Is Anyone There?

A while ago, I stopped getting the urge to write. I don’t think it had to do with any particular event, and if it did, it wasn’t significant enough for me to remember it at this point. I’d check wordpress every now and then, entertain the idea of writing a short post for the hell of it, and then ultimately let Future Terence write something when he’s feeling up to it. Future Terence has arrived, it seems, and I think I owe it to reading. This is just a guess, but I think that the more I read, the more likely I am to write. At times, it’s also when I’m feeling down, but today it seems to stem from the book I just picked up.

As much as I hate to admit it, this book is pretty interesting. It’s a book called Kokoro by Soseki, written in 1914 and it’s required reading for my Japanese history class. It’s a really, really, really long book consisting of 110 chapters (not including intros and other stuff), so I may not finish it by the time our final exam rolls around next Thursday. But it’s interesting, and I’ve started writing again so it’s a win-win. The only problem is that I’m reading it on my phone because I decided to go with the e-book since it wouldn’t ship in time. Not so bad, really, just small.

Read on to see what my shitty semester’s been like!

A Vocal Weekend

My week pretty much ended Thursday afternoon last week. I did have a test to prepare for which would take place at 12:20pm, but I really wasn’t in the caring mood. I know I mentioned giving everything 110%, but this particular week I just wanted a break and some whiskey.

It started with plans to run a muck at the bar/club Bullwinkles, or Bulls for short. It was $7 all you can drink, not top shelf night, but oh well. Drink I did, met some very drunk people, and knew it was time to stop drinking when I dropped my cup (plus, I wasn’t going to go pick it up). Whiskey and cola was the drink of choice between my friends and I, and we ordered random shots of whatever Trish, or bartender, cared to feed us with. Yelling was the only form of communication, so my voice had to deal with the only available drink, which isn’t the preferred choice. While there, I logged into my wordpress account and made a draft called, “The Big Spike” and wrote an odd message to myself. I only found this when I checked Saturday night and the word confused does not even begin to illustrate my emotions towards the discovery. Needless to say, that wasn’t the only weird event that happened at Bulls. I’m pretty sure one of the regular visitors to my store was hitting on me in the line for the bathroom. Yep, a male. I’m not completely sure though, as I was on my way to drunk town.

On Friday, I woke up to several blaring alarms and an unhappy body. I could feel the mini-hangover deep in my gut, and tried my best to subdue it with the last of my coffee and plenty of water. It wasn’t enough, though, and I had to really dig deep to study for my Japanese test that was about to take place. I eventually gave up, accepted the fact that it’d be a mediocre score, and tried to relax as I made my way to class. I finished the test early, skipped a section, and completely shanked another for a total of 14 lost points (out of 50). But hey, I did really well on the other stuff, surprisingly. I also had a presentation to do in Japanese for another class but I got a lucky break, as class got redirected at the last minute to do something else. That really made my day take off, cause later, I’d top it off with karaoke.

The Drums

You know when you’ve got that band that keeps showing up on your internet radio station that you absolutely adore but never really get around to getting their album? That was The Drums for me, at least four or five of their songs from their album kept showing up in one of my favorite stations, so I was super happy to run into their album while I was work doing physical inventory counting.

I picked up the album the next day and immediately loved how it sounded in my car. Very chill, very simple music. The music rides along the line of “80s drum beats” and “beachy guitar riffs.” But it works so well, and the vocals are fantastic. My favorite tracks are probably “Me and the Moon,” “Down by the Water,” and “Let’s Go Surfing.” I’ve already started to learn these three songs and I think “Down By the Water” is going to be the one that I master first. Like their other song’s guitar riffs, t’s simple and pretty much a heart lifter. Hit the jump for one of their videos:

No Karma

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Life is hard,” in either a condescending way or the sarcastic way. There’s not a lot to help deal with that fact, all we can do is move on through it all. It’s not anything that any one person can do about. Some people like to think that there’s a higher being that can help and causes things to happen for a reason. Others might think of karma, the abstract idea that someone who does good will get good back and one who does wrong will get wrong back. Or, do good and get something less shitty in the end. Karma isn’t always an equal trade, apparently. But I just have a slight issue with it.

It’s a really really nice thought, don’t get me wrong. Anything that helps people have a reason to be good is good to me. However, this is just odd to me. I’m one of those natural “do-gooders,” I have a hard time taking advantages of things. I don’t have to think twice about doing good for anyone’s sake. So, when it comes to the idea that I would get good back for doing good, I see it as a reward for doing what is right, but shouldn’t need to be rewarded. Maybe I’m just a dreamer, but the concept holds little water to me, and would be pointless explaining it to a do-gooder just as trying to describe farming to a farmer.

Learning “This Modern Love”

For the past month I have been focusing on learning how to play This Modern Love by Bloc Party on the acoustic guitar. I have been really picking up on it in the past two weeks, successfully completely sections of the song with little mistakes and smooth transitions. The problem I’ve been having lately is playing the more intensive parts, like when Kele sings, “I’ll pay for you, anytime.” I have begun trying to play that part but it’s so quick and full of changes that I’m a bit overwhelmed. I might just skip it with my substitute being taps on the guitar.