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[Sep. 4th, 2008|05:15 pm] |
stolen from ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) solipsae
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| Happy birthday to me |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|02:39 am] |
My PSP just bricked* itself, and I hadn't even been trying to hack it**.
Also the period key on my laptop is busted, so I have to copy and paste whenever I want to insert a period. I know this'll totally f me up when I get it fixed and I'm randomly inserting things into whatever I'm working on.
*turns on but the only thing that functions is the green power light. I think the sound on mine works, so actually mine might be just a busted screen.
**"hacking," or restoring full functionality to these devices, so that they will run the software of the user's choice rather than just the software approved by Sony, is allegedly the most common cause of this "bricking." |
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| Top GOP talking heads, "off-mic," give true feelings about Palin |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|06:31 pm] |
( Click for transcript... ) |
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| Cheesed Off |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|08:43 am] |
Off in a few minutes to start my first day on the job as a cheesemonger. I'm a monger!
Last night was the fantasy football draft, which was probably the most elaborate draft we've ever done. I think this is the...6th or 7th year I've been in this league. I was actually the commissioner for a couple of years, but Tim is a much better commissioner. He gave us snacks and name cards and video displays. I would never do that. This is the first year we've video conferenced owners in too, which was pretty funny.
I like my team over all. Made a couple of little mistakes but I was trying to monitor the video conference (which was on my mac) and keep track of the picks and figure out what positions I still needed that fit with the bye weeks I already had. Also about halfway through Doug joined by IM so then I had all of those things to do. Overall I think we're in good shape though.
Anyway I have to dry my hair and make myself presentable and then go sell some cheese. One of my objectives today is to "taste the cheese". Difficult task, I know! Yesterday I tasted cheese made from the raw milk of pygmy goats. Who knew?
Well then. I'm off. |
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[Sep. 3rd, 2008|07:08 am] |
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don't be afraid. |
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| McCain's Fellow POW Speaks Out |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|06:37 pm] |
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| Things fall apart |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|12:26 pm] |
That job I got? Fell through last night. No job. Back to the endless resumé sending.
::::sigh::::
I'm starting to feel completely helpless here. |
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| The Word of the Week of August 31st is... |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|11:08 am] |
canard: kan-ARD
noun
1) a false and derogatory rumor
2) a duck intended for food
You say she molests water fowl? What kind of canard is that?
Canard is one of those fun words where different translations from a different language give it entirely different meanings. The literal translation, duck, and the literary translation from its' original context, vendre un canard à moitié, "to sell half a duck." |
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| Harold |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|09:50 am] |
I returned to Chicago last week to the news of the passing of our friend Harold, who had in March been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. During his illness he had been staying with our friends Robert and Gerry in Elgin. Robert and Harold had been friends for some 20 years and were very much like brothers, and he and Gerry cared heroically for him until the end.
Harold was one of the most musical people I have ever known. He was a skilled percussionist whose rhythm poured from his soul and spilled out into the world with color and light and joy. No matter where we were or what we were doing he was always making music and encouraging everyone to be a part of it, and he never seemed to notice when you were doing it badly. He just wanted to play.
We had a chance to visit before we left for Alabama. I brought some cheese and wine from Pastoral and we sat and chatted and eventually got around to playing some music. One song - Summertime. Gerry gave Harold a drum and for the last time we all played together. I was hoping to get back in time to see him again.
The world is a much quieter place without him.
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[Sep. 1st, 2008|03:41 pm] |
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I'm sure this hasn't been reported through any of the major news outlets, what with the hurricane and the Palin and all, but there is some bad bad shit going on in Minnesota. |
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| O_O |
[Sep. 1st, 2008|10:57 am] |
it's like i was just sent here to WATCH people. i am not one of them. i am beyond! i'm calloused, but virginal. used, but not abused. neglected and full of piss and weird chemicals! i'm this special boy and i've had enough of this no fun nonsense that i've been bullied into accepting.
lye soap removes all doubt. all our circumcised circumstantial evidence has gone by the wayside in time for the elegant requests for freedom by the mexican denizens of our own hallowed hallmark torture chamber deluxe. removing all doubt!!!
