Kind of a neat chain thingie

Got this from Facebook.

Instructions:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search (http://www.flickr.com/).
b. Using ONLY the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Mosaic Maker. Change rows to 3 and columns to 3 (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php).
d. Save the image and post it!


Questions:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your favorite color?
4. Favorite drink?
5. Dream vacation?
6. Favorite hobby?
7. What you want to be when you grow up?
8. What do you love most in life?
9. One word to describe you?





Giving credit where credit is due-
1. Courtney: courtney,
2. Pasta: Pasta Flower,
3. Blue: Yosemite National Park, California,
4. Dr. Pepper: Offering to the Gods (who must be crazy!),
5. Australia: Velvet Morning,
6. World of Warcraft (haha): Thunderbluff...remixed,
7. Opera Singer: Bluebird,
8. Love: Looking out over the Thames,
9. Loud: Bend me, shape me, anyway you want me.

Hooray, Apple!!

They called me today and said that they're not only going to fix the fan that's making all the racket, they're going to replace the CD drive, too! And it's all under warranty, so I don't have to pay anything but the time that it's with them and not with me.


Hooray, Apple!!!

I'm blogging from my phone.

This is both awesome and a little silly. I don't know what it's going to look like, and I'll probably fix it when I have my computer, but this is still kind of cool.

My life is pretty boring without my sweet, sweet computer, and for this reason, I hope that the Apple people can heal it. I did get to maliciously sing Verdi to punish our stupid neighbors. This was both productive, and since we can hear every damn step they take, I'm guessing it was pretty effective. Hehe...

Since I am somewhat limited here, I'll just post lyrics to a great song that you should Youtube when you get a chance.



Queen - Somebody to Love


Can anybody find me somebody to love?
Each morning I get up I die a little
Can barely stand on my feet
Take a look in the mirror and cry
Lord what you're doing to me
I have spent all my years in believing you
But I just can't get no relief, Lord!
Somebody, somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

I work hard every day of my life I work till I ache my bones
At the end I take home my hard earned pay all on my own -
I get down on my knees
And I start to pray
Till the tears run down from my eyes
Lord - somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me - somebody to love?

(He works hard)

Everyday - I try and I try and I try -
But everybody wants to put me down They say I'm goin' crazy
They say I got a lot of water in my brain
Got no common sense I got nobody left to believe
Yeah - yeah yeah yeah
Oh Lord
Somebody - somebody
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

Got no feel, I got no rhythm
I just keep losing my beat
I'm ok, I'm alright
Ain't gonna face no defeat
I just gotta get out of this prison cell
Someday I'm gonna be free, Lord!
Find me somebody to love
Can anybody find me somebody to love?

That post I meant to write

The quote from the previous post was not adequately explained. Rümmi and I were listening to new music that she had recently acquired from her brother. In between vodka shots, I was picking out stuff that I wanted for my own self. Our highly scientific method of deciding what albums I wanted was basically just listening to bits of 2 or 3 songs from whatever album was in question and it was either a big yes or a big no. One of these albums, I don't even remember which one, was wishy-washy upon first sampling, but another track sounded more like something I'd like.


Rümmi said, "It's worth it to get the whole album if you like a track on it; even if there's only one. You'll end up liking the rest of it eventually."


There is a lot of truth to that, with regard to lots of things. Well said, Rümmi.


That's for you, Rümmi!


**Also, super bonus points if anyone knows the movie that the image in that post is from.

Remind me that I have a blog to write

at some point in the future when I'm not drinking screwdrivers with Rümmi.


"...even if there's only one."

Papers and music and work, oh my!

I was talking to somebody the other day and started thinking about what I have ahead of me in this damn degree as opposed to what I've already done. It's more than a little overwhelming. I mean, LOOK at that To Do list! And that's only the rest of this semester.

I'm generally unaccustomed to the way this is panning out. Why do they save the hardest crap for the very end? That's not how it's supposed to work! Every other schooling I've done has had the really hard part at between 70 and 85 percent and then the last 15 percent is coasting... this work really hard at the end part sucks.

I've sort of started to think about all of it and go, "How did I get myself into this?" At this point, I feel like I've been planning a wedding for a really long time and through the process, I have now started to question whether I wanted to marry the dude in the first place, but I'm so far in (with regard to deposits and venues and caterers and invites and dress....) that I might as well go through with it and hope that he turns out to be worth it when it's all over.


