So I just had my advising meeting with Len, and it turns out that, after next year, I only have 6 classes left to finish my program. That's kind of scary.
I had thought I only had five, but for some reason the sheet the department uses to check that you hve all the classes you need doesn't include the three credits in 259, 263, 320 or 451. I could still technically do all six courses in Fall term and finish in December, provided they're all offered and I can fit them into my schedule, but I'm considering either spreading them out over the entire year (and taking a couple extra courses that I've always wanted to take), or maybe taking one of the courses in Spring/Summer of next year, which I know I can do.
So after next year I have to take three more credits of Music History, Choral Techniques, three credits of French, Policy Studies, three credits of Ed Options and one of the above listed courses. I'm really not sure what to do for my Ed Options. There's always a Kodaly or Orff class, but I'm reluctant to venture into EDEL. The other course of Ed Options I'm taking is the School Jazz program course this summer. That'll be great. But I don't know what else to take. I know it's a ways away, but does anybody have any suggestions as to what I could do?
Also, I'm really torn about what to take for those three credits of Music. I can't take 320, since it's a Diction class restricted to Voice majors, but the other three sound really appealing. Orchestration would be so useful and would cover strings, which I otherwise wouldn't get to learn about. Aural Skills I've always liked (yes, I'm a freak), but I'm worried about getting a bad mark because of the keyboard stuff. And Composition is something I've always wanted to take, but I know it's a lot of work, and I'm really not sure what to expect from the course or myself. Hmm. Any suggestions there?
Random thought before leaving: I've taken a lot of Spring/Summer courses. Well, not, like, ten of them or anything, but with the one I'm signed up for this year and the one I might do next year, that's four. Well, ok, so not a lot, but one every year except after my second year. My mom always gets miffed at the idea of me doing Spring/Summer courses because she thinks it'll hurt my chances of getting a job, but I guess that's not a problem this year. And I guess the course I'm doing this Spring isn't even offered in Fall/Winter, and it's dead useful and applies to my degree, so it's really worth it.
Ok, enough procrastinating. I have to conduct this movement from a Dvorak piece in Wind Ensemble today and I don't even know what meter it's in. Time to go panic.
3/31/2006
3/30/2006
Feeling Rather Stupid
Damn.
Turns out it was my fault.
I forgot to officially change my program for Winter term. I'd only done it for Fall term.
Now my Winter term officially considers me a fifth-year student. Three cheers for only being one semester behind!
In other news, violists can't play jazz. Oh, and work is boring. I actually read my 281 text last night. :-S
ETA: I'm sure nobody reading this blog has any idea what it was, but I really miss the Idealist's Haven website. It was pretty and lived up to its name. *sniff*
Turns out it was my fault.
I forgot to officially change my program for Winter term. I'd only done it for Fall term.
Now my Winter term officially considers me a fifth-year student. Three cheers for only being one semester behind!
In other news, violists can't play jazz. Oh, and work is boring. I actually read my 281 text last night. :-S
ETA: I'm sure nobody reading this blog has any idea what it was, but I really miss the Idealist's Haven website. It was pretty and lived up to its name. *sniff*
3/29/2006
I Hate Beartracks AND Education
So I'm all nice and regisered for my Fall term, but I can't register for my Winter courses. I was very confused. All of the courses I was trying to register in were restricted to Ed Music Majors, and my conditional accpetance should be enough to let me in, like with my Drama courses.
And then I figured it out.
For some reason, some God-only-knows-why reason, I am officially a first-year student in the Winter 2007 term. In Fall 2006 I am officially a fourth-year student, but, somehow, I regress three whole years over the December break. And, of course, APT programs are not open to first-years.
How the hell does crap like this happen?!?!?!
Nobody seems to mind that this will actually be my fifth year.
*sigh* I'd go yell at Ed now, but I don't have time before my class. I'll go tomorrow, I guess.
And then I figured it out.
For some reason, some God-only-knows-why reason, I am officially a first-year student in the Winter 2007 term. In Fall 2006 I am officially a fourth-year student, but, somehow, I regress three whole years over the December break. And, of course, APT programs are not open to first-years.
How the hell does crap like this happen?!?!?!
Nobody seems to mind that this will actually be my fifth year.
*sigh* I'd go yell at Ed now, but I don't have time before my class. I'll go tomorrow, I guess.
3/26/2006
Crazy Weekend
It's 8:30 on Sunday morning and I've been up for an hour and a half. But I have delicious, delicious coffee, so I'm not too upset. :-)
The past couple of days have been a little nuts. Peter came to dinner with Jenilee and I on Friday, but not to the movie. Jenilee liked it, for which I was glad, because it meant I didn't feel compelled to argue my point over and over. ^_^ Then, Saturday (yesterday, I suppose), I went curling! I'd never been curling before. I was actually not half bad compared to some other first-timers there. This was the graduate history and classics department's annual bonspiel, and I got roped into it because people were backing out. I played two 3-end games before coming to realize a horrible but inescapable truth: curling rink beer is bad. I had such a horrible headache that I could barely drive myself home to bed. I wound up sleeping for over three hours, which is why I was unable to sleep more than eight hours last night. I woke up at 7 and called Jenilee to bail on the Harry Potter movie night she was haiving, and she basically said, yeah, we started without you. ^_^
In other news, my mother is convinced that Uruguay is a third world nation. Yeah, that's not going so well...
To do today:
Rewrite three-point speech
Call Judy Loewen
Practice cadenza
The past couple of days have been a little nuts. Peter came to dinner with Jenilee and I on Friday, but not to the movie. Jenilee liked it, for which I was glad, because it meant I didn't feel compelled to argue my point over and over. ^_^ Then, Saturday (yesterday, I suppose), I went curling! I'd never been curling before. I was actually not half bad compared to some other first-timers there. This was the graduate history and classics department's annual bonspiel, and I got roped into it because people were backing out. I played two 3-end games before coming to realize a horrible but inescapable truth: curling rink beer is bad. I had such a horrible headache that I could barely drive myself home to bed. I wound up sleeping for over three hours, which is why I was unable to sleep more than eight hours last night. I woke up at 7 and called Jenilee to bail on the Harry Potter movie night she was haiving, and she basically said, yeah, we started without you. ^_^
In other news, my mother is convinced that Uruguay is a third world nation. Yeah, that's not going so well...
