One, two, one two three four

It seems to me that unequivocally claiming that the music of yesteryear, whichever decade that means to you, is a sort of chronological snobbery.

I do not mean to say indisputably that music is getting better, or worse, or that it’s best decade was that ____’s.  I just mean that it seems very, very hard to prove; nigh impossible.

I recognize that time has brought the loudness race, which hurts Bob Dylan’s ears, or whatever, and is actually something interesting or troubling.

However, let me point out that the passing of time has allowed more and more people to record and thus release music, for several reasons…

1.  The world population has grown significantly as our ability to stay healthy has improved.  Thus, even if the same percentage of the population has made music over time, there is more music being made now than ever before.
2.  As we grow more and more wealthy, especially in developed countries, fewer people are involved in agriculture and manufacturing, and more people are involved in service.  I would guess this to also include the arts, thus music, thus there is even more music being made than the truth of point number one would lead us to believe.
3.  Modern technology in recording and creating music (i.e. multi-track recording, software, etc.) makes it even easier for people to make and record music.
4.  The internet has been something that has seriously injured the traditional structure of the music industry.  It’s also allowed for bands like, for example, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Panic at the Disco, two very different bands with very different audiences, to find an audience they might not have otherwise.  This encourages more people to make music in their basement or bedroom or whatever, and release it through MySpace or their outlet of choice.

While much of what constitutes traditional pop and rock sonic territory has been explored, that does not mean new music can’t flow from these structures.  Some is released within such structures; others subvert it; others reinvent it; others harken to a time before it.

All this to say that even if there is a significantly lower percentage of good music being released today, and even if the modern media structure is not designed to market good music and/or art to the masses, it doesn’t mean there are fewer great songs or great albums being made today.

I might add in closing that I am in no way trying to say that today’s music is better than ever – that’s probably not the case, just given the sheer amount of time passed.  It’s also very hard to prove that it’s true or not.  I, like many from my generation, have favorite musicians and bands and songs and so on from all over the map of the past half century, just as a starting point.

Filed under: Music, Recommendations, college, media

Folded 8.5 x 11

I’m sure that everyone potentially reading this has heard “Paper Planes”, whether they know that’s the name of the song or not.  If you’re unsure what it is, you might know it as “that one M.I.A. song” or “the song with the gunshots and the cash register noise in the chorus”.

I have, for a long time, been fed up with people who quote this chorus like it’s some mindlessly violent gangsta rap song.  The song’s been out since August 2007, but gained popularity last summer when it was featured in the trailer for some movie that seemed to celebrate drugs and also seemed too mindless and stupid to warrant mentioning here.  I would point to this as when the song jumped from relative obscurity to ubiquitous.  It’s also when it started to be heard out of it’s original context.

You see, the song is a satire on all the things those listening without critical (see definition 3) ears think that the song is actually about.  It is, as its Wikipedia page says, a satire on immigrant stereotypes.  It’s not about violence, or any of the other things that an uncritical or decontextualized listen might indicate.

Why context is necessary (or, making a long story very short):  M.I.A., the song’s artist, was born to Sri Lankan parents in London, and six months later, moved back to Sri Lanka.  Her dad was a politcal militant, she was a refugee, etc. (if you want the whole story, google it/it’s at Wikipedia).  It’s safe to say that M.I.A. has probably faced her share of immigrant stereotypes in her life.  That is what this song is about.

Singing just the chorus without knowing the context and meaning of a song can be dangerous, embarassing, or make you look silly.  This is probably the best example of that.

Now, I might point out that M.I.A. is not innocent in this song’s transformation from sly satire to just another catchy hip-hop song with a quirky vocalist and a catchy hook.  After all, it’s been licensed for two movies, one the comedy mentioned earlier, one the Oscar winner for Best Picture this year.  Having seen neither film, I cannot comment specifically on it’s placement, but I have it on good authority that the song’s context in [EDIT: one of (check the comments) the films does not align with it’s original intent.  It’s also been remixed a bunch of times, apparently – that’s intentional recontextualization.  Perhaps most egregiously, it’s been sampled and used on “Swagga Like Us”, by four of the biggest names in rap right now.  The only time I’ve heard that was during the Grammys a few weeks ago, but it is a drastic recontextualization:  as far as I can tell, it takes one line (“No one on the corner has swagga like us”) from “Paper Planes” and makes it the hook for five minutes of chest pounding braggadocio from rich men.

