Catch Up / Jemsite Award

I feel like Carrie Bradshaw writing at 3 in the morning. I'm surprisingly awake, too.

I was recently honored by Jemsite, a guitar website/blog. I received the Recommended Reader Award which I will post as soon as I can. The HTML code isn't quite right.

I was seriously surprised! Thank you to everyone who recommended me and to everyone that reads my blog. It means a great deal to me. Especially since lately my posts have not been guitar or Berklee centered. The good news is, that's about to change.

Midterms begin the week of March 8th. I am so not ready for them. Ear Training might kill me. I had a quiz today..er, yesterday, and it went pretty well. Paul said it was my best yet, and it definitely was. I hate Ear Training, but I love Paul (because I haven't said it enough).

I'm taking the Jimi Hendrix Lab with Julien Kasper (who is also my private instructor). It's a lot of fun and my Hendrix chops are steadily improving. That man was so incredible. So far we've done Spanish Castle Magic, Who Knows (first two solos), and Wait Until Tomorrow. For our midterm we have to transcribe a Hendrix song. I chose Manic Depression as recommended by Bob. The main riff is really easy. The solo will take a bit of diligence on my part. Don't get me started on my social life. It's great, really, it is. I have problems saying no when it comes to being with friends. I always feel like I'm going to miss something.

I'm taking a course with Livingston Taylor, as in James Taylor's brother, this semester. The class is fantastic. Liv is fantastic. He's so wild; I love it! James recently gave a clinic here and it was incredible. I never realized how great of a guitarist he is. He's an absolutely beautiful guitar player. Magnificent.

I always had assumed that Art History would be boring, but I was wrong. I'm taking Renaissance Art History with Ross Bresler, and it's great. I've been to Florence, Paris, and Venice so I've seen a lot of the paintings and buildings we talk about which definitely impacts my perception of the course. Ross is an art genius. He knows everything, and he's really enthusiastic about it all.

I'm also taking Advanced Computer Applications. It's about building databases, something I don't foresee myself ever needing to know how to do. I'm debating withdrawing from it. I currently have a 4.0 in my major, and I'd like to keep it that way. I missed an assignment and didn't do so hot on my quiz so I'm afraid I might not be able to get an A and consequently bring my concentrated GPA down. I don't know why I care. GPAs don't matter in real life, but they help with scholarships! At the same time I just want to get the class over with. So we'll see what happens.

I've talked about Accounting already. Marty's awesome, but accounting is a snooze. I can see why he's eager to retire. I couldn't imagine doing that for a living, although you can make bank doing it. Which is probably why people go into accounting in the first place.

Now I'm tired. Thank you again for reading/recommending!

Does It Ever End?

Do yourselves a favor and never get mono. Never. Get. Mono.

For the past seven weeks or so my life has been turned upside-down. I don't even know where to begin to explain it. I'm repeating myself as it is.

You know what, just don't get mono. Unless you enjoy being debilitated for a bit. I have been attacked, compromised, however you want to look at it, I'm answering to something I don't want to. Not that I typically rail against exhaustion, but usually it's caused by running (something I love dearly). In this case, it's constant.

Lately I haven't been myself. I'm usually in good spirits and bursting with energy. At the moment I'm just alright and pretty tired. I feel like I'm copping out when I say I'm tired because I have mono. Those words don't easily roll off my tongue, which is also unusual.

My whole state of being is unusual. My sleep habits are bizarre. For example, I went to bed at 11.30 last night, didn't fall asleep until after 1, and woke up starving at 6. I thought my stomach was going to eat itself, which is odd because I had a bowl of cereal around 10.45, shortly before I went to bed.

Clearly my eating habits have been bizarre, too. My dad and Bob (my second-dad who has done more than his fair share in terms of listening to me whine about mono) said that my metabolism has gone crazy because of mono and they're probably right. Up until this week I was an eating machine. I was hungry all the time. Now I have to think about whether or not I actually am hungry.

My mom said that one of the reasons I've been feeling down is probably due to my inability to run (out of fear of spleen-rupturing, which would really be the cherry on top of this) and therefore I'm not getting any endorphins. Julia said that as well. To quote Legally Blonde, 'Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands.' Not that I'm married, but that's true, and easily one of my favorite lines from a movie.

My workload is fairly daunting at times. Two months ago it wouldn't have been, but given the circumstances it's intimidating. I'm doing too much: 16 credits (a full schedule at Berklee), Peer Advising, Music Business Club, and the Music Business Journal just to name a few. I didn't cut back out of fear of falling behind, but I think I screwed myself over by not taking a step back. I might withdraw from a class if my energy/normal life doesn't return soon.

My doctor told me that one day I'm gonna wake up and be full of energy. On that day I will and go for a long run by the river while crying tears of joy.