Hi kids,

Last time I wrote, I was busy getting ready for school and moving into my new place in SE Portland. Lots has happened between then and now, so let's not waste any time getting into the nitty gritty....

I'll start with the boring stuff: school. Actually, school isn't that bad. As some of you may remember, I took all of last year off, so this is my first time back in a while. I've decided to take it easy this term until I get familiar with the new campus--I also need some time to get used to waking up at anytime before noon. :-P

School itself is proving to be quite a challenege with respect to the single class that I'm taking this term (I'm fucked next term when I go back to full-time, I know). I'm taking a music history class, and there's a lot of stuff to cover. There's a shitload of reading, and lots of listening to do (which is fun). I said something fairly brilliant in class today about a Schumann piece, so I felt validated. *lol*

I have a fabulous advisor whom I adore to bits. She's really helped me get a plan in action as to getting me out of school ASAP. That said, it's going to take about 3 years to get my Master's in Music Education. That'll be a total of about 6 years in school, so that's not too bad. Of course, I'd rather get it all over with now....

There are a lot of really hot guys at school, too. Yum! Not that I ever catch any of them looking at ME, but still, it's fun to stare at them. Heheh. The thing that I think I appreciate most about being back in the school circuit is that everything feels safe. I mean, sure there are different faces, different buildings, etc., but for the most part, I feel like I belong there. For example, when I was getting my student ID card today, I saw all the student services that are available, and it just felt really safe--I can't explain it any other way.

With respect to my living situation, things are going quite well. We're just about all settled in. I have some things to take care of still, but I think by tomorrow evening, things are going to be all put away, and it'll look like people live here. And frankly, that'll be a big thorn out of my ass. I hate living in a messy space. Blah.

November 6th is fast approaching. As you will also remember, a gay-friendly church in Portland is going to be performing the world debut of my arrangement of a hymn sung on All Saints' Day which is appropriately titled "For All The Saints." Ralph Vaughan Williams did a fabulous job composing the piece, and I don't want to think that I'm making it better. Rather, I'd like to think that I'm offering my take on what the piece can sound like.

I've got my ensemble pretty much in place: two trumpets, one trombone, one tuba, the church organist and choir, a timpanist, a snare drummer, and an aux. percussion player. The of course, I'll be conducting the piece. All in all, the arrangement is about 6 minutes long, so it's a fairly short piece of music, all things considered. I just gave a copy of the score to the choir director so that he can take a look at it, and I'm waiting to hear feedback from him. Needless to say, I hope that he's thrilled with the piece. But at least I hope that he doesn't think it's garbage (yipes!). We're too far along to decide to can the piece.

As I'm sure you can imagine, I've been very fastidious about tweaking the piece and making sure that everything is as it ought to be. I've been driving my boyfriend crazy because I insist on listening to the piece on my computer about 8 times a day while he's here (and several more when he's not around). He's been really helpful helping me write out the percussion parts, since he's a percussionist, and he's been really supportive throughout the whole process.

Every day, I either love or hate the piece and want to start from scratch. Of course, that's not an option, and like I said, in actuality, the piece probably isn't all that bad. I'm excited to have this recorded--indeed, if it's good enough, I want to upload the recording somewhere and put up a link to it here.

Well kids, that's it for now. It's off to bed, for tomorrow's a big day of cleaning. Oh, by the way, Harry Belafonte is a pimp! Download something of his today! I'm afraid if you don't agree to his fabulousness, you're deaf. :-P As always, behave and be nice, so you don't turn out like me.

Michael