Strings & Yarn

The world smells amazing right now! I guess my apartment (being the center of my world right now) smells amazing right now. That is because I am thoroughly enjoying my first Oregon rain. I realize that when it is raining constantly that it probably won’t smell so good, or be so exciting but right now I have a cool beautiful breeze that is billowing into my apartment with fresh smells of clean rain. I don’t think I’m going to mind the winter rains one bit.

I had a wonderful weekend! I had several students on Friday, but I still don’t have any planned into my fall schedule. Lots of students want to take trial lessons and they also like to take some time to decide for sure if I am the teacher for them. I got paid for the first time since I’ve moved though, and that is a very good thing!

I had Thai food on Friday night which just about made me melt. We went to a place called Tasty Thai that is located just a little south and west of where I live. Not too far. I hadn’t had Thai since I moved from Flagstaff (May) and was so excited about the complex tastes of a good Thai curry. To me Thai food is one of my favorites because of all the different flavors one bite can carry. Within one dish you will have sweet, sour, spicy and salty and they all meld together to create a burst of flavor. If you haven’t tried Thai, you need to run out right now and go get some! It’s quite amazing.

I’ve been meeting so many amazing people here. I met Anthony at the first Irish session/through this blog and he has been kind enough to show me all over Eugene and introduce me to lots of cool and interesting people. We were able to go to free Shakespeare in Amazon park and watch The Comedy of Errors, get excellent beers at two different locations of McMenamin’s, and a good breakfast a Studio One. McMenamin’s reminded me a lot of Beaver Street Brewery in Flagstaff, including the Ruby brew that was similar to the Brambleberry Brew. Studio One was good, but next time I want to try their French toast. That seems to be what everyone is raving about there and looks worth a try.

I also walked by a very dangerous place. It’s The Knit Shop, in the Southtown shops. I walked by the store front and drooled over all the beautiful yarns and new knitting/crocheting things I could purchase there. Those of you that helped me move know that I am a yarn addict (I had two HUGE trash bags full of yarn and fabric) and know that it took considerable self control to not enter the store and find something new to experiment with. Just thinking about it gives me the itch to start a new project! Although I know I need to get through some of the yarn I already have. I think it is time to search through my closet and come up with a good project. Hehehehe.

I have found that I have become a complete NPR junkie. I found that going a few days without listening to the radio, both music and talk, was weird and lacking somehow. On Sunday night I was able to get my fill. I am sad that the NPR stations here don’t seem to play the Diane Rehm show. This was always one of my favorites in Flagstaff because the first hour was news and the second hour was always new books with interviews of the author. I was always learning something new by listening to this show. So last night I figured out how to listen to the program on my computer and find old shows that interested me. So I can have my DR show no matter where I live.

I also found an article on the current book that I am reading. I am reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini. So far it’s pretty good, and is fairly popular among the kiddies. (It was recommended to me through students.) The new installment of the series, Eldest, was just released recently and it is also supposed to be pretty good. Of course they like to compare it to Harry Potter and I can tell you right now, this is no HP. I’ve only read about a hundred pages, but by now in the first book of HP I couldn’t put it down. This isn’t have quite the same effect, but is interesting in its own way. Of course I am a little jealous because Paolini is only 21 an has two books published. Hopefully some day I will achieve my publishing dream.

Speaking of Harry Potter, if you have not seen the Goblet of Fire preview you must do it! They have started to add more to the site and now you can support your favorite person for the triwizard tournament and download a kit to show off your support. What fun! I love the last line of the trailer, I can’t remember if it’s in the books or not, but if it isn’t it should be. Hopefully that will peak your curiosity enough to check it out. Here’s the link;

Goblet of Fire Movie

Makes me want to read Goblet of Fire again! So many projects and never enough time, but I’d rather have it that way and keep myself busy.

My name is Jasmine and I have fleas. I am officially starting Fleas Anonymous so that I can find the help and support I need during this trying time.

