UT Tyler Wind Ensemble Concert!

                With finals just around the corner and tensions running high, it’s definitely time to find some kind of way to relax and stop worrying about everything. Luckily for me, I found a way to chill pretty quickly. I decided to go to the last UT Tyler Wind Ensemble concert of the semester! If you have read any of my previous blogs you know about my ridiculous obsession with music, so this was the obvious choice for me.

                After my semester concert for my percussion ensemble ended, I no longer had to go to class. I feel like I have been musically deprived since then. I have a few friends who are in the Wind Ensemble, so I would always ask them when their final concert was. Plus I’m just really pumped to actually be in the Wind Ensemble next semester! It’s definitely going to be different, because I've been playing percussion for the past four years and now I’m going back to clarinet! Hopefully it’ll all work out in the end.

                I went to the first concert that the wind ensemble put on earlier this semester, and I was really impressed! From what I have been told by my friends that are in the wind ensemble, they are playing really cool (but yet difficult) music. I know that I will be blown away again. I am definitely ready to get my finals over with, and move into a new semester. If the school  never put on things like this, or any other campus activities, I know I would go crazy.

                The UT Tyler Wind Ensemble concert will take place this Thursday night at 7:30 in the Vaughn Auditorium in the Cowan Center! It’s free and open to the public, so please come see what the ensemble has been preparing for! Hope to see you there!

Homecoming!!!

                So far, college is a lot like I expected it to be, but very different at the same time! So next week is officially homecoming week here at UT Tyler , and I’m, simply put, ecstatic. I haven’t yet experienced what a college homecoming is like, but I’ve heard stories about it.

                Some people say that homecoming week is the most exciting and fun week of the entire fall semester, which is believable. My high school homecoming was almost always the most anticipated week of the semester for me. I’m hoping homecoming is as exciting as people say that it is, and I’m pretty sure it will be.

                Since we don’t have a real football team here at UT Tyler, our homecoming game is a soccer game, which is good. Soccer is one of my all-time favorite sports, mainly because it’s so easy for me to understand. The game is on the Saturday of homecoming week, so we’re ending the week with a bang (or hopefully a goal !)

                If you want to know some more about what all is going on next week, you can read my Katrina's blog friend about homecoming, or you can also check it all out here . Happy homecoming, patriots!

91 Days of Autumn!

Happy October! Summer is long gone and it finally feels like Autumn again! Autumn is one of my favorite seasons of the year, for many different reasons! The days get shorter, and nights get longer.  Summer is too hot and winter is way too cold for my taste. Spring and Autumn are my two favorite seasons mostly because they’re the happy medium of weather! It’s cold outside, but not TOO cold, and it’s just perfect.

This season is going to be just full to the brim with excitement; I can just tell it is! With fall just starting, you can buy a Pumpkin Spice Latte at one of our two Starbucks on campus, go to The State Fair of Texas, and comfortably wear a jacket outside. 

         Not to mention that Halloween is coming up too! I love Halloween, because you can be anyone you want to be for a night and not be called stupid, and not to mention you can get free candy... FREE!! 

         I haven’t seen it yet, but I’m sure when the trees start turning shades of orange and brown, the campus looks stunning. Honestly, I think I spend more time outdoors during the Fall more than I do in the Summer! They say that Autumn only lasts 91 days long, but I wish it lasted longer. 

         Who needs winter anyway, really? I’m pretty sure no one does. I don’t hate winter, but it’s just not fun unless it snows, which is like never here in Texas. I’m really glad that Autumn is finally here, and I hope you all are having a great semester so far!

Music + Me = LOVE

I finally enrolled into, and am now a part of the  UT Tyler Percussion Ensemble! I’m really glad I decided to add that course, because lets be honest, I can’t even go one semester without playing any kind of music. Music is what makes me feel happy when I feel lonely or sad or bored. If music didn’t exist, I would live in a constant state of boredom! Anyone who knows me knows that if I’m listening to music, I’m deep in thought, and don’t want to be bothered. But does that stop them? Haha, nope. But I feel like music is where my true passion and talent lies. Now don’t get me wrong, I do happen to be good at a lot of things, music just happens to be my favorite of them! Like I’ve probably said before, I’ve been playing instruments since I was in the fourth grade. In high school, I was on the drumline which, of course, was the most interesting part to play, and shall I say the most fun? Yes, and it was totally worth all of the sweat, hard work, and early morning practices.

