Thrown Into the Fray

Following this guy's example, I am sharing my numbers with the world.

I got two, for good measure.

58 97 E2 F7 BF BA 82 A2 4A 59 1B 53 C7 0C 59 D8

04 D0 81 AB 96 68 A2 18 28 F5 0C AD B7 F3 B9 D5

While we're at it, can I have 0x100 and 0xFF? They're my favorites.

I realized that the stuff I have strong opinions about is largely ridiculous and inconsequential.

For example: I really like low level languages but high level compilers. I prefer the anterior-posterior developmental axis to the dorsal-ventral, and I tend to lean towards Marvel over DC.

Incidentally, go here: <http://overcompensating.com/posts/20041210.html>

I just thought you might like to know.

A domani.

My Ubuntu discs came in the mail a few days ago. Along with four books, a game, a controller, and two 1gb flash drives. It was a good week for the mail. I probably should have waited until I had the box to put Ubuntu on, since I'm not really overflowing with computing power right now, between Cygwin, Eclipse, and Visual Studio, but I couldn't resist the shiny packaging. Plus, now I have new stickers for my external HD and bass case.

"The kitchen scene is damp and sticky..."

And on the subject of bass cases, Rockingfreakapotimus' first practice was met with rave reviews. And on the subject of rave reviews, BNL "Are Men" is lovely. I think they've finally redeemed themselves for "Everything to Everyone" (which, for the record, I didn't hate; I just get the impression I was the only one who feels that way).

"They're lined up at the keg of PBR."

The comp sci minor is about 3 steps away from official at this point, which is good? Signing on to do minors and majors and all that jazz seems so unnecessarily binding. There's not a whole helluva lot else I could do with my 12 quarters of the various chemistries. And I'm pretty sure none of our advisors know our names anyway. Conceivably this will force me to go speak to Laurie Butler, but I'm not even sure I'm going to do that until spring of '09. Meh.

Working for Carlitos promises to be an adventure. In the best way. I'm implementing a mock up of the .tiff graphic format. Which is awesome.

int* glances;
(int) glances;

This is terrible. The last thing I needed was more fodder for bad puns.

Y? Y₀?

Sigh.

Nasty phone calls are quickly becoming a spring time tradition. Something about potential and waste. Cancer and death and synthesizer beats. Whiskey retreats and an absence of substance.

"Tell me all your darkest thoughts, and I will tell you lies."

Every word is what I wish I had written. Every chord (if you can call them that) is something I wish I had come up with. And the best I can do is to sketch something down in a notepad between flights, or classes, or whatever. I can't tell if I'm angry or envious or depressed. Probably none of the above. Or all of the above.

"And everything I love is just dust in the fucking wind."

It was over when I put on The Velvet Teen.

In happier news, I leave for Austin in ten hours. I have a job writing the interface for an ion channel imaging software. Which strangely enough, is pretty close to my dream job right now. And I still have friends who call me, even knowing that I won't call them back. Even though I want to.

Don't give up hope guys, I promise I'm still alive, and I still love you all.

Kelly: Help me find my sock!
...pause...
Kelly: I need it for putting on my foot!
Mario: (laughing)
Kelly: Help me find it! It blends in to your bed!

Last night I woke up, realized that the best way to do the invisible hand problem was probably just to implement an invisible hand class and a board class, got mad at myself for not realizing that earlier, and then fell back asleep. Two nights before that, I sat up and put on my glasses without waking up, and then turned on the light and got indignant when Kelly woke me up. I think I'm smarter in my sleep than I am awake.

"I regret leaving at all, I forgot I needed God like a big brother."

Today it got down to one degree. With wind chill it was 17 under. It was the breed of cold that changes the color of the surface of everything in sight to a dull gray by freezing the vapor in the air on said surface. My nose hairs froze to the mucus in my nose and I could feel the whole chunky mess wiggle back and forth every time I exhaled. We went to the zoo and video taped the bats.

"While I still have faith, if I ever had faith."

I've ingested like, three logs of cookie dough and five gallons of milk in the past three weeks. That really cannot be good for me...

...that's really all I have to say about that.

I've been playing with the idea of doing a retroactive revue of the year past, and I think I've reached the point where it wouldn't really serve a point. I'd feel bad not doing anything though, so in honor of my having recently fell in love with The Rum Diary all over again, here's my top seven of 2006.