To do today:
Rewrite three-point speech
Call Judy Loewen
Practice cadenza
3/24/2006
Further Frustration
So I've been granted conditional acceptance to Ed. I get an e-mail about it and Beartracks confirms it. Excellent, now I can register. NOT!
Grrr......
I also had a brief moment of panic abut whether or not I could fit any EDPS 310 courses that still have spots open into my schedule, but there turned out to be roughly 10 million sections, so I'm no longer worried.
But still annoyed. Since when can't you register with conditional acceptance?? Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. The condition acceptance thing only went through today. Or maybe I'm supposed to change programs. I think I'll go talk to the Registrar about that, because I tried to transfer my courses to my new program in first year (they accidentally put in the in 4-year instead of the 5-year), and it deleted all of my courses. Then I went to see the Registrar's office and they were like "Oh, we were supposed to do that!" and I wondered why the hell the option was on the telephone registration menu.
Ugh.
Jenilee is sitting beside me playing Neopets games. We're in the lab on the second floor or Rutherford North, and we're gonna go find Peter in a minute when he'll hopefully be done his class with Dr. Johnson. Maybe ask if he wants to come with us tonight. I'm making Jenilee see V for Vendetta, and we're gonna to go East Side Mario's first, because I have a spiffy $50 gift card! Yay, spiffy! See magazine totally panned that movie. I stick my tongue out at them. *sticks tonogue out at them*
ETA: I was brave and tried the switch programs thing myself and IT WORKED!!!!!!! I'm still having trouble with my Ed Psych course (???), but the rest is good! I even got into my drama IPT class! I am finally officially a drama student!!!!!! ^_^
Grrr......
I also had a brief moment of panic abut whether or not I could fit any EDPS 310 courses that still have spots open into my schedule, but there turned out to be roughly 10 million sections, so I'm no longer worried.
But still annoyed. Since when can't you register with conditional acceptance?? Maybe I'll try again tomorrow. The condition acceptance thing only went through today. Or maybe I'm supposed to change programs. I think I'll go talk to the Registrar about that, because I tried to transfer my courses to my new program in first year (they accidentally put in the in 4-year instead of the 5-year), and it deleted all of my courses. Then I went to see the Registrar's office and they were like "Oh, we were supposed to do that!" and I wondered why the hell the option was on the telephone registration menu.
Ugh.
Jenilee is sitting beside me playing Neopets games. We're in the lab on the second floor or Rutherford North, and we're gonna go find Peter in a minute when he'll hopefully be done his class with Dr. Johnson. Maybe ask if he wants to come with us tonight. I'm making Jenilee see V for Vendetta, and we're gonna to go East Side Mario's first, because I have a spiffy $50 gift card! Yay, spiffy! See magazine totally panned that movie. I stick my tongue out at them. *sticks tonogue out at them*
ETA: I was brave and tried the switch programs thing myself and IT WORKED!!!!!!! I'm still having trouble with my Ed Psych course (???), but the rest is good! I even got into my drama IPT class! I am finally officially a drama student!!!!!! ^_^
3/21/2006
I Hate Beaurocracy
Since its inception, Beartracks has steadily increased its security features. It is now more or less impossible to misuse the system, what with the restriction/requisite check. This, however, is quite the impediment when beaurocratic red tape is holding you back. It used to be that you could register for a class and it wouldn't be a problem until you got to the class and the prof told you that you weren't supposed to be there. Kind of a shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out type deal. This worked marvelously if you knew what you were doing. But I guess the Registrar's Office got sick of dealing with people who had screwed their registration up to high heaven, so they decided to not let people register for any courses they were not explicitly allowed into. This is wonderfully exemplified in my inability to register in Drama courses. I have to declare my Drama minor with Education, not Arts, but I can't declare anything with Education until I'm an Ed student, and I can't register in Drama classes without being an official Drama minor. I got to know Connie, the woman in the Drama office, quite well, because it was ultimately her I had to beg for admission. Thank God for Connie.
Today is the day that I'm allowed to begin registering. I can't, of course. The transfer to Ed application isn't due until the end of the month, but I can't register for any of my IPT/APT courses until it's approved. I handed it in before the end of February, but it's still pending, of course. Yay, red tape! So I get to sit back, relax, and hope that the classes I need in order to _not_ graduate an _extra_ year late don't fill up before I get a chance to get in them.
Annoyance.
(Yes, I know that there's a very small chance of anything bad happening, but Bear Tracks security has just done one too many things to annoy me in my post-secondary career.)
In other news, I'm trying to talk myself into practicing. Wind Ensemble was cancelled today because of the concert on Saturday, so I was done classes at 11 (except Ed Psych, which doesn't count ^_^), and since I've now wasted time having a nice long lunch with Joyce, I'm getting the feeling I should be productive. But before I came down to the lab, I organized my stuff that I'll be taking home with me, and I even took my coat, so I think my descision may already be made. ^_^
Today is the day that I'm allowed to begin registering. I can't, of course. The transfer to Ed application isn't due until the end of the month, but I can't register for any of my IPT/APT courses until it's approved. I handed it in before the end of February, but it's still pending, of course. Yay, red tape! So I get to sit back, relax, and hope that the classes I need in order to _not_ graduate an _extra_ year late don't fill up before I get a chance to get in them.
Annoyance.
(Yes, I know that there's a very small chance of anything bad happening, but Bear Tracks security has just done one too many things to annoy me in my post-secondary career.)
In other news, I'm trying to talk myself into practicing. Wind Ensemble was cancelled today because of the concert on Saturday, so I was done classes at 11 (except Ed Psych, which doesn't count ^_^), and since I've now wasted time having a nice long lunch with Joyce, I'm getting the feeling I should be productive. But before I came down to the lab, I organized my stuff that I'll be taking home with me, and I even took my coat, so I think my descision may already be made. ^_^
3/19/2006
Par-tay the Sixth!
It's early Sunday morning, and we're sitting around playing video games. Mario Party 6 at the moment. Doug and Courtney are even in town for the event. Kaitlyn, sadly enough, is not. But even if she had planned to come, I wouldn't blame her for not showing up. Peter and I got out of the movie at about 1am last night, and it had been snowing like mad. It took me nearly 10 minutes to clear the snow off my car, and it hasn't really let up since. Doug says the storm essentially runs the length of highway 2, so I imagine driving up from Calgary would be... frightening.
