A Proper Story: 2013

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

I kind of feel bad about posting this... :-/

Because it's short.
But I like to keep the blog updated somewhat...

Last week I picked up some music: the first four Coheed and Cambria albums and "The Hazards of Love" by the Decemberists. I recommend a listen to the latter all the way through and a smattering of the former. That's fun.

I really thought I had more to say, but I guess not. Hrmm. Well, I'll see if something comes to mind.

(That last line brought "Time"/"Breathe (Reprise)" to mind. Hooray for Pink Floyd!)

Good luck, everyone. I sincerely hope y'all don't really need it.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Getting My Shit Together

Woo, college...
Edit: Woah, it really has been a month...

In the last month, I've not been very good about keeping a schedule. Like, really bad. And not just with this, but with my entire life. It's kind of horrendous.

As a percussion minor, I need to spend a lot of time practicing the assorted instruments provided. I haven't been keeping up very well with that, so I've been stressed and tired and blegh. Today I decided that I would get my shit together...after sleeping through three of my classes. I now have the practice schedule worked out, and I hope I can stick to it. Woo!

Anyway, given that I haven't updated in a while, I've mostly forgotten the things I'd decided to write about. I have these two notebooks -- one big one that I keep on my desk and one small one I keep in my pocket -- which I write things in. I forgot to do that. A lot. But what I did remember to write down was a reminder to write about packages in the mail room.

To start, at the beginning of the year, all packages were handled by the deep, dark underground secret society of mail room employees (the distribution center that no one can find). Recently, I got a package slip telling of a small package waiting for pickup. I raced through the maze of building and elevators to find the distribution center. When I got there, however, there was a sign that read, "All small and medium packages will be handled by the people in the mail room upstairs." I sat there for a minute, trying to find my motivation, then I went back upstairs to the mail room. I went up to the counter, handed the worker my slip and my ID, and waited. When she came back, she was holding a 16"x16"x6" box. For reference, think of those big history text books you get in high school, then make it bigger. To put it simply, it was not small. And I had to bike back to my dorm with it sitting on my handlebars. (I really need to make a package sling out of duck tape...) It was a fun experience, but I wish they would be more reliable with their sizing...

And something that happened today! It was really early and I had homework to finish, but I was hungry. I looked in the fridge to find the leftovers that my roommate had offered me, but he had had the same idea earlier, so there wasn't much of anything there. I looked at the eggs I got for weekend breakfasts (I'll make it work one of these days...) and remembered something my father taught me back in grade school. Tupperware is microwaveable. I broke two eggs into a small Tupperware container, added some bacon I had left over from dinner, and microwaved it for two minutes. It came out puffy, but cooked and edible. I was excited. I burned my tongue.

Happy Monday, all!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

What's a Student to Do?

Sleep deprivation, forgetting to eat, getting locked out of important buildings, oh my!

Well, I had a music theory test a while back, but that's old now. It went pretty well: the only things I missed were definition things. Eh. That'll work.

More recently (last weekend), I tried to go practice my percussion stuff. As I neared the building, I heard construction noises and was surprised to see workers putting in new stairs. The current location of the stairs is the former location of all of the buildings wiring. In case you've never been in a small room while playing drums (any instrument, really), it gets really hot and uncomfortable really fast without air conditioning. Given this state of affairs, I really couldn't bring myself to practice. On Monday, I found out that I had misplaced my stick bag. I was freaking out. At some point I calmed down enough to think about where it could reasonably be. The answer? The percussion studio! So I went back to the studio in the morning before my lesson (for which I needed my sticks) to see if my stick bag was there. I got to the door, pulled out my key...and noticed that they had changed the lock to a card reader. We have a standard swipe-able ID that every student and faculty member has, but we don't have a good method of adding and subtracting permissions for them. I went to the office of the person who would have a key card for me, but she wasn't there, so I continued to fret through music theory. After class, I rushed back to her office, got a card, and ran to the studio. The card didn't read. I was really put out, but I figured I should do something useful and went for food. When I got back from food, I looked in to the studio and saw one of my percussion mates, who let me in and asked about my card. I told him it didn't work and we practiced for a bit. On my way out for my lesson (same building, separate room), I tried my card to see what would happen. It worked. Flawlessly. Every time since. I guess they got the permissions up to date.

