Because it's a Wednesday

Vegas is a Funny Place, pt 1

2011-10-14T13:24:00.000-06:00

I was thinking the other day about how I mostly hated living in Vegas. I loved school and my friends and all that, but the actual city wasn't to my taste. And the weather sucked. But then it occurred to me that while I didn't love it, some really funny things happened to me while I lived there. I mean, I couldn't have made it through two years of Sin City without something happening. And somethings did. This is one of them.

That sounded so Twilight Zone-y. Hah. It's really not that amazing. Anyway.

Grad school is great, but one of the things that I had to get used to were the three hour classes that started at four and ended at seven. Kind of a long time for a lecture class, don'tcha think? It's not to say that I didn't enjoy class (I did, I'm a nerd and I took copious notes), but three hours is a long time to concentrate. Especially for me and my notorious focus issues. So on the days I had a long class, I would walk down to the Coffee Bean and get myself a snack and a beverage (usually an apple fritter and a tea of some sort. Don't judge. The apple fritters from Coffee Bean are delicious). One time when I was walking back to the music building, snacks in hand, I heard something really incongruous. I was waiting to cross the street (the light cycles in Vegas are looooong) and a black SUV was stopped at the light. Now, this was a very pimped out SUV. It had the works: rims, tinted windows, fancy everything. It also looked like the owners might own guns and that sort of thing (although what do I know? I'm just a white girl from CA. The owners probably have a sweet mansion in Lake Las Vegas next to Celine Dion and Cher and donat half of their copious amounts of money to charity. I don't know their lives). The driver had his windows down and he looked big and rather menacing. It's not that unusual of a sight in Vegas, especially near UNLV (it's in a rather... colorful part of town). I paid it no mind, until I heard something. Something coming from this tough, pimped out SUV. What I heard was this:

Yes. Mr. Pimped-out-SUV-with-fancy-rims-and-a-sweet-stereo was blasting and grooving along to Mariah Carey. As you can imagine it made my day. I had to refrain from giving the driver an approving chin-nod. Although I don't care if you're a hardcore biker dude, there is no shame in blasting Mariah Carey. No shame at all.

Music

2011-10-04T16:56:00.001-06:00

I have a confession to make: I love terrible, guilty pleasure pop music. In fact, if you were to look at my iPod right now it would be 90% guilty pleasure music. Mostly from the 80's, but plenty of 90's music, too. And you know what the sad thing is? At this point it's gone from guilty to just normal music. I have no shame. I used to say that I wouldn't ever admit to loving, say, Juice Newton on a first date but now I totally would. Maybe that's why I'm single? Juice Newton, have you steered me wrong? Say it isn't so, Angel of the Morning!

Basically it's like this: if it's a favorite road trip song, karaoke, or on the "Awesomely Bad" lists on VH1, it's on my playlist and probably has like, 5,000 listens.

I mean, just today I was at the Gap with my mom and I knew 98% of the music playing in the store well enough to lip-sync to. Seriously. I'm actually not embarrassed by this fact at all. Truly, I wear my Queen of Guilty Pleasure Music mantle with pride and class. Ok, maybe not class. But definitely pride. I'm working on the class bit.

By the way, my friend M is the king. We are benevolent, if catty rulers.

You know who I love? Without any guilt or shame or slight twinge of propriety? Prince. I know he qualifies for some people's guilty pleasures lists, but not mine. I will tell anyone and everyone that I love his music. And you know why? Because it's good. I even start my day with a Prince song, if at all possible. My ringtone is Prince (Musicology, specifically). Everyone should love Prince. This, by the way, is my favorite .gif ever:

It's totally the face I make anytime I see a walking fashion victim. Or when some atrocious music assaults my precious ears (not really).

THIS is the face I make when atrocious music assaults my precious ears (or just for funsies):

There. Your day has just had its dose of fabulous. Carry on (my wayward son). And go listen to some Prince.

Illinois

2011-10-04T00:56:00.000-06:00

So way back in July I went to Illinois (and kinda Wisconsin) to visit my friend M and to have a lesson at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Mr. Dee (who, by the way, is amazeballs). I was there for a week and it was super fun. Which makes it sound lame, but it was. I don't have any pictures of the cool places I went, since I am absolutely terrible and taking photos. My dad and my sister are avid amateur photographers, but I can't even be bothered to take snapshots of trips. Or much of anything, really. I only have like, three pictures from my two years of grad school and none of them were taken by me. I know. I did, however get pictures of M's dogs, the last night I was there.

Puppies!

Besides hanging with those adrobs puppies*, I got to go to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Champaign/Urbana.

Anyway, my lesson with Mr Dee was great and I fully intend to audition there when I go for my DMA. Which I'm like, 90% certain I'm going to go for. Honestly, knowing me, I won't be 100% sure until I'm hitting 'submit' on my application. I kinda take flying by the seat of my pants to an art form. And Champaign is such a cute college town. It would be nice to actually live in a college town instead of going to a commuter school again (especially one surrounded by scary ghettos).

Image from here

I loved Chicago. It is my favorite big city so far out of Milwaukee, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas. I know those last two kind of don't count, but for someone so poorly traveled as myself, they do. Don't judge me. Las Vegas is my least favorite. It smells, it's hotter than Hell, and it's fugly. Well, it's pretty at night on the strip with the lights all going, but every other time of the day, it's just ugly desert. Not even pretty desert. Ugly desert. And did I mention how hot it is? Because it is. Ugh. Seriously, the weather men go bananas if the temps get below like, 80. It's a city crisis and everyone brings out their parkas and snow pants.

Illinois is flat. And their water towers are white and they stick up. In California we hide our water towers in the hills and color them green and stuff. I actually had to ask M what those white things with the town names on them were. I know. I'm such a Californian. I felt really dumb when he looked at me and was all, "Those are water towers, Tamara." Remember, I have a graduate degree!

Image from here

And then we went to Milwaukee which was also fun and very humid that day. Another Tamara-is-a-Californian moment is when we drove into Milwaukee and I mentioned to M about how hazy it was and how weird that was. Now, where I'm from haze means one of two things: fog or pollution. Usually pollution. So M tells me "That means it's really humid, Tamara." You have to imagine that he said that like he was explaining the most simplest thing to a child. Because that's how he said it (he's such a sweet thing). We also ate at The Safehouse, which was really cool. All spy themed and crap. Their onion rings are to die for.

Oh, and I loved the drive to Milwaukee because I got to mispronounce every. single. city/town name on every road sign (or water tower) we passed. I wasn't intentionally mispronouncing them, but it was still hilarious when M would correct me in that I'm-talking-to-an-especially-slow-child tone. It was funny, though. What can I say? I grew up surrounded by Spanish city names, not Native American. And, lest you think M is a jerk (he's not), he couldn't pronounce Californian city names when we went to San Francisco in March. And yes, I teased him mercilessly. Turn about is fair play and all that.

Aaaand, that's kind of what happened. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and basically ran on 4 hours of sleep the whole time, since M and I got into all sorts of shenanigans. And seriously, sleep is for when you get back from vacation.

Here's another picture of the puppies, because they're cute.

Puppy* attack!

* I am fully aware that those are grown dogs, I just call all dogs 'puppies'. Especially big dogs. Because it's cute and I can, so there.

The Anti-Climactic Finale to my Hair Saga

2011-10-02T20:00:00.002-06:00

Basically, in a nutshell, I gave up on the curly hair thing. It was driving me bonkers and didn't do anything for my hair no matter how many products I tried. Well, how many affordable products I tried. See, I'm a broke a-- ho' and can't afford the $20-$30-a-piece gels and creams and leave-ins and all of that craziness. I have expensive oboe paraphernalia to pay for and that will always trump hair products. Since, y'know, oboe paraphernalia = making money and no money =/= making money. So. There it is. Naturally curly didn't work for me because expensive hair products can't get me oboe gigs, but cane can!.

That should be my blog slogan.

I'm sure it works wonders for some people, but it just doesn't work for me. And you know the crazy part? It wasn't even the lack of shampooing. I'm ok with being a dirty haired hippy. I hate washing my hair and I'm terribly lazy, so anything that eliminates a step in my morning routine is a-ok with me. It was that it just didn't look good. It didn't even look good when I went to Illinois and Wisconsin. Ok, it looked good one day out of the week I was there. Not good odds, plus it disproves my theory that Vegas hated my hair.

Maybe I'll try again when I have a job and some money I can throw at hair products. Oh, wait, that'll happen when I'm 40. Did I ever mention how expensive being an oboist is? I have, like, a ton of expensive things to save for before I can have money for silly, expensive hair products.

And honestly, I couldn't stand not being able to do a big, sexy, blowout. I love smooth, shiny, bouncy hair. I can't help it. I love my natural curls, but not everyday.

Did I also mention that I'm kind of a huge commitment-phobe? No? Well, I am. Especially when it comes to my hair. For instance, I'm currently thinking of going dark blonde. I don't believe that stupid saying that blondes have more fun (I have a ridiculous amount of fun as a brunette, thanks), but if it is true I'm totally game for more excitement. It'd not done till it's overdone, right?

Right.

Oh, did I say that I was going to post pictures with my posts? I don't have an appropriate one for this one, so here's a picture of the socks I'm knitting for my mom and my cat:

Next time: My trip to Illinois! Which happened in July. At least it's not a year later?

Spring Cleaning

2011-09-29T16:55:00.002-06:00

Shut up, I know it's fall.

Anyway, I'm going to revamp my blog, both layout-wise and content-wise. It's time for an overhaul! I'm going to start talking about my music more, in a general way since specifics could get me in trouble. I'm also going to try to update more regularly and use pictures. No one likes a wall of text with nothing to look at.

Oh and I might start blogging about the books I read and the TV I watch. Because yes, the internet needs yet another entertainment blog. So... for the two of you who read this, stay tuned.

Week Two

2011-05-31T15:56:00.000-06:00

Today is two weeks into this curly adventure and let me tell you, I am starting to not like my hair. It's not that it's greasy, or dirty feeling. It just looks terrible. Well, maybe not terrible, but certainly not OK. It's just... there. I didn't start this so that I could wear pony tails everyday. I did that when I was straightening my hair. And my hair looks bad up in a pony tail when it's curly. I don't have a lot of hair, so it looks funny.

I'm wondering if I need a haircut. Well, I know I need a haircut, but maybe it's making it worse. I also think the ridiculously low humidity isn't helping at all. Maybe I just need to tough it out until I move back to California. I just hate, hate, hate bad hair days.

Aaaaaaand, that's all. I'll get some pictures up a little later today.

