Concert Blues

The concert last night at Little Brothers was amazing... except for one thing. It was way way WAY too loud. I have nothing against loud music, and as our good friend Brian says "If the music is too loud, it's just a sign that you're too young." I may be too young, but last night was a painful reminder of how damaging high treble levels can be. Give me thundering bass any day, just not the musical equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.

Augustana, the band that opened up the evening, was good, as far as I could tell over the screaming guitars, nonexistant bass, and the "Corgan on Crack" vocal stylings. I really wish I could tell you if the band was good or not, but I had an incredibly hard time understanding any of the words or hearing any coherant music at all. After a beer or two, it wasn't getting any better, and my head hurt even more.

Where's Karl when you need him?

The Stereophonics were absolutely stunning, if perhaps a little loud as well. They rocked out all night long, and their new drummer should become their permanent drummer in my opinion, because he was brilliant (and his shirt was off by the second song, so you could tell he was workin' it). My personnal favorites of the evening were "Dakota" the new single off of the "Sex, Language, Violence, Other" album, and their combination of "Mme Helga" and "Leaving LA". Kelly Jones is an amazing front man, and bassist Richard Jones (no relation) is an OX on stage stomping around in his boots, manhandling the bass like a real pro.

Wow. I have really got to see more live shows. I love music, and a non-smokey hall makes the evening even better.

Okay, I'm off.

A+

Andrew

Bass

I can't believe I haven't yet written about my Bass playing experience on Sunday. It was an incredible time, and I really felt like I was able to serve the church in a whole new way. I enjoy children's ministry and very much enjoy working with the kids/babies but this is something that I thought I would never be able to do that I am actually doing.

Let me explain before this post descends into random rambling...

When I was younger, my mom told me that if I wanted to do something important that I should write it down on a list and whenever I had accomplished something big, I could cross it off the list, or put a check beside it or whatnot. She always said that this was one way for me to remember the things I really wanted to do and an encouragement to do those things. A sort of mental string around the finger.

Suffice it to say that I did this, and now I can cross one of these desires off of the list. God is good.

Thank you to everyone who encouraged me last weekend, and I hope that I will continue to be able to serve God and the church in this capacity.

A+

Andrew

(next goal on the list is to publish a poetry anthology without the aid of a university, or become well versed in another language, either spanish or german)

Wallaby

At least that's his/her name for now. Amanda and I purchased a rabbit on Saturday, following the death of our last hamster, Ibis. Ibis died after a two month long separation from her cage sister, Alpaca. There was little love loss between the two, as Ibis tried to kill Alpaca on three separate occasions, at one point tearing her ear in two. Alpaca's death was probably due to repeated trauma due to attempted murder, and even after she was placed into a separate cage, she never really went back to her spunky hamster self. Ibis was a different case. Both Amanda and I believe that Ibis had a cancerous growth on her that eventually spread to every part of her tiny body. She began to swell up and on Friday night when I picked her up to let her run around on the floor (as she was wont to do, ain't old English cool?) she had already begun to get cold because of a general loss of circulation. It was somewhat upsetting because watching the death process has never been a favorite pastime, but Amanda and I put some warm things in the cage with which she could curl-up.

The following day we buried her in a trashcan (unfortunately the landlords didn't want her buried in a garden), helped Seth and Sandra move to their new home in Polaris, and purchased a mini-lop eared bunny. The animal technician said that he/she was too young to be able to determine if he/she was a he or a she, so we decided on once again naming him/her after an animal that neither of us would ever own. We thought about perhaps naming him/her platypus (veto by amanda), albatross (popular but eventually unseated) and then settled on Wallaby (or Wally for short). If I was more technologically advanced, I would indeed post pictures for all of you to see, but if you want to come and visit in person, just call ahead or show up and she/he'll be more than happy to see you.

Okay, I'm off.

A+

Andrew

I've changed...

Technology can be good. For example, my blog style has changed.

Not by itself of course... I made it change. If my blog had simply changed templates randomly I'd be even more paranoid than I already am, hunting for cameras in the rooms that I write posts in, making sure I don't have any trojan viruses in my computer, etc. I don't do any of that at the moment (looks furtively around the room) because I am a sane (looks in his program files and activates virus scan) and very trusting person (checks phone for taps).

I changed my blog because I noticed that everyone else had links on their sites and became jealous of them. I suppose this would fall under the catagory of "coveting thy neighbor's blog" but I have since repented. Now I have links. Now I'm happy. I need nothing else in this world.

Hmm... some people know how to edit their "html". I don't really need to know how to do that (but if you happen to be an expert and are willing to help me make my blog cooler than everyone else's blog, you can contact me).

Okay. Off I go to edit my links (which will be done by the time you read this so it's more like "off I went to edit my links".) <--- is this allowed gramatically?

A+

Andy

Might I recommend...

