Sitting in the Rutherford South computer lab for 281. No idea why we're here. I think he's going to demo research for us. Oh, yup, he is. Three cheers for sitting in the back row.
Jo and Doug, I am insanely jealous that you didn't have to take 431. Then again, given a choice between a choral course and this one, I'd probably take the band one. I just wish it wasn't with Dr. Street, who expects quite a bit. I don't care if it's a 400-level course, I want it to be easy! ^_^
I've been feeling pretty horrible lately. I was thinking last night that I might have a mild flu. I'm not sure right now, though. I feel all right right now. I still don't have a story to tell in my speech class this afternoon. I'm vaguely worried. I did get Sara to agree to sub for me in Wind Ensemble this afternoon, so I can in fact go give my presentation. I really should have considered my unscheduled classes when deciding whether or not to take this course. Oh, well. Our Wind Ensemble music is actually pretty straight forward right now, so I don't feel too bad missing a sectional.
I'm running out of things to write about. Over half an hour left before the end of class. The prof reccomended Spider Solitaire for those of us who know what he's teaching and are bored. I'm kind of sick of that game, though. It's either too easy or doomed from the start.
Lalala... Dentyne Tango gun tastes like eating straight Jell-o powder. I remember when bringing Jell-o powder for a snack was a fad when I was in the sixth grade. Maybe I'll go Google "story" and see what happens.
1/20/2006
1/17/2006
Story Time
You know how sometimes people go back to their high school and say it looks smaller than they remember it? Well, I went back to Ainlay on a whim this afternoon, and it looked freakin' huge. Well, the theatre did, at least. I hadn't been in there since before Agrell retired, so seeing the area without his piles and piles of stuff everywhere was quite the shock. They even have three change rooms! And you can see the floor in the cages! There are even posters about the curriculum on the wall. The new teacher, Trudy something, I think, is blonde and perky. She was apparently also a music minor. Kinda nifty. I also saw Mr. Speers (who encouraged me to volunteer at the AIBF in March), and he finds the new Drama teacher to be enthusiastic about the wrong things. I'm not entirely sure what he means, but saying that Agrell was a better teacher is like saying that every morning the sun will rise--duh. I miss Agrell. Every now and then I wish he would show up around the Drama department and give me a bit more validation when I'm feeling like a groupie, as sometimes occurs.
Speaking of my post-secondary drama education, I need a story to tell in my speech class on Friday. I have no idea which to tell. It has to be a known story, like a legend or a book or something, and the speech has to be five minutes long. Any suggestions?
And I drove home thinking about pedagogy and the Elephant Metaphor. And now my brain feels like it's been being long-winded all day, so I'm gonna stop typing now. Maybe make myself yet more tea. Mmm, tea...
Speaking of my post-secondary drama education, I need a story to tell in my speech class on Friday. I have no idea which to tell. It has to be a known story, like a legend or a book or something, and the speech has to be five minutes long. Any suggestions?
And I drove home thinking about pedagogy and the Elephant Metaphor. And now my brain feels like it's been being long-winded all day, so I'm gonna stop typing now. Maybe make myself yet more tea. Mmm, tea...
1/16/2006
Scoreless
I went to the bookstore today and spent $470 without getting any of the seven required texts for Band Techniques. Now, granted, about $75 worth of what I bought was not required, but those two books were worth it. One of them was a book of some of Fux's writing on counterpoint. I *heart* counterpoint. I am a freak of nature, I know. When Klumpenhouwer taught that class, he didn't use a text, juset sheets and sheets of rules. Last term, though, some chick was teaching it, and she used the text. The class apparently sucked ass, too. The prof was universally hated, but I get the impression that starting with the philosophy of counterpoint isn't the best way to go about it. Klumpenhouwer made us write counterpoint and then, for some of us, it clicked. The whole "clicking" part is by no means guaranteed, but we came out of that class able to write modal counterpoint, so it was a kind of success. Starting with the philosophy means that whoever doesn't get the "clicking" winds up immensely confused and frustrated and fails the course. And still can't write counterpoint.
