Things hobos tell me

Hello Campers,

Life is good here in Ottawa. Carmen Braden comes tomorrow to hang out for a few days. Wicked sweet! We're (megan Johns Carmen and I) are going to NACO's firebird concert tomorrow. Loves me some Strav! Also, Julien Keurti is conducting! Thats ANTON Keurti's son! OOoooOOo! So thats cool. I've been super bad at doing this blog thing lately though, and for that...I'm sorry. Its been a little busy in my life. I Frigged up my SSHRC application somehow...apparently I was the only one according to Veronique, but thats ok. She said it just makes me unique...and that I have to do it again...So that sucked. But now its in for good, and I can forget about it. Also, I had a presentation for one of my classes that was for yesterday so I had to wait for that to be over before I could write more on here!

In other news, the university bookstore is useless. Let me rephrase, thats harsh. Theyre not USELESS, they just let me down on a bi-daily basis. This is the THIRD time I've gone in to get something and they've been out of it. And the aggrevating thing is that the things I go in for next, were there the day before when I didnt need them. Example. 4 days ago I needed ink for my printer, so I went and they were out of my kind. So I went back two days later and they had it! They also had printer paper...keep that in the back of your mind. So, today (two days later again), I needed printer paper because my new ink was working so well that I printed on all my printer paper. So off I trudge to the bookstore and BAM...out of printer paper. BOO on them! On the positive side I found an awesome store in the Rideau called Grand and Toy. I've heard of this store before but I always thought they were a toy store. NOT SO! They sell paper and ink and staplers (this was another unsuccessful trip to the university bookstore that I wont write about)! So, congrats Grand and Toy, you have a new customer!

To explain the title of this post is this short anecdote. On my way to the grocery store the other day...a cloudy day...I stopped at the corner. If you remember from several posts back the story of the man in the wheelchair and the yelling and drunkeness...this is the same corner. Anyway, as I waited for the light to change a homeless man came and stood beside me. He was chatty despite my headphone being clearly dug into my ears. So I humour him and as he is rambling I nod. But then it got weird. And I quote "Looks like its gonna rain...It'll do us good...we need it...It will wash away some of that dirt from the construction...and it'll wipe away the SCUM from this city!" To which I again nodded, though slightly more hesitantly! "Montreal needs it too! Scum! If i'm ever rich I'm buying tractors! Invest in tractors! Thats the smart thing to do! " At which point the light changed and I quickly walked away. Dear god...

I started buying milk in 4 litre bags, or rather four, litre bags. Apparently its less than half the price this way! What a chump was I! Anyway, I've seen the milk light and am much better for it.

Have amazing days and or amazing nights !

Love you all!

Jacob

I suck at blogging

Hey. I'm aware I havent written anything in like 2 weeks. I'm on it. I'm busy as a bee here. SSHRC applications, papers, presentations, blah blah blah. After wednesday I'll write something. I swear.

Love you all though, and hope youre all doing well!

Jacob

Well. I went home. It was different, and weird, and fun, and sad, and many other things. Mostly good, but some bad. I've realized what everyone who has already graduated was talking about. Its not the same. We're old. We cant go back. Its changed. It was all fine and dandy for the first few days. I got to spend time with Amara and Megan and Sarah! That was lovely. We went to the look off, I got to watch the AUWE play for Dr. Hunsberger (which was amazing), and we spent some time just hanging out. Great. Then I went home and had some down time with my Teri and my meghan (korea megan who I wasnt supposed to see till Christmas, but I got to see TWICE while home! YEAH!). I had a great belated thanksgiving with my family, and then headed back to wolfville for the rest of my time.

This is where it gets interesting. Somewhere between dressing up as Chicken Simmons (a cross between Richard Simmons and a Chicken) and going to a "music" house crawl that was only 50% music majors and only abour 25% music majors I knew, I realized I'm old. I'm old and I shouldnt be there anymore. Which is good, because for the most part I'm not there anymore! Dont get me wrong. I'm very happy I went. I got to spend time with some lovely people and see some faces I love that I do miss dearly. However, it has changed. The people still there dont necessarily notice it, but it has. Its a different crowd with different friends and very different social habits. None of these things are bad! I was simply very aware that "my" wolfville no longer exists. I needed to go back though. I call it closure.

I didnt think I would miss Ottawa as much as I did. I missed the city and its droves of people. When I was shopping in Halifax with Mom, I saw three people from highschool that I havent seen in years. Ottawa is a better place for me. Speaking of better places, I finally got around to watching Eat Pray Love. No I didnt read the book first, I'm fine with it. I'm sure its good, but I know its no war and peace. I doubt I'm missing some beautiful tome of literature by simply watching the movie. I did love the movie though. It made me (and about 15 million middle aged women) want to travel and see the world with no connection to an outside life. Not possible, but it made me dream. Maybe when I go to Europe in February I'll just stay...HAH!

Otherwise life is good. Grant applications are all in process and final papers are being started...sort of...why change my scholarly habits in grad school when it was those habits that got me here? no? Fine.

I hope you are all well, and of course I miss every one of you!

love and best wishes,

Jacob

Nova Scotia Fun times and an Aviation Expert!

