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.