Friday, June 24, 2011

The Ultimate A to Z List of Canadian Musicians and Bands

This just in... the best of Canadian Music from coast to coast, from A to Z!  

The only problem is that I couldn't find a band for X!  If you know one, please help me out!  That elusive X...


Yes, it's that big a mystery!

So... without further ado, I give you... the LIST!!! 

Alexisonfire
Barenaked Ladies
City and Colour
The Dears
Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton
Feist
Great Big Sea
Hail the Villain!
ill Scarlett
Joni Mitchell
K-OS
Little Miss Higgins
Metric
The Nylons
Owen Pallett
Protest the Hero
Quartetto Gelato
Rush
Sarah Harmer
Tragically Hip
David Usher
Gilles Vigneault 
Rufus Wainwright
X
Neil Young
Zeus




And that's all for now.   

I have recently found another great website to check out.  It's called funtrivia.com.  As the title suggests, it's a trivia site where people take quizzes, write quizzes, play games and compare scores.  I started using it to study for music tests and to learn about jewelery for my job at the Farmer's Market, but it's addictive.  The advantage is that even though I'm having fun, I'm still learning new things.  

I've loved quizzes since I can remember, especially personality quizzes.  They're one of my many guilty pleasures.  Personality tests are almost always inaccurate, but there is something soothing about being asked innane questions and then being sorted into a meaningless category.  For some reason I really like tests and quizzes, even when they are for school.  They're like playing a game.    I also really like writing quizzes and trying to trick people and teach them new things.  If I were a teacher, which I might be someday, that would probably be one of my favourite things about teaching.  Yes, that's right.  Not the children.


Another thing about funtrivia is that although anyone can post a quiz on the site, like Wikipedia, the editors put a lot of effort into ensuring the quality of each quiz.  In order to even start writing my quiz, I had to...


1. Get an account
2. Take 50 quizzes to get a feel for how quizzes are written
3. Take five quizzes on how to write good quizzes
4. Read the quiz-making guidelines

And then once I started writing the quiz, I was only allowed to write a 10-question quiz, without true-or-false questions or fill-in-the-blank questions to be submitted to a quiz EDITOR.

The statistic on this site is that 80% of first quizzes are sent back for corrections by an editor.  Quiz-writers are told not to even try to submit their quizzes if they have spent less than 15 minutes on them.  It is a strict site, but the quality is excellent.  

I'm really enjoying it.  I've taken 92 quizzes and I've published 2 quizzes.  

You should try it out if you enjoy writing or taking quizzes!



Good night, everyone!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Princess Bride Remake!

Hello people!



I'm sorry about not posting these last few months.  I can't say I've been that busy.  I did have exams and my jury and applying for jobs, but really most of the time I've been sleeping, eating and watching TV.  I guess I'm just getting bored of blogging for a non-existent audience.  No one comments!  But I have been writing quite a bit for FanFiction.net because the people on there seem to be reading and giving me feedback.  Also, it's fun to take a work of fiction and make it your own.

Mostly what's happening with me right now is that I am still looking for a summer job.  I do have the art gallery but that is only every Saturday morning.  Luckily, today was a great day because not only am I eligible for a big tax refund, but I have an interview for Loblaws in a couple days!  I really hope I get the job, even if it means I have be a cashier.

I'm sure it's not as bad as people say it is...



My main topic for this evening is the Princess Bride.





I just revisited one of my preteen movie obsessions for fun and as I was watching it I thought of remake cast members one by one.  Almost every character reminded me of a modern actor in some way.  If you've seen this movie, you probably remember it as an awesome, low-budget, underrated 80s fairytale adventure movie with a great cast.


Since it was made in 1987 they could do a 25th anniversary remake (2012) or a 30th anniversary remake (2017).

I know some people may disagree with me about this, but this movie could be made funnier than it was (although it was absolutely hilarious).  I most definitely think the music could have been improved.  No full out musical song-and-dance numbers, but definitely something a little less boring, like John Williams or Danny Elfman.



Be forewarned - this is not a practical cast, it is my dream cast!

Westley = Dustin Ingram (if he can do an excellent British accent)
Buttercup = Keira Knightley
Humperdinck = Jerry Seinfeld
Inigo Montoya = Antonio Banderas
Fezzik = Arnold Schwarzenegger in a fat suit
Vizzini = Rick Mercer (if you haven't heard of him, you should seriously look up "Rick Mercer Report")
Count Rugen = Alan Rickman
Miracle Max = Christopher Walken
Valerie = Julia Louis Dreyfus
Albino = Ken Jeong
Sickly child (Grandson) = Noah Cyrus?
Grandfather =John Mahoney
Impressive clergyman = Rowan Atkinson or Patrick Kerr
The Queen = Helen Mirren
The Decrepit King = Christopher Plummer
The Ancient Booer = Susan Boyle

Comment if you like my choices, or if you disagree with them!  Be honest!  I love constructive criticism!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Lonely Day

Sometimes it feels like no one is reading this except me.  Being anonymous is harder because you can't promote your blog to people you know.  And I don't have facebook, the main place for promoting non-anonymous blogs.  And it doesn't seem like I'm posting stuff that is extreme or really personal yet, so why do I feel the need to be anonymous?  I need to dig deeper.  I still want to remain anonymous.  If no one reads this, it's ok.  It's just for fun.  It's like an online diary that can only be read by strangers.  An organization of my thoughts and work.  It's still helpful and enjoyable to me.

