I’ve Got Mail! September 30, 2008

Yay!  I got a card and a package today!  It made me happy. 😀  Thank you Marie and the Riekes!  (Sorry for stealing your post title, Sarah. :P)

Today in jazz the nail of one of my toes cut my other toe… 😦  At least I think that’s what happened… My toe was bloody and that’s the only explaination I could come up with.  Also, I’m starting to get shin splints again… I had them this past spring in PE when we would run, too… I think I figured out why it’s happening though; I think I’m rolling in on my feet, or at least my left foot, I believe to compensate for the ganglion cyst (pictured below) I have on the bottom of that foot, on the outside.

That bump under my fourth and fifth toes is the cyst.

I’ve had the bump on my foot for several years but had never had it looked at until earlier this summer when I went to the podiatrist.  I had an ultrasound, x-rays, and two CT scans done of it.  That was a fun week… lol.  I’m hoping to have it drained/removed/whatever in December since I’ll need to be off my foot for several weeks (I think).

In my harp lesson I was kind of annoyed because she assigned me a really, really simple exercise.  I think she thinks I know less than I do… It’s true that I’m not playing to my full capabilities yet, but that’s because I haven’t really played in about a year and need time to fully remember all of my technique and placement.  😦  And the corrections that she gives me are on the things that I know that I messed up on when playing it.

Now I’m off to dinner because I’m starving… Then on to homework and, if I remember, the Holden Evening Prayer Service. 🙂

9-29 September 29, 2008

Today feels like it’s the end of the week… Not Monday. 😦

In IHON we started talking about the Romans and she told us what our test on Friday is going to be like… I need to start rereading the chapters we’ve covered…

In French we got our first test back.  I made some stupid mistakes, so I didn’t do as well as I would have liked, but I did well enough…

In Brit Lit we talked about Wordsworth…. Yup.  Exciting stuff.  For some reason it made me feel like drawing, but I know that I should really be doing homework instead of drawing… 😦

Choir was ok, today… I think Dr. Galante wasn’t too happy us because some people didn’t seem to know their part on one of the songs so it was hard to get anywhere with it.  And it’s the piece we’re singing at chapel next Friday… Not good.

After choir I practiced harp until 6 when we had a floor dinner.  At 7:#0 I’m going to a lecture on feminism and religion?  Sounds interesting.  Hopefully it won’t last too long, though, becuase I also want to go to the swing dance tonight…

On Any Sunday… September 28, 2008

(from Footloose for those who were wondering)

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, after I woke up this morning I walked around campus taking pictures.  At 11 I went to the University Congregation service thingy.  I like that it’s the Now the Feast and Celebration service, but I miss Zion…  The reader this morning understood the pace needed for good oration, but her pitch was rather high and her tone seem very pleasant, which really did not fit the reading…   The sermon today was also disappointing.   She complained about the Gospel she was preaching on because the parable in the lesson was “only four verses- 63 words”. I guess I’ve just been spoiled with Pastor Shaw who, two weeks ago, did a sermon on the first two verses of Philippians (“Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ”).  That’s it.  And it was a very interesting sermon.  Today’s… not so much.  She didn’t really shed any new light on the passage, nor give us anything to come away thinking about… 😦

At 3, I went to a violin/harp concert.  It was good, but it was impossible to see the harpist’s hands… This made me sad.  The violin part on the final piece they played was kind of insane… tripple stops, left hand pizzacatto, enharmonics…. It was very cool. 🙂

And now… back to my homework.  Woot.

Visual Tour

This morning after I woke up, I took a nice little walk around campus taking pictures of the buildings so that you can better visualize where I am. 🙂

Campus Map (sorry it looks small… If you click on the picture, it should take you to Flickr, then above the picture it will say “all sizes”, click on that, and you’ll get a bigger one):

Harstad from the street (First campus building you see):

Harstad from campus (my window is the top floor, just to the right of the center part, just under the eves):

University Center:

Admin Building (where I have IHON and French):

Ingram (where my Brit Lit class is):

This is my favorite walk area that I take on my way to/back from Ingram:

Mary Baker Russell Music Center:

Chihuly Stained Glass in Music Building:

Practice room hallway (the door at the end of the hall is where the harps are kept):

Practice room (this is a typical one with piano, chair, and stand. Some of the others have grand pianos, and there’s one with an organ in it):

Eastvold (right across from Harstad (this is the building I see from my window); where theater productions are performed):

Side of Eastvold (the last window on the 2nd floor is where my voice lesson is):

Martin Luther bust outside of Eastvold:

Centennial Bell:

Well… I’ve reached my upload limit on Flickr, so I’ll post more pictures later…

9-28 September 27, 2008

Today I finally had a chance to go to my old harp studio to visit my former harp teacher and pick up some music.  Unfortunately, she left about 3 minutes before I came in… 😦  So… I talked with her husband who runs the store (she teaches at the store in a little room in the back).

