The Surprise...25 Years In The Making

Yesterday my lovely wife turned 25. So we have to make a big deal out of it because a quarter century is big deal worthy. So in February I contacted her Principal (thanks Mr. Saunders) about kidnapping her. So around noon I showed up with flowers and had her called down to the office in a very serious voice. But when she arrived in the office I was there with flowers and a camera. WOOT WOOT...

We left her place of employ and went to Chik Fil A for lunch. After that on to her present. Me being someone who has a lot of tattoos was surprised when my wife, a person of previous no tattoos, started asking for one for her birthday. So again in February I made an appointment with my tattoo artist Mike H.(owner/artist of Rocksteady Tattoo in Hampton).






I wish I had recorded her face. She definitely picked one of the more painful places to get her first one.











All Done!!! Mike did a great job. Now it's my turn...













Here's what mine looks like. I have a lot of color and flair with my other tattoos I wanted this one to be simple. I really like it and so does Jess.

....All Done!!!

The Times They Are a Changin'

"Time goes by so slowly" sung the Righteous Brothers. "The Times They Are a Changin" sang Dylan. Well...they most certainly are. In two months what I have known for the past six years of my life goes away and I step into a new chapter in my life. Despite my feelings of unease with my job, I have to admit that I'm comfortable there. It's a miserable comfort, but comfort none the less. But as the song goes "I'm just not comfortable with comfort", that's how life works, the old goes away and the new comes in to fill the void. The old for me being my job at the Credit Union. The new, being a full time student. So I embrace this change, even though I am a little nervous about it. I'm nervous because there are so many questions..."what if I can't pass?"..."what if I choose the wrong major and end up with debt and another job I don't like?"..."what if I spontaneously combust my first day of class and the professor knows me as that guy who spontaneously combusted on the first day of class?" I know a lot of people who are miserable, however since they are comfortable they don't mind. They are content to complain but do nothing to change their misery. I've long since made up my mind that that won't be me. I only have one life...I'm going to try and live it without regret. So with all this said I've scheduled my classes, I've gotten my financial aid, and I've met with my adviser. Behold, here is the schedule of my change...

CS300 Computers in Society Monday/Wednesday 4:20-5:35
ARTH121A Intro to Visual Arts Monday 7:10-9:50
STAT330 Intro to Probability and Statistics Tuesday/Thursday 9:30-10:45
CS150 Problem Solving and Programming I Lecture Tuesday/Thursday 5:45-7:00
CS150 Problem Solving and Programming I Lab Wednesday 9:00-11:30
CS150 Problem Solving and Programming I Recitation Friday 9:00-9:50

Thursday

Wife doesn't Ryhme With Awesome But It Should

This is my wife =========>>>
...and I think she's awesome. I think she's better than all the guitars in the world. I think she's better than the most enlightened intellectual book in the world. I think she's even better than Anna's pizza and beer. That's right...better than Anna's pizza and beer. I blog about music, and politics because I care about those things. Those things mean something to me. But without ===>>> ...then it wouldn't mean much. So with her birthday coming tomorrow, here is her first present (of many to come). Her very own blog entry. Not because I have to, but because without her all the other stuff that I blog about wouldn't be as cool.

The Good The Bad and The Sick

Suddenly I awoke...with that sharp pain in my throat.

That was yesterday. Then throughout the day I continued to feel worse. By last night I felt terrible. I even neti-potted like 3 times. But all was in vein. I didn't get much sleep last night. I feel like my sinus cavities are stuff full of snot and are about to explode. There is no work for Scott today. The bad part is that even though I'm not going to work I still have work to do. I have a test tomorrow night. So I'll be studying today instead of sleeping. Help!?!?

