After three years and countless hours spent doing absolutely nothing, I am finished. It was fun while it lasted. Well, not so much fun as tolerable, but you get the idea. When it reopens in the fall, it will be called "This & That" and won't have me behind the counter, two changes that I think we can all agree aren't for the better, at least from the store's perspective.
RIP Reverb. We knew ye all too well.
Norah, my Norah.
My first experience at the Ryman Auditorium took place Thursday night with a show headlined by Norah Jones. The opener was M. Ward, an acoustic singer/songwriter type in the vein of Ryan Adams. He did a great job, I was extremely impressed. A very unique vocal quality, impressive acoustic skills, a great package all around. Here's a video of him performing on Letterman:
Next up was Norah, and she didn't disappoint. It was one of simplest shows I've ever seen, if not the simplest. There wasn't much for flash, just a great mood for great music. She played a nice mix from each album with a bit more emphasis on "Not Too Late", and she threw in a couple cover songs for good measure. Nothing spectacular, just solid music, and that's all I ask.
This capped off a pretty cool 24 hours. Wednesday night I helped Kurt and Tyler shoot a music video for Lindsey Jones. I got there at 9 PM and left a little after 3. I slept until 9, then went to an interview at the O'Charley's corporate headquarters. It lasted about an hour, and they said they'll get back to me by midweek next week on any positions they have available.
I then went to campus, where I completed my second to last full day of class. Soooo weird.
Today was my last day at Gotee; they took me out to lunch to Chili's. Kind of weird to think that I won't be back there to work unless someone there leaves or gets fired. Here's hoping, I guess... wait, that's terrible.
And tonight was my last Friday night during the normal class schedule. How did I spend it? Watching a movie with Jon and packing up some of my crap for moving. Everyone else was doing homework and working and going to LAN parties and everything else. When did this happen? I mean, I guess I can forgive it, being the week before finals and all, but still.
Tomorrow is packed. I'm getting up early to watch part of the Country Music Marathon. I know a couple people running in it, and it's a lot of fun to watch anyway. Next up is my last day at Reverb(!), which lasts from 10-3. I need to write a paper on Elvis' death during that time too, the last paper I will write for a class at Belmont. Sad... wait, no it's not. Tomorrow night is Best of the Best, followed hopefully by something fun, but most likely by me sitting in my room watching The Godfather or something.
Oh, what a crazy life I lead.
How can it be that I feel like I've been doing homework for the past week and yet I look at what I've accomplished and it isn't anything substantial. I wrote the most pointless paper of my collegiate career, a 5 page reflection on my internship experience this semester. The guidelines were incredibly vague, and I had to go back through twice in order to add enough fluff to make it onto the fifth page. I know I repeated myself probably three times in the paper (something I never do), and the structure was completely disjointed and sporadic. However, if Anita O'Dell actually reads these reflections, she is stupider than I give her credit for.
I am now down to one paper, two article summaries, two small presentations, and three tests. I will be completely done with everything on May 4th, giving me a day to get the rest of my stuff packed up before heading to Dallas.
Wow, with so much happening you'd think I'd have something new to say, but anything I write would be just a rehash of past postings on here. So, instead, I'm going to post a couple of great videos involving music that I've been shown recently on YouTube. Enjoy!
And finally, something amazing:
Today's goodness, in my mind, began last night when we received an e-mail saying we got the house! We're all set to move in on May 7, we're signing a lease on the 1st, and our current landlord is willing to work with us on an extension on our current lease for the extra week and a half.
Then I went to work, then to Kurt and Tyler's to watch Lost, which had a great episode. The night was capped off by a group meeting for strategic management that was quite productive.
Now, to today. I woke up and went running, then worked on the final edits for the group strategic paper. Final totals were 36 pages, 7780 words, 41,179 characters. My part took probably 6-7 hours of work, and it was worth it; the paper turned out quite well in my opinion.
