The Mind's I



Perspective...

Fear is that path to the Dark Side.
Fear leads to Anger.
Anger leads to Hate.
Hate leads to Suffering.
-- Yoda, methinks.

Maude: ...Oh, Harold, look!

Harold: What? (He looks out.) It's just a seagull.

Maude: Dreyfuss once wrote that on Devils' Island he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Britanny he realized they had only been seagulls. Come along, Harold, to me they will always be glorious birds.


Surfing...

French and Saunders
It looks like those wacky two are at it again with a new special which features Helen Mirren playing Herself. Did you know that Jennifer Saunders is married to the guy that played Vyvian in "The Young Ones"? Wow. Surprising stuff. Learn something new each day.



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December 10, 1998
Weakness and Song

Eileene
Update on the eyebrow ring for anyone who is interested: It's healing beautifully ( I love you, Keith!) and although it's a bit crusty and complains when I knock it, it seems to complain less and less. I can wet it lightly to soften the crusties and it turns freely. I am so looking forward to it being completely healed. I will put a curved barbell in it then. I am discovering that the bar is heavy and when I lean over something, its weight turns it in a slightly uncomfortable way. It tends to brush up against my glasses and makes it annoying. With a barbell, I think I will be less-inclined to bother it as much.

Two days ago, Al asked a good question on journals-l about weaknesses. What do you do least well in your journal? Here's my answer:

Definitely the writing.

Like I've said before, I'm not a natural writer by any means. I used to write a lot of bad teenage angst poetry when I was in junior high and by the time I got into high school, I had other pursuits and interests... like I enjoy reading over writing in general. My writing skills are poor, IMHO. My grammar is terrible, despite the fact I read a lot, my vocabulary is rather small. My partner says I use too many cliches.

I think that I'm good at capturing my conversational style in my writing, however. I sound like how I type (sans the occasional stutter or awkward pause). I have a terrible short term memory, which every once in a while causes me to forget my thought halfway through a sentence and I am reduced to mumbling. In casual conversation, I tend to jump topic every now and then which causes my partner to look at me with a puzzled expression. In debate, however, I can be pretty tight. Then again, I tend to speak much slower and I am very careful with my words (lest I say something that can be greatly misinterpreted).

Oh, and I am apt to ramble. <grin>

The graphics are a close second. I'm not a designer, really. I know what I find pleasing to the eye and I go with that, but I am not a particularly creative person. So, most of my design is minimalistic....
because it's hard to go wrong with minimalism.

Tonight was the night of the rehearsal for the Kinderhook choir. It was held at Sarah Mord's place and Sarah, Linda (our HR manager) and I made our way to her upper west side apartment. We stopped by Linda's place to pick up more music. What a gorgeous apartment! The view from her place is divine and she has a balcony. The place was extremely small, however. Probably twice as small as my parent's place in Montclair will be and probably at half the rent. Sarah's place is about as big but more homier. She doesn't have a TV but a very prominent piano dominates the room. Jose was waiting outside for us. ;)

Last week Sarah was out from work since she took a cooking class and we had some great food! She served us an herbal cheesecake which was delicious on crackers. I also thoroughly enjoyed her spinach dip. I should ask her for the recipie.

I warmed everyone up and we sang a few songs. It was all-in-all very pleasant! Granted, we won't win any awards with our singing, but it's not too bad. It will be far more fun than work, I think. I normally would be pretty stressed over our sound, but I've learned to just relax and let it be. We'll all just have tons of fun singing. ;)

Afterwards, we all sat and talked. And talked. And talked. It was great! I love talking to Sarah and Jose. They are, IMHO, two of my favorite people at Khook. They are both very interesting and we have quite a number of stories, especially coming from our varied backgrounds. Jose is from Argentina and he talked about what it was like growing up there and comparing it to my experience here in the US and the Philippines. Sarah is from Colorado and has very midwestern attitudes.

My highlight of the evening was when Sarah sang one of her pieces and prompted me to do some vocal percussion for the piece. Well, I started doing some VP and singing the bass line. It rocked! We rocked! I harmonized to it a bit and we just went crazy. I haven't had so much fun singing in such a long time. It makes me want to start singing a cappella again as a hobby. Hmm.. The wheels in Iko's head are turning. I don't think I have the time for that kind of commitment. <sigh> It just felt good to sing again and let loose. I need to do that more often.

© Copyright 1998, Eileene Coscolluela
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