The Big Benford Show

It’s time for a long, hot bubble bath. Yup, it’s been that kinda April. I’m feeling more and more at ease about how things went every day but I have to admit that the stress of this month really got to me. There are several people who helped get me through this month and I don’t know what I would have don’t without y’all. Reading Randy Pausch’s book also kept me inspired to keep going. Every night, I read that dreams will prevail if you find your way through, around or over the brick walls that come your way.

May will be here at the end of this week and we can start the birthday month nice and relaxed (I hope). The party is all planned and I’ve sent out Evites but everyday, I seem to find another person I’ve left off because Evite and their address sync system isn’t very good at all. If you haven’t received an Evite in your inbox in the last few days from me, please let me know. I promise it wasn’t on purpose.

I recently got my CD/DVD Bundle of the Michigan State University Wind Symphony from this past Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic. It was an amazing concert to see in person and I’m enjoying being able to see it again. The camera work is pretty good, too. I wish I had an option to get watch the conductors but that’s just for my personal education. The only thing that annoys me about watching this video is the camera shows the saxes a lot and they sure are a distracting bunch - constantly moving around while they’re playing! I’m all for feeling the music when you play but when it looks like you’re almost coming up off your seat, it’s a bit much. I wonder if they knew they were being video taped or something….

So, UIL didn’t go well. I’ve been pretty upset all week about it but I can’t help what happened so what else can I do? I think the thing I’ve been most upset about is how much the judges comments stung. Their words were pretty harsh and I couldn’t help but take them personally…I even looked online for new jobs for about an hour one day. I have never been made to feel like such a incompetent teacher. I think I’m going to reread the comment sheets and if they really are as harsh as I remember, I’m going to report it to Texas Music Adjudicator’s Association. I don’t care what kind of esteemed college music education professor these folks are, no one should walk away feeling like I did. I’m pretty sure I’m not just throwing myself a pitty party, either. All I know is that as a teacher, I never want to make anyone feel inadequate.

The garden is good. I think I can pull a sweet banana pepper and a jalapeño pretty soon. I think the red bell peppers will be red soon as well. I need to get something to help keep the weight of peppers from making the plants lean. The cherry tomatoes will be ready in a few weeks as well. Yay for eating yummy foods.

This weekend, I worked for Choice Music Events as an Assistant Site Coordinator at Alamo Heights HS. It was one of the easiest things I’ve done. The kids at Alamo Heights are SO nice and they work so hard. They remind me of the kids in our program. I wish we had a nice facility that we could host performances like that. Everyone I worked with was wonderful. I never knew Dick Clardy was so damn fun! He hooked us up before the awards ceremony and we got to ride the Boomerang at Six Flags Fiesta Texas on Saturday afternoon. Talk about a good way to get pumped up before giving away HUGE trophies!! The money for doing all this was pretty sweet as well.

Monica came over and we hung out tonight. I’m really fortunate for my friends. They are such caring, wonderful people. Skip, I’ll call you soon…and if you don’t hear from me soon, call me back again.

Okay, I’m gonna crash out. My back hurts like hell right now. My dad says it (and my overall feeling of sadness) is from all the burdens I’ve been carrying lately. I guess I have been holding myself to some pretty high standards. Not always a bad thing…until they lead to the way I’ve felt this week. But I’ll survive…with all the support I get on a daily basis. I just wish the weather was better….

Love you, mean it!
~C

I haven’t blogged much aside from the garden lately. There actually have been a few more things going on besides my lovely little garden, believe it or not. The time frame of it all escapes me a little bit so I’m just going to talk about stuff, not actually put it in any sort of time line today.

My friend Kelly came into town and we met for dinner at PF Changs. It was very yummy (as always) and he and I had some good conversation (as always). He was going to stay with Ana so we were all going to meet that weekend at Austin’s Crawfish Fest downtown. Since this fest became conversation with other friends as well, Monica & I decided to go together and meet the rest of the folks who were talking about going as well. The entertainment was a lot of fun but unfortunately, we only “met up” with Sarah and her boyfriend Raz as they were getting there and we were leaving. Interestingly enough, we bumped into some band director friends of mine from RRISD so we hung out with them. We could have gotten quite a few good pics but because we seemed to be eating or drinking something (all very yummy) at any given moment, we only got in a self picture of our crawfish faces.

My dad skated a half marathon in the 2008 Round Rock Road Rash. He’s skated it before but this was the first time my sister and I were able to go watch and it was GREAT fun! The announcer was stupid cheesy but we cheered on everybody that was out there to have a good time (the pros didn’t look like they were paying attention…yes, inline skating professionals). He skated in the 60+ age group but I’ll tell you, there is quite a bit of difference between a 61 year old and a 78 year old. I’m thinking they should probably create more age categories everytime they have that large of an age spread. Anywho, Inline Planet published an article about the race and my dad got a nice mention in it.

