It's Wednesday morning and I should be in 282 right now. I'm half an hour late, though, which is good enough reason to not bother, according to me. Traffic was crazy and a half this morning, so even though I left at a reasonable time, I've just now arrived at school. Oh, well. I stopped by Starbucks and got a scone and a triple latte, so I enjoyed a good sit in traffic. I wish the latte would kick in now, though.
(There's a rather creepy noise in the computer lab. It's a kind of rattling sucking sound every few seconds, like the room is trying to breathe through pneumonia. I have no idea what it is, but it's been steady since I got here.)
I don't really have much to say today, but blogging is a nice way to get my brain up and running. I should almost just go home and go back to bed. My next class is cancelled because Bob DeFreece is in Idaho, and my next class after that isn't until 1. Even that one I may be skipping to go see a visiting conductor talk to the 315 class. He's here for a while, though, and listening to him talk to the introductory conducting class might not be all that exciting. Annoyingly enough, the one thing I really should (and want to) do today, I can't. There's a review session for my first 282 midterm today at 4, but I can't go because I have to be at work for 5. Stupid work. At least I get to be a cashier today, rather than being in the fitting rooms, like I have been soooooo often lately. The review session is with the TA, too, so it would be nice to get another person talking about some of the things that I'm supposed to know, but I guess I'll have to make due with the sheet of key terms we were given, along with the textbook and the CDs, of course. God, I hate that course.
Come on, latte... Oh, I give up.
10/03/2007
10/01/2007
Pre-Meta
I totally missed the handing out of a 282 assignment sometime last week, so when I walked into class and people were handing them in, I was not impressed with myself. Now I'm starting to worry about my grade in that course. Note to self: don't fail. That would add another 8 months to your degree (counting summer). I've never failed a course before, though, even when I've done things like consciously skip the midterm, so I'm not *that* worried. There's just more at stake for the courses I'm taking right now, what with not having the time to take them over. Dragging myself out of bed first thing on a Monday morning to learn about sonata form and Felix Mendelssohn doesn't make for a happy me, though, so I'll have to fight the temptation to just plain not show up.
In less boring news, it occured to me the other day that Peter and I are rapidly approaching our 4-year anniversary. It's about 2 months away. That floored me. I haven't gotten to see him much over the past week or so. :-( I've had to stay at home so that my dog wasn't left alone while my parents were in Vancouver. Amusing tidbit: I had no idea why they were in Vancouver--I asked them when they came back yesterday. Turned out it was for a judges' conference. Why they had a conference for provincial judges in Vancouver is beyond me. I find it funny that my parents are gone enough that it never even occured to me to ask why they were leaving. Another amusing tidbit: My mom told me this morning that she had no idea where my dad had gone or when he'd be back. He may be back at 2pm today, having only been as far as St. Albert, or he may be in Cold Lake for the week. At least I'm not the only one oblivious to the travellings of my immediate family. ^_^
But, yeah, four years is... impressive to me. *is slightly thunderstruck*
Time to go organize the flurry of papers that are slowly but surely taking over my binder before I head to class. I lead such an exciting life... And to think, I was going to start this post talking about formalism amd meta-formalism. Which is worse according to you guys: mundane happenings or dry ponderings?
In less boring news, it occured to me the other day that Peter and I are rapidly approaching our 4-year anniversary. It's about 2 months away. That floored me. I haven't gotten to see him much over the past week or so. :-( I've had to stay at home so that my dog wasn't left alone while my parents were in Vancouver. Amusing tidbit: I had no idea why they were in Vancouver--I asked them when they came back yesterday. Turned out it was for a judges' conference. Why they had a conference for provincial judges in Vancouver is beyond me. I find it funny that my parents are gone enough that it never even occured to me to ask why they were leaving. Another amusing tidbit: My mom told me this morning that she had no idea where my dad had gone or when he'd be back. He may be back at 2pm today, having only been as far as St. Albert, or he may be in Cold Lake for the week. At least I'm not the only one oblivious to the travellings of my immediate family. ^_^
But, yeah, four years is... impressive to me. *is slightly thunderstruck*
Time to go organize the flurry of papers that are slowly but surely taking over my binder before I head to class. I lead such an exciting life... And to think, I was going to start this post talking about formalism amd meta-formalism. Which is worse according to you guys: mundane happenings or dry ponderings?
9/28/2007
Things That Have Always Been True About Me
1. I like people. You can quibble about introversion and extroversion, and the fact that I consider people with certain characteristics to be intolerable, but I really do like people, in general. I consider them to be interesting and stimulating. Hell, if I don't have to put up with them personally, I even like the people with the intolerable characteristics. Because of the interesting.
