30 DoB 13: POUIAWSFJOIJSANDGKLJ

Doctor Who. I'm sorry. I won't say anything. But really. Moffat! Agh. Ugh. Asldkfjhs.

Okay. Moving on.

Fun story! My "wake up early" theory seems to be incredibly accurate. I actually woke up completely on my own at 6AM today, way before my alarm was set. I think I'm going to stick to this schedule because it felt so good to have some early-morning reading when the sun is in just the right place by the window. Oh yeah, life is good.

I finished Mr. Toppit today. It was okay. It had some fun characters. I did find myself strangely connected to them, so that was a plus. It was kind of a hot mess of a dysfunctional family story, and I don't know that the title was really appropriately chosen, but hey. What can you do?

I've started reading The Fountainhead now. It's actually a surprisingly engaging book. I was initially daunted by how long it is, and I'm only 50 pages in so I have a long while to go, but I have time. It's the summer. I should probably get all the long books out of the way while I can!

Anyway. Ay. I'm gonna go to sleep and ponder over the majesty that is Steven Moffat. Oh, you!

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Sleeping: X

Blogging: X

Reading: X

Exercise: OBLF

30 DoB 12: Story Time!

Just a quick update on yesterday before going on into today's activity: contrary to my expectations, I actually finished The Fellowship of the Ring yesterday. Today, I re-started Mr. Toppit and expect to be through it tomorrow--I'm already just past halfway done, and I have plenty of time left to read. Tomorrow I hope to make a video. I've been wanting to make one for a while, I just haven't really known what I wanted to talk about, so I think I might just do it tomorrow and see what happens. As for waking up, I tried something really daring this morning and woke up earlier than usual and it was much, much easier, actually. I suppose I just picked a strange time of the morning as far as my biological clock goes to wake up, so if I wake up earlier, I'm fine. Of course, that does mean I'll have to go to sleep earlier, but I've kind of been wanting to do that anyway. My body just doesn't work on the normal college student's schedule, I suppose. Anyway! On with the story.

THE TALE OF _________

Once upon a time in a far away land lived a species of animal called the Zarkski. The Zarkski were an unusual species which had a triangular head with bulbous puppy eyes in the upper corners, a stout orange beak, long, spiny arms and short, stumpy legs, each ended with a narrow claw for burrowing. They had a plume of spines on their backs and shiny, pitch-black fur covering every square inch of their bodies. They had such a strange collection of features that the first full remains discovered by human scientists were affectionately referred to as "Henry the Praying Puffin-Hedgehog-Mantis." Believe it or not, the Zarkski were the first sentient beings in the solar system, though their society had long fallen into oblivion by the time any other sentient beings had been around to notice. They had a vast system of underground tunnels and actually developed the fastest route from one side of the world to the other by cutting through it rather than across its surface.

In the Middle Age of the Zarkski, there was a Zarkskino named Simon, a favored youth in his burrowpolis for his supreme athletic skill. He was so adept at clay-burrowing that when Mayor Ricardo signed the bill which would add 3 miles to the Western Burgh, Simon was the first he called on.

Simon began work immediately and burrowed for three days straight, already nearly 30 yards into the project, when suddenly he felt his claw catch on something. He knew he was too deep to be finding iron ore, but it felt very similar, according to his refined senses. He dug around the obstacle and discovered, much to his surprise, the largest trove of unicorn chocolate he had ever seen. He knew this would be big news, but did not know who to tell, as he remembered the Great Unicorn Chocolate Rush of 552 from his Zarkski history books and was not tempted to repeat such a tragedy. After some deliberation, Simon ran to his childhood friend Yaneli's house to ask for her input.

"Unicorn chocolate?" she asked doubtfully.

"At least two quaxios of it!" Simon insisted.

"This is big," Yaneli said. "Maybe we should talk to Isabel?"

"She's the biggest loudbeak in town!"

"I suppose you're right."

"Yaneli, do you know what this means? I could have all the towels in the world if I sold it."

