Boyd's World!

A Real, Live Show! On Film!!

2011-12-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hey, dearest readers! I dunno if everyone who hasn't been blogging is still standing quietly in the background and reading, but if they are then this is for them. I've been trying to comment on posts to show that I'm still alive and reading blogs, just not writing my own. Well, until now, that is. Anyhoo, let's get started!

I've been quite busy lately, musically. Last Tuesday was a big event at my school, our annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser for the local charity Julie's Kids. At this dinner, student musicians are invited to perform and entertain the people eating their spaghetti, so of course I jumped on the opportunity to play! Bobby and I prepared a nice, happy set to play, and generally got ready. We learned a Christmas song to play for everyone, my favorite, "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)" by The Ramones. If I'm gonna be playing a Christmas song, I'm going to do it up right!

We used Tanner's drumkit for the show, because it's way nicer. However, transporting the kit involved tearing it completely down and cramming all the pieces into the back of my car, along with all my guitars and amplifiers and whatnot. I arrived at the school about half an hour before the show, planning on having ample time to set up all our gear (including Bobby's equipment and Stephen's PA system). Sadly for me, when I walked in I discovered a list on the wall with the order everyone would play in, and saw Crush Of Society listed as the first act. And the last act. And an act for somewhere in the middle of the show. We weren't at all prepared for being the openers, or the longest total performance there. Fortunately for the organizers, we WERE prepared to be awesome, so we managed to set everything up in time for the start of the show, and we split our set up and lengthened it to their needs.

Let me tell you - I was PUMPED for this show. When the MC, Tessa, was introducing us, I was behind the curtain doing jumping jacks and crazy kung-fu kicks in the air. My warm-up method seemed to work fairly well, because our set went AMAZINGLY! My guitar was obnoxiously loud for the first song, but I honestly didn't care very much. My only concern with the set was that we were too noisy for the people eating their spaghetti, and that some boring old person would ask us to not go back on for our other two sets. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. Tanner was a hero and recorded all of our sets, so you'll get to see them too!! here they are:

The last set we played was probably the tightest in terms of performance, but the levels were off and the only people still at the show were the volunteers cleaning up. Like I say towards the middle - we played music for them to clean up to!

Other than my musical endeavors, I haven't been up to very much. My mom had leg surgery on the day of the show, and since then she's been recuperating at home. I took two days after her surgery off from school, which was a nice little break with virtually no missed work. I managed to get a post written for ZME during that time, which is about the first free album I've received from a band! It's The Dead Milkmen's first album in an incredibly long time, The King In Yellow. I was super happy to get it, actually, because the lady who sent it also included a bunch of EPs from other, lesser known artists.

All in all, things are going quite well. I'll try to post more, but I shan't make promises. Hopefully, we'll talk again soon!! If you don't mind me basically advertising about my band, I'll post more about what we do musically. Let me know what you want to read!!

School Bloggin'

2011-11-03T07:05:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone! I'm lucky, because with all of my 3rd hour off, I'm able to blog during school. Also, I can write my music reviews during this time! I've posted a new one, an album review of Tom Waits' new album Bad As Me. It's my first album review, so it was a bit different to write than the concert ones. I actually preferred it, I think. It's more poetic to write about listening to music, and the impressions I get. I sat in the school's library and listened to it for two days straight, taking down notes and researching lyrics and who played what on which songs. It was surprisingly intense, but it worked. I never even looked back at my notes while I was writing the actual article, but I think they helped. I'm actually listening to the next album I plan on reviewing whilst typing this, but I don't think it necessitates notes on every single track. By the way, the album is The Black Belles' self-titled debut album. I saw them live at MI-fest, and they were amazing! They're like The White Stripes, but with organs, bass, and four goth girls playing all the instruments. Here's a picture of me with the keyboardist!

Apparently, her name is Lil'Boo. Weird.

[Can't post the picture until after I get home. If you're reading this before then, check back soon!!]

This week is the tech week of our school's fall play, Granny Smyth Goes To Washington. Trust me when I say that it's going to be terrible. Tonight is the dress rehearsal, and most of the actors still need scripts for the second half. We've only been onstage since Monday, and we haven't run the last two scenes onstage yet. Lights (my task) are going to be iffy, though Bobby (who's helping me) and I are doing our best. Tonight's practice will probably run until 8 or 9, and it's gonna be one long and painful crunch. Still, it's terribly fun! I'd be more worried about embarrassment if I was actually in the play, but since no one sees the light guys, I'm not too concerned about the play's quality. I'll have fun either way. Not to mention Denny's!! We're going there after tomorrow's premier, like we do every time. I'm gonna drink ALL the fruity drinks!! Don't judge me.

After drama's over, I won't have anything major going on for about two weeks, until quizbowl starts up again. What will I do with my time? Who knows! I haven't been able to see Gabby at all lately, other than at drama and while hanging out in her kitchen. Maybe (cross your fingers) we'll get to hang out! Along with that, I'm going to try and make it to band practices. I haven't been to one in three weeks, and it's upsetting. They've been getting stuff done without me, but I want to be involved. What if they discover they don't need me?? Haha, I don't think that will happen, but...I'd be best off making myself useful and showing up to practice!

The school's crappy WiFi keeps fading in and out...since I'm streaming the album, it's really annoying. The school's new I.T. guy is far better with the internet than the one who retired last year, but it turns out that's a bad thing. Unlike our old guy, this one actually knows what websites to block. He's even gotten to...*GASP*...Grooveshark! Not the entire website, mind you, just the songs that are deemed offensive. I have no clue how he did it, but that's what it seems to be.

Wow, this has been the longest hour ever, for some reason. It's finally coming to an end! Well, 15 more minutes. I must say, this is an excellent album I'm listening to. My last concert review, the Mustard Plug show, mentioned all the opening bands as well. My favorite of the bunch, Ego & The Maniacs, was a local ska band that found my article via Google Alerts. They posted a link to it on Facebook, all happy and whatnot, and emailed me a thank you. They had about the same number of fans as The Black Belles, so hopefully they'll talk to me personally about the review too! I'd love for anyone associated with their label, Third Man Records, to hear about me. What if *LOUDER GASP* Jack White himself reads it?? That'd be amazing!!

Well, I've got to get going. I'll probably be writing the album review over the next couple of days, so I'll keep you updated! Until then, keep on blogging!

I Apologize, My Friends

2011-10-23T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hello, dearest readers. Christopher reminded me that, "Oh yeah, I have a blog that people read occasionally," so I shall post. I'm not really sure why I haven't been, other than business and laziness (neither of which is a decent excuse). I haven't been up to terribly much, since the ska concert that was a month ago...I finally got my ZME article about it posted, though!! It's right on over here.

Two weeks ago was homecoming, which could be seen as rather significant. I had a lot of fun at the game and dance, particularly the latter. Tanner and Charles came!! They were the dates of Kaylee (my bandmate), and our friend Saraha, who we needed to keep from bringing a 20 year old (like she did last year). I was super-glad they were there, and it was a blast. We went to dinner at a local steakhouse, Lucky's, where Tanner works. I got a burger, and nearly exploded! Not a good choice right before a dance, shockingly. Gabby looked beautiful, and I was really happy to be her date.

She was really sad when the dance ended, and cried because it was her last homecoming dance...this year will have a lot of that, I think. Oh well; I shall try to be as supportive as possible!

I've been forcing myself to play more music lately, because I have been slacking a little. Team Fortress 2 and various academic things keep getting in the way!! Screw 'em, I want to be a musician. I Eat Stickfigures has been practicing weekly, with various combinations of the entire band in attendance. We've had one full-band practice, which even had a guest appearance from founding drummer Damien!! He can't actually play drums, so he's not too bitter about not being in the band (his fault, because he moved an hour away!). We've got one ska song that we're working on, called "Shivering." It's awesome!! I'm playing a pretty boring rhythm guitar part in it, but that's okay, because I also get to harmonize during parts of the vocals! I can't wait until it's done, and show-offable.

My college class has been a complete waste of time. For three weeks in a row, the longest class period was 45 minutes. I drove 30 minutes just to get to the college, so I end up using an hour's worth of gas to learn nothing for a couple minutes. I've given up on learning, although I can program in Python now. Is it useful? No. Next semester, I'm taking photography. Something that will enable me to use the school's cameras, at least!

Well...I will try to post more frequently, so Christopher doesn't get sad!! I have an hour off of school thanks to college, so I need to utilize that time more wisely. Does anyone have any writing prompts? Things for me to try and be humorous about? Your suggestions are always welcome!!

Story Of My Life (A Small Piece, Anyway)

2011-10-01T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hey! Yup, it's a Saturday night, aaaaand...I'm sitting in front of my computer! Before you cry, "Go do something, you're a teen!" remember that I do have the excuse of having spent the past week ill. I'm enjoying some well-needed rest, particularly after only getting 5 hours of sleep each night. I think I'll tell you guys about how my life has been going in general, with school and whatnot, rather than talk about concerts and stuff. Although, just so you know, I DID get within 20 feet of Jack White two weeks ago, and it was amazing.

Anyway, school has been picking up and falling into routine. It doesn't feel like the beginning of the year anymore, which is nice; I tend to feel like the first two or three weeks are a waste. I dunno if I've mentioned it, but I started doing dual-enrollment at the local community college. I'm replacing one of my elective classes with a college course, and the school is paying for it. This semester, I decided to take Programming Concepts. It's a decent class, though I haven't learned how to hack into the CIA's databases, which was my goal. [NOTE: to any CIA agents reading this, I'm joking. Don't taze me, bro!!] The biggest bummer is losing an elective class. At the beginning of the school year, I still had all six classes I'd originally signed up for. I was quite happy with this, and hoped no one would notice. Yesterday, I finally got a call down to the counselor's office, and she made me drop a class. I was quite snarky and irritable with her, because I'd already had a bad day. I really liked speech class, and after four weeks of doing all the homework, taking the tests, etc., I didn't want to leave. I'll try to blackmail them into giving it back to me, though...I'm crafty and persuasive enough!

Last Saturday was Gabby and I's one-year anniversary!! I'm incredibly happy to have made it this far with such a wonderful girl. We went to dinner at Applebee's to celebrate, and got all dressed up fancy for it. Both of us were just coming down with colds though, so we didn't have too big of appetites. Still fun!! We also went to an orchard the week before, and got pizza from the local, unfrequented pizza shop. It was a blast as well!

The band has been having practices regularly. I'd say "COS" or "I Eat Stickfigures," but it's hard to tell which band is which anymore. We're kinda just playing each other's songs, trying to get stuff written for each other. All four of us (not counting Stephen, who hasn't been practicing lately) are writing our own songs, and each song kind of requires different people playing different things. However, we have been working on some awesome stuff! Kaylee has a cool Metric-esque song that demands electric guitar, which I gladly supply. Tanner, Bobby, and I have been doing various goofy things, like playing a weird hard-rock version of "The Cha-Cha Slide", which I love playing. We also worked on a blues song called "The Stalker Blues," which I suggested and Tanner took running. I tried singing it, but my voice was completely shot from my illness.

Actually, that song was inspired by personal events of mine...I have a bit of a stalker. I met her at Math Field Day last spring, and she looked me up on Facebook via the programs that listed every single person that went. I added her, we started chatting, and I soon gave her my cell number for texting. We texted quite a bit for the next few months, which progressed into phone calls and eventually Skyping. She actually sent me the money to buy the webcam (which I used in my vlog), along with two Queen CDs. Unfortunately, things took a downward turn. She started getting more and more dependent, and quite needy. For a while I suppose I didn't discourage that, which I feel bad about. However, it started to get ridiculous. I got sick of the drama that seemed to constantly surround her, and I got sick of getting non-stop calls from her. At breakfast, while I was in school, during times I'd made it clear I didn't want her calling. She got super-defensive when I called her out on it, and things eventually climaxed with her telling me "You're an impatient ass." In response, I quit responding. Period. I've gotten about eight or nine texts from her since then, spread out over the past four weeks. They swing between lonely, angry, and dramatic. I don't plan on responding, no matter how immature that is. I think a clean break is what's best, and that's what I'm going to do. I don't miss her, and I'm relieved to no longer feel the pressure, stress, and obligation that texting her made me feel.

Anywhoo...that took an odd turn, eh? In totally other news, here's my first article as a music journalist!! It took a really long time to get it posted, but it's there!! I talked to some guys from Creem magazine while at MI-fest, and apparently it's going back into print. I told them I was reviewing the concert, and they told me to contact them about being a writer for them! I'd freaking love to write for a real magazine. *GASP* What if they paid me?? That'd be amazing!!

Haha, I'm done geeking out now. Actually, I think I'm done with this post. It was nice to touch in with everyone; thank you for sticking around despite my infrequent posting!!

Concerts Every Which Way

2011-09-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone!! How's it going? Well? Awesome!!

I just wanted to say that school is going swimmingly, but definitely keeping me busy. Hey, first year without terrible allergies!! *knocks on wood* Perhaps the high-strength medication they've had me on is FINALLY kicking in...

When I'm not at school, I'm still going to concerts. On Saturday, I went with Kaylee and Stephen and a few other friends to see some local punk bands play, which was totally sweet! We went to a local coffee shop called The Raven, which is the only oasis of classy culture in Port Huron. I'd say it's the only oasis of culture, period, but there IS The Grotto...it's just not classy. That's the "venue" we went to for the bands' show, which is pretty infamous 'round these parts. It's an abandoned looking building, with a tiny empty room that has wood paneling and no windows. The band plays on the floor with the fans; stages are too fancy for this place. The place was sweet, but there weren't enough people for some good moshing to go on. None of my friends moshed or jumped around with me, though I don't blame them...not their kind of thing to do, and apparently it looked like I was gonna get hurt the whole time I was out there. Not surprising, since (loose!) fists were flying and I kept slipping and falling on my butt. It was still awesome, however, and we plan on making this a frequent get-together!!

Sunday was the Honda Civic Tour, with Blink-182 and My Chemical Romance. I'd write all about that here, but I already did for my JOB as a music blogger. Yeah, you heard me right!! I'm writing for the website ZME Music, which is so freaking awesome!! I don't get paid, but as soon as I've proven myself I'll be given an email address with which I can request promotional CDs, merch, and concert tickets! More than adequate compensation, for something I'd be doing anyways.

Tomorrow is the MI-Fest, a new festival they're trying to start. So far, nothing's going too well, but I'll talk about that once I've been there and can give you the whole story. Actually, you'll get the personal side of it, and ZME is gonna get the music portion (with linkage provided on here!!) I'm actually hoping to apply to Creem magazine tomorrow, which has apparently re-booted and is gonna be at the show tomorrow. Wish me luck at looking like I know what I'm talking about!!

Finally, next Friday is going to be another Ska concert, with Tanner and Damien and Cheyenne. We'll be going to see Mustard Plug, a Grand Rapids-based band. Oddly enough, we'll be seeing them in Toledo, OH...weird, but totally awesome!! Once again, I'll be talking more on that when it happens. I dunno if that'll be going on ZME, but if it does, it'll just be a description of how it sounded; I'll tell you about what I do, and how I feel.

Well...I have to get some sleep, since MI-fest is 3 hours away tomorrow morning. It'll be great!! I'll keep you updated!

My Last Week Of Freedom

2011-09-04T10:38:00.001-07:00

Hey!! I was excited about writing my first post in the new, improved version of Blogger, with the fancy new layout and whatnot; sadly, the post-writing page refused to load for me. Of course, it did taunt me with a "loading" icon, but there was still empty nothingness once that went away. Thank goodness the old interface still works!

This week, I've done...well...pretty much nothing. I've worked, but in terms of "interesting-ness," that's still definitely not noteworthy. School starts next Tuesday, because Michigan schools don't start up until after Labor Day (it's the law!). My mom, a teacher, went into work for the first time last week, so when I wasn't also working I did some musical stuff whilst home alone. Specifically, I recorded a new song!! It's called "Sneaking Around," and it's up for you to hear on our Facebook page. I was proud of it, because it's WAY more in depth than anything else I've recorded. 3 guitars, a bass line, 2 guitars on the solo, and a vocal track consisting of multiple takes layered together. Oh, and the DRUMS. I can't drum at all, so in order for me to play drums on the track, I had to play each part of the kit separately - one recording of me wailing on the cymbals, one of me tapping the snare drum, and one of me playing the bass drum with my hands. My legs aren't strong enough to play bass drum consistently for 2 minutes, so I had to get down on my knees and press down on the pedal like I was performing CPR. Funky, eh?

Oh yeah!! I went to the hospital yesterday. Seriously, that didn't once cross my mind of things to blog about...haha! I got stung by a bee in the afternoon, and about an hour later I started getting hives and bumps all over my body. Of course, after Googling my symptoms, my mom and I decided that it'd probably be wise to visit the hospital, just in case. It was a slow night in the ER, so they basically took me in and gave me Benedryl and a steroid shot to reduce inflammation. I think I may have been a bit of a hypochondriac, but better safe than sorry!! It smelled like old people in there...it's been a long time since I've been to the hospital...last time was when I was 10, and sliced my knee open on a piece of glass - yeah, I'm pretty hardcore.

It's gonna be pretty weird in school this year - lots of my friends graduated last year, like the illustrious Tanner Simmons. Also, this is my first year since starting Junior High that I won't be in band. I know, I know...crazy, right? My school's band is terribly dysfunctional, and not in a good way. All the real musicians at the school tend to drop out, with only a few exceptions. This year, I'm gonna carry on that legacy! It'll still be weird to not have Marching Band at the beginning of the year though... that was basically the structure of my social life for a good 3 months. Ahh well, there'll always be Drama Club!!

Weeeeell...my grandparents are headed to my house currently, to take me into town for a little back to school shopping!! nothing fancy...just a nice, functional outfit. I hafta go...in the meantime, develop a new passion!! Or something. I feel like I should give you all assignments, like Christopher does...that'll have to do for now!

He's Alive!!

2011-08-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Hey!! Who's that? Drew?? I'm back!! I have a multitude of videos for you, to kind of catch you up on what has been going on for the past month.

First up is a vlog I made, which explains pretty much the rest of this post. It's a wee bit long, so I will give a brief summary of what all the other videos are. Of course, for the full, unfiltered Boyd's World! experience, you're gonna need to click on that there play button. Go for it!

In addition to my vlog, I have a few videos of me performing for everyone! First up is me playing rhythm guitar for I Eat Stickfigures, at a local benefit concert:

Ehh? Pretty rad, huh? COS also had a 30 minute set there, but the dude who recorded it hasn't gotten it up yet...something about the audio. Apparently it sounds bad? I coulda told him that, haha!!

Up next is me playing my acoustic at the open mic I went to this last Tuesday. Kaylee didn't capture my last song, but that's OK; I wasn't terribly happy with it anyway.

...Hmmmm. It was posted to Facebook, which means I can't embed it. Here's a link to it on the COS page, anyway!! Ya might just wanna hit the "like" button to the side...but, you know, that's up to you.

Finally, here's a link to Kaylee's Youtube channel. Her newer stuff isn't up yet, but the song "Pursuit" is freaking amazing!! It gives me goosebumps every single time I hear it.

Anyway...I'm gonna be blogging more again. I'm really, terribly sorry about my absence!! I'll do my darnedest not to wait this long again. Until next time, though...stay golden!!

Let's All Skank!!

2011-07-23T15:52:00.000-07:00

Dang...yet another super-eventful week!! Actually, I guess it's been two since I've actually told you what has been going on, but I can only remember back a few days.

I was gonna write a post outlining each day of the week, but I can already tell that'll just be too freaking long. I will, however, tell you about the new guitar I got!! I know a dude who owns a weird memorabilia store that's about an hour away from where I live. He had this AMAZING vintage guitar there that I fell in love with upon first sight. I decided I would bring my rarely-played hollowbody bass guitar in there, and offer a trade.

Sadly, on the day I brought the bass down, he was in the back room, playing the vintage guitar for the last time before he sold it. To someone else. Argggggg. I still sold my hollowbody bass, and made $130 off it, more than doubling what I bought it for, all broken and whatnot. I made sure to ask for more than the other guitar was priced, just in case the sale fell through.

And what do you know, it did! My mom got a text that morning, saying the dude didn't buy the guitar after all. Guess what he bought instead?? My bass!!! Crazy coincidence, eh? Needless to say, I headed back there that day, and bought the super-amazing guitar. So far, it hasn't disappointed!!

It's a hollowbody as well, but this one's a six-string. It's a Penncrest, which was basically the J. C. Penney brand of guitar, made by Kay guitars. It has a Bigsby-style vibrato arm, and a little lever-thingy that will palm-mute the strings. It sounds delightfully echoey, and it feeds back very nicely.

OK...now that I've raved about guitars, we can move on to the next item of business. Tanner, of blogging fame (his post about the same thing I'm writing about), as well as our friends Damien and Cheyenne, have been planning on going to see Reel Big Fish and Streetlight Manifesto for quite a while. Of course, upon hearing about their plans and noticing that there would be an extra seat available in whatever car was taken, I had to ask if I could go. Long story short, that concert was on Thursday!! It was at Clutch Cargoes, an excellent venue in Pontiac. RBF and Streetlight co-headlined, with two opening bands: The Maxies, and Rodeo Ruby Love. The Maxies went first, and they were pretty freaking sweet. They were a violent, mean punk band, FROM GREENLAND (as they reminded us in every song.) Damien pretty much immediately pushed his way to the front of the crowd to skank (ska music's trademark dance), and the resulting skank pit quickly turned into a mosh pit. I hopped right in, and held my own pretty damn well.

The next band, Rodeo Ruby Love, was a nice, relaxing indie band with love songs and a synthesizer. They were nice, although they didn't fit in with the rest of the bands and got booed a little. I liked them, even though they were hard to hear at times.

Towards the end of their set, the crowd started packing back in. In a few minutes, my (probably) favorite ska band took the stage: Reel Big Fish. The crowd immediately started rocking back and forth, and it was *almost* frightening. I realized pretty quickly, however, that if I fell over I'd probably be able the just catch myself on one of the people less than 6 inches away on all sides. As the music started, the moshing began. Now, you might not realize this, but I like to consider myself a bit of a punk. Yes, I have long hair and I listen to mellow, happy music, but inside of me is a leather-clad punk that just wants to slam-dance and mosh the night away. And boy oh boy did I.

Within five minutes of RBF's set starting, I saw Damien go floating by on top of the crowd. At that point, I decided I MUST crowd-surf!! I asked him how he got up there next time I bumped (slammed) into him, and he told me to just shout at the people around me, "I'm going up!!" Apparently, they'll give you a boost. And they did!!! It was EXHILARATING. The crowd's hands were surprisingly gentle, and it was so incredible to look out and see the entire venue underneath me. I went up again during Streetlight's set, and almost got dropped (still amazing!)

Ahhh, Streetlight...by the time Reel Big Fish left the stage, I was kind of exhausted. I went and paid 3 bucks for one of their waters, which I immediately downed. At this point I should mention Thursday was the hottest day of the year, and it was around 100+ degrees on the floor. I was drenched with sweat, and all my clothes were soaked completely through. People on the balconies kept throwing water and ice down into the crowd, and it was WELL APPRECIATED. Damien observed taking off your shirt lowered your body temperature by about 20 degrees, despite making you look like a tool. Actually, almost everyone in the audience was shirtless by the end of the show, including some of the women. When I took off my shirt, I seriously wrung out about a gallon of sweat and water. Dis-gusting, hahaha!

After the show, Tanner was kind enough to buy me a T-shirt. He's kind of my hero now, of course! I am now the proud owner of a Streetlight Manifesto shirt! He told me to repay him when we go to see The Flaming Lips. Cause, ya know, it'll happen eventually!

All in all, it was a freaking amazing concert. I came home covered in bruises, and my feet hurt so bad by Saturday that I could barely walk, but it was amazing! I need to go to many, many more ska concerts with the crew.

Well...I have another story about the next day, Friday, but I'll make that my next post so I can share all the videos! (spoilers much??) Until then, try to go to an awesome concert!! Then blog about it so I can live vicariously through you!!

Obligatory Chicago Post: Pt. 3

2011-07-13T09:08:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, we move on to Sunday, the second day of the DMB Caravan (technically the third, but I wasn't there on Friday)!! It was the most excellent day as far as music goes, although work was a bit harder.

See, Sunday was far hotter than Saturday, as well as way more oppressively hot and humid. Also, the concert-goers were somewhat annoyed with us, because for 3 days we'd been bugging them. All their money had gone to beer, and they didn't want to hear about some sticker. Still, we sold more on Sunday than Saturday! It kind of got confusing, though, because when I turned in a portion of our money to the organizers, I accidentally gave them some of my own money. Then, to make things worse, we counted the stickers wrong, so I thought I'd given them considerably more money than they were owed. Eventually, after nearly having a breakdown in the intense heat, I realized I had only given them $5 - as much as 1 sticker cost, which I would've eventually given them anyways. Still, after that incident, we just stopped selling them for the last hour. We sat in the mulch, got Cokes, and watched The Wailers play.

