Anxious Anticipation

i have to admit that i'm starting to get just a tid bit nervous about my upcoming concert. not in a bad way, like i'm not ready, just the typical kind of scared feeling where my stomache jumps every time i think, "oh! my concert's on thursday!" even though i can play it i still keep getting freaked out and thinking i'll suddenly forget part of it in the middle of the concert. i would rather die... but i'm sure nothing like that will happen. sorta sure.

practiced a bunch today. had a good violin lesson. she was understanding that i hadn't done as much diligent practice this last week since i've been preparing for the upcoming concert. and she said she'll be somewhat understanding next week too. but after that... no mercy!!! but i played fairly well none-the-less.

i didn't have that interview. i think i mentioned it last post. the tv department wanted to interview me about my concert. (notice how everything in my life seems to be revolving around that one even? what am i going to do when it's over?!?) but they never called me back with a time or place of meeting or list of questions i should be prepared for. so whatever. if they want an interview bad enough they'll just have get their bootie in gear. it's not like i'm going to go hunting down a reporter in the tv deparment and beg to have an interview done whenever they feel like they want to do it...

i think ben forgot about our bible study tonight. hmmm. i got my stuff ready and laid down on my bed for a few minutes to wait for him to call and say he was in the parking lot. i woke up at about 9:30 (two hours later) to my room mate coming in. so apparently he didn't come. and if he sat out in the parking lot and waited for me, and didn't call, and then left, i'm going to bop him up side the head. er... just kidding. i'm sure he didn't do that. hopefully we can get together next week.

tomorrow i'm going to try and get a bike ride in with micah. got some new tires for rode riding. go put them on at his house and go on a big ride to somewhere. mabye around the loop or something. looking foward to it!

best put my energy from that power nap to work and get a little studying done before bed.

segue \SEG-way; SAYG-way\, verb:To proceed without interruption; to make a smooth transition.

and i confess that i have now been getting these words off of dictionary.com. but that's not really cheating or anything like that, is it?? sure is more convenient than randomly looking through the dictionary. i've been trying to occasionally put some words that you could actually use in everday language.

hmmm. i've been losing my consistency in blogging everyday. i guess i'll try to briefly sum up the weekend. the sonatina festival went well. did my duty and sat there checking people in and giving them critique sheets. and hunting them down when they didn't come at their playing time. and kicking pesky high-schoolers out of reserved practice rooms. speaking of these high school people (that i think i mentioned on friday), they apparently decided to drive around campus in the wee hours of saturday morning shooting out car windows. about 20 cars were vandalized including michelle's boy friend's car. stiiiiiinkeeeee. all up and down the street are piles of glass on in parking spaces.

got to see the play harvey. i liked it. i've seen a movie of it, and it had all the stuff i remembered from that, so i guess they did a reasonably good job of following the story. unless the movie didn't and they just happened to do the same thing. whatever. the acting was pretty good. not excellent, but good. the biggest applause, cheering, and whistling were reserved for the scene changes. when all the furniture was set up, and the windows and roof and other things were lowered by cable and lit, the crowd just went wild.

yesterday i went home after church and enjoyed an afternoon at home. the dodson's came over and we had a delicious lunch. thanks goodness i got to eat that and not cafeteria food. then we played ping pong for most of the afternoon. at church in the evening, brother dodson preached. he acted like he was pretty sure it was his last sermon. or at least he talked about how old he's getting and said, "if this was the last sermon i ever preached this is what i would want to talk about." whew. kinda made me uncomfortable. not the sermon. i mean, mabye some of it...it was a very good one. he always talks about how old he's getting but he really acted like he thought his time is coming. and i was trying to even imagine him being gone. i hope he sticks around a little longer. :-P

after dinner i did macgamut. then karen and i went over and met kevin (michelle's boy friend [hopefully they don't mind me mentioning them in my blog]) and all four of us played catch phrase for a while. ever didn't make it because he took, like, two hours to do macgamut.

but i'm off for a bite of lunch. i wonder if i've ever written a post at this time of day.

ineluctable \in-i-LUCK-tuh-bul\, adjective:Impossible to avoid or evade; inevitable.

enjoyed not having my 8:00 this morning. then did some physics. went to the music building and set up the pianos in cole concert hall and practiced for a little bit. went to physics lab. after that i grabbed a really quick lunch and ran back to the music building to play my concerto for class. that went quite well. then i taught bethany and courtney piano lessons. i'm excited that they are both showing an interest in music. especially piano. courtney has been practicing, and is coming along quite nicely. today was bethany's first lesson with me. i think she's going to do great if she decides she likes it and wants to keep it up. mom's been paying me for courtney's lessons by paying my liability insurance for me. now i have a little idea for how she could pay me for bethany's lessons... hmmm. just got the idea today. we'll see if it works out.

played some video games with ever this evening. after dinner we went to grandma and grandpa's house. i have to say that i was bored out of my mind. so i won't go into any of the details, or lack thereof.

sonatina contest going on today and tomorrow. and lots of band stuff. tons and tons of ridiculous high schoolers swarming over the surface of the earth...er...across campus. no offense to any of you high schoolers who may be reading this. i know you're all much more mature than the typical 9 - 12 grader. aaaanyway they're a nuisance and i did my best to ignore them. especially the ones trying to attract attention to themselves. so tomorrow i have to be a monitor for the sonatina festival for a portion of the afternoon. it's not so bad though. i know quite a few of the kids, as a lot of them take from my former teacher mrs parr (wife of my current teacher).

