Weeeee it's almost summer!

Hey y'all. I'm at work at 9:30 am (have been here since 8 am) and so naturally have time to blog. Or at least I will until Dean Hillner gets out of the committee meeting in a bit and I'll need to run decision letters for him. But anyway, I thought this would be as good of a time as any, since I'll be heading off to Blue Lake in a little over 3 weeks, and will then (as many of you already know) have no time to do anything! OK...so let's see what's new in my life since I last posted: I am pretty much finished with everything viola! I had two recitals this year--one at the end of November and the second one a little over a week ago on May 6. Phew, let me tell you, giving two recitals in one year sucks sucks SUCKS! Plus I was playing for a girl who lives in my building on May 3--she had to give a chamber recital because she's a pianist and so I played the Brahms E-flat sonata with her (um, tons of work..but luckily I played it @ my fall recital) and the Mozart viola, clarinet, and piano trio. It was a fun program but I worked super hard to rehearse with her like at least once a week if not more since before this quarter started, and all she gave me after her recital were two crumbly brownies. Seriously. I mean I totally get not having money as a grad student, obvi I have no money either, but really? I had to pay my collaborative for both my recitals $150--for my spring recital, that only included 2 rehearsals, one lesson, my recital, and my board (10 min). I spent WAY more time with the chamber recital than that, and all I got is 2 brownies. WTF man. I played the Walton viola concerto (ew) and Bach cello suite 3 for my spring recital. It took me FOREVER to learn the Walton because A. it's like the hardest piece on viola ever and B. I HATE IT. seriously. i don't mind listening to someone else play it, but i just hate playing it. It's weird, super high, and yeah. Ew. I wasn't inviting my friends to this last recital because I knew it was gonna be poo, but apparently it wasn't that bad. My teacher seemed to think I did OK so that's all that mattered to me. So then 2 days later I had to play boards, which is just like juries except that at CCM you only have to play one board per year, and if you're an MM student like me, you only have to play them for one year. So that's pretty awesome and one of the very few advantages to having a MAMMOTH viola studio/string program. Another advantage to having such a huge string program is that when we do recital hearings (2 weeks before, like our juries at DPU), you only have to play like 10 minutes of your music since they have so many people to listen to! It's awesome. I remember having to play the entire program at DePauw (which is actually kind of ridiculous, if you think about it) and that sucked the big one. But now I only have like one more lesson (we still have 3 weeks of school left plus finals since we're on stupid quarters) so I'm just basically playing some stuff I played at DePauw next week and then I am DONE WITH VIOLA FOREVER!!! ok not really--i do wanna have private students and play in like amateur orchestras and stuff, but I never really wanna take another lesson in my life. seriously. i am OVER. IT. I bet in like 2 years after I've had a nice long break I'll really miss music school, but I just can't feel that way right now. Too burned out. Ok so that all was really boring, sorry about that... Also, my parents got a new FARM! Yeah! It's not actually really a farm at all, it's just basically a cute little house with tons of land around it. They have 4 adult hens (they've had those for a while) and my mom got a big order of baby chicks in the middle of April (26 of them, to be precise!!) and so now they're like ugly adolescent chickens, but they're so ugly they're cute, you know how that goes. They also are gonna get goats, as I've said before. There is a little barn thing on the property and they acquired a little barn cat named Andy. He is so cute! But he hardly ever comes out because he's like king of the forest (they also have a bunch of woods outside of the fence) and he's afraid of my parents dogs. We went to visit this past weekend because I took last Friday off and it was so fun! We took our two doggies and they basically were in heaven. They fight a lot but they didn't at all the farm because