curtis' blog

Wooooooooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooo!  I will finally have other (especially non-freshmen and non-cohabitant [no offense to the freshmen and my apartment/roommates (well, maybe offense to the freshmen [no offense to the freshmen I didn't mean to offend, though])]) people with whom to hang out!  And I shall soon reoccupy room 2593 in that dormitory called Talge Hall.  As will Robby.  And Stephen.  Yes, Stephen.  As soon as they email the dean (get on that, guys, will ya?!).  We are three-man-roominizing 2593.  It used to be a three-man room, so it won’t be too difficult to change it back.  We will also be changing the picture on the front of our website.  Although I really like the current one, we need to include SBTETO2.0 in the main picture.

Just for your edification, ye that be unedified, Stephen and I roomed together in 2592 (not 2593, but across the hall) the second semester of our freshman year (2008).  He took off a year (2008-2009), and is coming back for 2009-2010.  Robby and I roomed together last year (2008-2009) in 2593.  I picked 2593 because it’s massive compared to the other rooms, it’s at the end of the hallway, has two windows, and no neighbors.  It’s awesome!

Anyway, now you guys know that room 2593 will be even more awesome to visit this year.

I know, I know.  Finally.

So, we got to our destination near the Argentina border.  We got there around 1 or 2 a.m., but the families with which we were staying were ready for us.  Most of them had jobs to go to in the morning, and we had just cancelled their concert.  They were still happy to have us.

I stayed with Jesse (a tenor, in case that’s important to you) at a family’s home.  Jesse speaks Spanish, which was helpful because our host family spoke not a word of English.  Or French.  Jesse managed to have slow conversation in Spaniguese with the family.  The parents of the family stayed up until we were completely situated, and the mother (who happened to be pregnant with a second child) kept offering us food, which we could not refuse.

Their home was rather small compared to an American home.  There was much missing from the stereotypical middle class idea of a house.  The people of Brazil tend to live more simply than we, the more fortunate.

When we awoke early the next morning, we had a delicious breakfast (Brazilians bake some amazing bread!) and rode to Analyse’s house.  Analyse is a Brazil native, former I Cantori member and SAU graduate.  She and her husband then accompanied us to a sort of mission project of theirs, a school for children in the area.  We put on a mini concert for the kids, and they even sang a song for us!  It was pretty grand.

After the concert for the kids, we stayed for a meal, which included some of the most delicious rice and beans EVER, and heard a bit about the school.  We decided to sponsor a child at the school.

Later in the week (don’t ask me to remember specific days–I’ve forgotten all of that) we went to an Adventist camp near Iguassu Falls.  Iguacu Falls.  However it’s spelled today.  Anyway, that was a pretty cool place.  We had our meals there.  THE BREAKFAST WAS SPECTACULAR!  I wish I could type in super-all-caps-squared.  The fruit in Brazil is interesting.  Some of it is delicious, while others are disgustingly sweet.  Like, more than pure cane sugar kind of sweet.  I don’t get it.  Anyway, we also learned quickly that with Brazil, it’s all about cake.  Cake is a staple breakfast food.  Not kidding.  Throughout our trip, everybody offered us cake for breakfast.  And lunch.  And supper.  Cake there is like whole wheat bread here.  And it’s not simply white cake.  This stuff has something to it.  It isn’t too sweet, and it is quite filling.  It’s good stuff.

One of the days we were in Iguacu territory, we actually went to the falls.  We spent the first half of the day on the Brazil side, then drove to Argentina for the more spectacular side the second half.

Later on that week…

What?  Seriously?  You want to hear more about the falls?  Okay.

A M A Z I N G.  We could see why when Eleanor Roosevelt visited the falls as First Lady that she exclaimed, “Poor Niagra!”  No kidding.  The Iguacu falls span about two miles of winding waterfall edge.  The river is REALLY wide and shallow.  So shallow that you could probably wade around two feet from the edge and not get sucked over.  So shallow that builders had made a boardwalk above the water for about one or two kilometers from the Argentine edge of the river to the middle of the falls.  We could stare down over the edge and see nothing but mist.  We could look ahead and see the rumbling awesomeness that was “Garganta del Diablo”, or “Devil’s Throat”, what they call the most powerful section of the falls.  At that point, the water pours in from around 270 degrees of a circle at a rate unmatched by another set of falls.  It was hard to believe that we were there in the dry season.

