10/18/2005
I'm Wearing a Newspaper Dunce Hat!
I'm loving this Jack Thompson stuff that's been going on lately. Also, I got home and decided to have a beer and play WoW. Somewhere halfway across town I know I have a boyfriend who's smiling.
10/16/2005
Highlights From Friday
In chronological order:
Walking through the N/U parking lot from my car to FAB at 6:40 am, it was still dark. In the distance, I saw the oddest thing: Two rabbits, sitting dead centre near the end of two side-by-side parking spaces. They were perfectly still, sitting with their ears straight up. I thought at first they were plastic garden statues or something. Then a third rabbit ran past in my peripheral vision and startled me. I was starting to think of the White Rabbit and Wonderland. I got closer to the two in the parking spaces, and one of their ears twitched and I jumped. I wandered in a circle around them, a passing girl not seeming to notice, and they still didn't move. I got within five feet of them before they actually started to leave, very slowly. It was the most surreal experience...
On the bus, Dr. Street had bought us food in case we hadn't eaten breakfast or something. He had a flat of bottled water, apples and bananas and cheesestrings. He was eating a cheesestring in bites and held it up and said "This is the cheese that makes the strings!" in the classic Dr. Street raised eyebrows lilting voice kind of way. I seemed to be the only one to find it funny, but I nearly died laughing.
Robert W. Smith has been raised in my esteem. I no longer think of him as not even being able to live up to Frank Tichelli, whom I'm sure you all know I hold in great disdain. I think he (Smith) relies on pedagogical elements too heavily for inspiration to call his music all that artistic, but he had some nice explanations for some of his music that made it seem more expressive.
After our concert of our own stuff, I was walking down the hall in RDC and ducked. I was pretty sure that something had nearly hit my head, but I couldn't tell you anything more than that. Turned out it was Mr. Speers, who I still have trouble calling Rob, swatting at me with a folder. A bunch of Ainlay alums gathered and we chatted. It was nice to see him again. Maybe I'll impose on him to do my rehearsal observation there, if he'll let me.
A bunch of us went to Moxie's after the concert because BP's was being evil. The waitress kicked ass! Calvin kept ordering iced tea refills, and said that he'd probably go through six glasses, so when he finished his fourth, the waitress brought him two pints for the last two. He and Todd Carson, who apparently dated Alicia again until a couple of months ago, had both ordered the X-Treme burger, and were making eachother finish everything on their plate, and with their drinks (Todd had two HUGE 710 ml Coronas), they each nearly died. It was amusing. ^_^ And the waitress gave all 13 of us seperate cheques! BP's wouldn't even let us order off the regular menu. And, of course, I had to have one of their sugar-rimmed "margaritas," which are really just Kool-Aid for university students. Chelsea Marndrusiak (sp?) had a Molson Kick, the beer with caffeine, and was rather jittery later, but I think that was just placebo effect. She said it tasted like normal beer, though, which makes me slightly curious to try it. And it came in an aluminum bottle...
We decided to leave at 6:30 so that we could stay for the U of L and U of C concerts, but the U of L one ran long and we didn't have time to stay for the U of C one. Mrs. Burns, whom nobody calls just Rita, was in the row in front of me in the audience, and I got to say hi to her, too. She thought I was in second year. If that were the case it would seem less unpleasant that I have two more years to go after this one. The U of L was a large group, weighing in at about 77 people. It was unweildly. And not that great. It was about at the level I'd like to see a good highschool band at. All of their music was very simple. 4/8/16-bar phrases with no independant lines. It was quite something having the melody always played by the trumpets, flutes, clarinets, trombones AND saxophones (or close to that) with a band that size. They also looked pretty bad. This one trumpet player had his shirt untucked and unbuttoned down to mid-chest and no bowtie. One of the percussionist's idea of concert dress was grey (not faded black, grey) pants and a black wifebeater-style tanktop. Even Peter wears proper concert dress, and he is, in his own words "more or less tghe limit case."
The bus rides to and from Red Deer were actually very nice. I had two seats to myself, so I was able to lay down and doze. It took me quite a while, but I've found the best way to sleep on a tour bus: On your back with your head towards the aisle, kind of sitting cross-legged against the wall, with your hands under your head. Seriously. I listened to Jens Lindeman and remembered that I am indeed a music student.
