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Sep 10, 2010 - 04:29 PM
Movin' on up
Commanding
This entry is kind of long so for all you tl:dr people:

I got me three contracts that should permit me to enjoy my life even while I'm working, as I won't be doing it just for the pay, it's actually going to be work that is related to my field of study.

Also: My doggie still good doggie! ^-^





Now that that's out of the way, here's the long version.

My life has just been getting better and better of late, and I can't help but feel that my hard work and dedication to my studies, as well as my willingness to help out people who ask nicely, over what is almost a decade now are finally starting to pay off.

My last entry was centered on how a new member joined our little family, and that in itself was enough to get me in high spirits. At the time of that entry I was hurting pretty bad financially though, and I was dreading the thought that I was going to need to start job hunting. I've had to do that every summer since I've finished high school, save for one where I had retained my job for the school year, and the one that's just passed now, where I was able to get student loans to permit me to finish my master's degree. As anyone who's ever had to hunt for jobs while being a student knows, it's a bunch of ass, and rarely do you ever come across something that is even remotely related to your actually field of study, especially if your studying in the arts or social sciences. Last year I spent a month and about 50 or 60 resumes to wind up working as a salesman in an electronics store.

Well, A few weeks ago I got an email from a girl who's in charge of putting together a musical for a Cégep (Basically a transitional college between high school in university, Quebec is the only province in Canada which has this system), and she was looking for someone to produce arrangements of the entire musical Nine for this year's show. I was recommended to her by a friend who had done the arrangements for the last three years, and who had asked me to produce an arrangement of the Elephant Medley from Moulin Rouge for last year's show as he was too swamped to complete it. I agreed purely out of kindness, as the pay isn't all that great (really, 700$ for the whole thing :/) and he needed the money, but I said I would do it for him if he paid me a lunch at one point so we would have a chance to just hang out.

Now, this in and of itself is a very minor contract, and it's going to take more time to do than the pay is worth, but I figured I needed the experience as I've not had the chance to complete this big of a project outside of school. Musicals really aren't my thing, but I'm not enough of a fool to think that I'll only ever get to work on projects that fit my tastes, so I agreed to do it.

Last weekend I headed out to Chicoutimi to see my brother's newborn son, as I hadn't been there in a while, and I figured since it was Labor day weekend I wouldn't get much job hunting done anyway. My GF was in New Brunswick with her folks, so I got Kléio in the car and of we went.

Now, when I got back home on sunday evening, I had a message on the phone from the same friend who had gotten me the arrangement contract, and he was saying that I had to get back to him before the next day, as he needed someone to be his TA for his Conterpoint class and he had some sort of deadline the next day. Which was Friday. Before cursing my luck, I decided to call him up and see if it was still possible, figuring I might as well at least take the opportunity to talk to him. Welp, it turns out that he was mistaken about the deadline and he still had ample time for me to go through the required administrative gauntlet to get the job. A big problem was going to be the fact that I was not a full-time student, which I was under the impression meant that I would not be eligible for these types of jobs. I figured I might as well email whoever was in charge to see if the fact that I was still technically a student, since I had just submitted my master's and was now considered enrolled in a "Corrections" trimester while I awaited judgment on it, would allow me to get the job. Hooray for technicalities, it worked.

Now, this job is just 45 hours a trimester for two trimesters. The rate is upwards of 20$ an hour, so it's an extra 2000$ or so over the next 8 months to add to the 700$ from the arrangements contract. Still better, but not nearly enough to get by either.

That's when we get to this morning, as I'm exiting the music faculty and I come across my first orchestration teacher, who's just coming into the building. We became friends pretty quickly when I was in his class, as circumstances have made that he needed my help on a few occasions and I was happy to oblige, seeing how he's a really nice guy and was always willing to answer questions and oftentimes gave us the opportunity to have short compositions played in class, when we had players come in to explain their instruments.

The first such occasion was at a point where a bunch of disgruntled students in class starting passing around a petition saying that he was incapable of teaching his class, due to not being in full control of the subject matter and the fact that his french was not adequate to transmit the information (he had just gotten to Canada from Russia a few years earlier and was still learning to speak french). Now, I was in agreement that it was sometimes hard to grasp what he was saying, but anytime I felt this way I took the time to ask more specific questions or see him after class to clarify, which, being the nice guy that he is, he was happy to do every single time. The other point was complete hogwash, as I've rarely met anyone who's more passionate and knowledgeable about orchestration. When asked to sign the petition, I argued these points with the people who had initiated it (this was in class, the prof was out for some reason), and I did get them to hesitate a bit, but they kept on anyway. Now my friend caught wind of this because the petition inevitably got handed to the administration, which in turn got forwarded to my friend's composition teacher, who then let him know of it, as he had to address the issue if he didn't want this to escalate and eventually get him fired. So the next week, he started class by getting it right out and asking the class why they hadn't simply brought these issues up with him directly. An argument ensued, with a few of us clearly voicing that we were in total disagreement with this, and the people who had started the petition eventually apologized, realizing that they had been a bit rash in starting the whole thing. I usually don't get involved in this kind of petty politicking but in this case I really felt that this was toying with this guy's future as a professor, and I couldn't stand by and watch him go down while he was trying as hard as he could.

