the friedorange years

Heya,

First day of Uni today, I didn't have any classes, but it was good. BUT from next week onwards my Mondays won't be free because I have a new Popular Music history tutorial.

Anyway, the biggest thing to mention today is, after AGES of not hearing The 44th Calibre live, I was talking to Alex when he offered to let me hear a rehearsal recording of the collaborately-written song Let It Rain (Patrick: Intro/Main Theme, Dennis: Music/Arrangement, Nikita: Lyrics? not sure). Anyway, I did not in a million years imagine a Guitar Pro sound file to sound like this. The singing is awesome. The singing melody is awesome. This is such a complete song, if there was the definition of the best song I have heard in the last 4 months (seriously, I've done some serious scouting in the last 4 months in the holidays trying to find cool new bands, etc.), and this is the best song I have heard. OMG. WTF. I am inspired by how awesome this song is. Anyway, here's the post I made in their forum (you should read it because it sums up how awesome this song is, the singing just creates the awesomeness of the song, I mean, the Guitar Pro file was pretty nice but with singing it just changes the way I see the world):

"

This is probably coming really late. I didn't go to the assembly concert, but I just listened to The 44th Calibre - Let It Rain (Rehearsal Recording) just then and then I listened to it again and again. It is so emotional, I have no idea what the lyrics are, but I think it's sad (or happy, or something, but just really moving). Like, this song makes me sad and happy and sad at the same time. The melody (vocal) is really nice, the verse is so calm and serene, then the pre-chorus is just tear shredding, I mean, shedding material.

Nikita, the singing is really nice (in the recording), I'm sure lots of people have said this before but you have awesome singing talent, it comes out totally in the verse (esp. when the vocals start in the first verse, MUSICAL BLISS x 1000), then in the chorus it's just TOTALLY emotionally satisfying. Well, actually, it's NOT emotionally satisfying, which is why I have to keep listening to the song again and again and again, cos you can never get enough. Anyway, in conclusion, the vocal melody is awesome (esp. in the verse, but also the chorus). But it's more like, the combination of your voice+the melody+chord progression and serenity that makes it awesome.

Ok, I have a limited vocab, but insert any other positive adjective thing. This song is sooo nice with the singing. Apart from the obvious small screw-ups (after all, this is a practice) and some mixing stuff, you guys sound awesome.

I hope there is going to be an official recording of this song (well, any/all of you guys' songs for that matter) sooooon, I would buy it. Actually, if you guys release this I would buy it for myself then buy 5 more copies give them to my imaginary dogs and cats and goldfish. That's how nice it sounds. And the bass line is really coming out clearly! It really adds to the song...

Keep up the good work, Let It Rain is amazing, OMG, WTF, it's incredible, keep working on it, the song's only gonna sound better and better.

Good luck,
Dennis

"

Anyway, tomorrow is my first philosophy lecture. Apparently there's a lot of stuff to read, but I haven't started yet. Anyways, later. If you look to the right side bottom of this page you can see a link to The 44th Calibre's (haha, or click this one) website. They basically kick ass. This is my favourite song from them ever. I like this even more than Looking Glass and Alex's House, that's how beautiful this song is. Esp. with the singing (ok, how many times do I have to repeat that I am blown away by the awesomeness of the singing and vocal melody?).

Cya later.

There we go, I continue my creative slump. Umm, so turns out I won't be joining the gym. At least not yet, argh, my mum did a verbal bashing of the gym system and informed me that sit ups and push ups were already satisfactory exercise. Argh ok, maybe I'll join secretly or something.

So, found out Katherine is going to Uni and doing BPlan. Cool!

Tomorrow is technically not a uni day for me, I'm just going because... I have things to sort out. But it's quite cool, that it's finally happening. Pfft.

Um, not much else to say except the weekend was good. Well the movie is sort of not moving right now, semi-my-fault cos I'm not writing narration that is worthy, but semi-cos Ajita has disappeared off the face of the planet and I need good music to get inspired. Right now I'm not writing any good music, actually all my guitar riffs suck. Or that might just be my excuse for not doing any work. Anyway, I'll try to make more progress this week. And hopefully find Ajita. Lol.

Catch you later.

Look at that, I'm runningout of names for blog entries. Anyway, had Academy again today, great. More people were there, met some long time no see-ers. Uni starts on Monday, my lectures (well, only 1) start on Tuesday...

