Stray Cat Strut (or, Fun With Kitty)

My dog thinks he's human and my cats think they're gods...

The Egyptians worshipped cats as gods. Cats have never forgotten this.

Okay, so this post has nothing to do with stray cats. I just chose that name because I'm listening to that song by the Stray Cats... This post does have a good deal to do with one of my 2 cats though. Her name is Milo, which I know is a boy's name, but we got her with another yellow tabby and decided to name them Milo and Otis after the movie. I think I was five. My friend Rachel's (yes, the same Rachel that visited the other weekend) cat had kittens and so we took home two. Being five, I wasn't the best at handling cats, poor things. Otis got hit by a car a long time ago (which was sad but to be honest I really don't remember it that well) but Milo went on to have kittens of her own (my parents were thrilled...) We kept two of the kittens (I wanted to name the kittens Orange, Orange, Black, Orange, and Orange...) and my sister named one Muchacha because she was taking Spanish at the time, the other was named Motormouth because he purred so loudly. Motormouth passed away a few months ago so now we just have Milo and Muchacha.

Anyhow, so much for pet history in brief. When I came home I noticed Milo had a bad eye. This has happened before so we figured it would clear up in a couple of days. It didn't. My Mom, who is returning from her work thing today, obviously couldn't take Milo to the vet and my Dad is at work all day so guess who got the job?

Here's the thing about Milo. She hates the car. She had only been in it once before and that time she went CRAZY! I thought I was going to get killed by this flying ball of fur. And she'd never been to the vet before. AND we didn't have a kitty carrier. Great. So I found an old t-shirt to, erm, constrain her with (you call it animal cruelty, I call it life preservation) and threw that in the car. Then I had to find the cat, who was outside of course. After searching for a long time I decided to break out the big guns and got some special cat treat to lure her in. Well I stepped out the door and there she was on the porch. I didn't need the stuff after all. So, with many apologies I picked her up and took her out to my car. She gave a few inital meows of protest and as we neared the car these intensified into a frenzy... She began to squirm around but somehow I got her inside and shut the door.

She went NUTS. I had never heard her make a sound like that before. This loud kind of yowl... Well I put her in my lap and calmed her down a little and after a while decided to try moving the car forward. She did not like that at all so I went about 1mph for a while and then slowly got going faster until I'd pulled out of the driveway. About that time I realized that my car had no gas. Great. Luckily living on farmland means we have our own pump but that still meant I had to reverse the whole way I'd come and get OUT of the car while keeping the cat IN the car (which wasn't very cool even though I had the air conditioning on max) and fill up with gas. Okay, after that ordeal we got back on the road and I had to wrap her in the t-shirt (poor thing, it was so hot) and restrain her with my left hand while trying to drive with my right hand. Did somebody say "car accident?" The local vet is about 30 minutes away using the highway. Somehow I kept her in my lap. I tried to distract her by scratching her head and petting her and talking to her and I even put on some Vivaldi. I don't know if it helped the cat at all but it certainly did a little for my nerves.

Well, I was almost into town when guess what? We ran into construction! JUST what I needed. Poor Milo was so hot, she must have been at least as uncomfortable as I was. The wait wasn't too terribly long and amidst louder and louder complaints from the poor cat we pulled into the parking lot! The next challenge was getting cat from car to clinic without losing said cat. I took the t-shirt off because I figured she needed to cool down. Then I got a firm hold and made my way slowly to the door. Once inside the vet (the small clinic has one vet and one assistant as far as I know) looked up and said "Loose cat! Oh no! Get her to the consulting room quick and shut the door." I didn't need to be told twice. Once in the room and on the examination table Milo complained more than ever. She was panting a lot because she was so hot and I wondered if this trip was going to do her more harm than good.

Once the vet came in things got considerably easier. I got to be the assistant because the real assistant was busy but it wasn't difficult and mostly was making sure the cat didn't scratch anyone. Apparently Milo has a scratch on her eye and it's infected. That could've led to her losing that eye if we hadn't brought her in so I'm glad we did. I got a lecture on the importance of feeding her meat-based food but hey, I don't pay for the cat food so I don't really have much of a say. Milo got wormed and some antibiotic to put on her eye. I write this as if everything was fine and dandy but the whole process was quite exciting I assure you. I also bought a carrier. On the way out I realized I'd forgotten to put my checkbook in my purse but I have to return on Friday so I'll pay then. The carrier made the trip home much less stressful even though it was just as noisy. We had to wait 15 minutes for the stupid construction but I was okay with that since kitty wasn't going anywhere.

So that was my exciting day and it pretty much almost killed me. Now we have to go through an ordeal of putting stuff on Milo's eye FOUR TIMES A DAY. It's not easy. But hopefully we'll do okay and that scratch will heal up.

Summertime, and the Livin' is Easy

fish are jumpin'
and the cotton is high.
Your daddy's rich,
and you're momma's good-looking.
So hush little baby don't you cry.

~Ira Gershwin, Summertime

Yes, it's technically May but I have officially completed my first year of college. I don't think it's quite sunk in yet. I'm sorry I haven't posted in so long but it's been pretty crazy. Finals went pretty well, I don't know how I did yet but I think I'll be okay. Friday was terrible. Everyone was leaving and I had to try to focus on a final at 3:30! Do you know how hard it is to study when you have to keep taking breaks to say goodbye to friends you won't see for 3 months? It was SO sad! And depressing. And my room just gradually got stripped bare until you wouldn't have known anyone had ever lived there...

I think the most bizarre thing was saying goodbye to Christina while I was still trying to take my history final. I may never see her again and yet here I am trying to write a short essay on Islamic and European culture in the Middle Ages... Bizarre. She's is transferring out of Whitworth and I wish her all the best. We'll keep in touch, but it won't be quite the same as seeing her every day in class. But I will see a lot of people again next year, and I'm excited for that.

