Red Zeppelin

Lifelock Promotion Code

Red Zeppelin About Photos Sitemap | Brian Chris P-Chris Evil Mike Sam Amy Kathy

Archives: 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 11/03 - 12/03 1/04 - 2/04 - 3/04 - 4/04 - 5/04 - 6/04 - 7/04 - 8/04 - 9/04 - 10/04 - 11/04 - 12/04 1/05 - 2/05 - 3/05 - 4/05 - 5/05 - 6/05 - 7/05 - 8/05 - 9/05 - 10/05 - 11/05 - 12/05 1/06 - 2/06 - 3/06 - 4/06 - 5/06 - 6/06 - 7/06 - 8/06 - 9/06 - 10/06 - 11/06 - 12/06 1/07 - 2/07 - 3/07 - 4/07 - 5/07 - 6/07 - 7/07 - 8/07 - 9/07 - 10/07 - 11/07 - 12/07 1/08 - 2/08 - 3/08 - 4/08 - 5/08 - 6/08 - 7/08 - 8/08 - 9/08 - 10/08 - 11/08 - 12/08 1/09 - 2/09 - 3/09 - 4/09 5/09 - 6/09 - 7/09 - 8/09

Tuesday: June 01, 2004 - Ford Sucks: II Success! I was able to get in touch with Matt and got everything worked out. In addition to the good news of knowing where specifically I was going, I also found out I don't need to leave until Thursday morning (instead of Wednesday). The rest of the day was pretty normal, going through my usual routine with some added thunder storms to help break up the day.

I'm really starting to get tired of Ford. Well, I was already tired of them but now I hate them even more than I did before, if that's possible. They got my hopes up this time, telling me they were going to fix my alternator. hah. Instead they made me pay the $50 deductible just to tell me that it's the battery (again). I took it back to Sears to get a new battery (again) and after standing at Sears, by myself, for an hour, they told me they didn't have batteries that would fit in my car. Thanks for that warranty you sold me! Based on previous experience, the car will run fine unless I have to not drive it for a couple days. Just to help with people doing random google searches:

Experience with Ford: TERRIBLE

Ford Service: TERRIBLE

Ford Quality: TERRIBLE

* Ford * : TERRIBLE

Also, dear friend from the California Institute of Technology, maybe you'd like to send us a guest entry. Tell us a little about yourself, what you did on a certain day. Of course, you can make things up to spice your day up a bit if you have to; no one will know. Just send me an email and I'll happily post it. Those of us on the east coast are collectively clamoring to hear what is going on out there. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: June 02, 2004 - Wild Germ Preserve: My Bathroom I thought the idea of framing all the pictures I used would aid a flair of...je ne sais quoi. I learned my lesson, though. There will be no more of that after today. Jamie got me a great present last night, the new David Sedaris book. I was supposed to read it on my way to Ohio but I couldn't help myself. Now that Sedaris is immensely popular, I feel as though I should have one of those I-knew-about-him-first attitudes but I'm so happy that a decent writer made it onto the the display units at Borders that I won't complain. If you haven't read any of his books, go right now and buy them. Buy them all. I spent my morning trying to find some information about technological advancements in theatre because on the chance I do get the job in VA, I'd like to go in have a slightly more well-rounded knowledge. Speaking of VA, I found all my 60-page research packets tucked safely in my suitcase. I had meant to give them out during the last part of the interview (with all the faculty) but since only a couple came, I thought it would be more of a distraction than of any help so I didn't even take them out of my bag despite it taking me two hours just in the assembly. Card stock, bindings, complete index/table of contents and some mighty fine partitioning (if I do say so myself) all just to be recycled (Save Mother Earth!). After a couple hours of trying to differentiate between Theatre Technology-The Degree and Theatre Technology-The Toys, I set my sights on streaming media. In an hour I learned more than I had learned from anyone at FSU and while it seems to be an ok idea in theory, I think the drawbacks might make it less than ideal in a lot of ways. Anyway, Michael came over to hang out for an hour and we discussed Matt's upcoming wedding at length. Once he left I made myself some lunch, cleaned my living room and settled in for the Cubs game. The Cubs lost and I'm sad that I won't be able to sit and watch Mark Prior's return on Friday. Oh well. This evening I cleaned my kitchen and bedroom, leaving only the bathroom as the last refuge for my wild-germ preserve. I also put together the quintessential gig-folder. It took me an hour but it's now done and hopefully it's something that will never have to be worried about again. I reprinted some missing parts after doing the last-step detail work and cleaned out the old copies that "someone" (who could it be) wrote letter-names over all the notes. My fingernails are now to the point that I can kind of finger-pick on guitar but after cleaning all day, they're kind of dirty. And not the dirty that can be easily cleaned. Do I cut them for Matt's wedding and give up guitar playing for a while? Or do I leave them and risk Jenny cutting my whole fingers off because they're not spotless? Decisions, decisions! See you Sunday or Monday. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: June 03, 2004 - Matt's Wedding: Day 1 Happy Birthday Mom!

I started driving around 9am towards Oxford, OH. There were a number of setbacks so I didn't even hit I-10 until about 10:00am. I cruised up I-65 through Alabama, fighting off the rain and hail that forced me to drive 25mph or stop entirely (in sections). I made it to Nashville by about 6pm and to Oxford around 1am. Other than some weirdo giving me an FSU-mocking tomahawk chop for a quarter of a mile on I-65, the rest of the trip was rather boring. Fortunately XM Radio got me through it.

