Phil is Thankful For You. Yes, You.

Hello, hello to all my readers out there. Both of you. Or the one of you that probably stuck around after my absence. Anyhow, today was pretty cool. They FINALLY let us get our hands on Pro-Tools. The lab work sucked, but it was nice to just sit down in front of the software that is likely going to dominate the next several-dozen years of my life. It really is a pretty good program, but it's ugly as sin and hurts the eyes. You'd think that their team of engineers would have done something about that by now. Oh well. I have to learn every nook and cranny of that SOB for certification, which is later this month. A few weeks ago at the panel discussion I mentioned in a previous post, Bruce Swedien made a joke about getting his dog a Pro-Tools certification. I seriously can't let the dog beat me to it.

On an unrelated note, Thanksgiving was fun. Played a LOT of Rock Band with some old coworkers from GoDaddy and got a better feel for playing the drums in the game. It's hard, to say the least. Even more so after a few beers. Also, my host was going through the world's most ridiculous diet, so eating big meals in front of him was amusing.

Also, I am never cooking again. I managed to ruin noodles. NOODLES! Seriously, I retire from food.

More later, I'm busy ripping some new CDs.

Happy Thanksgiving, You Damn Heathens

Well folks, just wanted to let you know we'll be on a temporary hiatus while I'm in Arizona. Apparently there's a "no blogging" policy at the house I'm staying in, or something like that. At any rate, I expect to be far too inebriated to write anything worth reading if I DO manage to sneak a few minutes online. So have a great holiday, and I'll be back on Monday!

Bonus Post: Victory Dance!

I am #1 in the world!!!


(until tomorrow morning, probably)

That's two lab practicals aced, one to go. Also, one lecture exam down and one more tomorrow. Then it's peace, I'm out to Arizona!

I picked up Rock Band tonight and it's pretty awesome. At the very least the track least kicks Guitar Hero 3's ass up and down, and the promise of being able to play a toy drum set is like liquid crack in a syringe made of candy. Or something just as nonsensically awesome.

That's all you get tonight. I'm exhausted from plastic toy guitars. Peace!

Damn You, Army of Lawyers

Well, my friend Johnny played another gig tonight. Which I slept through. Go me, passing out at 7:30 pm! And staying up extremely late as a result! I'm the man!

This just happened, also. A rant detailing his experience with trying to cancel a week-old online subscription to a broken video game. I did a little digging up the on the Terms of Service and realized that I should probably read those things that I just check OK on all the time. Seriously, the consumer is totally screwed. See my forum post in response to the article(under the clever handle Phildo) for some examples of how the contract screws you.


After writing that last paragraph, I took some time to look up some contracts that I've signed myself for online service and the like. They're all equally ironclad as far as customer satisfaction goes. "Not happy with our service? Quit. We already go your money, haha!" Needless to say, I don't think I'll be signing any more of those.

Now I'm going to go to sleep angry. Thanks a lot, army of lawyers!

Do Sheep Dream of Wooly Robots?

Every week or so I have to go through the harrowing ordeal that is the call to my grandmother. Oh sure, it starts out nice enough with something like "did you get the money I sent" or "I'm glad to hear you're doing well in school." But invariably it degenerates to (at least) ten minutes of lecture on how I could improve my life. For those of you that know the woman, you're aware of what she's like and for the rest of you I'll mercifully spare the details. But, really, I had to go through it tonight and so I felt like mentioning something.

I got to spend some more quality time with those games I bought the other day. They're growing on me, but I'm waiting for the "wow" moment. Apparently, I impulse-bought the wrong ones. So I spent more time playing vintage games and talking to people online than I did playing the expensive new ones. Par for the course with me. Buy expensive toy, play for a few hours, forget all about it in favor of some old game I beat 10-15 years ago.

Really though, I just want to get my tests over with and ship out to Arizona. I have my first lab practical tomorrow on the SSL 9000J. Beast of a console, one of the major industry standards. And also completely ass-backwards signal flow compared to everything else we're working on. At least it's out of the way first.

No YouTube link today, I'm feeling lazy. Instead, I'll leave you with some practical advice. Don't forget to bus your effects returns to the stereo mix.

Poooooost

Hi again, everybody! School's been treating us to some excellent guest-speakers lately. Today we got to talk to 83 year-old jazz legend Sam Rivers. Sam has played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock. The dude is cool, and he can still wail. He played last night with his big band, but I'm sad to say I missed the performance. Well, there's always next month.

I bought some new games today on impulse. I need to stop doing that. Seriously. Assassin's Creed is as disappointing as I was afraid it was going to be. At least Conan is fun, sorta. Like God of War with, um, Conan.

Here's a video for you, in lieu of original content.



Also, while I was writing this, I was having an IM conversation with some girl that found me on an online dating site. Our conversation was going well until I asked her what sort of books she reads. She responded with 'Oh, I don't." I was a little shocked, but I simply responded with "Oh, that's a shame." Her reply? "I don't think we should talk." I got dissed by a girl because I asked her what kind of books she reads. What. The. Hell. Ponder that for a while.

The Triumphant Return Of Phiiiiiiiiiiiil

I'm back. It's been a really busy week or so since my last post, so I suppose I have a lot to write about. We'll see how that works out.

First, today was pretty awesome. Bruce Swedien, that's this guy, came by school as part of a panel discussion. The guy is a legend. And he also looks a tiny bit like Wilford Brimley. Anyway, the panel bounced around to all sorts of topics, such as the BS that interns have to put up with and whether or not Jennifer Lopez is pleasant to work with. Swedien claims that she's a hard worker with a positive attitude, checks her diva at the door so to speak. So it goes from God to Bruce to Full Sail. One of the other panelists even tried to antagonize Swedien about J. Lo's use of auto-tune on her albums, but he didn't take the bait, so we may never know for sure how much of her singing is "fixed".

Second point of interest: went to a friend's gig and the subsequent after-party on Saturday. There were ladies there. I don't remember how to act around them anymore. I suspect there was the potential for sex, if only I weren't so completely off my game. Or so good at making excuses for myself. But really though, the party was good times and the act is playing again this Saturday. For those of you in the Orlando area, let's make a point of being there. Again: ladies.

Recently South Park did an episode about Guitar Hero. The episode itself was awesome, but the highlight for me on a personal level was that in the video game store they had copies of Okami on the shelf. Dozens of them. Okami is currently on my list of best games ever made, and it was greatly underappreciated. Much like Psychonauts (see video here for better explanation.) Also, real guitar is for old people.



