Future Trombone Player

January 30, 2012 by

My son starts middle school next year. It’s hard to believe that got here so fast. Seems like yesterday we were enrolling him in kindergarten.

He decided he wants his elective to be band. This made me extremely happy because I was in band for my entire junior high/high school career and loved it. I played sax and hoped he would too. Because I have a sax, so I thought I could just refurb mine and he could play it.

So on Saturday, we head down to the middle school for instrument try-outs. They get to play all the different instruments and see which one works for them. We get to the check in and he tells the lady he wants to try saxophone and percussion. She looks at his mouth shape and suggests trombone and trumpet.

Our first stop was the trombone, mostly because the line wasn’t nearly as long as it was for sax and clarinet. He tried the tbone first. He nailed it on the first try. I was surprised. The instructor gave him high marks and said he had “good buzz”.

Then we tried out the trumpet. We waited in line for about 30 minutes for that one. When it was his turn, he tried really hard to make sound come out of the mouthpiece. I’d always heard trumpet was hard to play (that was my first choice, too, but, alas, it didn’t work out). You really have to have the right mouth shape for it, I think. So after some trying with the mouthpiece, the instructor put it on the horn. He tried, but was never able to get any sound out of the horn. That was okay. The instructor told him to try out the trombone again, if we had time.

I told my son I wanted him to pick something that he was happy with, not the sax because we had one at home or the percussion because his dad played drums in high school. If he’s going to spend time doing something like this, I want to make sure he’s happy and has fun. No sense in being miserable.

He decided to give the trombone another shot while I stood in the very long sax/clarinet line. Turns out, trombone was perfect for him. I watched from the sidelines while he talked to the instructor. He tried it again and decided that was it. He didn’t even want to try the sax or the percussion. He’d made up his mind just like that. So we officially signed him up to play the trombone.

I have to admit, I’m kinda excited for him. :)

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, Fun & Games, Mom & Son Tagged With: , ,

A Game of Thrones: Initial Thoughts

May 12, 2011 by

Today, I shall not talk about the crap that’s going on in my life. Instead. Today, I shall talk about that awesome new HBO show, Game of Thrones.

I wasn’t completely enamored after the first episode, I have to admit. But now that I’ve seen several, I’m hooked. You did it, Mr. Martin. You snagged my attention so much so that I went out and got the paperback. I’m reading the first book, which is aptly named A Game of Thrones. It’s really a well-done epic fantasy and I’m really pleased that it follows the show so closely.

Reading it, I realized something. THIS is the kind of story I want to tell. An epic, sweeping fantasy that pulls the reader in so deep they never want to emerge. That’s how I feel when I read it. I’m actually in Winterfell and King’s Landing. I’m there with Catelyn and Eddard and cheering for Bran to walk again. I’m just over 100 pages in, but I can already tell I need to hurry up and see what happens and then get book 2. :)

One of my old high school pals shared this with me on my wall, so I’m going to share it with you here. It’s the theme music from the show and it’s really, really awesome. I love it. In fact, it gives me chills. It makes me want to rush to my computer and start hammering away at the keys, writing that big, epic, sweeping fantasy.

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, TV & Movie Watching Tagged With: , , , ,

Michelle’s Guide To Being Anal

June 8, 2009 by

So this weekend went by way too quick, as it usually does. Saturday was mostly a wasted day. Wasted for me, anyway. It was HOT. And so we stayed inside pretty much all day and I played with iTunes and my iPod. I’m in love. ;)

Because I’m anal … and I can’t stand when things are not just so I spent about four hours messing with iTunes and getting the songs the way I wanted them to list on my iPod. I know, right? Anal.

Organized is actually another word for it. :D

Anyway, most of my music came from CDs I had ripped long ago. And becuase of that, iTunes didn’t have the album art. And becuase I’m totally anal, I spent a good portion of the day getting said art and putting it my iTunes. And then I got really busy and resorted the tunes to group all my soundtracks into one “artist” group. See? Anal.

Of course this carried over a little into Sunday. But I think I finally have the iPod just the way I want it.

