Courtesy o' my pal/brother from another mother Brian (the one that married my best friend, not the one I date). And really, courtesy of a Mister Ludwig van Beethoven:
Courtesy o' my pal/brother from another mother Brian (the one that married my best friend, not the one I date). And really, courtesy of a Mister Ludwig van Beethoven:
If I have a writing assignment in Spanish, I like to put it into Babel Fish just to check to make sure the gist of it is clear (I know online translators are a bit ridiculous, but it's better than nothing). Here's what happened to one of my sentences because of one wrong letter:
"Nevertheless, my passion and my love always the music composition was AIDS, something I have made all my life."
...Híjole.
]]>I am Joie's Raging Inability to Sleep. (And Joie, apparently, is still reading or at least thinking about reading Fight Club.)
For the past several weeks, I've been mostly unable to go back to sleep if I'm woken up after about 8 in the morning. (Okay, I realize lots of people need to be up before that time--I do, too, some days--but I'm a college student, and damn it all, I reserve my right to sleep until 3 in the afternoon whenever I feel like it.) It's... exceptionally annoying. But as soon as I wake up inadvertently or am woken up by someone/thing, my head starts going, making a list of what needs to be done, and any hope of remaining blissfully asleep is gone.
Apparently in the days leading up to my recital, this time has been pushed back to 5 in the freaking morning. No less, on a Sunday. I give you the big DOUBLE-YOU TEE EFF, brain. Brian (...a surprising juxtaposition of two words only a letter swap apart [holy shit I know how to use "juxtaposition" at 5 in the morning?!]) called me after returning home from his very late gig, and as soon as I got off the phone my brain started thinking, "You're really not comfortable enough with that Beethoven sonata yet. You should practice."
Ok, Brain, I thought back, we'll practice today. A lot.
"We should probably go through it, I dunno, a lot of times in a row," nagged Brain.
Yes, I agree. We'll get right on that today and do it every day until my recital, Brain. I proceeded to go back to sleep.
"...Joie?" pestered Brain. "I think Brian called you before this last time and you said something really stupid out of sleepiness. I can't remember what it was. What was it?"
~ a call to Brian to confirm I in fact, did not answer the first time he called and did not say anything stupid related to the dream I was having about Coda, Heather's new baby bunny ~
There, Brain. Nothing said. No bunnies mentioned. Good-night.
"You have to wear a dress and heels today."
Irrelevant information, Brain. Good-night.
"...You still have to name those three movements of the flute and marimba piece, you know. I wonder if anyone's at the practice rooms now?"
...Okay, I'm up.
This is the part where I assure you I'm not insane. But I think it was Nick who noted his affinity for my I-woke-up-ridiculously-early-and-can't-go-back-to-sleep-posts, and this one goes out to him.
Off I go to the music building. At 5:25. In the morning. On a Sunday.
Edited to Add: Ah, and if you didn't figure it out, I passed my piano jury. Much drama was involved, including my almost failing it after the first piece I played--a Bach prelude and fugue, bless the man--but after agreeing to drop that piece and recovering pretty well considering how upset I was, they passed me! I'm glad to be rid of it, honestly.
Edit #2: The only thing more annoying than waking up at 5 in the morning with an urge to practice is going to the music building at 5:30 in the morning and discovering one's security card apparently won't let you in that early. And that Captain McResponsible on the University Police has decided that maybe he'll go ahead and do his job this time and lock every door in the building. A grrr on everyone!!!
