Much Better

After a good sit yesterday I'm feeling about 1000 times better. Still have stress to deal with and schedule mess to fix: gotta be more on-point with my classwork, job, and more. But I'm doing much better. That's probably also because I've spent the last half day listening to Clapton.




The man really is a diety.

Monica's Ghost got back into some song production, yesterday and our sixth tune - "Zing!" - is coming along nicely. It's a very different feel from a lot of out other stuff and I get to play around a little bit and it's even a bit dancy for the bassist. Thats very different for us, I'd have to say. Radio yesterday was also really good. Liz was there reading for her class (hourly news girl) and Tony and I had a good time hanging with her. We played *a lot* of music, as well, which just makes the show go by that much faster and more comfortable. We should plan some segments one of these days, but we're too busy and the time we spend together is normally on other endeavors (be they band, classwork, or the important 'just chillin').

And last night at Wawa they made a couple very key mistakes. Demerits are required:
(1) They forgot my mac & cheese. Now I should've remembered it wasn't there, but I was busy being the funny son of a bitch that I am and also I don't paid for that... so there. More even more crucifiable is (2) they put tomatoes on my sandwich when I clearly ordered no such thing. What was the guy doing? Just making sandwiches off the top of his head!?

Not that that's really anything that should bother me. And it doesn't. And importantly, it's Friday!

But I Must Say...

My DVD of Clerks X, the 10th anniversary Clerks edition arrived today, signed by Kevin Smith, along with a signed UK movie poster for Dogma. This poster is great and the extras on the DVD are incredible. I only barely cracked the surface for an hour this afternoon!

Get Up, Stand Up...

It's been a weird week, keyed mostly by the fact that I've led the first half of it with a very weird and kind of easily-flips-out mood. I can't explain it, but there's underlying things that seem to be stressing me out as of late. I'm hoping to be able to understand it soon. Soon would be nice. Today was actually a wonderful day until the nighttime obligations that came with RA meetings made me - at one or a couple points - yell or get agitated. It's not cool when that happens.

But that said... I have been good. At times great. I spent nearly my entire weekend with Sarah and it was pretty damn awesome - going into Manayunk Saturday to see a show and hang at a house party before basically chillin' all day Sunday was very very nice. I was lucky to not have tons of work to make such a weekend possible.

There's drama, though. Friend drama. Not necessarily with me, but it's building and slightly stressing. My hall director Sarah (aka Mildred) asked me if I needed to talk tonight because she thought I looked like I might be "snapping." That obviously does not speak well of my outward behavior. I need to really take a good look at myself over the next few days and make some personal decisions and goals, I think. That's how I'll figure out what's bothering me.

But in most areas (and the important ones), like is f$#&ing spectacular.

Broadcasting Live from a Basement

Tony and I are still doing that weekly radio show. It's calming down because we don't ever get together beforehand to talk about what we'll do on the air... that was particularly my fault today since I needed a nap today and then... it was suddenly time to go to the radio.

It's also Chris Greb's birthday... but he's not mentioned it at all and seems content to do his own thing about it. I don't know if I'm in a celebratory mood, but someone should damn well have their birthday celebrated in some light and the very least. We'll see what happens.

Back to the radio.

Big Check

Had a meeting with Mike Haggerty yesterday and it produced gold:



Yep. Forty seven dollars. What a last check! Well, not last, to be accurate... this check is for the short hours I worked for Graver during my week of RA training. I know.. kind of fun to see someone cutting a check for such a small amount. Meh. It was also my first pay day as an RA this year, and in my second year I've earned a $27.50 bi-weekly raise. So with these two checks this week, I'm in the money......

Unfortunately, that money and then some is all spent on some goods, gifts, books, GRE registration, GRE:CS registration, and a small stock of food (that is already gone and the drinks are to be gone shortly, as well).

Oh well. I'm having really great days thus far into the semester and things are going well. I need to buckle down quite a bit more on my work, but that's okay for now.