New Toys

It's time to expand the arsenal...as some have so eloquently put it. This summer I am hoping to, occasionally, fill in on guitar at my church and in some other settings. Since WEC and a few other venuse don't use live amps and go straight into the sound board I had to find a solution. A solution in the form of some modeling equipment. For those non-guitar people when you run your guitar through a pedal board straight into the sound board it sounds like butt. Normally you would have Guitar, then pedal board, then amp, then mic, and then finally sound board. The answer (that you see to your right) is a Line 6 POD XT Live. What it does is model a pedalboard, amp, and mic allowing you to go bypass the amp/mic part of the chain. When I started looking around I knew my budget and I knew that I could get a new Digitech RP500 or I could get a used Line 6 XTL. Well on Tuesday of this week I happened to go to a music store near my work on lunch and behold...they had a L6 XTL there with a flight case (a flight case is just a hard metal case...it doesn't really fly). But when they told me the price I couldn't believe it. New the L6 XTL is about $400 and a cheap flight case is going to be $40. They were selling them both for $250. So I did what any self respecting gear head would do...I offered him less. Which he declined. So then I tried it out...nothing seemed wrong with it. So I talked to Jess and she agreed that this was a good deal and I made the purchase. So far I've enjoyed it. It's not as nice as my Tophat, but I didn't expect it to be. But it's good for what it does. You can save 128 different presets on this and there really is a ton of effects and models on here so I might be able to eventually use them all. The presents are saved under 1,2,3...32 up and down. Then on each numbered row you have A, B, C, and D pedals in front of you. So right now I'm going through and picking out amp models that I like and making a "Clean" channel. A "Clean Solo" channel. A "Dirt" channel. And a "Dirt Solo" channel. I just takes time. So far I've made one complete set using the Marshall Jumped Channel Plexi Model. Surprisingly it sounds close to my Tophat, which is modeled after a Fender Bassman. Anyways, I'm really excited to have so many options at my finger tips right now. I feel like I can go sit in on almost any setting and play...which I'm hoping to do this summer. Thanks for reading about my geek-i-ness.

Oh and yes...that is a clock I installed on the right side of the board. It's important to keep time at gigs. Underneath that I am going to install an empty Altoids can to keep picks and other misc items in it.

Two More Weeks...Breath!!!

Have you ever experienced the longest 4 months of your life? I think I just have. In two weeks they will be over. I cannot explain to you how nice that feels. Calculus 2 has given me more gray hair on my chin, and less hair on my head. I feel like in 2 weeks I will be able to breath again. Here is where it gets exciting...are you ready? Good. Come July I will be working limited hours at work to get ready for my transition to ODU. So here is a list of my plans for this summer...







1. Hang out with my wife and enjoy marriage.
2. Be involved in at least 2 musical projects.
3. Go to the beach with my wife.
4. Remember what life is like when it's not revolving around a job.
5. Hang out with friends (new and old [this means you Rob and Monica]).

Does This Mean That I'm A Hippie Now?

Via lala.com, I've been listening to a ton of reggae that past few days. Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, The Abyssinians, and Gladiators. I don't quite know what to make of it. I love the social awareness of it, I love the soul of it, and it's good to study to. Unfortunately my receding hairline prohibits the possibility of dreads. Or that might be a good thing. Does this mean I'm becoming a hippie?

Also, in very un-hippie fashion, I want to get tattooed below my elbows. I need something permanent to prohibit me from ever going back to the corporate world once I'm done. The whole PC, dress code thing isn't me. I've been unhappy since day 1 in this environment. That was 6 years ago. I never want to go back when I'm done. It's not even that it's so terrible, it just doesn't fit with who I am and my ideals. So what do I get? I love traditional Japanese coy. But that's done a lot. So maybe something small on the back of my wrist? A symbol perhaps. But what? I have no clue. Please send suggestions.

What Do You Think?

I am a Christian (albeit a somewhat unconventional one) and I support Gay Marriage, Legalization of Marijuana, and all kinds of other things that most other Christians seem to get all bent out of shape about. Mainly because I don't remember Jesus saying "Go Ye forth and pass laws that make people act the way you think they should." Furthermore, does it not put a barrier up between people that immediately shuts down dialogue because they feel "oppressed"? Just seems like it's a loose/loose situation. What do you think?

Clothes

So Jess and I went to Old Navy after lunch today. I haven't bought new clothes in a while and went to see what they had. I ended up getting 2 tshirts, 1 pair of jeans, and 1 plaid short sleeve shirt. As I am shopping I can't help but realize that my newly embraced "life philosophy" doesn't include a plan for buying clothes. But I don't know where else to go. I don't want to go to Walmart. I would rather not buy from the stores in the mall. But I can't afford high end boutique stuff. Plus, what boutique is going to make "fashion for the squatty overweight" guy? (That would be me.) So help? Are there places in the internet that I can buy clothes where it deals with smaller manufacturers?

