mda's mom was right

Metric is much easier than English weights and measures. I just spent 25 minutes trying to find out what to add when it says, "add 6 tablespoons to a gallon," and I have a container that holds 3 cups. I have also decided that when my parents come to visit, I would like to show them our "poison ivy crop" in the backyard. A rule at our house: if it's growing nicely, chances are, it's a weed.

Yes, my parents are going to try to make the trip again, the last weekend of August. I must remember to get them a hotel reservation. I would like to take them to APT (the outdoor theater in town), which we have a reciprocal agreement with, but only if we don't see a show on Saturday night. Which I would like to do. But again, I am low on money. Or have been, let's put it that way.

I have written 3 short shorts on tour guide experiences to put in the book. They are not brilliant, but they have potential. The problem is that I have worked there for so long, it is difficult to remember actual events. Instead, it is one long impression of tour guiding.

En flute

In other news, I have yet to hear from my prospective flute teacher again. He called 2 Saturdays ago (during the Lughnasad extravaganza) to tell me that he was interested in meeting me, but had other obligations at the moment; that he would be in touch, definitely. Here's hoping.

I had my last lesson w/Tammy this past Wednesday. Aside from going over this week's lesson (and really, it was like going to class the Friday before Christmas vacation--no one's in the mood to work), I asked her where I should go from here, and if I need to work on things aside from what I know I need to work on; that is, embouchure embouchure embouchure. Leaving out the fact that my breath control would be a lot better if I didn't smoke (dammit), and that embouchure (mouth control) just doesn't do so well when I've had 2 beers. She told me to watch the breath control in the lower registers, as I tend to let the air run low, which makes the notes come out flat.

She said that my forte was good, as well as many of my top register notes (this I know). Although dynamics, such as forte (loudness) and accents, are things that I have to really think about to keep consistent. She was really happy w/our progress over the last 3+ years. I finally asked her where I would place next to a teenager. She said, "Oh, you're much better than a high school student. Yeah, I would put you in 4th year, early college."

*very pleased*

I am by no means a natural. Then again, with Julia Child's death yesterday, I heard someone saying that her first cooking teacher said of Julia that she wasn't a natural, either. So there may be hope for me yet. Although WI-C pointed out, "I don't want to play any musical instrument that you can't drink while you're playing. That's just not right." But I also recently read that one thing that helps to keep the brain active as you age is to take up a musical instrument.

More famous people I know

Way to go, Barry!* Larry Benjamin was, I believe, the guy who lived in the room next to us at Emerson my sophomore year of college. He had a reel-to-reel on 1 wall of his dorm room, and used to make sound mixes all the time. I was just thinking about him the other day, and wondering if he ever made it.

*My roommate Julie used to say, "Barry Lenjamin... What kind of a name is that?"