7.) Barnaked Ladies - Are Me
6.) Armalite - Armalite
5.) Grandi Animali Marini - Io Amo Il Rock
4.) Asobi Seksu - Citrus
3.) CSS - CSS
2.) The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine
1.) The Rum Diary - We're Afraid Of Heights Tonight

"Hey, let's cross the sea and get some culture."

Myspace music is usually annoying, but it's useful if you're trying to drown out someone's annoying shrieking laughter and you don't have your music library with you. Similarly, Jonathon Coulton songs are annoying when they get stuck in your head, but they're there and they're loud.

"Sitting on a park bench that's older than my country."

Nothing ever changes. We've moved from X-files to 24. I've moved from RE4 to LoZTP. Java and Python to C++. Shoegaze and co. to all the other bullshit that passes off for aural pleasure for me these days. We're still nerds, and we still know it. I'm only doing the fun part of what I need to. And I wake up every morning hoping that that'll be enough, because honestly, no matter how much I bitch about everything, I'm happy where I am. And that's good.

Waking up on t-shirt sheets
Andrews family dinners
As a subet thereof, free rechargeable batteries
Bagels in the morning (/late afternoon)
Paula Demody's white tea
Phone calls from my roommate informing me that he heard The Trooper and thought of me
Coming home in three days

I think I'm about five seconds away from figuring out exactly what I've been trying to write for so long. It's an almost good feeling.

On the topic of good feelings, go Christmas. Seriously.

And on the topic of being serious, boo going home.

And on the topic of going home, yay seeing Kelly.

And on the topic of things that start with the phonetic "k," how effing hard should it be to find the new Camera Obscura?

The answer, apparently, is "very."


Edit: scratch that about "Let's Get Out Of This Country." Got it.

CDs I bought today for a dollar a piece:

Armalite - S/T
Art Brut - Bang Bang Rock & Roll
Be Your Own Pet - S/T
Be Your Own Pet - Summer Sensation ep
The Bronx - S/T
Built Like Alaska - Hopalong
Burning Airlines - Identikit
The Burning Paris - Half-Truths & Indiscretions: The Anthology
Caribou - Marino (DVD)
Caribou - Start Breaking My Heart
Caribou - Up In Flames
CSS - Cansei De Ser Sexy
Desert City Soundtrack - Contents of Distraction
Engine Down - To Bury Within the Sound
Engine Down - Under the Pretense of Present Tense
Everyoned - S/T
The Explosion - Black Tape
The Futureheads - News and Tributes
Gatsbys American Dream - S/T
Gatsbys American Dream - And the Volcano
The Gloria Record - Start Here
The Golden Republic - S/T
Joan of Arc - The Intelligent Design of
Kaddisfly - Buy Our Intention, We'll Buy You a Unicorn
Keepsake - The End of Sound
Kissing Tigers - Trebuchet ep
The Knife - Silent Shout Single
Limbeck - Let Me Come Home
Love and Rockets - Resurrection Hex
Make Believe - Shock of Being
The Matches - Decomposer
Midlake - Bamnan and Slivercork
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther
Moneen - Are We Really Happy With Who We Are Right Now?
Mt. Egypt - Perspectives
New Sense - Flowers Before Hours
No Motiv - Diagram for Healing
The Promise Ring - 30 Degrees Everywhere
The Receiving End of Sirens - Between the Heart and the Synapse
Red Animal War - Seven Year War
The Reunion Show - The Motion
The Rise - Reclamation Process
The Rum Diary - A Key to Slow Time ep
The Rum Diary - We're Afraid of Heights Tonight
Saturday Looks Good to Me - All Your Summer Scenes
Saturday Looks Good to Me - Every Night
Saturday Looks Good to Me - Sound on Sound
Sex Positions - S/T
The Sound of Animals Fighting - Lover, the Lord Has Left Us



...I wish that Tower Records were going out of business every day, everywhere across the land.

The boys work at the Winner's Corner.

I just saw a double dutch competition.

Alicia still has a pile of Tiger Army stickers.

It's good to be home, if only for a few days.

