- Jan 9, 2001
- 7,572
- 2
- 76
Hello everyone,
I've been away from AT for quite some time, firstly because I left town for awhile, secondly because I returned to find a new family computer and (ugh) AOL installed on it. (I'm very disappointed in you, dad. But of course, you're the one who pays for it, so it's your choice).
OK, the reason this is "JohnJohn's BIG post" is because I feel like so much has happened since my last post, I might as well kinda talk about it all in one post. So...here goes:
Now, the reason I was "out of town" as I mentioned was that I went, for three weeks, to the Indiana University Piano Academy. Maybe some of you remember me posting about making it in and getting ready to leave for it, all giggles and smiles (I'm SURE I posted about it at some point). Basically, IUPA (for short) is an academy that high-school aged pianists, like myself, audition for and go to. I worked with faculty from around the country, and befriended fellow pianists from around the world. It was a pretty rigorous schedule, after all, if you went to this thing, you had to be serious and ready to work. We woke up everyday at 6 or so, ate breakfast, then had masterclasses, lessons, performances, workshops, theory courses, lectures, and, oh yeah, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE throughout the day. It was incredible though-not only do I feel improved, I feel like an entirely different pianist. My whole approach to the instrument has changed, for the better. The faculty, which wasn't just IU faculty, but rather professors from around the globe, was absolute awe-inspiring to work with. Given how much work was done and how much we packed into a single day piano-wise (sometimes we didn't finish til midnight) it's amazing we [students] actually had time to get to know each other and bond. But we did--get ready, cause here comes the sappy violin/bleeding heart section of the post:
These people were probably the coolest folks I've ever met in my life. If I could stay there throughout the rest of my teenage years, I would. I never, ever imagined I could get so attached to a group of people in such a short time (a little less than a month). Of course, like any gathering of people though, I got even more attached to some people than others. For example, this could sound ridiculous, but regardless, it's how I feel: I feel like I met my best friend up there. We just seemed to connect on everything. An addition to this (yeah, you saw this coming): There was a girl. Yes, I liked her. Yes, she liked me. Yes, we had a "fling" as my sister describes it. Yes, I miss her terribly now.
As I said, these students came from around the world. Me? I'm from Illinois. The girl? From California. 'Best friend' I mentioned? She's from Virginia. The three of us hung out, and often with a group of two other guys who I also felt really close to: a guy from Manhattan and a guy from Romania (although he's about to move to Oklahoma apparently). I feel so juvinile and childish to feel this way, but it's like, these people became everything to me in such a short time, and now they're all gone. On the last day, as everyone says their good-byes, and of course the emotional ones are in tears, I'll admit it-I was crying, too. I've been back for a few weeks, and it just doesn't seem to get any easier. I miss them more and more as time goes on, even as I'm hanging out with my old friends here at home. And just to kill off some more of my masculinity-this girl from California I speak of, well, among her numerous qualities is that she's fascinated with language. She's fluent in English, French, and Latin. She's got such a huge vocabulary that I often had to stop her and ask for definitions. So, getting to the point of this: She had an idea near the end of the Academy to write what she referred to as "train letters." Train letters are letters that you write to people who you've grown to love, so to speak, at a camp-type experience where you all have to depart and go your separate ways when it ends. You give each other the letters on the last day, but you don't open them until you leave-you're supposed to read them on the way home (thus "train"). So, the girl, the best friend, and myself (it'd probably be less confusing if I used their names, but oh well) all exchanged letters on the last day.
