Journey's End

After getting up at 4 AM GMT and doing 30-some hours of traveling, I arrived home at around 2 AM last night. It's so wonderful to be back.

A hearty thanks to everyone who has followed and kept in touch. I really appreciate it. Hope to see around now that I'm home.

With love,
AE

Day Is Done

I think my Film History final went pretty damned well. I wouldn't say I killed it, but I still did fine, I feel.

I came home, watched a movie, then napped a short bit (the previous night had been rather sleepless). Went over to Luke and Rebecca's to finish up me and Luke's game of Gears of War 2 and say my goodbyes. Then at 9, Matt, Tom M and Emma and I went to the Fat Cat one last time. Then we goofed around at a kid's playpark again, and finally came back to my room to watch a zombie movie and I said my goodbyes to them as well.

Things are winding down pretty quickly and summer is officially on. I'm ecstatic, to say the least.

Shine

Today I took a walk on several of the lengthy trails near the UEA lake. It was gorgeously sunny and I wore shorts for the first time in ages. Alcest proved to be a beautiful, perfectly fitting soundtrack. Summer is hardly far away.

In somewhat sucky news, my workout routine has gone completely down the toilet in the past month or so. I keep procrastinating and it's ridiculous. Time to remedy that...tomorrow. Haha.

All RIIIGHT

So, Poe seminar got snatched up. BUT I'm taking a seminar on Oscar Wilde instead. Not bad at all!

Sari scored me a single in my sophomore-year stomping grounds of Tuttle. It's apparently the biggest single in the building, and faces the quad. So excited right now.

Dawn of Victory

As of five minutes ago, all three of the following huge projects are printed, in my backpack and ready to be timestamped and turned in tomorrow:

-2,700+-word paper on Double Indemnity's marketing campaign (Film History)
-1000-word analysis of three different news documents/clippings (Journalism)
-2000-word final draft of my short story, "Grown-Ups," and an additional 500-word critcal self-commentary (Creative Writing)

Now all I have left is a gigantic final in Film History on May 5th. But that's virtually aeons away at this point...time to head to London, then Germany this weekend! Spring break is officially in full swing!

One of the Better Times of My Life

As I'd mentioned, Tom M, Matt and I made the trek to London by train last Thursday, March 26th, to see Portland, Oregon's Agalloch at the Camden Underworld. I first discovered the band from recommendations and praises from friends back home. In the fall of freshman year, I picked up their then-newest release, 2006's Ashes Against The Grain, and was blown away by the cold atmospheres, brilliant melodies, tasteful composition and the mixture of various genres I enjoyed. This band's sound harnesses the power of the natural environments of the Pacific Northwest. I can listen to them anywhere and teleport my mind home.

I discovered a few months ago that my buddy Aesop-- who I know from the music download blogosophere for his amazing, varied blog Cosmic Hearse (WARNING: NOT NECESSARILY SAFE FOR WORK) has been drumming for the band for over year and is a permanent member at present. He was down to hang out and talk music, and I was stoked because the guy seriously has an encyclopedic knowledge of most genres I enjoy, be it death metal or obscure '70s rock. Add to this that Fen, whose new album The Malediction Fields is already in my top albums of the year, were opening, and the show quickly became the most excited I'd been since seeing Carcass' first US reunion tour last September.

Tom unfortunately forgot his ticket for the show at the guys' flat, so he had to catch the train after Matt and I. Once we arrived at Camden Town after tubing their from Liverpool Street, Matt and I dropped our stuff off at a hostel he'd booked, only a few blocks from the venue. After that? FALAFEL! There's a really good falafel place situated right next to the Camden Underworld, and I indulged for my first of three times in less than 24 hours.

I converted Matt, too.

Happy boy.

Eventually, we met up with Tom and got in line a little late for my liking...and as a result we-- and many other people-- missed a hefty chunk of Fen's set. I met up with Aesop and had just begun to converse when I realized Fen were playing and apologized for having to cut things short. "Go, go!" he chuckled. "We'll talk, man."

The last two songs I caught of Fen's were fantastic. The stage at the Underworld is pretty small and the venue, while not too cramped, is plenty intimate. Good sound for all bands throughout the night, and Fen were playing tightly.

Fen's The Watcher.

Next up were the German Dornenreich ("realm of thorns"), who sounded remarkably full for only being a trio of guitar/vocals, violin and drums. The drummer did some great off-time/folky stuff too.

Dornenreich: German for "muscular posing with awkard facial expressions."

Then, the moment Matt, Tom, myself and several hundred others were waiting for. Agalloch, being not only humble but also on a shoestring budget and touring minimally to acommodate guitarist Don Anderson's collegiate teaching job, had no roadies and set up the entirety of their gear before performing. Oh man. I was cautiously optimistic, especially after reading the reviews on the TrueMetalSeattle forums and the band members themselves openly admitting they don't have much time to rehearse (presently, they all live in different states!). So I remained positive, but wasn't holding my breath.

