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Loaded my first tank full of film today in photography. Man, that was a rough going. I didn't really get any experience doing it before this, so I had quite an experience. I realize now I should've cut the leader off with my right hand so I don't cut myself on the thumb, like I did today. Ah well, all in a day's work.
It's November 14th and I wore flip-flops to school today and was quite comfortable. Who woulda thunk?
Lot of Christmas decorations coming out now, especially on those Home Shopping Networks. I love that little sign they have in the top right of the screen... 40 Days 'Till Christmas with a little snowflake border.
I thought you did. Joe, Dillon, and I sat around this Veteran's day and we produced some good music as a result. We finally recorded a Beatles song--"Revolution", a real rockin' tune with some killer guitar and awesome vocals.
If you're lazy, you'll click on this link to Our Media listen to it: http://www.ourmedia.org/node/96411
Or, you could be a real friend and download it here: http://ia300203.us.archive.org/1/items/TheBacklashRevolution/revol1.mp3
Us three had a sweet time makin some music together, a real productive meeting. Enjoy!
I know you all care so much about my grades, so I decided to post them. Here's the run-down; 99 in photography, 100 in spanish II, 99 in bible history, and 91 in honors english II. How do you reckon that one out? Oh yeah, because tests count for half our grade... almost forgot.
Halloween came and went. I got home and feel asleep with the history channel on airing something about the "real" Dracula. Man, he was a funny-looking dude.
But hey, it's finally November and when I walked into english class today there was a note on the board that said, "54 Days 'Til Santa Comes." Which is always encouraging.
And if you haven't yet checked out my last roll of color film I'll be shooting in a while.. check some of the shots out here.
I'm required to have three rolls of black and white film shot, processed, and printed in nine week's time. Gonna be fun.
So, we got Friday off from school. Which was set aside to get our stuff together for the talent show at my church. It didn't get together. So, the band's out and I'm in for a solo act. If that's even feasible this late in the month.
But, on Friday I did see "Saw II." Man that junk is gory. "Saw I" is slightly better, I think. "Saw II" has too many stereotypical characters for my taste.
I think I'm making about a 99 or 100 in all my classes except for english. I have no clue what I'm making in there, maybe a high B or low A?
Today has been a long day. Took a day-trip to Raleigh to set up my sister's new laptop. Fun times. I perused the CD store and the bookstore with all sorts of Mac goodies.
Back to reading novels again in english. It's All Quiet on the Western Front; it's pretty good so far. That is, I don't mind it.
Glad you asked. I've been working on this site for my group in photography class featuring Annie Leibovitz. Check it out here. And keep on checking it for updates, etc. and let me know how it's coming. I do love the feedback.
My photography teacher wants to enlarge this picture to show some people who know a thing or two about photography. Wonder what they'll think... ?
Dillon and me jammed around on Sunday afternoon since our two other members kinda ditched us. So we recorded some guitar/drum tracks. They're really primal, man. Will post those soon.
That pic's from "Animal House" by the way... great movie.
Kinda disappointed in TV networks lately. Think about this scenario: I get home from school with about every other kid in America at about 3:30 or 4PM and what movie do I find on the TV? "Scarface", man. Number 22 on this list. Kids come home and find this mess of killing and drug deals. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the movie; I own it. Why show it at 4PM, TBS? Why TBS, why?
"Animal House" was showing at about that same time on AMC; really great movie. Kinda dumb to edit it, though.
Anyway, I've ended this weekend on a few notes. We watched "A Knight's Tale" in english and handed in our analyzing song papers, I did "Karma Police" by Radiohead. And Dillon and I jammed around for a bit here, working on this and that.
Have a long weekend, hopefully, of jamming and rehearsing coming up.
T-minus 16 days 'till that talent show.
I've had a ton of big projects to do in nearly all my classes piled up on me. One for spanish class; where I was meant to memorize a play with a group of people. One for english; where I had to talk about Carl Jung with a group people (both were done in the same day).
Not to mention that 100-word, 70-odd question vocabulary test. Turned out to be rather easy.
