The final exam week started last Friday and it shows. Yesterday during the early evening mass, the church was unusually overflowing with students, most probably imploring for Providential assistance during these "trying" times. On the other hand the computer lab where students pay to rent a computer on an hourly basis was empty this morning whereas it had always been full of students during the regular semester.
This final week of the semester promises to be a very busy one, with exams to grade, grades to compute and post, exams to make and give, thesis students to talk to plus a host of paperwork and other things related to my humble but indispensable administrative position here in our department. I can't wait to get all that over and done with and enjoy a short vacation--before it starts all over again once the summer term begins.
I thought I'd mention a funny incident that occurred before mass earlier this evening. After reading the usual parish announcements and marriage banns, the commentator for the mass made the customary request for the congregation to rise for the entrance of the priest. I was about to start playing the introduction to the entrance hymn on my keyboard when the commentator suddenly said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Our presider is not yet around." Everyone automatically turned around to see that there was indeed no priest at the rear of the church waiting to join the procession down the middle aisle, then sat down chuckling. Needless to say, the presider --our very own jolly parish priest--eventually showed up less than a minute later to start the mass.
This morning was spent watching live tennis on tv while eating breakfast followed by grading exam papers. Most of the afternoon was spent at my other keyboard, practicing then playing for the late afternoon mass here at our parish church. You could say that I finally got a break from working at this keyboard, if not from working at all. That will come once the current semester finally comes to an end.
One of the new words at Word Spy is videophilia which is defined to be "A sedentary lifestyle focused on screen-based activities, particularly television, the Internet, and video games." Except for the video games part, it sure sounds like me. (I rarely read the local newspapers either--they are more like tabloids given their sensational content--preferring to read news on the web.) It's as if I have some kind of disorder... Okay. Time to quit and get back to work--away from my laptop, that is.
For the first time in six days my nose is back to normal and hasn't "misbehaved" for a whole day. I'm not sure now exactly if it was a cold I had or some allergic reaction. If the latter, it could be due to the heat (it began to get really hot and muggy this week) and my body has finally adjusted to the temperature change. Or I was reacting to the smell of paint at the office.
We here at home are worried about our pet cat. She hasn't been eating well these past few days and hasn't been her usual active self. She used to try to slip in through the kitchen door to get to the garbage and used to follow my father around the garden when he waters the plants in the afternoon. All she does now is stay under our Honda Civic in the driveway.
I'm listening to one of my favorite piano concertos, Mozart's well-known Piano Concerto No. 20 in d which is playing over WETA 90.9 FM Internet radio. And I'm sorry to say that I'm irritated by the interpretation. It's so dry and mechanical and devoid of any passion. For a while I wonder if it is Lang Lang. I look up who the pianist is and am not surprised to find that it is another Chinese (American-born), a pianist named Derek Han. A website says that his "... compelling playing has dazzled audiences across five continents." In a way, I have to agree. If I take this recording of Mozart's piano concerto as a representative of his playing, I do believe it dazzles audiences but will probably leave them just as unmoved as I was.
The fuel gauge indicator had been hovering over the red line for a couple of days now so I was very anxious to arrive at the gas station--a 4km drive from my office--without running out of gas. I have never been so relieved to finally get gasoline into the car's gas tank even if it set me back by Php1.9K given today's rapidly rising gasoline prices. And I found out that my car can travel at least 400km on a full tank of gas. Not bad!
The queues at KFC were long as usual at lunchtime today. I didn't mind waiting in line several minutes but I was pretty annoyed by the lady after me who stood very close behind and insisted on taking two steps forward (she kept bumping into me) every time the person up front was given his order and walked away. At one point I was sorely tempted to turn around and tell her she's still fifth in line and that being closer to the counter doesn't mean she'll be getting served any sooner.
One can tell that summer is here--at least here where I work. Car owners compete for the parking spots farthest from our office building but which are situated under several shady trees while nobody wants to park near the building where the sun beats down mercilessly especially in the afternoon. During the rainy season it's quite the opposite: it's the spots near the building that are taken first. Apparently nobody relishes taking the long walk from their car to the building in the pouring rain carrying an umbrella over the heads with arms loaded with books, papers and bags.
