Mixers

Many mixers this week. Well, the first one is from a week or two ago actually. Having a surprising surfeit of cash this month, I decided to do the sensible thing and buy some expensive electronics that I don't know how to use. I am now the proud owner of a Behringer DDM4000 mixer (http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/DDM4000.aspx). I am able to justify this to myself as I got it second hand, for a reasonable price. And in a place like Saskatoon, where country music is king, second hand half decent mixers don't appear very often! So if you look at it, you can see it has a lot of glowing buttons. I don't know what any of them do. My cable collection has also expanded. Not least because I also had to get a sound card to handle the MIDI capabilities of the mixer (don't ask, I don't know). So if you include all my traktor scratch (http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/dj/traktor-scratch-a10/) kit, and the need for a computer to run it, as well as the TV and the stereo, there are no fewer than 24 separate cables piling up behind my 'multi-media station'. And I hate cables. It is also getting really hard to remember what should be connected where. So when I tried to connect up my laptop to put music on last night, it was really annoying that I couldn't work out why it wasn't working. I checked every cable with no success. It should have been a case of plugging in one cable and turning the mixer on. In the end I just hooked up another cable. Of course, I'm sure it was nothing to do with having had several beers, and that I didn't press the relevant switch on the stereo for the correct output, which I did this morning...

I really should charge advertising for that paragraph... Anyway, a last few notes on the mixer. I've been purchasing a couple of new tunes, so will hopefully be posting a mix soon. I've had a few plays with it, and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed. I seem to have managed to make the same error as I do when buying new badminton racquets. I now have two racquets that cost over 100 quid each, but I really should have returned them because neither made a significant improvement to my game. It seems I have a similar problem with the mixer. So in summary, I have a mixer I don't know how to use, connected up to software I barely know how to use, controlled by decks which I was never very capable of using. And I'm shit a badminton.

Other mixers. There are a lot of 'new student mixers' going on at the start of term. I ignored them all last year, mostly because I'm a miserable bastard and don't really enjoy trying to make small talk in a room full of people I don't know, who have different ideas of what 'sociable drink' means. That and no one else in my office seemed interested either. After a few additions over the year, we seem to have a more sociable group this year, so I might be tempted. The only issue would be the getting inappropriately drunk. But as long as I can drag some people down with me, that would be okay! I don't hold much hope that the events themselves will be very entertaining. There is far too much earnestness and eagerness to learn, or eagerness to show eagerness to learn. No realisation that you can be eager to learn, but also have a lot of fun getting shitfaced once in a while (or another healthier hobby if you prefer). It often seems like a waste to me that most of the post first year students take their studies far too seriously. The money may be rubbish but the major advantage is that you will not find any other work arena where you have so much freedom and flexibility. Why waste that studying? Why is the union empty on a friday at 4.30? Having said that, the more studious atmosphere has probably helped me to be reasonably successful in my studies so far. And there is the strange feeling some days that you've stumbled onto a 'college years' type movie set. What with there being a very defined campus, where all the buildings are built in the same style around a central grassy area, where there are attractive young people throwing frisbees or 'footballs', or sitting on the grass reading notes in folders. Hell, there's even a homecoming football game next weekend!

UofS bowl. Very 'college years'. Not the best angle to show it off, but you get the idea...

Final mixer. As I mentioned, we now seem to have a good sociable core. So since I came back from my mountain retreat, I've been trying to get a regular friday after work booze session going. We have at least 4 people in the office who like a beer or two. I think the magic number is 3, to get a decent social dynamic going. Or at least 3 if I'm one of the people involved, since I'm a shit conversationalist. We've just about managed two fridays in a row now, although I need to work on defining what I mean by "an after work pint". For some reason the impression is that it means having one or two pints before going home for dinner, not what I actually mean, which is go to the pub for 4.30 and not go home until you fall asleep, or the last alcohol serving place shuts for the night. Cultural differences... Anyway, I may have to duck  out of beering next friday myself, as there's a 5k race at the uni on Saturday. And since I seem to have some deep rooted issues where I assume that members of any university team are arrogant and elitist, I want to go along and beat as many of the athletics team as possible. Although I'm not sure that my current approximately 21 minute pace will be good enough.