Sunday, December 30, 2007

The Good Old Days

So, it looks like the rule around here is that if you mistakenly check this blog, or some jerk sets it as your homepage and you simply open your browser, you have to post something.

Something.











Just kidding.

I haven't seen most you in years (literally!) and I'm still holding it down here in Bloomington. I work in the School of Fine Arts, and have since June '06, but I'm applying to grad schools right now with the crazy idea that someone would accept me into their MFA program. Applications are due in the next two to three weeks and most schools will make me stand in the corner and wait for a good three months before they even bother to tell me anything. I'll keep you all posted (literally, again) with my news.

As it was usually my thing to tell you all what music I'm digging, here is what made me hot in 2007 (in no particular order):

-Radiohead In Rainbows
-
The Tough Alliance New Chance
-
Of Montreal Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?
-
Jens Lekman Night Falls on Kortedala
-
The Field From Here We Go Sublime
-
Battles Mirrored
-
The Besnard Lakes ...Are the Dark Horse
-
Feist The Reminder
-
Animal Collective Strawberry Jam
-
Panda Bear Person Pitch

Honorable Mentions:
-
Kanye West Graduation
-
M.I.A. Kala
-
Pantha du Prince This Bliss
-
Low Drums and Guns

If you want the hook-up for any of these albums, I'd be glad to share. Just like the good old days.

Peace and Happy New Year,

Brad

Thursday, December 27, 2007

and again

This is what I get for checking the blog. No one writing. But because I made an "agreement" with Thom to keep posting every time I check (and I haven't even been doing that) I felt the need to continue. Since it's boring to tell everyone what I GOT for Christmas, I'll tell you what I didn't get.
I didn't get:
a bazillion dollars
a Brasilian model
a pyramid
a bronze statue of myself that rotates to always face the sun (like in Turkmenistan)
four DeLoreans
a date with Lance Bass (thank god)
religion (and still don't)
herpes (yay)

This leaves an infinite number of things that I could have gotten. Such as:
a new face
FIVE DeLoreans
lost graded Kobe Bryant rookie card
Turkmenistan itself
Hitler's fashion sense
a wheel
seven brides for seven brothers
a lock of rob's pubes
a basket full of other, smaller baskets
nine lives
a cold

But I assure you that none of those items were acquired either. What an uneventful Christmas. What did you NOT get?

Monday, December 24, 2007

I promised to write

Thom and I got together recently to try to plan out some of the details for our trip to the Dells and hammered out a basic outline. We also both mentioned how we rarely post anything on this blog but check it somewhat frequently. The end result was that we promised to post every time we checked. This has made me check less often because it means I'll have to post, but perhaps as the posts increase from others then so will my hesitancy.

I'm on break from teaching (thank the gods) for two weeks until 1/7. I needed it badly. Yesterday I kept thinking to myself that if I had to report to school today I would just leave my books at home and bring a gun. I didn't want to be there for so many reasons:
I am tired of working and coming up with plans
I don't want to see the coworker that broke up with me last week
I want to have some free time
Next semester is going to be busy.

Second semester won't be nearly as bad as first, but some of the bad news I got this week was that one guy who teaches the same class as me won't be teaching it next semester. Result? They are shoving his kids into my classes. Fuck. But I plan on staying no later than 5 on any given day unless I'm there working out, which I intend to do at least 3 days a week. I have lost 10 pounds so far this year and have not exercised with any frequency for a little more than a year now. It'll be nice to have confidence in my appearance again.

Finally, this trip to the Dells should be a lot of fun. Mike is taking off work. Sara doesn't have to work. And I've just got a final to give that will last until 9am. We'll leave around 11 or so that Friday in January and just have a good ole time up north. I'm really hoping to make a trip to Miami over spring break, so if anyone wants to join me, let me know. The more, the merrier. And here's a pic of Rob and me from the Bears/Lions game we went to on Halloween weekend. I was a Mexican and he was Hulk Hogan, and then there's an uumpa lumpa. In case anyone told Rob he had to put a shirt on, he had one stuffed down his spandex. Charming.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Now...