The second time I helped him out was when he was putting together a concert of his symphonic works. He needed an entire orchestra, which he had to put together himself, and it so happened that the percussion section was a bit thin. Now, I don't play much anymore, but I'm still able to fulfill most basic percussion roles in an orchestra without too much trouble, so I agreed to play the parts he had for me, which were a bit of a stretch, but still doable. Now, on the morning of the concert he comes to me, looking like he hadn't slept in a month, and tells me that the entire percussion section bailed on him the night before as they had to be out of town for a gig and they had misread the dates or whatever. So here I was, slated to be sole percussionist in a symphonic orchestra, with parts for just about every percussion instrument to play that I hadn't ever looked at save for the small part he had given me before. Now, I told him I would do what I could, but we both knew it would be impossible for me to play everything in there, as much physically as with regards to ability. He just said "well, do what you can, you're already doing more than I should ask". Well, as luck would have it, two of the sound/ lights guys working in the hall that day had played percussion before, and one of them actually felt comfortable enough to play the timpani. The other one was hadn't been playing as long so he took toms and cymbals. This left me with everything else to play, including keyboards, but we somehow pulled it off. My friend was quite enthusiastic at the end of the performance, so I figure we did a good job. To me, it was all a blur, and I don't think I've ever been quite as mentally spent as I was at the end of that concert.

Anyhoo, jump back to today and I meet the guy when I'm leaving the music building. We exchange hellos, it's been a whiles, and then he asks me what I'm up to. So I says to the guy, I says "Just looking for work, yo" and so this guy man, he says "well, I needs someone to help me with my orchestration class, ya feelin' me?".* And there you have it. This contract is a bit more lucrative than the other one, as it counts 60 hours of pay, at the same going rate as the other one. I still need to get a job, but it needn't be a 40+ hours a week drudge fest like all the jobs I've had in the past to simply get by.

The only thing that is missing now is a call from the University of Montreal Youth Music School to tell me they have an opening for me teaching kids that will permit me to round up the rest of the $$ I need to actually live off of music. Either way, I feel my career prospects are shaping up quite nicely of late.



* This conversation has been lightly modified from its original version for reader enjoyment


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Aug 22, 2010 - 09:45 PM
Me new best friend! [With pictures]
Well, I've been having an awesome couple of weeks. My Masters should be handed in by Friday, and my Research director has reviewed my work and seemed thoroughly impressed.

But, more importantly, I got a dog last week!

Here are some pictures of her:







Now, this came about in a completely unexpected way. My girlfriend's brother was the one who owned her before us, but his girlfriend was allergic like hell so they had to get rid of her. My GF and her family were simply too torn to have to let it go from the family that we decided to take her in. From what I've been told, she is a Corgie/Labrador mix. Her name is Kléio. I've rarely seen a dog so well behaved, especially considering she's in her third home now, and she's only 8 months old. Fear not, she'll be staying with us for life, no matter what happens.

It's pretty great for me to finally have a dog around the house again, as I raised one in my last years of high school and had to leave him at my parents house. I really wasn't too sure how long I would be staying in one place back then, and I couldn't really afford the food, vet bills, etc.



Currently Playing: With me new doggie!

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Jun 6, 2010 - 02:09 AM
Belgian pub crawl
Well... just got back from the Mondial de la bière, and I must say, I wish I had gotten there six hours earlier. I hadn't heard about it until about noon today, so my planning time was quite limited.

I saw a guy with a VIP pass. He was in heaven. Then, I saw him puke like it was time to let go.

Next year, that will be me.

Happy summer solstice everyone*.














In approx. two weeks


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Mar 13, 2010 - 01:33 AM
The props of life
Fuzzy
I've found myself on more than one occasion lately looking for prop and diss buttons at various moments in my day, even in things unrelated to this place.

If only life were as convenient as Gamingforce.

Currently Playing: the game of life

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Dec 24, 2009 - 05:14 PM
First entry ever!
Yuletidey
AAAAAAAAAAAAAnnnnnnnnd

I'm gonna use it to wish everyone a merry Christmas.

Hope it's all you wanted it to be!

You ougtha get you some sleep

Currently Playing: Around

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