Continual State of Becoming

So I'm no stranger to YouTube. Recently I've been watching everything from clips of the Emmys (Check out John Stewart and Steven Colbert) to card tricks (which I'm happy to say, Matt and I figured out after a few viewings). So naturally one day I did a little browsing to check out some piano videos. The results definitely had an impact on me. On the first search all I typed in was "piano" which ended up with a lot of piano renditions of video game themes. Some of them pretty interesting. But not really what I was looking for. So I decided to limit my search a little more and typed in "clair de lune" which is a piece I played in college, but never really mastered. These results interested me for 2 reasons. 1- There was one guy who played amazingly well, although the video camera was positioned in such a way that you couldnt see his face or hands at all. 2- There were lots of videos of people in the "still learning" phase. Which really s...

So I listened to Pablo Honey earlier today. I never knew that Creep was edited for the radio. the original lyrics fit the tone of the song way better. Stupid FCC (they're the ones in charge of that kind of stuff right?--- well if not, Stupid Censor-Organization). Other stupid censoring things: The Green Day song... American Idiot. The radio cuts out a word. They dont bleep it, they cut it out... totally throws the counting off, which drives me crazy. Bleeping in general. Especially anytime they bleep out the middle letters of a swear word... hmm... wonder what f**k means? maybe fqxk? Seriously, are the "u" and "c" that offensive? And if so, then should we bleep them out all the time? How ridi**lo*s is that? Changing phrases when a movie is on TV. "that stupid dumb head" in an awkward high pitched voice just doesnt flow as seemlessly as I think the censors think it does. Though my husband likes to watch movies he knows really well on TV to s...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060825/ts_nm/economy_height_dc Maybe I should get my back straightened... it might add a few points to my IQ.

I've been tagged by Tom . Orignally this started out as a Book Meme, but since I dont read a whole lot I had a tough time answering these questions. So I decided that since music has had such a big effect on my life, I'd change it up a little... and who's going to stop me? So here's the Book Meme with a twist. 1. One album that changed your life: hmm... just one... that's hard... Well one song in particular that changed me was Bob Dylan's The Hurricane. This was my "gateway" song into Bob Dylan. The anger, energy, and conviction in the song opened my eyes to the amount of power a good songwriter should have. It doesnt even matter that Dylan's voice is barely tolerable, I couldnt stop listening to this song. Now I'm a full fledged Dylan junkie. (maybe not as much as other people, but more than I ever thought I'd be). But this has shown me that good music is about more than fast notes, difficult passages, and how pretty it is. 2. On...

"Sounds like two skeletons copulating on a tin roof" — Sir Thomas Beecham, famous British conductor, when asked about his opinion of the harpsichord. It totally does. I hate harpsicords.

Have you ever noticed the gutters and drains when you are going through the drive thru of a fast food place? They always have liquid pouring out of them... even if it hasnt rained in days. I have always imagined that this liquid is actually leftover french fry frying oil that they dump down the drain. I imagine that this oil also contains old, gross scraps of food. The thought totally grosses me out. I also think that it smells bad so I usually dont breathe through my nose when I place my order.

I'm in the mood to watch Xanadu . That movie is awesome! But not as awesome as saying the word Xanadu when you are around me and my sisters. Whenever someone says Xanadu (which you wouldn't think happened too often, but I think people catch on to this reaction, so they find a way to bring it up) we immediately break into the main song of the movie. Xandadu, Xanadu-u-u, now we are here, in Xanadu... Xanadu your neon lights will shine... for you Xanadu Olivia Newton John rocks I love watching musicals with my sisters

Lately Thursdays have turned into my busy days. Today, for instance, I left my house at 8:15am and got home at 9:45 pm. I realize that a lot of people have days like that. And it really doesn't bother me normally... but today was one of those days when the little things started to get to me. My two big tasks for the day were: get the pianos at church tuned and give 2 presentations in my class. Somehow that took well over 12 hours. But even that didnt really bother me. I worked on my presentations at church while waiting for the pianos to be tuned. I also managed to clean up a little of the paper mess that seems to accumulate with all the music material. My first presentation for my class went well (I presented a website called Classical Music Library which offers free access to LOTS of classical recordings... unfortunatley it's a subscription database, so I can only access it through UMD's catalog and as soon as I'm no longer a student, I'll have no access)....

The following entry made me think about photography in a different way. http://dc.metblogs.com/archives/2006/08/some_things_loo.phtml#more

Aesthetics is a word I love to use and see used.

