Vacation

May 30th, 2006 ~ Tuesday

10:39 p.m.

Beachy Goodness

I went to the beach yesterday. I really don't take advantage of the fact that we live so close to the beach, considering how much I enjoy it. But what is normally a 10 minute commute took over an hour and a half!!! I couldn't believe it. I swear the beach was getting farther away as I drove. I could not BELIEVE that it took that long. That's a whole week of practicing for you guys (at the minimum)!

Lame.

And parking was just lovely, let me tell you. But once I was actually on the beach, things were good. I graded papers (exciting), and I've decided that all papers must now be graded at the beach. It makes things much more pleasant. I did worry about the wind, though, so I was extremely careful. It would be incredibly sad if suddenly there were 60 reflections flying around in the air.

I listened to music (thank you ipod), and I dug a hole. =D There's something about the beach...every time I go, I dig a hole. And not even some large grandiose hole, but just...a hole. For some reason it brings me a sense of peace and happiness. I used to try to build castles or...hills, but that required water, and as a child I didn't like walking up to the ocean to retrieve water. I would send my sister, who didn't want to go most of the time, and would refuse to help me out.

Where's the love?

After dinner, I went back to where we had hung out (my friend lives right by the beach), and I was happy to see that my hole was still there. It takes so little to make me happy. I watched Back to the Future (a classic), and when I went home it was only a 10 minute trip.

Because of the copious amounts of sunblock, I neither tanned nor did I burn. I'll take it. Sun is good. UV is bad. Bad UV, bad.

And now...I sleep.

May 28th, 2006 ~ Sunday

11:02 p.m.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

On Friday night (10:15pm) I went to go see the Da Vinci Code at South Coast Plaza.

The Good: The movie stayed fairly faithful to the book, and I love Ian McKellen. Teabing, Magneto, Gandalf...he's fabulous in everything. It was really cool that it was actually filmed in the Louvre. I've been there once. I was 15. It seems like a long time ago.

The Bad: There were about 15 kids under the age of 10 at this movie. Now....seriously. I don't want to offend any parents here, but...who takes their 7 year old child to see ANY move at 10:15pm (it ended at 1am), much less the Da Vinci Code. It is not appropriate for small children. It's not completely appropriate for old children.

On Saturday afternoon I went to Vons to get potatoes.

The Good: I found Girl Scout Tagalong ice cream!! I have only found it once before (when I blogged about it several months ago), and haven't found it since. I got so excited when I found it, and despite my efforts towards being healthier...decided I had to have this ice cream. It's sooooo good. Mmmmm....

The Ugly: There was a kid...had to be middle school aged, who (with his mother) walked by the pots of soup they have. You know, the hot soups that you ladle into bowls and take home to eat? The ones that are already cooked and stewing in a big pot? Anyways, the pot was open, and I watched in absolute horror as the kid walked by, dipped his finger into the soup, and then sucked the soup off his finger! And his mother saw the whole thing and didn't even flinch. All the while, I stopped in my tracks, and my mouth hung open in disgust. Ew!! That's communal soup! Don't put your finger in it! I don't know where that finger has been! ::: shudder ::: That's seriously disgusting. I'm never eating communal soup ever again. Ick. Ick!

Okay, I'm going to bed. I've been going to sleep very late (the bad) but waking up very late also (the good) to compensate. But when I wake up after 10 hours of sleep...I'm still tired (the ugly)! I think it's my pillows. I don't think I've found the optimal pillow configuration.

May 23rd, 2006 ~ Tuesday

6:44 p.m.

I'm FREE!

I am DONE with the most tediously boring, wasteful, completely worthless program in the history of the world! Hurrah! Do you know that feeling when you're the last person to go in a presentation, and you worry about how yours stacks up to all those who came before you? Well I was the last of the first group of people. We were SUPPOSED to be grouped by subject (or grade), but since I'm always the only music person, I was grouped with two 3rd grade teachers.

So one had a powerpoint which turned out to be a bunch of pictures of her classroom and kids, and the other girl had pages of text as handouts for the "panel" of people. Now...I'm a person who bores easily, especially when going into something I know is going to be boring and I'd really rather be teaching or...doing anything else. I tried to be attentive, really I did. Granted, I didn't try very hard. As the girls read from their papers...I fidgeted.

But I got my turn, and just...talked. I had handouts too but didn't really refer to them because only one person on the panel was a music person, so instead I just explained and talked. Because that's something I can do: talk. And I'm starting to think that I talk like a cartoon, because I'm rather animated. Maybe it was just in comparison to the other two girls, who were very serious and dignified about the whole thing. I don't believe in dignity. But I kept people's attention...I think.

Anyways, now I'm done. YAY! Relief isn't a big enough word for what I feel. I hated this whole process SO much that I am SO happy it's done. It's kind of how I felt when I graduated high school. But my high school was lame. College was much better.

Eugh. Busy work. EUGH. I just completed 2 years of busy work. A whole bin containing my busy work is now taking up a substantial portion of my car. I don't want it in my home. It's gross. Cooties and whatnot.

Done! w00t!

May 23rd, 2006 ~ Tuesday

10:25 p.m.

I Can Make Grapes

I had an amusing conversation with a friend yesterday. We were on the phone, and I announced that I was making grapes. He got all testy and argumentative and said, "You can't make grapes." And I said, "Yes I can." He said, "No you can't. What are you doing to them?" I explained that I was putting sugar on them and freezing them. Making grapes. Duh.

