Ridiculous Music

Once upon a time, Hailes discovered that she needed to take a couple Humanities courses to finish up her associates degree. Upon perusing the list of said Humanities classes, she thought to herself, "Music Appreciation sounds like an easy A. I'll take that." And, one semester later, Hailes is studying for her final. She is rather upset about the music selections on aforementioned final. One of them is very scary. Another is made up entirely of people clapping, and she thinks this is a complete and utter joke.

Hailes does not like scary music, clapping music, music made up of backwards cat screeches, or Gregorian chanting. In reality, Hailes does not like her Music Appreciation class. But she tries.

Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (Krystoff Penderecki) is frightening. This is probably why it was used in "The Shining" and "Children of Men" Hailes does not like either of these scary movies.

Clapping Music by Steve Reich is annoying. Hailes does not enjoy this piece of music. It evokes no emotion from her. Probably because it sounds like calculus or some other terrible math equation.

Poeme Electronique by Edgar Varese took a ton of time and effort to create with the recording techniques and sound production Edgar Varese had back in the day. But, Hailes still hates it.

(My blog has just killed three birds with one stone: finishing ENG assignment, studying for Music Appreciation, and relieving me of my need to occasionally write in 3rd person. Have a lovely weekend everyone!)

Babybird - Unloveable

^Check this out. It's thought provoking and kind of the center of this blog.

So by now, I'm assuming you've watched the video. Pretty interesting? Yeah, I thought so too. I found it on my morning surfing in my 2nd hr and I thought to myself, "Hmm, that's directed by Johnny Depp. I think I'll check it out when I get home."

And so I did. (By the way, I nearly jumped out of my chair in the last 10 seconds or so of the video. Eek!) And then I decided, "Hey, I need new material for my blog. Bingooo." And so, this blog was born.

I think it's really interesting that it's directed by one of my favorite actors. That's some good press for a band that I've never heard of but I still checked out. Even more interesting, I learned it's based on a short story titled "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce. It was first published in 1890 (and the end still took me by surprise! That's literary ingenuity!)

I'd really like to get a copy of this short story and check it out. (Even though I know how it ends now.) Overall, thought provoking video, pretty cool song, and some ties to classic literature. Not bad, eh?

Earth Day with Mr. Steinbeck.

Dear Baby Jesus, could I please become the female version of Steinbeck when I grow up? Is that too much to ask?

I'm kidding. (But only a little bit.) In all seriousness, I really am in love with John Steinbeck. I just started reading "Travels with Charley" for my US History class, and it's pretty amazing. The man has mastered the English language. And I'm pretty sure he knows a fair bit of French and Latin according to his writings.

In honor of Earth Day, I'll share this little tidbit from Part 1.

"The mountains of things we throw aware are greater than the things we use. In this, if in no other way, we can see the reckless exuberance of our production and waste seems to be the index."

Steinbeck was not a hippie. He was an educated man that observed what was going on within our country, and expressed his concern for the future generations. He was a reasonable man.

I wish I could meet a reasonable person concerned about the environment. People always seem to be on the end of the two extremes - either they don't care, or they go about judging everyone for not recycling and wearing hemp. (Then ago, I've been in tiny LJ my entire life. This is not a very big pond, but I believe it's an honest description of the fish who live here.)

I don't know exactly where I stand on the environmental debate. I certainly don't want our oceans filled up with old water bottles, and yet I'm not willing to drive an hour to the nearest plastic recycling center to ease my guilt. Its quite a conundrum.

Well, this blog started as something and ended as something else entirely. I do believe now is the time to wrap it up. Quite simply, I love you John Steinbeck, and happy Earth Day :)

A Blog About Flowers

I think it's safe to say all girls like flowers in general. Personally, they usually drive my allergies nuts, but I appreciate their beauty. So, in honor of springtime, this blog will be about flowers, even though I am not the least bit horticulturally inclined. (In simpler terms, I have a black thumb. I get it from my mother. She killed Aloe Vera once. Thats supposed to be impossible.)

My abosolute favorite flowers on this planet would have to be tulips and lilies.

Gorgeous. And, they're both flowers that come from a bulb. I was always facisnated during the springtime at my grandmas house because her lilies would always appear out of nowhere. She explained the concept to me later, but I still think it's a bit magical.

Now, my absolute least liked flower: Roses. Of any color really.

They've always just seemed so terribly un-original to me! And they have thorns! What kind of message does send to prospective lovers?

Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure they are still the most popular flower in the world, and I really can't do anything to change that.

There is something I find more interesting than the delicate beauty of flowers themselves, and that is the victorian language of flowers.