For pictures, visit images.saunetwork.com.  I’ve uploaded some there.  I don’t want to “pollute” my blog with a bajillion pictures and keep you scrolling for days.

Now that I’ve bored you with incredible detail about unimportant things, I’ll tell you some more!

Our best concert came early.  It was also our worst, but I’ll get to that in a moment.  First, let me relate the good part of the tale.

We got to the concert really late (well, about 5 minutes before we were to go on).  We parked the bus and ran into the church as quickly as we could, making quite a scene (not many people have seen people in tuxes and formal dresses running through the streets of Brazil cities).  We practiced for a few minutes, then got on stage.  We only had an hour to sing, then we had to rush ourselves to our next concert.  We did our hours’ worth of pieces, holding the audience in rapt attention (something quite lacking on our “home court”).  By the end, we were receiving applause and ovations, and they wanted to hear more.  Dr. Kibble looked back at our tour guide, and he said that we could stay as long as we wanted, because our other concert had been cancelled.  We were happy to sing a few more songs, especially since we enjoyed our audience so much.  There was also a song where we almost require clapping.  Let me tell you, Brazillians can keep time like none other.  White people can’t clap worth anything if they aren’t musically geared (why do you think white people are generally not into hip-hop?  they can’t understand the beat).  Every Brazillian seems to have a larger “rhythm section” of the brain than your average American.  We couldn’t hear a single person clapping out of perfect time.  It was amazing.

Well, it was awesome until we finished our concert and Peter (our tour director) took us out of the church quickly to explain something urgent.  Well, he wasn’t the urgent-explanation kind of guy, so we thought something must be up, which it was.  Somebody had gotten on the bus while we were in the concert and stolen some things.  Katy’s MacBook, a couple peoples’ iPods, Misael’s camera (a very nice one that we were using for all of our “good” photo shoots), Elvira’s camera and video camera, a lot of cash, etc.  We could tell by how the bus looked that the thieves had gone from the back of the bus near the door to the front, all the way to Jonathan and me (third row or so from the front).  They even rummaged through our stuff, Jonathan’s camera was taken apart (lens from camera, etc.) but still there on the seat, and my bag was open with my mp3 player on top of everything.  I don’t know why they didn’t take it, but they didn’t.  Jonathan and I were some of the few unaffected.

Well, that incident tarnished an otherwise perfect night.  We still remembered how wonderful the concert was, though.

This is the long-awaited post.  I’ve been putting it off for many reasons.  #1:  laziness.  #2:  business.  #3:  I know the first two don’t go together.  #4:  I know that number three was not a reason.  Here goes:

We left from the parking lot of SAU in the early afternoon, then we drove to Atlanta.  We spent some time getting tickets and checking luggage, etc.  Then we waited for our plane.  Then we flew to Miami.

Not exciting yet, is it.

In Miami, we met with several other I Cantori members that live in Florida or flew in from elsewhere.  A few of us guys decided to pass the time by bringing out some good quartet/quintet/sextet sheet music.  I, of course, ended up being a bass 2, which is quite fun in a men’s quintet.  We started learning some of the pieces over in a corner of the gate, trying to keep somewhat in tune.  Michael (a tenor) brought his iPhone with a piano app, giving us a good pitch every time.  We soon agreed that the idea was entirely a fantastic idea to be continued throughout the trip.

On the plane from Miami to Sau Paulo we each had a small LCD monitor on the seat to our front.  On these TVs we could choose to watch a number of in-flight movies and shows.  I ended up watching a couple of movies.  I couldn’t go to sleep for hours.  I had nobody in the two seats to my left, and I was on the aisle to the left.  But I couldn’t sleep.  I have problems trying to sleep on moving transportation.  I kept looking around.  At 3:00 a.m., I was one of maybe three people on the plane not asleep (including pilots).  I think I fell asleep at 4:00.

We landed safely in Sau Paulo at 8 or 9 a.m.  I had only a couple of hours of sleep to work on, and we had yet to go through customs.  Which ended up taking all of ten minutes, the time to walk from one end to the other.  I find that only the United States ever gives travellers trouble.  Yes, I spelled “travellers” with two “Ls”.  I’m Canadian.  I hate that my blog’s spell-checker doesn’t realize that.  I’m sure there’s a setting….