Besides, I get my attention fix from writing fanfiction.  They really seem to like my stories.  Or maybe they just generally go crazy over everything on there.  Nevertheless, I enjoy that site.  I'm thinking if I ever have any good fiction that isn't fanfiction to post, I'll get an account on Writer's Cafe.  It looks like an interesting site.  The reviews go into more detail there.

Whenever I write on here I tend to not be able to stop.  So many thoughts to express.  I'll talk about my day.  That's why I decided to blog tonight.  To rant about my crappy day.

I woke up early (for me) at 9 am, thinking I had a lesson at 10 am, when my lesson was actually at 11 am, so that was probably one of the best parts of my day, because I got extra time to do stuff, like check my email and watch Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water, which I did.

I got to my lesson five minutes early, which was unusual for me.  And when I got to my lesson my teacher was there.  I half expected her to be just as late, because I am often late, so she shows up just as late to show her disdain for my bad time-management skills.  She's passive-aggressive like that.  I admit being late is rude, but it's just so hard for me to be on time for some reason.  I've been bad at getting to things on time as long as I can remember.  It's my main bad habit.  That, and sleeping in.  So I'm early and she's actually there to appreciate that, and this is putting me in a good mood.  But she actually turns out to be kind of mad that I'm early.  She says she has to quickly check her mail, otherwise she'll be in trouble.  Tells me to warm up or relax.  And then she comes back, 10 minutes later.  So I show up five minutes early and our lesson ends up starting five minutes late.  It's rather infuriating.  But I'm too shy to speak up about these things, although they have happened before.  I could write an entire entry on the unprofessional-ism of my singing teacher this year.  Maybe I will.  Anyway, I will give you one example of how she has wasted my lessons.  This has happened twice during lessons with her and my accompanist-coach.  They send me out into the hall so they can talk about secret things I don't need to know.  The second time this happened I was waiting out in the hall for fifteen minutes!  I think they're probably talking about a girl in our studio who recently dropped out of the music faculty.  But it could be me.  Or just randomly gossiping about other teachers and students.  I don't really give a fuck.  Unless it's an emergency, I think it can wait.  I don't know why they don't arrange a coffee date outside of class.  It's just so unbelievaly rude and unprofessional.  I guess because I don't speak up they think it's okay to treat me like this.  If I were them, I would feel bad about it.  If or when I teach, I will treat my students with respect.  My previous teacher was extremely professional.  I think one lesson he left for a minute to refill a water bottle.  That's it.  I really miss that teacher.  Previous teacher, if you know who I am somehow and you are reading this, come back!!  I'm begging you!  Yes, it's that bad. 

Anyway, I have gone off on a tangent.  Back to my bad day.  After the initial suckyness, the lesson went fairly well.  But I had another lesson an hour later (with my teacher and accompanist).  I wasn't early but slightly late.  The problem was that I had just learned the Bach piece I brought in a few days ago and it was barely ready to be worked.  So I think I made a lot of unnecessary mistakes and they were losing their patience with me.  I lost some of my previous confidence in myself for a while after that lesson.  You have to work so hard to sound half decent in the classical world.  I don't know if I will be able to bring that to the table for my vocal jury.  I hope I can.  I'll just have to keep trying.  So that depressed me.  My teacher also said something in the earlier lesson that resonated with me.  She said that I need to really feel the emotion of the piece and bring it out and that I'm not yet confident in my body.  That is definitely true, but it kind of hurt to hear it from her.  Sometimes I take criticism too harshly.  I'll just have to work harder.

So I went home and had lunch.  I finished the Nadia series which was sad, but also a relief.  And I wanted to go to a masterclass, but I didn't get ready to go soon enough, so I missed it.  That depressed me.

I went to get my police check and got it back.  That was easy.

Then I decided to practise and learn music.  I learned Thank You For the Music by ABBA and a song from Kiki's Delivery Service (piano and voice), but they proved too challenging.  I don't have the accompaniment quite right, which is frustrating.  I went through the Bach piece again and with her diction suggestions it took so much effort that my abs hurt!  Is this how it feels every time you sing with a supported sound?  How can you enjoy it and endure it then?  I don't know.  Another thing she said stuck with me: "Most musicians and singers don't sing with their full voice."  It makes me wonder if that's really what I want to be known for: a supported sound?  I will need to think about this some more.

So as I continued practicing and learning music, the campus became quite empty, since it is a Friday, which always puts me in a bad mood.  And I became quite tired.  Coffee didn't help.  Then I realized my cell phone was missing, but I thought I left it at home, so I didn't go home.

Speaking of home, I made cupcakes the day before and left some out for my roomies, but none of them had been eaten yet, when usually they were eaten quite quickly.  This made me sad.  I'm being over-sensitive, but it still made me sad.

