...think about just calling people on Christmas?

So, since Christmas is tomorrow, I was thinking of the people I should call to wish a merry christmas. Then I thought how nice it would have been if I had sent them Christmas cards. However, I've decided that calling is so much nicer than a card. Although cards indicate pre-planning, it's actually much more personal to make a phone call. I don't think the Christmas phone call is as widely accepted as the Christmas card as a means for spreading holiday cheer. This would also make the christmas contact list somewhat smalle and therefore more special. There are tons of people you would send a card to but much fewer that you would actually want to call. I have a year and a day to figure out a way to make this calling thing seem more official. Perhaps I can figure out some standard things that must be said in order to identify a phone call as an official "Christmas card" phone call. Just saying Merry Christmas is too easy. I think I will start with the birthday phone call. Even if you get the call near but not on your birthday, you can instantly recognize a call as THE "birthday" call. Maybe there can be an official calling christmas song. Now I have it! I'm going to write a Christmas phone call song that will be instantly recognizable. Then, much like the movie "Pay It Forward" one day I will receive a call and someone that I've never sang the song for will sing my christmas calling song for me. Until then....MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! and HAPPY CHANUKKAH!!!!

PS, no, there is no Hanukkah calling song, that's just silly.

PPS. Yes, I do try to spell C/hanukkah in as many different ways as I can.

...realize the internet isn't always the best way to go?

So, I've pretty much settled on what I'm getting Bridgett for Christmas. So, like I've been successfully programmed, I headed on over to Amazon.com to place my order. However, it wouldn't count one of my items towards free shipping. Then I noticed that another item won't be released until October (and why a calendar won't be released until then is beyond me). So, I decided to shop around to Target and Walmart's sites to see if I could accomplish my shopping elsewhere. I started trying to figure out how I could order one item from one place then a couple others from a different place. This is when it hit me that my life would be easier if I just went shopping in a real-life store and sent Bridgett her gifts USPS like an American. I am going to do that.

Moral of the story, just because it's the quickest way to view porn doesn't mean that the internet is the quickest way to do everything else (except maybe feeding your ego by seeing how many people read your thoughts every day. It's pretty good for that too. Ok, I'll let you get back to your porn now. I'm looking at you, Barnett).

...find a really cool website?

I found this one today. There are a bunch of these on there but these are my favorites. By the way, tune in tomorrow to hear about the really dumb mistake I made with my car Sunday. Also, find out how Jason is my hero.

...go to a kick-ass party?

Well, if you ever were wondering where to go for a good time, try a party at Jason and Erin's (it's probably best if you bring Ellis too).


When I arrived the party seemed to be already in full swing. As the night turned out, I realize it had not even begun to swing. First of all, I should say that they have a really great apartment. Jason had waxed the floors so the footing was slick enough to reenact Risky Business, on occasion involuntarily. As often happens in these parties, we ended up breaking up into two circles. There was the musicology/theory circle of conversation and the piano major circle. I think for once we were the cooler circle because we weren't talking about school (for once). Jess and Brian were all about the snugglers (for those that don't know, a snuggler is a drink that can be purchased at the Blind Lemon in Mt. Adams made up of hot chocolate and peppermint schnopps. See Example 1)


example 1 - What's better than 1 Brian for Jess? 2 brians!

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and this is never more true than when someone is drunk and has run out of what they have been drinking. Nicole and I co-invented the snuggler shot. You prepare for this shot by licking your wrist and placing a brownie on it. You then take a shot of peppermint schnopps and chase it with the brownie. Sadly, I don't believe anyone actually tried this but we had it ready in case Jess wanted to go on the chocolate brownie shot train.

Apart from Ellis' feats of what can only be described as ill-advised drunk dialing, piano playing (where he informed us that his conception of jazz is playing a chromatic scale) and singing (with Jenny Cruz, a very interesting rendition of Summertime), the main feature of the night was dancing. It was a little junior high dance like with most of the women dancing and the guys in the other room talking. On occasion Kevin or I would get into the mix. See example 2.


example 2 - the dancing habits of an adult male theorist

As you can see, I had the fortune of dancing with some very beautiful women. By the way, you can tell it's a party because of my finger stuck up in the air. It's an international symbol I believe. Ellis is not one to miss out on the action and example 3 shows part of his dance with his lovely wife Eva. Note that his entire hand is up in the air. I believe this is the international symbol for "I'm at a party and I'm pretty drunk." I titled this dance by the two of them "An interpretive dance of how Ellis and Eva got together." Special mention should be made of Anna's hot red scarf. So named because it's Anna's, red, and I think everyone would agree, kinda hot.



example 3 - The juxtaposition of Eva's enticing scarf dance and Ellis' enticing Saturday Night Fever dance.

Sadly, I had to leave to proctor and bid everyone a farewell. I learned a lot that night. Jason, under no circumstances, enjoys Christmas music. (Anyone who reads this blog knows that I respectfully disagree). Ellis, under no circumstances, should be given a cell phone when he's drunk. Emily is Jewish! Molly, under no circumstances, will sink below her general level of pleasantness and respectability See example 4(not that we tried to get her to). And, finally, kissing balls can be fun, but not if everyone at the party is attached.


example 4 - Anna and Molly, the height of pleasantness.

