Whoa

i almost had another bike wreck yesterday. it was right in the middle of east college street. i think i almost wet myself with embarrassment. but since that would have been even more embarrassing, i restrained myself. i'm going to have to stop driving so recklessly.

and here's from dr mann himself, "you'll have to forgive me for not being myself today... but i have a good excuse. it's my birthday. another year forward in senility." hmmmmm, sounds like he's being himself to me...

i have to say that i think ever's and my ab workout routine has advanced a little further than i originally anticipated. it took an entire hour to do it all. on the plus side though, after about 10 or 15 minutes i was numb, so why not get in plenty of extra work while i can't feel it? hmm, the things one will do to get out of reading history... what? did i just say that?

mawkish \MOCK-ish\, adjective:1. Sickly or excessively sentimental.2. Insipid in taste; nauseous; disgusting.

Please Let it be Cold

this morning i wore a scarf (thanks allison) and a beanie. this afternoon i wore a t-shirt... hey, i tried. come on texas, BRING IT!

I Want One of These...

From Fox...
Singing Peacekeepers to Sleep
KOSOVSKA MITROVICA, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) — Getting a good night's sleep in the Balkans can be rough for peacekeepers bunking in a military camp far from home and family for months at a time. Now Danish researchers have come up with an unusual solution — MusiCure, a soft pillow that chirps like a bird and is designed to sing soldiers to sleep in Kosovo, Iraq and other hotspots.
With built-in speakers, the white pillows release sounds from nature combined with acoustic instruments such as cellos to provide a serenade designed to help stressed-out minds shed unpleasant thoughts.
Its designers say that if it works, the pillow one day could join rifles, flak jackets and helmets as part of the basic equipment soldiers carry into conflicts.
In Kosovo, 10 pillows provided by Denmark's Defense Academy have become popular among the 340 Danish soldiers deployed here, said Maj. Helmer T. Hansen, the battalion surgeon at the Danish military clinic in the province.
Soldiers can keep the pillows for two weeks, said Hansen, ticking off their benefits with the air of a hypnotist.
"You will not think about what is maybe happening with your wife at home, or your children," he said. "All thoughts will disappear, images will be created — forests, beaches, mountains. And then you will fall asleep."
The pillows are part of a trial that began a month ago. So far, about 20 Danish troops in need of relaxation and some quick sleep in the often ethnically tense province have used them to get some shuteye.



except, i doubt i would want to forget about what's happening with my wife and children (assuming i had those things). but you get the idea.

Mr. Forgetful

how long have i been going to sfa now?? yeah, i somehow still forget that the cafeteria closes at 6 on the weekends. how is that even possible? but i always miss meals and manage ok. though i have been having weird stomach stuff going on. but i think that's mainly from the times that i don't miss meals. yuck!

oh, i think i'm going to java's now. that should make my stomach feel better...

Here's Me

i found this picture online when i was looking up yerkes on google. i had totally forgotten it even existed! it's from just last semester right before i played the mozart concerto with the chamber orchestra. if you're wondering why i was looking myself up on google, it was sparked by allison suddenly calling me and asking about what my last name meant, and if there were alternate pronunciations, and where it originated, and all that jazz. so anyway, yeah. that's all. 

"Yo Tito!"

today i walked right past the president coming out of the uc. i cannot tell you how tempted i was to go, "yo tito ma maaaaaan!!!!! wassup??" but i wimped out and just said "hey!" and he said hey back and that was it. anyway, that was lame and i determined that next time i will be his pal and be a little more friendly.

so sfa lost royally to sam houston today. when i stopped watching (before half-time) sfa was losing 31-0. do i really want to even know what happened after that? at least the astros are going to the world series. woohoo! first time in history! it even merited a place in the first 2 minutes of dr mann's lecture this morning.

currently, i am procrastinating by doing everything imaginable (including writing this post) to avoid studying for keyboard literature. i even cleaned the sink and the bathroom! pretty desperate, no? oh yeah, i also vacuumed. and did my laundry. very productive day... i also got piano and violin practice in. i'm on a roll. hopefully i can manage to get some practice in on both instruments every single day this week, including the weekend.

tocsin \TOCK-sin\, noun:1. An alarm bell, or the ringing of a bell for the purpose of alarm.2. A warning.

J.S. (Johann Sebastian) Bach...

i couldn't resist giving you this little tid bit. while doing some of my studying for keyboard literature, i ran accross this facinating website about bach. i will include the text in it's entirety, which is quite extensive (NOT!). you have two options: basically you can laugh your head off or shake it in despair.

"JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

J.S. Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, in 1685 and died in 1750 (he was 65 when he died). He came from a long family history of professional muscicians [sic] including church organists and composers. Like his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, J.S. (Johann Sebastian) would learn and surpass him in this art of classical music composing.

Bach's childhood wasn't that great [no kidding...] as his father passed away when he was 9 and his mother also died when he was a young boy. Although he spent much time with his musically inclined uncles, he also spent time studying and learning from his older brother, Johann Christoph Bach.

