So I've started to settle in to Cleveland a little and I'm enjoying myself. As I said in my first couple posts, my aunt and uncle arrived here a couple days after I did and I'm really glad they're here. I enjoy spending time with them and my family. It gives me a chance to just sit down and relax for a while unlike my last winter break.
I'll put that little bit in perspective. I'm staying here in Cleveland for 16 days of my winter break, then I head back to Fairbanks for a few days before I start Spring Training for my RA job. While in Cleveland, I'm relaxing, spending time with family, reading, and getting the chance to explore a new area. I'm DOING things with my time or intentionally not doing things.
Last year I was in Valdez for 28 days before coming back to Fairbanks for the opening of the dorms for students. Starting the day after I got back I worked 40 hour weeks at the schools in Valdez doing IT work for the entire break. My average day consisted of: wake up, go to work, come home, nap, eat, play video games, sleep. It was hellish, but I made some good money and had been used to waking up at 7am.
And I like it.
Christmas was a fun time too here. Everyone was super excited to open presents and I have to admit, I really like the stuff that I got from my family. Sport socks, a 15-plug surge protector, brain teasers, and a Nook Tablet. I. Love. New technology. This handheld device does a million things that I love. I can use it to remote-desktop to my computer, listen to music, browse the web, play games, and read. Its been so long since I've had the time to just sit and read and now I realize that I missed it. I missed it so much that in the 5 days since Christmas, I've read 5 books: 2 books from different Halo series and the entire Hunger Games Trilogy. That series is really good and I can't wait to see the movie now that I know what the books are about.
As for Cleveland, I've seen a little of it. My favorite trip I've taken so far has been to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens because they were amazing. Something like a living museum. I promise to have pictures up eventually, but at the moment I'm too lazy to get them off of my phone... One of the drawbacks to consistently doing nothing I suppose. I also haven't spent much time on the computer (hence the super late blog update) which I suppose is a good thing considering my conditions here. It's better to spend what time I have not being on my computer.
I head back to Fairbanks in 6 days though and I'll be glad to be there. I miss the cold, the people, the dorm, the classes, and my job. As of late I've also missed the time zone... Q has been keeping me up playing Scrabble until the wee hours of the morning. I'm the competitive sort of fellow who won't just stop and forfeit a game. In our Scrabble series (with the rate that our current game is going at...) The score will sit at 3-2 with me in the lead. I'm losing this game.... BUT I will win the whole thing using that obviously rational 3am brain I have... (Elika and Denali: you can't judge that :P)
So that's my life in a nutshell for now.
Friday, December 30, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Cleveland: Days 2, 3, and 4
Its Christmas Eve! Here in Cleveland, its still green... But there was snow on the edge of the car window this morning! It was about a millimeter high and totally see through. So in all reality, there is no snow.
Also, here's a list of some of the observations that I've made here:
1. Drivers in Ohio are TERRIBLE. I see them cut corners, almost hit each other, and just generally miss the lines in the road entirely while driving. This is why I refuse to drive here.
2. Having the ability to just go to stores is pretty awesome. I finished shopping for a few people today and it was rather amazing that I could do it all within an hour and have it in my hands.
3. My family really hasn't changed since I last saw them in June. For better or worse, they're the same.
Wednesday night I had some delicious Thai food at a local place and last night I had a home-cooked meal that was made up of steaks, mussels, garlic bread, and salad. Now that was a fantastic meal! It was also my first home-cooked meal in over a year. Yep, a whole year.
And now its time for dinner again. 11 more days until my departure from here back to my frigid home, and back to my friends and school.
Also, here's a list of some of the observations that I've made here:
1. Drivers in Ohio are TERRIBLE. I see them cut corners, almost hit each other, and just generally miss the lines in the road entirely while driving. This is why I refuse to drive here.
2. Having the ability to just go to stores is pretty awesome. I finished shopping for a few people today and it was rather amazing that I could do it all within an hour and have it in my hands.
3. My family really hasn't changed since I last saw them in June. For better or worse, they're the same.
Wednesday night I had some delicious Thai food at a local place and last night I had a home-cooked meal that was made up of steaks, mussels, garlic bread, and salad. Now that was a fantastic meal! It was also my first home-cooked meal in over a year. Yep, a whole year.
And now its time for dinner again. 11 more days until my departure from here back to my frigid home, and back to my friends and school.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Cleveland: Day 1
So I made it to Cleveland, OH yesterday at about 1pm local time (so that's EST instead of AKST). That means to me, it felt like 9am. My flights were pretty bad as well, but they weren't horrible. The Fairbanks-Anchorage flight wasn't too bad though. While I was waiting at the airport I realized that there were about 9 other RAs on our flight so I could hang out with them while I waited to depart. Plus, Q was coming in on the flight that I was going out on so I got to see her for a bit as well before I left! It was a good day at the airport to see people! As for the flight, there wasn't anything of note really, so I'll call it decent.