And then that night, I dreamt that Prison Break was with the brothers from Malcom in the Middle. Very bizarre...
Walking through the N/U parking lot from my car to FAB at 6:40 am, it was still dark. In the distance, I saw the oddest thing: Two rabbits, sitting dead centre near the end of two side-by-side parking spaces. They were perfectly still, sitting with their ears straight up. I thought at first they were plastic garden statues or something. Then a third rabbit ran past in my peripheral vision and startled me. I was starting to think of the White Rabbit and Wonderland. I got closer to the two in the parking spaces, and one of their ears twitched and I jumped. I wandered in a circle around them, a passing girl not seeming to notice, and they still didn't move. I got within five feet of them before they actually started to leave, very slowly. It was the most surreal experience...
On the bus, Dr. Street had bought us food in case we hadn't eaten breakfast or something. He had a flat of bottled water, apples and bananas and cheesestrings. He was eating a cheesestring in bites and held it up and said "This is the cheese that makes the strings!" in the classic Dr. Street raised eyebrows lilting voice kind of way. I seemed to be the only one to find it funny, but I nearly died laughing.
Robert W. Smith has been raised in my esteem. I no longer think of him as not even being able to live up to Frank Tichelli, whom I'm sure you all know I hold in great disdain. I think he (Smith) relies on pedagogical elements too heavily for inspiration to call his music all that artistic, but he had some nice explanations for some of his music that made it seem more expressive.
After our concert of our own stuff, I was walking down the hall in RDC and ducked. I was pretty sure that something had nearly hit my head, but I couldn't tell you anything more than that. Turned out it was Mr. Speers, who I still have trouble calling Rob, swatting at me with a folder. A bunch of Ainlay alums gathered and we chatted. It was nice to see him again. Maybe I'll impose on him to do my rehearsal observation there, if he'll let me.
A bunch of us went to Moxie's after the concert because BP's was being evil. The waitress kicked ass! Calvin kept ordering iced tea refills, and said that he'd probably go through six glasses, so when he finished his fourth, the waitress brought him two pints for the last two. He and Todd Carson, who apparently dated Alicia again until a couple of months ago, had both ordered the X-Treme burger, and were making eachother finish everything on their plate, and with their drinks (Todd had two HUGE 710 ml Coronas), they each nearly died. It was amusing. ^_^ And the waitress gave all 13 of us seperate cheques! BP's wouldn't even let us order off the regular menu. And, of course, I had to have one of their sugar-rimmed "margaritas," which are really just Kool-Aid for university students. Chelsea Marndrusiak (sp?) had a Molson Kick, the beer with caffeine, and was rather jittery later, but I think that was just placebo effect. She said it tasted like normal beer, though, which makes me slightly curious to try it. And it came in an aluminum bottle...
We decided to leave at 6:30 so that we could stay for the U of L and U of C concerts, but the U of L one ran long and we didn't have time to stay for the U of C one. Mrs. Burns, whom nobody calls just Rita, was in the row in front of me in the audience, and I got to say hi to her, too. She thought I was in second year. If that were the case it would seem less unpleasant that I have two more years to go after this one. The U of L was a large group, weighing in at about 77 people. It was unweildly. And not that great. It was about at the level I'd like to see a good highschool band at. All of their music was very simple. 4/8/16-bar phrases with no independant lines. It was quite something having the melody always played by the trumpets, flutes, clarinets, trombones AND saxophones (or close to that) with a band that size. They also looked pretty bad. This one trumpet player had his shirt untucked and unbuttoned down to mid-chest and no bowtie. One of the percussionist's idea of concert dress was grey (not faded black, grey) pants and a black wifebeater-style tanktop. Even Peter wears proper concert dress, and he is, in his own words "more or less tghe limit case."
The bus rides to and from Red Deer were actually very nice. I had two seats to myself, so I was able to lay down and doze. It took me quite a while, but I've found the best way to sleep on a tour bus: On your back with your head towards the aisle, kind of sitting cross-legged against the wall, with your hands under your head. Seriously. I listened to Jens Lindeman and remembered that I am indeed a music student.
And then that night, I dreamt that Prison Break was with the brothers from Malcom in the Middle. Very bizarre...
