I wrote my college entrance exam.

[bill]

So i have pretty much been concentrating on going to college for the last while. i have not had much time for the internet . stuff has been a pretty wierd go and there is tons of stuff i still need to do. its a battle. so last week i had scheduled my entrance exams. i did not study at all and i only have a adult basic education diploma.
i spent the better half of the morning scrambling around trying to find a dictionary i went to three stores to find one. when i arrived at the college i found they had dictionaries provided
i sat patiently and waiting for the test to begin i hit a button on the bloody mouse that voided the first question.
they said the test was adaptive and well once it began i found myself in some kind of vertigo panic attack moment. i was pretty much locked up.
fifty minutes for fifty questions. dont do good enough you gotta write a three page essay before you leave and well i was thinking halfway through the test i was going to be in for a long day.
i mean one dude finished in about ten minutes and was out the door shaking hands and all that stuff.
i plugged aways and finished third . i thought great i for sure have got a long day ahead. some of the passages i had to read were so crazy and odd. i was seriously worried. i sat and waited to be collected from the room anticipating a c minus or worse. to my surprise tho when i was collected the first thing they asked was if i was sure i never had any kind of college or university education.
i knew at that point i did quite well. even tho i missed the first question due to my stupidity i managed to get a 90 percent grade on my entrance exams. they said i could take any courses they offered at the college with the mark i got and that i should do quite well. i had been planning to do the community social services worker course but now i am considering maybe taking the full meal deal and going for at least a ba in psychology .
its a weird time for me i mean part of me is terrified of returning to school the other part of me is really excited i am not sure how things are going to pan out in the long run but who is.
i plan to take electronic music courses in conjunction with my degree. of course i know i will have no problems with that either.
i have also recently received a ipad in exchange for some work i did at a studio . i have been experimenting with it sending midi via wifi and blue tooth. its pretty cool and i am looking forward to exploring this further.
no boxes in any of the thrifts up here lately. there is a rumor now they are no longer gonna allow them in any of the stores up here due to several lawsuits connected with fires stemming from faulty items purchased from thrift stores.
people are turning aways from the recyling depots now and i have started to see electronics sitting on the curb a lot more in my area free for the taking. no blasters tho.
i still get the od cool score from the thrift stores but they are few and far between now. so many people have turned it into a business there is pickers out there like crazy now.
well thats about it for that update. hope you guys are all doing great.

 

[oldskool69]

Hang in there with the school thing Bill. Sounds like your serious about it so good luck.

As far as the boomers (or other electronics) it's sad with the lawsuits. You live in Canada correct? I can tell you here in the 'States (and definitely Alabama) you would stand a snowballs chance in hell trying to sue a thrifty over vintage electronincs.

It is an inherent, and should obviously be known, risk one takes when utilizing older electronincs which may or may not be damaged or modified. The extent of most of these thrifts or consignment shops knowledge is whether the item turns on or off. Period.

It is sad that one can go and buy something from a thrifty or consignment that is 20-30+ years old and feel like they have warranty rights as if it were new. And then sue accordingly.

We all take a risk buying used items, let alone items as old or older than most of our kids, some members here on this site, or for a possible few, grandkids.

 

[bill]

its really strange how the electronics sections have just vanished at the thrift stores. i mean its a weird weird thing.
the last real score was back in january i think it was that i walked out of a thrift store with a gorgeous sansui 8080 for 35 bucks. i am glad i got in when i did and was able to scoop a lot of really beautiful things for next to nothing. its weird thow the thrift store up here has come to serve a different purpose. i mean it used to be a place someone who was less fortunate could go and buy a tv for cheap or a radio for cheap. now what do those people do i mean if your poor you cant buy a new lcd tv. its just weird man.
yep up here in canada you can be held responsible for selling something that burns down a house. i think tho they are using that as a excuse because i believe whole heartedly electronics are being sold by thrift stores by the pound now.
they are shooting themselves in their own feet as far as i can see. i mean i wont donate anything to the thrift shops anymore. from now on it goes on the curb with a free sign on it.
yep i am serious about going to school. i have a lot to prove to myself and others and i intend to do extremely well in school. i am excited about the future and looking forward to new adventures. i am still doing music stuff i recently was contacted by one of the hottest up and coming vancouver bands who asked me to help them work on there sound a bit. the offer of collaboration is always the best form of a flattery a artist can offer another artist.

