morning DC !



been meaning to say I love that in your sig. about princes and Beethoven... just love it.


pity he didn't write for the sax - it would have been wonderful.

I think talking about it here would bring back too many unpleasant memories. I never want to touch another wet, soggy, saturated teabag for fear of what may happen. *runs away*

Morning SF! Thank you..the great (and modest!!) man said it himself!! How right he was too! Maybe you could arrange something of his for the sax! I was driving home the other day and an orchestral piece was played. I kept thinking "I know this" but couldn't figure out why it didn't sound "right" After a few more bars, I realised it was the Moonlight Sonata!!! I think I'd have to hear it again to decide if I like it or not...


Sorry Floss...must have been bad

I know what you mean, but often those Great pieces stand by themselves almost whatever you go do to them.

.. and I suspect he would have LOVED the sax!

Yes, that's true. I have to say, it wasn't a bad arrangement. I think it would grow on me eventually!

**Just in case you'd like it, here is the full quote..

"What you are, you are by accident of birth; what I am, I am by myself. There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven."

I believe (though am not sure) that he said it to Prince Lichnowsky, one of his patrons. Brave as well as modest!!**

thank you for that DC

and not just brave and modest, but amazing... awesome?

Yes..and incredible..and determined..and humourous too in his own way!!

I am eating a Jaffa Cake.

I'm considering sleeping in my other bed tonight due to the heavy wind and the fact that there is a window above my bed.

I have my first driving lesson tomorrow My mum has been telling everyone to keep of the roads!

hope that goes well for you

If your instructor is nice it should be really fun! Have you been yet? If not, don't worry - they don't expect you to be an expert - I didn't know how to turn a car on when I started!

Thanks!



My instructor was really nice! I only managed to stall once which was good! Can't wait for the next lesson!

*Grins* congrats pianosecrets! It's best when you're allowed to drive really really fast down country roads in my opinion... but then my friends always said they were scared of going too fast... so who knows?

coo, it's been a very good, but tiring day today ...

...and tomorrow's just as busy...

...I need a bit of 'get up and go'...

...at the moment though I think my 'get up and go' has 'got up and gone'...

I'm tired too but it feels to early to go to bed still!

Not much on telly either. "The Omen" is on BBC1 later. Might watch it if I'm up.

Lavvy doesn't show up on the list of those posting in the OLTVA - spooky or what... perhaps she really *is* a ghost

Why is it that just after we have a conversation about dreams coming true I have a pretty realistic, but rather distressing dream I really do hope it never happens...

My 'get up and go' has 'got up and come back'.

My 'get up and go' has gone on holiday for the time being.

I hate January!

At least the days are getting noticeably longer now...

I wonder just how bad it is to write the bit of an essay that draws together the two main parts of it before you've written the second main part. Like, "waffle about x"...blank space..."the connection between what I said about x and what I said about y is...", leaving the task of inserting "waffle about y" into the blank space in such a way that whatever it is you say about y doesn't stuff up the concluding section.
I think this is going to be pretty grim....

I've more than once written my conclusion to an essay before I've done the body. I quite often write the introduction last, as well!

Sometimes, it's not until you've written the body of it that you know what you're going to say. As an OU student, I have to work within word limits - sometimes very difficult word limits - so I leave my intro until I know what topics I'm going to be able to cover in the main body At full-time uni, I didn't have word limits, which to an extent was worse - I had no idea what interesting things I might find while reading about X, so I couldn't do my intro/conclusion until I'd done all my side reading to know whether it should include Y, Z and who knows what other tangents...

My conclusion often look suspiciously like a precis of my essay plan with my summary/main point tacked on the end. A and B and C, therefore D.

27 hours in a day! useful but quite tiring

I used to love writing essays (weirdo!)

The easiest way to do it is to remember never to waffle - no matter how tempting it gets. Each and every point you make must somehow relate to the question you have to answer - and no more

Keep the original essay question in front of you the whole time you are writing. If you say something that bears no relation the question - scrub it. No matter how wonderfully written it is, if it's irrelevant, it's worthless.

In the introduction, constantly refer back to the question, and state in no uncertain terms how you intend to answer it.

