(no subject)
Hey, looks like I found some time to catch up this Saturday morning. Wow, I got up early for it, too...considering I stayed up till about 0200 hanging out with B and Casey and Chris.
This'll be a long one.
So where was I?
Wednesday:
After German, Allison spent a while talking me into dressing up for Glueckstag, to get the full feel and generate the full impact of the experience. So, after some searching, we found this costume place called Bealy's Fun Shop, in which we found a pretty good amount of cute clothes- she chose the outfit of a peasant using an ensemble of a couple different costumes- and damn, it looked good on her- while I went simple and just grabbed some lederhosen (course it wasn't particularly authentic, but it looked alright). After that, I realized it was so late that I wouldn't make it to work on time, but when I dropped her off I called in and cleared myself.
Any details pertaining to work are not worth noting.
Thursday:
Managed to turn in my rough draft on time, albeit incomplete (but half the class didn't submit an entire paper either, so I didn't feel bad about that)...which reminds me, I need to do some follow-up research on my proposal... :-<
German was okay- even though Renae left for Stanford that morning (and, consequently, would not be here to see Glueckstag). The sub, Jane, was okay- plus she had us practice our German songs for the next day, so that counts as a plus. When class finished, I took Allison out to lunch while she dropped her car off for an oil change, and following that (as well as ballroom, which I stopped by to catch the tail end of), we drove back to the costume store to pick up the outfits we rented- so that we could amuse her grandparents when we got there to practice for Glueckstag. She was hard-pressed to get her accordian songs mastered (du du liebst... and a polka I can't remember the name of), so I brought my guitar along to see if I could jam with her. It went pretty well- that girl has incredible musical talent, plus I managed to write a chord accompaniment that her grandpa said worked really well. By the time the first couple of hours passed, we'd made some good headway. I was so incredibly amazed at how well her grandpa can play anything- accordian, harmonica, piano, and just how many beautiful classics everyone in that house knows- it was especially cool how Allison's Opa and Oma could sing along with whatever German melody we were playing (yes, so I can be easily enthralled in some cases, but still)...and the strawberry shortcake we ate there was yummy. :-)
It was probably just about 2230 when we left there to catch the end of wrestling class- yes, we went in our costumes. Everybody thought it was kinda weird, but it least it got us some attention so that we could push the Glueckstag event- to which Jeff said he'd come. At the end of class, we walked out to the parking garage- in the rain (oh yeah, forgot to mention we'd had a lovely overcast sky that day and the day before- nice and cool, although excessively wet), where we talked about all sorts of unimportant things, till Jeff asked us to play the piece we'd been practicing on. It sounded pretty in the garage, the hanging notes echoing in the mostly empty level; Jeff really liked it. The next hour was spent right there in the cold, singing whatever song came to mind- country this, blues that; whatever worked on guitar. Plus, Jeff sang us a great song he wrote about Omaha- it was spectacular...(Friday comes in somewhere right about here) I think it was about 0030-ish by the time we finally dispersed.
I didn't really want to drive home with sheets of rain falling relentlessly, so Allison was once again kind enough to let me spend the night in her room. We stayed up almost another two hours, her telling me more details of her life that I feel wiser for knowing, but more foolish for not understanding and instead being judgemental and
sad or jealous or any mix of the two. I won't go into the specifics right now; I might later.
In the morning I had to get up to go to macroecon class. It was actually kinda neat for a Friday- we got to watch The Wizard of Oz and see how elements of the story related to the economy of the 1930s...I was scared at how accurate the teacher's notes were, after I compared them to what I was watching. I find it somewhat disorienting to see something in a different way for the first time, especially when I thought I was right the first time. I'm so often wrong, though, that I should know better.