I’m not usually one to accuse artists of selling out – everyone has to make a buck, and most everyone has to work for someone to keep food on the table – but M.I.A. has sold out “Paper Planes”, and the result is a lot of obnoxious sing-song rapping from people who don’t understand the song’s original intent.

If she’s okay with that, too bad – good satire is hard to pull off, and she might’ve just ruined her own.  I’ll just keep saying, “you don’t know what that song means, do you?” twice a day.

Filed under: Music, college, friends , M.I.A., Paper Planes

facebook made me do it.

I’m actually about a week behind the facebook “25 things about yourself” meme, but thought I’d give it a go anyway.

1.  I bite my nails, but wish I wouldn’t.  I do it mainly when I’m nervous or bored.

2.  I am jealous of those with access to excellent public transit systems, specifically like those you would find in Europe.  I completely understand that America in general (and the midwest particularly) is too spread out for that to work on a large scale, but I still like elaborate railway systems.

3.  I also wish I had an iPhone or an iPod Touch, but I am aware that that’s silly and I don’t really need one.  Still, they’re impressive, and it’s good for me to show restraint.

4.  I like when numbers and graphs tell you things.

5.  I love to read, and don’t do it nearly enough.  I probably say “someday, I’ll read all the books I’ve ever wanted to,” once a week.

6.  I’m pretty adaptable.  That’s one of the things I’ve learned during the moving my family’s gone through over recent years – I can get along pretty well in many scenarios.

7.  I can be pretty calculating, especially when it comes to risk/reward sorts of situations.  This may be why I’m not very fond of roller coasters and why you’ll never find me skydiving, but why I’m eager to try new things where the positive potential benefits outweigh the negative side effects – for example, trying new foods/going new places, etc.

8.  I like coffee a lot.  I have for most of my life (literally – ask my parents), and recently I’ve been enjoying it more – and more frequently – than ever.

9.  My brother, Wyatt, is 4 years younger than me, and at least a couple inches taller than me.  He’s also one of my very best friends, and maybe the funniest person I know.

10.  With respect to music, I tend to enjoy the experience of an album more than a song.  That is to say, a great album says more about the actual talent and skill of its artists than does one good song.  Of course, songs are easier to digest individually, so there’s a place for just falling in love with a song, too. [#10 probably makes no sense, sorry readers]

11. I don’t mind dressing up.  I’d even say that I like it.

12.  …however, I would probably rather just wear jeans, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt most of the time, unless, of course, it’s warm, in which case I would like to be by a body of water in a swim suit.

13.  I’m fed up with shallow thinking, especially by people who are spending their days, weeks, months, and years learning to think about things more deeply – specifically, college students.  Our actions, the actions of others, books, movies, tv shows, music…all sorts of things have meaning besides what they might seem to say on the surface – everyone who’s been through a high school English class knows this.  Going to college is supposed to teach you to think about such things, and it bothers me greatly that many of my fellow students take the time to think about what a thing really means, and what it tells us about the ideas and worldviews of the people who made it.  (I mean to flesh this out into it’s own post sometime)

14.  I don’t really like movies that much, unless they’re either
A.  very inventively entertaining, or
B.  thought provoking.

They just seem like a waste of time to me.  I’m trying to get past this somewhat, as Amanda loves movies, and loves when I watch them with her .

15.  I’m not really “into” that many tv shows.

16.  I like sports quite a bit, for a variety of reasons.  I like baseball for its order and strategy – it is “The Thinking Man’s Game” for a reason (and I am amused by the idea of baseball as a metaphor for American life).  I like basketball because among sports, it is the closest thing to an art form of improvisation and virtuosity, like music or dance – all teams and players have unique styles.  I like football because of it’s combination of brute force, speed, and strategy, and because it has both variety and structure in abundance.  I am also intrigued by soccer, rugby, and various other sports that are popular throughout the rest of the world, but it takes a lot of time, energy, and effort to follow them from where I sit.