10/13/2005
Meta Offspring
Ugh, no more work for now.
The section of my speech I've been working on for the past two days is giving me problems. It's only 153 words, but it's proving more than a little difficult. This is only the second fifth of the speech, though, so I can't fall behind now. Maybe I'll take it on the bus tomorrow.
Yay tomorrow. Or not. Getting up at 5 am doesn't exactly make me happy. Nor does having a concert halfway through the term. I know that a whole term can be a little long to work on some stuff, but we always seem to be under the gun in Wind Ensemble. I always either hear people say that people need to get their act together, or that it's too much to ask. Now, I know the disparity in skill level in Wind Ensemble is greater than would be best, but such a system should allow the lower-level players to learn from the higher-level players rather than bear the brunt of annoyance for not having the experience that negates the need for a slower learning curve. *sigh*
But I'll get to browse the tradefair. Maybe buy myself a nicer baton. Yay GST rebate cheques! Maybe invest in a nice cloth for my valves. My stupid valves. Russ told me to start washing them every day. Bah. See if there's a repair clinic I can attend. Maybe if I manage to not be in Wind Ensemble in my... oh, God, my sixth year, I'll just attend the conference as a normal student attender person. That would actually be nice, and it wouldn't entail performing or missing a theory mid-term.
There was the funniest thing that happened in rehearsal today, though! Ryan Laslop, Court's younger brother, is in first-year on percussion, and has even taken over Court's old job. Anyway, there's this one piece that has a lot of pitch changes in the tympani, and Ryan was having trouble keeping up with them. Dr. Street was checking that he'd be able to play this one important part, and he spoke the rhythm to him. In response, Ryan said "I can't get the bump-bump, but I can make the digga-digga." Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. Katie even wrote it down. If I've misquoted him, Katie, feel free to correct me. It was just funny to see a remarkably good-looking, built guy in a tight (MSA) t-shirt, complete with pit stains from moving equipment around, say, in all seriousness, bump-bump and digga-digga.
Aah! I'm watching the beginning of CSI, and the credits are still rolling, and there's a person named Meta! I totally want to name my daughter Meta!! ^_^
The section of my speech I've been working on for the past two days is giving me problems. It's only 153 words, but it's proving more than a little difficult. This is only the second fifth of the speech, though, so I can't fall behind now. Maybe I'll take it on the bus tomorrow.
Yay tomorrow. Or not. Getting up at 5 am doesn't exactly make me happy. Nor does having a concert halfway through the term. I know that a whole term can be a little long to work on some stuff, but we always seem to be under the gun in Wind Ensemble. I always either hear people say that people need to get their act together, or that it's too much to ask. Now, I know the disparity in skill level in Wind Ensemble is greater than would be best, but such a system should allow the lower-level players to learn from the higher-level players rather than bear the brunt of annoyance for not having the experience that negates the need for a slower learning curve. *sigh*
But I'll get to browse the tradefair. Maybe buy myself a nicer baton. Yay GST rebate cheques! Maybe invest in a nice cloth for my valves. My stupid valves. Russ told me to start washing them every day. Bah. See if there's a repair clinic I can attend. Maybe if I manage to not be in Wind Ensemble in my... oh, God, my sixth year, I'll just attend the conference as a normal student attender person. That would actually be nice, and it wouldn't entail performing or missing a theory mid-term.
There was the funniest thing that happened in rehearsal today, though! Ryan Laslop, Court's younger brother, is in first-year on percussion, and has even taken over Court's old job. Anyway, there's this one piece that has a lot of pitch changes in the tympani, and Ryan was having trouble keeping up with them. Dr. Street was checking that he'd be able to play this one important part, and he spoke the rhythm to him. In response, Ryan said "I can't get the bump-bump, but I can make the digga-digga." Maybe you had to be there, but it was hilarious. Katie even wrote it down. If I've misquoted him, Katie, feel free to correct me. It was just funny to see a remarkably good-looking, built guy in a tight (MSA) t-shirt, complete with pit stains from moving equipment around, say, in all seriousness, bump-bump and digga-digga.
Aah! I'm watching the beginning of CSI, and the credits are still rolling, and there's a person named Meta! I totally want to name my daughter Meta!! ^_^
10/11/2005
Binderbinder!!!