Here's the to-do list:

Get a locker.
Get the rest of my textbooks.
Get stationary, like pens to write with and paper to write on and folders to put the paper in.
Get an MP3 player.
Get a monthly bus pass/10 trip ticket.
Join the gym.
Find out the locations for my philosophy tutorials.

As you may have noticed, six of the seven things on that list cost money. That's the problem with Uni. Everything costs money. But other than that, it's awesome. I mean, maybe it's not as cool as Harvard with an H or Yale with radioactive Poison Ivy growing around the diamon-encrusted buildings. But it is pretty awesome all the same. If you're not the type of person who finds a reason to complain or be angry about anything and everything in the world, then the UoA is truly a great place to be.

RANDOM OTHER THING I NOTICED: Some people talk about money a lot. I was sitting there today and these people kept talking about money, about how to make money, how much money they had, how much money they were losing when they took a break from their job and went to the toilet, how much money their brain was worth, how much money virtual toilet seats could generate, and how much money would fit in an XXL sized toilet bowl. Geez,I realise the necessary-ness (necessariness? necescary-ness? err...) of money in order to survive, but sometimes people should just chill. It's OK not to make Coin Cookies and Shredded Paper Note Ice Cream Cones and consume them then drink from the mashed-Rutherfords iced-tea can of expensive soda pop thing. Cya later.

My 2nd time this week on Orientation.

Here's the day:

1. Got on bus. 1 hour. Met Sonny and Nixon. It was an unbearable ride because it was so long and so boring. Staring at strangers can only get so interesting.

2. Sorted out my NetPassword thing. IC Help Desk people were helpful, good service all around.

3. Checked out the locker system. Too bad you don't get to choose your locker, it just goes in numerical order. Gonna get one on Monday.

4. Checked out the gym/recreation centre. It was cool, I think I will sign up. Too bad I didn't have enough cash on me, today was the last day to sign up at discount price.

5. Went to the 'essential arts tour'. It consisted of 40 people following a person who was speaking really fast without a microphone. By the time we got to the place where the tour guide *was*, he was already 50 metres in front. We never heard a word he spoke. However we did walk in funny squigly lines around the campus and see some... buildings.

6. Lunch at the free barbecue. Everyone was friendly, the place rocks.

7. Went to the 'intro lectures' on several topics:

a) Philosophy: HOD talking enthusiastically about the discipline. It was good.
b) Political Studies: 2 Ph.D students talking about the discipline. They were enthusiastic and it was good.
c) European Languages: A Professor who had been at UoA for 35 years talked about the discipline. He was very enthusiastic and the lecture was good.
d) Film, Television and Media Studies: This is my major and I was expecting something. Well, the lecturer talked for 28 minutes about the requirements for majors and minors, showed us OHT's about what courses you HAD to take otherwise "you will be screwed and won't graduate". She also said, "You all think you're gonna do this course and be directors? Not gonna happen." She then proceeded to play a 20-minute student project, but after 2 minutes, the time was up so we didn't really see the project. Oh well. The talk wasn't 'that' bad, although I'm glad there are other lecturers in the department. She IS however lecturing for my first semester Media Studies paper. Pfft.

Cool things:
* The gym seems to be pretty good. Basketball courts, pool tables (haha... that counts as exercise?), weights training, 'cardio-bar', aerobics, um... a lot of other stuff I forgot.
* Audio-Visual Library - Film studies majors get to take out any movie they want! (for free? not sure, but I sure hope so...)
* Quad - great atmosphere, students hanging out...
*HSB Quad - same as Quad but where Arts students hang out. Cool place...
*Kate Edgar Info Commons - nice place, clean, heaps of resources, clean, new, clean, sparkly, clean, yeah...

Next week should be good. Okay, so we've got a deadline for Watermelon: March 12th. That is going to be frickin' hard to keep to, but it'll be enough to push the project along.

Did a little bit more revising of the narration today. And by little I mean little. Orientation again tomorrow. Textbooks... ahh! I've got 4 thick ones here and more coming along... and that's just for the first semester! Nooooo... I remember one of the lecturers on Wednesday...

"You may have heard about the monstrous and scary reading loads you get at Uni, and the nightmarish task of trying to take in what lecturers are trying to say while copying what's on the board. Well, that is true."

He then went on to reinforce this message and freak everyone out. Argh ok, I better get used to it.

