I love the 'Polis

i walked around Lake Harriet with Emilia and her b/f Steven. the view of the Minneapolis skyline was excellent. a picture of the skyline is serving as the wallpaper on my new cell phone!

this weekend has been one of sloth and television. tomorrow i go back to work and then to the Twins game! yuss!! HOO HOO HOO HOO!!

brain drain

i may or may not have been watching The Surreal Life on VH1 for the past few hours.

poker

drew and i played poker at Mark's house last night. i made it pretty far, but got knocked out maybe 2 or 2 and 1/2 hours into the game. after that i watched Adam play a little Doom 3, which is the scariest game of all time, and i will never play that game because it is so scary. i played 2 games of Halo 2, then went home and went to bed. drew ended up getting 2nd place in poker.

i'm really glad that i'll have an extra day off. i really could use it.

work week finally over

i got to have some fun the past couple nights.

yesterday after work i went to Kyle's house to jam with him, Dan and Brett. it was excellent. we played totally free the entire time. i brought both of my Real Books, but we ended up not even using them. at one point, we played a bass, drum and trumpet version of "Play that Funky Music." Brett got there a little bit later than the rest of us. playing with two drummers was great fun. playing free like that was pretty much the opposite of the sort of thing you get at North Texas. i love North Texas, and i'm definitely a vastly better player since i've attended there, but free jazz gets the short shrift. i really should see if people want to do that sort of thing this summer/next fall.

tonight after work, my parents and i went to the Convention Grill for shakes and burgers. after that, drew and i watched the last part of the Twins and Blue Jays game, where the Twins decided to win by a lot of runs, rather than one in extra innings! Minnesota is only four games back from Chicago. i see good things happening. after the game, drew and i looked at some fantasy baseball stuff, then played a little MVP 2005 until Janine and her b/f Zaak showed up. after some deliberation, we decided to go to the Bryant-Lake Bowl for some Vanilla Coke and Bowling. Janine, Zaak and Drew all had scores in the low hundreds, while mine struggled to get above 50 :-\ my bar sport of choice is definitely table tennis, and i will challenge all who oppose me! we ended up seeing John Lydon there. he looked like a college kid, with his beard, earring and tattoo. apparently the UWEC jazz combo was playing at the little theater they have in there, or something like that.

tomorrow two things are happening. one is pleasant, the other is not.

pleasant: i'll get a new cell phone tomorrow. we're renewing our family plan.

unpleasant: i have to get blood drawn tomorrow. people need to know if my white blood cells are acting and replenishing in a normal manner. a medication i'm on has a minute chance of decreased white blood cells in people who use it for more than 6 months (which i have).

this is a long long entry, and it's way past my bedtime. i must go immediately to bed!

gettin' paid

i haven't done much other than work, and watch the SEASON FINALE OF 24 OMFG.

i won't go into detail, but there are SO MANY questions regarding season 5 of 24 in my brain that it hurts.

L-Rod

after 8 years of playing minor league baseball, having your first Major League hit, your first Major League double play and your first Major League game-winning hit has to feel amazing.

Luis Rodriguez

the Star Wars

I saw Star Wars Episode III last night. i enjoyed it a lot more than the first two, to be sure. i guess i can't really talk too much about it here because i would SPOIL THE WHOLE WORLD.

the lightsaber battles were pretty sweet and some made me flip out a little bit.

time to practice my trumpet, which is not a lightsaber.

the Mars Volta

drew and i went and saw the Mars Volta at Roy Wilkins Auditorium. they started a half hour late, which in Mars Volta world means one whole song. they played until about 10:30, so it was a good 2.5 hours. i heard the craziest high male tenor notes of my entire life tonight. it was insane. i reccommend seeing them at least once. the 30 minute noodly-soloey B.S. got kind of debilitating, but overall it was an excellent show and had some really shining moments.

less than awesome seats, awesome play

janine, drew and i went to the Dome today to view a Twins victory. Texas lost to the White Sox, thus putting us 5.5 games back. if only chicago could lose whist we win.

