Here You Go

I told you I wouldn't post very much. But it's been awhile and I'm bored, so here you go.

Let's see, what is there to blog about... I guess I'll start with camp. Camp was amazing. To a ridiculous extent, camp was amazing. But only because of the people there (mainly the people in my dorm and hallway). The camp itself (meaning the organization and the activities and whatnot) was nothing special, even quite poor at times, but the people there were incredible. Of course there were those that were douchebags and those that were whiny little rich kids, but most were really cool. Andrew's metal guitar skills, Matt's ungodly intelligence and Plankton impersonation, Greg's never-ending hilarity, and James' quiet nature and passion for the cello, to name just a few. Yes, I'll miss these guys a lot. Maybe we can all reunite next year and have another fantastic two weeks. I certainly hope so. Anyway, on to what we actually did at camp. Months before camp started, everyone made an audition tape of about 10 minutes and mailed it in so that a group of judges could place everyone in an appropriate orchestra. Apparently my tape was the best they received out of the violists, so I was top chair in the top orchestra. Out conductor, Mr. Hong, was phenomenal. He is by far the best conductor I've ever worked with. Not only did he have a deep understanding of the music, he connected with each individual member of the orchestra on a much more personal level (and I think that greatly increased our playing potential). We played the Mendelssohn Octet (not that any of you know what that is), which is amazing. Aside from orchestra, some of us signed up for chamber music groups. At the first chamber music day, the horrid organization skills of the staff became apparent. We were waiting for nearly 45 minutes of out 2 hours to find out which groups we were in. Then, after supposedly getting everything settled, on the second day my group was informed that we would be gaining another cello (and therefor that all our work from the previous day was absolutely pointless). However, we played the Schubert quintet, which is a gorgeous piece, so I'm not complaining. Although I suspect none of you really care about the details of my camp days, I'm already typing, and you asked for a post, so too bad. Each day we were supposed to wake up and eat breakfast at 8 (which I rarely did). Then at 8:45 there was always a "mandatory" camp meeting (three of which I attended). After the meeting was orchestra rehearsal for 3 hours, followed by lunch. From 1 to 2 we went to our chosen "electives" (sight reading for me). After that we had an hour to practice by ourselves before leaving for chamber music at 3:15. Chamber music went until 5:15, at which time we left to eat dinner. Each day ended with a concert or event of some sort at 7. There were a few exceptions to this general day, but most of them looked like that. So the week went on, and blah blah blah lots of stuff happened blah blah blah, and then there were the concerts. I had a solo concert in the middle somewhere, which went pretty well. The chamber concert was the tough one. We had rehearsed and rehearsed, and we were good. God we were good. It sounded amazing on our last day of rehearsing, and we were psyched for the concert. However, nerves are also a factor in concerts, and they took their toll on our quintet. Matt was the most talented musician in our group, but unfortunately he was also the most nervous. Our first cellist Meredith missed a turn she had been a little shaky on, and that threw the rhythm off. It just kinda spiraled down from there. The piece wasn't a total disaster, but it was far less than we were capable of and was very disappointing. The orchestra concert was far better though. We did incredibly well, and I could tell we made Mr. Hong proud. So that's pretty much the gist of what happened at camp. On to something else.

Let's see... Well, I'll just cram whatever comes to mind into this last paragraph. We're going to Chicago in about a week and a half. I'm excited, though slightly less so than I would be if more of my friends were going. Sebby's in Europe, Nathan's in... somewhere (probably Nicaragua), and Hannah is away with LEAP. I don't know if Michael is coming, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. So that leaves me with the sophomores and the seniors (though the seniors probably won't be there either), which will still be loads of fun, but I'd still like for all my friends to be there. At least I'll have two weeks straight with you. THE BEACH! Goin' to tha beach. EXCITED! Oh my God excited! I can't believe they agreed, they said you could come with me, but they did, and I am VERY happy about that. Mmm... peach shakes and hand and foot and salt water and spades and walks on the beach and sand and aahhhh... I can't wait for the beach.

Well, that's it for another profound, deeply moving installment of Ben's blog. Hope you enjoyed. I'm off to get my teeth violated by a man in a white coat.