I'm not entirely sure it was worth getting up this morning. It's bloody cold outside, and I guess it has also been snowing and windy, too, because there are snow drifts like mad. I had to walk through snow almost up to my knees to get to my car this morning. My mom was all agitated and being fatalistic that my car wouldn't start because it wasn't plugged in. I think the fact that I was annoyed at her was the only reason I went to school this morning. Btw, my car started on the first try. Also, I was supposed to perform in my directing class, but another group went instead. I suspect that has something to do with the fact that it took me an hour and a half to get to school, making me 40 minutes late for the class. I apologized to the prof, and, while he understood, he still wasn't happy, and I felt horrible. Like hell am I going to French class this afternoon, though. My mom's office has declared a snow day. According to various sources, Edmonton Public has never declared a board-wide school closure because of weather, though I do remember calling in "sick" for myself in the sixth grade when it was about as nasty out as today and my parents weren't home.
For today, though, I have cranked the thermostat to 72 and put on slippers. I hope my doctor's appointment isn't cancelled again this evening. Also, hot chocolate may be in order. That does sound most appealing. ^_^
(Low tonight of -39C *without* the windchill~! Christ, almighty...)
1/28/2008
1/26/2008
Hello, Saturday
I just applied for convocation. I'm trying not to be nervous or scared. I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. I also have the bizarre urge to paint my finger nails. I don't think I have any polish that isn't clear or black, though, neither of which I want. As well, I have run out of Starbucks gift card. A latte most days, plus a few scones, really adds up. I feel oddly forlorn. My dad's making ribs for supper tonight, though, which should be tasty. I should call Peter to make sure he can come join us. Oh, and yay, Sean! You rule the saxophone world! (Sorry, cousin Sean... But, hey, you can rule the lawyer world if you want! ^_^)
1/25/2008
Musician and Actor: Unglamourous
So this weekend will be dedicated to learning my lines for my 383 scenes. The one we've been working on since Wednesday is mostly all right, but I'll have to spend some quality time with the ones for the mid-term project, because those have to be outright memorized. I only have one scripot so far, and I hope that the other guy in my group has his chosen for this afternoon, and that he'll let me borrow the book he has so that I can photocopy my scene. There were no more copies of the play in Rutherford, and the Edmonton Public Library doesn't have any at all. *glare*
I've spent most of this week feeling like crap. I've missed both of my French classes and both of my Theory classes so far, and I didn't get to rehearsal on Tuesday. When I went to rehearsal last night, we were playing this Huckleberry Finn Suite, and Wendy gave me and this other trumpet play a compliment on the duet we played at the beginning of the last movement, and it took me a minute to realize she was talking to me, even after she said my name. I really wanted to be in bed at that point, as at this point. ^_^ I'm making myself go to my French class this afternoon, though, since I really shouldn't miss a whole week's worth (there are marked assignments every class), and it's only an hour today. Plus, I have the script read-through later this afternoon that I *have* to be at, so there's really no point in skipping to sleep and then having to get up and go back to school.
You know, I bet that if I actually bothered to put labels/tags/whatever on my posts, most of my posts would have the same ones: school, work, tired, friends, dog, rant, and maybe a few with an announcement tag.
In other news, writing in a whole slew of grace notes to give music a country twang makes it really annoying to read. Also, A# grace notes before each of a series of repeated B natural eighth notes at a fairly brisk tempo is not possible on the trumpet or any other standard 3-valve instrument. Lastly, trombones are loud. Some of these kids were my students last year. Did I ever mention them here? There were many instances of "You're great, but shut up!" or similar. ^_^
I did two loads of laundry yesterday! Thus, I am wearing clean jeans and the bright pink sweater I got for Christmas, and I feel put-together. =D Three cheers for low bars!
I've spent most of this week feeling like crap. I've missed both of my French classes and both of my Theory classes so far, and I didn't get to rehearsal on Tuesday. When I went to rehearsal last night, we were playing this Huckleberry Finn Suite, and Wendy gave me and this other trumpet play a compliment on the duet we played at the beginning of the last movement, and it took me a minute to realize she was talking to me, even after she said my name. I really wanted to be in bed at that point, as at this point. ^_^ I'm making myself go to my French class this afternoon, though, since I really shouldn't miss a whole week's worth (there are marked assignments every class), and it's only an hour today. Plus, I have the script read-through later this afternoon that I *have* to be at, so there's really no point in skipping to sleep and then having to get up and go back to school.
