Road Trip, Part 2

So! Here I am. Arrived in Loma Linda two weeks ago, to a semi-full apartment, ate some apple pie and played Catch Phrase with some of my new roommate Marci's friends (after exploring two of the bars in nearby Redlands, a town with an actual kind-of-nightlife, and drinking, among other things, some rather un-manly pear-flavored hard cider). My program started last week... I suppose there's some catching up to do.

For starters: "all" ("most") of the pictures are on Rob's camera and I haven't gotten them yet, so in the meantime, my cell phone pics will have to suffice.

Scenes from Chimney Rock (Nebraska).

Overall, a great road trip. Fun times. Highlights:

I'd like to say we made it across the country without incident, but such was not quite the case. Wyoming proved to be a bit of a problem state for us, as we a) almost ran out of gas ("how long would it even take triple-A to get out here?") and b) got pulled over for speeding. Rob's dad is a state trooper back in NY, which he hesitantly conveyed to the cop, who just kinda... laughed at us. Hehe. No worries though: got off with just a warning. So fine, no "major" incidents.

Really enjoyed the Utah salt flats, near Salt Lake City. There's just this barren stretch of highway, literally no turns for 30+ miles, in the middle of this... nothing. Mountains off in the distance. Apparently they race cars/have speed tests on this thing because it's so damn barren and there's just, nothing around. ...except for this sculpture, very randomly situated alongside I-80, known as the Tree of Utah:




Oh... had a fourth meal involving gravy, at some diner in Wyoming for lunch that day. Count it!

We were planning on camping in Wells, Nevada, but ended up driving a hour further to a lil' town called Elko instead, mostly because, according to the GPS, it sounded like there was actually stuff to do there. And what a night we had. Elko is a tiny "casino town," kind of a D-list Las Vegas, and we tore it up. As much as was possible on a Monday night, I mean. We hit a bunch of bars, a casino (Rob was up $50), inhaled a bunch of cigarette smoke at said bars and casino, sampled some local brews, played a bunch of pool, hit a... gentlemen's club (oy gevalt), and camped on a patch of grass at the Double Dice RV Park, all of which was pretty much on the same two-mile stretch of road. And the camping conditions were much better, nice and dry. Good times.

I probably shouldn't mention we were the only people at this bar.

("How about one to go? No? Nothing?" -Rob tries to convince the owner of the bar at the RV park to stay open, and when told no, stoops to, yes, asking if we can get some beers "to go")

The front of my car got -covered- in dead bugs.

Ate lunch that last day at a place called the Cowpoke Cafe in Nevada, where we were barraged with questions from the local waitstaff about what it was like to be from big ol' New York.

I've never been one to be attached to my material possessions (i.e., to the point of say, naming them... looking in my sister's direction... and Becky and Leah's... hehe), but I have to say, I do feel some sort of attachment to the car that got us across the country. I wasn't 100% convinced we'd make it 3,000+ miles without incident, frankly, but we did, all in my "new" little white Corolla. It's kind of like the LEM in Apollo 13... "she was a good ship." Amen, Tom Hanks. Or whoever said it.

So, with the unavoidable dissolution of RCM400, Rob has "formed" a new project, which will either be named "I Feel Bad For Me" or "Winter Pool Puppies" (the latter originating from a mis-reading of a sign for "winter pool supplies"). One of the charter songs: "Funk Pig." For some reason, the pig in question was, at one point, in possession of some sort of magic watch, but has since misplaced it; Rob's vision was to write a concept, choose-your-own-adventure CD (stay with me here) based solely on that ("if you want Funk Pig to go down the dark alley, skip to track 4. If you want Funk Pig to indulge in a frosty chocolate milkshake instead, skip to track 9" and so forth). Long story short... while on that long stretch of highway in the salt flats, I busted out the guitar (me in the passenger seat, obviously, with barely any room for me and a guitar) and we riffed on some Funk Pig ideas, including a slow blues where I think Funk Pig goes to a bordello or something...?! Anyway. More RCM400-ish craziness. Which I will miss.

