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| I've met some interesting people over the last couple of weeks. I don't know if they've really helped me to be a better person, though. On a train at 12:30 at night in the Handicap car I am addressed by the 30-year-old in the seat across the row from me. He's on his way to Flagstaff and wonders if my Crocs are as comfortable as everyone else says they are. After we discuss our train destinations he proceeds to turn on his gameboy DS and play Super Mario with the volume all the way up. It's very late in the Handicap car and very quiet as well. The sound of video game money rings out hundreds of times as Mario collects coins and kills turtles. To add to it, the seat wasn't very comfortable and so sleep was difficult to find. A few days later I am in the middle of the woods in the mountains in northern New Mexico with a conservative hippie who is studying to be a mechanical engineer at the university in Colorado Springs. His name is Jason. Jason's a swell guy who laughs and climbs mountains all day long. He teaches me to cook and says that life is good. But I don't believe him. The last words he said to me were, "umm... so I, like, have gotta catch a bus in Ponil in, like, 30 minutes." We were almost five miles away from Ponil so I doubt that he made it. A girl from New Orleans whose name isn't Katrina but goes by it anyway as a joke. A guy who was partly deaf, could barely speak English, and hated Jews. A guy with the most serious mullet that I've ever seen. A national chess champion from Virginia. And there was also a Korean-American about three years younger than I that can play my absolute favorite Rachmaninoff piece. He complains that his fingers were too small to play some of the intervals and compliments my appreciation for music. A few days later I am in a cheap old area in La Junta, Colorado at 11:53 p.m. and I want to realize something that could change me so that I could think or act differently sometimes. No real thoughts occur to me, and I end up just thinking about different people that I really miss and want to talk and laugh with again. I meet an old homeless man who carries all of his possessions in a hiking back pack and tells jokes that nobody understands. He sees me and very quickly proclaims to me that, "Al Pacino (you know Al Pacino, right) is actually a pretty damn good actor." We discuss several of the movies that he (Al Pacino, not the homeless man) has been in. Later, I'm on a train in a seat next to one of my blood brothers after eating the best meal of the last two weeks. The food wasn't anything special but the company was incredible. In the morning, after a night on the train, I am sitting in the breakfast car sharing a table with an old man who seems uninterested in having a conversation but who will become the most attention holding person of the whole trip. He is an 83 year-old Mennonite that holds dual citizenship between the U.S. and Canada and speaks five languages fluently. His father was pure Dutch but fought as a Russian under the Czar in WWI. Ask me some time and I could tell you of several interesting episodes from his life. Such as how he once came very close to killing three Mexicans in Mexico City. I tell him that life is good. And he believes me.
This has been a busy summer. Some of the most exciting and happy feelings along with the most sad and lonely feelings. Summer School ended in a fury of tests and interviews. This trek in New Mexico that I just did was about the most incredible thing that I've ever done. I thought a lot about God and myself and music and people and books and places and movies and school. I've spent a lot of time at WebSudoku.com. Matt Chang just called me and it looks like our project is picking back up again. My other projects have pretty much failed, so I'm very glad to be able to still sit down with Matt as well as get back into the Supreme Court with Jesse. I also pretty much maxed-out on all the college hours that I could earn from my AP results at the places that I am interested in going to, so that's pretty sweet. I need to research the Free Masons. My great- grandfather was one. He has several strange symbols on his grave. Band is taking a much different approach to the music in the Show this year. The beginning starts off right away at 166 clicks and only proceeds to get faster. There's no giant half-time Hit or solo sequence. But the music is still very amazing as usual and the drill looks like it will be fun. But of all the things, we will actually be utilizing props in this show. This wild night, please, join me for a moondance, and uhh...Batman can come too. awesome. Please feel free to leave me a comment explaining who you feel is the sweetest current member of the Supreme Court and why.
Panic attacks and lack of oxygen is awesome. Life is good.
Love
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Umm... I wrote a poem to express the emotions that went through me when I realized that I had failed to mention Jayme in this post. So... umm... sorry:
Sangre!! I am Vietnam! Jay---me . . .
I hope that helps. | | |
| There will be no further references to Old Scratch for the rest of this entry. umm . . . good night.