My rebellious nose didn't behave too badly today at work: it wasn't that congested and I didn't have to blow my nose too frequently. But an hour after eating supper, my nose got stuffy again and I was beginning to feel irritated because I couldn't breath easily. So I tried sucking on some candy and taking frequent sips of water. This has always worked with me but not this time. Then much later I had a yen for some chocolate so I got one piece of Bacetti (we have a whole bag given by a family friend working in Italy) from the fridge and ate it. Surprise: my stuffy nose cleared up! And it has remained clear until now, an hour later.
I told my students that I would be posting their class standings tomorrow afternoon yet. But I managed to get everything done today: I graded their exams, entered their scores into my spreadsheet record file then printed it all out to post on the corkboard outside my office door. Now I'm done! And it's just past 5pm, a good 23 hours before my self-imposed deadline.
I'm once again listening to the radio streamed through the Internet because I'm (still) tired of listening to my mp3s. Besides, I get to hear something new and interesting once in a while. When that happens I look up the name of the piece on the radio station's playlist, paste it into my Google Notebook and hope to find an mp3 or CD of it sometime in the future. Or if it was a piano piece, I'd be sure to look for sheet music.
I didn't have even a minute to write notes throughout today. First I had to finalize an exam, make copies of it and then administer it. That took most of my morning up until 2pm basically. This was followed--after a brief pause to gobble down some lunch--by a series of thesis defenses that had already began in the morning but which I didn't attend because of my exam. That lasted until past 6:15pm. On top of all this, my nose was constantly alternating between being runny and being stuffy--most probably due to having to run in and out of air-conditioned rooms and hot muggy corridors.
Hoping to get some temporary relief to my cold and headache I decided to make myself a cup of hot something. I search through the various sachets stashed in one of my desk's drawers and finally settle on one called Alfonso's Gourmet Cocoa. I fill my large mug with hot water from the hot pot in the office kitchen and pour in the contents of sachet. To my delight, I find that it tastes not like typical 3-in-1 hot chocolate mix but more like the kind of cocoa drink you get from chocolate tablea (large round tablets of cocoa that you dissolve in boiling water in a saucepan). Very reminiscent of the thick rich hot chocolate we had in Rome a few years ago! Mmmm.
On my way to the ladies' restroom, I saw a stray tom cat come running out of the men's restroom. A common litter box was probably no longer good enough for him.
It's just my second day back from Holy Week break and I'm constantly harassed by students who want to know their current class standings, when their final exams will be, need to present their thesis to me before their coming defense on Wednesday, etc. On top of this, I've also been receiving requests from those higher up in the university's administration to produce so-and-so documents or papers needed on this-and-that date. The latter is all part of my responsibilities that go with my administrative role here in our department. No wonder a former colleague who use to hold this position was so stressed out when dealing with all this especially at this time of the year. And now it's my turn.
I'm listening to WFIU radio over the Internet and the piano concerto being played sounds familiar. I'm guessing that it's by Camille Saint-saens when a passage tells me that it's definitely by that composer. I hadn't heard this concerto (Piano Concerto No. 4 in c minor) for more than twenty years. The last time I heard it was during a piano concerto competition where the accompaniment was provided on a second piano.
The little kiosk that sells roast chicken here in town recently put up a banner to inform members of a certain cooperative that "you can redeem/exchange your meal stabs for one whole roast chicken". Ouch. Somebody must have finally pointed out the error to the owner of the kiosk because soon after that the banner mysteriously disappeared. Then it reappeared after a couple of days. This time the word "stabs" was replaced by "stubs".
While walking back to office with my lunch I noticed a middle-aged fellow drive by on a motorcycle. Either the motorcycle belonged to his daughter or he was very fond of the color lavender because the body of the motorcycle was painted lavender and so was the helmet he was wearing.
I can hear thunder rumbling from the south in the distance. I hope it rains. It's been rather warm and humid these past few days. The cool breeze blowing through my bedroom windows carries with it a waft of rain. But that's all we get. The storm rumbles by. It doesn't rain as usual. Maybe tomorrow.
The Holy Week has come to an end and I'm dead tired. I had began the week hoping to relax and recharge for the following days with all the rush typical of the end of a semester. I certainly didn't expect nor look forward to being accompanist during the Holy Week celebrations. (I got asked at the last minute.) But looking back, I must say that I'm happy I did because I had fun learning about Gregorian chants and how to interpret chant music: I learned something new!
It's fiesta at the nearby barrio today--the patron of their little chapel is the Risen Christ--and I can hear a marching band coming down the main road to traditionally wake up the barrio residents and greet the Easter morning with music.
