Friday, January 29, 2010

by the way...

...the post immediately beneath this one was the first time I edited html. Just sayin...

iPad and the lovely associations the name brings which everyone apparently finds to be the only conversation piece of note these days

Tee-hee. You have to watch this video. I mean, really. The greatest part: this was written and filmed in 2007.


Thursday, January 28, 2010

ten things thursday

Ten things that made me smile last week (in no particular order).

1. JoJo has been especially cuddly, which makes me feel especially special. Also, he initiated a play fight with Reed the other day which I have NEVER seen. Now I don't think Reed is annoying him, and I don't think JoJo is such a grump!
2. I am understanding MacIntyre's After Virtue! Yay!
3. Everyone in my life who went to the hospital in the last forty-eight hours is okay.
4. RADIATORS! My landlords finally decided to turn on the radiators because everyone in our building was freezing! Our apartment still has radiators, but some don't, so the ones that didn't have them anymore were given new ones. The management company was trying to switch to electric heat so the tenants would have to pay for it, but the heaters didn't work up to city code. =)
5. Funny old people looking up Swedish cities on the atlas while I try to do my homework.
6. Having Matt, Josh, Gina, and Monica over for lunch last Saturday. Gina thanked me again very cutely in class and it made me smile.
7. Going to Margie's to get ice cream on Christina's birthday! It was so yummy, and we all had so much fun laughing and telling stupid stories together.
8. Listening to Obama's State of the Union address on NPR while playing stupid games online so I could focus. I also knit while listening to the radio, but sometimes it's fun to play little mindless games for variety.
9. Realizing how much Annie takes care of us. We really are her babies--she defends us like a mother bear!
10. Watching new episodes of House on Hulu. I missed 80% of season five and am now watching season six, so there are a lot of gaps, but it's still fun. Oh, Hugh Laurie. You always make me laugh.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Prayer for the Sick

Several people around me either are or were in the hospital, or are currently sick. I thought it would be appropriate to post a prayer for them, so here it is.

Prayer for the Sick

Watch, O Lord, with those who wake, or watch, or weep tonight, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.

Tend your sick ones, O
Lord Christ.
Rest your weary ones.
Bless your dying ones.
Soothe your suffering ones.
Pity your afflicted ones.
Shield your joyous ones.
And for all your love's sake. Amen.

Saint Augustine

Saturday, January 23, 2010

weekends

Where do weekends go? You think, "This is great! I have so much free time!" and then it's gone. I have four-day weekends every week because I don't have class MWF but it doesn't seem to matter. Oh, well.

Yesterday, I went down to UserCentric to do a cell phone survey. They walked me through a series of tasks on a phone and asked me what I thought about them and if I thought they were easy enough. After and hour of this, they gave me an envelope of cash! Then I went grocery shopping (ick).

Today, I had Josh and Matt and our new friends Gina and Monica over for lunch, for which I made--of course--pasta. It was lovely. We all sat around talking and laughing together, and I think we'll all have a great time hanging out together. We're going to try to read together, meaning primarily that we will sit in the same room while we read, occasionally groaning in frustration.

Good times.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

ten things thursday

Swiped from ...Just Alaska, this new feature is meant to be a simple list of things that made me smile this week. Seeing as I now have less than a semester of school left, it seems that this exercise will be very good for my outlook. So, here we go...
1. Making money doing weird things! Call me a materialist--I have to pay bills. Therefore, unorthodox money-making projects like selling books on Amazon and doing a one-hour cell phone survey for $75 are great opportunities.
2. Finding out that I'll be attending the Monday-night potlucks at Reba Place Fellowship for the semester. Technically, this happened eight days ago, but it counts because this is my first "ten things".
3. Luke and I are getting along really friend-like nowadays. This is major progress because it was difficult for us to not be dating, but of late we've been so busy that we haven't even had time to miss each other!
4. I made it three weeks without buying anything that I didn't need.
5. The Daily Show. It always makes me happy, but this week, John Stewart made fun of me (for the first time--I always laugh at "all those silly people" that come up on the show, but this time it was me) for freaking out about the possibility that a Republican might take Ted Kennedy's senate seat...which did end up happening, but I freaked out less after the Daily Show pointed out my idiocy.
6. New outfit possibilities abound with the realization that I can wear...wait for it...layers. Duh. I always forget about them, but then I remember and my world just opens up.
7. I have a place to live and food to eat.
8. RAIN! It rained today! And last night! I love rain! Even when it's freezing!
9. Discovering my secret knitting skills in the form of a pair of free-form wrist warmers made entirely by me. I knit them from my own yarn--which I spun!--and my own pattern. So there.
10. Securing a violinist for my recital and learning that I won (odd verb) a spot on NPs upcoming master class with Julia Bentley. It's nice to be encouraged about one's skill in one's chosen major once in awhile. ;-)

I'm sure there are many more. These are the first ones I thought of. Coolio.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

question

Is it irrational to be excited about the fact that it may actually approach forty degrees this week? Context: I've lived in the area my whole life and I know that it won't actually get warm until April, but we always have at least one "beautiful" (higher-than-20) week in Jan/Feb and shouldn't I get to enjoy it?

