Harping

On Sunday, I read a delightful article about Harps Etc., which is where I learned to play the harp.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_14223628?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com/

Although I started playing the harp as a senior in high school, I really loved it. I started on a smaller Lyon & Healy lever harp, the 36-string Troubadour, and graduated to a slightly larger Lyon & Healy pedal harp, the 40-string Style 85 (which is no longer being made). I played at my high school graduation and at the wedding of a former teacher, as well as for various family gatherings and harp performances. For a short time I played in the Windsong Harp Ensemble, which was very entertaining.

I believe the reason I enjoyed the harp more than any other instrument I have played was because of my ability to improvise and create music. I had previously attempted this on piano, but found more success on the harp. There are many different sounds that you can obtain from a piano, as well as the harp. There was a book of "haiku" songs that I played earlier on. The amount of creativity that you can have with a harp is unparalleled. Plucking with fingernails, scraping the strings, and drumming on the soundboard are just a few of them.

If you have a chance, I would suggest attending the "Try the Harp Class" at 10am on the third Saturday of every month. Reservations are required and I have included the link to the website.

http://www.harpsetc.com/

*I am sorry for the poor quality of the picture, but it is the only one I could find.

Start of the School Year

It has been a ridiculously long time since I last posted. It has also been a ridiculously long time since I have written anything worth reading, because everyone knows that academic papers are not worth reading. At least not mine. I certainly have a lot to say. So do not be worried at the sharp influx of entries. I've now entered into my fourth year of band and my fifth and final year of school. As a senior, I'm reminiscing a lot, becoming more frustrated at the first-years (freshmen) who don't know anything, and even more frustrated at the second-years (sophomores) who think they know everything but actually don't.

Since the school year has just begun, I will let you in on some of the things that I detest at school.

1) Groups of people that walk 3, 4, or 5 people across as they walk down the sidewalk AND choose not to be courteous by making everybody else walk around them, which often involves stepping in to doorways or into the street.

2) People who walk slow!!! This is my personal pet peeve. I don't like wasting time while walking from class to class. I leave right before my next class and get there right on time or early. I am definitely not one for sauntering lazily through campus. Normally I can deftly maneuver myself through the mass of people on campus, but when people walk in big groups or are completely oblivious to the world around them, I become upset.

3) First-years (Freshmen) who waste my time and the time of everybody in the class who isn't a first year, by asking silly questions. For example: What is a reader? Where can I get said reader? You didn't put an address, I don't know how to get there? Do we need all the textbooks immediately? Are discussion sections mandatory?

First of all, the questions could be asked after class, or they could be directed towards one of the graduate students or an older student, or one could be bothered to actually read the syllabus. Some professors have probably heard these question every fall semester for decades and really don't need to hear it again. Don't be that student who has already managed to annoy the professor and everybody in the class. Also, don't be that student who continually asks (stupid) questions in the middle of the lecture, interrupting the professor, because often the professor might discuss that later on in the lecture and it is not that hard to write the question down, or remember it, until the professor asks for questions.

4) Marx. I have been in a losing war against Marx since my second year. I am hoping to defeat him or at least become friends this semester. For my philosophy and values class, we are going through Marx's Capital and later on with other works that can be compared to or used to discuss Marx's work.

My laundry is now done and I need to get back to my Russian homework. I had dinner with the Chancellor on Wednesday, and our first football game of the season is tomorrow. So I will have a lot to discuss next time.

Thrift Stores and Snapshots

Last Monday, Lina and I ended up spending our day in Vallejo. It started off with shopping in antique stores, browsing through old record albums, and looking through thrift stores. Later on we went to Mare Island to walk around and take pictures.