The show must go on!

Me sick...agghhhh!

Hey!

 

OK! So I've been super super busy and I know I have not been blogging. Sorry. 

 

Well things have kind of slowed down a little bit for me! Wooooo! I have been from Chicago,IL to Bermuda doing what I love most... performing! 

 

Starting this year (January 2011), I've played a lot in Chicago. So that's pretty normal for me. Then at the beginning of February I got REALLY sick. I'll name a couple of the things that I had: strep throat, flu, allergic reactions to medications, not being able to eat, breaking fevers every night, and some other stuff. I just knew I felt really bad. 

 

Okemo: Mira, Josiah, Me, Hansuh

So of course this is a couple of days right before I have a competition with my group, Okemo String Quartet, and I'm getting worse. I didn't want to let them down because we worked really hard for this. So I pulled every drop of energy for the actual competition performance. So we play.

 

When I got back home I flopped right on my bed and went to sleep. Right when I got in the bed my Baba calls me and he said that we WON! I was really excited but I couldn't really show it. If I moved around too much I would get dizzy. I was screaming with my soundless voice. 

 

I ran (or walked) across the hall to my cousin Mira's house (she's the violist in the group) and told her we won, and she started screaming. It was exciting! My Mom and my Aunt and Mira were calling everybody, including the other members of the group. Oh, I forgot to mention that this was the first competition we won. I was getting dizzy so I went to bed while they were still screaming and calling people at around 4:00pm and didn't wake-up the next day. I was even worst!

 

I was hoping that I would get better because I had a solo national competition in 2 days in Ann Arbor and Detroit. Mom asked me if I still wanted to go. It didn't even cross my mind that I wasn't going! I was getting worse and worse, but I still wanted to go. 

 

So the next day we went to the emergency room to get some meds that would work instantly so I could play. They took forever. They gave me penicillin. I didn't know I was extremely allergic to penicillin. It was really bad. But I still wanted to go, so we piled in the car right when the 17 inches of snow hit Chicago, and escaped to Ann Arbor and Detroit to compete in the Sphinx Competition for African-American and Latino musicians.

 

Oh, also my lymph nodes were swollen because of the penicillin so it really hurt to play my violin. I went to the emergency room again right after I played. I don't really know what happened on that visit. I was so out of it. When I got back to the place where I competed my name was not called as one of the finalists. But my friend Allie got in so that was good. She ended up winning! Woo! GO ALLIE!

 

That was an interesting experience. It was my first time being in the emergency room twice in two days. And having an allergic reaction. And having strep throat. It was a lot of firsts.

 

When I got back to Chicago I was feeling better. There was a lot of snow though! I love snow! 

 

SugarStrings: Mira, Me,
Ayanna

A couple weeks later I had a performance in Orlando, Florida! That was AMAZING!!! This performance was with my other group, SugarStrings. Mira is also in that group. We're first cousins, and we always play together. I love that. It was a HUGE difference in Orlando than Chicago. It was warm and sunny in Orlando, and cold and snowy in Chicago. I love both types of weather.

 

Those were the only two performances out of the state. Meanwhile, I had two application deadlines for national competitions, multiple performances with SugarStrings, my own performances and competitions, lessons, practicing with both groups and on my own, and somehow fitting school work into that somewhere. I was pretty busy. So was my Mom! She's doing all of this stuff with me and more! Driving me to and fro for hours. 

 

 THANKS, MOM!

 

In March I got a little break. Woo! I probably had something but I don't remember. In April I remember I had something every weekend. But not everyday like February:

• 1st weekend: Performance in DeLand, FL with SugarStrings. 
• 2nd weekend: Solo performance with the Waukegan Symphony Orchestra. 
• 3rd weekend: Competition with Okemo in St. Paul, MN. 
• 4th weekend: Seating auditions for Academy Orchestra. 
• 5th weekend: Performances, master classes, and teaching in Bermuda!

 

In May I had a competition with Okemo at Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. It's called Fischoff Chamber Music Association or something. We were the youngest to get in and to advance to the semi- finals. It was fun. The last thing was my last orchestra performance of the year.

 

Well now that you have the past few months worth of stuff, I'll give you the update about what's coming up next...later. LOL! 

 

OH! And remind me to blog about some catastrophes before or even during performances.

 

I would love to read your comments! 

 

Blog ya!

 

 

Adé