Doc & Dora to Doc & Aurora

[Chrisdoc]

I will also have to Youtube fainting goats lol.

Wow, that does sound stressful and a mooing machine, the mind boggles haha. I love Mozart, I like classical music in general, I find it so relaxing. I´m sure you must have to have really good lungs to play a wind instrument and it must be difficult to control your breathing at times. Do you have a video of you playing in an orchestra or ensemble. I´m dying to see and hear you :nod

 

[PaGal]

Morgan...pygmy goats would be cool. I have always liked them since they are so cute and small. I could see having fun with them. Seeing the goats faint is really funny!

lyndym...Getting rammed did bruise but it hurt way more than it bruised. I bruised a lot worse when being thrown from a horse once. But I still didn't want to go near the goat again.

 

[lyndym]

Chris - I also really enjoy Mozart, but I'd much rather play Mozart than listen to it. I guess that's sort of weird, but the bassoon always has fun, bouncy parts in Mozart! We're extremely busy in Mozart operas, more so than the other wind instruments who will only play in a few numbers out of the whole work. Lots of people might complain about it being so tiring to play as much as the strings, but I think it's a lot of fun. A couple of Halloweens ago, I dressed as "Sexy Mozart." I guess I was parodying how lots of girls use Halloween as an excuse to dress in skimpy "costumes." The "sexy" component to my costume was just fishnet stockings, hahaha. I have a picture I can post.. I realize this is the first time I am posting a picture of myself, and I think it's appropriate that it is a photo of me in my Mozart costume.



I do have a couple of videos up of me playing, but they are a little dated and I sound muuuch better now! I have a recording of my master's recital, I should see if I can post the audio somewhere. I actually haven't even listened to the CD yet! And it's been a little over a year since that performance, hahaha.

PaGal - Getting thrown from a horse also sounds pretty painful. I guess different from being openly attacked by a goat though. Do you ride a lot? I have a cousin who used to compete in horse riding shows! I also used to read the Saddle Club, hahaha, did anyone ever read that series??

 

[whitelop]

Your Sexy Mozart is awesome! You looked great!

I used to read the saddle club books! Because I rode horses for like 15 years. It does hurt to fall off a horse, I had my finger broken by a horse once, I got mushed into a wall and my finger caught my weight hitting the wall. I also did some serious tendon damage getting clothes lined by a horse when I was like 10, my ankle was never the same. Then I hurt it again when I got thrown because my horse spooked on a hard packed causeway on a pond.
Then I got clothes lined when I was like 15 by a peach tree. I was in a full gallop and caught a low lying branch in the middle of my chest. I flew straight off the back of my horse, was knocked out for a few seconds and knocked the wind out of myself. My house came back to me and licked my face, then helped me up. The scariest part of that whole thing, was I was alone. Just me and my horse and I don't know if they really know what "go get help" means. BUT they will find their way home from anywhere, they have great homing skills. haha.
As good of a rider as I was and as much as I love animals, apparently I have terrible luck. haha. There were other things too, but I'm not going to bombard you guys with my horror stories of riding horses. LOL

I thought really hard about getting alpacas. My husband was sort of on board, he would go back and forth. hahaha. But I talked to a guy about getting them and then realized wtf am I going to do with 3 alpacas? haha. So I didn't get them. I totally should have though, they're so friendly and cute. I think goats will be the next thing though.

 

[Chrisdoc]

That is a great costume and you look great in it....I just love watching orchestras playing. I love watching the Proms from the BBC each year, I would so love to go to it one year.

I used to ride as well. Never got thrown from a horse but got stood on a few times and that hurts.

