Miriam called this morning to tell me that email messages to me were being returned with a “Mailbox Full” message. This is vexing for many reasons, not the least of which is that I receive important bulletin from school via email.
I logged in to the top-secret control panel for my website and discovered that my email had a default value of 10MB set, and presently exceeded that value. I changed it to 100MB, and now am able to receive messages again. I’m sure my teachers aren’t reading this, but for everyone else: if you sent me a communiqué that warranted a reply, and I did not, please send me the message again. I most likely never received it.
Wednesday and Thursday this week marked the hundredth anniversary of the birth of two important composers. Olivier Messiaen was born in Avignon, December 10, 1908. Elliot Carter was born the following day in New York City, where he still lives.
Wikipedia has a wonderful article about Messiaen, and it was their Featured Article on Wednesday. The New York Times today has an article about the Carnegie Hall concert yesterday, where Daniel Barenboim and James Levine premiered a new Carter piece. The article has audio clips worth hearing.
I played some Messiaen to conclude my radio show on Wednesday; NPR had a feature on Carter yesterday.
…Whenever people use the expression “there’s nothing worse than…”, they never actually cite anything genuinely terrible? You never hear anyone say, “there’s nothing worse than being raped and murdered”, or “there’s nothing worse than the Holocaust”. It’s always something like, “there’s nothing worse than cheap maple syrup”.
I’m beginning to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel vis à vis school. Two of my four classes have concluded. What’s left is a paper and two exams. I am a bit disheartened at my performance this semester. It isn’t that I tried less hard, and, to be honest, I don’t even know yet how badly I did. But, when you’re coming off a semester in which you got straight As, there’s really only one way to go, and that’s down.