Madness!!

When I applied to OIART before acceptance they give you plenty of warning as to how much if a commitment it was and how it essentially consumes you. Also Stefan who had taken the program two years prior would constantly say how dedicated he was in that year. I must say I wasn't really feeling it until this week. We have 11 courses and the exams for the courses were only spread out between 5 days. My life this past week has been really messed up, I stay up studying all night write two exams a day nap for a bit after and come home and study for the next two. With all that said I love it! I am having the time of my life here and wouldn't trade it for the world! In the small amount of free time, I am writing a bunch of new music! Check out the Myspace if you get a chance and let me know what you think :) This weekend I am off but I am going to be soooo busy doing production sound/editing/scoring a film with Cristina for the 48 Hour Flick Fest I should be studying for my afternoon computers midterm!

Thanks For Visiting

Listening to:

Postal Service B-Sides

JP

Empty Your Mugs

Time for another post.. I am trying to be more diligent with my posts but let's face it, I like to procrastinate. I am just on lunch at school and forget to bring one so I will blog to forget about my hunger. The last four weeks have just flown by! Every so often our teachers will make recommendations of extra curricular activities to aid in our learning.. ie. Volunteering for festivals and shows, certain movies that have been acknowledged as having good sound design aspects etc. One in particular that I took a liking to was a project the BBC is heading called "Save Our Sounds". It's a site where people from all over the world send in audio clips of sounds that they want preserved for future generations and give them a chance to maybe experience a sound that will no longer be around. The first thing that came to mind when I was going through the sound bank was that awful sound that we all cringe when we hear.. Dial Up Internet :s I recommend you check it out and think of some sounds to send in! http://bit.ly/nwOF7 I have been talking with the Producer of the whole project and she asked for my help with getting more funding for the project! If you're reading this please tell other people about the site and see if we cant get more sounds sent in from the Canadian front.

I have been writing a lot more and just posted a couple new songs to myspace http://www.myspace.com/johnpatricklondon The one track is title empty your mugs because it has been fueling me lately and it seemed like an appropriate title. I think the only person that loves coffee more or as much as me is Crustina haha god I miss her!!

Currently Listening To:

Dntel - Dumb Luck

-JP

Back to School

So things have been a bit crazy since I've gotten to London. Classes started and I haven't really been able to concentrate on anything other than that. Today was my fist kind of day off.. I had a 9 - 11 am class and now I'm off for a couple of hours til I have to go back for an 8-11pm lab.. To me this is considered a day off. We have been introduced to a lot of avenues of audio that I really didn't think were possible outside of the obvious. In classes like acoustics were learning the physics of how and why sound travels. Math were learning how MIDI, computer programs, and synthesizers are all programed through binary. Of course on the other side of all of that we're learning the practical aspect of it and how to apply it.. All super exciting stuff!! To me anyway. One of my teachers who's class I seem to enjoy the most recommended we take a listen to the movie 'Wall.E' and note the importance of the audio and the creative use of it in the movie. The genius behind that movie was Ben Burtt A very famous sound designer who was also behind the audio for 'Star Wars' and 'Indiana Jones'. Right now I am working on a submission for a global project that the BBC is working on called Save Our Sounds. Its a project to preserve sounds that future generations may never get a chance to hear or experience. I'll post my submission when I finish it.

So I pretty much forgot that this blog existed and I haven't really had a use for it since I came home from Vancouver. Having a cup of coffee and writing a blog go hand in hand... I have felt kind of weird this whole summer, and I think the reason is that I am so excited to start school in the fall I want the summer to be over. This is a feeling that I'm not used to. I have a lot of ideas for how I want next year to go but the truth is I have no idea what to expect or how its going to go down. Devan and I have been tossing around a lot of ideas that we hope to get off the ground this fall which I will keep you posted on. Right now I am finishing up the a mix/remix of 'smooth criminal' for a good friend Sarah Catalfo. She is a very talented designer based out of Toronto and is hosting her first show this Thursday entitled 'Bandits & Bows' http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=106404395228 I am very bummed out that I am missing it, if you're in Toronto I promise you wont be disappointed. So my coffee is almost done so I will wrap this up, check back soon because lots is happening!!

