day 1 of violin...and more

i had my first violin lesson today with Mr Gabriel Hwang. the man is incredible. he was playing while i was sitting in the lobby & it was unbelievable. so we sit down & he is very excited to have a new student. the man is clearly passionate about the violin and has played in orchestras all over the world. before we start playing, he wants to test my ears. he tells me he is going to play some recognizable songs and then suddenly stop and i have to sing, yes sing, the next note. i don't sing, i tell him. he laughs. he plays the star spangled banner. i sing the correct note. he plays amazing grace. i sing the next note. boom. two in a row. c'mon hwang that's too easy. he starts playing something and i have no idea what it is & i tell him this. he laughs and excitedly says "love me tender!! oh my goodness. elvis presley - love me tender! one of my favorites." sorry gabe. no dice. he played a few more songs and i sang every note (it felt extremely awkward singing in front of another man, by the way). he said "mr brendan you have perfect pitch." mr gabriel, no i dont, but thank you. 

we spent a good amount of time learning how to hold the bow correctly. he wanted me to place one finger on the bow at a time. when i learned this, he made me do it 5 times. i felt like a 2 year old being taught how to hold a spoon. then we went over the notes (which i knew...what up hwang). then we went over playing each string for awhile and mastering playing a clean note ("no squeakies," says mr gabriel). he kept telling me "LOVE THE STRING!!" as i played. 

i played. i loved the string. 

overall, the lesson went well. he said we accomplished 3 weeks of beginner lessons in one half hour session. not bad. afterwards, i went to the gym to go for a run and use the sauna. my usual gym routine consists of shooting hoops for 30 minutes, stretching, and then running/lifting/sauna/etc. i was shooting hoops and a bunch of guys who play in regular pick-up games on mon/tues/thurs at 4:30pm were there (sad that i know their pick-up game schedules in the first place). i started to shoot around and they asked if i wanted to play. this was a very exciting moment in my life. i have been shooting hoops there 3-4x a week for over 4 months and this was the first time i've ever been asked to play with the big boys. i felt like rudy finally getting his chance to play in a real game. it was very exciting. i've been watching these guys play for months and i know who's good and who's not.  team lost the first game 25-21 but i played well and chipped in 4 pts and a few offensive rebounds. the guy guarding me had a big gut and couldn't keep up so i took advantage of that. but at one point during the game i went up for a rebound and jammed my left pinky finger on the ball. it hurt, but i shook it off and kept playing. 

there is a 6'7 guy at the gym who i have never particularly liked. i've never met him nor do i know anything about him. he just has this look of arrogance that i can't stand. he thinks he is the man, always wears wife-beaters, and i was thrilled when he joined the 2nd game on the other team. on the first possession they threw it in to him inside and he put up a fake on his slow and extremely out of shape defender and went up for a layup. jumpsoles sagemania came in outta nowhere and blocked his shot. WHAT UP TALL COCKY MAN WHO I HAVE NEVER LIKED. take that. he was so pissed.  two possessions later he got the ball down low again on the right post. he faked inside with his right and then switched to his left and dribbled the other way. i came up from behind, stole the ball, dribbled down the court and hit my teammate on a 2-1 fastbreak. we came back from 10 down to win by 3. 

the third game was a real battle. we were down 8 but came back to go up 23-19 (each game to 25). i went up high for a defensive rebound, grabbed the ball, and my own teammate came over my back and tried to grab the ball...and that's when i heard my left pinky crack. it did not sound good and it hurt like hell. i wanted to keep playing, but it hurt too much so i sat out. i went up to the trainer a few minutes later and she told me it's either dislocated or broken. well, this is just great. within an hour of finishing my first violin lesson, i might have a broken finger. i drove to my male roommate's office to get it checked out. the x-ray technician left for the day so i didn't get an x-ray, but my roommate thinks i have a fracure. now it's in a splint for at least 2 weeks. so i guess that puts my violin career on hold. and no golfing. 

my roommates use me

that doesn't sound very good. 

what i mean is that my roommates use me to do various chores that they don't want to do, which i can't really blame them for. i guess i have to contribute to the family in some way...i'm certainly not the bread-winner. at least once a week, sometimes twice, i cringe when i see a huge pile of clothes waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. yes, i am the sage family dry cleaning bitch-toy. sometimes there is a note saying "please drop off dry-cleaning," but i don't really need the note. the blob of clothes are blocking my way to my special K with red berries and pomegranate berry yogurt that is only on sale for a limited time (buy it...it's phenomenal). this morning the note just said "drop cleaning." ay-ay captain male roommate. it's 1:56pm and the clothes are still sitting there. on two occasions i put the clothes in my car just to make it look like i brought them to the dry cleaners, but they sat there for a couple days. the employees at the dry cleaning place know me by face now, which is just pathetic. i see them more often than i see my friends. 