NOW YOU KNOW.
god damn this and the tennis court prerequisite bullshit! devils and dead ringer dudes absorbing fabled quantities of veritable cornucopias of psychoactive substances mislead the brass and the expert elite elegenteen angels posing nude dot com!
eets all crumbling around me! my empire is crumbling! ...but i guess i never had an empire to begin with... unless you consider "shit" an empire! who would write a song about that?
crab absorption
mangled menopause
bungled airmail
suspended albatross
sexual tincture
bitching applause
overwhelming titillation
meddling applesauce
pitch-black copulation
unexpected javelin
wide eye steeples
red drapes and sheets of lies
i'm filthy, i'm rotting, i get no applause
i'm stagnant, i'm melting, i want to tear you apart with my claws
the sides of my head are dead
melting, like men
i belong in the cemetary
you belong in my life
going down with the ship
nobility in motion
poetry disintegrating in the sun's orbit
death to the holy |
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| An end to politics as usual |
[Aug. 30th, 2008|01:02 pm] |
We now return to the vice-residential Sanctuary DJ debate between DJ Contrasoma and Sucker DJ, already in progress.
MODERATOR DJ PANDEMONIUM: DJ Contrasoma, the media cycle and your opponent have portrayed you as someone in lockstep with the radical, extremist mainstream fringe, someone who's disconnected from the fundamental values of dark electronic music. How do you respond to charges that your time in Peterborough may have resulted in unsavory Torontonian cyber and futrepop influences? Additionally, what assurances can you provide us that there will be no further spillages of beer on your mother if your residency were to resume?
DJ CONTRASOMA: Well, let me say that I have enough faith in the Vancouver club-going public to believe that they'll give no consideration to these baseless partisan attacks that only serve to divide the scene when we should be rallying around our common values of thick beats, stiff drinks and sexy people getting their groove on on the dancefloor. Sucker DJ, will you take a pledge with me right here and now to the effect that, no matter which of us wins the vice-residency, the winner will strive to always keep the beats at Skank dark and fresh, and to leave the mixer in better shape than it was when you rolled into the club? Will you take that pledge with me here and now, sir?
[applause]
SUCKER DJ: That isn't...
DJ PANDEMONIUM: DJ Contrasoma, you're well aware that the debate rules were amended to forbid these sorts of pledges and veiled threats after the Sickbot "if we don't all get tattoos of Orson Welles tonight I'm playing the new Apop back to front" scare of '05. Sucker DJ, what is your plan for negotiating the delicate balance of genres and styles that make Skank a varied and invigorating experience for all who come out, regardless of taste?
SUCKER DJ: While my opponent was indulging in his frivolous academic pursuits, I was scouring Vancouver for killer tracks to break at Skank, working not only with our local retailers but also European distributors and all manner of online music sales systems, in order to preserve Skank's legacy, stretching back to the Palladium and even earlier, of giving all of its attendees healthy doses of their favourite styles and genres, while helping them to explore new ones. And unlike my opponent, I won't abandon this scene for elitist and abstract graduate degrees in critical theory.
DJ PANDEMONIUM: DJ Contrasoma, you have one minute to respond.
DJ CONTRASOMA: Firstly, my opponent never went to Skank when it was at the Palladium, and his attempt to invoke that club's memory is a shallow ploy. If his high school yearbooks are to believed, he was more interested in Insane Clown Posse and Godsmack in those years than in checking out the sick tracks DJs Pandemonium and Maleficent were dropping at the Palladium. The fact remains that we've heard these promises time and again, only to be disappointed by meandering hour-long psy-trance wankfests that alienate all of Sanctuary's public. I'm not sure if my opponent is aware that it's Saturdays he's meant to be DJing at Club 23 West, not Fridays.
[crowd noise]
Furthermore, my opponent is a sucker DJ, plain and simple. Just look at his name. In addition to being flat-out wack, the chump's got no experience in foreign club policy, and his skimpy set list record and astonishing lack of full-on club bangers is indicative of the inexperience this punk would bring to the honoured position of Skank resident. Can we afford to have someone who can't even beatmatch without a counter being just a heartbeat away from setting up the decks and the coat check float if, god forbid, Isaac were to get caught in traffic on his way to the club?