You know, I bet that if I actually bothered to put labels/tags/whatever on my posts, most of my posts would have the same ones: school, work, tired, friends, dog, rant, and maybe a few with an announcement tag.
In other news, writing in a whole slew of grace notes to give music a country twang makes it really annoying to read. Also, A# grace notes before each of a series of repeated B natural eighth notes at a fairly brisk tempo is not possible on the trumpet or any other standard 3-valve instrument. Lastly, trombones are loud. Some of these kids were my students last year. Did I ever mention them here? There were many instances of "You're great, but shut up!" or similar. ^_^
I did two loads of laundry yesterday! Thus, I am wearing clean jeans and the bright pink sweater I got for Christmas, and I feel put-together. =D Three cheers for low bars!
1/22/2008
Duh...
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Your Result: Musician Doo doo de doo waaaa doo de doo! (<-- That's you playing something.) Everyone appreciates the band/orchestra geeks and the pretty voices. Whether you sing in the choir, participate in a school/local band, or sit at home writing music, you contribute a joy to society that everyone can agree on. Yay! Welcome to actually doing something for poor, pathetic human souls. (Just kidding.) | |
| Drama Nerd | |
| Gamer/Computer Nerd | |
| Literature Nerd | |
| Artistic Nerd | |
| Social Nerd | |
| Anime Nerd | |
| Science/Math Nerd | |
| What Be Your Nerd Type? Quizzes for MySpace | |
1/21/2008
Read This
Good day, fine people! I am currently eating a "lunch" of BBQ-flavoured "Crispy Minis" (essentially rice cake potato chips) and diet A&W root beer. This makes me malnourished and happy. ^_^
I have a weakness for things that are "BBQ"-flavoured. ^_^
This morning, there was an odd and amusing coincidence. It was 8am, and the phone rang. I picked it up and gave an annoyed "hello?" It turned out to be the contractor who had overseen the building of the development we live in, and who is now overseeing repairs of the deficiencies. I go upstairs, give the phone to my mom, she talks to him, they hang up. I take the phone back down to my room, and, just as I'm entering, my cell phone starts to ring. Remember, it was 8am. I had been out of bed for a whole 15 minutes at this point, and I didn't get up willingly. I thought for a minute that I must have been experiencing some sort of auditory hallucination. Seriously. It turned out that it was my doctor's office calling to cancel my appointment this afternoon because my doctor is sick. Silly doctor. It occurs to me that I'm saying that very similarly to how I used to say "Silly logistic manager" when I worked at A&B Sound. I find that kind of amusing. ^_^
And then, at the start of class today, my prof scolded me for not helping put chairs into a circle, even though only one third of the class was there on time, and I say those who weren't should have been around to move their own freaking chairs. I felt guilty. :-( We then proceeded to discuss the midterm project and our current project for the next 100 minutes straight. I had a great deal of trouble staying awake at certain points. You know, I was just about to complain about the people in the class who talk too much and interrupt the flow of things to insert their own semi-random points, but then it occurred to me that there are in fact reasonably few of those people in this class. Of the 15 of us, 5 people talk a lot, but only 2 of them say semi-random things and interrupt what's going on--the other three say very relevant, insightful things. I should give them hugs. ^_^
We got an Eddie Bauer catalogue in the mail last week. It has their spring collection, things like tank tops and bathing suits and summer dresses. I actually went outside this morning to warm my car up before I left. It has been really freaking cold outside over the past few days. Even my dog didn't want to go for a walk yesterday. I therefore find it cruel to be recieving catalogues featuring swimwear and tank tops. I want it to be tank top weather... :-(
*looks around* My life is small... Maybe I should start making things up to put in blog posts. Then you guys (hello?) could try to guess which things are real and which aren't. It could be a game! *clapclapclap*
I have a weakness for things that are "BBQ"-flavoured. ^_^