Last Sunday, I got to choir rehearsal early to check out the electronic drum set. It was cool, and, given about an hour, I can make it work, but that's beside the point. [pan to point] I put the drum set back (didn't have the hour to spare) and hit the lights. Pretty much literally. The percussion closet used to be a confessional, so it's a small room. The only light is one of those attached-to-the-ceiling pull-string-power ones. Without really thinking, I hit the string with a coil of cable I was holding. The light turned off, but something was wrong. I looked at the cable and saw the string hanging broken from the end of the coil. I was stunned at first, but then I realized that this was an easy problem to fix if there was string left hanging from the light. I checked with a flashlight, then, seeing that there was some string left, started planning my ascent. The room is small, probably about 5 feet wide, but it's actually fairly tall, at about 8 feet. At about hip height, there is a little elbow rest for praying for forgiveness. It's also a great step for climbing the room. I got a foot there, then had to work out a way to tie a square knot with only one hand. My solution: if you're leaning on the opposite wall with your hand, you can probably do the same with your foot. I shifted around so I had both hands free, tied the knot, and got down. Worked like a charm. No one's the wiser. Hehe... I wish I could do more of that... (In my notebook, this story is noted as, "climbed a confessional".)

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Yay, College!

I've been busy. Give me a break.

To keep myself organized: Vocal rig, 9-Volts, challenge coins, rational conversation, Awesomenauts.

The vocal rig. This thing is friggin' awesome. I'll get a picture up in a bit. Anyway, I went over to a friend's dorm to watch a movie the other day. After the movie, we sat around and talked for a while, then she asked if I would help take the packaging from her last package down to the recycling. This package had been full of Dance Dance Revolution pads. DDR pads, apparently, come with a puzzle-like foam padding insert so you don't hurt yourself. She has her own, favorite DDR foam padding, so I was tasked with taking down the new padding. We took the boxes and padding down to the recycling place, but there was no trash can large enough for the pads. In trying to figure out what to do with them, I remembered: I'm a recording arts major and a musician. AND my roommate had been thinking about setting up a place to record vocals (he had the mic equipment, but dorms are loud). I took the pads back to my room, showed them to my roommate, and we got to work. Sadly, the foam was less sound dampening than anticipated, but we had a few extra towels and sheets that we put up to shut out the outside noise. It turned out really well for the most ghetto looking thing in the world. I'm happy.

After we set up the vocal booth, I went looking for 9-Volts for my roommate's acousto-electric guitar. I think the strangest thing about this place is that the book store stocks D-cells and C-cells, but no 9-Volts. Think about the last time you needed a C- or D-cell. I can't remember that. 9-Volts, on the other hand, are used in many places, like any auditorium with belt-pack mics (there are a very large number of those.) But no, I had to pick up some from the local CVS. I guess it was good exercise, but it was pretty annoying.

If you don't know what challenge coins are, follow this link because it isn't particularly important to the story (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin). The only part that does matter is that the loser of the challenge buys drinks. Because I don't drink, I don't have much practical use for my Eagle scout challenge coin. Actually, I do. The coin is large, flat, and metal, making it actually pretty good as...a guitar slide. I feel a little guilty using this token of honor as something so simple, but I have a deep respect for people who can play slide guitar well. It's crazy.

During the conversation my friend and I had after the movie (see above), we got to talking about sports. What is a sport, how is it defined, does it have a concrete definition? I took the "anything is a sport" side and managed to have the most logical and complete argumentative conversation I have had in months if not years. It was kind of cool. Then I started skipping words and we decided that I should just go home.

I picked up a game off Steam recently: Awesomenauts. It is an arena shooter with similarities to League of Legends, but I never really got into League. The intro to this game consists of a heavy rock, borderline metal beat with the silliest of lyrics over the top. It's hilarious. And every time you win a game, the singing voice comes in over distorted guitar and screams, "AWESOMENAUTS!" You should look at it if you have a chance, if only because it's so absurd. They were on Kickstarter, so you can see an example video there, I think.

Woo! I got through all of the things I thought of!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Assorted Week-Thoughts

"Few notable things" leads to an oddly formatted page.

Recently I've been talking to someone who seems to get every single obscure reference I make. It's kind of cool to be able to say some piece of a reference and have my audience understand it, but at a certain point it makes me feel like I'm not an individual anymore. Of course, that's my inner hipster running loose, but still... Anyway, earlier in the year Alex gave me a book, The Name of the Wind, in which there is a scene where the lead starts a line from an obscure play and the person he says it to finishes the line. I read that right after I'd figured out that my friend has a similar (though slightly more expansive) world experience to me. She can always lose me on a reference, but I've only been able to manage it once, and I don't even remember what it was...

