New Blog...

So, I'm off of Myspace and Facebook and started a blog. I'll post randomly about whatever, so if you'd like to follow the trip, feel free.

Merry Holiday.

Hope you're all having a good one. I'm personally excited to be the proud new owner of a great bundle of joy...the complete Fraggle Rock series.

Happy Christmas, and Merry Hanukkah.

Wondering how your taxes are spent?

Here's a visual guide to the 2009 proposed tax breakdown.



Compare DoD with DoE...anyone attended a bake sale recently?

um

um
so i swear this was not on purpose
it seems to have overlapped with my other blog
my shoes smell nice though i just put that deoderant stuff in them and they smell like mint

ok so im sorry like sue me

Way to go, Ben

I tried to post a reply and I realized it would just be converted to arabic, so I'm assuming this is the only way to post in english. I blame ben for all this. You shoe-throwing terrorist!

?Anyone else see Arabic

I think we were hijacked. Save us John Palmer

Woo Girls Meet the Naked Men

For those of you who have been watching "How I Met Your Mother" this season, isn't it hilarious? For those of you who haven't been watching, here's the hilarity that you missed.

Dead Snow (Død Snø)

If there's anything that I've learned from the Indiana Jones movies (other than the fact that felt hats are indestructible), it's that Nazis make great villains. If there's anything I've learned from 28 Days/Weeks later, it's that fast moving zombies also make great villains.

So why has it taken so long for someone to make a movie about fast, Nazi, zombies? I mean, really?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-KQh87_V2Q

My favorite part of the trailer comes at 1:42, where to combat the nazi zombies, a guy grabs a sledgehammer and a sickle. Hah!

boys are mean

So I'm totally pissed right now... Last monday I met a super hot guy at the hospital psych ward (he works there, he's not a patient) and he asked for my phone number and I gave it to him, and he hasn't called me!!! It's been a week now so I should probably give up on him, right? Why would a guy ask for my number and not call?!

Thanxgiveaway Wiikend on Comedy Central

Well, the annual Thanksgiving giveaway on Comedy Central has come to a close, and as someone who was sick and thus rooted to their couch all weekend, I thought I'd share with you guys the full list, in case you wanted to submit the answers yourself in hopes of some goodies won. Note that I did cheat and compiled some of the answers from assorted locations online.

Enter to win at http://www.thanxgiveaway.com/entry_form.html

Thursday
Store
Closeout
Asphalt
Wheels
Gift
Bargain
Exhaustion
Advertising
Spree
Cruise
Plaza
Mall

Friday
Blowout
Credit
Appliances
Cart
Aisle
Whine
Pickup
Bumper
Customer
Cooler
Drive
Charcoal

Saturday
Outlet
Propane
Booty
Trunk
Charge
Receipt
Parking
Shopper
Season
Checkout
Spend
Stampede

Sunday
Crowd
Package
Personalize
Employee
Escalator
Cylinder
Traffic
Christmas
Options
Discount
Desperate
Impulse


Enjoy, and let me know if you win. Hopefully one of us does.

Ahoy!

So,
I wanted to know if you guys saw Obama on election night? I was a bit surprised no one posted anything about that considering you are all in Chicago and I depend on you to do Chicago things.
Anyways,
Texas is not part of the South, we are an independent republic.
Second, are you guys doing new years in Chicago? I am more certain than not that I will be in the area a few days before Jesus birthday.

Ahoy!

Ben?

Does anyone have Ben's number? If you do, I think you should call him and see if he's going to be around for break. I think we should all hang out over the winter while he's here.

Mmmmm... tasty

Let's take a poll: Would you eat burgers if you knew they were from a laboratory and not an actual cow? I think it's kind of a great idea except, of course, for the minor problem of fur cells getting mixed in with the meat. Yum.

I've been studying relationships.

In order to better understand the interactions of people and to try and self-diagnose my lack of interest in relationships (and also to deal with the fact that a new division in my company has relevance), I've been gathering data on said subject.

Here's one of the greatest visuals supporting the biggest theory:



Consequently, graphjam.com is one of the best sites I've visited in a while, maybe next to the infamous fail blog (an oldie, but a goodie).

Hope you're all well. I'm busy kicking ass.

That's depressing, Michael.

I wish the post I'd written like three days ago had actually posted instead of just being lost in the internet.

I basically posted saying I feel bad for not posting for a long time, but that's what happens when the school year begins... and then continues. Basically, I was wondering if anyone else had a decent excuse for not posting? Thom? I guess so. Mike? I can't think of one. John? Maybe. Sara? She's already come here once this year. Ben? They don't have internet in the South. Steve? See Ben.

Chirp chirp chirp

'Tis only a flesh wound!

It's old news, but the picture was so awesome I had to share it in honor of the recent crapfest of dismemberment that was "Saw V". Click the title for a link to the article it came from.

P.S. Saw V was crap.

Wall street left to twist in the wind

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/financialcrisis/3105094/US-economy-700-billion-Wall-Street-bailout-rejected-on-Meltdown-Monday-2.html

Good riddance to good rubbish? Or making a bad situation worse? Maybe a little bit of both.

I'm going to start hiding my money in overseas banks, either way.

Anyone listened to the new Conor Oberst?

I'm hooked on his album, mainly because I love his lyrics and what he has to say. If you're a fan of Bright Eyes, it has most of the guys from that project plus a couple others. I'd like to hear what you think.

Collins Columns

I was walking around my school the other day and somehow got the idea that all of us should write to the Collins Columns, assuming they still make it. I don't have the time to look into it, but my inital ideas were that we should either all write in and say ridiculous things about the real world and how amazing we're all doing thanks to college and Collins (full of exagerrations, for example, I just slayed a dragon while coming home from my Fortune 500 job with an Aston Martin I stole from James Bond after I killed him) or that we should all just write really ridiculous editorials about something or other, and all of our editorials would contradict one another. For example, someone could support Obama, while another would bash Obama and support McCain, stating similar but contradicting reasons for both (Obama sucks cock, McCain doesn't even know what a BJ is). Share your opinions.

Also, I miss Smith Ground.

Jubilee

So I'm trolling around downtown this weekend and these guys were playing a free concert. I thought they were pretty good and they were non-profit band. Half their proceeds go to a charitable organization and the other half... band expenses? Anyway, feel free to check them out. What I also thought was pretty amazing was that their drummer was born with some physical deformities in his arms, hands, torso, and legs, yet he's pretty good. I had a lot of respect and appreciation that he was able to overcome that and be able to do what he loves. Hope you enjoy.

So the earth is going to get eaten by a black hole

... what are you going to do with your last days?

The Large Hadron Collider that has everyone up in a tizzy is supposed to be booting up sometime tomorrow, and there could be any range of results, from black holes swallowing the earth, to the sudden introduction of antimatter into our matter environment, suddenly and violently detonating all life on the planet, to a vast range of nonoccurances too terrifying to not unthink aboutnot.

