posted
1) I'm Jewish (and not religious orthodox, contrary to what people think, since I'm prone to wearing long skirts all the time, but there's no connection between the two).
2) I was born in Jerusalem, but haven't lived here since last month, when I came for a year to study at the Hebrew U.
3) I love to sing, I sing in various choirs, take private voice lessons, perform in as many shows as I can find to take part in, and am looking to possibly go to a music school next year when I go to college.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
1. I can become mediocre at anything I set my mind to.
2. I started working at fourteen so that I could buy food. My first job was a pin-setter at the German Country Club in Savannah, GA.
3. I torture myself by staring at the dog adoption websites (ie Humane Society) and wondering which will be the next to be put to sleep. I torture my husband by begging him to let us save just one.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:2. Two of my lifelong dreams are to perform at Radio City Music Hall and carry the Olympic Torch (since I will never actually be able to participate in a sport).
I didn't know this about you, fiazko! Perform WHAT at radio city music hall? Do you play an instrument or sing?
Farmgirl (still thinking of what 3 things she wants to use)
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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1) Although I'm Brazilian and live in sunny Rio de Janeiro, I don't go much to the beach, and people call me "Casper, the friendly ghost", sometimes.
2) If I don't tell my age (28) and profession (Teacher), people sometimes think I'm a teenager, when I go online.
3) I love very diverse musical styles: Loreena Mckennitt, Enya, Blackmore's Night, Bossa Nova (Tom Jobim, João Gilberto), Heavy Metal (Blind Guardian, Rhapsody, Nightwish, TEN...)
Well...that's it, for now. Hey, I thought this thread was a great Idea! It's nice to know more about fellow hatrackers!
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I was serious about that, Annie. My years of being the best at anything apparently ended in middle school.
I can now speak a little bit of Spanish and Japanese, but would be utterly lost in a country with either as their national language. I can sort of sew something that I could probably wear if I really had to, but I can never, ever wash it. Most of the diapers I throw end up in the trash can, but some end up behind the computer desk. I make one or two really tasty things and burn everything else. I can play enough guitar to keep a rhythm up, but I am not good enough to hold my own. I can change my own flats and fluids, but I wouldn't have a clue what to do if my car had an electrical problem. Oh, and with a couple of days of practice I could probably paint a picture that would kinda essentially look like whatever I was painting.
posted
1. In the beginning of July I moved from the small Western/Upstate New York town where I spent most of my life to Long Island for my job. I’ve spent most of the summer wondering if I was crazy to do it. 2. None of my family or friends are willing to buy books for me for Christmas and/or birthdays unless I give them a very specific list. They say it’s too hard to know what I’ve already bought for myself. I can understand were they are coming from, even I have a hard time remember what books I already have, but it’s not as special to get a gift certificate or a book as a present if I’ve specifically asked for it by name. I like gifts that show someone stood in a store and thought, “I’d bet Rachel would like that.” 3. At least half of the people I think of when I refer to “my family” are not related to me by blood or marriage.
Also, I have a theory that America love mediocrity, hence the popularity of Kenau Reeves and Kevin Costner. So, PSI, you are in the right place.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Feb 2004
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1. I have been a full time skateboarder for more than 10 years. Full time meaning, almost every day I'll grab my board and go skating, and on the weekends I'll usually skate the whole day.
2. After getting an associates degree and working full time at a 'professional' office, I plan to quit at the end of the year so that I can go back to school full-time (not sure what I want to study yet). I guess I'll be a sophomore at age 23.
3. I dated a girl for 4 years, and now that we have been broken up for about a year and a half, I think I am finally able to move on...
Posts: 879 | Registered: Aug 2000
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posted
1. I want to know why you didn't like teaching, 'cause I'll be doing my student teaching next semester in English. I'm simultaneously excited because I think I will be good at it and will really enjoy it, and terrified that I will hate it and find myself unqualified for anything else after five years of school.
2. I'm married to the late, great Jon Boy, who is currently taking a sabbatical from Hatrack but has his own forum. We met because of Hatrack.
3. I'm struggling to write an epic fantasy novel.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Well, the last thing I would want to do is turn someone away from teaching. We need teachers. We need good teachers. And there is not enough support for teachers. It's shameful, really.
Whether or not you'll like teaching has a lot to do with your attitude and your drive for the job. I had a bad first year--I was virtually supportless. I had a mentor, another teacher, who was too busy to care... policies that were never explained to me (I missed orientation because I was out of state, and even though I asked, no one thought to tell me what I needed to know)... and poorly behaved students.
That last one was pretty much my fault, though. I didn't know how I should start the year. That's one of the problems with most education systems--they don't teach you enough about classroom management, and when they try, usually the teachers teaching it haven't been in the high school classroom in years--if ever!
There are a lot of problems with the system.
This doesn't, however, mean that you aren't meant to teach! A LOT of teachers thrive in the environment! It means a lot to them to guide students... to teach them... to make a difference for just one student. Even I did that a little. I did care about the students (most of them). There were days I absolutely loved... I felt they were actually getting it. But I didn't have enough of those days. With practice, I got better. My second year was much better than my first, and I'm sure my third would have been even better--but by the end of my second year I already knew it wasn't for me. I knew I COULD excel, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to end up 10 years down the road still a teacher.. still in the same place. (Although I have considered college professor... totally different ballgame.)
This is just a summary... despite its length. I'm typing quickly because I need to go pick up my husband... more later.. if I think of anything...
posted
Wow, learning lots of new things about people today.
1. I had my first day of teacher training today - observing in a primary school, though I'm actually training to teach Religious Studies at secondary level. *deep breath* I think I can do this...
