Red Zeppelin
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Thursday: July 01, 2004 - The Chompyzone
Welcome, friends, to...the chompy zone. This page set a new record for daily hits today with 36. I got around to putting all the old entries up as well as making that little picture of Chompy in the upper-left-hand corner. I met up with Jamie for a tour of her employer, HealthSouth (I think). The beauty of the pastel interior decor was only matched by the sweet stench of urine. Particularly disturbing, along the lines of urine, were the permanent stains on every gurney, all in the same spot. I saw her closet of an office and we crammed ourselves in to eat some Chick-Fil-A, turning down the always-delectable ox tails being served for a dollar in the mess hall. I came home and watched a program on mining in the late 1800s. God, I'm dork. Chompy, The Ab and I went over to Jamie's for some homemade chicken. Chompy and Abby were particularly crazy and someone took a large #2 on the carpet. Who was it?
I'm supposed to hear back from W&M tomorrow. I hope I'm able to sleep. Kathy leaves for Oz tomorrow. Hopefully by the time she gets back I'll have a job and she can help me move. With everyone else. Like you. Help me. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Friday: July 02, 2004 - High School Story
I'm so dumb. I went to bed last night with my phone tucked safely in bed with me, so I would be prepared for the news from William and Mary. Ab woke up about the same time as I nervously startled myself out of a dream. I checked my phone--no messages. I persuaded Ab into coming into bed and sleeping a little later and we rewoke up at 9:30. I again checked my phone--no messages. "Fool!", I thought to myself, why call when it costs money when they could email me for free? Running to my computer and disregarding the no-email-notice, I quickly logged in to see no new emails. I chatted briefly with my mom and I edged her out for first place in the who-is-more-cranky-in-the-morning contest. I checked my phone again after taking the dogs out even though I had the phone in my pocket. Nothing. By five o'clock I had checked my email enough times to eat up the month's bandwidth at mail.com. I avoided the phone at all costs in case call -waiting decided not to work this one time like a teenage girl a mere week before the prom when a new boy appears at school who, while not entirely attractive, is good-looking enough for her to be madly in love and to cause her to pray endlessly during study hall and practice writing her name with last last name in loopy cursive on each and every bus ride. Even though Williamsburg is on Eastern Time, I figured maybe as a cost-cutting measure they would be calling me at a non-peak hour. Nope. I did get a call (a very, very brief call) from Alan Coyle's assistant telling me by drum is on its way back from the chromer and that I'd be able to pick it up in a couple weeks. By 8:00pm I'd given up all hope. Damn, hope is dangerous. I realize I sound pretty desperate right now. I just really want that job. Looking at my other choices, I like that one the most and would be the best employee there. I'm just getting frustrated that things keep getting moved back. I feel as though I've bent over backwards with all my stuff here and they can't even keep me updated in where they are in the hiring process. It's just weird that everything up until a couple weeks ago, after I left, they could not have been more timely if I hired them a retired coach with a stopwatch. The problem is that I'm just generally bored. I don't even really have time to write music anymore, which was very stress-relieving. I really just want to start "the next phase" where I have a real job and can stop worrying about day-to-day ends meeting. Although everyone must go through this, I just don't understand how many people have avoided going crazy because of it.
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Saturday: July 03, 2004 - Silent Art Auction
Jamie and I cleaned my apartment before Chris and Mike came over for a pre-July 4th party. That is all there is to report. Perhaps I will expound tomorrow.
Expounding: I was able to get rid of about a dozen of the various artworks in my apartment via silent auction lat night. From the leftover 25 or so, I need to decide if I'm going to paint over them or give them back to their original owners. If I had money, I'd frame one for each person so Alex could have a nice copy of "Blue Bus from Hell", Kathy could proudly display her "Party Palm Tree" and Mark could have...well, whatever his is. I think we agreed to turn it upside-down to hide the fact it looked like a blind kindergartener's drawing of me. Tomorrow is Chompy's least-favorite day of the year. She's already discovered that it's safest to hide in my closet across from the bathroom in the small space on top of her travel crate. I took a picture of it because it's really funny but at the same time I feel bad for her. She's informed me that she'd prefer to live in state that has fireworks outlawed in a safe neighborhood with no gunshots. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Sunday: July 04, 2004 - Happy Fourth of July!
Poor Chompy. She HATES the 4th of July. She spent the morning on top of the crate in her closet. That's right--on TOP of her crate in the 6" high space. Around 3pm we trotted over to Jamie's to meet up with Chris, Mike, Jara and Jamie for some grilling. Although Michael lost some of his precious arm hair, we managed to get the grill lit with no serious problems. To bide my time I decided I was going to throw some chestnuts into the pool. Why? I wanted to hear how loud of a ker-plop it would make. I eventually took to flinging them high into the air and man, they were really ker-plopping. The only problem was, when going for the mother-of-all-plops, I hurt my back. Big time. Apparently mankind never had a reason to throw things straight up really hard, so evolution did not prepare me for this. I think it's a pulled muscle. Whatever it is, it is KILLING me. After eating we discussed some possibilities for a make-over of Jamie's parents' house but no one wanted to buy me the aluminum to cover their walls. I thought I had a lot of good ideas but apparently I was the only one that thought that. We left there to go back to Chris and Mike's but Jamie's roommate Danielle left a horrific mess so we had to clean that up. God, I thought I was a slob. I wasn't ever that bad when I had roommates, though. Jamie is going to friend-dump her. Just like on Seinfeld. After we cleaned that up we went over to C&M's for some Rummikube, Pepperoni loaf and Deliverance (the movie). Jamie edged me out on Rummikube but Jara was the big loser after scoring 204 the first round. The food was EXCELLENT and the movie was disturbing. I will never be able to listen to a banjo the same way ever again. I cannot get that banjo player's face out of my head! Nightmares to come!
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Monday: July 05, 2004 - Happy Monday
Happy Monday, another day off. Tomorrow I foresee receiving my decision from W&M. I foresee a "thanks, but no thanks" reply. I think if they wanted me they would have said something by now and the fact it's been over a month with minimal contact has lead me to believe someone else is in their cards. I saw the Cubs lose today. Another good game but again the fact they couldn't score a single run ruined them. Jamie and I made some potato soup, veal and other assorted goodies for dinner. It was the best potato soup I've ever made by far. The secret, of course, was the extra bacon. After we ate we brought Jamie's dad's car to the airport so they can drive back after their saga in Alaska. Tonight Naperville-Mark went to go visit Cult-Matt. I hope everything goes well for Mark since he has to be the friend-ambassador.
I regret not taking the publishing job in Pensacola. I regret it big time. Ok, I got a fellowship to teach a class last year but it's not like it's a huge secret that I was tired of FSU. By this point I'd be making only $11/hr but right now I'm making $0/hr and am in a pretty dire situation as to my f(s)uture. I think of the dozens of pieces that I would have written by now. I'm tired of these feelings of regret. I have nothing really currently regrettable to talk about, though, since my options are so limited. It's amazing how you go from having the world as your oyster to being just generally stuck somewhere. Boo. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Tuesday: July 06, 2004 - Moving Home
Even though I didn't hear from W&M today, I have a new approach. I am going to feel good about it. Feeling bad about it causes nothing more than an enormous pity-party for myself and that benefits no one. And when I'm having a party like that, there's no time for anything else. Tomorrow I'm going to call and lay my cards on the table. I've waited as long as I can, done everything in my power to give them the time they needed from my personal life so tomorrow I'm going to just outright ask if I'm still in it. If so, great. I'll do one hell of a job for them, the likes they have never seen. If no? Then at least I can figure out what I'm doing for sure. Whether that's taking a job in Tallahassee as an office manager or other options, it's ok, because they didn't think I was the right person for the job and they could be entirely right so I just have to kick back and trust them. Let me on record, though, and say that I want that job as my #1 option. Anyway, I received the call no one ever wants. The call from your father reminding you that you can move home. Eek. No one on the Earth has ever wanted the call but I have to give my dad credit, he played it cool. Real cool. This of course is the last option I would ever want. After living independently for seven years, I don't think I could go back to having rules made by anyone other than me over my head. Not that it's unreasonable. Of course, I can respect the my-house, my-rules policy. When I have a house, I plan to implement my own version of this. Nonetheless, it's scary that my life and the current job market has put me into such a situation. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, though and until then I'm hoping to move somewhere in the Williamsburg area.
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Wednesday: July 07, 2004 - MS Paint
Furthing my MS Paint theme, I decided to create you a magic eye graphic today. Since I was born with some sort of eye defect I can't see magic eye things. While people were screaming "It's a puppy!" in 6th grade I was randomly guessing "The third station of the cross!". I think it has to do with my large cups. Lacking a degree in ophthalmology I don't know exactly what that means but it somehow messes up my depth perception. For those of you following the job-saga I still didn't hear from W&M and managing an office looks like my career future. I called a bunch of times and sent an email; no reply. In my down time I looked over a bunch of scores and started negotiating deals with some publishers for my stuff. The two companies I chose are both smaller and are more interested in promoting the art form than making a ton of cash, which coincides with my goals, at least until I'm completely broke. With over 40 pieces to offer, I think I have some clout--it can almost double the material of most publishers. What they want from me are some live recordings, so it looks like I'm going to have to call Liz and throw myself at her mercy about recording us in Opperman. I'd really like to sell about ten copies a month. I don't know if that's reasonable or not, but if my take is $20/piece, then I'll be doing ok. Not enough to live, of course, but that would pay my loans, which are about to rear their ugly heads.
