Random Things

So it's Sunday, my progress day, again and I guess I have a few things to talk about.

The Winter X-Games are on, I've been downstairs watching it and doing homework and various other things. I've seen some snowboarding, skiing, snow-mobile...ing, etc. Well they just had the "Mono-skier" event. This is for people who have found themselves either paralyzed from the waist down or have only one leg but still wish to ski and compete. They ski using like this make-shift chair with a ski on the bottom and two poles with little skis on the bottom for extra balance. The problem is I guess the X-Games made their course way way too hard because in the first heat, only one guy out of like 5 dudes made it to the finish line. So there are like handicapped people strapped into ski-chairs going over huge jumps and coming down hard, probably injuring their one leg. Why is this on TV let alone on the X Games? I'm all for letting everyone compete but I do not watch the X Games to see people whose lives must already be filled with hardships falling down on the slopes.

On a much happier note, I've been doing something this week that I have always wanted to do: record my piano playing. My mom got me a webcam for Christmas so I could Skype with my family but recently I've discovered that it is possible to record videos using said webcam. I started recording in the basement of Wilke in the music practice room but the piano is awful and also the room wasn't good for recording (thoug neither is the microphone on my webcam). So I went to the Music Practice building, which is right next to the Delta Upsilon house (great house). The problem with this place is that it is ALWAYS filled up. I was amazed at how many people 1. knew about this building 2. are better at music than I am. I don't know what I was expecting going to a school with Jacobs.

So anyone who's ever walked into that parking lot to the right of Sycamore Hall (if you're coming from 3rd street) you've heard someone playing piano or violin or opera or something in that circular building. Armed with my laptop and webcam, I decided to explore this building and hopefully find an empty classroom with a piano and maybe even some good acoustics. I found one and recorded three videos before some asian guy who spoke maybe 3 words of english decided to come to class half an hour early so I had to leave. I thought about trying to find another room but I had been recording for a while and needed to do other important things like school and eat.

Then the next day, Friday, I had one class so afterward (did you know afterwards isn't a word? i didn't) I went back into that building and to my dismay, there were no deserted classrooms. But I did notice that there were practice rooms on the same floor so I didn't give up hope. Until I saw those were full too. At this point I was more amazed that this many people played instruments. On a Friday. And every room sounded amazing.

Then I decided to explore the second floor (there are 5 floors not including the basement). I was ecstatic when I realized that this whole floor was practice rooms. There must have been at least 40. So I went to everyone before realizing that absolutely every room was full. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? go play some video games or something, stop being so damn productive. I literally went to every room, looked through the window and with each person I saw practicing and working hard I grew angrier. This anger says something about my own work ethic.

Not losing sight of my goal, I went upstairs to the third floor which, to my delight, was exactly the same as the 2nd floor and once I found an empty room I ran in and locked the door. Three videos were recorded in that room. Also, I connected my google, youtube AND facebook accounts so any video I upload to youtube goes on to my google and facebook pages. This is an easy way to get some feedback on what people think and also connecting with other musicians on youtube/facebook/really youtube and sharing videos and opinions. It's amazing and it is so tempting just to keep recording videos and exploring youtube. But this is the redemption semester and there's work to be done.

http://www.youtube.com/user/ultimateisdumb.

friend me/subscribe/watch/ignore this shameless plug of my youtube channel.

To conclude this useless post, I'd like to tell a story of how I got my phone back after leaving it in Jimmy's car Friday night. So I get into my room and oh shit my phone's on vibrate in the Jimousine. So I can't call him and tell him he has it, obviously, so I think what other ways can I contact Jimmy? Skype. You know when you press video call on Skype and there's that option next to it that just says call? And you're like "Wait, I can call someone's phone using Skype?" Maybe you actually call peoples phones using Skype all the time and I haven't thought that outside of the box yet but this so randomly occurred to me while I was phoneless in my room. So I open my laptop, hook up the webcam from my backpack, and get on Skype. Then I'm like oh shit I don't have Jimmy's number. What do I do? Go on facebook and look at his groups, find one of those groups titled "my phone fell in the toilet, can i have yo numbaaaa?" and see if he wrote on the wall. He was a member of several of these groups and in the first one I found, his number was the first one on the wall. So, after being pretty proud of my problem solving skills, I type Jimmy's number into Skype and press call. It doesn't work. Why? It costs 10 dollars to make a Skype call to a phone. Why? I have no idea.

So I'm weighing this decision for a while: do I pay 10 dollars to get my phone or just get it tomorrow? What if he doesn't answer because it's a number he doesn't recognize? Is there a way to send him a text? Does that cost money? I rationalize that I had come this far, there's no way I'm stopping here. I try and figure out how to pay for this call and apparently Skype has a PayPal. I sign up for one only to be told that I already have one from when I paid for God knows what on some other site. I click log in, put in my email and my universal password and now I'm on my PayPal homepage. Which was where I needed to be but...how do I take money from my account and put it onto my PayPal account? Because it wasn't linked to my debit card. There's an option that says "link bank account to PayPal". Again, I weigh this decision: do I trust PayPal enough to link my money with them? I rationalize that I get a call from Chase (my bank) telling me when a withdrawal or purchase has been made using my account (which is beyond annoying) and I also get a daily account summary, telling me my balance and what transactions were made that day. Thus I would know if PayPal was trying to pull a fast one on me.

If you're still reading this waiting for a happy ending, I'm sorry but this blog is no asian massage parlor.

I click "link my account" but then it asks me for this like 7 digit code followed by my pin number. I know my pin but I had no idea what that 7 digit code was. I then realize that after thinking of using Skype to call someone, going on Jimmy's facebook to get his number from one of his groups, and then agreeing to pay for a Skype call and linking my bank account to PayPal this isn't going to work. I throw a fit.

Finally I go onto facebook chat, tell our mutual friend Matt to text/call him and tell him he has my phone and Jimmy came over 30 minutes later to drop it off. I still feel incomplete.

That's it. I'm gunna go read my other classmates blogs and leave some comments. Hi Mom!

Zach