Ballroom competition at UConn today! From 8 AM to 8 PM, I'll be dancing the waltz, foxtrot, cha, international and american rhumba, and swing.
College is great Friends are great Classes are pretty challenging Thayer St. is amazing October is finally cold I have to wake up in 3 hours good night =)
Thanks for everyone that has supported us from the beginning to the end, and especially the 1200 people who came to support us that night. Totally unforgettable.
We've been 6 years in the making, and it culminated to one night. Props to the whole group, but special props to my yoyo boys:
Arthur: sometimes I love you, and I hate you at the same time. But past all those times you were a slave driver, "NO BODY BETTER MESS UP OR I'LL KILL THEM!" "WHY CAN'T YOU JUST CATCH IT?" "JUST DO IT." "YOU GUYS SUCK!" "EVERYBODY WATCH ME CAUSE I'M THE BEST" you're still a good kid. Without you whipping our asses, literally, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we did.
Eric: number smaller, it's tough coming into a new group of people with awkward feet. It doesn't happen to too many people, but you took your unique situation and turned it for the better. That's why you're such a great lion tail/base. But I will never forget our awkward aim conversations... "who's hotter? jasmine or ariel?" You still owe me 20 bucks
Jeremy: you SO stepped it up. It's been less than a year since you started performing with us, and it seems like you've done it from the beginning. I love our xiaolin showdowns, and yo-yo olympic rivalries. Not to mention that flicking finger of yours. I'm so pumped for wii on the 26th, you have no idea. AND JP LICKS. mmmmmmm YC4eva. Oh yeah, and pokemon battle rematch?
Josh: my bff, my sleeping partner, roommate, tennis rival, brother, sister, mother, father. you've always been there for me when I needed it, and always ready to offer a bed to stay in for a night (or two). Not to mention clothes, sharkbites, xbox controllers, gatorades, Harry Potter 4, you know the necessities. I am eternally grateful to you and your fam.
Love you all, including the girls too. DVD and pictures, to be released soon.
Btw steph and I are planning a DVD release party once we figure out when the DVD will come out. It'll be at steph's house and no one needs to bring any food, she's providing it all.
So, I was meaning to do a huge post saturday night and post it 12:00 AM sunday morning, but seeing as how workshop rehearsal lasted until 11 (including cake time) that just didn't work out. So I guess I'll do it now.
Since my last post was lacking actual coherent sentences, I will change all those dates on my schedule into actual events, and retell the stories.
First off, my recording session with Eric
But first! A history, and a sample of his work.
*hint: for the most time effective xanga experience, read while listening. *double hint: If you already know how Eric^2 came to be, skip this section. Sorta like those Goosebumps stories where we got to choose our own story after each page. Or maybe I just wanted to make an obscure 90s reference and it's not like the stories at all. If you think it is the latter, turn to page... jk.
I found Eric via purevolume one day in October of 06 by searching for artists named Eric. He was the second one on the list, with a ton of views and plays (not to mention a sweet profile pic), and I clicked, listened, and fell in love...musically of course. He is a senior at NYU, and he just began playing guitar his junior year in high school, but the sheer level of production of his songs, not to mention the lyricism and vocals really just impressed me from the get go. He also had about 20+ songs for free download, which is always a plus. Anyway, he had just finished recording his EP, which was supposed to be released in mid October (got pushed back to January and I haven't stopped giving him hell for it), and he began working on his album for his senior project/future career. On his purevolume site, he mentioned that he was looking for string players to record with him, and if anyone was interested. I friended him on myspace and facebook and left him a message, because a few of my cousins are at NYU so I can get to the area, and hell, why not try?
He messages me back and says he'll most likely be doing strings back in LA with the LA Philharmonic players but, then asked me to send a clip of me playing anyway. Well back in November when I messaged him, I didn't have anything, so I just didn't respond, but then later in January when he finally released his EP online, he messaged me again, asking for some advice about distribution and stuff, I responded, he sent me a free copy, and I sent him the clip of me playing
He watched it, and (thank god he's not a violinist himself) said he would definitely consider having me play with him, but just had to figure out the timing. A month later, he officially asked me, told me to assemble a quartet or another violinist, the date was set, and that was that.
It takes a while to sink in,
to finally hit you.
But when it does,
you know it.
The flood gates open, and every emotion you've felt
shock, surprise, disbelief, guilt, anger, regret, (excuse me if I've missed any)
and finally incontainable sadness, all flow out in a torrent of tears and clenched fists.
The memories, the thoughts, the quotes, and smiles of you
play as a movie would,
a Man's life as we knew it.
As we know it.
The lessons, the words of wisdom and experience,
the massive bear hugs that hurt (but we didn't mind),
Explode and collide together,
and hits you hard.
The long list of adjectives would never do you justice,
just an understatement to the Colossus you were to us.
The Colossus of Rhoades it should have been spelt.