Ugggh

Just plunked down $115 on the GRE. I soon will have $130 more to spend on the GRE Computer Science exam. I just read through a couple sample GRE:CS tests and nearly died laughing: laughing at how much I need to study. It was kind of a gleeful laughter, though, because I still have all of my notes since I started taking CS courses packed away. And if you're familiar with my anal retentive note-taking, you'll realize how it pays off for me, now. The GRE death will be Friday, October 15. The GRE:CS death will be the following Saturday, October 23. Let the fun begin! The list of schools I'll be applying to, though, is kind of at a point where it will only be trimmed from. Not much being added, maybe just two I'm thinking of.

I finished two duty nights in a row on Saturday and Sunday and I'm glad I have off, now... until Friday. Why so much duty? Meh.... On a completely unrelated note, here's the view from the apartment we stayed in in Saint Thomas over spring break:




Ahhh beautiful.

Lengthier than Need Be

I haven't come down from my high, yet. It just keeps getting these very incredible boosts. We do this exercise at every staff meeting where you identify a high and a low for the week. And even my low has me laughing and smiling, because it's typically not something worth thinking about in any negative way. Tonight's staff meeting ran until quarter after midnight... and to get a pick-me-up, Kaes and I went to Wawa afterwards. I really enjoy those late night runs. Really get me talking about things and some good conversation comes by them, as well. Tony met us back at my room when we got back and the three of us hung out for about an hour or so... mostly talking about some of the recording plans for the band. I think we're really going to approach this seriously and tweak our five finished tunes while building up our four-to-five "drawing board" pieces. I've written another tune, Tony's sitting on two or three lyrics, Chris has a couple in the works, and Kaes is feeling the lyrical inspiration for the first time. I believe HT has a track we may swing some music to, as well. So that puts us in the 12-track ballpark, which is exciting. We may very well be scrapping the EP idea and just cut a full album. I'm sure if you read this you'll be hearing a lot more about this as I really know it, so stay tuned.

Today was great! I had theater class and we did our first set of exercises, which were so very refreshing and different. I felt like I was just fooling around and that I was removed from the university life - even if for just an hour on a Wednesday afternoon. I then had my first business administration course of the term and the professor is great... he's funny, motivated, and exciting, even though he's teaching arguably boring material. I'm looking forward to that course twice a week.

After some reading and hanging with residents, I met Sarah back at her apartment and we made dinner. And when I say we I pretty much mean she, because a few cut vegetables does not a meal make (and that was all I did). She made a peanut-sauce pasta which turned out really tasty. We were short on the vegetable quantity, but it all tasted so good. It was fun and felt good to actually be eating a full meal that was healthy (well healthier than any preservative-laden crap I would've normally made for myself). We hung out for a bit later, but she drove me back to Ray Street for a meeting with Davita around 8:30.

Davita and I whipped up the bulk of our first staff building program (RA business) and will put those plans into motion with Melanie in the coming week. Then it was time for the staff meeting that I already discussed (so I'll spare you the details that explain why it was dragged out for nearly three hours).

I also exchanged some great emails with Dad midday and got an email from Jeff Pan - who'd discovered thosekids.org in his web Google travels. He has been leading a pretty damn exciting life trekking the globe and really enjoying himself. I hope to be in better touch with him after all of these years. Always was a fascinating kid. And yes, Jeff, if you're reading this: we did make stupid movies in middle school. And you've no idea how famous The Z-Files really became amongst Branchburg kids when we got to high school.

But now it's time to complete some homework and get into bed.

Go VR Troopers!


Oh man that takes me back. What a fucking great day.

Logos of Rock

So last night I was telling you about the awesome Photoshop work that was going on before Tony on our Monica's Ghost logo. Without further ado, here's a sample of our rock logo:


I know that can be frightening to see two Mikhails looking back at you, but we've got two logos there with slight difference: obviously the band sillhouette (spelling) in the second tightens the image up a bit. Your thoughts are welcome.

