Brian's quite remarkable blog of wonder.

Iowa won the game today. not that i really really care.

today the weather was autumn-like. leaves were blowing, the sky was grey, and it was a cool 71 degrees (a good departure from the beginning of the week when the temperature rose above 100 a few times). today turned out to be a nice, quiet Saturday (as quiet as things get in a college town on the day of the football season opener anyway). i rode my bike down to the library and the post office and John's Grocery and then just kind of sat around until 9 when me and jake and aaron went to the Field House. wasn't a very exciting night.

yesterday it turned out that Cleanup was NOT to be the high point of the evening. later me and the usual gang went to Brandon's because he has a pool. then later Megan and Dan showed up with Liz, somebody we knew from high school, and then Mike and his girlfriend Katie came by. lots of people. fun thing to do in a pool: get everybody to run around in the circle and get the water to spin really fast.

tomorrow the guys and i are going to Cedar Rapids to see, get ready for this, Jethro Tull!! i think it's sort of sad that such a great, legendary band as Tull would be going on a summer tour of the USA which concludes in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at a festival called Taste of Cedar Rapids; poor Ian. oh well, if it means that i get to see them play live for a mere $10, then so be it!

as many people have noticed, there haven't been updates on All About Black Holes for a while. well, what can i say. doing AABH was totally preventing me from doing anything else creative at all. perhaps preventing isn't the right word, but it certainly wasn't helping. yes, i got tired of it. but i still love the story. i consider the story the best acheivement of my creative life, and so i will have to come back to it eventually. i've been working on a few comic strip ideas that i plan to submit to the Daily Iowan. so if that works out, i'll at least be making some money, which is great. i'm still sort of figuring things out though.

today Cleanup lasted a long time. usually it lasts until 8 or so, but tonight i punched out at 9:23 PM. but it was one of those times, when everyone has to stay late at work, that the universe's evil plan backfires and everyone winds up having a really good time. i was actually getting along with everyone there, and vice versa, which is not usual. plus Dan was there. although cleaning buses for four hours is not anyone's idea of a good time, it looks like it might end up having been the high point of my Friday night.

it's 10:47 AM and it feels like it should be 8 PM. that's because i got to work an A-shift this morning. A-shifts are when you go to the Cambus barn at 6 in the morning and drive a bus until 9 or so. actually, i sort of enjoyed the experience in a perverted way. since i'm almost never awake in the morning, it's a little bit exhilerating to see the sun rising, and to see strange and unfamiliar color contrasts; like the morning sun shining through the unmistakable August haze onto very slightly yellowing leaves. it was eye-opening.

but after a while it got boring, too. Hospital, the route i was driving, is the easiest route that Cambus has, i think. i could do it in my sleep (and very likely was).

last night there was a bat in the Field House! it had gotten into the building by flying into the huge open door by the weight equipment. it must have run into the wall or something, because it was sitting on the floor for a while, and we were looking at it up close. and then it flew up and perched on the wall. it was very cool.

a cop killed a guy in Coralville yesterday. 200 feet away from an elementary school, too. weird stuff. i love the quote from associate superintendant Jim Behle, "the subject was apprehended, or I guess shot."

this afternoon i met Danny and Jake in the Iowa Memorial Union and we bought Cake tickets for sept. 11 in Minneapolis. that's going to be really fun. i haven't been to Minneapolis in a LONG time.

after we bought the tickets we had some lunch outside by the river. we fed some baby ducks. baby ducks are hilarious. they look like balled-up socks with little duck heads.

EasyPlace burned down! i had to laugh like hell.

they were using a city bus as a traffic-blocking implement on Iowa avenue. so funny.

i got into Symphony Orchestra, which is great. but it means i'm going to have to drop my film class, which really sucks. but i guess it'll still be around next semester.

the wistful, nostalgic poetry of Paul Simon, ladies and gentlemen.

Here is my song for the asking
Ask me and I shall play
So sweetly I'll make you smile.

Here is my tune for the taking
Take it, don't turn away
I've been waiting all my life.

