Days until Womack Speech Contest: 13
Days until cello jury: 16
Days until voice jury: 17
Days until finals week: 16
Days until last day of school: 20
*Days until tree dedication: 21
Days until lectures begin: 23
Days until I fly home: 29

* denotes events which are purely enjoyable. While most of the things listed above bring me great pleasure, fulfillment, and good experience, the * specifies events that do not entail any stress whatsoever.

That's this month. May might be full of things too, but surely not as demanding as April. In May, it's things like starting back at Space Center, going to see "Peter Pan" and maybe even "seeing some old CB buddies" along with the annual United Players' summer auditions.
Seeing the list above makes me tired. Goodnight.