HTML and me

I found this great site chock full of html info. It has a well developed tutorial section and everything. I’ve done a little experimenting on the main index page of this journal. Mostly just playing around with tables for now. I got the table to work with the auto-updated text stuff. Since greymatter does all that stuff, I just have to worry about manipulating the html around it. Very nice. I know some people think greymatter is a little clunky, but for a beginner like me, it’s just fine. And I’m sure the more I learn in html, the nicer I can make it look. I don’t anticipate running up against the limitations of greymatter for a long, long time.

perpetual A

I called the accordion repair place to see how much it would cost to get my accordion in tip top shape. They couldn’t give me an estimate over the phone just based on my brief explanation of the problems… but I did get the lady on the phone to giggle when I told her about the perpetually sounding A key. I’ll be taking it in later this week to get it checked out.

Don’t Cry for Me, UMD

Last Friday, Missy, Jesse and I went to see Evita performed by the UMD Theatre Co. First let me hedge my comments by mentioning that I have extremely low standards when it comes to the UMDTC. They usually suck… big time. Usually I enter into that theatre knowing it’s going to be awful, and only go so Missy and I can gossip and blather on about how awful it was. (Hey, everyone needs an outlet for hostility every now and again.) However, this time I was feeling especially jovial… perhaps it’s the spring air, or the end of the semester… Whatever it was, it was in their favor. My relative mind took over, and I was allowed to enjoy the parts of the show that were good while only mildly mocking the other parts that still sucked. Relatively speaking, this was an enjoyable show.

The “one gesture” A. Derose (Gen. Peron) provided us with the same type of “entertainment” he always does on stage: the kind that makes an audience member wish they had brought rotten fruit or oldsmobiles to chuck on stage whenever he opened his mouth. He is always awful, so I was not surprised.

The woman playing Eva Peron (Shandy something or another… I’ll look up her name in the program), however was really good. No more Karen (their leading lady for a million years) and her clucking and caterwauling. This girl had some powerful lungs and wonderful presence. I just wish there had been cast a more appropriate Gen. Peron as a partner. Ah well. She even did the death scene without screeching or squawking (how the heck do you spell that word?)

Che (again the actor’s name escapes me) was a wonderful narrator. I didn’t know this guy could sing! He played the husband in the same company’s production of Mousetrap several weeks ago. A mellow, yet somehow intense, sounding voice. A good contrast to that of Eva’s.

The chorus sucked. The females squeaked and screeched… it was awful. The men mumbled. If the chrous had been any good I actually would have been upset that the orchestra overpowered them most of the time.

All in all a good night out. I even stood up for the finale… They really impressed me. I was expecting it to be one of the most awful experiences of my life, and I left feeling that the show was worth the three dollars and two hours that were spent. In the grand scheme of things, they still suck. But in their very small context of the world, I really enjoyed myself. And Derose’s pants are always funny.

honors doohickey and vanilla ice

At the honors convocation yesterday, I got to walk across the stage, woo! Everyone was so boring and formal, so I had to say “woo!” out loud while I was walking… and it felt weird to shake Diane’s hand, just too formal. Matt and I got gift certificates to Baker Books! woo hoo! My book list is so long, I don’t know what to buy with it, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.

Jesse made a mix cd of TMBG: “Rare, Live + Remixed”… right now some weird-ass remix of S-E-X-X-Y is playing, chock full of samples… gratuitous sampling, for certain. One is particularly memorable: “check out the hook while my dj revolves it,” yeah, you know it.

man, it’s so loud in here

After four hours and fifteen minutes driving around I am now the proud owner of my very own accordion. It needs (among other things) a name. I’ve decided that I’ll name it by making an anagram out of the word, palindrome. We’ll see what comes of that. I also thought of making anagrams out of “John Linnell,” ’cause secretly, deep, down somewhere in my brain he’s the reason I want to learn to play the accordion. But I don’t know yet… I’ve got to sit down with the accordion and play a bit to see what kind of name would be good. yeah.

It took me so long to find this place since the directions I got were crap. I should have just listened to my intuition and taken the turn that I thought I should turn… but no… I had to trust mapquest. Argh. You know, I have an excellent sense of direction, so I don’t know why I don’t put more faith in myself. I had a map and everything, so I knew somehow I was going in the wrong direction, but I just kept on going, hoping I’d find the road that mapquest said I should take. Well, after a half an hour traveling the wrong way, I decided to just turn around. I found the place on my own. Well, I did stop for directions once, just to make sure… but the dude behind the plexiglass at the gas station just told me to keep going the way I was already going.

