A very long day

Today was the most wonderful day. First, I slept in, a luxury that must be mentioned. I lounged on my bed for awhile, savoring the feeling of having nothing I had to do. In fact, I was lounging and lollygaging, and other lazy words that begin with L, for most of the morning. Even with this late start, I managed to have an incredibly full day.

My first stop was the gym near my dorm, which has its very own rock wall and set of belayers. I am now an expert in the fisherman's knot, double figure-8 knot, and naked figure-8, climbing commands, and all the practicals of climbing (well, no, not an expert, but I will be). Then, when I finally got to say the words "on belay" and "climbing," I went up so many times that my arms were trembling and I had to stop, so that I didn't ruin my strength for my orchestra audition.

My audition was successful, I think. It was made more stressful by the two hour delay, all of which I spent in the practice room playing while trying not to exhaust myself, pacing, and lying in my bass case. I was disappointed in my Bach performance, not because it was bad, but because I practiced it so much and was really pleased with how it was starting to sound in the p-room, and that's not the way it came out at all. They only ended up asking for 2 of the 7 excerpts set to us, the Mozart 40th and the Brahms Haydn Variations. I botched the beginning of the Mozart, but redeemed myself by the end. The Brahms went pretty well. There were too many mistakes overall, but my sound and musicality were solid, and I think I made a good impression. I was placed in the Chamber Orchestra, which plays the older music and meets M-T-Th. The other freshmen basses I know were put in the Oberlin Orchestra, which plays the larger, usually romantic, stuff, but I'm still very excited about my placement. I can always try to be in the other next semester.

The first of the evenings entertainment was a hypnotist who got everyone laughing and talking. It was a good icebreaker activity for orientation, and pretty entertaining. He made me drowsy though.

The swing dance was amazing! Did I tell you there was a swing dance? Well there was, and wow can some of these Obies dance. It was thrilling to watch, and I even learned a few basic steps. I cannot wait for the ExCo! Anyway, while trying to imitate people who actually knew what they were doing, and outright gaping at some of their smooth moves (I'm determined that that will be me someday), I was hunting for someone cool to take the ExCo with (because my hall-mates want to do silly things with their semester like study, and sleep :-), and had very little success. I'd given up on finding someone, and determined to take my chances, and headed out to the bonfire (where I had enough s'mores to cover my face and hands with marshmallow goo and be thoroughly satisfied), after which my hall-mates and I went to the 'sco to get our groove on. I almost didn't go, because I was so tired, emotionally and physically, from my day already, but I did go, and it's a good thing because, lo and behold, the first person I danced with wanted to take the swing exCo! Sometimes things just come together like that.

If you've read this entire post (which, if you have, good for you, give yourself a high-five) you'll understand why I am now completely exhausted, and have nothing more to say to you except goodnight.