"That's kind of an expensive habit to keep up"

I played alto sax for the first time in about seven months yesterday at Guys and Dolls rehearsal. The beginning of one of the songs we played starts with a glissando up to high G.

You can imagine how well that went. :P

Actually, playing alto again after such a long time wasn't all that bad, besides being horribly out of tune and way too loud. Yes, I was actually told to back off because I was playing too loudly. I shouldn't be so happy about that, but it is a refreshing change from jazz band last year.

"Are they all wearing wigs or something? They look ridiculous!"

The title is a quote from my mom, after seeing the Jonas Brothers on TV for the first time. :D

In English today, our poetry "quiz" was to write a five line poem with this structure:

Two lines of Anapest dimeter
Two lines of Dactyl pentameter
One line of Spondee trimeter

In other words:

UUI UUI
UUI UUI
IUU IUU IUU IUU IUU
IUU IUU IUU IUU IUU
II II II

My creation (which I labored over for five whole minutes) made no sense whatsoever, but at least it fit the structure.

"The banana my dad
Ate was not very nice
I wouldn't worry if breakfast was late if you sang me a
Song about puppies and kittens and parrots and monkeys but
Do not die do not die"

(Neera: Extra credit if you can identify all the lit terms found above)

"None of their beards match their hair."

I went to eighth grade info night today to help out with the band presentation. My job was to take questions from parents and students that Mr. Burn couldn't get to, and to pass out forms to anyone who didn't already give Mrs. Verissimo their information to pass along.

I ended up talking to four parents. Only two of them had questions, and I already knew three of them. Laura's dad wished me a late happy birthday, which led to this conversation later on:

Mr. Burn: Guess where I was when she was born.
Mr. Marra: Where?
Mr. Burn: Here.
Mr. Marra: Guess where he was when I was born.
Me: Where?
Mr. Marra: Here.

"Yeah! ...Isn't he dead?"

I was in my room today trying to make it less of a disaster area, and I found this letter in my "keep" pile:

November 22, 2008

Dear Susan,

Congratulations! On behalf of the faculty and staff at the University of California, Clarinets, I am thrilled to offer you admission to the most selective college for the greatest clarinetist and other people who come close to your awesometasticness.

UC Clarinets has much to offer you, and we look forward to your becoming a part of our crucial enlightening community. We at UC Clarinets deem that our impressive academic reputation, musicianship, and marching band will satisfy your educational dreams. Although our marching band may not be as good as Homestead High School's marching band, it sure kicks the other colleges' rear end. In fact, our incoming show is called "Villains and Heroes and Clarinets." You will meet others, like yourself, who are enthusiastic and fabuful at the clarinet, saxophone, and life. Our campus has spontaneous sculptures reflections of Spiderman, metal works of Chuck Norris, and flight paths of Superman.

Again, congratulations on your admission to one of the finest institutions of higher education in clarinet. We hope you will join us soon. Welcome to the UC Clarinets community!

Sincerely,
Supaman Awesometastic Clari-saxo
Director of Admissions and Protector of Clarinets

This has reminded me of two things. First, it reminded me how "awesometastic" the clarinet section was this year. Then, I realized that the real UC admissions decisions are released next month.


I'm only slightly terrified :/

"No, that way will take us to the teleport station."

Things I find when I clean my room:

-An assortment of cards from birthdays and other occasions
-Three AMC free movie passes. Anyone up for a movie?
-My Gov textbook. Whoops...
-A laminated picture from some getting-to-know-you exercise in second grade
-Two bass clarinet reeds (in my sock drawer?)
-Programs from almost every concert or play that I've seen/been involved in
-Electrical wires of some kind
-Three years of mail from colleges (CSU Monterey Bay and a few others are still stalking me)
-An old photo album with pictures spanning from 1992-2005 (though the years 2002-2004 are missing)
-My World History notebook, which I used to track how many times Otto said the word "OK" in a lecture. The record was 217 in one hour.
-The funny quotes book I kept on the Japan trip over the summer. Taken out of context, a lot of them sound a little questionable. Actually, even in context some of them are questionable (that's what I get for hanging out with only guys for two weeks)
-A cheap snow globe I bought on the New York trip
-The first CD I ever bought, which I really wish I hadn't...
-A fork. Seriously, a fork?

"I'm not gonna be very happy when they put the shrimp on the barbie."

Those of you who know me know that I'm not a very good singer. There's a reason I joined band instead of choir.

Despite this, I've spent some time in the privacy of my own room (where no one can hear me) attempting to hum/sing along with some of the songs on my iPod. One thing I've learned from this is that for some reason I can sing with the male singers slightly better than I can with the female singers. It's not much of a difference, but a difference nonetheless.

The exception to this would be any song by Queen. That's just impossible.

Somewhat related quote-from-several-months-ago:
(singing Jazz Police)
Me: (singing bari part) Da da dada dada da duh dah duhdah duh da da
Dayv: (singing alto part) Bwaa daaa, bwaa daaaaa, bwadaaa bwee duh ba bow....
...
Dayv: It might help if my voice weren't lower than yours.

And another:
(singing A Whole New World at last exchange concert reception)
Dayv: (aside) Yes, keep modulating higher.

"But what was he donating?"

I had completely forgotten that today was Valentine's day until I went to the kitchen for breakfast and saw a little teddy bear with a red bow tie sitting at my usual place at the table.

In case any of you want to come see the Wind Ensemble or Jazz Band perform some time in the coming months (of course you do), here's our schedule:

Friday February 27 - Chabot College Wind Festival (WE)
Saturday March 7 - Chabot College Jazz Festival* (JB)
Saturday March 21 - CMEA Solo/Ensemble at SJSU (my quartet is playing Rossini's "Barber of Seville")
Thursday March 26 - SJSU Jazz Festival (JB)
Saturday March 28 - CMEA Band and Orchestra Festival at Saratoga HS (WE)
Friday-Saturday May 8-9 - Santa Cruz Jazz Festival somewhere in Santa Cruz (JB)
Thursday May 14 - Spring Concert at HHS (WE)
Saturday May 23 - Spring Concert with alumni at HHS (JB)
Sunday June 28 - "Bon Voyage" Concert at HHS (WE and JB)

*Mr. Burn mentioned in Jazz Band that he accidentally checked the "competitive" box when he registered us to perform at the Chabot Jazz Festival. If we are among the top three bands at the festival we may get a chance to perform as the opening act for Gordon Goodwin (who will be one of the judges) later that night. The chances that we'll actually score high enough to be considered are pretty slim, but the idea is exciting.