17.  Amanda recently got me some wonderful Moleskine notebooks, and they’re quite wonderful – I forget already how I lived without them.  I carry them with me everywhere, jotting down things to tell her the next time we talk, things to blog about, books I want to read, to do lists, notes from chapel, etc.  So basically, all the things that I used to put on disparate pieces of paper and then lose are now confined to two pocket notebooks.  I don’t know why I didn’t do that sooner.

18.  I think I have one phone number memorized, and it’s my own (this doesn’t count phone number of houses at which we no longer live).

19.  I am bored of the labels that we put on people, but also guilty of doing some labeling, probably.

20.  I don’t like winter.  Sometimes I say this and people say, “how would you appreciate the other seasons if you lived somewhere that was not bitter cold for 3 months a year?”  HAHA.  Trust me, I won’t forget what winter’s like, and I won’t miss it.

21.  I am curious to find out what sorts of things will confuse me when I’m old – specifically, technologically.  What will I be afraid of, or speak of with disdain despite not even understanding it?  (I’m thinking specifically of the way some older adults speak of blogs, or iPhones, or webcams, or facebook).

22.  Being a PA has been one of the more rewarding things I’ve done in recent memory.  I’ve learned a lot about myself, and hopefully been good at my job.  The most rewarding thing, though, has been the staff I’ve gotten to work with – the other PAs and the Residence Life staff.

23.  I’ve been dating Amanda for 13 months and one week now, and couldn’t be happier about it.  I could go on, but if you want to talk to me about this, let’s talk in person .

24.  I like shoes a lot.  I try not to buy them too much, because they’re expensive, but if they weren’t, I would have a lot of shoes.

25.  Finally, what I almost always have in my pockets:

a pen
a tube of chap stick (this one is a MUST for me – my lips get chapped quite easily)
my keys
my phone
my wallet
two moleskine notebooks

Filed under: MLB, Music, baseball, college, family, friends , 25 things, Amanda, college, facebook, family, friends, Music, shoes, spring 2009

A Belated My Gen Night Post

I had VIP Airband tickets last fall and told you about it, then posted some vid links the next time around (scroll down in this post if you missed it).  However, I failed to even mention one of my school’s other music-related, fun fall traditions, My Generation Night.  Basically, people cover pop songs from our lifetime, and it’s lots of fun, with “commercials” and gimmicky, fun videos in between.  This year’s was very, very good, and I should’ve posted about it sooner, but I’ve had a lot on my mind.  Also, I didn’t have VIP tickets to that show, so the experience wasn’t quite as surreal as the Airband one I described.  It’s been awhile since My Gen happened, of course, so rather than try to recap, I’ll just post some youtube links and comment…

Show Opener: “Boston” by Augustana
Pretty good rendition.  It’s a rangy song, and the guitars, which were a little sharp and loud live, actually sound pretty nice in this video.  Also, I need more Eric Riggs with his guitar in my life.  If he’s not in a chapel band this fall, I’ll be quite disappointed.

“Drumbone” by Blue Man Group
Yep, that’s my roommate on the left of your screen (he only rehearsed this once, as he was formerly the bass player but stepped up when a sub was needed.  Kudos again, Bryant, and we’re praying you make it back safely from Europe this week).  Anyway, I think it’s great that they even tried this one, let alone did it so well.

 ”Comfort Eagle” by Cake
This one is, in a lot of ways, a huge, TU in-joke-that’s-not-really-an-in-thing anymore (and this performance is when the cat really got out of the bag in a big way).  Anyway, they did a nice job with this, I must say.

“Karma Police” by Radiohead
Okay, I’m going to be a little bit of a nitpicker here, because they did a really, really nice job – the piano, voice, and electric guitar parts are all spot on, which is impressive (vocals especially).  However, the acoustic guitar part is just a little off in a couple places, which is alright, but it’s really not very hard to play this song right on guitar, and the mistakes are subtle but noticeable.  But like I said, that’s nitpicking, they pretty much nailed it, and I enjoyed it.