I can’t believe that Jasmine got fleas! I was warned about them when I started looking at apartments. One of the apartment managers said “Oh people never get their pet deposits back. We almost always have flea infestation.” Even on an indoor cat! Now I have to admit that I haven’t seen a flea yet, or at least I haven’t seen a flea and known it was a flea. Living in Flagstaff, Albuquerque, and Colorado Springs my family and I have never had flea problems, so I don’t even really know what one looks like. Sure I’ve seen the close up pictures of their ugly little bodies, but I don’t have any magnifying equipment around to see if that little piece of dirt is actually a flea. Luckily Laura was able to help me out since she was from Ohio. So how do I know that Jasmine has them? She has been scratching like crazy! She never scratches and fleas seemed to be the answer. So yesterday I went to the pet store and asked them about indoor cats and fleas. “Oh yes” she said “my indoor cat gets them every summer, but this summer is particularly bad because we had a mild winter.” I got the flea remedy (Frontline Top Spot for cats) and went to work de-fleaing. I put the toxins in between Jasmine’s shoulders and so far she seems to be scratching less. She didn’t like having the stickiness on her fur, but has gotten over it.

After I did this I felt like I had creepy crawlies all over me. I took a long bath with lots of soapy water and tried to feel like I wasn’t being bitten all over. (Even though I don’t think I’ve gotten a bite yet.) The soap seems to be the key ingredient here. Fleas can bounce, jump and walk on water because of the surface tension. As soon as you put soap in the water the surface tension breaks and the fleas sink to the bottom and drown. Hahaha. I’ve been looking up ways to get rid of fleas and found this flea trap. A plate with some soapy water placed somewhere close to where the pet will be in the dark, with a light above the plate. The fleas like the light, jump to it land in the water and meet their watery end. I tried this last night and didn’t get any fleas! Just lots of other little bugs. Yuck! I hope that it didn’t work because all of the fleas are already dead, not because it’s a lame trap.

So it’s time to go back to de-fleaing by vacuuming and throwing away the vacuum bag. These fleas have picked the wrong apartment! They didn’t know who they were going up against!

     The last few days have been full of lots of new things.  I went on my first bike ride in Eugene, found some people to hang out with and did my first few loads of laundry in my new apartment.  
     Yesterday my day started late because I refused to get up.  At this point I don’t have anything I have to do so, when my body refuses to move, which is almost always, I give in and let it stay in my very comfy bed.  So my day started late, but the day was overcast and cool so I decided it would be the perfect day to try out my bike.  While I was in Colorado, my Dad fixed up my Mom’s old bike for me so that I could use it here in Eugene.  I already knew that there were lots of bike trails around town so I felt it would be the perfect time to start biking again.  
     I have to tell you, I hadn’t been on a bike for 10 years.  I never thought that biking would supply a good mode of transportation for me.  Sometimes when I bike, my leg doesn’t stay on very well, so I have to be able to put it on again in order to walk.  When I tried the bike out in Colorado, I found that my leg stayed on just fine and it didn’t really pose a problem.  
     So I had three errands to run and they were all in the same place, about 8-9 blocks away from my apartment.  I needed to send a few things, get my quarters for laundry, and get a few things at the market for the dinner that night.  The way there was pretty easy.  The first part was downhill, then flat and was fairly smooth.  I got the letters in the mail, and headed for the bank.  I had to get off my bike for the bank, so I unstrapped my left foot and prepared to get my knee in the right mode.  My computer knee is great and I have two modes programmed into it.  One is for walking and one is for biking.  In order to change the modes I have to bounce on the toe of my left foot three times.  If I bounce too hard or soft it doesn’t work.  Also, if I leave to much weight on it after the bounces it doesn’t work.  I’m getting better and better at switching but it always takes a few tries.
     So I went to the bank, got my quarters and headed off to Safeway.  I thought about walking because it was only really across the street, but I decided to bike instead.  I got across the street and went into Safeway.  It wasn’t until later that I realized how easy it felt to walk around Safeway.  My leg was in just the right place and wasn’t hurting at all, which is a very good thing.  I got the few things that I needed and headed home.
     The beginning of my journey started downhill, so of course the end is going to be up.  This was the hardest part.  I was a little tired anyway, and then this little hill totally wiped me out.  I made it home without walking my bike and felt great.  My legs were shaky, but I felt good and I was able to take a refreshing shower as soon as I got home.  
     After that I did laundry and tried to fit in too many loads before my dinner that I was going to.  I made a salad and took it over.  I have met some really cool people in Eugene so far and I hope that this trend continues.  They made a Latin American dish that I had never tried before called tinga.  It was really good and I was able to leave with a full tummy and the content feeling of meeting people with similar interests and views.  
     When I got home I was so sleepy and happy.  I said hello to Jasmine and moseyed into my bedroom.  I crawled into my clean crisp sheets, which was the icing on top of a wonderful day.

