Bye Bye Belmont

On Tuesday, May 1, at 4:48 PM CST, I was released from my final class as an undergraduate student at Belmont University.

Wow.

Actually, yesterday was one of the weirdest days of class I have ever experienced at Belmont. I spent the morning working on two projects that I had been, as always, putting off until the last minute. I got to strategic management at 12:30, and we discussed for about an hour before Dr. Woodard told us that our final exam was going to:

A. Be taken in groups
B. Be verbal
C. Include pizza
D. All of the above

That's right, the correct answer is D on that one, so my final in there just got a billion times easier. After class, I had to run up to the 3rd floor computer lab to print off my group report for record company operations. During this process:

A. The machine to add money to the print cards was full
B. The printer was out of paper
C. The print station wouldn't print half of my documents
D. All of the above

Again, D is correct. So, for the first time in my career at Belmont, I turned in a project that didn't include everything it was supposed to. I think my prof was OK with it, and the class is a joke really, but it still felt weird to do. We presented anyway, and it went very well, so I'm not worried about that.

Then it finally came time for artist management, my last class. I'm not sure I could have planned a more boring way to end it all: the entire class was presentations on the life of Elvis, most of which went into far too much detail and were far too long. Rather anti-climactic.

Now I'm down to three finals (two tomorrow, one Friday), none of which I plan on studying for for longer than 20 minutes.

I'm starting to get excited for all the stuff that's coming up. I get to see my family, go to Dallas, be in Minnesota, all that fun stuff. I wish I wasn't in wait and see mode on the job front, because if that was worked out I would be able to enjoy this all that much more.

I've decided that I get really frustrated with people who have this need to feel indispensable. People who somehow need to know that the party or the evening would not be the same without their presence, that they are needed. Really, all you should need to know is that people like having you there, and even that, in my mind, is debatable. Why do people have this need for something that goes beyond acceptance to the feeling that their presence is a necessity, that people would not be able to enjoy themselves without them? And, if it's apparent that this is not the case at a social function, they decide to just up and leave because the only place they know they can go where they will be fully appreciated is where they're alone. When I was younger my mom always used to tell us when we didn't get our way that, half-jokingly, we deserve nothing but death. The older I get, the truer this statement has become to me though, and it really helps me to put things into better perspective. As much as I may think I need or deserve something, the truth is I don't. At all. No matter how hard I've worked, it's just not inherently mine. I think that's why these people bug me: you don't deserve to have attention and affection and respect. You really deserve the opposite of that, as do I. So suck it up and be happy that you're still here.

And that, friends, is my rant for the week.

An evening with Ms. Jones

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.

Nothing left but time

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:

I heart days like this

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.

A house is not a home until you sign a lease

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.

Same old same old

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...

April showers bring cold fronts

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.

There is never nothing happening

My extremely light week continues.

I went to Gotee on Wednesday, where I found out they were finally moving to their new offices in Franklin. I worked furiously on the master vault for 4 hours, at which time they shut down the server and I helped get things packed and marked. The move was going to take a couple days, so I was told not to come to work on Friday. Score.

On my way north on 65 I hit accident traffic; I went 3 miles in 45 minutes. Coincidentally, I was running late to make my appointment to look through the eight bedroom house off Nolensville. I made it over there and absolutely loved it. I'm taking Jon and Ryan over in an hour to have them look too and see what they think. I REALLY like it though...

Lost was almost like an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, making for a relatively entertaining episode, but it didn't really further the story at all. I guess it's an OK trade off.

Thursday classes were uneventful, and I spent the evening at a combination of Reverb, Jess and Kendra's watching an Office marathon, and watching Casino Royale/playing Farkle at Kurt and Tyler's. A good night all together.

Yesterday I did basically nothing for most of the day. Another personal growth convo was taken care of at 10 (down to 7 more). Matt came over and watched Children of Men with me in the afternoon, and then we all went to Buca de Beppo for Jess' birthday. Tons of fun, great food, a great dinner experience on the whole.

When the waitress brought us our bill, she had split it up and told us that it was going to be like $27.50 each. When she said that, the whole table got real quiet, and I don't think anyone breathed for a few minutes. I picked up the receipt and realized that everything had been put on our tab twice, and everyone calmed down real quick. It came out to $12.86 per person in the end, a much more agreeable sum.

After dinner a bunch of us went to see Peaceful Warrior, a movie about a male gymnast who fights back from a career-ending motorcycle accident with the help of a mysterious mentor and comes back better than he was before. Don't let that plot line fool you: I would not call this a good movie. I will say parts of it were tolerable, but the story and characters were not well developed. At all. The best part about this was it was free, so I guess it might have been worth it.

