My Junk

I've rather unintentioally gravitated towards making this a friends-only journal. Most of my entries are locked to a specific part of my friends list, the people who I think would be interested in my ramblings, but if I know you, add me as a friend and I'll adjust the filter.

That is all.

♥

Friday night, I am sitting in Amy and Chelsea's room next door. Amy is currently taking Latin 102, and has her textbook out on her bed. I ask if I can use it to translate a line from a one-act that Andrew was in this weekend. She tells me to go for it. So, I go to my room to get a notebook and settle down with some verb charts. Chelsea walks in.

Chelsea: You're not doing homework, are you?
Me: No, this is for fun.
Chelsea: Oh...what is it?
Me: ...Latin.
Chelsea: [smack]

Heheheh. Things have not changed, for verb charts still make me happy. And as usual, no one understands.

Also, happy birthday to Megan! :D

♥

I think I am the only person who listens to French music while preparing for Japanese class and then goes off to work on a translation of an Italian song.

I am hopeless.

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Jonathan Larson is amazing.

Everyone needs to listen to Tick Tick BoOm.

It's kind of autobiographical, about a strugging composer trying to get his work onto Broadway. Taking into account the story of Jonathan himself, it all seems very profound.

The main character, Jon, says: "I want to write music. I want to sit down right now at my piano and write a song that people will listen to and remember, and so the same thing every morning for the rest of my life."

Let me know if you want me to send it to you. I somehow managed to be missing the title song, but I could probably find it if I tried.

♥

I've been meaning to translate this one for awhile, ever since I plugged the title into my dictionary and realized that even though it's always written Por Tí Seré (You Raise Me Up), 'por tí seré' does not mean 'you raise me up' at all, and I found that deceptive. So I Googled 'You Raise Me Up' and found out that it's a Josh Groban song, which I did not know, and then after I translated the Spanish I compared it to the English and discovered that they're similar in meaning but not so much in actual text.

( Por Tí Seré...AND You Raise Me Up )

♥

It feels so good to be back.

I seriously can't wait for things to get into full swing. Being away for a month made me realize how much I love this place - the people and the busy and the staying up late doing absolutely nothing. Catching up with everyone has been so much fun, even if I've been here less than twelve hours, and there have already been so many moments where things happen and I'm like that, that's what I miss.

Tomorrow is my random day for running errands and hanging out. Classes start Thursday. I'm excited for this semester, I'm ready to go. Except I still need to buy my books.

Oh, and the amazing layout is actually courtesy of universitas, who got me a paid account for my birthday, thereby giving me access to all the jazzy options. :D

♥

So I'm having a little Italian phase. Don't mind me.

I decided to do Nella Fantasia today because the lyrics are really short and extremely repetitive. Extremely repetitive. It took me like ten minutes to translate. It's pretty, but I think the music really helps the words along, because it's so...redundant.

( I dream of hearts that are always free, like the clouds that fly )

Also. Gettysburg in four days!

♥

Passerà came on my playlist today as I was cleaning my room, and I had a flashback moment to driving down Route 1 in Rehoboth last summer. This song is Delaware to me, and so I had to translate it. That, and I was kind of bored.

From this endeavor I discovered that there are a lot of wacky little things about Italian grammar that I do not know, having never studied Italian, and so the English lyrics that I have are maybe more of a poetic interpretation than a quid pro quo translation. I can get the idea, but the grammar might be off, and I also tend to switch things around so that they're prettier in English.

It's Delaware-appropriate because 'passerà' means 'it will pass' - and that week, for what it was worth, did pass, and then our lives moved forward.

( songs are fireflies that sing in the darkness )

Yes, I am a language geek.

♥

Meme time!

Step 1: Put your iPod or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post a line or a few lines from the first 10 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song is.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike out the songs when someone guesses correctly.