everyones gone this weekend. now i wish i had gone home. but i do have that thing tomorrow. oh well. to bed at last.

agon \AH-gahn; ah-GOHN\,plural agones \uh-GOH-neez\ noun:A struggle or contest; conflict; especially between the protagonist and antagonist in a literary work.

awesome day.

good orchestra practice. woohoo.

great capoeira class. next time i'm taking a video clip of it for y'all.

good study time with ever.

good chicken.

got a trench coat.

i'm tired.

good night.

eschew \es-CHOO\, transitive verb:to shun; to avoid (as something wrong or distasteful).

since i didn't write yesterday, i thought i would start out by saying that the test yesterday morning went well. i'll find out in the morning exactly how i did on it... orchestra practice didn't go so well. i felt really frustrated with it. today when i had my piano lesson, we worked on it a bunch and it sounded terrific. like, really amazing and professional and everything. so i felt encouraged. if only i can do that well tomorrow when we practice.

aural skills i think is beginning to be a little boring. today he talked for a little while and then we basically did only one melodic dictation. it was relatively long at 8 measures all at once. (not that huge until you try to write it all out while he plays). so we got to have 5 hearings and it only took me two to get it written. and he would talk a little between hearings about stuff. then the third one i looked over mine to make sure it was right. by the fourth i didn't even pay attention. then on the fifth, after finishing listening to it, i covered the one i already wrote and re-wrote it out by memory without looking at my previous work or hearing it again. just wondering what in the world i'm sitting there for. bleh.

did other school and practice stuff, but that's even more boring to blog about.

played a bit of ping pong today. i was out of my groove. :-( still can't wait for that tournament next week. they changed it from next monday to next tues. please come and watch, or play if you're so inclined. $2 entry fee to play, winner gets a $10 gift card to wal mart, a new ping pong paddle and balls, and i think even a trophy. but the main thing is simply the everlasting untarnishable title of wilson hall table tennis champ. and of course there will be free ice cream in the lobby for anyone that feels like coming, regardless of whether they play. fun times.

must sleep now.

mellifluous \muh-LIF-loo-us\, adjective:Flowing as with honey; flowing sweetly or smoothly; as, a mellifluous voice.

a "Title" escapes me at the moment

good day today. had my eight o'clock class. dr dean is doing a new thingy where we work only on rythemic dictation and reading on fridays for those whom he felt needed the extra review. i'm off the hook for my 8:00 friday for the next two weeks! YESSSSSS... but on a lower note, i have a theory test tomorrow at 8. *sigh.* oh well, it won't really be that bad. in fact, in an attempt to look at the bright side, i can't wait for that test!

washed loads of laundry today. ahem.

had a good violin lesson. dr dalmus gave me six etudes to work on for next week. fun times. this is really fun getting back into the whole strings thing. it definitely offers plenty of challenges.

played some yahoo pool and ping pong. (ping pong not on yahoo). my pool rank is up to about 1550! which is really good, in case you didn't know. ;-) in the ping pong department we're all getting geared up for a tournament, which i believe, is going to be next week. next monday. so all you big time table tennis players come to wilson hall #13 @ 9:00 pm for the most awesome sporting event of the year. or anyone who doesn't play can just come as a cheer leader. everyone needs one of those. or 10. gotta heckle the opponent, throw paper cups at them and stuff.

ben and i had our first bible study of the semester. it was really good. i'm so happy to be doing it again. it's such an encouragement to talk with a close friend(s) about your faith and struggles, and help each other look at the scripture with more insight. any guys reading this who are near enough and interested give me a ring or email. (email on profile). we need more "members!" two people is nice, but sometimes it's hard to have an indepth discussion without very many viewpoints. we're limited in any case.

i do believe i'm going to go to bed early tonight. unless you ask mrs jones, in which case i'm going to bed late... but that's all relative.

faineant \fay-nay-AWN\, adjective:Doing nothing or given to doing nothing; idle; lazy.
noun:A do-nothing; an idle fellow; a sluggard.

er... yea. i know nothing about that.

Snack Attack

got to go to wally world today! hurray! stocked up big time on eatable necessities. pringles for only a dollar! wowzer!!!!! the best thing of all was a chocolate orange. wow. "oh, my chocolate orange, my only chocolate orange..." some of you will get that. lots probably won't. but oh well.

went to church this morning. that was actually first, but i couldn't decide what to title my blog, so when i came up with snack attack i had to talk about that first. pretty clever, huh? ever and michelle actually came today. good service. i think ever managed to stay awake. ;-) just teasing ever!

played ping pong and all sorts of good stuff today.

went to church again this evening.

went to arby's. 5 cheddar melts, $5. oh yeah. stop by your local arby's, today, for this limited time offer...offer valid at participating retailers, subject to availability. come now while supplies last.

played more ping pong.

i absolutely love this new microphone i got!!!! sweeeeeet!!!! i tried to put a link to a short clip of me whistling on here, but i can't figure out how to do it. :-( i'll figure it out eventually.

i best hit the hay now.

torpid: dull; sluggish; apathetic.