After our shift ended ("ohh, you didn't sell anymore? That's a bummer!"), we went and watched a mariachi band. Now, I'm not a huge fan of mariachi music - although it HAD been blasting all around the house we stayed at, all weekend. No, we went there because the next band that was playing there was important enough to me for us to stand around an hour early, just to get an amazing place to stand. Yes, that's right: THE FLAMING LIPS!! And get an amazing place to stand we did; we were only about 4 people back from the stage. Just so you get an idea, here's the road crew and band setting up the stage:

Crazy close, right?? The dude in the silver pants on the right was the guitarist/theramin player, and the guy you can just barely see on the left was the guitarist/keyboard player.

Wayne Coyne kept coming out onto stage, waving and staring intently at various things. Despite the 90+ degree heat, he had on a fur stole. Weird? He shot a confetti cannon at the audience at one point, and apparently tested the wind. (You know, for FUTURE confetti cannons.)

Finally, after about an hour of standing there, the show began. Wayne came out while the band was finishing up with testing their equipment, and said that they'd be covering Dark Side Of The Moon in its entirety, along with a few songs from The Wizard of Oz mixed in for good measure. But first, of course, he had to roll out on top of the audience in his giant plastic bubble!!

Yeah, I totally caught the bubble. He basically throws himself against the crowd, and it HURT to catch him!! I thought I had thrown my shoulder out at first. Also, that was the beginning of the literal crush of society that was the concert. I thought it was kinda cool, though - except during the song "Money."

At the beginning of that catchy tune, he brought out a huge, 10 ft. balloon, with a huge dollar sign on it. Inside, floating around, were bills of some kind. Upon closer inspection, it was all real money - lots of it!! He lectured the crowd about greed, and how "You shouldn't lust after this money...you shouldn't trample your friends, for such a minor amount!" Yeah, that "minor amount" was supposedly $10,000, gifted to us by Dave Matthews himself. With that said, the band kicked off the song and he flung the balloon into the crowd. There were actually a bunch of balloons just like it back stage, each with money in it, and he kept throwing them at us. It was quite terrifying - with each one, the crowd lurched around and moved collectively towards it. One popped right above me, and people around me got money; I saw one dude stuffing a $20 into his wallet!

The whole concert was INSANE. Words cannot describe it accurately, despite my attempts. There were about 30 girls, all dressed like Dorothy, all dancing onstage. Joining them, there were very stoned dudes in costumes representing the Tin Man and all that. Also, at some point, a giant, inflatable dolphin and sun-head-thing came out and added to the weirdness. It was just...crazy. Awesomely so. I know it wasn't the best they could possibly be, because it was a festival environment, so I NEED to see them at their own concert now.

Ohh, one other thing. You know the song Great Gig In The Sky, which is basically just a woman vocalizing for about 6 minutes? I wondered how they'd do it, but there's no way I could have ever expected their solution.

That's one of the press photos of the woman they had sing it...apparently, her name is Lizzie Allen.Her freaky huge moth wings kept flapping throughout the song. She ROCKED it!! I wasn't a huge fan of Great Gig In The Sky before, but now I'll picture their awesome re-imagining every time I hear it.

All in all, it was an INCREDIBLE show. Pink Floyd couldn't have done it up better, I guarantee! It was so good, in fact, my mom suggested we left immediately afterwards. I was glad she did, because I'd been thinking the same thing as her: how could anything else that evening possibly top that?? It was better to leave then, with my insane, trippy memories.

As for the rest of the trip...not too much eventful happened. I still need to update you on Bobby and I's time in the studio, and on my fun time at The Stars and Stripes Fest, a weekend concert festival I went to the 4th of July weekend. Ahh well, we'll save those for the next post!! IN the mean time...make sure to check out COS's Facebook page!! And, if you aren't already a fan, you MUST listen to The Flaming Lips. Go. Do it now!!

Obligatory Chicago Post: Pt. 2

2011-07-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, I'm at home again. I love the Windy City, but sitting in my glider rocker in the living room still wins (for now). I'd have updated you sooner, but we had no internet Saturday or Sunday...our friends were on their own trip, and we weren't home enough to get the problem figured out ourselves.

So...not much else happened on Friday, so I won't worry about keeping you updated. On Saturday, however, our main purpose for being in Chicago kicked into action: The Dave Matthews Band Caravan, a travelling 3-day festival. Obviously, we couldn't afford tickets to see it, so we went with the eco-group Reverb. That's a link to their website, in case you're interested in free concert tickets and helping the environment. We only worked on Saturday and Sunday, because we didn't care much about any of the acts appearing on Friday. Plus, it'd be super exhausting, as we'd later find out.

Anyway, Saturday. We took the Metra train to the show, and discovered all city employees hated us. Not my mother and me in particular, just the concert-goers in general. Also, the train was completely full of us. When we got to our stop, we had to walk about a mile through a semi-frightening south-side neighborhood to get to the staff entrance. Once there, the guards pointed us down a dusty little road. Did I mention the show took place where a steel mill BLEW UP 20 years before? Let that set the scene a little. We took the dusty dirt road 2 miles in, turning tan-red in the process. When I say dusty, I mean blinding and choking dust. People going by on golf carts all had bandannas over their mouths, causing us to realize we needed some for ourselves.

After trekking our way to the check-in point, we met up with the Reverb employees and got our jobs. We were selling carbon-offset stickers, a job that sucked last time we did it. Basically, you have $5 stickers that people can buy. The money goes towards research and education concerning alternative energy, and each purchase offsets 300 miles driven by concert-goers. They're cool, and worth the money (some of the cheapest there), but people still hate you for selling the things. We were at least allowed to wander throughout the venue to sell them, so if we got tired we didn't have to keep doing it. Also, we got in about an hour before the doors were opened, so we could just wander around and check out vendors. During that time, I got a pair of cheap sunglasses, and a bandanna. The bandanna was from some Deadhead vendors, who gave us a staff discount. We thought it might be because we walked into their tent while they were all smoking pot, but it turns out they kept that up the whole day. The bandanna is pretty sweet, with a bunch of Grateful Dead skulls on it like paisley.

When the gates were opened, the main stage's PA started playing the Pink Floyd song "Run Like Hell." That seemed odd, until we saw the stampede start coming down the hill. It was INSANE!!! We got a video of it the second day, which I'll post soon. When the mad rush had subsided, we started selling. We sold 13 stickers the first day, which wasn't too bad. Actually, other people sold quite a few less, so I was pretty happy. We did spend quite a bit of our working time watching shows, and enjoying food and drink. They had frozen Keifer there, which ruined all other frozen treats for me it was so good.

Once we were done, we sought out shade and enjoyed some Diet Cokes. G Love was scheduled to play soon, so we went by his stage. Actually, we first stopped back by the Deadheads' tent and got a huge tapestry to sit on. It has (once again) a huge Grateful Dead skull on it, and looks really really sweet. Once again, I'll post pictures and videos in my next post.

We went and sat down, and then got back up again to watch G Love's set. He was pretty awesome!! We only heard him play songs from him newest album, but only the best from it. We left him early, to go sit down and wait for the next act I wanted to see, Ben Folds. I've only recently started to listen to him, but I REALLY enjoy his music!! Sadly, he was somewhat drowned out by idiot, drunken frat dudes. He did a hilarious cover, though, of "Sleazy" by Ke$ha. I've never heard the original, but now I don't need to...he did it up better and more amusingly than I could imagine.

After his set ended, DMB came on. The second song they played was "Burning Down the House," which I LOVE to hear them play. Honestly, it's my favorite song to hear them play. We stayed for about an hour of their set, hearing quite a few new songs. They seem to have a new album's worth of material, and played most of it during the course of the festival. After about an hour, we took off, because of A) the drunken asses EVERYWHERE, and B) we wanted to make sure we got home at a decent-ish time for work the next day.

When we did get home, we were starving and filthy. When I washed my hair, the water was brown with dust. Not to get too gross, but my snot was totally black straight into the next day. Actually, there have been many, many complaints on Twitter and IRL about "mud boogers." Needless to say, it was bogue. I slept like a rock, understandably.

So that's pretty much how the first day went. This post is already pretty long, and Sunday's experiences deserve an entire post. Man, just The Flaming Lips' show deserves an entire post!! Yeah, we saw them. Stay tuned for more fun and excitement, coming your way!!

Obligatory Chicago Post: Pt. 1

2011-07-08T12:03:00.000-07:00

Hey, readers!! I've put off blogging about all the exciting things that have been going on lately, and I now see where that was a mistake. I'm gonna have to put off posting about those things for a little while longer, because I'm in Chicago right now and feel obligated to post about my experiences so far.

My mom and I took the train here, which was very nice and relaxing as always. We were only 2-ish hours late this time, which isn't too bad as far as the train goes. When we arrived, we walked down to our Chicago friend's office building to drop off our bags. At this point, my mom and I know our way around the city pretty well.

Once we were untethered by our possessions, we wandered around downtown for a few hours. I stopped at a Reckless Records, and got a Flaming Lips CD and 2 Beck CDs. That store is amazing!! Used CDs are automatically better than new ones, because they're cheaper. Afterwards, we went to Buckingham Fountain and watched a dude blow bubbles. He was pretty talented; he had two sticks, with a string web between them. The bubbles produced were HUGE, some bigger than my torso. Of course, those were the bubbles that killjoys liked popping the most.

Later on, we went back to the friend's (Rachel's) office. Her husband Christ picked us up, and we went to Gino's East for some authentic Chicago-style pizza. If you're not familiar with that establishment, let me tell you: it's pretty amazing!! They let you write on all the walls, which creates an interesting look.

We brought 2 Sharpies, but they didn't work terribly well. Next time, I'm gonna bring a paintbrush and model paint...that'll do it. Some friends of Christ and Rachel were meeting us, and we made the mistake of waiting for them to get there before we ordered. Our pizzas took about an hour, but they were TOTALLY worth it. I had some of the Bacon Cheeseburger pizza; my two favorite foods, combined!!

Today, we've so far just taken the train places. We're here in town for the DMB Caravan, which we have tickets for tomorrow and Sunday. of course, I'll fill you in on that much more once it happens. Anyway, We wanted to make the train trip once before hand, so we'd know we could successfully navigate there. We have to take the Metra, which is a high-speed train that is somehow different than the subways and the El. I think it has fewer stops. We got to the venue successfully, and Christ picked us up from there to take us back home. Now we're just chilling at their house, and I'm blogging. nifty, huh?

Ohh, by the way. One of the posts I have yet to write is concerning Crush Of Society, and a trip we recently took to a REAL STUDIO. More on it later, but I wanted to share with you what we got done there so far. They're just instrumentals right now, and they haven't been mixed. Here they are on Bandcamp, where you can download any of our posted songs. Here they are on Facebook, which I strongly encourage you to like. Please!! Also on Facebook is a little bit about our T-shirts. They're $10 if you're local enough I can get them to you without an issue, or $15 if they need to be shipped. Check the stuff out!!

Anyway...I didn't use the Internet AT ALL yesterday, so I have a bit of catching up to do. I'll let you know about the rest of my trip soon!!

Busy Makin' Stuff

2011-06-27T16:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!! I've had an unproductive weekend, but all weekdays so far have been the opposite.

On Friday I went to see X-Men: First Class, which was EXCELLENT. I don't know what it is, but there's something about modern movies taking place during the 60's that I love. Definitely my favourite X-men movie yet...And I'd know, considering the next day I watched 1 and 2!!

Also on Friday, I went shopping for, wait for it, circuitry supplies. I got a book at the library called Homemade Electronic Music, which is all about how to electronically alter household objects to make music. It also has some stuff about building equipment like mikes, and making distortion-type things for guitars, which I'm extra excited about. ANYWAY, in order to make the stuff, I had to get supplies. Namely, a soldering iron and solder, as well as assorted wires and cables and resistors and capacitors and blah blah blah.

To get my soldering iron, I went to Harbor Freight. For the first time ever. That place is insanely amazing!! I got one for 4 dollars. At RadioShack, they were 20 bucks for the cheapest one. Is that crazy or what? I kept going through the store, saying "it's only TWO DOLLARS!! Might as well get one..."

So far, I haven't got much built. I tried to make a contact microphone, for recording acoustic guitars and stuff. It wasn't successful, but only because of the fact I bought cheap parts. I did everything else right, and it's actually pretty legit looking. Hopefully, I'll have some more related projects to tell you about in the near future!!

As for today's productivity, first I went to work. Actually, that's how pretty much every day starts off, but it sets the scene decently. Anyway, for the last hour or so I was there, I printed up an image of Crush Of Society's logo. Specifically, the words on it. I took the piece of paper, and cut out each of the letters so I had a stencil. Then, I headed home with a plan in mind. A plan to build...A Crush Of Society screen printing template!!! You know, for T-shirts and stuff.

I found a big 1x3 board, and cut it into four equal pieces. I made a square out of them, and then found some window screen. I drove back to my grandparents' house, to use their staple gun to affix the screen to the frame. I did, with the help of my grandpa. Seriously, without him I wouldn't have thought to hammer in the loose staples, and I wouldn't have stretched the screen enough. After that I headed back home, and taped the stencil I made to the screen. I colored it in with Sharpie, so the logo would appear on the screen. Finally, I found some duct tape, and taped all the parts of the screen I wouldn't want ink to go through.

Now, I have one (1) completed shirt. It's actually not dry, but it's already EXCELLENT looking!! In my opinion, anyway.

I did all this because someone asked for a shirt on our Facebook page, and I suddenly remembered my plans to make some. And since it's summer, I just went ahead and did it!! I'm quite excited about having these, because we'll be able to sell them at our (currently unbooked) shows!

Anyone want one? Seriously, if you'll pay for the shirt and shipping, I'll totally make one for you. Custom!!!

Anywhoo...I'm gonna go check on the shirt. Stay excellent!!

Summer (Woo?)

2011-06-23T18:36:00.000-07:00

Woo, Summer!!! I've been on break for about a week now...and despite my enthusiasm in the previous sentence, it's been pretty boring so far. I've mostly been working, and running, and that's about it. I've been getting up really early to do both those things, so once they're done the rest of my day is more or less spent online. And no one is blogging...but neither have I, so I can't complain too much.

Fortunately for my sanity, I've been making plans. Next Thursday, Tanner and I are (hopefully) going to hang out. On Friday, Bobby and I will be heading to a local free studio for teens, and recording. The place that it's at is actually pretty amazing. I guess the best way to describe it would be a youth community center? Apparently other places have them, but I've never heard of one other than the one we'll be going to. If it was in my town, I'd probably spend all my time there, because it's pretty sweet. They have art classes, and a huge drama club, and stuff like that...and, of course, a recording studio!! They book shows for bands too, both for the teens in bands and the teens who want to see those bands play. I'm definitely going to try and organize a show for us there, once we've recorded. From the pictures I've seen, their previous concerts' audiences are mostly shrieking teen girls, which will be a major bonus, hahaha!!!

Well...I'm afraid I don't have much more to write about. Hopefully I'll have some excellent insights for you soon, particularly ones concerning circuitry and whatnot (hint hint!) It'll be very awesome, I hope...until then, have a less boring summer than me!! And blog about it, please!!

End Of The School Year!

2011-06-16T08:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone!! Sadly, I've been distracted by finals for the last week, so I haven't blogged. Luckily for you, right now I'm just chilling in my mom's classroom after school. It's an excellent excess of time, perfect for updating everyone on how things are going.

First things first, for all of you Crush Of Society fans, our upcoming concert was cancelled/postponed. The school gymnasium they were going to hold it in backed out, saying they were afraid of being liable for anything that may happen. I suppose they have a good point, as my fast and loud music is likely to start a mosh pit. wouldn't want anyone's toes to get crushed...of course, I doubt the school would really be liable. STILL, Bobby and I are going to try out a new temporary drummer, run a few practices, and book a few shows in the greater Detroit area. Lucky for us, we both have some good connections. Also, there's a Facebook page that's dedicated to booking concerts in the area, and all you really have to do is ask them to play. Convenient, right?

Back to my exams, so far I've taken 4: Econ, English, Chemistry, and French 1. I got a 99% on the first two, because they were both insanely easy. The Econ test was 120 questions, but every question was repeated about 3 times. I was pretty confident about Chemistry for the days leading up to it, because the teacher let us make a one page cheat sheet. Mine was insane; I practically needed a magnifying glass to read it, hahaha! Unfortunately for me, it was due at the end of the day Tuesday. guess who forgot to turn it in? This guy.

I realized I'd have to study a bit, so last night I pulled out my notes and started reviewing them. Cue panic, when I realized I didn't remember anything. I had a mini-panic attack, but I managed to calm myself down after awhile. I played random chords on guitar, and sang what I needed to remember, and it worked well. I didn't remember anything I sang, but the things I studied stuck with me. the grade isn't posted yet, but my teacher stopped me in the hall to tell me I had the highest grade out of all the classes so far. I figure it's because I got rid of my crutch, and used only my own brainpower. Can you imagine what it'd be like if I studied for every test??

Ahh well...I think now is the time to study for my last exam tomorrow, Algebra. I have a note card cheat-sheet, but now I'm wondering if I really need it...anyway, wish me luck!! And of course, stay amazing!

Cruisin'

2011-06-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

GUESS WHAT? I got my Level 2 license today!! For those who don't have to deal with Michigan's graduated license system, that means I'm now able to drive alone!! Of course, there's a catch: only one other minor in the car with me, and no driving past 10 (there are exceptions to both if it's for school or work).

Passing my road test was, to be honest, ridiculously easy. I showed up 20 minutes late, partly because of an accident at an intersection right outside of the testing place. Because of the delay, my actual drive was only about 20 minutes. It was a little freaky, though - the roads I was on were WAY more congested than what they normally test people on, but I had no choice because of the accident (a tipped semi, no injuries).

In celebration of getting my license today, we ordered a pizza. A pizza, my friends, that I picked up myself. Alone. In my car. Blasting The Pixies. Know why? Cause I have my license!!

...And that's about it for this post. I still have an entire week of school left, PLUS tomorrow and Friday. My teachers are still introducing new lessons...bogus! Anyway, have fun not being in school!!

A Weezer-Themed Post

2011-06-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Hey there, everyone. I know that I told you I'd have some of the demos up, but unfortunately I still don't. However, as compensation, here is the video of me playing "Put Me Back Together," like I said I would make after the collage concert!

The reason I haven't posted the demos is, well, because I didn't like them. They were really hard for me to listen to, and the first time I did I had to skip over a few tracks. They had many problems, with blame spread out evenly. The instruments, vocals especially, were not played well. That's the band's fault, and I'm willing to accept that. Also, they didn't blend very well in the mixes; the vocals sat on top of all the other instruments, and guitars were too quiet. I understand that with some musicians, vocals should be higher up in the mix. However, our songs are mostly written with vocals as just some words to go with the music. We're not focused on highlighting our voices, because they're not good enough to do that with.

We're just going to focus on getting ready for the show in two weeks, and stop worrying about making something to sell. I know we play well live, because I've seen video proof. Therefore, we're just gonna have to please them in person.

On Wednesday, I had a persuasive essay assigned to me, on the topic of my choosing. Of course, being the music nerd I am, I decided my thesis would be "Pinkerton is an extremely important album, both sonically and culturally." Yes, I wrote a three-page report on an obscure emo album from the Nineties. What of it? Here it is, in case you'd like to read it! I have to deliver a speech on it Tuesday. Am I concerned? Not at all!!

So, that's about all that has been going on. Ohh, by the way, stop by and check out Lemons Don't Make Lemonade!!! It's an excellent blog, and whenever I see a new post from Jessica come up in my reader, I know I can look forward to laughs for the next few minutes! Her posts are terribly inappropriate, yet very intelligent at the same time. She's nearing 100 followers, so I had to help her out with a name drop.

Okay, then...I really hope you all like the video!! It took all of 45 minutes to make, you know...tons of effort!!! *sarcasm* Anyway, I have to go do musician stuff now, so stay wonderful until next time.

Locked In The Studio

2011-05-30T11:03:00.001-07:00

Ahhh...what an exhausting, productive weekend it has been. Thank goodness it was 3 days long!!

This weekend, in an effort to finish COS's E.P. in time for our upcoming concert, I hosted a 2 day, monster recording session in my basement. We were scheduled to be down there 7-8 hours both days, with non-stop working. We were trying out a new guy on drums, a friend of Bobby's named Anthony.

Sadly, Anthony hasn't worked out too well yet. We're going to try practicing a bit more with him before the concert, because we'd like to have him on drums. However, putting him behind the drums and immediately setting the tape rolling (figuratively) wasn't too great of an idea. We wasted about an hour trying to get the drums right on one song, and Stephen was getting super frustrated. The next day, we just had Steve do the drums on the song.

The first day, we got 2 songs completely done, plus part of a 3rd, the one with the drumming issues. We did Good One, Zen Stereo, and Camel Holocaust (the ill-fated one.) Seriously, Camel Holocaust has given us SO MUCH trouble. At our last session, we spent 3 hours on it, and ended up scrapping every track. This time, it did turn out better. Good One was recorded pretty painlessly, once we got Anthony on track with drumming to it.

Really, the biggest success of the first day was Zen Stereo. I'd never been happy with the song, and I was really wary of recording it. However, when we sat down to run through it, it sounded INCREDIBLE. We had Bobby on lead and vocals, Anthony on rhythm, Steve on drums, and myself on bass. I'd improvised the bass line right before the run though, and Anthony and Stephen had never played the song before. Still, somehow it all clicked. With the extra parts, a slower tempo, and an impressive solo, the song ended up sounding incredible. As I'm typing this, Stephen is IMing me about the finished mix. I'll have it up soon, for you dear fans!!

After the first day, Stephen and I were picked up by some friends and headed to The Raven, a VERY cool coffee shop nearby. It was my first time being there with other teens, which made it neat. Also, I liked the company quite a bit, which helps. The one guy, Scott, had just graduated, and it was the first time I'd seen him since then. Very fun!!

On the second day, Anthony wouldn't be getting there until 4. Steve, Bobby, and I finished up what had to be done on Camel Holocaust first thing in the morning; overdubbing my guitar solo, re-recording the (terrible) vocals, getting Stephen to do the drum part, and recording the bassline Bobby made up for it. We slapped some effects on it, and the rough mix sounded pretty excellent.

After that, we recorded a short, punk song that I wrote. No solo, no bridge, nothing; just verses and choruses. It's called "I Need A Life," and it started with some lyrics I wrote while working at a gym last summer. We rushed through that one, because Stephen had to leave to take care of his 4H animals as soon as possible. Once he left, Bobby and I just chilled. I taught him the basics of playing Minecraft, so he did that while I played Pokemon Silver on my Gameboy Color. Seriously, I've re-fallen in love with my Gameboy. It's so retro, and hipster-ish, but I also love the gamplay. Of course, this is coming from someone who hasn't seriously played videogames since 6th grade, so take it with a grain of salt.

All in all, it was a great weekend. Working in the studio is super-exhausting, and sometimes frustrating, but in the end it's going to be worth it. Stephen's going to get me the tracks tomorrow, and I'll try to have them up on here as soon after that as I can!

Viva La Revolution!

2011-05-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

Hey there - big things have been happening today!

To answer Julia (and Christopher)'s question, I'm from Michigan. Currently, the political situation in good ol' MI is "business-ruled oligarchy," with our new governor Rick Snyder and Congress ignoring and abusing the citizens. They're also trying to bust the unions, and are hurting the middle class by doing so.

What I mean to say is, they've eliminated all business taxes, and they're replacing that money by attacking teachers. I don't want to get into all the minuet details of how exactly that's happening, but it is happening - as the child of a teacher, it's scary as all get-out. As a high school student, it's scary. As a citizen, it's scary. If you're wondering about why I feel this way, check out some of the things that have been written on it; check out the laws that are taking away from my education.

ANYWAY, my point is that I went to a rally at the capitol building today, held by the Michigan Educator's Association in Lansing. That's the state teacher's union, of which my mom is a member. I thought it would be sweet to go to an actual protest, and hold a sign and whatnot.

The rally started with a huge picnic at the MEA headquarters, which was sweet. Everyone wore red, and it was a huge festival-type thing. The people were all nice, although we encountered a pretty weird situation at one point. This dude walked up to my mother and me, and started asking all these questions about what was going on. He said he was from out of the area, and was interested in the details of what was going on. We talked to him for around 20 minutes, and it started to seem a little strange. All of his questions were very professional sounding, and they did a good job of getting us to keep talking. Once he left, my mom told me that she was pretty sure he was recording the conversation; he was fiddling with something in his pocket the whole time (his jacket pocket, weirdos), and the leading nature of his questions suddenly made sense. We saw him talking to other people later, presumably doing the same thing with them. I know we both answered his questions intelligently and well, but it was a bit unsettling that he was (illegally) recording us. Oh well...we sounded too knowledgeable to be used for slander.

