Sweet?

The loan stuff went through... school starts tomorrow.

Moving next weekend! Just next door but, still.

Will I be taking too many classes? I'm registered for three at Manhattan, and one of them only meets two days a week (but is somehow still three credits, just like the other classes I'm taking... go figure), so that's not so bad, but I did want to take an anatomy and physiology course at Purchase too. It would fit into my schedule (only meets once a week, on Monday nights) and I really should take it, since it's pretty applicable to medical physics, but... would it be too crazy? Four classes and ~15-20 hours a week of work? I am trying to convince myself no, it wouldn't be too crazy. We'll see. The class doesn't start for two weeks, and is actually full right now (but I wouldn't be surprised if there were some openings during the add/drop period), so I've got time to decide.

I should be on a train going to see Shara in PA today but it turns out she had more family/wedding stuff planned than she thought. I could catch her Wednesday but I'm not sure I should take off of work so last-minute... I'll probably just wait until she's around the area for medical school interviews in October.

The Sabrina Stone gig at the Cutting Room went real well. The audience was much quieter... we -killed- on our two covers (me singing Radiohead's/Jamie Cullum's "High and Dry" and Dylan wailing on the Beatles'/Joe Cocker's "With A Little Help From My Friends" complete with background vocals by the rest of the band)... Chip was there running sound... I had a completely unpredictable encounter with Gila who I had somewhat reluctantly "given permission" to come to the show... and Rob had a pretty unpredictable night himself, which included a) approaching two homeless guys... -and- having a meaningful conversation with them, b) throwing his undershirt out of my car window somewhere on the Upper West Side, c) getting out of the car at a stoplight (shirtless) to ask the guys in the car in front of us what their license plate meant, and d) spending the rest of the ride home hanging outside the window singing god knows what into the wind. ...that's our Rob. Anyway, yeah, overall a great night. One for the books alright.













I -really- should be studying for the GREs and I'm just not. I bought the book... I wanted to get it out of the way before classes started up again... and here I am. :/ Lame. I've taken it before but I just wouldn't mind having my score bumped up even 100 points...

Vicky just left for college yesterday! Crazy!

Stoked to see some friends' bands in September... Eureka Gold is playing at the Cake Shop (may have to miss the first night of Rosh Hashanah for that one) and the ever-rockin' London Souls got a gig at the coveted Bowery Ballroom.

I played a fun gig with Glint last Thursday night. I'll call it a good way to go out (didn't I say that about the Double Door a few weeks ago?)... it was in the Village, at a place called the Crash Mansion. It was put on by Discmakers, the company a lot of aspiring bands go through for CD duplication. Glint and five other bands/artists of varying genres (the show included a classical guitarist as well as a jazz pianist) were picked to compete in an "Independent Music World Series." Long story short, Glint won, and walked away with a whole mess of new gear, studio time, showcase opps... pretty cool for the band, I must say. And me? I snagged a nice Ibanez acoustic guitar and case out of it and went to town on the open bar and free appetizers. I am guessing this was my last gig with the band, as my nutty school/work schedule begins tomorrow after a somewhat lax August.

Chopin

Not to sound like my esteemed bandmate Dylan but... how dull would life be without music?

Yesterday I was feeling a little down... just a case of the "Sundays" I guess. The past few weekends had been filled with travel, gigs, and family stuff... this weekend, just, not much going on. Rob and Dan were/are on vacation. Fitz, former neighbor Kevin (better known as "Such," an abbreviation of his last name... Suchakowski or something like that) and I went out Saturday night but it wasn't anything special. Bottom line... I was looking for something to do. So I walked over to the Clavinova and decided to try my hand at the Chopin piece I had bought a while ago. It had become just another unfinished project... maybe that's why I chose to sit down and work on it. My point is, I wouldn't call taking a crack at a classical piano piece "productive" or anything, which is what I thought would make me feel better, but it -did- make me feel better, broke the silence of the lonely apartment and provided a "flavor" for an otherwise dull day.

Anyway. So, Manhattan said I could take classes there (yay!). Now to register and hopefully get this loan... if all goes to plan, classes start... in a week! Eesh! Admittedly, I'm kinda tickled at the thought of going school shopping again... ah, new binders... ("NERD!") ...I know. It's true, though.

It's cooled down a bit, and is overcast and a little rainy today... nice. I do like this kind of weather. I'm sure it'll warm up again soon but fall isn't so far away... looking forward to it, for various reasons. Being outside... back in school... moving nextdoor with Fitz and Rob...

