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Been trying to get this thrown together for a while. Finally had some free time and zipped it up... I think it's a decent slice of Christmas/Holiday music, by a variety of my favorite musicians (or at least, the ones who have done Christmas recordings). I hope you like it!
01. Blackmore's Night - We Three Kings
02. Sting - Gabriel's Message
03. The British Tuba Quartet -Trepak (Tchaikovsky arr. Smalley)
04. Faith Hill - Where Are You Christmas? (from the Grinch Who Stole Christmas)
05. Amy Winehouse - I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Clause (live)
06. The Darkness - Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)
07. Deana Carter - Once upon a December (from Anastasia)
08. Dweezil Zappa - You're a Mean One Mister Grinch
09. Joss Stone - All I Want For Christmas
10. Erran Baron Cohen - Dreidel (featuring Jules Brookes)
11. Kate Havnevik - Winter Wonderland
12. Apocalyptica - Little Drummer Boy
13. Squirrel Nut Zippers - Sleigh Ride
14. Gotthard - X-Mas
15. Loreena McKennitt - Coventry Carol
16. Pearl Jam - Someday At Christmas
17. Kutless - Mary Did You Know
18. Sixpence None the Richer - Carol Of The Bells
19. Mediaeval Baebes - The Holly & The Ivy
20. Weezer - Christmas Celebration
21. Noxagt - Kling No Klokka
I didn't get the meme when it actually happened, but I like this sort of shit.
Makes up for a 'real' entry.
Christmas mix forthcoming.
--- Here are the instructions:
1. Open up the music player on your computer (or mp3 player).
2. Set it to play your entire music collection.
3. Hit the “shuffle” button.
4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. No skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It’s time for total musical honesty.
Format: Artist - [Album] Title
---
1. Cloroform - [Hey you Let's Kiss #13] "Fuck you ups"
2. Wagner - [The Royal Philharmonic Collection #02] "Rienzi: Overture"
3. [The Producers (2001 Original Broadway Cast) #04] "We Can Do It"
4. Doors - [The Doors #05] "Alabama Song"
5. Einherjer - [Odin Owns Ye All #07] "The Pathfinder And The..."
6. Ives, Charles - "They Are There!"
7. Mahler - [Mahler: lieder #13] Des Knaben Wunderhorn - Der Tambourg'sell
8. Reger, Max - Three Suites for solo viola, Op. 131d- Suite No. 3, IV Allegro vivace
9. Dmitri Hvorostovsky - [PORTRAIT(CD2) #07] V molchanii nochi taynoy
10.Manu Chao - [Clandestino #04] Je ne t'aime plus
Sometimes I wish I didn't have so much classical music on my computer .
Who can hum any of the Reger solo viola suites besides me? Yeah.
Currently Playing: Manu Chao - [Clandestino #04] Je ne t'aime plus
And is expensive.
I'm sure any of you who have done it, could have told me that.
I'm applying for four schools:
- Shepherd School of Music (at Rice University)
- Cincinnati College-Conservatory
- Peabody Conservatory (at Johns-Hopkins)
- Minnesota School of Music
All this is probably going to cost me upwards of $500-700 in terms of fees/mailing supplemental materials at the last minute (naturally) and making copies and such, since I don't have a printer . And I have 3 people (including my University) who owe me money, which is why I have nothing in my bank account to speak of.
Not to mention I have to fly all these places (with the exception of Rice, since it's a short drive down the road to Houston) next February to hopefully score some sort of scholarship. Because without a scholarship.... I'm kind of fucked . $45,000+ a year for grad school? For a MUSIC degree? Hell naw.
Ugh, happy Thanksgiving. I'm headed for the border come tomorrow, with my roommate for my last T-day with her family. But what with practicing, studying for the three tests I have when school resumes on Monday and filling out paperwork that tries desperately to tell people how good I am, I don't think it's much of a break.
Currently Playing: Bernstein - Divertimento for Orchestra
So I'm potentially getting a new laptop at no cost to myself...
It comes down to the eternal question:
MAC or PC?
I'm debating whether or not to get a Mac, for the simple fact that they're a lot faster, and occasionally lighter-weight than the type of PC laptop I normally get. I also loathe Vista (which is installed on all the PCs on campus now), but that's a moot point since I can get XP installed on the majority of custom-built machines. I used to not like the input devices for macbooks, as the keyboards felt gummy and I'm partial to my left-and-right mouse clicking. However, one of my friends got a Macbook about 6 months ago, and her keyboard is significantly better than any of the older ones I've tried.
This will be my third laptop, as I try to buy a new one every time I go to a different school (or in other words, every 3-4 years). However, this is an important one, as I will probably not go to another school after grad school, and therefore will keep this upcoming laptop for as long as it will run. If I get a PC, I'm honestly not sure what kind I want to go with, so I'm looking for brands as well; I've had good luck with my current Dell, and there are significant discounts here on campus for Dell and Mac computers, so that's kind of what I'm looking at. Initially, I wanted a tablet PC, but I've thrown that idea out the door because several engineering majors have told me the technology just isn't that stable for them yet.
