The bachelor party was good. Boobies!
Actually it was rather disillusioning. Not that I expected any less from a strip club, but it was a little worse than I thought. Due to a few complications, I had practically no money, and what little money I had, I had to save. So I put a few ones in front of Dave (I wanted to buy him a lap dance, but there were plenty of people to do that for him already plenty of people buying, and I figured he didn't need another one. And I wanted to save money because I'm ridiculously poor right now.) For a while, I was sitting next to an empty chair. As a sort of a test, I waited until one of the roving strippers came and started talking to me. The first one, I just talked with for a few minutes, then she asked if I wanted anything. I said no. She told me to let her know if I wanted anything at all, and left. Then, later, another one sat down and asked if I was having fun. I said that no, it was tough to have fun in a strip club if you're flat broke. She said that yes, that would make it tough as she was getting up to leave. I mean, it would have been nice for her to at least pretend that she had more interest in just the cash, but I suppose that it's her job, and I can't blame her. Many a time I blew off a non-sale at RadioShack. Oh well.
After the strip club, we went back to a hotel and got fucked up. It was fun. I actually wasn't nearly as bad as I could have been, because I decided to stop drinking after the first puke. I ended up going home at around 3AM or so, because I was sober, and I wanted to sleep in my own bed. So that was cool. My mom got me up for church at 10AM, and I was fine. Then I decided to go ahead with the barbeque that I had mentioned to Gilbert a couple days ago. Of course, as soon as I start thawing the meat, the weather turns nasty. But we have a covered picnic pavilion, and people actually came, so we grilled up 10 steaks and so on. It was pretty good. We sat around inside and shot the shit for a while. It was nice to see some of the old friends from highschool.
Then Craig, Gilbert, and I decided to go to Gilbert's house just to hang out. So that's where I am now, posting. That's pretty much all there is, as I'm up the present now. New posts as events warrant.
Heavy Metal Drummer
The Stills were good, as were Sea Ray and Metric. I'd recommend listening to any of them. And seeing them live.
I just saw "The Day After Tomorrow." It was a ridiculous movie. Of course, I knew that it would be going in to it. For all of its ridiculouslness, it was good. A friend that I went to see it with said that "it was as good as [he] thought it could have been." I tend to agree with it. Of course, it could have been made a lot better, but knowing what we did about it already, we got as good a show as we could have expected.
Well, I'm about to head home for the (long) weekend. I depart with a snippet of a conversation I had with Gilbert not two minutes ago:
these are the ashes of me...: oh, i gave up on trying at work....just over a year ago
here's lookin' at you, kid: isn't that when you started there?
these are the ashes of me...: yes
I just saw "The Day After Tomorrow." It was a ridiculous movie. Of course, I knew that it would be going in to it. For all of its ridiculouslness, it was good. A friend that I went to see it with said that "it was as good as [he] thought it could have been." I tend to agree with it. Of course, it could have been made a lot better, but knowing what we did about it already, we got as good a show as we could have expected.
Well, I'm about to head home for the (long) weekend. I depart with a snippet of a conversation I had with Gilbert not two minutes ago:
these are the ashes of me...: oh, i gave up on trying at work....just over a year ago
here's lookin' at you, kid: isn't that when you started there?
these are the ashes of me...: yes
Roll On
Well, just after I posted that last bit, a glace at slashdot revealed this interview with a Pentagon official who wrote up a report on global warming and abrupt climate change. It's interesting because he doesn't seem to be an environmentalist, or to have any particular conclusion which he wants to reach. I haven't read the full report yet, but the interview is pretty interesting.
Whoa. So here I am, sitting at the desk by the door to the ITS office. It's been absolutely quiet in here for the past half an hour or so, and I've become in completely engrossed in reading through some slashdot articles. I hear some footsteps from down the hall. They get closer. Their owner comes into the office. It's a middle-aged lady, fairly short, and with long graying hair. She stands there for a brief moment, than asks, in a fairly loud voice, "Aa oo eeaan wa sasa?" It was one of the most startling things I've ever heard. After a moment of complete confusion, I begin to pick up on subtle clues that maybe she's not quite right in the head. Like the fact that she can barely talk. I think what she had been trying to say was, "Have you seen my sister?" because the last word had a distinctive "almost 's'" sound to it, and she looked very confused and lost. So, finally regaining my wits, I replied, "I don't know. She's probably out there." and pointed out into the hallway from whence she came. She left, and her footsteps faded quickly. Now it's completely quiet again, except for the clicking of my keyboard. It was so surreal. Surreal enough that even now, just minutes after the fact, I'm starting to doubt that it really happened.
I'm going to wrap this up. I've been sitting here with this post open since 10, which is when "special person" incident happened, in the vain hope that something interesting will come to mind. No such luck. Oh well.
Whoa. So here I am, sitting at the desk by the door to the ITS office. It's been absolutely quiet in here for the past half an hour or so, and I've become in completely engrossed in reading through some slashdot articles. I hear some footsteps from down the hall. They get closer. Their owner comes into the office. It's a middle-aged lady, fairly short, and with long graying hair. She stands there for a brief moment, than asks, in a fairly loud voice, "Aa oo eeaan wa sasa?" It was one of the most startling things I've ever heard. After a moment of complete confusion, I begin to pick up on subtle clues that maybe she's not quite right in the head. Like the fact that she can barely talk. I think what she had been trying to say was, "Have you seen my sister?" because the last word had a distinctive "almost 's'" sound to it, and she looked very confused and lost. So, finally regaining my wits, I replied, "I don't know. She's probably out there." and pointed out into the hallway from whence she came. She left, and her footsteps faded quickly. Now it's completely quiet again, except for the clicking of my keyboard. It was so surreal. Surreal enough that even now, just minutes after the fact, I'm starting to doubt that it really happened.
I'm going to wrap this up. I've been sitting here with this post open since 10, which is when "special person" incident happened, in the vain hope that something interesting will come to mind. No such luck. Oh well.
In the Garage
I think that I am far too trusting. For example, when gas prices go up, a just assume that the cost of production has gone up, or some other legitmate reason. It doesn't even enter into my thoughts that maybe I'm being duped by the gas companies. I assume that we have people who look after that sort of thing. Well, it turns out that we do. But those people are just as clueless as I am. From what I gather, reading this story (found on fark), is that no one really knows why the gas prices are so high right now except for the gas companies themselves. The potential for corruption is immense. With gasoline being such an integral part of our economy, why don't we have a tighter rein on the gas companies? I'm all for free enterprise and such, but really, we need someone to keep a watch on these guys.
Of course, maybe this is actually a good thing. With rising gas prices, alternative fuels start to gain more and more attention, which in turn generates more and more funding for their research. If the gas companies really are price gouging, their choking of the customers may actually turn out to be them choking themselves when alternative fuel finally takes off.
That's a good thing, because the oil will eventually run dry. Of course, there's no telling when that will happen. Alarmist environmentalists from the 70s said that we'd be out of oil in fewer than 20 years. Now, alarmist environmentalists are saying the same thing. My guess is that they really don't know what they really don't have any clue when the oil will run out, but they know that it will, so they try to stir people to action now by making the situation look worse than it is. I agree that something should be worked on to replace oil, but I think that the alarmist nature of their propaganda does more harm than good. They're trying to make the environmental situation (not just with gas, but the whole environmental movement in general) look worse than it actually is (they may be doing in subconsciously, but they're doing it) in order to spur people to action, but in doing so they start to look like the boy who cried wolf, and they get taken far too seriously by the more extremist elements, who then go and bomb suburban houses and so on. I believe that industrialization has hurt the environment, and that something should be done about it, but exaggerating the extent of the problem is not the best way to get things done.
Of course, I could be completely wrong. Maybe the ecosystem really is on the brink of collapse, as many environmentalists would have us believe. But I doubt it. After all: the Industrial Revolution may have caused large changes in the ecosystem, with mass extinctions of various animal species and so on, but any changes that have happened in the past 150 years are tiny compared to the massive destructive changes that were caused by large meteor impacts. It was an external event which caused dramatic climactic changes, and triggered mass extictions. Just like what the Industrial Revolution and modern technology (according to environmentalists). Yet life goes on, in both cases. And another thing to think about, as far as global warming caused by industrialization and so on, is that there was a miniature ice age from 1300 to 1850 or so (if you were wondering, this is why George Washington was able to roll his cannons across the Potomac River during the Revolutionary War). It ended before the Industrial Revolution began in earnest, so it wasn't caused by human intervention. It may be that the current trend of global warming is simply the earth still warming up after that ice age.
Of couse, I'm no ecologist. I don't know what I'm talking about. But how does any ecologist know what he or she is talking about? Climactic changes like this, that occur of large chunks of time, weren't really paid attention to until about fifty years ago. So when ecologists say that the past 50 years have brought unprecendented temperature increases, it seems like a moot point: Of course there's no precedent, because the past 50 years are the only records you fucking have.
Once again, though, I'm talking out of ignorance. Maybe they do careful reviews of historical documents and try to use bits and pieces of data from them to reconstruct a picture of what the climate was like in the past. But it seems to me that they already have an idea of what they want to find, which of course means that they're going to convince themselves that they did find it. That's something that is inevitable in almost all human endeavors. If you're looking for data that supports your theory, you're going to find that data. The scientific method tries to mitigate this human flaw, but nothing can get rid of it completely. There are always scientific paradigms which are accepted by everyone, until finally someone with enough balls and enough brains comes along and completely shakes the whole thing loose. Then people flock to the new theory, and it becomes the accepted version of reality, and challengers of that theory are laughed at. It happened with Newton and Alchemy, Einstein and Newtonian physics, Darwin and biology, and so on and so forth.
The key fact that scientists seem to forget again and again (or at least subconsciously ignore) is that science NEVER PROVES THE TRUTH OF ANYTHING. Think about that. Science never proves truth. It only proves untruth. So, the theory of relativity is not necessarily true. All we know is that it is the best explanation of observable phenomena that we have come up with. Science has not proven that relativity is true. But it has proven that the Newtonian conception of physics is untrue. (Of course, at small enough velocities, Newtonian physics is close enough that we still use it.) Really, science is a very limited tool. It provides the best explanation for observable phenomena, and nothing more. But there are people who are so attached to this way of thinking, of being able to control everything, and explain everything, that if something lies outside the realm of science, they ignore it, or call it false, or outright insult it. According to these people, observable phenomena is all that there is.
I'm going to stop here, just before it gets really interesting. I don't feel like delving into the whole argument on eternal souls, the existence of God, and so on.
I'm at work, answering the phones. The entire ITS staff is in a departmental meeting, and since all I can't really go out on calls, I figured I'd browse the internet. The first article on fark was the one I linked at the beginning of the post. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I blogged it, and it just kept going and going and going. I went from an audit of oil companies to the existence of souls. For my next feat... never mind. I'm done for the moment. If I get bored again in the afternoon, I'll probably write more.
Of course, maybe this is actually a good thing. With rising gas prices, alternative fuels start to gain more and more attention, which in turn generates more and more funding for their research. If the gas companies really are price gouging, their choking of the customers may actually turn out to be them choking themselves when alternative fuel finally takes off.
That's a good thing, because the oil will eventually run dry. Of course, there's no telling when that will happen. Alarmist environmentalists from the 70s said that we'd be out of oil in fewer than 20 years. Now, alarmist environmentalists are saying the same thing. My guess is that they really don't know what they really don't have any clue when the oil will run out, but they know that it will, so they try to stir people to action now by making the situation look worse than it is. I agree that something should be worked on to replace oil, but I think that the alarmist nature of their propaganda does more harm than good. They're trying to make the environmental situation (not just with gas, but the whole environmental movement in general) look worse than it actually is (they may be doing in subconsciously, but they're doing it) in order to spur people to action, but in doing so they start to look like the boy who cried wolf, and they get taken far too seriously by the more extremist elements, who then go and bomb suburban houses and so on. I believe that industrialization has hurt the environment, and that something should be done about it, but exaggerating the extent of the problem is not the best way to get things done.
