Sylvan Screen Song Turned Christmas

Em Etc.

Christmas Day, I wake and I stare at my ceiling.
The cracks are varicose like the snow frozen streams.
Christmas Day, it takes a while for me to remember.
That today is the day it is.

C A

And I was a shopping whiz.
I'm one of the best in the biz.
I got hers, and I got his.
It's good to give.

Em Etc.

Christmas Day, I sit and I look out my window.
The snow is falling now and it seems to never stop.
Christmas Day, I sit but I turn to my presents.
They could be anything I want them to be.

C A

And you can come unwrap with me.
And we can do it by the Christmas Tree.
Reading the tags: from you to me.
It's good to receive.

I slacked, so now I'm in Detroit.

-Anonymous

Things I've done today that do not count as studying:

• Rocked out with Ben to the full line-up.
• Went to Pinball Pete's.
• Rockout alone, to 'Hey Sandi' and successfully learned the solo.
• Invented a music holding contraption on my bed.
• Ate with Chana, BP, and M-J.
• Accidently tricked a friend into walking up a few flights of stairs...with a cello.
• Slid across across the ground how I used to--oh those were the days.
• Ate.
• Wrote poem in parody of a poem by my prof.
• Aced a final thanks to Fadie.
• Wondered where Nick has been...

But, now--now, I will study.

And Nick cleaned the room.

• I called ben with IP Relay. Th'operator was nice, but wouldn't tell me if Ben sounded drunk. The line they draw between what they're allowed to say to the people in the converstation is a fine one.
• Failed to climb that tree.
• Lost my key, found it under a tree.
• Succeeded in climbing that tree.
  
• Emailed my old Art History Prof. about a really old scanned in postcard that I found online of this piece of art he wrote a paper on.
• I rocked out with Frontier Ruckus at the Magdo's Teahouse and it kicked ass.
• Also, recorded some with (Mc)Zach and Ben.
• I watched season one of Pete and Pete. Mike lent me the DVDs. Say, maybe I like the music I like from watching that show? I mean, they were injecting me with The Magnetic Fields way before I'd even figured out that I liked music.
• I wrote a lot of my paper, (and yet, there's still much, much more to do).
  

Break was good, being back is good, bad.

School hurts. School scars. School wounds. School mars.

I edited some Pitchfork by writing the news editor!

I wrote:

I liked Zach Vowell's article, which was well written and everything, but the song that Jeff came onstage for, 'The Arrow Flies Close,' always has the line "...and I hope Jeff will sing me a song." It wasn't slipped in as Vowell’s source thought. On the Elf-Power album called "When the Red King Comes," Jeff sings a descending part just after that line: "aaah." But last Tuesday at Mac's Bar in Lansing, the Jeff-less Elf Power had John Fernandez, of Olivia Tremor Control, cover his part on clarinet. -Zach Nichols

P.S. http://www.knerd.com/~sashwap/Arrow.mp3

And then:

hey-- thanks for the tip, you're right! i'll fix the story right now.

-- Amy Phillips
News Editor, Pitchfork Media Email: phillips@pitchforkmedia.com, news@pitchforkmedia.com

Here's the fixed story (didn't they do a good job?)...I didn't have the heart to mention the typo: "Elepant 6." Hopefuly they see it on their own.

• Jeff Mangum sings with Elf Power in NYC

The concert last night was fun. Ben summed it up pretty well.

I used to play this game called The Neverhood. I was reminded of it and its great soundtrack today and I want to play it again: my download's at...100%. I'm counting down the hours (0).

I'd call it a cake made of...

3 pints of Myst.
1 1/3 cups of klezmer.
3 tablespoons Wallace and Grommit.
5 pinches of silent Marx brothers.

Today I played a song I wrote for a presentation in TE250. It went well!

You can play it too! It's easy and has 3 chords in it!

Intro: A

A_____E________ A______ D
In education, differences with gender
Depend on location: how so? I wonder...

A (1, 2, 3, 4)

A______E_________ A______ D
In Great Britain it would seem the girls do better
I wonder if the boys are dumb, or are the girls are just clever?

A (arabian segue)

A______E________ A_____ D
In Saudi Arabia all the schools segregated,
C’mon now Arabia, ain't that unfair and outdated?

A (eastern segue)

A_________E________ A_______ D
In that far off Asia, where the emphasis is on effort!
Those tests don’t care at all if you're wearing a skirt...

A (Solo)

A_________E________ A_____ D
But back in the United States the jury is divided,
Girls with books and boys with science, isn't that one-sided? [Hold D]

End on A

I'm so glad I didn't spend more time making it good when I can get by with crap. Sigh.

The concert was really amazing.

Some highlights:

• Talking to Laura Carter about the zanzithaphone and rocking out.
• Andrew Rieger about FableFactory and Eye Sight.
• John Fernandez about the OTC show in NYC and playing clarinet.
• Singing jeff's part in the Arrow Flies Close. (Closer all the time).
• Fernandez's Clarinet and Violin solos.
• The other bands.
• That drummer from the Jevalin's facial expressions.

I didn't sleep last night and I was feeling bad this morning until I read all of the letters in the state news about mike ramsey. Oh, that would cheer anyone up.

Hey, it's 2:11 and I just got two calls. One from Taaja, who'd happily finished her homework, and one from Zach McCune or McZach as he is affectionately called in some circles. Appartently he and Matt Milia are at the best dance party ever in the basement of some nearby house. Wasted, they dance to Ace of Base and Aqua. Costumes: pants on heads, wigs, shirtless people without sweaters. I could hear the music over the phone mixing with the other dancers. Sounded like a blast, really. Rock out guys, but pass the french quiz tomarrow McZach. Anyway, I like late calls.

I'd better update before people stop visiting. I wrote a new song, it starts with "Em" and resolves on "G" if that tells you anything. Sometimes characters from the cartoon strip "prince valiant" say stuff like "Dag." What does it mean? Anyway, I'm writing papers tonight. TE and TE. I heard that class was going to be easy...Ah well:

Prince, would you like a mint?

"mhmm"

Ahh! Another one!

My pa and I visted the other day, he finaly told me about his time in the Yucatan during Wilma. Apparently his cheaper hotel was somehow the safest and witheld the storm better than any of the surrounding structures. He was going to come home complaining about living off of hot dogs while he was on his vacation, but he ran into a lot of people with stories on his way back to Detroit. Some guy he talked to, from East Lansing, lived off of a piece of fruit a day...

In other news, school is hard when you've lost your academic confidence. I've lost it! I have claves and maracas, but none of that.

Wait, I've got it back. 4.0!

Here's a dorky, kinda-one-sided, movie about organic foods that I had to watch today.

That theremin ben was after went for $51. The next one is already on ebay and they all can't go for $51, can they?

You remember my first post? I found out what a wandering genie is. I want one.

Yet, Lowrey's website sucks, is boring:

"Thank you for the inquiry,There are several reasons the Wandering Genie as well as some other models are not on the web page. They have reached a 10 yr. old plus age. Since then many more Newer Models were introduced, Also many more accessory items were added. We try to keep units on as long as it is practical on the web page - but it gets crowded fast. So we have to eliminate something. So we look at items that are 10 years or more old to make room for the NEW."

I found this thing on ebay it's at least cool looking. Ben's trying to buy it and I hope he wins.

Huh. Yesterday I saw footage of the hurricane over Cancun. I hope my pa is ok vacationing down there...

Update: I got a call this morning from Casey, my dad's girlfriend's daughter. She said they're fine and will be back tuesday.