Wake up early to take advantage of what you could automatically enjoy, just days ago.
Let's talk about greenman.
Fin.
Holy shit.
Just found the best thing ever.
I've tried to start multiple bands in the last five or so years, and none have ever taken off or written more than a few songs. A few bands I've been in include: "2 Girls 1 Tuna, Phone Calls from Dale, Boxcar and a Jug of Wine/Me and You vs Everyone, and Synapse."
This has lead me to conclude that Neil's dad is a lot better at the logistics involved in music than I am. In the last year, I've played with Polka Dan's Beetbox Band and the Saturday Night Blues at the Claddah; both have been great experiences.
Today the pit got a new chart to go along with this year's theme, Pirates of the Caribbean. The song is called "The Closer", although this song is not the last in our set-list. We also have "Davey Jones", "Kracken", and the percussion feature "Bill Bailey".
Good times at UMass.
Dan Rubington, make your blogs shorter, fewer, and funnier.
Like the book "Night Mother", the pages of the calender seem to be turning quicker and quicker as I move foreward.
It seems like just yesterday, I was packing all of Julie, Neil, and my belongings into the back of my Mom's 98 Expidetion to make the long trek from UMass Amherst to Cape Cod. In contrast, it seems like its been years since I crashed my Ford Focus into a rental car stopped at the yield sign where 28 meets 151 in North Falmouth. Strangely, these two events happened either a day apart or within hours of eachother; this is not important. Well, here it is, UMass in all its glory. As Steph Band would say enthusiastically: "Welcome to Band Camp!" I don't know exactly when I got here, but it was either Friday or Thursday morning. I drove to Bryant's house in South Hadley the night before to prevent a 3 hour, 6am drive. We had a good time watching the food network and playing bass. When I woke up at 430AM to drive him to work, I actually felt well rested for once in my life. I will be bringing my air matress up to school because I honestly think that did the trick for me. BAND BAND BAND. I can never get enough. harharhar
Somehow, I've made it three years in the UMass Drumline. Who would have thought when I showed up on day 1, three years ago, with a pair of 5A's in hand ready to play snare that I would still be allowed to play with these guys. Since then, I have learnd SOO much. I started out on Cymbals and when Bryant moved on, Thom invited me to play bass for Marimba Band II, Hoop Band, and the Drumline. What the fuck was he thinking?
This has been a really hard, and constant struggle. I usually feel like I'm hanging on tight with one hand while I go through a crazy roller coaster. Finally, experience is starting to back me up. After playing all of last year in three ensambles and starting to practice more frequently, I am sight-reading and my ear is improveing even more. I hope that within the next year, if not this year, I will be half the musician that any of my predicessors turned out to be.
If you are in high school, and you love music do yourself a favor and go to UMass.
Beards - A carbonated beverage and way of life.
Not many people in the age group of 16-20 can grow a sizable beard. Most people seem to have a problem filling out very specific areas such as the cheeks and connecting space between mustache and chin.
The first time I shaved my face, I used a razor that was given to me with a $10 purchase at CVS. I didn't think to use shaving cream or water, but at that point it didn't really matter that much because at 14, you don't have facial hair unless you're Chris Howland. (Seen on the left in the photograph below.)
anyhow....
Somewhere during my senior year, or maybe even before, I decided not to shave for what probably amounted to three weeks. To my suprize, a beard was born.
Once while riding a bus during a Furtek field trip, Katie Sylvester commented that she would never want to kiss a guy with facial hair, with that, my beard became security from Mashpee AA 07.
I don't know where I'm going with this so I'll talk about something else.
Since Christmas, I have had a splitter in my car dividing my cigarette lighter into two separate but equal plugs so that I could power both my radar detector and my iPod charger. Well, the problem with this setup was that the cord to the radar detector was unsightly, dividing my windshield in half, the splitter blocked my volume control knob as well as half of the radio, and finally, somewhere in the month of March, I pushed too hard on the splitter causing the wiring to become faulty. Much like when I broke Lips' CD player in his car stereo, bumps started causing the radar detector and iPod to turn off and on at a whim.
