Continual State of Becoming

So in addition to changing my blog's layouts, I have a few other things that are going to be changing soon. The biggest change is that I got a new job! I'm going to be working as a student aide at the National Gallery of Art 's library. I applied for the job a little while ago, and didn't really hear anything right away. I actually applied for all 3 positions they advertised. But then one day I got a call for an interview and they said that they were "very anxious" to meet me as soon as possible, which I took as a good sign. My interview went really well, and I left with pretty high hopes (though I tried not to get them too high), and a short while later I got a call with the offer. I'm SO excited. And here's why: -first of all, my schedule is fairly flexible, I can work 20 hours a week (or less depending on my class schedule) during school, and full time during breaks (and it's paid... which is far better than the intern option I was considering i...

Okay, this is why You Tube is awesome. I found this clip of The Raconteurs performing Bang Bang. It's definitely worth checking out though it doesn't compare to seeing it live. But just thought I'd throw it on here in case anyone is interested. This is pretty similar to how they performed it when they opened for Dylan. The one difference I remember is that Jack White's guitar strap came undone about 3/4 of the way into the song so he just held the guitar up by the neck with one hand and strummed where ever with the other one. Appropriate for the song I thought. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhGnuHuD5Fc&mode=related&search=

Wahoo new layout. It was time for a change

These past few days (over Thanksgiving) have kept me busy... in a good way, so I haven't minded much. But I have definitely enjoyed taking it easy this afternoon, despite the fact that I should be working on my final assignments (not to mention studying for finals). I know, I haven't been posting much lately, but in all honesty I'm starting to hate computers. Well, not really hate computers, I'm just tired of them. Most of my work at school requires electronic research and e-journal readings, which means I spend A LOT of time on the computer. And in all honesty, lately I just haven't wanted to spend any more time than was absolutely necessary on the computer. Between email and search engines, I can't take anymore. So that's my excuse for not posting. But there are a few things I've wanted to mention, so I'm gonna go over some of them now. For a while, there just wasn't much music that I was really interested in listening to. But fortunatel...

Okay, in general I don't expect that people will be as excited about this as I am, but I found the coolest thing ever. George Mason just released an extension (I think that's what you call them) for the new Firefox browser called Zotero. I found out about it through the listserv at school and downloaded it immediately. Basically it's a way of managing resources... kind of like an online works cited thing. Anyway, I totally love it because one of my classes consists of pretty much nothing but citing resources and this allows me to keep track of what websites I visited, what my search strategies (and results) were, when I visited, and the citation information. So if you've been struggling to keep track of sources for papers or projects, or you're looking for something a little more sophisticated than bookmarks, I'd definitely recommend checking out Zotero (did I mention it was free?) www.zotero.org

1st Moment: Yesterday I was teaching a Beethoven tune to one of my piano students. Even though the lesson books I use have mostly original music (written by the publishers for pedagogical purposes) occasionally they will stick in classical themes that have been arranged to a level more appropriate for younger piano students. So to show which pieces weren't written by the publishers they will put the original composer's name under the title, along with the composer's birth and death years, country or nationality, and the word "arranged." So last night I was working on this piece with my youngest student (who also, by the way, is my hardest working student) and when he found out that Beethoven wrote this song he got really excited (which is true of nearly all my students... they all love Beethoven). And when he saw the dates underneath he asked "oh is that Beethoven's phone number?" and then I told him "no, those are the years he was alive....

Here's why i love Saturns. I mean, I realize they arent high performance or high luxury, but I really dont need that in a car. What I do need is something to get me from point A to point B with as few problems as possible (along with a few basic luxuries like heat and AC, and a CD player). And with all the experiences I've had with the cars, I've been pretty satisfied with the reliability and low maintenance. In fact my very first car didnt even need to be washed because it has some sort of special coating on it, so that when it rained the dirt would run of with the rain water. I got so used to that, that I havent quite adjusted to my non-special coating saturn (which means I dont wash it as often as I probably should). At some point in time everyone in my family has owned a Saturn, both my parents, 2 of my sisters (the 3rd one is only 12), my brother, me, and even my husband. At one point my dad lined up all our Saturns in the driveway and took a picture with all of us sta...

this is fun... go to this site and wiggle your mouse around a little. Jackson Pollack

Yay, midterms are over!! Yay, October is over!! I can finally go back to normal Jessica, as opposed to psycho-studying Jessica. I've had a crazy amount of work due in the past couple weeks at school, but now things are going to a more manageable pace (at least I dont have another day in which I have a major project/assignment/test/presentation due for each class... well not until finals anyway). I've been pretty much neglecting all other aspects of my life the past few weeks as I scrambled to get my school work done. So now that I'm over the hump, I can finally turn my attention back to other things... like doing laundry (apparently it doesnt do itself, no matter how long you let it sit on the floor), getting my dog groomed, vaccuuming, running errands, going to my yoga class (which I had to skip last week), talking to people, paying attention to my dog, posting an occasional blog... and so on. I still have to do school work this week, but that's fine, at least it w...