it was huge and outside and distracting. So it was great for them. They did NOT wanna leave to come back to our tiny apt in Cincinnati :( I meant to upload some pics but I forgot, so I'll put them on my facebook later and you guys can look. I already posted vids on there of my dogs running around with my mom and dad's dog Lucy as well as a vid of the chickies! They are so cute. My parents love it and are so happy there. My dad got a used john deere tractor so he is super happy, because that has been his dream like his whole life (!!!!!) haha. What else... So I am looking for a job. It sucks. But everybody knows that looking for a job sucks, right? It's like, there is no such thing as a "fun" or "rewarding" job hunt. Every single part of it is a piece of poo. But I have a couple of possibilities out there, so we'll see. I am trying to get hired in Admissions, because now I have experience thanks to my GA at CCM. So, I phone interviewed at DePauw a little over 3 weeks ago because they have two open positions--but they are being really slow because they have to hire another position first so I won't hear from them for a while, however I did find out that I'm still being considered. So that's hopeful. I've had two interviews at the Art Institute of Ohio-Cincinnati. I actually think that would be a cool place to work, but I am now confused because they've kinda dropped off the face of the planet. I obv can't start work until after Blue LAke, so that is like throwing people off. The first lady I interviewed with there said it was no problem, the second lady was like "We're looking to bring in this new set of hires on May 29" and I was like ummm nope can't do that, and I haven't heard from her since. Kind of annoying. My number 1 possibility though is staying in the office here at CCM. My supervisor is retiring sometime in the next year (she says October but we're not sure) and she recommended me for her job. She was out on vacation for a a week around 3 weeks ago and I basically came in for like 30 hours that week to cover for her, and so that was really good. It just so happens that now she's out with the shingles, so I am covering for her again. It's been a really good opportunity for my boss boss, the Dean of Admissions--to see that I'd be good for this job. I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna wait around for that job, because I know they'd want me and hire me and I LOVE the office at CCM. As crazy as it is sometimes, the people are amazing and I work with a lot of my friends (other student workers--a few of them will be around next year because they're staying for another degree program), so it is an ideal job. So yeah, that's what I'm currently hoping for! Patrick and the dogs are doing well. We have our wedding party at the end of this month, and I'm worried that it might be a bust. I only received a few RSVPs out of the like 90 invitations we sent, for a total of about 40 people (mostly family). That's ok, I mean obviously all of you guys have TOTALLY legit excuses (esp since 23 of you are out of the country!!! haha) and rachel and tiffy obvi you guys are working like all the time and it costs a billion dollars to fly across the country for just one day. so don't worry, i'm not upset with you guys or anything, esp since you all RSVPed or had legit reasons. But like, it just makes me sad that other people didn't even feel the need to let me know that they aren't coming--it hurts a little because we didn't have a "real" wedding, and although our wedding was awesome (and i had an AMAZING time with rach--i will never forget how awesome you guys were as bridesmaids), i can't help but think maybe people would take it a little more seriously if we weren't already married and it was a real wedding. anyway, it's stupid, but yeah. ok i really think this blog entry is WAY too long. i mean i cannot believe that some of you are still reading right now if you actually are. wow. that is impressive. course, i read all of your blog wachter and it was a novel too, but it was so fun to read! haha mine is not nearly as fun/interesting. also there aren't any pictures of me fake pooping on a toilet. lol. BUT here is a little pic to leave you with, it's one of our dogs (sadie) at my parents farm! wee! i love you guys and miss you all! keep it real, friends and neighbors.

