Yep. You heard that right. I think I just achieved the highest GPA I've had since I was a sophomore in high school. Lots of A's and one B. The one B was my one credit piano lesson. That B was totally deserved so I'm not upset about it. I suck at piano and everyone knows it... not to mention the whole not practicing consistently.
I was pleasantly surprised by the A in Forms and Analysis with Yarbs. I pretty much bombed my first test and even though I did well on the second and third test, I didn't think I had a prayer for an A. We didn't get to see the results of our final test so I guess I did alright :)
I came to USD with a 1.8 from St Thomas, but thanks to decent grades here, I've managed to raise my overall GPA to 3.16 and my USD GPA to 3.667.
Three more semesters to go!!!
Happy Panda!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Greyhounding it... in college...
Well, I've been stuck in Vermillion for a full year without a chance to truly get away for more than a day. I had planned to go out to Colorado for Christmas no matter what. I knew that it would be the perfect time to get away and I figured my sisters could come pick me up like last year. It didn't quite work out like that due to car space and timing so I decided to try the Greyhound. I've never been on a bus like that outside of touring so I knew it would be different but I had no idea what was in store for me.
The beginning wasn't too horrible. From Verm to Omaha I talked to a guy about movies and we got into a debate on whether Holiday Inn or White Christmas was made first. Then I had a three and a half hour layover in Omaha. That was a little sketchy. There were mini cockroach type creatures crawling the floor, and I was one of the only people who didn't reek of cigarettes and pot. Did I mention I was the only white person there? Granted that in itself isn't a big deal, but because I've been in Verm for so long, I forgot what diversity looked like ;)
When we boarded for Denver, the bus was full and there were about 7 people who had to stand for half the trip due to over-booking and another bus that never showed up earlier in the day.
I sat next to the only other white person on the bus. She was probably about 30 or so and looked and acted like a librarian. I think she was more freaked out about the being on the bus than I was. She pulled out a thick book and started marking it up with a highlighter, but every ten minutes, or at least every time I looked up, she was pulling out a bottle of Germ-X and massaging her hands and fingers for what seemed like eternity.
I finally made it safely to Denver and my folks picked me up.
I heard my mom talking to Ang on the phone tonight and I guess her husband won't be able to make it out here for Christmas so then I called Meggan and asked if she would be willing to make a pit stop in SoDak. She agreed to it, so now I don't have to worry about the Greyhound on the way home. Sixteen hours on a bus one way was plenty for me.
The beginning wasn't too horrible. From Verm to Omaha I talked to a guy about movies and we got into a debate on whether Holiday Inn or White Christmas was made first. Then I had a three and a half hour layover in Omaha. That was a little sketchy. There were mini cockroach type creatures crawling the floor, and I was one of the only people who didn't reek of cigarettes and pot. Did I mention I was the only white person there? Granted that in itself isn't a big deal, but because I've been in Verm for so long, I forgot what diversity looked like ;)
When we boarded for Denver, the bus was full and there were about 7 people who had to stand for half the trip due to over-booking and another bus that never showed up earlier in the day.
I sat next to the only other white person on the bus. She was probably about 30 or so and looked and acted like a librarian. I think she was more freaked out about the being on the bus than I was. She pulled out a thick book and started marking it up with a highlighter, but every ten minutes, or at least every time I looked up, she was pulling out a bottle of Germ-X and massaging her hands and fingers for what seemed like eternity.
I finally made it safely to Denver and my folks picked me up.
I heard my mom talking to Ang on the phone tonight and I guess her husband won't be able to make it out here for Christmas so then I called Meggan and asked if she would be willing to make a pit stop in SoDak. She agreed to it, so now I don't have to worry about the Greyhound on the way home. Sixteen hours on a bus one way was plenty for me.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Piano Proficiencies...in college
Well, as everyone knows, I am NOT a good piano player. However, we are required to do piano proficiencies here at school. Now I've had over 12 years of lessons starting when I was six or so, but I was forced to do it--and even though I knew it was for my own good, I hated practicing and I never amounted to much. I should also mention that while my teachers weren't too horrible when I was younger (they only slapped my knuckles a couple of times), I always learned songs-not scales. So when I started my proficiencies here, I sucked at scales. However, I made it through and passed both major and harmonic scales within the last year. For the last half of this semester I had one proficiency left--Sight Reading. This is where they through a score in front of you, like a Haydn, Handel or random score from a book and you get a minute to look at it and then you have to play it. All of the scores my professor put in front of me to practice with for the last semester were from level 2, 3, and 4 books. The score that they pulled out today must have been from a level 6 or 7 book. I sat down at the piano and glanced at the piece. The first thing I noticed was that it was in G Major and I let out a sigh of relief since the last one was in c minor. Then I glanced over the piece. I was lucky I didn't break down and cry right then and there. I briefly considered standing up and apologizing to my professors and telling them that I couldn't do this. I tried to stay calm, but as I looked for the tricky parts in the piece like I had practiced with my professor but as I looked at the piece, I saw only two measures out of approx. 25-30 that DIDN'T look tricky. Again, I freaked out but tried to stay calm. I stared at the music unable to focus and then I put my foot to the floor and tried to come up with a slow enough pace that I might be able to play the piece at without screwing up too badly.
When I figured out a pace, I looked at the bass clef and then at the treble clef and I realized there was no figured bass, no "one-line" melody, nothing. It was completely chordal. The time signature was 2/2 and instead of the bass holding some 1-4-5 pattern or something, it stayed chordal with the right hand so that both hands were playing different notes/chords on EVERY eighth note.
My hands were shaking the whole time and I missed half of the f#'s because I was busy trying to find three or four other notes.
Of course it goes without saying that I didn't pass. I made it to the bathroom before I broke down in tears and it took me about 10 minutes to pull it together enough to come out again.
That proficiency test was humiliating and embarrassing. The worst part is that it's my fault. My professors can only try to make me play better, but in the end it's up to me. I just don't know how.
When I figured out a pace, I looked at the bass clef and then at the treble clef and I realized there was no figured bass, no "one-line" melody, nothing. It was completely chordal. The time signature was 2/2 and instead of the bass holding some 1-4-5 pattern or something, it stayed chordal with the right hand so that both hands were playing different notes/chords on EVERY eighth note.
My hands were shaking the whole time and I missed half of the f#'s because I was busy trying to find three or four other notes.
Of course it goes without saying that I didn't pass. I made it to the bathroom before I broke down in tears and it took me about 10 minutes to pull it together enough to come out again.
That proficiency test was humiliating and embarrassing. The worst part is that it's my fault. My professors can only try to make me play better, but in the end it's up to me. I just don't know how.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
week before finals... in college
I find it extremely annoying that in the last week of classes--when I am supposed to be buckling down and focusing on school work, choir and important things-- so many of my friends are playing the "attention whore" game. I don't have time for this. The worst part? I'm the bad guy for doing what I'm supposed to be doing... oh, and for pointing it out on this blog probably...
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