mediocre art

I'm done with classes now, and that means I got to take my work home from art class last Friday. Seauuuuu, I thought I'd put up some of the prints made from that one photo of Meredith, Jason and Soph. I'm sorry if you don't look like you ought, but you must realize that I'm new at this. It was a ton of fun, though. ^__^

Sam,

I'm sorry, I have to disagree with you. I think that musicking can and should be transitive as well as intransitive.

I went back to the authority on the subject--Christopher Small and dug out his original definition:

To music is to take part, in any capacity, in a musical performance, whether by performing, by listening, by rehearsing or practicing, by providing material for performance (what is called composition), or by dancing. [Small 9]

This definition clearly does not provide for a transitive situation [after all, it's pretty hard to "take part" to something], but, I feel this is due to a narrowness in the provided definition, not in the verb usage. Having different definitions for transitive and intransitive cases is by no means rare in our language. Websters provided me with the example of fly [intransitive]: to move or float through the air vs. fly [transitive]: to cause to move or float through the air. We can apply the same principal to music, coming up with to cause to become a component, in any capacity, of a musical performance, whether by listening to, rehearsing, composing for, or dancing to.

I think that this will help clear up some of the ambiguity inherent in the word music. For example, if I use the original definition that Small provides to interpret the phrase “musicking to a little Temptations”, the first definition provides no hint of whether the subject is dancing to a recording of the Temptations, writing a new song for the group, or performing a cover of “My Girl”. Perhaps Small wanted it this way, but I still feel that we can have a little order without diminishing the relative specificity of music as a verb rather than a reified noun.

This is possible because intransitive verbs, by their very nature convey a sense of passivity, whereas transitive form corresponds to activity. This means that as English speakers we would naturally choose the form of the verb that best suits our purpose, making the distinction as to whether the subject in question is directly involved in the production of the physical sound waves. In this case, if I wished to signify that I am rocking out to a Bob Dylan song, I would say “I am musicking to some Bob Dylan”, the verb being intransitive. If, on the other hand, I wanted to express that I am practicing a Dylan riff on my guitar, I would denote that “I am musicking a little Bob Dylan”—the verb transitive.

Anyway, that’s how I see it. Feel free to tell me where I screwed up.

On a related note:
Top 5 songs to music (to)
1. The 8th Avenue March—Bob Mintzer
2. Sweet Child of Mine—Guns ‘n Roses
3. Baba O’ Riley—The Who
4. Halftime—Ying Yang Twins
5. Turn it Up—Chamillionaire

miss you

-bern

Senior Prank

Well, I just got back from executing stage one of my class's senior prank. All the seniors got up between 4:30 and 5 (the earliest we can leave the dorm) and walked over to designated areas. I was the dorm leader, so I got a call at 4:30 to make sure I was awake. The conversation was something like this:
"Meredith, you're awake."
"Correct." (groggy)
"Is everyone else up yet?"
"Ungh."
We proceeded to steal all of the chairs from the main academic building and reset them up in Harkness circles all throughout the campus. There are instructions on all the classroom doors on which outdoor location to go to. Everyone is encouraged to be on time to class.

My group was schlepping chairs that were carted from the buildings to their designated locations and setting them up in ovals. Because everyone was involved, we got all 300+ chairs moved and set up in about half an hour. My friends and I then walked around and took pictures of us in pseudo-classroom situations at a bunch of the set-ups.

There'll be more hijinks coming, just you wait...

Sincerely,
The-Girl-Who-Can-No-Longer-Lift-Things

And by the way, is it "to music" or "to musick"?

So I scrapped the idea of coming back to the US this summer and getting a job. In the end it came down to hours of sweaty toil in summer camp or office for maybe $2500 if I'm lucky vs. potentially life-changing summer in Africa with my family plus, in effect, crash course in Arabic. Not a hard choice really. For political reasons, I'm not going to state on this blog the specific location or even the exact nation in which I will be living. But it's in Africa, yes.

Also, I found out Stanford is sending me 3 books to read over the summer and reflect upon. We'll chew them over in small groups during freshman orientation, and then they'll set up a moderated discussion with the authors! I am jazzed. The books are The Kite Runner, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and How to Breathe Underwater. Their Amazon.com pages suggest great promise.