OK, so ... I'm home. It nice. I flew home friday afternoon after class. I am a VERY nervous flyer. Like, white knuckle, frantic kind of flyer. BUT NO MORE. I met a man named brian who is a retired Aircraft Navigation specialist! We talked the WHOLE way about why the plane wasnt going to crash and I was going to be fine. It was awesome! Anyway, So that night I went home and got to visit my darling friend Meghan who I havent seen in OVER A YEAR. . . She's been in Korea. Then the next day I headed to the big city to stay with Amara and see the Wind ensemble play their concert with DONALD HUNSBERGER!!! He's a god among men. They played fantastically! Anyway, it was then off for drinks with people at a nice pub and then back to Amaras house for the night. We also watched pulp fiction. Sarah MacDonald had never seen it. FOR SHAME. Anyway, we also went costume shopping.

I am aware that this entry is both a long time coming and very disjunct. Its late. And Amara is whizzing around me cleaning and fussing as she does. I've missed her. 

I'm in wolfville now and am very excited to spend my day tomorrow with my stephypoo who is coming in for the day. Awesome. 

Its weird being back here. I know everyone always says this, but its like I've never left. Wolfville hasnt changed, and the people I love are still here with open arms waiting to hang out. Its great. I've been having an amazing trip so far, and I know it will only get better. The view from the highway on my way into Grand pre is just as beautiful as it has ever been, and the lookoff was possibly the best its ever been. 

I'm going to stop writing now because I know how stupid and weird this is all getting. My sentence structure is poop. Oh well. 

Good night all, 

I love you all and I would say I miss you, but most of the people who read this, I'm seeing within the next few days!!! Good times. 

Jacob

Another week in Ottawa

Hello Campers,

Hope you are all well and good! This week was quite eventful and awesome! Thats a weird sentence, but you'll get over it! I also realize that every sentence so far has ended with an exclamation point....!

So to update from last time, I had an amazing trip out to my cousins for dinner on Sunday. So good to have a big homemade meal, and two in one weekend is just awesome. I also had a great lunch with Colin and Laura. They are truly the nicest people I have ever met. They are so so so wonderful and I'm so happy they were in town. They made an already great weekend perfect! BUT, it was soon back to reality! Classes, work, reading blah blah. The norm. I wont bore you with that.

However, wednesday was very exciting! Went to class, and was talking to megan and we decided we needed to do something fun. SO that night we had a little games night. Just a few people, a bottle of wine, some nice cheese and such. Good times. The interesting part was my way home from getting bread and cheese. Dear god. We as city people (I realize how funny that sounds) become used to the homeless quite quickly, and for the most part they are very much not a problem in the city. UNTIL WEDNESDAY. As I was standing on the street corner waiting to cross, a very drunk trio of two men and a woman were having what I can only describe as a brawl. One man who was supposed to be in a wheelchair had apparently fallen out. While the other two were helping him back into it, he was yelling and punching and getting very upset. So were the other two. The real shit went down when they got him in, and the woman tried to wheel him away. HE LOST HIS SHIT! He did NOT want to be wheeled anywhere, and while he was yelling the worst things ever at this woman, she was punching him in the back! If I wasnt so scared that they would involve me (because I was all of 2 feet away, at night, by myself, just waiting at the corner), I would have felt terrible and sorry for them, but I really just wanted to leave. So that was fun.

Last night we decided to have a grad students pumpkin carving night. Amazing. There were about 8-10 people at my place, and we carved pumpkins and drank and ate the most amazing cheese I've ever tasted. I'll come back to that in a minute haha. It was so much fun. We roasted seeds and just had a ball. Super fun night. OK. This cheese. Its made by GOD himself I swear. Its called Saint Andres and it is the best thing I've ever eaten. Its a triple cream soft cheese from quebec. Jonothan (who is from Montreal and grew up with it) brought it along with some amazing pate. It was so good I went this afternoon and bought some for myself. If you ever get a chance to try it, brace yourself. Amazing. Anyway. Cheese.

Tonight is the University orchestra concert. I'm very excited to go and hear them. This is their first gig of the year and I'm pumped. Theyre playing Tchaik 4 and a Wagner prelude. Good program! Its down in a neighborhood where my friend Erin said that her friend was punched by a hooker last year. So thats interesting. I'm gunning for zero hooker punches tonight, but I'll bring an umbrella just incase I need to defend myself!

As a side note, I'm heading home a week from today for about a week as we have it off here. I'm very very very excited to see people and hear the wind ensemble play with Dr. Hunsberger. Its going to be magical. I'm also excited to celebrate halloween in wolffy.

Have an amazing weekend everyone! Miss and love you all as always!

Jacob

A wonderful week in Ottawa

Hello everyone,

I hope the holiday weekend is finding you all well. Its been an eventful week here in good ol' Ottawa, and theres a day of excitement yet to come!

We had an amazing guest lecturer come to the school on Friday! His name is Jurgen Maedher, and he is the world expert on Puccini Opera. The man is AWESOME. A: he speaks 8 languages fluently (including chinese), B: he's like a little german santa talking about opera, C: He has an AWESOME accent, D: He is incredibly well read on Puccini and opera in general, he has AMAZING insights, E: he was incredibly nice. A few of us were talking to him between lectures, and he was just so happy to be at the school meeting young musicians. F: He splits his time between Berlin and Hawaii...How cool is THAT!

