December 2004 Archives

Greetings! This is world traveler Bret, signing in from a cold, dark, and empty-feeling Blacksburg. Evelyn hitched a ride with me to town this afternoon, so I'm not feeling completely alone, but it's definitely eerie to be back here again in the middle of Christmas break. Around this time two years ago, I was about to begin my first co-op term, and I remember spending a few spooky nights alone at Wesley before people started getting back in town.

This time, it's a little more cheerful, and I have a lot more things to look forward to! Over the next few days, I'll be back up in Kensington, MD, visiting Gina. It'll be wonderful to spend some time with her before the great big Sugar Bowl trip, courtesy of the Park Plaza Hotel. My posts will probably be scarce over the course of the next week or so, but I'll try to put up some kind of year in review before or during New Year's. After I return from the bowl trip, you can expect all sorts of writeups about the misadventures of Team Sugar Bowl. Stay glued to that screen!

Or, you could just check by periodically for updates. Happy 2005!

I meant to put this up earlier, but oh well. Everyone else had really famous Christmas trees to show off on their sites; I just have mom's to show off, and some darn crazy elf guy. Our tree is pretty darn cool, though! To everyone out there, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and enjoy the last few days of 2004.

...Today, I was cleaning out Mom's Explorer in preparation for the big trip starting next Monday. I found a sticker that said "My mom went to a monster truck rally and all I got was this stupid mullet."

It's now on my guitar case.

...A couple of nights ago, I had the first weird dream in a long time that I could recall while awake. My family went on vacation somewhere unspecified, and I had to lag behind for a day or so for some reason. As I was getting ready to leave to join them, I checked the basement of our house to make sure all was well. I remember looking specifically at some coats at the back of the basement. Satisfied that everything was locked down, I left the house and ran off (no, I didn't drive).

I only went a few miles before I somehow had the feeling that I'd left something behind at the house. So, I ran back, and it took me less time to get back than it did to leave. I walked into the basement and noticed that the door was open, and a few things - like the coats that were hanging up - were gone.

I suddenly heard footsteps above me, so I knew that we had been robbed - or rather, the burglars were still in the process of doing so. I ran outside in time to see three guys in high school band uniforms jumping off of our deck, carrying three huge bass drums that they'd stolen. I managed to tackled one of them for interrogation later, but the other two got away.

The moral of the story, of course, is that when you're trying to steal bass drums from someone's house, you should have a wagon or some other getaway vehicle ready, rather than attempting to take them out by foot.

Exams are done! I'm home. Now I can focus on creating this year's ultimate holiday mix CD. The last one I ever really bothered to make involved a hodgepodge of nearly every holiday .mp3 I could find on Napster while I was bored some freshman year afternoon. Now that the times have changed and downloading is "illegal," iTunes is affording me the chance to grab a hodgepodge of fun new Christmas songs that I wouldn't have heard about otherwise, as well as the classics, and of course, some new versions of old songs that just about every recording artist is required to do at some point in their career. I also picked up Barenaked For The Holidays, Barenaked Ladies' new holiday release, which helps to fill out my mix.

Here's the tracklist. Some are broken down with comments, iTunes-styley (yes, this took me several days of painstaking care to compile!):

1. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (Red Baron Remix), Berlin Symphony Orchestra - Normally I don't like remixes too much, but the beats and sounds added to this classic recording makes me want to dance like the Sugar Plum Fairy like never before. Except she's probably hopping around at some club this time around.

2. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Barenaked Ladies w/Sarah MacLachlan - A classic, and one of my favorite holiday recordings.

3. Donde Esta Santa Claus?, Guster - It's the newest holiday song of the season. How can you go wrong with renaming the reindeer "Poncho," "Pablo," and "Pasty," among other things?

4. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, The Brian Setzer Orchestra

5. A Holly Jolly Christmas, Burl Ives - I like to sing along with Mr. Ives and say "Christmas" all weird and exaggerated, like I did when I was growing up.

6. White Christmas, Bing Crosby - You gotta have a few classics.

7. O Tannenbaum, Vince Guaraldi Trio - If songs from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" don't put you in the holiday spirit, nothing will.