Weekend

maaaaaaan, i actually missed a day of blogging. i was doing so well! i guess it isn't really that big a deal. :-p friday was a usual day. stayed up latish at rayna's place with ever, david, karen, mellisa, and of course rayna. and me. yeah.

today i slept really late. then went to lunch. :-p again. then went to the music building and practiced till dinner time. yehaw! after dinner i played ping pong with dan. then mike joined us, and we actually had a little training session. in other words, me teaching them how to play. they both know the rules, and dan is a pretty decent player, but they have a lot to learn... so i was showing them how to do spins and stuff. and the correct way to serve. all that good stuff. oh my goodness!! i almost forgot about the biggest event of the day! must have been so excited about ping pong i got distracted. orchestra of the pines had a big concert tonight. it was really awesome. all four of the other concerto winners got to do their solos. two flutes, a french horn, and a singer. very nice job by everyone. there were lots of "outsiders" involved in this one. by outsiders, i simply mean people not associated with sfa. but there were guest artists and other semi-professionals, including graduate students from unt. they certainly added a nice touch to the performance. but of course my dear friends did an excellent job. i could hear each one individually. they just carried the whole orchestra along. couldn't have been done without them. brilliant masters, every one. er... anyway. then, after a scrumptious reception, we went and watched matrix revolutions. pretty awesome. it would be so cool to be able to do the moves they manage. i guess i'll jump back into capoeira with renewed energy. hiiiiiiiyahh!!!!!! since it's "latish" again, i best stumble off to bed.

hubris: overbearing pride or presumption.

Chilly

the weather is definitely getting cool again, and i am certainly missing my jacket! i think i left it at home. so um, mom?? anyway... went to class, ate breakfast, went to class, did some room clean up. it's lookin' pretty slick now. ate lunch, went to class. did some practicing. in accompanying we each have two pages of an orchestral reduction that we have to play for class on tues. it's insanely fast, and he wants us to play it up to tempo. so we have to learn how to leave stuff out, change difficult passages to fit piano technique, and all that good stuff. fun fun fun. supposed to of had a rehearsal with my singer, but he didn't show up. practiced a little while waiting for him, and then took a nap in a chair outside so he would be sure to see me if he came, and not walk off and say he didn't ever see me, therefore making it my fault. none of that, thank you very much. oh, one last wonderful thing of the day. i got to sit next to a dear pal in class with severe halitosal fumes spewing forth at every exhalation! i said my last words, held my breath and prepared to hold it till the bitter end...or something like that. haha, get it?

yes, i played ping pong today. three victorious games. in other relevant news, today i bought an 85 cent poptart package from the vending machine entirely with nickles. woot! it was exquisitely yummy.

well, i'm done with my coffee. finding nothing else i want to say right now, here's your word of the day. or my word of the day. our word of the day. does anyone like the word of the day?? not this one specifically, but the words of the day in general.

epigeal: growing above the surface of the ground: forced above ground by elongation of the hypocotyl: marked by the production of epigeal cotyledons.

Another Day

today was just one of those days that's another day. nothing of special import happened. hmmm

played a whole bunch of ping pong. won a lot, lost a little. getting better. took a bunch of pictures of us playing. maybe i'll put a pic of that on if i ever get a good action shot or something.

practiced violin and piano. had my piano lesson. went to convocation. there were some pretty impressive performances. molly got enough applause for three bows! woo-hooo! bravo molly. (though she doesn't read this).

had an aural skills test. another one coming up on friday.

and of course i had that exciting wereworlf moment, which you've already seen.

i'll give you more to read tomorrow. time for bed now.

Rostellum: a small process resembling a beak: a diminutive rostrum: the apex of the gynoecium of an orchid flower: the sucking beack of an insect (as a louse or aphid): an anterior prolongation of the head of a tapeworm bearing hooks.

Werewolf

this is me having one of those werewolf moments.

Updated Comment Settings

for you non-blogger people, i have changed my settings to where you don't have to be a registered blogger to comment on my posts. you might write your name in so i know who it's from. but you don't have to sign up for an account. no more excuses for not commenting!

Poptarts

vending machines are just the wonderfullest things. right now i'm eating strawberry frosted poptarts and fresh coffee. yummo.

last night someone gave me an unexpected valentine gift. i have no idea who it was. but i found it in the hall when i went downstairs last night. it was a delightful little piece of banana strategically placed in the middle of the floor. let me tell you, when my heel landed in the middle of it my foot shot straight forward and up in the air. my other leg went straight back. in the process of doing the splits with sandals on, i twisted one toe nail back till it bled. and no, i was not alone while performing these antics. there was someone walking three feet behind me on his way to do laundry. i was quite pained and sheepish. happy valentines day to you too (whoever left that present)!!!

had a good day of practice today. the concerto is coming along much stronger now. i rehearsed with the orchestra again, and things went much better, much smoother than last time. on their part as well as mine.

saw a long time family friend who's family i hardly seem to see anymore. she was at the music building for some of her kids to have music lessons. she paid me the fine compliment of saying i look like a werewolf. is it true? do i? i'm sure i must have desturbed a lot of people by now if i actually look that fearsome, which i doubt. but um...we had a nice chat.

had an awesome ping pong day. only played two games but they were totally the best. one guy was beating everyone else. when it was my turn, i beat him 21-7. then there was another guy waiting in line, who hadn't played yet. he was scoffing at stevo for losing so badly and raring to get his two cents in. he got to proudly walk away boasting to stevo that he got eight points.

well, i now have a xanga account and a live journal account. i'm wondering if i should post the same thing on them, or something completely different, or nothing, or what. i can't do regular posting on all of them. too much time. we shall see.

learned how to play 3 new instruments today. for capoeira class. i don't even remember what two of them are called. one of them is...ahem...the tambourine. yeah. the other one is a big time fat piece of bamboo with grooves in it that you rub a stick across. absolutely dreadful. the other one consists of a 5 ft stick that has been painted, with a wire taken from a car tire attached to it like it's a bow. and it has a gord tied to it that functions as a sound box. you strike the string with a stick at the same time as holding a rattling shaker thingy. and you hold the gord against you to make a muffled sound, or hold it away to make a louder sound. you press a large "coin" against the string to make a different pitch. or to make a vibrating metallic sound. it's all wonderful...in a monotonous, droning, annoying, insane way. oh how i love capoeira!!!!