Finally I found a solution to this while sitting in the 15 minute parking spot, listening to Living in America by James Brown. I ripped the map lights and sunroof controls down from my ceiling and found a positive wire by electrocuting myself. I cut the cord on my radar detector and hardwired it to the power supply of my interior lights. After running the chord along the interior of my roof, I had fiberglass splinters, and a radar detector mounted above and to the left of the drivers seat. It looks great, if you want me to do it for you, I will free of charge.
Dino is a Wamp now. That's good for him. I hope my family becomes Wamp so that we can survive the recession on soverign lands.
Easy, Lucky, Free: is a bad tattoo to get above your private parts,
-Jim
Why not?
Over the last few weeks Neil has been talking about graduating from college and rather than instantly jumping into a career, taking some time off to enjoy life and music. I don't know if I would personally have any luck pursuing music after school, but today I thought a lot about taking some time off. This probably isn't a good way to lead into early retirement, but I was thinking about all the homeless people out on the streets and about all the free time they have. What if they were to get a job for just a few hours every week, just enough to pay rent and basic utilities. I guess you still have to pay for food, but I can see myself working at a coffee shop for 20 hours a week and spending the rest of my time sitting in that same coffee shop reading and playing music. Why not?
Yes, I am supposed to be writing a paper that is due tomorrow, but I enjoy blogging more than I enjoy political science. Maybe that should be a sign to me to change my major. I guess government work can, at times, resemble the 20 hour a week coffee shop lifestyle that I admire. All I need is a mental disability and I can realistically be a hermit or politician.
Speak Sleezy.
NFgot
another rainy day..
If I had my camera with me, I would share with you all that I am seeing.
Raos is crowded, that guy that doesn't like his picture taken is here being a punk bitch. The schizophrenic man, I believe his name is "Bill" is walking about, reading his latest thesis on the nature of modern gangsters, bling-bling, and heroism.
This man who walks about Am(h)erst and Northampton wearing a "penguin scene" sweater has what can only be described as "a beautiful mind". His vocabulary is extensive and his confidence in social interaction, proportionate to the mystery which surrounds him. He is now back, loudly discussing some kind of secret umbrella organization. Maybe he has paranoid delusions..
In the news: Manson's Sheep (Susan Atkins) up for parole next month!
Susan Atkins is the longest incarcerated female inmate of the California prison system. Why? Because she murdered eight people. The question that the parole board will be facing next month is a question that they have agreed on unanimously 17 times prior: Will releasing Atkins pose a risk to the public?
After an investigation into her family's website, I have found out that Atkins is now paralyzed over 85% of her body. I can imagine lying in bed one night, and suddenly being attacked by Steven Hawking. If you have ever tried to life an electric wheelchair, trust me, they are very heavy because of that huge battery strapped to the chassis. Should paralysis act as grounds for parole? It is certainly better than a plea for insanity, but if you kill one person let alone eight, I think you should live out your sentence in jail.
BTW, she had a leg amputated and has recently been diagnosed with brain cancer.
Have a nice day.
-Jim
A little bag of cocaine...
Tonight is one of those times in my life where I wish I had more energy. I'm in Julie's room, it's 227am, and I want to go to sleep. Thursday at around 230pm, I have a to turn in a take home exam requiring about 6 pages of writing. As of right now, I have about one page done and I am tired, and feeling very distant from political science.
Funny things happen when you don't sleep regularly. Today, I woke up at noon, and was dragged out of bed by Julie. I ate at McDonalds about 15 minutes later, and then spent a few hours walking around aimlessly. That has nothing to do with sleep deprivation though. What I was getting to is that all day I was looking forward to a new episode of LOST tonight. Funny thing.... Today was a Tuesday, following a Monday schedule, and I thought it was Wednesday. How fucked is that?
