Saturday, March 15, 2008
Spring Break 08: Music Chicago
i’m not even a guitarist, but this place was heckuvalotta fun!
My friend travis and I took a two day vacation to Chicago during spring break. We were both sticking around Grand Rapids, but we didn’t want to stay here all break. I wanted to stay to get some stuff done with drums, and travis was staying so he could get flown out to NYC for final round interviews at Goldman Sachs. The while trip was kind of spontaneous and it resulted from a conversation I had with my friend laura. She lives out in Chicago and was going home for the break, and she said we were welcome to visit her and stay with her family. So we took her up on the offer. Besides visiting her and hanging out with her family, we also had some pressing music agendas. First, we were getting a tour of a studio in downtown Chicago called comma music, along with its sister production facility particle audio. Second, we needed to try out some guitar amps, and Chicago guitar shops have a much better selection than guitar center in grand rapids. With our itinerary loosely planned out, we headed off 2 hours behind schedule on Monday morning. But we weren’t really late, because we don’t have any deadlines on vacation.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
A Calvin Art Show
a very full house
i’ve never been to an art show before, let alone a calvin art show where many of my friends were displaying their work. when i first walked in the door, i didn’t get very far. i kept bumping into people i knew, and it was fun catching up with various friends. half an hour later, i got to the artwork, and i loved what i saw. being someone who works in the creative industry creating digital art, being at an art gallery was like being in a whirlwind of inspiration. there was so much to see: clothing, pottery, photography, paintings, illustrations, and more! i won’t bore you with my interpretations of the artwork; who wants to hear them anyway, especially when they aren’t even close to the artist’s original intention? instead, i’ll dedicate this post to photos from the show. click read more to see the photos, and for you facebook viewers, click view original post first, then click read more. enjoy!
My Blackberry Turned Into an iPhone
I just bought an iPhone yesterday, which is sweet, but the sweetest part is that it only cost me around $20 after lots of ebaying and negotiating with at&t. I did nothing illegal; I just utilized some of the bargaining skills I acquired on the streets of hong kong. The fact that wireless providers really want new customers, and the fact that sales clerks at cell phone stores work on commission also helped my cause. Anyway, I’m looking forward to using this nifty gadget to fulfill my blogging needs. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been blogging more than usual, and that was because I could blog from anywhere with my blackberry. I won’t be blogging any less now that I have an iPhone. Check back often, and I hope my life can be of interest to you!
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Chatting with an Alumni
I got a call from steve visser, calvin graduate from years back and now owner of New2You Shoppe, an upscale thrift store by calvin dedicated to reducing tuition at Grand Rapids Christian schools through their profits, and he wanted me to help fix a mac computer he was trying to sell. I’d met him before shopping at his store, and he’d given me some incredible deals (it might’ve helped that I’d known his daughter, who lived on my sister floor), so I gladly agreed, figuring that I could finish up some reading as I reinstalled an operating system. Anyway, he picked me up from my house, and on the drive there we chatted about how calvin people seemed to get married very quickly. Apparently, the situation today is very similar to what life was like during his career at calvin. We joked about how calvin sends out advertisements to upperclasspersons for its premarital programs, which seems to be calvin’s way of nudging us in the side, whispering “are you engaged yet?” into our ears. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad calvin offers these programs. We were just joking around.
Auditioning for 5th and 6th Graders
My friend jill and I got an email from mars hill saying that they were looking for a rhythm section for their 5th and 6th grade band to finish out the school year. With Jill being a bassist, and with me being a drummer, we thought we’d audition for the spot. After rainchecking due to terrible weather conditions, we finally made it over there to meet with jim keat. After fielding some questions and talking about our musical journeys thus far, we headed over to the shed (that’s the name for the sanctuary) for a quick jam session. I found it a little strange to sit behind the same drumkit that I stare at every sunday. Maybe it’s just me, but I think musicians like to watch the person who plays their instrument during music worship.
We did the audition thing, going through a few songs. The sound system wasn’t setup, so I couldn’t really hear jim on the acoustic, nor jill on the bass. I just kinda watched and guessed at what was going on, which is never a good feeling, but it still happens every so often. I think every performing band has had monitoring issues at some time, and you just have to deal with it. That is, unless you purchase thousands of dollars’ worth of sound equipment and get personal monitoring systems for everyone. An unlikely scenario, but I can still dream.
So now we’re both waiting to hear back from Jim. If we get gig, we’ll be playing biweekly with biweekly practices. Not a huge time commitment, but fun nonetheless.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I’m In A Commercial!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Romeo and Juliet with the GR Symphony
my chinese professor is playing violin in there somewhere
The grand rapids symphony has a special deal for college students: on certain evenings, college students can get in for only $5. My housemate ian went a lot last year, so when my friends invited me to go, I took the opportunity to check it out. For once, I actually have some time for this stuff because I’m not in any religion classes. Because they’re so challenging, I always put double the amount of effort into religion classes. Even then, it’s not a guaranteed A.
The ironic part about the evening was that ian couldn’t make it because he had to do homework. For once I could go because of lack of homework, and ian couldn’t go because of homework. A little bit of a role reversal there. I felt bad for him, but I also felt proud of him for putting so much effort into studying for his optics test. I hope his grade on the test reflects the amount of effort he put into studying for it!
