Good mouse

Wow, J.K. Rowling's best time at the expert level of Minesweeper is 101 seconds. That is impressive. Jeez, my best time now pales in comparison: 140. Although, I might have an even better time (but not 101!) on Dad's old computer. Guess I won't know any more.

Anyway, I'm having fun clicking around and reading Ms. Rowling's official Web site: jkrowling.com. :)

LOL! Hermione's original surname cracks me up! And now I have the urge to visit a cafe and write.

There's stuff about HP6 (that is, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) if ya know where to look!

Two more words

Customer service.

Warner Bros. Records is making up for the manufacturing goof.  Yay!  I'm going to request my replacement CD tomorrow.  That's what I'm talkin' 'bout.   :) 

Oh my JOSH.  I just heard the entire clip of Josh singing "Maria."  WOW.  Tony, Tony.  *swoon*  All those Grobies named Maria should consider themselves extremely lucky.  When are you ever going to hear a Broadway showtune named "Allison"?  Or, a non-depressing song named "Allison"?  Elvis Costello's song, frankly, is a bit depressing.  Catchy, but gloomy.

Gotta write an article.  The pressure of working under a deadline is ON!  "The pressure's on, AlliSON!  And thing's are not going swell!  But still by midnight, the writing goes on -- a burning oil as weh-yeh-yeh-yeh-yell!"  (Wow, I haven't parodied in a long time)  *grin*  Pardon me, Messrs. Boublil and... drawing a blank, Maltby! You rock, Monsieur Schonberg!

Yours truly,
Weird Alli

Fun with the AP Stylebook

Okay, maybe I'm a dork, but I enjoy flipping to random pages in the Associate Press Stylebook. 

New pronunciation guide for my (our, if you're family reading this) last name!
Cabellon (kuh-BEL'-yuhn)

Judy Kuhn apparently doesn't need a pronunciation guide for her last name.  Hehehe.  Now I feel like listening to Les Miz and Chess.

But, I'm listening to Music From a Farther Room.  Wow, on the bus, I have to turn up the volume, and the engine drowns out pretty much all the noise except Lucia's soaring violin.

Gotta go to work!

Two Words:

Quality control.

Lucia Micarelli's debut album, Music from a Farther Room, was released today.  My copy arrived from amazon.com today.  Yay!  Well, mostly yay.  The music is so beautiful.  I've listened to it one and a half times already. 

Unfortunately, quality control was not a high priority.  Track 5 is supposed to be "To Love You More" by David Foster, but instead it's only "Nocturne."  Track 12 *is* the bonus "Nocturne/Bohemian Rhapsody."  Apparently, this error has occurred on all the CDs distributed so far -- well, that we know of, and I *do* know of quite a few since Lucia fans have been posting about it on the message board.  Well, at least I've got a collector's item on my hands.  Heh heh.

Rants... and raves

A rant for people who say they rant and rave about something (that is, one particular thing)when, in reality, they should either be doing one or the other but not both.  Did that make sense?  For example: A rant and rave for the delicious food!  Why would you rant about delicious food?  It should be: A rave for the delicious food!  Anyway, feel free to rant about people or blogs that don't make sense.  Address your concern to Blog c/o musicallispeaking.blogspot.com.

A rant for not being able to find my purple UW folder ANYwhere.  It's not so much the folder I care about -- but the contents inside: my notes from last year's PRSSA meetings, a business card and my certificate of membership.  Seriously, why couldn't somebody return it to me?  I checked with the lost and found at the HUB -- twice, mind you -- as well as two offices in the Communications Building.  Oh, and the undergrad library.  I really hope somebody didn't throw it away, but I also hope somebody didn't take it for his/her own benefit. 

A rave for today's visit with the PR director at Seattle Sonics and Storm.  Wow, they have a nice building to work in, and the director was very informative.

A rave for people who hold doors open for you.

A rave for no sales tax when you buy sheet music online from California -- online, of course!

A rant for being a Washington state resident who loves amazon.com. 

A rave for thinking of sales tax and remembering what it was like to meet Josh Groban because of it. 

:) 

Ukelele Update

My cousin Gigi plays the ukelele, and she taught me how to play a few chords.  Thanks, Gigi!  Apparently, the X-Files Ukelele is pretty much supposed to sound like that.  My dog has fleas.  That's how she knows how to tune it.  I'll study the instrument further when I have more time.  Oh, that'll be after Aug. 18 and before Sept. 29.  :)  Still haven't finished my scrapbook, simply because I haven't had time to work on it.  We're getting closer and CLOSER to Josh's return to the PNW!  Yay!

