whew?

Incidentally, I'm really glad that the Miers nomination was withdrawn. Not that I believe that I will miraculously love the next person that Bush nominates (that has "a snowball's chance in hell" of happening, my favorite idiom when I was teaching in Poland), but because this seems like tangible evidence that he has had to acknowledge that he is somewhat reliant on the opinions of others. It seems to me like lately it doesn't matter at all what anybody else thinks, how many people think something is fucked up, as long as Bush think it's okay. And here, for once, he backed off of something. Of course, it's not because people like me think that Miers was someone who shouldn't be on the court; it was because of other political people trashing his choice. But still, at least somebody's opinion still has some sort of staying power, even if it isn't the opinion I agree with.

it's about time

Finally, after about a month, we have internet! So perhaps I will post more regularly, since I tend to use that as a time-wasting option.
We played a series of three concerts for children this weekend for Halloween. There was a mime duo involved (who actually mimed, unlike the mime play I saw with Jesse and Anna this summer), and much costuming and makeup on the part of the orchestra. It was really fun, and I loved seeing all the little kids dressed up in the lobby afterwards. Granted, most of them looked kind of freaked out since I looked somewhat dead, but they were still totally cute.

dates and places and times

I always get stuck up on what seem to me like fairly inconsequential figures like how long I've been doing something or where I was when I last did it. I've been playing viola for about 14 years, isn't that ridiculous? That seems like my whole life. And I've been vegan (sort of) for more than three. That one seems like it should be longer. We're also playing a piece in school that I last played when I was 15, right after I decided that viola was what I wanted to do for real, not just as a hobby.
Following in the trend of me finding meat in my food, I found what appeared to be meat inside a waffle two weekends ago. This is getting ridiculous. That makes at least five times in the last 3 monthys or so. Bah

still forsaken

Almost three weeks and still no internet. As a full-fledged email junkie, I feel like I'm in withdrawl :-) Plus we still don't know where lots of things are and it can be pretty challenging to, say, order pizza without the internet or a phonebook. But whatever. I just hope it returns soon.
No other real news, just still so busy I'm constantly learning pieces the day before they are supposed to be perfect. I keep hoping I'll catch up, but it seems doubtful. Lately I've felt kind of grey and bitter, like all this constant stress and work and never seeing Anna is taking all the heart out of me. I was accused twice last week of being mean or insensitive, which is perhaps some indication of how deeply changed I sometimes think I am from being here. But I'm holdinmg on, hoping I can regain some hint of enthusiasm even for something. I just don't have the energy particularly right now.
But, having said that, Gary Snyder rocks.

happiness is a good book

I decided to read some Gary Snyder, since Erica (and other people) are always raving about him and I'd never read any. So I checked out The Practice of the Wild based on it's recommendation in erica's last zine, and it's already making me feel all happy and good. I love hearing people saying powerful things that I believe.
"Language teaching in schools is a matter of corralling off a little of the language-behavior territory and cultivating a few favorite features--culturally defined elite forms that will help you apply for a job or give you social credibility at a party. One might even learn how to produce the byzantine artifact known as the professional paper. There are many excellent reasons to master these things, but the power, the virtu, remains on the side of the wild."
-Gary Snyder, The Etiquette of Freedom

dissatisfaction

Lately I have been unable to be gripped by a book in the way that I normally am. Nothing intigues me terribly much, and I seem to have no tolerance for theary, which is funny because normally that mostly what I read. So, this is my recent reading list:
How to Name a Hurricane by Rane Arroyo
Fight Club by Chuck Palahuick (probably not how you spell that name)
Valencia and The Chelsea Whistle by Michelle Tea (very amusing lesbian author)
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (less amusing but very good lesbian writer)
I'm pretty sure I read at least one other thing that I can't remember right now. I'm still searching for that book that will suck me in or make me care about something. I feel apathetic about a lot right now. I think I'm just tired. Anybody have any suggestions?

yucky

Does anybody know how to de-stinkify a nalgene? Mine won't stop smelling gross no matter how many times I wash it. Should I try and use something like vinegar or coke to kill all the grossness inside?

the internet gods have forsaken us

The internet at my house has gone out, and may be gone for as much as a week more. Hence the lack of posting. I had my first moment of overwhelming panic yesterday, as I looked at a week in which I face a string bass test, a viola sectional for civic featuring a piece I can't yet play (even though I've performed it before, how lame is that), another civic rehearsal featuring entirely other music, my first civic concert, and unprepared school orchestra and quartet rehearsals. Plus Ann's going out of town for work on Thursday, missing a Sleater-Kinney concert that I now will have to attend alone. Bah. Not a fun look into the future, for sure.
Last weekend we volunteered at Anna's work, picking up trash in west town for about 2 1/2 hours early Saturday morning. I never truly realized how damn dirty this city is until I picked up some of its trash. It's an impossible task to get it all; we would clean a street, then walk down it and all I could see was the gobs and gobs of trash that we had missed. Still, I guess anything helps.
Anyway, off to learn another set of damn music.