I watched the fainting goats...that is so weird and funny at the same time.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Man, speaking of being hurt by animals. I been kicked by a foal, and you may think, "well it's just a baby horse that can't hurt", tell that to my thigh! It hurt! I understand that she was just playing but gee whiz!!!! And being bit by a horse hurts, especially on your breast! Goats have those crazy sharp back teeth that feel like you grinded your finger up and being stepped on by a horse sucks if you have on flip flops lol. I learned my lesson. But yes I absolutely love goats. If I was to get a goat for a pet I would get a Nigerian dwarf goat lol they're adorable

 

[lyndym]

Thanks guys, Sexy Mozart was one of my more excellent costume ideas! Though, this past year, I was ERMAHGERD GERSBERMPS, you know, the crazy looking girl from the meme.. Hahaha, I applied for a public library card just to rent Goosebumps books!

Morgan - All of your horse injuries sound so intense! I've never even broken a bone before! Do you ever ride any more? Would your son want to? I've only been on a horse a handful of times on guided tours and whatever. I also rode a mule once when Luke and I went on a ziplining tour in Puerto Vallarta! About alpacas, can't people use their hair for something? Like making sweaters? You could have them around because they're cute and just make the occasional hat.

Chris - What is the Proms? It sounds really fancy. I like getting dressed up for events on occasion. People here don't really dress for symphony concerts anymore, sometimes I go to the LA Phil and see people in jeans!

Katie - Sounds like you have a lot of crazy animal experience too! A horse kicked you in the ****?? My injuries-by-animals experience doesn't go much beyond rabbits, though once a huge rabbit at the shelter clawed my neck and it looked sort of like a werewolf had gotten to me. Did you have horses and goats growing up?

Nothing too exciting to report. Doc is molting, which is always a fun time for me and my vacuum. Though, "Santa" brought us the best pet hair vacuum! It's called the Pet Hair Eraser or something, I think it's by Bissel. It is the best. It's just a hand vac, but it even has no problem with hay! I actually use it around my room too, even though I look sort of ridiculous dragging a small hand vac over an entire room. I have pretty long hair, so it's always gross/fascinating to see how much of MY hair gets sucked off the carpet!

Been super busy at school, our opera is in full swing. It was written shortly after WWII. It's about nuns in a convent who eventually get taken away and executed in a camp. Really depressing. The ending is intense, the execution scene is supposed to be them getting shot, I guess, but in the music it's meant to sound like a guillotine - someone in percussion bangs this huge wooden thing onto the ground and someone else does something maybe like dragging metal over a cymbal, but it's all very loud and intense. I wish I could see what was happening on stage, but we're all down in the pit. It's very tiring to play in opera, it's about three hours long and requires a different type of concentration than a normal concert, but I like it.

School's almost over, but I have an audition at the end of May in Florida that I'm preparing for. I also have to find a new place and move around the same time! I was all mopey on the phone with Luke last night and being dramatic and saying we probably won't see each other until June. Long distance sucks.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Lyndy, the Last night of the Proms is I thought quite well known. It´s a series of concerts which take place in the Royal Albert Hall every year with a real mixture of musical tastes. The Last night is really about British music and very rousing, I love it and would love to be there at least once. I´ve put a link here to the final song, always makes me feel really patriotic and weepy and where everybody joins in. Loads of flag waving but flags from all over the world. [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tLL1Gk4gww[/ame] . there are loads of videos on youtube. But they had a fantastic tribute to musicals last year or the year before and I loved that too.

it must be really awful playing all that music but not actually seeing the show, I bet you´re exhausted at the end with all that concentration.

Your vac sounds wonderful, I use mine sometimes but I had a real problem with clogging it with hay so I try to collect most of it up first and then finish off. One of these days, I´ll get a heavy duty vac which can cope with it.

 

[Chrisdoc]

Lyndy, I was just looking through this and thought of you when I saw the lady with the bassoon. I love James Bond films and thin this is the first time I´ve seen the theme played live, it just sounds so good and I love seeing all the individuals getting together to make a great noise haha.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmACT1oFwsc[/ame]

 

[whitelop]

No I don't ride anymore, I haven't in a few years. I would love to, but I need to get a horse first! haha. I would love to teach my son how to ride, its such a great experience. Having a horse is like having a rabbit, you're not sure how you ended up with such a creature but you know that you can't spend your life without one.
Yes, you use alpaca fiber for hats and sweaters and blankets and bears. Its stronger and warmer than sheep wool and its WAY more expensive! Plus, I've heard that alpaca poop is like GOLD, its that good for fertilizer.

