I joined the first sports club I have ever been a part of in my life. I had a huge amount of fun today and I was doing a sport, I never do sports, but this isn't just any sport, this is fencing. I expect to be very busy this year, in addition to writing my dissertation and taking my final courses for my degree I am also playing a lead role in an opera, taking Italian, and fencing. I figured the Italian would be good since the opera (which is over 3 hours) is in Italian, and well, I need to do some sort of exercise, and I've always wanted to play with swords.

I'm about to turn in my application for grad school. That's making me stressed. I am so worried about my damn personal statement, and then if I do get an audition, I am really worried about making sure I pick the right audition pieces as well as the fact that I'm pretty sure I need to learn some new ones and I'm worried about if I can do that in time.

Otherwise, I'm alive, and poking people with pointy objects, and am generally fairly happy.

Everyone should take part in Earth Hour and turn their lights off for an hour at 8:30PM (whatever their local time) this evening. Earth Hour is a global protest against climate change. It would make you a good person. Here's a link

http://www.earthhourus.org/main.php

I'm going to Edinburgh tomorrow to see Riverdance. AWESOME! It will be deafening fun.

Next week I'm going to go see Swan Lake. And later in the week I'm going to do something I have never done before: perform an all American concert. Oh yes, folk songs, Gershwin and good old Stephen Schwartz (the guy who wrote Wicked) all in one concert. I may even arrange it as sorts of snapshots of developing American music. It will be fun.

So this week, Irish fun, next week, Russian and American fun. All around, good fun times. Huzzah!

I just got an email from the University Chaplaincy.

"Going to see Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore on Saturday 21st February. It will be at Aberdeen Arts Centre Theatre at 7.30pm. Prices are £10 for adults and £8 for students. Gilbert and Sullivan were famous for writing musicals/plays around about 200 years ago."

So, apparently operas have turned into plays and we have suddenly gone 80 years into the future.

I found a swimming pool in the hall closet today. So naturally my flatmates and I inflated it, filled it up, and drank booze while relaxing in the pool.

I'm not sure which is cooler, this, or the igloo I built a couple weeks ago with my friends.

Hey Jacksonville kids (and those who used to live there), you should check out this link.

http://www.duvalschools.org/static/aboutdcps/superintendent/supermessage_2009_budget.asp

Education cuts next year might be as high as $139 million. My mom says Duval county is looking at cutting all music and art programs in elementary schools, and they're looking at limiting transportation to magnet schools. Please check out that link, it will tell you how to get in touch with the right people to help minimize some of the cuts. Florida is currently ranked 50th in America for education, and 47th in taxes, clearly something needs to be done to help education in the state.

In December I had the single worst audition of my life so far. I completely bombed it, the only thing I did well was I kept going and kept my cool (externally at least). I thought it went so badly I haven't been back to choir since and I've been avoiding the director at all costs. Today I had to go see him for something else and he handed me a letter which I read in the hall after I left his office. I GOT THE SCHOLARSHIP I AUDITIONED FOR!!!!!! I was in complete shock for over an hour. I couldn't understand why I got it when I had failed so badly. Not the shock has worn off I'm finally doing the "YAYOMGIGOTIT!!!!!*SQUEE*" so....

OH MY GOD I GOT THE SCHOLARSHIP!!!!!!!!!!!

*squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee*

Note: this is my first scholarship ever, and its for vocal performance

Today I made the most amusing purchase I have ever made. I bought J K Rowling's new book "The Tales of Beedle the Bard", and "The Crimes of Love" by the Marquis de Sade.

I'm not usually patriotic about America, but this time, something has pushed the right buttons. I'm taking a music history course on twentieth-century music and I've noticed something a bit...unusual for the subject. The course is completely ignoring American composers. You know, just little people like Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein...you know, just little, unimportant people right? I swear to god I'm going to chew out the course co-ordinator for this. You can't study ANYTHING in culture in the last century without mentioning America at least ONCE, even if it's negatively. Oh my god, how could you ignore GERSHWIN?!?!? RHAPSODY IN BLUE PEOPLE! not a small piece of work there. Oh, and of course later we have John Cage, and although I don't like him, he does deserve a spot in music history. My god what were these people thinking when they arranged this course?!? "Oh well, the only classical music that exists comes out of Europe" That sounds about right. My god it annoys me. I mean, I love Stravinsky, but I love Gershwin too, I just want all my boys to get credit where credit is due.