There is a cat on top of me.

I'm going to try and write this in 15 minutes or less.

Little Dude (LITL DEWD) on my lap.

SO GREAT THAT THE BLOG IS BACK! I missed reading about everyone's fun adventures and lives. (1 min)

So a lot has happened for me. I quit whole foods and started working at some serious cafes with serious baristas. It's a lot of fun and I'm learning a lot about coffee and it's origins and I can make fun latte art now too! (If your barista can make latte art than chances are your drink will taste amazing!)

I'm pretty much done working at WNYC. I worked for them (paid work) last summer as a per diem producer and it has pretty much dropped off since then. I'm okay with it. I feel like I got as far as I could there.

I took an article writing class last fall and I'm writing a lot more now. I've written for a local online newspaper in Jersey City and for my editorial internship at Relix magazine.

I'm going to grad school! I got accepted to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism!!! yayy! I didn't get accepted to UC Berkeley...I'm pretty sure it was because my gpa from undergrad wasn't high enough (those dumb accounting classes brought down my gpa drastically!). Anyway, I'm super happy about it. 

I'm moving to Brooklyn. (10 min)

I am starting a band. It is mandatory if you live in Brooklyn.

Speaking of bands, I played in WFMU's diseased Hoof and Mouth Sinfonia at Maxwell's last month. It was super fun. Ira Kaplan was in the band. google him.

Ryan and I are still together.

I'm crazy busy. Since I started my internship at Relix I have ONE day off in a month. I work 5 days at the cafe and 3 at Relix. (doubled up one day a week). I feel like i'm learning a lot there, but I am really, really, REALLY tired all of the time! !

(15 min)

byee!

I'm glad people have decided to write in here again :) A lot has happened since the last time I wrote (how long ago was that, again?)

Well, it's finally spring here. Not like spring in the USA, where people are wearing flip-flops and shorts already. No, I still have to wear my scarf and coat when I go to work, and I wear my cozy wool sweater inside at all time, since this apartment is always cool. All the same, the 12 degrees Celsius right now feels considerably better than the -28 degrees it was for a couple weeks back in the winter (just a month and a half ago!) I'm not sure how I managed to survive walking to work a minimum of 1 1/2 hours a day in those horrific temperatures...not to mention the fact that it was consistently about 12 degrees at home since our heat was broken. Polish winter, I shall not miss thee. I didn't realize we're close to the same latitude as Moscow. I always equate Poland with warmer weather, but that was a huge mistake.

Ah but yes, spring is here and things are on the up and up. My parents, whom I haven't seen since I was last in the States 2 years ago, are coming to visit me in less than a week. Needless to say, I'm ecstatic about their visit. It'll be good to show them around my home of two years, and to take them to places I haven't seen yet. I've been avoiding going to Auschwitz until they came, since I knew they'd want to see it, and that is a place I certainly don't want to visit twice in such a short span of time. We're also going to Krynica-Zdrój, a popular destination during the winter for skiing, so it should be a nice place to go hiking in the mountains for a few days. Polish landscape is just breathtaking. It'll be good to show it off.

Jeff and I have decided to go to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, for the summer. I'll be taking intensive Russian classes and getting my Russian back up to par, since I've been focusing more on Polish here (for obvious reasons.) Originally I wanted to stay in Bishkek for a month and a half to two months, and then travel to Tbilisi, Georgia (I have a friend there) and to Armenia (Jeff has a friend there) but turns out I will be needing to return to the USA sooner than expected.

See, I've been accepted to a couple graduate schools!! I got into Chicago and Indiana so far, and am still waiting to hear from Michigan, who won't let me know till the end of the month. Not much longer now, at least! Well, I already turned down Chicago, as they gave me no funding and there was no one there I was really excited about studying with. (I want to study Soviet and post-Soviet Russian and Polish literature, hopefully with a focus on sex and gender.) Anyways, no one at Chicago was doing anything remotely related to that...they're all mostly about translation and Romanticism and what not. IU I'm really excited about, although I was originally hesitant to apply, since it's so close to DPU and so many DPU people end up in that area. But, IU has exactly the program I want, and the professors there are incredible and I realllly want to study with a couple of them in particular. Plus, I got full funding for TWO YEARS! Plus the possibility of more funding to come later on.... SO, once I hear from Michigan, I will make my final decision. Anyways, IU starts on August 20, so I'll need to be back in the States earlier than I originally thought. I'm disappointed I won't get to spend longer in Bishkek, or see Georgia or Armenia at all, but I think it'll be worth it :)

I am concerned how I'll react to being back in America again. I remember coming back from Russia the first time I was there. I had MAJOR culture shock, not going to Russia, but rather coming back from Russia. The East Coast relentlessly stressed me out for two weeks straight. I'll need time to get over the stress of being in the US before I enter grad school, or else I might lose it. Things I think will be weird:

