I apologize for not writing more. I've been too busy doing stuff. Here's a brief summary of the best bits:

-Saw a piano recital at Le Poisson Rouge, aka my new favorite place
-Saw The 39 Steps
-Saw some super weird experimental theater, including a version of The Importance of Being Earnest that ended with King Kong and Godzilla destroying the set
-Saw Russell Brand do a VMA warmup set; get a bit of a cuddle from him afterwards
-spent a few weekends with my aunt and cousin
-went to Philly with my aunt and cousin to see some more relatives. Had two five year olds arguing over who likes me best.
-went for many dinners and drinks with other new students in my program, who are all awesome.
-went to Re/Dress for a zine release party with another new student. I think I've made a friend!
-the assorted job interview, mostly for babysitting jobs that turn out to be for way less hours than what I need. There was one that went all right, but she said she would be interviewing a lot of other people. We'll see.

And on Monday, I finally started class. I think the semester's going to be largely good. I only have classes Monday and Tuesday, so I'm done for the week (except for choir practice tonight).

( Classes )

So the plan for today is: phone interview (it should be happening any minute. It's for a telemarketing job, but it pays pretty well), grocery store, choir practice, then Russell Brand AGAIN, but this time with another girl in my department (who used to work for Palestinian Sesame Street! How awesome is that?)

Had the phone interview before I could hit post. It went all right, but when he asked me if I had looked up the company, I said yes and then totally said they did the wrong thing (I said they were a financial company--apparently they're a software company that sells loan software to banks. Close enough.) I should know by next week, but I'm thinking it's not gonna happen.

My apartment is great! It's in a really nice neighborhood in Brooklyn (Flatbush/Prospect Park South area), in a gorgeous building that's close to the subway line I need for NYU. I have one room in a 4 bed/2 bath apartment (on the ground floor!). My room is gigantic! I've got a twin bed, a dresser, a desk, a loveseat, and all my unpacked boxes in here, and there's still tons of room. There's no air conditioning, but I've got a big window and a ceiling fan, so it's all good. I've had a chance to talk to one roommate a lot, and she's really nice, if a bit spacy. I met another roommate at the lease signing. The third roommate I met briefly when I was moving in, but all we said was hi. He seems nice though. The only bad thing about the apartment is it smells kind of weird in here (like cat food maybe? But they don't have a cat), but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

But getting in was quite an ordeal.

( My troubles, let me tell you them )

So now I have until the 8th to do nothing (except find a job--eek!). What should I do? Tomorrow I'm going to the career center at NYU, but other than that I've got no ideas. Something with air conditioning would be good. Tonight I went to BAM and saw In The Loop, which was great. I have a feeling I'm going to be spending a lot of time there.

John and I have done a radio show together for the past 9 years. There were a few breaks--we didn't do it our first semester at IU, I don't think we did it our first summer at IU, and John did it solo when I was in London, but besides that it's pretty much been every week or so from June 2000 to now. We were twelve when we started.

We started off on WFHB, the local free-form community radio station. They have a program called Youth Radio that lets teenagers on the air. We got on when the program was first beginning by lying about our ages, and stayed on until they kicked us off when we went to college. Our show was technically every month, but because we were so dependable we covered for a lot of people, so often we would be on every other week. We called our show The Vacuum.

When we came to IU, it took us a semester to find the campus radio station, but after that we always had a show on WIUX, still called The Vacuum. Everything basically stayed the same. We still did the same bits and characters. We still ate our pre-show meal at Stefano's, when our timeslot wasn't in the middle of the night (it usually was). John still picked out most of the music, although now it tends more towards noise and prog-metal, with the occasional Mandy Patinkin.

And today, after nine years, is our final Vacuum. Tomorrow John moves to Chicago, and on Tuesday I move to NYC. As a last hurrah, we've snuck into the station for a marathon final show. John's picked out his Top 100 songs from our time at WIUX. That should take about 7 hours. Then we're doing a final retrospective of music and old bits for about 2 hours. In all, we're going to be on from around 12:30-10. It's been nearly 3 hours, and already my back is killing me. Also, I can't connect to the internet on my laptop, so John and I are trading off on the air room computer and Minesweeper on my laptop. He's already beaten my record, damn him. Eventually I will go to Stefano's for dinner, and maybe to the library to get them to fix my computer. But mostly, we're assaulting Bloomington's airwaves one last time.