And this project with a couple people we're doing in photography. We're meant to present a famous photographer, I chose Annie Leibovitz. Love her photographs of the Stones, Lennon, etc. So I chose to make a kind of a mini-site with her bio, photos, etc.
And today was homecoming at my high school. We won the big game. We also had this pep rally outside with all the usual pep rally actividies: sitting out in the hot sun, laughing at the occasional outburst, and getting out of class. The halls were a little more haphazard than normal today.
All this week I've been bypassing cowboys, people in banana costumes, people with bad face paint, and people with cereal boxes on their feet. Yep, it was spirit week.
But the rain finally stopped though and now I can move on with my "dry" humor.
Ah, Oktoberfest, the one day of the year where everyone is an alcoholic and German.
Yeah, it was kind of a dreary day like last year, but it was pretty fun. A lot of peeps around. And I even got (some) of a giant turkey leg.
Today was also the 215th anniversary of my church's presence in this county. So, we had a good lunch with some good people; it was good times.
OK, Levy's Leathers Unlimited, you got me to buy your fancy guitar strap. Why'd you have to look so good?
Got an email from a nice lady from Fuse.tv about my band, etc. Here's what she said:
Hey Aaron,
I really like your blog, you seem like a really cool person! I also like the sounds of your band very much, its very grunge, the cover for Nirvana is very cute.
My sister turned twenty-one today. Bon anniversaire!
It only seems like yesterday I went to that Paul McCartney concert.
By the way, if it doesn't stop raining soon I'm gonna have to give Noah a call.
Ever just sit on the bus coming home from school and just look out the window at the rain? Yeah, I didn't think so. But here are some songs just in case you like these sort of dreary days.
"Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Parts 1-7" by Pink Floyd
"Us and Them" by Pink Floyd
"Pyramid Song" by Radiohead
"Like Spinning Plates" by Radiohead
"How Can You Be Sure?" by Radiohead
"Everything It's Right Place" by Radiohead
"Talk Show Host" by Radiohead
"Off He Goes" by Pearl Jam
"What If" by Coldplay
"Square One" by Coldplay
"Since I've Been Loving You" by Led Zeppelin
and some more I can't think of right now. These songs especially work when your bus driver misses your stop and you have to walk up a huge hill to your house, like I did today.
Typing the rest of this post immediately after band rehearsal. It went well, man. We tried "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots, first time we played it all together. Didn't sound bad at all.
It's exactly one month till the talent show at my church. Hope we can practice a lot more between now and then (and find the my 15$ mic I lost...)
What's with all these grammar rules, anyway? For english and spanish? Oh, that's right, to test us kids on it. Which I have one for each language tomorrow; a parts of speech test in english and one for conjucations, etc. in spanish.
Yeah, I need to study big time. Didn't take that big grammar book home for nothin'
It's been a really long day.
Like I've said before, Sundays are for naps and "Dumb and Dumber." I watched that today (which TBS are always airing) and took a short, but good nap. Yeah, I'm really lazy.
I did get off my butt and do some homework; answering some follow-up questions on Siddhartha.
My folks took home some awesome barbeque from church; it's really good stuff. But, I've had my fill. No more barbeque for a while.
Finished up that roll of play film; the results can be viewed here. This time I took pictures of people, which is different for me.
Siddhartha isn't a bad book. Buddha thunk it?
In spanish class on Thursday I tried to play guitar and recite a poem at my partner and I wrote in spanish. It was a good poem, but I really butchered it by trying to play guitar. Did the tune for "About a Girl" by Nirvana, not sure anyone caught on to that.
Made a 100 on two quizzes today, actually, and I'm still waiting for the results of that Count of Monte Cristo test. Did I mention that was really hard?
Couple of pop quizzes in photography about certain processing chemicals. Luckily, I know my stuff, sorta.
Oh, and in spanish class today we watched, "Los Incredibles." Which in either english or spanish is a good movie. But some peeps had to ruin it and start talking.
The next major novel we're meant to read in english is
Siddhartha
. Man, the first few pages blew my mind.
