A Life Update (I'm clearly terrible at blogging)

I may or may not have a HUGE crush on someone.

Also, I realize I haven't posted on this blog in forever, I'm so sorry.

School just takes up so much of my time, and the RCM exam practice- stress is the worst. I'm also learning all of the pieces for Guys and Dolls, because I'm the accompanist for my school's production.

Life update on the piano practicing: Professor Wilson remains the sweetest and most socially awkward teacher I've ever met. He's so incredible though. It's a wonderful privilege to study with him.

I've technically "learned" all of the pieces by now, it's just a lot of practicing and memorizing and fine-tuning (ha, ha) until the exam in December.

1. English Suite no. 2 in A minor, Allemande and Gigue by J.S. Bach- going okay. This one's my favourite but the memorizing is difficult. And the fingering..... ouch ouch ouch
2. Sonata in D Major, 3rd and 4th movements, by Ludwig Van Beethoven- easy peasy. Okay, not really. Fingers aching. The trick with this one is remembering the dynamics and getting the correct expression.
3. Ballade in D minor, op. 10, no. 1 by Johannes Brahms- So mournful I can't
4. La plus que lente by Claude Debussy- This one makes me think of Degas paintings, sort of. It's much easier than the others but it's also rather slow, which is a different challenge.
5. Sonatina in C Major, op. 13, no.1, 2nd and 3rd movements by Dmitri Kabalevsky- I just watched a video of a 7 year-old playing this with ease and grace and now I feel not very talented. Oh well. Back to practicing.

What else to talk about?

Boys

I think this will be a pretty short post, just while I'm thinking about stuff. I just finished writing my other post about books, and then I got to thinking about love interests in literature and then love interests in real life...

I feel like I'm always that kind of girl, the one that guys don't really notice or pay attention to. I'm pretty shy, maybe not so much online, but I don't have a ton of friends and I mostly hang out with my family.

And I just get frustrated sometimes because so many people are in relationships or could be and they're not and I'm alone most of the time so.......

When I was little I always thought that romance would be like it is in the books, in the movies, on TV. It all appears so easy and straightforward and there are soulmates and everything makes sense.

But in real life, it's so much more complicated. You can be best friends with a guy and not know if it'll go beyond friendship, or someone likes you and you're not sure if you like him, or you like someone but you know for a fact he likes someone else who is not reciprocating, or two people like the same person, and there's no slow-motion running through a crowded hallway.

I don't want romance to be complicated. I think love should be simple, it should make sense, and it should feel right. But I haven't ever felt that so far about anyone, really.

I know I'm only 17, I've got so much time and I should just be happy being single and not worry about the future.

Sometimes I think maybe it's not romance I really want, I just don't want to be alone. I want good friendships just as much, and I don't want to be in a relationship just for the sake of being in a relationship. What's the point?

I was listening to the Gershwin song "Someone to Watch Over Me" recently and it really hits homes for me:

I'd like to add his initials to my monogram
Tell me where's the shepherd for this lost lamb

There's a somebody I'm longing to see
I hope that he turns out to be
Someone to watch over me

I'm a little lamb who's lost in a wood
I know I could always be good
To one who'll watch over me

Although he may not be the man some girls think of
As handsome to my heart
he carries the key

Won't you tell him please to put on some speed
Follow my lead, oh how I need
Someone to watch over me
Someone to watch over me 

Okay, that's all for now! Just something I was thinking about. 

My Favourite Books

Okay, I was watching The Sound of Music recently. I know, I know. The title is cheesy.

I was asked a while ago by @DeBelle77 on Twitter to make a post about my favourite books, so here we go!

1. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - I fell in love with this book when I had to read it in Grade 4. I love the descriptions of nature, Mary's character development, and the beautiful lessons about friendship and optimism. I've watched the movie countless times and it's still one of my favourites!

2. A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett) - Okay, another book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Has anyone seen the amazing movie adaptation? Again, I really love the message about optimism and how everyone can be a "little princess" on the inside.

3. The Book Thief (Marcus Zuzak) - This was one of those books that changed me. I found the narration by Death a little freaky at first, but it totally changed my perspective on how death and war shape people. And Death is actually pretty funny! I also cried buckets, so there's that. I hear the movie is a really good adaptation, so I want to watch it soon.

4. Allegiant (Veronica Roth): I know the ending was so controversial for readers, but SPOILERS I loved Tris' sacrifice. I don't think the series could have ended any other way. She gave herself up in a perfect combination of Dauntless bravery and Abnegation selflessness. It was beautiful, and I cried. As usual, with sad books involving death. I liked the first two books as well (Divergent and Insurgent) but Allegiant really was my favourite.

