Come And Save Me!!
things have been going fairly well. a lot to talk about. I went to a baby shower for Madame. she's having a boy, and unfortunately, it's going to interrupt the going to Paris thing this year, since she will have to care for the new child. it was fun, though. and I brought home a lot of stuff. the hosts lived on an orchard, and they gave me a bag to get lemons and grapefruit, which I got for my parents. it was dark when I did it- I must have looked odd. but hey, I like good lemons.
my vivarium is mostly complete. there's some things that still need to be done: for starters, it's going through a process called "Cycling," where an enviroment will gain lower organisms to increase the ability of an ecosystem to sustain and allow larger organisms to prosper. depending on the size of a tank, it can take anywhere from 1 week to 1 month. mine has been at it for about two weeks. I guess you'll know when it's happened because you'll start to get mold. and I have that. in fact, the mold started digesting a piece of soft-wood (sand-blasted grapewood was my guess) and I had to remove it. that was a bummer, since it's branching, tree-like form made it the center-piece of my vivarium. so now, I have to find a new centerpiece (or make one) that's made of a hardwood or rock. I'm also not going to do the sand thing for the pond side. I'm just going to leave the glass partly exposed, but I will have something over there. my reason for doing so is that it might be hard to maintain, so if I forgo the sand, giving me a larger pond area, I can keep a fish or somethin aquatic in there and they can help me keep it clean. I also have these small arthropods living in my terrarium. I'm certain they came with one of three things: the plants, the shag moss, or the seed pods. I'm certain it's the shag moss, as there were none until I put them in there. they appear to be a combination of Water Bears, Wood Lice, Springtails, and some various other near-microscopic fauna. they're not bad, though, as they detrivores- they eat the garbage and waste, and create usable, organic compounds. but I'll need some other insects in there to keep them in check. millipedes or centipedes or other carnivourous insects. they'd have to be small to keep from being eaten too often. I have lady-bugs in there now, but since they can fly, they're having a tendency to try and escape. I'm also going to try and put some worms in there to help with decomposition and such.
my backyard now has a garden! and better yet, everything appears to be sprouting. everything except the watermelon I planted: out of the 12 seeds I put in, only about 4 have sprouted.
In addition to all that, I did go to some music stores last week and tried out a violin. Live Music Center was no help. the girl readily admitted that for $600 they would sell me a chinese violin\viola- one that I can see on Ebay for about $180. they wouldn't let me really play one either, as they were all rental models. None of them were tuned anyway, which is another reason to avoid the place, as untuned, new Bowed String Instruments will warp and distort if not kept constantly under tension until broken in. Gordon's Music was much more helpful. the cute girl was nice enough to let me try one of their student models in a room, rosin the bow, and even tune the violin for me! but playing it led me to believe that maybe my fingers aren't quite suited to Violin. so, I'm going to Ifshin Violins in El Cerrito to ask them if I can try out a Viola, the next size up from Violin in the family (Gordon's Music didn't have any, and Live Music Center tried to show me a 13-inch Viola, which is just a Violin with Viola strings). so, I'll have to see how that goes. if not the Viola, then I'm moving right up Contrabass, which unfortunately, is simply not in my price range. as it is, the Viola is barely within mine. but I'll have some more cash when I get to sell books for Buyback.
on that note, registration is coming up, and for Summer, I'm taking: Math 104, Elementary Piano 1, and some Online classes, haven't quite decided which yet. for Fall (and this is assuming I pass all my current classes), I'll likely be taking: French 3, Moral Philosophy, Math 002 or 004, and maybe Creative Writing, Descriptive Physics (online), or Music Theory (unfortunately, an every-day class). we'll see how it turns out. Summer and Fall registration is at the same time; I think this will cause problems. either way, I need to register on May 4th, the coming Monday\Lundi, as Priority 1.
Finally, two things: I went to the park with Sean and Jesse last Saturday (the Live Music Center guitar instructor); the Alamo park, by my dentist's office. it was cool, and we met some cute girls while flying kites. Jesse was flirting with this really attractive jogging girl, and he actually wrote his name and number down and gave it to her. and then I overheard a group of girls saying things like "I'm checking out the one carrying the kite!" sotly, though. but before we left, we stopped to chat to them. there was really only two cute ones out of 5, two sisters named Mischa and Katie. but there was one other girl who was okay-looking (all I remember is that she's clumsy, but she's a ballet dancer). but by far, Katie was the most attractive. I reeeally should have gotten her number. they were all 17, though. damn. hahaha! but I want togo back tomorrow, just to see if they'll be there again.
second, I saw Mallory today, one of Ariana's friends. she looked really good, like she'd lost about 5 pounds of weight from her waist. I got her phone number. tried to ask her out, but it turns out she's already seeing someone. oh well.
