As the semester winds down, I thought I’d briefly share some of the hell fun I’ve been experiencing with my students at UCF. For this semester, I’ve decided to adopt the “blog-as-course-management-system” approach that seems to have worked pretty well. Check it out!
Its long, kinda boring, but its here - my very first podcast. Well, technically its just an mp3 I recorded last night after digging out my recording equipment, but I’ll probably make it a proper podcast later in the week, particularly if I decide to make a series out of it.
It didn’t quite turn out the way I thought it would. I had started with the idea that I’d attempt to make my own kinda of radio show, complete with songs I like bookmarking a few minutes of my rambling. No such luck, its pretty much just 40 minutes of me yammerin’ on and on and on about this that and the other. Mostly the other.
Anyway, I promise next time to make it briefer, more interesting, and perhaps even throw in some music. For now, though, give it a listen. Let me know what you liked, and I’ll try to do more of that next go-round.
Notes
During a student’s first year in the UCF Honors College, all students have to take a 1 credit-hour symposium. During this once-a-week session, every student must sit through an hour lecture from various professors affiliated with the Honors College. This isn’t too big of a price, and often proved very interesting, particularly for a young freshman eager to learn…but not always.
It was early evening on a Wednesday in the fall of 1995, and I was exhausted after just finishing marching band practice. I wasn’t relieved, though, because I had to rush back to the dorms to shower, grab some food, and head off to a lecture hall to attend the weekly Honors symposium. I didn’t mind the symposiums overall, at least the ones I had previously attended. So far they had covered such topics as how musical melodies are related, a sampling of contemporary poetry, and a lecture of the physics of black holes. The lectures were targeted at your average freshman at a university, not overtly simplified, and sprinkled with a dash of hip examples.
Not this night’s symposium, however. This professor’s lecture was aimed directly at her colleagues or perhaps grad students. It was as dry, read almost compulsively from her slides, and caused most of us to tune her immediately out. One of my friends started reading through a textbook, possibly getting a start on his homework. Another one just seemed to stare off into the distance, very likely escaping into a much happier, profoundly more interesting place. I think I sat there for a while trying to figure out what the professor was on about, but likewise giving up and finding something else to do quietly until it was over.
After about 10 minutes, I started hearing more and more murmuring, students that just couldn’t sit still without anything external to interest them. I saw a few people get up periodically, perhaps just going to the restroom, but in a much greater percentage than was typical. A few students even started talking loudly enough that we could clearly make our their conversation, even in this rather large, though non-echoey lecture hall.
This eventually started to wear down the professor, who would stop for brief moments hoping that the crescendoing murmur would subside. After about 45 minutes or so, she just decided to give up. We all gave her an awkward and obviously insincere applause, and then left much earlier than we usually did. Of course, this just made our day!
The following week, our director came back and announced that because we had acted like children last week, she had decided to “punish” us by presenting something closer to our apparent age - an episode of The Muppet Show! Sure, it was mildly insulting, particularly to those enough who had kept respectfully quiet, but that symposium was still one of the highlights of the entire semester. My group of friends and I stuck around until the end of the episode, well after the director dismissed the class. I’m not quite sure what she must have thought of us for doing that, but she never mentioned again after that night.
Years later, I actually had that professor during another honor’s course on ethics and biotechnology. I think in the few years since she had presented, she had learned a bit more about how to sell her material to college students. I probably only tuned her out only half the time, at most!
Politics
Larry Craig - so gay/bi-curious it hurts me just to type it. I’m sorry that he’s so repressed/horny that he feels the need to cruise airport restrooms. It’s bad enough coming out when you’re young and still learning life, so I can only imagine what it must be like dealing with these issues when your life is mostly behind you. Still, to stake your political career shingle in the anti-gay GOP these days and somehow try to be gay, albeit in a very secretive, sneaky way, is just hypocritical at the very best.
Come out of the closet, Larry. Take a cue from former NJ governor McGreevey (or even CO minister Ted Haggard) and just admit what happened. You’ve already plead guilty, so it will only help your conscience catch up with the law.
