#174 – February 28

Taughannock Falls

Taller than Niagara Falls. Really awesome.

It’s about 10 miles outside of Ithaca, and was the last thing we did before leaving town this morning.

I’m at home now. Just going to write this post, and get the heck into bed. Pretty damn tired tonight.

What a great weekend we had. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. It was great. The guys at Ithaca are gods for opening up their home to us, not to mention buying us all of our meals and helping us with everything else. It was great meeting them, and sharing all of their history.

We had some car trouble on our way home today, and it added over an hour to the trip. When we stopped for lunch, I decided I didn’t want to drive anymore (I had exclusively driven the van the entire weekend up to that point), and switched into Don’s van. I needed a nap, and figured I’d be much more comfortable in there.

But because I suck at life, Don got a flat tire. After we got separated from the other van while we took care of that, we got lost somewhere in Southern Pennsylvania. We had missed our turn off, and had to find another way back to the route. That was an adventure.

Eventually we made it back to Suckfax.

I honestly can’t even think anymore. It’s time for bed.

#173 – February 27

The Old House

What a crazy day! Started off by visiting the old house that PMA used to own. Kinda cool, since not many chapters own a house, and this one is really old. I think they moved in there in the 40s, I forget. We weren’t able to go inside, but two of our faculty members lived there for a few years. Plus, I think this is a pretty decent picture of all the VA Zeta guys with a few Delta brothers mixed in.

Then we had all of our sessions for the day. They were pretty fun, although my history session didn’t go so well. I didn’t really have enough time to prepare for it really well, and I had an extremely shortened time frame. Didn’t get to nearly as much stuff as I’d hoped I would. Our “What are we looking for? session was pretty good, and song learning is always fun.

Tomorrow morning we’ve got one more session, and then we’re heading out to “the falls”. Just a waterfall, apparently. Whatever. If its a crappy day tomorrow like it was today, I’m going to fight it. Until then, I don’t make the decisions. After that’s done, we’ll be hitting the road. It’s going to be exhausting.

Tonight we went to get some late-night grub at the “Cornell Hot Truck”. Cornell is literally right down the road, by the way. The hot truck is essentially a roach-coach that never moves, and they serve hot sandwiches throughout the night. It was pretty decent, and cheap. College towns are full of those sorts of things.

I’m really, really tired right now. Andrew won’t get off the couch I’m supposed to be sleeping on. If I have to sleep on the floor tonight and then drive all the way home tomorrow, I literally might kill someone.

#172 – February 26

Ithaca is gorges.

If you didn’t expect this to be the tagline of tonight’s blog, you’re a flippin moron.

We rolled into town tonight around 6:45, and have been hanging with the boys from Delta ever since. Dinner was had, then a little bit of a Symphonic Band concert (I passed on that), and then we had our goal-setting meeting for the weekend. I’ve already been thrown into the fact that I’m pretty much leading the whole weekend from our side of the table. It’s a damn good thing that I love talking about this Fraternity.

Tonight’s picture is something I’m extremely proud of! I had to take our two faculty members that came with us to their hotel tonight, and I spied a Jimmy John’s. Dammit, they have good, cheap sandwiches! “Subs so fast you’ll freak!” “Free smells!” I’ve really missed it. If you live in Gainesville, you should really take as much advantage of them as you can. I promise you’ll miss places like this when you move away.

Ithaca is truly a college town. Something Fairfax clearly isn’t. It’s a totally different vibe, and something I’m very happy with. It’s also a much bigger campus than GMU, and I like that too. Mason always feels so…inadequate…..to me. It’s a shame that I’ll never have a class that’s more than a 3 minute walk away. Walking on a college campus is something special.

It’s already 1:30, and I really need to be hitting the sack. I’ve just got too many things on my mind right now. First session tomorrow is titled “What are we looking for in a Brother?”. I’ve done this one before, with my Province Governor back home. It was a really cool thing to think about, and really helps when planning recruitment.

I just hope the colony members are taking this weekend as seriously as I am. I’m so grateful to the Brothers of the Delta Chapter for hosting us. They’re the oldest Chapter still active, chartered on January 28, 1901. They’re really excited about us being here, and they’re all learning a lot about what we’ve had to do. For them, the Fraternity is a granted thing. Given to them by generations and generations of past leaders. It’s humbling to think about the fact that’s exactly what we’re trying to do at GMU. Do I believe we’ll be around 108 years later? Probably not, but that could keep you up at night thinking about it.

 This has been an extremely verbose post tonight, and I hope I didn’t bore you too much. But, my blog is my avenue for expressing myself. I talk about what’s on my mind, and what I’m dealing with on a day-to-day basis. This is what I’m dealing with.

The drive up here was pretty great. I drove the whole way, which doesn’t bother me in the least. I’d rather drive than be crammed in the back, bored. We stopped at McDonald’s about halfway up, in the middle of nowhere, central PA. St. Cloud to be exact. What a freak show that place was. I’m sure we’re going to stop there again on the way home, just for the grins.