There was, of course, a Wind Ensemble concert tonight. It went well enough, but when I left to go to Numchok Wilai, I got a flat tire on Saskatchewan Drive. I thought maybe I'd hit the curb or something, and since I had the heat blasted, I couldn't hear the noise it was making, and since there was _so_much_snow_ on the road that I couldn't tell that I was having trouble steering until I got onto Groat, at which point I was stuck. I hit my four-way flashers and did 30 to Peter's house, then walked to the restaurant. Something was smoking when I looked at the flat tire. I'll call AMA in the morning. I still haven't put my spare back properly from the last time I got a flat. ^_^
But I got to Numchok Wilai just as the food was arriving, which was nice. It turns out they do have fishcakes, but they were frozen at the time, so we didn't get any. But everything was very yummy, and we considered shipping some to Jo and Eric in Illinois. ^_^ We tried ordering mango and coconut rice for dessert, but they didn't have enough mangoes for all of us, so we asked for the deep-fried bananas instead. They brought those, and then two plates of the mangoes, and then two plates of the baked custard. When that showed up, I said "I _know_ we didn't try to order that," but it was yummy. I'm acquiring a taste for the coconut sticky rice.
Doug says "Bloody Hell!" He was having trouble with the canon game. ^_^
There was, of course, a Wind Ensemble concert tonight. It went well enough, but when I left to go to Numchok Wilai, I got a flat tire on Saskatchewan Drive. I thought maybe I'd hit the curb or something, and since I had the heat blasted, I couldn't hear the noise it was making, and since there was _so_much_snow_ on the road that I couldn't tell that I was having trouble steering until I got onto Groat, at which point I was stuck. I hit my four-way flashers and did 30 to Peter's house, then walked to the restaurant. Something was smoking when I looked at the flat tire. I'll call AMA in the morning. I still haven't put my spare back properly from the last time I got a flat. ^_^
But I got to Numchok Wilai just as the food was arriving, which was nice. It turns out they do have fishcakes, but they were frozen at the time, so we didn't get any. But everything was very yummy, and we considered shipping some to Jo and Eric in Illinois. ^_^ We tried ordering mango and coconut rice for dessert, but they didn't have enough mangoes for all of us, so we asked for the deep-fried bananas instead. They brought those, and then two plates of the mangoes, and then two plates of the baked custard. When that showed up, I said "I _know_ we didn't try to order that," but it was yummy. I'm acquiring a taste for the coconut sticky rice.
Doug says "Bloody Hell!" He was having trouble with the canon game. ^_^
3/18/2006
Go See This Movie
It's Saturday morning and I'm feeling rather like crap. I woke up with a horrid migrane and a sore back, the latter of which mystifies me somewhat, so now I'm waiting for the Advil to kick in. I also went to bed last night without taking out my contact lenses, so my eyes were painfully dry, but, luckily, I had contact lense solution with me to rehydrate the lenses, so I can actually keep my eyes open long enough to see the conputer screen right now.
Peter and I went and saw V for Vendetta last night. It was quite incredible. Rather Captial-R-Romantic. I spent some time last night trying to figure out why I like Romantic things. I was unable to come up with a reason other than I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff, and it's not that I'd rather be cynical, but there's still a part of me that finds it... odd to consider Hugo Weaving sexy in this role. ^_^
Ahh, the Advil seems to be kicking in. Peter's still asleep, the lazy bum. Well, not really, since it's only 10:30, but I am now wide awake and in search of breakfast. So I bid you all adieu until tonight! Yay, tonight! Oh, crap, that reminds me that I have to be at Con Hall at 5. Blick. Oh, well--yay, later tonight!
Peter and I went and saw V for Vendetta last night. It was quite incredible. Rather Captial-R-Romantic. I spent some time last night trying to figure out why I like Romantic things. I was unable to come up with a reason other than I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff, and it's not that I'd rather be cynical, but there's still a part of me that finds it... odd to consider Hugo Weaving sexy in this role. ^_^
Ahh, the Advil seems to be kicking in. Peter's still asleep, the lazy bum. Well, not really, since it's only 10:30, but I am now wide awake and in search of breakfast. So I bid you all adieu until tonight! Yay, tonight! Oh, crap, that reminds me that I have to be at Con Hall at 5. Blick. Oh, well--yay, later tonight!
3/16/2006
And Now It's Thursday
I'm doing it again. I'm watching the news while blogging. Child porn. Wonderful.
Speaking of, I've often comtemplated just doing an entry full of keywords, so that people will stumble across this blog when searching for, I dunno, anal sex, and then I can laugh at them. Although I guess blogs aren't that uncommon for porn. According to Josey Vogels, livejournal has quite the erotic fiction community. In a way, that kind of makes sense. LJ has a well-organized system of communities, unlike Blogger, and the public-input writing sites I know of, like Fiction Press, don't accept that kind of stuff. Why am I contemplating this on my blog? ^_^
So my mid-terms went... all right. I don't know what David Grammit was thinking. Most of the class failed the first mid-term, to the point where he gave us compensatory extra-credit exercises, and this mid-term was longer and harder. I left with one minute left with one question blank and I think I was the the third or fourth person to leave. Ed Psych was fine. It took me fourty minutes and was pretty straight-forward. I couldn't have done any better without more preparation, I'd say, so I guess I don't have any problem with the test itself. In any case, they're over. Thank god.
Yesterday wasn't all that pleasant. After writing my mid-term, I had the worst migrane. I wound up cancelling my trumpet lesson and going to Peter's place to sleep. It was closer, and there was less chance of somebody coming home and making noise. I missed my afternoon class, too, but got up to head to my first shift at A&B Sound. It was good. Kind of boring, but oh, well. I was working on this clearance program that needs to get done by the end of the month, and I wound up bleeding under my thumbnails from peeling price stickers off. Once I realized that was happening, I slowed down. ^_^ But there's no cash to deal with, and no cleaning to do. When the last customer walks out at 9pm, you can leave. You don't even have to turn off the lights.
Tomorrow will see Honour Band kiddies all over the place. I thought they'd be around today, but they weren't. We're supposed to rehearse with them tomorrow afternoon, but I'm gonna go to my Speech class instead. I won't be missed.
