What I like about being at Brandi's

So I'm in Valparaiso Indiana at my sister's for Christmas.  It's been a really good time except I'm getting used to the weather, it's so cold!  We're all having a good time.  Here are some pics of the kids and a few I took last night about things I like here.

  Jude, the original christmas ham!

Sibley and I do CRAZY EYES!

All kids asleep in the car

Zipperface!

So Brandi told me to bring a stocking, and I have the matching stocking but brought only my old one. Talk about the odd man out.

The christmas tree (in all it's splendor!)

A long exposure shot of the snow in the back yard last night.

More pictures to come at a later date!  Merry Christmas!

Pillars of Sun

Here's the link to listen to my string quartet.  Enjoy!  Click on WAV file for best quality.

http://mu2009-nt106567.music.unt.edu/Patrick_Peringer/

String Quartet Pictures

Here are a few pics of me with the quartet last night at our second recording session.  I'll be posting soon the edited version of the piece. (photos by Josh Harris)

Stressful weeks!

In my Contemporary Performace Practice seminar the only real grade is the final presentation and paper.  I've known about it all semester, I've had my topic loosely chosen since the beginning of October and of course three weeks ago I was sick on the day we signed up for the presentation and I got tomorrow, instead of after thanksgiving.  This is a blessing and a curse in that I only had a few weeks to get it all ready, but I would be done before thanksgiving and I could write the paper over the "break" (in quotes because UNT only give thurs and friday off). 

Of course the focus on my topic has shifted throughout my reseatch and I finally have a solid topic.  I am exploring the strictness of time in some proportionally notated works by Toru Takemitsu.  If you aren't a musician what that means is Takemitsu wrote a few pieces that don't have defined time-divisions (like a meter with tempo [remember from band a time signature 'four-four' and a tempo 'Quarter = 90 beats per minute]) but with gestures of notes with no clearly quantized (lined up) rhythms.  While this is really an oversimplification, it's the best I can do.  What typical performers see when they see proportional notation is freedom and expression.  They think they can hold notes longer because it may be a note that is to be held for 4 to 6 seconds, which gives them an option for how long they hold the note.

What I am proving through Bryce, Water-ways, and Rain Spell is that Takemitsu did not intend for the spatial notation to give hte performers licence to alter the time more than he has allowed.  There is very intricate timing-cues and event orderings that make the piece sound how it does.  If a careless ensemble were to perform these works they could really mess up the sound by being lazy.  Contant diligence is required by the performers to be listening and knowing the other parts to see how they incorporate into the fray. 

I am especially interested in this because my new string quartet has many minutes of spatial notation and I've been frustrated with my quartet for not knowing how to interpret it and I have to explain it and count it for them.  Spatial notation is nothing new, but apparently it's not dogma quite yet, and how to interpret it is even farther behind than even knowing what it is.  I am hoping to bridge some kind of gap for performers on what the composer's intent it and how to interact with the music.

At any rate, I've found this very interesting and useful to my research interests.  I also really love the music.  If you want to hear bits of Bryce  or Rain Spell go to this page and have a listen for a minute.  It's really beautiful, exotic stuff. 

my work setup

I got up early to work on my piece (because I decided to do a final copy on the computer) and had to make a run across town to get a numerical pad which expedites the copying process greatly in Sibelius.  I've been working and I thought that I love my setup, so I thought I'd share it with you alls.

This is an overall shot of my desk, which is actually Nick's dining room table that's in the living room.

We never use it so I thought I'd just camp out here to get my work done.  Two screens, one bible, one cup of coffee, and a lot of cool stuff (notice the stack of 'brainy' books).

A vertical shot of it.  I put in that light a few weeks ago because this side of the living room was really dark and I couldn't see anything, it really helps.  Also notice above the painting that my grandmother Dorothy Norton Peringer painted in '63.  I love it being above where I work.

Two displays!  Well, one extra really as one automatically comes with the macbook.

A hot cup of coffee with pumpkin spice creamer in it.  It's a seasonal favorite, so I need to use it while it lasts.

 A handy paper holder I got at U of I after seeing Bukvich have one (I actually have one of his around here somewhere).

A shot of the right side with my three hard drives (too many!) and my new numerical pad.