I figured once I arrived in Oxford, I would be able to get some sleep. Nope. The bachelor's party was still going. I had missed the drive-to activities (bars, strip clubs) but going to "the bluffs" was the next thing on the agenda. We walked to this forest and blazed our own trail to the now-off-limits top of the bluffs. It was an impressive view, but to get there we had to cross this river/waterfall. Not being particularly outdoorsy, I was nervous about being the one to plunge to my death, but that didn't happen thankfully. We then went to the "rope course", one of those summer-camp-trust-courses. After playing on the torture devices, we got lost. There were eight of us and the seven of them that weren't me had grown up in the forest. It had been raining heavily for two days and some of the trails had been washed away. Against my better judgment, we split into three groups. One of the groomsmen, Matt C. went by himself and was the only one to make it out in a reasonable amount of time. Matt's brother Jamie, their friend Noah, Matt and I decided to blaze our own trail through the heart of the forest. We walked through muddy fields, on our hands and knees as we cleared paths tree by tree, trudged through weeds taller than any of us but we still were lost. The worst part was getting stuck in the dense forest. As I said, we were on our hands and knees, clearing trees as we went. Of course, this is a slow and arduous process so when Noah suggested we turn around, we discovered that wasn't a possibility because we hadn't cleared enough room for us even to turn 180 degrees. Eek. Eventually we made it to the river bed, which we saw from atop the bluffs three hours earlier. Jamie and Noah slid down the 30' drop but Matt and I walked back to a path (I was certain I had seen one nearby on our first trek up) and met them at the bottom, where Matt C. was waiting. Joe, Ty and That Other Guy eventually met back up with us at Jamie's house. They had been stopped by the police but we were freed once they had explained they had been lost in the forest. Joe and I went back to Matt's mom's house to crash, but only after stripping down because the carpet had just been washed. I think I fell asleep in about one second. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Friday: June 04, 2004 - Matt's Wedding: Day 2 I awoke around 10:00am with no idea where I was. I quickly remembered and Matt came to pick me up in his step-father's Mazda Miata. He and I were crammed into the little car and the Korean dry-waller informed us we looked like clowns upon our exit. I stepped outside...my worst nightmare had come true. Apparently the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana was ground zero for the 17-year cicadas. It was said there were 10k to a tree. Oxford had plenty of trees, so there were plenty of cicadas. They were everywhere...I was in my own personal hell. When Ty had grabbed one off my shirt last night I hadn't made the connection after driving so long that the one had grabbed one of of billions in the town. I tried to play it cool, of course, because they're the type of guys that if they smelled my fear I'm sure I would have had them thrown at me for the next four days. We drove around town and I got to see the stunningly beautiful Miami of Ohio campus. Apparently, along with W&M, it is one of the eight "Public Ivy" schools. It was much newer than W&M (the only place I've seen that had a similar atmosphere) and was just beautiful. Had the city not been infested with cicadas, I would have completely fallen in love with it. We had our rehearsal that night and I met the other musicians. Ironically, the other pan player was a girl who I had almost emailed a few years ago about going to Trinidad on a Fulbright Scholarship. The pianist was a former English professor at Miami and we all got a long well and, more importantly, played really well. After going through the wedding dry-run, we had some grub at a Chinese restaurant that claimed to have HOT! food but it registered a solid 2/10 on my charts. We then split up, hit some bars and called it a night. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Saturday: June 05, 2004 - Matt's Wedding: Day 3 We woke up late and putzed around town for a few hours. I met up with Jenny's softball team and Matt gave us a tour of campus. It was still amazing. Oxford is what I've always pictured as a college town. Lots of small commercial establishments that aren't chains with college students working and people walking everywhere instead of driving. Tallahassee is supposed to be a college town but fell far short of what I would have liked. Three cheers for Oxford! We all showered and changed and went to the wedding. Everything went very smoothly and the whole ceremony barely lasted a half-hour. I was too nervous to enjoy anything because I had remember which words were our cues to play and had a handful of things to watch and listen for to make sure we were together. It went well, though, if for no other reason than we were all experienced musicians. After the wedding I went to the reception where I got to hang out with Ryan and Kim, two of Matt's old friends and we bonded on music and audio engineering (and 80's rock). The reception started at 7pm and I left around 10pm to get started on my driving. I was more tired than I thought I would be and stopped after only driving about two hours. I elected to take the scenic path back, I-75S. My mom scared me by telling me how mountainous it was, but I-65S was just too boring to take again. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Sunday: June 06, 2004 - Matt's Wedding: Day 4 Since I had only made it to Dry Creek, KY the night before, I had another long day of driving. Fortunately, for me, XM Radio was doing a feature on the Dave Brubeck Quintet with live concerts. I finally turned away from the stand-up comedy station and settled into to some soothing music. Since it was a Sunday, I didn't go through the city-bypass options and got to see Knoxville, Atlanta and Macon. All of them looked nice, but Atlanta really impressed me. I had never seen anything except the inside of the airport and it looked like a really hip place. I made it home around midnight and Jamie had made me a Welcome-Back cake. Thanks Jamie! [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: June 07, 2004 - More Music For Steel Drums Ah, after a hectic couple weeks running around the house, the city, the state and the country, my life is back to normal. The next two weeks hold a few more final items that require cross-offs but everything else should be pretty smooth. I spent my day getting in some composing, since I hadn't been able to sit down and just write due to more pressing issues the past few weeks. Although it's not done yet, It's A Brand New Day is almost done. It keeps with my positive music and cheery titles. I've long since abandoned writing sad or mischievous music--where's the challenge in that? Plus, the FSU composers already compose enough of that self-indulgent-depression-inducing crap anyway--at least they did when I was in that area (so don't go get all pissed off, Marty). Abby was over tonight and aside from vomiting numerous times on the floor, she was pretty good company. The piece is a little tribute to her, since whenever she wakes up she's as happy as any dog on the face of this earth, even if she's only been asleep for ten minutes. She exudes "it's a brand new day!" so I figured I'd try to catch some of her good vibes. I foolishly did not drive the Taurus today, which means it probably won't work tomorrow. I went through "the anal box", the massive drawer in my living room that, unlike the rest of my house, is in perfect order. I enjoy going through it because it's so tidy. It holds all my important papers and music and other things I need to be able to call up on short notice. Why can't I get all of the less-important things organized like that? I discovered I was overcharged for my hotel stay in Dry Creek, KY. I knew that state was up to no-good. I guess I need to call Bank of America tomorrow and demand that the bill be lowered. Since the ceiling didn't work and the toilet overflowed onto the floor I was expecting, if anything, a little discount.

Today was Emmy's birthday and I totally forgot. Oops. Happy Birthday (not that you would ever be here to read this). Oh, to correct an earlier entry from my trip, the girl I was playing pan with was not the Fulbright scholar I thought she was. They both just have unusual names and I flipped them in my head. I talked to Brian today and he was his usual talkative self (as the above image indicates). Jamie and I got some BW3s for dinner. Mmm mmm. Tomorrow I hope to finish my piece and take Chompy to the dog park. Neither of these tasks are particularly hard and both are fun so I should feel pretty darn fulfilled. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: June 08, 2004 - Download Fracas Well, I almost accomplished my mission from yesterday of taking the dogs to the park and finishing Ab's piece but I couldn't do it. What I've learned in the past year is why you need to compose every day. Because sometimes, you just don't have it. And when you don't have it and try to force it, it's not good. The point being, when you're having a sucky day, just take it off and go back tomorrow. I spent about three hours trying to grind out some bad music before I took my own advice and took the dogs to the park.

