Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in that jazz girl's LiveJournal:

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Friday, July 3rd, 2009
6:37 pm	Books I finished two books today. Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King, which is skinny but dense, I have been picking at for a month or so. Bloodhound by Tamora pierce, which is thick but good fun to read, I have polished off in under a week. I was also able to put Namaah's Kiss on hold at the library, which means I have that fun somewhere in my future. Now I am contemplating the thirteen book high pile of things I could read next. I've decided to put it to you, dear friends, as to what I should read next. Poll #1424796 Pile of Books Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All What should I read next? View Answers The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne 0 (0.0%) A Room with a View, E. M. Forster 0 (0.0%) The Aeneid, Virgil 0 (0.0%) White Teeth, Zadie Smith 0 (0.0%) The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross 1 (16.7%) Angels and Demons, Dan Brown 1 (16.7%) The World Made Straight, Ron Rash 1 (16.7%) Santa Olivia, Jacqueline Carey 1 (16.7%) Smoke and Mirrors, Neil Gaiman 3 (50.0%) Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes, Neil Gaiman 1 (16.7%) This isn't a complete list of all the unread or unfinished books in my possession, just the ones I want to read this summer. Somehow The Bell Jar doesn't seem like it would suit my mood just now. (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, March 14th, 2008
12:24 pm	1. Pick 15 of your favourite movies. 2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie. 3. Post them here for everyone to guess. 4. Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie. 5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions  ( Quotations ) I realize that most of my favorite movies are ones with oft-quoted lines. I did a little digging in an attempt to make it some fun, but a few are still absurdly easy.   (12 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 17th, 2007
1:31 am	Tonal Harmony, Stefan Kafka and Dorothy Payne  1. Grab the nearest book. 2. Open the book to page 123. 3. Find the fifth sentence. 4. Post the text of the next 4-7 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions. 5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest (unless it's too troublesome to reach and is really heavy. Then go back to step 1). 6. Tag five people. If possible, you should also hear the example sung and performed my several combinations of instruments. The four parts of the example are presented in what is generally cosidered the order of preference on the part of the composers in tonal music. However, this ordering is not to be interpreted as a rule. The quality of the sonority is affected as much by the spacing as it is by doubling, as you will discover by comparing the last two chords in Example 8-10. (This is my music theory text book. They're talking about using inverted triads in part writing, in case anyone is curious.) Current Mood: epic Current Music: Mr. Jones, Counting Crows (Comment on this)
Saturday, November 10th, 2007
11:55 am	Help?  Okay, I need computer help. I need a way to get all the music from my old desktop computer onto my laptop. I've tried emailing my iTunes library to myself, but I can't figure out where to go from there. Any suggestions? Current Mood: frustrated Current Music: none... that's my problem. (8 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 31st, 2007
1:29 pm	Two things that don't happen very often. (Conversation re: How was your weekend?) Me: My birthday was on Saturday. Dan: Cool. How old? Nineteen? Twenty? (Conversation re: My Halloween costume) Tyler: So wait, you're supposed to be a dude? Me: A very effeminate dude. Tyler: But you can't do that, you've got tits! Current Mood: hungry (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, October 14th, 2007
10:39 pm	Three books meme. * Three books that have marked your childhood...  -The Ghost in the Mirror, John Bellairs/Brad Strickland- This is the first book that I remember being unable to put down until I finished. My hands were literally shaking when I finished. Bellairs was such a huge part of my life- at least, the Lewis Barnavelt books were, Johnny Dixon and Anthony Monday I could take or leave. Rose Rita was the first literary character I ever saw myself in, or tried to model myself after, or whatever it is that I do. A quick google just revealed how much of the Bellairs/Strickland canon I have yet to explore. Definately adding those to my list. -Little House on the Prarie, Laura Ingels Wilder- This one isn't so important for the book themselves as for the fact that my dad read it to me. Actually, he read all of them to me. My parents made a huge point out of reading to me every night before bed, and obviously it had some effect. And I repeat, he read every single one to me... even The Long Winter, which was utter tedium except for that one brilliant line: "Heap big snow come." -Peter Pan- Now, I can't recall if this was the original J.M. Barrie version or not. It was in a collection of children's stories, mostly fairy tales. At the time I read it, I was only aqquainted with the happy Disney version of the story. When I got to the part where Peter Pan tries to come back home to his mother and finds the windows barred, I was devastated. I cried so hard. My mom found me and hugged me and told me it was okay, because it was a story, and that's the author's job, to make you feel something. And that someday when I wrote books they would make people feel things too. This incident is very vivid, and yet I don't remember when I decided I wanted to write books. * ... and your teenagehood :  -Kushiel's Dart, Jacquelyn Carey- I read this pretty early on in my (still ongoing, I suppose?) teen years. It set my standard for all future erotica very high- sex is all very well and good, but I've gotten very persistant about demanding there be an underlying plot. -Sweep, Cate Tiernan- I'm cheating and saying "all of them," because even though there are fourteen books they're all supershort and really just one long story. I like the first six the best, up through "Spellbound." Plots are riddiculous, dialog is occasionally crap, but I just believe the characters so much. I could just walk into the library one day and Morgan could be sitting