Of course, I could be completely wrong. Maybe the ecosystem really is on the brink of collapse, as many environmentalists would have us believe. But I doubt it. After all: the Industrial Revolution may have caused large changes in the ecosystem, with mass extinctions of various animal species and so on, but any changes that have happened in the past 150 years are tiny compared to the massive destructive changes that were caused by large meteor impacts. It was an external event which caused dramatic climactic changes, and triggered mass extictions. Just like what the Industrial Revolution and modern technology (according to environmentalists). Yet life goes on, in both cases. And another thing to think about, as far as global warming caused by industrialization and so on, is that there was a miniature ice age from 1300 to 1850 or so (if you were wondering, this is why George Washington was able to roll his cannons across the Potomac River during the Revolutionary War). It ended before the Industrial Revolution began in earnest, so it wasn't caused by human intervention. It may be that the current trend of global warming is simply the earth still warming up after that ice age.
Of couse, I'm no ecologist. I don't know what I'm talking about. But how does any ecologist know what he or she is talking about? Climactic changes like this, that occur of large chunks of time, weren't really paid attention to until about fifty years ago. So when ecologists say that the past 50 years have brought unprecendented temperature increases, it seems like a moot point: Of course there's no precedent, because the past 50 years are the only records you fucking have.
Once again, though, I'm talking out of ignorance. Maybe they do careful reviews of historical documents and try to use bits and pieces of data from them to reconstruct a picture of what the climate was like in the past. But it seems to me that they already have an idea of what they want to find, which of course means that they're going to convince themselves that they did find it. That's something that is inevitable in almost all human endeavors. If you're looking for data that supports your theory, you're going to find that data. The scientific method tries to mitigate this human flaw, but nothing can get rid of it completely. There are always scientific paradigms which are accepted by everyone, until finally someone with enough balls and enough brains comes along and completely shakes the whole thing loose. Then people flock to the new theory, and it becomes the accepted version of reality, and challengers of that theory are laughed at. It happened with Newton and Alchemy, Einstein and Newtonian physics, Darwin and biology, and so on and so forth.
The key fact that scientists seem to forget again and again (or at least subconsciously ignore) is that science NEVER PROVES THE TRUTH OF ANYTHING. Think about that. Science never proves truth. It only proves untruth. So, the theory of relativity is not necessarily true. All we know is that it is the best explanation of observable phenomena that we have come up with. Science has not proven that relativity is true. But it has proven that the Newtonian conception of physics is untrue. (Of course, at small enough velocities, Newtonian physics is close enough that we still use it.) Really, science is a very limited tool. It provides the best explanation for observable phenomena, and nothing more. But there are people who are so attached to this way of thinking, of being able to control everything, and explain everything, that if something lies outside the realm of science, they ignore it, or call it false, or outright insult it. According to these people, observable phenomena is all that there is.
I'm going to stop here, just before it gets really interesting. I don't feel like delving into the whole argument on eternal souls, the existence of God, and so on.
I'm at work, answering the phones. The entire ITS staff is in a departmental meeting, and since all I can't really go out on calls, I figured I'd browse the internet. The first article on fark was the one I linked at the beginning of the post. I thought it was pretty interesting, so I blogged it, and it just kept going and going and going. I went from an audit of oil companies to the existence of souls. For my next feat... never mind. I'm done for the moment. If I get bored again in the afternoon, I'll probably write more.
A World Without Melody
I've been thinking about the future lately. This is a pastime that I usually avoid, because it's too complex, too scary, and probably causes cancer in lab rats. But recently, I've been thinking about it. What am I going to do with my life? I don't think that I'll have too much trouble. I imagine that I'll end up in some corporate job somewhere, making a decent living, just another average citzen. Or maybe I'll write the Great American Novel, and become a famous philanthropist with the millions of dollars I make from the movie and merchandising deals I get from my book. Or maybe I'll be a bum. My laziness and apathy will catch up with me, and I'll be working a dead-end job at Walmart, or I won't have a job, and I'll be on welfare. About a year ago, someone asked me where I want to be in ten years. My reply was "Retired." I meant retired and rich, of course, but the general gist of my answer is that I don't want to have to work. Maybe that desire to avoid work will land me in the gutter. I doubt it. When it comes down to it, I'm willing to work. This semester proved that.
Well, the future is getting boring. Nothing ever happens there, anyway. Now the present - that's interesting. Or the past. There are all sorts of interesting things that happened in the past. For example: I once saw the life of a cow in a sort of a time-lapse viewing. (Please note that the memories are old, and probably slightly inaccurate in terms of when, exactly, they took place.) Back in 7th grade, early in the year, I was being driven to school by my mom. We were passing by an old farm, and there were two cows. One of the cows looked like it was trying to jump over the other cow, but couldn't quite make it. I knew what was going on, though I'm not sure if my brothers did. Or if they even noticed it. My mom did, though. She kinda laughed. Fast-forward to spring. The cow that was being almost jumped over was getting quite fat. For a few days, she was just laying on the ground. Then one day, as we drove by, we saw a little head poking out of the nether regions. On the way home from school, there was a newborn calf in the pen. Over the next year or so, we saw the calf suckling from its mother, slowly start walking around on its own, and eventually separate itself from its mother. We always drove by the farm at 55mph, and we never slowed down; it was just a two frames a day from the life of that calf, from conception, to birth, to adolescence. I had no real reason to tell that story, I just think it was pretty funny.
Anyway. I returned Seven Samurai and Vertigo without having watched the latter. It wasn't a question of not having time, it was more a question of not being in the mood. So I got out Annie Hall and Casablanca to watch. I'll hopefully have a chance to see them over the weekend, thought it will probably be pretty crazy. Tomorrow I have a concert, Friday is going home and visiting friends. Saturday is sleeping in a lot, then the bachelor party. Sunday is recovery from said party. Then Monday it's back to the daily grind. Maybe I'll rip them so I can watch them at my convenience. But that would be illegal. So I won't do that.
Oh well, I'm done. Bedtime for me, after I finish chatting with various people.
Well, the future is getting boring. Nothing ever happens there, anyway. Now the present - that's interesting. Or the past. There are all sorts of interesting things that happened in the past. For example: I once saw the life of a cow in a sort of a time-lapse viewing. (Please note that the memories are old, and probably slightly inaccurate in terms of when, exactly, they took place.) Back in 7th grade, early in the year, I was being driven to school by my mom. We were passing by an old farm, and there were two cows. One of the cows looked like it was trying to jump over the other cow, but couldn't quite make it. I knew what was going on, though I'm not sure if my brothers did. Or if they even noticed it. My mom did, though. She kinda laughed. Fast-forward to spring. The cow that was being almost jumped over was getting quite fat. For a few days, she was just laying on the ground. Then one day, as we drove by, we saw a little head poking out of the nether regions. On the way home from school, there was a newborn calf in the pen. Over the next year or so, we saw the calf suckling from its mother, slowly start walking around on its own, and eventually separate itself from its mother. We always drove by the farm at 55mph, and we never slowed down; it was just a two frames a day from the life of that calf, from conception, to birth, to adolescence. I had no real reason to tell that story, I just think it was pretty funny.
Anyway. I returned Seven Samurai and Vertigo without having watched the latter. It wasn't a question of not having time, it was more a question of not being in the mood. So I got out Annie Hall and Casablanca to watch. I'll hopefully have a chance to see them over the weekend, thought it will probably be pretty crazy. Tomorrow I have a concert, Friday is going home and visiting friends. Saturday is sleeping in a lot, then the bachelor party. Sunday is recovery from said party. Then Monday it's back to the daily grind. Maybe I'll rip them so I can watch them at my convenience. But that would be illegal. So I won't do that.
Oh well, I'm done. Bedtime for me, after I finish chatting with various people.
Wading In the Velvet Sea
It's official. Phish is breaking up. It was bound to happen, and I'm glad that it's happening while they're still pretty much at the top of their game. But I'm sad, because I only got to see them live twice, and I probably won't be able to see them this summer. Well, they left a gigantic body of work behind, of which I only have a fraction, and of that fraction, only a small portion which I have listened to. So Phish won't die. Phish will live on in the harddrives and tapes of all those who knew them. I hope they break out some really old songs on the summer tour (Dave's Energy Guide, Spock's Brain, etc.). That way, even though I didn't see it, I can say that I was at least alive when they were played. Oh well. It should be a kick-ass summer run, and I'll be able to at least listen to the tapes.
People Are Strange
OK, this is the "cast of characters" post. In alphabetical order, I'll put brief descriptions of the people who I mention specifically elsewhere in the blog, and will update it as I mention more people. With that:
Dramatis Persona:
Monroe:
Hillsdale:
That's pretty much it, really. An entire group that's been left out is people from the MTU days. They were good friends, but I don't really talk to the much anymore, so they haven't been mentioned in the blog. Maybe some day.
I'll update this post as more people are talked about.
Dramatis Persona:
Monroe:
- Craig is a friend from high school. As of this writing, he is still in high school. The poor bastard. If memory serves, I've been friends with him longer than I've been friends with anyone else in my life. (Mainly because of moving around so much, and because I knew him from church before I started high school.) He will soon bridge the gap between the Hillsdale and the Monroe groups, because he's coming to Hillsdale next semester.
- Dave G. is a friend from the RadioShack days. As of this writing, he is getting married in two weeks. I'm going to his bachelor party. He's a cool guy. He introduced me to Tenacious D back in late '01.
- Gilbert is kind of a friend from high school. Really, we were more acquaintances until the very end of senior year, and the first semester of college. During my first semester at Michigan Tech, I talked to him online a lot. He has introduced me to more music than I care to remember.
- Honorable mention (people who haven't appeared in the blog yet, but probably will eventually): John G, Dave W, Mike K, John H
Hillsdale:
- Dan is my big brother (Fraternity-wise, not blood). He is the main reason that I decided to rush Sigma Chi. It was a good decision. He has also introduced me to a decent amount of good music. He's cool. Read his blog.
- Dylan was my suitemate in spring '04. He is the other reason I decided to rush. We agreed to try to pledge together at the beginning of that semester (that's a whole story in itself). I made it. He didn't. But we're still good friends. He lives in Southfield, MI, which is fairly close to the 'dale. I've already visited him, and will probably visit him more over the summer.
- Rhiannon is a friend from college. She lives in town. She was mentioned here. As you can see from her comments, she doesn't talk too much. But when she does have something to say, it's something good. She's cool.
- Tim was my other suitemate from spring '04. He's a funny guy. He, along with Dan, is one of the few people at Hillsdale with whom I feel on par with when it comes to computer knowledge. Read his blog, and look for appearances by yours truly.
- Honorable mention: Various Sigs, Caity, Michelle & DeAnna, Seth
That's pretty much it, really. An entire group that's been left out is people from the MTU days. They were good friends, but I don't really talk to the much anymore, so they haven't been mentioned in the blog. Maybe some day.
I'll update this post as more people are talked about.
I Just Quit Rock and Roll
The fact that "I Just Quit Rock and Roll" (by Weston) was playing when I started this post was a coincidence, but it is humorously appropriate. I've just been arguing with a couple friends over the merits of rap in general, and "Baby Got Back" in particular. Gilbert seemed surprised and horrified that I enjoy the song, and tried to get me to confess that I was playing some horrid joke on him. Craig just shot me down with open hostility, having heard from Gilbert what was going on. They seemed to think that I was betraying them, or that I had been replaced with an impostor. It was pretty funny for a minute or two. Then I got bored, and told Gilbert that I was going to listen to Yanni instead. That horrified him even more, and from this horror, he posited that "there's music i don't like, and then there's music no one should like," which I thought was a fairly intelligent point. He doesn't like Dizzee Rascal or Sir Mixalot, but he can understand that some people do. Beyond comprehension, however, are the people who enjoy Yanni and such.
After reading back through some of my old posts, I've realized that not using people's names does avoid the confusion that comes with name dropping, and makes it possible for the posts to be more fully understood by more people, but is also very hard to write, and limits my ability to give full accounts of events. So I think that some time in the near future I'm going to do a "cast of characters" type of post which will include a brief description of people who I mention specifically in the blog, then give a permanent link to this post on the main page. That way, someone whom I know from Hillsdale can get a quick idea of who various people from Monroe are, and vice-versa. If anyone actually cares enough to bother. On second thought, that's too much trouble for something that probably won't be used. But then again, why put the effort into the blog itself, which is read by only a handful of people? I suppose that the whole thing is as much for my own benefit as anyone else's. And I want to do the "Dramatis Persona" page. So I'm gonna fucking do it. So there.