The oldest skater on the course was Peter Benford, 78, of Austin, TX. He skated the half marathon in 1:09:46. The youngest skater was Braeden Kenney, 5, of Aurora, TX, who skated about one lap on the 4.7 mile course.

The half marathon was about 3 laps around the neighborhood of the Dell Diamond. Here’s my dad on the approach of the end of lap #2.

I mowed the front yard so I wouldn’t get a silly notice from the silly homeowners association. I left the backyard alone because the cats love the little jungle that’s going on back there. I’m going to have to mow it pretty soon but it’s not completely out of control yet. Here’s Pfema, king of his backyard jungle:

Speaking of the backyard, the garden is doing well. I’ve got some new tomatoes and LOTS of peppers coming in. The cilantro shot up like a kid with a growth spurt this past week. We’re in week 5 now and if you want to see pictures, you’re more than welcome to go on over to my Flickr album on the garden to check them out. I love the picture of the brand new baby jalapeno coming in (okay, I can’t resist and must post that pic for ya).

So this is UIL week and my band performs tomorrow (Tuesday) at 3:00 in Georgetown. I’m really nervous because my kids have been working REALLY hard. This group is further along fundamentally and maturely than the past 3 years and I’d love for their scores to reflect their hard work in preparing this spring. Unfortunately, they are all almost freshmen or sophomores with still a need for a bit of hand holding so it’s all a matter of “which group” shows up tomorrow as to how we do. Regardless, Brian, Matt & I are really proud of them. I hate that I don’t always get to realize the fruits of my labor. Because I teach the third band, the ones that work the hardest always end up in higher bands after all the work I put in and I end up starting over with a whole new set of kids the next year. Yes, I know, I can see how they’ve matured musically in that higher group and if they participate in the Jazz Ensemble, I get to continue to work with them but my spring ensemble rarely sees those kids over again and it can be frustrating at times. Oh well, we’ll have a good time tomorrow making music and that’s what will count. I’ve really enjoyed my groups this year and I almost hate to see this year come to a close. Oh, while I’m mentioning end of year activities, put our Spring Concert on Monday, May 12 at 7pm at the RRISD PAC on your calendar. There will be some really fun music and an amazing guest artist that the Jazz Ensemble will be able work with there.

With all that being said, I’m going to go continue to read my new book “The Last Lecture”. I think it was my colleague Paul that sent me the link to the Oprah episode about him but since I saw it, I’ve been hooked on knowing more about how he made his dreams a reality. He’s just such a real person that I think regardless of his cancer, I’d be fascinated with the adventures he’s had through his life and would want to know more. I got the book from Amazon.com the day it became available and read the first 65 pages in about an hour, and I’m not necessarily the fastest reader, either. I just couldn’t put it down. He’s an wonderful storyteller.

Have a wonderful rest of the week and if you’re in the Georgetown HS area on Tuesday, April 15 at 3:00 pm, come on by the PAC and listen. A real audience always helps the performance.

Love you, mean it.
~C

I got this in my Facebook inbox today. Wow. That’s about all I can say.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Please forward to all members.

The Tau Beta Sigma chapter at Miles College has been expelled due to physical hazing. The Sorority has a policy on hazing defined as any actions taken or situation created, intentionally or unintentionally, to produce mental or physical discomfort on or off campus involving members and/or prospective members, which may cause embarrassment, harassment, or ridicule.

If a chapter has been found in violation of this policy, their charter is to be revoked, and individual members of the chapter are to be expelled. In consideration of the recent actions of the members of the Theta Sigma chapter at Miles College and the results of the investigation into the matter conducted by the sorority, the National Council has voted to expel them from membership in the Tau Beta Sigma National Sorority as they chose to follow a path explicitly prohibited by the sorority.

At this time the following individuals have been expelled:
Carla Barrow
Chakee Tillman
Crystal Harrell
Erline Daniels
Gloria Stone
Kelly Rankin
Nakia Crittenden
Shalondra Gurley
Ti Ara Carter
Meosha Underwood
Kimberly Tyson
Brittney Lunye Smith
Marie Alvis
Deidre Williams

Members are to return their Tau Beta Sigma membership pins and regalia to University officials. They are no longer permitted to wear anything that would identify them as a member of Tau Beta Sigma. In order to maintain our organization we must stop hazing at all levels. Hazing is never okay. When in doubt about an activity please contact your Director of Bands or a sorority official and ask questions. If you know of any hazing taking place somewhere, no matter how small, please report it to the National Headquarters. We must work together to stop hazing!

“TAU BETA SIGMA FOR GREATER BANDS!!”

Kimbi

***********************************************
Kimbi Sigle
Tau Beta Sigma
National President
(559) 307-6498
Kimbi@tbsigma.org
www.tbsigma.org

Director of Bands
Roosevelt High School of the Arts
4250 E. Tulare Ave.
Fresno, CA 93702

Peace out, girls.

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