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aamcnamaraLast week! Last week I did everything I had to do before the end of classes, mostly, and then I went to a Janelle Monae concert at Smith, which rocked. I like her music a whole lot and her stage show is fantastic--cloaks and capes and masks galore. And tuxedos, of course tuxedos. I bought a t-shirt.
Friday was Pangy Day, or Pangyneskeia Day (it means something like "all the aspects/attributes of a woman" in Greek; Mary Lyon narrowly avoided naming MHC that instead), which is something of a spring festival and has had gorgeous weather every time I've experienced it. Which is twice so far. Picnics and not completely failing at throwing frisbees and avoiding Preposterous Hats! I had to miss the maypole for quantum mechanics. G'rr.
Then I had a concert Sunday with the early music choir I joined this semester. Apparently we sounded good! This semester has been in several ways hellish (mostly the way where I would like to have a brain and time in which to use it, please), and that choir was... a part of that, admittedly. There were a lot of weird languages thrown at us; one of the pieces I had to perform in our first concert having seen it with the group precisely once before: at the dress rehearsal. They expected me to go off and figure it out on my own, I guess, but with Gaelic and Gallic and Ladino et cetera--each with their own language, own way of notating, and own style/sound--none of which I had seen very much before--it's really, really hard to do that. Even if you listen to the sound files. (Other thing which is hard for me: figuring out how to pronounce things by listening to sound files of them being sung. When I asked for pronunciations in the rehearsal I often felt like I got brushed off as Not Trying Hard Enough or something.)
So that was interesting and I'm sort of glad it's over and I do not think I am going to go back. Which is a pity because early music is fun, or it ought to be. It certainly sounds awesome and it can be quite enjoyable to sing. (Other thing I discovered this semester: I will curl up into a Ball of Cope if you don't seem willing to give me assistance or aid. I will not keep on with whatever it is, and I will get through it, but I might not enjoy it very much. This is also applicable to real analysis.)
During the concert I started developing a fierce headache. Despite it, I went over to execute peeps in a microwave with The Mob and Kate and Kate's roommate, it being the birthday of the lattermost of these. I was official Devourer Of Corpses. I also ended up lying on the floor because I was tired and my head ached, was dragged out of a doorway, and was made into an art installation wherein a number of interesting objects were placed upon me. I have not seen the photos of this, but I was promised they will not go on the Internet.
Monday I had added a plausible fever to this combination, skipped Greek, and spent the whole day in bed with tea and Kelly Link short stories and pointless computer games. Yay! I had no brains.
Tuesday, I was feeling better and had a brain. I went to my classes--it was the last day of them--and wrote evaluations of my professors and drank a lot of orange juice. Yay?
Yesterday I accumulated an earache, asked the Internet about my combination of symptoms, and was told I probably had overdosed on cocaine. Thank you, webMD! My father, in consultation later on the phone, said it was likely a sinus infection working its way into my ears. (Euglh.) This seems more plausible. I decided not to go to the techno!contra (I hear it was kind of epic) and though I am sad I missed it, that was a Very Good Decision. I turned off the lights at nine p.m.; at nine-forty-five I took painkillers because my ears were hurting too much to let me sleep. I do not remember them kicking in, or me going to sleep--it was just morning and my ears didn't hurt.
They have been twinging a bit so far today, but mostly they are, and I am, way better. At least since last night. I also got the contra-ers to pick me up a neti pot from the pharmacy in Amherst, which is a) weird and b) might be working? Hard to tell exactly, but y'know. We try what we can. We hope our ears have stopped being messed up by the time we get on a plane next week...
I ought to be reworking this paper for my final. I wrote an outline! Sort of! I spent yesterday (until collapsing after dinner) working on real analysis and quantum takehome finals, so I feel like a bit of time writing a post for the internet and oh yeah reading the story from the new Bordertown anthology they put up on tordotcom is all right. And looking at Elise's shinies for sale. And--
Okay, maybe not all of those things... I bet I can write a paragraph or something on this paper before lunch. Onwards.
Friday was Pangy Day, or Pangyneskeia Day (it means something like "all the aspects/attributes of a woman" in Greek; Mary Lyon narrowly avoided naming MHC that instead), which is something of a spring festival and has had gorgeous weather every time I've experienced it. Which is twice so far. Picnics and not completely failing at throwing frisbees and avoiding Preposterous Hats! I had to miss the maypole for quantum mechanics. G'rr.
