Good'ay to Ye!

i have never felt this good one week before finals in my life. unless it was before i started college. probably not then either. have you seen second hand lions? if not, go rent it right now and watch it. anyway, walter's uncles are sitting out on the porch, sipping iced tea, shooting the salesmen with shotguns, typical day. uncle garth blows the smoke from his barrel and leans back in his rocking chair to watch the settling dust of the last escaping emissary, "nice evenin'. peaceful." how i find any semblance of logic in such allegories as this is beyond comprehension. just shoot me now. i'm dangerously lacking in anxiety about finals. i say praise god. and i hope this post finds you in good health and spirits as well. cheers!

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6,7

Bye Bye MacGamut

a few seconds ago i entered a moment of triumph. for the last time ever, macgamut asked me, "would you like to save a backup copy? if nothing bad ever happens to you, click no. to save a copy click yes." talk about a program with an attitude. anyway, i have turned in my last assignment, and i will never be plagued by that sardonic program again. unless it's just to help other hapless music students. it would be fine for you to sing happy birthday to me now.

'Brella Cuzza Rain

i'm falling in love with early quiet times in the arboretum. it's the place to be, i'm telling you. very peaceful, and quite pleasant with weather like today (this morning that is).

other important events of the day include burning my tongue on pizza cheese.

wearing my special hat, and walking in the rain.

standing at the top of the stadium in the dark and letting my hair blow around my face.

registered for classes! woot woot!!! 18 hours.

dr tkacik suggested that anyone interested should consider taking some of his upper level courses, in his areas of "speciality." however he prefaced this suggestion with the statement that "those other courses are not like this one. you actually have to work, and write papers, and do lots of reading. i recommend my terrorism course: 'how to do it'." one of the guys is like, "whoa whoa whoa wait a minute. not 'easy' like this one? are you saying this isn't a lot of reading?" we all joined in laughing at his expense, and shared with him the sober truth that once he advanced past his freshman year the reading load for this course would seem like a piece of cake. then he said, "oh my gooooood!" and started wailing.

i've always loved this word:
galumph \guh-LUHM(P)F\, intransitive verb:To move in a clumsy manner or with a heavy tread.

MCC JS*

the terrors are settling in on me. i can feel it. the cruel cold clutches of a dreadful, dark and inevitable fate. as bad as that sounds, in actuality it only amounts to my personal apprehensions of round four, examus extremus: the common "finals week syndrom" (FWS).

getting up at 6:45 to get a parking permit can actually be a good thing, contrary even to the laws of my own mind. reading in the arboretum in the cool morning shade (so what if it's 99% humidity) is frabjous. so is the knowledge that my car can now sit perfectly motionless on it's private block of pavement free from such cares of the world as the diligent fat sadistic little upd "agents" who prowl about seeking whom they may devo... i mean ticket. by the by, "fat sadistic little agent" is a stereotype if i ever heard one. a really good one too, considering half of them are lean students lacking almost any credentials who ramble about not caring about anything and arbitrarily putting tickets anywhere that strikes their fancy. speaking of rambling. and saying absurd thing. just stop. ok.

*Mint Chocolate Chip Java Shake - cuz i just finished one. time for one happy camper to hit the goose down.

Honk HOOONK!!!

ladies and gentlemen... it's official... i have my own wheels!!! this is little ol' me in my mazda 626, and i couldn't be more excited. i went to livingston with karen this afternoon to rendezvous with her parents and do the mega mazda exchange. we had a 3, a 6 and a 626 all in a row in the mc d's parking lot. karen and i are both happy campers for sure. cya!

Spring Fest

wow, today was ROCKIN'. i definitely stayed up too late last night, and was surprised at how short my rest was. so i got up at noon, ate lunch, and then went to the spring fest. we walked around on the hot parking lot, enjoying the various stands. i saw dr tkacik and got to meet his wife and little son milo. milo's the cutest little tike (not to be compared with my little brother's of course) and he shook my hand. didn't watch too much of the mud volley ball, because it stank like anything. so instead we climbed a tree and sat in the shade. it was a fine time. then alyssa convinced me to enter the pie eating contest. i've never done this before! it was awesome. and i a buddy of mine named stephen was sitting right beside me (he won the contest). here we are post-feast.

a little later we (at this point "we" = ever, nick, alyssa, jennifer and i) went to the store and then had a picnic under a pavillion by the intramural fields. it wasn't just any picnic. no, it was a "round theme" picnic. we ate sandwiches made with bagels, round meats and round cheeses, cylindrical cans of sprite, donuts, and cookies, all sitting in a circle under a round pavillion.

i forgot to mention that i also had a rehearsal with a euphonium player earlier. yeah.

then this evening i went to hear fonny's graduate recital. alyssa decided to come too, after which she expressed a sense of being "cultured." the recital was fabulous. fonny played the waldstein sonata by beethoven, a piece by ravel (don't remember the name) and a piano arrangment of the nutcracker suite. wonderful stuff. i have nothing more to say about it, since it's way past my bed time. g'nigh!

