3daysinquebec

It suffices to say that a lot has happened in the last three days of
my life. I went up to Quebec City this weekend with my French class.

We were a very touristy bunch, which kind of brought me down at some points. The thing is, is that the waiters and salespeople could instantly tell that we spoke English, from the bags on our backs, or from scraps of conversation that they picked up that indicated we didn't speak their language. So when we tried to speak to them in our fractured French, they insisted that we spoke to them in English. And it kind of made me realize that we Americans were contributing to the destruction of their culture. While 98% of the people in that city speak French as their native language, it's also required that they learn the English language, because they're such a big tourist spot. There could be a point one day, where it could become an English speaking city, and then slowly turn into nothing more than another victim of America's cultural reign of terror. And I'd feel partially responsible for that.

In any case, what we saw there was beautiful. Here are various pictures of what we saw.

^Ste-Anne-de-Beaupre Basilica^


^Montmorency Falls^


^Chateau Frontenac^


^Me with a ticket for a chin^

The buildings were ancient and gorgeous. There were street performers who didn't suck. (I saw a harpist, a pianist, and a guitarist all at different points throughout the day) There was no such thing as an unfriendly person. I don't know. There was something about those streets. I'd kind of like to live up there one day if I can get the money/speak French well enough. I'm definitely going back there sometime soon, by myself, so I can actually speak French.

The one REAL down point of the trip was on the first day. Pretty much as soon as we started our walking tour of the old city, there was a group of kids on top of a wall, who laughed and pointed at us, loudly. It kind of bugged me for a while, but I got over it eventually. Immature children like those deserve no one's attention. A few hours after that, while we were at a cafe, some girls from our group swarmed a waiter and took about 30,000 pictures, which caused a huge scene. The employees were clearly not amused. Nor was I; it was just kind of embarrassing.

But everything outside of that was great.

On the last day, we went into the Galeries de la Capitale for shopping/whatever. I went on the (nothalfbad) indoor rollercoaster there, and picked up two CDs by Canadian bands. Broken Social Scene's self-titled (I didn't get Forgiveness Rock Record because I've previewed some songs and it's nothing great) and Japandroid's Post-Nothing. I'll post my opinions on those later.

I also got an original watercolor painting in this alleyway, an Asterix book, and an alright T-Shirt that says "je me souviens" on it. And also, some really, really good poutine.

Overall, we did 14 hours of driving. 7 hours there, 7 hours back. It was dull, but I made the most of it. Watched a couple of movies, listened to a LOT of music, talked to a lot of people, played Apples to Apples.

Here are some more pictures, then I gotta go do homework and sleep. I'm still kind of bus-lagged.




ALso, before I go, I have to say that there's been a weird coincidence. There's a kind of hazy smoke hanging over the head of my town right now. This is actually from the Quebec wildfires that have been going on. Even though it's 7 hours away, it's still bringing its presence over here Symbolic of something? Probably.

Au revoir, mes amis.

~-~

frustration

This is how I feel right now. All 23.5 minutes of it.



I have an awful, incessant cough, my parents are stressing me out about the trip, and I'm feeling like I'm forgetting something.

But at least I have new music to listen to. The Radio Dept.'s Clinging to a Scheme. Omnom.

I lied when I said this would be a longer post, because I have to go to bed now. I'll be writing up there, believe you me.

See you Sunday.

~-~

Pack.Pack.Pack.

Well..

As I write, I have multiple things going through my head.

My mom is being an angry consumer on the phone with our cable company. Aggravated that she can't watch American Idol.

I also have to worry about packing tonight for Quebec and a short French composition.

I also want to get PTSD done once and for all. I just listened over and still think there needs to be a little more tinkering with the sound.

Most of all, though. I just want to sleep. I'm gradually becoming a narcoleptic, I swear to God.

I need to go. longer-goodbye-post tomorrow.

and seven

~-~

May 25, 2010: 8:01:28

Today, as predicted, it was hot out.