I also saw an awesome Keystone Light billboard somewhere in PA. The slogan was “Hit the Long Ball”. Apparently, Keystone Light used to be the official beer of slow-pitch softball. Hilarious. I always just heard it makes you faster when you drink it.

I miss doughnut-ing. A lot. And Durty Nellys.

Alright, that’s it. Wake up is in 6 hours. Wish me luck!

#171 – February 25

Part II of our special series titled “This is what packing looks like”

Hope you enjoy! Let me just begin by saying that its even later tonight when I’m packing then when it was last Friday when I was packing.

I’m really stressing about this retreat now. I really want this to be an exalted experience for the 13 men going on the trip, and a lot of that responsibility falls on my shoulders. I’m more than capable, but I’m definitely feeling the weight right now.

Today was an awesome day! Sort of.

I’m still having trouble getting up in the mornings, something is seriously wrong with my alarm clock. I missed Methods class, and got scolded by C when I went to apologize. Then I had conducting, and that went well today. I finally nailed my singing exercise! I got lucky, no doubt, but I’m happy to finally pass one!

Piano was fine, and English was sufficient. We got to sit around and discuss with classmates about our argument paper we’re writing. People dig my topic, and that makes me feel good. It should be excellent, with any luck.

Then I took a nap. It was glorious. But I missed church because of it. D’oh! Bummed that happened, but I tried. No soda today. Day one. And no meat. Fish sandwich for lunch, and chocolate pancakes for dinner.

The TopChef finale was pretty good. It was a decent season. Hosea won, which is kind of what I expected. I seem to remember a friend of mine telling me, on the night of the first episode, that she liked him. I can’t remember who that person is, though. It’s been too long….

Sigh.

I got to talk to Jackie tonight, albeit briefly, and it’s been a while. She’s incredible. She’s given up Facebook for Lent. Wowzers! That’s nutso!

Up-and-down day, tomorrow promises to be better. Have a great Thursday!

#170 – February 24

I’m always watching.

Creepy, right?

Anyways, tonight’s post is going to be hella-short.

I went to the Wind Symphony concert tonight. Can’t believe I was forced to sit through 17 minutes of talking before the show actually started. 17 minutes! And the entire thing was basically a commercial for why I should come to the concert. I’M ALREADY HERE!!! You don’t need to sell me on coming.

But I guess that’s what happens when you only program 50 minutes of music…

Ash Wednesday is tomorrow. Lent starts. I’m giving up soda. I’ve been weening myself off it for the last couple of weeks, and I’m going to really try and do it.

Damn, that’s going to be hard. I’m already dreading it. But at least I don’t have to die for the sins of humanity.

This weekend’s trip is going to be EPIC. Get yourselves ready for that. But I’m not taking my computer, so blogging might be extremely difficult. Don’s going to have to let me use his computer, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to post pictures or not. I might just have to catch up with the photos when I get back Saturday night.

That’s it. Nighters.

#169 – February 23

Pretty much sums things up…

I fell asleep really early again last night. That’s why I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon.

I passed out about 6pm. I meant for it to just be an hour or two of a nap, but woke up at about 6am this morning, having no idea what happened.

I’ve really been losing my rockstar status lately. I’m not doing quite as much gallavanting as I used to. I’m going to work on that.

In other news, I’ve been kicking asses and taking names. I’m really getting stuff done. It’s pretty sweet. There’s just a ton to do, even still.

The weather is kicking my butt lately. Monday was a gorgeous day, and I really wanted to go for a drive and listen to some tunes. It’s a great way to pass time. But I would’ve frozen my butt off if I’d done that. So instead, I fell asleep. I guess that’s an equally good way to pass time, but not nearly as much fun!

That’s it. An abbreviated version of the blog tonight, since it’s already Tuesday afternoon. I’ll fix things tonight.

Adios!

#168 – February 22

Toast face mode engaged.

 

I’m a friggin mess right now. Totally wiped out. And I’ve got a ton of homework to do before class tomorrow. Ugh.

It was a great weekend, but very, very exhausting. I finally got home around 11pm tonight, after finishing workshop, coming home just to change clothes, and having a meeting (more Phi Mu Alpha), and doing some homework.

Tomorrow needs to be a great day, because it’s going to be another whirlwind week! On Thursday we leave for Ithaca. Hell. Yes.

I’m really sad that Gary’s not going to be able to go with us this week. I know he’s bummed too, but we’re definitely going to miss him!

I didn’t win the CPR election. In fact, I was forced to remove myself from the running. As it turns out, I wasn’t eligible because I’m not a member of a province chapter. I’m actually currently listed on the national roster as an alumni. Normally, I’d just have to change my status to “collegiate” in order to assume the position. But because GMU is still a colony, I don’t have a chapter to join, which makes it impossible for me to be a “collegiate”. And that’s why I had to pull out.

Kind of a bummer, because I really did want to serve in this position. It’s a technicality that forced me out, but it makes sense. They actually had to call the national office last night to find out what they should do when they realized there was a problem.