The other book I bought was the current text for Bashaw's 456 class on popular music. It calls itself something to do with terms in popular music, but it's really kind of a series of essays/dissertations on how various elements of life (everything from sexism to postmoderism) influence and work with pop music. That looks like a great read. And don't worry, there were still more than two dozen copied of the book left, and it's the second week of term, after all. And the Fux book is for 255, which isn't even offered this term. I guess they just had a bunch of people last term who refused to buy the text or something...
Speaking of which, the only score I found in the bookstore was for Cajun Folk Songs, and I nearly bought that one, too, just in case. The bookstore apparently had two of the books Deebs had ordered in earlier, but they were all gone. One was on jazz bands, and the other... was just as secondary as the first, I believe. Maybe I can borrow Doug's texts for now. Hey, Doug! You there? Got any 431 texts you can lend me until the bookstore gets the rest of them in?
So at the end of rep class today, my mom called me and told me that my dad had asked my brother to come out to dinner with us, and that Peter and I were invited, so we headed off to Il Forno. My mom thought my dad might be doing this for my brother's birthday, which is next week, but I was right in my assumption that my dad had forgotten about Chris' birthday. It came up in conversation, though, and the decision was made to go to The Blue Pear. I'm... not happy about that because that place is always empty and creepy, but it's Chris' birthday. What did I do for my last birthday? I had friends over and made jell-o shots. Not really in the same category of celebrations as dinner at The Blue Pear. Hardware Grill was suggested, which I liked because it's huge and always full and nobody knows me there, since I've only been there once, but that's where we went last year for Chris' bithday.
But, anyway, yeah, I ate waaaay too much tonight. I'm not feeling sick or anything, but the mussels and antipasto plates to start, then bison canelonni and then the latte and blueberry panna cotta that I just couldn't resist (sooooo good) and, yeah... this is why I don't eat with my parents very often. That and they always have the same Lindemann's Bin 50 Shiraz every time we go to Il Forno, and I'm getting really sick of Shiraz right now... But that's just me being a snob. ^_^
So apparently Stephen Kirkham has created a website for students to buy and sell textbooks. It seems Stage 2 of his plan to take over the university is going well. If I actually bought used textbooks or sold my textbooks, I'd write more about this, but since neither is the case, I'm going to shut up now before I start ranting about Kirkham.
The other book I bought was the current text for Bashaw's 456 class on popular music. It calls itself something to do with terms in popular music, but it's really kind of a series of essays/dissertations on how various elements of life (everything from sexism to postmoderism) influence and work with pop music. That looks like a great read. And don't worry, there were still more than two dozen copied of the book left, and it's the second week of term, after all. And the Fux book is for 255, which isn't even offered this term. I guess they just had a bunch of people last term who refused to buy the text or something...
Speaking of which, the only score I found in the bookstore was for Cajun Folk Songs, and I nearly bought that one, too, just in case. The bookstore apparently had two of the books Deebs had ordered in earlier, but they were all gone. One was on jazz bands, and the other... was just as secondary as the first, I believe. Maybe I can borrow Doug's texts for now. Hey, Doug! You there? Got any 431 texts you can lend me until the bookstore gets the rest of them in?
So at the end of rep class today, my mom called me and told me that my dad had asked my brother to come out to dinner with us, and that Peter and I were invited, so we headed off to Il Forno. My mom thought my dad might be doing this for my brother's birthday, which is next week, but I was right in my assumption that my dad had forgotten about Chris' birthday. It came up in conversation, though, and the decision was made to go to The Blue Pear. I'm... not happy about that because that place is always empty and creepy, but it's Chris' birthday. What did I do for my last birthday? I had friends over and made jell-o shots. Not really in the same category of celebrations as dinner at The Blue Pear. Hardware Grill was suggested, which I liked because it's huge and always full and nobody knows me there, since I've only been there once, but that's where we went last year for Chris' bithday.
But, anyway, yeah, I ate waaaay too much tonight. I'm not feeling sick or anything, but the mussels and antipasto plates to start, then bison canelonni and then the latte and blueberry panna cotta that I just couldn't resist (sooooo good) and, yeah... this is why I don't eat with my parents very often. That and they always have the same Lindemann's Bin 50 Shiraz every time we go to Il Forno, and I'm getting really sick of Shiraz right now... But that's just me being a snob. ^_^
So apparently Stephen Kirkham has created a website for students to buy and sell textbooks. It seems Stage 2 of his plan to take over the university is going well. If I actually bought used textbooks or sold my textbooks, I'd write more about this, but since neither is the case, I'm going to shut up now before I start ranting about Kirkham.
