Home!

I'm going home! TODAY! I'm so, so very excited.

Peace out!

Your Interests Will Change!

I guess I should explain how I'm feeling about that e-mail a little more. Basically, the one thing that I love to do more than anything else just got removed from my life. I don't know what to do. Other than going home occasionally, there is nothing at Brown that I look forward to. I've been miserable about it all day, and last night I felt like crying. I honestly just don't know what the hell to do. I want to slam my fist through a wall or scream or harm small woodland animals or kick my cat or go to Waterfire and sit alone for a long time, I don't know.

I've been talking to some people recently about how I was upset that Brown didn't have the things that I really loved and really cared about - percussion, drumline, drum corps, roller hockey, competition math, anything with music at all, and then some other like home/family/friends/etc... It made me really upset, because people kept saying, "Your interest will change!" Then they laugh or smile and pat you on the back, as if you should be happy of the fact that all the beauty in life is gone.

And I was really angry at them. Who are you to tell me that my interests are fleeting? Or that my passion is so shallow and transitory?

How would you like it if I was at your wedding I stood up during the ceremony and said, "You won't love her in two years"? It's only the light of your life, relax.

I need to talk to my dad.

Peace out.

Difficult

I just recieved perhaps the most crushing e-mail of my life.

::

Hi, I hope everyone is well!

This email is being sent to those that expressed interest in the BU Winter Percussion Ensemble through the on-line interest form. If you have changed your mind since filling out the form, let me know and I can take your name off of our list. I would also ask that you pass this email along to your friends that may be interested in joining!

Staff Changes:
Last season a number of new faces were introduced to the staff. I've asked some of those new faces to take on more active roles in the ensemble.

Gabe Cobas worked great with the front ensemble last year. I'm pleased to announce that Gabe will be returning this season as the Artistic Director and Front Ensemble Arranger / Technician.

Ian Flint designed an excellent visual program for the group last year, and we hope to expand on those successes. Ian will be returning as the Visual Program Designer.

Phil Perry developed the Battery into a great marching ensemble. Phil will be returning as the ensemble's lead Visual Technician.

Chris Dufault will bring his years of marching percussion experience back to this year's ensemble as a program consultant.

Mike Barsano will continue as the ensemble administrator.

A few new faces will also be added to the team!

Matt Ramey has worked with the percussion section of the BU Marching Band for the past 2 seasons as well as many other Drum Corps and indoor percussion ensembles. As an Alumni of the Santa Clara Vanguard, and a Contemporary Writing and Production student at the Berklee College of Music, Matt will surely bring a number of fresh ideas to the ensemble as the Battery Arranger and Technician.

Many more new faces will be announced over the next few weeks! Check out the group's web page for staff bio's.

Schedule:

The Friday night, Saturday, Sunday schedule that the ensemble has used in the past has made progress difficult at times. To overcome this difficulty, the ensemble will rehearse on Tuesday night from 7:30 to 9:30, Thursday night from 7:00 to 9:00, and Saturday from 10:00 to 7:00. I know this will make it difficult or infeasible for some of you to participate, but we feel it is in the best interest of the ensemble to implement this new schedule.

Workshops:

The 2008 season will kick off on Tuesday, November 6, 2007! Attendance at these pre-audition workshops is required. The audition rehearsal will be held on Saturday, December 1, 2007. Check out the ensemble's web site for the November, December, and January schedules. The exercise packets for the Battery and Pit will be added to the web site within the next few days!

Show:

The design team has been working very hard over the past 2 months to assemble a successful show. We are currently dotting the i's and crossing the t's on the show, and an announcement

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing you on November 6th!

If you have any questions please drop me an email!

Mike "Wuzz" Wasielewski
Director
Boston University Winter Percussion Ensemble

::

Peace out.

The Picture of College

When we took our break for Education 0410B today, Dr. West decided that it was way too hot inside and we should go for class outside. It was a beautiful day, and we were all really excited about it. Our break ended a little early, which wasn't much fun, but it was okay.

Seriously, the scene was like the picture-book version of college. More specifically, the picture-book version of Brown. Twenty kids of every color and their professor - wearing cowboy boots, jeans, and a flannel collared shrit - sitting outside with no textbooks and often no shoes, talking about desegregation while sitting in a beautiful quad with yellowing leaves falling and hanging everywhere. And squirrels. There were lots of squirrels.

We were sitting in something like a circle, and Dr. West had his back to a tree. I was sitting across from him, so I could see behind him. There was another tree over his left shoulder, and there was a kid sitting there, with either a book or a laptop [can't remember which], studying or writing. It was like out of a college brochure. There was a cute squirrel on the tree on the part closest to me. There was another squirrel in the grass even closer to me, and it started to run towards the tree. Then the squirrel in the grass climbed up the tree and started chasing the other squirrel. They went around for a couple seconds - but I didn't see anything too crazy - and then, all of a sudden, one of them jumps off.

So the kid was sitting there just doing his work, and out of nowhere this squirrel catapults itself into his neck. I can't describe how incredibly hilarious it was to see this happen. Have you ever been at the beach or a park, and you're just sitting there minding your own business when someone throws something and it hits you in the head, and you're like "Ah, what the hell - a football/frisbee/tennis ball/etc.?" Well that's the exact reaction this kid was going through.

EXCEPT IT WAS A FREAKING SQUIRREL.

Just imagine. Minding your own business when you feel a nudge on your shoulder and you wonder what jerk is playing football too close to you, so you turn your head and BAM, SQUIRREL.

I can't stop laughing at the image. I wish you all could have seen it!

Peace out.

3AM

Last night was the first night in a long time that I actually had to spend working. I thought that was kind of strange - I remember a lot of nights in high school where I kind of felt like I was under the wire and I really had to be on top of things to get it all done, but here it's really only happened once so far, and that's because I kind of made it/forced myself into it.

So there's a big Applied Math project due Tuesday, and so far Max and I had really only been able to figure out what was going on in the first problem (out of four). I woke up somewhat late, went and got breakfast, and then started working on that for pretty much the rest of the day. We got up to the very last problem, but by 7PM we realized we'd reach the end of what we could teach ourselves and we'd have to call it quits for the day. In either case, that was pretty much seven straight hours of work right there, which I think it more than I have done at any other time here.

After that, I went to dinner, then to the Democracy Matters meeting, and decided I would take a break 'till 10:30 or so [it ended up being a little later than that - oops]. I did that knowing that I had 200 pages of reading to do for my Education course and then a paper to write - all before 6AM that morning. So sometime around 11:20, I think, I started the reading. I finished it sometime around 2AM, I think, and I finished my paper within half an hour. So I guess that whole ordeal really only took three hours - which isn't too bad, I don't think. Then I took a shower and went to bed sometime just before 3AM.

The good thing was that I could sleep until 10AM, and I did. So I feel fine. But I don't want to stay up that late tonight. I just want to sleep so that Friday comes faster.

Peace out!

You Have Just Witnessed the Construction of LIGHT

Peace out!