Just got done analyzing some poems in english class; good times. Don't care too much for hauling that huge literature book around. Have a quiz? test, maybe? in there soon on parts of speech and parts of a sentnce. I'll be needing to check out a grammar book for that.
Love "play" film. It's nice just to mess around and take pictures sometimes.
Band rehearses on Saturday, let's hope we can get some good takes in.
Took a test on The Count of Monte Cristo today. And again, it counted for half our grade; hope I did well. Boy, that test was hard.
Whereas in spanish I made a 103 on the last quiz. How about that? Speaking of spanish class, the group I'm in are meant to write a little skit--"Obrita de Teatro"--and act it out. Yeah, I can't act for anything.
Getting ever-so-close to where we can actually process film in photography class. Nervous? Excited? We'll see.
Sam, John, Kenny, Alex, Aaron, and I hung out on Saturday night at Buffalo Wild Wings and caught some football and chowed down on some wings. It was a great time just hanging out and talking.
Had the band over the night before, on a Friday, to try and get to know our new drummer. Who happens to be a chick. It's all good, though. We just might keep her.
Which reminds me of the talent show coming in Novemeber at my church. The gig's getting closer.
Over the annoucements at school, they mentioned something about bringing pics in of a band you're in so they can be used in the yearbook. I want to check in to that and see if my photography teache can hook us up or find someone who can.
I think I need a haircut, too.
Just finished The Count of Monte Cristo I started a few weeks ago. Hey, can't say I hated it, because I liked it. Very much so. I urge everyone to pick up the abridged version and read it. It's a great novel.
Acing all my clases so far, except for that "B" in english. Which I can only blame on that test that counted for half our grade. Made a dismal "D" on it. Ouch, yeah. Hate that summer reading. Was making an "A" until that test came along and someone ruined the curve on it.
It's Wednesday, AKA "hump day", whatever that means. Middle of the week, perhaps?
Hope my dad stays safe in Florida, where there's a storm a-brewing.
Accomplished a great feat the other day with my feet... learned to salsa dance in the spanish club meeting. Yowzah, I'm sooo white; no rhythm at all.
A bunch of my friends and I went and saw, "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" last night. It really was a fun time. A lot of great laughs at inappropriate moments during the movie. Lot of people went out; probably because there was an away football game. Needs to happen again.
Emily Rose was such a nice girl, too...
Is what I read on the board today in spanish class signaling that we had a major test "today!" It was kind of dificil, but I think I did all right.
Someone pulled the fire alarm today and delayed that test slightly. Wish they would've picked a cooler day to chill outside.
Anyone hear about that Christian shoe store? Apparently, it burned to the ground. But the owner was happy because he saved over 2,000 soles.
Got some evidence, AKA my letter that was stolen my some weirdo a couple months ago.
Glad that guy was caught..."apprehended" rather, just to sound "official."
The letter mentions that if lost something of monetary value then call them and let them know, I'm gonna call and tell them I lost a couple hundred dollars. Yeah, right.
Yeah, it's that time again for my school's open house for sophomores thru seniors. For the past two years neither one of my english teachers have shown up, hmm...
Want to get in that dark room soon in photography.
My group, did, in fact, present that folktale I was talking about in the previous post. Sorta kinda new my lines, even though the first time I saw them were maybe ten minutes before I had to present. Fun times, that skit. Even though I can't act to save my life.
Maybe I can, did once in sixth grade. But that's a long story.
First time in a while I've played guitar in front of the class, though. Kinda nervous, but hey, I didn't screw up playing or acting.
Been waking up for the past few days with a stuffy nose. I also have a slight headache and my throat is kinda scratchy. Sounds like sinuses to me; bummer.
Was reminded that it's been slightly more than six months since I bought those flip-flops. Man, those things have been broken-in nicely.
I'm not sure what The Backlash (or Sunday Vacant) are going to do without a drummer. But, we're still on the bill to play the talent show at my church. One thing that kind of bothers me is, I'm on the list of "musicians" to help out any other musical acts... as a bassist. Now, I only play enough to get by and which probably isn't enought to be called a "bassist" but, we'll see, I'm sure bassists aren't in high-demand anyway.