this was waiting for me this morning. 

also, my female roommate asked me to block out a couple of hours each morning this week so people can come fix things that are not working in our house. tomorrow i have to wait from 9:30am-12pm for a guy to come fix our washing machine. it won't spin. and i am out of boxers. thursday morning someone is coming to fix the dishwasher. friday morning someone is coming to look at the crawl space in the basement that flooded last month. now why in the world these guys can't all come on the same morning is beyond me, so i just have to sit there and wait. maybe i can practice my violin for them while they fix everything. 

speaking of the violin, my first lesson is in 86 minutes. i am losing the desire to play the violin already and i haven't even had my first lesson yet. 

from blogger to guest blogger

i've given a couple shout-outs to thecanned.com, a great site made by my buddy manetti & his college roommate. i was asked to write a guest blog entry for thecanned.com about "the lighter side of unemployment." check it out HERE and click on "the layoff beard blog"

beantown

after nearly 7 months of retirement at home, 3.5 months of which i actually tried to find a job,  i'm moving back to boston for grad school. in the meantime, i'll be spending a couple more months documenting my exhilarating life with the roommates. stay tuned. 

i think i found the tail from the racoon my dad killed

the guy in front of me on the train today wore a cowboy hat with a raccoon tail. and overalls. 

the switzerland of the mississippi river valley

i was out of town from wednesday - friday this past week. my uncle invited me to hang out at this condo at eagle ridge in galena, IL to play some golf, relax, and get stuck in awkward one-sided conversations. we were having lunch at a restaurant after golfing on thursday and i noticed an old newspaper clipping on the wall that described galena as "the switzerland of the mississippi river valley." now i'll be the first to admit that galena is a charming & quaint town (and the scene of where ray meets doc graham in "field of dreams," my personal favorite baseball movie of all time), but in no way can it be compared to SWITZERLAND . that statement is almost as ridiculous as the time when my buddy lou told me how alison scalpato claimed her grandfather invented the chicken cutlet (upon further research, i discovered that grandpa scalpato supposedly came up with the idea to cut chicken into pieces in philly, but i'm still skeptical that he 'invented' the cutlet. oh, and my grandfather invented the meatball). anyway, galena was great...always nice to get away form the "stresses" of my job. you know. it was too cold on friday morning to play golf so i figured my uncle and i would grab a quick breakfast, drive back home, and i'd be home wearing my jumpsoles by lunchtime. we drove west towards the "downtown" part of galena...and drove right past. this was not a good sign. only two things are west of galena: 1) walmart and 2) IOWA. i've been to iowa once before and i know that this statement holds true. as we journey west into the empty, boring countryside i awkwardly ask where we are going. my uncle says he wants to show me dubuque. for those who failed 7th grade geography, dubuque is a boring town in iowa. SWEET. THANKS FOR ASKING IF I WANTED TO GO TO DUBUQUE. we continue driving and we veer onto a ramp and we start heading north. hmm. this can't be good. wisconsin is north. soon after that, i see a "welcome to wisconsin" sign. my fear has come true. i ask my uncle again where we are going. he says he wants to show me a grotto at a church....in dickeyville, wisconsin. we found the church, walked around the grotto for about 4.2 minutes, got back in the car, and started driving to dubuque. it's one thing counting down the mileage to a destination you are looking forward to (SUCH AS MY HOUSE IN SUBURBIA), but it's a whole different story when you are already 160+ miles away from your destination and you are driving in the opposite direction with absolutely nothing to look forward to other than driving over the mississippi river, which is almost as exciting as watching these cats. we arrive in dubuque and within minutes, literally, we see the entire town. at least we didn't have to get out of the car like we did in dickeyville. the next part of the trip was truly baffling. we drove WEST (AGAIN) for 9 minutes, pulled into a hampton inn parking lot, turned around & drove back through dubuque on our way back to switzerland. the only, only thing that possibly could have made this ridiculous adventure worthwhile was driving to dyersville, iowa to see the actual field of dreams. but it was not in the cards. it was not my day.  

carter's giant mindscrew...more clues

i haven't updated everyone on carter's giant mental mindscrew puzzle that has been going on for a few months now. for the newer readers, back when i was actually attempting to look for a job carter thought it would be fun to give me a puzzle to figure out. so he started mailing me clues in the mail. to date he has sent 46 clues - 42 are single letters & 4 are picture clues. lately, he has become more of a cheap ass and instead of typing my name he has been handwriting the addresses on the envelopes. and he even had the nerve to put 2 clues in one envelope. talk about lazy. 