Happy break everyone, keep checking here, I'll be posting!

...just have a good ol' fashioned nice day?

I did. Today. It begin with me leisurely finishing my semiotics paper which, well, who ever knows if these things are good, but I feel like I wrote the paper I wanted to write and not just the one time and procrastination allowed. I also got to watch The Wizard of Oz as research for it and come up with a nifty title (Schenker, the Wizard, and Scriabin, oh my!).

This was followed by a really nice afternoon with Jenny. There have been times in the past where I have hung out with a girl that I had dated after not seeing her for a while and realized there was no friendship there anymore. This is not the case with Jenny. We had a really fun time together. Despite the fact that Bridgett says that staying friends with girls that I date is "my thing," I'm glad I know a cool girl I can still hang out with! (ps, in reading this back, I should mention that this doesn't mean I don't already know cool girls to hang out with...) Also, she draws a kick-ass ice-skating penguin (that sentence was a 2-hyphenator).

Which brings me to the conclusion of my day at Laura's apartment. I hadn't really had time to eat much during the day so I had my fill of cookies and nachos. I've come a long way from the grilled chicken salads and water of the summer. It's cold, I'm single, and damn it, I'm gonna get some insulation to keep warm with! Unfortunately, my two least favorite conversations came up, yet again. The notecards convo and the Laura and Jill don't come out convo. Although I do appreciate that people pay so much attention to what I say, how come people don't bring up how nice I am to Breighan at parties or come up to me and say, "hey, remember that time Brian saved the orphans from the burning village?" Well, I suppose there's a good reason for the second thing. But never, "remember that time you called Jill pretty?" Although I'm not one to make new years resolutions very often, I recommend that someone make a resolution to bring up nice things about me at least once for every three times they remind everyone of something dumb I said. In order to help this, maybe I should try to do three nice things for every dumb thing I say. Well, I've now publicly called Jill pretty I suppose, which is like I said it multiple times to many people individually. We'll be conservative and count it as 2 nice things. And, I've made this rule about doing 3 nice things. That's pretty nice of me. There ya go, 3 nice things. I've earned something dumb! Well, I suppose I should count this blog entry. And there you go, I'm even for the day. Sounds like some of you have some "saying nice things about Brian" catching up to do!!!

For those with limited vacation internet access, Merry Christmas! For those with continuous access, I will be home for three weeks with little to do. You can look forward to tri-daily updates I'm sure!!!

...want to know about my new Christmas CD?

Well, I have finally completed my third Christmas CD release. It is my first in 2 years and has been eagerly awaited. It features the vocal talents of The Jackson 5, Diana Krall, George Michael, Paul McCartney, the cast of Rent, the cast of South Park, and others. I have titled it: "Jew, You Hear What I Hear? Christmas Mix 2005" I would be more than happy to distribute it with either of my other 2 cds to anyone that's interested.

In other Christmas news, last night was the theory department holiday party. Sadly but expectedly the night was pretty much uneventful. I wanted to make a rule that the first person to talk about theory would have to sing Christmas carols but was informed that the rule had been broken long before I arrived. Breighan made Schenkerian brownies. I got to eat V which was exciting for me. Made me feel like a real man eating the dominant.

Finally, I would like to congratulate John on his pre-rap video movie. I think the success of it is due in no small part to the skill of his second key grip. He has set the bar very high for multimedia blogging. In order to make my blog as multimedia as possible, here is a cartoon clip from an old Saturday Night Live. It's big (42MB) so don't even try it not on a cable modem. It's definitely worth the download! Enjoy!
SNL - Charlie Brown Christmas

...figure out how to put mp3's on your blog?

I think I did. Here's one of my current favorite Christmas songs:

Here Comes Santa Claus/Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Linda Eder
here comes santa claus

...feel the need to listen to Christmas music 24/7 via the internet?

Well, I have god news. Now you can! (Well you could before too I suppose) Visit http://www.wvmx.com/main.html which is a local radio station who has switched to an all Christmas format. You can also see what's playing which is convenient for all of you who hate saying "who was that singing?" In addition to this, I've been inspired by this station to make a third Christmas CD. For those of you that don't know, my previous Christmas releases are titled "Christmas Mix USA 2002" and "Now That's What Brian Calls Christmas 2003." I have not come up with a title for my new CD but I will let you know when I do. Having said this, If anyone is interested in acquiring my Christmas trilogy (perhaps trinity is more season appropriate), I would be more than happy to make copies.

In case anyone was wondering, my short list of favorite Christmas songs includes the following:
O Christmas Tree from Charlie Brown Christmas
The Christmas Waltz - classicly played by Sinatra but I just found a really neat version by Jane Monheit
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
We Wish You a Merry Christmas from A Muppet Family Christmas