something's wrong here

How is humanly possible that the Hi temperature for Madison, WI and Greensboro, NC* the same? I only can blame myself.

When choosing locales for graduate school, I wanted somewhere warm. I had grown tired if the snow (she writes, as she hears the sleet hit the window)so I chose Tallahassee, Vegas and Greensboro, with Greensboro winning out. People did say it snowed occasionally here. This I find out after I move. In my gut, I had a cold feeling that the winters that I would be residing in the NC would be abnormally cold.

I find solace in the fact that these five inches of snow shut down the entire city.
It's pretty amazing.

After cleaning of my car this morning, I celebrated by eating Better Cheddars an hohos and listening to Enna Burning in bed. ( No more late night grocery runs for me - the 'nojunkfood' will is weak. ) Now, it is time to do something a wee bit more productive.

Enjoy your snow day, friends!


* This according to my ipods weather bug.

here we go again

Ah, school.

After a month of only work and play (plus a visit from the Parents!) I once again get to add in the school factor.

On the plate for this semester:
Lessons
Dissertation
Old Time Ensemble
and
Seminar


Lessons - An hour lesson, once a week

Dissertation credits - Here the school guarantees it gets 12 credits of money. I don't have to do any work on my scholarly paper* yet. Just take the credits.

Old Time Ensemble - I feel way out of place, but in a manageable way. I will eventually get to learn a new instrument. This last week I played an Appalachian lap dulcimer. I could do the three chords necessary for most of the songs, but I am not quite able to follow the chord changes yet.
This next week I will probably be trying the mandolin.

Seminar: Representation of the 'Other' - It will be an interesting class. One of the readings includes the introduction from Said's, Orientalism. Weekly topics include, Orientalism and Post-Colonialism; Oriental, Primitive and Folk; The Turk; The Gypsy; Blackface; The Asian Other; Hawaiian Otherness. Along with Said's book, we are also reading a book called Mimesis and Alterity: A Particular History of the Senses, and bits of Western Music and its Others. I know one of the articles talks about the Polynesian Cultural Center. That will be interesting to discuss.

Oh ya, and my second recital. For that, I'll be playing

Fulvio Caldini's Noveletta No. 2 for English horn
Jindrich Feld's Sonata for oboe
Alyssa Morris' Four Personalities (Yay!)
and
Jean Michel Damase's Trio for Flute Oboe and Piano

And that, my friends, is my semester in a nutshell. I hope it goes as easily as my overview.




*I don't do a real dissertation. Instead, I have three recitals plus the paper

lilac

Okay, okay...let's try again.

Find the Kitty!

Can you spot him in all his camouflage?

and now....

Another installment of:

Spot the Kitty! Yay!

The housecat is an unlikely predator, blending in with his surroundings, ready to pounce in an instant.

Look carefully - the housecats camouflage can be quite deceiving.

[Removed by blog owner until further notice.]

Did you spot him?

Good work.

Until the next installment of....Spot the Kitty!

a recipe for success [hopefully]

What do you get when you add:

Preach my Gospel, chapter 8, How Do I Use Time Wisely?

My friends idea, which is based on this idea.

And a little dash of this song,

With a pinch of life lessons,

Combine with a spiffy new notebook and colored pencils,

and what do you get?

I'm hoping for a year in which the successes I experience are measurable.

Here is my plan:

The theme word for the year is happy. This year, I would like to come to a better understanding of the word. This is not to say I am unhappy, indeed, far from it. Yet, I have an inkling that there is so much more to being happy, then having a smile on one's face.

I was influenced in this 'word theme' From the Cook Shack, an overarching yearly resolution was to be summed up in one simple word. Her word is glow. I have chosen the word happy. This will be what all my little goals are leading towards: gaining a greater understanding of the word happy.

A few years ago I realized that throughout my life I inadvertently had scripture themes in my life; verses that had particular meaning to me at that time. I will pick some scripture verses that relate and expound on the yearly theme of happiness.

From Preach My Gospel (PMG), we get the idea of having monthly goals that are achieved because of the weekly goals that are achieved because of the reachable daily goal.

Missionaries are to set goals based on key indicators found in successful missionaries. I am no longer a missionary, so I had to make myself a new list of key indicators - area of life that are important to me. Enter the song. In the chorus of the song, the children state, 'At home, at school, at play.' Those are to be my key indicators.

Key Indicators explained -

Home includes both homemaking goals, and personal 'keep Heidi sane' goals.

     i.e. learn a new recipe this week, and give myself a manicure

School includes both oboe and academic goals.

     i.e. have the last movement's tempo up 10 clicks, find five more articles on my paper topic

Play includes social goals.

     i.e. say HI to five new people at school, invite people over after FHE for cookies

These are just examples, but I think you get the idea.

To further clarify:

If a weekly goal was to learn a new recipe, the daily goals would include, deciding on a recipe, buying the ingredients, etc. etc. Or, if I were to increase the tempo by the end of the week, I would need to have daily goals with more minute increases in tempo to achieve the end result satisfactorily.

Combine all these with the spiffy new notebook in which I will record said goals, and we're all set for the New Year! woo hoo.

I'll keep you updated on the process.

Oh, and ANY suggestions would be greatly appreciated.