When we arrived the golden retriever that had attacked Jamie was there with her owner. He gave me a dirty look as I came in so I made sure to stand by him, which meant Chompy (who had pummeled his dog in saving Jamie last time) was going to stand by me. He left within a couple minutes and the next hour and a half was spent with just the three of us (me, Chompy, Abby). The dogs weren't in much a fighting mood so they mostly just stood around in the shade. Chompy dug her way under the fence to get into the small-dogs-only part of the area but there were no dogs there either and she came back when I called her.

I made a feast for dinner last night and discovered one of my favorite old computer games--Fracas. It's kind of like the board game risk. The game is nothing that would impress anyone who has owned a computer in the past 10 years but I like simple strategy games so I'm happy. Jamie beat me in her first try last night, though, so I'm going to need to practice a little bit. [Comments: 5]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: June 09, 2004 - Good News from Roanoke I received a great call today from Roanoke. I was informed by the steel band director there that if get the job in Williamsburg he'll bring his bands and instruments there to help me put on a set of weekend concerts. This is really a great situation because William and Mary's fine arts departments could use some big publicity, I'd have a much better chance of starting a steel band there once people knew what was coming and his bands would get to play a big venue (hopefully). In the spirit of good faith between the departments there, maybe the final concert could be a ticketed one and the proceeds split evenly between them. I was warned that the departments don't always get along well so maybe something like this that can be used to promote them all would work well. This solves a huge problem of actually getting instruments *to* Williamsburg, since that's not exactly something that is easily accomplished. I'm trying very hard not to get my hopes up in case this all crashes into my face but what's the harm in a little advance planning? Right Brian? Tomorrow Jamie and I are going out with her parents for her birthday dinner. Chompy is still afraid of storms and spent most of the day in the closet or in the bathtub. Poor dog.

Leftovers. You become an adult when you readily eat the leftovers you prepare the night before. Oh, I'm great at putting them into containers and refrigerating them but when the time comes to eat them...bleh, might as well cook a new meal. Along with owning a couch that's not a futon and not purchased from Goodwill, leftover consumption is one of the surest signs of adulthood.

I have a great new title for a piece: MAGMA. All in caps. MAGMA. Say it out loud. No really, say it out loud. MAGMA. See, that's pretty hip isn't it? Now I just need a cool musician-name. Like Leadbelly...but without the murder (and attempted murder) charges. And being discovered in jail. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: June 10, 2004 - Mino's of Tallahassee Last night Jamie and I went out with her parents to Nino's to celebrate her birthday. Who is our waiter? None other than Tom McC.! We briefly caught up on what was new and made some plans to get together that will never materialize. After dinner we went back to Jamie's parents' house so she could open their presents. Also present was her sister's dog...the same dog who had bitten me the first time we met. It was for this reason that a shock-collar and hundreds of dollars of private training were given to the dog. This time, though, it was glad to see me and didn't even try to bite. I was curious as to how much voltage ran through the collar and Jamie's dad was all too eager to hook me up. I couldn't feel it at 20 volts but at 40...zap. No really, *zap*. It didn't really hurt but it definitely was well, shocking. As Jamie opened her presents her sister's dog rolled over so I could give it some good petting. The dog reminded me of Jenny Sultzer's dog Pele. Pele The Pit Bull was a great dog and always got a long well with Chompy. They were both tough but deep down I know Pele was really tough. What cracked me up about Pele was that she had huge, hanging dog-nipples. I don't say this to be offensive, but it was just a fact. While Chompy and Abby's are barely visible, Pele had enormous nipples that hung down at least 1.5" from her stomach. Last night as I was petting Jamie's sister's dog, I thought I had finally found a dog with larger nipples. This dog had some huge ones--not just in length but in circumference. I kept running my hand over it in the petting, in shock that a dog could have such big ones. I slid my hand over to try to find the parallel one but couldn't. I figured it was because it was a pure-breed and most of them have weird bodies because of years of nearly-inbreeding. After another five minutes I remembered that her sister's dog, Walker, was a male. *shudder* [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Friday: June 11, 2004 - Gordo's of Tallahassee Kathy and I caught a late lunch at Gordos. Mmm...Cuban pressed sandwiches. After chowing down I finished the first drafts of two more songs: It's a Brand New Day and Stinger. Both need a little work on the endings, since they're both kind of abrupt but on the whole, I think they're going to be good pieces. Chris, Mike, Jamie and I went out at midnight for Jamie's birthday. Well, that's it. Just another manic Friday. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Saturday: June 12, 2004 - Happy Birthday Jamie! Jamie woke me up early today and, having to agree to all birthday obligations, I got changed quickly and she came to pick me up. Aside from getting two canvases for a dollar each, we got to them too late to find anything of sentimental or resalable value. One of the three we visited was a true estate sale but the camouflage wearing, gun rack-on-mini-van driving couple who was in charge obviously had no idea of value. While usually that's a good thing and items are priced to move, these two apparently thought anything more than 20 years old was automatically something people would be stick-fighting for, in hopes of even higher resales to The Smithsonian. When I got home I took Chompy shopping. I'm excited to try out the new pet-friendly policy at Home Depot but I most likely won't since Chompy hates loud noises and I'm guessing there might be at least one in a place that will assemble a house in-shop for the right price. We met up with Chris and Mike for a quick dinner at Applebees before meeting up with Jamie's roommates for the official birthday celebration. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Sunday: June 13, 2004 - MAGMA Chompy surprised me this morning. For the first time in months, she woke up before I did. I admit, I had become accustom to waking up before her, going about my morning ritual and taking her out. Not today, though. I had only been asleep for about six hours when *bam* she's up. Most dogs would bark for a while or jump in bed but not Chompy. She just emits these pitiful groans that guilt you out of bed. Once I took her out, I went back to bed and woke up about five hours later. I watched the Cubs squeak out a victory against Anaheim before dinner.I made some chicken dumpling soup and while it was good, it wasn't nearly as good as the last time I made it.