This is where I live and work.  I am really starting to like it, so much so that I might try to buy this table when my lease ends and Nick and I move apart.  I don't have class till 3 today, so I'll be working here all day, I love it!

Sunday mornings

I love my Sunday mornings.  They are the highlight of my week.  It's weird that I'm not at the age where instead of Friday or Saturday nights, I look forward to my Sunday mornings (Saturdays are usually similar).

I wake up, get a shower and get ready and get to Starbucks so I can compose and get a coffee (lately pumpkin spice latte's).  I don't get coffee from there during the week as it's too much money, so I save it for the weekends.  I get there, get my coffee and just compose.  It's my designated composition time.  I look at it like time with music and God, because I have church at 11, which is a great time because it's enough time in the morning to get a good session in.  I don't have to think about anything else, work, school work, money, or anything else.  I can just sit, drink my coffee, think about God, write music.  It's really the perfect time for me.  Today the sun was out, it was blue skies, and I worked on getting to the end of my final hand-draft.  I got there and came up with a great idea for the end which extended the ending by over 30 seconds which brings the total time for the piece to 13 minutes.  I still have 9 bars after the mid-point to work out, but I have a good idea of what to do and I'm going to take care of that after church.

I realized two things about who I am as a composer and how I look at my music:
1) I'm not experimental for experimental's sake.
    -Too many composers are trying to be experimental just to be experimental.  Their music usually lacks soul, emotion, and creativity.  It becomes a gimmick, and people usually forget about it except for maybe some gimmickey "experimental" aspect.  I want people to remember my music for what it makes them feel, not that I'm writing gushy-hyper-emotional-trash just to get people to weep.  There is a balance between the brain and the heart but they both should be fully engaged.
2) I'm not composing to impress anyone.
   -Too many composers write to impress other people, namely musicians and namely other composers.  My music is not impressive from a technical, or virtuosic standpoint.  I really don't care for it to.  Not that I write simplistic music, although I value simplicity and a clear sense of direction.  I don't care if anyone listens to my music and are impressed by it's exciting elements.  My music is not bombastic, or overly intense.  It has times where it can be a little 'notey', but overall I like space to be a factor in the structure.   My SQ has a lot of space in it, maybe too much in fact.  The first three and last four minutes are long phrases with just a few notes held throughout.  I like it and think it will be a meditative thing.

yet again....

I get these symptoms that doctors can't make any sense of.  It's always with my digestion tract.  This case knocked me out the last few days, which in the middle of the week seems to make the whole week void.  I went to the student health center and the doctor didn't know what it was.  She said it wasn't my appendix which is good.  I started to feel ill two days ago with an upset stomach and tired achy body.  Then last night I got a pain in my right side.  So I'm on the BRAT diet for today and maybe tomorrow.  I pray that I get better as this isn't getting worse or better.  I need to become functional again!  If I can get better tomorrow then I can work through the weekend and get back on track. 

String Quartet

I finished the first draft of my string quartet tonight.  It excites me because I haven't been in school for a while and I didn't know if I'd get back in the swing of composing under deadlines and time pressure.  I'm happy to say that this is almost the earliest time in a semester I've finished the first draft for a piece, so it looks like I'm on track.

Now about the piece.  I got this idea of expansion/contraction when I was binge and purging ideas at the beginning of my process.  I really like the idea of an idea growing and then collapsing.  So I drew a diamond (or a rhombus as my roommate said [I had forgotten what a rhombus was!]) and divided it up into vertical columns of 5x5 creating 25 smaller sections.  Each column of the diamond is separated out into larger sections by column.  So, 1 is the first section, 2 and 3 for the second sections, 4 5 6 for third, and so on.  This forms a macro form of 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1, or an arch or palindrome  (see fig.1).  At first I didn't like the idea of an exact palindrome (that is write the first half and reverse the second note-for-note and rhythm-for-rhythm).

fig. 1

This form poses problems from a compositional standpoint.  The most apparent and difficult one for me was that the way we listen to music is relational.  We hear aural relationships over time, but throughout western culture we're used to certain events happening in certain orders.  We like for a piece to build to a climax and then come down (I like it too).  Things have to be paced though.  We usually like the climax to be at or near the end.  According to this form the climax would have to be in block-13, the direct middle because anything before or after is to be repeated even if it's an abstract repetition (at this point I didn't know if the second half would be a literal palindrome or just essence).  Either way, 13 is the middle and thus the only unique micro-block not to be repeated.

