03/29/08 12:49 - 30ºF - ID#43823

the absolutely insane cost of living

....is about to get worse. we now run a small-ish grocery store and have taken a big hit as far as wheat, milk, eggs, etc.--- in short all the things we use to make the rolls, cakes, pizza, etc.-- people are balking at raising the prices but the flour for these things literally tripled in one week. all your basic goods have gone up so so much.

now, to make things SO much worse, it will be insanely expensive to have the cup of coffee you have when you sit down to bitch about such things. coffee, store brand coffee, is apparently going to skyrocket to like $10 a can according to one of our reps. not even maxwell house, STORE brand. ich. STOCK UP NOW, people. starbucks is about to get a whole lot richer.

Permalink: the_absolutely_insane_cost_of_living.html
Words: 137
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/16/08 11:29 - 26ºF - ID#43697

praying for sleep, and i don't pray

insomnia is the worst fucking thing, i would not wish it on an enemy. all the livelong day i feel somewhat akin to a slave, albeit to children i love and adore, but still, i am working hard and putting in hours, and then at night..... nothing. very little, and struggling to get it.

i went to see an acupuncturist, it was INCredible

wowo... i haven't felt so relaxed, i think ever in my life, than i was on that table. for two days i felt calmer and better, now i am back to the crazies. it would be nice to get an acupunture treatment every week, but i don't think it works that way. ...and i can't help thinking i have THAT much negative energy?--so much that it would only last 2 days?

part of it is so so bad because you are completely alone in your insomniac world. you can say i'm SO tired, but yeah yeah--- everyone's tired. you don't GET insomniac tired unless you're an insomniac too. then at night there's no help for it, nothing can really put you to sleep i believe, except yourself, naturally. There are distractions but they're pretty shitty when your mind just can't focus on ANYthing. TV is about it--ug.

it has occurred to me too that it's probably like riding a bike, you can't think about it too much. and i know i am. here i am, when i'm really tired and should be in bed. but i dread it, what might happen once i'm there. i have tried so much, and it makes me angry and it sucks, but i think i have to resort to good old fashioned western medicine, and just go on something.

Permalink: praying_for_sleep_and_i_don_t_pray.html
Words: 288
Location: Buffalo, NY

03/03/08 10:14 - 49ºF - ID#43535

not necessarily necessary

ok, so sesame street live was...... hm. a necessary evil? i am torn over it, since the initial wonder, fascination, and joy made it worth it, but the overstimulation and exhaustion that soon followed made it questionable. how many songs in how many styles can you possibly fit into an hour and a half? how many colors? how many dancing characters, how many musical instruments, how much lights, sound, action? uhhhhhhhh. why an intermission (to sell $10 elmo balloons, that's why)? why a second half that draaaaaaaaagged, during which every parent COULD NOT wait for the finale, and i think more than a few of the kids too. mine was pretty "eh!" with it by then. i'm glad we went, but i know now i will not take him to every event of this type. he has way more fun with a cardboard box at this juncture.

the jist of the show was "everything makes music." also sub "anyone." i DO not agree...... lots of things make sounds, but not music (according to the show, a doorbell or a telephone "make music"). and while anyone might reasonably be able to smack a cowbell with a stick, it's not necessarily going to be musical, it might be something that it's like, SHUT UP, PLEASE. it raises a lot of questions in my mind, why is there so much propaganda to get kids into music? i think they are naturally drawn to it, it doesn't have to be shoved down their throats. and as far as the YOU can make music, that's fine and everything, but it's part of that insidious self-esteem campaign that i'm always so wary of. i realize plenty of kids grow up in households where they are ignored or put down, and that self worth is essential to learning. but ALWAYS telling kids how great they are, and they can do anything if they just try and practice and you can do it and all that, hmmmm. big time paranoia on my part, but sometimes i think it's all some scheme to market a next-gen pill, to make them feel this great feeling about themselves that they've been led to believe they're always supposed to feel.
it also has me thinking "what exactly qualifies as music?" kind of thoughts, but that's a whole nother can of worms......

metalpeter writes at 05:51:58 03/03/08 - Comment #32350: In terms of the Self Esteem thing. I think that kids should have self esteem about them sleves but not what they do. Coming in last should be last and you lost no go practice till you can beat the other kid. I understand that the world is very competetive and that people are trying to teach about particapating and that the result isn't allways what matters. But they aren't doing it the right way. There are some kids who don't have self esteem and if they fail at things then it gets lower and those kids need to be taught how to deal with things as opposed to it is ok here is your award for coming in 15th last. They then get rewarded for failing.

In terms of Music. Everyone defines what is music for them selves. It is kinda like asking what is art? I think what happens most times is someone doesn't like the music or it doesn't follow the rules they think of what music is so they say it isn't music. I think it is also important to know and consider that we mostly use music for entrainment and or to make it our selves. But that isn't all it is used for. Sometimes it is a way to tell stories, gain realigous enlightenment or even communacate to someone else.

I think music education is something important to learn. However what teachers must understand is that it has to be fun. When I took a music class I didn't really care because the music wasn't anything I was into. Now if the teacher would have brought out a Guitar and played some classic rock for a few minutes and gone through the notes then explained that before you can get to play that you have to learn the basics first I would have been all into it. The reason that learning music is good is that it is a different way of learning then for other classes. I call it physical learning meaning that you have to use your fingers and/or how you breath to manipulate something to make a sound. Learning music also teaches you how to read notes and that is like no other form of reading. When you get into the timing aspect that is another way to learn. But what learning music also does it that you can play something exactly how it is written and be perfect or you can improvise and have fun with a piece by changing one little thing. But maybe most importantly it breaks up the day and gives kids a reason to come to school. "man who cares about all these old dead white guys and when am I ever going to need all this crap" Becomes " I can't wait till we all jam out at the end of class today".

james writes at 10:36:42 03/03/08 - Comment #32327: If I can education-nerd dork out on ya for a second.

Music is awesome for kids for so many reasons. So much of how we communicate has to do with noise and language has a lot to do with pitch, timbre, dynamics. Music has all those things in droves. Kids with learning disabilities often have problems either interpreting these subtle parts of language or have problems reproducing them in their own speech.

Educators also love the hell out of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences, which says, briefly, that intelligence can be understood as a composite of eight different types of intelligence. Music hits on at least three of those, two of which are the most important in our culture.

But, that does not mean you have to teach kids to think telephones make music when all they do is make headaches.