NaBloPoMo, Day 30! The last one!

Howdy.

• Tonight, my piano studio counted 87 cookies we'd baked after we'd all had well beyond our fill. We used cookie cutters for most, but we also cut our own. I made a partridge in a pear tree. We also did a quite accurate depiction of our piano teacher. So that was fun. Exhausting. But very fun.

• You know, when you show up to a rehearsal not knowing what you'll be playing exactly, and it happens to be a number you haven't yet looked at, and you're sight reading at full speed, and your choir director who will also be running the pit also happens to be sitting in for the first time that day, and she asks after a bit if you're sight reading, it's kind of exhilarating, but it's also muy stressful. Because whoa, those notes go fast. And yes, I'm doing OK for sight reading but yikes bikes. It was rough, guys. What a Friday afternoon.
• It's an even more exciting Friday afternoon when a visiting pianist plays one of the pieces you're playing for your jury in a few weeks, and he plays it at about 175% of my speed. And while I don't really agree with that tempo musically, I also know very certainly that my fingers will never be able to do that. And ick. You just don't want to practice after watching that.
• And I didn't practice today. True confessions, yo.
• In other news, November's over! So NaBloPoMo is too. You've all been lovely -- a great audience.
• In other news, November's over. And it hasn't snowed. How am I supposed to finish my 3 South bingo if I can't roll around in the snow or sled on a saga tray?!
• I got paid today for Secret Garden! And while I totally would have done it happily without pay, it's nice to get mail in CPO. And then when the mail is money, it's even better!

I can't promise I'll be posting quite so frequently in the coming weeks (or months, but hopefully it won't come to that). But I'll try a little.

NaBloPoMo, Day 29

Hidey-ho, y'all.

• Tonight, I went to a little restaurant called Austin BBQ. Now, it's no Goode Company, but it's some very decent brisket and tastytastic cornbread. Also, they have Blue Bell ice ceam. So there's that.
• I have had so many adventures in the Fischer kitchen this year because of the microwave inconsistencies -- namely, that the microwave hasn't worked for about a month now. Last time, at 1 a.m. snickerdoodle time, I ended up softening two sticks of butter on a cookie sheet in the preheating oven. (It worked marvelously.) Today, I needed to melt some margarine (yes, margarine), so I did so in a somewhat suspicious but altogether passable skillet on the stovetop. I'm not entirely sure if the brown bits and other lovelies on the bottom of the skillet stayed on the skillet when I poured the melted butter impostor into the batter.
• I'm learning to play a little drum set in my percussion techniques class. I'm not usually a braggart, but today, my facial expressions had nearly everyone in the class, including the professor, laughing to the point of tears. I considered it a highly successful class.

Again, maybe I'll make it in bed before midnight. But the last time I said that, it didn't exactly happen.

NaBloPoMo, Day 28

Welcome, welcome.

• Today, I tried "snapea" crisps. They are weird, sort of like shrimp fries or shrimp chips or whatever they are, but without the fishy flavor. Kind of addictive, but also the sort of food where things just get stuck in your teeth and too much is too much. So whoa. 
• Somehow, I'm getting the impression that there is a whole heck of a lot to practice in the coming weeks. More than will fit in an hour a day. My schedule doesn't usually allow for more than an hour a day. You see the predicament here. I will be on the hunt for a solution.
• Tonight, I participated in an attack tea party. 3 South: we bring the tea to you. And then we find a way to get in your room and sit there drinking tea and knitting until you come back and try to remember why you became an RA in the first place if all these sillies were going to be crashing your Wednesday night.
• Everybody's busy, all semester long. Especially at Wheaton. So when you open a devotional or prayer time with "things are really starting to pile up" or "as our lives really ramp up and start to get super-busy," it's somehow not all that satisfying. Yes, we know we're busy. But if we're "really starting to get busy" right as the first month of school is ending and as fall break is approaching and as B Quad starts and as we head into Thanksgiving break and as we come back from Thanksgiving break and as we head towards finals, and as we go through finals, we're not really reminded of the times we're not dying of stress. A better option might be to try to find a day you're not running around from the early morning until well past dinner and enjoy the fact that you've got a little extra time. Because we're all busy, and it doesn't seem to be letting up any time soon.*

*Disclaimer: I'm fine, not dying of stress, not over-committed. Just so we're clear.

NaBloPoMo, Day 27!

We're almost there!

• Events that happen once a year are funny. You either look forward to them or shrink back a little bit, not really wanting to deal with them (winter juries). The thing is, this past Thanksgiving is my second of four while I'm in college. Half of my Thanksgivings are gone. This is the only sophomore year fall semester I'll get. It's important, then, to make the most of it.
• I just remembered a frozen banana I put in my freezer before I left for Thanksgiving break. I'm thinking midnight snack. Don't you feel informed?
• Also, I have a little conducting evaluation tomorrow. I'm feeling a little bit like this, except we're doing asymmetrical meters, not sforzandi.
• Also, I just remembered some theory homework I haven't done. We're all set here, aren't we? 

NaBloPoMo, Day 26

• Something a friend of mine said popped into my head tonight: "If you are lovely and kind, people will bend over backwards to help you." This was in the context of allergies and servers at restaurants, but still. It applies. Yes, to life in general. No, this wasn't spurred by someone's unusually eager helpfulness. I just thunk it.
• I had a real go-getter of a day. I got stuff done. I practiced far beyond what is required of me. I showed up and did what I was supposed to do. Way to go, me. It's been a good one.
• I don't care what you say. Small classes will always trump big ones. Regardless of how dynamic your lecturer is, my itsy bitsy discussion-heavy classes will always win. Yay music majors.
• Maybe I'll sleep before midnight? And be a go-getter again tomorrow? Maybe? 
• Shoot, guys, that was two Annie songs in one bullet.

NaBloPoMo, Day 25

Welcome back to me!

• I'm back at Wheaton, and it's lovely to be out of the car. I've had tea and popcorn and watched a couple episodes of Fawlty Towers. It feels like I've been here a whole lot longer than just four hours.
• If you, like me, have a serious aversion to Guy Fieri, read this. It's highly entertaining.
• Alias is an amazing show. Go watch it now!
• If you ever find yourself in St. Louis, pop into Companion. They sell bread, and their cornbread in particular is particularly delicious.
• Thank goodness November is almost over, because you guys can't take much more of this, I'm sure.

NaBloPoMo, Day 24

Well howdy. This is a story about me. Sometimes, parts of my family go on road trips. In today's case, that trip is from Houston to Wheaton. Today's drive took us to Missouri, but that's irrelevant. What is relevant is this: when my mother goes to sleep early, which she always does, my sister and I are left to our own devices, and this is a dangerous thing. We have to be quiet, but we are witty Winchell folk and like telling stories. The solution is what you see above. We've had full conversations of typing, misspelling, intentionally misspelling, silent giggling, and jokes about cheetah pants. Thus, tonight is just a little screenshot of our tiny lives in Springfield, MO.

This has been...POETRY ALIVE.