Last Day of Class! I made it through one term, except for the finals period part. Should be busy, but manageable: 1 fifteen page paper to revise 1 five page paper 1 interview transcription 1 take home final 1 week to go! So today's events consisted of meeting Rebecca to go over my piece, going to class to have it performed (and see everyone else's projects, several of which were really cool), staying for film class, wherein I turned in my project, watched What's Up Tiger Lily and What's Opera, Doc? and had a fairly boring review session. I swear, professors here repeat stuff sooooo much. Glacial pacing is a little extreme, but some days, we cover maybe a third of what we ought to be able to. And from the other comments by others, it's not just that I get bored easily or learn fast or something. Anyway, this term was good- I learned new things, have newer, more refined ideas for my own direction, and look forward to teaching. After going home and eating and giving my brief campaign spiel for Soc-Ed co-chair at the co-op (hyphens!), I trekked downtown with Claire and assorted others (Kira, Kathy, and Matt) to see Holiday Inn. But it was sold out. So I took Kira's comment that she was going tosee the Orchestra as an invitation to go. I enjoyed this recent piece by a student with the stupidest name ever "Songs the Plants Taught Us." It has this lush orchestral, cineamtically epic feel to it. It's a warm piece, which incorporates middle-eastern music into a minimalist/romantic aesthetic. Really well done- constantly feeling familiar but with a vibrant energy pulsing throughout. Bravo. And the the Bartok 2nd piano concerto. The pianist was technically amazing, and did a marvelous job crafting the phrases and bringing a clarity to the dens counterpoint. The orchestra was also quite good, especially at evoking the atmospheric opening to the middle movement. The concerto I find plods a little in the middle and this performance felt a little hammeringly exhausting, missing some of the nuance in the outer movements, but it was an enjoyable evening. I ducked out at the intermission, skjipping Shostakovich 12 because a) I have yet to really get into him and b) time is a little tight these days, so I opted for workl, which got stalled because I forgot my headphones for the dictation machine. So I checked email and am updating here. Something is always gained. Maybe I'll be productive later. Also, I've not had much time to process Golden Globe noms, but it leads more excitement for Brokeback Mountain and Syriana and The Producers and Mrs. Henderson Presents and Match Point, while making me extremely pleased that The Constant Gardener held its ground and wasn't forgotten. But what about Joan Allen, so marvelous in The Upside of Anger? I'll probably have more reactions as the season continues. Stay tuned.
12/12/05- ***
A fast-paced day. I got up and made a quiche, which made me late for class, but just a little, and it was not really even starting when i got there. It was a party. We talked, we were social, and we had fun and food. Yum! Then a cook shift which sucked because a) we only had 2 people and b) A bunch of leftover dishes to wash by hand from last night were still needing to get done and c) my passing along of directions to make the salad last went unheeded, so I finished washing dishes and then had to do a ton of other stuff the other guy forgot to do or didn't think about. But, I listened to Company and natalie Macmaster and Prokofiev 4and 7, which provide excellent madly running music, don't you think. Dinner sort of whule my banana chocolate bread pudding baked. Then Alex came and we and his pie and my pudding went off to gather Rebecca and Liz and went off to Mark's house for our 509 party. It was fun, although Alex, Liz, Bethany, and I were in the other half of Mark's living room, which was odd. I was my usually silly self, making Rebecca laugh when i told her, "Sometimes God speaks to you through a burning bush, and sometimes He speaks to you through me." Also getting laughs was the battery exchange- Pat: "WHy does he have all those D batteries on his shelf?" Me: "In case the A, B, and C batteries fail." Alex: "I'm not going to give you grade on this paper. I'm just going to give you this battery." And my 509 Drinking Game, with catchphrases and other repeated bits from the class got a lot of laughter. Finally we had our serious portion, where we had to write ourselves a letter about our goals, which Mark will mail in a couple years. I put a mint in mine, just so it's a bit more exciting to receive. Then I came home, read a bit, talked to Claire and Natalie for a while, and went to bed rather early (circa midnight). That's now early, by the way.
10:23 PM