One cool thing happened.  As I walked by the cafeteria, I was really craving curly fries, but I didn't want to spend too much money since I was eating out for dinner.  So I resisted and went to get my coffee and on the way some people were giving out free chocolate ice cream!  So I had that instead.  It seemed that they packed up right after that, too.  So if I got the curly fries I would have missed it.  It was a cool coincidence.

Eventually I went to an Indian restaurant  for dinner, but the bus took me too far and I had to walk for a longer time, which sucked.

Then I went to the theatre to see a play called "An Experiment With an Air Pump."  I was there early so I got to read my Margaret Atwood book, which was nice.

The play was really good, but I won't talk about that right now.  I saw a classmate of mine there.  We talked for a while during intermission, but she didn't seem to want to talk too long, probably because she was with her boyfriend.  During the part where they are having a funeral for one of the characters, who has hung herself (sorry for the spoiler!) she and her boyfriend were laughing uncontrollably.  Like, what the hell?  And then, afterwards, they slipped away really quickly and left me to walk home alone.  And I did not know the area of that university very well.  On my way home, I must have encountered at least five groups of young guys out partying.  The worst kind of group to bump into, according to my dad.  Luckily, nothing bad happened.  But I kept wishing I had friends or a boyfriend to come with me.  But I don't have a boyfriend and I figured my roommates or classmates wouldn't be interested or they would have had other plans (in layman's terms I am too shy to ask them to come with me).

So I made it home to find out that my cell phone wasn't there.  Later that night I found out that the music faculty secretary had found it, but I was really worried before hand.  The third time I have lost something this week.  I'm so forgetful and I don't know how to fix it.

Anyway, another lonely day, and it's mine.  It's a day that I'm glad I survived.  There were some good moments, but I think the bad moments outweighed them.  It's not winning any awards, but it wasn't a great day.  I generally hate Fridays.

I might tell you about Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water later.  I'm too tired right now.  I will tell you about the cupcakes, though.  Everything turned out quite well except the tootsie roll hat rims.  I don't know how one would have the patience to stretch several Tootsie Rolls until you can mold them.  They are really firm.  Other than that, the recipe was successful!  It took so much time.  I don't think I will do it again, unless I have a lot of time and money on my hands.  The ingredients were expensive, in some cases.  They are delicious, though!  I wish my roommates liked them.  To be fair, one of them had one tonight.  So that's good.

Here's hoping tomorrow is better,  For you and for me.  For everyone.

Monday, March 14, 2011

What's happening lately

Current musical phase: ABBA

I was obsessed with them in childhood, and since I burned them to my iPod yesterday, I haven't been able to play anything else.  Every once in a while it sounds like indie or techno, because they use a lot of synthesizer.  "SOS," "Gimme, gimme, gimme," "Voulez-vous," "Does your mother know" and "Thank you for the music" are masterpieces. 

ABBA is also a musical form.  Haha.

I thought I had caught the Owl City fever as well, and I listened to some of their songs, but I think it's just the song "Fireflies" that I like.  The rest is not very remarkable.

Current book:  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

I haven't read that much yet, but so far it reminds me of 1984.

Current anime: Nadia: the Secret of Blue Water

Such an awesome anime.  I got into it because I heard my favourite Disney movie (Atlantis) was largely based on it (to the point of copying it).  Watching it now, I have to agree.

Milo = Jean
Kida = Nadia
Helga = Electra
Rourke = Gargoyle
Mole = Hanson

Both casts of characters live on a submarine most of the time.  Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water is longer, with more character development.  Also, the villains in Nadia are the Neo-Atlanteans, while the heroes are the surviving Atlanteans and the descendants of the Atlanteans.

The series is very imaginative and you can learn a lot about science from it, like in Star Trek.  It also kind of reminds me of Pokemon and Trigun.  Pokemon, because the villainous trio is pretty much exactly like Team Rocket, although Pokemon came later, so Pokemon copied this series.

Grandis = Jessie
Sanson = James
Hanson = Meowth (only human, and much more intelligent)

They have almost the exact same voices and appearances, although Sanson has a very aristocratic British drawl while James has more of a gay British accent.

It's also similar to Trigun, because of the animation style and the constant theme of whether it is worth it to be pacifist.  On the Nautilus, there are occasions when people have to die in order to defeat Gargoyle, and there is no other option.  Like Vash, Nadia is a pacifist throughout the entire series, and it costs her sometimes.  She is a lot more vocal about it, though.

Also, the villains (Neo-Atlanteans) are quite frightening for anime, which is refreshing.  They wear KKK hoods that are black (kind of like the Death Eater hoods) and army uniforms that are like the Nazi, Soviet and American soldier uniforms and white frowning masks.  These villains don't make speeches, fly around in silly machines and cackle evilly.  They shoot people, make nuclear weapons and believe in a superior race.  Yeah.  Get your kids to watch this one, parents!   I lost sleep watching the first few episodes with these villains.  They are creepy.  Those KKK hoods really scare me for some reason, and I'm not even black.

I've really enjoyed watching it so far.  Sometimes, I'll watch 3 or 4 in a night.  It is addicting.  But I'm still only on episode 25 and there are 39 altogether, so I'm about 2/3 through the series.  It doesn't seem to be very well known.  I guess because it's from 1990 (older than Pokemon!).  I highly recommend this series to people who like any of these shows/movies: Atlantis, Pokemon, Trigun and Star Trek. 

