jaala

My exams are over! Or at least my regular written exams are over--not that there were very many of them, only two in fact. The Theory exam went okay. I made myself sick beforehand from worry and lack of sleep and ended up missing some time but I came pretty close to finishing it anyway. (NB: I never finish exams because I'm really bad at allotting time and hurrying.) Though atonal theory is intriguing, I don't think I could handle any further study of it because I'm so miserably slow at all the arithmetic. I must be the only person in that class whose marks went down when we moved from tonal to atonal theory.

Speaking of theory: I noticed recently that the Mahler course is still around but it's under Theory instead of Musicology. Sadly, girl-whose-name-I-keep-forgetting really recommends against it because of the professor. She says he's incompetent in anything that incorporates history as well as theory and a Chopin course she took from him (not that I'd ever take such a course) was a complete waste of time. *sigh*

After finishing with the exam, I spent the rest of the day, wait for it... socializing! Bizarre, eh? It was all excessively geeky though. First, chatting with Dr. S after dropping off a letter and picking up my essay... about Macs (OS X, MIDI), how sad it is that no one is allowed to use (or even look at, in most cases) the early music instruments, the music departments at Mt A (small world--he knows many of my old professors) and Western (where he was an undergrad), and how cool it would be to have a new music ensemble here (which he'd be interested in starting if he were staying here). I'm really going to miss having him around next year. (He was hired on a one-year contract to fill in for a professor on hiatus.)

Then, a lengthy gabfest in the lobby with four or five other students. "So You Want to Write a Fugue?" (occasioned by R finishing a fugue assignment) and P.D.Q. Bach were quoted/sung. Why is it that now that classes are over I'm discovering fourth-year (i.e. graduating) geeks left and right? (Or perhaps it's that they're discovering that I'm not so stultifyingly boring as they thought?) I was invited to dinner at Pizza Hut, where a good time was had by all.

We Pizza Hut survivors (i.e. those of us not returning home immediately to study) headed out for an "adventure" drive (and much random dorkiness) through the little towns/villages around Kingston. A visit to Chapters to take advantage of J's soon-to-expire employee discount could not be resisted. We pulled over at a high school school football field to admire the deep blue sky and stars, drove past S's friend's house (they also indicated the general direction of my flute professor's house), and braved the cold outside the walk-up Dairy Queen. Several random and goofy photos were taken. Then it was back to J's house to eat the ice cream and freak out her fiancee by singing Weird Al, Arrogant Worms, Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie, and [Radio Free] Vestibule[s] at each other. I finally discovered someone here who knows almost as many Arrogant Worms lyrics as me--and the harmony to "I Am Cow"!--and she's graduating.

The one real downside to the afternoon: after carrying them around for a couple of weeks and encountering very little that was photo-worthy, this was the first day I did not have a camera on me! J brought her digital camera along and I'm hoping to get copies but I'm still annoyed at myself.

The books I bought: Reading the Bible Again For the First Time by Marcus J. Borg (of the infamous Jesus Seminar), Can We Be Good Without God? by Robert Buckman (president of the Humanist Association of Canada whom I heard interviewed on CBC), and The Unconscious Civilization by John Ralston Saul (an author heartily recommended by my incredible high school Modern Western Civilization teacher). Any guesses about what section of the store I was hanging out in?