(no subject)

Oh my God so hectic. So, so hectic. I'm on a break from work, drinking tea, attempting to destress because the contact lens optician is a little slower than he should be so by this time of day is running three appointments (or about an hour, hour and a quarter) behind. And the patients are getting steadily more irate.

Ah well. There's nothing I can do about it except apologise, and I have an extraordinary talent for being sycophantic. Just call me 'wormtongue' Nny. Actually, don't - I tend to look yellow when I wear all black.

I'm getting steadily more useful at work - I really know what I'm doing in some areas, and that's a fantastic feeling. I tend to feel slightly useless - can't sing, can't dance, can use a sword a little - and this is a boost for the old ego definitely. And the people I work with are really lovely, we all have a great time together and laugh like idiots, which is a refreshing change. Usually at work I'm either terribly shy, or just... very very different from my colleagues. I still am, really, but I find that I'm way more inclined to make an effort to still get to know them. It's a pretty cool feeling.

I'm sorry I've not been very fandommy of late. Just not been in a place to appreciated the wonders of Aziraphael and Crowley, I guess, or to come up with any new and random situations to put them in. But there's a project I'm still hoping to get off the ground soon, provided the other party hasn't lost patience (which I wouldn't hold against them) and there're various bits and bobs I'm gonna make time for. I'm in a better mood now; it's a distinct possibility.

(no subject)

Today's been a sampler day, no question.

I am so tired and so stressed and I need chocolate. Lots of chocolate. And any shinies you happen to have links to would also be gratefully received.

But under the stress and worry and headache and borderline panicky feeling? There's a bit of pride there, too. Because I managed.

I'm gonna go nap for a bit. I'll catch y'all later.

(no subject)

I am really enjoying having the internet again, and the opportunity to download music again; it's been so terribly long since I've actually been able to afford music that I have almost entirely stopped listening to it. I just forget it's an option. And now I have downloading capabilities and I'm listening to Danse Macabre and it's making me grin like a lunatic and bounce delightedly.

Expect a post of various Dies Iraes soon, too.

I will never be a learned and sensible appreciator of classical music. The terms confuse me, despite having learned piano up to grade five - please note that the theory exam is necessary in order to progress to grade six, and that would be where I stopped. I don't think that learning is necessary in order to enjoy the music, not at all, and I think that to a certain extent learning too much can lead to a risk of taking it Entirely Too Seriously.

I've seen it with friends who've done degrees in English Literature - a book is no longer a book but is instead a construction. It's taken apart and examined for metaphor and literary allusions and the like, and while that's certainly a valid way of appreciating a book it's not mine. Likewise with music. I'm not particularly bothered by which period in comes from, any further than such labels serving as an indicator of what else I might perhaps enjoy. I like music that I have an emotional reaction to, even if that emotion (or the expression of it, at least) is laughter.

Dies Iraes are amusing in isolation. As part of a requiem, they are completely affecting and dramatic, but out of context, especially if you're listening to a number of them in sequence, they're completely overblown and needlessly dramatic and amuse me terribly. I'm far too old for headbanging, these days, I only end up buggering my neck; dancing around my room and frantically conducting requiems seems, somehow, simultaneously a more mature and an equally as silly thing to do.

A recommendation, then.

Symphonie Fantastique by Berlioz. It's another piece that's ridiculously overblown and yet such amusement is offered. It is always a danger, with classical music, that one might take it entirely too seriously. With this piece, that's never really a worry. It switchbacks from mood to mood and from style to style with a rapidity that literally makes me laugh out loud when I have it on my walkman, and it's just tremendous fun to listen to.


As an aside, I apologise for being so verbose lately. It's just so nice to want to talk again that I'm going to be yammering terribly for a little while yet.