TV, Comedy, and Movies
Seriously, the writers of Showtime’s Weeds have just completely gone off the deep-end. Things are either abjectly depressing or batshit insane! I miss the first season’s funny, mostly formulaic stories, though the religious community storyline might just save everything for me.
Loving The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT. Why can’t networks make more solid drama’s like these? Ugh, sounds like I’m writing TNT’s ad copy now! Seriously, thees shows are well-crafted police procedurals with interesting characters! Take that CSI: Everywhere and Law & Order! Now, if only we could keep Holly Hunter from taking off any more clothes!
Speaking of Holly Hunter, thanks to The Sound of Young America podcast, I’m now officially a fan of the comedian Patton Oswalt. I had, of course, seen him on the Comedy Central roasts, and heard him as the voice of Remy in Pixar’s gorgeous Ratatouille. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet to experience his stand-up, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Two great, recent summer movies - Stardust and Bourne Ultimatum. I also saw Hairspray, but I think I still prefer the original movie and the non-movie musical more. It was decent, but it didn’t really transcend the originals as Chicago ,The Producers, and even possibly Rent did. Next up, Elizabeth: the Golden Age!!
Video Games (and other geeky stuff)
String of great games - Bioshock (360), Puzzle Fighter HD (360), Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii), all absolutely amazing. What little time I have left at the end of my longer days, I now sacrifice to them gladly. While Bioshock and Metroid are at least finite games that I’ll probably play through only once or twice, Puzzle Fighter is the game that will probably steal away most of my life. With its various incarnations to date, I’ve probably spent about 1/8th of my life so far clearing its gems and dropping devastating drops on my opponents.
Now with the new version on the XBox Live Arcade, I can waste ever increasing hours of my life defeating random opponents around the world. Yeah…<sarcasm>my life is exciting!</sarcasm> I guess its either that, reading my weekly (yeah, I’m an addict again) batch of comics, listening/watching the latest TWIT or Rev3 podcast, or updating my stupid Facebook page.
Lastly, I just want to send a huge THANK YOU to the BBC for doing whatever they could to hang on to David Tennant and Russell T. Davies (et al) for the next two series of Doctor Who. Yeah, 2009 will be kinda sucky with only the occasional special, but I’d gladly have that than potentially losing the creative team that has made it so awesome. With Battlestar Galactica now approaching its end, it will be a small comfort to know that, as it has for over 40 years, the Doctor remains.
Both items above represent two important groups that I followed late in high school and throughout my time in college - Mystery Science Theater 3000 and the Squirrel Nut Zippers. The former of the two, MST3K, was a show on television that showcased different terrible movies each week, on top of which the show’s cast would add their own commentary. It ran for 11 years, starting out on a small, Minnesota public-access cable channel, quickly making its way to a then very young Comedy Central, and finally retiring on the SciFi channel.
The show ended its run in 1999, and its production team went off to make their ways. Mike Nelson, the show’s head writer and second main character (the show’s co-creator Joel Hodgson was its first) wrote a few mildly successful books, but eventually found his way back to movie commentaries with a little start-up called Rifftrax. Recently, a couple of his MST3K alumni joined him on that project, which provides mp3 audio commentary tracks for more well-known film and television projects (eg. 300, Lost, etc.).
Returning to their obscure (and usually terrible) cinematic roots, The Film Crew series will again unite their funny commentary with these gems of bad cinema. There first of a thus-far planned 4 DVD series is out now, and its a fantastic film from the 60’s called Hollywood After Dark starring…you’ll love this bit…a young Rue Mcclanahan as a starlet stripper!! The commentary is just as enjoyable as I remember it being with MST3K, and the movie is just as awful as many they showcased. If you enjoy making fun of bad movies, or just want to see what Blanch du Bois looked like back in the day, go check it out!
While you know what I was constantly watching back in my dorm days, you’re probably wondering what I listened to on my portable CD player whilst biking around UCF. The Squirrel Nut Zippers were one of my favorite swing/folk bands back in the 90’s when swing dancing was making a major comeback. They didn’t quite rise to the popularity level of say a Big Bad Voodoo Daddy or a Brian Setzer, but I loved them even more.
