Tunes and Travels

Today I booked train tickets for this weekend. I'm heading to London to hang out with Goucher friends also abroad in the country-- Debra on Friday night/Saturday, then Kellene, Rafael, Kevin (visiting from his studies in Berlin) and Sarah from Saturday night to Monday afternoon.

I just got back from a rehearsal space, where I jammed with Ben, Tony, Jon and Vicky, a singer Jon discovered through classifieds. All of us except Ben (who was too busy) picked a song last week and after practicing on our own we jammed them together tonight. Jon picked the Pixies "Gigantic," Tony picked the Libertines' "Don't Look Back into the Sun," Vicky picked the Queens of the Stone Age's "Go With the Flow," and I chose Alice in Chains' "Would."

The rehearsal space is in this killer local rental place and was furnished with bass and guitar amps, a loud PA, and most importantly for me a cheapo beginner Yamaha bass. We began just by jamming for a short bit on a little slap lick I came up with on the spot per Jon's prompting and that was a good time. We started with "Go With the Flow," and we all heard Vicky's voice for the first time-- very solid! Then came "Gigantic" which is about as simple as songs get and it came out just fine. After "Don't Look Back into the Sun" came "Would," which I was stoked on because I really wanted to hear a female voice belt that huge chorus. Vicky sounded quite awesome and it's the only song of the four I play bass with a pick on...very fun but easy bassline.

We ended with a 15-minute-ish jam and agreed it was a good time. I need to pick a tune for next week-- I'm torn between the Foo Fighters' "Everlong," Dinosaur Jr's "Raisans," or the Doughboys "Fix Me."

I got good feedback from the dudes and really felt great playing music with other people. It's something I rarely get to do, and I'm quite grateful to be invited into the fold.

GREAT SUCCESS, vol. II

Today I received some work back from my Creative Writing class. My professor enjoyed what I'd written-- an exercise about suffering from stupidity and subsequently, dehydration while climbing Masada this summer, and a short story about an office worker who finds out mid-argument his fly has been open all morning and Cap'n Winkie has been making a subtle appearance (hey, one of the assignment's plot options was "business man in a public setting with his pants' zipper down").

Then I FINALLY got back to the gym and really took my time. As always, it really cleared my head. Shortly before I left school, I benched 180 once and that was my big achievement until today. I benched the kilo equivalent of 176.4 pounds 4 times the first set and then 5 the next! Awesome. One day I'm hoping I can reach 200, and then go beyond.

Lastly, I returned to my room to find an email informing me that yes, my Creative Writing class here can count as a 300-level seminar towards my English major! This really frees up my schedule next year, because otherwise I would have to take three required seminars (one creative, two literature).

Pow! Right in the kisser!

Okay, not exactly.

Tonight we had a much smaller Wing Chun class than normal. Rob was sick and couldn't make it and only me and four others showed, so Ray taught. He and I did footwork/sparring as usual and this time I got to apply the blocks and punches I'd been learning, integrating them with fast foot movement. Several of my punches-- whether meant to or not-- hit home, one of which gave him a small but noticeable mark on his forehead. Ray remarked I had made "massive improvement" by keeping my arms in proper position (elbows low) and moving my feet properly. I'm not exactly a violent person, but sparring is fan.

Meanwhile, my forearms hurt like hell. Ah, well.

Long time, no post.

Plenty has gone on. Friday I cabbed to yet another pub to meet up with the Toms, Matt, Emmsy, Luke and some other friends of theirs. When we moved onto the Wildman Pub, something crazy happened. A heavyset man with long, fringey hair strode quietly in. "That looks like Shane Embury," I said loudly.
"Hah," said Tom N.
Then I noticed the man's friend had a Morbid Angel hoodie on. Hmm. And the possible Shane Embury had a Repulsion patch. Yeah, it had to be him. Suspicions were furthered when a dude looking like Mitch Harris stepped in. So Luke and I went up and very briefly conversed with them. Nice dudes.

Did a whole lot of nothing Saturday, then tonight I interviewed bassist Alex Webster, of famed and controversial death metal band Cannibal Corpse. They came to UEA opening for Children of Bodom. Alex was a class act and a down-to-earth human being...we talked for an hour! Once the interview's properly transcribed, I'll post it on my music blog (which you should check out if you haven't yet).