8. Feliz Navidad, Jose Feliciano - You knew it was coming. This song gets the award for "Christmas Song That Compels You To Sing It Over And Over The Most."

9. Winter Wonderland, Louis Armstrong

10. Sleigh Ride, Ella Fitzgerald

11. Children Go Where I Send Thee, Natalie Merchant - Man, what a funky, awesome version of this song! It's not a traditional Christmas song, but it works, and it's a former Wesley Singers tune.

...The Mid-Atlantic has received its first snowfall of the season this weekend, and surprisingly, Fort Gay wasn't spared the precipitation. (During high school, my friends and I always suspected that there was some kind of forcefield in place around the Fort, because most of the big snowstorms always ended up breaking up in the regions around us.) Most of this snow was simply light, powdery, misty stuff that disappeared hours after falling, but all of it was just a harbinger of super-cold temperatures tonight. Yeah, when it's currently 7 degrees here, and it's supposed to drop a few more notches as the night rolls on, you know it's cold. In fact, some would even say it's butt cold. Be careful tomorrow morning, if you lay in the path of this front. It's going to be shivery.

... On a final, somber note, I recently learned of the tragic death of one of Joe's friends from college, a local news journalist who was killed in a car accident on Friday. Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers, as well as my friend. It's a terrible time for everyone involved.

All of you - please, please be careful out there.

I got a couple of early Christmas presents tonight, including some new kicks and a new pair of headphones for my iPod, which was very cool. Some years for Christmas, Mom and I will do this type of thing, and I'll pick out the gifts that are highly stylistically dependent. For those who are curious about these things, I picked up a set of Sony MDR-EX71s, white. They came very highly reviewed on iPodlounge, and the review didn't lie. I'm very pleased with the sound and comfortable fit; they're a much worthier set of earbuds than the sets that came with my iPod. They're rather expensive, though, but I've found with audio equipment, you really do get what you pay for. At $50 or so, they won't break the bank, at least.

This year, Annie went with us. It was very cool getting to spend quality time with her and mom, even if I did get a little impatient at times. That was just my energy level getting low during the course of the evening, though. Here's a little snippet of one of the conversations heading toward Huntington tonight (Mom had been humming "Feliz Navidad" for a while directly before this):

I yelled, in my most exaggerated singing voice ever, "I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas, I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas... I wanna wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE BOTTOM ..."

I had the guttaral voice rolls, the embellishments, everything going on. It was beautiful. Mom provided backup notes for me, and Annie matched my enthusiasm from the back seat. Our improvised chorus over, I moved to the verse. With a song like "Feliz Navidad," though, I have to provide vocal percussion or some kind of simulation of the beat in between the words. It's just a requirement. I was happily doot doot dooting when Annie took it away from me.

"Feliz Navidad," she sang, followed by my beat. Then she paused, as if trying to remember the next line.

"Sparrows on my chin," she sang triumphantly.

After Mom and I calmed down from laughing so much, Annie could only say that she liked to put her own words in the songs she sang from time to time. Who can argue with that?

I think Jose Feliciano would be proud.

A quick follow-up to the War of the Worlds casting call adventure from a couple of weeks ago: as I was driving through town today, I got a call from Billy, one of the movie's casting directors, I suppose. He wanted to know if I could go in to work for them tomorrow! As cool and as unexpected as that was, I had to tell him no, for several reasons. First, going to the casting call was all Gina's idea, and it would feel weird going without her. Second, my parents are all set to drive down tomorrow to help with the traditional Christmas Break pack-up, and we've made all the plans to get me home. I couldn't really duck out on everyone like that.

I guess it's still cool to know that I could have been an extra in a movie. I came pretty darn close, anyway. And now that I know what a casting call is like, who's to say that I won't find myself in another one in the future, waiting for hours and hours to land a spot in a thankless job? I think it would all be worth it to be in a feature film for just a few seconds, to be sure.

I think, actually, that in about ten years, I'll probably be telling this story and saying that I accepted the offer and am actually in the movie - just far enough off camera that you can't see me.