So I'm going to go to a concert on Thursday with Rhiannon (the name dropping begins) and a few of her friends from the area. The band is The Stills. I had never heard of them before I was invited to the concert, but I know that Dan and Nate saw them last week, and I've heard good things from them. Not to mention that their write-up on AMG compares them to Echo and the Bunnymen, so they can't be all bad, and have the potential to be very go I'm streaming their album from some site that Dan told me about, and I like what I hear. This whole deal is starting to look better and better. The only real concern now is getting there without me getting lost in Detroit, which has happened before. Hopefully two heads are better than one, and hopefully the other head is better with directions than mine is. But that's minor. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Well, I'll wrap this up. I'll sit here for a few minutes, debating whether or not to do a dramatis persona post tonight, or to wait until tomorrow. I'll eventually decide to do it tomorrow, because I want sleep. But I'm still going to sit here thinking about it for a bit anyway.
After reading back through some of my old posts, I've realized that not using people's names does avoid the confusion that comes with name dropping, and makes it possible for the posts to be more fully understood by more people, but is also very hard to write, and limits my ability to give full accounts of events. So I think that some time in the near future I'm going to do a "cast of characters" type of post which will include a brief description of people who I mention specifically in the blog, then give a permanent link to this post on the main page. That way, someone whom I know from Hillsdale can get a quick idea of who various people from Monroe are, and vice-versa. If anyone actually cares enough to bother. On second thought, that's too much trouble for something that probably won't be used. But then again, why put the effort into the blog itself, which is read by only a handful of people? I suppose that the whole thing is as much for my own benefit as anyone else's. And I want to do the "Dramatis Persona" page. So I'm gonna fucking do it. So there.
So I'm going to go to a concert on Thursday with Rhiannon (the name dropping begins) and a few of her friends from the area. The band is The Stills. I had never heard of them before I was invited to the concert, but I know that Dan and Nate saw them last week, and I've heard good things from them. Not to mention that their write-up on AMG compares them to Echo and the Bunnymen, so they can't be all bad, and have the potential to be very go I'm streaming their album from some site that Dan told me about, and I like what I hear. This whole deal is starting to look better and better. The only real concern now is getting there without me getting lost in Detroit, which has happened before. Hopefully two heads are better than one, and hopefully the other head is better with directions than mine is. But that's minor. I'm definitely looking forward to it.
Well, I'll wrap this up. I'll sit here for a few minutes, debating whether or not to do a dramatis persona post tonight, or to wait until tomorrow. I'll eventually decide to do it tomorrow, because I want sleep. But I'm still going to sit here thinking about it for a bit anyway.
Say It Ain't So
I feel special. I caused single-handedly caused Tim to update his blog for the second time. Such updates are a rare enough occurence that being the subject of not one, but TWO of his posts puts me in a place of esteem that few mortals may dare to hope for, much less attain. I am eternally grateful to have been blessed with the recognition of such a person as Tim.
On to other things: I (finally) finished The Confusion, the second book in the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. After 900 pages of adventure, intrigue, and philosophizing (not to mention various historical, cultural, and linguistical references liberally strewn about for those who are sharp enough to catch them), my reaction is best summed up in one word: wow. The end, especially is excellent. It is sort of a cliffhanger, but it is much more than that. The purpose of nearly everything in the first two books of the trilogy are leading up to a titantic conflict between the two smartest people in the world. The struggle begins at the very end of The Confusion, and my guess is that it will be the focal point of the final book. It should be a spectacular finish, and will probably tie together some of the loose ends connecting the Baroque Cycle with Cryptonomicon. So, in short, I renew my recommendation that everyone read stuff by Neal Stephenson.
Well, I got confirmation: I am going to my first bachelor party this coming Saturday. This whole event is fraught with strange coincidences and ironies. The bachelor party will consist of Hooters, a strip club, and getting drunk. The first set of ironies is related to the fact that it will be my first time in a strip club. This is ironic because: (1) I spent a decent amount of free time this semester hanging out with a Certain Someone who was very rich, quite willing to give his money away to friends, and who had a peculiar penchant for strip clubs. However, for various and sundry reasons, every time that he would take people to strip clubs, I would either claim that I had school work, or just flat out refuse to go. So the fact that it will be my first time in a strip club is ironic. But it is also ironic because (2) the bachelor party is being thrown for a good friend of mine from my RadioShack days who has told me that a) I am one of the major reasons that he decided to continue with his college education to become a teacher, and that b) I am one of the major reasons that he became a Lutheran. So my first experience with a strip club will be in taking a friend for whom I have been a positive role-model. I've thought about it a bit, and I've decided that I have no particular moral objection to strip clubs, but I still find it slightly ironic that he followed me to church, and now will follow me to a strip club. The strange coincidence which I mentioned is that his fiance is an old high-school classmate of mine. When I heard that he was engaged, I was surprised. Then I met the bride-to-be, and was even more surprised. I thought at first that she just happened to look like someone I knew. But it turned out to be her. It was rather awkward at first, because we had barely known each other in highschool, and she had been under the impression that I thought I was better than everyone else (which isn't true, but I understand now how she came to that assumption). But we've since become friends. But anyway, I'm happy for them, and the bachelor party should be kick-ass.
Oh, and some good news/bad news (well, it's not really important to anyone but me, but here it is anyway): My bike is still at home. I couldn't fit the damn thing in my car, so I'll have to borrow my parents' van and bring it out later. That was a bit of a buzzkill. But the good news is that I bought a used copy of Super Mario 64, which should replace the hours of entertainment lost because of the whole bike thing. Granted, it won't get me into shape, but at least I won't be bored, and I will get another chance to play through one of my favorite games.
Well, the post is long enough as it is. I'm going to watch Vertigo, read O'Connor, or play Mario; whichever strikes my fancy once I've had a snack.
On to other things: I (finally) finished The Confusion, the second book in the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson. After 900 pages of adventure, intrigue, and philosophizing (not to mention various historical, cultural, and linguistical references liberally strewn about for those who are sharp enough to catch them), my reaction is best summed up in one word: wow. The end, especially is excellent. It is sort of a cliffhanger, but it is much more than that. The purpose of nearly everything in the first two books of the trilogy are leading up to a titantic conflict between the two smartest people in the world. The struggle begins at the very end of The Confusion, and my guess is that it will be the focal point of the final book. It should be a spectacular finish, and will probably tie together some of the loose ends connecting the Baroque Cycle with Cryptonomicon. So, in short, I renew my recommendation that everyone read stuff by Neal Stephenson.
Well, I got confirmation: I am going to my first bachelor party this coming Saturday. This whole event is fraught with strange coincidences and ironies. The bachelor party will consist of Hooters, a strip club, and getting drunk. The first set of ironies is related to the fact that it will be my first time in a strip club. This is ironic because: (1) I spent a decent amount of free time this semester hanging out with a Certain Someone who was very rich, quite willing to give his money away to friends, and who had a peculiar penchant for strip clubs. However, for various and sundry reasons, every time that he would take people to strip clubs, I would either claim that I had school work, or just flat out refuse to go. So the fact that it will be my first time in a strip club is ironic. But it is also ironic because (2) the bachelor party is being thrown for a good friend of mine from my RadioShack days who has told me that a) I am one of the major reasons that he decided to continue with his college education to become a teacher, and that b) I am one of the major reasons that he became a Lutheran. So my first experience with a strip club will be in taking a friend for whom I have been a positive role-model. I've thought about it a bit, and I've decided that I have no particular moral objection to strip clubs, but I still find it slightly ironic that he followed me to church, and now will follow me to a strip club. The strange coincidence which I mentioned is that his fiance is an old high-school classmate of mine. When I heard that he was engaged, I was surprised. Then I met the bride-to-be, and was even more surprised. I thought at first that she just happened to look like someone I knew. But it turned out to be her. It was rather awkward at first, because we had barely known each other in highschool, and she had been under the impression that I thought I was better than everyone else (which isn't true, but I understand now how she came to that assumption). But we've since become friends. But anyway, I'm happy for them, and the bachelor party should be kick-ass.
Oh, and some good news/bad news (well, it's not really important to anyone but me, but here it is anyway): My bike is still at home. I couldn't fit the damn thing in my car, so I'll have to borrow my parents' van and bring it out later. That was a bit of a buzzkill. But the good news is that I bought a used copy of Super Mario 64, which should replace the hours of entertainment lost because of the whole bike thing. Granted, it won't get me into shape, but at least I won't be bored, and I will get another chance to play through one of my favorite games.
Well, the post is long enough as it is. I'm going to watch Vertigo, read O'Connor, or play Mario; whichever strikes my fancy once I've had a snack.
Glycerine
If you haven't seen Seven Samurai, I suggest that you see it at the earliest possible convenience. I just finished watching it at a friend's house. I had watched the first half a few days ago, but had stopped at the intermission because it hadn't really sparked my interest. Considering that it's a three hour movie, I think I was justified in not wanting to sit through another hour and a half after the intermission. But my friend wanted to see it, and I was bored, so we watched the whole thing. Watching the first half a second time and seeing the last half has considerably altered my opinion of the movie. It is a masterpiece of cinema. I haven't decided if I would call it one of the greatest movies of all time, as some do, but I do agree that it is a landmark film, and should be seen by anyone in possession of the merest moiety of their marbles. (Yes, I did just type that. I can't believe it either.) So, go see it.
I got home this afternoon, and there was a box of easy to prepare food on the kitchen table for me. My mom bought it all so I could save money on meals. If this keeps up, I should have an easy time staying within my summer budget of $500 for food and gas. Unless gas keeps going up. Why is it that when gas prices are up, your car's milage seems to decrease? I'm guessing it's just a psychological thing. When gas prices are higher than a jazz musician in Amsterdam, you tend to notice the needle dropping a bit more. But still, I don't remember it taking almost a quarter of a tank to get from school to home. Oh well. If the food keeps coming, $500 should be more than generous, even if gas hits $3 /gallon. And maybe I'll even have some left over for other things. Maybe.
OK, now it's time for a rant and a rejoicing:
Rant:
If you're following a truck that's driving slowly because it has potted plants in its bed, and it's practically driving on the shoulder, begging for you to pass him, then FUCKING PASS HIM!!! Don't waste HALF AN HOUR of my and other peoples' time by following him at 35 mph, and refusing to pass him. People who do this are the type of people who blow goats for quarters. And further, if you're following someone who is doing this (refusing to pass, not blowing goats for quarters), then you are under an obligation to the rest of the line of traffic to get the ball rolling. Pass the stupid squirell-fucker and the guy who has a good reason for going slowly in one fell swoop. Then maybe the guy behind you will stop tailgating you and cursing like a cabby, even though he's listening to the Postal Service, which is some of the most calming music there is. Ah, the Postal Service... OK, I'm better now. But I can't end the post on that note, so:
Rejoicing:
I'm taking my bike out to the 'dale with me! w00t! Having a bike means that I'll have motivation to get in shape over the summer. I was actually in pretty decent shape most of the way through high school simply because I loved riding my bike. Hopefully that old spark will be rekindled, and I'll get rid of the apathy that came with being a computer science student at MTU, and still hasn't been worked out of my system. Yep, things are definitely looking up. The money has started rolling in, work is easy and sometimes even fun, and I'm getting my bike. Ah, summer... I'm gonna go to bed and sleep in 'til noon.
I got home this afternoon, and there was a box of easy to prepare food on the kitchen table for me. My mom bought it all so I could save money on meals. If this keeps up, I should have an easy time staying within my summer budget of $500 for food and gas. Unless gas keeps going up. Why is it that when gas prices are up, your car's milage seems to decrease? I'm guessing it's just a psychological thing. When gas prices are higher than a jazz musician in Amsterdam, you tend to notice the needle dropping a bit more. But still, I don't remember it taking almost a quarter of a tank to get from school to home. Oh well. If the food keeps coming, $500 should be more than generous, even if gas hits $3 /gallon. And maybe I'll even have some left over for other things. Maybe.