DJ PANDEMONIUM: Sucker DJ, your rebuttal.
SUCKER DJ: DJ Contrasoma would like you to believe that I'm not ready to shoulder the responsibilities of being a Sanctuary resident, but my record shows that that's simply not true. For one thing, I actually own my own gear. DJ Contrasoma will tell you that he has gear, but what he really means is that he's got a pair of Stanton phones his mother bought for him. Tell me, was that before or after you spilled a Heineken on her at Celebrities, sir?
[crowd noise]
DJ PANDEMONIUM: If we could just [inaudible]...
DJ CONTRASOMA: This is just the sort of smear [inaudible]...have to look forward to.
[crosstalk]
DJ PANDEMONIUM: ...under control.
SUCKER DJ: If our promoter were delayed, if that tragic event were to occur, I would work with in tandem with the Sanctuary crew to ensure a properly storming party in the absence of Isaac. I would work with DJ Vortex. I would work with Dolly and Trish, and I would work with everyone at the bar. I have just as much experience today as Alex Kennedy, Sanctuary's own R-LEX The Robot, had when he filled in for Isaac for a week or two a few months back, and I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Skank crew, if that unfortunate event would ever occur.
DJ CONTRASOMA: Sucker DJ, I spin with Alex Kennedy. I know Alex Kennedy. Alex Kennedy is a friend of mine. Sucker DJ, you're no Alex Kennedy.
[massive crowd noise]
DJ PANDEMONIUM: Please, please, once again you are only taking time away from your own sets.
SUCKER DJ: That was really uncalled for, Bruce.
DJ CONTRASOMA: You are the one that was making the comparison, sucker - and I'm one who knows him well. And frankly I think you are so far apart in the tracks you choose for this club night that I did not think the comparison was well-taken.
------
TONIGHT:
Hope to see you there. |
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[Aug. 30th, 2008|02:39 pm] |
[Alaska] State Senate President Lyda Green said she thought it was a joke when someone called her at 6 a.m. to give her the news.
"She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" said Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?" Link |
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[Aug. 30th, 2008|02:06 pm] |
RIP Killer Kowalski. A wrestling great, both as champion and trainer of champions; he was also the tallest vegan I was personally aware of. |
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| Gov. Sarah Palin |
[Aug. 29th, 2008|11:46 am] |
I just saw McCain introduce his running mate. I have a few observations I'd like to share.
"...someone who values their privileges over their responsibilities," said John McCain. Well, THAT sounds like the sort of person I want in charge.
As far as I can tell, I actually like Gov. Sarah Palin. If it had come down to Palin v. Clinton for the presidency, I might have voted Republican. But that's not why McCain picked her. Yes, he's playing towards the middle, and I LIKE that. Yet there's something wrong.
McCain hasn't picked a running mate. He's picked a first lady. She's young, she's pretty, and most of all- she's obedient. You could occasionally see and hear him coaching her through her speech, telling her to let them cheer longer, or to wrap it up. She's young and inexperienced. She has very little foreign policy experience. She's been the governor for two years. She's a "hockey mom," she has a son in Iraq, she gave birth to her fifth child in April at 44, she's a vocal pro-lifer and Christian.
She's definitely moderate, in fact, it seems to me that her job is counteract the image of John McCain as hot tempered. She's like a wife with an occasionally abusive husband, who will explain with a smile that when somebody really screws up he gets so upset and sad he doesn't know how to control himself, but really he loves you very much. Whether she agrees or not, she'll do whatever John wants. She puts a young, progressive face on an old, redundant man.
I am impressed with her resume. I disagree with her on a few issues- abortion and the war, mostly- but as I see it, that doesn't matter. She's not running on her credentials. She's a 44 year old woman with high ambitions, willing to sacrifice for an ideal- the idea of a woman in the White House. It doesn't matter what she thinks, she will taut McCain's line. She will regurgitate his rhetoric, and she'll do it in the name of reform.
I do like her. I think she's a fascinating woman. But if the Republican party can argue that Obama doesn't have enough experience, what about a woman nearly ten years younger with only two years of real national political experience? And that as the governor of a state that not only is notoriously isolated from the rest of the country's needs and concerns, but where EVERY WOMAN and most men are given FEDERAL SUPPORT to continue living there? Of COURSE she's helped Alaskan's save more money than in other states, the Alaskan government is completely supported by the Federal government! This Vice Presidential nominee from a party charged with rhetoric about smaller Federal involvement and more state responsibility.
Most of all, I think they picked her because she's going to be clean. How much dirty laundry can a woman have who started in the PTA and slowly climbed up to Governor? She was mayor of a town of less than 10,000 people for eight years, governor for two. What on earth could this woman have in her closet?
More frighteningly, though, I worry about her becoming LBJ. There was a man who, when the president died, inherited a horrible and intractable war without having the slightest idea of how to cope with the demands of the presidency. She has executive experience, true, but only two years of it- and in Alaska. And let's face it, although it's less likely that McCain would be assassinated than Obama, that still doesn't mean that it's likely that the 72 year old McCain will make it a full four more years anyway.
I like her. I imagine I'd enjoy a healthy political debate with her. I like that she, given her own agenda, would probably do very good things for this country. But as a stooge for McCain's new persona as a Republican hard-liner, all that she'll do perpetuate a broken system. |
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| Behold The Power Of Cheese |
[Aug. 29th, 2008|11:09 am] |
So I'm back in Chicago in my big empty apartment. It's not so empty really since it is currently a storage facility for my former upstairs neighbor's old furniture. But it's odd. It looks different, feels different, smells different...I have cleaned up the bathroom and the kitchen so that I don't feel like I'm living in a flop house, but it is strange to be rattling around in the shell of what was my home for so long. It's like I keep expecting all of my stuff to magically reappear.
Today I have an interview, which I hope is really just a formality, at Pastoral, set up through my culinary school/wine nerd group friend Kelly. It will be just a few days a week, but I am really excited to work there. If I can spend my time here doing the things I need to do AND things I want to do I really can't ask for more. It's a great opportunity to learn a ton about cheese (if you are in Chicago and you like cheese, I cannot recommend more strongly that you pay a visit to Pastoral - at least once a week) and they also sell wine. Holy perfect job. They know my situation with the anticipated move in October but are apparently a bit short staffed right now, so this could work out well for all parties involved.
I'm just sitting here waiting for Doug to call and then I'll take a shower and get my act together... |
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| DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER |
[Aug. 28th, 2008|08:12 pm] |
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| Another award for another uncle! |
[Aug. 28th, 2008|04:19 pm] |
My uncle Eliot's book, "Overkill: Sex and Violence in Contemporary Russian Popular Culture," has been selected as the winner of the 2008 Heldt Prize in the category "Best book in Slavic/Eastern European/Eurasian women's studies," awarded annually by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies!
Congratulations!
My uncle Eliot:
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[Aug. 28th, 2008|03:34 am] |
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| Penance |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|10:29 pm] |
Miriam, you're going to love this.
I am bad at keeping secrets. I've been in denial about this for ages. Since I can't sleep, and since I feel so guilty about spilling other peoples' beans, I figure that fair's fair. So here, some of my deepest, darkest secrets. Feel free to laugh at and/or humiliate me, I certainly have it coming.
I still pick my nose. Not as often as I did as a little kid, but yes, I still do. I even still eat my boogers sometimes.
I wet my sleeping bag during girl scout sleepaways. The first time I was 7. The second time I was 10. We were in a spaceship in a museum. A few other girls got peed on, but I never told them. They slept through it. I sometimes still dream that I'm wetting the bed and wake up panicked.
The first time I had sex, I only did it basically to prove that I wasn't a virgin. Which I obviously was. I feel no shame about it at all, but I do feel shame about that.
I cook so much because that way I don't have to eat. Seriously, I'd consider becoming bulimic if there was enough food in my stomach on a regular basis to make it worth my while.
I stole a pair of socks from the mall when I was 11. I lied about this not only to the cop that caught me, but to my family ever since.
I have recurring nightmares about being chased by ferocious dinosaurs. These started after seeing Jurassic Park in the theaters when i was a kid.
I was sexually assaulted at a party when I was 15, and tried to convince not only myself but everyone who knew about it that I had intended for it to happen and that it was my idea. I tried to kill myself two weeks later.
I never really expected to ever finish a degree. I sometimes think that's why I haven't.
Recently I'm more interested in baking than in sex.
Sometimes I worry that if I make a stupid face, it actually will stick like that.
I peed on my ex roommate's pillow. Because he was a real bastard. I never fessed up to it until now.
I got drunk with a few friends in my freshman year of high school and we made a sex video. No real sex, but lots of real close ups of vaginas (what is the plural of 'vagina'? Spell check doesn't think this is it.). Mostly mine. My sister found and erased the tape, thank god.
I never wash the popcorn bowl. I just make popcorn in it over and over and over again. It's disgusting.
Every time Mike goes into a store and is gone for more than three minutes, I start panicking.
I love the smell of my own sweaty armpits. I almost never wear deodorant.
None of my secrets are very good... I don't keep them. Pretty much every secret I have I've already told all my friends. I'm just not a very private person- hence the blog. But that doesn't give me the right to make anybody else's secrets my subject material. So, please, feel free to blog your hearts out about what a fucked up crazy person I am. |
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| Good Food Hunting |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|09:17 pm] |
Yesterday, in the mood for an adventure, we decided to see what we could do about exploring Oxford. We picked a couple of places that looked promising (as much as they can in the Yellow Pages - I'm doing my part to add Yelp reviews of local places we visit, but I'm definitely among the few blazing that trail) and wrote down the addresses (Doug insisted he had the map basically memorized) and off we went in the Mitsubishi.
Los Mexicanos was a disappointment for the most part, but I think we knew that as soon as we walked in the door. Doug got a basic Ameri-Mexican lunch plate of a taco (in a hard shell! What?) and an enchilada, while I went for the carnitas. The carnitas were actually not bad, and the sauce that came with them was fresh, as opposed to the canned "salsa" they served with the chips (which were freshly deep fried and light and crisp, so also not bad). I thought I'd take a chance and ask if they had any horchata, and the host, sent over by the server who had no idea what I was talking about, most likely because I was pronouncing it badly, first took a beat and then very sincerely apologized for not having any. On the way out we asked him where we might find Smith Street, which was on our list of places to visit, and he didn't know. Then I told him we were looking for "La Oaxaquena", and he lit up.
"Oh! La Oaxaquena!" he said. "Down to this light, take a left, two miles down there is a trailer park. Go in there."
And so we did.
We aren't entirely sure what he was excited about. Dorsey's and the other Mexican shop we found (well stocked with dried peppers of all varieties, if nothing else) were better options. I think maybe he was just a little excited that I was in the ballpark with the pronunciation of "Oaxaquena". That and the horchata thing. I don't know if we'll be shopping for groceries in the trailer park.
Last night Doug was supposed to attend a picnic for incoming freshmen and new faculty. Because of the rain the whole thing had been relocated to an indoor area at the Colosseum, which we managed to find after showing up at both previously given alternative locations to find...nothing. Stopped by his office to check the website and yep, they had moved it.
When we arrived we thought about sticking around for the "picnic", which might have been tolerable if it had been outdoors, but the odor of steamed hamburger meat and sweat and the lack of attendance by other faculty (I had thought it might actually be fun to be social with people also new to the school and the area) changed our minds pretty quickly. I had seen that down the street a new "Tuscan" restaurant was opening that evening (the same one that we have been hearing about everywhere we've been in the area since March) so we thought we'd give it a shot.
Turned out that opening night had been a little challenging for the kitchen and they had basically shut it down at 8 p.m. We went to the bar anyway just for a glass of wine and to figure out if we really wanted to go to Damn Yankees again (making it visit #3. Options are limited, as I've mentioned), but they ended up letting us order a pizza. And the pizza was...good! Gorgonzola, caramelized onions and bacon, thin crispy crust and a generous sprinkle of cracked black pepper. Huzzah!
