Sigh

don't really feel, once again, like writing a whole lot. i have a feeling it may be like this for a couple more weeks. next week is dead week (not that most of us aren't dead already) and then finals. then a long summer of beach partys and relaxation awaits......................................................
...............................................................................
...............................................................................
er, i mean, work begins, uh making money for next semester and all that. yeah. but at least school will be over. my goal this summer is to get lots of instrument practice in, and to actually work as a pianist. hopefully i will be able to get weddings lined out for a lot of weekends. and of course i'll have to do some other stuff, whether it be lawn care, or working at jebco, or whatever. or, *gulp,* possibly finding a job at a store or restaurant! nah. unless it was the marble slab. or java jacks. and of course i intend to have a bit of fun too. not that those things aren't fun. but a possible weekend trip to the beach is actually a possibility in store. we shall see, we shall see.

something else i'm hoping to do this summer is get into doing ultimate frisbee. ever and i went on a walk this evening and swung by the intramural fields where they had a huge game going. actually lots of games. we got there just as thomas made the winning touch down catch. what a hero. so possibly i can get in on all the insanity and start playing ultimate. i think it would be great exercise and great fun.

i got to see grandmary this evening! she was here at good ol' sfa to see a play, which some of her former students from austin were in. so i met up with her afterward and several of us went to ihop for the evening. it was fun. i ate some chocolate chip pancakes, which were wonderful.

now i must have a shower and sleep. good night.

intransigent \in-TRAN-suh-juhnt; -zuh-\, adjective:Refusing to compromise; uncompromising.

Out There: Fox News

Toads Blow Up, Croak, and Scientists Shake Their Heads
BERLIN (AP) — More than 1,000 toads have puffed up and exploded in a Hamburg pond in recent weeks, and German scientists have no explanation for what's causing the combustion.
Both the pond's water and body parts of the toads have been tested, but scientists have been unable to find a bacteria or virus that would cause the toads to swell up and pop, said Janne Kloepper, of the Hamburg-based Institute for Hygiene and the Environment.
"It's absolutely strange," she said Wednesday. "We have a really unique story here in Hamburg. This phenomenon really doesn't seem to have appeared anywhere before."
The toads at a pond in the upscale neighborhood of Altona have been blowing up since the beginning of the month, filling up like balloons until their stomachs suddenly burst.
"It looks like a scene from a science-fiction movie," Werner Schmolnik, the head of a local environment group, told the Hamburger Abendblatt daily. "The bloated animals suffer for several minutes before they finally die."
Biologists have come up with several theories, but Kloepper said that most have been ruled out.
The pond's water quality is no better or worse than other bodies of water in Hamburg, and the toads did not appear to have a disease, she said.
A laboratory in Berlin has ruled out the possibility that it is a fungus that made its way from South America, Kloepper said.
She said that tests will continue. In the meantime, city residents have been warned to stay away from the pond. Poor Toads...

Hectic

i'm sorry i can't do a real post today. basically i'm running in circles trying to do everything that needs to be done. the research paper is going to take up about 80% of my time, and piano practice about 90%. not to mention studying for all my other stuff. :-(

pleonasm \PLEE-uh-naz-uhm\, noun:1. The use of more words than are necessary to express an idea; as, "I saw it with my own eyes."2. An instance or example of pleonasm.3. A superfluous word or expression.

Hello

this is me procrastinating on my research paper. i'm taking a breather at the moment. but i did convince myself to abstain from a party which would have been very fun. i guess that's a good sign. mom would say, "wow, my little boy is growing up." well, not exactly. it's more like sheer terror at the thought of not finishing it on time.

let's see... yesterday i had a test in aural skills. or i guess the last section of a whole testing series. i did well on some parts and not so well on others, with a total average score of 87. it could be worse... i wonder what in the world aural skills 3 and 4 have in store for me. i guess i'll find out in the fall.

had my accompanying lesson. then i got lots of practice in. especially on the violin. it must have been very productive because dr dalmus was quite impressed. i was pleasantly surprised myself. let's just hope it sounds as good next week.

also had rehearsals with my vocalist and violinist. at 6 i played for my vocalist's recital (he was performing in a french art song repertoire recital) and at 7:30 for my violinist in the second of this semester's two string recitals. they both went very well. meaning, my singer and violinist, not the two string recitals. :-P

and today i had theory in the morning. the 8 o'clock part about it was just as bad as usual. then history. we discussed the civil war. i mean, he monologued the civil war.

