The Subject Box Looked Naked Empty

I've been working on Ear Training for probably three hours or so now. I think that qualifies for a break.

I hate it, but I'm determined to get an A. So therefore I will continue to solfege the life out of me. I got a B on the first recitation. I have three more, and I have to get A's on them all. I also had my first dictation exam yesterday. I'm not sure how I did on it. They're hard to study for. The one thing I must say I like better about my dictation exams this year is that the rhythm and the melodies are separate. Instead of having to hear dotted-eighth notes and sixteenth rests, I only have to watch for quarter notes and half notes. That's nice.

Enough about Ear Training, I'll be going back to it after this.

I can't believe it's Tuesday. I am so confused on my days. That's what epic weekends in New York and New Jersey do to you. Now I'm all lost, and it's only going to get worse because I'm going home this weekend. I have a wedding to go to. It should be a lot of fun. Monday's a holiday (Columbus Day. Yes, we here in New England celebrate it--be jealous), which means Tuesday becomes Monday here at Berklee. It's confusing for everyone, and my entire internal calendar will be thrown off for probably the rest of the semester. Between this past weekend, next weekend, Halloween, possibly a trip to New York the first weekend of November, the Business Club trip to New York November 11th-14th, and Thanksgiving, I think all hope is gone. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I just have to pay a lot more attention.

I had a great meeting with Peter Spellman today. He's the head of Berklee's Career Development Center (CDC). The CDC is probably the most underutilized (is that a word?) resource at Berklee. It's also one of the greatest. Located on the 6th floor of the Uchida Building, it's a bit off the beaten path, but makes for a great place to get away without really going away. Peter and I talked about everything from my future to baseball to how attractive Tom Brady is. I had been meaning to go for a while now, but I just didn't. Now I'm going to stop by every week for an hour or so because it's a resource I need to use more.

Great things are going to be happening in the next few months. I'll be sure to tell you all about it either here or on my tumblog. All the posts from here go there (as I mentioned in a previous post), so either one works. I'm not quite sure why I have both, but I like them. So I guess that's why I've got two.

Anyway, as much as I don't want to, I should get back to Ear Training. That test ain't gonna do itself! Sadly...

And We're Back

I'll do the big End-Of-Year-One-At-Berklee post later. After I finish unpacking my life, go to New York City, and get back on a schedule, I'll recap the year and what I've learned.

I just thought I'd let you know that I survived.

I'm going to finishing watching Iron Man, and then unpack some more.

24 Days (Until Possibly The Best Summer Ever)! And Other Things

I only have 24 days left in my first year of college. I don't think there is an adjective that can describe how I feel when I think about it. I'm incredibly excited for summer, but I'm also sad because I've had such a great time this year.

If things go according to plan, then I will have the greatest summer ever--even better than last year, and I saw five incredible shows and went to Europe for a week and a half. There's so much I want to do, all I have to do is do it (like Nike). Take a look at my plans:

--(It looks like) A few friends and I are getting a band together. We kind of had one last year, but it was more like we had jam sessions. I have to play shows this summer, otherwise I will explode. I gotta give my singer/pianist/guitarist a call this week.

--I want to take a few liberal arts courses to save time/money. There are two four-week sessions at USM, and if I can get Art History, Western Civ, and a physical science out of the way, that would be fantastic.

--I have to work. I need money! I need money mainly to buy Red Sox tickets when I'm back at school haha! I also need money to get new gear.

--I want to go back to karate. It's probably my favorite way to work out (with the exception of running). Not only am I burning calories, I'm having a great time doing it, and I'm also learning. I also love my Sensei and my fellow martial artists.

--There are a zillion books I want to read. There are also a zillion songs in me that need to be written/recorded. if I could get some studio time, that would be the cherry on top of everything.

--I absolutely positively have to take lessons (aka hang out) with Bob. I couldn't survive all summer knowing that he's 20 minutes away from me and I don't see him on a weekly basis. That is unacceptable. I want to come back here in the fall and be so much better than I am now that my friends will ask me what I did to get to that level.