OK, TASP mini-discussion about Dylan's observation on the possible transitivity of the verb "to musick" and subsequent comments:

My opinion: After some more reflection, I am convinced that "to musick" must be intransitive and intransitive alone. The existence of an intransitive case is pretty easy to accept - remember the cleaning lady from Musicking who sweeps the floor of the concert hall? She's musicking, right? But she's not musicking the concert hall or any other object. So musicking can be intransitive QED. But can "to musick" ever be transitive? If so, the big question is what do you musick? Let's look at Dylan's example, "Joe picks up his CD player and starts musicking a little Bob Dylan." Is Joe musicking Bob Dylan the person here? Maybe so, but that doesn't really work - why then the need for the phrase "a little"? Rather, the implication is that Joe is musicking a little music by Bob Dylan. This usage defeats the purpose of the word musicking: remember, the whole point was to get rid of that nasty reified noun, "music." Besides, it sounds silly to music music. If you want to go around musicking things other than music (say Joe really wants to musick Bob Dylan himself), then musicking can be transitive, but in this context I'm not sure what you mean. Intransitive usage seems like the only really meaningful kind.

Top 5:

5. More than a Feeling - Boston
4. Breakfast at Igor's - Spyro Gyra
3. Leaving on a Jet Plane - Peter, Paul, and Mary
2. Keep the Customer Satisfied - Simon & Garfunkel

1. Highway Star - Deep Purple

Groetjes,

Sam

Musings of a recent graduate

Oh my! Graduation was last Monday, and mind numbingly boring, to be honest. However, our school sponsors an after-graduation party in the commons/gym/hallways, to properly prevent deaths from excessive ethanol imbibing. But as uninteresting as that would seem, it was a blast! I ruined my elbows running this inflatable obstacle course over, and over, and over, and totally failed to climb the provided rock wall thingy. Pictures are pending, as they are being developed(real film!). The most important thing is that I got a 6+ foot cardboard cutout of Darth Vader that scares the crap out of me when I enter my room, and a temporary bar code tattoo on my neck (it's the anonymity of society, man) that has already faded. All in all, a blast. In related news, I had a massive joint (4 host) graduation party today, which involved volumes and volumes of food. We made ice cream sundaes, and I have decided after much consideration that crushed Oreos make anything better. Even bacon. And bacon is mighty good on its own accord. Actually, I'm not sure why people like bacon all that much. It's slices of hog belly, with huge amounts of saturated fat, and when it's fried to a crisp, it just tastes like grease. Did I miss the stage of my life where a love for grease could have been imprinted into my brain? Did that last sentence make any grammatical sense whatsoever? But I digress.

Anyway, I followed Ridley's example of hair modification, and I painted my hair blue for a day. It's not easy being blue, you know. See Photobucket for evidence.

Top 5 Django Reinhardt Covers:
1. In a Sentimental Mood
2. I Wonder Where My Baby is Tonight
3. St. Louis Blues
4. Begin the Beguine
5. Bolero

PS: Facebook is an unbelievably amazing party planning tool. It lets you know an exact headcount of the attendees, maybes, and people that can't come. Also, it maps out directions to the locale, and lets you advertise with cute bunny photos. More reason for you anti-facebook stalwarts to finally bowl in and get one!

Eurovision!

I finished Chemistry Paper 3 on Friday, an event that marks the end of both my IB exams (whew) and my high school career. Period. I mentioned on the wiki that ISH holds graduation in September - however, I've come to understand the weighty significance of high school graduation in the United States over the past few weeks, and I realize my comment was misleading. In the traditional sense of the word, ISH has no graduation. The event in September is a quiet Diploma Evening: the students get their diplomas, but no rehearsals, student speeches, robes, or deep emotions involved. I'm not going to be there anyway, and probably most of my graduating class will be similarly absent. Cultural differences. *shrugs*

The big news of the weekend here in Europe are the results of the Eurovision Song Contest. I would guess this event is pretty much unknown in the US. The idea is that each European country submits one act performed by a homegrown artist/group to the contest. Most of these groups are little-known and often new groups with a small regional fan-base. Although many different types of music are represented, there tends to be a heavy emphasis on pop (Eurovision launched the careers of ABBA and Celine Dion, to give you an idea). The contest has two rounds, a semi-final and a final, in which each group gets to go on stage and perform their number, and the winners are decided by a massive SMS/phone vote in 37 countries. It's a huge media event, and they must get tens of thousands of votes.

