Not Nap Day.

Hello!

It’s been a long two days, which kind of sucks, but I guess it’s better than the long three days it would have been had we not been out on Monday.

Yesterday (Tuesday), I went to my science class at 9:30 only to leave by about 9:45ish. Our professor had some sort of meeting to attend that would last most of the day, so our lab from 2-5 (not that we ever use the full three hours anyway) was also canceled. Hallelujah! I rode my bike over the music building and practiced on my horn for a good half-hour or so before heading to aural skills, where we did a lot of nothing, as per usual. I ate lunch and went to band, which seemed to take longer than normal because it was first rehearsal of the week was 90 minutes instead of the usual 50. Awful. I went back to the room after band and did some light catnapping (REALLY light napping…didn’t even count as a real nap). Horn studio at 5 was boring since I didn’t have to play, for which I guess I should be thankful. After I got back to the room, I decided that I was going to study for my music history exam, but it didn’t happen for several hours.

Today, I woke up 15 minutes before class at 8, but I made it to the music building on time. Intro to music teaching is a waste of a class so nothing worth mentioning happened, but, after staying up late studying, I made sure to get coffee from the SUB afterward. Theory and woodwind methods went by with nothing special happening aside from me getting good grades back on theory homework assignments (theory has been a BREEZE for me this semester!).

Then it was time for my music history exam. I did some decent studying last night, despite it being late, but it’s difficult to gauge exactly how I did on the exam. I felt really confident on some of my answers, but some of them I was less certain. I’m fairly positive that I at least passed, so I suppose that’s a plus. It’s just a matter of seeing what grade I end up with.

After finishing my exam, I had a full hour and a half before band at 1, so I just sat in the SUB, ate lunch, and played around on my iPad and listened to music while I waited. Band was pretty boring. The brass and woodwinds were split during class, and the brass had one of the graduate teaching assistants in charge. We worked on the same piece the full hour, but it was one of the better, more exciting pieces so I didn’t mind so much. Choir afterward was decently enjoyable. Our concert is on Friday, so class was spent running through and spot-checking bits of the program. I think the concert will be pretty good! Piano was after choir…I’m SICK of group piano class. I do fine and get As every semester, but it’s just a frustrating class that I can’t wait to be rid of. I talked with Mrs. Shotts at Poteet the other day about possibly returning to her for summer lessons (I took about 5 lessons from her a summer or two before I graduated), so we’ll see if that happens.

When I was done with all of my classes, I sat around the SUB and was eventually joined by Andrew. Normally, Wednesday is designated “Nap Day” since neither of us have evening commitments, but today was an exception because a guest speaker was speaking on campus at 5:30. Her name was Rachel Ramsey Cruze, and she’s the daughter of Dave Ramsey, the financial guy. Remember, I read his book The Total Money Makeover a month or so ago, and I learned a lot of great things about money management from it. I just happened to see a tweet from the official Texas Tech Twitter account announcing that she’d be speaking today, so I made sure to go, and Andrew joined me.

Her presentation was actually pretty short. She didn’t get started until about 5:40, and she was completely done by 6:20ish, but it was still really cool to be there to hear her talk. Everything she said I had already heard from Dave himself on the Financial Peace University videos or read in his book, but, like I said, it was just cool to be there. Despite being familiar with everything she mentioned, I still took notes, as did Andrew. If you haven’t looked into any of Dave Ramsey’s stuff, I HIGHLY recommend you do so! The Total Money Makeover is a good start, but I’m considering adding his first book, Financial Peace, to my reading list as well.

We ate at Chili’s for dinner before splitting paths; he had a meeting with his fraternity and I just went back to the room. I did my intro to music teaching assignments (including one that’s not due for two more weeks!) and then just lazed around until Andrew got back to the room, at which point we watched a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Now, it’s almost 1am and I’m about to shower and get in bed…I’m pretty exhausted, so it’s an early night for me (yes, this is early!). I don’t have class until 9:30 in the morning, so I’ll be getting a full 7+ hours of sleep.

Goodnight!

Chad

Unexpected places.

It was a good weekend.