Look here. Let's celebrate my birthday. That's all I demand. And that's all I demand. And a cake. That has chocolate. And has icing on it made into the following shapes:
Boobs
Chocolate
Videogames
Laughter

Thank you.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

sara's annual update

howdy all, aka the 4 people who still read this...
Nothing totally new or exciting to report, I'm just super pumped to start my last year of grad school! This year my internship is in an alternative high school for kids with behavior or emotional problems who couldn't handle the mainstream high school. So I'll actually be doing one-on-one therapy with my own clients and leading group therapy every week, I'm so excited! I just hope I don't screw up their lives too much. So that's what I'll be doing monday wednesday friday, and then tuesday thursday I have class. I'm also still working at the Warming House Youth Center one or two nights a week (a drop-in center for teenagers to hang out or talk confidentially about stuff). So like waple, I'm on the verge of becoming pretty busy, although less busy than I was last year 'cause I'm not a graduate assistant at school anymore. I'm definitely looking forward to graduating in may so I can finally move out of my parents' house!
This summer's been super fun, I was taking two summer school classes and working like 15 hours a week, and just chilling the rest of the time. Lollapalooza was definitely a highlight, DaftPunk rocked my socks. I also started taking dance classes again after a 2 year hiatus, which has done wonders for my self esteem and confidence, it's nice to have a hobby again and feel like I have a life and talents outside of school and social work. I've been doing ballet, hiphop, pole dancing, and I'm about to start belly dancing. I finally got a new phone yesterday so I can make and receive phone calls again! (the old one was dropping calls every 2 minutes). Ummm I can't think of anything else exciting right now. I look forward to seeing everyone sometime in the future!

Friday, August 03, 2007

teaching and friends

So I'm gonna begin my professional career in about three weeks, so if no one hears from me, it'll be because teaching will be eating up my life. I'm enjoying the last couple weeks of my summer in a tempered fashion, since weekends don't really belong to anything but worry anymore. It's basically going to be a coordinated car crash, and I'm like the new stunt driver on the block. First, I'm coaching soccer and I haven't even played for9 years, at which point I was only good enough for the freshman B team. NOTE: I'm coaching the freshman B team.
Second, I'm teaching two classes I've never taught before: Psychology and Chicago History. They'll both be interesting and they have their upsides, but I'm just going to be happy in a year when I move out and don't have to worry about going back to a catholic school for another year. I'm just ready to retire, I think. All this thinking about work has really exhausted me. I've even done some prep work and I haven't even gotten paid for it! Ahhh I'm a teacher. What did I sign up for? So if I don't talk to you all much in the next year, that's why. I really want to, but God kinda will own my soul. For once.
I'm tired, so I'm heading to bed. I hope everyone's doing well, especially you, Ben, since I hear from you least often.

Love,
Andrew

Thursday, May 24, 2007

hmmm...

Ahoy.
Hmm... so i have a year before grad school and what should i do with myself or whatever?
I think I am still in Cairo right now, and i think my funding runs out soon, and then i will probably subsist on coffee and pastrami for a few months, then maybe start eating myself... yumm... androphogeablicious.
So what is everyone doing to survive in post-college? What would you recommend? More coffee? Less coffee? Roast beef instead of pastrami? Cat food? (mmm...)

Thursday, April 05, 2007

I'm so tired of looking at that picture. I had to post SOMETHING. So as a general note, I'm going to be in Bloomington on the weekends of April 14th, and 28th. They'll be really quick trips though. Like, 36 hours or something. Should be fun.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

CUTE


I saw this photo on the tribune site and thought it was too cute to ignore. Now if only that orangutan had one of those cute frog hats on...
Caption:
Dema, a Sumatran tiger, licks Nia, a baby orangutan, at the Taman Safari zoo in Bogor, Indonesia, on Wednesday. The pair, which would never be together in the wild, have become inseparable after they were abandoned by their mothers.
(AP photo by Achmad Ibrahim)
Feb 28, 2007

Stupid Indiana Cougars

So--

I happened to hear from a few of you this past weekend in a drunken stupor, and managed to chat in person with others, but I thought I would go ahead and post an update on one of the few "neato" things that'd happened recently to me. What follows is edited from an e-mail I sent to my inquiring relatives after my Mom shared what had happened to me with them.

As most of you know, I generally like to think of myself as Mr. Invincible, and pretty much will refer people to the movie "Unbreakable" since I: 1) am regularly told that I look sort of like Bruce Willis and 2) Have never had any major injuries or sicknesses, despite having been in 11 car accidents, fallen off a bridge, and only getting a fever when I had the chicken pox.

At the same time, I've started a new job (which is pretty much a frat - we party harder than most undergrads) and have been looking for a major event to host in which we can get together outside of work just to hang out. It seems like all of the major holidays and whatnot have someone to host them already- christmas party, halloween party- even my usual superbowl party was overridden!

