Heart of a Healer

November 11

2009-11-11T16:42:16Z

It occurred to me just now that it is, in fact, November 11th. Veteran's Day. On this day for the past several years, I went to a ceremony at my high school for Veterans. Two years ago, this fell on a Sunday and our bellydancing service at church, which I consequently missed. But you know what? I might have hated that I still had to get up and perform on a day that I did not have school (because we don't have school on November 11th in Mass public schools), or that I missed a fun service, but I actually miss standing there in my uniform and with my instrument, honoring the men and women who have served, continue to serve, and will serve in our armed forces. Because it's important.

So here's to them, the veterans of our fine country and others. *salutes*

Dear Santa Claus,

2009-11-10T19:46:54Z

For Christmas this year, I would like a gift card with enough money on it to go to a place that either makes custom shoes or helps fit shoes to the person. Or at least a hardy pair of shoes that will support my feet in all the right places. If you do this, I promise I will believe in you for a whole year.

Love,
Shauna

Okay, at least it isn't my arch this time. The ball of my left foot hurts now. And my shoes are falling apart, so I need a new pair anyways. :P *sigh*

NaNoWriMo: Day 7

2009-11-08T04:52:43Z

So! It's been an entire week since I stared writing this thing. Or it will be in about 30 minutes. In that time, I have started a novel, and then rewritten the beginning so that I could get the plot moving in a way that makes sense to me. I have written as few as 615 words in a day and as many as 3727. The minimum for achieving 50k by November 30th is 1667/day, and I have not yet fallen behind. Even on the low days, I made up enough words before them that it didn't put me under expected word count for the day. And now, I'm actually ahead. Monday's word count should be 15,003 words. I stopped at exactly that many tonight.

It feels good to be achieving a goal. Even when I have pain in both arms because I've given myself Repetitive Stress Injuries between schoolwork, internet, and writing, I enjoy it. Although, the pain is slowly going away. It mostly bugs me when I'm not using my hands, now. I am also getting over what seems to have been a sinus infection. I'm halfway through a bottle of Amoxicillin and feeling tons better. But I've been able to cut back on decongestion and ibuprofen both (the latter I was taking in doses of 800mg for a while between headaches and wrists).

And tomorrow is a new day in which I have a lot of homework to do. Have a wonderful evening/day/morning, whoever is reading this!

Randomly

2009-11-07T06:13:32Z

I find it a little disconcerting to find myself casually looking at guys and thinking, "wow, he's cute" these days. I have never in my life thought that way. Why am I suddenly doing it? It's not something I usually think about. Not a normal thought-process for me at all.

And it's not like I'm horny. So what the hell is going on?

What is comfort?

2009-11-07T05:38:49Z

You know, I've hung out with several different groups of people. Today I spent time with Janine, Stephanie, and Sandy, who are fellow Questbridge students. I ate dinner with them, then a little later Janine dropped by my room (which is a mess, but at least I managed to get rid of most of the trash before she got there) and then went to the first Ono (Onomatopoeia is an all-female a cappella group) concert of the year with all of them. After, spent a while talking, and then I ended up at my dorm. Where some of the people I like most in 200 Church were. I have no idea why I'm most comfortable among Juliana, Vero, and Ague (not like the illness; it's short for Agueda, and put the spanish pronunciation on it), and Diego, and anyone else who joins them.

I don't think they realize how much I like them, but they let me join them. At the time I joined the group, only Juliana and Ague and a girl-whose-name-I-can't-remember were in the common room. Then Juliana went to Vero's room, and Diego joined our group--we were speaking variously in English and Spanish, with German I didn't understand mixed in. By the way, I'm getting better at understanding Spanish, just not at speaking it, not yet.