 

[Fatdog]

Bill, congratulations on doing so well on your entrance exam. We never had any doubt though.

 

[baddboybill]

Bill, congratulations on doing so well on your entrance exam. We never had any doubt though.

 

[bill]

thanks guys !!!!!!

 

[hollyrockets]

Bill:

Not sure what part of Canada you're from, but Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA has a pretty FANTASTIC program for electronic and analog recording, effects processing, mixing, mastering, and the whole shebang.

Neat thing about it is there are no tests. AND you take 180 classes of WHATEVER you want and you get a bachelor of arts degree. When applying for a job you say, "Bachelor of arts with a concentration in.... X" Whatever it is you concentrated in.

You are graded on the quality of your work and how you interact with the class, which is pretty much how the real world works.

They are one of the few colleges left that teaches audio recording on both tape and digitally. There are also a lot of really cutting edge technologies as well as old highly desirable analog mixers. A mic designer is one of the main faculty there, too.

You'll do well. I've been taking classes for years due to having kids young and working full-time. Act confident and open-minded. If you're worried at all, communicate with your faculty early. Also, keep in mind there are some really bad profs out there. Don't let it get you down too much, especially don't let a bad prof issue influence you to quit. Sadly, as in work and life, assclowns are everywhere in the system occasionally taking forms of other students, admin, and faculty.

Just keep PLUGGING AWAY. You'll get a lot more out of school as an experienced adult than you would have before. You have examples and experiences to draw from when your being taught new concepts.

Best Wishes!

Holly

 

[bill]

I love olympia holly. i really loved doing shows there back in the day i was touring with the bands always a great town to visit . so many great record shops. i remember one night we played a show and it was so hot we thought we would freaking melt. then all at once a breeze from the water came through the place and it was so surreal. the analog synth that had crapped out due to the heat came back to life and we finished up our set . the weirdest thing about olympia is when we played there the police rode up on their bikes and just offered to watch our stuff while we loaded in. that would never happen up here in canada. i mean you hear what a great place canada is and how nice it is here ,but honestly i dont think this place is what it used to be. i mean so much has changed and well to be honest i freaking hate it here now.
i dont think i would concentrate on music production in school tho i mean i am pretty confident with what i do now and i am still evolving. i do miss working with younger people in the context of performing production and promotion ect ect. i doubt i would ever run a label of any size again either. i mean its just so saturated. this all being said at some point in the future i could see myself being more involved in the historic side of electronic music. really these days i am more passionate about traditional forms of electronic music and performing pieces centered around incidental fractal music than anything else.
that college sounds amazing tho, olympia has seen some great acts pop up over the last few years. i mean i seem to remember the gossip being out of there and k records being based there as well.
oh i can imagine there are bad profs out there i mean its the same with anything else. i dont have kids or plan to and really theres no reason for me not to give it a go.
i will miss doing music full time but i am not really enjoying the matrydom that comes along with releasing art records and performing in bands to far ahead of their time for their own good. its nice to have the respect and admiration of some of my influences. i got to meet all kinds of people from all kinds of walks of life over the years.
while i will keep working on my sound music for now is going to be scaled down a bit. i am keeping all my analog keyboards and experimenting with new devices which is fun.
i have tho sold all the guitars i had for people to use when they would come over and all the guitar amps most of the mics and stuff as well.
i am done with the band thing and i am done with the pop/rock format of music for now. its not to say i will never return to it but i am ready for new challenges and the changes that come along with them.

 

[hollyrockets]

Oh, you know, I was skimming through the post, and missed the social services/psychology part. That's really cool. Evergreen is pretty strong in those areas, too. That's why I like it. I can take really serious classes like my last one, Public Law while taking electronic music and it all counts. Pretty cool.

I love school and get a lot out of it. If I could be a professional student, I would. Gotta schlep it to the prison (for real. I work at a prison) to pay the bills.


Glad to have a job these days, though.

Holly

 

[bill]

i am shooting for professional student. in the end all you own is all you know