I came up with an idea to host an event that I planned on making annual called deep winter camping, where we all go camping in the middle of the winter. In Indiana, winter really doesn't happen until end of December-ish, so setting a date of January 28th seemed perfect. Plus, it was the only weekend in January that the Colts weren't beating the pants off of every football team on their way to Superbowl glory (Sorry, Patriots. Sort of).

When we went out to the campsite at around 4pm, we immediately built a fire and got things warm. This wasn't really "roughing it" camping- there were electrical outlets (somebody brought an electric blanket, the cord to which later caught on fire) and fire pits, as well as paved roads and gravel parking spots right at each site. I'd loaded up my trunk with firewood (literally filled to the brim), so the idea was to pretty much have a bonfire going all night.

Here's some photos of the event:


Once everyone pretty much passed out for the night (around 2:30am), Steve and I began cleaning up the campsite and putting things into cars that would freeze. We put out the fire, and Steve said he was going to go relieve himself before turning in for the night. I had my sleeping bag laid out and told Steve I was probably going to go for a jog before I went to bed so I'd be generating more heat and my bag would warm up more quickly. Just so you know, I still recommend this as one of John's all-time top 10 tips for cold weather camping.

Once I put all of my water and food away into the car, I took off down the paved road that circled around the campsite, jogging at probably no more than 3 or 4 miles an hour in my hiking boots. It had started to snow around midnight, so the road was reasonably covered now with maybe a half an inch of the stuff. Still, I have pretty good tread on my boots so I really wasn't worried.

I got to the end of the camping area where there's a bathroom house and went to circle around it. It looked like the road continued in front of the bathroom, so while I thought I was jogging forward onto pavement, it was too late before I realized I had just jumped onto a thick slab of ice covered in snow. My legs instantly went out from under me, and I can remember thinking how funny a story it was going to be when I got back to the campsite to tell everyone why I had a big bruise from falling on my back as I fell.

Let me also pause here for a second to say that my boots are specifically designed (and really well, apparently) to keep my ankle and foot in place. The idea is that if you're hiking up or down a slope, or parallel to one, these boots basically provide a platform for your feet to keep you level. The boots being this solid, however, was not helpful in the case of falling straight down.

What I can only assume is that when I landed, the weight of the boot spiraled my left leg outward from the heel. The doctor told me that my Fibula crossed over my Tibia (these are the two main bones holding the ankle in) as my foot turned, taking two chunks off the front of my Tibia and in turn tearing all of my ligaments, eventually completely dislocating my ankle.

I always think it's so funny when people get through some kind of incident and use the terminology the doctor gave to them to explain what happened, as if everyone on the street has a complete knowledge of human anatomy. Here's a diagram so you can match up what I'm talking about. I sure didn't understand it until the doctor brought out the rubber skeleton foot.



Pretty wicked injury for just falling on ice! All of those times I've gone ice skating- who knew of such dangers? I later heard lots of different reactions to the injury- one of my coworkers thought I'd been attacked by a cougar, while the hospital thought I'd been jumping off of small cliffs.

So while I was laying on the ground, I immediately felt an incredible amount of pain. I looked down and when I saw my foot (which should have been 90 degrees up from the ground) at a 20 degree angle, started yelling for help and basically screaming in an attempt to get the pain out. I waved my headlamp toward the campsite and looked back, which was when I realized I might be too far away for anyone to hear me. I realized I had my cell phone in my pocket, so I opened it and noted that I had a signal!

I have Sprint, by the way. For any of you non-believers.

Ahem. Anyway- I called 911, and got a half of a ring in before my phone died. Way to go, not charging my battery before I leave. I yelled a little more and decided that I was going to have to get back to the campsite myself, so I started dragging my body down the road back in the direction I'd come. After a few minutes, I finally saw a light bobbing toward me (no, not at the end of a tunnel). Steve asked me what was wrong and I told him to look at my leg, no, I wasn't messing with him, go get the car, we have to get to a hospital right away, wait- do you think you can pop it back in?

Tons of thoughts going through my head while I laid there and waited for the car to come over. Once there, I dragged myself over to the passenger door and lifted myself up on my good leg, then shifted into the car. Steve had offered to help, but I was too concerned about any uncontrolled movement on my foot.

The car ride to the hospital was also pretty strange. I remember just looking down at my foot and thinking how strange it was to have it at that angle. You put your heel down and expect your foot to line up with the angle of your knee, but I just couldn't do it.

Once at the hospital, they told me I was "in luck" because the ortho nurse was in as they wheeled me into a room to get me started on repairs. Once they snapped my foot back into place (pain killers don't work on me, apparently- and they kept telling me not to tense up!), they took some x-rays to make sure everything was in correctly and to get an idea of the battle damage I'd taken on.