The X-Files Ukelele

:)  Yup, Blog, that's my title -- don't wear it out.  Mom gave me a ukelele from the Philippines.  I have no idea how to play it, but I took it out of the case today and started strumming... then plucking.  No, The Music Man method didn't work on me, so I couldn't miraculously play songs on the instrument.  Clearly the strings are out of tune, but now I hesitate to tune them correctly because they play the beginning of the theme for The X-Files .  1, 3, 2, 4.  1, 3, 2, 4, 1.  1, 3, 2, 4.  1, 3, 2, 4, 1.  Heh!  Very real dude! (<--only Mr. Johansen's 8th grade class will get that)

I have a lot of writing to do before Wednesday.  It's crazy.  I keep thinking about it, but I don't do it.  Maybe I just need to sit down with a pad of paper and a pen. 

Did you see Jeopardy! last night?  Yup, Blog, I'm going to talk about the quiz show and Ken Jennings.  It helped that I saw Shakespeare in the Park yesterday.  :)  So I got the final Jeopardy Q/A right.   What are Hamlet and Julius Caesar?  Macbeth and Richard III too.  I'm not familiar with R3.  Ken Jennings is unstoppable, man!  He's just that good.  We have to wait 'til September to see just how long he'll remain champion.

 

Just play it cool, boy, reeeeal cool

Yeah, I sang "Cool" in my head this morning, but as much as I tried to stay cool, it's just too friggin' hot here!  Walking across campus was pure torture, not to mention I walked along the Ave. to grab a bite to eat.  Yum... teriyaki.  :)  Anyway, I saw the Bartell's Drug sign... the one with the temperature.  86 degrees.  90 degrees.  93 degrees.  TORTURE for this Washingtonian!

Ooh, I saw Shakespeare in the Park today.  The actors in the week-long youth program class were great!  Funny, dramatic, expressive.  I'm so impressed.  Go Seattle Public Theater!  :)  One of my favorite scenes was the witches' scene from Macbeth.  Instead of a cauldron, they had a Cuisinart mixer thingie.  LOL!  Love the improvisation and their making fun of their high-tech cauldron -- looking for a place in the tree to plug it in.  :D  In go leaves, Cheerios, litter... but what about the pop can?  "It won't fit!"  Hmmm... maybe you had to be there.  :) 

Well, I'll be glad when the weather goes back to the 70s.  And it's not like that's a pic-a-nic for me either.  But 90s?  C'mon marine air!

Btw, we are New York bound in September!

Break

I need a break.  If only for a little while.  That's why I'm not doing any homework.  See, I don't have school tomorrow, so I'm just going to put my writing projects aside. 

So, we are ohsoclose to going to New York in September!  I'm excited.  Jason, you should join us.  Here's your chance to actually go somewhere -- and not have it be for a wedding!  ;)  We haven't booked anything yet, but I really want to soon, so I can buy tickets to Kristin Chenoweth's concert.  Avenue Q, here I come!  *grin*  (I'm listening to "Schadenfreude" right now.  That song makes me always makes me feel better -- and sticks in my head a lot.  So does "For Now."  I think I mentioned that before.)

Ah yes.  My web site!  I've been blogging more than updating An ACab Production.  The main problem was that I didn't have Java around here, but now that my computer's connected to the 'Net, I'm all set to go.  So check out my web site!  Hehehe, I haven't created new pages, but I'm working on the appearance of the pages.  What do y'all think?

I can't believe it's already been five weeks since L.A. and Miss Saigon. Good times. Love that show. 

Political, political!  Let's get political, political!

LOL!  Have you seen jibjab.com like millions of others?  I have!  I saw a little news story about it on TV this morning.  Today in class, my professor asked us if we'd seen it.  She's seen it ten times already.  Wow.  It *is* pretty funny.

"What'd I do?"

Josh sings to life!

Wow, I'm watching the Intimate Concert for the first time right now.  Josh is singing a solo version of "Canto Alla Vita," which means he sings the English part!  Pretty cool.  More violin time for Lucia, too.  Oh my gosh!  Josh on drums!!!  YAY!

