It is finished.

And the sky turned black as the night.

I think that's from an old Petra song... I'm not exactly sure. You know, 80s Christian rock?

Well, actually, my undergraduate education is finished, and that's far better than any 80s Christian rock song you could ever think of. I handed in my last paper yesterday. You have no idea how annoying it is to walk across that stage on commencement day, get your case for your diploma that they will send you in the mail -- if, after checking on your grades, you have actually met all your requirements. I still had a paper outstanding for a 2-credit elective course. However, this elective course was one I needed to fulfill my graduation requirements, so I didn't have that oh-so-desirable sense of finality as I sat listening to Rick Warren go on forever and ever about things that will last forever, like his sermon did.

By the way, I didn't want a sermon for graduation. Oh well. I probably would rather have listened to Hillary Clinton for those 20 to 30 minutes in her strained, monotonous, half-yelling sort of oration. While we're on the topic of graduation speakers, I will only say this of the Baccalaureate address: talk to me if you want to hear my opinion.

So I found out for sure that I'm playing the Brahms clarinet quintet (clarinet + string quartet), Op. 115, at the Scotia Festival. If you have not listened to this piece, you need to do so. I'm also going to bring a bunch of other chamber music for clarinet, strings and piano as well, because we can probably work on more than just that one piece. I'm very excited for this opportunity - not only because we get to be coached by world-class musicians, but also because I'll be playing with other young people who are serious about their craft. In addition, while the wind program at Baylor is very strong, doing a festival like this one with a large string component will be good, since the strings at Baylor (from what I understand) aren't quite as strong as the winds, and there's not a ton of collaboration between strings and winds for chamber music.