I've spent the past five hours writing MAGMA. The mood of the piece is extremely fun and light-hearted, so I'm not sure it's the best title for it. Perhaps I need to save MAGMA for something a little more...edgy. Anyway, this is a bass-feature piece, complete with cadenza. I have to admit that it's probably the best bass line I've ever written. I'm not sure how easy it is to play--I drew my little five-string-electric-bass fret board on a sheet of notebook paper and I think it makes sense but we'll see. Unlike the last two pieces, this one came flowing out and when it gets played, I think it will be a huge hit.

While I was working on the piece, I got to thinking about how mad I was at FSU for not wanting to hire me to direct Mas N' Steel. I guess I was naïve in thinking that the best person was always hired for every job (especially when there are "free" grad students available). Of course I hope the band does well with the new guy but no matter how good they become, a part of me will always be sure I could have done it better. Although a lot of good people left, a number of good people are coming in the form of graduate students (and more importantly, they don't all play lead), which will insure that the band doesn't suck. I was hoping to enjoy at least one semester of them sucking so I could laude myself as having a crucial role, but I doubt that's going to happen.

Friend from CalTech, you still owe me a guest-journal-entry, so send it to me. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: June 14, 2004 - Some New Steel Drum Music I woke up this morning with a TERRIBLE stomach ache. I attribute it largely to the amount of soup I ate last night. I decided the best approach would be to sleep it off and it was finally gone around 1pm. I spent the afternoon working on a new piece, Flee Market. I don't know where that title came from but perhaps it was because I was working on the parts for Petting Zoo. Anyway, I think it's going to be another great piece. I don't mean that in a terribly arrogant way but neither Stinger nor Brand New Day were particularly noteworthy (hah) and I'm glad that the past two days have been so fruitful. Jamie brought some Roadhouse back for dinner but it was so fatty that Chompy had to rescue me from eating it by myself. After dinner I watched the first half of the Cubs dismantle Roger Clemens and the Astros. After that, Jamie and I hit the courts for some tennis. Since it rained so heavily earlier, the dreaded cockroaches were out en masse but we were able to avoid getting our faces bitten. I managed a win tonight and we were just barely into the first game of the second set when the lights went out. Scared of the bugs, we left.

I'm getting nervous to hear back from Williamsburg. The decision is going to be made "at the earliest this week" so I made sure to check my email over 100 times today (even though I have the mail.com notifier that checks every 30 seconds I don't trust it for important things). While I really would like the job, I still have another 30 applications floating around these fair United States. I would like to know something from somewhere soon, because my lease expires at the end of July and I need to make plans, contingency or otherwise.

I can't believe how many mistakes I make when I write these entries. I found seven in last night's alone and I'm sure I still missed some. Not proofreading at the time of the initial entry gives me something to do the next day, when there's not a whole heck of a lot going on.

Here are the midi-playback versions of the two pieces discussed earlier.

MAGMA - Finale won't play the 1st and 2nd endings properly so there's some weird phrasing and the bass solo on midi is awful, but it gives you an idea.

Flee Market - Watch as this piece develops before your eyes! Here are the first 30 measures or so.

Friend from CalTech, you still owe me a guest-journal-entry, so send it to me. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: June 15, 2004 - Dear Student

Dear Student A,

Thanks for letting me know. I'm really glad you told me this time because after missing all of last week I was really becoming concerned for you. After talking to your other TAs I know you are speaking the truth when you say, "not because I'm a slacker who likes to skip your class." We, collectively, determined that you are a slacker that likes to skip ALL your classes, so I'll try not to take it too personally that you've only come three times so far this semester--I still get paid. As for the quiz, thank you so much for reminding me! As your personal scheduler, I of course will move the quiz to when it is the most convenient for you and no, it's not at all inconvenient for me (and your classmates). Although I won't know this for another couple of months, you will fail my class with a whopping 38%, nearly the lowest semester-grade I've ever calculated. Keep up the good work!

Mr. Catania

Ok, Oscar Wilde might not have been impressed by the rapier-like wit of that but it'll take me a couple to get into the swing of it. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: June 16, 2004 - Dear Student II Ah, errand-days. I finally dropped off the remaining property of FSU from our last gig after having it in and around my house for almost three weeks. The next session of music camps are starting soon and I'm sad to see that my pan is going to be beaten to death by a bunch of middle school voice kids. Hopefully my new one will arrive from Alan soon and I can get to work learning all my pieces. While I know I probably will not need to know them with any sort of immediacy, it would be nice not to have to hack my way through a piece I composed if and when I need to know more than the drum set part.

I made some chicken soup last night and the altered recipe was pretty good, although I'm sure Jamie would say otherwise (despite the fact she ate 2x as much of it as I did). Speaking of Jamie, her birthday present arrived in the mail today. Part of it is considerably different than advertised and isn't as...untacky...as I was hoping. The other part, of course, is exactly what it should be (not that anyone had any control over that). I also received my next packet of pieces to work on. It included Flight of the Bumblebee, a piece I had been meaning to do my own arrangement of for some time so it looks like I'll get the chance. Also needed is a transcription of Pan in A Minor. I admit that I'm scared to listen to the recording. Of course I know how the panorama version goes but what if this one is even harder to transcribe? Eek!

Dear somestudent,

First, and I say first because I can't believe how many things I need to address from such a short email, did you just refer to me as Mike? Maybe if you had come to class more than six times this year (notice the date) you would know what my last name is. I know that most TA's let you call them by their first names, but I hate that and until you, I had made it three straight semesters without such an incident. Secondly, the lab hours were written on the board, by me, in class. Naturally you were too busy with your many scholarly activities to come to notice this. Perhaps if you weren't trying to find ways to enable java to play Yahoo Pool on the few days you *were* in class, you would have seen the scrawls. Now, you say that you'll "try to get it done sometime tomorrow". Hello! It was due today! There were people in the class that didn't know the monitor had to be on to see the screen at the beginning of the semester and they managed to get everything done on time. Finally (sort of), I don't care what your reasons are. Chiefs? Last time I checked, and I admit, I could be wrong since I am not an administrator, you were not forced to play in the marching band. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic to your plight, but I just don't care. Believe me, I have been known, on occasion, to not budget my time as well as I should and everyone is guilty of that sometimes, but THIS IS YOUR FINAL! Finally (no really, finally this time), what is up with that signature? You're a brother? You're certainly not my brother. And what's up with your grade-level and institution? Oh gee, maybe I forgot where I was teaching? Thanks for filling me in! Unless ETSOB stands for Ear Training Son of a B*tch, I'd leave that off too. See, now *I* could put ETSOB, because I am. And, haha, what kills me is that you're in the National Society for Collegiate Scholars. Seriously, what's the GPA required of that a 1.0? No seriously, because I think you just made that up. If *you're* in that, can I be in the FBI or some other place I am completely unqualified?

