Welcome to Asgard

A couple weeks ago, I had a snail die in my fish tank, leaving a complete mess. I decided it was time for a new set up, so I got two Siamese veiltail fighting fish- Loki and Odin.

Loki is blue and pretty, but terribly grumpy. I had a dream the other night that he got around the tank divider and attacked Odin.

Odin is red and purple. He doesn't really pay attention to, let alone care, about Loki.

I am excited to have these buddies come to college with me this fall. XD

Percussion Haul

I got my shipment of mallets in today that I bought for college!

First up: Books

Snare Drum:

Cirone: Portraits in Rhythm

Goldenberg: Modern School for Snare Drum

Mallets:

Goldenberg: Modern School for Xylophone, Marimba, and Vibraphone

Stevens: Method of Movement for Marimba

Tympani:

Beck: Concepts for Timpani

Drumset:

Houghton: Essential Styles Vol. 1

The snare books have not come in the mail yet. I was able to get "Essential Styles", "Modern School for Xylo...", and both snare books from Barnes and Noble. Because I am a member, I got 10% and free express hipping. Good deal.

Mallets:

It took a ton of time to shop for the best deals out there. Basically, a genius friend of mine came over one day, and we spent the entire afternoon scoping out deals.

One we stumbled upon was this "College Primer Pack" put out by Innovative Percussion, available on Steve Weiss. We figured this is worth $60 more than what it's price at. Plus, it is all stuff I would use.

It includes:

2 Pairs of Innovative RS251 Medium Rattan Vibe Mallets

2 Pairs of Innovative IP240 Medium Birch Marimba Mallets

Innovative IP902 James Ross Xylophone/Bell Mallets

Innovative IP906 James Ross Brilliant Xylophone/Bell Mallets

Innovative BT-4 Bamboo Series General Timpani Mallets

Innovative CL1L Chris Lamb Signature Concert Snare Drum Sticks

Innovative MB3 Mallet Bag

I think this is a pretty good set. The vibraphone, marimba, xylophone/bell, and tympani mallets were all on the list of suggestions from my professor.

I really like the mallet bag. Instead of having four large interior pockets like most mallet bags, this one has several small pockets. This way, your mallets don't slide all around when you carry it and they stay organized. The draw back to this- it wouldn't be a good bag to hang on a keyboard. Because the mallets can't slide around, it would be hard to do quick mallet changes.

I ordered a Vic Firth Tom Gauger TG01 Bass Drum Mallet. I really didn't know what bass drum mallets to get, but my professor suggested Tom Gauger models, so I went with a general use mallet.

For tympani mallets, we need a set of hard, medium, and soft mallets. The BT-4 bamboo mallets that came with the Primer pack are considered general, so I decided just to get a set of hard and soft for now. I picked out some Black Swamp Carbon Fiber Cartwheel mallets, which [according to the Black Swamp website] is good for producing "seamless rolls" and preforming "delicate passages". For hard mallets, I chose Innovative Concert Series- Hard Felt.

Miscellaneous:

 

I found this cheap set of triangle beaters, which I will need down the road as I get my own triangles.

I also ordered a set of brushes and a pair of Ed Soph drumsticks for drum set playing.

I'm super excited about college this fall and I can't wait to take all this with me!

I'll be the Princess, and you be Mario.

 

I have this friend that I'm pretty close to. We pretty much spend every day together, and he's amazing. I wanted to make him something cool to remind him how important our friendship is.

What I used:

Clear Shrinky Dink Paper

Cord

Skinny Black Sharpie

Colored Pencils

This template, printed out on a piece of letter size paper:  Link

The circle has a circumference of about two and half inches.

Tools:

Oven

Cookie Sheet

Sand Paper

Scissors

Hole Punch

The process is really quite simple. Sand the clear shrinky dink paper in a cross hatch pattern. Place the shrinky dink paper on top of the pattern, and trace Mario and Peach with the sharpie. Color them in anyway you want. Cut out the circle, punch a few holes in the top, and stick it in the oven according to the directions on the package. (Most Commonly: Bake for 1 to 3 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit) Let it cool and tie your cord on it. Ta-da!

I am very happy with how these turned out. I think he is very happy with them, too. [=

Team Tom Hanks: Coasters

I know I ramble about Team Tom Hanks a lot. But let me tell you- they're awesome people.

(See: Link and Link)

Well, to honor their awesomeness, I wanted to give them all something sweet for graduation. So I made them all Tom Hanks coasters. 

I made eight sets of these suckers for the gang. And I think they really like them. XD

The idea came from "Carrot Top Mom"- an awesome blog filled with a family's memories, crafts, recipes- everything. Her coaster "how to" is perfect.

Link 

Be sure to check out the rest of her blog while you are there!

Happy 4th of July!

Okay... okay... I know I'm a little late, and very behind, on blogging. Nevertheless, I hope everyone had a safe and awesome time celebrating America.

Team Rocket Grunts, UNITE!

A couple weeks ago, my Team Tom Hanks friends and I ventured to one of the annual cons in our area.

I think I can speak for everyone when I say it was an absolute blast.

I mean, we ran around all day screaming "TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!". How couldn't it be an absolute blast?

Besides being a group of good looking people who love the Beatles, my friends are also crazy talented. HatakeSage has insane photoshop skills- she makes the most adorable icons and designs. She was featured earlier this year on my blog: link! Check out her DA page: HatakeSage's DA. Tsukuyomi is amazing at writing! She has a couple of works on her DA page: rotXinXpieces' DA but she posts a lot of her stuff on Wattpad: rotXinXpieces' Wattpad. Tatsu has a tumblr, and she has created a collection of some of the funniest and coolest pictures and GIFs. Be sure to follow her: Tatsu's Tumblr.