Sleep deprivation, forgetting to eat, getting locked out of important buildings, oh my!
Well, I had a music theory test a while back, but that's old now. It went pretty well: the only things I missed were definition things. Eh. That'll work.
More recently (last weekend), I tried to go practice my percussion stuff. As I neared the building, I heard construction noises and was surprised to see workers putting in new stairs. The current location of the stairs is the former location of all of the buildings wiring. In case you've never been in a small room while playing drums (any instrument, really), it gets really hot and uncomfortable really fast without air conditioning. Given this state of affairs, I really couldn't bring myself to practice. On Monday, I found out that I had misplaced my stick bag. I was freaking out. At some point I calmed down enough to think about where it could reasonably be. The answer? The percussion studio! So I went back to the studio in the morning before my lesson (for which I needed my sticks) to see if my stick bag was there. I got to the door, pulled out my key...and noticed that they had changed the lock to a card reader. We have a standard swipe-able ID that every student and faculty member has, but we don't have a good method of adding and subtracting permissions for them. I went to the office of the person who would have a key card for me, but she wasn't there, so I continued to fret through music theory. After class, I rushed back to her office, got a card, and ran to the studio. The card didn't read. I was really put out, but I figured I should do something useful and went for food. When I got back from food, I looked in to the studio and saw one of my percussion mates, who let me in and asked about my card. I told him it didn't work and we practiced for a bit. On my way out for my lesson (same building, separate room), I tried my card to see what would happen. It worked. Flawlessly. Every time since. I guess they got the permissions up to date.
Last Sunday, I got to choir rehearsal early to check out the electronic drum set. It was cool, and, given about an hour, I can make it work, but that's beside the point. [pan to point] I put the drum set back (didn't have the hour to spare) and hit the lights. Pretty much literally. The percussion closet used to be a confessional, so it's a small room. The only light is one of those attached-to-the-ceiling pull-string-power ones. Without really thinking, I hit the string with a coil of cable I was holding. The light turned off, but something was wrong. I looked at the cable and saw the string hanging broken from the end of the coil. I was stunned at first, but then I realized that this was an easy problem to fix if there was string left hanging from the light. I checked with a flashlight, then, seeing that there was some string left, started planning my ascent. The room is small, probably about 5 feet wide, but it's actually fairly tall, at about 8 feet. At about hip height, there is a little elbow rest for praying for forgiveness. It's also a great step for climbing the room. I got a foot there, then had to work out a way to tie a square knot with only one hand. My solution: if you're leaning on the opposite wall with your hand, you can probably do the same with your foot. I shifted around so I had both hands free, tied the knot, and got down. Worked like a charm. No one's the wiser. Hehe... I wish I could do more of that... (In my notebook, this story is noted as, "climbed a confessional".)
