This is Halloween

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm excited about Halloween. Like, really excited about Halloween. I've always seen the holiday as something for little kids--where I live, all the trick-or-treaters are well under five feet tall, and starting at about age twelve I felt like a giant (I'm 5'4").

Here in Fredericton, everyone gets dressed up: not just five-year-olds, but teens and people who are old enough to be my parents and it's really sent me for a loop. Yes, Seventeen always has an article or two about Halloween costumes in their October issue, but for me there wasn't any point in dressing up: trick-or-treating was for little kids, and I'm not the party type and didn't know of any events/parties in the area.

Tonight MJC is having a haunted house (which I've been looking forward to pretty much since the moment I moved in) and the proceeds are going to the Fredericton food bank. A lot (if not all) of the residences have stuff going on. Harrison House has a pumpkin sacrifice tomorrow night, which is the oldest residence tradition in Canada.

Last night I helped Sally and Andrea (hall proctor) make caramel apples. They'll be selling them at the haunted house, also to raise money for the food bank. Some of the apples are plain ol' caramel, but others were also rolled in trail mix (the junk kind, with candy), Reese's Pieces, crushed cookies (I think), or marshmallows (which I thought looked like mould). and some of those were drizzled with chocolate. Oh. My. Gosh.

Today NBCCD had a party and costume contest in the design room (where I have 2D Design) and although I didn't plan on it, I ended up going after Media Explorations, which I had this morning (Fashion, which is conveniently located on the same floor as the Design Studio). Not many students wore costumes to school.

Tomorrow night will be a late one, since several of us are going to Crumbs Café--Aaron, one of the guys who lives at MJC, plays bass in Coffee Shop Affair (one of four bands that will be playing).

My Creative Process teacher, Denise, is a huge Tim Burton fan, so this one's for her:

And A Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia (one of my all-time favourite movies):

BOO!

panel assessment day

Today was the panel assessment. I was up at six-thirty because I didn't take a shower last night.

I had to be there by nine to set up (I was on the fourth floor), but I left about ten minutes earlier then I'd planned so I arrived at school really early. That was okay because I ended up rushing around like crazy, bringing up my pottery from the basement and trying to find a drawing that I'd handed in last Tuesday (I had a look at the back and I got a good mark on it--though I can't remember what the number was).

After setting up I was free until my assessment, which was at 11:10. I passed the time by checking my email and various websites and then got a café mocha at Read's.

The assessment itself was easier and more relaxed then I'd expected. Sure, everyone said to relax and that it wasn't the worst thing in the world, but I was still nervous--even with all the prep, I still didn't know what to expect.

Harriet Taylor (Surface Design studio head) and I talked about the work that I'd set out and about how I'm doing, my experience at the college so far, and how to make things work so that I can succeed. Like the fact that I'm getting grades that are so bad I don't know how to describe them in both Creative Process and 2D Design. I want to do well in those courses and they're a lot of fun, but as I put it this morning, although I'm learning stuff, my grades don't show it.

She told me that at the end of the day the teachers have a meeting and discuss how the students are doing and that since Adam's my academic advisor, he can advocate for me and see what he can do to make my academic life a bit easier.

Afterwards I went to the bank to get some money for the concert I'm going to with some friends on Halloween at Crumbs Café (they don't accept debit). Then I went to the SuperStore to develop the photos for one of my projects for school. I was supposed to develop them as thumbnails: all the photos on one sheet of paper, along with three of them developed as five-by-sevens, but the machines don't do that anymore so I developed them as four-by-sixes.

After that I went back to school, got my stuff, and went home. And had a late lunch/early supper (take your pick). Tomorrow it's back to the daily grind...

midterms: how the week went down

I've been thinking about writing this for a couple of days and I think I'm finally ready to rehash it all.

Last Friday: Media Explorations--Ceramics (which is code for clay):

This was one of the best. I'm not surprised: in Media Explorations you're just trying out whatever it is (fashion, ceramics, photography, whatev). So if I made a mistake or something didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to, so what? I learned something, and that's what matters.

