My First Memory

This is my first post for the class Studies in a Major Author: Vladimir Nabokov.

My first conscious memory that I have been able to hold onto throughout my existence thus far takes place when I was three years old. This is also the only memory of the house that my parents owned at the time of my birth in Dubuque, Iowa. We moved to the Quad Cities just before I turned four. I was in the kitchen with my mother when I caught the faintest scent of cigarette smoke coming from the basement. More than anything else, my father wanted to be a pilot, but we would not have been able to afford his insurance if he was still smoking. I went downstairs while he and my mother discussed something which I doubt that I comprehended at the time. As he was smoking, I would watch as the carcinogenic cloud blew towards me. I watched the smoke as it would slowly float towards the ceiling. When it would get close to me, I would try to blow it away to avoid exhaling the curious fumes. My father quit smoking not long after we moved, but it is still the clearest of my early memories.

Alex White

First Post!

Greetings my friends, and welcome, for the first time ever, to The Dabblings of Alex and Jon! This will be the hip place to go for reviews on whatever the hell is interesting us at that particular moment in time. To begin with, how about a short rant on my favorite band? With so many great bands through time, it is quite difficult for most people to name the top musicians in their mind; it isn't for me. While nobody rocks like Led Zeppelin, and the world would be a different and horrifying place without the Rolling Stones, to me, no band will ever touch the mastery of the Pink Floyd. While I could go on right now about the psyche-orchestral masterpieces that are Echoes and The Atom Heart Mother Suite, it is moreso the spirit of the band that makes them unique. Seriously, how many bands have gotten to do anything half as cool as jamming along with live footage of the first lunar landing. One thing that I constantly enjoy pondering is how different the band would have been had they not booted out Barrett (Pictured above), their original singer/guitarist/songwriter. It is clear that we never would have gotten the magnum opus that is Dark Side of the Moon, but perhaps something greater would have filled its void. While we will never know how events would have transpired, the bands place in history is set. This will not be the last that you read of Pink Floyd on my part. On the slab for upcoming reviews are The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Fallout 3, and the new Animal Collective record. Thanks for reading!