Anyhow, I had more to write, but I've since become distracted by Team Fortress, the internet and Lego Star Wars. Tune in tomorrow for more bloggy goodness.

Probably.

You Don't Deserve An Update. Here You Go

Another day, another 9 am wake-up call from the maintenance department. They tell me that they're done now, I'll believe it when I see it. I'm really, really tired and don't give a damn right now about grammar.

Had another test today, probably got a B on it. I tried to study from the book, but the thing reads like a god damn technical manual for THREE mixing consoles. That's a lot of technical shit to absorb for 50 questions, so I gave up on studying and took a nap.

That's all that happened today. Well, aside from an interesting conversation with an online buddy of mine who claims he used to be a grifter. Taking advantage of chumps seems like a fine way to spend your life. I ought to give it a shot, move out west and become his new partner. We'd be rich.

That is all.

Phil's Back, And You're Gonna Be In Trouble

Well, I bet you're wondering where I went since my last post. The short answer is that I've had class every single day since then, and don't have a day off until Sunday. That's not so bad, since the classes are alright, but I did have a test today, and have another one tomorrow. Also, the workmen from the complex have woken me up several times around 9 am for noisy installations.

More to the point, I also got particularly drunk on Saturday night and played a ton of Guitar Hero. My forearms are still kind of achy from this. However, I've noticed some definite improvement in my game. I think I'm almost ready to take it online.

Starting yesterday, some of the guys from F13 talked me into joining a fantasy stock market thing. It seems like most of them are getting into day-trading. They'll all wind up fantasy bankrupt in a few weeks. I put my fantasy money into stable, long-term investments (financial, tech, medical). I will be victorious. Any hot tips would be appreciated, of course.

That is all for now. I'm off to play old-timey video games until I go blind.

Yesterday's Post Was Awful

Need to stop using the computer drunk. It's worse than calling people, because they KNOW you're being a drunken idiot. If you manage to send out a coherent e-mail, the other person might have no idea that you're being a drunken buffoon. And yeah, I'm pretty sure I sent out a bunch of e-mails. I'm afraid to check my sent folders.

Anyhow, I promised an update on why I'm pissed with the apartment, so here goes. A) About once a week, a dump truck pulls up outside my window and either makes the backing-up beep for a good five minutes, or at least revs its engine very loudly. B) I've been given notice that at any point between yesterday and the 7th at roughly 9 am, workers will show up to insert fire paneling into my closet, which had to be emptied, so now there are boxes all over my apartment that had been tucked away neatly. C) One of my neighbors was violently mugged in a parking lot a few weeks ago, and I heard that in the same week two other people were also robbed here. D) About two months ago, I witnessed a drug bust. Not a big deal, but it's uncomfortable knowing that there are the bad kind of dealer here.

There are some other little things too, but those are the major points currently. So to take my mind off it, I've been having a LOT of awesome time. I have class seven days this week, but only one of them was an 8-hour session. The other 6 are 4-hour classes or labs and, to be honest, the lectures this month are pretty awesome. The first class is Recording & Mixing Consoles, where we learn about (and get to play with) large-format, multi-million-dollar recording consoles. The second class is music history, and the instructor really knows his stuff. It's great to have TWO stimulating classes to look forward to. And the homework is kept to a minimum, which is awesome.

I'm going to Arizona to visit with the Phoenix crew in a few weeks, and I'm pretty stoked for that. Can't wait to get out of dodge for a few days and just relax.

For the interested, last night while drinking a friend showed up and I made him watch Better Off Dead and Real Genius which, for those of you that are in the know, is something of a religious experience. I think I got him too drunk for it. We also drank all my orange juice, but I still have tons of vodka left. Gonna be an awesome weekend!

Well, that about does it for today. In closing, I'll leave you with a video that I think is funny. Here you go.

Phil is ridiculously wasted

Phil got really drunk to celebrate Halloween. As a blessing, it's the first time in pretty much his entire life that a bunch of children haven't been knocking down his door to get at his candy. Hooray for that. And hooray for the fact that he's writing this while totally intoxicated. He's like the Hunter S. Thompson... okay, forget about that, it was a silly idea. At any rate, better update tomrrow.

Phil's Triumphant Return

Okay, let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. I got a B in what is most likely the easiest class I've ever taken. They spoon-fed us the exact questions that would be on the test and I decided not to study for one of the exams, which somehow knocked my GPA down to a 92% for the class. And I even managed to get 100% attendance. Damn.

So the visit from my mom and step-dad went pretty well. They took me to some excellent restaurants and plied me with alcohol, presumably in an attempt to get me to admit to some wrongdoing. Of course, I'm able to justify any and all wrongdoings, so my conscience felt no need to confess to any sins at the time. So instead, they took me to the Kennedy Space Center and we learned all about... space, and stuff. The neat thing is that got to watch them putting together the actual International Space Station. They have a whole bunch of pieces in a big room and they let tourists watch from an observation desk as they poke and prod and generally stand around looking sciency.

I also picked up Guitar Hero 3 over the weekend. It's pretty cool, although I'm not digging the track list all that much. Rock Band looks to be the better game so far, although I may find I'm totally wrong once I play it. At any rate, I hooked up with an old buddy from Maryland to play a few rounds online and beat the crap out of him, which was rewarding. I've also been getting significantly better at Team Fortress.

My apartment complex has been really pissing me off lately, but I'll save that for another entry. There's a lot to write about.

Also, I've been talking to some girls online at okcupid.com. One of them actually goes to the school, and I just learned today that another is from Pittsburgh and currently living in Tampa. Most likely, nothing will come from this, but a guy's got to have dreams, right?

Anyway, since my apartment complex has decided to send workmen over at 9 am some day this week to do some stuff in my closet, I need to get some sleep. Godspeed to you all.




Damn, that sounds stupid.

A Short Hiatus

Just wanted to leave you guys a courtesy post. I won't be updating again for a few days owing to it being the last day of class and having a ton of exams in the upcoming three days, followed by a visit from my mom. So I shall return to you on Monday, or thereabouts. Peace.

The Microphone Man

As I mentioned yesterday, I went shopping. This is great, except that I bought a ton of diet soda and have been drinking it continuously for two days. So I haven't been able to fall asleep particularly well. This led to me sleeping in today and missing two hours of lecture, which turned out to be a relatively interesting guest speaker. Guy works for a microphone manufacturer and he came in to both pimp their products and discuss the finer points of micing. Which is the first time anyone's spoken to us for more than a few passing seconds about micing.

