The most depressing thing about today is that I spent about half of it in a dark auditorium doing nothing for about 3/4 of the time. Yes, it was the technical rehearsal of the school production where we all witnessed just how hard it is for the lighting crew to get anything right. (Okay, maybe that's a bit harsh, they do a good job in the circumstances (ie Mrs. Jennings) but still, I have to take it out on someone...) I had a splitting headache all the way through the rehearsal because:

1. I woke up (again) to the sound of domestic arguments (again), which doesn't do wonders for anybody.
2. I strained to read the music on my page. It's hard enough that I'm reading off the conductor's score, with a page turn every ten bars or so, but to try to read it in dim light (which really shouldn't have been the case, if the lighting crew had done its job and set up the lights for the orchestra) is just that little bit harder.

Anyway, it ended up as a really annoying rehearsal. Most of the time was just sitting there, when the weather outside was pretty good and it was a Saturday, for goodness sake. People in the orchestra who didn't watch the conductor (ie Serena, the "drummer") made it even more annoying.

Annyoing.

Anoiying.

...yeah, anyway, that was the bad part of today.

The GOOD part was after production when me and the rest of FFOF and a couple of other people (who I will talk about later) went to Thomas' house for a little get-together party thing for his sister's (Stephanie) Japanese Exchange Student, whose name escapes me even though I heard it about ten minutes ago, but I know it involves an A. Something like...Ayaka? I'm not too sure.

Anyway, Thomas' family organised it just so that Ayaka could have a good time or something to that effect and I had a good time too. FFOF was back together at last (I'm not sure how David was coping with the evils of infections but, he seemed okay), and I met:

==1. Ayaka==

Who was a typical Japanese female teenager. For some strange reason though, she knew how to play the drums as well (apparently she had played in elementary school while in Japan), so she played a few songs with the rest of the band and I sang (I think. Or maybe I sat there). She also had the Japanese version of Somewhere over the Rainbow lying around, and could play the saxophone, which

==2. Jonathan (I'm not sure how to spell this but that's my best shot)==

Could also do (and probably a lot better, although both didn't really play enough for any sort of decent comparison). He's the Fourth Form saxophone player whom Miss Hall kept bugging Thomas to photocopy music for as he (John) wanted to play in the school Concert Band and Stage Band. He was really good. He also didn't really look Fourth Form, but then again this is coming from the person who forgot that Steph too was Fourth Form (I'm sorry! Don't hit me...) I taught him how to play the drum part (or part of it, anyway) to N.E.R.D. - She Wants To Move.

==3. The Band==

Played pretty much all of the songs we knew: All the Small Things, Say it Aint So, tried to do Movies but kinda failed, same deal with The Vines - Get Free and Basket Case by Green Day, but we did pull off Somewhere over the Rainbow and our original again and kind of half-did Sweet Child of Mine. Also, there were random jams with Ayaka (?) which was Smoke on the Water, I do believe, and Saxamaphonist Jonathan, me, Dave, Willie and Tomo had a random jazz jam. It was good.

==4. Food==

Consisted of awesome home-made pizzas (thanks, Mrs. Wood) and dessert was chocolate fondue. I'd never had it before and it was kinda fun trying to not lose my bite-sized piece of fruit in the deep well of molten chocolate. Such a novel idea, really. It's kinda like a do-it-yourself dessert. Don't like chocolate covered peach? Try a chocolate-covered banana. It was very cool.

--

Yeah, it was fun. Things I'll probably remember are:

1. How cool my new drumsticks are. They're a bit heavier but they're still quite easy to control and they give a lot more volume and offer more grip. I hadn't tried them out on actual drums until today (which was fair enough since I only bought them yesterday) so I was really surprised at the excellent result. I'm sure all the positives outweigh the hideous choice of purple for the coating.

2. Saxamaphone John playing the drum part to N.E.R.D. really really loudly.

3. Singing "Get Free", and then understanding why John Boden does not like that song.

I had a great time. I will bug Thomas for photos, I kind of want to remember that the party actually happened.