Then, (I figured I should start a new paragraph somewhere) my sister comes to pick me up, and take me back to her college, University of Illinois, for reasons I will explain letter. On the way back to her house, I read the letter from the best friend. I laughed and smiled a lot, she inserted lots of inside jokes and fond memories, then the solemn "Good-bye, I'll miss you, keep in touch" bit. I couldn't bring myself to read the letter from the girl until I got back to my sister's house, late at night, laying in bed alone. Now time out for a second: Guys, I know I've had my fair share of "girls I think I can't live without"-lord knows I've complained enough about it on ATOT alone. But this girl was something else, something different, something I can't describe. I've never felt it before, but I've never experienced such anguish after leaving another human being. Every memory we have is perfect-as she said "it's almost fairy-tail like, even corny if you were reading it in a book. A quiet, peaceful evening, thousands of fireflies, a full moon in a clear sky, a quiet bubbling creak, and there we lay in each others' arms, quietly kissing." So if you're rolling your eyes, I guess I don't blame you, but I miss her very, very much.
So, as I read this letter, and her indescribingly eloquent wording, late at night alone in my sister's house, I start to cry again. God, this is hard.
I know, life will go on-there's plenty of other fish in the sea. But right now, every minute I'm here I'm wishing she was here, too. And, of course, all my other friends from IUPA. We all have managed to stay in touch so far, however. Thank god for email, snail mail, telephones ,and all other modern forms of communication! But alas, only reading their words or hearing their voice is no comparison to being with them.
Alright,*****end of belly-aching, I promise*****
Moving on: The reason my sister picked me up from IUPA is my dad had (surprise!) surgery, so no one else could come to get me. He apparently came home one day from work with horrific stomach pain, but being the "macho-guy" he is, it wasn't until 3 days later, when the pain worsened unbearably, that he finally let my mom bring him to the emergency room. Turns out he had a blocked small intestine, so they opened him up, and worked the kink out. 2 weeks and countless tests later, and they still don't know what the hell caused it. All's well now, though.
My eldest sister just bought her first house. Well, town home, but to me, if it's got a 30-year mortgage, it's a house. So, we've basically been moving her in bit by bit, but mostly this week has been occupied with painting. Ugh. Of all the tasks and chores in the world, painting has to be one that I dread more than any other. But it's making the house look nice, I guess.
My piano teacher (who is, as piano teachers can be, also a dear friend of the family) also had surgery while I was at IUPA. They removed her thyroid gland, due to 17 tumors (!) found on it. The surgery wasn't what concerned everyone, however. It was the testing of each of these tumors for cancer. Luckily, as I found out about halfway through the academy, each and every single tumor came back negative for cancer. Woot!
Back-tracking here all the way to the end of the school year: I got my report card; ouch. I bombed Algebra 2. As in, I got a D on the final and thus a D for the semester. Now, I have to retake the course next year. A couple things make this slightly less "of a big deal", however: I was already a year ahead in math, Alg 2 is a junior year course, and I'm about to be a junior. Second, I was taking honors, which next year I will not. What makes it suck though, is that I really did try. I almost wish I could sit back and kick myself saying "see, Scott, you didn't study, and this is what happens when you don't do your homework!" But that's not the case. I studied my ass off, especially for that final, and worked my fingers to the bone on the homework. I just also screwed up on tests. Some irony for ya, though: If it weren't for that D, the report card I received would have been the best (by far) that I'd had since 7th grade. I had 6 A's, 1 B, and that D. Damn.
About a week ago I got some very sad news, only to be followed by more sad news the next day. Over that prior weekend, a friend of mine died while on vacation with family and some friends. We weren't terribly close or anything, but he was somebody who I talked to on a daily basis, so I guess it's more of a shock than anything. He was a very popular guy, in fact, 650+ people showed up to his funeral on Friday. Nobody didn't like him. At first they thought he drowned, but now they're saying that he had a heart condition (unbeknownst to anyone at the time) that caused cardiac arrest. It's a terrible waste, he was only 17.
The other bad news that came shortly thereafter, was that another friend of mine's little brother committed suicide. He hung himself while the rest of the family went out for dinner, and no one can figure out why. He was only 11.
Well, I suppose I should cut this off before it gets too ridiculously long. It's nice to be able to post on AT again, even though I have to use NetZero to do so. Blah. Almost as bad as AOL.