The second flight though.... Man that flight was bad. I was on a 5 hour trip from Anchorage-Chicago and in the airport (prior to boarding) they were asking for volunteers to take another flight set because the flight I was on was overbooked on LAP BABIES. Yes, apparently that happens. Now think of the implications of that sentence.... My flight was at max capacity for babies. For a 5 hour flight that started at midnight. That flight was filled with crying and the entire front of the plane smelled like baby poop. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that much on that flight.
The Chicago O'Hare airport was pretty interesting when I landed and I took the time to seek out the USO there while I was on the ground. For those who don't know, the USO is basically a little hangout area with comfy chairs, nice people, free food/drink, and free internet for military dependents, active duty members, and retired servicemen of all branches. Its basically their way of saying thank you for being a part of our military and having to travel. I really liked it there too. As for the Chicago-Cleveland flight, my gate was switched 4 different times from across the airport and I almost missed my flight. It was rather annoying... I don't know how the flight was though because I passed out almost immediately.
Now I'm in Cleveland! Its really warm here... And rainy. But I don't mind. My family hasn't changed that much either since the last time I saw them at the beginning of June. My brother Connor still tried to fight me while I was sleeping, my mom still does mom things, my dad still throws laundry out the back door. You know, Verfaillie family stuff. I do have my own room here though, so that's nice. I also had a haircut when I woke up at 2pm and I'm convinced that eventually I'll piss off my parents by sleeping on Alaska Standard Time while I'm on the east coast. But now I'm off to go shopping with my family in stores that are actually cheap to buy things in and where the selection of stores to shop at may exceed 10.
And I probably won't post everyday, but I'll update on my adventures when I can.
The second flight though.... Man that flight was bad. I was on a 5 hour trip from Anchorage-Chicago and in the airport (prior to boarding) they were asking for volunteers to take another flight set because the flight I was on was overbooked on LAP BABIES. Yes, apparently that happens. Now think of the implications of that sentence.... My flight was at max capacity for babies. For a 5 hour flight that started at midnight. That flight was filled with crying and the entire front of the plane smelled like baby poop. Needless to say, I didn't sleep that much on that flight.
The Chicago O'Hare airport was pretty interesting when I landed and I took the time to seek out the USO there while I was on the ground. For those who don't know, the USO is basically a little hangout area with comfy chairs, nice people, free food/drink, and free internet for military dependents, active duty members, and retired servicemen of all branches. Its basically their way of saying thank you for being a part of our military and having to travel. I really liked it there too. As for the Chicago-Cleveland flight, my gate was switched 4 different times from across the airport and I almost missed my flight. It was rather annoying... I don't know how the flight was though because I passed out almost immediately.
Now I'm in Cleveland! Its really warm here... And rainy. But I don't mind. My family hasn't changed that much either since the last time I saw them at the beginning of June. My brother Connor still tried to fight me while I was sleeping, my mom still does mom things, my dad still throws laundry out the back door. You know, Verfaillie family stuff. I do have my own room here though, so that's nice. I also had a haircut when I woke up at 2pm and I'm convinced that eventually I'll piss off my parents by sleeping on Alaska Standard Time while I'm on the east coast. But now I'm off to go shopping with my family in stores that are actually cheap to buy things in and where the selection of stores to shop at may exceed 10.
And I probably won't post everyday, but I'll update on my adventures when I can.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Running towards the sun
So I'm back again after a long week and a half. Finals have been conquered, homework has been finished, and work for my building has been completed. That means semester number 1 of my Sophomore year has been completed! It's a really good feeling.
As an interesting fact, I'm writing this post in an email while flying towards Chicago, IL at what should be 4:30am if I were in Alaska, but these people claim that it's 7:30am. I call bullshit because right now I can see the sun and if Alaska has taught me anything, it's that seeing the sun is a rare occurrence.
Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit... But you get my point. It's WEIRD. I mean, for the last couple weeks of my life the sun has been SETTING at about 2pm. Now there's full length days again.
Why Chicago? Well it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from Cleveland, OH which is where I'm off to so I can spend Xmas with my family who moved this past summer. I haven't really seen them since then, so it will be nice to see everyone again.
As for the past week, it's been nuts. Finals were a pain in the butt, yet I seem to have pulled it off and done pretty well. I even managed to get an A- on my music jury! After finals I had about 36 hours to myself (which I used in the best way possible) and then us RAs had to buckle down and work our hands to the bone. Cleaning an entire residence hall is quite the task... But us Skarland RAs managed to pull it off in a timely fashion!
Me? Well I'm doing just dandy. I'm happy that the stress of finals is now off of my shoulders. Its about time I had a legitimate break. Plus I've been hanging out with this fantastic girl lately, so that's also pretty awesome.