Now I’m just working on homework…   I don’t have much for IHON, but I have 3 exercises to do for French, as well as a paragraph describing someone famous, and a 1-2 page paper on Wordsworth’s stand on change for Brit Lit… Woot.

Tonight, though, Elizabeth is making homemade macaroni and cheese and we, along with some friends, are going to have that for dinner and watch movies. 🙂  I’m excited.

Adventure! September 26, 2008

So today after we were done with our classes, Lora (who lives across the hall), Elizabeth (my roommate), and I went to QFC.  We had to walk there, since Elizabeth was in a car accident last week and no longer has a car…  It was like 5 or 6 blocks away?  It was good to get off campus for a little bit and get some food.  Tomorrow, Elizabeth is making homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner and we’re going to watch movies. 🙂  It will be fun.

In French I was assigned my first essay.  It’s not hard… Just describing my family.

In IHON we’re finished talking about the Greeks and are going to start the Romans on Monday.

My voice lesson went really well today.  Especially considering that I hadn’t had my full voice most of the week.  I finished all of my accompanying information for my songs, too. 🙂 (We’re supposed to translate it word for word, translate it in general, have an understanding of what was going on in history or in the life of the composer and/or poet when the piece was written, and tell how the music reflects the lyrics.

Tonight I’m going to “Not Your Grandma’s Show Tunes” or something like that… Should be fun. 😀

Rollin’, Rollin’, Rollin’ September 25, 2008

Today in Jazz we learned floor rolls (or rather I demonstrated them, everyone else learned them).  Woot.  At least we didn’t have to do them all across the floor like I did in modern… We just did four chassés, and then went down into the roll and came back up.  It’ll be fun when we start doing combinations…

Choir is going well, I really like the sound we’re getting, and I like all of the songs we’re singing. 🙂  The Fall Concert is October 21 and 22 at 8:00 in Lagerquist (which is in the Mary Baker Russel music building).

Tonight, I’m going to jazz ensemble concert at Lagerquist.  As a music student, I have to attend 6 concerts this semester, and as a jazz student I have to go to a jazz concert, so… killing two birds with one stone!  Yay! 🙂

In other news, the battery in the smoke detector in our hall is low, so it’s been beeping. All. Day. Long. Gah!  It’s really high pitched, too. 😦  I really hope it gets taken care of soon….

My Name’s Forrest, Forrest Gump September 24, 2008

Oh how I love that movie… 😀 Dr. Galante, my choir director, was saying that some people sounded like they were from the south, and made a Forrest Gump reference that I don’t remember at the moment… lol.  I want to watch it now… 😦  Definitely one of my favorites.

Today I had lunch with Jessica and Cindy who live a couple doors down but that I hadn’t met until Monday… They’re really nice and it was fun talking to them and getting to know them.  At dinner I ate with Sarah, who is in my IHON class and choir (and we sit next to each other in both). 🙂  She seems really nice, fun, and quite a bit like me. 🙂  I like her a lot. Yay for new friends!

Now… I think I’m going to take a nap.  I kept yawning in my Brit Lit class and think a nice nap would feel nice… 😀

Mail

I love getting mail…  🙂  It makes me happy when I see that I have something in the mail box.  In case you are someone who enjoys sending mail, or if you don’t enjoy it but would still like to make me happy by sending me something :), here’s my address:

Amanda Davis

Harstad Hall 508

Pacific Lutheran University

Tacoma, WA 98447

9-23 September 23, 2008

Sorry I waited until now to post something… Today has been a fairly uneventful day… I was hoping to have something fun or interesting to report, but no. 😦 But, in case you are interested in the mundane as well as the interesting, here’s a general synopsis of my day:  I went to jazz dance which I felt went by faster than usual… We did some swing dance steps, which was fun. 🙂  She also played some Michael Jackson songs which reminded me of the movie Center Stage (ballet chick-flick movie that I like a lot) because they are in the film.  After class, I came back to the dorm, took a shower, and then went off to my harp lesson.  It went pretty well, but I need to keep reminding myself about technique, which seems to have left my instinctual memory. 😦  In choir today we were having sectionals, so I didn’t have to show up until half-way through our normal rehearsal time.  Rehearsal went well and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had more of a voice during rehearsal than I had had when practicing for it.  Then I went to dinner and since then I have been reading for my IHON class… It was 55 pages. 😦  Luckily, I knew practically everything it talked about already, so I mostly just skimmed it.  Oh, there was a firedrill tonight… That was fun. 😦  I was in the middle of reading and really didn’t feel like going and standing outside in the cold… I think it helped wake me up a bit, though… I had been beginning to doze off during my reading.   Anyway, I think that’s all I have to report… Hopefully I’ll have something more entertaining to share tomorrow!