Now I'm at Reverb, and I just got done with a group project where we had to create a cue sheet for all the music in a movie, Pieces of April. It's nice to get paid to do homework, even if the movie was almost as bad as Peaceful Warrior.

I need to write my strategic paper this weekend, and I'm hoping I can bring myself to just sit down some time and knock it out. Odds of that happening before Monday night? 12:1. At best.

These are the days

Today has been... awesome.

I got up this morning and ran over on Belmont's track, where I discovered that I run faster when it's on a flat surface, but I can't run as long without a destination.

Next up was chilling in the Beaman, always a good time. I then had strategic management, where a group presented their final case (mildly interesting) and I got the first half of my final paper back including my favorite comment to get from a teacher: "This was a pleasure to read! Thank You!" I figure when a teacher thanks me for doing a required assignment, I must have done something right.

After that class, I went to my 2:00, which ended up being canceled. I used the extra time to go to Target, where I got Children of Men (can't wait to see it again!) and found the 10th season of Friends for $20. A very successful trip.

So successful, in fact, that I decided to skip artist management and watch Friends instead.

Sooooo nice.

An update on the chaos

Halfway through the week that doesn't end, and yet it's flying by.

My artist management test, which was supposed to be Tuesday , got pushed back to tomorrow. I did, however, get a study guide for it, so I guess that works out well.

This morning I worked to get everything together for the SIFE video, and we got it all mailed out. Then it was off to Gotee, where I did some random stuff before leaving early to take... THE EXIT EXAM! (Duh duh duh)

The test itself was not very hard. I'm pretty confident I passed all three parts anyway, so thats all I can ask for.

Now, I must prepare for my strategic management and artist management tests tomorrow. The more important of the two is strategic, since I can review for the other during the Belmont tournament game tomorrow. Tip off is 1:55, in case you were wondering.

Can I just say that this is a great time for serial drama on TV? They pulled one of the biggest shockers on 24 this past week, Lost is gaining back its steam from the first two seasons, and even Grey's is decent. It's another week of reruns for The Office, though, so it's not all good.

Back in the Habit

And so now, after all the wonderfulness that was last week, I am back in Nashville. And it kind of sucks.

Yesterday was recover/homework/community group day. I didn't sleep as much as I wanted to; couldn't have if I'd tried (and I did). I got up to run this morning, and made it about a half mile before I got a terrible side ache. I walked for a minute or two, then picked back up running. This kept happening the rest of the time, except the aches came more and more frequently. So I only made it around 4 miles today. This week will, most definitely, be spent working my way back up to 6 miles, rather than maintaining it before some expansion of my off days (T/Th).

This week includes, by day:
Monday: Showdown, Music supervision project due (done)
Tuesday: Artist management test, Record company operations paper due
Wednesday: Gotee, Music business exit exam (just shooting to pass, that's all I need), Reverb
Thursday: Strategic Management test, Reverb
Friday: Gotee
Saturday: College of Business exit exam (graded and factored in to my strategic grade, but not required to pass to graduate), Reverb, dinner and laser tag with community group

Plus, all of this comes just as the NCAA tournament starts. What on earth are people thinking scheduling everything they can think of for the week after spring break? If I were a panda, PETA would be all over this. Animal cruelty.

Not everything is bad, though. I found out the PSA will be shown on four local TV stations in the near future! The local CBS, ABC, a CBS offshoot, and Comcast will be showing the commercial soon, and that makes me happy. Belmont has really gotten on board with the video, and has been pushing it to every contact they have. It's great and all, it just means that I'm the go-to guy for coordinating when people stuff for it, and that's one more thing on my plate. The whole project is nearing it's end, with our entries due to SIFE Friday. I need to write a few pages of info on that tonight...

Sometimes I wish I took more risks.

Ugh, I need to start on that SIFE stuff if I'm gonna get done in time for class and back-to-back episodes of 24 this evening...

It's all Greek til someone gets hurt

Class is over for the day, but I'm still at Belmont. Why is this? I'm being inducted into the "presitigious" school of business academic honor society, Betta Gamma Sigma. I never in all my life thought I would be a member of an organization with Greek letters, but here I am. I'm still not entirely sure why I'm joining; it cost $70 for lifetime membership, and it's supposed to look good on resumes and stuff, but who in the music industry, in all reality, has even heard of such an organization, let alone cares about my membership enough to make it the deciding factor in whether to interview me or not? I don't know. But I do know that I'm sitting in the Massey 3rd floor computer lab in a shirt and tie at 4:30 in the afternoon, and I feel extremely out of place.