Oh, and apparently there won't be a fifth Wind Ensemble performance this year. Apparently then Hindemith was exclusively for the wind band candidates. Speaking of, the third and final candidate was around today. He's my second choice, and I wouldn't terribly mind him getting the job. His pedagogy seemed a little too young band, but that's probably because he decided to rehearse the third movement of the Hindemith, which we hadn't so much as looked at before, so it kind of... bombed. He took Postcard waaaay too fast, but he was kind of mislead by whoever it was in the first row he asked about the tempo. We held on, more or less. I really hate Frank Tichelli. His lecture this morning was actually pretty good. He gave us detailed notes about First Suite, including a list of mistakes in the old edition. The only problem with the lecture was that, and I don't necesarily mean this as an insult, but he's not so much with the words. He kept stammering, trying to find the right words, and stopping himself halfway through sentences to reword what he was saying, and, most frustratingly, he would often abandon words althogether and go for gestures and onomatopoeic noises to communicate his cocept, then say "You know what I'm saying." Not always, unfortunately.
Speaking of, I've often comtemplated just doing an entry full of keywords, so that people will stumble across this blog when searching for, I dunno, anal sex, and then I can laugh at them. Although I guess blogs aren't that uncommon for porn. According to Josey Vogels, livejournal has quite the erotic fiction community. In a way, that kind of makes sense. LJ has a well-organized system of communities, unlike Blogger, and the public-input writing sites I know of, like Fiction Press, don't accept that kind of stuff. Why am I contemplating this on my blog? ^_^
So my mid-terms went... all right. I don't know what David Grammit was thinking. Most of the class failed the first mid-term, to the point where he gave us compensatory extra-credit exercises, and this mid-term was longer and harder. I left with one minute left with one question blank and I think I was the the third or fourth person to leave. Ed Psych was fine. It took me fourty minutes and was pretty straight-forward. I couldn't have done any better without more preparation, I'd say, so I guess I don't have any problem with the test itself. In any case, they're over. Thank god.
Yesterday wasn't all that pleasant. After writing my mid-term, I had the worst migrane. I wound up cancelling my trumpet lesson and going to Peter's place to sleep. It was closer, and there was less chance of somebody coming home and making noise. I missed my afternoon class, too, but got up to head to my first shift at A&B Sound. It was good. Kind of boring, but oh, well. I was working on this clearance program that needs to get done by the end of the month, and I wound up bleeding under my thumbnails from peeling price stickers off. Once I realized that was happening, I slowed down. ^_^ But there's no cash to deal with, and no cleaning to do. When the last customer walks out at 9pm, you can leave. You don't even have to turn off the lights.
Tomorrow will see Honour Band kiddies all over the place. I thought they'd be around today, but they weren't. We're supposed to rehearse with them tomorrow afternoon, but I'm gonna go to my Speech class instead. I won't be missed.
Oh, and apparently there won't be a fifth Wind Ensemble performance this year. Apparently then Hindemith was exclusively for the wind band candidates. Speaking of, the third and final candidate was around today. He's my second choice, and I wouldn't terribly mind him getting the job. His pedagogy seemed a little too young band, but that's probably because he decided to rehearse the third movement of the Hindemith, which we hadn't so much as looked at before, so it kind of... bombed. He took Postcard waaaay too fast, but he was kind of mislead by whoever it was in the first row he asked about the tempo. We held on, more or less. I really hate Frank Tichelli. His lecture this morning was actually pretty good. He gave us detailed notes about First Suite, including a list of mistakes in the old edition. The only problem with the lecture was that, and I don't necesarily mean this as an insult, but he's not so much with the words. He kept stammering, trying to find the right words, and stopping himself halfway through sentences to reword what he was saying, and, most frustratingly, he would often abandon words althogether and go for gestures and onomatopoeic noises to communicate his cocept, then say "You know what I'm saying." Not always, unfortunately.
3/14/2006
Europe, Thailand and Uruguay
Taking a break from studying for my 281 Renaissance mid-term. Doesn't the term Frottola just sound distinctly... Starbucks-ish?
So I did something kinda stupid. Turns out that the Wind Ensemble concert is on Saturday, not Friday like it says on my 431 syllabus, so I'll be a little over an hour late to the Thai night I organised. ^_^ Oh, well. We're only playing three songs, so I should be at Numchok Wilai in time to pick over what's left before dessert.
This is the week of hell. The only person I have found who feels better about this week than last is Ryan, and that's because his senior recital was on Sunday. I have my 281 mid-term tomorrow, then my Ed Psych mid-term the day after that, and my lesson stuff has totally been put on the backburner. Not to mention that tomorrow night is my first shift at A&B Sound. _That_, I'm looking forward to. Yay, earning money!
Peter and I are trying to figure out if there's a way that I can come to Uruguay with him, but still be at my sister's wedding July 29th, move into our new house at the beginning of August, and be back in time for the start of classes. Not to mention being able to afford airfare down there. We decided that if we leave as soon as I move my stuff into the new place, then I can just leave a couple of weeks before him in order to get back for school, since all he'll be doing next year is probably RAing, maybe a bit of TAing, so he doesn't have to be there for the first couple of weeks of classes.
But that's a ways off. Right now, I'm all about the chanson. And the motet. And, of course, the frottola. Mmm, frottola.
So I did something kinda stupid. Turns out that the Wind Ensemble concert is on Saturday, not Friday like it says on my 431 syllabus, so I'll be a little over an hour late to the Thai night I organised. ^_^ Oh, well. We're only playing three songs, so I should be at Numchok Wilai in time to pick over what's left before dessert.
This is the week of hell. The only person I have found who feels better about this week than last is Ryan, and that's because his senior recital was on Sunday. I have my 281 mid-term tomorrow, then my Ed Psych mid-term the day after that, and my lesson stuff has totally been put on the backburner. Not to mention that tomorrow night is my first shift at A&B Sound. _That_, I'm looking forward to. Yay, earning money!
Peter and I are trying to figure out if there's a way that I can come to Uruguay with him, but still be at my sister's wedding July 29th, move into our new house at the beginning of August, and be back in time for the start of classes. Not to mention being able to afford airfare down there. We decided that if we leave as soon as I move my stuff into the new place, then I can just leave a couple of weeks before him in order to get back for school, since all he'll be doing next year is probably RAing, maybe a bit of TAing, so he doesn't have to be there for the first couple of weeks of classes.