Although you will get a zero on your final, your other projects were very-well received, giving you a 71% average, a C-. Ooh, but you never came to class. Your final grade is an F!

For those of you io an extra-curricular venture a couple years ago, you might just know somestudent@fsu.edu [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: June 17, 2004 - Good Music and Band Music Tonight, Jamie, Chris and I endured the mid-70's, low humidity and gentle breeze to listen to Mike play bass with the summer wind band. Honestly, they were pretty bad. I completely forgot how much I hated band-only music. To a certain extent every piece sounds one of two ways: the brass is voiced too sparsely and it sounds loose or the brass voicings are too close together and it sounds pinched. Neither are particularly tempting options and the reason this isn't a problem in the orchestra is that, let's be honest, typically orchestral musicians are better overall musicians. They have a better sense of blending and intonation where not nearly enough time is spent in bands. Mike was easily the best conductor--my completely unbiased opinion. He was the only one whose head was up and looking at people and (in my opinion more importantly) his left hand stayed down. That's an easy way to tell if a conductor sucks (which a lot of student conductors did last night)--if the left hand is always up or, even worse, constantly mirroring the right hand it is wasted movement and a distraction for the players. I'll forgive the girl who will be directing the marching band next year for doing this, at least she wasn't timid. One of my former students, Dan D. played Xylophonia with them and I must say, did a very nice job. The showmanship would have been kind of cheesy if I didn't know him, but fortunately my pro-Dan bias allowed me to like it. Showmanship aside, though, he played the piece really well. After the concert we trekked to On The Border and I concluded my night by watching Celebrity Poker Showdown.

Dear drbegsalot,

I have to admit that I was disappointed by your email after I read the subject. I thought for sure you had put crackers in the floppy drive, or perhaps downloaded a virus that closed any IE window and brought up a porn site (see a later email!) or maybe kidnapped Chompy. I'm glad you kept a sense of humor about things, but crying? Come on. I believe I also stated at the beginning of the semester emoticons were strictly banned (along with abbreviated short-cuts and net-slang l8r,gr8, h4X0r)! At first I read it was one of those multiple-mouth smiley-faces :))))) which I particularly hate, but upon a second reading I see that the second "mouth" is just your closing parenthesis. With regards to your CoolEdit Pro project, you were supposed to splice some samples together and make a clean version, not find the one with the least mistakes, rename it and then upload it as a finished product. After having me as your teacher for almost five months, surely you know that I am merciful. Thank you for telling me which class this one--I have a tendency to go to the wrong class and just, well you know, start teaching. MC

drbegsalot will go on to finish with a C+ because s/he, if nothing else, came to class consistently and at least tried to do the work. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Friday: June 18, 2004 - John Coltrane I got a late start on my day but once I got rolling everything moved smoothly enough. I ran some errands up at school and then did some dishes while listening to some John Coltrane. That said, replace "did some dishes" with "took a cup out of the clean dishwasher and then played with the dog". I watched the Cubs get edged out by Oakland while I worked on a couple "new" arrangements. I got a nice start on Flight of the Bumblebee and listened through the other songs I will be working on in the next few weeks. I don't mind the work, of course, and in an egotistical way I like contributing more and more music to the steel band repertory but at the same time, I'd really like to start selling more original songs. God knows I have enough to start my own publishing company but it seems arranging is the best way to supplement by income at the moment. One of the guys (the guy in Roanoke) is a really interesting guy and, from what I've casually observed over the phone, I would imagine a really phenomenal teacher. Although I don't agree with his musical taste 100% of the time, he knows what he wants and more importantly goes after it, a quality I respect very much. I saw online he took his kids to the VA Arts Festival and placed 2nd--pretty impressive for their first time there. I think of all the lousy teachers I had and maybe if I had more like this gentleman I wouldn't have waded past multiple degrees to get into teaching. Oh well, such is life.

This evening Chris, Michael and Jamie came over to hang out. Kathy and Theory-Chris were supposed to come as well but they bailed because "they're old". I let them preview a couple of my new pieces and Michael played through the widely-accepted "world's greatest bassline" on my guitar and...well, wow. Speaking of the guitar I put Nirvana's All Apologies and Cheap Trick's Surrender under my belt this afternoon. I haven't quite mastered the singing while playing skill yet but I haven't exactly the mastered the singing while doing nothing else part either so I guess I'm in ok shape. Having Jamie around as a private guitar instructor is great. I'm nowhere near her level but I can now read tabs and bar chords without thinking (except for Eb major...damn you Eb major!), a position I never imagined a year ago when Kathy and I were hacking through Supertramp and other three-chord masterpieces. There will be no former-student-email tonight. I did get an interesting and welcomed email today but that'll will have to wait until tomorrow too because I'm tiiiiired. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: June 19, 2004 - Annie Long Jamie and I rejected the idea of going to estate sales this morning. In the afternoon we went to Ruby Tuesday's with Chris and met up with Theory-Chris for some Cubs-talk. I bit the bullet and bought myself a new cap because I'm tired of wearing bandanas now that my hair is so short. Jamie and I ran some errands after lunch and then I took a nap during the power-outage causing storm. As far as storms go, I like these--the ones where there is no rain but a lot of thunder and lightening. Well, I should say I like them when I'm safely in my house. Poor Chompy, though, having to hide in the closet until it passes. Although I had prepared thoroughly before giving Jamie her birthday present, I apparently didn't plan thoroughly enough and couldn't find what I needed to. At least we got a nice little day-trip out of it. Once we got back I borrowed Meet The Parents from one of Jamie's roommates. What a funny movie. It's funny because it's true. While I've never knocked a bride-to-be out with a volleyball I did have a girlfriend's father once ask me, "Son, are you a pervert or a liar?" With only two choices, the decision was tough.

