Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp

     This passed twelve days, I was attending a widely known camp called Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp.  I went there to play my trombone and I was placed in the highest ensemble for trombone, the Symphony Orchestra.  Unfortunately, I skipped right over the apparently more fun Wind Ensemble which is the most advanced concert band.  Instead, I was placed in the trombone section of an orchestra where the parts involved little challenge and lots of rests.  Also, the wind section of the Symphony Orchestra also had to play with the Concert Orchestra which is a level lower than the Symphony Orchestra.  Members of the orchestra wind section also had to participate in an ensemble, and because of this we only got a morning break every other day unlike everyone else who got one every day.  Luckily, my experiences in the orchestras lead to an increase of experience with orchestral playing and I hope that my next orchestral experience with CYSO is better than the one I had at Blue Lake, but at least I have an idea of what to expect.

 It's raining and pouring, and unfortunately my rain poncho was still in my suitcase.  To make matters worse, I went out and played soccer for half an hour while it was pouring.  

 My proactive mom packed a clothesline in her care package, so we used it to hang our wet clothes in the cabin!  Unfortunately it had to be taken down because it's a "fire hazard".

 This is Tyler who was dancing at Blue Lake.  From him I learned that dancers complain ... a lot.

 This is Marshall, otherwise known as Vanilla Bear.  He makes a lot of faces.

 The song from "Space Odyssey".  It was our encore, and it was quite impressive!

Resting.

Resting.

Still resting.

More resting!

There are many ways for trombonists to relieve boredom while resting for eternity, and this is one of them.  Unfortunately the rehearsal supervisors started taking them away from people so I had to quickly put mine away.  I think it looks impressive considering it was my first one!

Sleeping is a good way of passing the time.

It's the trom-buddha!  

Floppy Unicorn.

It is an orchestra, not a band.  I wish it was a band.

Those two measures were my favorite part in the entire concert!

"Sinfonia Piccola" was my favorite piece we played.  It was composed by a fifteen year old who died a year after its completion and he never heard it performed.  It's sad because it was such a brilliant composition.

There weren't any trombone parts so we were given the cello parts.  Not even Trom-Buddha could play this!

This is Skyler.  We met in team sports where we were always trying to beat the monstrous German kids at soccer.  Sadly, we never won.

It's the concert master!

Here is the brass section for the orchestras.  "Brass, you always play to loud!" ~Mr. Endres

This is Matt, my cabin counselor.  I couldn't have asked for a better counselor while I was at camp.

"Please pass the red drank"

This is Maddy, who was one of my first friends at Blue Lake.

Skelton is saying goodbye to its favorite member, Tyler.

R.I.P. Charlie the mouse.  I'm glad you're underground because you were appalling to look at.

Josh was the one with the electric wheel chair that was always being rode by someone.  This shows the pure intensity of this chair!

Meet Chandler.

Meet Isiah who also shared a common goal of beating the German kids.  Isiah got way more into it than I did, and he was mad when we never won.  I think the Germans would've kicked our butts at any sport, but that's because they're German!

The trombones of Highlights Unit!

Goodbye Highlights!  I will not miss your dirty bathrooms and cabins.

It's Friday, the rooster (or chicken as some people called him)!

     Campers at Blue Lake experience a hectic schedule with constant activity and little rest.  The only recreation time is less than an hour, especially if your cabin is on the other side of camp and you have to carry a heavy trombone in a Stradivarius case around.  The cabins were hot, the showers always had lines, and the sand was everywhere!  The best thing, however, was the people.  I met some wonderful people at Blue Lake, and they are an entirely separate group of people than what I have here in Naperville.  We are all separated by hours of driving, but we all have Blue Lake as a common experience.  This experience was one that I will never be able to recreate even if I go back.  I won't say that I miss Blue Lake, but I will miss being able to see the people all in one place.  I will also say that I do not miss wearing those dirty polo shirts.

The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby is a representation of the simple minds of people and the unwavering obsessions for acceptance. Here we look at a man with a complex path of desire who comes into money and extreme lonesomeness. True commitment is completely unheard of in the wealthy population of the Eastern United States. The best example is with Daisy and her spontaneous love life. Groups of people gather at Gatsby's house with no association to each other, but they seem to have known each other forever. Unfortunately, Gatsby needs this for his well being and for satisfaction of his obsession. Jay Gatsby, after his return from the War, is forgotten by the quick moving society. Nick's experiences with Eastern life is also quite negative. He seems stuck in the middle of a society that he doesn't belong. It's strange how his heritage from a different part of the same sets his personality apart from everyone else. Jay Gatsby's view of life is very well rounded after his observation of all the people at his house, but it is also crowded by the hostile nature of wealthy people. When he initiates association with Daisy, Gatsby is so in love with the time he was with her and the time when he was following his desires that he was very hostile towards anyone in his way. This hostility ruined Daisy, who was so content with her simple life as a wealthy American and it led to Gatsby's death in the end. Did he deserve to die? Did he have it coming to him? Those questions are for later pondering.