Went to UoA today and sat through about 3 mini-lectures. Most weren't that interesting, however were very helpful. The Uni has an amazing set of resources, no wonder we pay for it.

The printing station won't accept my ID card. Pfft. I've swiped it in every direction and speed and it still won't work. Argh.

Met a few people in town today, we walked around campus, got sushi and a LOT of free stuff. The place is now bustling with activity unlike last week. Awesome.

Watermelon... yes, gotta gotta gotta refine the narration... gotta gotta make it work.

Ok, throughout the editing process I've realised that Teenage Knives is not the best name for the film. So for now it's just Untitled. Hah! When I finish I'll decide...

Going to Uni Orientation tomorrow...

Narration for Watermelon is going through a heavy re-write.

Yay! So Uni is almost, almost, almost here. Orientation this week. I will be going on Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday has all these general lectures, Friday has separate faculty seminars.

No editing today. Taking (another) break to replenish on vital nutrients. Need to sharpen up the narration and make it tighter, not stupid like it is now. Well, I just want better lines and a better link between the images and words.

Went to National Bank to change my account to Tertiary Plus. Anyone else want change/get a Tertiary Plus account, please say that I referred you, cos then we'll both get $40 Prepay or Telecom or a bag or something. Yes, free stuff...

Um, got back my original documents including my IRD card from Studylink today. That means they are processing my application. Cooool.

Sorted out Day 3 footage today. Gonna take a lot of fill-in photos in the coming week to add another dimension to the film. Sort of like the music video for Finley Quaye's Dice.

Dad went on the plane today. C4 is giving away Apple iPod Shuffles... I better watch Homegrown more carefully now...

Ok, tired, gonna post more about Teenage Knives later. Cya.

Had Academy of Strings today, it was the year's first rehearsal. All went well, long time no see for many friends but it was cool after a long break. I screwed up heaps but it was fun, new music is cool. All in all, most of the people from last year are still here, some new additions and some people who are still overseas. Philip still conducted today, I'm not sure how the guest conductor thing works.

Finished going through day 2 footage today. Gonna chill for the rest of the day. Day 3 tomorrow. Dad going on plane after lunch. Joy is going down to Wellington on Wednesday. More later.

Sorted out all of day one's footage now. Doing day two today. Post production in full gear now, no more mucking around. More later.

Went with Nixon into city for a little self-guided orientation. So, most of the rooms of our lectures are pretty close. I'm probably going to go to some official orientation activities too. All in all I'm glad Uni is finally starting. Met Leon at Wendy's.

Eric + Tony + their parents came to our house today. It was cool catching up with them after a long time of no see.

Except I didnt' do any editing today. I did however listen to more Death Cab For Cutie. And "Fake Frowns' and 'Styrofoam Plates' are really really cool songs!

On the music video front, I've been downloading some independent works from solo-artists, more like 'guerilla' music videos done by video-makers in the DVinfo.net community. Some really inspirational stuff.

Ok, I just went to send away my Epilogue thing (I thought I had sent it but it turns out I didn't so I'm sending it again... or did I send it already?) to the Asia New Zealand Film Foundation Trust.

Anyway, I got one of those postage pre-paid bubble pack envelope things, and the Post Office Lady charged me another 90c for a stamp. Wtf, and I was stupid enough to come out then realise that there was nowhere to stick the stamp on the envelope anyway cos it said 'postage paid'. Hmm...

Anyway, now that that's out of the way - I can concentrate on Teenage Knives. Editing is coming along nicely - very hard to do without the music, but I'm getting all these random inspirational ideas for the narration. Too bad my head is too mixed up right now to sort through and make it logical but I'm gonna have to some time soon. Mischaberg's birthday is the 12th of March so that's sorta like the official deadline I have to get it completed by. Seems like a pretty good date to me, I was trying to finish it early March anyway, so this should force me to get it done.

Anyway, gonna go into city tomorrow to check out where my lectures are. Next week's Orientation Week, I don't think I'm gonna go to every event, probably just a few on Friday, maybe Wednesday too.

Dad's going to Taiwan on coming back in... April? Yeah... Joy's going down to Wellington on the 21st. Uni starts on the 28th, I start on March 1st. However I think I'm gonna go into city to check out some things anyway on the first day. Good good, things are starting to go into motion now, in a little while I'll be out there doing some things rather than just holidaying. Wow, this is such a long holiday. Can't believe I have this next year and the year after too. Next time I wanna get an internship on some film shoot as a PA... until then though, it's home-brewed experimental digital shorts.

