Performance at the Birth of Country Music Theatre

            Tuesday night, eight of the East Tennessee State University bands traveled up to the Birth of Country Music Theatre/Museum to perform for community members. My group, the mandolin orchestra, was a part of this. I was amazed by the talent I saw by the other bands, as well as the cool venue that we were playing at.

            I will start off with a little information on the mandolin orchestra. We are a unique group, as there aren’t many of them actively preforming. The group includes four mandolin players, a mandoviola (mandolin/viola) player, a mandocello (mandolin/cello) player, a bass player, and a couple guitars if the song needs it. There are seven of us in the group, with ages ranging from 18 to mid 60’s, and I am the only girl in the group. We play all types of music like classical, bluegrass, swing, original music (as one of our band members has written a couple of the songs we played), and songs from other countries. Overall, it is a lot of fun and because we are so unique, we get to perform at a lot of different places.

            The other bands that performed included bluegrass bands, country bands, Celtic bands, acapella bands, and variations of each. The instruments varied as well, with guitars, mandolins, banjos, electric guitars, steel guitars, ukulele bass, drums, and tambourines. All of the groups were really talented, and they, too, played a pretty diverse array of music.

            It was open to the public, so the room we were in was filled with older people who I guess had nothing better to do on Tuesday night, as well as family members of some of the band people. They were all very intimidating to play in front of, especially with the fact they were sitting about five feet in front of us. I am hoping with their age they couldn’t really hear us that well because the mandolin orchestra did not have as clean of a performance as we were hoping for. Despite this, they all seemed pretty overjoyed that we were all there and gave us all lots of applause.

            Overall, it was my first big performance here at ETSU. I had a blast, and it was so much fun to meet new people, play at a neat place, and, of course, to hear two hours of great music. I was exhausted by the time it was over, but it was an accomplished exhaustion. I can’t wait to see what kind of music and performances are in store for us next!

Something Wicked This Way Comes

            Yesterday, the honors college traveled to Virginia to go to see the play Something Wicked This Way Comes. It was such an amazing day! The group of around twenty of us got on a school bus for the hour drive over. The bus ride was one of the best parts because I got to know the people who are in the honors college with me better.

             When we got there, we ate lunch at a really cool restaurant called Political Dogs right across from the theatre. That place was remarkable because it was all about political stuff. They had campaign signs from congressmen and women, senators, presidential candidates, and so many more covering all the walls and the ceiling. They had bobble heads along with a lot of other satirical items poking fun at political people around the room. There were even Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton chia pets. So, the atmosphere was cool, but the food was better. Political Dogs was known for its hotdogs, and I can see why. All of their food items were named politically. One of my friends ate a Declaration of Independence, which was a hamburger. I had a hotdog called the Hanging Chad that had tater tots, baked beans, barbeque sauce, and cheese whiz on it with a side of Buffalo macaroni and cheese that, according to the menu, was “slap yo momma good.” I will confer that all the food I had was pretty slap yo momma good.

            After we ate, we headed over to Barter theatre, which was a really old, pretty, authentic brick building, but inside, it was cool because it had modern elements mixed with original elements. The honors kids had seating up above the stage, so we could see everything well. The theatre was packed with people of all ages murmuring with excited, and once everyone got in and settled down, the director came out and welcomed off, stepped off the stage, and the play began.

            Something Wicked This Way Comes is a story about two 13 year olds, one named Jim and the other, Willy. The two are typical 13 year olds; they mess around and adventure and Jim wishes to be older. A carnival comes to town that is very eerie and ominous, and because of the carnival, strange occurrences begin to happen to people that visit the attraction. Jim, Willy, and eventually Willy’s father get caught up in it and try to rid the town of the evil carnival. There is a happy ending, and Willy and his father grow closer, Willy and Jim become closer, and overall the play teaches you that you’re never too old to enjoy life and take advantage of its fun opportunities.

            The play was amazing. The actors were very talented, the costume designs were awesome, and the special effects blew my mind. I am quite easily entertained, and at one point, one of the characters did a magic rick with a card which I was awe-struck about. Also, they had fire at a couple points, which was an added bonus and probably one of my favorite things about the performance. Afterwards, the actor that played Jim, and the actor of the main antagonist, Dr. Dark, came and let us ask questions. Most of the questions were about Dr. Dark’s costume; he had cool yellow reptile contacts in, an airbrushed, thin fleshy colored mesh shirt that made him look like he had tattoos all over, and lots of makeup that really added to his character. We asked about the set, and how the actors really got into their character, and other questions like that. It was quite remarkable overall and I would definitely go to the Barter theatre again!

Values

            What are my two core values? When we discussed this in class most of my peers put something along the lines of family or faith, but, although these two are important in my life, they aren’t my core values, the values I live and breathe in my daily tasks. My two core values are discipline and success.

            People shared in class what their values were and, as I said, most of them dealt with something along the lines of faith and family. I sat there feeling like a horrible human being for not even including any values that dealt with happiness or love or faith or family, even when we narrowed down our list of 32 to 8. I left class with a sense of selfishness and disappointment as a human. However, as a few days have gone by and my values simmered in my head, I realized how much these values are the epitome of myself. Discipline and success truly are who I am.

            I have written about my running before. I run twice a day, everyday. I am to the point where I am running six to ten miles a day, along with doing a weight workout and ab workout. I lose an hour of sleep each day to do this. Every day I wonder if it is really, really worth getting out of bed to go run. And yet, there I am, running the same four roads I always do. Sometimes I choose to get in a workout rather than eating. I am very disciplined, almost too disciplined I think, when it comes to working out.

             I am also very disciplined when it comes to school. I study so much more than I allow myself to hang out with friends. I get to class twenty minutes early at least when I can. I do my work as soon as possible when it is assigned. I sacrifice sleep to make sure my work is the best it can be. I work very hard on my assignments, and I don’t procrastinate or take shortcuts. Sometimes I will tell myself I have earned a break, and I end up just getting back to work because it would be better for me not to—I don’t deserve it. A friend the other day asked if I wanted to play video games instead of writing my paper. I said no, and he asked why as I could just do it later. I realized how disciplined I was by how appalled I felt when he said I could simply, “do it later”. Do it later?????? WHAT?????? One does not simply do it later.    

            I am very stressed about my future. I worry constantly about how I will be able to provide for myself, especially with the issue of money. I am very focused on succeeding now to be able to financially support myself later on. One of my main mottos is: What you get done now is less you have to do later. I selfishly believe that succeeding and having money is more important than being happy. I know it is stupid to think this way, but I do. I run so much to succeed in accepting myself; I work so hard to succeed in making a more secure future for myself. I do this by being disciplined. These are my core values.

            The things I want to accomplish in my four years of college will come about through my values. I want to figure out what I want to do for the rest of my life, and by studying and going through classes I will use trial and error to find my niche. I want to become braver and stronger, as I am so prone to panic attacks in situations that I am not in control. I will succeed through discipline of practicing and forcing myself into uncomfortable situations.

            My mission statement is that through discipline, I will be able to succeed in becoming a stronger, more brave person. I will hone my abilities to be the best I can be at whatever I end up doing to help myself and others around me.