Apart from the usually wonderful solemn prayers and ceremonies, the singing at this evening's Easter Vigil was a let down from that during the other masses/services of Easter Triduum. The contemporary Christian songs sung tonight provided a jarring anticlimax to all the Latin chants we had for Holy Thursday. Plus, two of the five cantors who sang the responsorial psalms were simply terrible. Even the congregation knew they were singing out of tune. It makes me wonder who selected these people to sing.
I couldn't help but notice earlier that the setting was just perfect for the lighting of the Paschal candle outdoors in the church grounds at the beginning of the this evening's Easter Vigil mass. The full moon was up, the sky was clear and, looking up, I could clearly see the constellations Orion, Canis Major and Canis Minor setting in the southwest evening sky.
I have just learned that Roger Federer got a helping hand from Tommy Haas to move into the semifinals at Indian Wells when the latter withdrew from their quarterfinals match due to a sinus infection. What a let down! It could have been an exciting match given that Tommy Haas had been playing very well lately. Plus I had been looking forward to watch Roger play after having missed opportunities this past week since his matches were shown live either in the wee hours of the morning or during work hours while I was at the office.
As I was setting up my keyboard at the chapel for Good Friday services just after lunchtime, I heard a familiar laugh. It was a wheezy type of laugh that threatened to break into uncontrollable giggles. And it was coming from a crowd of people assembled near the altar. When I looked up from what I was doing, sure enough there was our jolly and rotund parish priest greeting visitors who had dropped by as part of their Visita Iglesia pilgrimage.
Eep. I'm lining up to venerate the cross during Good Friday services and see that we need to remove our shoes before kneeling on the rug placed before the crucifix we're supposed to kiss. I had totally forgotten about that practice and am horrified at the thought because I remember seeing as I got dressed that a portion of the heel of my left black sock has gone threadbare! To think that I didn't bother to change socks since I thought it would remain safely out of sight.
Here I am once again "watching" tennis mainly because Star Sports is not showing a live telecast of the match. This time it's Rafael Nadal vs. James Blake where the head-to-head is 0-3. Blake broke Nadal's serve early on but Nadal broke back. Then at 5-all, Nadal broke serve, fell back 0-40 when serving for the set but then again Nadal fought back from there to finally take the first set 7-5.
Sigh. Too bad I'm missing all the action and excitement.
This morning--it's Good Friday, by the way--I saw my mom reach for the ginger snaps to eat as a mid-morning snack. My parents have been exempted from fasting for a number of years now. Although I recognize the spiritual benefits of fasting and abstaining, the rebellious side of me laments that I've still got a long way to go yet before I am allowed eat something between meals on this day.
I have just come home from Holy Thursday mass where most of the songs sang were in the original Latin and I provided organ accompaniment. I had also spent a couple of hours before the mass practicing with the choir assigned to sing during the mass. That's how I found out that playing music pieces for the organ on my keyboard is more difficult than playing piano pieces: it takes more effort to stretch one's fingers and hold down the keys for long periods of time to sustain the notes.
With the recent renewed interest in singing mass songs in the original Latin and chant setting, there is a new item on my wish list: Jules Van Nuffel's Nova Organi Harmonia. Drool.
Am "watching" tennis--by which I mean I'm watching live tennis scores online--and Juan Carlos Ferrero has just won a very tight three-set match against Mario Ancic. Ferrero was down 2-4 in the tiebreak of the deciding set but apparently made some mini-breaks to get even in the nick of time at 6-6. He eventually won the tiebreak 9-7. The match must have been truly exciting to watch!
On second thought, God has been transmitting electricity through the air. It's called lightning. We've just got to figure out how to do it safely--if that is possible at all!
This is the third pair of AAA batteries that I've used for my wireless optical mouse in less than two months. I don't know whether that's normal or not. Or whether it's because of the mouse's high power consumption or the batteries are no good.
In any case, somebody's got to figure out how to transmit electricity through the air or wireless-ly. And then we can just plug in some gadget into the USB and have that transmit power to the mouse and keyboard aside from having it receive signals from the mouse and keyboard. The same could be applied to remote controls of televisions, DVD players, etc.
I have just finished eating a small piece of bibingka which my mother brought home today and which we had for dessert this evening. Yum-yum. It was a welcome change from the chocolate cake my parents had bought for my birthday last week.
Have just found out that a little Lost Sheep has finally lost its battle to stay alive. Sigh. Too bad I couldn't help in any way since I don't even own a credit card that I can use to pay for online purchases.