And in other news... Shara is visiting the east coast next week. She'll be in PA for a wedding and we haven't worked out whether we'll meet up there or in NY but we'll see each other somehow. It will have been 3.5 years since we last saw each other.

Battle of the Ants

Eesh. This whole school thing is turning into a bit of a Zelda quest... present an official transcript to the admissions office... wait a week to hear if I got "accepted" or not... obtain the magical Letter of Acceptance and bring to the old man near the river (and by "bring" and "old man near the river" I mean "fax" and "Citizens Bank student loan department")... you get the idea. I'm not even 100% certain it will all work out, truth be told. Bear in mind, I'm talking about just taking a few courses at Manhattan College as a non-matriculated student, just for the fall semester, to prep for grad school applications, not grad school itself. It was perhaps a bit shortsighted of me to assume I could just walk in and take classes at a private college like Manhattan; registering for the chemistry classes at Purchase was a cinch because it's a state/public school.

Alas, 'tis all but a sub-quest anyway... my "Ganon" (ha!) will, of course, be getting accepted to a grad program next fall. Keep on truckin'...

Rob sure is camping-happy with his new tent and outdoor gear... case in point: last night we "camped out" on the roof of our apartment. Kinda fun. It's a big enough roof that no one from any surrounding street could really see us. I'd do it again. Although that air conditioning unit wasn't exactly quiet.

Man, the random stuff you find on Wikipedia... last night after some beer, malt liquor, Ben and Jerry's and stargazing (on a bit of a "f*ck you, Monday" binge), Rob-o and I got to talking about space, the universe, etc., and I was saying how I remembered something about how part of what you see on TV static/"snow" is due to the cosmic microwave background radiation leftover from the big bang... I wasn't sure how correct I was so I Wiki'd it earlier and found that, yes, not only was I right, but that in Sweden that "snow" effect is often referred to as "Myromas Krig," or "Battle of the Ants." If that's not useless knowledge, I don't know what is.

Cautiously Optimistic

That's been the name of the game. Things have been falling into place, one at a time, but need to continue to do so... more specifically, I found a new job (boy, that month without one sure felt like longer than a month), found out I can keep it part-time in the fall while I take more classes, and got an A and a B in my two semesters of chemistry at SUNY Purchase (yay!) these past two months. ...but... I still need to be approved for this loan I applied for, and to find out if there's even room for me in the classes I want to take this fall (now at Manhattan College, in the Bronx, because they had physics classes), -and- register for, study for, and take the general GRE again. Phew. It's a lot, and it sure feels like a juggling act sometimes, but again, I am checking things off the list.

It feels good to be "here." I am busy and back to playing music for fun. I have also decided to stay in Nyack another year and am looking to move in (nextdoor) with Fitz and Rob. More on that later.

Right. The new job. I work at Music Minus One in Westchester, just over the bridge. They sell/distribute sheet music with accompaniment CDs, instructional DVDs, karaoke CDs, etc. Overall... better than the last job. Still the same kind of office-y stuff but at least the subject matter is more interesting. I am handed any number of tasks during the day... online research, calling music dealers, the obligatory data entry... definitely pretty busy. Do I miss having the down time to take care of my own life/stuff, to write e-mails to my buddies...? Sure, but the day sure goes by quicker with more to do. Bottom line... this, like all my jobs in the past two years, is temporary, and fortunately very flexible, which is just what I need right now.

Kirsten Ketsjer moved back to Denmark (aw!)...

Glint has "hired" me to play a final few gigs with them as they continue their search for a new keyboardist. It's win-win, really... not only are they paying me a bit, but I get to play the cool/bigger gigs I originally wanted to, and they don't have to cancel shows. These recent ones happen to have been at pretty cool venues, truth to tell... we played at the Double Door in Chicago last week in the final round of the "Last Band Standing" contest put on by Lollapalooza, among other things.

The Sabrina Stone group packed the house a couple weeks ago at the Bitter End in the Village, and we're playing again on the 15th at the beloved Cutting Room. Our 4-song EP just came out.

Last weekend Dad, Uncle Sam and I convened on Fire Island for a gig at a private party. Fun stuff.

(I never get a chance to wear that shirt)

Aaand... made a triumphant return to Mohonk/New Paltz last weekend for camping and general outdoor shenanigans, with Rob (of course!), Jacobs and Casey.

(pics comin' soon)

Overall it will have been a great summer, I have to say.