5. Entwined (Heather Dixon) - This book is an adaptation of the 12 dancing sisters fairytale- I don't remember the original story too well, but this book is just so cute! Friendship, romance, dancing, magic- all the good things in life and literature.

6. Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) - Okay, can we just talk about how perfect this book is? It won a Newbery Honour, okay? It seems inspired by Cinderella at first but it's almost unrecognizable from the original, somewhat dry fairytale. Ella is spunky and courageous and hilarious and she takes control of her own destiny. I love the character of Char (love interest) but that's hardly the focus of the story. Instead, it's about Ella finding her voice and becoming independent, by ending her curse. Ella is one of those heroines who inspires me (not to disobey my parents, or anything) but to be confident and proactive. And also not to listen to authority blindly. Gail Carson Levine has a very unique writing style, it's witty and light but sufficiently descriptive to inform the reader, yet some passages can be just as heartbreaking. Can you tell I love this book?

7. The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer)- I never really liked epistolary novels (that's what they're called, right?) until I read this book. And then, as with so many other good books about magic and romance and Regency England, I fell in love. Witty dialogue and scandalous escapades, blackmail, sorcery, and handkerchiefs.

8. I Capture the Castle (Dodie Smith)- A librarian recommended this to me and I really enjoyed it! It was a bit slow to start off, but it's so quirky and unusual I had to keep reading. I love hearing about how Rose and Cassandra and Topaz improvise with the few resources they have to get by- how they make a dining room table out of trestles and a door, dying things green, etc.

Let me know if you've read any of these!

Love,
Diana

Piano and Poetry

Everything is back to normal! Okay, that's a huge overstatement.

My aunt Jennifer introduced me to her friend, Professor Wilson, on Wednesday. He seemed really shy and awkward at first, but when we got to the piano (a beautiful Steinway grand, I was freaking out!) he warmed up a lot. He's a very quiet, unassuming middle-aged man, he speaks softly and plays piano loudly. As my friend Anne would say, he's a kindred spirit.

It was an incredible first lesson and I can't wait for my next one. These are the pieces we chose for my exam:

1. English Suite no. 2 in A minor, Allemande and Gigue by J.S. Bach
2. Sonata in D Major, 3rd and 4th movements, by Ludwig Van Beethoven.
3. Ballade in D minor, op. 10, no. 1 by Johannes Brahms.
4. La plus que lente by Claude Debussy.
5. Sonatina in C Major, op. 13, no. 1, 2nd and 3rd movements by Dmitri Kabalevsky.

RCM stands for Royal Conservatory of Music, and their requirements for the grade 10 exam are complicated. You have to perform five pieces (one from each category), various studies (scales, chords, arpeggios, etc), and pass ear and sight reading tests. I'm not panicking.

I'm not panicking! Professor Wilson is one of the best teachers around (so Aunt Jennifer says, and I believe her). He's been teaching at the University of Regina for years now and his music class accepts only five students each year. Five. It's insane. I'm probably never going to study in his class, so I'm really taking advantage of the private lessons right now.

Now............. on the subject of how I almost lost the privilege of going to these amazing lessons, let's backtrack.

Sunday, June 29th. Poetry slam in downtown Regina with my best friend Anne.

We went to dinner with my parents (which wasn't too awkward, thankfully) and then we met my cousins downtown.

The bookstore we went to is called Athabasca Secondhand Books, it's very small but cozy. Old creaky hardwood flooring, comfortable armchairs and couches everywhere, old postcards and messages on the walls- basically paradise, or something like it.

There were probably about 30 or 40 people, there, it was packed. Like, people sharing seats packed. Anne and I got there early so we were able to get seats fairly close to the front.

I felt a bit shy around all of the university students, I'm pretty sure everyone attending was older than us. And, you know, probably more mature. Anne was bouncing off the walls (okay, I'm exaggerating) with excitement and we got a few odd stares when she started gushing about the tea selections.

The poems were really, really amazing. Some of them I recognized (from school and stuff, popular things like "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost or "Life is Fine" by Langston Hughes. The poetry slam was divided into three parts, first they had readings of existing works, second was original performances (those ones were sooo intense), and last was adaptations of existing works. I think my favourite part was the last section of performances, because the artists who performed took old classic poems and reinvented them for modern audiences.

