Tuesday, January 25, 2005

MIDYEARS
They're fun. The loose schedule, the breaks, the socializing.

Except the part with all the stress.

Today's midyears:

1) Spanish: I set my bag down in a huge pile of water from the heater. Ew.

2) Band: I cut my finger on a music stand coming in, and it bled for 10 minutes. Then we had to tape our pieces for the BOA people, and that was just random brutalizing commentary for 2 hours.

Blick. I'm tired, and the two exams I'd really rather not take are tomorrow.
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Monday, January 24, 2005

We're the knights of the round table! We dance whene'er we're able!
So ... I really liked Gone with the Wind.

However, I find three names hilarious.

1) Rhett. Who the heck names their child Rhett? No one can figure out that he isn't Brett without captions. Thank goodness I never leave home without them!

2) Katie Scarlett O'Hara Hamilton Kennedy Butler. *snort*

3) The guy who played Ashley (a girl's name)? You know what his real first name was? Leslie (a girls's name).

I really like the last 2 episodes of Ghost in the Shell that have aired on Adult Swim. Anyone else see/like them?

Ghost in the Shell is really very good, once you get past Matoko's aversion to clothing. It makes you think about what makes one sentient, but it also paints a pretty scary picture of where we're headed. It reminds me of Bradbury, my favorite man alive. The whole series belongs in The October Country.

Speaking of them, I need to go locate a copy of Graveyard for Lunatics and Ghost in the Shell: Innocence.
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Sunday, January 23, 2005

We have been watching classic movies.
Last week or so, it was Fiddler on the Roof. Now, we are an hour away from finishing Gone with the Wind.

All I can say is that Frank Kennedy would never ask Tevye for his daughter's hand in marriage when he cannot even find a shirt ...

We have had a blizzard. We have gotten 2 feet of snow, and we have shoveled it all.

And I really want to go watch the end, because Rhett is totally one of the best characters ever.

But alas that the Pats game is not over yet.
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Thursday, January 20, 2005

It was 12 degrees this morning. Tomorrow, it will be 5 again.
EH! It's so stupid cold!

And I'm tired out of my skull. This is my permanent state of existence.

And I need to do a tuning chart, but that's an utterly depressing affair. One that constitutes my sole pass/fail grade of this term in band, but nonetheless a depressing event.

anime livejournal / xanga personality tests and quizzes at Anime Tests!

What Happens in Your Shoujo Anime? by MGM
Your Name:
Flowers?	Yes!umm...no thanks...*heart eyes* *Squee*O.o....okay then...*escapes*
You are	The Nerdy Girl who rocks out on weekends
You have a problem with	An evil being who is bent on world destruction
In the first episode, __________________ keeps people hooked	Your show has an awesome soundtrack!
how many episodes your show runs:	13-26

Find tons of anime tests, pics, and wallpapers at Anime Cubed!

anime livejournal / xanga personality tests and quizzes at Anime Tests!

What happens in your shonen anime? by mcmasters
What's your first name?
How many episodes are in your show?	2652250, and still going!
Your show revolves around:	Fighting
You are better than everyone else because:	You ate a magical fruit
Your rival:	Hates you because you stole his boyfriend
In the last episode of the first season:	Your rival turns out to be your pet hamster
When your show is licensed for the US:	Everyone complains about the subtitles

Find tons of anime tests, pics, and wallpapers at Anime Cubed!

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Wednesday, January 19, 2005

It was 5 degrees this morning. Ew.
I had my hands in my sleeves all curled up on my bus ride, but when I got off the bus and sat on my hands for 5 minutes in the warm building, they were still cold ...

I never watched American Idol before ... and watching the auditions that're airing right now is just disturbing ...

Simon and Garfunkel are the only people I have ever seen work the word "syncopated" into lyrics. They use a whole lot of really big words. And then I hear them, and I laugh. Because in comparison to the fantastic lyrics coming out of the current studios, the fact that there was ever a time when music could contain phrases like, "And we note our place with bookmarkers that measure what we've lost," it's seriously funny what we've come down to. I mean, even the Simon and Garfunkel tunes that everyone knows have fairly sophisticated lyrics, like "I Am a Rock."

End tangent.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Guess who broke her glasses?
Me. So yesterday, I had to get new ones ... and that was rather painful.

And I have nothing more to say. Because I'm tired out of my skull. It's winter, I'm sick, school has me stressed out, and I have been adding stress by worrying about college and all. Because apparently, I should have known what I intend to be, and as of last year, I was supposed to have a dim idea of where I want to go.