But we all ended up in Vero's room eventually, and we were piled on top of the bed, and I was craving human touch, even the small things like pressing against someone like we were all doing. It made me feel...something. Indescribably. I NEED human touch, but I don't get it enough. I just don't make friends easily enough, and I'm not one to just touch someone without feeling a sense of comradeship or getting an invitation (explicit or implicit, doesn't matter). But in high school, once I had my group of friends, we all hugged each other in greeting and leaving, or just because, and I miss that. I get a sense of comradeship--and that may be what I'm responding to with this group. Vero, Ague, and Juliana all went to an international school together before they came here, so they already have a close-knit group, which they've opened seemingly to anyone who wants to join. I like that feeling. It's comfortable. And right now, that, more than anything, is what I need. Comfort.

I couldn't have gotten that at the dance party I had an invite to. I'm glad I stayed here tonight.

And now for my 1667 words, even though I'm ahead, because I need to keep writing or I'll just stop. It might be after midnight, but I still count that as 'today'.

I got an A!

2009-11-06T16:14:15Z

My Lit professor finally passed our papers back. As I pretty much expected, I earned an A. The only iffy thing was that my paper wasn't quite the required length-it was just under 4.5 pages out of the required 5. But! This is the comment left on it:
"Shauna--
Excellent. You argue the case against the Euro. perspective even as you deal with its repressive force. Keep up this style of reading against the grain. In whose interest is history written? Or syllabi constructed? What are the alternatives?"

Wootness! and Fishes.

Yes, I adopted that phrase from Amy. I like it. :P

P.S. I'd like to thank my AP US History teacher for giving me the tools to write this paper in context of history and my AP English teacher for making us write a lot of "medium-length" papers of 4-7 pages. Those classes did a lot to prepare me for this course.

NaNoWriMo: Day 4

2009-11-05T03:37:32Z

So last night, I decided that I was mostly floundering around trying to fill in every event and all exposition before the plot of my novel started. And I came up with a new first sentence that I think will help. "She was going to barf." That's right. "She was going to barf." Yeah, I'm essentially starting over, but with a difference: I'm not deleting everything I've already written. I'm merely going to rewrite it in a way that's more conducive to moving on than random scenes that skipped around the timeline were. So. I have 450 words out of the 1325 I need to stay on track for today (my goal to do 2.5k a day failed when I realized my wrists hurt too much to try it, so I'm just keeping up with the 1667 and hopefully I'll get ahead again over the weekend).

And I like this a lot better already. Yay. Let's go. Bye, going to write.

NaNoWriMo: Day 1

2009-11-01T20:01:22Z

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, it's National Novel Writing Month! Where you write 50,000 words in 30 days. That's 1667 word per day. I stayed up past midnight (not hard to do these days) and wrote just over 2k words, and then went to bed. I woke up at almost noon, which after I realized that Daylight Savings Time ended, was actually almost 11.

I played dress-up last night as a wood nymph (or mother earth, or a tree, any of the three) in a completely green outfit. With a green feather hair ornament. It was fun. I didn't go out to parties though, just to see Prometheus (fire-twirling group on campus) in regular clothing. It was raining.

Anyway, I meant to say, I'm now the owner of a wireless mouse, courtesy of my Staples gift card (thank you UUSG!) so that I don't kill my wrist. Ergonomic keyboard doesn't really fit with a laptop, so I just got the mouse, but it works. Now if only the headache I've had off and on since Tuesday would go away.

...I also tried to put a "Leechblock" add-on for Firefox, which would keep me from spending too much time on Facebook, but I couldn't get it to download. We'll see if I can get it to do so later.

So, happy NaNoing all!

Phantom of the Opera--silent film

2009-10-31T04:08:48Z

Haha, that was awesome. I'm so glad I went. I ended up sitting by some guys from fencing and chatting before everything started. The film was hilarious to watch. Not just because all the body language was so exaggerated. We had a team of students playing Faust and music from the musical version of it (Andrew Lloyd Weber). There were musical jokes, fake "hoof-beats" and even someone meowing when the cat appears, although I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be there or an audience member provided the sound effects.

Everyone clapped when Christine figured out that her Master was the Phantom of the Opera. I'm feeling pretty high (as in natural high, not drugged) right now. Better than I have since I woke up this morning, actually, although a little tired.

