The uni grades were released yesterday for the last semester, and I didn’t know until a friend ask me how I went. I logged in and checked out my 3 High Distinctions (for music) and my 1 Credit (for accounting). I’m really not fussed about the Accounting mark. I just have to pass, thats it.

I am really pleased about my music grades. I went to the extra trouble to work out what my mark was for the last composition task. It was the first time I had written something on my own in my own style since the very first clarinet solo we wrote back in the first weeks of the year. After exploring electronic music and working in fields of music I normally never would have touched, this was the first time I was putting up my hand and saying “I’m writing a musical theatre song.” It is reassuring to realise I got 93% for it, my second highest grade for music yet, after my 95% essay.

It will be very interesting to see what next year brings, and I’m excited about going back (just not to commerce).

It has been a really exciting week for me. Very tiring, but very enjoyable.

Wednesday I went up to play for Ben’s audition. By the time we got back to his place, ate, rehearsed a few times, we were both exhausted. Thursday morning had beautiful weather and I met one of Ben’s room mates, Matt and his friend Nick, and spent the morning playing ‘The Last Five Years’ while Matt sang. Then on the train over to the Opera centre for the audition. I think thanks to Ben’s confidence, I wasn’t any where near as stressed as I thought I would be. I also appreciated the fact that I was getting to play a Jason Robert Brown song on a great grand piano.

After the information nights for the panto on tuesday and thursday, I’m happy to announce that we got a great cast decided on saturday after the auditions. More on that later.

Sunday saw me up in Dee Why with my parents to look at a piano that someone was selling. It was cheap due to the urgency to sell, and I had just happened to check the trading post at the right time. After years of wanting a new piano, months of needing a new piano and weeks of looking for a new piano, we finally got one.

This morning, I woke at around 4.30 with a headache (could it be the slope after moving my bed?) and stomach aches, and didn’t go to sleep until at least 5.30. Then at 7.30 a knock at the door woke me and I managed to throw on some clothes to greet the delivery man. After a complication or two, the new piano was finally sitting in my room, and I spent today breaking it in (although I’m looking forward to getting it tuned after the move). I’m really happy with the piano. Since a grand was out of the question (space and money), I got a post-1995 Yamaha UX (3), which is as big as they come in Yamaha’s range at 131cm tall. I did my research - this was the model I wanted because I wanted the size and I also prefer the lighter touch and brighter sound on Yamahas to the converse on Kawais. I’ll post a picture when I can work out how to make it not appear like a mirror.

I had a really great time in Sydney with Ben dispite the fact that it wasn’t under the most pleasurable circumstances (ie. the audition). From a personal point of view, it was really a pleasure to play a Jason Robert Brown song on a great grand piano in performance-esque conditions.

I don’t think I managed enough sleep last night after strangely waking up at 7am. That, together with the bad heat today and all the traveling has made me really tired, but I have to stay alert for tonight’s information night for the panto. Speaking of travelling, the train trip from here to Sydney is definately one of the nicer trips with views such as these (click):

I met a few great people up there, and one of Ben’s roommates wants me to return so I can play for him when it isn’t 9am.

I wonder if I could manage a bit of a nap…

That bi-annual event happened today… I got a haircut. I know it’s always blog-worthy news. I think i’ve needed this haircut for maybe three months, but it finally happened. One of the major problems is that I don’t have a usual place to go. This is the second I’ve had since we’ve been in this house and the last place was overly expensive, and tried to sell me products the entire time (and suprisingly I said no. This place is even closer, cheap (about a third of the other place), have nice people who work there (one woman wants to study music at uni, so that was the topic) and the haircut was the same as every other place (I have a diminished ability to differentiate haircuts). As a result, I had it cut a little longer than I normally would, and I have have a place to go back to.

In a scarily small number of minutes (I am not organised at all), I am heading up to Sydney for the night and accompanying Ben in his audition tommorow, which is fairly scary. My major issue at the moment is how am I going to fit everything I need into my small, oddly shaped bag?

My birthday weekend is now over, and things are starting to busy themselves again.

All cashed up thanks to birthday income, I’ve adopted the eBay addiction again, scouring the databases for theatre CDs and books. I’ve bid on three CDs and one books. I particularly want two of the CDs and the book, so I’ll be checking on those to see how I’m going.

Not much else to talk about, but there is a few things going on this week which I’ll talk about after the fact.