 ”Hey Ya” by OutKast
Well, this is really a lot different than the OutKast version, but it is a cover of that song.  Actually, it’s kind of a cover of this cover.  That’s all beside the point, this was probably the most fun performance of the night (although the performance of Sufjan Steven’s “Chicago” was also great, there were some mic problems with the choir), lots of that probably due to the call and response “What’s cooler than being cool?”, etc. parts.  It doesn’t hurt that this is one of my generation’s most recognizable and best pop songs.

Well, hopefully you enjoyed this linktastic post.  I had fun reliving My Gen Night ‘07 a little, and my recent unintentional pop music theme might carry over into next post.  Stay tuned.

Filed under: Fall 2007, college, friends , My Gen

Sunday 4 November 2007

I’m going to take my mind off the anticipation of the biggest regular season NFL game ever momentarily to write for awhile.  Actually, I’m taking my mind off several things:  last weekend’s fall break, Broomball, the silliness and irrationality of people who irrationally dislike entire genres of music, Thanksgiving break, some assigned reading…

Tomorrow I’m hosting a variety show, and I’m pretty excited about it.

Here’s how this happened:   One of the guys who lives on my floor, my friend Neil, is a New Media/Communications major, and he’s taking a Multi-Camera Live Production class this semester.  As part of the class, he and his classmates tape and produce and direct and edit and sometimes broadcast live events that happen on campus–sporting events, chapel, etc.  For a final project, they have to write, direct and produce some sort of variety/entertainment multi-camera show of a certain length individually (help operating cameras and such is allowed, of course).

Neil picked me as his host.

I’m a lot more excited about this than you might expect, for a variety of reasons.  One, I like late night variety shows a lot.  The type of humor you find on them is basically right up my alley in a lot of ways.  Also, I enjoy the musical guests; it’s a great chance to see a live performance of a band you may or may not know much about, but the musicians generally take it pretty seriously.  Every now and then, something really funny happens, of course, like when Letterman incessantly asks Paris Hilton about her time in prison, or the like.

Secondly, I’m pretty sure it would be a great job to actually host one of these, and I’ll probably never get the chance other than this.  This is my one chance to actually figure out if it’s as fun as it looks.

Also, our musical guest is very good, and it will be fun to watch him perform.  The interviewee(s) should also provide a good time.  And this is a pretty non-threatening way to get this experience:  I’m not getting graded on it, and it won’t really be broadcast, so I can’t make too much of a fool at myself.  Although the live studio audience could make me nervous.

BONUS Airband 2007 Videos!

Winner Gerig Hall:  from Fiddler on the Roof: “Tradition”

Runner-Up Second East Wengatz:  from Grease:  “Greased Lightning”

Third Place Second West Olson:  from Wicked:  “One Short Day” (short clip)

 Broho Medley Airband Tryout (they didn’t make the actual show, but this is awfully entertaining and fun–as the commenter said, life is less boring thanks to Broho).

Note:  There are a couple of other videos on youtube from Airband, but they’re either not very long, or not very high quality, or whatnot.  With a little digging you can find a handful of Nostalgia Night or My Generation Night videos, too.  Enjoy.

Filed under: Fall 2007, college , Airband 2007, Hosting Neil's show

2007 Airband Extravaganza in Review

Considering most of my readers probably know what I’m talking about when I say “Airband,”  I think it might be enjoyable to do my own personal review of it.  The school paper here had a decent review, considering it was “on newsstands” the day after the event, but I’d like to go for a slightly different perspective on the night. 

 

Gerig won, of course, with “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof.  They deserved it; I think everyone would’ve been surprised if they didn’t win.  After first place it gets hazy for some; I certainly agreed with the judges that 2^nd East Wengatz’s rendition of “Greased Lightning” was the second most impressive, but my roommate was unimpressed.  Similarly, 2^nd West Olson had great costumes for their rendition of Wicked’s “One Short Day in the Emerald City”, but didn’t bring much else to the table.

 

So, without further ado, an Airband 2007 rundown…

 

Best Performance:  Gerig, of course.  They had costumes to rival anyone’s, energy to spare, great lip-synching and choreography…the clear cut number one effort.  Even accounting for the fact that their show-stopping, bottle-balancing climax was doctored (the bottles were attached, surprise!!  Oh wait…duh), this was no contest.