So, by that time I had finally received a stamp for Brasil on my passport.  I had also realized that Portuguese is not like French.

We all went outside of the airport to await our bus.  One of our members began puking.  Great start, eh? Those of us guys that were not sick, rather, bored, decided to make good use of Jonathan’s (a tenor) hacky-sack.  I guess we thought that, being in Brasil, we should at least have rudimentary footwork skills.  We didn’t, so we had a long way to go.

Well, our tour guide, Peter Lombard, spoke Portuguese (he’s serious about his job, and seriously good at it) and had already made every arrangement in Brasil for us.  So, the bus came, and we boarded the nicest bus upon which I have ever ridden.  This bus was the most amazing bus ever.  It was a double-decker coach with giant reclining seats.  Downstairs there were even tables.  Both levels had their own lavatories.  I wish we had one at SAU.

Then we started driving.  Forever.  Almost.  I was glad I had purchased my Sony Walkman mp3 player with 45 hours of battery just prior to the trip (same day, even).  It kept me sane.  Also, our quintet got in some practice.  Those that had brought laptops (bad idea in Brasil, as I’ll explain later) had already used their batteries and had pulled out their iPods.

The scenery was interesting.  Not spectacular, just interesting.  It looked like a slightly more green version of Tennessee, except in the city.  Then it looked like nothing I’d seen before.  The entire city of Sau Paulo seems to be as poor as the slums of America’s poorest sections of the country.  The houses are tiny and dilapidated.  Clothes lines are everywhere, trash is strewn about, and everything is so crowded that even the most skilled American could not drive for two feet without crashing.  Thank goodness the average Brasilian is 3925196 times more skilled at driving through tight squeezes than the average American.

The highway was pretty decent!  In fact, the speed limit of 120 k.p.h. (73-ish m.p.h.) didn’t seem too fast.  The highway was well-paved and seemed like an interstate to me.  This only lasted for a couple hours.  Then there was no main highway.  Brasil doesn’t have an Eisenhower or Roosevelt in its past.  There are no interstates.  The roads are well kept, just not straight.  In fact, I’m convinced we went in circles.  Maybe that’s why we were ten hours late to our destination and missed a concert.

More on that tomorrow, when I post part II.

I feel old.  I just played volleyball (in a sand court, no less) for 5 and 1/2 hours.  Not kidding.  9 am to 2:30 pm.  I found a church group in the area that does this sort of thing every Sunday.  Anyway, it was fun, and I feel like an old man.  I’m soooo out of shape.

My girlfriend is coming down next weekend!  Yay!  We’ll have to find some awesomeness to do.

Stephenbarrytellemtheoriginal2.0 (Robby, I never understood how somebody could be the original 2.0) may be coming to SAU in the fall again!  I miss him… enough with the sentiments, though.  Oh.  Alright.  Yes, that’s a tear of joy.  It isn’t final yet, though, so don’t get your hopes up like I did.

Here’s the comment I left on SBTETO2.0′s blog, anyway:

———————
Polyphony’s album “Cloudburst” (a bunch of Eric Whitacre’s stuff) is what I’ve been listening to.  There’s my #1 in the charts.  I don’t know how old it is, but it’s seriously amazing.

So, does this post mean that there’s any significant chance of you coming to SAU?  If so, are you rooming in 2592? or 2594?  I would recommend the latter.  It’s bigger and has two windows.  But not as big-and-two-windowed as 2593.  Sorry.  Anyway, now I’m all excited.  Don’t let me down, FAFSA!  Who am I kidding?  It’s a government-run thing.  Of course it’ll let me down….  Now I’m just ranting.  And it’s not even my blog!  Mine is a page over!  What am I doing?!  Actually, I’ve been making musical stuff.  I have to release some more stuff on my page soon.  That’s a good excuse, isn’t it?  Oh, and my desktop died.  And I’m working two jobs.  I should also make this into a post.  Okay.
———————

Okay, the first part is telling him about my favorite new music.  The rest is me getting my hopes up and other hopes getting dashed.  Like my computer.  I got a faster processor (2.0 Ghz from 1.54 Ghz), a newer motherboard (that can holds less of my RAM, 768 MB instead of 1 GB), and an integrated graphics card because my AGP card fried itself like chicken and croaked like a frog.

