Ian Benedict

I haven’t really had much of a chance to write anything now with school and work in full force.

I did have my Kendo grading a couple of weeks ago. I was granted the rank of 4th kyu (Yay!). This rank is basically one of the beginner ranks in Kendo, so it’s nothing to be too proud of. I’m just happy I can finally wear the armour now. Wearing it for the first time, I was really disoriented because the headpiece was on really tight and it also cuts off peripheral vision. Additionally, the gloves provide almost no protection for the wrists, so I last left practice with my right wrist in a shade of purple.

The guitar playing is going well. I’ve been playing around a lot with my ZOOM console and have been getting tones very close to some of my favourite bands. My bassist friend and I have finally starting jamming again this year, and with a drummer coming soon, we’ll be able to get some good play time going in the summer.

But yeah, other than that, I haven’t been doing much besides school and work. The mental fatigue has been setting in for a while now, so I tend to leave my Sundays free to sleep in the entire day. At least I’ll catch a little break this upcoming weekend when I head up to a cottage with some friends.

Alright, so exams are finally over (YAY!), however I start my full-time job next week (….) so there’s not that much room for relaxation. As well, I start summer classes the week after next, so I’ll probably be even more swamped with work in the summer than the past semester. As for plans for this week, I have a bunch of things that have been on my to do/play/watch list for a long while now.

I picked up this neat little ZOOM G7.1ut multi-effects console to spice up my guitar playing a bit. It also has a built-in USB interface to make connectivity with the PC a breeze. I’ve played around a bit with some of the settings and parameters during exam week, but nothing too much into detail. I figure that once I can play fairly well, I’ll at least have an outlet to record my playing and post it online.

Other than that, not really much has been going on. Kendo’s going well, with my grading coming up this Saturday. I did happen to catch Harold & Kumar 2 last week. It was pretty good, but I’m not sold on whether it was better than the first one. On that note, I’ll leave you with the hilarious poem Kumar recited to the girl he likes (I guess this would be a spoiler, so read at your own risk):

I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three

The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine

For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic

I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality

When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three

As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer

We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands

Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed

- David Feinberg