Friday, as far as classes went, was pretty simple. I had theory at 9 and then nothing until voice lessons at noon, followed by band and then choir. Easy! Andrew and I packed earlier in the day, so we were on the road half an hour after choir was finished. The ride was pretty uneventful, but it started out pretty windy. We even saw a dust tornado or two in the fields outside of Lubbock! It was pretty cool. This was Andrew’s first time to make the trip with the faster speed limit, so it surprised him when we made it back home in 5 hours…a much shorter time than it used to take.

On Saturday, I went out to eat with Andrew and Seth at Chili’s, which was great. It was the first time I had seen Seth since the end of Christmas break, so it was nice to spend some time with him. After we had eaten, we went back to my house and watched The Muppets…Seth hadn’t seen it yet! Andrew left after the first song, but Seth stayed and really enjoyed it. Later in the night, after Seth had left, Mom, Dad, Blake, and I ate spaghetti for dinner and watched a few episodes of Criminal Minds together. It was some good family time.

The next day, of course, was Easter. We went to church before heading over the Granna and Poppa’s house. We all got our own sort of little goody basket, and mine had some Reese’s eggs, some Dove peanut butter-filled chocolate, some beef jerky, some Jujubes, and some other things. I also got War Horse on Blu-Ray (haven’t watched it yet, but I will within the next couple of days) and the soundtrack from Titanic (which I also haven’t seen…hopefully that’ll be fixed within the next couple of days as well). We had a nice dinner of ham and creamed potatoes, and I later napped for a while. It was some good relaxation time. Unfortunately, we eventually had to leave, which meant goodbye to Poppa and Granna for at least a month.

Today, I visited both the honors band and the Variety at Poteet. For the band, I just sat in the audience (they were in the auditorium) and listened the whole time, taking notes on my phone; I actually had an assignment for my intro to music teaching class that required a “professional observation” of a music teacher, so I used Mr. Newman as my example. They sounded pretty decent, and they’re even playing a song that I played here at Tech earlier in the semester, Folk Dances by Dmitri Shostakovich, which is lots of fun. I think they’ll do well at UIL next week!

In Variety, I helped to teach a new song that they’re singing at Variety Show next week, since we sang it back in my junior year. When class was over, I said goodbye, left, said goodbye to Mom, drove by Dad’s work and said goodbye to him, and then hit the road. I made it back in Lubbock before 9. Upon arriving, I filled up my gas tank and drove through a quick car wash to get rid of most of the bugs before coming to Sneed. I unloaded all of my stuff and took it to the room, at which point it started pouring rain and storming outside. So much for a car wash! Unfortunately/fortunately, I still had to take my car over to the parking garage, so I did that and ended up riding my bike through the pouring rain across campus…which was the most fun thing EVER! I definitely unleashed my inner child a bit as I sped across campus, splashing through puddles and getting soaked to the bone.

Getting back to Sneed, I changed into my pajamas and threw the wet clothes in the dryer before adding them to the hamper, and I watched Ratatouille for the first time, despite owning it since Christmas. I loved it! I went ahead and bought the soundtrack on iTunes while I was at it; the music was composed by Michael Giacchino, who also scored the Incredibles, Star Trek, and Up, so I knew it would be worth it.

And now, it’s time for bed. It’ll be weird to start the week on a Tuesday, but I’d say that it’s preferable to starting with a Monday. Goodnight, everyone!

Chad

Headline boulevard.

It’s been a busy couple of days, but tomorrow I’ll be home!

Yesterday was long. I made it to my 8am on time and listened to a guest speaker who used the whole class to toot his own horn (figuratively because he was a double bass player), so that was LOADS of fun (/sarcasm), and then I grabbed coffee from the SUB and went to theory. Theory wasn’t anything worth talking about (except for the fact that I had 100s on all of the returned assignments and quizzes), but we started really playing for the first time in woodwind methods on our new instruments. I’ve got a sort of knack for the flute that I didn’t have with the clarinet. It’s not that I’m super awesome at it, but I’m not having any difficulties so far (I think I already said that in my last post, but whatevsies). Anyway. Music history proceeded normally and then I had my salad for lunch before going to band, choir, and piano. After hanging around the music building for an hour or two after piano was over, I came back to the room, where Andrew and I watched a couple of episodes of How I Met Your Mother before he left for a church meeting…at which point I napped for three hours. No regrets! When I woke up, I did my science homework and started studying/preparing notes for the science test I had this morning. It was a late night.