      When concert season approached, I pretty much decided to stick to playing the marimba, unless it was a Sousa march, then I wanted to play bass. For those of you who don’t know who John Philip Sousa was, he was the man who wrote the Washington Post March, along with many many other famous marches. I’d say he is for sure one of the most famous music writers for concert band that there is in America! Anyways, if I could chose to do anything in the world at all, anything, then I would without a doubt play music in a symphony or something like that. But I’m nowhere near that level of skill when it comes to playing music, but I’d like to get there someday. Or maybe even compose music like the famous Michael Giacchino!

I’m very excited, needless to say, about what the upcoming semester has to offer me. I do have high expectations, and I will succeed at all costs. When I go to practice next week with the rest of the percussionists for the first time, I’m pretty sure I’m going to be really nervous. I’m excited to see what comes up for me next, and I’ll be sure to welcome it with open arms! 

The Quest for the "Perfect Schedule"

Don't run from your fall schedule... REGISTER NOW!

      It is again that time of year where I am finally trying to figure out the ‘perfect schedule’ for the Fall semester registration. Because I don’t have very many hours left to take, my next two semesters of my undergraduate career will be a seemingly lighter load. The desire to accomplish the elusive ‘perfect schedule’ is still very much present. Only Tuesday/Thursday classes or only Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes? Early morning and get it over or later classes and sleep in? So many questions in the quest for MY perfect schedule.

         In my experience there is a few things which will help you in your future scheduling conflicts you will encounter.

11.       Register EARLY. If you are in a bigger department, all of the ‘good’ classes (or the classes everyone HAS to take) will be full if you do not get there in time.

Patriot Days

So, it's about that time of year again where we start kicking up activities around the University. What I mean is, we start our Patriot Days, which is a campus wide event spanning a week. There's a variety of things that go on during this week of the year. We've got Capture the Flag, baseball games, movies on the lawn, shows in the University Center, and all sorts of other stuff going on that you should really be trying to get to.

Unfortunately for me, I only have time to go to one or two events during Patriot Days every year, but I always make my way to the crawfish boil they have on the first day. And it's not just me. From what I've seen, it's one of the most popular events during Patriot Days. That may be because of the amazing buckets of crawfish, corn, and potatoes they serve, though. They usually play Zydeco music when they're serving the food, but today they had a band from Jacksonville, Florida called Son of a Bad Man play. They were a pretty good listen, if I do say so myself.

Anyway, there's still a full week of Patriot Days to go, so there'll be plenty of time for us to enjoy what's going on on campus. With any luck, I'll be able to see something before the week is out. If you want to see the whole Patriot Days schedule, go to http://www.uttyler.edu/sll/campusactivities/patriotdays.php.

2012 Bucket List

Today I went to lunch with some friends from one of my many jobs I have had while in college! It was amazing to spend time with people who I have not seen or talked to in a while. While we were at lunch one of my new friends (we met today) asked us all what was on our bucket list for this year. I was seriously stumped. I had no idea what I wanted to accomplish with my life this year. So after much more deliberation, I have limited it down to my top ten and I decided to share this list with all of you!

My Bucket list for 2012:

1    1.       Do something adventurous everyday

2    2.       Get another tattoo

3    3.       Make new friends

4    4.       Help someone do something really cool

5    5.       Take more pictures

6    6.       Learn Spanish

7    7.       Expand my musical horizons

8    8.       Get a ride on a motorcycle

9    9.       Go mountain biking and NOT fall

1    10.   Save up enough money to buy clothes!

All of this being said there is a chance that I won’t achieve any of these goals. But, that’s ok with me. It is college and college is like a free pass to take time to figure out who you are. It’s like for these four years society gives us a “get out of jail free” card. So I want to take this time to explore myself and figure out what I am passionate about and what I enjoy doing. I have joined this online site which is kind of like living social (I am sure you have all seen these commercials). It’s called Moolala. I personally think this is a really weird name but I get all sorts of deals on it like a trip to the Caribbean for like 200 dollars and a diamond bracelet for like 15 dollars! It’s pretty awesome! I am hoping that this site or maybe a site like it will help me achieve some of these goals, like the buying clothes goal. Who knows maybe it will give me a discount motorcycle ride! Any tips are always welcome and I am excited to share this with yall!