An interesting combination, no? I've decided alchohol can be replaced with the first two. Either that, or being drunk really really sucks. Oh, I forgot lack of sleep. That helps too. Regardless...its a real pity Demi is so old and seems to want to make a reputation (has made a reputation?) off things like Striptease. She did an honestly good job doing GI Jane. And a decent one in A Few Good Men. Ever notice how just about everyone in that movie has eyes that are some shade of green? Take a look sometime, its eerie. Quote du jour: "You know the best thing about pain? It lets you know you're still alive!" How true. My leg really hurts, too...I stressed it lifting this week, then banged it on a bloody wagon on friday (but that was pretty funny, I must admit) and then had some senile old lady run a giant cart thing (you know the big orange ones at costco? it had a bunch of bookshelves or something on it, too...and was moving at a decent clip) come crashing into the shin. Surprisingly, there's no mark on it. But it hurts. Pain. Yay.
We took the Aztek into a tire place today...the guy took one look, turned to us and exclaimed "Wow...those are really overdue for a change up! And your alignment must be way off!" This is incredibly ironic. I've been mentioning to my dad for the last two weeks (that's how long I've been driving the car) that the traction sucks because I keep skidding out. He claimed I was "just driving too fast" and I "should be more careful". Funny, I was driving to fast sometimes, but when I skid out going 15 in a parking lot because I made a turn downhill, I know somethings wrong. And I'm extremely careful when breaking the law. ;D The more ironic part is that he used to continually lecture me on how I "shouldn't park so close to the curb" because "it would knock the tires out of alignment". Funny that its HIS car that had that tragic event happen to it. And I asked the dude, and it takes several months for the kind of wear witnessed on our tires to occur...meaning he was the one who hit something. Sweet irony.
It does get better, though. He attempted to suggest I shouldn't drive the expi anymore because people can steal things from it...when the theft occured while he was driving it and went unnoticed for so long ONLY because he was driving it.
Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against him...I just find all this incredibly funny. Along with my mom complaining I spend too little time at home when I've been here more than her in the last month. It pays to not travel on buisness. :D
I stopped by Guitar Center today to ask about mics and audio hubs (particularly the digidesign mbox, as reccomended by Rob) and had a nice chat with a dude there named Ron (I think...it was over 8 hours ago, my memory is kinda sketchy now). He was incredibly knowledgable and promised to cut me a deal when/if I returned. The best part was he had already done the same basic thing I was looking to do (set up a recording studio in his basement) and knew several tricks to keep the cost down. All I need to do now is convince my parents of two things:
1. The noise produced by this project will be kept to a minimum, limited to daylight hours, and not impact their sleep at all. They're afraid because of how late I stay up playing the guitar...really loud. This point should be easy, just promise not to and attempt to stick to it.
2. That I deserve the 5-6 hundred in funds (and space in the basement) my project will require. I do have the money myself, but its always better if someone else foots the bill. This taks may well be impossible...I'd settle for permission to go ahead with it using my own money, perhaps with a deal that they'll pay me back some of it if I record myself and/or my sister and send the recordings to relatives. Both of us hate performing for them, its a huge bargining chip (I hope).
The only other potential setback is time. Suffice to say I won't have any in about 4 or 5 weeks. Football WILL own me, along with the schoolwork that follows on its tail. I theoretically will be able to squeeze sports and school in with hobbies (audio/video projects) but my parents may not agree. My "sterling" academic record may convince them, though the two (or was it three?) b+'s I pulled (and my inability to remember and care how many/what subjects they were in) last year are slightly detrimental to this cause. I shall press ahead valiently, though. The rewards brought by success are more than worth the effort. Consider: I will have gained hugely valuable skills and experience in two fields I'm interested in pursuing (to some degree) in later life. Perhaps my dream is to someday have a wonderful, decent paying job in the day and be able to do sweet stuff like this at night and on weekends (and bring in extra cash and have fun). Furthermore, there are a few people who I really want to record. Ok, scratch that...there are quite a few. Think of all the musicians I know who would NEVER consider going to a regular studio. Think of all that talent never being really realized because of a lack of time and opportunity. Don't get me wrong, I don't expect to turn anyone into a pop star...but its certainly possible some good could come from this. And I price checked cd's...I can get "professional" quality cd-r's (basically really good demo disks) made for less than a dollar apeice. Most bands charge roughly 5 bucks for such things...I could profitably produce them for 3. Figure profits split evenly with the artist, and I might make some nice pocket cash. That's merely an added bonus, though...this project would focus on acts I enjoy and primarily benefit myself, them, and their families. After all, who doesn't want to hear their angel in full high fidelity glory?
A question to any piano players who read this: how good of a piano does one really need? Can a simple keyboard come close to measuring up to a full grand piano? Would a more advanced keyboard suffice? This is an important detail as pianos are so common musically. Strings and winds are easy to deal with, as they simply require their own mic and all musicians of quality have access to their own, and they're portable. Drums are harder, but software programs can do a decent job emulating a drum set. They are also reasonably portable too. Pianos, though, are not easily moved. I have developed a backup plan for if recording on a "real" piano ever becomes neccessary, however (this is also my plan for if I need to record a full band): simply move my equipment into one of the rooms in the PAC and utilize the school's equipment. Things are even easier when you consider that I can use a laptop for the actual recording and not bother mixing until I'm back at home. But I do have a rather old keyboard sitting in my basement that might suffice...I'm hoping this is the case, its less messy.
