27 december 2025
It's 10:36 pm on December 26, 2025. I'd like to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone who's been reading this. I'm writing this for the fourth time since my tildetown connection kept timing out, but I realized I could type this in an external editor and import it via sftp.
Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the first layer for the Stamps scholarship. My guess is that I was admitted into Honors College just hours too late, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was something else as I haven't been involved in the most impressive extracurriculars. It's okay. I took the ACT again around the 13th or so and while I definitely don't want to jinx it, I think I'm definitely in the running for a 36; I was way more certain on the answers here than I was on the last test. I could see how I might wind up with a 35, but I think the improvement from last test is enough to shoot me up to a 36. I assume it'll still be a couple weeks until I get my score, but I have hope (and rationale).
And about that competition piece I was writing? Well, I finished the damn thing, it was only ninety seconds long and horribly unidiomatic, I submitted it just barely in time, and while I didn't win, I did get an Honorable Mention... Personally, I think it's fitting. I'm one of few high-school-age composers who write in modernist styles, and this was just an unrefined experiment that I procrastinated on. I'm just grateful it gives me an excuse to see the composition faculty in person again. Really I don't know what my life would look like without them.
I came down with some sort of illness maybe several days ago, through Christmas. My nostrils were sealed and even when I was breathing through my mouth, my throat would convulse and cough up mucus. I'm still sort of screwed up by it even now as I write this, but I've shoved a bunch of pills down my throat and that seemed to make a difference.
I have a piece to finish for a different competition, but this time any instrumentation is allowed, so I've been preparing a piece I started working on maybe 6-8 months ago. Pretty darn proud of it.
That's all.