Odds and Ends

A few more miscellaneous things I didn't mention in my "catching up" post.

One of the requirements in my music class is that we have to go and see a concert, and write a report about it. Well, two concerts, actually, but one of them is due at the end of October. Our teacher has been good of letting us know when there is one coming up that we can attend for free, the problem with that is, that they're mostly during the week. That really doesn't work for me as I work every day and I have class mon-thu.

I emailed him asking him if there was anything he knew about that was during the weekend, and I didn't mind paying for admission. We get to class that week and he said he had gotten my email and had a solution. He offered to go to a local high school THAT NIGHT for a concert, but the whole class had to agree to go. They did, we went.

It was a local HS orchestra, and they were really good. The sound coming off of the stage for the amount of musicians on stage, was HUGE. I was very impressed. Afterward we went into the orchestra hall to discuss the music, and to hopefully talk to some of the students that played.

So, we talk to someone who played each of the different instruments, and the string bass player... was definitely my favorite. Mr. Music asked the kid what his favorite piece was, what his instrument was, was there anything special about it... blablabla. Then it came to what was awesome about this kid. Keep in mind he's talking to a man that has a masters degree in music education...

Mr. Music asked him what his plans for college were, and if he wanted to get some sort of music degree and keep playing. The kid very matter-of-factly replied with "Well, I enjoy playing, but I don't think I'll get a music degree. Music majors don't get good jobs or have careers."

The room got real quiet, real quick. Then it was followed by the sound my laughter. I pretty much lost my shit when he said that. Mr. Music, who has a pretty quick wit, said "Yeah, and what am I? Chopped liver?" He understood what the kid was saying, but he could have said it better.

Another thing that made me shake my damn head...

So, my two siblings are significantly older than I am. They went through this same college system before moving on to a larger university about twenty years ago. Keep in mind, they're older than I am, and I graduated high school in 2001. What I learned from my brother, is that both he and my sister had Dr. Government in the early 90's. THE SAME Dr. Government.

So, my brother wanted me to ask him a question about a female country singer that he was in love with. I asked him after my test a couple of weeks ago, and he laughed when I told him my siblings had him about twenty years ago. So, the following week, someone asked me what made Dr. Government laugh.

I explained to them the whole story and one girl said "Wow, I wasn't even born yet."

To which I replied, "Good for you, man!" My veteran buddy thought that was funny.

So, that's not the only time that happened to me that week. The very next night in English, Mr. English the movie buff mentioned that on that very day, the movie "The Princess Bride" turned 25 years old. The girl next to me said "Wow, I wasn't even born yet."

Being the idiot that I am, I said "I was born the year E.T. came out." and she JUST HAD TO ASK... "When was that?"

I said "1982.", knowing full well I was not going to be happy with what she said next:

"Wow, that's pretty old."

I was left speechless. Mr. English just shook his head.

*sigh.* Damn kids...