OK, now it's time for a rant and a rejoicing:
Rant:
If you're following a truck that's driving slowly because it has potted plants in its bed, and it's practically driving on the shoulder, begging for you to pass him, then FUCKING PASS HIM!!! Don't waste HALF AN HOUR of my and other peoples' time by following him at 35 mph, and refusing to pass him. People who do this are the type of people who blow goats for quarters. And further, if you're following someone who is doing this (refusing to pass, not blowing goats for quarters), then you are under an obligation to the rest of the line of traffic to get the ball rolling. Pass the stupid squirell-fucker and the guy who has a good reason for going slowly in one fell swoop. Then maybe the guy behind you will stop tailgating you and cursing like a cabby, even though he's listening to the Postal Service, which is some of the most calming music there is. Ah, the Postal Service... OK, I'm better now. But I can't end the post on that note, so:
Rejoicing:
I'm taking my bike out to the 'dale with me! w00t! Having a bike means that I'll have motivation to get in shape over the summer. I was actually in pretty decent shape most of the way through high school simply because I loved riding my bike. Hopefully that old spark will be rekindled, and I'll get rid of the apathy that came with being a computer science student at MTU, and still hasn't been worked out of my system. Yep, things are definitely looking up. The money has started rolling in, work is easy and sometimes even fun, and I'm getting my bike. Ah, summer... I'm gonna go to bed and sleep in 'til noon.
Sugar Magnolia
I'm sitting at work, listening to my boss talk on speakerphone with Microsoft, trying to get the student email server back up and running. It went down yesterday evening, and over the course of the night I had 3 different people instant message me, asking me to "make email work!" It looks like something really messed up bad this time. Damn
Microsoft.
In other news, in the past week, they've started the construction of the two new classroom buildings on campus. It's pretty crazy. First they tore up the sidewalks, then they got a back hoe in there and started digging. Today they started pouring concrete. It's moving fast. Supposedly they'll have both buildings done and ready for use in 18 months, which means that I'll be able to take some classes in them. Should be cool.
Well, I really don't have anything really interesting to say, so I'm going to wrap this up. I need to go close my dorm room windows, anyway. There's a storm coming from the west. "Get the clothes off the line, ma! There's a storm a-brewin'!" Damn it all, I'm such a nerd.
On a tangent, I leave with a Led Zeppelin quote:
"There's a feeling I get
When I look to the west..."
Microsoft.
In other news, in the past week, they've started the construction of the two new classroom buildings on campus. It's pretty crazy. First they tore up the sidewalks, then they got a back hoe in there and started digging. Today they started pouring concrete. It's moving fast. Supposedly they'll have both buildings done and ready for use in 18 months, which means that I'll be able to take some classes in them. Should be cool.
Well, I really don't have anything really interesting to say, so I'm going to wrap this up. I need to go close my dorm room windows, anyway. There's a storm coming from the west. "Get the clothes off the line, ma! There's a storm a-brewin'!" Damn it all, I'm such a nerd.
On a tangent, I leave with a Led Zeppelin quote:
"There's a feeling I get
When I look to the west..."
Looking Out My Back Door
I got my grades yesterday. I ended up with a B in every class except for sociology, in which I got a B-. Considering how I did last semester, and how I was doing at the beginning of this one, I should be ecstatic. But I'm unhappy because 1) I thought I did better in sociology, 2) a B would have given me a straight 3.0 GPA, and 3) I actually worked in that class. Of course, I didn't work nearly as hard as I should have. But since putting work into ANY class is such a rare occurence for me, I feel cheated when I don't get at least a B. Oh well, I really shouldn't complain. I didn't read any of the material.
While chatting with a friend about this, I mentioned that I wanted better grades. The reply was "you certainly have the potential to do it." I replied by saying that that was the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me. I don't think that this is true. I probably have had nicer things said to me, but once again my trouble with accepting compliments comes into play. But this one, for some reason, I trusted. While it may not have been the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me, it may have been the most sincere compliment I've ever received. At least, the compliment that I thought was the most sincere. It was nice. Now I just need to live up to it. That'll never happen.
Speaking of not putting in enough effort, I've decided to follow a friend's example and post a list of books/pieces of literature. But instead of being a list of things which I plan to read over the summer, it will be list of things that I should have read, and wish I had read over the past year, but didn't. They are all books from the two English courses I took.
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Decameron by Boccaccio
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
The Praise of Folly by Erasmus
Candide by Voltaire
Faust by Goethe
Madame Bovary by Flaubert
Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
Hedda Gabler by Ibsen
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by Eliot
Endgame by Beckett
Some of these I want to read because they sounded interesting, or because you can't really be a well-educated person without having read them (Virgil, for example), and others I wish I had read so that I could have passed the quizzes and gotten a B+ in the class, negating the B- in sociology and giving me that 3.0. Oh well. I'll probably end up reading a few of these over the summer. For now, I'm going to read some O'Connor. Or maybe I'll finish up The Confusion. It's a couple weeks overdue by now. Either way, this post is finished.
While chatting with a friend about this, I mentioned that I wanted better grades. The reply was "you certainly have the potential to do it." I replied by saying that that was the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me. I don't think that this is true. I probably have had nicer things said to me, but once again my trouble with accepting compliments comes into play. But this one, for some reason, I trusted. While it may not have been the nicest thing that anyone has ever said to me, it may have been the most sincere compliment I've ever received. At least, the compliment that I thought was the most sincere. It was nice. Now I just need to live up to it. That'll never happen.
Speaking of not putting in enough effort, I've decided to follow a friend's example and post a list of books/pieces of literature. But instead of being a list of things which I plan to read over the summer, it will be list of things that I should have read, and wish I had read over the past year, but didn't. They are all books from the two English courses I took.
The Aeneid by Virgil
The Divine Comedy by Dante
The Decameron by Boccaccio
The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
The Praise of Folly by Erasmus
Candide by Voltaire
Faust by Goethe
Madame Bovary by Flaubert
Notes from Underground by Dostoevsky
Hedda Gabler by Ibsen
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by Eliot
Endgame by Beckett
Some of these I want to read because they sounded interesting, or because you can't really be a well-educated person without having read them (Virgil, for example), and others I wish I had read so that I could have passed the quizzes and gotten a B+ in the class, negating the B- in sociology and giving me that 3.0. Oh well. I'll probably end up reading a few of these over the summer. For now, I'm going to read some O'Connor. Or maybe I'll finish up The Confusion. It's a couple weeks overdue by now. Either way, this post is finished.
My Favorite Mistake
There's a dearth of anything really interesting happening in my life, so I'm just going to mention a few things from the past few days or so that made me think, or just stuck in my memory for some reason.
1) During my "one last fling with alcohol" before the summer began (the fling talked about in the post named after one of the few Less Than Jake songs to which I enjoy listening), Dan and I started talking about geeky topics, and everyone around us got bored or hopelessly confused. So while we were talking about good content management systems and so on, the other people in the room started talking about the various ways, shapes, and forms in which they've had sex. I, of course, was talking about tech stuff, but I couldn't help overhearing things like "she was giving me a bj in the library" and other such things. The two-level conversation didn't last too long, but it was interesting while it lasted.
2) On Sunday, I went home. I said hi to a good friend of mine who's getting married in June, and got invited to his bachelor party. I've never been to a bachelor party before. It should be a good time. I rescued my Xbox from the clutches of my brothers, then drove off into the sunset. It sucked, because I had no sunglasses for the entire hour and fifteen minutes I was driving back out here.
3) My first real day of summer work was on Monday. It was really just work as usual, only longer, and with a lunch break. Oh well. After work, I was talking to a friend online about how dead the town is without the students. It was suggested to me that I go hang out with a mutual acquaintance who lives in town. So I messaged her, and she and I went to Oakley's and got a snack. The whole thing ended up being awkward because I'm not the sort who initiates conversations very easily. I can socialize decently well, but I need someone who is willing to "lead" the conversation, so to speak. It felt awkward because she didn't talk too much. I couldn't tell if it's just the way she is, or if she didn't want to be there, or if she just didn't feel like talking, or what. Damn it. After that, I got back to my room and did a lot of cleaning and rearranging. My feelings on clean rooms are mixed. I enjoy the order and ease of a clean room, but at the same time it lacks the character of a messy room. I ended up throwing some clothes on strategic patches of floor, which gives me the "messy" feel, but maintains the over-all cleanliness of the room, which can be returned to its pristine state with a few simple bending over and tossing exercises.
4) Yesterday I got out of work and played video games all day. For a brief moment it had looked like I might go to Ann Arbor to visit a college friend with the aforementioned townie friend, but then she couldn't go, so there wasn't much use to spending a couple hours in the car, alone, using up the damnably expesive gas which my parents so generously paid for, but which I will have to pay to replace. It's not like that's the only chance I'll have to see that friend this summer, anyway.
5) Today, after work, I made myself a sandwich. Bruce Packer's summer sausage (which is the best summer sausage in the world, by the way; and don't take my word for it - try it yourself), colby-jack, and mayo on wheat bread. It was damn good. Strangely enough, after I ate it, I began to have a craving for chocolate milk. This is probably due to my old habit of making myself a Bruce Packer's summer sausage sandwich and a tall glass of choclate milk, a habit which I had for several years, and which was never really broken, only put on hiatus. This incident was especially interesting because earlier this year I had a bad (VERY bad) experience with black russians. For those who don't know, this is a drink made up of vodka and Kahlua. Kahlua tastes very much like chocolate milk, and has such a strong taste, in fact, that it overpowers the already weak taste of vodka. Of course, puking your guts out while drunk on a particular type of alcoholic drink makes your body very wary of any drink tasting like the one which caused it such suffering, especially if it's your first experience with being sick from alcohol. Even now, just thinking about a black russian makes me gag. So I finished the sandwich, and suddenly had two Pavlovian responses at war. The entire way to Wal-mart, I was almost gagging and shuddering. I got to the milk section in the back of the store, and stood in front of the chocolate milk. Slowly, my hand crept up to the handle. I felt like Frodo trying to cast the One Ring into Mount Doom. (FUCK! I'm such a nerd.) Then, I closed my eyes, turned my head, and in a single motion opened the door and grabbed a small bottle of chocolate milk. Without looking at it once, I walked to the checkout line. I put it on the conveyor belt, and as it began to move, I looked at it. It sat there smugly gliding along on the conveyor belt. It is a slave to larger forces, but it seemed happy in the knowledge that it could still cause such anguish in me. I got back to my room and drank it quickly. The aftertaste is still in my mouth. Blech.
Anyway, that's that. I just felt like writing.
1) During my "one last fling with alcohol" before the summer began (the fling talked about in the post named after one of the few Less Than Jake songs to which I enjoy listening), Dan and I started talking about geeky topics, and everyone around us got bored or hopelessly confused. So while we were talking about good content management systems and so on, the other people in the room started talking about the various ways, shapes, and forms in which they've had sex. I, of course, was talking about tech stuff, but I couldn't help overhearing things like "she was giving me a bj in the library" and other such things. The two-level conversation didn't last too long, but it was interesting while it lasted.
2) On Sunday, I went home. I said hi to a good friend of mine who's getting married in June, and got invited to his bachelor party. I've never been to a bachelor party before. It should be a good time. I rescued my Xbox from the clutches of my brothers, then drove off into the sunset. It sucked, because I had no sunglasses for the entire hour and fifteen minutes I was driving back out here.
3) My first real day of summer work was on Monday. It was really just work as usual, only longer, and with a lunch break. Oh well. After work, I was talking to a friend online about how dead the town is without the students. It was suggested to me that I go hang out with a mutual acquaintance who lives in town. So I messaged her, and she and I went to Oakley's and got a snack. The whole thing ended up being awkward because I'm not the sort who initiates conversations very easily. I can socialize decently well, but I need someone who is willing to "lead" the conversation, so to speak. It felt awkward because she didn't talk too much. I couldn't tell if it's just the way she is, or if she didn't want to be there, or if she just didn't feel like talking, or what. Damn it. After that, I got back to my room and did a lot of cleaning and rearranging. My feelings on clean rooms are mixed. I enjoy the order and ease of a clean room, but at the same time it lacks the character of a messy room. I ended up throwing some clothes on strategic patches of floor, which gives me the "messy" feel, but maintains the over-all cleanliness of the room, which can be returned to its pristine state with a few simple bending over and tossing exercises.