So my initial thought was to have the beginning (blocks 1-3) be quiet and only contain one or two notes.  A single note to start, fig.2, (D because it was the central note when when stacking the open strings of all the quartet, C G D A (vla, cel) and G D A E (vln) so C G D A E, with D in the middle) that will eventually glissando into two, D and E, fig.3.  Eventually C# above enters and we have a nice little three note chord that contains the intervals that I love, M2, M7.

fig.2

fig.3

This is all nice and well and ended up taking much more time than I thought, this is a good thing though.  It lets the beginning breathe and have space.  This is what it needed and it is what I gave it.  So after four phrases of slow building intensity we get to column 4 (blocks 7-10).  This is where I had no clue what to do.  This is an intermediate section before the big crazy column 5 but more active than the opening 4 phrases (first three minutes).  It needed to be active but not to intense.  I for some reason wanted a "doppler" type effect.  So I thought it might be time to have them align in a tempo (so far it's been free of that) and play with some dynamics.  In fig.4, the details of the transition are still to be worked out (going from ametrical to "metered" where is eighth note=120) but the dynamics shifting will shape the sound to be moving yet static. 

fig.4

The measure that says 1:40 above it is where I start a number process between all the players.  They are repeating a measure 4 times and then moving on, but each measure has a different amount of notes.  It is based on a number sequence permutated.  In the cello look at the numbers below the staff, 8 7 6 5, and in the violin I, 5 6 7 8.  The inner parts are scrambled (vln II 6 5 8 7 and vla 7 8 5 6).  The number sequence is then reversed back to the start, ex. vln I, 5 6 7 8 8 7 6 5.  I think this process worked out very nicely.

The next section is column 5 where there is the most action and intensity.  If you know anything about my compositional style, you'll know this is a perpetual problem with me.  I have a hard time composing "virtuostic" or bombastic sounds.  In this draft I kept everthing spatial and abolished bar lines.  I'll probably notate this section accurately and I think there will be a lot of specific rhytmic interplay between parts.  Fig.5 is the beginning of this section that I think can stay proportional, but the rhythms get increasingly more accurate later on.

fig.5

The main bulk of the fragments in this next section are built off this 8-note sequence (seen in vln I, D# D, A, G#, A#, C#, G, F) or the opening tri-chord (D, E, C#).  This section breaks up into smaller 2-3-4-5 note chunks of notes intermixed with plucks and strums of muted strings.  It should sound chunky and strident.  This intensity gives way though to block-13 which is the mid-point and the only non-repeated block.  I wanted the climax to be calm, understated, and a contrast the the material being worked out in sections 4 and 5.

fig.6

In fig. 7, notice that the fragments now will have holds of notes after them, to make a seam or constant notes or chords.  The notes sustained form C# D# G G#, which is the tetrachord that most of the pitch material is based on.

fig.7

It's getting late here, so I'll have to post the rest of the piece-in-progress tomorrow or at a later time.  I know this is a cliff-hanger for all of you!  I like doing this, it helps me to flesh out what I'm doing in words and it's a public forum so I can get some feedback maybe.

black coffee and cockroach!

This morning was a weird one.  First I'd like to say that I've finally given into drinking black coffee.  I suppose it's bound to happen to any coffee drinker.  I like it better (with a little sugar) than with all the creamers.  The exception is pumpkin spice, which is in season (does artificial flavoring really have a season?) right now so I shall partake in that.

This picture is tricky though because lurking behind that seemingly innocent coffee apparatus is (was) an infestation of cockroaches!  We had them pretty pretty bad (in larry david's voice) for a while until last week I bought COMBAT!® which baits them into taking some poison back to their lair and sharing it with their friends over a game of cards until they all die.  It's been much better since except this morning....

....when I came out of the shower to see this little monster!  Just sitting on a pair of pants in my room.  So naturally I took a pic to document it and then I got out a sandal and hit it and flushed it down to toilet!  Welcome to Texas.

how big god is

I was walking to church yesterday and lately it's been really rainy here in Texas.  This was something I was not expecting and to be honest wasn't too thrilled about.  But this last rain wasn't too bad as it came in really hard fits for less than half an hour, then complete sunniness.  That was on Friday, by Sunday it was just overcast with some misting. 