What good is guidance? All they've done so far is freak me out ...
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Sunday, January 16, 2005

Some Weekends, You Simply Cannae Win.
If you recall, I mentioned that we could not have Christmas until this weekend.

We are not having Christmas this weekend, as the same apathetic kid who had to return to NYC to clean his dorm room had a lan thing this weekend. Therefore, once again, he has cancelled Christmas.

Oh, and fun of fun, since I went on an Official Manga and Fantasy Purchasing Excursion this afternoon, Daddy is all, "You should go find someone to sell your manga to. You've read it."

I have a few comments on that.

1) Manga goes to college with me. My family is notorious for giving away baseball card collections during the college years.

2) He had comics books as a child. I am willing to bet that, were I my brother, and my manga were X-Men, there would be no problem.

AND MY ONE LEGITIMATE COMMENT THAT I COULD ACTUALLY USE?

3) The cost of paperbacks is going up. The cost of manga is coming down. Older novels are still 5, 6, 7 dollars, but the new ones? Heck, those are up at 8 and 9 now. Manga has come down from 15 or 16 to between 8 and 10.

So, I buy Azumanga Daioh. Typically, it costs $10. This does not surprise me. However, since I have been sitting in a world where books are at least 5 years old, I was shocked to find that, to purchase the new Robin McKinley novel, I would have to pay $8. The prices are getting pretty darn close.

Both are paperback. Azumanga Daioh features a little more color ink, but both are predominately printed in black ink. The paper in Azumanga Daioh is considerably thicker than that in the new McKinley novel.

I think this is not so unreasonable.

And yet, NO ONE IS SUGGESTING I GIVE AWAY MY EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF DIANA WYNNE JONES, MADELEINE L'ENGLE, AND RICHARD ADAMS. ALLEGEDLY BECAUSE THEY ARE LESS EXPENSIVE. BY, ON AVERAGE, 2 OR 3 DOLLARS.

End of whine.

There's a program on History Channel, Beyond the Da Vinci Code. It's interesting, as far as I can tell. I'm not paying attention to it yet, as I'm taping it. Tomorrow is a French Revolution special, which I am taping as well.

History Channel has some quality stuff. Their documentary based on April 1865 and the special Russia: Land of the Czars are particularly good.
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Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Tissue?
It's always great when the room is dead silent and you want a tissue, and your teacher feels a need to mock mercilessly anyone with "ebola butt," meaning anyone not sitting still for an hour.

It's always great when you are trying to remember how to say "I'd prefer to go to a play because it is inside. The school games are outside," because this could save your exam grade, but you sit there, muttering "Oh God ..." in Spanish instead, because, rather than trying to salvage your exam grade, you are trying to remember if there are tissues in this room.

It's always great when there are no tissues in the band room. But there never are, so you've resigned yourself to not breathing for an hour.

It's always great when you realize that you look just like all the druggees at your school, because you have that dazed expression that comes with either dabbling or inability to breathe properly, and your eyes are very dark because you couldn't sleep, due to the inability to breathe.

It's always great when you can find a bright side. Here's mine.

At least my throat feels better ...

"Profanation." Go listen to it. It's really good. Problem is, it's more than I can handle. And now, I've been forced to take an oath to clear it up ... curse you, Band Director!

The bassoon solo switches off every 2 measures. But Bassoon 1 and I don't match well at all, even if I could play it well. Just because we have different qualities.

Actually, I thought the oath was funny. First bassoon has this really annoying 'holier than thou' attitude, and while yes, I am most of the problem, she's not perfect either (though this may be news to her). So when he did the oath it was. "I promise ... that *WE* will have passage 12-14 ..." the emphasis on 'we' highly amused me.

And if I don't go to bed now, I may not be able to function ever again ... how sad.
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Tuesday, January 11, 2005

To clear things up: Yes, I am aware Sesshoumaru is not an elf. I am also aware he is not a princess.
I'm sorry if I've offended anyone with my treatment of Sesshoumaru as an "elven warrior princess." It's a longstanding joke, which I will now explain, and no one will find amusing.

My friends and I, for lack of better entertainment, were trying to find an accurate way to describe Sesshoumaru. I came up with that, and it stuck. It's just that, we really like him, but he looks kind of silly for practicality. He is a warrior. Yet, his rather elfin ears would seem to be rather a hindrance in battle. They'd give away position and hinder his ability to move. Also, his garb. Dressing so richly and spending so much effort on hair, and then go into battle? Silly Sesshy.