Whee!

And I have the soundtrack from the Andrew Lloyd Weber Phantom of the Opera playing now. Just 'cause.

Why Music Matters

2009-10-30T16:27:35Z

Because I love music, and Tales From Band Camp once again has some fantastic links to share. For example:

I've never heard this spelled out quite so clearly before.

I went to the public library

2009-10-30T16:15:34Z

looking for the movie version of Go Ask Alice since all of the book copies at the Russel library are missing or never returned. It was on videocassette, not DVD (duh, it was 1998), so I didn't get it. Instead, I started looking through the CDs and left with five of them, plus the book I had on hold. This was not intentional. I now have soundtracks to Wicked, Dracula, and three other CDs, including a Cat Stevens one. I looked for Sarah McLachlan's Surfacing but both copies were checked out, so I put it on hold instead.

It's like I suddenly rediscovered popular music, only I never discovered it in the first place, and a lot of it isn't stuff my generation listens to anyways. Oh well. New listening material, and hopefully some of it can be added to my NaNoWriMo playlist.

Next time, I have to see if they have Peter, Paul, and Mary since it just now occurred to me.

Why did I never think of looking through library music before? It's not like I can afford it any other way.

sick

2009-10-30T02:23:10Z

I haven't been feeling well since shortly after my return on Tuesday. First, it was a headache. Now it feels like the beginning of a head cold. I took a three-hour nap this afternoon, unintentionally: I meant to lay down for less than an hour. Three hours later, I was tired again (but am finishing homework before I sleep all night). A shower made me feel a little better, as did the dose of mediphenyl and ibuprofen (the former serves a similar function to Sudafed). My head feels worse if I try to focus my eyes on the computer or a book for more than half an hour, and since those are the activities I do when I confine myself to my room so that I won't make anyone else sick, that isn't helping anything.

And a minor complaint: my foot is starting to bother me again. And there are a LOT of people in my neighbors' room chattering away.

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

2009-10-28T16:52:35Z

How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions
Look at the list and put bold those you have read.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (does owning it count? All of it is a tall order)
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (part of it)
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (is part of #33)
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (I must have when I was little)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (abridged)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (love it!)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I am a well read and distinguished gentleman.

I've read 36/100. I haven't read 64/100. And those are all square numbers. (I love how 6^2 + 8^2 = 10^2; then, that's the Pythagorean theorem, with the whole 3-4-5 pattern).

It should be noted that a great many of these were school assignments sometime between first and twelfth grade.

Also, stolen from Madi over on her blog.

Edit: lj cut added

I'm back

2009-10-27T20:26:26Z

at school, that is. I had a good weekend, mostly spent at home with the cats, my mom, and my uncle. I went to church and saw most of the people I wanted to see. The minister gave me a labyrinth-pendant that he meant to give me last spring at the bridging ceremony but couldn't find at the time. I like it, though the string is itchy. I interrupted what I think was an informal Executive Committee meeting (which I'm no longer on!) to say good-bye and most of the people in the office lined up to give me a hug. XD It was nice. I miss hugs. Oh, I actually missed most of the service because MICCA was Sunday so the usual nursery helper was away doing band-stuff, so I stood in. That's fine though; the service was mostly affirming and thanking everyone who was serving on a committee, which, again, I'm not this year, so I wasn't involved. And when the heck did our little Josiah start walking on his own? Last I saw him, he wasn't doing that. He is a little more than a year old, but still.

I like having cats around. I also really appreciate the eye-drop prescription Dr. Smith gave me. It helped a lot when my eyes started itching. I'm not used to having to keep my face away from the cats and having to wash my hands before rubbing at my eyes, so I was really irritating my eyes.

I also re-read Mancer 1 and 3 while at home. I had books, but then I was looking at one particular scene, and then I wanted to reread the Hansa/Umber subplot, and then I ended up just reading the whole 200k. I love those two. Just sayin'.