I found my binder!!! It was indeed in SouthLab. I was so relieved that I wanted to cry.
I am at home right now. I have this nice three-hour break between Percussion Techniques and Wind Ensemble, and I enjoy coming home during it when I can. I can read the comics, which I never have time to do when I'm trying to get to my 8am class, I can take a nap, I can play with my dog... It's very nice to have a sunny morning to yourself.
Since my parents were in Jasper until Sunday, we didn't do the turkey thing, but my dad did cook salmon and fettucini alfredo last night for the three of us, Chris and Peter. My mom bought half and half for my dad to use in the alfredo sauce, but he went back to Safeway and bought whipping cream. I think maybe I should have a salad for lunch... and dinner...
I _so_ want to hear that recording of Regis Philbin and Donald Trump singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! To this day, whenever I think of that song, I think of the California Raisins version from A Claymation Christmas. That's on my tape of Christmas specials from, like, 1990 that I watch every year, along with the Peanuts Christmas Special, the classic (claymated?) Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and even the Garfield special. And all of the old commercials are great! "Hey Remmington--Shave This!"
And now for something we hope you'll really like.
A List of my Weaknesses
(Or at least the ones I'm willing to share with the world)
BBQ chips
My dog
The big gushy chair in the lownjlounge
Indulging Joyce (j/k)
Sleeping in
Coffee
Nice clothes
Hair Dye (although not lately)
Caramel
Metaphysical witticisms (not that I'm sure what those are)
I am at home right now. I have this nice three-hour break between Percussion Techniques and Wind Ensemble, and I enjoy coming home during it when I can. I can read the comics, which I never have time to do when I'm trying to get to my 8am class, I can take a nap, I can play with my dog... It's very nice to have a sunny morning to yourself.
Since my parents were in Jasper until Sunday, we didn't do the turkey thing, but my dad did cook salmon and fettucini alfredo last night for the three of us, Chris and Peter. My mom bought half and half for my dad to use in the alfredo sauce, but he went back to Safeway and bought whipping cream. I think maybe I should have a salad for lunch... and dinner...
I _so_ want to hear that recording of Regis Philbin and Donald Trump singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! To this day, whenever I think of that song, I think of the California Raisins version from A Claymation Christmas. That's on my tape of Christmas specials from, like, 1990 that I watch every year, along with the Peanuts Christmas Special, the classic (claymated?) Rudolph, Frosty the Snowman, Mickey's Christmas Carol, and even the Garfield special. And all of the old commercials are great! "Hey Remmington--Shave This!"
And now for something we hope you'll really like.
A List of my Weaknesses
(Or at least the ones I'm willing to share with the world)
BBQ chips
My dog
The big gushy chair in the lownjlounge
Indulging Joyce (j/k)
Sleeping in
Coffee
Nice clothes
Hair Dye (although not lately)
Caramel
Metaphysical witticisms (not that I'm sure what those are)
10/09/2005
Things
Thing 1: I saw a headline on msn.ca today that talked about "interval training" and I honestly thought for a minute they were talking about aural skills.
Thing 2: I can't find my binder. That binder has _everything_ in it except lessons and Wind Ensemble. I think it's either in the Media Room or in South Lab, because it certainly isn't anywhere else. Double plus ungood.
Thing 3: My dog wants attention, but his arthritis is acting up, so he doesn't like having his back touched, which kind of limits petting him. Poor Farley. I don't know where my mom keeps his doggy anti-inflamatories...
Thing 4: You know that pink frying pan I mentioned in an earlier post? Well, I was flipping through a Bay flyer today and found that frying pan along with a whole line of pink kitchen stuff by KitchenAid. Food processor, blender, kettle, measuring cups, knife, whisk and spatula... And that's not to mention all the other stuff on the page, such as a pink Dirt Devil vacuum broom, pens, various devices for holding your keys and tags and even a sports towel. Oh, and, of course, one of those rubber bracelet things. And polo shirts modeled by Celine Dion and her husband. And a matress. That isn't pink. And I've still left several items out. I officially declare this nuts.
Thing 5: Now that it is past noon, I'm going shopping! Three cheers for being a consumer! ;-p
Thing 2: I can't find my binder. That binder has _everything_ in it except lessons and Wind Ensemble. I think it's either in the Media Room or in South Lab, because it certainly isn't anywhere else. Double plus ungood.