At 3-ish, everyone headed down to the capitol building lawn. By the time we had found a parking space, the protest was in full swing: a massive sea of red, with people lining the streets and waving signs. There were tables set up with petitions to recall Snyder from office, and people leading cheers. We stood by the road for a while, waving our signs and encouraging people to honk for us. It was surprising how many people took pictures of us - they seemed to like our signs!

At 4, people began speaking. There were about 10,000 people by that time, mostly from the teacher's union. However, there were also lots of United Auto Workers members, and Teamsters driving their semis around the block honking. The candidate who ran against Snyder was there, and his speech was pretty great. It did get slightly boring after a while, but it was really hard to not get caught up in the spirit. A reporter for some website interviewed me, and said there'd be some quotes from me in her final article. I'll definitely be putting a link up when it's published!

All in all, it was really cool to do. I had a lot of fun, and I felt really important. I've heard that protests "don't do anything," but I disagree. I went out there with 10,000 other people, and told my government that they haven't been listening. I felt like I was part of something big, and like I was taking an active role in determining my future.

I've gotta say...protesting does wear you out!! I have to go get some sleep - have a good one!

Drew Morgan, Live!!

2011-05-19T15:57:00.000-07:00

Man, too long since I've posted...

Last week was my school's spring concert, the Collage Concert. It's a chance for students to show off their talent playing apart from the band, which I did. Since this will be my last year in band, I knew I absolutely had to do something for myself there.

I had planned on doing a cover of "Hallelujah" with my vocally talented friend Leah, and myself on guitar. However, as time went on and I was playing and singing more and more, I decided to do something completely solo - guitar AND vocals. I helped Leah get "Hallelujah" ready for her to do without me, and worked on finding a song for myself. For a while I was considering "Whole Wide World" by Wreckless Eric, because A) it's the first song I ever learned to sing and play, and B) it's incredibly freakin' easy. However, I figured some of the lyrics weren't the best, and worried it would start to get repetitive. So what to play?

Eventually, I landed on the perfect song - "Put Me Back Together" by Weezer. I'd been trying to learn it for a while, but I couldn't find a completely accurate tab out there. I finally found a couple that were half-right, and combined them. Then I played it like crazy, until I had it down pretty well. I took my guitar to band class and played it for a group of 10 or twelve people, and it went down pretty well. Therefore, I was READY TO ROCK!!!

At the concert, I used all my own equipment. Well...sorta. I used a school amplifier, but nothing of mine was plugged into their worse-than-terrible PA system. I had my friend Jarred, a professional musician, do my soundcheck. He went as far up into the bleachers as he could, as far from me as possible. He then told me when it was loud enough, and then had me turn it up MORE. I felt bad for the people in the front, because it was LOUD. Not obnoxious, just a clean guitar and mic turned up to 10 - literally.

[This is where I'd normally post a video, but the one my mom took on her crappy cellphone camera is unlistenable. I can tell that I did well by watching it, but it's horribly static-y and clippy. My bad - I'll have to film myself playing it again sometime and post it!]

My performance went excellently. I think I was the most audible person there, because I was the only person with foresight enough to not use the PA. Also, this was the first time I'd sang to an audience this large, and it was a good choice to wait. Instead of making people listen to me start at terrible and get progressively better, I got really good privately and tried to blow their minds away my first time. Hopefully, that's what I did.

I did screw up a few times, but only one was slightly noticeable. I changed to the wrong chord on the guitar, and then shifted to the right one really fast. I might have gotten away with it if I'd stuck to my mistake, but it a bit more blatant the way it was. Still, I'm so incredibly happy with how I did. Not many people have come up raving to me, but the ones who have are very adamant, and people I virtually never talk to. They're the people who have no reason to fib and tell you you were better than you were, right? All in all, this performance got me really excited about playing for larger crowds. Which segues into my next paragraph nicely...

I found out about a benefit concert in a nearby town this morning, and signed myself up to perform. It's to raise money to pay for a cancer patient's medical bills, which I'm happy to help with. It's June 17th, so I'll be keeping you posted on that.

Woo!! Getting all of this written has re-kindled my excitement, hahahaha! Yeah...sorry about the enthusiasm, you'll have to watch out. Anyway - have good weeks! And to those who are lucky enough to be getting out of school already, don't have too much fun in the sun!!

Most Of My Post Titles Involve Exclamation Points!

2011-05-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

Holy crap - I just had a double-sneeze. A sneeze within a sneeze, if you will. Like, not one after the other - two at THE SAME TIME. It was slightly terrifying, but also exhilarating.

Anyway - this past week has been my birthday week! With the actual day falling on Tuesday. My family celebrated Sunday, because I was coaching JH quizbowl Tuesday. OK, let me get it out of the way - my mom gave me a refurbished laptop with Windows 7, my uncle got me a wah pedal for my guitar, and my grandparents gave me my grandma's old car. Phew...I dislike telling people about stuff like that, due to a fear of sounding like a braggart. Not my intention!

The laptop has been occupying large amounts of my time. I couldn't play Minecraft on our old family computer, but I now can. Guess who is addicted? Not me, actually, but it is really fun!! I've also decided I want to learn a programming language, so I've been messing around with Just BASIC. so far, I can write a program that holds a short, stilted conversation with the user...not useful in any way, but it is kinda cool.

Was that game, the one where everyone says the word "penis" with increasing volume, around before the movie 500 Days of Summer? I just ask because I remember that game from Jr. High, but I don't think the movie has been out that long. Also, I figured this would be the most socially acceptable way for me to meet That Blond Guy's challenge to say penis in my next post. Bam! Challenge met.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I must get back to eating leftover Chinese and watching Scott Pilgrim for the nth time. Drink your milk!

Prom Night, Prom Night, Gotta Get Down On Prom Night!!

2011-05-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! This last weekend was pretty freaking epic...My first prom was Saturday!!!!

Prom was amazing!! I started my morning out with a run, which was probably not the best idea because it tired out my legs. Still, you can't beat the invincible feeling you get for the rest of the day after a run. After that I headed into town to pick up my lovely date Gabby's corsage, and to dine on some of the best fast food on earth, Arby's. We were actually running kind of late at that point, because Gabby was coming over at five and it was already two-ish. I still had to shower, and the house had to be cleaned for pictures. Here are some of those pictures, by the way!

This is me, attempting to take a serious picture before Gabby got to my house. It was actually a challenge, because I was super excited and couldn't stop fidgeting.

This picture shows literally nothing about how we were dressed, but it does sh

ow the two of us together. I'll be able to post more pictures soon, fear not.

When we got to the country club place it was being held, we followed a group of students we saw heading to the back of the building. When we got closer, it became apparent this was the wrong way. Also, we realized the people we were following were all TEC kids, which is our school's trade-school program. They were all mechanics-in-training, and as soon as they saw me they were like, "Drew, follow us!!!" Then they got us lost. Also, all the girls walked way ahead of the guys, and Gabby was swept away from me momentarily...leaving me stuck with the guys, who were shouting loudly in their redneck-voices about how much they'd love to "tear up this golf course with my SNOWMOBILE!!!!" They then proceeded to make engine-revving noises with their mouths. needless to say, I was really glad to catch up with Gabby and leave them to their mechanic-ness.

When we got inside, we were shuttled over to the sign-in table. We were invited to vote for prom king and queen, but seeing as neither of us cared, we didn't. Damien and Cheyenne were there, and had two seats at their table for us. They went to find Tanner to give him a seat next to us, and Gabby and I went and got in line for our pictures. They then served us our dinner, which was pretty good. I didn't have the main food, chicken, just because I wanted a light stomach for dancing.

Speaking of dancing, I did. Like crazy. Tanner and Damien are great dancers, and they gave me a few pointers on how to not look like I'm having a conniption on the dance floor. We skanked the night away...even though there was no ska music playing.

Still, the DJs were great, and spent the whole night mixing and matching different songs up at once. They did an awesome job, and you could tell they were professionals.

After prom was over, Tanner drove Gabby and I to Denny's to chill. Damien and Cheyenne also came, as well as Damien's sister Ashley and her friend Lisa. I was surprisingly hungry, and had a fried cheese melt with a hush puppy sundae for dessert.

Damien took this picture while we were there, and I feel bad that I flipped off the camera. It's my natural reaction to a camera after midnight, and I figured there'd be more taken. However, it also makes me laugh, because it's a great picture. Tanner's stuffing his face with a burger, I'm giving Damien the finger, and Gabby is looking at me scoldingly. We sat around listening to music, singing various ska songs and annoying everyone with our rendition of "Friday."

We headed home after a while, and called it a night. My curfew's 11, but I didn't get home until 2 AM. My mom didn't care, because it was prom and whatnot. I had an excellent time, and I'm really glad Gabby took me.

Also, today is my birthday! I celebrated it Sunday, but I won't be giving you dear readers an update on it until I get time to write another blog post. I've been busy playing Minecraft on my new laptop...ohhh, spoilers??

A Few Super-Duper Blogs I Know

2011-04-25T17:33:00.000-07:00

Blogs I like...let's get to the linkage!!

First and foremost, I absolutely HAVE to link to The Nerd Archives. Actually, I think I did already recently, but it totally deserves a re-linking. That Blond Guy's blog is freaking hilarious!! It starts out with normal stories, and then adds on the insanity until you start to question what normality is...Also, he's to thank for most of my current followers, so double brownie points!!

Next up is The Blog Of A "Generic Dude". It's author, Tanner "Four String Finger Sting" Simmons, is a good friend of mine in real life. He was the one to play the awesome cover of "We Are Going To Be Friends" at the talent show, and I have a video of him playing bass and singing at a party here. His blog is a (slightly, amusingly hyperbolic) account of his going-ons - somewhat like mine!

Here's Consumable Sarcasm, a very cynically sarcastic blog. Ross reflects the horrible, hilarious thoughts everyone seems to have, and it's nice to see one isn't alone in their wickedness. Not to mention, he featured yours truly as a guest blogger once!!

Bookish.Spazz, who is a truly nice person. She even does volunteer work!! I wouldn't describe her as a photo blogger, but she does post lots of (very nice) pictures that help convey all of her stories. It's always nice to read the blogs of intelligent students who are dealing with the many adventures school tends to provide.

Finally, the blog that motivated me to do this, I Don't Skinny Dip...I Chunky Dunk. Eeshie recently tagged me in a thingy, and I was quite flattered. I realized that I should try to do the same for others!! Her blog is very smartly written, and quite humorous. It's cool to read about the adventures of a NYC native, considering the complete lack of non-farmers where I live.

Well, there you have it...This isn't an all-inclusive list by any means, because I love so many blogs you'd get sick and tired of reading the list. However, these blogs and bloggers have been particularly influential in my blogging life...quite often, they're the reason I post. If you're looking for new blog-roll material, these are the places to check out!

Talent Show - Ohh Yeah!

2011-04-23T15:38:00.000-07:00

Hey gang, what's happening? [pauses to listen] Sounds like it's been a blast! Unless it hasn't. In which case, I'm very sorry to hear about [insert event].

I was in my school's talent show on Thursday! As the astute readers may know, Stephen and I have been preparing to do a cover of "The Remedy" since November. We got a talented drummer, Jayme, to round us off, and rocked the house.

Right before we went on, we had a bunch of terrifying technical difficulties. When I set up my bass amp, plugged in, and turned it on, no sound came out. Stephen and I spent waaaaay too long trying to fix it, while the audience was waiting right outside the curtain. The teacher who organized it sent charismatic people out in front to keep everyone entertained, while she kept shouting at us "We're losing them!!!" We weren't, really, because they were getting louder and louder, excited. Jayme got sick of waiting, and started drumming loudly. when she did, the audience FREAKED! It was really awesome, actually.

Just as I was about to give up and cry, I adjusted a bolt thingy on my guitar and everything started working. It was turned up super-loud, and as a soundcheck I started playing "Blister In the Sun." I fixed my volume, and the curtains opened up. It was super-intense to be up there, with a full house of around 300-400 people. I was just trying to provide a strong foundation to the song by playing loud, which I thought I did. My amp wasn't as loud as it sounded on stage though, obviously, so a bit of the punchiness was lost. Still, I think I looked awesome up there, grooving and whatnot.

After we left, fellow blogger Tanner went up and played "We Are Going To Be Friends." It...was...AMAZING! He also had amp problems, but instead of panicking, he just moved up closer to the audience and played his acoustic unplugged. Also, because we were still tearing down our setup, he played in front of the closed curtains. The end result was a very emotional, beautiful cover of a song that's great to begin with. He took third, but I'm of the opinion he absolutely deserved first. After the show, Steve, Jayme, Tanner, and I all went to get ice cream at McDonald's and celebrate. Our performance didn't place, but it was so much fun that it didn't matter at all.

In other news, I got an incredibly awesome bag! It's olive drab canvas, and about notebook sized. Yes, it's a man-purse. So convenient! Plus, I feel more sophisticated by carrying it, so there's that.

One final order of business: I'd like to link to all the outstanding blogs I love, so expect that in an upcoming post. If you've linked me recently, fear not, I'm not going to be rude and refuse to return the favor. What kind of horrible person would that make me?

Well, friends...it's looking like we've reached the end of this post. Remember: stay in school!

Quizbowl: State Edition

2011-04-17T07:48:00.000-07:00

Ohhh yeah!!!! Quizbowl's state tournament was the past two days!! Two days, in the college town of East Lansing, with tons of time to shop on Grand River Ave. Plus, a last hurrah for my favourite school activity.

We left Friday morning around 7, a little while before school starts. There was a coaches' meeting at 10, so we made it there just in time. Our first match wasn't til 12:30, so the entire team left campus and went to some shops. Actually, at that time of the morning, most shops weren't open, so we all hung out in a student book store. After some time passed, we headed over to a Barnes & Noble, where we rode the escalators for a few hours. It was our small-town version of an amusement park, actually.

Our first match was crazy-easy, with us totally dominating. The first 10 minutes or so I was nervous, with my heart pounding and whatnot, but I relaxed after I saw how easy everything was. We didn't play again until 3:30, so we headed back in. This time, we spent our entire break in Urban Outfitters, reading all of their various coffee table books. I was getting worried they'd kick us out, actually, because it was pretty obvious we weren't getting anything. Hey, if they had affordable prices...I made the team sneak out the back door, just to avoid a confrontation...I'd hate to have to have a rumble in Urban Outfitters.

Our second match was in a tiny, airless room, and it was a bit more intense. We won again, but it wasn't by the huge point margin from before. We played again fairly soon, so the team just sat in the student union hallways and goofed around. I brought my Gameboy Color, so I sat and played Pokemon Silver. Yeah, I was pretty much a total geek, with my old-school gaming system...it's actually the only console I still have.

We lost the third match, by a very small margin. It took place in the same room we lost in last year, and had a terrible reader. He made little comments between questions, and wasted a lot of time. regardless, we still lost fair and square. The tournament was double elimination, with one loss per day, so we were done. We stopped by our hotel, and then headed to a great restaurant nearby for dinner.

When we got back, everyone sat around for a while watching TV, then headed down to the pool. We all spent a lot of time in the hot tub, talking to people from other teams. There were actually some guys we knew, from a school in our Jr. High team's league. I'd also gone to summer camp with one of them, so it was cool catching up. When the pool closed, everyone watched Adult Swim until we fell asleep where we were (which got us in big trouble, but never mind that.)

We didn't play the next day until 1:30, so we went back to Grand River Ave. It was Record Store Day, and we figured it'd be cool to check out all the great deals. Wrong. I'm the only person in the group who listens to vinyl, and even I wasn't interested in records this time. Every store was PACKED, with lines full of hipsters everywhere. We left the first shop we went to, FBC, and checked out a cool little thrift store for a while. They had really nice clothes, including a leather jacket I loved, but I saved my money for another time. We headed back to FBC, and it was much less packed. I got a bunch of bargain used CDs, and a promo from Sub Pop. I also got my fill of amusing hipsters, standing around and competing over their respective knowledge of underground bands.

We headed back to the tournament...and played again in the same bad room, with the same bad reader. And lost. It was another close match, too, which was kind of a bummer. We took 7th overall, which was an improvement over last year. Still, the whole trip was awesome, and I had a great time. Now, all I have to do is coach JH quizbowl...my schedule is almost free!!

Guess What? Still Spring Break...

2011-04-06T15:14:00.000-07:00

Day...five? of spring break. So far, I spent the first weekend ill. Now my mom's sick, with the same illness. I blame Gabby's mom's sister...that's as far back as I can trace it.

On Monday, Gabby and I went to the mall to find a shirt for me to wear to prom. It was kind of tough, because her dress is purple, and they don't sell many purple shirts. Furthermore, they don't make many shirts for Iggy Pop-sized people. Weird thing is, I always feel tall at my family reunions...

Eventually we found one, and it looks pretty freaking good. It'll look awesome, when I put it with my sparkley polka-dotted tie.

So...one last order of business: I feel the need to link to a pretty awesome blog I follow, The Nerd Archives. Actually, saying That Blond Guy's blog is "pretty awesome" is quite the understatement; I will regularly laugh until I cry after reading his posts. Nope, no real reason for my linking to his blog. It's not like he said he'd link to mine if I did...

Well, I must be off. I have a largish science project due as soon as I get back to school, so I really need to get crackin'.

Spring Break

2011-04-04T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ughhh...I'm on the tail end of what is either a horrible allergy spell, or a cold. I'm more inclined to think it's a cold, but I hate to say so because that would mean I'm not invincible to viruses after all. Stupid immune system, man up!

In other news, it's Spring Break!!! What am I doing for it? Nothing much, just a bunch of music-related endeavors. I'm glad to be having a low-key break, because I've been getting kinda burnt-out at school. Not horribly, just enough that I needed a break.

Also, I'm glad not to be going on the huge community vacation my town seems to have planned. Seriously, about 50 people are all going to the same resort in Florida; they all have matching T-shirts about it and everything. What's the point of that? It's somewhat cult-like and sad. Actually, my principal, his wife the chemistry teacher, my superintendent, and his wife the French teacher all took Friday off because of it. 4th hour chemistry literally had no teacher...it was like Lord Of The Flies in there.

Is anyone else on Spring Break? Doing anything cool? Going on a cult-trip to Florida?

Wipeout! And, Free Songs!

2011-03-26T18:05:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! The musical is over at school; thank goodness! Actually, it was last weekend.

It went shockingly well, considering how the dress rehearsal the night before the premier went. The best part was a dance scene in which three of the funniest guys in drama sang a very innuendo-filled song about "Luau Love." Right before the song, they hid behind a curtain and changed into coconut bras, grass skirts, and those T-shirts that look like bikinis. Actually, here's a picture:

Anyway, while they were changing, they came up with some incredibly funny improv-ed lines. I was pretty impressed with their ability to think so quickly, because there's no way I'd be able to be that fast on my feet while onstage.

I had two personal moments of pride during the play. The first one I'll mention came on the second night, when I decided I wanted my own chance at some sort of unexpected joke in the play. You might think to yourself, "But Drew, you were playing bass in the pit band! How could you possibly get a joke in the play?" Towards the end of the second act, there was a scene where the comic book nerd (the guy on the left in that picture, by the way) got the girl he'd been pursuing for the whole play. It was a pretty funny scene, and I decided to spice it up by doing a slide on my bass that sounded like "Woow-woooooow." you know what I mean, right? I hope so...

My second moment of pride was my own little moment of rebellion, along with Stephen (who played piano in the pit band), and a dude named Scott (who was playing guitar). Our absentee band director had made all of us incredibly mad by showing up at the last minute and acting like she deserved to be in charge, usurping power from Steve, who had put in enough hours of work to be the undisputed leader of the band. Her most annoying last-minute change was telling us to wear concert uniforms to the play; you know, the stupid-looking get-ups with vests that we have to wear to band competitions. Keep in mind, this was a musical comedy about surfers. If we were there in button-up shirts, with floor-length velvet dresses on the ladies, it would look really stupid.

So, we decided to not wear them. It had been warm all week, so we all showed up in shorts and Hawaiian shirts. Boy, was she pissed. It was actually kind of scary, but in a good way. It might seem like what we did was out of line, but trust me when I say we were not in the wrong. I can't stand my band teacher, and it was so nice to disobey her and show our displeasure.

Anyway...

On a completely different note, both of the tracks we recorded with Stephen are now on Crush Of Society's Facebook page. Like them? If you do, you're in luck, because they're both available as a FREE DOWNLOAD, right here!!!

Okay. Maybe you didn't catch that the first time; perhaps you didn't hear me correctly.

Crush Of Society's two singles are FREE, for you to download!!

Seriously, click it. Please.

You could be my biggest hero, and all you need to do is make sure these songs get heard. Download them, distribute them, play them at parties...I don't care how. Thanks!

Anyway, I should probably stop there, to avoid seeming too insanely desperate. Too late? Darn. Have a good one!

In The Studio (Formerly Known As My Basement)

2011-03-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

You know how I keep mentioning Stephen coming and recording Crush Of Society an EP? It finally happened yesterday! Well, the recording part. We only got 2 songs done, in 6 1/2 hours. But hey, it's a start! The one I've heard so far is absolutely amazing sounding - check it out! The ones we got done were "Gotta Get Out" and "I Don't Know."

Actually, I haven't heard the latter yet. It was the first one we did that day, and Steve was still working out the kinks in his new mixing board - purchased the day before, I might add! I played guitar, bass, and vocals on "I Don't Know," and bass on "Gotta Get Out."

It was kind of shocking how long the recording process takes. Each instrument had to be recorded separately, meaning we had to re-configure the microphones and amplifiers and whatnot for each song. Also, there was A LOT of down-time. Whenever someone else was doing their instrument's part, there wasn't much to do other than help set up the mics and sit around. Once we got all the tracks for "I Don't Know" recorded, Bobby and I just sat around and played table-top hockey while Stephen mixed parts of the song that had to be done right away. We would have played pool, but Steve commandeered the entire pool table, plus a large card table, with equipment and cables.

Ohh, the cables. The floor was covered in them!! Six 1/4 inch instrument cables, three XLR cables, and countless power cords for computers, amps, and pedals. PLUS, we had 5 different amps laying around, each in use. Two monitors (to play back what he'd recorded), an amp to run headphones through for the person playing at the time, and a guitar and bass amp. PLUS, two microphones and another thingy that looked and acted just like a mic, but apparently wasn't.

All in all, it was incredibly sweet. I can't wait to get more tracks recorded, and posted. Also, I intend to make these tracks downloadable, for all of you. They'll probably be free, so the music has a better chance of being distributed. It's getting exciting!!

Drew Morgan - Bass Doctor

2011-03-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

[Insert huge sigh of relief]

Well, I'm finally to the point where I'm not freaking out about activities any more. Mock trials is over, band has happened, and Math Field Day was last Friday. No, nothing was won. I did have a good time though! Now all that's left is drama club and the pit band. That's all easy, and not at all a worry of mine. Plus, the play is next weekend!

Does anyone recall the hollowbody bass I rescued from an antique shop a few months back? Did I even post about it? Either way, I got a bass guitar that was in serious trouble. The neck of the instrument was so bent out of shape that it was unplayable, the strings were rusted and nasty, and the string-mute foam was rotting away. To top it all off, the poor thing was coated in old cigarette smoke.

Well, your hero saved it. I tore the whole thing apart, and used my experience in woodworking (read: my grandfather's experience) to set the neck straight. I also gave it a good, well-deserved cleaning, and was immaculate. Finally, I bought it some top-of-the-line flatwound strings, to give it that 50's feel. I haven't put foam in it yet, but that's only because I haven't gotten the initiative to find the hunk of foam I used to use in my other bass.

Now, I can use it for pit band! Which is pretty sweet, considering the play we're doing is an early-60's surf thing.

Anyway...I have a humorous post coming soon; you'll just have to be patient!

Activities And Clubs

2011-03-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

Man...school has been exhausting lately. Between Quiz Bowl, mock trials, concert band, math team, and drama club's pit band, there's been very little down time. Fortunately, I finished concert band last Friday, and mock trials the day after.

Concert band actually went surprisingly well, considering recent conflicts I've had with my band director. *Fortunately,* rumor is that she is looking around to other school districts for a new job. Yeah, that's not something I should spread around; I really don't care when it comes to her though.

ANYWAY, we did extremely well. We got a rating of 2 on our rehearsed performances, and a 1 on our sight-reading tests. That's on a scale with 1 being best and 4 being worst. I like to think a tiny fraction of our good points came from the fact we had a double bass in the band, but that could just be self-importance.

Mock trials also went well, although the entire team was very sleep-deprived. Some of us from the band competition the night before, and others because of wild partying. Regardless, we performed well. I was only in one of the three trials, as a lawyer. I did decently, and our side (defense) totally dominated the other team. I was incredibly nervous when I went up to cross-examine my first witness, and it probably showed. When I approached her at the witness stand to hand her an exhibit, my hand was shaking and so was the piece of paper in it. To make things worse, she wouldn't take it unless I explicitly asked her to. The first time I went up, I had to quietly beg her to "Please take it..." Actually, it wasn't very quiet when I said that; my team, and some of the audience, say they heard it and found it hilarious.