Even though I don't contribute nearly as much as John does to the show, I'll miss it. It's been a good nine years.

This requires quite a bit of set-up, which I've been meaning to update with for awhile but have been too lazy. So here's the bullet points:

-Went apartment hunting in NYC
-Saw The Norman Conquests (not relevant, but good)
-Found a great room in a 4 bed/2 bath apartment for an incredibly cheap in a great neighborhood
-Got everything all squared away to sublet their room, hurrah!

Everything was happy and wonderful, until I got an e-mail this afternoon. Apparently they need three people on their lease, and the third fell through, so they want me to sign it. That's ok--I would have preferred to just sublet, but I'm willing to do the lease thing. But they want me to sign it by printing out a Word document, filling it in (including my bank account and my social security number), and mailing it to one of the roommates. Uh, HELL NO. They seem nice enough, but I've met one of the roommates for a total of 5 minutes, so I don't think I'll be trusting her with my social quite yet. So there's a good chance it's a scam.

But if it is, they're totally dumb. They could have gotten someone for much less effort. I saw the apartment, I met the girl, and we've been e-mailing. I did send in a check for first month's rent, but I postdated it to September, so they can't really do that much with it. I insisted that she send me a subletter's agreement, so she knows I require documentation. And they totally could have gotten at least $200 more out of someone else. Bizarre.

So I might still need a place to live. Anyone know of someone who needs a roommate in the NYC area?

I've already seen a post on a major progressive political blog saying that Kris Allen won Idol because he's straight and America is IGNORANT and BIGOTED. It is all STRAIGHT PRIVILEGE because no one could EVER prefer him over Adam.

Here's the thing: I'm absolutely sure that Kris got some votes because he's straight and Adam is (presumably) gay. No question. But to say that everyone who voted for Kris is a bigot is the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard. Some people just don't like shrieking and glam metal. And I say this as someone who voted for him three times last night.

The blog was Shakesville, natch. I think we may have to break up. There's something nearly every day that makes me seethe in rage. The other day someone posted a picture from awkwardfamilyphotos.com and asked people to leave captions. Of course, it quickly because "lol poor people are dumb! I bet they shop at WalMart! Stupid white trash!" The op gave one terse apology in the comments, then when people said maybe he should do a little more because it was really fucking offensive, he and other shakers started talking about how everyone was so meeeeean. Also, I'm about sick to death of "lol your ___" and "hey your ___". That horse is dead, Liss!

ETA: Made the mistake of diving into the comments. Liss is quite snippy, and prone to rash generalizations. Why do I comment on blogs thinking it's going to turn out well?

I do like that it's a convenient daily roundup of news in easy to skim pieces. Besides online newspapers (I prefer the Guardian, just because their layout is good), anyone have any recommendations for where to get my news? Preferably with a feminist/social justice slant.

In other news, I continue to lay around and do nothing. I've also been going to bed at 4 and waking up at 2. Good times.

And BORED! I was never one of those people who couldn't wait until summer vacation. At least class gives me something to do. My job doesn't start until June, so it's a month of nothing. I live on the side of town where nothing happens, so I'm pretty much stuck in the house. I did make dinner a few nights ago, and I think I'm gonna make some bread tonight/tomorrow (the no-knead bread that has to rise for 18 hours) if I can make myself go to the grocery store. Other than that, I've been staying up till 4 and waking up at 1, doing killing time on the internet, and watching endless episodes of M*A*S*H. Every few years I remember that Young Alan Alda was a total hottie and mainline some episodes.

Most annoyingly, my computer is doing the stupid thing where it makes horrible screeching noises when I try to watch videos, so I can't even kill time on YouTube. I got enough money for graduation that I can buy a new laptop, and it's certainly time. I just don't know what to get. Any suggestions? I have pretty basic needs, except I download lots of media, and I'm kind of poor. So, cheap-ish but fast-ish is good.

