Isn't the Internet fun?

You can tell the studying is getting to me - I'm posting more often. This is another fun post.

I recently concluded that I should put the admissions video which I've talked about on this blog incessantly up on the web at Google Videos (just because I'm a Google nut and I wouldn't mind broadcasting to the world). So I went about doing that, and then started thinking about other stuff I could put up. Now the funny part is they rejected the video. The only thing I can think of is our use of music in the background that we likely don't have copyright for. But Scott Joplin's been dead a lot of years, and I don't think he'd mind us using "The Entertainer" at all...

Regardless. The other stuff I put up is videos of skiing at the cottage last summer. I decided the world should get to see us flying around the bay up in Muskoka. So here they are.

We start with me doing a little slalom. Unfortunately, you'll later get the comparison of seeing Jonathan slaloming, and realize I'm not that great. However, here it is.

This is Jonathan's cousin Ben doing a little banana skiing.

I picked a couple of Jonathan's better slalom runs to show off his skills. Part 1 and 2.

And here's the best for last. Wipeouts! Why else do we go skiing? My brother Ben on the tube starts us out, and a hilariously spectacular one from Jonathan to close it out.

Summer approaches, and I hope to be back soon. Wouldn'tcha rather...?

Return of the Skeptics

Once upon a time I had this great idea of reviving the Educated Skeptics website, or at least putting something back up on the web that signals that we ever existed. Mostly, I wanted the mp3's of our material to be available to our multitudes of fans (not that they couldn't find one of us and legally purchase a CD...). At this point, I'm in the middle of exam crunch and procrastinating, but I've basically resigned myself to the fact that I'm no web designer (I can barely operate HTML at all) and I'm not going to be ambitious enough to make the website reappear. What I can do is put links to those great tunes back up, and that's what this is all about.

Thank Google for the free webspace.

Who could forget Only One of You? With it's goofy backwards guitar intro that was way too much fun to record, and that catchy chorus? And the "oo oo's" at the end.

Follow that with Phil. The enigmatic name. The hard panned guitar/violin duos. And that weird noise I made at the end of the song. I'm still not sure about it...

Mexican Standoff has become one of my favourite tunes. The random opening was fun, the gratuitous bass solo sublime, and if I could have mixed that end section better, it might have come out awesome. Too much guitar. Bah. Hear it every time.

Elements is a fun song. Too many chords for its own good. Who writes a song with two bridges? But it evolved well, and I really like the way the violin worked its way in.

Everyone loves the Steps Don't Make a Sound intro. You just gotta love violin with cool effects. That overblown middle section with Peters playing a whole orchestra over himself was my idea, I'm still not sure about it, but I take responsibility. Oh. And I still haven't gotten an explanation as to how the lyrics of the song relate to cell phones at all.

One Way Streets probably got the short end of the stick in the mixing process, but I still like it. Go echoey guitar. And the "ooohs." I think they could be a little louder. But I've always loved them.

Never has more time been spent on a drum beat than for On Your Own. And after all that work, we ripped it out and put a drum maching in instead. I still think my favourite part is that little backwards cymbal as it leads into the first verse.

And Tired. I think this is the concensus fan favourite. I must say, when I came back from a bathroom break during our first recording of this, and Caleb was playing that nutty 32nds thing on the final chorus, I thought he was nuts. Now I love it.

There you have it. They're back on the web.

The Real Story: What Art's Been Avoiding on this Blog

It would seem by the suddenly-active comments section of my blog that I have recently acquired some self-professed (though anonymous) fan(s). By their clever question asking, my comments were led to hint at what is likely the more truthful answer to the question "what has kept you so busy that you haven't posted lately?" And therein lies this tale: (names may or may not have been changed to protect those involved)

Our story begins on a seemingly innocuous Thursday night in October or November. On this evening, our reluctant protagonist was attending Intervarsity Christian's weekly meeting, at which small groups were being formed. Our reluctant protagonist (let's call him... Art... that's an uncommon name) was drawn to the assortment of grad students and signed himself on to be a part of that group. The fearless leader of this group (let's call her... Sue) worked out a meeting time, and weekly Bible studies began.

The tale proceeds relatively quietly for the next few months. It should (must) be mentioned that Sue added Art to her MSN list somewhere in the middle of this less-enthralling portion of the story, a bold move which was largely overlooked by our reluctant protagonist. In an unfortunate turn of events, Art's schedule became very busy with admissions videos and stage performances and many other excuses already on this blog, causing him to miss many small group sessions. However, all hope was not yet lost for Art.

It should be noted at this point that although Art thought Sue was a really cool girl, a great Bible study leader and kinda cute, he was simultaneously unsure of her feelings as well as generally... let's say... "unbold" in these matters. But just when it would seem all hope was lost, fate stepped into this matter, using several degrees of separation.

Sue was frustrated by Art's "unobservant maleness," and unsure how to proceed. Just then, a remarkable turn of events was set in motion. It would seem that two people who both attended the University of Waterloo for their undergraduate degrees (as had Sue and Art) would have some common acquaintances. And when this certainty was revealed in the form of a friend of Sue's (let's call her Mary) Sue lamented to her: "Art's an inobservant male, what am I to do?" Not to fear, fate intervened yet again when Mary told a good friend of Art's (let's call him Jonathan) about the entire episode. Now Jonathan - knowing the ways of Art's mind and realizing his chickenish nature - immediately passed this knowledge on to Art, to do with it what he would.

At this point, our reluctant protagonist, newly bolstered by this information, made some bold moves. The aforementioned (and woefully underused) MSN channel was reinitiated, and at an oppurtune moment after a small group, some of the group went out for a bite to eat after
their meeting at Art's request. At this point, Art had his senses attuned, his radar set to monitor Sue's every word for indications of this newfound truth. Despite his best efforts, Art still appeared to be an inobservant male - although subsequent investigation reveals that Sue was broadcasting on all available channels, Art was still receiving mostly static. Undaunted, he suggested a theoretical date of a Settlers game. Some clever work on Art's part turned that Settlers game into an afternoon together, which was greatly enjoyed by both parties.

At this point, I'll stop the pompous 3rd person telling of the story (as fun as it is) and mention how after that first date, I've spent as much time with Sue as schedules and distance will allow, and enjoyed every minute of it. Timing being my strong suit, we started dating just as Sue was leaving on a clinical placement in St. Catharines, but as a wise man once said to me, "phhh... watcha gonna do." But before she left, we had four consecutive dates (a new personal best), and I had a wonderful time throughout. Since then we've met up for a weekend in Waterloo and worked the long distance thing. Mostly, I'm really excited about her and the whole thing, so life's been lots of fun lately. I think that's the end of the story as it stands right now. It's been a whirlwind three and a half weeks since our first date, and hopefully I'll have many more things to say in this blog in the future.