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.
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.
That's right, post #400 on this baby.
Yesterday was the SIFE regional competition out at Opryland. Our team did extremely well: we won our league and are in the top twenty in the nation for business ethics, market economics, and sustainability, each of which put us in nationals in May. I'm not sure if I'm going to go, it will mostly depend on whether the piracy video is in the top ten for that competition or not. We should find that out in the next two weeks.
After the competition we went to Caney Fork Catfish Farm for a free dinner, and then I went to Opry Mills, where I got a new pair of jeans for $15 and a pair of shorts of $16. Not a bad deal. Then I went home and, after 2 venue changes, I watched Borat with Julie and Rachel and various combinations of Kendra, Jess, and Sarah. Parts were hysterical, parts offensive, parts extremely uncomfortable. All that is to say I don't regret having watched it, but don't have a real desire to see it again.
Now Saturday is here, and I am at Reverb. Again. We're looking at that house this afternoon, and on one hand I hope it's a good fit, but on the other I think we can find a better one. Something cheaper, a little further north, all that. But we'll see.
Tonight is the Other Showcase, aka Ben's last chance to make it into the Best of the Best. Good luck dude!
Just in case you were keeping track, there are now 5 men claiming they could be the father of Anna Nicole Smith's child.
I'm really pleased with the response to the PSA so far. We're close to 300 views on YouTube, and I think we've got a great chance to get it on local TV fairly soon. Crazy as ever.
I guess I never talked about what I thought about the Grammy's on here. Overall, I wasn't as impressed with the performances as last year. I thought The Police butchered their own song, and they didn't have as many interesting duets as last year. I also think the Dixie Chicks maybe deserved either Record of the Year or Album of the Year, but definitely not both. Apparently, if you want to win multiple Grammys in one year, be a popular act that makes a political statement (see also Green Day).
I spent last night re-painting Reverb with my co-workers. It is now bright green, bright blue, and bright yellow. At least I won't fall asleep at work. Additionally, because the painting isn't completely done and the store is a mess, I don't have to work tonight or tomorrow! Glorious.
After painting, I went over to Jess and Kendra's to help Kendra make the Monster Cookie dough balls, which she is hopefully going to bring to her community group and return with a better name for. When I was leaving, my car was being stupid (ended up being almost out of gas and parked on a hill, which is a bad combination), so Kendra gave me a ride home. Instead of my usual run this morning, I ran over to their house, stopping along the way to get a gas can and 2 gallons of gas. It was at least different, but I didn't get my full run in, so it was kind of disappointing. All because my stupid gas gauge never gets below 1/8 of a tank. When I grow up (which happens 12 weeks from Saturday), I'm going to get a different car.
Last night, I went Contra Dancing. For those that don't know what it is, it's folk dancing in lines and groups, and it involves a lot of spinning. Bascially, if you've seen the new Pride and Prejudice, it's like the dancing scene in the beginning of that (I think), with faster music and more spinning and much more "swinging" (not like swing dancing, but swinging like taking your partner or neighbor and swinging around in circles). It's definitely one of those things that you have to experience in order to understand, but it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I would even say I had a good time with it, especially once I was ok with swinging (My apologies to Jess, Ashley, and every other woman there for my ineptitude, especially early on). I might even go again, which is a scary thought.
One of the funniest things of the night was a dance that I happened to sit out for. Ashely was dancing with a guy named Boots, a man in his 40s who had a massive manly beard and a long bandanna tied around his head. There was one part of the dance called the Gypsy Meltdown, where the partners walk in a tight circle, staring at each other, for four beats before going into a swing. Well Boots, if you hadn't guessed, is a very expressive and playful fellow, and he made some of the greatest faces at Ashley, who stared him down like a pro. I would have paid the $5 entrance fee just to watch those two go at it in their Gypsy Meltdowns.
I think I've either lost my touch or Matt has gotten much better at Tiger Woods. Either way, I lost 8 strokes over 12 holes yesterday, and that is simply unacceptable.
I now have a co-worker at Reverb on Saturdays (whose name, even though she's sitting 4 feet away, escapes me). She's on from 12-7, which means that I get to leave early! Every Saturday!
This afternoon I will be playing racquetball with the Gazebo boys, then going to the Belcourt to see Pan's Labyrinth with my housemates and Bland, then bowling with my community group. A full day if ever there was one (at least by my standards).
I am so glad Dwight came back. You have no idea. Although I thought they could have drug that storyline out a little longer. And Andy needs to go. STAT. He's served his purpose, provided some of the funniest moments of season three, but I would be shocked if he makes it through another three episodes.
AND WHAT THE FRICK DID JIM DO? He was screwed no matter how he answered that question because it took him much too long to respond. I really don't want Karen to leave, she's definitely grown on me, but I am interested to see how this all shakes down. I think they'll keep her around for the rest of the season, and the season finale Jim will have to choose (they can't have Pam choosing between Jim and Roy again, that would be lame). Or, maybe, the season will end with Dwight and Angela eloping.
Now that's good TV.
Wow, so much nothing to do.
I have now worked 19 hours at Reverb this semester. I have sold 1 CD. We'll see how long this lasts. I have, however, watched the entire third season of Friends and the second season of Arrested Development.
Have you ever tried to write a script? It sucks. I only have to write up to 1 minute, and I think it sounds like crap. Maybe I'll get inspiration soon.
I need to find something to do tomorrow night.
And now, because I'm really bored, I'm going to do something I never thought I would: one of those stupid check the things that apply to you things.
Except I can't find any! Seriously, you'd think enough of those things float around that there'd be one readily accessible. Not true! Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. Either way, I'm going to get back to all the customers I don't have.
