1st place wild card!!!!!!

Well, the Astros have reached first place in the NL wild card race. As of tonight, we are 1/2 game ahead of the Washington Nationals. Hooray! Of course that's the smallest possible lead, and there is much season left to play, but we're on our way! Oh I'm so excited. Of course, while my team spirit is high, my hopes remain realistic, especially after last year :(
Sound of Music finished well. Got a good take on video night, I think, haven't seen it yet.
I only have two more days of work left, tomorrow and Monday, and then I'm done with that. While I'm eager to be done with the job, I'm really starting to realize just how quickly the end of summer is coming. I mean, the show is over, so my evenings are thus freed up; the job is over, so my days will be empty on the calendar as well. What's left, will be to get everything ready for school.
I've got the audition music for the UNT orchestra auditions as of yesterday. The auditions will be August 29th. Lets just say I shouldn't be blogging right now when I could be practicing. It's roughly the same amount of music, and difficulty, as what I would have prepared for any all-state audition in high school. Except this time it's roughly a four week window, instead of the old 5 month period. Oh well, I'm a much better player now than when I was in high school.
I'm really excited about school, and the idea of being back in class and everything. I'm really trying to prepare myself for a totally different experience than Pepperdine. With Pepperdine, the minute I showed up, the orientation was this big welcome show that paints Pepperdine as the small community, welcoming place that it is. While UNT might welcome all the new students in a similar fashion, I'm trying to imagine how it will be in an environment where I'm the main one who makes sure that I'm keeping up with everything.
Dunno. Some things just seem to be ready to go. I feel extremely ready for the idea of taking cello with Mr. Osadchy, something I've wanted to do ever since summer 2003. I'm also excited about the idea of getting involved with a college ministry somewhere in the area, most likely Singing Oaks Church there in Denton. However, there are a few things that I was hoping would already be settled, by now, and while I'm not uneasy, I just wish they were figured out by now. For instance, I have not been able to register for any classes, because I have not been to orientation to meet with my advisor. Also, I have a room confirmation, but housing is yet to assign me a roommate. If they have already assigned one, then they just won't tell me who it is. If I knew who my roommate was, we could figure out all the stuff you're supposed to figure out with a roommate: who brings a refrigerator, microwave, radio, sheet colors (just kidding, I'm not going to buy new sheets just for a new room.) But I do want there to be a microwave, though.
So, that is all. Good night.

One weekend down

Well, "Sound of Music" opened this weekend, and we've had four good shows. Tech day was a week ago today, followed by the infamous tech week, and Thursday opening. I performed Rolf on Thursday and Saturday's performances. Both went pretty well for me, I felt that I was personally better on Thursday. For some reason, our audiences seemed sedate and unresponsive. Today, however, we had a great turnout. The house filled, and they added another row of chairs just to not have to turn anyone away. The audience was extremely lively and laughed at all the funny moments in the show. I hope that my cast gets at least one audience like that before this show is over. This upcoming weekend we have six shows. Should be an intense finish.
Cello lessons are still going well. I had my last lesson with Mr. French just yesterday. It went well. I'm now working on two Popper Etudes, 3rd mvt of Haydn C, and 1st mvt of Lalo.
NASA has kind of bummed me out lately. I still enjoy the job, but with the launch getting put off again, my NASA spirit is just a little low. A month or two ago, I still believed that we would not make the July launch, but they just kept saying they would, and sounded absolutely certain about it all the way up 'til the day of the launch. Then they found the fuel tank problem. Does anyone believe they actually found it that day? Or did they just wait until the last minute to announce it? I believe the latter. The chances of making the July launch window are hardly existent.
I have the next two days off of the show. Should be kind of nice to have the evenings free to do something else. My work hours increase this week, and I'll be really close to overtime. Right now I'm thinking that I'll work that job through the end of the month and then leave. I've already saved up all the money that I wanted to make this summer, and it'd be nice to have some time off this summer before I go back to hit the books at school.

Latest News

Well, it's been a really long time since I blogged, and I suppose that's just because I've been busy enough to not get that bored.
Cello lessons are going well. Chris French is a brilliant teacher and an amazing player. I'm working on the third movement of the Haydn C Major concerto, which is a piece I've wished I could play since I first heard it when I was 13.
I've heard the Houston Symphony play three times this summer, which had been very helpful as far as getting me to keep practicing and stay motivated. We've heard two concerts that they did for free, and one that was in Jones Hall but only cost $1, and we got to sit on the front row. Mr. French is the acting principal with the symphony, so it's cool to know somebody playing at the concerts.
"Sound of Music" is going well. This is the last week before tech week. The show is alot of fun, and I'm playing cello in addittion to playing Rolf for half of the show nights.
Space Center is crazy, mostly fun. NASA is supposed to launch a week from Wednesday, and this will be the first shuttle flight since the Columbia accident in February 2003. This launch has already been postponed several times, as it was originally going to be this past March. It gives us plenty to talk about. Crowds are pretty big these days. This weekend was the worst because it was the 4th of July, so after today, it should level off to "normal" summer business.