Wrong Car...

today was nothing new... went to work. after work had a pretty good practice time. then went to wal mart and got bethany a b-day present. :-)

so when we left work, we went by the gas station at the road to get something to drink. while sam and i sat in the car, seth went in. we were just sitting there quietly, sam had himself a camel, i munched on doritos. people came and went past us. then this plump woman came out of the gas station carrying a bag with her stuff and came walking toward us. she had a faint smile on her face like someone who is by their self when they think of something funny, and they're about to tell someone else. so the plump (or should i say korpulent?) woman came walking right up to our car, reached out her hand, took hold of the door knob, and then paused and looked in the window. at this point she made a rather high pitched squeak/squeal noise and abruptly turned around and waddled over to a different car, where someone in the driver's seat was sitting with a jovial grin on their face. the car was dark blue. ours was white... veeeeeery interesting. so then seth got back and we shared the joke all over again. but then again, anything is funny after a hard day of work.

fatuous \FACH-oo-us\, adjective:
1. Feeble in mind; weak; silly; stupid; foolish.
2. Without reality; illusory, like the ignis fatuus.

Memorial day

sadly, our paintball plans didn't pan out. sam went to A-1 pawn to try to fill up with air, but they were closed. of course. but we just hadn't thought about anyone besides us having the day off. so, because of lack of attendance and lack of air, we put off the games for some other day. sam and john did come over and we had great times in the woods. we made a new fort, or at least began one. it will be virtually impenetrable to enemy fire when it is completed.

i would like to mention that courtney has taken a new interest in my 12 ring puzzle. i think she almost understands it and is more than half way through solving it with only minor hints here and there along the way. she's obviously on her way to becoming the next family genius...

in addition to places like A-1 pawn, sfa was also almost completely shut down today. the main consequences for me being that i couldn't access my music, my violin, or nice grand pianos. no practice was completed. however, i did get some mice for my snakes. they are quite happy now. and i looked at cingular to see about getting a new phone service. i have discovered that prepaid is very expensive. not that i didn't know before, but i would really like to be able to talk more than i can at its prices. however, i may just have to bite my tongue and keep the prepaid and simply talk less. =-o and lastly, i got a couple of things at wal-mart. chiefly socks, tape, thread, batteries, and college ruled paper. i swear i walked around two isles, one of which had the paper on it, 3 or 4 times before i found it. just slowly walked around and around and around looking from side to side. i was on the verge of going crazy and starting to do it faster before i finally spotted it.

this evening we had the most delicious hamburgers. beef from home raised cows on home made bread. does it get any better than that? well, maybe if we'd had fresh milk and cheese, with a salad from the garden. but i'll take what i can get. apparently there's a possibility of home made yogurt on wednesday... mmmmmmmmm.

this evening we sang patriotic songs and basically showed our appreciation for the troops. in the living room. it was definitely some good times. anyway, time for me to waddle off to bed.

comestible \kuh-MES-tuh-buhl\, adjective:
Suitable to be eaten; eatable; esculent -- noun: Something suitable to be eaten; -- usually in the plural.

Good Day

this was a very nice relaxing day. went to church this morning. my stomach made the most incredible disturbances all through both hours of jeff and steve's messages. i was highly embarrassed on multiple occassions, and papa and i almost busted out laughing once. could you hear steve?? soooo, we went home and ate lunch, much to my delight. one biscuit for breakfast apparently doesn't do the trick. hmmph, i say that as if i just found out...

after lunch i scanned some of my drawings onto my computer, for no particular reason i guess. nice to have them safely on there where they won't be lost even if i can't find my folder. unless of course my harddrive got erased or something. but then i would just have to assume it was providential and move on with my life. ha! :-D

then i spent a bunch of time working on something. yeah that's right...something. but it's a secret. you may never know! isn't that exciting?!?

so far, i'm aim free since fri night. withdrawls actually aren't too bad. well, hmmmm. maybe they are. it's not teeeeerible. i'm surviving. i'm discovering it can be done. emailing has been enacted to a greater extent, but it hasn't taken nearly as much of my time, and has not made me stay up late. so hoozah for me, and those i keep up late by doing it (aim).