Transitional Phrase
I can't wait until summer! Camp is going to be awesome with all the arts, crafts, shenanigans, and music that I can squeeze into every single day. As of right now I am planning on taking a Vibraphone home with me which I will keep in my cabin to practice during my free hour at mid-day. It's been a while since I made a firebomb, went on a road trip, or spent my own money recklessly. These are all reasons to miss summertime on Cape Cod.
DikPikPlease
-Jim
Who's your constant?
If you were stuck traveling through time at random intervals, who would be your constant?
Mine would be Julie. The one from my life, not that girl from LOST with the stupid grin.
Stick it to Organized Religion
Let me start off by saying that the first person to get me this shirt will recieve a free pass to thursday night hot dogs and beans...
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=2423YL&netp_id=533846&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=covers#currMOVING ON
As far as days go, today was one of the best so far this semester. Julie and I woke up early, went to breakfast in the freezing cold, and moved onto class. By the time 2pm came around, it was warm enough for me to wear a t-shirt for the first time in months. I don't know if that was what made this day seem so great in retrospect, but either way.... ya good spring
I slept through the first 15 minutes of Abnormal Psychology today, and woke up to Professor Halgin talking about sexual psychosexual disorders. We talked about exhibitionism, veuyerism, 2 girls 1 cup, internet pornography addiction, and pedophilia.
We talked about Jeffery Dahmer for a bit and then watched an 11 minute interview of Dahmer and his Father where he confesses to all of his crimes and tries to explain the nature behind them. For those of you who don't know. Dahmer was a serial killer in the 70's that seduced men, got them drunk till they passed out, had sex with their corpses, dismembered the corpses, saved skeletons and other parts (genitals, skulls, etc), and ate the flesh later. He rationalizes this by saying that he wanted his victims to be part of him forever.
WATCH THIS VIDEO
FIN
Stream of Consciousness for Comp-Lit
Before I start, don't be nitpicky about my comments on certain behaviors and religion. Just don't.
James Barabe
Nadia Ahmed
Comp-Lit 141
23 March 2009
"Stream of Consciousness"
It's 10:53pm. Sometimes when I sit alone in this dark room, three and a half hours from home, my mind becomes fixated on subtle details of the atmosphere. Wow, the night just keeps getting colder and colder. Word from home is that this week is going to have some more of those winter temperatures that everyone fucking hates. I don't know what I should be doing right now, my presentation due Wednesday isn't started yet and I've yet to decide on something to compare to "Everything is Illuminated".
Oh shit, Russ just came back. Fucking bastard. Nah, never mind. I don't have anything bad to say about him, best roommate I could ask for, too bad he's going to be an R.A. next year.
The first half of this week is going to be fucked. I still have to learn those two songs for Marimba Band, write the comp-lit and psych papers, and study for Tuesday's psych exam. This would be a lot easier if I'd been to class in the last few weeks. The shitty thing about this situation is that I have no reason to miss class aside from being tired. I get tired, then I get stressed, then I don't sleep, then I do sleep, then I miss class, then I get more stressed. This cycle is as rough as the continuous pressures within life can become. Well, not really. I can't wait to start getting bills for rent and utilities. Stay in college as long as possible, good plan.
How the fuck did I get so fat? I guess I've always been fat. I wish that my parents would have bothered to make me eat healthy as a kid so that it wouldn't be so hard to turn my bad habits around now. Can't really blame them, my Dad tried so hard to get me into baseball, If I had stuck with any one thing during the course of my childhood, I probably would have A: Talent, and B: Exercise. It seems that everyone these days has shitty parents that are all fucked up, plagued by emotional baggage and divorce. I was never beaten, discouraged (for the most part, my mom was a bitch at times but I never took her too seriously when she was negative), or neglected. Maybe this is all an only child thing. I found out today that my county is #24th skinniest county in the U.S. That bullshit makes me feel even more like shit. It's like everyone around me caught on, but I had some kind of dysfunction that made me not see what was happening to my body. Oh well, fuck it, at least I'm not a cutter. Could be bulimic I guess. (not true, only girls and a small number of boys have eating disorders)
Holy shit, why is my life so good? I bitch about this crap to myself all the time, but when I put my life under the microscope there is nothing really wrong with me except that I'm fat and lazy. CHRISTIANITY COULD HAVE FIXED ALL OF THIS!!! If I had believed all my life that being a lazy slob would send me to hell maybe I would be fit and have a longer life ahead of me. I just accidentally justified religion. Awesome!
