So I did not exactly participate in Blog Action Day like I said I would. I owe this mainly to the fact that … I don’t actually have a good excuse. The internet is distracting? I’ve been trying to pass Calculus? I was practicing my guitar nubbins for that entire week in order to perform at Open Mic Night, a performance I’m glad I did but we could definitely do better? Hopefully next time I’ll be less panicky about playing things in public. Lights! Microphones! Stage gremlins!

I think it is refreshing to exhibit some of your more unrefined talents in public. It gives you a sense of humility. Or, better yet, this overwhelming need to become better at what you do. This is perhaps the reason that I can’t listen to songs I know anymore without looking up the chords or tabs. So I’m a fanatic. At least some day I’ll be a fanatic who can play classy guitar!

In addition, I attended my second ever concert today. My first was a middle school Shania Twain concert at the Toyota Center, which I constantly refer to as the “Not-concert” because what I saw today was so much better. And Shania Twain didn’t climb up the scaffolding like Gavin DeGraw did. My blurry cellphone pictures can act as a testament to the awesomeness of Austin live music. The set was Need to Breathe first, opening for Gavin DeGraw, and they were fantastic. Rock harmonica and everything. The man himself was amazing — he pulled a little bit of Freddie Mercury out and got the crowd to sing along to some crazy stuff. We were about fifty feet away from him, because we thought the concert was at 7 and not 9, and spent about an hour trying to figure out if people were going to start playing or if some sort of stage ghosts kept turning the lights on and off. Or, you know, gremlins. Because they’re everywhere. He played a bunch of songs on a black, glittery, dwarf piano. As if having a dwarf piano was not cool enough. Or calling it a dwarf piano. At any rate, thoroughly impressive. I think I danced (you could call it dancing and you would be wrong) myself into a hyperactive frenzy because I don’t think I can go to sleep just yet. Except for the bit where I’m running out of adjectives and my brain is threatening to jettison if I continue to write this post.

Did I mention that he climbed the scaffolding? Apparently not enough, because that was flipping sweet.

There’s something beautiful and exhilarating about live music. Nine times out of ten, you actually can dance to it, and aside from the random stuck-up person who pushed Jenna out of the way so she could have more standing room to herself, it really brings out the best in people. I had a fantastic time, and I’m so happy to close off the week that day.

I am not counting tomorrow because I have a Biology quiz tomorrow. These are not often good days for me. And I have sold my weekend’s soul to the devil that is Calculus. Half a semester and I am done, done done with stupid nonsensical math. Then I can take even more abstract Liberal Arts math for an easy credit! Hooray for loopholes.

Much to my chagrin, I will probably not be majoring in Linguistics, and I will only be pseudo-majoring in Classics and Biology. Because apparently a Bachelor of Arts is not so fancy as a Bachelor of Science. But at least this way, I can fulfill Plan II’s mission to turn all of its students into academic “Swiss Army knives.” I kid you not, that is an actual quote. CORKSCREWS! CAN OPENERS! TINY FILE THINGS … FOR FILING!

Wait, what?

Design notes

I can now add these three sites to my portfolio. They were a lot of fun to do, and they are, in order:

• Blogging Downtown Houston (and logo)
• True Light Tracey
• Matthew Wettergreen (and logo)

I am working on a very spiffy new design (which Danny suggested should have graphs and charts) that is essentially a lot of text and not so many images. I think I’ve officially broken free of the elaborate but oh-so image intensive grunge phase of my life. I attribute this victory to Sublime and In Rainbows Disc 2. And some books that I’ll have to write about later because they are highly interesting and more than a little weird. Hint hint: one of the books is called A Clockwork Orange. HOW IS THAT FOR SUBTLETY.

Addendum

Might I add that I love the direction that the WordPress dashboard is taking. It’s a wee bit of Movable Type and a lot of elegance. Good show on that! I can’t wait until it comes out! I’m suddenly excited about WordPress again. Will I be changing? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that I won’t use WordPress for other things!