Thinking it over, I'd be sad
Thinking it over, I'd be more than glad

To chage my ways for the asking
Ask me and i shall play
All the love that I hold inside


"Song For The Asking" is the best song ever.

let me tell you about school today.

first was Interpretation of Literature. i walked in about a minute late, and i saw the circular pattern in which the desks were arranged, and i knew immediately that we were going to play that "get to know you" game, in which everyone says their name and an adjective that starts with the same letter. "Awesome Amanda" and "Cunning Chris" and so forth, and you go around the circle and say the list of people and add your own name, and then the teacher says them all. how generic. it looks like, although i'm sure our TA is working hard, this class is going to be a rather unoriginal, mail-order English class. not like my Rhetoric class last semester... believe it or not, that was a blast. anyway, i chose "Biodegradable Brian," and it looks like i've established an early reputation as the funny guy in the class. after a few weeks, though, that will fade, my intrinsic humorlessness will show through, and i'll become "Boring Brian." i guess it all depends on if i get anything out of the class, which it's looking like i won't. but we'll see.

i had my orchestra audition today. the whole time, i was struggling to keep from laughing riotously. for some reason, Dr. Jones, the orchestra conductor, in whose office and presense the audition was taking place, is a hilarious person. not that he really says anything funny, but just looking at him makes me want to laugh. not in an irreverent way.

it was 100 degrees today! christ. well, i'd write more, but i have to go grab some dinner and go to work.

hello. school starts tomorrow.

last night was fun. my greatest fear was that this weekend would NOT be an adequate finale to the summer. but i think last night was as great as it could have been. it was pretty great.

the usual gang and i were chilling at Danny's apartment, and we decided to go to this party that was going on right above us, that we weren't invited to. first, christer just opened the door and waltzed right in. and then the rest of us followed. i posed as "dave." it was funny, because there was a guy there whom i knew from Cambus, and he was introducing me as Brian, and so i had to keep track of whom i was "dave" to, and whom i was "brian" to. eventually i used the classic "i go by my middle name" excuse. david is not my middle name, but it IS my brother's middle name. i go by my brother's middle name.

i think that "dave" would be a great alter ego for me. it would be the weird version of me who LIKES going to parties and would rather drink alcohol than, say, watch a good movie. the idea of having an alter ego intrigues me.

speaking of having alter egos, i just got a haircut today. i was trying to go exactly one year without getting a haircut. i think i was about two or three weeks shy of it, but still, i'm glad i did it before school started.

it looks like tomorrow i'm going to be pretty much busy in class or at work from 9:30 AM until 1 AM. well, there's a short break from 6 PM until 9, but i think i'm going to be at the Field House in that time bloc. but i'm actually sort of looking forward to being busy for once, and plus, none of it will be difficult, as the first day of classes is always useless.

i'm going to do some laundry. i know, doing laundry at 11:42 on a friday night is like admitting you lost, but i guess it's true: i'm the loser this time.

i think that people must have a lot more fun when i'm not around. and so, i reserve the right to do laundry, if you'll allow me please this angst moment.

Jesse just passed along THIS LINK to me. it's worth a read. it's a report on an experiment a guy did, in which he proves that women LOVE total assholes.

although it shouldn't be taken seriously as a real scientific experiment, i think it really speaks volumes about the world we live in, and begins to confirm the truism that "nice guys finish last."
i mean, just watch those reality dating shows (e.g, "Fifth Wheel," "Elimidate," etc.) and observe how the guy you're rooting for, the guy who doesn't act like a total cock, will invariably be the first one to be voted off.

still, i'd like to see the same experiment done by an UGLY guy. the guy who did it was probably reasonably good looking, and i think the results might be different if the guy looked like, say, me. but i'm sure as hell not going to do it.

well, in other news, i worked three shifts today and i'm sort of pooped. and it's starting to look like this weekend will be a real dud. it's a shame, as it is the last weekend of summer.