Speaking of computers, I got another person hooked on “The IT Crowd”.

Speaking of computers, I have a new laptop.  Actually it’s old.  It’s a PIII processor with 256 MB of RAM and a modem.  OLD.  Yes, I know.  I’m going to give it to my folks so they can watch movies in the car.

Speaking of computers, I may have gotten sunburned a tiny bit today.  I refused to put on sunscreen because any time I do, I get no tan.  At all.

Moving on to other subjects, work at the computer lab is great.  And at the radio station.  Actually, at the station, I’m training as a producer as well as announcer.  In fact, the other day, I recorded a bunch of forward- and back-announcements for several hours’ worth of music, then edited the entire thing.  My trainers love me.  They can sit back and watch me do what I took classes to do and pretend that they are training me.  Well, it is new software to me (although it’s easier than the DAW software I’m used to), and some of the things are slightly new to me, but you can certainly see how it makes their job effortless.  Anyway, I was on air a lot yesterday.

Have you all been to SAUNetwork.com yet?  It only really makes sense to go there if you go to SAU, though.  Yeah, that’s why I got SAUNetwork.com.  Anyway, I’ve been working on a bunch of stuff there.  It’ll have a new network search tool when the school year starts in the fall (like Dormsearch), a forum, a chatroom, an an image gallery (I already have a couple pictures of my trip to Brazil there at images.saunetwork.com).

Have you all been to archpenguin.com yet?  You should.  I’m going to someday delete the forums on this site (they’re horrendous; don’t use them) and create a good link to the archpenguin site.  In case you didn’t know, I’m obsessed with penguins (who wouldn’t be? they’re awesome!), and it’s some feat to be the top one!  Anyway, if you ever have anything you need answered, ask there.  I’m trying to start a small community.  I am especially good with computer subjects, and I also am very good about giving my opinion on a LARGE variety of topics. 

In case you’re still reading, I’ll publish more later.  As I said before, I have a lot on my plate.  I’m always hungry, though, so I’ll get around to it sometime.  That was a stupid analogy.  That analogy was like a huge factory with red-tinted windows and a bunch of smoke.

Signing off.

Well, tomorrow afternoon I leave for Brazil.  I won’t be back for a couple of weeks, so my blog won’t get updated.  Probably.  Well, I may find a computer down in Brazil and try to make a post or two while I’m there.  I don’t really know.  I shall take pictures!  With a not-so-fantastic (but also not so expensive or easily-stolen) camera.  Also, I shall test the limits of my camera’s video capabilities.  And generally having an awesome time.  And making sentence fragments.

So, if you have some money that you no longer want, go to the donate page and help me with the last $400.  I think that’s what I need… I should check….  I’m pretty sure that’s it.  The chart is accurate, but doesn’t take into account money in the mail that I’m sure is coming. 

Well, until next time, …I can’t think of something for you to do ’til next time… oh, yeah, give me money!  I mean, uhm, err, donate to this worthy cause!  It is worthy.  It is a choir/mission trip.  And I can make your gifts tax deductible.  To find out how, just leave a comment on “The Wall” about it.  I can email you the form.

Anyway, bye.

Good night.

Bonne nuit.

No, you hang up!

Okay, we’ll do it at the same time.

1, 2, 3, ….

Did you hang up?

No, 1, 2, 3, THEN hang up.  Okay.

1, 2, 3, ….

Did you hang up?

……………………………………….

Just a quick thought before I actually post something worth reading (or not, depending on how into me you are):  what is FoxNews doing?  Seriously!  I am about ready to unsubscribe to my FoxNews.com RSS feeds.  I don’t need to click on the links to know I don’t care about Hugh Hefner’s health, but I couldn’t resist clicking on a link when the short overview talked about nerds never getting hot dates.  In fact, here is a quote:

Perhaps its because geeks’ troubles getting hot dates in real life. Or their overactive imaginations. Or a combination of the two.

Firstly, look at the sentence structures.  That paragraph (yes, the paragraph begins like that) is enough to make anybody within 500 miles of an English major puke.  Secondly, if you’ve ever taken a psychology class, you may begin to wonder what the author is trying to say about his own confidence….