Bad news: my tendonitis is acting up a bit. I found a great exercise program to help with it, though, so I'm doing that daily and am going to further efforts to keep myself off of the computer.

Wax On, Wax Off

Tonight at Wing Chun, Rob (the instructor) complemented my punching numerous times during drills.

Then, when Ray was going over one-one footwork training drills with Ray and when I was out of breath and couldn't keep up, he popped me one in the mouth.

Another Night in Town

Last night I headed out to Tom's house to hang out with him, his housemate/my other friend Tom (they're of course differentiated by their last name) and a firstyear girl, Alex. We watched Hard Boiled, which was unanimously called badass, and then took a cab to Store's Pub, a tiny lil' establishment with a pool table and a cozy back room.

I'm not amazing at pool, and for my own abilities I did alright. Tom N (Autopsy sweatshirt one) completely slays, as does our friend Jon who met up with us there. Later, Jon's friend Ben came and of course music came up in convsation; turns out Jon drums, Ben has played guitar for eight years, and they're looking for a bass player to jam with. They've invited me to join them Thursday at their practice space in town, which is apparently fully equipped with rental gear and a "loud as fuck" PA system. I'm substantially excited-- I couldn't bring a bass out here, only a Mexican-made Fender guitar, and I've never really had the opportunity to consistently jam with folks in the past few years.

Both Toms also said that yeah, they'd be down to travel some over the month-long spring break we have. The prices out here, so long as you book early, are jawdropping-- most of RyanAir's flight's cost 10 pounds!

Finally, a bit of good stateside news: someone wants to buy my old Hamer Import Standard bass. It served me well as my first practical bass guitar, and I think the shape is quite awesome, but the neck weight and width was just not working out for me. Some dude on Talkbass mentioned in a thread discussing similarly-shaped bass that he missed his old Hamer Import Standard and wished he hadn't sold it, so I got in touch and it turns out he's interested. The only tough part now is that he'll have to wait sevenish months till I get out east for my final year at Goucher, as it currently resides with a friend. Hey Chris, if you're reading this, it means a lot of freed up space under your bed!

Milk

Last night I had the great pleasure of catching the new Harvey Milk biopic, Milk, at Cinema City, a very cozy and well-kept independent theater in downtown Norwich. I'd previously only seen Sean Penn as classic stoner Jeff Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and to say this was a step up in performance would be a huge understatement. His portrayal of Harvey Milk is strong, passionate, positive, and so very humorous in the face of incredible adversity. "How does one teach homosexuality?" he asks the homophobic, conservative Senator Briggs, who makes just such an allegation in a public debate. "Is it like French?"

I could go on, but suffice it to say I was crying in the end. What the movie made me truly realize is how much I support freedom of sexual orientation, and also how scary religious fundamentalism can be.

Also, the "Twinkie Defense" could be the biggest crock of a legal move I've ever heard. My goodness.

GREAT SUCCESS

After the teacher didn't email me back I was sweating bullets-- the class meets tomorrow (Thursday) and after that it would be too late. Hell, it's to late already-- 3 weeks into the semester! I popped into the School Office-- an office that serves as an essay turn-in station, a reception area and a mail room for the Schools of Literature & Creative Writing, Film & Media Studies and others-- and left my information and number with one of the women working at the desk, who said she would contact the teacher for me and inquire about my switching in.

I just now got a call from the same receptionist, who informed me that the instructor "would be delighted to have you in the seminar." YES! So long, TV history.

Updated schedule:

Monday: NO CLASS. Wing Chun 7-9 PM.
Tuesday: Film History film screening, 2-5 PM.
Wednesday: Film History lecture, 10-11 AM.
Thursday: Journalism, 10 AM-12 PM. Creative Writing, 4-6 PM.
Friday: Film History seminar, 3-4 PM.