Thing 3: My dog wants attention, but his arthritis is acting up, so he doesn't like having his back touched, which kind of limits petting him. Poor Farley. I don't know where my mom keeps his doggy anti-inflamatories...
Thing 4: You know that pink frying pan I mentioned in an earlier post? Well, I was flipping through a Bay flyer today and found that frying pan along with a whole line of pink kitchen stuff by KitchenAid. Food processor, blender, kettle, measuring cups, knife, whisk and spatula... And that's not to mention all the other stuff on the page, such as a pink Dirt Devil vacuum broom, pens, various devices for holding your keys and tags and even a sports towel. Oh, and, of course, one of those rubber bracelet things. And polo shirts modeled by Celine Dion and her husband. And a matress. That isn't pink. And I've still left several items out. I officially declare this nuts.
Thing 5: Now that it is past noon, I'm going shopping! Three cheers for being a consumer! ;-p
10/08/2005
Post #60
Yay long weekend! It didn't hit me that it was the weekend until Peter called last night and asked me what I'd like to do, but, man, what a glorious moment when I realized. ^_^ We went and saw Serenity again. I caught a lot more of the exposition this time. I was rather confused about the Reevers after seeing it last week. Peter saw all but one episode of the series during the week, and he wanted to help avoid the "fanboy effect" by contributing to second weekend numbers.
I read the Lucky monologue I have to memorize in class yesterday. I got applause! I was rather surprised. But, apparently, I only have two weeks before I have to perform it. Check it out here, about four fifths of the way down the page.
I'm not quite sure what to do tonight. My parents are in Jasper, Jenilee's in Vermillion, Peter's at work... I don't have a lesson for more than a week, so I don't need to panick about that. Yesterday was so insane that I really just want to do nothing, but I can't think of any nothing to do. Maybe I should head out to the middle east and dig people out from the earthquake rubble. I'm not sure they'd like me, though...
On a side note, does anybody ever use the Italian 6 conducting pattern? I can just feel my teeth vibrate when I think of how sharp beginner players would go if you did that...
Watching the news while blogging does not seem to be a good idea, because I waste all of my rants on the television. I've been working on this post for quite a while, and I've had the TV on for far too long. Maybe I'll give up on both and go find myself a book to read...
I don't care about Martha Stewart sailing in a hollowed-out pumpkin!!!!!
I read the Lucky monologue I have to memorize in class yesterday. I got applause! I was rather surprised. But, apparently, I only have two weeks before I have to perform it. Check it out here, about four fifths of the way down the page.
I'm not quite sure what to do tonight. My parents are in Jasper, Jenilee's in Vermillion, Peter's at work... I don't have a lesson for more than a week, so I don't need to panick about that. Yesterday was so insane that I really just want to do nothing, but I can't think of any nothing to do. Maybe I should head out to the middle east and dig people out from the earthquake rubble. I'm not sure they'd like me, though...
On a side note, does anybody ever use the Italian 6 conducting pattern? I can just feel my teeth vibrate when I think of how sharp beginner players would go if you did that...
Watching the news while blogging does not seem to be a good idea, because I waste all of my rants on the television. I've been working on this post for quite a while, and I've had the TV on for far too long. Maybe I'll give up on both and go find myself a book to read...
I don't care about Martha Stewart sailing in a hollowed-out pumpkin!!!!!
10/06/2005
Mostly Splendiferous (quaquaquaqua)
So yesterday was mostly splendiferous. My scene study class did a neat little acting exercise where you ork with another person and come up with a close relationship like sisters or friends or whatnot, and then you each think of something you need to tell the other. Your partner doesn't know what that is, though, and the exercise involves sitting in silence in chairs facing eachother for a couple of minutes, playing the moment of trying to tell them. My partner and I were friends, and after the silence bit, my prof told me to say my thing first, which was that I had accepted a great job offer in New York and would be leaving next month. My friend just kinda sat there stoically and eventually said that she hoped we could stay in touch. It was kind of weird. Then my prof told her to tell her thing, and she told me that she'd pushed her mom down the stairs and killed her. She'd been laying there for about 13 hours, apparently. I... wasn't sure what to say. It was quite the exercise. I eventually gave in a dropped the line "I think it's time for me to take you to *your* new house," but I waited until the moment was over first. ^_^ And then our group for our next scene analysis project got together, and we decided that, instead of Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead, we would do Waiting for Godot, which, as some of you know, is more or less my favourite play in the world. I was very happy. There four of us, though, so I'm not sure if we'll be allowed to do the second act, where Lucky is mute, but I wouldn't even mind tackling his insane monologue in the first act, since I've got about a quarter of it memorised already and know the rest in bits and pieces. We'll see what my prof says. Or, alternately put, But not so fast.