We did have to insist to the young couple sitting next to us that they do not accept the offered crab claw crackers to open the mussels in their seafood risotto. Do not eat them, we said. Not good for anybody, all around. The staff ended up steaming an order of mussels for the kid, which was the right thing to do. A patron with food poisoning is not what they need to launch a successful business.
Then we went back to The Peerless and talked Alaskan bear hunting with the bartender.
I'm now on my way back to Chicago for the next leg of this journey. It's been exhausting, but I am truly impressed with how much we have accomplished in a week. Our house is livable, Doug has reliable, registered and insured transportation, we have internet access and almost have TV (in the meantime we have the sheriff's department most wanted show and something else called The Southern Shopper, which is a post unto itself), I have a Calhoun County library card, we have a washer and a dryer, we've cooked meals and made ice cream and we've managed to almost establish ourselves as regulars at what seems to be our local pub.
I might actually miss it while I'm gone. A little. |
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[Aug. 27th, 2008|02:56 pm] |
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| Call for models again... |
[Aug. 27th, 2008|10:46 am] |
I need to make more art! And I'm tired of doing my neat little figure studies. I want to get back to doing some serious portraiture.
So, I need some volunteers. Willing to commit to a few days of spending pretty much all day holding still for me. I will be happy to feed you and play whatever music you like, and I promise to immortalize you for all time in all of your glory and perfection.
I'm free all day on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and I have all afternoon on Wednesdays. If you're willing, we should plan on spending a good six hours at it for at least three days. They need not be consecutive, we could do three Saturdays in a row, for example.
If you're curious about how this might rendering your image may end up, feel free to ( take a look: )
Let me know what works for you! I'm happy to paint anyone and everyone! Yes, it's possible (and I hope) that this work might someday be displayed in public. Yes, I might sell it. However, I assure you that you will reap the benefits in foodstuffs and hugs that I might someday reap in finances. And if you're worried that you might be giving me thousands and thousands of dollars by modeling, remember- it's not actually ever valuable until I'm dead. So I won't ever see those profits anyway.
Please model for me! I have super puppy dog eyes of doom! |
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| Going back to school again |
[Aug. 26th, 2008|03:56 pm] |
I'm going back to school again tomorrow morning. It will mark a significant lifestyle change for me. And a return to a method of learning that I really enjoy. Insanely long classes once a week. It's the best way to go.
More than that, I'll have to actually wake up every morning. I haven't done this in ages. Mostly, because Mike likes really heavy curtains in the room or he can't fall asleep. Unfortunately, if sunlight doesn't come into the room in the morning, I DON'T WAKE UP. It's a bit of a conundrum. Usually when Mike gets up in the morning he pulls the curtain back a little, but... as it's about 18^2" of window into a basement room, it really doesn't do the trick. So most days I sleep in until 9 or so.
I think I need to start making "waking up the wife" one of Mike's daily duties around the house. Then I can get shuffled into the sunlight, and reawaken from my deathlike unconsciousness.
Suck.
On the sunny side (cough cough) I'll be working regularly in two weeks, and starting tomorrow I'll be a student with a new name.
Glorious!
I'll be taking two classes this semester. An Urban Public Policy class called, "On Land, Trusts, Community, Conservation, and People," and a Public Administration course called, "Organization Theory and Public Management." I are smrat. Still tossing the idea around of enrolling in Spanish again. I do need to make up that requirement. Probably not this semester though. I'll ease myself back into being a self centered student gradually.
In other news, Mike and I are utterly addicted to House. It's probably the least healthy addiction we've acquired so far. Even worse than our ice cream maker. But it's soooooooo gooooooood! Perhaps we should replace our nightly three episodes of House (damn you Dan and Amy! And thank you!) with a bike ride around the neighborhood. In a perfect world, anyway.
</mundane> |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|11:59 pm] |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|05:54 pm] |
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This may be an old article but I never knew, nor would I have expected, that Errol Morris and Werner Herzog at one point had a pact to exhume Ed Gein's mother. |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|04:10 pm] |
Cubs Update.