• Hearing English on the streets
• Speaking English in shops
• Not being able to access 5 small shops at all times, whenever I want anything. Seriously, I can run across the street and come back with milk, juice, chicken, sweets, whatever...in 2 minutes flat.
• Not having access to good fruits and vegetables at all times. Farmers' markets? What's that? Here, you walk down the street and buy some walnuts from some old lady for 4 złoty, or a dozen fresh eggs for 3. And "organic" veggies? Everything here is organic. It's so cheap to eat well here!
• Not being able to go to the butcher. I LOVE going to the butcher! You walk up to the counter and ask for whatever you want. I've even gotten some weird things, just to try them (I've always liked livers cause I'm from the South, but I have tried hearts and tongues and things like that. I haven't worked up the courage to try that pig's foot thing they like here, though....) But really, how nice is it to be able to go up to the butcher on your way home from work, pick up a couple chicken filets that have just been fixed, and be done with it? No packaged, frozen meats here.
• When eating out, having the waiter bring you your check before you're done, or before you ask for it. Here you have to put on your coat before they'll bring it to you.
• One word: refills. Or really any drink bigger than 0.2 liters.
• Tipping. 10% tips max here, nothing larger. Also, I love leaving tips in coins. Why hasn't America adapted the $1 or even $2 coins?
• More expensive haircuts. 10 zl. for my last haircut here. Sawheet.
• Not being able to walk everywhere. Seriously, the only time I felt I needed a car was when it was -28 outside, but then most cars weren't able to run at that point anyways....

Things I am most definitely looking forward to:

• Peanut butter! You can get it here, but it's not the same
• Reese's. Nonexistent here.
• Being able to yell at people without having to think for a second exactly what you want to say. I once waited over an hour to get my blood drawn for a test, only to have them turn me away (after they had let in people who had come in after me.) Had that been America, I would have given them a piece of my mind. As it was, I had no choice but to mildly complain and leave.
• Microwave and slowcooker. Oh, and dishwasher. Oh, and dryer. A dryer would have been good in the winter. Now that it's warm I love drying my clothes outside :)
• Being able to make friends a lot faster. I speak Polish and I have some friends who speak English, but it's considerably easier to make friends when you share a common language. There's a lot that comes with speaking a language, beyond forming sentences and comprehension. It's hard to truly bond with someone you know doesn't quite see things the same way.
• GRADUATE SCHOOL!!! I miss school so freakin' much!!! Call me crazy, but I don't care.

Well, I suppose that's about it for me at the moment. By the way, what's the deal with the Hunger Games or whatever it's called? I feel like it exploded all over Facebook and Reddit and other places on this here Interweb, and I had never heard of it before. I feel out of the loop.

HELLO FRIENDS!

This morning I was getting coffee at Place de Clichy, the place in Paris where you are least likely to find an American. Paris is crawling with Americans, I hear our brassy voices ringing all over town, but you will not find them in my neighborhood.

Remember when teenagers were burning cars in scummy Parisian neighborhoods on the news? Yea, it's that kind of neighborhood. Unless you're looking to purchase some questionable fun, you do not what to hang around at night. My place is juste a côté, at Porte de Clignancourt. I receive many wide eyes and much disbelief when I tell others where I live. When I moved here I was afraid to walk around at night. Upon seeing the Porte de Clignancourt for the first time on a Sunday afternoon I was struck by the cafe terraces, which were populated with men only. Oily looking men with leathery skin, glaring at women's bodies like a curious but unmotivated wolf. I saw few women walking around this particular day. Otherwise these are the different types of women that dominate the quartier:

-covered from head to toe, gazing downward, with a cart of groceries or a child in a stroller.

-3 inch long glistening nails and neon colored weaves sculpted in elaborate, sky-high shapes. polyurethane covered asses jiggling on top of polyurethane covered legs, teeter tottering on top of polyurethane heels. These women gossip and complain with loud scratchy voices like a cat in heat.

