Wow -
Longest layover since I've last posted and I choose the worst of days to decide to post something. Worst in terms of how much time I actually have!
It's been a whirlwind and odd day - I started my career as a teacher off today, and, though there were many many hitches that I'll need to shore up, I'm alive, I'm here, and I'm ready to put up a fight for day #2 with my pair of third grade classes! On the other hand, I received news that Nickel Creek, today, have made it official that they are going on "an indefinite hiatus", or in other words, in my opinion, a breakup ala Toad the Wet Sprocket (of whom I saw 2 weeks ago!!). Normally I'd be devestated but with my own life taking precedence it seems only somehow oddly... appropriate that this happened. I'm sure it'll hit me soon enough. They're planning on touring 'till end of '07 and will break apart to explore life and other opportunities. I can't blame them but, as I felt with Toad 9 years ago, I always took for granted that they'd be around forever.
Sorry I have been astray - Life's been happening - Lots of great opportunities I've taken, a week at a visual/performing (music) arts camp is how I spent one week with some of the greatest people in the world. I spent a week in Pajaro with my staff last week next to the beautiful Pacific Ocean (though not beautiful that week). And now here I am getting ready for Day 2 of being a 3rd grade teacher. The responsibility is so great and I can't believe I'm actually doing this sometimes!
Hopefully I'll find the time to write some more. Till then, enjoy, and be merry :) and catch Nickel Creek wherever you are in the country because who knows when they'll ever come back again!
I think I'll do a photo montage of the last few months next post.
-j
Monday, August 28, 2006
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
 | Currently Listening It's Never Been Like That By Phoenix see related |
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcNG7Jq2ctGEP
Check out the new album by Phoenix, it's great.
And PLEASE check out this clip (along with the others on the site!!) of Thom Yorke doing a track off his fabulous new solo album live and solo acoustic! I can't wait to see the rest of the show when it is available.
http://live.video.rainbow-media-online.com/video.jsp?video_id=6292&subcategory_id=2027&template_id=229&backtochannels=1#
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
a lazy post
I caught a few shows at the Mountain Winery this past week and through the powers that are youtube, many of the funny and memorable moments that I would normally have to express with written words can now be viewed instead. They're, unfortunately, amateur videos captured on what I'd imagine as small cameras or phones with movie capturing features, so sound and picture are not of the best. I'm sure that'll remedy itself soon, but check out some fun moments witnessed through the eyes of yours truly in the past few...
Nickel Creek's version of "toxic" with more than your typical... performance by mr. christopher thile.
The band breaking into my favorite cover of the night, Randy Newman's "short people" with acting included - It's so cute and hilarious!
I have a feeling that it's you, Steph, who made those videos - If it is... Then thank you for putting them up!
Also caught Damien Rice at the same venue - He was hilarious, funny, emotional - Just as expected. Fortunately, his songs lend perfectly towards the venue and he and his band took full advantage of the winery and had three wine shots which led to some mischeaviously fun behavior :) Unfortunately, the venue is one that has a strict curfew of 10:30pm (you're kidding me...) and at about 10:32, they cut off the power while his band was still jamming!
Nickel Creek's version of "toxic" with more than your typical... performance by mr. christopher thile.
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The band breaking into my favorite cover of the night, Randy Newman's "short people" with acting included - It's so cute and hilarious!
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I have a feeling that it's you, Steph, who made those videos - If it is... Then thank you for putting them up!
Also caught Damien Rice at the same venue - He was hilarious, funny, emotional - Just as expected. Fortunately, his songs lend perfectly towards the venue and he and his band took full advantage of the winery and had three wine shots which led to some mischeaviously fun behavior :) Unfortunately, the venue is one that has a strict curfew of 10:30pm (you're kidding me...) and at about 10:32, they cut off the power while his band was still jamming!
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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Updates
Hello! Setting yet another record, I have yet to update in the past month. Lots of things have been going on to which I'll kindly and quickly mull over in random bullet point style for anyone who actually still takes a look at this site for something other than finding David Gray/Blue Merle mp3s (yes, my site is oddly getting a lot of traffic still due to the world's need for music from these... artists... of which one is , sadly, no longer with us [blue merle disbanded recently - fucking lead songwriter thought he could do better without the constraints of the band, but what does he know - story for another time])
Also thought that I should also say that I am proudly writing this entry on a macbook! Yes, after all these years I've finally given it a shot - Went to the dark side (or light side, however you look at it) and picked up a sleek mac - well, actually both "sides" are dark, so no matter - I never knew or believed how intuitive the mac OS is, and though I installed Windows via Bootcamp, I find myself drawn into and heavily utilizing the Mac.