It was recommended that I check out the Eugene Weekly and the Register Guard newspaper websites to find things to do. It seemed like an excellent idea because that was how I found the Irish session. I don’t know why I hadn’t already thought of searching the newspapers again. So as I was browsing through the Register Guard Oregon Life section the first article was titled “Picked up any good books lately?” I read lots of good books so I proceeded to read on. The article was about a website called BookCrossing. It works similarly to those one dollar bills with the tracking stamp on it. The books are let out into the “wild” and then are picked up by a random person. Hopefully, when found, the new owner will follow the instructions on the inside cover, find the webpage and write a little journal entry for that book. It’s pretty interesting and worth checking out. Meanwhile I am going to keep my eyes peeled for any books laying around in the wild.

I can’t believe it! I’ve already written this post beautifully, but like a dummy I didn’t save and now I have to do it all over again! Oh well.

I have had a good few days. Not really social days because I have spent a lot of time at home, although I did talk on the phone some, but fairly productive days. I am up to six potential students now. I say potential because they will take trial lessons and then decide for sure. But if I do have six I am half way to my minimum. I also got quite a bit done on my book today. I now have a chapter outline! I have been working on my book for about a year and half and it’s about time I get some serious plot development down. Things have been really coming together for me the last few weeks and I’m starting to really see where this story is going. It started out as a thought for main character and some main themes she struggles with it, but now I have added several other characters, their struggles and how they all tie together. It’s interesting because characters that I originally planned to be major roles have taken a backseat while other characters I thought would be minor have taken more prominent roles. Things are still developing so who knows how it will look in the end, but right now I have a prologue and 16 chapters. The prologue is pretty short, but starts the book off right away with some good action. I’m still getting used to trying to use the underground slang of the 20’s. I want it to be as accurate as possible, but still creative and hopefully not too predictable. I am hoping to get my prologue on my book blog in by mid Sept so if you’re interested in reading (and giving comments) I will let you know when it’s there.

I started thinking about the amount of words I need to write for this NaNoWriMo thing and it scares me a little. If I am writing 50,000 words in a month then I have to write 1666.6666…. words a day! If my prologue is 300 words my chapters will have to be 3,100 words each. Since I have never done a project like this, I really don’t know of what this consists of, but I will soon find out. I am hoping to have most of my research done by the end of Sept so I can start writing and rewriting what I already have on my computer. All of the stuff I have so far is in a notebook so I have no idea how much I have.

I have learned a lot with the research I have done. Today I tried to get through the radio/cinema chapter. I got tons of information because my book is set in the early 20’s and that is when radio really started booming. I also learned that I can attribute a lot of my career towards the development of radio. Apparently it was unheard of to have a school orchestra program in 1920, but in just two decades they grew a ton in popularity. This was because classical music started filling up the air waves. People that had never heard an orchestra before really enjoyed it and started going to see the better quality live performances. Radios just didn’t, and still don’t, have the same quality as a live performance. Not only did school orchestras increase, but so did professional and semi professional orchestras. From 1928-1939 pro orchestras increased from 10-17 and part time orchestras increased from 60-286! Good thing! I’d be interested to see what those numbers look like now and how stable they stay.

It was really interesting thinking about the excitement that radio caused. Radio was the first time that people across the nation could tune in and hear about the same event at the same time. This really must have caused a sense of unity across the nation. Did people feel that they were more connected because of this? This is something that we don’t often feel as a country anymore. Sure I know that there are certain things that most of the country is tuned into while I’m watching, like and election or the Superbowl, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The only thing that I can think of mattering and feeling connected to people while watching was 9/11. It seems horrible that the only thing that can connect us anymore is tragedy. One of the first major broadcasts was the election that President Harding won. I can’t help and think about this last election as I sat in a bar in Flagstaff waiting for the results. I didn’t feel any more connected to someone watching on the other side than I did normally. Maybe next time I’ll take this into consideration more, but it is hard when we have an increasingly divided nation.

When radio started it was also started by amateurs. I really liked this because it was less regulated and more controlled by people not corporations. People would find a way to broadcast and share poetry, stories, music/phonographs, weather reports and time signals. A lot of it was in Morse code, but they had no way to regulate where it would be picked up. In 1915 a broadcast from Arlington, Virginia was heard in both Paris and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It wasn’t until WWI that they developed a circuited tuning device called a superheterdyne. During WWI radio waves were given priority to the military so that it was secure and speedy. That was when all the regulations started and government/corporation monopolized the air.