And, the only problem I encountered was when I got home, and found a yellow slip on my chair. Apparently they did room inspection today. And my idea to plug the ungrounded extension cord into a grounded power strip didn't work. They confiscated it. I don't seem to have a fine, this time, just a warning, but I had to go buy a new extension cord at the tech center, because I wouldn't be able to use my keyboard unless it was in the middle of the room, otherwise. The extension cord can only plug ONE thing in, but it's a 15 footer, so I can loop it around from the outlet near my bed to behind my wardrobe instead of using the outlet that has everything else plugged into it. $9.99, too, but I guess it'll have to do. *eyeroll* I made the thing as safe as I could and still be able to use my electronics!

I'll survive. Also, I'm cold. And my room's still messy. *sigh*

Fall Break

2009-10-24T18:35:37Z

I may or may not be online before Tuesday evening. I don't know if we have internet access at the new apartment yet. But! I'll be back on when I get back to school.

Just so you know.

<3 Shauna

Yay!

2009-10-23T18:15:44Z

I've mostly finished my midterms. Mostly, because two weeks from now I'll have to demonstrate proficiency on the keyboard for a set of exercise which I'm reasonably sure don't need more than half an hour's prep work. We didn't have a midterm for music theory, which is good, because we're doing weekly quizzes anyways. The next one involves being very quick at recognizing and writing major keys in bass and treble clef--the bass clef and most of the sharp keys are where I run into trouble. Also instantly knowing what each note of the scale is for solfege (do-re-me etc).

Uh, started on midterms, switched to music theory. Shows where my mind is. Anyways, I know I did well on the Am. Lit test (wouldn't expect otherwise, considering how much I like the class), and I'm reasonably certain I got at least a B on the Spanish one, which is about average for me. It helped that there was no listening, that I actually knew the words she asked us to define, and that I'm really good at grammar, which is all we had to know for Chapters 1 and 2. For Chapter 3, we also needed all the cultural stuff and vocab, and the former is where I -may- have run into trouble. But, it was only a part of the test, not the whole of it, and I finished early. I think I'm okay.

But I have to study like crazy over fall break for Music Theory. I've been neglecting some of the skills things in favor of getting tangible homework done. I need to rectify that, even if I'm proficient enough that right now I can sight-read the stuff in the piano book. Practice always pays off, one way or another.

...and in other news, I really am wondering if I can drop chemistry. I seem to have lost all confidence in that class since my last problem set came back. Bleh.

But hey, I'm all positive about 2/4 of my classes!

pats back

2009-10-23T03:38:47Z

I have been downstairs studying since about 7:30? 8:00? Something like that. It's now 11:30. I got through spanish with some help from native speakers (yay! they told me when I had the wrong tense and when I had a misspelling, which is a hell of a lot better than floundering about trying five different things to see what I did wrong). And I got a little more than half of my English notes for the first half of the semester typed up. My version of studying. It takes a while when I usually have 2 pages of handwritten notes per lecture. I'm not typing the rest, I'm just going to skim it. It's open-notes, and the stuff I didn't get to was within the last two or three weeks (I stopped halfway through notes for 10/9 because we switched from Franklin to Equiano).

Anyways, why am I patting my own back? One, because I studied productively, for once, and got most of my spanish online stuff done; during the break between classes, I can get the rest, or I can do it after class, either one. Two, I socialized, sort of. I didn't hide out in my room from 5pm-11pm. I came downstairs after my Tertulia (which ended at 7), and spent time with people. And I now have reason to be grateful that I'm not taking Biology; there's a big group studying it together and many seem overwhelmed.

I have been having a hard time not just spending the evening in my room, alternately reading and studying. Coming down here actually keeps me from reading, which makes time more productive. And I feel less isolated, even if most of it is self-isolation. Which is something I'm working on, because I can't spend the rest of my life withdrawing every time I'm not feeling my best. Anywho, I'm going to get ready for bed so that I'm not exhausted for my TWO midterms tomorrow.

Nini.

How the hell?