after that i got some practicing in. then ate lunch and went to accompanying class. got to hear christine and ramiah (i have no idea how to spell that - pronounced ruh-my-uh). ramiah is about to give a recital and christine is doing all his accompaniment stuff. it sounded good. though i almost fell asleep. that wasn't because i was bored, just cuz the semester is almost over and that's what i feel like doing in class.

after that i did a bunch more piano practice. played a little ping pong. ate with david at taco bell. actually we went to taco bell and then went to his house to eat. good times. trimmed my beard a bit so it isn't as incredibly shaggy and weird looking on the end. okay, maybe it is still weird looking, but at least it isn't quite as messy. now my paper is beckoning. i must obey.

and here is a freakin' awesome word.

matutinal \muh-TOOT-n-uhl\, adjective:Relating to or occurring in the morning; early.

Yum Yum

went to church with thomas this morning. after church we went to the abts for lunch. this is where the title of this post comes in... jeff made the most amazing hamburgers of all time. apparently they're famous, but i didn't know. i tell you the truth, they must have been an inch thick and five inches in diameter! i could hardly get my mouth around it. but don't worry, i managed. with all sorts of tasty spices and bacon. of course a little onion and mustard and all the other wonderful things you can add to a burger. ooooooooh wow. man they were good. i'll be salivating for the rest of the week just thinking about that sandwich. and then (yes, it only gets better) we ate a cake made by leabeth. and my what a cake it was! it was anna's choice for her birthday i do believe, which was on tues. i'm so sorry i forgot a birthday post for you anna. ;-( so, happy birthday! but anyway, back to the cake. it was chocolate (of course) with cream cheese frosting. i don't know what all went into that cake, though i know it had some almond extract, but it was amazing. so tomorrow as i try to live through the cafeteria, at least i'll have yummy food for thought, to satisfy my cerebral gluttony.

shibboleth \SHIB-uh-lith; -leth\, noun:1. A word or pronunciation that distinguishes a particular class or set of persons from another.2. A word or saying identified with a group or cause; a slogan; a catchword.3. A saying or belief identified with a particular group and usually regarded by outsiders as meaningless or untrue.4. A custom, practice, behavior, etc. regarded as distinctive of a particular group.

Rest

this was a restful day. slept until about 12 to catch up from thurs night. then i got up and went straight to david's party. i was 30 min late but i was still the first one there. i think he just got up not long before i got there anyway. so he and andrea and i just goofed off and worked on lunch. listened to music. watched part of a movie (the thief and the cobbler) for "background" entertainment. eventually everyone got there. it was the whole piano crowd - sam, christine, india, rene (however you spell what's pronounced wren-ay), and dr parr even came and brought his older daughter katie, and of course david, andrea and i were there. only molly and erin didn't show up, but we already knew they would be absent. so anyway, we ate an absolutely delicious lunch of fajitas. i tell you what, david can really cook. and christine made an incredible scrumptious chocolate cake. i even got two pieces without having to ask just because i helped pass out plates! so dudes, hold the door for the ladies and never eat the first piece of cake, and riches (and dessert) beyond imagining will be yours! besides eating, we mainly just talked. and there was a fine game of mario going on the nintendo set most of the time. it was super intense. talk about edge-of-your-seat excitement. i have to admit they sometimes had an alarming way of screeching when some little turtle or fish brougth mario to his demise. besides this, i also got david to show me his "recording studio" set up in his room. i'm quite envious. he has a very nice electric piano and microphone, as well as all sorts of electronic recording devices and programs set up on his computer. he's even getting to do the music (by do the music i mean he's writing it himself) for sfa's feature film of the year. we got to listen to a little bit and it sounds really cool. though i have no idea about the movie. so anyway, once everyone else decided to go and we said our tearful fairwells, we watched the rest of the thief and the cobbler. oh, i forgot to mention that ever decided to show up. he came in late, i guess that's why i forgot to include him in the list of people that came in at the beginning. also the fact that he's not a piano person. then we eventually had to leave because david had to go to work.