The question is, what are you all going to do about it?

I recommend that we spend these last few moments together doing things we would never normally do. Steal cars, rob banks, pillage villages, ravish women and stampede cattle.

Who's with me?

Alternatively, does anyone want to get together tonight and hang out or do something less exciting? Remember, it might be your last night on earth to sleep with me hang out with your friends.

This Friday night?

Who is free this Friday night AND in the Chicago area? As you may already know, Emily Hard is putting on a play at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts called "Once on This Island" and it has an extended run through this Friday night. I want to go, but I don't want to go alone... who would like to join me? Let me know ASAP via e-mail or phone/text! Thanks.

Details:
ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
8 p.m. Sept. 12
Chicago Center for the Performing Arts
Chicago and Halsted

The Onion just peels back those layers

"I ain't gonna be in no debate, but if John McClain wants to take me on a woodsplittin' contest, I can guarantee I can split a quart of wood quicker than he can."

That'd be something if John McClain ran for president. I bet we'd really live free then.

Paranoid Android

http://reckonerisgood.free.fr/Radiohead_Outlands082208/19%20You%20and%20Whos%20Army_Paranoid%20Android.mp3

That link will send you to the same site I've posted before that has live Radiohead, but it's two songs on one mp3. It's a You and Whose Army? that has them messing up and then it goes into a really good version of Paranoid Android that has a drum beat at the beginning that I love. If you like Radiohead, check it out.

By the way, I guess you could say I'm a little Paranoid Android myself since I'm so stressed out by school right now. The grading follows me everywhere and I'm seriously considering a career change. It sucks.

Lupe Fiasco concert

Lupe Fiasco
@ The Congress Theater
Friday, October 31

Doors 6:00 pm
All Ages
$27.50 advance
$30.00 day of show

It's kind of expensive, but The Congress Theater is pretty great. Is anyone interested in this Halloween show?

I need opinions

Those of you who have met my mother.

I need to know if you think my mom actually sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kRlAt44FM8&feature=email

Because I swear to god that's not at all her voice. I mean, when I heard it opening at :59, I thought "that has to be mom", but it seriously doesn't sound at all like her.

Highlights of today's news, care of the BBC

Western leaders have condemned strongly Russia's decision to recognise the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Highlights of the article include:

US President George Bush warned his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, that his "irresponsible decision" was exacerbating tensions in the region.

and

President Bush said Russia should "reconsider this irresponsible decision" and "live up to its international commitments".

------------

In other news, international icon C.Pot is in hot water today over recent racial slurs made against British industrialist K.Kettle.

One of Pot's biggest supporters was quoted as saying "look, he's black too. It's totally okay."

I'm indecisive

I'm contemplating moving out of my house. I have a friend who rents a house in Mount Prospect and has extra bedrooms and said I could live with her. Here are the pros and cons:

Pros: -moving out will make me feel like an adult
-it would vastly improve my social life as I would get to hang out with her more and all her friends
-plus all my friends in my general vicinity have recently moved away so I am lonely
-and she has a beer pong table and bonfire pit in her backyard and likes to throw parties
-it's closer to waple and mike
-I wouldn't have to worry about calling my mom if I'm gonna be home late
-I wouldn't have to tell my parents where I'm going and when I'll be back every time I leave the house
-I could have boys over without worrying about my parents walking in
-rent is relatively cheap and I can afford it
-I don't wanna be 30 and still at home and single
-it's fun to decorate a new room

Cons: -I would have to start paying for rent and food
-it would make my commute to work slightly longer, as there is no direct route
-it's not near public transportation, making it more difficult to get into the city
-it's not near the beach
-I'd have to learn a new neighborhood, find a new jogging route, gym, mall, grocery store, etc.
-change is hard and I'm lazy and unmotivated
-I'm comfortable where I am and get along fine with my parents

Sigh, I just don't know what to do. It's not the ideal location, but I also feel like I shouldn't pass up this opportunity. Maybe I should just set a date and do it, or else I'll keep procrastinating forever and I'll never move out.

I start teaching freshman comp. next week.

Wish me luck!

Burnt Orange!

Burnt orange is the color in Texas, so I suppose it is almost like a mating of Indiana's "Cream and Crimson," actually that would probably be more of a pink, but let us suppose! So if the cream had been left in the sun for a few days, it would turn into a rankish yellow, and crimson is pretty much just red in poetry language, so that would give us red + yellow = orange. There.

Oh and by the way Texas has dinosaur footprints on campus! How about that! (It looks like it is sealed behind bullet-proof glass to protect it from the creationists).

Speaking of Neil Patrick Harris... (again)

Doogie Howser 2008!

"How I Met Your Mother" Marathon?

Sometime in September, leading up to Sept. 22's fourth season premiere of "How I Met Your Mother," I'd like to host a marathon of some of the best episodes. Who's interested?

it's only a matter of time

dead by dawn!

dead by dawn!

SQUAWK!

You're welcome

Here's the link you can use to access the recordings of Radiohead's Lollapalooza show, as well as other live shows.

http://www.radiohead-notforprofit.com/

My Lolla schedule

Here's my customized Lollapalooza 2008 schedule. It is subject to change.

http://lolla08.sched.org/thomk

Let me know which ones you're most interested in! And, of course, tell me which ones you think I shouldn't have neglected on my sked.

Vampire Party Pics!

Click the subject to see some.

Lolla

I'm really excited to see Radiohead. Who else is going on Friday? I don't want to be the only one rocking out and singing loudly. I honestly wouldn't care if I were on my own, but seeing my favorite band that doesn't consist of dead members in the most wonderful city in the world probably could not make me much happier, unless I had friends to share it with. Also, bring your camera. Mine sucks and is mostly dead.

Sweet blood-suckling lips!

Check out the latest Google ad:

American Vampire League
Support the Vampire Rights Amendment.
www.americanvampireleague.com

I'm so professional...

I have a business card!!!!




...so... vampire party this weekend?

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

Since we're all such big fans of Neil Patrick Harris around here, and since this totally ties in with the last post I made (musical, joss whedon connection via Anthony Stewart Head, another actor who is referred to by three names vs. the normal two, which according to Zoolander logic would make him an assassin... but I digress!), I thought I'd link this up as it looks amusing.

http://www.drhorrible.com/

MUTO

You should definitely check this out.

Who should be the next Batman villain?

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Okay, so I have to admit I'm a super-sucker for A) Musicals and B) Anthony Stewart Head, who
played Giles on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is also the brother of Murray Head, who sang "One Night in Bangkok" among others.

This.

Looks.

Insane.