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Too Cool for Snow Days
i walk down this street outside my house daily
We recently had a snow night, but not a snow day. According to our chaplain, Calvin’s last snow day was in the 70s. Why don’t we have snow days as often as other schools? Someone who worked for Calvin told me this…
Amongst calvin’s broad selection of core classes, some subjects have multiple sections. For instance, there’s Religion 121a, 121b, 121c, etc. Some sections meet on the even days of the week, while others meet on the odd days. If a prof teaches both even and odd sections of Religion 121, the prof will probably want to teach both sections at the same pace. That way, if there’s a test, and he uses the same test for both sections, teaching sections at the same pace ensures that one section won’t take the test 3 days early and have enough time to inform the other section about what questions are on the test. The system mitigates cheating, and that’s one reason why snow days are avoided. Makes sense right? Snow days would give one section a head start over the other.
So there you go. Just because cornerstone, hope, and grand valley have snow days doesn’t give calvin students an excuse to skip out. We’re more diligent than that ;)
A Balanced Diet
yum!
Sometimes parents wonder if you’re eating well, especially in college when most students are strapped for cash. At least mine do. So I thought I’d write a post reassuring my parents that I love cooking more than ever, and that eating is one of my favorite pasttimes. No worries mom, I won’t cut back on food to have save money for that $100 pair of louis vuitton-monogrammed socks. See, I’ve got my veggies (broccoli), meats (meatballs), and grains (spaghetti) packed into a single dish. Also, some kiwifruit lie in my fruit bowl just outside of the picture, so I’ve got my serving of fruits too. And I’m drinking a glass of water to fulfill my quota of 8 glasses a day. Now if only I get some exercise…
Monday, February 18, 2008
Rangeela
(almost) the entire int’l student body on stage
I think I saw the entire international student population at calvin today. I managed to grab a few photos with my blackberry, and I’m sorry that they’re not of the greatest quality. Until cell phones come with large glass lenses, photos will always look this terrible. But at least you get an idea of what I saw at rangeela!
this was my first rangeela. when i mention that to people, i usually get a response somewhere along the lines of “WHAT?!” i guess i’m expected to be either performing or watching if i’m an international student. sadly, that was never the case; usually something came up that pulled me away from the event. either that, or the tickets sold out before i could get to them. such was the case this year, but my next door blogging neighbor had extra tickets, so i got them from her.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Mars Hill Sermon: Rivalry
i know… blackberry photos don’t look so hot
I’ve been skeptical of short term missions, especially when the cost of the plane tickets alone could have done so much for the mission. But when Mars Hill explained that their short term missions to third world communities included analysis for generating long term solutions to water contamination and poverty - solutions such as chemical wells and microfinancing, I saw a bit of the business sense behind it. In a sense, the cost of the trips were like startup costs for a new business project. After all, consultation and meetings frequently fill the schedules of new business owners, right? I haven’t thought this through completely yet, and I still remain somewhat skeptical of short-term missions. However, its impact on people, especially those going on the trips, is certain.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Valentine’s Day
calvin pays for parties. that is, alcohol-free, responsible parties. initially, i was skeptical because it was a reimbursement grant with an application process, but after getting a personal email from the dean of student development, bob crow, about hosting a party, i decided to give it a shot. yeah, i did not expect mr. crow to invite me to host a party with calvin money. the invitation came after he apparently he heard a good report about our house from some of our neighbors. the head of calvin’s neighborhood relations department gave us and email, and then mr. crow followed it up shortly afterwards.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Blogging from a Blackberry
My laptop’s dead right now as I await a ram transplant, so I’m blogging from my new blackberry curve. I thought I’d give it a shot since I got the phone today after making the switch from verizon. The little keyboard types suprisingly efficiently, but I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do this. I’m hoping to somehow upload pictures from my blackberry, but that might be trickym we’ll see!
Sunday, February 10, 2008
I’m All In
i pulled the trigger. i quit my job working at Calvin’s digital studio, took my interim off, built a drum studio in my basement, and started teaching drums again. it’s been a while since i’ve taught (at least 3 years ago, when i was still in hong kong), and this time i’m taking it a lot more seriously. my time at the digital studio taught me the value of integrating media into an educational environment, so my drum studio doubles as a home theater, which i use for referencing useful videos and websites. i’ve got two students so far, and i’m looking to add six more by the end of april.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Happy Birthday Jesus!
“you’ve spent over 12 hours with my family!” that’s what kaitlyn said on christmas evening. she had invited me over to spend christmas with her family, and after a morning church service, lunch, gift swap, snacks, board game, and more eating, i had indeed spent the entire day with her extended family. in fact, now that i know what her family’s like, i wouldn’t have had christmas any other way. well, i take that back; if world peace were possible, that might’ve been a better christmas. but besides world peace, christmas with the hekstras was up there.
About Me
My life at Calvin College
Name:
Nehemiah Chu
Class of 2009
Hometown:
Hong Kong
Major: Rhetoric
Communications & Religion
| July 2008 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S | M | T | W | T | F | S |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Monthly Archives
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- Complete Archives
- Category Archives
Most recent entries
- Local Spotlight: Woodland Mall
- The Things That I Do
- Concert Stream: Dean Windemuller Live at the Four Friends Coffeehouse
- Behold, A Garden
- Free Concert + My 21st Birthday Celebration @ GR Downtown
- My Life Likes Taking Sharp Turns
- And That’s A Wrap!
- Happy Day of Birth Emily!
- Big Bin Studios
- Dance Guild
- Jazz Vespers
- Switchfoot and Emery at Calvinsi
- The Definition of Faith
- Battle of the Bands
- Double Duty with fifty6