I got an email from an elementary-school friend, who moved away in (I think) 7th grade. I have a lot of fond memories of hanging out with her, since she was one of my first real friends. I remember one time in 4th grade my mom made me go over to this other girl's house to play instead. Ooh, I was pissed. I received a lecture on being nice to everyone and it's nice to see that it paid off. (Me being the emotionally empathetic and generally kind person that I am.) I sent her a reply back and I hope I get a detailed account back. It's funny how something random like that leads to such speculation. Maybe she's famous now, making hundreds of thousands of dollars on the LPGA circuit? Maybe with a husband and houseful of kids? Maybe he does something famous too? Conversely, what if horrible things have beset them? Well, who knows. The point is that it kind of forces you to take a more objective look at your own life and decision making. Well, if I *had* gone to Northwestern for graduate school, I'd be sitting somewhere right now as Dr. Catania. Well, if I *had* gotten that little pug, I wouldn't have Chompy. It's funny, really. Truth be told, I though I'd be a lot further in life than I am now. I was talking with my friend Ben (in Uruguay) and his baby...child, is now almost 2. He's married, plays with a couple orchestras, has a cool wife, a cool dog and now a cool toddler. I am just a year younger than he is, but I bounce between almost-getting-great-professional-jobs/peeling-over-the-Tallahassee-careers section-looking-for-part-time-office-work (the same work I could have done as well in high school), no wife, a cool dog, and no kids. Not that it's absolutely essential to have a family in your mid-20s. I know I wouldn't be able to balance everything I do with husband-father commitments, but still. As more of my friends get married and have children I wonder how they find the time to do that. Sure, Matt's going to be 31 this year, but still. He was dating Jenny when he was my age. And now they're married---and from what I heard at the wedding, there just might be some mini-Flynn's running around soon. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy. I'm happy and grateful to have a lot of friends and do what I love to do "professionally". I think of all the people running around that hate their job, or even dislike their job and I feel that much better that writing music is never worse than an 8 on a scale of 1-10. That's pretty damn good. Add in that when I was a senior in high school I didn't think I'd ever even GO to college, to be sitting here on top of a handful of degrees makes me feel pretty damn good too. So what if I don't have a wife and kids? I have a dog, some fish and some nice houseplants. And they don't nag me. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Sunday: June 20, 2004 - Happy Father's Day! Happy Father's Day! I spent the vast, vast majority of my day toiling. When I wasn't toiling I was:

1) Eating some Cubano food with Chris.

2) Watching glimpses of the Cubs.

3) Eating Thesis-Brownies (courtesy of Chris and Mike).

4) Training Chompy for the 40lbs and under weight-pull competition.

5) Drinking Thesis-Decaf-Milkshakes (courtesy of Jamie)

6) Talking to my grandma on the phone.

7) Talking to my dad on the phone.

8) Playing Pyramids on Yahoo.

9) Rubbing my tired eyes. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: June 21, 2004 - Hofstadter In what little down time I had today I knocked out a couple more chapters in the Hofstadter essay. It's still interesting but you really have to set aside some time (I did anyway) to really let most of it sink in. I think his ideas are accurate in theory but some of the more bizarre ideas require a degree of separation from the actual text. Well, if nothing else the woodcut on the cover is pretty cool. I tempered my nerdiness with sports and heavy metal so I still don't feel too bad. I still can't find my Society for Music Theory pocket protector, but that's probably a good thing.

I still haven't heard from W&M and I'm starting to get worried. I have local-deadlines coming up for things like apartment renewal and such and I really need to know if I can forgo the scouring of the Tallahassee apartment ads. I just want to know, even if the answer is no at this point. I sent an email today stating that I still was excited about working for them but I didn't receive a reply--not that I really expected one. If someone sent me an email like that the only response I'd be able to muster would be "Ok, thanks". My greatest fear over the job is that it's already been offered to someone else and they're waiting for him/her to accept before the losers are notified. It's funny how near-limitless optimism can be savaged by being left alone to think for a month.

I received a couple blasts from the past today. The first was an email by my elementary school friend, Annie. She was a very talented golfer and now resides in Nevada after a degree UNLV and a stint strapping bombs to planes. The last time I played golf was in 4th grade at Jonathan Sherman's birthday party. I remember not being particularly good, but at that time I wasn't really good at anything athletic, unlike now where my prowess for tennis can break bones (literally [and not my own, thank you]) and my stellar basketball skills include carrying my team with 20 points a game and punching middle aged men out to prove "they've still got it". Well anyway, at least I'm not the only one whose life has taken a series of interesting turns. I blame Wheatland Elementary, really. The second was another letter from my high school friend, Matt, who left the Berklee School of Music in Boston to pursue life in...well, a religious cult. I guess there's no easy way of saying it. After almost eight years, though, he's finally starting to break free from it and has returned back to Illinois to live with his dad (at least for a while). Tomorrow I'll post a new student email, since everyone seems to enjoy reading those.

I got an email back from another company interested in seeing some of music for publishing, so I need to decide which ones I'm going to send. Not that I'm complaining, but now I have to make some decisions as to which companies I'm going to let publish which pieces. Boy, look at poor, poor me. Having to choose between publishing companies. Boo hoo. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: June 22, 2004 - WHO IS THE MAN I am petty and I know this.

