Music Revival

I finally got a couple marine science grad students together to play some trios with me!  One is a violinist and the other plays the cello.  We have another violinist in the mix but she's in Texas right now so we'll have to wait for her to get back.  We're meeting up next Thursday evening at my house to play together and I can't wait!  The last time I played music with anyone else was December of 2010: over a year and a half ago.  From the day I picked up a viola until now, today literally marks the longest amount of time that has passed since I have played music with anyone else.  It's not the longest amount of time since I've played alone, but definitely since I've played in a group.  Crazy.

Recently

The academic year has come to a very sudden end.  I didn't see it approaching but finals week is nearly over by now, marking the end of my second full academic year in Miami, the end of the first full academic year of teaching.  One year ago marked the last time I was a student.  Since kindergarten, the longest streak I've ever had of not being a student was my year abroad (the reason for starting this blog) and in a few months when this summer is over I will have tied that streak though this time it is evident that I'm going to continue the streak.

In the news (of my life)...

I have moved out of my parent's house completely.  All of my remaining belongings are in a pile ready to be picked up by a moving truck and will be here in less than a month.  It's certainly a weird feeling and I do feel significantly grown up.

Christina has started her internship at Biscayne National Park.  It's a year-long internship that's located about 45 minutes to an hour and a half away (depending on traffic).  I'm excited that she's going to be within driving distance for the next 12 months.  I don't know if I mentioned it before but I was concerned that she would end up in an internship that was outside of southern Florida and we would rarely see each other but realistically we'll share each other's company on a fairly regular basis especially since she's living within a mile of me for the entire summer.

For someone who makes a living out of diving, I don't dive all that often these days.  This is why this week is looking so exciting.  Monday: help on a checkout dive.  Tuesday: 2 nitrox dives for our students from this past semester.  Wednesday: dive with.... actually, I forget now.  Thursday: practice dive for the reef surveys I'll be doing over the summer for a few weeks in and beyond the FL Keys.

If you don't count orchestra which was 3 hours a week, I'm playing about as much viola these days as I did back at Denison.  Okay, so maybe that's even still an exaggeration but I play an average of 30 minutes a day, so frequently in fact that I haven't even put my viola in its case for the past 2 weeks.

Clarifying

I wanted to finish what I was saying last night before falling asleep.  The reason I brought up the symphony is not to try showing off about how I'm in this great group.  I re-read the post from last night and that's what it sounds like.  On the contrary, I was trying to make a point that they're much more serious than I have ever been and ever anticipate being.  The intention was to point out the fact that my hobby of music is beginning to interfere with the research I came to Miami to do.  The trouble is that while I can't bear to give up viola, it's quite nearly impossible to join a research team and be in the symphony at the same time.  It's not a matter of having enough time but rather about conflicting schedules.

Dr. Glynn is apparently a big name in the marine science world, particularly as being one of the key founders of the idea of El Niño.  He's my Marine Biology professor and he has volunteering opportunities open in his lab.  I understand and accept that in order to work up a ladder you have to start from the bottom.  Thanks to this understanding, I'm happy and even excited to be doing grunt work.  It does sound like it could be fun; I'm not doing what I love, but I don't know what I love so I can't think of a better alternative.

I had lab in the Miami Seaquarium today which consisted of observing dolphin behavior and then running around the exhibits like a kid after finishing the lab.  It was fun.

One of the benefits of being a student is that you get a lot of free stuff and get to do a lot of cool things.  I got a shirt tonight for the marine science club, played volleyball in an incredible fitness center, went to the Seaquarium, and saw Toy Story 3 today all at no additional cost.  I'm going to miss the student life once I am actually too old to pass as an undergrad.

Top 25

For the past 2 and a half months, I've been playing in the Frost Symphony Orchestra, the University of Miami's one and only esteemed symphonic group.  We meet 6 hours a week plus I'm in a quintet that meets at least 2 hours a week, not to mention the optional (for me) viola class and string forum that are each one hour/week.  It's much more intense than I had anticipated but for the work I'm putting in, I think I'm making my way back to the level I was sometime about 3-5 years ago.  It's been a longer battle than I was expecting but it must be paying off.  Again I am glad that I'm not majoring in music because as much as it is wonderful, the amount of dedication by all the music majors is not what I'm willing to put in.

My first concert with Frost Symphony Orch. Photo: Lu Yan

Several people have been quite seriously surprised when I tell them I'm in the symphony because apparently the Frost School of Music is very good and quite selective.  I knew this to be true and I could tell from day 1 of playing with them that the symphony was mind-blowing but I didn't really find out until tonight that they are ranked between 13 and 25 in the country for music schools.  I just wanted a group to play with.  Little did I know that it was going to be one of the top university orchestras in the nation.

I had a few realizations tonight.  First of all, research is more important than class.  I am going to email the lab that might hire me and tell them I'll skip class to do research in the field.




...that's where I fell asleep on top of my computer last night.