Man... Hallmark is a pretty awesome company to have 1 day of the year devoted to keeping them in business.

Scenario 1: "Julie, I love you... so much that I'd like to give you this card from Hallmark. Visit Hallmark.com for more cards like these."

Man... one day the world is going to turn into a horrendous place. It'll scare the television airhead out of me.

Scenario 2: "I love you." *Police smash down door and run into room* "Freeze! You have infringed global copyright laws..."

Hence, the following:

"I love you, copyright two thousand and five Hallmark corporation. Hallmark and the crown symbol are registered trademarks of Hallmark and all it's separate entities."

In a few years' time:

"Hi, copyright two thousand and four to two thousand and twenty four Slangs Incorporated."

One day:

Civilian:*breathing*
Cop 1: "Freeze! You're under arrest for performing an unauthorised imitation of the breathing human."
Civilian: "What, I am a breathing human."
Cop 1: "Breathing Human is a copyrighted proper noun belonging to--"
Cop 2: "You've just infringed a copyrighted sentence belonging to the New JuJube Police Department--"
Cop 1: "Idiot... I AM a cop..."
Cop 2: "You shut up..."
Cop 1: "Stop scamming off John Woo action movies!"
Cop 2: "Huh?"
Cop 1: "There you go again, with that George Bush-ian "huh?"!

*imaginary gunfight that goes on forever because I am too tired to continue writing this completely random scenario which came into existence because of pure frustration at the fact that Valentine's Day is a screwed up Hallmark holiday*

Although I guess chocolates are really nice to eat. But you sorta can give them to your loved ones any time though right? Dunno, maybe it tastes better today.

I drank so much water today... in a ploy to cure my sore throat. It isn't working out, but water is good anyway, so I don't really mind.

I started listening to my old Satriani stuff again. He's awesome. And Death Cab For Cutie is so cool! They have the most unexpected phrases and chords... they are like, a thread away from being mainstream pop-rock, but somehow always manage to keep clear of it. Argh, what band should I listen to next? Need... new... bands... to... explore...

Man, I don't want an iPod, but I think an iPod shuffle would work well for me... those looooong bus trips are crazy, I need something to listen to... the scenery is the same every time, and I can't read either. Hmmm, the only problem is, Apple always seems to introduce upgrades out of nowhere... first it was 5 GB's... then 10 GB's, then 20, then 40, then you buy the 40 one, and they introduce 'Photo' with 60 GB's.

1 GB is very cool, enough for a day, I can upload different music each day, but if they come out with a 2 GB version like next week I'm gonna be very un-pleased (is that the right prefix?). But I haven't really bought anything yet so... gonna research a bit more before I jump into the MP3 thing.

I wish Satriani had his old bassist back... he was awesome. The new guy's pretty good though. Oh, and he's coming to NZ! But I haven't got tickets yet... actually I think I might forget eventually. The ad was in the NZ Herald a few weeks ago but I can't find it this week. Has it already been? Oops.

I have a sore throat for some weird reason. And I've been getting hiccups. I'm not sure what's wrong with me, I ate a lot of yoghurt and frozen fish these holidays, not sure if that's why.

Went to dinner with this other family, who were all really nice people. Rare these days.

Started editing Watermelon - official name Teenage Knives. I'm pretty excited at how it's turning out - it's like a documentary but not really one too. Let's just say, it looks like a documentary, but sounds like any other interior monologue, and feels like an analysis of teenage angst and psychology. But without all that high-concept stuff - just very raw and honest in the way that teens are. The narration is totally difficult to get right, its like the chicken and egg thing. Narration or editing first? Editing or music first? Music or narration first? Argh, I'm just gonna go ahead and improv my narration and then edit to that... or do a combination of everything and see how it turns out.

Now I need some fake royalty-free laughs to give it that sit-com flavour in some crucial parts.

I just recently got into Indie-Rock, and I must say: Death Cab For Cutie rocks (pun intended?)! I need to find more indie bands, they are raw musical kick-assness. Nothing like classic big time rock. Hmm... I was on this website the other day that explained emo and 'emocore' and 'emo punk' and stuff. It was very interesting, take a look here: http://www.fourfa.com/

But I know nothing about emo though, gonna have to research more. However I think I'd like less of the 'sudden loud outbursts of screams'-type singing. But you never know, I might like it.