some people might say, "boy, that carter is such a nice friend. i wish i had a friend who would send me clues in the mail." no, no you don't. he's the worst. he's a sadist. the clues make absolutely no sense. i am 98.52% convinced that it is all a complete sham and he is completely screwing with my head. i know what he's thinking - ooh let's mess with sagemania21...it's not like he has anything else to do...giving him these fake clues will keep him busy for at least 6 minutes every week. i thought after a few months i would be able to figure out some of the clues, but no. not even close. considering carter has sandbagged before, the odds of him doing it again are quite high. he thinks this is one big joke. 

i suck at the violin

i spent the last 26 minutes trying to play the theme song to 'boondock saints.' 

i failed. 

my new toy

i really have had too much time on my hands. my new great idea to help me waste time is learning to play the violin.  

operation slam dunk progress update

jumpsoles/vertical update

after coming to terms with how pathetic/sad (slash awesome)it is that i spent over 20 hours over the last two days in my house watching the NCAA tournament in the same chair, i started to think more about operation slam dunk and how i really need to get my act together if i want to dunk before the end of 2009. i saw dozens of dunks in the tourney games and so i did a pretty intense jumpsoles workout in the backyard this afternoon. the 6 year-old little girl who lives in the house behind us was playing out in her tree fort and she was giving me very strange looks as i used my jumpsoles and practiced standing-still jumps onto the picnic table. 

i found a very bush-league way to monitor my vertical leap progress, which is something i've only been testing previously by jumping and touching the backboard at the gym. there is a tree next to our back patio and so i measured my vertical today and it is currently 22 inches. it's a 4-5 inch improvement from when i started using the jumpsoles. 

look closely and you can see the red mark towards the bottom (where my fingers touched standing still and reaching straight up) & the red mark with the date 3/21 is where i was able to touch when i tested my vertical 

weird dream.

last night i dreamt that "Dr. J" julius irving, denzel washington, and bo jackson were in my basement. dr. j and denzel started yelling at each other and started throwing food. bo jackson was scared and him and i tried to hide in the corner but we found ourselves in the middle of the food fight, too. i have no idea what this dream means, nor do i have any intention on making any speculations. my biggest question is why bo jackson? i haven't heard his name in years. 

back to the recliner to watch basketball for the next 12 hours. 

corn chile salsa

the best discovery of my week was the corn & chile salsa from trader joe's. i bought it on friday and am a scoop and a half away from finishing the entire jar. it is incredible. you can put it on top of chicken, inside a turkey panini, or just eat it like ice cream with a spoon right out of a jar. 

my week has been pretty good so far. i've been asked to be a guest blogger on www.TheCanned.com. i'm not sure if that is an honor or a slap in the face...or neither. i have to write a piece on the "lighter side of retirement/unemployment." i should do that this week. last night i went to a st. patrick's day concert at symphony hall in chicago and afterwards i told myself i am going to learn how to play the irish fiddle. today i've been looking online for violins to buy. that idea will surely die in 7 or 8 hours, but boredom can make you do funny things so you never know. i won't rule it out. i'm getting mentally prepared for the NCAA tournament. i couldn't be more excited. is there a better time to be retired?! i think not. i am not leaving the house tomorrow or friday. i am stocked up with 20+ yogurts, a lot of diet pop (i don't say the 's' word), and i'm thinking of bringing my big leather la-z-boy down from my bedroom and putting it right in front of the big screen. it should be a great 2 days of basketball watching. i plan on doing nothing else. 

no comment

i have hit a new low today. my female roommate just convinced me to go to a spin class with her. it starts in 32 minutes. shoot me. 

yogurt

i have been home in the land of lincoln for exactly 190 days. 190 exhilirating, thrilling days. sometimes it feels like one giant blur. this post is purely the result of boredom and in no way do i think it has any meaning whatsoever. 

i have developed a (healthy) obsession with yogurt. dannon light & fit yogurt. i cannot get enough. my female roommates buys 25-30 yogurts when she goes to the grocery store and they are long gone before week's end. i devour 3 or 4 yogurts a day, which could be a little excessive. considering i've been home for over 6 months, that is a lot of ounces of yogurt. since i've been away for a couple of weeks, let's say i've been home for 170 days. assuming i have had 3 yogurts a day, that amounts to:

510 total yogurts

3,060 ounces of yogurt

at 80 cents a cup, that is $408 worth of yogurt

at $2.40 a day, that's over $70 a month spent on yogurt

this is what 7+ months of hanging out with my 3 best friends (me, myself, and i) can do to your head. 

greatest prank ever?

this is unbelievably funny

SI

i somehow made it into sports illustrated last week. look above the ref's head. it looks like i am in the middle of chewing a HD. 

in other news, i would like to personally congratulate the strake jesuit (houston, TX) boy's high school basketball team. they are 35-0 and, according to espn.com, currently ranked #5 in the nation. espn.com also indicates that our favorite texan, mr paul carty, is one of strake's distinguished alumni. go crusaders!