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. It made me want to keep running, which I knew I couldn't do if I wanted to:
a. Get my homework done for the class that ended up being canceled today
b. Be able to run for an hour tomorrow.

I have not been to see a movie in theaters since Pan's Labyrinth, if my memory serves me right, and that needs to be corrected soon. Maybe we'll do a Sunday night movie in Minnesota, and everyone can experience what it's like to be a high schooler in Brainerd on a March weekend.

March? Already? That is quite preposterous in my opinion. That's right, I said preposterous, and I mean it. I have 74 days to go to MN, find a job, find a house, finish my classes, pass 2 exit exams, and graduate. Here goes nothing...

Close and getting closer

Huh.

I completed the first big assignment of my semester this morning, having started it at 10 last night. 6 hours of work, 6 hours of sleep, and 14 pages later, part one of my strategic management case study was complete. It was definitely not a difficult assignment, and I think I did a good job on it.

If you ever want to fall asleep, but simply can't, attend my Record Company Operations class. It never fails to put me on the brink of sleep, and if I didn't force myself to stay awake, it would do me in every time.

This past weekend I went to PM with a bunch of people for Doug's 21st, which was a good time. I had never been there before, and the chicken sandwich I had was quite good. After dinner, Jon and I went to see Florez at 12th and Porter (Jon got us in free). The show was pretty sparsely attended because the roads were getting slick with a fresh layer of snow/ice. The performance was very good, however; I was very impressed.

Still no word form anyone wanting to use the PSA. I am supposed to be in charge of contacting movie theaters and the local film festival, but I:
a. Don't have a lot of time during normal office hours in which to contact them without taking time off of my internships or skipping class
b. Don't really have a desire to try and convince advertising managers to show or video for free because we're poor college students and it's for a good cause and not for profit and all the jazz.

Things are coming together for spring break quite nicely. The roster is almost set (still waiting on up or downs from two), and we worked out a rough schedule on Sunday that now includes a day at Shamineau playing broomball and climbing the ice tower. 10 days and counting on that front...

I crossed the six mile barrier yesterday, which coincided with the hour mark as well. No running today since I was working on the paper and I've come to the conclusion that I can't bring myself to run once I get going with the rest of my day. But, no huge homework plans for Thursday, and it's warming up a bit, so the rest of this week looks good.

I'm hoping that tonight turns into a card party somewhere somehow. I guess we'll see...

Phylis and Bob's wedding: February 8, 7:30 PM CST

So I went into the Super Bowl not thinking I cared about who won, and fully intended to cheer for whoever everyone else wasn't cheering for. But, when push came to shove, I found myself rooting for the Colts. It was a great game, very entertaining, and if the Bears had figured out how to win somehow, I would've been pissed. They were so outplayed it's not even funny.

Yesterday was very interesting. I got up and ran (I'm up to 5.25-ish miles!), during which I got a call from Aunt Bev saying that we can use their cabin for Spring Break. So I am, for sure, coming home for Spring Break, and I'm bringing at least two cars full of people with me. and all this happens in less than 4 weeks. Craziness.

I then was going to attend a convocation, because I need to polish those off before May, but my two options were "Careers in the Transportation Industry" and "Careers in Healthcare", which, as exciting as their names make them sound, just weren't going to hit the spot. So I watched an hour of Father of the Bride 2 with Ryan and then went to Showdown until 3:30. I'm not going to go into detail on the rest of the day, except to say I had class and watched 24. And all was right in the world.

I now realize how wrong the first line of that story was.

Two tests coming up on Thursday, and I'm not really worried about either of them. I am definitely experiencing senioritis; it comes and goes in waves, but it's always kind of lurking there in the shadows.

In case you forgot, there are only 7 more shopping days until Valentines Day. Plan accordingly.

And, finally, this is how I look after my recent haircut:


Scary, I know.

The tortoise and the hair

I got a haircut. Quinn was handing them out at our place, so I decided to go for it. I ended up having it cut shorter than it's been since I was in 4th grade. Amazingly, it didn't turn out too bad. I'll try and get a picture up soon.

In other news, I hate weathermen. Every last one of them. The chance of snow last night/this morning? 90%. The amount of snow we actually received: 0". Nothing. I so wanted a snow day today. And, much like the countless times I anticipated such an event in my years of public education, we got nothing.