After a never-ending 10 minute run, I walked home, slowly.

As I strolled up to my house, I saw my shade-smothered lawn. I wanted to just walk up to it, drop my backpack, and lay there for a bit. And then be absorbed and eaten up, slowly into the ground. Not a muscle moving as my eyes remained closed and I was slowly lowered into the cool, relaxed Earth, before finally being surrounded by follicles of grass. I'd be one with the Earth. My reverie only ended when I was inside.

It was hot out. And all day, I heard people complaining about how goddamn hot it was. Amidst the "I'm miserable"s and the "It's really hot out today"s, I became very frustrated. Hearing other people state the obvious for the sake of conversation does that to me. It doesn't help my mental state, it makes me become aware of the heat while I clearly want to just shut it out of my head.

It was really...really... hot, so I spent most of it inside today. I saw a thread on /mu/ (4chan's music forum) inviting everyone to post their own music. I naturally did so linking people to http://videosforpictures.bandcamp.com, and got some alright response. Of course, the response that you get on that site is typically either mildly positive or harsh, malicious, brutal negative. I got a little bit of both today. Someone called "Cougar Crossing" a 'clusterfuck' and absolutely hated the lyrics of "Three Neighbors" (and to be honest, I think that those lyrics could be a lot better as well), another said they liked the syncopated piano thing going on, someone else just said they liked it. I ended up with 21 plays at the end of this promotional... thing, which is quite alright with me. I got a handful of complete plays, mostly partial plays (which makes sense, seeing as how a partial play constitutes someone listening to somewhere between 10 and 90% of a song), and a couple of incomplete plays.

So that's my semi-success story for today. Throwing my music to the wolves and not being completely ripped apart.

Before I go, a couple songs of the day. Tobacco's Motorlicker off of his new album "Maniac Meat" (comes out today) and Portishead's Silence off of their album "Third".

CAUTION: Both of these are disgustingly catchy.

JOUISSE-LES / je vous reverrai demain.

~-~

Let’s Talk About When You Think Nobody Likes You

This blog post title is brought to you by a series of books that were located in my elementary school library. Let's Talk About Your Parents on Drugs, Let's Talk About Your Parents Divorcing, etc. Honestly, it was the first thing that came to my mind for some reason, and I have absolutely zero idea why.
-
Down to business.
-
First, I'd like to thank Ben for your insightful addendum to my blood drive post. The biggest problem I have with the whole situation is that adults were once teenagers, they are completely aware of our situation. But they just become so consumed in their self-importance that they simply forget what being a teenager was like. Of course, I'm generalizing, there are genuinely cool adults in existence that don't look down on my kind. But there are clearly those who do. C'est la vie, malheureusement.
-
Second, I had one of those days. One of those days where I'm enormously tired. Tired to the point where I took a nap that lasted a glorious hour, after my prack tractice. That was beyond glorious. I started thinking prior to that nap, that life isn't about what people perceive about me, but what I perceive about people. But the dreamphase started before I got to the end of that trainofthought.
--
Third, I'm trekking all the way up to Quebec this coming Friday, for a little weekend sojourn with my fellow French-taking peers. We're seeing The Old Quarter and this dance-boatcruise-thing that I could care less about and having this interactive history lesson and eating at relatively fancy places and such. We also have to make scrapbooks DURING the trip, which is kind of a bummer.

So I'll be doing that thing that I did while I was gone at Pennsylvania, and come up with posts on the daily. If I have time, my teacher decided to pack a lot into each day.
--
Fourth and finally, my song of the day. It's been crumbling through my head today. Very Arcade Fire-esque, but not enough so that it detracts. The beat's very hypnotizing and uplifting. I like how it just kind of dissolves at the end. And I'm in love. Le Loup's Forgive Me:







And it's gonna be hot tomorrow.