Anyway, my family and I watched a big chunk of it last night, and it was really a scream. All the more so because it was BBC covering it, and the British announcers, who are bitter because the UK never wins, took every chance they got to make cheap, cynical remarks about the show. My favorite group was the Latvians, an a cappella choir, although the Ukrainian, Bosnian, and Romanian acts were all pretty good. Most of the rest were not. The Germans sent this country group called "Texas Lightning," complete with cowboy hats and twanging lyrics. The Lithuanians' song (described as "engagingly modest" by the BBC) was called "We Are the Winners" - its main lyrics "We are the winners/of Eurovision." The Maltese singer was a little flat. The winning act was "Hard Rock Hallelujah" by a Finnish group called Lordi who dressed up in orc suits. The voting was really political - although no nation was allowed to vote for its own act, all the Scandivians voted for each other's acts, as did the Eastern Europeans. Apparently the BBC announcers were really steamed when France did not vote in support of their beloved British rapper . . . heh. A little glimpse of the intense internecine strife within the European pop scene.

Groetjes,

Sam

First

CHECK THIS OUT!!

Talk about musicking.

some friends showed me it. Apparently it's legit. The website is endlessly entertaining.

Yay for senior prank day! Our class represented ourselves well by stealing and hiding every single computer cable in the school--power, network, monitor- all of them.
Me and a friend are formulating ideas for a college senior prank that would involve suspending a grand piano 20 ft in the air. It's not quite fleshed out yet.

We had our band awards last night. I cleaned up. They're kind of like senior awards ("most likely to become overlord of mars") except we all know each other way too well so they are far more meaningful--even if you would rather them not be. For the second year running I was voted the "future Mr. H [our director] award". The real honor, however, is that I also managed to pull down not only the "biggest whiner" award, but also the "most arrogant male". It takes diligence to win those two--let me tell you. Oh--and me and my aforementioned friend were voted the "amorous trysting couple".
The weird thing is that, unlike two days ago, I don't mind whatsoever. It is kind of like the phrase five days left, five days left, five days left has begun reverberating in my head and I am immune to anything. I'm actually a bit proud of the whining arrogance.

Wonderful to see that Adam still exists. Gosh... you would never guess it by his participation on this blog. Adam? Adam?

Top 5 right now (laugh at me if you wish)

5. Sultans of swing--Dire straits
4. My Sharona--the knack
3. you spin me right around--marilyn manson
2. Yeah--Usher (sorry Rid)
and a very clear winner
1. Goodbye Earl--Dixie chicks

miss you all

-bern

a return.

Well, the worst part of being a forensics state champion is that I have to record my speech on tape. The best part of being a forensics state champion is that I get to make this recording in Ann Arbor. So, I skipped school and went back today! I went with my coach, my friend Noha who won in oratory in the smaller school division and her coach, and the executive director of the Michigan Forensics Association took us out to dinner (he also happens to be my coach's fiance), and I got to spend two hours just running around A2!!!! (I don't think I can add enough exclaimation marks to express my joy, so I'll cap it at four.) I visited all the old haunts, went broke buying books at The Dawn Treader, ran into Adam(!), and took loads of pictures. I cannot even say how much fun it is, so I'll just post pictures and hope that suffices:

How many thousands of students are there on this campus? And yet I ran into Adam!

Woohoo seminar room! Sadly, the door was locked.

It's still there! Oh yeah, TASP '05! Let those new kids just see the legacy we left!

Gotta love the bravery/insanity of those campus squirrels...

Stucci's!

man, i can only fit so many pictures on one post.

so here are some more!

Alpha Gamma Delta and a bubble tea kick.