Rolled into Palo Alto Tuesday night (and ate some sushi, a welcome respite from all things truck stop) and met up with Tom (and Rick, and Tom's girlfriend Emma). Crashed at his place... explored SF the next day... the wharf, sea lions, Coit Tower, other touristy things, non-touristy things including some Jack Kerouac "hot spots", for Rob, like City Lights bookstore, outside of which we enjoyed some latin jazz... more sampling of local brews, including a very tasty Pyramid ale (think Magic Hat but more apricot-y)... met up with Rob's friend Joe and his wife Kerry who were in town... beautiful weather. The first day, at least. Met up with Emily Sukiennik, from high school, the next day at Golden Gate Park (really the first day Rob and I had a break from each other in about a week)... got some great Indian food in Palo Alto with Tom, Rick, and Emma that night (the lamb rogan josh, a.k.a. "lamb Josh Groban" was even better than ol' Nyack's Spice of India) and then went to a chic Silicon Valley bar for mojitos... all good things. Really enjoyed being in downtown San Fran that first day, in the sun and wind, just, exploring.

Stumbling around San Francisco.

Quick hike in Muir Woods, just north of the Golden Gate.

Two morons at an ATM.

And finally, some "real" camping in Big Sur, on the rugged California coast. Drove down the treacherous Highway 1, with the Pacific Ocean directly on our right and mountains/cliffs on the left. Really something. Secured the last available campsite at Limekiln State Park, which was basically right at the shoreline, and finally got the camping experience we'd been looking for. I loved the contrast between Thursday night and Friday night... upscale Palo Alto and then, in the forest, by a stream, actually succeeding in making a campfire (and subsequently some Jiffy Pop), eating Craisin and beef jerky sandwiches (that's Craisin sandwiches for Rob and beef jerky sandwiches for me, not Craisin-and-beef-jerky sandwiches... although admittedly weird no matter how you cut it... look, we were low on supplies), passing around our last bottle of wine and the obligatory sing-along. Awesome. Also kind of made friends with the guy in the campsite next to us, a real Dylan-looking character named Gary, complete with guitar, who ran a blues-based record label further upstate. I jammed with him a little (I was hoping/assuming he'd be down for playing some covers but he was actually working on originals) and Rob talked politics/Bob Dylan/Rob things with him. Nice dude, gave us a couple of his CDs (and some extra firewood).

Pretty sure this is Bixby Bridge.

(not my pic... but here's Limekiln Park. Our campsite was in the trees, just off to the right in the foreground)

Then the next morning we hiked to the nearby waterfall and, in what was undoubtedly one of the stupidest things we did on the trip, attempted to climb up the side of it, via a precariously placed log resting on the slippery rock face. Definitely one of the most physically demanding things I've done in a while. Barely anything to grab onto and beneath you, just a shallow pool full of big rocks. It was really a full-body workout, as you needed both your arms to pull you up this thing and your legs for constant support/balance, since the log was only maybe a foot wide. Suffice to say, we were both sore the next day. Props to Rob who actually made it all the way up, to dunk his head in the little pool near the top of the falls; I stopped just shy of said pool as, frankly, I just don't have the upper body strength my buddy Rob has. Ahem.

Two morons, about to climb up the side of a waterfall.

Anyway, after that excitement, we dashed back to our campsite, packed up, and made it to Loma Linda that night safe and sound. 3,500 or so miles in the course of a week.

And now I'm in a world where I wear a lab coat to "work," have a pager for some reason, have a very friendly/all-too-willing-to-come-by-and-actually-fix-things landlord, in a town where the mail moves on Sundays instead of Saturdays and there are no bars, and there is hardly a cloud in the sky, and it's always 90+ degrees, and there are palm trees, and beautiful sunsets nearly every night.

Not in Kansas anymore, that's for sure...!

More about school and such later, I suppose, as that could be an entry on its own...

Road Trip, Part 1

So here I am, holed up in a lil’ motel in Cheyenne, Wyoming (which I now know to pronounce as “shy-ann”). We are three days into our road trip. Two to go.

