oh, your usual miscellaneous things post

Can't remember the last name of the guy who hired me to work at HCW two summers ago. No listed on the webpage either. Although looking at the pictures I remembered what a fun job that was. Good times, good people.

The reasone I need his last name is that I am applying to work at The Cupboard for the summer. It is an awesome place, even if I did wish they had more produce and cheese. Maybe I can change that!

Lots of yardwork today. Front and back yard mowed and semi-weeded. Veggie garden weeded and new plants mulched (Peppers! onions!). Sunburnt on shoulders, whoops!

Am on page four of my trombone history paper, which means procrastinating is overdue. It's not due until Tuesday and I have all day tomorrow- no more recitals! no more lessons and very few classes! Summer is almost upon us!- but it's good I've got this strong a start. Easy paper- not like the one due next week. Argh, research. Slowly rethinking my secondary musicology field and leaning back toward conducting again. Might be more useful. Still, I am fond of Illari and would like him to be on my committee...argh.

Things left in the semester:
1. Brass ped projects, Paper and literature/methods survey: Tuesday classtime.
2. Performance jury: Wed 5/3 at 9:50 am. Should be cake this year! Hurray. Edit: Was good! :)
4. Presentation on final music research paper, Porgy and Bess reception history: Thursday classtime. Edit: Totally winged it. DIdn't come out half bad though, and got some better idea of what to narrow in on for my paper.
5. Lab band recording: Wed at 3. Hopefully the last meeting of this lab band. Edit: Turning in charts today, Thursday. Argh.
6. Tune jury: Thursday 4:30. Much work left to be done before I can pass that.
7. Teaching: Friday all day. Please pay me, students, before I am forced to sell your kidneys on the black market.
8. Final paper due: Thursday 5/11 at classtime.

Edit Thursday 5/4: Three things left. Summer, I can taste you and you are sweeee-eet!

So you see, once I get past Friday all that is left is this paper, which really won't be so bad, but you know how it goes.

Feeling kinda....weird lately. Unsettled but at the same time perfectly content in my location. I think it might be time for a trip home to CA but I'm not sure if I'll be able to financially manage that. I'm getting anxious to know where I'll be settling next, even if it's at least a year away, maybe more. Tim and Al are leaving for good. Texas doesn't have pretty. Not really. Not California pretty. Not Wisconsin pretty. The lack of it is wearing. At the same time I am happy with my veggie garden and my yardwork, with my house and with my school. Torn between the need to move on to a better place and the desire to stop feeling so transient, I am struggling with some weird emotional stuff too. Hard to explain and overly complicated. Things might change soon? I don't know.

Anyway, there you have it. My boring blog!

is that a riot?

Have you heard Youngblood Brass Band's new stuff?

Wow.

earth day is every day!

Tomorrow is Chuck's recital and a studio class for me, plus papers, research, practicing...arrrrrgh! so I'm leaving you with some tidbits today while I'm still sane enough to procrastinate.

*The Eat Local Challenge! Become a part of the solution to our increasing reliance on imported and mass-produced foods by trying local for a month- you can try foods within a hundred miles like these folks, or make up your own designation. For me, in my limited farming region, it will probably be foods only from Texas and Oklahoma (OK in its totality is closer than some parts of Texas!), and exceptions for eating out with friends or items I already have. Here are some guidlines for eating well, and here is another challenge website. Can you do it? Farmer's markets are springing up and so are peas, onions, zucchini and radishes in my own backyard! Also, Local Harvest can help you find good stuff nearby.

*Go vegetarian! Ask Chuck, he just did.

*Get out your angry eyes- here's something to fire off a nasty email about: Midas just rewarded a man for driving over 300 miles on his DAILY commute. I just sent mine. Contact addresses are at the bottom of the page.

*Plant a tree!

literally, my fifteen minutes of fame

Listen to KNTU 88.1 The One on Tuesday night at 7 pm and you will hear my glorious bass tromboning with the Four O'Clock Lab Band! You can listen on the radio if you are local or you can stream it if you are not!

It is Lab Band Madness. All of the nine bands are performing, in random order (except for the 1,2, and 3- so the 4's goal is to be the best of the unnamed bands). Even though we are not allowed to say which lab band is performing I will tell you that we go right at 7- we open the show! Should be a huge chaotic concert, but perhaps you can enjoy some of the sounds of my monstrous low range.

I am just kidding about that part. It is only a baby monster, not all grown up and sexy like Jason's! I will do my best, if you promise to listen!

eek.

Oh your god, where is my resume?!?!? I had it saved on my computer and on disc, and I had hard copies- but it's not in any of these places anymore! It's due to Jan...yesterday. She gave me time to find it today because I thought it was on the disc I'd left in the computer lab- which closed at 5 yesterday- but it's not! If I could find a hard copy I could just retype it...but no! That's missing too!

I don't want to retype it, because I had it just right. And there wasn't anything I needed to add to it since I haven't done shit for my career in the last semester. ARRGH!!

more greenitude

Browsing on the totally awesome webcomic Minimum Security I came across this Stop Ecocide Wiki. Basically, you can add your entry on how you plan on helping make our culture more eco-friendly. I filled one out today, so go check it out! I liked that it asked me to write about the things I do that are NOT ecoconscious, so that I could be clearer about my goals.

While I was writing it I realized that I don't shop that much anymore, except for food. I'm making a goal to shop, if I need to get something, as much as possible at garage sales and thrift stores. Not only is it cheaper, but you put to use something that needs reusing. Our durable goods last for so long, but more money, more class, more convenience, whatever, encourages people to upgrade.

And I do need some things...but mostly just this: an mp3 player and a computer I can store my music on. I don't have much money to get either of these things, but when Monica moves in in May I'll be saving rent money and can go shopping. I plan on doing the following: getting an mp3 player on eBay or from a friend, if I can, and doing my best to upgrade this computer so that I can continue to use a product that works just as well as I need it to. I am considering getting satellite radio for my car so I can learn about new music AND lessen the number of CDs I buy. Digital format, baby!

Also, planted my tree today! Pictures when I can get to a more reliable internet connection. :)