Prosaic Paradise

I got my letter from Howard CC that I’m enrolled. They make it super easy to figure out how to log in and register immediately. But now I’m faced with a choice, Chemistry in the spring or Microbiology? Whatever I don’t take in the spring I have to take in the summer, so I’m a little concerned about taking say Chem because it was really flipping hard last time.

Anyways I’m very glad to be rid of PGCC. Well, as soon as I pry my transcripts out of them after the final grades are in.

This morning I woke Jack up about 3 hours before he normally would stir by dancing around the bedroom to Glenn Frye because, you know, who can resist The H is O. Now I have to perform my annual act of cookery. But first, to the grocery store!!

Tags: class, schoo

This whole situation with my professor has had my knickers in a right twist. I just couldn’t figure out what to do, and it’s obvious that he can’t figure out what to do and nobody else in my class could figure out what to do either. Naturally one night this week I pick up my Pema that I keep next to the bed, a book I haven’t touched in weeks or possibly months, and this is the first passage I note on the page I had marked.

These are the people who, when your habitual style is working just fine and everyone’s agreeing with you, say, “No way am I going to go along with what you just asked me to do. I think it’s stupid.” You think, “What do I do now?” And usually what you do is to get everybody else on your team. You sit around and talk about what a creep this person is who confronted you. … Nobody ever encourages you to allow yourself to feel wounded first and then try to figure out what is the right speech and right action that might follow.

This kind of thing happens to everyone, just about daily, right? Even if I’m at home by myself, I might be having a conversation with this person who’s tormenting me because I think it’s a helpful exercise to find a way out, or because I have myself in a pattern of thought in reaction to this that I can’t break out of. And this is how the past few weeks have been in class. All the students bouncing their hurt and frustration off each other and stuff, getting on teams and hashing out over and over what a problem we have.

About a year ago now I went to a talk at the buddhist center in Annapolis. I came away from the session with one striking lesson, which was to treat the person who most vexes you as your teacher. Of course this sounds pretty funny on the surface, and even in the talk we all had a laugh about how absurd it is to imagine yourself welcoming the very person that taunts you, but I’ve found you can kind of bring yourself around to where you get into this situation and you stop and think, “Why is this hurting me so much?” and then you can think about how your reaction might be making it hurt you or anyone else worse, and then you can calm down and connect with a feeling of compassion. Then you might find you know the right thing to say or do.

So I found myself grinning a little bit going in and out of class this week thinking about the absurdity of welcoming this guy who seems to be causing so much strife. The title of the chapter is “Be Grateful to Everyone” so I’m working on being grateful to my professor and my classmates. It must be working because Wednesday went off almost without a hitch.

Tags: buddhist

This is where I review albums that came out a long time ago. Hey, why not?

You might not have heard of Sonata Arctica, but in Finland this album topped the charts for a good long while back in 2004.

Unlike some symphonic (and power) metal albums I’ve heard, this one does not start quiet and build up. SA comes out aggressive on the first track “Misplaced”, drums exhibiting the fast footwork from moment one. Only about halfway through that first song do they whip out the piano solo to help you understand what kind of band you’re dealing with here. Of course, if you looked at the album cover, which is some kind of ghost wolf and ghost bear attacking a ship under full sail, you already have an inkling.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Music, review

I am wearing my old glasses today. The ones that a mother actually could love. In thinking about getting new glasses again since I’m going to hit that 2 year mark sooner or later (and my damn lenses are getting scratched up because I am brutal on glasses), I realized I needed to know if I could sustain losing 50% of my field of vision to cute tiny frames. So I took the old cute tiny frames out of mothballs.

God! I feel like I’m blind! And frankly, I’ve kind of gotten used to this face. I know my identity and personality are not bound in a few oz of plastic, but I can’t deny that when I first put those big nerdy mom-disappointing glasses on, I felt at home.

Also now my eyes are drying out faster, I think. Bleah!

Tags: stuff

I am not at my wit’s end with the administration of this class, but I can see it from here.

I thought last night that we’d get into a normal routine and he’d teach and we’d learn the end. I forgot, however, that we were getting our exams back. So naturally all hell broke loose. Now, normally I would just suffer through this and roll my eyes heavenwards, but this time I ended up getting involved. This is because the teacher actually did something wrong. Several things, really, adding up to me feeling really ticked. First, he incorrectly named something on the practical, marking most of the class wrong, and continues to insist he is right. It’s a bloody fact that what he indicated was the cortical radiate artery. He will not admit he could have been wrong.

Then during lecture, I said something about swallowing and whether it was voluntary and can’t people who are unconcious swallow. He said that no, I was wrong, swallowing is voluntary. I was confused because I’d heard the exact opposite thing earlier in a podcast from another professor at another school. The truth is, it is both. But he should have explained that instead of telling me something patently untrue.

