So, after about 10 days of constantly being out, and partially to very inebriated, I have decided that this is the night I will be staying home to relax and recover, my sort of R&R. I decided as well that it was time that I knock the dust of my turntables.

While playing though, I had an interesting realization that I’d like to share with whomever is listening.

One of my favorite tracks, and one I just played was the Sasha remix of Watching Cars Go By from Felix da Housecat. One fantastic track. Sasha is just too damn talented with electronic music. The track though builds steady, slow, and precisely, like a well engineered structure. My difficulty is my skills and ears are not to the point of giving me effective mixing abilities. I can pick some damn good songs, but knowing which to mix, and when to mix is something that I know I need to learn, and slowly am realizing the right and wrong.

As for Sasha’s track: it was just an amazing thing listening to and letting it build its way up. And for the listener, just following the path or riding the wave that it unfolds is an amazing experience. But tonight I performed a premature mix (I swear that never happens elsewhere) and threw in the next track. It was properly aligned, but stepped on way too much of the Sasha track. While I am mixing it though, the Sasha track is still building. All of a sudden I have the 2nd track entirely in, and the Sasha track is climaxing. But it is at a tansition point for the second track to where I had to remove the Sasha track. So I threw the fader to the right, stopped the Sasha track, and grabbed it off the deck to place it back into its sleeve. All of a sudden I realized all the emotion and build up that this track gave off this piece of vinyl. Potential energy. Its amazing what you can do with the things around you to entirely change your mood or perspective.

In Zen and the Art of Motorcylce Maintenance, the main character/narrator discusses his feelings on the motorcyle that he is riding on. The fact that it is this well built, thoroughly engineered machine. Any man could probably duplicate it, but what is so much more important is the person that originally created it. Who thoughtfully designed all its components precisely to make it function properly and effectively. It took a person who considered the all the variables related to the thing he was trying to create, and accordingly developed it, likely changing many things to his approach and his design along the way. He had the thought of what he wanted to create, and created it; he ulitimately made it with his mind, and everything he knew.

Maybe you had to be there, maybe you feel what I’m saying. But I felt it; and it almost moved.

I am going to try something new today: I will not listen to any music while working. I don’t know if many people who are reading this listen to much music while working, but I definitely do. I always have it going. The problem is, if you are too involved and passionate about the music, you end up becoming somewhat removed from the work you are doing. Maybe its only me and my poor concentration, but try not listening to music too. See how it affects your work.

One time I was working at a client’s site, listening to Global Underground - Sasha - vol 13 - disc 01 - Ibiza, and I just was so into the music, that for about 20 minutes, I was incredibly energized and excited, but could not concentrate on anything other than the music.

I feel that the factors are the type of work you are doing, the amount of creativity involved in the work, the type of music, and how much music drives your mood.

I’d love to hear what people have to say, so please comment if you got something good.

A forward thinking intern from the program I was working with in New York compiled this representative set of quotes that the interns dropped while in NYC. Many are hilarious for the memories they provoke, and most are simply funny for how off the wall they are.

“Shitt!!!We lost Frenchie!” -Adriana on the Toys R Us Ferris Wheel

“They’re having hot dogs for us…they’re not even kosher. They’re probably made of bull’s testicles” -Andrea

“I feel so bad…I bit him” -Andrea

“It either means ‘chicken’ or ‘fuck you’” -Andrea

“Run bitch, run!” -crazy lady in subway

“I love sleep…and my nails…I don’t know why I just said that. Why did I say that?” -Fred from France

“Algeria and Sweden probably hate me” -Ana

“We need to talk to Ana-we need to get her a bottle of soap” (in reference to Andrea discovering that putting soap in her eyes wakes her up)

“You guys…we just spent $48 dollars on guacamole.” -our table at Dos Caminos

“I have a theory… #1.) Women who don’t eat chocolate can’t/don’t have kids. #2.) Girls who don’t wear pointy shoes are nicer than those who do” -Fred from France

“I’m going to puke she’s so funny” - Lara about Andrea

“I want to have a guy with white boxers wearing cowboy boots on a chain so I can walk him and be like ‘Bitch. Obey your Master.’” -Andrea

“Please God. Bring me a beer. Please God. Please please please” -Sarkis

“Arka…do you want to sit?”

“….wait….are you going to pay?”

Ken…..as a raptor
as a baby
as Peter Griffin
as Sarkis (Hello, my name is Sarkis..I am from France…I play the guitar)

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.”

“Excuse me sirrrr” -Adriana/ Ana
“…crazy face”
“Fix your life.”

Arpine: You’re a loser
Sarkis: No. I’m Iliozer.

Alex walks into the common room at 2:45am on a Tuesday : “um….do you guys work?”

Vanik : J’ai dit que tu ris tout le temps
Me : (translating) He said that I laugh all of the time.
Arka: um…..I know.

“I don’t mean to be direct…but I hate you” -Sarkis to Lauren

“You knocked over someone’s pillow you a-hole” -Adriana to Alexis as we waited in the courtyard before boarding the bus

“Look at my bloody shirt!” -Rimma

Carolyn calls Vanik’s room in the hotel
“Hello?”
“Hi Vanik!”
“Hello. Your call may be recorded for quality purposes”

“Please don’t tell me that’s the line for the metro” -Carolyn

“What’s wading?” -Arka

RB: “She’s my sister in law. She cooks for our children. She cleans….she’s like family.”

RB: Okay…1, 2,3. (counting for a picture that she wasn’t taking)

RB: Okay, now all the pretty girls clean up the dishes.

RB: “Think about looking at each other with different eyes.”

RB: “This is the first time that I have used Styrofoam in 32 years…age before beauty”

“Good night” -Sarkis

“Hi, my name is Andrea…(pause….wait for it)..Aghlaghanian” (on the bus ride home)

“Andrea Aghlagagagaggagagaga….” -Ken

“I love Jesus!” -Vanik when the First Missionary Baptist Church Bus showed up

Ani: How long will the lectures be?
Aline: The lectures will be about an hour to an hour and a half
Sarkis: For Digin Balian or everyone else?

“Putain de merde ! Qu’est-ce qu’elle est bonne. ..Je vie dans un chateau de merde” -Ken

“I play guitar and I sing my song in the Suuunnshine!” -Sarkis and Ken

“You can order Sarkis” - Ken while pointing to ‘french fruit tart’ on the menu

“Let me put it this way-every time Andrea begins to speak I brace myself” -Ana

“Why is it that every time we’re eating we talk about the next time we’re going to eat!” -Salpy

“At my wedding she [Andrea] is going to be like ‘Can I cut the cake?’…Instead of me and my husband throwing cake at each other, it’s going to be Andrea.” -Ciara

“…guys thighs are scandalous” -Salpy

“Okay. Now it’s time for the girls to show us something we don’t see in every day life” -Vanik

“If I had pom pons right now I’d be a cheerleader” -Alex

(Salpy and I set up the empty water bottles as bowling ball pins)
WHAM! (Sarkis comes out of nowhere, bashes them all over with his toy guitar)
“Good night!”

“Can we do nothing special so that I can go change my batteries?” -Vanik

“I’d pick nice restaurants too if I picked the most expensive restaurants in the phonebook”

“Vanik- how long have you been going out with your girlfriend?”
“Nine months”
“Do you have a baby?” -Sarkis

(someone is clapping their hands in the other room)
“Arie?” -Sarkis

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