In conclusion, it is a combination of Disney's "Atlantis," "Pokemon," "Trigun," and "Star Trek."  But it is original in many aspects.


What I will be baking soon: St. Patrick's Day cupcakes

I will tell you how it goes.  They are green cupcakes with green sugar, white icing, green gummies made into shamrocks and Leprechaun hats made from green icing, Ritz crackers, marshmallows, M&Ms and Tootsie Rolls.  Go to the website if you want to try making it as well.  Warning: it was hard for a college student like me to find all the materials (my apartment is kind of understocked with obscure baking supplies and ingredients).

Here it is: http://hoosierhomemade.com/st-patricks-day-cupcakes-cupcake-tuesday/
 
Her version looks awesome.  The woman on this website seems very creative.  Wish me luck!  Luck of the Irish, that is!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Crowded singing

For the past few months I and another hundred or so students have been working on a piece by Monteverdi called "Vespro della Beata Vergine" (The Monteverdi Vespers).  It is an hour-long piece for an enormous 8-part choir or two enormous 4-part choirs, soloists and a medium-sized chamber orchestra with thirteen movements.  We had our concert tonight so it is finally finished and I am very happy that it is over and we don't have rehearsal for another week.

Why am I telling you this?  For the last two months rehearsals have been very hard to bear because of overcrowding.  It wasn't as bad as a factory farm or a Japanese subway station, but it is pretty close to it. Even during the concert, when we are expected to give our best performances, we were still squished together.  It was almost like rehearsing in a crowded setting was a practice for the crowdedness of the performance.  And instead of desks, we had to sit in black uncomfortable folding chairs so we could fit everyone in the classroom we rehearsed in.  I got especially frustrated last week when I was rehearsing with this massive choir for two hours every day.  It would be hard to find a bigger place to rehearse and perform without paying a lot of extra money, but I felt that this overcrowding negatively effected our singing.

In the last few rehearsals, which dominated my weekend (instead of, you know, having a social life or at least getting some homework done), our director and other students noticed some serious problems: bad tuning in almost every section, no facial expression, people not watching the conductor, people texting in rehearsal, tentative rhythm, people still not getting some of their pitches.  I think some of this might have been improved if people weren't packed in like sardines at the front of the church.

When we were performing, all dressed up, ready to go, if I moved my arm slightly, it would touch the person next to me, and I'd end up touching them if I leaned back.  I actually felt my back hurting a few minutes into the piece.  I also could barely see the conductor and since I was between two people, I couldn't move to be able to see him better.  By the end I was exhausted.  If you've ever been in a choir, you know how annoying all of this is.

In conclusion, I wish I had more room in choir because then I would probably sing better and not be as bored and cranky and tired.

Now I'm going to go and write some darned good fanfiction gosh darn it!

P.S. Damn it, Janet!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Posting for the hell of it

Hello there.

Not too much news.  Nothing too interesting.  But I wrote half a song today.  I wish I could show you but I currently can't.  This is new for me, because I usually just write song lyrics and never set them to music because I'm too afraid to.  But today, after playing some Sarah Harmer for fun, as usual, I wrote a sort-of song.  Well, it's not done yet, but I did a good chunk of it.  But I didn't write the words.  Perhaps that's what was holding me back.  I needed something that I didn't create in the song.  So I spontaneously pulled out a monologue I did for my Acting for Singers class and set it to music.  And I actually like what I've written.  Maybe I'll continue or finish writing the song tomorrow.  The first few lines of the monologue (by David Lindsey-Abaire) go like this:

"And what's interesting about George Washington, and most people don't know this about him, he wasn't just the father of our country, he was also the father of the first septuplets born in the United States.  Martha gave birth the seven children on October 5th, 1762.  Five of the children were very badly behaved, so they were sold into white slavery, while the two remaining, Maxwell and Hortense, drowned tragically in the Potomac while trying to retrieve their father's wooden teeth, which had fallen out of his mouth while he was beating a seagull with a canoe paddle."

The monologue is really funny.  I'm thinking I might put the whole thing to music, so it will be longer than a conventional song, but I don't really give a fuck.  Generally the better songs are like that anyway.  Ok, not always, but often.  I also wonder if I have to get some kind of permission to use David Lindsay-Abaire's text in a song if it gets performed or something.  It probably won't, so at this point I won't worry about it.

I also keep getting cool fanfiction ideas for my current stories.  I'm going to post another story on my fanfiction.net soon.  It will be another Atlantis story, about an old coworker of Milo's named Beatrice, a university student in love with Milo, who tries to find Atlantis in Milo's honour, believing him to be dead.  I'm really excited about this story, which was actually inspired by the Imogen Heap song "The Moment I Said it."  A lot of my stories and fantasies are inspired by specific songs.  Music just says so much.  A picture is worth a thousand words, while a piece of music is worth a million words. 

What is frustrating about having crazy amounts of creativity is that I don't get my practicing and homework done.  But what am I supposed to do?  Just ignore my ideas and let them itch at me while I focus on things that aren't as exciting?  It's hard.  Creating is so addicting.