Alicia knows what I mean when I talk about the music I've found that's made me crap my pants, its so good. I miss coming home and sitting in front of the computer, searching for hours to find someone who has the pre-release, or the one track that ties the album together. I miss feeling like I was listening to something that mattered.

Maybe music kinda took a piss for a while. Maybe I stopped looking. Maybe it's the cappuccino talking. Fuck if I know.

But hot damn, it's nice to listen to Beirut and Italian pop-punk.

"Come si sta bene quando un film finisce bene..."

You'll forgive me when you watch it. I promise.

If all goes accoring to plan, next quarter will unfold as follows:

1. Biological Processes
2. Math Methods for PhySci
3. Intro to Programming (C++)
4. Ulysses

Hells yes.

It's Lou Reed afternoon in the Good Cafe.

My computer works again, and I'm downloading Amon Amarth. I'll be home in a month, driving through the mountains and hanging out with my family and everyone else I've left behind. I'm full of a very good doppio espresso, and tonight I'll probably end up seeing Scoop. Lucero and The Rapture are playing in Chicago this week, so it'll probably be another year before I get to see either of them, but oh well. I'l have metal in Reno to look forward to anyway.

Sigh.

It's a good day to have woken up to.

Can I tell you how excited I am that they're playing The Spooks in The Good Cafe today?

Aqua frizzante and The Spooks is the perfect way to end an eight-hour site visit. Not even kidding.

Then Eternal Sunshine and arancia rossa screwdrivers. Good. Day. Indeed.

Also: room to myself for the weekend? Okay!

"The dead don't talk!"

I am nineteen.
I have a Slayer Shirt.
I've climbed Mount Vesuvius, in order to obtain said Slayer shirt.
I'm apparently a feeding ground for mother effing mosquitoes.
I do laundry in a bidet.
I listen to Annie Lennox in The Good Cafe.
I miss people and places and things.
I have been trying for a week to download The Office.

I am happy to have a reason to celebrate the 24th.

Excerpt from list: "Things that I see that make me laugh"

-Woman wearing t-shirt that says "slot machine"
-Italians turning up the music and singing along with Elvis
-Professor Mayer talking about how if you get in a fight with a Turk, he'll probably shiv you.

The Good Cafe is my new favorite place ever: "We don't give a shit about the ones outside, only the one's inside. Only for your eyes, baby. Bam, boom! It's gone."

"The Good Cafe" playlist for September 29, 2006 (now with song titles!):

Elvis - A Little Less
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
Elvis - Blue Suede Shoes
Jerry Lee Lewis - Great Balls of Fire
The Beach Boys - Get Around
Ray Charles - Hit the Road Jack
Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
Elvis - Hound Dog
Ray Charles - I Got A Woman
Tina Turner - Nutbush City
Elvis - Jailhouse Rock
Tina Turner - Proud Mary
Bill Withers - Ain't No Sunshine
Foo Fighters - Learn to Fly

Rome is rainy. Sometimes.

I finished Watchmen on the plane, and Mountain Man Dance Moves on the first night here. Now I get to read about PCR and petrarch. Huh.

Italians fucking love their Beatles and their late-night porn, and their music video channels. It's easy to learn how to order food, and hard to learn how to answer questions here. The internet cafe just played "Sweet Child of Mine," and in two weeks I get to see the Ara Pacis.

I'm tired and sore from walking all morning, and have 130 pages of reading to do tonight, and a reception to go to at the embassy in three hours. The panino I just had was delicious. The air is still. Bad American music is making it impossible for me to think of anything other than the most basic sentences, conveying the most basic thoughts.

I feel that I could move here if I made regular visits to Switzerland to snowboard.

"The Good Cafe" playlist for September 26, 2006:

Guns 'n Roses
Jimi Hendrix
The Beatles
Smash Mouth
Lenny Kravitz
Bruce Springstein

Ha.

Edit: Add Michael Jackson to that list. All the waiters are whistling "Thriller" while they walk around.

How the hell did I not know the Dismemberment Plan guy was in Maritime?

Something about having four days left in the country, finishing essays at 5 in the morning, winning iPod Nanos, and being happy to be alive.

I'm glad we're going out to dinner tonight, because if nothing else, it gives me a reason to shower.

Also, go to amazon.com and search "this is the dream of evan and chad." WTF?

FOUR DAYS... geez.

