I miss Ralphie

Ralphie stayed with me this past weekend. It was AWESOME. I miss him and his head-butting. I even miss the kitty snot.

I'm really looking forward to having a dog some day. I would like something smallish that doesn't require a lot of exercise. Actually, it would be better for me to get a dog that needs to walk once or twice a day since it would force me to get off the couch.

Things are going well. I'm very happy with my personal life. Hopefully, I will be teaching horn lessons soon and working on my professional life. I will gladly take advice on what I should be or do.

I forgot to put any product in my hair today. It's REALLY curly...

Oops, I went for a week again

Ralphie is staying with me for Easter/my birthday weekend! HOORAY!

If you need me, I'm probably listening to "AK-MOMO."

Oh wowzers

I haven't written in a week! That went fast.

I just began listening to the second set of music Steve gave me. After hearing a few songs I can safely say I'm a fan of "AK-MOMO." I have no idea how to describe it other than awesome. Steve, if you're still reading this would you please help me with that?

In other news, I can't wait to move out of here. I'm looking forward to having privacy again.

My brother got me the craziest thing for my birthday: a random box of stuff from Archie McPhee.

:-D

no, really

:-)

I'm really happy right now.

As Tedesco says, "HUGE"

A friend of mine from OU comes into the store every Monday because his step-sons take lessons. I have known Mike since 2001, when I first met him working in the music library. I don't remember exactly what he majored in but I know it's something like exercise physiology. Anyway, I asked him if he would be willing to write a program for me in exchange for baked goods. He agreed! I am really looking forward to getting my sluggy self into shape.

Let this be a lesson to you, kids: always make friends with the people at the library.

"Saturn" kills me every time

For some weird reason, I often ask people which movement of "The Planets" is their favorite. Most of the time, "Jupiter" is the answer and I can understand why. It's catchy, it has three nicely defined sections, the horn part is FREAKING SWEET, etc. There are a few people who answer "Mars," which I completely respect. It's in five (which we don't hear every day), it's loud, it's menacing, it brings an evil smirk to the face, etc.

For me, "Saturn" is in a league of its own. None of the other movements display such a wide range of emotions. I can't even describe how it makes me feel, I just know how deeply it affects me. I can listen to it while doing something else (such as writing this blog entry), but I have to pause for the last two minutes. These two minutes are other-worldly and perfect. The final cadence makes my heart ache. I can only think of a few more pieces right now that cause me to feel this way.

I think I was in seventh grade when I first heard "The Planets," and "Saturn" has been my favorite ever since. I still can't listen to "Neptune," though. It scares the crap out of me.

Slow day today

I got to practice some more Satie. Now, I love both "Gymnopedie #1" and "Gnossiennes #1." I can't wait to learn the other four!

That's a hell of a caucasian, Jackie

Steve and I were introduced to a beautiful thing last night: a white russian made with vanilla vodka. We also learned to come packing with as many singles as possible to take over the jukebox. I don't even remember all the crappy songs we heard last night, though we did get to play Supertramp, Curtis Mayfield, and Sly and the Family Stone.

I have probably laughed more in the past two days than I have since the new year began.

Oh wow

I had real sushi for the first time tonight. IT WAS SO GOOD! I will put a picture of our order on Facebook and attempt to describe each item.




Soooooooooo gooooooooooodddddddddddd

So here I am...

I'm sitting in Diana's living room watching "Sliding Doors," eating fruit snacks, and hanging out with my god-cat Ralphie. He is the second best cat I've ever known (no one can replace Pickle, my neighbor's cat who was killed by a loose dog). I will post pictures of Ralphie when I get home tomorrow night. He is adorable. At one point this morning he was attempting to catch his tail, which was very cute. I took a video of him attacking the cord on my camera, which I will also post on Facebook.

I am so glad I was able to come here this weekend. Diana is one of my best friends and I miss her a lot. I'm also happy to have two days off work.

By the way, you should be jealous of my dinner from last night - pasta with clam sauce mmmmm

I like-a-da food

Shockingly, I haven't talked about cooking or baking yet. These are two of my favorite things to do, especially when I am making things for other people. I'm not sure if I enjoy one more than the other; some days I'm just in the mood to bake something. I suppose it comes down to the recipes themselves. When I'm cooking, I use the recipe as a guide or I don't use a recipe at all (I only have a few original dishes). I generally don't measure seasonings anymore because I do taste tests at various stages. I'm also getting better at identifying and creating the bold, complex flavors I prefer.

Baking is entirely different. The analogy of cooking as an art and baking as a science is pretty accurate. I very rarely stray from a baking recipe, and if I do it's only with a recipe I have used at least once before. One must have the proper ingredients and ratios to ensure the necessary chemical reactions. Baking obviously appeals to my left-braininess. I don't think I have any original baking recipes, though there are some I would say I do better than others. I am pretty good at cinnamon rolls, pies, and cookies. I definitely need more practice with yeast breads (other than the cinnamon rolls) since I can never get the second rise to work out the way its supposed to. Maybe I should build or buy a proofing box. I guess the simple solution would be to spray the dough with water before and perhaps during its proofing time.

I love to read cookbooks and recipes online for inspiration. My two favorite books are "Saffron Shores: Jewish Cooking of the Southern Mediterannean" (which, sadly, I haven't actually used yet) and the enormous cookbook encyclopedia my grampa gave me. If my memory serves me correctly, it's approximately 1500 pages. It has everything - there's even a chapter devoted to setting up and choosing dishes for buffets! I love the approach of this book, because it often lists a master recipe and then gives variations. I also appreciate the tips and trouble-shooting section in the cake chapter. Even if I were to make something different out of the book each day, I doubt I would ever finish it.