JP

Waterfalls att

Kady is six years old and can eat as much as I do! She ate a 12 inch pizza sub yesterday haha

BBQ after surfing

First morning in tofino

Soooo Stoked!!

Moving day!!

Brothers

<3

This was the coldest water I have ever felt!!

There were signs everywhere with peoples names who died jumping off of this suspension bridge into the water.

Inukshuk

Almost fell in for this picture

Whistler

I feel like all I have been doing for the last week or so have been hiking to different waterfalls and taking pictures in front of them as you will be able to see from my pictures I'm uploading today. I have been so bad at blogging because with my sisters move I haven't had internet. I am sitting in a coffee shop and they handed me a 15 minute internet ticket. I am trying to update this as quick as possible... I am pretty sure it has been longer than 15 minutes though. So much has been going on, my brother got married on Monday so we hopped back on the Ferry and headed to the Island to celebrate. Went out for dinner and met her family, they all live in Courtenay. There Isn't much to say about Courtenay, it reminded me a lot of a small town like Essex or Belle River. I am in Whistler now and it's actually a lot of fun because we are staying here for my dad's municipality conference and we are staying in his hotel and sneaking in all of the banquets and getting free food and drinks (keep that one between you and me though). We leave tomorrow for Calgary to visit my aunt and we fly out from there on Wednesday.

Fiesta night

Rapids

Enjoying the ice cold glacier fresh water

Notice the fog in the back, we were surfing in that the previous day. Apparently you can still get a sunburn through the fog

They had no water so we took cups of water and poured it on them the save them all

Hidden beach

Kate

Wet suits leave nothing to the imagination

We made eye contact, it was then I knew that he wanted to eat me

"you never go full retard"

Bored on the Ferry

Take a good hard look at the motha fuckin boat!

My aunt works on yachts in Florida and this was bigger than any yacht I have ever seen!!

