things I learned in february

What a weird month this has been. I've been kind of manic lately but things are cooling down in my brain. My desperate hatred for winter (also called SAD) has dissipated and I am beginning to plan for spring in my head. I don't know what that means, but I will be ready when the time comes.

For some reason I've also had a lot of crazy ideas over the last month- good ideas.

• My first idea is to learn how to bake from scratch. Although Erin rarely bakes, she really loves baked goods, so I figured this would be a good way to balance out our kitchen powers and give my lovely wife all the cookies she desiresdeserves. So on Sunday with a bit of help I created some peanut butter cookies, straight out of The Joy of Cooking:
  



• The second idea is that I want to ride my bike as soon as it is thawed. This isn't exactly a new concept, but I'm definitely pretty motivated right now. Erin got a promotion, too, so she's working longer hours. Having one car means it's a pain for the both of us to commute, so using the bicycle will be much simpler.



• I guess idea three would be to get a macbook pro, finish "decorating" the basement, and set up my instruments and recording equipment so I can start fooling around with some new music. I'm not sure when this will happen, given our financial situation, but I've thought about it a lot and it's something I will really enjoy once it is complete.



• This Sunday I'm moving up to blueberry muffins!



• I'm taking a road trip in June with some friends to Bonnaroo Music Festival, in Tennessee. Let me know if you want to go, we haven't arranged transport yet and may have room.



• I have also recently found an enjoyment of techno music.



• Beauty is a profound thing.

Piano recital

Not mine, but my mom's!



I always hated performing in public, I get so nervous. She did a great job though, and she's learned a lot about technique and theory in 8 months. Her teacher specializes in beginner piano, so most of her class is very young.



I think she was a bit relieved when the whole thing was finished. I completely understand! Congrats though mom!

The elixir of looooove

Erin and I went to see Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore last night, and we had a really great time. I found opera an acquired taste when I first started, and there are certainly many operas that I would not suggest anyone new to the art form go see (I'm looking at you, Wagner). But this one is a perfect initiation if you are at all interested in getting into Opera. It's incredibly entertaining, relatively short, has aged well (read: it is still very easy to understand and empathize with, 150 years later), and has excellent music (I hadn't heard it before, and it's much better than I expected). The work is an opera buffa, or comic opera, which means it's basically a romantic comedy set to music. If you have nothing to do tonight pick up some tickets and go see it! I promise you won't be disappointed.

A song by the thermals

two by two
lord we'll take em two by two

we'll lead 'em to the bedroom floor
we'll lead 'em in the dead of morning

two by two
lord we'll take 'em two by two
we'll lead 'em through the pouring rain
we'll lead 'em to the gas chamber

but not me
i'm gonna crawl
i'm gonna crawl
i'm gonna crawl
back to the sea

judge us now
lord won't you judge us now
we know exactly who we are
we know exactly what we do

judge us now
lord won't you judge us now
everybody stand on two legs
everybody kneel on two knees

but i'm turning around
and i'm gonna crawl
and i'm gonna crawl
and i'm gonna crawl
back to the ocean i know
back to the ocean i need
back to the sea

and all i need to do is walk
is to believe

so i'm gonna crawl
so i'm gonna crawl
so i'm gonna crawl
back to the sea

For lou

Since he says I never post any videos of him.

Drinking

The drug of our species; a cultural tradition in every culture that has ever developed; and so eloquently expressed over a thousand years ago:

(translated from the original latin)

we do not think how we will go to dust,
but we hurry to gamble,
which always makes us sweat.
What happens in the tavern,
where money is host,
you may well ask,
and hear what I say.

Some gamble, some drink,
some behave loosely.
But of those who gamble,
some are stripped bare,
some win their clothes here,
some are dressed in sacks.
Here no-one fears death,
but they throw the dice in the name of Bacchus.

First of all it is to the wine-merchant
the the libertines drink,
one for the prisoners,
three for the living,
four for all Christians,
five for the faithful dead,
six for the loose sisters,
seven for the footpads in the wood,

Eight for the errant brethren,
nine for the dispersed monks,
ten for the seamen,
eleven for the squabblers,
twelve for the penitent,
thirteen for the wayfarers.
To the Pope as to the king
they all drink without restraint.

The mistress drinks, the master drinks,
the soldier drinks, the priest drinks,
the man drinks, the woman drinks,
the servant drinks with the maid,
the swift man drinks, the lazy man drinks,
the white man drinks, the black man drinks,
the settled man drinks, the wanderer drinks,
the stupid man drinks, the wise man drinks,

The poor man drinks, the sick man drinks,
the exile drinks, and the stranger,
the boy drinks, the old man drinks,
the bishop drinks, and the deacon,
the sister drinks, the brother drinks,
the old lady drinks, the mother drinks,
this man drinks, that man drinks,
a hundred drink, a thousand drink.

Six hundred pennies would hardly
suffice, if everyone
drinks immoderately and immeasurably.
However much they cheerfully drink
we are the ones whom everyone scolds,
and thus we are destitute.
May those who slander us be cursed
and may their names not be written in the
book of the righteous.

This poem is from Carmina Burana, profane poetry of the middle ages set to music by Carl Orff.

Top 5 albums on my shuffle

In response to the challenge here. I listen to these as I'm running:

5. Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog - Great lower-key songs that add a little variety to the work-out. Can you say "hushed"?

4. Bloc Party - Silent Alarm - Perfect for running, this is upbeat and has an excellent british pop-rock feel. Amazing drummer too.