Pre-Oc

While I'm relatively angry at my parents right now, and I have what I feel's like a lot of homework to do, I'm going to desperately refrain from complaining.

Today was spent with Bobina, as are my typical Sundays. Today consisted of Chinese Checkers and Scrabble and making a 15 minute video.

I have nothing to write today. Maybe tomorrow when my mind's not so... preoccupied.

~-~

Well...

Robin Hood was just OK.

~-~

BLOOOOD!

Today, I volunteered at a blood drive. It was the first time I had ever been to a blood drive, so I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I started off registering people, which was like a thirty step process. Hey, donating blood today? K, do you have an appointment or are you a walk-in? Appointment numbers are blue, walk-in numbers are white. Are you a first-time donor or returning donor? If you're a first-time donor, take a green sticker and write your name, if you're a returning donor, take a red sticker and write your name. Now sign in here, and take these pamphlets. Do you have any ID on you? K good, they'll be checking for that later. Are you over 17? No? Do you have the parental consent forms then? K good. Now take a laminated packet, read that, and then read the board. When you're done reading, return the packet, and take a seat up there where they'll take care of you. Oh, and once you're done, are you willing to do a survey? We need to have one done by a person on the hour.

I then wound up transporting the packets of blood to a processing station and replenished the blood bags at each station. I'm a queasy person, so this was not pleasant whatsoever. But what did I expect?, I offered to volunteer at a blood drive after all.

At one point, when I was bringing a packet to the processing station, I saw a spot of blood in the bucket. I reached for the antibacterial wipes, but then someone stopped me and said:

"Wrong."
"Wrong?"
"Yeah, you're not supposed to touch those."
"Oh, okay."
"Thanks for trying to help."
"No problem."

Even if I had gloves on, the guy probably wouldn't have let me. There's just this intrinsic paranoia amongst adults about letting kids do stuff. It kind of made me feel worthless.

Another strange thing happened. One of the doctors got me and said:

"Hey, could you bring me a water? WITH bendy straw?"

Thinking he was kidding, jokingly pinning me as the lowly intern, I got a water and said:
"Here's the water. Couldn't supply the bendy straw though." And I kind of smiled a little bit.

His tone was nothing short of serious:
"In the green container, there should be two boxes of bendy straws."

All of a sudden, it connected and I felt very stupid. It was for the patient, and the straw was to be sanitary. I think my face was red for a while and I was on edge for a little bit after that.

Gotta go bye
~-~

A Former Identity Crisis Resolved.

Alright, this shall be the last time that I ever change my blog title. FROM NOW ON, my title shall forever be: "A Day In The Life of A Teen Nightlight." Because I talk about music just as much as I talk about anything else on this blog, essentially.

The whole 'Nightlight' thing came about like this:
BOBINA: *LUMOS*
JAY: *LIGHTS UP*
BOBINA: You're a light?
JAY: Yup.
BOBINA: Then I guess you should change your name to "A Day In The Life of A Teen Nightlight."
JAY: That's actually brilliant.
--
Approaching a very full EP right now. Songs:

1. Prison Hotel (NEW! DETAILS BELOW!)
2. PTSD (NEARLY DONE BEING MIX'D!)
3. Perepelka
4. Trinity
5. Inches To Go Before I Sleep
6. Don't Tell The Kids
7. Choice A
8. I Give Up

The big problem I'm having with some of these songs is that they all almost follow the same structure. I want to kind of not let that happen. So there's gonna be some rearranging before I actually get down to recording this whole mess.

PRISON HOTEL

Richard Zimmerman's got a backpack
Made of sticks and cross-eyed infants
Close their eyes to watch the purple
Dragonflies that eat the seasick
Who clench at grass and take up fistfuls

Stop the bleeding! Stop the presses!
Snipers sit on the eighth floor
Where the affluent businessmen
Are hid behind their bathroom doors
Just one floor up, there's robbers locked down.

