awarding some much deserved pointage

so it's been brought to my attention that i owe you guys some points. so here's the current standing:

josh h. - 7 points
angie h. - 1 point

if i'm missing anyone, tell me which post of mine you earned points on and i'll look it up and update.

and now an opportunity for more points...

i was making breakfast this morning and read on the orange juice bottle that i was drinking "100% pure squeezed orange juice....from concentrate." "what the frick does that mean?" i asked myself. 2 points goes to the person that can tell me what that means. if you don't know, i'll give you 1 point for making a humorous attempt at explaining it.

and, incase neither of those opportunities excite you, i'll give you 1 point if you can tell me which dominant functioning chord has scale degree 4 in the bass. you'll earn one more point if you can tell me which chord it most commonly resolves to. c'mon joe, i know you know this one.

well, that's gonna be it for this post.

love,
james

yeah...i know....

....it's been too long since i've updated. sorry.

so i'm in the 2nd week of my sophomore year of my masters degree. here's how the semester looks.

monday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
1:30p lesson with Lenthe
6:30p masterclass

tuesday:
8a aural theory drill
2:30p band rehearsal (yep, i said band, i'll explain below)

wednesday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
2:30p band
4p orchestral rep section with colin & Lenthe

thursday:
8a aural theory drill
2:30p band rehearsal

friday:
8a late music history review
9a aural theory review
2:30p band

inbetween all of that is practicing, going to the gym, eating, sleeping, and, oh yeah....studying.

so far i haven't missed a single 8am class, which is more than i can say for last semester. our music history teacher is, to put it nicely, hard to follow at times. she's a very nice lady, but at 8 o'clock in the morning, the 500+ "ums" and "uhhs" i endure distract the learning just a lil bit. i try to spend class making note cards for the upcoming quizzes and tests. it worked for the first one because i got a 30/29. i could have gotten a 31/29 but somehow missed out on a point somewhere in bs-ing of pergolesi's "la serva padrona." (3 points for the person who can remember what that opera is about.)

aural theory is pretty kick awesome, believe it or not. the teacher is really cool and good at what he does. dare i say he's dr. smith good. if you know who dr. smith is you get a point too. i'm actually surprised at how well i can hear things now. i never used to be this good at aural theory but it's coming quite easily now. i'm pretty sure that if i took that entrance exam today i'd pass with flying colors, just based on what i've brushed up on in these two weeks. it's okay that i didn't pass, however, because i'm actually enjoying this class...which is more than i can say for almost everyone else in there.

so i mentioned above that i'm playing in a band. i also mentioned nothing of an orchestra. that's because i completely blew my audition and did not place in an orchestra this semester. that's the bad news. the good news is that i'm so incredibly motivated to practice right now that my face feels like it's going to fall off at the end of everyday. honestly, a fire has been lit under my ass and i almost feel that same motivation i felt when i was a freshman at eau claire. those of you who knew me then know what i'm talking about. i don't think yardlebot (damn i miss sean solberg) will come back in full force, but i'm definitely back to the grind.

ok, so colin is watching family guy in the other room and i'm havin' a hard time concentrating on what i'm writing. i also have an aural theory quiz tomorrow at 8a and should try to get some rest. sorry for the lack of an interesting update. i'll do better next time.

love,
james

good stuff

so i'm on page 41 of The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success and i must admit, this book is pretty damn sweet. below is an excerpt that has had me thinking all day long. check it out;

"Imagine that five years have passed and your life is now perfect in every respect. Imagine that all your goals have been achieved, all your problems have been solved, and you are living the life of your dreams.
Imagine that your income, bank account, relationships, family life, health, work, and career are ideal in every way. What would they look like? What would you be doing? Who would you be with? Who would you no longer be with? How much would you be earning? What sort of lifestyle and family would you have? What kind of home, car, clothes, and level of physical fitness would you have?
Describe your future vision for yourself in complete detail by writing out everything you could ever imagine wanting to have on your Dream List"

there's a similar excerpt that asks the question "What would you most want to do if you absolutely could not fail?"

well, i think i'm gonna leave it at that for now. i may try to answer some of those questions for myself in the next post, which may be fun to read ;-)

had a great time seein' all you eau clairians the last couple weeks. you guys really are super.

love,
james