Musical Life

Another lovely day in Bozeman.  The weather was cool and the sun was shining.

I woke up early enough to get ready, have breakfast, and play some piano.   Then, it was off to Adib's project presentation for his masters degree.  It was about a simulator of Finite State Automaton (FSA).  I am not familiar with FSA, but I understand state machines enough to follow along.  I really liked his presentation and think he did a good job at answering questions too.  The next part was an oral exam, which he was very nerveous for.  But, he did it!  He passed and got his masters.  Congratulations Adib!

Adib and I celebrating his masters degree

I spent the rest of the morning in my office trying to get CPLEX.  At some point, I had to restart, and all the computer did was sound like a jet engine starting up - the fan would just spin at its highest speed.  I went down to Scott, who tried a few things and finally moved the hard drive over to another machine.  I had some issues getting the right version of Java to work with my browser so I could download CPLEX, and did not get a chance to finish before 3 pm.

That's when I left for my music lessons.  I arrived a little early, just to catch my breath.  The first lessons are always just getting to know one-another.  The piano teacher, Bob, was very nice.  He asked me to play a little bit, then talked me through what I played - the theory behind it all.  Since I have been self-taught for years, there was not much I didn't already know.  But it's only the beginner stuff I know.  He then assigned that I do some things with the G-major scale, like practice the triads.  He also asked me to try and improvise and come back with something. I felt it was slow, but I trust that he is taking me in the right direction.  For some reason, when I entered the Voice teacher's room, I got very nervous.  We talked for quite a bit, and he told me what he would be focusing on as my voice "coach".  I could hardly sing with all my nervousness ... Both of the teachers were very nice, and by the end, I felt more comfortable.

After this, I met a local Baha'i name Josie, and we just talked about local activities and what I can join in.  It was a simple but informative conversation.  I am glad that I am meeting Baha'is and working to get involved.  My goal is try join whatever I can, and maybe start a devotional on Sundays ... we'll see.

Once I reached back to school, the EPS building was locked.  Luckily, a woman was coming out and she opened the door for me.  I was then able to finish what I had started - installing CPLEX (the optimizer we will be using for the networking problem).  Then back to the dorms for some snaking and piano practice.

Don't forget - INSANITY!  Less intense today, but still pretty hard core. A lot of pain during, but no after effects.  A good rest.