It also looks like the kind of thing that's destined to fail miserably at the box office. Like Sweeny Todd but without the draw of Jonny Depp and without any kind of mystery that it'll be a gruesome massacre of a film.

Still, I'm definitely going to go see it.

People who definitely wont see it: I'm going to guess Sara, probably Andrew, and actually most of the people here.

Also, it has Paris Hilton in it. I can only hope that she dies gruesomely, and from an offhand comment thrown out by the director in an interview for the movie, I believe she, in fact, does. Bonus!

Vampires and Bloody Marys (Maries?)

Look.
So it has been a festering desire of mine for some time to have a dracula party. I was supposed to have this party several months ago, but it was sidelined for an "under the sea" party, which actually turned out to be more of an "at sea" party with pirates and rum, or at least one Norwegian fisherman (would-be pirate) and one bottle of rum but actually more vodka.
So.
By dracula party I don't mean people biting each other and drawing blood, and I certainly forbid those fringe-Goths who actually think they are vampires... which leaves us only with two things:

1. Bloody Mary's/Marys/Maries
(and)
2. Thick accents (particularly the W being replaced with V).

If these two things can be accomplished in one party, it will qualify as a dracula party.
So when are we going to have this dracula party?

Ben's almost back!

Now that the most recent extravaganza is over, we need to start looking to the next. Ben's coming back this Friday. Who is up for celebrating somehow on the 4th? I don't know what we could do, but it seems pretty logical that we'd see fireworks in there. What say you all? Drinking would be fun, of course, but I think fireworks and dinner and something else?

Where the Hell is Matt? (in HD)

Pay attention to the Auckland, NZ segment... Lindsay's in it!

Dragon Fire Parade

It was like seeing Explosions in the Sky perform at one of its first shows. (In other words, it was undoubtedly awesome.)

Ouch! Tasers hurt!

Friday Concert

Brad's brother and his band are performing Friday night. It's going to rock your knickers off. I'll be going. If you want to join me, let me know. They're a tremendous band.

Hey ya.

[Greatest post ever.]

New Kids on the Block

My bad... Sara's right. It's Mark Wahlberg I was talking about. Why is he bothering with this whole reunion tour? I mean, doesn't he have enough money as a famous actor? It's so surreal.

My Web site

So, I thought you'd all like to know (if you don't already know) that my blog hintsatlight.blogspot.com has been bulked up and renamed. You can still link to it at blogspot by using the address thomkudla.blogspot.com, but its preferred URL is now thomkudla.com, and it will be my primary personal blog/Web site. The one on LuLu still will be used solely for marketing (book previews, book sales, vital author information, etc.), but the Livejournal one seldom will be used since thomkudla.com is going to be the center of my Internet universe. Of course, I'll still post to Smith Ground; I just wanted to let you know about the other blog.

Computers performing Radiohead

LAURENSUMMERWEINBERG!!!

It is her birthday!!

HAPPY BDAY LAUREN!

Mystic Celt

Hey. You're invited to Cindy's birthday party at the Mystic Celt, 3443 Southport Ave. (corner of Roscoe and Southport), in Chicago. It all starts 10:30 p.m. Saturday (tomorrow). I'll be going. Call me if you want to go.

Ours concert update

Tim has been trying to get tickets a couple times and the place is just hardly ever open and they never answer their phone. I actually am possibly going to be there Sunday night just by coincidence, the night before the concert. If I am, I will see if I can get tickets there for us and then I'll let you know either way on Monday ASAP about whether or not I got them. This is all depends on if Tim gets them first.

This video is not in any way, shape, or form, doctored

The youtube video attached to this post is completely real, and in no way a farce, falsity, facade, or any other "fa" word, other than maybe "fact".

http://youtube.com/watch?v=iSfCZ6VO5Dk

This one is also completely true.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=G8pKQOGY2ck


... but in all seriousness, apparently these were, and yes this is partly how I know about this, JR East (Japan Railway) commercials to promote travel via rail to northern japan for ski trips.

I know it makes ME want to go skiing.

Ostrich?

"Looking for ostrich? Find exactly what you want. yahoo.com"

I should really write more poetry...

I've been cleaning out my room lately and reorganizing stuff, and came across a stack of notebooks from college. That's right, I never throw anything away, you never know when you'll need those old chemistry notes. Anyway, reading through my notebooks made me discover two very important things. First, I'm so happy I never have to write a research paper again. Second, I apparently love smith bling a lot, because I came across a rather erotic poem I once wrote and had published in the columns:

Oh smith bling, your blinging makes me crazy,
You bling with so much bling I wanna have 10,000 of your babies.
To the hallway toll I'll give all of my coins,
If only you'll let me rub your loins.
Late at night when I hear your screams,
I wanna do you, you're in all of my dreams.
My knees go weak when you play that song,
Checkin' out your gravel pit makes me wanna take off my thong.
My heart beats faster than the wings of a dove,
Nevermind the old crow, I wanna get drunk on your love.
Playing halo makes me break into a sweat,
And when you taze each other I can't help but get wet.
Your massive package is a work of art,
Forget fire hazards, someone put out this burning in my heart.
I love you even though you did my mom,
'Cause I saw it on smithblinggivesgoodhead.com.
I love every little thing you do,
Oh smith bling, I wanna make sweet love to you.

There's also another stanza with a big X through it that didn't make it into the final draft:

When I think about you late at night it's hard to control my hand,
You make me wanna creep downstairs and jump on your raging cockstand.

I'm not sure why I decided to cut that one.

twilight sentinels

Mike and Thom,

You may remember the Twilight Sentinels, the group that we saw open for Gift of Gab back in Broadripple years ago. I bought their album for three bucks and it was the best three bucks I've ever spent. I just happened to google them and they had a new album to download for free. I haven't listened to it all yet, but some of it is pretty good. If you want to listen to some of it, you can at their myspace site:

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=12659523

or, you can just download it from here:

http://www.divshare.com/download/4434303-33e

it takes a while to download cause of the site they use, but it's not bad.

Yes, I finally joined last fm.

Click the subject line to see what I'm listening to.

Texas!

I have not sold out, but I have discovered an oil well in Texas that yields modest yield-stuff. Yield! Ha-ha. It's almost like saying "kneel" but I don't like the word "kneel."

Hi I'm Sara, and I'm a therapist

That's how I get to introduce myself now. I got a job today at Arden Shore Child and Family Services, I'm going to be a therapist/case manager at one of their group homes for foster kids. I'll have a caseload of 7 kids age 11-15 that I'll do individual and group therapy with, and I get to go to all their school meetings, DCFS meetings, and testify for them in court. I'm pumped about the job, it's exactly what I wanna do. I've dreamt of being a therapist for adolescents since I was 16 years old. It's kinda surreal I've actually made it; my dream came true. Crazy.