Philomena, Philomena
I just saved your soul this evenin'
Sneaking past sharpshooters' bullets
Sneakers strewn across the pavements
She said 'Why not?' and passed me her brain

THERE'S A PLANET AND WE'RE ON IT
IT'S TEN TIMES THE SIZE OF THE ASTEROID
THAT WE LIVED ON
BEFORE THE CONSUMPTION AND THE FIRES AND EVAPORATION

On death.

To lighten up the mood in advance, here's a screenshot of John Green's adorably adorable bundle of adorable, with appropriate caption:

Now down to business.

Today, I arrived, for the first time in a while, at the conclusion that I have not experienced death in any manner. This has been a reoccurring thought, but I've never really delved into it that much. One of my uncles passed when I was 4, and I remember being sad that everyone else was sad. But I was 4 when this happened, so I can only remember the vaguest of details. Oh, and my goldfish died when I was 8. But I didn't even care then.

My concern about death that just surfaced today is this: when someone does die that's close to me, I'm not going to know exactly how to go about handling it. I haven't been exposed to it nearly enough as a kid to have become desensitized towards death when I'm fully aware of what's happening.

But is this a good thing? Perhaps it's good that when this happens (and I hate the fact that I'm using the word 'when' here), I'll be able to express myself thoroughly instead of my emotions being half-hearted. Death is a horrible, horrible thing. And moving on's equally horrible. It seems like death is all about repression, and the mere thought of repressing someone's legacy out of my head is messed. No, repression is a terrible way to go about doing things... the Latin Americans of the world are doing it right, having a Day of The Dead. Maybe I'll join them in that from now on. It makes a lot more sense to me than just occasionally remembering the person, and never celebrating their life post-funeral. The celebration part's what I feel like I'm gonna be missing out on.

So that's that.

~-~

scrapsoftalk|new-style|genericday

As you can tell, I (and my GF) have been messing around with the look of this blog. I kind of like it now, but if anyone has any further suggestions, they'll be taken into consideration. Unless you suggest pink, or neon green. or pink AND neon green.



Today, I went to Starbucks and sucked at running. 57.2 in the 400m and 2:29 in the 800m. I'm sick, I didn't pace myself well, and some third reason. I'll just blame it on the rhesus monkeys that inhabit my legs.

I'm thinking of the name Prison Hotel, and liking the way it sounds.
And now I have to go to bed.


~-~

[FÜR RICHARD ZIMMERMAN]

"D'ya like pickled cauliflower?"

This day has been focus'd around Macy Gray and ranting about the death of absolute self-sufficiency in America.

I figured out I Try by Macy Gray, since I was so thoroughly inspired by Zanois' performance of it. Will probably video a performance of it. I also worked out a new song, and it'll be replacing one of the weaker songs that I've composed as of late. I also mixed a little bit. #progressprogressprogress

"Me personally, I like strawberry jelly."

I managed to spew 1000+ words about the hopelessness of the American Dream today. An excerpt:

"Relative self-sufficiency still exists in large quantities, but is that saying much? In America, it has never been extraordinarily difficult to find a job and make your own way in varying degrees. Complete self-sufficiency, to live by yourself and live without interference from outside agitation, simply isn’t possible. Even if someone decided to live in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, they would be arrested for tax evasion, or evicted for deforestation, or annoyed by some kids having crazy, drunken parties. There would truly be no escape. Thoreau is probably rolling over in his grave right now."




"If you like chemistry..."

ALT+F4
ALT+F4

~-~

Nothing Keeps Up/brain

Per request, here's the Dad Rocks! track 'Nothing Keeps Up'. This is actually my favorite from the Digital Age EP. Acoustic guitar and toy piano trickle beautifully under Albertsson's prophetic and observant vocals, my favorite of which is "Nerdy codes and plastic bags might just do a little of the trick."