After my final I was extremely glad to find my parents in my room. It felt good to be done and it was nice to have help packing things up. We went to the China Dragon for dinner, which was fun, and then for more multicultural entertainment we went to and Irish dancing/Celtic music concert. Check out their website here. I really like the band and the dance troupe. It was excellent. Afterwards though I had to go back to my room, which was now as empty as a prison cell, and stay overnight so I could check out in the morning. True, I could have done it that afternoon if we hadn't gone to the Celtic thing but I didn't want to. I felt kind of guilty because that night was also the closing concert of this season of the Symphony. Worse yet, the concert master (whatever) of 40 or so years was retiring AND my family knows him personally. Hm. So maybe I made the wrong decision, but really we don't know him so well that he would have missed us.

It was pretty eerie that night being alone in my room. The next morning was quite weird as well, but I finally got out of there and home. I'm glad to be done for the year, I was ready for a break.

Well, I hadn't been home for too long (I was unpacking my stuff from my car) when we got a phone call from some very old friends of ours, Anne and Rachel. Rachel and I were just about best friends since infancy but we've lost touch recently. I was really excited to see her and really hoping things were going well. She's a few years older than me so I wasn't sure if she was in school or working or what. Anne and my Mom used to be good friends as well.

When the pulled up, it was in a small yellow convertible. A "Mid-Life Crisis Mobile" as my parents would call it. It was great to see them and Rachel and I found a lot to talk about. Not only is she going to another university in town (turns out I've been driving by her house a lot!) but she recently went to Japan on a study tour! As if that weren't enough, she's engaged! I don't know the guy and they haven't set a date but I hope they'll be very happy. It's kind of weird though, knowing your childhood friend is getting married. It was so great seeing her again though, it really was the best possible way I could have started my summer.

Sunday was of course Mother's Day and I am a terrible daughter! I didn't get her anything, not even a card! I'm trying to make it up to her by doing as much around the house as possible (she's actually away on work) but I still feel bad. Since she had to prepare for her trip, she decided all she wanted to do was go out to eat. She couldn't decide on where but I sure wasn't going to decide for her. We looked through the entertainment section of the newspaper and found a bistro that sounded good but unfortunately when we got there it wasn't quite what we were expecting. So we decided to go to Anthony's, a really pricy seafood place. We had to wait a while and while we were waiting we went and looked at the falls. It was a very nice walk.
The food was delicious and I definitely want to go back sometime. I love seafood.

So that leaves this week, which is pretty low key. Our little library just got wireless internet so I'm taking advantage of that. I'm here because I need to check out a lot of books on Italy and Germany. I'm not sure about the best way to tell you guys this but I figure you'll find out sooner or later so I'll just say it, I'm going to Europe next January. Rome, Florence, and Berlin. *grins* I'm glad I'm going in January because even though it won't be as nice (especially in Berlin) it won't be touristy. Anyhow, I just couldn't keep the secret to myself any longer. I'm so excited. But I can wait. I'm content with the present. I'm going to try and learn a little Italian this summer and I'm taking German next fall. I won't be able to say much but hopefully I'll be able to communicate a little. I think it's terrible how some people expect foreigners to speak English and accomodate them. You're in their country and what's more the point is to experience their culture. Besides, Italian and German are so beautiful. Anyhow, I guess that's all for now. Until next time.

Traditiation

It is almost the last day of my freshman year of college. I did not have this blog at the beginning of the year but I thought I'd share about Traditiation before I get old and forget about it.

Basically my first day/week at college was a combination of terror and excitement. I really wanted everything to go well, to like my hallmates, my classes, my profs, and to do well. I'd talked once with my roommate Ally and she had seemed so afraid that I would be a freak that I was afraid I would be a freak, if that makes any sense. Anyhow, my parents and I drove up with all my stuff. We came later in the day and I was one of the last people to arrive. On the sidewalks in front of BJ was a chalk drawing of the world accompanied with the words "Welcome to the best place on Earth!" I remembered that that was exactly the same as it had been when my brother moved in to Whitworth back in 1998. A lot of things around Whitworth don't change much.



Inside the main doors were a bunch of enthusiastic people with a lot of lists and one of them showed me my room. The halls upstairs were all decorated with paper-mache flowers and our doors had our names on them. I don't think Ally was there when I arrived but her stuff was mostly unpacked. I remember thinking she had a lot of clothes and I didn't have very many and feeling awkward. Shortly after we began unpacking Ally, her parents, and her boyfriend Michael came and they were very nice although I must admit at the time I was feeling slightly overwhelmed. I just wanted to finish packing by myself... I liked them, I just was feeling intimidated.

There were a lot of things to go to, including some sort of reception in front of the auditorium where you were supposed to meet president Robinson. I never met him, although my parents did. I did meet one of my hallmates though, Keiley. I didn't know it at the time but she was going to be a great friend. Somehow we started talking about music and she asked if I was musical. I said something along the lines of 'yes.' "Oh! I am so not!" Was her reply. Like it was this great thing we had in common.

Freshman move in a week before everyone else so they can get acquainted with one antoher and campus and so forth and part of the way you do this is Traditiation. There's a sort of loyalty present in each of the dorms and each dorm learns dorm-related cheers that they later run around campus yelling. We learned...

I say red, you say black!
Red, black, red, black!
I say Whitworth, you say love it!
Whitworth, love it, Whitworth, love it.
I say BJ what do you say?
We love BJ all the way!

We are the BJ ladies and we're steppin' for you,
ultimate crowd pleasers here to please you.
Representin' all the BJs across the world,
now don't you want to step with the BJ girls!

and also my personal favorite,

Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel,
shake your bushy tail!
Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel,
shake your bushy tail!
Wrinkle up your litte nose,
put it down between your toes.
Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel,
shake your bushy tail!

That's because there's a lot of squirrels on campus.

The first or second night we were taken to the pirate's cove and told to close our eyes. Then we were handed a BJ girl's "beanie" while the history of the dorm was recited. We were supposed to wear them all week long and if anyone asked us "what's that on your head?" we had to touch our beanie, spin around, and recite...

Spin me, twirl me, make me sing,
Red-black beanies are my thing!

Whilst we were running about campus looking and sounding like idiots, we would encounter the guys from various dorms. Apparently it is some kind of tradition that they are supposed to "woo" us by singing us a song (most of them were quite good) or reciting something. I always felt kind of awkward and stayed in the back but it was fun to watch.