One side of one of the wheels of my computer chair here at work broke off from its "axle" several months ago. Since then I have had to stop work once in a while to squat down on the floor to put back the wheel whenever it fell off so that I could glide around again in my chair.
But it finally got fixed just earlier when one of our utility workers here simply replaced the whole "foot" with wheels taken from another chair in the storeroom that was beyond repair. Had I known it would be that easy to fix it--I thought the office would have to order new parts or else glue back the wheel to the "axle"--I would have complained about it to our property custodian long ago.
Earlier this evening I spotted an interesting photo on Flickr via labpixies' Flickr slideshow widget, clicked on the link to view the picture and marked it as my favorite. But my internet connection was apparently slow and it took about a minute before the favorite star icon finally turned fuschia.
I was puzzled though that the photo didn't appear among my favorites when I later checked my favorite Flickr photos. So I attempted to bring up the Flickr webpage with the photo--the labpixies Flickr slideshow was by then showing a different series of photos--by checking my browser's history. The page was nowhere to be found. Then I looked among the latest interesting Flickr photos via Flickr Browser. It wasn't there either.
Now I'm wondering whether I had just imagined it all.
Featured on the news on tv just earlier was some green pizza, complete with green cheese and toppings, prepared by a pizza place in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. My first thought was, why not green eggs and ham a la Dr. Seuss? (The timing too would be perfect to toast the acclaimed film adaptation of Seuss' "Horton Hears a Who" which had just topped the box office over the weekend.)
There had apparently been a brief rain shower several minutes before I crossed the wet street to go to the next office building sometime today in the mid-afternoon. Then as I walked, I got a whiff of rainwater heated by the sunbaked asphalt. Mmm. The weather had been so unusually cool these past few months that I had not experienced that smell for a long time ...
After going through such a stressful weekend working overtime to meet a deadline, it came home to me once again why God insisted on reserving the Sabbath--be it Saturday or Sunday--for rest and worship. I don't think I'd survive another fortnight without a chance to rest and recharge physically, mentally and spiritually for the following week!
Okay, I went to bed early and woke up early. But since I automatically reached over to turn off my alarm clock, I actually got up not at 1am as I planned but rather just before 3am--which was just fine because I also got to watch some tennis live on tv at the same time while working on my papers! (Haha. Dubai champion Roddick lost to Tommy Haas.)
Still, as I discovered later this morning at work, I made some errors. Although I felt alert while working earlier I guess my brain was still half asleep. Or I might have been distracted a bit by the tennis .... but then I wasn't really watching.
But hey, at least I got my papers done in time for today's deadline!
It's only 9:30pm but I am already very tired from working overtime this weekend. And I'm not yet done with all that paperwork due tomorrow!
I now have to make a decision: I may either continue drudging on in my groggy state and risk making mistakes--as past experience has taught me--or else hit the sack early and just wake up early tomorrow morning and resume work. Hopefully I'll be more wide awake then and be less prone to errors and get more work done at the same time.
The weather's beautiful once again; the sun is out and the sky is blue. A wonderful day for taking photos of the blooming kalachuchi trees on campus. But I've forgotten to bring along my camera again. Sigh.
I came across this picture of a cute rabbit over at Flickr. For some strange reason, it reminds me of Andy Roddick. Must be the spiky brown hair... or else the somewhat close-set eyes ... or something.
With my wireless optical mouse refusing to work with depleted batteries, I have resorted to using the touchpad of my laptop nearly all day for scrolling through pages and dragging drawing objects. And now my wrist is aching. Unless I have been holding my arm and wrist at the wrong angle my conclusion is this: touchpads are no good for long term use.
Phew! I was able to install a Label Cloud widget for this blog just as I did for my original blog and for my Federer blog.
Am really glad somebody thought of such a space-saving and visual way to display labels--not to mention write up the code for inclusion in the Blogger template.
Have just pored over a quick tutorial on how to read "square notes" or neumes used for notating ancient sacred music. Interesting and useful stuff.
I used to search the Internet for sheet music of traditional Latin chants to be sung during mass and would be deeply disappointed if I could only find chant music written in chant notation because I wasn't familiar at all with the strange notation. Happily for me that will no longer be the case from now on.
This is my microblog or miniblog website which will constitute of brief jottings--in other words, 30-second notes or 32nd notes--of events, thoughts and ideas ranging from the mundane to possibly the bizarre (so beware!) that come to me during the course of the day.
