Being as I hold an extreme distaste for snow and still life photography, I figured the best use of my free time was to immerse myself in both. :p

(For the record these images are unedited, save the resizing done by Gallery.)

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Categories: Photography
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School’s gotten rather hectic already, at least during weekdays. On top of regular reading and practicing assignments, I’m already preparing for a group presentation, a composition project, and two papers. Though in all honesty the papers aren’t due for a while, thse professors just like to see proposals, rough drafts, etc. So far paper topics look like: Wagner’s anti-Semitism as manifested through his operas and writings (and how Hitler was influenced by these), and collaboration of women of different races in the context of Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

For the record, I sound smarter than I actually am. The presentation is on competing views of sexuality in the context of Dickinson’s poetry. That topic however, was chosen for us.

And now to attempt describing orchestra tour. Firstly, its pretty much the best thing going on this semester that doesn’t suck, and so far we’ve laughed through more rehearsals than is really conducive to learning. The semi-official website should help a bit.

Before the show starts, a bunch of orch members wander around the audience in sunglasses muttering into their watches. (I was given instructions to stir up the kids a bit…) Some of the orch members have been trying to make contact with an alien being through sound waves, which we find out right before the concert starts. Audio-visual display above the orchestra set up the plot show and our alien & spaceship, and also set up some background info via kids and fireworks displays. The alien lands, and needs music as food source, but our music is too dense for her so we have to teach elements of melody/harmony, major/minor, skips/steps, long/short phrases, duple/triple meter with help from flashlights (star simulators) handed out to kids in the audience, and some people in the orchestra. The screen shows what type of food the music we’re playing ‘tastes’ like. Final the alien understands and hears her fill, she sings an awkward aria, and we perform a new piece oddly timed to her audio-visual getaway, and then the show is over. Elementary kids will eat it up, no pun intended.

I’m not sure whether I’m relieved or bothered that I have absolutely no obligations until tomorrow night, so I think I’m going to draw out my time as much as possible going to the gym, doing laundry, and then staying in the music building for as long as possible because honestly, its 2 degrees outside.

Categories: Crusading, Music
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Using Computers: Apparently this Dead-Head IT guy didn’t get the unwritten memo that daily classes don’t meet on Fridays because he really has us going every day. At least he admitted that the class is pretty much pointless while promising to teach us only useful things and no crap. I am a little angry that the required software only runs with Internet Explorer and on the network because I try to stay away from both of those establishments.

Music of the Classic and Romantic Eras: Quite the mouthfull, I know. The class is full of sophomore & freshmen music majors with a couple of confused kids who need a music core. My current plan is to kick ass, as I’ve already chosen a paper topic and am fairly certain I can learn the two chapters at a time on the tests. The best part? The professor is an amazing grandmotherly lady who actually does know everything.

Jazz Improvisation: OH MAN. If all subsequent classes go as well as the first one, this is going to be the best music class ever. Its cool to just… play with other cool people who are just… playing.

19th Century American Literature: The best part of this class just might be the girl who used to work at MT Baltimore, because it certainly isn’t the material or the professor. These classes on surpressed sexuality always seem to sneak up on me, as if no one wants to mention such before handing out the syllabus. We get to hand in rough drafts of our papers etc, so I see no reason why I shouldn’t survive.

London Underworld: “This isn’t literature, its intellectual history.” That’s right, he bored us just within the first five minutes of class. Since there’s only 9 students, everyone’s going to have to carry conversations, which I suppose will be fine once we get the hang of these super-dense readings. But 4 papers and 2 presentations in one 300-lvl class seems a little much.

Intro to Electronic Music: Pretty much the best professor ever, who will now deliver his lectures via podcast and stand around in case we have questions. Note-taking is forbidden and grading is arbitrary. We learn/use GarageBand, Finale, and iMovie, so I have nothing to complain about, except perhaps being the only music kid in the room.

Categories: Crusading
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Back on campus as of yesterday afternoon. Unpacked, settled in, have seen almost everyone I want to see. The main to-do when people have seen me is to comment on my blondeness, which is not what I would have wanted, but I’ll go with it. At least people seem to get a kick out of my hair being colored “banana” and “carmel.”

I will admit I already miss home something fierce. Matt said he’d come up as soon as he could, though I know that doesn’t actually mean “soon.” Sarah said she’d come up near the end of March. Both of us want to visit Philly but are deviod of people who would actually want to go to Philly, so we’re trekking together one Saturday. I have a doctor’s appointment for my malfunctioning thyroid in three weeks so I at least know I’ll be home for a full weekend then.

And now for the title of the post: orchestra tour. I’m impressed that we have a plot, audio-visual equipment, and people who can sort of act. Me? I get to scream, hand out flashlights, and then play with said flashlights for a couple of exceprts. Its… thrilling. But most importantly, the front of our booklet says: EARTH MUSIC MAKES TASTY SNACK FOR ALIEN CREATURE… CONCERT INVASION! More on that when we’ve run through it more than twice.

Categories: Crusading, Music
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In the E-Newsletter today: “Effective January 1, 2007 SU began paying students in accordance with Pennsylvania’s minimum wage law.”

Good job, Susquehanna. And thanks for the $0.25 / hour raise!

Also, thanks a bunch for shortening and rescheduling every single class on the first day of the semester just so we can opt to attend a service commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. I’m pretty sure most schools reward students with a day off instead of confusing them with new schedules.

I guess you’ve been too busy redoing payrolls and schedules to get around to fulfilling the textbook order I placed almost a month ago. I really appreciate your effort.

Categories: Crusading
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Thank you Nikon, for having the rather expensive lens I ordered on indefinite backorder. Way to make a girl’s day bright. So now I’m not only waiting for my equipment but I’m sitting around with $750 in my account that may or may not come out at any time. That’s certainly going to put a damper on shopping.

In other news, I’ve been kind-of-sort-of diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, and I’m wondering how many doctors/blood tests it takes before someone says “well, we’d better fix this,” because so far we’re on two of each. What really gets me is having to come home from school specifially for a doctor visit way out in the middle of southern Maryland. That’ll be a lovely drive from central Pennsylvania when I’m still trying to go to class that day.

I find solace in knowing that I graduate just four little months from now. From here, we wait for grad schools to mail big fat envelopes to me.

But for now its working 3-7:30 today and over to Matt’s for who-knows-what tomorrow, then working pretty much 4-9:30 Tuesday through Friday before reluctantly trudging back to campus on Saturday for a 10-4 orchestra rehearsal on Sunday that so graciously precedes the start of spring semester on Monday, a national holiday.

Categories: Crusading, Home, Photography
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I promise to get this up and running soon, though I’m a php-virgin and it’ll probably take me a long time before this place doesn’t look… template-y.

Categories: Uncategorized
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