Despite not getting to bed until 4, I was awake a good half hour before my first alarm went off at 7:45, and my science class wasn’t even until 9:30. That nap sure came in handy! I ate a couple of slices of warm cinnamon bread for breakfast and grabbed a bottle of water before making my way to my class. The test went fine; I’m sure I got a decent grade, if not an A. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t get an A. I finished my exam and made it over to the music building more than half an hour before my aural skills midterm, so I went to a practice room and made sure that I was singing my stuff right. My midterm also went really well…no worries there! Once that was out of the way, I was essentially done with classes for the day. I didn’t have band today; only the woodwinds were called in today, and tomorrow it’s only brass. I ate a spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil-A for lunch and just hung around the music building, practicing my horn for a bit before my lesson at 3. We finished a bit earlier per my request so that I had time to go back to the room, shower, and get dressed for the voice recital at 5. I even shaved! This was my third time in as many weeks…not likely to happen again for a while.

My performance went really really well! I had no memory lapses or mess-ups, and I sounded great (if I may say so myself). I got lots of compliments, and a couple of people (including someone who I had never met before) recommended that I audition for next fall’s musical, Jekyll & Hyde. And I’ll be honest…I’m definitely considering it. Granted, I have a lot to consider since I’ll be in Goin’ Band during the fall, but, if a schedule can be worked out that allows me to do GB, get good grades, AND be in the musical, all without killing me, I’m definitely willing to give it a try. I’ve already emailed the guy in charge of musical theatre here at TTU (it’s the same guy who wanted me to audition for the summer musicals here in Lubbock), explaining the situation, so hopefully we’ll work something out! Back to my performance tonight: I meant to have Conner record it for me, but he showed up too late, so we didn’t get a recording. A bit of a bummer, but oh well!

To celebrate my good performance, I ordered Chipotle for dinner. When I had finished and gotten back to the room, I started work on my music history background paper that was due tomorrow at 5pm and theory homework, and when THOSE were finished, I watched Cars 2 for the first time. I’ve had it on Blu-Ray for a few months now, but I suppose I was a bit skeptical about whether or not I’d enjoy it. I was never a huge fan of the first one, and the second one got awful critic reviews (I generally agree with critics), but I’ve got to be honest…I really enjoyed it! It was lots of fun and I enjoyed it more than I thought that I would. It was a pleasant surprise!

Now, I’m about to go to bed. This’ll be the earliest I’ve been in bed this week (to be fair, I took naps most of the other days, so I didn’t really lose any sleep), which is good because I’m driving home tomorrow! Classes should be easy: all I have is music theory at 9, band at 1, and choir at 2, and then I’m home free!

Goodnight!

Chad

America’s favorite.

I’m just ready for school to be over. Summer, bring it on!

Despite being one of my long days, and even longer than most Mondays, yesterday was actually pretty good. Theory went as usual. I’ve been doing really well in theory this semester; all of our recent stuff has been on “integer notation”, that is to say, music with numbers instead of note names, and I’ve managed to wrap my head around it really well, so I’m thankful for that.

Next in the day was woodwind methods, in which we’re still in the process of beginning to learn to play the flute. As it turns out, I’ve got a sort of knack for the flute that I didn’t really have with the clarinet, though I was decent at that too. We haven’t done much with the flute just yet, but I’ve managed to do everything required of me without trouble so far. I like it more than I liked the clarinet. It feels a heck of a lot more natural on my face, and it’s definitely tension-free, which is great.

Music history was music history. Not much to discuss there. I grabbed a cup of campus coffee before class, which I’ve discovered is actually pretty good. Of course, it’s not the campus’s own brew…it’s just Maxwell House, but I like it quite a bit. But Dunkin Donuts’ coffee is way better! I brought the K-cups that I bought this weekend back to Tech with me, and Andrew decided that it’s excellent coffee as well. A great purchase!

I’m back to watching what I eat the best that I can, which was a lot harder to get back into than I thought it would…spring break was difficult in more than one way because it managed to both tease me with a pseudo-summer and with eating lots of food. BUT I’m working hard to get back on track. I had salad for lunch both yesterday and today, and dinner was a ham/turkey/cheese/bacon/olive sandwich at The Market yesterday and a Healthy Choice chicken alfredo meal tonight. I’m already down a pound or two from where I was at the end of spring break, so that’s a good sign. Gotta keep working!

