Sunday, November 25, 2007

I'm Just Waiting for You to Shine, Like Carolina Sunrise, Something Deep Behind Your Eyes...

Alright, I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats for a report of my break, so here it is.

Tuesday -- Get up at 3AM and ride to Chicago. I didn't sleep any, just read when it got light enough. Sorry if I don't remember a ton of The Awakening, as that's when I finished it up. The whole drive took something like 10 hours? We passed through Tennessee, Kentucky, which was pretty much beautiful, Indiana (where we got lost in the ghetto; ask me about it if you care), and obviously, Illinois.

Wednesday -- Sit around the house. Do Thanksgiving dinner whatever with mi madre. Go to the library. Sleep. Oh, and my dog of over 16 years died. I don't really remember life without her, but she was close to 18; it was just her time to go, I suppose.

Thursday -- Up at 4:45 to get downtown and meet the rest of the band at the hotel. Sat around in the room for about an hour then went and marched the parade in the snow. Exciting? Not really. Came back for a couple hours then went back home. My mom didn't make it to the parade because the conductor of the train just passed by her.

Friday -- Wake up at 4 and ride back home. Slept about 30 minutes, read when I felt like it. Got back around 2 and went and hung out with everyone awesome. Which was awesome. Johnny, Bethany, Mark, Trey, Clay. Hadn't seen any of them in forever. We had a campfire, the first one in over 6 months. Fantastic? Yes.

Saturday -- Hung out with the same people as above, but add Adam and Kalisa to the list. Fun, fun, fun, fun.

Sunday -- Work. Everyone was asleep when I left, which was lame, but oh well. After work I did Thanksgiving stuff with my dad's side of the family. They waited 'til I got back to do their stuff, which was cool. After I ate I fell asleep on my grandmother's couch. When I woke up it was close to 9. I went home and read A Streetcar Named Desire. Oh, and I became the proud owner of a Macbook Pro. That's the most money I've ever spent on one single thing. Fun.

And that's about it. Pretty boring, huh?

Sunday, November 18, 2007

This Road Leads Home If I Turn the Car Around...

Well, after this weekend, I'm pretty positive I will be attending Berry College next Fall. I haven't been officially accepted yet, but I know I will be. And I'm not trying to sound cocky about that, but I'm 99.99% positive that I will be. As of now, I'm looking at a $9,000 - $9,500 academic scholarship and if I make a 29 or higher on the ACT, will be eligible to receive Berry's Presidential Scholarship. Plus HOPE. Plus all the rest of the scholarships that I haven't applied for yet (like the African American Women's Varsity League Croquet Tournament Five Time Reigning World Champion Scholarship, sponsored by Wendy's, in collaboration with the NAACP, the country of Darfur, BET, and the Atlanta Journal and Constitution). Fun. Now if only MRS. DONAHUE WOULD SEND IN MY STUPID PAPERS LIKE SHE SHOULD HAVE 3 WEEKS AGO, I could get accepted and start applying for some of these things (because they're...uhhh... already giving out scholarships...and stuff...kind of important, y'know...).

So anyway, if you haven't guessed already, my trip down to Berry was quite nice. I'd been to the campus several times before, but never taken an official tour. The whole thing lasted from 8:30 to about 3 and they even fed us lunch, which was kind of surprising. After that, my dad and I explored the campus, and he gave me a history of all the stuff down there (Berry is where he graduated from).

Here's a few quick facts about Berry in case you're wondering:

-- Berry has the largest campus in the world. Handy dandy, eh?
-- The deer-to-student ratio is 8 : 1. This is cool because if you know me at all, you should already be aware of my dislike for people. Handy dand....ier...
-- The average student-to-teacher ratio is 11.7 : 1. I would rather enjoying seeing that .7 student.
-- Berry is all about community service and whatnot. There's actually a day called "Freshman Community Day" (or something to that nature) where freshman as well as whoever else wants to go go out into Rome and surrounding communities and do volunteer work like cleaning up parks and stuff.
-- Counting books, Berry costs a little over $30,000 a year. Yikes. Hooray for financial aid and a banker aunt. Oh, a dad and grandparents who are supportive. Un-hooray to my mom, who would much rather see me go to Tri-County Community College for the rest of my life.
-- While touring the dorms, two staple food groups immediately became apparent: Easy Mac and Ramen. Sounds like my kind of place.
-- There's like a billion organizations and clubs. This probably means I can still set up just about as many shows down there as I did up here. I can also house the musicians in my room as long as I let an RA know a day or two in advance and it's cool with my roommate.
-- The college has its own Post Office, as well as zip code. All students get their own PO Box.
-- 75% of students enrolled work on campus. It's a pretty cool setup because wherever you work knows your schedule and works around it. If you have a bunch of tests coming up, they give you time off. As a freshman, you can work no more than 15 hours a week, this amount eventually increasing up to 20 as you become a senior.
-- As of now, Berry offers 41 majors.
-- There is a place where students can board their horses, even if not involved with the equestrian program.
-- The college has at least 3 different news publications, as well as its own TV station.
-- Unfortunately, as of now, there is no wi-fi connection on campus. There are, however, two ethernet jacks in every room.
-- Freshman are required to live in dorms, basically so they can make friends and meet new people.