when i got back keith and i got a game of RA going. i squashed him, and then we went and got dinner. we also swung by the hayter house to see david. but he wasn't playing because there was no one there eating in the section behind the bar, and therefore no reason for him to sit at the piano. i also happened to see good ol' dr b! he and his wife were just leaving from eating there when keith and i walked in. so we caught up on old time from philmont and scouting days and college life and how our family's are doing and...... i mean, i introduced him to keith and we said, "higreattoseeyagoodbye!" okay, both of those scenarios were lies, but the point is, we saw dr b. and that's all that matters.

ate at cici's. and then, i finally got to watch brave heart. can you believe i haven't seen it till now? it was an awesome movie. quite violent, yes, of course - but a good movie. i'm sure evan would think so too, since he's all into history and especially scotish stuff. "Wallace! Wallace! Wallace....."

with that happy note, i will sleep. good night............good night............

rara avis \RAIR-uh-AY-vis\, noun;plural rara avises \RAIR-uh-AY-vuh-suhz\ or rarae aves \RAIR-ee-AY-veez\:A rare or unique person or thing. (Rara avis is Latin for "rare bird.")

Flute

yes people, this is actually a functional flute. even i can play it. not well, granted, but i can play a scale on it (it's a G-major flute). mom, i'll have to let you try it out. and thank you so much for running around getting stuff for me. :-) so it's made out of pvc pipe. used a hack saw to cut it, and regular drill bits to make the holes. a large hole made in the cap on the end of the pipe makes the mouth piece. it's quite interesting. over the course of making them (three, for ever, amanda, and me) we found out (again) that freshly cut edges of copper pipe (ever was trying to make a flute out of copper pipe instead of the pvc because it looks cooler) are very sharp! he deeply gashed his right hand on just the spot where has to apply pressure to the bow while playing his cello. we got him all cleaned up though, since he was gushing everywhere and making a huge mess. we also discovered that amanda has absolutely no idea how to use even the simplest power tools, a.k.a. cordless drill. and small metal filings make evil little splinters. so it was an amazing learning experience.

did all the other usual stuff today. some of which i already wrote about. and since "there's like, a butt load" of stuff left to do, of equal or greater importance to the flute, i must conclude now. by the way... am i a flutist now? or a floutist? that's the question. or should i say, those are the questions.

nascent \NAS-uhnt; NAY-suhnt\, adjective:Beginning to exist or having recently come into existence; coming into being.

Europe vs Italy (hilarious)

http://www.flashplayer.com/animation/europeanditaly.html

Cloud

finished with classes for today. until i have a rehearsal this evening. took that test in theory this morning, and i think i did fine on it. after history (notice the reference in the context of an afterthought) i went to ben's lesson. ben didn't. then i had a quick rehearsal with kelly, and went to lunch. then had accompanying class.

i went everywhere bare-foot today. burn not quite healed yet.

now, to work on my paper. later folks!

enervate \EN-ur-vayt\, transitive verb:1. To deprive of vigor, force, or strength; to render feeble; to weaken.2. To reduce the moral or mental vigor of.

Crazy Students

well, while i was writing that last post some guys came squealing around the corner of the narrow wilson parking lot, tried to do some drag record run down the front of the building, and then smashed the living daylights out of the dumpster down at the end! man did it make a loud noise! and he took off again quick, cuz he had a bicycle cop in hot persuit. :-P ahhh fun times. if you see a silver pickup with the front end smashed up, you'll know what happened. assuming there's only one silver pickup with a smashed front end.......

Physics

mucho work to be done on a physics paper. and i have to make a flute. so that's what i will be doing tomorrow. unfortunately i also have a theory test. i'm not sure how that's going to go. hopefully not too badly.

had good violin and piano lessons today. played my violin accompanyment piece with my violinist for string studio. had convocation. it makes my 19th concert on my recital attendance record. and i've been to two that i didn't get to swipe my card for. it makes me wish i could sign up for two recital attendances at once and use the second one as an elective or something. i'll have to find out if that's possible.

ate at chili's which was good. went to church this evening. then went to work for an hour. sadly, i didn't get much done toward my paper because ever and i had to have a deep personal conversation. all top secret of course. but no, we were not playing red alert. i'll have to get crackin' on that tomorrow. ahem.... the paper i mean. and the flute.

to bed, to bed, sleepy head.

hagiography \hag-ee-OG-ruh-fee; hay-jee-\, noun:1. Biography of saints.2. Idealizing or idolizing biography.