I've been going through a very... informative (?) period in my life lately. I'd now like to share with you some of the things I've learned.

*"Complete tooling servicing" is very different than being in service to a complete tool.
**Neither is very interesting.

*Autocad and Autodesk are just the tip of the CAD/CAM iceberg.
**I really want a 3-d printer.
***At $19,000, I'll probably never get one.

*The Metra may be the best thing ever.
**If you get off on the right stop.
***The outgoing 505 in McCormick brings with it a wind that smells of cheap Chinese food.

*There's an epic industry built around making the things that make the things that allow you to make things, and the things which are used in making those original things.
**This industry is founded on the tenets of greed, misogyny, and bigotry.
***You can make way too much money in this industry, and you'll probably never do anything interesting with it.
****Also, sex sells. Who knew?

*Rome seems to be/have been a pretty neat place.
**The fact that I'm going there doesn't make digesting art history books any easier.
***The fact that I'm going to actually be allowed to go, and to take the bio sequence out of sequence does.

*Our school sucks at resource management.
**After going through the turnstile fiasco of last year, they're shutting down the a-level, in favor of more stacks.
***At least I'll have an excuse to go nerd out on the pharma crap in Crerar.

*To make good Cream of Wheat, you really do need to follow the directions on the box.
**To make good pizza, you really don't.

So apparently the list of things that I've recently searched for is as follows:

art deco; bill bixby; bladder infection; chicago skyline; daredevil; delicious indian cows; dht; dht firewall; diplopoda; dreamcast; erector pilli; house; hulk; indian cow steaks; josh labove; kegger; nat; ok go; paper; privacy; prune belly syndrome; pyle; sea spider; spider-man 3; spider-man; stan lee; sushi; the pipettes; udp; udp port mapping; vagina building chicago; wood; zeno's paradox

...yeah.

After hours of aggravation and expletives, I once again have a functioning laptop (albeit vacant of any working copy of iTunes, for some unknown fucking reason) and a direction to steer my future. My classes seem to line up nicely enough once more, and I can take the principles of Pharmacology class and count it towards my major. I can take the biophysics/biochem initiative class and network like a fiend in the hopes of finding a lab to work in. I may even be able to graduate on time. Go me.

Also, Dear Sony, What the fuck?

Oh, and for Emi:

"How does she intend to live when she's in far [Beijing]?
I somehow can't imagine her just [eating] rice all day.
Maybe she will do a bit of spying with microcameras hidden in her hair."

I love the student employment site:

"The ideal applicant will have exceptional verbal and written skills and computer literate."

I just got giddy when I figured out how to add external command modules to the dos prompt in xp and later versions of windows. I'd be really ashamed of myself if I weren't so proud.

10 PRINT "Sigh"
20 time  = 0340
30 WHILE time < 0100
40 PRINT "keep dicking around"
50 WEND
60 IF time > 0100 GOTO 70
70 PRINT "Go to bed"
80 STOP

Two slices of turkey breast. One slice of Boar's head pepperjack. Horseradish. On wheat.

I love Peapod.

Yum.

Somewhere beween Kelly coming back and getting a free bottle of wine from Peapod, I got to see my family.

Somewhere between breaking down in Utah and having a kegger at my apartment, I watched fireworks on the Tulsa skyline.

Somewhere between buying Jurassic Park and whoring myself out for medical experiments, we passed through Omaha.

Somewhere between seeing my grandma and buying air conditioning, I made shelves out of cardboard boxes. Sort of.

If I were Zeno, I never could have gotten back. Or else an infinite number of inconsequentialities would have fallen somewhere in between then and now. Which they may have. But I got back. And I'm glad.

So I'll drink my champagne and my Peapod wine, and toast to Rome and finding an effing job. I'm looking forward to it all, including but not limited to rolling sushi and coming home for Christmas. Speaking of, two weeks isn't nearly enough. But I'll certainly take it.

At least it doesn't look like I'll have a problem finding a subletter.

I'm sleepy and antsy and anxious and nervous. I have two papers to write/edit, I have seven chapters in chem to review, and I have a room and a kitchen to pack and clean.

In one hour I leave for the airport. After that I'm kind of expecting things to just fall neatly into place.

I'm assuaged by the fact that at that point, I won't care if they don't.