Anyway - What's been up...
-I'm an employed third grade teacher! I work here.
-The last weeks student teaching were memorable - For once I was the talk of the town, how? By kicking some sixth grade behind in the annual sixth grade versus staff softball game! It was a great feeling to see my kids look up to me as if I were Jordan for a day. We also went on a field trip to the historical museum - The kids wrote a book for me each detailing something they fondly remembered about me which was just amazing. I'm so glad that I stayed until the end of the year!
-I turned a year older.
-I led sixty sixth graders, of whom were as tall or taller than me, on a campus tour of San Jose State University - It was awesome and amazing to see the looks on kids' faces who are underprivileged and are so amused at the littlest of things such as fountains! I think the exposure really opened their eyes to what could be their future and hopefully it is something I can work out with the school each year to bring the college bound culture to these kids.
-Plenty of concerts were enjoyed. Glen Phillips rolled into town with Jonathan Kingham playing backing - BFD showed me that Franz Ferdinand can put out the kind of energy onstage that they do in the studio. The Strokes, on the other hand, ... not really. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a band to definitely watch as a headliner and the Sounds, albeit not very deep and dense sonically, are joyful to watch. Neko Case & Damien Rice were a pair of concerts that showcased oddities in a concert that I hadn't seen before - The former performing at a converted movie theater (the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz) and actually verbally describing to us, the crowd, that , yes, indeed, they were to play an encore, and that , yes, they will be performing more songs and that, yes, they needed to tune in front of us first! Odd... The latter, Rice, performed at the Mountain Winery, a notable luxurious venue in the Saratoga Mountains where due to restrictions and curfews set by rich old people, concerts end at 10:30pm. So... Rice being drunk and all (he shot back 3 straight glasses of wine in a row during 'cheers darlin') he kept jamming during their last track only to have the power cut off the instruments at 10:32pm! That was it!
-Thoroughly enjoying Nick Hornby novels - 'A Long Way Down' is a hilarious take on suicide (not exactly an easy thing to do) that stresses on the theme of support. I'm currently reading High Fidelity, you know, the famous film that John Cusack was in with Jack Black. Except that it's americanized.
That is the gist and short version of a month. Lots more involved that I don't have the patience for memory to recall for.
Well, hope this isn't my last post for awhile - I do think about topics to write about often that typically are beautifully expressed in my head but when it comes to writing it down on paper (or in this case typing it), I lose all ability to self express. I should just mike myself up when I'm running.
Also thought that I should also say that I am proudly writing this entry on a macbook! Yes, after all these years I've finally given it a shot - Went to the dark side (or light side, however you look at it) and picked up a sleek mac - well, actually both "sides" are dark, so no matter - I never knew or believed how intuitive the mac OS is, and though I installed Windows via Bootcamp, I find myself drawn into and heavily utilizing the Mac.
Anyway - What's been up...
-I'm an employed third grade teacher! I work here.
-The last weeks student teaching were memorable - For once I was the talk of the town, how? By kicking some sixth grade behind in the annual sixth grade versus staff softball game! It was a great feeling to see my kids look up to me as if I were Jordan for a day. We also went on a field trip to the historical museum - The kids wrote a book for me each detailing something they fondly remembered about me which was just amazing. I'm so glad that I stayed until the end of the year!
-I turned a year older.
-I led sixty sixth graders, of whom were as tall or taller than me, on a campus tour of San Jose State University - It was awesome and amazing to see the looks on kids' faces who are underprivileged and are so amused at the littlest of things such as fountains! I think the exposure really opened their eyes to what could be their future and hopefully it is something I can work out with the school each year to bring the college bound culture to these kids.
-Plenty of concerts were enjoyed. Glen Phillips rolled into town with Jonathan Kingham playing backing - BFD showed me that Franz Ferdinand can put out the kind of energy onstage that they do in the studio. The Strokes, on the other hand, ... not really. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are a band to definitely watch as a headliner and the Sounds, albeit not very deep and dense sonically, are joyful to watch. Neko Case & Damien Rice were a pair of concerts that showcased oddities in a concert that I hadn't seen before - The former performing at a converted movie theater (the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz) and actually verbally describing to us, the crowd, that , yes, indeed, they were to play an encore, and that , yes, they will be performing more songs and that, yes, they needed to tune in front of us first! Odd... The latter, Rice, performed at the Mountain Winery, a notable luxurious venue in the Saratoga Mountains where due to restrictions and curfews set by rich old people, concerts end at 10:30pm. So... Rice being drunk and all (he shot back 3 straight glasses of wine in a row during 'cheers darlin') he kept jamming during their last track only to have the power cut off the instruments at 10:32pm! That was it!