Just play along with it.

My exam schedule is stacked pretty late. I only have two of them, and they're both on Wednesday. This meant logging lots of hours on the GameCube late last week, much to my delight and laziness.

I bought the Mega Man Anniversary Collection earlier this semester when it was on sale, in the hopes that I would eventually get some time to play it. As it turns out, that time hasn't presented itself until now - but boy, the games sure bring back some memories. It's actually all the original MegaMan games packaged onto one disc (a clever marketing move by Capcom and Nintendo, to be sure).

Now, back in elementary and middle school, the Mega Man games were my second favorite series behind the Mario legacy. I liked Mega Man's style and the overall theme of technology and robots, I suppose, because it sure wasn't because I was able to beat any of them. Except for Mega Man 3; that one was mine, baby. With all the others, I can remember countless nights of frustration and anxiety and throwing the controller at the TV screen. I think those times with my video games made me a nervous kid for years.

At any rate, I only really ever owned 2-5, I think. Joe had the first game, but the few times I played that, I deemed it way too difficult and dumb. Sure, it was a cop-out so I wouldn't feel bad for not owning the whole set, but in a way, it still is the hardest one out of the whole batch. Mega Man can't even slide or charge up his blaster, for cryin' out loud. It's a next to impossible game, and I never completed it until I downloaded some emulators back during freshman year, where I could save the game image at any point I wanted to. (Yes, this was cheating, basically.)

Before you decide to vote away my status as Mega Man Gamemaster, however, let me throw this at ya: last Thursday, I finally chucked the last few hits at Dr. Wily at the end of the original Mega Man and made him beg for mercy at my feet. Boo-yah! Another loose end tied, another howling demon from my childhood silenced. One down, eight or nine more games on this disc to go.

Anyone up for seconds? Or thirds or fourths? Just let me get my exams done first.

Well, despite a couple of close calls thanks to the infinite wisdom, or lack thereof, of the Virginia Tech Ticket Office, I now am definitely going to the Sugar Bowl in January! Sweet sassy molassey. Our group has started to call themselves Team Sugar Bowl, just because we needed a united front to make it through all the ticketing hassles. Tom has his own, more detailed take on our plight today, linked below.

I'm still feeling out of it, thanks to continued sinus trouble and rising early to try to get tickets, so to finish off for today, I'll point you to fellow Sugar Bowl travelers Gerritt and Tom. This is going to be a really good road trip. I've already got the tracklist for the main mix CD I'll make for the trip broiling around in my head. I'll post that sometime later, too, when it's done.

Yeah, I realized that I'd forgotten to post the pictures from when Gina and I got to meet the Flecktones last Thursday night. Better late than never, I always say! Here's us with Bela and Victor.

My list of famous people I've taken pictures with has grown! To like four.

And on that note, it's early to bed for me, with a runny nose and a hope for getting Sugar Bowl tickets from the school. Wish me luck!

Wow! So much stuff has happened since I last posted. Tomorrow marks the very last day of class, so my mood is automatically improved just by that fact alone! Since last we met on Ramble On, I have:

• Participated in an open casting call with Gina and Sarah M., for the remake of War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg. Apparently, they're filming part of the movie in nearby Rockbridge County, so when Gina saw the casting call for extras was going to be close by, she convinced Sarah and me to go. It was mostly anticlimactic, because after standing in line for two and a half hours in the freezing cold, all we really did was hand over some pictures and measurements. We never got a call back, so we have to assume we didn't make it. So much for my 2.5 seconds as a random guy running away from some Martians. The trip was ultimately worth it, though, even with the long hours, because the three of us had a grand time laughing about the craziness of it all.
• Got to watch the Hokies trounce Miami for the second year in a row, this time on their own turf at the Orange Bowl, no less! We've proven that we're a solid team with an outrageously good defense and a solid leader in Bryan Randall (who will soon hopefully be announced as ACC Player of the Year). The win in Miami secured our trip to the Sugar Bowl (ahem, sorry, the Nokia Sugar Bowl) in January, and by golly, I'm going! A group of us have already reserved the hotel rooms, after a couple of confusing phone calls on Saturday night. Why don't hotels just post numbers that let you talk directly to the hotel, instead of some guy in a call center 1,000 miles away that has no idea what he's talking about? Anyway, the hotel should be nice. Now we just have to trust that the VT Ticket Office won't screw up the ticketing process. Consider my fingers duly crossed.
• Got a little sick and woozy thanks to my sinuses and the completely out-of-whack sleep schedule that followed the casting call trip, but I managed to get back on the saddle over the last few days of class to complete all my projects and stories. I now get to coast through the rest of the week before exams start.
• Helped out in a 30-minute ultrajam at the end of band practice tonight. I'd actually already left to wrap up a few things and grab some dinner when I heard Fred, Jonathan, Travis, and Tom all playing and screaming over these four chords that were reminiscent of "All Along The Watchtower" or the end of "Stairway To Heaven." I realized immediately that my assistance was needed on the rock organ, so I ran up and powered up the keyboard to key in a blistering organ solo. After a while, Tom and Travis ran out of random lyrics pertaining to procrastination, so it turned into sort of a meta-jam of epic proportions. Lots of screaming and crazy drum fills, soaring organ effects and frantic switching from guitar to bass. Good times, fellas, good times. Next time we'll hit the record button.
• Played the ultra-addictive recent release for the GameCube, Donkey Konga, tonight. Thanks, Mohana and Jania, for letting me play! If you know anything about the DDR craze, you'll understand this game, because it's like that ... except with these bongos that connect up to the GameCube and serve as your controller. It sounds simple enough, but when you add fun songs and complicated beats to the mix, it's addictive as crap! I love playing the bongos...

While I was checking out the info on Donkey Konga, I also noticed these hot screenshots of the next Legend of Zelda game for the GameCube. I think it's high time Nintendo heeded the call of its Zelda fans for another realistic game on the order of The Ocarina of Time, instead of the cartoonish graphics of The Wind Waker. If these screenshots are any proof, it's gonna be a beautiful game. Maybe even enough to get me playing again.

I just got back tonight from the first really big concert we had here at Tech this semester, but boy was it a good one! Bela Fleck and the Flecktones gave us a crazy good show. I'd seen them in Roanoke a couple of springs ago, but tonight was the first time I could share in the awesomeness of Victor Wooten, Bela, Futureman, and Jeff Coffin with some of my good friends. Thanks for making it a fun night, guys, even if we did end up leaving late from Sharkey's!

Vic is simply one of the, if not THE best bass guitarist performing today. The guy just has so many tricks up his sleeve. It's incredible. Actually, come to think of it, I can't give high enough praise to the musicianship of all four Flecktones. The four of these guys just took the stage from the get-go with outrageously good music, and over the course of the night, entertained us with their own songs, both new and old, laced with teases of the "Munsters" theme and "Tear The Roof Off," among others. I mean, even though Burruss was only halfway filled, the audience was ready to give the band a standing ovation before they even finished a song. I'm rambling right now, but I was definitely blown away by them all over again.

And the best part? I finally listened to the reports that the band sticks around after the end of the show to talk to fans and sign autographs. So now, I can add the entire band to my List of Famous People I've Talked To. They're all very cool, down to earth guys, and they all seemed really happy to have played here at Tech for what I guess is the first time ever. Big thanks go out to this guy Brandon that Gina and I met while standing in line to talk to Bela; when my digital camera died, he offered to take pictures for us using his camera. As soon as he sends them my way, I'll let you guys see them. It was a cool night. Thanks Gina, for staying back with me!

Quote of the night:

Victor Wooten: "So what is a Hokie? We were backstage trying to figure it out."
Audience Member: "What's a Flecktone?"
Bela: "A Hokie on overdrive."
(applause)
Victor Wooten: "Well, whatever it is, we like it. Don't change!"

I was strolling through my computer this evening when I noticed a couple of neat photos I'd meant to post (in a gallery at some point, I'm sure, but also more recently). I just wanted to post one here for your viewing enjoyment tonight. I also am basically too tired to write much. Cheers.