To make sure I give credit where it’s due here is the book that I have been reading. It’s really interesting, written well and I highly recommend it.

Kyvig, David E., Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940 : How Americans Lived During the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression; Ivn R Dee, Chicago, 2002.

PS With this sentence this post is 1,028 words. I have a lot of writing to do!

I had such an excellent day today! First, i was pretty busy and I like that feeling. I wonder if that can be considered an addiction. Loving the feeling of having a full schedule and that results in creating an impossible schedule that cannot be handled without going slightly crazy. Then when your not busy you don’t know what to do with yourself. Maybe that is why I have to have a billion projects all going at once. Then I never have the opportunity to feel like I have nothing. Like now while i don’t really have a job, I could be finishing a blanket, sewing a curtain for my bathroom, a skirt for my mom, blogging, practicing, writing, the list can go on and on and on and on…. If it is an addiction, most of the people I know are addicts.

Back to the subject, my wonderful day! I got my first student today! Not only do I have a student, but I teach her tomorrow! I only have one though and I called 11 - 12 families. So I left a lot of messages and hopefully they’ll hear my voice on their machines (my machine voice)and they will say “My, what a nice young lady. We should definitely take violin lessons from her.” Then they’ll call me back and they will all be the best practicers ever! Yep yep yep, that’s how it will happen.

So after I got my first student I realized I need to check out my teaching supplies and make sure that everything was stocked up, because as I remember I was running low on things when I left NAU. Sure enough I had no corn pads, no markers, no car detailing tape and I was running low on my electrical tape. So I had a shopping trip.

I needed to go shopping anyway for groceries, so I decided to go to a store called Fred Meyers. Tell me if you’ve heard of this. I guess it’s the same as Smiths, Frys, Ralphs, or King Soopers, but it’s crazy huge. This place puts all Super Walmarts to shame! I can’t handle its vast possibilities so I don’t think I’m going to go there again. It’s just unnaturally huge and even though you can get all your shopping done in one place it’s so big that the convenience is lost because it is impossible to find anything.

Anyway, I did my shopping there today, I got all sorts of goodies for my home studio and I got some food I needed. When I got home I tried a new recipe for Quiche. It was easy, fun and tasted pretty good. I always enjoy trying new recipes.

After that I got ready for my Irish Jam. Even though I haven’t really learned any more songs from the last time I played (in Flagstaff) I got all my courage together to go. You just never know what to expect from these things. I got there a little late, because I didn’t want to be the newbie waiting around for everyone to get there. I didn’t get my music out because I never could hear the names of the songs, but I faked along and tried to learn a few new tunes. They went around in a circle and people picked songs. When it was my turn, I shrank back into myself hopeing they would pass me over, but they didn’t. I had to fess up to needing music and then played “Catharsis”, one of my favorites. Nobody knew it though, but a few people tried to fake along with me. After that I was handed a song list. They don’t follow it strictly, but it sure helps to know what they play. I looked it over and of course there was hardly anything that I knew, or remembered that I knew. Finally I found “Wind that Shakes the Barley.” I mentioned this and everyone got excited so we played through that. I wasn’t so nervous after that, plus I was given a free glass of wine, which I desperately needed.

So overall it was a blast. I’m going back next week. I met a lot of interesting people and including several fiddle players. There was this older woman, Linda, who seemed to know every song. And when she didn’t know the song she could pick it up be ear so fast! There was also a guy who plays harp and will be going to UO this year. I’ve seen him around town a few times already.

Also the place where this session was held was awesome. It was a coffee shop Wine Loft! (that’s for you Flagstaffers) It served food and wine and coffee and overall had a very cool feel to it. It was called Perugino. (A little note about that link. I totally saw the guy that wrote this review. He isn’t kidding when he says he is always there.) I have now found a place I could really spend some time at to hang out. I still want to find a cool place like Blue Dragon (albuq) and I’m sure I will. There is an abundance of coffee shops here for me to explore.

Now that I have written the longest post ever….yeah…I think it’s time to end. I have had people tell me I put way too much detail into my stories, but oh well, I like it that way.