I was thinking about sin and how I've lately let it become more of a focus to me than God.  I think we all go through times like this.  It's exactly what the Evil One wants us to believe, that our sins are so bad that God won't forgive them. This is a boldface lie (to quote GOB)!  But still it doesn't seem to be true to our human sensibilities, we can't comprehend that kind of forgiveness.

Here's the picture I saw walking to church-

a single drop of water lazily falling into a small puddle the size of a square of sidewalk.  it was one of those spots in a sidewalk where the concrete has disappeared or somehow dig deeper into the earth.  it was overtaken by water in a small square maybe 2.5 x 2.5 feet.  this drop of water hit the surface and a 3d wave spread out beyond the center.  i think of this as a drop of sin in the entire sin of my life.  imagine how many drops of water are in that puddle.  a whole lifetime (at least 28 years) of sinning and i just added one more drop.  at first it ripples and disturbs the surface but after a few seconds it's all still again.  now imagine this, taking that water in the pond and dropping it in the middle of the pacific ocean.  would it even be traceable?  would it even disturb even one single small wave?  God is bigger than that ocean.  we can't even imagine how big it is.  God is big, my sin is small.  why do I let it get in the way of all that?

The Magician, and my diet stinks

So this week was the most stressful of this semester, which isn't saying much because in the grad scheme it really wasn't that big of a deal or test.  We had a concert Monday, (see previous post) which went well but was time consuming.  Then on Thursday I had a presentation on Serialism, with a parter, for 80 minutes.  I took the first 40 with cramming the history of the 2nd Viennese School through Boulez.  In 40 minutes I went about 30 years.  My partner Gabi (a flautist from Brazil) took Babbitt and played some excerpts from him and spoke more.  It went well I think.  It really wasn't that 'hard', but it was my first kind of test here and I didn't want to look bad or flunk it, so in that respect it was a big deal.  It was good.  I also met with a string quartet for them to read through what I have so far in my piece.  It went well but was some work to get it all ready for them.  I've since them re-notated what I've got which is about 2 minutes of music.  I'm meeting with them on Tuesday for another half hour which will be a really good time for me.  On top of all that I went to two improv session (wed. night with some other DMA composers, thurs. at the dance dept. at TWU [Texas Women's University]).  It was fun, then after I went to Scott's (a fellow DMA composer, who also went to BGSU a year ahead of me, so I know him) with Ben (another DMA composer) and had a beer with some really really cheap pizza.  I woke up friday literally thinking it was Saturday.

I'm reading this book "The Magicians" which my friend Megan sent me.  I'm through the first half and I really like most all of it, except some out of context language that I think is not becoming.  I am excited to dive into the second half  Megan has this idea that when she finished a book to send it to another person my mail.  I like this idea, like a book share program.  Rather than reading and putting on shelf till you move and decide to throw it out, give it some use to someone else.  This could be a good idea!

I think my poor diet is catching up with me.  My stomach is upset most all the time and I think my body is literally rejecting much of the food on a regular basis.  I need to eat better!  Someone help me!!!  I don't know how to cook or really take care of myself in the food realm.  Help me!!!!

Centerpieces Concert

Last night was the first concert in our Centerpieces series here at UNT.  It went off amazingly!  The newly-renovated Merril Ellis Intermedia Theater (MEIT) was amazing to take out for a spin and she performed beautifully.  I was in charge of the output mixer which I had recently become introduced to and it was intuitive and east to run.  It was a great concert too.  I had Contrast performed by Kyle Stec and Steve Friel.  They played well and the piece was very nice sounding in that space.  Here are a few pics from the event.

Reflection of Adam off the piano

A good shot of the MEIT

From the control station

 Me pretending to diffuse

 

Greg Dixon actually diffusing

The output mixer

Our controls

A full house about to experience new electronic music

a new thing I do

I think that part of me is growing up.  Well maybe not, but something I've been doing since I got here is make my bed every morning.  I don't know why but I love it.  I've never ever made my bed consistently.  I've always just left it and it never looked nice.  Now my room is almost always clean and my bed made up.  So I can just go in and lay on top without it being all messy.  I like that.

Are We Robots?

