another year, another "wtf?"

I can barely even recall what I've been doing the past six months. Everything is such a blur. I think I had fun... (question mark?)

I got A's in everything except my trombone lessons, where I got a B+. Don't even ask, I'm too pissed off to discuss it riht now.

I visited my high school marching band, it was so surreal. Kids who were freshman when I was a senior are now seniors themselves. I feel so old. I'll be twenty in five days.

Being home this week has been incredibly hard. I love my parents so much, and I really want for us to have a nice time together, but it's so hard to not end up arguing by the end of dinner every night.

I feel like I should make some mention of a recently aquired friend from school. His name is Trent. I usually try to be as candid and honest as I can in my blogging, but I haven't made significant mention of him yet because I haven't known what to say.

Part of this is because at first I had a very nonchalant, "Oh God, not another one" attitude. And I know I've been quite open about my dating life on my blog. He is not in CCM, he lifts weights, works at Starbucks and has friends in fraternities. A far cry from my "type". But then, all my dates lately have been.

But I kept an open mind and was pleasantly surprised! It turns out he is a real intellectual, a quality I haven't enjoyed in a date in quite a while. I didn't even realize how much I missed it. I actually feel very at ease with him, too. And he doesn't seem to mind too much when I express my dislike for Starbucks or frat boys in pink shirts. And he's liberal. :D We had a blast in our many drunken exploits during hell week and finals week.

Too bad we started hanging out less than a month before my summer job in "The Mitten". Although it will provide an interesting opportunity: we have agreed to get drunk and write each other eloquent letters. I'll probably have to skip the getting-drunk part of that, as I will be supervising young girls, and I must set an upstanding example!

Some highlights of this week: DDR with KT, seeing Cam, (it's always so great to see both of them!) Also, getting my teeth scraped at 8 in the morning.

Tomorrow is packing and Saturday is the Indy Jazz Fest. For those of you who never gave me your address, I'll talk to you in September!

a little about my dad

so yeah, I've been home for a few days. Same old gorging on random food, fricton with my mom, and being dragged to every large shopping mall in the area that comes with every break.

I give my mom a lot of attention in my blogging, since she and I have a lot of tension, and it's the same old stuff about her not approving of anything in my life. But my dad doesn't get a lot of attention because he and I get along very well. I've really grown up to be more like him than mom, she even says so.

So this blog entry is dedicated to my Dad, since father's day is coming up!

If you ever wondered why I'm so short, it mostly comes from that side of the family. We're a bunch of short, stocky Germans. We're also all very intellectual and very eccentric. Any weird quirks come from him too.

Now my dad busts ass at this big company every day as many American fathers do, and has gotten to the point where he's thinking about leisure activities and retirement. Now some adult men like to golf, some like to drive boats around. My dad like to drive cars. Really, really fast cars.

Last fall he bought the newest model of a Corvette, and drives it around on the back country roads in Indiana. He took me for a ride in it today. He was doing, like, 60-65 on these tiny little windy roads in Brown County that are barely wide enough for two cars. He said once he found a quiet stretch of road that was straight enough, and did 120.

When we got back I got out of the car and almost fell on the ground and puked all over the place. It felt like an hour-long roller coaster ride.

I guess that's one place where we differ, I enjoyed the little car ride, but if I ever amass a large sum of money, I have no interest in buying a really fast car and driving it. I also don't know how to drive a stick.

Anyway, my dad is pretty cool. He gets me, he gets what I'm trying to do and has every bit of confidence I'll pull it off. My mom just sort of looks at both of us, and is like, "what the fuck?"

Things I will miss about Clifton

Well, I'm getting ready to up and split town tomorrow morning. I have very mixed feelings about leaving. There are so many people I want to hang out with, and now I won't get another chance until I return in September. I have never left Clifton for this long since I moved here (I stuck around last summer).

There are some things I won't miss about Clifton, like the fact that I can't get any sleep in my apartment. Construction behind my building, thugs in the hallway outside my bedroom yelling at each other, my place is so small that when Rachel or Ilan so much as breathe, it's loud enough to wake me up. I also won't miss the traffic, the panhandlers and all the dirt. And sadly enough, I won't miss CCM. My conclusion is that I love music, and I want to play professionally, but I hate CCM. Solution? Stick it out for two more years and then get on with my life.

But here are some things I will miss this summer:

Ambar
Apna
Salsa dancing
Thai Express
Jimmy Johns
My friends!!!!
My roommate!!!!
Creepy-looking old victorian buildings
The Blue Wisp
The Esquire
Burnett Woods
The guy with the bicycle who sits in front of my apartment building, but never asks anyone for money.
Parties
Over-The-Rhine
Findlay Market
My volunteer job (I don't care how many kids I'm working with this summer, they won't be the students at Kids Cafe!)
Kim Pensyl
My apartment
The view from my window
The weird people who live around here

So I'll try to drop as many people as I can a line, but I am lacking in a lot of email addresses and street addresses. If anyone would like a postcard from beautiful Michigan, leave me your address on here, or on AIM, or send it to me by email: mehneraa@email.uc.edu

Also, my email will probably be the easiest way to reach me this summer, if 'ya feel like it ^.^

Toodles!

Finals Week

Well, tis finals week, and I have a wonderful technique to get through it with my sanity. It's called not studying. Ok, I lied, I might study a little bit, but I don't think I've ever studied for a final for more than two hours. And by studying I mean talking to people on aim with my notes in my lap.

So things have been fun, and now that my life is significantly less insane, I am actually able to sleep, and not be having a constant panic attack. Although my head and neck won't stop hurting. I need a deep tissue massage.

Friday was filled with drunken obnoxiousness. Ridiculous CCM bash for about 20 minutes, and then Trent dragged Assia and I to a frat party. We actually had more fun at the frat party, terrorizing the owners of the house by drawing sexual pictures on their dry-erase board and eating sun chips (they were out on the counter - fair game!)

Saturday: Findlay market with Trent, fun as always (I <3 style="font-style: italic;">looooooooove playing Congas.

Sunday: Atlas Shrugged, practice, cooking with Trent, laundry and Grey's Anatomy (yes I'm addicted to that show). Uneventful and relaxing.

Monday (today): It's balls hot out. Trent and I went on a suburban adventure to go clothes shopping (yes we've been hanging out every day ~shrugs~). I enjoyed laughing at the suburban people and the silly clothes they like to buy.

My air conditioning is broken, so I think I might go over to school to practice, since it is a beautiful 65 degrees in CCM. Then salsa.

Jazz History final at 10am tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!!!!

Jiggles Wiggles

Well, this hell-week has been especially hellish, which is why I haven't written since the grease-fire incident. Classes are over, there is so much to say, but so little.

I guess one of the highlights of the time I spent with Jiggs is that I may get to go to Germany to study with him after all. I would have to take spring quarter off next year. I'm getting started on the paperwork now. There's a chance it may fall through, but I'm going to try my darndest :)

Jiggs is amazing. His teaching style is similar to that of Dee Stewart, except that Jiggs plays jazz. While he emphasizes the importance of learning jazz harmony and how to play one's instrument well, he also emphasizes the spirit of the music. If someone played something unenthusiastically in a masterclass or rehearsal, he would stop them and lecture about how we should always respect the music, and how serving it should be our primary purpose.

I finished my jazz theory project. It wasn't as good as I had hoped.

Last night I learned to play go. A new hobby to love.

Today has been particularly nice. After German, I jammed on quinto and gonqogui with Noriko (we're in afro-cuban music lab together). Then stuffed my face at Apna. Then got tickets to go see Herbie Hancock next thursday.

Awesome.