-Thoroughly enjoying Nick Hornby novels - 'A Long Way Down' is a hilarious take on suicide (not exactly an easy thing to do) that stresses on the theme of support. I'm currently reading High Fidelity, you know, the famous film that John Cusack was in with Jack Black. Except that it's americanized.
That is the gist and short version of a month. Lots more involved that I don't have the patience for memory to recall for.
Well, hope this isn't my last post for awhile - I do think about topics to write about often that typically are beautifully expressed in my head but when it comes to writing it down on paper (or in this case typing it), I lose all ability to self express. I should just mike myself up when I'm running.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Day one of being a bum and so far I'm not taking being a bum seriously! I need to seriously take a trip. Instead, I decided to take an interview that was probably as crazy as first interviews in a profession will go!
The Lowdown? It started off really pleasant, a member of the student council took me around the school (which was, in short, amazing!) and I got to ask her a lot of questions. It's a dual-immersion school that really believes in collaboration and community. Really. I'll explain in a second. BUT - The first neat thing was that the classrooms are not self-contained, there is an open wall between two classrooms! Neat in that you can pop into your partner's class and ask her a question without really "stepping out of the room". But, a little scary in that you have a sense of what's going on in the other class at all times... And there are times where you really just need to have a talk with your class
Anyway, fun part was over, serious business came next - First, a "conversation" that ended up being a thirty minute casual interview with three teachers, answering questions and scenarios. Done and done. Off to the next group. A "formal" interview with four more teachers who ask more questions. Not too bad. THEN... A "fishbowl" style collaboration where I and three other interview candidates had to work together on a scenario concerning multicultural curriculum and role play as if we were going to work and perform a presentation to a school district... all of this planning took place in forty five minutes in front of the entire faculty! the goal? to see how well we collaborate with others. intense! three others I'd never met before and had no idea how to monitor! the principal asking us to speak louder so the faculty could hear us collaborating just added to the pressure! It was an odd experience of trying to make sense of the individual trying to show off everything he knew that yet did not relate to what we needed to get done, trying to wrestle with who's idea to use, and trying to not go in circles with the same ideas over and over and over and over again. Writing this, I feel sorry for the faculty to have to hear our mumble jumble! And it was hard not to entirely step in and say, HEY, you're wrong, we're totally off task! ... when I knew the qualities of being a team player had to be displayed by me!
Regardless of the end result, it was a neat (although i won't admit it yet!) learning experience that'll give me more confidence in future interviews - after all, they can't get as intense as that, right?
The Lowdown? It started off really pleasant, a member of the student council took me around the school (which was, in short, amazing!) and I got to ask her a lot of questions. It's a dual-immersion school that really believes in collaboration and community. Really. I'll explain in a second. BUT - The first neat thing was that the classrooms are not self-contained, there is an open wall between two classrooms! Neat in that you can pop into your partner's class and ask her a question without really "stepping out of the room". But, a little scary in that you have a sense of what's going on in the other class at all times... And there are times where you really just need to have a talk with your class
Anyway, fun part was over, serious business came next - First, a "conversation" that ended up being a thirty minute casual interview with three teachers, answering questions and scenarios. Done and done. Off to the next group. A "formal" interview with four more teachers who ask more questions. Not too bad. THEN... A "fishbowl" style collaboration where I and three other interview candidates had to work together on a scenario concerning multicultural curriculum and role play as if we were going to work and perform a presentation to a school district... all of this planning took place in forty five minutes in front of the entire faculty! the goal? to see how well we collaborate with others. intense! three others I'd never met before and had no idea how to monitor! the principal asking us to speak louder so the faculty could hear us collaborating just added to the pressure! It was an odd experience of trying to make sense of the individual trying to show off everything he knew that yet did not relate to what we needed to get done, trying to wrestle with who's idea to use, and trying to not go in circles with the same ideas over and over and over and over again. Writing this, I feel sorry for the faculty to have to hear our mumble jumble! And it was hard not to entirely step in and say, HEY, you're wrong, we're totally off task! ... when I knew the qualities of being a team player had to be displayed by me!