Day 5

2011-05-22T20:06:00.000-06:00

So it's day 5 of this curly adventure and I am having a terrible hair day. Limp, gross, and ugly. I used the DevaCurl No Poo today for the first time and it worked well, but the smell is just terrible. Smells like old ladies. Not only does it smell, it lingers, and it has given me a headache. I realize that I have a sensitivity to scents, but even my roommate thinks it stinks. I'm glad I didn't buy a big bottle and only have the sample size. I'm going to use my silicone free conditioners as cleansers now, since I have two left over. Apparently normal, silicone-free conditioners work as cleansers. We'll see.

I did manage to make it four days without cleansing my hair, which is a new record. It didn't look too bad yesterday, but my scalp was complaining. Surprisingly my hair wasn't even that greasy. Maybe a little bit, but it didn't look greasy and it didn't smell. That was one of my reservations with this whole "no poo" thing. I didn't want to run around smelling like scalp and unwashed hair. Although, now that I think about it, I'd rather that than the old lady smell. I could at least pass myself as a granola girl if I smelled like scalp.

I don't think the NoPoo was to blame about my bad hair day, though. I checked the humidity and it is in the basement at 11%. Ick. No wonder it's flat and limp. I'm going to Phoenix next week and that's making me really apprehensive, since it's just as humid and even more hot. I think this week I'll experiment with cute curly updos, so I don't look like a total Fraggle.

Y'know, what with all of these humidity woes, it's no wonder I didn't stick with this when I first dabbled with it last year. The desert is not the place for nice curls. At least for my curls.

I long for Gilroy's weather. 50% humidity! To die for!

Curly Sue, Part Two: Electric Bugaloo

2011-05-19T00:56:00.002-06:00

So yesterday's hair ended up being sort of meh (kinda wavy, flattish, and limp), but it was a ridiculously windy day and it also happened to be kinda dry so I think it was doomed from the beginning. Also not helping: shampooing twice. I just couldn't wait to try my samples. What can I say, I am an impatient girl.

Yesterday's hair:

Kind of a crappy photo, but you get the idea. the triangle head is mostly because I am in dire need of a haircut.

If I look tired, it's because I was. Also, no makeup. Eek!

Today's hair was much, much better. I did the rinse, condition, gel routine and let it air dry. For two hours. That's going to take some getting used to, but at least I can do other things while it's drying, unlike heat styling. Another thing that seems to be helping is using duck billed clips to lift the top layer. I need a hair cut something fierce, so my layers aren't what they should be. My hair has enough trouble curling close to the roots that these grown out layers aren't doing it any favors. The clips seemed to combat that rather nicely.

Today's hair (completely dry and not crunchy feeling at all):

Kind of an odd angle, but the straight on wasn't showing enough of the curl.

Sorry it's darkish, it's hard to get a picture of the back of one's head by one's self.

At the end of today my hair looked almost the same as this morning, just a little wind rustled and an eensy bit frizzy, since I had to brave the elements a couple of times. Errands must be run, even in windy rainy weather. I had heard that the DevaCurl AnGel had a tendency to lose its hold at the end of the day and leave your hair frizzy and undefined, but I don't seem to be having that problem. As I said, there was only the tiniest bit of frizz and I think I can safely blame the rain and wind.

My hair and scalp are not feeling greasy or gunky, so that's a good sign. I don't usually have a problem going a day without washing, so I'm more interesting in what tomorrow and the next days are going to be like. Apparently it takes two to six weeks for your hair and scalp to adjust, so only time will tell. However, if it's looking this ringlety now, I am pretty stoked to see what happens in the next weeks. Good thing I have nothing to do for the next couple of weeks, so if I have an icky transitional period, it's not a huge deal.

Curly Sue

2011-05-17T21:26:00.000-06:00

I have curly hair. It's basically been the bane of my existence my whole life. It's not like it's coarse, or thick, or even especially frizzy. It's just so darn fickle that it drives me batty! One day it will be beautiful, practically perfect ringlets. The next day, loose and weird. I've responded to this by doing my hair straight more often than not. Because my hair is pretty fine and damage prone, this probably isn't the healthiest route for me. Last year I decided to ditch sulfate shampoos and mostly stay away from silicones and it seemed to help. I didn't make the complete plunge into the no shampoo land, mostly because I liked the option of doing my hair straight. I will confess that most of that is due to the fact that I seem to have internalized Hollywood's version of pretty hair: shiny, straight, and with looses curls/waves from a curling iron.

However, that takes so much time and effort to achieve that I'm starting to think it's not worth it. I'm not a morning person and I've never liked the idea of taking hours to do my hair. Having to first blow dry it, straighten it, and then curl it is just too many steps and far too time consuming. Also, it's terrible for my hair. My hair is such a delicate flower.

So now I think I'm going to finally take the plunge and go totally no-poo and all curly, all the time. I've decided to take this step now since I just graduated with my Masters, I'm moving home (away from this bone dry desert), and I like change. I bought some Deva Curl samples of the DevaCare No-poo, One Conditioner, and AnGell (and one of those micro fiber towels) and we'll see how this goes. I washed my hair with lathering shampoo for the last time this afternoon (because I couldn't wait until tomorrow) and used the new conditioner and styling gel. It seems happier, although it's not dry yet. We'll see how the no-poo cleanser does tomorrow. I'm curious to see what happens as the weeks go by and I don't shampoo my hair. Thankfully, I don't have a naturally oily scalp, so this shouldn't be too terrible. Hopefully.

I've gone to some websites devoted to this curly, no-poo system and it seems to work for a lot of people with a lot of different types of curly hair. I also did some product research, because there's a lot out there and most of it's expensive and there is no way I'm just going to plunk $20 down on some product and not have it work. Not everyone loves the DevaCurl products, but there are enough devoted followers that I figured it was a safe bet. Also, Ulta happened to have an affordable sampler set.

I'll try to post pictures of my adventures so you all (the three of you that read this) can see the results.

Graduated!

2011-05-17T21:24:00.000-06:00

This weekend I graduated with my Master of Music in Oboe Performance! I didn't walk, but spent the day with my parents instead. Much better than sitting in a crowded auditorium for three hours. I walked for my Bachelors, so I don't feel like I missed out. Also, they didn't have an actual commencement speaker. Which is lame.

Now I'm moving home to get a job and save up some money so that I can move somewhere that has more freelancing opportunities than home.

I'm also extremely sick of living in the desert. I loathe the heat.

I have enjoyed being able to see Cirque du Soleil shows and the fact there are actually things to do here, even for a non drinker.

I'll miss my friends, but not the place. It's definitely time for a change again.

More Fashion Ramblings and a Funny Story

2010-07-29T02:56:00.000-06:00

Well, since my last post was such a success (it's amazing what pictures do to a post, huh?), I think I'll continue my fashion rants. This time, I would like to talk about these:

I hate these more than those horrid sandals. I mean, really. If you have to completely disrobe just to pee, something is deeply wrong (unless you're in a swimsuit). Deeply, deeply wrong. Not to mention the fact that if you don't have the wonders of photoshop or an eating disorder (or two!) you look like a stuffed sausage. Which is the least of the rompers many crimes. I think the fact that this a wardrobe staple of infants is taking the 'eternal youth' thing just a tad too far. Plus, they make you look a fool, plain and simple.

Which brings me to the romper's maiden aunt:

The jumpsuit. I have two words: camel toe. Oh, and another: perma-wedgie. I have actually seen someone wearing those horrid bandals (blanket + sandals) (awesome term, Kristin) with a jumpsuit. I thought I was going to slap her. Or shriek in horror and proceed to faint dramatically. I did, however, give her the I'm Judging You SO HARD Right Now face. I don't think she noticed.

I don't even mind that these are stumpifying for the short people, because no one can pull off a jumpsuit. No one. Not even Cate Blanchett, who can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.

And now for a funny story:

I was coming home from an In'n'Out run when I had an encounter of the wannabe kind. There was a white, wannabe gangster standing outside of my neighbor's apartment, smoking. Now, it's late afternoon and the sun is shining very brightly because it's Vegas and it's basically Hell on earth and I swear one of these days I'm going to just spontaneously light on fire because it's SO HOT. Anyway, this guy catches my eye and this is the conversation:

White Wannabe Gangster Guy: Hi.

Me: Hi.

WWGG: How are you?

Me: Fine.

WWGG (squinting at me): That's good. You know, I wish the sun wasn't in my eyes, so I could see more of you. Because what I'm seeing looks pretty fine.

Me (trying not to burst out laughing): Uh, thanks.

Keep trying, home skillet.

In which I blather on about fashion and it's many crimes against short people

2010-07-25T21:17:00.003-06:00

So I've been working in the shoes department at my work and a lot of it is putting shoes away in the stock room, which gives me time to look at all the shoes. I love shoes. However, I do NOT understand the recent trend in sandals (or, not so recent, since it's the end of summer). What in the heck is up with these sandals? They're like the unholy marriage of a blanket and a gladiator sandal.

Isn't the whole point of the sandal to provide cooler feet? I mean, call me crazy, but my ankle being swaddled in leather or pleather or canvas doesn't really appeal to me in 100 degree weather. These sandals are the like the shoe equivalent of the Uggs-with-miniskirt combo that people in LA (and other places, but mostly LA) think is a good idea. And who wants sweaty ankles anyway?

I think, though, that the worst thing about them is that they are a crime against your legs. The invariably give you the appearance of cankles and make you look like Stumpy McStumperson if you are anything below 6 feet. Seriously. I hate these sandals even more that the stupid booties that are so in right now (thank you, fashion world, for continuing your crusade against short people).

I was OK with gladiator sandals, mostly because my sister had a pair in the '90's that I COVETED like mad when I was a kid. I mean, when I found out that gladiators were making a comeback I freaked out. Granted, I don't own a pair, but that's because I didn't inherit my sister's height and cannot pull off gladiators because they make my already short legs look shorter. I'm not such a fan of that, even if my inner 11 year old doesn't care.

I think the fashion work is totally pulling a fast one on us. Think about it. Ugly blanket sandals, ~~hammer~~ harem pants, booties, jeggings. It's got to be a huge joke, because you could not pay me enough to wear any of those things. Which is a lie, because if someone offered to pay me $1,000 to wear harem pants for a day I totally would. However, I'm not buying them as a valid fashion trend. No freakin' way.

One shoe trend I like is the Oxfords trend.

I like the idea of mixing masculine with feminine. However, I cannot wear them because they only look good with skinny jeans, leggings, cuffed pants (which no one should ever, ever, ever, EVER wear), or shorty shorts. I... don't wear any of those things because I'm short. Also, totally the wrong figure for skinny jeans and leggings. I don't need to look as if someone's trying to balance two melons and a horizontal two-by-four on a stick. Also, they have a bad habit of making my feet look even longer and skinnier than they already are.