The BJ guys would get especially elaborate. Here's a picture of them singing "A Whole New World" from Aladdin...



Once, we were taken to pirate's cove and the BJ boys were waiting for us. They formed a circle, and we formed a circle on the outside, and then we had to run in opposite directions. When we stopped, we were told to sit on the knee of the guy we were next to. This guy was our "perch" and we were they're "bird." They sang us a song. That's my perch standing on a table or something in the picture above. I was afraid of putting too much weight on him and my knees locked up and when we were supposed to get up I fell over. It just added more embarrassment to an already awkward event...

Once the boys had performed their song or whatever, we were supposed to respond. We usually sang "You Are My Sunshine" but we had a couple other songs as well. At the end of the week there was Mock Rock and Yell Off. Yell Off was a competition between all the dorms where they would compete by yelling their various cheers and basically the loudest/best wins. Mock Rock is basically the most elaborate lip-syncing contest I have ever seen. This is a picture of my hall before Yell Off. I'm not in it because I'm camera shy and I ran away.



So that's the basic idea of Traditiation. A lot of people say it's their favorite memory of their first year at college. It was a lot of fun, but I think there's a lot of things I'd choose over it as my favorite. Still, it does help you to kind of get to know people. For me, nothing can replace simply spending time with people and gradually getting to know about them. Anyhow, that was a lot of what my first few days of college were like. Craziness. Sometimes I wondered what I'd gotten myself into. Luckily college isn't always like that.

Frustrated Pianist

“When she started to play, Steinway came down personally and rubbed his name off the piano.”

~Bob Hope

Yes, that was me today. Except I think the piano in the recital hall is a Yamaha. I actually made some sort of guttural growling noise/yell during my jazz jury today. But let's back up.

Wednesday has come and passed, and with it Music Theory II. I think the final went really well so here's hoping I get an 'A' in the class. Sure would be nice seeing as I got an A-/B+ on my jazz jury which is frankly better than I expected. So that's cool. Today was classical juries! Ahhhhh! The good thing is I was a lot more calm and composed than my first jury. And there were some really good spots. There were also some really bad spots. So I know I didn't get an 'A' but hopefully I made a 'B.' I was excited because they asked me questions I knew the answers to! I practically gave a dissertation on Debussy's "Children's Corner." I told Keiley that and she thought I was saying "W.C." It was quite funny. I played the stupid natural minor scale though so I had to play the harmonic minor after I'd played the natural minor! Gaahhh! Yeah, there were definitely some rough spots.

Anyhow, I need to go study for my psych final tonight AND I need to pack. I can't believe it's only 1:20... This morning felt like a lifetime. Anyhow, I think I'm going to make it! I can't wait to be done!

I Survived Tuesday (barely)

Well, I've made it through probably my worst day so that's good. It's not exactly downhill from here but I think I'll make it through the week.

Things have been pretty crazy. Last night the BJ boys decided to be crazy and revisit Traditiation. I will have to make a post about Traditiation to explain. Suffice it to say they ran around yelling various chant/cheer things and it was quite exciting.

So I got up at 6:30 today after staying up until 1:30 because I had my Finite Math final to study for. Finite Math has been TERRIBLE. It's supposed to be the easiest math class you can take but the prof I got has this inherent ability to make it as hard as possible. At first it was pretty simple but I definitely didn't think it would take as much work as it has. I even failed a test, which sounds really bad, but apparently our lowest test grade is replaced by our final, and know I at least passed the final so I'm no longer concerned. I was pretty freaked out when I first got it back though. I thought I would have to drop the class and take it again! But I did make it. So I studied for that until noon and then I went to take my final.

Technically it wasn't supposed to start until 1:00 and finish at 3:00, which is how long class usually is, but we discovered beforehand that there were twice as many questions as usual and we would have to complete it in the same amount of time! So some of the class asked if they could come early and I'm really glad I came early. It took me 2 hours and 45 minutes... I was so brain-dead, but I feel pretty good about it. THe important thing is that IT'S OVER!!! My day wasn't though. I had a 3 page history paper due at 5:00 that I'd only finished the pre-writing for and it was 2:45. I could not focus though so I went to Saga and scarfed down a bowl of cereal before heading to the library where I proceeded to pound out not 3 but 4 pages on Wu Chao and Hildegard of Bingen. They're both quite fascinating really, you should look them up. Wu Chao went from being a concubine to being the first and only female "emperor" of China and Hildegard was a nun who was a leading philosopher, scientist, and excellent composer in the Middle Ages. I'm actually quite pleased with what I managed to hammer out in 2 hours and I think it will get me by, but my day wasn't over yet.

I went to Lindaman to turn in my paper because that's where the assignment sheet said to go only to find that the assignment sheet was wrong and I really needed to go to Weyerhaeuser!

Jim Hunt is in Weyerhaeuser and has been for two years...

~The kind lady at Lindaman who was getting tired of redirecting us poor history students.

Well by this time it was almost 5:00 and so when I got to Weyerhaeuser it was 5:02 and everything was closed up... It was quite sad. However I feel pretty confident he'll take my paper since I would have had it in on time if I had simply gone to the right building first. I wrote him a lengthy and verbose email explaining my situation so hopefully he'll be sympathetic. After all, it was his mistake.

So after being disappointed in my valient efforts to turn in that paper on time I ran to the last Jenkins East hall dinner of the year... :-( Then I came back to my room and fell asleep for a bit. I was exhausted. But around 9:30 we had a little fun revisiting Traditiation ourselves. We ran around campus cheering and ended up rolling down a hill, getting sprayed with shaving cream, singing songs and generally having a good time. It was a nice break.

So that was my day. I should go study now. I will be sure to post that post on Traditiation ASAP. 3 more days!

Okay, so Maybe Not...

Well, I just got back from jazz juries and I no longer feel like the worst jazz piano student ever. I did alright. And I feel like I've put good effort into my performance so that's good. Now if I can just get through 2 papers and study for my Finite Math final tomorrow I'll be golden. That's not to say I'm not concerned about classical juries coming up, I just feel like at least I didn't blow this one thing. Brent even said it went well so I'll take his word for it. There were spots that could have been better but I was definitely familiar with the chord progression. Anyhow, that's good news. I've lived through Monday!!!!!!! 4 more days to go!

