I'm Still Alive, I Swear

As three-plus weeks of non-posting has probably suggested, the proverbial shit has hit similarly-proverbial fan in terms of my work load. As much as I would like to sit down and type out a good amount of stuff detailing November for my dwindling readership, the fact is that the month has been so uneventful, filled mostly with the same complaining and dread, that it's simply not worth documenting.

Even those fun little daily excursions -- like my misadventures on the bus routes that quickly became my last post -- seem to have disappeared. It's an interesting phenomenon in my life, perhaps one that I can attribute to my own frequently fluctuating state of mind: is it that I notice these little gems more frequently when I'm in a calmer, more relaxed place? Or do they, by some stroke of cosmic coincidence, cease to happen when the world realizes I'm feeling almost as nutty as Chinese chicken salad? Either way, the result has been a lack of significant topics to blog on.

Especially since I've found that my work, despite my best intentions, has not been getting done as I've planned. I had this fantasy of going home for the week of Thanksgiving -- we had the whole week off, for the first time ever, and I was damn glad to be a guinea pig in that experiment, let me tell you -- and getting most of my reading for the rest of the semester done so that I could devote the last three weeks to my papers. I even packed a big blue IKEA bag with every book left on any of my syllabi, as well as a few pieces of pleasure reading to divert my attention here and there. Some reading did get done...the pleasure reading. As for my classes, well...that's why I've got four books next to my computer here that are screaming "read me!"

One observation I am quite glad to note delayed its fruition was my prediction of poor winter weather, from the very end of my last post. Over three weeks later, and I'm only now seeing any kind of accumulation on the ground, from a large but relatively minor system currently working its way over Pennsylvania (as it will for the next three days). Though the National Weather Service felt the need to issue winter storm warnings hours before the storm hit -- right in the middle of Danielle's and my enjoyment of watching Virginia Tech become ACC champions -- there is, at most, a dusting on the ground right now. And whether the result of judicious sanding or just the fact that the blacktop isn't cold enough yet, the parking lot of our complex is almost completely clear. Sure, the car's got a little snow still on it, but frankly, I think there was more snow on it when I got home last night than there is now.

Which segues nicely into last night, which is probably the first truly exciting thing to happen all month. On Wednesday, one of the members of my graduate seminar asked the class if they'd be interested in a ticket to see Evanescence at the Bryce Jordan Center. For free. After waiting the obligatory few seconds to let anyone really interested answer, I perked up and said I'd be glad to go. Sure, I went alone, which was kinda crappy, but it was a free concert, and the possibility of taking myself back in time about five years. (There are plusses and minuses to that. Mostly minuses, but I figured this might be a plus.)

I don't really feel like writing a full-blown review of the show, particularly since I didn't get all insanely into it like I tend to do at shows I very much want to go to, but here are some notes:

• The first opening act, Julien-K, needs to learn that there's more to stage patter than saying "fuck" as much as possible and calling the fans "bitches" whenever you can. I thought they sounded like an Orgy wannabe band, an observation I thought was made even more insightful when the lead singer noted a fan in the crowd wearing an Orgy t-shirt and cheered him with a (you guessed it) "fuck yeah!" Turns out, after doing a little research this morning, that Julien-K is a side-project of the guitarists from Orgy. Go figure.


• Other opening act was Shiny Toy Guns. Wow, these guys were really pretty good. I liked the variety of sound, the fact that both lead singers can actually sing, and that each song actually sounded somewhat different from the last one. I'm interested in these guys now, especially after learning that they were featured on a mix CD I received from a friend whose musical taste I regard rather highly.


• Now, about Evanescence. First off, Amy Lee can sing. As such, sound guy, please make sure I can actually hear HER, and not just the crushing thud of the drums and guitars, plzkthx.


• The ballads were money. "My Immortal," which finally came up near the end, brought the house down. Which is saying a lot, because the crowd tonight sucked (granted, myself included, but I wasn't in the pit, and the people who were in the pit should be ashamed).


• The more I listened of the show, the more I realized that the bad mix reveals a sad truth: when you take away the production, the choral stuff, and the string arrangements, they're a really boring sounding band. Most everything that wasn't a ballad had the same dynamic swing and style.


• Furthermore, I now firmly believe that the cushiest job in the music industry must be any member of Evanescence that isn't Amy Lee. That girl does a whole bunch, and does it quite well. As for the rest of the band, they do their jobs well too...it's just that their jobs aren't hard. About 75% of every song is the same freaking chord. What I wouldn't give for that gig.


• They say you should always end on a positive note, but this is simply too much to not save till last. I remember when "Bring Me to Life" was like the biggest song in the world. Five years later, and minus the duet with Paul McCoy, the lead singer of 12 Stones, that song loses a whole lot. Like the male vocals in the chorus. Which I suppose wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the fact that they then cut half the bridge. It was just gone. They went from frozen inside without your touch, without your love, darling / only you are the life among the dead directly back to wake me up inside, wake me up inside / call my name and save me from the dark. I know their lineup changed, but they couldn't find a new guitarist who could provide a little singing and actually perform that song as it was recorded? It's only the song that put them on the map, after all.

Despite such a brazen display of negativity, I do have to confess that I did enjoy losing myself in a concert for a few hours, and there certainly were worse ways I could have spent my Saturday night. Unfortunately, what's happened now is I have a Sunday filled with all kinds of work ahead of me -- and with the weather outside still frightful, no real chance for escape.

So the time has come to dig myself back into my little hole and hide away until shit gets done. With any luck, I'll be out before Christmas this time.