By conducting class yesterday afternoon, though, I was getting tired. This girl kept standing too close to me and bumping me over, and this 40-something woman seemed to find it amusing that she couldn't remember any of her glossary terms when we were having the glossary competition game-thingy, which meant we lost horribly. I have no sympathy for people who have forgotten how to learn. This woman always makes such a big deal about how she can't think in any of the ways the prof suggests, and I just want to tell her that she'll either have to learn to do so, come up with some ways of her own, or fail the class, and that none of those involve so much complaining. Grrr...
But I felt better after mooching some of Peter's pizza and french onion soup from Academy. ^_^ Oh, that reminds me of a question I want to aks you guys, but I'll save that until the end of the post. Then, as I was about to head home, I ran into Ashley and Audrey, who had beed left behind by their ride to jazz band, so I gave them a lift. They said they owed me, and I shall remember that. *maniacle laugh*
And then I went home and slept for three hours. Glorious, glorious sleep. And afterwards, I didn't feel like stabbing anybody. *proud smile* So I went to the bar. ^_^
I met Peter and a couple of his history friends at Scholar's to celebrate the completion of his presentation on Oliver Cromwell. The hockey game was on. We won! But, man, was that place loud. You should have seen me jump when they scored right after I got there. See, I was sitting under a tv, so I wasn't really watching the game, except kind of on the tv across the room, so mostly Peter and I just chatted while his friends cheered. And I mooched some of his fries. ^_^
Anyway, enough of this rather long post, and on to my question. I was asked this question a couple of days ago, and it caught me completely off guard, and I have since been asking people I know for their answers: If you could change one thing about your life right now, without breaking the laws of physics or anything insane like that, what would it be? My first thought was that I'd like more money, but when I thought about what I'd do with more money, I decided that a more appropriate answer would be that I'd like to move out. You guys?
By conducting class yesterday afternoon, though, I was getting tired. This girl kept standing too close to me and bumping me over, and this 40-something woman seemed to find it amusing that she couldn't remember any of her glossary terms when we were having the glossary competition game-thingy, which meant we lost horribly. I have no sympathy for people who have forgotten how to learn. This woman always makes such a big deal about how she can't think in any of the ways the prof suggests, and I just want to tell her that she'll either have to learn to do so, come up with some ways of her own, or fail the class, and that none of those involve so much complaining. Grrr...
But I felt better after mooching some of Peter's pizza and french onion soup from Academy. ^_^ Oh, that reminds me of a question I want to aks you guys, but I'll save that until the end of the post. Then, as I was about to head home, I ran into Ashley and Audrey, who had beed left behind by their ride to jazz band, so I gave them a lift. They said they owed me, and I shall remember that. *maniacle laugh*
And then I went home and slept for three hours. Glorious, glorious sleep. And afterwards, I didn't feel like stabbing anybody. *proud smile* So I went to the bar. ^_^
I met Peter and a couple of his history friends at Scholar's to celebrate the completion of his presentation on Oliver Cromwell. The hockey game was on. We won! But, man, was that place loud. You should have seen me jump when they scored right after I got there. See, I was sitting under a tv, so I wasn't really watching the game, except kind of on the tv across the room, so mostly Peter and I just chatted while his friends cheered. And I mooched some of his fries. ^_^
Anyway, enough of this rather long post, and on to my question. I was asked this question a couple of days ago, and it caught me completely off guard, and I have since been asking people I know for their answers: If you could change one thing about your life right now, without breaking the laws of physics or anything insane like that, what would it be? My first thought was that I'd like more money, but when I thought about what I'd do with more money, I decided that a more appropriate answer would be that I'd like to move out. You guys?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)