Practice Practice Practice

this morning i was absolutely exhausted. endured theory at 8:00. i say "endured" because the only reason i ever really like that class is because dr goodall is funny. and he wasn't very funny. so it was just boring (he's not an especially talented teacher i don't think). and i was way to beat to write the stuff down that he was saying.

after breafast i went to history, which is a symptom of this terrible disease that i have. for some reason i just can't skip class. i've never intentionally missed a single class other than ones i was told before hand i didn't have to attend, in my entire college carreer. i can only think of three times that i have forgotten or unintentionally missed a class. let's just say five, in case i forgot some. isn't that dreadful? i just feel awful about missing a class (and dread my name being absent on the list) and my conscience smites me. but honestly, it's maddening in classes like aural skills where i could probably just go take the tests and do the homework and never really even need to go to class. though i have benefitted gradually over the whole semester from being in there. but not much. i mean, i've gotten better at stuff, but i don't feel like the class itself really helps that much. anyway i'm just rambling. but that's what blogs are for, right? and if you find it interesting, that's just dandy. and if you don't.... well, that's just too bad; you're not allowed to stop reading!

this is the good part. my vocalist did me the great service of being absent for our rehearsal. i'm being serious here. of course we didn't get any work done, but i really didn't even want to rehearse (he's the main one that should be worried about his preparedness because it's going to be his big day to perform here pretty soon). so i got to take a one hour nap on a cushy recliner in the hall between the practice rooms and the lockers! yesssssssssssssssssss!!! then i ate lunch. which wasn't all that great. it was pasta with white sauce and shrimp in it. mhmm. yeah. you heard right. and no, that does not equal tastey meal. but it was tolerable. am i in a negative mood lately......?

had accompanying class. took another nap. (afterward, not during, like in history. but i did it discretely. it was hard, but i managed, even though i was on the front row. the hair on the right hand side of my head wouldn't fall right, so i had to let the hair on the left side of my head go over my left eye, and lean my fore head on my right hand to shad my other eye, while writing with my left hand to keep up the appearances of studious note taking... and jerking my head occassionally to show i agreed with whatever "hermit the frog" might be saying at that moment). um, where was i? oh yes. so then i took a nap.

went to dinner. i got new music from candace. now this is interesting. no, i'm not talking about the music. but there's this online forum that a lot of universities are using now, called facebook. and of course sfa has it too. so i have a little profile and picture and some of my interests on there. you can put links to the profiles of all your friends on campus on there too. so it's kinda fun to send messages to eachother, and look up people with similar interests to your own. so i think i once clicked on the link formed by the word "bible" in my interests to see what other people had put that down. so candace was one of the people that came up. i thought that was cool and added her SN to my buddy list and said hi. through that meeting, without ever having seen eachother, she decided to ask me to be her accompanist for a song that she's singing in a couple of weeks. and it turns out her boy friend is an old friend of mine. or at least he used to be when we were little. our mom's were good friends. he doesn't remember me any more. :-/ actually all a little strange once i think about it for a minute.

went to a horn concert at about 6, after dinner. michelle and andrea both played, as well as david (on the piano accompanying). and of course our very own dear dr's petti and pitts. they all played rather well. after that i started practicing and didn't stop till about 11:30. then i went and got a midnight burger from the union station. and now i've spent the last 20 minutes writing this post. tha's all fo'ks.

gelid \JEL-id\, adjective:Extremely cold; icy. (my room)

The End Is Near

i confess, the close it gets to the end of this semester, the less and less i care about the tons of work being thrown on me. i still sense its weight and feel it's breath on my neck, but i just want it to be over. *sigh.* my first semester starry eyed delight must be officially over. but this sounds really depressing. i don't actually feel that depressed i just need sleep i think. so i must take a little nap before din-din and after that, hit the books. or the piano.

more later.

fettle \FET-l\, noun:
A state or condition of fitness or order; state of mind; spirits -- often used in the phrase "in fine fettle."