 

Runner-up:  2^nd East Wengatz, as detailed above.  Their show was fun and energetic, well-choreographed…the only thing it missed was that, um, “One Shining Moment” that really set it apart.  It was among the most fun to watch.

 

3rd place:  Well…I can’t really award a third place.  The other acts I really enjoyed were Sammy II+2^nd East Olson doing “West Side Story”, Sammy II’s “Shake Your Tailfeather” from The Blues Brothers, 2^nd English and Foundation and their Elvis Medley, and 3^rd East Olson’s “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”  Hopefully I’ll cover all those in greater detail further on down. 

 

Here comes the fun part…

 

Certified Superstar:  James Wahl.  Seriously, Mark Williamson’s flaky Texan character overshadowed (almost) all other commercials (the exception being the fake movie trailer for the rockumentary, “Out of Tune”).  Mark’s a junior, so next year…

 

Best part about sitting in the 2^nd row:  You’re a part of the show.  Things that actually happened during the show:

1.  One of my friends in the Elvis Medley heard me whisper her name, looked up, and smiled.

2.  Baby Bleu handed my roommate his cardboard guitar.

3.  Handsome Rob heard me yell his name.

4.  Baby Dan jumped over my roommate, who was sitting right next to me.  No kidding.

5.  Everyone makes eye contact with you.

 

Oddest Cameo by someone I know:  A senior I’ve known for my entire life humorously playing a seductive heiress in a commercial. 

 

Best Faculty Cameo:  Tie:  Jessica Rousselow-Winquist/Jerry Cramer trashing the WTUR studio, Justin “Crazy” Heth on a dance solo in “Shake Your Tailfeather,” and Dr. Habecker’s show-ending cameo…even if he was late on his cue.

 

Show that wasted the best gimmick:  3^rd South English/1^st Berg’s “Hairspray.”  I mean, you had a very large man dressed as a woman  and didn’t finish in the top three?!?!  And it’s not like they got gipped…

 

Costliest “Wardrobe Malfunction”:  The falling skirt during the Elvis Medley.  The dancers, of course, are prepared for things like this, with leggings and such, but the only things that weren’t great about the Elvis Medley were that one falling skirt and some awkward lifts.

 

Musical I could live without:  Wicked.  I haven’t seen it, or even really heard the music other than the songs used by 2WO and Swallow-Robin, but it was just reeaaaally bland.  Sorry if you’re a fan, but…

 

Most fun show:  I might sound like a homer here, but I loved “Shake Your Tailfeather” by Sammy II.  It was brimming with energy, featured Crazy, plus my floormates, and how can you not love Noah and Paul as the Blues Brothers?  Or Dubem as Ray?  Just loved it.  But really, they were all great.

 

Random ending thought:  It seems to me that it would be a very good idea for the small dorms (i.e. Gerig, Swallow) to focus on being just flat-out awesome at things like “Airband.”  And also, I am forever spoiled with regards to Airband—great show, VIP treatment and seats…it’ll be hard to top.  So thanks to everyone involved (although I doubt you’re reading this) for making it a great time.

Filed under: Fall 2007, college, friends , Airband, Airband 2007, college

Thursday 23 August 2007

I’m awfully excited about this fall, so I feel like running through some of the fun stuff I plan on doing in the coming months. Here we go…

This weekend: Arrive back at school. I’m really excited about this. Not much more to say about that.

First weekend in September: This is still a big time “maybe”, but the Aubrun Cord Duesenberg Festival is a lot of fun, and this is coming from a person who doesn’t even like car shows (If you’ve heard The Moderately Cute Story you know all about this). Part of it is the location, the fact that it’s normally really, really hot that weekend, and the fact that one of my grandpa’s brothers is on the Wall of Fame there make me like it, I think. It might be unlikely that I go, because 1. I don’t have a car at school; 2. There’s a good chance I’ll be something school- or floor-oriented that weekend; 3. I won’t go unless I can drag some folks with me. Brent is probably the most likely victim, due to his enjoyment of cars.

