Das Trumpeter

Tonight was the big Stadtchor concert at the old school. Nailed the solo, or “trumpet,” as the Austrians call it. All of my good friends were there in the back row cheering me on. Andy and Chiara recorded the whole thing for me. Giorgi even made a nice sign for the whole choir, “You are [...]

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International Day of Climate Action

Here are some photos of our little Climate Change event this morning, courtesy of my friend Renalda Ludvika.

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The human sleeping pill

When I first arrived, I was quick to criticize professors for not being close to what I would consider “graduate level” instructors.  I’ve leveled off since then. I’ve actually been pretty reserved about my judgments. Until now. In hopes of preserving this man’s reputation, I will just refer to him as Pete. His course on [...]

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The Soloist, Part 2

Tonight was the second practice with the “Stadtchor” of Schlaining. It’s a pretty nice group of people, all of whom have been singing with the group for most of the past twenty or so years. It reminds me a bit of singing with the Community Choir when I was 18 or 19. You know, the [...]

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All about marijuana

Last month I spent a few days with my sister in Amsterdam, where I confirmed my suspicions about what happened to that poor city. I noted that the city had nearly completely devoted itself to the exploitation of marijuana and its other marketable commodity—prostitutes. Confirming this stereotype is the reaction from the WordPress blog statistics, [...]

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The Soloist

Last night, I went to practice with the Concentrum choir or the “Stadtchor” of Schlaining. They welcomed us back to school last week, as they always do. I happened to introduce myself to the choir director, who later invited me to join them for their Tuesday practices. I noted last week that I liked one [...]

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Small victories

If you’ve been following the entries in this blog, you’ll probably be aware of the bureaucratic mess the university is going through to meet the new Austrian requirements for accreditation. Some of the little things, for instance, are new rules that state that all professors must hold a PhD (which eliminates all of those who [...]

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Stereotypes about Californians

Most Oregonians would say they don’t like Californians. They don’t really know why, but I suppose it’s because they speed through our neighborhoods on their way to the next nearest city, or we just don’t spend enough time down there to understand them. I understand it’s a lot more complicated than that, but I think [...]

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The Ford Scorpio

For those of you who love cars, you’ll be happy to know that even though it’s ugly as shit, the Haus now actually has a decent car. It’s a mid-90s Ford Scorpio. It looks like grandma’s grocery car, but luckily (I think) this one has the old Cosworth V6 put in by Ford. It doesn’t [...]

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Full Circle

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  That’s how it goes, right? For those of us who are now the ”old” students here, I think we’ve come full circle. When I came here, I found myself in useless battles with the administration over accreditation information, railing against bad professors like Graeme McQueen and Johan [...]

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