Change of address

To those of you who read, there have been two fairly recent changes in my interactions with the blogging world:

1. Switching to Wordpress. It's just time.
2. Doing the joint blog thing with my apartmentmates.

Consequently, I'm writing at MADadventuresin6B.wordpress.com now. Same style, different place.

The best things in life...

Yes, they're free. And they include (but are not limited to)...

• encouragement
• listening
• patience
• gratitude
• jokes

and lots of other nice, sappy sounding things like that. But it doesn't change the fact that it's true. So there's that.

off we go...

My most recent thought train:

• Oooh, this looks like a fun recipe.
• Weird flours though, so I'd have to go make a run to the grocery store. Maybe two.
• What time is it? Hmm...may be too late to get started on a project.
• What else do I have to do tonight? 
• Oh that's right, nothing. There is no homework. I don't have to practice.
• Right. Because it's summer. Well that's fun.

Off we go to TJ's...

Cool.

I'm writing a paper on the musicals of Sondheim and Bernstein (oh, what a drag), and in my research found a cool little thread about West Side Story. Brace yourself:

Background info: Originally, West Side Story was to be a version of Romeo and Juliet that instead pitted Jews against Catholics.
Bonus: Leonard Bernstein was also, coincidentally, born to Ukranian Jewish parents.
Where it gets interesting: The first three notes of the prologue* mimic closely the call of a shofar. Shofars announce holidays and processions, sure, but are also a signal for a battle to begin. And this faux-shofar call happens at the beginning of a musical that's essentially one big battle.
Bonus, round two: Additionally (and this one's a stretch for non-music people), traditional Jewish music often has some ambiguity between major and minor, often seen in the third scale degree ("mi," if you were going to sing "do-re-mi"). And that's all over the place in West Side Story, too. Like in "Maria" with "And suddenly that name will never be the same to me" line. ("Sud" gets the third in the major mode, and "nev" gets the flatted third, taking us to minortown.)

Aaaaaaand making up names of fake places is my cue to exit.

Daily thoughts, 2/14

A comment I got for an evaluation: "This is a worthy path to travel; like all quests one never knows where it will lead or how long it will take; all we can do is embark." I'm highly amused that comments like this would even be written as part of any evaluation, but I also find it endearing that the professor put that much thought into evaluation comments.

Daily thoughts, 2/9.

Daily thought: this is too, too accurate.

I ran four miles tonight. What now.

A challenge.

I have decided, on a whim, that I will attempt to complete a challenge for the week inspired by a post I just read: use the word "kickarooni" fourteen times this week. Wish me luck, and I challenge you to do the same.

Update 1/22: 2 of 14 completed.
Update 1/23: 3 of 14 completed (total, not just today).
Update 1/27: So I didn't exactly make it, but it's not because I didn't have opportunities. I'm pretty sure I could have worked "kickarooni" into conversations even more than fourteen times. The problem is that that word is not in my natural vocabulary, so I didn't really think about it during the day. So that's a bummer. Also, happy birthday to Mozart. He's a good guy.