Your Linguistic Profile:

55% General American English

20% Dixie

15% Yankee

5% Midwestern

5% Upper Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Sunday

i forgot that micah was leaving for a geology trip this weekend, so i missed the 10 o'clock service this morning. but thomas came and got me for the 11 so it's all good. had an ok, but not impressive lunch at grand central station. then went to wal mart and lowe's to try to find some materials for our (ever and i's) next physics project. also got in some volleyball.

apparently that poem is a real tear jerker. now i've made girls (actually only one girl) cry by my piano playing and my poetry. so far no one has been able to interpret the meaning. i sent it off to dear dr duncan to ask for his critique. i'm sure i broke a great many poetry rules, and i know it doesn't have any rhyming pattern, but i'm actually rather pleased with the analogy.

had quite a tastey meal of chinese tonight, and good times with micah and thomas and abigail and anna.

agh! 8 am is rushing toward me. i'm fleeing to the bed now. good night!

panegyric \pan-uh-JIR-ik; -JY-rik\, noun:1. A lofty, formal composition or speech in praise of someone or something.2. Formal or elaborate praise.

no, the poem is not about praise.

Vase

Shapely drop of molten glass,
Crystal hewn with precision of a flawless touch.
Conception of purest eye and unfaltering hand.
Gilt-rimmed chalice,
Dancing with the reflection of the passing seasons,
Meadows sway in the mirror,
Sun and rain and snow and sun,
Tick off their cyclic passage on the lip of untarnished gold.
Graced by yellow of daffodils,
Caressed by the white touch of lilies,
Embraced in the fragrant crimson petals of the rose.

The shelf is shaken, the tablecloth pulled.
Captured in space by a thread too weak
The ends of the earth pause in suspense and time delays its race
One thousand stars sparkle in flight
Ten thousand luminous rays relinquish their passionate light
And burst into shards of eternity.
Darkness.

Sunlight warms the meadow and pierces the blinds,
Passing over a well-swept floor and coming to rest on the sill.
A row of new flowers, dripping with dew
Rest in new and spotless ewers.
The transparent surfaces echo the likeness
Of the painter’s last tribute to the vessel of flowers,
Casting its image from the table.
Behind a plate of smooth glass lies a snap-shot of fleeting beauty,
Visage still glowing, facade of unending splendor.
A beauty lost forever, treasure to cherish for a time,
But relinquished to the toll of silver

In Your Dreams...

Highway Sign Tells Drivers to Speed Up

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Drivers on southbound Interstate 75 got a surprise Thursday morning from an electronic construction message board.
The board, which for weeks had been alerting drivers in Genesee County near Clio that construction starts this month, instead greeted them with the message: "Speed Limit 100 MPH Go Go Go."
"We got a call from the state police before 5 this morning [Thursday] and we took care of it," Bill Shreck, regional spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, told The Flint Journal. "We weren't amused."
The speed limit in the area is 70 miles per hour, Shreck said. The sign was the only MDOT message board affected.
The message boards are controlled remotely by a computer through a subcontractor, Shreck said. That company is looking into who changed the board and how.
"We know it wasn't a purposeful act by the contractor, but we don't know if it was hacked into or if it was a disgruntled employee or what," Shreck said.

;-)

Good Day

this was really quite a good day. i went to aural skills (in the pouring rain, which wasn't so nice but i can live with it). after breakfast (bacon and chocolate donut...yum!) i had my accompanying lesson. then i went and had an accompanying rehearsal with my violinist. that went well, and i believe dr dalmus was pleased with our progress. we will be performing tomorrow night (tues) at 7:30 pm in cole concert hall. if you have a dull noggen, that's a hint that you should come! it's free!!! yay! so anyway. after that i ended up going to lunch with one of the david's (there's lots of them in our circle of friends) at chili's. it was rather nice at 11:30 when hardly anyone else was there. that concludes my morning and lunch.

then i went back to the dorm and did history reading. for once i'm ahead for a little while. i've read thursday's material. now if i can just stay caught up...... then i took a nap, which was wonderful. then i did some theory homework, and bugged ever about not having finished macgamut. and by the way, if there's anyone out there who was concerned about my foot, it's doing much better thank you. i've been putting somekind of antibiotic ointment on it and covering it with a large band-aid. :-D did some other piddling around stuff before dinner. emily came to dinner again (she's officially a member of the group now). she just got her computer back, so i went over and helped her get started on instant messenger. what a huge communication break through! yesssss!

did some preparation for bible study (also did some of that in that piddling around time earlier, that i forgot about). i managed to get about the first 9 verses of proverbs memorized. the we had our study at java jacks this evening. it was good, as usual. we're hoping to start going to wednesday services together now, and maybe get together with some other people who are able to make it, and discuss whatever has been being studied at the service. anyone who wants to come with us and go to java jacks afterward is welcome! open invitation! and this is not a boys only this time. :-)

played a little table tennis today. didn't practice my hand stands though. i did this weekend, and they're getting much better. i can actually walk around for a few seconds! don't forget about the concert tomorrow.

malapropos \mal-ap-ruh-POH\, adjective:Unseasonable; unsuitable; inappropriate.
adverb:In an inappropriate or inopportune manner; unseasonably.