didn't go to church this evening. i know i would have hated to fill up the car with gas. oh wait... i may have to anyway tomorrow. oh well. we listened to a tape of jeff instead. which reminds me - i am compiling my own list of "recently overheards" as i mentioned before that i would do when i showed you the one from wilson. so be forewarned! jeff, i do have one from you! mwahahaha! you gave me another opportunity at a quotable from that tape, but i won't use it. but i have another one. but i will be listening to you people, just waiting for an opportunity to take something you say out of context and let everyone laugh their heads off about it.... no pressure.

we're going to try and have a paintball fight over here tomorrow. ahhh wonderful. i can hardly wait. nothing like the smell of blood and sweat and stench of battle out in the humid texas heat. never give up, never surrender!

i really like the sound of this word:

gloaming \GLOH-ming\, noun:
Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening.

Cleaning

today i totally spent all day doing major operation pick up in my room. it's gone through various stages of garbage heap status since i got home from school. now the whole place is spick and span, the closet is neat and actually has room to walk in, my shelves and computer desk are in order, and the bed is made!

also of late i have been convicted and chided in regards to my use of time. so far in school i have gotten in the habit of staying up later and later. now it's becoming rather a problem. soooo, i'm joining many others of you who have conquered the aim addiction and am trying to get "un-hooked." i'm going to make a conscious effort to start getting to bed earlier, and getting up earlier and having a good quiet time to start my days. i do appreciate your prayers for me in trying to become more responsible. :-/

here's jeremy for ya - http://cst.rbma.com/content/Zits?date=20050528

been looking at the newspaper to try and find a car. hmmm... maybe a 2005 fully loaded convertible corvette... i mean, uh, how about a 93 toyota camry with 75k miles. ahh there we go. that's a little more like it.

finical \FIN-ih-kuhl\, adjective:
Extremely or unduly particular in standards or taste; fastidious; finicky.

Oh

i had forgotten how mind numbing cutting molding is.

thank goodness for blade guards, or my hand would be mangled or missing digits...

Jabberwocky

i was just thinking today how peculiar it is sometimes to listen to little children babbling away nonsensically. like, they will talk on and on and you don't realize that they're actually saying anything. because they tend to mumble and squeal to themselves so much, it's easy to zone out and not pay attention to them (or should i say, it's something you have to train yourself to do). but they're amazingly persistent! and when they come up with something important they will reiterate their statement or request times infiniti until you respond. the reason i comment on this is because i just experienced it today. i was checking my email or something on the internet, and stephen came up next to me and started saying something. but since i was busy i didn't really notice. but then something started nudging into my mind. like chinese torture with a tiny dripping of water. "ahhhuh wa moogie...ahhhuh wa moogie...ahhhuh wa moogie..." eh?? what's that you say little chap? "ahhhuh wa moogie!" oooooooh. i see. so apparently he was ready to watch a movie. but while i was sitting there looking at the computer he was going to say that over and over till the cows came in or i responded. at least he's got a tenacious drive to get what he wants, and patience too (or does his repeating mean he wasn't being patient?). you will go far young man, you will go far...

"He who restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is counted prudent." Prov. 17:27,28

equanimity \ee-kwuh-NIM-uh-tee; ek-wuh-\, noun:
Evenness of mind; calmness; composure; as, "to bear misfortunes with equanimity."

MuchísimoTrabajo

the last couple of days have been quite strenuous. on monday i had to work 10 hours on painting the fearings house. my arms are turning a dark brown now. thanks to layers of sunburns. and white spots thanks to the paint. my hands do not feel like piano hands. more like stiff leather that doesn't want to bend at the joints. today we worked another 10 hours. tomorrow will definitely be the last day, and i'm glad of that. we got all the scaffolding moved out and only have a little outside work on doors and trim left.

tomorrow i shall attempt to get some more practicing in after work. sorry nothing more. i'm a sleepy head.

tintinnabulation \tin-tih-nab-yuh-LAY-shuhn\, noun:
A tinkling sound, as of a bell or bells.

