January 28, 2007 at 11:20 am · Filed under Music
For my birthday, Clear purchased me a ticket to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky.
Not being the huge symphony buff, I dont have a whole lot of critique on the performance. I was in the very last top row, which made it a bit of a strain to see. I closed my eyes and listened to the music for the most part. The orchestra played a short 10 minute introduction. Then, they took a break to regroup. The orchestra moved to the back half (as you can see in the photo) and the dancers came out for part 1. I got out my seat and stood to watch the dance portion. They took an intermission and came back out with the full symphony, but the dance was done. Part 2 was the portion one would recognize from Disney’s Fantasia. In front of me was a family of bobbleheads. They were really intent on the piece and were nodding their heads like it was a rock concert.
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The ballet dancing was interesting to watch. There were 3 males and 3 females dressed in casual dance shirts and pants. I wish there was a backdrop, costumes, or maybe some props to help paint the picture. I was also a little disappointed that they didn’t act out the second half. It seems like the most relevant (and well known) of the piece with the rituals and sacrifice. But I suppose they wouldn’t have been able to fit the entire orchestra on the stage. After the dancing act, Man! The audience applauded forever! I mean sure it was good and they were out there for maybe 20 minutes, but the dancers had to bow four different times. They took each others hands walked to the front, bowed, came back, clapped, took hands again, rushed the front, bowed, came back, and left the stage. Then, they came back on stage and did it all over again. People. It was good, but stop clapping, and lets get this show on the road.
The concert experience is nice, but I dont know if I fully “get it”. The directors receive a ton of praise, but what are they actually doing. They’re just a visible metronome. They didn’t compose the piece. It’s already laid out for them, and they’d be a fool to change anything about it. The only thing they do is speed it up or tell one section to play louder or not. By any other director or orchestra, a concert of this magnitude would sound exactly alike. If I were to buy a CD of the performance, I feel like I’d get the same listening experience out of it. And do I really need to get all dolled up and bump elbows with some of these people. Aside from the bobbleheads, many of the people looked all dressed and weren’t even paying attention. Did you come just to get all dressed up?
I dont know. Just my 2 cents.
January 24, 2007 at 6:12 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
I’ve been really drained as of lately. As most of you know I started a new job at the Board of Trade. One of my friends hooked me up with this job. I’m a clerk. This best analogy of this position would be a waiter. The traders make orders in the pits. I take the orders and put them in the computer. I give them an analysis of their positions. Then, they use the information to swing their positions. I’m always on my feet and moving around. The hours are short, but it’s a physical drain from what I’m use to. (You know…sitting around all day.) My feet hurt. Everyone wears tennis shoes, and I’ve been running around in dress shoes. I’d like to buy some new clothes. In three days I’ve gone through my closet of dress pants, shirts, and 1 tie. I want some tennis shoes that look classy with khakis. Today, I forgot breakfast and went until 4PM on an empty stomach. There are things I want to learn on my own outside of work, but mostly I want to lay down and rest when I get home.
January 18, 2007 at 2:08 pm · Filed under Lifestyle
Everyone’s been doing some sharing and I thought it was about time I did too. No one needs to comment, but I’m just telling a chapter, as more will follow.
During, college I never put much thought into which career I’d pursue in the AF. And to be honest, I quickly learned that my engineering degree wouldn’t have made a difference. I’d be entering with a technical degree and they would’ve assigned me to wherever they would’ve needed me. Of course you can pursue a specific field, but what I mean to say is that your degree was never the deciding factor. Some people graduated with a computer science degree and would receive a pilot slot. Some people graduated in biology and were placed in maintaining ICBMs. The judgment of your character was more of a qualification than your degree. After all, the military would entail more school and training in any career field. At the time I was decommissioned I was pursuing a job as navigator or air battle manager (ABM).
If I wasn’t pursuing these I probably would’ve been placed in a civil engineer (CE) position. Well, what would I have been doing as a CE? It’s hard to say or imagine. I might have been working with the government, paving runways, or research and development. For all I know, they might have thrown me into Intelligence in front of a computer terminal. Aside from a select few careers like pilot, ABM, NAV, or OPS, every other title was vague. My life is in the AF’s hands. Show me a cast and mold me.
I thought my chances in the AF would be more exciting and well defined as a NAV or ABM. I would have been constantly traveling, had minimal duties, and instant stature. Being an astronaut or pilot is like being a rock star. You were lead singer. Being a NAV or ABM was like being the bassist or drummer. No glory, but all the perks. As you know, my eye sight is too poor for pilot, and I never fit the criteria of a bonified rock star.
However, I had to change schools and leave behind my cushion-y Chicago zone. Switching schools and rubbing elbows with a whole new cadre proved difficult. What do I mean? Well you get recommendations from the cadre, who are the officers in the ROTC department. They are your mentors and professors. Most of them know you from the time you enter college until the day you graduate. They’re your judges and jury. And for me, it was one disaster after another.
The first time I met the SLU Commandant of Cadets (the liaison between the cadets and the officers) I had the most uncomfortable experience. He asked me the most simplest of questions, “Tell me about yourself?” And I completely drew a blank. I didn’t want to start on a depressing note, but I had nothing positive to talk about or feelings that I wanted to share. Dad had passed away nearly 8 months ago. I failed 2 classes at IIT. I’ve been in a complete tailspin applying to SIUE, re-registering for all my classes, and trying to save my scholarship. We sat in silence for 10s before I shrugged my shoulders. He asked, “Where did you grow up?” “Oh, ok. Well I grew up in *blah blah blah*. I’m living with *blah blah blah*.