Next was the e-mail I've been waiting weeks to get: we made it into the top 10 (actually 11) videos in the piracy contest! They'll announce the winners in Dallas on May 6, so at least I won't have to wait all weekend to find out how we did. Also, one of the more ridiculous things I've heard of late, Gonas told me tonight that a teacher at Belmont has connections with the school that won the international SIFE competition last year, a team from China. He's been talking with them about taking the script I wrote for the video, translating it into Chinese, and recording their own version! Seriously?
My strategic management group presented at 12:30 today, and everything went quite well. We were right on track for time, and most everyone did an adequate job with their part of the presentation. We really knocked it out of the park on the question and answer portion. It felt really good.
The rest of my classes were simple as usual, and then at 5 we had a SIFE presentation to a bunch of business executives in the community. I didn't have to actually present so much as show up and look pretty, but they did a great job with the presentation, and I think everyone was quite impressed with our efforts.
And now, it's Reverb time.
My schedule for the next couple weeks becomes much freer. The focus next week is on finishing up my convo credits (three to go, plus turn in the form for two credits of community service). I also get to see Norah Jones at the Ryman Thursday night (FOR FREE) which should be amazing.
Life rocks right now. So many things getting checked off my to do list, I hardly know what's left to do. Oh yeah, get a job. That's right.
Have you ever tried coordinating three group projects simultaneously? It kind of sucks.
But... WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!
At least, assuming my convictions for assault and battery don't show up on the background check, we have a house. It's just north of Murphy Road in West Nashville, and the house has four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a basement that is at least usable as a Nintendo room/ card shack. There is lots of color on the walls, and the floor plan is compact yet open. I think it's a great house for us, and at a great price too. We should know for sure in the next couple of days.
It's kind of nice to have that mostly worked out, now I can focus on finding a job and finishing school. I have five more class periods this semester. Three weeks from today I will be done with all of my finals and on my way to Dallas for the weekend. Four weeks from today I'll be all graduated and saying goodbye to the fam as they head back to MN. And 7 weeks from today I'll be coming back from Seattle to MN for Abby's Open House (at least, that's most likely the plan). That's a butt load of change in less than two months.
I really wish that some of the variables in my job search would work themselves out. If my parents were going to move, I would be tempted to stop looking for now and go home for the summer to help my dad build the new house. If Just Kidding is able to get some more business, I would be tempted to stick around and temp around town to supplement whatever income they can give me. If I get the job at Rocketown, I'd be tempted to take it and work with Kurt and Tyler on more of a consulting basis. Again, I say there are too many variables in play at this point. I just need them to whittle down and preferably soon.
Matt and I went on a date Friday night to see Shooter, featuring my partial namesake, Mark Wahlberg. It was pretty good, a great guy movie. Lots of sweet guns, lots of blowing crap up, lots of revenge and deception. A great formula if I've heard one.
Time to work on my Artist Management project now. Lame.
Still no job: I heard back from on one of my applications (they've already filled the position). I don't think I'm going to hear from my other two. There's a new position I just found available at Rocketown as the weekend event manager. It involved a lot of booking and promoting and other things that I haven't necessarily done before but I think I could figure out. I may apply.
Still no house: The house that Jon and I looked at on Saturday seemed really promising, and the owners seemed genuinely interested in renting the place to us. But we've called and e-mailed them several times since, and they have yet to respond. A shame. Ryan and Tim are going to look at an apartment complex later this week at a 4 bedroom unit, and I'm in contact with another house to get a showing this week. So the options continue...
Still in school: My classes are all winding down. I have three weeks of class left (not including finals) in the semester. My Record Company Ops teacher canceled class today (which seems to be a weekly occurrence at this point), and my Strategic teacher loved the final draft of my individual case study. She thanked me for giving her something worth reading. I do what I can.
The group case in there is due one week from Thursday. My group has done relatively little of the project, and yet I don't get the sense that anyone is worried. Ah, the joys of being a senior.
Today is absolutely gorgeous. It's in the low 60s, partly cloudy, and dry. I put on a sweater when I left this morning after getting a little chilly on my morning run; I'm now thinking I need to take it off.