Today I went to Carolyn's house barbeque for Labor Day and had a great time. I played a bit of parking lot football with HT, Tony, Greb, Q, and Jason, enjoyed some tasty grilled shrimp. I also fought over a pickle, made for some interesting video footage and other assorted fun... We also had all five band members together near the alley to end all album-cover alleys. So in that "too cool because it's so played out" kind of way, we propositioned Jess to take many band photos for our first photo shoot. We offered her sexual favors in return for her photography. Here are a couple album shots that came from the shoot:


Now try to tell me that's not the best alleyway in the world for your band's album cover. And we did that in style. But seriously, we're considering these three (particularly the one where I'm looking up at nothing) for our EP cover... which it seems we'll get into the studio by November. I'll of course keep you posted on that.

In addition, I started out the fantasy football season with the live in-person draft at Diesner's today. Very cool and fun, even though I had to put it together from the office while on duty. I think this will be a fun affair to enjoy throughout the season. Adds a bit to the rest of the games beyond just the Eagles'.

Sarah came over after office hours and hung out and regailed me with some really great stories about Chicago and her trip, as well. She came over and was on the phone to Star when she got here. He's doing well, but a visit to Virginia is definitely going to be in store in the not-too-distant future to see that crazy kid before he's off around the globe. It should be noted, too, that he's still got a spot in the photo collage slated to grace Monica's Ghosts first full album. Sarah was hanging out and suddenly it was after two and time to say goodnight.

Then I typed up my MIS homework, read a play, and am ready for bed. Have a good one, all! I'm still amped following about five of the best days I've had in a long time! Tell me what you think of the band logos and album artwork!

Monica's Ghosting

So... some more news on the rock front. Monica's Ghost is hard at work on our next tune, "Zing!," which will put lead singer and head lyricist Tony Bacigalupo back to the front of the writing machine. This one was up on fatdog a while back and we're tweaking it a lot, because it's going to have a completely different feel than originally discussed. We're still trying to pin down studio time and have contacted Tony's friend Matt to engineer us. We're planning to grab some time in the middle of the semester at the WVUD station production studio. I'll keep you posted. We're hoping to have about eight tracks (seven originals and our cover of Dib's "Punk Rock" tune) by the time we hit the studio. I suppose the next step in the process is to maybe work some local gigs. I'm not sure how much Monica's Ghost fits into the Newark scene, but we'll see what happens and how we can share our music to the masses.

Before all of that, I went to the mall with Kaes, Chris, Q, and Joe. We had a great time and I was able to buy the Garden State soundtrack and PCU on DVD (Rang up for only $8!). Excellent! Excellent!

We've off tomorrow for Labor Day and I will no doubt be attending a bit of a cookout BBQ at Carolyn's.

Swamania! and the Other Assorted Tales of Saturday

Tonight was an interesting night, but a great one in the end. I went out for a late dinner with Quentin and Yvonne to Friday's. We eventually were joined by Yvonne's friend, as well. Dinner was great. Good food and good company. It was spectacular, in fact, because I enjoyed myself so thoroughly.

As I was coming back, however, Mike Diesner was in one of my resident's rooms talking to someone in their bathroom. Turns out one of my residents came back from some event very high and very drunk. He undressed himself up the stairs, entered his room, passed out naked on his suitemate's bed... and puked... a lot. He was asleep in his own vomit and Diesner called the police. They helped him to the ambulance, he was rushed to the hospital, and we were left with a suitemates' room covered in vomit (Sidenote: a very large amount of drugs and more alcohol were found in this person's room upon police search). Chris was on duty, so he, Diesner, and I had to think about the best next step in dealing with the suitemates' things. We had the bare latex gloves, bag some sheets, and clean up the vomit that had sprayed onto the wall. It was a nasty, chunky, affair.