Here were some of the selections from the evening! They didn't have programs but I wrote down my favourites so I could look them up later.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud - William Wordsworth
To My Wife (With a Copy of My Poems) - Oscar Wilde
Still I Rise - Maya Angelou
The Broken Heart - William Barnes (This was one of the updated ones, it was really cool!)
Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face - Jack Prelutsky (Anne could NOT stop laughing at this one. It was pretty funny).
Friends, Romans, Countrymen... - William Shakespeare (you know the one!)
Daddy - Sylvia Plath. (Another one of the poems that the performer decided to update, she read it with some of her own work and it was awesome!)
Bingen on the Rhine - Caroline E. Norton (another updated one!)
Having a Coke with You - Frank O'Hara.
Where the Sidewalk Ends - Shel Silverstein
A Carcass - Baudelaire
The Donkey - G.K. Chesterton (another updated poem! This one was so cute.)

I wish I could remember the names of the original works, but obviously I won't be able to find those online!

Until next time.

Music

Hi again!

I was originally going to talk about my favourite books (from a suggestion on Twitter) but then I thought for now I’d talk about music instead.

In light of recent events, anyway. My friend Anne (I’m going to assume most people reading this blog know who she is) and I attacked my aunt on Sunday night and now Aunt Jen’s threatening to cancel my extra piano lessons, so I thought, “Why not?”

I started taking piano when I was four, I think, because my mom was really devoted to music and so was her sister Jennifer. They’re both very musical, but the difference is Mom gave it up to take care of her family, and Aunt Jennifer still pursues it zealously. She was my first teacher but then she moved to Montreal to teach at McGill University. Yeah, she’s that good.

I’m studying right now to take the Grade 10 Royal Conservatory of Music exam, and Aunt Jennifer originally arranged for me to take extra sessions with a professor friend of hers here in Regina. And then Anne and I jumped on her and she’s furious with me for being immature and irresponsible and she says she’s going to cancel them.

It’s so frustrating because this is the last exam I’m going to do and I want to perform well. I can probably manage without the extra lessons but Aunt Jen’s just being so unreasonable. She puts a ton of pressure on me to study music in post-secondary like she did, and now suddenly she’s dropping that idea because I jumped on my own bed.

Secretly, I think she’s a little bitter.

Anyway, music!

I really love it. I talked about it a little in my first blog post, I like listening to anything and everything, really, and I mostly play classical. At first I was just studying it because Mom and Aunt Jennifer wanted me to, but now I enjoy the freedom I have to perform.

I play piano and flute, but I prefer piano more because there’s a lot of mathematics involved. Nerdy, I know. But I love that you have to learn the rules (all the fingerings, intervals, harmonies, etc.) before you can add the poetic elements, which are the best parts!

Hmmm, okay, this didn’t last as long as I thought it would.

Music recommendations! Perfect. I use ThisIsMyJam a bit, but I’ll put some of my favourite songs and artists here!

·         The Gambler by fun: this song has beautiful, simple composition and makes me think about getting married. I know I’m only 17 BUT STILL it’s adorable.

·         500 Miles by Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan: Anyone who thinks Justin Timberlake only makes pop music needs to listen to this song!!!! That’s all I will say.

·         Change by Churchill: I listen to this song whenever I’m cleaning my room. It’s just very catching and energizing!

·         Ed Sheeran: My personal favourite is Tenerife Sea from his new album, but I really like his voice and song writing style overall, because it’s not too polished or auto-tuned.

·         Coldplay: ALL of their songs, really. They have the amazing ability to transport the listener to magical worlds.

·         Katy Perry: Everyone needs to listen to cheesy pop music some of the time, okay? I love Birthday and By The Grace of God.

·         The Civil Wars: If I wanted to walk around exploring an enchanted forest for hours and be melancholy, they would be the soundtrack.

Here are some other artists I like to listen to:

·         Kodaline

·         The Lumineers

·         Ingrid Michaelson

·         Taylor Swift (sometimes.)

·         Boys Like Girls

·         Michael Bublé

·         The 1975

·         Passenger

·         Landon Pigg

·         The Arctic Monkeys

That’s it for now! 

Love,

Diana

P.S. I promise I will write a blog about book recommendations!

P.P.S I wish I could tell you about more interesting life events but nothing ever seems to happen to me.

P.P.S. Does anyone have a suggestion for a better blog title? I cringe every time I see mine.

Hello, Internet!