This morning, there was an odd and amusing coincidence. It was 8am, and the phone rang. I picked it up and gave an annoyed "hello?" It turned out to be the contractor who had overseen the building of the development we live in, and who is now overseeing repairs of the deficiencies. I go upstairs, give the phone to my mom, she talks to him, they hang up. I take the phone back down to my room, and, just as I'm entering, my cell phone starts to ring. Remember, it was 8am. I had been out of bed for a whole 15 minutes at this point, and I didn't get up willingly. I thought for a minute that I must have been experiencing some sort of auditory hallucination. Seriously. It turned out that it was my doctor's office calling to cancel my appointment this afternoon because my doctor is sick. Silly doctor. It occurs to me that I'm saying that very similarly to how I used to say "Silly logistic manager" when I worked at A&B Sound. I find that kind of amusing. ^_^
And then, at the start of class today, my prof scolded me for not helping put chairs into a circle, even though only one third of the class was there on time, and I say those who weren't should have been around to move their own freaking chairs. I felt guilty. :-( We then proceeded to discuss the midterm project and our current project for the next 100 minutes straight. I had a great deal of trouble staying awake at certain points. You know, I was just about to complain about the people in the class who talk too much and interrupt the flow of things to insert their own semi-random points, but then it occurred to me that there are in fact reasonably few of those people in this class. Of the 15 of us, 5 people talk a lot, but only 2 of them say semi-random things and interrupt what's going on--the other three say very relevant, insightful things. I should give them hugs. ^_^
We got an Eddie Bauer catalogue in the mail last week. It has their spring collection, things like tank tops and bathing suits and summer dresses. I actually went outside this morning to warm my car up before I left. It has been really freaking cold outside over the past few days. Even my dog didn't want to go for a walk yesterday. I therefore find it cruel to be recieving catalogues featuring swimwear and tank tops. I want it to be tank top weather... :-(
*looks around* My life is small... Maybe I should start making things up to put in blog posts. Then you guys (hello?) could try to guess which things are real and which aren't. It could be a game! *clapclapclap*
1/18/2008
My Life, as it is Right Now
While I might normally be home at this time on a Friday, I've stayed at school to do my French homework. I did most of it, but I still have a 50-word "resume" of a paragraph to do. It should take me all of five minutes. Had I realized that the homework was the minimal, I would have gone home for a nap and free food. I suppose I could still go home for the tfree food (my class isn't for another two hours yet), but I might be pushing it with the nap. At least the class is only an hour today.
Tonight, I have a 4-hour cash shift, and then I'm saying goodbye to Old Navy. The extra sleep will be greatly appreciated. I'm ridiculously tired right now. I think I need to rethink my caffeination technique, so that, rather than having one very strong latte in the morning, I have multiple weaker ones throughout the day. You people must get very sick of reading about this. This is the way the logistics of my life work, though. Isn't that depressing?
In other news, I have re-entered the world of form and formal analysis in theatre over the past couple of days. I have been reconsidering my notion of plot, redirecting it through central dramatic action and spoken text. This is a basic approach for theatre, but I've been more involved in plain old prose fiction as of late, and I've begun to think of action as movement, and movement as an expression of subtext. I need to be more clear than that--I worry that my own endeavours are too obtuse, and having things actually happen, rather than just be implied, should help with that.
I will exemplify this endeavour by now going to get lunch, rather than simply stating that I'm hungry, ending the post, and leaving you to infer that I'm going to get lunch. ^_^
Tonight, I have a 4-hour cash shift, and then I'm saying goodbye to Old Navy. The extra sleep will be greatly appreciated. I'm ridiculously tired right now. I think I need to rethink my caffeination technique, so that, rather than having one very strong latte in the morning, I have multiple weaker ones throughout the day. You people must get very sick of reading about this. This is the way the logistics of my life work, though. Isn't that depressing?
In other news, I have re-entered the world of form and formal analysis in theatre over the past couple of days. I have been reconsidering my notion of plot, redirecting it through central dramatic action and spoken text. This is a basic approach for theatre, but I've been more involved in plain old prose fiction as of late, and I've begun to think of action as movement, and movement as an expression of subtext. I need to be more clear than that--I worry that my own endeavours are too obtuse, and having things actually happen, rather than just be implied, should help with that.
