Life and then the lack there of

A lot has happened in these last few weeks. Classes have been winding down, Tomorrow I pack up my chemistry lab drawer for the year. In ways I feel more alive than ever before, This Christmas I go back to Yemen and party out with my family (odd, no?) as well as a good number of friends that I wasn't entirely sure I would see again. Friends that I might not ever really run into again include the Wrights, Stephen Whitson, the Powers...

Despite all this, there are many things that make weeks very fun. I have been eating breakfast a few days a week with an interesting fellow, very intelligent but bellow par social skills. I think that contributes to us getting along as well as we do. Running into new music has also been a true pleasure. Before the year started I hadn't really heard of Within Temptation, Demons & Wizards, Deathstars, Guano Apes, Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, and Lordi. Half of it is so over the top that its just crazy and funny to listen too, others are more serious and have some good talent like Within Temptation. Others just sort of mesh with my style. Like Demons & Wizards. Its like a nerd group that worked out, and I have the yelling from their rip off of Led Zeppelins Immigrant song echoing in my head. They use a lot more reverb on it and that really worked out for me. When it all comes down to the end of the day, I just gotta go for some good old Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation. Making music has been a blast. One evening after a Purdue CORPS rally I hung out with three guitars and two friends and just made some music. In my life, I find very little indeed that is more gratifying than making music with a few friends, and in general, the larger the instrument, the more fun. Pipe organs rock. I should learn the Tuba. Actually, my amp is about that size, I'll just stick with it. Lunch with Andrew has been a blast, wandering through new video games here and there, making a few comics to one side or the other, learning how to integrate (cosx/sinx)dx, exploring the nanoscopic worlds of crystalline structures, getting huge speech assignments out of the way, designing 10000 USD sound systems complete with dual FBX and FBQ (same thing really) three power amplifiers, and a few other good fun things.

The few things that I wish were different about the situation is I wish my family was a little more accessible. Skype has been a blessing, but there isn't anything like actually looking at a face not just a digitized on screen version of a face if even that. Another disappointment has been my bike. I wrecked it once, and I'm up to having it simply fall apart twice now. Both times it was the rear derailleur. The first time it just popped open and I lost the first gear but I managed to find it. So I took out some chain links and converted it to a single speed. It works. Then the derailleur continued to fall apart. Both times it fell apart, it was dark out, and the second time I was in the middle of an intersection. Needless to say I'm missing a few pieces and I'm not sure where I'm going to get them. I found one days latter in slightly flatter condition than it fell off my bike in. The rest are probably stuck in tires somewhere or in the gutter or down the road. More than ever now I want sky runners. For sheer coolness factor, those take it all the way. The great thing is that they are small, they can be thrown in a closet somewhere when the world is iced over like it is now, and they don't have as many movable parts as bikes. Less stuff to break. Other bad things include the fact that I'm sick now, I should be able to finish up classes and stuff, its just going to be more miserable now. Its also cold. I am really looking forwards to my trip to the beach here.