Tonight is my annual move-out freak-out night. Except tomorrow I get the added bonus of graduation and dinner with my family! Here's how it's gonna happen, if everything goes as planned (it won't):

Midnight-2: pack
2-3: drive carload of stuff home, come back.
3-4: clean
4-8: sleep
8-10: get dressed, throw my bedding in my car, get my room inspected
10-11:30: go to some CMCL banquet that I was just informed of yesterday
11:30-12:30: get ready for commencement, check out of my room
12:30-1:30: pictures in my cap and gown
1:30-4:30: commencement. Sweat in a polyester gown while some dude from Australia that no one's ever heard of gives the address.
4:30-6: fight the mob to return my gown
6-9?: dinner with family
9-9 pm the next day: SLEEP.

Probably all that's not gonna happen. I see me not getting ready in time for the CMCL banquet, and I really see me losing at least an hour off my projected sleep. However, list-making is the only thing that keeps me sane, so at least I have a schedule.

Tonight there was a reception for gender studies majors. Because I'm PMSing in a major way (why couldn't you wait two days, body?), I got all weepy. I do tend to tear up out of uncomfortableness when someone compliments me, and my mom was there talking to all my professors, so there was a lot of that going on. But I got to see my favorite professor's little baby, and he's the cutest! Babies make everything better!

Tomorrow at 10 am I have a final I haven't studied for at all, and a paper due that's currently about 2 pages short, even though I'm basically finished. I'm about done with school.

Also, occasionally I get so depressed over how messy my living room is that I move my laptop into my bedroom (since actually cleaning would be crazy! Plus I move in half a week, so I might as well wait until I pack to clean.) I'm in one of those stages right now. This means that I've barely left my bed at all in the past 72 hours. I did my radio show then went out to eat on Saturday, I went out again with a group from my dorm last night, and I ran to the store today. I also briefly migrated to the couch for HIMYM. Other than that, it's been all bed, all the time. It's quite nice, but I feel so slothful. Packing will have to start tomorrow, so that will make me get off my butt a bit.

I've also been going to sleep at 5 am and waking up at 2:30 pm every day. I don't know what that's about. Unfortunately, because of the 10 am final tomorrow, I'm going to have to try to sleep at like 2 (which is still too late). Or I could pull an all-nighter, which is tempting.

I'm one final, one paper, and one massive take-home final away from graduating. Scary! I don't want to leave!

Seriously, you could cure cancer with that level of awesomeness.

So tonight Stephen Sondheim did a live conversation thing with Scott Simon at my uni, and it was the greatest thing ever, basically. I got there really early so I could get a good seat, which meant I had to stand around a bunch before the doors opened, but I was at the front of the pack to get a seat. Which meant I was in the second row! And they had set up seats in the orchestra pit, so I was right there! We made eye contact! Multiple times! I was all a-squee! The only weird part was I was sitting next to one of my profs, but that was totally worth it for the second row.

I couldn't possibly summarize how great it was, but here are some highlights. First, the aforementioned Ethel Merman impression: it was just a few bars of "Everything's Coming Up Roses", but it was spectacular. He also did a pretty good Katherine Hepburn.

Later he was talking about the new production of West Side Story, which he had some problems with. Namely, "they come out and look at you all menacingly, and then they dance. And suddenly they're not so menacing." He kind of did jazz hands when he said that. It was great.

A highlight and a lowlight: several douchebags kept taking pictures with the flash on. He kindly asked people to not do that at the beginning, so every time a flash went off after that, he totally LuPwned them.

At the end he took some (pre-written) questions from the audience. Here's the best.

Question: How do you get the courage to go out every day and be so awesome?
Answer: I don't go out.

Now I have a crapton of homework to do tonight, but it was totally worth it. Plus, it's for the professor that I was sitting next to, so he knows I slacked off for a worthy cause.