I hate Ear Training!

~Me to my Ear Training prof/jazz instructor Brent. Apparently it kind of hurt his feelings he says but I wasn't trying to insult him and really I wasn't being entirely truthful. Ask any of my friends and they will tell you I love Ear Training, it's amazing! I just wasn't too happy I about the Sight Singing exam at the moment. It's kind of embarrassing when it's just you and the prof and you have to sing accapella... I don't even really hate sight singing, I like to sing, I just don't being graded on it. Anyhow, Ear Training is amazing.

We get to sight sing a hymn and/or a Bach chorale first thing which is great! The chorales are especially cool. Then we read rhythms or sing out of our sight singing books, sometimes we listen to music. A lot of times we transcribe rhythms or melodies. Rarely we have a lecture. It's one of the funnest classes I have. As our final assignment this year we had to transcribe any song we liked and make a lead sheet. I had a difficult time choosing a song but eventually decided on Pink Martini's (Pink Martini is amazing! Please go to their website and listen to some of their stuff!) recording of No Hay Problema. It was pretty fun and Brent seemed to like it a lot. I'm excited because now I'll probably be able to work the rest of it out on piano and play it. I wouldn't have been able to do that at the beginning of the year. See, Ear Training is amazing.

I Deserve to Be Kicked Out of the Music Department...

I feel awful. I have just realized I am a terrible person! I wasn't trying to be a terrible person, it just kind of happened by accident... Okay, so I have juries coming up and I've been practicing and all that but I feel badly about this year because I was thinking about it and I realized I have been really terrible to my poor profs... I seriously doubt if either Bev or Brent has had a worse piano student than I have been! It's that awful!

Okay, so probably my worst moment this year has been my audition for renewal of my piano scholarship. Back when I was a senior in high school I auditioned for a piano scholarship so that I would get lessons for free... Well, I was so terrified you have no idea. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Judith and all the piano faculty at Whitworth and I worked really really hard choosing what pieces to play and then I practiced them a lot. Even so my audition didn't quite go the way I wanted. I nailed the Bach piece but that wasn't so much of a surprise as I'd first played it in 6th grade (so it wasn't like it was a huge challenge) but the Beethoven sonata which was the one I was counting on to really prove I could play some piano wasn't as solid as it could have been. Even so they granted me a half hour scholarship, which isn't as good as getting an hour but it was exciting. So this year I had to do an audition for renewal, which isn't supposed to be a big deal. They usually renew their scholarships unless you really blow it.

Well, I think I really blew it... I wasn't feeling too stressed but I felt kind of like an idiot because the pieces I've been working on this year have been nowhere near the level of difficulty (it seems) that I tackled in high school, and I've still been struggling with them! So I knew that my audition would seem pretty pathetic compared to last year's, but I felt solid on my pieces (Scarlatti and Chopin) so I was hopeful that I'd get a renewal. Well, just an hour or so before my audition I realized I didn't know the catalogue number to my Scarlattie piece! The worst of it was Judith had nailed me on this at juries because I hadn't known it and I'd promised I would memorize it! Good job Heidi, way to be a stupid lazy idiot. Seriously I am still kicking myself A LOT over this. It was such a STUPID thing to do. I had lost the sheet that said what number it was so here I am minutes before my audition scouring the internet for the right catalogue number... My roommate, bless her heart, didn't quite understand the gravity of the situation and was trying to tell me jokes or something from what she was doing on the internet. Meanwhile I am about to commit social suicide as far as any positive relationship with Judith for the future is concerned... Not to mention I can kiss goodbye to that scholarship renewal... Well, I did find something on the internet but I couldn't read the last number. So maybe I got lucky and I guessed the right one but was extremely stupid.

You see I felt so stupid and guilty about the whole thing that I told both Bev and Brent about the incident when they asked how my audition went. Bev was disapproving but I think I revealed I was in such distress that she felt a tiny bit sympathetic (even though I have been TERRIBLE about practicing this semester! I am so LAZY! I feel AWFUL!) But Brent just gave me this pained look that plainly spoke of disappointment and told me that Judith most certainly would have noticed that... Well I was aware of that thank you but I think I left the impression that I really didn't care and had just shrugged it off. Obviously that is not the case. This still really bothers me.

So I haven't heard anything and I'm thinking I didn't get a renewal which is fine because I really don't deserve one after pulling a stunt like that. This is college, you can't make stupid mistakes like that one. I just wish my instructors fully understood it wasn't on purpose and I wasn't being cocky and overly-confident that "oh of course" I would get a renewal...

Gosh I've been such a bad piano student I just want to hide in a hole. There've been so many jazz lessons where I've basically just wasted both Brent's and my time because I hadn't practiced enough over the week... He actually got angry at me one lesson, which, if you knew Brent, would know that it's IMPOSSIBLE to make him angry. It just doesn't happen. Angry isn't in his vocabulary, unless your Heidi Olson, the worst jazz piano student ever to enter the music building. Granted, there was a bit of a misunderstanding about what I was trying to say but I think he'd been getting frustrated enough with my obvious lack of effort that I deserved in whether it was a misunderstanding or not.

I'm not even going to start on my late papers for Bev. Let's just say she grants me grace I do not deserve.

Not that it's been like that all semester. The beginning of this semester I did really well practicing and such. It just feels like the bad outweighs the good.

So I have to apply for music major status at my next classical jury and if I were them... I would at the very least chew myself out for being such a... I don't know words literally fail me. Why am I so living challenged!? At least I've finally started putting the effort into my lessons that I should have been putting in all year. I've been listening to every copy of How High the Moon I can get my hands on (which isn't much) and living at the music building.

Anyhow, for some reason I've been remembering all these terrible moments that were definitely not my finest hour. I'm just afraid that my profs will think I don't care and that I do this sort of thing on purpose, which is not the case. I just have a really difficult time managing my time. It's really funny because on the whole I've been doing better this semester grades-wise.