Went Saturday...Win....6-3 on the season...but first... some elipses...
Friday
Elvis Night at US Cellular... Quite a few people in jumpsuits. A lot more with fake pompadores, even more with cheap plastic sunglass, and even more with fake felt sideburns. Game was very long and very losing for the Sox, Tampa Bay put a hurtin' on them. During the game there were plenty of Elvis facts put it on the boards......YESSS. Lots of Elvis tunes between innings etc. Afterwards, the Flying Elvises parachuted into The Cell. Then there was a showgirl routine to Viva Las Vegas. Then an impersonator did about 4-5 songs. Then there was an AWESOME Fireworks show put to Elvis tunes, about 7-8 of them. Pretty awesome.
Saturday.
Get up and meet people at Goose Island for the Cubs game. WAY too hot, humid, and sunny. We were in section 101, which is the Family Friendly No Alcohol Section. Obviously the perfect place to take Larry to his Birthday Game. We decided to score the game, and really had fun with that. I might just score the next game I watch. I only have Bleacher tickets left this year, and those are Cardinal and Brewer games, so probably no scoring on those days. Afterwards we went to Lange's for some drinks, and then out to dinner at Schuba's little restaurant cafe place, Hidden Lounge maybe???
Sunday Full on Loungin' Word. |
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| Tornado Alley |
[Aug. 25th, 2008|02:06 pm] |
Tornadoes seem to have moved through for now. Freaky! I am from a place where there are no tornadoes! The weather guy said they were not very exciting tornadoes, though, anyway.
I will say I felt silly sitting in the closet. But it made me realize I need batteries for my radio.
Anyway, I was all set to ditch DirectTV because I felt like I was getting royally screwed by them, but then I looked at the channel lineup for the local cable company (through whom I was going to bundle my cable and internet) and I realized there is no Bravo TV. Too gay, I guess? But how can I live without Project Runway and Top Chef? Answer: I can't. So I think I'm going to tweak the DirectTV package I ordered instead. Sigh.
Got Doug a car this weekend. A 1995 Mitsubishi Eclipse. A lot of miles but it seems to run fine and we were able to just pay cash and get it over with. It has to get to Birmingham and back on Wednesday so that will be the true test.
Not much else to report, really. I went out to try to shop at the Winn-Dixie on what we are calling MegaChurch Boulevard, which is the "nice" Winn-Dixie, and it was also pretty bad. And out of lemon juice! How can they be out of lemon juice? I just bought lemons, but at 99 cents a pop it was painful. Gotta get over to check out those Mexican markets soon.
I had 5 pounds of peaches, thereabouts, and I am happy to say that I have processed most of them now. Peach ice cream (1 batch plain peach, 1/2 batch cinnamon peach and 1/2 batch peach with a balsamic syrup swirl), peach muffins and peach sauce, plus about a dozen of them peeled and pitted and sliced, then laid out on a baking sheet on wax paper and frozen for use when we want peaches in the middle of winter.
Hoping for no more tornadoes today! |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|12:29 pm] |
That one has passed where I am, headed north.
North, towards JSU, where Doug is. I bet they have them in a basement.
Oh crap, there's the siren again. |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|12:20 pm] |
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The rotation is east of us and headed north. Seems to be likely there is one on the ground. |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|11:42 am] |
OK, intertubes connected at home now. The CableOne guys came early because they wanted to get all of the appointments out of the way before the rain and possibly the tornadoes. Tornadoes!
Speaking of, there goes the siren. I'll be in the closet. Back in a bit. |
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[Aug. 25th, 2008|12:35 am] |
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[Aug. 24th, 2008|03:36 pm] |
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| The Word of the Week of August 24th is... |
[Aug. 24th, 2008|12:05 pm] |
catharsis: kuh-THAR-siss
noun;
A purifying or figurative cleansing of the emotions, especially pity and fear, described by Aristotle as an effect of tragic drama on its audience.
