grad school geese

The residence campus has been invaded by a flock of geese. I find it hilarious, because so far they've only hung out on the quad and pecked at the ground for food. Well, and then I met these three walking down the street on my way back from church on Sunday. They were very calm and cool about it too, just strutting along at their own pace, even with a car behind them. At least one of my neighbors is actually afraid of the geese, and seems to think they will chase her. Personally, I doubt that part, but it is annoying that they are making a mess of our sidewalks. It will be nice when the city thaws and they can return to their parks, but for now I'll continue to laugh at the geese and their antics.

-Kim

The Benefits of Anime

Many of you may already know this, but one of the ways I found to fit in here last semester was by joining some other girls in the hall to watch anime once a week. We ended up getting through two entire series, plus watching random episodes of a couple of others. It was a great way to connect and have fun together, and it meant I always had something to do after class on Tuesdays. Sadly, my anime buddies have graduated and moved on, but my own rekindled interest in anime has not.

Yesterday afternoon I was rather bored, so I went online to a site that allows you to watch subtitled episodes of anime online (paying subscribers can watch as much as they want, but you're also allowed free access to 72 minutes a day for free--the time limit is actually quite handy, to avoid being sucked in completely [although, if you watch a few episodes through other streaming sites, you can watch more]). We had to use this site to watch a few of our Hana Yori Dango episodes last semester when the library didn't have all the discs we requested, so I went bakc to see what else they had that looked interesting. At the top of the page there was an advertisement for a series, and the picture showed musical instruments, so I clicked on it to see what it was all about. I have since decided that it is a new favorite, and I will be watching the entire series in my free time.

Nodame Cantabile is about students at a Tokyo music conservatory. The series is labeled as a romance, I suppose because the lead characters will eventually get together, but it's really about the music. Chiaki is a talented violinist and pianist, but he wants to be a conductor, and we get to follow him fulfilling that dream through being thrust into conducting a student group and actually making them sound good. Nodame is a gifted pianist with an unusual style, which doesn't fit with Chiaki's rigid Classical interpretations, but they all end up learning from each other. At least so far. the best part about this show is that the music is real, and so very good! And the animation actually fits the music being played! In Hana Yori Dango there was a character who played the violin, and the music was lovely, but the animation of his playing made me cringe. In Nodame Cantabile, the violinists, floutists, clarinetists, even the pianists move as if they are actually playing, and it makes me glad to see it. If only every cartoon musician paid such attention to detail...

And now for the real benefit. Episode 2 brings in a character who plays the violin (electric violin in a rock band, no less!) who is struggling to pass his performance final. Our two main characters help him in their own unique ways and he decides to dedicate his life to Classical music. The piece he played in the episode was Beethoven's violin Sonato No. 5, "Spring." It sounded so lovely, I had to get my own violin out. I don't have any Beethoven at the moment, so I went for Mozart, bringing out a piece Maria and I worked on my junior year. It felt so good! Not only did I run through the movement I once performed so well, I played the next two movements as well, which we never had spent much time on. I intend to keep playing that one until I feel like I could actually perform all three movements. Not that I have a place to perform a solo (though the COF orchestra starts rehearsals this Thursday!), but that's hardly the point at the moment. I think the reason I found it difficult to make myself practice was that I didn't have any real goals aside from staying in good shape for playing. Now I have a goal. I may even look into getting that Beethoven piece and trying to play it like the boy did in the episode. Now that would be fun!

Oh, and at Park Street this morning I filled out a card to let them know that I play violin and would be willing to participate in the service doing special music or something. A violin duet played this morning during the offering, and it sounded so lovely. Maybe I can join the Park Street Strings while I'm here too.

So you see, I found a show that both entertains and motivates me! Perhaps next I should search for one that will motivate me to write...

-Kim

journeying back

Well, I'm back in Boston. My trip out was fairly uneventful, aside from the stupidity of airline workers. At the Sioux Falls airport, while Dad was helping me check in, the girl at the desk tried to tell me that because the plane was a small 50-seater, my violin would have to be checked planeside, meaning that it would make the journey to Minneapolis in the cargo bay. Well, I was already stressed about leaving home again and couldn't stop myself from bursting into tears right there. The girl left, and Dad assured me that she must be mistaken. Of course she must--all the major airlines make allowances for musical instruments, which need much better care that would be afforded in the cargo bay, hence claiming it as my carry-on in the first place. As I was bording another airline employee tried to tell me the same thing. I told her that I knew it would fit (almost crying this time as well), and she asked me if I was going to not take the flight if it didn't. She said that I could try to put it on the plane, but I would most likely have to come back out and check it. Yeah right. When I stepped onto the plane, all the flight attendant told me was that the instrument would have to go in the overhead, and my backpack would have to go under my seat. Thank you--that was what I had intended to do all along. And of course it fit, with inches to spare in length and plenty of room for coats or small bags around it. I think the airline workers who stay in the terminal need to have a better understanding of the planes and policies before they try to freak out their passengers so much.