Tada!

yet another post has finally arrived. now ladies and gentlemen, i hope all realize that sentences like the one beginning that last post are supposed to be funny. yes, you might even smile and comment about it if you wanted. *sigh* i have a weird sense of humor, i'm sorry.

now, as for suffering you a few pictures, i will try. they will not be here now, but at some point. after weeding out the duplicates and fuzzy pics i have about 150 left. we did have a fabulous trip. i basically slept the entire trip there since i only got about 2.5 hours of sleep the night before. did i mention another good reason for going to sleep is when you're in the back seat of a pick up that has an in-service spit can directly in front of a high powered air conditioner? it was a struggle not to puke... but sleeping and listening to music was nice. by the way, we went to mullberry arkansas. and we went on a 13 mile trek down the mullberry river.

as for our water vehicles, there was an interesting change in events. instead of two man canoes, we ended up getting almost exlusively kayaks instead. so everyone got their own little kayak, except for 2 or 3 people who shared and soloed a couple of canoes. we let them shift out and take turns on the kayaks. for those of you who don't know, kayaks are actually a bit tricky to use. there were a bunch of boys turning around and around in circles all the way down the river. or going from one bank to the other and back again, traveling about 3 times as far as necessary.

at one point we discovered a giant rock (probably about 30 feet at it's highest) right in the middle of the river. so of course we climbed up it. and lept wildly off back into the river.

and of course we did a bit of skinny dipping, especially when we got far ahead of the others and had to wait. might as well pass the time swimming instead of sittin in the boat.

we got to see some rather beautiful scenery. i was able to take pictures of some of it. however, i missed a few good shots because there's no chance i'm going to take my camera out of it's water proof bag to take a shot when i'm navigating my way through some rapids. we saw one place on a corner where someone else had gone through side ways and their kayak had gotten wedged against a rock. the water had bent it and crushed and flattened the whole kayak. that was called "wrecking rock."

i enjoyed the ride tremendously, and also decided for longish treks like that one i prefer a canoe to the kayak. hopefully one of these days i will go back, or to another river, and do it on a better kayak (one that doesn't kill the back and has a water proof internal compartment for carrying gear) and when there is more water.

as luck would have it, there was a basket ball goal next to our camp site. so of course we made extensive use of it before and after the water part of the trip. i fell down several times on the heavy gravel and gashed myself quite nicely.

also as luck would have it (or god, since i don't believe in luck... :-P) i ended up sleeping in a tree house. nothin but me and the mosquitos and my sleeping bag. fortunately i was able to get a tent the second night. i was much happier.

we saw a bit of wildlife, my favorite being a copper head. it was quite a beautiful specimen, with a vivid pattern and a yellow tail (still a baby). i took pictures (and considered taking him home) and then the owner of the property came and smashed his head with a rock.

in my spare time i practiced my handstands, which are improving. yes, that's exactly what you always needed to know. i can tell you're thrilled. anyway...

it was an awesome trip. props to troop 342. it may be my last big escapade with them, so i'm glad to have gone out with a bang.

No Time

i extend supplications for forgiveness and apologies in profusion to any and all of my cherished readers for the pitiful void that has superseded my customary nebulous loquacious verbosity.

since getting out of school i've been working long and hard every day and then practicing a few hours on my instruments. being exhausted and having slow internet (patience is not exactly one of my few virtues) are contributing factors to my lack of posts.

now i'm getting ready to go on a canoeing trip to arkansas with the boy scout troop. i will be taking pictures, but with the computer situation the way it is, i'm not sure if i will be able to post any of them. at least not right away. but, since i need to be up at 4 (three hours away) i must not continue. i will provide an update when i return on suday.

ATTENTION! on a special note, there has been an addition made to my links list. i have convinced my friend melanie to begin her own blog. so feel free to stop by there and give her some encouragement!

tergiversation \tur-jiv-ur-SAY-shun\, noun:
1. The act of practicing evasion or of being deliberately ambiguous; subterfuge; evasion.
2. The act of abandoning a party or cause.

p.s. this stupid computer won't let me do any italics or bold or change the font. ugh, how annoying.