Feet

so today the saga of my feet woes (which i haven't mentioned before) continued. to take a step back and see what i'm talking about would go back to the beginning of this week. i have this pair of rubber speedo sandals. theyr'e my favorite and i wear them all the time. as favorite sandals which are worn all the time are want to do, they began to smell a little sour. when it got to where i could just stand still in one place for a few seconds and the ordor could get up to my nose, i'd had enough. so i gave them a good sudsy scrubbing in the shower. then i propped them up in the sun by the window. after drying for a while they were certainly much cleaner and a good deal less sour. but they did still have a little smell. so i had this old tube of deodorant... since i wasn't going to use it anymore i decided to rub some of it under the sole of the sandal. it smelled much better, but one problem persisted. every time i took a step the slippery sole scootched back until several inches would be hanging out the back behind my heel. my remedy for this was obvious... just since the strap really tight to hold it on my foot. nope.....big mistake. in no time at all i had a fat red sore on the top of one of my toes. so i had to go barefoot for a while to ease the pain. the last couple of days it's finally been better enough to wear them again and then along came the ag pond/ island party burger bash... (continued in paragraph after next, the following is some background info)

the burger bash was put on by the fraternity brothers under christ. they had tons of inflatable stuff, inflatable "american gladiator," inflatable obstacle course, a tug-of-war (where two people stand with their backs to this inflatable post with ropes coming out of it. both people run forward, away from eachother, and see who makes it the farthest before the rope runs out and you jerk against eachother. or see who can jerk the other person the farthest) and all sorts of stuff. there was also volley ball. and of course the were lots of cokes and burgers and snow cones and that sort of thing. in the middle of the event they had a time where they turned off the music and a guy named jason shared his testimony. it was really good. so i did all these things, including giving someone a bloody nose in the gladiator arena, and managed to get really tired.

...once ever made it to the bash, we started doing stuff together. we raced eachother in the obstacle course twice. the first time i won, but by the second time i was so pooped out from all the stuff i could hardly move and my arms were jelly. so when i got to the top of the slide, i just lay on my stomache and slid down. this is about the time i experienced big time vinyl burn. yep, one foot in particular got a 1/2 inch long, 3/4 inch wide burn on the top. so once again, i cannot comfortably wear my shoes. bleh.

anyway. went to an orchestra concert this evening. it was quite good. dr wurtz had a trumpet solo in the middle. i definitely want a recording of this one.

went over to rayna's and we watched rat race. yeah, ahem... and we also watched another thing, i think it was called blast. we didn't get to finish, but it was i believe a broadway performance done by all these brass players, percussionists, dancers, singers, and it was really amazing. they had these incredible stunts choreogrphed, including one guy who would do cartwheels with one arm while hanging onto his small tuba with the other. and a big "battle of the drummers" where they all ran around on stage stabbing eachother with their drum sticks and stuff. the lighting was incredible. grandpa would have been impressed. i think. or let me just say he would have liked it, though i'm sure he could have done it himself. i can't go on about nearly all the stuff they did or i would never finish this post. since bed is calling, i must go!

gallimaufry \gal-uh-MAW-free\, noun:A medley; a hodgepodge.

:-/

sorta slow weekend so far. i did get to go bowling. one game i got scored 174, which is like, an all time high for me. two or three spares and 5 strikes (three of them in a row for a turkey!). so i as very pleased with myself on that count.

i decided to shave off my mustache today. trimmed my beard too, but not very much.

played ever in some red alert II, which is always fun. played dan in ping pong.

practiced piano, and had a violin lesson.

actually didn't watch a movie today. maybe tomorrow...

this is an incredibly boring post, and i'm sorry. i'll try to write a story or something entertaining tomorrow. till then... tootles

Panglossian \pan-GLOSS-ee-uhn\, adjective:Excessively or naively optimistic.

