Journal entries for November, 1995

Hey, what's up. Papi came back from Florida yesterday, and he brought some cool stuff. I got a CD-ROM of 'Getting Into College' which is pretty cool. I entered all my info and Berklee School of Music came out #1 on the list. I talked to Bill abt. this, and he said that if I want to become a professional musician, instead of majoring in professional musicianship, I should major in something like sound engineering and then get a masters degree in professional musicianship. That way I would have more carreer opportunities if being a pro. musician doesn't work out for some reason. Also, having good knowledge of sound engineering will be very helpful if I DO become a pro. musician. Anyways, Papi also got CleanSweep95, a new mouse, the Student Writing Center but in a special version that brings an encyclopedia on the CD-ROM, and some cheap but good programs for designing your house and visualizing it (it renders a 3D model of the house complete with furniture, plants, etc. that can be walked through and examined). He also got more of the pills (Dexadrine). OK, well, I guess I'll go now. Later.

Added the 240 Meg HD today. Called it Adrianne (Jeez I'm pathetic <g>). Bought a skateboard yesterday! Finally. It's good, too. Powell. Tony got his guitar, it's really cool. He came over last night and we played it. Well, phones are still out. DAMNIT!!! At least, I just found out how to have a remote inbox, so when I finally connect again, it won't be like 3 hours DL'ing all my e-mail. I can just get it a little at a time. I'm gonna try to get a long line to hook up the computer to a line in Mami and Papi's bedroom (those are the only extensions that work). Maybe I'll buy it, then have Tony pay me for it and we can hook him up and play Doom. I'll call him abt. that. OK, well bye.

Well, it's been a while since I wrote. Papi got MS-Office for Win95. I'm gonna get a skateboard. I got the MIDI working and the keyboard is hooked up to the computer now. Don't know if I've mentioned and I'm too lazy to look, but I met Marie in the CB Sim. Our phones are out. The only extensions that work are the 2 in Mami and Papi's room. Since we only have 1 extension on line 2, we have no line 2. We have the cordless on Papi's side, so we have 3 extensions in the whole house, and no line 2. I can't connect to anything! My e-mail is probably building up, I need to send some e-mail to Caere about the scanner, and Mami is afraid Neldi has written something and she hasn't gotten it. Well, I played Doom today with sound. It's so much better! The only way to get music too, though, is through the Miracle, and its patches are different so the music sounds wrong (like sh*t). Still, it's something. OK, well, bye.

Just came back from seeing Papi do the plays. It's cool. Before that, tho, we went to Pizzeria Uno's and there was a band warming up and the guitarist had the SGX-2000!!! AAAHH!!! I wanted to go, like, "Excuse me, uh, sir, uh, could I play your guitar?" or actually, "Could I have your effects processor?" It's like, "Yeah, I'm in a good mood. Sure, take it." Oh, and the bassist had the Nightbass. Well, I've decided that if I can't get the SGX-2000 for christmas like splitting the money or something I'm not gonna get another, I'll just get like a Skateboard and $$ for christmas and save up for the SGX. It's worth it, I don't want to get another one for like $350 and then later have to start again to get to $700. Better to start now. If I get desperate I'll drop hints for Abuelo and Abuela and they'll probably give me money but now I don't think I want to do something like that. Bsides, I want this to be all my money, so I value it more. Oh, another reason for not getting another is that with what I play I pretty much need most of the features of the SGX. It's not just, "cool, reverse gated reverb!" I actually need a box that has, for example, good delays, and lots of varieties of them. The Zoom 9150 Valve DSP ($349) has 27 digital effects in all. That's not bad, but the SGX has 24 algorithms for reverbs alone! It has 20 types of delay, chorus, flanger, phasing, sampling (!), harmonic exciter (whatever that is), 2-1/2 octaves of pitch shift... You get the picture. So anyways, the Zoom wouldn't really do what I need it to so it would actually be a waste of $350 and longer till I get the effects I really need. That's why. OK, well, it's pretty late now (12:45) so I'm going to bed. G'night.

Bryan came over today, coming tomorrow. Went to the shopping center. Tried out PCP again, and it's really cool but it won't save and it automatically shuts down after 2 hours. I was thinking of getting the commercial program but it's $200! I don't think so. But I don't know, I need a program that does exactly what this does. Maybe for christmas... No, I need the EP more. NO! I can ask for it for my birthday! Unless they say something like, "We just helped you get a $700 EP and it's too soon to ask for $200 more." I don't know.

Just met with Marie on the CB Sim but didn't really get to talk because she spent the whole time talking with mami about a problem she had with a night cream. Later.