My mother has a standing offer to her children that she will proofread our papers if we ask her to. Well, I was running close on a paper (within 12 hours), and I sent the following message:

"Could you proofread this? I kinda sorta...procrastinated like a boss...

Love you.

Thanks."

I never say "like a boss". It really isn't in my standard lexicon. But at 1am, I'll use any phrase that comes to mind. And this time, it was "like a boss". It was weird...

Last night, one of my (our? A friend of my roommate) neighbors came over to play music. He's a DJ, so I wasn't sure what to think, but when he got here, he turned out to really know his stuff. More electronically than musically, but that's better than what I was expecting. He started making some beats for my roommate to play guitar to, but it sounded a bit empty, so I came in with background chords. The rhythms lined up real nice, and my roommate did some picking patterns over the top. It was REALLY COOL. I enjoy music. :-P

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Book Report

Nervous like nothing else.

I gave the presentation a little under an hour ago. It was nerve-wracking.

The professor called me to the front and said, "Go." That was it. No explanation, nothing. So, I went. I passed out the copies of the outline I'd made, then I started talking about the book I had ~~kind of~~ read, kind of skipping around, always remembering to tie the new topic to the old. I spoke clearly and correctly, with enough projection for everyone to hear me. And I paced. I paced, I swayed, I moved my eyes more than I should have, never actually making eye contact with anyone. It was scary, and it was not my best performance. It also most certainly was not my worst, so that's a relief.

Then the questions started. People called into question my phrasing, taking it as exactly the phrasing used in the book, called me on some of my hyperbole, it was really awkward. Thankfully, I responded well enough to enough of the questions that it all seemed good. Then the professor asked a question that I really hadn't thought about, and I couldn't think of a well thought out answer to it. Turns out, he wasn't looking for a well thought out answer. He was looking for the simplest answer to the easiest question anyone had asked of me. I felt like an idiot. Of course, I did make the class laugh twice, which is always something I try to do. Also, the professor said my timing was exquisite. Or some phrase like that. Either he's being mean, or I really nailed the timing. I couldn't tell...

What a Weekend

Seriously. It needed an extra day...

Well, after I got back from SD, I needed to finish a book and write a presentation to give to the class. I didn't finish the book. (It's a dense book, give me a break...) That sucked. I managed to write the presentation, but it was painful. I have to actually give it today... I'll let y'all know how that goes.

On Sunday I played percussion for the first time with the LMU church choir. They have SO MUCH COOL STUFF! Seriously, They have a set of Roland V-Drums, a set of chimes, assorted shakers, congas, and a djembe. It was awesome. I didn't have the time to figure out the electronic kit, so I played the djembe, but it was still awesome!

At some point in last weekend, I found out that water bottles do weird things to whistling. Each time I fill my water bottle, I have to drink some off the top so the lid nests right. After doing that this time, I started to take another sip, but I had also started whistling. As the bottle got closer to my face, the note I was whistling changed. I was startled, so I tried it again. Turns out, some whistled notes will sharp by about a step when whistled into a partially full water bottle. Physics, wavelengths, reflection, refraction are probably to blame, but I only kind of care about that. It was cool.

I looked at my ticket from LA to Irvine on Sunday and saw something odd: the abbreviation of LA Union Station is LAUS. So it looked kind of like I had a Metrolink ticket from Laos to Irvine. And I was mentally misspelling "Laos", so it was really close.

On Sunday night, I remembered that I had forgotten my Music theory homework. I sat down, pulled it out, realized how long it was, checked the time, and thought, "I can't stay awake that long." But I needed to do the work, so I decided I needed to finish the first section, then...do something... That something ended up being something I've been staying away from for a while: I downed a caffeinated soda. I have been trying to cut out soda from my diet for health and...hipster(?) reasons, so this was a hard decision to make. I went to the lobby of my building, went to the vending machine, and poked the button for "Dr. Pepper". Nothing happened. I waited for the session to time out and poked the button again to see if the price popped up, which is supposed to happen on this kind of machine. Nothing happened. I checked the others. I poked the button for "Sprite". To my dismay, I heard a distinct click with that button that the Dr.'s was missing. It had a bad (or no) connection. I could not get Dr. Pepper. I thought for a minute about going back to my homework and trying to do it without stimulants, but I decided that I would probably just fall asleep at my desk before it was done. I looked at the vending machine, swiped my card, and chose...Coca-Cola. It was not the best soda, if only due to disappointment, but I got the caffeine I needed to finish my homework. And not get nearly enough sleep...