--I want some time to chill and go to the beach (even in April, it's calling my name). It doesn't look like I'll have much with that schedule, but believe me, I will. I now know why college ends in May and not June like high school. If it were to go until June, we would all die. At least I would.

I think that's it. I hope that's it! Haha! I don't know how much more I could handle, and still get some sleep.

In other news, I am shooting for all A's (and a B in Ear Training because there is no way I can get an A at this point) this semester and I have been very busy doing work for the past week. My life consists of homework, music, and the Red Sox. I had a ton of English homework to do, and I'm redoing all the stuff I received a B on. Luckily there aren't that many. I did one last night, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I have a ton of other homework, too. I have an Ear Training quiz tomorrow, a Harmony quiz Thursday, and my Arraning project is due in two weeks. I also asked for extra credit in that class because I have no idea how I only got a B on my midterm. The class is so easy that I slack off sometimes when I know I shouldn't.

I've also been trying to put in two hours of practice a night. I've been reasonably successful. I won't be putting in two hours of guitar tonight, though. Gotta get an A on my quiz tomorrow! It's so nice out, and I've been inside all day Ear-Training my face off. If I don't get an A, I will be very disappointed in myself. I'm working my butt off!

I'll give the Red Sox their own post later this week, but there are four games this weekend--one of them is at 11 o'clock in the morning! I want to go to that game just to say I went to a game at 11 o'clock in the morning. I'll be at Friday's, Saturday's, maybe Sunday's, and definitely Monday's game. I should just say I'll probably be at all of them. Save myself some time.

Okay, back to work I go!

!

I'm energetic, excited, happy, and optomistic by nature, but for the past 48 hours or so I have been exceptionally excited and happy (yes, I'm excited for something just about all the time).

The main reason is because I had a great night with my favorite person ever, Bob. So I had been looking forward to that for a while and my excitement became uncontainable. We had great food and great conversation. It was awesome. I hadn't seen him in over a month and a half (which sucked)! I came home this weekend to see Bob. My parents even acknowledged that I was here to see him. Seeing them (and being home) is great, but had BT been busy, then I would have stayed in Boston.

Thank God he wasn't. As much as I love Berklee and its world-class faculty, none of them hold a candle to Bob in my book. I'm really looking forward to the summer, mainly because I'll get to see Bob on a weekly basis again. All of my friends hated Mondays in high school, but I loved them. Mondays meant I got to spend the evening playing and learning and hanging out with Bob.

And I'm really looking forward to having my weekly three to five hour night playing and learning and hanging out with Bob over the summer.

Home

I'm writing this from my own bedroom. The one that has Pete Townshend, Eric Clapton, the Beatles, and many others plastered on the walls.

It's oddly comforting to be home. It's almost like time has stopped. I'm only here until Monday, but I have a feeling that when I get back to Boston my four-day weekend will feel like it went by in the blink of an eye.

I feel like being home will give me some clarity. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want to do instead of actually doing it. Last semester I was all talk. This semester, I'm all business. I'm all about getting stuff done. Being home gives me time to plan a little bit (more). It gives me time to write. All of what I consider to be my best songs were written right where I'm sitting right now. Even my most recent songs were written here over break. If I could write a few more while I'm here, it would make my life that much better...

...I'm gonna get to work on improving my life.

So Much To Do

I figured I'd update before I get down to brass tacks and start my homework. I know it's Friday, but I have way too much to do to put it all off until Sunday. Small doses. I also have to clean my room, it's rather disheveled. Plus I want to get ahead because I'm going home next weekend and don't want to have to worry about getting stuff done here. Sometimes I'm an overachiever, what can I say? You gotta get ahead.

I'm really enjoying second semester. I love my classes and everything's just kind of falling into place. Or it's starting to, I should say. It's gonna be good, I can feel it.

I have a ton to do, I should get started on it. I'll post more later.

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