Ta-da

I'm trying to be better about keeping this blog up, but it's getting harder as the semester draws to a close.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I know I did! And, with Thanksgiving come and gone, I'm listening to Christmas music. That really only has significance to a few people, who don't even read this blog...to my knowledge...
Eighteen days left! That's how much longer I have in this semester before this blog shuts down for a little while. Well, maybe I'll open up some off-track chapters just because. Last week was pretty awesome: lots of time with family and friends who I haven't seen in a while. I haven't seen some since before my mission, it seems. It was good at any rate. The unfortunate thing is that I didn't really get any homework done. I tried, but all I did was a little bit of reading, one quiz, and I practiced my trumpet almost every day. Ha, so I'm in a little bit of hot water now, but not too much, thankfully.
This week is gearing up for my "Weekend of Performance". I have the University Band concert this Friday (7:30-9:00pm) that I'm playing in and then I'll be competing for my Beginning International Latin Ballroom Dance class in both Cha-cha and Samba on Saturday. I feel pretty confident for both days, fortunately. We're holding class on the stage now to gear up for the concert, and we sound awesome in there. It's as if everyone suddenly overcame the parts they have been struggling with all semester. I know it's not a sudden thing; it's actually hours of practicing. Hours spent frustrated in the practice room, wanting to pound the walls at times, but finally breaking through that last invisible barrier. As for both the music and the dancing, it's a matter of keeping one's head in the face of mistakes. At any rate, for anyone who can, good times await at both events and they should come. The rest of this week is the same ol' thang of homework and classes, classes and homework. Yep yep, good times right there...
Oh! An update on my research paper. If you read the past blog entries (I think just the last one), there was that whole thing about Guillotine Thursday and whatnot. We got our papers back graded yesterday and I had little hope for a good grade. Before my teacher gave them back, he talked about all the mistakes we made as a class and made things sound pretty dismal for all of us, though there are a few who came off better than the rest. I got a 90/100! I had expected a downward trend in my papers because I felt pretty static in my writing technique and his grading got gradually harder. He made a comment in the margins that goes like this: "Wow! You got some serious writing talent Steven. Learn to chasten your prose." It may have gone to my head just a little, but that was soon remedied. Looking over the rest of the paper deflated my slightly enlarged head back to normal size. I think I'm amateurish in quite a few ways still. Plus, I don't think I could ever brag about my own writing anyway. I'm just impressed that a few others find my writing to be, as they generally say, awesome.
Before I forget-and probably as an ending note to this entry-Sunday, December 12th at 7:30pm, the University Band, University Choir, and University Orchestra are playing the Messiah. So if you can't make the concert this Friday but, for some reason, really want to attend a concert of mine, you have another chance. That one will be in the Hart Building while the concert this Friday will be in the Snow Building. Further details can be extracted from me through phone, email, facebook, this blog, etc. Oh, and one more thing, the concert this Friday is $6.00 for the general public and $3.00 for students. Anyway, until next week!