The question of the day is: What does it take to be a man? This question popped into my head after a phone conversation about a certain non-man. Certainly man does not come once you reach a certain age. I can think of many examples to prove this. People like Chris, Steve, Brian were all men by age 12, I'm sure. Dutifully taking out the garbage or finishing their homework was just a simple fact of life. While the rest of us squandered our time by doing nothing, these elite few somehow learned or were born with the gift of time management. Not that time-management is the only requirement of man. Self-confidence is another factor most likely determined in the early years. Everyone to a certain extent defines him/herself by the ways other people see them. However, people with the self-confidence in order to be man-quality have the temperament to decide which things they know to be true. By this I mean they do not need the assurance of others in most areas to determine their self-worth. It's both funny and sad to witness grown men (notice no bold) so desperate for validation that they have to almost force the words they want to hear into the mouths of others. Going one step further, the people that have the need to belittle everyone else to make themselves feel better. Going one step EVEN FURTHER, the people that have the need to belittle everyone else behind their back to make themselves feel better. That doesn't make you a man, not even a man-boy, but just a regular ole sad little boy. Now God knows I definitely have fallen into that second category but as time passes I continuously get better. That said, I am fully aware that I am not a man. A man has to screw up in life. This is what separates man from man's man. All the right moves and mature decisions, when not blended with just idiotic, stupid ideas tend to (not always but tend to) breed elitism. Again, I am not saying I am a man's man or even a man because somehow I've fallen into the idiotic-stupid idea category as well as the elitist one. The point is, much like in our beloved movies, the hero is always the one that pulls through his own demons to do the right thing: save the princess, kill Dracula, fall off an iceberg and die...I digress; with idiocy comes wisdom, which is most certainly a requisite piece of being a man. A man's man, more specifically. What does not make a man is crap. A nice car, a nice apartment chock full of nice stuff, a nice wife, these things do not a man make. What does, though, is thoughtful conversation. I think back to college and remember Andy, a truly vulgar person in his own element but could adjust his personality to blend into any crowd without losing his Andyisms. What good is being a man if you can't talk to anyone? A man has to be able to be comfortable alone. In or out of a relationship, a man is able to succeed. However, a man has to be a good friend. Fortunately, to be a good friend, really all that needs to be done is listen. A friend is someone who will punch someone else after that someone else has punched you. A man knows who his friends are and his friends know that he is their friend. Finally, a man is reliable. Perhaps not in the conventional sense of keeping a balanced checkbook or keeping the oil changed in the car, but in a more expansive sense of the word. In addition to the punching, a man is someone that you can call after a number of years at 4am and say, "Man, I need some help" and he will help you. As a man-boy, I would like to become a man and it's probably safe to say that everyone does. And the beauty lies in the fact a man doesn't need to be a man at all. Regardless of gender, these traits are important and undoubtedly men are searching for wo/men too. Ultimately, the last sign of a man is kindness. Not being a man, I can bring this conversation around to the person that triggered the outpouring by saying: Have a great life living vicariously through your wife, you petty bastard. And I wouldn't have helped you anyway (because a real man knows to associate himself with other men). [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: June 23, 2004 - Fashion Institute of Technology Of all the types of artists, I think art-artists have the toughest job. If someone calls me up and says, I'll give $100 to write me song I can take down roughly what the person wants and then create around it. Even if someone gives me some rigid limits, I can still create around them. But if someone gives an artist $100 to paint "easily recognizable flowers in a normal style" and the guy really wants to cater to the task at hand, he has to smear some paint and make it look like flowers. Not only that, but any idiot off the street can say, "Hey, those look like flowers!" which, if the goal is to draw some flowers, makes the job that much harder. Even worse, some idiot off the street can say, "Hey, those don't look like flowers!" and suddenly you have no talent (or, in most artsy circles a ridiculous amount of talent).

I keep having dreams where I lose my lower set of teeth. Jamie says it's because of telling lies, Kathy because of work-related stress and some dream-website because I want to be a suckling baby again. I'm weird about teeth--I like having all of my teeth. I have nice, straight teeth after years of braces, retainers and other oral-torture devices and I'd like to keep them. I enjoy flossing probably more than any straight man should (though I do not have one of those halitosis-fighting tongue scrapers) so it bothers me in my dreams when I lose my teeth. They fall out with a slight wiggle and it's always the same ones.

I got some music today. Hits of 1997. It was a good year. I got that much-needed high school diploma and started college at one of the oft-neglected Public Ivy's: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. UWM's prestige was only shadowed by the quality of education and reputation. Yeah, ok, I didn't have a lot of choices. Sub 3.0 GPA's make for some tough decisions for college admission boards. Somewhere around here is my acceptance letter from Northwestern University for their DM program. Ah, my victory. How I would have liked to have faxed copies to all my high school "teachers". Booyah, in the right environment anyone can succeed. $30,000 a year towards tuition? For me? Even though I had all those C's and D's in high school? Gee, is that really fair? Hell yeah it's fair. Ah, just because I can stack a couple of buzzing frequencies the right way I go to graduate school for free. Well, not at NU of course, but at FSU. Ah, Marty. Nothing makes me smile more than seeing your away message of back to the fsuture. Hi Fashion Institute of Technology! Welcome back. I'm in a weird mood. Sorry. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Thursday: June 24, 2004 - Retiring as Webnovice I knew this was eventually going to happen. It is time for me to retire as the Mas N' Steel web"master". More like webnovice. Well, somewhere in between. Maybe, like, webcompetentuser. Whatever, you get the idea. While this site isn't really that great, I've always received a lot of nice compliments, both from people I know and random visitors. The saddest part will be moving this page from its home to a new location. I enjoy the traffic here--is any other location really going to continue to keep me at the top of Google searches? At least now I received a pleasant email informing me of the situation instead of my idea of one day my password not working and having to go in and change it back, upsetting numerous other people. Not that I would really do that (as we learned from the last time such a thing happened) but I'd like to picture myself as some rebellious rogue, changing passwords of the rich to provide journal entries to the poor.

My meeting with Dr. Clendinning went well today and the only problem with my day was the fact the steel band room was locked and I needed to get some things out of it. They key, naturally, was gone too so Chris, Michael and I spent the better part of lunch complaining about why that would be. I personally was a little upset that my drum had all the notes scrawled in enormous letters now. It also appears the summer camps are using a lot of music. As Chris pointed out, why teach Caribbean music when there are gig-arrangements that can contribute nothing to their experience? Good point, Chris. Why, indeed? Whatever, my time at FSU is running out and I'd be lying if I said I was going to lose sleep over it.