But that's a ways off. Right now, I'm all about the chanson. And the motet. And, of course, the frottola. Mmm, frottola.
3/11/2006
Employment!
I got a job at A&B Sound. The whole thing was rather sudden. Yesterday, Kripa and Lindsay Coulter, who both work there, were in the lownjlounge talking about Lindsay starting her training to work in the cash room there. I said that that was something I'd really like to do, and they both told me to apply, like, right then. I happened to have my computer with me, which had my resume on it, so I printed off a copy and headed down yesterday afternoon. The store manager talked to me and had me come in for a full interview this morning, which he finished by offering me a job. I start Wednesday. I don't get to work in the cash room--they give that position to people who have worked there at least three months--but I get to work in the CD department, so it'll be a job I like and can do. Very spiffy. And now I don't have to stress about finding a job this summer. Job hunting is just about my least favourite thing in the world to do. Then again, it seems like _everyone_ is hiring right now, and judging by how quickly I got the job at A&B, the job market might have been a little less harsh this year. But, really, the last time I went looking for a job, it took me a month and a half to find one, and they didn't even pay me. Well, not until three weeks after I quit, anyway...
Bitter? What? I'm not bitter. Really...
Bitter? What? I'm not bitter. Really...
3/10/2006
I Found It!
I found Doug's e-mail! I went back and searched through the trash folder of my ualberta account, and it was there! I feel much better now. :-)
3/09/2006
Anouncement!
What: Gathering!
When: Saturday, March 18, at 7:oo pm
Where: Numchok Wilai, on 124th street, just south of 107th avenue
Why: To eat yummy Thai food!
Who: Everybody who can make it! I'll send e-mails out because I know that not everybody interested reads this blog.
---
So I totally just had a sitcom moment. I had done a couple of loads of laundry that I hadn't had time to fold, but the maid service was coming this morning. I stashed one load in the washing machine and one in the dryer. Can you see it coming? Yeah, my mom "did me a favour" and washed the stuff that was in the washing machine, including my Lulu Lemon stuff and some stuff that isn't machine washable, but wound up in there anyway because I didn't have time to fold it, either. I hope it's all alright...
The second wind band candidate, a euphonium player who came in today, was less than impressive. He looked very professional in his silk tie with his Powerpoint presentation in Band Techniques this morning, but all that got him was getting me to put the word "boardroom" into my descriptive phrase "boardroom hippy crap." It was kind of like what the pointy-haired boss in Dilbert would sound like if he was doing a concept speech on music. A few of the lines I wrote down are:
Him: What do we learn through music?
Us: *silent--we know his answer is on the next slide*
Him: Music should move like feelings feel.
Him (and his Powerpoint slide): You are your students' musical nutritionist. Are you going to feed them a healthy, balanced diet, or the musical equivalent of junk food?
Him (more times than I could clount): [blather]... meritorious... [blather]
He really liked that word.
His Wind Ensemble rehearsal was on the low side of average. He's obviously a school band director--very good cues, absolutely no expression. And he biffed his time management by only leaving 7 minutes for Postcard, which he told us he'd never seen until this week. He only screwed up the meter twice, but even with essentially just running the piece, he went over the time limit and didn't get to give any demonstration of how he would rehearse such a piece. He spent most of his time on the Hindemith, which I think he thought we knew better. Speaking of, though, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we're not playing the Hindemith on the concert next week like I thought we were--we're playing Sketches on a Tudor Psalm instead, which I like. The bad news is that that means that Wind Ensemble will be having a fifth concert this year. Bugger. I don't know if it'll be in Con Hall or if we're being dragged to Cantando again. I hope it's the former. Cantando is so late to be having a concert. Too many people have gone home for the summer by then. But, on the other hand, it would give us more time to rehearse...
I wonder how Ben is doing student teaching in his Catholic junior high school...
When: Saturday, March 18, at 7:oo pm
Where: Numchok Wilai, on 124th street, just south of 107th avenue
Why: To eat yummy Thai food!
Who: Everybody who can make it! I'll send e-mails out because I know that not everybody interested reads this blog.
---
So I totally just had a sitcom moment. I had done a couple of loads of laundry that I hadn't had time to fold, but the maid service was coming this morning. I stashed one load in the washing machine and one in the dryer. Can you see it coming? Yeah, my mom "did me a favour" and washed the stuff that was in the washing machine, including my Lulu Lemon stuff and some stuff that isn't machine washable, but wound up in there anyway because I didn't have time to fold it, either. I hope it's all alright...
The second wind band candidate, a euphonium player who came in today, was less than impressive. He looked very professional in his silk tie with his Powerpoint presentation in Band Techniques this morning, but all that got him was getting me to put the word "boardroom" into my descriptive phrase "boardroom hippy crap." It was kind of like what the pointy-haired boss in Dilbert would sound like if he was doing a concept speech on music. A few of the lines I wrote down are:
Him: What do we learn through music?
Us: *silent--we know his answer is on the next slide*
Him: Music should move like feelings feel.
Him (and his Powerpoint slide): You are your students' musical nutritionist. Are you going to feed them a healthy, balanced diet, or the musical equivalent of junk food?
Him (more times than I could clount): [blather]... meritorious... [blather]
He really liked that word.
His Wind Ensemble rehearsal was on the low side of average. He's obviously a school band director--very good cues, absolutely no expression. And he biffed his time management by only leaving 7 minutes for Postcard, which he told us he'd never seen until this week. He only screwed up the meter twice, but even with essentially just running the piece, he went over the time limit and didn't get to give any demonstration of how he would rehearse such a piece. He spent most of his time on the Hindemith, which I think he thought we knew better. Speaking of, though, I got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we're not playing the Hindemith on the concert next week like I thought we were--we're playing Sketches on a Tudor Psalm instead, which I like. The bad news is that that means that Wind Ensemble will be having a fifth concert this year. Bugger. I don't know if it'll be in Con Hall or if we're being dragged to Cantando again. I hope it's the former. Cantando is so late to be having a concert. Too many people have gone home for the summer by then. But, on the other hand, it would give us more time to rehearse...
I wonder how Ben is doing student teaching in his Catholic junior high school...
3/07/2006
New Krua Wilai!