*sigh* i can't wait till the weekend. :-p

triphthong: a speech item consisting of three successive sounds that serves or is capable of serving as a monosyllable: trigraph

Here's a good valentine photo i took at home 

Theory

theoretically i'm supposed to turn in a theory assignment tomorrow. i'm really having trouble getting focused. so some how, writing this post is going to help. yep. it'll probably all come to me in a flash some time tonight.

*2 hour intermission*

now where in the world was i?? oh yeah. theory. but just now i had to go assist in some transportation stuff. papa planned this wonderful valentine date for he and mom. so i needed to give evan a ride home. on the way we had a nice time. went to sonic. then went home and had ice cream. now i'm back here! still not doing theory. but that will come soon enough. the coffee is on and i'm getting ready.

i had a really good violin lesson today. i had the music that dr dalmus assigned me learned and all my scales and everything! i've improved enough that she said we will probably start vibrato in two or three weeks. that's the first she's mentioned it since the beginning of the semester. definitely showing some improvement! fun times, fun times.

there simply isn't anything else super interesting to say. guess i better get to work.

hegari: any of several Sudanese grain sorghums having chalky white seeds including one grown in the southwestern U.S.

Happy Valentines

boo. okay, not about valentines. i just washed and dried a bag chocolates in one of my pants pockets. RAWRRR!!!
:.....-[ (long face and tons of tears)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVAN!!!

School Once Again

the weekend was great, but i suppose i do still have to go to class again tomorrow. better make this brief so i can go to bed.

excellent messages at church both this morning and this evening. the study of david that steve has been doing sunday evenings is very encouraging. as a side note, james drove his motor cycle to church this evening, and when we came out it was raining cats and dogs and smiting the earth with hail. he chickened out and he and trinity got a ride home. :-)

finished off evan's bday celebrations by eating a pie (ok, 2 pies. thanks mom). evan got a buncy of weights and stuff. so i guess he's going to be getting pretty buff soon. did that sound too random, going from pies to weights? no, actually they go hand in hand.

played ping pong this afternoon after lunch

after church this evening i went to the crosspoint meal. pretty tastey lasagna.

then i played a bunch more ping pong in the lobby. wow, you know what? it just occured to me that i had a whole bunch of dessert today. i had two pieces of pie this afternoon. then at crosspoint i ate a bowl of some kind of cookie and whip cream stuff. then after putting up chairs i got another bowl "for the road." then when i got to the lobby, they were having ice cream. so i got a humongous serving of that. my goodness. evan, could i borrow those weights of yours?? i'm going to need 'em. actually, never mind. i'm immune to weight gain.

passementerie: a fancy edging or trimming made of braid, cord, gimp beading, or metallic thread. just like on my favorite pair of jeans...

Paintball

yep, that's about all we did today. evan's birthday party was terrific (even though technically it isn't the real thing till tomorrow). i guess i should back up a little bit... last night evan and all but one of the other guys did sleep out in the woods in some kind of a bunker which typically serves as a paintball hideout. apparently it also becomes a shelter in these times of need when young men setting out on their own are seeking a roof over their heads. one of the boys, who was sick recently decided not to since he didn't want to get sick all over again from freezing. he slept on evan's bed in my room (i guess i can still call it "my" room). this morning evan's alarm started screaming it's head off like it's monday morning and time to go throw the papers or something. so jesse (the one who decided to stay indoors) had to turn it off. but i guess it was an unfamiliar machine, because it took him a while to silence it. unfortuneately i think he must have hit snooze, because a while later it screamed it's bloody head off again!!! he finally just turned the volume all the way down. then he went to sleep again. i, on the other hand, was feeling wide awake. so i crept downstairs in the semi-dawn glow (thinking, "do real living people set their alarms for this time, with even a pretense of actually getting up??") so i slunk quietly over to the freezer and helped myself to some ice cream, which there always seems to be an abundance of at parties, especially at the yerkes'. then i went back to sleep.

when i was finally forced to rise a good deal later, i loaded up and joined the armed forces preparing for battle. semi-automatic weapons? buckets and buckets of paint? plenty of fearsome men of war? let the games begin.

what can i say about the rest? we played free-for-all, capture the flag, assasinate the president, two teams, three teams, one on one duels (you know, back to back walk 10 steps, turn and fire?!?). we did this all morning, took a break for lunch, played a little volley ball, and then went back at it for a few more hours. i'm not sure how many thousands of paint balls we shot. oh... we did manage to get cake and all the traditional birthday stuff in there too.

at last all the partiers had to start leaving. parents came and took their warriors home. mom took some to their homes. some trudged away on foot. a military helicopter evacuated one to the hospital. then we,uh... took the trash to the dump. played some ping pong. admired evan's new knife. cleaned guns. played ping pong. ate dinner. played ping pong. had our family devotion and prayer time. played ping pong. and that brings us up to the present. we just finished our last game and i decided that i needed to blog about such a fun day. if anyone noticed that yesterday's post dissappeared for a little while, that may have been because i accidentally deleted it. fortuneately blogger saved it as a draft and i simply re-posted it.

but now to bed. i think i may end up having a few sweet spots in the morning from where i got tagged.

oculogyric: of or relating to the turning of the eyeballs in the sockets.
oculogyric crisis: a spasmodic movement of the eyeballs into a fixed position, usually upward, that persists for several minutes or hours.