1. You wander around on your own little cloud, when you don't see the why or the wherefore

2. And the spirits speak of secrets in the house upon the hill
Secret Garden - House Upon the Hill

3. Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
Kansas - Dust in the Wind

4. You'll never share real love until you love yourself - I should know
Rent - Goodbye Love

5. What's so amazing that keeps us stargazing, and what do we think we might see?
Kermit the Frog - Rainbow Connection

6. Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost
Barenaked Ladies - Falling for the First Time

7. Io sogno d'anime che sono sempre libere

8. And you say 'Oh no, step on the brakes, do whatever it takes but stop this train'
Last Five Years - Moving Too Fast

9. Et quand to ris, tu me fais croire en dieu

10. Stop studying strife, and learn to live the unexamined life
Wicked - Dancing Through Life

I don't really expect people to participate, but I did this mostly because I just like to quote things. It is a hideously rainy, stay-inside kind of day, and I really don't feel like doing anything at all.

Edit: I concede the rest.
1. Petula Clark - Don't Sleep in the Subway (yay oldies!)
7. Il Divo - Nella Fantasia
8. Sebastian Izambard - Dangereuse (best line EVER by the way - "and when you laugh, you make me believe in God")

Meme stolen from muzhi_. I like them when they're short like this.

If I were...

.. a day of the week: Monday
.. a moment of the day: sunrise
.. a planet: Saturn
.. a drink: green tea
.. a musical instrument: violin
.. a fruit: cherry
.. a song: Fool Out Of Me (Idina Menzel)
.. a part of the body: shoulders
.. a school subject: psychology or language
.. a number: 525600
.. a colour: green
.. a city: London...or Gettysburg
.. a smell: clean laundry
.. a language: Japanese
.. a flower: lilac
.. a verb: to obsess, to organize, to empathize, to think too much
.. a book: my planner
.. a country: France
.. a place: Windermere
.. a sound: Glatfelter chiming

I skipped movie and TV show because I couldn't think of anything. :)

♥

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! ♥

I give you this Christmas the prettiest carol ever. It was written to counter Silent Night, and if you ever get the chance to sing it or hear it, go for it. Coincidentally, the lyrics are lovely and poetic. Thus, I spam you.

Cold are the people, winter of life
We tremble in shadows this cold endless night
Frozen in the snow lie roses sleeping
Flowers that will echo the sunrise
Fire of hope is our only warmth
Weary, its flame will be dying soon

Voice in the distance, call in the night
On wind you enfold us, you speak of the light
Gentle on the ear, you whisper softly
Rumors of a dawn so embracing
Breathless love awaits darkened souls
Soon we will know of the morning

Spirit among us, shine like the star
Your light that guides shepherds and kings from afar
Shimmer in the sky, so empty, lonely
Rising in the warmth of your Son's love
Star unknowing of night and day
Spirit, we wait for your loving Son

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday!

♥

I'm at it again with the translating. This afternoon I was working in the library and was overcome with the urge to translate Heroe. It's Spanish, which I am less familiar with than French, so give me some leeway with the translation (I know some of you have taken higher-level Spanish) and appreciate the awesome cheesy poetry that is Il Divo lyrics.

( there is nothing to fear if you believe in yourself )

♥

I made Glatfelter icons.

*is a huge dork*

Funniest thing ever! Satirical sheet music...the music theory kids should appreciate this.

Faerie's Aire and Death Waltz - Arranged by Accident

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I'm making a point out of telling this to everyone...

The Last Five Years is a musical, starring in its original cast Norbert Leo Butz and Sherie Rene Scott, and it is seriously like THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER.

( herein I babble. there be spoilers. )

So, everybody. Go get the soundtrack NOW.

♥

For everyone who saw the Facebook pictures, those are plastic bathroom cups filled with generic-brand green tea. It's kind of a long story.

This week positively flew by...between classes and homework and impromptu naps, hanging out and going to eat and sitting at the computer. It's been so busy, and I have a pile of work for next week already.

Yesterday I went to an origami art show, and to an improv show at Kline Theatre, the former of which was very cool, the latter of which was hilariously funny. We stopped back at Stine afterwards to drink green tea, and then headed over to Patrick Hall to play Jenga. They had Twister also, and I was nostalgic for Delaware. And then after that we took a walk to the fountain, where we sang Defying Gravity and sat for awhile, waiting for the thing to turn on, but it never did, so we gave up and went back inside.

The fire alarms in Stine were going crazy yesterday, and went off something like six times. It was terrible. But tonight and today, so far so good, so I am hopeful.

Today is laundry-and-homework day for me. I have a ton of psych to read for this Thursday, so I'd best get on that.