4) Yesterday I got out of work and played video games all day. For a brief moment it had looked like I might go to Ann Arbor to visit a college friend with the aforementioned townie friend, but then she couldn't go, so there wasn't much use to spending a couple hours in the car, alone, using up the damnably expesive gas which my parents so generously paid for, but which I will have to pay to replace. It's not like that's the only chance I'll have to see that friend this summer, anyway.
5) Today, after work, I made myself a sandwich. Bruce Packer's summer sausage (which is the best summer sausage in the world, by the way; and don't take my word for it - try it yourself), colby-jack, and mayo on wheat bread. It was damn good. Strangely enough, after I ate it, I began to have a craving for chocolate milk. This is probably due to my old habit of making myself a Bruce Packer's summer sausage sandwich and a tall glass of choclate milk, a habit which I had for several years, and which was never really broken, only put on hiatus. This incident was especially interesting because earlier this year I had a bad (VERY bad) experience with black russians. For those who don't know, this is a drink made up of vodka and Kahlua. Kahlua tastes very much like chocolate milk, and has such a strong taste, in fact, that it overpowers the already weak taste of vodka. Of course, puking your guts out while drunk on a particular type of alcoholic drink makes your body very wary of any drink tasting like the one which caused it such suffering, especially if it's your first experience with being sick from alcohol. Even now, just thinking about a black russian makes me gag. So I finished the sandwich, and suddenly had two Pavlovian responses at war. The entire way to Wal-mart, I was almost gagging and shuddering. I got to the milk section in the back of the store, and stood in front of the chocolate milk. Slowly, my hand crept up to the handle. I felt like Frodo trying to cast the One Ring into Mount Doom. (FUCK! I'm such a nerd.) Then, I closed my eyes, turned my head, and in a single motion opened the door and grabbed a small bottle of chocolate milk. Without looking at it once, I walked to the checkout line. I put it on the conveyor belt, and as it began to move, I looked at it. It sat there smugly gliding along on the conveyor belt. It is a slave to larger forces, but it seemed happy in the knowledge that it could still cause such anguish in me. I got back to my room and drank it quickly. The aftertaste is still in my mouth. Blech.
Anyway, that's that. I just felt like writing.
Caught In A Jar
After having taken the required history and English classes, I have come to have some understanding of Western culture, and the various changes that it has gone through to get us to where we are today. I was thinking about this earlier today, and realized that the way in which the modern person thinks is in some fundamental ways very different from the way in which a person from even a hundred years ago would think, just as those people from a hundred years ago were fundamentally different in some important ways from the people a hundred years before them. There have been persistent themes in Western Civilization, but there has always been change. Connect this thought with the idea of artistic media. Looking at the current era (i.e. the past 75-100 years or so), there has been an explosion of media. Movies, recorded music, and of course, more recently, video games, blogs, and other computer-related media. Movies and recorded music are older than 100 years, but it has really only been in the past several decades that they have taken off. But several decades, while a lifetime to one person (almost a pun, but not quite), is just a heartbeat to a civilization. Other forms of artistic media have been around since the beginning of the civilization. Literature is the obvious example. Our civilization is carried by these pieces of art. If all life were to cease on this planet, but art were to survive, a fairly accurate picture of the different civilizations of the world could be put together by an enerprising alien race with enough time on its hands. The artists all add their particular bit to our culture. Homer is one of the "founding fathers" of Western Civilization. He used the medium which was available to him: literature. But what would he have been like as a film maker? The Iliad and The Odyssey are seen through the lens of modernity. Without extensive study of the entire Ancient Greek culture, the language, and the works themselves, it is impossible for a modern reader to comprehend the Iliad and the Odyssey as Homer intended them to be. What, then would his films have been like? In the same way that modernity shapes our view of the classics, it has also shaped every film ever made. Because it is such a new medium, culturally speaking, every film that has ever been made is in some way affected by everything that has come before it. But what would a film be like that was never affected by Romanticism? Or how about a director who had never been influenced by the Enlightenment? What if Chaucer, who never saw the Renaissance, had made movies? I suppose we'll never know. All we can do is read the poetry and prose that we do have from the various periods of Western Civilization, and keep it alive.
I went to the library to look at their movie collection. Dan was right. There are a ton of good movies in there. To start off, I got Seven Samurai and Vertigo. I haven't watched them yet, but I have them out for a week, so no problem there. I heard a rumor that ITS (the campus computer service) knows about my search site (based on ffsearch) and that they're not happy about it. Specifically mentioned as being not happy was my boss. It was implied that they had known about it for a while. I don't know if any of this is true. I'm betting that they do know about it, as it is running on their network, and it's a fairly small campus where word gets around easily. But they have never once mentioned it to me, even in passing. I would figure that they would let me know if they didn't like it. I'm just going to go about business as usual, not really caring what they think about it, because (1) it's not illegal, (2) they haven't said anything so far, and (3) if they do ask me to take it down, it's no problem to do so.
Anyway, I'm going to fall asleep reading again.
I went to the library to look at their movie collection. Dan was right. There are a ton of good movies in there. To start off, I got Seven Samurai and Vertigo. I haven't watched them yet, but I have them out for a week, so no problem there. I heard a rumor that ITS (the campus computer service) knows about my search site (based on ffsearch) and that they're not happy about it. Specifically mentioned as being not happy was my boss. It was implied that they had known about it for a while. I don't know if any of this is true. I'm betting that they do know about it, as it is running on their network, and it's a fairly small campus where word gets around easily. But they have never once mentioned it to me, even in passing. I would figure that they would let me know if they didn't like it. I'm just going to go about business as usual, not really caring what they think about it, because (1) it's not illegal, (2) they haven't said anything so far, and (3) if they do ask me to take it down, it's no problem to do so.
Anyway, I'm going to fall asleep reading again.
One Last Cigarette
After finishing that last post, I got a call from a friend inviting me down to the house. There were a few people there just hanging out, packing up slowly, and getting drunk. I joined them in the drinking part. It was fun. One last fling with drunkenness before the summer begins. I'll only have a few more opportunities to drink before August. I didn't get nearly as blitzed as I could have (the fact that I'm writing this post attests to that), but I definitely had (and am still having) fun. If tonight was any indication, next year will be awesome. I really have no purpose to this post at all except to say that I'm drunk. So with that being said, I'm going to go to sleep to see if I can wake up before 10AM tomorrow. Wish me luck.
Set the Ray to Jerry
If one were to repeatedly ask "why?", the answer that will inevitably be given is "I don't know." The pertinent question at this point is, does anyone know? Does anyone know why the laws of physics are the way they are? Does anyone know why two and two is four? Can anyone tell me why pi starts 3.14159? Really the ultimate question, the one behind all of these questions, is: "Is there a reason for the world being the way it is?" And with a bit of thinking, one may simplify this to: "Is there any reason for existence?" Once you start asking things like this, science and logic are helpless. The answer to these questions are out of the scope of science and reason. There are certain things which have to be taken for granted. Universal axioms. Two and two is four, and so on. Once you have these, all else follows. But there is still that nagging "why?". Some people have said that there is no answer to "why?". Or at least that the answer is unreachable, which is either as good as no answer, or even the very same thing. (This idea, that if the answer is unreachable, then there is in fact no answer, brings up all sorts of interesting questions about objective reality and so on. Maybe later.) Basically, these people have elevated scientific reasoning to be the ultimate power in the universe. If science or reason can't answer a question, then the question either has no answer, or (more likely) the question is useless, and has no meaning. A slightly more dangerous line of thinking would be that, since science can't tell us if there is a reason for existence, then there is no reason. This, it would seem to me, leads to nihilism. (I may be totally off base here, as I've never read any nihilistic philosophy. I don't know any of its foundations. But just running through the natural avenues of thought after deciding that there is no reason for existence has led me to something that seems awfully like nihilism.) Then, of course, there are those that believe that there IS meaning in existence. These people reach this conclusion, in part, because they view reason as a valuable tool, but not the only one through which we can understand the world. (To most modern readers, including myself, using anyhting other than reason and scientific observation to obtain knowledge sounds ridiculous. But any number of great writers, including those who wrote in periods where reason was glorified beyond all else, have come to the same conclusion. And they have done so by using (surprise!) reason.) Going beyond science and reason is to go beyond the natural and observable and enter into the supernatural. As far as I know (again, this is a wee bit out of my league, scholastically speaking), there are no religions which don't have a belief in a purpose (or "telos", to be more precise and more Greek) for existence.
My stream has run dry. The "paragraph" above is probably confusing as hell, and probably wrong in some areas, but it was what came pouring out when I sat down and tried to think of something to write about. I sat and sat, and nothing came. Then, while chatting on AIM, I asked a friend "why?" and the floodgates openned, releasing the mangled bits of half-chewed philosophy you just read. Or more likely skipped after becoming hopelessly lost. I didn't connect the thoughts as well as I should have, but it all makes sense to me. Maybe someday I'll go back and try to work it into a real essay. But probably not, as I covered several different topics, each of which could easily be the topics for many many books.
Today was the last spring orientation session. It went very well. I answered a lot more questions, and generally made my presence known much more today than I did either of the other two days. I also ran another mentor who knew my name, though I didn't know hers. Apparently she had met me sometime this semester. Damn alcohol. On the plus side, it didn't seem that I had made too much of an ass of myself. Oh well. I'm just about out of things to say, so I'm going to go back to reading what others have to say.
My stream has run dry. The "paragraph" above is probably confusing as hell, and probably wrong in some areas, but it was what came pouring out when I sat down and tried to think of something to write about. I sat and sat, and nothing came. Then, while chatting on AIM, I asked a friend "why?" and the floodgates openned, releasing the mangled bits of half-chewed philosophy you just read. Or more likely skipped after becoming hopelessly lost. I didn't connect the thoughts as well as I should have, but it all makes sense to me. Maybe someday I'll go back and try to work it into a real essay. But probably not, as I covered several different topics, each of which could easily be the topics for many many books.
Today was the last spring orientation session. It went very well. I answered a lot more questions, and generally made my presence known much more today than I did either of the other two days. I also ran another mentor who knew my name, though I didn't know hers. Apparently she had met me sometime this semester. Damn alcohol. On the plus side, it didn't seem that I had made too much of an ass of myself. Oh well. I'm just about out of things to say, so I'm going to go back to reading what others have to say.
Brand New Day
Today was what summer should be. I got up at my leisure. I took a long shower, then made myself a sandwich. I watched Family Guy for a bit, then read some. I went to Oakley's and got a sub and a pint of Ben and Jerry's. After supper I rollerbladed around campus for a bit. Then I read a bit more, and just when I was on the verge of being bored, I got an IM saying that there were people hanging out down at the house. A few of next year's seniors were back in town for someone's bachelor party. I talked with them for a bit, then went out drinking with a few other people. I actually didn't drink at all, because of mentoring tomorrow, and I just didn't feel like it. But it was fun, and they did say that I should go drinking with them again tomorrow, and I wouldn't have any excuse not to get wasted. So that should be fun. Even though there won't be so many people in town, I figure that as long as I have books to read and movies to watch (which I should), I shouldn't get too too bored this summer.
On another note, most people who know me say that I don't seem like a person who would like hip-hop or rap or whatever the fuck it's called. It comes as a surprise to them when I know lyrics to such songs. But usually, their assumptions are correct. I don't like the genre all that much, I just know some of the songs. So it comes as a surprise to ME when I realize that there is rap that I really enjoy. Recently (like in the past several hours) I've come to love Dizzee Rascal's music. Maybe it's the awesome accent. Maybe it's the harsh beats. Maybe it's the rhymes. Maybe it's the lyrical content. Probably it's a combination of the first three. For some reason, I can't get enough of it. Especially "I Luv U." I have no explanation for why I like it other than that it's just plain good.
Speaking of stuff that's just plain good: it's time for sleep.