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Thursday: July 08, 2004 - Rest in Peace William and Mary
Rest in peace, William and Mary. In case you didn't read today's (p)update, I was not the winner of the W&M Liaison Competition. While I'm disappointed, I not feeling as bad as I thought I would. Like I've been saying since February, at least I know. I now have the next 2-3 weeks to finalize a job in Tallahassee and to find some new digs. I also got a call from FSU saying something to the effect of "Hey. Where is everything you were supposed to turn in?" Well, my reply, in no uncertain terms, was that they'll get it when I'm ready. When will that be? Beats me. I've been so preoccupied with this job-hunting scene I've really abandoned all else. I'll get a welcome break tomorrow night when Chris comes for for a no-spouse night á la last summer.
Although I would consider myself to be a democrat; more specifically falling into the bleeding-heart genus, this Kerry/Edwards ticket lost my vote today with this. Sorry you guys, we can't all have nice hair, botox, be born into money. Where's a nice bald John McCain? He says what he wants and can't be stopped by the bald gene. Ok, so he might not be a bleeder too, but he'd get my vote.
=====Thursday, July 8, 2004:Pupdate!=====
I received the blow from W&M today. They've gone with someone else. On to greener pastures. Maybe I could be a groundskeeper at a golf course. Or something greener. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Friday: July 09, 2004 - MikeFriend Award
If friend awards were given on a daily basis, Chris would win the MikeFriend Award today. In addition to providing me with the best night I've had in a LONG time tonight he found me a potential job--at FSU. It's similar to the job at W&M. It's the job of Doug, the former OTTO administrator who lost his job because of doing some illegal things and was busted by the FBI. I'll post more tomorrow because we've sat around drinking tonight and I don't think I'm making much sense at the moment.
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Saturday: July 10, 2004 - William and Mary Blow
I can't believe I woke up so early. I just can't believe it. Not only did I wake up early, I didn't nap today. Today was my journal's day in the sun, so to speak, because it was the #8 music education website on Nedstat. At midnight it slipped back down, but I enjoyed my day. Jamie came over around noon and we got some lunch before settling in to house-hunt-mode. The afternoon was spent driving in remote parts of Tallahassee to find a house in my price range--somewhere between $10-$20/mo. We found a couple of winners and some of them aren't even in the depths of the ghetto. After finding some winners we decided to play some Monopoly. It ended with a friendly flinging of accessories but surprisingly not by me. For dinner Jamie and I had some soup and rolls. Mmm. I feel like we did a lot today but offhand I can't really think of anything. Well, that's what being this age is for: spending time with people and not being able to recall any of it.
And today, the Top Five Songs to Get You Out of Bed and Excited (well, for me anyway).
1) Sabotage, Beastie Boys
2) Smooth Criminal, Alien Ant Farm cover
3) Break Ya Neck, Busta Rhymes
4) Fighter, Christina Aguilera
5) Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
=====Saturday, July 10, 2004:Pupdate!=====
What am I doing up so early? It's just past 8am and although I did do a small amount of drinking last night I did not anticipate a) being awake before noon and b) feeling good. I think this was from the deep, deep sleep that ensued after I went to bed. In my haste last night I failed to mention that my favorite fish, my prized peacock died. He was back, sort of, in a dream, though. And talking to me after being discovered, with some other fish, in a cup of milk I'd poured. After setting them free I went to play a steel band concert and we had to walk back in front of this choir backstage who was warming up. This one kid said something under his breath about me, or, about us not being musicians and I had no choice but to kick his ass. And I really kicked his ass. After leaving him a bloody pulp I went back to where we where setting up and it was announced that instead of playing the concert on stage, we'd be put in the audience and we'd sing our parts. I found Jamie, Chris and Mary all sitting in a row with an empty seat on the end next to Mary. When I tried to take it, Jamie got really angry and told me I wasn't allowed to sit there because I was not allowed to sit next to Mary. I countered with the fact that while I was a capable player, I was easily the worst singer and should be by someone who I could follow (which would be anyone in that row). She kept getting more angry until I agreed to sit behind them by myself. Suddenly, the audience of elementary school kids entered and took their seats in and around us. I was sitting next to this bratty little black-haired kid. Rather than singing out concert, we were instead going to play this video game. The steel band versus everyone else. This I-Pod looking thing was handed out and a big screen lowered on stage. Our scores would be collected and the winner would get something...something nice. The game consisted of this: you were in control of a leaf. The leaf would move horizontally on the screen and you had to collect other leaves dropping from the top at different times. Sounds simple but it wasn't. The scores were close and this kid and I were the only two left playing. He died with a score of 150 and I had 645 (and yes, those were the exact numbers). For some reason, though, when I died, he was cheering. Jamie turned around and with this kid told me I had been playing on the wrong mode and that we had lost. As my punishment, Jamie said, I had to relive an entire year of my life that would be randomly selected out of a hat. I was hoping for some time in the 1970s or 80s but no, what do I get? 2003. Somehow I managed to relive an entire year that left out nothing I can think of now in a mere 8 hours of sleep. Even after reviewing my old journal entries, every major event was covered in my dream. Weird.
After catching a glimpse of High Fidelity, let me take the opportunity for a new segment that will last until I bored of it (like two days). The subject today: Top Five Songs addressing the passing of time.
1) Ten Years Gone, Led Zeppelin
2) Landslide, Fleetwood Mac
3) Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Duke Ellington
4) Cats in the Cradle, Harry Chapin
5) 100 Years, Five For Fighting [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Sunday: July 11, 2004 - Cribbage Tips
I briefly rediscovered Cribbage tonight, one of my favorite games from college. My friend Don taught it to me and he was a card shark. Big time. He won in everything we played and did all the trick deals. Thank God Texas-Hold-Em was never introduced or I wouldn't have had enough money to pay rent. After we graduated (well, by "we" I mean me) from college we all went to the Indian casino. Although I broke even, Don was the only one that won any money. Anyway, I was kind of sick today but I think I'm over it now. I really having nothing interesting to say. Sorry. It was just one of those days.
Oh! I started working on the best steel band piece of all-time. I don't mean this in a conceded way, but honestly, this will be the Rite of Spring of steel drum music, just wait. No seriously, this is going to break the proverbial mold. Now, I can see you rolling your eyes and even laughing but I really mean it. "I'm serious mommy." (Name that tune, anyone?) [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Monday: July 12, 2004 - Greatest Steel Drum Song Ever
It was noonish, and there I was, working on the greatest song ever written for pan. Out of nowhere, *BAM*, Chris calls. Free lunch? Sure thing! This afternoon I applied for some more jobs and for dinner Jamie and I ordered BW3 wings for the last time. How on earth can they screw up your order so many times? We got back and watched the home run derby portion of the World Series. I discovered tonight why there are rarely fish bodies in my tank. The answer is the ever-growing Chris Rix. Suctioned to the peacock corpse he was just systematically chowing down. He's smart--fish is brain food. Hah. I'm in a bad mood because one of my posts on the steel drum message board was called 100% wrong. I'm as wrong as much as the next guy but I hate it when people appear out of the woodwork spewing utter crap. While I am not the grammar king by any means, I can differentiate between there/their/they're and don't Capitalize random parts of sentences. What I really hate about these people on message boards is that they're (hahx2) bellies are so full of fire they can't wait to refute you but God forbid they proofread. Not that I proofread these journal entries but it's not like I have to argue with myself.
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Tuesday: July 13, 2004 - Cult-Matt
Yesterday could have been pretty easily considered a dream. The weird occurrences started at around 2:00pm when my power went off. Since I had just paid the bill, I opened my door to see that my entire apartment was sans power. Since the temperature was in the high 90s and preparing to break 100, I figured it would be an opportune time to get out of the house and get some lunch. Working our way past the dozens of new, obnoxious residents splashing in the pool, Chompy and I boarded the Taurus and put up the sails towards Chick-Fil-A. The two stoplights on my apartment's grid were also out. But wait, until I got to Monroe Street, there were no lights at all. Fortunately, the light at Apalachee and Monroe was working and I was able to get onto Apalachee with no problem. From that point on, there was no power anywhere down to the Wal-Mart. I saw four accidents on that stretch of road alone. Figuring it was an opportune time to go looting, I headed back towards the mall and put Chompy's black mask on and had pulled my crowbar halfway out of the trunk when another accident hit behind us. With all these accidents and people being so pissed off, we figured all the good loot had probably already been taken so we went back home. While the power came on elsewhere, out little grid was still lacking and my apartment's temperature was up to 97 when it kicked back on around 5:30. During the down time I started to pack my things up. I made it through most of my clothes and my closet in general but I quickly ran out of boxes and bins. I need to loot some more from somewhere, but where? Even if I had boxes, I didn't have any tape so there wasn't much more I could do. Chompy and I watched a little TV before Jamie and Ab came over to watch the All-Star game. The NL blew it, of course, thanks to Roger Clemens. It was an easy loss for him to take since the Astros will not be going to the World Series, but he could have at least tried to not allow six runs in the first inning. After the game I got some Taco Bell with McDonald's fries. Mmm.