weird/random blogs part I

i was browsing some other blogs on the world wide web...you know, to see what other people write about. i came across one that i saw a few years back and to this day is the single-handedly strangest blog/website i have ever encountered in my entire life.  this guy thinks he is Peter Pan. i really don't even know what to say...i'll let his website do the talking. my favorite part is the video interview with his fiance (scroll down a little bit). 

but the very best part about peter pan dates back to july of 2007 when i received a phone call from my buddy joe telling me how he just ran into Pan the Man at LAX...

viewer discretion advised

last week i left the garage door open for awhile and a raccoon that had been living underneath the neighbor's back porch found its way into our garage. my female roommate saw it moving around when she pulled into the driveway. we had been keeping the garage door open - hoping that the little rat creature would leave. but it didn't leave. a day or two later, my sister heard some noise coming from the garage. she opened the door and didn't see anything. she turned her head to the left and BAM the raccoon was on the wall and staring right at her - no more than 18 inches away from her face. she screamed like she was a little girl being chased with a chainsaw by jason & slammed the door. a little while later that day, my male roommate opened the door to the garage and saw stuff from the recycling bin all over the place. he saw something out of the corner of his eye and BAM the raccoon was staring right at him from the wall just to the left. he too screamed like he was a little girl being chased with a chainsaw by jason & slammed the door. 

he pressed the garage door opener to open the garage, again hoping that the raccoon would get the hint and hit the road. after pressing the button, he went somewhere else in the house. a couple minutes later he opened the door to the garage and didn't see the raccoon there, so he pressed the the button to close the door. 

a little while later he went back into the garage from the kitchen. he looked up and saw a tail sticking out of the top part of the garage door. 

the raccoon was stuck. he said his heart dropped when he saw it and felt awful. he opened the front door and saw the raccoon motionless and stuck from the garage door with blood dripping down. he had no idea that the raccoon had jumped onto the garage door and had gotten stuck when he closed the door. 

the next day, our neighbor kept calling & calling the house because she saw a huge blood stain on the garage door and thought someone had been shot. no joke. 

i don't know why my dad took pictures. it's really gross. i feel awful for the poor little guy. scroll down if you want to see the pics...

SB '09

it's been a long winter in chicago, so i thought i would take a 'break' from winter break '08/'09 and go on spring break to california. 

i've been here since last friday and it's anything but stressful. we played 3 rounds of golf, went to a stanford basketball game, celebrated carter's 25th birthday (twice), had an epic 4 hour one-on-one beirut match (sagemania21 won 8 to 7)and had many bromance meals together. needless to say, it's been pretty exhausting. 

we watched the sunset together on the 7th green at pebble beach. it was the single most romantic moment of my life. this picture does not even come close to capturing the romance. 

we played golf at Cordevalle with my dad's friend TH and his friend Kat.

here is a recap of what we have done today (all times in pacific time):

9:51am - in the middle of a deep sleep, i hear screams from downstairs. i have absolutely no idea who is yelling. i am scared. 

9:52am - i hear my name being called and i am less than pleased

9:53am - carter's buddy from high school, stahl, comes running into my room. he tells me to wake up because we are going to breakfast. i tell him to go away. he rips the blankets off my bed

9:59am - i get out of bed. get dressed.

10:07am - carter, stahl, and i leave and go to breakfast at a place in menlo park. all i want to do is go back to bed. 

10:22am - i order the fresh fruit crepe. carter gets french toast. i don't remember what stahl ordered. 

10:27am - i ask the guys if it's too late to change my order. as i say that, the food arrives. 

10:54am - leave the restaurant. 

11:02am - arrive back at carters. put on pajamas. grab a blanket. go to the couch. carter does the same.

11:13am - we start watching armageddon. and fall asleep. 

12:47pm - i wake up right when bruce willis tells his daughter, liv tyler, that he is going to die and save the world by blowing up the bomb. they start crying. i start crying. it gets me every time. i close my left eye so carter would think i was sleeping and not crying like the little girl that i am. 

1:26pm - get off the couch. 

1:46pm - leave to go out to lunch

1;57pm - arrive at the village cheese house in palo alto. we order pastrami sandwiches on dutch crunch bread. 

2:26pm - we drive to stanford. we walk around the baseball field, check out the divers diving, watch a little bit of a tennis match, and decide to leave. 

3:18pm - arrive at apple store in palo alto. carter buys a phone charger. 

3:52pm - arrive back at carters. 

3:55pm - back on the couch. we start watching college basketball and fall asleep again

5:52pm - wake up from nap. watch more college basketball. 

6:08pm - still on the couch...decide to update sagemania21.blogspot.com. now i'm going to shower and go get some food with carter. then we'll probably come back to the couch, watch a movie, and go to sleep. life is so hard.