Also, me and my roomies had a cleaning party tonight.  This has happened more than once.  Yes, university students doing chores and not having a completely crappy time.  It wasn't really a party, but one of my roommates put on some Motown 60s music and soon all five of us were asking to help out.  I Windexed my mirror and a bathroom mirror, cleaned a bathroom sink and vacuumed my room.  Not really that much, but the other stuff got taken!  It was kind of fun, but I'd rather watch a movie, to tell you the truth. 

Alright.  That's more than I thought I would write.  I always have more to say than I think on here.  Goodnight, fellow bloggers and readers!

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Divorced Men

A poem I wrote last night.

Divorced Men:

I miss you
You always smelled like flowers
Like a woman
I wanted that scent
so I could breathe it in every day and feel you
picture you
put in on and become you
I still want to become you
You're perfect
Your dirty blond hair
Your moon-shaped glasses
Your shoulder bag
Your salads
Your smile
Your quick wit
Those rebellious ears that stick out
Just like you do
In a crowd
The freckles and tiny hairs on your arms
Your slim fingers
So perfect
So immaculate
So precise
Your forest green cardigans and white dress shirts
Your tweed jacket and pants
Your ancient blackberry
Your voice
Smooth as milk and honey
Your exercises
Your books
Your mind
Your ring
Which you no longer wear
What do divorced men do with their rings?
Do they make love to them?

Monday, January 24, 2011

Culinary criticism... and praise

I went to Williams for breakfast at 11 am today and ordered a Strawberry Caramel Waffle.  I knew I would enjoy it, but I didn't expect it to be heaven on a plate!

It was perfect.  I don't think I could offer any criticism except more strawberries.

The ingredients?  Freshly made waffle, strawberry syrup, strawberries, caramel, two scoops of vanilla ice cream, whipping cream and icing sugar.

In a word: amazing.  Five stars!

Probably not at all healthy, but it was fucking delicious and it made my day!

And I wasn't too bloated when I was finished either, but that might have been because of how much my stomach stretched last night...

Last night I went to an Indian restaurant in Brampton called "Tandoori Flame."  It was an all-you-can-eat buffet with 150 items!  Basically Mandarin only with Indian food.  And since Indian food is pretty much my favourite type of cuisine, I was in paradise!

They had all my favourites, like chana masala, basmati rice, gulab jamun, garlic naan, cute mini samosas, etc, but they also had unique things I'd never tried before, like this really tasty black lentil dish and some kind of curried potato and cauliflower dish.  I was going to do four trips, two for main course, one for soup (dal) and the last one for dessert, but by my second trip (where I had taken a large helping of chana masala, my all time favourite) I was ready to surrender.

But I had to have my gulab jamun!  That's my other all-time favourite!  So I drank a LOT of water, and went to the bathroom and ate watermelon and sat for a long time, but I was so full it was painful!  It hurt to stand up!  Indian food is so filling!  So I had one gulab jamun, which tasted amazing, and gave the other to my brother.  Everything was cooked so well.  Very warm and spicy and full of flavour.

There were two things I didn't see: Mulligatwony (sp?) soup and Pakora.  But pakora isn't really one of my favourites, although Mulliagatwony is.  Definitely on my top 5 restaurants list, which has just formed in my brain now.  Five stars!  It was great.  I just have to know my limits next time.  Small servings, don't be a hero...

This talk of food is making me hungry.  Time for lunch!

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Quickie Post

Hi peoples,

I'm a bit busy with school now, so I will make this short, but I just realized I left the blog on a sad note - that my first day back was bad, but the rest of the week actually went quite well.  Thursday and Friday I was in an extremely good mood.  And the weeks after that have been nice, too.  I've kind of realized that everything I am afraid of is completely harmless.  I'm afraid of learning to act, afraid of getting vocal techniques wrong, afraid of embarrassing myself in front of people, afraid of being criticized, afraid of not being at the same level as other people in my year, afraid that my repertoire isn't right for me, afraid of things that are out of my comfort zone, but all of that is just learning, and lately, the scariest things have been the most enjoyable things.  So I've decided to not give a fuck and just enjoy myself.  Does any of this really truly matter in the grand scheme of things?  Definitely not.  So I'm just going to try to enjoy myself, no matter what I'm doing, and try my best.

Speaking of enjoying myself, I am still right into fanfiction.net.  I check it every day.  Sometimes more than every day.  Although, I haven't posted on there too recently.  People have been eating up my stories!  Ok, not a lot, but I've actually been getting reviews and people subscribing to my stories.  It's so awesome!  And on the stats page it tells you how many people looked at your stories each day, and you can see all the different countries of the people reading your stories.  My readers are mostly American and British, but I've got readers from Chile, Belgium, Mexico, Germany, France, etc...  I love that site!

Now off to do my homework for Acting for Singers... practicing my monologue, and critically watching "Pride and Prejudice."  Yes, I am serious. I shall enjoy this assignment immensely.