Last night was my first adventure into the video production world. We shot the anti-piracy PSA over at Kurt and Tyler's place, and it turned out better than I could have hoped. Seriously, the lighting was great, the clothes were great, the actors we great, and we shot the whole thing in HD, which looked amazing! I'm so glad that we got that done, and I owe Kurt and Tyler so ridiculously much after this is all finished. I'll make sure anyone who wants to see can do so when it's edited together.

I've decided one of the most annoying things in the world, in my opinion, is girls sitting around talking about how there's no good guys in whatever town they happen to be in. And trust me girls, you may think that your town is different, and that the guys there are really just undateable, but your guys are the same. You just haven't figured out who the right one is for you. That guy may be in your town. He may be someplace else. Just please don't whine about it in public. It gets old, and you'll never get any of the good guys in your town because they'll avoid you like the plague.

I applied for the receptionist/office manager/online marketing position at Gotee on Monday. However, they need someone who can work full time right now, and I have class Tues/Thurs afternoons. Thus, I was shot down on first attempt at a real job. Never fear, I knew this was a long shot, so I'll keep trying.

Today is the first weekday of the New Year that I didn't run or play racquetball. I feel a little bad about it, but I'll get over it. Back at it tomorrow.

If you want to see a really sweet video, check out this one:


This was just finished by Tyler's brother, Toben Seymour, for The Willowz, and it's so dang sweet. They did the whole thing in stop motion with flashlights: none of the lines and drawings were added in post production. Seriously, play this video, you won't be sorry.

Spinning out in circles

I need something to happen. Not sure what, but It'd be nice if it just happened. Something fun. Something new. Anything.

Kurt, Tyler, and I worked for a couple hours last night trying to figure out how to make our anti-piracy public service announcement stand out. I want it to look beautiful, and I know they can do that, but I also want it to have something specific that makes it more. We watched the winners from last year, and they, particularly the winner, had something unique. We need to get this all figured out soon too, because we're shooting one week from tomorrow.

So I have that on my plate. I'm also going to start doing some administrative work for Just Kidding Productions as Kurt is looking to move into an actual office in March. I think this will be freelance, part-time at best, and I'm not really expecting much (if anything) as payment. But it's a beginning anyway, and it will begin in the next couple of weeks.

My classes are all, thus far, easy. I've had very little homework, a bit of reading, and it doesn't look like things will get much worse as the semester moves forward. For this, I am thankful.

And now, I'm off to play ultimate Frisbee on the soccer field. It's right around freezing. If only I were in MN, this would be shorts weather.

If you're planning on watching the first four episodes of 24, don't read the first paragraph

I missed the first two episodes of the new season of 24 on Sunday, so we watched all four hours of new episodes at Kurt and Tyler's last night. I figured this would be a good year, and I was not disappointed so far. I don't need to go into everything that happened, but I will say this: I figured they would detonate the nuke, that was expected. What I did not see coming and am still in shock over is Jack shooting Curtis! In the freaking neck! Seriously, that was ridiculous.



***NO MORE SPOILERS, IT'S SAFE TO READ***

Today has been pretty good overall. I had three classes, and they eached turned out to be at least mildly entertaining and actually relevant to my future career. Plus, I was at the Corner Court and had one of the most amazing desserts/snacks ever: A bar made of Golden Grahams, Oreos, chocolate, and marshmallows. Plus it was ginormous! Almost made it worth the $2.50 I paid for it.

I need to write a script for a public service announcement about piracy and file sharing, and I need to get it done by Thursday morning. When will this happen? I have no clue.

It is slowly becoming apparent to me just how much I need to figure out in the next several months. Most pressing: a job. Almost as pressing: a house. I think the housing situation may be more complicated and frustrating than employment, mostly because I have to make the decision rather than someone else deciding. Alot of people like to have control and perform their best when they can make the decisions that will effect them. I, on the other hand, would much rather have someone else in charge of my destiny. I mean, I'll make the decisions when they need to be made, but I think I'm better at following the instructions and desires of others. That probably goes along with my whole people-pleaser thing.

Wow, how did I end up there?

Beginning of the End

Today begins the last semester of my academic career.

Not that I actually had classes, mind you, but the semester did technically begin today. I spent my day at Gotee, getting reacquainted with how things work down there and discovering how things have changed. There are five people left who worked there a year ago, and one of them is leaving at the end of the month. Crazy. The new people seem real cool though, so the transition should be rather smooth.

I return to Reverb tonight. Oh joy! Oh rapture! I am apparently the inventory manager this semester or something like that, I'm not exactly sure. But that basically means that I get to tell them what they need to order, thus insuring that we don't end up without the big releases.

