News Bulletin

The top five reasons Jeanine hasn't been blogging lately:

1. She's been feeling a little uninspired.
2. She has just increased her work hours and is a little bit swamped!
3. She is actually trying to do most of her readings for her classes, and she is even studying Italian. Occasionally.
4. It's almost mid-terms! Ack! Projects due! Ack!
5. She is being torn apart twice weekly in private and public piano lessons, and she is beginning to feel that she ought to live at the piano and forsake all others as she tackles an enormous amount of new repertoire.

The news, consolidated:

1. I'm now the untitled administrative assistant at the Music Institute. And rather enjoying it. If you want something done right, after all...
2. I'm teaching a Petite Pianists class for kindergartners that is an absolute riot -- and way too much work on my part, but who cares? They're great!
3. I've finally joined a home group, filled with people my age. Not sure I fit in, but I never have before, so who cares?
4. About twice a week, I get the feeling that I should give up this whole music charade and go back to pulling weeds for a living.
5. Despite it all, I love my job, I love my music (new and old), I love my classes, and I'm pretty perky. Perhaps a bit under-rested, but what else is new?

And that may have to last you for a while. But I'll try to come back after some of this paperwork is cleared up. Any questions?

Don't Bring on the Groom Just Yet!

Or, "Another Reason We Know Jeanine is Not Ready to Marry"

Lately, I've been chiding Xana Ender as she struggles to determine the difference between periwinkle and English lavender in preparation for her wedding this summer. Apparently, though, this sort of decision is crucial. I was listening to a couple acquaintances chat last night. J. had a meeting with her wedding outfitter (or whatever you call them), and she was appalled to discover the woman didn't know what J's wedding colors were to be. "I could have ended up with nine bridesmaid dresses in the wrong color!" Imagine -- having a wedding in taupe and ivory rather than taupe and champagne!

I apologize, Xana Ender. It is most likely a sign of my immaturity and single-hood that I don't take these things seriously enough. I'll try to grow out of it ... but I make no promises of success!

We all know that Jeanine's a dork

Or a nerd, if you prefer. Either way, I don't usually care because it's much more fun than being boring or bored! All the same, when you hit the snooze button in the morning and your half-conscious mind begins to organize the numbers on the clock into a set-class, and you find yourself thinking of <3,4,5> in best normal order [O12] and realizing that this is a common subset of the initial set in the Webern you're analyzing, perhaps things have gone too far.

Warm and Cozy Tips from Jeanine

Last night, I made a marvelous discovery. My friends, the K.'s, gave me a microwaveable heat wrap for Christmas. Now, if you have a headache (or the more severe Headache), the best thing in the world is to curl up under the covers, heat your jasmine-scented heat wrap, and put it over your face. It feels absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, it's a little hard to be productive in this position, unless you have a tall stack of Haydn string quartets that you need to listen to, and you should take care not to suffocate. The warm-and-cozy quotient is extremely high, and you might just fall asleep. Which is what you wanted to do, anyway, and your stupid Headache wouldn't let you.

This concludes your Warm and Cozy Tip of the Day. Grab your jasmine-scented heat wrap and enjoy!

The definition of "gang aft agley"

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane,
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!
-- "To A Mouse" by Robert Burns

Some of you may have looked at the calendar and wondered why I'm not in Russia, playing my little heart out and shivering. Well, we ended up cancelling the trip. Of course, I'm a little disappointed, but I think it's for the best. In fact, over the past week, we've all decided this was probably the hand of God. So, what exactly happened?

Um. Actually, I don't know all the details and I don't feel at liberty to post some of those that I know. The up-shot is this: Dr. Voro was given to understand that she was not welcome at the festival. Having our only Russian-speaking companion out of the picture, we (the three grad students) took a careful look at some of the issues we had expected her to help with. The degree of organization of the festival was such that we didn't know some of the details such as address, phone number, and whether or not any heat was available. We were faced with the necessity of travelling to down-town Moscow to take a bus out to Ruza, which was physically impossible for two of us, or finding alternate transportation, which was impossible without a basic knowledge of the language and an precise destination. Even had we been able to surmount these obstacles, we still didn't know with whom we would be studying. Additionally, T. had an ever-worsening back problem that kept her in agony most of the time.

Besides, I had a sinking feeling that this was going to resemble some other badly organized international adventures I had survived recently. I figured that this could easily be much worse, given my lack of Russian and the difference in mission of the two organizations. Previously, I could rest in the assurance that the Powers that Be were ultimately concerned with my welfare as well as the completion of our mission. This time, I had no idea what the interests of the Powers that Be were.

Over the course of the week, as we all relaxed from the "getting ready for Russia" tension, we were all relieved to be here in Kentucky. T. finally saw the doctor and was able to treat her back properly -- no thirteen hour plane trips, plenty of powerful muscle relaxers, etc. P. and I were able to attend classes (of the snooze and lose variety) that we were rather worried about missing. And I'm finally beginning new repertoire. So, really, even though the week began with a series of frantic phone calls and disappointments, things haven't gone so awfully "agley" after all. People say, "Man plans -- God laughs." I'm not sure He was laughing at us, but I think His eyes are twinkling -- and He may have winked.