It’s cold out here…! Last night as early as 8:00 it was in the 40s. Our plan was to find a campsite, set up the tent, find some dinner, then hit some local bar, but… nope. The two campsites nearest to the city were really just for RVs, no great place to set up a tent (mostly rocks and pebbles instead of grass), and it was 43 degrees and lightly raining, and for us it was two hours later and we were pretty wiped from all the driving (we’ve been doing about 10 hours a day, which I’d say translates roughly to a “strenuous” pace in Oregon Trail). So… after a bite at a late-night diner, we dropped $40 on a motel room, which budget-wise is fine because we managed to camp for free last night (sweet!).

It’s been fun so far. Crazy to think we are already halfway across the country. Starting just past Ohio it’s really been nothing but open fields, trees, power lines (sometimes not even that) and the occasional cluster of farm animals, but frankly it’s all been pretty scenic. Having a travel partner makes a –huge- difference, perhaps needless to say… I can see how making this drive on your own would be... ridiculous.

I love maps. Love looking and seeing that we’re in… what?! Nebraska? Wyoming? These Midwest states I’ve never been to? So cool.

Let’s see... other random notes…

Three of my meals since Friday have involved gravy (and one of them was breakfast). This would bother some people; this does not bother me.

Stopped and crashed at Jeff’s place in (er, near) Cleveland Friday night.

My car is packed completely. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fit, you know, my entire life into a Toyota Corolla, but I made it work. We can’t see out the back window but, it really hasn’t been so bad.

Had a dream about Ellen Page last night and now I kind of want her to be my girlfriend.

In another Oregon Trail reference, yes, we totally stopped at Chimney Rock yesterday in Nebraska. It was pretty cool, I have to say. Took some cool pics.

Mom got me a GPS navigator and it’s been so cool having it. We are quite techno-ed out in the front seat, with our iPods, the Tomtom, FM transmitter, and cell phones. Don’t want to jinx myself but I have felt very prepared for this trip so far.

Have been mostly eating in local diner/truck stop-type places (see comment about gravy above), including one in a town called Snow Shoe (Pennsylvania) and another called the Pine Cone restaurant. …it just feels good to get out here, I guess, away from the Tappan Zee Bridge and work traffic and… yeah. In the middle of nowhere.

The speed limit is 75 for a good chunk of the Midwest (on I-80, a least).

We started the trip with a five-pound bag of gummy bears. It is now approximately a two-pound bag.

Camping is very different when it’s “functional.” I think both Rob and I pictured camping this trip would be something like our New Paltz experience last year, with guitars, a bonfire, and the leisurely imbibing of alcohol, but that first night in Iowa we were just too tired to really indulge in all that, and couldn’t even hang out outside due to the weather, so we barely managed a few RCM 400 tunes and half a bottle of wine inside the tent before going to bed.

After the abovementioned two campsites Tomtom lead us to last night, we tried a third, called “Camp Care Free” which sounded suspiciously like a day camp. …it ended up being a day camp. It’s hard to paint the picture perhaps but, it was 9:30 at night, dark, obviously, cold and a little rainy, and we’re driving on this unpaved road kind of near the highway in this huge field filled just with the ominous shadows of huge turbines which flashed lightning-like bursts of light every twenty seconds or so. Suffice to say: it was really creepy.

Anyway. So, today we head to Wells, Nevada, just over the Utah/Nevada border (how cool is that?! …sorry). Hopefully we’ll have better campsite luck out there. And hopefully it will be dry.

Finally

...I've got the myspace page I've always wanted: one with a "lot" of tour dates. Has this been my real goal in life, my purpose? Maybe.

But it is kind of unprecedented... in my final week here I will have had a gig with every group I've been playing with in the last year, with the exception of Frankie D. That's right... we're even trying to get a Rob's Chicken and the Mint 400 "show" at Dylan's open mic night in New City next week... we'll see.

Other than that... thunkin' out bass lines in a throw-together, expecting-it-to-be-kind-of-lame-but-ended-up-being-kind-of-fun-especially-because-people-were-dancing gig with IG last night at the indescribable Dharma Disco... final Contraband show tonight + free Mexican food (holla!) downstairs at "Casa del Old" (hehe), although unfortunately Seth won't be joining us on drums, which admittedly has me a little bummed out... Sabrina Stone at the Bitter End the day after Labor Day... and finally, the ultimate send-off, a gig at the intimate Hudson House upstairs lounge with Joe Mamma's the night before I leave.