Anyways, following class I went back up to Allison's room to get dressed and prep and practice for our performance. She got the first couple measures of her polka down, but didn't have enough of it to flow into a repeat like she wanted to- thankfully our main selection went without any trouble. By the time we were finally ready, we made out to Hayden Lawn just in time to miss all the German food they were serving (bratwurst, saukraut, and whatever else there might have been...) and barely catch the end of our class songs- Mamor Stein and Fiesta Mexicana. That was lots of fun- especially since it was all caught on videotape. Immediately afterward Allison dragged me off into a quiet area so that we could practice before our scheduled time. An old man watching the accordian came up to us and started asking questions about learning to play (so I guess she made a fan..? :->) We didn't get much of an opportunity to practice, though, because a lot of performers didn't show which resulted in us getting way bumped up in the schedule. Finally setting up on the stage was cool, and our song went very nicely (once we messed up, but the ring of my chords almost completely covered it)- everyone ("everyone" being of a crowd of barely...30?) seemed to like it- they even shouted for an encore. Allison also played the first part of her polka, which was funny and cute at the same time. Ours turned out to be the last performance, so the crowd took off and the crew started tearning down the stage. Fortunately they left the piano alone, so she got to play a couple songs while we were chilling (to see how many people we'd invited would show up)- it's so neat to watch someone playing the piano and see how many passersby turn their heads to listen...anyways, her grandpa, friends from across the hall in her room, and Jeff and his wife came out to lawn at different times (each of them wanting us to play again, of course- we had to have played that song two dozen times that day! :-D).
I didn't want to go to work yesterday. I really didn't...but I'm a chump, so after we returned our costumes, I dropped Allison off at her grandparent's without stopping to say hi to her mother, who'd come to see her when she'd got back. I'll have another chance to see her, I'm sure.
Work was kinda crappy. Only took home 50-something I think...and, just, blah. I'm not really making any money there anymore. I don't know why, either. Maybe something's not working right? I don't care right now. If things don't get better, I'm going to quit. I might just quit anyway, if they don't let me have the 27th/28th off. As work applies to today, I'll just call in sick so that I can go to Jeff's party at 1900...yes.
And now I see I've posted too much. Hope my loyal readers didn't get bored. There's even more to say, of course, but it'll come in later.
This post was made possible thanks to Garbage. :-)
This'll be a long one.
So where was I?
Wednesday:
After German, Allison spent a while talking me into dressing up for Glueckstag, to get the full feel and generate the full impact of the experience. So, after some searching, we found this costume place called Bealy's Fun Shop, in which we found a pretty good amount of cute clothes- she chose the outfit of a peasant using an ensemble of a couple different costumes- and damn, it looked good on her- while I went simple and just grabbed some lederhosen (course it wasn't particularly authentic, but it looked alright). After that, I realized it was so late that I wouldn't make it to work on time, but when I dropped her off I called in and cleared myself.
Any details pertaining to work are not worth noting.
Thursday:
Managed to turn in my rough draft on time, albeit incomplete (but half the class didn't submit an entire paper either, so I didn't feel bad about that)...which reminds me, I need to do some follow-up research on my proposal... :-<
German was okay- even though Renae left for Stanford that morning (and, consequently, would not be here to see Glueckstag). The sub, Jane, was okay- plus she had us practice our German songs for the next day, so that counts as a plus. When class finished, I took Allison out to lunch while she dropped her car off for an oil change, and following that (as well as ballroom, which I stopped by to catch the tail end of), we drove back to the costume store to pick up the outfits we rented- so that we could amuse her grandparents when we got there to practice for Glueckstag. She was hard-pressed to get her accordian songs mastered (du du liebst... and a polka I can't remember the name of), so I brought my guitar along to see if I could jam with her. It went pretty well- that girl has incredible musical talent, plus I managed to write a chord accompaniment that her grandpa said worked really well. By the time the first couple of hours passed, we'd made some good headway. I was so incredibly amazed at how well her grandpa can play anything- accordian, harmonica, piano, and just how many beautiful classics everyone in that house knows- it was especially cool how Allison's Opa and Oma could sing along with whatever German melody we were playing (yes, so I can be easily enthralled in some cases, but still)...and the strawberry shortcake we ate there was yummy. :-)
It was probably just about 2230 when we left there to catch the end of wrestling class- yes, we went in our costumes. Everybody thought it was kinda weird, but it least it got us some attention so that we could push the Glueckstag event- to which Jeff said he'd come. At the end of class, we walked out to the parking garage- in the rain (oh yeah, forgot to mention we'd had a lovely overcast sky that day and the day before- nice and cool, although excessively wet), where we talked about all sorts of unimportant things, till Jeff asked us to play the piece we'd been practicing on. It sounded pretty in the garage, the hanging notes echoing in the mostly empty level; Jeff really liked it. The next hour was spent right there in the cold, singing whatever song came to mind- country this, blues that; whatever worked on guitar. Plus, Jeff sang us a great song he wrote about Omaha- it was spectacular...(Friday comes in somewhere right about here) I think it was about 0030-ish by the time we finally dispersed.
