• Tag Archives School

  • “Sex education may be a good idea in the schools, but I don’t believe the kids should be given homework” Bill Cosby

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Sorry to have neglected my poor excuse for a blog….

    Time has kind of slipped away from me as of late. The tests that I took last week (100, 97, 72.5) kinda took their toll, and I’m having to revamp my study schedule since I don’t feel like I’m doing due diligence in my studies.

    I signed up for a site that I probably shouldn’t have, so I’ve been killing a lot of time there instead of doing what I’m supposed to.

    In other news, the blue would not come out of my hair. I shaved my head, but there’s still some patches of blue. It’s probably healthy enough at the roots that if I need to (in a pinch) I can dye it black or brown and it will look ok. I miss my green hair. 🙁

    Sorry – no pictures until it looks halfway decent.

    Managed to get out to the Octoberfest in Addison with Ross and family, and had a great time. Got to sneak behind some people unknowingly while they were taking pictures and include myself – which was fun. Also got to try my “term life insurance” line on some guy who decided to (try) to give me crap about my blue hair.


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  • “It is dainty to be sick, if you have leisure and convenience for it” Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Bleah.

    Just to prove that I have something else to write about besides coffee, guitars and school, I think I have caught a cold of some sort.

    It’s the groggy, don’t feel like getting up kind.

    Haven’t gotten much done except sleep – and I’ve got some tests coming up this week.

    *sigh*


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar School 📎and tagged

  • “You can’t be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline – it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer” Frank Zappa

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    As a child growing up in the 70’s, in Texas, football was a majorly oppressive force for those of us who didn’t give a crap about sports.

    I was recently sitting in an establishment that was showing Steelers highlights, and reflected back to a recent get-together at my brother’s house. Everyone there seemed to have an opinion about their favorite football team. Ross loves the Steelers, Nancy loves the Redskins, and everyone else seemed to be a Cowboys fan. When it comes to football, I’m less atheist and more agnostic. I just “doubt” that football really exists. Actually I don’t really actively think about it.

    For what purpose does organized sports – much like organized religion play? I would hazard a guess they are actually one in the same.

    I digress.

    Now that I’ve gotten further into my school planning, I’m realizing that this is actually going to be work. WORK! I know I can do it, and if it’s something I’m interested in doing for the remainder of my years, then it’s the “right thing to do”. I guess I just feel a little behind since I imagine that most of the kids that will be in the program for a Music degree will have been reading music all their lives (since grade school anyway) and I never really sat down and learned it. I’ve had to start learning recently as my students are reading music, so I have to do it too.

    I’ve set a goal of practicing 30-45min daily on my guitar and see how far I can get before I have to audition at the school *shudder*

    This should be interesting.


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar School 📎and tagged

  • “Whenever I feel like exercise I lie down until the feeling passes” Robert Maynard Hutchins

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Ow. Ow. Ow.

    I’m not really in that much pain, but my lower legs are definitely sore. Yesterday, in my “Concepts of Physical Fitness” class, we were baselining our VO2max and had to walk (1mile) or run (1.5miles) to get this baseline. Of the thirty person class, two of us chose to run. I was supposed to only run around the building about five and a half times, but I think I ran six and a half. Oops. Lost track. Even so, with the time I ran, my fitness is considered “good” – of which I’m pretty glad. I haven’t been running at all, so to be able to complete this I felt good about my physical fitness (for my age *cough* *cough*).

    That being said, I was more or less stoned from exhaustion yesterday. I didn’t realize it until I made it over to Guitar Center to buy more strings. When I had gotten home, I had immediately tried to complete stringing up the J. I quickly realized that I had cut three of the strings wrong, and that is what was causing my intonation problems. But, I had no strings left. So, to Guitar Center I went. One of the GC guys attempted to strike up a conversation about Reverend Horton Heat (I was wearing a RHH shirt) but I was so exhausted that I could barely do more than nod and shrug my shoulders. From there I went to Whole Foods around the corner and found this:

    monty_ale

    Came home and finished stringing up the J. Around seven thirty, I laid down and attempted to sleep. So I slept until about eight forty five this morning. That’s a lot of sleep for me.