...so THAT'S what was happening to me when i was up late reading that...

Home

so today i actually came home. this is evan's birthday weekedend (happy bday evan) so i came to celebrate.

buuuuuut... i did teach a piano lesson today. to courtney! yes, this was our second lesson, and we are going to try and do it for the rest of the semester. she's going to be amazing.

played my concerto for studio class this afternoon. yea...

went skating at the skatarama. if it wasn't the only place in town to skate, i would vow never to go there again. the floor is as warped as wooden paneling used as roof tiles. it needs more than a sanding, it needs to be completely replaced. but since they are the only skating location in town, they pretty much have a monopoly. maybe i can go to lufkin some time. oh, ever came with me. he could have won the "20 and older" race, but he fell down. :-(

got prepared for evan's birthday by going to cason monk and filling our co2 cartridges for paintball tomorrow. i can hardly wait. i've got two 20oz co2's, 2000 paintballs, 285 ft/sec pressure setting. bring. it. on.

watched irobot again just a minute ago. i think it was even better the second time.

apparently all the other crazy friends of my brother have built a shelter out in the woods that they are going to sleep in tonight. me?? ferget about it.

hopefully i'll be able to get papa to play a little ping pong, and we may watch another movie. so i'll end now.

oh! word of the day -

gesneriad: any of numerous, mostly tropical herbs or shrubs of the family Gesneriaceae, including African violets, the Cape primrose, and gloxinia.

Nice Day

today was a nice day. no 8:00 class. then i went to history, but the professor wasn't feeling well and class only lasted about 10 min. totally awesome. had my accompanying class. it was fine. had a run-through of my concerto with dr parr. it was fine. UGH!! if only something super amazing, or unusual, or exciting would happen. hmmm.

did some violin and piano practice. i think i had a major breakthrough in my violin playing. while trying to do a trill i think i discovered the trick to a nice wrist action vibrato. i'm so excited about it. though i still have plenty of other more basic aspects to work on. but this is good that i really have something new and fun in the violin department (not that i haven't been going through all sorts of interesting things in that department already. so what was i complaining about earlier?) *sigh* i hope someone finds this stuff slightly interesting. if i ever say anything that someone has absolutely no idea what it means, just ask. of course everyone probably has enough background in music to know what most of the stuff i talk about is (karen, you don't even need to ask about any of the terms i use). but i want some comments!!!!! which, speaking of my newly functional instrument, i need to get you guys some pictures. today i was actually able to play on my own violin (not the schools student one i was borrowing) with my own bridge and a new tail-piece strap.

had another exhausting 2 hour session of capoeira. i think i'm gradually getting the hang of walking on my hands. i told kyle i needed to work on it, and he said, "here, this is how you do it." he bent down and held onto his feet and *walked on his hands.* then i asked him to demonstrate standing on his head (which we were also working on). HA!! take that! on the topic of capoeira tricks, is there any one of you who can do a summersault without your back touching the ground??? and no, i'm not talking about doing a flip. i'm talking, slowly tuck your head holding up your weight on your hands and rotate your feet across your body and back down on the floor on the other side of you and then stand straight up again (or repeat over and over again when doing a drill).

played some sweet ping pong tonight.

refel: to prove false, refute: reject, repulse

"four and twenty black birds,
baked in a pie.
when the pie was baked,
the birds began to die!
wasn't that a dreadful dish
to make the poor king cry?!?"

ever wondered about that aspect of the birds baked in a pie?

"....ZZZZZZZZZ...."

i enjoyed sleeping in today since 8 o'clock aural skills was non-existent.

let's see, what happened today? oh! big news! i got my violin fixed. if you remember, my latest problem was that the tail piece strap broke. so i was in grave danger of losing sound post pressure. but at last, with only a few minutes of work, and $4.21 everything is back up to snuff. except for a new bow and strings. but those can wait. at least my instrument is playable now. i'm just so excited. i'll try to remember to get some pics of the finished product on here.

had violin studio. got to hear some really nice playing from from a couple of the more advanced students. as well as some not-so-nice stuff from some of the not-so-advanced students. but who am i to say anything?? just wait till it's my turn...

