The weekend

This weekend, Dr. P. recorded a few tracks for a new choir CD. This was also the beginning of spring break for the students.

On Friday, after work, I drove down to Front Royal for choir practice. It seemed to go really smoothly -- there were a couple intonation problems, but overall, it was nice. After this, Paul E., Michael C., Emma and Sarah F., and Lizzie B. went to Sarah H.'s house, where we watched Star Wars, Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi. I fell asleep about 30 minutes into it, but it wasn't any big deal for me -- I've only seen it more times than I can count. Plus, I really needed a nap anyway. After that, I drove Michael back to Christendom, and crashed on the couch in his room.

The next morning, I went to Mass on campus, and then assisted Dr. P. by moving the music from the crypt to the choir loft. Practice lasted from about 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM, and then we had a break.

During this break, I played poker with Paul, Michael, Jonathan D. and Draper W. I lost all of my money in one game of Three-Five-Seven, but Texas hold 'em also helped clean me out...

After break and lunch, we went back upstairs to record. The sessions seemed to go well. I had a problem with Meditabor by Franz Xaver Witt in that I kept pulling flat on the introduction. I think I got it once, but for some reason, I kept pulling flat. It could have been that my voice was just getting tired, but I think I'll just say that it's because I'm getting sloppy, and I need to work on keeping in tune. Why? Because the latter gives me a reason to work harder.

Of course, in retrospect, I should have backed off a little bit. Jonathan was nailing it every time.

As for the rest of the pieces, I don't remember anything horrible in the rest of them, but it could be because I was concentrating too hard on my own part to notice anything wrong anyplace else.

After the choir recording, the schola had its turn. By this point, all of our voices were getting rather tired, so we all had to work to get everything to sound good. My voice cracked several times, and I felt myself pulling flat. I tried my hardest to stay on key -- easier said than done, but I think we managed to pull it off well. When the schola finished up, Emma and Lizzie had a recording session, and then we all went out to dinner at Dean's Steak House.

Dinner was fun. Ken and I got to talking technology-in-work (SQL, salesforce, and all that stuff), but it didn't last all that long, and we got back to normal conversations with everyone else at the table. We discussed books, took a couple pictures and even sang a couple songs at the request of one of the waitresses.

Following that, I drove Michael, Sylvia S., and Lizzie out to JoS. A. Bank in Winchester, because they were having a sale. It turned out that it was an internet only sale, but we got Michael sized up for a suit, and that's what counts...

After spending the night on Michael's couch again, I got up early on Sunday morning, and drove Jen P. to Dulles airport. After that, Paul and I went to Old St. Mary's for Mass, then I drove him to his house in PA. I visited with his family for the day -- I even got some exercise. John, Paul and I went out for a bike ride, biking down some relatively easy trails which were made harder by the presence of mud and ice.

After we got back, I played Texas hold 'em and Anaconda -- I didn't do as badly this time -- I didn't lose all my money.

After this, we had dinner, and I left the house about 9:00 PM, and drove back to the apartment. On the way back, I called Mommy, and after getting cut off about four times, we had basically gotten caught up on life again. :)