I'm back!
I've been away from AT for quite some time, firstly because I left town for awhile, secondly because I returned to find a new family computer and (ugh) AOL installed on it. (I'm very disappointed in you, dad. But of course, you're the one who pays for it, so it's your choice).
OK, the reason this is "JohnJohn's BIG post" is because I feel like so much has happened since my last post, I might as well kinda talk about it all in one post. So...here goes:
Now, the reason I was "out of town" as I mentioned was that I went, for three weeks, to the Indiana University Piano Academy. Maybe some of you remember me posting about making it in and getting ready to leave for it, all giggles and smiles (I'm SURE I posted about it at some point). Basically, IUPA (for short) is an academy that high-school aged pianists, like myself, audition for and go to. I worked with faculty from around the country, and befriended fellow pianists from around the world. It was a pretty rigorous schedule, after all, if you went to this thing, you had to be serious and ready to work. We woke up everyday at 6 or so, ate breakfast, then had masterclasses, lessons, performances, workshops, theory courses, lectures, and, oh yeah, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE throughout the day. It was incredible though-not only do I feel improved, I feel like an entirely different pianist. My whole approach to the instrument has changed, for the better. The faculty, which wasn't just IU faculty, but rather professors from around the globe, was absolute awe-inspiring to work with. Given how much work was done and how much we packed into a single day piano-wise (sometimes we didn't finish til midnight) it's amazing we [students] actually had time to get to know each other and bond. But we did--get ready, cause here comes the sappy violin/bleeding heart section of the post:
These people were probably the coolest folks I've ever met in my life. If I could stay there throughout the rest of my teenage years, I would. I never, ever imagined I could get so attached to a group of people in such a short time (a little less than a month). Of course, like any gathering of people though, I got even more attached to some people than others. For example, this could sound ridiculous, but regardless, it's how I feel: I feel like I met my best friend up there. We just seemed to connect on everything. An addition to this (yeah, you saw this coming): There was a girl. Yes, I liked her. Yes, she liked me. Yes, we had a "fling" as my sister describes it. Yes, I miss her terribly now.
As I said, these students came from around the world. Me? I'm from Illinois. The girl? From California. 'Best friend' I mentioned? She's from Virginia. The three of us hung out, and often with a group of two other guys who I also felt really close to: a guy from Manhattan and a guy from Romania (although he's about to move to Oklahoma apparently). I feel so juvinile and childish to feel this way, but it's like, these people became everything to me in such a short time, and now they're all gone. On the last day, as everyone says their good-byes, and of course the emotional ones are in tears, I'll admit it-I was crying, too. I've been back for a few weeks, and it just doesn't seem to get any easier. I miss them more and more as time goes on, even as I'm hanging out with my old friends here at home. And just to kill off some more of my masculinity-this girl from California I speak of, well, among her numerous qualities is that she's fascinated with language. She's fluent in English, French, and Latin. She's got such a huge vocabulary that I often had to stop her and ask for definitions. So, getting to the point of this: She had an idea near the end of the Academy to write what she referred to as "train letters." Train letters are letters that you write to people who you've grown to love, so to speak, at a camp-type experience where you all have to depart and go your separate ways when it ends. You give each other the letters on the last day, but you don't open them until you leave-you're supposed to read them on the way home (thus "train"). So, the girl, the best friend, and myself (it'd probably be less confusing if I used their names, but oh well) all exchanged letters on the last day.Then, (I figured I should start a new paragraph somewhere) my sister comes to pick me up, and take me back to her college, University of Illinois, for reasons I will explain letter. On the way back to her house, I read the letter from the best friend. I laughed and smiled a lot, she inserted lots of inside jokes and fond memories, then the solemn "Good-bye, I'll miss you, keep in touch" bit. I couldn't bring myself to read the letter from the girl until I got back to my sister's house, late at night, laying in bed alone. Now time out for a second: Guys, I know I've had my fair share of "girls I think I can't live without"-lord knows I've complained enough about it on ATOT alone. But this girl was something else, something different, something I can't describe. I've never felt it before, but I've never experienced such anguish after leaving another human being. Every memory we have is perfect-as she said "it's almost fairy-tail like, even corny if you were reading it in a book. A quiet, peaceful evening, thousands of fireflies, a full moon in a clear sky, a quiet bubbling creak, and there we lay in each others' arms, quietly kissing." So if you're rolling your eyes, I guess I don't blame you, but I miss her very, very much.