***UPDATE***

I just did a quick google search. Didn't find anything. Sad.

The Corner Of Zen

To your right you will notice what we refer to as our musi-offi-ercise room. Specifically you are looking at the musi part. This is my little place to come and enjoy doing what I love to do...play music. I think people need a place to be around that which inspires them.

The Empty Pantry Compilation Vol. 1

As I'm going through this "becoming" process I've had a lot of ideas. Ideas about the type of company I want to work for. Ideas about the type of life I want to live. I ideas about some tattoos that I want to get and some songs I want to write. But today one of the better ones came to me. I want to do something to help people. I also want to do something to help local music. So let's marry the two. What if I were to make The Empty Pantry Compilation Vol. 1? Here's the idea:

1. Get local bands that, I'm into, to donate one song.
2. Put all the songs onto a compilation.
3. Get 500 copies made.
4. Distribute it wherever I can charing $5 per.
5. Give proceeds to local charities that I'm into.

Seems like a win-win. Bands get free exposure. People get helped. You in a band? Wanna give me a song?

Life Philosophy

I'm going mental. That is for the past few weeks I've been plowing through some tough questions. Questions about possessions, materialism, and consumerism. Questions about changing my life and living out some ideals that I think are good. I've just finished reading Donald Miller's "Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, and Beauty on the Open Road" and it dealt with the idea of leaving behind materialism for the sake of living life. Selling everything you own to head out on the road and experience life. I've long felt that our consumption society is distracting us from each other. This book really helped me focus my attention on my own life and see what can be done. I don't meet people everyday that are talking about philosophical ideas on how to spend their money. Then a few weeks ago I was watching a documentary on the Discovery channel on the historical Jesus. It put a lot of focus on his teachings of social change and how much emphasis he put on the poor. Then today I was listening to the Thomas Jefferson Hour on NPR and they were discussing the ideas of Henry David Thoreau. The host, Clay Jenkinson, was reading excerpts from "Walden" and "Civil Disobedience" and had Thoreau leaving behind normal life in search of the essentials. So after work I went and picked up a copy of "Walden and Civil Disobedience" and am going to start it tonight. The point is that I've started questioning how I want to change my life to be intentional and purposeful. How do I want the way I live my life to look? I've come up with a few "Life Ideas", and here they are...

• Try to live simply when possible and consume locally when possible.
  
• It's not a hard lined approach.
• It looks like vaguely veg but for your life...try to live with balance and consume with purpose.
• Try not to be cluttered
• Lets get rid of some stuff.
• Let's try to consume locally and support locally with our finances.
• Let's live so we can give back to people who can't do for themselves.
• Live within your means.
• Stuff isn't bad.
• Excess stuff is unnecessary and distracting.
• Sell it...give it to the poor. Really try and live out the social teachings of Christ with our finances and consumption.
• Let's work towards supporting children in impoverished nations. Not just one. As many as we can through humanitarian organizations..."whatever we do for the least of these we have done for you..."
  

So there it is. My ideas on some ways I'm hoping to change the way I live. What do you think?

Bum

The word bum has so many connotations in the current diction. You can bum a cigarette, and I have many times. You can bum around the house, and again, I have many times. You can be a bum at life, I try to not but again...yup...sure have. Now there's "to be bummed". I am currently this. If you are not into good music then perhaps you didn't hear that Pearl Jam's "Ten" was re-released...having been REMASTERED. It's the remastered part that has me in the current state of bum-ed-ness.

You need some personal history to understand...

I grew up in a neighborhood where everyone played sports. Namely basketball. I played basketball everyday from 4th grade until 9th grade with neighborhood friends. I played in the local rec league. It was my favorite thing in the world. So with that came a love of hip hop. Which my parents hated. I snuck in Dr. Dre, House of Pain, Snoop Dog...and the list goes on. Well in 8th grade something changed. I was befriended some the weird kids in school. The kids with long hair, who listened to that "grunge" crap that no one in my neighborhood listened to. These kids were outcasts and they lavished in it. They didn't care. And they didn't care what I was like either. They just wanted to hang out. Which I was stoked on. So with these new friends came new music, new clothes, and new hair. That's right...I grew my hair out. Then came the day I bought my first "grunge" tape. It was Pearl Jam's "Ten". I knew the singer used the "F-word". So I still couldn't let my parents hear it. But there was no parental advisory sticker. When I got it home I grabbed my next door neighbor and a battery powered tape player and went out back and head banged my way through side-A. I was hooked.