Well, enough of my depressed moping. Today wasn't a bad day. I slept late (why am I sleeping so much? Is it stress? Depression? I don't understand!) and then after brunch I spent a couple hours at the music building. Then I did some listening at the library. I'd promised my friend Karen I would go to Catholic chant mass at 5:00 so around 4:00 I left the library and headed to St. Al's. Unfortunately I ended up leaving late (that always happens when I think I have plenty of time) and then I turned the wrong way on Mission so I got there 10 minutes late... But it was okay, and even if I'm not Catholic, chant mass is just cool. Afterwards I spent some time at Karen's, they fed me which was nice of them, and we played some music and it was really a nice afternoon. I left my bicycle to be repaired by Karen's dad (he's a bike mechanic) and left to spend some more time at the music building. I think I have a serious guilt complex. Enough of that though. Really. Heidi, stop it! Crying and complaining about it won't fix anything. I'll just do the best I can and then work at it over the summer and see where I get. The good thing is I'm not a performance major because, well, I just wouldn't cut it.

Anyhow, thta is my complaining sad cry me a river story for the week. I will tell you how finals go and try not to go insane. I mean, not all of the music faculty can hate me. I've been doing really well in Debbie's class, maybe she thinks I'm not so bad! And Keberle seems to think I've made loads of progress on jazz, which is nice even if it's not true. And Dr. Phil is always nice to me. Well, they're all nice to me, it's just I don't think I have the best reputation with certain profs. Dang it! It's so much harder to fix that sort of thing than to establish a good reputation in the first place. First impressions you know. Dang it. *kicks self repeatedly* Wait, I'm complaining again aren't I? Dang it! Ummmmm.

Did I mention Karen's little sister fell asleep in chant mass? It was one of the cutest things ever. And it was a pretty nice day. Kind of chilly, but not bad. I should go study. Thanks for reading this far if you did indeed read this far. You should get a gold star.

Spilt Milk

Somewhere there's music... I'll play the tune...

~How High the Moon

I'm waiting to see if the jazz station will play my request for "How High the Moon." I have to play that song Monday night for jazz juries and feel like I'm going to fail! I just want finals week to be over because all I'm going to be doing is being tested on what I've learned, I'm not going to actually be learning anything. I want to start making some real progress on the piano and I don't think that's going to happen until summer and I can devote significant portions of my day each day to playing. Well, hopefully Brent won't fail me. At the same time, I don't feel like I deserve an 'A' because I have NOT put in enough effort this term. *growls* I'm shooting myself in the foot as far as classical goes because I feel "comfortable" on my songs and... well... I just really need to practice.

If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'.

~Lina Lamont (Singin' in the Rain)

Friday was interesting. I was "fasting" all Thursday for kids in Honduras. The money I normally would have spent at Saga was donated to building a school. I really didn't think I was that hungry but I slept A LOT on Friday. When I finally woke up I discovered that our hall had been pranked the night before. Someone poured spoiled milk all over the hallways and it smelled (and still smells, to a lesser degree) disgusting! I mean, it was terrible! You couldn't breathe. Blech. So after I devoured my first meal in over 24 hours I went to class etc. That night though, I could not stay awake and it was only 8:00pm! I took a 2 hour nap and then when I was finally up my roommate Ally told me that her and Smac wanted to watch Singin' in the Rain! Yes! But first they were going to check out the swing dancing in the loop. Double sweetness! So I went with them and although I didn't actually get to dance it was fun to watch (especially watching Smac learn) and I got to hear some sweet music. I would really like to buy that "bela, bela" song but I actually don't remember what it's called. It was just really cool. Then we watched Singin' in the Rain, which my roommate had never seen before! That was really fun. I love that movie so much.

Today was pretty crazy as well. I did some packing so that it won't take so much time Friday and then I went to my cousin Becky's bridal shower. She is getting married this summer and it is quite exciting. I had to leave slightly early to make it to my hall's last hall activity (*sob!*) which was supposed to be at Tomato Street but when I got there the place was packed and I couldn't find them anywhere. Finally a girl told me they had gone to Red Robin (probably because Tomato Street was so packed) and I found them there and everything was okay.

So I haven't really done much. I definitely slept a lot and other than that I've been playing. Hmmm, somebody please remind me that finals week is NEXT WEEK and it would be a shame to screw up my good grades because I was too lazy to study/practice.

Oh, hey, here's an update on my request to the jazz station. The DJ finally played it about an hour and a half after I made it, but he apologized on the air for taking so long! He didn't get the voicemail until late so I forgive him. Anyhow, it was a pretty sweet Bud Powell recording, I enjoyed it much and heard some nice licks to incorporate into my soloing on Monday. Mmmmmm, jazz is amazing...

Amy Edsall's birthday

Well, today's been pretty low-key. I wouldn't even be posting anything if it wasn't for Amy's birthday today. Birthdays are always really fun in our hall because luckily most of the girls are a lot more thoughtful than I am. I seem to have inherited my mom's difficulties with social occassions and I really don't think that's spelled right but I'm too lazy to check it. Anyhow, we usually have some sort of dessert item and some variation of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey down in the basement and it's great fun. This time it was pin the "noob" (nub, Smoore has pronunciation problems) on the elk. Don't ask. Anyhow, it was pretty crazy, as is usual with those girls and I thought it was worth making a note of although now I realize this is quite boring.

Other than that today was the last regular session of Ear Training II... Great sadness. Thursday is our final, I did well on my math test... Ummmm... I got started on my transcription assignment for Ear Training. That was kind of fun. Let's see, interesting things DID happen today.

Keiley was talking on her cell phone and she randomly asked me how far it was from Post Falls to here. I estimated about 45 minutes. Then she decided that it would be better if I just told whoever was on her phone directly I guess because she handed it to me. So what do I do? So intelligently say "I don't even know who this is" over the phone! "It's my grandma," Keiley informs me. Thank you Keiley, you could have told me that before I made an idiot out of myself. Oh well that's a pretty common occurrance. That's also not spelled right. Occurrence? Occurence? It's too late to be doing this. "Hello Keiley's grandma," I said. Wow. Luckily Keiley's grandma has a sense of humor.