had my piano lesson. *sigh* i really must get in more practice time. which brings me to my next point. i am a little over half-way done with a new schedule. it details pretty much every minute of my day from 6:50 am till about 9 or 9:30 in the evening. i'm setting in stone all the time i'm going to spend practicing and studying each subject and everything. then i'll have two or three hours at night to goof off, write in my blog, etc. before going to bed at 11:00. after going to bed at 11, i will then have the strength to get up at 6:50 (almost 8 hours of sleep) and have my quiet time before my 8:00 class. spending time in the word and in prayer is such an important part of life and a relationship with god, and also a very easy thing to neglect, if one isn't careful. so, with this plan i have going now, i'll be able to get that in in the morning and get off to a good start, and then have some time again in the evening before bed. as well as get 4 or 5 hours of piano, 1 or 2 hours of violin, and studying on all my subjects done. things should be super if i can hold myself to this schedule, which i'm determined to do. this partly stems from something my dad said. he said something like, (i'm paraphrasing, but this is generally it) "you're not in college for the purpose of having a good time. not that you shouldn't, but the reason you're going to school is to learn. this requires studying and practicing. those things should take precedence. once that's down, it's always easy to add fun stuff. if you do well in preparing for your career you'll be much better off than if you just had a really fun time." which, of course i already know. :-p but naturally lazy, fun loving, computer addicted people just have to be reminded... so i'm in the process of turning over a new leaf and really getting serious here! spiritual and scholastic laziness are not a good combination!

went to java jacks this evening with ben. not my singer ben, my long time friend buddy high school class mate church family brother friend ben. yeah, him. so we had a nice chat. also nice coffee. talked about school stuff and work stuff. mary also stopped by just to say hi. she had to go do some studying (like who doesn't) so she left after a couple minutes with some caffeine. ben and i also finally decided to take matters into our own hands with this bible study. all the other guys are so busy that i guess they're just planning on putting off officially scheduling it indefinitely. so! we set it up, having it at his house, studying 1 thess. i'm looking forward to it. if anyone else is interested, let me know. we would love to have some more people come. hmmm. in the past it has been guys only. i guess maybe we'll keep it that way. not that we don't like girls...(hopefully you don't get that impression about me because i turned down a date with donna) it's probably because the opposite is true. since i (like most boys i know) do like girls, they have the ability to be a distraction in the type of setting our bible study will be in. it would be simply awful to undermine a good study time because of the temptation to flirt with a cute girl or something.

boy, i've really been slacking off on the ping pong too. the other guys are practicing and getting really good while i've been doing nothing. i'm really going to have to work to keep from getting my bootay kicked. ja beat me today, 21/19. he's gettin' a big fat head too.

credenza: credence. a sideboard, buffet, or bookcase patterned after a renaissance credence; especially one without legs. not to be confused with cadenza, music people.

hurrah for TMEA!!!!

oh, if you want another funny story, check this out. virginia is cracking down on those who would like to show their undies.

Events of a Packed Day

today was indeed a busy day. had class super ealy, at 8 o'clock. also had a history test. after lunch i had accompanying class. at the beginning of accompanying we all went and listened to our teacher play for a singer. the singer was doing some kind of an audition. then i played for our class. then i had rehearsal with the chamber orchestra, our very first rehearsal i might add. let's just say, things could have gone a lot better than they did. but they still clapped their heads off for me. then i went and accompanied ben (my singer) for a master class with some guest artist big wig whatever dude. i played beautifully. oh...yeah, ben sang beautifully too. and you know what? mr guest artist big wig whatever dude didn't even shake my hand or say good job or offer me any advice or anything! :-( dr petti said that just should not be. and that's about it for the school stuff.

then ended up going to a capoeira demonstration at steen, which matt decided to do i suppose to recruit more girls to our team. hmmm. they put on a pretty good show. but apparently it didn't have a huge impact on the steen residents. i think one girl came who was all like, "are you the guys who came and did the dance-thingy?"
"yayeah baby" (matt). then she sat down next to the wall way far away from us and did homework or something. SOOOO! i guess her interest wasn't too peaked. but class did procede on without her... now i think i'm going to be sore in the morning. almost two hours of this stuff will really get to you. i don't know exactly how to adequately describe it for you. hmmm. imagine dancing around a basket ball court, doing slow-motion cart-wheels from one end to the other, walking on your hands from one end to the other, as well as all manner of kicks and stuff, and dodge moves (to avoid these kicks) that amount to side-ways pushups. then after doing all that, and a gazillion other things, you're finally warmed up and ready to play the game. so. like i was saying. SORE!

went to the shop this evening and helped papa fix an underpinner. (sorry jeff, you're not the only dad who gets to be called papa. that's what you and anna call your dad, right abigail?)

i also thought i would share with you, that i officially came to a decision. yes, with much deliberation, and arguments on both sides (thank's again abigail, shame on all you other people for refusing to comment, except evan and my parents [who did comment, just not on the blog] because of his computer problems),uh...where was i? oh yes. i have come to a decision to not go on the date. hopefully donna (i think that's her name) is not too dissapointed, which she really shouldn't be since i don't even know her. someday i'll go on a date. maybe with someone i've actually met and think i like. aaaanyway.

i guess that's about it. just comment if you get the chance. or maybe no one is reading. hmmm. but reading the comments is half the fun of having a blog. so feel free, feel encouraged to write something!

oleaginous: of an olive tree. resembling or having the prperites of oil; containing or producing oil. (sounds like my skin)

no 8:00 class tomorrow! hurray!! or thursday, or friday!! hip hip, hooraay!!!!!!! .......... (you know you're a music major when all your classes are canceled for TMEA weekend)

Stuff

today was a pretty good day. managed to live through my physics test. i'm not sure whether i got an 85 or a 73 on it. yea, pretty weird. apparently one of the answers was put into the computer wrong and i picked the one the computer thought was right, when it really wasn't. so i thought my score was one thing, and then after the changes it may go down. what a huge bummer. i'm devastated. this class is definitely going to take some energy. but at least i know what i'm up against now.