This is why I am not trendy. Especially right now when it seems like almost everything is made for stick insects or pear shapes. I just wish fashion would fall back in love with the V-neck and out of love with 80's fashion which, for the most part, is HIDEOUS.

I'm hoping that the interest in the 60's (thank you, Mad Men) will bring back structure and tailoring. However, I'm not holding my breath.

Though I totally want to go as Joan Holloway for Halloween if I can find the right dress.

FIERCE.

Conversations With My Brain

2010-05-14T12:36:00.000-06:00

So a lot of the times when I go to bed at night I find myself lying there, my mind running around in circles like a hamster, and generally not sleeping. Usually this lasts for about an hour or a little longer. This makes me cranky. You know who I blame? My brain.

See, my brain is like an eight year old: it wants to tell me it's day sooo baaaadly that it just goes on and on and on and interrupts my attempts at achieving a zen like sleep state. It doesn't have any social skills. It just barges right on in there and starts going on and on about it's day. I imagine that this is the conversation my brain and I are having every time I try to go to sleep:

Me: Yay, sleep! Hello comfy blankets and my favorite pillow!

Brain: Yay, pillows! You know what that reminds me of?

M: What?

B: Pillows remind me of earlier today when you were talking with Matt about politics and you were thinking about how you hate most news programs and how you kinda wish you knew more about politics because you like a good argument, but only when you have ammo and you kinda feel like you have no ammo?

M: Yes. I do. Brain, what does that have to do with pillows? That has nothing to do with pillows, you ninny.

B: I know, right? Pillows also remind me about how you need to mail a bunch of things off: Netlfix, bills, the check for your accompanist. You should probably do that, but of course you can't do it now, it's late at night and the manager's office is closed and y'know, they would probably think you were a robber or something and of course that would be bad for us. I wouldn't like it. But, you know, things need to be mailed. What're you going to do about? You should really do something about that. You don't want people to know that secretly you're a super lazy, irresponsible person. That wouldn't be good. So you should do something about mailing those things.

M: Yeah, I know, but it's 2 am and I'm trying to sleep. Also, I fail to see why pillows make you think of the mail.

B: And? What're you going to do?

M: I'm going to sleep.

B: No. No you're not. I still want to talk to you about your day! Remember when you were watching the food channel and you were all like, "I should learn to cook more things, because I kinda fail at cooking" and then you went and looked up recipes on the internet and you were all "This looks too complicated" and then you decided that you would just cook what you usually do?

M: Yes, brain, I do. I was there. I remember.

B: I know, right? So me and the taste buds and your stomach had a meeting and we decided that we're sick of quesodillas. You need to learn like, deep fry. Deep fry sounds so good right now. Mmm, chicken fingers. I love chicken fingers. And chicken nuggets. And spicy chicken sandwiches. Mmmmmmm.

M: Thanks, Brain. Now I want chicken nuggets. You suck. NOW LET ME SLEEP.

B: Oh. Ok. If that's how you feel about it. I guess I could just... y'know, be quiet for now... if that's what makes you happy.... I guess...

M: It would make me really happy, Brain, if you would just shut up.

You know what's the most frustrating thing about this, beyond the whole not being able to sleep thing? My brain is never this involved during the day. Oh, no, it just wants to rehash the day in an obsessive, manic kind of way at night. My brain must be nocturnal. Or it's like a tape recorder that can only do one thing at a time and during the day it's set to "record" and that's all it does. Whenever I need it to do, you know, simple math or to remember when I have rehearsal, it's all "Psh, please, I am recording your days events so that I can run them buy you tonight. Y'know, when you're trying to sleep. That's our special time. I value that time."

Oh, goodness, my brain is that obnoxious kid in lecture classes with the tape recorder who zones out during the lecture and then asks all the really obvious, dumb questions (because I'm sorry, there are dumb questions) at the end because he can't be bothered to actually pay attention, because he has the tape recorder, y'know? Dang it. I hate that kid.

So that's a really roundabout way of saying that I didn't get to sleep until 4 am last night and I'm now kinda tired and cranky.

Now What?

2010-04-24T00:03:00.000-06:00

So basically I've been flailing around screaming all week. Well, in my head anyway. On the outside I've been in my usual high stress mode: dead calm, with extra emphasis on the dead part. I'm not a sociopath or anything, but any latent homicidal urges I possess seem to come to surface when I'm really stressed and really busy. The reason for all my stress? A week long recording session for the wind ensemble. Which was 16 hours total. Which was on top of normal classes, orchestra rehearsal, and my lesson.

Hence the flailing and screaming and thoughts of homicide (also, I had a really satisfying dream where I quit band mid rehearsal. It was very dramatic).

That all ended today, though, and not a moment too soon. I was so, so tired. Also, I have a paper to write that's due Thursday. Yes, I've known about it all semester. Yes, I know this makes me a bad grad student. No, I don't care. And it's not crunch time until Wednesday night. I'm remarkably good at flying by the seat of my pants. Usually.

Of course when I got home today I had no idea what to do with myself. I wanted to practice, but my face said no. I worked on reeds for about 20 minutes, but I only had a couple to fiddle with (they turned out well, actually. Of course now that I've said it, they're going to be complete crap tomorrow, but such is the life). Then I called my mom (Hi, Mom!) and now I'm writing this. I was tempted to go to Ross, which is my usual end of a stressful week activity, but I have no money and I'm in a rather weak willed state and I know that I would've walked out with yet another pair of awesome sneakers that I don't need. I'm also in my best run on sentence writing form. Good thing I'm not trying to write my paper right now!

Tomorrow I get to go make friends with the library and my research paper. Yay? At least it's not another recording session and I can pop my head phones in and blare Vampire Weekend to my heart's content. Too bad my paper isn't on pop music. Then I could say that I was researching.

I think I'm not making much sense anymore, so I think I'll stop writing and go watch a movie.

Beauty Products!

2010-02-21T19:48:00.004-07:00

So. I hate shaving my legs. Like, loathe it. I would even have contests with my friends in gym class when we were 14 to see who could go the longest without shaving. I won. It's not that I don't like the feeling of smooth legs; quite the contrary. I love it. I just hate it when the very next day it's all prickly and not quite pleasant. While my leg hair is fine, it grows fairly quickly. Yeah, I could shave every day, but two issues: one, I'm too darned lazy and two, I get razor burn very easily. I'd rather the prickles, thanks. I tried waxing them a few months ago and... didn't do so hot. Apparently I don't have the skills for waxing. It was a mess. So the other day I'm at Target (which is my favorite store) and I needed some shaving cream. As I stand in front of the various creams and gels, I glance over at the waxing section. Now, I'm the kind of person who gets a tad manic with things. I like to know for certain why something doesn't work for me. Y'know, like, if it's my fault, the product, Venus in retrograde, whatever. So I'm drawn towards the wax like the moth to the flame. I notice that there's this Nair stuff that has wax already on the strip. Genius! So, I plop it in the basket and go on my merry way. Later that evening, I try it out. Lo and behold, it works! Well, sorta. Apparently my leg hair isn't as sparse as I always thought. I have bleach blonde, fine hair interspersed with the darker stuff. Good crap! However, you can't see it, you can only feel it and honestly, it's not like anyone else is going to be feeling my legs but myself and I think I can handle it. Now, the point of this rambling, overlong story is that Nair Soothing Wax Strips are my new best friend.

Having said that, there's one caveat: the box may say "3 steps to waxing without an 'Ouch!'", but it lies. It still hurts. It doesn't irritate my skin, though, so I'm willing to just suck it up and deal with it.

I also have ADD when it comes to face wash. Even when I've found a satisfactory system, I'm always on the hunt for the "perfect" skin care regime. I don't know why, because every time I try something new, I end up regretting it in a big way. I guess I'm just not very smart. So, I tried using some Aveeno face wash, which was a Very Bad Idea. My skin was most displeased. I also tried some other products with similar results. I think I have finally just accepted that my face likes Neutrogena Deep Clean Invigorating Scrub. Though one new product I've discovered that my face does not hate is the Boots Expert Sensative line. See why I love Target? This stuff is less expensive than Neutrogena and is very gentle, so my face doesn't retaliate with eczema.

Not that I spend my days trying out beauty products or anything. I mostly do this sort of thing once a month and on the weekends as a sort of "me" time or a form of decompression. See, I don't really like bubble baths. I try to like them, I do. I have many and varied bubble baths and salts and what have you. I just don't like baths. They don't relax me. They just get me all hot and sweaty and a little cranky. Ah, well.

I also love to paint my nails. Always have. I vaguely remember begging my sister to paint them, or help me paint my right hand, or to use her nail polish. I was very needy. And obnoxious. Anyway, I now have a large collection of nail polish and I almost always have painted nails. I don't even know why I love it so much, because it's actually kind of a pain in the neck to paint my nails and then wait for them to dry and all that. I guess there's just something fun about having colored nails. I do try to either have no polish or fresh, non chipped polish on when I'm performing. Because the last thing I need is to have people fixating on my horribly chipped nails when I'm trying to connect musically with them. However, I don't mind having brightly colored nails. I am, after all, a creative person and I like to express myself in some way. Especially if I have to wear all black. I'm such a rebel.

More Deep Thoughts

2010-02-15T18:21:00.002-07:00

Or something.

So, I saw Avatar a couple weeks ago. I... thought it was pretty? Yeah, I knew going in that it was going to be Pocahontas in Space with a side of Fern Gully, but y'know, I still didn't love it. Probably because I like to see movies to be entertained, not preached at. So sue me. It was very, very pretty, though. And if I ignored the whole Americans Bad, Every Other Culture Ever Good, it was pretty fun. Though it was heinously loud and I'm sorry, but I will never hop on the 3D bandwagon. Also, why did the Na'vi have to resemble Native American cultural stereotypes so much? Why not just, I dunno, create your own? Oh, right. Then it wouldn't be Pocahontas in Space. Right.

Oh and I LOVE Vera Wang's jewelry line for Kohl's. Love it. And I'm not even much of an accessories girl, either. I like that it's a little rocker, but girly and pretty at the same time. Also, can I just say how much I love gunmetal as color/metal? Because I love it lots.

Also? I have decided that I really like Burberry Brit. I didn't love it until I put it on and wore it around all day Saturday. Doesn't tickle my fancy in the bottle, but apparently it likes my skin. Now I just need to go buy it and smell good all the time. Hello, Sephora!

