It's Almost Here...

Friday, May 8th I'll be doing my thesis defense and oral exam to complete my master's degree in music therapy. Here's an idea of what's going to take place so you can understand the sheer panic in my voice if you make the mistake of calling me in the next 10 days:

Section 1 - thesis

45 minutes of a formal presentation of my thesis. Just learned that today - I have to do a powerpoint presentation. 

Committee Makes Recommendations, Christina hastily jots them down.

Section 2 - oral exam

45 minutes of reviewing everything I've ever learned ever in:

Music History

Music Theory

Music Therapy

Bibliography (or, how to use a library)

The music theory & history stuff is all rolled up into a nice little ball of Armageddon where I will be "asked to identify scores of music - period (out of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic), possible composer, compositional techniques and style characteristics appropriate to that period...should be able to look at the music and tell which musical style period it belongs to and name a possible composer from that period along with other composers who used this style. Study the style characteristics from each of the major periods again in all the major areas - harmony, texture, instrumentation, dynamics, tonality vs. atonality or multitonality, compositional techniques, forms, etc."

That comes straight from my study guide and yes it continues but it makes me queasy to think about. The other sections will be a breeze. I'm just nervous about that first part.

Okay, gotta get back to studying. See you on the 9th!

ACL FEST!

So, the lineup is out today and LOTS of people are complaining that the big acts aren't big enough but the smaller acts are good blah blah blah. Newsflash people: if you want to go to Lolla or Bonnaroo or Coachella, you'll be paying at least $100 more, and yes, the acts will be bigger. For what Austin is offering, I think it's a good deal. Also, let's not forget where it started, in 2002, when the lineup included tons and tons of local acts like Bob Schneider, Grupo Fantasma, South Austin Jug Band, Patty Griffin, and Ryan Adams.

Ah, 2002. The first year of the festival, my cousin invited me to be his date, but I couldn't go because of a Symphony Band "tour" in Houston. I haven't ever had the funds to go, and am therefore excited beyond belief about this year. Wish Carlos was going to be there though.

frustrated!

I have since last week been trying to schedule my thesis committee meeting, hoping that I could do it either at the end of next week or the week after. It's Monday and the committee hasn't yet agreed on a date and when I try to be clear with one member, things get all jacked up. ARGH. The good news is that my thesis is now OUT of my hands Hallelujah and Amen and all I have to do is now study study study. 

I can't wait for this to be over.

I'm not saying I'm going totally vegan...

*I was going to post this as a comment to a friend's blog but it got too long. The gist of it was that her daughter won't drink milk. So here you go, Kel :) *

So, I read a book called The China Study, and it talks a LOT about how the protein in milk, casein (and lots of animal products) is implicated by the way of lots of scientific studies in childhood diabetes, autoimmune disease, cancer, high blood pressure, lots of stuff. I don't want to start a riot or anything, so anyone who's curious is going to have to check out the book, but I would like to have some conversation about it if anyone has read it, is vegetarian, or vegan...I'm always interested as to why people make the switch.

Because there are lots of compelling scientific studies and reports...like how the highest milk consuming societies also have the highest instance of osteoperosis and hip fractures...I have since tossed our milk (to the dismay of my hubs, who woke to make cereal and had no milk...oops) and have started playing with milk alternatives like almond and hemp...I just bought the hemp chocolate milk and it's super delicious and has lots of good Omega-3 and Omega-6.

The question that plagues me is what I'll do when I have children. I've never really understood the concept of drinking another animal's milk. In nature, no other animal does it, and in lots of Eastern cuisine, no milk is used. You don't order Pho with cheese, right?

So then what about the calcium bonanza we are inundated with? The whole Got Milk? campaign and such? What about calcium and bone strength? Where the heck am I going to get it? Well, as mentioned above, studies I've read point to milk & milk products being a detriment in bone health (I know, it sounds sooo weird) and that human bodies tend to react negatively to it. I know I was allergic when I was a kid, so what's to say that even though I'm not outwardly intolerant like, I don't break out in hives, that my intestines aren't hating me? Part of me thinks about Fast Food Nation and my experiences with my mom battling tobacco companies, because I tend to not trust the dairy council when they're putting so much money into marketing. Of course they're going to say that milk is good for you. Just like the orange growers saying there's sooooo much vitamin C in orange juice. Well, there is, but you don't hear as much about how much more vitamin C is in bell peppers.

Good news though! You get a lot of calcium in leafy green veggies - I googled "calcium in vegetables" and found this site, and look at all the delicious veggies! Broccoli! Kale! OKRA!

