March 2004 Archives

Well, I finally got the Tour 2004 galleries up, as promised. This selection easily takes the prize as the biggest one ... like, ever. Three pages of photo goodness, spanning the weekend before through the entire grand week. I hope you enjoy them all!

Here are some random thoughts:

... I swear that iTunes' random playlist generator has a mind of its own, to match the mood I'm in perfectly. I know I read Josh talking about this before. It's worth an investigation or two, I believe, for a couple of people who know how to investigate that sort of thing.

... In other news, the Test Schedule from Hell, Part II is drawing nearer and nearer, so that's taking most of my time this week. Until I can post again, enjoy this handy picture of a platypus.

I think it's basically impossible not to get in a better mood and frame of mind when we're having as nice a day as we're having today in Blacksburg. It's the weekend, spring is here (more or less), and people are starting to wear a lot less clothing. I'm determined to enjoy it while I can, because next week begins the dreaded Test Schedule From Hell, Part II! (Read that in your best Vincent Price impression.) This weekend, I'll be preparing for that as much as possible. Send food, or help, or someone who can take my tests for me.

For now, off I go to work on a few things (like Tour photo galleries and homework), before heading off to some place in Salem that has go-karts and the like. Have an enjoyable weekend, everyone.

Oh, and one more item: If I turn comments off over the next couple of days, it'll be because the spammers have found my humble little blog. Do they think any reasonable person would actually click on their links?

I'm sure this has been up for a long time, but I wanted to mention that homestarrunner.com has now posted Strong Bad's 100th e-mail. I admittedly haven't been keeping up with the latest in the country with Population: Tire, but I'm glad I decided to visit today. This e-mail is worth the look, if not for the historical significance and the secrets it reveals, then at least for the Limozeen cameo at the end. Those guys rawk! \m/

Another shining example of great multimedia comes to us from those boys in Guster. I've always dreamt of having one of the shows I attend make it into Brian Rosenworcel's esteemed Road Journal, but alas ... that hasn't happened yet. Instead, I found the funniest thing I've seen in a couple of days: The Amsterdam Firedrill video (click on Multimedia when you get there). It's from actual concert footage. The premise? Everyone on stage switches instruments with someone, each person playing something they've never played onstage with Guster before. Then the band proceeds to play their hit song "Amsterdam." Hilarity ensues.

I spent most of yesterday working on the CD design for the Wesley Singers' 30th Anniversary record that's set to be unleashed on Blacksburg in mid-April. I was actually working under a severe time crunch, since to have the discs at our doorstep by Wesley Weekend, we needed to send out our graphics and master disc ... yesterday. I actually had already designed the layout, but I did it in Photoshop, which wasn't acceptable to our manufacturer for commercial printing.

So, I did what any fledgling graphic artist would do and gave myself a crash course in Adobe Illustrator at the New Media Center in Torgersen. I must thank the fine folks at Adobe for making such a brilliant program, because after the 30 minutes I spent panicking because I couldn't get any templates to open correctly, everything went smoothly. Thankfully, I recreated my design, improved on it a bit, and got it to Glenn in time to overnight it to our disc pressing company, Discmakers (who are very professional, by the way). Boo-yah.

I think the design came out pretty well given the circumstances. I probably would have toyed with some of the advanced features in Illustrator if I'd had the time, but here's a low-res version of it, coming to a Wesley Weekend near you this spring:

It's a stormy night here, and the week is just about wrapped up. Rainy nights usually don't affect me in any certain way, but tonight I keep thinking back to earlier this week, during one of my walks back from class.

I was passing by Burruss, where a great number of BT buses stop during the week. I could hear the laughter well before I could see its owner, the deep cackles reverberating down the sidewalk.

As people with unwavering faces filed past me in the other direction, I saw an old man standing by a bus' entrance. Dressed in a powder blue vest with a matching hat, his face turned towards me, laughter pouring from his expressionless face. Laughter without any real humor or mirth behind it but still flowing unstoppably from him, as if he had forgotten the joke but still wanted to let it be known that he had one to tell.

As I stepped closer, I noticed the bus driver perched equally expressionless in his seat, his glance set firmly somewhere down the Drillfield's curves. He didn't even flinch as the man hurled gibberish at him between his undying, unfeeling laughter.

I glanced around. No one else wanted to notice this happening right in front of them. Powder Blue Old Man was as good as invisible, his laughter seeping into the cement and grass, his unintelligible words as effective as the birds that might have been singing nearby.