Now, all I really have to worry about is math team and drama club. The math team's one and only event is actually tomorrow, so that won't be a concern for much longer either. Drama isn't for a few weeks, but I really love hanging out with my club members, so it's all good. I'm playing electric bass for the pit band, which is currently just myself and Stephen on piano. Supposedly a former high school student who hangs around my band class constantly is doing drums, but he's had yet to practice with us. We'd have more people, but my highly incompetent band director didn't come through on holding auditions for the various parts. The only reason Steve and I have gotten any practice is because we're with drama regardless of whether or not she holds practice.

In summary: my schedule is super busy, but it's going to free itself up pretty soon here. Well...I have to go get sleep. What kind of mathlete shows up deprived of his full 8 hours??

Words And Sentences

2011-02-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

You know, looking at all the activities I do in school, I'm pretty much the pinnacle of nerdiness. I'm captain of the Quiz Bowl team, I'm a lawyer in Mock Trials, I'm doing the Math Club activities this year, I do technical stuff in Drama Club, and all my varsity medals are either from band, Quiz Bowl, or academics. Also, I own a pin that says "Alpha Nerd," for what it's worth.

The snow is melting outside! The sun has been shining! The days are getting longer! ...And there's a snow storm headed my way...arggg. Hey, at least the worst of winter is over!

So...I've had so much Pepsi Max today I'm actually enjoying, craving water. I need to cut back on that stuff. I don't know if you know, but that's my one vice...

Blog, Or Memoir?

2011-02-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

Hey there, blog fans! How have things been? Actually, that's a redundant question; I've been reading your posts, so I already know.

Thanks for giving some feedback on those videos - hopefully, I'll soon be able to post some better versions. Oh, by the way, in response to your question That Blond Guy, Bobby and I are the only two in the band. We're hoping to go for a White Stripes- or Black Keys- type thing. Of course, when we record our fancy little E.P. - coming soon - we're going to use the wonders of technology to record more tracks than we have people for.

This blog is coming in handy for me - we have an assignment in English class to write a memoir about ourselves concerning a relationship that has been important to our lives. I've decided to write about my trip to Western Michigan University my freshman year, and the group of friends I met on that trip. I've written multiple blog posts about the trip, and the memoir is basically going to be an expanded, cleaned up version of those. Isn't a blog basically an online memoir, sort of, not really? That's what I thought.

So, I'm going to go get on that. That, and watching old Mock Trial videos - the team is having a court house practice on Sunday, and I need to get a feel for how lawyers need to act. Until next time - stay golden, blog-friends!

So Many Videos...

2011-02-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

Well...you asked, so I've linked to all the videos we currently have on Youtube. Hopefully you enjoy!

As you may hear me say at the end of this video, this was the first time I ever sang in front of anyone other than Bobby. It was pretty awesome to do, and I loved the rush. I definitely want to be a rockstar!

This is based on lyrics from the book "John Dies At The End" by David Wong. It's a favourite book of ours, and I thought it would be totally awesome to show up to a practice with a song written around it. So, I did. The band that plays it in the book is supposed to be incredibly bad, but hopefully we gave it a bit of life. As a YouTube commenter pointed out, the sound quality is pretty horrid. Fortunately, long-time COS helper Stephen is going to record a better version, and make an actual music video to go with it. More on that later...

This is another video from my party, of us pretending to be Sex Bob-Omb from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. As you can see, I'm totally Scott (despite the fact I'm not playing bass). Stephen is drumming, our good friend Tanner, from the band I Eat Stickfigures, is rocking bass and vocals, and a dude named Damien is (badly) pretending to play keyboards. I tried dancing like Scott Pilgrim while playing, which pretty much messed up my playing.

Last one from the party. This is an awesome song Bobby wrote, although I helped brainstorm additional lyrics. Steve's on drums again, despite the fact he'd only played with us on this song once before. the drums were really necessary, because the song sounds oddly empty without them. Also, Bobby's new 12-string adds a really great sound to the song, and his (improvised) solo is very fitting with the rest of the song.

This is a song we haven't worked on much yet. I wrote it a while ago, but I only really presented it two practices ago. I'm not terribly happy with this video, because for some reason I sound bored in it, and I slightly messed up the solo. However, I'm hoping to work with it a lot more, and I'll keep you informed about that!

This is a song that I wrote lyrics to about 2 years ago, and Bobby found in my lyric book. He recently wrote a guitar part, and gave life to what was previously a crappy poem. The two acoustics sound good in this video, but I'm hoping when we work with Stephen we can add the usuals, bass and drums, and a piano track.

Wow...mad props to anyone who has scrolled down this far, regardless of whether or not you've actually watched the videos. I'll probably post further concerning Steve's recording of our music, but for now I'll let you go, and recover from the length of this post.

Small Update

2011-01-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

Hey there, everyone. How's it been? I've been keeping up with all your lives, reading your blogs - just not updating my own. Well, I currently have a bunch of videos being uploaded to JayCut (an online video editing site) and a huge chunk of free time. Blog post? I think so!

First things first, here's the press release sent out about my trip to the State Of The State. I'm not totally happy with it - excerpts like, "Runner-up, Yale High School sophomore Drew Morgan watched from the House balcony" don't really sound very glowing. More like, "We had to keep him there to make his school happy - normally, we don't let long-hairs in the capitol building at all!"

The videos I mentioned uploading, by the way, are all videos Bobby and I have made of us playing various Crush Of Society songs. Hopefully, I'll have them on YouTube by tonight. While you wait with bated breath for them to be posted, you can re-watch our old videos here.

Last week was exam week...meaning 3 half days! Exams don't really stress me...they're just a little break from learning, really.

Hmm...this blog post started out with so much potential...I apologize for the disappointment it has become. I'll leave it as is, to avoid furthering its horridness.

Observations Of Politics

2011-01-20T18:05:00.000-08:00

So, last night was the State of the State. I took the day off school, and got to Lansing around 1 so I could do a bit of shopping before it. The governor's address itself was interesting, but everything else involved wasn't. I had to get to the floor (actually, the balcony) at 5:30, but he didn't actually start speaking until 7. I was advised to bring my phone with me and text, but no one would text me because they knew where I was and didn't want to interrupt.

I also had to deal with way too many politicians, all of whom were incredibly fake and smarmy. They all assumed I entered the essay contest because I'm interested in a career in politics, which just isn't true. Now I want that career even less, because of the horrible examples I saw yesterday.

Anyway, I took notes before and during the speech, mostly for the sake of this blog. Here they are, with my day-after comments underneath. And, photos!

This is me with the Senator who took me, leaning casually on the President Pro Tempore's desk

"Woah, there's a dude with a hook-hand sitting up front down there!"

[When I re-read this, it seemed a little mean sounding. It's not intended that way, but in a "that's awesome!" way. I actually read about a politician in similar circumstances who ran with the slogan "Hooked on So-and-so!"]

"I have the song "Closer" by Nine Inch Nails stuck in my head...not a good song to be humming while on the House floor..."

[I got the CD that song is on at a record shop earlier in the day, and was listening to it on the way there. I doubt anyone there would recognize it, unless they had to listen to it while trying to get it censored.]

The other contest winner, as well as our respective parents

"State government's version of the secret service is way different from federal; for one thing, they're all wearing red jackets. Some are bright read, while others are a more subdued shade of burgundy...I'm guessing the shade has to do with authority?"

[All the security dudes looked like bellhops, other than the things in their ears...]

"Apparently, the House is divided with Republicans on one side and Democrats on the other. I hadn't intended to sit on the Democratic side, but I'm kind of glad I did..."

[It was kind of funny, actually, considering the Senator who took me is a Republican.]

OK, that's pretty much it for notes and observations. There will probably be an article in the local paper about my trip, so when that is published I'll link to it. That way you can get all my opinions on the Governor's actual talking points, without me having to write them out!

Brand-New Suit

2011-01-17T18:57:00.001-08:00

Guess who's going to the Michigan State of the State address on Wednesday? This guy! I got the call from my Rep's secretary today after school. I was actually runner-up, but the top two contestants both get to go. Here's the essay, by the way.

Naturally, upon hearing I'd be going to a fancy political thing, I headed out immediately to town with intentions to buy a suit. And boy oh boy, did I. I'm not going to lie...I look pretty snazzy.

Kind of a freaky picture, but you get the idea...I'll have better ones after the actual event.

I apologize for my lack of posts...yesterday, I was busy being a rock star and having a band practice, which was, of course, productive. If you go to Youtube and search "Crush Of Society," our videos come right up to the top. Currently there are only a few from my recent-ish party, but soon there will be two more. And they are awesome. Consider yourself warned. Also, we have a Facebook page, which can be found by searching our name. That has a couple demos, and some sweet fan art posted by our good friend Tanner, who is an amazing artist.

The day before that (Saturday, for those who are as bad with dates as me), Gabby came over and we hung out. We picked her up from the community college library she was studying at early that morning, and took her shopping with us. It was fun, and I really love the fact that we could just go shopping and seem normal and stuff. After that, we watched Sweeney Todd and made pasta (which was delicious). It was a fun way to spend a Saturday, all in all.

Well, I have to go to bed and hope it doesn't snow bad enough for school to be cancelled. Normally I'd consider that insanity, but because I'll be missing at least part of 2 days because of the Lansing thing, I'd like to be able to get all my assignments and not drown in homework when I come back...

Essays Everywhere

2011-01-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

My dearest Internet friends, I've missed you all terribly. It's just that I've been writing various essays for the past few weeks, one after another. The most problematic is one I'm doing for my local state representative; the prompt is How To Reinvent Michigan, and the prize for the two best authors is a trip to Lansing, MI and a seat at the State of the State address. The prompt has been proving terribly hard to write about, because the rep is a Republican, and my solutions are of a more Democratic persuasion. However, I'm in it to win it, and I'm not above shaping an essay of my opinions to fit the judge's opinion. So basically, that's what the delay in posts has been.

On a completely unrelated note, I got a new bass guitar last weekend! I've been looking at it for about 5 months now, after seeing it in an antique shop over the summer. It's a hollow body Kent, and it needs some work. I'll be posting pics once it's all nice and purty looking, but it currently only has three strings and a wickedly bent neck.

Sadly, that's all I can really post about at the moment. I'm still finishing my essay to the Representative, so that has to go be done. Until next time...bye!

Well, You Look Familiar...

2011-01-04T18:28:00.000-08:00

For the past two years, I've been getting bass guitar lessons. I go to a local music shop every other week for them, and I'm taught by the same guy every time. For the past two years...I've had no clue what my instructor's name is.

You may ask, "How can you carry on conversation not knowing someone's name?". Actually, it's shockingly easy. He told me the first lesson, but I was so nervous it completely slipped my mind. Since then, it has been too awkward to ask. As time has passed, that's increased.

I didn't even realize I didn't know it until about a month in, when my mom asked me his name. After my failure to remember, I began planning schemes to try and figure it out. Ask him the spelling? Too risky; what if it's really simple, like Bill? There's no way to misspell that. Of course, I could just ask the shop owner, but that would be like admitting defeat.

At one point, while scheduling a lesson, I was almost caught. The owner asked, "Who's your instructor again?" As I fumbled for an answer, he remembered and continued signing me up, but he didn't actually say it.

My lucky break came very recently, while the owner was on vacation. I was going up to the counter to pay after the lesson, and the temporary guy asked me if Kenny had given me a bunch of homework. Yes!! I didn't even know what he was talking about, but I caught on quick enough.

Of course, there was still the concern that I'd heard him wrong or he had the wrong guy. I ignored those worries, and made sure to drop his name often in conversation with the owner. I even discovered his last name, whilst getting his address to send him a Christmas card. What is it, you ask? Don't know, I already forgot.

Situations like these are way too common for me. Could that possibly be the reason I hate socializing? Too many names...

Vet Trip

2010-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Welcome to Boyd's World, for all you new-comers. For those of you who haven't seen it, I have a guest post on Consumable Sarcasm that will be posted sometime today (Thursday). I'm totally going to blame my week-long silence on that, instead of plain-old laziness.

So, yesterday we took our cat Mozilla in to the vet's to be fixed. Our vet is in a town half an hour away, which is actually fortunate. You see, the town it's in was built around a sugar beet processing plant, which is really just a horrible concept. For those who don't know, the processing of sugar beets releases a smell into the air that can best be described as a combination of burning crap and stagnant, rusty water. And it will get in your car. And it will make you sick. And if you don't breathe, it will get on your tongue and you will taste it.

Anyway, we take him to that vet because the prices there are way better than anywhere else. It's a pretty old-school place, where they make no attempts at appearing to be a hospital-type place. They don't wear gloves, they don't sanitize the tables between animals, and they're incredibly laid back. That might sound like a turn off to some, but it's actually kind of nice. The place comes highly recommended by all the professionals in animal care, which also says something about him.

We picked Mozilla up the next day. As soon as I got inside the reception area, I was gagging with the smell inside. It reeked of cat pee in there, which let my mom to comment, "Wow, I couldn't imagine living with an animal that smelled like that." Yeah, I couldn't either, until we got to the desk and asked for our cat. "Oh, you're picking up the stinky cat? He's responsible for this smell." He sprayed in the office sometime after his operation, and it was horrible. To make things worse, the receptionist told us we couldn't submerge him in water to bathe him for a couple weeks. I don't know what would happen, but I assume he would start to turn inside-out at the point of incision or something.

Driving home, he sprayed again. By this time, between the smell of him and the smell of the town, I was dying. When we got home, my mother tried to get him clean with washcloths and disinfectant wipes, but it wasn't really working. He reeked, and refused to stay confined to the laundry room (the only room that could handle the stench). To make things even worse, my girlfriend was coming over in a couple of hours, and it would be the first time she hung out at my house. I wanted her first impression to be one of "hey, this is nice" and not "why, why does it smell so bad??".

We ended up rushing into town to buy some candles, and managed to cover up the scent pretty well. Mozilla helped out by constantly cleaning himself, which was actually pretty effective in stench-removal. He still stinks, but it's manageable now.

Well, I hope you all a happy Festivus and a Merry Christmas! Don't forget to air your grievances today, and to engage in feats of strength with your family!

Snowed-In Sunday

2010-12-12T15:36:00.000-08:00

Lazy, snow storm day today. I woke up at 8 this morning, and I haven't left the house since. Shockingly, there's only so much time you can spend on the Internet before it gets really boring.

To make things worse, our DVD player is starting to break. Fortunately, we made it all the way through Scott Pilgrim before it did. I'm not sure what I would watch if it was working, but it would probably be better that the three channels I get over the air.

To make things worse, I'm at a loss for bookage. I have been reading the His Dark Materials series, but I finished them Friday night. Looking past the very controversial aspects of the series, they're incredibly captivating and great. I was completely sucked in by the writing, and now I can't think of anything that will be able to fill the hole they left. I seem to recall having similar problems last time I read them, although that time I didn't know how they ended and was even more crushed by the sad ending. I picked up Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman to read earlier, and I'm hoping the short stories will ease the transition back into reading again.

To make things worse, I loaned Bobby my only microphone, so I can't make any more recordings. I suppose that's for the best, considering my voice is completely shot. Mixing a persistent asthma cough, a possibility of tonsillitis, and about half a gallon of Arnold Palmer spells out serious issues for my throat.

To make things worse, now I'm disguising an average post about a lazy Sunday as a theme post. Hopefully, the ends justify the means!

Laptop Recording

2010-12-10T19:04:00.000-08:00

Guess what is only a week away? Christmas break! Sadly, teachers are giving more homework than ever to compensate. Even worse, textbooks and notebooks are larger than ever, and it's nearly impossible to carry all of them home at once. Stupid pictures in textbooks...

Anyhoo...

Last Friday, I spent the evening home alone whilst my mother was volunteering at an event of some kind for some sort of organization. In an attempt to be productive during the 6+ hours I had to waste, I decided to move my guitar and amp into the basement, and set up a mic. I recently found out about a local youth center that has a complete, professional recording studio set up in their complex that is free to use for anyone ages 12-18; In preparation to go there, I need to practice singing into a microphone, and tighten up all my songs.

Anyway, I played in my basement with my guitar and the microphone for a while, and I was really happy with how it sounded. However, I couldn't be 100% sure I sounded good without recording myself and then playing it back. Instead of going and getting my mp3 player and making really crappy recordings like I would normally do, I decided to try and use my computer - and the mixing software on it. I recorded a guitar track, then layered on a vocal track, and finally made a really simple, generic drum track to go with. I mixed them all up, made them sound all pretty, and listened to the final product (link to our page; it's the one titled "I Don't Know").

It sounded really sweet. So sweet I had to take down the version of the song that was on COS's Facebook page and add the new one. When compared to the new one, the old version sounds like a whiny, off-pitch 10-year old singing a generic break-up song over a super-slow, messy guitar. Meanwhile, the new one has a fast, crunchy guitar, favorably distorted vocals, and...still sounded like a generic break up song. Well, two out of three ain't bad.

I'm really excited about re-recording all our songs in this manner, which will hopefully tighten everything up and make us actually sound like we know what we're doing. Maybe?

A Christmas Carol

2010-11-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

The play went well! Sorta well, anyway. The lights went well every night, with only a few silly mistakes on my part. The hours of working were pretty crazy, but hey, it was for a paycheck, right? Yeah...

The final night, after the show was over, we got our checks. I made...[drumroll]...$30. For six nights of 3-4 hours each. That means I made between $1.25 and $1.67 an hour. I hate to complain about not making enough money, but that's not even enough to pay for the gas driving 40 minutes each way. Well, if I hadn't gotten a ride with Stephen, that is. My biggest complaint is really the fact that I could have been working in my grandparents' shop those nights, and avoided getting in trouble for getting home at 11 P.M. on a school night.

Well...at least I can say I'm a professional lights technician now, right?

Thanksgiving Post

2010-11-25T19:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, American readers! I personally have absolutely gorged myself on food today, starting with cinnamon rolls at breakfast and ending with an entire box of Sour Patch Kids at the movies.

I started my day out with a run, in a misguided attempt to be at least a tiny bit healthy today. However, my three cinnamon rolls didn't sit well, and I had to take a walk break about halfway through.

Thanksgiving dinner went well, with my grandparents and uncle coming over. The food was delicious, and sitting around talking after was nice. My uncle brought his guitar over, and we both played a little as well.

After the family left, my mom and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie. It's absolutely fantastic, despite being the darkest of them yet. I really liked the camera effects, which really made the movie look realistic. It was actually quite scary at parts, particularly in a scene where a snake leaps out of the screen at you. Everyone in the theater knew it was coming, but it still managed to make the entire crowd jump.

I also liked the symbolism in the movie concerning the Ministry of Magic. When it's taken over by Voldemort's people, there are a lot of connections to WWII Germany. There are soldiers with red arm bands and storm trooper boots, leather trench coats are worn by the "top" bad guys, and there's a campaign against impure muggle blood. It was pretty noticeable, but I don't recall making the connection at all while reading the book.

In other news, I have a temporary job! I'm the professional lights guy for a local community theatre's production of A Christmas Carol. I'm actually being paid, which is awesome. There were two other guys who live in the town of the production that were considered, but I got the job because I actually called the director. They were brought on as backups, but won't actually be running the lights during any of the shows.

Stephen, former drummer of COS, got me the job because he does piano for them. I must admit that it's a bit terrifying working with very serious actors that know their lines and are completely competent. Actually, it's been quite funny at practices: there are all these adults working very hard onstage, and then there are four teens sitting on a balcony in the back goofing around. Don't get me wrong, we've been doing a good job, but we aren't at all as serious as anyone else there.

The premier is tomorrow night, so be sure to watch for an update on how it goes!

Town Happenings

2010-11-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Hey there. I apologize for a lack of posting; there's been a bit of drama in the town I'm in the past week, which has made it kind of un-blogworthy.

The short, summarized version is that a husband and wife were attacked in their home, and stabbed about 20 times each. The husband died saving his wife, who was put in ICU at the local hospital. She is a teacher at the junior high, and every single student in town has her for EMP at some point.

Now, there are three people responsible. The two who broke in, as well as the victims' own daughter. Her and one of the boys were dating, and her parents didn't approve. They plotted the killings over a few weeks' time, and are currently in jail.

I was really good friends with the girl, and I'm still friends with the brother of her boyfriend (the attacker). It's inconceivable that a good friend of mine, someone I had lunch with the day it happened, could have planned something like this. Everyone liked her, and she was very active in many organizations. She was honestly the last person anyone would expect.

So basically, the entire town is still trying to get over what happened. Nothing much has happened around town that isn't related to the stabbing, so there hasn't been much worth writing about.

I'll make sure to have a less dismal post soon!

Murder In The Air

2010-11-10T03:56:00.001-08:00

Hello there! I imagine you're all very excited to hear about the play last weekend. Well, let me fill you in!

Thursday was our dress rehearsal, which was kind of alarming to be at. It became apparent we weren't 100% ready for the premier on Friday, especially in the sound/lights department. For example, we didn't test our sounds at all. I finally learned how to do the lights properly, and then discovered I did literally nothing for the entire show. The skits before the main play, however, required very dedicated lighting, because they featured so many different sets and parts of the stage.

On Thursday I also discovered something totally awesome, and terrifying. The director, whom I will refer to as coach because I can't spell her name, has had a problem with one of the actors for quite a while. He never comes to practice, which means I've had to run his lines a few times to fill in. Well, on Wednesday before practice, our assistant director Cortny was telling me about how he had been threatening to quit the play if coach yelled at him one more time. I said, "Hey, if he does quit, tell coach I know all his lines." That night he was two hours late to a 2 1/2 hour practice. Coach decided to kick him out, and told me to start practicing the lines.

Bear in mind, this happened THE DAY BEFORE the premier. She decided he could do his part opening night, but on Saturday I'd be doing it. I got my picture all hung up in the hall alongside the rest of the cast, and started practicing like crazy. On Saturday, I was freaking out. I barely knew the blocking for the part (read: where to stand on stage), and I had crazy nerves. I was also supposed to do a German accent for the character, one of the only accents I can't do. I decided to try a very snooty, affected English accent at the last minute, and delivered my first line (introducing my character) perfectly. After such a good start I figured I had it down, I mean it was starting to make - Wait, what? Was that my line I just missed? Why is everyone staring at me? Yeah, I forgot my next line. I delivered it about ten seconds late, without standing up or using the accent. From that point on, I was a bit too quiet, and I completely lost the accent. Still, all in all, I didn't horribly ruin the play. I suppose that's not too bad after only two days of practice with zero stage time.

Going out of chronological order, the first night went well. I barely screwed the lights up at all, and the actors did a great job. The best part of the night, however, was going to Denny's afterward. It's a tradition in our club, a tradition I missed out on last year due to illness. I ordered the infamous Cheese Melt Sandwich, along with pancake puppies and ice cream. To wash it all down, I had about three of these drinks that were an incredibly delicious mix of Sprite and pineapple-orange juice. Needless to say, by the time we left I was sick as a dog. As my friend Tanner described it, I felt "juicy". To put it as another friend worded it, we were all fruited out.

All in all, I'm really glad I chose to rejoin drama club this year. It was way more fun than the year before, and I got to hang out with some awesome people I wouldn't have otherwise met. In addition, I got to write an epic blog post! You're all welcome.

Halloween Weekend

2010-11-04T17:53:00.000-07:00

OK, today I must post about last weekend, because this weekend is going to be yet another blog-worthy time. It's the school play, which is guaranteed to be interesting (not to mention it has a special, amazing, fantastic twist!)

But I digress. Last weekend was, of course, the weekend of Halloween. Not much happened Friday, other than me wearing my red skinny jeans for the first time in about six months. Actually, French Club (a social club of which I am a member) had a bake sale that day. I brought in my snack (chocolate-chip cookie bars), dropped them off at the table, and went about getting my books and leaving them in first hour. After that, I headed back down to the table to buy some hot chocolate. While I was standing in line, our principal came up to Gabby and me and asked, "Are you two in French Club?" When we told him we were, he said, "Good, get behind the table and help." We got trapped into working, and they ran out of hot chocolate before I got any. Well, I at least got to be really late to first and second hour.

On Saturday, Bobby and I went to see the local theater production of Rocky Horror Picture Show. After I went last year, he became quite envious and wanted to go if they put it on again this year. I didn't think they would do it two years in a row, but apparently it was popular enough last year to do an encore. It was a great show, with more jokes and departures from the movie than last year. The tickets were a bit pricey, but I'd say it was well worth it.

Sunday was, of course, Halloween. This year was the first year I haven't gone trick-or-treating, which was sad. Of course it was a bummer not to get all the free candy, but that wasn't the only reason. It was just weird in a general sense. I feel mature, which is good but strange. Anyway...