"I do know how much you like those towels," Yaneli admitted. Suddenly, she snapped her fingers as if she had had an epiphany. "Let's talk to Elder Juan! He's always been the voice of reason."

Simon jumped out of his seat. "You're right! Make sure you bring one of your famous bowls of chicken soup so that we have something to thank him with."

"How nestroculous of you," Yaneli said, clearly impressed with his courtesy. She grabbed a bowl from the shelf and they were on their way.

When the two arrived at Elder Juan's burrow, they tapped their claws on the oksdig, a device with similar function to a doorbell (as there were no doors.) Elder Juan came to the entrance of the tunnel and greeted them kindly.

"And what brings you here?" he asked, shaking their hands.

"I have a bit of a dilemma," Simon said.

"Oh? Please, come in, sit down!"

"We brought chicken noodle soup for you," Yaneli added as she stepped inside. His burrow was always so tidy and impeccably decorated that it almost felt like they would soil the whole place just by looking at it.

"What seems to be the problem?" Elder Juan asked kindly, bringing bowls for the soup.

"Well, I was digging the tunnel for the new addition the other day," Simon began," when I came across a rather unexpected obstacle."

"Unexpected?"

"Yes... quite."

"Do tell!"

"Well, I was digging, and I felt something that was like iron ore, but I knew it wasn't..."

"And?"

"Well... itwastwoquaxiosofunicornchocolate."

Elder Juan spat out a mouthful of soup. "Two quaxios of unicorn chocolate?"

"Two quaxios."

"That's unexpected indeed! And think of what that can do for our town!"

"Well, that was my dilemma," Simon said. "I wonder if I came out of the tunnel with two quaxios of unicorn chocolate, wouldn't everyone in town want to start digging hoping they would strike big?"

"Absolutely!" Elder Juan said. "Who wouldn't?"

"Well," said Simon, "What about the Great Unicorn Chocolate Rush of 552?"

"I see why you may be nervous," Elder Juan admitted. "But surely you don't remember the Rush of 573?"

"No, I suppose I don't," said Simon sheepishly, ashamed of the apparent lapse in his knowledge.

"That's because there wasn't one," said Elder Juan, laughing. "But Elder Ricardo did find unicorn chocolate in 573. Five quaxios of it, I'd say."

"Five? How did they avoid a rush?"

"Simple. The Mayor declared that only Elder Ricardo had the right to dig there, and that any treasure he found was his to do with as he pleased."

"But then wouldn't there have been people at his door begging for money?"

"Well, of course! You could hardly expect any less."

"I don't want anyone coming to me begging for money. If I can't pay everyone, then I shan't pay anyone!"

"Then it seems you've made your decision."

Simon was shocked in how quickly he had come to realize what he had to do.

He immediately reported the find to the mayor, who again declared that it was only Simon's right to dig there. Simon went on to find two hundred fifty-three quaxios of unicorn chocolate, all of which he donated to the City, and which was sold at an auction. Because of the auction's success, the city was able to fund an entirely new athletic complex for the school in Simon's honor with top-of-the-line equipment and a full-time staff which also ran several other youth programs, thus reducing crime in the burrowpolis for years after the discovery.

Well, I suppose it was slightly inaccurate to say Simon donated them all. He kept the first two quaxios for his own and traded them for a top hat so that he could fulfill his dream of performing a Fred Astaire hommage, jazz hands and all.

And they all lived happily ever after.

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Sleep: X

Blogging: X

Reading: X

Exercise: OOUF

30 DoB 11: A Post I Didn't Expect to Turn Into a Thank-You

So I gotta be honest, I knew I was biting off more than I could chew when I made today the day I was going to write a story. Which means I'm not. Ha. I control this blog and there's nothing you can do about it!

On the upside, I only have about 20 pages left in The Fellowship of the Ring and the night is yet young.

I have still been having trouble sleeping though. Any suggestions? I think what I'm going to try for tonight is to just get in bed like crazy early and if I fall asleep, yay, and if not, I'll just read a bunch of my next book.