However, the one downside is that the job is in Waukegan, IL, about 45 minutes north of where I live now, which is already in a suburb north of the city. So achieving my dream of being a therapist inadvertantly shattered my other dream of living in the city, 'cause there's no way I could handle that commute. I was really looking forward to being in the city so I could be around people my own age again and in walking distance of bars and trains and dance studios. So I'm a little worried about what this job is gonna do to my social life. I'm already kinda isolated in the suburbs, and the three friends who live near me are either moving away or getting married and having a baby within the next few months, so then I'll be even more alone. Is the cool job worth being lonely and isolated in the suburbs? Sometimes I wonder if I might be happier living in the city and just taking a job at jamba juice for a year. But no, saving the children is more important than my need for fun and friends. That's what I keep telling myself :-/

Ours concert

Anyone want to go to an Ours concert on June 9? It's at a place called Martyr's in Chicago, 3855 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL. Tix are 18 in advance, and 20 at the door. I'd rather get them at the door so I will see if that's a possibility, but "18" in advance doesn't count the $6.50 "convenience" charge from ticketbastard. Mike, I think you would like them, if you don't know them. They rock pretty good.

Mind bending video

I'm not going to preface this one with much, as it's best watched from a blank point of view. But ... uh... yeah. It's wild.

More than a little creepy at times, as well. Do not watch if in an altered state of consciousness or if you're mentally unfit.

http://www.vimeo.com/993998?pg=embed&sec=993998

the brother

My brother is moving out in a week or two and I want to have a celebration. Anyone want to do anything in the next weekend or two? It'd probably involve drinking, but really I'm just thinking it'd be something to reclaim the basement, which for the past year has been covered in my brother's dirty clothes, blankets, tossed couch cushions, and dirty dishes. He's a big slob. One time I even went down there when he wasn't and saw porn playing on his computer. You know, it's like we all get off on porn, but when it's proven to you somehow that it's actually going on it's made a lot more gross. All that is going away.

And Thom, I keep forgetting to give you back Mean Girls. Next time we get together, I think you need to come here instead of the other way around, so I don't feel guilty about forgetting anymore. Also, I still have to give you a couple albums.

Raptor.... Ostriches?

Okay, so I know I've been jokingly putting "Raptor Ostriches" in the tag lines of my posts, but today I actually found this:

http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-an-Encounter-With-an-Ostrich

Apparently Ostriches are a serious enough threat in the wild to merit a how-to on surviving an encounter with one. They even specifically mention Jurassic Park and raptors.

Apparently Roosevelt himself has commented on the perils of Ostrich attacks, stating that "If, when assailed by the ostrich, the man stands erect, he is in great danger." Fortunately, all you have to do is lie down (next to its razor sharp disemboweling talons) and it'll leave you alone.

My personal highlight of the article (from the part about lying down):
"The bird will still likely stand on you ... and it may even sit on you for a while, but it will most likely not rip you open if you do this equivalent of burying your head in the sand"

Hillary "Gnat" Clinton

I never really had a problem with Hillary Clinton until recently. She's like a pesky gnat that just won't go away!

Oh, NPH, you've done it again...

Is anyone else concerned about what's going on with the weather across the world?

Some loser wrote about you guys...

Click the title to read it.

Fuck no. How people can't be bothered by heights I don't know

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562

I don't understand how people can do stuff like this. I'm mentally incapable of walking out onto a 6 story lighthouse's cupola/deck/thingie. This guy... this...

Well. Just watch it. Go for it. I'll be here when you get back.

...

Done?

What the hell, man? What were people even thinking when that was built? "Sure, an inch of concrete suspended over 10000 feet of nothing should be MORE than enough. That'll never crack or break away leaving giant holes in the ground opening out over NOTHING, forcing people to walk across rusty support poles that will probably give out at any second."

Madness.

Who wants to go sky diving?

Free music!

Though this is mostly for Thom, maybe there are some other NIN fans on the blog (all... you know... three of you who read it. high five!).

No idea if it's any good as I haven't given it a listen yet, but it IS free and legal direct from NIN, much like Radiohead's "In Rainbows" earlier this year.

http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup

Hop on over and support not-paying-for-music!

Palmerino

Hey, Palmer, are you still alive?

P.S.-Whoever reads this blog, please respond to this post.

Rob likes corn on the cob...

Excited for the show?

When are we leaving?

What's the whole plan anyway?

done!

I just finished my last final EVER!
You may now officially refer to me as Master Sara

Finding Forever

Anyone heard Common's '07 album, Finding Forever? I heard the song, "The People," off of it yesterday and loved it. I was hoping the rest of the album was as good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqn5f2ISnvo

I feel overdue to do something crazy

I was reminded today when an old friend facebook'd me, how long its been since I've done anything interesting. I don't mean like "gone to a baseball game" or "seen an interesting movie".

I mean like "going to the nevada desert for a week at Burning Man with two girls i've never met in person before" or "spending a weekend with a bunch of strangers in Pennsylvania at some meet that turned out to be at a secret Swingers Lodge in the hills".

This guy was my best friend for ages. We grew up together, spent all our time together. Right now he's in Norway, after living for a while in Argentina. He races hot air balloons. There's a picture of him on facebook of him hanging out with a tiger that's bigger than he is. Every time I talk to him he's either in a new country, starting a new business (that always fails, but that's another matter), or planting his flag on some other odd new conquest.

Me? The highlights of my days are still when I manage to get through traffic without waiting for 15 minutes at Schaumburg road.

I've been feeling listless. Restless. Like I need to do something, and if I don't do something soon it's all going to explode into a spontaneous trip to Siberia where I try my hand at being a miner for a while.

Surely I'm not the only person who gets like this? Or are you all content with your stations in life?



Does anyone want to go skydiving? Seriously.

This is funny shit.

Click on the title of this blog entry to check it out.

I went on a date.

I went on a date with a friend of one of my students.

That's the short version of the story. The longer, more truthful version explains that it is a 22-year-old co-worker of hers, sort of. The student sometimes works for her dad and this girl is her dad's secretary. It was all set up because of this girl through facebook. She sent me a message and we talked back and forth briefly and decided to meet up last Friday. Despite me seeing her picture on facebook, it was basically a blind date. I wasn't nervous, but the whole idea of it was not very appealing to me at first: being set up by one of my students. Either way, it was a fun night even though I had a really bad cold (that didn't seem to matter to her wink wink BOING). We got dinner, had some drinks, and then hung out afterward. Her name is Karen.