I had pearl tea in the dark. Also, I noticed, if you drink water in the dark, it kind of tastes like tea. But I'm not so sure though, cos it was like 12 AM and there was a cup on the table, and I drank what was in it. And it looked like water, it was see-through. And I figured no one would leave a cup of tea lying around, so it must've been water. So in conclusion, water tastes like tea if you can't really see what it is. Maybe. Actually I'm just really scared that what was in that cup was inedible (or is it un-drinkable? or is it un-drinkeable? pfft), but there's not much I can do now. I'm not dead so it's probably nothing.

Watched two more shorts, one was music video-ish and sucked, the other was a documentary about a 93 year old photographer. That one was touching.

Anyway, after more research, I am gonna say it is official: Radiohead has the coolest music videos ever. If you haven't seen these vids, I recommend them highly (I dunno... maybe you can get them on DVD?).

Radiohead - Just
Radiohead - Karma Police
Coldplay - The Scientist
Incubus - Warning
Metallica - (The) Unforgiven II
Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
Blink 182 - Always

I'll think up more later, but this represents quite a good list of some very diverse and successfully made music videos that are a cut above the normal rap crap. Although I'm not a fan of rap music, I can't objectively say that the whole genre sucks.

But I can say 90% of rap videos suck. Or at least 90% of the ones I've seen (and the ones I've seen represent the more successful/higher market rap artists, who can afford expensive directors). Why don't they ever have a storyline or a point? Why is it always about the bling and the cars and the cash? And it's always songs in which the singer is saying sorry to whoever their girlfriend is/was, but while they sing the song they are dancing with 3+ other scantily clad women. Then the director goes into autopilot and does a slowmotion zoom in on the face of the artist while he is checking out which ever dancer he is looking at at that precise moment.

Oh, and at the end of the videos their girlfriend(s) always forgive them. But only because he gives them a car, a new necklace, or diamond ring. Pfft.

First day of official school for many high schools, today my 'holiday' holiday ended. In the morning I scanned through the footage and finished sorting them out into media bins. Tomorrow I'm gonna figure out an editing plan.

In the afternoon I watched 2 more shorts from the 2nd DVD. One was about a man and a woman who were on a deserted beach searching for their lost dog. They were both very moody and argued for the whole film while they walked around on the empty beach and dunes searching for their dog. It lasted 20 minutes. The 2nd short was animated in 3D and looked very flash, but it was as boring as TV at 12 noon.

I got a hair cut. I played guitar. I ate some beef pastrami. I learned the bass riff to If You Leave (the cover only, although it's the same chords). It sounds nice even just with the bass line.

I'm writing a new song too, it might be an acoustic-only one.

I've started researching into music videos, and it's so cool! I mean, just checking out each director's filmographies and their techniques, etc. If you've seen the video for Always (Blink 182), in which the screen's divided into three, you'll know what I mean. Just reading about the ways they get around technical problems is really interesting. Here's an article on how they achieved what they got in the video: http://www.digitalpostproduction.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28841

Alright, more later.

Checked out the rushes today and sorted them into a couple of media bins. There's quite a lot of good stuff in there, now I have to brush up my narration. I'm now choosing between recording the narration first, or piecing up the footage THEN recording the narration to match. That would be great, but then I have to factor in the music too. But then again, it's impossible to score the music without a general idea of the narration and the duration of each scene/sequence, so really it's just a circular loop. I'll know/decide tomorrow.

Watched 2 short films today on freedom, liberty and rights. Political satires I think, gave me something to think about.

Today I was listening to Nada Surf's cover of OMD's If You Leave - it's a very nice song, especially if you've seen the O.C. season one... and Nada Surf's cover is substantially more satisfying to listen to than OMD's original... I couldnt' listen through the whole thing. The spirit of the song is similar, except it sounds more sincere in the cover. Cool song. With cool key changes. And a chorus which sounds like a verse and a verse which sounds like a chorus. So it kind of feels like it's the chorus through the whole song, and it keeps building and building because there's only the regular bass drum, almost no snare, so it sounds perpetual, like the entire song is a build-up to the first verse, all an intro. Which is very nice and different.

Man, I'm playing my acoustic so much now it is weird. I haven't touched my electric in 2 weeks. But I think I will get new strings soon and get back to playing some lead stuff...