He said that I couldn't make grapes. "You have to DO something to make food. There need to be ingredients involved."

"But I can make toast, and I'm not doing anything to that."

"That's different. You can't make grapes."

I said, "Why not? I can make toast, why not grapes?"

"But you're DOING something to the bread to change it into toast."

"Well I'm doing something to the grapes..."

"But you're changing the bread by adding heat..."

"And I'm changing the grapes by adding cold..." (makes sense to me)

And then he got all mad. Now...I know that I can't really MAKE grapes, but I thought it was funny that he got so upset about it and couldn't prove me wrong.

Mmmm, grapes =)

May 18th, 2006 ~ Thursday

7:42 p.m.

"I cannot tell a lie"

It's probably common knowledge that there are certain things that bug me. Bad grammar. Slow drivers. Having to repeat myself. Britney Spears. Canon (shudder). But there's something that really really irks me: dishonesty. I absolutely HATE when people are dishonest. I think it's incredibly lame, and I don't like it.

Now to be fair, kids do lie. They want to avoid trouble or whatever, blah blah blah, and are usually absolutely transparent about it. Usually adults can tell when you're lying, whether they let you know or not =) And yes, that is annoying and it's sad and it bugs. But I have a HUGE problem when adults lie to me.

Seriously. Seriously?? Why bother? I guess some adults think that it's easier, and they're sparing confrontation or anger, but I'd much rather be angered by the truth than pacified by a lie. I may get mad at you, but at least I'll still respect you for being honest. To lie is to be a total coward. And to lie to get your way...geez. I hate that. I really really hate that. Everyone has my total and complete trust until it's broken. Once you lie to me, I don't trust you ever again, really. Lying to me is saying that you don't care about respecting me. Yeah, lying may be easier at times, but who said doing the right thing is easy? It's not about easy, it's about right and wrong.

You like my high horse? I hope I don't fall off, I might hurt myself.

Anyways, summary? Lying = lame.

I'm so good at simplifying things. It's really a gift what I have.

May 14th, 2006 ~ Sunday

6:15 p.m.

Extraneous non-connected thoughts....

While flipping through the channels on tv yesterday, I came across a dog show. And it made me feel really sad for those dogs. I imagine that being a dog show dog is somewhat like being a beauty pageant kid, except worse. It just doesn't seem like any life for a dog. A dog is supposed to play and have fun, not look too thin and be uber-trained. Sad.

So....Lindsay Lohan. Seriously, I have to bring it up. Why is she making junky movies? She is NOT a PG rated person, therefore I emphatically feel she should not be making PG rated movies that are targeted toward young girls. She is no role model, that's for sure. Remember when Lindsay Lohan was all young and cute and making The Parent Trap? What happened? (And that scene where her hair gets stuck in the hairdryer and catches on fire? Yeah, that's happened to me)

I have no neighbors. I hope it's not me. The older woman to my left who gave me all this random food when she left...she's gone. The woman to my right who talked on the phone incessantly...outdoors where I could hear every single word...she left about a month ago. And now, my really loud upstairs neighbor who, as far as I can tell, does absolutely nothing but listen to really bad and loud music at all hours of the day and night...he's leaving on Monday! (Yay!) I wonder if this means I can practice at all hours of the night? And he smokes, and comes outside to smoke, so if my windows are open...cigarette smoke wafts into my place. Ewww. Ick.

May 8th, 2006 ~ Monday

9:11 p.m.

My Stomach Hurts

I spent all day hungry. And when I finally had a something to eat, my stomach went into shock or something, and now my stomach hurts. It's kind of like when you're really really sleepy, and then when it's time to go to bed you're so tired that you can't fall asleep. Sad.

Nothing terribly exciting is going on with me right now. I'm avoiding grading. Part of me is hoping that elves will come and magically do it for me in the middle of the night. <cough>

I'm trying to be good and clean my house a little bit every night. I have this terrible habit of throwing all my clothes in a huge pile on the floor (how else will I remember what I already wore?) and leaving my dishes in a big pile by the sink until the weekend. I clean...once a week, normally. And really it comes to a point that I have to clean because I have no clothes and no dishes. So NOW, every day, I'm picking up after myself. My mother would be so proud.

May 5th, 2006 ~ Friday

11:00 p.m.

Gripe Gripe Gripe

Seriously. Stand hogs? BOOOO!

Okay. I have to complain here. My stand partner is a stand hog. She moves the stand to the far right (she's on the right side), and moves the music so far to the right that it's literally hanging off the music stand. And she pushes the stand all the way down so that you can't possibly see the music and the conductor simultaneously. So I moved the stand toward me. She moved it back toward her, and then an extra 6 inches toward her. DAH! So then I move myself over so I'm closer to the stand. AND SHE MOVES THE STAND OVER TOWARD HER EVEN MORE! What the...what?!

One would think that if someone was a stand hog they'd be able to play their music, right? NO! The only time I actually hear her play when she's out of tune. Lovely. She can't play ANY of the technical parts. That annoys me. It's your responsibility to be able to play! You owe it to the music! And I'm messing up because I can't see the music....so anything on the right page...I'm just hoping I'm getting right.

It's scary. I feel like I'm playing all by myself. And at times, I am. =P But I love the music. It's so pretty.

I'm suddenly tired. G'night!