Marcelino Peck Weblog

Chicago is quite a diverse city, so you should be able to find a neighborhood with a concentrated population for your ethnicity. It can be hard to find a job, depending on the field in which you’re looking to enter. Its quite a bit expensive to live in some parts of the city, like Lincoln Park, Gold Coast, Streeterville, and pretty much anywhere in the downtown area. You should try places like Wrigleyville, Ravenswood, Wicker Park–these places are a little cheaper and have a younger demographic.

As far is the nightlife is concerned, there’s plenty of it. The club scene is downtown (Rush & Division, for example), or you can visit the bar scene in both Lincoln Park and Wrigleyville. There’s so much more, so I suggest you take a look at this link: http://metromix.chicagotribune.com/

It also snows a lot in the winter and gets very hot in the summer. There’s a lot of traffic and construction, and the public transportation system is a far cry from the one in New York. Some parts of the city are rough, but plenty are just working-class neighborhoods.

I’ve lived in & near Chicago for 25 years, and honestly, of all the big cities, there’s nowhere else I would rather be.

I see, you are from India. I’m a Russian, now live in India.

Well, i may definitely say that Moscow is a costly city and you have to spend a lot on food and clothes (due to different seasons). Food is costly, - vegetables, meat, fish everything. So, you will have to adjust a lot to the life in here.

The other thing is WHERE exactly in Moscow you are going to stay! Because, in the center of the city everything is very costly, and you will have to spend not less than 500-600USD to buy food and eat properly per month, plus you have a small kid too. If you are going to stay little bit far fromt he center (30-40 mins drive from the center by car) then you will spend less every month, about 300-400USD to buy food.

Good if you will get the accomodations also, else you will have to pay a lot for rent.

You may contact me through my profile, if you need any other information about your staying in Moscow, i will be glad to help you to organize all things.
Take care and best of luck to you!
*

There is a popular lossless format out there: FLAC.

http://flac.sourceforge.net/

As for MP3’s, they are most likely lossy; however, “normal” ears can only hear so much, so…. setting “bit rate” at 256 when you rip CD’s should be the best balance between file size and sound.

Good luck.

The following is taken directly from amazon.com

- Bit Rate: Where possible, we encode our MP3 files using variable bit rates for maximum audio quality and smaller file sizes, aiming at an average of 256 kilobits per second (kbps). Using a variable bit rate allows us to allocate a higher bit rate to the more complex sections of music files while using a smaller bit rate for the less complex sections. The average of these rates is then calculated to produce an average bit rate for the entire file that represents the overall sound quality. Some of our content is encoded using a constant bit rate of 256 kbps. This content will have the same excellent audio quality at a slightly larger file size.

- File Size: A typical 3-minute song takes up approximately 5MB of storage space.

- Download Times: A single MP3 file 5MB in size will download in less than one minute on a typical broad-band Internet connection. A similar download on a 56k dial-up connection can take up to 30 minutes.

Your problem is that you have not done it enough to be comfortable. I used to have the same problem but now I enjoy being on stage and I have fun while I’m singing now. And that is not something that can be taught or learned, it comes with consistency. You must sing every chance you get. And that nervous feeling will probably NEVER go completely away but will lessen. Each time you get onstage you will be nervous but when that first word comes out of your mouth you will recognize the familiar atmosphere and each time you sing it will go from nervous to excited faster and faster. Try singing in the car often and don’t stop singing just because you pass a car or someone is next to you, pretend they aren’t there. Sing at karaoke bars as often as you can. Just sing every chance you get and that’s the only way to get over your fear.

Boy Least Likely To - “Be Gentle With Me”

Lyrics:

Staring up into the solar system,
All the stars are fixed up in the sky.
I just want to sparkle for a moment
Before I just fizzle out and die.

I’m happy because I’m stupid.
Scared of spiders, scared of flying.
If I wasn’t so happy,
I wouldn’t be so scared of dying.

So just be gentle with me
(I’m not as young as I was)
And I’ll be gentle with you
I’m not as brave as I thought
‘Cause my heart gets broken so easily.
So just be gentle, be gentle with me.

Wide awake, waiting like a target
Listening for things I cannot see.
Insects flutter up against my window.
I don’t like the way they look at me

i guess I’ve always needed
To be needed by someone.
It’s a comforting feeling
Being under someone’s thumb.

So just be gentle with me
(And if I am ever mean)
And I’ll be gentle with you
I never mean to be mean
‘Cause I want to pick peaches off of a cherry tree.
Just be gentle, be gentle, be gentle,
Be gentle with me.

So just be gentle with me
Trouble is sometimes
And I’ll be gentle with you
I just can’t switch myself off
When I want to so I never do
Because I’m mental, be gentle, be gentle,
Just be gentle, be gentle, be gentle
And I’ll be gentle, be gentle, be gentle,be gentle with you.