Speaking of Keiley, I went to a choreography recital type thing (I don't know what you'd call it) that she was in and it was very good. Good job Keiley! I'm going to miss her next year but then, I'll miss everybody. *wistful sigh*

*random fact* My roommate loses some depth perception when she takes out her contacts and she runs into things.

Oh, please watch this. I think it's funny. Hmmm, random. Okay well I'm going to stop writing now because it is late and I need to go to bed so I can get up early and do the practicing I didnt' do today. That's the thing about practicing, you can't put it off. There's no way to "cram" for a lesson. It just doesn't work that way and it really makes it difficult for people like me who don't manage their time well.

Not So Lazy Sunday

Come aa ye young ploughboys that list tae ma tale,
As ye sit roun the tables aa drinkin yer ale;
I'll tak ye aa back tae a far distant day,
When I drove the last Clydesdale, tae work on Denbrae.

There were twa bonnie blacks wi white faces and feet,
In the hale o the roond they had never been beat;
An ye'd lookit gey far twixt the Forth and the Tay,
For tae match thae twa Clydesdales, the pride o Denbrae.

They were matchless in power in the cairt or the ploo,
An ma voice and ma haund on the reins they weel knew;
There was only ae thocht in their minds but obey,
My twa gallant Clydesdales, the pride o Denbrae.

But the time it wears on, an the winters grow cauld,
An horses, like men, can dae nocht but grow auld;
But I mind o them still, as it were yesterday,
For I drove the last Clydesdales, tae work on Denbrae.

That was written in the 1950s by "Archie Webster of Strathkinness" around the time of the demise of the working horse in Scotland. Farming has definitely changed since then.

Sunday was pretty crazy in a really good way. After church the weather was SO nice. But I had this history paper due today. So, lamenting the fact that I had to be shut in a hole writing about Confucianism on such a beautiful day, I obediantly slogged off to my computer. Well, there was an email waiting for me in my inbox saying "Come to Dr. Sardinia's farm just North of here for an uber-fun horse-drawn carriage ride. Meet in the lounge at 1pm. Bring a dollar for gas." Oh man, oh man, there's not a power on earth that could have kept me sitting obediantly at the computer. I immediately scrounged up a dollar in change and began to hunt the halls for other prospective carriage-riding procrastinators.

I didn't find any, but I figured I'd wander down to the lounge area around 1:00 anyways and see if anyone was there. I pretended I was getting a soda, which I probably would have done to console myself if no one had been down there. Actually, no one was down there at first and I was extremely disappointed. Horses are one of my most favorite things on this planet and one of the most amazing creatures on God's green earth. So I slunk back up to my room but I could not stop staring at that email. It was taunting me. I went to check just one more time and was seriously considering jamming my change into the soda machine when I was asked if I was going on the carriage ride. Carriage ride? What carriage ride? Well of course I would love to come.

Soon I found myself in the backseat of a car, headed north into the country, looking out on a brisk yet sunny Sunday afternoon. I was just about as happy as I could possibly be. There were only 4 other girls, which was just about right. We arrived on Dr. Sardinia's "farm" of a few acres and his wife greeted us. Dr. Sardinia is a biology prof I think, so obviously I wouldn't know him, but boy am I glad someone in BJ did. The Sardinia's raise Clydesdales for competition and have about 13 horses. We were introduced to a bonnie pair, Dan, a gelding, and Gwen, a mare. They were just about the most gentle giants you could imagine and I thoroughly enjoyed helping to brush them down. Dan and I made great friends. Then we watched as they were harnassed and hitched to a wagon (it was really to be more of a hay ride, there was no carriage involved). Then we helped load the wagon with hay and hopped aboard for a short tour.

The weather was absolutely perfect. Everything's getting so green and there was a nice row of birch trees in the distance. We got to see all the horses and all I remember is they have one stallion, Igor, a really strange cross-breed that looks like a quarter horse, and a couple percheron in addition to a ton of clydesdales. It was extremely cool.

The Sardinia's were extremely nice people and answered all my questions. We ended up over by their neighbors house where we picked up about 3 kids and I don't know how many dogs. It was great! You rarely get to see kids or dogs at Whitworth. Tails were wagging and the little girl sitting next to me chattered away about her favorite horse and whatnot although I couldn't understand her half the time.

Apparently Ellen, the Sardinia's neighbor, likes to go riding with Whitworth students so I think I might see if I can make friends with her come fall. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end so we left covered in mud and hay and horse hair.

Well, I came back and took a shower and ate dinner and then found I didn't have time to write my paper because the Women's Choir concert was soon and I'd promised Katrina I'd go. I'm glad I did. The drive down was more of the same glorious weather and it was fun to see the river in the sunset.

The concert itself was extremely good, I'm going to make a CD. Debbie did a great job, the choir sounded really tight and all of the music was REALLY cool. So I drove back home after pretty much the most perfect Sunday, singing along with the jazz station the whole way, and then I realized as I walked back to my dorm (with music from the Stewart Lawn Dance blaring in my ears) that I still had a 3-page paper to write... Fuuuunnnn.

I really, really tried to get it done but I could not for the life of me find any quotes. It was crazy and I was afraid it was going to be like the closest thing I've ever had to an all-nighter. Last semester when I was taking honors reading lit (yes it was a crazy thing to do) I spent a whole night trying to write an essay on this great book called North and South. I took around 3 30-minute naps. When you think about it, that's worse than just staying awake because I didn't get any REM sleep. Pretty much it's like being really hungry, and putting food in your mouth, and then spitting it back out. I was so tired and I'd been drink soda to stay awake so I felt terrible too. That was pretty much the worst night ever. It's amazing it hasn't ruined that book for me. But I didn't have to do that this time. I got up early this morning and hammered something out before class at 2:00pm. It's definitely not my best work but it'll get me by and I wouldn't have traded that afternoon for, I don't know, it was worth the sacrifice is what I'm saying.

So that was my amazing Sunday. Now there's only one Monday left in the year. That's a nice thought. Still a lot to do though so I'd better sign off. I will leave you with the recommendation to read North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and then (only afterwards) to watch the excellent miniseries.