This is possibly the largest flaw of the school. They're going to try to cram everything about recording and mixing technique into the second half of the year, and that's just way too much information to absorb in such a short span of time. One of our teachers was even pretty shocked to realize that they hadn't broached the subject of micing yet, and that should tell you something.

Another side effect of the massive amounts of soda is that I'm playing a LOT of team fortress, and I'm getting better at it. Well, marginally better anyway. Top four or five on my team most rounds. I'll get there eventually.

That said, I'm going to play a little bit more then get some sleep. Peace, I'm out!

Phil Is Preposterously Bad At Fantasy Football

I went shopping today. It was really awkward, having to restock my entire house. You see, my mom is coming to visit next weekend and she can't see the general disarray that has been my life for the past 4 or 5 months. So I have to make things nice and pretty for her, which means cleaning everything and restocking the fridge with something besides beer. Buy hey, I actually accomplished something positive today, so good for me.

Not that anyone cares, but I played some Team Fortress today after taking a hiatus in favor of new games and being social. And I totally kicked ass. I'm so used to playing on the f13 server that playing against regular people is like an NFLer going back to the NCAA for a weekend. Heh, sports reference. Must be fantasy season.

Speaking of fantasy, my football teams continue to get stomped. I should have learned my lesson last year. I'm totally out of my element here.

This week is going to suck. I have the family visit to look forward to, but first I have to run a gauntlet of exams and lab practicals that is going to absolutely kick my ass. Of course, for all my previous grousing, I still managed to do pretty good in my audiotronics exam (94). We'll see how the others go, but an A is still manageable at this point. Hooray!

Beer & Updating

So first off, I want to apologize for missing the update yesterday. I ended up being pretty drunk by the time I was able to get alone with a computer. Tonight I'm drunk as well, but less so, and I feel like I owe it to both you and myself to update. Even if it's confused and ambling.

I've been doing a decent job of getting my social life back on track. About a month ago I decided I was tired of foregoing a good time in exchange for grades, since the grades are easy enough to come by and I've been sort of wasting my time anyway. So pretty much every weekend since I made that decision has been spent in the loving arms of some kind of bottle. Good times. Except that the only girls I've seen have been 18... or younger. It's frightening to be at a party and a cute girl shows up, but... she's 17. That is NOT cool.

I've also been playing some new games. Beautiful Katamari for the 360 is alright, but it's way too hard for a katamari game. I liked them being casual but easy. Now it's just freaking hard. Also picked up Folklore on the PS3 which is pretty much some people running around mythical Ireland fighting faeries with really pretty graphics. Great game.

Um, at the moment it would appear that I'm still drunk and have run out of things to say. I will probably have good stuff tomorrow evening. Until then, courage.

Facebook Becomes Myspace, Oh Noes

Admit it, you didn't really think I'd be able to update this regularly! Dammit, neither did I. I'm super impressed with myself. I think tomorrow I'm going to go out and buy myself one of those packs of stickers that elementary teachers give to their students to convince them that they're not just like everybody else and most likely doomed to obscurity. Like "Super!" or some such nonsense.

Well, I would have written this earlier except that a buddy came over to do some school work which ended up taking several hours. And also, I had to play some new games. Yeah, awesome time is more important than blogging I'm sorry.

Has anyone else noticed how Facebook is starting to look more and more like Myspace with all the applications being added? Profiles are starting to look like garbage. Well, not starting. People's profiles on Facebook now officially look really, really ugly. I wonder if there's a fresh, new alternative networking site out there? That's your hint to find me one. We'll make it huge, and it'll all start right here. Grass roots, baby!

In keeping with my recent tradition of reading classic books that I missed in my younger days, I've started reading Heinlein's Stranger In A Strange Land. This book was one of my dad's all-time favorites, and I'm shocked that I hadn't read it before. I'm a weirdo. Anyway, it's starting out really, really well. Hopefully it'll keep me going as well/better than Starship Troopers did, since I loved his writing in that as well. Any recommendations of great books you're sure I haven't read yet? Lemme know!

Zinn & Chomsky At The Movies

Starting next month, I'm DEFINITELY going to start studying more. I mean, I'm still going to get B's in the class, but I should be getting straight A's and no I'm not being arrogant. This stuff is just really easy if you pay attention. Also, no more emulators in class. It'll be worse than quitting smoking, but I can totally do it.

I cannot believe that the Penguins let the Devils score 5 goals tonight. I wish I could've actually watched the game to see how it happened. Seriously, where did the Devils get offense from? And where the hell has Crosby been? He's not even in the top 25 for scoring right now. I know, I know, it's early on, but I'm seriously frustrated.

This is for the intellectual among you. Someone wrote fake commentary on the Fellowship of the Ring from the point of view of Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Thanks to F13 for finding it for me. Read it here. It's awesome. Seriously.

Also, because I'm bored, I present the Angry Nintendo Nerd's review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES. Mostly because I know some of you have never seen it

Phi Writes About His Day. Also, Lo Pan.

There goes my 100% for sure. I completely forgot to study one of the chapters for the test and, although I was able to guess pretty successfully, I doubt I nailed them all. The uber-dork in me is horrified by this, but at the same time I figure what the hell. My grades will still be better than 95% of the class anyway.

I made one of my buddies watch The Big Lebowski for the first time. We just got done with it. I'm a little surprised by how much that movie has worn itself out over the years. Probably for it's being one of the most commonly quoted movies after Napoleon Dynamite and Austin Powers. But it's still disappointing that a movie I used to love so much now only receives a tepid reaction. At least Big Trouble In Little China is still awesome.

Speaking of BTILC, or whatever the film geeks call it, I went to a Thai restaurant the other night and they had Lo Pan's autograph. It was pretty much the second coolest celebrity autograph sighting I've ever had after seeing Dave Chappelle's in a Curry In A Hurry back in Salt Like City.

In further-segued news, I had some sushi tonight. It was delicious. Also, I read the first compilation of Garth Ennis' new comic The Boys, which pretty much kicks ass. For those of you who are comic fans, it's pretty much the best new comic I've read in years. Or at least the best, newest comic that I've read since I've been here. It utterly wipes the floor with Walking Dead.

Apologies for the general lack of inspirata lately. I know I made some pretty bold promises when I started this but, lets face it, you can't be awesome all the time. Only your time can be awesome. And that you can quote.