Until I post again,

Psychicbyinternet

P.S. I have no idea why this post has taken the form of a letter.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Back to School Depression

Today was my first day back and it depressed me and made me tired.  What a wonderful start to the new year...  University is simply a different world from home.  I have so much less time and everyone around me seems so much, well, more impressive.  You'd think I was in first year, double-taking at each person that walks by.  I feel so impressive back in my hometown, but when I go back to university, I'm left wondering what it is that I have to offer?

One course that I'm in is really intimidating.  Acting for Singers.  A friend of mine said it was mostly yoga, but we have readings, discussion of readings, we have to prepare a monologue, a scene with two other people and an aria.  Writing it down now, it doesn't seem so bad, but it feels like I have to have all this stuff ready for the teacher so soon...  It's kind of scary.  I miss chilling out with my family and writing fanfics, isolated in my tidy house. I was fantasizing about those things all day.  I already want to go home and I have three days left before I go home for the weekend.  I'm such a baby when it comes to homesickness...

No offense to my university apartment, but it's really not half as nice as home.  And I'm constantly hand-washing my dishes...  This morning, we hardly had any water and when I went to wash my dishes, hardly any water came out - not enough to wash anything, of course.  It's back now, but student housing frustrates me.  The landlord knows we don't know our rights, so he'll do a shoddy job with the hydro, the heating, the lighting, the fire alarm...  Why can't landlords just do a good job, whether you're a student or not?  Anyway, I have a feeling that I'm just depressed because it's my time of the month.  But, all in all, not the greatest first day back after winter break.  I really hope tomorrow is better.  Time to go get some delicious corn chips!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Riddles

These are some old riddles I made.  The answers are at the bottom of the post.  Don't peak!

1. This world has many disguises and accessories.  It may have bumps one day, dots another, often many trenches, and very rarely some mountains and hills.  It all depends where you travel.  It can take on a variety of colours; Red, Blue, Yellow, White, Purple and Black.  A chameleon of conditions, ever vulnerable.  What is it?

2. It bars the way but pulls lies out of our mouths.  It puts the forks in the roads and makes mud surround our feet while with it we swoon for money.  It stings you while you work, blocks the way to your big leap, separates you from other people...  This deadly sin causes most worldly problems.  What is it?

3. Made up of firsts and seconds, this toolbox has many materials; silver, wood, brass, strings, steel and even plastic.  It comes with instructions on paper, but they are strange alien symbols.  Luckily you are supplied with a magic wand.  Combine that and your logic and ears and you will have a work of art, prone to pretentiosity.  What is it?

4. Swallows your pride, never on your side, encourages lying, yawning, ambition, stealing and tea.  You share with them one of your greatest secrets so that they can harness it.  Your best friend and your worst enemy.  What is it?

5. Your body's boss, your brain's power-hungry advisor.  What is it?

6. Never warm until it's gone, always beautiful, can be deadly, made of fragile crystals, born of the never-ending blue.  What is it?

7. Acts as if you are a stranger, insults you, twists your arm and knows nearly everything about you.  He would bite the bullet for you in any danger.  What is it?

8. It's descendants stand on top of it's trunk.  Below, it soaks it's toes in hell.  Without it, these words wouldn't be written in my notebook.  What is it?

9. The noise and culture of a subway station, squeezed into a giant Crayola box with wheels.  What is it?

10. It is as intricate and detailed as mathematics.  Every spasm-causing agent has several formulas.  Each culture has it's own stationary set.  It belongs to everyone and can never be taken away!  It was once free until the men in white wigs put it in a cage made of paper and threw in a few nasty creatures called critics.  It is still capable of unleashing emotions but most of it's catches are lumpy, salty and runny.  What is it?

11. A miniature planet earth built from convulsions and think-on-your-feet arithmetic.  This robotic fortune teller is often associated with Romans.  What is it?

*
*
*
*
*

Answers:

1. Skin




2. Pride




3. A Band or Orchestra




4. A singing teacher




5. Pain




6. Snow




7. A brother




8. A tree




9. A school bus




10. Music or music today




11. A clock



Hope you liked my riddles.  Use them as quiz questions when people want stuff from you.

Example:

My brother: Can you buy me some ice cream?
Me: Okay but you have to answer this riddle first.
My brother: Okay I'll do it.
Me: (insert one of my riddles) What is it?  You get three guesses.
My brother: Um, a house?
Me: Nope.
My brother: Um, a book?
Me: Nope.
My brother: Um, the ocean?
Me: *shakes head*  Sorry, no ice cream for you.

And if you're really mean...

My brother: What was it then?
Me: Not telling.  You'll have to keep guessing the next time you want something.
My brother: I hate you.
Me: I hate you too.

This happens to be a really great money and resource-saving strategy!!

Okay, bye for now!  Happy New Year's!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Happy New Year/2011! (Snowballs)

Hi again,

So I lied.  I thought I'd only be back a few days after my post, but I was partially extremely busy with holiday and family stuff, traveling, etc and partially obsessed with a site I just discovered called fanfiction.net.  It is simply awesome!  Half the time I'm reading stories and the rest of the time I'm writing and posting them!  Quizilla does this stuff too but I find that the grammar is not very good and it's more of a quiz site anyway.  I've already written three stories and a person even reviewed one of my stories!  If you want to see what I've written you can look at my profile at....  http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2669529/Psychicbyinternet

I'm getting kind of frustrated with this website.  I keep trying to change my background and template but the template wizard won't load and I keep trying to get AdSense to work but apparently "awaiting approval."  It's been like that for at least a month no matter what I do.  Maybe I should ask about this on Yahoo Answers.  I wish they would make this site easier to use, for those who are technologically illiterate... :(

So without further ado, I present you with some of my lovely snowballs, as a sequel to my reindeer droppings, although there is very little snow in my area of Canada right now...  How un-festive!