On another note, most people who know me say that I don't seem like a person who would like hip-hop or rap or whatever the fuck it's called. It comes as a surprise to them when I know lyrics to such songs. But usually, their assumptions are correct. I don't like the genre all that much, I just know some of the songs. So it comes as a surprise to ME when I realize that there is rap that I really enjoy. Recently (like in the past several hours) I've come to love Dizzee Rascal's music. Maybe it's the awesome accent. Maybe it's the harsh beats. Maybe it's the rhymes. Maybe it's the lyrical content. Probably it's a combination of the first three. For some reason, I can't get enough of it. Especially "I Luv U." I have no explanation for why I like it other than that it's just plain good.
Speaking of stuff that's just plain good: it's time for sleep.
Two Suns in the Sunset
Another story about spring orientation: There were fewer than fifty incoming students there today. But TWO of them were from the highschool that I went to. One of them I knew was coming, but there was a girl next to whom I had sat in band my senior year of highschool who is also coming here, and was in my orientation group. That was something of a shock to both of us, as neither knew that the other was going here. What are the odds? Anyway, that was strange enough that I felt it was worth blogging. Back to my book.
Twisting by the Pool
So there I was, sitting in a welcome session for all incoming freshmen at spring orientation. I'm there as an orientation group mentor, which means that I give the incoming kids a student's perspective of life at Hillsdale. Really it means that I show them where they need to go for each session. But anyway, there I was, sitting in the welcome session listening to my English professor giving a brief speech about what college is like. And as I listened to him, and recognized some of my own experiences in what he was saying, I thought to myself that I never heard this speech during my orientation, and that it would have helped. Then, upon further reflection, I realized that I may have had this speech, but I completely forgot it because it left no lasting impression. Only now, when I can recognize my own experiences in his speech, do I remember it and find it important enough to blog.
This brings up some interesting points about learning in general. Is the best way to learn something just through the experiencing of that thing? Maybe. But then how does anyone "learn" history? And further, it seems that there are plenty of people who experience bad things as a result of stupid actions, yet keep doing the stupid actions. There are a few problems with a solely experienced-based approach to learning. As for history, I suppose that the experience must be artificially created. Documents must be read and events must be studied, then connections must be made in the mind of the student BEFORE the lecture on the topic is given. The lecture should both expand on connections between documents and events that the student has already made, and make new connections for the student. If the lecture is given when there is no basic understanding of what is being said, then it just goes in one ear and out the other, and even the most brilliant lecture can be wasted. These connections should be made between the materials covered in different classes as well as in material for the same class. I don't know if this whole thing makes sense to anyone but me. Or maybe it makes perfect sense to everyone, and I'm just now catching up. Either way, I had this realization on my own, and I think I captured the gist of it.
Well, I'm going to finish my book. I keep saying that, but I never do. It's overdue by now, so maybe I really will this time. As an end note, I recommend that everyone listen to Dire Straits.
This brings up some interesting points about learning in general. Is the best way to learn something just through the experiencing of that thing? Maybe. But then how does anyone "learn" history? And further, it seems that there are plenty of people who experience bad things as a result of stupid actions, yet keep doing the stupid actions. There are a few problems with a solely experienced-based approach to learning. As for history, I suppose that the experience must be artificially created. Documents must be read and events must be studied, then connections must be made in the mind of the student BEFORE the lecture on the topic is given. The lecture should both expand on connections between documents and events that the student has already made, and make new connections for the student. If the lecture is given when there is no basic understanding of what is being said, then it just goes in one ear and out the other, and even the most brilliant lecture can be wasted. These connections should be made between the materials covered in different classes as well as in material for the same class. I don't know if this whole thing makes sense to anyone but me. Or maybe it makes perfect sense to everyone, and I'm just now catching up. Either way, I had this realization on my own, and I think I captured the gist of it.
Well, I'm going to finish my book. I keep saying that, but I never do. It's overdue by now, so maybe I really will this time. As an end note, I recommend that everyone listen to Dire Straits.
The Face that Launched 1000 Ships
I was doing some routine maintenance on my computer, and in root's home directory I found a directory titled "Death Cab for Cutie." It was filled with 350MB of mp3s by that band. The only motivation that I had had for downloading it was that it happened to be on Dan's computer, so I knew that it would at least be worth listening to. It turns out that the Postal Service was actually a side project for the lead singer of Death Cab. It's awesome stuff. Finding five albums of it already properly tagged just sitting on my hard drive was like Christmas in May.
But I'm not here to talk to you about easter eggs of good music hidden on my hard drive. I'm here to talk about Stupid Things. Things for which people deserve to be drug out into the street and shot. I'm talking about SCO. If those three letters don't immediately activate your gag reflex, just skip ahead now, because the rest of this paragraph won't make any sense. Beyond the petty hatred that I feel toward that miserable camel shit of a company, I really can't comprehend what was going on in their heads when they started this whole thing. I really can't. The possible thought processes can be dichotmized thusly: they really did think that they had a case, or they knew that they were full of shit right from the get-go. If they honestly thought that they were in the right, anyone with half a brain and a slight knowledge of the American legal system could have told them that going up against a company like IBM is suicide, because IBM has the resources to keep the whole shebang tied up in courts until your cash flow dries up. Basically, even if they did have a case, they should have known that they couldn't win it. If they knew that they had nothing from the beginning, then the right thing to do would have been to never even think about suing, and just declared bankruptcy. Of course, business is far too utilitarian to even give the right thing a thought. The only thing on the minds of the higher-ups at SCO must have been to get as much money for themselves as possible. Somehow they must have come to the conclusion that suing, even when they had no case, was the best way to get money out of their dying company. The obvious conclusion to reach from this line of thought is that the whole thing was a pump-and-dump maneuver. Raise a fuss, and make it look like you're going to win a HUGE case, then dump the stock as soon as it peaks. That seemed to be the case, but SCO's stock has been dropping like a rock, and I haven't heard anything about any people in the company cashing out yet. The only people cashing out are the investors. They're about to sink into the little seen "what utter dip-shits" section of history, and they don't seem to be doing anything about it. The only ration explanation for what has happened is that either 1) they are incredibly stupid, and somehow thought that they were right and that they could win in court, or 2) they still have something up their sleeve. Either way, I'm not too worried about it. So if it really doesn't matter to me, why did I just waste your time with it? Well, I just wanted to rant about something, and SCO is pretty easy because they really piss me off, and because they're so stupid. Sorry.
Anyway, now that that's out of my system: I'm going to read through the rest of The Confusion so I can start on the complete works of Flannery O'Connor, which I'm borrowing from Dan. Of course, I'll probably fall asleep before making any progress. But you know what? It really doesn't matter. I think I like summer.
But I'm not here to talk to you about easter eggs of good music hidden on my hard drive. I'm here to talk about Stupid Things. Things for which people deserve to be drug out into the street and shot. I'm talking about SCO. If those three letters don't immediately activate your gag reflex, just skip ahead now, because the rest of this paragraph won't make any sense. Beyond the petty hatred that I feel toward that miserable camel shit of a company, I really can't comprehend what was going on in their heads when they started this whole thing. I really can't. The possible thought processes can be dichotmized thusly: they really did think that they had a case, or they knew that they were full of shit right from the get-go. If they honestly thought that they were in the right, anyone with half a brain and a slight knowledge of the American legal system could have told them that going up against a company like IBM is suicide, because IBM has the resources to keep the whole shebang tied up in courts until your cash flow dries up. Basically, even if they did have a case, they should have known that they couldn't win it. If they knew that they had nothing from the beginning, then the right thing to do would have been to never even think about suing, and just declared bankruptcy. Of course, business is far too utilitarian to even give the right thing a thought. The only thing on the minds of the higher-ups at SCO must have been to get as much money for themselves as possible. Somehow they must have come to the conclusion that suing, even when they had no case, was the best way to get money out of their dying company. The obvious conclusion to reach from this line of thought is that the whole thing was a pump-and-dump maneuver. Raise a fuss, and make it look like you're going to win a HUGE case, then dump the stock as soon as it peaks. That seemed to be the case, but SCO's stock has been dropping like a rock, and I haven't heard anything about any people in the company cashing out yet. The only people cashing out are the investors. They're about to sink into the little seen "what utter dip-shits" section of history, and they don't seem to be doing anything about it. The only ration explanation for what has happened is that either 1) they are incredibly stupid, and somehow thought that they were right and that they could win in court, or 2) they still have something up their sleeve. Either way, I'm not too worried about it. So if it really doesn't matter to me, why did I just waste your time with it? Well, I just wanted to rant about something, and SCO is pretty easy because they really piss me off, and because they're so stupid. Sorry.
Anyway, now that that's out of my system: I'm going to read through the rest of The Confusion so I can start on the complete works of Flannery O'Connor, which I'm borrowing from Dan. Of course, I'll probably fall asleep before making any progress. But you know what? It really doesn't matter. I think I like summer.
Burn One Down
I've been busy. Not actual "doing important stuff" busy, but I've been constantly on the move since even before my last post. Since that night, there have been a trio of interesting nights. The first one (Saturday night) was the last party of the school year. That day was graduation, which was pretty neat. Then, of course, there was a shindig down at the house. It wasn't particularly great as college parties go, but there were some professors there, and a few of us sat around talking with them about art in general, and movies in particular. I mainly just listened and learned. I said a few things, but I was woefully unequipped to participate in the discussion. I haven't seen most of the movies they were talking about, and I really hadn't thought through most of what they were talking about before, so my opinions weren't well formed or thought out. But it was simultaneously one of the most entertaining and educational couple hours that I've had in long while.
After the professors left, I got completely blitzed. I have vague memories of the fire alarm going off, then being at another party, then saying goodbye to some friends who I won't see for three months or so, then being back in the dorm and talking to people on AIM, then puking my guts out, then going to bed. But it's all pretty hazy.
Now I must return to work. I'll finish this post in a bit.
*Five hours later*
Anyway, the next day I went home and hung out with friends from high school. We saw Kill Bill Vol. 2, which is quite good. I played with a pound of silly putty. It was fun. I got home from the movie at around 2, and decided to not go back to Hillsdale until the next morning. I woke up at 6:30 so I could make it here in time for work. It sucked. I suppose that night wasn't as interesting as the other two. Oh well.
After work, I got online and messaged a college friend who lives in Southfield, saying that summer is boring, or something to that effect. He replied that I should come visit him. After a few seconds of deliberation, I decided that hanging out with him was far better than nothing. So I left for Southfield from Hillsdale during rush hour with a few hastily scribbled directions. You can probably see where this is going. The drive is maybe an hour and a half. It took me almost three. But in my defence, I didn't get lost until I-275's northbound 8 mile exit was closed. I got off on 7 mile and promptly lost all sense of direction. I wandered around a bit, had an interesting encounter with a payphone that wasn't really a pay phone (I really don't feel like explaining), got lost some more, then finally found my way. It was fun. Once I was there, we went to some hookah bar, smoked a bit with one of his highschool friends, then just drove around. I discovered the awesomeness of a number of things during the "driving around" part:
1) Pez are awesome.
2) Loitering is also awesome.
3) Krispy Kreme is awesome. It turns out that they give out fresh donuts for free. It was the best donut I've ever had.
4) 7-11 slurpees are awesome.
So that was a night just chock full of awesomeness. After the loitering with slurpees, it was about 1AM, and I decided that I would go home that night, rather than have to get up ludicrously early again. I ended up back in Hillsdale at around 3AM, and got 5 hours of sleep. I don't really run too well on very little sleep, so having only gotten 10 hours or so in the past 72 is really taking its toll.
I think I'll go get drunk.
After the professors left, I got completely blitzed. I have vague memories of the fire alarm going off, then being at another party, then saying goodbye to some friends who I won't see for three months or so, then being back in the dorm and talking to people on AIM, then puking my guts out, then going to bed. But it's all pretty hazy.
Now I must return to work. I'll finish this post in a bit.
*Five hours later*
Anyway, the next day I went home and hung out with friends from high school. We saw Kill Bill Vol. 2, which is quite good. I played with a pound of silly putty. It was fun. I got home from the movie at around 2, and decided to not go back to Hillsdale until the next morning. I woke up at 6:30 so I could make it here in time for work. It sucked. I suppose that night wasn't as interesting as the other two. Oh well.