Band and choir went as expected. Band is a lot more bearable in preparation for this concert than it was for our second concert because the music is a lot better, so I’m thankful for that. We’re also getting lots done in choir right now because our concert is just a week and a half away!

I’m glad this is my last semester of piano. I’ve enjoyed getting some basic skills down, but now the class itself is just a burden…I’m tired of it. Voice lessons after piano let out was a blessing, though. It was my first voice lesson of the semester with a pianist present, so it was likewise my first time to hear the piano parts of the songs I’ve been working on (with the exception of “Sunset Boulevard”, of course). Speaking of SB, I’m officially signed up to sing it at the voice area recital this Thursday! Super excited, and I’ll make sure to have Conner record it on my phone or something.

Speaking of learning secondary instruments, I’m deeply considering purchasing a guitar. One thing I love about being competent with a piano is that I can somewhat accompany myself. The guitar has the same appeal, so I really want to get my hands on one so that I can start learning. Who knows? I might not have to purchase one; why purchase if I can just steal my brother’s? Not like he’s touched it more than five times since he got it for Christmas two and a half years ago.

Classes went well today too, though there were significantly fewer of them. Aural skills was boring (our teacher is pretty awful), and I had my salad for lunch directly afterward. Band went faster than I expected it to. We worked on only two pieces in the entire hour-and-a-half long class, but it didn’t go by unbearably slowly, so that’s good.

My 3-hour science lab only lasted about 20 minutes today, which rocked. We each gave a short presentation over the progress of our self-designed science projects, and I’ve gotta be honest…everyone else’s experiments are pretty lame compared to mine. Of course, that’s just my opinion, and it would be perfectly reasonable for someone else to think that mine is boring compared theirs, but still. I’m very proud of my project and can’t wait to see how it all turns out!

I napped after studio class tonight. Andrew and I were up really late last night, despite going to bed at a somewhat decent time. We ended up talking to each other for about an hour and a half to two hours just about our lives and what was going on and stuff like that. It was a very nice talk, but it made me tired for today, which explains why I’m still awake now. But don’t worry…I’ll be getting to bed shortly, right after I shower.

In fact, I’m finished. Time to shower and get some shut-eye. Goodnight, everyone!

Chad

Coincidences

As you know, I drove home to Mesquite this weekend for an audition with Garland Summer Musicals on Saturday night. I showed up to the audition and, after filling out the audition paperwork, went into the auditorium where auditions were being held and sat down. The director was having people read from the scripts on stage, I guess as part of their auditions, and I ended up having to wait there for half an hour or more. My turn to audition finally came around, and I did really well. I sang an excerpt of a song from Shrek the Musical (“When Words Fail”) and the final chorus of “Sunset Boulevard”, both of which I sounded really good on, if I may say so myself (the hot earl grey tea I had prior to my audition certainly helped).

After I had finished singing, the director (who must be at least 75 years old) asked me to come up to the table where he and a few others associated with the musical were sitting. He asked me what the top of my singing range was and he made sure that he could read my phone number, so hopefully that’s a good sign. I didn’t read anything, though…oh well. Something interesting happened next…

One of the other people at the table was the music director for South Pacific, the first of the two shows being put on my GSM this summer. I had written on my audition sheet that I play the French horn, and it turns out that he needed another French horn player to play in the pit orchestra for South Pacific. He asked if I had my horn with me and if I could come by the next day and play for him. I said sure! I drove back out to the arts center earlier today with my brother’s horn and mouthpiece (I didn’t bring my own horn home this weekend) and a couple of old solos that I still had lying around the house. I played for him, and he gave me the job! I’m set to play horn II in the pit orchestra for South Pacific in June. Though I wasn’t cast in the show (there’s still a chance I might be case in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, though, so here’s hoping!), the orchestra job also pays, possibly a bit more than a role would have. Pretty cool! This is my first job getting paid to play my horn.

