Lazy times

Looking back, it's a very long time since I last updated this weblog! So much has happened since then.

Wednesday 31st March to Saturday 3rd April was the run for Bye Bye Birdie. That was an amazing show, though I say it from a participant's point of view. The music was rythmical, catchy and in tune; the choreography was unbelievably precise, and the actors truly lived their roles. I have never been involved with a more professional youth production. I was really sad when it was all over - but then again, the cast party after the last performance was tremendous fun! Mr & Mrs H. came to see it, and they both said that they really enjoyed it.

We got home from the party at about quarter to two in the morning on Sunday 4th April, a mere 6 hours before we had to leave home to go to our OCYO course at Sibford School near Banbury. Needless to say, I found playing the horn rather taxing that morning. But despite the fact that the OCYO course was on a shoestring budget and very hard work, I had a great time. For the first time when I've been on OCYO, I felt that I was with a group of real friends, T., E., L., & J., who I spent nearly all of my time with while I was there.

An amusing thing happened during the OCYO course. As I've previously mentioned, we're playing Shostakovich's 5th Symphony, and I'm playing first horn. Now, the first entry in the symphony for the first horn (after 36 bars rest) is a top G followed by a descending passage. All through the first couple of days of the residential course, I didn't get it right once - my lips just let me down, probably still tired from the exertions required by the show. On the last night of the residential course, we had the OCYO cabaret, and one of the features was the presentation of humourous awards to members of the orchestra. I won the much-coveted title of "Most Enthusiastic Player", and upon mounting the stage in a very keen manner was urged to play something. I immediately launched into that very entry - and got it perfectly right. I think I was even more suprised than our conductor!

Regrettably, having had two weeks of great fun, I was due some bad luck, and on Maundy Thursday Lizzie and I split up. It had been clear to me that our relationship was foundering - and, apparently, she'd been thinking of splitting with me since New Year - but unfortunately she still hasn't actually explained to me exactly what I was doing wrong. I really wish she had.

Anyway, so that's all the notable stuff that happened over the Easter break, apart from pre-season shooting immediately before we returned to school yesterday evening. We went to Pirbright and shot for three days. And that's about it, really. Apart from my suprise at the impeccable behaviour of the juniors - we didn't have any trouble from them at all!

Ah yes, I nearly forgot. On Friday 2nd of April I had a Year in Industry interview at Sharp Laboratories of Europe, following which they offered me a job which I've accepted. So next year I'm going to be designing LCD screens! Not quite what I was expecting to be doing, but it sounds like it's going to be great fun all the same.

So, having managed not to do any significant amounts of revision or horn practice for far too long, I must now stop typing random gibberish and do some of both. Or either.

UPDATE: Other stuff that happened of note included cycling to Cheltenham and halfway back; finally visiting Lisa (in Cheltenham); meeting Zoe on the aforementioned trip; and playing Achaea a lot. And if your interested, the team I'm going to be working with next year have a website here.