In the year 2000 i found myself a fledgling high school graduate of an now defunct Collegiate located in thunder bay ontario.
Although in my last semester I had graduated with honours, (nothing special for a public school anyway) without a path; plans; or money for post secondary.. my life had been laid to obscurity in the service industry as a kitchen slave.
The journey began washing dishes for minimum wage (then $6.85 CAD/hr) and throughout the years, new cities, new kitchens, matured work ethics and confidence, I'm now finally truly ready to bury my head in the books and start a true career in the field of Mechanical Engineering.
Although i'll still have to work in kitchens to earn my keep and tuition, I'm very excited in taking new steps for the betterment of my future family.
and hopefully still have time to play some drums and guitar.
I'm currently on a compilation CD available via Full moon records. now while i'd normally be happy with this, for whatever reasons they figured, the producers the recordings went to before being headed to full moon records decided they'd change the mix up in BOTH of my songs.
both songs on this CD turned out into an audio abortion of sound..
"into shadow" was reduced into a bath of bass farts as well and one guitar being lost completely in the mix and also mixed down into mono.. (wtf??)
and more or less the same with "These children walk alone" in MONO with one guitar being completely lost.. and everything mixed completely out of proportion..
i don't know why this could have happened, but now i'm stuck with 50 cd's that i'm too embarrassed to sell because it doesn't represent my work AT ALL as a musician or a 'producer'
ALSO, there's at least another 500 copies of these compliations that people are going to buy, listen to, and go.. "wow this guy sucks".
its heartbreaking to see my work so misconstrued..
It is tomorrow that tickets go on sale for Judas Priest in my city (victoria) Hoping to snag a couple of tickets for my wife and I to finally be able to see the band that got me into guitar!
lately i've been drifting a bit further from metal. maybe i'm getting older and more mellow. but recently i've been out for different challenges. classical seems interesting but still not quite my style. the search goes on but i've found some very interesting styles to keep me entertained.
my next challenge has been to keep on my drumming but whilst living in apartment, its difficult to do when the building is kinda crappy and gets rattled easily by even the smallest things.
I do got an electric kit which keeps the actual noise down, but its the foot pedal that gets em. too much 'duga duga duga duga" for them. XD
anyway, my new project is to construct new electronic drum shells that will be dampened enough to absorb the vibration and allow me to practice without being reduced to "tapping"
i think a new shock absorbing platform will be a good start as well.
Master Volume, Defeatable Presence and Resonance Controls
Solid Plywood Cabinet Construction
Aluminum chassis
Next is a bass amp, the SWR workingpro 12
i just sold my half stack and looking to get something smaller. 200 watts and i've recently discovered the awesomeness of the 12" speaker.
and finally, a new guitar..
no its not a metal juggarnaut shred machine.. I recently decided that i should learn classical guitar. after making this purchase, i will then seek professional instruction in classical guitar.
this isn't the picture of the exact classical i wanted.. but its pretty tough to tfind the one i was looking for.. which was a yamaha cutaway with a solid spruce top.
all of this clocks in over $2400 after taxes. but, the amps are something that'll last and can probably let my kid (when i have one) inherit, and classical is something i've been interested ever since i was 4. so.. it'll be worth the wait.
Although most of us are grown up and have a semi responsible head on our shoulders.. it takes very little to get caught up in the moment and do things we regret.
I'll leave these things to your own imagination, BUT,
I thought i'd just leave a quick reminder for those who are celebrating tonite, to enjoy themselves resonsibly, and if you're drinking, call up a cab if you have to get home, spend the nite where you are, or just be that sober guy/girl that'll remember all the embarassing things your drunken friends will be doing.
in summary!
Don't drink and drive, and enjoy yourself responsibly!
a few days ago i was remarked by a couple people as "that old guy"
i never thought it was that time alreay but as a 25 year old.. i suppose people who are in their teens can now safely regard me as "that old guy"
lol, that time has come a bit sooner than i expected and well i guess my age is starting to creep on me. i find video games less interesting, usually require naps, not interested in playing shows or jamming in bands.. (still love playing guitar tho)
and perhaps the biggest show of age is my remark on "this generation"
well.. i'll have to accept it. but in 40 years you damn kids just better stay off my lawn. and any frisbees that land in my yard.. i'm fucking keeping them!
ever wondered whats in Chai tea? that wonderful aroma that seems to lift the fog outta your head and warms you from head to toe?
well its pretty simple stuff actually and the perfect thing to warm you up after being out in the bitter cold. (maybe next to after eight hot chocolate)
My favorite blend so far.
grab a 2 litre STAINLESS STEEL* pot and fill it about halfway up with cold filtered water. get it warming up and prepare your tea mix.
Keep in mind i use fresh whole spices.. refrain from the already prepared spices in bottles.. while convenient, they are usually stale and lack any punch.
i use:
2 teabags of black tea 1 inch of a cinnamon stick 1 tsp of Fennel seeds (you can use Anise as well) 1/2 a teaspoon of cloves (careful with this one.. too much will make the tea bitter) 1 cardamom pod 1 tsp of black peppercorns (set these aside, we put these in after everything else is ground up) 1/2 tsp of nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
take all of these and blast these all up (minus black pepper) in a coffee grinder. lacking that.. a blender may work.. or you can do it the old school way with a mortar and pestle.
when your water is boiling** put all of these ground up spices into a really fine meshed filter*** and begin to steep your spices. allow your spice to steep for roughly 3 minutes or for as strong as you'd like it. before you add the teabags in lower your stove a bit (maybe to 3 or 4) and then the teabags go in. Steep as desired.
you shouldn't need to strain your tea since we did everything in teabags and finely meshed filters.. now you can add sugar or honey (i prefer brown), and milk if you're lucky enough to not be lactose intolerant.
voila! you now have enough chai tea for the entire family. you can leave your stove at about 1 to keep it nice and hot while everyone refills their cups.
Did you see the stars? here are some special notes for you.
*Aluminum will taint the flavour of your food and heating aluminum to high temperatures has been known to cause alzheimers due to oxides. Nonstick is really damn bad for you too.. throw that shit away.
** not
rapidly, your stove shouldn't be a 10. go for 6 at the most.. why? too
much temperature will kill all the flavours of your spice and turn your
tea bitter.
*** a good filter to use is one of those reusable coffee filters you can fin in any store that sells home appliances.. the finer the mesh.. the better.
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Kivarenn82's blogs, last updated : September 14, 2009