 

[PaGal]

lyndym...I love your costume. Halloween is my favorite holiday and I am all about making your own and doing something different. I always made mine growing up, I did it with my kids and now I do it with the girls.

I haven't rode for years. I took lessons as a kid, part of the time only one armed as I had a cat on the other. I slammed a door on my finger and took part of it off. I rode several times as an adult but something bad always happened like a horse being stung and taking off through the woods with me on it.

I have a spot bot that a friend gave to me and I love it. It's a small shampooer. My dog has a goofy stomach so vomits at least once a month. We rush him outside when we see signs he's getting ready to but too often he doesn't get outside so I have to shampoo the carpet real quick.

Long distance is tough but hang in there and it will help to make the relationship stronger.

 

[lyndym]

Okay, I will respond to everyone's posts soon, but I just had to pop on for a second and say.. tonight I dropped my phone into a storm drain. I can't believe that happened. I am not irresponsible with my things, expensive items or otherwise, and always keep things in good condition, so it's even more frustrating when something stupid like this happens. It just fell out of my lap as I was getting out of my friend's car. We just got back to campus after a rehearsal that's kind of a drive away, and it was late and I was hungry and tired after performing all day and then rehearsing tonight. The good thing is I've been putting off an upgrade, and if I hadn't been so lazy about that, a brand new phone would be in the sewers right now. GAH I just don't have time to deal with this right now, what with the end of the semester and my current housing search.

Anyway, why I came on real quick with this fascinating update is mostly because I'm just upset that if I can't somehow get someone to open up a manhole and go under a busy street for me, all the pictures on that phone are lost. I've had that phone for a year and a half or so, and I was mostly thinking of all my rabbit photos. Especially photos of Dora. Thinking back, the last videos and photos I ever took of her are on there. Now I'm getting all stupid and emotional over it. I can't believe I was dumb enough not to back up everything.

 

[whitelop]

OH NO! Lyndy, thats so terrible! I'm so sorry that it happened. I wouldn't necessarily be lost without my phone, but have thousands of pictures on it of my son when he was a baby baby, Foo, all of it. I would be lost if something happened! I need to put them on my computer just in case.

I'm so sorry that it happened. It is ridiculous that someone wouldn't get down there and get your phone for you! How rude!

 

[lyndym]

Thanks guys. I do have loads of pictures from my actual camera, of course, and some of the better ones from my phone got uploaded to Facebook, so that's good. And I'm really good about backing up my computer, and I never wipe my camera's card clean until the latest photos are on my external hard drive as well. For some reason, I just never took the same precautions with my phone. I don't care about the phone at all - like I said, I'm overdue for an upgrade, and it's always been a really buggy phone that I've hated the entire time. It was also missing two out of the four buttons it had, and the charger just broke so I either had to hook it to my computer or my car charger. (WHY DID I NOT BACK IT UP EVERY NIGHT IT WAS CHARGING FROM MY LAPTOP?????)

So many pictures and a few videos on there were from my last few weeks with Dora, which is why I'm really upset. I couldn't go to sleep last night, and woke up before my alarm this morning! One video in particular I took, and it ended up being one of those situations where you think the rabbit is going to do something really cute/interesting, but they end up just kind of sitting or hopping around like normal. This video was from one of the days I think I came home from school early to have D&D out because I was worried about Dora's tummy. Nothing happened in the video, maybe she came up to me and periscoped or something, but I remember that back-of-the-mind feeling where I felt I shouldn't delete it because she wouldn't be around much longer. So I kept it, and now it's gone. I also took a lot of really beautiful black and white photos of her around that same time. I uploaded one, but there were several on there.

