Real life, with a dash of Doctor Who

Oh, what a weekend I had! That was the most fun I've had in ages!

After having lunch with Justin, Dominic and I drove to Michigan to visit my old friend Jessie. Jessie's sister, Candy, drove all the way up from Kansas City so her visit would overlap with mine and we could all have some time to visit one another. There was a lot of reminiscing and talk about what we were doing now and what we'd done since we last saw each other (which was roughly 14 years ago). We took the boys to the pool. Jessie and her husband played with the boys while Candy and I sat to the side and visited. Dominic had a blast!

After the pool, we had dinner, and I got ready to go see Muse. Albert loaned me his Garmin and I got to the venue with no problems whatsoever. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw a sign that listed prices for parking. The sign said $15, but had another sign half covering it that said $10. I was relieved because I had just enough cash on me to cover a $10 parking fee. I pulled up to the cash-taker and he very politely asked me for $15. I closed my eyes, sighed, and admitted I only had $10. He said, "That's all you have?"

I said, "Yes."

I was just about to ask him how to get out and where the nearest ATM was when he said, "That's fine." I handed him a $5, 4 singles, and a Susan B. Anthony. He thought for a second, then handed me back the coin (I think he thought it was a quarter). He said, "Enjoy the show!" I thanked him and went to park.

The show was in-frickin-credible! It was hands-down the best concert I've ever seen. I found several videos from the show I was at on YouTube. Here's a video of the opening. It goes from the intro into "Uprising."



They had a good mix of songs from all of their albums and they got to most of my favorites. I was especially pleased when they played "Uprising," "Undisclosed Desires," "Hysteria," and "Knights of Cydonia." My brain nearly hemorrhaged when they did "Knights of Cydonia" as the show closer. Because that's how it should be!

I got back to Jessie's house around 11:15. They were all still awake and we got to talking again. I was shocked when Jessie said it was 2:00 AM. So I went to bed. We all slept in. We had yummy breakfast (Jessie does corned beef hash right!) and Dominic and I hit the road around 11:30.

I made it home around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. I would have made it sooner, but the Ohio State Highway Patrol told me to slow down. I'm still slightly confused about why I was pulled over. The officer said, "I pulled you over for going 72 while passing a vehicle in the left-hand lane." I was pretty sure that passing was what the left-hand lane was for, but I know better than to argue with the police. He gave me an official warning and some unofficial advice. He said, "Keep with the flow of traffic like you were doing and set your cruise, but stay in the center or right-hand lanes because we check the left-hand lane first." I've been thinking about the incident ever since and the best I can figure is they were looking for drunk drivers because of the St. Patrick's Day Holiday. I was technically speeding (7 miles over the limit) so he pulled me over to see if I'd been drinking. I can't imagine I'd have been pulled over if it had been any other weekend. Still, I'm grateful that he didn't give me a ticket. He was very nice and dang if he wasn't one of the more handsome men I've ever seen...

Despite my run-in with the law, it was still the best darn weekend I've had in ages! I will go see MUSE again if I have another opportunity and hopefully I can drag some other people along with me. I hope they don't mind that I refuse to go over 65mph.

I took the first of three exams for my music class last night. It was taken on one of those Scantron sheets where you fill in the dots. The instructor handed out the question sheets and asked us not to write on them because he reuses them. I was on page 2 when I noticed someone had written the words "Golf course" in the margin. I wondered why they would do that.

During the instrument recognition part of the exam, the instructor would show us a photo of an instrument and we were supposed to match it to the correct name and identify which part of which country it comes from. On the back of the exam, next to the map of Asia, that same person had written, "Don't forget... ...golf course." That's when I realized someone was trying to psych me out. Like he was trying to stick the words "golf course" in my head and make me forget the information I had just crammed in there before the exam. I thought to myself, "Well, that's not going to work!" And then the instructor moved onto the next slide before I answered the question.

D'oh!

Luckily, I knew it was an erhu and that it is used in "silk and bamboo" music from Southern China.

I don't cram. I learn.

First things first:

Today is Dominic's fourth birthday!!! Having a baby of my own has altered the way I look at birthdays. First and foremost, I celebrate the life of my son. But there's also a tiny part of me that celebrates the accomplishment of delivering him. Four years ago today, this very hour, I was laboring to bring him into the world. It's made me appreciate my mother in a new way. On my birthday I want to talk to her and thank her. She was and continues to be an amazing mother. I feel like my own birthday is less about me and more about us.

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My Music as a World Phenomenon class started last Thursday. I still can't shake the feeling that I don't belong in this class. The first two classes have focused heavily on vocabulary and cultural expectations of music. I think that I'll start feeling better about the class when we get out of things I'm already well-versed on and get into studying music from parts of the world I'm ignorant about. Yesterday the teacher was trying to get us to let go of our pre-conceived notions about music. He went to the piano and plunked out "Pomp and Circumstance" and asked us "What is this?"

Nobody answered so I quietly said, "Pomp and Circumstance." He stood up straight and said, "Well, yes, specifically it's 'Pomp and Circumstnace,' but what do we use it for?"

"Graduation," I said.

"Yes!" He turned his back to us and continued, "But it isn't 'the graduation song!' It's..." and he got more quiet when he finished the sentence, "called... 'Pomp and Circumstance.' We just happen to use it for graduation."

I feel like I took the wind out of his sails and hampered the point he was trying to make.

He's an interesting teacher, though, and he makes the 3 hour class go by fairly quickly. Though, to be honest, I'm ready to check out by 9:00 and the class goes until 9:45.

I got a survey in my KSU email yesterday. They were trying to figure out why incoming Freshman decide to enroll or not enroll in the music ensembles. I would *love* to be in some ensembles, but they don't fit my schedule. KSU's school of music isn't designed to allow non-traditional students to participate. I offered to take part in an interview and hopefully I can help them change things so that people like me can participate.