Life's pretty grand right now. I just wish that in-flight cookies didn't suck...
As an interesting fact, I'm writing this post in an email while flying towards Chicago, IL at what should be 4:30am if I were in Alaska, but these people claim that it's 7:30am. I call bullshit because right now I can see the sun and if Alaska has taught me anything, it's that seeing the sun is a rare occurrence.
Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit... But you get my point. It's WEIRD. I mean, for the last couple weeks of my life the sun has been SETTING at about 2pm. Now there's full length days again.
Why Chicago? Well it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from Cleveland, OH which is where I'm off to so I can spend Xmas with my family who moved this past summer. I haven't really seen them since then, so it will be nice to see everyone again.
As for the past week, it's been nuts. Finals were a pain in the butt, yet I seem to have pulled it off and done pretty well. I even managed to get an A- on my music jury! After finals I had about 36 hours to myself (which I used in the best way possible) and then us RAs had to buckle down and work our hands to the bone. Cleaning an entire residence hall is quite the task... But us Skarland RAs managed to pull it off in a timely fashion!
Me? Well I'm doing just dandy. I'm happy that the stress of finals is now off of my shoulders. Its about time I had a legitimate break. Plus I've been hanging out with this fantastic girl lately, so that's also pretty awesome.
Life's pretty grand right now. I just wish that in-flight cookies didn't suck...
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Delaying the Inevitable
Thinking is a scary thing. Especially for me.... At 3am... Because around that time, all the same thoughts float around in my head (kinda like "the voices" but without all the psychological implications) and give me all these terrible ideas. Those who know me well know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I promise they aren't actually bad things though. Just... Well.... Dorky, shy, ridiculous things. And when I say "terrible ideas" it really just means that if I want to keep some of my dignity when it comes to social interactions, I shouldn't do them.
So here's a bunch of stuff on my mind that will keep me occupied until I'm done writing this post!
This week was a really disappointing week for intramurals... Or I guess I should say that Wednesday was the disappointing day for intramurals. We had our soccer championship game and lost 1-0 in overtime. It wasn't just that, but it shouldn't have ended that way. A fluke goal that should have been stopped, should have been marked, should have been SOMETHING. But it wasn't and we lost. Including that game though, we only had 3 losses throughout the entire season so its not all bad. Still sad though... We worked so hard for that game just to have it slip through our fingers... But next semester Team Zissou will be ready to go and be fully healed for another awesome season!
Broomball ended similarly. Tuesday we won our first round of playoffs, but on Wednesday the other team was just better than us. Plain and simple. So, while that's disappointing, it was to be expected so it wasn't that bad I guess. But we still lost...
I really hate juries. My music jury is now in about 5 days and its FREAKING ME OUT. I've probably explained this before (in a previous post), but for those who are new to my blog and my music life: a music jury is where I select 3 pieces of music (one memorized, one etude, and one classical solo with piano accompaniment) and I go out in the big Davis Concert Hall and perform those pieces for 5-6 studio heads from the music department. Usually its the percussion, trumpet, low brass, horn, and single reed professors that I play in front of. Also, my ENTIRE grade for my private lessons is based on my performance at this one jury, so if I mess it up, there goes my grade down the toilet.
I miss Elika. She's all the way off in Florence, Italy and I still Skype her often, but I can't have midnight ramen time if she isn't here! Plus Denali is missing her hip attachment (which can't be healthy) and everyone around campus is missing one of our favorite people.
The UAF Wind Symphony had a concert yesterday too. I really like playing the horn. Its a magnificent instrument and so few people play it. Now that I look back on it, I think its kind of crazy that I only started playing it last year. Sure I had played trumpet for 8 years beforehand, but horn is a whole new beast and I'm really glad that I took on the challenge and now I have basically the greatest section a musician could ask for. I even had a small solo in this concert!
Christmas presents are starting to be delivered to people I know as well! So far everyone seems to be happy with what I've picked for them and I even had one person tell me afterwards "You know how to make a person smile!" So I feel very happy with the choices I have made. :D
Yesterday I almost hit a sign with my car too. I slid off the road and went into some deep snow with my right tires and I managed to pull out of it before I hit the speed limit sign. This has kind of made me not want to drive around when its snowing anymore.... But chances are that I'll end up having to go somewhere and then I'll drive again. For the most part though, I've been a safe driver! Take that parents!
Last, but not least, for tonight is an accomplishment of mine. Sure its nerdy, but I have successfully transcribed the Ocean theme from Legend of Zelda: Windwaker for a horn quartet and we are going to start playing it soon so that we can hopefully perform it in a Music at 1 next semester! That would be AWESOME. Plus the program could say "Ocean - Koji Kondo - arr. Quinn Verfaillie" and I would feel all special and stuff.