Last week, in my Cinema class, we started to discuss "Ellipsis", which is, simply put, the omission of scenes that are not needed for the story or will be explained later. In the discussion, a few people asked questions about "Ellipses", which are figures formed by all points on a given plane equidistant from two stationary points (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipse) or the plural of "Ellipsis". Neither one was the correct term for what they were talking about. It bothered me. And maybe only me...

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Tim's Marvelous Idea*

*Also scary like nothing else.

When I texted Tim to let him know I'd made the train, he responded with something like, "Awesome. Good luck." A little bit later, he texted me again and said, "Just take a Tums. An emotional Tums." I thought the idea was pretty cool. Like normal Tums, which you take when you forget to take regular antacid, you would take ETums if you forgot your anti-depressants. That, or if you took in too many depressants, such as alcohol. Sure, sounds cool.
Now think of it as how it functions. Tums work by neutralizing stomach acid, so ETums would work by neutralizing -- intercepting -- neurotransmitters that affect emotion. Sure, a lot of things do that, but I think they stop being cool when you think about them. Thanks, Tim, for the awesome and frightening idea.

Back in the High Life

By which I mean a dorm room in LA.

Well, I'm back from my weekend day excursion to San Diego for the Dave concert. Good trip, but with a few setbacks. Let's start from the beginning:

I had planned to get out of class and get on a bus that would take me to Union Station, where I would take an Amtrak train down to San Diego. Well, the class ran a bit long and I didn't make the bus, which made it so I would miss my train. I kinda sorta flipped my shit. I texted my dad (I knew he was busy, so I didn't call) and called my brothers for someone to talk to. I called Alex (oldest brother) first because I figured that he'd be free, but he didn't pick up. Then I called Tim (middle brother), who I wasn't sure about schedule-wise. Alex called me back while Tim's phone was ringing, so I hung up that call and talked to Alex, who talked me through my flipping out. He talked me through finding another bus and calling Amtrak to reschedule my train so I could make it. I did call Amtrak and shift my reservation, but I couldn't figure out the bus thing (and I've always been afraid of buses for some reason). I got kind of restless thinking about what I would do when the bus got there, so at some point I thought, "I could totally bike that." So, I went back to my dorm, got my bike and started riding. I'm not an expert cyclist, and I don't usually do long distances. It was fifteen miles, and I made a wrong turn. It took two and a half hours. At some point past the hour-fifteen mark, my dad texted me and asked where I was. I told him that I'd decided to bike to Union Station. Then my phone rang, so I picked up and my dad said, "Where are you? Did you say 'bike'?" The conversation went on for a bit, and we figured out that I could probably still make it back for half of the concert. (Turns out he was worried that he would have to explain that his Eagle Scout son had died of heat stroke. Heh...)

Well, I made it to downtown LA, made a second, less severe wrong turn there, and finally found Union Station. My dad let me know when the next best train would be leaving, so I bought a ticket, waited a few minutes, then got on the train, strapped in my bike, texted everyone to let them know that I'd made it, and settled down for the ride. (Tim's response text deserves a post of its own)

I had agreed to meet my dad in Irvine, so when he got there, he got a burger and a Gatorade for me and waited. I pulled in, we got the bike in the car, and we drove off to Chula Vista while I wolfed down the burger. We got to the concert about an hour and a half late, which we expected. We also got there at only the second song. That, we did not expect. The concert was amazing, and the night was filled with glorious sleep afterward.

This morning, I picked up a few things that I had forgoten on my first trip up to LA, got breakfast at IHoP, and drove back to LMU with my dad. The cats didn't really notice I was leaving, but they'll probably start to miss me soon. I miss them.

So, I'm back. That's about it. Yup...

Friday, September 6, 2013

Friday

And now I have Rebecca Black running through my head. Sorry.

Well, today is my second Friday as a college student. Fun stuff. This week needed to end. I'm tired...

Today was my first math quiz of my college career. I didn't fully realize how easy the class is until today. I had the option of taking a higher level class, but with my major and minor I only really needed to take the "World Use" class. I finished all of the homework for this week in class on Wednesday. Actually, 15 minutes before class on Wednesday. So that's cool.

On another front, I've been getting sick. One of the things that comes with living on campus is that when one person is sick, everyone gets sick. I wasn't the first, and I won't be the last, but it isn't pleasant. I was getting sick earlier in the week, so I knew this was coming, but today I couldn't keep from coughing all through math. And then I went to the DC to get orange juice and food but completely forgot the OJ...

