walking through walls
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
i don't know why i 'm thinking this but..i'm thinking about....
my own mortality.
what would I want to happen at my funeral?
what would my family say at it?
what would my closest friends say?
to be honest, I think about it all the time..not just mine, but yours as well.
after mom died, I must have come up with hundreds of funeral speeches for my friends and family.
it doesn't really scare me, and I don't believe in omens.
just something to think about. In the meantime, I just need to make my time here fun and meaningful..
lesson plan tonight? only for a little while.. be around the people I love? as much as possible.
i love you guys, I really do. don't forget it, or i'll punch you. ¶ 1/17/2006 05:50:00 PM 3 comments
my own mortality.
what would I want to happen at my funeral?
what would my family say at it?
what would my closest friends say?
to be honest, I think about it all the time..not just mine, but yours as well.
after mom died, I must have come up with hundreds of funeral speeches for my friends and family.
it doesn't really scare me, and I don't believe in omens.
just something to think about. In the meantime, I just need to make my time here fun and meaningful..
lesson plan tonight? only for a little while.. be around the people I love? as much as possible.
i love you guys, I really do. don't forget it, or i'll punch you. ¶ 1/17/2006 05:50:00 PM 3 comments
Thursday, January 12, 2006
no way!
its enough to make me cream in my panties (if I had some on me)
The New Pornographers are on tour with Belle and Sebastian at the Wiltern
march 18th and 19th.
i need to go to this show. two great bands, including one with neko case and A.C. Newman? i'm so
stoked.
i got jon brion solo and jon brion/nels cline tix at the Largo as well
also, I think I win the award for the most hyperlinks
peace ¶ 1/12/2006 09:03:00 PM 1 comments
its enough to make me cream in my panties (if I had some on me)
The New Pornographers are on tour with Belle and Sebastian at the Wiltern
march 18th and 19th.
i need to go to this show. two great bands, including one with neko case and A.C. Newman? i'm so
stoked.
i got jon brion solo and jon brion/nels cline tix at the Largo as well
also, I think I win the award for the most hyperlinks
peace ¶ 1/12/2006 09:03:00 PM 1 comments
Due to the whole back to school craze, my rant on a post fight club consumerist world really went to the back of the priority list.
maybe one of these days, I'll scribble it into my peronal pages.
anyways, the first week of school has gone decently well. 3 weeks is really a long time to be off and my body is taking a toll. Getting back to a normal sleep schedule is hard. I also remember how hard it is to have a normal life as a teacher. I get up at 5:30, out the door by 6:30.
I'm at school from 7 till about 4. THen its the gym from 4:30 to 5:30. Now, if I want to get to bed at a "decent" time of 11:30 I need to get 1)grading/planning 2)cook dinner/cleanup 3)pack lunch 4)basic maintenance stuff before I get to bed. If I even want to spend time with my girlfriend ,talk or see my roommates, , or just have some personal time doing human things like reading a book, listening to music, watching a movie, other things get sacrificed.
If I want to have a healthy balanced life, I can almost expect that some of my classroom responsibilities will go by the wayside. I hate that I have this horrible choice to make. Finding a balance is hard for me. One day of my weekend I know will be dedicated to a job that I only get paid for 30 hours of my work. Oh yeah, we get summer off, but I have to work a second job so I'm not eating tuna fish for the month of august.
i'm not complaining, just merely stating the facts. If you are a teacher, you've heard this before, and if you are a non-teacher friend of mine, you already know. I guess this is just my way of telling you that I'm finding it very hard to come back next year.
New job prospects will be searched and resumes will be sent. I'm fairly confident I can handle what these jobs throw at me after putting in 3 years at markham.
Is the grass greener? maybe. ¶ 1/12/2006 08:55:00 AM 1 comments
maybe one of these days, I'll scribble it into my peronal pages.
anyways, the first week of school has gone decently well. 3 weeks is really a long time to be off and my body is taking a toll. Getting back to a normal sleep schedule is hard. I also remember how hard it is to have a normal life as a teacher. I get up at 5:30, out the door by 6:30.
I'm at school from 7 till about 4. THen its the gym from 4:30 to 5:30. Now, if I want to get to bed at a "decent" time of 11:30 I need to get 1)grading/planning 2)cook dinner/cleanup 3)pack lunch 4)basic maintenance stuff before I get to bed. If I even want to spend time with my girlfriend ,talk or see my roommates, , or just have some personal time doing human things like reading a book, listening to music, watching a movie, other things get sacrificed.
If I want to have a healthy balanced life, I can almost expect that some of my classroom responsibilities will go by the wayside. I hate that I have this horrible choice to make. Finding a balance is hard for me. One day of my weekend I know will be dedicated to a job that I only get paid for 30 hours of my work. Oh yeah, we get summer off, but I have to work a second job so I'm not eating tuna fish for the month of august.
i'm not complaining, just merely stating the facts. If you are a teacher, you've heard this before, and if you are a non-teacher friend of mine, you already know. I guess this is just my way of telling you that I'm finding it very hard to come back next year.
New job prospects will be searched and resumes will be sent. I'm fairly confident I can handle what these jobs throw at me after putting in 3 years at markham.
Is the grass greener? maybe. ¶ 1/12/2006 08:55:00 AM 1 comments
Thursday, January 05, 2006
my unoriginal rant on consumerism in a post "fight club" world is coming...
1)i'm driving back to LA on friday, hopefully in time to catch David Garza play at Largo
2)its been a few days since I've worked out (Midnight miles on new years morning, then 5 miles later that day) but, its been pizza and beer ever since. so, time to get back to the gym
3)back to the grind of work. lesson planning is in my weekend agenda.