All Fall: Frizolf/Frisbee golf/whatever you want to call it. As often as possible. With as many people as possible. At as many different times of day as possible. And doing everything that goes along with frizolf, The Deuce style.

September 14: My Birthday! And it’s on a Friday, which makes it slightly better. I doubt it can top last year’s birthday: Gap of Dunloe, Muckross House, then the Killarney music-and-pub scene with some of my favorite people. Still, this year I’ll be able to go to the next item on this list…

September 15 & 16: The Johnny Appleseed Festival. I missed it last year due to being in Ireland, but I’ll be glad to be back this year. You’re invited (and invited to invite your friends), it’s a ton of fun, there’s plenty to do, and you probably couldn’t have a better tour guide than yours truly, except maybe Johnny Appleseed himself.

All Fall:  Monitoring baseball’s pennant races and later playoffs.  Especially since the Cubs are involved.

September 21-23: This is Parent’s Weekend, and my parents will be there, along with my brother. That should be a lot of fun.

September 23 & 24: The first Campus Visit Day of the year. If you don’t think the chapel on the 24th is going to be awesome, I don’t know what to tell you. Plus, with Grant and Matt on CREW this year, the potential for unforgettable moments increases greatly. I hope I see one of them leading a tour.

September 26-October 3: Something called “Freshman Irish Studies Program Week.” I’m intrigued, but clueless. Stay tuned.

Throughout the Fall: Intramurals, baby.

Also throughout the Fall: TABS. Should be fun.

October 18: Airband.

October 19-21: Homecoming weekend. I don’t know what to expect.

October 25-28: Fall Break Weekend. No idea what I’ll be up to, I just know it’ll be a good time.

October 31: Halloween. I doubt I’ll be able to top last year’s Harry Caray costume, and I don’t even know if being at school would lend itself to dressing up–I’m getting a little old for that (I can’t remember the last time I dressed up prior to last year).

After that, things get a little hazy…actually, things are a little hazy before that, too, but at least I have some good ideas about what I’ll be doing for fun–I suppose I could just put “frizolf/TABS/intramurals” a lot more, but you don’t want to read that. If you’ve got good ideas that fit into this schedule, let me know.

Also, a couple more notes: Thanks to those who commented on the Ireland entry; I’m glad you liked it. Lastly, I’ve got an idea for a post on how liking music of certain styles and/or bands can be a very subjective thing possibly coming soon (it’s marinating in my brain right now).

Oh, and with moving back to school this weekend and starting class next week, my writing schedule might be slightly screwy, so bear with me, please, and take solace in the fact that you’ll probably be seeing me face to face a lot more often, starting in a couple days.

dk

Filed under: Fall 2007, ISP, Ireland, college, friends

Tuesday 21 August 2007

I think I might make two posts today, as this one will hopefully be pretty short.  Of course, every time I say that, I end up writing a thesis paper, but this time, I’m “Fer Serious.”

(I’m writing this parenthetical expression after having written most of this post, and you should know that 1.  It’s not short; 2.  It’s kind of a random, personal “I remember when…” kind of thing; 3.  You might love it nonetheless–at least I hope so.)

This is going to sound odd, but part of me misses being a scared, naive,  know-nothing freshman.  What made me feel this way, you ask?  Good question.  (Sorry, had to.)

This morning, I stumbled across a facebook group for this fall’s Irish Studies Program.  I’m pretty sure all of you who read this know me, and know that I got to go to Ireland for three months one year ago.  Without getting into too much detail, I think it’s safe to say that my time there was the best three months of my life.  Anyway, back to this year’s group, and being a freshman.  The first thing I noticed about this year’s ISP facebook group is that this year’s freshmen are way, WAY more tuned in to facebook than my group was at this time last year.  That probably says more about the way facebook has grown than about either of our classes.  As an economics major, I find facebook somewhat fascinating, but we’ll save the business of facebook for another post.  Anyway, for the sake of ISP, increased student facebook savvy is probably a good thing.  You see, as kids are just figuring out how to use the school’s email system, facebook might be an easier way to get them information and answer their questions.  Also, they can interact on a largely superficial level with the people in charge of the program, and their fellow students.