Let me know if you ever want something. I will probably be more than happy to make it for you.

I can't figure it out

All of my time-stamps are three hours behind. I tried fixing this but I guess it didn't work.

It's maddening...

Oh, I just got it!

This will be a week of downs and then ups

Downs:

-I haven't slept well in 3.5 years, but it's been worse recently. I'm so tired I could cry.

-Work is stressful right now. We have a TON to do tomorrow.

-Work is even more stressful because the district manager's boss is coming this week.

Ups:

-I'm going to visit Diana and Charlton in Morgantown and listen to Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" or the great mp3 cd Steve made me while traveling.

-I get to meet my god-kitteh Ralphie.

-Work will be better once this week is over.

-I'm seeing the Divine Performing Arts next Sunday.

I'm apologizing now (I'm really sorry) if I am grouchy or stupid due to lack of sleep. Hopefully, I'll be back to "normal" once I get home from WV.

My newest (to me) music

The B-52s newish album "Funplex" is awesome. No, really! Every track has a great groove that causes involuntary toe-tapping and/or head-bopping. Fred Schneider is the man. How much fun would it be to hang out with them for a day?

My favorite "new" music is Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's "Pictures at an Exhibition." I was first introduced to this through a dvd of a live concert. It has to be one of the greatest albums ever recorded, period. Their arrangements/interpretations of the movements stay true to the original work but add that ELP heavy synth sound we all love and enjoy. "The Curse of Baba-Yaga" might be my favorite part simply because the bassoon soli is replaced by an amazingly distorted guitar with a wah-wah pedal (I think?). "The Gnome" and "The Old Castle" are equally fun, with the former's drum part and the latter's crazy introduction. I probably shouldn't be singling out specific tracks because it's a waste of time; the entire album is phenomenal.

Have you listened to Dallapiccola's "Quaderno Musicale di Annalibera" lately?

Perhaps you should.

If loving tv and movies is wrong, I don't wanna be right

It's no secret I love tv and movies. There are many shows I like to watch, especially the Wednesday 10:00 p.m. Bravo shows. The best part about Wednesday Bravo nights is texting my friend Jen. She and I met this past summer at OSU and immediately hit it off. We text each other our thoughts and opinions of the show as it progresses. We already made it through three: Project Runway (still my favorite), Top Design, and Top Chef (very nearly my favorite). Since Top Chef ended last night, we will start watching Make Me a Supermodel together. 

Ok, I admit I'm not proud I watch that show. For me, the interest lies in watching the interaction between the models and photographers. I like watching the process of art being made. I guess that's what I can tell myself to feel better about watching it. "No, really, it's art!"

One of my favorite things is quoting tv shows and movies. My brother and I are notorious for doing this, especially with each other. The problem is when we do it in public and alienate ourselves from nearly everyone. At least we make each other laugh. Sometimes, we will text each other random quotes just to be weird. For instance, last week he sent me "Gutter is a tool!" and I responded a couple days later with "I once thought I had mono for an entire year. It turns out I was just really bored."

By the way, you can listen to "Bluish" here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs7ZP4zKLm0

Sorry about giving you the lyrics and no real context for them.

I never claimed to be good at blogging

I admit I'm a little too left-brained to do anything other than write lists. I will have less boring posts after my upcoming trip to WVU and some concerts.

These are the instruments I want to learn:

1. Erhu

2. Accordion

3. Theramin

4. Classical guitar (I'm practicing on my electric first)

5. Sitar (which is really just an excuse to learn ragas and talas)

6. Guqin (a zither like the one the assassins in Kung Fu Hustle play)

7. Singing saw

8. Drum set (haven't played much since high school percussion ensemble)

9. Shawm or rackett

10. I would say bass except I would want to play a bunch of Primus stuff, which is probably WAY too hard for me. I would end up torturing myself trying to learn "Tommy the Cat." Heck, I can't even understand most of the lyrics!

I love it

These are the lyrics to "Bluish."

I'm getting lost in your curls

I'm drawing pictures on your skin, so soft it twirls

I like your looks when you get mean

I know I shouldn't say so but when you claw me like a cat, I'm beaming

I like the way you squeeze my hand

Pulling me to another dream, we should dream

I'm getting lost in your curls

I'm getting crushed out on the things that only I should see

They're not for boys, they're just for me

Hurry to talk from far away

I can't see you, you curl your fists when you pull your hair

When we're alone I want to say

Let's just stay in, no one's here in our apartment, babe

Put on the dress that I like

It makes me so crazy, though I can't say why

Keep on your stockings for a while

There's some kind of magic in the way you're lying there

I'm getting lost in your curls

I'm getting rushed back on a whim, our breath gets weird

Back to the time when we were green

I know we have changed, but I still grin 'cause I can wake to see you

Back to the time I touched your hand

When I was so scared to look that mean, I think it's weird

I'm getting lost in your curls

I'm getting crushed out on the things that only I should see

They're not for boys, they're just for me

When we do talk from far away

It's so hard for me only to get the urge to kiss you there

When we're alone, I wanna say

Let's just stay in, no one's here in our apartment, babe

Put on the dress that I like

It makes me so crazy, though I can't say why

Keep on your stockings for a while

There's some kind of magic in the way you're lying...

Put on your dress that I like

It makes me so crazy, though I can't say why

Keep on your stockings for a while

There's some kind of magic in the way you talk about your

Blue eye shadow

It's not exactly blue, though

I refuse to call it anything but your blue...