One hour.

Then one week.

Oh man.

So it has come to be that both of my term papers will be on Lynch. Hilarious. In exactly one week, I'll turn both of them in, and Kelly will come home. In exactly two weeks I'll be on a plane going home for the first time in five months.

"Spent afternoons measuring time in spoons..."

I may or may not have a place to move my stuff into when I get kicked out of the dorm next Sunday. I may or may not know what my thesis is for my first Lynch paper. I may not know when to use the Lennard-Jones potential and when to use the Coulomb potential, but I do know that in one week, none of that will matter as much.

Also, I know that in a month I'll get to watch fireworks, and then get to see D4 play the next night. And that feels pretty damn good too.

It's weird, deleting copies of songs, and realizing that I'm deleting the information that I found five years ago, and have carried with me in one form or another since then. Probably about half of my stuff is more than 2 years old. Or was? I almost feel guilty, knowing that I'm losing the exact information that I found at Jaime's, or Jane's, or Des Moines, in favor of the complete albums I now have the means to organize. These are the collections of bits that I put on cds and took to LA, or listened to in anatomy. It's strange.

But I'm a nerd like that.

I just did my laundry for what will undoubtedly be the last time here this year. Some girl stacked my wet clothes on top of the dusty median. Gross.

I feel like Charles Taylor and I read two different books. Which could either be really good or really bad. We'll see how the Lynch essay holds up. Yeah.

Also, the constraints of hard drive space, and my organizational tendencies circa four years ago have recently forced me to drastically reorganize my iTunes. All of my playlists, top this, most blanked that, all gone. Most of it can be recovered from my still pristine ipod, however I now have no proof that I listened to Donna Lewis 140 times, or whatever it was, or that I had the Named After Weekdays album on repeat while I was asleep for a week-long period. Sigh. 13064 and counting...

Something about George Clinton being amazing and his granddaughter being... just being. And something about how good that creme brule at the tapas bar was. Holy hell. Raspberries? Yes.

Madeline Albright on Thursday. Wicked last night. Passport came in the mail. George Clinton nad RJD2 tomorrow night.

It's going to be a good weekend.

...make my funk the P.Funk.

I don't like waking up in the morning in the summer. It has that same "caught aimless in midday" feeling that I spend most of my sleeping hours trying to avoid. It's still and sticky and nothing is moving. I know there's somewhere I should be, and something I should be doing but I'm far from there. And after three days of overcast, rainy weather, waking up at 7 and seeing a fully risen sun just makes me think I missed both of my tests. I turned on my computer just so I could check the time.

I have succeeded in creating the single most depressing mix ever. It was intended for a post-midterm studying shower, but apparently it has applications in the work world as well. Behold.

1. The Appleseed Cast - The End of You and Me / 2. Pedro the Lion - Penetration / 3. The Evens - Shelter Two / 4. Frank Sinatra - Summer Wind / 5. The Appleseed Cast - Moment # 72 / 6. The Jealous Sound - The Fold Out / 7. Mineral - Unfinished / 8. The Promise Ring - Stop Playing Guitar / 9. Pedro the Lion - I Am Always the One Who Calls / 10. The Decemberists - Red Right Ankle / 11. The Weakerthans - This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open / 12. Mineral - 80-37 / 13. The Weakerthans - None of the Above / 14. Sean Chambers - Untitled / 15. Knapsack - Hummingbirds / 16. Rainer Maria - The Awful Truth of Loving / 17. The Promise Ring - Say Goodbye Good / 18. Neutral Milk Hotel - My Dreamgirl

Not even all the songs (Sinatra, The Evens, Decemberists) are that tragic, it's just got a good feel when you put it all together, you know? It got me through the night, anyway.

And it's a damn good thing that it did, because today was a good day, if for reason other than I got to see Madeline Albright. Hot damn, that woman is smart. It was especially nice to come into the forum immediately after James, because I was already thinking about the role of religion in... things? Maybe not politics, per se, but that's another reason the discussion was wonderful. It got me to think about politics seriously for the first time in a couple of years. I think I may have to go back and read her book, maybe re-read some Samantha Power. I may actually be sad that I don't get to take history courses here... Maybe.

Measured in seconds, or beats per measure, either way feels like forever. So hurry home.