In other more exciting news, I was really happy to get an email from this guy who is the executive director of the Chicago Improv Festival last week. It's a festival that happens once a year and I've been really lucky to help out the last couple years, but last year I was not chosen to help out much, thinking I just didn't have the theater background they were looking for or something. Well, the email came out of the blue asking if I wanted to help out. I didn't even know he had my address even though I'd emailed him before. So I'm going to get to help out during the week of June 2-8 (if anyone wants to come to some good shows, I can probably recommend a couple). Tix are usually around $25 for mainstage shows and cheaper for sideshows, which can still be really good. I'm also going to be helping out for the previews which are this coming weekend at the Second City. I'm really excited to be able to help out and rub shoulders with some people I really admire. There are usually some rather famous people there in the comedy world, and the cool thing is that they're all usually really friendly and excited to talk to someone who looks up to them. Quite a few SNL people are there every year and you can go and get drinks with everyone afterward and lots of other big names in Chicago improv are there, too.

Also, Mike and I are contemplating moving to Amsterdam. Anyone know anything about living in Europe?

Obama-Clinton debate last night

It wasn't bad enough that the moderators kept focusing on the "elitist" remarks that Obama made within the last week or the preacher with the controversial ideas... the Pennsylvanians had some pretty ridiculous questions themselves, such as, "Why don't you believe in the flag?" Huh? If you don't wear a flag lapel, you're unpatriotic? It was ridiculous when it first was brought up last year, and now it's just pathetic to address in a public debate. I wish the American public cared about what matters.

English grad students are hot

So, I met a bunch of fellow English grad students today and some other people from the department. The secretary made a point to inquire about my relationship status, and she said there are plenty of singles in the department - and plenty of married people who like to have fun outside of marriage (*wink wink*) - and that many of them have couches if I ever need to crash instead of commuting.

Then I remembered why I loved being an English major in college... there's such a high percentage of women in the field and they're all obsessed with sexuality, sensuality, romanticism, and eroticism. This is going to be hot.

Collins reunion!

I'm going... are you?

Rob's show

To those of you going to Rob's show May 3rd, I was just talking to Kelly and she's going, too. I had thrown out the idea of possibly carpooling half way and it looks like we'll (us and Kelly) both cross right by Michigan City. In this day and age of gas prices and global warming, it might be nice to take one car. I know we didn't talk at all yet about who's driving, so we can figure that out soon if you want. But maybe we'd also be able to grab lunch there since I think we'll be there maybe around lunch time and leave the car wherever we eat. It'll only be there about a day anyway cause it's such a short trip. Let me know.

I'm no fun at parties

I just shouldn't drink anymore. I can't keep my liquor down. I'm gonna go back to drinking cokes at parties, I think. It's cheaper, and we know how much I love cheap.

Lolla official

It's official...

the following acts will be at Lollapalooza 2008:


-Radiohead
-Nine Inch Nails
-Kanye West
-Rage Against the Machine
-Gnarls Barkley
-Broken Social Scene
and countless others...

About interviews

The most important thing I've learned about interviewing for jobs as a result of my recent experiences with employment and graduate school applications is this:

If the position doesn't suit you well, then your likelihood of getting hired is slim to none and, even if you do get hired, your ability to do that job or your quality of life may suffer simply because the job isn't appropriate for you. The best way to gauge just how fitting you are to a particular position is honesty. When you're being interviewed, how often does it feel like you're lying? And not just embellishing your enthusiasm; I mean truly lying to the potential employer. For instance, a potential employer asked me a general question during an interview the other day that would've been easy for me had I not already planned my graduate school career. He asked, "Are you here for a job or a career?" I knew the answer he was looking for, but I hate lying. Therein lies the cognitive dissonance that caused me to pause long enough for him to assume my answer was "job" even if I said "career." In essence, when you lie to a potential employer for the sake of getting a job, you're not just lying to them; you're lying to yourself. After that interview, I realized I'm not that interested in getting another job, but I am interested in starting a new career, one which I am pursuing through grad school this summer.

I realize this information doesn't help in all circumstances, especially with an economic recession bearing down on us, but it's still important to consider when you're interviewing. Do you want the job desperately enough that you're willing to blatantly lie? Do you realize that such blatant lies in the initial hiring process are representative of your possible, eventual, exponential disdain for the job? And do you know this dishonest attitude hurts not just you but also everyone with whom you'd be working?

Just some thoughts worth pondering...

Remind you of anyone?

Awesome idea. I think someone did it first, though...

http://www.star-telegram.com/467/story/550894.html

Lollapalooza 2008

On Monday, April 7, at 8 a.m., Perry will call Q101 (an alternative radio station in Chicago) to announce the setlist for Lollapalooza 2008. He will put an end to all the rumors - and hopefully prove that they were all true, that Radiohead is indeed headlining. There have been rumors of Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine partaking too. We'll see...

Anyway, I encourage you all to tune in at 101.1 in Chicagoland or online at www.q101.com nationally to hear the list of performing bands. In addition, Q101 will be handing out free tickets every hour Monday, April 7, so please try your hardest to win some!

That is all.

When did Chester Cheetah turn evil?

Have you seen these commercials? Crazy stuff.

http://www.orangeunderground.com/

By the way, do any of you remember "The Weather Underground"? This is very, very similar.

Fulfiller of dreams? Or destroyer?

Amazon.com

For $4 plus shipping, you'll get not only Pooh-in-a-Gnome, you'll get him in 7 other morphological forms!

P.S. Now you have to find a new mission in life. Sorry Sara.

I have a new mission in life...

Mike, Thom, and Waple may remember that for my bday last year we went to a restaurant right by Mike's apartment, and it had the little vending machines with toys, and one of the toys I got was Winnie the Pooh inside of a hippo. While generally I'm not a huge fan of winnie the pooh, I loooove him when he's inside of other animals, it's so freakin cute! I always wanted to go back and collect all the other animals, but schaumburg is just so far! Well, tonight I just happened to be getting ice cream with my bff Mark when we got into a discussion about vending machine toys, and of course I had my pooh-in-a-hippo with me (I always carry it in my purse just in case of emergencies) so I whipped it out and showed it to him. After we finished our peppermint stick icecream we went over to the vending machine area to get some bouncey balls, when much to my excitement we discovered that right next to the bouncey ball machine was a pooh machine!!! Only instead of pooh inside animals it was pooh inside of garden related things, like flowers and butterflies and mushrooms and bugs and even a GARDEN GNOME!!!!! Being a collinsite I naturally wanted the gnome, so I spent all my quarters and ended up with pooh-in-a-butterfly and pooh-in-an-ant. So that's my new mission, I am going to get that damn gnome. If anyone wants to donate quarters to the cause, you all have my address. Or Mike, if you happen to be dining in that lovely restaurant again and see pooh in something cute, please get him for me. Thanks.
By the way, my bday is coming up shortly and I will be turning 25, not 5. Just wanted to make that clear.

Ummm...U of M!

So, I said that I would share the news when I had some and I will officially be starting grad school in the University of Michigan School of Art & Design this fall. The reality of the whole thing still hasn't hit me, but I'm really excited. Please come visit me!

