Life Is Happenin'

i'm sorry to have left that absurd scrap on the front page for so long. so much has been happening (working, jogging, dancing, watching movies, yard work, baby sitting, mouse hunting, electrocutions, and more things than you can imagine) that i won't even bother making excuses for why this post is tardy...

so i have been working. did i already mention grinding aluminum? i think so. nothing new to report on that front. i will be grinding until kingdom come.

i did meet my jogging expectations last week. ran 4 miles every week day, and capped it off with 8 on saturday.

besides scampering up and down the lanana creek trail, i also managed a little workout by going to the last two dance practices. i always forget how amazingly fun it is. i really want to take the ballroom dancing class at school, but i don't have anyone to do it with. seems like it would be better to have someone to practice with out of class. besides, adding that to 18 hours might not be a good idea. then again, it would be fun... whatever. i had an excellent time both last friday (when we danced in the allied warehouse. we had fans galore, one of which tried to fly away like a plane when we set it on a dolly) and this evening when we used the vinyard church facilities (which were air conditioned). this saturday is the grand ball, which will be held in the twilight ball room. i'm going to try to convince everyone that we need to have dance "practices" every week this summer.

on sunday, believe it or not, i got a babysitting job. unsolicited of course, but i was both pleased and amused to do it. the sicheashun wuz dis - there were two girls hopefully coming to a wedding to babysit 6 small children. however, they were not certainly going to be able to come, so obviously the parents were panicking. i agreed to come and look out for the little chaps. then, shortly after i arrived, the two other girls did show up. "great," i thought, "now this should be a sinch. just two kids per sitter." then an amazing thing happened. only two kids came. the rest were deemed worthy/capable/mature/whatever enough to sit in the sanctuary. to make a long (2 hour) story short, the three of us, struggling with all our might, managed to keep 2 munchkins under control, and i got $10. it must stink being a babysitter for a living. how do you highschool girls do it? or maybe the pay is better when you really are outnumbered, instead of the other way around.

today i got some more work, also unsolicited, but a little more up my alley. evan and i went to georgia's house and helped her and virgil do bunches of mowing, weedeating, brush clearing, pot dumping, etc. pot dumping, in spite of various first impressions that might have been popping into your head, is in fact referring to disposing of the contents of old plant containers and generally cleaning out a green house. i caught two baby rabbits after nearly mowing them. i hope their mother found them. besides rescuing cute animals, i was smart enough to shock myself on the dog's electric fense. nearly scared me to death, and made my whole body jolt. i also drank way bunches of "crack tea" from chicken express. thank you miss georgia!!!

last night i watched x-men III. i don't feel like giving a review. and that doesn't mean i didn't like it. cuz i did. just go see it if you're interested in such things. what i really can't wait for it POTC "dead man's chest." woot!

we have caught at least 3 mice in the last week. unlike the rabbits, however, we did not put them nicely in a shoe box. being of the smaller rodent variety they were tempted with peanut butter and brutally crushed. i think PETA should sue us both for animal cruelty and discrimination. isn't it weird the way with most things "smaller is cuter", but with rabbits (awww) and mice (UUAAAAGHHHHHH!!!!) nobody feels compassion for the little guy. this world just isn't fair.

i really have to go to sleep, so i will bid you goodnight.

Meh

ants have been biting me. no joke. i also read cool words today. worked hard. it wasn't exactly hard work either. long. that's a better word. just boring. no, monotonous. AND boring. i ran hard. that one works. went to church this evening. it was good. i'm too tired. i like ice cream more than i should. ahhh, life is sweet. na-na-na-na-na-na-na and really bad eggs... oh! i got a bottle cap on a drink today that mocked me and said, "merman... eh...eh...eh... merman!!!" needless to say, i was shocked and highly offended.

Back to the Grind

i know that's a cliche kind of way to begin a post. but since when have i avoided cliche's? besides, it was totally what i actually did. grind. i ground aluminum with various files for at least 7 hours, with a few interjections of relief to help move big signs around, hold ladders, lay a little vinyl, or simply go to the bathroom for a change of pace.

i met the newish emplyee who came just after i left last summer. apparently he's the prankster type, and has been anxiously asking dale about the "new meat" coming. now when i heard that he was a prankster, i'm not sure what sort of a person i was expecting, but i know i wasn't expecting a man of about 50 with an almost-white beard. i suppose that "once a prankster, always a prankster..." or something like that. anyway, i was sort of anticipating what sort of tricks he might have up his sleeve. however, he did absolutely nothing, other than crack a few un-memorable jokes. it could be that since i've worked there before, already know all the people, and don't need to be trained, that i'm not such a helpless fish out of the water, and therefore less vulnerable. or maybe he's just biding his time, waiting for the perfect moment to strike when i least suspect it. OR maybe it's because i already saved him from the horrible human-eating clam sign of terror (courtesy of chicken express), which tried to eat him during inspection of its innards.

then i had myself a double cheeseburger and practiced for a couple of hours. started learning another new bagatelle. oh! i went jogging this morning. so yeah, that was good. i'm going to hopefully go to bed early tonight. last night i could not for the life of me get to sleep! woe was (?) me, tossing and turning. i dont' think that's going to be a problem tonight.

bombinate \BOM-buh-nayt\, intransitive verb:To buzz; to hum; to drone.

