He's ba-ack.
I've been thinking I might start using this thing for a while now.
So, howdy, I'm here again. I don't have regular internet access (or habits) so I can't say anything as to how often I will check, but I miss the livejournal forum.
So, for those of you who may not have heard from me in a while but still have me in your friends feeds: after a four-year hiatus, I have re-enrolled in university to finish up the last year of my letters degree. I have returned to Uni because I'm angling toward either pursuing an alternative medicine degree or a Masters of Divinity degree.
I'm excited to be returning to school; in the years I've had off, there's been plenty of opportunity to explore and deepen my own academic interests, so I believe in returning I'll be able to focus, find ways to jerrymander assignments to suit my interests, and kick academic ass.
Being able to say all that was a fundamental requirement for me to go back. And having a reason. I have those things now.
I also have a very busy fall schedule. I have a Monday night 3 hour classes, 10-4 Tuesday and Thursday and a Tuesday evening classes. It's an eighteen hour load, all upper division, but that leaves me liberty to drop the biggest pain in my ass. Here's the roster:
American Indian Ethnohistory to 1870
Germany 1800-1923
Anglo-American Literature early 20th c.
"The Examined Life II" the philosophical literature of medieval & renaissance Europe
Classical->Medieval Religious Philosophy
History of Africa since 1945
During the time I currently have between terms, I'm having my personal intellectual self-gratification-athon so I can try to go back into school with a clean slate. I've been learning a new astrological technique (horary) and pursuing a few other projects. I also received a mandolin as a gift from my brother, and the very same day I approached a good friend who plays and had my first lesson. That was only last Saturday, but I've been playing each day and slowly improving. I have neglected my guitar since it started eating A strings about two years ago, so this is the first time I've spent with a stringed instrument in a while. I'm not experiencing the stress and antagonism I often have with music, and am finding strange relish in endless plodding up and down the D major scale and through the tune I've taken as my first mission. I can play it haltingly, with fluid phrases and moments, but right now the real work is in holding the instrument correctly, keeping my hands relaxed, using my fingers correctly and playing slowly and steadily... all those basics of technique. I'm finding a deep satisfaction in submitting myself to that hard work, to the sore fingers and callouses, to the self-inflicted nit-picking and to attempting to cultivate relaxation and openness throughout. At first I was skeptical I could hold it and play it at the same time. Now, I feel like I'll be able to get through this tune... well, less haltingly by this next Saturday.
I'd never given a minute's thought to playing mandolin, per se, though the lute of course holds a strange allure. But I'm quite excited about it now that it's here. I've been spending some brain time on music theory lately anyway, and I already find mandolin opening in ways for me guitar never did. It's fun to assail my musical walls.
So, with that, I'm back. Sometimes I feel the urge to write about movies I've seen or am watching, so you might anticipate that, random polytheological or metaphysical musings or commentary, or any number of other things. I'm partially just trying to get back into the swing of e-communication, but also trying to rekindle some old connections.
~k
So, howdy, I'm here again. I don't have regular internet access (or habits) so I can't say anything as to how often I will check, but I miss the livejournal forum.
So, for those of you who may not have heard from me in a while but still have me in your friends feeds: after a four-year hiatus, I have re-enrolled in university to finish up the last year of my letters degree. I have returned to Uni because I'm angling toward either pursuing an alternative medicine degree or a Masters of Divinity degree.
I'm excited to be returning to school; in the years I've had off, there's been plenty of opportunity to explore and deepen my own academic interests, so I believe in returning I'll be able to focus, find ways to jerrymander assignments to suit my interests, and kick academic ass.
Being able to say all that was a fundamental requirement for me to go back. And having a reason. I have those things now.
I also have a very busy fall schedule. I have a Monday night 3 hour classes, 10-4 Tuesday and Thursday and a Tuesday evening classes. It's an eighteen hour load, all upper division, but that leaves me liberty to drop the biggest pain in my ass. Here's the roster:
American Indian Ethnohistory to 1870
Germany 1800-1923
Anglo-American Literature early 20th c.
"The Examined Life II" the philosophical literature of medieval & renaissance Europe
Classical->Medieval Religious Philosophy
History of Africa since 1945
During the time I currently have between terms, I'm having my personal intellectual self-gratification-athon so I can try to go back into school with a clean slate. I've been learning a new astrological technique (horary) and pursuing a few other projects. I also received a mandolin as a gift from my brother, and the very same day I approached a good friend who plays and had my first lesson. That was only last Saturday, but I've been playing each day and slowly improving. I have neglected my guitar since it started eating A strings about two years ago, so this is the first time I've spent with a stringed instrument in a while. I'm not experiencing the stress and antagonism I often have with music, and am finding strange relish in endless plodding up and down the D major scale and through the tune I've taken as my first mission. I can play it haltingly, with fluid phrases and moments, but right now the real work is in holding the instrument correctly, keeping my hands relaxed, using my fingers correctly and playing slowly and steadily... all those basics of technique. I'm finding a deep satisfaction in submitting myself to that hard work, to the sore fingers and callouses, to the self-inflicted nit-picking and to attempting to cultivate relaxation and openness throughout. At first I was skeptical I could hold it and play it at the same time. Now, I feel like I'll be able to get through this tune... well, less haltingly by this next Saturday.
I'd never given a minute's thought to playing mandolin, per se, though the lute of course holds a strange allure. But I'm quite excited about it now that it's here. I've been spending some brain time on music theory lately anyway, and I already find mandolin opening in ways for me guitar never did. It's fun to assail my musical walls.
So, with that, I'm back. Sometimes I feel the urge to write about movies I've seen or am watching, so you might anticipate that, random polytheological or metaphysical musings or commentary, or any number of other things. I'm partially just trying to get back into the swing of e-communication, but also trying to rekindle some old connections.
~k