I've Been A Long Time Gone...Part 2: New Soul

A cheesy song reference? (Sorry, I couldn't come up with anything adequate that was related to BYU, mountains, Utah, or school. :D) A "part 2" that's basically a hapless attempt at organization? A bunch of rambling words that make you wonder when crazy Brandon will stop typing nonsense? All this and more should tell you one thing...it's time for another blog post! :)

• When we last left our heroes (AKA when I finished the last blog post about myself, you can decide whether or not I can be classified as a hero...if I am one, though, I want to be "SUP...................er Grover!" :D) ANYways...I had just gone on our epic semi-family road trip to Spokane and back. (By the way, the trip back was nice and fairly quiet. I can't remember if my dad got stopped by the police on the way back or the way there...lol, that's a long story I won't go into here... :D) It was early August--and well, if you remember my previous posts, I had online classes to finish. The less said about that whole thing, the better. Same with the days running up to BYU...let's just skip to August 31st, shall we?
• So now we find me at BYU. (Don't ask how. The story is incredibly awkward.) (And is that even proper grammar? If it isn't, feel free to shame me. :D)  This is going to be a very brief recap...dang it, this is what happens when I procrastinate, I have to find an engaging and efficient way to talk about a whole dang semester of college (and it's my first semester, too)...you know what, I'll just give the Reader's Digest version, and then anything else you blog readers would like to know, post a comment. :D
• I've made lots of cool friends. (BYU + you = a social life. It's like impossible not to find something fun to do at least every so often here, and if you try even a little bit, you'll find LOTS of fun stuff to do. With people. Sometimes people you don't know. :) ) My classes last semester were nice--EXCEPT FOR PHYSICAL SCIENCE. As for grades...another thing I'm not at liberty to discuss. Except for that I got an A in Jazz Voices and Men's Chorus, and a B+ in voice lessons and Book of Mormon (the second half, I took the first in Institute). That's all I'll say. (As for classes, I also took Old Testament, History Since 1877, Intro to International Relations--a class & professor I highly recommend, Dr. Hudson is a brilliant woman and a terrific teacher.) Men's Chorus, which I am also in this semester, is an absolute BLAST. Sister Hall is truly amazing...she's SO MUCH fun, and she really knows how to make all 186 of us crazy college guys sound good. And she's Welsh! Epic win. :) It would have been worth it to come to BYU just for being able to sing in a choir directed by her alone. And Jazz Voices is a great experience. There's a few less people in it than Men's Chorus...as in, 170 less :D ...but it's still terrific, and I love singing in a jazz choir. In other words...BYU's music and choral programs rock. Forever. :D
• Speaking of music...and jazz...and BYU...and the music program (OK, I'll stop this mishegas :D)...I've changed my major. As most of you know, I was originally planning to do Jazz Studies--but I sent off an email to the director of the Jazz Studies program, Dr. Ammons, about a month ago, and he broke me the news I had kind of been expecting/told about already, that the vocal emphasis for Jazz Studies here at BYU doesn't currently exist. The old vocal jazz professor, Kelly Eisenhour, left two years ago, and since BYU instituted a hiring freeze, they haven't been able to replace her. Add to that the fact that they're restructuring the entire major...and yeah, it's not really an option for me right now, unfortunately. Good news? I switched to Media Music, which I can basically turn into Jazz Studies, with a few differences...the Media Music major is primarily designed for those wanting to go into contemporary music, mostly songwriting, producing, etc. But it's also very flexible in terms of what classes you can fulfill the requirements with...and there's a lot of jazz classes available. (At least, more than I thought there would be.) So while I'm bummed about no Jazz Studies for now, Media Music is a great second option. I'm currently waiting to hear about whether I made it in or not (I auditioned for the second time just two weeks or so ago), and I hope I do. (I also continued my tradition of forgetting/flubbing words in college auditions--last year, I had to start "It Don't Mean A Thing" over because I couldn't remember the starting verse for the life of me, and this year, I sang the wrong words in "I Get A Kick Out of You" twice, and plumb forgot them for a few seconds at one point--but it still went very well. :) )

And as for this semester...I'll leave that little puppy for Part III. For now...I need to actually be responsible or something. :D Cheese out! :)