I was listening to my entire Goo Goo Dolls collection and it just occured to me how awesome the Bullet Proof chorus is.

It's a really nice song, on the Dizzy Up the Girl album, which is a beautiful CD. It includes a string of great songs such as: Black Balloon, Dizzy, Slide, Broadway, Iris, Acoustic #3 (omg... the nicest acoustic song ever), and of course Iris (but everyone listens to Iris so... dunno, they have so many other songs that are just as good as that one, if not way better).

Ok, enough about this awesome band and their music. There's this other band that's cool they're called... Incubus! Muahah! Yeah... um... there's this other cool band too called... Hanson! Haha, so I was browsing the web the other day, and came across these brothers called Hanson. Now I dunno about you, but I remember them as like, the teen-pop Mmm-Bop sensations? Yeah, well apparently now they have released their 3rd album and they've sold something like 15 million records... well, I'm not sure if it's 15 million but its something million. Yeah, I thought they were gonna be screwed after one album, but it turns out they're actually surviving, changing their image, their style, and are continuing to sell albums. Hmm, so I downloaded a music video (this was like, 2 weeks ago), of a single they released in 2004, and it has Samaire Armstrong in it!

Yeah, she's really cool, so I like that song now (the music video actually enhances the song, unlike a lot of music videos). Hahah. Yeah, in all honesty these guys aren't bad. They're commercial. But decent commercial. I mean, it looks like they can play their instruments properly and sing and harmonise too. Not bad. Not bad at all...

I finished enrolling in all the papers I wanted to do this year today. I'll be doing a paper on Italian film in semester 2 and a Pop Culture paper in semester 1. Yay!

Tomorrow I start looking through the rushes for Watermelon and the re-starting of my feature screenplay. Other than that, a pretty eventless day just deciding over the papers I wanted to do. I had yoghurt.

Turns out there are 4 really interesting papers in Art History which I think kick ass but... I don't have enough stuff planned in Stage II and III for a minor (argh!).

So uh, my paper choosing is on hold again. Um... I need to work out my thing, and it's really confusing.

And for the record - blogging is completely OK, in fact, it's legal and it's liberating. Ok, maybe not liberating, but it has the very very slim potential of becoming a liberating activity, unlike a lot of other things people do.

Mmm, yeah.

After a whole day of careful paper selection, I have decided on majoring in Film, Television and Media Studies (surprise!) and minoring (there is such a word?) in Art History. Hmm yes, there seems to be an unusual amount of exceptionally interesting papers being taught by the Art History department, and I couldn't resist.

As for enrolment in courses, I think I'm gonna go the usual route and do the 14 points per year for 3 years thing, then worry about Honours later. Hmm, I'm not sure I want to do that yet...

One thing I forgot to mention is that yesterday Mischaberg and I discovered what could quite possibly be the first transsexual pillow/soft-case. On the pillow were the words, 'Princess Knight', and the picture was a seemingly male knight with very feminine features who resembled a certain cartoon character named Astro Boy. Well, his/her face anyway...

Today we went into city to walk around campus and sorted out our applications. The UoA has a lot of old and dirty buildings, but I liked the environment. Good thing today was noto microwaved like the past week. Well, it didn't start microwaving until about 1...

After some directionless wandering we went to Nixon's house to play Risk. Hmm... after a 4 year hiatus, I forgot all the rules. However, I'm glad I took out Australia and Europe *almost*. Mischaberg was sleeping really peacefully on the couch, Spongebob became a puppet, and we listened to The Hairdresser's Exceptionally Long Debut Album.

I am officially a student of the UoA now. The nDeva thing says so! Hah! However, there are so many papers to choose from, and my head is swimming in ice green tea. I need some time to sort this out.

Okay, I'm off to bed, more on this later.

Wow, after ringing the UoA every week day for a week, my nDeva thing is actually changing.

The Unverified Piece-Of-Crap Notice has finally been taken off.

BUT I am still an Applicant. Argh... at least there's been progress made, hopefully it will show, 'Accepted' or something a few hours later.

I went to school today to inform Mac that I was leaving. Met quite a few friends, chatted a bit with some buddies. All in all, it felt good to see everyone again, but there is NO WAY I am putting myself through CIE another year.

I set up my recording stuff in my bedroom today. Woohoo. Now I can record EVERYTHING on the guitar, rather than downstairs, where it's quite awkward and formal. More later.