    Oddly, this will be the first true holiday weekend that I’ve had in about five years. My Saturday class is cancelled, and so are my Monday classes. Time for more coffee. Need to read some Chemistry – maybe later.

    Forgot – I’m supposed to be getting a *free* treadmill tomorrow from my ex-mother-in-law.


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar School 📎and tagged

  • “Ambition is a lust that is never quenched, but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.” Thomas Otway

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I had my Endoscopy (follow up) today – the Dr says that there’s no inflammation, and didn’t even stretch (dilate) my esophagus. He said there’s enough room, and things are looking good.

    Still have to puff on Flovent twice daily and still taking Nexium. Feeling good. The anesthesiologist gave me propofol, so of course I was obliged to make jokes about touching small boys and being able to do the moonwalk. That’s pretty trippy. It burns, then you sleep. Then you wake up in another room.

    You’re not supposed to drive after you’ve taken it and while I can’t say that I was foggy, things would slip my memory. Like what I said last to the anesthesiologist before passing out….

    The Iceman is just an absolute killer guitar. It’s an all around player. I’m not even afraid to mess with the Floyd – I understand it now (and have a book to help me out) so I need to change the strings on the guitar. Need to study first.

    This school thing is turning out well. It’s nice to have Labor Day weekend off – I’ve got a quiz tomorrow in Government. We’ll see how that goes……


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar School 📎and tagged

  • “I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.” Frank Sinatra

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    As I am slowing recovering from my two hour nap – and waking up, I’m going to update this page rather than clean my desk, do homework, practice guitar, feed the cats or any of the other mindless things I “should” be doing. Tuesdays are the only days that I have that I don’t have to wake up early to do anything – so essentially, Monday night is my Friday night. I can study late tonight (should I choose) and sleep late tomorrow…..and study tomorrow.

    School is going well. Until the first test anyway….then we’ll see how well I’m understanding my commitment to the process.

    My Iceman is on its way – and technically I should receive it tomorrow, but there was a shipping error, so it may be another day. I’m not sure how I always manage to fall into these “pay well below market” situations. It’s always “right place right time” with me and guitars. I have too many, way, waaaay too many now. I’d feel bad, but I’m not going to. I’ve paid the price in other ways. >wicked<

    I’m supposed to get my upper GI scoped on Thursday (again) and it’s going to be expensive without insurance. I set up COBRA, but the gears of bureaucracy turn sloooowly. I’ll have to pay out-of-pocket and then be re-imbursed for it.


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar 📎and tagged

  • “Bicycles are almost as good as guitars for meeting girls” Bob Weir

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Those bastards laugh at the green hair, until all the pretty girls come talk to ME

    Muaaaahahahahaha!!!

    All part of my evil plan.

    Now that I’ve got an all day Chemistry class on Saturdays, I probably need to be sleeping right now….uh….yeah….sleeping.

    Oops.

    Going back to school…….makes me have so much in common with the young folk of today.

    Example:

    My teacher (who is probably only 10-15 years older than me)

    Teacher: Does anyone know why the death of Michael Jackson is so important?

    Me: Anyone who was alive in the 80’s knows why Michael Jackson was so important…

    Dude (kid) sitting behind me: Man, if I was alive in the 80’s I wouldn’t be listening to that – I’d be listening to Testament. Metal!

    Me: Uh….only in the late 80’s.

    This kid was probably born the year I graduated high school. Now THAT is depressing.


    📂This entry was posted in School 📎and tagged

  • “The reactions from people when they see our stuff is always positive. Wherever we go, people seem to be drawn to us. It feels so good. It makes me feel like maybe I’ve made the right choice,” Sharon Hill

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    I picked up my Chemistry book today – again, I’m relieved that I made the right choice.