4) i've probably watched enough tv to last me till the end of the year. oh well, I rarely watch tv. except on vacations.
post-punk
post-hardcore
post-pot
post-sleep ¶ 1/05/2006 11:31:00 PM 0 comments
1)i'm driving back to LA on friday, hopefully in time to catch David Garza play at Largo
2)its been a few days since I've worked out (Midnight miles on new years morning, then 5 miles later that day) but, its been pizza and beer ever since. so, time to get back to the gym
3)back to the grind of work. lesson planning is in my weekend agenda.
4) i've probably watched enough tv to last me till the end of the year. oh well, I rarely watch tv. except on vacations.
post-punk
post-hardcore
post-pot
post-sleep ¶ 1/05/2006 11:31:00 PM 0 comments
Monday, January 02, 2006
On new years eve eve, I bore witness to another fine shining example of live music that keeps my hopes up. At the Solar Temple of Music and Culture in Tucson, Arizona (insert hippy joke here) I saw what was called Calexico and friends. You may know calexico from their collaborations with indie troubador iron and wine.
if you don't know much about calexico, they are from tucson arizona, calexico being a town in california in the sonoran desert, a border town, whose mexican sister is mexicali. The word border is an important word when it comes to describes what calexico is and is trying to become. In mixing southwest cowboy music, rooted in a punk rock ethos, with mexican rythms and harmonies is the band calexico. lead singer joey burns said during the show "I wanted to write songs concering the border, the merging of many different cultures" if that was his goal, this concert was an amazingingly successful experiment. bringing his band, along with singer/songwriter nick luca, singer/songwriter/comedian salvador duran, and the amazing mariachi band Mariachi Luz de Luna he managed to showcase both the individual talents of each outfit, while incorporating these talented players into an equal collaborative effort.
one of the mariachi's said "it was great to be brought onto this stage as equals, with something powerful to say" it was truly a delight, to see the power of mariachi luz de luna performing their own songs, before playing with calexico.
it was like the clash and willie nelson, hanging out in a border mexican town with a mariachi band, getting drunk and playing music i don't know how to describe the sound, but alot of people liken calexico to an ennio morricone soundtrack (the good,the bad, and the ugly, etc..), a sound with a large palate, incorporating our ideas of the american west with distinct cultural elements, with a larger than life feel. for the gear head inside of me and you here's an inaccurate list of some of the equipment used gretsch drumkit, simple set up korg electric piano myriad of tasty electric (guild, national) and acoustic guitars upright bass, fender jazz bass xylaphone mariachi setup 3 violins/violas horn section mariachi specific guitar/guitar-like instruments (bass, midrange. high range) jesus, at one time there were 14 musicians on stage. one song featured spanish, french, and english lyrics. musicians were given time to shine. this concert was the closest to a Largo-esque vibe i've seen outside of, well , Largo of course. I almost halfway expected jon brion to show up, joining in on the fun.
I wish I had the beautiful writing skills of mark twain, or pablo neruda to describe how the music made me feel. but I dont. the music gave me hope that there are still avenues to explore. hope that we can come to understand our differences through song. there is hope that the american public can raise their collective standards and expect better from the labels, both indie and major. and hope that all my concert-going is not in vain, that it is leading me closer to my idea of what I must do in life.
thats all for now next up, my rant on consumerism in a post "fight club" world. thoughts from a scottsdale, az mall. ¶ 1/02/2006 11:01:00 PM 2 comments
if you don't know much about calexico, they are from tucson arizona, calexico being a town in california in the sonoran desert, a border town, whose mexican sister is mexicali. The word border is an important word when it comes to describes what calexico is and is trying to become. In mixing southwest cowboy music, rooted in a punk rock ethos, with mexican rythms and harmonies is the band calexico. lead singer joey burns said during the show "I wanted to write songs concering the border, the merging of many different cultures" if that was his goal, this concert was an amazingingly successful experiment. bringing his band, along with singer/songwriter nick luca, singer/songwriter/comedian salvador duran, and the amazing mariachi band Mariachi Luz de Luna he managed to showcase both the individual talents of each outfit, while incorporating these talented players into an equal collaborative effort.
one of the mariachi's said "it was great to be brought onto this stage as equals, with something powerful to say" it was truly a delight, to see the power of mariachi luz de luna performing their own songs, before playing with calexico.
it was like the clash and willie nelson, hanging out in a border mexican town with a mariachi band, getting drunk and playing music i don't know how to describe the sound, but alot of people liken calexico to an ennio morricone soundtrack (the good,the bad, and the ugly, etc..), a sound with a large palate, incorporating our ideas of the american west with distinct cultural elements, with a larger than life feel. for the gear head inside of me and you here's an inaccurate list of some of the equipment used gretsch drumkit, simple set up korg electric piano myriad of tasty electric (guild, national) and acoustic guitars upright bass, fender jazz bass xylaphone mariachi setup 3 violins/violas horn section mariachi specific guitar/guitar-like instruments (bass, midrange. high range) jesus, at one time there were 14 musicians on stage. one song featured spanish, french, and english lyrics. musicians were given time to shine. this concert was the closest to a Largo-esque vibe i've seen outside of, well , Largo of course. I almost halfway expected jon brion to show up, joining in on the fun.
I wish I had the beautiful writing skills of mark twain, or pablo neruda to describe how the music made me feel. but I dont. the music gave me hope that there are still avenues to explore. hope that we can come to understand our differences through song. there is hope that the american public can raise their collective standards and expect better from the labels, both indie and major. and hope that all my concert-going is not in vain, that it is leading me closer to my idea of what I must do in life.
thats all for now next up, my rant on consumerism in a post "fight club" world. thoughts from a scottsdale, az mall. ¶ 1/02/2006 11:01:00 PM 2 comments