Needless to say at this point (but I’ll say it anyway, for the sake of those who have taken speech class and believe the lie [yes, that's a fallacy of some sort (I also took speech class)] that you must restate your entire argument after you state it), FoxNews needs some actually interesting and relavent news in their top headlines.

So that’s a rant.

Well, I started work at the radio station today!  I won’t be on air for the first couple of months, though, as I’ll be training.  I’m very glad that I brought a book (yes, it’s Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, and I’ll get to it in a bit), as I had time to get through 6 chapters.  “Work” mostly involved sitting for a while, then watching somebody do something for a couple minutes, then waiting again.  There’s a lot of waiting.  That happens when you play classical music.  There are 20-minute songs.  Most of the work at the radio station is babysitting the airtime.  Basically, an announcer is there to forward- and back-announce songs, provide station info and public service announcements.  Oh, and advertise for the underwriters (that’s very important, as I learned today).  Actually, there’s so much waiting that there is a leisure computer in the announcer studio!  The girl with which I worked today sat there watching “Bride Wars” (let me just say that I will not be using my leisure time the same way) in between her times on air and setting up the programs.

Getting to and from work is half the fun of the day, as it’s a 15-minute bike ride each way.  Here’s a map (without taking my shortcuts through a couple parks and fields):

Bike ride to work

Actually, this shows from work (or actually, from University Drive in front of the administration building) to home.  I don’t feel like changing the caption.  And I usually end up going through the memorial park, then through part of the student park, then across a soccer field, a running track, and through the unfinished parking lot of the Hulsey Wellness Center.  It’s an interesting ride!

I have about a week before Brazil!  Yay!  So send me your last-minute donations!  If you need an address, use the contact form on the site and I’ll email my address to you.  If you need money, we’re in the same boat, and it’s sinking from our weight, so you need to get out, get some money, and then give it to me.

Now, back to the original rant:  well, not really.  I just have a stupid link and a couple of good links from Fox.  Guess which one….

I agree with the professor in this one and I’ll tell you why in a following post, if I feel like it.

This one’s funny, whether it’s relevant or not.

This is straight-up insane!

This one’s weird, to a whole new level.

Anyway, that’s today.  As for yesterday, I caved in and bought a cell phone.  It’s a Samsung Rant, for those that care.  And it came “free”… with a $40 a month plan.  Without texting… yet.  I’ll get texting when the school year starts.  I don’t need it now.  Oh, and I don’t actually have it yet, as it is scheduled to arrive in my hands by the end of the week.

Summer break is here!  Ha ha!  Break!  That was a good one!

Well, Robby’s home now, and I likely won’t see him ’til next semester.  [sarcasm]I’m crying.[/sarcasm]

I’ve moved off campus (only a bike ride away) to share an apartment with a couple of guys.  It should be a very boring summer, as I’ll be working at a computer lab and the radio station on the dead campus.  I decided it was easier to hold down two good jobs at SAU than to try and find work back home in Missouri.  The only fun available is the fun I’ll make.  So it should be a blast, right?!  Wrong.  Self-made fun is quite short of spontaneous other-people-made fun.

Oh, yeah… the Alistair Watkins show….  We never actually did a grand finale.  Sorry.  We didn’t have time.  Also, we have an episode waiting to be taken off the camera still.  It’s not our best work, so you aren’t missing much.  However, I will try to release it this summer, although Robby was usually the video editor.  It shouldn’t be too difficult.  Be patient, though.

I’ve been working on a new website, archpenguin.com.  It will be kind of a tech blog/forum thing.  I’m still the only member, but I just got it up, and I’m still working on the layout.  Go ahead and visit there if you want to, though, as it is in working order.  I will check daily to see if there are new posts.  I’ll soon be putting up tutorials, tech news, etc.

Oh, yes… when I get unpacked more, I’ll take some pics/video of the place.  It has a kitchen!!!  And 1.499 bathrooms!  That’s one kitchen and 1.499 bathrooms more than room 2593!  And it costs significantly less to live here!  Don’t worry, though.  Robby and I will be back in room 2593 next semester.  Paying more.  Eating at the cafe.  Making Alistair Watkins videos.  I guess that’s one nice thing about 2593.  Good ol’ 2593.

