Ice Cavern Studios

I’m FREE!! My officership(s) in the band are officially over. It’s werid, I don’t have any more responsibility; which is good, but at the same time, I have to deal with letting go of the band. My time to steer the band is over. It’s a chance for me to get back to just being a member. This is best for all I feel.

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve been busy as all hell. At the moment, I’m taking the time to write this while waiting for my advisor to arrive so I can select classes. My life has really been that busy. Mainly with band and work. The end of the season is crazy. Especially this year.

Of the various events, the most moving, was the Nassau Hall Gig. This is where the entire band meets after the final game in the great room of Nassau Hall. The conductor, the head manager, the drum major, and the president, all make speeches at this gig, and the conductor selects and conducts one final song of his tenure. It’s a very special tradition and something taken very seriously by the band.

So, last Saturday night, after getting back from Dartmouth, we filed into Nassau Hall and proceeded to have go through the gig. Being the lowest of the officers to speak, and also the one known for talking, I elected to go first. I’m glad I went first, it was the only way I would have been able to make it through the speech, but man. It’s hard to explain the feeling of standing in front of that many people whom you have shared so much and whom you care so much about and have to give a final reflection. I had told myself I wouldn’t cry, but that went over like a lead balloon. Part way through my speech, I was handed a tissues. By the end, it was taking everything I had in me not to break down crying.

It was interesting, to go from crying to smiling like a the happiest man alive within thirty minutes. After having to work through my final speech, conducting my last song was easy. The last thing I conducted was Green Onions, a song that I love very much, and whom people pretty much figured I would select. As a final song, it sounded awesome. From the opening crescendo, to the trumpet solo, to the sax dance and counter melody, everything just worked so well. And the sound filled the hall, it was just awesome. It’s exactly how I would want it to go.

Ultimately, there was a lot of reflection that night. A lot of tears, a lot of hugs. A lot of congratulating. This was the end of my fourth and final football season in the band. It’s sad. A lot of good moments were spent in the band. A lot of good football memories. I’m sad that this part of my life is over, but I knew this day would come. It is the inevitable. Yay growing older. So that is life. Crazy, really.

In other news, life is good. School is going well. Nicole and I are well (and I will write on that later). So yeah. Um…time to go. Need to meet with the my advisor to get class stuff signed. Yay!!

Life and Times

Oh hells yeah, I can see again. It’s incredible to think how much I rely on my vision in a given day. I hadn’t thought about it in a while, but being blind for a couple of days really make me stand up and take notice. Big props to my roommate chuck for driving me to the mall to get the glasses. I owe ya huge.

So besides the glasses, this week has been pretty standard in terms of academic work. A problem set for artificial intelligence and stuff due for digital photo, otherwise eh…not much has been going on.

In other news, this is my last week as conductor of the band. Tonight was my last field rehearsal, although it wasn’t much of one. It was raining heavily, so we just set the formations and then people played in the mud. *shrugs* Yesterday were the conductor tryouts which were fun. I got to play drums for a 45 minutes and I remembered just why I missed it so much. I love playing the drums, and it had been almost a year since I had played with an ensemble. It also helps that I’m much better at the whole drumming thing than I am at conducting.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about the conducting thing. Part of me is sad that I won’t be conducting, but another, more vocal part, is very happy to not have to worry about all the responsibilities that come with the position. I think I’m also ready to get back to doing something I’m good at. This fall hasn’t been that great musically for me, so I anxiously await a chance to stop sucking.

Um…not much else is happening that I can think of. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, which is weird. I don’t like going this long. Especially since I know people are reading this. I’ve said it before, but it has actually become important for me to keep this site up to date. I know there are people out there who read this in order to keep up with what’s happening in my life. Heh…I have readers.

At the same time, it’s scary to realize that people are reading this. Reading Dan’s blog, I have been forced to think about how this isn’t always a private space. I have to remember to be careful what I say here (at least till I can devise a mechanism for making things private). People read it, and I’m indexed by Google, so I know I can be found. *shrugs* Eh, as long as I don’t write anything I don’t want people to read, I should be golden. Alright, later all.

Life and Times

I was going to write about the weekend, but my glasses broke. I can't see. I'm not happy. Bah.

Life and Times

Ever have something just suddenly fall into place that everything begins to work? I just had that with my independent work. I finally found code that will help me learn to do what I need to. God I'm so relieved. A huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Man I feel good. Sweet.

In other news, I finally saw Finding Nemo. Dude…it's awesome.

First I was like whoa!
And then I was like whoaaaaaa!
And then I was like….whoa.

Seriously, it's awesome. If you haven't seen it. Go see it.