This Christmas Break was probably as perfect as I could have hoped. The first half was spent in MN, where I worked and hung out with my family. The only thing that could have made that better was more snow. The second half, back in Nashville, consisted of one of the truest stay-home vacation experiences ever. I have no regrets about how much or little I accomplished during the last two weeks. It's been incredibly refreshing.

I just realized that I have not mentioned how Children of Men turned out. Let me just say, you will be happy that you saw this movie, it is incredibly intense, well-made, and emotional. It's just great all around.

I've been watching some Grey's Anatomy this week with Jess, Kendra, and Julie. This is the first extended experience I've had with this show, and I can definitely see why people, particularly girls, can become addicted to it. It's extremely entertaining, and the characters and story-lines are well developed. Watching it though, I can't help but get frustrated with a lot of the characters from a guy's point of view, with complete jerks suddenly becoming charming and whatnot. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I can't get through an episode without getting frustrated with the female mindset.

But that's just me.

Another winter day has come and gone away

I am home!

The actual driving was around 15 hours, which is making good time. I think the biggest help there was not having to wait in line at the one toll in Illinois. I did stop at my sister Sarah's boyfriend's house to have dinner with them and watch the Office Christmas special, which was hilarious as usual.

I slept until 9:30 or so this morning, and worked for my dad for 5 1/2 hours this afternoon. Abby had a basketball game tonight in Little Falls, which they won 58-39, and she played very well. I was proud.

Grades are in.
Kudos: I got an A in Investments! I thought this was a possibility, but it never really hit me that I could get that until it happened. I'd actually had a dream where I scrolled down to my grades and saw a C+, and that was freaking me out. But, thankfully, not all dreams come true.
Catastrophes: An A fricking minus in Intel Prop? What's up with that? Thanks for ruining my chances at a 3.95 Moser.

Tomorrow I will be working again, getting the oil changed in my car, and buying a coat at Steve and Barry's because I forget mine, along with all of my hanging clothes, in Nashville. Smooth, I know.

I listened to 8 hours of Christmas music on the road yesterday. It almost reached the point where I was sick of it. Not quite, but almost.

I was going to post about the Golden Globe nominees, but my sister needs the computer, so that will happen at a later date!

Is it Friday? Really?

It definitely does not feel like Friday. Much more of a Saturday feel, if anything.

My finals so far have been pretty predictable. The only possible exception is that my Intellectual Properties final was a bit more technical and specific than I anticipated, hence it was a bit harder than anticipated. I'm not worried though, so you shouldn't either.

Last night was a lot of fun, I went to Brown's Diner with Ben, Kendra, Wade, and Julie before my final and had a decent cheeseburger and good conversation. Then the IP final. Finally, Dave and Julie Hunt had college students over to hang out and have a study break, so Ryan and I went over a bit before 9 and we were the first ones there for the first bit. Somehow the topic of "Die Hard" came up, and I was forced to admit that I had never seen any of them. This just could not stand for Dave, so I saw Die Hard for the first time last night, and it was so much fun to sit there and read subtitles as more and more people came and the room got louder and louder, and laughing at the ridiculous dialog and crazy explosions and everything about it. Overall, a great time, I'm glad I went.

Today was... good. Yeah, I think that's the right word. I woke up around 9 and watched an episode of Alias from season 4 (I am now on disc 4). It has become much better and more interesting as the season has progressed. Then I got to talk to Italian Jess briefly before she headed off on another crazy Euro adventure or something like that. It was at this point that a decision needed to be made: I could work on my investments paper, which needed to happen at some point, or I could watch Die Hard 2: Die Harder, which Dave was kind enough to loan me last night (along with Die Hard With Avengeance). Obviously, I chose Die Hard. The second one was almost as entertaining as the first, the only thing missing was the great European accents.

I had a meeting with Sara at Gotee at 1, which went really well. We talked about their Grammy noms from yesterday (they had two as a label), and what worked for my schedule next semester. Then she said, "So when was the last time we gave you new music?" I mentioned Sonshine, and she started throwing CDs at me. When all was said and done, I walked away with 8 new albums, most of which should be excellent. I have been telling myself for months that I should get the House of Heroes album "Say No More," and it's bomb. Period. I was listening to it as I worked on my investments paper tonight. (I am done with 2 of 4 sections, and over half the work is done I think!)

Tomorrow will be great, with Reverb and writing in the morning and early afternoon, followed by cleaning the house and getting ready for the party at 7 tomorrow night that will be awesome. If you're around, come on over to Christmas at the Beech, it'll be loads of fun. And there'll be food. FREE food. And Home Alone. Can you pass on that? I doubt it.