Is it narcissistic of me to (keep) list(ing) all the gigs I have coming up? ...yeah, probably. Sue me. I'm excited.

Trifecta #2

Well... if last summer was the "trifecta" (as my roomies refer to it) of a) quitting my job, b) quitting the band and c) breaking up with my girlfriend (and "d", moving, although technically only next door), then this summer's trifecta looks something like this:

a) Quitting job
b) "Quitting" the bands I've been casually playing with
c) Things ending with my girlfriend
d) Moving... to California.

Why, you ask? Because the kid got into a freakin' school...! Loma Linda, my absolute last chance, accepted me. I had started making plans for... well just read the boring parts of previous entries. No need now. Instead, I've been planning the big move... the road trip(!) Rob and I are taking to get out there, finding an apartment (done), how to buy a car (just bought it today), etcetera. All of which is way better than planning on how to move home to NH and scrounging for internship experience.

So, yes. It's all very exciting. I've been pretty bogged down with the logistics of all of it though and it's kept me from... being excited. Rest assured... once I get my loan(s) taken care of, which is really the last step, I think I will be in a completely different place...

Not with Emma anymore. It ended poorly and it makes me sad to think about it.

On a positive note, I finally got to play with... yes... Joe Mamma's (Fantastic Trio), an instrumental jazz-funk group I saw play when I first moved here and knew I would fit right in with. Unfortunately they had a keyboardist so, I never really got to play with them until recently when their usual guy was on a long vacation. The bassist called me up, and we "raged," as the kids say, at a rehearsal space in Orangeburg for a couple hours, and wished we had recorded it. We really clicked, if I do say so myself, enough that we are playing a gig or two before I leave. It is nice to have finally "won them over" (hehe), I must say, even if my time here is limited.

...ROAD TRIP! So damn excited. We are planning to leave the Friday after Labor Day, take ~5 days to drive out (using approximately the shortest route possible, according to Google Maps, since Rob only has a week off of work), meet up with Tom in Palo Alto and crash there for a little while, explore San Francisco, check out Big Sur, finally drop me off in Loma Linda. Rob will then fly back to NY. We'll camp along the way, to save money, but also because, we like camping. May try and hit some Oregon Trail landmarks, as we'll be driving through those areas of Nebraska/Wyoming ("NERD!" ...I know, I know).



(It's Phil and Bieselin! Hehe... we determined I'm Kermit and Rob's Fozzie, because clearly I'd be the one playing a musical instrument and Rob likes bears/thinks bears are hilarious. Unfortunately we will not have access to a rainbow-colored Studebaker)

It is a summer of change, alright... short of all my exciting exploits, Jeff has secured a one-year internship with the Cleveland Browns in the PR department and just moved out a few weeks ago, and Hogan just got married!

In my last weeks here, I have some gigs (with Contraband & Sabrina Stone) to look forward to but I also need to brush up on my medical terminology, as I'm decidedly lacking in that department. If Loma Linda doesn't approve the online course I found for course credit, then I save $300-600 (a good thing, of course) but I would then have to take the course at Loma Linda during the school year, which would kind of defeat the purpose (I should really know this stuff prior to starting the program) and would be a pain, having an extra class. Either way, I'll have to take some kind of online course in the next month to ensure I'll be ready to learn medical dosimetry and hopefully won't be too distracted with all the other fun stuff that's sure to be happening...

I should mention, by the way, that I am the -only- student in the program...! They usually accept two but this year decided on just me. This obviously has positive and negative implications... a positive one being, the teacher-to-student ratio, a negative one being, this is a very new program (~4 years old) and probably didn't have that many applicants. I decided, however, that this would be better than searching for internship experience, waiting another year, applying again and hoping I got in somewhere else.

Anyway. See what happens when I don't post for 3 months? Maybe I'll be President the next time I post.