Flight of the Conchords played at my uni tonight. I had not bought tickets, because I got into them about a week after tickets went on sale, and they were already sold out. So this afternoon I went to the auditorium to see if anyone was scalping tickets. No dice. That's fine, I figured because I have a crapload of homework to do, so I should just go to the music library and hole up for the night (the music library is the nicest on campus. It's so quiet! Plus, sometimes I see the cute tenor from my choir concert. He was there tonight. Very exciting.) About an hour after I got there they announced that they were about to close for the night (so, not so nice), so I got some dinner and headed to the Union. Then I figured, since the auditorium is right next to the union, I might as well try again. No dice. Then on my way back to the union, I saw a guy standing around with some tickets in his hand. I asked if he was selling. He was, for $4 less than the student price.

It was amazing! Eugene Mirman opened and was really funny. FotC were great, particularly in the talking bits. Highlights included them pointing out people who were illegally recording the show (and then the lighting guy put a spotlight on them), and a slow-jam version of "Sugarlumps." I was super jealous I was not in the front, because Bret was grinding all over the front row.

But most exciting was the encore of Sellotape. They were doing a talking bit in the middle, then Bret asked the sound guy, Matt, to bring out a wireless mic. Then he said "Matt, you know a little something about love. Isn't there a woman you love?" "Yeah, she's right back there! Come on out, honey!" Then a very sheepish looking woman came out. Then the sound guy told her he had a question to ask, got down on one knee, and proposed! It was the sweetest thing.

The crowd was pretty annoying though, probably because they were all drunk. It's Little 500 weekend, aka the biggest college party weekend in the US. Eugene Mirman asked if everyone had been drinking since 11 am. A better question would be if everyone had been drinking since 11 am Monday. Judging by the people around my apartment, the answer would largely be yes.

Now I'm in the library to do the homework I wasn't doing during the concert. The fact that I'm posting on lj should tell you how that's going. It's gonna be a looooong night. At least it's quiet, since I'm the only one on campus not out shitfaced somewhere.

Barely. Or really, I barely got to NYC.

As I was on my way to the airport Monday morning, I got an automated call saying my flight had been canceled, so they had put me on a flight that left at 6:30. I had to be in New York by 5:30, so that wasn't going to work. I went to the ticket counter and begged to be put on another flight, but they claimed there was nothing. Then my mom called and told me that there was a flight on US Airways that left at 1:50, so I went and begged the US Airways guy, and he agreed to get me on the flight. So I got my ticket transferred fine.

Then I got some lunch. When I finished eating, I noticed that my new flight (flight B from now on) had been pushed back to 2:50. That was kind of pushing it, but still fine. But then I noticed there was another US Airways flight leaving at 12:40 (flight C) that no one had told me about, so I went to inquire. Turns out that no one told me about it because it was way overbooked, but I asked to be put on standby just in case.

At about 12:15 they announced that flight C had been pushed back to 1, and that flight B was canceled. There were no other flights to New York. My only option was a flight that I was way down on the standby list for. Not having anything better to do, I waited. Apparently other people did have something better to do, because in the end I got on. If three more people had shown up, I would not have.

Things were much easier once I actually landed. The open house at NYU was great. The program looks fantastic. We got to sit in on a class, and it was great. Then I went to my aunt's house and passed out. Then this morning I played with my adorable cousin, then had an uneventful trip back home.

I'm glad I got a chance to go. I don't think I'm even going to bother visiting Wisconsin--it's definitely NYU. When will I get a chance to live in NYC again? Whee so excited!

Tonight was my choir concert. It went pretty well, although we kind of fucked up "Warlich dieser ists Gottes Sohn", which is not really the part you want to fuck up. Ah well. That was in the middle of hour 3, so I'm sure everyone was too tired to care by that point. The tenor soloist continued to be super dreamy.

Tomorrow morning I'm flying to New York to visit NYU. I'm quite excited, and nervous. I haven't meticulously planned this trip nearly as much as I usually do. And, you know--what if I hate it? I guess I could work in a quick visit to Wisconsin, but I'm kind of pinning my hopes on NYU.

I'm spending tomorrow night with my aunt and my adorable little cousin! I only get to see them a few times a year, so I'm quite excited. Yet another reason to go to NYU--more Connor visits!