i had another trainee today on East Campus Shuttle. can you believe it? i've had three trainees in as many weeks. i really enjoy educating people... sometimes the very very most optimistic part of me entertains the fleeting whim that i should apply for a trainer position at Cambus, but then the most logical part of me remembers that it's a lot of paperwork and plus i'm not exactly the most model driver either.

my roommate Dan now works as a delivery driver for Gumby's Pizza. what this means to me is that he can get Gumby's pizza with a 50% discount, which is good news.

today there was a huge storm. i was driving a bus at the time. i was driving bus 87, which is by far the worst piece of junk in the Cambus fleet. it was funny, because the windows were fogging up, and as bus 87 (i am told) is the only bus in the fleet without a windsheild defroster, i had to drive through the torrential rains with my window open in order to see. i got absolutely soaked. what's more, i got stuck at the South Hospital stop, because the stupid bus refused to shift from neutral into drive. it was bad. because the Hospital buses run 5 minutes apart from each other, it is key to keep on time, lest the next Hospital bus catch up to you. i drove two shifts today, so i sort of have bus-on-the-brain.

in the past two days, the population of this town has increased by about eight thousand. this is the week that all of the college students are moving into the dorms. i'm really depressed about it, too.

in case you haven't noticed, i consider myself a lot more of a townie than a college student. i technically go to the University, but unlike most UI students, i have set foot inside our Public Library, i remember when the floor of the Old Capitol Mall was yellow and orange, i can identify the one-way streets and not go down them the wrong way, i know the names and locations of most of the elementary schools, etc. etc. etc. sometimes i find myself despising students, which is hilarious because i AM one. but i obviously don't fit in with most of the rest of them.

the way it usually is, i think, with midwestern colleges, is that the school itself is an oasis of liberalism, while the surrounding town has a mostly conservative population. sometimes it seems like Iowa City is the opposite: liberal city, but most of the college students (especially in this so-called post-nine-eleven society) seem to be republicans.

they're all pretty much business majors from the rich, white suburbs of Chicago, each of whom probably got a car for their 16th birthday and an SUV (with vanity plates) for a graduation gift. people who don't really understand or find desirable nonconformity or progressive thought. i've heard Iowa City described as the most distant suburb of Chicago, which offends me profoundly.

i really don't relate to my peers. well, i don't relate well to anybody, but my peers especially.

i like the words to "The Mango Song" by Phish so much that i am simply going to say them right here:

Spasm waiter dropping to his knees sees
Slander on wrap paper ties
Lifting up his head he feels the sunlight in his eyes.

Grasp the kettle top and shoot the breeze, please
Rample while slop scraper sighs
Tossing in his bed at night, he'll dream until he dies.

Operations at the sink
The dribble liquid visible beneath his troubled eyes
Feels it tilt and start to slide.

Your hands and feet are mangos, you're gonna be a genius anyway.

Mask a pretty hopper's foot with squeeze cheese
Dangle some grape apple pie
Tranquil and serene until he runs out of supplies.

today i chilled with Aaron, Jesse, Jake and Danny, and drove them all to Jay's house in Tiffin to watch the Shawshank Redemption. best freaking movie ever.

we have decided we're going to register "www.daveorsteve.com."

i was looking for pictures of random guys to put on daveorsteve.com, and i did a google image search for "guy," which turned up some funny results, and then i did another search for "dave," which was even funnier, and then i did "beard," because guys with beards are hilarious. the latter turned up this enjoyable picture:

jake described this as a "bumble beard." i laughed and i laughed and i laughed.

i've been pondering ways to supplement my income. the best idea so far: donating plasma. i'll check into that tomorrow. i considered trying to sell art on my site, but i really doubt that would work: A) my art isn't phenomenally great or anything, and B) i think my audience must be dismally small.

it's funny that i'm even saying this. last month i was having a discussion with my friends about file-sharing, and i went on the record saying that as an artist, i never demand or expect to be payed any money at all. i said that i produce and distribute my art on the internet for free, and it would be incredibly self-righteous of me to tell people that money has to change hands for them to see it, as i don't believe that art is something that anyone can 'own.' i feel a little bit differently about this now that it's costing me about $20 a day to live (a figure dangerously close to that of my income). frankly, i need cash.