Dr. Pepper and quesedillas... More James and more Chem... More reading, but not what it ought to be...

I hope I never grow out of caring. I hope I never lose sight of the meaning.

Right now I'm just happy.

This week was "angry music at work" week. I have four weeks left of cleaning fish until I'm plunged headfirst into the world of trial and error that is holding a temporary position. Rumor has it the zoo goes through people pretty quickly, so that'd be pretty sweet. There was more to write, at a time when I had the chance to think about things. Now I'm reduced to a half-assedly kitschy representation. Maybe it was the fish fumes talking to begin with.

"Meet me under the neon arch, with lungs ready to be put to use."

Something about Chem and Calc midterms and the weather in Seattle. Something about how the quotes I collect have become so much better at describing my life than I have. Something about feeling detached, and wanting to hug random people, and boxes of food, and anxiousness in the best way. Whatever.

"I'd like to fall asleep to the beat of you breathing"

There's a cigarette on the floor of  my bathroom. I can see it from where I'm sitting. There's vomit on the floor of the hall outside my door. My clothes litter the floor and I've only been able to bring myself to do laundry once this quarter, which is once more than anyone in our room has done the dishes. To be fair, I do seem to have a surprising number of shirts. I'm burning through paper and pencil lead and pairs of socks. Soon I'll have a hair cut and dance parties and cute girls in shirt dresses to keep me company. Then, following the trend, everything will change.

"The glory in the story of the west"

Tomorrow morning I'll get a sweet moustache modification. I'm excited. As much about the moustache itself as about the opportunity to use a straight razor. For now I'll let David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson sing me to sleep.

"There's no time left to die..."

Black and white is always grey. Ha.

Also, Bruce Conner is kind of an asshole, and it's damn near impossible to find copies of Debord films. He apparently never had the foresight to request a fifty dollar "donation," so his stuff never really made it over here at all. The FSC has one terrible copy of Society, that they probably got when that one website was still making them.

Today every mac and pc in the Reg was in use at lunch. Literally. It felt like finals week. I wish I knew how to maneuver through Linux. There was some kid passed out on a keyboard in front of the "group study" section. He had headphones on and a book open in front of him, and all that was on his screen was a blue background and the words "To allow for exchange of gasses through" something or another written in white. Hilarious.

Something about how fucked up home is? And about how I'm not entirely sure I belong anywhere else yet? Something about cops on prom night and tattoos and luck and resentment.

I just got into the most intense staring battle of my life. It lasted all of 7 seconds. I think much more than that would have broken my soul into little tiny bits. It takes a stronger man than I...

I have three lectures in Pragmatism to read through for tomorrow. Which is pretty alright, really. Soon a return, and reticence, and an exodus. I miss basement shows. Whatever. It'll be shared with the best of company, and that's the most important thing to me, really.

"You went to Tulsa, and I'm gone away." 

We played music. Which is to say we messed around by laying harmonics over power chords. We're going to cover Lawrence Arms, and more Blake Schwarzenbach songs than I feel comfortable admitting. We ate Pockets and saw the Technodrome. I'm going to bed tonight knowing I'm one day closer to one month from now.

Wow... this has been a week for catching up...
 
I just friended EMERSHAW on Myspace. As in, THE Emershaw. As in... wow.

I'm thinking it's going to be nice to be back in Reno for a bit.

Somewhere between Reno and Gainesville, Nick Forneris still makes art. I just couldn't find any of it until now. Somewhere in Evanston, David had forgotten about tHE sHIRTS. Somewhere in Reno, there's a sepia print of four kids in Virginia City on the worst day of my life. I had very much forgotten about half of this stuff until today.

I really have no idea what happened to The Chapterhouse people. I may ask Craig, or if any of you know what ever happened with the portrait project or the pictures on the website, please let me know. To this day there are few things I'd rather waste time online doing than looking at them.

I found pictures of Coachella and Blackmails shows. I found pictures of Ella in the hospital, just after she was born, and of Nina at the skatepark. I found Emershaw and Malentendu pictures. I found pictures of people who used to be friends, of shirts I used to have, of places I used to go.

Going through old photos after watching a Chris Marker film will really fuck with you.

Three weeks. Eight pages. One quiz to go.

Lab report, you can kiss my ass.