Wedding Bells

if you can't wait to hear about the title, then skip the first two paragraphs. so anyway, i did survive and get through my finals. i actually felt pretty confident going out of my history exam that i had done pretty well. our complete grades were posted for physics and i got a B average. i am actually rather pleased with that. i was afraid it would end up being a C. i am so completely excited to be done. my whole freshman year behind me! so i guess i'm about to have to start working my hind quarters off. i've signed up for both piano and violin lessons over the summer, which ain't cheap. *wow, the ice maker just rattled and scared the livin' daylights outa me.*

this evening a bunch of the monday night group got together and ate at auntie pastas. micah is about to depart on a 6 week geology expedition, and we all had to say our tearful goodbyes. the lasagna was terrific... then we chilled at micah and thomas's place for a while. fun times chatting, and watching (and smelling ;-P) james and micah puff their cigars. i decided to pass, and just do with second hand for tonight.

so today is a big day, because i got two marraige proposals. i better be careful what i say, since this is a public website which they might read... but basically the answer was (answers were)....no. oh well, sorry ladies. i'm quite flattered (not really since it was obviously all in jest) but i'm doing well to finish all my tests for today without getting married. see, if only this had happened last month i could have blown it into a huge april joke and totally freaked out papa (who is already suspicious of certain "lurking" people he has observed on the perimeter of my path). everyone breath sighs of relief and dissappointment.

in other news, i think i've made my first convert to blogging. my friend mel may start a blog next week. seems like most of my friends already have one, so getting a newbie started is a great honor. :-P

i best hit the sack. much packing and such to do tomorrow.

patina \PAT-n-uh; puh-TEEN-uh\, noun:1. The color or incrustation which age gives to works of art; especially, the green rust which covers ancient bronzes, coins, and medals.2. The sheen on any surface, produced by age and use.3. An appearance or aura produced by habit, practice, or use.4. A superficial layer or exterior.

Getting Closer

i have finished all my regular finals. now all that remains is my jury. i practiced my stuff for a couple of hours this morning between exams, and i feel like it's going to go ok. despite my anxiety i know that i've passed everything. thanks so much for all of you who have been praying for me and the other students taking finals. it's been an encouragment. and we all need it! best get changed and do a little last minute warm up. i'll tell you how it goes later.

a dose of dilbert

Nick and Me

Nick and Me

here we are. i don't think i've ever had a picture of nick on here. at last you get to see my room mate. we won't be rooming together next semester so i thought we could have a going away shot. bye nick!

Doesn't Get Much Better

what could be better than having java jacks delivered right to your door step? my dear friend ben was kind enough to think of me here studying and brought me a nice tall mocha to help with the physics and history. ahhhh... thanks a bunch man. better get back to it.

...Nothing...

i bit my tongue today

I Overheard Today...

this list of quotes is from someone elses blog. i believe his name is wilson. he apparently writes down interesting things that people say and posts them on his blog whenever he gets enough of them. i think i may start doing the same thing. but since i found his current ones rather amusing, i thought i'd share them with you. enjoy!

Recently Overheard
Dr. Olson: "That's a praise and a prayer. I never heard of cherry butter."
+Dr. Hood: "This is gonna be a whole lot of next."
+Ms. Knouse: "I never understood why people would want to have so much skin showing. I say cover it up and let 'em guess a little bit."
+Wheeler: "As soon as I heard 'slushie,' I knew it was gonna be bad."
+Jed: "I'm a Methodist. And I'm outraged."
+Moore: "'Natural family planning' sounds a lot like running around with a shotgun in the dark."
+Michaela: "Stupid little people."
+Dr. Solganick: "I think I need padded walls."
+Anna: "'Crap' has a negative connotation."
+Shroud: "Aww, I got to be a communist."
+Ziggy: "So woman is law."

