Michael Tilson Thomas made me stop and think..

Mr. Thomas posted an interesting question on Yahoo! Answers that hit me like a load of bricks:

Through performing, music education and electronic media, the San Francisco Symphony and I strive to make classical music accessible to all. How has classical music impacted your life?

How has classical music influenced my life? Wow.. so many ways.

Classical music is where my roots are. That is what I was originally trained in, and I studied it all through school. I was going through some of the hardest times of my life back then and what I found in this genre is too much for me to describe. It was my home, a safe haven for me to channel my emotions- all the anger, hurt, and sadness I felt. It was my fantasy land. It showed me the past, days when I was happy. And it showed me the future, when I would finally be free from those troubles.

It also taught me a lot of the technical stuff- key, time signature, things like that.. and most of all, it taught me that the possibilities are endless. If you can dream it, you can write it, and this can be applied to everything in life, not just music. I learned to believe in myself.

Though I don't listen to classical music nearly as much as I once did (I fell in love with the hard rock/metal genres), I can say that it is the reason I listen to amazing, underrated bands like Nightwish, Dream Theater, and Dimmu Borgir, and not all that mainstream pop and rap you hear on the radio. It is the reason I write my own music with a bit of an epic, classical theme. I still have my fantasy world, but with rougher edges, a little more anger and sorrow to feed the darker side of my mind.

I wish everyone could get a proper education in classical music. It teaches people to appreciate music for what it really is, not for the "uber hott!" singer who hires someone else to write lyrics and put them to a simple, unimaginitive beat and melody. Real music is about expression and storytelling (not necessarily classical or metal.. there is great music in all genres).

It is what I live for.

B-list?

No way. No friggin way am I going to accept this one..



I know, I know, it's my fault I don't post as often as I should. I'm trying to change that, despite my busy schedule. Expect to see more entries from me soon.. I won't disappoint you.

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Help me rise to the top- LINK TO ME!!!

And you won't walk away empty-handed, of course. Let me know where I can find your link and I'll return the favor. I'm nice like that. ;)

I speak Drunkenese. Who knew?

After a long, exciting night up in Corning, NY with my boys (and girl), I had to wake up at 6am to make sure Mr. Caveman got out the door to work on time. I was still drunk at that time, stumbling around the house and yelling at my partner in crime to wake up.

Finally he got out of bed and I immediately crashed after saying something along the lines of, "Dun forgt yer sub, crap in car, night." How attractive.

I guess I slept for a few minutes because I don't remember what happened during that time, but I came to as he was just about ready to leave and realized that I was overheating. Unable to get up from the soft bed to turn on the air conditioner, I immediately began yelling, "AZ! AZ!" into my pillow. Like that was going to work. And it didn't occur to me to take off my sweatshirt and the two heavy blankets that were covering me.

And to top it off..

"DOG! DOG, NO!"

"What's wrong?"

"THE DOG!"

"She's sleeping on the couch."

"WUZZAT NOISE?"

"The air conditioner."

"Uh."

Some days I have no idea why he even puts up with me. But then again, if he was completely trashed and unable to function, I'd take care of him too.

RAIV LOVES CORNING! LOTS OF JAGER!

This comment amuses me.

Well, I finally got some time to update here and came across this oh-so-witty comment from Mac C Da Pimp on my last post:

"you are carpetmuncher and love to eat Conch. How much more of a dyke can you be? the possibilitys are endless unless you stay psychedelic your doomed. this is just a comment from a real mutha fucka from broward county so get on my fuckin level (954) 292 5903

July 31, 2007 10:34 PM"

Well.
I'm quite impressed with your typing and vocabulary. I expected less from someone like you.

I'd also like to mention that I'm ten times straighter than you will ever be. Come on, Mac C Da Pimp? Is that really your name? I'm willing to bet you're just some dorky ass wannabe who gets beaten up a lot. Either that or gay. (I apologize to any gays whom I may have offended. I have no problem with homosexuality and hardly ever mock it, situations like this being the exception.)

And I don't want to know whether you're a "mutha fucka" or not. Your personal life is not my business.

Broward County? Where the hell is that? And why would I care where you're from?

And why are you giving me your number? Is this how you try to pick up dates? Dude.. you've got a long way to go. You will never be a pimp with those moves.

Word.

Thursday Thirteen #2

Thirteen reasons why people hate me:

1) I always manage to draw attention from everyone in the room, whether it be my dress or my hair or whatever. Everyone likes to check out the freak.. and trash her, too.

2) I beat up guys who disrespect me.

3) Sometimes I let my mouth run away with me.

4) I have the build of a runway model.

5) LOUD AND PROUD, BABY!

6) I have a lot of big guy friends. I do my thing and because of them, a lot of people won't mess with me. They'll just stand back and say bad things about me. Whatever.

7) Some people have their heads too far up their arseholes to accept someone who is different than them.

8) I can be quite rude at times. Often.

9) I'm misunderstood.

10) I don't look for drama, but it always seems to find me.. And I usually win that game. It's not my fault people jump in unarmed.

11) Bipolar mood swings.

12) I know the band personally and won't let the groupies use me to get to the musicians.

13) I hate Mondays and make everyone else hate them too.

It's been a while.

Aaaand.. I'm back!

I don't know why I even left this blog in the first place.. I think it was because all sorts of new things started happening in my life and I was too busy to post regularly. But anyway, here we go.. I'm gonna give it a shot yet again. Especially now that I see this blog has a Google PR of 4. That was a bit of a surprise.

I've also got me a decent camera, so I can post some better pics. I hated having to rely on my cell, which is down now, so to those who have that number- DON'T CALL ME. I'll be getting a new phone here sometime in the near future.

During my time away from this blog, I started another one to feed my UO addiction. And to keep track of how far I've progressed in the game. It's mostly about the plants, but there will be other stuff there too. Check it out- UO Plant Blog.

More later when I get the time..

Soil totally ROCKED the Amp the other night.

I'm back again, and what better way to start off a string of new posts with some pictures from a killer show? I got hooked up since I went with the production crew.. definitely a night to remember.

The performance was awesome, I hung out with the guys for a while and drank to Dimebag (R.I.P. dude.. you will always be remembered), and I went home with some great memories, free merch, and a few new friends.