The Post That Phil Almost Forgot About

Today was a pretty awful day on a personal level. I woke up feeling exhausted and facing an 8-hour school day at the beginning of the week. An awful start, that got me dwelling on some unpleasant memories. In fact, I spent the first several hours wallowing in self-pity until I convinced myself to cut out of school and have some me-time.

The rest of the day was devoted to kicking ass online. Of course, I'm still pretty sucky at Team Fortress, but at least it's fun. I also managed to make it a good ways through Half Life 2, which I figure is something I should have done at least 2 years ago. Oh well.

I also spent some time devouring Chinese food and watching Infernal Affairs. That's the movie that The Departed was based on, and if you can stand subtitles it's an excellent film. Hell, the fact that Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio signed on to play the leads on a remake of a foreign film should tell you something about how much money their agents thought they could make. Har har.

So after telling myself yet again that I would go to sleep early, here I am writing at 2 am and nursing a Pepsi. I need to work on my schedule a lot. Oh well, there's always tomorrow except that I have a test at 1 and two tests the following day. So I better get some sleep so's I'm able to do my best and get a 100%! Go, academics, go!

Phil's Bender Is Over

Well it's been a rewarding weekend for me. Friday night, as you probably noticed, I had some friends over and we tossed a few cold ones back. We also made an attempt at watching Planet Earth which, while totally engrossing, is not the most social of activities. Anyhow, repeat performance last night at another friend's place. But it gets interesting at the point where we go to the Waffle House at 4 am.

Unusual, even for late-night diner runs, was a little bit of Rocky Horror runoff. The cast of crazies included an attractive lesbian couple playing tonsil hockey in a corner booth, and a group of large women with colorful feather boas and a similarly large man in drag. My friends who endured this with me were not all enlightened to Rocky's message, and so were made rather put off by the company, so it made for some pretty funny dinner conversation.

The quote of the evening, though, belongs to my friend Johnny who said "why am I tuning a guitar? I could be tuning a vodka bottle." He then proceeded to take his vodka straight from the bottle, and without flinching. Tough bastard, that Johnny.

In other news, I took the recommendation of a local comic shop owner and picked up the new Howard the Duck book. Pretty funny stuff, in a twisted sort of way. I can't really describe it, except to say that it parodies some other popular comics and is loaded up with social commentary.

That being said, it's late and I've gotten little to no sleep this weekend. So I'm going to do that now. Good bye.

Bud Ice Extravaganza

So yesterday they finally sat us down in front of analog tape machines. That was an interesting experience. I think I'm going to be glad to work in digital studios, never mind the tedium of having to recalibrate the tape every single time you step into the studio. Ich.

Also, I'm a little drunk right now. Found a gas station that sells Bud Ice, so I'm having a nostalgic drunk right now. Takin' it back to the old school, 2002 up in here! Represent!

Also found a really good Tai restaurant down the street. Delicious. Had myself some curry.

Well, wanted to post something because that's what I do, update steadily. Even if I'm wasted and don't know what I'm going to say. So. I have guests to entertain. See ya.

Phil Really, Really, Really Dislikes Radiohead

So let's take a minute and reflect on bad decisions we've made in our lives. Um, last night was certainly one of them. Don't get me wrong, getting drunk and watching Ninja Turtles is awesome and I'd do it all the time if I could. But I can't because hangovers during 8 hours of class are awful, wine hangovers even more so. And it's just my luck that the chap next door started hammering something around 8:30 am.

This is a damn noisy apartment complex. The day before, a truck came to pick up one of the dumpsters in our parking lot at 6:30 am. With the beeping when it reverses. It was in reverse for ten minutes. And yes, there are dumpsters in our parking lot which make driving a pain in the ass. I was promised the construction would only be for two or three months, and it's going on six now. Disappointed, much? You bet I am.

And while we're ranting, let's talk about something that's pissed me off for years. Radiohead. Yeah, they're not that awful, but I don't really like their music and people keep shoving it in my face like they're the greatest band ever. I quote my school's message board:

"I dunno man but ummm Kid A is like the most important record of the 90s... if you don't get it you don't get it, hey at least you're not faking it, but don't BASH one of the few REAL artists that actually get "main stream" attention, they are pushing this industry (and sound) forward"

The most important album of the '90s? Even if we forget that Dr. Dre took rap from a niche market and turned it into the highest-grossing genre that it is today, how about the early Green Day albums? They practically birthed modern pop-punk with Dookie. Hell, look what Garth Brooks was able to do with country music! But Radiohead? Come on!

Anyway, what started me down this train of thought was discovering that Radiohead is allowing people to decide how much they want to pay to download their new album. Yeah, you can download it for free if you want to. They're claiming this will revolutionize the industry by allowing fans to decide how much something is worth to them. I could barely restrain myself from laughing when I found out that people are taking this seriously. So I quoted one of the guys from the school message board who was supporting the idea, but even more people said they planned to download it for free. Honestly, the band is just throwing away money by doing this. People who want the album for free would have downloaded it anyway, and the number of people that will pay small amounts for it aren't going to counter the loss they take from people paying less than full CD price. Hello, bad idea much? If they weren't such a popular band already, this idea would pretty much bankrupt them.

Okay, I'm furious. It's time to blow people up in Team Fortress. Peace.

Team Fortress Troubles

Well. I really, really suck at Team Fortress. But I'll get better. And in the meantime, it's an awesome game and will DEFINITELY be the end of any productive academic endeavors this month. Or friendships. In fact, I had been planning on getting really drunk tonight and watching some of the new movies and totally forgot to. Well, I'm gonna start now, but no promises.

I just read that last paragraph and it really sucks. Well, I'm not fixing it. I'm watching a movie and opening a bottle of wine. I'm going to drink to a lamentable loss by the Penguins tonight. Poor, poor Pittsburgh. Win some games, dammit!

Burnt the hell out of my hand in the soldering lab today while trying to put together a piece of a patch bay. I'm starting to really loathe the sensation of scalding hot solder landing on my hands. Even got myself a neat little heat blister for today's work. Found out that I did really well on the in-class exam though, so it sort of makes up for the crap performance in lab.

Well, this is a bad idea. Writing while drinking wine and watching a movie. I won't subject you to any more tonight. See ya!

Breaking News: Team Fortress 2 to Steal My Life

So I managed to pick up the phantom package that has been sitting at the post office for two weeks. Lots of cool DVDs, including Planet Earth on Blu Ray. Yeah, high-definition nature footage is just about the neatest thing I've ever seen. Seriously, I watched it for hours. It's glorious.

