Pain in the Neck

This month is hectic for everyone. From now until the end of the semester is probably the most stressful time in a college student's life. Final exams, signing up for next semester's classes, finding out you can't graduate because you don't have enough credits, and schoolwork in general stacked on top of the coming holidays are enough to make anybody go insane.

All of my friends plus myself have been experiencing this hectic mess lately.

And in case I haven't mentioned on here, I play snare drum in the school marching band. Outside of band, however, I participate in an activity known as Drum Corps International (DCI for short). I'm auditioning for a drum corps this fall, and I've had to learn about 30 exercises /excerpts of snare music. Needless to say, I'm sick of the Center for the Arts here at Towson.

Balancing all of this can be extremely difficult at times. Work piles up for class, assignments are rolling at The Towerlight, and drumming nightly leaves room for very little sleep.

I know I do all of these things because I like them and I know that I want to do them, but is there a point where there is too much going on? If so, how do you handle that?

These are just some of the things I like to think about throughout the course of my day.

I'm probably not nearly as busy as the young woman in the above picture, though. Shelly Guy is a contortionist who has performed at the Atlantis in the Bahamas and who is heading to Hong Kong over winter break to perform 3 times a day. Talk about stress, huh?

It was interesting to work with her. As a performer, I know that people who attract a lot of attention can have a proverbial "big head" sometimes, but Mrs. Guy was very professional and relaxed about her craft and working with me to get the shots that I wanted.

The semester is almost over, though, as all good things come to end eventually. Wish me luck with my auditions!

Oh yeah, here's some of my recent stuff from this week's issues of The Towerlight.