There music ranged from soulful, Billy Holiday-esque jazz to frenetic swing to unusual, experimental instrumental. There only pop-chart experience was with Hell, a song that I’ve now had the privilege to sing and play with my band on at least 3 occasions! I also was fortunate enough to catch one of their rare appearances in Orlando at the Social (then called the Sapphire Supper Club). They’re excellent musicians all around, both recording and performing, and now after a 7 year hiatus, they’re back touring again! Though they don’t yet have any new tracks being released, I’d gladly recommend any of the 5 albums currently out now (though my favorite is definitely Perennial Favorites pictured above).
So yeah, two great reasons to smile!
I’m sitting here in the Providence airport mere minutes away from returning to Orlando. I’ve been up in Rhode Island on a work trip for the last two days, and its almost over. So of course, I get out of work early enough to take my sweet time getting to the airport. Still, this IS Rhode Island, so there’s really not much to do off the main thorough fairs.
The only thing remotely noteworthy that I did on my way here was try oysters on the half-shell for the first time. YUCK! I won’t be indulging in that anytime again soon. So, after that excitement, what do I do? Sit in the terminal and grade for my UCF classes. I even sprung the $9.99 for the wireless internet connection, all for my students and my sanity. Joy!
Anyway, things are good. Life keeps moving, and we struggle to keep up with it. Money is being spent so that our house can continue to stay current with the Jones’ household. More things to come in the next month, stayed tuned for pictures!
My good friend Jake asked me yesterday how the “pet botherer” was doing, to which I replied (I’m summing up here) “better”. As the previous post depicted, Unagii had to go to the vet last week because of his recurring back problems. Pekingese, among other long-backed breeds, are notorious for getting something called IVD or degenerative disc disease. Three years ago, he had a flare up and was first diagnosed with the problem. Then, two weekends back, his back started to bother him again.
The initial vet visit recommended non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs combined with Valium to ease the pain and help him rest enough to heal. While at first this seemed sufficient, he grew worse over the weekend, and on Monday I took him to Affiliated Veterinary Specialists in Maitland to consult with a neurologist. The neurologist’s first choice was to do surgery to remove the hardened material from the disc, but on further discussion we decided to go with the conservative, steroidal approach.
What’s really odd is that I gave Unagii no anti-inflammatory drugs that day we went to AVS, and he only had obvious discomfort that morning during the visit. Since that time (and before he started on the steroids), we’ve observed no muscle spasms in his back. Furthermore, he’s doing much better walking around and appears to be greatly improved. Of course, he’ll be spending most of his time in his kennel throughout the next three weeks while the steroids do their work, and I’m going to insist more vigorously that he use his stairs to come up and down from the bed. He’ll be a little barky, but he’ll get over it. Of course, the remaining Valium will help with that.
Apart from our animal’s health, both our jobs remain somewhat stressful, though for very different reasons. We’re looking forward to September for some relief in that department, but as of next week things will only get a bit more insane. That’s when I’ll begin teaching at UCF with my 6 hours of back-to-back classes for digital media. My plans for the two classes are slowly revealing themselves, but I’ll really need to start making decisions this weekend or next week will be absolutely miserable.
Patrick’s continuing to work miracles with his SLD students, teaching them about the greats of literature and hoping that at least a few of them retain something of value in spite of their troubled academics. Its stressful for him to have students looking up in complete apathy and (sometimes) willful ignorance. Go figure!
That’s the most of it since last we spoke. I’ll be back later with memes, maybe some pictures of the wild-man look that I’m currently sporting, or my new chocolatey cell phone.
No, there’s no drama quite as extreme as the story of Job going on with us, but its still kinda funny how life gives and takes at odd moments without warning. Last Wednesday (as the Rain Delay post visually demonstrates, we got rained out of our usual night at the British pub. Shortly before that happened, however, we found out that business had slowed down over the last few nights and because of that, the bar owner didn’t want to pay for the full trio next time. So as of now, until he changes his mind again, we’re not playing at the British pub.
