I've Taken the First Step

I am going to get published this summer if it kills me. I am also going to get into that orchestra.

And I have taken the first step needed for making both things happen.

I started practicing yesterday, trying to get a piece together for auditions. After a vigorous routine including scales, free play, and my Mozart piece, I feel as if I am on the right track. I will keep the practicing up, and with any luck, I will have a good audition.

Likewise, I started typing up a collection of poetry that I have been writing off and on for almost three years now. I have eight pages thus far, but I have a feeling I need more to get a published book. It is, however, the right step.

So wish me luck, Cyberland Readers, and maybe I will get there. And even if I don't, I will be able to say I tried.

~birdgirl90

Hey, It's July!

When the hell did that happen?

I'm going to be twenty in two whole weeks. Again, when did that happen? I don't feel any different, except that I'm happy I'm no longer going to be a teenager. Maybe now people will stop asking me when I'm going to be starting high school in the fall...

I think I am going to compile a list of things I've learned during the first part of this year. I normally try to do a year in review type of thing, but I don't know if I'm going to remember enough stuff. I mean, my first six or seven months of this year have just blown by - and I mean blown (my hair is still flying from it, for crying out loud) - and I barely remember half of it.

So, I think I'm going to do that soon. Not in this blog, but maybe in the next one.

I am thinking about trying to make money off this blog. Is that too much like selling out? I always wonder with this type of thing. I write because I love to write, not because I am looking to strike it rich, but getting paid for it would be kind of neat. I want to be a best selling author one day; maybe this is the way of getting there.

Although, if I did monetize it, I seriously doubt I would make much money on it. I mean, how many are there of you out there who acutally choose to read about my struggles as a young women in Colorado when you could be reading a "Twilight" blog or something?

Doesn't matter. I write because I love it, and you read it because you enjoy reading it. It's that simple of an equation. The result is two satisfied parties when it is all said and done. Still, it would be nice to try to get out there. I mean, I would write for the newspaper if I could. Unfortunately, they don't want me it seems. That was the feeling I got from the guy who came to the library to talk about writing.

I am not going to give up. I will write until my brain melts and gushes out of my ears, until my fingers bleed and my heart aches and my eyes are bloodshot from staring at blank pages and computer screens. I will not give up on this dream. I may be old and about to die before I get a published book on the market, but by God, I will publish something one day.

Sorry, my rant for the moment. I get depressed sometimes about things, and it usually comes out in the form of me preaching my agenda to the world.

Moving on.

I start manager training soon. My boss gave me a huge book of company policies and practices, and the boss of the regional manager of Einsteins wants me to train at one of his stores for two weeks. Apparently that means driving to either Aurora or Denver proper, but I think it will be worth it.

Still don't have an audition set up yet for the orchestra, but I practiced for a good 40 minutes today. I am horribly out of shape and my fingers ache; it felt so good, though. I forgot how much I love my instrument. I still have it, I might add. The skill needed to play in a group.

Ok, that's enough rambling for today. Farewell, my cyberland readers, and I shall write again.

~BirdGirl90

Practice Time!

I just contacted the local orchestra to see if they could use any more violinists. As it turns out, they most definitely do need more violinists, and it doesn't matter that I'm out of practice. I am thrilled!

So now I have to wait to set up an audition. Which is fine, cause it gives me some time to pull one of my favorite classical pieces out of the woodwork and start polishing the hell out of it. It's been so long since I last played, but I am ready to do this. Orchestra playing (or any sort of playing in a group) has always been one of my favorite aspects of being a classically trained violinist. Now, I am going to get to do that again.

Provided I get an audition booked and I make it through the audition process.

Auditioning is one of those necessary evils in life. If it were a paid position in a professional orchestra (like the Boston Pops), the audition process would be a lot more intense, with scales and memorized pieces being involved, not to mention having to know things like the Bach conceretos in full. To top it off, there's like intense sight reading involved.

For my purposes, it's a lot more simple; have a piece ready (I don't know if it has to be memorized or not, so I'm going to go ahead and make sure it is to play it safe), be able to sight read some simple pieces, and go from there. I'm going to go ahead and work on a piece that I had memorized before I stopped playing the violin, which should make it easier to memorize again.

I think I'm either going to do a Vivaldi piece or a Mozart piece. I am leaning towards the Mozart one, because I like that one better. Vivaldi is great, I've just played him too much in too short a time span.

That is, provided I get an audition.

But hey, it sounds like they need players and I'm not opposed to doing second violin. So the odds are good.

Until the next time, Cyberland readers.

~Birdgirl90

It's a little random, but you already knew that...

Yesterday, in the Denver, CO. region, it was a beautiful near 70 degrees. The sun was up, the sky was blue, and it was just gorgeous. How often does that happen in the middle of January? I swear, if the weather could stay like that or similar year round, I would be an incredibly happy camper. So what did I do yesterday?

I stayed inside and burned a couple of CDS for my sister and her friend that I was supposed to do around Christmas time, and then I went to work. That's right. I was going to go outside to walk or whatever, but had no energy and ran out of time. And I have no one to blame for that but me.

So what is the weather going to do today? Right now it's overcast. Apparently it's going to snow tonight into tomorrow. My mom said not to worry, the weather guys were all saying that it's only going to be a dusting. Let's think about this for a moment: shortly after moving out here, they all said that we were only going to get like, oh, six inches? We got about two or three feet, got seriously snowed in, had special warnings and stuff from the governor, and made the national news.

A dusting.... We will see what that really means.

I'm sitting here, typing my blog while listening to my iPod ("Youthless" by Beck, if you were curious, followed by "Don't Look Back In Anger" by Oasis) and I just realized something. Earbuds are incredibly loud when you are the only one home and there is no other noise. Now, mom just got home a few minutes ago, but before that I had my iPod set on the lowest sound setting and I felt like it was just pounding in my ears at a deafing volume. Now that there are other noises, it feels better. But still.... That's pretty good.

I have to admit that I typically have to buy new earbuds about once every four months or so, just because I like to hear the bass line sometimes and that usually ends with me blasting one or both ear phones out. I know - I'm going to be deaf by the time I'm forty. But it is so totally worth it. And I don't do it too often.

And that is the very random blog for the day. No idea what when or what I'll be writing about next, but it's sure to be entertaining. My poor diary hasn't been updated since September, I've been putting everything in here....

Later,
Birdgirl90 aka Meaghan