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Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Heat Wave


So you know how,
when you've been baking and left something in the oven for a while,
you open the oven door and that burst of heat hits your face?
I usually don't mind it, since it's nice and warm.
But, after almost a year of living here,
and using this oven,
I never remember that because the oven's so low,
and I have to bend over to open it,
the burst of heat is quite hot,
and nearly always scorches my eyebrows off.
Well, tonight I forgot that little tidbit of info again.
So as I leaned in to save my burning bunsies,
still wearing all my tons of make-up
and diamondy earrings from my afternoon singing engagement,
the blast of heat hit me in the face,
I shut my eyes tight and
felt my over-mascara-ed eyelashes curl together,
melting in the heat,
making it hard to open my eyes again....

Seriously the funniest thing that's happened to me in a long while.
My neighbors probably think I'm nutso,
but hey,
when you've gotta laugh loud, you've gotta laugh loud.
Even if you're the only one in the room.
Which I do frequently.

And since I'm on a mature rant:
"I'm an angel..."
"...sent by God."
Oh Roma Downey, how you changed our lives.
Bon nuit, mes amours.




P.S. I'm officially done with my first year of grad school!
Fin, as the frenchies say.
I can't believe this year's flown by so fast.
:)

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Done. Almost.


So I've finally finished up all classes and finals for my first year of grad school! How CRAZY is that?!?!? This year just flew. Now all I have left to do is polish up my ten pieces for my jury next Wednesday. Just one more week......

i'm going home for a visit on Kohen's birthday! I'll finally get to meet little Judah! I can't wait! Check out these pictures of my little boys- they could be twins!
Kohen at 1 mo. old:
Judah at 1 mo. old:

9 days.... 9 days....

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The Beauty and The Beast Library




The perfect place to hide away from distractions.
The dusty smell of old, well-loved books;
the antique desks and chairs with their wooden curlicues;
the extension chords snaking their way across the floors
from ancient outlets sporadically placed years and years ago,
currently connected to my computer so that it won't die
as I sit here for an eternal day of writing.
My eyes burn as I'm sure they slowly begin to turn rectangular shaped.
I tend to be very easily distracted.
Not to the point of having clinical A.D.D.,
but I suppose that I'm a fairly active person,
and sitting on my derrière for hours on end,
looking at the glow of a computer screen,
trying to make mature, educated sentences flow together
in research-paper format
is enough to send me over the edge.
But if I have a nice quiet place,
in a nice atmosphere,
then I can focus well for a longer period of time
without being distracted,
even by the hundreds of books surrounding me.
So I'm taking a 10 minute break from paper-writing
after 2 hours of studying
to do a little blog-writing.
Way more fun.
Way.
And I've told myself that I have 2.5 more hours
before I can give my sore petite derrière a break
from sitting on this rather uncomfortable chair.
And now that I've given myself a small break,
I realize that the section of books behind me
is the entire history of each county in England.
"East Sussex Land Tax 1785"
And the whole row in front of me is
papers and records of American history.
"War of the Rebellion/
Official records of the Union and Confederate Armies/
Series I, Vol. II"

Sheeshaloo.
My paper doesn't seem half so tough anymore.
I guess this was a successful study break.
Now back to the grinding stone.


Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Journey in Winter



So I'm studying right now.
No surprise there, as finals are upon me.
But I thought I'd share with you a fun dance between the early 1800's and the late 1900's

Franz Schubert wrote a
wonderfully tragical cycle of art songs called
"Winterreise"
(vin-ter-rise-uh)
about an old, though not yet grey haired man,
who makes a winter journey
and sings about his old sweetheart,
and the hardships that he meets on his long journey.
Schubert wrote this cycle in 1827,
and it remains an extremely well-known and -performed cycle today.

Here is the first song, called "Gute Nacht," as Schubert wrote it in 1827:
And here is "Gute Nacht" orchestrated by Hans Zender in 1993:

Isn't that so interesting?!?!?!
I thought so! I love the inclusion of accordion
and all the various percussion
and use of wind instruments to bring out the wintery setting of the cycle.


Hope you get a little culture and enjoyment of these songs, as I have!

Cheers friends.