On Monday mornings, from 9-11:40am, you can find me in Oral Expressions: Honors. It’s basically a public speaking class, and I’m getting some more of my honors credits knocked out of the way while I’m at it.
You should probably know that I actually enjoy that class. Mondays are my days where I like all of the classes I’m in (for the most part,) so Mondays really aren’t that bad. Today was kind of special in OXPH, though. Today, we learned about meditation, and we did that for a solid ten-ish minutes. Our teacher put on jazz music and made us stand up out of our chairs, then turned the lights off. Probably a bad idea with a room full of college students on a Monday morning, but for some reason, he did it anyway.
We were instructed to think about our breathing. Then, to think of some place that makes us happy. I wasn’t too surprised when I found myself on a field, with a flag, and a horn line playing in the background. I had found myself at an MBI rehearsal, and we were repping Planets. I let myself run and rep through Planets about four times, before we were called back to class.
I was walking back to my apartment after class thinking about that exercise. I didn’t dissect what it means that color guard is my happy place — I’ve known that for a long time — instead, I was thinking about my priorities this year.
Ever since I’ve gotten to Columbia, school has meant a lot to me. I work hard in class, I try to participate more than I did in high school, homework is something I actually do now, and I’m learning how to pay attention even when the lecture is the last thing I want to listen to. I’m trying to apply everything we discuss in class to the things I do, and I’m as involved as I can possibly be in other things through the school, too, (Student Government, what up?) On the flip side, I’m working as much as possible and I also have a lot of other things going on. Far off in dreamland, I’m preparing to audition again to march drum corps for the summer of 2015. And I’m kind of making myself crazy by trying to do all of these things. (Recap: school, involvement, work, and training. Yeah, kind of a lot.)
But being able to escape for ten minutes to that happy place was incredible. Being able to see myself on the field with a corps made me realize that it’s all going to be worth it in the end. Taking the field for the first time this summer after having another great year here at Columbia is going to be such an amazing feeling, and I absolutely can’t wait.
Short post today. Maybe more tomorrow. But I just wanted to let you all know that I’m starting to settle in again here in Chicago. My priorities are there; yes, it’s hard to keep them straight sometimes, but isn’t it always? Drum corps is definitely on the horizon. Auditions are, like, two months away. It’s insane how quick the time has gone, and I can’t wait to begin another wonderful journey. Hope you’ll stay tuned.
[Something Creative] 