Finally got answer from Marie. Gonna meet in the CB Sim tomorrow at 11:30 my time. Thinking about effects processors. Which I get depends on how much I can spend. My all-time preference is the SGX-2000 ($639) but that also needs at least a 2-space rack and I'd get it SKB and prob'ly 4 space so add ($100) That's [$740]. (There's also the footpedal...) If that proves impossible my next choice is prob'ly that new Zoom rack processor. That's abt. ($350) and I wouldn't need a rack yet. In between there is the RP-10, abt. ($500). But I want the SGX. For christmas I am going to see how much they'll pay towards it (I SERIOUSLY doubt all of it) but maybe if they can go like up to half, like 4 or $500, I can prob'ly get the rest. OK, well, g'nite.

I CAN OLLIE!!! I barely get off the ground, and only sometimes, and I can't when I'm moving (cause I don't know how to skate. Need more balance), but still, YESS!! Bryan came over today, and we played guitar, watched TV, skated, etc. Have to write my essay. Wrote program on calculator to add time. Gonna pass it to Basic or Pascal. Since I stopped taking the pills my appetite came back and it's really hard to not be eating all the time like before. I lost weight with the pills and now I have to make it a habit. OK, well, later.

Um, I don't know why I'm writing today. Nothing happened except I had a fight with Mami. I guess bye.

Today wasn't bad, even though I had no pills. Had a quiz on Don Quijote and I hadn't read. Did OK, though. There was a debate in Cushing's class about if Pearl (Scarlet Letter) is evil or not. The end result was that she is not. I was the ONLY ONE who voted for she was! Gotta do Bilder. Essay's due next Wed. OK, bye.

Just a quick note. The pills finished yesterday, so now I'm on my own. OK, bye.

Corresponded with Scott E. (writer-Tabestry) abt. those 2 bugs (CTRL-N and the printing), and he is going to try and fix it. Gotta go to bed now, so goodnight.

<Sigh> Finished RIP but it's 32K and Tabestry won't print it. I think it has a bug that won't let it print a file over ~25K. I took out all of the spaces and got it down to 27K, and by some miracle it printed. Looks ugly, though. I also took out all the repeated sections and put in some text at the end describing how it repeats, but again, it doesn't look nice. Damn. Same thing with SOD, but that's 25K, so if this printed, at 27K, SOD might too. I'm gonna try it now. Well, the bus'll be here soon, so bye.

Finished the paragraph - it's almost a page long! Now gonna do RIP. I think it's in 12/8 time. Almost sure of it. OK, bye.

OK, deleted almost 100 Megs in all - went from 49 to 133 MB free. NOW I'm gonna do all my jobs and stuff. Bye.

Oh, yeah, thinking about naming my band Pleasure Tools. Pretty cool. That's the name of the company that made the skating video. Nobody's heard of it. Well, bye. Gotta write out RIP tab.

Hey, today was OK. finished Int. Parag., pretty good. Wore chain. Laetetia's back. That's about it. Oh, Bill SUPPOSEDLY ordered the RIP book today, we'll see tomorrow. OK, bye.

Kinda full day. Bryan came by, we played guitar, watched videos, then he helped me Ollie. I'm doing pretty good ollieing. the thing is, the back wheels don't really come up off the ground so the board kinda sticks to my feet and I can't slide the front foot forward. If I can work on jumping before the kick hits the ground and putting more pressure on the kick, I'll probably get it soon after that. Maybe it won't take as long as I thought. Well, did the Sources, not the IP, went to RS and got the AC A., got the chain, perfect length. Gonna wear it to school tomorrow. Couldn't drive the car, had to go on bike. Went with Bryan and Jose, then came back and we did all the other stuff that I said. Watched Talent Show video. Played blues to Jam Trax out front. It's pretty cool playing out there, I don't know why I like it. I might leave my amp out in the living room if I can find a place to put it. My room would be neater, too. I'd keep my guitar in my room, though. OK, well, gotta take my shower and go to bed. G'nite.

Hey, what's up. Nothing happenning right now. It's Sunday, after church. Have to do the last Sources and the int. parag. Today I'm going to the shopping center (driving mami's new car!) to go to Amal for a chain (gonna start wearing it full-time), and Radio Shack for the AC Adapter and some stuff for the church (RCA cable, fix tape deck). Well, I guess that's it. Bye.

Oh, yeah, I'm trying out different looks. Up to now, I like the ponytail kind of look, like an Ed kind of thing. I can take it out whenever I want, and it still looks good. OK, well, bye.

Had to start new volume of Journal, v1 got over 30K. In a few min. I'll come back and write, but I have to finish setting everything right (attributes, etc.) BRB.