This Is Me.... or is it???

Yikes!

i couldn't resist posting this. it's one of the ultimately unflattering pictures of me (actually there's probably even worse ones, if you can believe it). don't be scared... enjoy!

Boy's Hall Entertainment

you know, boys really do have a perverted sense of entertainment sometimes. last night i witnessed one hair-brained example of this. it turns out to be a twist combo of rock paper scissors and "uncle," or "mercy," or whatever you want to call it. so dan and dan were playing each other. they stood face-to-face and did the whole rock paper scissors thing, and every time, the person who won got a "hit." by this i mean the other person had to hold out their arm while the winner held two fingers and whacked the arm as hard as possible on the underside of the fore arm. if one got three wins in a row, they could give a four finger slap! isn't that wonderful?!? i thought this kind of game died early in grade school... like some kind of locker room game that bullies forced smaller kids to play or something. dan (who else could it be??) had rows of red finger marks and a fat purple/black bruise when they stopped playing. yea, that's immediately after playing, not later when the bruise settles in - immediately. and you know what's even better?? he just got through playing someone else with the other arm the night before!!!! are their games like this that girls play?? just curious.

nick and his buddies caught a 20 lb 30" catfish on their line today. he's totally stoked about it.

i made some more cd's of my recital and the orchestra concert for a friend in history. the reason being, is i asked him if he wanted to come to the orchestra concert and he got all excited about it and said he did. i guess i forgot to tell him that it would cost $2, and he came without a cent and didn't get to go in. needless to say, i felt really bad about that. so i just thought he might like the recordings. we'll see! best hit the hay...

defenestrate \dee-FEN-uh-strayt\, transitive verb:To throw out of a window.

wow, they have a word for that?

Mondee Post

well, well, well... i stayed at the music building most of today. in fact, i was only gone about 1 or 1.5 hours during the period from 8:00 this morning till 5:30 pm. i even took a nap on the floor in one of the practice rooms between a piano practice session and violin. college does weird things to you. like, why would anyone curl up on a hard floor behind a piano in a room too short to straighten out in and sleep?? i think at least ten people walked opened the door while i was lying there and quickly walked out again. it makes me chuckle. i think i had weird dreams, though i don't remember any of them. john was probably asking me what i was doing sleeping on the practice room floor when i woke myself up by automatically responding, "occupied!" to a knock on the door. after which response the person, who i didn't see since i was behind the piano, promptly opened the door, and then quickly exited again. but i did get lots of practice in. trust me.

i wore my new wilson hall t-shirt today. it's a blue super man shirt, except it has a 13 (our hall number) instead of an S in the emblem. on the back it has the top ten wilson hall remembrances, including the fact that we outlasted the units, but not the old stone fort...

i finished getting my electronic signatures done for FAFSA this evening. ahhh, what a good feeling. probably a few more things to send in, but the urgent part is done.

got emily to come eat dinner with me and the "gang" tonight. it's always good to have new converts to (this bud's fer you, evan) "our initiation." hopefully she will join our bountiful table with some regularity in the future.

got scared to death by abigail's post. if it's true she has my deepest condolences. if it's a late april fools trick... RAAWWWWWRRRRR!!!!!!!!! then i'll just...just...uh...sigh with relief i guess. i looked on the blog editor, and it wouldn't be difficult to delete your whole blog. but it also wouldn't be terribly easy to do it on accident. but it's also not fair to do april fools on april 4th. though it is a clever (though heartless) joke. if it is a joke... meeehhhhhhh!!! (to use one of abbey's fav noises).

had another good mocha and bible study. actually we mainly just studied the bible and drank the mochas. but you get the big picture. just as we were finishing, one guy i know (the teacher of the capoeira class in fact) came up there with a friend of his. and i introduced him to ben. since we kind of changed the subject suddenly from what we were talking about to nice to meet you and all that, ben accidentally said "pretty nice to meet you." as in, maybe not all that nice to meet you. since we were almost done ben was saying our closing prayer right after they left, and i almost busted out laughing as soon as he started praying, cuz as soon as i heard his voice i heard him saying "pretty nice to meet you." sorry i wasn't being all i should have been, ben, as far as my contribution to the closing of our meeting. :-P since i couldn't laugh when you first said it i could hardly contain myself. (still LOL about it even now).

my room is spick and span now. which is lucky for me, because josh and kourtney dropped in suddenly as a surprise, to see my room and stuff. i don't think i could have let them in with it being the way it was last night.

i got a super nifty clock in the mail today. since i just subcribed to popular science (i already have pop mech but i want sci too) they gave me this "free clock." i still have to figure out how to set it. hopefully it doesn't have any dreadful alarms that will go off at ungodly hours tonight.

i don't know if i did anything else today. if i did, i'm not going to tell you. huh?? cuz i can't remember, that's why!

amanuensis \un-man-yoo-EN-sis\, noun; plural amanuenses, \-seez\:A person employed to take dictation or to copy manuscripts.

