05 XI 2001 - 16:30 - brevis21

This will have to be one of the brevis entries; I don't have time for much else. But because mwarren requested it, I'm posting an update. Mechaieh, I have on occasion written out triplets over my lines when I put them on paper, just because otherwise it doesn't scan the way that I hear it in my head; the problem is that the triplets confuse other people, and that's bad. Sigh. One of these days I shall have to figure out something which can be done about that. Maybe little words like the ones which appear in Chopin's Aeolian Harp etude, *and a news flash here, I just conducted a phone conversation successfully in Mandarin, yes I'm excited about that*, thus: maybe this should be spoken very quickly? It's all rather indefinite, but if they do it on television commercials...

I'm sort of annoyed by my school's four-year PE requirement. I'm already having problems fulfilling it... basically, if you don't play a team sport and you do things after school, you're screwed. The way it works is this: playing on a team gives you one trimester's credit for PE (you need twelve). You can also take afterschool classes ("running club," tennis, etc.) If you can't make either, you have to take a class during your free period - the only classes currently offered are badminton and weightlifting. The latter is too butch for me, plus it hurts my cello playing, so I'm taking the badminton class. Here's the great part: Latin AP (as I've mentioned before) meets two times a week more than it should, and it does this during my free period. I'm therefore making up two periods' worth of PE during a fun-filled 85 minutes of treadmill-running and badminton-playing on what should be one of my off days. All of this is well and good; I don't really mind not being able to go home almost 90 minutes early. (Yeah, right.) The best part is, sophomores are required to take a class in "Health Issues" during the spring semester. This class is taken during one of your free periods on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday. Since I have only one period left, it looks as if it'll have to be Monday - but wait! I'm doing PE then, and I don't have any other time to make it up!

Now, traditionally the PE department's solution has been to allow sophomores to come in only two days a week and still get their full PE credit. Will that happen to me? Probably not, because "you're already coming in on just two days, Monday and Tuesday, and even though Tuesday is like two days, it's already just weird. But we're not here to torture you or anything. I'm sure we'll come up with a good solution." Which will probably involve either my using a lunch period to weight-lift - something I'm not crazy about because I'm neither particularly enthusiastic about lifting weights nor losing lunch periods, you know, the ones I use to rehearse and do homework and stuff - or spending the money for a gym subscription that, oh wait, I won't be able to use because I don't have time after school.

I just love my school.

Oh! If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, the Youth Orchestra is trying to sell subscriptions again this year. We have three subscription concerts and two special concerts this season; all the subscription concerts are on Sundays (November, March, May) at 2 PM in Davies Symphony Hall. Tickets are $10 this year, but it's still worth it to come and hear us, as we're pretty good. (Note: not quite as enthusiastic about this ensemble as I was last year. What a pity.) I have all the subscriptions that I'm supposed to sold (they "strongly encourage" us to sell 10 or more), but my friend doesn't; if you're interested, you can send me an email using one of the many links on the page. Some of our programs include Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 1, Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra, Debussy's Iberia, and Takemitsu's A Flock Descends Into the Pentagonal Garden. It should be an interesting year.

Still getting terrible dreams, still losing sleep, still have a billion things due and a test tomorrow which I'm not ready for. Plus my chamber music group at the Conservatory blew up - our second violinist left - so now we're doing a fun-filled string trio (everyone jump up and down in mock glee, now!) - Beethoven Op. 3. Urgh.

I'm going now. Really. I promise.

discedo, discedere, discessi, discessum (3) to depart, to leave