I've noticed that the last few contests with monetary rewards that my school has sponsored have all had student store gift certificates as the rewards, rather than actual cash. What this means is that students who win such contests are actually winning their choice of stuff, and the school is probably only giving away half to two-thirds the stated ( Read more... )

Meh. Spring break is over already. I had the worst film gig ever, too -- an incompetent, amateurish composer, producers who planned to pay some of the musicians but not all (I unashamedly told the other cellist that I was getting paid, and she politely went and asked for her due compensation), terrible music, lots of arrogance and vagueness, and ( Read more... )

Despite it being much hotter in my city, I'm rather glad I'm not in Canada at the conference now. I was able to fairly adjust students' grades this morning (in about an hour -- thanks to Excel's find-and-replace function!), and then went for a nice breakfast with the husband. I ate something reasonable (a belgian waffle with banana, clocking in ( Read more... )

It's been an eventful 36 hours.

( long and exhausting, but actually might be interesting to read )

So, I went to the doctor yesterday since I haven't been improving at all since Sunday -- the worst of it was Friday & Saturday, but after the concert Sunday night and even after my big audition (I didn't win, of course, but more below) I showed absolutely no improvement in symptoms. So I went to my doctor, who heard me cough, listened to my lungs, ( Read more... )

Am watching The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the first time (for a seminar assignment) and OMG I FINALLY UNDERSTAND SO MANY REFERENCES IN POP CULTURE ( Read more... )

Found an incredibly interesting webpage that gives an idea of calories burned during normal everyday activities. My favorite:

Impatiently (nervously) standing in line (body twitching, stamping feet): 140 per hour
Of course, they're all approximate and averaged for a 150lb female, but still, it's interesting to look at how many calories twitching ( Read more... )

The good stuff

• I've lost 1.5 pounds in the last two weeks and haven't massively changed my eating habits, only made myself more aware of what I eat, and that having treats and snacks is OK, within moderation. This is extremely exciting.
• I have two paying cello gigs, one this week and one next.
• I have no obligations today until about 3pm.
• I have no ( Read more... )

Is it okay to simply dislike someone (whom everyone else likes) for no particular reason?

Is that it? Am I finished? All three essays are written-the historical one actually was the hardest, assembling my facts into a coherent argument, correctly cited-and I've edited everything into something I'm not terribly ashamed of. I can say, as comfortably as I can ever say this, that I've done my best. But, because I'm me, I wonder if I should ( Read more... )