Wilai has opened a new restaurant on 124th street, literally three blocks from Peter's Dad's place! It's called Numchok Wilai. Same stuff, same prices, same people. Although I couldn't find fish cakes on the menu and didn't ask, but I hardly read the menu front-to-back and, really, it's fish cakes. They're a staple.
So I declare we must gather there. I shall send out an e-mail when Peter can remember his work schedule, but I was thinking within the next two or three weeks for sure.
Fo sho.
In other news, the recent influx of young crazy people to the music department in the past couple of years has caused some truly ridiculous drama. So, there's Katie, the lesbian trumpet player who has had some psychological problems in the past; she gets these... ideas, that can make her really happy and really disappointed. Like, for instance, she wanted to order pizza to the lownjlounge and got all worked up, but then they called BPs and found out that they didn't deliver until 4pm, and then she became really upset by the notion of pizza, or of even just going to Academy. This is how stuff often works with her--she builds things up in her head that make her feel horrible when they don't happen. She's planned so many trips abroad that I've lost count. She was going to go to... New Zealand, I think it was, last summer. Yeah...
Anyway, this is not an essay about Katie. This is about how Jackie, this second-year horn player, is dating everybody's favourite Dan Davis. Katie, as I mentioned, is a lesbian. Everybody who has so much as passed her in the hallway knows this. She's also only had one girlfriend, who happened to be straight, but just liked her, apparently. I don't know if it's that, or if she's just delusional, but there have been at least three straight girls that she's tried to "convert" since I've met her, the third of which is Jackie.
Now, I posted the story of Katie getting jealous at the Formal and drinking herself stupid _very_quickly_. It seems, however, that Katie did not give up then. This weekend, or maybe yesterday, I'm not sure, Katie was talking to Jackie. She was concerned about Dan. According to Katie, this was of import because she (Katie) and Jackie were "dating." Now, that's Jackie's word, and I haven't heard Katie's side of the story for fear of starting her off on some other harmful binge, but, really. Hey, Jackie, I'm concerned that your boyfriend is interfering with the lesbian relationship between us that I have built up in my mind. Scary.
And that's not the worst part. Jackie's reaction was a very understandable WTF?! Katie was angered by this. This morning, she was refusing to speak to Jackie. Jackie tried to initiate conversation by asking her things like what book she was reading, and Katie would respond, by holding up the book, for instance, but would never say anything. This continuted until about halfway through Wind Ensemble (btw, Angela Schroeder proved that it is humanly possible to conduct Postacrd in a way which can be understood by mortal human beings--I was so happy). Then, something happened. I don't know what, but it was like a switch got flipped inside Katie's brain. She overheard Jackie make a bad joke, and she laughed and said "Boo-urns, Jackie, Boo-urns." She had essentially gone back to normal.
Now, what would you do in this situation? A good friend and you have been fighting because of a non-existant lesbian relationship between you two, and suddenly your friend seems to have, I dunno, forgiven you for being straight, or at least decided that your friendship is important enough to not ruin it over unrequited love. Jackie chose to respond by making a kissing gesture at Katie.
That really doesn't seem like the way to discourage amourous advances to me. It was even all pouty-lipped and slow, like the girlfriend in Ferris Bueller's Day off, when the dad is in the next cab. I really don't know what she was thinking.
*sigh*
Not my problem, not my problem, not my problem...
So I declare we must gather there. I shall send out an e-mail when Peter can remember his work schedule, but I was thinking within the next two or three weeks for sure.
Fo sho.
In other news, the recent influx of young crazy people to the music department in the past couple of years has caused some truly ridiculous drama. So, there's Katie, the lesbian trumpet player who has had some psychological problems in the past; she gets these... ideas, that can make her really happy and really disappointed. Like, for instance, she wanted to order pizza to the lownjlounge and got all worked up, but then they called BPs and found out that they didn't deliver until 4pm, and then she became really upset by the notion of pizza, or of even just going to Academy. This is how stuff often works with her--she builds things up in her head that make her feel horrible when they don't happen. She's planned so many trips abroad that I've lost count. She was going to go to... New Zealand, I think it was, last summer. Yeah...
Anyway, this is not an essay about Katie. This is about how Jackie, this second-year horn player, is dating everybody's favourite Dan Davis. Katie, as I mentioned, is a lesbian. Everybody who has so much as passed her in the hallway knows this. She's also only had one girlfriend, who happened to be straight, but just liked her, apparently. I don't know if it's that, or if she's just delusional, but there have been at least three straight girls that she's tried to "convert" since I've met her, the third of which is Jackie.
Now, I posted the story of Katie getting jealous at the Formal and drinking herself stupid _very_quickly_. It seems, however, that Katie did not give up then. This weekend, or maybe yesterday, I'm not sure, Katie was talking to Jackie. She was concerned about Dan. According to Katie, this was of import because she (Katie) and Jackie were "dating." Now, that's Jackie's word, and I haven't heard Katie's side of the story for fear of starting her off on some other harmful binge, but, really. Hey, Jackie, I'm concerned that your boyfriend is interfering with the lesbian relationship between us that I have built up in my mind. Scary.
And that's not the worst part. Jackie's reaction was a very understandable WTF?! Katie was angered by this. This morning, she was refusing to speak to Jackie. Jackie tried to initiate conversation by asking her things like what book she was reading, and Katie would respond, by holding up the book, for instance, but would never say anything. This continuted until about halfway through Wind Ensemble (btw, Angela Schroeder proved that it is humanly possible to conduct Postacrd in a way which can be understood by mortal human beings--I was so happy). Then, something happened. I don't know what, but it was like a switch got flipped inside Katie's brain. She overheard Jackie make a bad joke, and she laughed and said "Boo-urns, Jackie, Boo-urns." She had essentially gone back to normal.
Now, what would you do in this situation? A good friend and you have been fighting because of a non-existant lesbian relationship between you two, and suddenly your friend seems to have, I dunno, forgiven you for being straight, or at least decided that your friendship is important enough to not ruin it over unrequited love. Jackie chose to respond by making a kissing gesture at Katie.
That really doesn't seem like the way to discourage amourous advances to me. It was even all pouty-lipped and slow, like the girlfriend in Ferris Bueller's Day off, when the dad is in the next cab. I really don't know what she was thinking.
*sigh*
Not my problem, not my problem, not my problem...