My seatmate was an old weathered farmer on his way to Hawaii. We only talked a little, but he told me to stay in school and to see Niagra Falls some day.

On my second flight there was no space issue, and my neighbor didn't feel like talking, so I got a lot of reading done. And when we reached Boston, we had to circle in a holding pattern for a few minutes before we had an open runway to land on. And, upon leaving the terminal, I had the first taxi ride of my life. It was weird, because the driver was on the phone the whole time (using a hands-free earpiece, don't worry) and talking in what may or may not have been French. He was also singing, and that part sounded the most like French. It was odd. And apparently, if you don't tip the driver you may have to get your bags out of the trunk yourself. Oh well, at least it was better than dragging all my luggage through the subway system.

It took me until Friday night to actually get my things unpacked, but I'm all settled back in now--I even started organizing my desk!

Also, I have a new job. I interviewed for and was offered a position at the Beatley Library (Simmons campus) circulation desk. The schedule was already set, with just a few holes, so i'm only filling one shift a week, but it's five more hours of pay every week, plus library experience to put on my resume. I figure that's worth it. Plus, I should be able to keep working there for the summer, which would be nice if nothing better works out.

And guess what! One of the new students this semester is from South Dakota! She grew up in Vermillion, and went to Nebraska for undergrad. She's even in the archives track! Can you tell I'm excited to have someone else around who understands what the midwest is really like and knows what I'm talking about when I bring up Sioux Falls. Having Xave (short for Xaviera--her parents are from Chile) around makes me feel better about finding friends in this new group of students.

-Kim

blowing snow

Whoever thinks South Dakota is boring clearly never tried to drive here in the winter. This past weekend I drove down to Sioux Falls one last time to see a few more people before heading back to Boston this Thursday. Driving down on Saturday afternoon was the most strenuous drive I’ve ever experienced. It was sunny and clear above, but strong winds were blowing the snow across the road in waves of mist, making the pavement look as much like a river as a road. (Playing "find the lane" is bad enough on snowy streets in town, but it's downright dangerous on the interstate.) Even worse, there was snow buildup in the left lane. There was a plow in that lane, working to get it cleared, but it had a long way left to go. The first time I came across the snow buildup, I couldn’t get out of the lane because of another car, and it caused me to swerve back and forth quite a bit before I got out onto clear pavement again. After that, I didn’t try to pass anyone until I came to a stretch near Sioux Falls that was completely clear in both lanes. For a while, a string of us were driving 45 mph, and even on the better spots we didn’t get much above 60mph. I can’t tell you how many cars I saw in the ditch on that drive (just as many SUVs as anything else—four-wheel-drive does not mean you can drive full speed on snow!).

On Sunday I wasn’t finished with business in town until after dark, so I stayed an extra night in order to avoid facing the same blowing snow in the dark. The few hours lost the next day were more than made up for in safe driving conditions and unexpected time with friends as I spent the night at Lauren and Berty’s CB apartment one last time.

-Kim

school days

I guess when you work with children, there is never a boring day, or even two days that are actually alike. Yesterday I had two bloody noses in the third grade and one missing kindergardener who turned out not to be missing after all. Today the weather was so cold all the kids had to be inside for recess, and they were bouncing off the walls. I've decided that, in spite of how troublesome it is to get an entire class of kindergardeners into their snow gear, I would much rather do that than supervise them for indoor recess. But that's not the only thing that made today interesting. Sometime around 10:15, less than an hour before the lunch rush starts, the fire alarm went off. Everyone went outside (where the wind chill was apparently still below zero) with no coats because there wasn't time, and waited on the sidewalk. No one knew what was going on, and the general consensus is that a child pulled the fire alarm. After that we had an especially rowdy lunchtime, which was not helped by the fact that all the kindergarden through second grade classrooms had substitutes because of a teacher workshop.

Madness, pure madness.

I now have a better idea what the daily grind of a work week is really like. It's amazing how little time the evening seems to hold when I've been on my feet all day and have to be up at 6 again the next morning. I'm glad my chosen profession doesn't involve chasing after children all day, because I would never survive it.

-Kim