Not-So-Deep Thoughts

2010-02-05T00:17:00.003-07:00

Y'know, I think I'm just horrible at chronicling my life in words. I'd much rather talk to someone about whatever's on my mind. Which is why I neglect this blog (and also why I've never really kept a personal journal), I think. Also, I'm just in my own head a lot and I kind of keep a running dialog with myself and I guess that's enough for me? Or I could just really not like writing.

I'm thinking it's the last one, to be honest.

So, anyway. Life's been going along. This semester is getting off to a better start than the last one. Which is good, since the end of last semester was crazy go nuts. I didn't post at all because most of what was going on was tied to one thing that I didn't feel like posting here. Especially since it centered around a very immature individual who lacked (still lacks it, actually) professionalism. Or, y'know, common decency. The world wasn't crashing around my ears or anything, but even the good things were tied to this issue. Not that I didn't want to just verbally rip this individual to shreds, but I chose the higher path.

I still have that verbal smack down planned out for future use, though. I'm just waiting and biding my time. It'll just make it all the sweeter.

I'm a low drama kinda gal and I get really annoyed when people bring the drama llama to town. An ensemble is no place for that kind of asinine behavior, but unfortunately it's like a magnet for it. I just don't see why people aren't better at compartmentalizing at the collegiate level. This is not middle school, I see no reason to act like a 13 year old girl.

Anyway, I get to play on a class concert next Thursday, which will be fun. I've gotta go shopping, though, since I don't really have a fancy enough dress. I'm more of a slacks and a top kind of gal, but it's not really appropriate for the event. Which makes it sound fancier than it will be, but y'know. I need to look classy and professional. And honestly, I love an excuse to go shopping for pretty clothes. I ain't gonna lie. Girlfriend loves to shop.

I'll probably post a picture of the dress when I get it. Maybe not on me, but the dress. If I remember, hah.

AHAHAHAH

2009-11-09T12:11:00.002-07:00

So this totally made my Monday morning. Kristin, you remember how we would listen to songs and repeat the last line right after it was sung? And how awesomely cheesy and/or bad that was? Turns out it's actually a valid performance technique! Too bad we were born in the wrong decade, eh? We could have been stars! Stars!

I'll update with an actual entry with photos of my new haircut and my apartment and some Deep Thoughts when I get back from rehearsal. I "get" to record Barnum and Bailey's favorite circus march. Oh, the joy.

In case the sarcasm didn't transfer well, I hate marches. Especially circus marches. I'm pretty sure a two hour recording session isn't going to change my mind any.

I Can Play That; I've Got Two Hands!

2009-11-08T01:18:00.002-07:00

So, one of my most favorite composers is Benjamin Britten. I've played the unaccompanied Six Metamorphoses After Ovid before (on my Junior recital and various other times) and I really liked it. A while back I was borrowing a CD from my professor and it had Britten's Two Insect Pieces and while they're insane and crazy and don't exactly highlight the oboe's singing qualities, I really liked them. So, now that I am at a larger university and they have an actual music library, I'm going to go check out said Insect Pieces and just play them for fun (yeah, I might be crazy). I'll probably request to work on them next semester. This semester I'm working on the Mozart Concerto. Again. Forever.

Anyway, this is what the Two Insect Pieces sound like:

Also, my new knife came and it's pretty nice. It's quite a bit lighter than my previous knife, so I'm going to have to adjust to that. However, it's sharp and doesn't go dull as quickly as my old one. I'm sure the diamond stone helps, too.

Aaaaaannnddd... I dunno, nothing else has really happened. My life is so thrilling.

Oh, I still really want a pet. Like, really badly. Stupid $300 deposit.

I'm a stalker, y'all.

2009-11-01T00:18:00.006-06:00

I think it's kinda funny that I blog-stalk a bunch of people (not in a creepy way, more like in the same way that you always look into people's open windows when you walk by for no other reason than because they're open) and it makes me realize that I completely neglect my own blog. Probably because my life = boring. Well, actually, let me take that back. My life = busy. It's not really that boring. Who would've thought that I'd get a thriving social life in grad school of all places? Not me. I thought I would have an even more pathetic social life that ever before. However, that didn't happen. I'm pretty sure it's because I've finally found my people. I feel like I really belong (You like me! You really like me!), even though that sounds ridiculously silly.

What with making reeds, practicing, class, friends, and all that I just don't have time to blog much. Or often, though that's nothing new.

I did just order a new reed knife (and a contoured plaque and a new diamond sharpening stone) that I'm excited about. My current knife is the same one I've had since high school and it no longer holds an edge. Which I'm sure you all were just dying to hear about. Dying! I can tell.

See? If I blogged about my life it would be full of oboe references (boring), music chatter (also boring), and other things that no one wants to read about. My life is pretty uneventful. And I suck at taking pictures (and uploading them, since I have photos of my apartment waiting to be uploaded), so there's not even things to look at. We all know how boring a post without pictures is. One day I'll upload something. Really.

Maybe if I had a cat, I'd post more. HINT HINT MOM.

Hahah, just kidding.

Vegas, part whatever

2009-08-16T21:43:00.002-06:00

Well, I'm all moved into my apartment in Vegas. It's pretty sweet. A little farther from campus than I originally thought, but it's not a big deal. I don't have 8 am classes, so it doesn't bug me.

I'm only like, 50% unpacked, so I haven't taken any pictures. I still need to buy a table and chairs for my dining room, get my two chairs from Cedar City for my living room, and get a bookcase. Which I won't be able to get until I get money, which won't be for another couple weeks. I can deal though. I have an old butterfly chair in the living room and thankfully I don't have a thriving social life so additional seating is not really an issue yet. I don't technically have internet, but someone in the complex has an unsecured network, so I've been using that.

I apparently have no credit (well, a specific kind of credit, I forgot what my sis told me), so getting the utilities set up has been fun. I was without gas until this last Thursday and still have not gotten the power bill in my name because I have to go in person and they're not open on weekends and their office is in Henderson. Joy. Also, I am quite frustrated with the gas company because I have to pay an $80 deposit (which is ok), which I was told would be part of my first bill. Turns out, it's not. So, hopefully I can get my money by the 31st to pay the deposit. I am actually really tired of dealing with the gas company. I know Vegas has alot of flakes, but I am not one of them, thanks.

Anyway, depsite my issues with the utility companies, I am liking it here. Especially the no roommate thing. I HATE living with roommates. It's just not for me. I am still getting used to how spread out everything is, as opposed to Cedar City and even Gilroy. I don't think I'm going to have too hard of a time keeping a handle on my finances, since I actually have to drive more than 5 minutes to get things. I hope so, anyway.

I really, really want a cat though. I'm not lonely, it would just be nice to have a furry somebody to be here when I get home and to sleep on my homework. One day I'll get one. One day.

On the subject of pets, a lot of people here have small dogs. Which is cool. Except they obviously have no idea how to handle them. There's a 14 year old kid who takes these two puppies out to do their business and doesn't really do much when the dogs run at you barking. I'm not afraid of dogs, but dang kid, put them on a leash if they're not friendly with strangers. It's actually a rule for the complex. The other night me and my friend Katy (who was here for a few days) were walking to the pool and this lady had two puppies on leashes (thankfully) out for their nightly walk. As we walked by the dogs went NUTS! They were barking so loud it actually hurt my ears and they were straining against their leashes trying to get to us. The lady wasn't doing much, either. Seriously, if you're going to get a dog, get yourself some obedience training! They won't grow out of that behavior, it'll only get worse.

Anyway, I've got a super busy week with placement exams and auditions, so I'll probably update on Thursday with what my semester is going to look like. Oh and I'll have to let you all know how the fitness center is. I plan on going there tomorrow morning. They have an elliptical machine!

In Which I Type the Many Forms of Excite a Lot

2009-08-04T21:46:00.005-06:00

So, for a while things about Vegas and grad school were a little uncertain. I hate uncertainty. However, everything has cleared up and it's GREEN IS GO from now on! Which makes me really happy. There was a lot of waiting for financial aid, which ended up just being my fault (I am not familiar with UNLV's system), but was resolved. I have money! So now I can stop agonizing over my living and my financial situations. I have done the math and every thing is hunky-dory! I can't afford a cat right away, but I am determined to get one. It's just the $300 deposit for pets that my complex requires that's holding me back. But, one day I will take myself down to the Nevada SPCA and get myself a cat.

Anyway, I am so very excited for graduate school and living on my own and becoming an adult (kinda). New school (excitement!), new people (excitement!), new city (excitement!). For all that I am a homebody by nature, I actually like moving to new places. I get sick of a place easily, especially small places. I think I inherited that from my father. Which is ok with me. I'm not afraid of change, especially exciting change.

I also want to get back into knitting and knit myself something that isn't a hat, or a sock, or a mitten (yes, sock and mitten singular: I am incapable of knitting a pair of anything, it's just too much strain on my attention span. I don't thrive on repetition). Meaning, I want to knit a sweater. A cute sweater. That's flattering. However, the yarn for such an amazing sweater is really, really expensive. Maybe one day when I have a job I'll be able to knit something nice. Ah, well.

I'm moving this Friday. Which means no internet until I can get it set up. Probably next week. Or thereabouts. Then I will post many pictures of my apartment and my thoughts and impressions of living in Vegas. I'm pretty sure it will consist of a lot of repetition of the word "hot". Just a guess, though.

Vegas

2009-06-26T18:52:00.003-06:00

So, as I might have mentioned, I'm going to UNLV for gradute school. When people ask me where I'm headed and I say Vegas, people give me the funniest looks ever. I'm not even kidding. I kind of want to say "Why yes, I'm going there FOR THE SIN." Do people not realize that UNLV is in Vegas? And do I really look like someone who would go there FOR THE SIN? It's just so funny.

I was kinda hoping that I wouldn't have to explain where UNLV was (unlike SUU, which I know is in a teeny tiny town in Utah and NO ONE knows where that is) because I kinda figured it was a big enough school. Oh, well, what do I know? Though I should mention that more people know what UNLV stands for than SUU. A lot more, actually.

And in other news, I FINALLY went on my third (!) interview with Best Buy and guess what? They'll call me Tuesday. I just love trying to find a job!

Not.

I've never been happy with planners. I've just never found one that I really like the layout of. The way my life rolls, I really prefer a daily planner as opposed to a weekly/monthly. It's so hard to find daily planners! Especially ones that go late enough into the evening for me. As a musician and a student, my planning needs extend beyond 5 pm. So, today at Staples, I think I have found one that I actually like. It's a monthly/weekly planner, but it has long columns for each of the days. I have high hopes for it (plus it's really cute and because I'm shallow it MATTERS), but we'll see. Summer really isn't the best time to test drive planners.