But enough about that.

The Bonfire Club Records shirt design is almost ready! I need to hurry up and buy my screenprinting stuff. I think I might use this design on more than just shirts too. I'm thinking of printing up a messenger bag or two. Anyone want anything specific? Or at all?

I'm in the market for a laptop. Exciting.

I don't want to go to work tomorrow, but what else is new?

I'm a tired boy. I'm outta here.

Sunday, November 11, 2007

I Just Don't Think I'll Ever Get Over You...

Alright, so here's the deal. It's Saturday night. I was typing up a blog last night, but I didn't really feel too well so I went to sleep around 1 or so. So basically, part of this is from last night.

Ah, my last football game ever, and oh was it a heartbreaker, and I don't mean because it's my last football game in band. I'm glad about that...I've always hated marching band. It was a heartbreaker because we lost within the last minute or so by 2. I know how much this game meant to some of our players, and it's pretty sad that we lost. Oh well.

Speaking of football, apparently the Senior Night video I made made some people cry. Awesome. It was thrown together in about 30 minutes so I'm glad it was at least semi-effective.

So this morning I was on my way to school. As you should know, it was ridiculously cold this morning. Well, my windshield gets really, really foggy / icy / whatever-y while I'm going down the road and I pull off to scrape off some of the crap. Well, I get back in and the car is off. And won't come back on. Apparently some converters are totally stopped up. So now, since Randy DS-head Zimmerman is still "working" on my car, I have nothing to drive. Man, I hate my life.

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So, Fall Ball is today. It's kind of depressing that I'm getting to miss everyone grinding on each other. Right. At least people will stop asking me if I'm going now. But next is prom. I don't really wanna go to that either, but I think I'm gonna swing by for about 5 minutes or so just to say I did. If it's cool (which I'm totally not expecting it to be) or if I somehow manage to find a decent date (right), I'll stay. So in other words, if you're there, expect to see me for about 5 minutes, if at all.

Well, it's looking like Bonfire Club Records is going to be releasing a Christmas compilation soon. Fun stuff. As of now I don't have to pay any of the bands on it so I'm thinking of making it a benefit release with all of the profits going to some noble something. What is this noble something, you ask? I don't know yet. Maybe Key Club; it can go hand-in-hand with the concert. We'll see. I'm 75% sure that this is going to happen. If it does, I'm aiming to have it out by the end of the month. It'll just be CD-r, but I'm planning on making cool, screenprinted Arigato-style boxes for them. Should be nifty if everything works out, which I'm hoping will happen.

I really miss having a band. Even though we sucked, it was fun. Playing solo just isn't the same. I like writing solo, just not playing shows solo. It's weird. I hate all my songs. Ack.

You know what else I really miss? Probably not. So I'm gonna tell you. Actually having non-school friends. As in people to hangout with outside of school. I'm pretty positive I'm gonna forget and lose contact with the vast majority of my class and vice versa, simply because I don't really have any close friends that live here any more. And the friends that I used to hangout with have moved and, surprise(!), for the most part lost contact with me! Magical. And yea, yea, yea, I know the whole "you'll make better, real friends in college" spiel. But I'm not in college yet. And this blog is mostly about current stuff. So there.

I need to buy some more blank CD-rs. I have a grand total of two left and one of them is going to be used for a mix CD that I just finished compiled tracks for. It always takes me forever to make a mix CD, I think that's mainly because I always put songs on there that correspond to what I'm feeling towards a person at the moment. Hooray for music being the universal language. Oh, and all of the songs have to kind of blend together, so it takes me awhile to pick the order. And I always add a track by me, not necessarily a song, but something. But that's not for all mix CDs. Just ones for certain people. I've only made mixes like that for two people because they're awesome. For other mixes I just pick random songs that I like. So, now that you know my mixtape habits, If you want one of those "random song" mixes, lemme know. Oh, and bring me a blank CD. Cheapskate.

Well, awesome. In less than 5 hours I have to be up for work. I'm completely and totally ready to not work in food anymore. And have been for about 2 years. Yargh.

Toodles.