Disappointing Phones

     Just recently in this summertime fun, I spilled water all over my cell phone and video camera while at Ultimate Frisbee Camp.  I was taking a drink of water and unfortunately I failed to close the cap all the way and the water left the bottle making its way inside the circuit boards of my precious electronics.  Sadly both of them died.  My phone, considering its age and dumbness, was cheaply replaced and it came in the mail last week.  The camera, considering its high cost and unavailability, is not going to be replaced for a while.  I opened my new phone the day after my trip to Six Flags, anxious to feel connected to the world again.  I opened it and started activating it, but to my short temper it wouldn't connect.  I had to call Virgin Mobile and go through layers and layers of robotic commands trying to reach someone, and when I finally did the assistant's voice was just a faint sound in the earpiece of the phone.  Following her directions was nearly impossible, but I focused through and it was activated!
     After using my phone for about half the day, I noticed that the battery was dying quickly.  I charged it overnight and the same thing happened!  The phone was dead before the evening arrived, and this did not correspond with my past phone which was able to go for weeks without a charge.  I expected them to work the same considering they are the same exact phone!  So, I had to call Virgin Mobile again and this time the layers and layers of robot didn't even bring me to a choice I needed!  I had to dial buttons repeatedly such as "0,0,0,0 or 1,1,1,1,1" in order to reach an assistant.  When I did reach the assistant, he ordered me a new battery and it's on its way right now.  Hopefully it doesn't disappoint me like the last one.  Cell phones bite.  

People Watching

     Now I'm sure most people, considering humans tend to be very socially observant, take time to look around at the people in their location. People watching works best in large public areas where many group of people come together with seemingly no past or outside connections. Amusement parks and malls seem the be great candidates for people watching, and my experience will come to you from my recent endeavor to Six Flags. One of the first things to judge is appearance, which is obvious and quite important. See, you can tell from what they look like their self appreciation and social class! If you see someone dressed in a huge Chicago Bulls jersey, they are obviously comfortable about themselves enough to not care about how they appear to others. This isn't completely correct, but no guesses and assumptions will be correct unless you actually know this person. Unfortunately for Six Flags, most people are not low on the social class otherwise they wouldn't be there. Even if someone walks into a wealthier privilege, they will fit in just fine. You usually can't tell someone's income based solely off their appearance. This assumption, although borderline stereotypical and racist, takes behavior and social observations which are even harder to decipher.
     You see, it's easy to classify people into two distinct groups based on the amount of socialization.  For example, people who are talking a lot about their lives outside of the amusement park are usually people who know each other very very well.  People who don't talk or talk mainly about what is going on in the moment don't.  Often times siblings will fall in the silent category, and it's easy to tell that they are just putting up with each other for the purpose of enjoying rides without looking lonely.  See, that's the monstrous necessity that people tend to carry on their backs when in public, and that necessity is camaraderie.  If someone is alone at a place like Six Flags, the first thing you feel is pity for their lonely lifestyle.  Now, let's "take a walk in their shoes" especially because I know what it's like to be alone at an amusement park because of unrelated reasons.  Maybe their group split up because the lonely member actually enjoys roller coasters and wants to ride a few while he or she is at Six Flags!  Maybe they have no friends that enjoy amusement parks, so they have to come alone.  In this case I feel deep pity and wish that loneliness wasn't such a socially awkward thing, but people have created this pattern and it's very disproportionate when someone doesn't quite fit.
     The money factor is often considered when people watching, especially because money is an easy way to classify many parts of a person's presumed life.  This sounds a lot like classifying people into races which is another way to predict a person's characteristics.  When you establish someone as rich, the things you can assume are very rude towards the entire upper class.  For example, you can assume they have a big house and have petty problems regarding trivial problems that only rich people have to deal with.  Unfortunately, most of the people at Six Flags have expendable income otherwise they wouldn't even think about spending excessive amounts of money for overpriced "fun".
     The last and most obvious thing to observe while people watching is appearance.  It's not the most innocent way to view other people and it's quite shallow, but appearance is the most static and reliable way to make generalizations about strangers.  Appearance is very self explanatory and you are probably subconsciously judging people on their looks without even knowing.
 

I actually took this picture after we left the amusement park.  I thought it would be a pristine way to show my appreciation for decoration which really doesn't exist.  

It just looks so innocent and picturesque despite the mayhem that it causes to its riders.  This is a very nice coaster and it's still thrilling after having been on it repeatedly.  

"It just goes up and up and up" 

It amazes me how people are willing to stand and wait for an hour to ride a rollercoaster!  It amazes me how I'm willing to do this as well!  

It's so indie!  I saw the sun behind the coaster and thought that with a disappointing iPod camera and useful filters I could create a nice photo.  

You would think this was while we were waiting in line for hours, but it is rather when we were standing outside in the parking lot waiting to avoid an awkward early arrival to the bus.