-of course there are less remarkable typical women but the other two types are so numerous you don't notice them. There are also drug addicts and little dirty (physically- that wasn't a remark on their character!) children digging in the garbage at MacDo and men hanging around on corners whispering codes to women they think might be able to provide them a service. Let's just say I know my value because it's been whispered in my ear. Icky. Icky. Poo. Poo. It's hard not to hate men sometimes. The Sorbonne also has a center near by so at certain times of the day on certain days you see typical french/international students moving in giant crowds from the metro to the school. You definitely don't see them sticking around to "hang out." I'm suspicious the government made the school put a building there to shift reputation of the area and encourage it to grow more culturally/intellectually.

Anyway, so I'm drinking my 1 euro coffee and reading my kindle which is probably really stupid because some greedy kid could just walk off with it, and I hear loud, booming southern women. I turn around and see FIVE hugely obese blond women wearing bright blue matching NEW YORK CITY tee-shirts and those therapeutic shoes. Above middle age. There was feathered hair and perms. There were fanny packs. They were talking about squeezing your eyes shut during an MRI. Talk about out of place.- Around us were glossy-haired, hard eyed boys in leather jackets and distressed denim with way too many pockets and a couple middle aged bollywood like men with silvery porn moustaches. These women were an enigma for everyone. Me included. It's been ages since I've heard a southern accent. They could have been plucked straight out of a greencastle hair salon. Completely oblivious of everyone around them. Shrieking with laughter, babbling all sing-songy in that southern way. i wanted to take them to the Eiffel tower, to the louvre, to all those places and revel in their reactions. They were SO funny and charming and husky and full of life.

I'm reading Anna Karenina right now (didn't that re-become popular recently thanks to Oprah?) People constantly make references to her jumping under a train at the end, so that's kind of annoying to be aware of while reading. I'm surprised at how fully Tolstoy gets into the heads of diverse people. His characters are complex, real, defying categorization. People describe great novelists like that all the time and I always find it to be true in modern books taht I love, but I'm completely unaccustomed to classic literature (other than some novels I read in high school, which honestly I couldn't imagine having a conversation wtih the characters), especially giant russian novels. I was expecting big, sweeping romantic characters that fit concisely into "types." Tolstoy, to me a Brahmsian type with his giant white beard and furrowed brow (in the pictures Ive seen), depicts so perfectly the full and contradictory interior lives of people that could easily have been shown as "the drunk," "the teenage socialite," "the broody, bookish, plain girl," "the adulterer." I shouldn't have been surprised since Tolstoy is constantly referenced as the greatest novelist.....anyway I love it and I feel like I'm watching a great TV serie.

MAD MEN IS COMING BACK SOON!!!!1

I'm in a serious relationship. We met 10 months ago and our 6 month anniversary is on April Fools Day. Ouai (pronounced "way"). It's emotionally cozy.

My roommates daughter is playing outside my door, rapping "c'est quoi Caaaaaa, c'est quoi caaaaa" and pushing Matisse pictures she pulled off an old calendar under my door.

I'm attaching a picture of my cheri. We met at a housewarming party last summer just before I left Paris. I was SO OVER men and turned off sex. Had been for months. Neither of us wanted to be at the party and neither of us was interested in meeting anybody. He blended into the wall like a plank. In my memory he was dressed in such dull colors that his cothes blended into his skin whcih blended into his hair which all blended into the wall. When he heard I played the flute though his eyeballs popped with fireworks and we turned into that couple in the corner, chatting animatedly about music, name dropping composers, operas and being overall pretentious and enjoying it. He played piano from age 4-21. He invited me to his place at 3 am to listen to 15th century Italian love song (i know...) and I said "i don't do that, sorry" I'd left out "I don't do that anymore" :) lol. He convinced me to go to Versailles (his home) to walk in the parks of the Chateau during my last free moment before leaving Paris. A Wednesday morning. It poured rain and we had the park all to ourselves. I was all weird about being physically close and walked awkwardly far from his side, which would end up with him holding the umbrella out at arms reach to keep it over my head (but not over his...) I'm such a ditz sometimes. Yea you all know it. My feet of course got uber muddy so we had to go to his place anyway. He didn't lay a hand on me. We spent the summer writing eachother very seriously, 4 times a day. There were no romantic intentions from either side. Fast forward to October first and he's held a party for me to meet his friends. I'm unknowingly in a dress that flashes all of his friends repeatedly throughout the night. They've all seen my breasts. he won't let me live that one down. Anyway we played bump bump that night and the rest is history.