1/15/2006
Cow Town
So Calgary was, well, Calgary. Nothing terribly special about that, I guess. The dinner was a smaller affair than I though it woul be. Just my aunt and uncle, my other aunt, my cousin and his fiancee and my parents and I. Still, I hadn't seen any of them in a while, so it was nice to catch up.
Not that there was really any good news to catch up on, other than Ted's upcoming wedding. My aunt Yanny will be probably start her first round of chemotherapy on Wednesday, if all her tests come back the way her specialist thinks they will. Lymphoma. She was given a 7-year prognosis about a year ago, and she was doing better in November, but apparently that's how lymphoma works, in waves of badness. My cousin Melissa is off work for three months for depression. She and her sister have not been doing well lately. *sigh* My grandparents will die soon, but for the meantime they're kind of miserable. They move into the senior's home February first. That's probably what'll kill them. Well, that and old age/terminal illness. *another sigh*
In happier (?) news, Wayne went back to India, this time with a five-year visa. He'll be back for Ted's wedding, I'm sure, but that may be all we get to see of him for the next long while. Also, my cousin Tiana is pregnant again, and the scare a couple of weeks ago was _not_ a miscarriage, so yay for that! Babies! Babies all over the place! Now if only my cousin Danny would get married and have kids, my aunt Yanny may live to meet all her grandchildren. No pressure on Danny or anything, but he and his girlfriend did just buy a townhouse together. And I currently feel really bad for my aunt...
I gave my dog a bath this afternoon because his overnight stay in the kennel made him smell, and now he's sitting on my bed, still a little damp, shivering. It's weird, actually--it makes the whole bed kind of quiver. But he's always good about being bathed and groomed and whatnot, so I gave him two jerky treats and he forgave me for getting him all cold and wet.
Oh, Joyce, you'll like this: We exchanged Christmas gifts last night, and my aunt gave me Tim Horton's gift certificates! Yay breakfast!
Speaking of breakfast, we ate at Ricky's All Day Grill this morning because it was right next to our hotel, and holy crap! That place gives you enough food for breakfast to last you an entire freakin' day! I'm _still_ full, and I had a smaller dish and didn't come close to finishing it.
*sigh* I've kind of missed my weekend, here. I get to go to school tomorrow and fake my way through my Arban's study in my lesson. It's too early in the term to ask to work on the Haydn. Oh, well. At least it should be productive.
Not that there was really any good news to catch up on, other than Ted's upcoming wedding. My aunt Yanny will be probably start her first round of chemotherapy on Wednesday, if all her tests come back the way her specialist thinks they will. Lymphoma. She was given a 7-year prognosis about a year ago, and she was doing better in November, but apparently that's how lymphoma works, in waves of badness. My cousin Melissa is off work for three months for depression. She and her sister have not been doing well lately. *sigh* My grandparents will die soon, but for the meantime they're kind of miserable. They move into the senior's home February first. That's probably what'll kill them. Well, that and old age/terminal illness. *another sigh*
In happier (?) news, Wayne went back to India, this time with a five-year visa. He'll be back for Ted's wedding, I'm sure, but that may be all we get to see of him for the next long while. Also, my cousin Tiana is pregnant again, and the scare a couple of weeks ago was _not_ a miscarriage, so yay for that! Babies! Babies all over the place! Now if only my cousin Danny would get married and have kids, my aunt Yanny may live to meet all her grandchildren. No pressure on Danny or anything, but he and his girlfriend did just buy a townhouse together. And I currently feel really bad for my aunt...
I gave my dog a bath this afternoon because his overnight stay in the kennel made him smell, and now he's sitting on my bed, still a little damp, shivering. It's weird, actually--it makes the whole bed kind of quiver. But he's always good about being bathed and groomed and whatnot, so I gave him two jerky treats and he forgave me for getting him all cold and wet.