♥

I can't make sense out of this song, but I suddenly love it, for no good reason other than that is is lovely and mellow and feels somehow appropriate, though I don't know for what, exactly.

It's your gravity
And your hot air balloons
That keep you real
And dare to dream with you
But when they pull you too far
You must learn to forgive
Or it will tear you apart

Will I lose a friend
Striving to contend
Will I destroy this trust
When I want the best for us
Should I hold your hand
No matter what you plan
For every hour you need
I will follow if you lead...

♥

Things are going well.

I redid my layout, and it is terribly purple. I was aiming for a blue and gray rainy day kind of color scheme, to go with my icon of the James Cornoyer painting, but the purple just kind of happened. Oops.

Anyway, so it's really cold in Gettysburg this morning, so cold you could see your breath, which surprised me for late September. This means that the end of my sunny afternoons reading out on the adirondack chairs by Stine Lake are coming to an end, but on the other hand, it also means I get to break out the scarf.

Classes are busy, but the work isn't too overwhelming - psych is my only class that requires hardcore reading, because computing is all practical, Japanese is all memorization, and the musical seminar doesn't involve much actual work at all. We're putting on a "musical showcase" as our midterm, and I get to do the Hungarian bit from Chicago's Cell Block Tango. Oh boy.

Activities are starting to take over...I had my first SMuT board meeting the other night, and all I can say is that I get to hang out with a hilarious bunch of people, though the prospect of actual responsibility is daunting. Agamemnon rehearsals are also going well; I've spent lots of time sitting with the script because I don't feel like doing anything else, and I've got most of my lines down. Last night we did it without the script, and it was...interesting, we laughed a lot, but I think we're going to be okay. This is like the first performance ever when I haven't been worried about the whole thing falling apart, and that makes it so much more fun.

So, in twenty minutes I have Japanese class, and we have a quiz on daily activities, and then we're learning how to do past tense verbs. It's my favorite class, I think, if only because I learn to draw cool symbols and speak in this ridiculously chirpy voice.

See you all this weekend! ♥

I feel like my journal needs a makeover.

Unfortunately, I'm such a perfectionist that redesigning my LiveJournal takes at least an hour, until I decide what I want to do and then work out the kinks with the settings. Because default layouts are blah.

I have this feeling like I'm going to waste my time on this today, instead of studying for the computing test I have tomorrow.

Le sigh.

So I didn't make Secret Garden, but I have muddled my way into the theatre people, at least.

There's a directing class that does short scenes from classic plays, so I auditioned for that, and got cast as Female Narrator in Agamemnon. We're performing part of the prologue, and there's only a Female Narrator and Male Narrator, so I comprise exactly one-half of the cast and we have between us about six pages of ornate Greek drama narration to memorize. It's really cool, though - completely unlike Holy Name Theatre, we got all the blocking done in two days of rehearsal and we're not meeting again until Friday. Tonight we went out for dinner together and then we rehearsed in the common room of the director's apartment, and then we did a dry run for the people on her floor. It was just really fun - and having competent directing, and actual communication with the director, it's just - hey - it makes such a difference.

And then, I got mysteriously nominated for a position on the Student Musical Theatre board - SMuT, for short - and tonight we held the elections. Because I was rehearsing Agamemnon until nine-thirty, I rush into the meeting ten minutes late, and two minutes later have to stand up and give a vote-for-me spiel. So I do, and then we do the voting, and lo and behold I snagged a spot on the board - which surprised me most out of everybody, because I've never considered myself the leader position type AND I showed up late to the little campaign meeting.

But I'm really happy. I feel so loved - Alex, the director for Agamemnon, told us that she had to fight to get the two of us for her cast, because we were good enough that other people in the class wanted us, and I - after living here three weeks tomorrow - have friends who vote for me.

On the other hand, now my to do list is going to grow exponentially and I still have classes on top of it all. It's lucky that I'm really not sleeping. I have to take my first psych test this week, either tomorrow night or Thursday night, and I am spazzing about it because it's my first official test in my area of concentration - Psych&Law didn't count, I decided - and I feel like I have to do really well or else I will be doomed.

But, now I have to go get tomorrow in order and maybe get to bed before one in the morning. Oyasuminasai! (Japanese for "good night," though it actually means "please sleep well.")

♥