Well, this season of intramurals floor hockey at SAU was awesome!  I was on a great A-league team

…

Wow.  This is a post that I had to leave unfinished a long time ago.  That’s sad.  Well, anyway, I was going to say that our team won the championships.  We beat every team in the league by at least doubling their scores every time.  Except one team.  We tied.  So we played against the team we tied with earlier for the championship.  We tied.  Then we went to sudden death overtime.  After about three minutes, we got a shot in!!!!!!!!  Hooray!  Well, now the news is old.  Now the news is that when the yearbook came out, it failed to recognize that we had won, and concluded that we had tied our final game.  It also said that hockey is Canada’s national sport.  Right.  Any Canadian could tell you it isn’t!  La crosse is the national sport of Canada.  There were also a couple of spelling errors on the floor hockey page.  Hows that for insult?

Horrible title, I know.

Okay, I’m gonna bring everybody up to date on me.  Because I know everybody wants to know.

I have switched major/minor over the last couple of weeks.  I am no longer a Mass Communications major.  I was not good at it, and it wasn’t what I thought it would be.  I thought I would learn some helpful things for my future career as a music producer, but that’s not even close to true.  It’s all about journalism.  So I actually dropped that major last semester.  But this semester, I wasn’t thrilled with my other (yes, I had two) major, Business Administration.  I hated it.  In fact, not even the upper division classes looked even remotely interesting, as all my business friends were trying to convince me.  They couldn’t get me to believe that the future looked good in business classes.

So.  I’m now a Computer Systems Administration major, with a minor in Music (vocal performance).  I know I don’t need to capitalize the names of majors, but it keeps it easier to read.

Anyway, I think I’ll enjoy that sort of thing.  I’m already working at a computer lab… oh yeah, and I’m the assistant manager at the lab.  I forgot to tell you guys about my promotion.  Sorry ’bout that.

I also got a job at the college radio station, as an announcer!  That happened on Monday, so you aren’t far behind on that.  I’ll be sticking around SAU this summer and working at the lab and at WSMC (it’s a classical music station, and for the summer I’ll be mostly training, and they also have online streaming, in case you’re interested).

Exciting things are happening!  Yay!  And I’m also going to Brazil for two weeks after school’s out.  But you already knew about that, right?!  Just go to my “donate” page (donate.room2593.com) in case you haven’t read.  It’s going to be a fantastic choir tour!

We actually just had our Spring Concert in I Cantori on Sunday.  Or was it last Sunday?  I think so.  Anyway, (oh, yeah it was, ’cause last week was Sonrise…) it was fantastic.  My folks got to come down (10 hour drive, too), and so did StephenBarryTellem!  If you don’t know Stephen, you need to visit here more often.  Or go to his blog at stephen.room2593.com.  He’s my former roommate, and he may be coming back to SAU next year….  We hope.

Well, we all went on a ginormous picnic (my family, Stephen, Robby, his coworker and his coworker’s roommate, my girlfriend, her roommate and suitemates, and of course, me) at a great mountainous, riverious park here in Tennessee.  I shall put some pictures here for you….

Stephen, Robby and I made a new A. Watkins video, which we haven’t had the time to post.  It’s not nearly as good as the rest, but Stephen was really pressed for time.  In fact after we shook hands at the end, Stephen was gone.  He had to go back to SC.  Boo.  Anyway, we’ll get that to ya soon.

I hope I remembered everything.  Well, here are the pics:

If the Internet will allow:

Goodness!  It’s slow:

Me and Brooke standing on a large rock

All the Room2593 folks for your viewing pleasure

This is everybody (minus my dad, the photographer) on a large rock, enjoying the beginnings of the picnic

Today is the beginning of classes for semester two of my second year of college!  I’m one credit-hour away from being a junior.  One year from now, I will be a senior.  Several decades from now, I may graduate.  For now, I must sit through microeconomics.  Not only that, I’ve already walked several miles (it MUST be) to and from classes.  I have one class on the first floor of Brock Hall, then one in Hickman, then one back in Brock, all in a row.  Those buildings are on opposite sides of the expansive campus!  It takes the entire 10 minutes to go from one end to the other with a major speedwalk going on.  I will have amazing calves at the end of this semester.

Well, now I’m on to choir, my favorite class!  Woo hoo!