Yes, I am a nerd...

...big whoop! Wanna fight about it?

It is no secret that I have a bit of a hard on for Star Wars. Every three weeks or so, Mike and I whisk ourselves to scenic Eloy, Az for a Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SWCCG) tournament. This game is similar to Magic: The Gathering (though much more complicated). After almost a year of composing decks that stand a chance against more seasoned veterans of the game, I think I may actually win a game or two.

I base this on the fact that Mike is excellent at deck construction. His decks have, in the past, absolutely destroyed me in what had to be record time. Because of this, I enlisted his help to make my decks better. With the exception of a few cards in each deck, he personally hand selected cards that would potentially obliterate any man sitting on the other side of the table...including him. Though I have yet to beat him, I have been consistently knocking his life forcde down to but a couple cards. Who knows...maybe when he and I run our practice games Friday night, I may actually defeat him.

If so, my jubilation will not come from beating my friend per se, but rather that if I do win, it will mean certain wins at the tournament. Considering I have only won 1 out of the last 11, some wins on Saturday will certainly be welcome. Reflections on the tournament will come in my next posting.

A bit of news on my friend Scott: He and his woman Melissa found out they are having a baby. So a congratulations to them!

Listen to the corn grow...

So in my chemistry lecture class today, my teacher taught us about what life on the farm in Iowa is like. This is a common subject of discussion (a one-sided discussion). We learned that the precocious were likened unto mutant lepers. We also learned that on a still night, one could literally hear corn grow (I looked it up, it is true). You know what we didn't learn? Chemistry. She did mention the subject I paid to learn once though. At the end of class. Something along the lines of:

"Oh, I almost forgot. You have an exam on Monday."

Eh? Most of the time, a major exam is not mentioned on the last class of the week. It is on gas laws and thermochemistry. I have two problems with this:

1. Gas Laws - I am very comfortable, but we just barely took a rather hefty exam that covered this. I turned it in on Monday. Seems a bit redundant.

2. Thermochemistry - Unless one of the questions makes reference to Iowan farm life, I am screwed. To learn the most complicated aspect of chemistry in 5 days would be a miracle.

After class, the concensus was that we would lobby for a Wednesday class using the whole "you never taught us thermochemistry" thing as leverage. Hopefully it works.

Nothing else really happened today. My other classes went well, and work was great. Tomorrow I start work at my home store. At this point, I am officially solo.

My fingers hurt...

Tonight, Jeff and I got together as we try to do once a week to write material for our band. Mike came out, but didn't play anything - just observed. I was actually thinking he would be playing guitar 2 when I saw his car out front as I arrived. This was not to be.

For those who are not musicians or have never been in a band, the only thing more excruciating than recording music is the process of writing it. That being said, once a breakthrough is made, the gratification outweighs the tribulation 100 fold. Tonight, Jeff and I accomplished just that. Without a drummer no less. Taking two riffs I wrote from pre-existing now defunct songs and a more recent run Jeff wrote, the first three parts are together. Granted, it will need fine tuning, but the skeleton is there. All we need to add is one or two more parts, and we will have a whole song. This may or may not have to wait until we have acquired a drummer. Once we do have one, the songs will flow like wine from the practice room as this is where the heart and soul of the bands music is created.

There are also songs that individuals are putting together. Jeff has one called Luna, and Mike is working on a 25 minute epic called "The Oblivion Path", which seems to have a lot of potential. He is also working on a couple other songs which have yet to pass the test of willingness to play by both Jeff and myself.

We also have some songs that Jeff and Mike played while in another band. The ones we are keeping for sure are "Shinespark" and "Blue Instant". While at the same time, there are songs that have not passed the willingness to play test such as "Kelso". But not all can be gems.

Anyway, the intensity of my playing tonight as I was getting pumped up over the aforementioned breakthrough has caused my fingertips to hurt immensely. The pain is worth the reward.

In other news, I finish my pharmacy tech training tomorrow and I will start at my home store on Thursday. I am excited. The next step will be to become certified - another nice mark on my Pharmacy school application. God willing, I will be applying in January and starting September 2008. If I do, then I will get to stay here in Az indefinitely...which would rule.

Let's see if this works...

Hello, and welcome to my blog. My name is Aaron Ketterer, and I live in Mesa, Arizona. This blog is more or less going to touch on many subjects that interest me such as pharmacy (it is my major), ancient history, Star Wars, politics, music, the days of yore, and anything else that comes to mind.

There will also be a considerable amount of Arizona related topics with the intention of proving that my state is better than yours. My family and friends are very important to me.

Solid debate is always encouraged. I was designated a master debater in high school, afterall. However, I will delete comments that are designed as a personal shot at me, or anyone who comments.

The latter paragraph may not be too relevant anyway, if my experience with this site is any indicator.

Now that that is all out of the way, my band is currently looking for a drummer. That drummer must be able and willing to play some progressive styles when it is necessary. We are certainly a hard rock band. We span from more alternative sounds to straight up metal. If you or anyone you know plays drums, have them hit me up.

This is my post for this evening. I will try and post some more interesting post tomorrow.