The boys are off to Diamond Bar today to try out for a fancy Southern California orchestra, the concert of which will be held in early February.  I think.  They are sixth graders, and are unlikely to earn a position in this orchestra, but they know that going in and it doesn’t worry them.  Mostly eighth and ninth graders are trying out, and the music is quite challenging.  In fact, going down the list of participants, they are among very few sixth graders.  They are doing it to get the practice of trying out so that they will be comfortable with it in the future.  By the way, THEY decided to do this.  Neither my lovely wife nor I had anything to do with it.  I would have happily said, Ah, wait’ll next year.  Nevertheless, they have both worked hard on their music, and that alone, becoming familiar with and improving on challenging music, has made them better musicians.  Even if they were to be seated, though, perhaps hidden somewhere in the orchestra, I think they would have to decline, as we have promised to help Little League tryouts in late January.  I did not realize there was a conflict until recently, so if you’re one of the testers, it’s my fault, I take the hit. 

And perhaps you are wondering why I am not driving them to Diamond Bar.  I got a pass.  But that also means I need to get the Christmas decorations up and the boxes out of the living room.  So it’s not the pass you might think.  Oh yeah, and the stupid careless Bears are playing, so it’s definitely not the pass you might think.  Because I’ll probably need to watch them.  Stupid careless Bears.