I was wrong--the weird occurrences started at noon, when I received a text-message from Cult-Matt. I figured it would be a great time to call, since I wasn't doing anything. Even though he was one of my closest friends for many years, the bulk of our 13 minute conversation was spent in utter and complete silence. As I had been warned, it was like talking to a high school kid. I was hoping to hear some cult stories and outright asked but he said he had none. I asked a lot of questions and got a bunch of well-rehearsed "answers" that answered nothing. The only questions he asked me were a) So, are you in school? b) Were you lying when you said that your parents house had termites? c) Do you have Emily Augustine's phone number? The first one was innocent enough but nice spin on the second question. Of course they did--the back half of the house wasn't there. As for Emily--that was eight years ago! She and I weren't exactly the type of people to keep in touch. I sent her an email my freshman year of college, she never wrote back and that was it. What was so scary and disheartening was that, Emily is where Matt's life left off. While the rest of us have gone to college or moved around the country or even just stayed current with modern events, Matt is stuck in 1996-7, which of course made the conversation, if it can even be called that, pretty damn horrible. The conversation ended with him saying what we were both thinking, "Well, let's talk again when there's something to say". I couldn't have agreed more. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: July 14, 2004 - Happy Fish
Oh look, it's my happy fish. Why is he so happy? Because he got his tank cleaned today, for the last time before I move. I found a couple of floaters but promptly gave them the appropriate bowl-salute. Jamie and I discovered Texas Hold 'Em on Yahoo today and she took my money for most of the afternoon. For dinner we trotted over to On The Border and then to Publix, so I could throw myself at their mercy for leftover boxes from the overnight stocking of the store. They agreed so I have to wake up at 6:30am tomorrow in order to make it there by 7am to ensure my precious cardboard doesn't get baled and sent to benefit Mother Earth by means of the recycling center. I had initially gone up to school to see if I could score some from the many offices but I only found one. I packed it full of CDs when I got home so I could feel like I accomplished something. Ah, it felt so good.
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Thursday: July 15, 2004 - Mary's Blog
I was reading Mary's, friend and former student. journal today and came across a little quiz to get your picture for the day. I can't remember the exact details but it was something to the effect of adding the total number of entries together, do something else and then something else and eventually you count to a certain word in a given entry. You then search for it on Google and take the first image you see. So, my word was "night" and there's the picture of "night" I got. I don't know what it is but it doesn't look like night to me. Jamie got called to go to the hospital for rape counseling last night so I was on Ab duty at 2:47am. She wouldn't sleep and the only time she wasn't squeaking was when Chompy had Ab's head in her mouth. I got up again at 6:38 to go to Publix to get my boxes. Michael was working and helped me bring the bottomless boxes back to my car. I came back home and slept until 1ish. Theory-Chris and I went out to lunch at the CFA where we hit up a college freshman (sophomore?) for some boxes. Score. I need to go back tomorrow to claim the rest of my booty. I came home during the downpour and packed up all my books. It took seven crates but they're all in there. All my CDs are now packed up as well and my house is starting to look a little more empty. The mighty journal has charged on to over 5100 hits. I think due to my erratic sleeping I might be getting sick. Tomorrow night we're going to have a pack-party, as long as I get enough boxes to make it worth while. The pool table hopefully will be disassembled so I can have some more free space for my staging area. I also need to call about getting a truck. Oh, and an apartment.
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Friday: July 16, 2004 - Sick-Sicks
Someone's got a case of the sick-sicks. I'll give you one guess. Oh that's right, it's me. Even though I woke up early, I ended up having to take a nap after scouting for some new houses. I woke up around 7pm to a program on Genghis Khan. I meant to watch the end of it but I ended up having to cater to Chompy and missed the part after he died and his sons split up the empire. The big news of the day was the deconstruction of the famed pool table. Chris, Mike, Jamie and Jara came over for Pack Party #1 and the table was dismantled quickly with very few problems. Jamie did manage to get whacked in the head by a loose board but other than that we had no serious problems. Without the pool table my apartment seems very big and the dogs have ample room to fight in places other than my bedroom. We were able to keep the slate pieces together, which was my largest concern. Chris masterfully deciphered the directions and assigned us various tools and that was that. We also decided to get together to play on Sunday.
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Saturday: July 17, 2004 - Tapered Jeans Are Coming Back
Well, I'm still not done being sick. I knew it the second I woke up and that's not too great a feeling--knowing that you're not going to feel so hot the rest of the day. Anyway, Chris came over around noon and he and I got to work on making his drosophila gene map chart. Jamie made a pizza for lunch while we did it and unlike some of her past "culinary abortions" this was pretty darn tasty. We then drove around to look at some apartments and the one that was $400/mo is definitely out. What it had going for it was the fact it was $400/mo and the excitement of knowing that the filmed Deliverance there. What was working against it is that the characters from the movie would be my neighbors. I took a nap after we got back and then called Liz about getting into Opperman about doing a recording with all the best equipment. Much to my initial surprise, she agreed readily and I then set to work about assembling the Mas N' Steel All-Stars. Unfortunately David Knapp was still in NY and Ryan was going to Texas with Missy, leaving me to play drum set. Jamie got another rape call and had to miss dinner with the rest of us at Fatty's. After dinner Matt Flynn came over to pick up the music for tomorrow and then Jamie and I watched Caddyshack. Well, *I* watched Caddyshack while she slept off and on.
My question of the day is: When are tapered jeans going to come back in style? Man, I can't wait. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Sunday: July 18, 2004 - King Crab
Ah, the king crab. The reason I am awake now instead of in bed, ridding myself of the sick-sicks. I blame the Discovery Channel and their in-depth coverage of King Crab fishing in Alaska. What a great little program. My day started freaking great. The novelty of having my music played has not complete worn off yet, as I realized during out 2.5 hour rehearsal. I was simply amazed how quickly things came together and I'm feeling really good about recording later this week. My favorite is still Car Wreck but Modest Funk Bus Line might be able to over-take it. This afternoon I napped while the Cubs lost and woke up in time to make Jamie and myself some potato soup for dinner. After we ate, we settled into some Texas Hold 'Em online where I managed to lose a couple hundred Yahoo dollars. If you have any interest in playing with us online lemme know--Jamie wants your money.
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Monday: July 19, 2004 - Secret Messages
Although I feel much better today, I still have the cough made popular in the late 1960's arcade craze of Hac-Man and, the much-anticipated sequel, Ms. Hac-Man. Jamie and I each found a ton of places to live today and tomorrow I'm going to go see one that's a whopping $650/mo. This seems like a lot to me, but that's about what I pay here, even though the new one has got to be bigger. If nothing else, it's in a really safe neighborhood and hopefully the quiet will be deafening. The worst news of the day was how close I was to seeing KISS. I was the 2nd caller to Gulf 104 to answer a trivia question. Somehow the person before me got it right and I got nothing. I was SO close! I can't believe the first caller knew the answer. I can't believe it. No one has more useless rock trivia locked away than me. Even that loser from Beat The Geeks (on Comedy Central for about two days) couldn't hold a candle to me. Argh, I was so pissed. I spent the afternoon locked away in Finale making new parts. I am really getting sick of that program. Sibelius is even worse--I shouldn't say Finale is bad because it does a lot of really good things. But now that I know all the basics (save Speedy Entry [Damn you speedy entry!]) and need it to do more complex things it's really not being very pleasant. Jamie took me out to Ruby Tuesday's and Chris came along for our good company. Not that I was particularly good company tonight. Tomorrow's entry will be the lies FSU has told me starting with November 2000 and will continue up to yesterday. Anyway, I shouldn't have been surprised that the things they told me were different than how things really are and now I'm just pissed all over again. Every time something like this happens with the steel band I tell myself, "This is it. I'm severing my ties" but then I don't. Why don't I? Because I like the people. Most of my closest friends I met in the band and I really enjoy them for both their musical abilities and friendships. I have a hard time keeping the two straight, which always gets me back into the fray when I need to just step out. This, of course, leads to a new series of problems because my doing so effects more than just me. The sad part for me is that I know I'm fighting a losing battle. No one other than me gives a damn about my principles, especially FSU and, in all fairness to them, they shouldn't. I think I overestimate my own value in this regard but without any sort of back-up plan all I can do is just sit around being mad. I should have expected them to be as two-faced and not allowed myself to get as involved as I did. It was dumb and I see that now. Below is a summery of the World Music Dept.
D.O.: I have no idea what's going on. I'm completely out of it so I'll just make things up to end a conversation peacefully then dump it off on K-P.
K-P: D.O. has no idea what's going on. I'm completely with it so I'll rectify everything by being honest and then never mention anything to D.O. so he can spew his moronic ideas so I can fix them again later. We're both tenured so really, we never have to speak to each other. I'm too nice to crush anyone personally but I'll leave things completely open-ended and then never get back to you so you're not mad at me.
M.B.: I'm staying out of everything. And that's too bad because I'm the only one that can say things to your face that you might not want to hear. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Tuesday: July 20, 2004 - Google Reindexing
I went to view the possible apartment tonight. It was perfect except the walls were a neon green. Well, not just walls. Everything in the living room...doorbell, radiator, A/C unit, everything was painted this horrible bright lime green. The landlord said he'd paint it unless I liked it and I certainly do not. The bedroom was pained a more pleasant red. The kitchen was huge and for only $25 more a month than I pay here it seems really great. Hardwood floors, the whole shebang. After the viewing I dropped off parts to everyone for tomorrow. This afternoon I cleaned out most of my bedroom while watching Chompy and The Ab.
Yesterday Google re-found my page and the clever searches are starting all over again. Thanks! You will have to wait for my FSU-Lies section because I am freaking tired. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: July 21, 2004 - Steel Drum Drama
I can't remember the last time I was in such a good mood. It's been probably six months or more. I still don't have a job nor a place to live but I had the best time in rehearsal tonight. Those guys really cheered me up. I was totally prepared to pick things apart and make them play 2-beat segments but no. Everyone was so prepared that we actually were able to make music, something I haven't been able to do in forever (forever ever?). I dropped off the music to the new drum set player, Dan (one of Matt's high school students) this afternoon and to be honest, I was scared. This 17 year old shows up tonight and plays the hell out of everything! More importantly I finally got to get away from the kit and hear Chris' beautiful melodic playing and Michael's ball-busting runs. Man, it was great. I'm feeling better than ever about tomorrow's recording session. In a little sadder news, Matt was fired as the Leon High School director to give way for their former director, David. Apparently David knew about Matt's desire to keep going and still strong armed his way in. That's foul. Real foul. I was under the impression they had asked David but apparently he was the aggressor despite his conversation with Matt. What's even worse is that Leon strung Matt along AND never even told him in person--he got a poorly worded email this evening. Regardless of David's experience, Matt loves those kids and they love him. On a more selfish note, I know Matt would have been more receptive to doing more my pieces. Anyway, if you see Matt offer your condolences.
