Here Comes Summer
Finals ended Friday. The students living in their dorms had to have their asses out by 5 that day. The mass exodus of people out of Denton is complete, and only the off-campus students and normal Dentonites remain. Work will be nicer, with ample parking and few deadlines for departments to freak out about.
UNT got another new president today, and his first order of business was commencement. I can only imagine what his first words were:
“Good afternoon! Welcome to…to…um…GRADUATION! Here at…oh…um…YOUR SPLENDID UNIVERSITY! I will now turn the podium over to uh…ummm…this nice gentleman to give the commencement address.”
He then moves around the stage awkwardly looking for his chair.
I can’t think of a more terrifying thing to do on your first day at work. Speaking to and dealing with people you have worked with for probably no more than two hours. But he seems like a nice guy, so I think he’ll do well in the one year he is slated to serve while we look for a long-term replacement.
Over the summer, I hope to finally get a podcast going with my friends. All we lack are more microphones and some content. I also would like to try writing a little more, since it is something I’d like to end up doing. Oh yeah, and relaxing, too. I’ve really needed more of that.
Home Stretch
Seems like school is finally coming to a close. Well, I say finally, but it only feels like I’ve been going for a couple of weeks! I’ll have three finals this go around, since my RTVF writing class doesn’t have one, period. Our assignment this weekend is to write a two-ish page scene in an airplane using two characters whose profiles we picked from a hat. The scene must also portray anxiety. My characters aren’t the best for the scene, but I think I can whip something up. Besides, I have a little wiggle room, since I’ve gotten an A on all of the assignments in there.
Spanish is the only class I still worry about. It’s my last required semester, so I can’t fail it, or else I’ll have to go through the terrifying thing again. As long as I pass, I’m happy. Other than that, all of my classes are going fairly well.
This fall, I’ll be taking all RTVF major courses. I’ll be taking Video Production, TV and Film Analysis, Film History, and hopefully Radio Practicum, where you basically get credit for working at the radio station. Should be a fun as hell semester, since I don’t have any basic bullshit classes to mess with.
An idea popped into my head yesterday as I was perusing Best Buy. I was walking through the photography section, when I found a Wacom Bamboo tablet. Then it hit me. Webcomic! Yes, I’m terrible at drawing, but my favorite webcomic, Toothpaste for Dinner, isn’t exactly the shining example of art on the internet. But, it’s funny as shit, and I think I could pull something like that off. However, I’m holding off at the moment, since I want to get a podcast going first. Hopefully that will materialize in the next couple of weeks.
Change of Venue
I’ve officially changed my weekly coffee spot. After the Jupiter House decided to host Governor Rick Perry for a campaign stop, without inviting other candidates, I’ve moved my Sunday tradition to Big Mike’s on Hickory St. Some people think I’m overreacting, but when a place that I believe is a forum for free speech and social activity becomes a platform for one ideal, it’s not a place I want to patronize. Besides, Big Mike is cheaper.
After being postponed last week, the UIL meet at my old high school went well. I judged Prose, Poetry, and Extemporaneous Informative Speaking. Poetry is the toughest to judge for me, since I’m really not an avid reader of poetry. Hell, I really don’t even like poetry, so I sometimes feel that I can’t give the contestants the critique they deserve. Either way, all of the events were fun and I got to see my old teachers again.
Today I plan to finish the Debian install on my media server, which I decided to completely reformat since it was filled with so much junk. All I really have to do now is set up file sharing between it and my mac. For some reason, it’s not wanting to play as nicely as it did with Ubuntu.
Belated First Post of the Year
Hope everyone’s year has been going well. As for me, I can already cross one of my resolutions off of my list.
I got a position as a DJ at KNTU, 88.1 FM, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6-9PM. I’ve never been so excited or an nervous in my life. My voice will soon be thrown across one of the larget radio markets in the United States, D/FW. My orientation is tomorrow, and it includes free pizza! If this is how the radio business works, I think I’m gonna like this career.
School also starts next week. I’m still taking the happy medium of 12 hours along with work. This semester, however, I’ll be going to work in the mornings and school in the afternoons and evenings. Tuesdays will be aprticularly busy, since I’ll be Going to work and school until 4:50, then my radio shift from 6-9, and the, time and energy permitting, my usual bike ride Tuesday nights and 9:30.
Also this past week I’ve been watching the whole saga between Conan O’Brien and Jay Leno. I, for one, think that Conan is getting royally shafted. Jay is also being treated unfairly, but is still getting preferential treatment from the NBC execs. I believe that Jay should quietly retire, leaving as a mediocre host of The Tonight Show and pioneer of a doomed primetime comedy genre. Moving Jay back to Tonight would be too much of a disruption and would destroy any ratings the show had. Although I love to watch Conan, at this point he’s a lame duck, and since I don’t have a Nielsen box, I can’t help him out. So, I’ve switched to Letterman until the dust settles.
Updates
Well, the couch is great. Outrageously comfortable and pretty good looking. All I need is a TV and I’ll be set.
I did get back into WoW this week, with most of my time playing wasted by downloading patches. I have gotten my character to level 9, so it’s not as much of a frustrating mess as it is when you begin. But I promise that I won’t endlessly ramble on about the game, since most conversation on it makes for dull material.
Staying up late to wait for said patches to download, I watched a really great documentary on Roy Orbison on KERA. Afterward, when the download finally finished, I downloaded his greatest hits. I never realized how awesome this guy was. Some of his stuff can be really haunting, but so enjoyable. If only I wasn’t creeped out every time I hear In Dreams. Thanks, David Lynch.