Last view of Burton Tower.

45 Virgins and a Pelican

New word!

mondegreen: the mishearing (usually accidental) of a phrase, such that it acquires a new meaning

Check out the wikipedia article, which gives etymology and a great list of examples.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen

I happened upon a TASP mondegreen the other day, listening to Bob Dylan's "Too Much of Nothing": Too much of nothing/ Can make a man a-musicking . . . But alas, it seems that Christopher Small wasn't plagiarizing Dylan after all - the real lyric is "Can make a man abuse a king."

Groetjes,

Sam

And some more!

cheerios

That's what I'm eating right now. Also, I think we all need a bit of cheering up, so I thought I'd add to the animal-look-alike-photo-repetoire:

First of all

I have to offer my severe shock and support for Meri and all in the northeast states. That's awful, hang in there. I hope you and all the local students pull through all right. Like Henrik, you have my prayers.

Our band just got back from state where we took 2nd! we were pretty pleased. Then, of course, the rest the trip consisted of reminding me how much I need to get out of this town. Shall I give you a run-down?

First night--the girls room across the hall plays truth or dare and, on a dare sends a sophomore over to my room to "seduce" me. result is that my roommate answers the door and suddenly I (in bed) have a girl I don't like that much on top of me. I hope I didn't wake the next room up when I told her to get the f--- off of me.

Second night--My roommates (after procuring some tobacco) decide to go out on the town after room check, so I get the joyful job of keeping the room down and waiting to make sure they get back safely. Another girl who I used to be good friends with calls me and I have a three hour conversation that ends with me hanging up on her when she inquires why I hate her so much. I had answered in the negatory to the jesting (I hope) request that I sleep with her. My roommates showed up at 4:00 with two girls in tow that ended up bunking in with us because there was a snorer in their room.

To top it all off, one of my best friends who is one of the few people I will truly miss after graduating has been pissed at me for two weeks--for what reason I am still in the dark--and she made a point of not speaking to me the entire trip.

Anyway, that's enough whining for me for one post.

I saw Psycho for the first time today. aghhh. Hitchcock is creepy.

I guess I'll go get some dinner

miss you

-bern

New Hampshire

The town river's dam broke while we were in assembly today. It's been raining for 7 days, and many of the dams around here can't take it. There was just a three-foot storm surge, putting much of the town under water. We were sitting there when the principal interrupted the assembly to tell us, and people cheered. I have never been so angry in the entire time I've been here. My friend lives next to the river, and she was crying because her house was probably about to be under four feet of water. Meanwhile, people were cheering because they didn't have to go to class today because we were all being evacuated to our dorms. We have three kids here who are here because of Katrina. I just can't imagine coming somewhere where you think you'll be safe, and not only is there flooding, but your classmates are rude enough to not only not understand, but to celebrate. Another friend lives near the river, too, and she called her mom, who was busy (already ankle-deep in water) leaving the house with the family photos, important documents and my friend's baby brother.

I suddenly understood how people in the town can hate us so much. How can people understand so little? How could people not understand that 200 kids here are day students, that several of them are probably going home to ruined houses, to lost family photos?

St. Paul's has just canceled the rest of their school year. They're sending everyone home. A lot of their campus is flooded, including three dorms. They don't think they'll have it up and running in time to make finishing the school year feasible.

So I guess the conclusion of this is that I'd appreciate it if you could pray or do whatever you do for the people in northern New England. A lot of us could use it.

Just thought I'd put a bunch of pictures I have from recent trips. Finally Meredith, the DC Pictures! But also, right after TASPUM, I went to Germany and Paris, and there are some pictures in there as well. I still have a TASP-load of pictures from Telluride I just haven't gotten around to posting yet, so just you guys wait... (by the way, sorry those DC pictures are so small)

And with the Telluride Association Directory, what's the deal with the Association anyway? Is there any way I can be a more active member? Adam, are you out there somewhere in the cyberworld?

