John Knific Miami Blog

MIAMI 2: fin [thurs]

Fri, 24 Dec 2004 06:30:27 +0000

And its over. Today was by far the most mellow. Just got in some sun, sleep, and good food before having to head back. I just finished packing, and have a flight leaving in the morning. Adios.

MIAMI 2: curricula\' [tues/wed]

Thu, 23 Dec 2004 04:19:27 +0000

Tuesday:

I visited University of Miami today. It was hard to get a vibe given that there were no students there at all. The campus was very nice... a kind of mellowed off white theme going everywhere with most of the money put into landscaping. The is just perfect, and I look at Coral Gables to Miami as I do Evanston to Chicago. Though, instead of stuck-up, it seems more mellow. My dad hit up all of his pals who were still around in the Music Department (getting my name around too). That was the main event. I woudn't mind living there at all, it just costs a bundle, but they have a burning jazz program and med school... so we'll see.

Wednesday:

This was the mellowest day yet. Woke up at 11, laid in the sun for 2 hours, played piano, laid in the sun for another hour.... ate dinner.... and now im sitting here typing... and its 11:13pm right now. Maham. Oh also, my grandparents checked into our hotel today. They are on their way to Key West to celebrate their anniversary, so we got to eat dinner with them at Specchio's . This is a great restuarant if i havn't mentioned it earlier... we have friends running it, and we try to hit it a couple times every trip down here. Well, thats my day, buenas noches.

MIAMI 2 : feliz compleanos [monday]

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 22:53:19 +0000

Monday:

Today is my birthday. I chilled by the pool for the first half of the day. Then, my parents bought me a 12\" Apple Powerbook... its ridiculous, i love it. Then we went to a tastey Argentinian steakhouse for dinner that had 80\'s music videos projected onto this sheet in the middle of the restuarant. Crazy. Well, that was my birthday.

MIAMI 2: back in sinc [sunday]

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:36:01 +0000

Sunday:

Sorry about the odd order of dates, also, something I forgot to mention. Yesterday, Gene and I found a white grand piano in one of the ball rooms of the hotel. Weâve been playing on that in-between swimming and eating, which is the itinerary for the average day here. This night, we drove to Fort Lauderdale to see the Dirty Dozen. They are a pimp group thatâs a mix of New Orleans Jazz and Funk, with a Tuba for a Bass playing. They were playing in the âCulture Centerâ, which is like a big city version of Club Soda. The smell of weed was ripe as the opening act performed. It was the worst thing Iâve heard since Dear Hoof (check them out to find out what Iâm talking about). It was like Phish with 3 auxiliary percussionists, exceptâ¦they played one beat for an hour, changed themes (or the 1 chord they jammed on) maybe a total of 4 times, and the keyboardist was not willing to phrase one thing in his solo (which was for the whole set pretty much). Anways, Dirty Dozen was kickin' and kept the energy high the whole time. Another great night, and I'm finally up to speed on everything, It is now Monday morning.

MIAMI 2 : Un Intro grande [thurs/fri]

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:25:01 +0000

I'm Back in Miami...

Thursday:

It was damn earlyâ¦ 5amâ¦
My dad, brother, and I drove to Detroit and met with Katy and her family. Katy spent the night in Detroit, and slept in till 6:30. After meeting up, we figured out the seating for the plane. Since my parents have flown to every place on earth twice, we were upgraded to have one first class seat. Gene of course took that. Though pretzels and orange juice are the best combination, I was hoping he would share some of his cheese cake with usâ¦ which he didnât. My mom rolled up and picked up my family and Katy from Miami International (who I think only saw her family for a total of 2 hours while in Miamiâ¦who could blame her). Not having enjoyed the luxury of a 3 course meal on our flight, Katy and I were real hungry, and stopped at a deli off of Collins Ave. on the way to our hotel. The weather of course kicked Michiganâs ass, but it was still a little too windy and cold to swim or tan, so we hung in a hot tub for a bit then got ready for some dinner. Meeting with the rest of the Picards, a lovely group of people, we had some Italian food at âTiramisuâ on Lincoln Ave (the heart of the Art Deco District parallel to Ocean drive which is the most southern part of Miami on the nice sideâ¦. If you care to know). The Picards split, Katy and I went for a walk, and the rest of my family went to the Delano Hotel to chill in the bar and listen to some nice vocal jazz. I describe this hotel as âtastefully fucked upâ. Upon walking through layers of sheets from the ceiling to the ground and a vast empty wooden floor, you notice furniture and beds are randomly placed both outside and inside the hotel. There is a DJ re-mixing some D&B for the lobby, a restaurant and bar kind of fit into the whole thing, and a pool at the very end of the long hall. Anywaysâ¦. After meeting back at the Delano, Gene and I sat in at the bar and played a set of music after the singer was done. It was pretty cool, the no-so sober audience was groovinâ with us. The first day was done, what a day, and itâll only get crazier.