What a day

Forget the snazzy title.  I can't think of one.  The bus stalled on the off-ramp of I-5.  No biggie.  It was interesting to hear people react.  Luckily, I was in no hurry.  :) 
 
I spaced out at work.  Spaced out in Atmospheric Sciences you could say.  See, I thought today was Wednesday.  I was working on an Excel database and planned to bring up the mail at noon.  At ten 'til noon, one of my supervisors asked me, "Allison, don't you have class at noon?"  I looked at the clock, and it donned on me that today was not Wednesday.  LOL!  Wow.  So I left immediately and made it to class on time.  Phew!  Thank you, Connie!  Now they're teasing me at work.  Oh well.  :)
 
Yay!  Dad put Ethernet on my computer.  I got mad that my computer was on, blaring The Monkees on Launch Music.  But Dad said that I have Ethernet, so that makes up for it tenfold!  This is great, but it could also be bad.  For instance, I have to write my backgrounder for my class tomorrow.  But I ended up checking my e-mail, and I've been reminded that Lucia Micarelli's CD comes out next Tuesday.  YAY!  I can't decide whether to buy it online (I'm sooo tempted) or buy it in stores.  Will stores have it in stock???  If Josh predicts the way things are distributed from Warner Bros., then  no, it won't.  At least, not on the day of.  But who knows?  I think it'd be more exciting to buy it in a store.  Then if the cashier asks, "Who is this?" I 'll say, "That's Lucia Micarelli, an outstanding violinist whom I met by chance in January."  Well, no, I wouldn't say it like that.  Whom?  C'mon now.  But she IS an outstanding violinist, and I can't rave enough about her talent.   

I'm meltinnnng

It's sooooo hot outside!  I'm now sitting in air-conditioned Allen Library, but just so you know, I'm still burning up.  I walked down to the Starbucks in U-Village.  Fine, but walking down means I also walked back UP to campus.  UW's on a hill, don'tcha know!  Or U-Village is down in the valley.  Whatever you like to call it, I certainly had a workout in the middle of the afternoon.  Not exactly prime time.  Yikes.  I didn't bring a backpack today, but I have this messenger bag type of dealie 'cause I needed to put my binder and a few other things in it for the officer meeting.  Our professional adviser came (yay, she's nice), and so did my professor (our academic adviser).  The former said she couldn't pass up a meeting at a Starbucks.  Heh!
 
Well, we won't be having a car wash fundraiser tomorrow after all.  I hope this BBQ thing works out next Saturday.  Man, I have too many things on my mind on a Friday afternoon.  Class stuff.  Similarly, Seattle Public Theater stuff.  PRSSA stuff.  Family stuff (good stuff though).  Meanwhile, thank gawd for Avenue Q.  That show puts it all in perspective.   
 
I guess I wanted to post this blog just to say that on my way down to U-Village waiting at an intersection, a car was coming into UW, and I heard someone shout my name.  It was Auntie Lidge, plus Uncle Jessie in the Pilot.  Some of our relatives are here visiting.  Talk about coincidence and perfect timing!  I jayran (lol) across and said hello to Uncle Peter and Auntie Auxie (sp.). 
 
Oh yes, holding a meeting at Starbucks allowed me the opportunity to buy the We Are the Future CD and a nice vanilla frappuccino.  Yum...  can't wait to listen to the CD.  I guess I could do it now, but I'll wait 'til I ride the bus home. 
 
If you're reading this, send some relaxation vibes my way.   

Oh. Hi. I haven't been neglecting you, Blog, really, I haven't. The same goes for my site on Geocities. There's no adequate Java in this household! Only my computer has Java that works with Yahoo Pagebuilder. But my poor computer has to go without the Internet until school resumes. So I'm stuck. No updates there. As for this blog (aren't you, the reader, glad I stopped addressing my blog directly?), I usually think of at least one thing to write about each day. I mean, something happens, and I'll think: that would make a great blog entry! But then, I don't get around to it. Sorry. :)

Where does the time go? I return to work on Monday, which means by then that five weeks have passed since I last walked into the ATG building. I look forward to returning because 1) the people in the atmospheric sciences department are awesome and 2) I could really use some $$$. Ink cartridges are expensive. It just seems that all I do is spend money on this and that. Where are the best things in life?

Ah, today, I "rediscovered" how much I love libraries. I spent time in three of them today. LOL! Yup! Odegaard, Suzzallo, and Allen. I researched theater and public relations today for my PR and Society Class, but then I also found a book called "The PR Bible for Community Theatres." :) I'll pick it up tomorrow.

I'm completely smitten by the novelty phase of burning CDs. Yes, yes, I'm behind the times, but we just didn't have one before April, and now that I've time on my hands (well, I *make* time), I've been making mixed CDs. Hmm... that doesn't sound as good as saying "mixed tape."

Classes are going well. It feels good knowing I can help out Seattle Public Theater while I'm learning how to write PR projects. I can sense a change in how I think about writing. I know that how I think about writing doesn't translate into good writing all the time, but it's good to learn, practice, practice, and practice some more.

I haven't written any new songs yet. The goal for the summer is two. If I can do that, I'll be set. Now, I could use some inspiration... To the piano I go.