Tonight, rather than my usual Tuesday night ritual of... nothing, I will be helping with the filming of the next Just Kidding Production, a music video for Sarah Silva. Starts at 5, I get free food, and we're shooting in the new JKP office space, which we just gained access to yesterday. Should be a sweet deal.
And still no word on if the SIFE video made it into the top 10. Waiting...
My first mention in a newspaper that services more than Central Minnesota:
Students fight to land Music Row jobs
There it is.
Ask and ye shall receive... kind of, anyway.
After my struggles in career-land yesterday, I woke up late this morning and was watching midday sitcoms on TBS when I got a phone call. It was a writer with the Tennessean; he was doing a story on the graduate job market on Music Row and was given my name by a professor at Belmont. After twenty minutes of what I'm sure will make for compelling journalism, it was over, and now my name will be out there. Maybe some executive somewhere will read the article, say, "Hey, this kid sounds smart enough, maybe I'll give him a shot," and call me up with an offer. Or I could just have a bunch of professors and acquaintances telling me to stick with it and something will show up, blah blah blah. I'm thinking it will be the latter. No word on when it will be printed, I'll keep you posted.
This got me kind of motivated, so I applied for three positions in town, two with management companies and the one with Sony/ATV Publishing. No word on any leads through Gonas, but that's not expected until Monday at the earliest.
Jon, Steph, and I went to the Rolling Hills Good Friday service at the Factory this evening. It was a great time of prayer and reflection, very unique.
Tomorrow is the Easter Egg Hunt, followed by a house viewing at 1:30. After that? Who knows. Maybe I'll go to a movie or something. Haven't done that in awhile. Especially by myself.
After a month of amazing warmth, with high temperatures rarely below 75 or above 85, it rained Tuesday night and got cold. Granted, having highs in the 40s is nothing like the 8 inches of snow that now occupies my parents' front lawn, but its still something. Best thing about this is I get to wear sweaters and jeans for another week.
Another week of classes down, another week closer to the crisis point that is graduation. I crossed a big hurtle this week with the completion of my individual paper for Strategic Management. 25 pages; 6,968 words. Now I really only have three big projects left. And all of a sudden I'm getting anxious and nervous and stressed and all of these things that I never am typically. This isn't me! I'm supposed to be calm and collected and... just definitely not this.
I think this is coming out because I had a meeting with Gonas today about helping me get a job. He seems very committed to helping me out, and sent out e-mails to a few former students looking for leads. The biggest problem is I'm looking for a good job for the short term, and those are hard to come by. Gonas said that if I wanted a job with a financial management company in town he could get me a junior analyst position pretty easily. These types of positions pay really well for a starting salary, but are more of a long-term deal usually, and are quite demanding. Plus it's finance! I thought I already decided I didn't want to do that! I just wish I could find a job that perfectly fit me and my time line and my budget and everything... So if anyone knows of a job like that, I'd love to hear about it.
I am officially going to Dallas May 6-8 for the SIFE National Competition. It will be fun, but it's another slot filled on the schedule. I need to sit down tomorrow and plan out the next month or I'm going to forget about some important events.
One of the best things about being at Belmont is the schedule. As a Christian university, they want to make sure they cover every possible Christian holiday, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Thus, no class today or tomorrow. Another characteristic of Belmont is all vacations, at least in the minds of students, begin the day before. And, everyone takes vacation opportunities extremely seriously. Thus, most everyone is gone. There are a few strays like myself, but they are few and far between.
As a result, my day today was marked by two early trips to the airport, my meeting with Gonas, Talladega Nights, Good Will Hunting, a nap (can you believe it? Two whole hours!), and an evening with the comedies of NBC. The new episode of The Office was great as usual and long overdue. And now I'm laying in bed, watching Runaway Bride, wondering what tomorrow will bring.
So much confusion going on at this point. I need to get some crap figured out.
And I have a pancake craving.