Instead of going door to door and begging candy, I went to Gabby's house and passed out candy with her. She lives in town, so her house actually gets people. That's something I've never experienced, having spent all of my memorable life in the country. It was very fun, even though trick-or-treating hours in town were from 5 to 7. Ridiculous, right? I think a curfew on Halloween is stupid in general, but at 5 it's not even dark yet. How lame is that?

Well, that sums it up for last weekend. Tomorrow is the premier for the play, plus the drama club's traditional trip to Denny's (which I am really looking forward to). Saturday is going to be the showing that's more important to me, for reasons I'll give in my next post. Saturday is also the cast party, which is great. Last year I couldn't go to either Denny's or the party, because I was super sick. Swine flu sucked...

Well, time has certainly flown whilst typing this. I'll make sure to update you on how the play goes!

Corn Fight!

2010-11-01T17:43:00.000-07:00

Hmmm...it seems I'm another weekend short of my posting schedule. Oh, well, lets look at the next chronological week according to my posting (the one before Halloween weekend).

The Friday of that weekend, I went to a Halloween party. I probably mentioned having gone to the same party last year, thrown by my then-girlfriend Courtney. This year I went without a date, as Gabby was unable to go. I must say, the party was just as fun this year as it was last year. As soon as I showed up, my annoying locker partner Jon and I started jumping on the trampoline in 50 degree weather, which quickly caused others to get on as well. It ended up being myself, Jon, and my friends Kyle and Halie. I'm pretty sure we maxed out the weight limit, which was kind of freaky considering it was pretty old and there were holes in the fabric. I almost fell off at one point, and put my leg up to the knee into a gap in the springs. I ripped a big hole in my jeans and bruised my shin, but that was it.

When it got dark, everyone piled onto the hay wagon Courtney's parents set up and headed to a local corn maze. I originally set out with a group of people to try and find all the stations in the maze, but soon Kyle suggested something way more awesome. "You guys wanna have a corn fight?"

Kyle, Jon, and I started throwing corn across the field at another group of guys we knew would be willing to fight, and soon it was in full swing. Towards the start of the fight I had to, ahem, use the bathroom, and shouted to Jon and Kyle, "Cover me, I gotta pee!" This was, in retrospect, a bad idea. I tried to move out of range of the corn, but pretty soon there were ears flying by me on all sides. To make matters worse, Jon and Kyle ran by me screaming, "Run away! Run away!!" in their best Monty Python voices. Apparently, the other team had began throwing entire stalks, which I discovered myself after one nearly hit me. I finished my business and ran out of the corn, trying to catch up with Jon and Kyle while the others were moving in closer.

Pretty soon, the shells started to fall. Jon disappeared, and Kyle and I were being hunted two to one. We could see the others by the masks they were wearing, which glowed brightly in the full moon. I kept refusing to retreat, despite Kyle's protests, and despite the fact I was getting hit in the arms and chest. Well, while trying to get someone a few rows over, Jon's brother Will flanked Kyle and I and started running at us, chucking corn the whole way. Kyle ran, and I tried to keep him back by returning fire. When I turned to launch an ear, "BAM!" I was hit right in the face.

Now, believe me when I say harvest corn is as hard as a rock. I was hit in the lip, and started spitting out blood as well as what looked like teeth. I ran after Kyle, trying to avoid getting hit more. When we got out of danger's way, I had him check my face with a flashlight. The entire right side of my chin and lower lip was gashed up pretty bad, but I hadn't lost teeth. It turns out pieces of corn are the same exact shape and texture as teeth. It was pretty funny when Will came up and said, "Holy S**t, are those teeth?" He got hit in the face too, with a black eye to prove it, so I wasn't too worried about revenge.

My lip is still healing, and my chin was pretty nasty looking for a few days after the party. When I got in the car after the party, my mom took one look at me and said, "What did you do?" when I told her, she just shook her head and said, "Guys are idiots."

The next day, I went to a haunted house with Joe. It was quite a bit of fun, although I doubt you want a blow-to-blow description, as this is already a super-long post. Honestly, if you make it this far, I'm super impressed. Drop a comment and I'll give you an award.

As for Halloween Weekend, well, it looks like that's going to be another post on another day. Soon, considering I need to catch up. Sooo, until next time...

Not The Most Recent Weekend, The One Previous

2010-10-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

Dearest readers, my apologies for not posting, especially considering my promise at the end of the last post. As I mentioned, last weekend was pretty awesome. This most recent weekend wasn't too shoddy, either.

Starting with the Friday after my last post, we had a really great last football game. The seniors in marching band got recognized in a big ceremony thing, and it was quite impressive. We also did well on our new entrance to the show.

The following morning, we had our big regional marching competition. On the way there we took two school buses, divided by "Freshman-Sophomore" and "Junior-Senior". Now, I'm a sophomore, putting me on the first bus, but Gabby is a Junior, putting her on the second. I'm not too big on the people in my grade or the freshman class anyway, so I decided I really didn't want to ride the first bus. I went to Geurbe and said, "My class and the freshman class both kind of suck. Can I ride the other bus?" She rolled her eyes, sighed, and said, "Fine, Drew." Yet again, it's proven that asking for things often gets them for you.

We did pretty well with our actual performance, getting an overall rating of 2, with the best possible being 1 and the worst 4. Our showmanship was amazing, and my nearby friends and I really rocked the dance moves on the song "Born To Hand Jive". The audience went crazy during that song, and it was great to hear them start cheering and applauding.

After I got home from the competition, I lazed around the house for a while. That night, my mom's friend Joe was taking me to a haunted house. It's a tradition for us to go to them each year around this time, because I think they're really fun but my mother starts to hyperventilate as soon as she gets inside of one. We went to the same one as last year, because it was very well-made and quite terrifying. However, upon arriving at the farm where it was, we discovered the barn it was in had burned down last December. The owners were still doing a hay ride, and had built a makeshift "fog maze" for those who didn't want to go on the hay ride. it was impossible to just walk away, especially after the lady told us that all the profits were going towards getting a new barn built. The fog maze was OK, considering the circumstances. It was really just a maze, that three teens in costumes followed you through. It wasn't terribly scary, as you were mostly left to your own devices.

Actually, getting through the exit was terrifying. Joe saw the doorway leading out and walked right out. When I tried to follow, however, a girl in costume jumped in my way and started screaming, "Wrong way, Morgan!!!" (In retrospect, it was a mistake to wear my varsity jacket with my name on the back in glowing white letters). I tried to explain that Joe had the keys to the car, but somehow that didn't sink into her zombie brain. Eventually, I gave up and said, "OK, I'll just stay in the maze. Can I have a costume and work here?" She just stared at me like I was the crazy one. I headed back into the maze, but my path was blocked by another dude in costume. There was really loud music playing outside of the maze, and the guy started dancing to it. The girl appeared on my other side and began dancing as well. I figured, "Eh, might as well have fun," and began dancing myself. When I did, the girl shrieked, "GET OUT!!" and finally moved out of my way. Perhaps they knew dancing among peers was one of my worst fears?

The next day, Gabby and I went to see Easy A. It was pretty good, although a bit cliche. I still really enjoyed it, partly because Emma Stone played the lead role. We had the theater almost to ourselves, with only one other group of teens in it. I had a lot of fun, and it was Gabby and my first "date" that had nothing to do with school.

Well, I hate to say this, but it doesn't look like I have the room or the time to blog about this most recent weekend. Rest assured, I intend to, because the events that occurred were of epic proportions. I got in a fight that resulted in a bloody lip and fear of lost teeth! Don't judge me yet, however, because you haven't yet heard the full story. Bet you can't wait!

Sunday In Chicago

2010-10-13T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone - sorry about not getting this one up sooner. We didn't get home until 11:30 on Sunday, and since then I haven't been able to go through the pics from the trip. However, I'm stuck in a B&N Starbucks for an hour and a half, so nothing can stop me now!

On Sunday, we woke up super-early to go watch the race. It started at 7:30, and we were by the 20th mile. I was amazed at how soon the wheelchair racers went by - they were super fast! The elite runners weren't far behind, either. After them, everyone was looking worn out. The 19th, 20th mile area is where most people hit the wall, and you could tell. Some of the runners were sobbing as they walked by, and most of them were limping. It was really hot that day, which only made things worse.

After we watched the race for a while, my mom decided she was hungry. We were in a very Mexican neighborhood, and a church nearby was running a concession stand. I had to go get my mom food, which just didn't turn out well. Doing something like that in a city, where everything moves really fast, would have been hard enough if everyone was speaking English. At first I couldn't place my order right, then I couldn't tell which order was mine. The lady taking the money spoke English pretty well, but the cook serving the food spoke nothing but Spanish. I tried to take someone else's order on accident, then had to go back and figure out where the forks were. All in all, it was just super-duper stressful.

After watching the race for a while longer, we went to brunch. The place we went was a hipster haven, but they had really good food. I got a potato and corn scramble, with tots and toast. Their tater tots weren't Napoleon Dynamite style cylinders; they were huge fried spheres, that you practically had to eat with a fork and knife! We watched more of the race from the front window of the restaurant, and were glad not to be out there.

We went to a bakery to pick up cupcakes, which was sweet because it was a 'punk-rock bakery". They had screen prints of famous album covers, millions of band stickers, etc. So far, I've had those same cupcakes for breakfast every day. They're quite delicious, so it's all good.

That was pretty much the end of the trip. Unfortunately, most of the pictures I had planned on posting aren't on the computer yet, so those will have to wait.

In other news, I got my varsity jacket! It's pretty sweet, even though my friends have all told me it goes against almost everything I stand for. I don't really care, because it's sweet.

This weekend is going to be jam-packed with fun, so you can definitely expect a post! Football game Friday, marching competition Saturday followed by haunted housing, and then a trip to the movies with Gabby. Going to be an awesome weekend!

Chicago: Day Two

2010-10-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

Day 2 of being in Chicago! To start off the day, I got up around 7:30 in the morning (way too early for a Saturday, especially when no one is forcing me to get up). Christ made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, which were awesome. Who's that, you're asking? Oh, just a friend. Yeah, I'm friends with Christ. Pretty cool, huh?

My mother, her friend Rachel, Rachel's infant and I went downtown for a while, which was fun. We went for a walk through Millennium and Grant Parks, and narrowly avoided being trapped in a country music festival. Fortunately, all we had to hear was the drummer and bassist warming up.

My mom and I went into the "Fine Arts' building on State St., mostly because it looked cool. There was a sign out front advertising a used book store on the second floor, but it was closed when we checked it out. The building seemed to be full of music students heading to and from various symphonic instrument lessons. While we were waiting for a herd of them to clear out of the stairwell, one of the kids slipped on the bottom step and landed on the neck of his cello. It was in a case, but from the way the neck of the instrument looked, he definitely broke it. My mom now thinks I'm a curse to classical instruments everywhere.

We went to Old Navy, which was quite an experience. This particular establishment was three stories, and the bottom floor (women's) was a total feeding frenzy. They had a big $16 sale going on, which we totally took advantage of. My mom, the infant and I abandoned Rachel in the chaos downstairs, and went to look for cool clothes for me. I found a really nice looking pair of black corduroy skinny jeans, for the crazy price of $16. Buying clothing at that store for full price would just be foolish, they have such insane markdowns sometimes.

We headed to a place my mom found on her Blackberry that had Chicago-style hotdogs. It was in this nasty cafeteria, but the food itself was awesome. I got a gyro, and shared some chili fries with everyone (except the infant). After we finished eating, my mom pointed out a lady changing a baby on a table. I felt a bit queasy after seeing that, trust me.

We picked up some Chicago popcorn, then took the El home. A little while later, we swung by a huge, supermarket size liquor store, then stopped by a Mexican party store. I got a glass bottle of Pepsi imported straight from Mexico there! Now I'll never be able to drink regular Pepsi again...

The rest of the evening is going to be pretty low-key. The Michigan vs. State game is on TV, and my mom is making some kind of soup meal for dinner. tomorrow, we'll be watching the marathon and cheering people on, then driving home. Of course, you can expect a post about that when it happens!

A Well Earned Trip

2010-10-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging from Chicago! Pretty sweet, huh? I totally skipped school to drive down this morning and spend the weekend. Of course, this weekend is the Chicago Marathon, which is how my mom "justifies" this trip. Marathon or not, this city is awesome!

The drive here was fun, considering it was five hours on the road. We arrived around 1:30 (Chicago time) and dropped our bags off at my mom's friends' house where we're staying. After that was all taken care of, we hopped on the city bus and headed to the convention center where the race expo is. Even though we aren't running it, expos are always fun to go to. Lots of free food, and good deals on running stuff like clothes.

After taking the bus back home, I came to the conclusion that I'll never be able to depend on public transportation on a regular basis. Waiting for the bus, we actually witnessed a gang-related thing of some kind. I'm not totally sure what was going down, but two thugs were met by a third thug in a car (that parked right in front of the freaking bus stop!) and they flashed each other gang signs. Fortunately, the bus showed up quickly. The ride back home was interesting, and not in a good way. The bus was totally packed, and I had to stand for a while. I don't mind giving up my seat for someone, but it is pretty tough to stay upright while in motion. Then this tool with a cell phone got on, and proceeded to give parents on the bus plenty of reason to cover their children's ears. I was really glad to get off the bus, is what I'm pretty much saying.

We hung out at my mom's friends' place for a while, watching their new infant play. I read most of that time, and was totally zoned out of any conversation that occurred. Apparently, it was decided that we would go to eat at an Italian/organic restaurant near Wicker Park called Crust. The place was full of hipsters, but the food was awesome. Actually, we ate in an enclosed outdoor area, which was nice. The table next to us had a dog sitting at it, which I found pretty weird. We ordered a bunch of thin-crust pizzas, and I had a very tasty root beer. The pizza was incredibly delicious, and it was really high quality.

Well, I think I'm getting up early-ish tomorrow, so I'm finishing up this post. No clue what we're doing with our day, but since it's in Chicago, it will definitely be fun!

Homecoming & The Dance!

2010-10-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

Go Bulldogs! Yesterday was homecoming for our school, and today was the dance. Pretty awesome weekend!

First, the actual day of homecoming and the football game. We did almost no learning in school yesterday, because we had no 5th or 6th hours and teachers didn't want to screw up their schedules. Also, everyone was absolutely insane and impossible to teach. After 1st hour, some geniuses on student council decided to dump about 20 trash bags of balloons in the hallways, which went just about as well as you'd think. I felt like I had to duck and cover, because balloons were exploding left and right. I saved one from the melee, which we later used to play hacky-sack during 5th hour. About halfway through 5th, we had our pep assembly. The pep assembly is pretty sweet because the entire school walks to the city park across the street, with the band leading the "parade". From that point in the day on, anyone in marching band was total property of Guerbe (band director).

We had practice for the show right after the buses left, and then we just hung around the high school until the parade started. Then we had to uniform-up, start walking through the streets of town, and make total fools of ourselves in front of everyone not cool enough to be in band. Good times.

The football game was great. The first play our school made resulted in a touchdown, and half the band was still getting into the bleachers when we started the fight song. The final score of the game was 58-14, with us the victors. Our show went pretty well too, even though we had to change it around a lot for the homecoming court announcements. We cut two songs from the show, and then made a tunnel for the court and stood there playing "My Heart Will Go On" over and over again. Still, musically it was nice. At least I didn't completely blow my voice out by screaming, like I did last year.

Then we get to today, the dance. I'm normally not nervous before dances, but I actually was today. I went to work at my grandparents' shop in the morning, and I couldn't concentrate I was so excited. I spent forever getting ready, and I think it was totally worth it. I met my date, Gabby, at her house before the dance for pictures, of which there were many. That was super, super awkward for some reason; I think it had to do with going to her house for the first time, and having a camera in my face, and being all dressed up. Still, we got some nice pictures.

The self-caused awkwardness at her house was over eventually, though, and we got to the dance. It...was...AWESOME! I had an incredible time. Even though they didn't play "Pour Some Sugar On Me"....I didn't realize they hadn't until it was too late to request it. I did dance; it was a bit awkward and geeky, but in a charming way - like Michael Cera. Having a good time was made a lot easier by having an amazing date, of course.

All in all, I've had a really great weekend. I hope everyone had one as good or better than mine...did you?

Woohoo!

2010-09-27T04:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update! I asked the girl I wanted to go to homecoming with, and she said yes! Later that day, she made me clarify if we were going as friends or a couple, and I took a chance and said couple. I have a girlfriend! Her name is Gabby, by the way.

Also, Crush Of Society's facebook page has some new songs posted. We had a practice yesterday, and worked for almost the entire four hours. It was pretty intense, but we still didn't get half of what I planned done. Still, the demos sound pretty good. My computer's soundcard is finally fixed, after almost a year of being broken. That means I was finally able to use my fancy music editing software to cut out all the extra noises at the beginning and end of each song, and put in some minor effects.

That's pretty much all I had to post for right now...I have to head on over to school in a minute or two. Have a super day!

Western Band Days!

2010-09-22T03:55:00.000-07:00

Hey! guess what last weekend was? Western Michigan University's annual band day! They invite high school bands to come out to their school, learn an entire show in one day, and play it during halftime of a game that night. I went last year, and it was one of the most epic trips I've ever been on. I met quite a few people there that would turn out to be great friends, and it felt like my true induction into high school. This year I knew the trip wouldn't be as awesome as it was last year, but it was still amazing.

Actually, everything but the band days part was awesome. That kind of sucked. My Bronco Buddy (the college student they pair you with) was really crazy, and not in a good way. I also think she thought I was a bit slow, because she treated me like an idiot and was constantly checking up on me. "Are you OK?" Honestly, I might have brought a bit of that onto myself, because I answered everything she asked in short, "yes" or "no" type responses. Oh well, it's not like I'll ever see her again. Next year, I'm going with a trumpet, regardless of the fact I can barely play one anymore.

Next Friday (not this one) is homecoming. Saturday is the dance, which I'm actually a bit nervous about. Last year, I already had a girlfriend, so finding a date wasn't a problem. This year, I've got to actually ask someone. Actually, I have my eye on someone, and I'm asking her today. Until recently (at Western, actually) I'd never hung out with her before, but all of a sudden I've got a major crush on her. Weird, huh? I'll let you know how that goes.

Homecoming is also looking really expensive. This year, I plan to go to dinner with a group of friends before the dance, which is going to cost a lot more money than I have. Also, tickets are $20. I'm not sure if I should be expected to get my date a ticket, so there's that doubt too.

Well, you can expect another post pretty soon. I'm planning a COS practice this Sunday, so I'll make sure to keep you updated on that.

First Week Of School

2010-09-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

School is back in session. Being a geek, this naturally makes me happy. However, having insanely bad allergies that always are at their worst this time of year makes me unhappy. At the beginning of each school year, I manage to set the first impression of "got up 20 times in 5 minutes to blow his nose...how weird." instead of "Wow, he seems like a pretty awesome student!" I was fine the first three days, but Friday was absolutely horrible. I almost wanted to go home early, but since there was no one who could pick me up it seemed pointless to ask. Also, we had a football game that night that I planned on having fun at.

Trust me, no illness could possibly prevent that. The game was really fun, as always, and our team won for the first time this season. I don't really care much about football, but it still seems like a statistic I should be proud of. Our half-time show sucked, mostly because no one had practiced at all in two weeks. I doubt the crowd noticed anyway, so it doesn't matter much.

So far, all my classes are going well. In my 1st hour, Government, we took a citizenship test on the second day, as a way for the teacher to illustrate why the class is necessary. If you had a 70% or better (the requirement for U.S. citizenship), you'd get extra credit. I was the only person in the class to pass the test, with a 84%. I suppose that means I already know most of what the course teaches, and therefore don't have to pay attention.

2nd hour is English II, a class that should be a breeze for me. The teacher made us write 5 paragraph essays about ourselves, which was harder than one would think. Still, I'm pretty sure my essay is well written enough for the teacher to get a good idea of how I write.

3rd hour is Chemistry, a course that looks like it might actually be difficult. However, teachers always up-play the difficulty of the class to get us to pay attention, so that's probably what's going on.

After that I have 1st lunch, which I kind of like and kind of don't. I like it being earlier, so I'm not starving through 4th hour. I was initially bummed that not many of my friends are in that lunch, but at the same time, it seems like a really good reason to hang out with other people. I certainly need to get back into being social, after an entire summer of being a downer and not liking people. So far, I'm falling back into school and getting along with people quite well.

4th hour is French, which is the only class I don't have too much of an advantage with. I know almost nothing about foreign languages, so it's a bit more of a challenge. However, I'm pretty quick to catching on to the main idea of what people are saying in other languages, so that might help. it's the speaking that could present a problem.

5th hour is Algebra IIa. I'm good with math, so the actual class shouldn't be a problem. However, the teacher is a quizbowl coach who's known for being difficult to deal with. She likes me, which helps, but I'm used to a far different kind of math class. For the last three years, I've had guy math teachers, with very laid-back classrooms. Her classroom is so silent I'm afraid to move, and I really dislike not being able to work with someone else on math.

Of course, my final subject is band. I got the double bass back from the repair shop on Thursday, and the teacher is starting our concert band music Monday. I didn't get a bow for the instrument, because they were quite a bit more expensive than the budget Guerbe gave me. I'm looking forward to playing it in class, but not transporting it to and from the school. It's pretty heavy and awkward.

If you made it this far into the post, congratulations. Looking at what I've typed, this post is absolutely massive. There's some really fun stuff coming up in the near future, so I'll be sure to blog about it!

School Tomorrow, And COS Facebook Page!

2010-09-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

In about ten hours, I'll be sitting in my first class of the year, tired as all get-out. I'm sort of looking forward to it, and sort of not. It's going to suck getting up early, but it'll be nice seeing friends again. I've haven't done very much hanging out this summer, which is a bummer. I can blame some of it on being busy with work, but a good portion of it is just me being anti-social.

The only reason I'm still online instead of sleeping is because I finally got around to making a Facebook page for my band. Bobby has been bugging me to do that for only what, 6 months?

Crush Of Society

I'm not sure if that link works for anyone but me, so let me know. I'm working on getting songs uploaded, which is proving to be difficult because of file types. I have to upload the files to a file-conversion website, wait for them to do the converting, and then upload them to Facebook.

Well, I have to go to bed, so I'm not a complete zombie tomorrow morning. Please add us on FB!

The Double Bass, And How Band Camp Went

2010-09-05T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hello! All apologies about the lack of posting - I've been working non-stop on painting my grandparents' house to try and pay for repairs on my bass. Sadly, I've only just started putting color on it, and the front isn't even done...At this point, it looks like it's going to take a couple weekends of marathon-painting, with some help.

Speaking of my bass, the repairs were supposed to be done last Tuesday. I called Wilson (the repair guy) to confirm and he said he was just finishing it up, and to come on in whenever to pick it up. A few hours later, however, I got a call from him. Apparently, while restringing it, he discovered a new problem; something called the bass bar was coming loose inside the instrument, and the only way to repair it was to take the entire instrument apart (a very expensive procedure). He said he would try and think of another solution, and that I should come in so he could explain it better.

When I got there the next day, he showed me the problem. Basically, the bridge of the instrument (what the strings sit on) would punch a hole in the body if we tried to ignore it. A normal, conventional solution would cost somewhere around $1,000, which would be worth less than the instrument. Fortunately, Wilson had another idea: he would drill holes in the front of the bass, use some wood screws to get the bass bar back in place, and epoxy the crap out of it. It'll look ugly as all get-out, and he's never done it before, but it's only $100. He told me the repair would be done by this Friday, but when I called on Friday to confirm, he told me he was going to try the repair on another instrument before he did it to mine.

So...Band Camp! It went great. The bass section sounds way better than last year, because we got rid of all the people who can't actually play (and there were a lot of them). Our section leader was a trombone player from the Western Marching Band, and he really knew what he was doing. At times, Guerbe (our band teacher) just let him take charge of the band. Hey, he actually knew how to teach a band, which is better than her.

While I was there, I asked Guerbe if I could play the double bass in band and she got super-excited about having one. Somehow, I also convinced her to get the school to buy a bow for it, even though they won't need one once I graduate (I'll probably offer to buy it from them at a lower price...clever, right?)

Although I have a lot more stuff to include in this update of my life, I'm going to have to refrain, because this post is already dangerously long and approaching unreadable. Perhaps if I blog more often, this wouldn't be an issue...

Just A Bit Of An Update

2010-08-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

My apologies about the downer post concerning my bass. I took it to a shop and they're fixing it, and it will be done in a few weeks. The damage is $300, which I'm working my butt off to pay off, in addition to the money I already owe my grandparents for buying the instrument.

Somewhat related to that topic, I've discovered I'm addicted to guitars. Despite being $700 dollars in the hole currently, I almost bought a new electric bass today. It was very cool, and I had it all justified in my mind, but I had a bad feeling in my gut about it. Maybe it will still be for sale in six months or so, and I'll get it when finances aren't as bad. It was in an antique store anyway, and a bit of a fixer-upper, so it shouldn't sell too fast.

