The people have spoken! and the written blog has won out. The first thing I'd like to do is apologize for my writing. I by no means consider myself a good writer, but that's what you want (or at least the majority of those who voted at least). That being said I'll still update with a video every once in a while, maybe like once a month. I'll likely be updating more regularly since the text blog is easier to put together than the video blog. Alright, enough of that, on to the good stuff.
First, updates from last year, if you go to the following link you'll find yourself at the CAJ Jazz Band Youtube Channel click here. Here you'll find videos from all of the recorded jazz band performances of the year as well as the end of the year Parade of Bands concert that featured all of my ensembles.
It was an amazing year that I'm a little in disbelief about. Here's the fly-by:
Aug. 2010 - Arrive in Japan, New Staff Orientation, School Starts
September - Classes continue general acclimation
October - First performance, Jazz Band at the Thrift Shop, First trip out of Tokyo to Lake Yamanaka
November - High School Band Performance, Parent/Teacher conferences, Tokyo Disney - Disney Sea (pictures still pending)
December - Christmas Concerts (3 of my ensembles had performances), Christmas Break (back to Yamanaka)
January - Classes Start, Jazz Band Performance, First Semester Ends,
February - Jazz Performance, Solo/Ensemble
March - Honor Band/Orchestra/Choir Performances, Earthquake, Nuclear Freakout (still not out of the woods on that one), School's out until April, Online classes are established
April - Classes start again, Jazz Band spring Thrift Shop performance
May - Parade of Bands, Middle School Band performance (the judge said we had the best performance of all the bands their), other end of year performances
June - A senior died the week of graduation, Graduation, Return to the states
So yeah, busy, lots of stuff going on, lots of little stuff not mentioned of course. This summer was a whirlwind. It started off with the wedding of Zach and Mallory Troyer! Lots of fun, an interesting way to get re-acclimated to America. This was followed by the passing of my Uncle Clarence which meant a trip to Florida. It was a great time to be with family and a great to be able to see my niece who I wasn't expecting to see. We laughed, cried, loved on each other. Lots of stress but also lots of happy memories. After that I spent a week in Virginia which was great. It's always nice to be home. I had wondered if VA Beach would still feel like home and it does. I can't explain it, it just is. Every time I touch down in Virginia I'm filled with a sense of comfort and just feeling that it is home. After my stay in VA, which featured yours truly in a momentary highlight on a local morning show (as part of the in studio audience), I spent a couple of days in AZ. It was good to be able to spend some time with my mother and sister (dad was still taking care of stuff in Florida). After two days in Phx we drove out to Pasadena. Here i got to meet my new nephew, Oskar Winston Clemons. A little cutie who isn't really do much right now since at the moment he's still only 3 and 1/2 months old. Kuba is getting big and has spread his love of sports to soccer and hockey and anything else that is considered a sport. Click here for his first basketball game. (He's the curly head kid who the video focuses on in the beginning.) Kaya is doing her thing staying cute and partying them up. She made another appearance on stage for a play in which she played a character who was married. (I didn't get a chance to see the video :(, if anyone has a way for me to watch it please share the love.) And that ended my time in the States.
Alright, I'm tired of writing and am boring myself so I'll update later with more posts, pictures, and videos.
First, updates from last year, if you go to the following link you'll find yourself at the CAJ Jazz Band Youtube Channel click here. Here you'll find videos from all of the recorded jazz band performances of the year as well as the end of the year Parade of Bands concert that featured all of my ensembles.
It was an amazing year that I'm a little in disbelief about. Here's the fly-by:
Aug. 2010 - Arrive in Japan, New Staff Orientation, School Starts
September - Classes continue general acclimation
October - First performance, Jazz Band at the Thrift Shop, First trip out of Tokyo to Lake Yamanaka
November - High School Band Performance, Parent/Teacher conferences, Tokyo Disney - Disney Sea (pictures still pending)
December - Christmas Concerts (3 of my ensembles had performances), Christmas Break (back to Yamanaka)
January - Classes Start, Jazz Band Performance, First Semester Ends,
February - Jazz Performance, Solo/Ensemble
March - Honor Band/Orchestra/Choir Performances, Earthquake, Nuclear Freakout (still not out of the woods on that one), School's out until April, Online classes are established
April - Classes start again, Jazz Band spring Thrift Shop performance
May - Parade of Bands, Middle School Band performance (the judge said we had the best performance of all the bands their), other end of year performances
June - A senior died the week of graduation, Graduation, Return to the states
So yeah, busy, lots of stuff going on, lots of little stuff not mentioned of course. This summer was a whirlwind. It started off with the wedding of Zach and Mallory Troyer! Lots of fun, an interesting way to get re-acclimated to America. This was followed by the passing of my Uncle Clarence which meant a trip to Florida. It was a great time to be with family and a great to be able to see my niece who I wasn't expecting to see. We laughed, cried, loved on each other. Lots of stress but also lots of happy memories. After that I spent a week in Virginia which was great. It's always nice to be home. I had wondered if VA Beach would still feel like home and it does. I can't explain it, it just is. Every time I touch down in Virginia I'm filled with a sense of comfort and just feeling that it is home. After my stay in VA, which featured yours truly in a momentary highlight on a local morning show (as part of the in studio audience), I spent a couple of days in AZ. It was good to be able to spend some time with my mother and sister (dad was still taking care of stuff in Florida). After two days in Phx we drove out to Pasadena. Here i got to meet my new nephew, Oskar Winston Clemons. A little cutie who isn't really do much right now since at the moment he's still only 3 and 1/2 months old. Kuba is getting big and has spread his love of sports to soccer and hockey and anything else that is considered a sport. Click here for his first basketball game. (He's the curly head kid who the video focuses on in the beginning.) Kaya is doing her thing staying cute and partying them up. She made another appearance on stage for a play in which she played a character who was married. (I didn't get a chance to see the video :(, if anyone has a way for me to watch it please share the love.) And that ended my time in the States.
Alright, I'm tired of writing and am boring myself so I'll update later with more posts, pictures, and videos.
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