The Game?

Howdy, everyone!

Are any of you going to The Game this year? It's about (past?) time to start looking at plane tickets and so I'm taking a poll...

I guess a poll isn't very blog-like, so I'll add a personal story to make up for it. My life is kinda boring, even in the celebrity gossip capital of America. In that spirit, though, I do have one story:

I went to a company party/dinner several weeks ago at my boss's house in the ritzier area of Santa Monica (not to be confused with the not-so-ritzy area of Santa Monica where I live). We only have 15 employees, so it was a pretty small party. As we were all arriving at his house, we passed an ambulance on its way out of the neighborhood. A while later, various reporters from People and Us magazine and so forth started ringing the doorbell, asking if we know anything, and paparazzi began to appear en masse, camping out in their cars with cameras and a spotlight. Turns out that my boss lives across the street from Owen Wilson, who apparently tried to off himself right before out party. So yeah, that was my recent brush with Hollywood greatness. I bet you're all impressed, right? :)

There is a door. . .

On Monday, I took my trumpet case out of the closet, dusted it off, and slung it over my shoulder as I started to walk to the open rehearsal for the Princeton Wind Ensemble. Making my way across campus, I took note of all the features that I've become familiar with over the past month and a half. There are the statues of tigers, the unusual memorial in front of the art museum, the fountain, and of course, the student center. Strange, I thought to myself, even though these are my landmarks now, it seems like I have a memory of them from a time before I became a grad student at Princeton. . .

I tried to shrug the thought off as I entered the music building, but as I descended the steps, the feeling of familiarity became even stronger. And as I moved to open the band room door, I paused for a second, my hand resting on the handle, to reflect.

Then it hit me.

By indirect contact, I have now touched the balls of the men of '07. Wow.

oh man...

... Thanks for everyone who told me to sign up for this thing. I finally figured out how to find it and now I have so much reading to catch up on! Shout out to Warren for getting me set up! Sounds like all of you guys are off doing great things already!

I just got to England and am almost settled in. My college, Pembroke, is exactly what I was hoping it might be: nice manicured lawns and gardens set amidst old (I mean old) buildings. It gives the word "picturesque" a new meaning. Quite exiting. Classes start on the 1st of October, but we're off to the Lake District for an orientation on Monday. Maybe I'll make my first friend there...

Anyway, I suppose when I get a chance I'll try to write something more comical or verbose as that seems to be the trend on this blog. In the meantime, here are some pictures from Greg and my Alaska trip (which was awesome) that we took in honor of Oh Sev. Two words for our next party: Glacier Luge. Enjoy!

Hammer time?

So last Thursday, as part of the DC Grooves concert series, I watched a free MC Hammer concert. Like, wtf. I only found out about it a few hours before work was over, and I don't even remember Hammer too much, but I knew. I should go to this thing.

And so I did.

The night started off with a bit of stalling, and then the opening group, "No Label". It was really confusing at first, 'cuz it was unclear that they were called No Label and didn't just not have a label.

No Label on MySpace

Don't be frightened at how unattractive they seem in their picture...
They weren't bad. They were generic, but pretty good for live! And if you look at their profiles, most of them are more legit than random girls who have spent too much time fashioning themselves scantily clad and dancing to music videos in their living room.

But yes, the one and only, MC Hammer.
It was pretty lame 'cuz he stalled for, I dunno, 30 minutes after the last act. At least. But whatever, it's the Hammer.

Highlights include:
- the great dancing era that was the 80s and 90s
- a random safe sex song interlude "I've got a condom in my pocket, 'cuz we be practicin' safe sex...SAFE SEX...safe sex...SAFE SEX..."
- seeing people older than me in Woodrow Wilson Plaza (right outside the Ronald Reagan building) doing the hand motions to "Too Legit to Quit".
- how calm the MC (not hammer, of the concert) was in retrospect, when he had to stall for 30 minutes (at least) keeping the crowds interested and in the area even though it was hot and boring and MC Hammer was primping or something...

K so I wrote this draft a while ago until I remembered to go home and put in a youtube video. That finally happened. :-)



ps - Little Richard will be performing later this month.

New Places, Old Faces

I started the internship with the Devils in earnest this weekend, and its a ton of fun! I'll be having my first press release posted on the website later this week, and am currently working on piecing together the media guide. The commute is crazy, but I've got tons of music and have discovered podcasts.

Jenny will probably be the most excited to hear this, but I found out I wasn't the only Yalie with the team this year! Matt Cohen and Brad Mills are both with the squad, and Joe Zappala had played with them before. There's going to be a friendly face in the locker room, and that's going to make this internship a little easier.

I also got back from Yale this weekend, and it seems like everyone in the band has broken up with each other. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Are people using the google group? I keep forgetting about it, but I guess I should check it more.

Oh, and does anyone have any good podcasts to recommend? I've discovered the commute goes quicker when there's discussion in the background.