Still Three ta Go

right now i'm squirming with disbelief. it's not the end of the world, but i missed a final. the biggest most important one of all, my piano jury. all this time i've been thinking it was at 1:45. i went and ate lunch and then went waltzing into the music building to warm up at about 12:15. on my way up the stairs i saw dr pitts and sam (who was giving me a funny look). dr pitts asked, "so did you end up playing?" and i was like (sic), "um, not yet." "oh, did you have a test or something? we were afraid that since we went a bit over time you had to leave for a final." "(with concern in my voice and an increased heart rate) my time is at 1:45......?" dr pitts smiled, "actually your time was at 11:45." at that point i was really doing just fine. we all know what fine means (freaked out, insecure, neurotic, emotional). but not to worry... after feverishly running around finding the keyboard faculty, i've got it rescheduled for thursday. i can't decide whether to be relieved that i have a couple of extra days, or annoyed that i still have it hanging over my head when it would otherwise already be done. so now i have all three of my hardest finals in one day. :-( oh well, i must pay more attention in the future.

Two Down, Three ta Go

i've completed my theory final this morning. that's one more chunk knocked off the load. i felt like it went really well. i'm quite confident i got a good score. since my last post i also worked on history and practiced piano yesterday. now i've got juries coming up next, which is pretty much the biggest deal of all. time to hit the keys. if you think of me at some point during the day, pray that everything will go well.

Finals

so finals begin... i had my first (in aural skills) at 8 this morning. *sigh* i think it went pretty good. it had so many parts. most of them i did well on but i really don't know what my total will be. probably a low A. the parts of the test included - chord and interval identification, two melodic dictations (in major and minor), harmonic dictation, rhythemic dictation, sight singing (in major and minor), and rhythem reading (in duple and triple). one final down, four more to go. next on the agenda is studying a little for theory and practicing my heart out for jury.

to briefly sum up the weekend - i went to the brahms requium (which i probably just totally misspelled) on friday. it was really good. so beautiful i could hardly stay awake. after that a few of us went to chilis, which was of course delicious. it's andrea's birthday today, and kelli's birthday tomorrow, so we told the waiter it was there b-day's and they each got a free dessert. then we went over to andrea and david's apartment and watched movies and stuff.

on sat i did laundry (about the only productive thing i got done during the morning). then i went to ben's eagle scout court of honor. i'm so glad my bud made eagle. it's quite an accomplishment and we're all super proud of him. then he had a separate reception for his graduation. there i got to see lots of friends, some of whom i don't get to see very often. and i got to meet ben's sister's fiance. so it was fun. after that i had to leave to play for the piano studio recital. that went pretty well. after that i went to a family friends 25th anniversary party. more good food... yesssssssssss. then back to campus. where i proceeded to goof off.

yesterday i went to church in the morning. one of the verses i really liked, which i hadn't read in a long time. "By those who come near Me, I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored." i think i may add that at the top of my blog for a while, since i've had the same rich mullins quote up for some time. it's definitely a good verse to keep in mind at all times. after church i went home for the first time in a couple of weeks, to celebrate mother's day. after lunch we played cards and had an overall fun family time. also ate a delicious cake. i played my recital piece for the family since they weren't able to hear me on saturday. then we went to church again in the evening.

after church i got to go to dr dalmus and dr raychev's house. this was for the end-of-the-semester string party. dr raychev had quite oudone himself making wonderful bulgarian dishes for us to feast upon. it was a great time, talking about music, and listening to the "elder ones" talking about there days in high school (and getting beat up, in dr jacobson's case) and about college, and having long hair, and all that good stuff. it was a rather nice party. i'm quite pleased to be in on this group! :-)

and that brings me back to today. so ever and i got up early and ate breakfast before class. i think i've only gotten up and eaten before an 8:00 once or twice before in my entire college carreer, and definitely not this semester. it's sad, i know. but i did it today, and got to class early. now i just got through helping ever with some of his stuff. assisted him in learning a piano piece which he has to play for some little piano technique class. and i transposed a piece for him and wrote it all in bass clef so he could play it on his cello (one of the many wonderful things about playing the piano is being able to fluently read both treble and bass clef). now i must hit the books, and the piano. till next time, keep groovin' me korpulent comrades! (if you don't get it, read the end of my last post and the comments)

aver \uh-VUR\,transitive verb;Inflected forms: averred; averring:1. To affirm with confidence; to declare in a positive manner, as in confidence of asserting the truth.2. (Law) To assert, claim, or declare as a fact.

