PixlBit

BaD Day 15 Song 15

Charlie Parker – Kim

 

Senior year of high school I went to Drum Major Camp where college drum majors teach the new folks, and some returners how to be a decent Drum Major. Anyways I spent a week at this camp at a college and the people were really cool and one of them brought this Charlie Parker CD. Up until this point I only knew of a handful of saxophonists and Charlie wasn't one of them. This was the first time I listened to Kim and it blew my mind how insanely good it was. I loved playing my sax as fast as possible and this song was a challenge. The beginning starts off with what I saw as a normal pace and then BOOM saxophone crazy kicks in. Years later I finally tracked down the sheet music and I tried my best to try and play this work. I haven't touched my saxophone in years but if I tried hard and practiced, I could be maybe play sections of the song correctly. Even thinking about trying to play it I am out of breath. Such an awesome piece.

 

The Special Tuesday Quick Hits!

 Where Did Chris Go?

So last week I took a trip to the Bay Area to watch my cousin get hitched. Instead of driving the 8-10 hours from my little piece of Southern California to a town named Santa Rosa, which is passed San Francisco, we took a puddle jumper which is only a one hour and 30 minute flight. The only drawback to this flight is that flying into SFO is bumpy as S**T and that was the first and only time I thought about using that little bag in the seat pocket.

Before we took off this was my bag full of goodies

 

Since I was going to be gone for about five days I went with a slimmed down bag of goodies. I left my everyday laptop and went with my mini laptop (I didn't use it), I brought my GoPro (didn't use), along with an iPad, various cables, power strip, the 3DS XL, and the camera. The bag was a lot lighter because the mini laptop doesn't weigh anything.

We got to the local airport at 4:30am and TSA wasn't ready yet. By 5am everything was open and we got to use the swanky terminal.

 

I think these were courtesy phones but when have you seen phones with TV screens? Also one had a couple of USB ports. Anyways by 6am we were in a normal sized airplane and off to our next destination.

This is a random mountain I saw during the flight.

 

So yeah that landing into SFO is a doozy and I'm not a fan. Anyways that is one crazy airport and after a stop at a local pancake spot we were off to play tourist on the way to the hotel. During this time there was no rain, so we got to be full on tourists outside of the City and checking out what's going on, on the other side of the bridge.

 

The Golden Gate. I've been through the city a couple of times but I've always dug going over this bridge. I don't think I could ever walk across the bridge but props to the folks who do that, AND ride their bikes across.

We stopped in Tiburon, and played tourist there. We were going to hit this local ice cream spot but they were closed for the season so we hit another candy shop and walked around being all touristy. From the edge of the water you could see San Francisco, and Alcatraz. On the way back to the car I snapped this

 

The next day was all about family and wedding rehearsal along with the rehearsal dinner. It was at a local steakhouse in the area and the food was awesome. I couldn't finish the steak but to my credit every other person had a to go box.

 

We each had a huge slice of cheesecake for dessert (I forgot to take a picture of the steak) and yes that is a mini candy for scale. As we went back to the hotel for the night the rain decided to show up with a vengeance.

The next day was the wedding and nature decided to open up the skies to let some sun in. It was still a bit chilly but the wedding was awesome and everyone had fun. Of course the minute we got back to the hotel the rain decided to show up again.

Our final day we said goodbye to Santa Rosa (I miss the waffle bar they had at breakfast) and it was time to drive around the city for a bit to kill some time before the flight back to Southern California. Since it was raining we did most of the sight seeing from the car but it was nice to check out parts of the City we've never seen. It was interesting to see the zoo, SF State, and other spots where it looked like a completely different place.

We stopped at a lobster roll spot closed to the airport for lunch

 

The food was freaking amazing! This was my first lobster roll and I dig it. If I lived closer to the water, and there was a lobster roll spot...and I could afford eating it all the time, I would.

After lunch and some dessert it was time to return to SFO and do some airplane watching because we had two hours to kill before our flight.

 

That's me!

 

The Gate. In the Gate next to us was the Humboldt State Basketball Team. Since I had time to kill I walked around the airport a bit just exploring. I almost bought a Golden State Warriors T-Shirt, but settled on some candy and water.

 

The end of the rainbow was just outside the airport.

 

The view from the first row in the super tiny puddle jumper

 

That guy was a pilot hitching a ride home. Our stewardess was badass. She was an older lady who was funny, let everyone know where their seats were and even helped finding an overhead bin for me. My bin was full of airplane stuff because it was the front of the plane. Since we were heading home there was a current that would shave at least 30 minutes from our flight which is always a good thing.

 

Hello home!

 

So that is what I was up to. Sunday night I got to sleep in my comfy bed which is a plus but damn I do miss the waffle bar at the hotel.

 

Pickups

Games

These aren't games but I did need them for the 3DS

 

A couple of days before heading to the Bay Area I picked up a 32GB card from Walmart, and after price matching their own website I got it for $10. While at the hotel and half asleep I saw a deal on Slickdeals for a 64GB card and I do need the extra space I used one click on Amazon, fell asleep, forgot about it, until I got a notification on Monday that it was on it's way

 

I had to use a special program to format the card in a file format that the 3DS can read, but after that I am in business.

 

Music

While checking Save Ferris' Discography last week I saw that they released a new EP. It isn't the original lineup, its the lead singer Monique Powell and a new lineup (think Guns N'Roses when Axel and bunch of different dudes toured) but it's new music. I have to say that it doesn't have that Save Ferris sound, but I do like the first track. More on this Friday.

Alright Pixlpeeps, sorry this is late but I've been busy getting back into the grove.

 

That's all for now, more tomorrow!

-Chris