Quick Catch Up

To: Adonis, Lance, Ray
From: Nazer

So I just got my absentee ballot in the mail. It came in a big ass envelope full of reading material as well as the actual ballot. I wish I knew more about the city council candidates and such (I don't get to see all the commercials for these guys, but I do get to see all the negative ads about New England council officials), but I guess it's time to do some homework. It's pretty unreal looking at this stuff, finally voting in a presidential election, just another sign that we've come a long way from sitting inside with nothing to worry about except who we want to main in Smash (oh wait we still do that).

In other news school keeps me pretty busy. Midterm week isn't as heavy as one might think, but writing four parallel lines with proper counterpoint in the form of a fugue isn't exactly everyday material. I love my film classes. We're finally getting to write music to picture, and we do a lot of analysis on film music, really informative. A couple weeks ago Joey Newman, a Berklee grad, came to talk about his experiences so far in LA. He was nominated for an Emmy for his music on "Little People, Big World" and he talked about TV a lot, which was a nice change from looking at film all the time. I've also been dealing a bit with the integration of music into video games, and Berklee actually hired a guy and created classes just this semester for this industry, I can't wait to take some of them.

I spend my free time playing video games and watching television and movies. The Mad Men season finale was a couple of days ago which was really good, and if anyone has been keeping up with Dexter this past weeks episode was seriously insane. My favorite shows of the moment are Pushing Daisies (which is on the verge of cancellation, WATCH THIS SHOW TELL YOUR FRIENDS), Chuck, and Fringe, but I've been watching literally everything else (except the CBS shows), and lots of shows are getting really good as well. 30 Rock premieres this Thursday, can't wait for that, and Top Chef comes in a couple of weeks, so that's just another hour and a half to add to my dedicated TV watching time.

I got Guitar Hero World Tour over the weekend. It's a fun game, and I've only played the guitar stuff, but it EPIC FAILS in comparison to Rock Band. The band interface is terrible, and the worst part is that if one person fails, everyone else fails, so you can't like save your band members or anything, but I'll put up a more in depth look at that later. Fable II was cool, and Gears of War 2 comes out next week, and I want to get a Gamefly account so I can play some of the games I don't want to spend $60 dollars for.

So that sort of sums it up. School, media, drinks, oh and I cook a lot now too, trying to learn and perfect my Moms recipes and stuff, so yeah I guess I'm keeping busy. Till next time.

(Oh and Super Street Fighter 2 HD Remix is supposed to come out before the end of this year, and then Street Fighter IV this winter, hella excited)

Halfway Done With College...

It's 1:20 PM. My bags are packed, my room is cleared, and in about an hour I'll be calling a cab to take me to Logan airport for my flight home. After a week of rain, the sun is shining again, and I hate to say it, but I think I'm really gonna miss this place.

When celebrating the end of the school year last night everyone was talking about how excited they were to go home. it didn't really hit me till then that I spend the majority of my year in Massachusetts, and the holidays and the summer in California. Today I ran some last minute errands, but while walking through the city streets I really took the time to take it all in, and even though I give this place so much shit (for not having good food and no 24hr spots), I really do enjoy myself when I'm up here.

Another school year gone, with another four month summer. People always say that college is about finding yourself, and this year that realization really shined through. After learning so much more about music than I thought I'd ever know, I'm much more determined to live successfully doing the things I love: playing piano, composing for full orchestra, producing, electronic music, and so on. For Berklee kids the summer is really about taking in everything you learned throughout the hectic school year and really soaking it in, making sure you understand the information presented. This summer I plan to really hone my skills in all of these areas, as well as collaborate with my friends through the internet, trading songs back and forth, etc.

I could go on and on about all of this, but truth be told I just want to relax for this next hour, head to the airport, order a cocktail on the plane just 'cuz I can, and then hangout till I'm back in San Diego. Till next time.

Taking It Easy

To: Lance, Ray, Adonis
From: Nazer

12:33 on a Saturday afternoon. The sun is shining outside and it looks ridiculously nice, but I know when I step out it's going to be windy as hell. On my desk are leftover Heineken bottles and Mcdonalds napkins, crumpled receipts and magazine advertisements, and more, lets just call it unorganized chaos.

School has been cool, well let me say this again, school is always cool, just some weeks are better than others. I don't think I'm alone in this, but eventually you hit a point in your studies where you feel like you're comfortable with the material, then you read a few more pages of a book and your world suddenly expands and you realize how much you actually don't know; a vicious, repetitive cycle. With only 3 more weeks left and finals I'm just going to stick it out and hope for the best results.

I watched the Padres lose to the Giants, watched "Psycho" (1960) for my History of Film Music class, watched The Office and 30 Rock, and played Portal and Mass Effect on 360. The last page of Entertainment Weekly was entitled Videogame Lunacy by Stephen King, and he talked about the generalizations given to video games as a sort of "evil" in the world. He makes note to say that he isn't a gamer, but he understands when people in this industry lash out because of the comments that are directly associated with them. He talked about a Massachusetts law that's currently in review stating that kids won't be able to purchase Mature rated games until they're 18, but states that the same child can go watch Hostel II at age 17. He also commented on the fact that it is so easy for a reporter to say that video games cause things like school shootings, but what ignorant adult let their kids get their hands on guns in the first place. This is a topic I find interesting because I consider myself a gamer, and I'm not in favor of the stereotypes placed behind them.

So what's planned for the day? Maybe some practicing, getting some school work done, maybe playing some video games or watching a movie, and then another night of hanging out, typical saturday, but we'll see. Take it easy folks.

Cool guys wear a Formality shirt

It looks like this quarter will be the first time I fail a class (or two). I'm bummed, but it's not the end of my academic career. My parents will probably overreact though and threaten to move me back to SD or come to Irvine and take away all my distractions. This will probably result in me running to my room to cry into my pillow and tell them with all of the dignity of a 14-year-old girl, "You can't do that, you're not the boss of me!"

On a brighter note, sorely missed 198 roommate, and avid CoolKidsRoom reader, Melody Cruz, is coming back home tomorrow! I don't know if you guys have noticed but ever since she left, we went fuckin bonkers at the apartment. HDTV, digital cable, liquor bottle display, LT fathead, monday night naked time...I don't know if any of these things would've made it past her voice of reason. Still, we all can't wait for her to come back, it just hasn't been the same the past couple months. It's somewhat bittersweet for me though, I have to start planning my masturbation schedule a little more carefully with one more roommate to account for.

I've ended the last two posts with jackoff jokes...I'm on a roll. One of you guys need to post today and return some dignity to this blog.