Essay help?

<p>I've had a draft of an essay lying around for about a month now, and I haven't come up with anything better. It basically describes the thoughts in my head during a band performance. As a result, it consists of my thoughts interspersed among events occurring in "real-time".
However, I'm having trouble figuring out a good way to emphasize my thoughts vs the physical events. I'm currently using italics to describe what is happening in real-time. Could anyone give me some advice on a good way to pull off such an essay? I want to avoid putting "I thought" or "I pondered" after every other sentence.
Thanks in advance!</p>