UMEA, and stuff

Thank god I found something to blog about!




So this weekend was the Utah Music Education Association Annual Development Conference (or just UMEA for short).  For all of my non-musician readers, it's a conference for teachers current and future to get together, hang out, network and learn more about our ever-changing craft.

It's usually in St. George and it last for two days.  At said conference you can attend lectures, try out new instruments, look at music, meet people and just have a generally good time.  The conference generally features musical ensembles from around the state who make the drive to perform for all of these teachers.

I've gone every year for five straight and as always, it was amazing.  This year in particular stood out for many reasons:

1.  We had a condo!

My wonderful friend Heidi Hill was able to use her parent's condo which featured a flatscreen, balcony with barbecue, pool and hot tub.  Pretty sweet right?!  And we got to stay there for the low price of nothing.

2.  The weather was nice for once in 5 years!

When you hear about St. George you immediately think nice, sunny weather.  That has not been the case the last 4 trips, but this year was extremely nice.  In fact, I seriously considered not going to the conference and taking an actual vacation.  But alas, I kinda care about my career so I decided it was important to go and learn and network.

3.  The Julliard guest lecturer was not an asshole!

I should preface this by saying that most of the lecturers that come from Julliard all say the same things.  Hearing the same thing over and over gets tiring, and I should also mention this by saying that this guy was no different.

However, he was not a total asshole in saying these same comments.  He was very down to earth, cool and genuinely nice and NOT condescending.  It was nice to hear the same things with a different presentation, I actually thought about listening this time around haha.

4.  More beautiful women than I could possibly look at

This year was particularly pleasing because their was a plethora of gorgeous women.  In fact, there were no less than TEN extremely gorgeous women that I was attracted to at the conference.

And now the lame part, I didn't talk to a single one of them, nor did I get any numbers.  Damn.  Additionally, most of these women went to BYU which means that they are probably more into the idea of an RM or Premie (sp?) so not a total loss.  But it still would have been nice to walk away with a number in hand.  There is always next year I suppose.

5.  I actually learned a lot this time!

My past trips I've always learned something, but I feel like I got the most out of this conference.  I think the reason for this is because I'm really close to student teaching so I now have a more mature and focused approach to education.  It was nice to meet the teachers I may do my student teaching with.

Conclusion:

This trip was a success.  It was a lot of fun and I got to see many old friends.  I'm definitely glad I went because it was totally worth it.

Moral of the story:

Beautiful women go to BYU.  Definitely made the wrong choice in regards to schools..  At least for dating.  I definitely think I made the right decision with the U in regards to teaching, but it would be great if I could get a school with both :D

Happy Monday!