ok. nobody get too excited about what i'm going to say next. ahem. apparently i may be being hired to be someones valentine date. wow, i can alread hear the phone jangling with a call from dad. here's how it is (and no, i'm not definitely going, i haven't decided yet): my friend ever has a friend that wants him to be her date. and being the nice guy that he is, he wants to oblige. but "she" has another dear friend who also doesn't have a date. so, logically i'm the perfect man (boy, whatever) for her! oh great. one part of me says no way, and another part of me thinks it sounds fabulously hilarious. i always like things that are somehow amusing. this is definitely that. one of her friends actually came and pleaded with me to take the girl. hmmm. i'm not sure. but a group date with one of my good buddy's being the other guy surely wouldn't be so bad. i'll have to see. i definitely won't if it coincides with any of my brother's birthday stuff this weekend. hhhhhhhhhhhhh....... i don't know. you guys comment about this, ok? man oh man, i can see it now, us all going into chili's and of all the possible people, ben would end up being my waiter. he would be like, "what the heck are you doing here?!? who in the world is that??" i squirm at the thought. but at the same time i think it might be fun. how i've rambled on. but there's nothing else to do, except get off the computer and do history and theory like a good boy.

does anyone know what i can do to get my profile stuff to come back up to the top of the page? it somehow got moved to the very bottom of my blog. any help would be appreciated.

tomorrow's my first rehearsal with the chamber orchestra. everyone remember that our performance will be on march 3rd. 7:30pm in cole concert hall in the music building at sfa. please come!

Neufchatel: a soft unripened cheese similar to cream cheese but containing less fat and more moisture.

Grace

what is this thing i feel inside,
what is this weight, this burning?
i sink like a leaden anchor,
a flaming ash i am scattered.
stretching with my dying weakness,
out of the chasm i reach
and grasp the hand that's moist with crimson,
clutch the pierced palm.
the flow of blood quenches the flames,
and soothes my flesh with wine.
peace has kissed my wretched soul,
and made my spirit calm.

evan made me think it would be good to write a poem. i went with the same style. go check out his at http://evansjournal.blogspot.com/ i think it was a post or two ago.

don't really have anything in particular to write about for today. the patriots won. um, hurray?!? i'm sure there's plenty of happy people and mad people. personally, i didn't really care who won.

now for the word of the day. let me see. here we go! epistemology: the study or a theory of the nature and grounds of knowledge especially with reference to its limits and validity.

pray that me and physics would get along well tomorrow! (or today, if you're reading this on monday. or, actually today is now monday. never mind)

Ballet

so after getting back into the dancing thing by doing capoeira, i thought, "hey, why not ballet?" have the first class on monday. i'm going to be quite the dancing machine. right? wrong. what actually happened is i went to turner and saw the ballet cinderella. i think it's the first ballet i've seen, or at least that i remember. it was good. which i would have to say even if i didn't think so because my piano teacher's daughter, katy parr, was cinderella herself! i'm sure they were very proud of her getting to come and dance at sfa as a guest performer. and rightly so - she did an excellent job, though i'm no ballet critic by any stretch of the imagination.

today i washed laundry.... oh my gosh!....i just realized i left it in the drier. better run and go get it.

ok. got it. fortuneately no one had dumped it on the floor yet. basically i've got a bunch of folding to do now. oh well. i did get to sleep late today. i also managed to get my aural skills stuff done today. and took out the trash and cleaned my room. isn't this the stuff you love to read about?? went to wal mart and got some non-necessities. AND DEPOSITED MY DIFFERENCE CHECK!!! HURRAH! what to buy, what to buy. i've been contemplating getting a trench coat. now, don't get any ideas that i want to get one and start dressing in black and being all scary. it's because of the weather. when it's all rainy and cold, walking to class is miserable. besides, a trench coat would be a good investment that would last me for a long time. so let's see, have i convinced myself yet? they might be awfully expensive (i haven't looked into it yet) depending on what kind i was to get. it isn't a life and death situation, like, if i don't get one i might just die one morning on the way to the music building. or i might who knows. hmmm. have to see about this.

went to an art gallery and presentation this evening. it was pretty intersting. it was modern art, so some of the stuff that was "really special," i was like, "okaaay..." but some of it was pretty cool. one thing i thought was awsome was some little useless desk decoration that was made almost entirely out of watch hands. must have been hundreds, maybe thousands, of little hands all stuck together. one of the "um, okaaay" things was a cigarette neclace. yea. nothing but about 100 cigarettes that would kind of look like a puffy neck tie. is this like, the chain smoker's delight?? "'hey dude, can i have a light?' 'sure man, i've got plenty!'" after the gallery viewing they served some yummy desserts and tastey punch. so i was happy. and i saw josilyn (sp? i cringe at the though of how royally i may have just misspelled that) who is one of my best friend's sister. she used to baby sit me, which she felt like she needed to remind everyone of. hmmph. but i guess i don't really mind. she was one of us kids favorites. her friend was like, "does that make us old?" and i said "yes it does." wow. approaching mid twenties. that is so far away.

but now laundry and stuff are calling me. so i will conclude with a word of the day. or, in this case, three words, and their definition. Jordan Curve Theorem - a fundamental theorem of topology: every simple closed curve divides the plane into two regions for which it is the common boundary. alriiiight!!

