Holding Up For Now

Chamber has taken up a lot of my thinking space this week. We have some serious problems with finding practice times. My group is made up of 4 people who are invovled in so many aspects of the school other than music; peer mediation, waterpolo, show band, badminton, string, orchestra and my prefectship. It's so difficult so now our only full group rehearsals are Monday and Wednesday formtime/recess. No lunchtimes, no afterschool. *sigh* so reassuring. We do have our lesson on Thursday mornings and it's a blessing for us that the same song is done for String. I maintain confidence in my fellow musicians however, and we still have time to pull it together.

Tuesday was quite psycho in terms of what I tried to juggle. I went to music before school to have an informal meeting with Ms Moller about the avilability of music rooms throughout the week which is yet another problem. The production is taking up a lot of time as well, thus Ms Moller and I concluded that the department has outgrown its block.

At recess I was holding two meetings at once; my committee and my chamber group. It involved a bit of dashing in and out on my behalf, but we sorted out what we needed to. In terms of committee, we're planning a charity concert. However, it's hard to not to clash with the production and with all that Tamsin and Joanna have planned for NZ Music Month.
Lunchtime was English tutorial; joy. I'm so in too deep with English right now. I'm finding it harder to be motivated and I don't really enjoy what we're studying. We've finished King Lear but I feel like it's just all gone over my head; it's not as interesting as I heard it was. I also wrote another Citizen Kane essay and recieved heart-breaking feedback...talk about shaking my already fragile confidence in the subject...

After school was badminton practice and we didn't start playing until 4.10pm! So I told my parents I would be catching the train. What a mistake that was. I rushed down to Britomart (walked!) and made it to my train only to be held up for something like 20mins between Newmarket and Boston Rd at which time we were told that our journey to Waitakere could take "a couple of hours". You've got to be joking. So I'm sitting in the train just loving the fact that I get off at the third to last stop...
I actually ended up getting off at Kingsland and having a coffee before I was picked up. Shocking really. I read in the paper the following morning that the train stopped at New Lynn and the passengers were transfered to buses; ah don't you just love it when that happens?

Wednesday formtime/recess my chamber group had a quick rehearsal and at lunchtime I was...sitting with friends. Amazing...I hardly get to do that anymore. It was raining so we were sitting just outside the upper gym and I relished in the freedom to simply sit and eat my lunch. Yi Lein nearly tripped over me in her rush to get to class after badminton training though, so I guess I shall try to sit further from the door next time. Haha.

Thursday recess I was at my prefect meeting where we discussed leavers gear and the possibility of special polos for prefects. I rather like that idea. We also found out at formtime that our chamber groups will be performing either Friday 22 June or Sat 23. Also, Ms Rose is away because she had some operation (which not that many people even knew about...including myself who spent the first half of the week cursing the fact that she was never at her desk when I tried to find her). So we signed a card and have an obligation to bring her something on Monday...
Right, anyway, orchestra was at lunchtime and I am very proud to say that Yi Lein brought her violin and joined the string section at my side. So did Shelley which was a little odd, we never see her at music usually, lol, but we're so happy she was able to make it. Every person counts in the attempt to fatten up our string section.
And afterschool we had badminton games (our first of the season) and I forgot my hair tie ^^" so I borrowed Yi Lein's and ... I snapped it... I was rather distraught that I killed it. But yes, thanks for the generosity... :)
I ended up losing my singles match :( and I was very frustrated with myself to say the least. We played EGGS and they were a really nice team, pleasant people. But I lost by one point! After like 7 match points! Ahhh...and I didn't even have to lost that point...I could have regained the advantage if I had of left it but nooo I had to attempt and skim it even though it went out. *sigh*

We had string today formtime/recess which went rather well and we started the moderato movement which actually sounds really lovely, I like it very much! I invaded music period 4 for cello practice and sorting out possible dates for my charity concert with Ms Moller. Then band practice began and I was still hanging around so I sort of aided Yi Lein in setting up her keyboard, though I don't think I helped as much as got in the way. I decided to stay and study for my eco test last period which seemed to work alright, though I find it hard to study for eco. I'm just not sure how often I can read the same sentence again and again. It doesn't seem to help much when push comes to shove. Ah well, I semi-wing it all the time.
But I did aid in packing up, and walked to English with my two lovely 5th formers.
The eco test was alright... It didn't go as well as I would have hoped. Well what's the point in beating around the bush - I think I did horribly. Crapness...so much for top eco student...
Afterschool my chamber group (less one violin who was ill) had a practice. I'm so happy that I have good people in my group who turn up to practice ^^

Next week I hope to go to the World Vision meeting on Wednesday (it was yesterday but I was at badminton, shamelessly losing a game...) and sit the Price Waterhouse Coopers New Zealand Economics Competition on Thursday at lunchtime. Missing orchestra...oh dear what a shame :p no no it's all good. But this is a one off which is yet another thing I think I'm going to do quite badly in....heh heh.

So it's busy busy busy but I think I'm used to it. And as crazy as this sounds, I really love it. It gives everyone such a sense of purpose; that you're achieving so much and making the most of every moment. Sure it's hectic and I guess for some people, it gets really stressful, but you learn to hold up and juggle everything. "Bit of more than you can chew, then chew it." I don't think that's the best advice to tell everyone, but I would say it's something along the lines of what I'm doing. Though not on a large scale. I suppose "Unless a man undertakes more than he can possibly do, he will never do all that he can." from Henry Drummond, is my philosophy right now.

There is also the fact that if we're really busy, doing everything every day and trying to plan for the next week, taking it a step at a time; we can pretend that the end isn't approaching. Of course it is, amazingly fast; but it's something we can do to try and convince ourselves that yes, we did live every day. That's the case for me anyway, I'm not sure about the rest of the 7th form. But it's been such an incredible year so far, I am really loving it. Insanely so. And it saddens me to hear my friends from other schools so depressed with high school life and eager to get away. I only wish that they could have what I do right now; there are no adequate words for how I've been feeling on a whole lately. I just can't stay angry or upset with anyone or anything, there is too much for me to be pleased about.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend ^^