Second backup (which I doubtfully would ever need...but you never know) is to look into using ThereAfter's basement studio. I've heard tell its much more complete than my little project ever would be...its possible I could use some or all of their equipment (maybe even record on their setup?) and then mix and edit the audio at home. Anything is possible. It does seem that this little studio is a realistic goal, and one worth pursuing. That in mind, feel free to offer arguements for or against to me anytime until I make the actual purchase. :D
My video aspirations are slightly more dubious. As most of you know, I edited and burned the playwriting festival onto dvd this year. To my knowledge, that was the first case of inhouse production of video done by the Jesuit Drama Dept....in the past they've outsourced the labor, which was far more costly than my "no value added" services. Whether or not I will continue to pursue this course in the next year is questionable...it is time consuming, which is bad, and wasn't really "officially" sponsored by the school or publicized. Were either of those to occur, I'd have to do better work on it. And would hopefully be compensated for my time...but that's not likely. I'll still talk to Jeff and Elaine about what they want once things get underway this year, though. What's more sobering is the sad admission that the privately produced "movie" I've claimed to be helping work on for over a year now (and held auditions for, even) seems to be stagnant. There's a partial script, sure, and it looks good...but when on earth are we actually gonna do this? Other parties have a vested interest in its completion, and I just really wanna do it, but nothing seems to happen...and I think I might be the only one bothered by that. Oh well. In theory I could go ahead and produce a movie on my own, but it would never get done. I could never write and finalize a script, or cast actors, or even do a good job directing without some sort of reason for it all. My little french movie project turned out well enough, but that was to save my ass by pulling my grade up in the class. It was fun, though...I should put that on the web and let y'all take a look at my total lack of talent...the actors did a pretty good job, though.
I want...I crave...I demand...I destroy myself by searching for: perfection. It doesn't exsist in this world, it seems. Everytime something is good, or great, or seemingly the best, there's something wrong, a fly on the window, a scratch on the paint, a thorn on the rose. Sure, something can be "perfectly itself", but what the hell does that mean? "We're all unique and perfect because we're us!" Load of crap fed to you (me...us?) by people determined to make everyone feel good. Its a admirable goal, once I used to share. Its impossible, though. Why purse what you can never catch? But I still want...need...to find something perfect. Its like it would provide some sort of validation to life, some proof that what I desire so badly actually exsists and I haven't been wasting (my admitadly short and somewhat meaningless anyway...how much can one really accomplish as a child?) life and grasping at smoke. The more I beleive something is pefect, though, the harder it is to embrace its flaws. The perfect ideals in my mind replace the real thing and leave me disapointed and saddened when the myth fades to reality. Its like trying to hug a sobbing child only to have it bite you in the neck and run away laughing. Or something. I want things to be right, I want people to be alright, I want the world to be that warm giving open LOVING place I see it as...and other people just walk away, treating my wholehearted attempts as a feeble joke or a blatant attack on their person. (Please don't read too far into that and assume I'm talking about something you did...the odds are highly in favor that you DIDN'T do anything...but then, there aren't that many people that I really think needed help and refused it so painfully. But still, I doubt they're reading this, so go ahead and assume its not you. :D) Sure, some people are fine with my seeming insanities and even embrace me for them. I cannot thank some of you enough for your tolerance...or even more for the fact you don't see it as such.
Heh, I've spent about an hour (off and on...I'm also watching a movie at the same time) writing this and feel far more sentimental now than at the begining. This always seems to happen when I write here. Must be the atmosphere.
Last friday was a perfect example of this tolerance/support...I was acting weird, even for me. Musta been the exercize or sugar...or something. Chemical imbalance in the brain? Regardless, I went through a good 20 hours as a hyper, touchy-feely-clingy dude with a poor sense of judgement and a desire to try and make everyone happy, or at least come close. Not to mention my excessive enthusiasm in my retelling of certain stories or coaching of a certain driver to greater speeds and feats. I still can't beleive you didn't slap me at some point. ;D (I woulda slapped me if I hadn't been so "high on life" or whatever. :D)
These ramblings have gone on far too long...I really should get some sleep. Apparently, I'm going to meet with a girl to tutor her in math tomorrow. I should really warn her that she embarks on this at her own risk...she sounded so eager when I talked to her, though, and it is all Dr. G's fault for reccomending me to her. Maybe things will work out fine...hopefully.
Considering my luck of late, anything could happen.
The Thermals are the band of the night, with these being the prefered lyrics:
Hardly art, hardly starving
Hardly art, hardly garbage
Hardly art, hardly starving
Hardly art, hardly garbage
More colored liquid
No scent, no skin
More stained paper
More parts per million
No new deafness
No self-reference
No cults and
No false stands
No one ideal
Know what I feel
No two the same
Know two with the same name
Hardly art, hardly starving
Hardly art, hardly garbage
Hardly art, hardly starving
Hardly art, hardly started
More colored liquid
No scent, no skin
More stained paper
More parts per million
No new deafness
No self-reference
No getting psyched on
No culture icons
No one ideal
Know what I feel
No two the same
Know two with the same name
No one ideal
Know what I feel
Oh oh oh
Hardly art, hardly starving
Hardly art, hardly garbage
Hardly art, hardly starving
Hardly art, hardly garbage
More colored liquid
No scent, no skin
More stained paper
More parts per million
No new deafness
No self-reference
No getting psyched on
No culture icons
No one ideal
Know what I feel
No two the same
Know two with the same name
Eyes so deep
You'd never see through
I can't fuckin' stop
Thinking about you