"We're not Fascists"

Wow...so it's been a while...like a whole semester.
 So it's safe to say college keeps a body pretty busy. With that being said, there's still time for the weird, insane, and charming. Here's the story of the morning:
 First of all, today has an expected high of 69 degrees. So hooray to that. Strolling down to the music school, I stopped at one of my favorite coffee food trucks and ordered a small coffee. As he rinsed out my thermos, I realized that I forgot my wallet. Shit.  I explained yada yada before he filled the mug. His response? "That's fine, you can just pay me later..or tomorrow or something. It's not like we're fascists." I couldn't help but laugh. We're not fascists? Couldn't help but laugh.

Cloud Coffee
Back in the USSR - The Beatles

Every girl's crazy about a sharp dressed man

It's true. Gotta love concert days. 

Sharp Dressed Man - ZZ Top

The Creperie

The Creperie. Always a great meal, friendly service, and a "Have a good day, Sweetheart" (pronounced sweet-hawt). Located right next to the music building, it's become a frequent stop of mine. 
They say you learn something new every day. Today? Crepes taste better when shared with old friends.

Friends theme song

Lazy Sunday

In the spirit of a relaxing Sunday, I sit and write this in the clothes I slept in. Have I gone anywhere today? Nope. And you can bet that I will wait til the last minute to get ready to meet friends tonight. 

But not all is lost on this Sunday afternoon, no. Today was another course in Korean culture courtesy of my wonderful Korean room mates. After we started with some basic phrases a couple days ago, we've continued to work on our new found vocabularies - mostly concerning food. Lesson today? "Korean Sushi", "kimbap" (sometimes spelled "gimbap"). Would you like to write this in Korean? Here you go, 김밥. The first word, 김 simply means seaweed and the second word, 밥 means rice. You got it, seaweed rice. It's filled with all sorts of other Korean goodies like pickled radish, something that tastes sort of like beef jerky but is somehow not a meat, egg, lettuce, ham, "bulgogi" - a marinaded and cooked beef, tuna; you name it. And holy shit is it good. The slightly salty jerky-tasting-thing balances perfectly with the mildly sweet pickled radish. 

A note on the Korean language, unlike Mandarin,  the symbols used are not just pictures, they are actually individual letters. I haven't figured out how to arrange them yet, but I do know each has a specific sound. Ya learn something every day.

Leessang - "Turned off the TV" This is a very popular Korean song right now. I can't hear the translation without giggling a little. The chorus roughly translates to "Turn off the TV and close the blinds so I can f*** you". Keeping it classy, Korea, keepin' it classy.

If anyone still reads this...another cultually exciting day in North Philadelphia

 
 After an anything-but-blissful morning, causing myself physical and emotional pain with a bassoon, and forgetting both my wallet and keys in my apartment I had had about enough.  Ready to collapse into the fetal position on our industrial (and surely bacteria ridden) couch, as I opened the door - leaning on it to open due to a lack of motivation and energy - I was enveloped in a cloud of fumes that could have only come from freshly baked cookies.  Had I closed my eyes I could have believed I was sitting in my Gramma's house on Christmas Eve.  I could feel the stress melt away. Thank God for cookies and baking. And my room mate thanks God for me - because she can't bake worth a damn. 