Then, friday night after a birthday dinner for Tinabeena, a few of us went to a concert of Oratorio selections that was pretty awesome. THEN on saturday I went down to EdRossJim's place for an amazing thanksgiving dinner. There was enough food to kill a sumo wrestler. There were only 8 of us, JimRossEd, Lucy Franey, Mark and John Franey, myself and a girl named Alex who was very nice. We ate, and drank, and played Balderdash. Perfect night.

Today, I ventured to the stationary store down past the market with my friend Claire. It was called Paper Papier. It was very Ottawa of them. Anyway, I was going because last night Ross showed me a fountain pen he bought there, and I NEEDED to get one too! SO I did. Awesome buy might I add. Then Claire and I walked around for about three hours! It was great. Went to the french baker and had a tea, and I got to meet her doggie! Adorable. About 30 minutes after I got home, I suited up again and went for a walk down to Strathcona park on the canal with Alyssa. I like Ottawa. I think it has its pretty parts and it is fairly green for being a city, but I am always aware that its a city. If I EVER feel like I need nature. I'm heading to Strathcona park. It was beautiful. Green grass, benches, the canal, ducks, playgrounds. It was great.

So now I'll tell you all about my day tomorrow! Its a busy one. I have a lesson in the morning with Shauna, who is great. Then, RIGHT after my lesson Colin Clarke and his amazing wife Laura are picking me up and we're going for lunch. Great! They are two of the most lovely people I've ever met, so I'm very excited. THEN if that werent a day and a half already I'm heading out to my cousins place on the base for a nice thanksgiving meal with family. FHEW! Busy day, but I'm excited. Then I suppose its back to the real world of readings and writing and library fun time!

Anyway, thats my life in a nutshell! I'm thankful for you all, and I hope you are all enjoying some much needed down time and reflection time.

Love you and miss you all as always,

Jacob

OSO, Christpher Moore and a wonderful sunday dinner!

Hey all, 

This weekend was great. Truly amazing. I have a TONNE of pictures to put up so I'll keep this text brief, but I hope you all enjoy the photos! On sunday I went to Upper Canada Village. I WILL Live there. Its a fact. For those of you who dont know it, its a 1860's period town set up about an hour outside the city. My cousin, her husband and I went up and by god, I WILL live there and LOVE it. I bought a ten pound bag of organic whole wheat flour, that I WATCHED A MAN GRIND between two VERY large stones. I bought cheese that I WATCHED A MAN MAKE, and a fife that they sold! It. Was. Amazing. It was my perfect world, of history, costumes, music and fall colours. It was a perfect day. However getting there was a large issue as I was supposed to meet my cousin out by her place, but I took the right bus, but going in the wrong direction....so I put us an hour off schedule, but c'est la vie!

That night, Derek my new piano playing friend, Alyssa, Megan and I went to this great basement pub called Manx pub on Elgin St. Holy good food! That was nice. We have made it a sunday night ritual to get a few grad students together and have dinner somewhere. Its like grad school therapy. Cathartic. 

Yesterday (monday) was also a great day. Read all day, passed in grant applications, and then went to the Ottawa symphony. Eds piano teacher David was playing Prokofiev 3 with the OSO, and then they played Shostakovitch 7 (Leningrad). Fan-freakin-tastic. Its so nice to have a 2 pro orchestra's constantly doing concerts that I get into for 12 bucks...Amazing. The weird thing was that we were running REALLY late, and we walked into the building like AS the concert was starting. Alyssa and I were literally the last two people into the NAC hall. Anyway, as Alyssa and I were walking across the foyer we turn our heads to see a massive poster of the face of our thesis advisor Chris Moore staring at us. He apparently was giving the pre concert talk. It was like a big brother moment. Advisor is always watching, advisor is always right, you love advisor. Then as we sat down (just as the tuning note ended :S) we open the programs and the very first page is a full page picture of Chris again!! HE"S ALWAYS WATCHING. 

Today is less eventful. I did laundry. And tonight I sit backstage to "TA"/ do my own work. Its a good week friends. Now here are about 5000 pictures to entertain you all. 

Love you all, miss you all, 

Jacob

Its not pretty, but it does the job well! 

My laundromat! 

On the way to see the OSO last night. Those are the Parliment buildings. I am so lucky to live here :)

I was confused by this church. It said "church of england" but the pastors house next door said "Lutheran Pastors Home" and the decor inside was Catholic....That was the only weird history slip....

Hand crafted chairs

Very cool cabinet

This was the school house. I would have taken a picture of the school marm, but she said she'd use the leather strap on me if I did....so here is a chalk board! 

This is where they made the cheese ! 

Piggies

Growing Veggies

Erika and I pet this cow for a solid ten minutes. It also ate a carrot. 

Duck!

River

Apothicary! 

This man wasnt in character...and he had prison tats....

10 minutes to cut through one log! 

beaut!

Where tha man made my flour!

This powers the upstairs weaving machine, all run by waterwheel! 

Dennis is on a Pennyfarthing, but you cant ride them....lawsuits....

Huge fish at UCV

I aparently have predictive thought, bucause I took a picture of the bus route numbers that were the ones I was NOT supposed to be on...