Saturday, January 16, 2010

countdown

112 days 'til graduation.

Friday, January 15, 2010

first week reflections

Sigh. The first week of my last semester has come to an end, and I'm exhausted. I don't remember a first week kicking my butt so much as this one has. I went from staying up until 2:00am and sleeping until noon to waking up at 6:00am and flopping on my bed at midnight. Also, I've been running errands like crazy, so that adds to the exhaustion. =)

I think my classes will be good this semester, especially after orchestration is over (which is the one exception to the rule). Between Medieval Philosophy, Pluralism, and Zelle's Zen Class (not its actual name), I'm spending my Tuesdays and Thursdays in thoughtful bliss. Add to that my crazy work schedule, doing three hours of homework for Orchestration per class day, and trying to be a human being, and it becomes clear that I will have my work cut out for me.

I am particularly excited about Greg's Pluralism, Knowledge, and Ethics class because it is full of great people. We have ten philosophy students and five Dialogue students, and even the Dialogue students have voluntarily made intelligent comments and engaged happily in discussion. No one in the class is given to silence or to taking over the conversation, and Greg oils everyone up with his sharpness, wit, and calm manner (as usual). Granted, we've watched two movies this week and not had any conversations on MacIntyre, but that means that we're finished watching movies for the semester and thus can look forward to wonderful book discussions for the rest of the time. We're expected to work on a rather large research project while we do our readings for Greg, and I'm not sure what I want to focus on yet but I expect that whatever I choose will be wonderful!

Perhaps the most interesting development of the week occurred when I went to catch up with Greg on Wednesday. Since we were essentially colleagues last semester and had much need to meet, it's strange to now be in his class and have very little reason to meet, but we decided we'll just have to make an effort to get together once in awhile. So, we met on Wednesday to catch up on goings-on over break and whatnot. It was a lovely hour-and-a-half conversation in which we discussed Christmas, family, the plethora of recent engagements, and expectations for the semester. Then, he invited me to go up with his Christian Community class to Reba Place Fellowship on Monday nights for potluck and small group. I asked if he was serious, then I said that I may be interested. We continued talking and when conversation came back around to Reba, I asked if I really could go with them on Mondays and what that would entail. He told me to show up for a ride at exactly 5:24pm, and so it was settled.

I was terribly excited about this as I've wanted to take his Community class since I was a freshman here, but I didn't need to take Dialogue III so there's no real reason for me to be in it, and I can't audit it because there really cannot be many people in the class and I don't want to do any of the actual work. ;-) I just wanted to be involved with Reba. In fact, one of the things that originally attracted me to Luke was that he lived at Reba for two years before coming to school here. So, when Greg asked me to come to potlucks I was terribly excited. I told Luke my thrilling news later that day, and he said, "Oh, no. You're stuck. It's over." I was frustrated that he would say that, which then led to a rather large argument about whether I would actually move away or if I would end up being "stuck" living at Reba and doing an internship. The conversation ended with both of us walking away in frustration (we made up later).

However, what the conversation did for me was to start the idea in my head of actually sticking around the Chicago area and living at Reba. I'm not worried about getting an internship--I already have several people there and here who would recommend me, I could stay close to my friends who are sticking around, and I'd be living with the greatest Mennonite community in the country (in my opinion). It really would be a perfect transition out of college for someone who wants to experience living in community and who is not at all ready to think about going to graduate school (but wants to someday). It would force me to mend the broken relationships that I have here instead of avoiding them, and I would be in a helpful, healing place near Chicago where great Indian restaurants and record stores sprinkle the streets. It's definitely something to think and pray about...hint, hint.

An eventful week, I'd say.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

upcoming events

Hello all! Consider this an unofficial invitation to my senior recital, taking place on February 27th (full details below). I am performing this recital to fulfill graduation requirements for the Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree that I am about to receive! Here are the details, in case you're interested.

Senior Recital
Heather Robins, mezzo-soprano
George Tenegal, collaborative pianist
February 27th, 7:30pm, Anderson Chapel
Reception following

If you want more information, feel free to contact me.

