Eric Whitacre

You should really click on that link.

I have been on a huge Whitacre kick for the past week or so; a couple of weeks ago I ordered some CDs of his and have been listening to them almost nonstop since they came in; there's an occasional break for some Dave Matthews or some Barenaked Ladies, but for the most part it's been all about the Whitacre. I've known about him since my sophomore year of high school, when I had to learn i thank you God for most this amazing day for All-State choir auditions. At the time, I hated him because his music was so hard to learn. I couldn't cheat and steal the pitches I was supposed to sing by guessing the harmonies; there was too much dissonance and not nearly enough tonality for my ear to find it all that pleasing (not that I knew to describe it that way when I was sixteen; I just didn't like how hard it was). But then, later that year, I actually heard a recording of the piece and suddenly I understood what all the fuss was about. I got the dissonances, I understood the leaps, and I was floored. I've pretty much been hooked ever since.

Any vocalist who has ever sung his piece Water Night is aware of the fourteen note simultaneity that happens at the big climax of the piece (if you're familiar with the recordings, it's the part where the whole choir seems to yelling "if you open your eyes night opens doors of musk"). At this point in the piece, all twelve pitch classes of the modern chromatic scale are represented, spread out across four octaves of vocal parts. It is huge. Play this thirty seconds of music in a room full of music majors and all of them will suddenly don a facial expression that most people associate with a lovesick puppy. It's a combination of feelings such as awe, joy, and envy at having not thought of the idea first. This moment is, without a doubt, my asolute favorite moment in all of music. It's just that good.

So... go buy some Whitacre.
-Carmack

Listening to - Sleep by Eric Whitacre, performed by Polyphony

Life just doesn't quite have the same zing it had while I was in Costa Rica, guys. Sorry for the lack of updates, but if it helps you feel better, you're not missing much.

Quick update:
-Tomorrow is my last day at work. Huzzah.
-On Monday, Cozad and I are leaving for Chicago for our long overdue "we really need to do a road trip together" trip.
-Next Saturday I will probably see some high school friends, and it will be good.
-The UT track team does not tip well, and I hope that all of them suffer mildly severe ankle sprains tomorrow. If any of them ever read this, know that I am shaking my fist at you right now and there's nothing you will ever be able to do about it.
-King size beds are awesome, unless you live in Texas and don't have air conditioning. But they still beat futons hands down.
-Scooters are sweet, no matter what your motorcycle-driving friends might tell you. Who needs to go faster than 50mph anyway?

I might do a few audio blogs while I'm in Chicago, so please do check back.

Listening to - Sleep by Eric Whitacre

Not a whole lot to say lately, guys. Here's a quick rundown:

I hate my job. I have never, ever hated a job before. Shredding paper was unpleasant but it never made me miserable. Bank teller/hot dog vendor will probably go down as the best summer in history. I liked Subway because I really liked making sandwiches; I know, it's weird, but seriously, I would have contests with myself. How quickly I could make sandwiches during the lunch rush. My crowning achievement was the day when there was a baseball tournament in town and I was working the counter by myself because the other guy called in sick. In the hour between noon and one in the afternoon, I made, rung up, and took payment for no fewer than seventy-four sandwiches. That's one sandwich every 48.6 seconds. Admittedly, there were multiple orders where I made five sandwiches at once and took payment for them all at the same time, but I still made all those sandwiches. Pretty sweet.

So that was a digression. Forgive me.

Seriously, I hate my job. I've already quit, but I told them I would work through Mother's Day so I'm not just leaving them high and dry. This should make it easier for me to be there, but it is in fact next to impossible now. Every customer that treats me like dirt makes me think, "why don't I just tell them off and walk out the door?" But then I look at my coworkers and how shorthanded we already are and I can't just walk out on them. So I take the bad treatment and the crappy tips and the being miserable, and it just gets worse and worse; I have an incredible amount of respect for anybody who can do this on a permanent basis. It takes infinite patience and skin thicker than a rhino. From now on, I am forever a 20% tipper.

So after my job ends, I'll have two weeks until summer school starts. I haven't really decided what to do with that time yet. It's summer, so it's warm enough to sleep outside, and even though gas prices are ridiculous there are a few road trips I have wanted to take for a very long time. I'm thinking about driving the entirety of old US Route 66. But then there's also the Grand Canyon. Ever since reading Through Painted Deserts I've wanted to hike down to the bottom and stay the night. That would take a couple days' time, and I don't know that I would have time for that if I were also driving the whole highway.

It would take me about nine days to drive from Chicago to LA if I drove about eight hours a day. Add on the two days it would take to get to Chicago, then the three days to get home from LA, that's a full two weeks. I have sixteen days in between my last day at work and my first day of school, so I could just make it. But then I would not be able to fly during those days, thus postponing my private pilot certification. As cool a story as it would make to have driven the whole "mother highway" (http://www.historic66.com/ their term not mine), it just seems like it would be significantly cooler to be able to say "I'm a pilot." Then I could just fly to Chicago or LA whenever I wanted.

Okay, that last sentence just settled it right there. I'm going to get my first solo next week, then I'm going to set to work on my cross country flights. My instructor doesn't think I'll be able to get certified by May 30th, but I'm determined. We'll see.

This has been "my decision-making process" with John Carmack. Tune in next week to watch me pick out a shirt. For now, I go to clean my kitchen and then it's off to work.

Watching - Friends Season 9