My band teacher announced there would be a playing on one of our pieces of music. I am in a lower level band class so that I can get used to playing with braces and the music is fairly easy. I could play the rhythms just fine, it was my tone that I was worrying about. So in preparation for the quiz, I spent a lot of time at home doing long tones to help improve my tone and practicing the piece to be quizzed on. So on the quiz day I come in during my lunch period and start to practice the piece again with great tone and articulation. I was completely confident that I could play the piece and score an A. My band director wasn't there when class started so the class had to wait in the chorus room. half a class later, she gets here and we start to play through our music. When there is ten minutes of class left, she starts the quizzes, going down the list in alphabetical order. Since my last name begins with W, I'm pretty much dead last. Class ends and she doesn't even get down the list. So she tells the class that the quiz will continue NEXT week and that it will be on any of the pieces we are playing. I had spent a week of preparation perfecting that one piece and on the day I have good tone quality, I'm not quizzed. Knowing my luck, I'll be quizzed on a piece I don't know very well and it will be when my tone is crap... Seriously, what a let down.
Today was the last of my exams/mid terms and lucky me the hardest two were on the same day. I started the early morning with AP US history, a class I'm just barely able to scrap by with a C. I'm not stupid, the grades in my others classes prove that, it's just this class is somehow more difficult than the others. I had fifty five minutes to complete eighty one questions, but I found that to be fairly easy and finished with time to spare. (Twenty minutes or so.) The last time I took a test in that class and 'thought' it was easy, I ended up failing. So I'm kinda panicking as to what I scored. (If the score brings my grade down to a D+ then I better mark my own tombstone.) Things didn't really get better from there. My next exam was Jazz band. What's so hard about Jazz band? If you can play then you can pass it easy. And it's not like I have anything to study but the notes on the page right? Wrong. I pretty much had a test of the history of Jazz and the most important people of Jazz. (Armstrong, Duke Ellington.) That didn't turn out too well. I missed enough to prevent me getting a B at best. The second half of the exam was next and slightly relieving. The Band director let us choose what piece of music we wanted to be tested on. So I picked one I was most comfortable with but it wasn't all that great. I don't do well under pressure like that. I managed to get an overall score of 80 which is a C, but I should have to worry about it too much. It was not a pleasant day at all though and I'm already dreading Finals when they come around...
I suppose every teenager has their drama and I am no exception to that rule. (Though I wish I was drama free. Don't we all?) I have been sleeping rather well lately, which is very unusual. My nights are generally restless, and when I wake for school in the morning I want to go back to sleep. But it hasn't been like that the past few days. Instead I wake up ready to go, not tired at all when I got the same amount of sleep as the previous nights. Why would I complain about something that is obviously beneficial? It's the dreams I have. All of them include me and my best friend, (which I openly admit I am in love with. She is a girl) but they don't turn out too well. It is just short of a nightmare. The dreams itself and why I have them are easy enough to interpret, and the solution to make them stop is also very simple. The problem is actually doing something to end it. It is a very tense moment for the both of us. My friend is constantly under the stress of homework and others as I just recently found out. I don't believe this tension is purposeful, but it feels that we are no longer best friends. That in itself is heartbreaking. I will admit again that I believe I am going into, if not already, a depression. I'm becoming more distant, which I personally do not mind at all. That is the cause of my dreams, the solution is easy, like I said before. All need to confront her and voice my opinion, establish that friendly relationship again. It is easy said than done however and I don't see this conflict being resolved too soon. I manage to build up momentum, and when I approach her, her answers and responses become evasive and I deflate completely. I hate teenage romance. It flat out sucks. But at least I am relieved by getting these thoughts out of my mind. For now I will stick to my philosophy of patience and perseverance. It will all pay off in the end.