I have a running joke with one of my friends that certain things would only happen to me. Something about my clumsiness/situational awkwardness/occasional bad luck. But seriously, this would totally happen to me! I was just explaining it to Luke (in an email, bah) - the ground wasn't wet, there was barely any slant down into the drain, but the phone fell onto the ground out of my lap when I got out of the car and somehow had just the right amount of inertia to slide under this grate. It was one of those grates in the curb, and it was actually one with holes in it, not a slatted one. So it slid RIGHT UNDER IT of course, and the space between the grate and the ground was maybe the exact height of the phone. OF COURSE.

I emailed campus security to find out who I should contact about it, but the automated reply said they generally respond in 72 hours. I found some storm drain club and emailed them too. (Not really a storm drain club, it sounded more official than that.) But really, I'm sure water rushes under there all the time and as soon as the morning sprinklers are done, it's probably gone.

 

[lyndym]

GUYS. I AM SO STUPID. I DID BACK UP THE PHOTOS/VIDEOS!!!! I think I did it right after Dora passed. AHHHHHHH. I am over the moon. Not quite, because I am still phoneless, which makes things difficult when I am typically out at school/rehearsals all day. But the exact video I was mourning the loss of, and the really gorgeous photos of Dora, are all here on my computer!!!

 

[Ilovemyrabbit]

I do things like that too sometimes! I think I didn't do something but I really did. And when I find out I'm like yay!

Anyway, that's great that you did upload them! I can't wait to see them, Dora is adorable!

 

[whitelop]

I'm going to be honest, I got a little teary when you said you had all the photos and videos! haha. I don't know if its the lack of real food or knowing the loss of a rabbit, but I'm really really really happy that you have everything! I'm sure you took a huge sigh of relief.
I really hate when stuff like that keeps you up at night, like with my green fridge that I just had to get rid of. Saturday night as I was trying to go to sleep, this huge wave of guilt came over me because I got rid of it too soon, like I could have saved it. Its a refrigerator. I still feel really guilty about it, like every time I look at this horrible monstrosity of a fridge, it seems like such an impostor in my kitchen. My kitchen feels foreign now.
Wow. All that about a fridge, how ridiculous am I? LOL

Anyway, I'm so glad you have everything saved!

 

[lyndym]

Ilovemyrabbit - I usually have such a great memory and KNOW when I've done something. This time I completely forgot! I must have backed up the photos right after she passed away and it was too hectic a time to remember that I did it. Such a relief. There are other pictures on there of Aurora and everything, but I really don't mind losing them in comparison to losing the ones of Dora. Sounds kind of mean to Rory, I guess, but she'll be around for thousands of future pictures.

Morgan - Oh, I definitely cried when I found them, hahaha. I'm really, really, really happy too! I also don't think your thing with the fridge is weird at all, sometimes you just get attached to things. The VW dealership recently sent me an email saying my particular year/model Jetta is running low in their inventory, so they could get me a good deal on selling it to them and buying a newer model. No way! My car is still my first car, I've had it for about seven years and paid for it myself! I am basically driving it until the very end. You should cover your new fridge with pictures of your old fridge, hahaha.

Someone actually responded to one of my emails about my lost phone this morning. I wasn't expecting such a quick response, let alone a response at all! The irony is he gave me a phone number to contact him at.. Hahaha. Anyway, it might be a huge hassle, so I don't know if I'll call? I found the pictures I wanted, even if more are on there, I'm more than happy with what was saved.

 

[lyndym]

Okay, now I can respond to everyone properly now that the phone pictures/phone issue has been resolved and I'm no longer freaking out! Got an iPhone 4S, my first iPhone! I'm loving it so far. I just got a plain black case for it so it's not naked while I search for a good (and cute) case for it, any suggestions? Though, the dramatic week continues, and last night my swab got stuck in my bassoon! I can't get it out myself, so I've called the repair guy and am sitting at home waiting to hear back. I don't know what I'll do if I can't get it taken care of today or early tomorrow, I have a gig rehearsal tomorrow evening. I guess I could borrow a school instrument, but every bassoon is different, and we make our reeds according to our instrument!