Like I said, I'm just going off of what I've read in a couple books and studies, and I'm still trying to figure it out, and I don't want to be some crazy activist, especially if I don't have the information to back it up. Any thoughts out there?

Hooray!

I think I've found a magazine to fill the Domino-mag-shaped hole in my heart: Do It Yourself Magazine! I LOVED Domino, but this mag is the one thing that I wanted more of in D. 

It's April 20th. Makes me think of this song:

Sneak Peak...

I'm working on a couple hand painted children's tables for a garage sale...

This is the before shot...

The blue table I think will have an underwater theme:

Not sure for the red yet. Both will be alphabet tables.

If I Were A Flower...

I'm pretty sure I'd be an Impatiens, because my picture is NOWHERE near the word "patient" in the dictionary.

I couldn't stand that my garden was bare while North Texas endured flip-floppy weather, and suddenly I found myself yet again at North Haven, picking out glorious herbs and a couple tomatoes. Because of the sunlight situation in the back garden, I've decided to focus my efforts back there on having a rock n roll kitchen herb garden, maybe some lettuces in the spring and fall. I feel like I'm even pushing it with two tomato plants in the sunniest spaces. 

My darling husband has pointed out that there is a huge sunny spot behind our garage that could be cultivated and used for some veggies. I've just got to get a handle on the herb garden first. I'm toying with the idea of just letting it go, letting the herbs go to seed, having things go a little crazy, see what happens. 

Last month I guess I planted a bunch of Nasturium and some Vioala's because I thought that the sunlight situation in the garden would be the same in the spring as it is in the fall.  Oh of course not.  But, one of my Nasturium made it and even flowered! The Violas were quite literally toast in a few short weeks. This Nasty seemed to have found the optimal mix of sun and shade. It's still doing lovely, and is now neighbors with some Lamb's Ear.

and SPEAKING of gardening, a HUGE shout out to my sweet cousin/sister The Germinatrix , seen here on the Bonnie Hunt Show recently (search for Ivette Soler). She's the proud owner of a wonderful gardening blog/community and you should totally check her out.

where my first paycheck is going...

Austin City Limits Music Festival

I can has jobs now?

Okay, I promised to write about the conference, but this past Thursday I met with my employer/supervisor and she BAM handed over like 13 referrals! I am so excited - I have about a month to get all my thesis junk finished, and then I'm off and running. Well, sort of - I actually have an assessment that needs to be done this week. It is so very refreshing to hear "I am so excited about music therapy! My son/daughter loves guitar/piano/percussion and I think it'll really help them out of their shell."

I think I wrote about this before but a friend asked what I would do if I wasn't doing music therapy. 

I mean, there are a lot of things I could do...I'm interested and pretty good at a lot of things...I could be a chef or photographer or stay at home momma or...ha, I just noticed that none of those really ally with the "conventional" way of thinking about jobs. I hope that I can be the same parent to my kid that my parents were to me in that they really gave me the best parts of them, and that ultimately led to me pursuing my dream, to use music and help people. From my mom I learned to accept people as they are, no matter what. Seriously, friends, she called me one night and was all, "I had dinner with someone who maybe I think you would know? Neville? I think? Was his last name? He was such a nice man..." Seriously. Rich or poor, famous or no, everyone has an equal footing.  We have an amazing family. Maybe I'll start writing about them more.  From my dad I got this crazy obstinate nature...my advisor even noticed it lately when I was having a conversation with her about the government doing a half-assed job with our education system. My idea is that if they're going to be in charge, then do it well. Tell the schools, "Second language learning? This is how everyone is going to do it." and then FUND the crap out of it, and if it doesn't work, then they'll tell you what to do. But don't just say you're in charge and then suck at it. Her response was, "That's really surprising coming from you. You don't let anyone tell you what to do." 

I'm going to pretend she means that as a compliment.

I'm also smiling, thinking of what my grandpa's face looks like up in Heaven, upon hearing that.

:) Anyway, I digress.

I couldn't do what Kyle does...too many things to remember. I could do a lot of things, but this...THIS is what my heart finds joy in. Part of the reason I am so looking forward to starting work is not that I finally get to indulge my shoe fetish but that in speaking with one mother of an individual with special needs, I get to go into their house and change lives with music! She spoke of a time that she played piano duets with her son and now he struggles with attention because he's deteriorated. 

Can you imagine? The possibilities that music therapy has to offer.

It is almost an overwhelming responsibility.

glorious tailspin

Dear Life/God,

Hey there, things are going great here, and you're certainly keeping me busy. Between finishing my thesis, starting my new job, presenting at the Creative Arts & Research Symposium that I have to make my poster for, and writing two articles for two newsletters, wow. I thought maybe once I was done with school my life would slow down, but it doesn't look like it will. That's okay, I kind of like it like this :) Thanks for the music therapy advocacy curveball - I just got into it and now my boss is all "hey let's do some advocacy stuff"...when things are coming from more than one source, I don't call that coincidence, I call that a not so subtle shove in the right direction.