These are two unusual professor encounters, or should I say confrontations?


Tweed Coat:

The teacher laughed.  A fish-faced grin on his face.  He giggled.  He cackled.  Nothing was funny.
We were alone in a room, learning.  No punch line had been spoken.  He began a snarky, maniacal laugh and returned to his deep, throaty chuckle.  If anything had ever been funny it would have been how utterly terrified I looked.  That - or my pathetic attempts at laughter.  It seemed as if we were in a movie where the evil boss laughs at a baby crying or a man being kicked in the face and his employees must awkwardly conform to keep their jobs.  He got serious.

"Why aren't you laughing?"

More laughing.  "It's lonely laughing alone.  It makes me feel like crying."

A contorted face, imitating my inner emotions.

"It's even lonelier to frown alone," I responded, not even attempting a laugh, "I don't suppose you would ever understand."

His giggling died down.  "No - I suppose not."

"Why does this all have to be so awkward? Why did your laughter seem so horrible?"

The student seemed troubled.

"I just wanted to learn from you," she continued.

"I understand - it's hard to laugh when nothing is funny."

The teacher bowed his head, putting one hand in his left pocket.

"Exactly!  It's so nice for you to understand.  I was worried that you might not," the girl turned to the enormous window covering the wall.  Crows were scattered among the top floors of academic buildings, shrieking for attention.

"I'd still be worrying if I were you," the teacher said.

"Why's that?  Is there a test?" the girl turned white.

The man shook his head. "I lied," he smiled, "I'll never understand."

And with that he shot her.

And then himself.  He stained his tweed coat.


Tweed Coat (Immature Brother Remix):

**My brother took my notebook and revised this story.  No matter how many times I read it it still makes me laugh.


The teacher laughed.  A fish-faced grin on his face.  He giggled.  He cackled.  Nothing was funny.
We were alone in a room, learning.  No punch line had been spoken.  He began a snarky, maniacal laugh and returned to his deep, throaty chuckle.  If anything had ever been funny it would have been how utterly terrified I looked.  That - or my pathetic attempts at laughter.  It seemed as if we were in a movie where the evil boss laughs at a baby crying or a man being kicked in the face and his employees must awkwardly conform to keep their jobs.  He got serious.


"Why aren't you laughing?"

"Evil Boss man, Go Fuck Yourself."


More laughing.  "It's lonely laughing alone.  It makes me feel like crying."


A contorted face, imitating my inner emotions.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" he cried.


"It's even lonelier to frown alone," I responded, not even attempting a laugh, "I don't suppose you would ever understand."


His giggling died down.  "No - I suppose not."


"Why does this all have to be so awkward? Why did your laughter seem so horrible?"

The student seemed troubled.


"I just wanted to learn from you," she continued.


"I understand - it's hard to laugh when nothing is funny."


The teacher bowed his head, putting one hand in his left crotch.


"Exactly!  It's so nice for you to understand.  I was worried that you might not," the girl turned to the enormous window covering the wall.  Rows were scattered among the top floors of academic buildings, shrieking for attention.


"I'd still be worrying if I were you," the teacher said.


"Why's that?  Is there a test?" the girl turned white.


The man shook his head. "I lied," he smiled, "I'll never understand."


And with that he shot her.


And then himself.  He stained his tweed coat.


Whiteboard Chat:

The professor scrubbed the whiteboard with a black eraser and the students crowded out the door.
She stood behind him, facing his back, waiting patiently.

He whirled around with a concerned look, "Yes?"

"Why?"

"The last mark you got?"

"No. Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why don't you care?" my eyes swelled up.

He frowned.

"Don't insult me.  I've worked here nearly six years and I have helped every student who asked for it.  Were you here for my first class?  I told everyone that I care."

"You're a good politician."

"You're good at stagnating.  Too bad it isn't a life skill."

He turned around and continued erasing.

She stood her ground, "You still didn't answer me."

"I did.  I care - about every student.  I'd invite you to office hours, but you're being a smart ass."

"You just did it!"

"What?"

"That not caring thing that you do.  Why do you do that?  And how?  I couldn't do it.  Is it in the cereal you eat every morning?"

"No!  I don't even know what you're talking about anymore," the prof scrubbed the last few symbols off the board.

"Does your wife beat you?  Do you eat unhealthily?  Are you lacking friends?  Have you been missing out on showers?  Do you have... insomnia?"

"No, no, no, no, no!  Leave me alone!  I don't care about you!" the man covered his mouth instantly.

"Now that you've admitted your problem, which is half the battle, we can start solving it."

She put her wire-rimmed glasses on and grabbed his briefcase.

"Hey!  That's mine!"