Chris - The Proms look like such a fun event! Is it expensive and/or difficult to get in? I love all the ladies in the orchestra in their gowns. I have a few gowns that I've worn to play in solo recitals, it's so much fun to get dressed up! It's funny that you included the James Bond video, I really enjoy movie sound tracks. It would be awesome to play for one, but it's a really tough gig to get. My teacher from undergrad does a lot of film work - he was in Forrest Gump and the Pixar films from the past several years.

Morgan - Do you have room for a horse? I assume they're expensive, to purchase and of course care for! It sounds like with your new garden you've got going, some alpaca poo would be great, hahaha. I'm sure you could also sell the fiber online? I sort of just want you to get an alpaca, hahaha.

Lisa - Here is my ERMAHGERD costume! GAH for some reason it's tiny. I think you can click it? No idea what happened..



This is the best full-length photo of the costume. I'm with the rest of one of my woodwind quintets, and we were celebrating Halloween in style with $3 margaritas! It was a really fun night. We just performed this piece on Monday where each movement is about a different animal, and everyone has to wear animal masks and has speaking parts over the music. I'll post a picture when I upload from my camera, we used face paint instead of masks and looked great! Anyway, that is another example of a strange modern piece! Modern music for me is sort of hit or miss, and I usually enjoy playing it more than listening to it. It definitely depends, though, because not all modern music is atonal and off-the-wall. Lots of earlier modern pieces are crazy-weird, just YouTube Schoenberg or Berg or Webern. That was during a sort of crazy stage for music, things have definitely calmed down. Some composers still experiment with strange things, but some stick to more listener-friendly genres, too.

No, not moving to Florida! Honestly, with this audition, I just hope to get to the second round. Auditions usually have a few rounds to weed people out, then finals determine the winner. My first professional audition, I did not advance, so I hope to this time. My current roommate is moving in with her boyfriend, so I am trying to find a 3BR rental house with two other friends. A house will be nice, that way I can practice at home!

PaGal - My mom used to make all my costumes, too! I was princess Jasmine once, it was awesome. I hope I can become more crafty so I can one day make costumes for my future kids. Usually for my own costumes now, I just find a mish-mash assortment of things to become the costume. Though, I made a great dragon tail and wings to be Smaug at the midnight showing of The Hobbit!

Nothing too new to report rabbit-wise. They are becoming a lot better during separate play time. I am now allowed to sit on the couch and supervise instead of sitting on the floor by the caged bun and making sure no nipping happened! Rory seems a lot more relaxed, and I catch them sitting close in their cages more and more often. I am tempted to try a small pen date tomorrow, though I am a little concerned about my upcoming move. Should I wait to try establishing their bond until after we move? Though, I don't move for another month or so, and I'm not sure I want to wait that long to try again.

 

[whitelop]

That costume is funny! I couldn't even tell you the last time I dressed up. haha You always seem to have good costumes!

And yes, I have 5 acres and could definitely have a horse. But see my problem is, well not really MY problem but my husbands problem is he doesn't like when I get animals because I can't stop. I want to get ALL the farm animals, like goats and a horse and some cows and a sheep or too and alpacas and maybe a camel and possibly some turkeys and maybe some sebbie geese and then some more chickens and more goats. Thats how it works in my head and I don't see a problem with it, but my husband does. haha. So its his problem.

All your music stuff sounds so interesting, I played the clarinet for like 6 months and never had a knack for it. So I think its pretty cool that you play the bassoon. I always want to put too many O's in the word bassoon. I just want to keep pressing the o. haha.

Sorry this has been so weird, my brain is really foggy from not enough and lots of weird food today. I just really want a pudding and a taco.