On the upside, I got suddenly inspired about the background of a story that I've been kind of letting spin in my head and I just may start writing it. I'm glad that I have found the resources and inspiration to pull off projects like this.

We were just talking the other day in my post-student-teaching seminar about learning as much information as we can about every subject, but also specifically about the arts. I didn't realize how "duh" of a fact this has been for me for forever... but I really think I have YouTube to thank for that. I've been expected to stretch my creative output past just reading and performing music. I've always written music, but even that is strange for lots of classical musicians. I just don't get it.

But now I've learned a bit about graphic design, animation, video making, photography, acting, and also lots about world cultures and stuff. YouTube basically came for me when I needed it most. I know I've said it in videos before, but if it weren't for YouTube, I think I would be pining for all this creative output and wouldn't know I was. I would think "I should just go practice more." I'm so glad I didn't fall into that kind of rut.

I could go on for years about this and I don't know what it would really add... basically all I want to say is thank you to everyone who inspires me and who helps me learn more about the arts, the world, and most importantly, myself. If it weren't for you guys, my life would not be so fulfilling.

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Sleep: O (I really want to get this in order.)

Blogging: X

Reading: X

Homework: THERE ISN'T ANY IN THE CLASS ANYMORE! THIS CATEGORY IS OFFICIALLY CANCELLED!

Exercise: O (I'm so sore....)

30 DoB 10: Midweek Re-Evaluation

Looking back on the last few days, they have not really been that successful in terms of this project. Some of that has been because I have been focusing on other things which I have been trying not to mention in my blogs because they involve planning for next year, which is getting more solid but isn't announcement-ready yet. A lot of it has been because I haven't been sleeping well, and if I know anything about myself, it's that a tired Steve is an un-motivated Steve. But I have been (mostly) sticking to my bed-time and all of those infractions haven't been because of intentionally staying up late--they have been because of not waking up on time. Why do I have so much trouble getting to sleep and waking up?

I think I've found the solution.

It's inactivity. I went from walking an average of two or three miles a day, five days a week, to walking perhaps a quarter of a mile a day, four days a week, spending the rest of my time sitting around rather than standing and teaching. This change surely threw my body for a loop. And judging by today, it certainly did.

I decided that I would turn my inactivity around by re-instating last year's exercise regimen because it seemed to work really well, and I never really finished the 100 push-up challenge. I got even closer than I ever have, by getting to week 5, which is really frustrating because there are only six weeks. But you know what they say, fourth time is a get-it-over-with-already-you-lazy-piece-of-weakness. That is what they say, right?

So I re-took the push-up and squat test and did a basic crunch test. I was impressed with how much my body retains strength-wise, actually. When I last took the push-up test, I believe I got somewhere around 39 push-ups, and this time I got 24. That's much better than my last initial test, which was 17, which was better than the time before that, which was somewhere around 5, I believe.

What I found funny was that when I went through my stretch routine today, I felt my body get really excited. I don't know that that's ever happened for exercise. I started with the leg stretch, and I just felt every cell in my body start screaming "Aww, hell yeah! We gonna get blasted!" (Apparently, my body is a 'bro when I leave it to its own devices.)

But yeah, after doing that, I feel adequately sleepy, so I think it may have done the trick. I'm gonna celebrate with a brewski and some Doctor Who and then hit the sack extra-early tonight in the hopes that tomorrow becomes the productive day I need after the last few days. My biggest goal for tomorrow is to finish The Fellowship of the Ring, which will take some work because I think I have about 250 pages left. It'll be a stretch, and I don't expect to succeed, but if I do, I will be completely ready for many more books to come and can hopefully start churning through them the way I want to.

I feel like I need to do something to get you guys involved, too. Anybody want to do the hundred push-up challenge with me? I'm thinking I could start a facebook group and like message everybody every day I do it to remind them and then like include everybody's stats or something as I get them. Or give you guys accountability partners or something. I mean, if you want to do the challenge. But I'd also like to get you guys involved in the blogs so that this isn't just me talking.

