lowquality.net

I have not made many serious posts lately. I haven’t, mostly, because every serious thought in my brain has involved the same old bitching and complaining: my gripes with unnamed technical school, my gripes with not having enough time to do all of the things I want to do, my gripes with how unbelievably fat I have become, and my long-standing gripe with living in Hampton Roads.

You add all of that up and sprinkle it with my usual day-to-day bitching and complaining and you have a lot of fucking whining. There’s enough complaining on the internet and I don’t want to bore anyone (Like I have readers, who am I fooling?). Furthermore, I am making a noble effort at changing, what seems like, every single aspect of my life all at once. Inspired by JSleeper’s amazing progress at gaining weight and improving his health, I have been to the gym every day but three in 2007. I am also trying so hard to practice bass as much as I can every week but it has not been easy. I wish I was playing more, but I just do not have the time to commit to a real band. No more than 6 months ago I was completely disinterested and disillusioned with music, but now I have been surprising myself by sneaking out of class early before lunch so I can practice for a measly 20 minutes before work.

In addition to the bass, Kim and I still have tentative plans to move to Brooklyn after school, provided I can find a job up there. Who knows if that will happen.

Which brings me back to complaining about unnamed technical school: I have said it many times, but I am less than confidant that this school is training me to be qualified for any real job. Today the Campus President came and interrupted class so that she could teach us all how to shake hands properly. Yes, you read that correctly. SHAKE. HANDS. PROPERLY. She maintained that this was because employers that hire unnamed technical school’s graduates complained that they were hiring people who were not good at shaking hands. I’m not joking about that, she actually told us that while holding up 80 bucks in fanned out 20 dollar bills (positively gangsta and super classy) and telling us how much more money we could all make if we learned how to shake hands.

First of all, I don’t know how bad of a handshake you have to give someone to make them go back to your college and complain. Nevertheless, I do not think it is any college’s responsibility to train a student in the basic social etiquette that even the most deadbeat parents teach their kids. If the worst thing you can say about someone applying for an entry level IT job is “They can’t shake hands properly,” then perhaps you should take the the time to show them what they are doing wrong yourself. Assuming they’ve got the necessary skill sets and work ethic and they don’t talk like a moron in the interview, maybe the potential employee is a bit rough around the edges? What kind of crybaby employer would complain about something like that??

Well unfortunately, I would guess that the phrasing of the complaint to the school probably went something like “They can’t even shake hands properly!” Meaning that the students’ lack of job skills combined with their lack of social skills makes them impossible to hire. Our campus president probably figures it is easier to improve the social skills of the students herself than it is to improve the academic environment of the college. Both of these improvements are her responsibility but I don’t know that she needs to personally interrupt classes to accomplish this. When things like this happen I sit in class and daydream about Morgan Freeman coming into my class with a baseball bat and making various administration members sing the school song in the bathroom. Hmm.. maybe I should get to work on that school song.

I know that I am definitely bitching now and I know that I said I wouldn’t do that. In spite of my usual complaints I have managed to connect with a few of the better teachers and made clear how serious my intentions and interests are. This has helped me gain some cool opportunities and it seems like these instructors are just as relieved to have a student who isn’t a complete dumbass as I am to talk to a professor who engaging, interesting and enlightening.

I think all of my issues with unnamed technical school have made me really reflect on my time at Berklee College of Music. I loved Berklee, but there is a point at which I (and many of my friends) became completely jaded by it. I didn’t fully realize how awesome that place much of the time I was there (and I was there a little longer than most). I had great teachers at Berklee– incredible teachers! To any new Berklee students who might be reading this: you have some of the best musicians in the world ready and willing to help you learn everything you want to know. You also have amazing facilities at your fingertips– even though sometimes it might not seem like everything is as good as it should be– and you have access to all of it. I miss that environment, those people, and the music I could randomly stumble across on any given day. I met Rocco Prestia on Mass. Ave. just casually standing outside of the BPC! I met Dr. Dre just walking around the school! I stumbled into a lecture given by George Duke because I didn’t have anything better to do one afternoon!

I recall a moment where there was a kick-ass jazz combo playing in 1A on Boylston. The combo was made up of faculty and they were just unbelievable, but all I wanted was for them to shut the hell up so I could finish a project I was working on in the lobby. I should have just ditched the project and watched the show– those guys were amazing! I could tell they were amazing, but I didn’t care, all I could see was what was in front of me and not getting done. That is the best anecdote of missed opportunity I think I have in my life. I think it takes an element of unhappiness to find what really makes you happy. I think being in that Berklee environment was a constantly overwhelming sensation where the worst thing I had to complain about was not getting classwork done because I stayed up jamming with friends in the basement of the Comm. Ave dorm and not getting up for class because I’d stayed out all night with friends and had the best time of my life.

On a slightly unrelated note, I would love to have a practice facility like Fordham Road here in Norfolk. We don’t even have “music buildings” down here like in most major cities. In Hampton Roads, bands practice in storage buildings– and only if they don’t get kicked out because of the noise. I’d love to have a quiet place to which I could escape and practice for a few hours without any distractions. I think it’s funny for me to say that, because when I first went to Berklee it was hard to get used to the “fishbowl” doors on the practice rooms in the basement of 270 Commonwealth Ave and the feeling that everyone was scrutinizing you while you practiced (I found it easier to sit facing the door than to have my back to it). I’ve seen similar soundproof practice rooms at Old Dominion University and they make me instantly nostalgic every time.