Earlier that same day, I received an email from Valencia asking me to teach a couple classes for them, one of which was the same class I taught in the spring. It was difficult, but I ultimately declined because of the effects on my work schedule (I’d be away from my full-time job too much during the main business hours). On Friday, I got an IM from a friend (and former student) of mine at Digital Media at UCF. They have yet another class they’d like me to teach. Oy!
So now I’m torn. Taking this additional class would fit in well with my schedule because it meets immediately after the other UCF class and runs after regular work hours. The biggest challenge will be prepping for and teaching two 3 hour classes back-to-back. I need to decide soon, and I’m currently leaning towards doing it. The schedule works, the money will be nice, and the topic is project organization and (some) management, which is something about which I would really like to learn more. What do you guys think?
Finally, to tie us back into the Bible, check this great article about all the recent salivating about the END OF THE WORLD as seen by certain Christians. I grew up in the pre-Left Behind tradition that really got spun up about the Rapture, and it did sometimes breed a lack of maturity in people who were constantly expecting it all to be over. Why should we worry about achieving peace in the Middle East or treating the environment like it will need to be around for more than another generation when Jesus is going to return any minute? Christianity should be about more than just what happens when its over, and for many generations and different denominations, it was.
The dispensationalist Christians working the Republican party these days do not accurate reflect the priorities of Christ and most of His followers throughout history. Of course, in some cases this is a good thing (eg., the Inquisition, Crusades, indulgences, etc.), but on the whole, its rather distorting and counter-productive to spreading the good news. Alright, enough of that, read the article and check out other denominations’ perspectives.
My apologies for not posting much recently, but I was spending entirely too much time “conquering the blank page”, “leveraging prior work”, and uh, writing a bunch of bullshit for work (pardon my French).� As such, the last thing I wanted to do was chat on GTalk, much less pull random thoughts and anecdotes from my nethers.� Enough said about that.
Things are better now.� I’ve spent the last few days relaxing, catching up on yard work, Keith Olbermann, and trying to bring my blood pressure back down out of the red zone.� Watching the Daily Show doesn’t help, unfortunately.� There’s too much craziness going on in the world (eg., Israel v. Hizbollah, America v. Terror, Kim Jong Ill v. Sanity) and too many nutters excited about it (eg., rapture-obsessed Christians, Mahdi-obsessed Muslims, South Park-obsessed Scientologists).� Jane!� Stop this crazy thing!
On a happier note, it now appears I’ll be back teaching at UCF this fall.� First, though, some history.� For three years, I taught electronic music technology for the UCF Music Department.� Then, less than a month before the semester started and as part of the ramp-up to accreditation, I was let go because my graduate work wasn’t in music (though it was in technology).� I almost returned to UCF to teach Digital Media this past spring semester, but unfortunately that fell through because of the split in UCF’s College of Arts & Sciences (the adjunct money for the department got slashed).
Well, that same class that I almost taught in the spring has now been offered to me for this fall.� The course is named “Internet and Interaction”, so as an excercise for the reader, I’d like your thoughts on exactly what that should mean.� As a hint, the two technologies that are expected to be taught include Flash and some kind of web programming language (eg., PHP, Perl, Ruby, etc.).� My goal is to carve up a course that includes the above, works in some web services, and really tries to capture the student’s interest.� Oh yeah, and maybe some Marshall McLuhan for good measure.
On top of that, I’ll also be teaching a survey of computer concepts course at Seminole Community College in the fall.� I’m really looking forward to this course because of its broad, shallow scope and non-technical audience.� In addition to the expected computer and Internet basics, I’m going to throw in some basics of programming and Internet cultural items to mix things up.� If I’m really cheeky, I might even find a way to tie in some of my material from the I&I course, my past Web Publishing course, and even my Computer Music course from way back.� Happy Happy, Joy Joy!
Spider asked for a schedule of my band’s performances, so until further notice, here’s the deal.� We’re booked to play the George and Dragon Wednesday nights from 7:30-12:30 until the British tourist season dies down, which typically occurs around October.� After that, we’ll be playing at the Cypress Cove Nudist Resort the Saturday night before Halloween.� Good times!
Finally, here’s a list of do’s and do not’s, from me to you!