I've got an idea. Tomorrow, I'll write a short story. A really short one, don't worry, but a story. What I want you guys to do is to copy-and-paste the following into your comment and provide an example of each category you want to after the colon.

A word you made up:

A boy's name:

A girl's name:

An action you can do with your body:

A desirable item:

A substance:

So, for example, if you can only think of a few, you might comment with:

A word you made up: balufatrix

A boy's name:

A girl's name:

An action you can do with your body: wiggle

A desirable item:

A substance: poop

So yeah. Leave a comment with that and we'll see how it goes.

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Sleeping: O

Blogging: X

Homework: X

Reading: O

Exercise: OBULF (just a refresher: the code is A for Aerobic, B for Abs, U for Upper Body, L for Lower Body, and F for Flexibility)

30 DoB 9: Steve Takes a Risk

So I'm sure all of you know this by now... but I'm kind of a musician. Kind of, like, dedicated my entire life and my career to music and it's all I really think about, at the end of the day. I have YouTube videos trying to share my love of music with other people and to make my favorite kind of music (Western Art Music) more accessible to people who think that it's only for high-class people... because let's face it, at the time of its creation, Western Art music was about as middle-class as was possible. If you exclude the Baroque Era. Please exclude the Baroque Era. From everything. Including history. It's like the 80s... there was nothing really good happening while it happened, but it laid the groundwork for some really awesome things. (Now I know I'll get some backlash for that, but I mean, the only good thing that happened in the 80s, in my experience, was my birth.)

In any case, in my post-student-teaching seminar, we were each assigned a chapter of our textbook to summarize and present to the class, and we also had to choose one or two points from the chapter to really delve into and write a 6-to-8-page paper on, incorporating the textbook and some of our own research and personal experience. The chapter I was assigned was on the Teacher as a Musician, which basically argued that we have to be as knowledgeable as we can on what we are teaching and that we need to continually practice music in our lives so as to lead our students by example.

The point upon which I chose to write my paper was the section of the chapter on Tradition and how Tradition influences our decisions as music educators. Tradition is made up of cultural beliefs, practices, religions, etc., which turn into musical philosophies, which turn into musical practice. I'm summarizing the section heavily, but if you're interested, you should read The Art of Teaching Music by Estelle Jorgensen. Now, this is something I'm very passionate about, because I love learning about world cultures and history, and I love it most when these things pertain to music. I love, for example, knowing about Mahler and Wagner and how their music influenced Schoenberg, and his music isn't for everyone, but having learned about it, I've definitely learned to appreciate it. I love knowing about how improvisation is encouraged in Cherokee music because of how composition is essentially prohibited by their religion. I just love knowing things like that and I love teaching them.

So I guess it seems pretty strange that, having been brought up in a traditional American Wind Band form of musical education, I would essentially write a paper that argues that we should slowly phase out the American Wind Band. Well, I wouldn't argue that we should get rid of it, but I would certainly argue that we make it only a small portion of the music that we teach. Perhaps one period a day, with other periods teaching other forms of music. But I digress.

Basically, what I'm saying is, we're perpetuating an ensemble that hasn't been popular outside of the school setting for nearly 100 years, and even then, it had a specific place in society. When bands were first established in schools, administrators hated them because they were so fun, and all the kids wanted to be in them because they wanted to be just like the Sousa band. Nowadays, if you ask high schoolers who John Philip Sousa was, they won't even know. They'll probably guess he invented the washing machine or something. He didn't. It's uncertain who did, but it definitely wasn't him. But basically, band stuck around in schools because after five or ten years, it was no longer "cool" because jazz bands were all the rage, and therefore it was no longer "fun," and therefore it qualified adequately as "work" for school. And somehow this has become the main way we teach music in the United States. This is what has become the stereotype of a musician in school. The "band geek."