I should go to bed, but I think I'm gonna go watch Kings now. Damn you and your awesomeness, Ian McShane.

I have a super busy week. I've had choir practice for the past two nights, and tonight I have a 3.5 hour practice across town. Then I have to study for a test I have tomorrow. Thursday night I'm writing a paper that I've been neglecting. Friday is a 4 hour choir practice across town. Saturday I'm babysitting from 9:30 am to 5:30 pm. Sunday I have a 4 hour choir concert. Monday I'm flying to New York to visit NYU. Tuesday I'm flying back.

So it would be a bad idea to go see the Electric Six this Saturday, right? But... The Electric Six!

Also, our next choir concert (a gala thing with all PDQ Bach music) is apparently going to be on September 6. Classes start at NYU on September 8. It would be a bad idea to perform in the concert, then move across the country and prepare to start classes in two days, right? But... PDQ Bach!

I'm back from my quick trip to Chicago. It was ok, I guess. I think I've decided that Chicago is a Bad Times city for me--something always ends up going amiss. This time it was my feet. The boots I wore on Thursday gave me giant blisters all over the bottoms of my feet, so I was hobbling around all day. Then the next day my legs hurt from hobbling around. They still hurt, in fact.

Also, because of some poor planning on both John's and my part, I ended up spending a large chunk of Friday hanging out in the hostel. We went up because John got into University of Illinois at Chicago, so he went to go visit campus on Friday. I got out a bit late, so by the time I got back from shopping at Viva la Femme (I got the most perfect pair of jeans ever, for far too much money. But it was 40% off, so I couldn't resist), I figured John would be back soon so it wouldn't be worth going out again. But an hour later he called to say there was some mixer thing, so it would be another hour. Oh well, at least I didn't kill my legs any more.

But we did see some good theater! Thursday night was Xanadu, which is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorite musicals. Bad Australian accents, rollerskating, and ELO: what more do you need? It wasn't quite as good as when we saw it on Broadway, probably because the cast wasn't quite as good (there was an understudy in for Sonny) and the audience was largely somewhat baffled families, and not 40 year old gay men. Regardless, it was fantastic, and I loved it. I was particularly impressed with Elizabeth Stanley as Clio/Kira--her April was my favorite part of the John Doyle Company, and she was similarly excellent in this. I will have to keep my eye on her.

Friday night was Pacific Overtures. I was mostly excited about this because I've made it my goal to see every Sondheim musical live at least once, and I always thought this one would be tricky (not as tricky as Anyone Can Whistle will prove to be, I'm sure). It was pretty good. The cast was basically a bunch of very talented amateurs, but that's good enough for me if I know it going in. And there were a lot of good things in the production. The only problem was, it seemed just a little bit racist. I read a review that mentioned that they were mostly going for the comic elements of the show. It ended up being pretty cartoonish, and that ended up being a lot of Stage Japanese. It was almost Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's-ish. I was really, really glad that the cast was all Asian-American--I don't know if I could have taken it done in yellow-face.

Fortunately, that was really only the first half. Thankfully "Someone in a Tree" was very well done, or I would have cried. Then in the second half I guess they got it out of their system in "Please Hello". So overall, if I ignored a lot of what The Reciter was doing, it was good. Also, I'm kind of in love with the guy who played Manjiro. He was quite the dancer.

So now I'm back, and I have to write a 5-page paper on the uncanny in Doctor Who by Tuesday morning. Eep.

I got into NYU! I probably won't be able to afford to go there, but I should at least get a campus visit out of it. And a campus visit means visiting my adorable 4 year old cousin!

If I can swing it, though... It could happen. It looks like it'll cost a lot more than Wisconsin, but Wisconsin pretty much said I'm not getting any financial aid, and NYU looks more hopeful. So if they offer me enough money that it's more or less a wash, NYU it is. I reeeeeaaaally want to live in New York. Plus, an MA in Media, Culture and Communication would probably lead to a job better than one in Women's Studies if I decide not to go into academia.

