Settling in

Sorry to be outta touch. Things have been so busy that writing a blog entry has been close to the bottom of my priorities list. Well, it still is, but who cares?

And believe me, getting my priorities straight has not been an easy task. In the midst of all the work on the apartment Holly and I have been doing, I still have things to get ready at the college, as well as things like changing our addresses and paying bills, as well as shopping for things to go into the apartment. Pretty stressful stuff.

So Holly, Luke & I pulled into Shorewood last Thursday the 2nd, and my parents arrived later that morning with the moving truck. We got our first real-life look at our new place, and overall we're pretty happy with everything. The landlord seems like a pretty good guy, and so far we like him. We have good reason to be skeptical, though, so we'll keep an eye on him.

Before my parents showed up with the moving truck, so new friends of ours arrived that we hadn't even met before. A relative of Holly's back in Seattle attends a Salvation Army church, who are known not only for their charity work but also their British-style brass bands used for worship music. Holly and I have both been quite intrigued by this, and have wanted to participate for a while. So, Holly talked it over with this relative, who made some calls to the Milwaukee area before we arrived. We were then called by the Captain (or pastor) of a Salvation Army church in Oak Creek, WI (That's right, Oak Creek) who offered to help us move in. Great! So, right before my parents showed up with the truck, these four big, strong guys come to our door saying they're here to help. Nicest dudes ever, too. So, we had 4 extra people helping with the unloading, which was amazing, and it only took us about an hour and a half to get everything unloaded. Totally amazing. We bought them pizza (well, my parents did) and they were on their way. We attended their church last Sunday (that's right, on Sunday) and it was a nice service. They treated us quite well. Fun to play music in, too. So, I think we'll be going there for a while.

Yeah, we were at that church when that mass shooting at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, WI happened. The Salvation Army church is less than a mile from the Sikh Temple. Pretty crazy, huh?

My parents hung around for another day. They helped us move a few things around, and we bought them dinner at Applebee's. We also checked out Lake Michigan, which is less than a mile from our house, and it's absolutely amazing. There's this beach near our house called Atwater beach where you can go swimming. Yay, free swimming! Plus the water's warm, un-salted and un-chlorinated. It's really great. And this beach is a sandy beach, too. Anyways, I took my parents to the airport in August 3rd, and they headed home. I drove them down to Chicago because the airfare was cheaper outta there compared to outta Milwaukee. The crappy thing is that Illinois freeways have tons of these stupid toll booths everywhere. It's pretty lame.

For the last week, Holly and I have been unpacking and cleaning up the house. I swear the previous tennants didn't clean the floor. Unpacking has been slow, mainly because only one of us is able to work most of the time. The other has to tend to Luke. But we've made some good progress, and are close to completion. Once we finish, I plan on doing a video tour to show everyone.

So that's that. I really need to start getting prepare for school. There's paperwork to fill out, entrance exams to study for, logistics to take care of, and audition material to prepare. Not to mention my work the concerto I'm playing in October.

Take care and value music.