Pregnancy Tests

2009-06-20T18:28:00.003-06:00

In particular, the commercials for them. I was watching TV like, point 5 seconds ago and this commercial came on saying that some percentage of women can misread a pregnancy test.

First off: Well, duh. Anyone CAN misread something. I could choose to misread one, just for kicks. Is that what they're saying? 4 out of 5 women use the act of misreading pregnancy tests for recreation? Is that what we've sunk to as a society?

Secondly: Are they saying that 4 out of 5 women are mentally retarded? Uh... I think those four women are about to come at you with some, ah, choice words (and quite possibly sticks [those misread pregnancy tests, perhaps?] and rocks). No wrath like a woman scorned and all that. Wouldn't it be better (and safer) to say like, 4 out of 5 pregnancy tests are hard to read instead? Seems a taaad bit more logical to me. However, what do I know?

Then again, pregnancy test commericals have always struck me as a bit useless. I certainly wouldn't choose one based on a commercial. I'd probably call up my mom or my sister or some other female acquaintance who has used one.

But, who knows, by the time I start getting pregnant and crap, there'll be only one kind of pee stick, thanks to Big Brother and his health care ideas.

I'd probably misread it, too.

Make Up

2009-06-03T23:19:00.002-06:00

And related items.

My one major gripe with the skin care products available out there in drug store land is that they seem to be either for acne or age fighting. I've always felt like, well, excuse me for having good genetics and dodging the acne bat and not being a youth obsessed girl. Then a wonderful thing happened! Biore came out with a line for "transitional" skin, which is exactly what I have been looking for. However, my skin can't handle Biore. Fail. Now I just wait until the other skin care lines come out with similar products. I'm hoping for Nuetrogena.

Which brings me to my battle with moisterizers and to a certain extent cleansers. I tried Olay (my skin hated it). I tried Biore (it ate my skin. Almost literally). I tried Nuetrogena. I tried Purpose. I've tried a lot of things. They all irritated my skin. Turns out my skin hates sunscreen moisterizers. I get ezcema on my cheeks, which is not very attractive. So, today, I've just bitten the bullet and gone with the combination skin moisterizer from Nuetrogena. It seems like the only brand that doesn't irritate my skin, provided I get a non-SPF kind. Good ol' Nuetrogena.

On the foundation front, the very same brand that provided me with a moisterizer (and my favorite cleanser, but there was never any searching for that one) has now provided the pretty-much-perfect foundation. I'm a weird shade of pale. It sucks. But, I finally found one. Thank you, Nuetrogena. You saved my face.

Anyway, lest this sound like a love letter to a skin care and makeup brand, I will move on to non makeup related topics.

I went and bought The Sims 3 yesterday. I'm secretly (or not so) addicted to The Sims. Thanks to my friend Katy, I got hooked on The Sims 2 last year and now The Sims 3 has come out and let me say that it is AWESOME. Love it. It's like crack. I'm a sucker for the character creation stuff and this game delivers. Also, you can now be a movie score composer. Awesome.

I am also still unemployed, but I've gone throught 2 of the 3 interviews required for Best Buy, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I would love to work there. It will take a mountain of self control to not spend my entire paycheck there.... Mayber I shouldn't work there....

And that's pretty much what I've been up to.

Oh, but I do really want a cat for when I move to Vegas. I actually really want a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, but it's much cheaper to just pick up a couple cats from the pound. I'll save the dog buying for when I'm out of school and have a fairly steady income. But I've got the wannahaves something fierce.

Oh, Finals Week. How I Loathe Thee...

2009-04-30T14:22:00.003-06:00

Well, I have just taken the final for the last math class I will ever have to take. Ever. This makes me really, really happy. And it was nice, because I didn't feel lost or confused at all. Most of the problems dealt with triangles and I get triangles. Which is awesome. A weight has definitely been lifted. I really dislike math. Thank goodness it's over. Also, I love that my professor gives partial credit. I never understood why some math people don't give partial credit. Isn't it worth something to know how to do the steps correctly and just mess up in the simple arithemtic than missing it altogether? I dunno, I think some math professors just have issues. Like... a stick. In an uncomfortable place.

This basically leaves me ART 1010 final, which will be a piece of cake, and my Spanish final. Which is not a piece of cake, but I'm not worried. I tend to pull through on Spanish tests.

I picked up my cap and gown today. So, it final feels really real that I'm graduating. Eek. And why, why, why does the Performing and Visual Arts college get brown tassels? That's just wrong. Wrong. We're creative people, why do we get the ugliest color? Lame.

Hoo, man, I am so tired today. Having a math final early in the morning is just brutal. Brutal. My brain is goo right now. Goo with the law of sin and cos floting around, mixed with sets and probability.

I bought Baby Mama at Hollywood yesterday for $5. I love getting things for half off. And that movie is hilarious. This is what I buy with my textbook sell back money. Movies. I almost bought season 1 of Pushing Daisies, but then I realized that it's $5 less at Target and I could totally wait. Also, at some point when I get an income, I think I'll start Netflix and finally watch all the movies and TV shows I haven't had time to. This'll probably be after grad school, but whatever. If I've waited four years, I can wait two.

Also, I really want to have a pet when I start living on my own, but they're so expensive. I think I'd get a cat. They come self trained and are less likely to be annoyed with being left alone at home. Especially if I got two. Also, self cleaning. Can't really go wrong with that. But, that'll also probably be after grad school. Lame.

What Time Is It?

2009-04-28T01:47:00.004-06:00

New layout time!

Thanks to kevinandamanda {blog}, I now have a super cute fonts for my layout! I have not worked with html or xtml or css or whatever in a long time and have been so frustrated by the really fugly blogger templates out there. However, I'm too lazy/busy to try and figure out how to do it myself, so when my dearest sister gushed about Amanda, I had to take a gander. And lookie here! My blog is significantly cuter (hah hah, I totally typed 'cutter'... maybe it's a sign I should go to bed?). I've always loved this background pattern I found forever ago, but never was satisfied by the lame fonts blogger has. At least as far as titles and such are concerned. So, with the help of some... random tutorial for adding backgrounds in the minima template and Amanda's awesome font tutorial, I finally love my blog. Granted, this means it'll probably be changin every few days, since I have ADD when it comes to layouts...

Anyway, on the life front, it's finals week. I wish I could say it's my last finals week ever, but it's not. Just my last one for undergrad, which is just fine with me. I have had it with general eds. Had it! It's probably a good thing I only have two finals, or I don't know where I'd find the motivation to study...

I bought super cute yellow flats today at Ross for... $3! And they're Steve Madden. Crazy, huh? Because I was planning on spending quite a lot more on shoes, I decided to buy some necklaces. I didn't used to like accessories, but I have seen the light. Anyway, this splurge (for me, anyway) was all in the name of graduation. So now I can look cute when I say good bye to dear old SUU. I will not miss the snow. At all. It was fun for a while, but I am very glad that it never snows in Vegas.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm still typing, since it's 2 in the morning. I guess that's what happens when I don't have a final until Thursday. My poor sleeping schedule...

It's Official

2009-04-22T22:32:00.002-06:00

I have officially been accepted into the music performance masters program at University of Nevada, Las Vegas! The letter came in the mail today and it made me very excited and all the more ready to get done here. Now I can finally start researching things and not feel like I'm jinxing myself. Whew.

So, yeah. I am more than ready for this next stage in my life.

Also, the last week of school is so much more stressful than finals week. What's that about?

And, as a side note, all the admissions papers were dated April 17, which just so happens to be my birthday. Pretty cool. It was meant to be! Fate! Whatever! I'm going to grad school!

What? I Have A Blog?

2009-04-16T22:39:00.002-06:00

Hoo boy am I bad at these things. Sometimes I wonder why I have one (I also wonder why the browser spell-check is telling me that the first four letters of "wonder" are spelled wrong...). I also wonder why people are idiots. I wonder what I'm going to wear tomorrow. And... well, I guess I just wonder a lot. Anyway. Not much has been happening, just the usual crazy-busyness that comes with being a music major at the end of the year. The light at the end of the tunnel is especially bright this year, because I'm graduating in... 2 weeks! Holy crap! I am just all aflutter with a veritable cornucopia of emotions! Wow, I actually spelled cornucopia right on the first go! That's... pretty cool. Not as cool as graduating, though. Or going to graduate school. Oh, did I not mention? I'm 99.9% accepted to UNLV! I'm just waiting on one of my professors to get his rear in gear and write my recommendation. However, UNLV knows why I am being late, so this is not having any adverse effects (affects? I can never keep that one straight) on my chances of acceptance. And I'm not worrying, because Dr Stitt said that they would definitely have told me by now if I'd not gotten in. She would know, too. So,this makes me very happy. I really hate not knowing what my immediate future is. It causes me stress.

Because I'm graduating and my senior recital is over and done with, I have a massive case of senioritis. Oh, goody. I'm not an apathetic person by nature, but boy have I got it bad. I just can't seem to care about anything anymore. Especially since I'm 99.9% accpeted to grad school. It's so haaaard to care about silly Gen Eds. Arrghhh. I've been combating the apathy by reading. A lot. Probably not the best strategy, but... I don't care (see, there I go again)! Oh, man. Is it May yet?

Sometimes I question why I went to school in Utah. Especially when it's 34 degrees outside (according to ForecastFox. I love that doohickey) and has been snowing for the last two days. In mid April. What the heck is that about? I mean, it's not like I hate the snow, I don't. But, I do hate it when it snows in April. Bah. One thing about living in Vegas that I will appreciate is the lack of snow. Yes, it's hot as crap, but at least it doesn't snow. I will enjoy being able to drive all year round. And even if it does snow, they don't have any snow plows so everything would shut down anyway and I wouldn't have to drive. Whoo!

I really hate the grammar check in Microsoft Word. Apparently all I type is fragments. Haven't they heard about varying the length of your sentences? It's actually ok. Really. You don't have to combine everything into big, long sentences with lots of semicolons. Don't get me wrong, I love semicolons and I think they are woefully ignored. However, you shouldn't have them in every sentence. It's just... weird. Also, when writing out dialogue the grammar check's vendetta against freagments is especially annoying. People talk in fragments. Duh.

I'm not really a jewelry or an accessories kind of gal, but lately I've been wanting to change that. I don't have pierced ears and will never have them, so I like necklaces and bracelets. I would probably want to wear rings if a) my fingers weren't on the large side and b) that they didn't bug me to no end when I play. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get engaged/married. Get used to it or wear them on a necklace, I guess. Anyway, I got a really cute shirt from Shade for $7 (yay clearance!) and it's just begging for one of those longish necklaces that are popular right now. Not a really long one, because girlfriend has too much of a rack to pull that off, but something thatlooks good with more of a crew/circle neck.

