21.2.09
Overheard
One of the reasons I started the "overheard" posts was because I was amazed at the kinds of things people are willing to blurt out in public places. I often astound myself (and I'm sure my family and friends are also astounded) with the things I am not at all embarrassed to say in a crowd. I think people often feel a certain barrier between themselves and the group they are with and those outside of that group. The barrier is large enough that sometimes we don't even consider the fact that "outsiders" might be actively listening to things we only intended for our "insiders" to hear. Today's overheard quotes are great examples of this phenomenon.

"I didn't pay for my nose, you did!"
--overheard in a Thai restaurant, 2/20.

"Yeah, I was telling my coworker yesterday, 'Jesse, I had a dream about you. I dreamed that I pulled down your pants and you had two dicks.'"
--overheard on the city bus, 2/19.

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written by Ruthie @ 2:56 PM   2 comments
11.2.09
Catch Phrases
Catch phrases I am tired of hearing:

Tell me how you really feel!
EPIC FAIL.
For the win.
Double-u tee eff?
You got pwnd.
Too much information! (Also, the variant Tee-Em-Eye!)
Hollaback!/Holla!
That's a hot mess.
That's fierce.

And I found a new hilarious blog: Cute Things With Douchebags. The photos are ridiculously photoshopped.
written by Ruthie @ 6:33 PM   1 comments
7.2.09
That's sic
I'm a pretty good speller. I was runner-up in the 4th-grade Brewton Elementary School Spelling Bee. I got out on the word "corporal," but to this day I swear that I spelled it correctly. I even practiced it the night before. My mom can attest to that. The kid that beat me (his name is Josh) won with the word "cosmetic." What idiot can't spell "cosmetic"?! I was pretty upset, as I recall. Since I was runner-up, Josh and I both got to attend the Escambia County Spelling Bee with our homeroom teacher. Josh was knocked out early in the competition on the word "sheriff." I laughed ruefully under my breath, because I knew how to spell "sheriff" and I knew I could have lasted longer than he did. Anyway, I got out of school early and got to go to Arby's for lunch.

In spite of my legendary spelling prowess, there are several words that, for whatever reason, I can never spell right the first time. Here are a few I could think of:

recieve
prescence
occassion
suprise
excercise

I'm curious: what do y'all have trouble spelling?
written by Ruthie @ 3:03 PM   4 comments
2.2.09
Several Thoughts
I have to get used to people without formal musical training not being able to understand what I do. My roommate and I were talking about studying music, and I told her that sometimes I worry that I'm not doing anything IMPORTANT, I'm not doing something that can help people. Her response was, "Well, music is entertaining, and it's good that you can understand something that people love... I wish I could have learned to play violin." A couple of things about her statement bothered me. First, she doesn't understand (nor do I expect her to understand) what I am doing with music. Her idea of studying music is learning an instrument and playing music in an orchestra. My idea of studying music is reading articles, understanding theoretical concepts, being able to apply an analytic method to a composition, being able to articulate the function of harmony in a piece.
Second, sometimes I am worried that I am wasting my time by working in a field that is, in large part, a form of entertainment. Then I got to thinking: even in the poorest cultures, people make music. Music isn't just something that is done for fun. Music isn't simply a luxury that people in richer countries have. Music is something else-- maybe a way to cope, a way to create community, a release of stress or pressure, a symbol of something higher, I don't know. I am drawn to that power that music has-- everyone, in every culture, does music, and I want to know why.

***********************
I can't let go of the past.
It has been at least three years since I have even seen him, and still I find myself thinking about and remembering something from that relationship about once a week. Now they are having a baby. That hurts, for some reason. I still feel like that is my life they are living, she is living. I feel like my place was stolen, taken from me-- that I was replaced. I know that I am a different person now and he is a different person now. I know that it was better for me to leave that relationship and take the path that I took. But still I have this nagging feeling that I missed out on something. I wonder if he thinks of me like I think of him. I wonder if she is a better kisser than me. I wonder what they'll name their kids. I wonder if their inside jokes are as funny as ours were.
I don't know how I can resolve this inside myself. I feel like I never got some bit of needed closure and now I'm suffering because of it. Sometimes I think that if I could just talk to him now and see that he hasn't changed, then I will be satisfied that I made the right choice. But what if he changed into a person I could love unconditionally, that I could be with forever? What if he was my soul mate, and I just wasn't patient? That thought terrifies me.

***********************
I have been in this town for about four months and I still feel sort of lonely. I'm just not close to people here like I was close to people at NWC or in Japan. Chi-chan is in Fukuoka, Lis and Becky are in Chicago, Aubrey is in Minneapolis, and my family is in Des Moines. And I am here. In an apartment with two roommates I rarely talk to. In an apartment complex full of noisy college co-eds. I have friends here, but no one I feel like I could cry to or randomly hug. I wish I was closer to people who are close to me. I wish the people I am close to were closer to me.

**********************
I really think I might end up in Asia for a large chunk of my life. It's such a fascinating part of the world. I don't think I'd ever get tired of living in China or Japan. I really want to go back overseas, to either country. I want to see my friends in Japan again. I want to go back to the laidback lifestyle and awesome food of Southern China. This isn't to say that the US is boring; I just feel drawn to the Far East. I don't know why.

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written by Ruthie @ 10:23 PM   2 comments
1.2.09
Overheard
"Yeah, you can wear your frat bullshit all day long in here."
--Overheard 1/16 outside of Nick's (a bar in campus town)

"...and we were sitting by the stage, and all these fat tall people were sitting in front, and Megan..."
--Overheard 1/30 in the music library hallway

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written by Ruthie @ 2:46 PM   0 comments
 
私について

Name: Ruthie
Home: Japan
About Me: I want to know who God is and what his truth is. I love getting lost in beautiful music and cloudless star-filled skies, especially in the fall. I hate being bored. I like big cities. I want to travel the world.
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