I decided that since other bloggers are writing lists on their blogs, I might as well place one or two on mine. I humbly submit for your approval (or lack thereof) my favorite song intros, from 10 to 1. 1 is of course my favorite, but if I put it first, there'd be no reason to read the rest of this post.

10. Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For - U2, classic, leads into a killer song. Has just the right amount of anticipation, a good guitar groove, and the sound that we have come to know and love from the Irish Group.

9. Clocks - Coldplay, there is nothing like a good piano intro to make a song memorable. This song just has a good steady beat and fits the song perfectly.

8. Robot Walk - The Hives, I just like this song and I had my bass turned up especially loud the first time I heard this song, so the contrast between the deep bass and the screaming guitars just struck a chord (literally) and I've enjoyed this intro, short though it may be, ever since.

7. Just Can't get enough - The NEw Radicals, aside from the crude reference at the very beginning (which you won't even understand unless you have the volume turned up) this song is a really good song to wake up to in the morning because it makes you want to dance and sing along (and for someone who shouldn't sing along EVER, this is big)

6. In The Journey - Martin Sexton live version on LIVE WIDE OPEN, this song has a great set of lyrics, Martin has a gread set of pipes, the drummer does what he's supposed to do, you get the picture.

5. Over My Head - Martin Sexton, this is one of the best sounding guitar intros I've heard in a long time, and Martin's voice tops most people I've listened to before.

4. She Talks to Angels - The Black Crowes, this is just a great song. The intro is awesome especially with the harmonic chords and the musical depth. I suppose I extend the meaning of "Intro" to mean almost the entire first verse as well.

3. I Hope I Didn't just give away the ending - The New Radicals, this intro is layered muttering mixed with guitar, piano, and light drums, and I believe the intro clocks in at 1 minute 15 seconds. It culminates with a heavy piano chord and the lead singer saying "shut up!" in a slurred voice. I laugh every time. It's just great. Not musically great (although the song is really great as well) but just strange enough to merit being placed highly on this list.

2. Where the streets have no name - U2 again, another song that just has a great mix of synth and lead guitar, kicked into high gear by the drums. Listing to this intro has made me weep on numerous occasions (not that I would publicly admit this... oh wait, I just did), and when they went into this tune during the Superbowl Halftime Show (pre Janet) I almost peed myself. Okay enough embarassing stories.

1. Baba O' Reily - the Who, I just can't describe what this song did for me the first time I heard it. There is nothing that can top the synth-piano intro that is kicked into high gear by Keith Moon's insanity on the drums. All time favorite, this song has yet to be topped by anything I've heard.

Okay, I should really go and get some work done now. Feel free to comment on anything that you feel should have made this list. If the song is one I've forgotten I might even modify.

A+

Andrew

Downtime

Yes, it has in fact been one week since I posted. I will try to blame it all on OSU and the OSU computer system. They haven't let me in for over a week. To the site I mean. And... um... I haven't been home at all. I got stuck inside the very building where I was prevented from accessing the site and had to live off of coffee creamer and paper. Let's just say I was very regular all week long, but was prevented from regularly posting. There we go.

I also recently paid attention to the heading on my site which states that I recently received my BA in French. That "recently" bit is now one year gone. I've been out of Capital University for one entire year. Nothing makes me realize that time is passing like realizing that I've been out of High School for 6 years and College for 1 year. I've also been living in this appartment for almost one entire year. It just seems like a year disappeared from time, and that I'm suddenly one year older, married, with bills and students. It's a nice change, but the sudden reality of it all is... sudden.

I'm going to take off for a while. I have some work to do.

A+

Andrew

Monday... oh wait, I missed Monday

Ever wake up not too sure of what day it is, afraid to look at the clock because you just know that whatever time it is, you're late getting out of bed?

I feel like I have alarms going off inside my head all the time right now. It's probably just a return to some of the old anxiety that I'd become comfortable living without thanks to my perscription, but I'd still rather do without always worrying that I'm one step behind everyone else. Call it finals syndrome, I suppose.

Amanda and I made spring rolls last night. We bought rice paper wraps, lots of chicken, rice noodles, used a zester to peel thin carrot layers, and then used cilantro and lime to make our rice different. It was good, but I had the worst digestive problems this morning from the oil. Have to figure out how to make sure that doesn't happen again.

My exam went well. The majority of my students got A's and B's. Now if I could only figure out where I hid the original file on my computer... or is it on my jump drive? I guess I'll figure that out a bit later. I've got French Culture to think about at the moment. Dr. Fourny is one of the best professors I've had here at OSU because he makes sure that his class is relevent and interesting. Some profs just don't have that gift. I wonder sometimes when I'm staring out into a sea of blank faces during my own class whether I have that gift. It's something I can work on I'm sure.

Alright. I'm going away now to fight the good fight.

A+

Andrew