Christmas is coming! woof.

For my 100th post to this here blog I would like to announce that I am in the process of making a Christmas album. It'll be pretty small (bout' 4 songs or so). But in any case, if you would like a copy, just say "I".

Tis' the season for Christmas cookies, harmony, and getting trampled to death!

A very unhappy black friday to you all! Check it...

NEW YORK – Shoppers, who had snapped their wallets shut since September, turned out in force Friday to grab deals on the traditional start of the holiday shopping season, but it was clear worries about the economy tempered buying.
Preliminary reports from several major retailers including Macy's and Toys "R" Us said that crowds were at least as large as last year's, but many shoppers sounded notes of caution and concern.
Retailers extended their hours, some opening at midnight, and offered deals that were deeper and wider than the deep discounts that shoppers found throughout November.
Best Buy, which threw its doors open at 5 a.m. offered such specials as a 49-inch Panasonic plasma HDTV for $899.99 and a $189.99 GPS device by Garmin. Toys "R" Us was offering up to 60 percent discounts from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m.
But the excitement over the early morning specials proved fatal for at least one store. Police from Nassau County, N.Y. say a Wal-Mart worker died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers shortly after the Long Island store opened Friday. Wal-Mart offiicals would not confirm reports of stampede, but said a "medical emergency" caused them to close the store.
Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman at the National Retail Federation, the industry's largest retail group, said that she was "not aware of any other circumstances where a retail employee has died working on the day after Thanksgiving."
-Associated Press

This is sick America, SICK!

The past couple of weeks I have been spinning in a high speed piano playing frenzy. Mighty nice if you ask me. I've learned heaps of new music (new to me at least). One of my professors here said once that quantity eventually equals quality. I think about that and how it pertains to piano playing and any art. At least from my experience it's been true. It's not that the more and more you do the better it will get. It's more along the lines that the more you put into something and more exposure you have with something (in this case, all kinds of piano-ings) yore bound to get better. It helps to have something pressing down on you to motivate.

But as for today, it's sehr nice to have nutin' to do. Things get done like laundry, naps, groceries. Chantrelle mushrooms were on sale and boy betcha they gonna be eatin' tonight. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Rumor has it that I will be the only member of the extended Coleman and Loper families that will not be in either household for the big day. Tear...sniffle...tear.
Instead I will be scooting down Highway 58 to Dexter where my pastor and his family live. They invited me over for eatin', nappin' and potential deer hunting! I am very excited about the prospect to do some hunting but have decided that I would be equally happy to just sit and eat. We'll see what tomorrow has in store.


In other news, I was gifted this painting that someone left in the hallway of the school of music during moving. Pretty cool, huh?

I'm moooooovin'

I'll be moving to 12th and Arthur here pretty soon. I'll be living with Josh! and an engaged couple whom I've yet to meet. Josh promises me though that they are very chill and into contact improvisation and meditation. Josh's house that he remodeled is amazing! Hardwood floors, gas range, marble countertops, yellow walls, pastel colored rainbow lights bordering his living room...the list goes on. I get to have a moderately big sized bed room. Pictures to come! I move in the weekend before Christmas. Woot woot! Josh speaks verrrry quietly but sometimes will laugh surprisingly loud. He's a very nice man. 38 years old he is. He's a runner/dancer/house remodeler/the list goes on. Won't be as close to campus which is good and bad. But it's about 2 miles closer to the coast than I am now. It'll make for a nice quick getaway route to the ocean when need be.

My new favorite movie

Black Orpheus is still a powerful movie today. I think you should all see it. It's the movie that brought bossa nova to the States. It tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in the 1950's in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil during Carnaval. What a beautiful movie it is! So much dancing and people who are just passionate about life. I know it's just a movie, but it makes me smile to know there are people who are sooooo into life. Anyhow, see it and it'll make you want to dance.

In honor of my father's birthday, I got some glasses in his stile. And also just because they were ready to be picked up. Maybe, though, if I shave my beard into a John Coleman mustache and keep my new spectacles, I can pull of the look-a-like just fine.

All that I mead.

I had a most wonderful birfday yessiday. Despite getting yelled at by a middle-aged woman for a poor parking job, I was gifted many wonderful things. One of which is a bottle of mead! Yes yes yes, that's right. What the vikings used to drink. My friend brews the stuff. It's oh so tasty and sweet. You should look it up online or sumpin' to learn more about it.

Behold the molasses chew!

This is one big week. Phew. Today I was asked (via email) to play for a certain preschooler's birthday party this weekend. How honored i feel! Her mom said: "We couldn't think of anything to do for her birthday until we thought 'If Jake shows up and plays music with her she'll FLIP!'" Very cool and exciting.