Tomorrow, I'm going to see Paramore with the environmental organization Reverb. I'm taking a friend who really likes Paramore, but I'm starting to regret it. She's been really, really irritating and negative about the whole thing from the second I asked her. She complained about the lawn seats, which made me want to say, "You know what? Buy your own tickets, and don't forget to pay for the $40 pavilion ones!" But, I'm just keeping a smile on my face and looking at the bright side.

Anyway...just wanted to give you a bit of an update. Next week is band camp, which will be *awesome*! See you then...

Double Bass

2010-08-09T12:04:00.000-07:00

You will never guess what I got yesterday! Oh...yeah, it does say it in the title of the post. I got a double bass yesterday! Pretty sweet, eh? And it was only $350, a total steal!

Since I got it, I've learned a ton about them already. For example: did you know the neck is designed to snap off from the body when you drop them? Neither did I until I leaned it against a box and turned my back on it.

Seriously, when I heard it start to fall, I felt like someone had punched me in the gut while burning $350 in my face. Once I got it all secure and out of the way of more harm, I just wanted to curl up in a ball and not get up.

We're taking it to a luthier tomorrow, who will hopefully not completely screw us on repair prices. Once it's fixed, I'll post a happier post about it and why it's awesome, but for the moment I'm pretty upset and don't really want to talk about it until it's working again.

While I Was Absent

2010-07-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

Gaaarrr, I haven't posted in over a month!! Well, we'll just have to pick up where we left off.

Since my last post...

Bobby and I had a great band practice, and I got to use my new bass amp in a recording for the first time!
Leah and I went to the mall, and I got Golden Harvest by Beck and Rust Never Sleeps (the movie) by Neil Young. Both are totally awesome! Although the Beck CD is seriously creepy...
I started my summer job of painting my grandparents' house. After three weeks of working, I still haven't touched a paint brush.
I got a keyboard! I've been wanting one for a while, mostly so I can learn to play the song "Sam's Town (Abbey Road Version)" by The Killers. I totally can already, although not exactly well.
I went and saw 34bliss again, this time with my parental unit and her friends. They were part of a 4th of July festival, but they played at the same theatre. The show was way more packed, and they played very well.
This weekend is our town's "Bologna Festival". As my friend pointed out, how odd is it our town celebrates processed meat with a weekend festival? All I know is that Yale Bologna is manufactured by C. Roy's Inc., a company owned by my great-aunt.
Next week is our county fair, in which I'll be taking three trophies for shooting. More on that once it actually happens.

Hmmm...I'd say we're about up-to-date again. I've got to go; I'm headed to the Bologna Fest, because I'm marching in the parade with the band this evening. Hey...let's not wait so long next time!

34Bliss Concert!

2010-06-19T21:04:00.000-07:00

Does anyone remember me mentioning I would be going to a concert by my friend Jared's band 34Bliss? Well, tonight was that concert! They played at the Emerald Theater, in Mt. Clements, MI. It was a really amazing show, and I had tons of fun.

Jared had me go as his "bass technician", which is a fancy word for "roadie that carries my amps". Hey, I got in to a $10 concert for free! Plus, I got to go onstage to set up his amps, which was sweet. I'd love to do it again (at the concerts without a minimum age), but some circumstances I'll mention further on might keep that from happening. It's nice because it's a chance to network a bit, and get to know some people that could help me with my own music. A bunch of my friends went as well, including Jared's sister and our mutual friend Leah (who I'm sure I've mentioned on here before).

34bliss...played...amazingly. I have their E.P., which consists of 5 tracks, 4 of them original and the fifth a cover of some Alice Cooper song I don't know. The E.P. (Scream) is pretty good, but live they are exponentially better. Their singer, who has had 5 years of opera singing lessons, was much more intense and passionate onstage than in the studio. The guitarist had a bunch of great solos, as did Jared. They also played a cover of a blues song that isn't on Scream, and it is definitely my favourite song of theirs.

They were opening for another local band, Steven Who?. They were not great. They should have opened for 34Bliss, not the other way around. They had two bassists, one guitar and one drummer, and were a (very sloppy) cover band. Actually, I probably wouldn't have minded them too much, except for the fact the main bassist dissed Jared's soloing, saying "Anyone could do that...". Trust me, he couldn't have. Jared's an awesome bassist, while the guy who criticized him looked more like he was going to accidentally stab himself with his ridiculously pointy guitar than play anything exceptional. They were also very young, around my age - and the singer might have been younger.

So, although it was an awesome concert and an awesome night, one thing did go quite poorly. I rode over there in Jared's car, with Jared driving. I had promised my mom his parents would drive, but I opted to ride with him so I could show up at the same time as the equipment. I made a really bad choice, and I regret upsetting my mother's trust. I wouldn't have done it if there had been even the slightest chance of danger, because I'm very cautious and good at worrying, but doing the exact opposite of what I said would happen was wrong. As it is, I'm grounded, and there's a good chance I won't be able to go to another show for a while.

All in all, a great concert, with a bunch of good friends and some great music. I'm glad I went, and I had a lot of fun.

Fear Not, I Remember You

2010-06-10T04:03:00.001-07:00

All apologies for the lack of posting. Really, nothing very fascinating has been going on around here lately.

Studying for exams, basically. School gets out next Thursday, but in pretty much all my classes we're doing nothing important anymore. Studying...Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday next week are the actual exam days, with an hour and a half period for each class, meaning two classes per half day.

I've got lots of partying to do for the next little while, though. Tomorrow, I'm going to a dude's house for an end of the year party. Next Friday my friend Tia is having a pool party, followed by the band lock-in. Th Saturday after, I'll sleep off the lock-in, then go to a 34bliss concert (my friend's band). On the topic of 34bliss, the aforementioned friend is going to have some of his CDs for sale at school tomorrow, $5 each. I'm totally getting one!

And now, I must head over to the High School to start six hours of glorified study hall. Have a super day!

Epic Rave Birthday Party

2010-05-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

I went to an amazing party this evening! You may recall (but probably not) a bassist friend of mine named Jared. He's only a Junior, but he's in a band, 34Bliss, who are already playing paid gigs. Anyway, his birthday was yesterday, and he threw a sweet party today.

Now, Jared's a bit of a frightening character. It's not that he's a bad guy or anything, he's just a very hardcore metal fan and dresses that way. I wasn't too worried about his party though, because he has a sister in my grade who is semi-preppie and quite nice. She invited friends as well, so she wouldn't have to hang out with her brother's friends all night. Also, Jared hangs out with some "normal" (because who really is?) people, and a lot of them would be there. In the end, both he and his sister's friends mingled and hung out together.

When I got to his place, I headed out to his shed (featuring an all-out studio for his band), where there was some intense guitar hero playing was going on. Some of my friends were there, and one whom I hadn't seen since he graduated. For a while, we just hung out and drank a ton of soda and listened to metal at insane volumes (did I mention he has most, if not all, of his band's stage speakers?). After a bit of time, some pretty awesome people showed up that I got to meet.

Lets see...there was Izzie (I assume that's how it was spelled), who was a guitar player. When he showed up, he was wearing a skeleton face-mask and a duster jacket with flame embroidery, complemented by his waist length hair. I knew he'd be a cool dude right away, because anyone who can wear that and have a sense of humour about it has to be pretty sweet. There were also some people from school I'd seen before at the party, and it was nice to get to know them.

Before the sun went down, the party was pretty mellow. They have a pond in their front yard, where most of his sister's friends were, and one of my good friends (Leah). They begged me to come in, even though I had no bathing suit or a change of clothes. Eventually, I decided to go out to the platform they were on in a paddle boat. To make a long story short, Jared's sister (Taylor) cannon-balled into the water right next to me, getting my clothes soaked. I had to walk around the rest of the night with no shoes, my flannel shirt off, and my pant legs rolled up like a hipster. It was refreshing, though.

After the sun went down, the real fun started. You see, Jared has a lot of money (did you pick up on that yet?) and he had his shed completely decked out for a rave. There were 8+ strobe lights, the huge speakers I mentioned before, a smoke machine, and 68 glow sticks. Everyone grabbed a ton of glow sticks, the lights went out and the strobes went on, and we started dancing. Let me tell you, rave-dancing is my kind of dancing. At school dances, you're always goofy looking when you jump around like crazy and flail your arms about. Not at a rave, with a glow stick in each hand and music made to jump to. I was full of insane energy, and probably danced the most.

After one song, Jared turned down the music and said, "[so-and-so] requested we moshed to this song. If you don't want to, go outside." Well, I wanted to, despite the fact I was barefoot. Moshing is...intense. It was totally fun, too. Everyone was slamming into each other, bouncing off the person next to them and knocking each other over. All my fellow mosh-ers had to pause a few times to catch their breath, but I kept on jumping and waving my glow sticks around. I knew doing it barefoot would be a horrible idea, but I felt nothing the entire time I was dancing. Afterward...well, let's just say I had to use a flashlight to make sure my feet weren't bleeding. Still, it was amazing.

In between rave-sessions we went and hung out by the fire. Jared played some of his band's songs, which were awesome. They're a great sound, which is really hard to compare to another band. The best I can do is say they have semi-mellow, almost acoustic sounding verses, with punk or grunge-ish sounding choruses. I was a bit surprised, because they sounded nothing like what I would imagine Jared playing. Anyway, I'm going to see them next month, on the 19th, with Leah and a few other people who were at the party.
All in all, it was an awesome party, possibly the best I've ever been to. I had a ton of fun, and for those whom I wish to inspire, all this fun was created purely through my own mind and no "chemical influences". I think it was a great way to spend a Saturday night, and I really enjoyed hanging out with new people, as well as my tried and true friends.

Shopping Trip

2010-05-21T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today after school I went to Utica and went shopping! If you'll recall, Utica is the odd city made up completely of suburb-hell and retail stores. Despite the suburbs, it's a great place to go shopping. Shopping may not seem like a huge event to some, but it's been quite a while since I've been. Trust me, I'm not a bubble-head who's obsessed.We went so we could visit Dick's Sporting Goods and see if they had any roller skates. Notice the emphasis; I want nothing but the most vintage of items. Long story short, they didn't have them. It looks like we'll have to order them online...hey, what's one more week?

However, there was a huge thrift store right next door. We headed in, and spent about an hour and a half just looking around. Apparently, my pant-size is very uncommon (30-32). Furthermore, those that are in my size are never in any style I like (boot cut or skinny). They did have a few Oasis CDs, a band I've wanted to get into for a while now. I also got something else very awesome: non-prescription glasses! They look totally real, too.

The only problem is the fact that they pinch my head after a while. Oh well...it's not like I can wear them to school anyway. Why, you ask? People would constantly say, "Oh Drew, I didn't know you wore glasses." I'd say, "I don't," and be all witty and sarcastic and whatnot. Then the person who asked would continue asking stupid questions, like "Wait...so why are you wearing them then?". What isn't clear about the first answer? People don't think enough and talk too much sometimes.

After we left the thrift shop, we headed to dinner at a cool Italian restaurant who's name I know I cannot spell. We had a thin crust pizza, which was delicious. Their cannoli was really expensive, so we went to a local grocery store and got some bakery cannoli.

Eventually, we headed to our final destination: Old Navy. I needed a new pair of jeans (my reason for looking at the thrift store) and I figured they would have what I needed. They did, and more. I got a sweet pair of boot-cut jeans, as well as a button-up shirt that's made of corduroy.

All in all, I'm happy with today's trip. We didn't actually spend too much, which was nice, but it was fun. Someday, perhaps I'll even post a picture with me wearing any of the three items I got today! (Of course, I'll be playing guitar in it.) Did you have an awesome Friday? Please, do share!

Trip To Cleveland

2010-05-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I've been training for yet another half marathon - since the last one, actually. Well, it was yesterday, in Cleveland. We drove down on Friday with my mom's friend Juliet and wandered around on Saturday.

When we got to Cleveland, we set up in our respective hotels and then walked down to the House of Blues for dinner. Our waiter was a really cool dude, who took his time conversing with us. He approved of my Velvet Underground T-shirt, and supplied an anecdote about seeing Lou Reed in concert recently. The food was pretty good, as well. I got one of my standards, a bacon cheeseburger. After dinner we visited their store, which, despite having a cool denim jacket, held no special appeal to me.
During dinner, I had approximately five diet cokes. I visited the bathroom once or twice while we were there, but obviously didn't take care of the liquids in their entirety. My foolishness quickly became apparent while walking about the town, which seemed to close down around 7 P.M. I could find no open stores with public restrooms for me to use. I became very agitated, and was probably a pain to be around. We finally made it back to the hotel, and just in time. I was very angsty/depressive for about ten minutes after, lamenting my stupidity and complaining that "I'll never be as awesome as I could be because I'm such a stupid idiot and have such a small bladder." I stopped after my mom started crying, because she was upset to see me upset with myself.

The next day we went to the race expo, where we got lots of free goodies and listened to an inspirational speaker. After the expo, we checked out a cool submarine tour, which featured the USS Cod, a WWII sub. It was shockingly tiny, but it supposedly housed 97 men. Crazy...
Sunday was, of course, the marathon. I had a goal for my time, which was 2 hrs 10 min. My actual time, measured by the chip located in my bib, was 2:07:45. Basically, that means I rock. I ran the entire race, only stopping at a few water stations because I'm unable to drink and run at the same time. I had a great run up until about the sixth mile, and after that it was just mildly uncomfortable. The worst were the last three miles, because they were on a freeway. I saw the tenth mile marker and thought, "Great, only 30 minutes left!" After 30 minutes passed (or so it felt), the eleventh mile arrived. Yes, they were very long.

After I finished, I was able to head back to our hotel that was a block away and take a shower. My mom texted me at the twelfth mile, and I had just enough time to limp back to the finish line and take her picture. A bit after that, I got a terrible, splitting headache and was forced to head back to the hotel for a long, long nap. When I woke up and my headache was gone, we went to eat at Fat Fish Blues, a great Cajun restaurant that let us sit right next to the sweet blues band that was performing.

Today, we visited the best part of Ohio - The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. I actually got to see props from The Wall concert!! We also saw U2 3D, which was sweet. Walking around hurt (a lot), but it was worth suffering through. I also got to see cool stuff like Jim Morrison's Cub Scout uniform, and one of Kurt Cobain's custom guitars. At the gift shop, I got the CD Rust Never Sleeps, by Neil Young. I've started to really get into his music for some reason, probably because it's fun to play on guitar. I also got a sweet poster of Kurt Cobain playing guitar, which will look great in my room.

All in all, it was a really great weekend. I'm proud of myself for running the entire 13.1 miles, and I had a lot of fun doing tourist-type things. Now I have one question: when's the next one?

COS Show, And My Party

2010-05-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

The party was great! Bobby and I played a show, I dominated at pool, and we rocked out to records and told jokes the whole night.

Obviously, the show is the main thing I want to talk about. Okkayyy, maybe it was more like us saying "Hey, we're playing a song, so shut up!" in the middle of a much larger and longer jam session. Five of the eight people there play guitar, and we were all making tons of noise and banging on the drums and what-not. Fortunately, my awesome bass amp totally overpowered everything else, so I could be star of the show whenever I wanted. Don't worry, I wasn't too much of an attention whore.

The songs we played were "Basement Song" and "I Don't Know", plus an as-of-yet unnamed acoustic song by Bobby. The first two, despite having lyrics, were sans-vocals. The third did, but they were almost impossible to hear if you didn't know they were there (Bobby sang them). "Basement Song", which Bobby wrote and I penned lyrics for, went OK-ish. We've never played it 100% perfectly, because we both seem to have slightly different mental concepts of how the rhythm should go.

"I Don't Know", which I wrote in its entirety, was a bit better. I was on guitar and Bobby was on drums, and we put on a good performance. We actually had to play it the whole way through twice, because during the first time through someone else had a guitar plugged in and they were standing right in front of their amp, causing terrible feedback towards the middle of the song. We were recording the show, otherwise I wouldn't have cared. The recording is our first "official" one, because we played the entire song through without stopping for mistakes and we were in front of real people.

The rest of the night was pretty chill. We sat around and told funny stories while listening to "Hunky Dory" by David Bowie, then a live album by the Dropkick Murphys. After all the funny stuff we could think of was exhausted, we employed George Carlin's "Class Clown" to keep us amused.

All in all, it was a great party. I had a ton of fun, and I think everyone else had a great time too. In fact - let's do it again real soon.

Daily Anecdotes

2010-05-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

So, interesting anecdotes from my day.

My mom and I went running today, because the half marathon is in nine days. I came home from school, changed into my running shorts and crappy T-shirt, and packed clothes to put on after (because I wanted to go to Barnes & Noble). I knew my mom wanted to go pick up some new shoes, but I thought she would go to a stand-alone sporting goods shop. Turns out, she intended to go to the mall.

"What are we doing here?" I asked, somewhat panicked. I did NOT want to go into a mall full of my peers while wearing shorts that come up to the middle of my thighs and act nonchalant. However, she was very insistent. I swallowed my pride, got out of the car, and headed in. It was pretty early in the afternoon, fortunately, so there weren't too many teens yet. Still... To make matters worse, my shorts had severe static cling and were sticking to my legs, accentuating my odd-looking quadricep muscles.

I managed to make it out alive, thankfully. The run went pretty well, and my mom's new shoes worked great. I changed into my casual, not obnoxiously short clothing, and got all excited about going to B&N. Sadly...as we went down the main road, my mother observed a lack of working traffic signals. The power was out all across town, and the store was closed. We had to go out of our way to get gas for the car, but were fortunate in that our house (25 min. out of town) had power.

Although these stories seemed much more relevant in my head, they don't look it written out. Still, it's my opinion that a crappy post is better than none at all. And who knows? Perhaps you, the reader, will find relevance in my day-to-day activities.

Concert, Basement Practices, And A Birthday!

2010-05-03T18:58:00.000-07:00

Hey hey, what's up? The concert, as well as band practice, as well as my birthday, went great. In order? Okay!

The concert was actually somewhat non-eventful. I played my two songs for jazz band perfectly, "Green Onions" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". I had intended to get video of me playing, but my mom and I forgot the camera, so no dice. My friend Nick played with me on 'Green Onions", and it was cool sounding with two basses. A guy name Jared, an amazing bassist at our school who is actually in a ''real" band with a record deal, played an amazing bass solo that just showed why he's a professional. Of course, he had thousand-dollar equipment and pedals, but still...what he played took some skill.

Band practice was very awesome. Turns out Bobby can sing! Well! He had a few new songs to show me, and one of them we worked on quite extensively. He's described it as sounding very much like Neil Young, which I agree with. I made a sweet bass line, and we recorded it a few times.

He also took a look at my new stuff, and at some lyrics I've been writing. Some of my songs have both lyrics and a guitar part, some are just guitar, and a lot of the lyrics are without music. He came up with a melody for one of my songs, Zen Stereo (mad props to the blogger I borrowed that name from!). We also just chilled and played video games while listening to George Carlin records, which was really fun. It's been a while since I've just chilled and hung out with someone, so it was nice.

Have I mentioned that today is my birthday? Well, it is! Woohoo! I didn't tell anyone, but a lot found out through that darned facebook. My mother got me a pair of old-school roller skates, but the store was out of my size so they are a bit delayed. Ah well, no matter. she also gave me a $25 discover gift card to use when we go to Cleveland for our half marathon in 2 weeks. Keeley (my girlfriend) made me 3 mix CDs and got me a bunch of really cool guitar picks. They're really nice, and very thoughtful. Joe got me a Barnes & Noble gift card, which is great considering I really need something new to read.

My grandparents got me exactly what I requested, which was a really big bass amp. It's 100 watts, and it has a bunch of effects built in (that I can't seem to get to work yet). My uncle got me a new gig bag for my bass because my old one is broken, and a pack of new strings. Those, along with my new amp, are making me sound better than ever. Seriously, the amp is intense. I can out power pretty much any guitar amp, and when I use it in our living room ant about half the max volume, the house shakes and pictures wobble threateningly. it's sweet.

So...I've talked about me; how are all of you doing? Hopefully well! See you soon, but I have to go to bed now.

Quiz Bowl Tournament And Touring With The Band

2010-04-30T11:27:00.000-07:00

Weekend Ho! (like "Land Ho!". Ya know, pirate stuff.) I've been looking forward to the weekend for most of the week, mostly because a) the high school band has a concert on Saturday and b) Bobby is coming over on Sunday for a band practice! Woohoo!

This week has also been a bit of a downer, but things are looking up again. For a bit it looked like m girlfriend and I were going to break up, but it seems as though things have resolved themselves.

This last weekend, I went to Lansing with the Quizbowl team for the state championship. Although I'm a freshman and played JV all year, I'm getting moved up to varsity next year and they thought it would be a good idea for me to go so I could get a feel for things. Of course, it helps that my mom is a coach, and that the other freshman going and being moved up is my girlfriend.

We had a lot of Western - style antics at the hotel, but this time instead of hanging out with a bunch of band geeks, I got to hang out with a bunch of quiz geeks. Surprisingly, the two groups don't overlap much. Of course, we had to stay up until 4:30 in the morning, watching fancy hotel TV and having deep, philosophical discussions. A few of the topics were: how every character in Batman can be diagnosed with a mental illness, the various representations of good and evil in Stephen King's assorted works, and of course a discussion of various bands and their quirks.

This past Wednesday, the high school band did its yearly tour of elementary schools to put on a show for them. It was a great reason to spend the day skipping class, and we got to eat at McDonald's for lunch. I was curious as to whether any of my old teachers would recognize me; they did not.

Well...this post has been a rather quickly typed but lengthy one. I'm in a great mood, so I figured it would be a good idea to post now. I'll make sure to report back on the two musical events of this weekend!

Album Review: Pinkerton

2010-04-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

This album is really freaking awesome! In the last few months, I've really been getting into Weezer. I especially like their earlier stuff, because it's the perfect mix of grunge and emo. Pinkerton is my favourite of their albums, and I can easily say it's my all-time favourite album. I listen to it when I run a lot, usually on longer runs.

The reason Pinkerton is my favourite is because it is just dripping with raw emotion. In the very first song, Tired of Sex, Rivers Cuomo starts out mumbling, whining, and is soon screaming to be heard over the guitars. The beat is heavy and the guitars are droning.

As the album goes on, the songs tend to have the same qualities as the first. It's basically 35 minutes of how it is to be a rockstar but still be terrible at talking to girls. He wishes for a meaningful relationship, pines after a girl he's afraid to talk to, reads us his love letters, and falls for a lesbian.

The lyrics are very poetic, with a lot of dark humour. The guitar and bass compete for the top sound, and every solo is screeching and dirty. Each song fits what's being sung about perfectly in tone and mood.

Really, how can I describe it any more? Go out and find it. Listen to it. It's my favourite, and there's a reason. Obviously, I give it five stars. Oh, and the picture of the album cover? It was labelled "Buy It!" on Google Images. Trust me, it's worth the money.

Lansing, Pt. 2

2010-04-10T18:40:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what I'm referring to with the "Pt. 2", here's part one.

So, as mentioned in my previous post, I went to Lansing this weekend for a 5K. It's the same 5k I ran last spring break, and let me say, I've improved quite a bit. Last year my time was 34:42, this year my time was 29:11.

The really cool part is that I took third in my age group, 14 and under. I'm 14...and 11 months. The award wasn't a medal, but a steel bookmark. Honestly, it will get used more anyway. I'm just surprised I did so well. Woohoo!

Of course, while in Lansing, we also did the obligatory money-burning. We went to a cool store that we visited last year, a "vintage clothing" store. "Vintage" is a good thing to call a selective thrift store, but their stuff is sweet. They had a sweet cardigan that looked just like Kurt Cobain's on MTV Unplugged, and it had a pin on it featuring Kurt's face. I wanted a bunch of stuff there, but I was wise with my money.

We also went back to FBC, where I spent approximately 5 minutes, 4 of which were checkout. I simply walked over to the "B" section, saw Hunky Dory by David Bowie sticking out, and grabbed it. When I did, Ziggy Stardust followed it up. I've been wanting both, so I saved everyone some time and finished there. I'll be going back in 2 weeks, anyway.

My mother's friend, Anne, took us to Urban Outfitters. I was initially wary, fearing a store similar to American Eagle or something. However, I was delighted to find a ton of really cool clothes, plus some cool novelty things and books. I tried on a pair of cool corduroy skinny jeans, and they looked so awesome on me my mother had no choice but to get them. They are incredibly comfortable and soft.

The band practice I mentioned in the last post fell through, by the way. I have to have one soon, though, because I got a great new amp at the pawn shop. I'll post more about it later, but this post is already getting tedious.

...And the last sentence would be my cue to finish the post. Stay safe, internet!

The Beggining Of Spring Break!