My name’s Diana Barry. I live in Regina, Saskatchewan, and I’m mostly making this blog because my best friend Anne says I should be more active online. She has a video blog on YouTube which a lot of people watch, but I’m not really as comfortable in front of the camera. She loves talking, so the whole filming thing is fun for her. I’ve been on her vlog a few times- the first time we just hung out, the second time I got embarrassingly drunk. It was all a huge mistake, but as you can probably guess, that’s put me off video blogging a little.

I think it’s so weird how your life just becomes permanently published on the Internet. I don’t know how I’m going to feel in 10 or 20 or 30 years about having pictures on tumblr or Tweets that my kids could read, much less video footage. I guess it’ll be a really cool way of remembering what it was like to be a teenager, but it’ll also be strange to see how I’ve changed.

I guess I should say a few things about myself, just to introduce myself to people?

I’m a pretty practical person, at least in comparison to Anne, who is so imaginative and creative! I like to be very organized and get my school work done on time, do chores around the house, babysit my sister May, listen to music... 

Right, I should talk about my family.

It’s just me, my sister May (she’s 13), and my mom and dad. My mom was totally preppy in high school and college, she was in the debates club and the school band. She went to university and got her degree in music and was all set to take over the symphony world until she met my dad, who was finishing his engineering degree. They got married right after graduation (it was so cute and romantic and ahhhhhhhh- I mean, from the pictures. Not like I was there, oops) and then had me and moved to Regina. Dad still works as a chemical engineer. He’s really cheerful and funny, and pretty laidback. Mom decided to quit music so she could raise me and May. She’s very strict about a lot of things because she wants me to do well in school and extra curriculars. But I think they balance out pretty well, my parents were practically made for each other! Mom is driven and highly organized (you should see our garage- all of the Christmas lights are stored by size, wattage, and colour), and Dad’s hardworking but really patient and supportive.

I wouldn’t say I’m the most creative person, I mean, I like writing and music and stuff. I just find some creative pursuits so exhausting. I could go paint watercolours or practice ballet for five hours, but I’d much rather relax with a book. I really like the arts and things, don’t get me wrong! I just think of them as hobbies more than lifestyles.

I think I’m most creative when it comes to fashion. I try to keep it classy most of the time with my clothes, and I really like staying on top of trends. I don’t spend a ton of time shopping, though, because I’m usually pretty busy. I like to look online and plan out my purchases in advance, so that I don’t have to worry a lot about hunting through sales racks at H&M or Forever 21. I always have a game plan for what kind of clothes I’m going to buy- I really like finding pieces which are fashionable but still versatile, because then I can switch up my outfits conveniently!

So, my family, fashion, what else?

Right, music. I really love music. I don’t really have one specific favourite genre, I listen to pretty much anything as long as I like it. I listen to a ton of Top 40, don’t judge me, Anne! When I’m studying I like to listen to film soundtracks, they’re very inspiring. Especially the superhero movie ones. My mom really encourages me to listen to classical music, which I find helpful especially when I’m working on a new piece. I play piano and flute, and most of the music for that is classical, so hearing the songs first helps me get a feel for their mood and dynamics.

I also really like reading books. Not long ones, because I get impatient with all the drawn out, unnecessary details. I like fantasy novels and romances, my favourite right now has got to be “I Capture the Castle”. Not really a fantasy, I guess, more history. I read some Jane Austen books because her love stories are just perfect. And her men? Swoon. My mom isn’t really a fan of "excessive reading", as she says, which is frustrating. Because doesn’t every other parent in the history of FOREVER want their kid to read more books? I’m not the best daughter, oh well. She always tells me to go outside and stuff, and get fresh air. I respond to that by reading in the garden. Haha.

I also watch a TON of TV shows. Okay, I have to admit, this is sort of a problem. I’m addicted to Once Upon a Time. My cousin showed me the first episode ages ago and I was just completely hooked. (See what I did there? Haha I’m trying to be punny, I know Anne will make fun of this later) I really love Belle. I ship Gremma. Forever. Anyway, that’s that. I also watch Downton Abbey, my mom and sister are obsessed with it. I love Matthew Crawley so much. I also started watching Reign, which I really like because it helps me make connections to a lot of the stuff I’ve read about in history class and other books. Oh, and my dad is a total Doctor Who geek. In a good way. So sometimes I watch that with him, but it’s a bit too science-y for my preferences. I think that’s about it.

I guess that’s kind of a good start, for now? I wrote way more than I intended, oops. I don’t really know what to write for the next one, so maybe if you like this blog just comment or tweet me suggestions? Maybe I’ll talk about music more? Or is that too much? Anyway, hope you like it! (And Anne, you can get off my back now. I made a blog! Just kidding, love yah! <3)