This week I also discovered an amazingly stupid feature of my Mac mini. The microphone jack isn’t powered. I was wanting to use my run-of-the-mill Logitech headset to see if I could use Skype or talk on WoW, but no sound would be recorded. It detected the microphone, but picked up nothing but silence. A little searching around on teh interwebz revealed that unlike most computers made in the past two decades, the microphone jack is unable to power passive mics. I pretty much have to have a mixer or a USB microphone. Oh well, guess that gives me an excuse to get a badass mic and try to get a little voiceover business going.
This next week is going to be busy as hell, with work plus finals. It won’t be fun, but it’ll pass by quick, to be sure.
Here Comes the Sun
Sunny this Sunday outside the Jupiter House window. Everything is looking good for the week ahead. I have collected buckets for my RTVF project, so with a little pre-production this week we should be ready for filming next weekend, with all of the following week to edit. We’re in a pretty good position now.
I also nabbed a copy of the new remaster of The Beatles catalog. One word…awesome. The technicians definitely knew what they were doing with this master. I also played the new Beatles Rock Band game earlier this week, and I was equally impressed. Not only was it a great way to experience the history of The Beatles, but it was also a great improvement of the Rock Band user experience. I especially liked the new way to switch from right to left hand settings. No longer do you have to press start as soon as the song starts or scrolling through all of the settings and wasting time. You simply just press back before a song, and you’re there. As a lefty, I have to say that not only I’m happy, but so are all of my right-handed friends.
Continuing my bank switching saga, I can now announce that everything has been started, activated, transferred and configured with my new Bank of America account. I have to say that it’s been pretty good so far. I especially like the fact that the ATMs aren’t stuck in the ’90s. Never before have I had a bank that allows me to never step into a branch. THE ATM CAN DEPOSIT CHECKS! I know many of you may take this feature for granted, but my mouth was agape at that first ATM visit.
Now I will continue my day most likely by watching episodes of Little Britain on Netflix and playing some Tiger Woods.
Rainy Reflection
The reunion was fun this year, with most of the same stuff happening as every year, only with the most perfect weather imaginable. The only solemn part of it was when we visited my grandmother’s grave in Stamford. I still miss her, and it’s hard to believe that it’s already been more than a year.
It’s a cool, rainy day here in Denton this morning; same as yesterday. I had a very productive meeting with my RTVF partner yesterday about the film we are assigned to make in the next three weeks, and I think we have a pretty good thing going. Basic, easy, a neat story, and exceptionally low budget. I think all we need is a bucket…
I’ve also reached a milestone in my life away from home. I have just racked up my first library fine. I now owe the City fifty cents. Can this keep me from having to do jury duty? Let’s hope so.
I’ve been running pretty tight on cash the past few days, since my last paycheck was just a little over $100 and the beginning of school means a lot of extra expenses. I’ve also opened a new bank account at Bank of America, since my credit union removed their ATM from the UNT student union. I e-mailed them asking why this happened, and they said that the University had made their yearly renewal process longer and harder, and that they didn’t get enough business with that ATM. The woman who responded to me, who turned out to the the Senior VP of Marketing and Customer Relations, then asked me to recommend anything the Denton Area Teachers Credit Union could do to better serve members on campus…
Gee, I dunno, maybe PUT AN ATM ON CAMPUS?!! Seriously, you should have enough balls to fill out a little extra paperwork. Because of their laziness, I have now switched to a bank that has around 18,000 ATMs and branches, instead of 5 ATMs and four branches spread across the county. I’ll still keep my account open at DATCU, just in case I need a lower-interest loan, but that’s it.
Now that I’ve let myself vent for awhile, I guess I need to head home and tidy up.
The Start
Started my third semester here at UNT this past Thursday. My classes so far don’t seem too bad, apart from Physics, which I suck at already and the fast-talking professor and the open lab format (you go on your own time) won’t help either. Other than that, I should be fine. Our Spanish teacher is really nice, and Government should be a breeze.
The only class I have yet to go to is my last Radio, TV & Film pre-major course. I’m not too worried, but I do hope I get a good partner in the film production portion of the course. I’m really excited about the audio production portion of it, though, since I had so much fun helping a friend get his radio spot made.
I filled out a volunteer form at our campus radio station, KNTU 88.1, but they have yet to call me. Maybe I’ll ask them about it this next week. I would definitely love that.
Coming up this next weekend is my family reunion in Lueders, TX. Well, it’s more of a distant family reunion, since the majority of the family is that of my great-grandmother on my mother’s side. It’s usually pretty fun; watching hillbillies drink and shoot guns while our section of the family just drinks and laughs. It should make for quite a bit of fun. It’s also in the middle of nowhere, so don’t expect one of my sunday writings next week.
Whirlwind
It’s been a really busy week, but really fruitful, too.
Finally bought a bike this week, a 1983 Schwinn World Tourist. I found it on Craigslist and got it for eighty bucks. It’s in great condition, except for the original tires, which are starting to curmble. As soon as the next paycheck comes, I’ll get a new set. Here’s a pic of my new ride on the library mall at UNT:
The coolest part about this thing is the very strange and rare Shimano Front Freewheeling system. When coasting, the chain continues to move, allowing you to shift gears. I didn’t have any problem shifting the gears on my ’71 Varsity, but this is a really cool feature that does make shifting gears while coasting to a stop at an intersection a breeze.
On another topic, I have finished my five-week summer course on Nutrition, everyone’s least-favorite required blow-off class. After the final grade was computed, I ended up with a mid-B. It would have been an A, if it hadn’t have been for an assignment that was due immediately after a test that I forgot to submit. Oh well, I’ve got the credits, so I’m good.
The weekend brings the weekly ritual of returning home to wash clothes, probably watching a movie with my friends, and a Sunday afternoon fish-fry at my uncle’s. Should be nice.
leave a comment