Because your shit? It just got rocked. Yep.

Ben.

In case you were wondering.

I may or may not have transformed our bathroom into an epic rock machine using painter's tape and computer speakers.

Happy Easter.

"Remember the time the boys made us watch that movie about the gay guys on the mountain?"

"Yeah, Lord of the Rings?"

...I'm such a girl.

I found my next tattoo.

I love you, William James.

So in two hours I'll know where I'll be next autumn.

I'll also know every science and math class I'll be taking for the next three years.

It's reassuring, in a way.

And teachers with accents are hilarious. Especially cute ones. Case in point:

"There's a place... called St. Louis... which is in... Missouri? Which is a state somewhere. I should go out more, that's the idea. There's the gateway to the west arch, apparently, it does exist. I looked online."

And he pronounces my name like my Papa does. Ha, adorable.

EDIT:

Roma 2006!
Whoo!

Also, I may not be one to talk about fruity hats, but seriously, CTA coonskin cap kid, wtf?

Today was amazing until Francisco Santamarina downright laughed at me for trying to go abroad.

It's not his fault, he was very very nice about it, and he's given me some really good ideas.

And he said I had a good smile.

But it was pretty clear that I probably can't go and maintain a normal class schedule next year.

Maybe I'll go abroad then take the rest of the year off.

Or do summer school.

Or a 5th year.

I really want to go to Rome.

Pragmatism is going to be amazing though, Lea is super rad, and the books we're reading look amazing. If Borders doesn't eff me up, I should have my stuff on time. I already got one of the books, and the cover reminds me of A Problem From Hell, which, if you know what I'm talking about, is a very good thing.

If anyone knows anyone who's done biochem and gone abroad, please tell me how they did it.

Things that are awesome:

The Florian, Urbana, wi-fi, finding Waldo, Pokey sticks, American Football, Mineral, all manner of communiques from Italy, Italy in general, double fisting burgers, Emi's family/friends.

Things that are not awesome:

Smelling like butt, the floor of Spencer's house, not showering.

Spring break was, all things considered, quite the success on all fronts. I'm very much in just the mood for American Steel right now and I can't effing find any. This is lame. I can, however, do laundry, shower, figure out where my classes are going to be, and watch things before I go to bed. Ha, who'd have thought that a twin bed could ever be too big. William James, please bring summer soon.

It's just now, six hours later, that it begins to hit me.

Like a wave of:

(mutilation)
(babies)
(infinite wavelength)
(emotion)

circle one.

WAVE OF BABIES!

I may or may not be listening to Daft Punk shirtless.

It's good to be home.

You should hurry back here when you get the chance.

Jeez, you would think after four years...

For anyone who reads my comments, my apologies.

Aparently, I'm an idiot.

And then I was all surprised because I got responses to comments in my e-mail.

Because I commented anonymously on my own livejournal.

And I may or may not have just made a post about how I can't make posts.

I blame it on anxiety.

I'm in Tulsa. I bought DVDs, watched X-Files, and was privy to one of the finest misheard lyrics of our time. 

I found out I got an A in chem, and I got into the "William James: Pragmatism and Religion" class.

"Me and the midget don't see eye to eye..."

Come tomorrow I'm going to have to start preparing myself for some hardcore weeping. This sucks.

I'm going to Rome?

Hrm.

So since I joined Visual Language II in second week, and since Kaczynski has been sick for three of those classes, and since it only meets twice a week, and since we have a ten-week quarter, I'll have ended up, as it stands, going to 3/4 of the classes. Two of those days (thus far - soon to be three, and then four) were (are) critiques, and one of those days we went to the museum. I made a rocking chair out of an old shoe. This was a class designed for me.

Also, my legs still feel like they have tights on them. The show goes up tomorrow. Uncle Joe's was playing Joy Division when we got out of rehearsal and we sang it all the way home. Sort of.

Also, Botany Pond is effing gorgeous when it's frozen. I really don't understand why so many people opt to sit out side of Kent by the fountain that doesn't work when the botany pond bench is so comfortable, and eerily clean for a stone bench.

Also, I won a free Pepsi or Mountain Dew for the third time this month. Hopefully I won't throw it away this time.

Also, I'm currently discussing the "semantics of ham."

Life is good.