Then Jason Walton hit the fog machine, John Haughm (vocals/guitars) looped guitar drones and lit incense at the front of the stage, and the band ripped into a chronological set beginning with "Hallways of Enchanted Ebony," from their debut record Pale Folklore. And then "As Embers Dress the Sky." They didn't miss a beat. Aesop slammed. Jason pedaled bass notes steadily kept it all steady and together. Don was incredibly energetic and nailed his leads. And despite internet rabble about his live vocal struggles, Haughm's singing was one-hundred-percent SPOT ON, clean and growled alike. So you can imagine the excitement when he announced the next song in the set was "In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion," from their second record, The Mantle, which is some of the band's best and most epic songwriting. They went straight into "I Am the Wooden Doors," from there, then once again looped guitar drones and quickly switched axes to play the drop-tuned Ashes Against the Grain stuff-- "Not Unlike the Waves," "Limbs," and "Bloodbirds," then returning to The Mantle for an encore of "The Lodge."

This shot pretty adequately represents the crowd response throughout the night.

But the fun didn't stop there. Long after the audience had filed out, I got falafel again and met up with Aesop and Jason outside. When the band went to go to a pub with a few other friends and The Watcher from Fen, Aesop beckoned us to come with him. After much wondering, the group of us settled on a rock bar. I had some great conversations and laughs with Don, Jason and Aesop.

Aesop and myself: blog buddies!

A stoked Don, a satisfied Asa, and an uncharacteristically
gruff-looking Jason.

I briefly conversed with Haughm as we all walked back toward the Underworld for the band's bus curfew. He proved to be just as down to earth as the other members and told me about a zine he'd done the design work for. It turned out Aesop had a spare copy with him and he gave it to me. Awesome. Haughm's work with earthy tones never fails, whether in zine form or in Agalloch's record art.

All in all, one of the best music-related experiences I've ever had. Thanks to the Agalloch dudes for not only being fantastic musicans, but also kind people.

Further Successes

Got back my last two Journalism assignments today. The one worth 25% of my overall grade was a 65, and the one worth 10 was a 66. That's two A-'s on the British grading scale! Woo woo!!!

In other good news, it looks like I still have work at Avalara this summer when I get home-- a true blessing in this current economy.

This weekend: jamming Saturday during the day, then huge party at night, then lots of work to be done on Film History paper.

Anyway

I'd like to apologize somewhat for the two overdramatic previous post; it's times like those that are one of the reasons why I'll never have a personal blog aside from this one. And even then, this blog will cease to be updated upon my return to the States (duh, right?).

A few good things this week. First, I was updated regarding the UEA-to-Goucher grade conversion scale, and it turns out a 65 and above is an A-. Thus, I got an B+ and an A- on my first and second Journalism assignments, not a B and B+ as thought before. Not too shabby.

Earlier in the week, I banged out my second and final story for Creative Writing. Initially I had this plan to do a serial killer thing, but I couldn't get inspired to write anything but the ending. As I was going to sleep I had this idea about getting in a fistfight with an old gradeschool rival, wondering who would win. And from there I got up the next day and worked the plot out backwards-- some twentysomething guy gets a bizarre invite to an elementary school reunion, has an awkward time, and ends his trip to his old stopming grounds by fighting a former playground nemesis. I don't think it's anything groundbreaking, but it was a lot of fun to write.

Finally, I got to work on the 2,500 word paper for Film History due April 3rd. I already have 800 words from that one night! I'm both amazed and happy. It's on marketing of film noirs and how despite being seen as men's films retrospectively, they were marketed plenty to women as well.

This week: bang out more on paper, secure work, buy tickets for a Memorial Day trip to Maryland for Maryland Deathfest (the annual death metal festival with the most amazing lineup to date). Oh, and get back to the gym.

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.

New Day Rising.

Today made everything feel a whole lot better. Got up at 9, went to orientation at 10:30ish and met two girls, Casey and Kristy, who know a friend of mine at Dickinson where they go to school. Sat with them for the following lecture, then had lunch and met Jonah and Ian, who both hail from the Bay Area. After a good 36 hours of relative social isolation-- no friends, no cell phone, no communication-- this was all refreshing, to say the least.

Did more grocery shopping in town with the newfound friends, then headed back to the somewhat off-campus area called the Village where Casey, Kristy, Jonah and the girls' friend Anekit live in flats. We made ourselves dinner from the various groceries previously bought and laughed a lot, then headed to the campus pub. Had a little to drink, and confirmed for the umpteenth my dislike for all beer that's not Lambic Framboise (thanks, Bolesta).

After the pub closed down, we all headed into town once more to the Mercy nightclub, a truly refined and flashy joint. Dancing was not my scene, nor was it Anekit's, so we walked around the mostly-empty streets and talked. Good times, really.

I need to sleep so I can meet Jonah and buy a phone tomorrow. Love to all.