Looking at some big, fat, 90s playlists on iTunes. Some of these songs I'd forgotten about like, "Save Tonight" by Eagle-Eye Cherry, "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon, and "Hard to Handle" by the Black Crowes. Good, good memories.
Wrote a song with a friend from english class on this folktale we were meant to read. Our group are making this musical-type rendering of the folktale, I think it's called a minstrel, though. I'm still not sure if we're meant to present it tomorrow or not, because I don't know ANY of my lines.
Since I'm only having a four-day school week, the days are meant to fly by, right? Wrong. Seems like it's supposed to be Thursday night, but it's not. And I've still got tests and quizzes to study for.
Taking my camera in for the first time to photography class. I'm just taking a stab at this... I don't think most people in that class don't understand half the things the teacher says. Some do and some don't.
Didn't even know we were meant to have a quiz in english today, but we did, anyway. Only missed one and got the extra credit. Just goes to show I DO have good reading skillz, with a "z."
My grandma's poodle is back in our household for a week or so, while they are vacationing. He's a hyper dog, he can't stay still for one moment. Which is why I gotta chase him down if he escapes. He's also very crafty.
Went to the Catawba County fair on Sunday. Also known as the cesspool of our county. Comes once a year and folks from all over came and saw the pretty lights and the racist clown, who you can dunk for a nominal amount of tickets.
Who'd want eighty tickets for fifty bucks? Not me.
Yeah, I got some sloppy shots of the fair with really long exposure. So, check them out, if you dare.
The Count of Monte Cristo is really not that bad. Kind of exciting, I guess. Probably shouldn't read fifty pages in one sitting, just so I can grasp it better.
So I had this test in english on the two novels, Les Misérables and Things Fall Apart. It was some kind of brutal. Hardly anyone pays attention that closely during the summer anyway and I wasn't expecting for my test to take up three pages. Hoping I did all right, since it counted for half my grade.
Started The Count of Monte Cristo on Friday. People who have read it say it's an excellent book; ah well. Not too crazy about the length.
Did go to the football at my school last night. People always talk smack about the other team, but no fights ever go down. Funny thing though; the opposing team spray-painted their school name on our spirit rock and they mispelled "Rebels." They spelled it like, "rebles." Had no idea people could be that dim-witted, ah well, they're just "reblious."
And after we beat them, all the fans stood up and gave us the finger. Which means, "hello" in Los Angeles.
Oh, and Sam's blog has been redesigned. Check it.
Looking over some notes from Les Misérables and Things Fall Apart since we're meant to be tested on both of those novels tomorrow. The teacher said it wouldn't be THAT hard, if we read each book in it's entirety. Which I did. But, I'm nervous anyway. The past few assignments I've done well in, let's hope I keep it going.
R.I.P. to my earbuds for my iPod. Just casually listening to my Stone Temple Pilots with the volume to end of the little bar and the left channel went out. Darn. Well, I guess I can score some replacements off eBay for five bucks or so.
How 'bout them gas prices? Remember when we complained about these rates? I think we should just follow my friend Richard's advice and take the cheesewagon to school. It's free; now that's a novel idea.
Photography is an interesting course. There are so many intricate details one has to keep referring back to. I bet with time I'll get the hang of it. Like I told Dillon, I know what I like. And I can seemingly achieve what I want in a photograph or art piece, but the logic it takes to get to it is what I want to learn. Thinking in terms of light, it takes some getting used to. Which reminds me... I need to make a chart of sorts of the aperture and shutter relationships.
For english I must remember this sentence: The armadillo, Dan, lept fearlessly from Denmark into Penny's organized suitcase--inadvertently suddenly scaring Penny. It's a mnemonic device for the fifteen words to use in analyzing the author's style. Also, I think we've a test on Les Mis and Things Fall Apart soon, as well as a twenty-word vocab. test.
For spanish dos I have to recall some countries/capitals for a test, maybe. As well as some nationalities, etc.
Test in Bible history tomorrow, should consist of the disciples, book of Matthew, and all that. Should be good times.
