Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Built Like a Brick Chicken House
All right...I'm about to start on another more-than-one-day summary entry. I really don't like writing these because I always end up leaving stuff out. But that's the way the cookie crumbles, I guess.
So I got up on Monday at the usual time, got ready, and walked to physics, dropping my flower pot and other music theory composition paraphernalia off in the music building on my way. I stayed in physics as long as I could, but I walked out with about 25 minutes left in the period so that I could meet my music theory group in time for a rehearsal before our performance. (Isn't that great about college? You can come late and show up early, and the professors don't really care. The only consequence is that you bomb the test and fail the class if you do it too often. But it's up to you...isn't it fun being treated like an adult?) Anyway, our rehearsal went as well as it did the night before; we went off to class without much worry. Long story short, we played through our piece in front of the class without any major hitches. We rushed in the third section (thanks to the box player) and the ending wasn't together at all (again, thanks to the box player), but considering where we came from a couple weeks before I couldn't ask for anything more. I was quite impressed with one of the groups' pieces...they had this one guy play four beer bottles filled with different amounts of water (at least, I assumed it was water). They had a fairly innovative melody; the bottle player even trilled at one point. As for the other groups, they played at about the same level that we did, except for one that completely fell apart. All in all it was an interesting experience; I should find out next Monday how I did.
After that I went to calculus, then back to the dorms where I prepared to come home. (I did laundry...three washers full!) I also took about an hour to do the crossword puzzle that the Mustang Daily borrows from the New York Post every day, and I finished it! I've never been able to do a crossword puzzle before (granted, the NY Post crosswords start easy on Monday and get harder until Friday) so I was quite excited. I did get a lot of help from anyone who happened to be nearby (namely, Kevin) but that's what made it so much fun. I had to take the paper with me to dinner to finish it...I got stuck with one clue left to figure out that no one at the table knew. Luckily, Joanna called and knew that a six letter word for "glimpses" is "espies," which I admit I never would have figured out. But hooray for adding new words to my vocabulary. I can even use it in a sentence: Espies was the last word in my crossword puzzle.
After dinner I went on over to windO rehearsal, which ran later than it usually does because J was in a particularly chatty mood. This is my one chief gripe about windO: we do so much talking and not enough playing. He can't just tell us not to breathe in the middle of the melody; he has to launch into a description of his Rotary Club meetings where they sing songs and nobody has any voice training except for this one woman and when they sing most people breathe everywhere but the one woman sings through the melody and she has a beautiful voice but she sounds wrong because everyone else breathes everywhere...and on and on and on...for ten minutes. Quite the infuriation. But we're playing "Candide" so it's all completely worth it.
From windO I went straight to my car and drove home. It took me about 4.75 hours, including one stop in LA to get gas. It is indeed a long haul, but at least this time I'm home for five full days instead of two. When I got home I gave Mom a hug and went straight to bed. My big, full-size, triple-blanketed bed.
I got up this morning at around ten. Mom and I watched The Apprentice, which she had taped for me last Thursday because I was at a volleyball game. I showered after that to prepare for Mom's and my voyage to Target and Costco. I sorely miss my Target and my Costco up in SLO, although if I really wanted to I could drive about a half an hour to get to them. Anywho, Mom and I were partially running errands for her and partially looking for birthday and Christmas present ideas for me (my birthday is a week from Sunday and I've been getting badgered about what I'd like, but I got nothin'). At Costco I found a couple of mini Christmas trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book that I can put on my desk back in SLO. For some reason I'm very excited to be coming into the Christmas season this year. I love to see all the malls and downtown areas and other public places decorated with holly and candy canes and wreaths and whatnot. It all may very well be a bastardization of what Christmas is supposed to be about, but I, quite simply, don't give a flying rat's butt. I'm capable of enjoying all the "capitalism" and not forgetting why we celebrate Christmas. I'm also of the opinion that people should be able to have a non-religious Christmas if that's what they choose to do. All that aside, I'm still very excited to be crossing into the holiday season. Mom has all of the indoor decorations up, and I'm helping her put all the outdoor lights up this weekend. If you've ever been to my house in December, then you know that we go all out. I love it!!