I also finally broke in my iTunes gift card that I got for my birthday. WOO! I bought an Evanesence album and a couple of other miscellaneous songs. I let the kiddo help me decide since, at the rip old age of 7, he knows what’s hip. Fancy that. I don’t feel so much like a fuddy-duddy anymore. I got a Shinedown song, something from Gnarls Barkley because that “Crazy” song is a big hit in my household and a song from Sixx AM (the new Nikki Sixx band). Oh, and Finger Eleven. See, now don’t I sound hip? haha

In other news – I started a new project that I’m kind of thrilled about. I mentioned it here on the blog a few days or so ago. It’s one of those where the characters started talking and I had no choice but to start writing. I’m about 4000 words and 13 pages in now. I’ve never started off a book with dialogue before – ever – but this is the way this one is dictating to me. I already know who my two main characters are. A smuggler and a bounty hunter. And I have this wild idea that it’s going to be an intergalactic treasure hunt. And my poor heroine has had a bitch of a day in the first 12 pages. Great fun!

Also very sad to report that all the baby birds died. I think it must have been too hot on the front porch where the mamma built her nest. That and she couldn’t keep them fed. Three died on Friday and by Saturday morning the other two were dead. I commissioned Man to dispose of them becuase I refused to even look in the nest another second.

BUT… there is some good news. I got 350 thread count sheets that actually fit my mattress on sale for $45 (regularly $100). I was SO excited. I emailed my mother immediately to tell her what a savvy shopper I was. :D I love finding deals like that. They rock.

Guess that’s it for me. Kiddo has a dental appointment this morning so we’re off to do that. Have a happy Monday, ya’ll!

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

March 17, 2009 by

shamrockAn Irish Blessing to get your day started:

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Hope everyone has a fantastic St. Pat’s Day with lots ‘o green beer. :)

As for me… I’m looking forward to walking out the door at 5 pm from the office and then spending the next three days on vacation. WAHOO!

I…sort of took the night off last night. Instead of writing like a good girl, I downloaded music from Amazon. I got Finger Eleven’s Paralyze and Shinedown’s Second Chance. I *love* those two songs. They are rocking. I’ve discovered I could very quickly get addicted to downloading MP3s. I have SO got to get me an iPod Nano!

I also tinkered with my YouTube videos. I updated Talk Dirty To Me with some new music (one of the above mentioned songs) and reposted it. I like it lost better now. I tend to … tinker. Way too much.

Sometimes it sucks being a Gemini because I feel myself going in about 230498209 different directions. I’ve said before I’m like a ferret on crack. I have about a million and one things going on all at once. I am the Queen Of Multi-tasking. But I’ve decided that it’s time to focus and delegate. Otherwise, I’m going to end up doing everything BUT writing. So I’m reorganizing my life. Oof. It’s hard. I guess the light bulb went off when Man pointed out I really didn’t need to fill every second of every day. I know, I know! But I can’t help it. I’m a Doer. :D

The first round of Phoenix is off to the CPs. Be brutal. I need it. Oh, and a I visited with a friend for a bit last night and talked non-stop (sorry about that). It’s that Gemini thing again. Anyway, she mentioned some really cool shows on The History Channel about Roman gladiators. I MUST find them on DVD so I can watch and be a spong. She was telling me about some cool stuff on the shows. I’m thinking I could write them off as research. What do you think? :D

Okay, seriously, it’s time for me to get to work. Eight more hours and then I’m DONE for the week. YAHOO!

Filed Under: Dusty Tome, Fun & Games Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Novel Soundtrack

March 13, 2009 by

Basically… I’m drained. Yesterday was one life-sucking day from H-E-L-L.

I’m glad it’s Friday and I’m looking forward to a weekend of…aboslutely NO rest. Chapter meeting Saturday followed by son’s soccer game followed by a book signing I want to attend. All between the hours of 10 am and 4 pm. Should be a nicely packed day. My Gemini is flaring up again. ;) I think Man is coming over to grill steaks – rain or shine. Let’s hope it’s shine (or at least just cloudy). And I may drink and entire bottle of merlot myself. It’s just been that kind of a hellish week.

On the writing front, I’ve begun to map my city. It’s so much fun! I need it to make sure I know where everything is because right now, the story is rather generic and flat. I’m through chapter 15 and still making daily progress. WOO! That superhero book won’t leave me alone, though. It’s still nagging me. So the other night I downloaded an entire Glenn Miller album and a few Benny Goodman songs. It’s the beginning of the novel soundtrack. :)

Do you have a novel soundtrack? What’s some of your favorite writing music?

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