Watching the Clouds Go By

The heavens tell of the glory of God.
The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.
Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
They speak without a sound or a word;
their voice is silent in the skies;
yet their message has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to all the world.

~Psalm 19:1-4

Today was a gorgeous day. One of the warmest we've had in quite a while, and pretty humid for this part of the world. I listened to music the whole day, so maybe this post should be more music themed. I got up late and practiced quite a bit, then I had to enjoy the sunshine for a while. So I lay outside and listened to music and watched the clouds go by. That was the best part of the day. Clouds are so fascinating.

Then I went to a senior piano recital, which was amazing! Now I'm sitting listening to OTR, a vocal group that Keiley, a girl in my hall, has introduced me to. They're very good. On my way over to the music building it was overcast, and there was a lot of lightning and thunder. It's funny, because a few hours before I was gazing at beautiful blue sky. I love thunderstorms though, they're so powerful. It's been raining off and on since then and I feel badly for the people at Global Night Commute. Most of my hall is participating so it's pretty quiet. It makes me feel kind of guilty.

There are so many different causes competing for your attention/time/money at college its difficult to see straight. There's so much need in the world that a person can't possibly address it all, at the same time you can't do nothing. It's difficult to find a balance. I do love that there are a lot of opportunities to serve here, but I haven't taken as much advantage of them as I would like. It's definitely going to be a top priority next year. One thing that is difficult is that a lot of organizations need male volunteers more than females. There are more girls than guys on campus anyways, so it's not necessarily that the guys aren't stepping up to the task.

Anyhow, just some thoughts on a quiet, rainy, Saturday night.

Herrrrrrrrrrrrrrrmineh

Moses supposes his toes are roses/But Moses supposes erroneously/Moses he knowes his toeses aren't roses/As Moses supposes his toeses to be.

~Singin' in the Rain

I can't roll my r's. I have tried and tried but I just can't do it. 'Tis quite frustrating. One of our jazz combo tunes is called "Hermine" but nobody's sure how to pronounce it so our drummer always calls it Herrrrrrmineh, but I can't do it.

Today was pretty crazy. I was up really late last night finishing my math homework when I realized I forgot to turn in my last Music Theory assignment of the year! I even had it finished, I just forgot to turn the dumb thing in to the music office at 5:00 (because I was taking a nap, because I'd been up really late the night before.) So I will get a zero. I hope I don't lose my 'A.' I was really excited about getting an 'A' in a class that's worth more than 1 credit. Hopefully if I get an 'A' on the next exam and final I will be okay.

Today was such a nice day. The weather was gorgeous. Spring is truly here. I didn't do as well on my Ear Training chord progression quiz as I would have liked but I did do well in sight singing and I think my rhythm transcriptions went well. After Ear Training I walked back to the HUB with Amy and Christina and Amy had "Moses Supposes" stuck in her head, so I said we should sing it. So we did! Really loud! People stared and it was a lot of fun.

Pretty much all of today I was mentally preparing for my jazz combo recital. It may sound silly seeing as all of about 10 people came to listen (which is fine with me) but its the symbolism of the thing that's important. I came here at the beginning of the year feeling like I was crazy to try and study jazz. I've been studying classical piano for 10 years so I felt that I might be able to at least keep my head above water but jazz is something strange and new to me and I feel like I should have more training before I take up the time of the very fine jazz musicians in the music department. However, my family was very supportive and after talking with the music department chair briefly I decided to audition for a combo.

I felt like a complete idiot. The audition materials were so difficult and I practiced a ton but I didn't feel ready. I remember waiting for my audition time and then walking into this small room with a bunch of strange men staring at me (a couple of whom I recognized from SJO concerts, talk about intimidating!) I handed them my audition form and then Dan (department chair and head of the SJO) said something like "so you understand what the group is about right?" I would have thought that was self-evident so I was kind of confused. Then he said something about singing and made me thoroughly confused. Finally it was clarified that he thought I was trying out for the vocal jazz group when I was really auditioning on piano. "Oh, we need to move to a room with a piano then!" was his response. So, me and these 3 or 4 guys form this absurd little procession and march past the people waiting to audition and I am already completely mortified. Worst of all, Brent Edstrom, one of the absolutely best pianists in the area, is one of the adjudicators! I was pretty much terrified.

I don't remember much from my audition. I think I pretty much crashed and burned and my solo was horrendous. I thanked them multiple times for listening to me and they were very positive about it. Still, I was quite surprised when I made a jazz combo and what's more, my parents were going to let me take jazz lessons from Brent!

Needless to say I've become quite a bit more comfortable with the music department by now, although I still feel extremely out of place a lot of the time. I wasn't nearly as nervous this time around for the recital but think about it. These people have been so supportive of me, even though I haven't always been the best student I could have been. I wanted so badly to show I'd improved and that their good faith wasn't waisted. I'm not sure if I accomplished that in the performance tonight. Things went fairly well but I feel like I could have done a lot better. Since I've decided to continue to pursue jazz, it's something I really want to succeed at so hopefully if I work really hard this summer I'll be able to make much more progress next year. Dan and Brent seemed pleased with the performance and told me I'd improved, but I don't know, I feel like I could have accomplished more.

My dad and my uncle and aunt came to the recital, which was nice. They're so supportive. I'm so blessed to have such a great family. Okay, this post is getting entirely to sentimental and sappy and so forth. Bottom line, jazz is just about the awesomest thing ever. It just is. I would very much like to be able to play it better, but in order to do that I need to work harder. So that's what I'm going to do. I still have 3 years of college to hone my skills and after that, who knows? Learning doesn't stop there.

What's in a Name?

A rose by any other name would still smell...

~Reduced Shakespeare

Believe it or not, parts of this blog are *gasp!* NOT COMPLETELY RANDOM!!!

The purpose of this post to explain the origins of the title "Swedish Toast." To begin with, I have never had many nicknames. When I was little my family used to call me Doodles. Sometimes I would pretend I was a dog and I would make my family call me "Dummett," do not ask me why... They thought they were going to get turned in for child abuse. A family friend called me snickers sometimes. Take note that if you combine my 2 legitimate nicknames it makes "snickerdoodles" which is the name of a delicious cookie. Now my Dad calls me "Munchkin" (isn't that embarrassing?) but consider, what do you do when you eat a cookie such as a snickerdoodle?