Composed

Dear Blog,

I'm beginning to wonder if I shall be capable of playing the piece i'm writing for theory. Why do I do this to myself?

Love, Jordan

Full Day

last night i did not sleep very well. i really expected that i would instantly konk out and never stir till my alarm, cuz i went bonkers yesterday and ran a total of 8 miles. and yes, i was sore this morning.

other things i did today:

fell on my face on the steps to the music building.
sweated. a lot.
went to a gazillion classes.
ATE PASTA AND BAGELS.
got to shout "hi mom!" in polictical science.
and right now i definitely have to do some reading and writing and practicing.

isn't this what garrison keeler says about those biscuits? "my goodness they're tasty, and...
expeditious \ek-spuh-DISH-uhs\, adjective:Characterized by or acting with speed and efficiency.

The Infamous Ice Cream Man

Papa prepares to disseminate scoops of sweetness to the masses from the proverbial tower of blue bell.

when i thought of "the masses" i kind of started thinking of "the 5000" that jesus fed. then it occurred to me that this might be kind of like starting out with the 12 full baskets of food, and then just feeding all the apostles instead of "the multitude." don't ask me how i came to that conclusion. 

Dandy Gandy

my trip to the dentist this morning was of course horrendous. my lips were getting dry and cracked from having air blowing on them while they were stretched to the limit. my jaw was sore from the rubber "keep-your-mouth-open-wider" thingy. as i raised myself slowly to the sink the first time i was told to rinse, it felt like my cheeks were 3 inches thick, and my mouth chock full of sand. i tried, more or less successfully to state this to the nurse, who commented that it was actually pretty accurate. minus the 3 inch cheek part. after the procedure was done, i had to go to the bathroom and wash up, because i had white speckles all over my face, and smears of cement on my lip. i came back to my room and took a nap, both to catch up on sleep, and to avoid the sensation of my numb face recovering from the aenesthetic. the phone rang, and i woke up spitting chunks of white stuff. i was like, "UGGHHH!!!" so after freaking out and thinking that the filling was disintegrating, i settled down and started thinking about food.

this has been a splendicious easter. i finished with classes on thurs evening for a nice 4 day weekend. let's see what i managed to do with that time...

started out by doing my poli sci homework. woot! discovered that the cafeteria didn't even serve dinner. then we stayed up waaaaaaay too late. we went to the tennis courts and learned how to dance da tango. if you're wondering why it was at the tennis courts of all places, it's because michael and joanna chose that as the spot to make their demonstration. i think there were all of 7 of us. then we watched a movie.

on friday, (after extravagantly sleeping in) i did my theory homework. oh! we (and by 'we' i usually mean ever and i, or us and other people) went on a bike ride down lanana creek trail. i had a horrible spill and nearly died, but escaped with only a couple of bruises and scrapes on my knees and shins. of course we had to go visit the abts and their brand-spankin' new house. they gave us the grand tour, and we had a nice visit. i'm struggling to remember what else. ahh, my library module. yes indeed.

*a whole lot of time elapses, and i come back realizing i have no desire to write anything else*

goodnight!

i definitely just bit the fire out of one of my fingers, and dropped a knife coated with cream cheese on the floor. that's what i get for being a greedy bagel eater. it's kind of embarrassing to bite yourself.

it really hit me today that that anxious, occassionally panicking, uneasy, losing one's appetite, not enough sleep, eyelid twitching, over-caffeinated sensation of the end of the semester is setting in.

i had a fabulous 15 minutes dr gandy this morning, during which he took my blood pressure, an x-ray, ground off the jagged part of my filling, and scheduled me to get a crown "installed." i shall be spared the ordeal of root-canal. my pocket book shall not be spared.

the music lit exam this morning was FABULOUS.

from there, things only get less interesting. i practiced for woooooooooooooo... had my third rehearsal with jared. the concert is tomorrow night. i'm freaking out about it. less so today than i was yesterday, but still kind of freaking. i'm falling asleep. twitching. hm. napkins.

this was a good day. so was yesterday.

praise god from whom all blessings flow.

