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labellementeuseIn a viciously successful attempt to procrastinate on my marketing assignment, over the past couple of days I have:
Cleaning-related
- tidied my room and dresser
- cleaned all the dishes associated with the above (you really don't want to know)
- home-made wood polish, dusted, and polished the (ancient, out-of-tune, and not-mine) piano (used basically as an extra book-case and music stand) and dresser in my room
- created a giant (GIANT) pile of dirty washing that I'm just sort of looking at helplessly; it hasn't been sunny.
- vaccuumed, my least favourite chore
- sorted the stack of DVDs lying in and around my bed, including putting many into their actual cases (!) instead of on the 5 or so spindles lying around
- disinfected the kitchen and bathroom
- piled the many, many books that don't fit on my bookcases into vaguely tidy heaps
Craft-related
- properly finished the slippers I knit over the weekend (wove in and snipped the ends - I can pretty much wander around for ages without snipping if I don't have scissors to hand when I finish, I'm trashy like that)
- watched two seasons of Castle and knit a bunch of repeats on the Nightsongs shawl that is my spring television project (I picked Nightsongs because a) I promised one to Meggie many aeons ago, got most of the way through it, and then ran out of yarn - a discontinued Spotlight angora. and b) it's a really beautiful pattern with a title that reminds me of Supernatural, which was what I was watching when I cast on.)
- I usually knit lace in 4ply. This is a 2ply merino, of which I own a giant 1kg cone, and gosh I forgot how long it takes to get ANYWHERE when you're knitting in 2ply. Unblocked this is barely headscarf territory, and again, this is like two seasons' of TV-worth of knitting.
Music-related
- a week or so ago I saw a wonderful NZSO concert (in a hall with very many empty seats. Wellington types, I am disappoint.) It was part of their "soloist" series, which contra to the name is about highlighting sections of the orchestra and letting them shine in a small chamber-ish orchestra. I saw their string section, obvi, because that's how I roll, and I must say I enjoyed it very much. (And, hey, checking their website - they're hitting Invercargill on Wednesday, Dunedin on Thursday, and Christchurch on Friday - this is a wonderful concert for anyone interested in string music.) They played some beautiful, witty Telemann (which I LOVED, but Telemann is pretty much how I roll), the Finnish modern piece by Salinen was really accessible and exciting, and I liked the Grieg very much - and as a rule I do NOT like Grieg. The pieces performed with the flute soloist were a bit less exiting for me, but then again I'm not really a flute person, so. The director, Vesa-Matti Leppänen, was good and also very funny when he introduced the pieces. This is a really accessible concert, it's less than $25 if you're a student, and if you buy on the day and are a full-time student or community services card holder you can get student rush which is like $13 (IIRC, prices may have gone up recently, but I don't think so.) Go! The NZSO needs your support. They're a wonderful orchestra and we don't go enough.
- Also, there's a harpsichord in the Telemann! A harpsichord y'all! Harpsichords are beautiful!
- Relatedly, I just noticed that next year they're doing all the romeo & juliets. UH I AM SO THERE W/BELLS ON. Roll on June!
- ANYWAY this is all by way of saying that today I dragged out my violin. Or rather, I went home to get my violin & viola; you know you haven't touched it in too long when it's not even in the house with you (I moved in in February), although in my defense I do live a street away from home and I thought at the time that I'd just pop round when I needed it.
- The A string on my viola was broken. I suck so hard.
- OTOH my violin was fine and barely out of tune; IDK what to think about this. My violin was made for my Norwegian great-great grandfather. He was terrifically tall, so it is longer and a little larger than your average violin. It's one of the few objects anyone in my family owns that is genuinely passed-down-through-the-centuries, and even though I am not terrifically tall and my little fingers are, frankly, stumpy, I still love it. The pegs are pretty stiff and it's a pain to string, but on the other hand I have dragged this violin on planes and trains and automobiles, it's sat under beds and behind couches and all the rest of the places you store a violin when you're a student with a tiny room and it really honestly never goes far out of tune. (Lucky, because I have a crap ear for fifths and tuning is a huge and unpleasant drama for me.)
- Now my fingertips are really, really sore.
- I learned violin through the Suzuki method, which if you're a violinist or have played orchestral music you now want to make a joke about, so I'll leave you a space for that.
OK? OK. Anyway, part of the Suzuki ~process is the memorisation and review of the entire catalogue, of which I'm familiar with about three-quarters (I was half-way through Book 6 when I quit, but I wasn't too solid on a couple of Book 5 pieces either; my teacher preferred younger students and wasn't great at managing older students.) People mock this because all Suzuki students know the same pieces (at least until the point where the really gifted or passionate students start diversifying to get into music schools), which means we're really easy to pick out in a crowd. On the other hand, this is solid gold for busking: throughout high school if I needed fifty bucks I could rock up with just my fiddle and play for an hour at rush hour and bugger off again. No fucking about with music stands. (The other thing is that Suzuki students make an awesome musical flashmob; start playing the Bach double in a roomful of violin students and see what happens.)