2. I was born in London to Tanzanian Asian parents (who both spent their younger days in Dar Es Salaam but met and married here) and have lived in London all my life but for a four-year spell at university in Oxford. My parents, however, moved to Uganda when I was eleven and still live there. Thus the answer to "where are you from?" is a tricky one... especially as I don't look Indian.
3. I cannot walk into a bookshop without buying a book. I also can't walk into a lending library without taking a book out.
Posts: 1550 | Registered: Jun 1999
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quote:I cannot walk into a bookshop without buying a book.
I love the word "bookshop" I would much rather buy something at a "shop" than a "store". I think I'll start using that term more.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
1. My last name has no 'w'. 2. I have two cats. One named Puff, the other Skittles. 3. Despite any green fruit that may say to the contrary, Dr. Pepper is not disgusting.
And because 3 really wasn't about myself, I'll do a 4th.
posted
1)I am an amateur chocolatier. I make truffles, tortes, peanut butter eggs, turtles, coconut haystacks... I am willing to try my hand at anything chocolate.
2)I love Ren Faires and Filk.
3)I am very crunchy (ie; organic all natural type).
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
The worst possible day. I remember, maybe three years ago, i got so mad at this kid who was trying to get me wet, I started chasing him all over the place. Plus, it was on my way to church, cause I still went to church at the time. Needless to say, I didn't get there that day.
quote: I am in my second year of college in Ithaca, NY, majoring in Mechanical Engineering
Is that Ithaca College or Cornell? I went to SUNY Binghamton, which was basically filled with people who couldn't get into and/or afford Ithaca and Cornell. So, I'm filled with envy.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
1. I am a citizen of both the U.S. and Cuba (even thoguh i don't speak spanish fluently) 2. I lived in Japan for two years when I was seven and eight. 3. When I was eleven, my uncle and I succesfully built our own computer out of spare parts. I still use it today, althoguh I have to upgrade it all the time.
My sister-in-law takes belly dancing lessons. She loves it. She used to be this impossibly thin women, but she wasn’t able to lose all the weight after her kids were born, so now she has a bit of a belly. She says, “I like to eat, so I won’t diet, I hate to sweat , so I won’t go to the gym. So I take belly dancing lesson so I can learn to love my body.”
I love this attitude. And my brother likes the belly dancing, but I don’t like to think about that.
Posts: 48 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
1. I ran the mile in 6 minutes in eighth grade. 2. I played ice hockey. 3. I am still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Allegra, I started college as a cello performance major, but realized after a year and a half of rather painful lessons and several total technique overhauls that I really didn't want the life of a performer after all. Ideally, I would've loved to have played chamber music all the time (string quartets, piano trios, etc.), but that's a VERY specific niche, and people who do that usually have to live by free-lancing...NOT a life I wanted for myself. It's highly unstable, and I just don't think I could handle it. Not only that, but this was about the time that it occured to me that I was doing my theory homework with FAR more enthusiasm than I was practicing (practicing, by the end of my sophomore year in college, had become a painful exercise in failure, rather than the joyful thing that it was for me in high school).
I liked the puzzling, deciphering aspect of musical analysis, and really enjoyed dissecting pieces of music. I've always loved to learn, and been a nerd of all types, and finding music theory was sort of like...finding a place where the musician and the nerd could become one. I really, really love to talk about music, and I love trying to explain what's going on and why it's going on. And, as it turns out, I'm not that bad at it. So, here I am, in another niche-specific profession, a profession that's self-perpetuating in a way that people outside of music (and some people inside of music) often don't get or won't accept. One of my older cousins-in-law, for example, after trying to figure out exactly what one does with a Ph.D. in music theory, said to me a couple Christmases ago, "So...your field...isn't really GOOD for anything, is it?" (Yeah, not the most tactful person on earth!)
Well, a Ph.D. in theory is good for becoming a professor of music theory, and that suits me just fine. Half of the job is teaching (which I truly love), and the other half is writing (with which I have a love/hate relationship...when it's flowing, it's the most wonderful thing on earth...when it's not, I just want to cry), so I'll have lots of professional activities to keep me busy. I like the academic world (well...sort of. That's something else I have a love/hate relationship with). And, if it's not the most significant occupation in the grand scheme of things (as opposed to, say, being a psychological researcher like my brother, or a K-8 science teacher like my sister), I'm ok with that.
Whew. Long-winded post. Hope it wasn't too much...but thank you for asking! Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I was happy to hear the details. I am going into college next year as a Double Bass performance major. I don't know what I want quite yet, or where it will take me. I just wanted to hear about someone else's experience to get me thinking.
Posts: 1015 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
Allegra, I see from the A/S/L thread that you're in Bloomington. Are you coming to IU?
Also, I should say that I know plenty of happy performance majors--people who didn't have the rough experience that I did. My experience is not necessarily the norm. You should know, though, that college, especially in a university setting, is pretty intense for music majors of any stripe; they just require us to do sooo much more than most people. It's worth it, though, as long as you go into it with open eyes. Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I'm still fairly unknown here, so my facts will hopefully be helpful.
1. I used to post on this forum as Valentine and I also posted in Hatrack 1830s for several years but took a two year sabbatical. (Hi, Amira!)
2. I am a graduate student at Kennesaw State University in Georgia where I am studying Professional Writing (instead of doing professional writing-haha).
3. I am a developmental English instructor at a local tech school.
and
4. I'm rather small so I often get mistaken for someone my daughter's age (10). This would be cool except that I'm over 30 and have greying hair.
Posts: 392 | Registered: Aug 2004
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