there, and it wouldn't suprise me. I still reread these when I'm in need of comfort. -Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson- This is the first book that I ever read that dealt with the horrors of rape, but I don't think that's why it was so important to me. In a lot of ways, it's about high school and not fitting in and teen angst in general. At the same time, parts of it still make me laugh out loud. * Your three favourite books (only 3, even if it's hard!):  -A Widow for One Year, John Irving- I've actually only read this one once. I should fix that. It's still one of my favorites. Irving's writing is just amazing- beautiful complex plotting, but it never feels contrived or overdone, just perfectly placed and so right. I love writers who write about writers. When I'm driving, I almost never take a left turn without thinking about this book. -Shade's Children, Garth Nix- I love futuristic, post-apocolyptic type books. This one is just perfect. I think the obsession started when I read The Giver in fifth grade. Evil totalitarian (alien) rulers, a human race reduced to being someone else's livestock, a secret resistance... it has everything. -Good Omens, Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett- It's just funny and sweet and the perfect thing to put me in a good mood. If you are reading this now, it's quite possible that I've given you this book as a birthday or Christmas gift, because I need to spread the love but I am reluctant to loan out my copy. That's how much I adore it. * Three books you've read or are reading recently :  -Dune, Frank Herbert- I started reading this when I was stuck in the condo in Vermont, bookless. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I bought it. Good call. -Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card- Yeah, I'm on a sci-fi kick lately. I think I liked this better than Ender's Game. Ender just seems so much more human in this one. -Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen- So amazing- what a plot twist. * Three books that you'll read soon :  -Eclipse, Stephenie Meyer- I held off reading these for so long, but now I'm hooked. I cannot wait to get my hands on this one. -Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Gregory Maguire- Because I'm a sucker for fairy tales, and this is the last one of Maguire's adult novels that I haven't gotten to. - Specials, Scott Westerfield- Because WTF, he went and wrote another one, Extras, and I haven't even gotten to this one yet. * And one special, fetish book that you'd keep with yourself all the time : Currently it's Page, by Tamora Pierce. It's almost always something by Pierce. A lot of her books fit every category in this meme for me. These answers will have changed by tomorrow, at the latest. I'm already lamenting a few that I couldn't squeeze in... A Wrinkle in Time... The Sparrow... Cat's Cradle... The Secret Life of Bees... you get the picture. Current Mood: sleepy Current Music: refrigerator (6 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, October 13th, 2007
10:23 pm	Laundry? What laundry? Wow. Did you know that Gordon Goodwin wrote the score for Fern Gully? Because I totally didn't. (Comment on this)
1:14 pm	Tracing my descent into slackerdom. This morning I woke up 9:45ish and took a shower. I ate breakfast in the DC. Ran into Ryan, had a nice chat with him before he had to go to work. I headed back to brush my teeth and get my books. Shockingly, both my roommates were awake. I grabbed my bag and headed for la bibliotheque. I finished up the history reading that was due.... Tuesday. I thought about going to practice, but I was thirsty. Unfortunate I had no cash and none of the drink machines in the student center took my card, so I went back to the dorms. That's how I ended up here, playing with the computer and making lists (shopping, what I want for my birthday, books to read, things to do) instead of playing trumpet. Midterms don't really start until the week of the 22nd (I think), but I'm suddenly more swamped with work than usual. Not that I haven't been busy since school started, but most of that's been practicing, and most of that trumpet. Now all of a sudden there are Western Civ exams and sight-singing quizzes, History of Jazz papers and impending listening tests. Not to mention a piano midterm. A novel to read for history, preparing something to play for studio class. As not fun as some of that is, I find that I don't mind so much. This buckling down and getting it done, this stress, this is what I did almost constantly during my last two years of high school. It's what I understand, what I'm good at. In the last week or so I've had a few moments of pure, inexplicable happiness that I think can only be explained by this return to familiar routine. Of course, that's been tempered by several moments of complete despair. I often wonder just what the hell I think I'm doing here. Then I remind myself that I ought to remain a music major for a little while longer, partly because it's what I've always wanted and I probably shouldn't give it up so soon, and partly because I need to prove to myself that I can do it. That way, if I switch, I know it will be because I want to and not because I have to. Current Mood: determined/depressed/PMS-y. Current Music: Lester Leaps In, Lester Young (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 11th, 2007
12:22 pm	College entry, a la Patrick So, this is what I've been doing: ( Read more... ) Current Mood: fuzzy Current Music: Autumn Leaves, Chet Baker (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 24th, 2007
9:29 pm	Thoughts from the practice room. If I were ever to give birth to triplets, the birth announcements I sent out would end up being full of terrible music puns.  Current Mood: goofy Current Music: the TV is on... CSI, I think? (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, September 21st, 2007
2:58 pm	I'm practicing for my Academy Award acceptance speech. I'd like to thank Professor Edward Orgill, for saying on the first day of Big Band, "You don't have to solo in rehearsals. Just play roots or leading tone lines." This becomes significant when some composer/arranger decides to get cute and put a solo in the fourth trumpet part. I'd also like to thank every music teacher I've worked with who has been unnecessarily cruel or has delighted in embarrassing students because they believe that fear = respect. Even if I don't agree with your methods, after you, I can take just about anyone. And a shout-out to Jim Thomas for making me learn my Dorian scales. Because those totally came in handy today. Current Mood: good! really good! Current Music: Lee Morgan (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, September 10th, 2007