Oh, Joyce, you'll like this: We exchanged Christmas gifts last night, and my aunt gave me Tim Horton's gift certificates! Yay breakfast!
Speaking of breakfast, we ate at Ricky's All Day Grill this morning because it was right next to our hotel, and holy crap! That place gives you enough food for breakfast to last you an entire freakin' day! I'm _still_ full, and I had a smaller dish and didn't come close to finishing it.
*sigh* I've kind of missed my weekend, here. I get to go to school tomorrow and fake my way through my Arban's study in my lesson. It's too early in the term to ask to work on the Haydn. Oh, well. At least it should be productive.
1/13/2006
Toe Knee Chest Nut Nose Eye Love You
I am currently drinking the most delicious latte ever. It's even decaf so I won't crash later and accidentally murder my dog. I am quite happy with the world right now. :-)
I'm going to Calgary tomorrow for a belated Christmas dinner at my aunt's house. She was in Phoenix for Christmas, so everybody's getting together now. I get to see cousins that I haven't seen in years, including my cousin Ted! I miss Ted. I used to see him all the time, since I worked for him at Calderon, but I haven't even met his fiancee and they've been engaged for over a year now. Too bad Wayne won't be there. I miss him, too. But the notion of Wayne and a Christian holiday, not to mention the notion of Wayne and turkey, is just not something I want to think about right now. The man wouldn't shut up for a minute, I'm sure. Now if only my cousin Christie didn't have a resitraining order (or I think it's technically called a "no contact order") out on the whole family, because I'd like to see her and her kids. Hell, I'd even like to see her soon-to-be-ex-husband. He's been in kind of a bad situation for the past year. Poor Darryl. :-(
Don't you just love relatives?
In other news, Pri and Morgan came by the lownjlounge today for pancakes! I was quite happy to see them, and apparently Morgan's doing something for her birthday soon. They told me they're going back to Disneyland, and I'm jealous. Hell, I'd be jealous if they told me they were going to Montana. I just haven't done enough travelling lately. But, yeah, then they left to go to the candy store in St. Albert (wtf?!?), but they're coming to the Formal, so that'll be fun.
I had the most depressing conversation with Ben a couple of days ago. He's trying to get his life in order, and I felt so bad for him I nearly told him I'd marry him. Well, not really, but it was a really sad conversation and I felt bad for him. Anybody else wanna marry him?
I'm going to Calgary tomorrow for a belated Christmas dinner at my aunt's house. She was in Phoenix for Christmas, so everybody's getting together now. I get to see cousins that I haven't seen in years, including my cousin Ted! I miss Ted. I used to see him all the time, since I worked for him at Calderon, but I haven't even met his fiancee and they've been engaged for over a year now. Too bad Wayne won't be there. I miss him, too. But the notion of Wayne and a Christian holiday, not to mention the notion of Wayne and turkey, is just not something I want to think about right now. The man wouldn't shut up for a minute, I'm sure. Now if only my cousin Christie didn't have a resitraining order (or I think it's technically called a "no contact order") out on the whole family, because I'd like to see her and her kids. Hell, I'd even like to see her soon-to-be-ex-husband. He's been in kind of a bad situation for the past year. Poor Darryl. :-(
Don't you just love relatives?
In other news, Pri and Morgan came by the lownjlounge today for pancakes! I was quite happy to see them, and apparently Morgan's doing something for her birthday soon. They told me they're going back to Disneyland, and I'm jealous. Hell, I'd be jealous if they told me they were going to Montana. I just haven't done enough travelling lately. But, yeah, then they left to go to the candy store in St. Albert (wtf?!?), but they're coming to the Formal, so that'll be fun.
I had the most depressing conversation with Ben a couple of days ago. He's trying to get his life in order, and I felt so bad for him I nearly told him I'd marry him. Well, not really, but it was a really sad conversation and I felt bad for him. Anybody else wanna marry him?
1/12/2006
Long Week
So it turned out that the internet problems I was having at home were due to our modem dying. Luckily, a guy from Shaw cable showed up just before nine this morning and now everything's hunky-dory.