oh, and I still need to fix my computer. I'm going to do that this weekend in addition to my shitload of homeworks. merde, c'est un long journal! I still wonder if anyone cares. I'm not really typing this for anyone in particular. just my memory, I guess. my head hurts now. bonne nuit.
my vivarium is mostly complete. there's some things that still need to be done: for starters, it's going through a process called "Cycling," where an enviroment will gain lower organisms to increase the ability of an ecosystem to sustain and allow larger organisms to prosper. depending on the size of a tank, it can take anywhere from 1 week to 1 month. mine has been at it for about two weeks. I guess you'll know when it's happened because you'll start to get mold. and I have that. in fact, the mold started digesting a piece of soft-wood (sand-blasted grapewood was my guess) and I had to remove it. that was a bummer, since it's branching, tree-like form made it the center-piece of my vivarium. so now, I have to find a new centerpiece (or make one) that's made of a hardwood or rock. I'm also not going to do the sand thing for the pond side. I'm just going to leave the glass partly exposed, but I will have something over there. my reason for doing so is that it might be hard to maintain, so if I forgo the sand, giving me a larger pond area, I can keep a fish or somethin aquatic in there and they can help me keep it clean. I also have these small arthropods living in my terrarium. I'm certain they came with one of three things: the plants, the shag moss, or the seed pods. I'm certain it's the shag moss, as there were none until I put them in there. they appear to be a combination of Water Bears, Wood Lice, Springtails, and some various other near-microscopic fauna. they're not bad, though, as they detrivores- they eat the garbage and waste, and create usable, organic compounds. but I'll need some other insects in there to keep them in check. millipedes or centipedes or other carnivourous insects. they'd have to be small to keep from being eaten too often. I have lady-bugs in there now, but since they can fly, they're having a tendency to try and escape. I'm also going to try and put some worms in there to help with decomposition and such.
my backyard now has a garden! and better yet, everything appears to be sprouting. everything except the watermelon I planted: out of the 12 seeds I put in, only about 4 have sprouted.
In addition to all that, I did go to some music stores last week and tried out a violin. Live Music Center was no help. the girl readily admitted that for $600 they would sell me a chinese violin\viola- one that I can see on Ebay for about $180. they wouldn't let me really play one either, as they were all rental models. None of them were tuned anyway, which is another reason to avoid the place, as untuned, new Bowed String Instruments will warp and distort if not kept constantly under tension until broken in. Gordon's Music was much more helpful. the cute girl was nice enough to let me try one of their student models in a room, rosin the bow, and even tune the violin for me! but playing it led me to believe that maybe my fingers aren't quite suited to Violin. so, I'm going to Ifshin Violins in El Cerrito to ask them if I can try out a Viola, the next size up from Violin in the family (Gordon's Music didn't have any, and Live Music Center tried to show me a 13-inch Viola, which is just a Violin with Viola strings). so, I'll have to see how that goes. if not the Viola, then I'm moving right up Contrabass, which unfortunately, is simply not in my price range. as it is, the Viola is barely within mine. but I'll have some more cash when I get to sell books for Buyback.
on that note, registration is coming up, and for Summer, I'm taking: Math 104, Elementary Piano 1, and some Online classes, haven't quite decided which yet. for Fall (and this is assuming I pass all my current classes), I'll likely be taking: French 3, Moral Philosophy, Math 002 or 004, and maybe Creative Writing, Descriptive Physics (online), or Music Theory (unfortunately, an every-day class). we'll see how it turns out. Summer and Fall registration is at the same time; I think this will cause problems. either way, I need to register on May 4th, the coming Monday\Lundi, as Priority 1.
Finally, two things: I went to the park with Sean and Jesse last Saturday (the Live Music Center guitar instructor); the Alamo park, by my dentist's office. it was cool, and we met some cute girls while flying kites. Jesse was flirting with this really attractive jogging girl, and he actually wrote his name and number down and gave it to her. and then I overheard a group of girls saying things like "I'm checking out the one carrying the kite!" sotly, though. but before we left, we stopped to chat to them. there was really only two cute ones out of 5, two sisters named Mischa and Katie. but there was one other girl who was okay-looking (all I remember is that she's clumsy, but she's a ballet dancer). but by far, Katie was the most attractive. I reeeally should have gotten her number. they were all 17, though. damn. hahaha! but I want togo back tomorrow, just to see if they'll be there again.
second, I saw Mallory today, one of Ariana's friends. she looked really good, like she'd lost about 5 pounds of weight from her waist. I got her phone number. tried to ask her out, but it turns out she's already seeing someone. oh well.
oh, and I still need to fix my computer. I'm going to do that this weekend in addition to my shitload of homeworks. merde, c'est un long journal! I still wonder if anyone cares. I'm not really typing this for anyone in particular. just my memory, I guess. my head hurts now. bonne nuit.