These Are The Days

Rather, this is the day. I'm still riding a high from what has been the closest thing to a perfect day I've ever experienced.

First, a few little things:

• Good night's sleep - Awesome.
• Biscuits and gravy for breakfast -Hell yeah!
• Piano class - Quick and painless.
  
• Warm-up buzzing with trumpet professor - Great.
• Leaving Ear Training early - Cool.
  

The first really big thing was this: I performed in our "Brass Area Recital" today, in which an act (or two) from each brass studio (Trumpet, Trombone, French Horn, and Tuba/Euphonium) is chosen by their studio professor to perform in a showcase-style concert at 11am. Our tuba/euphonium studio requires that every member do at least one of these, and today was my turn. I finally got a chance to perform one of my favorite pieces, one I've been working on for over a year. It came together especially well over the last week, so I was pumped. I was so thrilled when I realized that I had just finished the whole piece, and that all of CMU's brass students were applauding (some cheering) for the music I had just performed. I even got enough of a response to take a second bow. This was easily the highlight of my music-major experience so far. I've never felt as good about myself and my playing as when I took that second bow. I'm going to remember that performance for the rest of my life, and I want to extend warm thank-you's to everybody that was there listening. A performance is useless without a great audience, and I certainly had one today.

Another little thing, but it gets its own paragraph. I had an amazing lunch at La Señorita. Burger with mushrooms, Swiss cheese, and onions. That plus amazing fries made my tummy quite happy. What made this lunch so fantastic, though, was the company. I ate with a group of awesome people (3 from my studio, plus a trombonist and a sax player), and it was a blast.

Now, another big subject. Around 2, I went to my girlfriend's place to help her clean things up (her dad was going to drop by for a visit). It sounds lame, but if you're with someone as much fun as her, even manual labor becomes fun. I don't remember any specific things that went on (except for trying to fit dishes we didn't have time to wash in the oven...), but I remember it being a lot of fun. I seriously can not get enough of her. Hell, I just saw her an hour ago, and I already miss her!

More little things:

• Great dinner: flank-steak sandwich, waffle fries, and a brownie with ice cream. Mmmm.
• I wore a new red shirt ($3.29 at Goodwill) with my black suit today, and it looked great :)

The final big happening was a band concert. Campus Band, University Band (the two bands for non-music majors or majors on secondary instruments), and Symphony Band (one of 3 music major bands) performed tonight. The first cool thing about this was the time before it started. I was bored, so I started plunking out a simple jazz groove I know on the piano, and a clarinet-playing friend of mine improv'd overtop of it. It was a lot of fun. The next cool thing was the performance of University Band. There were issues (as there are with any concert), but they played some great music. I bet Campus Band was good too, but I had to go warm up at that point.

The last big thing was the Symphony Band performance. I quite enjoyed our program, and it went quite well. There were moments where I almost got lost because I was listening too intently to the rest of the band. I can't wait to hear the recording!

Well, there's my fantastic day in a nutshell. Thanks so much to everyone who helped to make it so.

A day like this makes me realize how good my life has been recently, and how good things are getting. I'm really looking forward to the near future. Life is good, and These Are The Days.

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