I will exemplify this endeavour by now going to get lunch, rather than simply stating that I'm hungry, ending the post, and leaving you to infer that I'm going to get lunch. ^_^
1/15/2008
Blog-worthy
1) I handed in my letter of resignation at work yesterday. My last shift is Friday. I'm probably more sad than happy about this, because I like my job, actually, but the happy parts are much more important. This way I can do things like sleep *and* get schoolwork done. ^_^
2) I passed 282!! I'm giddy. I just found out here in the lab at school, and I nearly hugged the poor unsuspecting girl next to me. ^_^ There was real worry here--I actually failed at first. It was a really freaking close fail, though (59%), so I went and begged my prof to bump me up, and I guess Dr. Ratzlaff let her. Thank God, because otherwise I would have had to wait until next Fall Term in order to take it again which would put a rather large roadblock in the way of my life plan.
3) Speaking of my life plan, I have begun having reccurring dreams about preparing for a big trip. I find this quite annoying. I used to have reccurring dreams all the time, to the extent where it was unusual for me to have a new dream (and remember it, though I remember many of my dreams), and I hated it then, too. *sigh*
4) Donna was nice to me today when I went and asked her to register me in 455 because Beartracks wouldn't let me. This was unprecedented, as far as I've ever heard...
5) I declare a celebration to be in order! I'm going to go get a cookie! ^_^
2) I passed 282!! I'm giddy. I just found out here in the lab at school, and I nearly hugged the poor unsuspecting girl next to me. ^_^ There was real worry here--I actually failed at first. It was a really freaking close fail, though (59%), so I went and begged my prof to bump me up, and I guess Dr. Ratzlaff let her. Thank God, because otherwise I would have had to wait until next Fall Term in order to take it again which would put a rather large roadblock in the way of my life plan.
3) Speaking of my life plan, I have begun having reccurring dreams about preparing for a big trip. I find this quite annoying. I used to have reccurring dreams all the time, to the extent where it was unusual for me to have a new dream (and remember it, though I remember many of my dreams), and I hated it then, too. *sigh*
4) Donna was nice to me today when I went and asked her to register me in 455 because Beartracks wouldn't let me. This was unprecedented, as far as I've ever heard...
5) I declare a celebration to be in order! I'm going to go get a cookie! ^_^
1/14/2008
Character and a French Exam
I'm at home for my long-ass break between classes. I got a car wash on the way home, and it didn't get my windshield clean. It did, however, leak through my roof. I didn't particularly care enough to complain, though. All I really wanted was to clean my headlights and generally be able to tell that my car is green, not brown.
My Directing course is focusing strongly on composition, things like blocking and angles and lighting. It's interesting, in the sense that I've never really bothered to learn about these things before, and it's neat to have the vocabulary to discuss what most people understand but can't articulate. My prof says he wants to make us realize that directing is only partly about working with actors. Lately I've been defending my opinion that characters aren't complete people, and that having an actor play them, no matter how well or complexly they do so, doesn't make them complete. Reasonable extrapolations, induction, or even occasionally deduction, can be made to fill out a character, but there's still not an entire lifetime's worth of experiences there, a discrete sentience. This could be considered a vaguely classicist, old-school type of interpretation. I have no problem with fleshing out characters--everything from bone structures to gargoyles to missing moments is fine with me--but directors (and others) who ignore the rest in favour of "completing" a character make me disheartened. The relationship between character and everything else is kind of like the relationship in Minesweeper between the numbers and the bombs--there will not always be the maximum, nor minimum, number of bombs possible with the number arrangement, nor always somewhere in between, but the bombs do create the numbers, just as character is created by plot and context and the like.
Huh. I'm developping a bruise on my arm, and I have no idea what I did to it.
I almost made it through the entire first week of classes with no absences. On Friday, I went to Peter's house during my break to do work there on my computer, and when I went to leave for my French course at Fac, I realized that I had forgotten my course pack in my locker. I didn't have time to go get it without being, like, fifteen minutes late, and I knew that all we were doing was going through the course pack and finishing the "final exam" that I had finished the class before, so since the class was only an hour, instead of two like on Mondays and Wednesdays, I called Joyce up and got her to meet me at Tim Horton's for lunch. ^_^ It was a classic of my days skipping in high school. I even treated myself to a fruit explosion muffin like I used to. ^_^ We rounded the excursion off with a trip to Southgate, where I discovered that the Gilmore Girls complete series DVD boxset is now available in Canada. I want it. ^_^ HMV was charging $250, which isn't that bad for seven seasons, but I think I'll check to see if Best Buy has it for cheaper.