- It was really interesting to me which pieces I could remember really well and which pieces I struggled with. I had to remind myself which Book 1 pieces went with which names but they were basically fine, and I had no trouble with Books 4+; the Book 5 unaccompanied gavotte, which was a favourite performance piece of mine when I was about fifteen, was like riding a bike. On the other hand, books 2 and 3 were like a mystery to me. I forgot Witches' Dance. Witches' Dance! It was sort of hilarious.
- As I periodically do, I have resolved to get back into practising. I'm not especially talented but I really enjoy playing, especially with others. I figure if I practise for a couple of months I can get myself back to the shape where I can unembarassedly join one of those amateur orchestras. (The viola would be better for this, because people *love* violists, but I'm not that good.)
Also, I've been watching television. Including Supernatural.
I've been quite enjoying it. I really like Lisa, but I must admit that I enjoyed "The Third Man" the most of the episodes so far. I only have two comments about it:
- I think the whole Sam-pays-for-sex gamble was a bit confused, because people have been responding to it so drastically differently. Some people clearly felt that this constituted slinging mud at Sam's character, but just went ~too far. OTOH, and I think this is a cultural thing, I just really didn't think it was that bad? At all? I don't think Sam was as much of a dick as people are saying he is and I really don't think either sex work or patronising sex workers is as bad as people are suggesting.
- RELATEDLY, I wish the people who are going off about how ~terrible it is for Sam to be visiting a sex worker and how trashy it is/he is etc etc would STOP CALLING HER A HOOKER. If you are that opposed to prostitution FINE, but you don't get to use the word HOOKER to describe sex workers, OK? God fucking damnit.
- It didn't particularly strike me as something season 1 Sam would have done, but it didn't strike me as that OOC for season 4 Sam, and REALLY not OOC for Sam as he has been so far this season, which is clearly, you know, ~different.
- Dean is still my favourite. <3 I do wish he could be a tiny bit more of a BAMF again - remember back in seasons 1 and 2 when Sam got choked and chucked in cages allll the time and Dean had to rescue him? At the time that bugged me because Sam never seemed competent, but it would be nice if it would happen *occasionally.*
- I'm really enjoying his relationship with Lisa. I think they're handling it pretty nicely. I have many more opinions about this but yeah, that's what it boils down to.
Cleaning-related
- tidied my room and dresser
- cleaned all the dishes associated with the above (you really don't want to know)
- home-made wood polish, dusted, and polished the (ancient, out-of-tune, and not-mine) piano (used basically as an extra book-case and music stand) and dresser in my room
- created a giant (GIANT) pile of dirty washing that I'm just sort of looking at helplessly; it hasn't been sunny.
- vaccuumed, my least favourite chore
- sorted the stack of DVDs lying in and around my bed, including putting many into their actual cases (!) instead of on the 5 or so spindles lying around
- disinfected the kitchen and bathroom
- piled the many, many books that don't fit on my bookcases into vaguely tidy heaps
Craft-related
- properly finished the slippers I knit over the weekend (wove in and snipped the ends - I can pretty much wander around for ages without snipping if I don't have scissors to hand when I finish, I'm trashy like that)
- watched two seasons of Castle and knit a bunch of repeats on the Nightsongs shawl that is my spring television project (I picked Nightsongs because a) I promised one to Meggie many aeons ago, got most of the way through it, and then ran out of yarn - a discontinued Spotlight angora. and b) it's a really beautiful pattern with a title that reminds me of Supernatural, which was what I was watching when I cast on.)
- I usually knit lace in 4ply. This is a 2ply merino, of which I own a giant 1kg cone, and gosh I forgot how long it takes to get ANYWHERE when you're knitting in 2ply. Unblocked this is barely headscarf territory, and again, this is like two seasons' of TV-worth of knitting.
Music-related
- a week or so ago I saw a wonderful NZSO concert (in a hall with very many empty seats. Wellington types, I am disappoint.) It was part of their "soloist" series, which contra to the name is about highlighting sections of the orchestra and letting them shine in a small chamber-ish orchestra. I saw their string section, obvi, because that's how I roll, and I must say I enjoyed it very much. (And, hey, checking their website - they're hitting Invercargill on Wednesday, Dunedin on Thursday, and Christchurch on Friday - this is a wonderful concert for anyone interested in string music.) They played some beautiful, witty Telemann (which I LOVED, but Telemann is pretty much how I roll), the Finnish modern piece by Salinen was really accessible and exciting, and I liked the Grieg very much - and as a rule I do NOT like Grieg. The pieces performed with the flute soloist were a bit less exiting for me, but then again I'm not really a flute person, so. The director, Vesa-Matti Leppänen, was good and also very funny when he introduced the pieces. This is a really accessible concert, it's less than $25 if you're a student, and if you buy on the day and are a full-time student or community services card holder you can get student rush which is like $13 (IIRC, prices may have gone up recently, but I don't think so.) Go! The NZSO needs your support. They're a wonderful orchestra and we don't go enough.