Coming in a close second at potential time-stealing activities, I'm just about to finish downloading Team Fortress 2. This precludes the possibility of accomplishing anything with my free time for the next several weeks. Forget about any of that other stuff I promised to do. This looks to be the biggest time-spender I've experienced since Counterstrike. Ouch.

Had another test today. This one didn't feel quite as bad as the other did. I'm confident of an A, unless I'm totally out of my mind. Of course, that exact scenario happened last month, so we'll see how it plays out. And tomorrow, it's back to lectures about electrical, um, stuff. And more soldering. I swear, if I ever see a microphone cable again after this month, it's going to give me the shakes.

On a totally unrelated note, I had a fist of nostalgia for my brief tenure at GoDaddy today. To celebrate it I went to the local Sonic to grab my dinner when I encountered an interesting fact: the Thousand Island Burger is a regional menu item which is unavailable in Florida. I was appalled. The menu here had two identical burgers listed (the regular burger, and the "Dixie" Burger which is just the regular burger with mustard and mayo. Bogus.) Regional menus are a terrible idea. If the restaurant carries it in one location and is a well-known chain, it should be obligated to have thousand island burgers because I deserve it, damn it all. I am not pleased.

The good news is that while I was writing this, Team Fortress finished downloading. Time to turn on the excitement!

Apaprently I'm Biggoted Against Indies

Waiting for Half Life 2 & Team Fortress to finish downloading, so I have time for another post. Unusual, right? Consider this makeup work for the other day. Well, I've spent most of the evening crawling through a year's worth of backlogged CMJs that were collecting dust next to my desk and I was struck by a couple of things.

When the hell did the Shins become the biggest thing in "Indie" music? I can't count the number of times I heard knock-offs. Coming in a close second is the Killers. One band pretty much ripped the guitar sound off to the letter.

Also, since I'm thinking about it, if you're being published in CMJ, it's time to stop calling yourself Indie. You're on a recognized label at this point, you're being distributed in a nationwide magazine. You're getting pretty regular radio play, even if it's not from Clear Channel. Hell, if you're part of a Scene anywhere, you're probably not Indie.

Aw, to hell with it. I'm about to forfeit my indie cred forever. I do not like The Arcade Fire. Or Bright Eyes. Or the Flaming Lips. Just don't like them. Not even a little. And yes, I've given each of these bands several chances. The romance is dead. If you need to find me, I'll be listening to Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance.

And for the curious, my MP3 collection is on random and the Backstreet Boys just popped in. How awesome am I? I'm bringing 1998 back!

Happy Birthday, Matt Damon

I should try my hand at bitching about fantasy sports more often, since I won both my football games this week. Hockey's still in the gutter, but I'll take 2 for 4 any day. Here's to a rash of injuries on opposing teams, woo!

So focus entirely on my school calender came up to bite me in the ass today. Who knew it was Columbus Day, really? I woke up extra early with the intention of getting stuff done for the first time in god only knows how long. The post office was closed. The bank was closed. The financial aid office wasn't accepting walk-ins. Essentially, I gave up three hours of sleep on a test day to drive all over Florida and listen to Super Tramp. No that I'm complaining about the Super Tramp.

The soldering thing came back to haunt me again. This time I managed to put the entire microphone cable together, but one of my solder joints was done poorly so I lost 10 points on the first lab practical. Yeah, that's pretty weak sauce. I also found out that I got a 75% on the lab practical from last month that I was sure I had a 100% on. So much for being an academic juggernaut. Maxwell Dorian, salutatorian and such.


Today in history, Tom Ridge was appointed director of Homeland Security. Also, a big happy birthday to Matt Damon. Woohoo!

I Write Because I Have To

Cursory update, since I didn't really do all that much today and I'm pretty freaking tired. I have an exam tomorrow, as well as a lab practical, both of which require the memorization of charts full of wiring diagram stuff. It's like they decided to cram electrical engineering 101 into a month. That's fine by me, but I know a lot of the other guys in the class are going to have a very hard time swallowing all this info.

I made a second attempt to locate web pages for some of the bands I saw play yesterday, and am completely incapable of finding anything else. So I give up. Instead, I spent my free internet time panicking over my poor fantasy sports performances so far this year. Both of my football teams are 1-3, and looking like another loss apiece. And my hockey teams are off to pretty tepid starts. This does not make a man happy.

So. I'm tired and I have a good book waiting for me. More tomorrow.

Phil Visits Coffee House, Drunklarity Ensues

I had some Denny's around 2:30 AM tonight. Right about now, my body is starting to ask me why the hell I would do something like that to myself. Well, I'll answer it publicly. Denny's is freaking delicious after a few beers and a night of good music. Yes, Phil actually went out and did stuff this evening!

To start with, some friends from school and I went to a place called Austin's Coffee nearby. I had met a few of the acts before, and of course it was a good show. This guy played, and also some other acts whose pages I can't seem to find. This is probably a result of having drank this earlier. It's bigger than it looks, really.

Anyway, the music was great and gave me more awful pangs of nostalgia for the College Perk. Afterwards, those of us that were still soldiering on met up at another friend's apartment for drinks and beer pong. This eventually led to a discussion on the merits of Snakes On A Plane and an aborted attempt on my part to watch the movie. Instead, we went to the aforementioned Denny's. And now it's been several hours since I wanted to go to sleep and my sheets are still in the dryer, and I'm utterly exhausted, but the Penguins beat the Ducks so it all works out in the end.

Also, is it just me or did My Chemical Romance suddenly start sounding awesome? I find it hard to believe that I've been overlooking them for years now. Thanks, Guitar Hero, for another band I would've missed entirely.

The Ramblings of A Crazy Person

First, let me start with a retraction. I don't really suck at soldering as bad as the last post may have led you to believe, I was just incredibly frustrated. Today we put together a little circuit with some blinking lights and mine was excellent. I'm a little worried about the tests and timed cable-making exercises, but that's probably just nerves. Really, I'm awesome at school and how could I possibly do badly?

Second, an apology for not posting yesterday. I went out intending to grab some taco bell, come home and write. Instead, I ended up at a friend's apartment sequencing some drums for a song of his and drinking Heineken. A very productive evening in that sense, but I regret it insofar as I've neglected you, my loyal readers.