Only thing was, I was coming down with a cold, so I was happy to leave two hours early--but not before thanking Nancy for what she taught me.

Tuesday: Communication and Student Success (a.k.a. Communications):

Also very good. This one (like ceramics) was in class format--we didn't have appointments (unlike some others). I was first, so after a chat with Whitefeather I basically had nothing to do for the rest of the class. I filled the time by reading most of the material for the next reaction paper.

Drawing from Observation (a.k.a. Drawing):

Fairly good: there were a few assignments that for whatever reason didn't get done (I didn't write them down or whatever). But overall it was okay. This one was in appointment form.

Wednesday: History of Visual Culture: Pre-History to 1600 (a.k.a. History):

Fairly good: there's one assignment that I still have to hand in.

Creative Process:

From here on in things start to go downhill and it all has to do with putting in the effort. Just when I think I'm doing okay I get slapped with a D. **wince** I'm really going to have to pull myself up--I realize that.

Thursday: 2D Design:

See Creative Process.

This one was particularly painful. I knew it was going to be, and I'd braced myself, but it still hurt--to the point where I was almost in tears and I couldn't bring myself to look John in the eye, I felt so miserable.

Monday is the panel assessment, which means that the students have to put on a mini-show of sorts: you're given a certain amount of space and half an hour to set up. Then you have to talk about the work you've produced over the past seven weeks. I admit I'm a bit nervous, though I don't think I should be--I'm used to performing (eight years of violin lessons, anyone?).

Today marks two weeks until the Met's simulcast of Turandot, which I'm insanely excited about. The next day the BSO's performing a concert and one of the pieces that's on the programme is Beethoven's violin concerto, which I love dearly. I wish I could go to both, but I think that might be a bit too much for me: both my favourite orchestras in twenty-four hours. Yikes. I'm a strong woman, but I do have my limits. Violins! French horns! **swoons**

Plus, Bangor's one-hundred and ninety-two kilometres/one-hundred and nineteen miles away. Shoot.....

midterms aren't as bad as I thought

This week is assessment week and I've been feeling off-kilter since yesterday. I don't even have any real classes today: just come in to pick up my grade for history (not bad--probably has something to do with the fact that I love history of almost any kind: I just get so into it) and meet with Denise, my Creative Process teacher, at one. And that's it for today.

I caught a cold somewhere in the school and woke up with a sore throat on Friday. I managed to make it through my last ceramics class but by that evening I was so exhausted and plain ol' out of it that I went to bed just after 7:30 (which is really early for me--I usually don't go to bed until about eleven).

Mom phoned that evening (I'd emailed her to say that I was sick) and offered to have Tom come and get me the next day. He'd talked about going up that night but Mom put her foot down (driving through Moose Alley at night, plus giving me enough time to pack). The next plan was for him to drive up and get me at eight the next day. I protested that one and we settled on 9:30.

I hardly did anything on Sunday--just read Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume (which I ended up taking with me when I went back to Fredericton), played around on my computer (Facebook, anyone? Or how about watching a performance of The Nutcracker on YouTube?), planned to watch The Secret Life of Bees on said computer, read the material for the reaction paper, and worked on the reaction paper with Tom (I was still rather out of it).

On Monday morning I woke up feeling a lot better and worked a bit on my project for Creative Process (which I just found out isn't due until next week) before heading back to F'ton.

Now I just have to make sure I don't get sick again until after the Met's simulcast on the seventh--I don't want to be sneezing and coughing my way through a major horn (or violin) passage: "what? Could you guys play that again, please?"

