10 February 2011
Emery Room E315:
Had a sax lesson today with Alex. It was a lot of fun. Before that I had two classes which we incredibly uneventful. Except for the second one because the vents in the room tend to make a weird whistling-hissing noise that sounds like aliens are in the room. And he always shows us the weirdest videos - today it was what not to do on an exam (how to fail a test with dignity) because our programming exam is on Monday (Valentine's Day, joy).
So, here are some of the funny things I've learned today:
-Playing a B to a D is like blowing air into a balloon
-"You need to blow more. More air! More air!" ~Alex
-"I have no idea where you got this habit, but you need to stop biting!" ~Alex
-"I have no idea why, but whenever I sing you the part you can play it like five times better than before." ~Alex
-"Did you hear that?! Did you hear that?!" "Uh...yeah..." "You heard the difference, right?" *nod* "That was me doing it on purpose. I played a little flat and shitty and you adjusted to it! I mean, that's a good thing - it's great! You need to be able to do that while playing in the group." ~Alex
-according to Chuck Smith, our programming professor, the C++ compiler has bowels ("...in the bowels of the C++ compiler...")
-(funny quote) "If Marching Band was easy, they'd call it your mom."
-I need to breathe more
-My mouthpiece is like a Tootsie-pop. No one likes the center and biting it would just hurt my teeth. I can only lick the reed with my tongue but if I bite it then I'll get the icky inside part that no one likes.
-I bit my mouthpiece hard enough to leave indentations and little dents in it.
-I consistently confuse the notes for E and F (whether high or low)
-I don't have the attention span to keep count - I play by listening to whoever is playing around me
-I need to breathe and blow more air into the sax
-I need to wear a scarf
-Candy-grams from Kappa Kappa Psi are a dollar each (I bought one for each of my friends and decided to be creepy, leave them a message of " :) " and signed by "E10" for those in my rank and "E" for the rest of my friends)
Well, that's all I can remember.
Jya!
~E
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
1.1.1.3.2011
*Copied directly from my Shanghai Journal*
Journal 1
Day 1
January 3, 2011
1.1.1.3.2011
Shanghai, China
It's hard to believe I'm actually in China right now. I mean, it seems to me like it's just another city. But the sights, the sounds...it's obvious it's not.
We flew in. The airport was uneventful until we got through customs and immigration. Dragging our bags, we walked down to the bus, loaded our bags, and then went back to the maglev train station. Jessica, our guide, told us that it could reach speeds of up to about 400 km/hr. No one really believed her until the lighted display showed our velocity at 430 km/hr only a few minutes later.
The sun hung like a fat orange ball in the sky, its harsh stare dulled by the heavy layer of smog on the horizon. It hung precariously and lurked behind buildings as we raced through Shanghai. The buildings...riding the maglev, I saw houses torn apart as if by some cruel beast. Bricks and trash were strewn in narrow alleys and empty windows stared at the train with blank, accusing eyes.
The maglev train stopped. The station was like an open tunnel, a tube of steel. To us on the maglev train, the cars and buses in the parking lot seemed like ants or caterpillars. We walked down and boarded our bus which would take us the rest of the way to our hotel.
Compared to the maglev train, the bus was slow and cumbersome, humming and shaking like a creature in itself. We drove past apartments and parks and buildings under construction. We passed skyscrapers and narrowly avoiding the many people riding scooters. I saw a man walking his heavily-laden bike casually across a street with cars that had a green light. They beeped at him but otherwise drove around him casually.
When we got to the hotel, we unloaded and filed in. We got our room assignments and moved out. My room is 1813. There are 22 floors in the hotel. Looking out the window, we can see the smoggy sky and tall, skinny buildings. There is a loft in our rooms with a bed in addition to the two on the "lower level". The bathroom is small, the area not taken up by the shower little more than the size of a normal bathroom stall. You had to climb over the toilet to get into the shower.
After we showered we quickly went downstairs to dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food we were served was traditional for a certain province or ethnic group, I was told. There I learned my first Chinese words in China. "Ha la!" my table-mate cried. "Ha la! Ha la!" she exclaimed, pointing at all the dishes on the table. Ha la means "too spicy". But for the painful burn in our mouths at the heavy spice, the food was delicious. We had frog, fish, shrimp, and beef from my memory and understanding.
It was amazing. Welcome to China.
Jya~
~E
Journal 1
Day 1
January 3, 2011
1.1.1.3.2011
Shanghai, China
It's hard to believe I'm actually in China right now. I mean, it seems to me like it's just another city. But the sights, the sounds...it's obvious it's not.