But I noticed. For an instant, just as I passed him, I wanted to know why he was there and where he had come from. I wondered about his life and what trauma might have caused him to throw reason to the wind. But just as I thought all this, my incessant feet carried me down the sidewalk, past the bus and back into my own life.

The man's chuckles continued to echo across the Drillfield as I glanced at my watch, wondering how much time I had for lunch.

Tonight, I participated in Wesley Men's Intramural Bowling for the second and last time this year. Yes, kids, the pins just didn't fall our way tonight. Andrew, Mike, Stephen, Otey, and I put up a good fight, but in the end it just wasn't enough to pull past our opponents. We will be forced to wear dunce caps for the next week or so...

...Actually, it just means that my Tuesday nights will be freed up from now on and I can focus on my debut in Co-rec Wallyball. Oh, and then there's next Tuesday night, when I advance to the semifinals of this Torgersen scholarship deal I applied for a month or so ago. If I get this scholarship, it'll ease my financial burden for next year quite a bit. Woohoo for guys named Torgersen!

I'm pretty hopped up on fake sweet tea from the bowling alley, but that's not quite enough to keep me awake on my five hours of sleep. Thus, my work here is done.

After ten days on the road with the Wesley Singers, I've returned to Blacksburg and the real world. And quite frankly, I could go for another round if I got a couple days worth of sleep and recharging in my own bed here. I'll echo what Gerritt said earlier today in his journal that this was a very stress-free, fun-filled Tour experience. Probably the easiest and most fun in all my four years here, actually. It's amazing how much a bunch of good attitudes can accomplish and how easily everyone got along! I watched as the Wesley family was extended and my concerns for several people being able to fit in were erased. I had a great time, I got to know everyone better, and I just want to send out a huge thank-you to everyone involved.

Tour always changes me for the better, whether it's through meeting a great host family (and I did stay with some really nice folks this time around), the sheer joy of sharing the music we perform with people, or building new friendships. This year delivered all of that and more, and it leaves me knowing that the future of Wesley will be in good hands. Thanks again, guys, and here's to a fantastic Spring semester and our last few performances!

Here's a nice listing of Tour quotes courtesy of Paakow, and don't forget to check out Gerritt's writeup to get his take on the week. I'll link the Tour Journals when they get online, and when we figure out what we're doing with the collected pictures, I'll let you know.

I've accomplished more this week than I think I ever have in a single week before, but it's not because I wanted to. Call it forced productivity, because my professors and life itself wanted to make sure I was busy right up until the last minutes before Spring Break starts. That being said, I'm two classes and a test away from Spring Tour 2004!

Yes, that's right, it's finally here, and I'm going to be enjoying the next week in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida like nobody's business. There'll be lots of singing and lots of good times, and you'll hear all about it when we get back. Or at least, you'll see a lot of pictures from it.

To all the people at Tech and on Spring Break, enjoy yourselves! I'll post back here when I get back.

Dang, those Guster boys sure know how to put on a good show. They played at Burruss last night, so Fred, Sarah H. & company, Gerritt, and I waltzed on over to our row M seats to catch the show. Graham Colton and Carbon Leaf, two bands I'd heard of but never seen live, warmed the crowd up for a good two hours. Graham Colton was all right, though nothing to write home about. (Ironically, though, I just did write about them, so I guess I lied.) Carbon Leaf was top-notch. Their bassist was crazy, as was their lead guitar/mandolin player. I know a bunch of people from around Richmond have been fans of theirs for a long time, and now I can see why. Catch one of their shows as soon as you can, and grab some CDs along the way.

Guster took the stage at 9:30 and proceeded to rock us for nearly two hours after that. It was fun seeing their full stage setup as opposed to their acoustic stylings a couple of weeks ago. We got a bunch of rare treats since the string players from Keep It Together, Brother Henry, joined them this time, so that was a plus. All in all, I left feeling sufficiently rocked.

I picked up Joe Pisapia's record at the Guster show, and upon first listen, it's a great chill-out album. Definitely gonna go on my Sleepytime playlist.

Some other music I've picked up recently, on the way to cruising along on Spring Tour:

The Beatles - Abbey Road and Rubber Soul
Steely Dan - Aja
Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
Damien Rice - O

All pretty good, with a pretty wide range of styles. See ya in the funny papers!