I got into the University of Wisconsin! Well, the women's studies department is recommending that I'm admitted, but I'm as good as in. Squeeeeeeee!!!!!

Also, I saw Neil Hamburger tonight. He didn't do the cranberry sauce bit, but the rest was amazing. "Why did Colonel Sanders, on his deathbed, tell Academy Award-winning actress Sally Field his secret 11 herbs and spices? Well, because he was desperate for a hand job!" That might not work as well in print.

Now I have to pack for spring break, and I reeeeeally don't want to. I don't see myself sleeping tonight.

Today was kind of nonspecifically poopy. I stayed up till 4 am last night writing a paper that was due today. I finally went to bed with it half done. Then I woke up at 9 because tickets to the Sondheim lecture were supposed to be released at 10, and I didn't know how many other nerds would be queuing up for tickets. I got there at 10, but it turned out that for some reason tickets aren't going to be released until tomorrow. The theater department lied to me! So now I have to wake up early again tomorrow to get them. But it will be SO WORTH IT for Sondheim!

Then I went to the union and spent two and a half hours finishing my paper. It ended up being basically the worst thing I've ever written, but at least I got it finished.

Then I had a class that I was quite excited about, because we were discussion Mulvey and Berger, and I love them both like whoa. However, I forgot that I hate classes where we only discuss Mulvey for one day, because it's inevitably "Now I know that Mulvey is rilly rilly hard, so let me explain it in extremely boring detail." Here's the thing: it's not hard. I read Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema the first week of my first semester of college, and I understood it just fine. When you read it with Berger it becomes EVEN EASIER to understand. So I just spent an hour being talked down to.

Then I had to go to a lecture on Ida B. Wells. It was organized by one of my profs, and because she was worried that no one was going to show she told us that we could turn in our papers a week late if we came. It was interesting if you're into that sort of thing, which I am not, particularly. It wasn't awful, but I've heard better. The lecturer had fabulous boots though.

Tomorrow's going to be similarly stressful: wake up early again for Sondheim tickets, then have three classes in a row, then run back to my apartment and drive to another class, then immediately go to choir practice, which should suck because we kind of blew at our last rehearsal on Saturday morning (and by "we" I mean "everyone else", because I effing rocked it, srsly.)

So tonight I decided I needed a nice night to relax. I went out for sushi, then came home and watched The Big Bang Theory (why do I like that show?) and How I Met Your Mother.

But then, most awesomely, I took an hour-long bubble bath while reading The Rest is Noise and drinking a glass of wine. Heaven.


Also, it looks like I might have another nannying job lined up for this summer. Pay might be an issue though. I know I won't be paid as obscenely well as at my last job, but this might be too low. She initially mentioned $50 a day to watch two kids. I figured that unless those were extremely short days, that's not much. I said that my usual rate was $5/hour/kid, which seems pretty reasonable for two kids. She said "Ok, two kids for nine hours a day, that's about $50 a day." No. No it's not. That would be $5.55 an hour. I can make much more at McDonald's. I told her I'd take $4/hour/kid, but anything less than that I'll have to look elsewhere. She said she'd talk to her husband. I am not optimistic.

I have a 5 page paper due on Monday that should be easy but time consuming to write, and I just can't get started. I'm too busy for homework! Tomorrow night I'm babysitting. Saturday morning I have another 9 am choir practice (UGH), then I'm seeing the matinee of An Ideal Husband, then I have a murder mystery dinner thing. Sunday night I'm seeing the contemporary vocal ensemble. Tonight I've been conned into seeing some thing with dances set to Shakespearean monologues or something, I don't know. But it's free and someone I know is putting it on.

Also, I've got to find a summer job. I just found out that the family I nannied for the past two summers doesn't need me this year. Which sucks, because it was the best job I could possibly hope for. The hours were regular and plentiful, and they paid me a ridiculous amount of money. I applied for a job at a local winery, but I don't see that panning out. I also applied for a job at the library, but I got the application in a half hour after the deadline (I thought it was the next day), so they aren't considering me. Laaaaame.