Unfortunately, after about a half an hour, my ankle slipped back out again and they had to pop it back in! This time they taped it up so it would stay in place, took some more x-rays, and shipped me off to a room further up in the hospital to wait for surgery. At this point, my parents had also arrived and waited in the room upstairs with me while the nurses started getting me hooked up to equipment, taking blood work (took several tries- I apparently had really low blood pressure at the time), and asking me questions about my medical history. They also gave me a button to push that lit up and allowed me to pump pain killer medication "as needed." I was on top of that button, which ended up backfiring. But I'll get to that in a second.

A nurse came into the room and told me I was top priority and that they would get me into surgery right away. Once they had cleared all of the equipment, drawn blood, and everything else, they wheeled me out into the hallway to surgery just as the same nurse came back and said that a car crash had just come in and I'd have to wait to do surgery after that. It was then that as they were wheeling me back into my room that I started feeling a little dizzy and tired. As they were getting the I.V. bag hooked back up to me, I fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, I was woken up and there were probably 12 doctors and nurses in the room, all around my bed, the foremost of which was asking me "what happened?" Apparently I had gone into respiratory arrest (I guess they call this "crashing" at the hospital) and had stopped breathing. The nurse who was reconnecting my I.V. bag had noticed me turn gray and my lips go blue, and I didn't respond so the hospital went into "code blue," and I was instantly a celebrity.

After a little recovery time, they told me I was ready for surgery. At this point, I was completely not comfortable with falling asleep or being put under, so I probably pestered the doctors a little too much by saying things like "can you periodically just make sure I'm still- you know- breathing?"

Anyway, surgery apparently went really well. I ended up having a plate with screws for the spiral fracture, another couple of screws for the straight break, and another screw to hold on the chunk of bone that had come towards the front of my ankle (the back chunks were apparently just ground up, so the doctor told me he had just vacuumed them out).

When I woke up afterwards, I was back up in my room and everything felt absolutely incredible. With everything in its right place, I was ready to leave at the first mention of dismissal. All I had to do was prove to them I felt all right, demonstrate my ability to use crutches up and down the hall and some practice stairs, and I was out.

Since then, It's just been the usual recovery stuff when you break your leg, I guess. I need to keep my leg up as much as possible (24/7 is the goal) until the swelling goes down, and here in about a week I'll be heading in for my second appointment. Pending everything looking okay, I'll start physical therapy in a few weeks and then lose the crutches until they remove the hardware in a few months. They said I should be mostly completely back to normal within 8-12 months.

So that's my craziness for a while- now it's just a pain in the ass getting around. I never realized how difficult it was to deal with things like stairs, carrying a glass of water, even standing up on crutches. They always seemed like a fun toy to me, especially when I got to borrow them from other kids in elementary school.

Let me finish by saying this is not a call for sympathy or anything- I'm sharing this because I thought it was a pretty cool (in retrospect) experience; something that you usually only see on TV. Hope you're all healthy and well, and enjoying your walking on two legs.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Sorry.

Well, I guess in "upgrading" this blog to the latest and gratest edition, you've all been forced to sign in with your google/gmail account.

If you don't have one, shame on you. Get one.

If you do, just sign in from now on with your google/gmail info.

That is all.

Monday, January 08, 2007

2 aught 7

Well, it's now a new year, a time for revelation and whatnot.

Included in the "whatnot" is generally some sort of resolve for turning over a new leaf. That being said and without further ado, let's hear 'em. New Year's resolutions, anyone?

I, being boring, resolve to spend less money, lose weight, and finish my personal 1.75 billion dollar project.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

Bling bling!

Engarde! I have returned to write on this blog, which I consider a display of fealty to my dearest of comrades. Me, I have a sample bottle of cognac still in my backpack from an AirFrance flight last March, somehow I forgot it was there until now. At the moment, I am in the middle of my two-semester, free-ride stint at the American University in Cairo (doing Arabic, what else), occasionally making Blutgelt from die Regierung, smoking more but drinking less, juggling sordid affairs, yelling at corrupt police officers who won't do anything but smoke cheep cigarettes and chuckle at perverse jokes without a bribe, and otherwise wandering aimlessly and trying to put off grad school until I know exactly what I am doing here anyways, etc. I hope that clears up any confusion about where I am / what I am doing.
I also hope all of you are still the fabulous bon vivants I know you to be, and have enjoyed a fabulous New Year's ball. Please receive my warmest love and the like.