2. I have always felt young. That doesn't mean I've always felt youthful, mind. But even lately, when I've been feeling like an old fogey who can't get her life together around the gaggles of first years, I look at people who have moved into the "real world" and it's like there's a giant, gaping chasm between me and them. I don't know if this one will continue to be true through the next decade or so of my life. I guess, ideally, I want the feeling young to go away without being replaced by the feeling old.
3. I am smart. Not to be self-important or anything. I'm certainly not the smartest person in the world or the smartest person I know. Sometimes it's fun, like in Grade 10 Enlgish class where I had two indulgent teachers and got to chatter on about my ideas. Not that I knew what I was talking about, what to call things. That's an awkward qualification of my intelligence--I am woefully uneducated about certain things. And sometimes it's not fun, like when I have to work with people who are on a different level than me and I get frustrated.
4. I am a product of my time. I am not the least bit anachronistic. The way I perceive things, what I believe about the universe and life and how I use social structures are all very much hallmarks of people from this period in history. I don't know how much of that is good and how much of it is bad. I also don't know if I'll get stuck at some point and wind up behind the times. As it stands now, though, I'm pretty happy with it.
5. I am paranoid. Not in a psychiatric this-is-a-major-problem kind of way, though. Rather, I'm a very private person. I believe that trust is a matter of choice and that anybody is capable of breaking trust. I do trust people, and I don't think there's anything of major relevance about myself that I've never told anyone in some way or another, but I hate being found or found out. It's a rational concept that I apply irrationally with the justification that it keeps life simpler for people to be kept uninformed about little things that can become a matter or putting two and two together. In some way or another.
2. I have always felt young. That doesn't mean I've always felt youthful, mind. But even lately, when I've been feeling like an old fogey who can't get her life together around the gaggles of first years, I look at people who have moved into the "real world" and it's like there's a giant, gaping chasm between me and them. I don't know if this one will continue to be true through the next decade or so of my life. I guess, ideally, I want the feeling young to go away without being replaced by the feeling old.
3. I am smart. Not to be self-important or anything. I'm certainly not the smartest person in the world or the smartest person I know. Sometimes it's fun, like in Grade 10 Enlgish class where I had two indulgent teachers and got to chatter on about my ideas. Not that I knew what I was talking about, what to call things. That's an awkward qualification of my intelligence--I am woefully uneducated about certain things. And sometimes it's not fun, like when I have to work with people who are on a different level than me and I get frustrated.
4. I am a product of my time. I am not the least bit anachronistic. The way I perceive things, what I believe about the universe and life and how I use social structures are all very much hallmarks of people from this period in history. I don't know how much of that is good and how much of it is bad. I also don't know if I'll get stuck at some point and wind up behind the times. As it stands now, though, I'm pretty happy with it.
5. I am paranoid. Not in a psychiatric this-is-a-major-problem kind of way, though. Rather, I'm a very private person. I believe that trust is a matter of choice and that anybody is capable of breaking trust. I do trust people, and I don't think there's anything of major relevance about myself that I've never told anyone in some way or another, but I hate being found or found out. It's a rational concept that I apply irrationally with the justification that it keeps life simpler for people to be kept uninformed about little things that can become a matter or putting two and two together. In some way or another.
9/26/2007
Why I Hate Reading
(At school, have just skipped 282 for my own sanity and to practice. Was going to read the text, but it's at home, so I'm blogging before starting my Orchestration assignment. *blog*)
Every now and then I vehemently think that I *hate* reading. I don't, really. I can do research and read textbooks and blogs and whatnot just fine. I suppose the actual act of reading often gives me a neck/back cramp from leaning over what I'm reading, since I can't seem to get glasses that actually work, and it therefore also causes eye strain, but the debut of the internet (and upright computer monitors) has lessened that significantly. What I *hate* about reading is the thinking.
I can hear my brother laughing at me for that one (yes, you, putz :-p), but thinking too much, especially about one thing, drives me nuts. I tend to disappear beneath the event horizon of whatever it is I'm learning. This doesn't really happen with concrete things like photosynthesis or artithmatic, which are relevant to other things in concrete ways, but rather with abstract concepts that go as deep as people can. Studying those people as legitimate thinkers would probably be considered parapsychology. They come up with anything from epistomological drivel to bad metaphors to fantasy to the most wonderful of ideas. Being self-aware, maintaining a firm grip on reality and the larger context of these ideas is how you keep yourself from going nuts, but there's often a strong pull towards understanding by believing. Like the old idea of thinking like a monster to catch a monster. When I'm reading a textbook, I think monsters are archaic, obsession is archaic. And then I think I need a pet project because I'm bored.
Every now and then I vehemently think that I *hate* reading. I don't, really. I can do research and read textbooks and blogs and whatnot just fine. I suppose the actual act of reading often gives me a neck/back cramp from leaning over what I'm reading, since I can't seem to get glasses that actually work, and it therefore also causes eye strain, but the debut of the internet (and upright computer monitors) has lessened that significantly. What I *hate* about reading is the thinking.