- Also, there's a harpsichord in the Telemann! A harpsichord y'all! Harpsichords are beautiful!
- Relatedly, I just noticed that next year they're doing all the romeo & juliets. UH I AM SO THERE W/BELLS ON. Roll on June!
- ANYWAY this is all by way of saying that today I dragged out my violin. Or rather, I went home to get my violin & viola; you know you haven't touched it in too long when it's not even in the house with you (I moved in in February), although in my defense I do live a street away from home and I thought at the time that I'd just pop round when I needed it.
- The A string on my viola was broken. I suck so hard.
- OTOH my violin was fine and barely out of tune; IDK what to think about this. My violin was made for my Norwegian great-great grandfather. He was terrifically tall, so it is longer and a little larger than your average violin. It's one of the few objects anyone in my family owns that is genuinely passed-down-through-the-centuries, and even though I am not terrifically tall and my little fingers are, frankly, stumpy, I still love it. The pegs are pretty stiff and it's a pain to string, but on the other hand I have dragged this violin on planes and trains and automobiles, it's sat under beds and behind couches and all the rest of the places you store a violin when you're a student with a tiny room and it really honestly never goes far out of tune. (Lucky, because I have a crap ear for fifths and tuning is a huge and unpleasant drama for me.)
- Now my fingertips are really, really sore.
- I learned violin through the Suzuki method, which if you're a violinist or have played orchestral music you now want to make a joke about, so I'll leave you a space for that.
OK? OK. Anyway, part of the Suzuki ~process is the memorisation and review of the entire catalogue, of which I'm familiar with about three-quarters (I was half-way through Book 6 when I quit, but I wasn't too solid on a couple of Book 5 pieces either; my teacher preferred younger students and wasn't great at managing older students.) People mock this because all Suzuki students know the same pieces (at least until the point where the really gifted or passionate students start diversifying to get into music schools), which means we're really easy to pick out in a crowd. On the other hand, this is solid gold for busking: throughout high school if I needed fifty bucks I could rock up with just my fiddle and play for an hour at rush hour and bugger off again. No fucking about with music stands. (The other thing is that Suzuki students make an awesome musical flashmob; start playing the Bach double in a roomful of violin students and see what happens.)
- It was really interesting to me which pieces I could remember really well and which pieces I struggled with. I had to remind myself which Book 1 pieces went with which names but they were basically fine, and I had no trouble with Books 4+; the Book 5 unaccompanied gavotte, which was a favourite performance piece of mine when I was about fifteen, was like riding a bike. On the other hand, books 2 and 3 were like a mystery to me. I forgot Witches' Dance. Witches' Dance! It was sort of hilarious.
- As I periodically do, I have resolved to get back into practising. I'm not especially talented but I really enjoy playing, especially with others. I figure if I practise for a couple of months I can get myself back to the shape where I can unembarassedly join one of those amateur orchestras. (The viola would be better for this, because people *love* violists, but I'm not that good.)
Also, I've been watching television. Including Supernatural.
I've been quite enjoying it. I really like Lisa, but I must admit that I enjoyed "The Third Man" the most of the episodes so far. I only have two comments about it:
- I think the whole Sam-pays-for-sex gamble was a bit confused, because people have been responding to it so drastically differently. Some people clearly felt that this constituted slinging mud at Sam's character, but just went ~too far. OTOH, and I think this is a cultural thing, I just really didn't think it was that bad? At all? I don't think Sam was as much of a dick as people are saying he is and I really don't think either sex work or patronising sex workers is as bad as people are suggesting.
- RELATEDLY, I wish the people who are going off about how ~terrible it is for Sam to be visiting a sex worker and how trashy it is/he is etc etc would STOP CALLING HER A HOOKER. If you are that opposed to prostitution FINE, but you don't get to use the word HOOKER to describe sex workers, OK? God fucking damnit.
- It didn't particularly strike me as something season 1 Sam would have done, but it didn't strike me as that OOC for season 4 Sam, and REALLY not OOC for Sam as he has been so far this season, which is clearly, you know, ~different.
- Dean is still my favourite. <3 I do wish he could be a tiny bit more of a BAMF again - remember back in seasons 1 and 2 when Sam got choked and chucked in cages allll the time and Dean had to rescue him? At the time that bugged me because Sam never seemed competent, but it would be nice if it would happen *occasionally.*
- I'm really enjoying his relationship with Lisa. I think they're handling it pretty nicely. I have many more opinions about this but yeah, that's what it boils down to.
no subject
Date: 2010-10-10 06:02 am (UTC)