Halfway through making a second batch of buttercream icing, we ran out of powdered sugar. Oh, we also ran out of milk and eggs. Easy solution since we live next to a grocery store. Call me a woman, I love going grocery shopping. It's therapeutic. Grocery shopping in here in North Philly usually gives me the same happy satisfied feelings inside..but a little different. This is after all, the city of brotherly love. Take that as you will, it's true. My cultural experience of the day occurred as I walked past a Muslim man on my way to Fresh Grocer. At 4:30 on the dot I saw him roll out a rug and begin to pray. I always knew Muslims prayed 5 times a day, but growing up in a tiny rural town I had only ever knows a couple Muslim kids who were not very strict in their practice. Perhaps the best word to describe my situation there is intrigued. I think I might take a Muslim culture study for my religion GenEd...
Sauntering down the fruit aisle, I stop to look at the strawberry prices.  Here at good ol' FroGro produce, especially fruit, is overpriced. "$2.99". No strawberries today. The middle aged woman next to me had a similar reaction to my own, shaking her head as she picked up apples instead. I recommend she go to the Italian Market where I buy them at about fifty cents a box. She thanked me, but explained she didn't drive and traveling by subway was difficult for her at the age of eighty-one. WHAT? "Ma'am, you're not 81, you can't be," "I swear I am!" she replied adamantly. 
I swear black people don't age.
The rest of my adventure in FroGro was pretty ordinary. Oh, except for the guy with a handgun shoved obviously in the side of his waistband. Isn't it called a concealed weapons permit? (Keepin' it classy I see...keepin' it classy.) Laden down with groceries (there was a sale on soy milk), I hobbled outside with the plastic bags digging into my hands when I heard "HEY MA YOU NEED HELP WITH THEM BAGS?" You get used to this after a while, and learn to not look and just keep walking. Even though I did want to yell back "DO I LOOK LIKE YOUR MAMA?" Three steps. "HEY BABY GIRL YOU NEED SOME HELP?" Step, step, step, step. 
I got home just in time to save my room mate's latest batch of cookies. Now I'm here with her, her male friend from some physics class, and my man, getting down with some Latin tunes. My life - North Philly style.
 Eso Ehh - Alexis y Fido

Vulgar quotes of the day courtesy of my room mate

"And then they'll probably go home and have sex in the same missionary position because they're too ashamed to do anything else creative"

Thank you to my hilarious favorite room mate. 

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia?

No, it's not.

California Dreamin'

For the children I will maybe have possibly theoretically someday far in the future if that ever happens...

 Because I care, and love you even though you don't exist and may never exist, I will personally take it upon myself to ensure you have the best music teachers and directors the area has to offer. Or we will move. 
Sitting in my Music Ed. classes, I take a daily look around the room (if my eyes are open enough) and examine the young future music educators around me. Some, I've walked up to and informed them of my hope that they will be the one to instruct my theoretically-possible-maybe-someday-in-the-future-child. They have a passion and a talent for both music and teaching and combine the two with the utmost ease and perfection. It is these people who will to educate my children.
These are the thoughts that run through my mind when the idiot next to me probably can't manage to educate himself, much less the future youth of America.

Second Floor

Doing some boring GenEd homework can be pretty rough. Doing boring GenEd homework on the jazz floor - sooo much better. First of all, listening to the guy (well it's jazz so I'm assuming it's a guy) down the hall jam out on sax in his poorly soundproofed practice room reminds me how freeing the genre can be. (Ohh baby, now he's got a set with him. Music-gasm - aka music orgasm, the overwhelming pleasure one achieves while listening to incredible and passionate music. Damn.)
Circling back, interesting people hang out here. And by interesting, I mean the most creative and diverse menagerie of twenty-somethings from every ethnicity and sexual orientation.  Yes, I went there. Because it's true. There's a guy wearing pants twice as tight as mine.
Can't wait for someone to finish up in their practice room so I can go use it...

 

On a foodie note, I finally visited the crepe truck parked right outside the music building. It boasts #1 ratings in Philadelphia for street/food-truck cuisine. I got one of their "savory" varieties with all the veggies, grilled chicken, melted cheese, jalapeños, taziki, and Sriracha hot sauce. All wrapped up in a delightfully but not overpoweringly eggy crepe exterior. Mmmmmmmm. On your next visit to Philly, or particularly Temple University, a trip to the Creperie is a must.  (sadly I cannot take credit for these photos. a big thank you to whoever did)

Antisocial

 

I'm not going to even attempt to sugar coat this. When I'm here in the cafe there's nothing better than just being left completely alone and therefore in my own little world. But what is a girl to do when people are sitting all around the table that are just a tad too weird for my own good? Being in an school for music and the arts, these types of people are more common than not. 
Easy solution. Plug in your Beats , crank up the volume on your "Zen Out" Spotify playlist and look like there's intense work to be done. (Like this blog. I think it's pretty intense, eh?)
Then comes the wonderful relaxing feeling of being in your very own matrix. A world has now been created completely for one's self, by one's self. Enjoy this magical place.

I almost forgot to add music!!!!!
Apartment - Young the Giant