Posts by devbanana

Susan, I have nothing to add but want to wish you luck with that unfortunate situation. I hope that you are able to work everything out.

I've not been paying much attention to weight, but am trying to eat a little better. I really don't want to gain. It's really hard.

I agree. We can all still check in as often as we like. I felt bad that I hadn't been around much to stimulate discussion, but that's just how things go I guess.

Susan: My week? Stressful. Also I'm transferring once more to a dual major between Political Science and Computer Science, with hopes of going to Law School after this for 4 years where I can get my law degree as well as an MBA. Music isn't all I thought it would be for me. I might even have to take a summer class to catch up a bit.

Glad to hear about what you found for a good snack.

• Starting weight (October 21, 2007): 253.2 LB (114.8 KG)
• February 15, 2008: 215.6 LB (97.8 KG)
• Current weight: 215 LB (97.5 KG)
• Weight lost this week: 0.6 LB (0.3 KG)
• Total weight lost: 38.2 LB (17.3 KG)
• Goal weight: 168 LB (76.2 KG) - 47 LB (21.3 KG) to go!

215 pounds this morning.

I seem to be stuck around 215. Given, I've not been eating the best lately, so that might be part of the reason. It's hard though with being so busy.

Susan, yeah it's kinda sad to see that not many people are really posting here anymore.

Actually I'm starting to feel better already. I went to classes today and pledging tonight and was just fine. That's so sad to hear that someone died from the flu this year. A lot of people on campus here are getting the same thing as I had apparently.

• Starting weight (October 21, 2007): 253.2 LB (114.8 KG)
• Weight at start of challenge (November 4, 2007): 244.2 LB (110.8 KG)
• February 3, 2008: 216.8 LB (98.3 KG)
• Current weight: 214.8 LB (97.4 KG)
• Weight lost this week: 2 LB (0.9 KG)
• Weight lost since the start of the challenge: 29.4 LB (13.3 KG)
• Total weight lost: 38.4 LB (17.4 KG)
• Mini-goal for Sunday, December 30, 2007: 230 LB (104.3 KG) - Reached!
• Mini-goal for Saturday, February 17, 2007: 220 LB (99.8 KG) - Reached!
• Goal for Thursday, May 31, 2007: 200 LB (90.7 KG) - 14.8 LB (6.7 KG) to go!
• Goal weight: 168 LB (76.2 KG) - 46.8 LB (21.2 KG) to go!

• Starting weight (October 21, 2007): 253.2 LB (114.8 KG)
• February 1, 2008: 215.6 LB (97.8 KG)
• Current weight: 215 LB (97.5 KG)
• Weight lost this week: 0.6 LB (0.3 KG)
• Total weight lost: 38.2 LB (17.3 KG)
• Goal weight: 168 LB (76.2 KG) - 47 LB (21.3 KG) to go!

• Starting weight (October 21, 2007): 253.2 LB (114.8 KG)
• Weight at start of challenge (November 4, 2007): 244.2 LB (110.8 KG)
• January 27, 2008: 215.8 LB (97.9 KG)
• Current weight: 216.8 LB (98.3 KG)
• Weight gained this week: 1 LB (0.5 KG)
• Weight lost since the start of the challenge: 27.4 LB (12.4 KG)
• Total weight lost: 36.4 LB (16.5 KG)
• Mini-goal for Sunday, December 30, 2007: 230 LB (104.3 KG) - Reached!
• Mini-goal for Saturday, February 17, 2007: 220 LB (99.8 KG) - Reached!
• Goal for Thursday, May 31, 2007: 200 LB (90.7 KG) - 16.8 LB (7.6 KG) to go!
• Goal weight: 168 LB (76.2 KG) - 48.8 LB (22.1 KG) to go!

Onwi,

No problem at all. I hope your recovery goes well. Don't worry about it if you can't weigh in here.

Chips, especially barbecue, wise, or pringles

Pepperoni pizza, or, any kind of meatlover's pizza (pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon...)

Tater tots

Auntie Anne's pretzel hotdogs

I've had a really bad obsession with cheese crackers lately . My mom brought down some when I was really really sick a few weeks ago and they were sooo good. Of course that wasn't the point of her visit to bring cheese crackers lol, but they just happened to come, and I just happened to eat them.

Chocolate, chip, cookies...especially when warm out of the oven.

Taco dip with tortilla chips

Cheese dip with tortilla chips

Almost any kind of Mexican food. I don't get much of that at college.

Chocolate brownies, especially when hot and with icecream on top

Cheese burgers with lots of pickles

French fries

Garlic wings

Barbecue chicken

Fried chicken

Almost any chicken from KFC

Bread sticks, especially from pizza hut

Cinamon sticks from pizza hut

Fried zucchini

Before I came to college, my piano teacher would just tell me the notes for one hand at a time a few measures at a time, and then I would memorize them and try to put them together. My piano teacher here thought that'd be too slow. I just got software that is supposed to allow me to scan in music so I can either print it out in braille, or read it on the computer. It is pretty nice, but definitely not perfect. It did very well on the Mozart piece I learned a few weeks ago, but did horribly on most of the Bach piece. I found a midi file of the piece, and have software that lets me read the notes from that. That's how I learned the majority of the Bach piece, occasionally verifying parts of it with the scanned music.

