Books and Stuff

In the past seven years or so I've had about three or four blogs/diaries/journals that I've tried to maintain. The most successful one was my diaryland account which lasted about a year-and-a-half. I abandoned it because there were a few people who knew about it that I didn't want reading it. I tried LiveJournal for awhile and then one of my friends pretty much vanished from the face of society and it was too painful to use since that was how I had kept track of her when we weren't together.

This blog is my latest attempt and one that I hope to maintain. I've been told my family actually reads it on occasion and since I'm horrible at correspondence it seemed a good way to let them know how I'm doing. (by the way, family, commenting on posts is fine - just hit the comment link at the bottom.)

...where was I going with this. Oh, yeah. Anyway, in all that time I rarely looked at any other blogs or journals, despite the popularity of following other people. I found one recently - which I may have mentioned before - called Book 'n a Mug that I've started to follow. The author is fun to read and writes about one of my favorite things. Books! The most recent post deals with book recommendations so I took a look at Random House's book recs. Ayn Rand showed up as one of the top authors of the list, which is funny because I came across her novels while organizing the bookshelves at the Parent's House the other day. I've never read her stuff and hadn't even heard of her, only to find out she's very famous and on a Top 100 Novels list. Perhaps I should give her a try.

Of course a large amount of these novels are geared more toward fiction and not fantasy, which is my particular preference. Therefore I shall list my own recommendations. ...in my next post. I'm typing in an awkward postion and my wrists are tired. (shut up...don't say it).

Rehearsals and getting ready for Bible School tomorrow. And I'm getting a digeridoo!! I shall annoy the neighbors greatly. Hee.

Graduation Blurbs

I'm at graduation. Squalling babies, no air conditioning, and long boring speeches. At least I don't have to wear a robe.

Cinderella

I'm heading to Corinth to watch a rehearsal of Cinderella. Apparently it's going to be bad. Should be fun.

Virtual Boredom

I know, just KNOW, that I could be doing something far more productive today than sitting in my classroom waiting for the higher-ups to say we can leave. I suppose I could make a last ditch attempt at cleaning my room, but my motivation and resources have disappeared.

Graduation is on Thursday so I'm a little stressed out. I think it'll be a great achievement if all the seniors remember the words to the song. At this point, it's up in the air. I got smart this year and assigned duties to the juniors before letting them leave the ceremony. I am certainly NOT carting all those risers back by myself. If I planned it right, I won't be doing much of anything except sighing in relief.

We've been having Starmites rehearsals. The blog they set up to let the students know about rehearsal times and such was so convoluted that I made another one just for me. Aren't I smart? ...the spell checker is asking me if I spelled aren't right. Seriously?! I know how to spell aren't thank you very much.

Back to Starmites...The two main groups of singers (aside from the soloists) are the banshees and the starmites. The composer apparently worked with very young boys or very high tenors because most of what the starmites sing are up in the treble clef. And I'm working with boys who are learning to work through their breaks still...

*chants* They'll be fine. They'll be fine. They'll be fine.*

Oooh!! The Assistant Principal said we could go sign out!! ...which may or may not mean anything really.

Ta.

Mobile Blogging

I'm trying out this new mobile blogging thing. We'll see if it works...


*one text message later*


Yup.

Banquets, Books and all that Other Stuff

Worries in order of importance:

1. Stupid Choir Banquet. Gotta make certificates, which means I have to think nice things about my students. ...it's going to be hard. I'm getting very cranky.

2. Auditions. I will gag if I have to hear one more mangled rendition of Happy Birthday. For the Love of all that is Holy, do people not TEACH this song any more? I've had two or three who didn't even know how it went!! Sad days.

3. Starmites. I don't know what the composers were thinking. And that's all I have to say about that.

On the bright side, I ran my Concert Choir and Women's Choirs through their paces today. I showed them exactly how I plan to run my rehearsals next year and told them that if they didn't think they could handle it to go change their schedules. I think I'll go all Machiavellian next year. Fear Me!!

And now for my discussion (brief as it may be) on Fanfiction.

Fanfiction, my closet obsession. I love to read good writer's interpretation on well-known characters. It saves me from having to get to know the protagonists. I'm re-reading the Sacrifice series by Lightning on the Wave. It's a Harry Potter fanfiction. Probably the only dark, angsty series I'll ever willingly read. The concepts the author comes up with for Rowling's world are amazing to me. Plus it deals with the issues of free will, child abuse, the gray line between dark and light and, my favorite, high society.

I love the concept of high society since we don't get much of it here in America. Granted, I don't think it's a practical way of life, but it's interesting all the same. European nobility had a code of conduct that they lived and breathed by. Yes, the rules were frequently bent and broken, but the concept is fascinating to me. Who on earth decided these rules to begin with? Where did society ever come up with the idea of the Language of the Fan? Bored nobles? Probably.

I like reading stories that deal with political maneuvering every once in awhile. Simon R. Green's Deathstalker Series is like that. Of course, I also like the novels with heroes who completely ignore the niceties of society and blow the pretentious nobles out of the water. Those are fun too.

The Mistborn novels I'm reading are pretty awesome. ...well, I'm listening to them, not really reading.

Okay. Back to pointlessly worry about the Banquet for Thursday that we have no money to decorate for. Ghetto Banquet. *sigh*

Tribulations

As completely boring as class is during the day, I have a ton of stuff going on at night. I wish that school ended sooner so I could just get on with my day rather than sitting in my choir room doing absolutely nothing. I swear, free days are overrated. I also swear that I will not let them watch Twilight ever again. I'll gag and die.

Starmite rehearsals will start next week. I'm a little nervous because as goofy as the show is, the music may be a bit challenging for teenagers. The main guy parts sing in mostly falsetto for heaven's sake. Geez.

The choir is supposed to have a Banquet this coming Thursday. I agreed to do a banquet as long as I had massive amounts of help with it. Unfortunately the senior who said she'd help has yet to do anything but tell the kids in each class what kind of food to bring. Yay. I suppose I'll spend the next few days having mini planning sessions with each choir and figure something out. I'd rather just do away with the banquet altogether. Bah. Humbug.