As to which paragraphs you write first, it probably doesn't matter as long as they deal with one subject at a time, and answer the question in the way which you set out in the introduction. In your case I'd probably write the paragraph about y and then you might re-think the "connection" part to make sure everything adds up and every point has been tied up.

Sorry if that's not much use

What keeps individual cells in the body together?

I wish I never loaned out my old A Level Music book. I never got it back and now I need it. Crumbs.

This was in the Last Word in the New Scientist a couple of weeks ago. Oooh, here's a link which includes various answers including the one they published: http://www.newscientist.com/blog/lastword/.../life-glue.html

picking courses at university: would it be utter madness for me to take a drama course. me: shy, mumbles, stutters at times, gets elevated heart rate when i have to make a phone call, gets agonising stomach aches when vaguely nervous etc. is this courage, madness, or should i chain myself to the bed so that i don't end up choosing such a course?

I want to log in to MSN.

Will it work properly for me?

No.

It could really help your confidence. It did for me. I took drama and loved it! I was able to incorporate lots of my music skills on the course too. You don't need to be a complete drama queen in real life to be good at acting, despite the impression you get from the more "outgoing" students..

i have a maths prelim tommorow

Good luck!

I'm known to be one of the quietest students in school – I keep myself to myself and avoid trouble/big social gatherings like the plague! That hasn't stopped me performing in school shows for the last 6 years, and having leading roles in the latest ones. It's worked wonders for my confidence generally and I would strongly recommend giving it a go. Also, I find being able to adopt a different persona can be quite useful in 'real life' situations on occasion, and knowing how to do that in class/on stage is a huge step in the right direction.

barry-clari had a stressful day yesterday

Now, when some people have a bad day, they comfort themselves with cigarettes. Or drink. Or chocolate. Or cake.

I did none of these.

I comforted myself with cherries.

barry-clari had a stressful day yesterday

join the club. we can commiserate later in the week ...

that we can...

*checks brain*

*it's still mush*

*says to himself, 'keep smiling Clari...'*

They say *crunch* that crisps have no nutritional value *crunch* whatsoever *crunch*.

Ready salted. Yum.

Would you like ketchup on those?

My daughter's normal piano teacher (who I don't like much) has been ill for the last two weeks and she has had a replacement. This teacher has asked her to practise the first two lines of a new piece for next week. My daughter said to me today. "You know Mummy, I think I'm going to practise the whole piece. The new teacher's only young and she doesn't understand how to teach yet. She thinks you have to explain everything before you ask the pupil to go away and practise it."

(What does this say about her usual teacher's methods???)

Kerioboe, it sounds to me as if a change of piano teacher is in order. You need to feel you are getting the right tuition for your daughter and there must be other teachers around, even if they have a waiting list. It may (or may not!) be cheaper and more convenient for her to learn through shool or music centre, but at least if you go privately you can choose the teacher.

The problem in small towns in France is there are no private teachers - it is the music school or nothing. As my daughter is happy I will continue until the end of the school year and keep my fingers crossed that the teacher she was supposed to have, who is on extended maternity leave, will come back next year. If she doesn't come back I don't know what I'll do - I could ask for the music school to give her a different teacher but some of the others are even worse than the one she already has (they work on the theory that there is a waiting list for piano and so will always have pupils and provided they are full at the end of October they will be paid for the whole year even if the pupil gives up in November... )

Trust me to forget that you are in France! One of the things I love about France is the distance between towns - makes it seem much less crowded than England - but I can see it would make a choice of piano teachers less likely.

It's good that at least your daughter appears to like the teacher even if you don't! And because you play yourself you can keep an eye on what she is doing in her practice sessions. Let's hope the real teacher's new baby doesn't keep her away for too long then.

Sometimes I wonder about the load-bearing capacity of my kitchen cupboards

The kitchen cupboard of someone i know gave up out of exhaustion on day and just let go of the wall

Be kind to your cupboards

would you lose marks in a piano exam if you hummed along with your playing, glen gould style?

I am absolutely beastly to my kitchen cupboard - the one where I keep the cat/dog tins and their biscuits. Once a fortnight when we do the big shop the poor thing groans and moans and threatens to fall.The load gets lighter as the animals get fed but the next big shop comes round pretty quickly.

I want this t-shirt: