December Overview (Part 1)

As it has been a long time since my last “real” post, I have decided to catch up on this month and tell you a bit of what has been going on for me throughout this month. This will be part one of a series of posts to cover all of December, so hang on for the upcoming!

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On School:

The last month of the year is always a tough one. And this one hasn’t been the exception, if anything it put the standard even higher up.

Besides having to read and prepare for 4 different exams within less than a month time, work and other responsibilities have been filling my schedule almost 24/7. At least having Mango has been a really nice addition to an otherwise very hasty routine.

But going back to the exams, once again, the last-minute-studying habit of mine paid of. Even though 2 exams went very very well, I cannot say the same for another one. But that is what you risk sometimes when studying at the last minute. In any case, I am glad to know that the average I have is still not greatly affected since the high grades pull this one up. So it’s ok. Now I am simply waiting to mid-January to see what happened with the last one.

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On a Master Programme:

Still on the subject of my studies, I decided to apply for a scholarship to continue my studies here in CPH as soon as I finish my bachelor in summer. Insane that it is being 3 years almost and this is just done…

Anyhow, I believe that beign able to pursue a master degree with a specialization in “Leadership and Management” (Cand. Merc. Int) will open loads of opportunities for me within Dk. So I think that this is a good investment in a sane future within the business branch and my career. It all depends on the answer to the scholarship application now. So until February nothing but paying my respects and pleading to all superior beings alike 😉

And btw, the last minute realization of the next day deadline for a scholarship application was very handy this time. I realized the day before my Spanish oral exam, that I had to hand in the scholarship application the same day as the exam. And of course I had NOTHING prepared. So I must say it was quite an interesting afternoon writing a motivational letter, gathering papers, applying for the study, and studying for my exam. Thank god (and/or other superior beings) for I realized the deadline. If I hadn’t then it was pretty much game over for this year. Yep, lucky bastard indeed. Stupid for not realizing it in time? That too.

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On Guitar Musings:

Changing topic, this has been a really interesting month since I have been able to change a lot my pedal board and upgrade it with some new pedals since I got some really good money from a tutoring job in Excel I did for CBS students.

Pedal board designing and upgrading has been sooo incredibly fun, you can’t imagine. The process can be more less described as sitting down and trying LOADS of pedals in shops, and then ordering through eBay as used or in a good condition for merely a fraction of the danish price. Remember that here in DK, there is a 25% VAT. So… you can get an idea. The best thing was to find quite some pedals I wanted from the same eBay seller. These came as a bargain since the auction ended for a bit less than the expected price, and as I managed to get them, I ordered them together and then the shipping cost became very good!

Now, since I had gotten so many pedals, I needed to now rethink the flooring strategy, so I decided to instead of spending money on a pedal board, to design one on my own. For that purpose I managed to find an old computer in pieces, out of which I completely dismantled one of the sides, and made that the base for my new pedal board. After removing all the cables, chips, and etc. I painted it black, made some small adjustments and presto, there it was. Cheap and perfect fit.

The updated Gear and Pedal Board

Also this month I managed to sell my amplifier, a Fender Frontman 15r, one of the cheapest and most accessible models in the market for beginners. I have been trying to sell that thing for months, since I wanted to move from some digital modeling to an actual tube amplifier (analog). I found someone interested and got a good price for it, so I was very happy to give it away, but still sad to see it go after almost 1 year of loyal services. Funnily enough, at the same time as I found the buyer, I also found the amp I had been looking for, a used Fender Champion 600. A 5 watt tube powered beast! Simply gorgeous for playing inside home at a decent volume with a beautiful tone.

To end my guitar babbling… I must say that I did have an accident all along this month which I kinda regret and don’t at the same time. I have wanted to raise my guitar string gauge from a .09 to a .11 as to get a better blues tone. And after careful consideration for some time, I decided that I would do it myself as to save a couple of bucks and then since I thought that I could find enough info on the net to help me. Well, the info was either rather vague or difficult to understand since this procedure does need a bit of expertise. Having understood what this process was, I endeavored a change of setup for .11s and failed… I manage to set them up no problem, to lock the bridge, but the bridge height was a whole other story. The top strings came to rattle when played strongly, and even though I tried my best, I could not (totally) stop it, and eventually decided to take it to the shop for proper set-up.

So now I have a guitar professionally set up to my needs and my playing. It is GRRREAT, but the price was not so much… Anyhow, I prefer to look at the bright side.

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I will conclude this one right here, and go on to another post for the Christmas holidays, and some other happenings of this month. Hang on for the incoming.

Cheers, and a very happy belated Christmas for all!

-P

Weather-Talk

Today it boils within my blood cells to scream out:

I @!#! HATE WINTER WEATHER IN COPENHAGEN!!!

Guess many will agree with me, specially those biking around for 30 mins under the pouring rain after a long day studying in the library… puuuha.

(sense the Danishness in the theme and expression).

DIY iPhone Airplane Holder

Would like to share with you a creative piece I found lying around in the net;). For more detailed info hit: http://www.random-good-stuff.com/2008/12/05/diy-iphone-airplane-holder/

This piece of high-tech is the invention of a tired traveller who came with the brilliant idea of using a barf-bag to hold its iphone and watch a movie. One cannot help but wonder why on earth didn’t that came to my mind before? But will definitively put this one into practice for the next trip.

Please note that you can also adjust the viewing angle by simply adjusting the bottom fold.

Priceless!

Only remark I would like to quote is “Make sure that you are using an unused bag though.”

Cheers!

-P

Midnight thoughts before bed

Today is just one of those days when you go to bed and can’t manage to fall asleep. Maybe the many things I am dealing with at the time and some pre-exam stress. Brain seems to be wondering around instead of getting some rest.

Just got me to some thinking though of how it would be if I actually had stayed home instead of going to Norway. How certain decisions come clearer with time and how only after a certain time you come to understand their real impact on your life.

Coming here to Scandinavia has been an incredible experience I cannot even start to describe. Besides making so many new friends and finding myself a nordic girlfriend whom I love so much ;), I have been able to learn endless life lessons in such little time.

But all of these things came at a price, one that somedays seems to have been steeper than others. Leaving my family behind and friends on grad. year wasn’t easy. Nor leaving a girlfriend. I mean my life was pretty good at the time being, and I was definitively enjoying it. Leaving for Norway I only see it as a kinda reward. But tonight I cannot help wonder how things would have been given the option hadn’t been there.

I missed many of my close friends for leaving. I now guys, I SUCK AT KEEPING IN CONTACT! I know I am horrible at it. It is something I have only learned with time and really regret not having done much about it while being in Norway. But so many things were happening to me at the time that I could hardly keep track of them, even worse think about stuff happening outside the little “Flekke Bubble”

I cannot deny that I still remember and think about all of those good times we had, and smile everytime one comes to mind. And I think that it is precisely that what I want to share with all of you who know me and read this post. That is that even though I might not very often keep in contact with you, but that I think about the memories and good times we’ve had and I am really grateful for all of those. And that I know that deep inside true friends stay the same no matter how much time goes by. That is something I can say after meeting Nico here in Cph a couple months ago. And btw, Nico, thank you so much for being the first one to drop by and visit, cannot imagine how much it meant to me.

So it is five years almost here in Scandinavia and time keeps flying. I want to conclude this post briefly by saying that I hope I can meet any of tou soon enough and talk good old times as well as catch up over some good beer/coffee/maybe skype? 😉

Some nice pics I just had around and got me thinking today about loads of good memories.

Cheers to you my friends! Really miss you all and hope to see you around soon.

Great weekend all of you guys!

Sarah Palin’s Greatest Hits

One more reason to be happy about Obama’s victory. Jeez, doesn’t it remind you of good ol’ W?

Have a great weekend everyone!

-p

Gravity

Just when I thought I had finally nailed quite a nice tone and some rather well rounded playing for this song, I remembered to check this video for some more inspiration. To make it simple, it put me right back to trying and learn the song again when I saw how damn impressive Mayer’s solo playing is. I hit the notes, but the embelishment is nothing even close, regardless I’ve worked hard at it. Guess the upload of it will have to wait until I feel I have gotten something out of this video into my playing.

Gravity @ Macworld 2007

This second video is a wild improvisation to Soul of Mischief, again by the same man. It really has this jazzy/bluesy groove going on. It’s just great.