Not much else happened this weekend. I slept late on Saturday after a full evening of driving on Friday night, waking up at about noon to go eat at IHOP with Mom, Dad, and a couple of band chaperons. After that, we went back home, where I got a lot done on my science project, getting everybody officially started on the experiment portion. Can’t wait to see how it turns out! Granna and Poppa’s cruise with my aunt and uncle and cousins ended on Saturday, so they got back in town at around 5, at which point the 6 of us went out to eat at Spring Creek Barbecue for an early dinner. It was nice to see them; they didn’t know I was home for the weekend until they got off the cruise ship, so it was a nice surprise for them.

This morning was church, and my friend Hunter was in charge of bible study. He did a great job! It’s always great to be back at my home church, though I’m loving church out in Lubbock, as well as my new bible study that I’m a part of and the Paradigm worship service. Lots of good things happening in my life right now!

The only other exciting thing that happened this weekend is that I finally found Dunkin Donuts K-cups for my coffee maker in the room. I’ve only had the hazelnut so far (I also bought French vanilla), and it was good. Not quite as good as if I had ordered a hazelnut coffee from the store itself, but I still enjoyed it.

Because of my impromptu “audition” for the South Pacific pit orchestra, I didn’t leave the Dallas area until after 5, meaning that I didn’t arrive in Lubbock until after 10, at which point I drove through a quick car wash and stopped by Walmart for coffee creamer and cinnamon bread (I eat it warm for breakfast now; low-calorie) before returning to the university. Once I had gotten everything settled and parked my car back in the garage, I had to start on the little bit of homework I had due tomorrow: music theory (which was mercifully easy after a long day), piano, and a brief music history study session for a listening quiz in the morning. It’s late now, but I’ll hopefully be able to get in bed at least a little bit early tomorrow night. We’ll see, though; last week, Andrew and I made plans to hang out with Jenny tomorrow night, and we haven’t seen her in a while.

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. It’s time for sleepy-bye. Goodnight, everyone!

Chad

Musical word finds.

Happy Friday, everyone! Not too much has happened in the past few days, but I’ll fill you in the best I can!

Tuesday ran pretty smoothly and didn’t feel as long as it normally does, so that’s a plus. I had a singing quiz in aural skills that I did alright on, and band didn’t feel excruciatingly long (hour and a half long on Tuesdays and Thursday vs. the MWF 50 minutes), which rocked. I was done with my 3-hour science lab about half an hour into it, so I went back to the room and hung out until horn studio at 5, which was also relaxed since the only people playing were the people going to a horn workshop in a different state this weekend…which I’m not. Easy day, Tuesday.

Wednesday was even better! I had a voice lab later in the night at which I was set to perform at, so I spent any free time I had during the day making sure I had my song completely memorized; I listened to it on repeat for more than an hour and a half or so, just to be safe. There also wasn’t any band on Wednesday (Thursday or Friday either), so I had an extra long time to eat. I also met with a new accompanist for the first time. The one I normally use had a baby not too long ago, so she’s still absent due to that, so I had to find a temporary replacement. I felt a bit guilty because I wasn’t able to give her the piano part until the day of the performance…it’s a HARD piano part. Before the performance, I came back to the room, sucked on some gummy worms, drank two cups of hot earl grey tea, and dressed up all fancy-shmancy (I had even shaved the night before!). I arrived at the music building a little early to have a runthrough with my accompanist, and then the two of us went to the room where the voice lab was supposed to be. Guess how many people showed up aside from my teacher, my accompanist, and myself? ONE! Not wanting to waste a performance, though, I sang my song for my two-person audience and did well; it was actually my first time to make it all the way through without any memory slips. The piano was still rough, but, like I said, it’s difficult and she had just gotten it a few hours before, so it’ll be better once she’s had some time to practice. I’m singing part of this song (“Sunset Boulevard”) for my Garland Summer Musicals audition on Saturday, but I’m singing the whole song at the big weekly voice recital next Thursday…I can’t wait!

Today was the easiest day of the week so far. I only had two classes, meaning I was done by noon! I went back to Sneed, grabbed a sandwich from Sam’s Place, and chilled in the room for a while. I also did my laundry for the first time since returning from spring break, and I played Halo: Reach on my XBox 360 for the first time in ages. It was nice to truly kick back and relax for the first time in a while. I went back to the school of music for the voice recital at 5, and then I came back to the room again and decided to get some work done on my science project that I started the other day. We have to design an experiment, collect data, and report our conclusions. I can’t give away any information because the experiment hasn’t even really started yet, but I have the whole thing completely set up and ready to go as soon as I have everyone I need participating. I’m really excited to see how it turns out!