And... that's it, I think. I've run out of witty (and even not-so-witty) things to write about. But, stay tuned for when I rant about people and their amazing habit of failing epically as humans. Should be fun, eh?

2009-01-13T22:03:00.003-07:00

Y'know, life must be good if the only decision I have to make this evening is whether to play the Sims or watch a movie tonight.

I love not having class until 11 on Wednesdays. Possibly the only good thing about my math class is the TA day. It's a beautiful thing.

I've also decided to possibly give University of Delaware a try for grad school. I've always wanted to live back east. Not that I knew where Delaware was until my mom told me, but I am notoriously retarded with geography. Plus, New England is full of teeny tiny, smushed together slivers of states. At least compared to the west. So.. we'll see. The only downside to possibly moving out there is that I will be very far away from my family and I like to be able to see my family, but I guess moving to the opposite coast is part of growing up.

And if the whole music thing doesn't work out, I can always get a job watching rich people's pets back home. Bring on the poodles!

This Site is Way too Addictive...

2009-01-11T22:24:00.002-07:00

What do you think about my little new baby Anne?
MakeMeBabies.com - What will your baby look like?

Bwahahah... That is one demented baby.

Aaaand, yeah. Besides just hanging out and practicing and doing homework, this is what I do. Good times.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T19:45:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

Books and Things

2008-12-21T23:40:00.003-07:00

I have recently rediscovered Mary Stewart's books. I've forgotten how much I enjoy them. I wish I could find more books like them, I just love them. Reading has been my main source of entertainment so far during the break, because I hardly have time during the semester. It's nice to curl up (or stretch out, in my case) with a book and some good music (Bryn Terfel, in this case). That man's voice is like butter, I tell you. Butter.

On the subject of music, I have decided that I love Tchaikovsky's music. Especially his symphonies and piano concertos. In addition to finding them enjoyable to listen to, I really love playing them. The last movement of his fourth symphony may be rather... mundane? overplayed? whatever, it is BLAST to play. Actually, that whole symphony is fun to play. I've also come to the conclusion that I just love Russian composers in general. And if I were at all confident in my spelling of them, I would list them. But, any major Russian composer that pops into your head, I probably like.

I changed my layout and I really rather love it.

Oh! I was thinking the other day (actually, earlier today, but "the other day" is more fun to say, I think) and since I have such a hard time writing things in the blog, I might start doing a picture for the day type thing, with a small paragraph explaining it (if necessary). I'm not sure how that's gonna work, but I'll try when the semester starts up again. I also left my camera to computer cord thingy at school, so... yeah. Kiiinda throws a wrench in starting it early, eh?

How Frustrating

2008-12-20T23:04:00.002-07:00

I get comments sometimes about my skin. How flawless it is, how pretty, how lucky I am that I don't have acne, etc. And while I agree with them to some extent, I do not have it easy. I have dry skin that is rather sensitive and I'm relatively young and have quite a hard time finding the right skin care regimen that doesn't cost an arm and a leg (because I do love the Mary Kay skin care. A lot).
When I walk down a skin care isle I am so lost and rather annoyed. I'm 21. I have no wrinkles (nor do I care about wrinkles). I also don't have acne. Those seem to be the two most common product lines out there and I'm sure they rake in a lot of money from them. I just wish that there was something other than Cetaphil (I've tried it and I really don't like it) for those of us who have dry, sensitive skin. Maybe I'm asking too much of my skin care products, but I don't think so.
The main thing I have a hard time finding is the right moisturizer. All I seem to be able to find is anti-wrinkle cream or moisturizer with sunscreen. Now, I would be all for the sunscreen stuff since skin cancer runs in my family, except it really bothers my skin. I hate it. This is where my main problem lies. I really, really, REALLY wish they would come out with some really good moisturizers that don't make my face feel sticky and that don't include sunscreen or old lady-type scents.
I picked up L'Oreal's Hydra-Renewal the other day at Long's (how I love that store), so we'll see how that works out. I really hope it does.

Anyway, I'm home in Gilroy and have been since last week. I'll be here till after New Years. I'm loving it. Not having anything to do is absolutely wonderful. Also, having a flatscreen and satellite TV helps... And, of course, having my cat. I love my cat. When I get out on my own and live somewhere where I'm allowed to have pets, I'm getting a kitten.

My senior recital is in a couple months, and later on in January I'll let you know my date. I don't think it'll change, but you never know.

And... that's about it. I'll probably update again later next week. If I have spare moment from hanging out with my family (including my adorable niece!).

One Word thinger

2008-09-20T12:03:00.002-06:00

1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
2. Your significant other? Nonexistent
3. Your hair? Brown
4. Your mother? Squishy!
5. Your father? Awesome
6. Your favorite thing? Music
7. Your dream last night? Realistic
8. Your favorite drink? Water!
9. Your dream/goal? Performing
10. The room you’re in? Bedroom
11. Your hobby? Drawing
12. Your fear? Fire
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Symphony
14. What you’re not? Tall
15. Muffins? Poppyseed
16. One of your wish list items? Music
17. Where you grew up? Gilroy
18. The last thing you did? Sat
19. What are you wearing? T-shirt
20. Favorite gadget? Zen
21. Your pets? Toby
22. Your computer? Dell
23. Your mood? Unenthusiastic
24. Missing someone? Kaitlin
25. Your car? Dodge
26. Something you’re not wearing? Socks
27. Favorite store? Anthropologie
28. Like someone? Nope
29. Your favorite color? All
30. When is the last time you laughed? Yesterday
31. Last time you cried? Dunno

So, I know I haven't updated this in forever and that's a really lame post, but school is just kicking my trash. Hopefully next week things will settle down and I'll be able to update this with a better entry. I've just been in and out of rehearsals and concerts and class and homework and yeah. Busy.

Life and Art

2008-08-22T13:04:00.002-06:00

I thought I was ready for the semester to start. I thought I was itching to get back in to the routine of school. I THOUGHT I was excited.

Then I had rehearsal last night and life came crashing back to reality.

I'm sooooo not ready. I haven't done laundry, I haven't bought books, I haven't done anything. The only consolation is that I lasted through rehearsal last night without my chops dying. At least I won't have to work that hard during the beginning of school to get my endurance back. That's a plus. But also not, because that means I'll probably be playing on the first student recital of the semester. Whoo?

I am excited to see my friend Katy tomorrow and see all the rest of my friends on Monday. But classes... that's a different story.

My new roommates are pretty cool. All three of them are theater majors, which promises to be entertaining. In the good way. They aren't the drama queen theater people. It seems that we all won the roommate lottery. About darn time, in my opinion. I have had waaaaaay too many bad roommates.

Unfortunately, most of the complex appears to be new and very immature freshman girls. Thank heaven none of them are in my apartment. It does mean the ward's gonna be interesting, but whatever. I can deal. Just as long as they don't live in my apartment. I don't know when I turned into a cranky upperclassman, but I have.

I am, however, enjoying the cooling temperatures. Well, the slightly cooler temperatures. I am eagerly awaiting fall. I hate summer. Some California girl I am...

And lastly, I colored something:

Art and an Update... Sorta

2008-08-14T14:51:00.004-06:00

So, I know I said I'd update this when I finished Breaking Dawn and my Geology class. Well, both are done and no update! Well, here are my reasons:

1. I have been a lazy, lazy person. I'm giving myself a couple days of total vacation.

2. I have to move on Saturday and have been deep cleaning and sorta kinda packing.

Now, I was sorta freaking out about moving. I always do. I don't know why, but I blow it out of proportion and freak out and give myself a breakdown. It's just how I roll, I guess. Anyway, I'm only moving from apartment 16 to 14, which is on the same floor. I really had no reason to freak out (see? it's totally irrational). I went and signed up for a check out time this morning and this is when I stopped freaking out. My manager (who is super nice) gave me the key to my new place and I can move my stuff in there tomorrow and then check out on Saturday. I was SO relieved. I don't like having to load my stuff and clean at the same time. Now I don't even have to pack, really. I'm just gonna bring armloads over to my new place. Now that is my idea of stress free moving. The only thing I'm sorta worried about is my desk (since it's ginormous), but I figure I can enlist one of new roommates or call a friend.

On the Breaking Dawn front, I won't give anything away, but I liked it. I was a little iffy at first, but the last third of the book totally made up for it.

I have grand plans for my new room. I purposely didn't get too unpacked and settled in this room, since I sorta had a feeling that I'd have to move (that and it always takes me forever to fully unpack). But, I think the apartment already has a TV, so I get my TV in my room. Which could be good or bad. That also means that I have to do some creative furniture arranging. Hopefully putting my bead on lifters will take care of storage issues and free up my closet for my shoes and stuff. For a organizationally challenged individual it's kinda funny how excited I am. I'm such a dweeb.

I've also been using this few days of vacationing to catch up on my drawing. I've been neglecting my sketch book during the semester. I just don't have the time. But this summer has been really good for getting back into the swing of it. Here's some sketches (I fail at coloring):

So, yeah. That's what I've been doing. Along with practicing, reed making and playing Oblivion for hours at a time.

Explanation

2008-08-07T17:19:00.002-06:00

Here are two reasons I haven't updated in a while:

1. My online Geology class
2. Breaking Dawn

I've finished reading Breaking Dawn but will finish my Geology class Saturday. I will probably update then.

Thoughts

2008-07-31T23:44:00.004-06:00

I had a really good talk with one of my friends who's a bassoon grad student at the U of U tonight. I've been feeling a little bit lost as far as grad school was concerned. I've always intended to go ever since I decided to major in music, but never really knew anything about it. None of my immediate family went to grad school and none of my other friends have or plan to. It was really good to talk to someone about. We're actually auditioning at two of the same schools, which is cool. But now I feel a TON more confident about the grad school idea. I'm still gonna work my butt off, but at least now I have a 100%, solid goal to aim for. Not that I was that wishy washy to begin with, but now I KNOW that grad school is where I need and want to go.

So, I guess I'll post my mostly final list of the grad schools I'm applying to, in no particular order:

University of Nevada, Las Vegas
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Michigan State University
University of Michigan

I know I don't have that huge of a chance at getting into University of Michigan, but it's one of my dreams to study with Nancy Ambrose King (me and the rest of the oboe world) and I know I'll regret it if I don't give it a try. I was considering applying to Arizona State, but I've decided not to. I wasn't getting a good gut feeling about it. And I think I've had enough of the desert for a while. I need some green things.

