Weekend

This past weekend was a great one. I went home, and spent time with my grandparents on Friday. Satuday, Erin, my parents, and I went to see Wicked, which was really good. Not the best I've ever seen (but I tend to compare everything to my favorite, Les Miserables), but probably the funniest, and it had a decent amount of political satire, and themes about perspective. Mostly, it really was a lot of fun to watch. Anyway, on Sunday, I worked on my car with Erin's Dad. I had gone to the Saturn dealer in Tallahassee last Thursday, and they had told me (after an hour and a half) that they needed to replace my cabin air filter, engine air filter, and windshield wipers, and that this wasn't covered in my maintenance plan. I don't remember how much they wanted for the air filter replacements, because I had no frame of reference, but I saw that the price of changing out my windshield wipers was $38, and having replaced them once myself, I decided that this was bull, and I would figure something else out. So Erin's dad helped me replace the parts myself (except the cabin air filter which is apparently inside of some other stuff) and I was flabbergasted by how simple, quick, and easy it was. And cheap, comparatively. The windshield wipers were about $16 and about 2 minutes of labor, and replacing the air filter took even less time, and only cost $10. Anyway, I was proud of myself for not being dependant on the dealer's ability to fix my car, and I just enjoy learning new things. I especially don't like feeling like I know nothing about a certain subject, and cars are a subject that I know little or nothing about. Also, as my Intellectual Property class continues to shed light on my understanding of copyright law, I am deciding, I think, that it is a bad idea in general to post my songs online, in addition to the problem of figuring out how to go about posting them. As such, I will be glad (excited, even) to play them for you live, any time that I am around, and have a guitar within reach. There's still just the one, but hopefully, many more will follow. Anyway, I will talk to you all later. Peace out, and word to your mothers!

Possibilities

My professor for Women and the Law just walked by and stopped to ask me if I thought that we were going too slowly in the class. It was odd, I guess because generally, the student does everything in their power to make the teacher think that they are a good student, but this seems to exemplify that teachers care about the students' perceptions of them as well. Just a random thought.
Anyway, have you ever noticed yourself putting off writing because you have nothing to say, only to find when you do finally begin to write, that you have so much to write that it is all trying to get out of your brain and causes a traffic jam? I am thinking about applying for an externship this summer. This would mean that I would be able to, essentially, find a job anywhere in the state, theoretically Lakeland, work there for the summer, and get school credit hours for doing so. This would be excellent, since I had been wondering how I was going to be able to take classes over the summer so as to graduate early, and at the same time get work experience that will help me get a job when I graduate early. Also, I would be able to be with Erin all summer (Word). There are still some wrinkles, for instance, there are several varieties of externships and many of them have prerequisite classes that I did not know about and thus did not take. I would want to take a week off in the summer for the wedding/honeymoon, and I don't know if that would be allowed. I tried to go talk to the externships office today about some of these and was unable to, because the half hour that I allotted before class started today was insufficient since they were discussing the program with someone else, and there was only one administrator there. I'm just going to go ahead and come early tomorrow as well, and if need be, stay after class, since I get out at 2:30 and have nothing else to do all day, except to drive to Tampa.
Additionally, the MPA (Music Publisher's Association, an organization of publishers of sheet music) has started issuing cease and desist letters to the operators of websites that provide lyrics and/or tablature to songs. They have even gone so far as to suggest/threaten jail time for those who run these sites. I was baffled to find that, in fact, jail time is one of the available remedies for copyright infringement. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am not hereby giving any legal advice. I am merely expressing an opinion. Anyway, I don't understand what claims they can have to other people's interpretations of works, that are incomplete (tabs do not include any form of rhythm, time signature, key signature, etc.) It's like suing someone for publishing your cake recipe when they wrote on their site that "you add some eggs and sugar and some other stuff and then bake it." That's not the complete recipe. But, honestly I don't know whether that matters, my Intellectual Property class just started copyrights today, so I don't know much about it yet. I will however be sure to let you all know what I do find out. Peace out, and word to your mothers.

Non-droppage

I decided not to drop dissolution. It is an omnipresent issue at almost every lawfirm I've looked at. It seems from some of the firms' web sites that dissolution is their cash cow, and their other cases are more a labor of love. You don't make much money on civil rights cases usually, unless you can get the ACLU or someone to back you, so when I see a firm that does civil rights law and dissolution of marriage, I see the latter funding the former. Hence, if I want to specialize in something I like, it seems like taking on something profitable as well (rather than instead) may be the way to go. Anyway, I have been playing a lot of guitar this weekend, and made some serious progress. I can actually play (and sing!) about 5 or 6 songs from memory now, all the way through, though not necessarily well (especially the singing); they pretty much all need practice. I am incredibly pleased with my progress though, and I really think that this will help me with my confidence in my guitar playing, as well as bringing new depth to my writing as I practice hearing music and words, as well as rhythms and melodies, together. Anyway, I visited Adam today, and he seemed great. I know it's been three days, and I didn't see him right after the surgery, but seriously, if it weren't for the lack of shaving, and the gown, and the tubes and stuff, I might not have even known that he had had surgery. The point is, he seems like he is doing awesome. Word. And Janelle has been there like 23 and a half hours a day (totally not exaggerating) for the last three or four days straight (still not exaggerating), so give her a hug too, if you see her (or a telehug if you call her). Anyway, I have class in the morning, so peace out, and word to your mothers.

Droppage

I am dropping Florida Dissolution of Marriage. This will put me at 14 credit hours, which, while it is one hour less than is standard, will still keep me ahead of schedule for graduating, since I took the insane 18 hours last semester. This will also adjust my schedule so that I get out at 6:10 on Monday and Wednesday. Also, I misread my schedule, and I get out at 2:30 on Tuesday, not 6:10. Anyway, I think this will be good. Also, the fact that there is a difference between DVD-R and DVD+R should be more well known, or advertised, or in some way available to consumers. I thought that the difference was that one brand had copyrighted the term "DVD+R" so the other brands used "DVD-R" in their labeling. I was wrong. So, apparently, have been a lot of people, as Adam assured me, while explaining the difference to me (Thank you!). Anyway, peace out, and word to your mothers!

Back to School

Well, it's back to school for me. I have a strange schedule this semester, very frontloaded in the week. I get out at 6:10, 6:10, and 8:30 on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, respectively. On Thursday I get out at 2:30, and on Friday I have no class. I have 16 hours, more than standard (15) but less than last semester (18). It'll be all good. I played a lot of guitar with Mr. Eddinger (Erin's father) over the last week of break, and between that and writing a song for Erin for Christmas, I am really getting back into music. Also, I would like to share both the song I wrote for her when we first met, and the new one with all of you, and I don't know the best way to accomplish this. Suggestions? Anyway, I have my last class of the day, Copyright Law, in about ten minutes, so I should probably go. Peace out, word to your mothers.