Carolina in my mind
MARK and Meghan went to North Carolina to pick out a house.
I wish them luck.
I went to Carolina once with Robert Gallagher and his family, Rachael Colby came with us which is a coincidence because for years she has lived next to Julie. I don't know if that is a coincidence, but her dog's name is Luke.
My camera is awesome, Julie is in the process of stealing it from me. I bought an 8gb SDHC card at BestBuy for $30 and a nice SwissArmy case for $7 at Marshalls. The card has a fairly high transfer speed which helps more than I thought it would.
Next topic
Yesterday Julie and I woke up at 5:55am and started to landscape her "front yard." I say "" because she didn't previously have a front yard. In front of Julie's house there was previously a 6ft wall thorns and small ugly shrubs; now there's nothing except the dirt and stone tiers that were visible years ago. She trimmed her bush so that it looks like a square. It's nice.
Battery is almost out.
Lata!
LAN of the day award goes to.....
LAN room LAN.
On another note, I couldn't get the tonto blade smith and wesson so I opted for the bayonet which I would rather have anyway. As I sit here drinking a cherry slushy I wonder why the human race moves, and I answer myself, why not? At least we have gravity!
Inturruption spelled wrong!
I'm pissed.
THE WRONG MOUNTAIN DEW WON!!!
I'm so pissed that this blog is done. Fuck you Neil!
Seasonal Scenery Hiatus
Just got off the phone with Ryan Beluk, he goes to community college now. So much for bassoon. Hees cooking!
The last day at UMass has been awesome! I have no classes today so I'm just hanging out in 234. Pretty much all of my stuff is packed up and I'm about to go get Kristen or Neil's stuff packed up in the car. Taking 4 people in one car with all their shit is going to be interesting. Needless to say, I packed light.
Hot dog night was a success, we sold out and the reactions were overall positive. From now on, we will be doing this at midnight rather than one.
What do I have to do over vacation? Well, here's a list.
Practice mallet percussion and rudiments
Write a 5-7 page paper comparing two books
Read two books to compare
LAN
Celebrate St. Patricks Day
Bathe rat
Spend quality time with Rat, parents, and girlfriend
Go to Providence +/ Boston
Call Ryan Beluk back
Spend a day with Bryan
I think that might be all?///
Good morning learning common
Well, me and Russ haven't slept yet. Starting at around 5am we watched Rambo, the new Rambo.
Quick movie review:
Lots of gore
recurring theme of rape and genocide
rice patty races with land mines
5 minute long .50 cal zipperhead exploding action scene
riverboats are dangerous, thats why john kerry never got on one
I leave you for now with this picture.
Fare thee well!
-Jim
I bought this....
Let's get fucked up and fry.....
Hotdogs and Beans tomorrow! Everyone come, nobody forget.
Mike Mirto's surprise party in Southwest at 8pm. (Hopefully he doesn't read my blog.)
Busy night, but there's no Marimba Band so I'm in the clear.
Likes:
Today was a great day, I wore a fucking t-shirt.
I am eating a "gut buster" from Green-O sub shop. (Chicken, bacon, ranch, honey mustard.)
George Foreman Grills (Cleaned it today, shit's ready for hotdogs tomorrow.)
Sick metronome I found. Makes practicing go a lot smoother.
Power supply came in, none of my components were fried, processor and ram are overclocked.
No (tech)class on Friday!
Dislikes:
No new episode of LOST today. I was pumped to see Elaine and Kaylee and eat cookie dough ice cream. Shit is fucked!
Still behind in my work. Shit.