Oh, and this course is more specifically how music changed over time, and new influences, you'd think jazz might actually show up seeing as harmonies permeate much of classical music now.

Oh my god I stayed up until 5am last night dredging through my essay. I'm still not done. I got up an hour late today and I'll go into work late, I don't care. I'm going to ask for an extention on this essay. It should be due in this afternoon but I have been sick since Sunday and I literally have no voice. If I attempt to speak, nothing comes out, I did my presentation for this course with little voice this past Monday and didn't complain about it, so I hope she takes pity on me and remembers that. I really hope this throat thing goes away fast, I don't want to be sick while traveling this Saturday.

I'm dreaming of a Christmas with palm trees and beaches. My parents were complaining its cold in Florida but I just looked up the weather report. ITS NOT FUCKING COLD!!! In fact, its warmer now in Jacksonville than it ever was in Aberdeen this entire past summer. So...who wants to go to the beach with me?

I spent all day yesterday baking cookies and muffins for the bake sale today for the Opera Society. And I spent 4 and a half hours selling them today. I am very pleased though, we made a good amount of money, and a guy I know offered to buy whatever was left in the end so if he does we should make even more. I wish I could add a zero onto the end of the figure though, the theatre is soooo expensive. And after all that effort I'm dead tired, so I am going to take a well deserved rest before I get back to doing my essay.

EDIT: Obviously I was a bit tired after all that baking and selling and wasn't thinking well enough to even write a proper lj entry.

I have been trying to find some nice music competitions to enter. There's one big one I can enter, but I'm SO not ready for it yet, and I found one here I thought "maybe", then I read the fine print. You can only enter it if you're from the Commonwealth or the EU. Fucking bastards. I can't do anything here unless I'm from the Commonwealth or the EU. I think the USA should be made part of the Commonwealth, it WAS a British Colony, so I think it should count.

*wanders off grumbling*

I just love Thanksgiving in this country. We don't get the day off of course and because I insist on doing it on the day I end up having to cook around my lecture schedule. It also usually means I get to cook everything by myself because my friend are "too busy" to help. At least this year my awesome Canadian friend is going to help, which makes me kinda happy it will be a North American affair with no sneaky British ways of cooking things getting into my Thanksgiving meal. Hopefully I won't get stressed about it this year, but I have to admit I'm already tired of cooking it as I started hours ago making things like pumpkin pie and cornbread.

I've finally gotten to that point in life where I go "holy shit, I graduate soon, WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO THEN?!?!" So I've decided I want to go to grad school, and knowing that on principal the places I am going to apply never accept you the first time round I'm trying to figure out what job I want to get between degrees that will pay well so I can actually afford my post-grad. So I think I'm going to get the Cambridge CELTA qualification (ESOL) and go teach English somewhere. And hey, if all else failed, I could at least teach ESOL in America. Its the best plan I cam come up with at the moment, I hope it works.

I'm in a lecture now discussing the dress of angels in the first few hundred years of Christianity. And the different views of angels, like Gabriel, in Christianity and Judaism. I'm trying not to fall asleep.

American's. People overseas truely do view the American presidential elections as a spectators sport. I currently have some friends who have gone off to a girl's house where they will be staying up all night to watch as the results roll in. I, however, am being slightly more sensible. I'm going to go to sleep and check the results in the morning.

I know most of ya'll are gonna get to vote on November 4 but since I live overseas I already got my ballot. It is now currently in the post on its merry way back to Duval County where it will be counted with the rest of your votes. And I am just oh so happy I have voted.

I bought a 2 liter (over half a gallon) bottle of milk last night with the intention of using it for breakfast this morning as well as tea throughout the day. But when I got up this morning, I found that this bottle, which had not been opened, was completely used and in the bin. What the fuck. As soon as I see her I'm going to demand the money for the various things she has been using that are mine. This is a fucking joke. Milk does not magically appear in the fridge for you, someone else has bought it and unless you have decided with them to share food, YOU CANNOT EAT THEIR FOOD!!!

EDIT: I just walked into the kitchen to see her using my sugar and milk to make tea/coffee for her guests which I obviously didn't want to chew her out about in front of her guests. Actually, come to think about it, if she was making tea then she used mine as she doesn't like it herself.

Now my new flatmate is drinking my milk. In large quantities. How do you say "STOP EATING MY FUCKING FOOD!" nicely?