So. Since I can't watch hockey, I decided to finish up season 3 of Boston Legal tonight. The first scene in the episode I started with? William Shatner engraving his name on the Stanley Cup. How's that for rubbing it in my own face, right? And on top of that, ESPN.com's stats weren't working, so I had no way of really following what was happening. Boston Legal was great, though. This tempered the Penguins' awful loss a little, I have to admit. I have a weak spot in my heart for Denny Crane.

I remember earlier having something really, really important to write about but it's completely slipped my mind. It was going to be a fantastic entry about something that went beyond the usual self-absorbed ranting. Instead, you'll have to settle for me bitching about school and hockey in the usual stream-of-consciousness fashion.

Just booked my flight out to Phoenix for Thanksgiving break. That is going to be an awesome time having absolutely no responsibilities for five days. I fully intend to be drunk and playing Guitar Hero 3/Rock Band for at least three of them. I will break high scores. I will sleep on sofas. I will leave a trail of blood, sweat and tears through the Valley of the Sun. I will resolve to stop making poetic statements about spending four straight days drinking and playing video games. God, I'm a loser, aren't I?

Tomorrow's forecast includes hanging out in coffee houses and possibly some shopping. This concludes our broadcast day. You stay classy, internets.

I Seriously Suck At Soldering

I was all set to watch me some hockey tonight, when lo and behold my cable network doesn't carry the Versus network on the basic package. A man's got to pay premium for digital cable if he wants to watch those Canadian sports, I suppose. I'm pretty furious right now, especially when the game I wanted to watch went to a damn shootout. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

On top of that, I totally botched our experiment with soldering today. I don't think I'm cut out to be any sort of technician. There's a Jewish joke in there somewhere, I'm sure. And they're going to be timing us on this stuff later in the month. I do believe I'm doomed to repeat the third grade. Er, the sixth month.


On a more positive note, I didn't play a single video game outside of class all day. I did watch a lot of tv, but that's a step in the right direction, isn't it? Can we call it Awesomer Time? No, I suppose not. That would just be crazy.

Also, I'm writing this while I have company over and we're watching Boston Legal season 3. I should probably stop ignoring the guest now. See ya later, guys. Keep me up to date on the NHL until I can work out a solution.

New Classes, Fewer Headaches

Finally, an entire month of classes that make me feel validated for coming here! Our second class is called Essential Skills for something something. It's basically about the parts of the industry that don't involve sitting behind a console - the people stuff. And the woman teaching it is the first good lecturer we've had since the first month. I didn't want to play a game once the entire time. That's the ultimate Phil seal of approval, pretty much on par with being awarded the medal of honor.

Some of the people in my class are real winners, I don't now if I've told anyone this yet. There's a particular guy who, despite everything we've been told this year, is planning on opening his own recording studio in a small town. That's like paying money for failure, coming right on top of student loans and all that other crap we have to pay for. And then there are the hip-hop kids... if I actually started selling e-mail addresses from makinbeatz.com, I'd be semi-wealth already. Things to do in the future...

I'm really looking forward to having guaranteed, regular 2-day weekends for the first time in months. That's more exciting than anything else down here. I was starting to get burnt out on 6 1/2 day weeks.

In other news, I absolutely suck at fantasy football and need a new hobby. At least the hockey season starts tomorrow. Oh yeah, that's going to kick some ass. Can't wait to watch the Penguins beat on the Lightning this year! At this point I should also announce that I'm officially jealous of everyone that can go to hockey games on a regular basis. I miss living in a city with a team, even if it was a sucky one.

Well, that about wraps it up for tonight. Gonna maybe try and tune the ol' twelve-string guitar and mess around with that for a while. Peace.

Solder Samurai

To quote Leonardo Leonardo, "that was a fun day." I wouldn't have seen that coming, either. First day of a new class, 8 hours in school, and I nearly enjoyed every minute of it. The class is called audiotronics, and it's basically a wiring and soldering class. Which is pretty fun, when you get to play with wiring in lab. I suck at soldering, but I managed to finish today's assignment, which was to put together a microphone cable from components. I barely even burned myself on the iron, which is something I'm rather proud of.

Making stuff aside, the class looks to be pretty interesting. At least insofar as it's an extension of a course I took in high school about this sort of stuff. I'm hoping that at some point they'll let us disassemble some high-tech gear. Compressors or something like that. Probably not, but a guy can dream.

I've been feeling really nostalgic lately towards the bands I used to jam with. Since I left Maryland, I haven't had a single meaningful musical encounter, and this is perhaps the most depressing facet of my post-college life. I had hoped that being in a recording school would afford me plenty of opportunities to meet other musicians, but I have yet to meet anyone that really had their act together. One of these days, I need to start hitting the local open mics. When I don't have class until 9 pm and homework due. That should happen in about 7 months.

In considering the list of places I could end up when I'm done here, I've come to the following conclusions: Austin, Seattle, New York or Boston. It's just dawning on me how awesome Seattle would be, excepting the fact that I don't really know anyone farther west than Arizona. But living close to Vancouver would be a huge plus, not to mention being in a cooler climate after these hot, hot, hot years in the south. If anyone has any other recommendations, I'd love to hear them. Convince me to move to a city where I already know people, that would be ideal.

Anyway, time to order a pizza and veg out for a bit. Next stop, awesome time.

Two Day Weekends Are The Best

I can't remember the last time I felt this confident about a test I probably did badly on. I mean, the lab practical in the morning went exceptionally well, probably a 100%. But the lecture exam most likely kicked the crap out of me, despite actual effort to study this time around. If it does go badly, I'm going to blame it on having to be awake and in class by 9 am for the first time in a month. This is, in fact, an awful excuse and I know it. But I have to blame it on something, right? Who's with me on this? It couldn't possibly be my own fault for playing Sega Genesis games during lecture, could it?

Just finished Soul Nomad, too. What a mix of really cool and exceptionally disappointing that was. It's no Disgaea, for sure. I didn't even enjoy it as much as Ogre Battle, which came out more than ten years ago and seems to be the major source of inspiration. But it filled the void in a way that Halo 3 simply can't. In fact, I haven't picked Halo 3 up since the moment I brought Soul Nomad home. Probably time to give it another shot, before I fall too before behind the competition.

We got partial schedules for next month today, and for the first time in months I have classes monday - friday. Excellent! Two day weekends are the best! Oh, and it's 3 am. I suppose I should get some sleep. I'm on it!

And In Today's News: Awesome Time

Well, I didn't exactly waste the day. Spent roughly four hours working on a group project. But those meetings tend to tax me to the limit for the day. All I really wanted to do when it was over was plop down on the couch and order a pizza. And so I did. Awesome Time, woo!