I didn't really want to drive home with sheets of rain falling relentlessly, so Allison was once again kind enough to let me spend the night in her room. We stayed up almost another two hours, her telling me more details of her life that I feel wiser for knowing, but more foolish for not understanding and instead being judgemental and
sad or jealous or any mix of the two. I won't go into the specifics right now; I might later.
In the morning I had to get up to go to macroecon class. It was actually kinda neat for a Friday- we got to watch The Wizard of Oz and see how elements of the story related to the economy of the 1930s...I was scared at how accurate the teacher's notes were, after I compared them to what I was watching. I find it somewhat disorienting to see something in a different way for the first time, especially when I thought I was right the first time. I'm so often wrong, though, that I should know better.
Anyways, following class I went back up to Allison's room to get dressed and prep and practice for our performance. She got the first couple measures of her polka down, but didn't have enough of it to flow into a repeat like she wanted to- thankfully our main selection went without any trouble. By the time we were finally ready, we made out to Hayden Lawn just in time to miss all the German food they were serving (bratwurst, saukraut, and whatever else there might have been...) and barely catch the end of our class songs- Mamor Stein and Fiesta Mexicana. That was lots of fun- especially since it was all caught on videotape. Immediately afterward Allison dragged me off into a quiet area so that we could practice before our scheduled time. An old man watching the accordian came up to us and started asking questions about learning to play (so I guess she made a fan..? :->) We didn't get much of an opportunity to practice, though, because a lot of performers didn't show which resulted in us getting way bumped up in the schedule. Finally setting up on the stage was cool, and our song went very nicely (once we messed up, but the ring of my chords almost completely covered it)- everyone ("everyone" being of a crowd of barely...30?) seemed to like it- they even shouted for an encore. Allison also played the first part of her polka, which was funny and cute at the same time. Ours turned out to be the last performance, so the crowd took off and the crew started tearning down the stage. Fortunately they left the piano alone, so she got to play a couple songs while we were chilling (to see how many people we'd invited would show up)- it's so neat to watch someone playing the piano and see how many passersby turn their heads to listen...anyways, her grandpa, friends from across the hall in her room, and Jeff and his wife came out to lawn at different times (each of them wanting us to play again, of course- we had to have played that song two dozen times that day! :-D).
I didn't want to go to work yesterday. I really didn't...but I'm a chump, so after we returned our costumes, I dropped Allison off at her grandparent's without stopping to say hi to her mother, who'd come to see her when she'd got back. I'll have another chance to see her, I'm sure.
Work was kinda crappy. Only took home 50-something I think...and, just, blah. I'm not really making any money there anymore. I don't know why, either. Maybe something's not working right? I don't care right now. If things don't get better, I'm going to quit. I might just quit anyway, if they don't let me have the 27th/28th off. As work applies to today, I'll just call in sick so that I can go to Jeff's party at 1900...yes.
And now I see I've posted too much. Hope my loyal readers didn't get bored. There's even more to say, of course, but it'll come in later.
This post was made possible thanks to Garbage. :-)