Scoreless

I went to the bookstore today and spent $470 without getting any of the seven required texts for Band Techniques. Now, granted, about $75 worth of what I bought was not required, but those two books were worth it. One of them was a book of some of Fux's writing on counterpoint. I *heart* counterpoint. I am a freak of nature, I know. When Klumpenhouwer taught that class, he didn't use a text, juset sheets and sheets of rules. Last term, though, some chick was teaching it, and she used the text. The class apparently sucked ass, too. The prof was universally hated, but I get the impression that starting with the philosophy of counterpoint isn't the best way to go about it. Klumpenhouwer made us write counterpoint and then, for some of us, it clicked. The whole "clicking" part is by no means guaranteed, but we came out of that class able to write modal counterpoint, so it was a kind of success. Starting with the philosophy means that whoever doesn't get the "clicking" winds up immensely confused and frustrated and fails the course. And still can't write counterpoint.

The other book I bought was the current text for Bashaw's 456 class on popular music. It calls itself something to do with terms in popular music, but it's really kind of a series of essays/dissertations on how various elements of life (everything from sexism to postmoderism) influence and work with pop music. That looks like a great read. And don't worry, there were still more than two dozen copied of the book left, and it's the second week of term, after all. And the Fux book is for 255, which isn't even offered this term. I guess they just had a bunch of people last term who refused to buy the text or something...

Speaking of which, the only score I found in the bookstore was for Cajun Folk Songs, and I nearly bought that one, too, just in case. The bookstore apparently had two of the books Deebs had ordered in earlier, but they were all gone. One was on jazz bands, and the other... was just as secondary as the first, I believe. Maybe I can borrow Doug's texts for now. Hey, Doug! You there? Got any 431 texts you can lend me until the bookstore gets the rest of them in?

So at the end of rep class today, my mom called me and told me that my dad had asked my brother to come out to dinner with us, and that Peter and I were invited, so we headed off to Il Forno. My mom thought my dad might be doing this for my brother's birthday, which is next week, but I was right in my assumption that my dad had forgotten about Chris' birthday. It came up in conversation, though, and the decision was made to go to The Blue Pear. I'm... not happy about that because that place is always empty and creepy, but it's Chris' birthday. What did I do for my last birthday? I had friends over and made jell-o shots. Not really in the same category of celebrations as dinner at The Blue Pear. Hardware Grill was suggested, which I liked because it's huge and always full and nobody knows me there, since I've only been there once, but that's where we went last year for Chris' bithday.

But, anyway, yeah, I ate waaaay too much tonight. I'm not feeling sick or anything, but the mussels and antipasto plates to start, then bison canelonni and then the latte and blueberry panna cotta that I just couldn't resist (sooooo good) and, yeah... this is why I don't eat with my parents very often. That and they always have the same Lindemann's Bin 50 Shiraz every time we go to Il Forno, and I'm getting really sick of Shiraz right now... But that's just me being a snob. ^_^

So apparently Stephen Kirkham has created a website for students to buy and sell textbooks. It seems Stage 2 of his plan to take over the university is going well. If I actually bought used textbooks or sold my textbooks, I'd write more about this, but since neither is the case, I'm going to shut up now before I start ranting about Kirkham.