Listen

this evening has been devoted to the reading of a book called "listen." i felt it necessary to share a small quote from it with you. in a discussion about the tomb scene of verdi's opera "aida" was found by me this sentence: "amneris's grief is set directly against the ecstatic, otherworldly togetherness of radames and aida." wow, ecstatic otherworldly togetherness. i love it! hahaha! and your word of the day shall be a creation of wagner, coined by him during the 1850's to describe his "music dramas," which transcended plain old opera.

gesamtkunstwerk - "total work of art", or "complete-art work"

i had a swell time baby sitting this weekend. on friday i went home to allow my presence to give bethany a little reprieve from her child duties. mom, evan and courtney were all off at some sort of a speech and debate tournament. quite fascinating i'm sure. what's really fascinating is the psychology of children. bethany made soup for dinner. one of the main ingredients was an assortment of beans, which she had soaked the day before. i mean, really soaked these guys. she put them in the water early in the evening, let them sit, rewatered them, boiled them for ten minutes, let them sit over night in the water, allowed them to sit all the next day, and then we finally cooked them in the soup. don't ask me why they were hard. there's no explanation. wow, i'm really losing my train of thought. so we start eating, right? and i gave everyone some bread and butter to make it go down smoothly. it wasn't long before i heard the inevitable..."i don' wike dis." i munched my bread and butter and pondered the situation for a moment. "mmmmmm. MMMMMMM....mmmMMMMMMmmm!!!" i took a huge bite of beans, leaning my head back and closing my eyes. stephen and owen were amazed, staring with disbelief at my blissful enjoyment. i opened one eye and looked at stephen. he picked up his spoon, took a manly scoop of beans and dug in, "mmmMMMMMM!!!!" then i'm like, "hey, owen... want another piece of bread and butter?" "yeah!" "then you better hurry! see how much you can eat before it's ready! oh my gosh, it's already half buttered! eat it quick! hurry, one more bite!!!" he was a little harder, but hey, he ate a great deal. and in good humor as well. was i that gullible when i was a small tike? i know i was. i think my face still twitches and my mouth hangs open when i see someone make a funny face. not that that has anything to do with anything. the opera was great tonight. i saw the abts too. woot, fun times! hi abts! kbye!!!

Toofer Trouble

you might say that today was a bad day. but really it wasn't. there was just a particular incident involving one of my teeth that didn't go according to plan. i have a molar that developed a large cavity, which was filled last year. the extensive damage compramised the walls of the tooth, and i was told a crown would probably be necessary after a few years. or apparently even sooner... one corner of my tooth cracked off, probably during my lunch time chomping. i also probably swallowed it. now the filling is poking me in the tongue. but that's such a small thing compared with the real issue that's closer to my heart...

how much are my stupid teeth going to cost???

Today...

...i had a theory test. it was so easy it was just wrong.

studied a little german.

listened to beaucoups of music in music lit.

accompanied christian for il lacerano spirito.

we learned about various political parties in poli sci, democratic party, republican party, legalize it party, birthday party...

went on a bike ride with mary, downtown, past the abts new houses, through the cemetery, down the lanana creek trail. it was fun. i'm grossly sweaty.

time to eat.

this was boring. i'm going to be thinking of something interesting. i hope.

this evening i'm completely excited about composing, of all things. for a music theory class we're required to write a piece in one of four styles (i chose the late romantic). on thurs. we're supposed to meet with our prof. to discuss our progress. i've downloaded a program called noteworthy composer, and am writing a piece for piano and cello. this program will play back to me what i've written, including different instrumentation, slurs, dynamics, tempos, anything i want it to do. ahhhhh... delight!

Grandpa

inwardly, some felt revulsion, others mild discomfort, and others cringed stoicly. he approached at a medium gait, not hurried, but intent on his purpose. "hello young man," he said, his jaw rotating as he ground his teeth (or gums). "hi," what tasty treats does he have for us today, i wondered. throwing his bag over his shoulder grandpa grasped my hand firmly. i returned the grip, peering into his bulging eyes shifting around behind their 3 inch thick magnifying lenses. "he's got a pretty good grip," said he, glancing at ever and nick, who were wondering whether i was the one extenuating the hand-shake, or if grandpa was responsible. "he's tough, but does he have endurance?" grandpa adjusted his candy bag and contorted his arm and body as he squeezed with all his might. i was smiling faintly, not sure if i should go ahead and give it everything i had to make grandpa say uncle (and for the sake of my piano hand), and definitely not wanting to release my grip, lest my hand be crushed. now, had i considered it more thoroughly, it would have occurred to me that nothing could be funnier than to hear grandpa say uncle to me. but i just persevered, and he eventually gave up, bestowed chewing gum upon us all, and went away. another close encounter. another victory. have a great day grandpa.

only one of these definitions matters...

grasp ( P ) Pronunciation Key (grsp)v. grasped, grasp·ing, grasps v. tr.
To take hold of or seize firmly with or as if with the hand.
To clasp firmly with or as if with the hand.
To take hold of intellectually; comprehend. See Synonyms at apprehend. v. intr.
To make a motion of seizing, snatching, or clutching.
To show eager and prompt willingness or acceptance: grasps at any opportunity. n.
The act of grasping.
A firm hold or grip.
An embrace.
The ability or power to seize or attain; reach: Victory in the election was within her grasp.
Understanding; comprehension: “only a vague intuitive grasp of the meaning of greatness in literature” (Gilbert Highet).