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Whale/Wail
It was a glorious day!!! While on the ferry ride to visit the grandparents, we saw a pod of gray whales traveling through the passage. I've made that trip for seventeen years and had never seen any whales until today. They are incredible even from a distance. My nana has been fighting lung cancer for a year and a half and only recently came off a ( Read more... ) -
Inspirations in the Middle of the Night...
I'm listening^ to a beautiful rendition of the Barber violin concerto* by Gil Shaham, and was struck by his phrasing in a little technical section. Who would have guessed so much contrast could be pulled out of it? This is why I put up with so much crap from myself. I may feel hopeless and beat myself up at times although I know better**, and may ( Read more... ) -
Hitting the Grindstone
Next week is week 8 of winter quarter. Egads!!!!!!! This has gone by so fast, and of course the work is piling up. I have 10-page papers due back-to-back in less than two weeks, and I have been unable to make any significant progress on either. However, I've learned several things: namely, tired brains do not focus well, Fridays are horrible days ( Read more... ) -
Some bragging rights...
My brother just won his regional solo and ensemble competition!!! He's worked really hard this year on his solo, and I'm really proud of him. His adjudicator also suggested he work on developing a nice, classical tone, to which I thought thank you!!! My brother loves his jazz music, but hopefully this critique will prompt him to consider the ( Read more... ) -
aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhh
Why am I so technologically incompetent? But I am learning...slowly...through experience. -
Epicurean Adventures/Assaults
Midterms have arrived, and I'm actually grateful for the impetus to break out of the lethargic/time-wasting state I've seemed to fall into in the early evenings. Naturally, not starting my homework until 8 or 9 and staying up until midnight only promotes this vicious cycle ( Read more... ) -
............
I can't think of anything remotely witty to begin this with. So tired!!! I've been saturating my brain with Colorado coal mines and Chinese diction this evening, and the Chinese still remains a tongue twister to some extent. We have a diction test tomorrow in choir and I feel horrendously unprepared. Plus I've been so lethargic and homesick lately ( Read more... ) -
The Best Laid Plans...
Never work. Ever. I am speaking, of course, of those hour-by-hour schedules that I've erroneously considered necessary. Nope! With a rather large homework load this weekend and the goal of getting enough of it done to ski today, I henceforth found myself thwarted every day. Since then I've learned that going to a coffee shop with friends to work on ( Read more... ) -
A Return to Sogginess and other Dreary Events
Last night's rain washed away both the snow and the treacherous ice field beneath it. I miss it already, and am glad I got one day of skiing in. I'm sure I looked pretty silly at first as I struggled around a track buried in 5-6 inches of powder in some places (which is incredibly hard to skate-ski in, and resulted in a few falls), but I managed to ( Read more... ) -
Winter Wonderland
It has never occurred to me before that that particular song was appropriate for all of winter, rather than Christmas, so I feel no embarrassment in singing "sleigh bells ring" for the whole world to hear. We've had a lovely six to eight inches of snow here in Bellingham, although I was home for the long weekend and we had six inches by early ( Read more... )