--

And the seven colors drip down into the monster's eye, and it starts to write

soliloquies in memory of David, who fell into the abandoned strip mall with dust

collected on its ponderous, glass revolving doors. And what happens beyond the

green fires and violet plains of Elsinore: where there exist microscopic granules of

insane chipmunks, rolling around in the muck until their ghosts evaporate into sunlight

and graphite. And the drummers beat in 7/4, and the trumpets play in 5/4, and the

band marches in 3/4. and the world plays in 4/4. and the world plays in 4/4. and the

world plays in reverse. and

--

~-~

Barnstock and Dance-A-Thon

Today marked the end of a very long stretch of stress. I can breathe now.

Early this morning, I was mixing and reviewing the mix for the dance. The dance apparently was a success, thank god.

Then mid-afternoon, I headed over to Henry's barn for the concert. It was never-ending, and there wasn't a very good turnout, but it was still a ton of fun. My own set was a horror show, due to the fact that the sound produced between my piano and my voice is very empty. I played accurately, but people were filing outside. I got a fair amount of applause, but I could pretty easily tell it was out of pity. Being up there and playing songs no one's ever heard of on a keyboard without any dynamic range or decent natural sound or sustain just culminates into disaster. I need a digital piano if I'm ever going to keep a crowd's attention by myself for live shows. That set made it official.

The Snoozers set was fun, we played a mix of new Sublime covers and old original stuff. We didn't really prepare at all, but it was still funkyfresh. Give me back dat filet o' fish. Give me dat fish.

The Zanois set was spectacular. Zane's dad broke three drumsticks, there was confetti, and I got this fancy little picture of a monster with flamenumbers coming out of his mouth with the government on: his: brains:

I'm hopin' that I'll be re-collaborating with Zane in the near future. Either I as a guest on his stuff or he as a guest on my stuff er whateve

Dumbledore's Army played extraordinarily well, but it was only in front of a few people. After Zanois' set, people started filtering out. This made sense, since they were by far the greatest act of the night. I was getting ridiculously into the Dumbledore's Army set, it was just constant adrenaline. I don't think I, or anyone, messed up more than a couple of times. It was nearly flawless, EVEN LUNA LOVEGOOD IS OK, that song where I go absolutely apeshit on the drums. And it was very loud and energetic. So I was naturally kind of bummed when we skipped half of our set.

Now I'm going to bed, because a) I need to get up early to go and get stuff for my French trip b) Bobina's coming over and I need my rest, since we're ascending a mountain tomorrow c) these last two weeks are finally... over.

~-~

So Much Mixing

I'm less than an hour away from being finished with this mix, and Audacity keeps crashing, and I just went through a power outage, but I'M GETTING THIS DONE.

I made a lot of progress on '81 today and I'm gonna give you a full report on Barnstock tomorrow.

Love you.

~-~

BlawgDeux

see?

i'm a man of my word.

since my last post, i've made about an hour's worth of progress on the dance-a-thon mix. it's sounding pretty good, if i do say so myself. i've been having a decent amount of trouble with some songs, but for the most part, it's been going nicely.

that's all i have for now. i need to talk to a certain someone and work on a certain something some certain more.

'81

Sorry for forgetting yesterday. I actually had the blogtab open but spaced it out. Still in hectic phase. I'll be posting one more today.

'81'81'81
is a song I'm (potentially) learning for the Stock of Barn.

~-~

You Ain't Gon' Tie Me Down!

Track meet:
1600m : 5:23.5 = average
400m: 57.5 = poor
4x400m: 3:46 = alright

I'm still feeling pulled in 234 different directions at the moment. So this post's gonna suffer and be short.

But I do have a song before I go, Flying Lotus' Do The Astral Plane off of his album Cosmogramma:



I'm digging some of Flying Lotus' stuff, but some of it feels like overhyped elevator music. Here's another one that I'm liking, off of his first album. 1983 (skip to 1:01):

~-~

I Give Up

Not on this project, but it's the title of a new song. It's a minute and a half and really basic, definitely an album closer. I'm putting it in my set for Barnstock.