So, Mr. Graduate Degree, I really hope you're worth all the work I'm putting into this relationship, because right now, I'm all give give give and you're not doing just a whole lot for me. Here's to finishing what we've started together and staying through the tough times so we can go on our honeymoon!

2 months

To do (revised and in no particular order):

Learn stuff for Naftzger: 3 Italian songs, Knoxville, revisit Strauss.
Start prep for Vocal Ped. paper: Read up on Cornelius Reid's methodology
Teach/observe lessons for Vocal Ped.
Start prep for 20th Century Style and Structure paper: figure out what I'm actually going to talk about
Work
Finish moving out (okay, this may need to happen before everything else)


If I can just make it through the next two months... I will be scot-free. It's really closer to a month and a half, as commencement is on 5-9-09, but still. I cannot possibly express how badly I want it be summertime right now.

With a little help from my friends

I had a thought the other day about the people in our lives:


If at any point you sit and assess where you are in life, either with regard how old you are or your location or what you're doing there, you can directly trace it to the people you have known throughout the time it took you to get there.

There are very obvious examples of this: the people you marry (the people you DON'T marry), your best friends, siblings... It's really easy to see how these people affect your life; sometimes quite drastically. But there are tons of not so obvious pushes and pulls on your life that really don't seem like much as individual events, but viewed together are much more significant. Anyhow, the thing that struck me the other day was not so much how others affect me, but how I affect others. How that it's possible, probable even, that for indefinite stretches of time, I exist solely for another person; that my presence in their life has nothing to do with me at all. I can think of those people for me. There have been people in my life that were only heavily involved for a little while, but who profoundly changed me, and thinking that I might be that person for someone else, either in the past or right this moment, is a little mind boggling.


Also: I'm almost 25. I'm not all "HOLY CRAP I'M SO OLD NOW" or anything, but it warrants a bit of pause to simply say to myself, "I have spent 25 years here (wherever I am) doing this (whatever I do) with these people (whoever they are) and this has been my choice." I mean, I have used various amounts of my time over the course of my life cultivating and strengthening relationships with people. Some of these people, these friends, these choices I have made will be sticking around for years and years and years. Inevitably, some friendships I have now will fade with time, but some of the people I know right now, that I have known for 8 years or 2 years will be a big part of my life for the rest of it. The sort of scary part comes in when I run around in circles with this idea and really dwell on the fact that you can't go back and try again. If I decide that I want new friends, I have to start over with new friendships and go from the very beginning. Not that there's anything wrong with new friends, but new friends aren't old friends. Old friends are special. They have passed some unspoken endurance test and stuck with you. They certainly didn't have to, and neither did you, but you both did and there is something so basic and secure about that. I love these friends.

cute foodies found here.

The Big Move

Is done.


Well, for Rümmi it is. I haven't moved anything but furniture and what I immediately will need for tomorrow. I will be putting my champion procrastination skills to excellent use this next week because I will definitely be out of school and working 8 hour days. I should come home and do the apartment moving thing, but I really have other crap I gotta take care of first (See this post).

I have another good blog idea that will have to wait. I'm killing stuff now.

Drop.io

Is the most amazing thing ever. You should really check it out and use it.

Also, FYI, if you like any of the songs I post on my blog so much that you want them for your very own, you can download them at drop.io/toasterxors.

Enjoy!

And so it goes...

I love this song. So much. And I love Kelli O'Hara. So much.

Image from How To Talk to Girls by Alec Greven

Goals and dreams

I have a new short term goal. And what does it have to do with? WoW. Because apparently nothing else in my life is worth talking about? ....question mark? Anyway, I need to achieve 8 and a half levels between 2 characters in as short a span of time as possib-


Seriously?? This is what I have to talk about?! I mean, I guess it could be worse... I could be talking about something depressing or sad, but instead.... just WoW. I kinda hate that about my life at the moment.

Uh... I'm moving? So yay for that... I MUST move at least some of my crap to the other place by the 14th because they're turning off the internet at the old place then. So, as per my norm, as long as I have some clothes, some food and my computer, I'll be fine at the new place. We'll have to move my bed while we have the truck, so I guess that will already be there. That will be a pleasant change from any other new place I've ever moved into. Also: We'll be on the bottom floor, which will be another new and exciting adventure. Let's cross our fingers and hope this place is better than the old one.

So, since I literally have nothing worthwhile to say: I love this song. Enjoy.