Perhaps Hillary Clinton thinks that inexorably drawing out her failed campaign will not in of itself bring her supporters catharsis, but that the tragedy of the inevitable Democratic collapse to follow will bring us all to that bottom point wherein all fear and anxiety is lost through the loss of everything else. |
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[Aug. 23rd, 2008|07:33 pm] |
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[Aug. 23rd, 2008|10:52 am] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Ministry - Over the Shoulder | ] |
stop trying to slit my bell bottoms, you ruthless brat! who do you think you are?! this company cares! this situation we're invested in is heavily influenced by new wave and the filthy anthropologists hugh and marine sue! barbells created them, in dreams! dreams from my screams! hugh is a dead piece of hare in a street, by crikey! the shit spangled toilet paper! a rad raging rad racing perpetual unfulfilled desire caused by so-so neglect, etcetera!
look here, hare: your hare lip isn't impressing anybody! just give up, you slime spattered toad! i'm changing color! i look like a dead cg leading man!
lead? the color of lead, leading us into the most glorious subscription to anal slaughter yet! i am yelling at you!
i can't remember what i wanted to buy... i know i want the tapes of wrath, but what else do i want? i'm not supposed to order anything until we get moved into that new apartment!
yeah, i'm gonna move out soon! it's so exciting! what an adventure!
i wear many hats. first and foremost, i am a youtube junkie. then i'm just a boring guy, then a mediocre artist, then an asshole, then a god, then a son, then a father, then a lover, then a fighter!
shit, man... how perplexing! |
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[Aug. 23rd, 2008|03:50 am] |
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| hmmm |
[Aug. 22nd, 2008|07:36 pm] |
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[Aug. 22nd, 2008|02:25 pm] |
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| What's Wrong With Oxford? |
[Aug. 22nd, 2008|01:06 pm] |
I spent the morning waiting on the delivery of the washer and dryer we purchased from a used appliance place. They were supposed to come between 10 and 11, but apparently Pa never showed up today and they had been waiting on him. Anyway, the machines finally did show up and were hooked up and are running the first load of towels as a test run.
I hope Pa is ok. He is actually the reason we went with this place over several others. It was every cliché you can imagine - a big old shed with guys in overalls sitting in rocking chairs polishing machine parts. But Pa seemed to know what he was talking about and it came with a one year warranty (labor - 90 days parts), and we saved $400 over even the scratch and dent new machines, so we're satisfied.
Made some peach muffins this morning. Didn't even make a dent in the pile.
So anyway, Oxford. Every time somebody mentions Oxford it is with some degree of disdain. Mostly nobody mentions it. It's Anniston and Jacksonville, even though Oxford is a town with a population somewhere between the two (15K, thereabouts). We were headed over there because I had heard tell of a Target in the area and we were on the hunt for a futon or something just to sit on (we did not bring any of our furniture from Chicago except our Ikea chair) (Dora & Norman - yours is still in Chicago along with the video and I will get it back to you before I leave for good!). As we were driving around searching for the mythical Target we passed a little house/shack with a sign out front that said Mexican Style Barber Shop.
Oh, we said. Maybe that's what's wrong with Oxford. We decided to explore a little more, because where there is a Mexican Style Barber Shop there are most likely Mexican people, and where there are Mexican people there are things like dried peppers and tortillas that aren't Chuck-E-Cheese brand and they don't charge premium prices for a package of Chihuahua cheese. There was a small grocery on the corner of one of the intersections where we stopped at a light and we decided to venture in, just to see. The name of the market was "Dorsey's" so we our hopes were low, but sure enough we walked in and we may as well have been back in Rogers Park.
When we got home we got a yellow pages and started to look at what else we might find in Oxford. There are at least three groceries with Mexican names that I'm excited to check out. Also taquerias. Possibly real taquerias.
We finally ended up with a WalMart futon (Target was a bust, though we did find it. We hit the Jacksonville WalMart after striking out at the Anniston location) which is cheap and serviceable for now. We figured we needed one anyway for the office/back room, and we were tired of sitting on the floor. Made dinner for the first time at home and had a bottle of wine. Today Doug is at his orientation so I'm on my own until this evening. Got some more things shifted around in the house and looked up more recipes for things to do with peaches.
Dont' know what, if anything, is on tap for the "weekend". Life is very odd these days. |
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