So give me some pros and cons, folks.
I already know the direction some people are going to tell me to go in .
Only for two days, though. My paternal grandma died last Tuesday, and while I wasn't nearly as close to her as my maternal grandma, my mom thinks it would be kind of shitty if I didn't come out because A) they're having some giant 2-day Catholic ceremony (even though none of my Catholic family have been to church in decades) B) my dad's side doesn't have a lot of family left, or friends, So it'll be kind of empty in St. Mary's, and C) If it were my maternal grandma, I would be there instantly. Also, I have to play viola.
Last night I saw the first good movie I've seen in a theater in a year (yes, I appear to have actively avoided all good movies last school year): Ghost Town. It's not life-changing or anything... it works with very cliche material, almost like if you blended Ghost with Shallow Hal and added a slight British sense of humor. But it was quite amusing and worth the money I paid -- and I had a kickass milkshake and fried pickles to boot .
So Wednesday last week, some fucking woman drugged up on mental meds plowed through my parents' garage -- and basically destroyed my dad's 1954 corvette body. He's been working on it since before I was born, and for the last three years or so he's been gradually acquiring all the original parts he needed to restore it. Until Wednesday, he had the chassis and the motor finished, minus some parts. The body, while not in the best of condition, was intact and only in need of minor repairs and a paint job.
Now it's in for at least $10,000 worth of repairs on the front end alone. My dad was actually crying. This guy is going to be doing the repair work, and apparently he worked on 50 Cent's Lamborghini (my mom made sure to tell me this when she called to tell me they had a meeting with him for an estimate). It appears the bitch who did this has insurance, plus our homeowner's is covering it because the car wasn't running, so it falls under the category of "things in our garage" and therefore my parents won't have to spend their own money. But it sure is one hell of a headache, as it always is with insurances .
Speaking of which, the ER in Brownsville keeps billing my parents from that incident last semester, because they don't know how to bill insurance. My dentist bill is apparently going through something similar. Gahhhhh... hate.red.tape.
Currently Playing: Hindustani classical violin music.
So I just got back to Austin and had a WONDERFUL dinner/evening welcome-home date on the capital with my gay boyfriend (since I can't get a straight one...more on that later). Unfortunately, that meant that I didn't get back to my apartment until 11pm -- and I have an audition tomorrow morning. After my new German class, which I wish were Norwegian, but things don't always work out the way I want them to .
It seems this semester is going to be lacking several people I will really miss (especially in orchestra and/or the lack of parties) and will be full of remaining friends who now have boyfriends that they somehow acquired over the summer through various channels. *sigh* I really can't play the "keep up with the Joneses" game, especially in this department. Oh well. It's a new semester, with new people -- and there's always grad school, right?
Except my mom has been -- not really putting pressure -- but hints a lot at the fact that I don't have a boyfriend, or even a serious interest. And you know, I'm almost out of college. She didn't care that I didn't have a boyfriend in high school, but now I guess shit is getting real, and I should at least have something in the cards. So now she's taken to trying to set me up with random people she meets at her job (or their sons). Lovely. She knows that I've dated a little, and that I've turned down guys during my time here, but in her own subtle way she brings up dating and boyfriends and *ahem*birth control and my other friends' boyfriends and all sorts of stuff in the same vein.
I just wish it didn't coincide with this apparent trend in my school/circle of friends of "everybody have boyfriends now!"
My European souvenirs just make it look like I am.
Whenever I go, well, anywhere, actually, my primary souvenir is alcohol. Because I like to collect it. I don't ever open the bottles, I just put them on a shelf and take pride in owning something that's either uniquely from another country or has an interesting bottle.
From left to right:
Instead of fortune cookies, they give you a bottle of plum wine in Chinese restaurants in Slovenia; not the fat woman, but the Honey Schnapps man is what I bought in Slovenia, for my fat Mexican Damiana licor lady ; Aniz alcohol from Portugal, with sugar crystals that grow on the (hard to see) flowers in the alcohol; Blueberry Schnapps from Slovenia, with blueberries inside... my friend's mom gave this to me, along with the tall bottle of "Sauvignon Maribor" next to it; the little bottle is "Lagrima" Porto from Portugal, with the head of Jesus on it... TEARS OF JESUS; Tremocos isn't alcohol, but it is good and you can only get it in Portugal or at Festas twice a year here in California, and you eat them with beer.
Also, about the festival.
The GOOD:
- I have standing invitations to visit Japan and Russia, and go back to Portugal.
- Russians love how I play viola (always warms my heart).
- I can possibly get a letter of recommendation from the head of the festival.
- Japanese people really like me.
- Japanese girls think I'm cute and sexy -- wait...