When I got to the DC, I walked around a little bit to figure out what the "Daily Special" place was selling. I found it, and the special was a pancake, eggs, and sausage for $4. Kind of awesome. So I went up to the counter and the man there said, "How's it going, lady?" He took a second look and quickly corrected himself, "-man... Er, sorry about that..." I can't even imagine how he must have felt. Later I started questioning the level of respect calling someone "Lady" implies versus calling someone "Man". I really don't know, but that comparison keeps coming back to mind.

Later today I head back to SD for a Dave Matthews concert. I'm excited and nervous. I don't know how California public transportation works... Wish me luck.

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Fire Drill!

Holy crap that alarm is loud.

Non Sequiturs and Bad News. Tums

Which do you want to hear first?

So there's this awesome job that I interviewed for last week. It was the tech for on-campus events, including work with live sound and lighting. I was really hoping this would pan out because the whole live sound thing is something I have done and enjoyed doing. Well, I got the email from the interviewer today, and, though it took a while to get to the point, in the first line I could hear the "we had better applicants" tone. I'm...a little down about that right now...I'm sure I'll be better at some point. It does come with the territory of looking for a job.

I made myself laugh the other day when I put on my sunglasses. As I was nesting them on my face, I made a sucking noise that reminded me of an alien attaching itself to my face, either to drain my life force (Metroid) or to lay eggs in my stomach (Alien). Not the most pleasant thoughts, but the sound was funny.

I have digestive problems, so I take antacids. In case I forget them, I carry Tums in my pocket. Just before I came up to college, my family went to Target and got me some more Tums, in case I ran out. Well, I ran out. Luckily, I had that new container of Tums, so I refilled my pocket-sized one and went on my way. Today, I forgot the main antacids, so I had to take a ~~few~~ lot of Tums, which was fine because I carry them in my pocket. I shook one into my hand and looked at it (because I do that, that's why). It said:

TUMS

FREE

I was a mite bit confused, but I ate it anyway. A few minutes later, I had to take another one. Then again a few minutes after that. Either they really are "Tums free", or I just don't respond to them like I used to. *sigh*

Tomorrow I head back down to San Diego for a Dave Matthews Band concert. I'll be taking the train right after classes are over, but I need to take a bus to get to the station. Problem: I don't take buses on a regular basis. So today, I went down to the bus stop where I'm catching the first leg. Turns out it's right next to Ralph's, so in addition to finding the bus stop, I also found a better way to get to Ralph's!

Cool, but now I need exact change...or to figure out how to get a "TAP" card. Those sound useful. Other than the fact that no one tells you how to get one...

The song running through my head is "The Suffering" by Coheed and Cambria. The poppiest prog rock you will likely hear.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

So tired...

Not getting sleep isn't fun...

So yesterday I found out that the class I need to take to get the perfect campus recording arts job starts at 10pm and goes until at least midnight. Wednesdays and Thursdays. Wednesdays already have a class that ends at 10, so it's just a long day...

Yesterday was the first day of that class, even though it was Tuesday, because it was convenient. I was starting to feel sick and I'd forgotten my water bottle, so I hoped it would end around 11. It started out nice, with casual conversation, but then we got into what we needed to do in the mornings -- three days a week at 6:30 -- and the list went on and on and on. The tasks themselves weren't bad, but we toured the building starting at 11, so we were all wiped from the start. And I have 8am classes every day except Thursday, so I got up today at 7 after getting home at 12:30, 1:00 maybe. That might not be much for some people, but I've kept good sleeping habits for a long time, so I was miserable.

Then I forgot that I had three classes this morning, not two, so I didn't eat or prepare before the first one. The only positive part of this morning was that I got to the DC just before breakfast ended and got a breakfast bowl and chocolate milk. I love chocolate milk...

I've always had trouble with naps, at least in my own memory. I could never fall asleep fast enough or wake up well enough for them to work, so it just became one of those things that other people did. I'm beginning to regret that now. Instead of walking into my room and taking a nap, I went to the computer to compose this. Certainly an interesting decision.
Oh, and the landscaping smell is still hovering. One more bonus to the day...

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Sour Smells and Similes Alliteration

So there's this horrible smell outside my dorm. It's probably from the landscaping work that's going on, but I can't identify what is producing it. I realize now that it smells incredibly sour, but I couldn't come up with the word "sour" earlier. What I did come up with was "pickled". And, because "pickled" is such a fun word, I started messing with it, ending up with alliteration as the word of the day. My phrase? "Poorly pickled pensive peaches partially pull their punches."