After work, I got online and messaged a college friend who lives in Southfield, saying that summer is boring, or something to that effect. He replied that I should come visit him. After a few seconds of deliberation, I decided that hanging out with him was far better than nothing. So I left for Southfield from Hillsdale during rush hour with a few hastily scribbled directions. You can probably see where this is going. The drive is maybe an hour and a half. It took me almost three. But in my defence, I didn't get lost until I-275's northbound 8 mile exit was closed. I got off on 7 mile and promptly lost all sense of direction. I wandered around a bit, had an interesting encounter with a payphone that wasn't really a pay phone (I really don't feel like explaining), got lost some more, then finally found my way. It was fun. Once I was there, we went to some hookah bar, smoked a bit with one of his highschool friends, then just drove around. I discovered the awesomeness of a number of things during the "driving around" part:
1) Pez are awesome.
2) Loitering is also awesome.
3) Krispy Kreme is awesome. It turns out that they give out fresh donuts for free. It was the best donut I've ever had.
4) 7-11 slurpees are awesome.
So that was a night just chock full of awesomeness. After the loitering with slurpees, it was about 1AM, and I decided that I would go home that night, rather than have to get up ludicrously early again. I ended up back in Hillsdale at around 3AM, and got 5 hours of sleep. I don't really run too well on very little sleep, so having only gotten 10 hours or so in the past 72 is really taking its toll.
I think I'll go get drunk.
Birds of a Feather
For some reason I have trouble thinking of appropriate names for posts. It's probably because my posts have no point to them, so there's no real way to title them. Thus, I've decided to use the title of whatever song I'm listening to when I start writing as the title of the post.
With that, the day:
1) Van Helsing isn't what I thought it would be. I expected to be able sit back, ignore the plot and dialogue, and just enjoy the visual spectacles. Well, there were plenty of great special effects. It's a beautiful movie. But I didn't realize that I would be incapable of ignoring the dialogue. It's so bad that it seemed to be TRYING to make me laugh at it. And not lauging at it in the good way. Laughing at it because the only other option would be to cry, and that would have been too much emotion to waste on this movie. It wasn't the good type of bad, either. It wasn't Evil Dead bad, it was Rollerball (the remake) bad. Oh yeah, I went there.
2) I went roller skating. Not rollerblading, but actual roller skating. It was fun, and a bit nostalgic. Of course, I didn't fall, but I wasn't as coordinated as I would liked to have been. Being used to rollerblading makes switching back a slight challenge. I also managed to get a blister on my heel. But all in all, I'm glad I went, especially since I didn't have to pay for it.
3) I missed a house cleanup that I was told of personally. Damn it.
4) I've realized that blogging, for me, serves as sort of the "Dear Mom" letters that the main characters always write in movies, where they show various shots of the character doing things, and a voice over of a letter being written to a loved one. It gives the movie makers a chance to hash out just what the character is thinking, what his or her mood is, and what might happen. Really, your thoughts aren't developed until you articulate them. Unformed, vague half-thoughts or partial opinions are molded and firmed up as they flow from my consciouness to the keyboard.
5) A friend of mine commented that I am the only person that they know who would use a phrase like "whet my appetite" in a normal conversation. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to inquire further at the time, so I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. I'm inclined to think that it's a bad thing, and that I'm nerdy, but that's probably just the paranoia talking. I usually have trouble believing that I'm being complimented, or if I am, I have trouble believing that it's genuine. I realize that this is stupid and most often untrue, but it's my first instinct, and old habits die hard. Oh well. Maybe the comment wasn't meant to imply anything about me, but was just a statement of fact.
6) "Angst" and "monstrous" (and its variations) are the only two words that I can think of that have four consonants in a row. I don't know why I was thinking about this. I'm such a fucking nerd.
I'm going to wrap this up before it gets worse.
With that, the day:
1) Van Helsing isn't what I thought it would be. I expected to be able sit back, ignore the plot and dialogue, and just enjoy the visual spectacles. Well, there were plenty of great special effects. It's a beautiful movie. But I didn't realize that I would be incapable of ignoring the dialogue. It's so bad that it seemed to be TRYING to make me laugh at it. And not lauging at it in the good way. Laughing at it because the only other option would be to cry, and that would have been too much emotion to waste on this movie. It wasn't the good type of bad, either. It wasn't Evil Dead bad, it was Rollerball (the remake) bad. Oh yeah, I went there.
2) I went roller skating. Not rollerblading, but actual roller skating. It was fun, and a bit nostalgic. Of course, I didn't fall, but I wasn't as coordinated as I would liked to have been. Being used to rollerblading makes switching back a slight challenge. I also managed to get a blister on my heel. But all in all, I'm glad I went, especially since I didn't have to pay for it.
3) I missed a house cleanup that I was told of personally. Damn it.
4) I've realized that blogging, for me, serves as sort of the "Dear Mom" letters that the main characters always write in movies, where they show various shots of the character doing things, and a voice over of a letter being written to a loved one. It gives the movie makers a chance to hash out just what the character is thinking, what his or her mood is, and what might happen. Really, your thoughts aren't developed until you articulate them. Unformed, vague half-thoughts or partial opinions are molded and firmed up as they flow from my consciouness to the keyboard.
5) A friend of mine commented that I am the only person that they know who would use a phrase like "whet my appetite" in a normal conversation. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to inquire further at the time, so I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing. I'm inclined to think that it's a bad thing, and that I'm nerdy, but that's probably just the paranoia talking. I usually have trouble believing that I'm being complimented, or if I am, I have trouble believing that it's genuine. I realize that this is stupid and most often untrue, but it's my first instinct, and old habits die hard. Oh well. Maybe the comment wasn't meant to imply anything about me, but was just a statement of fact.
6) "Angst" and "monstrous" (and its variations) are the only two words that I can think of that have four consonants in a row. I don't know why I was thinking about this. I'm such a fucking nerd.
I'm going to wrap this up before it gets worse.
Into the Great Wide Open
As usual, the explanation after a drunk post: I wasn't actually as close to tears as I have been in 7 years. I being melodramatic because I felt sorry for myself, and wanted sympathy from other people. I'm done with that now.
Anyway, life goes on. Not having any long-term concerns is pretty nice. The money issue for dues and books and tuition is taken care of by working here over the summer, and I don't have to hate myself for not starting papers earlier or not studying for tests. Well, I do have to worry about where I'll live once the dorms close after summer school. But that's for next week. Just for this one week, I'm not going to care about anything.
I plan on going to see Van Helsing tomorrow. Supposedely it's long on effects and short on story, but I'm in the mood for a visual spectacle that I don't have to think about. I just want to sit in the theater and be entertained for a couple hours. Moods like this are why I own the Matrix or Pirates of the Caribbean. They appeal to the senses, and you can have fun without having to think too much about it. The only remaining issue is whether or not I'll be able to find someone else who wants to go see it. Shouldn't be too hard.
I've decided to not get drunk tonight. Instead, I'm going to stay up reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. It's the sequel to Quicksilver, which is a sort of a prequel to Cryptonomicon. Collectively, these three books are the most interesting and fun read I've had in a while. Anyone who hasn't heard of Neal Stephenson, I highly recommend reading Snow Crash. It has become one of the prototypical sci-fi books, and it's a damn good read.
Well, I'm out of things to say.
Anyway, life goes on. Not having any long-term concerns is pretty nice. The money issue for dues and books and tuition is taken care of by working here over the summer, and I don't have to hate myself for not starting papers earlier or not studying for tests. Well, I do have to worry about where I'll live once the dorms close after summer school. But that's for next week. Just for this one week, I'm not going to care about anything.
I plan on going to see Van Helsing tomorrow. Supposedely it's long on effects and short on story, but I'm in the mood for a visual spectacle that I don't have to think about. I just want to sit in the theater and be entertained for a couple hours. Moods like this are why I own the Matrix or Pirates of the Caribbean. They appeal to the senses, and you can have fun without having to think too much about it. The only remaining issue is whether or not I'll be able to find someone else who wants to go see it. Shouldn't be too hard.
I've decided to not get drunk tonight. Instead, I'm going to stay up reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. It's the sequel to Quicksilver, which is a sort of a prequel to Cryptonomicon. Collectively, these three books are the most interesting and fun read I've had in a while. Anyone who hasn't heard of Neal Stephenson, I highly recommend reading Snow Crash. It has become one of the prototypical sci-fi books, and it's a damn good read.
Well, I'm out of things to say.
This sucks
I just came back to my dorm room drunk. I walked into my suitemates' room, and it was completely empty. I walked through the bathroom and into my room and half of it was empty. There was no one to talk to. It was one of the most miserable feelings in the world, and it brought me closer to genuine tears than anything has for about seven years. I still have friends here and everything, but there's something about the people that you lived with for four months that can't be replaced by any number of other friends staggering around drunk at a party. It wouldn't be nearly so bad if I knew that this would be the only night where this would happen. As it is, I know that I'm going to be spending plenty of lonely nights up here, having no one to talk to. Fuck it all, I'm done feeling sorry for myself, and I'm sure you're tired of reading about it.
Things that happened tonight:
1) I got invited to dinner at a friend's house tomorrow night, but the friend was very drunk when giving the invitation. Could be interesting.
2) I finished off a 40, then my stomach politely informed me that it couldn't hold quite that much. I started walking to the bathroom, and the polite reminder turned violent just as I reached the toilet. Whew.
3) I ate at Taco Bell. I won't go into gory detail, but that was a mistake.
4) I got invited over to the ATO house by a fairly drunk ATO. It actually wasn't bad. I ate their food, shook a few hands, and got complemented on ffsearch.
5) I was drunk by 6PM. Maybe that's why I thought Taco Bell was a good idea.
6) I realized that I'm going to have to stock up on ready-made food, because the cafeteria isn't open over the summer.
7) Spring orientation will be decent. Myself and two other Sigs will be there.
That's all I can think of. I'm going to listen to You Enjoy Myself by Phish and head to bed.
Things that happened tonight:
1) I got invited to dinner at a friend's house tomorrow night, but the friend was very drunk when giving the invitation. Could be interesting.
2) I finished off a 40, then my stomach politely informed me that it couldn't hold quite that much. I started walking to the bathroom, and the polite reminder turned violent just as I reached the toilet. Whew.
3) I ate at Taco Bell. I won't go into gory detail, but that was a mistake.
4) I got invited over to the ATO house by a fairly drunk ATO. It actually wasn't bad. I ate their food, shook a few hands, and got complemented on ffsearch.
5) I was drunk by 6PM. Maybe that's why I thought Taco Bell was a good idea.
6) I realized that I'm going to have to stock up on ready-made food, because the cafeteria isn't open over the summer.
7) Spring orientation will be decent. Myself and two other Sigs will be there.
That's all I can think of. I'm going to listen to You Enjoy Myself by Phish and head to bed.
Good/Bad
My roommate left today. The room is so bare. I still have my suitemates, of course, but they're both going to be gone tomorrow. Then I'll have the guys down at the house, and a few other friends in the dorm, but they'll all be gone after the weekend. Then it'll be me, a guy down the hall who's staying for summer school, and the townie girl I mentioned before. I'll be kept decently busy with work during the day, but I have a feeling that I'll be playing a lot of video games, writing a lot of code, and watching a lot of anime during the evenings. I shall become the prototypical nerd. To break up the monotony, I think I'll get riotously drunk every now and then.
My roommate leaving set off a general feeling of saddness. Not depression or sorrow or anything so melodramatic, but a sort of a "long sigh" saddness. It's saddness that not only is the summer of boredom beginnning, but a whole year at Hillsdale just went by. I only have two left (maybe two and a half or three), and I feel like nothing happened this year. But then again, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but where I am now. Well, maybe I want to be a little richer. Then I wouldn't have to do the whole summer in Hillsdale thing. But who knows what good will come of it? I don't know, I need to just stop tossing it back and forth in my head. It's going to happen no matter what.