So, as I read this letter, and her indescribingly eloquent wording, late at night alone in my sister's house, I start to cry again. God, this is hard.
I know, life will go on-there's plenty of other fish in the sea. But right now, every minute I'm here I'm wishing she was here, too. And, of course, all my other friends from IUPA. We all have managed to stay in touch so far, however. Thank god for email, snail mail, telephones ,and all other modern forms of communication! But alas, only reading their words or hearing their voice is no comparison to being with them.
Alright,*****end of belly-aching, I promise*****
Moving on: The reason my sister picked me up from IUPA is my dad had (surprise!) surgery, so no one else could come to get me. He apparently came home one day from work with horrific stomach pain, but being the "macho-guy" he is, it wasn't until 3 days later, when the pain worsened unbearably, that he finally let my mom bring him to the emergency room. Turns out he had a blocked small intestine, so they opened him up, and worked the kink out. 2 weeks and countless tests later, and they still don't know what the hell caused it. All's well now, though.
My eldest sister just bought her first house. Well, town home, but to me, if it's got a 30-year mortgage, it's a house.
So, we've basically been moving her in bit by bit, but mostly this week has been occupied with painting. Ugh. Of all the tasks and chores in the world, painting has to be one that I dread more than any other. But it's making the house look nice, I guess.My piano teacher (who is, as piano teachers can be, also a dear friend of the family) also had surgery while I was at IUPA. They removed her thyroid gland, due to 17 tumors (!) found on it. The surgery wasn't what concerned everyone, however. It was the testing of each of these tumors for cancer. Luckily, as I found out about halfway through the academy, each and every single tumor came back negative for cancer. Woot!
Back-tracking here all the way to the end of the school year: I got my report card; ouch. I bombed Algebra 2. As in, I got a D on the final and thus a D for the semester. Now, I have to retake the course next year.
A couple things make this slightly less "of a big deal", however: I was already a year ahead in math, Alg 2 is a junior year course, and I'm about to be a junior. Second, I was taking honors, which next year I will not. What makes it suck though, is that I really did try. I almost wish I could sit back and kick myself saying "see, Scott, you didn't study, and this is what happens when you don't do your homework!" But that's not the case. I studied my ass off, especially for that final, and worked my fingers to the bone on the homework. I just also screwed up on tests. Some irony for ya, though: If it weren't for that D, the report card I received would have been the best (by far) that I'd had since 7th grade. I had 6 A's, 1 B, and that D. Damn.About a week ago I got some very sad news, only to be followed by more sad news the next day. Over that prior weekend, a friend of mine died while on vacation with family and some friends. We weren't terribly close or anything, but he was somebody who I talked to on a daily basis, so I guess it's more of a shock than anything. He was a very popular guy, in fact, 650+ people showed up to his funeral on Friday. Nobody didn't like him. At first they thought he drowned, but now they're saying that he had a heart condition (unbeknownst to anyone at the time) that caused cardiac arrest. It's a terrible waste, he was only 17.
The other bad news that came shortly thereafter, was that another friend of mine's little brother committed suicide. He hung himself while the rest of the family went out for dinner, and no one can figure out why. He was only 11.
Well, I suppose I should cut this off before it gets too ridiculously long.
It's nice to be able to post on AT again, even though I have to use NetZero to do so. Blah. Almost as bad as AOL. I'm back!
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