But, yeah, that "final exam" thing. We wrote a version of the final exam in my French class. It wasn't for marks, but instead to compare the results from the beginning of term to the results at the end of term. I think I did reasonably well except for one thing: there was a parts of speech section where we were given sentences and asked to underline and label various parts of speech. The only problem was that the names of all of these were abbreviated, and I didn't know all of the abbreviations. I couldn't remember for the life of me what a "CC" was, for instance. If they hadn't been abbreviated, then I probably would have done much better. Oh, and I couldn't remember the Passe Simple of Etre. I feel remarkably stupid about that one, actually...
But now, I think, it is time for lunch. =)
My Directing course is focusing strongly on composition, things like blocking and angles and lighting. It's interesting, in the sense that I've never really bothered to learn about these things before, and it's neat to have the vocabulary to discuss what most people understand but can't articulate. My prof says he wants to make us realize that directing is only partly about working with actors. Lately I've been defending my opinion that characters aren't complete people, and that having an actor play them, no matter how well or complexly they do so, doesn't make them complete. Reasonable extrapolations, induction, or even occasionally deduction, can be made to fill out a character, but there's still not an entire lifetime's worth of experiences there, a discrete sentience. This could be considered a vaguely classicist, old-school type of interpretation. I have no problem with fleshing out characters--everything from bone structures to gargoyles to missing moments is fine with me--but directors (and others) who ignore the rest in favour of "completing" a character make me disheartened. The relationship between character and everything else is kind of like the relationship in Minesweeper between the numbers and the bombs--there will not always be the maximum, nor minimum, number of bombs possible with the number arrangement, nor always somewhere in between, but the bombs do create the numbers, just as character is created by plot and context and the like.
Huh. I'm developping a bruise on my arm, and I have no idea what I did to it.
I almost made it through the entire first week of classes with no absences. On Friday, I went to Peter's house during my break to do work there on my computer, and when I went to leave for my French course at Fac, I realized that I had forgotten my course pack in my locker. I didn't have time to go get it without being, like, fifteen minutes late, and I knew that all we were doing was going through the course pack and finishing the "final exam" that I had finished the class before, so since the class was only an hour, instead of two like on Mondays and Wednesdays, I called Joyce up and got her to meet me at Tim Horton's for lunch. ^_^ It was a classic of my days skipping in high school. I even treated myself to a fruit explosion muffin like I used to. ^_^ We rounded the excursion off with a trip to Southgate, where I discovered that the Gilmore Girls complete series DVD boxset is now available in Canada. I want it. ^_^ HMV was charging $250, which isn't that bad for seven seasons, but I think I'll check to see if Best Buy has it for cheaper.
But, yeah, that "final exam" thing. We wrote a version of the final exam in my French class. It wasn't for marks, but instead to compare the results from the beginning of term to the results at the end of term. I think I did reasonably well except for one thing: there was a parts of speech section where we were given sentences and asked to underline and label various parts of speech. The only problem was that the names of all of these were abbreviated, and I didn't know all of the abbreviations. I couldn't remember for the life of me what a "CC" was, for instance. If they hadn't been abbreviated, then I probably would have done much better. Oh, and I couldn't remember the Passe Simple of Etre. I feel remarkably stupid about that one, actually...
