A Pleasant Change of Plans.

Tuesday I woke up with the intention of getting together with Max to write a song. He didn't pick up my calls or call me back, which I thought was weird, so I bided my time and met up with Amanda and Sway at KGB. I was telling Amanda about meeting this girl Anja at the burlesque night. Anja and I seemed to have hit it off, in a more than friends sort of way. I was explaining to Amanda how she told me she may be able to hang out Tues night, but hadn't returned my text or call. I was actually rather loud in describing her this situation, when I get a tap on the shoulder, and who is it?!?! Anja! I was SOOO embarrassed I couldn't even deal. Out of the 10 people I know in Taipei, it just so happened that the one girl that I had a crush on heard me venting about her. OMG. Anyway, she explained to me that she was busy but would call me later on in the day and that we could possibly get together. I sat in KGB with Amanda and Sway for a few more hours. I rocked out on guitar and gave a sort of performance for them because there were very few people in the restaurant. It felt really good to play for people who appreciate my music. It was like I was a paid performer in there. I have grown to be much more comfortable in playing my music because of this new sense of being I have collected from being here. I look forward to going home and playing at Tula Kitchen (where Kristen works) because they said they would like to have me come and play shows once a week or so. I have to get together a semi-good recording first which may cost a bit of money but I think will benefit me in the long run. I can't wait to go home and get a new guitar that I can plug into amps and start playing real shows!! Anyway, Sway said that listening to my music/sappy love songs helped her out and calmed her down about her current relationship situation. I am glad that my music can help people with that. :)

Pascetti Night

Friday night we went back to Sway and Amanda's for a dinner party. We kept saying it was going to be an early night, but then 6 in the morning rolled around. At some point, the guitar was taken out and I played a bunch of songs for everyone and it made me feel really great because they loved it. I found out that two of my new friends Max and Austin are both musicians as well. We are supposed to get together and jam at some point while I am here. That makes me super excited. This is where I should post a video that Cres took of me playing...

Do the Shuffle

Sunday night I went back out to Brooklyn to wish Anna farewell. She is moving back to Canada after a summer in NY. We went to R bar and had really good italian food. Yep, I am pretty bored of Brooklyn bars. They are kind of over rated. Actually, the bar scene in general is kind of dead to me. The only exception is a few places in H-ton (MC's, the Tavern), but just to meet up with people. I really don't actually enjoy bar hopping anymore. I would much rather hang out at someone's house with the people I actually care about or do something else. Anyway, I left the bar kind of early to go home and start packing up my car. I started moving my stuff out of BK and to LI. I cannot wait until I live in one solitary home again. I hate the city in the summer. It is way too hot and there isn't really much to do. Long island is the best for summer.

Anyway, so yeah I came back to LI on Monday for band practice. Lauren came over and we wrote a new song.



After practice, I met up with Julia, Sean and Jackie and we went to some shitty bar out east. Sean and I kicked ass at beer pong and I got way too drunk. I think we all had a lot of fun, but i actually don't remember all of it. I smoked an entire pack of ciggs yesterday. I can't believe I did that. I am not buying anymore packs. I feel disgusting and my breath is so bad.

Cutting a 13 Track Album

Yesterday I recorded in my bedroom for 7+ hours. I wrote a new song, learned a new song and finished up an old one. I titled the CD 'Naked Friday' cause its just a bunch of rough copies for Kim and Lauren to practice with.

After having to file a noise complaint against the church across the street, I went over to Carrie's. She just got back from PA. We went to sweet ups and then R bar. We got caught in a downpour in between. Later on, I beat it and went to Sam's house warming right by McKibbin. I could never live there, its like a dorm building with rowdier students and higher ceilings. The apt next to Sam's got robbed and ransacked last night. Fuck that shit. It made me happy to be 5 blocks west of there (not even).

I got into some really interesting sociological discussions with some strangers last night. I got the feeling that (hopefully) that will be what my classes will be like to teach. Once again, though I guess I get boring when at parties and have the same conversation with everyone. I am good with one on one, then my conversations have a purpose and lead to something more profound. I hate having to feel like I have to start at square one with everyone, it is a lot of work. Just an observation.

The Currant

Monday morning I woke up to get brunch with Dr. Rogers. We went to Mundays, our usual joint and discussed a broad cross section of goings ons. She was all flustered as she left for Paris yesterday. One of her students wrote a paper for SASE and got into the periodical. They have one conference per year for the student and advisor to go and commemorate their publication. This year was Paris, last year was Bangladesh. I am hoping that I can get one of my papers into this journal, as it would be fun to travel (for free) and it would look excellent on my resume. Nathalia is always so upbeat and positive. I told her about my band and that I may be taking an extra year off, (deferring my acceptance) and she said that I should do what I feel in my heart right now and that school/academia will always be there. I just can't lose focus. She even said that she would like to come to one of my shows or something.


After brunch, I had the girls over for band practice. As always, we made progress. I told them about the band name I had been thinking of, and they both love it. I don't want to go with one of those 'the' names, however, when thinking about the band's common interests I thought about wine and the beach. I thought about 'The Currant', the kinds that are in wine, then I thought about 'The Current', as in waves, and then I thought about current times. I like that this word has three meanings, even though some are spelt differently. They were both excited about the name, and amazed that no one had thought of it before (or maybe they have and just haven't gone anywhere with it).