Also also, I've working my way through the shitty John Fielding mysteries at a breakneck pace. Finally someone had already checked out the next book in the series from the library, so I ordered it used from Amazon since I couldn't possibly wait. I ordered from a place in northern Indiana that said they would ship the next day just to make sure it would get here as quickly as possible. They didn't actually ship it until a week after I ordered it, and it hasn't arrived yet. It's probably for the best, though, as that would only stop me from writing my paper further.

No more news on the grad school front for me, but John got in to University of Illinois at Chicago. So if I don't get in anywhere I'll just move to Chicago for a year and hang out with him. Maybe Children of Scare-Midget will make it big!

Please, someone come and write my paper on scientific constructions of race and gender for me. See, it's even an interesting topic! I just can't start! But once I finish this one I get to start a paper on the uncanny in Doctor Who (I'm thinking writing about the Daleks and the Cybermen as two brands of automatons), so that should be more fun to write.

Tonight I went to go see a public reading of The Exonerated, put on by a local theater company (the one run by last semester's awesome drama prof). There were ten actors in the play. In the audience, there were... ten people. Including me, and one person who worked for the company. And because it was just a reading, they kept the house lights up, which meant that they were looking right at us the whole time. That is way too much pressure. I kept being really self-conscious about trying to laugh at funny parts and stuff. I'm normally not particularly expressive, and with the added pressure, I sat there completely stone-face the whole time.

The worst part was, it was really, really good. I felt awful for them doing it for no one.

The only weird part was that the awesome drama prof not only directed it, but acted in it. I was concerned, because I've found that normally when directors try to act it's Bad News Bears. Fortunately, he was actually quite good. (He just played various small roles, so even if he had sucked it wouldn't have mattered too much. The only thing worse than a director casting themselves in a small part and sucking is a director casting themselves as the lead and sucking.) The only thing was, he has a very thick Canadian accent, and occasionally he had to play a Southern character. The result was... interesting.

Tomorrow night it's Kid Kazooey's pirate-themed band The Pirate Flags at Rhino's! Time to feel like a loser around all the punk kids!

I just got back from a 9 AM choir practice. Who schedules a choir practice at 9 am on a Saturday? A choir full of old people, that's who. While there are good things about being in a choir with a lot of older people--namely, not having to deal with other undergraduates, which typically means better work ethic and less whining about hangovers--waking up early is not among them. There's a definite age demarcation in these rehearsals: everyone under, say, 45 or so is desperately clutching cups of coffee and trying to stay awake, while everyone older is talking about all the chores they've done so far that morning since they woke up at 5 am. Insanity.

We spent the rehearsal working on the chorales, which I thought would be good, because I'm definitely too sleepy to sing anything polyphonic. However, they're so soothing, and the room was so warm and dark, that the last hour was really tough to stay awake. But I definitely would have been too sleepy to do anything harder. What I'm saying is, it would have been best if the rehearsal wouldn't have been at NINE IN THE DAMN MORNING ON A SATURDAY.

I am feeling pretty good about our choir, though. Last night the University Singers (our uni's best choir--and our voice program is pretty well-renowned, so they're really good) did Rachmoninoff All-Night Vigil/Vespers, which we sang last semester. I went expecting to get all depressed at how much better than us they are, but surprisingly, we held our own. Most of this is due to our conductor, both because of his general awesomeness and because I liked his interpretation much more. But I was also pleased to see that they cut two of the more difficult movements and took two water/sit down breaks (in an hour of music total), while we did the whole thing (minus the penultimate movement, but the last two are interchangeable), with no breaks. So in summation: the University Singers are TOTAL FUCKING WUSSES and we PWNED.

After the concert I stopped at Borders and scoped out the discount racks. I got A Brief History of Western Music for $4, which should come in handy. I also got a coffeetable book with pictures of London for $5 (original retail: $50. Aw yeah.) That was possibly a bad decision. I miss London so much it causes me physical pain. I'm reading a book series right now set in London in ~1770, which I thought would be safe, but no. Every time they mention a street I go "I know that street! Waaah!" I've got to find a way to get back. I've GOT to.

Off to nap now. Night night!