I Gotta Pig Home In A Pen

Couldn't sleep last night. Kept thinking of all the bluegrass tunes I know and if I can lead a melody on them or not.

Made it up in time for breakfast this morning. The watch proves to be reliable. The meals here are pretty good. But I never thought I'd have to adjust to English food. Really weird. There's a small crew of people who go to breakfast and I think it'll serve me well to attend as often as possible. The meal staff has already welcomed me with open arms and extra helpings. My view over looks the dining hall windows.

I had my first meeting today with a tutor. Dr. Eve. From the Theology department. He's certainly a character. His office looks exactly like you'd think...books and records and papers and CD's and everything from floor to ceiling, wall to wall. I set up my schedule and we'll meet every other Friday at Noon starting this week. I managed to set myself up with 2 papers due the first week. Excellent. Getting myself acquainted early.

Met another Sarah from Minnesota. She's the violinist for the bluegrass group. She informed me that the main resource for last term is no longer here. He was the one who knew all the tunes. Looks like that'll be my job. Apparently they haven't played much down home authentic bluegrass so they're about to get rocked. I'm gonna start them with my first bluegrass experience: Pig In A Pen. The lyrics are as follows:

(chorus) I gotta pig home in a pen corn to feed him on,
all I need is a pretty little girl to feed him when I'm gone.

Yonder come that girl of mine, how do you think I know
I can tell it by her gingham gown, hangin' down so low.

Dark clouds a-rising surely sign of rain
get your old grey bonnet on, sweet lil' Liza Jane.

Bake 'em biscuits baby, bake 'em good and brown
when you get your biscuits baked, we're Alabamy bound.

Goin up on the mountain sow a little cane
raise a barrel of sorghum, sweet lil' Liza Jane.

Sung repeatedly and in no particular order.

Went to the smallest museum in the world today. Oxford Museum of Modern Art. It was literally 5 rooms. 5 installations. 3 of the 5 were seriously creepy with menecing classical music and lights and...when I was in 6th grade I did a report on skitzophrenia. My guest speaker brought in a tape that his patients had made that was like what they heard in their heads. The same kind of scary I experienced listening to that tape was what I felt today, 8 years later. Fantastic.

It's 2:15 and things coming together. I'm about to go to the library and learn how to use it. Wish me luck. But it'll have to retrospective luck...does that work? Knowing that when you read this in 6 hours from now, and at that moment you wish me luck, will it transfer back to the moment I first go to the library (which is the actual instance you'll be wishing luck for) or will it act as a credit for the NEXT time I visit the library (even though it's not specificually meant for that time)? This is a phenomenon that I should look into.