When you walk across college campus you might think that college students are robots. Almost every person walks around with a nice white set of ear buds placed directly in their ears. I'm trying to convince myself that they are in fact not robots and the those cords aren't controlling their brains, but from my knowledge of music I think that music does control the brain.

The most unfortunate aspect of this is that we humans are tuning out the life around us. There is a whole soundscape to our lives that happen naturally. The world we live in is vibrant with sound and interesting ones at that! It's too bad that everyone is too busy listening to the latest over-compressed piece of garbage on the radio.

I heard one of my favorite "natural" sound walking to school today. It's the sound of beeping from a construction vehicle. I love that tone, especially if it's a bit far off, it makes it sound almost ethereal, especially if there are two like there was today. Two different (or the same) pitches that beep in and out of phase because they are almost the same tempo, but just slightly different. It's like my own Different Trains but with real sounds. I love it.

I tried to load a sound clip but I had some problems. I'll figure it out later

Addictions

I went to the 7/11 that is by my apartment today to get the usual, a 32 oz. Pepsi®. I love Pepsi, that's the truth. I refuse to get a fountain Coke, only Pepsi. Now out of necessity I'll get a Coke from the vending machine in the music building because it's the only machine, and it's Coke on all of campus (and pretty much everywhere else down here), so I'll get it. But for fountain, nothing touches a good old Pepsi.

This got me thinking as the guy before me in line is the maintenance guy for my complex. He's the typical hippie-turned-worker guy who always smells bad of a mixture of BO and beer. He was at the store buying three large sized individual Milwaukee's Best beers, at 1:30 in the afternoon. I felt sorry for him as I think that might be an indicator of a problem. But then again, I'm getting my pepsi.

Addiction is a funny thing. It always starts out as something you like, then pretty soon you can't live without it. Unfortunately, addictions are usually associated with sin or badness. I wish I had some good addictions, but I don't. I have Pepsi, candy, video games, and whatnot, which I guess is not that bad, there's more but I don't need to dig in too deep. But essentially it's all bad because it keeps us from being productive for God. Why read my bible when I could play video games?

I hate my addictions and I'm trying to ask for grace to get rid of them. Now if I just really wanted to.... Anyways, some thoughts for the day, as I'm going to start blogging again.

Easter

This Easter has proven to be an unusual one. I did laundry. That's pretty much it. All day. Granted I'm getting over an unusually strong sore throat that hit like a ton of bricks on Friday. But still I did nothing, except one good deed. I gave away my piano.

At home (oakesdale, WA [google map it to see how small it is]) I got a small piano for my graduation gift from my parents. We didn't haul it out here when I moved so it's sat in my parents house all these years. They sold the house and now I'm trying to sell it. The people that sold it to me, the Browns, were my second family growing up. Their son, Josh was my best friend all through high school. Larry and Cheryl have been to almost every event in my life up till college. They sold my folks the piano when I graduated college.

They were interested in buying it back for their oldest daughter Jodi. She's interested in learning how to play again. The asking price I set was too high and they declined to buy it, so I gave it to them tonight. I just thought that it could be a good thing for them. I'm a teacher at heart and a teacher does what is right for people who want to learn. I hope it will be a good sing for things to come for Jodi, she's going in for heart surgery this week, hopefully after this all her problems will be done. Maybe music could be in the path of her recovery. It's amazing when God places you in the path of someone you can bless.

and the winner is.....

University of North Texas! I guess the real winner is me. I can't believe I got in there and that I'm now going to be a student there. I'm also blown away that I'm going to get a doctorate. Dr. P! Or as Angie, Drew and Hunter decided, Dr. PP (because of my initials). I'm pretty sure that one won't stick.

I've had a lot of doubt about where I should go lately. I'm not used to be in "high demand". When I applied for the master's degree, I only got through the process with two school, U of Wash and BG. Washington didn't want me and I got into BG. It was a pretty easy choice, one choice always is. I got into the all the schools I applied for namely because I didn't think I had a chance at UNT. They only accept 2 people a year (which I found out afterward thank God!) and they have a pretty reputable name for music and a great composition department. The other schools I applied to I figured I'd get in to, but really thought I wouldn't get in anywhere.