Love,

Christina

March Music Therapy Madness

Typing the title made me realize that I already kind of used that title and I thought I'd give an update on the eye-makeup sitch. I ended up getting a quad of Stila eyeshadows and have been using it for a few days and I am HOOKED. I've wanted some Stila eyeshadow since I went to Spain and my friend Becky let me borrow some - I've always thought it was so pretty! Well, not only is it very pretty, but it wears incredibly well :)

This week went something like this:

Tuesday - Drove down to SA, had dinner with grandma, hung out with brother, spent the night in NB

Wednesday - Made a huge mess in my mom's kitchen making homemade power bars, drove to Austin, made dinner for The Great Kate and Ev, then went to the Saucer with friends to play darts.

Thursday - 7:30am continuing education course at the Capitol (!!!), lunch at Guero's, mall for new jeans, stopped by the state hospital to say hi to folks I worked with, went home to shower/change, dinner at conference, Ballet Austin performance, Swing/Shim-Sham/Contra Dancing at the Women's Federation or "The Fed" 'til 12:30am.

Friday - Music therapy conference 8:30am, lunch at Home Slice, conference 'til 5ish, dinner at Casa de Luz, met with friends at Shady Grove, played Rock Band with the boys 'til 2:30am. It was sort of accidental, that game sucks you in.

Saturday - More conference 8:30am - 5pm, dinner at Maudie's, 2 hour nap, Copa downtown for Rattletree and Salsa dancing, then Lucky Lounge to say hi to a bartender girl friend of mine, Logan's, Rain, Whataburger, home at 3:30am. I couldn't sleep so I caught up on Grey's.

Sunday - Woke up around 9, coffee and good conversation with The Great Kate on her back porch overlooking Austin, breakfast with dear friends, then hit the road.

I am so ready for a nap. Lots of cool things happened at the conference, I will blog extensively on that later :)

:) :) :)

I am going to Austin tomorrow for a conference, the first time I've been back since leaving in December (driving through this past weekend doesn't in any way shape or form count, even though we DID stop for Thundercloud). I'm so excited! I'm going in early to hang with my grandmother in SA and get some yummy vegan energy bars made with my mom, then the conference starts bright and early on Thursday morning and runs 'til Saturday.

I love South Texas, especially in the Springtime :)

Robert Rodriguez Cooking School

I'm making this tonight (he drops the F-bomb once or twice, just warning you, but Johnny Depp is in the segment, and you should still watch 'cos the recipe is magical.)

someone get me a big. margarita.

'cos I passed.

So, for now it's Christina S., MT-BC. Now all I have to get is that M.A. part :)

tomorrow really IS the first day of the rest of my life.

So, this'll be quick so I can get back to reviewing, but tomorrow from 9am - 12pm I'm taking my music therapy certification board exam. Yes, it's three hours. Yes, every time I think about it I want to throw up.

It was in the Spring of my Junior year, 5 years ago, when I (re)discovered music therapy and decided to shift my entire life path in pursuit of another degree. I could've transferred, could've gotten a second bachelor's degree, but you know me. Never one for the path of least resistance.

Being less than 12 hours away from an exam that holds my professional life in its hands is giving me a weird, tingly feeling. It's really totally crazy to be so close to something I've wanted so badly not just these last 5 years but really over my entire life. All I've ever wanted to do is play music and help people. Even when music was thrown in my face as a "blowoff major" and all the times I was discouraged in studio class playing soul-crushing symphony excerpts for auditions to orchestras I would never even think about wanting to be a part of and blundering through undergrad, trying to find something that suited me.

I'll never forget that semester that I decided after writing a paper, skipping a TBS meeting that ultimately got me thrown out of it to attend my very first national music therapy conference...I walked into my advisor's office and, looking at my grades (which had previously been so subpar I'd had to repeat theory. Yeah.) said, "you kicked ASS this semester!" The 4.0 was a result in me finally finding what I wanted to do. That was when I decided to concentrate on ethnomusicology, because I had unexpectedly and dorkily fell in love with the role music and culture play with each other.

So you can understand that it's really, really strange feeling for me to be nominated for a graduate research award for original scholarship for my thesis, which researches bilingual music therapy, which I had a blast researching and buying Latin American songbooks off Amazon for. I also got to integrate my love of neuroscience into the project, and found neurological rationale for teaching students, especially special needs early second language learners in their native language AND in English.