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Thursday: July 22, 2004 - Steel Drum Recordings
After all my hard work in Photoshop you can't even tell it says MAGMA on that microphone. Oh well. The bad news of the day was that my lime-green apartment is gone. I found another townhouse sort of deal over by C&M's which I might just take. It has a teeny-teeny yard for Chompy (it's about four Chompies set send to end in each direction) but at least it's fenced in. The big news of the day was recording my stuff. Chris and I snagged some coffee on the way and brought some stuff down while we waited for the ever-late Liz. It took her about 45 minutes to set all of the individual mics up but in the end everything worked. On the whole things went really smoothly and there were only a couple major blowouts that had to be rerecorded at the end. Tomorrow I have the enviable task of going through to splice things together and other editing tasks so that I can send these out on Monday. Hopefully this weekend I'll be moving so I can mooch the resources of my friends yet again. Once I disconnect my cable modem from the router I'll put some samples and link them from the Mas N' Steel site but at nearly 40MB right now, that's a little too much. My least favorite piece going into the recording, Stinger, turned out to be the best one we recorded. Our 17-year old drummer got a little excited at the end and brought the volume a little past where I would have liked but it's nothing the magic of technology can't fix. After recording, Jara, Jamie, Matt and I hit Applebee's where we received the worst service I've had in Tallahassee. Apparently out waitress had a "bad toothache" but she kept switching which side hurt so I don't believe it. Well, it's 3:03am and it's time for bed.
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Friday: July 23, 2004 - Lake Ella Apartment
I was able to get one of the big things checked off my list. New apartment: check. It was such a big thing, I decided to use a bigger picture today. I know, yesterday I used a big one too, but yesterday's was only two normal sizes stacked on top of each other. Today's though, oh yes, is a whopping 4x the normal size. Aside from leaving my pictures of Chompy on my new landlord's desk on accident things went smoothly. I showed Chris, Jamie and Mike the new place and then Jamie and I set out to Scales and Tails for dinner with Jamie's parents. Between being reminded of my impending baldness and the half-spiced chicken, things could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. At least I had a fish tank to look at. After dinner the troops were rallied and we made the first set of trips over to the new place. Even though we filled up a couple cars it looks like nothing at all has been moved. Tomorrow will be a bigger day, with some of the larger items being transported across town, hopefully with the aid of Matt Flynn.
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Saturday: July 24, 2004 - 100 Most Metal Moments
What the hell is wrong with my ears? Yes, they're full of fluid but why can't it just go away? Of course the only place open today didn't accept my insurance so I have to keep sucking it up until tomorrow. Aside from getting disoriented easily, not hearing the same volume in each ear really screws you up. For me it causes a headache as well. I tried taking some Sudafed to break up any congestion but that did nothing. It's especially horrible when I'm trying to eat. I hear every chew and every swallow reverberate through my skull and that really sucks. Matt came over in the afternoon and he and moved another Suburu-load over. After he went home I packed more stuff up. Everyone else came back at 7pm but due to the weather we had to put our plans on hold. We all watched VH1's 100 Most Metal Moments while eating pizza. The Tallahassee Caribbean festival is coming up soon. I'm going to email the director and see if we can play on the stage for an hour or two in the hopes that gigs will spring forth, like the pus from my ears.
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Sunday: July 25, 2004 - Fortis vs. Ear Infection
I battled my ear problems all day again today. Apparently Fortis is only accepted in Reno, Nevada and somewhere near Noneck, West Virginia. Well, I am writing this a day late, so I guess I should accommodate for that--and I will, starting...now. Yesterday afternoon Jamie and I drove to some Goodwills in the hope of finding some tall bookshelves or a stereo cabinet. In a perfect world two stereo cabinets. One for my stereo goodies, another for my video games. Alas, we only found one and it was $50. Not having $50, I didn't really have a choice but to pass. Around 6pm the Less N' Steel Moving Company arrived and we started clearing out the living room. Now that most of the big furniture is gone, I feel like we've accomplished a lot and it will feel even better once the kitchen isn't such a hell hole. The best idea of the entire night was having Chris make dinner while the rest of us took another load over. Walking into my new apartment and smelling the food was like when I was a little kid and we'd go over to my grandma's house. It always smelled clean and there was always something delicious in the process of being made. Last night's feast was Chicken Marcela and it was made just the way I like it--not swimming in goo. Once everyone left Jamie was getting ready to leave when we noticed something: the front door couldn't lock. The key just turned and turned. I decided that I was going to stay there for the night. For all of the things that went wrong, at least it was quiet there. Nice and quiet. The dogs weren't particularly tired and they were more than a little freaked out so they took to pacing. Figuring they might need to go out, I brought them to the little fenced area but when we came in the back door didn't lock. By this point I was pretty pissed. I made a list of all of the things wrong with every room and finally dragged the futon cushion up the stairs into the bedroom so Chompy wouldn't get all crazy after each noise. So I'm finally ready to fall asleep at about 3:30am when...it's the trashman, collecting the garbage from the dumpster. Why the HELL do they collect the garbage in this city between midnight at 4am. I mean seriously, how ridiculous is this?
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Monday: July 26, 2004 - Moving to Lake Ella
Ok, yesterday's entry is proofread. I'm sure you are pleased. Since yesterday's journal left off around 10am this morning, here's the rest of my day. 7am: I woke up, grabbed The Chomp and left for home. Once here I called my landlord, who assured me that my locks would be fixed asap. I then spent some time finding a doctor to check out my ears. They're not any worse, but they're not any better either. Between 8:30-noon I mastered the CD from our recording session. I got a lot of the echo of the room out and I have to say that I'm really proud of some of my edits. Not that I could splice anything together, since we only had one take per song, but I was able to normalize sections where one note was really loud in a line, which happens a lot on pan. It still sounds like it was recorded at a concert but since it was recorded in a concert hall, that's fine. I was hoping OTTO would be up so I could put the songs online for your listening enjoyment, but it's down again. Stupid OTTO. Anyway, Matt came over at noon and he and packed some more stuff and headed over to the apartment. Upon our arrival to the new apartment we discovered there was no power. He dropped me off at City Hall and I changed my utilities over with an overlap until Friday. I came back home and packed some more things but then fell asleep until Jamie came over for dinner around 8. Tomorrow I'm getting the truck and moving the last of my crap out of here except this computer (since my cable doesn't get transferred over until the first week out of August). Ta-ta!
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Tuesday: July 27, 2004 - Moving with Fish
Today is a black day. Jamie and I moved the tropical tank tonight and over half the fish died en route. Among the dead: my last neon tetra, two pink tetras, three black-tipped tetras and four red-eyed tetras. The only ones to survive were the big ones: (most importantly) Dr. Suck (the pleco), David and Goliath (pearl gouramis), two unnamed black and white gouramis and one black tetra (the last of the original fish). A moment of silence for the deceased.
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Wednesday: July 28, 2004 - Moving with Fish II
Moving. See you on Tuesday with more excellent commentary.
Upon visiting my new house, I discovered only three fish survived the night: the two black and white gouramis and Dr. Suck. :( [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Welcome, friends, to...the chompy zone. This page set a new record for daily hits today with 36. I got around to putting all the old entries up as well as making that little picture of Chompy in the upper-left-hand corner. I met up with Jamie for a tour of her employer, HealthSouth (I think). The beauty of the pastel interior decor was only matched by the sweet stench of urine. Particularly disturbing, along the lines of urine, were the permanent stains on every gurney, all in the same spot. I saw her closet of an office and we crammed ourselves in to eat some Chick-Fil-A, turning down the always-delectable ox tails being served for a dollar in the mess hall. I came home and watched a program on mining in the late 1800s. God, I'm dork. Chompy, The Ab and I went over to Jamie's for some homemade chicken. Chompy and Abby were particularly crazy and someone took a large #2 on the carpet. Who was it?
I'm supposed to hear back from W&M tomorrow. I hope I'm able to sleep. Kathy leaves for Oz tomorrow. Hopefully by the time she gets back I'll have a job and she can help me move. With everyone else. Like you. Help me. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Friday: July 02, 2004 - High School Story
I'm so dumb. I went to bed last night with my phone tucked safely in bed with me, so I would be prepared for the news from William and Mary. Ab woke up about the same time as I nervously startled myself out of a dream. I checked my phone--no messages. I persuaded Ab into coming into bed and sleeping a little later and we rewoke up at 9:30. I again checked my phone--no messages. "Fool!", I thought to myself, why call when it costs money when they could email me for free? Running to my computer and disregarding the no-email-notice, I quickly logged in to see no new emails. I chatted briefly with my mom and I edged her out for first place in the who-is-more-cranky-in-the-morning contest. I checked my phone again after taking the dogs out even though I had the phone in my pocket. Nothing. By five o'clock I had checked my email enough times to eat up the month's bandwidth at mail.com. I avoided the phone at all costs in case call -waiting decided not to work this one time like a teenage girl a mere week before the prom when a new boy appears at school who, while not entirely attractive, is good-looking enough for her to be madly in love and to cause her to pray endlessly during study hall and practice writing her name with last last name in loopy cursive on each and every bus ride. Even though Williamsburg is on Eastern Time, I figured maybe as a cost-cutting measure they would be calling me at a non-peak hour. Nope. I did get a call (a very, very brief call) from Alan Coyle's assistant telling me by drum is on its way back from the chromer and that I'd be able to pick it up in a couple weeks. By 8:00pm I'd given up all hope. Damn, hope is dangerous. I realize I sound pretty desperate right now. I just really want that job. Looking at my other choices, I like that one the most and would be the best employee there. I'm just getting frustrated that things keep getting moved back. I feel as though I've bent over backwards with all my stuff here and they can't even keep me updated in where they are in the hiring process. It's just weird that everything up until a couple weeks ago, after I left, they could not have been more timely if I hired them a retired coach with a stopwatch. The problem is that I'm just generally bored. I don't even really have time to write music anymore, which was very stress-relieving. I really just want to start "the next phase" where I have a real job and can stop worrying about day-to-day ends meeting. Although everyone must go through this, I just don't understand how many people have avoided going crazy because of it.
