WORK IS FINALLY DONE! Time to actually breathe now!
Not gonna lie, I don't miss it. But I'm sure I'll miss the company of my little munchkins. Was it worth it? Maybe. I'm now a pro with 2-3 year olds, in my evaluation my unit head seemed to think I'd done a really good job.. I now have a much better understanding of small children, what they're like, how to handle them.. exactly how much responsibility and commitment having children is and how much love and meaning they bring to you. Do I still want kids? Yes. But it's a much bigger decision than I would have thought even. I made some decent social accomplishments as well. Will I go back next year? Maybe. If I do, I'll ask to be with older kids for the sake of that experience.

The weekend was.. interesting. Busy. Interesting. Not always in a good way but not really in a bad way.. Toria's party was.. interesting. Ronnie's party was.. interesting.. the drive home was PARTICULARLY interesting. Monday was Wonderland with Natalie, and that rocked because Natalie is lots of fun and it was like old times back in elementary school.. even though Dufferin packed up and left (aka we got lost lol). Last night was pretty interesting too (Jamie is the Candyland champion).

So.. my clarinet is very sharp. It's something I've been trying to work out for years and there's no good solution.. at my instructors suggestion I went to Harknett today to try out a couple of different mouthpieces.. ones known for lowering pitch. Except.. both significantly RAISED my pitch.. WTF. (The same shit happened when I tried this last year). The guy who was helping me knows me, gave me lessons for a while, and he was always like "its you, not the instrument" (my current instructor says otherwise) so he was like "let me try it" and tried and was like "you're right.. it is the instrument" (IN YO FACE MOFO) Unfortunately that leaves me a bit stuck.. I can:

a) live with it, it's not TERRIBLE I just pull out a LOT and my middle range is consequently flat, but the reed strength I'm using isn't ideal for the type of mouthpiece I'm using anyway..

b) go after Gary Armstrong downtown and buy a ring to extend my barrel or buy a longer wooden barrel..

c) think about investing in a new instrument..
i) I could rent to buy from Harknett.. they don't really carry very many good (wooden) clarinets to rent but their higher end would still give me a more even pitch than where I'm sitting now
ii) Just go right ahead and buy a good quality clarinet

Now, C)ii) seems like the last resort.. but believe it or not.. my dad is actually considering it as an option.. GUYS I MIGHT GET A GOOD CLARINET!! But I have to REALLY make it worth like the 2k we'd pay for it.. play it for like HOURS AND HOURS A DAY..

It's really a VERY exciting prospect for me.. but believe it or not a very intimidating one.. because I'd feel like I couldn't live up to the instrument I was playing. (That and my baby's been with me for 8 years now.. *sniff good old boy)

I guess it comes down whether it's worth what a wooden extended barrel would cost (I have no clue) and it's improvement to the instrument vs. it sort of being time to upgrade anyway.

*edit* I talked to my teacher and she seems to think it's not worth getting a new barrel.. she thinks that I'm ready for a better instrument, she let me play the lesson (and she let the lesson go for like an hour overtime) on her Buffet R-13 *drroooll* (it's like a $3800 instrument compared to my like $300) and it was soooo gooodddd

*edit**edit* THERE'S THIS RANDOM GUY THAT I MADE FRIENDS WITH AT CAMP AND GOT HIS EMAIL AND JUST RANDOMLY FOUND OUT THAT HE JUST HAPPENS TO BE A CLARINET PLAYER AND THAT PLAYED IN TYWO AND THAT HE HAS A REALLY EXPENSIVE CLARINET THAT HE MIGHT SELL TO ME BECAUSE HE CAN'T PLAY IT ANYMORE BECAUSE HE'S TOO BUSY BEING AN ENGINEER EXCITEDEXCITEDEXCITED!!! What a small world :)