Eat more pierogi

Beautiful spring day here in NY (wherever in NY I may be... currently in Elmsford, shirking work responsibilities). Excited to get into the city tonight and see Emma. We are trying a new Polish restaurant (it's not all we do, I swear). Might also go to Pianos to see a band. ...I guess I really do enjoy being so close to the city. Love being able to do this stuff.

Trying... and succeeding, I'd say... to enjoy life while waiting to hear back from these two other schools, Roswell Park and Loma Linda, of late. The interviews were... good. The Philadelphia one really seemed like a formality... pretty standard school interview questions, most or all of which I was totally prepared for. I am now on the waitlist there and have until mid-September to find out if someone drops out of the program (which has only accepted seven students). Needless to say, not getting my hopes up. Not to mention the fact that they (and the UAMS program) want me to take 2-3 more classes this summer on the off chance a spot will open up. I've put some thought into this one and I think I'm leaning towards not trying to cram classes in by September, because I really doubt either of these waitlists will come through, and if I had the choice I'd want to spread the classes out a bit, not rush to get them done. I -am- slowly warming up to the idea of being here another year (hopefully not more than that) and going full-force into the (currently only loosely developed) "if I don't get in anywhere" scenario(s) described in the last entry, if it comes to that, sure. ...but it's not over yet. Still those two programs to hear back from. And again, still not 100% sure I won't take the classes this summer (for one thing, though, I think if I tried working, taking three classes and having buses and trains be my only means of transportation, I might spontaneously combust).

The Cleveland interview was alright. I met with an entire admissions committee, as opposed to just the one person the day before in Philly, and got a tour of the facility from one of the students (they do, by the way, only accept -three- at this program... eek). I got the impression they were looking for someone with just generally some more hospital experience... I was left wondering what said experience could be, as a physics major (as opposed to a radiation therapist, the candidate some of these programs prefer), and got an answer that made me tug at my collar when the student giving me the tour mentioned he was also a bachelor's degree guy... who had been to medical school. Granted, I'm not implying this is what it would take to get into the program but, worth noting. Still waiting to hear back from these guys as well but again, for all the reasons mentioned above, not getting my hopes up.

Anyway, it was good to go out and do the interviews, get the experience, all that... I feel better prepared for any subsequent ones, knowing what kind of questions they will ask, feeling like the Cleveland experience was perhaps my trial-by-fire. Roswell said they'd be in touch with me soon about "the next phase of our review and selection process" so I am conjecturing that means interview. We'll see. I'll be ready for 'em.

Cool ceiling light-y things at Chicago O'Hare airport.

The trip itself was interesting... surreal at times. Random thoughts/memories:

-I would travel everywhere by train if it weren't as expensive as it was (I took Amtrak from NYC to Philly)... safe, relatively fast, rigid timetables, comfortable seats...
-Lugging around my garment bag (which basically had my entire trip in it) everywhere I went, trying to keep my interview outfit(s) from wrinkling, for the better part of 48 hours, was -not- fun.
-Got guilted out of maybe $7 by (what turned out to be) a homeless guy who offered to show me the way to the Cleveland subway stop I was looking for... guess I'm still a bit of a suburbs kid.
-In the interest of saving some space in my carry-on bag I took the book "Freakonomics" with me in lieu of the Harry Potter-sized hardcover copy of "The World Is Flat" I had been reading and I must say, at only ~30 pages into it, Freakonomics is a really cool book (as many have already figured out).
-Ex-Brandeis-suitemate Leah nicely let me stay at her place in Philly Thursday night. Enjoyed some catching up over Turkish food and watched the movie "Romancing the Stone." So now I get that one Family Guy reference.
-Stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Cleveland, got a kick out of that... 17th floor with a view of Lake Erie and... the Browns' stadium?! Hehe.
-The ten-hour bus ride from Philly to Cleveland really wasn't too bad; aside from some nice phone conversations, I had brought a ton of reading material on dosimetry, radiation therapy, etc. to keep me busy.
-Turns out my apartment-mate Fitz and I were both at Chicago O'Hare airport within a day of each other, me returning from my Phil World Tour and him from a week-long trip to Germany. Aw, romantic!
-O'Hare is really a cool airport (among other things, there was a brontosaurus skeleton in the terminal I was waiting in). Just wish it wasn't so prone to flight delays.