"Sometimes the computer bombinates way into the night, stops for a bit of rest, then resumes its hum at the early hours of the morning."-- Cheryl Glenn and Robert J. Connors, New St. Martins Guide to Teaching Writing

mine does that too, minus the "stops for a bit of rest" part.

Ninety-three

we just watched flight 93. would you forgive me for making a slightly sexist comment? if i were a girl... i would probably go cry myself to sleep right now. however, i am not, in fact, a girl. today lisa said, "we could use an adult male figure around here to keep these guys under control. are you one of those?" having hopefully established an affirmative answer to that query, i will simply go to sleep. without that first crying part. i came this close to doing that during the movie. close i tell you. if you like date movies that make your girl cry and want to snuggle, or if you are simply inclined to watch really sad movies, i recommend this one. never mind, no date. she'll be too sad. and besides... how obvious would it be?? or how mean? g'night

Unquotable

i was listening to the radio, as i am wont to do while driving, and happened to hear one of those horrible plugs for a car company. the fellow advertising whatever-deal-of-the-hour prefaced his statement with, "i'm sorry if i'm being redundant over and over again..." need i say more?

after leaving the music building i approached my parking space. when i glanced at the windshield i thought, "is that a ticket i see breezing in the wind?" really there's something facinating about using certain words out of context, and general grammarical incorrectness... i should love the guy on the radio for redundantly repeating himself over and over and saying the same thing more than once at the same time as he gives us duplicate information that we've already heard before.

please allow me to not apologize for any misspellings, misspronounciations, missuses, missapplications, or mr grammatical errors.

Weary and Happy

these first two days of summer ran for the pages of history like a construction crew takes wings at five o'clock. so far i have kept my exercising and practicing goals. got up early and ran on monday, and rode my bicycle today. unfortunately i made the mistake of (only) consuming a glass of orange juice before my ride. about 3/4 of the way through the trip my stomach finally got too sour to handle it.

yesterday and today i practiced for 2 or 3 hours. i've learned one beethoven bagatelle. my goal is to memorize all of op. 33 this summer. besides other things of course...

i've also been working on more of those delightful kickback plates. 1/3 (i like fractions today) of them are completely finished, and the last of them lack two rows of holes. i calculated well over 1500 counter-sunk holes to drill, and about 450 edges to router with a 45* bevel. whew. about 2 more hours and i'll be done.

a cat walked all over my car last night. i have nothing to say about that. unless it's to the cat.

fulsome \FUL-sum\, adjective:1. Offensive to the taste or sensibilities.2. Insincere or excessively lavish; especially, offensive from excess of praise.

Home Again Home Again...

...jiggity jog. or so they say.

actually, what they usually say on days like today is, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! love you mum!

i am indeed back at the abode of my parent's and the rest of the family. and yes, it is my home. my sense of segregation and the slight pain from my lack of personal bathroom facilities is alleviated having my own air conditioning unit, with which i may freeze my bones as i please.

immediately after church there was an impressive ham and lots of mashed potatoes. following lunch we had an excellent time eating ice cream, playing forty-two, and reading the history of the world according to student bloopers.

the service at church was especially special this morning. over a year ago steve asked us all to submit promises from scripture that were personal and encouraging to each one of us. then over the months he has preached on each one. this morning he finally got to mine (i was wondering if i had somehow missed it). the passage from phil. 4 is still a great source of both conviction and comfort. i think i actually put it at the bottom of a post a couple/few weeks ago, but it can bear repeating. the section is v 6-9, but especially the first part:

"be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to god, and the peace of god which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in christ jesus."

hope everyone has a terrific monday! be talkin' with you soon.

Peace

it's so good to have the semester behind me that i'm almost jealous of myself.

last night of course was late. bonding with piano lit. the test was so going to kick my butt. i finally made myself go to bed so i could get up for my 8 o'clock theory final. so this morning i randomly panicked and started looking up the dates for expressionism, the construction of various modes, and other things about which i decided to start second-guessing myself. i need not have worried. it was so easy i almost cried. for joy. then i came back to you-know-who. or you-know-what i should say. i listened to more piano music. bawled a little bit in despair. the listened to more music and tried to memorize catalogue numbers for liszt and brahms and debussy and scriabin and prokofiev... finally i went to the barnes and nobles coffee shop and studied for one last hour with sam.

isn't it funny how you can feel so unprepared, and then when crunch time gets there you know more than you thought? well, i actually felt like i knew most of the material. there were a few pieces i didn't know, but compared to the hopelessness i was feeling 2 hours before i turned in the test it was well done. it was the hardest of all my finals. over 20 pages (no multiple choice or matching - just the "real deal") questions and music to identify and analyze. actually took the full amount of time allotted.

obviously i immediately went outside basked my toes in the sun. yes, my toes.