Drop the "n" bomb!
-Jim
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Now playing: Bright Eyes - Antoher Travelin' Song
via FoxyTunes
The first step
The first step in the 12 step program is "Admitting you have a problem."
What of the other 11 steps? "God"
My roommate insists that I'm addicted to technology. What are your opinions?
Here's what I've invested in lately:
- Last year I built a new computer, top of the line. ~$1500
- Cat 5 wasn't good enough, I got a Cat 6 - $20?
- I just bought a 10 megapixel Canon 790si. $170
- Replaced my radar detector, broken parts covered, renewed warranty. $6
- Wireless N USB adapter - referb. $30
- I own two good computer mice. $100
- Aluminum mousepad. $30
- Printer doesn't't count.
- Yes, I have a laptop too.... $800 (parent's bought this)
- USB Fiber Optic Christmas Tree - CLUTCH! (Free from thinkgeek)
In case anyone cares, I am a non-practicing Congregationalist (Protestant)
Steps 2-12 --> Check!
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Now playing: Alkaline Trio - Another Innocent Girl
via FoxyTunes
Rainy day, come and stay!
I'd like to start this by saying [don't] fuck tha police.
Environmental destruction such as erosion and acid precipitation, isn't rain great?Today is the first day in months that there has been a light warm shower. Winter rain in New England isn't pleasant, it is cold. Cold is bad.
When I woke up this morning at 10:45am I didn't think I was going to class, but after printing Julie's paper that she e-mailed me I figured, "Well I have to go outside anyway..." Little did I know that it was raining. Cool morning showers always have a great awakening feeling associated with them.
I had a book presentation today in my "Comp Lit: Good and Evil: East vs West" class at 11:15. "Everything is Illuminated" is a book by Jonathan Safran Foer, published in 2002. The main character who shares the author's name is a Jew whom travels to the Ukraine to search for family history in a place destroyed by the S.S. under the Nazi party. Another character, Alex, who ends up being a close relative to Jonathan is a Ukranian citizen who studies English at University and likes American trends much like how Asians still love Backstreet Boys. Throughout the story, viewpoints switch back and forth between these two characters.
In the words of Bryan West: "ya good book"
----------------
Now playing: Alkaline Trio - 01 - Time To Waste
via FoxyTunes
Hot Dog Blog
Tonight is Thursday, and you know what that means!
1AM, technically Friday, the Jim and Russ special in 234 Baker
Come with $2 cash, and you can get two hot dogs and a cup of beans!
So, we get a lot of questions about why exactly we do this on Thursday. "Who is awake at 1AM Thursday night?" There was a good amount of thought that went into this business venture. That's a lie, we were actually just cooking hot dogs and beans in our room on the George Foreman grill and other people wanted to get in on it. Last week, we completely sold out, so were increasing the output of our operation. I have moved the grill to the kitchen, and gotten bigger amounts of beans.
What does this mean for Me and Russ? Simple answer is Profit. (Wings $$$)
When the seasons change, we plan on moving the whole thing outside and maybe even having live music.
I would like to share this acronym with you. The problem with that is that it's not really an acronym, rather just catchy alliteration.
Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance
Fare thee well...
Unbelieveably Pissed
I'm going to talk real quickly about what's "good", and what's "not good".....
First off. Tim Kelly and Matt Good went to California without me. I am fucking pissed. Jealousy is only one of many emotions that I am experiencing.
Check out Matt's Blawg for pictures. *hype*
2nd shittiest thing.
Good things:
New power supply is on it's way.
I bought a Canon 790IS because I keep losing shitty cameras. I found codes to get $18 off purchase price and free shipping, so it was quite a steal for 10mp.
This summer, it looks like I'm going to be working with Neil at Camp Farley in Sandwich off of 130. He keeps reminding me that he is going to be above me. Maybe he's nervous that I'll try a hostile takeover of arts and crafts.... [probably not]
Well, I'm tired.... and also [quite] FUKT, so bed it is.