At this point, I think you and I can both see this probably won’t be a short post.  Oops.   Oh well.

Enough about facebook’s social impact on freshmen traveling abroad.  My original point was that I sort of miss being a freshman.  I waited all summer, not knowing what to expect, worried that things wouldn’t go well, which turned out to be just about the most unnecessary worry ever.  After the worrying, it was time to pack.  What do you take with you when you visit a country you’ve never been to before for three months?

The kids going on the trip started to exchange emails, basically describing ourselves and our interests.  Some of the emails were funny, others were uninteresting, still others were very intriguing.  Some kids attached pictures of themselves, and I remember checking them to see if the girls on the trip were cute.  One email sounded bitter about missing out on an academic award, which can seem a little haughty, as you could imagine.  Turns out, the kid who wrote it just has that kind of a sense of humor, which doesn’t come across well in emails.  We were roommates, and are still great friends.  That aside, I was nervous.  What if the other kids just weren’t like me?  Think of all the things that could go wrong with international travel!  Will I miss my friends back home?

When I got to campus for the week of preparation before we actually left for Ireland, several moments really put me at ease about the whole trip, and from there, I never looked back.  The first happened shortly after my arrival on campus.  We put my bags in my room (which turned out to be an extremely temporary arrangement), and walked outside–I think we had to take care of some business regarding AP credits, or something along those lines.  I realized I had forgotten something, so I returned to the room.  When I went in, I was greeted by my new and temporary roommate, Matt.  I remember his big smile, I remember that he was wearing that necklace he always wears, I remember that he was wearing a British soccer jersey, and I remember that his dad was there, too, fiddling with his computer.  But most of all, I remember telling my family about it when I went back outside, especially the part where I told my brother that he seemed like a really cool guy.  A year later, Matt is one of my very best friends.

So what were the other things that happened to calm me down?  I remember running into Paul in a stairwell doorway (I liked his shoes–New Balance 574s–because I had a pair myself in brown, although his were navy), and he was as easygoing and goofy as he’s proven to be ever since.  I remember  how intimidating Ben looked during our worship time in the DC atrium, and how quiet he and Zach were near the start.  I remember Eric playing his guitar that first week.  I remember realizing that I could learn a lot from guys like Eric, Adam and Luke about guitar, and from others musically.  I did learn a lot from them, and never said thanks.  Until now.

I remember the ice cream social, when it was finally just kids, no parents.  The table was quiet, although Paul and I were our typical loudmouth selves.  I’m not sure Wiki said much that night.  Maybe because we still called him Alex then.  I remember our “speed dating,” and realizing that I didn’t have to worry about a shortage of cute girls.  I remember Amanda, Brent, and LB laughing while we speed dated.  I remember returning to the dorm, having to move to a different floor, and Daniel trying to tell us that euchre was played with 6-card hands.  I remember that Brent and Matt were awfully friendly, asking them how they knew each other, and getting the “I’m friends with his sister” response.  I remember when my parents left, and worrying that they would think I didn’t miss them, just because my eyes were dry as we said goodbye.

I remember visiting Luke’s grandparents with (most of) the guys; the “Fer Serious World”, repacking, the girls having way too much stuff, the bus ride to Chicago, the plane ride when I couldn’t sleep, the flight attendant who thought Adam and I said “vodka” when we really said “Fanta,”  borrowing a sudoku puzzle from Amy, the “air sickness on my air sickness bag” landing, the dead-tired bus ride to what would become home, sitting in the back of the bus with Eric, calling my parents to say I was there safely, coming over the hill overlooking town and being momentarily breathless, rearranging the Man House, stepping on my beloved aviator sunglasses, and touring the town with Scott.  Playing in our first in-Ireland worship time with Eric, I didn’t do too well, but he said I did fine (I’m sure he knew better, but I needed to hear that).  Then came Riverdance and Glendalough, and I was hooked.  We walked out of the theatre wide eyed, maybe finally grasping the magnitude of what we were undertaking.

Filed under: ISP, Ireland, college, friends, memories