He was ill when I met him, which I didn't know a the time. He's well now and getting healthier and healthier. It's fun to see the progression concretely, in his body. His face changes, his build too.

So now I'm moving to Versailles. This is a town of anti-birth control families with von-trapp like armies of children in matching knee-high socks. The town it's self is adorable, clean, beautiful, well-maintained. OLD. so many DOGS and bent, old couples holding hands. There's a lack of nannies. Parisien children are always being pushed around by (most often) hard working Filipino women or (less often) self-conscious/fashion-conscious 18-25 year old brits and americans. My rent right now at Porte de Clignancourt is 500 euro. Rent in Versailles is only going to cost 300 euro (Guillaume's going to pay 600 because he's not a starving musician)!! Crazy considering how much more upscale the place is. But it is 35 minutes on the RER outside of Paris and not ideal for party crazy young folk.

It's funny to me that I'm going to find myself in a conservative town, as I am far from conservative in comportment and in political views. but I am a sucker for well-behaved children running around in tall socks and suspenders! Guillaume has fallen in love with the place because of it's historical significance. I am drawn in by walks in the sprawling parks of the Chateau de Versailles, picnics by the fountains and the beautiful calm, quiet, safe feeling walking down the streets. Serenity=low blood pressure= good. Cat also =low blood pressure. Cat does not always =serenity... Do I vaguely remember there being symbols for "not always equals" in math?

The open air market that is on the square. < That was a complete sentence if you just believe. Pot bellied bearded men announce the rpice of their poulet roti as if they were shouting obscenities. Perfect, natural veggies and fruits that actually have their own unique shape unlike grocery store style genetically engineered produce. Flowers exploding with life like exotic bacteria in a petri dish. Huge, cold, open air shops at the corners of the spquare with shiny octopus, piles of mini squid, turbot (a delicious flat-like paper fish with eyes on his sides), eel, you name it....on the other side you'll see rabbits hanging by their feet and a baby pig sliced cleanly in half through it's stomach A LA DEXTER, laying legless on a bed of lettuce, eyes glassy and half open. It's like you can still see the baby pigs soul in his eyes. Quiail eggs. giant gelatin-meat-random-colors-cube concoctions (i'd google it for a picture but i can't remebmer what those are called.) So many wonderful regional products. Large crystalled grey or pink salt from Normandy, honey from bretagne, coucroute frmo Alsace. My dream for next year is to practice my flute all day long in our happy apartment, have a flute studio at home in the afternoons with students back to back, eat whole foods from the market and go on evening walks with guillaume. flowers on teh table, a cat to scratch up the furniture.

We're going to toilet train our cat.

His name will be Ludwig.

We're going to have a piano and guillaume will learn to play the boogie-woogie (Chopin is sooo overdone. It's also ALL he and I have ever learned.)

I have about 5 million jobs to keep up with rent. i'm almost done with the 1st year of a musicology masters but it's incredibly boring (JUST like kellys experience) but I'm not going to continue next year. I'm auditioning for the Conservatoire de Rayonnement de Paris for a post-grad orchestral training program (2 years long). The other flutists in my orchestra go to that school. i figure if they can, so can i! I miht play the Ibert for my audition. I haven't played it since freshman year bah bummmm badadadabadabadabadadadabadabadaDA!

My orchestra is also going on a European tour later next month. Yay! We're playing Gershwin and I think the Poulenc mass and the carmen overture or something? We've played American in Paris a million times this year. I love it because it feels like a clin d'oeil (wink of an eye).

DOESN'T MY HOMEWORK LOOK FUN???