And what three things do Winnie the Pooh and John the Baptist have in common? Both eat honey, both wear a fur coat, both have the same middle name... "the."
I'm meant to be looking for good depth of field photographs for photography class... luckily, I have Flickr. Lou's got my back and so does Nick.
Yeah, so the quote, unquote "jam session" was pretty much a flop. Not all of us were on the same page about which songs to play. Just generally a sucky day.
Why The Beatles STILL rock.
My snazzy t-shirt arrived in the mail today. It's very cool, I like wearing it around.
Getting The Band together was a success. It seems we're getting together tomorrow evening and jamming. Let's hope it's still ON and we'll see what happens then.
Brought in this photo in to photography class on Friday as an example of a "bad" photo. But I guess the class thought it was cool, oh well.
Of course you are.
The first official varsity game of football at my school was tonight. Sam, Alex, John, Joe, and some others and I walked around shooting the breeze, so to speak, mingling. It was good times like always. Just can't wait till it's colder weather.
Have some homework over this weekend, but nothing major or tedious. Just some bible -reading and writing work. And english doesn't scare me so much anymore.
Let's hope The Backlash (or Sunday Vacant) can practice on Sunday; fingers are crossed.
It seems I'm back at school now. This semester is going to be pretty interesting.
Homeroom is all right; Mr. Neely is a swell guy.
First period is photography... oh, boy. I can't wait to get in that dark room. The moment I walked into the room I sat down in my seat I used all semester last year in her art I class. Old habits do not change.
Just like when I forgot to take off my lock before summer break started. I'm sure they had a tough time getting that thing off my old locker.
Second period is english; I'm scared.
Third period is spanish; that class seems easy enough. Mr. Richardson is a cool dude.
Lunch is my favorite period, though.
Fourth period I'll like; seems like a laid-back class, that bible history.
Now, how the hay am I going to make it from one end of the school to the other in five minutes? Stay tuned...
Well, it appears this site is over two years old now and what do I have to show for it? One hundred posts. I didn't get to keep my 90 posts from Movable Type.
One set of notes for Les Misérables have been taken. And school starts tomorrow. 8 AM sharp.
I filled most of my day with some high-caliber television. VH1's "I Love the 90s: Part Deux" series. And I do love my '90s. I caught bits of 1990 to 1992. And I just saw the last part of 1996. Those were certainly good times.
Apparently, this guy portraying Blackbeard is quasi-famous. I remember being disappointed when this guy came out during the R.O.W. trip because they hyped a "mystery" guest. I saw him again on the History Channel commenting as to the whereabouts of the real Blackbeard's skull.
The Backlash surely hope you buy one of these t-shirts, kudos to Shahid for the font face, etc.
On a completely different note, my sister got called back to do college "Jeopardy."
The days slowly ebb to hours left of my summer vacation. Tomorrow is the freshman orientation at my high school, and it seems like it's been a LONG time since I went. I remember blogging about it, though
I should probably be taking those notes I've been talking about for the requirements for the class. Some of my friends lucked out and got english second semester and don't have to have the notes this soon.
I like the new editions to Threadless. I like the new shirts so much in fact, I bought this one today. I love me some puns.
Dillon phoned me up today and invited me to a matinee showing of, "War of the Worlds" and I gladly obliged.
The theater was a nice escape from the ninety-degree weather. The AC kept this AC (my initials, by the way) from getting hot and annoyed.
See any good previews? Yeah, I did. "The New World" looked rather interesting.
Fo' days left of summer, man.
Geez, I've tried to finish typing this post about three times. Distractions, distractions. I'm sure you missed some great puns, though...
That reminds me... my grandma recently acquired a land yacht, pimp 'mobile, or a white, 1980 Cadillac Coupe Deville. All power. Seats are really comfy and all that. Cannot wait to drive it around.
I can see it now... The Backlash headling every coffeehouse and retirement home bingo game. Well, we'll see how that goes if we can ever pracice more, we might just play a gig or two.
Gonna try and make a night of it, so to speak, and record some sans drums songs.
Wish us luck.