Yesterday when I got home from class, I found a note on my door saying that the power company would be shutting off all power in our complex at 2 am, and that they chose this time in particular so as not to interfere with people. Of course, I had to curtail everything I was doing around 1:30 am and crawl into bed with a flashlight to read. After a while, I look at the clock. It's 2:30 and the power's still on. Yeah, it stayed on all night. So today I got another note on my door saying that instead, they would be shutting off the power on Monday at 10 am. "Off-peak" hours, never mind the fact that may day generally starts at noon and if my alarm batteries die I'll end up missing class, etc. Hooray, power company!


I have two tests tomorrow, one at 9 am and the other at 1 pm. I should be asleep by now. In fact, that's a brilliant idea.

Spells Poorly, Rocks Massively

What an incredibly uninteresting couple of days it's been for me. School, video games, school, video games. Mostly video games. And I missed a day with the blog, that's like the kiss of death with me and things. Like how I used to go to the gym, then I missed a day and now it's been two years since my last visit. Oops.

The school did something really good today, though. Two things, actually. The first was that instead of a straight up lecture, we head a guest speaker/performer come into class. This guy was awesome. His band is not so bad, either. His schtick is that he uses an MPC sampler as an instrument rather than a looping machine, and he uses three of them at once. It's pretty impressive to watch. The first video is a past performance at the school, and the second one is a better view of his hands.




We actually got to spend a little time with the MPC this month in lab, and it gives me a greater appreciation for what he's doing here. I have to think to myself "I could do that," but I doubt I'll ever be able to devote the time required. LOTS of work.

Oh, I mentioned there were two good things. The second was getting out of lab two hours early. Yep, that's freakin' awesome. So I came home, ordered some General Tso's chicken and watched the first three episodes of Boston Legal Season 3, which ware awesome. If you've missed out on this show so far, we need to do something about that immediately. In fact, I think I'm going to watch episode 4 in a couple of minutes.

Lastly, brief travel update. I should be heading out west to Phoenix for a few days around Thanksgiving, and getting to Pittsburgh towards the end of December. Plan your lives accordingly. That is all.

Bad Grades, Muggery

Back to school after my day off, and wow was it awesome! I got my lowest test grade so far from last Saturday, woohoo! Could have been a lot worse, but is this where being a cocky slack-ass starts to catch up with me? I suppose this is my warning to buckle down and start taking everything seriously.

And then they let us out of lecture two hours earlier, which is awesome for people that didn't have to head right back to school in two hours. Not for me, though. Back to school for lab which was entertaining for fifteen minutes. True, we did get to play with MPC sequencing hardware, but the number of patches and sounds available on it was underwhelming.

Took a friend out to Sam Ash to pick up some guitar strings for him, and grabbed some for my 12-string as well. It just hasn't been the same since one friend broke them while messing around, and another one broke the replacements while restringing it. This is why I play the drums. Drum heads don't break when you put them on. Usuaully.

Grabbed Halo 3 tonight as well, and it didn't disappoint. Of course, my expectations were low going in and I'd still rather play Team Fortress 2. Orange Box can't get here soon enough. Also shortening Halo's lifespan is Soul Nomad, which comes out tomorrow and is a sort of spiritual sequel to Disagaea. It's like crack for Phil. And so is Civilization IV, which I spent several more hours tonight playing instead of reading like I promised myself.

Will try to start jamming with friends in class more. I miss playing music a lot and it's starting to catch up with me. I think I was fine while Guitar Hero was still fresh, but since that's worn out on me it's time to get back to rocking out without a plastic guitar.

Point of interest: a friend of mine was mugged late last night while walking his dog in our apartment complex. This does not make me feel safe. In fact, it reminds me that while I've moved away from Phoenix and DC, the ghetto has moved with me. It took me years to (mostly) get over the paranoia from when I was held up in 2003, and this will probably send my mind down similar avenues. Maybe I should buy a gun.

Anyway, no school tomorrow but I do have a group meeting instead. They're much the same, without the 30 minute breaks. That said, it's well past when a sane person would have gone to sleep. And I used to need adderoll to stay up this late. Ha!

Short Post For Ya

Well, I've had a day to cool off and I feel a bit better about it now. Really took it easy today. It wasn't exactly "awesome" so much as it was chilled out. Picked up Civilization IV the other day and spent most of today with that. Really took me back to my kidhood. My grandmother's sister bought me the original Civilization for Chanukkah way back in the day and it was probably the most addicting thing I've ever encountered next to soda. Civ IV's the same deal with better graphics and... well, that's really it.

That's really all I have to say at the moment. I'm kind of burnt out from sitting in front of the computer all day long and having been hung over the previous two. Gonna start reading a new book now if I can decide on one from the pile.

Oh, and RIP Marcel Marceau. 'Cause mime is money.

Censorship: For realz?

I'm going to eschew the usual fluff and get right down to something that's really bothering me. In my online class which focuses on media and social issues, we were tasked with reviewing the Parents' Television Council's website and discussing it on our private discussion board. Now, these discussions are little more than people answering the questions posed in short-essay form and not so much a discussion. But it's appalling how many people simply said "I think the PTC is good and I think TV needs to be censored and America's Family Values are declining rapidly." Some choice quotes are uncut and as follows:

• "overall it does not hurt anyone physically and the PTC is trying to make television more appropiate for its viewers.."
• "f it werent for groups like this, young individuals would be exposed to the most raw and uncut television programs."
• "The PTC is just the cable police, this is the kind of police i think is alright"
• "PTC is an irritating acronym. I dont like acronyms with all consonants. Seems to me they should stop watching t.v. and spend time with their children."

I'm seriously appalled that students at a school for recording engineers can be this blatantly pro-censorship. Especially when the class we're in is beating them over the heads with why this kind of gross censorship is bad, and considering that every TV made since 2000 has a v-chip inside it. The PTC is absolutely unnecessary as long as the ratings board does their job(which is another entry entirely).

Okay, I'm done being political for a while now. That just made me so angry, I had to say something about it. It might have something to do with the fact that I've had a wicked hangover all day and had a lab practical which I lost points on because the software messed up and the lab instructors are unwilling to believe that it's possible for this to happen.

On the plus side, I got to watch This Film Is Not Yet Rated for the same class the discussion group is in. And we watched Thank You For Smoking earlier in the week. At least they're assigning interesting material.