On a non-music related topic, I don't particularly like geology. I mean, it's an easy science course for a non-scientific person, but I don't really like it. I'm actually surprised at how much I remember from 2nd grade. Thank you, Mrs. Carroll! She was the best teacher I ever had.

I'm also really excited about the release of Breaking Dawn. I know Stephenie Meyer has a lot of haters and a lot of people think her books are only for 12 year old girls, but they really are great books. Yeah, they're a bit melodramatic in places, but who doesn't love a little melodrama? Plus, it's such a good love story.

And on the subject of love stories, if you haven't seen Penelope, you need to. It is SUCH a good movie. A great warm and fuzzy movie. Plus, James McAvoy is dang attractive (he was Mr. Tumnus in the first Narnia movie and was also in Becoming Jane). It's definitely on my list to add to my movie collection. I have a feeling I could watch it over and over again. Much like the 2005 Pride and Prejudice, which I just adore, too. I've come to the conclusion that I've become a sucker for romantic movies, which is amusing because you couldn't get me to sit through anything remotely romantic a few years ago. I guess I've softened up since I left for college.

Pointless ABC thing because I am procrastinating!

2008-07-29T12:59:00.003-06:00

A. Attached or single?
Single
B. Best friend?
Kaitlin
C. Cake or Pie?
Pie
D. Day of Choice?
Saturday
E. Essential Item?
Sunscreen. Or lotion.
F. Favorite Color?
I'm in favorite color limbo at the moment..
G. Gummy bears or worms?
Gummy worms all the way
H. Hometown?
Gilroy, CA
I. Favorite indulgence?
Watching stupid shows on MTV while eating ice cream (or French bread).
J. January or July?
January.
K. kids?
None at the moment.
L. Life isn't complete without?
Family and music
M. Marriage date?
Don't have one yet.
N. Number of brothers & sisters?
One sister, one brother-in-law.
O. oranges or apples?
Oranges AND apples
P. Phobias?
Fire and plane crashes.
Q. Quotes?
"Your mom goes to college!"
R. reasons to smile?
Music, books, friends, family.
S. season of choice?
Fall or winter.
T. tag 5 peeps!
Whoever wants to.
U. unknown fact about me?
Uhm...
V. vegetable?
Celery or fresh green beans
W. worst habits?
Leaving my shoes around, being messy, not doing the dishes.
X. X-ray or ultrasound?
I've had neither?
Y. your favorite food?
Asian food. Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai.
Z. Zodiac sign?
Aries.

Oh and Kaitlin, I'll e-mail you today! Yesterday I had a lot to do and forgot. I know, I know. I fail. xD

In other news, I'm still not used to thunderstorms. We had a fatty one last night and it sorta kinda creeped me out. Mostly because of the wind. So I called my mom. Yay for mommies.

I was practicing in the music building last night around 8:20 and went to get a drink of water and the silly campus police had turned off the lights and locked the building up. It made me wonder if they couldn't hear me. It's not like oboes are quiet and I wasn't practicing a quiet passage. I wonder if they believe the myth that the building's haunted. Silly people. Still, it was rather disconcerting to have the whole building pitch dark. I stayed for a little longer, though. I am not going to cut my practicing short just because some campus security guy wants to go home early (they're supposed to lock up at 9). Silly SUU.

A few weeks ago my roommate got all cranky with me about the air conditioner. She likes it at 72, I like at 80 (just so I don't have to pay for it). I finally gave in and told her that if she wanted the air conditioner on then she can pay for it. She didn't believe me that two degrees was going to make a difference. Then the bill came. $65 freakin' bucks. I told her last night that I wasn't going to pay for it (or at least, not the full half). She then insinuated that I sat on my butt all day while she was at work watching TV (which I don't. I DO have an online class and there's nothing on during the day, anyway) and THAT'S why our bill was so high. I laughed at her and informed her that the AC really DOES rack up the bill and the proof was right in front of her. She finally realized that I was right and got kinda cranky with me. But, y'know, she needs to know that running the AC all day is going to get expensive and welcome to living on your own. I get so frustrated. I really hope my roommates in the fall are upperclassmen. Or at least really mature underclassmen. Mature my roommate is not.

Anyway, now that that's off my chest, I am going to say how much I love popsicles. Tasty, tasty, tasty frozen sugar water! Yum.

Back

2008-07-26T22:02:00.003-06:00

So, I'm back in Cedar now. Yay? Anyway, I spent probably too much money at the conference (did I really need two more reed thread colors?), but it was awesome just the same. I'll probably post more later. Right now, I am tired and need to clean my mess of a room. I'll probably take pictures of my spoils, but I don't have any pictures of the conference itself. Mostly because I totally forgot I even HAD my camera with me. Jeez.

Oh, Baroque contrabassoons are freakin HUGE. Really. They're insane.

IDRS Conference

2008-07-25T01:16:00.002-06:00

Many of you might have noticed that I've been kinda sorta unavailable lately. Well, that's because I've been at the International Double Reed Society conference this week and will be until Saturday. This is kind of a Big Deal in the double reed world and I've just been wrapped up in it. I will most definitely be posting a more in-depth report on the whole conference, probably on Sunday or Monday. Suffice it to say that at this point I wish I had an unlimited budget to spend and I really want to live in a practice room and practice until my fingers cramp.

That and I got to see my oboe idol perform live and... yeah. I want to BE her.

Oh, jeez

2008-07-19T16:27:00.002-06:00

So, I just went to Ace Hardware for some honing solution for my sharpening stone (oh, the joys of playing the oboe). I'd bought some there a year ago or so and had lost it, so I was back to replace it. I think they changed the store layout. Either that, or I'm a loser. Anyway, I walked up to the services table and asked the old man there if he knew where honing solution was. He referred me to the sporting goods section. Off I went to the other side of the store and asked the guy at the counter. He said that he didn't think they had any, but said if there was any it would be over near the knives. And what do you know, there it was: One lonely bottle of honing solution on the very top row. Luckily I wore my heels as it seemed none of the five people behind the counter were going to help me.

But seriously, does no one train their employees anymore? The looks I got were priceless. Jeez. I guess it's a little weird for a girl in heels to ask for honing solution.

Also, next week I'm off to Provo for the International Double Reed Society conference at BYU. I'm really excited not only for that, but because I get to spend another week with my sister and my super-cute niece.

The Gap

2008-06-22T01:07:00.003-06:00

Today I got to go the the Parowan Gap (not the retail store), see some petroglyphs and learn about Indians. It was actually pretty cool. The Gap is a natural gap in a mountain range that acts as a calendar. Today was the summer solstice and the sun sets directly in the middle of the Gap. It was pretty cool to watch. I wish I'd thought to bring my camera, but like a loser I forgot it.

Here's the link to the site that explains it better than I can:

http://www.parowangap.org/

I didn't even know this existed. I guess Southern Utah isn't just a bunch of red rock and sage brush. ;)

And that was my Saturday!

Ah, summer...

2008-06-13T00:17:00.003-06:00

After weeks and weeks and weeks of job hunting I finally have an interview. Just one. At the Cedar Breaks Lodge & Spa. I am going so very stir crazy that this job had better work out. I don't know what I'll do if I don't get it.

In other news, my roommate is driving me mildly insane. To say that we are opposites is an understatement. She listens to country, is loud, has no experience living with more than one roommate and is rather rude. Thankfully she works a lot and has a boyfriend so I don't have to deal with her. I'm just glad that she's only here for the summer and I don't have to live with her for another two semesters.

Other than that, there's not much else to say. I lead a pretty boring life.

Snow?

2008-06-05T00:58:00.003-06:00

Why, yes. Snow. In June. I kid you not. I even have photographic evidence.

Even though it looks a little photoshopped, it's not.

In fact, it's still snowing. Truly strange. My poor French roommates are very bewildered and a little worried, as they didn't bring parkas or anything. It'll probably be gone by tomorrow, but still. Snow in June. It just makes me wonder about the whole global warming thing... where's the warmth, eh?

Apartment!

2008-05-30T15:01:00.006-06:00

So, in keeping with my resolution to post more, I've decided to take pictures of my apartment. It's mainly for my sister's curiosity. But before we get to the pictures, I am going to take this time to complain about the lack of employment in this city. I have applied at various and sundry places and have heard nothing from any of them. Good grief. I'm about ready to sell my soul to the telemarketing place, Convergys, if I don't get anything better. Bah.

Anyway! On to the photos!

This is my kitchen, dirty dishes and flip flops abound!

And this is my sad excuse for a living room. We're too ghetto for a TV stand. It's how we roll.

And, mostly for my sister, my bathroom. The shower curtain looks awesome, ese.

Also, I got two French roommates two days ago. They're only here for six weeks, however. I have no idea if I like them or not because they're never here. They're pretty nice, though. I have a hard time with their accents, though. They're very thick.

Desk!

2008-05-24T19:23:00.006-06:00

So, I moved into my new apartment a couple weeks ago. It came furnished ecxept for a desk. I'm going to be living here for the rest of my college life, so I figured I needed a desk. Unfortunately Cedar City is so podunk, all it has is a Wal*Mart and... well, I hate that place and their desks suck. My wonderful sister suggested that I go up to Ikea with her and get one there. So, up we went shoving the two of us plus one very cute baby and her carseat in my rather small truck. That was fun.

Anyway, I wandered around furniture mecca for a while, found the desk I wanted and after even more wandering went to get it. Unfortunately it was out of stock, but I ended up getting an even awesomer one than I was originally thinking of. And this is it:

This is mid way through putting all my stuff on it.

This is after I put all my stuff in it. Notice the awesome white board on the right.

My awesome new chair, also purchased at Ikea. Love that place.

And a gratuitous picture of my cat. I miss that furball.

That's all for today, but now that it's summer I think I'll be posting a lot more. That and I have a shiny digital camera to make up for the fact that I suck and the writing part of blogs. I will be posting pictures of my apartment once I get it all clean and get all the cardboard boxes in my truck.

Name thinger stolen from my sister

2008-04-25T08:16:00.003-06:00

Because I'm bored and never post in here and it look fun.

My rock star name (first pet and current car):
Toby Dakota

My gangsta name (favorite candy bar and favorite cookie):
Pay Day Chocolate Chip

My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal):
Teal Cat

My Star Wars name (first three letters of last name and first two letters of first name then the word "of" then a medication you are on):
Leata of Advil (I'm not on any meds....)

My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front):
The Green Dr. Pepper

My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers):
Cyril Lewis

My "lover" name (name of your favorite perfume/cologne and your favorite candy):
Desire Truffles

Witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names):
Gene Albert

And I don't have kids, so the rest doesn't apply.