Anguish Languish

i don't know if abigail has mentioned this before in her blog, but today at the abts' house i was introduced to anguish languish. leabeth read us "little rat rotten hut." it's a pretty amazing tongue twister. you'll have to go read it to believe it. the "story" uses all real words completely out of context as the body of the story, but if you read it just right you can find the hidden meaning in all the jibberish. sooooooo..... we had a delicious lunch. thanks bunches mrs abt (i've just called her leabeth and mrs abt in the same paragraph. hmmm, guess i should stick with mrs abt to mind my manners).

played tennis and capoeira this afternoon. tennis was pathetic, for the most part. i remember when i took lessons and could actually sort of play. not anymore, i just pretend now. but our capoeira session was really good. it's so fun once you get a game really groovin'. allison came and watched. people were even stopping and taking pictures of us. :-P hopefully they got some good shots.

went to church this morning and this evening. it was good, but i was tired, i guess from the daylight savings thing leaping forward an hour. i do like my sleep. this evening we were continuing a study of the life of david. it has really been an incouraging study over the past few months, or however long it's been going on. david is such an incredible role model to look up to.

well, my room is a wreck and needs cleaning. i would have done it earlier, but i almost died doing macgamut again. i did rhythemic dictation and after i got the first 5 in a row right, it froze up and i lost all but one of my correct answers. then it took me a long time to finish. soooo anyway. BYE!

okay, call me an idiot, but i had no idea this is what toothsome meant. it sounds like a word that would mean something more along the lines of "someone with a toothy smile," or, "having lots of teeth," or whatever. :-P

toothsome \TOOTH-suhm\, adjective:1. Pleasing to the taste; delicious; as, "a toothsome pie."2. Agreeable; attractive; as, "a toothsome offer."3. Sexually attractive.

Hurrah, Another Weekend

made it through another week. major accomplishments: finished the biggest baddest macgamut assignment (i noticed an online "group" called "i HATE macgamut!") of all time, made an awesome set of wind chimes, turned in a research paper outline, had a more consistent practice time than i've had in a long time (practiced the piano at least a little bit every single day, and only missed one day on violin), turned in my FAFSA renewal application (stop laughing mom - no, i'm not going to go over the details now...), aced a theory test, went to an opera, heard a wonderful recital by our dear susie littleton, went to java jacks with papa (it's so good to have dad nearby to chat and drink coffee with), reached the climax of the ultimately messy room... etc., etc., etc. those are just a few of the details. not necessarily in that order.

going to a ball tomorrow in tyler. must get up early enough to wash clothes and eat lunch before leaving.

it's getting crazily cold again. like, actually outside this time. i can keep my jacket on when i go outside. the other morning before going to my 8 o'clock i got all bundled up with a long sleeve shirt and jacket and everything, and when i opened the back door and braced myself....i was hit with a wall of humid, hot dead air. you might say they keep it freakishly cold in here. and i just realized i'm not making any sense any more because i'm sleepy. good night.

wunderkind \VOON-duhr-kint\, noun;plural wunderkinder \-kin-duhr\:1. A child prodigy.2. One who achieves great success or acclaim at an early age.

Chime Update III

the chimes are done! i have suspended all the pipes from a little round piece of wood, and hung the knocker complete with a little wind catcher (aka coaster) at the bottom. it looks pretty awesome. and it sounds good too. pretty good. my room mate still isn't back (i hope he's okay) so i was able to do it all in our room without being concerned that i was keeping him awake. so the chimes can keep me company tonight, blowing and tinkering away in the gusty, air-conditioned night air...

of course pictures are in order, but that can wait till tomorrow. or later today that is. :-P now i just need one more thing. that's a good grade on this project.