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Saturday: July 03, 2004 - Silent Art Auction
Jamie and I cleaned my apartment before Chris and Mike came over for a pre-July 4th party. That is all there is to report. Perhaps I will expound tomorrow.
Expounding: I was able to get rid of about a dozen of the various artworks in my apartment via silent auction lat night. From the leftover 25 or so, I need to decide if I'm going to paint over them or give them back to their original owners. If I had money, I'd frame one for each person so Alex could have a nice copy of "Blue Bus from Hell", Kathy could proudly display her "Party Palm Tree" and Mark could have...well, whatever his is. I think we agreed to turn it upside-down to hide the fact it looked like a blind kindergartener's drawing of me. Tomorrow is Chompy's least-favorite day of the year. She's already discovered that it's safest to hide in my closet across from the bathroom in the small space on top of her travel crate. I took a picture of it because it's really funny but at the same time I feel bad for her. She's informed me that she'd prefer to live in state that has fireworks outlawed in a safe neighborhood with no gunshots. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Sunday: July 04, 2004 - Happy Fourth of July!
Poor Chompy. She HATES the 4th of July. She spent the morning on top of the crate in her closet. That's right--on TOP of her crate in the 6" high space. Around 3pm we trotted over to Jamie's to meet up with Chris, Mike, Jara and Jamie for some grilling. Although Michael lost some of his precious arm hair, we managed to get the grill lit with no serious problems. To bide my time I decided I was going to throw some chestnuts into the pool. Why? I wanted to hear how loud of a ker-plop it would make. I eventually took to flinging them high into the air and man, they were really ker-plopping. The only problem was, when going for the mother-of-all-plops, I hurt my back. Big time. Apparently mankind never had a reason to throw things straight up really hard, so evolution did not prepare me for this. I think it's a pulled muscle. Whatever it is, it is KILLING me. After eating we discussed some possibilities for a make-over of Jamie's parents' house but no one wanted to buy me the aluminum to cover their walls. I thought I had a lot of good ideas but apparently I was the only one that thought that. We left there to go back to Chris and Mike's but Jamie's roommate Danielle left a horrific mess so we had to clean that up. God, I thought I was a slob. I wasn't ever that bad when I had roommates, though. Jamie is going to friend-dump her. Just like on Seinfeld. After we cleaned that up we went over to C&M's for some Rummikube, Pepperoni loaf and Deliverance (the movie). Jamie edged me out on Rummikube but Jara was the big loser after scoring 204 the first round. The food was EXCELLENT and the movie was disturbing. I will never be able to listen to a banjo the same way ever again. I cannot get that banjo player's face out of my head! Nightmares to come!
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Monday: July 05, 2004 - Happy Monday
Happy Monday, another day off. Tomorrow I foresee receiving my decision from W&M. I foresee a "thanks, but no thanks" reply. I think if they wanted me they would have said something by now and the fact it's been over a month with minimal contact has lead me to believe someone else is in their cards. I saw the Cubs lose today. Another good game but again the fact they couldn't score a single run ruined them. Jamie and I made some potato soup, veal and other assorted goodies for dinner. It was the best potato soup I've ever made by far. The secret, of course, was the extra bacon. After we ate we brought Jamie's dad's car to the airport so they can drive back after their saga in Alaska. Tonight Naperville-Mark went to go visit Cult-Matt. I hope everything goes well for Mark since he has to be the friend-ambassador.
I regret not taking the publishing job in Pensacola. I regret it big time. Ok, I got a fellowship to teach a class last year but it's not like it's a huge secret that I was tired of FSU. By this point I'd be making only $11/hr but right now I'm making $0/hr and am in a pretty dire situation as to my f(s)uture. I think of the dozens of pieces that I would have written by now. I'm tired of these feelings of regret. I have nothing really currently regrettable to talk about, though, since my options are so limited. It's amazing how you go from having the world as your oyster to being just generally stuck somewhere. Boo. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Tuesday: July 06, 2004 - Moving Home
Even though I didn't hear from W&M today, I have a new approach. I am going to feel good about it. Feeling bad about it causes nothing more than an enormous pity-party for myself and that benefits no one. And when I'm having a party like that, there's no time for anything else. Tomorrow I'm going to call and lay my cards on the table. I've waited as long as I can, done everything in my power to give them the time they needed from my personal life so tomorrow I'm going to just outright ask if I'm still in it. If so, great. I'll do one hell of a job for them, the likes they have never seen. If no? Then at least I can figure out what I'm doing for sure. Whether that's taking a job in Tallahassee as an office manager or other options, it's ok, because they didn't think I was the right person for the job and they could be entirely right so I just have to kick back and trust them. Let me on record, though, and say that I want that job as my #1 option. Anyway, I received the call no one ever wants. The call from your father reminding you that you can move home. Eek. No one on the Earth has ever wanted the call but I have to give my dad credit, he played it cool. Real cool. This of course is the last option I would ever want. After living independently for seven years, I don't think I could go back to having rules made by anyone other than me over my head. Not that it's unreasonable. Of course, I can respect the my-house, my-rules policy. When I have a house, I plan to implement my own version of this. Nonetheless, it's scary that my life and the current job market has put me into such a situation. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, though and until then I'm hoping to move somewhere in the Williamsburg area.
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Wednesday: July 07, 2004 - MS Paint
Furthing my MS Paint theme, I decided to create you a magic eye graphic today. Since I was born with some sort of eye defect I can't see magic eye things. While people were screaming "It's a puppy!" in 6th grade I was randomly guessing "The third station of the cross!". I think it has to do with my large cups. Lacking a degree in ophthalmology I don't know exactly what that means but it somehow messes up my depth perception. For those of you following the job-saga I still didn't hear from W&M and managing an office looks like my career future. I called a bunch of times and sent an email; no reply. In my down time I looked over a bunch of scores and started negotiating deals with some publishers for my stuff. The two companies I chose are both smaller and are more interested in promoting the art form than making a ton of cash, which coincides with my goals, at least until I'm completely broke. With over 40 pieces to offer, I think I have some clout--it can almost double the material of most publishers. What they want from me are some live recordings, so it looks like I'm going to have to call Liz and throw myself at her mercy about recording us in Opperman. I'd really like to sell about ten copies a month. I don't know if that's reasonable or not, but if my take is $20/piece, then I'll be doing ok. Not enough to live, of course, but that would pay my loans, which are about to rear their ugly heads.
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Thursday: July 08, 2004 - Rest in Peace William and Mary
Rest in peace, William and Mary. In case you didn't read today's (p)update, I was not the winner of the W&M Liaison Competition. While I'm disappointed, I not feeling as bad as I thought I would. Like I've been saying since February, at least I know. I now have the next 2-3 weeks to finalize a job in Tallahassee and to find some new digs. I also got a call from FSU saying something to the effect of "Hey. Where is everything you were supposed to turn in?" Well, my reply, in no uncertain terms, was that they'll get it when I'm ready. When will that be? Beats me. I've been so preoccupied with this job-hunting scene I've really abandoned all else. I'll get a welcome break tomorrow night when Chris comes for for a no-spouse night á la last summer.
Although I would consider myself to be a democrat; more specifically falling into the bleeding-heart genus, this Kerry/Edwards ticket lost my vote today with this. Sorry you guys, we can't all have nice hair, botox, be born into money. Where's a nice bald John McCain? He says what he wants and can't be stopped by the bald gene. Ok, so he might not be a bleeder too, but he'd get my vote.
=====Thursday, July 8, 2004:Pupdate!=====
I received the blow from W&M today. They've gone with someone else. On to greener pastures. Maybe I could be a groundskeeper at a golf course. Or something greener. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Friday: July 09, 2004 - MikeFriend Award
If friend awards were given on a daily basis, Chris would win the MikeFriend Award today. In addition to providing me with the best night I've had in a LONG time tonight he found me a potential job--at FSU. It's similar to the job at W&M. It's the job of Doug, the former OTTO administrator who lost his job because of doing some illegal things and was busted by the FBI. I'll post more tomorrow because we've sat around drinking tonight and I don't think I'm making much sense at the moment.
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Saturday: July 10, 2004 - William and Mary Blow
I can't believe I woke up so early. I just can't believe it. Not only did I wake up early, I didn't nap today. Today was my journal's day in the sun, so to speak, because it was the #8 music education website on Nedstat. At midnight it slipped back down, but I enjoyed my day. Jamie came over around noon and we got some lunch before settling in to house-hunt-mode. The afternoon was spent driving in remote parts of Tallahassee to find a house in my price range--somewhere between $10-$20/mo. We found a couple of winners and some of them aren't even in the depths of the ghetto. After finding some winners we decided to play some Monopoly. It ended with a friendly flinging of accessories but surprisingly not by me. For dinner Jamie and I had some soup and rolls. Mmm. I feel like we did a lot today but offhand I can't really think of anything. Well, that's what being this age is for: spending time with people and not being able to recall any of it.
And today, the Top Five Songs to Get You Out of Bed and Excited (well, for me anyway).