-paul
p.s.- Hey, here's one: so the other night I was in my Dad's basement just doing the usual, like reading or watching a movie, when I decided to listen to some music. Now earlier that day was when I realized just how much I love The Mars Volta. Like I really like their music. So about 2:30 am I put in their CD, Frances the Mute. This is what began about the creepiest night of my life. I don't really know how any of it happened, but I know that the only drug that I came into contact with that entire evening was caffeine . . . and Christopher Walken ( In movie-form, not actually in person), so I'm lucid for the most part. But so I listen to the entire CD through headphones from beginning to end including even all of the noise sequences. I skip nothing. It gets over at about 3:40 and I am so cold and so scared that I'm shaking. Then, as if this command had been subliminally impressed upon my subconscious, I remove the headphones, go across the room, sit down, pick up the guitar, and proceed to play and arpeggiate the G whole-tone scale. After about ten minutes, I just start improving on this scale, th-this-this-th-this G whole-tone scale. Twenty minutes later I finally realize what I am doing and quickly put my guitar up. Funny? no. More like so terrifying that I had to keep the lights on for the rest of the night and I haven't slept in days. I'm sure that my parallelism is monstrous. There is a tie for my favorite saying of the week between "Here, let me write you a check," and "I told you that so that I could tell you this (told without gestures)." "I defected last October," would always win, but I can never find a place to use it. The Graduation party was fun. I saw Bradley and Mr. Rausch and Nick. Jayme's family was there, too, among others. | | |
| Oh wow. Friday evening was good. At least for me it was. I'm very sorry for anyone who may have had a bad evening. You should have gone up to Missouri State West University in St. Joe at 8:00 pm to see Christopher Berg play classical guitar. It was an amazing show. The first half closed with four pieces by Barrios, who is one of my favorite composers, and then the entire second half featured five pieces by Isaac Albeniz, who is my favorite composer. He even played a movement from the Suite Espanola. It wasn't Asturias, but it was still amazing. Most of the songs were transcribed by Terrega or Segovia, so they were extremely lyrical, especially the Albeniz. I'm so glad that I got to go. The rest of the weekend has been spent with some amazing people and Lady in the Water is coming closer to being out. Good night and good luck. Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme Jayme McClellan has now been mentioned in this blog. | | |
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I feel a lot better about the FRQs on the chemistry test, now. whew. So... I know that I at least passed the APUSH test, but I'm hoping for a four. I think that's reasonable. Especially since the DBQ was what it was. Which was sucky. Who knows...? An evening of jazz, however, I can talk about with more certainty. I thought that the energy was pretty alright, and the lighting was really cool. The BHMS band also played "God Bless the Child," and that's one of my favorite Billie Holiday songs. Overall, I'd say it was a good evening, but the after doings was the best part. I wonder how I would hold up in the coliseum. Like, not in a fake fight, but a real, to-the-death gladiator fight. I think that I could maybe kill my opponent if he or she wasn't too experienced, but I think that the lions would probably get me in the end. I've never killed a lion before, but it looks tough. My last words would be something like, "You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold." NO! oh, APUSH, look at what you've done to me. You've made me just a mess of historical quotes and dates. Tell me, did you ever love me? Or was it all just an act. Our relationship that sparked in the innocent days of last summer to reach its climax on May 5th, could it really be over so soon? And all the tears I wasted on you. So who is it? You're leaving me for Hofstadter, aren't you! I should have known. oh well. Maybe I'll try a relationship with AP English. hmm...Somebody colored on my car again. But this time, I was thoroughly impressed. Although the words were fairly impersonal, they threw confetti all over my car. It was beautiful. It took my breath away. Thank you. So... should I go for drum major? I don't think I should, but a few do. hmm...so really, I'm just looking for a confidence builder. | | |
| Lemme tell ya, Prom was pretty great. Everything was presented very well and I really enjoyed going with Lauren. Adding to it is the fact that I never planned on going to any proms at all. So I really appreciate getting to go with a group of really great people. Plus, I didn't kill anyone with my car and I'm sure that might have slowed the evening down a little bit. Or not. Twas a bummer that I wasn't able to spend the rest of the evening at Lauren's, but it was still a gorgeous time. The whole weekend was really good as well. Not much else happened, so I had a lot of time to reflect and read and play music. I'm also doing a lot with our gardens. The blood of several generations of weeds are on my hands. I only hope that the beauty of the garden and the joy that it brings to my cat, Elvis, are enough to overshadow the guilt that I feel for those weeds that I've slaughtered so that in time, even I may forget. Jazz band has gone by incredibly fast, even though it really hasn't been that incredibly eventful. Sure, the festivals have been a lot of fun... maybe I'm just jaded. Branson will fix that. Percussion Explosion already pretty sweet. Mr. Rausch asks Brent if he's spent much time on the music. Brent responds courteously that he in fact has spent some time working out the patterns. As Mr. Rausch is walking away, Brent turns to me and says under his breath, "uhh...let me rephrase that. I actually haven't spent any time at all on this." And that pretty much sums up the state of the band. Brent and me because we're lazy and unenthusiastic. Jayme because she didn't get the music until today. But despite our lack of effort, practice went well and it looks like the show will be fun. The metal cello ensemble will hopefully turn out well too. Which reminds me that State is this Friday and we haven't practiced any, hey, just like with Districts. I also haven't started the paper that's due on Friday, either. But everyone should come to Percussion Explosion on Friday or Saturday Night because those will be the good shows. Sunday afternoon will be lame. Or not. Actually, it will still be fun, but the energy might not be as intense as it would be on an evening performance. Be sure to thank Doug McClellan on your way out for the wonderful job that he'll do in the sound-booth. Or the cabine de son et lumiere as I like to call it. Dr. Allshouse did it again. A lot of people thought that we would be let down to have a simple season of marching band that ended with a simple competition. But eventhough we aren't scheduled for any coastal tours on Thanksgiving, Dr. A still found a way around a pleasant ending by booking us to a BOA fest. Umm... SME = really ouch. But I guess that this only makes me more excited to hear what the show is. Actually, I guess that now I'm mega excited. He's set a life-changing trip to the DCI semi-finals to be an inspiration and now we'll be competing against the marching band blood cult of America. The show's gonna be good. And Willhoit will be back as well. But the seniors won't. And now I'm crying again. give me a sec. ok. thanks. sorry. My quest to get a facebook will probably pick up here in a little bit. Hmm...we shall see. AP tests are in two weeks and as it turns out, I can't ever become pregnant.
Drop em', we ain't no pirate. Oh, it feels good to say that again.
So I'm watchin' Fargo on Bravo, right? And my mom walks in and, get this, she says,
-"Well wattaya doin'"
-"oh, just watchin Fargo"
-"Yeah?"
-"Yeah."
-"Sounds good."
-"Yeah."
-"Mmmhmm."
-"Yeah"
-"This is a good scene."
-"Oh yeah."
-"Yeah."
-"mmm yeah."
-"hey dinners almost ready."
-"Yeah?"
-"yeah."
-"smells like tacos."
-"Sorry?"
-"I said, smells like tacos."
-"Oh. Yeah."
-"Yeah?"
-"Yeah."
-"Yeah"
-"Yeah"
-"alright, see ya."
-"Yeah."
-"Yeah."
Oh, William H. Macy, thank you. No, thank you. | | |
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