Halfway there

It's so late in the term to switch courses (or modules, as they are referred to here) that the only way for an overseas student would be 1) my Goucher advisor emphasizing the class' importance to my graduation, thus getting the okay from the Taught Programmes Office and 2) the approval of the teacher. So far, part 1 is complete and the answer to part 2 is being anxiously awaited by yours truly in an email back from said teacher. I'm hopeful, but am trying to ready myself for the possibility of sticking it out through TV History for the rest of the semester.

Fingers crossed.

Okay, I'll be real. British TV history is really looking a class that will bore the life out of me. Yes, it's important to British history and culture and blah blah, but I simply have no interest in it or television anywhere else (save for the occasional episode of South Park or It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia).

So per the recommendation of an upper-classman friend, I'm trying to switch into a journalism writing course. I'll have to do all the backwork, obviously, but I'm at the odd point and time where I want some homework. I feel like there's not enough to keep my mind going and I end up wasting time on the internet or watching friends get drunk. Neither is really productive nor entertaining. Oh, and I really like journalism.

In order to pull this last minute switch, I'll have to plead my case to Jeanette Pavey ("I'm an English major, can't you see?!") in the Taught Programmes Office tomorrow morning. Then likely another pleading to the course instructor. Fingers crossed.

Good times, finally.

The whole Deviant Society bit did yield one (well, a few) good outcomes, in the end. A few weeks back I basically browsed through their Facebook group roster, looking for folks with solid taste in tunes, and there was some dude named Tom, wearing an Autopsy shirt. I shot him a message and we got to talking about death metal and the like and last night I met up with him and his two housemates at the Marquee pub. Good guys into good music (Slowdive and Tom Waits also came up in conversation), and I think we're going to go see Agalloch in London in late March. Like me, they expressed their discomfort with the "Deviant" label and the preference that musical influence not define one's lifestyle.

Not much else to report, really. Need to stock up on food today and do laundry soonish as well.

Thank GOODNESS

Otter tours Scotland in postbag

A postman who rescued a baby otter on a Scottish roadside took her on a 220-mile tour in his mailbag.

Kenny Wilson, 50, of Tweedbank, in the Borders, spotted the cub - named Orla - lying on the A7 near Stow on Sunday.

He stopped his car, popped her in his mailbag to keep her warm and then bought her kitten milk and fed her through the tube of a ballpoint pen.

He then took the otter with him on a Mini car enthusiasts' rally before taking it to an animal rescue centre.

The six-week-old otter was said to be doing well at the Arthurshiel centre near St Boswells in Roxburghshire.

Mr Wilson was travelling on the A7 road just north of Stow in the Borders in his 1999 Mini Cooper when he spotted Orla lying at the side of the road.

He explained: "She was frozen and I did not give her much of a chance to be honest.

"It looked as if she had either been abandoned or her mother had been hit by a car."

Mr Wilson said the otter had come from the nearby Gala Water and "looked terrified from the noise of the cars and would soon have been hit".

"I popped her into the mailbag I had in the car and carried on up the A7 and just kept hearing little squeaks and sucking noises to imply she was hungry," he said.

"I stopped at Tesco at Dalkeith and bought some kitten milk and fed it through the tube of a ballpoint pen.

"She seemed happy enough and during our journey she kept crawling up my neck looking for more warmth."

'Doing well'

Mr Wilson said everyone at the car rally was amazed when they saw the animal.

The pup was initially named Ozzie but when it was discovered it was female Mr Wilson's wife, Jayne, came up with Orla.

The postman added: "Orla seemed to enjoy her 220-mile round trip round the Trossachs and when we got home we fed her some crushed chicken and put her in our cat Ebony's basket as she decided to go out for the night.

"Not many otters have been on a tour of central Scotland.

"The next day we contacted Arthurshiel and took her over there where she seems to be doing well."

Shona Middlemas of the rescue centre said the brown European otter was being fed and kept warm.

"We are hand-rearing her just now and she stayed last night in the warmth of our living room," she said.

"I have been taking advice from people on the best way to look after her.

"Kenny did a good job because it sounds as if she would not have survived."

However, she said the rescue had not come without expense.

"At the moment we are feeding her fish every two hours and she has got some appetite," she explained.

"She is going through about £15 worth of salmon each day."

Original story here.