So remember my projects? I decided to merge a couple, sorta kinda. Instead of planting the Riparian Buffer System, the National Honor Society, Calliope (Literary Magazine), The Compost Committee, and any other school clubs I'm affiliated with will help me with the concert, which will be a benefit for either Darfur or Disease in Africa. Which do you guys think is more urgent? And as for the waste system thing, my stupid advisor simply won't order the new material. He's a bearded lazy, and dammit, I need those new compost bins if it's the last thing I purchase!

Speaking of this bearded lazy, he also played "God" in my school's production of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, which was, with great surprise, excellent! The acting was by far the best - no seniors! It was better than the senior play (well that wasn't really a surprise)! Such an excellent movie for theater adaptation.

All right, these artists are quite good. I recommend you check out all these links, for some of them are really important in the music world today. The more you get into them, the more you'll see why.

1. Devendra Banhart (singer/songwriter/Indie)
2. Derek Trucks Band (Rootsy blues/jam)
3. Phil Lesh and Friends (Jam/Dead-esque)
4. Koop (Electronica/Jazz - THE epitomy of the merge, website in the making)
5. Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk (New Orleans Based Funk, with a twist)

Henrik, who wasn't as smart as meredith.

resemblance?

Is it just me, or does jason look strikingly like this kangaroo?

Okay, Senior Spring!

Dearest Lovers of Loving Love...

Yesterday was Principal's Day. It's a tradition at my school that the principal surprises us one day during the spring by cancelling classes. Weeks of rumors and hours of analysis are spent in the time preceding the day as students desperately try to figure out which day it will be. Some students play homework roulette and do none of their homework the day before what they think will be the day off. Then we get the information in a surprising way. One year there was a plane that flew overhead the afternoon before with "PRINCIPAL'S DAY TOMORROW!" on a banner behind it. Two years ago, it was fortune cookies in the dining hall. Last year, it was a flag on the main academic building and a sign on the local movie theater instead of the movie listings. This year it was a few banners. All tests and papers that were scheduled for the day that turns out to be Principal's Day are cancelled entirely and it's one of the few days where students have absolutely nothing they need to do.

Which brings me to my point. The night before Principal's Day, the principal brings in an act to entertain us. This year, it was InPulse, a sort-of a capella group. They had one guy doing beatboxing in the back for all their songs, a rhythm section and two vocal guys. And they were disgustingly good. You should all check them out because they are freaking amazing. My favorite part of the show was when they had a beatboxing throwdown, possibly the coolest thing ever, and just right in the middle of a song. They were singing "Your Body is a Wonderland," and suddenly they just stop, start working the crowd, and get sick with the beatboxing. My second favorite part was when the drum section dude just broke it down for five minutes, chilling on stage. Very funny, very excellent, and all the girls in the audience swooned when the Australian one started talking.

So, I went to see the movie Stick It yesterday, too. Don't judge me! It's by the same people who did Bring It On!, and it's just as good, if perhaps not better brain sugar. It was a lot of fun, and they did some interesting cinematography and camera tricks. Also, I watched the trailer for Snakes on a Plane and nearly had a hernia. WATCH IT, it is the funniest thing I've ever seen. I wish I had known about it so I could have been an extra in the movie. Samuel Jackson was running around like, NO, NO, SNAKES ON A PLANE! The people on the plane have expressions like, "I...am...on...a...plane...with...SNAKES, and I can't get off because it's a plane and did I mention that the snakes are poisonous WHY GOD WHY?!" People just flip out and hack at obviously fake snakes with axes, snakes pop out of people's shirts, and things start exploding for no reason.

In other news, my water polo team is going to the New England Championships in 8 days. Wish us luck.

On a TASPery note, I would like everyone to check out the third photobucket and see Bern's excellent pictures and Emma's super-cute hair. I would also like to note that Ridley has yet to do something which I remember she said she would, something involving hair...

Finally, I would like to note that I have not seen the sun in 5 days due to the abysmal weather.

Top 5:
1. On the Eve of War - Jedi Mind Tricks
2. Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps - Cake
3. Obsession - InPulse
4. The Book of Love - The Magnetic Fields (interesting perspective on love)
5. Going to Marrakesh - The Extra Glenns

-Meredith, the girl who took no APs and thought, "Fuck you, college board!" as she kept her $80

I thought that you should all know

that I really like this poem:

Prayer

If you really exist - show up
as a bear, a goat, a pilot,
come with eyes mouth, voice,
-demand something from me,
force me to sacrifice myself,
take me in your arms, protect me from above,
feed me with the seventh part of one fish,
hiss at me, reanimate my fingers,
refill me with aromas, with astonishment
-resurrect me.

