Disneyland!

So this week I took a trip to Disneyland; it had been five months since I last went, so I was starting to have withdrawals! Three nights in the Magic Kingdom is always a good way to celebrate the end of another semester at Sac State. This time I went on my own, as Whitney is still teaching through June 10. I've never done a trip on my own before, so it was a new experience, and certainly one I was slightly wary of. But it turned out all right. 

My friends Mike and TC were down there already, by lucky coincidence, so I hung out with them from time to time. But mostly I ran on my own, which in some ways is nice. It's a bit of freedom to explore as you like. Turn left here, turn right there, go to this land or that land next. Whatever! The park was of course happily found much the way I last left it. Well, sort of. The ongoing construction in DCA has grown somewhat, such that half of the park now seems to be behind a temporary wooden wall. Albeit a pretty, decorated wall with depictions of Disney characters and promotional drawings of what the park will look like - whenever they finish it. 

The big news is the new ride, Ariel's Undersea Adventure. Or I think that's what it's called. Anyway, it actually wasn't open quite yet, not to the general public anyway. Cast members and their friends and family has special passes which were allowing them to experience it already. But at least the construction walls are down from that area, and the new building housing the attraction is both massive and impressive. They still have Aladdin at the Hyperion Theatre (I could have sworn that was being replaced...). I did go and see it, and was glad I did as I seemed to enjoy it more than ever. It helps that the Genie essentially does stand-up comedy improv every show, that makes it fresh and new every time. This time, we learned that Arnold Schwarzenegger is his father... 

I got to see World of Color for only the second time ever - and I found that I enjoyed it even more than the first time. Good sign. This time, the Tron preview I saw before was gone of course, but a new sequence featuring then new Pirates 4 movie was in its place, and was quite spectacular. Can't wait to see this show again! 

Disneyland was much less under construction; the biggest news here was the impending opening of the brand new Star Tours attraction. This week it was open to Annual Passholders who were fortunate enough to win some sort of lottery online. This didn't include me. but, I did have a lot of fun exploring my old favorites and even managed to catch both the fireworks and Fantasmic the first night I arrived (they're still on off-season hours so these run only on weekends at the moment). 

I got to see Billy Hill unplugged and up close and personal, as the Golden Horseshoe is being renovated so they are playing out in the streets in Critter Country. As I almost got run over actually, as I happened to be right in their entrance line as they came out and the bass player jokingly steered right for me as I tried to scamper out of their way. It was a great show from them as usual, despite having no sound and no fiddles. But all great trips have to end, and on Wednesday I grudgingly left for home. It won't be the last time I go, as I did buy an annual pass again - and I'm already looking at going twice more before this year is out! Now, onto the summer...

Another Semester Done

Well here we are on Tuesday of finals week, a cacophony of recorders tooting in the hallways in anticipation of their Music 8 final. Boy that gets annoying real quick. But the semester is finally finished, all of our concerts are done and gone. It's been a pretty busy semester, especially the last few weeks where we had 10-12 concerts per week. Next semester is looking to be a little lighter, fortunately, but of course there's still time for folks to sign up for recitals, so you never know. 

I played the Sac State musical this spring, playing on bass for The Wiz. I was really concerned about my wrist, after Rent destroyed it last September. The doctor, incidentally, essentially told me I was getting older and needed to exercise it our and take ibuprofen. Ha! Well although my wrist was hurting throughout this run, with several high doses of drugs I was able to push through. It wasn't as bad as it was in Rent, but even now after 4 weeks have passed I still get jolts of pain sometimes when I turn my wrist a certain way. So, it may be very well that I have to retire from playing. It seems pretty clear that my wrist just isn't up to doing heavy playing anymore, and certainly not as infrequently as I tend to play. Xrays revealed nothing particularly wrong, so it may be time to hang it up and move on to other things. 

On another note, I did finally get a new composition work finished, a trio for oboe, clarinet and viola. The first movement was premiered at the end of April and went pretty well. The full three movements should be premiered in December. Now that this semester is done I can relax from the musical journal and musicology readings I had been doing for my grad class, and focus on reading through the entire Harry Potter series as I ride the bus to and from work. 

We'll see what this summer has in store, but as of right now I have a Disneyland trip planned for next week, a 10-day cruise to Alaska in July, and somewhere in there I need to start working on my final project work again, my symphony, so it can be performed next spring. In the fall I'll have one elective class, and then with my final project I should have finally earned the Masters degree that I began slowly working on in 2007. So bring it on, summer of 2011! I'm ready... Huh, it looks like it's going to rain outside. Are we sure it's the end of May??