Sorry...got off on a tangent there...after shopping with Mom I went over to Alena's house, where we spent an hour talking and playing Scattergories. She and I went "up the mountain" to Dad's house in Ramona for a steak dinner. (Dad had a few glasses of wine, and told us a story about how he used to be able to swim at a rate that impressed the buff guys. He used the phrase "built like a brick chicken house" to describe them. You can take the Wisconsinian out of Wisconsin...) We couldn't stay too long, though, because Joanna needed a ride home from the airport at 9:30. I dropped Alena back off at home so I could get to Lindbergh Field by the predetermined time so Joanna wouldn't have to stand out in the cold for too long. I arrived at the commuter terminal right on time...but we were in beautiful downtown San Diego on the first night of our vacation, so I couldn't just take her home. We decided to take the elevator to the top of the Hyatt to check out the view. We drove over to the Seaport Village parking lot (which was an adventure in itself, involving one-way streets and uncertainty about which way I was supposed to be driving) and walked over to the Hyatt. They built a second tower recently, and we decided to try that tower first. We got in the elevator an pressed the button for the top floor, and watched the numbers climb: L, 2, 3, 4...4...4. We stayed in the elevator for a full three minutes before realizing we weren't moving anymore. Evidently you need a hotel key to get the elevator to take you above the fourth floor, and if you don't have one the elevator takes you to the fourth and sits there without opening the doors. Sigh. We walked over to the other tower and met the same fate with those elevators; it turned out the skylounge was closed. It was all very disappointing...but we left for home anyway. We were still in the mood for some adventure, so we settled for a stop off at the Krispy Kreme on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. (If you've never had a Krispy Kreme right off of the conveyor belt, I highly recommend it.) After that I dropped Joanna off at her house and made my way back home.
And that's about all there was. For some reason it is all still very fresh in my mind; this entry was very easy to write. Hooray. I'm sure I'll have many more fun experiences this week to jot down here. For now, I've no more to share.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: nothing specific, but pretty good
music: I've been watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, partly because it's a good movie and partly because it's one of the only things I have on VHS (I've not a DVD player in my room)
location: Mom's House, San Diego, CA
Family Guy Quote-of-the-Day
[Peter pretends to be drug addict so he can stay at a clinic]
Clinic Administrator: "I don't think you're a drug addict. I think you're an idiot."
Peter: "Well I don't pay you to think. In fact, I don't pay you at all.......countered!"
So I got up on Monday at the usual time, got ready, and walked to physics, dropping my flower pot and other music theory composition paraphernalia off in the music building on my way. I stayed in physics as long as I could, but I walked out with about 25 minutes left in the period so that I could meet my music theory group in time for a rehearsal before our performance. (Isn't that great about college? You can come late and show up early, and the professors don't really care. The only consequence is that you bomb the test and fail the class if you do it too often. But it's up to you...isn't it fun being treated like an adult?) Anyway, our rehearsal went as well as it did the night before; we went off to class without much worry. Long story short, we played through our piece in front of the class without any major hitches. We rushed in the third section (thanks to the box player) and the ending wasn't together at all (again, thanks to the box player), but considering where we came from a couple weeks before I couldn't ask for anything more. I was quite impressed with one of the groups' pieces...they had this one guy play four beer bottles filled with different amounts of water (at least, I assumed it was water). They had a fairly innovative melody; the bottle player even trilled at one point. As for the other groups, they played at about the same level that we did, except for one that completely fell apart. All in all it was an interesting experience; I should find out next Monday how I did.
After that I went to calculus, then back to the dorms where I prepared to come home. (I did laundry...three washers full!) I also took about an hour to do the crossword puzzle that the Mustang Daily borrows from the New York Post every day, and I finished it! I've never been able to do a crossword puzzle before (granted, the NY Post crosswords start easy on Monday and get harder until Friday) so I was quite excited. I did get a lot of help from anyone who happened to be nearby (namely, Kevin) but that's what made it so much fun. I had to take the paper with me to dinner to finish it...I got stuck with one clue left to figure out that no one at the table knew. Luckily, Joanna called and knew that a six letter word for "glimpses" is "espies," which I admit I never would have figured out. But hooray for adding new words to my vocabulary. I can even use it in a sentence: Espies was the last word in my crossword puzzle.
