livejournal: the stripped-down, 'do i sound like i'm in 3rd grade?' edition
recently life has been okay, at times bordering on suspiciously nice. my finals were easy and minimal (to say the least) and so for the past week i've basically just lounged around, packed a lot, and had the freedom to relax a little: read a good book, drink a corona or two in the midafternoon, sleep in later than usual (though i'd rather get up early because the mornings here are sublime) and practice because i want to - not because i have to. one night i stayed up until 5:30am on a cleaning binge...several mornings i woke up at 8am to the sound of hammering and cheesy spanish radio in brad's backyard. i saw tv on the radio, jana hunter, some wild japanese band (all of which were excellent); i watched several movies, one of which included possibly the most disturbing lovemaking scene i've ever seen. i went shopping - first at the galleria, then on westheimer - and found a number of items i'm ridiculously excited about (armani exchange sweater, vintage dress and skirt, open-backed shirt from zara...etc). i haven't been overeating (which is so refreshing), and i've cleaned/packed to the point that i can't anymore. actually, i've had so much time on my hands recently that i almost forget what it's like to be busy. and i've also realized how much i'm going to miss this place (the weather, specifically), and the people here (brad, specifically).
this school year has really been incredible. i'm so glad i chose rice instead of a conservatory, specifically because i feel like i get so much more personal exposure as a musician then i would in a school with 34987354 (that many) pianists. i mean, there are a handful of random shepherd faculty members who know my name and my playing, which is great because it makes my relative anonymity that much less daunting. and my teacher is unbelievable, really, i feel so lucky to have discovered him. i'm so glad i got to know the people in my studio, it's such an inclusive and non-competitive (okay, as much as it can be) environment and i've gotten so many other opportunities through them. doing batboy was also so delightful, and the people i worked with were obscenely kickass and have expanded my friend network in a perfect, unexpected way (i love you guys!). creative writing helped me remember how much i love english, esci made me delighted that i could actually thoroughly enjoy a science i course (i know, outrageous) and ktru is this comfortable yet innovative environment where i really feel like i flourish. my roommate is one of the sweetest women i've ever encountered and oh, i adore her so. and it's so nice having a core group of friends outside of shepherd, so i can escape from the somewhat bizarre/stressful environment that is unavoidable in music school. because in high school, i felt like music kids were the only ones i could really relate to, or something, and now it's so refreshing to say that my best friends are premed and archi and poli-sci and biochem majors. sure, it's sort of a given in a school like rice, but it feels really good to be surrounded by an interesting, uniquely diverse friend network.
also, having brad this year has been a really unexpected, fabulous thing. having never really been in a serious relationship before and then all of a sudden finding this lovely man, when i least expected/wanted it, was like a gift from heaven (ha, if i believed in that sort of thing). he makes me laugh more than anyone else i know, he talks to me about intensely interesting things and takes me out to the places i want to go and turns me on irresistably and he's this strong, solid base in my life that first felt new, but now just feels right. that being said, i'm a little worried about the amount i take him/this/us for granted.
but okay. at home i'm looking forward to: shopping/really catching up (finally!) with my sisters, (re)discovering places and just glorifying in general in the water and mountains and the wild-ness that is seattle, DRIVING, wandering/flitting around with christine and hopefully drinking with a reveling with a select few other friends from high school. but i'm not even going to be home for that long - then i'm off to maine, ohio, michigan...and it's late august then.
i leave houston in less than 48 hours. i'm so scared of missing what i have (had, soon).
this school year has really been incredible. i'm so glad i chose rice instead of a conservatory, specifically because i feel like i get so much more personal exposure as a musician then i would in a school with 34987354 (that many) pianists. i mean, there are a handful of random shepherd faculty members who know my name and my playing, which is great because it makes my relative anonymity that much less daunting. and my teacher is unbelievable, really, i feel so lucky to have discovered him. i'm so glad i got to know the people in my studio, it's such an inclusive and non-competitive (okay, as much as it can be) environment and i've gotten so many other opportunities through them. doing batboy was also so delightful, and the people i worked with were obscenely kickass and have expanded my friend network in a perfect, unexpected way (i love you guys!). creative writing helped me remember how much i love english, esci made me delighted that i could actually thoroughly enjoy a science i course (i know, outrageous) and ktru is this comfortable yet innovative environment where i really feel like i flourish. my roommate is one of the sweetest women i've ever encountered and oh, i adore her so. and it's so nice having a core group of friends outside of shepherd, so i can escape from the somewhat bizarre/stressful environment that is unavoidable in music school. because in high school, i felt like music kids were the only ones i could really relate to, or something, and now it's so refreshing to say that my best friends are premed and archi and poli-sci and biochem majors. sure, it's sort of a given in a school like rice, but it feels really good to be surrounded by an interesting, uniquely diverse friend network.
also, having brad this year has been a really unexpected, fabulous thing. having never really been in a serious relationship before and then all of a sudden finding this lovely man, when i least expected/wanted it, was like a gift from heaven (ha, if i believed in that sort of thing). he makes me laugh more than anyone else i know, he talks to me about intensely interesting things and takes me out to the places i want to go and turns me on irresistably and he's this strong, solid base in my life that first felt new, but now just feels right. that being said, i'm a little worried about the amount i take him/this/us for granted.
but okay. at home i'm looking forward to: shopping/really catching up (finally!) with my sisters, (re)discovering places and just glorifying in general in the water and mountains and the wild-ness that is seattle, DRIVING, wandering/flitting around with christine and hopefully drinking with a reveling with a select few other friends from high school. but i'm not even going to be home for that long - then i'm off to maine, ohio, michigan...and it's late august then.
i leave houston in less than 48 hours. i'm so scared of missing what i have (had, soon).