Meanwhile, I still have a job and actively participate in all of the community building tasks on Thom's Last Week of Work list.

Random quotes of the arbitrary unit of time

Offered up in three flavours (Ha ha! British spelling! Take that!)

Random-
"While it's true that drinking coffee can prevent sleep, perhaps more seriously, sleeping prevents the drinking of coffee."

Offensive-
"If Jesus came in a blind girl's eyes, would she regain her sight?"

Catchy-
"Stupid is as stupid dies."


- Yes, I too, am bored at work.

How to stay busy during your last week of work.

-Keep listening to that one Nirvana song when Cobain sings, "You can't fire me 'cause I quit."
-Chat with awesome Smith Ground folk via Google.
-Catch up on paying bills.
-Update Facebook status a million times.
-Send random messages to people you haven't talked to in ages.
-Check on job openings.
-Find random funny shit to send co-workers.
-See what courses are offered at grad school.
-Pretend you didn't quit.
And finally...
-Update this blog.

Rediscovery

Wow, so, apparently it's been SO LONG since I've been on here that it was still registered to my old @indiana.edu address. Madness!

Um... not a whole lot to say other than hi everyone, though. I slept in til 11. That was pretty awesome. Also, the movie 10,000 B.C. should have been called 10,000 B.G. Before Good.

Apparently the Egyptians built the pyramids with Wooly Mammoths, and also discovered metallurgy, locks, horses, and probably wheels (I wasn't paying that much attention) all before homo sapiens even came to exist. Unfortunately, their civilization and technology were wiped out by a bunch of zulu warriors led by a white guy with a perfectly coiffed beard and rasta dreads, setting mankind back 10,000 years.

So if you want to know why we don't have flying cars yet, I guess this movie explains it, or something.

Also, ostriches were direct evolutionary descendents of raptors. True Story.

On the OTHER hand, "Run Fatboy, Run" is awesome. Everyone should go see it.

Thom, this article made me think of you, but you probably already knew that

We lost.

As far as I'm concerned, we only played a little more than half a season. We didn't even deserve to get into the tournament. I would've preferred no Sampson ever, even if that meant no phone call, no Eric Gordon, no convincing D.J. White to stay, and no winning season. Now we're just all jacked up. The whole program. Bullshit. Let it be a lesson: Run a clean program; hire professionals with strong ethics. In other words, I would've preferred only a few wins the whole season by the Hoosiers if it would mean we'd still have a spotless clean program. I'm so pissed right now.

Lusty

I just saw Ang Lee's movie "Lust, Caution." One of the actors in it described it as "a brutal love story that balances between being evil and being human." If you weren't mind-fucked enough by "No Country for Old Men" or "There Will Be Blood," "Lust, Caution" is the film for you - especially the NC-17 version.

Shit...

One of the teams I picked in the office pool to reach the championship is only up by two points right now...

Oh, capitalism

"Buy this car to drive to work; drive to work to pay for this car." -Metric

Off

I got today off. It's pretty great. End message.

Someone post something!

Make out with me - I'm not Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate, do any of you want the unopened case of Guinness in my fridge left over from the book release party? I certainly have no need for it...

The most important observation ever made.

I might be wrong, but I think the Dyson guy that invented those vacuums has a big ego.

Two weeks

So, I gave my two weeks' notice yesterday. Everyone was shocked. If there are any naysayers out there, please know that I have it all worked out - I'll take a break during the months of April and May to focus on writing, reading, traveling, and relaxing (I can handle the debt of two months); then I'll start grad school full time in June for a master's in English with a teaching certificate (taking out loans if I need to, and/or working part time somewhere if I can handle it). In other words, don't worry about me; just be happy for me. ;)

Wow.

So, I read that Spitzer's prostitute friend is an aspiring pop musician. I didn't hear her music, but I did find her music store. Check out what someone said about her music:

"an angel and a devil with the sultry voice of a high class woman from the streets, ashley brings out the uncivilized man in you as she rides you to ever higher moments for an intense ecstatic release. sensual and satisfying she earns diamonds in accolades. highly recommended and worth every penny."

I want to make mad cash.

Gracias, tú has hecho posible el cambio - de nuevo!

Gracias, tú has hecho posible el cambio - de nuevo!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7287095.stm

www.psoe.es

going to detroit?

Is anyone planning on going to see Rob perform in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? Shows are April 27, 30-May 4, and May 7-11. Rob says tickets are selling out fast (surprisingly). Just wondering, trying to decide if I wanna go or not.

Temple of the Dog

Are they still touring? (joke) I read a little about them, but what do you all think of their solitary album? I heard Hunger Strike on the radio today and I didn't know who it was but had heard it before. I know that was their hit, but is the rest of the album good?

I want to go to a concert

Anyone know of any good bands coming through this area any time soon? The last concert I saw was Andrew Bird about a year ago, so it's been a while. I'd love to see something new, too.

Thank you!

Thanks to everyone that went to the party last night! It was incredible!!! We need to do these things more often. I miss everyone, even those of you who live nearby. Hope to see you all again much sooner than later!

D.J. White and Eric Gordon are my best buds

Great game tonight. It was sloppy and we still pulled it from the fire.

I want to be on campus for March madness as often as possible. It's awesome to see the Hoosiers really kicking ass again.

Couple entertainment notes

-The latest Foo Fighters video cracks me up. Watching Dave Grohl cry all the time as "Davey Grolatron" is dorky and oh-so funny.

-Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman star in "The Other Bolelyn Girl" = I don't care how ridiculous the movie is... it's gonna be HOT.

11.16.2006

I was going through some old playlists and found this one that I really loved from a while back that I thought you all might enjoy. Check it out:

Waple's Hot Beef Express featuring The Spunky Dunkers

One of my favorite things about music is how whenever I listen to any one album, especially one that's new to me, for a extended period of time, I will associate that music with that time period in my life for a long time afterward. Examples: Most of the Beatles' "Past Masters" album I associate with a vacation my family took when I was in like 4th grade in the summer in NM and CO. The tape my dad made me was mostly that. Every time I hear Common's "Be," I think of the summer after I graduated and visited IU in August. I stayed at John's, he played it for me and I loved it. Then I listened to it a lot when I was in Mexico, so I think of the times I would walk to work listening to it. Brad made me a cd of Murs' "3:16" and I listened to that a lot one summer, especially while mowing the lawn and at the gym. I just think it's fun that the music has more feeling in its unique way to me. It also amazes me how much time has passed since then.

Plus, I was checking the blog and had to post.


I'm looking forward to your party, Thom. Also, I wish it was like 70 degrees outside. And I wish there were more people who wanted to go to Miami with me in late March. It's looking like I probably won't go. Oh well.

Woo-hoo!

I just noticed that Sir Michael Conway will be attending my book release party!