"Is it that you care only about yourself and your belonging or are you otherwise inclined?"

She searched his briefcase.  Lecture notes.  Pens.  Highlighters.  Rubber bands.

"A condom?"

"That's preposterous.  I'd never bring something that inappropriate to school!"

"And cocaine, heroin - crystalmeth?!"

"You put those in yourself!"

She shook her head, "this whole time I thought there was method to your madness."


Viva Las Vegas: a Music Faculty Formal (January 15, 2010):

As seventh chords and lustful dance tunes loiter in my head I remember a night that should have been longer, but yet was exhausting.  I feel like an intense cocktail of hyper and coma.  Meanwhile my cramps are still going strong, picking the perfect night to be at their worst.  Dancing is a magical, fantastic thing.  Total strangers, snobs, "celebrity" classmates mingle with the losers.  Everyone accepts the man wearing the dress or the girl who looks androgenous.  Inches away from legends.

My fear melts away more and more as the songs continue to play.  Accepting, yet so self-absorbed.  Unless the dance needs a partner, they look away, no matter how insanely you dance.  Sometimes people looked at me strangely when I made up movements and I felt so embarrassed.  Copying people, recycling, bringing some back from the past.  I wanted to use disco moves for every song, but I guess that would have been "uncool."

Dance circles forming.  I'd love to get in the middle of the circle with a guy and just do something scandalous... even something like grinding...

I wanted attention so badly.

He came.  With a girlfriend.  But he came.  That was amazing enough.  She seemed quite out of place, being from a different school.  Beautiful in her turquoise dress, but out of place all the same.  He barely knew anyone there as friends.  She knew no one.  He liked dancing.  She seemed to not like large doses of it.  Two lovely misfits.

He danced with me.  It happened so suddenly, and half the time I was certain that I was either dreaming or drunk.  Amidst the crowd I spun away from him, pretending not to notice him coming toward me.  I was so sure that he was trying to find someone behind me but he said "hi" and started dancing with me.  Off to the side.  "Billie Jean" was the song, and I later realized how appropriate it was.  I couldn't help grinning.  It was a dream.  He was a charming dancer.

"Do you know the moonwalk?!" I yelled in his ear.

He smiled. "No, well, sort of..."

We tried doing it at the same time, unsucessfully.  Fast spins, corny hand gestures, the can-can, I tried different things hoping he wouldn't lose interest.  I loved it when he pulled his hat over his eyes like Michael Jackson.  Yet it was scary.  He has a girlfriend.  What if she looks and gets mad?  Then again - we weren't slow dancing.  But we danced for almost an entire song.

But why would he leave her?  Should I really associate with someone that cruel?  Why did he?  I'd hardly talked to him recently.  Why was I suddenly appealing to him?  Or maybe I was just a friend?

When the song ended, it mixed into a slow dance.  He left, knowing to report back to the girlfriend.  I slowly left the dance floor in disbelief.  It doesn't seem like much, I guess, but these are the sorts of things that really brighten my life and keep me alive.  I've never danced with a guy that I had a serious crush on before.  And I'd been infatuated with him since at least the first week of university.  I felt so brave.

He didn't dance with me again after that, but that little taste kept me hoping.  I looked around so often, I think people were catching onto my crush.  But it was so much just to dance with him once.

I kept coming up with theories as to why.  Maybe he just wanted some variety and danced with me as a friend.  Maybe he was role-playing with his girlfriend and I was the bitchy part of the love triangle.  Maybe, being a music nerd, he wanted to play out the situation of the song ("Billie Jean").  Most exciting theory: maybe he hates his girlfriend and he loves me.  Maybe we'll start going out tomorrow.  Extremely wishful thinking.  I wonder what our classes together will be like now.  No, I don't think anything exciting will happen in all honesty.  Writing out all this just makes me even less attractive than my previous low.  And yet...

I could have danced all night! (If it were with him)

---------------------------------

P.S. Turns out after that weekend, when I saw him in class Monday morning, he acted as if nothing happened.  He said "hi," but he didn't even talk about the Music Formal at all.  Oh well.  It was nice while it lasted.


Man Is:

By nature a snarling violent beast
How did I come to know you?
They focus on violence and sex
One at a time
They think in straight lines
Tunnel vision
Did you know that men think about sex ninety percent of the time?
How did I come to love you?
Do they think about weapons the other ten percent?

Man is means woman and man is
Because woman cancels out
It's simple math
Don't worry your pretty little head about it
Men know women are objects
Women are objects
Irrelevant in the grand equation

Makes me so mad
To see the smirk on your face
As you get ahead
Ninety nine percent of men are pigs
At least forty nine percent of the world are pigs
And that percentage rules the world

Those dogs
Fixated on their pistols and guns
Are any of them my friend?
Can I be safe with someone that different?
Are they really all the same?
But they've been leaving us with them for years


He is coming:

A hat from the 'twenties
a slender form
a dark blur approaches
mumbled instructions
to himself

A pale face
and round glasses
a smooth, lazy voice
declarations of the mundane
walking down the hall...

A strong dose of TMI
with a hint of philosophy,
genius?

A cordial nod
My heart attempts to
strangle me
I want to leave...

That is how I know he is coming.