Monday, November 05, 2007

So Hey, Listen Up Friends, Good News Is Coming, Soon is the End...

...of all the world's troubles and all of it's sin...
--The Rocket Summer

So, the books that I ordered finally came in, after 2 months of constant emails. I've started one of them, and nothing has really happened so far, but I can't seem to put it down. I think it's the writing style, casual, yet elegant. Here's a passage from it:

"When we peel back all the layers of pain and distrust and neurotic surface fears, what lies beneath is that infinite primal fear of being stuck forever with no love. We have built our societies on the pursuit of success: traditionally that's meant beauty for women and power for men, although increasingly they overlap. Daily, we see around us the dismissal of the ugly, the weak, the old, the powerless. So we know that one day it could and can and will be us who are dismissed. Whether we have the tools to fool everyone until we are old, or whether tomorrow someone sees our cracks and rejects us, the fear of isolation because all around us are images confirming that isolation is our destiny. Buy your way out of isolation, out of dismissal and anonymity, say the corporations. Try this product, this shampoo, this razor, this cellphone, this car . . . blah blah blah. Buy in. But the billboards of sexy girls gaining the attentions of powerful men are empty promises of reward when below them an old woman sits alone at a bus stop."

Now wasn't that fun? Anyway, the book is called Off the Map and is about two women hitchhiking / squatting their way through Europe. It's a true story, originally a 'zine, but re-published as a book. It's a short, easy read...Kind of like a personal journal. Anyone who wants to borrow it can; I'm almost done. Oh, and along with my books came several posters. If anyone wants any of them, you can have them...Just tell me what you want. They can be seen here: http://www.crimethinc.com/tools/posters.html

In other news, I wish people would STOP ASKING ME IF I'M GOING TO FALL FORMAL. No, I'm not. Ok? Good. The End. Go kill yourself.

I'm ready for marching band to be over. I've always hated it. Only one game left. EVER. But then I've got at least 3 parades to deal with. Yargh.

College Board takes entirely too long to ELECTRONICALLY send scores. I paid my 10bucks to get more scores sent to Berry a bit over a week ago and they're still not there. I would understand if they were sending them by actual post, but uhhhh they're not; sending things over the interweb should be instant! Ahhhh.

So, this band called Low Red Land played at my house Thursday night. Only 8 people wound up showing up, but it was a lot of fun. I think mainly because the band was so "chill," for lack of a better word (I hate using the word "chill"). I offered to give them some gas money, but they said it was fine, that there were good vibes, and they were totally happy with what they made off merch (about 30bucks). Oh, and this was one of their less common acoustic shows. Fun stuff. I recorded part of the show, and it can be found on my YouTube page along with all sorts of other crap: http://youtube.com/profile?user=DakotaFloyd

I'm already making plans for the last big Blairsville show ever. The only thing that I'm saying right now is that it's gonna be on Saturday, March 11th and will be epic. More details to come.

Hey, guess what. Randy Zimmerman's "almost done" with my car again. I think I'm just gonna go sign the title over to him tomorrow after school.

Hey, guess what else, all sarcasm aside. There's some really good albums coming out soon. Defiance, Ohio's "The Fear, The Fear, The Fear," something new from The Max Levine Ensemble, the US release of Efterklang's "Parades," the imadethismistake / redbear. / Super Famicom / tinyfolk split 7", a new, fullband EP from Matt K., the reissue of Jon Crocker's "The Dust Will Settle," a new full-length as well as live, acoustic EP from Low Red Land, a 7" from The Riot Before, and so on and so forth. Hooray music!

While on the subject of music, An Act of My Own, aka me and Dave, has been selected to be on the latest Skratch Magazine sampler! I found this to be quite awesome, as I actually have a copy of Skratch. Basically, there's gonna be 5,000 of the CDs made and given out for free. Said CDs go into over 75 record stores in California and to over 350 labels (even though we're already signed to a very small indie label out of Florida). What they do is mix big name artists in along with small ones like us. Last year, Bright Eyes was on the CD. Anyway, I thought that was really cool. I've gotta call the guy in charge on his cell phone tomorrow and get all the details worked out. Oh, and someone is designing us a website for free. It's kinda weird...Good things keep happening now that we've taken a really long break, but hey, I'm not complaining! We might actually be recording something soon too (I doubt it).

So anyway, I've been thinking about when I move off for college next year. It's gonna be strange and new, but I think I'm ready for it. I've been in Blairsville for nearly 18 years, and I definitely think a change of scenery is muchly needed. It's not like I'm gonna be totally unknown to everyone when I go to college either; I have friends at all of the colleges I'm looking at, which is just an added bonus.

Aaaaaand, I believe that's it. For now, I bid you adieu.