Today is the second day since summer classes began. I’m taking two courses in the first semester and they are bio240 and chm220. Now that I’ve attended both lectures, I’ve realized that I will understand nothing if I just go to class. For yesterday’s chem class, I had read over the stuff from the textbook and I was able to grasp what the professor was talking about. However, for today’s bio class and chem class, I didn’t have time to prepare and the lectures just went right over my head. It didn’t help that I was so tired for the chem lecture that I dozed for about half of the class. >< Well, it doesn’t sound like I’m in a good position right now but I’m not that worried yet since I know that I can understand the material when I read the textbook. I just have to make time to review the materials by myself before every lecture.
I also had a bio lab today. I spent a long time last night preparing for the lab, such as reading over procedures and making a flow chart. Ken helped me clarify a lot of the concepts which I’m really greatful for. If he hadn’t helped me, I would have understood very little because the lab text does a poor job explaining stuff. However, the lab itself was fun today. We were extracting DNA of wheat germs and I got to use some of the equipments that I’ve seen in Ken’s lab that I’ve wanted to play with. I also borrowed a lab coat from Ken’s lab and bought myself a pair of goggles. I almost forgot that labs needed these things because the people in Ken’s lab never use them.
I have no classes tomorrow so I think I’ll take a break tonight and do some other stuff. I can’t believe I have a midterm in like 2 weeks!
I think K-ON might be affecting me too much. =__=”’ I spent about $300 and got myself a guitar. I know I should feel guilty but I don’t really because I do plan to learn it well. My new guitar is an acoustic one and it’s made in Canada. Apparently it’s a pretty decent instrument for a beginner and the wood seems to be good for the sound. Also, it doesn’t look bad either: It’s a dark brown colour that gradually gets lighter in the center.
Jack also bought me two beginner guitar books and I’ve been playing through the first book. So far, I’ve learnt some notes on the first three strings and played several short pieces such as “Jingle Bells”. I will be learning chords soon.
Jack and I went to Sound Post, a violin selling shop, in order to replace Jack’s broken violin with a new one. Upon arrival, we saw several customers trying out different instruments. Among them was a young girl trying out a kid-sized violin. I was delighted and surprised to see such a small instrument! It was tiny and it made me wonder how it can produce the same sound as a normal violin. We also saw another staff show a $7000 violin to a family. He explained that the violin is from a small village in Europe (I couldn’t hear where) and every year he goes there and bring back one or two violins. I would have loved to hear how it sounded but sadly, no one tried it out.
When it was finally Jack’s turn, the sales person selected 5 violins of a lower price for Jack to try. The bow he let Jack use was black in colouring and was extremely light compared to the school violin bows. It felt very comfortable in the hand. While, Jack was trying the violin, I decided to listen to the sound quality. I immediately fell in love with one of the violins, which had a tone that vibrated and “sang” so nicely that it made me feel like I was melting on the inside. Jack also seemed to like the same violin. It was then that the sales man brought three more higher priced violins. There was an immediate difference that I could hear between the higher priced ones and the lower priced ones. However, there was only one that fitted Jack well. In the end, Jack and I both decided that the lower priced one was better because he was able to get the high quality bow with it. If he was to get the higher priced violin, he would have ended up with a cheaper bow, which did not sound as good. It was surprising what a difference the bow made on the sound!
This was my very first experience going to a violin shop and even though it wasn’t me getting the violin, I felt excited about the whole experience.