    Reading through it, it’s more “interesting” and I don’t have that sinking feeling.

    I’m still waiting for three books that were ordered from a separate campus last week – and have yet to be delivered. I’ve already ordered them at textbooks.com, so I should get the remainder in tomorrow.

    My guitar shipped today, and I should be getting it in a few days. Hopefully I can request a pickup at the UPS hub on Tuesday. *crosses fingers*

    I need to update my guitar page – I’ve acquired a bit of gear.


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar School 📎and tagged

  • “Before you try to convince anyone else, be sure you are convinced, and if you cannot convince yourself, drop the subject.” John H. Patterson

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    Alright – my first class dropped.
    I was able to sneak into a Saturday Chemistry class (one of my core requirements) and drop the logic class. The logic class was probably going to be interesting, but I could tell that from the first two chapters that I would be pretty buried. It didn’t help at all that the teacher was not tremendously orgainized. Quote, “I’m not going to be a teacher, but more of a coach…..well, I’ll teach also but….”  Nothing was really laid out too well (at least not to my liking) so that I could expect relatively what was going to happen.  After experiencing this, my history and government classes seem very easy. So, I did manage to find the Chemistry class – while I’m not super excited about it being on a Saturday, it just means that I only have to take four more classes for my Associate’s degree – then I can transfer into University of Texas Arlington.

    Having had the previous experience of bombing classes, I know better now when to cut and run. There’s a difference between sighing because of the workload, and having a horrendous sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake.  Last night was one of those nights in the Logic class. Since I was taking it to fill an elective spot (foolish me), I did visit with the academic counselor yesterday so that I could fully understand what I was doing.  I pretty much just jumped into it all without looking too closely, but that logic class was a little too close to the edge.

    Maybe if I had been in school more recently, I could have handled it, but having not been in school in about thirteen years,  overwhelming myself is not a good plan.
    All in all, I’m very happy with the choice I made – I did it before it was too late, and I’m still on my way.
    The music class should be fun.


    📂This entry was posted in Guitar School 📎and tagged

  • “Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.” Mark Twain

    Posted on by The Thousand Yard Stare Comment

    SO – How was the first day at school?
    Not as nerve wracking as I expected it to be.  While it is assumed that I’m some punk “kid” because of my green hair (which did go over very well by the way) I know that I’m a little less than twice the age of most of these kids. It’s definitely nice to have this kind of perspective – every single class had a “get to meet you” and the majority of the kids in there sounded just like me when I was their age: “I don’t know what I want to do/be”

    [UNDECIDED]

    So it’s nice to at least kind of know what it is I’m going to do.

    Current plan: Xfer to UTA and get a degree in music production/recording.  Couldn’t hurt.
    My classes seem pretty straight forward. The “Concepts of Physical Education” I’m kind of looking forward to. It’s being taught by a track teacher and he said we can work out however we want to. I’m already working out four times a week – so this should bump it up a bit. Not sure how the information is being graded though in his class. The other two classes are pretty self explanatory.
    Sooooo…..I probably need to be practicing guitar right now, but unfortunately, I’m not. I made a semi-mistake on eBay and ended up snagging a J Yuenger sig model Ibanez…..that will be pretty much like the guitar that I’m having custom painted right now….to look like a sig model J Yuenger guitar. My “custom” won’t have a floyd rose, but the sig model probably needs to be repainted anyway.  Apparently it was damaged when being shipped to the current owner and he had it airbrushed. You can see it in the photo which looks a little blue/green right by the knobs and the stars are a little more shiny – which is probably why I got such a good deal on it.  Depending on how well my “custom” is coming out,  I may send the sig model to him to redo the entire front. We’ll see when it comes in.

    !BYs4Ou!B2k~$(KGrHgoOKisEjlLl5Pu2BKi-gT!fog~~_35

    *sigh*


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