My roommate is an asshole.
Lata!
Habitual Lack of Sleep
As far as insomnia goes, I'm a veteran.
It's 4:37AM right now and I'm sitting on my computer listening to iTunes on random. Around midnight, I was playing Call of Duty 4 (my latest addiction) but after the people I was playing with went to sleep, I signed off. Right now I'm starting to wonder if I should bother sleeping; I might as well just take a walk into town and get a cup of coffee or a "monster" before walking back onto campus for breakfast at Franklin Dining Common.
I'm going to talk briefly about my thoughts on the future of online gaming.
To start off, I think that the best of "first person shooters" died with Battlefield 1942 in 2004.(???) Since then, Battlefield Vietnam, Battlefield 2, and Battlefield 2142 have failed to live up to the standards of the series origional. Call of Duty 1 was great, but I never want to LAN it again, you can only play it so much and I've played it more than that given amount. Call of Duty 2 is Call of Duty 1 with better graphics and longer fuses on grenades, lame. They never made Call of Duty 3 for PC...... Call of Duty 4 was great, and still is, but nobody at LAN can run it besides me. Call of Duty: World at War is alright, but I didn't buy it because I need more additions from COD4 than guarddogs, the tanks are pretty lame. Lets talk about strategy games! AoE (Age of Empires) isn't really my kind of thing, 2 and 3 are very different and good for LAN, but playing them alone makes me feel like a failure. The Sims (2).... suuuuuuucccccccckkkkssss! Sims 3 is coming out soon, I'm going to buy it for Julie but I'll never play it. *Maybe The Sims would be good if you could buy guns and go to war with your neighbors*. A new game called Battlefield Heroes is in BETA now, get your key quickly before the closed beta fills up. I'm hoping for a lot of good gameplay from this game, but not expecting it. It looks like Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which was awesome, but on the Quake 3 engine which is a bit outdated now. Other than that, Battlefield 1943: Pacific is coming out in Q4 2009 supposedly, but I'm a bit burnt out on Wake Island.
Russ
Ah well! I guess I'll take a shower.
Love ya,
-Jim
----------------
Now playing: Bright Eyes - Happy Birthday To Me (Feb. 15)
via FoxyTunes
Bill O'Reilly vs. Pot for Kids
http://www.justaplant.com/
oh my lawl, buy me this
http://www.billoreilly.com/pg/jsp/billsbooks/toffk.jsp
Back at UMass
Finally back.....
I'm sitting at my desk sorting out my room with my eyes. Julie is only feet away, sitting cross legged on my bed, taking notes on "the Penguin Handbook" for freshman writing. It's good to know that she will never be out of reach again.
My speaker system came from my room last year. I found it in our Sylvan suite on move out day of 1st semester, but couldn't find the owner after asking around. It is just a really good, two speaker setup made by Altec Lansing, I've always loved the quality of their stuff.
I have a new favo(u)rite thing in my room now. The electric tea kettle I got for Christmas is literally the best invention of this past decade. Anything you would want to make in a college dorm room can be prepared with just hot water. This includes ramen, hot chocolate, coffee, tea, and dehydrated anything. Another good thing about it, is it's ability to make warm water. If you boil a kettle and let it sit, the temperature will settle after about 10 minutes.
My first class of this semester started at 11:15 AM. Comp-lit 2-fuckity-something "Good and (Mostly) Evil: East vs. West" started with our teacher trying to scare half of our class away to make the experience more personal. We will be reading three novels and numerous poems and short stories. I am excited because the teacher hand selected the books because they are all favo(u)rites of hers. She told us that she would be offended if we didn't read the material. One thing we are expected to get deeply into is "Slumdog Millionare" which Neil was hyping a few weeks ago.
That's all I've had for classes so far. Hoop! tonight.
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Now playing: Andrew Bird - Cataracts
via FoxyTunes
1st Blog of 09
NGFOT
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Now playing: DIXIE CHICKS & TAYLOR, James - October Road
via FoxyTunes
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