My oboe teacher says G5 will be too easy and that I should work toward G6 in March. I only started in May

Woohoo! All this good news is intoxicating!


Writing it It was very exciting to write, but it's a relief to have it all down now. At least I know now that none of my ideas are going to slip through - they're all recorded on paper!

Along the same lines as pikkoloflautist..

My piano teacher says that I'm finding the grade 3 pieces "far too easy" and we'll learn a few of the pieces, but aim for grade 4 now!!!!

Congrats to everyone else on all of their good news/good doings/nice things too! Ahhh, happy stuff.

Cool beans! Did you like the Study in F and Top Cat!?

I'm going to do all the Grade 4 stuff but I'm determined to only do a mock exam... My teacher has made rumblings about Grade 5 but I don't need the additional stress!

You said cool beans!

Yeah, I'm actually really sad that I don't get to play them in an exam, especially Top Cat
Grade 4 sounds pretty darn scary to me though
Go for grade 5!!! Wowza, imagine how brilliant you would/will feel if/when you can officially say that you are grade 5 standard, pretty good, eh?

Stress can be good, sometimes, not very often, but it can be, in small amounts

My American counterparts at work say it all the time so I've sort of stolen the term!

Hah - I need to pass my G3 exam on Tuesday first, but Grade 4 has an excellent choice of really nice pieces - you'll enjoy learning whatever you choose I've already learned "Stephanie's Song" for the C piece. Got to pick the other two though!

I started on the Schumann piece for Grade 5 but it's a fair bit tricker to get right than I first thought I don't fancy learning millions of scales so I'm sticking to the Grade 4 roadmap for now and keeping the Grade 5 pieces I finally choose on the back burner as a slow "in-progress" thing so zero pressure

BTW: "Wowza" or "Wowzers" reminds me of Inspector Gadget!

Good friends, chunky wax crayons and singing, I'm easily pleased

Pretty much completing the decoration/transformation of my daughters bedroom from young child's room to slightly bigger girl's room. AND seeing her face and reaction as she saw the result!!


might go some way towards explaining it.

Well done you!!

Listening back films of my friends mucking around in a practice room with a piano at school, singing along to popular tunes, people playing graded pieces, film music, things they made up, duets. They are really talented musicians, and just listening to the things they're playing makes me go all warm and mushy inside. I always beg them to play things to me

At the room we're staying in at my grandparents, there's an old piano. With 15 people going and 12 who play an instrument, I have a feeling the piano will be used a LOT

Going to an amazing recital by my piano teacher and his wife. Amazing Also have fallen in live with the Steinway he was playing

My 3-day migraine finally lifting this afternoon ... (but it's 1.30am and it's back )

Hope you get better soon!

I ordered three books off Amazon this week and got two of them yesterday and one today! Also, I was really happy YESTERDAY because I went to see New Moon and it was brilliant!

Ooh, was it? My friends all went to see it, but I'm not a big fan of twilight.

I loved the description of it by a girl at work "Mills and Boon for Emos"

That is perfect. That's exactly what it is.

Forgot to put what made me happy. Buying more music books. This addiction has to stop!!

It is not! I still can't understand why everybody has this aversion to Bella... so she's in love with a guy - it happens all the time!

It's not so much the love... I think stories about love are awesome... I am not so big on personality-less girls who have no life outside of their boyfriends, and go suicidal (yes, yes, it's debatable, alright, but she jumps off a cliff...) when aforesaid boyfriend leaves them. I think you can be in love and still have other interests, and other things going on in your life. When a book is entirely about a relationship and very little else, it's a romance novel, pure and simple. Plus Edward is creepy. Sneaking into her room and watching her sleep? Disturbing!

Also what is with her dad's creepy reaction to Jacob kissing her? Jacob kisses her, when she's made it clear she doesn't want him to, she punches him and breaks her hand, and then her dad laughs and goes "good on you" to Jacob?! Creeeeepy! Scarily reminiscent of very scary old-fashioned romance novels... You know the plot I mean but I won't discuss it here, cause it could upset someone.

But not to be entirely killjoy-ish, at least Alice is cool. Actually I less than three Alice.