We flew in. The airport was uneventful until we got through customs and immigration. Dragging our bags, we walked down to the bus, loaded our bags, and then went back to the maglev train station. Jessica, our guide, told us that it could reach speeds of up to about 400 km/hr. No one really believed her until the lighted display showed our velocity at 430 km/hr only a few minutes later.
 |
| Jessica, our guide, told us that it could reach speeds of up to about 400 km/hr. No one really believed her until the lighted display showed our velocity at 430 km/hr only a few minutes later. |
 |
| The sun hung like a fat orange ball in the sky, its harsh stare dulled by the heavy layer of smog on the horizon. |
Compared to the maglev train, the bus was slow and cumbersome, humming and shaking like a creature in itself. We drove past apartments and parks and buildings under construction. We passed skyscrapers and narrowly avoiding the many people riding scooters. I saw a man walking his heavily-laden bike casually across a street with cars that had a green light. They beeped at him but otherwise drove around him casually.
When we got to the hotel, we unloaded and filed in. We got our room assignments and moved out. My room is 1813. There are 22 floors in the hotel. Looking out the window, we can see the smoggy sky and tall, skinny buildings. There is a loft in our rooms with a bed in addition to the two on the "lower level". The bathroom is small, the area not taken up by the shower little more than the size of a normal bathroom stall. You had to climb over the toilet to get into the shower.
 |
| When we got to the hotel, we unloaded and filed in. We got our room assignments and moved out. |
 |
| There is a loft in our rooms with a bed in addition to the two on the "lower level". |
It was amazing. Welcome to China.
Jya~
~E
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Harry Potter Party
Emery
Room E315
2.3.2011
Well...yeah. So the Harry Potter Party. I don't have a picture of me in my "House" colors but I do have a picture of Rank 10 from the Band Banquet. :D
Left to right: Laura (rank leader), Alex (my mentor and 2010 student conductor), Matt, Hope, Dan (2011 student conductor), Eamonn
Anyway, I was in Hufflepuff, ergo I had to wear yellow and black for my House colors. Did not like, I felt like a bumblebee. I'm not going to elaborate on how hard it was for me to find a yellow shirt/blouse. It was hard. And I ended up wearing black skinny jeans because I didn't want to wear nice pants/slacks to a band party. Just saying.
Moving on, I went to the band party. It was nice because people really went all-out for the party - literally everyone there was dressed up for their house. It was awesome. We had a few House games and then a few Harry Potter-themed games in the basement which I did not participate in as I am not particularly good at Beirut, beer pong, or any game where you have to throw a ping-pong ball into a cup, even if it's a big red Solo cup.
I heard rumors that the guys living in the house the party was hosted at had woken up at 9a (on a Saturday!!) to clean out the entire house and start making preparations. Everything was decorated and they had even bought a ton of dowel rods and chopped them into wand-sized pieces then spray-paint-stained them so that they looked somewhat legit.
I really had a fun time. One of the funniest moments (in my opinion) was when we were in our House room and sitting around. Dan (see above) was wearing a Steeler's jersey (which happened to fit our house colors perfectly) and was standing near the door when someone from another House poked their head in. "Steelers?" he asked. "Seriously?" then he left and Dan lunged past me and poked his head out the door. "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" It was the funniest thing ever. Mostly because Dan is usually really quiet.
Now that I think about it, a bunch of Rank 10 ended up in Hufflepuff...Laura, Dan, Matt, and I. Hope was in Slytherin, Eamonn was in Gryffindor, and Alex was in Ravenclaw. :P
At one point the Glitter Faeries (Hope and Sara Pontician) started sparkling people. They know I like glitter so they sometimes come looking for me. Sara found me first and slapped some glitter on me. Then I convinced her to get Dan...so she did. It was hilarious because he looked so confused at first, not quite understanding why she smacked him until Laura started laughing and said he had glitter all over his face. Then he sort of ran away to wash it off. I ended up helping him and telling him it wasn't so bad and if he scrubbed with a wet wash cloth it should come out. I think it did but I didn't exactly stare at his face to look for glitter.
Then I found Hope and she sprinkled glitter all over me. So much that when I got back to my room and pulled off my blouse, glitter fell everywhere. When I woke up the next day and looked in the mirror, I found glitter in my hair. It was awesome. :P
Well, I don't have much more to say about the Harry Potter party, other than that I tried at one point to juggle wands. Miranda laughed at me but stayed around to watch me fail epically at juggling two. Then I got it into my head to try juggling three. She laughed but I did all right for a little while...then I failed and gave up.
I think that's about it. I walked back later with Charlie (Phil, who lives in the same complex as Charlie and also near me was apparently long gone, which was fairly surprising) and had a few interesting conversations with him, which usually happens when we walk back from parties. I believe we talked about roommates and dogs (mostly because I saw footprints in the snow and then a dog's prints but forgot to say 'footprints' and ended up saying 'look, dog!').
Well, Imma go back to my life and be productive. :P
Jya!
~E
P.S. Thought this was funny. Found on Facebook and thought I'd share my version of what happened. So here's the picture:
Well we took the first picture then started drifting apart. Then Brandon and Josh thought it'd be funny to take a picture with us. So they called us all back but in the process, Dan and Eamonn had switched places. Dan and I were (or at least I was) uncomfortable with each other but felt awkward not wrapping arms around each other so he somewhat wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I awkwardly wrapped my arm behind his back. And we stood there awkwardly and once they took the picture parted ways immediately. Hope laughed later when I talked to her about it. "You're strange, Erin Lau." she said. Fact, Hope Brosnan, fact.
~E
Room E315
2.3.2011
Well...yeah. So the Harry Potter Party. I don't have a picture of me in my "House" colors but I do have a picture of Rank 10 from the Band Banquet. :D
Anyway, I was in Hufflepuff, ergo I had to wear yellow and black for my House colors. Did not like, I felt like a bumblebee. I'm not going to elaborate on how hard it was for me to find a yellow shirt/blouse. It was hard. And I ended up wearing black skinny jeans because I didn't want to wear nice pants/slacks to a band party. Just saying.
Moving on, I went to the band party. It was nice because people really went all-out for the party - literally everyone there was dressed up for their house. It was awesome. We had a few House games and then a few Harry Potter-themed games in the basement which I did not participate in as I am not particularly good at Beirut, beer pong, or any game where you have to throw a ping-pong ball into a cup, even if it's a big red Solo cup.
I heard rumors that the guys living in the house the party was hosted at had woken up at 9a (on a Saturday!!) to clean out the entire house and start making preparations. Everything was decorated and they had even bought a ton of dowel rods and chopped them into wand-sized pieces then spray-paint-stained them so that they looked somewhat legit.
I really had a fun time. One of the funniest moments (in my opinion) was when we were in our House room and sitting around. Dan (see above) was wearing a Steeler's jersey (which happened to fit our house colors perfectly) and was standing near the door when someone from another House poked their head in. "Steelers?" he asked. "Seriously?" then he left and Dan lunged past me and poked his head out the door. "Yeah, you got a problem with that?" It was the funniest thing ever. Mostly because Dan is usually really quiet.
Now that I think about it, a bunch of Rank 10 ended up in Hufflepuff...Laura, Dan, Matt, and I. Hope was in Slytherin, Eamonn was in Gryffindor, and Alex was in Ravenclaw. :P
At one point the Glitter Faeries (Hope and Sara Pontician) started sparkling people. They know I like glitter so they sometimes come looking for me. Sara found me first and slapped some glitter on me. Then I convinced her to get Dan...so she did. It was hilarious because he looked so confused at first, not quite understanding why she smacked him until Laura started laughing and said he had glitter all over his face. Then he sort of ran away to wash it off. I ended up helping him and telling him it wasn't so bad and if he scrubbed with a wet wash cloth it should come out. I think it did but I didn't exactly stare at his face to look for glitter.
Then I found Hope and she sprinkled glitter all over me. So much that when I got back to my room and pulled off my blouse, glitter fell everywhere. When I woke up the next day and looked in the mirror, I found glitter in my hair. It was awesome. :P
Well, I don't have much more to say about the Harry Potter party, other than that I tried at one point to juggle wands. Miranda laughed at me but stayed around to watch me fail epically at juggling two. Then I got it into my head to try juggling three. She laughed but I did all right for a little while...then I failed and gave up.
I think that's about it. I walked back later with Charlie (Phil, who lives in the same complex as Charlie and also near me was apparently long gone, which was fairly surprising) and had a few interesting conversations with him, which usually happens when we walk back from parties. I believe we talked about roommates and dogs (mostly because I saw footprints in the snow and then a dog's prints but forgot to say 'footprints' and ended up saying 'look, dog!').
Well, Imma go back to my life and be productive. :P
Jya!
~E
P.S. Thought this was funny. Found on Facebook and thought I'd share my version of what happened. So here's the picture:
Well we took the first picture then started drifting apart. Then Brandon and Josh thought it'd be funny to take a picture with us. So they called us all back but in the process, Dan and Eamonn had switched places. Dan and I were (or at least I was) uncomfortable with each other but felt awkward not wrapping arms around each other so he somewhat wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I awkwardly wrapped my arm behind his back. And we stood there awkwardly and once they took the picture parted ways immediately. Hope laughed later when I talked to her about it. "You're strange, Erin Lau." she said. Fact, Hope Brosnan, fact.
~E
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