Then I had a concert Sunday with the early music choir I joined this semester. Apparently we sounded good! This semester has been in several ways hellish (mostly the way where I would like to have a brain and time in which to use it, please), and that choir was... a part of that, admittedly. There were a lot of weird languages thrown at us; one of the pieces I had to perform in our first concert having seen it with the group precisely once before: at the dress rehearsal. They expected me to go off and figure it out on my own, I guess, but with Gaelic and Gallic and Ladino et cetera--each with their own language, own way of notating, and own style/sound--none of which I had seen very much before--it's really, really hard to do that. Even if you listen to the sound files. (Other thing which is hard for me: figuring out how to pronounce things by listening to sound files of them being sung. When I asked for pronunciations in the rehearsal I often felt like I got brushed off as Not Trying Hard Enough or something.)
So that was interesting and I'm sort of glad it's over and I do not think I am going to go back. Which is a pity because early music is fun, or it ought to be. It certainly sounds awesome and it can be quite enjoyable to sing. (Other thing I discovered this semester: I will curl up into a Ball of Cope if you don't seem willing to give me assistance or aid. I will not keep on with whatever it is, and I will get through it, but I might not enjoy it very much. This is also applicable to real analysis.)
During the concert I started developing a fierce headache. Despite it, I went over to execute peeps in a microwave with The Mob and Kate and Kate's roommate, it being the birthday of the lattermost of these. I was official Devourer Of Corpses. I also ended up lying on the floor because I was tired and my head ached, was dragged out of a doorway, and was made into an art installation wherein a number of interesting objects were placed upon me. I have not seen the photos of this, but I was promised they will not go on the Internet.
Monday I had added a plausible fever to this combination, skipped Greek, and spent the whole day in bed with tea and Kelly Link short stories and pointless computer games. Yay! I had no brains.
Tuesday, I was feeling better and had a brain. I went to my classes--it was the last day of them--and wrote evaluations of my professors and drank a lot of orange juice. Yay?
Yesterday I accumulated an earache, asked the Internet about my combination of symptoms, and was told I probably had overdosed on cocaine. Thank you, webMD! My father, in consultation later on the phone, said it was likely a sinus infection working its way into my ears. (Euglh.) This seems more plausible. I decided not to go to the techno!contra (I hear it was kind of epic) and though I am sad I missed it, that was a Very Good Decision. I turned off the lights at nine p.m.; at nine-forty-five I took painkillers because my ears were hurting too much to let me sleep. I do not remember them kicking in, or me going to sleep--it was just morning and my ears didn't hurt.
They have been twinging a bit so far today, but mostly they are, and I am, way better. At least since last night. I also got the contra-ers to pick me up a neti pot from the pharmacy in Amherst, which is a) weird and b) might be working? Hard to tell exactly, but y'know. We try what we can. We hope our ears have stopped being messed up by the time we get on a plane next week...
I ought to be reworking this paper for my final. I wrote an outline! Sort of! I spent yesterday (until collapsing after dinner) working on real analysis and quantum takehome finals, so I feel like a bit of time writing a post for the internet and oh yeah reading the story from the new Bordertown anthology they put up on tordotcom is all right. And looking at Elise's shinies for sale. And--
Okay, maybe not all of those things... I bet I can write a paragraph or something on this paper before lunch. Onwards.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 03:38 pm (UTC)In re early music: I am so very sorry that your choir director acted like that. It was unprofessional on both the teaching and musical fronts. If you're ever around a different ensemble, and you play any modern instruments, their medieval equivalents are dead easy to pick up.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 04:01 pm (UTC)I still like singing early music! The only options around here are all through that program; this is supposedly the lower-level group, I think, so I am not sure I want to try out the other group. La. Maybe someday I'll find a nice quiet madrigals group or something. (I played trumpet/French horn in high school, but it's been years. It might be fun to twiddle on a medieval equivalent sometime--I hadn't thought about that--but if I'm not a devoted singer, I am definitely not a devoted instrumentalist.)
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Date: 2011-05-05 04:05 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-05-05 04:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-05 04:14 pm (UTC)