Entries tagged with piano-plinking

Current Mood: stupid summer cough!
Current Music: Hayley Mills in Pollyanna

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Tomorrow, Rebecca is going to do things she's been putting off!

I set my keyboard up in my new room, in front of the bay window -- where, thanks to fertilizer and a sunnier spot, the plant I brought home from Grandma's funeral is growing by leaps and bounds! I might have to transplant it into a bigger pot. It's so nice having enough space for my keyboard, and I hope I can start practicing again and really stick with it this time. One of my Jewish grandmothers gave me the sheet music to some songs we sing at services. I'm slowly learning "Oseh Shalom," the slow version that repeats shalom twice. (There's also a fast version that repeats oseh, a version to be sung in rounds, and about a million others.) I'm as bad at it as I ever was, but it feels good to be playing again.

I'm also still making plarn, and I've already got a pretty big ball of it under my bed. I might even buy a bigger crochet needle and try crocheting it. It's so nice having enough room for hobbies in our new place. I never realized just how cramped we were in Smallpartment.

Sara and I just watched the Season 9 finale of NCIS. Can you believe the season's over already? Overall, I really enjoyed this season's finale arc. This episode felt very solid and old-school; it was definitely way better than that awful, confusing, poorly-paced mess of Pyramid. I should rewatch this one and collect my thoughts on it, but here my initial, jumbled-up notes:

( "Those horses back at the farm seemed to know something was up!" )

So, that's the end of NCIS until September -- but not for Rebecca. I never did get around to rewatching Season 8 and writing episode notes for it. I meant to do it inbetween Season 9 episodes, but it got too confusing switching between seasons like that. So, I've decided to spend the summer tackling Season 8! It'll make waiting for September that much easier.

Current Mood: what to do?
Current Music: We Found Love (in a Hopeless Place), Rihanna

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And Christmas music has taken over the airwaves! Ugh!

Hallelujah, Rebecca survived Black Friday weekend! Friday and Saturday were both looong, hectic days, one of my coworkers quit, we didn't get pizza for lunch (like I thought we would), I forgot to buy the one sale item I'd wanted, the weather was wet and cold, and Sable pissed on the floor! Ugh!

To unwind from it all, I've been writing fanfiction and even broke out my old keyboard again. (I haven't done that in a while.) I had wanted to learn the T'Filah, a line we sing at services, but I couldn't find any music for it, so I tried to piece it together by ear. The Hebrew is complicated, but the melody is so pretty, and it's only one line, so I think I came up with something semi-recognizeable.

Today I did my laundry, and I just got home from visiting Grandma, which I've haven't done since she got out of the hospital. (And I didn't even see her on Thanksgiving. I know, I'm a terrible granddaughter.) She's lost weight and isn't doing too well. It was more than a little depressing to see. In some ways, my fifteen-year-old dog is in better health than she is. Sable can at least move around and usually get up and down the stairs by himself. Grandma can't even stand up without help.

My aunt: [about my cousin losing her job] "Well, they say when God closes a door, He opens a window." [Bitchy sarcastic aside: Thank you, Fraulein Maria.]
Me: "Yeah, so we can have something to jump out of."

Current Mood: wheezing
Current Music: Annie, 1982 (it's Aileen Quinn's birthday!)

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Rebecca should be brushing her dog.

I had a dream last night that Sara and I were living in a stuffy attic where the walls were black with mold. Loud, obnoxious people were living in the house below the attic, and the only good thing about it was that the kitchen had a make-your-own-sundae bar. I was very relieved when I woke up and saw our nice clean white walls. And I had a craving for a sundae.

Last week I finally got my keyboard down from the shelf where it's been sitting gathering dust all year. I still suck at playing it, but I enjoy it, to the point that I don't know why I didn't dust that thing off sooner. I hope that I can get back into the habit of playing regularly. I have a book of sheet music for a really random variety of songs, and right now I can plink out quite a few, as long as I have the music in front of me. The only one I can play without the music is "Oh! Susannah."

I'm OFF for the 4th of July next Saturday! I don't have any plans yet, but I hope to tag along with CJ & Company, if they're doing anything. I'm thinking about making a dessert. I found a recipe for for a parfait of red Jell-O, whipped cream, and blueberries, which sounds too simple for even me to screw up. It'll either be that, or brownies with icing and red-white-and-blue sprinkles, or trying to recreate that sundae bar from my dream, or nothing at all if I get lazy. We'll see.

This lovely young lady is Peggy Ann Garner, a leading child actress of the 1940's. In 1945, at age 14, she received an Honorary Oscar for her most memorable role, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Sadly, her adult acting career was something of a flop, and she died of cancer in 1984, at age 53. So far all I've seen her in is Jane Eyre (link to a video I posted in my series of child actresses as young Jane Eyre), and I liked her so much that I'm currently on a quest to find another one of her movies. It will probably end unsuccessfully, but I'm still looking. There's something about her face that keeps drawing me back. She reminds me of a latter-day Saoirse Ronan. I just hope that Saoirse's story has a happier ending than Peggy's did.