With that said and done, I finally got myself to Swam's party and met up with Liz. Leslie and Andy were on their way out. I also got to chill a bit with Gio - good ol' Russell Fellow back to UD for a visit. I spent most of my time there with Liz retelling some stories of the week and just enjoying myself. It did refresh me, however, on my general disdain for crunkfests. I just do not understand the point of them. People get sweaty, angry, and lethargic... and then try to play stupid games that don't make any sense to get sweatier, angrier, and more lethargic. The talks with Liz and Swam were reason enough to brave the tide, though.

Now I'm back. And Chris informed me that some more residents of mine got busted for crunktacular practice while I was out. What's the deal!? You're in college for seven days and you feel the need to drink down thirty packs with skeevy guys in your dorm room!? Nothing in my head right now could be farther form cool.

Ahh well. For me it was a great night.

Garden State

I wen to see Garden State Thursday with Sarah. Man that movie was ridiculous. It's so great. Not "make you jump out of your seat with glee" great, and actually more of a "this is kind of depressing" great, but damn it was good. I hope someone gets Zach Braff to write some more in the future, because he was perfect behind the camera as well as on. Natalie Portman is gorgeous and the perfect love. The friends are all well-acted. This movie is fantastic on nearly every front - right down to soundtrack, which is spectacular. I've already downloaded a few tunes from it and have been giving a good listen. If you've the chance, see it.

Then Thursday night I pretty much hung out all night after the movie with Sarah... taking conversation in all directions and on so many issues... excellent times, really.

Great and good and good and Great. Grood.

Back A Bit....

Into the wayback machine we go (or at the very least, the sortaback machine) to post for you some photos from my time home.

First thing: the time I got at home this summer (and for that matter, this year) was scant. That aspect of my summer job and its rooting me in Newark sucked. I didn't get enough of my fam and I really haven't had a straight period of time at home since winter vacation. That's a good length for me and it's pretty overwhelming to think about and it makes me sad sometimes. The time home, however, was all very good and I got to do some pretty awesome things.

Have you met my little sister? Molly Fiona McCloskey, who's been in the fam for nearly four years now, is the pup that's got it all. She's inheriting the "fatdog" role, but damn she's the sweetest thing. Take a look:




She loves the tug-of-war. That's a "sock monster" I fashioned for her at the beginning of the summer (or perhaps around spring break?). I like that second picture because it really shows the shark in her. God I miss having a dog when I'm at school...

Have you seen the Phillies new stadium? Because it's gorgeous! My Dad and I were finally able to get to a Saturday game between my summer job and the beginning of RA training. We went to the August 14 game against the San Francisco Giants. And man, despite the fact that the Phillies lost (what else is new?), it was a great afternoon. Check out some shots:




The stadium is pretty much breath-taking as far as sporting venues go. There seems to be no bad seat in the park. The field is gorgeous. The concessions are top-shelf. There is something there for everyone and I hope to be attending some more in coming years. Hopefully in coming years the team will meet expectations. Dad and I had a great time, though, and enjoyed some steaks later before heading back.

So that's the photo roundup of things from the end of the summer.

Radio Monkey

I'm sitting here in the studio of WVUD where I'm working my first radio show here with Tony. We have the "neoteric" block from 4:00p to 6:00p on Thursdays, which basically means I get to go search the music library's new drawers and pull out bands with cool names and we play their music. Carin is here, as well, down for the first football game tonight. We're hoping the Hens win it all again and I'm just ready for some football to get started.

Classes started Tuesday and everything's looking good. I'm excited about all of them (well Philosophy of the Mind seems really interesting, though I'm not "excited" about it) and this has thus far been a great start to the year. It's the effective end of the RA training communication blackout for me, now, so I should go back to posting more regularly to this blog and to working on projects like to ever-pushed-back next version of fatdog (which will eventually burn down no less than two homes because of its incredible coolness).

The whole "this is my last year" feel is not really kicking in, but it's time already to get those graduate school packets together. I haven't planned out exactly to which schools I will be applying and by the end of this week I hope to have a couple copies of my personal statement and be registerred for the GRE and GRE CS exams (which will cost a pretty penny, as many of you know).

More news is sure to come, but this radio thing takes some work!