Gratitude 2009

Every year around Thanksgiving I write a list of what I'm thankful for and here's this year's list:

• Maggie Jean Chestnut Residence
• the fact that MJC is so inclusive
• home
• the friends I've met
• NBCCD
• my teachers at NBCCD
• the level of support at MJC and NBCCD
• Baxter
• the Metropolitan Opera
• the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
• the MOO's horn section
• the Met's radio broadcasts
• the Met's simulcasts
• music that makes me "think outside the box"
• visual art that makes me "think outside the box"
• my (artistic) parents
• opera
• dance
• the fact that my school is only about an hour and a half away from home
• fall colours
• Read's
• the Passamaquoddy Bay Symphony Orchestra
• the fact that the PBSO plays in St. Stephen

Thanksgiving

Fall Colours

An oldie from last year

I'M HOME!!!! Mom picked me up at school yesterday afternoon and I gave her a quick tour (she's been there before but she didn't know which classrooms I used), and showed her the old elevator with a ghost story (which currently doesn't work because one or other of the doors isn't closed all the way).

I didn't check the news until after I got here so I was in for a serious shock when Tom told me that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. While I'm very happy for him, I think it's too early to start awarding him something like that--he's only been in office for a little less than nine months. They should've waited a few years.

We have a new cat, named Baxter. He's named after Gov. Percival Proctor Baxter, "who gave Baxter State Park to the people of Maine," (from an email from Mom) which makes it an appropriate name for a Maine coon. My parents adopted him last month and the other cats have really taken to him (probably because he's a six-month-old kitten). And as I say, he's cute with a capitol C-U-T-E! He doesn't talk much but loves to play with a laser pointer and run through the house with some of the other cats.

The Maine coon is the state cat of Maine. Massachusets and Maryland also have state cats (tabby and calico cats, respectively).

Last night I stayed up too late dancing (the last time I looked at a clock that night it said 12:45). ...and screaming, and crying (I've been away from a quality sound system for too long--my computer's speakers don't compare). The pièce de résistance was probably the Prelude from Das Rhinegold, played by the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra this past spring (I recorded it off the radio). That piece has a really strong horn part and when I played it for the first time in a month and a half, I almost broke down because I'd forgotten just how magnificent the MOO's horn section is (that piece calls for eight horns).

It feels so surreal to be home. Last night I kept expecting to see my desk, bed, window, etc., at MJC--I had to keep reminding myself that I'm at the family home.

Whether or not you're Canadian,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

opera fan

Two Doors

As usual it looks better on Flickr

The weeks go by so fast....

NBCCD had a coffee house on Friday night in the drawing room and I was one of the few people who went. I didn't get it: it was well advertised, with posters on just about every door and bulletin board. But maybe that was the problem: because there were so many it became a sensory overload.

Nonetheless it was good. There were only a couple of performers (I think five people signed up but only two made it), but that made it feel more intimate: just a bunch of people who got together to hang out, make music, and eat treats and drink coffee.

The workload has levelled off, though I still feel stressed sometimes.

I didn't go to the market this weekend because I was up late the night before and didn't wake up until about nine (which is the time I want to be out the door). Instead, that afternoon I gathered some energy and went shopping at the two local natural food stores and photographing.

As I've been exploring the city during the past month I've noticed various back alleys in the downtown area. They're gritty, edgy, dirty, a tad shady and I wanted to take my camera and photograph them "sometime." After a meeting with Adam, my academic adviser, on Thursday (during which he told me to "rock out" this Saturday instead of holing myself up with homework) I tried to make plans to catch up with one or more friends. When those plans fell through I decided to take my camera and photograph some of those back alleys. See the photo above, which is my favourite.

Yesterday morning I had a bit of an odyssey in the name of opera. The day before, for whatever reason I suddenly got it into my head to go see the Met's simulcast of Turandot, which will be playing at the Empire Theatre in the Regent Mall. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that that opera won't be broadcast on the radio (which I'd been hoping for). When I tried to order a ticket online with my debit card it wouldn't let me because I didn't have an online bank account. I tried a couple of times to set one up and then just gave up and went to the bank.

Once the account was set up (with help from the teller), I went back to MJC, ordered the ticket, and emailed Lynn (back in April she made me promise to go to a simulcast "next year").

This weekend is Thanksgiving and I'll be going home for the first time. Cue the squeals! My family recently adopted a new cat, Baxter (a red Maine coon) and I've only seen him on my parents' webcam when I chat with them on Skype. I can't wait to meet him!