At 8, I grabbed my Bible and walked down the street to the FBC for Paradigm, the weekly college worship service, and sat with my Tuesday Bible study group (forgot to mention that I went to Bible study on Tuesday night as well). It was a good service with some great music and a nice reminder of what Easter is about. I love that I’ve started to get more involved with my Bible and with others who believe in it…it’s a great group to be a part of!

Now, I’m about to hit the hay. I’m up a bit later than initially planned, but that’s what I get for working on my theory homework while watching How I Met Your Mother with Andrew…worth it! Time to pack a small bag for my trip home this weekend before going to sleep. Easy day tomorrow!

Goodnight!

Chad

That’s why he’s called “Dead Tom”.

Things have been kinda slow going around here. I reach the end of the day and just don’t feel like there’s enough for me to fill an entire post. I’m not saying I won’t try for daily posts, but don’t expect them.

After going to the Hunger Games midnight showing, I slept in Friday morning. I only had one class before 1pm, which was theory at 9, but we had just taken our midterm and there was no homework due, so I figured that sleeping through this once wouldn’t harm me. The only two classes I had on Friday were band and choir, so it was a pretty easy day. After choir was over, Andrew and I returned to the room and got down to business…we built a “fort” (consisting of hanging sheets on twine suspended across the room), unbunked our beds and laid them side by side, and we had a Star Wars marathon that lasted all weekend.

The order of our Star Wars marathon was a little strange, but I really enjoyed it. We started with IV: A New Hope and V: The Empire Strikes Back, but then we jumped back to the prequel trilogy with I, II, and III before going forward to VI. What’s the reasoning behind this crazy order, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you! Think about it: at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke finds out that Darth Vader is his father, right? Well FLASHBACK TO VADER’S ORIGINS! We watch the rise and fall of Anakin Skywalker and his decent into the Dark Side of the Force before skipping forward to Return of the Jedi. At this point, we are familiar with Luke and how he came to be a Jedi, Darth Vader and how he came to be a Sith Lord, and how Darth Sidious came into power as well. I really enjoyed the order…you should try it out for yourself! I had been aching for a full Star Wars marathon for a LONG time, so it was nice to get it done this weekend.

Admittedly, our marathon was slow-going; we only made it halfway through A New Hope on Friday night before Andrew fell asleep, so on Saturday we started back with finishing IV before moving on to V and I. On Sunday we watched the final three, completing our marathon! Luckily, the only homework I had all weekend was a theory worksheet, which took no time after we had finished our marathon. This weekend was the definition of a “lazy weekend”.

Today was pretty simple. Classes went normally, and I made my first attempt at playing the flute, which went really well! We didn’t do much aside from just make a sound, but I did that without any issues at all. I didn’t have any piano today, and I had a makeup voice lesson at 4, so I had a full hour to practice my voice stuff before I had to meet up with my voice lesson teacher. Also during this hour, I made a call to Garland Summer Musicals and set up an audition time for this weekend! I’m really excited for the opportunity to be a part of a show during the summer close to home…who knows, I might even have a shot at a decent role! Here’s hoping, but I won’t hope too high; I don’t want to be disappointed if I don’t get a part. No big deal!

Despite my lazy weekend, I crashed in the room after my voice lesson, napping for a few hours. When Andrew got back from work, I ate a small dinner while we watched How I Met Your Mother on Netflix, and now, after having re-situated our room into its normal setting, we’re watching Muppet Treasure Island before bed.

The rest of the week is pretty relaxed. Tomorrow is a long school day, but I also have bible study to look forward to in the evening. I have a voice lab to sing at on Wednesday. I’ll be singing “Sunset Boulevard”…I’m excited! Thursday is when things start getting relaxed, and I also have Paradigm to attend that evening. And then I’ll be heading home on Friday for my Saturday GSM audition! I’m excited!

Anyway, that’s all for now! The movie is finishing up and I’m ready for bed. Goodnight!