But now, I think, it is time for lunch. =)
1/10/2008
Post 358
Ugh... It's not quite 11 am on Thursday, and I am sitting at home in my pajamas, hoping my latte will help get rid of my headache. Stupid being out of Advil... I am inexplicably exhausted. I slept for over 8 hours last night, and I've been sleeping fine for the past while, but, right now, I think I could give one defeated exhale and fall asleep exactly where I am. *rubs forehead*
Today I have my second 455 class with Bashaw. Apparently, since the time when I took 256, like, four years ago, the Theory program has been revamped. Whereas my 256 class was half Schenkarian analysis and half modal species counterpoint (!!), the new 256 is analytical systems for music of the first half of the 20th century. 455, therefore, is analytical systems for music of the second half of the 20th century. I'm quite looking forward to the course because I'm weird like that. We spent last class coming up with definitions for rhythm, pulse and beat. It was refreshingly challenging. :-)
Speaking of beats, I finally bought a copy of the (play analysis) book Backwards and Forwards. I'm thinking I should buy another so that I can have the catharsis of destroying it, but still have a copy to use. ^_^
We're playing W Francis McBeth's "Masque" in Concert Band. I have demanded that I keep my first part when the parts are redistributed this weekend. ^_^
Now, however, I must go in search of *some* kind of pain killer, because my latte has failed me. How could you, latte? Maybe my mom has some Advil...
Today I have my second 455 class with Bashaw. Apparently, since the time when I took 256, like, four years ago, the Theory program has been revamped. Whereas my 256 class was half Schenkarian analysis and half modal species counterpoint (!!), the new 256 is analytical systems for music of the first half of the 20th century. 455, therefore, is analytical systems for music of the second half of the 20th century. I'm quite looking forward to the course because I'm weird like that. We spent last class coming up with definitions for rhythm, pulse and beat. It was refreshingly challenging. :-)
Speaking of beats, I finally bought a copy of the (play analysis) book Backwards and Forwards. I'm thinking I should buy another so that I can have the catharsis of destroying it, but still have a copy to use. ^_^
We're playing W Francis McBeth's "Masque" in Concert Band. I have demanded that I keep my first part when the parts are redistributed this weekend. ^_^
Now, however, I must go in search of *some* kind of pain killer, because my latte has failed me. How could you, latte? Maybe my mom has some Advil...
1/07/2008
Winter Term
It's the frist day of classes for the new term, and I am so tired that I can't remember my locker combination. Seriously. My friend Lester said that I'm the third person who's told him that today~! I was 10 minutes late for my first class this morning, Drama 383, INtro to Directing, in part because there was something very odd going on at the intersetion of 111th st and 90th ave, at the four-way stop by the entrance to the N&U parking lot. And then I got into FAB and realized I didn't know where my class was, so I had to come to the lab to look that up on Beartracks. ^_^ I am currently sipping on a large coffee from Cookies by George and hoping that I'm more coherent for my Francais class this afternoon.
My Directing class was quite interesting, especially considering that it was the first class and all we did wsa go over the syllabus. Every time I get back to Drama, I am reminded of why it's so wonderful and why I love it, and I feel bad for not being able to dedicate more time to it. It's more or less the same thing as music theory--you have source material, either script or sheet music, and you have to interpret it. Different historical conventions can apply, and each word or note, sentence or phrase, means something. It's like reading something in code, like a spy. ;-p I expect that my apres-class blogging will occasionally contain musings/rants/questions concerning the material covered.
I have two hours until my Francais course starts. It's at Faculte Saint-Jean, and I'm not sure if I want to stick around campus and catch the shuttle, or if I want to go home for a while and then drive to FSJ. I guess that, if I take the shuttle, I only have an hour and a half to kill. I'm not entirely sure how I would do that with no books, no computer and no access to my locker, though... Maybe I'll go try my hand at opening that thing again. I've downed almost half the coffee at this point. ^_^
My Directing class was quite interesting, especially considering that it was the first class and all we did wsa go over the syllabus. Every time I get back to Drama, I am reminded of why it's so wonderful and why I love it, and I feel bad for not being able to dedicate more time to it. It's more or less the same thing as music theory--you have source material, either script or sheet music, and you have to interpret it. Different historical conventions can apply, and each word or note, sentence or phrase, means something. It's like reading something in code, like a spy. ;-p I expect that my apres-class blogging will occasionally contain musings/rants/questions concerning the material covered.
I have two hours until my Francais course starts. It's at Faculte Saint-Jean, and I'm not sure if I want to stick around campus and catch the shuttle, or if I want to go home for a while and then drive to FSJ. I guess that, if I take the shuttle, I only have an hour and a half to kill. I'm not entirely sure how I would do that with no books, no computer and no access to my locker, though... Maybe I'll go try my hand at opening that thing again. I've downed almost half the coffee at this point. ^_^
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