View from the bus stop on Laurier

Ed bowling with his eyes closed....

On my walk to school. 

Tabaret Hall- Our Equivelent to UHall  

Ian sitting in the cosmic fun...you cant see him

Cosmic Bowling, Bibliographies and a whole lot of fun!

Hello Campers,

Its been a good week friends. I'm feeling better and over my cold, its fall in a beautiful city, I'm meeting people, and ive been productive. What more could I ask for. I am just getting in from a very adventurous night of Cosmis bowling and beer at this great place about twenty minutes outside downtown. It was my first time on the Ottawa bus system as I've never really had a need for it so far. Very nice. I got to pull the cord for our stop. Made me feel like I actually live here. It was a nice group of us who went tonight. A very nice guy named Ian, who apparently went to DAL and plays Bassoon, Derek the Pianist, Erin who is in musicology with me, Tina Beena, Megan and Ed! It was super fun.

Last night, was not as much fun. We had an assignment due for the introduction to musical research class. DEAR GOD. Basically, without boring you all into a stupor, it was a bibliography assignment. We had to find 22 different score, books, articles, etc but all related to Der Kunst der Fuge. It probably took...8?...solid hours all told to do. And then after we had all found them on our own, we got together last night at my place (about 8 of us from the class) to debrief and drink wine and talk periods, italics, underlines, publishers blah fricken blah. It was nice to be social, but the material was dry!

Anywho, the rest of my week was mildly eneventful in any real sense. I stayed in a lot, went to the lib a lot, wrote a lot. PS! Acadia music people....We may have had it bad in terms of libraries as far as sources went and such, but the music library here closes at 8 on weekdays, and is only open 1-5 on weekends!?!?!! Thats redic to me. The large arts lib where all the MT's and ML's are is open late, but what if you need scores?!??!  Anyway...

Tomorrow I am heading to the market with Megan and Ed with a possibility of dinner with my cousin and her husband tomorrow night. Unsure. Things are going well though. I pass in my grant applications on monday and start to pray to whatever god I know doesnt exist so that I get it. I gots big plans and they all require money! But once its in, its in. No sense worrying eh?

Things are finally starting to pick up a bit, but its funny, even with the 100+ pages of reading I have to do for the following week, writing and an article summary, I feel like that was about a two day span in  my undergrad. Granted, the level of everything is that much higher, but still...

I'll leave you with a quick story and a quote. When we got off the bus tonight around the corner from my place, there were drunk girls heading back to res (I assume) with a couple guys. One girl looked a little worse for wear, but then we noticed that someone had thrown up ALLLLL down her back, and the rest of it was on the sidewalk....Even on my worst nights I never had someone throw up all down me...Hope she got home, showered and went to BED!

This is a long one, and as usual it has nothing to do with anything other than I love it. Its from my faovite play by Tony Kushner called Angels in America. This quote is one of the closing quotes of the 5 hour play, and spoken by Harper for those of you who know the play.

Enjoy, love you all!

I dreamed we were there. The plane leapt the tropopause, the safe air, and attained the outer rim, the ozone, which was ragged and torn, patches of it threadbare as old cheesecloth, and that was frightening. But I saw something that only I could see, because of my astonishing ability to see such things: Souls were rising, from the earth far below, souls of the dead, of people who had perished, from famine, from war, from the plague, and they floated up, like skydivers in reverse, limbs all akimbo, wheeling and spinning. And the souls of these departed joined hands, clasped ankles, and formed a web, a great net of souls, and the souls were three-atom oxygen molecules, of the stuff of ozone, and the outer rim absorbed them, and was repaired. Nothing's lost forever. In this world, there's a kind of painful progress. Longing for what we've left behind, and dreaming ahead. At least I think that's so. 

GAH A WEEK

Its been a whole week since my last post. I swear I have good reason for not keeping as on top of it as I usually am. I've been sick with the cold/cough thing thats going around Ottawa. As a result, I have almost nothing new to say as I've been sitting in my apt. being anti social for fear of infecting the music dept further. SO, apart from going to my very few classes, and watching a TONNE of TV and movies, I havent anything to say.

Though, last night was interesting. Of course take the word interesting with a grain of salt as its coming from a guy who has been held up in his apt. for a day or two. Interesting to me has become a strong gust of wind! My internet died last night, and after an hour on the phone with Bell, they decided it would need tending to by a tech. So they sent one out this morning, and he fixed it. See. Not all that interesting. But when you have no motivation to do anything but watch movies online, having no internet sucks! Oh, she's back now and running better than ever!

I think i'm going to make spaghetti sauce tonight to have for the week.

I have an obscene amount of reading to do for wednesday, but in all reality it will only take a few hours, and because I have so little class, I'm likely to not even look at it till tomorrow. Its still taking a lot to get used to grad school scheduling. I have work to do no doubt, but none of it is ever practical, and I have a whole week do to it each time because all my classes are once a week-ers. I still keep thinking the shit will hit the fan in the coming days, but it never does. I guess I'm still in my undergrad mentality of having way more plates spinning at a given time, and waiting for them all to fall. Again, I worry about speaking prematurely, but I remember even in the first week of first year, being VERY stressed and even looking at that in second year I thought it was funny that I was stressed for that small amount of work. Maybe I've become desensitized to stress and workloads. Who knows. Time will tell.