Do
Don’t
Today is the 9th anniversary of Patrick and my first date. After initially meeting on AOL in the Orlando M4M room, we talked frequently beginning in March of 1997. One of my first memories of him was hearing his stories about eating gator out by the swamp where his grandparent’s lived. It may surprise you to know that this life-long Florida native has only since then tried gator, and the thought of eating that was still quite alien at the time.
We first met in person at the UCF MIDI lab where I was holding lab hours with my friend and now coworker Ken. Patrick brought his friend and ex-girlfriend Wendy along for moral support, who mysteriously disappeared once we started walking around UCF and talking. Anyway, he must have been impressed because we had our next date that Friday, April 18th.
One of the funniest/worst things people have said when we tell them how long we’ve been together is “Wow…that’s a long time!” meaning “Wow…that’s a long time for gay men!” Its not that their wrong, either. So many men, gay or straight, out there would much rather cut and run when problems present themselves. Patrick and I might not always see eye-to-eye on things, but the one vital thing we’ve learned in the past 9 years is how to get past our differences and move forward together. Its never easy, but its always important and totally worth the effort.
As Sam Keen said originally (and Patrick quoted in his card today),
Johann Sebastian Bach is 321 years young today, his preludes, inventions, fugues, and concertos being performed daily (if not hourly) around the world. My most memorable JS Bach moment has to be playing his Komm Susser Todd as arranged as a wind chorale with the UCF Wind Ensemble. Translated, the title means “Come, Sweet Death”, and I could only hope to have this great work played during your my twilight hours in this world.
What’s your favorite Bach moment?
Once again, UCF has decided to throw me under the bus at the last moment. After signing my contract and turning in all of the paperwork to teach in Digital Media, they informed me today that their budget didn’t allow for me being hired. In fairness to them, this was a last minute change that resulted in fallout from the split in the College of Arts and Sciences. They are now rather screwed in finding a last minute replacement for this course, and some lucky full-time professor will have to give up some time or research to fill the gap.
Oh well, the course was intimidating to say the least. On paper, it needs to cover principles of interaction (vague, right), PHP, mySQL, and Flash. Oh yeah, and the course is taught in an auditorium, once a week for three hours, and it currently has 60 students enrolled! So honestly, though I would have enjoyed the challenge, I think I’ll enjoy the lack of a challenge just fine.
I will still be teaching a course at Valencia, though. I’m greatful that my instinct told me to keep a foot in both schools instead of going completely with UCF. The administration and support staff at Valencia so far have been grand, and I’m glad I’ll be able to contribute to their successful institution of higher learning. Maybe someday UCF will be like that again, but for now its their and their students’ loss.
Yeah, I’m a little bitter, so please bear all that in mind when you read this rant. I found out this morning from the chair of our music department that my services would not be required for any future courses within that department. This was not, as he said, a reflection on my abilities or on the immense amount of positive feedback I have received on my teaching. Rather, it was the result of a committee that met to evaluate the education background of all the professors at UCF before an SAC accreditation. Since I have only a Master’s in Computer Science and not one in music, that instantly disqualified me from continuing to teach in the music department.
I certainly understand the need to follow accreditation guidelines, but it seems ridiculous to assume, especially these days, that departments don’t have cross-disciplinary teaching needs. In computer science, for example, they routinely employ engineers and mathematicians to teach concepts related to their areas of expertise. I’d hope that these kind of needs would not be lost on educated individuals in the university administration, but at least in my case, that does not appear to be so.
Another thing that’s mildly ironic is the statement the chair made. He indicated that with instructors within digital media don’t face quite the same limitation as their area is necessarily more cross-disciplinary. That’s ironic because the vast majority of my students over the past 3 years have been digital media majors, with only a small handful actual music majors. Its like rain on your wedding day, or whatever.
So at this point, I’ve got a few leads with schools like Rollins and Valencia, and at least one or two things left to try before completely giving up on UCF. Its also not the end of the world, either, as there have been some financial things that have certainly made this change less dire than it would have been otherwise.
