Thing-a-day.com

Yesterday:

I went to the first “church orchestra” rehearsal. It sucked, actually. I also realized a fact that I had learned and forgotten years ago: most music for winds and brass isn’t written at concert pitch. This was a temporary problem, as there was no part for a viola, and I attempted to read a Bb clarinet part instead (and sounded dreadfully off-key). After I figured it out, things fared slightly better.

Today:

I began an acrylic painting, my first ever. No pictures right now, though, because I’m being anal about the number of picture albums that I have on my computer. I should be working on it tomorrow and probably more after that, though, so pictures will eventually come.

Today, I jogged approximately 2.5 miles.

Yesterday, I finished copying the music into alto clef for my church orchestra.  You can see my previous post about the music if you want to know more.

On each of these days, I drew a picture.  Four different pictures, all at school.  No photos to post - sorry!

Today, I took a hike, along with my parents and overly-anxious dog.

I could hear the wind whistling through the trees, but it wasn’t a nice whistle; oh, no, it was a fireman’s whistle, loud and powerful.  The wind itself was like a cold punch to the face.   I felt the stretchy gray sleeves of my mother’s borrowed jacket on my hands; I’m petite, and it was a little big for me.  Crunch.  The leaves shredded under my feet.  I enjoyed brief moments of serenity, but they were quickly ruined by constant bathroom stops for my dog, or her strain forward, pull back motion.  The dumb creature is lovable, but she never understood the idea of pacing.

The wind quieted once we got into the actual forest part, instead of an actual road.  At some point in the walk, I read a sign that warned of hunting.  Luckily, no hunters on Sundays.  Neon orange vests caught my eye as they peeped out tentatively from a dark box.  Safety vests.  Everything that is “safety” is orange: life vests, hunting vests, inflatable rafts, and traffic cones.  The dob peed again, for what must’ve been the half-billionth time.  On the way back, she stepped into a puddle and began lapping it up, never mind the fact that we weren’t far from the van where water awaited our return.  Silly dog.

I didn’t take any pictures, so I tried to paint a (brief) portrait with words.

Today, I began to transpose some easy-peasey music from the treble clef to alto clef so that it would be easier for me to read on the viola.

Recently, I joined my church’s new orchestra. *Shrug*. I don’t feel extremely passionate about it or anything, seeing as I have a lot of other activities already that I really care a lot about, but it seems like it’ll be really low-key and there wasn’t much reason for me not to join. Anyhow, to get to the point, the music did not have a viola part. I was given a Bb clarinet (like the normal kind of clarinet that most people play if they play the clarinet, for those who don’t know) part, which is written in treble clef. I can read treble clef (I played piano for years before I quit), but when I play the viola, specifically, alto clef comes more naturally.

Whoops.  I forgot to post yesterday because we were celebrating my dad’s birthday.  I still did something, though, and even took pictures.

For my day, I decided to bike randomly around in my neighborhood.  I have actually come to the conclusion that:

1) I am out of shape, which isn’t too surprising because I haven’t exercised at all, recently.

2) Part of what made it so difficult was the fact that at least one (and probably both) of my bike tires was flat, and I’m hoping that when I fix that issue I’ll be a much better biker than I was yesterday.

Pictures:

The second one used to be a much larger picture, which is why the sign is blurred now.

Today, I made a birthday card for my dad. He actually just came back tonight from a climbing trip (one of his hobbies) with some friends, hence the mountain theme.

The colors in the card are a little screwy, but it’s otherwise all right. The mountain itself looks weird because it was made out of shiny paper and the scanner didn’t quite pick up on that. Also, the whites are a little whiter on the actual card than they are on here.

My thing for today is writing, as a part of a collective story effort. It’s my turn to write, and I’ve already got part of my part done.

Also, yesterday I posted that I had made a Mardi Gras mask. Here’s a picture. (It scanned well.)  Click on the picture for a bigger picture.  The full size looks much better, I promise.

So, for Fat Tuesday, the fifth day, I made myself a Mardi Gras mask.  It’s relatively simply done - just purpley construction paper and beads and such.  I would post a picture, but my camera still needs batteries.

Anyway, hope I got the title correct.

I almost forgot to do something today, but then I remembered.

Yes, it is way early.  But I was “inspired” by some sort of Valentine’s-themed thing on the front page.  And also I needed something to do.

Photo significantly edited in Paintshop Pro 7.

Today, I drew a picture of a woman in a short dress.  She may or may not be dancing, although I like to think that she is.

Unfortunately, my scanner is stupid and my camera needs new batteries.  So, no picture tonight.  Maybe I’ll go back and post one later.

 Haiku format:

drove the minivan
to my school, and even back
for a rehearsal

it was my first time
driving to school  on my own
nervous, then relieved

Basically, I do drive, but this was my first time specifically taking myself to my school and back.  It’s not extremely far away, but it’s still a decent distance (because I go to a magnet).  And if that wasn’t creative enough in itself, I just posted it in haiku form.

Much to my dismay, I very nearly forgot about this.  That would have put a rather large damper on things.

Luckily, I noticed mention of it online somewhere and almost immediately realized.

For my first thing, I’ve done the cover (in pencil) of a potential comic series, “The Adventures of Violawoman and Bowgirl”.  There really wasn’t much planning involved; it came from my head after I recalled a discussion with a classmate sometime last year about how “Violawoman” would make for a great superhero.

Violawoman wears a longsleeved stretch-fitting shirt with a large “V” on the front.  She also likes to wear lightweight women’s pajama shorts.  And she… um… plays the viola.  Which is also, incidentally, my main instrument.

There’s no picture because A) I might feel like editing/changing things and B) I don’t feel like taking the time right now to deal with it.