1) Sabotage, Beastie Boys
2) Smooth Criminal, Alien Ant Farm cover
3) Break Ya Neck, Busta Rhymes
4) Fighter, Christina Aguilera
5) Crazy Train, Ozzy Osbourne
=====Saturday, July 10, 2004:Pupdate!=====
What am I doing up so early? It's just past 8am and although I did do a small amount of drinking last night I did not anticipate a) being awake before noon and b) feeling good. I think this was from the deep, deep sleep that ensued after I went to bed. In my haste last night I failed to mention that my favorite fish, my prized peacock died. He was back, sort of, in a dream, though. And talking to me after being discovered, with some other fish, in a cup of milk I'd poured. After setting them free I went to play a steel band concert and we had to walk back in front of this choir backstage who was warming up. This one kid said something under his breath about me, or, about us not being musicians and I had no choice but to kick his ass. And I really kicked his ass. After leaving him a bloody pulp I went back to where we where setting up and it was announced that instead of playing the concert on stage, we'd be put in the audience and we'd sing our parts. I found Jamie, Chris and Mary all sitting in a row with an empty seat on the end next to Mary. When I tried to take it, Jamie got really angry and told me I wasn't allowed to sit there because I was not allowed to sit next to Mary. I countered with the fact that while I was a capable player, I was easily the worst singer and should be by someone who I could follow (which would be anyone in that row). She kept getting more angry until I agreed to sit behind them by myself. Suddenly, the audience of elementary school kids entered and took their seats in and around us. I was sitting next to this bratty little black-haired kid. Rather than singing out concert, we were instead going to play this video game. The steel band versus everyone else. This I-Pod looking thing was handed out and a big screen lowered on stage. Our scores would be collected and the winner would get something...something nice. The game consisted of this: you were in control of a leaf. The leaf would move horizontally on the screen and you had to collect other leaves dropping from the top at different times. Sounds simple but it wasn't. The scores were close and this kid and I were the only two left playing. He died with a score of 150 and I had 645 (and yes, those were the exact numbers). For some reason, though, when I died, he was cheering. Jamie turned around and with this kid told me I had been playing on the wrong mode and that we had lost. As my punishment, Jamie said, I had to relive an entire year of my life that would be randomly selected out of a hat. I was hoping for some time in the 1970s or 80s but no, what do I get? 2003. Somehow I managed to relive an entire year that left out nothing I can think of now in a mere 8 hours of sleep. Even after reviewing my old journal entries, every major event was covered in my dream. Weird.
After catching a glimpse of High Fidelity, let me take the opportunity for a new segment that will last until I bored of it (like two days). The subject today: Top Five Songs addressing the passing of time.
1) Ten Years Gone, Led Zeppelin
2) Landslide, Fleetwood Mac
3) Don't Get Around Much Anymore, Duke Ellington
4) Cats in the Cradle, Harry Chapin
5) 100 Years, Five For Fighting [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Sunday: July 11, 2004 - Cribbage Tips
I briefly rediscovered Cribbage tonight, one of my favorite games from college. My friend Don taught it to me and he was a card shark. Big time. He won in everything we played and did all the trick deals. Thank God Texas-Hold-Em was never introduced or I wouldn't have had enough money to pay rent. After we graduated (well, by "we" I mean me) from college we all went to the Indian casino. Although I broke even, Don was the only one that won any money. Anyway, I was kind of sick today but I think I'm over it now. I really having nothing interesting to say. Sorry. It was just one of those days.
Oh! I started working on the best steel band piece of all-time. I don't mean this in a conceded way, but honestly, this will be the Rite of Spring of steel drum music, just wait. No seriously, this is going to break the proverbial mold. Now, I can see you rolling your eyes and even laughing but I really mean it. "I'm serious mommy." (Name that tune, anyone?) [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Monday: July 12, 2004 - Greatest Steel Drum Song Ever
It was noonish, and there I was, working on the greatest song ever written for pan. Out of nowhere, *BAM*, Chris calls. Free lunch? Sure thing! This afternoon I applied for some more jobs and for dinner Jamie and I ordered BW3 wings for the last time. How on earth can they screw up your order so many times? We got back and watched the home run derby portion of the World Series. I discovered tonight why there are rarely fish bodies in my tank. The answer is the ever-growing Chris Rix. Suctioned to the peacock corpse he was just systematically chowing down. He's smart--fish is brain food. Hah. I'm in a bad mood because one of my posts on the steel drum message board was called 100% wrong. I'm as wrong as much as the next guy but I hate it when people appear out of the woodwork spewing utter crap. While I am not the grammar king by any means, I can differentiate between there/their/they're and don't Capitalize random parts of sentences. What I really hate about these people on message boards is that they're (hahx2) bellies are so full of fire they can't wait to refute you but God forbid they proofread. Not that I proofread these journal entries but it's not like I have to argue with myself.
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Tuesday: July 13, 2004 - Cult-Matt
Yesterday could have been pretty easily considered a dream. The weird occurrences started at around 2:00pm when my power went off. Since I had just paid the bill, I opened my door to see that my entire apartment was sans power. Since the temperature was in the high 90s and preparing to break 100, I figured it would be an opportune time to get out of the house and get some lunch. Working our way past the dozens of new, obnoxious residents splashing in the pool, Chompy and I boarded the Taurus and put up the sails towards Chick-Fil-A. The two stoplights on my apartment's grid were also out. But wait, until I got to Monroe Street, there were no lights at all. Fortunately, the light at Apalachee and Monroe was working and I was able to get onto Apalachee with no problem. From that point on, there was no power anywhere down to the Wal-Mart. I saw four accidents on that stretch of road alone. Figuring it was an opportune time to go looting, I headed back towards the mall and put Chompy's black mask on and had pulled my crowbar halfway out of the trunk when another accident hit behind us. With all these accidents and people being so pissed off, we figured all the good loot had probably already been taken so we went back home. While the power came on elsewhere, out little grid was still lacking and my apartment's temperature was up to 97 when it kicked back on around 5:30. During the down time I started to pack my things up. I made it through most of my clothes and my closet in general but I quickly ran out of boxes and bins. I need to loot some more from somewhere, but where? Even if I had boxes, I didn't have any tape so there wasn't much more I could do. Chompy and I watched a little TV before Jamie and Ab came over to watch the All-Star game. The NL blew it, of course, thanks to Roger Clemens. It was an easy loss for him to take since the Astros will not be going to the World Series, but he could have at least tried to not allow six runs in the first inning. After the game I got some Taco Bell with McDonald's fries. Mmm.I was wrong--the weird occurrences started at noon, when I received a text-message from Cult-Matt. I figured it would be a great time to call, since I wasn't doing anything. Even though he was one of my closest friends for many years, the bulk of our 13 minute conversation was spent in utter and complete silence. As I had been warned, it was like talking to a high school kid. I was hoping to hear some cult stories and outright asked but he said he had none. I asked a lot of questions and got a bunch of well-rehearsed "answers" that answered nothing. The only questions he asked me were a) So, are you in school? b) Were you lying when you said that your parents house had termites? c) Do you have Emily Augustine's phone number? The first one was innocent enough but nice spin on the second question. Of course they did--the back half of the house wasn't there. As for Emily--that was eight years ago! She and I weren't exactly the type of people to keep in touch. I sent her an email my freshman year of college, she never wrote back and that was it. What was so scary and disheartening was that, Emily is where Matt's life left off. While the rest of us have gone to college or moved around the country or even just stayed current with modern events, Matt is stuck in 1996-7, which of course made the conversation, if it can even be called that, pretty damn horrible. The conversation ended with him saying what we were both thinking, "Well, let's talk again when there's something to say". I couldn't have agreed more. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: July 14, 2004 - Happy Fish
Oh look, it's my happy fish. Why is he so happy? Because he got his tank cleaned today, for the last time before I move. I found a couple of floaters but promptly gave them the appropriate bowl-salute. Jamie and I discovered Texas Hold 'Em on Yahoo today and she took my money for most of the afternoon. For dinner we trotted over to On The Border and then to Publix, so I could throw myself at their mercy for leftover boxes from the overnight stocking of the store. They agreed so I have to wake up at 6:30am tomorrow in order to make it there by 7am to ensure my precious cardboard doesn't get baled and sent to benefit Mother Earth by means of the recycling center. I had initially gone up to school to see if I could score some from the many offices but I only found one. I packed it full of CDs when I got home so I could feel like I accomplished something. Ah, it felt so good.
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Thursday: July 15, 2004 - Mary's Blog
I was reading Mary's, friend and former student. journal today and came across a little quiz to get your picture for the day. I can't remember the exact details but it was something to the effect of adding the total number of entries together, do something else and then something else and eventually you count to a certain word in a given entry. You then search for it on Google and take the first image you see. So, my word was "night" and there's the picture of "night" I got. I don't know what it is but it doesn't look like night to me. Jamie got called to go to the hospital for rape counseling last night so I was on Ab duty at 2:47am. She wouldn't sleep and the only time she wasn't squeaking was when Chompy had Ab's head in her mouth. I got up again at 6:38 to go to Publix to get my boxes. Michael was working and helped me bring the bottomless boxes back to my car. I came back home and slept until 1ish. Theory-Chris and I went out to lunch at the CFA where we hit up a college freshman (sophomore?) for some boxes. Score. I need to go back tomorrow to claim the rest of my booty. I came home during the downpour and packed up all my books. It took seven crates but they're all in there. All my CDs are now packed up as well and my house is starting to look a little more empty. The mighty journal has charged on to over 5100 hits. I think due to my erratic sleeping I might be getting sick. Tomorrow night we're going to have a pack-party, as long as I get enough boxes to make it worth while. The pool table hopefully will be disassembled so I can have some more free space for my staging area. I also need to call about getting a truck. Oh, and an apartment.