Whilst cleaning out files, etc. from my site, I found this photo buried admist the old Movable Type files.
I'm glad I recovered it. It was taken the day after Sam's birthday when we went to the mall to spend some of his money. It was a cold January day where such memorable photos like this one (that Sam kept on his binder for a long time during the 8th grade) and this one. A classic day, indeed.
I'm stumbling through Things Fall Apart but, I have maybe twenty pages left in it.
So boring, this summer has been.
Thanks to Sam, I have Alice in Chains' Unplugged album; it's really great. Nearly comparable to Nirvana's Unplugged record.
Picked up this CD, from my friendly-neighborhood record store before guitar lessons. Guy didn't charge me tax, thanks, man.
Fifty more pages left in Things Fall Apart
When one needs to ask; a saying by my friend Richard:
"WWRZD?"
What Would Ronnie VanZant Do?
There's nothing like putting on my favorite Stone Temple Pilots album and taking a shower after golfing with my old man. I think it got rid of that headache I had, or maybe it was the Tylenol, hmm...
Didn't hit well at all, I think he can agree. Just wasn't on today.
Up until today no one has ever honked at me while I've been behind the wheel. I was slowly drifting over to the turning lane on my left side, and I made sure and checked my blind spot before I went. This lady comes out of no where and almost got me. As I saw her drive past, her little kid peeked up his head and saw my astonished face. And I saw his as well, his mouth was wide open.
I remember doing that when I was that younger. Perhaps I still do that without knowing, but I'm sure I wasn't setting a good example for this future driver.
Check out some of the color schemes I made today.
Yes, that's true, but like most of my friends, I'm also lazy. I plan to be done with over half of Things Fall Apart this weekend.
I had all summer to read/take notes and yet, I still wait till the last week. Smooth.
While I was out shopping with my mom, my sister, and my grandma yesterday, I saw a sweater that struck me as something Kurt Cobain-ish at Banana Republic. It reminded me of his t-shirt he wore in that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video. I didn't get the sweater, but I did get some cologne. (Insert "Smells Like Teen Spirit" joke here).
One thing I stumbled upon while browsing eBay were these sunglasses. Very cool, remind you of something?
Picture 368, originally uploaded by DwarfMcDougal.
Thanks to Scott
Quite sometime ago I bought this hat from cafepress.com and I was seemingly excited about having my site embellished on a trucker cap. I felt sligtly ripped-off because the hat turned out more of a baby blue than I had hoped. Nonetheless, I wore it to school on hat day; pictured here in the giant mirror. People thought the hat was kind of cool, I even think I got more hits on my site. That pic was taken more than a year ago—I'm surprised I remember my password, etc. to login to Cafepress to begin with, I've been a member there since 2002.
That graphic is really crude since all I had at the time was Paint and MS Image Composer. Turned out rather nicely, considering.
If you want to buy that hat... (and I know you do) go here.
With a precious two weeks and three days left of summertime, I was complied to wrap up the last-minute books and notes They want me to have completed.
I felt the need to be ostentatious at guitar lessons and let my guitar teacher hear The Backlash. He said we sounded good, and I think he liked the vocals, especially.
I took the above photograph more than a year ago, and I tried out this cool LOMO effect in Photoshop, it severely improved the original photograph. I think I'll try this with a couple more shots.
By the way, anyone want to smell like "teen spirit?"
Hey, I finally know what I'm taking next year:
First semester:
1. Photography
2. Honors English II
3. Spanish II
4. Bible History
Second semester:
1. CP Civics + Economics
2. Geometry
3. Honors Biology
4. Computer Applications II
Good times will surely ensue.
I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I recorded straight to my PC from my tape player with Windows Media Encoder. And I managed to get a couple of good takes out of it, the quality is about a thousand times better than the ones done on audioblogger.com. So, I have these songs, "Dive" and "Sex Type Thing" available for cross-media player users.
iTunes users: "Sex Type Thing"
iTunes users: "Dive"
Windows Media Player users: "Dive"
Windows Media Player users: "Sex Type Thing"
P.S. Check out Shahid's sweet redesign