By the way, the Bach piece is now finished. She seemed happy with how I had done, though she had a lot of suggestions for how to play it. Mostly it was just to bring out the melody in whichever hand had it at the moment. There is a certain melody that permeates almost the entire piece at random intervals, and so anytime either of the hands has that measure or two of melody, it really has to be emphasized. I had suspected this but really didn't work on that too much initially. Also she gave some fingering suggestions, and also some notes needed to be staccato that I was not playing as such. Now the piece sounds much more dance-like I guess.

I learned the fourth page last night, and the fifth and sixth pages were a repeat of the first two pages. Now I'm just trying to play through that fourth page without making mistakes, and then trying to improve accuracy and speed on the entire piece.

irlmonet, that's really neat. I think all musicians are perfectionists really; you just have to use it to make you better. I'm the exact same way, and get a little depressed if I can't master something right away lol. For instance last night I got a bit down on myself because I kept making mistakes on a piece that I should know quite well by now, and on which I usually don't make so many mistakes. But I guess it was just me being tired, and it was at the end of my two-hour practice. Also these stupid diminished arpeggios are giving me some difficulty, especially the Db one, since the fingering for the left hand is 3-2-1-4-3 and so the 4th finger is crossing over to Bb while the thumb is on G. But I just keep working at it and hopefully I will get a lot better.

Of course I went back today and the piece I had trouble on is back to normal. The thing is with that one is if I make mistakes, I lose confidence, and the piece has to be played powerfully which is hard when you're doubting yourself.

Anyway, about the calorie and exercise thing, I wish it was but that's not possible. I programmed something to allow me to enter all the information and have it update here, but I programmed it to require daily values. 7 days of calories and exercise from everyone might get to be quite a bit and take a while to enter.

Congratulations on losing that water weight. I've had the same experience with losing alot of water weight in a single day...going to the bathroom every half an hour or so lol.

Yeah it's too bad everyone's been so quiet. I'd try to stimulate it myself, but, well just as an example I just walked in the door about 15 minutes ago, and most nights I'd still have some studying to do. Usually I get back at 9:00, not 10:00, but tonight's an exception since my pledge class had a meeting. I have my 4 hours of practice of course, but now I'm pledging Mu Phi Epsilon, which is a music professional fraternity, so that'll make me even busier for the next 5 weeks. Plus I'm in IHS (Integrated Honors College) and we do service projects from time to time and have meetings every other Wednesday.

Not to complain, I'm just saying why I'm not around much, regretfully.

I'll have to try to record one of my pieces on the piano some day. I'm currently learning Bach's English Suite #2 in A minor, and it is so beautiful. I dont' know how it'll sound in the end because my piano teacher always makes corrections to how I play new pieces, but that's always for the better of course. I just got a tape recorder today to tape my lessons, as she requested, so I can implement her suggestions without forgetting any of them.

If I may brag for a moment...someone asked me the other day who my piano teacher was. When I told her, she said she was sorry I had this teacher while I'm a freshman, as she is the toughest and most strict of all of them in our music school. I definitely was intimidated when I walked in the first day, and still am anxious about walking in there, lest she rips apart the piece I've practiced on for 28 hours that week, but every week thus far she has said how impressed she is. First with the remarkable improvement of my Brahms Rhapsody, and second in learning the 5-page Mozart piece she gave me in a single week. She told me not to try to learn this entire Bach piece, because it is very difficult and must be played rather quickly...but I'm having trouble with that. I just finished the third page tonight, but when I play it there are very few mistakes, of course which I am trying to iron out. But I notice that I'm able to play it faster now than even a couple of days ago. I mean today for an hour straight I did nearly nothing else but play a certain part of this piece over and over again because the fingering is so tricky. The piece just keeps moving and moving with really no rest or resolution until the end, so one mistake can throw you off for a while and it's hard to recover. I mean it is made up of nearly exclusively 16th notes...for the musically challenged that is four notes per beat or 16 notes per measure...in other words they move rather quickly. Plus each hand has the melody at different times, so it's not like the left hand is just complementing the right like in most pieces.

I'm sorry to brag, really...just for the last week or two i've been working really hard with both practicing 28 hours per week, in addition to getting A's on two papers and an exam, but have had little time for anything but class, practice, and study. I don't mind actually; if I'm not practicing I'm listening to classical music lol. I'm really trying to work hard to keep my GPA very high (preferably above a 3.8, trying to keep this 4.0 streak for as long as possible), and to improve as much as I possibly can at the piano, which is why I'm practicing 28 hours per week instead of the required 21, plus the time I spend learning a piece before I can even practice it. I guess my goal in all of it is to go to grad school after I get my performance undergrad degree, at some reputable conservatory (how about Juilliard or something, just as the level I'm hoping for). I have comfort in the fact that I have control over whether it is in my reach or not, depending on how hard I work and how well I do over these next 3 and a half years. I know people may think this is all just dreams and fantasies that will never come to fruition, but I've already been playing for 14 years and really think with the right training, which I should be able to get here at Duquesne, I can do just about anything if I'm willing to work for it.

Susan, saying all that, I'll end by saying thank you for what you said and that you are proud. I had a friend that was not able to make it here unfortunately, though he really wanted to, so it is definitely hard to get in. I studied musicianship and ear training every day for about a month just to get good enough to pass the musicianship test, since I had never been exposed to that before. Ironically, that was the portion my friend failed.

Anyway today was my especially busy day because I had 5 hours practice, plus my pledge meeting. I'll be around though, so if anyone wants to add their input or discuss anything just feel free please.