Okay, so now that I’m really getting into this blogging thing, I’ve decided to do one for my book. I have thought about this for a long time, but I found something that I think will help me. It’s called NaNoWriMo. I will be writing my novel of at least 50,000 words in one month. It’s a little scary, but this kind of pressure may be the only way for me to get it done. I am the procrastinating type. All during Nov. I will be writing my novel. I can sign up on Oct first, so I will be starting another blog (you think I’m a little obsessed with this blogging thing?) and setting it up for my novel. Hopefully it won’t interfere with school stuff to much. I expect having a few late nights with this thing, and I can prepare by writing some everyday and getting into the habit. I’m really excited! and a little scared, but I think it will be a good experience. So far the hardest part is getting that first draft down. Every time I start writing I feel incompetent and want to do more research. The research is important too because my novel is historically based and I need to know about the daily life in the early 20’s. My creative mind gets impatient with all of that research and wants to get the story out. After that first draft is done finishing it up shouldn’t be to hard. If your interested keep your eyes out for my novel blog in October and November.

Okay I have more complaints about “myspace” users, or just moron people in general. Okay, so when you get a message that says “22, male and single” you know they are interested in a little booty. Then they continue to tell you how pretty you are. That’s all nice, but the very first message I sent said and I quote
“I’m not really interested in dating right now,” in the first sentence! Oh well. So when I reminded him of this, because now he’s asking my height and whether or not I’m petite, he got all hurt and insulted. “?Excuse me?” he asked and then “ok bye then” ARRRGGHH. Well, I guess that’s what I get for being stupid enough to try and meet people in such a trivial place as online. (as she continues to write her online journal entry)

Although I have met a few interesting people. One guy plays all of these Indian (as in India) instruments. A local band contacted me which sounds like they might be good. I’m going to have to see a show though to really tell.

So I think that I’ve gotten the courage up to go to an Irish jam session. Maybe I’ll meet some people there . Maybe if I stopped worrying about meeting people so much and just got the things I needed to done it would work out better…..Probably.

Okay enough about that. On to bigger and better things. It’s kind of funny because I am actually looking forward to getting my orchestra excerpts. I am kind of tired of working on Mozart #5 even though it hasn’t been too long. It’s just not incredibly interesting. I’m also supposed to play 2-3 mins of something on my own. Could be excerpts or a piece. Not sure what to do. I need to e-mail Mr. G (vln professor) and see what he says. I guess I could just work on excerpts on my own. No need for them to be assigned. Yeah! Like the infamous Don Juan, since I don’t know it. Probably would be handy.

I think it’s time to peal my eyes away from the computer screen and go out into the world with what I have to offer. Hopefully some people will need my mad skills.

So here is my blog. I’ve been hesitant to start one of these because I feel like it is just yet another project that will only be half assed. Oh well. It wouldn’t be the greatest tragedy if this just sits out on the web wasting space. My life right now is full of change, but somewhat stagnant at the same time. I have just moved to Eugene, OR. I don’t know anyone, and unless I find a job it may kind of stay that way for awhile. I’ve been trying “myspace” but of course talking to someone on-line isn’t nearly as satisfying as meeting someone in person. Not to mention I seem to only have gotten responses from guys. Not all of them seem like desperate boys trying to get laid, but there are definitely few that do. So far I have been friendly to all of them and tried to maintain some form of conversation. I ask them questions about Eugene, and they give me some lame vague answer. Like “Where do you like to hang out?” and the answer is “I don’t know, at parks, just around, you know?” Something like that. If someone asked me where I liked to hang out in Flagstaff or Albuquerque I would know exactly what to tell them. One guy commented on how exciting my life sounded. I wanted to write back that this was because I actually maintained detail and new experiences in my daily routine.

So I have all this time on my hands, but have I really been productive? Yes and no. Of course I haven’t practiced enough, and I should be writing more of my book, but I haven’t wasted all of my time. I have a wonderful new toy! My computer, so I’ve been spending an incredible amount of time (some productive and some wasted) on the internet and learning about all the wonderful things it is going to do to help me. Like today I finally learned how to use excel to make a budget, which is something I desperately need. Especially if I want to break away from the parental help, not to mention not use so much loan money. I have also tried to organize all my observations on the computer. I have been somewhat successful in this endeavor, but still would like to figure out a way to do it even easier. I did a lot of observing when the institute was going on so that wasn’t a waste of time! I have also tried to set up to start teaching right away. I would like to just teach for my income, but I’m not sure that this will be possible. I’ve started looking for other jobs, and hopefully I’ll find the perfect one.

This was not on my big long list of things to do, but that’s okay. Hopefully this is a start to an enjoyable experience and not floating internet waste.