Friday:

Engageâ¦
This is shop day. I got Katy some hip clothes for Christmas around the âvilliage-ish shoppingâ area of Collins Ave. We hit up a Cuban dinner for some cheap quality food. I wonât bore you with any more info, but we noticed one crazy thing. The city is full of Jews and gay people. Lots of Jewish people, Iâm assuming because itâs a real affluent area, and gay peopleâ¦ not sure why. Oh wellâ¦ This day ended at my favorite restaurant, âSpecciosâ, with some amazing Italian food with family faces. I hadnât really gotten much alone time with Katy, and this was her last day, which made things pretty sad after dinner, given she had to head back to the hotel. She was to set sail the next morning the Bahamas.
â¦Terminate

MIAMI 2 : Sexy [saturday]

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 19:23:44 +0000

Saturday:

What a sexy day. Iâll skip to the good part. I spent this night at a Brazilian club. The house group comprised of the owner and some friends did a killer set. I ate this crazy âfishermanâs stewâ during this set, very ethnic, very tasty. The group was based around just a guitarist/vocalist and a drummer. It grew to have a 20 minute Latin drum feature, with 3 drummers and the guitarist. By the way, all very intimate, they were about 6 feet away from us. Then the sexinessâ¦Salsa Dancing. A girl, apparently the wife of the guitarist, came out in a âCarnivalâ costume (basically a swimsuit with feathery hat thing, and some beads). Not like an American cotton candy gay-carnivalâ¦weâre talking Brazilian carnival. We all danced along with her, as she just kind of pulled everyone out of their seats. I think everyone should act like Brazilians. They have a great time, play in time, and are sexy. Nexus should also do a Rio showâ¦ Iâll get on that. Back to the clubâ¦I assume all Brazilians can dance. Some random old guy got up during the show, and salsa-ed his way to the bathroom, then salsa-ed back. This of course made me feel extremely white, and with a lack in Katy, I had a lack in dance partner to distract some from my whiteness. The restaurant had a band from Northern Brazil perform next, and the place became packed. Everyone kept dancing all night. I checked out around 1 am. It never feels good when your parents can party harder than you. I had to convince them to leave so I had a ride back to the hotel. The sexy day was officially over.

adios

Mon, 15 Mar 2004 03:12:12 +0000

well, i forgot i had this blog site. i know blog with quantumninja. why. because we own the damn server for it. go to QUANTUM NINJA BLOGS

wtf mate

Sat, 17 Jan 2004 08:27:39 +0000

i honestly dont really like blogs. everyone makes them, and i can\'t seem to keep up with mine. its been hmm... 2 weeks since my last entry. it\'s been a busy week as usual... finals are over. Nexus has been rehearsing quite a bit, because we have a gig at the union comming up. i just got back from matt stinsons house, halo lan - thanks for hosting it matt. I went to a party at liz byrons last week also - thanks liz. Those are exponentially more parties than i\'ve been to in a long time.

I find it ironic that all my friends who are not in kamsc, and juniors in general are starting to freak out about college admissions and standardized tests and actually taking hard classes. Kamsc has \"worn us in\" for 2 years now, and i could care less, in fact, my stress level is less than has been the last 2 years. Not that im not keeping busy, its just a more apathetic busy. Well, things are exciting, putting a lot of work into my piano, the band, and the quantum ninja website. I have plans to work on some bigger, more \"real\" movie projects.

Ryan and I are trying to work out a fusion song and Steve and I are trying to work out some Pat Metheny stuff.

I like Tabulas cause its easy to work with, but im going to try to build the blog into the quantumninja site because of the essentially unlimited space. - i know people come to the blogs for the pictures usually - so go to the image section of quantum and you\'ll find some new ones (too lazy to repost them here)

cold

Thu, 1 Jan 2004 18:19:27 +0000

i am back, and its cold. Apart from the relaxation, i managed to finish a lot of the nexus website, and read the physics book. i'll post the last couple pictures from my trip. i had to wake up at 5 for the flight this morning, so happy new year, its nap time.

um... happy new year

Thu, 1 Jan 2004 01:01:22 +0000

my new years eve will be relatively lame unfortunately. right now i am on a business center computer in a sheratan in tampa waiting while my parents check us in to our \"overnight\" hotel until our morning flight back home. the past few days i have not had internet access because i\'ve been in Stuart, Florida visiting my grandpa and other relatives. It\'s been pretty fun, even more relaxing than Miami, because there are a LOT less things to do. All the same, its been fun. I\'ll probably post more, or tell the world more about whats going on in a little bit, but i have to catch an elevator. happy new year