I want to wish any of you still associated with UCF success in your endeavours, whether that be as a student, a professor, staff, whatever. As this event now sever my ties with UCF for the first time since I started as a music undergraduate 10 years ago, I just want to wish you UCF’ers all the best.
All across our northern hemisphere, life is returning to, well, life. Its the time of the year when plants start to grow again, animals ramp up the procreation, and life just seems abundant and renewed. It seems sadly ironic, then, how much attention and angst is being generated in the life of poor Terri Schiavo, who’s very existence has been opened up for all to see and come to know at the worst possible time - after its already over.
You see, I don’t think Terri is with us anymore. Sure, her body is still hanging on, but her life, her vitality, her existence has fled its prison long ago. Imaging done of her brain shows that there is almost nothing left of the cortex but spinal fluid, hence no chance of revival or anything remotely like consciousness. Not clear on this issue’s facts? Check here for a good run-down, complete with some responses to all the rumors floating around. After reading that information, it puts pretty much all my doubts to rest on this issue.
And what should I think about Terri’s parents? Clearly they feel differently on just what life means than do the people on the other side of the issue. Even though I don’t agree with their perspective, I can’t fault them for fighting for her life. I guess if anything I would rather they not involved the absolute worst representative for the pro-life movement, one Randall Terry. Click here for an interesting review of this man’s life in the news. Even if you are pro-life, you probably will find at least a few things unseemly about him.
Oh well, on to happier things. After a renewing spring break, I’m very much looking forward to the summer. As much as I enjoy teaching at UCF, it certainly will be nice to have only one job for a few months. It does look, though, like I will be playing sax more frequently around town. As always, I’ll be sure to let you know the details as the develope.
My media appetite, as many of you know, has always been voracious. Well, recently I’ve been enjoying the game WarioWare: Touched on the Nintendo DS. Its amazing how simple, stupid games can aggregate into such an excellently replayable kluge-game. I’ve also been enjoying the comic book stylings of one Alan Moore as I’ve finally got around to reading his Tom Strong and Top 10 series, both of which are highly entertaining. Swamp Thing and Watchmen were both excellent series, but entirely different in tone from his more recent work. Moore seems to be having entirely too much fun playing with the various archetypes and conventions of the comic/super-hero genre. This, of course, is great fun for the reader who gets the jokes, and perhaps fun on a different level for the rest of the audience.
On the tele, Patrick and I have been getting caught up on Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and Alias. We’re woefully behind on our Carnivale watching, though, and let’s not even talk about show’s like Farscape and Firefly, neither of which we have finished. I’m also thrilled that the new Doctor Who has been successfully regenerated and exported out of England through the magic of the internet. Of course, I’ll gladly pay for the eventual DVD’s, but for now, the internet is the only place I can watch the show. Oh well, its just the network’s loss of advertisement revenue. Guess they can afford it.
Patrick is doing wonderfully in grad school learning all about the joys of the field of social work. He’s also completed a few quilts which he’ll be entering into a quilting competition locally, all of which are the finest I’ve ever seen. I’ll see if we can’t get a picture of 3 up here for you all to witness firsthand.
Before I go, I hope all of you pondered for just a second or two about what the Easter/Passover/Solstice time meant to you. I know that I thought about what it means to be renewed in life and in spirit, and how important it is to recognize and enshrine these kind of feelings into celebrations like the above. No matter what your specific faith draws you to, the concept of renewal, revival, and regeneration is throughout all creation. Without it, life would not have gotten this far as it is, and what life there was would be stale and uninteresting. So I’m glad for this season and hopeful for the coming days of life, whatever that entails.
Its been an interesting, crazy month so far this January. New Year’s, as I previously mentioned, was spent out at the Cypress Cove Nudist Colony. I had gigs both New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, which left me quite exhausted for the balance of that weekend. Then, last weekend, we played again out at the Cove. Evidently, the next few months are kinda slow out there, but they fully intend for us to be out several times a month over the summer. Makes sense, I think.
Then in mid-January, I travelled up to our nation’s capitol for some work-related business, during which I got to visit with CJ & Alfred, Clara & Dick, Keri, and Tony and eat dinner at some awesome restraunts. I have to admit that if I were ever to desire a change in location, the greater Washington D.C./northern Virginia/southern Maryland area is quite appealing.