The photo above is my good buddy Vinny P. enjoying a steak. We did “The Daily Double” today, which means that we went to BOTH Pat’s and Geno’s. The famous cheesesteak joints in South Philly. We both preferred Pat’s. Pretty decent lunch, I’d say.

Then we hung out with Rocky Balboa for a little bit. Went to see the statue at the Art Musuem, where the famous Rocky run was finished by climbing all the stairs. That was kind of cool, I guess. Vinny was really excited about getting a picture with it. Roberto was so excited he stayed in the car.

In fact, Roberto slept pretty much the entire way back. Maybe he should’ve gotten some rest on Saturday night…

Today was my half-birthday. Nobody acknowledged it.

I can’t keep my eyes open any longer. I’ve gotta go to bed. Now.

#167 – February 21

Philly. Woot!

We went to this cool little Cantina tonight. Best margarita I’ve ever had. As if you couldn’t tell by my face in the picture.

That’s Aaron Spencer in the photo with me, my old chapter President. He was gracious enough to let us stay at his apartment while we’re here, and show us around town tonight. We had a great time. Like I said, awesome margaritas.

We’re in Philadelphia for a province workshop with Phi Mu Alpha. I’ve been to a bunch of these, and have yet to find one that brought something new to the table. The good news is the Fraternity is very likely to extend liability insurance to all the chapters very soon. We’ve never had that before, and it’ll be a huge thing for the future of Sinfonia. (BTW…we’ve also never had a serious claim against us…knock on wood!)

I was nominated for Collegiate Representative, and the elections are tomorrow morning before we wrap up the workshop. I’m thankful to Vinny P. for nominating me. Hopefully I can give a killer speech in the morning and win the election. That’d be killer!

Wish me luck!

The drive was pretty decent this morning, although I had a really hard time getting up. I hope the weather holds off tomorrow while we drive home. There might be some snow tomorrow, and we don’t really have time to screw around with that. We have to get back and take care of business tomorrow night!

Alright, that’s it. It’s late again, and we can’t be late tomorrow.

#166 – February 20

Crazy late night and an extremely early morning

It’s 2am. I’m very tired.

I wasted a ridiculous amount of time, and now here I am in the middle of the night trying to pack. I’m leaving for Philadelphia just after 6am.

Another Province Workshop for Phi Mu Alpha. How many of these have I been to now? This time, at least, it’s a new Province (27!).

I kid. It should be fun. Hopefully I’ll have good news to share. Don’t know yet what my internet situation will be like, so the blog might suffer a little bit. We’ll see. I’m just going until Sunday afternoon.

I’m excited about seeing Aaron Spencer. Good buddy from my days at UF. I think we’re going to stay at his apartment, and that’ll be tight.

Tonight was Conan’s last night, which is part of the reason I’m up so late. Couldn’t miss it. I friggin love that show, I swear. Can’t wait until June 1st!

I didn’t do so hot in my piano test today, but that was expected. I have an extremely hard time with it. I just don’t get it. I can play with my right hand, I can play with my left hand, and I can read both clefs easily. But I just can’t seem to manage doing all of those things at the same time. I’ve got to replay one of the examples next week. I guess it’s not that big of a deal, but I honestly don’t know when I’m going to be able to practice again before Monday.

Alright, that’s it. I’ve gotta get my 4 hours of sleep now. Adios!

If you got really good news today, congratulations! Woot! Wish I could say more….

#165 – February 19

The National Symphony Orchestra.

Indulged in a little culture tonight. Had to snap the photo before the show started, so as to not get the ushers angry with me. Hence the “emptiness”.

Charles Dutoit was less-than impressive. He paid all of his attention to the 1st violins, I felt. I just kept thinking that he was the type of conductor I wouldn’t want to play for. And he wasn’t even the least bit engaging for the audience. I don’t think he smiled the entire night. He was strange.

I was, however, impressed by the soloist I heard tonight. Besides being a babe-a-saurus rex, she really played the Prokofiev 2 magnificently. Yuja Wang is her name. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve decided we’re getting married. And she’s going to be my sugar-mama. And I’ll travel the world, hearing the best orchestras everywhere. Start getting jealous!

Courtney, I swear….I’ll kill you if you make a silly comment.

We tried to switch seats during intermission, and got kicked out of them by the nasty usher. WTF? She told us we couldn’t sit there, because she “didn’t know if they seats had been sold”. Well, honey, if they didn’t make it by the end of intermission, I highly doubt they’ll be bothered with us sitting there. Grr…

What kind of concert hall has that policy? I’ve switched seats during intermission everywhere I’ve ever gone, and never had a single problem until tonight. Not only that, but parking at the Kennedy Center is freaking ridiculous. I had to pay $17 just to park my car in the garage. That’s outrageous.

Alright. I’m tired, and Conan’s about to come on. That’s pretty much all I did today anyways. That, and watch the thrilling finish to the West Indies/England test match. But nobody wants to hear about that.

Piano test tomorrow. Dammit.