Currently have Stevie Wonder's "I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever)" stuck in my head, thanks to the movie High Fidelity, and would love to try playing/singing it at the piano.

Had our second Taco de Mayo party this past weekend. The Jacobs' guacamole was amazing.

RCM 400 actually had a "practice" last week! Ha! Jacobs, who is famous for bringing over things like beer and/or pizza whenever he stops by, this time brought a plethora of musical instruments for the "band" to try their hands at. We worked on our new song "Real-Sized Boy," which is about a microscopic dog and the real-sized boy who loved him, and also tooled around with an old RCM 400 classic, "Space Baby," funkifying it to near Red Hot Chili Peppers proportions (thanks to Jacobs on bass). All with yours truly on... electric guitar, which was way too much fun.

Oh and, may as well plug Fitz' new blog here. The funny rantings of a recently unemployed twentysomething. Alright, enough yammering. Almost time for Golabki.

The Phil World Tour

Well... I finally did it. I'm going on tour.



...nah not really. But that's what I'm calling my two-day two-city school interview trek from NY to Philly to Cleveland and back next week. The interviews are both for dosimetry programs (1-year certificate programs); the Philly one is an interview for the program's waitlist (what is that?!) and the Cleveland one is at the all-joking-aside renowned Cleveland Clinic... which, according to jrcert.org (the organization that accredits these kinds of programs), only accepts -three- students, which doesn't sound right, but if that's true then, man, what are my chances?

And, forgot to mention, these are the best responses I've gotten back so far. Didn't get into any of the physics programs, kind of as expected, and as far as the dosimetry programs go: two I have yet to hear back from, one rejection, one it-doesn't-look-good waitlist, one I ended up needing more classes for and thus may not even be considered an applicant to (laaaame), one backup with a really late deadline (September, because the program starts in January), one backup that sounds a little sketchy (hard to explain), and the two interviews mentioned above.

So! Where the heck does that leave me? I'll tell ya where... coming home from work each day checking the mailbox/kitchen counter in hopes I'll find some school-y thing addressed to yours truly. Waiting for something in the mail... sucks. If I had the right book with me, I'd scan a strip or two from that one Calvin & Hobbes story arc where Calvin is waiting for his official Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs cereal beanie (with motorized propeller) in the mail and I'd post it here.

(...scratch that... found 'em!)









There are worse problems to have, obviously, but man, this is hard. This is my future I'm waiting to hear about. ...and one doesn't have to read between the lines too much to realize that my chances are dwindling. I just want to know. No, scratch that, I just want to get -in- some place, for crying out loud. The one I'm really waiting on/haven't heard anything yet from, probably because the deadline was only last week, is a program at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. I honestly, seriously do not care where this "last chance" program is; I don't want another waitlist or interview, I want a fucking YES. ...ahem. So, that's where I'm at. I could know very, very soon. ...argh!

And thus, the question is inevitably there: what if I really don't get in anywhere? :/ Well, again, two backup plans, which would mean, among other things, bothering those professors of mine for more letters of recommendation... oy. Short of that, I don't know. I honestly don't. At this point I'm thinking I would bother and hound any and all admissions committees to find out why I wasn't admitted and, I guess, work that way. Thoughts: more classes? Ick, more money/yet another loan, but I'd consider it if I really thought it would help. Internship? Well, one program I didn't end up applying to required a 40-hour shadowing experience, so I guess I could do that, apply there (U. of Wisconsin) and use that as a resume-booster on applications to other schools. A job more applicable to dosimetry/medical physics than, oh I don't know, an office/data position at a KARAOKE COMPANY? Hehehe. All kidding aside though, this is where I am stumped. Lab tech gig? They seem to be so few and far between. I mean I'd have a lot of time (kind of) to find a new job like that but, mm. Also, may need to buy a car if I really want to find work that's... applicable. Something in a hospital? ...what would that even be?! I have a B.S. in physics, some (physics) lab experience while in college but nothing clinically. So, in the terrible event I really don't get in anywhere, I've got some thinking and planning to do. ...-again-, dammit. I went through "this" last year, the planning, etc., and I would really really rather be -done- with it and in a school for the fall and able to enjoy my summer knowing it's my last in Nyack. ...and there's another question: would I stay here in NY, if no acceptance letters came in? Maybe. Maybe not. I just don't know. Haven't given it too much thought. :/