Me and Guillaumes apartment will be in a floating orb just above the pond in this picture:

I have to go prepare the solfege lesson I'm teaching later. Allez-Crocodiles!

Guillaumes family is Corsican. They have a big museum like home with this little church near the property. It's so FREAKING CUTE I can't avoid having little-girl daydreams about it. you just have to ask the mayor for a key to get in.

PHOENIX!

I titled this post "Phoenix!" because it is obviously the first post of our resurrected phoenix blog, which apparently had died, and is now living. Like a phoenix. Mkay.

So there are so many things that happened since I last posted, but that's all boring stuff. Mainly just school--BUT I'M ALMOST DONE WITH MY MASTER'S DEGREE YESSSSS!! I am so glad because I am over it. I mean, seriously. I just want to graduate, have the degree, and then do something other than music. I swear, I had to go to a big conservatory just to discover that the best musicians I've ever played with were at DePauw...no joke! It's so true. So I'm ready to be done done done. I'm just burned out.

I had a really rough winter quarter--I was hardly practicing because I was taking my final theory and history classes and they were reaaally hard. I was taking the ancient-pre Baroque history class (meeeeeh) and SONATA THEORY. Worst effing class EVER. It was basically analyzing sonata form, but with all these fancy terms that some German dudes made up a long time ago. I mean, the book is in English, but you have to translate the English to understand it...it's so complicated. And the way our class was set up was SO stupid...we had 6 huge assignments (they all took me at least 4 hours to complete), the first 4 of which were not worth much. Then the last two were worth collectively like 75% of our grade. WTF? We had 3 quizzes..collectively, those three quizzes were worth ONE PERCENT of our grade. What is the point? I failed all of them (literally, I think my highest score on one of them was 4/10) and I still got a B in the class. I also read a book on my iPhone and hid it behind my score every day of class because it was so dreadfully boring and I hated it. Plus, there was NO effort made to connect any of the theory to performance practice; which is fine for THEORY MAJORS, but our class was almost all performance majors. Ugh. But the course evaluation was totally worth it all....:) I wasn't very nice.

Let's see, what else. Oh yeah I GOT MARRIED. I can't remember if I blogged after we got married or not. But anyway being married is cool, I like it. It's nice to have a husband that you can make do stuff, like wash the dishes or stuff. He's great though. He's going to be working at Blue Lake with me again this summer (probably our last summer ever!!! ahhhh!!) and then he is going to try to start being a full-time TRUCK DRIVER!! omg it's crazy. but they make good money and get good benefits so that's exciting. he's excited about it.

We have TWO dogs now, Clara and Sadie. They are both super cute but fight (well, more like play-fight) ALL the damn time. i mean seriously they are out of control! and sadie likes to bark a lot when they are fighting. but they're both still only around 1 year old, so they will calm down eventually. Sadie is SO cute--she just came and climbed up on me cause I wasn't paying enough attention to her. She is a really cuddly dog, she likes to come up and lay down on you. I've never had a cuddly dog--as Patrick says, it's like she's a stuffed anmial that just gets up and walks over to you and cuddles with you. It's so cute, I love her! I love Clara too of course cause she was my first baby and I raised her by myself, but she's not cuddly like that. She's just super hyper and crazy.