So when I got into them I didn't know what choice to make. UNT actually gave me the least amount of money, but their tuition s dirt cheap and they gave me a scholarship and in-state tuition. It's also pretty cheap to live in Denton, comparable to BG. I'm up next for a teaching fellowship though, maybe this fall, possibly spring, and for sure next year I'll be getting funded which will help a lot. The other schools gave assistantships, but in Boulder wouldn't have gone very far as living is outrageous there. Anyways, I think I made the right decisions. UNT was my first choice and still is.

I went there on Friday to visit the school, and it is huge! The building is very big and it's a big department. The music school is the flagship of the university, it has a great reputation and great teachers. I'm looking forward to living there. The weather is going to be better, but it'skind of windy and unpredictable, but everything is in bloom there and it's still not thinking about it here.

Now if I can just get through the next four years! That's right at least four more years of school! I wonder if I'll ever get done. If I'm done with school in 4 (hopefully not 5) years I'll be 33 when it's all said and done and I will have gone to college for a decade! 10 whole years! Crazy. It will be worth it though.

Dreams

Since I don't post much anymore I might as well post about the dreams I've been having lately. If you know me it's no secret that I have weird dreams, and I have them frequently. It probably has to do with the fact I have a small bladder and have to go to the bathroom a few times a night so I am constantly interrupting my dream cycle.

Usually my dreams are a mash of events or discussions I've had that day. I also have some reoccurring dreams or places in dreams. I don't read into what my dreams mean because I think I would be walking around confused or think I am really messed up or something. I don't think that God speaks to me through dreams. I think he gave me these weird dreams because he knows I like weird movies and my dreams are much cooler and more weird than anything Hollywood is producing.

Dreamlog: Friday 3/27

This dream is a two-parter with both parts only being linked by robots. The first part is a little hazy but the gist is that I am some kind of robot killer from what used to be earth. We have been run out by "the robots" and are now a rogue civilization. I went back to destroy the robots. I flew down on a blue, sunny day and found myself in a scattered landscape of dead robot parts. I hid under some kind of dome thing watching robots fly over. I would occasionally shoot one down and hide again. I remember always being scared of being found out but I never did.

Next part: the future. We're in the same location but instead of being a landscape with robot guts it's full of kids all playing different sports. Apparently we took back over the planet and we're all prospering. This field is now a part of Oakesdale the town I grew up in. This vast field system lies on the edge of town where the football field is in Oakesdale. At the edge of the real life football field is a hill with some houses on it, those are in my dream as well. But instead of the real Kilpatrick house lies a large mansion with a tall shrubbery wall around it.

So we're all playing kickball on these fields and I have this friend who's a robot. It's illegal for robots to hurt humans and as we're playing somehow a robot kills a little kid. I don't know if it was my robot or another but we knew we needed to hide. So we ran to the mansion. We ran around the shrubs and found an opening and snuck inside.

Inside the house we were sneaking around even though I knew the owners very well. We got on this little elevator (like they have in old big houses for food and stuff) and went to the next floor (up or down?). We saw the owner, he was doing some light spackling on a wall and we tried to sneak around him but he spoke to us. He asked us what we needed and that we were welcome to anything. I said this was my friend and we were staying the night.

He said okay and we all went into the basement. The basement was a dirt floor with all kinds of junk but it wasn't too cluttery. We walked over to a desk where there were many flashlights. Many of them were the kind we had when I was little, the kind you plug in and it works for a while. They were all dead. We found a good one that was big and the robot and I proceeded up a spiral staircase to the next level up. What we found there blew my mind.

We were smack dab in the middle of a scary room I've had from other dreams. Imagine a room a perfect square about 40x40 feet and seemingly infinite vertically. The walls resemble the inside of an old barn or warehouse, planks that are warped, bending, or holed up that let the only light in the room in. So it's dark with cracks of dim light seeping through. Everything's dusty, dark, and rickety. This aspect never changes, but was does change every dream is the configuration of what is inside the room. I know that my goal is to make it to the top of the room, but the paths available are always changing. It's usually an array of scaffolding, ladders, stair cases, monkey bars, pipelines, foot bridges, and different platforms. The way it's all layed out changes with every dream. I remember one dream I made it to the top with this girl and at the top she jumped off and I jumped after her and caught her right before the ground and we froze and I woke up.