Something that's not depressing, finally: I got my English research essay back. It was a semester-long assignment which I had written in four hours the night before it was due, while in the midst of recovering from the worst hangover I've ever had. It was supposed to be seven to nine pages long. Mine was five. I got a 90% on it. After I took the exam and he handed it back to me, I nearly shat myself. Also in the "good news" category, my current suitemate is going to be living next door to me next year. That should be awesome. And I'll be living in the house. That will also be awesome. I suppose, with so much to look forward to next year, I really shouldn't worry too much about this summer. If it's fun, it'll be fun. If it's not fun, it'll be over in three and a half months, and I'll make up for it next semester. Time will tell.
My roommate leaving set off a general feeling of saddness. Not depression or sorrow or anything so melodramatic, but a sort of a "long sigh" saddness. It's saddness that not only is the summer of boredom beginnning, but a whole year at Hillsdale just went by. I only have two left (maybe two and a half or three), and I feel like nothing happened this year. But then again, I wouldn't want to be anywhere else but where I am now. Well, maybe I want to be a little richer. Then I wouldn't have to do the whole summer in Hillsdale thing. But who knows what good will come of it? I don't know, I need to just stop tossing it back and forth in my head. It's going to happen no matter what.
Something that's not depressing, finally: I got my English research essay back. It was a semester-long assignment which I had written in four hours the night before it was due, while in the midst of recovering from the worst hangover I've ever had. It was supposed to be seven to nine pages long. Mine was five. I got a 90% on it. After I took the exam and he handed it back to me, I nearly shat myself. Also in the "good news" category, my current suitemate is going to be living next door to me next year. That should be awesome. And I'll be living in the house. That will also be awesome. I suppose, with so much to look forward to next year, I really shouldn't worry too much about this summer. If it's fun, it'll be fun. If it's not fun, it'll be over in three and a half months, and I'll make up for it next semester. Time will tell.
There goes the summer (maybe)
Well, it's official. I'm going to be working full time at ITS this summer. I'll make some cash, but most of it will pay for tuition, dues, and books. It needs to be done, but it won't be too fun to have to spend most of the summer in Hillsdale. Luckily, I'll have weekends completely free, so I'll be able to go home, or visit friends. I've already gotten an invitation to party it up down in Dayton, and people have told me that they'll visit. And I do have a friend who lives in town. She's fun, and would probably make the summer worth it, but I don't imagine that she'll want to hang out with me too much.
I hate having to make tough decisions like this, and being expected to make sacrifices and so on. Every time I get a little farther in to the "real world" (high school, first job, college, now this), I appreciate the whole "youth is wasted on the young" thing a bit more. Basically, every time I've taken one of those major life steps, I realize how much better I had it before. But that leads to the conclusion that I'll look back on this summer and think it was awesome. The summer I didn't have to do jack shit, rather than the summer that I didn't have jack shit to do. Or maybe the good memories outlast the bad memories, and that's why everything seems rosy in retrospect. I hope that that's the case, because otherwise life would be getting constantly worse, in a sort of Office Space-ian degeneration. I'll just have to operate under that assumption, and try to make the summer fun.
Speaking of major life steps, has anyone else noticed that where ever you are in life (in my experience, which is admittedly limited), you always realize that the step you just completed really didn't matter too much, and that what you're doing seems very important? Or rather, you're told that it's important. In middle school, you had to get good grades so you could do well in highschool. When you get to highschool, you realize that middle school really didn't matter at all, but highschool is critical for getting into the right college. When you get to college, you realize that highschool didn't actually mean jack shit, but you need college to get into the right grad school or job or whatever. I'm hoping that this trend continues. If it does, I'll just save up some cash for retirement, then sit in my rocking chair on my porch, reading whatever form of mass-media is popular at the time, and laugh at all of those poor saps who take themselves and life too seriously. I can't wait.
Hell, why wait? I think I just found something to do over the summer.
I hate having to make tough decisions like this, and being expected to make sacrifices and so on. Every time I get a little farther in to the "real world" (high school, first job, college, now this), I appreciate the whole "youth is wasted on the young" thing a bit more. Basically, every time I've taken one of those major life steps, I realize how much better I had it before. But that leads to the conclusion that I'll look back on this summer and think it was awesome. The summer I didn't have to do jack shit, rather than the summer that I didn't have jack shit to do. Or maybe the good memories outlast the bad memories, and that's why everything seems rosy in retrospect. I hope that that's the case, because otherwise life would be getting constantly worse, in a sort of Office Space-ian degeneration. I'll just have to operate under that assumption, and try to make the summer fun.
Speaking of major life steps, has anyone else noticed that where ever you are in life (in my experience, which is admittedly limited), you always realize that the step you just completed really didn't matter too much, and that what you're doing seems very important? Or rather, you're told that it's important. In middle school, you had to get good grades so you could do well in highschool. When you get to highschool, you realize that middle school really didn't matter at all, but highschool is critical for getting into the right college. When you get to college, you realize that highschool didn't actually mean jack shit, but you need college to get into the right grad school or job or whatever. I'm hoping that this trend continues. If it does, I'll just save up some cash for retirement, then sit in my rocking chair on my porch, reading whatever form of mass-media is popular at the time, and laugh at all of those poor saps who take themselves and life too seriously. I can't wait.
Hell, why wait? I think I just found something to do over the summer.
Two Down
I just finished my history exam. I really will miss that class. The teacher is a fairly young guy who is still getting the hang of teaching. I don't mean that as a euphamism for "he's stupid" because he does know his stuff, he just hasn't figured out the best way of expressing it in a lecture. But aside from that, the class is great. You can pay attention and learn stuff, or you can zone out and it really doesn't matter. He's an easy grader; all you really have to do is show that you know the material. I also enjoy his tests, because the essay questions can be as easy or as hard as you want them to be. If you want to just give the superficial details, he won't mark you down as long as you demonstrated a knowledge of the material, but if you want to go deep into a particular question, he certainly won't penalize you. I had a question like that today. The last question of the year for history: "What is the significance of the City on a Hill?" He was referring to the George Winthrop speech, "A Model of Christian Charity," which, because of the City on a Hill theme, is one of the most important speeches in American history, right up there with the Gettysburg address and so on. The City on a Hill was the idea that America was and is supposed to be a beacon and a model for the rest of the world. It was very widely read early in colonial history, and has been hugely influential. Things like the Declaration of Independence, Manifest Destiny, American imperialism, and the US's role in the world after WWII can trace their roots back to this speech. I loved that question, because it was so easy to answer, but gave so much to think about. Most of my ideas about the City on a Hill speech were formed within the past two hours. I suppose that I should have been thinking about these sorts of things since I read the speech early in the semester, but either his exams are designed such that you don't need to do that, or I'm just really fucking awesome. I'm leaning toward the latter, not neccessarily because I have a big ego or anything, but because I haven't actually read the speech, I've just listened to other people talk about it, and I culled these memories from the back of my brain for the exam. This has become one huge ramble. Basically, I love my history class, and I'll miss it. It's so easy, but I learn so much.
If you got bored halfway through the last paragraph and just skipped to this one, I'll try to make rest of the post more interesting.
Ah, fuck it.
If you got bored halfway through the last paragraph and just skipped to this one, I'll try to make rest of the post more interesting.
Ah, fuck it.
Summer
It just hit me today that summer is upon us. My roommate is leaving on Tuesday. Of course, I'm sticking around for who knows how long, what with being an orientation person and all. Everyone is starting to pack. It's a beautiful day, but everyone is inside studying. It's kinda depressing. I'm not sure whether it was the emo kick which started the depression, or the emo kick was a symptom of subconciously realizing that the year is coming to a close. Of course, this year isn't as bad as last year. Then, I had to leave the friends I had made with barely a goodbye, and I knew that I would probably never see most of them again. Ultimately, the decision to leave and come to Hillsdale has been a good one, but it was pretty tough for a few months there. Next year will be good.
Going back to music and such... Today I've been obsessed with the Pixies. This isn't the first time that it's happened, but this time is particularly interesting, because over the past semester I've listened to a lot of more modern pop music, and it's so obvious that the Pixies had a huge influence on alternative music. In an IM conversation with my good friend Gilbert, we did the High Fidelity "top 5" thing (High Fidelity is a great movie, by the way). I somehow managed to narrow down my top 5 favorite songs of all time. This, of course, is an ever changing list, but it's alway interesting to write it down once in a while, so you know what you were thinking when you look back at it. The list, in alphabetical order:
Belle and Sebastian - Sleep the Clock Around
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly
The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
The Smashing Pumpkins - Geek U.S.A.
But already, I can tell that the list is beginning to change. I suppose that the top 5 favorite song list is a snapshot of my state at any particular time. I am going to change, and so will my list. All I can do is record it at a particular moment as a reminder to myself (and maybe others) of what used to be. Maybe that's why I blog.
Going back to music and such... Today I've been obsessed with the Pixies. This isn't the first time that it's happened, but this time is particularly interesting, because over the past semester I've listened to a lot of more modern pop music, and it's so obvious that the Pixies had a huge influence on alternative music. In an IM conversation with my good friend Gilbert, we did the High Fidelity "top 5" thing (High Fidelity is a great movie, by the way). I somehow managed to narrow down my top 5 favorite songs of all time. This, of course, is an ever changing list, but it's alway interesting to write it down once in a while, so you know what you were thinking when you look back at it. The list, in alphabetical order:
Belle and Sebastian - Sleep the Clock Around
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Pink Floyd - Learning to Fly
The Pixies - Where Is My Mind?
The Smashing Pumpkins - Geek U.S.A.
But already, I can tell that the list is beginning to change. I suppose that the top 5 favorite song list is a snapshot of my state at any particular time. I am going to change, and so will my list. All I can do is record it at a particular moment as a reminder to myself (and maybe others) of what used to be. Maybe that's why I blog.
Concerts 'n such
Today has been pretty fun. I didn't get drunk (saving it for after exams... it'll be crazy), but I did go to a party. There was a hardcore band playing. It was pretty insane. I generally don't listen to that type of music, but from the stuff I have heard, they stack up decently. It's not the sort of music that I would listen to on a regular basis, but it's fun to have around for the variety.
Before the concert, I did general nerd stuff. The next paragraph will be a description of this stuff, so skip it if you don't care. I did a few minor changes to the actual code of the ffsearch frontend, getting it ready for the overhaul which will occur this summer, but most of the work was done in the CSS file. I made it look more like a "professional" website, with a better color scheme, and a little cleaner in general. I like it enough that I'll probably re-do my blog template with it. It should be hot. I can't wait for summer. I'm going to make my own content management system. I'll have user authentication, templates (inspired by the blogger templates, actually), and general awesomeness which will be complete overkill for what I'm using the site for. Really all it needs to be is a spiced up database frontend, but I enjoy cutting my programming teeth on the tastier stuff.
I found out today that I should be able to work at ITS over the summer. That, coupled with odd jobs for friends of the family should provide the much-needed cash to pay for stuff next semester, like dues and food and so on. I'll have to conduct a feasibility study on commuting from Monroe to Hillsdale. Maybe they'll let me stay in my dorm room. Or maybe I could stay in the house.
Well, that's all for the moment. I have some more stuff that's been percolating through the ol' noodle, but I don't feel like finishing the thoughts well enough to put them into words. Maybe next time.
Before the concert, I did general nerd stuff. The next paragraph will be a description of this stuff, so skip it if you don't care. I did a few minor changes to the actual code of the ffsearch frontend, getting it ready for the overhaul which will occur this summer, but most of the work was done in the CSS file. I made it look more like a "professional" website, with a better color scheme, and a little cleaner in general. I like it enough that I'll probably re-do my blog template with it. It should be hot. I can't wait for summer. I'm going to make my own content management system. I'll have user authentication, templates (inspired by the blogger templates, actually), and general awesomeness which will be complete overkill for what I'm using the site for. Really all it needs to be is a spiced up database frontend, but I enjoy cutting my programming teeth on the tastier stuff.
I found out today that I should be able to work at ITS over the summer. That, coupled with odd jobs for friends of the family should provide the much-needed cash to pay for stuff next semester, like dues and food and so on. I'll have to conduct a feasibility study on commuting from Monroe to Hillsdale. Maybe they'll let me stay in my dorm room. Or maybe I could stay in the house.
Well, that's all for the moment. I have some more stuff that's been percolating through the ol' noodle, but I don't feel like finishing the thoughts well enough to put them into words. Maybe next time.