blame it all upon my rosary

- Miriam and I went into NYC last night to take advantage of free train week for students and to see a favorite band of ours, Basement Band. B-ri got me into them during my first summer at camp and I've subsequently got Miriam into them. I saw them in Albany back in December or January and was quite stoked to see them again; they did not disappoint. A little flustered by the sound guy telling them they needed to start out right after setting up because they needed to be off within in 35 minutes the show started a little slow but built in huge momentum. They covered a Dylan song and rocked it. They also played a number of my favorites of theirs including "Charleston" which has some of the most amazing harmonies I've ever heard; with that song they completely sold the crowd who was filled with some of their bands and some to see bands playing later in the night. They end the night with a Fleetwood Mac cover (The Chain) in which Amal, their female vocalist was a dead ringer for Stevie Nicks. It was such a great show and tough work I imagine selling yourself to an audience in NYC but they did excellently. We are excited to see them again sometime soon. If I was a record exec, I'd sign them...NOW!
- Just finished up the first week of classes and it looks like it will be a good semester. I'm only taking 3 classes compared to the normal 4 to 5 because of the curriculum shift here and it should be great. I should be able to give more attention to each class than previously before. One of the classes involved creative writing which excites me, haven't done too much creative writing here outside of sermon prep.
- Youth group has begun to start up at Westfield which I am really excited about. I also started my other internship there working at their soup kitchen in Elizabeth. It is raw. I'll be posting more about it I am sure. But if you need any proof to refute Republicans who say the economy is not bad shape come along and you'll see they're lying. It is good work they do there and very much different from any soup kitchen I've been to before.