I like my tuesday nights because I get to sit backstage while Dr. Woods does her non music lecture and plays sweet chant music and I can just read and do work. I like that me just being backstage reading counts as 3 of my 10 hours a week as a TA.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better today, so I hope I have better stories for you all by the next post!!

Hope youre all well!!!

XOXOXOXO Jacob

FIGS!

Hello campers,

Yesterday was the best day ever. Possibly the best day that there ever was. Maybe not, but it was great. Megan and I went to the market yesterday morning, and got so many great things. Multicoloured carrot, peppers, fruit etc. But the mission for the day was to find fresh figs. I've never had one, and I have been CRAVING one to try for EVER. So that was our goal. We came across the Byward Fruit Market, and wouldnt ya know? FIGS! And not just one stupid kind, no no. FOUR KINDS OF FRESH FIGS! It was great. I got a basket of black missions, and a couple green ones to try. So then we went in search of this coffee shop megan knew of to sit and eat figs. On the way there we came across the second huge find of the day. The French Baker. Oh Dear Lord. My life is done. This place is amazing. I want you all to google macarons. NOT MACAROONS, macarons. They had these there. I've never had one, but I've been trying to find a place that makes them for a year, but of course theres nowhere in wolfville or even halifax that males them. Anyway, It was great.

So then (as we were close) we dropped by Ed Ross and Jims place. It was my first time there, and let me tell you. Swankay! I like it. Not my type of area, but the house is great. So we hung out there while Ross sold a car to a man that he introduced us to.

That night, Alyssa Tina Megan and I went to this pub right around the corner from megans place for dinner. They have 50% off Sundays! We had legit full meals for like 8 bucks! So going there every sunday! Then we drove like 15 minutes outside town to get DQ. There are zero in the downtown city. Weird eh! Anyway, good night all round.

Today was a work day. I had a bunch of goals, and I got to a solid 3/4 of them. Go me! The library was stupid though. They are still renovating, and every 20 minutes they would drill holes or something dumb and distract everyone. NOT COOL LIBRARY, PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO DO WORK! Anyway, I just came home to do work instead. No biggie. So naturally I made a tart. A Tart Tatin to be specific. I made it with fresh quebecios apples, and my figs. It turned out sooooo good! Very proud of that one.

So now, I'm just about to go to bed. This time I'll leave you all with another quote. The last one was AA Milne. This one is the drunk french girl who passed under my window a few minutes ago.

"french french french french french, I was Oh my GOD! french french french I have to take a SHIT! french french I HAVE TO TAKE A SHIT RIGHT, OUI! Oh my GOD. french french french." - all in a VERY thick accent.

I had no idea what she was saying in french, cus where I do ok with sober french, drunk french is its own thing! But I'm guessing the french bit was alone the same vein as the english.

Miss you all, and have a good day tomorrow!

XOXOXO

Best Bar in Ottawa

Hello all,
I'll work in reverse chronological order again as its been a few days! Last night Ed, Megan, Tina, Alyssa and I went to a couple bars. First on the list was Pub 101, which was fine, but a bit loud and kind of expensive. I'm really not used to playing covers in bars! It had three floors. The bottom floor was a pub, but it was really cold down there cus the doors were open. So up a level we went to the same vibe, but warmer floor. Above us was a dance club vibe, but there were all of 4 people up there....so we stayed where we were! After 101, Tina took us to this place on Rideau. BEST BAR EVER! I dont remember the name but on the side of the bar there is a big sign that says restarauntainment! Heres the bar in a nutshell. Arcade games, bowling, fun decor, and beer. UMMMM HELLO! It was a friggin hoot. Also, sidenote. Alyssa Michaud is an amazing DDR player. Like...she went to nationals...We had a table of guys betting on her, and even on an easier setting, each of the other four of us (tina, megan ed and I) taking one arrow each couldnt come close to remotely beating her. WHOA! It was a fun night. Then we ended up at the Metro again. For some reason, bar nights end in going to the grocery store. Its interesting, but always convenient.

We went out last night to celebrate our first official week of Grad studies being over. We've made it this far, we cant fail now right???? RIGHT???

Yesterday was also my first DimSum experience. My cousin, her husband and I went to the place in Chinatown. It was soooo cool. Very authentic if youre into that sort of thing. It was cheap, and good, and different and just fun. To those who have never dimsummed (which I am aware is not a word), GO. So good! Next sunday, we are going to go to Upper canada villiage. I am so very excited. As I've said before and I will most likely say again, period costumes, history and fresh bread are what I live for.

Today I think I will need to spend a good chunk of my time in the library. I'm in that phase where I know I have a lot to do research wise, and I know what I need my end results to be, but theres a missing link between what I know I need to be looking at and how to get the information to start to get to the point where I can look at the final topics... I guess this is what a research degree is all about huh! Wish me luck!

So here I leave you. All the best to you all! And I'll leave you with a completely unrelated quote to anything. I just really love it and thought you might all enjoy it too. Its comforting. And its from winnie the pooh, so it has to be great!

"Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered. 
"Yes, Piglet?" 
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you." - A.A Milne


Jacob

March 2008

Hello Campers,

The last few days have been decently uneventful. Yesterday I did laundry. That will be happening as little as I possibly can get away with! WHOA! This is the first thing here that I'm not a fan of in regards to my living situation and school and such. Laundry is only 5 blocks away, but when you have 3 weeks worth, and a book or two to read while youre there...WHOA I say again! It took me a while to find too as it was my first trip, so that may have added to the shoulder pain. Also, I was unaware that there was no change machine, and that it only took quarters. The very nice eastern european lady who runs it took pity on me though as it was my first time, and opened up a dryer and got me out a bunch of quarters in exchange for my toonies. She was sweet. We will make good laundry time friends. We already talked about a chicken recipe that involves brown sugar and chilis! Sunday after laundry I took a stroll down Rideau St, just to see what was going on. Nothing really. Stores. Homeless people. A pizza place that was very very clean, but from the outside look disgusting! That was my monday.

Today was boring. Because I only take two courses (and I'm used to like 7-8 a few of which have practicums attatched and then bands on top), I'm a little bored at the moment. I'm sure it wont last long, becuase everyone keeps telling me that thesis work will get me very busy, and coursework gets to be a lot. I may regret saying all this though, but, I cant imagine! Seriously. Like Thesis yes. But I dont even take the course to prepare my topic defence till next semester. Until then I'm in what is basically an undergrad class, as theres only 4 of us in grad school and the rest are mainly third years. I think I can manage that. And the other one, is a class to prepare you for preparing your thesis proposal...Thats it. How much work can that possibly bring. PLUS, I met with my proff that I'm TAing for this semester, and the only thing she wants me to do is sit in the class tuesday nights incase something tech related goes wrong, and then hold office hours once a week, where I can sit and do what little work I have to do. I only have to do 30% of the grading because theres two other TA's for the class, AND...AND...its a survery class of all music history and theory (so, just a bare skim), for NON MUSIC MAJORS! Even she said, what little grading you will have to do, you will be able to do in about 2 hours. And they only had in assignments every three weeks or so...Sorry for the rant, but this is nuts! But again...now that I've said it my life will blow up with work!

In other news. I met my landlord finally. He is a very nice old italian man. He is going to come take the door out of my living room soon, and fix the burners on my stove as only two of them work. Thats my life in a nutshell. Nothing too exciting. Booked my flights for october though. I'm coming home the 22nd and heading back the 1st. Lots of nice Acadia time in my future. YAY!

Love you all, and wish you the best.

Jacob

Je vais à l'Université d'Ottawa, et je dois apprendre le français et l'allemand en mars l'année prochaine. Souhaitez-moi bonne chance.

OK...Strap yourselves in. This is going to be a long one...and theres a lot of pictures too. I'm going to go in reverse chronological order. Tonight, as I sit here, there is a MASSIVE concert happening at Tabaret hall, which is about half a block from my place. Its outside...and it is LOUD. And there are HUNDREDS of frosh running around drunk and silly. It may be a late night. However, I did just get back from what may be the coolest, most hip meeting of people ever. The MA musicology and theory dinner party. The coolest of the cool. All the current MA people met at one of our proffs condos (which was BEAUTIFUL. . . I want her life.) for a potluck dinner party. The only conversations all night were thesis topics, medievalists, Analysis, those damned performers, and other such cool topics. I'm sure you are all jealous. After a nice night, I walked Alyssa back up to her apt about 5 block from mine because she lives next to a hipster bar, and its a bit sketch haha. 

Last night was also quite eventful. Tina, Megan and I went down to the market and found a nice irish bar to sit at. It. was. packed. The summer nights are still warm here, so people are still flooding the market. We sat outside and people watched for a while and then the most amazing thing happened. Among the hoards of people came a pipe and drum band. At 11. On a friday night in the market in Ottawa. Let me tell you all, If I could have stood up, saluted and flown a NS flag, I would have. It was amazing. They played all the hits. Scotland the brave, Amazing Grace, youh name it. Such a good night. After that, we wnt to Zacks 24 hour diner. Such a cool little place. Awesome cheap after bar food, nice wait staff and a fun environment. AND THEN, after that, we stopped in at the Metro on the way home to get yoghurt for the morning. 24 grocery? SO CONVENIENT! 

Yesterday morning we had our first and only real "grad class" that all the music grads have to be in. Its an introduction to musical research and its taught by my thesis advisor, who I love. So thats a cool class. Its nice to finally know who is who and what everyone is doing. And now since we've had our super cool MA dinner party, I really know who the cool kids are to sit by in class. After that class was the school of music BBQ, which was actually a mild bust as 99% of the crowd were the undergrads who all knew each other. There were only a few of us grad students there. BUT we did end up going to lunch with a few grad students that were new to all of us. We went to the Horn of Africa, which is an Ethiopian place not to far from the school. We met a very interesting man named Bogdan who is from Romania! He is doing his second masters in composition and theory, but when he is not here, he teaches renaissance counterpoint at the University of Romania. You meet allllll kinds! Cool story though eh! 

Actually, as i'm finishing up this monster post, the music seems to have stopped. Maybe the concert is over? I hope. I hope they arent just setting up the next act. That would be awful. 