The thing is: this job just seems to, at this point in my life anyway, make -sense- for me. Physics/science background, not requiring a Ph.D. or even an M.S., working with computers, minimal patient contact... something unique, something that helps people... it just really seems to fit, and be worthwhile. For those that don't care to browse through the archives of the ol' blog (er, or maybe I never really described it), a dosimetrist is part of the radiation oncology "team" comprising themselves, medical physicists, radiation therapists and oncologists. As a dosimetrist I would be designing treatment plans for patients who opted for radiation therapy treatment for their cancers/tumors.

So: here's hoping. Hopefully Roswell (crosses everything possible). In the meantime I'm reading everything the Cleveland Clinic sent me, mostly pamphlets on the equipment they use, hoping it will make a difference next week... trying to think of appropriate questions to ask... booking flights, trains, buses, and hotels (yes, all)... yup...

In more positive "news," I have been seeing someone, Emma. Among other things, she and I seem to be on a quest to sample food from all the Polish restaurants in Brooklyn and, what can I say, it has been a delicious journey thus far.

The music side of things has been somewhat infrequent but definitely fun of late. I have been playing with International Generation, a local reggae band, and man, I feel like I fit right in (musically). I play mostly organ, some clavinet, and I just love it. They play some of the obligatory Marley covers but primarily play originals, most (if not all) of which I am a real fan of.

And, Emma's roommate Isabella is a great jazz singer, a student at the New School, and has asked me to play with her occasionally. We've only played one gig so far, just the two of us, but there appear to be more on the horizon (possibly with some fellow New School chums on bass and drums, apparently, which I really am looking forward to). She has a voice that is reminiscent of Billie Holiday, no joke. Among other things, playing with her has renewed my interest for the classic Bill Evans cut Waltz for Debby. Who knew this tune had lyrics, let alone Swedish ones?!

And even Rob's Chicken and the Mint 400 has been busy! (..."busy.") We have successfully recorded our first song, in the Mac program GarageBand, all on my iBook, in the most low-budget manner you could imagine. We're talking, built-in-computer-mic style. The song is "Dr. Bieselin," a ten-minute(!) epic tale about a doctor who wasn't really a doctor who turned out to maybe be Jesus who really just wanted to scam an unsuspecting town and run off with their money. ...yeah. The lyrics/storyline are the brainchild of the esteemed Rob Bieselin with music by, and I'll use the phrase twice in one blog entry, yours truly.

I have also discovered some very interesting music at work. The company makes really all its money off of the karaoke and instrumental accompaniment CD lines, but back in the day it used to be a jazz label called Inner City, and we are currently re-releasing a bunch of albums under that name. At the suggestion of my boss I checked out "Future Talk," recorded in 1979 by Urszula Dudziak, a Polish (jazz) singer who just, completely does her own thing. She doesn't use words, just, "vocables," sounds, noises, etc. I know, sounds kinda weird... maybe it's more the overall music I'm attracted to, as it is some of the coolest jazz fusion I've heard. A tad Chick Corea/Return to Forever-esque, but also Mahavishnu Orchestra-y as Urszula's husband Michal Urbaniak, a violinst, is also featured on the disc. Some really cool stuff. The bass line on the track "Shenkansen" absolutely floors me.



Oh, also: I successfully resurrected my Nintendo and now have a functioning NES and Power Pad in my room. Jealous? Yeah you are. Who's gonna be in shape -now-?! This kid, with my strict World Class Track Meet training regime. ("...but Phil, don't you have a treadmill in your apartment as well?" "Yes, yes I do. But it doesn't have a video screen with sweet 8-bit graphics now, does it?" "No, I suppose it wouldn't." "Amen.")

It's the end of the world...

...I am working on my applications, and, my room is a mess.

Something is wrong with this picture!