- I can communicate in Spain and Portugal. Unfortunately, in Portugal this is a one-way street .
The BAD:
- There was no organization at the festival, which translated to me trying to organize things via the orchestra, and people asking me lots of questions I had no answers for.
- Only two of my original four groups performed, plus one performance in a group that was tacked on when I got there.
- Japanese people who can't speak English + Russians who can speak heavily accented English = BIG RACIST MESS.
- A japanese media card fucked up my card reader on my laptop while I was trying to give one of the guys some music.
- A viola sonata was composed for me. Unfortunately, I thought I was worthy of a better composition .
- The Dollar-to-Euro conversion fucked me square in the ass in Spain
The UGLY:
- Apparently old men also think I'm cute and sexy, which is why I was sexually harassed by one of the best cello teachers in the US.
Currently Playing: Kaizers Orchestra - Katastrofen
How do you summarize a month in Europe? (MASSIVE PIC ENTRY)
So I was in Europe for a month...with very limited access to Internet (hence my lack of updates). I know I've talked about part of it, but not the latter half of it. Without further ado, I will attempt to condense my 1,000+ pictures into maybe 5-10 for each location, making it easier to glance through.
Part I: Slovenia
I was visiting a friend there who just graduated from UT with her masters in violin performance. She took me all around the country in a week, from the center, to the capital, to the beach to the mountains. It was awesome.
Select pictures:
Spoiler:
Maribor from the top of the mountain above the city.
I ate a horse burger here
Dragon guarding the bridge in Ljubljana.
Hops growing along the roadside
Castle built into a cave.
Want to go for a swim in Piran? There's the ladder.
Fairytale castle/lake in Bled
More pictures HERE and HERE. Cities visited: Maribor, Ljubljana, Piran, Bled, Ptuj, Postojna Cave & Castle... probably a few other random little towns as well.
Part II: Germany
My second cousins live in Wiesbaden, Germany on the US military base there, and this is their last summer. Their mom has been asking me to visit for a few years, so I finally made my way there. Since Kaizers Orchestra happened to have some tourdates in Germany at the same time, I made a detour with my musical cousin to go see them live <3!
Select Pictures:
Spoiler:
Konigstein, some cute buildings.
Konigstein on the way back to Wiesbaden.
KAIZERS ARE COMING ONSTAGE!
The Kaizers Concert...amazing
My personal favorite of all my KO pictures... Terje beating on a water-covered oil barrel
More pictures HERE. Cities visited: Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Karlsruhe, Konigstein
Part III: Paris, France
My cousins' favorite city on earth is Paris, and they definitely wanted me to see it with them. Unfortunately, I had to leave a day earlier than expected because the trains to Portugal were really busy. However, I made the most of it and managed to see most of the "main points" of Paris within a day and a half!
Select Pictures:
Spoiler:
The Eiffel Tower, sporting a EU theme.
Me with a falling statue at the Louvre.
The Paris Opera House .
The Arc de Triomphe with flags.
Frog legs...my cousin ordered them,
Landmarks/Museums visited: Musee d'Orsay, Louvre, Rodin's Garden, Notre Dame, Le Tour Eiffel, Arc de Triomphe, The Latin Quarter, The Paris Opera House, Boat rides on the Seine.
Part IV: Viana do Castelo, Portugal
My train trip there was AMAZING. The jankest train in the world took me overnight to Porto, Portugal, on which a crazy old Portuguese man kept talking to me (in a crazy mix of Portugese and Spanish) and bought me dinner (Protip: Being a young woman in Europe means guys pay for stuff for you all the time). I also met some people from Slovenia and a guy from St. Sebastian. I was arriving a day early, so I had a little time to wander around.
Of course, this was the entire reason I went to Europe in the first place: the Viana do Castelo Music Festival. It was a lot of fun, although I found myself desperate for a good schedule and some organization. It was a complete mess as far as planning goes, and I was in charge of the orchestra. I ended up only performing Shostakovich 8 (I've performed it more than any other quartet) and Borodin No. 2, first and third movements -- out of the 6 groups I was assigned to. I found it quite amusing that the Russians always said that they could hear the "Russian School" in my playing XD....
Select Pictures:
Spoiler:
One of my groups performing Borodin's second Quartet.
The fountain in the main plaza.
The Theatre we performed most concerts in.
Nice old buildings...
Santa Luzia, the church overlooking the town from a mountain.
The view from Santa Luzia. National Geographic says it has one of the best views in the world.
The Spoils:
I collect alcohol, and somehow I managed to pack 6 bottles of liquor AND all my clothes for a month, AND three bottles of Tremocos into one carry-on suitcase that made it back to the US with me through three separate flights.
I'll probably make another journal entry later detailing the music festival, instead of everything else...and pictures of my souvenirs....
Response to:
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. $45,000+ a year for grad school? For a MUSIC degree? Hell naw.
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