After dinner I went on over to windO rehearsal, which ran later than it usually does because J was in a particularly chatty mood. This is my one chief gripe about windO: we do so much talking and not enough playing. He can't just tell us not to breathe in the middle of the melody; he has to launch into a description of his Rotary Club meetings where they sing songs and nobody has any voice training except for this one woman and when they sing most people breathe everywhere but the one woman sings through the melody and she has a beautiful voice but she sounds wrong because everyone else breathes everywhere...and on and on and on...for ten minutes. Quite the infuriation. But we're playing "Candide" so it's all completely worth it.
From windO I went straight to my car and drove home. It took me about 4.75 hours, including one stop in LA to get gas. It is indeed a long haul, but at least this time I'm home for five full days instead of two. When I got home I gave Mom a hug and went straight to bed. My big, full-size, triple-blanketed bed.
I got up this morning at around ten. Mom and I watched The Apprentice, which she had taped for me last Thursday because I was at a volleyball game. I showered after that to prepare for Mom's and my voyage to Target and Costco. I sorely miss my Target and my Costco up in SLO, although if I really wanted to I could drive about a half an hour to get to them. Anywho, Mom and I were partially running errands for her and partially looking for birthday and Christmas present ideas for me (my birthday is a week from Sunday and I've been getting badgered about what I'd like, but I got nothin'). At Costco I found a couple of mini Christmas trees that look like something out of a Dr. Seuss book that I can put on my desk back in SLO. For some reason I'm very excited to be coming into the Christmas season this year. I love to see all the malls and downtown areas and other public places decorated with holly and candy canes and wreaths and whatnot. It all may very well be a bastardization of what Christmas is supposed to be about, but I, quite simply, don't give a flying rat's butt. I'm capable of enjoying all the "capitalism" and not forgetting why we celebrate Christmas. I'm also of the opinion that people should be able to have a non-religious Christmas if that's what they choose to do. All that aside, I'm still very excited to be crossing into the holiday season. Mom has all of the indoor decorations up, and I'm helping her put all the outdoor lights up this weekend. If you've ever been to my house in December, then you know that we go all out. I love it!!
Sorry...got off on a tangent there...after shopping with Mom I went over to Alena's house, where we spent an hour talking and playing Scattergories. She and I went "up the mountain" to Dad's house in Ramona for a steak dinner. (Dad had a few glasses of wine, and told us a story about how he used to be able to swim at a rate that impressed the buff guys. He used the phrase "built like a brick chicken house" to describe them. You can take the Wisconsinian out of Wisconsin...) We couldn't stay too long, though, because Joanna needed a ride home from the airport at 9:30. I dropped Alena back off at home so I could get to Lindbergh Field by the predetermined time so Joanna wouldn't have to stand out in the cold for too long. I arrived at the commuter terminal right on time...but we were in beautiful downtown San Diego on the first night of our vacation, so I couldn't just take her home. We decided to take the elevator to the top of the Hyatt to check out the view. We drove over to the Seaport Village parking lot (which was an adventure in itself, involving one-way streets and uncertainty about which way I was supposed to be driving) and walked over to the Hyatt. They built a second tower recently, and we decided to try that tower first. We got in the elevator an pressed the button for the top floor, and watched the numbers climb: L, 2, 3, 4...4...4. We stayed in the elevator for a full three minutes before realizing we weren't moving anymore. Evidently you need a hotel key to get the elevator to take you above the fourth floor, and if you don't have one the elevator takes you to the fourth and sits there without opening the doors. Sigh. We walked over to the other tower and met the same fate with those elevators; it turned out the skylounge was closed. It was all very disappointing...but we left for home anyway. We were still in the mood for some adventure, so we settled for a stop off at the Krispy Kreme on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard. (If you've never had a Krispy Kreme right off of the conveyor belt, I highly recommend it.) After that I dropped Joanna off at her house and made my way back home.
And that's about all there was. For some reason it is all still very fresh in my mind; this entry was very easy to write. Hooray. I'm sure I'll have many more fun experiences this week to jot down here. For now, I've no more to share.
Cheers,
Josh
mood: nothing specific, but pretty good
music: I've been watching Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, partly because it's a good movie and partly because it's one of the only things I have on VHS (I've not a DVD player in my room)
location: Mom's House, San Diego, CA
Family Guy Quote-of-the-Day
[Peter pretends to be drug addict so he can stay at a clinic]
Clinic Administrator: "I don't think you're a drug addict. I think you're an idiot."
Peter: "Well I don't pay you to think. In fact, I don't pay you at all.......countered!"