I still don't know where the smell is coming from, but I'd like to think it comes from poorly pickled peaches. If only to prove I'm not that crazy for proposing pickling peaches.

EDIT: I found out that it was, in fact, fertilizer. I guess it is strange that I think I know anything about the smell of fertilizer...

Dining Hall: Discoveries, Intrigue!

The dining hall is a useful place on campus.

But what goes on after the doors lock at night?

I'm not even going to touch that, but the title sounds cool.

Anyway, as the title suggests, I made a discovery about some pre-packaged foods.

* * *

I got a sealed bowl of EasyMac from the on-campus convenience store. On my way back to the dorm, I noticed a strange sound, a kind of plastic-y percussive sound. I looked down and realized that I had been tapping the top of the EasyMac for the past few seconds. As I moved the bowl so as to stop myself from hitting it, I heard the noodles inside shift. I felt my eyes light up: I held the bowl up by the rim (to get a better angle and not disrupt the vibrations), and hit the top membrane. It sounded...like a really bad snare drum. It was kind of really cool at the time...

The other part of the title alludes to this morning. When I got breakfast from the DC (I use Dining Hall and DC interchangeably), I got an Odwalla juice. It was good... After my meal, I went around the back of the DC to get to my building. In the loading bay was a big truck. A big Naked Juice truck. I was horrified. Was LMU cheating on Odwalla with Naked?
Oh, lordy, the phrasing is just too hard to write with... I'll probably check which juice they have tomorrow. If I remember. Eh.

Monday, September 2, 2013

FACE!

Aside from being the spaces in a treble cleff staff...

Labor Day is a good thing, but the downside is that nothing is open. I couldn't find a good place to sit and study, and it was getting kind of infuriating. There's usually a nice place just below the DC with really comfy chairs and good lighting, but it was closed for some reason. There's usually a coffee shop with a similar set up right next to it, but they are doing their employee training today (yes, and it's a holiday, I know), so they were closed, too. I was...not pleased, exactly. Then, on walking away, I looked into one of the top floor windows and saw, on a white board, eight or so magnets arranged in a smiley face. It made me suddenly happy. It shows that real people live and work in these buildings. Hehe...

          .-""""""-.
        .'          '.
       /   O      O   \
      :                :
      |                |  
      : ',          ,' :
       \  '-......-'  /
        '.          .'
          '-......-'

Off Topic in Church

To start with, I'm a Catholic.

I'm also easily distracted.

So I was sitting in Church yesterday and a thought occurred to me: What if each of our lives is a story written by some outside force? Sure, it's not a novel thought, I've thought the same thing dozens of times over the years, but this time was different. Instead of just being controlled, as in a video game, this time I thought about it as being written into a complex story. To account for all of the different people and stories in the world, I called upon conversations I'd had in the past day. The scattered ideas that emerged were an Art School and College. I found the two topics and my idea came into better focus: "Heaven" is an art school, and we are the application essays. You see, this art school (Heaven University, say) has a special essay requirement: all applying students must write an epic fiction that follows a character of their creation from birth to death in a literary universe created by HU. The good essays are accepted into HU, and the bad ones are not. Luckily, there's a community college nearby. It, of course, is called Hell College.
I feel like this kind of meta writing would either get a student accepted because it's interesting, or rejected very quickly because it's stupid and over used. I'm a little bit scared of being smited. Huh.

The other thing I thought of was basic prayers. You always hear about the power of many people praying together. Believe it or no, it does bring up the interesting topic of religious croudsourcing. That's right, all the issues you pray about? They're all just Kickstarter ideas (http://www.kickstarter.com/). You pray however much you feel you should, then when the time is up, if the cause met the goal, the problem gets fixed, if it didn't, it doesn't. And if the goal is exceeded by enough, the stretch goals are just better, more in-depth solves.

I'm not selling any of this as truth, I just think these are cool ideas.

Starting Out

Ian Trahan

First Year

Loyola Marymount University

Recording Arts Major

Music (Percussion) Minor

Holy crap...

Well, anyway, I'm a college student in LA, trying to remain sane by actively doing something that drives people crazy: making a blog.
In my other spare time -- and I use that phrase with a grain of salt -- I play music of assorted kinds. I'm a trained set drummer with experience in some other percussion, but I also play guitar and other string instruments. As for preferred genre, it depends: while drumming, I tend toward heavy metal and prog rock, but while guitar...ing(?), I usually play more folksy stuff, like The Head and the Heart and The Avett Brothers, but I enjoy all kinds of things I don't play.
And with that, let's play!