You have to understand that in many ways this album defined my view of music. I listened to it on countless Saturday's while cutting grass. I listened to it on countless drives to and from...any number of places. I know feel every note and every word.

Fast forward back to today. The remastered version...yea...sure it sounds better. It's cleaner. The drums are snappier. The guitars cleaner. Eddie's vocals are mixed better. But perhaps one of the reasons it was so good was because it was so raw. It perfectly captured that moment in time. Things were raw. Nirvana had dismantled the hair metal thing. The glitz and pomp of the 80's were out. People were starting to ask questions again. The mood of the country was raw.

I listened to the remastered version of the first song. It was pretty much what I expected...clean and sanitary. Everything that the band, who wrote the song Jeremy and made a political statement about being "Pro Choice" during a, of all things, unplugged performance, wasn't.

But if this re-release turns some other kid on who might not have been, then perhaps it's forgivable.

1 year down...the rest of my life to go

Tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary. To which I say...hell yea. If you'll pardon my French. Unfortunately I have a test on Monday so this weekend is dedicated to studying. So we went out last night. We had dinner at PF Chang's in VA Beach. After dinner was a surprise. She let me go to the music store. ::shock:: I know that she hates going with me. I start in with the "A's" and work my way all the back to the "Z's". Then when I'm done I have like 12 cd's in my hands and a limit much less than that. So then I make my way over to a listening station and plod through the pile until I end up with the 3 that I'm going to get. Then, inevitably, just as we are about to walk up to the counter I remember some obscure band that I have forgotten about and scurry back to the racks to search again. Well...last night was no exception. But she never sighed, guffawed, or eye rolled. She let me do my thing. I was stoked. So here is what I got...

Les Savy Fav's "Let's Stay Friends"
so far my favorite out of the 3

Minus The Bear's "They Make Beer Commercials Like This"

a very close second

The Appleseed Cast's "Sagarmatha"
this was a little little disappointing...but maybe it'll grow on me

*UPDATE*
I would like to clarify, that while my praise for my wife was masked by my excitement over new music. In real life, my love for my wife far out weighs any purchase I could make. I made this post in praise of her because she love's me enough to put up with me in a record store.

that's dag nasty scott

I have a friend. We will call him "Rob". "Rob" uses the term "gag nasty". But I've also heard him say "dag nasty". Now, I have no clue what gag nasty is. But I know what Dag Nasty is. So without further delay...DAG NASTY...

Stop Making A Living and Start Living

I was listening to Tony Campolo the other day and he said something to the effect of "You don't have to make a living, you have to start living." Oh...such music to my ears. I'm so fed up with everyone else's ideals of how my life must go. I spend so much of my time doing things I don't enjoy and not enough doing the things I do enjoy. But if you bring that up you get responses like "that's life kid" or "suck it up...it only gets worse from here". But I don't accept those realities. It won't be that way unless you allow it to be. So right now I spend a ton of time at work and at school. What would I rather be doing you might ask? Well, I'd rather be playing music two nights a week and the other 5 spent with my wife, friends and family. I feel very distant from everything. I think it's time I start living again. Well...Dr. Campolo said to walk out of your job if that's what you feel you have to do. But I'm not going to be that drastic. But starting next week I'm going back to the Call Center at the Credit Union where I'll be working full time until July. But come July...oh sweet month of mid summer-dom...I will be cutting my hours at work to 20/wk. Then come August I'm going to ODU full time. I can't wait for change in my life. Do you ever just want something to change? I do. I start feeling restless. I start getting bored. I start feeling like where I'm at is only holding me back. Well I've felt like that for six years. SIX YEARS!!! I can't believe that I have been so complacent and unmotivated that I have let that much time go by. But just because the past six haven't really been what I would have hoped that is no reason to piss away the next six. Change has come...says President Obama...For you and me both buddy...says I. And for me it's time to start living again.