Hmm... what to write about... hmm... Well I guess I could write something interesting about school. I started my new class a few weeks ago. It's okay (I say that with VERY little enthusiasm). Still not as interesting as I would hope, but it's a step I need to take in order to get my degree. So I do it. Last week we had a pop quiz on Singularity and two different Information Theories (don't even ask what those to have to do with each other... the randomness of this class is one thing I haven't learned to cope with yet). Anyway, seeing as how my teacher loves to talk about every little detail he can about every single topic we discuss (the entire history, who was involved, what their parents did for a living, etc) I wrote A LOT, 4 pages of essays. And it all paid off because I got an A+!!! Wahoo! I didn't even know they gave A+s in grad school (I was shocked to find that they gave them in regular college). So I guess I'm off to a good start. I have to s...

A few things I've learned in the 7-8 weeks I've been in library school: I'm no longer afraid to drive on the Beltway. Before I avoided it at all possibly costs. Now I don't mind it too much (so long as it's not rush hour, and it's not raining) I consider information more carefully. Where did it come from? What is a person's intention/motivation for giving it to you? Are you getting the whole story? The history of the computer Things left to learn: How a library works, especially cataloging since everyone talks about it nonstop Apparently everything else the world has to offer Not to feel claustrophobic while spending time in a library

Here are 2 other videos (matt found both of these): http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/mario.php http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/mariosuperguy

I want to try this myself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw-eEWtPm8Y&search=mento

So I think I've finally figured out why I like punk rock music so much. A lot of people dont understand how I can like it, especially considering the fact that I'm a classical music (or at least a classically trained musician). And it's very true that I love classical music. But it's also very true that I can't just listen to it anymore. I can't put it on in the background while doing other things because i've been trained to analyze and think about what makes it tick, how it's being expressed, what could be better, etc. etc. etc. Which can make it very difficult to just enjoy it. I used to listen to opera a lot, especially when writing papers. I'd just put it on in the background and type away. Unfortunately I only owned a very few opera CDs and it wasn't long before I could sing along with every note (nevermind the fact that I couldn't speak the language I was singing in, as long as you get the right vowel that's really all tha...

At the moment I am sitting on a bench right outside my IT class. Tonight I am taking my final for the class. I can't believe how quickly it went by! One down, 9 or 10 to go. I usually get here about an hour and a half early and catch up on emails or other computer related things (since I can't very well bring housework with me), and usually things are pretty quiet. But today there is an Insect Science Camp going on about 2 doors down from my classroom, so there are tons of kids screaming and running down the hall (I'm not sure what screaming and running has to do with bugs, but I know it has a lot to do with kids.) And since I had a crazy amount of caffiene yesterday I managed to some how take care of all my usually Monday emails yesterday afternoon. So I guess that makes this a good time to blog. ********** I still have yet to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Matt and I actually drove down to Sterling on Saturday morning to try and see it, but as soon a...

Today I hung out with my friend Bianca. While we were at Reston Town Center, we stopped off at Starbucks for some ice tea and sat outside to enjoy the nice weather. While we were sitting and talking, this guy came by with a remote controlled toy car. And on the back of the car was a parrot... a real one... wearing a Starbucks apron. As he approached the store, the parrot hopped onto his hand and then the guy let it go on a tree branch near the Starbucks door. Then the guy left. As soon as he was out of sight, the parrot took off the apron and dropped it to the ground. A little while later, another guy came by and picked up the apron. The parrot stayed in the tree the whole time Bianca and I were there. Most people walked by without even noticing it, but a few stopped and pointed. As Bianca and I left, we walked by the parrot to get a close up look and it said "hello" to us. Being the polite people we are, we said "hello" back and then a few seconds later ...

Okay so I've been pretty busy. A lot of that has to do equally with school and church. Between the two responsibilities I've been running around like crazy lately. But I have to admit that I much rather have this kind of life over the sit-around-and-wait-for-piano-students kind of life I've been living for the past 2 years. Something about it gives me a greater sense of purpose and motivation. I actually feel like I'm doing something again. It's great! We'll just see how long I can keep it up before I burn out. :)

Eve

Things that have happened since my last post: 1- Celebrated my 2 year wedding anniversary. I can't believe it's been 2 years. Some days it seems like it's been so much longer, some days it seems like it was just yesterday. In any case, I look forward to many many more anniversaries. 2- Saw Collective Soul live at the Fairfax Fair. They are a good "have fun and feel good" kinda band. Their live show was pretty good. Though I was kinda bummed that they used pre-recorded tracks along with their live instruments. Boo to that. There was a woman next to matt and I who felt compelled to dance through the entire show. Only she didnt really dance dance. It was more like a work out dance. She would do these punching motions, and stretching motions, oh and I think she did the funky chicken in there somewhere too. I told matt that it looked like she owned "Sweatin to Collective Soul." Also, I always feel better about myself when I go see a professiona...