Ummmmmm what else. right now i'm on spring break chilling out at my house in terre haute. i have been MAJORLY busy this spring break because i have been moving all of my crap out of my current house INTO MY PARENT'S NEW HOUSE! yes, that's right, they're moving again. but this time, they're moving to a FARM! omg!! it's not really a farm actually, it's more like 8 acres of land with a lot of woods. my mom has been hating her job consistently for about 3-5 years now, and she grew up on a farm so she has really been wanting to get back to the country. plus my parents are super interested in home farming, self-sustained living, etc. i mean we already have 4 chickens in our backyard...so this is just really a natural step for them i think. the house is quaint--it's a 4 bedroom farm house that isn't as nice as our house now, but i still think it's perfect for what they want. my mom ordered 30 more chickens (they will be babies when she gets them!!!) and she'll be selling fresh eggs! Yummy. She is also going to get a couple of DAIRY GOATS!!! AHHHHH!!! i'm so excited for those goats--goats are so cute! and they already inherited a little barn cat named Andy who is super cute and lets me pet him. The yard is all fenced in and is HUUUUUUUUGE and our dogs love it! We've been taking them out there almost every night this break to just run around and stuff. My mom is also planning on having bees for honey and my dad wants to get a Great Pyrenees puppy (!!!!!!) and raise it with the goats so the dog will protect them from coyotes and stuff. I'm really excited about this place. I LOVE the country and animals and stuff so I'm happy to help out around the farm when i'm home. Plus, it'll be a great place to take our hypothetical kids someday. My dad got a john deere tractor, which he has basically dreamt of for his WHOLE life. He showed me the tractor last night and he was like a 7 year old, all happy and stuff. It was funny. I think it's exciting, and I really like it.

But i hate moving all my crap. I'm getting rid of most of it, cause it's like really old clothes and stuff, but it's a lot of work. I haven't gotten any practicing done this break because I've been helping them move! Ahhh ! Whatever, i'm not complaining. I have one more recital and then I'll be DONE. I'm only taking one academic class next quarter and it's a Latin american ethnomusicology course which i am SO excited about ---Tiffy and Amanda, I guarantee it will be better than that crap we took at DPU....

I'm hoping to get a job in the fall in the college admissions field. A position at DePauw would be great, but we'll see what shakes out. It'd be great to have a job though, that's for sure...

I think that's all really for me. I might delete my facebook just because I want to, so this blog'll be super important for me to see what's going on with you guys. Can't wait to hear about all of you, I miss you all sooooo so much! <3

sorry. blame obama.

so i spent the summer working for obama in hopes that i can convince him to hire me.

backup plan: show up at a staff meeting and say "um yeah my check didnt get deposited this week, can we do something about that?"

but no it was like starbucks 345-12 and then obama 130-9 or later and then sleep. EXHAUSTING to say the least. but i loved it and really think i might wanna be an organizer. which is what obama was BTW. but i also kicked fucking ass. everyone thinks i am awesome except crazy cat guy and he already hated me. but i got called out to be an example on calls and stuff. cuz im awesome. so that was really cool. and i def got recommended for a job, but no call yet :( i actually had to drunkenly update my resume. i do not suggest that.

so now im trying to get obama or some other dem to hire me bc starbucks is completely and totally awful.

i need to go back to the gym cuz i am now like REALLYF UCKING FAT. so get ready for that.

patrice gimme your japan address and we'll write letters.
also amanda sorry i was really busy getting obama elected which is why i didnt write you :( but you can thank me when you have health insurance.

OH I GET MY HEALTH INSURANCE BACK MNDAY! YEAH MY EVIL EMPLOYER KICKED ME OFF BUT I GET IT BACK SO I CAN GO TO THE DENTIST YUP WOOT WOOT.

ok that is all. love you guys tons and i miss you

In Japan

Hey guys, what happened? Why doesn't anyone write here anymore?

I'm in Matsusaka right now. First had an orientation in Tokyo for a few days and it's been a week already since I moved into my apartment. Been setting up bank accounts, cell phone, insurance, getting apartment set up to0. Been meeting lots of the other JETs that are in my prefecture, but there is only like 5 other JETs in Matsusaka. Haven't really met up with them though.
At the second orientation earlier this week I got to ride in an earthquake simulation machine. It was pretty scary. One of the guys videoed it so there is the video. I'm the one on the left in the back, kinda hard to see me, but that was a magnitude 7 on the japanese scale which is around a 7+ on the american scale.

Its super hottt!!!! I feel like a sweaty mess everyday. Right now the kids are on summer break, so I've haven't started teaching yet. Been to tons of orientations and presentations though. Its kinda lonely at times living by myself. I really need to learn how to cook instead of buying already prepared food or eating out.

Anyway, I'll update again with some pictures of my apartment in my next entry.