this evening i went to a delightful party put on at the parr's place (if you're reading that sentence and totally lovin' it, i know who you are...). we made a floating candle dish, brough a stereo into the living room and turned on kfox 95.5 (!!! this party consists of almost all the classical pianists at the university. we do listen to other stuff for "special occassions"!!!). ate lots of good food. good conversations. exchanged information with the graduates who are leaving town. we also watched the highly favored video of i think the 2002 music fundraiser, with an unforgettable p.d.q. bach performed jointly by dr parr and dr pitts. you would have to see it.

then i went over to hall 10 and played monopoly for almost 3 hours with cournty and courtney and nina. it was good fun. haven't played that game in ages, i swear. kind of brought back good memories of slumber parties and late nights with friends. we got kicked out before it was quite over. it was down to the bar in a fight to the finish between me and one courtney.

i just ate a piece of cheesecake brought generously by nick from shane's party. it was delish.

fun recital tomorrow. the very last one of the semester. yu ching will be giving her graduate recital. btw, by "tomorrow" i mean friday. even though it is in fact technically already friday. enough blather from me.

derogate \DER-uh-gayt\, intransitive verb:1. To deviate from what is expected.2. To take away; to detract; -- usually with 'from'.
transitive verb:1. To disparage or belittle; to denigrate.

Hi

i'm done.

no wait... I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm finished with school!!! aghhh it's too much. i haven't eaten anything all day. i take that back - 1 cookie. i can't believe the semester is over. here's me rejoicing, and i'll write more later.

1/2

i'm half-way through and aching to be done. music lit and poli sci went well today. poli sci unexpectedly well. then this afternoon ever and i played a game of red alert 2 to lighten up the studying. while we were playing mrs hudson called to say that christian is sick and we wont' get to perform tomorrow. YESSSS!!!... i mean, awww, poor christian. ok, seriously. it was going to be fine. i wasn't the least bit worried about the performance and it would have been fun. but in the middle of finals? i can't say i'm dissappointed. that also means i don't have to have a rehearsal today. woohoo! then i took a fine nap and did various other non-things which brings us to now. and part of the "now" includes getting invited to a pancake breakfast/dinner (pancakes from 10pm-12am) which i think i shall attend. i feel in need of nurishment at the moment. i've literally had one bite of a burger and nothing else all day. besides drink. and much in need of some quiet time with my bible in nice soft grass at the arboretum. mmmmm...

Look Out...

...ever, your roommate is going crazy from finals. beware. the bun and stuffed animal make it look especially scary. i told myself over and over to be sure and not walk out the door like that. 

Eh...

i feel slightly cheered. not least of all by susan bringing me (ever and me both, if he gets back soon enough) a fine present in a red bag. now that i've had my nap (interupted by 2 phone calls and a girl knocking on the wrong door, i intend to read poli sci and eat chocolate chip cookies till i die!!

Finale

finals have begun. i had my piano jury today. my (beethoven's...) bagatelle went well. overall the performance was only satisfactory. actually no it wasn't. not for a piano performance major. i really have got to decide to do this with all my might, or find something else. which at this point, finding something else isn't looking so hot. becoming an amazing pianist would be wonderful. i think what i'm beginning (finally???) to realize is that it isn't just a game anymore. it's for real. or it should be. it must be. why is it that the important things in life require your everything, or they're worthless? and why can't i buckle down and give it my everything! actually, i can. i WILL. i hope i can take to heart the spiritual lesson too. here's a verse that steve used just yesterday, which i found encouraging. thank god for his grace. he doesn't make it easy for us, but he helps us persevere and gives us the strength we need:

"Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand." Rom. 14:4

Just Keep Swimming

yesterday i found the biggest turtle i've seen in a long time. he was sitting by the trail in the arboretum. probably 12 inches from bow to stern when he was withdrawn into his shell. i stood and looked at him for a few minutes. something cracked over my head... and low and behold, a branch and a squirrel landed beside me. he picked up an acorn and went to sit in a small tree and watch the turtle with me.

yesterday i also had my very last aural skills test. i will never take that class again! i think 2 whole years of it is definitely enough. today i had my last accompanying studio. we took a french terms quiz and listened to music. once again, i'm glad to have my 4 semesters of that out of the way. i think dr tkacik considered crying during his closing "sermon" about how to live happy and productive lives. and he told us about saving a baby owl from his fire place... it's hard to believe the semester is nearly finished, and i'm checking things off the list. one thing i need to check off my list is memorizing a brahms cappriccio, which i should do at this very instant.

did nobody watch the video? or was it such a let-down that you decided since you couldn't say anything nice, you should just say nothing at all...?

Monty Python and Hitler

okay guys, this is too funny for words. sorry, i exaggerate. it is highly amusing. beware of a few racial slurs.

click on the play button at the bottom left hand corner to activate the player.

hehehe, go jeremy! (your daily dose of "zits")

what am i doing?

"going to eat breakfast," i coolly replied.

You Say "Potatoes," I Say... "Taters"

i had an amazing mashed potato that was absolutely delish. an hour later, things weren't going so well. but don't worry... i recovered. all i need to do now is print up the final draft of my theory piece, cover it with jazz chord symbols, and go to bed!

i can tell a weariness is beginning to set in. ahhh. time for dinner. i'm on the homestretch. may not post so much in the coming week or two. lata!