I hope I Look this good when I turn 250

Big ups to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born on this day 250 years ago. Here's to another 250 years of composition supremacy!

The music world is still learning from you, thank you.

Countdown...

I just got the date for my Master's recital. Though it's more than two months away, it IS serving as the "time to get off my ass and get my music learned" signal I've been needing...

See you in the practice room...

I Hate TV

After being able to watch the previous four seasons of 24 in less than a week each, I think this one hour per week thing is going to be the end of me.

Maybe I'll start watching the previous seasons of Lost to fill in the time...

Bonehead move/Miracle of the year...

So the woman and I are coming home from shopping on Friday night. There is no where to park, so I turn on my blinkers and illegally park in the alley right next to our building to unload the groceries (with the intent of moving the car as soon as the food is put away). We put the food away, watch some TV, walk over to my friend's house , drink for a few hours, come back, and go to sleep...

Half hung-over, the next morning at around 10:00 (about 14 hours since we parked the car) I suddenly remember that we never actually parked the car. I rush down the stairs imagining an almost assured $500 towing fee. Then a miracle happened...

Saturday just HAPPENED to be the day that the city decided to close the street in front of my house for construction. Because of this there was no access to the alley, and thus my car was still there. If it had been any other day this year, the car would have been gone. Since I left the blinkers on all night, the battery had died so I had to call AAA to jump me, but that was no big deal.

I'm not sure what I have done right to deserve his kind of luck, but I'll take it any way I can get it...

Hershey's to open a New Orleans factory! Oh, wait...

So, on the day the United States has set aside to honor Martin Luther King Jr., New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin had this to say:

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

Way to alienate all of the non-blacks moving back to New Orleans. Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't this be a time for unification? Good lord...

...maybe if he had called for a neapolitan New Orleans...

Get Carter

I just finished reading Jimmy Carter's new book "Our Endangered Values : America's Moral Crisis." Talk about a breath of fresh air that I haven't felt in a while.

I would encourage everyone to read this book. Though the book is discussed from a Christian standpoint, its messages and ideas are universal, and thus is just as poignant to non-Christians(myself being one such example).

If you are interested in modern politics, I promise you won't be disappointed by this one...

I Got Served...

I LOVE Oregon, I plan on moving back there at some point in my life (unfortunately it's not a good place to start a career in classical voice). I love the scenery, the laid back attitudes, and the fact that if I see a price of an item in a store, I will pay exactly that price, and not have to calculate 5% more in my head.

BUT...

Now that I live in one of the 48 states that allows people to pump their own gas, I have come to realize how absurd Oregon's "Full Service Only" law is... For the most part it's not a big deal, but on those occasions when I'm in a hurry, and I have to wait for an attendant to come take the nozzle out of my car that finished pumping 4 minutes ago, I tend to get impatient. I understand that if it's cold and windy outside, having to get out of a warm car to pump gas can be a bitch, but it's not THAT bad, and in my opinion well worth the time saved.

Where I live now, there are stations that offer full service for 10 - 15 cents extra per gallon. I know that this solution won't satiate the staunch full service supporters. Personally, I believe that Oregonians should have the option of full service, I'm sure most of the people would still use it most of the time(me included), but if I'm in a hurry I would like the option of pumping gas at MY pace.