7:44 pm	Attention all potential college students... ...especially potential theatre arts majors. If I told you that Westfield a question and answer session about theatre in college, accompanied by a free show for anyone who participates, would you be interested? It may or may not happen, but I'm curious. (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 8th, 2007
10:48 pm	Madeleine L'Engle 1918-2007 She's among the stars now. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, September 4th, 2007
6:07 pm	What I read this summer, with my commentary. ( These are the books I reread this summer. ) ( These are the books I read for the first time. ) Current Mood: euphoric Current Music: Forget About the Boy (7 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, August 19th, 2007
11:10 am	This made made me laugh. From badgods.com. ( Famous Poems Rewritten as Limericks ) Current Mood: tickled Current Music: Someone is taking a shower, so I can't brush my teeth. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, June 23rd, 2007
12:29 pm	Today is a good day. First construction work on my street, now bikes on 3A. Roads are for cars, people, roads are for cars. I was ten minutes late to my piano lesson, which I had to reschedule for today anyways. God or someone close to him clearly did no want me to learn piano. But I persevered, and Svenja was wonderfully patient with my failings as always. She's the best. While I'm updating, I want to note that I'm very jealous of my brother's summer reading assignment. Does anyone remember middle school, when reading books got you coupons for the book fair? Did we know how lucky we were? I wish someone still paid me to read. Tomorow night I'm leaving for orientation. I'll be back on Tuesday. Westfield, here I come. Current Mood: beach weather (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 20th, 2007
7:46 pm	( This was cool. ) In other news, I'm sick again. Possibly strep throat. I hope it goes away soon. Current Mood: sick Current Music: Nick watching TV (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 14th, 2007
2:00 pm	Book review and meta rec Last night I started To Serve and Submit, by Susan Wright. Cut for length, no spoilers that weren't already printed on the back of the book. ( It's a very close cousin of Kushiel's Dart. ) Current Mood: good (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 30th, 2007
5:53 pm	My graduation party To answer the questions once and for all: yes, I am having a graduation party. No, I’m sorry, you cannot come.   I appreciate that in the age of facebook events and livejournal posts, traditional party invitations are no longer very common. When most people have a party, they would rather just put out a general “My house at this time, tell your friends!” on the internet. I have nothing against this approach, but my graduation party is different. I’m not planning it, my mom is. She spent a long time figuring out who to invite and how much food we need, and then took more of her time writing out invitations and mailing them. I really appreciate her efforts, and I would like it if my friends would respect them as well.   What I’m asking you is this: unless you have received an invitation in the mail OR I have invited you personally, please do not come and do not ask me if you can come. If I have already spoken with you, you’re fine. If I haven’t, you know who you are. A large number of family members and friends of the family are coming. My mother’s side of the family from New Jersey is coming to stay here for the night, and some of them haven’t ever been to Massachusetts. My high school friends are intended to be in the minority at this event. I love my friends, and if I could invite you all, I would, but there are just too many of you.   As I type this, my parents are starting to worry if they ordered enough food. Our space is also severely limited- my house is small, my backyard is small, and if those thunderstorms happen and we’re all forced inside, there’s going to be trouble. Aside from those numbers concerns, I don’t want any feelings to get hurt. If some of my friends invite themselves, some of my less outgoing friends might get wind of it and wonder why they weren’t included.   Inviting yourself to an event that is intended to be formal is just rude. This is a delicate situation, and I appreciate everyone’s tact. Please, out of respect for me and my family, do not intrude.
Thursday, May 24th, 2007
5:23 pm	Another fun way to waste time. I've been playing around on Wikipedia for the last half an hour. I started off by searching "Phillip Glass,"  I ended up at "Infinite monkey theorum in popular culture," and I don't even want to think about how I got there. It's like the whole six degrees of separation idea. Or that game you can play on myspace where you look at somone's profile, click on one of their friends, click on one of the friend's friends, and so on, counting how long it takes to get to the profile of someone from Canada or a similarly exotic local. As pathetic as that was, this has been a pretty good day. I'm not feeling so sick anymore. I got some work done, mostly silly, mundane little jobs that I've been putting off just because they seem so insignificant. I went to the high school to teach a lesson. While I was there I dropped off some books and papers to various teachers. Being there wasn't as strange as I thought it would be. I just felt like I was in school again. I still feel like I belong there. I guess that's not so strange, seeing as I haven't even graduated yet. Watch that feeling fade as soon as fall rolls around. I'll come back around Christmas, see all the new freshman, and start feeling old. Anyways, despite failing to practice trumpet properly or piano at all, as well as not cleaning my room, I have had a good day. The prospect of going for a walk on the beach as soon as Matt gets here and being able to breathe out of both nostrils again have me feeling pretty optimistic. Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: birds in the backyard (Comment on this)