Well, good night and all the best to you all. I miss everyone dearly! 

Love, Jacob

We wanted yoghurt and soymilk at 12 30. What of it!? Its a 24 hour grocery, whatevs. 

Nostalgia for a period I wasnt alive in

Pouty Lips

Tina Alexander is amazing...so is Zacks 24 hour 50's diner

Megans sexy times in Ottawa

Bogdan and Alyssa at the Horn of Africa

Megans Veggie Version

Grad students go to Africa...SO GOOD !

Ditto

The frosh outside my window that I refered to a few days ago. Good god I dont miss it. 

When you get off the Elevator to the music lib section

The GRAD floor. If you dont have a degree already...GET OUT! 

Row 1 of the referance section of the Lib...and Tina...DROOOLLLL...not at Tina though...

Row 2. Awesome

Turandot, antimusicology and friends :)

Yesterday was my very first day of class! I was as excited as excited could be. My first class was a class called "in search of musical understanding". It was interesting. Without harping on it too much, it was a musicology class...that bashed musicologists. It made me feel weird inside. I was caught between intrigued and offended. I'm not sure how it will all play out yet, but it was...interesting. Yesterday wasnt too eventful. At the end of the day though, I was feeling a weird mix of unsurity (pretty sure thats not a word...) and a bit fallen. I think there was just SO much build up to my first class, and to leave it not being inspired and full of musical though left me feeling strange about it.

Today however, was VERY eventful and wonderful. I started my day by wandering to the Rideau to get an umbrella...to stand under. I love the rideau because EVERYTHING you ever need is there. And its so close I can SEE it from my window. Awesome. So I got an umbrella. Then, this afternoon, I had my first clarinet lesson. It was great. She is VERY nice, and kind and you can see it in her that she just likes to teach to see the result. I've lucked out with her. We had a great lesson, and I really feel I will be getting a lot from her, and that she will make me love my instrument again. So that was good. After my lesson, I had skype time with Nicole and steph AND Meggy Morrisey. It was a good afternoon.

Tonight though, tops the bill! As you may have read the other day, we all got free tickets to Turandot with Opera Lyra at the NAC. So megan, Alyssa and I got all dressed up and went over. Perfect night to see it. The place was practically empty. Like...that place is HUGE, and there were less than 200 people there. So cool. We sat up in the second balcony and had an amazing view of the pit (The NAC orchestra!!!) and the stage. It. was. beautiful. So beautifully staged, and the singing was lovely. Nessun Dorma would make a jaded heart cry. And Lui...WHOA SHE WAS GOOD. Very great night all round. We met up with Ed, Jim and Ross who had watched it from the floor below. As good a view as we had, its vertigo-y up there. They may have had a good plan on that one. It was nice to see the boys. Its been a while.

Tomorrow though, we all have our first actual grad student class together. Like, all the music grad students in one room. Awesome ! THIS I am excited for. I love those kinds of classes. And its called "an introduction to musical research". Sounds good to me! We have a plan to get everyone to go out after for lunch, then we have a school of music BBQ tomorrow supper time, and then hopefully some sort of social event for the grad students. That would be nice.

I'm sure I will let you all know how it goes though! Stay tuned!

Nighty Night all XOXO

Jacob

Being a grad student is awesome

Today, I discovered the perks of being a grad student at a large school. They may not give me an office, and the grad lounge may be small and smelly, but here are a few things that made my life (today at least) amazing.

It all started when I met up with Alyssa, Tina and Megan for the Grad BBQ. Free food = perk one. After a little grub, we went to the music office to do some things. We left there with free tickets to see the dress rehearsal of Opera Lyra's Turandot at the National Arts Centre on thursday night. We are going to get fancy and go! How awesome is that! Perk two! Next we went upstairs to the score library because Tina needed the Merry widow score. We found out when she signed it out, that grad students get semester loans. As in, I can get any book or score out and keep it for a semester....A SEMESTER PEOPLE!!!! How awesome is THAT! Perk three.

We then ventured to the referance library. That makes the SECOND music library. So we head over, and wander around the main library for a while. First of all there is a second cup in the library for all your caffein needs. Also, (get ready for perk four...) we found out that because we are grad students, we dont have to buy photocopy cards. There is a chip on our student ID that means we just stick that in the machine and it photocopies. Now we still have to pay. Its not free...BUT, its one less card to carry. While wandering up to the referance library on fourth, we decided to go to sixth first. Sixth floor is just for grad students! How sweet is that! None of those pesky little undergrads running around! I kidd haha. But the whole library was just renovated, and is VERY nice. Its quite modern looking, with big leather chairs and fireplaces everywhere. The lights turn on by sensor, so its pretty neat to walk down a dark row and have the lights just turn on for you! I took pictures of the library that I will put up later. It is very nice.

So we finally make it to the music part of fourth, and I get my first look at what I'm working with for the next two years. Its pretty good. Not SUPER good, but pretty good. Its about 3-4x's what acadias referance section was, so I'm good with that. Overall, very happy with the library. And it seems very accomodating. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say of a library, but its something you look for! To feel welcome and able to find help when you need it? Wicked!