Regardless of the end result, it was a neat (although i won't admit it yet!) learning experience that'll give me more confidence in future interviews - after all, they can't get as intense as that, right?
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Currently Listening
Silent Alarm
By Bloc Party
see related
YES! I passed the RICA
Five thousand tests down, 0 left to go It is preposterous how many exams one must go through in order to teach in California. Fortunately, I've finally gone through all of them (without repeat!) and can focus my attention on getting a job instead of worrying about not getting my credential. Speaking of which - I have an interview set up for a Kinder position. It's definitely not my ideal grade level, but, I think I will do it for experience, the interview that is - Some day I feel I can teach Kinder, but at this point I feel like I will just be cheating the educational experiences of the future. It is amazing the amount of socialization that occurs just based on week one of Kinder, am I ready to make such an impact?
Speaking of which, throw me a few grades higher - I subbed in fourth today and, aside from not being able to count all thirty two students (it is insane!), I had a pretty good time.
Summer's coming (as goes the Sean Watkins tune) and I'll write much more in a short time.
Next post should include pictures of last week's Kaboom! show with KT Tunstall.
Silent Alarm
By Bloc Party
see related
YES! I passed the RICA
Five thousand tests down, 0 left to go It is preposterous how many exams one must go through in order to teach in California. Fortunately, I've finally gone through all of them (without repeat!) and can focus my attention on getting a job instead of worrying about not getting my credential. Speaking of which - I have an interview set up for a Kinder position. It's definitely not my ideal grade level, but, I think I will do it for experience, the interview that is - Some day I feel I can teach Kinder, but at this point I feel like I will just be cheating the educational experiences of the future. It is amazing the amount of socialization that occurs just based on week one of Kinder, am I ready to make such an impact?
Speaking of which, throw me a few grades higher - I subbed in fourth today and, aside from not being able to count all thirty two students (it is insane!), I had a pretty good time.
Summer's coming (as goes the Sean Watkins tune) and I'll write much more in a short time.
Next post should include pictures of last week's Kaboom! show with KT Tunstall.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
So long since I've posted. Sooo busy. Sending out applications to every district in my county, waiting for one of the hundreds of schools to call me back. Finishing up a crazy six months with third graders I love but drive me insane. Coping with lack of sleep. All that crazy stuff.
In the meantime -
Glen's new album, Mr. Lemons, is out. Get it. Enjoy it. It's a mixed bag is how I feel, as hard as I have to admit. A number of amazing songs that rival his best work, such as Waiting, Thank You, and Blindsight, but some underperforming studio versions of Last Sunset and I Still Love You make it hard to entirely love.
The latest Calexico is great, so is the latest from the Streets. Give Snow Patrol's latest a listen, it's not as great as the last but a good listen.
Caught Hem at the Great American Music Hall last night, Sally's vocals are amazing, but it was a little underwhelming with only half (four/eight) of the full band together. We sat assembly style! Imagine a dance floor but with everyone sitting on their bottoms with legs crossed. Can't say I've ever done that before.
More when it is all over.
-j
glen stuff for ya
Waiting (one of my favs on the new album)
Marigolds Live/acoustic video
In the meantime -
Glen's new album, Mr. Lemons, is out. Get it. Enjoy it. It's a mixed bag is how I feel, as hard as I have to admit. A number of amazing songs that rival his best work, such as Waiting, Thank You, and Blindsight, but some underperforming studio versions of Last Sunset and I Still Love You make it hard to entirely love.
The latest Calexico is great, so is the latest from the Streets. Give Snow Patrol's latest a listen, it's not as great as the last but a good listen.
Caught Hem at the Great American Music Hall last night, Sally's vocals are amazing, but it was a little underwhelming with only half (four/eight) of the full band together. We sat assembly style! Imagine a dance floor but with everyone sitting on their bottoms with legs crossed. Can't say I've ever done that before.
More when it is all over.
-j
glen stuff for ya
Waiting (one of my favs on the new album)
Marigolds Live/acoustic video
Thursday, April 20, 2006
just an update on josh ritter
you can listen to his entire album here , track by track
http://www.flashenhanced.com/joshritter/
you can listen to his entire album here , track by track
http://www.flashenhanced.com/joshritter/
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