Chad

May the odds…

…be ever in your favor. The Hunger Games was excellent! I don’t feel like sleeping just yet.

Andrew and I got to the theater around 10ish. I had picked up our tickets a while earlier, so all we had to do was get in line, which was out the door by that point. Funnily enough, we bumped into Kate and her boyfriend and decided to stick with the two of them in line. We eventually made it inside, but we didn’t make it into the theater where we’d be watching until about 11:40 or so.

The film was the best book-to-screen adaptation I’ve ever seen. Yes, better than Harry Potter even!

(spoiler-free review)
Having read the book just over two weeks ago, the story was still fresh on my mind, so believe me when I say they left out VERY little. The changes that were made were minimal, but they always made sense. The scenes that were added fit in perfectly with the rest of the film, and they even helped to further expand things that were in the book. I loved that we saw outside of the arena throughout the film as it gave the audience a sense of exactly what was going on in the “real world”. Everyone was perfectly cast; I really have no complaints at all.

The music was also fantastic. The score was composed by James Newton Howard, and, since the soundtrack hasn’t yet been released, I made sure to listen to what was happening in the background with the music as much as I could. Everything was beautiful.

I wish I could be more vocal about this, but 1) I’m tired and 2) there’s really not all that much to say. I read advance reviews that said that the film acts as a supplement to the book, adding to the source material what could only be done in the cinema, and I completely agree. I can’t wait to see how the adaptations of the next two books turn out!

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. I suppose I should get SOME sleep…even though I don’t really start class until 1 in the afternoon tomorrow. Woohoo!

Goodnight!

Chad

P.S. – This film is being paired with the Woman in Black at the drive-in theater starting today (Friday). I’ll definitely be hitting that up!

A happy song.

I am now the proud owner of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Muppets on Blu-Ray! I’m so excited.

Today was a long day…I had to be up at the music building by 7 for a makeup listening quiz in music history, and I didn’t get to leave until about 3. Thankfully, I didn’t have piano today, so, while I started my day an hour earlier than normal, I was finished an hour earlier. Though today was Nap Day, I didn’t nap right after we got back to the room. Instead, Andrew and I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Andrew hadn’t seen it before, and he really liked it, and I liked it just as much as I did the first time. It’s so good!

From there, I went to rehearsal for a play with a cast that largely consisted of people from the play I was in earlier this semester. The director of the play was also in the cast, and he asked me if I’d like a small part in this show, and I accepted. It’s nothing that takes me onstage or requires me to learn any lines, so it’s nothing to stress over. It’s actually a pretty funny gig.

When I left that, I picked up Andrew, and the two of us ate dinner at Chipotle. From there, he went to his church meeting while I took a short nap. I woke when he returned, at which point we put on The Muppets! Staying up just a bit later tonight (not because of the short nap, I assure you) because the next two days should be pretty easy peasy.

That being said, it’s time for bed. Goodnight!

Chad

P.S. – Hunger Games midnight premiere tomorrow!

Shwoop

I’m back! I’ve been absent from here for longer than I had initially planned, but I should be back to a normal posting schedule.

Brief recap of spring break: I stayed at home the whole time and loved it. I FINALLY got my ingrown toenail removed at the foot doctor, which has been a huge relief. The surgery didn’t hurt at all, and I haven’t had any pain in my toe since…praise the Lord! It was great being with my family too. My cat laid in my bed every night…I’m gonna miss them all.

Now, I’m back in Lubbock, getting back in the swing of things. I did the homework that I had missed while out of town with Court Jesters before spring break, all while watching How I Met Your Mother on Netflix Instant with Andrew. I started it with my family over the break, and now we’re all the way through season 1. It’s so funny! I love it.

This week consists of: bible study tomorrow, play rehearsal Wednesday (I’m making a small appearance in a friend’s play on Friday night…nothing special, really), Paradigm (worship service) and the Hunger Games midnight premiere (I read the trilogy and loved it!) on Thursday, and then the play that I’ll have a “cameo” in on Friday. Tomorrow, both the Muppets and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo come out, so I’ll be buying those tomorrow!

I’d love to give you a longer post, but for now I’m just going to say goodnight. I’m ready for sleep. Goodnight!

Chad