So I've been watching it on my computer, and I must say, my new video card's dvd decoder is awesome. The color looks so good it's crazy. It's funny how much I like my stuff more and more as I make use of it. It's the simple things. For instance, i'm listening to the movie through my headphones, coming out of my breakout box, in THX sound. I've been able to justify the extra 70 bucks I spent for the breakout box, based soley on the fact that I am able have my speakers automatcially cut out when I plug in my headphones (my speakers don't have a headphone jack). I love it. It really is the little things.

So, I have also found out that our music library has a crazy ass cd collection. I feel that I must hit this up soon. I love music, and if they have all kinds of jazz and classical music, I'm there. So sweet.

Anyway, time to chill. Things are looking up. Life is good.

So I was checking out Dan's Blog and noticed a shout out, so I'm sending a shout out back to D. Things seem to be going well in Spain, which is sweet. Although MS really should get back to him.

Life and Times

While the title might suggest that life has sucked over the past couple of days; it has actually been pretty awesome. A lot has happened, so grab some munchies, maybe even a drink and get ready to rock…

So first was Thursday. Thursday was fairly typical for most the day. Run errands, visit with my advisor. You know, the norm. What was cool about this was that I Thursday night, Campus had a casino night semi-formal. Nicole and I arrived around 7:20 and preceded to have a good time playing blackjack, craps (I was hot for a while) and the occasional game of pool. It was fun. We were a little late, but I got stuck in traffic having to go pick up my iPod from the theater where it fell from my pocket. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to pick up Nicole’s flowers in time, but the flower shop didn’t close till seven, so I was golden.

Friday was pretty relaxed. Nicole and I met up at 1:30 and watched our friend Sarah (not the ex) demo her crane (Mechanical Engineers have a class where they build cranes). After that we went along Nassau street. I picked up some music and the Lion King Dvd (for 15 bucks) from the Record Exchange; and I bought some new guitar strings from the Sam Goody that is going out of business. After all this, Nicole and I headed to my room and watched the Lion King. Pretty chill afternoon.

Friday evening was not quite so chill. The my Microsoft recruiter, Colleen, was in town doing interviews and so she took all of the Princeton Microsoft Interns to dinner up in New York City. To begin, because of costs, it turned out that getting a limo to take us was a better deal than taking the train, so I took a limo from Princeton, NJ to New York City. It was fun to be driven around New York in a limo, especially on someone else’s dime. So we pulled up to the restaurant Le Circe, which is rally nice place. Jacket and Tie are required, and some people were actually there in Tux’s.

The food was incredible. We all ordered the five course meal which consisted of Duck Liver (surprisingly good), Tuna Tartar (everyone else had lobster with mushrooms, but I don’t really like either, so I substituted) , Black Sea Bass in a potato crust, Suckling Pig, and a desert. I’m not even going to try and describe how good the food is. I’m an engineer, words just aren’t my thing. After dinner, we dropped Colleen off at her hotel and we took the limo back to Princeton. No very eventful but still.

Next comes Saturday. The day consisted of the Penn – Princeton football game. I would write more about it, but there isn’t much to say. I mean, we got hosed pretty badly. After that, it was to campus for dinner, and a quick D & D session. Pretty nerdy, nothing exciting. Although there was a lunar eclipse which was pretty cool.

What was exciting about Saturday was the Circles of Hell party at Campus. The idea for this party was, campus would split the club into various rooms, themed with a different deadly sin. Each was to represent a different level of hell; and each level would have it’s own specialty beverage. After they had taken enough people through the various tours, there would be two DJ’s spinning on different floors of the club for a few hours and people got their groove on.

This was friggen awesome. Normally, I don’t drink; I don’t really like alcohol; and even I had a few drinks. I wasn’t about to turn down a free Martini. Plus, the dancing was great. A lot of my friends were there, and so dancing with a good group of friends, and a very sexy girl, always make things fun. What was also cool was that Campus was on pass. For those not on the Princeton campus, when a club wants to throw an exclusive party and they will go on pass to help control the numbers. Why this is cool was, it was the first time that Campus has ever been on pass since I got here. It was pretty cool to watch people who had previously laughed at the club for not being cool enough, turned away at the door. Normally, I’m not a fan of exclusivity, but man, it felt good to be in a club that people desired to get into.

Then Sunday was also pretty chill. Got some work done. Cleaned the room. Did laundry. Hung out with Nicole who wasn’t in much of a mood for working. Yeah…nothing exciting ever really happens on Sundays.

Anyway, that was the weekend. Pretty awesome. And by awesome, I mean totally sweet. Hopefully things will go smoothly this week and I won’t have to go crazy with the whole Yale game this weekend. Oh boy…

Life and Times