2010-04-03T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hey blogger community, what's up?

The weather has been freaking amazing lately. I wore flip-flops to school on Thursday, the first day of April. Normally in Michigan, I'm still trudging through snow to get to school in April. The windows are open, the AC is on in the car, it's beautiful out.

I know I emphasize the flip-flops in the previous paragraph, but they weren't just because of the wonderful weather. I hurt my foot running last Saturday, and wearing shoes hurts. It wasn't too terrible after the first day, but then I went running on it again on Monday. Come Tuesday, I was walking with a terrible limp and was very whiny.

Fortunately, my chiropractor is a miracle man and healed me. Well...not completely, but he did identify the problem and made the pain much less severe. It doesn't hurt at all when I'm barefoot, but shoes put pressure on a swollen nerve and make it sting. Therefore, flip-flops.

It's spring break! So far, it has been completely uneventful. I've gone to work both days of it, and nothing else. We're going to Frankenmuth on Monday, where we will eat chicken and ice cream. I'm trying to plan a band practice sometime this week, which will be nice because both Bobby and I have come up with some new stuff. I'm hoping (fingers crossed) my girlfriend Keeley's parents will let us go to the movies, but it's a bit unlikely because they don't seem to want to let her go on dates until she's 16.

Our mini-vacation will be going to Lansing (our lovely capital city!) to run a 5k and go record shopping. I haven't ran in a week, because of my foot, so it will be interesting. I know it will be fun, however, so it will be great.

Well, this post has flown forth quickly from my fingertips, and it seems to be done. I'll update you on the band practice, so I'm sure you'll be waiting with bated breath!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, And Other Happenings

2010-03-26T16:44:00.000-07:00

Wow...I need to blog more. All apologies, I've been very bored, boring, and tired lately.
I do have something incredibly epic to spread the word about, however - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. It's a short film that started out as a web mini-series created by Joss Whedon during the writers' strike. It's a musical, and it stars the incredibly gifted Neil Patrick Harris as the title character. I can't really think of much to say about it, other than the fact that I've watched it three times in 24 hours, and I've been annoying the crap out of my friends by singing the songs from it constantly.

I finished my Anthem essay I recently wrote about. It was due at 11:59 PM on the 20th, and I hit the "submit" button at 11:49. I had the entire thing written by 11, but I wasn't happy with it, so I delayed sending it. At 11:15, I had a flash of brilliance, and set to fixing my paper at once. I added a paragraph that outlined a second thesis, and then went through what was already there to make the new stuff fit. The new, improved paper kicked the old one's butt, and I'm very happy with it. If you want to read it, here it is. The awesome last-minute paragraph is the second one, by the way.

I passed driver's ed! I went to the Secretary of State's today, to get my permit, but I didn't have all of the necessary documentation. They would have been closed by the time I went home, got the stuff, and came back, so I am license-less.

Well...The spark of writing that caused me to start writing this has passed. Even typing a closing paragraph is incredibly tough, all of a sudden...goodbye!

Netflix

2010-03-13T09:12:00.000-08:00

Has anyone ever watched the show Freaks and Geeks? Probably not, since it only ran for 16 episodes in the 90s. Somehow my mom heard about it, and we've been watching the series on DVD for the last few weeks. It's hilarious, but I can totally understand how it got canceled. It shows two very distinct groups in high school - the burnouts, and the completely socially inept losers. Both groups seem to demand you completely immerse yourself in their lifestyles, and I don't think that has been reality to most people. Furthermore, the characters do things that are so weird it makes you uncomfortable. Example: the main "geek" character's gym teacher is forcing the class to all take showers. There's a long struggle where he tries to rebel, blah blah, eventually he takes one. The bullies in his class shove him into the hallway, naked, and lock the door. A montage of him running through busy hallways with nothing but a blue dot follows. See what I mean? Uncomfortable.

By the way, the way we're getting the DVDs is Netflix. Since we don't have satellite or cable, and movies are too expensive, it's a pretty good deal. However, I seem to end up wanting to own a lot of the movies we get. Namely, Empire Records - an epic film - and more recently (we got it yesterday) Blades of Glory. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for Will Farrell movies. He's hilarious, and I think I like every movie he's in. Plus, in Blades of Glory, he seems to be channeling Jim Morrison. Between his hair and his constant drunkenness, he reminds me a lot of Val Kilmer in The Doors.

Well, I have to go get ready to go shopping...it's a Saturday, and that means new food in the house!

Driver's Training

2010-03-04T03:52:00.001-08:00

Wanna hear something that seems to have adults around me, especially my mother and grandparents, in a panic? Next Monday I start driver's training. After three weeks of that, I'll have my learner's permit.

Mildly frightened to being sharing the road?

A Quick Update

2010-03-01T16:56:00.000-08:00

What has been up, bloggers? Nothing much happening over here.

We had another snow day on Friday; it was much better than the last one. My mom and I went shopping for what had to have been the first time in weeks, because it was a paycheck Friday and the previous one we had to pay the propane bill. It was a lot of fun.

The even better news: we finally got our gym membership back! My mom's coworkers organized a corporate discount, and we had been planning on it anyway. It's too nasty outside to go running, and our half marathon is approaching rapidly. I've felt rather un-athletic lately, and I've lost a bunch of muscle. We've already been there 3 times in four days.

There hasn't been much else going on. I've been playing the guitar a lot; I found out that even though it annoys my mom, turning my amp way up makes the guitar sound better. The notes seem fuller, or something along those lines.

Well...this has been a good update post. Short, succinct, and a nice reminder that I'm still around. What more could you lovely readers ask for?

Wreckess Eric Covers And The Rest Of My Weekend

2010-02-22T16:43:00.000-08:00

Hey hey - what's up?

I got my class ring on Friday! It's pretty sweet looking. For those who don't recall, it's silver metal with a garnet stone in the middle. It's also huge and somewhat garish, which is exactly what I wanted.

I spent most of Friday night learning to play a song on guitar. It's not just any song - it's one I can sing and play! At the same time! It's "Whole Wide World", by Wreckless Eric. It's in the movie Stranger Than Fiction, in which Will Ferrell's character plays it on an acoustic guitar.

I intended to videotape myself playing it and put it up on here, but the camera seems to be out of batteries.

On Saturday, I had solo and ensembles for band. My trio group had only gotten our music the day before, so we didn't expect to get that great of a rating. However, we hadn't counted on not getting one at all; our song was not long enough, and they couldn't give us our medals. I was only doing it for my varsity letter, and now it seems like it'll take me another year.

Urggg...my mom is sleeping on the couch and snoring, loudly. I'm going to go get headphones, and tie up the post with that.

2 Years!

2010-02-15T09:16:00.000-08:00

Guess what, everyone? Today is Boyd's World's 2-year anniversary! I knew it was soon, and when I went back in the archives to check I was delightfully surprised by coincidence. I had hoped to have my 200th post tie-in with this, but unfortunately that's still ten away.

Just as a few general updates go, it's midwinter break. We've done pretty much nothing exciting, but sometimes just being lazy is great. The heat was turned on a few hours after my whiny post last Wednesday, in case you were wondering. The people from the propane company were "waiting for us to call them back", which made no sense. It was freezing, why couldn't they take initiative?

On Thursday, my Language Arts teacher called me up to her desk during silent reading (how much do you love having that every day in advanced classes?). I had recently written an essay that was apparently good enough to get 100%, a grade rarely given. Because of this, she suggested I look into a few writing contests. Actually, the one she mentioned in particular is the Ayn Rand Institute's essay contest. I was very flattered that she thought I write good enough to be eligible to participate, because I've wanted to participate in it since I first found out about it.

The 8th-10th grade contest is based on questions from the book Anthem, while the 11th-12th questions are on The Fountainhead. I've already read Anthem, because a friend recommended it. Oh, and did I mention there are cash prizes? The Anthem essay has a $2,000 first-place award, and The Fountainhead has a $10,000 prize. I'm totally going to enter, because I could definitely use that.

Other than that, not much has been going on. Last week I started the mandatory half-year of P.E. that is required. It's not too horrible. I don't mind being forced into working out for 45 minutes every day, although I hate having to do sports. I'm not inclined to be good at sports, especially basket ball. Guess what we play every single time we have free-time? I'm sure you can.

I hope everyone else is having interesting times. As for me, well, Internet articles about nothing can be pretty interesting.

Cold....Brrrrrrr

2010-02-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

Snow day today!! Actually, this is not a good thing. You see, the school would be warm. However, the inside of my house is about 38 degrees Fahrenheit. We ran out of propane last night, just as an eventual 8 inches of snow started coming down. My grandparents are on vacation, so we loaded up the dogs (yeah...their puppy and 14-year old dog are staying with us) and headed over to their house.

To be honest, I have no clue how I managed to live there. I think it was a bit less terrible while we were there, but that's probably denial. The water that comes out of the tap is yellow, the shower is a tiny concrete pit in the basement (I've never left a shower feeling less clean than when I got in before), and it's just generally non-conforming to my cleanliness standards.

Right now we're back at home, waiting for the propane delivery dude to show up. It's cold as all get-out in here, and we have to leave in about an hour to go to town. Well...if the guy hasn't shown up by then, my mom will have to leave for town. I'll stay in the cold house and wait for propane dude.

Other than the cold, I'm kinda hoping tomorrow is a snow day as well. If it is, we'll have a seven-day weekend. You see, midwinter break starts Friday. I'm kind of hoping to visit Winter-Fest in Detroit this weekend, and maybe go to a hockey game with my girlfriend Keeley and her family.

Well, if you get a chance, please picture enormous bonfires and think in my direction.

Dinner With Family

2010-02-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

Well, today I had intended to write a post about my class ring that I was supposed to get today. However, when I went up to the table they had them at and tried it on, I discovered it was two and a half sizes too big. I hadn't been able to make it to the meeting to get my finger size measured, and my mom had to bring in two rings and say "This one is too big and this one is two small. Find the middle."

So, you'll instead have the joy of hearing about my evening. Today was my grandpa's birthday, and we went to dinner at a fancy restaurant in the downtown of the city/town near us. It was a last-minute thing, because I was supposed to have a pep band event at school; however, it was cancelled because the "upper authorities didn't feel it was a good place for the band". This is, of course, referring to a cheerleading competition. You've got to watch out for those cheerleaders, they're deadly.

My mom and I hadn't gotten my grandpa a gift as of when school got out, and we still didn't know what to get him. My mom's gift was some top-shelf whiskey, and I went with a gift card to a kitchen store (he loves to cook). I didn't feel a gift card was very thoughtful, but then we got some cards that made up for it. I wrote a personalized message in mine (round of applause for me).

Back to the restaurant. My mom drove my grandparents to the place, to save gas. I got in the backseat and promptly fell asleep, which has been happening a lot lately. My uncle met us there, and we took our seats. He and I talked guitars for a while, and then our orders arrived.

Let me just say: the food at this restaurant is fantastic. My favourite item on the menu was no longer being made, apparently, but I substituted it with a burger and was delighted at the taste sensation.

The ride home was a bit problematic. My uncle's truck is very very old, and it hasn't been taken care of in the best manner possible. My grandma got a phone call about five minutes after we left the restaurant, causing her to panic and my mother to make a joke about whether she knew how to take a call. My uncle's truck was failing, and he wanted us to follow him home in case he broke down.

Now, at this point you have to know that my grandmother can be a very dramatic person. She started freaking out about him getting home, heaving big sighs and posing in an anguished manner. We made it to his house, and when he told her what he thought was wrong with it she started freaking out even more. There was no reason for this particular freak out; all he said was that he'd have to buy a new belt for the engine.

Once that had settled out, everything was smooth sailing. We made it home okay, and I logged on to write this post.

Hey, I made it to present time! Guess I've filled you in on the evening, with all the uncensored comedy and tragedy inherent. Woohoo!

Exams

2010-01-27T04:02:00.000-08:00

This week is all exams at school. That's the quick way of saying my memory is currently being put to the test on half a years' knowledge, a big order.

I'm somewhat concerned about one of the exams I already took, Advanced Social Studies. I won't go on my little rant about how I think the exam is poorly written and the class isn't well taught, because I've been informed I can't blame every bad grade I get on the teacher. I will say that this test is quite important to me, because I hope to be valedictorian and (so far) I've been getting the grades for it.

All in all, however, I think I'm pretty much prepared for the rest of my exams. I've actually studied a bit, and my hardest (the above mentioned Adv. Social Studies) is already over. The other one I've already taken is Geometry, which was incredibly easy. The nice thing about math is that there are no "best choice" type questions. It's right, or it's wrong.

Wish me luck!

A Dispatch From The Western Trip

2010-01-18T03:56:00.000-08:00

Today, instead of a post about what's been up, I shall share a tale from the fabled Western trip.

* * *

After a long day of marching and learning, ending in an awesome halftime performance put on by all the high school bands who attended, our High School's band bailed from the game early and headed back to the hotel. We got to relax for about an hour, and then we were given the option to walk to a nearby fast-food place and get a bite to eat. I choose to go for the fast-food, figuring walking through downtown Kalamazoo - a college campus, basically - at 10 P.M. would be interesting. I was definitely right!

We walked about a mile and a half to get to a Burger King we had seen on the drive there, only to discover it was closed. The drive-thru looked like it was still open, and people we walking up to the windows and banging on them. Our band director was standing around and discussing what to do, and my friends and I were standing around talking. While talking bass guitars with my friend Nick, our little group noticed two dudes walking down the sidewalk towards us.

The reason they were noticeable was their outfits; they were both wearing full fur-suited costumes, one being a mouse and the other a lion. They came by, and we stopped them to chat. Apparently, they were headed to a party or something. We got a few cell phone pics with them, and then they headed off to whatever costumed mischief they had planned.

After deciding to walk back in the direction of the hotel and past it to find another place to eat, our group decided to just stay in the hotel. On the way back, my hair was complimented by a very stereotypical bum we passed. I agreed with him that my hair is, in fact, awesome and went on my way.

The strange off-ness about those specific incidents, especially the costumed dudes having a chat with high schoolers wandering through the city, was characteristic of the entire weekend. Everything was just a bit weird in a good way, with mascots and complimentary bums around every corner.

What's Been Up Lately

2010-01-11T17:59:00.000-08:00

Quizbowl season has started! at the high school, it's a fall activity. We've been training for a couple of weeks, but our first real match was last Thursday. Woohoo!

I'd forgotten how time-consuming Stumble Upon can be. I had finally read through a large part of the Cracked archives, and turned to it as a possible source of entertainment. Turns out it still wastes my time as much as last year. I have found a lot of stuff that - literally - makes me laugh out loud. Mostly demotivational posters, funny test answers, that sort of thing; every one I read fills me with an urge to force those around me to listen to me reading them aloud. I've gotten good at fighting the temptations to bore others, but sometimes I'm human.

I've also been strumming away at the guitar a lot lately. Who'da thought getting an electric would increase my appreciation for the acoustic? Me either.

I've been reading actual books much more lately, which has been nice. However, I'm a bit stuck as to what to read. For some reason, I've been having a hard time getting at all interested in anything that isn't a classic. This is kind of a problem, because A) there aren't too many out there I find appealing and B) I feel a bit like a pompous jerk stating I only like classics.

Just for the record, I don't just like classics. I really love pop-culture related books, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as science fiction and fantasy. The former is actually my absolute favourite genre, but that's the kind of stuff that isn't carried by school libraries. The latter tends to be difficult for me to get into, unless there's also humour. Did I not mention that? I love the funny stuff as well.

Well, I feel I've reached the perfect ratio of length to interesting-ness. Yes, I just made a new word. Feel free to submit it to Websters, I'm sure they'll recognize it's brilliance.

2009: A Review

2010-01-05T04:04:00.000-08:00

I realize I'm about five days late for a New Year's Post, but you're going to have to deal with my eccentric (lazy) behaviour.

Many people I've talked to about the year had mixed opinions about it. One of my mother's friends put it quite well:

"There were a lot of high points in 2009, but to go along with each one was a low. I wish it had been a more mellow year."

I personally feel it was a freaking awesome year, possibly one of the best. You'd like me to list the reasons why? Well, you're in luck!

I successfully ran a half-marathon in August, going from totally nonathletic to quite fit in the course of 6 months.
I lost 20 pounds - I'd always thought about how cool it would be to come back to school after summer break totally slim and fit, and this year I achieved that.
I've learned to play both bass guitar and 6-string. I'm taking lessons for bass, and I've learned actual songs on the 6-string variety of guitar - even a few sweet solos!
I've made a bunch of new friends in High School - my band trip to Western, often referenced, was an amazing experience for me.

Currently, those are the only major achievements for the year that I can think of; trust me, I did more this year than that, but those four really dominate my memory.

I hope everyone had a good 2009, and for those who didn't I hope you have a 2010 so amazing it completely makes up for it!

An Observation

2009-12-27T17:20:00.000-08:00

Today was a long, long day - I cleaned my room. Well, I got most of it done. There's still a ton of the small things that collect dust laying in the middle of the room on the floor, as well as stacks of books occupying all flat surfaces. I rearranged just about every piece of furniture in there, and it looks great.

I even got up early to do it...if 10:30 is early. It is when I'm on vacation from school, and on weekends.

I thought of something the other day, and I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence or not. In Twilight, a series all about vampires, the main character's name is Bella. The name of the actor famous for portraying Dracula (also a vampire) in 1931 was Bela Lugosi. Is her name a homage to him? I realized the interesting coincidence while listening to the song "Bela Lugosi's Dead" by The Bauhaus, in which the singer cries "Bela!" over and over.

I'm going to go relax now, because it's been a very long day of productivity and my head is splitting with an allergy headache.

A Christmas In Review

2009-12-26T12:52:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Christmas! Woohoo! In a very self indulgent manner, allow me to run down how it went.

I was fortunate enough to get the three things I had most emphatically asked for: an electric guitar, a black sweater, and Dr. Marten boots. We'll cover those boots first, because they're the ones currently on my mind the most.

They are 14 eyelets on each side, and take about 10 minutes to put on. They're still quite stiff, and I'm told they take a bit of time to get used to walking in. My uncle said he had a pair just like them when he was younger, and my mom used to wear 8 and 10 eyelet ones.

In an attempt to break them in today, I wore them on a run. Don't worry - I didn't actually try to run. I knew that would be suicide. However, even after walking about a mile, my feet hurt something terrible. I couldn't catch up with my mom when she walked any faster than I was going. She reassured me by reminding me I had my tennis shoes in the car, but I decided not to put them on. A little pain was probably going to be a part of the breaking in process, right?

We went to Barnes & Noble to get fancy coffee after the run/walk, and I still had the boots on. I was fairly certain at that point that my heels were bleeding, but I did not care. I'm somewhat stupid when it comes to pain, especially in the name of fashion. The original punks wouldn't have cared about terrible blisters, although they weren't exactly in a state of mind to feel anything.

Warning: if you get grossed out, don't read the next paragraph.

When I came home, I took those pictures and then took the boots off. I took the right off first, although the left was the foot with the most pain. My right sock had a small spot on it that was greyish-yellowish-red, and when I took it off I saw there was a teeny tiny blister (the grey was from the leather). "Not bad," I thought. Then I took my left boot off. There was an enormous spot on that sock, and a huge blister underneath. A quarter could not have covered the entire thing. Needless to say, I now have two large band-aids on my heels.

That is my new guitar. It's a real Fender Stratocaster, and it's left handed. Apparently it used to be right-handed, but my uncle's friend, from whom he got it, flipped it. I got it about an hour after we got to my Grandparent's house, and I played it continually until we left 5 hours later. My fingertips are horribly shredded, but as you can obviously see, I don't mind my gifts causing me pain.

I started to suspect I was getting a guitar when A) my uncle wouldn't let me go into the spare bedroom to hang up my coat and B) when there was no gift from him, only a guitar case from his cat. Eventually someone pointed the latter out, and he told me to go take a look in his truck. I did. There was nothing there.

I came back in and told him I didn't see what I was looking for, when everyone started laughing and he said, "It's sitting right there." He was pointing at my chair, where it was sitting. He was actually crying, something I've never seen before.

In addition to those two, I received many thoughtful gifts. Plus, the tight black sweater I mentioned! I requested it "to wear while I listen to The Cure and The Bauhaus". It looks great with my black skinny jeans and 14 - eyelet Docs.

I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas, and got to spend it with family and friends.

Christmas Break!

2009-12-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

I watched the movie Labyrinth today - man is it weird. I wanted to see it because it has David Bowie in it, and a blogger I follow has a quote from it on her blog that made it seem pretty funny.

Where to even begin? The puppets were actually very good. The visual effects were somewhat decent - especially for the 80's. However, it was so absurdly strange I cannot even describe it. I am actively forgetting it as I type.

Actually, typing this all as it comes into my mind, looking back I kind of enjoyed it. I think the few hours between my viewing of it and my typing of this mellowed it out a bit. The scenes featuring David Bowie were my favourite, of course. He was just the right mixture of creepy and charming.

Today was the last day of school until January 4th! Yay for break! Apparently a lot of classes had free days, but I had two tests and a major project to complete before I got to experience any festive-ness. Oh, and one other thing - in Health class, we had to watch a video of a live birth. The general adjective used by everyone to describe it was "Unnecessary". I agree with that, because I see no reason why they should have to show that. I suppose it is a very good argument for abstinence, the only form of birth control they're allowed to teach.

From 4th hour on, thankfully, I got to put aside learning for the rest of this year. In 4th hour we went to the library and spent the hour reading. OK, to be honest, there was more chit-chatting than actual reading going on.

5th and 6th hour were the school-wide celebration, which was a reward for raising, as a school, over 2 thousand dollars for a local charity. Each classroom had different activities going on in it, and you signed up for them the week previous. I signed up to watch Napoleon Dynamite, a film whose funniness I had forgotten. It was a blast, mostly because I got to watch it with friends.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to go and strum randomly on the acoustic for a while. Happy holidays, in case I don't post again before Christmas!

It Feels Good To Be Blogging, My Friends

2009-12-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

Hey, dear readers, how's it going? Right now I'm listening to "Rebel, Rebel" by David Bowie, a song I can kind of play on guitar. It sounds weird because it's meant for an electric and I use my mom's acoustic (restrung for my left-handedness, of course).

I'm really hoping to get an electric guitar for Christmas, and since my uncle works at the pawn shop, there's a good chance of that happening. However, he has a bit of an issue with the fact I don't mind playing a right-handed guitar upside-down, and I've gotten into multiple arguments about that with him. He's talked about how the guitar isn't "ergonomic" enough, and that will make playing harder - the weight of a guitar is more likely to mess me up than a corner digging into my ribs will. He also throws around various terms he either read somewhere out of context, or just made up completely. It's kind of infuriating, because he doesn't actually know anything about playing guitar - he only knows the stuff he needs to know to sell it for more money and take it in on pawn for less.

Anyway - on to lighter stuff. High school is going absolutely awesome! The fact all four classes pretty much mingle now has made finding people like myself a bit easier, and I'd say I've made some pretty good friends. The most beneficial thing to making friends was the fabled "Trip To Western". I don't recall if I mentioned it in any posts, but basically the marching band went to Western Michigan University for a weekend and had a ton of insane fun. None of my friends went, forcing me to pretty quickly make some new ones. Fortunately, there's no better place for forging relations than a very fancy hotel at 1 A.M. Euchre is a game made more fun simply by being played in odd places, such as a skywalk or hotel lobby next to a drunk wedding party.

I've yet to do my Christmas shopping, which is a bit concerning. I'm hoping to go with my grandpa this weekend, which is cutting it pretty close. I still have no clue what I'm getting anyone but my mom and my grandparents, but I've gotten a few suggestions. Last year, I got my grandpa to go into Hot Topic with me to get my mom's gifts - that was a riot!

I've been moving both backward and forward in time with music listening lately. I've been getting into modern alternative a bit more lately, because I know that's where I'll probably end up as a musician myself. I need to get to know the terrain a bit, learn the tricks of the trade. I've also been digging bands like The Who and The Rolling Stones, not to mention David Bowie. OK, they're not really of a time period different than I've listened to, but they were always looked over in the past. Just to add on to a lengthy paragraph, I've started to really like Nirvana. A good 25% of the stuff I've learned to play on guitar (acoustic, not my bass) is Nirvana. My only complaint is that they tuned almost all of their songs different than standard, making them unplayable.

Well, I feel a duty to give you a break after all that reading. Be prepared, however, for another post soon. I'm single, I don't have a driver's license, and I've just about read everything funny on Cracked.com, so I should be able to post more often. I think with the approaching winter that will be easier, because it's too cold for anything else to be going on. Good day to you, dear readers!

Sublymonal

2009-12-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

Does anyone else remember those incredibly weird Sprite commercials from last year? They were centered around "Lymon", and seemed to be purposefully trippy. I'd kind of forgotten, until I was wandering around in the links at Cracked.com and found an article featuring one. I was intrigued, and headed to Youtube to do a bit of research for myself. I found this dude, who states he made his 2 - part video out of various scenes from the "Lymon Project".