It's strange to read the recommendation letters for the job I pretty much had been hoping to find and found me. I guess I'm finally the student I had always wanted to be...I've run with a bunch of smarty pantses and I feel like I can hold my own now.

Anyway, enough procrastinating. I'm going to go get a good night's sleep and hopefully next time I blog I'll be MT-BC! :)

Livestrong Challenge Video

before pressing play, go grab yourself a tissue.

General Malaise

I just had an interesting conversation with a girlfriend of mine. A statement she made was something along the lines of, "It's not that I'm not a happy person, I just haven't been happy for awhile." Another friend who was with us said, "I just feel like I really haven't been myself for the last three years." I could identify with that...with a general sense of heaviness...maybe mild depression but nothing really debilitating, just...blegh.

We came to the conclusion that probably most of America is feeling like that with the economic downturn. It makes me wonder if there's been a recent rise in individuals seeking mental health resources in the way of psychologists and counselors. We all also happen to be in our twenties and realizing that we're in a transitional point in our lives. It means taking better care of ourselves, protecting those bedtimes, being conscious about what we choose to put in our bodies, taking time for ourselves to think or to pray, drinking less alcohol, mindfulness about routine and chores around the house and how we want to live. I should also mention that 2 of the 3 of us in the conversation have been pursuing graduate school (master's and doctoral degrees) the last few years and that stress adds up. It's a tough place to be because as a nation and a generation we are beginning to rethink how we've done things and sometimes that involve realizing that those things don't really do it for us any more. The next step is the most important I think - figuring out what exactly does make us happy and pursuing those like crazy.

"When i was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." 1 Corinthians 13:11

March Makeup Madness

After my second eye infection in as many months, I decided to toss every single bit of makeup that could possibly come near my eyes...concealer, shadow, liners, everything. I figure since I have to rebuild my stash, I should do it with grownup makeup. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I'm so silly.

You know? I say something about not blogging and then something wacky will happen to me the next day and it gets me thinking that maybe blogging about this whole thesis process would be better for my sanity because having to store all these ideas for when I come BACK to my blog would be taking precious space in my brain. I think actually NOT writing would make me far more crazy than getting my thoughts out here.

That being said, last week I basically paid a statistician to make me cry. My sample size of my thesis groups were tiny (yes, I knew that) and she was very blunt about the fact that one of my tests couldn't be used. I was quite low for a couple days, doubting whether my research was worth anything at all.

But today I got a little ray of sunshine in the way of my graduate ESL professor. Taking that class was probably the single best idea I've had scholastically, 'cos I learned all kinds of things about second language acquisition theory and practice. I have been nominated for a graduate research award and have to get all kinds of stuff together for it, 3 letters of support, a curriculum vitae, and a narrative about why my research is important to the field...all this while getting ready for orals, for CBMT, and writing pretty much all day.

Anyway, what I needed was a letter of support from the ESL prof and though I was on a short timeline (the app is due Monday of next week) I thought that actually going in to see her and catch up would be much better than an Email saying "hey I know I haven't seen you in over 6 months could you do me this huge favor?" I know, the debutante in me will never die. It definitely paid off because she agreed to have the letter to me by this Thursday and really seemed to have appreciated that I took the more courteous route.

She gave me the BEST little pep talk...getting all excited about my ideas for future research and totally supporting my research because it's multidisciplinary, and really what the fields of ESL and music therapy needs. She even went so far as quoting Emily Dickinson who, when asked if she like to write said, "I like to have written." Meaning she likes to have it done. The prof also quoted her husband who said, "Just shut up and write." Which is SO what I needed to hear. The other really big thing that we discussed was that in her class I learned about the validity of alternative or authentic assessments, which are basically non-standardized tests used in the classroom by the teachers to gauge student progress. Suck it, statistician. Just because my research is a pilot study doesn't make it unworthy of stats. I could go on and on about doing research in music therapy and why most people in, say, psychology, look down their nose at it. Music therapy is such an individualized process that a lot of times the most significant (and by that I mean meaningful) research comes in the form of qualitative or case studies, anyway.

/rant.

Kyle also said the other night, "look - people a lot less smarter than you have published theses. It doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be done."

Send me all your writing vibes, I needs 'em.

ps: IT'S RAINING!

pps: MY NASTURIUM IS BLOOMING!!!

Just a Little FYI

So, the blog posts are going to be rather sporadic between now and May - I've GOT to get my thesis written. This blog is not the only place I write - I wake up every morning and get my wandering thoughts in a journal to clear my head. This blog, see, is just another place to write, and I need to be focusing all my writing prowess into that dang paper so I can graduate. And get a puppy.

See you then :)