Right now would be the perfect opportunity to catch up on much needed rest, but there are far too many interesting things to read and write about. Beside, who needs sleep when you're almost done with finals. I'm used to it by now...that's right. Six down, one to go. I had three today, two the day before. Two last week, and one tomorrow. Wait, that's seven..whatever, I'm majoring in music.
Some interesting things I learned in school today, beside your run-of-the-mill improvisations on the pentatonic scale and harmonizing chords based on a 2-5-6-1 progression:
**But first! An article describing the continued swing toward conservative thinking. "Poll Shows GOP on the Move: More Ink to Follow?" Now, back to your regular programming.**
1. Men like pedicured toes.
2. College teachers like getting Christmas presents. Yes, I buy my grades.
3. Weird Al looks old in person. Walked right by him at the Grove.
4. You can take any word you want and change it's meaning based on inflection. Take, for example, "sick." Since over half my department is made up of young men predominantly influenced by the hip-hop culture, I've come to know this trick well. "Sick" is one of the words most commonly used in this tribal community. (Yes, Zach, I'm officially "clowning" you right now.) Sick can, of course, mean physically ill, but that's too pedantic. It's really used to describe "sick beats" or "sick rhythms" or whatever other one syllable word you may pair it with. "Killing it," "clowning," "mad," and other words I can't type on this site are also commonly utilized expressions. Half the time, I feel like a sociologist studying a foreign culture, but mostly, I play up the sheltered white girl pretense. Ah, but you know I love you guys! Heck, you have expanded my vocabulary. That or assaulted it...the jury's still out. :)
Just in case you haven't had enough of my uncharacteristically auto-biographical post, here is a list of books I'm planning on reading during my short two week break. And I will read them all.
Matt Redman's Facedown. I've been reading this book, but it's so heavy, that it must be absorbed in small amounts. I highly recommend it. But if you want to read books about worship, I'd start with Darlene Zchech's book Extravagant Worship, which is a good preface to this one.
The perfect follow up to the previously listed book, I will be reading what the other side has to say about the war. I don't know about you, but I am still constantly amazed at the fact that books were published on the war about two days after it began. What a time we live in. This is on loan to me from one of my good friends from school. We are desperately trying to convince one another that we're right. Quite fun, actually.
Excellent book for any who need to hear someone say, "RELAX!" This is written by a jazz piano giant, but I highly recommend it to anyone who struggles in messing up when things really matter. Whether you're into public speaking or soccer or music, and you find that you can't quite perform as well as you do when it's just rehearsal, this book's for you.
Dennis Prager said that this was one of the top three books that influenced his life and thinking, so I bought it.
Started reading this online and it's fascinating. I love reading the writing of genius scientists who believe in an ultimate cause. This will be an exciting read.
Well, that about sums up what I'll be doing on my much needed break. That and practicing jazz voicings, soloing and a million other things as I get ready for a private teacher who's going to kick my butt. I'm so excited. Well, I hope you all have a lovely Wednesday. If you're in school, take heart, you're almost done and Christmas is only 11 days away! :) Well, probably 10 as soon as I get this posted.
Posted by Portia at December 15, 2004 12:02 AM