The next part of my story begins in college. Here I have somehow managed to accumulate a plethora of nicknames. The first of these was "The Swede." This nickname was bestowed upon me during certain covert operations against certain rival dorms (that's all I'm going to say, if you want the full story you will have to ask me privately, it's highly classified information). We had to have codenames and at first mine was going to be "Milk Maiden" because apparently I remind Whitney of one. Maybe she's been reading too many Grimm's Fairy Tales or something. Anyhow, she said I looked Swedish and I am kind of because I'm technically 1/4 Swedish. So I was the Swede. Later came many more, including MOP (Master of Piano, flattering but untrue), Sheidino (it's my name with the 'son' from my roommates name 'Allyson' added on), and lastly "Toast." Why Toast? Because one day while I was in the dining hall, otherwise known as saga, I decided I would like some Toast. So I got the bread and put it in the little toaster oven thing... No big deal. Well, while I was waiting for it to be toasted I looked in to see how my bread was fairing. I was totally unprepared for the sight that greeted my eyes. Instead of a piece of bread turning a pleasant golden brown there were BLUE FLAMES shooting EVERYWHERE!!! BLUE!!! I DO NOT EXAGGERATE! I didn't know what to do!? Was I going to burn down saga!? Sadly this was not to be. My toast came out of the toaster oven resembling a large piece of charcoal. I still have what's left of it hanging outside my door in remembrance of the event.

So there you have it. Swedish Toast. There is a reason for it. And, as it turns out, Swedish Toast happens to be a cookie! You may not believe me but it is true. I've put a link to the recipe under "The Real Swedish Toast."

Apparently there is an independent film called "Toast." The picture above is from its website. At least I think it's its website.

Housing Lottery is EVIL!!!

It is. Um yes, well, my computer is doing weird things right now and it's driving me nuts so if this isn't typed properly it's not my fault.

So Smac and Smoore are in my room right now and Smoore is talking about how she has to find out what she'll get as a present before Christmas or whatever and how her cousin broke her American Girl dolls. Now we're talking about American Girl dolls, Smac just got off the phone with her grandpa who was "trashed" because he was at a cocktail party. She's saying he got really mad when her mom gave her a black American Girl doll because apparently her grandparents are slightly racist... Not cool, I know, and quite inappropriate but I thought it was interesting so I'm putting it in here.

*Smoore's advice for the day: Don't marry people you meet on the internet.

Yesterday was Housing Lottery and so at approximately 10:00 I traipsed over to the hub to participate. It was awful! I'm not even going to go into the details but basically they cram you into a huge line and then you watch as the rooms you wanted fill up.

****We interrupt this post to bring you the following message...****
Awwww drat! I didn't save the rest of this post. Well I don't feel like rewriting it NOW. I'll get around to it later...

The Deep Breath Before the Plunge

It's hard to believe, but there's only 3 weeks left until I'm done with my first year of college. I'd say "it's gone by so fast!" or some such drivel but it really hasn't. Second semester has stepped along fairly quickly, but that only makes up for the endless odyssey that was my first semester at college. I don't think I even realized how drained I was from that until spring semester when I finally had one or two things figured out and didn't have quite such a heavy course load...

So things are already busy in a sense, but I'm going to have a lot less time in the near future. Unfortunately I have to go to combo practice right now, and then I have to practice, and then I have to deal with housing lottery, but I do plan on posting some more today so... er... stay posted.

Alright, so I'm sitting here with a nametag on my wrist (I hate nametags and I figure this way I won't forget to take it off) telling me I have 1 housing points and lottery number of 2667. I'm waiting until 10:00 for housing lottery. I'll tell you all about that situation after it's over. Right now I think I'll waste time reminiscing about my first semester. So, generally freshman don't get to choose who they room with, mainly because they don't know anyone. They do get to choose what dorm they would prefer. I remember being totally lost about which dorm I wanted (hmmmm, that really hasn't changed much) and then using the old standby of my siblings. Why am here in the first place? Because my brother and sister went here and it seemed like a good place. So what dorm did my brother and sister both live in? Only the best (and only all-freshman) dorm on campus, BJ! My sister-in-law tried to tell me that I would hate it, that it was loud and the people would all be scary and outgoing hormone-crazed teenagers who were always all over each other and that it would be miserable. I'm glad I didn't listen to her ;) I've really enjoyed living in "the beej" as it is sometimes referred to. Life in the beej can certainly be exciting, but you're only a freshman in college once! Well, it doesn't get that exciting actually. I'm giving the wrong impression here. It's a dry campus so, while some people do drink, that's not the prevalent atmosphere. Instead, most of the people I know have all the fun acting drunk without actually being drunk. Just think, all of the fun with all of the brain cells!

I always go to bed tomorrow.

~My roommate Ally

I Can't Believe I Have a Blog...

Yes, well, hello and welcome to my blog. When I first heard about blogs, I thought "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. Who would actually go around reading all that junk?" (By the way, this blog is G rated) But now I've realized not only that it's bad to start a sentence with the word 'but,' but also that it doesn't really matter if anyone reads this or not! What matters is that I'm writing it and therefore contributing to the multitudes of "self expression" created by rich people with nothing better to do. Besides, who cares if anyone actually reads it? It's not really going to be that interesting for one thing. I can always pretend people are reading it for another. And hey, I'm recording memories which someday, provided this site doesn't crash or become so obselete that no one will be able to access it, I'll be able to read over when I'm old.

So basically all I'm doing is writing about me, because everyone knows that that's what's important. This is sarcasm by the way. Sometimes I forget you can't hear it over a computer. Um, so yes, this is just the introductory post. Soon I will have legitimate posts of exciting times at college to share. I kind of wish I'd had this at the beginning of the year because my first year of college has been amazing! I'll probably reminisce about it often so brace yourselves.

Well then, you can stop reading now. Really, I mean it. Um, have a nice day? I mean that too. :-)

To blog, perchance to blog, ay there's the rub

~Leah