I can hear my brother laughing at me for that one (yes, you, putz :-p), but thinking too much, especially about one thing, drives me nuts. I tend to disappear beneath the event horizon of whatever it is I'm learning. This doesn't really happen with concrete things like photosynthesis or artithmatic, which are relevant to other things in concrete ways, but rather with abstract concepts that go as deep as people can. Studying those people as legitimate thinkers would probably be considered parapsychology. They come up with anything from epistomological drivel to bad metaphors to fantasy to the most wonderful of ideas. Being self-aware, maintaining a firm grip on reality and the larger context of these ideas is how you keep yourself from going nuts, but there's often a strong pull towards understanding by believing. Like the old idea of thinking like a monster to catch a monster. When I'm reading a textbook, I think monsters are archaic, obsession is archaic. And then I think I need a pet project because I'm bored.
9/21/2007
Google is My BFF
It's Friday morning and I want a cup of coffee like a comfort blanket. I already had a triple grande non-fat latte this morning, though, so I should probably abstain from caffeine for a while, no matter how tired I actually feel.
I wrote a mini-paper for my Music History class this morning on the Enlightenment style of Gluck's Alceste. It was (and was supposed to be) a page long, double-spaced. I did the "research" (reading of the textbook) last night, then took 45 minutes this morning to write the paper. It'll be graded as a draft, then I'll have to revise it and submit a final copy at the end of the term. There will be five such papers throughout the term. For some reason, people were really nervous about this assignment. I was more nervous about the listening quiz on Monday, and with good reason. I wound up failing, apparently from lack of detail. It was a 6-minute quiz--I have no apologies to make for only writing a page and a half. *annoyed*
Speaking of annoyed, I seem to be spending my life in a constant state of annoyance and especially frustration lately. I've been frustrated at the unprofessional conduct of people around me (like the percussionists who Never. Stop. Playing. No matter what.). I've been frustrated at the unproductive use of class time by my profs (like my Ed Psych prof who stops for 15 seconds after each sentence he speaks, like we're writing every word down). I've been frustrated by the tedious and unchallenging nature of my life in general right now (I fold clothes and write 250-word "essays"). I think I need a pet project. Something to give my brain to do. Anybody have any suggestions on what that could be?
In any case, I'm teaching a trumpet start-up clinic on Monday, and I can't seem to find any good labelled diagram of a trumpet amidst my stuff, so I'm off to Google images.
I wrote a mini-paper for my Music History class this morning on the Enlightenment style of Gluck's Alceste. It was (and was supposed to be) a page long, double-spaced. I did the "research" (reading of the textbook) last night, then took 45 minutes this morning to write the paper. It'll be graded as a draft, then I'll have to revise it and submit a final copy at the end of the term. There will be five such papers throughout the term. For some reason, people were really nervous about this assignment. I was more nervous about the listening quiz on Monday, and with good reason. I wound up failing, apparently from lack of detail. It was a 6-minute quiz--I have no apologies to make for only writing a page and a half. *annoyed*
Speaking of annoyed, I seem to be spending my life in a constant state of annoyance and especially frustration lately. I've been frustrated at the unprofessional conduct of people around me (like the percussionists who Never. Stop. Playing. No matter what.). I've been frustrated at the unproductive use of class time by my profs (like my Ed Psych prof who stops for 15 seconds after each sentence he speaks, like we're writing every word down). I've been frustrated by the tedious and unchallenging nature of my life in general right now (I fold clothes and write 250-word "essays"). I think I need a pet project. Something to give my brain to do. Anybody have any suggestions on what that could be?
In any case, I'm teaching a trumpet start-up clinic on Monday, and I can't seem to find any good labelled diagram of a trumpet amidst my stuff, so I'm off to Google images.
9/17/2007
A List of Things I'm Thinking About
1. What is that song Russ has been practicing in the studio lately? I know I recognize it, but I can't think of what it is.
2. My bangs are annoying and unflattering and I'd really like them to grow out, please.
3. My history prof is off-putting in many ways, but it's not her fault that the 272 and 273 curriculums were condensed into one class of insanity and we have to cover three major compsers in one class *after* our listening quiz.
4. Is my doctor's appointment today at 4 or 5? Should I call and check? I'm pretty sure it's at 4, and if it's at 5, then I can just go to Tim Horton's and get a coffee and read a waiting room magazine while I wait. That would be rather nice, actually.
5. For some reason, the finger nail on my right pinky finger is very prone to ripping. It doesn't usually hurt, and it always grows back perfectly normally, but once every month or two, I'll rip a good quarter of it off like I did this morning. Freaky fingernail.
6. Second year students talking about their weekend adventures with whole bottles of hard liquor make me glad that I never really did that.