3. Lucky Soul - The Great Unwanted - Also perfect for running, this album borrows heavily from oldies from the 50s and 60s, but is very modern in its own way. A very fun album.

2. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Is Is - An EP from one of my current favorite groups. A very talented trio that plays catchy, sexy, and energetic art punk. Karen O is my current favorite popular music vocalist.

1. Radiohead - In Rainbows - Just go get this album, there's really no reason not to. This will be on my playlists for years.

Now post your top five (with a bullet) list of anything. Top five echidnas. Top five reasons to read the dictionary. Your desert island, all-time, top-five most memorable breakups, in chronological order. Whatever.

What Goes Around Comes Around

My dad says the guy from Northwood Audio can't keep these turntables in stock.



Thus the double entendre in the post title. Delicious sound though, playing this album.

More Lyrics

I just wrote this. I've had the music for a while though, so finally putting words to it feels like good progress. I have a certain element of cheese to my lyrics, but I think when you hear the finished product it becomes more like sincerity, I guess. Let me know what you think though.

"lullaby in blue"

secure your slumber
in crisp cotton sheets
and when you wake
may your dreams not be fleeting
for I'll be near
I'll be near
as you sleep
as you sleep, I'll be near

and the devils
will pass you by
while I'm there
they'll leave their malice aside
from the breath
of fresh air
you take
uninterrupted
and when you wake
may your dreams not be fleeting
for I'll be near
I'll be near
as you sleep
as you sleep, I'll be near

til the end
until
you arise
peaceful and rested
ready to take
to take on
a new day
so uncertain
then when you wake
may your dreams not be fleeting
for I'll be near
I'll be near
as you sleep
as you sleep, I'll be near

Best Seats in the House

The opera on Friday was great! It was The Marriage of Figaro, a "sequel" to Rossini's The Barber of Seville. Mozart had such a wonderful sense of humor; I think it disarms a lot of people nowadays who go to the opera and expect it to be a bunch of haughty melodrama (only mediocre opera is that stuff). The GR Opera only puts on 2 performances each of 3 operas per year, but they bring in good talent to do it, and it's a very good price for the quality.

We have really good seats too! Thankfully the Opera allows us to keep our seats from year to year if we keep buying season tickets (which we will for the 2008-2009 season as well thanks to a gift from my parents).

Pictionary, Dog Park, Etc.

Apologies for not updating sooner. I took photos in anticipation of blog posts over the weekend, but didn't get around to actually writing anything up. Friday night Liz and Jason came over and we played Pictionary with a white board and this random word generator. 

At one point Erin tried to get me to guess "obstetrics". Why? Because it would undoubtedly lead me to the real word, "obstruction". With only 60 seconds on the timer, this was clearly the only strategy worth pursuing.

It was all good fun until we got in an argument about whether the artist needed to convey the actual conjugation or plurality of the word. For instance, to everyone else, "choosing", "chooses", and "chose" do not count as a correct guess for each other. I thought it was nitpicking and useless, because the only way to effectively distinguish is to come up with cheap "codes" for past tense, gerund, etc. that don't add any fun to the game. But apparently that was just me. At least we could all agree on Corona with lime.

Saturday morning we awoke bright and early due to the fact that my sleep schedule is now completely aligned with Erin's. We took Clapton to the dog park to get some of that giant puppy energy out of him before he destroys us.

Only a dog as big and doofus-y as Clapton would walk around with a stick this big in his mouth.

He had a great goofy time with a bunch of dogs sort of close to his size. Watching him play with such raucous energy is highly entertaining. Freezing your ass off has never been so rewarding a feeling. 

Wow, I sound like a parent.

The rest of saturday we spent in the apartment just enjoying some time off. This was the first real time I'd had to myself where I wasn't curiously exhausted since I'd been back. Erin took a nap on the couch while surfing the net. I found this debate between celebrity athiest Christopher Hutchins and some young rabbi (whose name I would bother to remember if he had half a compelling argument at all during the debate) over the existence of God. You all know whose side I'm on (and if you don't, guess), so it was an enjoyable one-sided battle with the intellectual heavyweight triumphing in the way that the Patriots should have last weekend.

Sunday morning we took Clapton to Petsmart for a long-overdue bath and trim. After he was done, I braved the great Michigan outdoors to get to Jason's apartment, where we worked on our February Album Writing Month submission. 

Jason did sound engineering as we recorded guitars for one of my new songs, and re-recorded the vocals for a song I'd already had almost finished. We should have some tangible (relative to your ability to touch electrons) MP3s up within a week. Aah, he's such a badass on the guitar!

Today was back to work. You know the drill. Luckily my office is spattered with bric-a-brac to elevate my mood.

God I Love Diet Coke

Why is this stuff so good? I have had so little of it since I've been in Malaysia, because they don't drink much soda here, and what they do is regular (sugared). I just bought two cans of it because I was bored and let's face it, when you get bored you feed your addictions. Really though, I've broken myself of the addictive behavior and now I can enjoy it a lot more. I think two or 3 cans a day is maybe 1/5 of what i was drinking on a heavy day before (and that's a heavy day here).

I have one song on my iPod by a band named "Noir Desir". It's in French, which means I don't get much of the vocals, but the music is definitely up my alley. Note to self find more later stop.

Okay, I have only 3 hours before I can go back and be bored in my room, which is like being bored in the training room except there's a couch and beer.