I finished up moving my new filing cabinet underneath the new one. I now have an eight foot tower of music-holding organization at my disposal. It wouldn't be so tall if I didn't put one of my enormous living room speakers on top...with the stereo itself on top of that. I should just put it all away since neither the speaker nor the stereo is plugged in, but no matter what I'm going to be moving so I don't want to waste my time just cleaning up needlessly here. Speaking of moving, still no word from William and Mary. Hopefully it'll be tomorrow, but I've been saying that for a month. I have no choice but to call them on Monday because I just need to know now that the apartment situation has reached the DECISION-RIGHT-NOW stage. They've been calling me every day for a week so now it's time for them just to let me know. Please. Let me know. And let me know with a big fat yes. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Friday: June 25, 2004 - Hold Your Breath What is is about watching people underwater that makes me hold my breath? The problem, of course, is that I don't realize I'm doing it until it's too late and I find myself gasping for air. My day was marked by near-constant work but I did get to have some BW3's with Bryan Richards. Jen, of steel band fame, is quickly become a larger pain in my ass. Again the key was missing when I needed to go again. Bryan told me Jen came and, saying she was "staff" needed a copy code. You're not staff! You teach at the summer camps! Anyway, Chris just told me that some girl from Lion Steel does one of the bands. That explains how they got some of my arrangements--Matt is playing drumset with them. There is nothing new to report. The Cubs edged the Sox in the first interleague game, marred by the absolutely terrible White Sox announcers. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Saturday: June 26, 2004 - Hey Pig. Hey Piggy Piggy Pig. Piggy piggy! Flashblack: 8pm. Jamie is hungry but I am not, after eating some ice cream. She suggests ordering a pizza. Thinking I'll eat a piece and can save the rest for future consumption I agree. Flashforward: 9pm. Jamie has eaten a single piece of pizza and I have eaten half of it. Piggy piggy. I did some apartment hunting today in Tallahassee. The most promising one ended up being a bright teal, held up by a number of cinder blocks in a place the police would never go. I'm still looking. The night ended with some Taboo. We were much friendlier than the last time and it was very fun.

The password is browse.

Chris: "Hello. Can I help you with something? Oh, no thank you, I'm just...."

Jamie: "Fine, thank you." [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Sunday: June 27, 2004 - White Sox Fans Suck The Cubs lost two out of three against the cross-town "rivals", if you can call the White Sox that. Usually a rival is an equally good team and both sides have an equal number of fans and they all come together and clash over who is better. Aside from the fact the number of White Sox fans can be counted on one hand, both teams are good for one of the few times in the past century. The Sox outplayed the Cubs and to me, I would have been ok if they had lost all three if I hadn't had to endure the worst announcing in the history of broadcasting. Leading the White Sox announcing on WGN is Hawk Harrelson, quite possibly the most irritating person to ever live. He frequently omits verbs from sentences and his catch phrases are only applicable when something good happens to the White Sox. When the opponent does the same thing, he says the same thing but with a really annoying tone in his voice: one of a deep sadness. "you can, well, I guess, put it on the board" versus, "You can put it on the board....YES!" He is also paired with one of the worst Cubs (and Sox) players of my lifetime, Darrin Jackson. Other than leading the NL in strikeouts one year, he was never near a top-ten season in any category. Darrin's vocabulary consists about six, possibly seven words and I think he has a spinny-wheel (like the one used in the game of Life) to determine which of his prophecies to spew. Most often it's the word "cutter". Fastball, curveball, fan eating hot dog, political issues, his response of "cutter" is appropriate in all situations. Their collective WORST trait is that they give the White Sox way too much credit for strategy. Wild pitch that scores a run? "Ozzie Guillen is playing to build the confidence of the Cubs just to break them down". Bases-loaded walk? "Another great move to prevent multiple runs from scoring" Shortstop error? "Take another hit away for the Cubs!" You would think there'd be at least a trace of sarcasm on these things but there's not. Along these lines are the fact that once they've touched on a subject, you're stuck listening to it for the next four innings. Yesterday it was that the Cubs were in the NL and the Sox in the AL. You're kidding! They are? I had no idea all this time; well that certainly explains why they only play each other a couple times a season. According to Darrin and Hawk, this works as a huge advantage for the White Sox because the Cubs pitchers have never seen their hitting line-up. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't have a degree in statistics, or philosophy but bear with me while I suggest this: perhaps the White Sox pitching has not seen the Cubs line-up either? Now, I know it's a stretch. Ugh, these guys should not even be allowed to speak, let alone to get paid for it. I'd rather hear John Madden calling a game. "See, now here we've got a baseball game. You know what I love about baseball? That it's a game".

Jamie and I tried to get tickets for Fahrenheit 9/11but they were sold out. We're going back tomorrow night. I went with Chris to the Bio Lab to print out some of my new art pieces. Click here to see them. They're a little less than 4'x3' and will be mounted to wood and framed. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Monday: June 28, 2004 - Goodbye William and Mary I called W&M this morning. The last candidate did not interview until last week. Boo for me. It's been a month since they saw me and I fear that I've been forgotten. At least I was remembered on the phone. Jamie and I went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 tonight. I give it a B/B-. Don't get me wrong, I am a liberal. Definitely. I had high hopes for the film, but as someone who keeps up with current events there were scant few things I was not aware of. I appreciate that Michael Moore let Dub-ya make himself look dumb and didn't take too many pot-shots. However, just as I don't need Walker thinking for me, I don't need Michael Moore thinking for me either. I strongly disagreed on his conspiracy-theories with the military pursuing only the bottom tier of society so the upper-most elite could hold onto their positions. Sorry. Don't get me started on the military. Anyway. I made some hot, hot, hot cajun chicken for dinner, the first time I ever made it hot enough for myself. After dealing with the stomach pains I picked up Jara from the airport and then picked up The Ab for some dog-sitting duties. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Tuesday: June 29, 2004 - Happy Birthday Kathy! I don't remember Kathy buying that shirt but I guess she has it somewhere. Jamie and I went to Andrew's to meet up with the Kathy-birthday gang. Everyone was pretty well buzzed by the time we arrived (Jamie supplied with Gerber Daisies) but we dealt with the poor service and the utter incompetence at the bar. Where were you Chris >:o That's an angry face. Afterwards, we went to Jamie's parents' house while Jamie took care of their dogs. Jamie dropped me off from there and I spent the rest of my night Schenkrizing my analysis. Yeah, go Schenker. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·

Wednesday: June 30, 2004 - Moving in with Brian Thanks to the generosity of Brian, I no longer have to endure the ineptitude of dealing with FSU for my journal. I'll put the older entries (I typed entrails twice for whatever reason) some other time. I signed my notice to vacate as well as submitted some more job applications. In preparation for my departure I bought $100 in cleaning supplies and took down all the art in my living room. My apartment now feels more like a jail than a comforting home but oh well. It's just so...sterile. Sadly, with the current condition of my kitchen, it's the only thing that's sterile. Tomorrow is July, so happy July. [Comments: 0]· permalink · · ·