2009-10-22T04:46:08Z

I got a 32/60 on this week's problem set for Chemistry. My worst grade yet. I expected to do badly on the last problem, because I missed the lecture on it. But how the hell did I manage ONLY a 32? This class is so freaking frustrating it isn't funny in the least. Come ON. I thought I could do this. Evidently not. I don't think I'm taking second semester. I'll probably fail this one.

I have mail

2009-10-19T23:51:11Z

Squee! Seanan's book arrived today. She has a pretty signature. I can't wait to read it. I'm glad I checked my mailbox again tonight even though I checked this morning. I'm happy. Now I'm debating on two levels: start Rosemary and Rue and ignore the fact that I just started Squire by Tamora Pierce and still have another book in the quartet after that, or finish Squire and/or Lady Knight first and then read R&R, and like it even better for long anticipation. And then, if I decide on the first, whether I want to start that before I do my homework.

silvertwi @ 2009-10-19T14:32:00

2009-10-19T18:42:30Z

I wish I didn't have to wake up at the exact moment I did this morning. I was dreaming about mining (and I'm using the term loosely here) glass/crystal creations that were really beautiful. Even if it didn't occur to me that pictures of unicorns don't occur naturally in crystal (well, my dream self thought glass, but we all know that that is generally created, not natural). But they were pretty! And I was going to keep getting more! I remember I was with my mom and someone else, though I don't know who that 'someone else' was.

Still, I love when I have nice dreams and remember them.

But, I was up at 6:30 so that we (my mom and I) could leave so that I could get to campus by the time my second class happened. We made it, just barely. We were out of town by about 7:20, and should have arrived by 9:30 at the latest, but we spent, I swear, half an hour moving nowhere on I-190 because of an accident. This was just before it turned into I-290. My GPS kept popping up with traffic updates saying there was either construction or accidents on just about every major highway, and the radio said pretty much the same thing. I'm glad I wasn't driving.

My mother could have brought me last night, but by the time the service and dinner finished (special 125th anniversary, in the afternoon instead of morning, which was the whole reason I came home) it was 6 o'clock, and I left early. By then, it was getting dark, it was still snowing, I knew my mom wasn't feeling well (she'd been moving into the new apartment yesterday, and boy am I glad I missed all but the end of that) and I didn't want her to try to drive back by herself, in the dark. I wasn't in the mood for night-snow driving, even if she was the one who would drive. I also didn't really want to have to sleep on the floor so that she could have my bed if she didn't want to go to the uni and back last night. So...this morning I came. Made it to my second class with seconds to spare.

And, I'm not exhausted yet! Yay for going to bed by 11:15, which is a lot easier there than here, where everyone on campus is up all night. Well, the students are. So, early bed tonight, I hope.

I'm weird

2009-10-17T01:56:59Z

I spent an hour today planning out a year-long study of healing techniques by taking The Healing Craft by Janet and Stewart Farrar and Gavin Bone and using each chapter as one "unit". Into which I mixed, reading the chapter and spending two weeks on it with other research and papers or projects. And review of my Anatomy and Physiology notes from last year accompanied by researching a new illness every four weeks, after the style of research papers my anatomy teacher gave us, and additional research on the systems (nervous, for example) that we didn't have time to study in depth. We didn't get to the brain or eyes at all, for example.

I spaced out each chapter for two weeks because I'm assuming that I won't want to compress it more because my other classwork is mostly unpredictable. *waggles eyebrows* Now I just need to talk someone into holding me to it and "grading" my papers, by which I mean make sure I actually write them. I'm crazy. Insane. This might just start me on the path of a healer instead of a doctor (because, y'know, I AM having trouble with chemistry).

Um. And I just spent about two hours playing Rock Band with a bunch of other people. I'm bad at drums, okay at bass guitar, and okay at winging it on the singing--I just don't know many rock songs on the game, or at all, so I was following the screen. Which was made more difficult by the fact that the writing was small so I had to stand closer and crane my neck back. I got the highest scores singing.