In other news, I bought a whole bunch of CDs yesterday and that's been keeping me pretty well entertained. Picked up a few albums I should have bought years ago (Counting Crows, Green Day, etc.) as well as some British music that I discovered on the Now compilations.

And now, it's time to settle in for a long night of vintage gaming. I've decided it's the nerdy, male equivalent of a manicure. Or the thing with the towel on your head and the limes in your eyes, whatever the hell you call that. Peace, blogosphere!

Setting off for adventure

I have an exam tomorrow at 1 pm. I've studied a little tonight. Now it's time to go drinking for a friend's birthday. Consider it a study in how well I've maintained the ability to ace tests with a hangover.

Also, in lab today I put the finishing touches on the song I posted the other night. I've updated the link with the final version of the tune, although there isn't too much of a difference this time around. I just doubled some of the guitar with horns. Anyway, I realized that it's been stuck in my head for a week now and I' m wondering if it's okay to have your own song stuck in your head. Comments on this would be appreciated.

Short post tonight, there's cold beer waiting for me. And pong. Can't forget the pong.

Phil made a short film!

In keeping with our new theme of nightly updates, I present to you a stop-motion montage of one hour in Computers, Math & the Internet. There are some issues with the frame rate, but I wasn't able to turn it into a .mov at full quality. Thanks a lot, mac!
Party time!

Busy weekend coming up. Exam, two papers, jam sessions, and no days off until Monday. The entire week's been pretty frustrating, actually. Yesterday comic artist Darick Robertson was signing at the local comic shop but I couldn't make it thanks to school, and today I was notified two hours before the event that this guy was speaking at school, and again I couldn't go. Two weeks ago, guys from Sony were giving presentations about game audio that was during class as well. I think I was saving all that for a later rant about how the school doesn't let us know what's going on in time, but there's plenty of other ammo there.

Good news is that there's only one more week of these classes left. Next month we have a class called audiotronics that's basically us dismantling electronics and putting them back together again. I'll get a chance to put my Basic Electricity skills to work. Thank you, public education, for required high school shop classes!

Lastly, I'm reading Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis. This book is just about the most twisted thing I've ever read. But dammit, it's really interesting and I can't put the bastard down. In fact, everything I've read from Ellis so far has seemed like some sort of psychotic genius. Do read.

Time to try and finish the book. I expect it will leave me visibly disturbed tomorrow. Peace!

Phil Writes a Song and it Doesn't Completely Suck

Here is the result of two weeks' work in lab. I suppose I'm proud of it, since it's the second song I've ever written. I wrote the first when I was six years old and it's been retired for a long time. Don't ask me to sing it, I couldn't if I tried. I spent a lot of time nitpicking about stuff with the new one and it still isn't perfect, but I wanted to get it over with so I'd have time to try something else out next week.


Matt, I'm including this video since you mentioned Flight of the Conchords:


Lastly, work begins tonight on the new web page. If anyone wants to do some custom art, give me a heads up. Peace!

Nine Hour Awesome Time Extravaganza

I'm learning that having a day that starts at 1 pm is a mixed blessing. That is, I already knew it but had forgotten thanks to last month's ridiculous 7 am schedule. So now I have class from 1-5 three days a week and 5-9 on alternating days. Today I celebrated this remarkable schedule with Awesome Time. Nine freaking hours of it.

I feel completely hollowed out. It might be the effects of running Super Nintendo games through on XBox onto a large HD television. There is in fact something oddly perverse about gaming this way when I have a perfectly good SNES in the other room and a low-def TV gathering dust in the corner. Even moreso the fact that at my age I can still play video games for so many consecutive hours. When do I start feeling like an adult? Anyway, I haven't binged like this in a while now but today I was in just the perfect frame of mind for it. I think there's a book in there somewhere, "Zen & the SNES" or some such. Which reminds me, I still have a general outline for the "Awesometime Handbook" which I'm sure I'll start working on one of these days.

Is it possible to write a full book about being lazy? The last time I tried to write a book was in 12th grade and I got as far as a cursory outline of the plot and characters before deciding I'd rather do just about anything else. It really, really sucked and I'm glad I didn't save the drafts.
Awesome Time has had several projects devoted to it in the past that have all fallen by the wayside in favor of more Awesome Time. That's interesting, isn't it? I think that's a chapter in the book, right there. There was also a website planned, that never got off the ground even though the proper domain names were purchased. That's up there with Lopandemonium.com among the all-time greatest projects that never saw the light of day.

Group meeting tomorrow where we get to watch Thank You For Smoking and then write a paper about it. At least one class has interesting topics, yes? Meanwhile, today in midi we reviewed binary math and talked about... well, it's not interesting. But tomorrow we have lab and get to play with expensive keyboards and synth modules. I should be able to finish the song I was working on tomorrow and upload it later in the evening.

That said, it's after 3 in the morning and I should have gone to sleep hours ago, but I feel one or two more hours of Awesome Time coming on before I crash. To the XBox!

(For more of Phil, look for new rant on the frontpage of F13.net in a day or two.)

From the trenches

It was roughly ten minutes ago, I couldn't sleep, and I realized I haven't written anything of substance in years. Is it just a coincidence that I had to create this blog for class a few months back? By the way, you should probably not attempt to listen to the file in the original entry. There, you've been duly warned.

At any rate, I will be attempting to update this regularly now to get my creative juices flowing again. Anything to break the cycle of video games and boredom that I've been dragging myself through for the last few years.

For those that I haven't been keeping updated regarding my scholastic endeavors, here's what we've accomplished so far. We've: learned the ropes in Cubase, Nuendo and Logic digital audio workstations; discussed the history of the major forms of mass media; edited sound effects into a short clip from the film Ice Age (I failed to obtain a copy of this, unfortunately); began working with analog recording consoles (about half the size of the ones you see in the major studios); began working with effects gear like flangers and compressors. And currently we're learning MIDI sequencing through Logic. I'm writing an awful 80s-style song that I can probably post in a week or two.

Also, we're taking an online course. I have many and varied opinions on this, but you'll have to ask me elsewhere since they are probably reading this.

It feels good to write stuff again, even if it's mostly gibberish. I was even thinking earlier of getting back into poetry. I think I've still got my chops, even though it's been a good seven years since my last masterpiece. Well, I'll leave you with one last nugget: everyone else was right, the weather in Florida sucks and I really wish the school were in Phoenix. Or in Pittsburgh during the summer.

Buyakasha - Blog!

The Emergency Podcast System!

This file should be played intermittently to make sure that your listeners are paying attention. Or if you really, really hate them.