Orthodontics

I disapprove of it.

I'm getting braces in a week, and to prepare myself for such a daunting endeavor, I got spacers put in. Two, actually, one on each side my mouth, bottom set of teeth. They hurt like nobody's business, and I'm having non-fond recollections of when I had my oral surgery. However, with the surgery they gave me Amazing Happy Drugs (that were NOT crack before anyone gets ideas) that made the world seem a lot better. The most they suggested here was Motrin.

I took Motrin a couple hours ago, and it helped about as much as eating a stack of paper would. Reread that a few times if it doesn't make sense, because it isn't supposed to.

On a better note, Mom and I went to the (new and larger!) music store next to the Indian restaurant where we had lunch, and I found the piano sheet music to selections of the first to Lord of the Rings movies. I haven't really gotten into the second one, but so far I have four songs played through in Fellowship: "In Dreams", "Lament for Gandalf", "Many Meetings", and "May It Be". I want to get into "Isengard Unleashed" (or at least the selection for "Haldir's Lament" for reasons I'm sure many of you are aware of) in the second one, but I'm taking it a song at a time. It's nice to have some new sightreading and sheet music, though.

Blissful Nothingness

I feel terribly guilty, as every night before I go to bed I realize I haven't blogged. I dread doing it, and then smack a video or LOLcat in and call it content. True, there is no oath for this year that it making me blog, but I know that if I stop doing it then I won't ever start up again.

So I'll report what happened today: nothing. You all know that that means something. A full day with no commitments? That's a rare treat at the old Taylor place.

For the first time in ages, I slept in. REALLY slept in---the dog woke me up at 10:30. I piano-ed for most of the day, digging out sheet music from years ago to songs such as:



and

So

I'm having second thoughts about this school talent show thing. I really don't know anything that I haven't already played that's a huge audience pleaser (such as Ice Dance or Sorcerer's Apprentice).

Anyone have an idea for something I could whip together really quickly on piano? I guess I could do something on bassoon but I've been doing so much of it lately. Besides, everyone in that school knows that I play bassoon and that I play it pretty well, so it isn't the huge surprise factor that I'm going for.

One concert down

The high school concert is down, and in two days is the middle school concert. Tonight went surprisingly well, despite me not really practicing my music (and only seeing the final piece this afternoon). We played us a mean "Heron Bay" and "Mission: Impossible", and "On a Hymnsong by Philip Bliss" went really well as well.

Oh, and my new nickname is apparently Hannibal Lecter. Inside joke from band with "Annabelle" somehow sounding like "Hannibal". Thus, Hannibal Lecter.

Now I'm working like a mad hatter (HAH HAH HAH) on "Sorcerer's Apprentice", all my orchestra music, and what I'm planning on doing for the end-of-the-year Talent Show. My song of choice (played on piano and hopefully singing as well?)

My type of procrastination

Isn't completely useless...I think. Instead of practicing "Sorcerer's Apprentice" like I should be doing, I'm listening to classical and ragtime on YouTube. Is that considered time wasted?

I promised myself to get off at 8:30. That's in three minutes. Time for one more song!

Quite a loverly day

That's quite a change in the weather based on how school is in session, eh? To be honest, today was actually incredibly nice. I hope that some of that will fester off into the next five weeks (along with things like the band trip and auditions) to make the year more bearable.

Mom and I went to Louisville to get some new tights and possibly something to wear to YTHC auditions (after receiving tips to look nice versus the jeans that I likely wore last year). At the dance store, we found the tights and a new pair of character shoes that fit much better than my old ones---a size larger and only a 1 1/2 inch heel. Shorter heels are my friends.

After some Indian food that we missed on Wednesday due to rather nasty traffic, we headed over to Macy's, as they apparently had a sale going on for certain skirts or other dress items. I scored an amazing dress that is fairly easy on, easy off for the audition (and something nice to wear for formal-er dinners in Jamaica) and a totally hot pair of fitted-but-not-agonizing purple shorts. Yes. PURPLE. They look amazing with my Bats With Bows hoodie that I wear obsessively during the summer.

I got some work done on my prologue, though not as much as I would have liked. I did manage to get over to my neighbor's house to mess around on their piano (They have an amazing grand piano) for a couple hours this afternoon as well.

Tonight was Prom for the upperclassmen, but parents were invited to come for the crowning ceremony. Mike was up for Prom Prince (I suppose the junior version of King and Queen), so Mom and I walked down because Mike had the car and the weather was lovely either way.

At the end of the ceremony---which was actually very short---they had the tradition Parent Dance where, if your parent(s) were in the crowd, you could drag them onto the dance floor and slow dance.

Mom didn't dance, but I can safely say that I am the first person at school to have danced at Prom (I hate my expression in this picture, but it was hard to tell when Mom was taking pictures since EVERYTHING was flashing):



...granted, that dance was with my brother, and I didn't really know what to do (Seems I'm not the naturally graceful slow dancer I imagined myself being). I still like to think it counts for something, though.

Mike was still out, so Mom and I finished the evening with cinnamon ice cream and Little Miss Sunshine. I can also safely say that this is my new favorite movie and that Paul Dano is my new favorite actor. This is now my desktop background:

Lazy Friday

The Internet went out today, but nothing else exciting or note-worthy happened. Oh, and earlier tonight I was singing at the piano and getting out of my comfort zone note-wise (AKA singing Christine's parts in Phantom). I couldn't go back to being an alto right away and was freaked out that I had ruined my voice for forever. Apparently not.

The cake is a lie!

No, I'm not sure what that means. But apparently it has something to do with Portal, which is the game this song is from:



I just found the sheet music for it, and I want to record it sometime.

Ice Dance

Did not turn out well.

At all.

Even if people claim it did.

Piano crunch

That's what tomorrow will be. Apparently, I have to have my talent show piece memorized, and the performance is Thursday night, sooo...

I have a plan of attack. I'm going to study the music tonight before I got to bed so as to possibly infuse it into my mind. In the morning, if I have time, I'm going to play it before I get on the bus. The music is coming to school with me, and I'm going to ask my band director if she'll let me have one day to work on it with her keyboard (I'll bring headphones). She's really excited about the competition and hopes that I get first or something, so I'm really hoping she'll channel that (along with the "I already know all your music") into giving me the day.

When I get home, you know what's going to happen before and after Musical Theatre? You guessed it: piano. Apply the "study" factor tomorrow night, and play through it several times on Thursday.

Presto, instant piano cramming.