Lyrics:
Oh, I'm at the dregs of my depression
That I drank with shameless pride
Now, the bottom of the cup is wearing out
So I can see the other side

And there's light and it is gleaming
And there's children, they are beaming
There is blood beating through the heart of this town
But I'll never get there, I'm only dreaming

And now
the angst is gone
the dream is dead
and I give up.

Oh, and I got so tired of trying
To not do what was told
But now, no one's bothering to tell me shit
Because I went and got too old

So as my hair falls out and my body greys
And my brain gives out and my soul decays
Am I fated to love everything
For the rest of these dark green days?

And now
the angst is gone
the dream is dead
and I give up.
--
In the meantime, I've successfully managed to rework those songs into better ones. MORE RECORDING, HERE I COME.

Here's the set I'm thinking about for Barnstock:
Inches To Go Before I Sleep - 4:00
+ The LHC - 2:30
+ Mystery Jesus and The Wonder Wheel - 2:00
+ Map With Odd Directions - 4:00
+ Don't Tell The Kids - 3:30
+ I Give Up - 1:30
+ 2:30 of break inbetween
_______
20 minute set

time to go study for my final AP test. the one i'm least prepared for. chemistry. i could use a little luck-wishing from anyone who can provide it. because i'm going to need it.

~-~

Assembling

That was the theme of today. Assembling myself and assembling everything.

I've been hard at work on reconstructing three songs before I record them. They're nearly there.

In the meantime, I'm hesitantly drowning my iTunes library in top 40 music for this dance-a-thon. No one's gonna go to this dance, because prom just happened. We have no pull, no real advertising, and crappy music. WOO.

And this song's taking forever to download. And I still have to do French. And I still need to call my girlfriend. And if I wasn't already off the deepend, I'm off it now.

Because I have a gig, a track meet, and this dance-a-thon queued up for this Saturday. And an AP Chemistry test that I'm destined to fail Tuesday.

|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
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*splash*

~=~

5 + 8 =/= 10

Today, I got back from prom. Prom was cool. I didn't like dressing up, and I didn't dance whatsoever, but the conversation was good. Robert Nesbit and I determined that it was pretty much like going to a jazz club, only with terrible music. So we're now determined to find a jazz club in which we can replicate prom, only it'll be better.

Everything became funny by the end of the night.
The end of the night was 5:15 in the morning, btdubs.

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii?

I hung out with Bobina for most of today, blah blah.

Here's a video that she finds entertaining:


THE END RAWR1

~-~

Promenade

Today, I'm gonna post a little bit longer.

Simply, because I have more time today for a beautiful change.

This morning, I took my AP History exam. I'm pretty sure I nailed the essays but didn't do so well on the multiple-choice. This is the converse of what I was actually expecting to happen. I hope I got a 4, if I got a 3 it's not the end of the world. But if I got a 2, it is, because I worked my face off on those essays.

I got home around 12 and then started playing on the piano and got a surprising amount of work done. Not on the song that I've almost finished mixing, but on the songs I thought would be on there. I reworked them using fragments of other things I had. I was just worried that they were all following the same structure and the last thing I want when I write music is structure. One's got this really weird breakdown section, and the other one's got this kind of classical structure to it. Before they both had like typical minor bits that easily resolve in major bits. It was too easy, and it bugged me. So now it's different, and now I'm glad.

In other news, this video is disgusting, hypocritical, and overly sensational. Disgusting in the sense that there's an old and overweight couple having sex in it (do. not. want.), hypocritical in the sense that M.I.A. is clearly not anti-war, (have you ever heard Paper Planes?) and overly sensational in the sense that it shows a kid getting shot in the head and another kid getting blown to bits. It obviously makes a point, but it's a point that's been made over a trillion times.