3/05/2006
Tag!
I have been tagged!
The rules are as follows:
1. Thank the person who tagged you
2. Tell five weird/strange things about yourself
3. Tag five other people.
Firstly, thanks Jo!
Now, five things about me...
1. In order to properly see this computer screen, I have to wear both contact lenses _and_ glasses. Well, actually, I could just wear glasses, but I hate wearing glasses all day, so I wear contact lenses and just add the glasses for things like reading and looking at screens.
2. I have had my skull drilled through. It was worth it just for the morphine. ;-)
3. I was a very literal child. This came up recently when Something Awful had a "MS Paint your childhood misconceptions" contest. The funniest one I can remember is that when my mom first started talking to me about sex (when I was, like, six years old), she referred to it as "making love." I, of course, pictured a man and a woman sitting around cutting hearts out of red contruction paper. They were _making_ love. When I found out you had to be naked, I was so confused. ^_^
4. My favourite television show is ReBoot. Yes, it is a kids' show in early CGI. Yes, it debuted when I was 10. Yes, it took them 8 years to make four seasons. But it rocks. I command you all to go watch it.
5. I used to work at a maternity clothing store. That's not the thing. The thing is that, when faced with women who were teeming with hormones and often towing two or three children behind them, it was the husbands who were the most difficult to deal with. Oh, and we had to greet everyone who entered the store with the phrase "Welcome to Motherhood." (The store was called Motherhood Maternity, but, still, isn't that the stupidest line ever?)
Okay, now for the hard part. I have to tag five other people. I don't know five people other thant he ones Joanne tagged that have blogss, so I'm gonna have to get people to e-mail theirs, or maybe just post them as comments in my blog.
I tag Joyce, Pri, Morgan, Jenilee and Kaitlyn. I know Joanne tagged Kaitlyn, but that girl needs incentive to update her blog more often. ;-p
The rules are as follows:
1. Thank the person who tagged you
2. Tell five weird/strange things about yourself
3. Tag five other people.
Firstly, thanks Jo!
Now, five things about me...
1. In order to properly see this computer screen, I have to wear both contact lenses _and_ glasses. Well, actually, I could just wear glasses, but I hate wearing glasses all day, so I wear contact lenses and just add the glasses for things like reading and looking at screens.
2. I have had my skull drilled through. It was worth it just for the morphine. ;-)
3. I was a very literal child. This came up recently when Something Awful had a "MS Paint your childhood misconceptions" contest. The funniest one I can remember is that when my mom first started talking to me about sex (when I was, like, six years old), she referred to it as "making love." I, of course, pictured a man and a woman sitting around cutting hearts out of red contruction paper. They were _making_ love. When I found out you had to be naked, I was so confused. ^_^
4. My favourite television show is ReBoot. Yes, it is a kids' show in early CGI. Yes, it debuted when I was 10. Yes, it took them 8 years to make four seasons. But it rocks. I command you all to go watch it.
5. I used to work at a maternity clothing store. That's not the thing. The thing is that, when faced with women who were teeming with hormones and often towing two or three children behind them, it was the husbands who were the most difficult to deal with. Oh, and we had to greet everyone who entered the store with the phrase "Welcome to Motherhood." (The store was called Motherhood Maternity, but, still, isn't that the stupidest line ever?)
Okay, now for the hard part. I have to tag five other people. I don't know five people other thant he ones Joanne tagged that have blogss, so I'm gonna have to get people to e-mail theirs, or maybe just post them as comments in my blog.
I tag Joyce, Pri, Morgan, Jenilee and Kaitlyn. I know Joanne tagged Kaitlyn, but that girl needs incentive to update her blog more often. ;-p
3/04/2006
Imagine Julia Child Curling...
I think I have some kind of spyware, but spybot keeps getting errors when scanning. I am annoyed.
My dad is watching Women's curling. And talking to it. That sport kind of scares me...
I cam home this morning to find my mother painting the laundry room. And samples. Oh, the samples. All kinds of carpet, tile, linoleum, granite, hardwood and more. I didn't like the flooring or the countertop samples my mom chose for my bathroom, so we're gonna go look at others today. Plus, my mom is having second thought as to which tiles to put around the fireplaces. Our new house will apparently have two fireplaces, one on the main floor and one in the basement.
*blinkblink*
I think my dog is high on the fumes from the paint.
Is anybody else scared by the reports about the Lulu Lemon warehouse sale? You'd think it was a 90% designer wedding dresses sale. A wedding dress is one thing I have thought about. Even if I elope, as I plan to, I doubt I'll be naked when I get married. But there's no way I'm doing the insane wedding dress sale thing, just like there's no way I'd do the Lulu warehouse sale.
Now my dad is watching a Julia Child show, and she's talking about "Omelette Queens." Speaking of omelettes, I should go feed my Neopet...
Gateau of omelettes?? Woah...
My dad is watching Women's curling. And talking to it. That sport kind of scares me...
I cam home this morning to find my mother painting the laundry room. And samples. Oh, the samples. All kinds of carpet, tile, linoleum, granite, hardwood and more. I didn't like the flooring or the countertop samples my mom chose for my bathroom, so we're gonna go look at others today. Plus, my mom is having second thought as to which tiles to put around the fireplaces. Our new house will apparently have two fireplaces, one on the main floor and one in the basement.
*blinkblink*
I think my dog is high on the fumes from the paint.
Is anybody else scared by the reports about the Lulu Lemon warehouse sale? You'd think it was a 90% designer wedding dresses sale. A wedding dress is one thing I have thought about. Even if I elope, as I plan to, I doubt I'll be naked when I get married. But there's no way I'm doing the insane wedding dress sale thing, just like there's no way I'd do the Lulu warehouse sale.
Now my dad is watching a Julia Child show, and she's talking about "Omelette Queens." Speaking of omelettes, I should go feed my Neopet...
Gateau of omelettes?? Woah...
3/03/2006
Tastes Like Chicken. No, Wait, I Had the Shortribs Sandwich...
Instead of going to the Concert Band concert, I nearly died driving Peter back to his mom's, then went and had a much-needed and rather yummy dinner.
My impromptu speech topic in my Speech class today was "Is democracy really the best form of government, despite what is widely believed?" My only problem with it was that it hadn't been given to me this morning, because I could've eaten it for breakfast. Boo-yah!
