Catching Up

As I type this, I'm sitting on my couch. I'm home for the weekend, and I have a beautifully hand-crafted schedule that allows me to miss my Thursday and Friday classes (just this once, though. I won't abuse it). I only had one class today, and I would have left early Friday so I decided to take an extra-long weekend. I've spent most of my day catching up with people so I thought, 'Hey, catch up on your blog.' I sat down a few times earlier this week and tried to write something, but I wasn't feeling it. Luckily I am now.

I woke up Monday morning at 8 after getting roughly five hours of sleep to get in line to get a ticket for John Mayer's clinic at Berklee. I missed English and my Guitar Lab to stand in line for two hours. I made myself go to Ear Training, where I ended up having to sing in class, and I failed miserably. It was alright, though. Keep reading to find out why.

Despite the Red Sox loss on Sunday night, a very good thing came out of it: I met and a befriended season-ticket holder. He didn't want to go Monday night's game, so I bought a couple tickets off him--and boy, am I glad I did. Julia and I (and Katie Lannan) enjoyed a fantastic playoff game. The energy was ridiculous. It was definitely the most important game I've been to, and probably the best. It was a blast. I couldn't have asked for a better Monday night in Boston.

John Mayer was hanging around Berklee the few days (he still is. Actually, he's recording with Berklee students until Friday). Word got out that he was in a class in room A15. So I went down and waited outside the door (it was about 8:15 at night when I got there). There were about a dozen other people there as well. Some people left, some people stayed, some people came. Eventually, Pat Pattison (look him up) came out to us and said, 'Okay, I'll open then door, but you guys can't come in. Okay?' We unanimously agreed. At that point, John was talking about how he approaches the blues (perfect timing for me). Really cool stuff. About ten minutes later, Pat Patisson motioned us to come in. I was luckily one of the first people inside the room and had a really good seat. He talked a bit more about soloing and stuff before deciding to play 'Gravity' and let us sing along with him at the end. I met him afterwards. It was cool. Really nice guy. I told him how much I loved his blues and he thanked me for telling him that. As he was walking out of the building he said, 'I wanna go back to 1997! This was my home!' We let him walk out in peace because he let us come in and sing with him. Fair trade, I would say. I was walking down Boylston street later on and I saw him and said, 'Thanks, John!' and he waved back and said thanks again. Pretty neat, eh?'

I should have skipped my Music Tech. class. Once again, it was a complete waste of time, and I was tired from the game and I knew I would have little to no sleep that night, but I went anyway. After my last class and my tutoring session, I went out to meet some friends and camp out to be in the first or second row at John Mayer's clinic. When I arrived (around 6 PM), they were all packing up their stuff. We weren't allowed to line up until 11 AM Wednesday morning. Well, about ten of us were in line outside the Berklee Performance Center (BPC) at 11 PM. A security guard came up to us and asked, 'Hey, are you guys in line for the clinic?' 'No, we're just chatting.' The security guard said, 'Oh, okay,' and walked off. A few people stayed while the rest of us went to Dunkin Donuts to make it look less obvious. And it worked. We stayed out all night. I met some wicked awesome kids. We bonded over our 24 hour (somewhat useless) camp-out.

(Long story short in regards to it being useless: Turns out (I was in class) that everyone in line got kicked out and security was in front of the BPC until then. Well, my group ended within the first five rows so it was fine. Staying up all night was wicked fun, but sleep might have been better.)

John's clinic was amazing. Go here to read about it. I didn't get to ask him a question, but I did get him to play 'Taking On Water'. I was in the second row, and he said, 'I'm gonna play one more song,' and I shouted, 'Play a new song!' And he did. It was wicked cool. He signed my guitar, too. So now I can say I have a John Mayer signature guitar. Ha.

Unlike my other celebrity encounters, I wasn't starstruck by John Mayer. It wasn't because he's just a regular guy (Bruce Springsteen is more of a regular guy than John Mayer is, and yet I broke down after I met him). I don't know why. He's one of my favorite musicians/people. I was so composed when I met him and I didn't (I almost did) cry when he played at the clinic. He hasn't impacted me as much as my other influences have. You can hear Billy Joel in my lyrics, you can't hear John Mayer in my guitar playing. But that could be because we have a lot of the same influences. So maybe I play a lick that Mayer uses, but really it's a Clapton lick. So to me, it's a Clapton thing.

I left immediately after the clinic. I scurried up to my room, grabbed everything I could think of that I needed (and I forgot several things), and left. My dad picked me up. I slept the whole ride home, really. I went to bed at 10:30 last night. I was in such a deep sleep. Sadly, I had to wake up at 9:15 because I had a haircut. My hair looks good, but I'm still kinda tired.

It was weird to be back at my old high school. I went to visit some teachers. I don't really know how to describe what it felt like. After my visit, I went to the Primary School to go see Nancy, who was there for once. I hadn't seen her in months. The last time I saw her was May. It was so good to see her. We talked for a bit, and I showed her my guitar adorned with John Mayer's signature. She's one of the few people that has never heard me play guitar. And it's kind of funny when you think about it.

Even after stopping in to see Marty at work, I'm not done my rounds. I have to go and see Sensei. I told him I'd say hi when I'm around--even if I don't go to class. Plus, it's almost like seeing Mr. Curit.

I get to see Bob tomorrow. I'm so excited. I can't wait. Tomorrow will be the first time in SIX WEEKS that I get to spend quality time with Bob. I need it. Badly. I'm beaming right now just thinking about seeing him.



Talk about having an awesome week. Let's recap:

Sunday: Red Sox game (loss)
Monday: Red Sox game (ALDS victory)
Tuesday: John Mayer meeting
Wednesday: John Mayer clinic
Thursday: Saw Nancy
Friday: Seeing Bob (and Dale and co. arrives!)
Saturday: My cousin's wedding (which is the reason I'm home)

If you made it this far, hats off to you. I'm done