Drumset...

I finally got some pics of me on MY drumset, so here's one. I just bought a Remo Master Touch Picollo snare on e-bay, and i'm really psyched about that too. Grades are up, things are swell, everythings going great!

Here's a little story about a guy that did something neat...
There was once a scotch-inuit man by the name of Ronald MacDonald who went east from Washington to sail on a whaling ship. His ship left from NY and went to the seas around Japan. A few years earlier some Japanese fishermen had washed up on the shores of his home and MacDonald had interacted with them for short periods of time. This interaction bred within him a strong curiousity about the largely isolated island, so he told the captain of his whaling ship that if they were ever to come near to Japan, that he wished to leave the ship and set out for the island. The captain, thinking MacDonald was nuts, agreed, and they set sail.

When they reached Japan, MacDonald reminded the captain of his promise, and was given permission to purchase a small whaling boat and provisions from the Captain, and set out on his way. When he came close to Japan, he found an unoccupied island and practiced skuttling his boat, for he knew the Japanese would treat him harshly unless they believed he was ni distress. In his practice, he lost a good number of his provisions, but was able to successfully scuttle and rited his boat. He spent the night on the shore, and set for the mainland. When he came to what he believed to be a large inhabited island, he scuttled his boat and made it ashore, only to find where he landed uninhabited. He again rited his boat and set sail, this time heading for an island from which smoke was rising, sure to encouter some locals. As he skuttled his boat a third time, the Japanese on shore began to swim out to rescue him.

The Japanese took MacDonald prisoner and catagorized all his goods, but treated him very kindly. They kept him isolated and diod not let him see outside any of his quarters. Soon, he was transported all the way to Nagasaki, where he again was placed in ver small quarters and allowed few freedoms. He was asked many questions, but was treated harshly when asking about Japan. The yearly Dutch trader left just a few days after he arrived in Nagasaki, so the Japanese held him, gaining knowledge of the wes as time passed. Eventually, a US ship arrived to pick up a handfull of sailors who had mutinied against their captain, and were treated very harshly by the japanese, two of their shipmates dying in the transportation to Nagasaki and harshness of their captivity.

The captain of the ship that rescued MacDonald and the sailors kept very detailed notes on their accounts, and of his treatment in the harbors of Japan. These accounts along with coaxing by several officials within the US government, are what lead to Perry's expedition and the opening of Japan.

Interesting, no?

The Latest Craze...

Thank god the cold war's over huh? So do you guys think we'll invade Iran? Syria? My brother is returning to the third world. He'll be in Africa till April... I can't remember which country. I think its Angola or something. How great is that? We're so powerful some countries arent even important enough for us to remember their names.
"One more kid never get to go to school, never get to fall in love, never get to be cool..."

"All those precious waisted years..."

...

Whenever we get what we think we want we wind up only wanting more. When those that know what we truely desire deliever, we are happier ever more.

Fun

This weekend, went home and hung out with an old friend (After the post below) And had an excellent time...

The sun seems a little brighter today.

I washed my truck today as well!! It was awsome. It's a sexy bitch.

Now I'm sick.

I can only hope that life seems as clear for you all as it does for me now.


Your author.

stoner story

Here it goes.
So I call a buddy of mine to hang out a few weeks ago and he tells me he's been hanging out with this group of guys, jamming playing bass and drums. So i go to this crappy warehouse behind these run down auto businesses wherein lies a series of garages, on of which contains the "recording studio". So I'm hangin out, meet these two guys who are obviously stoners (theres a huge bag of weed on a table as soon as I walk in the door), and I wind up jamming with them fairly hardcore for about an hour or less.

Turns out what I call "jamming" is me wanting to be in their band, at least according to their bass guitarist. So the next day I get a call and this lead band guy makes it clear he thinks I might be their next drummer, encourages me to quit Hampden Sydney to join his band and stop living off my parents. He then informs me that he's really glad his job is stable now, and that he's settled up all his PO stuff from his last jail sentence, and he's getting his life back on track. After this segment of the conversation, he casually reminds me that he thinks that i'm spoiled. I'm at this point, still optimistic.

So tonight, I head over there to jam once again, and while we're playing this guy sells some pot to a guy I knew from YEARS back, who was really good to see again... just never had to stop a practice so that the pot could be dealt. So then, the leader of this group and me and some 19 year old kid start jamming and we're not getting too bad a sound. The lead guy messes up a few times, I mess up a few times, and the guitarists style is such that you (and possibly he) cant really tell if he's messing up. (Sounds like Ler from Primus mixed with Clapton and Hendrix, and then a LOT of distortion) The lead guy seems frustrated after we practice, and tells me i need to "tighten up". So i'm thinking, we just need to practice more... right.

So, the kicker is, come to find out this lead guy who i was thinkin is at most 22 or 23 is almost 30 years old, and has spent thousands of dollars on this "band" idea, who is the proud owner of a recording studio which consists of a carpeted garage, a fridge and two boomboxes. So, now i'm a proud member of a sucky band with a 30 year old basist whos trying to "make it" with a couple of boomboxes and pot wages, and some job which I imagine is only partially legitmate. From what I hear, he like to make it clear to his friends (who are mostly a decade or so younger than himself) that he doesn't live with his parents. He also once again so gleefully implied that those of us who are getting education and grew up with families of higher income than, well, i guess his, are worse people because we don't know/have (factor x). At these moments i remindmyself that a guy who's served jailtime and serving pot is telling me that he's better than me. I've only known this guy two weeks.

I'm no longer optimistic.

Well, the tendency of some people of lower status than the GIANT american middle class to berate people like myself and my fellow Hampden-Sydney students for being spoon-fed, spoiled and not knowing a hard days work do so often without any knowledge of personal histories. I have met more people that I'd like to admit that I judged as being rich or spoiled, who turned to be people of very troubled backgrounds who worked their asses off to get where they are. I have also met quite a few who grew up with ample means, but still worked some rough jobs as any other student or teen would. I'd actually say that these sorts would fit into the majority of people that I've met. I don't sympathize with such generic criticism, espacilly from a 28? yr old stoner.

That aside, this whole situation has had one really awsome benefit. I've been logging time on this awsome little Pacific drumset that sounds pretty badass, even with the shitty ass rim job (no pun intended 8P ) these guys did installing the heads. It plays great, looks SHWEET and sounds so good it almost made me regret buying my Remo Mastersound... ALMOST. Unfortunately, these guys have NO clue what they're doing with a drumset of that sort, and have makeshifted a brand new set together... the heads were installed off center, which before this point in time i thought wasn't even possible. Its kinda like meeting a kid you really like and finding out the kid has abusive parents. If I had 100 bucks and two hours, I'd have that baby soundin 10x better and looking shweet.

This is me on the set.