And now, I'vbe probably gone and made it worse, but my end statement is this: Sorry I came off as an idiot who is stupid; I'm actually an idiot who says stupid things.

So ... I spent the few days you were spared of me not sleeping. Rather, I did homework and attended very long rehearsals, at which I was yelled at. And with a sore throat.

It was quite painful.


I was just at a thing by a linguistic scholar guy on LotR, and it was wicked cool. Did you know that:

1) The language of the Rohirrim is actually just old English?

2) All the names for the kings of Rohan mean "king" in old English, except before Eorl, when they are Goth, because Tolkien secretly liked to believe the Goths were the ancestors of the English?

3) Since any language can be traced to it's ancestral form by taking the language and figuring out how it evolved and making rules about it, Elvish was made by taking Finnish and applying made up rules?

4) There is no good explanation as to why Beowulf is written in Anglo-Saxon?


I hate foozball. With a passion.

And not just because it is sitting in front of my TV.
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Thursday, January 6, 2005

Snow Day!
Which is only cool until you remember that you have to make them up in June. School now runs till June 23rd.

I, personally, was rooting for a 2 hour delay.

So, the all-important question: WHAT FABULOUSLY EXCITING THINGS DID I DO ON THIS UNEXPECTED VACATION FROM SCHOOL?

Well, I ...

1) I watched Fiddler on the Roof with my mother. We have been meaning to watch it for some time, and now we have. It was pretty good, for a musical, though I will have "If I Were a Rich Man" stuck in my head, intermingled with the half of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that's been lodged in there all week. (Which half? The mildly freakish second half, of course. What else could I manage to get lodged in there? And it's been there all week, with the exception of work, where I have had to keep myself in close check to make sure I don't start singing "Killer Queen" loud enough to freak anyone out, since people singing to themselves in the public is freaky enough, even when they aren't unsuccessfully mimicking "Killer Queen," failing, and trying several more times until it sounds right ...)

2) Singing "Bohemian Rhapsody" to myself under my breath. (See above. On a side note, my eighth grade history teacher used to give you spins on a wheel he had if you were particularly brilliant or did something truly amazing, and you could win stupid prizes off it, like a used tape dispenser. My friends and I, cool people we were, knew this was to make fun of how we would fight over anything that could be won [and fight some did], so we would go in, win things, and refuse them. Everyone was disappointed in us, and we laughed, because we had beaten the system. To relate this to that whole thing, he used to offer spins for a) winning an American Idol, and we always had the same horrendous singer try and lose. He'd get no votes, and the teacher'd be all, 'it was very close, you'll get 'em next time,' and we'd all laugh or b) singing all of "Bohemian Rhapsody." He never got any takers on that one. Had I known the song at the time, I so would have, but I was still being a new age hermit back then. I should go back sometime, and if he doesn't kick me out for liking Benedict Arnold, not being socialist, being an otaku, and loving Lord of the Rings, all things he can't stand, I shall have to ask to sing it for spins.)

3) I went to work. It was ... work.

4) I showered, then went back to bed, then shoveled, then thought about showering again, but forgot to. Which is something I don't usually do.

And that's it. I watched a long movie, went to work, and slept.

I would have practiced, but in a moment of stupidity, I forgot about the threat of snow and LEFT MY BASSOON AT SCHOOL.

I have a cute bassoon-playing frog keychain on my bag. It's name is Elmer. The keychain says so. My other keychain has my name on it. So, one keychain says Elmer, and one says my name. I hope no one's confused.

2 TRULY BEAUTIFUL MOMENTS IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF MUSICALS:

1) Tevye dancing on that beam in the barn, stirring up enough dust to kill a small buffalo, singing with gusto, "All day long I'd biddy biddy bum, if I were a wealthy man!" (Eat your heart out, Gwen Stefani!)

2) Perchik, Hodel's mildly creepy communist boyfriend, who will undoubtedly spend the rest of his life in that prison in Siberia, as I doubt the czar wants communist activists like him hanging around where people can hear them. Too bad for Hodel.
Money is the curse of the world!

Tevye, with again, great gusto and gesturing. He is also talking to God again, or possibly his horse. It is often hard to tell which he is addressing.
Then may the Lord smite me with it! [pause] And may I never recover!
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