Ferry line

Moving night

Last sunset at old apartment

Tofino Surf Weekend

So I don't really know how to start this one. The last 4 days have been crazy, starting with Thursday evening we rented a van and from 1 pm to 12 am. We were so tired afterward we passed out in there new house amidst the mountains of boxes. They next day was filled with errands to prepare for our big weekend. One of which included picking up booze for the trip which me made the mistake of doing first. There are a lot of homeless people in the Vancouver and when the doors of the BC liquor store open all of these homeless people are fighting to be first in line to return there cans and buy a 40 of the cheapest thing they can find. After a long day of errand we had to head to Horse Shoe Bay to catch the Ferry. Friday evening is madness at the ferry terminal. There are sooo many cars all trying to get over to the island for the weekend. We just miss the sailing of the 5pm wait for the 7pm only to find out its full and then after hours of waiting make it on to the 9pm (it really wasn't bad though because Geoff and Crystals VW is equipped with a fridge, bed, and electricity. So while everyone else was sweating in there cars waiting we were lounging in the Westy drinking Heineken and having burgers. The first thing I noticed about the 9pm ferry is that it was the ferry for all of the rowdy people who slacked off and waited till the last minute to take the ferry, or they were in line with us for 4 hours getting good and liquored up. There were a fair amount of drunks on the ferry by the time we set sail. The ferry was about an hour and a half and then we arrived in Nanaimo and from there went to Port Alberni for some rest. In the morning we took an awesome 3 hour drive through the mountains and at one point slammed on the brakes (good thing we replaced them last week) and pulled off the road to go see a bear. Seeing a bear in the wild is way scarier than seeing a bear on grouse mountain in captivity. We watched him nose around for some food and heading back on our way. We got into Tofino around noon and went to 'inner rhythm surf shop' to grab some gear. From the first few minutes there you can tell this is a surf town, there are so many dread locks and everyone is really tanned and has naturally blond hair from being in the sun. The owner of the shop tipped us off to a more secluded beach where we wont have to fight for a lot of the waves. Now I didn't quite understand the need for the wetsuit until we got in the water. This was not southern California surfing, the water was sooo cold. It's really hard to describe surfing to someone, I will try my best though. When you start walking in the water the waves don't look that big, but once you are trying to fight your way away from the shore and you are getting rocked but these ice cold waves you have a different opinion of them. Before you know it you've been out in the water 45 minutes and haven't caught a single wave, you have just been getting the shit kicked out of you for and buckets of ice water thrown on you. So you sit on your board and try to keep balance and just watch the waves, they tend to come in sets so you want to watch for the first one and find out where it is going to break (start to curl over). After the first one, you pick your wave commit to it and start paddling and wait for it to pick you up and you pop up and hope for the best. Whether you get up successfully or not you find yourself back close to shore and you hop on your board and paddle back out. I was so unbelievable sore by the end of it. The highlight of it all was when Crystal, Geoff and myself were sitting on our board waiting for the next set and not 10 feet away from us a giant seal pops his head out of the water and I swear he was smiling at us and wanted to play. He hung out for about 2 minute doing flips and showing off to us, he reminded me a lot of a dog. After watching him for a bit I briefly got scarred when the thought of a giant orca coming up and devouring this little seal came to mind, fortunately most of the orca's have migrated past here all ready. We lost track of time and were 2 hours late with our rentals so we booked it out of there as fast as we could (it is soo hard to take a wet suit of, it almost becomes a part of you after a while) We found a place to park the van and went to a grocery store to get some food to cook. After being in salt water for a few hours you feel like you have been munching on a bag of salty salty popcorn and you are so dehydrated, we bought some steaks and actually realized that it was salted pork once we started eating it... bad idea. The next day we went back to the same beach and just explored at low tide. There is an entire civilization of anemenies, crabs, starfish, and tadpoles that live on these rocks and during high tide are safe but when low tide comes need to hide from seagulls, eagles, and other predators (people). We carefully walked along the rocks and got to see a ton of cool things that I never knew existed. At one point Geoff was walking and got squirted in the leg, he looked at us puzzled as if one of us had squirted him. We found a field of these hold with squishy anemenies in inch into them. When you reach down and poke them he squirt a stream of water out about 3 feet, needless to say we had a good time with them. We took the long winding road through the mountains back to Nanaimo to catch the ferry back. Stopping a a grocery store to prepare for the long ferry line. This time we decided on fiesta night. We made a seven layer nacho dip and had beer with lime in it, and after played Frisbee in the parking lot. I was burnt, had sand and salt water everywhere and was struggling to keep my eyes open. Best weekend ever!

The food here has been so awesome! We went and had dinner on a patio a few nights ago at a restaurant called "Havana" They had mojito's on special! There menu was really modern but everything had a cool twist to it. My veggie burger had a avocado relish on it, which was so delicious. I have been trying to go to a new coffee place every morning and so far my favorite has been "Turks" they serve imported Milano coffee and it is so awesome! When I drink it I think of in pineapple express when he compares smoking it to killing a unicorn, thats like Turks coffee... Its so good that its almost a shame to drink it. I think I might go get a cup this morning!

Food

NOM NOM NOM

Veggie burger with sweet fries, beet salad with feta, and fish and chips

Twins

Hands down the best cup of coffee I have ever had!

This bear reminded me of Keesha

Grouse Mountain has gross coffee

Log roll

So much Bro'in down

Plaid and Sawdust everywhere! You would be proud Tracey

1/3 of Vancouver's drinking water

Grouse Mountain 3000ft Gondala

Best van ever

So I dont know much about cars but I don't think this is good

Rocky loves Emily