Life in San Francisco

That's right, Chris finally got a job. It seems he likes complaining about unemployment so much that he wanted to keep it up even when it doesn't apply to him:)

Since he decided to be all mysterious in his post, I'll explain the offer he got; legal assistant work in a law firm. He'll be working for lawyers who represent start-up companies that create medical devices and techniques. I don't think he knows exactly what the job entails, but it sounds like it includes working directly with clients as well as some administrative stuff. He hasn't taken the offer yet - has a couple of interviews this week with other places - but he probably will. The only down side is that the firm is in Palo Alto, which would mean he would have an hour-long commute.

I've accepted an offer from a non-profit that manages affordable housing and provides all sorts of services to formerly homeless people, such as employment training and tenant organizing. It's a really great organization, I like the people I'll be working with, and the position itself should be very stimulating. My title will be Fund Development Associate, so I'll be writing grants, talking to individual donors, and organizing fundraising events for the organization. I think writing grants will be really interesting because it will mean doing research on homelessness issues, and talking to donors and organizing events means I'll get to interact with a lot of people. Overall, the position is a good way to start out in the nonprofit world.

I don't start for another few weeks, though, so I have to find ways not to go stir crazy. As Chris explained, sitting around the apartment got boring pretty quickly. I'm looking for volunteer opportunities, including a trip to the food bank tonight. I cook often, partly because we don't have enough money to go out to eat, but mostly because I like big projects. I've made calzones, soup, and veggie burgers from scratch, and lots of different kinds of pasta. We also frequently check craigslist and other websites to find free things to do in the city. Last Sunday, we went to what we thought was just your average Labor Day celebration in Golden Gate Park, and it turned out to be a huge reunion of the "Summer of Love." I thought the Summer of Love was 1969, but apparently it was '67 because this was the 40th reunion. All sorts of crazy people were there - it was great. They were handing out love branches, blowing bubbles, setting up teepees, trance-dancing, hula-hooping, and more. Oh, hippies.

Today we got to go on a tour of the Anchor Brewery today for free! I don't like many of the Anchor brews, to be honest, but it was a pretty interesting tour, we got tons of samples at the end (everybody who took the tour was very buzzed), and we met some very nice people.

So that's our San Francisco experience in a nutshell. Although we've been spending far too much time alone in our apartment (we don't have many friends yet), we haven't gotten too sick of each other. I'm a little sick of watching TV, but frankly, I can always watch more episodes of Scrubs. Thanks, Jamie, for getting me hooked on it.

Labor Day musings

Labor Day was first celebrated in 1882, to honor the working man in the American tradition: laziness. It was even put on the first Monday of September, so that it would never fall on a weekend day when you already had the day off - what a waste that would be. To this day, it is observed with rest and relaxation, granting one last breath of summer, a kind of Homer Simpsonesque tribute. It's a pretty lame national holiday as far as they come, but it's as good an excuse as any to kick back and do nothing.

But what does it mean to the unemployed? How is one supposed to enjoy a nice picnic in the park when (s)he is not contributing anything to society? What does a "day off" from lack of gainful employment mean, anyway?

Ladies and gentlemen, yesterday I sat on my ass watching about a dozen episodes of Scrubs. The only thing that made this different from any other day was about a half dozen episodes of Scrubs. I thought about Seaver's "Jobless in April" facebook group, and how I could start a new one called "Jobless in September".

I think the worst part of it all is that all my teacher friends have gone back to school. While bumming around for the summer is socially acceptable, spending an entire September day in your underwear is for losers.

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Oh, by the way, I got a job today.

12 gauge!

Just wanted to let you guys know that I was in a club on Saturday night and they started to play "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and I kind of wanted to text everyone at once and go "TWELVE GAUGE!!!" but it was hard to really move in there and also that may have been a little too overboard. They played "Apache" too.

It was pretty weird that they went from normal club fare randomly to Nirvana (which everyone loved of course anyway) and Apache...with people just jumping around like a band party or something...=P

Links?

Hey guys,
I added a new section to the page where we can put favorite links! I dunno why I decided on this tonight, but I did. Oh well. I put in the Yale Bands website and Justin and Nana's blog. Give me suggestions for more! Think of it as another place to have your bookmarks. :-)

And I've been bored lately so I might change the template or something. Someone should object to this if it comes up.

Bee tee dubs, I hung out with Jenny in DC tonight and it was awesome and you should all visit. =P

Will Broadcast for Food...

I momentarily lost the link to our blog when I switched computers coming home, it was so nice to read through a bunch of posts and see how you guys are all doing!

Labor Day weekend out here on the East End of LI is ridiculous. Speaking of which, all of a sudden Labor Day means something again. Living life outside of Yale and its "no holidays...except for MLK Day" schedule is going to take some adjustments. I've taken to planning my drives by how many right turns I can make because to take a louie means a ten minute wait for a slot to cross traffic. Luckily the Manhattanites all leave on Monday, and I get my town back. Hopefully not for too long, though.

I got an internship with the Trenton Devils, the ECHL affiliate of the New Jersey Devils. It doesn't pay, but I'll be able to do color and pre-game/intermission hosting for any of their broadcasts, which is a huge thing for someone with only a year and a half of radio airtime. Trick is, now I have to figure out how to squeeze in a job that does pay to support my commute. Ahhh, the wonder that is post-collegiate life.

I'll be heading into the Have basically every weekend from here on out, so feel free to get a hold of me if you'll be there too. I love you guys!