Don't you dare act up on me in the next two weeks. I realize, Body, that you have been especially gracious (especially after this past summer's bout with mono) in remaining well while every other person I knew, even the normally healthy boyfriend, fell victim to some bug or another during the winter months. I realize how exceptionally kind it was of you to give me this winter off--you refused to succumb to any 72-, 48-, or even 24-hour cold. But Body, you must understand that the next two weeks are going to be some of the most important in my life thus far. You need to know that whatever you want to throw at me after April 17th, I will accept, but before then, I cannot deal with any form of illness. I'm telling you this in the hopes that you will speak to Tonsils, who are beginning to do that funny but disgusting thing they did when I had mono. I realize how unlikely it is to get mono twice--although the recent pain in my abdomen isn't doing much to quell my fears--but if you could just have a word with Tonsils. Warn them gently at first, but if they continue to act up, please assure them that I will not hesitate to find a doctor to tear those bad boys out (I hear the rule is having tonsillitis five times in a year = tonsillectomy; I've had it only three times, but I can swing something). If they don't believe you, advise that they speak with Retinal Tears. Those bitches never saw it coming.
Sincerely,
Joie, the more abstract counterpart to your physical existence
i has one teh prezidunt's award four exelens in teh wryting!
But on a less lolcat note. My paper, Embracing Psychedelicism Before The Grateful Dead Made It Cool: Orchestration in Hector's Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique won one of the two awards for Writing in the Disciplines. I FEEL IMMENSELY SPECIAL. Winning this award means praise, esteem, a continuation of the winning streak, ego-boostage...
...and money!!! :-D eeeeee
I'm such an academic whore.
Surviving this semester will be nothing short of a miracle.
]]>(Can you call it "blogging" if you mostly just keep making brief, pointless posts?)
I always find it hilarious to get a paper back from a professor and find a food stain on said paper. It's like... "Hey, my professor eats. And he/she ate while grading my paper. And got food on my paper." I'm not sure if it's an insult or a compliment, but it's funny either way.
Piano Jury: Done. (An "A" from each juror, btw. Woot-to-tha-woot.)
3-4 Page Paper on Orchestration in Symphonie Fantastique: Done. (And erm, ended up at 6 pages.)
Spanish Final: Done.
Short Annotated Bibliography of 11 Orchestration Textbooks: Done.
Does this mean... can it be true?...
I'm done with finals?!
Upon turning in these papers and working my last obscenely late shift at the library tomorrow (at least tomorrow we close at midnight rather than 2), I'll have absolutely nothing to stress about for a solid three weeks.
Madness, I tell you, madness!
It's that busy point in the semester. Fortunately, I feel like things have been going well school-wise. Yesterday I had my best piano lesson of the semester (quite possibly ever?) in which I actually had fun. Normally I'm much too terrified and craptacular to enjoy myself. But somehow practicing my ass off last week + taking the weekend off practicing turned into Madd Piano Skillz. I managed to get my most difficult piece up to performance tempo--and by "performance tempo" I mean what will be my performance tempo. The written tempo (and from the sound of it, the tempo in this recording) is quarter note = 160-172. I shall be playing it somewhere between quarter note = 120 and 138. (Partially because my Skillz aren't that Madd, but also because it does lose something at such a quick pace.) Go ahead; have your 3 minutes of modern music for the week:
Other good news is that I found out I was chosen as Senior Elite for the music department! Nerd that I am, I squealed quite a bit. I'll be sharing the award for Senior Elite in BM Performance with someone else (since, uh, I'm not performance), BUT I DON'T CARE. I WIN THINGS. YAY. Also, my name goes on a plaque. WHICH THE WORLD SHALL HAVE TO LOOK AT FOR CENTURIES TO COME. (Which is why, at least in conversation with Brian, I have dubbed this honor my "Eternal Glory.")
Even better news regarding Senior Elite is that the ceremony is next Wednesday evening... and Brian just happens to be flying in that morning for a week-long stay. After he watches me receive my ETERNAL GLORY Wednesday evening, we'll be celebrating the big Dos Años Friday. And the Alabama Symphony just happens to be opening their new concert series for our school that night, so woot-to-the-woot.
The only thing that could make this week better is having an excellent composition lesson tomorrow; the past four (how sad is it that I've been counting?) have been great. Let's hope I get some more good work done tonight.
And that's what's new in the Life of Joie. ...Just thought I'd share.
Edit: Graghla... the audio isn't working for me, not sure if everyone else is having that problem. I bought it off iTunes... does that prevent things from being uploadable? =(