I felt I should spread the weird. I'd like to provide a link to the actual "Sublymonal" website, but it gives me a 403 error whenever I try to get there. Oh well. Enjoy! (or fear!)

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T18:52:00.000-08:00

As many of you are surely aware, today is Thanksgiving. I have had a pretty good one, all things considered.

First things first, the food this year was the best I've ever experienced. There's normally one or two things I don't like, and I've never been too much of a fan of poultry. However, everything rocked this year. I even loved the turkey, which was very tasty and completely free of nasty fat/skin/dark meat.

Since my mom and I got our own house, we've hosted the meal. Our family is very small - I'm the only kid, and actually the only one under 40. Like every other year, the attendees were my grandparents, my uncle, and my great-aunt with her boyfriend Ernie.

My grandparents got a Labrador puppy last Sunday, and they brought him along too. There was a debate as to what his name should be, with options such as Buck and Ruger being tossed around (it's hunting season, and their store is a DNR deer check station). Eventually, however, the name Buster was chosen. Buster is freaking hilarious, and gets really hyper and plays and then crashes and naps. I'll post a picture when I remember to take one, someday.

I've got a lot of things to be thankful for this year, although I don't really want to list them all. I hope everyone reading this has had a good day as well, and I'd be thankful if you have. (Get it? Thankful? And it's Thanksgiving? Never mind...)

Everybody Wang Chung Tonight

2009-11-14T18:27:00.000-08:00

I sincerely apologize for my lack of posting, despite the fact an article in Wired said you shouldn't do that. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what's keeping me from posting. I have a large number of started posts, bu none I seem to finish. Anyhoo.

So, yesterday I had a party. It was a smashingly successful one, considering more than two people came. That's what happened at my last two, anyway. I think a major helping point was the fact I gave out invites more than two days before, this time being prepared an entire week early. I also invited a TON of people, knowing not all would show up. At the highest point of attendance, there were 9 people in my basement.

Because of the fact I have upperclassman friends, some people drove. For some reason, that absolutely blows my mind. Is that strange? I suppose in a few years, it might blow my mind that some people won't be driving.

The party was obnoxiously loud from the very beginning, because of the drum kit and my record player. I could hear the party from outside the house. Seriously, at the beginning of the party only three people were there, and the drumming started as soon as we went downstairs. To be brutally honest, it wasn't really even drumming, just noise. I have two pairs of sticks, and two different people were hitting them randomly at the same time, different tempos. My mother requested it stopped pretty early on.

We had Guitar Hero set up, as well as pool, so everyone stayed well entertained. After a while everyone got bored with the GH, and we put on some Zeppelin (specifically, Led Zeppelin IV). Trust me, with the people that were there, that is very danceable music. Actually, the dancing was rather insane. There are three support beams (pole-like objects) down there, and Cory saw them as an invitation to dance rather, ahem, wildy. When I went upstairs to get more chippage, my mom asked what on earth we were doing to make the floor vibrate.

At one point, I received a cell phone call from my friend Courtney, who was there. I saw her holding a phone, so I assumed it was her and hit ignore. I didn't check to see if it was home or mobile, which was a mistake. Eventually, I asked her to stop calling me, and she said, "What? I don't have a cellphone." It was someone else's phone she was holding, and her dad was trying to call me. I went upstairs with her to call him back, and had to explain why I ignored him 4 times.

"Oh, I thought Courtney was calling me."

"Isn't she there??"

"Um, yeah, but I figured she was fooling around with her cellphone or something..."

"She doesn't have a cellphone."

"Oh. Um..."

"Can I just talk to Courtney?"

He was calling about giving someone a ride, or something.

It was a totally awesome party, with guitar playing, pool, obnoxious drumming, and records. I had a ton of fun, and I think the same applies to everyone (hopefully!). I'm really lucky to have friends who can have fun with what they're doing, instead of complaining about what they could be doing.

Searched!

2009-10-30T11:32:00.001-07:00

Wow - something freaky happened today. During second hour, the police brought the drug dogs to the school to sniff around and find drugs. I honestly didn't even know they were doing it - until I was pulled out of class.

The vice principal came by my class and said, "I need Drew Morgan." when I came out of the class room, he started walking and told me, "I don't mean to scare you, I know you're a good kid, but the dogs detected something in the group of lockers by yours. If you don't mind, I need to search yours." I knew I had no reason to be freaked out because there was nothing in mine, and I knew my locker partner had nothing, but still...

He pulled my locker partner out of class too, and he opened up our locker. He started pulling our bags and coats out, searching pockets and everything. He was making jokes to try and make us a bit less nervous, but it didn't really work. Neither of us could stop laughing, but it was kind of that "Oh crap" sort of laughter. He moved our books around, made jokes about what was in our lunch boxes, etc.

At one point, he opened my book bag and pulled out this little brown and dusty square of wax paper. It looked very "suspicious", and he said "What's this?" in a rather serious tone. I was trying to think of a way to reassure him it wasn't drugs when he threw it back in and said "Looks like an old muffin wrapper. Gross!"

When he looked in the pocket of my bag I put books I read for enjoyment in, he pulled out one that happened to be in there. Cory (the locker partner) busted out laughing, and I just stood there feeling mortified. I had a copy of the book Sex, Drugs, and Coco-Puffs by Chuck Klosterman in there. The cover art is a cereal bowl full of pills. I said, "Umm, it has less to do with that stuff that you'd think," as he studied it. He said he was just seeing who the author was, because he was an L.A. teacher before being vice principal and had never heard of it. That brought many a laugh in the retelling of the story, believe me.

After we passed the search, he told us to go and wait for him in the office while he conducted the rest of the searches. apparently, he calls your parents even if there's nothing found. Two by two, other people started walking in with a nervous look on their faces.

"You got searched too?"

"Yup."

"Find anything?"

"Nope."

That conversation went on a few times, until all eight people whose lockers were searched came in. One girl said they found Motrin, but she wasn't going to get in trouble for it. Even though everyone was done, the vice principal still took forever. By the time he started making calls, 2nd hour was almost over.

Each call took about 5 minutes, so passing time came and went with us still in the office. Something else happened that required his immediate attention, so he wrote us passes and said he'd call us down when he wasn't busy. We both went to our 3rd hr, Health, and got to retell the epic story a few times before my name came over the intercom. I went down, and he dialed my mom's number. She was in class, so we had to wait as someone was found to babysit her class while she talked on the phone with him. I had to sit there for a good 3 minutes making small talk before she came on the line.

Their conversation went pretty quick, although it sounded like my mom was a little annoyed at having her class interrupted. Later, I found out this was because she was somewhat nervous herself, even though the very first thing said was "Don't worry, Drew's not in trouble."

The rest of the day was pretty much spent making jokes about getting searched. Cory said he's going to bring in dog treats on Monday and keep them in our locker the rest of the year. I think he means it, too.

Now I'm prepared for Halloween; good luck scaring me more than that did!

Last Weekend

2009-10-28T04:01:00.000-07:00

I realized that recently, I haven't been keeping all my dear readers informed of my day to day life. I also realize that I haven't been posting much at all lately, but when I do it's usually about one specific event. So, shall we get on with last weekend?

Last Friday was marching band's last game of the season (as far as I know). I walked uptown before rehearsal, and got totally soaked in the horrible rain. Everyone took shelter at a friend's house, so we chilled there until rehearsal. On rainy days, we practice in the High School gym, which stinks. It's impossible to really get any idea of where to go in there, because the yard lines aren't underfoot for reference. We went into the rain again after rehearsal, to get McDonald's (the Meal of Champions when it comes to band).

The plan was this: if it was raining after half time, the band would march back to the school and take shelter. It was raining the entire time we marched down to the field, and during the first half of our pre-game show. It stopped while we were in the stands, which was nice. It wasn't too cold out, so almost everyone took off their raincoats. It started raining again just as we marched onto the field for half time, but stopped during our second song.

Because it wasn't raining when we came off the field, our teacher told us we had the 3rd quarter to wander around and that we had to be in the stands for the 4th. During the said wandering, the skies opened up again. Everyone was running about, looking for raincoats, taking shelter under trees and umbrellas. We quickly got into parade block, hoping to be allowed to run back to the school chaotically, but we were forced to march. It was a long, long walk. When we got into the school, everyone had to hang their uniforms on the back of a chair to dry them. I was soaking underneath my uniform too, without a change of clothes. Still, it was a very fun experience.

On Saturday, I awoke to discover the fact my wallet was missing. I had left it (and my Aquafina Chapstick - Oh no!) in my uniform jacket. Well, it's not like I had any money anyway. Actually, the first thing on my schedule was going to work, to hopefully replenish said wallet. I've found I like working on Saturdays, before major evening events; it keeps me from spending the day talking about how excited I am for whatever I'm doing later.

The major event this Saturday was Courtney's Halloween party. I never actually received an invite, but since she had called me before setting the date to make sure I could make it, I figured I was invited. It went from 5 to 11 PM, which seemed like an incredibly long time for a party. she invited tons of people, and about 17 people came. Compared to my last 2 parties, where only 2 people showed up,this was pretty impressive.

It turned out the reason for the long hours was that everyone there was going on a hayride to a corn maze when it got dark. The hayride was kind of a bad idea in retrospect, considering most people weren't dressed warm enough for the 40 degree weather. It was also kind of illegal, since there were 17 people riding on an open trailer - no railings or cap - down major roads. It was just as bad on the way back, but we supposedly took a shortcut that time. I say "supposedly" because it still seemed like way too long of a ride.

The maze itself wasn't as horribly cold, because a) we weren't in the back of a moving vehicle and b) the corn blocked out some of the wind. Apparently, our group was supposed to supply it's own flashlights, but no one brought any. The people in charge of the corn maze had a few to let us borrow, but we ended up having to take the strobe lights off the back of the truck and carry them around. My group of five originally had a normal flashlight, but we ran into one of the groups with a strobe and they MADE us trade. They were getting majorly freaked out by the silence and the flashing, apparently. We took it, and turned it up as high a possible so there wasn't too much darkness between each flash. I don't think anyone in our group was scared by them, just annoyed by the whole "even more difficult to see" thing.

There were six stations throughout the maze, each with a "you are here" map on it. We also had maps, but they weren't of much use because we didn't look at them. The maze was enormous, and apparently in the shape of a stack of pumpkins. Everyone kept saying, "We're going in circles, we've already been here!" I'm sorry, how can you tell? IT'S CORN! Everything looked exactly the same to me. We only found three of the stations, and two of those we found by following other groups around.

The next day, was working a concession stand out at the gun club to try and raise money for our band's trip to Disney next year. Honestly, the concession stand isn't bringing much money in. We're a little over breaking even, but no where near where we thought we'd be. It\s kind of a boring job to do, as well.

After that was all done, Joe and I went on our annual haunted-house trip. This year, all the ones we normally go to were closed (because it was a Sunday). Instead, we went to one about an hour away, that was very professionally done. There weren't many actors, but the ones that were there would follow you around for a few rooms. At the end there was a dude with a chainsaw, which is always the thing that scares me the mot. The only way out of the room he was in was through a black-hole tunnel, one of those things where you're on a little bridge that goes through a brightly light tunnel that rotates. Joe had apparently never been in one, because he was totally freaked out by it. Both of us walked leaning to one side for about 5 minutes after it, because it really got into your head.

Overall, it was a pretty awesome weekend. Oh, and I finished this post just in time for the next weekend!

Rocky Horror Picture Show Live!

2009-10-20T04:09:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in my previous post, there was a performance or Rocky Horror Picture Show Live! that I wished to attend. Now, the tale of said trip.

Since May, I'd known the local performing arts group was doing a theatrical version of RHPS, and I probably mentioned how excited I was about once a week. I wanted to audition for it (wouldn't I make a great Frank-N-Furter?), but it turned out you had to be 18 to get a major part, and I think 16 for a back up singer/actor.

I went with Courtney and our friend Leah, who is absolutely crazy about RHPS. Out of four showings, we could only make it to the Saturday night at 8 due to multiple band things. The theatre it was at allowed audience participation, as long as you didn't throw food items. We all got stuff together to bring, because no one wanted to pay 10 bucks for a premade pack there.

I must say: Courtney did not have fun. Th closest she came to enjoying the show was, "Well, it's better than being at home." It's a bit ironic (or is it just coincidental?), because my uncle and I were talking before the show (he went too) about how his friend used his girlfriend as an excuse not to go, saying she didn't like plays. My uncle thought the dude was lying, because "what girl doesn't want to be taken to a play?" I think RHPS is exempt from that rule, however.

I'd never been to an actual audience participation show before, and it was pretty awesome. I knew people threw stuff, but I hadn't realized everyone would be shouting things at the actors. A lot of the things they said seemed to be pre-planned, as in they say them at every showing. However, other things sounded pretty improv.

In all truth, the play was better than the movie. It had more jokes, and the audience participation was cool. I also enjoyed the fact that the character Rocky had speaking lines in the play. Actually, the Narrator was a close family friend of Leah's, and she had been in a play with the dude who played Frank Furter.

After the play, we were standing around in the lobby waiting for our ride. All the actors were in there, signing autographs and getting hugs and whatnot, and Leah wanted a picture with Frank Furter. She hadn't realized she knew him at that time, so she was deathly afraid of asking him for a picture. "You ask," she kept saying over and over again. Eventually, after listening to her say over and over how much she would regret not getting the picture, I asked him fro her. While he had his arm around her, I had difficulties with the camera phone, leading him to comment about "Poor dear must be so frightened, with this scary dude putting his arm around her for so long." Eventually I got the picture, and he wandered off for the next group of people. He was totally in character the whole time, which was slightly frightening.

Does anyone else have any cool RHPS viewing stories? From what I've heard, every showing of it is an experience.

Weekend At The Grandparents' Place

2009-10-14T04:00:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, my mom went to Chicago to watch the marathon. I elected to stay home, because A) I had a muzzleloading shoot on Sunday and B) I wondered how it would be to stay home while she was on vacation.

This meant I spent the weekend with my grandparents, at their house half a mile down the road from us. I lived with them for 8 years (I was still living there when I started this blog), so it didn't seem like it would be too big of an issue to stay there for one weekend. I discovered that one grows used to their own house pretty quickly.

The plan was this: I'd ride my bike over to their place Saturday morning, work until the store closed (for those not in the know, they own a gun shop where I am employed), and then go into town. On Sunday, my grandpa and I would leave early for the shoot, and get home around 4.

Work went really well, and I made enough money to (hopefully) fund a viewing of Rocky Horror Picture Show Live! with my friends this weekend (trust me, I'll be posting more on that soon). I usually have fun at work, because it's easy, yet slightly challenging. Plus, the whole store atmosphere is very relaxed, and when customers come in it's usually like having a friend or acquaintance drop by for a visit.

After work, we went into town to get dinner and, apparently, go clothes shopping. I was not aware the second item was on the agenda, which was a nice surprise. The only problem was it was another school's Homecoming, so the restaurant we went to was packed with teens. It was a little awkward, especially when I recognized a few people. Still, the food was good! I got a new pair of skinny jeans as well, so you could count that as a victory.

When we left for the shoot on Sunday, I knew it would be cold, so I dressed pretty warm. Unfortunately, it's impossible to wear gloves when you're muzzle-loading, so I ended up not being able to feel my fingers for the rest of the day.

The shoot was a multi-discipline shoot, with four 50-point regular targets, a smoothbore target, a pistol target, and knife and 'hawk throwing. I included all this info because I now have a reader who knows what I'm talking about: the awesome Crush of Society guitarist Bobby! He shoots muzzleloaders as well. Anyway, I did well in all the regular targets. I managed to hit the paper all five times with the smoothbore, but kind of gave up on the pistol when I had only hit it twice out of 6 shots.

When they announced the winners, I was pleasantly surprised to discover I had taken third place in the regular aggregate. I was only four points away from first, and I had been up against a lot of very good shooters. I got a knife as my prize for that, and a mug as a thank-you for being a Junior shooter (I was the only person under 50 there).

All in all, it was an interesting experience. I had fun, but would I pass up going to Chicago again? Probably not.

Homecoming Dance

2009-10-03T20:48:00.001-07:00

Tonight was my first High School dance. Usually before dances I am nervous and pace a lot, but I managed to keep myself occupied at work all day. My only major problem was that of my health, because all week I've been fighting with a cold/allergies. Also, last night was the homecoming football game, and I virtually destroyed my voice with cheers and cadences for band. I am not exaggerating when I say I was incredibly happy to get an entire raspy sentence out without my voice just disappearing. Fortunately, I got my voice to come back at least a little in time for the dance. Well, I was at least understandable.

When I got out of the car in front of the school at 7:30 sharp, I walked up to the giant crowd of people getting checked in by two guys I'd never met, and only seen in the halls once or twice. The one who seemed to be more talkative turned to me and asked "Do you play drums?" I told them no, I was a bassist. "Oh, we need a drummer for our band. You look like a drummer. Isn't it hard to find a drummer in this school?" We then went into a long discussion about drumming, and each of our respective bands. Keep in mind, I had no clue who these dudes were and they didn't know me. They were basing the entire conversation on looks. It turns out they were in a band with a friend of mine that also plays bass, which I found interesting.

The line to check in was about 15 minutes long, I kid you not. The air was really thick with a mix of every brand of perfume and cologne people were wearing, prompting the thought "smells like teen spirit." (yes, I'm a dork, get over it.) I went with Courtney as my date, of course, but we didn't actually arrive together. This was due to a lack of planning on my part, with us basically just saying we'd find each other once we got there. This was not a good plan. There were over 500 students in there, and I was starting to wonder if we'd even see each other at all in the entire 3 and a half hours. Thankfully we did, because I got there first and waited near the entrance for her along with my other friends who made similar foolish plans.

How can one really say much more about a dance? It was crazy! The differences between J.H. and High School continue to present themselves. At this, there were almost no people awkwardly standing to one side of the dance floor, refusing to dance. I was outside the main mosh, but I still busted a groove with everyone else. Apparently, the trick to it is being an idiot while moving your limbs in a semi-coordinated manner.

I showed up to the dance dressed all nicely,

but before long I had my tie loosened, and my shirt was untucked with the top button undone. All the dancing I did really takes it out of you! It became warmer and warmer in the room as the night wore on, which I mostly blame on extreme physical activity taking place.

Fast forward to the end of the dance. I really didn't want it to end, because it was so fun. As we walked out, the air was once again thick with the smell of teen spirit, only this time in a less perfumed manner. I turned to Courtney and stated, "This will make such a good blog post!"

First Game

2009-09-24T03:56:00.001-07:00

So, guess what last Friday was? Our first performance for marching band! It was pretty fun, all in all.

We got out of school at 2:16, and had a rehearsal at 4. After the rehearsal, we had time to go and get a bite to eat, then head on over to the school to get into uniform. I decided to spend all the time we had in between things wandering around uptown with my friends, because the whole town is less than two square miles in size, and it was much more convenient than driving 18 miles home and back again. Isn't living in a small town fun?

All we really did in between the letting out of school and the rehearsal was head to places, such as a friends house to get black socks for the uniform and to the Marathon station to get something to drink. It was surprising just how little time we had, until you thought about the fact walking to the school campus took 5-10 minutes.

Rehearsal was a bit upsetting, because of a disagreement between I and a friend that I'd rather not get into. Fortunately, everything resolved itself, and everyone walked away a bit happier.

On the plus side, we did pretty good at rehearsal. We were trying out a new method of marching off the field we had only learned on Monday, and it worked like a charm. None of the trumpets played, because we had to save our chops for when it mattered, but I was pretty confident. I'm the youngest (read: least experienced) trumpet player, and I'm pretty good. If I could do it, everyone else could for sure.

After rehearsal we walked to McDonalds, got a quick snack, blah blah blah. We had to eat on our way back to the school, because we had to start getting dressed soon. The report time was 6, and the teacher advised we saved half an hour to get ready. All we really had to do was pull on our uniforms over our clothes, because they're made of thin material and it was going to be cold. I think the uniforms look kind of cool, actually, in a weird way. The only part I dislike are the hats.

We have to wear the bucket-style hats with plumes, and the rule is there can't be any hair showing. I have hair past my shoulders. The reason I grew it out (one of them, anyway) is the fact that I look like a freak without it. This was no exception. There was actually a row of chairs lined up with long-haired guys sitting in them, all grumbling about the fact we had to put it up as one of the girls helped us put it into a pony tail. The completed product was me with virtually no hair. No one recognized me, a few people said I looked like a girl. I took it down after Half Time, and was quite relieved. Strange, that in order for me to look like a guy I had to have my hair down instead of up and short.

Even though it was absolutely freezing cold, it was pretty fun. I'm seriously looking forward to our next game, which is Homecoming. Can't wait!

High School

2009-09-15T04:01:00.000-07:00

Last week was my first week of High School. I was a tiny bit nervous, thanks to multiple people's warnings ("watch out for Upperclassmen!") However, this fear was totally misplaced. It was almost exactly like Jr. High, with the exception of the fact I'm no longer on top. Still, I think it's cooler to be at the bottom of High School than the top of Jr. High.

The first day was probably the worst, because I was still trying to find my way around and figure out where all my classes are. It was also a bit of a bummer that all we really did was cover the rules. I mean, by this point we should really be able to survive without being told basic common sense. After three years of the same thing at the Jr. High, and five more of a similar style in elementary, anyone who doesn't get how to avoid trouble probably has bigger issues to worry about than that.

The rest of the week started ups out with the curriculum, so it was a bit better. I wound up with a 100 question test, a 65 question test, and a two and a half page paper on the second day, and I like that. I'm definitely looking forward to having a bit more of a challenge from this point on.

All my teachers are pretty cool, so I'm lucky there. One of my friends, who has almost all the same classes, managed to compare every teacher we have currently to an awesome teacher from previous years.

Well, I actually have to be getting to school. I'm still typing theses on my mom's Jr. High classroom computer, but now I have to walk across campus to the High School. Better hurry!

(P.S.: this post is actually just an assignment from Language Arts I typed up, with a bit added to it. I think if I write all my assignments like blog posts, I'll do pretty well in class!)

Puzzling

2009-09-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hey! How have all of your Labor Day weekends' been? I spent mine camping. We (me, my mom, Joe, and two other family friends) do every year, and it's always pretty fun.

We stayed at a state camp ground we hadn't been to before. It was right on Lake Huron, and the beach was only a five-minute walk. We spent most of Saturday on the beach, tanning and swimming. On Sunday, we went to an art fair in Port Austin, and played putt-putt golf (I lost).

When we were in Port Austin, we stopped at a cool little tourist store we visit every time we come up. They have tons of puzzles and stuff for sale, and I was goofing around with a Rubik's Cube that had numbers instead of colors. My mom and Joe were off somewhere else, and they called me over. Instead of putting down the cube, I carried it over to where they were.

They were standing by a little table that had a 9 square puzzle on it, and a sign that stated "finish in 5 minutes or less and keep the puzzle!". I don't mean to brag, but I am awesome at those things. My grandparents got a few for me a couple of years ago, and I solved them in about 10 minutes apiece. I handed the cube to my mom, and set to work.

I solved the puzzle in two minutes. The guy who was behind the counter gave me my free puzzle, congratulated me, blah blah blah. We left the store right after, to go to the grocery store next door and get some food for dinner. As Joe was off looking for something else, my mom was busy saying, "That was really cool, how you solved it that fast!". I responded with, "Did you steal that Rubik's Cube??". Apparently, she accidentally walked out with it. I called Joe over, and the look on his face was priceless. My mom was incredibly embarrassed, and had Joe return it to the guy.

There were many bloggable moments this weekend, but that one totally takes the cake.

Record Player Needle!

2009-08-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone - guess what? I finally got a new needle for my record player! I broke the old one back while school was still in session, and even before that the speed setting on the player was broken. In essence, it's been forever since I've been able to listen to any of my records.

I had hoped to be able to find a needle for my record player while I was in Chicago; I had no idea how hard of a task that would be. See, I was under the impression there were a few different kinds of needles, but they were basically universal. Boy, was I wrong. After being rejected at a few different stores, I decided I would just try and find one online - again, a very difficult task. I discovered a nice company that "carries every needle made since 1930", and set out to find mine on there. This involved running up and down the basement stairs about five times, because I kept forgetting either the company's name or the model number. Eventually, I found the manufacturer and started browsing inventory. Of course, they didn't have my exact model. I gambled and got a look-alike, with a similar model number.

Despite the site saying it would take 1-2 days after shipping, a week later I still had no needle. I was getting upset, and relieved to see an email from the seller. Turns out the guy misread my address, and I had to spell out all the numbers for him. Fast forward 5 more days, and I got the needle! Yay!

Needless to say, I'll be spending a lot of my time hanging out in the basement, listening to the awesome sound of vinyl and playing pool and video games. Hey, it's better than playing "bejeweled" for four hours straight!