So back to the story. I am scared right now as I've faced this room before. Did I mension that it's haunted as well? Yeah there are evil spirits there always trying to thwart my efforts to reach the top. So I'm scared but the robot is calm as he doesn't have feelings. So we start up all the different ladders and platforms to get to the top. Everything is going well when the spirit made some scarry sounds which would have made me run except the robot wasn't scared so he gave me some strength. We went on. Then as we were approaching the top to Orcs from LOTR came into view behind us and we started to run up a ladder onto a foot bridge. As soon as they showed their faces above the bridge I shot them in the eyes with a paintball gun I somehow fabricated. They fell down out of view.

We made it too the top where there was two large platforms. On the platform we arrived at was a women sitting behind a desk. She was in her early 60's with silver shoulder-length straight hair. She was kind of short, stout and wearing a purple skirt suit thing. She looked very professional and her desk had no dust on it.

She said she was expecting me and Roboty (of possibly Roboddy). I never knew his name until that point. She said that she was the spirit behind all the different things in that room. She was in control of the room and the whole house. Since we made it to the top the room and the mansion were now mine. The owners in it now made it to the top and that's how they aquired the house. They were ready to move on, so I made it to the top. It was now mine. She pulled out files of the other times I've attempted to make it to the top. She mensioned the time when Michael from LOST season 1 and I tried to get to the top and we were swayed by some scarry sounds, which is actually from another dream. I remembered in in my dream that I had tried before.

Then I woke up. That was it. The one question I have from it is: the next time I have a dream with the room will I be in charge of it or am I going to try to get to the top again? I mean technically I own it so I should have as much access to it I want. But who know, maybe I'll have a dream with the room soon and the question will be answered.

Life, Traveling, Grad School

Yet again it's been a long time since I've blogged. Yikes!

As many of you know I've applied for doctorate programs to enroll in the fall. I applied to three places, U of Arizona, U of Colorado @ Boulder, and U of North Texas. I flew out to Boulder a few weeks ago and it was so beautiful, warmer, and sunny. I guess it's one of the most sunny places in the US, and I can believe it. I got to see my friends Stu Clark, and Josh Forke. Josh and I went for a bike ride and I got to see all of his work and stuff like that. It was a great time. I was sad to come home on the pure fact that BG has basically no natural beauty of its own.

I got into all three schools and now comes the decision of where to go. I'm still deciding, but I don't have to make a decision for a few weeks so there you go.

I just got back from Arkansas where I drove down with the Suels. They got back from the UK and had to move all their stuff from BG to Arkansas. They asked me to drive with them which was a blast. They are just people that I will be friends with my whole life. We had fun but Pippi their 13 month old did not like me at all. She would have nothing to do with me the entire trip. It's okay though as she'll get used to me eventually and we'll be friends.

I am excited for spring and can't wait for it. It will come soon, I hope. Anyways that's all for me for now.

It's been a while....

So I've been really bad about blogging the last few months. Not that anyone reads this but hey, I know at least two people that do, so I might as well let some thoughts out about whatever I feel like I guess.

This semester is going well thus far. I've had a total schedule change from last semester, but it's working out much better than I anticipated. I teach at Owens on Monday and Wednesday (instead of just Friday's) which is much better because the guitar ensemble meets two days as week instead of one which slows down progress a lot. I am teaching a new class at BGSU, Music Tech II (which was my favorite class in grad school) which is the second of four electronic music courses. I am teaching audio processing and acousmatic music. It's a lot of fun, but it's a lot more prep than my other classes. I teach that on Tues and Thurs which is nice because I don't have anything to do before class starts so I have a lot of time to prepare in the mornings. I am still teaching lessons at night on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. Band is still there too which means 7:30 am on M W F, which in the grand total of things means I only have to teach band on Friday morning and after that I'm free the rest of the day! That my friends is awesome.

I've also been reading a bunch of books since Thanksgiving. The Kite Runner, A Thousand Slendid Suns, A Long Way Gone, The Space Trilogy (C.S. Lewis: Out of he Silent Planet, Perelandra, That Hideous Strength), and I'm reading How to Read Novels like a Professor. I never took any literature classes in school, so I'm not versed in how to read novels and discuss different things about them. It's a fun read. Next up is In The Heart of the Sea, which is the true account of the whale boat Essex. I'm finding that I'm watching a lot less TV when I'm reading books and I like to read books more, so I'm doing it.