Oooh, I need a weekend. I'm not entirely sure why, but I crashed last night at about 9. I had two papers to write last night, and I needed to actually research the one for Band Tech, so I was over at Peter's place so that I could use the internet. I'd only written my Ed Psych paper by the time I crashed, though, so I got up at 6 this morning to write the paper for Deebs. Yeah, I fell asleep on the couch for another hour or so. I got the paper done by 8, though, thank God. Not spectacular, but oh well. Actually, a rather amusing little bit was that as I was losing the ability to see straight last night, I said "Dr. Street can go hang--I'm sleepy," and Dave piped up "What? Hanging Dr. Street? I'm in!" I love that Dave is with us on this. ^_^
Being done an hour and a half before class started meant I could go home and change, which was nice. I didn't get to take a shower, though, which would really have helped, but I guess that's the price I pay for needing sleep. Ah, I'm now remembering my high school mantra: Sleep is for the weak. Thinking back, I did sleep through a lot of classes, however...
So all was well for most of the day, except for the fact that I hurt my back, knee and just above my ankle by falling on the stairs last night, so I'm all bruised and sore. I actually said out loud "Oh, that hurt!" Luckily no one was around to hear my Cpt. Obvious moment. When I got to Ed Psych this afternoon, however, I was thoroughly unimpressed to find out that the paper wasn't due today. I have no idea when it's due--I guess I should check the syllabus--but the prof wouldn't accept it early because he said he'd lose it. I traipsed back to FAB from Tory Turtle rather annoyed.
But then I came home and showered and had yogurt and caught up on my blog reading and I'm happy again. :-) Oh! And my glasses and contact lenses arrived, too! I can see properly! It's actually quite amazing the difference the glasses make, considering my astigmatism isn't strong enough to make me legally obligated to correct it while driving. And the contact lenses are the kind I've worn for years, so they're not all drying and evil to my eyes. The only problem is that they screwed up the coating on my glasses lenses, so it's kinda foggy to look through them and I have to take them back next week to have the lenses switched, which will apparently take about 15 minutes. Oh, well.
Tomorrow is Friday! Only two classes, a long break and no Wind Ensemble sectional! Oh! And pancakes!!!
Oooh, I need a weekend. I'm not entirely sure why, but I crashed last night at about 9. I had two papers to write last night, and I needed to actually research the one for Band Tech, so I was over at Peter's place so that I could use the internet. I'd only written my Ed Psych paper by the time I crashed, though, so I got up at 6 this morning to write the paper for Deebs. Yeah, I fell asleep on the couch for another hour or so. I got the paper done by 8, though, thank God. Not spectacular, but oh well. Actually, a rather amusing little bit was that as I was losing the ability to see straight last night, I said "Dr. Street can go hang--I'm sleepy," and Dave piped up "What? Hanging Dr. Street? I'm in!" I love that Dave is with us on this. ^_^
Being done an hour and a half before class started meant I could go home and change, which was nice. I didn't get to take a shower, though, which would really have helped, but I guess that's the price I pay for needing sleep. Ah, I'm now remembering my high school mantra: Sleep is for the weak. Thinking back, I did sleep through a lot of classes, however...
So all was well for most of the day, except for the fact that I hurt my back, knee and just above my ankle by falling on the stairs last night, so I'm all bruised and sore. I actually said out loud "Oh, that hurt!" Luckily no one was around to hear my Cpt. Obvious moment. When I got to Ed Psych this afternoon, however, I was thoroughly unimpressed to find out that the paper wasn't due today. I have no idea when it's due--I guess I should check the syllabus--but the prof wouldn't accept it early because he said he'd lose it. I traipsed back to FAB from Tory Turtle rather annoyed.
But then I came home and showered and had yogurt and caught up on my blog reading and I'm happy again. :-) Oh! And my glasses and contact lenses arrived, too! I can see properly! It's actually quite amazing the difference the glasses make, considering my astigmatism isn't strong enough to make me legally obligated to correct it while driving. And the contact lenses are the kind I've worn for years, so they're not all drying and evil to my eyes. The only problem is that they screwed up the coating on my glasses lenses, so it's kinda foggy to look through them and I have to take them back next week to have the lenses switched, which will apparently take about 15 minutes. Oh, well.