The Zeitgeist is becoming my poltergeist.

Sometimes I do this thing where I put TV commercials on mute and keep track of the words in the commercials. You can learn a lot about our culture by doing this. For instance, many companies' slogans these days involve change and progress. Why might I consider this to be significant? It's the spirit of our age - we are amidst some turbulent times, between wars and climatic adversity and everything else, and yet we're also in an era of technological innovation and other advancement, so it's nice to see even the most commercial parts of our culture - commercials themselves - are focused on change (hopefully for the better).

That being said, doesn't the concept of "Zeitgeist" and even "the collective unconscious" seem a bit haunting? It's both really awesome and really freaky. Part of me feels like we're all connected due to this and yet another part of me feels like there are influential people who decide certain things to alter how the mainstream and oft less-educated public views the world (not just the media, to which I contribute). Discuss.

ah crap

My mom just asked me if there was anything interesting coming up at Viator, to which the answer is always "no." However, after I thought about it a minute more, I remembered that the turnabout dance is coming up and basically all new teachers have to chaperon it. Well, I feared that this conflicted with your party, Thom, and it does. If I can't get someone to switch with me, which will be based on luck alone, I wouldn't be able to make it until about 11:45. I'm not happy about it, but hopefully when I email the faculty this week someone will be able to switch out with me. That is, unless anyone reading this blog wants to be me for the night and chaperon for me. All you do is stand around, and I'm 100% serious. Sorry, Thom. I blame the kids.

Flat tire

I wouldn't have been able to make it to Indy after all... a damn pothole put my car out of commission until Monday. Those potholes are friggin' ridiculous. We will have to continue Randall's rock star party tour at my place Feb. 23!

It's Randall's Birthday Today!

After a quarter of a century since the Rockstar's birth, we celebrate his life and times in a contemporary wine and cheese environment with a photo slideshow and collage display. Other refreshments will be served with a side of bigass rock show down in broad ripple. Contact for details.

Electioneering

I am really concerned.

Based on the stats, there weren't many young people at the polls today. What's up with that?

Huckabee is one of the most religious candidates I've ever seen, and yet he's surprising everyone.

McCain might pose a problem for the Democrats since he's a bit liberal.

And, finally, as I waited in line to fill out my ballot, I noticed the people around me who were also waiting to vote. I couldn't help but think most were Republican. And I certainly noticed that all of them were white and old. Granted, this is symptomatic of my region, but I still got this sense from everybody that this country isn't ready for Obama or Clinton. I mean, people are saying the evangelical vote is sizeable and it matters this year! What the f**k? I guess I've forgotten who else lives in America...

This party is going to be great.

Enough said.

Movin' and Groovin'

It's been a good weekend so far. As some of you may know, I am going to be job searching again this spring so I've started the preliminary process of getting in touch with those that helped me before with my resume and cover letter. Today I met with two of those people, two ladies, who were helpful and appreciative of my visit (I brought gifts of food and flowers... women's Achilles heel). But one of them, I found out, actually used to teach a Chicago History class at New Trier and she shared some books with me and information that was really cool. I'm hoping it'll liven up my course a bit this semester. So it was nice to get a little of that early job search work done. It also looks like I'm heading down to the Green Mill Jazz Lounge with Mike and some others tonight. You all may remember that we tried to go there for New Year's one year and never got in because of the line. Well, not this time. We're going to get there on time and we're seeing Mama Digdown's Brass Band. It's only 10 bucks and I like brass, so I think it'll be a good Saturday. And the name just sounds great.

Yesterday I got together with a girl! A rare occurrence for me. It was a snow day, which was a bonus anyway, but we saw Gospell, the musical, that night as it was opening at my high school. They gave faculty a free dinner (it was catered sort-of fast food Italian, but it was simple and good) and free tickets to the show, and I'd just met up with this girl Rachel the weekend before, so it was nice to see her again. We were acquaintances in high school and both did theater and now we are both teachers, except she teaches at an elementary school. We've kept in touch here and there, but were never really great friends. I don't really have much interest in dating her although she's cute and nice and fun. It's just nice to have a girl to hang out with for a change. It makes me feel a lot less like a loser.

And of course, tomorrow is the Super Bowl. It's nice when weekends aren't filled with all work and I'm excited for the Green Mill because I've never been in it before and it's got a lot of Chicago history ties. As for now, I've got to write a letter of recommendation/bullshit and then maybe plan a class before I head out. I hope everyone's got fun plans for the Super Bowl.

Snow job/Bling reunion

Let it be noted that the primary reason it seems I'm monopolizing this blog is because I'm sticking to this "post every time you check it" idea. I hope more of you post more often.

A 20-minute drive home from work took me an hour and 45 minutes today. I hate the winter so much!

I want you all to know about this band Idlewild (the alternative/post punk group, not that cheesy other group). I've been listening to Idlewild since it first hit the scene, and I just don't know why they've never caught on. The raw energy, pure melody, and progressive metaphysics of its music and lyrics is staggering, especially with the latest two albums.


My official book release for "Out of Context" is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23 at my place. Be there for the bling reunion!

Shit, shit, shit

I really can't handle my job right now. I feel like contriving ways of getting fired just because it'd be entertaining. That, and I'm really stressed and secretly want to leave this place forever.

Alert! Free Album!

You have to download the amazon mp3 downloader, but you still get the raw mp3s. No crazy digital protection as far as I can tell.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000W1WPMS

That is all. Just thought you music junkies would appreciate this.

Correction

The trip will be Feb. 8 to 10... not Super Bowl weekend.

I'm actually working during the Super Bowl. :(
Yeah, I need a new job.

I think I'm going to Indy/Bloomington/Fishers/Avon next weekend

Who wants in on the trip? Who wants to host me?

That, and I think the marketing plan for MacBook Air is based off of Nike's Air Jordan advertising campaign.

Women and children first

My mom's basement apparently got flooded. Many issues of my Collins Columns were destroyed. Some of my grandma's books (now under my possession) were ruined, including an old-school illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales collection. A bunch of stuff from college could not be salvaged.

On the positive side...
my Super Nintendo went unharmed.

Ambulance LTD?

Has anyone (Thom? Brad?) heard of a band called Ambulance LTD? I don't think they're well known, but I heard them once when I was listening to last.fm online and really liked what I heard. The more I hear (listening to free music on napster.com), the more I like. They're described on last.fm as having "stylistic influences from the Beatles and the Stones to Spiritualized, Elliott Smith and the Smiths." Comparing them to all those artists that I really enjoy obviously got my attention. If anyone's got any of their music (their main record seems to be called LP), I'd love to have it.

Five signs that I'm old

1) I tweaked my neck for the second time in as many weeks and it is taking a long time to fix itself.
2) I have an IRA.
3) People call me "Mr."
4) I complain about "kids these days"/see no. 3
5) About half of my socks are not white.

