(no subject)
i'm thinking maybe updating this every day will make me start paying attention to what happens to all my time. It seems like lately, whenever i'm asked, i can't seem to tell anyone what, exactly, i did with my day. Maybe i'm a superhero and i blank out that part of my day!
Well actually, i'll begin this with last night, after the journal. i spent a while playing some Christmas carols on the clarinet, which i haven't picked up in a couple of years. Whenever i play instruments i haven't touched in ages, i'm amazed again at how in the world i remember how to play it. My one talent in the world, and it's absolutely useless. :P After a few songs, though, my right thumb started hurting; i'm not used to supporting an instrument in my hands anymore. i'm such a weakling! i put it away and played the flute for a little while. Despite only playing a few times a year now, i think i actually played better (technically, if not expressively and tonally) than i used to when i was a music major in college. This has been the case with a lot of things, i've noticed. A couple of months ago i decided that once i reach my weight goal, as a reward to myself, i'll take ballet lessons again, and i've been practicing in the living room since, trying to get my flexibility back and work on my turn-out. Somehow everything has just come to me easily, things the technique of which i just didn't understand as a teenager. Granted my execution won't be any good until i've had the practice and my turn-out and flexibility are decent again, but i see and understand what i need to do, the correct positions, what i'd always done wrong, and what i need to work on. It surprised me because i haven't really thought much about either music or ballet since i last took lessons in each, but it's like my mind went on processing what i had learned about them without my consciousness. So after i had played for a little while, my tone suddenly turned really bad and i couldn't seem to play anything well, so i put it away.
i spent a while trying to learn Finnish after this. i really wish i had some kind of program to test me on it or some *use* for the Finnish, as it just isn't sticking when i don't use it. Looking at a page and listening to a tape saying words over and over, even saying them aloud, isn't doing a thing for me. i had most of what i tried to learn down last night, but when i got up this morning i could barely remember a single word. i used to be so good at learning languages; i feel so stupid now. i've had so little intellectual or creative stimulation in the last few years, my brain's just shut down from disuse or something. Video games really do rot your brain!
i gave up and went to bed, trying to listen to Finnish radio while i slept. They say that only works with teaching language to babies but you never know! i didn't think it would hurt at least, but a couple of hours later i woke up with a splitting headache, so i turned it off in disgust and went back to sleep.
The daytime was more or less uneventful. i listened to Timo read me a couple of chapters of Time of the Twins, and i read a chapter of the fourth Harry Potter book to Him. Raistlin is my favorite character; he always has been. i'm glad he gets more of a focus now. i'm always making jokes about him being sexy to Timo, but it's true, he kind of is. i've always liked incredibly intelligent men who command respect and awe. Not just with his power, but his entire demeanor.
i spent most of the rest of the day just chatting with Timo, and trying to find a free program that turns an mp3 into a midi, or wav to midi with decent enough quality to generate playable sheet music from the midi file. Timo wants the tab to a particular song, and i've always wanted to play the piano part to another. No luck, though. There was one program that seemed decent, but the trial only converted 15 seconds, and i don't want the music $80 badly.
That's about it for my day, i guess. i still feel like there are huge gaps of time i can't account for, but i guess if i get into the mentality of remembering my day to write down, i'll start making myself remember those parts of the day.
Well actually, i'll begin this with last night, after the journal. i spent a while playing some Christmas carols on the clarinet, which i haven't picked up in a couple of years. Whenever i play instruments i haven't touched in ages, i'm amazed again at how in the world i remember how to play it. My one talent in the world, and it's absolutely useless. :P After a few songs, though, my right thumb started hurting; i'm not used to supporting an instrument in my hands anymore. i'm such a weakling! i put it away and played the flute for a little while. Despite only playing a few times a year now, i think i actually played better (technically, if not expressively and tonally) than i used to when i was a music major in college. This has been the case with a lot of things, i've noticed. A couple of months ago i decided that once i reach my weight goal, as a reward to myself, i'll take ballet lessons again, and i've been practicing in the living room since, trying to get my flexibility back and work on my turn-out. Somehow everything has just come to me easily, things the technique of which i just didn't understand as a teenager. Granted my execution won't be any good until i've had the practice and my turn-out and flexibility are decent again, but i see and understand what i need to do, the correct positions, what i'd always done wrong, and what i need to work on. It surprised me because i haven't really thought much about either music or ballet since i last took lessons in each, but it's like my mind went on processing what i had learned about them without my consciousness. So after i had played for a little while, my tone suddenly turned really bad and i couldn't seem to play anything well, so i put it away.
i spent a while trying to learn Finnish after this. i really wish i had some kind of program to test me on it or some *use* for the Finnish, as it just isn't sticking when i don't use it. Looking at a page and listening to a tape saying words over and over, even saying them aloud, isn't doing a thing for me. i had most of what i tried to learn down last night, but when i got up this morning i could barely remember a single word. i used to be so good at learning languages; i feel so stupid now. i've had so little intellectual or creative stimulation in the last few years, my brain's just shut down from disuse or something. Video games really do rot your brain!
i gave up and went to bed, trying to listen to Finnish radio while i slept. They say that only works with teaching language to babies but you never know! i didn't think it would hurt at least, but a couple of hours later i woke up with a splitting headache, so i turned it off in disgust and went back to sleep.
The daytime was more or less uneventful. i listened to Timo read me a couple of chapters of Time of the Twins, and i read a chapter of the fourth Harry Potter book to Him. Raistlin is my favorite character; he always has been. i'm glad he gets more of a focus now. i'm always making jokes about him being sexy to Timo, but it's true, he kind of is. i've always liked incredibly intelligent men who command respect and awe. Not just with his power, but his entire demeanor.
i spent most of the rest of the day just chatting with Timo, and trying to find a free program that turns an mp3 into a midi, or wav to midi with decent enough quality to generate playable sheet music from the midi file. Timo wants the tab to a particular song, and i've always wanted to play the piano part to another. No luck, though. There was one program that seemed decent, but the trial only converted 15 seconds, and i don't want the music $80 badly.
That's about it for my day, i guess. i still feel like there are huge gaps of time i can't account for, but i guess if i get into the mentality of remembering my day to write down, i'll start making myself remember those parts of the day.