drew and i are seeing the Mars Volta tomorrow and are probably visiting Cra on friday. should be good times.

i've been scheduling so much stuff, i hope i don't wear myself out. next week should mellow out a bit.

awesome seats, less than awesome play

drew and i went to see the twins play the jays at the dome tonight. we had really good seats and almost got hit by an errant foul ball a couple times. unfortunately the twins sucked royally today. maybe they'll do better tomorrow.

funny movies still do exist

drew, hagen and i watched Shaun of the Dead tonight. it was so funny. we all laughed and had a great time and ate pizza.

i start work tomorrow. money = good for spending on things like place to live and food so that i don't die

EDIT: oh also, i sat in with EHS's Jazz One at Centenial Lakes amphitheater today. i ended up playing lead the entire time, which was sort of a surprise for me, since it's not really my thing. even though it was lingering around 50 degrees and my horn was COLD COLD COLD, i didn't sound too bad. i managed to get the optional 8va on part of Jaco's "The Chicken" without any problem, but don't expect me to be playing lead down at North Texas any time soon!

attention allergies sufferers

anyone who has a stuffy nose due to allergies NEEDS to get Afrin nose spray. it is like a miracle except that is is a over the counter nasal spray.

come pick me up, i've landed

i'm back in Minnesota now. five months is a long time to be away. it is windy/rainy and cold. it's good to be home!

up for next week, awesome seats for a Twins game, and seeing the Mars Volta!

disassemble

i gotta disassemble my school computer for movement and storage now.

no pass

i didn't pass the ICE (improv continuation exam). i'll have to take that at the end of the summer. it's another case of me not playing my best in front of faculty. i'm good enough to pass, i just didn't play my best at that specific moment in time.

it's be nice to pass one barrier this semester. hopefully i passed the ACE (i feel good about that one)

good morning starshine

ugh. i have the arranging continuation in 20 minutes. i have to get up early tomorrow and thursday. bummer. naps need to come later.

the score

i woke up with a sore throat today.

Finals Week: 1
John: 0

deep in the heart

elizabeth and i went to see the Ranger's game today in Arlington. we didn't get lost on the way there, and only once on the way back. we went to find one of those ice cream sandwiches with the cookies on the outside. when we came back, there were two drunk latinos sitting next to our spots, so we moved one row down (there were lots of vacant spaces). there were some choice quotes from the likes of them. here are some, accompanied with context.

• "Hey big Tex! Hit a home run! I see you every year at the State Fair. You don't do shit!" he wanted Mark Teixeira to hit a home run.
  
• "Fuck nachos! Where's the beer?!" he saw a man eating some nachos.
  
• "Jose Canseco can suck my dick!" no idea. a young mother and her child were sitting two rows in front of them. they left.
  
• "I didn't pay to see this! Play some baseball!" Gary Matthews Jr's bat slipped from his hands and hit some lady in the stands. they took a little time to get her out of the stadium.

we left the game a bit early and got some chips and queso at On the Border and headed on back to Denton. BEST NIGHT EVAR.

house sweet house

jeremy, ross and i put a deposit on a 2 story duplex today! I HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE.

chart played

the 2 o'clock played my chart today and it was good! they spent too much time on everyone else's chart and ended up only having one take at mine. they messed up in a few spots, but all in all it was very good. i like arranging a lot. something i'm good at, WAAAA!

FF IV

i beat FF IV in a day on zsnes. all right speed up key. also, all right if you know what i'm talking about. Meteo. lol.

:-(

i didn't pass my upper division barrier jury, which means no jazz lessons next fall. i have to take more classical lessons and try again at the end of next fall. i'm not crushed or anything, though. what a way to start a week.

arb

elizabeth and i went to the Dallas Arboretum, ate Panera sandwiches, and walked around on the most beautiful of beautiful days. then we went to the dallas arts and jazz festival with a bunch of people and saw Tower of Power.

lesson of the night: i am not a good sitter.