blog (January, 2002)
union of the state
I only survived about 3 minutes of the State of the Union Address tonight, (here's some history for ya.) All I could think of was how thrilling it would be to arm myself with two cans of silly string and crash the party. I probably wouldn't get very far, though, so I have a backup plan - I'm not going to tell you the details, but it involves donning a Janet Reno disguise and parading the isles selling hairpieces from a cotton-candy cart.
Hit-And-Miss-Linkness: the world's longest tongue, why the Muslims misjudged us, mom's new and exciting adventures in online auctioning, my track workouts for this week, a slick 404 Error page from wddg.com, cleavage creations for crossdressers, heh... out with a bang.
24 and so much more
It was a long saturday; a few of us just took to some sober appreciation of the altar of entertainment in our suite room tonight. We put on a vinyl copy of Neil Young's Harvest, and I laid floorwise in front of the speakers, eyes closed. I found the other day that I can trigger, or sort of let myself feel, some kind of electric senation course through my body, and so I squeezed this flow on every time my thoughts drifted to it, and tried to slow my heartbeat to match the rhythm of the bass drum.
I think I was very content for those 40 minutes or so, but what good is that now...?
I had plans of working on my Operating Systems assignment tonight to finish it early, but I think those were only made because I wanted something to cover up from myself the fact that I didn't have anything overly social going on tonight. Why am I always trying to trick myself? What a stupid game.
See the lonely boy, out on the weekend
Trying to make it pay.
Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and
Can't begin to say.-- Neil Young, Out on the Weekend
We blew it
Bought and watched (for the second time) Easy Rider today. I'll be writing papers on it for film class.
It's an awesome, awesome flick, and only a week into this class, I'm beginning to appreciate film more as an art form, and recognize techniques and devices of the medium. Funny how sometimes such simple things can never occur to you until pointed out.
After I finished watching the movie and the hour-long commentary, I put the DVD back in its case and lined it up on the shelf with my other few, and sort of marvelled at my tiny collection. It's tough to not think of defining myself by my possessions. When I take in great music, literature, or cinema, I persuade myself that purchasing my own copy is a good idea because I will want to listen/read/watch it often, but I know there's another force that draws me to own it.
If somehow my favorite books, music, movies, weblinks, etc, could be combined, would this be a close image of me?
I don't scoff at that idea as much as I should. Good morning America.
back to the fact
Back at school now, the question most asked of me is no longer, "So, what are you doing after graduation?" but, "How was your break?"
It seems simply a welcome back greeting, and most of those asking are hardly interested in the answer, but at least they're not pressing me to get my life together. My usual answer is that I didn't realize how much fun I was having at home until I returned to this godforsaken place...
I'm only taking 4 classes this, (my last,) semester, but it won't be easy.
lean 'n mean
Well, I definitely have some sort of flu. All afternoon and evening in bed made today tonsofun.
Hot new machine from my favorite company. That, right there, is the whole computer, (minus keyboard/mouse, of course,) -- not just the monitor, mind you.
It would look perfect in our kitchen, which, included with the fact that my mother has just discovered eBay, is a scary thing.
fly in the web
Goddamn, I'm frustrated. I've had it up to here with CSS and HTML, browser differences and unstandardized standards.
HEY. Do me a favor. Go download the very latest version of your favorite web browser. I swear to Jeffrey Zeldman you'll be doing yourself and the rest of the world a great deed. Check out the Web Standards Project while downloading.
In other news, I've just tonight come down with a sore throat and a cold. Could be part of my frustration... I sucked down a bowl of chicken soup, but I think the chicken was sick too.
fine art
Last night the parents took me to see Art Garfunkel perform with the RPO. The average age of the crowd was close to sixty, (the same age as the artist.) I had expected the show to be slightly corny, but it was scarecly more upbeat than a soft-rock radio station, dripping in that melancholic sentimentality people gain when they finally begin realizing they're going to die. What's more, he brough out his wife, a very stiffler's mom-looking lady, and had her do a fairly horrible rendition of Lennon's Imagine. Art still has his strange and beautiful voice, though, and Bridge Over Troubled Water definitely evoked a shiver or two. Aside from a drum solo, however, it was far from most rockin' show I've ever seen.
The audience was the worst part, I guess. It seems that old people thoroughly enjoy clapping and giving standing ovations. I am all for showing a performer appreciation and respect, but there's no reason to applaud when he begins singing a song you know, or mentions the city you live in or person he used to perform with.
I'm just scared that in 30 years my (current) favorite artists will be relegated to playing sappy orchestra shows for binocular-toting women and their bald husbands who come to hear the song they loved half a lifetime ago and sleep through the rest of the concert...
</rant>
...I got a new change of gear
New Years partying was interesting. I lost my friends at the bars, but met some new ones from Hawaii at 7-Eleven around 3am, and hung out with them for a bit. Afterwards, with frozen fingers and no other place to go, I climbed up the balcony at the LBC and let myself in, much to Liam's surprise. I had a genuine "where the hell am I" feeling when I woke up this morning on the couch there.
In other news, I'm planning on moving from my own blogging system to that of Movable Type, for its versatility.
Peep Beans for Breakfast, a good blog I came upon today (that runs on Movable Type,) by an unemployed 25-year old in Seattle currently living off his healthy stock portfolio.