Last Friday, I packed my backpack and a cardboard box full of virtuous things like my Latin textbook, my organ music, and a pair of woollen socks. I'd marked the next week's readings in my SEAL (Survey of English & American Lit) textbook, stapled and torn out the next section of Latin homework, and utterly forgotten how much work I usually do during vacations.
Would you like to guess how much of that I've worked on?
Yep. Absolutely none. To justify my actions, I'd like to explain that I've been very busy trying to win at two-suit spider solitaire, shopping for school clothes, and experimenting with the settings on the keyboard my mum's borrowed to use for this year's Messiah.
Organ practise so far this week: 0 hours.
But that's okay, because I'm only fifteen minutes behind where I should be right now. Technically speaking, I don't have to do the weekly 5 hours during Thanksgiving Break, since the quarter is ten weeks long and I only have to practise 45 hours per quarter to receive a maximum grade of A.
Right now it's rather chilly - and not dry and chilly like it is at college; no, it's extremely damp here. I have realised how fortunate I am at school: my box of cornflakes has been open to the elements for several weeks now, and they're still not stale. Here, a box of anything open to the elements goes stale in a matter of seconds, but I digress. I miss my little dorm room with the broken heater, cold lino floor, and scenic view of the interior of a pine tree. I miss seeing my friends on the way to class, practising a real organ in a really acoustically beautiful place, having to decide what I want for supper, and having a nice warm study room in which to work, but now I really digress, otherwise I'm going to start dripping saline on the keyboard.
Have a happy Thanksgiving, all you nonexistent readers.
L'chaim,
~`Cello Girl
26 November 2008
09 November 2008
Crazy Times
At my other home (you know, the one that isn't college), I can't help feeling like I'm known as a socially dull person. My social life consisted of school- and church-sponsored events; oftentimes, I was perfectly happy to spend Saturday nights reading or taking a bubble bath.
Then I came to college and everything changed.
First of all, it makes a huge difference to have all of my resources within walking distance (well, except Starbucks). Secondly, in a community of two thousand students and professors, there are so many diverse interests that events run rampant. Just last Thursday, I had to choose between Orchestra practise and a symposium on forgiveness. I'm forever skipping English Club events because they conflict with other events - the Guy Fawkes event was my first, in fact. And next Saturday night, I'm going to have to choose a presentation by two professional Shakespearean actors over another night of contra-dancing. (Sigh.)
Yesterday was seriously cool. I went to Sabbath School in the guys' dorm, then caught the second service at the church. Then I had lunch in the caf with some friends, and we ended up going hiking and (gasp) following a small trail that is probably not officially endorsed. After sundown, we broke out the pizzas, raspberry bars, and hot apple cider, and set up camp in the girls' dorm parlour, where we watched chick flicks until nearly one in the morning.
On a side note, this evening, I thought I'd bake some cookies for my friends, so I took my little package of refrigerated cookie dough and went to the hall kitchen, and there was my friend H, making handmade tortillas, beans, and fried plátanos. Never being one to turn down chocolate, I went ahead and baked the cookies, feeling rather simplistic for not making the dough by hand.
H and I also made a lemon-meringue pie on Friday afternoon. It varied a little from the recipe, since we used a blend of white and brown sugar and I am not the most attentive of cooks. If I'm cooking with friends, I sometimes concentrate more on talking than on cooking. On this occasion, I was in charge of the pie crust, so it ended up a wee bit overworked. Also we couldn't find a pie tin, so we used a cake pan. We ended up calling it "scrambled egg pie", although H's lemon filling turned out very well. I have half a mind to make it again, using pomegranate juice instead of lemon juice and chocolate meringue in place of regular, but we'll see what happens.
L'chaim,
~`Cello Girl
Then I came to college and everything changed.
First of all, it makes a huge difference to have all of my resources within walking distance (well, except Starbucks). Secondly, in a community of two thousand students and professors, there are so many diverse interests that events run rampant. Just last Thursday, I had to choose between Orchestra practise and a symposium on forgiveness. I'm forever skipping English Club events because they conflict with other events - the Guy Fawkes event was my first, in fact. And next Saturday night, I'm going to have to choose a presentation by two professional Shakespearean actors over another night of contra-dancing. (Sigh.)
