Moving on

I'm 21 years old, and I won't be graduating from college for two more years. Recently I started doing research on grad schools, and I can't stop thinking about it. Should I go back east (the answer to that is a definite 'yes')? Should I get my Ph.D in Europe (much farther east)? What do I want to study: Immunology? Microbiology? Molecular Biology? Cell Biology? Infectious Diseases? Microbial Genetics? Virology? Bacteriology? Parasitology?

I don't know what I'm doing in my life! I'm thinking of going into... male modeling. Or maybe... high finance? I'm at a crossroads, and there's an IHOP on one corner, and a Denny's on the other! I just don't know!!!!

Does anyone else think about things WAY too far in advance?

Good Music, Bad Music

One of the great things about the collection of people in the lab I work in is that most of us are huge music fans. Each of us have copied the music from our iPods onto the main lab computer (which has 2 or 3 hard drives of over 100 GB each), and between us, we have basically every genre covered, making a pretty impressive collection of music. I don't remember the number of GB of music on there, but I know it's WELL over 3 months-long. Or so says iTunes. The computer is tripped out with two fairly nice speakers from a big stereo system, and a subwoofer. Yes, a subwoofer, right next to two PCR machines and an autoclave.

Naturally, with a collection like that, spanning all genres, we've got some pretty sweet playlists. I've made several, though there's really just one that I listen to with any frequency, when I get to choose what we listen to. I have no actual name for it, mostly because it's a very eclectic mix of music. In addition to the usual (and expected, if you know me) handful of jazz, there's classic rock and 80's new wave songs, a few hip-hop songs (apparently, Fergie wants to get me drunk off her lady-humps), as well as even a few of the almost tolerable songs performed by country artists. You can be rocking out to Queen one minute, moved by a Miles Davis ballad the next, and then out of nowhere you hear some awesome Earl Scruggs banjo solo that almost makes you crap your pants!

The other day, I was in the lab, doing my usual thing. One of the guys who kinda distances himself from everyone else happened to be in the lab, and was doing some research on the main computer. Until he came in, I was the only person in the lab, so my awesome mix was playing. For the first half hour or so that he was there, the shuffle seemed to favor mostly the classic rock songs I had placed on there, which he and I were both enjoying. Anyone who doesn't enjoy a little Styx every once in a while has a black hole for a heart. After enjoying a great Doors track (I forget which one), Pat Metheny's "The Roots of Coincidence" came on. I understand that the name of that song, and maybe the artist, means nothing to you, so I'll fill you in. Pat is primarily a jazz guitarist, but he also forays into folk, country, new age, and as in the case with this song, rock. "The Roots of Coincidence" is an eight minute acid rock spectacular. It has some shredding that would make even Jimmie Page do a double-take to listen again. About two minutes into the song, when the music is already intense, but getting much, much more so, this moron switches to "Sweet Dreams" by Eurythmics, without so much as a word of "Hey, Jake, do you mind?" or anything. I was, well, shocked, and maybe even nauseated.


Don't get me wrong. I like "Sweet Dreams". I did, after all, put it on my list. Still, two huge errors were made:
1) Switching to a new song in the middle of another one. All the musical tension that was building up never got resolved! Arrgh! Songs aren't written for you to only listen to a portion of them. Songs are whole units, and need to be respected as such.
2) Switching from a very musical song to a less-so song. "Roots of Coincidence" is very acid rock, but still classy. Pat got a Grammy for best rock instrumental performance in 1997 for that song. It ain't no trash. To switch from that to Eurythmics is like eating a few bites of filet mignon, and then deciding you'd prefer a McDonald's cheeseburger. Such a huge step down!

Am I overreacting?

Smells Like...Teen Spirit? No, no, Old Spice!

You ever notice how important your sense of smell is?

As many of you already know, I suffer a mild case of hearing loss, thanks to years of shooting guns with my dad and brothers as a child, and thanks even more to 7 years of being in band in junior high and high school. Because of this loss in hearing, I'm pretty sure my sense of smell is enhanced.

The first time I realized my sense of smell was unusually strong was in the 11th grade. I was sitting next to a friend in German, and sighed with boredom. As I breathed in, I smelled a familiar smell.