Heat is a wonderful thing

2009-10-13T14:56:59Z

when it isn't in excess. I happen to be in one of the rooms that gets really hot instead of not getting warm enough. So I opened my window a crack last night and woke up cold instead. *sigh* I can't win. Either I wake up because I'm too warm or I don't want to get out of bed because I'm cold. On the other hand, heat definitely makes typing easier, particularly with my desk next to the heater. It means that my fingers don't stiffen up any, which happens otherwise, particularly in weather like this. Speaking of weather, I made a note to make a note for AJG. *goes to do it*

Also I feel like I'm spamming lj, but I keep coming up with things to write about. Oh well.

Peter Paul and Mary

2009-10-13T01:08:25Z

I can't believe that I've never listened to their music before. I mean, I like folk music, and better than other kinds like pop. I've heard the names before, particularly since I go to church mostly with folk of my parents' and grandparents' generations, who were alive when the first started out. And then I felt like listening to Puff the Magic Dragon and came up with a version on Youtube when they were all quite young--the date may have been 1963, or that may have been on the first version of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" which I have most definitely heard before. I distinctly remember my brother 'singing' it a lot when I was little.

Anyways, here's a later video of Puff the Magic Dragon. I also looked up the history of it since my brother always claims it's about marijuana. According to the man who wrote the lyrics, it isn't.

Their faces are so expressive!

Needless to say, I now have yet another group to add to my growing list of "someday I'm going to go to buy these artists' albums".

Dear Brother,

2009-10-12T18:24:55Z

Thank you for everything you are and for everything you do. You have no idea how many times, just in the past month, you've earned my undying gratitude. When my closest relative suddenly turns on me, as a rabid dog might her master (not entirely accurate, but you know what I mean), you understand and even take my side. When my world got turned upside-down and inside-out, you listened, and you empathized. When I suddenly had no one to turn to, you listened.

Even if, in the past, we engaged in childish licking-wars or you gave me so-called Indian sunburns, I love you. For the affection you show me and allow me, for the things that have no meaning, except to us. For anything and everything you ever were, are, or will be, I thank you.

You may never read this, but thank you anyways. I love you dearly, bestest of brothers.

Love,
Your Favorite (only) Sister

I feel better

2009-10-08T12:47:46Z

After an incredibly frustrating two or three hours doing Spanish homework yesterday and the night before, I was in a pretty bad mood. I'm good at grammar, right? Evidently, certain quirks of reflexive verbs, non-reflexive verbs, and other pronouns escape me. Because it took many many tries to get all the questions online correct, and I don't understand why half of them are that thing and not the other (se vs. le or les when there's no direct object pronoun, for example).

But, after I finished the Spanish, I went to dinner. I find it amazing that people are willing to wait for latecomers to finish dinner before going back to the dorm. I <3 200 Church.

And then, I started my Music Theory homework. Specifically, once I finished the basic exercise, I had to write a composition using variations on a motive. I got to play my flute and mess around for several hours. Even if I did start in the key of D major, only to realize, "oops, it really WAS C major that's required". Even the D major had me accidentally figuring out how some of the Celtic music I listen to is built and the notes to play it. I had a fun time. I finished by 11:30 or 11:45, and only that late because it took me some fiddling with Garageband (Mac songbuilding program) to get it to equalize the flute sound so that it didn't sound terrible to the microphone. And breathing in the wrong places/a wrong rhythm. I'm not completely satisfied with the recording quality, and there's one measure I want to change, but, well, I did it. And I'm starting to get the idea on HOW to compose something and make it interesting. The music, though? That put me in a fantastic mood. =)

Edit: Also, getting up an hour or more before I have class is wonderful. I can relax when I get, take a shower if I need to, and have a little leisure time to wake up before I have to start thinking about class material. And I ate breakfast before I got to class instead of in class. That was very nice, especially since I frequently need to sing in Materials and Design (the actual class title for music theory) and can't do that if I have a mouthful of food.

Did I mention I'm a morning person? If I can go to bed early enough that I get enough sleep (which is usually the problem; I don't want to get out of bed) then I can do this more often. And start my day a little slower.