Yesterday was seriously cool. I went to Sabbath School in the guys' dorm, then caught the second service at the church. Then I had lunch in the caf with some friends, and we ended up going hiking and (gasp) following a small trail that is probably not officially endorsed. After sundown, we broke out the pizzas, raspberry bars, and hot apple cider, and set up camp in the girls' dorm parlour, where we watched chick flicks until nearly one in the morning.
On a side note, this evening, I thought I'd bake some cookies for my friends, so I took my little package of refrigerated cookie dough and went to the hall kitchen, and there was my friend H, making handmade tortillas, beans, and fried plátanos. Never being one to turn down chocolate, I went ahead and baked the cookies, feeling rather simplistic for not making the dough by hand.
H and I also made a lemon-meringue pie on Friday afternoon. It varied a little from the recipe, since we used a blend of white and brown sugar and I am not the most attentive of cooks. If I'm cooking with friends, I sometimes concentrate more on talking than on cooking. On this occasion, I was in charge of the pie crust, so it ended up a wee bit overworked. Also we couldn't find a pie tin, so we used a cake pan. We ended up calling it "scrambled egg pie", although H's lemon filling turned out very well. I have half a mind to make it again, using pomegranate juice instead of lemon juice and chocolate meringue in place of regular, but we'll see what happens.
L'chaim,
~`Cello Girl
05 November 2008
Election Day Special
Last night, for those of you currently cut off from civilisation with this blog as your one connection to the outside world, was the culmination of the Presidential Election here in the US. It was my first time voting and my first time watching the results on TV. (The closest I've gotten to that was the 2000 election, when we listened to the results on the radio until it was my bedtime.) For the 2004 election, my class held an impromptu poll for grades 1-12, recorded the results, and probably watched some of the aftermath on TV.
Now I'm in college and my peers take it more seriously because they can vote, and I admit it, that responsibility is contagious. Yes, I actually voted. I wasn't sure what registering to vote would do to my claim on Australian citisenship, but I figured that it wouldn't do any more harm than getting a driver's licence did, and anyhow, the chances of me needing Australian citisenship anytime soon for anything other than bragging rights are basically nil, so I might as well vote.
Election Night was celebrated here in grand style by the Young Democrats club, the History Club, the Social Work Club, and the College Republicans club. Not being a member of any of those clubs, I snuck into the meeting anyway, stood in a corner, and watched the results come through, because (a) I knew people at the meeting; (b) I needed to get out of my dorm room, otherwise I would be eating everything in sight; and (c) watching CNN projected onto a huge screen sure beats waiting for it to either load onto my computer or appear on YouTube in 5-minute installments. So I stayed there for almost two hours, read Shakespeare during commercial breaks, and generally had a great time.
The club I'm in is celebrating Guy Fawkes Night tonight with the History Club. It promises to be a highly entertaining time ...
Later,
~`Cello Girl
Now I'm in college and my peers take it more seriously because they can vote, and I admit it, that responsibility is contagious. Yes, I actually voted. I wasn't sure what registering to vote would do to my claim on Australian citisenship, but I figured that it wouldn't do any more harm than getting a driver's licence did, and anyhow, the chances of me needing Australian citisenship anytime soon for anything other than bragging rights are basically nil, so I might as well vote.
Election Night was celebrated here in grand style by the Young Democrats club, the History Club, the Social Work Club, and the College Republicans club. Not being a member of any of those clubs, I snuck into the meeting anyway, stood in a corner, and watched the results come through, because (a) I knew people at the meeting; (b) I needed to get out of my dorm room, otherwise I would be eating everything in sight; and (c) watching CNN projected onto a huge screen sure beats waiting for it to either load onto my computer or appear on YouTube in 5-minute installments. So I stayed there for almost two hours, read Shakespeare during commercial breaks, and generally had a great time.
The club I'm in is celebrating Guy Fawkes Night tonight with the History Club. It promises to be a highly entertaining time ...
Later,
~`Cello Girl
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
