I was ranting and raving one night because I broke my bari - again, and Mr. M wasn't happy about it. Flames will be used to burn the stupid keith music, and possibly school.

hehe… keith… burn!!!!

I play the saxophone.

Not just any saxophone, but the largest that Roosevelt Junior High School could lend me.

The school-board bought a brand new Jupiter Baritone Saxophone, and loaned it to my school for the three years I went there.

Special? Me? Nah… Just lucky.

Lucky and stupid.

Hey, I've only been playing the saxophone for six years. How was I supposed to know that every time you set it down, the whole flibbin structure slightly bent to one side and bent the bars to make it almost impossible to play? Nobody told me this until after it happened.

Okay, call me stupid. I was careless. I slid the case across the tiled floors as if it had wheels (it didn't). I dropped the case on the floor because it was heavy and cutting into the flesh of my fingers. I thought the saxophone was secure within the padding that encased it (it wasn't). I sat on the case occasionally when I grew tired. BUT THAT ONE WASN'T ONLY ME! Morning crew (the people that watched over the instrument - storage room) sat on it, slept on it, ate on it, stood on it, and threw it about the room as if it were a giant flue.

But no, I'm the one who gets punished, I'm the one who gets yelled at, I'm the one who gets humiliated in the middle of Band practice, and I'm the one who runs to the girls lav sobbing because I've been humiliated, put down, and I was p-oed about my sax.

"Damnit, Emily," Mr. M yelled, "why don't you take better care of your, no, other people's stuff? I have had the same instrument for thirty years, and it hasn't been in the shop once!" blah, blah, blah, me, me, I, me, thus your should… because I did this and that.

Well, goodie for you, Mr. M.

He wants me to be perfect. The PERFECT saxophonist. I want to be perfect too, but guess what?

I'M NOT!!!

Hell, I don't even practice, and I don't have a private teacher. I just show up, whip out my sax, and beautiful sound come throbbing through the air. If I do something wrong, I fix it, and it's never wrong again.

What can I say? It's God-given.

But still… I wish God had been a little more forgiving when it came to my saxophone. I mean, the whole structure was leaning to the Right!

Oh well… Maybe it's just God's way of saying "Practice, and I will spare it!"

Thank God for Galleis' Instrument Repair Shop!

True story unfortunately... Help would be accepted and is much needed. Review pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese?????? Or just email me at frodos underscore mistressat yahoo dotcom. yay for phonetics!