"Zach, are you wearing Old Spice High Endurance Anti-Perspirant, Original Scent?" I had worn that deodorant about a year earlier, so I recognized the smell. Maybe I should've been a little more sly, and not launched right into the FULL name, but that's just the kind of man I am.


"WHAT?!" he replied, with a face containing some awful mix of confusion and terror. Most of the people I knew in high school thought I was gay, and this guy rated a little higher on the homophobia meter than most of the people I knew.


"I'm just asking. It's a good smell. I used to wear it myself", I assured him, trying to get him to calm down.

He never actually answered me. The conversation made him visibly uncomfortable, so I dropped it. A few months later, I found out from another friend in the class that I had indeed identified his deodorant, a smell he had JUST bought. I noticed it on the very first day he wore it.

Here I am now, six years later, and I've begun to use my sense of smell as a way to get to know people better. Lady-friends of mine who I'm especially close with hardly even flinch when I grab a piece of their hair, mid-conversation, and take a whiff, just to smell some of that vanilla or coconut-y goodness. In my dance class, I find myself recognizing smells of my myriad dance partners. There's one girl in there who I know for a fact wears Secret brand deodorant (I personally don't care much for that scent). Another wears a delicious citrus-smell, but she and I haven't reached the 'smell-your-hair-in-casual-conversation' level of friendship, so I can't tell if it's perfume, shampoo/conditioner, hair gel, or something else.

Personally, I find this funny, except that I catch myself using their personal scents as a means for discrimination: the "Secret" girl is a much better dancer, and isn't terrible-looking, but I find myself preferring to dance with the citrus girl, who is about equally good-looking, but probably a worse dancer. The girl who smells like she didn't shower before class is probably my last pick; meanwhile, the overweight girl who smells like coconut? "You wanna dance?" For the most part, I prefer a partner who smells good, rather than looks good, and I don't really care how well they dance.

Civil rights and discrimination-related issues are important to me in politics; I think it's morally wrong to judge someone by visual issues, like the color of their skin, how overweight they are, or how attractive they may be. Does the fact that I appear to discriminate based on another of my five senses make me just as bad?

Updated

I've added my posts from my old website at mac.com, for those of you who were worried they'd be gone forever.

My first post. Wahoo!

Well, I fought this for a while. Finally, I'm giving in. I'm going to make a blog. I'll try to make it entertaining, I promise.

For those of you who actually paid attention back when I had a site at mac.com, I'll work on posting those pages on here. We'll see.

Cover Songs!

There is truly a WEALTH of great music available to listen to, and as refreshing as it is to hear something new, it’s also nice to hear something familiar, with a twist. I’ve noticed that I have a lot of recordings of musicians covering other musicians’ songs, and I thought I’d share.

For those of you not familiar with the jargon, “covering” means playing another band or musician’s song, while adding your own personal “flavor” to the music.

There are some artists who have more than one song here. Forgive me for that; they cover music really well!

Enjoy!

Some of Jake’s Favorite Cover Songs:
1. “Sing Sang Sung” by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, based on “Sing Sing Sing” as performed by Benny Goodman
2. “Message In A Bottle” by John Mayer, from the song by The Police
3. “Bold As Love” by John Mayer, from the song by Jimi Hendrix
4. “Chipmunk Christmas” by John Scofield, based on “Christmas Don’t Be Late” as performed by Alvin & the Chipmunks
5. “Bohemian Polka” by Weird Al Yankovic, based on Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”
6. “Cold Cold Heart” by Norah Jones, from the song by Hank Williams, Sr.
7. “Crazy” by Diana Krall, from the song performed by Patsy Cline
8. “Elephant Love Medley” from Moulin Rouge, based on TONS of CLASSIC love songs
9. “Don’t Know Why” by Pat Metheny, from the song by Norah Jones
10. “Highway to Hell” by Maroon 5, from the song performed by AC/DC
11. “Lady Marmalade” by Christina Aguilera, P!nk, Li’l Kim, and Mýa, from the song performed by Labelle
12. “Mozart’s 40th Symphony In G Minor” by Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band, from... well, you know

Note: Weird Al is best known for his parodies of popular music, but in this case, Bohemian Polka is a cover, not a parody. He didn’t change the lyrics, and the only real change in the music is the change in style from rock to polka.

Please leave comments, including about any good cover songs you have!