Fun fact: this didn't keep my attention away from what it meant to for very long....
Oh well... At least its a happy thought :D
"Keep your eye on the prize because if you decide to let your gaze stray, it may not be there when you look back."
So here's a bunch of stuff on my mind that will keep me occupied until I'm done writing this post!
This week was a really disappointing week for intramurals... Or I guess I should say that Wednesday was the disappointing day for intramurals. We had our soccer championship game and lost 1-0 in overtime. It wasn't just that, but it shouldn't have ended that way. A fluke goal that should have been stopped, should have been marked, should have been SOMETHING. But it wasn't and we lost. Including that game though, we only had 3 losses throughout the entire season so its not all bad. Still sad though... We worked so hard for that game just to have it slip through our fingers... But next semester Team Zissou will be ready to go and be fully healed for another awesome season!
Broomball ended similarly. Tuesday we won our first round of playoffs, but on Wednesday the other team was just better than us. Plain and simple. So, while that's disappointing, it was to be expected so it wasn't that bad I guess. But we still lost...
I really hate juries. My music jury is now in about 5 days and its FREAKING ME OUT. I've probably explained this before (in a previous post), but for those who are new to my blog and my music life: a music jury is where I select 3 pieces of music (one memorized, one etude, and one classical solo with piano accompaniment) and I go out in the big Davis Concert Hall and perform those pieces for 5-6 studio heads from the music department. Usually its the percussion, trumpet, low brass, horn, and single reed professors that I play in front of. Also, my ENTIRE grade for my private lessons is based on my performance at this one jury, so if I mess it up, there goes my grade down the toilet.
I miss Elika. She's all the way off in Florence, Italy and I still Skype her often, but I can't have midnight ramen time if she isn't here! Plus Denali is missing her hip attachment (which can't be healthy) and everyone around campus is missing one of our favorite people.
The UAF Wind Symphony had a concert yesterday too. I really like playing the horn. Its a magnificent instrument and so few people play it. Now that I look back on it, I think its kind of crazy that I only started playing it last year. Sure I had played trumpet for 8 years beforehand, but horn is a whole new beast and I'm really glad that I took on the challenge and now I have basically the greatest section a musician could ask for. I even had a small solo in this concert!
 | |||||||
| Our lovely horn section: Amber, me, Jeremiah, and Theresa |
Yesterday I almost hit a sign with my car too. I slid off the road and went into some deep snow with my right tires and I managed to pull out of it before I hit the speed limit sign. This has kind of made me not want to drive around when its snowing anymore.... But chances are that I'll end up having to go somewhere and then I'll drive again. For the most part though, I've been a safe driver! Take that parents!
Last, but not least, for tonight is an accomplishment of mine. Sure its nerdy, but I have successfully transcribed the Ocean theme from Legend of Zelda: Windwaker for a horn quartet and we are going to start playing it soon so that we can hopefully perform it in a Music at 1 next semester! That would be AWESOME. Plus the program could say "Ocean - Koji Kondo - arr. Quinn Verfaillie" and I would feel all special and stuff.
Fun fact: this didn't keep my attention away from what it meant to for very long....
Oh well... At least its a happy thought :D
"Keep your eye on the prize because if you decide to let your gaze stray, it may not be there when you look back."
Monday, December 5, 2011
Shooting for the moon
So last night I had our first playoff game for Team Zissou (my intramural soccer team) and we won! Sure we had to make it through 2 halves, a 5 minute "golden goal" overtime, and then a shootout, but we did it! So we were excited. Plus, we beat the returning champions from last quarter so that's a pretty sweet bonus to our win.
Every win comes at a price though. I love soccer, and its a physical sport, but injuries are unavoidable. Especially for us defenders ("Q" and I have got that on lock). I came out of last night's game with a fat lip, bruised face (due to a totally illegal punch), and a nice deep muscle bruise in my calf. Q survived with a kicked-in ankle and a couple lovely bruise blobs on her legs.
And I'm glad our team is pretty good. We have good teamwork, communication (for the most part), and just skill in general. Sure we may mess up every once in a while, but who doesn't? The best part is: we all have fun with it.
But now with injuries in tow, we have another game tonight at 11:45 and we are READY TO ROCK.
Every win comes at a price though. I love soccer, and its a physical sport, but injuries are unavoidable. Especially for us defenders ("Q" and I have got that on lock). I came out of last night's game with a fat lip, bruised face (due to a totally illegal punch), and a nice deep muscle bruise in my calf. Q survived with a kicked-in ankle and a couple lovely bruise blobs on her legs.
And I'm glad our team is pretty good. We have good teamwork, communication (for the most part), and just skill in general. Sure we may mess up every once in a while, but who doesn't? The best part is: we all have fun with it.
But now with injuries in tow, we have another game tonight at 11:45 and we are READY TO ROCK.
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