The second failure I had in the SLU program was that I was completely alienated from everyone else. Sure, I had to meet all new people. I had to travel 45 min to SLU twice a week, but communication was another invisible barrier. There were NO ROTC students in the SIUE engineering program, and since I spent all my time in the engineering building. I never saw any fellow cadet on campus. I asked numerous times to be put on the cadet emailing list, but I never received an email from the cadets AT ALL. These emails explained where we’d meet, what uniform to wear and any last minute changes (which would happen all the time). I told another student to forward me the emails, but he forgot all the damn time. I missed parades, meetings, and tests.
Man, … the test. There was one lame winter day when SIUE decided to cancel classes. I arrived on campus to see the parking lots were empty. So, I went to see one of my engineering professors. He said “Classes canceled. Go Home.” I asked do you know if SLU is canceled, too. I have an exam today. He said “Yes, all closed.” Just to make sure. I drove out to SLU and the ROTC office. That place was empty except for the secretary. I asked are classes canceled, today. She says “Yes.”
Turns out that classes at SLU were canceled in the morning. My ROTC professor sent an email to remind everyone that the test was still on for tonight. Well, LA DEE FRICKING DA! I dont get the emails and I went home for the rest of the day to boot. I show up the next week and I get “Mers, I need to see you after class.”
I also have to mention that the ROTC class was 3 hours long and once a week. At the same time, I had a required SIUE class. When I finished my SIUE class, I had to book it to SLU and catch the final hour of ROTC class. It was of course my problem to catch up on the material and get all the notes from class. The professor of this class was also a Lt Colonel and the head honcho of the SLU detachment. No brownie points for Mers. Occasionally, she’d let us out early. Super! 45 minute hauling ass, sitting in class for 15-30 minutes, and now I’m driving back home for another 45 minutes. All of this to save face.
But still, in this SIUE/SLU period, I was in the 5 year program, while everyone else in ROTC was still in the regular 4 year college program. The majority of them had easy majors like poli-Sci, business, or (God Help Me)… english. Seriously? You paid >$10K for a private school to major in english and go into the AF. It ate me up so much inside when I had to drive back home to finish an engineering assignment. While they had a one 10 page term paper for the whole semester. Erghhh… and no I dont want to hear about how you’re going to some party after class. Some of those cadets were so stupid too, with no common sense or professionalism.
So, yeah, I was still trying to give a damn at this stage. I still had that goal of NAV or ABM. It was paramount that I did everything to nail the career now, because this chance would never come again. The AF doesn’t spend the money training you as a civil engineer only to bump you up to a NAV or pilot slot later on. As Eminem would say, “You only get one shot. Do not miss your chance to blow.” And I figured it’s now or never. If I get stuck in engineering, at least I had tried. So, I was exploring every possibility to better my chances and do my sucking up. I even considered taking pilot lessons to get a license. That would have looked good on the cadet resume.
But, as you may know, I found out that I had psoriasis and that was the final kick in the face. For one more semester, I didn’t know where I stood as an AF cadet. They sent it into headquarters, and I wouldn’t hear back for a couple months. After I was told that I wouldn’t be commissioned, I still gave a crap to the rest of the cadets. I had a position of decimanating information and coordinating operations in the leadership class. I still did it and finished my time in ROTC. All the hours I poured into ROTC resulted in a useless college minor in Aerospace Science. I kinda wonder what I’d be doing now, if I never opened my mouth about my dry skin.
January 17, 2007 at 11:43 am · Filed under Food
I failed again at making pudding. This time I used Soy Milk and my new baby whisk, but it’s still liquid nothing. I’m either using too large a container to let the pudding settle in or it wont work without real milk. (which are really the only requirements for pudding)
It tastes good, but it’s no fun drinking pudding out of a cup.
January 15, 2007 at 11:31 am · Filed under News Events
Over the holiday, I found some cool articles and items to share. The first is from bicycling magazine: Flight of the Pigeon. It’s a lengthy and informative read about the most popular/communistic bike in China.
A traditional Flying Pigeon weighs about 50 pounds, comes only in black, has one speed and is barely stoppable with its push-rod brake. Yet, if you’re like most cyclists in North America, as soon as you hear about the bike you mull over the idea of owning one to use as a townie, commuter or grocery runner.
For some reason, I could see Clear riding around on one of these. I wouldn’t mind one myself. Then, Business 2.0 had an article on the Chumby. This is a techy item but full on awesome.
Introducing the chumby, a compact device that can act like a clock radio, but is way more flexible and fun. It uses the wireless internet connection you already have to fetch cool stuff from the web: music, the latest news, box scores, animations, celebrity gossip…whatever you choose. And a chumby can exchange photos and messages with your friends. Since it’s always on, you’ll never miss anything.
Some of you might use personalized pages like Google’s. Well, imagine the personalized page in a small wireless device. This project was started by a group of hackers, so they encourage creativity and people to do new things with it. It’s not out yet. And, they’re probably working on a default setting or easy customization for consumers.
Business 2.0 also highlighted Enviga.
Enviga is a Nestea carbonated canned green-tea drink being jointly marketed by the Coca-Cola Company and Nestle Switzerland. According to Coca-Cola, Enviga burns 60 to 100 calories per three 12-oz.(330 ml) cans.
Carbonated Green Tea? Yeah, it sounds a little scary and I think it might be. They use Green Tea to promote the product as if it’s natural, but ya know it cant be. It’s suppose to burn more calories than what you take in by drinking it. I’ve heard that drinking ice water has the same effect, yet, I am still intrigued.
For my birthday, Clear purchased me a ticket to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra: The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky.