Deathly Tiredness

i was a zombie today. stayed up super late last night working on a bunch of choral part writing for theory class. pretty facinating at normal hours, and increasingly less so at wee ones. that's what i get for procrastinating. maybe i'll learn one of these days. at least i did better than the girl sitting next to me in class. i may have just finished mine a few hours before, but she pulled hers out to work on it right there at the desk next to me. um...hello. there's not much hope for two pages of part writing for four voices, jazz symbols, roman numerals, cadence identification, etc in 5 minutes before class. bummer. then i ended up getting picked on on the one day i just wanted to sleep through class. when dr....dr...........um.......aggghhhhh!!! i can't remember his name. oh my gosh. ummm. yea. anyway, where was i? oh, i got up to hand "him" (whatever his name is :-p) my homework and the other peoples' on my row and he decided that i should make the rounds and get the homework from everyone in the room and bring it to him. just because i was the first to stand up, for cying out loud! so i made some kind of an incomprehensible mumble and turned my bleary eyes to the task at hand. after kicking over a few desks and spilling some papers on the floor i felt my way back to my desk. apparently my part writing skills were still at the tip of my fingers after such a short rest, because when "he" gave us some inclass writing, i whipped it right out before going back to sleep. then since i was the only one done, dr ?? came and looked at it, liked it, and decided i needed to get up and write it out on the board for the class. *snrclmumphlgrrrumff* i said. or something like that. turns out i managed to pass public inspection. or else my part writing did. hate to think what i looked like in my wild unkempt hair (which, by the by, happens to be a tad longer than 5 cm) and glasses (to groggy to even think about contacts). they might also have been wondering what the noises i was uttering meant and why i had my eyes closed and if i was stoned and if maybe they should report me to the quack shack. but everyone kept those questions to themselves and class proceded without further incident. i think i had breakfast next. it wasn't memorable. history was. i was really going into full system shutdown. you know how it goes, "i will not go to sleep, i will not go to sleep, i will not...*jerk* !oh! i was asleep!" i had to resort to pinching myself and plucking little hairs from my for arm to stay awake. quite an adventure huh?? so anyway. the moral of this story is, don't put off your homework until the last minute!! oh wait, everyone else already know that. can you tell i'm still asleep? things weren't really quite as bad as i just described, that was just for your enjoyment. not quite.

also accompanied my singer today. he cut his hair off! amazing. it really does make him look more mature. like he might actually be an adult. a married father with a job even. actually all that is true, except the very first thing. ;-) but he will remain anonymous on this blog, since i'm teasing him. aaaaanyway!

accompanying class was good. practice was good. chic filet was good. stayed until midnight and got all the extra food from the stand for free when they closed. dr utley's recital tonight was awsome. i might tell you about it some other time, but i'm about through with story telling for tonight. i'm not thinking in complete sentences. anymore. worked on physics. just a little more to do on it tomorrow. and a lot to do before the test on monday.

capoeira was good today. managed to not injure myself. but that might just be because we had to leave early for the concert and couldn't stay for the advanced class like last time. if you're close by and interested, come check it out. tues and thurs 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the shelton gym. i've fulfilled my advertising quota for them now. but no, seriously, it would be awsome for anyone and everyone else to come. ITS FREE! almost forgot to mention that. but that's the best part!

that's it. i'm gone. feel free to comment. comments are really dropping off of late. thanks candy and mrs jones. always enjoy the input. i'll try to keep up this steady flow of "helpful information" as you so rightly put it.

kbyegoingtosleepblahblahblahblabberblubbubschmumfflllzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Dancing and Fighting

yes, that's what i did yesterday. ever and i decided to try our hand at capoeira. for those of you who don't know, it's a portuguese game that sort of combines break dancing and tae kwon do. so yea. i managed to mildly injure myself the first day. i was trying to walk accross the basketball court on my hands, and somehow i fell and hit both of my knees really hard on the floor. *OUCH!* a bag of ice and some rest and some medicine and a little hobbling around and i'll be fine. but i'm going back next class time! i think it will be fun once get the hang of it. and a good work out too. i'll keep you updated on my new skills.

i can't believe it, but my home is about to be torn down. yep, you heard right. wilson dormitory is being razed to the ground. got to make way for the new and improved. the new dorm is going to take up all the property that wilson, starr apartments, and a lot of the parking spaceis currently using. it will house between 6 and 800 people. "what's gunna happen to me nooooooww?!?" so hopefully i'll be able to move to wisely. i've already considered it since it's so close to the music building (my second home. or my third home, if you will). we shall see, we shall see.

so besides fighting and dancing and moving and playing amazing music and being the ping pong champion, i guess there's not much else to say for today. i reckon it's time for theory. later.

adios

War on the Hairier

it turns out that i'm lucky not to live in North Korea. well, yeah, that's a no brainer. but have you heard of the War on Long Hair? apparently men are no longer allowed to have hair more than 5 cm long (or 7 cm if you're an old man trying to cover balding). it's unhygienic and anti-social. men who ignore the new regulations are subject to public ridicule. one man on tv, who's name and address were given, was described, "Can we expect a man with this disheveled mind-set to perform his duty well?" the announcer asked. they said that because his hair covered his ears. apparently long hair hampers brain activity by taking oxygen away from nerves in the head. no word yet as to why women can still have long hair. so watch out ladies! grace, if you ever read this, you now have another good reason for having cut your hair. ;-)