Monthly Archive for January, 2004

Round 2

For those of you who have the audacity to be so egregiously ignorant, I’m currently in a band (of sorts) with my brother David. We’re called Splendour Hyaline. I sing and play guitars of various kinds and write music, and David writes and plays percussion parts. Anyway, we recorded a new EP (which has a secret working title–”the EP”–don’t tell anyone!) over Christmas break, and somehow it ended up rocking. I mean, actually rocking. Our last CD, if you remember that, also rocked, but this rocks even more. And so, I prophesy, will it always be–each CD better than the last, in a continual asymptotic progression towards auditory perfection.

I, being not only awesome but benevolent (as any good philosopher king is) have decided to put 2 of the 5 songs from this EP online. You can download one here: Arctic Wastelands in the Quest for Character, and the other here: Love is Around. Please listen and enjoy using your choice of fine MP3 players (iPrefer the iTunes).

Incidentally, there are rumors, not yet to be confused with truths, that I will be spending a good amount of time in Florida next year (that is, after I graduate and leave the Stanford Farm for good). If that does turn out to be the case, Dav and I will no doubt kick it with some more recordings and lots more shows. Hell, maybe we’ll even add some folks so I don’t have to play 3 guitars and bass at the same time, since that’s really hard. In any case, Splendour Hyaline sails on!

Well, let us know what you think.

K

The title of this weblog entry is “K”. You might be thinking that this is either (a) for some reason(s), or (b) for no reason, but that’s only if you believe in Logic. And who does that nowadays? Actually, it’s not that complicated, and I don’t recommend thinking about whether or not you should continue to believe in Logic or if Logical Truths are true–you won’t get anywhere interesting, especially if you use arguments (i.e., Logic). The real “reason” this weblog entry is entitled “K” is that I don’t have any other weblog entry whose title starts with the letter K. Don’t ask me how I found this out–let’s just say I know everything.

In any case, even though I know everything, something occurred to me (which, of course, isn’t possible)–and what occurred to me is this: how completely and utterly unfair it is that the letter K has no representation in the titles of this weblog. Never mind the English language, which uses the letter K far less freqently than the letters E, T, A, O, N, R, I, S, H, D, L, F, C, M, U, G, Y, P, W, B, and V–clearly, English is and always has been an Earchical language, full of Eimperialism and Edogmas. Sadly, most of the other letters have fallen in line with this E-centered meta-narrative and resigned themselves to being second-class citizens of the alphabet world. Z is the most pitiful of all–last not only in frequency, but also in the alphabet song itself (which is to the letter-people very much like the Declaration of Independence is to Americans).

I, being enlightened as to the plight of these glyphs who have been suffering so long under the thumb of E, so to speak, have always tried to be fair in my use of them. Unfortunately, it is rather hard not to put E up front, since it is so damned useful as a vowel, especially given its glowing history in Scrabble and Wheel of Fortune. But today we recognize this injustice in the literary world, even if we don’t do anything about it: today is for K! Today I have given K a voice (even if it is a harsh, back-in-the-throat, sort of voice). What does K say? K says, “Krazy Karl’s Kaloches are Kookily Kool!” Well, there you have it.

In reality, I mostly just wanted to move past the last entry (where the number of times I said “fuck” betrayed the fact [all the other words to the contrary, of course], that I wasn’t having a particularly good day). Ironically, not too much has changed, but I am back at Stanford in my second week of the quarter and my philosopher’s mind is being given all sorts of things to put together and synthesize in class, if not life. The busy-ness is good, but things are boiling under the surface–indeed, much has already come to a head that I wish I had time or inclination to write about at the present time. Alas, it is not to be. All the same, the lethargy and paralysis of break have been pushed far from my mind and I am again in a desperate fight for my life, trying to manage 4 classes, 3 part time jobs, a good amount of climbing, running, cycling, hanging out with friends, sleeping, reading, watching movies, writing songs…

Incidentally, and I’ll close with this, I am going snowboarding this weekend! I have indeed purchased my first snowboard. Actually, my first two snowboards, though I am taking one back for a full refund (it was really expensive and after I bought it I realized I didn’t have any money. Hooray credit cards!). In the end, I bought a barely-used one, with bindings, off a guy from su.market, for a third of the price of the other. It is white with a sort of firey Chinese dragon on the bottom. Go figure. Let’s just say I’m the Dragon of the Slopes, whatever that means (and that’s exactly the point. Exactly). I’m hoping to go up to Tahoe 4 or 5 times this quarter and get some good use out of the board, before I graduate and there will exist the possibility of never living in California again. Well, here’s to stuff and my rampant consumerism, and let’s all pray I don’t break too many bones this weekend. Or any, for that matter.