So much of this comes down to language and interpretation. Yes, technically part of swallowing is voluntary. But to tell a classroom of students “Swallowing is voluntary” is facile and misleading. This kind of crap happens all the time, and if you call him on it even in the most polite and tentative way, he gets his back up and goes on the attack.

Another thing this guy does is starts sentences with “I know how students are…” or “I know what you’re really asking me…”. I loathe this. I can deal (more or less) with getting a lower grade because of one or two mis-marked questions. But please do not assume that because there are some students who strive to manipulate teachers or whine themselves into a better grade or hope to cheat that all students are like this. I have no idea how to protest this because every single thing I try to address with this guy he interprets as my malicious attack on his teaching or attempt to manipulate the system. Although, the way some of my classmates act, it explains a little why he behaves this way. But he’s supposed to be the adult and the leader, and for him to respond to bullying by bullying back just makes every class session an emotional beatdown of constant confrontation. It is utterly miserable.

Of course, he did say something nice to me, which is that I should go to med school. I think he meant it as a compliment.

Tags: class, School

Yes is a band I’ve sort of carried on this detached affair with. I don’t hunt down every news item about them and I don’t collect every single track, despite truly and deeply enjoying the ones I do have. Before heading out to the Ram’s Head last night I noted that about half the set I was about to see I’d probably be hearing for the first time live. That probably would have blown the minds of my fellow concertgoers. I don’t have Drama, I haven’t listened to Tormato. It’s just that I’ve got so much mileage out of Fragile, CTTE, Relayer, Going for the One and Tales.

Despite my fair-weather fan status, I figured it would be a sad story if I didn’t see them live. I was surprised to find that I wasn’t the only first timer – many members of my cohort were there. Not to mention the legions of father-son pairs! Actually that was pretty sweet to see. It was also “the crowd that understands my tattoo” so I got lots of comments on that.

Since I got there early I ambled up near the front and decided to stay. I was glad I did this because I could not have seen crap from anywhere else due to overall tallness of attendees. (It was no Viking metal nordic basketball team experience, but yeah.) The way White’s drum kit is set up, you’d have to be on the balcony to actually see him play. I was surrounded by several of the dad-son types, a few hardcore nerds like me, and The Loudmouth. The Loudmouth is the guy who insists on telling you all about how he met the band and they are practically BFFs and he first saw them in 1974 at the Garden. You know who I mean.

But the concert itself. Benoit’s voice suprised me in its similarity to Jon Anderson’s. I’d read some complaints online but I should have taken all that with a grain of salt. I felt like I was hearing JA most of the concert! They started him out really low in the mix which kind of scared me… am I not going to be able to hear this guy all night? Is he that bad? No, he was not. He had some struggling moments but I can forgive that. When he got to the triumphant passages of And You And I, he nailed it and you could see it in his face. So long as I’m talking about vocals I should note that the harmony parts were tight, just lovely. My only negative thought was that he didn’t seem really comfortable in his own stage presence. I can only imagine how hard it is to be on stage with legends and you’re just the tribute band guy. Chin up tribute band guy! We were glad to have you.

Since I decided to get down front, I didn’t write down the set list, but highlights included Siberian Khatru, Close to the Edge, Parallels, and And You and I, which were high on my list of things to hear. They are transcendent songs that I listen to over and over and over at home, so to see the masters at work, particularly Howe & Squire, was heavenly. By the time they played Soon, which would have been one of those intense concert out of body experiences, I was standing in the bar area which means drunk folks mouthing off all the time & kind of ruining the ambiance. LJ followers will recall my obsession with that bass bit and hearing it live, I just about exploded in rapture. I wish I could comment on seeing Oliver Wakeman at work, but all I could see was his lovely flowing locks (pictured above). Oh!! Howe played Classical Gas & absolutely brought down the house with it. That ruled.

If I had it to do all over again, I would in a heartbeat!

Tags: Music, show

Today I watched a little bit of football.

So did half the country, sure. Of course for me it’s something I might do once a year. If I’m around football fans, I’ll watch it, if I’m not, I tend not to seek it out. The teams I like are Miami and Tampa Bay, so the chances of getting to see those on local TV are usually slim. So I gave up years ago. What caught me up was the final quarter and OT of the Bengals-Eagles game, which was pretty intense and fun to watch, even if the ending was less than satisfying. I really like stuff like seeing a 1-8 team come out and beat a 5-4 team. That kind of thing keeps me interested.