Back in the day when relationships were subtle and private, lovers and friends sent flowers to each other to convey meanings. For example, a white rose means purity, a forget-me-not means rememberance, and so on and so forth.

Communicating with flowers is something so alien in our technology centered word. It required so much more thought and effort (& money!) than just sending somebody a text. Still, it's a facisnating movement.

Check it out if you're curious.

By the way, I just found out my prom corsage (made of mostly white carnations) means disdain. Romantic, huh? Now I'm seeing the cons of this system :P

Cats Are Disgusting Animals: Dead or Alive

It's not a secret to most of you that I absolutely loathe cats. You can't trust them. If you die alone in your house, they will eat you. It would be funny if it wasn't true. And, to add insult to injury, they're scary as H-E-double hockey sticks. They have huge teeth, claws, those slanty little eyes - I'm scared just writing about them.
Plus, I'm on the verge of deathly allergic to those little beasts. Seriously, I can't touch the things. Touching = eyes swelling shut + asthma attack = sick for 3 days.

Now to the "dead" part of the title. Guess what my Anatomy and Physiology class started this week? (If you guessed 'Dissecting cats!' then you are correct-omundo.)

Yep, it's as disgusting as it sounds. Thankfully, our cats are mostly skinned. Mostly meaning that they still have hair on their faces, hands, and feet. It looks very silly/frightening. My group's cat has a long, gray, matted, formaldehyde soaked mess hanging on it's extremities. Gross, I know.

Today was Day 1 of cat dissection for my group. We didn't even want to take it out of the bag, but low and behold, by the end of the class period we were "teasing" the fatty connective tissue off of its body with forceps and scissors. (By the way, forceps are just really oversized tweezers. And I'll never thinking of teasing as a term used to describe adding volume to hair ever again.)

This cat is my A&P final. I better start getting cozy with the little dead guy if I want to pass. Wish me luck! (And a stronger stomach!)

(Our cat, who has yet to be named, looks a bit like this. I'll keep you updated.)

Stress in a Prom Dress (& Thunderstorms)

Thankfully, my kind English teacher has released some of my restrictions on these blogs. Henceforth, they are now about whatever I feel like.

Thunderstorms: I just listened to the 3rd interrupting thunderstorm warning tonight. My little brother is very frustrated that his TV viewing is being interrupted, especially by the national weather service. I will be frustrated if this thunderstorm ends up being a nasty one and destroys all the blooms on my pretty flower tree that I plan to take prom pictures in front of on Saturday. Alas, prom is another subject entirely.

Thunderstorms. I have always loved thunderstorms. They're loud, exciting, and unpredictable. And they have often freed me from many a dull afternoon at work/softball practice. To me, they scream that summer is on its way here. Which in turn makes me restless and resent the fact that I'm stuck in a classroom with no windows all day, but I digress.

Prom, prom, prom. And stress. I'm convinced the two are related. Prom commitee is time consuming, which is frustrating because I have all these other items that require my attention, hence the stress. But in turn, my stress is amplifying my excitement for prom. A girl's just gotta have fun sometimes.

And I've decided, after prom, I'm going to organize my life. And quit procrastinating with all these huge projects I have due by the end of the school year. At least that's what I keep telling myself ;)

A Moody Blog: You've Been Forewarned

Daniel Merriweather - Red

Kiddoes, you really need to watch the video before you read this. It's kinda what this mess is going to be about.

It seems to have been a week full of relationship problems for the girls and I. (Definition of "The Girls" - basically the other wicked cool females that vent together in my womens fitness class after some good Habs butt kicking workout/nice yoga.) We've been having some ups and downs with our significant others, to say the least.

After a particularly messy two days with TP, I caught the end of this video on my way to school in the morning. And then it did one of those annoying stay-in-my-brain-all-day-long kinda things. So when I got home, I checked it out. It described my mood perfectly.

Sometimes, problems just come out of nowhere. With long distance, long days, minimal patience and hormones, we girlies often create this problems. (BUT, the boys are guilty of this too. Alas, thats a whole different blog.)

Somebody smart once said "every moment you spend upset you waste 60 seconds of happiness." It's true. As much as I wanted to just stew in my fuss for a few more hours, I made myself play nice and make up. Fights are just a part of relationships. (An important part of relationships, at that.) You have to get through them and learn something.

So, what have I learned? I don't know quite how to put it, but it's somewhere along the lines of forgive and forget. And of course, I will take this little lesson back to the girls and share it while we're doing crunches for the 548th time :)

{By the way, I absolutely have to stick some video commentary on the bottom of this post. That earring is making me flashback to the 90's. Its a bit douchey. And somebody needs to get that girl a sandwich, ASAP! The poor thing is practically emaciated!}