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Friday: July 16, 2004 - Sick-Sicks
Someone's got a case of the sick-sicks. I'll give you one guess. Oh that's right, it's me. Even though I woke up early, I ended up having to take a nap after scouting for some new houses. I woke up around 7pm to a program on Genghis Khan. I meant to watch the end of it but I ended up having to cater to Chompy and missed the part after he died and his sons split up the empire. The big news of the day was the deconstruction of the famed pool table. Chris, Mike, Jamie and Jara came over for Pack Party #1 and the table was dismantled quickly with very few problems. Jamie did manage to get whacked in the head by a loose board but other than that we had no serious problems. Without the pool table my apartment seems very big and the dogs have ample room to fight in places other than my bedroom. We were able to keep the slate pieces together, which was my largest concern. Chris masterfully deciphered the directions and assigned us various tools and that was that. We also decided to get together to play on Sunday.
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Saturday: July 17, 2004 - Tapered Jeans Are Coming Back
Well, I'm still not done being sick. I knew it the second I woke up and that's not too great a feeling--knowing that you're not going to feel so hot the rest of the day. Anyway, Chris came over around noon and he and I got to work on making his drosophila gene map chart. Jamie made a pizza for lunch while we did it and unlike some of her past "culinary abortions" this was pretty darn tasty. We then drove around to look at some apartments and the one that was $400/mo is definitely out. What it had going for it was the fact it was $400/mo and the excitement of knowing that the filmed Deliverance there. What was working against it is that the characters from the movie would be my neighbors. I took a nap after we got back and then called Liz about getting into Opperman about doing a recording with all the best equipment. Much to my initial surprise, she agreed readily and I then set to work about assembling the Mas N' Steel All-Stars. Unfortunately David Knapp was still in NY and Ryan was going to Texas with Missy, leaving me to play drum set. Jamie got another rape call and had to miss dinner with the rest of us at Fatty's. After dinner Matt Flynn came over to pick up the music for tomorrow and then Jamie and I watched Caddyshack. Well, *I* watched Caddyshack while she slept off and on.
My question of the day is: When are tapered jeans going to come back in style? Man, I can't wait. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Sunday: July 18, 2004 - King Crab
Ah, the king crab. The reason I am awake now instead of in bed, ridding myself of the sick-sicks. I blame the Discovery Channel and their in-depth coverage of King Crab fishing in Alaska. What a great little program. My day started freaking great. The novelty of having my music played has not complete worn off yet, as I realized during out 2.5 hour rehearsal. I was simply amazed how quickly things came together and I'm feeling really good about recording later this week. My favorite is still Car Wreck but Modest Funk Bus Line might be able to over-take it. This afternoon I napped while the Cubs lost and woke up in time to make Jamie and myself some potato soup for dinner. After we ate, we settled into some Texas Hold 'Em online where I managed to lose a couple hundred Yahoo dollars. If you have any interest in playing with us online lemme know--Jamie wants your money.
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Monday: July 19, 2004 - Secret Messages
Although I feel much better today, I still have the cough made popular in the late 1960's arcade craze of Hac-Man and, the much-anticipated sequel, Ms. Hac-Man. Jamie and I each found a ton of places to live today and tomorrow I'm going to go see one that's a whopping $650/mo. This seems like a lot to me, but that's about what I pay here, even though the new one has got to be bigger. If nothing else, it's in a really safe neighborhood and hopefully the quiet will be deafening. The worst news of the day was how close I was to seeing KISS. I was the 2nd caller to Gulf 104 to answer a trivia question. Somehow the person before me got it right and I got nothing. I was SO close! I can't believe the first caller knew the answer. I can't believe it. No one has more useless rock trivia locked away than me. Even that loser from Beat The Geeks (on Comedy Central for about two days) couldn't hold a candle to me. Argh, I was so pissed. I spent the afternoon locked away in Finale making new parts. I am really getting sick of that program. Sibelius is even worse--I shouldn't say Finale is bad because it does a lot of really good things. But now that I know all the basics (save Speedy Entry [Damn you speedy entry!]) and need it to do more complex things it's really not being very pleasant. Jamie took me out to Ruby Tuesday's and Chris came along for our good company. Not that I was particularly good company tonight. Tomorrow's entry will be the lies FSU has told me starting with November 2000 and will continue up to yesterday. Anyway, I shouldn't have been surprised that the things they told me were different than how things really are and now I'm just pissed all over again. Every time something like this happens with the steel band I tell myself, "This is it. I'm severing my ties" but then I don't. Why don't I? Because I like the people. Most of my closest friends I met in the band and I really enjoy them for both their musical abilities and friendships. I have a hard time keeping the two straight, which always gets me back into the fray when I need to just step out. This, of course, leads to a new series of problems because my doing so effects more than just me. The sad part for me is that I know I'm fighting a losing battle. No one other than me gives a damn about my principles, especially FSU and, in all fairness to them, they shouldn't. I think I overestimate my own value in this regard but without any sort of back-up plan all I can do is just sit around being mad. I should have expected them to be as two-faced and not allowed myself to get as involved as I did. It was dumb and I see that now. Below is a summery of the World Music Dept.
D.O.: I have no idea what's going on. I'm completely out of it so I'll just make things up to end a conversation peacefully then dump it off on K-P.
K-P: D.O. has no idea what's going on. I'm completely with it so I'll rectify everything by being honest and then never mention anything to D.O. so he can spew his moronic ideas so I can fix them again later. We're both tenured so really, we never have to speak to each other. I'm too nice to crush anyone personally but I'll leave things completely open-ended and then never get back to you so you're not mad at me.
M.B.: I'm staying out of everything. And that's too bad because I'm the only one that can say things to your face that you might not want to hear. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Tuesday: July 20, 2004 - Google Reindexing
I went to view the possible apartment tonight. It was perfect except the walls were a neon green. Well, not just walls. Everything in the living room...doorbell, radiator, A/C unit, everything was painted this horrible bright lime green. The landlord said he'd paint it unless I liked it and I certainly do not. The bedroom was pained a more pleasant red. The kitchen was huge and for only $25 more a month than I pay here it seems really great. Hardwood floors, the whole shebang. After the viewing I dropped off parts to everyone for tomorrow. This afternoon I cleaned out most of my bedroom while watching Chompy and The Ab.
Yesterday Google re-found my page and the clever searches are starting all over again. Thanks! You will have to wait for my FSU-Lies section because I am freaking tired. [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Wednesday: July 21, 2004 - Steel Drum Drama
I can't remember the last time I was in such a good mood. It's been probably six months or more. I still don't have a job nor a place to live but I had the best time in rehearsal tonight. Those guys really cheered me up. I was totally prepared to pick things apart and make them play 2-beat segments but no. Everyone was so prepared that we actually were able to make music, something I haven't been able to do in forever (forever ever?). I dropped off the music to the new drum set player, Dan (one of Matt's high school students) this afternoon and to be honest, I was scared. This 17 year old shows up tonight and plays the hell out of everything! More importantly I finally got to get away from the kit and hear Chris' beautiful melodic playing and Michael's ball-busting runs. Man, it was great. I'm feeling better than ever about tomorrow's recording session. In a little sadder news, Matt was fired as the Leon High School director to give way for their former director, David. Apparently David knew about Matt's desire to keep going and still strong armed his way in. That's foul. Real foul. I was under the impression they had asked David but apparently he was the aggressor despite his conversation with Matt. What's even worse is that Leon strung Matt along AND never even told him in person--he got a poorly worded email this evening. Regardless of David's experience, Matt loves those kids and they love him. On a more selfish note, I know Matt would have been more receptive to doing more my pieces. Anyway, if you see Matt offer your condolences.
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Thursday: July 22, 2004 - Steel Drum Recordings
After all my hard work in Photoshop you can't even tell it says MAGMA on that microphone. Oh well. The bad news of the day was that my lime-green apartment is gone. I found another townhouse sort of deal over by C&M's which I might just take. It has a teeny-teeny yard for Chompy (it's about four Chompies set send to end in each direction) but at least it's fenced in. The big news of the day was recording my stuff. Chris and I snagged some coffee on the way and brought some stuff down while we waited for the ever-late Liz. It took her about 45 minutes to set all of the individual mics up but in the end everything worked. On the whole things went really smoothly and there were only a couple major blowouts that had to be rerecorded at the end. Tomorrow I have the enviable task of going through to splice things together and other editing tasks so that I can send these out on Monday. Hopefully this weekend I'll be moving so I can mooch the resources of my friends yet again. Once I disconnect my cable modem from the router I'll put some samples and link them from the Mas N' Steel site but at nearly 40MB right now, that's a little too much. My least favorite piece going into the recording, Stinger, turned out to be the best one we recorded. Our 17-year old drummer got a little excited at the end and brought the volume a little past where I would have liked but it's nothing the magic of technology can't fix. After recording, Jara, Jamie, Matt and I hit Applebee's where we received the worst service I've had in Tallahassee. Apparently out waitress had a "bad toothache" but she kept switching which side hurt so I don't believe it. Well, it's 3:03am and it's time for bed.
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Friday: July 23, 2004 - Lake Ella Apartment
I was able to get one of the big things checked off my list. New apartment: check. It was such a big thing, I decided to use a bigger picture today. I know, yesterday I used a big one too, but yesterday's was only two normal sizes stacked on top of each other. Today's though, oh yes, is a whopping 4x the normal size. Aside from leaving my pictures of Chompy on my new landlord's desk on accident things went smoothly. I showed Chris, Jamie and Mike the new place and then Jamie and I set out to Scales and Tails for dinner with Jamie's parents. Between being reminded of my impending baldness and the half-spiced chicken, things could have been better, but it could have been a lot worse. At least I had a fish tank to look at. After dinner the troops were rallied and we made the first set of trips over to the new place. Even though we filled up a couple cars it looks like nothing at all has been moved. Tomorrow will be a bigger day, with some of the larger items being transported across town, hopefully with the aid of Matt Flynn.