JM Soul of Mischief Improv.

Sorry I don’t write much more than about music and guitars, but lately all I am doing is studying and taking care of Mango (dog)… I have like 5 exams coming up and so it is quite tough to handle all of the studying within 2 weeks and then the exams in 1. So there is not much more interesting going on if you get my drift. The high-point of the day is the moment I can get my guitar, jam and space out.

Cheers and Peace Out – P

Some more cartoons

A short post.

Some more genious cartoon strips from Wulffmorgenthaler.com

Have a great weekend!

It Might Get Loud

Here are some videos on one documentary I am dying to watch. It Might Get Loud. A documentary going through the history of electric guitars and music itself. Here a small (beautiful) extract:

“The electric guitar has dominated popular music for the last half century. Anyone who has ever plugged into an amp understands its power. So does the average stadium crowd. But if you have too much exposure to amateurs, you might forget the incredible range of expression that the creation pioneered by Les Paul can achieve in the hands of masters.”

The documentary features Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, three of the most talented and distinguished guitar players in history. All due to their different approaches to music, and the generations they have captured through their playing.

Here I leave some videos covering a really interesting interview with The Edge (U2). It’s seriously crazy the kind of sounds this guy can do with some delay, a Vox AC30 and a reversed Herdim pick.

The Edge and his first Guitar – Gibson Explorer

The Endless Arsenal – envy of all guitar owners….

The Edge and Echo

Between Hendrix and Angels

This is a post to present you with two of the most beautiful guitar tunes ever composed. Both of course, written by one of the greatest musical genius of all times, namely James Marshall Hendrix, better known as Jimi Hendrix. Not only regarded as the best guitar player that ever lived, Hendrix has left an irrepressible legacy that still nowadays inspires all people alike.

The first song “Little Wing” comes from the album Axis: Bold as Love, the second record released by The Jimi Hendrix Experience. This song has been covered by many (great) artists, yet the best version of it remains this next one:

The Jimi Hendrix Experience- Little Wing

The second song “Angel” was released after Jimi’s death (70). From one of the original lyric compositions written by Hendrix, this song appears to be a sequel to Little Wing. The original title seems to have been: My Angel Catherina (Return of Little Wing).

Jimi Hendrix – Angel

Hope you have enjoyed these tunes and maybe got to hear something you’ve been maybe missing on 😉 ? I know myself that I only started listening to Hendrix approximately one year ago, because until then I used to think it was way too much noise. How wrong I was. I simply needed some more guidance and time to really appreciate his music and his technique. You slowly discover that a vital part of his characteristic playing and tone was that loudness and the raging sounds!

Without much more to add, besides encouraging you to get hold of one of his albums, I’ll go back to listening to these tunes again.

Peace & Out! -P

Fall is Here

First of all, I just want to thank my good friend Suan for her reply on the last post about Internet-bitching. I most definitively agree with her opinion on accountability. But you can read further on the following link:

https://pablohc.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/one-on-internet-bitching/#comments

Regarding other matters, I can tell you that working with a proper cold in your system is not fun, and that delivering mail today was quite tough for that reason. Nevertheless, I had quite a nice appreciation of the European fall in its entire splendor. This time of year always goes away so fast, that you barely have time to really enjoy it. It is also so windy and chilly, that especially when you go in your bike, it is not much fun. But today it was a rather better day, where I could enjoy the beautifulness streets of Frederiksberg (the county where I work with the Post), one of the “poshest” neighborhoods in Denmark really.

Here is a quick snapshot I managed to take with my phone so you get an idea of how things are starting to look now.

I am considering getting a tattoo, and I don’t know what to do about it. These are some Ideas I have right now as to the designs. I really don’t know what to do about it, you know, the fact that you are binded to it can be quite annoying after a couple of years. Maybe that’s why I am considering getting the small one first, since that is something I quite like and is not that attention-seeking or too much kinda thing.

To maintain the YouTube musical tradition, I would like to post a video from a great Canadian artist, Feist. The rhythm of this song is just so catchy, and so smooth. Listen yourself, and enjoy!

Have a great Sunday!

Peace & Out! -P