And that is more or less all I have to say. One girl got the topic "Should education be universalised under one language, and, if so, which?" and she said, yes, under English, because she had trouble ordering coffee while she was in Spain. Oy...
My impromptu speech topic in my Speech class today was "Is democracy really the best form of government, despite what is widely believed?" My only problem with it was that it hadn't been given to me this morning, because I could've eaten it for breakfast. Boo-yah!
And that is more or less all I have to say. One girl got the topic "Should education be universalised under one language, and, if so, which?" and she said, yes, under English, because she had trouble ordering coffee while she was in Spain. Oy...
The Good, the Bad and the Friday
Today was pancake day!
I didn't make it to the Wind Sinfonia concert last night.
Peter and I bought WarioWare!
I'm wearing my spiffy new Machiavelli t-shirt!
I so totally feel like crawling back into bed and never getting out.
I _have_ to go to the Concert Band concert tonight.
At least it's Friday.
I didn't make it to the Wind Sinfonia concert last night.
Peter and I bought WarioWare!
I'm wearing my spiffy new Machiavelli t-shirt!
I so totally feel like crawling back into bed and never getting out.
I _have_ to go to the Concert Band concert tonight.
At least it's Friday.
3/02/2006
>-(
It is Thursday and I am frustrated for reasons I can't explain. I will be meeting Peter for dinner at 6, then going to the Wind Sinfonia concert at 7:30. I don't particularly want to, but I really need to review the conducting for my band Tech course. And, really, when I make myself think about, I really like Wind Sinfonia.
Is it wrong that my two favourite classes right now are Wind Ensemble and Band Techniques? Wind Ensemble is amusing, sitting next to Katie and playing what is relatively easy music if you're just looking at one part. And Band Techniques has been really interesting and useful lately. My other classes include lessons, which I'm kind of apathetic towards right now, History, which was a great class, but the Renaissance unit has me lost, and Speech, where my prof is being a prick. He seems to have this idea that I'm horribly shy, too, which is weird...
But Wind Ensemble is not without its trials. We have a concert two weeks from tomorrow with the Northern Alberta Honour Band, which is the non-audition-based one (*cringe*), and for our three pieces, we've got a trombone concerto that Audrey's doing by... Grandan? Gaudan? I can't remember, but it's not all that difficult, just annoying to rehearse without the soloist. We're also playing this Hindemith piece which would be really cool if we had a couple of months instead of a couple of weeks. The kicker, though, is that Dr. Street went looking for an easy piece to give us so we could devote more rehearsal time to the other stuff, and he came up with... Postcard! He thinks that since we played it a couple of years ago, it'll be no problem. Now, I know these numbers are a bit generalized, but just bear with me, here: If everybody spends four years playing in Wind Ensemble and there is an equal amount of people from each year, then only half the players will know a piece from two years ago. If everybody spends their first year in Concert Band and their next three years in Wind Ensemble, as is common, and there is an equal number of people from the other three years in Wind Ensemble, then only one third of the players know a piece from two years ago. We just got the music for Postcard today, and Dr. Street put poor Katie and Chelsea on the spot to polish this one section, even though they were in high school two years ago and were sightreading today. *sigh*
And now I'm worked up enough that the idea of going to the Wind Sinfonia concert is making me twitch. I should go calm down...
Is it wrong that my two favourite classes right now are Wind Ensemble and Band Techniques? Wind Ensemble is amusing, sitting next to Katie and playing what is relatively easy music if you're just looking at one part. And Band Techniques has been really interesting and useful lately. My other classes include lessons, which I'm kind of apathetic towards right now, History, which was a great class, but the Renaissance unit has me lost, and Speech, where my prof is being a prick. He seems to have this idea that I'm horribly shy, too, which is weird...
But Wind Ensemble is not without its trials. We have a concert two weeks from tomorrow with the Northern Alberta Honour Band, which is the non-audition-based one (*cringe*), and for our three pieces, we've got a trombone concerto that Audrey's doing by... Grandan? Gaudan? I can't remember, but it's not all that difficult, just annoying to rehearse without the soloist. We're also playing this Hindemith piece which would be really cool if we had a couple of months instead of a couple of weeks. The kicker, though, is that Dr. Street went looking for an easy piece to give us so we could devote more rehearsal time to the other stuff, and he came up with... Postcard! He thinks that since we played it a couple of years ago, it'll be no problem. Now, I know these numbers are a bit generalized, but just bear with me, here: If everybody spends four years playing in Wind Ensemble and there is an equal amount of people from each year, then only half the players will know a piece from two years ago. If everybody spends their first year in Concert Band and their next three years in Wind Ensemble, as is common, and there is an equal number of people from the other three years in Wind Ensemble, then only one third of the players know a piece from two years ago. We just got the music for Postcard today, and Dr. Street put poor Katie and Chelsea on the spot to polish this one section, even though they were in high school two years ago and were sightreading today. *sigh*
And now I'm worked up enough that the idea of going to the Wind Sinfonia concert is making me twitch. I should go calm down...
3/01/2006
Sqee!!! Lane and Zach Got Engaged!!!
Feeling groggy. Must be the drugs.
There was lots of snow outside and not much reason to go to my 281 class, so I slept until 12:45 today. This would have been better if I hadn't had a doctot's appointment at 11:45. I Rescheduled to next week.
Went to Tasty Tom's with Peter and Dave and their mom. Very tasty. Heh. Must be the drugs.
Hanging out with people last night rocked. Hadn't seen Alfredo in a while. We all got to laugh at Sean in person for booking a hotel room in the wrong state. Muchly amusing.
Now my computer is giving me the uber-dim-screen-of-almost-out-of-battery, and I don't think it took any drugs, so I'm gonna sign off.
There was lots of snow outside and not much reason to go to my 281 class, so I slept until 12:45 today. This would have been better if I hadn't had a doctot's appointment at 11:45. I Rescheduled to next week.
Went to Tasty Tom's with Peter and Dave and their mom. Very tasty. Heh. Must be the drugs.
Hanging out with people last night rocked. Hadn't seen Alfredo in a while. We all got to laugh at Sean in person for booking a hotel room in the wrong state. Muchly amusing.
Now my computer is giving me the uber-dim-screen-of-almost-out-of-battery, and I don't think it took any drugs, so I'm gonna sign off.
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