Songs define my life sometimes

Like this one. Pathetic and sad, yes. Unable to quit? Also yes.

Now, this. Lots of the time I wish that I could be more like this one.

Will I get to that point? Maybe. But probably not soon.


Thank GOD it's lunch and WoW will be back up in an hour. It is somewhat painful to me how much time I spend doing that... but at the same time, hey. It's cheap entertainment, and what is better than that? And to you naysayers out there: don't knock it 'till you've tried it. :-)

To clarify:

I know how to spell "betrayed."

It occurred to me that if you're not Meredith Ernst, you won't get my reference from previous blog.

Here is said reference:




Is that not SO tragic?! The look on that kitty's face.... how hilarious.

Ok, WoW...

You has betraid my tiny trust.

Why is that every Tuesday morning I have lots of free time, you do maintenance? I love you too much to let you go, but seriously. I have needs.

God is so funny

I just read that blog from earlier and laughed at myself. Remember that thing about me not worrying? Here's a great example of WHY I don't worry about crap:

I had some last minute-ish (but very much a priority) Spring Break plans that involved going to WF. I am also moving OUT of my apartment and INTO another one very close to that time. I also will barely have enough money to live at this point. (See why it's funny that I don't worry about anything?)

So this is how this goes down. I get a text canceling my need to go to WF for break which bums me out kind of a lot. (So I mindlessly play WoW for like 7 hours today. Hey, it's cheaper than booze.) Then, I realize: DUH. My co-worker is going to be out of town for the entirety of break visiting her parents, so I get my pick of the hours. That means I will work a full 40 hour week next week. This will assuage my "I don't have enough money to even buy Ramen" issue quite a bit. Additionally, this 40 hour week will allow me to play WoW as much as I want! This is a double bonus, because I will be getting paid, and playing my game and I would have done neither had I gone to WF. (Nerd sidebar: I have 2 65s now! And I love my guild! Oh, God.... sooo nerdy....)

So anyhow, this is going to be a great break complete with working, moving, and WoWing!!*

*confession: I would still have rather gone to WF for those plans...

Worry

I am not a worrier. I never have been. I have no idea how I came to be this way or even how I exist with such a high threshold for letting crap slide that is probably important.

I make that statement to say that I probably won't be doing any summer programs this year, either. That is, unless one of them wants to basically pay for my life for that amount of time. I am not worried about it (even though I probably should be) and I'll probably just have summer here in OKC doing nothing but working (to fund my rather expensive life) and doing light research on my thesis paper. Well, and playing WoW, but that goes without saying.

In other news, I got my application in to Naftzger in time! Yay! So that will hopefully be a neat experience. Even though I have to memorize more crap for it. Woo hoo.... my fav.

And it looks like my pasta is done. Nom!

Who's still up because she played WoW instead of doing homework?

Yeah, that would be me. But it was far less soul killing to do the homework at a snail's pace while playing WoW than just doing the homework and chewing my own arm off. And also, I had a beautiful, on purpose nap earlier, so I'm not too tired, either. In any case, I'm almost done with my analysis and so I think I'm going to go to bed. I leave you with this song. It's very pretty.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

When It Don't Come Easy - Patty Griffin


Red lights are flashing on the highway
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight
Everywhere the waters getting rough
Your best intentions may not be enough
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home tonight

[...]

I don't know nothing except change will come
Year after year what we do is undone
Time keeps moving from a crawl to a run
I wonder if we're gonna ever get home
You're out there walking down a highway
And all of the signs got blown away
Sometimes you wonder if you're walking in the wrong direction

[...]

So many things that I had before
That don't matter to me now
Tonight I cry for the love that I've lost
And the love I've never found
When the last bird falls
And the last siren sounds
Someone will say what's been said before
Some love we were looking for

When you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
And stay by you when it don't come easy

Pulling away

You know, I gotta agree with Rümmi and say that sometimes, it's better to just not set yourself up for the crushing disappointment that comes with expecting things from people who will never deliver. Even if it's dramatic to call it "crushing" when it happens, it usually is just working its way to crushing and would have arrived there if it hadn't been circumvented by the act of pulling away. The extreme high is addictive, but the inevitable low is just plain shitty. I have said in the past that I would take the low just to get the high. This is a really stupid philosophy. I, however, am incapable of being logical about anything and therefore knowingly subject myself to the letdown because the high points are so much fun. I should really try this from now on. It would just save me time:

Ben Franklin said, "Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they are never disappointed."