Why is it that "only nerds join band"? Because we're teaching music that doesn't really make sense to learn. Nerds like obscure, high-class, complex, esoteric things. I should know. I am one. What we need to do, if we really want to reach everyone, though, is to teach them how to be good craftsmen of the music they see an application for. That is what music education in the US was about, at least, for the first 250-or-so years of its existence. We taught children church tunes because that was the largest cultural institution of music at the time. We taught our daughters how to play piano because that would make them good entertainers, because people used to get together and sing. For fun. Strange, right? Why don't we do that more? But that's another post for another day. Anyway, when school band started, it had that kind of practical benefit--people wanted good bands for their town because that is how you celebrated things. But suddenly, it froze. Completely froze in time, and hasn't really changed for 80 years. Sure, jazz bands were introduced to school programs; after headaches, protests, covert jazz band operations, and such, we got Glenn-Miller-like big bands, but that was nearly 30 years after even that ensemble was obsolete. It qualified for "classical" status as far as we were concerned. Basically, it was boring enough for school.

So why do we do this? I just don't get it. I guess I'm feeling disillusioned with the classical music scene as a whole because it's just not very American, and I'm stuck in America. I want people to like classical music. I love talking to people about it. But I don't know that it's the only music we should be teaching our children. There's so much more out there to teach. To me, it's like telling our children that the only literature we'll read is Shakespeare, Dickens, Frost, and Orwell--Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms. There's so much more out there and these kids need to be exposed to it. They won't find it on their own.

Sorry. I get really worked up. People say they can't imagine me ranting. This is the kind of thing I rant about. Things that are important. I couldn't ever get this worked up over Snooki. What does she matter to me? I didn't even know who she was until Hank made that video about running into her at the airport.

Anyway, I know this wasn't organized and I'm not going to go back and look because that would both get me all worked up again and make me stay up really late trying to clarify. I would just post my paper, but the great thing about this story is that my professor said that she thought it was wonderful and that I should submit it for publication in the national journal for music education, so I probably shouldn't also post it here. We'll see how that goes.

So I'm off to bed. It's taken me half an hour to write this. Holy wow. I should probably not have said so much. Good night!

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Sleep: O (I just could not sleep last night. It's okay though. I still have cold medicine. I think that was the problem.)

Blogging: X

Homework: X

Reading: O

30 DoB 8: If I Had A Million Dollars...

So today I went clothes shopping to take advantage of the Memorial Day sales. My clothes are kind of starting to show signs of age and I've been wanting to get new jeans especially... the ones I bought for my last round are starting to get holes in places I don't want holes to be, so it was definitely worth it. Anyway, I first went to one store I used to go to for clothes all the time--and by "used to" I mean I went there several times when I last bought a bunch of new clothes about three years ago--and realized that I didn't want any of the jeans there. There was a sale, yeah, but it wasn't great and the jeans didn't fit the way I liked. Then I went to one store I never thought I would find anything in, and walked out with four awesome pairs of jeans for about $50. I can deal with that.

But at the same time, I caught myself thinking "I don't need four pairs of jeans. Why did I buy four pairs of jeans? I have two that haven't fallen apart yet." Then part of me thought "But they're about to, and you've never really liked the way they fit, and these ones fit so well! And you're not going to find a sale like this before you leave the country. There's no other reason to celebrate by giving extra money off." That much was true. Especially because when I will have the chance, I'll be watching over some high schoolers and probably won't want to leave campus for anything since I won't have to.

So there were opportunity costs. There are things which have been about that high on my list that will now have to be put on the back burner for a while. I have been pretty good about dealing with that in the past, and I think it's a good part of my personality. I think a lot of people are afraid to make choices because they don't want to face what-ifs, but the way I look at it, I make choices and move forward and try to make the most of what I have.

That sounded much more profound in my head, but looking at it in print, it just sounds normal. Maybe that's just because I've read the words and understood them intellectually, but now I understand them more spiritually.

Anyway, sometimes I play an imagination game before or after making choices in which I pretend I don't have to make choices and I can have my proverbial cake and eat it too. It's the only time I deal with what-ifs, really, and it helps me settle the issue pretty quickly and kind of kiss all the other possibilities good-bye, or at least good-bye-for-now.