Anyway, it's finals next week and I'm moving, so I'll do a life update (with pictures!) when I get all settled.

I has been tagged

2007-12-14T11:18:00.000-07:00

Five things I was doing ten years ago...
1.) Being an annoying ten year old
2.) talking in silly voices with my friends
3.) being a fourth grader
4.) getting picked on
5.) running amok

Five things on my to-do list today...
1.) Finish packing
2.) finish my scarf
3.) go to St George
4.) Clean the living room
5.) call people

Five snacks I enjoy...
1.) Apples and peanut butter
2.) Chips and salsa
3.) Cheese and crackers
4.) Mixed nuts
5.) celery

Five things I would do if I were a billionaire...
1.) Buy an English Horn
2.) Buy a Maserati
3.) Give college music students scholarships
4.) Have my own music room with soundproof walls and a sweet stereo
5.) Generally be a rich person with nice stuff

Three of my bad habits...
1.) Procrastinating
2.) Leaving my shoes around (are we related or what, Kristin?)
3.) Leaving other stuff around

Five places I have lived...
1.) Campbell, CA
2.) Gilroy, CA
3.) Cedar City, UT
4.) St George, UT
5.) Oh, noes! I haven't lived five places!

Five jobs I've had...
1.) Cashier at Carl's JR
2.) Pit musician
3.) Pool cashier
4.) Stage manager
5.) Member of the Orchestra of Southern Utah

Five things people probably don't know about me...
1.) I used to be a grungy delinquent and never brushed my hair, or plucked my eyebrows
2.) I actually didn't want to be in band in grade school, or play an instrument. I wanted to sing.
3.) I hate roller coasters. Hate them with a passion
4.) I can't handle planetariums; I get vertigo.
5.) I like kimchee

Also, I had my last final this morning and I am now a free woman! Whooo!

And Kristin, I totally knew you'd get hooked on Twilight! Hah! If I get the second book for Christmas, I shall let you borrow it.

Hello, November!

2007-11-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

And hello 70 degree weather. Seriously, Cedar City has got to have to weirdest weather in the history of ever. It was 73 today. And here I was all excited for sweater weather and I put all my t-shirts away. Dumb. So dumb. It honestly feels like Spring, but for the dead trees instead of budding ones. I want cold weather! It's November, for heaven's sake.

Anyway, I have recently been without internet for a week and half, but am now connected again! Huzzah! I'd like to blame my special internet connection for lack of posts, but we all know that would be a lie. Still, it's always nice to have something to blame it on other than my own laziness.

School is still busy and hectic and all that. My recital is now planned for the 8th of December at 3, if anyone cares. I'm rather relieved that we moved it back. I was not ready. Granted, I still feel as if I need about 20 more years to be totally ready, but I don't think that feeling will ever go away.

Even with life being hectic, I still find time to read. Basically I take advantage of my night owl nature and stay up reading. I figure I stay up late anyway, might as well read rather than rot my brains out watching crap on TV. Currently I'm reading the Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix. They're quite good, very original. I'm on the third one and I'm still happy. I also took a chance and got two books I've not read by authors I don't know, so we'll see how they pan out. I just wish that the library gave 3 weeks instead of 2. It's too short.

In other news, I got a 97% on my oral Spanish exam. Which surprised me, because I didn't study and I missed more class than normal (not that much, but still). I merely forgot to use articles twice. I said "Me gustan peliculas y musica, pero prefiero musica" rather than "Me gustan las peliculas y la musica, pero prefiero la musica." It just sounds funny when you're thinking it in English: I like the movies and the music, but I prefer the music. Silly Spanish. Though I must say that I am very pleased with this class so far. I think I have an A-. Which is just fine with me.

Busy, busy, busy is the month of October

2007-10-14T00:10:00.000-06:00

Well, things are getting busier as the semester progresses and consequently I have less time to post. Seriously, I have basically no free time. I wish I did, but I don't. For some reason, almost all of my professors decided to have tests this coming week. I have 3 tests and one midterm. I think I might go crazy. I know I'll try to answer a History question with a Spanish vocabulary word, or mix up my musical terms with the Binary form of music. I guess this is what I get for wanting a higher education. I will weep with relief when I graduate.

Also adding to my lack of posting is that my junior recital is coming up in November. My preview for said recital is on the 25th of this much. Previews are what decide if your recital will really happen or not. Very nerve wracking. Basically, you get up in front of all the professors and play your recital and they decide if you pass or not. I'm very nervous and so I've been practicing every spare moment. I am determined to pass my preview.

This post is slowly evolving into a rather whiny one, so let me say something positive. I am still on a Diana Wynne Jones kick, but this time I am reading the Chrestomanci books. I swear, this woman is amazing. I've not read a book of hers I didn't like. If you've never read anything by her, go to you library and get something. I recommend Howl's Moving Castle. They're fantasy, but not your typical sword and sorcery novels and they won't make you feel like a dork for reading them.

Also, sugar free chocolate creme pie is nasty.

Oh, and I'll probably upload one or two pieces from my recital (like, mid-November), so that those of you who care can hear my mad oboe playing skillz.

Various and Sundry Items of Nonsense

2007-09-17T20:47:00.000-06:00

Take the Quiz here!

Heh.

In other news, I got a 100% on my Spanish test, even though I thought I got the "to be" junk messed up. Guess not!

I am rereading Howl's Moving Castle in my rare free time. I forgot how much I love Diana Wynne Jones. Such a good book. I need to expand my collection of Diana Wynne Jones books. I think she's one of the few authors that I'd by a book from, even if I've never read it.

I love random exercise videos found at Wal Mart for cheap. Entertaining and fat burning! Score!

Fist Day of Classes

2007-08-27T15:16:00.000-06:00

Well, I have survived my first day of classes and I'm rather glad to be done. My eight a.m. history class is going to be very interesting. My professor is all about the "group." The final exam is going to be 100 questions and every one is class answers one question and everyone gets the same grade on it. Also, if he catches one person cheating the whole class fails. Uh, socialized education, anyone? We'll see how this goes...

My Spanish professor, on the other hand, seems like she's going to be a lot of fun. She's the hyper Spaniard who is very funny in her insistence that no, she is not Mexican. I guess I get to learn "clean" Spanish. Only drawback: homework everyday.

My Form and Analysis professor seems ok. He has a Russian accent and for whatever reason, I was so bored today. Hopefully this class will become more interesting as the semester progresses. I'm really excited about this class, so I hope his lectures get a little more exciting.

The weather today was a little on the crazy side. The forecast said thunderstorms, but in Cedar, you never can tell. I packed an umbrella just in case, but still spent a half hour straightening my hair. Yeah, not so good. I walked out of my first class and it was pouring. Good that I brought and umbrella, bad that I did my hair. The forecast is the same tomorrow, so I am going to let my hair be curly. Though with my luck, it'll be dry as dry can be. Silly weather.

I am quite possibly the worst blogger. Ever.

2007-08-25T19:20:00.001-06:00

It's true. Sad, but true.

Anyhoodles, I am all moved in at my apartment in Cedar City. I have a private room this year, which makes me very happy. It's rather large, but I'm not complaining. My roommates seem good, one is a little freshman-esque, but I hope that's just first day back insanity. Well, whether it is or not doesn't really matter as I don't have to share a room with her.

I'm glad to finally be in an upstairs apartment. Being in the basement gets rather annoying after the fourth semester of people pounding on your ceiling all day.

I'll update more this semester, I hope. It seems like it'll be a good one, despite the fact that I think my best college friend/roommate will probably get married. Oh well, I'm just doomed to be the one that is still single, semester after semester. I shall make up for it by marrying a filthy rich, ridiculously good looking man after I graduate. Hah.

I was tagged!

2007-06-30T20:26:00.000-06:00

Jobs I've held:

1. Cashier at Carl's JR
2. Pit Musician at Tuacahn Center for the Arts
3. Pool Cashier for the City of Gilroy

Movies I Can Watch Over & Over:

1. Always
2. Nacho Libre
3. Pride and Prejudice (2005)
4. The Pirates movies

Places I Have Lived:

1. Campbell, CA
2. Gilroy, CA
3. Cedar City, UT

Shows I Enjoy

1. The Office
2. Scrubs
3. What Not To Wear
4. The Simpsons

Places I have Been on Vacation:

1. Utah
2. Sacramento, CA
3. Florida
4. Probably more, but I can't recall them at the moment

Favorite Foods:

1. Sushi
2. Japanese Food
3. Steak
4. Fresh fruit
5. Deep fried bread (scones)
6. Fish

Websites I visit (daily)

1. Favorite blogs
2. gaiaonline.com
3. gmail.com
4. yahoo music
5. tv-links.co.uk
6. gofugyourself.typepad.com

Places I'd Rather Be right now

1. The beach
2. In Utah with my friends (it's boring here)

Now I get to pick 4 other blog buddies to do this!

I don't know four people! Oh noes!

Knitting Diet!

2007-06-01T13:48:00.000-06:00

I am still languishing in unemployment, but I do have something to take my mind off of it: I am knitting a sweater. A very cute, non-boxy, green sweater. I started it last night and am already half way done with the yoke. So excited!

I do realize that knitting is probably going to seal my fate as a spinster, but it's just so fun. Also, if I knit while I watch TV, then I don't snack. I call it the knitting diet. Knit away bad snacking habits! Loose weight while watching television! It's foolproof, I tell you.

But seriously, it's going to be the cutest sweater ever.

Long time, no post

2007-05-24T13:08:00.000-06:00

I'm really rather horrible at this updating thing. I should really work on that.

Anyway, I am home in good ol' Gilroy and am trying to find employment. It's kind of driving me nuts. I applied at a whole bunch of places, but have only had three interviews so far. I just got back from an interview at BCBG Max Azria outlet, and I think I might have gotten it. The manager seemed to like me and told me she'd call me. More waiting! Also, this afternoon I have an interview with the city/parks and rec. I'm totally sure what the job is, but it has something to do with day camps/parks.

Hopefully I'll be employed soon.

Good times

2007-04-23T00:21:00.000-06:00

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Just a fun little thing I found. It's pretty accurate (not to mention a superb mode of procrastination).

For you, ese

2007-04-21T11:57:00.000-06:00

This is blog number two for me and all for my sister.

So, I suppose I could put something interesting in here, but at the moment there isn't anything. I'm drawing a blank.

Ah! This should be amusing: I am writing a paper on Titan A.E. and how they portray scientists. I am not picking the funny little crazy scientist, I am going to use the kids father and how scientists are either portrayed as crazy or as gods.