Yes, Alice is very cool. To be honest, I'm not keen on Edward anymore, but I still like Bella. I've always liked Bella, and I've never seen this whole anti-feminism thing. I'm not one of those hardcore Twilight fans (there are plenty of better books out there!) but... meh.

Well, I'm happy today, because I weighed myself this morning and saw that - lo and behold! - I have lost 6 pounds in total!!

Well, it's good for me...

Having the Guildhall Junior Choir sing well in their concert today.

So relieved it's over for this term - I just don't seem to DO 'stress' any more...

Feeling generally Christmassy Christmas songs and music (and yes, I know it's really too early still )



I think alot of the aversion to Bella is that in the films (Well, in Twilight, haven't seen New Moon yet) she just comes across as moody and overly serious, whereas in the books there's actually a fair amount of humour, but I suppose it's always going to be hard to convert a book where alot of the plot delopment is in one of the character's heads.
I love Alice too, my friend actually bought me a "I'm betting on Alice" tshirt

I have a t-shirt that says "How can someone so small be so annoying" (or whatever the quote is), and then on the back it says "Team Alice: It's a gift".
I'm not a fan, but I liked Alice enough, when I read the books, to warrant a t-shirt, I thought.

I find Bella more annoying in the book than in (the first) film... At least in the film there's a reason she has very little personality - you judge her on what she does, and in a film like Twilight, that's bound to be very little.
In the books though, you hear her innermost thoughts ALL the time, and she [/i]still[i] isn't at all interesting!

And I am one of those feminists who gets irritated at the sexism.

Shall I hide now?

What's made me happy today is reading "The ###### Chamber" by Angela Carter (I bet the filter gets that title...).

Now that's good reading.

Ricky and Erin just got put out of Strictly Come Dancing

"Busking" in our front room with my huuby today. He picked up his new guitar (a late birthday and early Christmas pressie). We were trying out a few Christmas pieces - him on guitar and myself on piano in preparation for a Christmas sing along Rediscovering enjoment for playing piano too

It's the last time I have to get up at 5am to help Mrs S on her way to her dog grooming course.

The fact that I might go and see New Moon later

When I saw the ads for that film, I thought 'that's the sort of film that Babybird2 would very much like to watch...'

It's ruining my reputation

I wouldn't worry. My reputation up and left the building years ago

It's been replaced by another one

I guess mine has too

It's yours that I meant

My reputation is something I am very proud of. I think.

You should be

Oh good thanks Claudia!

Whereas my reputation (especially at uni) is one of me being rather quiet, moody and withdrawn. Not so proud of that one

Don't do yourself down Claudia. You're great

I can see the funny side of myself, at least

Finding that, in the last three weeks, I've lost a total of eight lbs - might not sound too impressive, but I'm over the moon!

Comgratulations I've decided to stop worrying and not weigh myself all the time, and not exactly try to eat less, but not come home and eat a doughnut, a slice of cake and two biscuits either
(not that that is a regular occurrence! only very occasionally when I've had a really exhausting day at school, for one reason or another )

I am happy because I got my restrung squash rackets back. The guy was very efficient, pick up 7.15pm tuesday and return 8.00am wednesday.

Double glazing men nearly finished. Only one room and the front door to go.

Finally getting rid of my chest infection

Only taken 7 weeks but singing today was so much easier than the last few weeks. Was particularly happy with the G in the descant at the end of God Rest You Merry - didn't feel like a high note at all (and no - whilst not accompanied I think we'd retained pitch reasonably well!)

Sounds as if you've lost so much weight it's gone negative!

I'm jealous - I really need to lose some weight but can't psych myself up to it at this time of year.

The tennis at the O2 this evening, utterly awesome match.

Haha! I know what you mean - when I have a difficult day, I head straight to Asda, buy digestives, cherries, marhsmallows, condensed milk and dessicated coconut and I make myself a nice big batch of fifteens Haven't done it in ages though!


Yep, the rules of gravity no longer apply to me! No, I still I have way to go yet...

Leave it til after Christmas - it's probably what I should do, seeing as I'll probably just put it all back on at the end of December!

It's an expensive way to do it, and not the most convenient either, but go back to uni, restrict your budget massively, work your socks off constantly and watch the pounds fall off...

Seriously though, well done Stephie.

Thanks!