So today, I played "If I Had a Million Dollars." I thought about all the things I would buy if money were not an option, and it was kind of funny the way things occurred to me. I mean, simply because of today, of course, I thought about how I would always buy fun t-shirts and be sure to stay on top of TeeFury, and I would buy really stylish button-down shirts and always have ties to match them, and really comfy slacks with shoes that match them perfectly. Then I thought about all the music I want to buy and how I'd like to stock up on neo-folk music, but also dance tunes, but also have both the Karajan and Bernstein collections of Mahler Symphonies, and all the Sibelius symphonies, and a nice music recording software with really good equipment and a nice guitar to go with it and a good ukulele while I'm at it, and the best freaking camera with the best freaking external microphone so that I can have the highest production value on my vlogs, and a library full of classic books I'd read from my classy red leather chair, only rivaled by my library of musical scores I'd always follow along with, and I'd do all this in a classy terraced house right on the most trendy street in Edinburgh. Actually, I don't know if it's trendy, but that row of townhomes that JK Rowling lived in before getting famous is like exactly where I want to live, and not just because she was there.

But then when I listed all of these things in my head, I realized that these are all just indications of what I care about. It doesn't mean I need to fulfill all of those desires. It just means that I should value the things I have that I want to improve, and thank them for being a step up from what I could have, or did have. I also realized that frankly, I kind of like not having all of those things. I like how special it feels to be able to read from a score while I can steal a moment or two with it in the music library. I like having a janky, on-the-edge-of-death camera that I don't really have to worry about dropping. I enjoy that I have goals I can reach for, because I know that if I ever once feel like I've achieved the peak of something, I will be somehow disillusioned and be searching for more, but not ever be able to find it. I like having things that I could be coveting, because in deciding that I can't have them, I reaffirm that what I have is precisely what I need.

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Sleep: X! I DID IT!

Blogging: X! I did this too!

Homework: XX! I did that bad boy ta-wice!

Reading: O ... O ... O yeah. Oops.

30 DoB 7: The Almost People

I'm going to put my self-improvement stuff first today because the rest of the post will be about the new Doctor Who episode, and I don't want to spoil it for readers who haven't seen it yet, and I also don't want to bore readers who don't watch Doctor Who but who may be interested in how I'm going.

As of yet, I am still feeling sick, and I also realized that if I want to get through most of the books I want to read before leaving the country, I had better start reading one approximately every 3-4 days. Therefore, I am not adding a goal, but instead adding greater emphasis on reading--which I accomplished today, of course. I read about 100 pages of Lord of the Rings, which of course means that if I want to finish it within that window, I need to read about 300 more pages by two days ago, but I figure it will balance out when I read less dense literature.

Anyway! On to the tallies:

Sleep: O

Blogging: X

Reading: X

Homework: O (as of yet. I'll do a few minutes after finishing this post.)

NOW BE FOREWARNED: AFTER THIS POINT THERE ARE SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

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Okay, let's get real, Mr. Moffat. You have some 'splainin' to do. If Amy has been seeing the eye-patch lady this whole season, then she presumably has been a gänger this whole season, and therefore how did she become a gänger without anyone knowing? And why did the Doctor need to experiment on how people would react to the gängers if he already knew that people could fully accept such a gänger and it could also accept itself? And furthermore, was the gänger Doctor in fact a Time Lord? If so, would this not create some huge rift in the universe? Isn't there something about "every cell of a Time Lord is a miracle and if even one gets into the wrong hands it would be catastrophic"? I saw no catastrophic events happening as a result of the Time Lord being copied cell-for-cell. In fact, I think it was ended a little too easily. Do you have something up your sleeve? I don't think you would go back on such a pivotal statement so easily, so I think you've got some tricks left for us in that regard.

However, this does explain why the pregnancy scan was all weird. Real Amy was pregnant--very pregnant--but Gänger Amy was not, but the sensor could probably tell the amount of Real Amy in Gänger Amy and got all confused because of that. Man. This show is so interconnected and I love it so.

My head is just kind of swimming right now and I don't really have any supposed answers. Do you guys have any thoughts on the matter?