Tomorrow is Friday! Only two classes, a long break and no Wind Ensemble sectional! Oh! And pancakes!!!
1/10/2006
Back to Cool!
My comp's been acting all weird, but it seems to be happy now. It's been telling me that it's connected to my wireless internet, but it won't do anything internet-y. So I've brought it over to Peter's place, and it's happy again!
So the first two days of classes are over. Thank God. Yesterday was particularly difficult. I'd decided to try to beg my way into Drama 240, but I realised it might conflict with my Rep Class. After spending the morning looking for Russ, I discovered that that was in fact the case. I felt bad because I wanted that Drama course, and Russ didn't tell me I wasn't allowed to not be in Rep class, so I still had to make the decision myself. I had a lesson that went well, though, and then went to the Drama class to discover that I could totally skip the second hour of ever Monday's class. The plan for the entire semester is that we get our assignments on Monday and present them on Wednesday and Friday, so the second hour of Monday's classes are just going to be exercises and whatnot, which I have no problem missing. I haven't told the prof this, yet, however. ^_^ But I got around the whole not-technically-being-alowed-to-take-this-course-even-though-it-applies-to-my-degree thing when my prof told me to go down the the Drama office and just have Connie override everything and put me in the course. She asked me if I have the pre-requisites, and I said yes, because I do. Technically, being a Drama major isn't a pre-requisite, it's a requisite. ^_^ I know it's not a problem, though. My prof seems cool. He actually reminds me of the reporter dude from Almost Famous.
My 281 prof was a surprise, though. It had said on Beartracks that it would be Brenda, but it wound up being David Grammit instead. He's not bad, it seems, but all of those "eyum"s that pepper his speech might get a little annoying after a while. He reminds me of Woody Allen, what with the whole stammering Jewish guy act. But it seems like the course is going to be well-organised and well-focused, which makes me happy because I just might learn something about music history, even if the course does have the insanely ambitious trait of covering from about 1000 - 1750.
Band Techniques is looking like it's going to be a bitch of a course, though. It has 7 required texts. Three of them are scores, but still. We're doing Air for Band, First Suite and some Dvorak small ensemble piece I don't know. And we have a two page paper due next class.
Oh, well. I seem to be running out of steam in terms of talking about school. I think I'll just laze around for a while now. :-)
So the first two days of classes are over. Thank God. Yesterday was particularly difficult. I'd decided to try to beg my way into Drama 240, but I realised it might conflict with my Rep Class. After spending the morning looking for Russ, I discovered that that was in fact the case. I felt bad because I wanted that Drama course, and Russ didn't tell me I wasn't allowed to not be in Rep class, so I still had to make the decision myself. I had a lesson that went well, though, and then went to the Drama class to discover that I could totally skip the second hour of ever Monday's class. The plan for the entire semester is that we get our assignments on Monday and present them on Wednesday and Friday, so the second hour of Monday's classes are just going to be exercises and whatnot, which I have no problem missing. I haven't told the prof this, yet, however. ^_^ But I got around the whole not-technically-being-alowed-to-take-this-course-even-though-it-applies-to-my-degree thing when my prof told me to go down the the Drama office and just have Connie override everything and put me in the course. She asked me if I have the pre-requisites, and I said yes, because I do. Technically, being a Drama major isn't a pre-requisite, it's a requisite. ^_^ I know it's not a problem, though. My prof seems cool. He actually reminds me of the reporter dude from Almost Famous.
My 281 prof was a surprise, though. It had said on Beartracks that it would be Brenda, but it wound up being David Grammit instead. He's not bad, it seems, but all of those "eyum"s that pepper his speech might get a little annoying after a while. He reminds me of Woody Allen, what with the whole stammering Jewish guy act. But it seems like the course is going to be well-organised and well-focused, which makes me happy because I just might learn something about music history, even if the course does have the insanely ambitious trait of covering from about 1000 - 1750.
Band Techniques is looking like it's going to be a bitch of a course, though. It has 7 required texts. Three of them are scores, but still. We're doing Air for Band, First Suite and some Dvorak small ensemble piece I don't know. And we have a two page paper due next class.
Oh, well. I seem to be running out of steam in terms of talking about school. I think I'll just laze around for a while now. :-)
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