Then I was so excited about the new accordion and actually finding my way out of Connecticut, that I took a wrong turn in Providence! Argh! But then I just turned around and headed home. woo!

New accordion!!! yay!!!

I played it a little this evening. It’s going to need a wee bit of service (in addition to putting some straps on it) because one of the keys sticks a bit, and when the bellows are pushed closed that note sounds even when the key is not pressed down. Ah well. Otherwise things look and sound pretty good!

Now I’ve just got to find someone crazy enough to give me lessons. I want to learn some sea shanties ’cause I’ll need to be ready for the pirate luau this summer. woo hah!

all’s well that started crappily

Today was absolute crap. I felt like crap. I looked like crap. I ate nothing but crap. Totally craptastic in every way, shape, and form.

However, I finally won a darned accordian… I had to pick one of the not so fancy ones so that people wouldn’t out bid the hell out of me. The bad news: no case, no straps. The good news: no shipping charges, ’cause the guy lives an hour and a half away. We’re picking it up this weekend, word.

I’ll have to figure out how I’m going to snazz it up, and what it’s name is going to be (in addition to finding a case for it, and making some straps, as I won’t buy new leather.)

Although I’m in slightly better spirits, I still feel like crap. I think my brain is oozing out of my head as we speak. Should get off the computer before I totally screw everything up with my brain goo.

Is it mine?

The countdown begins:

Twelve minutes left… I’m still the high bidder.

Nine minutes left… still me. Is the other bidder going to be sneaky and pop in here at the last minute to oust my high bid? Ack! I can’t take the suspense!

Six minutes… still me.

Three minutes… still me. EEEEK!!! It’s almost mine!!!

time’s up…

not mine… Those bastards outbid me in the last minute. I hate them.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Psst, Mom, if you’re reading this:

Happy Birthday!!!

I’ll call you tonight.

BSC and Educated Women!

Missy and I went to BSC Saturday to see (Steve?) Levine’s synthesis of two Molière plays… one was Educated Ladies, and I have no idea what the other one was since I don’t have the program right in front of me. It was funny… but too long. The show began at 8 pm, and intermission wasn’t until 9:45 or so. And there was still an hour and a half to go. We left at intermission. There really was no point of staying, since most of the people involved in the production (not all the actors, some stage hands) are responsible for making Missy’s semester particularly painful. Can you believe that one of them, in response to Missy’s costume design, said: “if you put me in anything uncomfortable, I’ll shoot you in the face”… oh, yeah. With sound effects and everything. Clever girl, let me tell you.

And I was having a particularly sucky day, so off we headed to Starbucks for some yummy snackage before we left town to go get Jesse at work. I was very much craving a vanilla soy latté, but no… Starbucks closes at ten. ARGH! I know, I know… big corp. bad. But I neeeeeeeeded it! Sucky days need to be remedied by vanilla soy lattés, don’t you know! wah, wah, wah.

The part of the show we did see wasn’t awful, it was just really repetitive. The jokes that would have been hilarious were ruined by the length it took to tell them. Physical comedy that would have added to the characters and action belabored the point, and I was a little bored. The star of the show was definitely the guy playing the oldest educated lady. Completely obsessed with language, s/he attempts to purge the household of all words that hold reference to men. Some fine examples: “manage,” “menu,” “history,” etc. Quite funny, indeed.

While not a complete waste of my time, Mr. Levine would have done better to shave off an hour of action to spare his audience the redundancy.

a new quest, take II

So Donna June was never meant to be… but there is another.

It doesn’t have a name (yet), and it is in Oregon right now. I am high bidder at the moment, but the auction has seven hours to go, so anything can happen, right? It’s really nice looking, and the seller says it is in playing condition. We’ll see. If I win it and it needs some work, ah well… it’s pretty cheap for an accordion. I have no idea how old the thing is, and would like to at least get it looked at by an experienced accordion person. In the UMD Theatre Co.’s program for EVITA (review forthcoming) there is an advert for a music store specializing in keyboard instruments, including accordions. Service and instruction available. Woo hoo! I hope I win this one, so at least my obsessive eBay watching can subside. I did get some work done this weekend, but not enough. There’s just so much. I have a presentation in Anglo Phl tomorrow, so I can’t be staking out eBay all evening. Seven hours to go, and we’ll know if my search has to continue or if I’ll have an accordion of my very own.