Watch at your own risk:

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

Time to get dressed up and kind of have a good time.

~-----~

One more day of insanity

Then I'll be good.

Prom tomorrow.
AP US History test tomorrow.

then relaxation at long last.

and full-length blog posts.

i DID work on music a little today.
i've got a song
that's cominga
long we
ll.

*pokes head in*

AP Calc test tomorrow. I'm shooting for a 3 (out of 5).

Need my rest. I got back from my track meet at 9:30, which made me very angry. I had almost no time to actually sit down and study tonight.

New personal record in the 400m: 54.8

Getting my tux tomorrow.
And applying for a job.
And getting ice cream.

Om.
Nom.


Nom.

~-~

Studying.

I have three massive tests quickly approaching, so I don't have time for much other than saying 'hi', for now. This whole week's gonna be this way. Calculus test, History test, prom, organizing for a dance, track meet, 3 hour long french trip meeting.

*panic*

~-~

Back on track

Finally.

In response to the response on the whole "I HATE CITIES" invective, there's obviously something for everyone in the city. I'd find something about Philadelphia and even Poughkeepsie that I'd love at some point, I'm sure. But, I don't know. I prefer natural beauty over architectural beauty, and you're obviously going to find more of the former outside of cities.

mixing has begun. on one song, at least.

today was spent with bobina. we professed our love for each other and went into portsmouth. not in that order. in portsmouth, we left random notes of encouragement on people's windshields and ran away. hopefully we made someone's day, but if we didn't, then it was still a lot of fun making the cards.

i love you. yes, you.

~-~

Catchup and Mustard

Day 4: Poughkeepsie, NY

Today's Friday. I'm home now, but earlier today I was all the way over in upstate New York, investigating Vassar College. It was a much more beautiful campus than Drexel. My heart kind of swelled when I first saw the campus. Very selective and very expensive, though.

And then I went into the city itself, right next to the campus. My dad had told me that there was a 'not-so-nice part of town', so I thought 'eh, well that's no big deal'.

But the entire city's in shambles, at least from what I saw. I did some research later and found out that 23% of the city's in poverty. So I kind of heaved a heavy sigh at my dashed dreams, realizing that being next to that wouldn't really be the most positive learning environment. I'd feel bad, simply. All high and mighty at my college while right next to me, people are struggling to survive comfortably. It just wouldn't feel right.

There are other colleges, I suppose.

Day 3: Philadelphia, PA

I checked out Drexel University today and met up with one of my dad's friends, Ronnie. Ronnie's this funny guy with huge glasses that just talks and talks and talks. He got us this fantastic Italian sub from a sub shop, and gave my dad various cooking things, like cheeses and herbs, et cetera. We drove through Chinatown, which was pretty sketchy, and then we passed the first porn theater that I've ever seen in my life. There was a large man in line for it. "I do NOT want to know what that 300-pound man will be doing in there. Jesus," Ronnie exclaimed. We walked down this nice little parkway, and I walked up the stairs that Sylvester Stallone ran up in the now-famous Rocky scene, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I would've run, but I didn't have the appropriate clothes and I would have felt like a tourist. And we all know how much I despise being a tourist.

Getting back to Ronnie, he told us about how his once all-Jewish neighborhood has transformed into a ghetto. He thought he heard firecrackers the other day and they were gunshots. Misses the days where he could sit out on the porch and not worry about being hit with the shrapnel of a driveby. Despite his situation, he has this great optimism about everything, and he was very lighthearted while we were with him. I like Ronnie.

Philadelphia's a mess though. There was something about that city that made me feel like I was going to be the victim of a carjacking. I couldn't wait until I got out of there. This weird fear can be attributed to the fact that I've never liked cities. There's nothing nice to look at in cities. It's just concrete and brick and some historical sites. It's too cramped, too busy. The worst kind of atmosphere. Small towns are where it's at. With two turntables and a microphone.