How do you know you're getting old?

I want a new job.

I think Mike does too.

Any suggestions, ya'll?

Hey! Check it out!

With this post, January 2008 has tied the entire year of 2007 in terms of total posts made at smithground's blog! Sweet!!!

I'm going to vote for Mitt.

Because he'll say whatever I want him to say just to get my vote.
And he's named after an important piece of baseball equipment.

I'd rather go bland than taste them...

The following things I loathe to eat:
1) Plain tuna, with nothing on it except for the tuna ooze that oozes from it. I think they call it "brine with ingredients."
2) Most people, the exception being myself.
3) Anything off another person's plate. Yuck.

I'd rather go deaf than hear them...

Now, I like all sorts of music. But I decided the following:

-My Chemical Romance is the worst band ever.
-"Thrash Unreal" by Against Me! is the worst song ever made.

I can't stand that band and that song, and it's gotten to the point that within the first second of hearing anything by MCR or that song by Against Me!, I scream "Horrible song!" and I shut off the radio.

Did Anyone See This Movie?

Being a movie enthusiast (at best) and a Beatles fan since childhood, I was extremely "enthused" to see this movie when it came out:



But as usual, too busy to get out to see it in theatres. Now, its DVD release date is coming up in the first week of February and I was wondering if any of you have seen it. It looks beautiful to me. My parents saw it and said they loved it as well, so I have that.

Resolutions that weren't even made...

I'm already focused on my No. 1 resolution (to write more fiction), but as for resolutions I didn't clearly make - I'm getting more disciplined about reading again. Read "No Country for Old Men," almost done with "Into the Wild." Of course, seeing the movies was a driving force. I'm still chipping away at "Gravity's Rainbow." And I've been adding to my exercise routine - it's not just push-ups anymore. I can't wait for spring to get here. I'm ready to run again.

In really disturbing news, my news group is laying people off like crazy. Under normal circumstances, someone in my position would be the last on my desk to lose his job, but some of my co-workers know that I intend to have other plans come next year, which could fuck things up. Please, pray for me.

And yes, I've been posting a lot, but that's because I've been checking often. I hope it's not too annoying...

To amend that...

OK, I was just being flippant. I appreciate those of you who have purchased and read my books up to this point. I hope you do so with the new one. As for those of you waiting to buy the new one at my upcoming book release party, I'll keep you updated. And, finally, those of you who seriously don't give a shit about my writing, then I'm guessing you wouldn't have read this anyway, so I needn't dignify you in my commentary by mentioning you. (Wait, does that make sense?) Um, let's play hallball.

If I get reincarnated...

...I want to come back as someone who reads my books. Seriously. At least then I'd have someone buying my books on LuLu... *hint hint*

Hmmm.

Well, I opened up my e-mail this morning to see an explosion of activity on this site- assuming someone had died given how much there was, I logged in only to be greatly disappointed with you all driveling on about your lives.

Kidding! I luvs it.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to say. I'm still working...finally getting out of the hole on the nutso hours I've been pulling lately because I got to hire some help. Which is good. Except now I have to manage them, and half the time I feel like they look at me like "what the hell are you doing?" We moved into our new office finally as well, which is exciting because we were supposed to do that in August. We've been there for a week now and things are looking up.

In other news, I've been meeting with some guys pretty regularly about a new business concept I came up with, and we're all pretty sold. Most of my weekends have been going to being as lazy as possible or alternating with working on that. We're hoping to be able to quit our "real" jobs in 6 months, but who knows?!

Anyway. Werk werk werk. I truly understand the meaning of rat race.

The life of a music critic

In case you didn't know, one of the new things I'm doing at my job is writing music reviews. Through doing this, I realized the No. 1 equation regarding being a music critic: research = listening to music. It's pretty sweet. Of course, reading lyrics, biographies, and artist interviews are all important, but listening to the music is the most important part. And that's all kinds of awesome.

I am for real sticking to this plan.

Every time I check this, I will post. Seriously. I won't even cheat, not even once. How 'bout that, Waple? Too bad there's no way to prove it...

So, I'm flipping back and forth between the New Hampshire primaries and the Bulls game. The Bulls are barely beating the Knicks, and Clinton is barely beating Obama. My analysis: The Bulls need Deng to be healthy. As for the primaries, if you're going to vote blue, it's safe to already start thinking about voting for the Democrat who will appeal to the most people in this country - no matter the political party, the race, the gender, etc. Why? Because no matter how much you love one candidate, there's the slight possibility that another candidate stands a better chance (and it just so happens that the candidates are strong this year). As for voting red, I always liked McCain, at least until he became Bush's lapdog.

That's it for now.

Until we meet again, whoever's reading this...

hi

I guess I'll update just 'cause everyone else is... I really don't have anything new and exciting to report though. I spent winter break knitting some green and blue leg warmers, baked a TON of xmas cookies, watched the movie hairspray many many times (I have most of the choreography memorized), and built an army of adorable tiny snowmen, although they have sadly melted away at this point. Next week I return to school for my last semester of grad school. I graduate in may and therefore need to start job hunting like now, but I'm hardcore procrastinating. I too am looking forward to the dells trip with thom waple and mike, too bad everyone else can't come as well. I'm sure we'll have lots of pics to post afterwards, so until then, peace out.

So this is the new year...

I spent my New Year's Eve at a rock club in downtown Chicago, watching a reggae band perform, alone, by myself. I had such grand plans that night, but none of them worked out. As I stood there, I realized I had become that awkward 25-year-old seemingly past his prime without any real reason to be at the show anymore. At least I was dressed more for a business conference than a concert, which made it such that I appeared successful. Usually those creepy old dudes at shows who don't belong there anymore wear some hideous tight shirts they found in the Dumpster behind the thrift store, making them appear to be at least one of the following: 1) An alcoholic 2) Unemployed 3) A sex offender wanted in at least three states. At least my formal attire and bling-bling IUB ring discounted any accusations of such.

Other than that, I'm OK.

... 2008!

Please accept my warmest and frothiest New Year's toast from a juggled snifter of V.S.P. Cognac given a good to-and-fro, dancing with a tall glass of bubbley pronounced like Christopher Walken's "champagnye."

I seem to have a recollection that my parents were visiting me over here in this god-forsaken country, but they flew back sometime today.

So that's good that they came over, right? But you know it sort of makes me feel guilty, like i should have just come back to visit them instead, but whatever, you know, parents, right? uff.

Etc.

So I think I can echo what Brad said about grad school: i won't know until another 3 months at least, until then I feel like these professors are just shredding up my applications and smoking them like cheap, homemade cigars and getting kicks with my fate in these wooden conference rooms with wooden faces. Cheers to that.

And so forth.

Oh i forget about the port
where is the port?

-Ben