Also, for those who are interested in such things, here is the program (in sloppy format):

Rossini: La Regata Veneziana
I. Anzoleta avanti la regata
II. Anzoleta co passa la regata
III. Anzoleta dopa la regata

Schumann: Frauenliebe und -leben
I. Seit ich ihn, gesehen
II. Er, der herrlichste von Allen
III. Ich kann's, nicht fassen, nicht glauben
IV. Du Ring an meinem Finger
V. Helft mir, ihr Schwestern
VI. Susser Freund
VII. An meinem Herzen, an meiner Brust
VIII. Nun hast, du mir den ersten Schmerz getan

Intermission

Vaughan Williams: Along the Field
We'll to the Woods no more
Along the Field
In the Morning, In the Morning
Good-bye
With Rue my Heart is Laden
(exact order TBD)

Poulenc: Banalites
1. Chanson D'Orkenise
2. Hotel
3. La Fagnes de Wallonie
4. Voyage a Paris
5. Sanglots

Bernstein
What a movie!
from Trouble in Tahiti

So, lots of fun is in store and I hope to see many friendly faces in the audience! I'm excited and nervous and ready to get it over with--all at once. =) What can you do? I'm just glad it'll all be over before Spring Break so I can actually relax this year!

Monday, January 11, 2010

jojo?

This is quite probably interesting only to me, but JoJo may end up being my cat after all! My roommates have reported that our friend may not be taking him back, in which case I said that I would keep him provided I'm not disappearing next year. Even if I am, he may have somewhere to stay while I'm gone. Anyway, he's a great cat and I would love if he were mine. <3

Friday, January 8, 2010

back-photos

I couldn't resist putting up some of these photos that predate my new apartment. I didn't upload many photos this summer because I couldn't find the cable and didn't bother looking too hard since I was moving again in three months...anyway, there may be some repeats here, but it's been at least a good six months so I don't think boredom should be much of a problem. We'll go back in time, starting with the most recent (why not?).


Grumpy JoJo. When he wants attention, he simply plops directly on top of whatever it is that's drawing your attention away from him. In this case, my roommate had deemed the assessment of papers more important than cuddle-time with JoJo, and as you can see, he didn't appreciate that very much.


When we went out to the east coast for Cindy and Kip's wedding (ahem, ...Just Alaska--check it out) we spent a day down in Boston visiting friends who are working on their master's degrees at Boston College. This is a tree in the park in which we relaxed after lunch. They were embarrassed to have little to show us but their "regular lives". Um...if my "regular life" included sitting under this tree all the time, I would be proud to show it off!


I don't like a whole lot of my self-portraits, but this one is really nice. I'm wearing my favorite hippie dress with my hair in my favorite hippie French braids...okay, not so hippie, but they're still my favorite!


This is the alley next to the apartment I lived in this summer. I had a really wretched summer, but perhaps it would have been less so if I'd appreciated the beauty that surrounded me!

These birdhouses were in my "backyard". I really liked them. I can't believe how photogenic things are when they're green! I should try shooting some snow-covered bushes and see how much I like them in the summer...

photos are here!

Under "Sweet Links" on the left you can find my Flickr link. There, I have posted all of the photos of crochet/knit projects I have completed and thought to take pictures of thus far. Also, this...
...is my kitty! He's not actually mine--he really belongs to our friend, Trinity, but he's the cutest! His name is JoJo and he's black so it doesn't matter that this photo is black and white. He's been a bit grumpy of late, but he's cute even when he's whining incessantly...awww!

photos coming soon

I finally recharged my camera and am hoping to get my crochet/knit/bookbinding/spinning portfolio up on Flickr soon so the general public can check it out. Hopefully, people will see the portfolio and follow the associated link to my store on Etsy to purchase items or request custom items. Hooray!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

the merry merry month of may

The official countdown to graduation has begun.

122 days

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

book selling and winter break plans update

Creative title, no? Well, I would just like to let the world know that I have now sold TWO--count 'em, TWO--books on Amazon, bringing my grand total of net earnings up to $33. Yay, people who need textbooks! Please keep buying my stuff! I'm planning on starting a line of coffee mug cozies on Etsy, and perhaps selling some of my latest crochet/knit art (and scrumblings).

Also, seeing as I'm broke, the spinning wheel will have to wait. I think I may be able to persuade my family (as in: parents, aunts/uncles, sister, cousins, and grandparents alike) to pitch in to buy me the Kromsky Pollonaise for graduation. I would much rather have that than a new laptop. In fact, if I bought a desktop or something, it would be about half the price of the Pollonaise...so, long story short, no new yarn yet. That's painfully slow work on a spindle.

Anyway, as for the rest of plans, I am indeed making progress on the essay assessments and all of that, which is good since school starts on MONDAY!

I think I can, I think I can...

Monday, January 4, 2010

book selling...sigh

So, I'm pretty broke, which means that I'm looking for interesting ways to make money. Short of prostitution, there's not a whole lot that fits my schedule (seeing as I'm in class during the day and have nights free...wink, wink), so I've taken to selling books on Amazon. I'm hoping it works out. I have twenty-one listings right now and if I sell all of them we're talking a good $300, which is probably zero profit, but hey, I need the money NOW. In addition to selling books on Amazon, I plan to try to sell various crocheted/knitted items on Etsy (and bound books by yours truly!), but it costs money to list the items, so we'll see how it goes. If anyone has any other ideas (other than moving in with my parents, dropping out of school, or selling sex or drugs), please let me know!