While up there, I found out that my digital music mentor Jerry Gardner had passed away quite unexpectantly. This left Jon (the other digital music instructor) and I quite shaken, particularly since Jon had just talked to him the night he passed away. But classes had to be covered, so we were both asked to share the effort. This added one extra class to my schedule, in addition to the other extra class we had begged the department to allow us to teach on computer music. So now, I’m up to teaching four classes at UCF in addition to my full-time obligation at NAVAIR. Fun stuff indeed.
At first I was scared I couldn’t handle it, but Patrick’s been supportive and offered to assist me with the outside-of-class obligations. He even met with my two musictech classes when I had to be out of town the first week of the semester. So now, it only seems overwhelming when I stop to think about it, which I subsequently try not to do.
Now for something completely geeky. I have been playing Final Fantasy 1 on the GBA (GameBoy Advance) for the last few weeks (well, since around Christmas), and I have to say that it really sucks. I never started with it but skipped ahead to FF 4 (the first on the SNES) which I absolutely adored. I think what discourages me about it is the incessant random battles throughout the dungeons, all of which contain random dead-end pathways. This was never my favorite component of the Final Fantasy series, at least not with the early battle systems. I think it wasn’t until FF6 that I started to enjoy customizing my characters more, and that certainly got insanely fun around FF10. Nevertheless, I will finish this game just to say that I’ve done it. Then, its on to finish FF5-FF10, none of which I ever completed. Yeah, I might finish before the end of civilization.
Ah, almost out of time. I have absolutely no time to talk about how great Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events is, both the bothersome books and the frightening film. Absolutely no time to talk about the wonders of Lost, the same-ness of Alias and 24, and the intelligence of the new Battlestar Galatica. Oh, and I can’t even begin to speak about Graham Norton, the old poof who I’ve terribly ripped off in this last paragraph.
Over the weekend, Jerry Gardner, professor of music at UCF, passed away. In addition to founding the UCF Marching Knights and the UCF
Synthesizer Ensemble, Mr. G was also a mentor and dear friend of mine over the last eight years. It is because of him that I am now also teaching music technology at UCF, both for his personal confidence in me and for the vision to promote music technology within the UCF music department.
Fond of terrible jokes and sometimes painful impressions, Jerry was most in his element when bringing the joys of music to both eighteen and eighty year olds alike. I’d write more, but I’m still a bit in shock, really, that he’ll no longer sitting in his office before class, offering a jelly bean and a funny email. I can rest happy, though, that he died a happy, well-traveled, inspirational man with a rich tapestry of existence behind him. We should all be so fortunate.
After starting out to recount my New Year’s experience, I turned down an unexpected garden path to find myself understanding at last my turning away from and eventual return to a life with music.
As you may know, I have recently revived my sax-playing thanks to a friend at work. His band CD and the Things is a group of musicians, some of which come and go, but whose core consists of Charlie, his wife Brandy, his brother Artie, Enrique, and myself. Our illustrious trajectory so far has taken us from a bowling alley bar to the UCF Football Game Fan Fair all all the way up to the Cypress Cove Nudist Colony where we’ll be playing this New Year’s Eve and Day.
I’m not in Baltimore, but Tony is! He’ll be joining us here on this little website, sharing his adventures in the city that brought us John Waters (full of grace!). Sorry for any confusion that his posts might have brought.
School’s back in session at UCF. I have two very full classes of kids who want to grow up and be digital artists someday. The morning section seems quite lively, while the afternoon section seems quite unlively. This is surprisingly typical, though, of my experience over the last two years. I’m not sure how to evade the itis that follows with lunch, but maybe some electronic cacauphony will stir up their spirits. Stockhausen first, then, followed by some Xenakis with a Varese-chaser.
Life at the house has finally quieted down after two weeks full of houseguests. I feel fortunate that we only came out of Charley with a few small issues, and were thus able to accomodate some friends and family for a while. Still, I do enjoy the quiet hum of the living room electronics when I settle down in the late evenings on the comfy couch.
End of Line