7. I know that learning the IPA will be good for me, and that I'll be glad to know it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be dragged kicking and screaming to actually learn it.
8. Between my dislike of Opera and my dislike of string quartets, I'm just not compatible with Capital-C Classical music.
9. Should I go get a coffee before Choral Tech, or will I have to sing a lot, leaving the coffee to get all cold and unpleasant?
10. My life on a Monday morning is likely highly uninteresting to most people who would come across this blog. What this world needs is an anthropologist from a more "primitive" culture, who's delighted by the discovery of things we consder to be horribly mundane, and who will bring joy back into our everyday lives. Or something.
2. My bangs are annoying and unflattering and I'd really like them to grow out, please.
3. My history prof is off-putting in many ways, but it's not her fault that the 272 and 273 curriculums were condensed into one class of insanity and we have to cover three major compsers in one class *after* our listening quiz.
4. Is my doctor's appointment today at 4 or 5? Should I call and check? I'm pretty sure it's at 4, and if it's at 5, then I can just go to Tim Horton's and get a coffee and read a waiting room magazine while I wait. That would be rather nice, actually.
5. For some reason, the finger nail on my right pinky finger is very prone to ripping. It doesn't usually hurt, and it always grows back perfectly normally, but once every month or two, I'll rip a good quarter of it off like I did this morning. Freaky fingernail.
6. Second year students talking about their weekend adventures with whole bottles of hard liquor make me glad that I never really did that.
7. I know that learning the IPA will be good for me, and that I'll be glad to know it, but I'm pretty sure I'll be dragged kicking and screaming to actually learn it.
8. Between my dislike of Opera and my dislike of string quartets, I'm just not compatible with Capital-C Classical music.
9. Should I go get a coffee before Choral Tech, or will I have to sing a lot, leaving the coffee to get all cold and unpleasant?
10. My life on a Monday morning is likely highly uninteresting to most people who would come across this blog. What this world needs is an anthropologist from a more "primitive" culture, who's delighted by the discovery of things we consder to be horribly mundane, and who will bring joy back into our everyday lives. Or something.
9/14/2007
Coffee With the Interweb
In the lab at school. I went to get a coffee at Cookies by George and decided to treat myself to a cookie as well. I asked for one of the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk ones, but got a plain Peanut Butter one. It was still quite tasty, though. :-)
When I arrived in the lab, I used the Netscape URL drop-down menu to access Hotmail, and it brought me into the account of a trumpet player named Ian Burgess. He hadn't quit Netscape before leaving (another reason why I don't care for Macs). I logged out and logged into my own account, and read a notice from Facebook. I cliked on the link and it brought me to my own profile page, but logged in as Ian. It took me a moment to realize that, and I was rather confused as to why I had 9 friends in common with myself. ^_^ I think I should warn Ian about this.
I have a listening/written quiz in 282 on Monday on La Serva Patrona, Don Giovanni and something a girl in my class referred to as an intermezzo, which I'll have to figure out. Even if it is only the excerpts from our anthology that we're being quized on, I find that to be worthy of a big "Blah!" I remember my first day of 170 years ago, I was so looking forward to learning the kind of stuff that would allow me to understand the jokes people were making about Berlioz, and why everybody hated playing Haydn. I guess I more or less understand that now, but I don't owe any thanks to Music History. 170 was how to write a bibliography, 281 was ten billion types of chant, and 282 is looking like it'll be every opera I've been told I should go see but didn't want to.
Enough complaining now. Time for my coffee and I to go to Choral Tech. Yay, happy class!
When I arrived in the lab, I used the Netscape URL drop-down menu to access Hotmail, and it brought me into the account of a trumpet player named Ian Burgess. He hadn't quit Netscape before leaving (another reason why I don't care for Macs). I logged out and logged into my own account, and read a notice from Facebook. I cliked on the link and it brought me to my own profile page, but logged in as Ian. It took me a moment to realize that, and I was rather confused as to why I had 9 friends in common with myself. ^_^ I think I should warn Ian about this.
I have a listening/written quiz in 282 on Monday on La Serva Patrona, Don Giovanni and something a girl in my class referred to as an intermezzo, which I'll have to figure out. Even if it is only the excerpts from our anthology that we're being quized on, I find that to be worthy of a big "Blah!" I remember my first day of 170 years ago, I was so looking forward to learning the kind of stuff that would allow me to understand the jokes people were making about Berlioz, and why everybody hated playing Haydn. I guess I more or less understand that now, but I don't owe any thanks to Music History. 170 was how to write a bibliography, 281 was ten billion types of chant, and 282 is looking like it'll be every opera I've been told I should go see but didn't want to.
Enough complaining now. Time for my coffee and I to go to Choral Tech. Yay, happy class!
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