Grandma has told me that I can make my own air-conditioner out of a box fan and a bowl of ice. Old-school.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Breathe Again, Toni Braxton

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If Rebecca could ever really breathe again, breathe again...

We're still house-sitting. I can now play Auld Lang Syne, Thine Be the Glory, Winnie-the-Pooh, and a large part of Feed the Birds on my aunt and uncle's piano. (I play in one-handed style best described as "plinking" or "crappy.") Is it wrong that out of all the cool stuff in my aunt and uncle's house, the only thing I'm really tempted to steal is the albuterol inhaler I found in the bathroom? I've taken a few puffs on it while I've been here, since they have two cats, and the big black one, Izzy, is prone to lie on your chest when you're asleep, and having cats sleep on her is not good for Rebecca's asthma. Anyway, it was indescribably great to have real asthma medication again, rather than breathing myself out of attacks, which is what I've done since my albuterol ran out.

A French actress named Victoire Thivisol, whom most people have never heard of but whom I love, has just released her first movie in seven years! (She only had one tiny TV role between then and now.) As excited as I am that she's acting again, I'm also hella frustrated at the timing of this movie's release. Why couldn't it have come out three months ago, when I could have seen it in Paris? Who knows when I'll get to see it here. But I will see it. A list for future reference...

Films with notable child actress performances that Rebecca has seen in 2008: Atonement, Divorce His - Divorce Hers, Firestarter, (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,) A Little Princess, Little Women, Nim's Island, Paper Moon.

And speaking of movies, Sara and Adam convinced me to see The Dark Knight with them last week. Frankly, I was disappointed. I've never been a big fan of action, adventure, or comic book movies (the only exceptions are the first two X-Men movies, which I loved), but I've heard so much praise about this one that I expected to really be blown away. I mean, has anyone else seen those promos that say, "A lightning bolt is about to rip into summer movies!" and "The Dark Knight soars on the wings of imagination!"? I guess for me it was a victim of its own hype. It wouldn't have been as big if Heath Ledger hadn't died.

Oh yeah, and I've got a job interview on Monday morning for a job that I might actually have a chance of getting.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Little Big Shot, Sybil Jason

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Rebecca wants more goat cheese!

I have this recurring nightmare that I’m back in high school. More specifically, that I’ve been sent back to high school because it turns out that I never really graduated. The other night I dreamed that I was at my old high school, it was the week before final exams, and I hadn’t gone to math class (with a certain pig-faced math teacher) all year, and now I was about to fail the final. The school was different than I’d remembered so I couldn’t find my way around, and none of my old classmates were there.

Sara and I are spending the next two weeks or so house-sitting for CJ & Company while they’re on vacation in Utah. And of course we are enjoying it, because besides from having an awesome house, they also have a piano, a pool, a swing set, and some very cute pets that we are taking care of. I told them they might have a hard time getting rid of me after they get back.

I found a book of sheet music to Disney songs that I gave them last year and have started tinkering with it on their piano. I can already play the song "Winnie the Pooh," almost without having to look at the music. (Of course that’s one of the easiest songs in the book and I’m already super-familiar with it because I spent most of my childhood watching that movie, but still, this is a big deal for me.) I think tonight I’m going to start on "Feed the Birds," which also looks to be pretty easy. I’m going to try to practice every day that I’m here.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: the dishwasher running

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Rebecca eats too much sugar.

I sent in two more job applications today. They're jobs I would really like, but I'm not getting my hopes up again.

I'm still finding little ways to occupy my time. I'm recycling aluminum cans, something no one else in my family does, so I usually pick their empty cans out of the garbage. And I'm practicing daily on this piano-playing video game that Adam has. Right now I'm working on two little ditties called "Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree" and "Thine Be the Glory." I'm determined to be able to play one of them on the Mortimers' piano next time I'm at their house. Note: This may mean that I won't be going over to the Mortimers' for a few more weeks.

Adam's birthday is tomorrow. I've decided not to get him anything, since I'm unemployed and he has a pretty damn privileged life, when you think about it. (He doesn't have to pay for any of his own necessities, and Mom still gives him allowance, which he spends entirely on comic books and video games.)

I'm concerned about my sugar intake lately. I picked up some good habits in France; the only stuff I drank there was water, which was all they served in the school cantine; Coke Zero, which has no sugar; and fruit juice on the weekends. But both Mom and Grandma seem hell-bent on buying soda, which is sugar disguised as a beverage, and enough sweet stuff for any ten people. Seriously, you'd be amazed at how much candy, chocolate, etc. you could find in their houses. I think it must run in the family, because I've heard Grandpa Charlie was like this too. Anyway, I have to get out of these bad American habits. Of course Adam's birthday cake tomorrow won't make that easy.