Update

if you will notice, i did put up a new "beardless" profile picture. i'm sorry i didn't shave first, but that's probably a more accurate depiction of what i look like most of the time, since i hate shaving (yeah ever wonder why i grew that beard out for so long in the first place?).

i did finish that research paper at long last. wasn't able to post about that or anything else yesterday because the sfa server was down for a while. now i only have piano juries and finals in every other class under the sun. but somehow i feel light as a feather since the paper is done. well, sorta light. except that the reality of juries is starting to hit home with a pretty solid punch.

practiced a bunch today. oh! i went to the music prep string recital last night. let me tell you, there were some amazing little string players. when listening to this one girl who looks about 10 (no older than 12 certainly) karen said, "wow, i wish i could play like that." just think how good she'll be in 8 or 10 years when she's our age! assuming she doesn't get burned out, which karen pointed out is a possibility. i sure hope she keeps up the good work and doesn't get fed up with it from over doing it while she's still young.

went to church this evening. had an encouraging lesson on psalm 23. a bunch of us went to java jacks afterward and talked about stuff. not so much the service this time, but just things we had questions and concerns about. i always enjoy talking with this bunch of people.

in other sad news, a girl just got arrested on campus yesterday for drunken indecent exposure in front of a police officer. i can't believe the stuff people will do, regardless of what condition they're in. that's a good reason not to get in the habit of drinking too much. makes you do crazy stuff.

oh, and by the way, i'm in the middle of talking to someone on aim, and they say that i should be talking about them. she came up with this idea because i said that i didn't have anything interesting to post about this time. i'm sorry though melanie, even though our conversation has been somewhat entertaining, it doesn't really have anything of substance that would help to flesh out my post.

anway, here's the word of the day as i head to the bed.

corpulent \KOR-pyuh-luhnt\, adjective:Very fat; obese.

Uh Oh

looks like another all nighter coming right up. mucho homework due tomorrow.

i did find out that i didn't get my first dorm choice. it turns out i will be living in steen. on the 7th floor. yeah, big bummer. i also know who my room mate will be, though i haven't met him yet. but i'll keep everyone posted about that.

did a ton of practicing today. and had a violin lesson.

ate leftovers from chili's, which was heavenly. along with a dr pepper, which i'm still drinking.

nick told me i was sleep talking last night. the funny thing is, i vaguely remember him coming in (he says it was about 2:00) and realizing i was trying to tell him something. i think maybe i woke myself up by talking, and then didn't know what i had been trying to say, so i just layed back down and went to sleep. nick told me i sat bolt upright and started gesticulating and telling him about one of my posters on the wall. apparently i kinda startled him. when he asked what i was talking about, i just smiled with satisfaction, folded my hands behind my head and went to sleep again. ah, the joys of living with a weird roommate. hehe.

ahem. back to business. i'll be back later.

daedal \DEE-duhl\, adjective:1. Complex or ingenious in form or function; intricate.2. Skillful; artistic; ingenious.3. Rich; adorned with many things.

P.S. oh, i just remembered to complain about macgamut again. i had to turn in an assignment on it today, and went through some of the same miseries. i got all but two right on my first attempt, and i only had one more to go before the level was "mastered" and then i got another one wrong. then i had to get five more right in a row to finish the level all because of that one. then i got the fifth one wrong and had to get five more right to pass. but it's finally over. no more macgamut this semester! hurray!!!

P.P.S. on the same sad note as my macgamut troubles, i did a course evaluation for one of my classes, which the instructor wanted by tomorrow (actually today now, but you know what i mean). i slaved over writing all sorts of things, including tactful criticism, and then my internet "mySFA" session expired and kicked me off. of course i lost all my answers to the survey and my evaluations. i think i turned red with rage. i still haven't gone back to do it again. anway, this is enough perseverating for now.