Growing up, Bach learned much about organ building. Back in those days, the church organ was a highly complex instrument with many mechanical and moving parts/pedals and pipes. His early experience with repairing and talking with organ builders & performers would prove valuable as he mastered the musical craft.

Copyright Tile.net. All Rights Reserved [wow, good thing they included that last. i sure would like to quote from that little snippet of literary genius and say it was my original words.]"

the article itself lies here

btw, since i'm talking about geniuses (was i?) i thought i'd point out that my bracketed words are supposed to be yellow. if they're not, i'm sorry, but the fact is that when they're red i can't read them once they're posted, and on here i can't even tell the difference (meaning they probably aren't even red at all. more like brown or something). if it's not yellow, knowing how i am, i hereby guess that it is green in advance of correction.

Speaking of Blogging...

zits is just priceless today.

OBTW

oh by the way, here's a new (and probably highly disturbing) picture of me. actually it isn't new at all, but at least it's a different one. i can't seem to find anything worthy in my pictures though. one day maybe a good one will appear.

Happy Birthday!

today is the birthday of the stephenmeister, smallest of the yerkes clan. he is now four, and can almost hold up four of his stubby digits properly, while proudly stating this fact. :-P he made the rather tasty choice of german chocolate for his cake. topped off with blue bell, what could be better? unless it were something with cream cheese icing, which i absolutely adore! [hint hint hint...] speaking of hints, whenever you ask stephen how old he is, he let's out something about how his gator is broken, or he sure does like his gator, or if only he had a gator. hahaha, clever chap. get 'em while they're all soft over his cute little "i'm fower" and uncoordinated fingers.

today i did oodles of practicing, mainly on the piano, but also the violin. vibrato is a difficult technique to learn. 'nuff said.

did a photo shoot with pat and asmodeus for pics to send to a potential buyer. also did a mini-shoot with allison and asmodeus, at her request since they're fast friends.

i discovered and absolutely wonderful feature available to students through mysfa and the steen library. i can look up pretty much any classical piece through the calli music catalogue online and listen to a recording of it. like, anything. if i know the name of the piece it will be there and i can just click on the "listen" button and hear it right out of my speakers, free of charge, without the hastle of going and borrowing or checking out recordings. SO COOL! thanks sam for showing me! oh wait, sam doesn't read this. never mind, he still deserves the credit for being such a great guy.

in other news, i lost my student id this weekend. shame shame shame. so, since i was kinda ready to eat today, i went and got a new one. it's all slick and shiny like i'm a freshmen, with only one validation sticker on it. and i have a new picture, which is rather more acurate as opposed to the one of me with short hair, a small goatee, and an unfortuate shadow on my left side giving the impression of severely lop-sided proportions. did that last sentence even make any sense? ah, who cares. i've got a new one now, and nothing else matters.

oh yeah, and since i have many things on my agenda to do, i best end here. till next time, stay cool "homes." [laughing as i think of those words coming out of andres' mouth]

obfuscate \OB-fuh-skayt\, transitive verb:1. To darken or render indistinct or dim.2. To make obscure or difficult to understand or make sense of.3. To confuse or bewilder.

Psalm 128

i read this this evening, and it was so wonderful and simple that i decided to make it a post.

"how blessed is everyone who fears the lord, who walks in his ways. when you shall eat of the fruit of your hands, you will be happy, and it will be well with you. your wife shall be like a fruitful vine within your house, and your children like olive branches around your table. behold, for thus shall the man be blessed who fears the lord. the lord bless you from zion, and may you see the prosperity of jerusalem all the days of your life. indeed, may you see your children's children. peace be upon israel."

psalm 128

The Fun Never Ends

doncha love it when people get pied? and what could be better than a vogue editor getting pied by peta??? apparently vogue refused to give them an article in the mag for which they were willing to pay as much as a fur ad paid. so of course the deranged peta protestors were out to wreak revenge. i've got to admit that people must have the brain of winnie-the-pooh. i mean seriously; what company wants to advertise something against their product? did they honestly suppose that since they were offering to pay just as much for the ad that it was entirely legitimate that their's be run in place of some fur promotion? keep the jokes comin' folks.

so what am i up to? i just spent two hours in a sound proof room listening to various pieces of music. beethoven's symphony #5, mozart's symphony #40, and his piano concerto in A, don giovanni, etc. go ahead and kill me now. no, i take that back, i'm headed to pizza hut. on the bright side, besides going to class, and practicing piano and violin, and listening to gobs of music, i did a couple of other things today. one in particular was feeding my snakes.

it just occurred to me that this deserves a new paragraph, since it's entirely unrelated to listening to music. anyway, i don't think i ever mentioned having two new roommates. in case you don't know, keep this on the low-down, because it's against the rules (don't ask why i'm posting it on a public web site). buuuuuut, since my family is moving, my snakes are now occupying an inconspicuous place under my bed until they can find a new home. meaning the snakes find a new home. they aren't moving back in with my family when they find a new home. anyway, allison and i went and bought them some supper which they happily scarfed up.