-Nina Cassian
translated by Brenda Walker and Andrea Deletant

Wow. This is going to be my poetic inspiration for the next week.

Oh and by the way, today signalled the END OF MY AP CAREER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is such a joyous day!
Freedom, fun and glorious sun for the next four months.

Telluride Association Directory

Am I the last to receive it in the mail?

The list is surprisingly... extensive.

Barbara Manatee and the Walrus

Whoa, Meredith, why didn't you tell us that you got a job writing for the WB? First, read this, especially the second to last paragraph. Then last night on Gilmore Girls (which has stunk of late and which I vow never to watch again because of its boringness. Dang, I may as well burn my television now. Except, I do like to watch commercials every once in a while...) one of the characters said she had a dream about a walrus sitting on her and smothering her to death. Obviously, they changed it from a manatee to a walrus to prevent allegations of plagiarism, but clearly, the show's writers are ripping off ideas from our very own Meredith Hitchcock. Man, TASPers rule the world!

Bern's Turn, Birthday Edition

Today is your birthday, nanananaNAna, happy birthday!

Now presenting a pretty sweet (PUNNED!) cake:
Now go to a strip club, smoke and purchase a lottery ticket.

He's still hot too!

Happy birthday berno!

Bern turns 18... TODAY!!!

Happy Birthday Bern!

I'll do the big yellow letters once I get home.

Jason

He's still hot

even if not quite as stunning as in pride and prejudice.

but if you havent seen "the importance of being earnest" you definitely should. First, its a hilarious play with some of the greatest one liners ever written in the english language. Second, it has none other than the amazing CF! (although he doesn't swim in this one--sorry Emma and Meri)
You should all see it.

that is all

-bern

Ann Arbor weekend!

I spent Friday and Saturday in Ann Arbor for the forensics state final tournment! Well, Ypsilanti actually, but the hotel was in Ann Arbor. When we drove past the Whole Foods Market (remember our first shopping experience in A2, Emily and Isaac?) I felt like I had to share my return with a TASPer, so I called Meredith. Well, the complete randomness and the fact that it was a Friday night when Meri was probably out somewhere and I was on a bus with 30 screaming forensicators made the phone call incredibly awkward (sorry about that, I'm blushing just thinking about it), but it was really cool to go back. The weekend turned out alright, because I got first, but it was completely insane. I used to think orators were really nice people who honestly want to change the world, but I discovered that a number of them are just rude, self-righteous idiots. As it turns out, TASPers are the only group of people who are reliably really nice people who want to change the world. It was fun to win, and I can't remember a year when I had more fun with my team or my friends from other schools, but at the same time, one of my good friends was disqualified and I think she should have won, really. So it was a bitter-sweet return. All I can say is, I can't wait to go back many times next year to visit Ridley! I'm so glad you're going to be in Michigan!!! And now, I need to go sleep for a very long time.

Coolness

I was contacted a few days ago by a Yale doctoral student, who happens to be a '94 TASPer, about housing advice over here during the summer... since apparently I'm the only one associated with TA who is currently in Vienna.

Anyway, he says that he's still in touch with many of his fellow TASPers (remember, their summer was nearly 12 years ago), which sounds pretty damn promising for us. Says a lot of them are now doctoral candidates, lawyers... the like. He also drew my attention to this one writer and '94 TASPer, Daniel Alarcon, who seems to be a very promising author I have to check out some time soon.

Jason

The Great Immigration Debate!

of 1621...

Watch the video, ignore the heavy-handed irony if you so wish. My only point here is, wait for the eagles. They crack me up, and remind me of about a dozen people... Nestor first and foremost.

Those who haven't done so, remember that the link to the TASP wiki is here. Add your college info.