After that, Meg and I ventured to the Metro for some groceries, and I spent the rest of my day watching Wall-e. Very nice. Mid Wall-e, a group of probably...oh...150? 200? frosh went by my window chanting (I took pictures of that too). They were all in camo overalls and COVERED in some sort of goop. Looked like oatmeal. They were all tied together with a rope too, and the only words I could make out in the chant we're "...yeah, fuck yeah!"...so thats cool. Right now, theres a huge thunder storm happening. I LOVE a good storm though, so this is awesome.

Tomorrow is my first class! Its called "in search of musical understanding". I am VERY excited to go and see what its about. People keep saying its a kind of philosophy of music through the musicology of performing class. I dig that. I'm pumped. It'll be nice to finally meet everyone, and actually go to a class. I've been here so friggin long waiting for school to start that I've kind of lost that buzz. I'm sure I'll get it as I walk in tomorrow though.

I'm sure i'll write about my first day after it happens tomorrow! And, i'm sure you'll all be waiting with bated breath. Wish me luck!

Jacob

BBQ, family and skype

Hello all. Its been a nice few days here in Ottawa. Last night I went out to the National Defence Military base where my cousin Erika lives with her husband Dennis. We had a solid 5 hour chat, and a great BBQ meal. It was a very nice relazing night. The base is a cool place. Its very odd. When you arrive at the gates, there are Military Police and a checkpoint you have to go through. Once inside there are literally hundreds of identical connected condo type houses. She told me my first few times out there, they would come pick me up and take me because I would have no idea where to go. God was she right ! I would have been out there for days trying to find her place. Its nice though, and fairly big once you get inside. Its very strange looking out the back window into another row of identical buildings though. Its kind of surreal out there, but you feel very very safe. If theres ever shit going down, thats where I'm headed. I dont know Erika and Dennis well, as Erika's side of the family has only lived near mine once, and for about 5 years. We really have only seen each other at the occasional christmas dinner, or funeral or wedding. I think though, this will be our time to get to know each other. We are making plans to head up to upper canada villiage in a few weeks. I guess its a working town from the 1880's. Milking cows, grinding wheat, cast iron on the hearth type of deal. I'm excited. As steph pointed out it will have my two favorite things in life. History and costumes. So true.

Today was another relaxing day. I spent my morning skyping with my darling Nicole in London. She is doing well for those of you who know her. We started talking about possible trip plans for me to go over during my feb. break. Tara, nicole, ally, jacob euro fun time! I'm sure I'll keep you all updated on my plans haha. I then went to the market and wandered around for a while. I went to my favorite french boulangerie. Great sourdough! ....and an eclair... Picked up some strawberries and some multicoloured carrots. If I havent said it enough, I'll say it again. I love the market.

This afternoon was occupied with an Ally skype date. Also a very good time. She has such an amazing life in Paris. I'm very jealous. BUT hopefully i'll get to go over and see it for myself! It was beautiful to talk to her today. We havent had a whole lot of talk time lately, and it was good to catch up. Skype is the best invention ever. What would my social life be without it at this point.

After Ally time, was Steph time followed by Teri time. All great. Steph and I have decided that our social lives are entirely computer based at the moment. Thats not sad at all! Sarcasm! Its no real life friendship, but it will have to do for a while for certain people. At least we're at a point where I can see the person I'm talking to, even if they're not really there. Face to face is much better than a phone call, even if the faces are on a screen.

I'm getting very excited for classes to start. I've been here long enough without anything to do now. I'm not there yet, but I'm going to start going shackwacky if I dont have things to occupy myself with soon. Though I did confirm my first clarinet lesson tonight. Thats not till thursday, but I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm very hopeful about this teacher. She seems very nice, knowledgeable, but understanding of the situation I'm coming from and what I want to do in terms of clarinet this year.

Talk soon to you all, and I'm very happy to hear that Earl wasnt too bad. I hope you are all as content and happy as I am, and if you're not... I hope you will be soon!

Jacob

Hey everyone. Pictures are finally here !! I wont write too much, cus this is going to look long enough as it is! So you all know, because I'm sure you care deeply, I finally am fully carded. Student ID, bus pass, everything. The student ID wasnt a bad process but the Upass took forever get. Maybe 50 mins in line, then 30 waiting for the card to be made. The guy who was making mine didnt speak great english, and I had zero warning that he was taking a picture. All I got was "ok picture 3.2.1 click" Efficient fine, but my picture looks hilarious. Imagine, those old USSR communist posters of people looking off into the distance and with a kind of glazed look on their face. The eyes say nothing, and they just look happy to be in a country where the leader supplies all their grain...yeah...thats my picture. It really is a good laugh.  Good weather news though! Although its supposed to storm and rain (though nothing like what NS is about to get), by tonight its supposed to be down to about 20 degrees finally. YAY! I may actually sleep tonight. Excitement! 

Best wishes, and good luck the hurricaners. 

Jacob

Creepy stairs in the darker light setting

My creepy stairs

Looking in from the front door

A place for coats and such

Bedroom from door

Part of bedroom

Black Canvas obelisk that holds my linens

Bathroom with amazing clawfoot tub!

Looking in from the door

From the Door looking in

Looking from the far side of the living room

My KlikKlak futon couch thing

Food nook

Kitchen 

Looking down from the kitchen toward the door