btw, in case you didn't know, my family is about to move. that's probably slipped out in things like my last paragraph, but it is definitely official and impending now. the house is sold, and the closing date is in... two weeks? i think exactly two weeks from today. feels kinda weird for me, being away from home and all that. like it's not quite real.

i was about to go eat a pizza wasn't i? i'm feeling very up-tight. maybe i'll have a good cry over my pizza. and then look at my schedule for the week and have another cry. and then maybe do something about it.

p.s. i went to my first sfa game for this semester this weekend with allison. and, wonder of wonders, they won! don't ask me for too many details about the game. okay, tata.

em·pir·i·cism ( P ) Pronunciation Key (m-pîr-szm)n.
The view that experience, especially of the senses, is the only source of knowledge.
Employment of empirical methods, as in science.
An empirical conclusion.
The practice of medicine that disregards scientific theory and relies solely on practical experience.

Why???

why do i get on blogger when i have a million and one other things to do before 5 o'clock in the morning?

Exercise

of late i have been wondering how beneficial, if at all, my everyday activities are toward keeping me somewhat healthy. #1 mode of transportation: bicycle. obviously this requires a certain amount of physical exersion. since i tend to ride everywhere at top speed, pedaling with all my might, it is often a considerable amount of work. however, since campus isn't really all that big, going at top speed gets me around pretty timely, and i'm not actually working hard for very long. is it unhealthy to walk out of my room, hop on my bicycle and get my heart really pounding for about 3 minutes, and then go sit down in a class room? and then leave and get it pounding for 2 more minutes going to my next class? and so on, several times a day? whatever. just some thoughts from someone who should be reading history.

Monkey Business

i say you haven't enjoyed aural skills to its fullest until you have done rhythmic reading with clapping and ape like sound effects for rests. the reason i say it that way is because i got the hugest kick out of doing just in class with dr lias. we did "rhythmic duets" and the two sides of the room into which we were divided each clapped out the notes in time. then one half of the room said "OOO!!!" for all their rests, and the other half of the room shrieked "AGHHH!!!" on all of their's. it was quite an exciting ruckus. even dr king came by and stuck his head in to find out about all the fuss. dr lias is officially my auraul skills hero. even if i do still hate macgamut...

i have mega reading to do. oh and dinner to eat. gotta keep my priorities straight here. and going to the library to study with allison. school makes me reeeeeally feel crazy in the head sometimes. that's all. kbye

pablum \PAB-luhm\, noun:Something (as writing or speech) that is trite, insipid, or simplistic.
I imagined his thoughts had been solely of me, that the letter would be filled with love sonnets, that it would gush with the same romantic pablum I devoured from those movie star magazines. --Kate Walbert, The Gardens of Kyoto

Austin Weekend

i had a delightful time in austin this weekend. courtney r. (not the yerkes courtney) and kaylin and i all went with allison to her parents house on friday evening. we all got introduced, ate dinner, played the piano, and pool, listened to cd's, took pictures, went for a neighborhood walk (from which we have at least one memorable moment that will probably be a private joke for at least a couple more weeks...) and generally had a blast. then on saturday we went shopping (clarification: i walked around and did my best to show support while the girls did the shopping) :-P mr parkhurst showed us a splendid toy he had made, which functioned similarly to a tiny potato canon. it had a small cap that you could squirt some hair-spray in, and then squeeze onto the end of the gun. inside the tip of the gun were two wires that would spark at the touch of a small button on the handle. it made an impressive noise and blasted the harmless plastic cap accross the room. it was used to awaken me from a siesta for lunch... i also found out about "animusic." i have yet to look it up for myself, but i saw some of the animations which they had on dvd, and it was amazing. i'll maybe write something more about it later. bleh, i really don't have time for this post, nor can i do the trip justice. anyway, it was a fun time. on sat evening we ate at katz's, and then got to go visit grandpa and grandmary. on sunday we went to church (waaaaaaaay bigger than what i'm used to, coming from little bethlehem mission in nac). after lunch, and a movie, and boggle, or whatever all we did (i'm getting some of the activities and the days they were done on mixed up) we headed out at around 4:00. including the circles we drove in austin trying to work through various detours and stuff, it took 5 hours to get home. i had the pleasure of actually driving "jerome" for the first time, to give allison a break. i think i only made my passengers hold their breath one time... then we got back and unpacked and went straight to bed in exhaustion. okay, scratch that. that's what i wanted to do. i wanted to do that more than anything at that moment. but no, i had to do macgamut. so i was up till 2 last night, and then finished the last of it this morning before class. but i did get it all finished, and on that happy note i'm off to practice before my violin lesson.

effulgence \i-FUL-juhn(t)s\, noun:The state of being bright and radiant; splendor; brilliance.