Years ago when I was dating Chris, one of the nice things he did for me was patiently (as far as I recall) teach me about football. I have really great memories of watching games with him & his roomie. That’s how I ended up with the Bucs on my list of favorites. It’s a totally different team than it was in ’99/’00 but I’d still watch ’em if I had the chance/time. It’s just another thing to add to the list – there’s not enough hours in the day. Today it was some anti-intellectual sin indulgence that set me down in front of the game; I could have read any number of books. I could have gone an extra mile for class. But it’s fun to feel that hand-wringing urgency and see that fight. Especially in a game like the one I saw today where it’s tied and every success and failure could mean the difference.

I used to get extremely riled up about professional sports, and I can still see things from that point of view, but I’ve calmed down about that. There are worse things to worry about, although like I said… if you hate professional sports I would probably be willing to accept many of your points be they cultural or financial.

Now I’m off to see Yes… actually there’s probably a non-small demographic overlap between the two events.

Tags: sports, TV

You thought maybe you were going to get away with just my brief mention (and ludicrous picture) of the latest Genesis box set, didn’t you. Very silly.

Of course I’ve reverently read the booklet now; various personages’ commentary on each album. The one that struck me most thus far was Tony Robinson’s (you probably think of him strictly as Baldrick) description of sitting down and listening to the Lamb for the first time. At the time it came out. It made me try to remember my first listen to that album. I listened – what – in my car or something? On headphones while working? This is how Mr. Robinson first listened:

I first heard The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway on my new hi-fi, wearing headphones the size of soup plates, while sitting on my big velvet patchwork cushions.

Frankly I can’t remember the last time I received new music and listened to it without multitasking. Sure I’ve stopped to listen to old things here and there – mostly on vacations – but not something new. New things get put into rotation and filter into my consciousness from the background until I like them enough to rate them for the actually-gets-played playlist. Now really – what kind of introduction is that? Would I invite someone over just to hang around and watch me do stuff until I decided I’d actually get their email address and phone number and become real friends?

OK, sure, apples and oranges. But what music fan out there hasn’t thought of their favorite album as a bit of an old friend?

I definitely recall several episodes from my youth of going to Mother’s Records and Tapes (with the orange carpeting on all surfaces) and plunking down my allowance or birthday money in order to be able to crack open that new cassette, smell that new cassette smell, to read the fold-out on my way home where I would press play on my mediocre but well-loved stereo. I have lots of bits of memory of staring at those little plastic wheels reeling that tape in, or lying on the floor on the blue shag or the yellow shag letting that new thing – Timbuk 3? Sting? No kidding, Rick Astley?

You know, I had avoided planning anything this weekend (OK I am going to see (most of) Yes) but now I have a really good idea of something to do.

Tags: Music

Been waiting for a long time for this. Lots of people have. Fans all over the world are busting into their new box sets (1970 – 1975) and listening to remixes only dreamed about thus far. Let’s not even begin to discuss the extras. Heaven!

That’s not the only early christmas present in this photo, though. This t-shirt is the next in a series of t-shirts from the French Bulldog Rescue Network. I can’t get a dog while I’m in school and working and in a band (whatever) and have two hostile cats one hostile cat and a lovey smellymew. But I can buy t-shirts whose proceeds go to benefit the rescue of dogs!

When I was working at the veterinary IT company, my original boss had a french bulldog. This dog’s personality was totally perfect. He was excited when he was ready to be, he expressed it, and then he was done. He was a very matter-of-fact dog. That was my introduction! I know that not all dogs of the breed are going to have the same personality but I was kind of in love with that little guy. And I only hung out with him a few times. Picsou! I miss you. Not so much your owner.

And yeah, I’m multitasking being on the phone with a friend and taking a picture for my blog at the same time. Never said I was not a dork.

Tags: Music, stuff

(Single audio disc version) I know some of these are a tad obvious, but they were the right song! I can’t help it.

1. The Watch – Hills
2. Heavens to Betsy – Firefly
3. The Strawbs – The Flower and the Young Man
4. Arlo Guthrie – Chilling of the Evening
5. Neil Young – Like a Hurricane
6. King Crimson – I Talk To the Wind
7. Simon & Garfunkel – Leaves that are Green
8. Genesis – Heathaze
9. Loreena McKennitt – All Souls Night
10. The Church – Russian Autumn Heart
11. Crowded House – Four Seasons in One Day
12. The Eagles – Witchy Woman
13. Shivaree – Goodnight Moon
14. R.E.M. – Fireplace
15. Tom Rush – The Circle Game
16. The Monkees – Early Morning Blues and Greens
17. The Beatles – Norwegian Wood
18. The Flaming Lips – My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion

Fall mix trades welcome. “Deep Cuts” (double disc) version available on request.

Tags: mix, Music