Back to the old rhythms once again

Currently in Earphones: Live Wizardry: The Best of Silly Wizard in Concert


So, class has started up again, and I hope that I haven't signed a death-wish by taking both Latin and Greek at the same time. I figure I only have one more year, and have been told numerous times that I should at least have a little Greek under my belt if I plan on continuing with the Classics into grad school. So, Greek 1 it is, and so far, quite fun! The alphabet is just alien enough to instill a sense of cool in learning it, but is also familiar enough not to be totally incompatible with English (though the lowercase Nu (v) and the uppercase Eta (H) still goof me every once and a while). I'm guessing that I'll be cursing it come the second or third quarter, when its many moods (i.e. indicative, subjunctive, optative) come into play.

Latin looks to be more of the same, though Sallust writes in a really short and halting style. This inconcinnitas is evidently what he was aiming for, though it's fun when you have to figure out what verb he hasn't included in the rambling sentence devoid of anything but nouns and adjectives. And by "fun" I mean "rather annoying, yet still strangely enjoyable."

Classics 10: Mythology looks to be a blast, and only two exams to be accountable for! No homework or papers or anything! And it's all about classical myth, what more could you want?

(un)Fortunately, UWP 104C: Journalism takes up the writing slack. The prof. is wonderfully down to earth and blunt, which is greatly refreshing after endless bland professors over the past few years. He's good natured about it too, so no-one gasped when a straggler showed up 10 minutes late and he wryly quipped "You're late, damnit!" The amount of writing doesn't look terribly much, but enough to drive off the snooty sorority chicks looking for an easy A.

I had a good scare when I found out that the last class that I need to take for my degree isn't offered this year. I had a day where the next two years were up in the air until I chatted with my adviser. Luckily, the Classics department is fairly lenient on the subject, and they'll allow a sensible substitution, of which the Rhetoric class or Greek Tragedy course was offered as an option. I think I'll take the former and be done with it, though I'll stay through spring in order to finish out lower division Greek and maybe take a few more music courses. Still, a mighty weight off my mind, that.

I also chatted with Michael Sands, head of the Baroque Ensemble, when between classes today. He mentioned that we might be doing Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, which would be wonderfully cool. I got a recording of it my freshman year and fell in love with it, so it would be neat if we got a chance to give it a whirl. The first meet is tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to that with excitement.

Fencing has recommenced, and with what a send off! We had at least 20 new newbs show up on the first practice, which is a record since all the way back when I first started with the club 3 years ago. All the officers and elder fencers were ecstatic to see so many fresh faces, I was absolutely extroverted with giddiness. And to boot, a bunch of the elder fencers fenced (and look to be fencing for much longer) Epee, so much that we had two strips going for a time. Toeswas being his usual self; in that he managed to miss my entire body and peg me in the off-hand that I was deliberately holding up and out of the way. On a closing note, it's only taken me 3 years to realize the perks of showing up late, past the unreasonably strenuous warm ups, such that I actually have the energy to fence when free fencing comes up. You'll be seeing me show up on the half-hour this year, folks, and make no mistake! Maybe this time I'll have the energy to learn some quickness and finally be somewhat decent on the strip.

That's about it for the time being, I'll fill in on the ladyfriend when more comes up: If I'm lucky, I'll get to see her at the Cal Poly Fencing Tournament. Until then, folks!


Enough, More Later.
- James

'Cuz you haven't heard enough whining from me already

Currently in Earphones: the highly apropos Silly Wizard album, So Many Partings


It's interesting to note that every album by Silly Wizard I have bought has had at least one lonesome song that I immediately take a liking to. Such Scottish solitude strikes a similar chord in me, and while it may or may not be personally applicable, it at least illustrates the heartbreak that confronts us all in many of it's facets. The newest song is as follows...

~~~

"Bridget O'Malley"

Oh, Bridget O'Malley, you've left my heart shaken
With a hopeless desolation, I'll have you to know
It's the wonders of adoration your quiet face has taken
And your beauty will haunt me, wherever I go.

The white moon above the pale sands, the pale stars above the thorn tree
Are cold beside my darling, but no purer than she
I gaze upon the cold moon til the stars drown in the warm sea
And the bright eyes of my darling are never on me.

My Sunday it is weary, my Sunday it is grey now
My heart is a cold thing, my heart is a stone
All joy is dead within me, my life has gone away now
Another has taken my love for his own.

The day it is approaching when we were to be married
But it's rather I would die than live only to grieve
Oh, meet me my darling ere the sun sets o'er the barley
And I'll meet you there, on the road to Drumslieve.

Oh, Bridget O'Malley, you've left my heart shaken
With a hopeless desolation, I'll have you to know
It's the wonders of adoration your quiet face has taken
and your beauty will haunt me, wherever I go.

~~~

A interpretive point; the second line of each verse ends on a very plaintive minor chord, but the final line ends on a quasi-major chord, almost like a deceptive cadence, but more subtle. It speaks to me of the fact that the man in the song is riven by the loss, but still takes succor in the fact that he always has his memory of her love, even in this dark time.

Anyway, off to bed so I can work on a Saturday, ugh.


Enough, More Later.
- James