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Saturday: July 24, 2004 - 100 Most Metal Moments
What the hell is wrong with my ears? Yes, they're full of fluid but why can't it just go away? Of course the only place open today didn't accept my insurance so I have to keep sucking it up until tomorrow. Aside from getting disoriented easily, not hearing the same volume in each ear really screws you up. For me it causes a headache as well. I tried taking some Sudafed to break up any congestion but that did nothing. It's especially horrible when I'm trying to eat. I hear every chew and every swallow reverberate through my skull and that really sucks. Matt came over in the afternoon and he and moved another Suburu-load over. After he went home I packed more stuff up. Everyone else came back at 7pm but due to the weather we had to put our plans on hold. We all watched VH1's 100 Most Metal Moments while eating pizza. The Tallahassee Caribbean festival is coming up soon. I'm going to email the director and see if we can play on the stage for an hour or two in the hopes that gigs will spring forth, like the pus from my ears.
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Sunday: July 25, 2004 - Fortis vs. Ear Infection
I battled my ear problems all day again today. Apparently Fortis is only accepted in Reno, Nevada and somewhere near Noneck, West Virginia. Well, I am writing this a day late, so I guess I should accommodate for that--and I will, starting...now. Yesterday afternoon Jamie and I drove to some Goodwills in the hope of finding some tall bookshelves or a stereo cabinet. In a perfect world two stereo cabinets. One for my stereo goodies, another for my video games. Alas, we only found one and it was $50. Not having $50, I didn't really have a choice but to pass. Around 6pm the Less N' Steel Moving Company arrived and we started clearing out the living room. Now that most of the big furniture is gone, I feel like we've accomplished a lot and it will feel even better once the kitchen isn't such a hell hole. The best idea of the entire night was having Chris make dinner while the rest of us took another load over. Walking into my new apartment and smelling the food was like when I was a little kid and we'd go over to my grandma's house. It always smelled clean and there was always something delicious in the process of being made. Last night's feast was Chicken Marcela and it was made just the way I like it--not swimming in goo. Once everyone left Jamie was getting ready to leave when we noticed something: the front door couldn't lock. The key just turned and turned. I decided that I was going to stay there for the night. For all of the things that went wrong, at least it was quiet there. Nice and quiet. The dogs weren't particularly tired and they were more than a little freaked out so they took to pacing. Figuring they might need to go out, I brought them to the little fenced area but when we came in the back door didn't lock. By this point I was pretty pissed. I made a list of all of the things wrong with every room and finally dragged the futon cushion up the stairs into the bedroom so Chompy wouldn't get all crazy after each noise. So I'm finally ready to fall asleep at about 3:30am when...it's the trashman, collecting the garbage from the dumpster. Why the HELL do they collect the garbage in this city between midnight at 4am. I mean seriously, how ridiculous is this?
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Monday: July 26, 2004 - Moving to Lake Ella
Ok, yesterday's entry is proofread. I'm sure you are pleased. Since yesterday's journal left off around 10am this morning, here's the rest of my day. 7am: I woke up, grabbed The Chomp and left for home. Once here I called my landlord, who assured me that my locks would be fixed asap. I then spent some time finding a doctor to check out my ears. They're not any worse, but they're not any better either. Between 8:30-noon I mastered the CD from our recording session. I got a lot of the echo of the room out and I have to say that I'm really proud of some of my edits. Not that I could splice anything together, since we only had one take per song, but I was able to normalize sections where one note was really loud in a line, which happens a lot on pan. It still sounds like it was recorded at a concert but since it was recorded in a concert hall, that's fine. I was hoping OTTO would be up so I could put the songs online for your listening enjoyment, but it's down again. Stupid OTTO. Anyway, Matt came over at noon and he and packed some more stuff and headed over to the apartment. Upon our arrival to the new apartment we discovered there was no power. He dropped me off at City Hall and I changed my utilities over with an overlap until Friday. I came back home and packed some more things but then fell asleep until Jamie came over for dinner around 8. Tomorrow I'm getting the truck and moving the last of my crap out of here except this computer (since my cable doesn't get transferred over until the first week out of August). Ta-ta!
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Tuesday: July 27, 2004 - Moving with Fish
Today is a black day. Jamie and I moved the tropical tank tonight and over half the fish died en route. Among the dead: my last neon tetra, two pink tetras, three black-tipped tetras and four red-eyed tetras. The only ones to survive were the big ones: (most importantly) Dr. Suck (the pleco), David and Goliath (pearl gouramis), two unnamed black and white gouramis and one black tetra (the last of the original fish). A moment of silence for the deceased.
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Wednesday: July 28, 2004 - Moving with Fish II
Moving. See you on Tuesday with more excellent commentary.
Upon visiting my new house, I discovered only three fish survived the night: the two black and white gouramis and Dr. Suck. :( [Comments: 0]· permalink ·
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Good Things Take Time...
-6 days until FSU Football (2010)
Random Picture...
It absolutely poured when we got to Miami. We had to pull over and sit around for a half-hour before I felt safe driving on the highway again.
It absolutely poured when we got to Miami. We had to pull over and sit around for a half-hour before I felt safe driving on the highway again.
Time Machine:
09-10-2009
· 09-10-2008
· 09-10-2007
· 09-10-2006
I took the day off blogging but only because I was thinking of you.09-10-2008: It seems like just yesterday I was dreaming about Dr. Spencer and the Corkasaurus. Turns out it's been a whole year. Last night I was talking to Chris Green and he's going to do a guest entry next week to catch everyone up on his life so get ready! Later in the evening I was thinking to myself that it would nice if a bunch of people would write "catch-up" entries so that we could find out all of the exciting things that have been happening since we interacted on a daily basis. Even the people that I've seen/talked to somewhat regularly, I don't really know the full-blown details of what's going on with their lives. Here's where you come in--you too can write an entry to catch everyone up. Send me an email and I'll give you a date from which to start. Then you can post on here in the next few days/weeks. Just think--between 150 and 200 people reading all about your interesting life! And to think I get to live that each and every day.
09-10-2007: Apparently Britney is back after performing at the MTV Music Awards over the weekend. Everyone railed against her out of shape body and poor performance. While I won't comment on performance (I didn't see it, although I'm sure it was a abysmal), she just had two kids. She's not a miracle worker, she can only look so good.
In sadder news, it looks like my mentally-vacating grandmother is headed for an assisted living facility. That sounds really cold but for the past year my dad has dutifully driven over there to attend to her every day and took a sabbatical from work the past six months and she apparently can't even remember that he visits at all. There's been some speculation that since she's lived alone for so long her memory deteriorated into nothing because she never really had to use it; she's at the point now where she can easily ask you the same question six times in ten minutes. It's really sad. I really don't envy the decision my parents have to make at all.09-10-2006: Chompy, what's this? jamie and I scored some tickets from her sister's husband's parents for the Troy game so naturally we went. The game even more horrible in person than it could have been on TV. FSU couldn't hold onto the football to save their lives. De'Cody Fagg was the only trustworthy receiver and there were no, and I mean no, trustworthy rushers. I wish I knew what went on in Lorenzo Booker's head. I bet it's something like, "'Lo, listen" (it should be pointed out that Lorenzo sounds strikingly similar to Alex) "don't dance this time. Just run straight ahead." Then he gets the ball and his feet take over. "Damn it, feet. Stop doing this, we've been over this a zillion times!" And that goes on like that every play.
Their damn band would not shut up. They played under our band the whole time since of course the eight members of the TSU band could not be heard over the Marching Dorks. They played when we had the ball...or Troy had the ball...or there was a timeout. However, the largest trigger to their playing was...our band playing. Which was funny because there were so few of them that you only realized this after FSU's song stopped and the Troy band kept going. Anyway it was horrible. Next week is Clemson and I'm going back solely to beat the shit out of their fan who kept tapping my head last time. I know Jamie doesn't believe it but after eight months of fighting at least twice a week I'm feeling pretty confident I could kick some frat-ass.
In sadder news, it looks like my mentally-vacating grandmother is headed for an assisted living facility. That sounds really cold but for the past year my dad has dutifully driven over there to attend to her every day and took a sabbatical from work the past six months and she apparently can't even remember that he visits at all. There's been some speculation that since she's lived alone for so long her memory deteriorated into nothing because she never really had to use it; she's at the point now where she can easily ask you the same question six times in ten minutes. It's really sad. I really don't envy the decision my parents have to make at all.09-10-2006: Chompy, what's this? jamie and I scored some tickets from her sister's husband's parents for the Troy game so naturally we went. The game even more horrible in person than it could have been on TV. FSU couldn't hold onto the football to save their lives. De'Cody Fagg was the only trustworthy receiver and there were no, and I mean no, trustworthy rushers. I wish I knew what went on in Lorenzo Booker's head. I bet it's something like, "'Lo, listen" (it should be pointed out that Lorenzo sounds strikingly similar to Alex) "don't dance this time. Just run straight ahead." Then he gets the ball and his feet take over. "Damn it, feet. Stop doing this, we've been over this a zillion times!" And that goes on like that every play.
Their damn band would not shut up. They played under our band the whole time since of course the eight members of the TSU band could not be heard over the Marching Dorks. They played when we had the ball...or Troy had the ball...or there was a timeout. However, the largest trigger to their playing was...our band playing. Which was funny because there were so few of them that you only realized this after FSU's song stopped and the Troy band kept going. Anyway it was horrible. Next week is Clemson and I'm going back solely to beat the shit out of their fan who kept tapping my head last time. I know Jamie doesn't believe it but after eight months of fighting at least twice a week I'm feeling pretty confident I could kick some frat-ass.