But onto more interesting things. First of all, yes I realize that the last two Tuesdays I have failed to post a Gratituesday entry, and yes that does make me sad. I have just been again insanely busy this past couple of weeks and really did not have time. If I were to post a Gratituesday entry for February 28th though, you can bet it would have been about my having gone to The Fray concert at the Paramount in Seattle that night. I could have easily just gone on and on and on about that concert and had no qualms about you all having to hear about it. It. Was. Amazing. And wonderful and magical and just so, so great. I have been a die-hard fan of The Fray since I was about 14 (when their song "How to Save a Life" was the advertising song for season 3 of Grey's Anatomy), and having the ability to see them live definitely makes it to the list of top 10 greatest experiences of my life. And just for your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures:
(Singing: You Found Me)
(Singing: Happiness, and YES HE DID GET THIS CLOSE TO ME AAAHHHH!!!)
So yeah, that's what I did that Tuesday night. Also, the group who opened for The Fray, Scars On 45, was fantastic. I am now obsessed with this song:
(Give Me Something - Scars On 45)
And then another one not yet on YouTube, called Hearts on Fire. It is on iTunes and Spotify though, so seriously go listen, this group is amazing.
Hmm...I guess if I were to talk about one thing that I am grateful for last Tuesday, I would probably have to mention my French professor here at Seattle University, Holly. I think it might actually be better just to talk about her in the context of this post, instead of write her a whole new one, because I don't know, people get weird when you talk about your teachers. But really, Holly has been probably one of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting since moving up here a year and a half ago. She has helped me with so much these past two quarters, with advice ranging from how to learn a foreign language, to what I should do with my life after school. Right now, she's basically who I want to be when I grow up - brilliant, kind, helpful, dorky, and actually quite hilarious. I just hope she knows that. It's always interesting having little heart-to-heart chats with her though, because you know I'm kind of at that point in my life where I don't really know what I want to do yet, I'm just going through the motions and getting an education; but when I tell Holly that she gets all worried like I'm going to end up some hobo on the street. She's always like "well you could do this, or this, or...hey let me read some of your writings so I can tell you what kind of a writer you are and if you could build on that, and blah blah blah..." And as annoying as that sounds, it's actually really helpful. Oh and she wrote me a letter of recommendation with only two weeks of advance notice not too long ago, which I will talk more about later, but yeah that basically saved my ass.
Another reason why I have really enjoyed being in Holly's class the past two quarters is because she not only comes up with the most creative ways in the world (literally, in the world) to teach us French, but she also likes to take us out on "cultural excursions." What I mean by that is we would go to like, a New Orleans-themed restaurant for dinner, listen to jazz music, eat really spicy foods, watch the students over 21 get drunk, and just have a really good time. Also a couple of weeks ago we went and saw the stage production of Moliere (the French play-write)'s Tartuffe, and it was amazing - so hilarious. Here's a picture of the program so you can go look it up/support the theatre company :)
So that's my Holly shpeal. Oh wait one more thing I should mention, she (and her mom and two little daughters, 3 and 5) came to the Seattle University Choirs' winter choral concert last December, because she knew how much it would mean to me that she be there. I remember her confronting me about it sometime last November (I was too embarrassed to ask upfront...), and then me saying something along the lines of "oh yeah that would be so great if you could come!" and then her saying how much she wanted to but was unsure because of her young kids...long story short, they all came (because her kids ended up saying they wanted to go too), but then had to leave before intermission because her older daughter started getting a little anxious being in the large crowd that was the audience. No matter though, I was just really grateful she was able to come, especially when she didn't have to. I should also mention that yesterday was actually my last day in Holly's class...forever. Dun dun dunnn...no, just kidding. But really, yesterday was the last day of winter quarter classes before finals' week, which started today. So I'm done in her class, and since she's not teaching any sections of the level I'll be in during spring quarter, I don't actually know how much I'm going to get to see her anymore. Sad face. I do know, however, that a lot of people in my class this quarter were not happy about not having her again, as exemplified in the course review sheets we had to fill out for the Dean, where they wrote things like: "I am OUTRAGED that Holly isn't teaching FREN 235 next quarter," to "Whyyyy can't we have Holly teach 235 for us next term??" to meek little me saying: "...it would be nice to have Holly again next term." (...when really I was thinking "THIS SUCKS MONKEY BUTT. I WANT HOLLY BACK NEXT TERM AND I DON'T CARE WHOSE FIRST-BORN CHILD I HAVE TO KILL TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.") But I would never write that to the Dean; believe it or not I do value my good standing as a student here at SU.
So yeah. Gosh there are so many things I feel like I need to talk about, but really don't want to put the energy into it. Okay that sounds bad, but I mean how much do you really want to hear? Let me just highlight a few things:
1. Seattle University Choirs' Lenten Prayer concert!
-Friday, March 2, 2012.
Lots of religious, Catholic-churchy music. Basically every fake-Catholic (such as myself)'s dream. But it was really very beautiful. All the rehearsal time definitely paid off. One of our choir members (and student conductor) Micaela Treanor actually directed one of the songs herself, Psalm 23. I think that was my favorite song out the whole order - singing the Psalm is always the greatest part of Mass, in my opinion. Anyway, the concert went off without a hitch. My mom, grandma, aunt, and roommate all came to watch and listen, and I was really grateful for that. Now only about six-ish more weeks before our big spring concert at the end of April. Yay for more rehearsal time? ha.
2. Uhh...French exams.
Yup, they happened. I didn't die.
3. The writing of research papers.
That's always fun, right? I actually finished mine a couple of days ago - it's the final for my history class on Modern Japan. I actually just submitted the rough draft to my professor not two minutes ago. It's 14 and a half pages, and pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. Well I take that back, I haven't gotten the reviews back yet...The topic is the development of homosexuality in Japan from the early Pre-Tokugawa times (10th century to 19th century) to the end of the Meiji period (19th century, specifically 1868, to early 20th century), and the way in which it shaped the Japanese culture, as well as how it was altered with the Meiji Western reforms in the 19th century. I have to say the topic was an interesting one, definitely not something I have ever researched before. I guess what I got out of it (well, besides the useful knowledge portion) was that Western societies really were assholes. I mean ugh we were just as stupid then as we are now, on issues such as who should love who and yada yada yada. But I'm not going to get into that here, different rant for a different post. haha. Anyway, le rapport est maintenant fini, et c'est bon.
4. I suppose I should end with this. It's not really something I want to elaborate on too much just yet, since some people are concerned with me just throwing information around willy-nilly. But this is my blog and I will write what I so choose. So there. What I really want to say now though is that I am currently going through some changes in my life that have the potential to be either really big and beautiful, or to go the complete opposite of where I wanted. It's all kind of up in the air right now. And yes I realize that if you don't know what I'm talking about right now I probably sound like some kind of crazy person, but I promise that everything is okay, and all that is going on is me doing a little reevaluating of things. All good though, I promise. Oh, and I did submit an application a few weeks ago for a study abroad program in France for next year, if that gives any of you a hint. Wink wink.
Alrighty folks, well I think that's all for now. Jeez I sound like a cartoon...but really, I don't really have any more smatterings right now, so I think I'll just leave you here.
"TTFN; tata for now!"
~Erin
P.S. I wanted to leave you with this one too, because it was too adorable to pass up.
I love Tigger. T-I-Double Guh-Er.
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