My current top five:

1. Black River - Amos Lee - Probably the quietest, simplest, most low key, (yet simply beautiful) song I've ever liked, except for Down to the River
2. Ja Sei Namorar - Tribalistas
3. The Rain - The Subdudes - Yes, my listening tastes have recently been influenced by posts on this blog.
4. SOS - Rihanna
5. The Only Difference Between Suicide And Martyrdom Is Press Coverage - Panic! At The Disco - Um... I'm not actually sure what they're saying, but it doesn't really matter. I imagine this is what many Japanese anime themes sound like.

Jason

Rocky's Horror on Generation Y

All right, I was told today that if someone like me had not seen Rocky Horror Picture Show, then our generation, (we're generation Y right?) is spiraling down the tube. I hear it's one of the most famous cult classics around, so I'll probably check it out this weekend. But I figured if no one in TASP has seen it, then G-Y must truly be doomed. Any viewers?

Also, for the TASP wiki, should I put my info in there despite my delayed college-hood?

Oranje Boven!

I'm going to Stanford! :D It's kind of surreal to have actually settled on one option after eight months of nailbiting indecision, but it's also good to be going somewhere, and such a sweet school at that. I demand a reunion of California TASPers at some point this year - I count 5 of us now, not to mention the possibility Cornell/Stl/Texas TASPers matriculating in the Golden State.

Saturday was the Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) celebration in the Hague. Queen's Day, besides its traditional associations with the wearing of the color orange and the drinking of much beer (do they still have this in West Michigan, Emma?), is the only day of the year that garage sales are legal in Holland, and it was auspiciously timed to coincide with my family's big pre-moving drive. My mom asked me if we could sell my TASP textbooks - frankly, I have hardly opened them since TASP. but I couldn't bear to part with Musicking, the Woody Guthrie book, the Cook, or even Derek's book, and saved them all out from the for sale pile. The power of nostalgia. *sighs* Though I didn't mind parting with the DeNora (although I don't think anyone bought it).

In association with Queen's Day garage sales, kids with musical instruments will often set up along the street and play for money in traditional subway-performer style. My siblings and I, who play some old-time and bluegrass numbers together as a string quartet, took advantage of this tradition and made quite a haul. A kindly Dutch amateur photographer snapped some photos of us and posted them online with a bunch of other Queen's Day pictures at http://www.makeaphoto.com/fred2006.htm; just click on the orange hippo and go to page 4 to see them.

Groetjes,

Sam

P.S. Chris? Nestor? ???

A quick update

I don't have much time to blog, as I have just returned from a whirlwind of prom, economics competition in DC (We got to finals! No victory, though), and now, procrastination for AP exams. More importantly though, a kid from my school, and my stand partner in orchestra is a future '06 TASPer! Now, you know me, so I'm going to tell him wild lies about TASP life. Any suggestions?

So I forgot

to tell you this incredibly (at least to me) cool piece of information. While I was killing ten minutes on the cornell campus waiting for an interview with the atmo dude, I and my dad wandered into the library and on a whim typed in my dad's name into the search engine. And it popped up that MY DAD'S MASTERS THESIS AND PHD WORK ARE IN THE CORNELL LIBRARY. How weird is that? I almost regret not going there so I could smugly say to my friends "my dads stuff is in this library and he didn't even have to donate an exorbant amount to get it there". Almost.
As an added coincedence, he did his thesis on riparian buffer zones in the west.
Anyway, that's all. I just felt like bragging there for a bit.

top 5 right now.

1. every time we touch--cascada
2. start with mrs beanhart--rob mcconnell and the boss brass
3. rhoids blues--dave barduhn
4. lie in our graves (gorge version)--dave matthews band
5. italian symphony, 4th movement--mendellsohn

miss you all

-bern

the most scandalous calculus pickup line you've ever heard:

(Okay, this sort of has to be from a guy to a girl)

If you were x^2, I'd be (x^3)/3, the area under your curves integrated from head to toe.

FYI

Jimmy from the STL TASP has created a wiki for the TASPer college list.

Name and e-mail are as you wish, and the password is the name of the Association's founder, lower-case, no punctuation marks, six letters long.

That is all.

Jason