of course, i'm not about to charge micropayments on reading my web comics, as has been the trend lately. i think that if i had a ton of readers, i could probably get away with auctioning off original pieces of stand-alone art, and make some very welcome money, if not very much. so, damn it all, does this mean i have to start promoting myself??

and, since i'm drawing All About Black Holes for my own purposes, does that mean that large numbers of people will even want to SEE it? is this even RIGHT???

money, ladies and gentlemen.

last night, danny came over and he and i drank some spirits with my roommate chris D. i had a lot of fun. drinking is, it's true, really fun, yet i still only do it once in a blue moon. sometimes i think that, as much as being drunk lowers major social barriers, at the same time, my sobriety is something that i consider my greatest social trait. my general clear-headedness has to be the one thing that i profess to have above most other people. but i dunno.

plus, drunk people act like idiots. i think it's fine being drunk if you're with people who don't care if you're being an idiot, because they're your trusted friends or because they're drunk themselves. it isn't fun, i think, to hang out with a drunk person if you're not drunk, or to be drunk if everyone else is sober... Jay was over at my place tonight, and he had just come from his brother's wedding reception and had had QUITE a lot to drink. it was weird, because the rest of us were sober, and jay was on the couch drooling over Megan, and getting nakeder and nakeder, while the rest of us were trying to watch some TV. it was sort of sad, and the evening kind of had to be terminated.

it's been a hot, icky weekend. and our air conditioner is not really working. tomorrow i call the bastards to get it fixed/replaced.

i think i talk in my sleep. i remember a total of four dreams last night (me a person who almost never remembers dreams), and one of them ended when i woke up saying, "speak to my counselor, please." another one of the dreams involved being in Danny's apartment, and for some reason there was an owl there. another of the dreams involved me driving a bus in Manhattan. i parked the bus in Times Square, and then walked away to some restaurant, and i couldn't find my way back... and i encountered Will Smith, dressed as a decorated military officer, and shouted, "Sir! How do you get to Times Square?!" then i woke up, and i'm pretty sure i actually did shout this.

i say "pop" instead of "soda." i pronounce "caramel" as a two-syllable word. i pronounce "groceries" as "groshries" and not "grossries." for some reason, i've been very self-conscious about these things lately. i guess i've been a bit insecure about being a midwesterner. maybe i just need to go to bed.

one of the things i like about Iowa is that each season really IS that season. winter really IS winter, spring really IS spring, summer really IS summer and fall really IS fall. when i lived in New Mexico, i realized how special this is... in the southwest, spring, summer and fall are all summer, and winter is fall. but up here it's a real kaleidoscope. in fact, i sometimes think that summer in Iowa is even MORE summerish than it is in New Mexico. here in Iowa, it gets almost as hot as it does in NM, plus, because of the humidity, it tends to stay the same temperature at night, rather than dropping significantly like it does in the desert.

anyuway, it was really really hot today.

i hope this weekend doesn't turn out to be a dud. i guess it would be okay if it did, i suppose, as long as next weekend is better. wawho.

i drove three shifts today. on East Campus Shuttle i had yet another trainee. that was really cool. he was an opera singer.

shit, i'd better stop trying to type.

this evening i was just going to stay at home after work, finish page 23 of AABH, perhaps go drain my self-pity in some groceries, but Christer and Danny and Allison came over to my apartment and convinced me to go play pool at the Q Bar. i hadn't seen Allison for a year or so. we had a good time... maybe Thursday night at the Q Bar will become a tradition.

afterwards the guys and i proceeded to danny's place, where we had one of those classic nostalgic conversations and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. i'm really glad i have enduring friendships... i am only realizing now that i have been friends with these guys for almost a decade. that makes me feel old, but good.

anyway, the summer is definitely waning. just a week and change left before i go back to school. i guess it won't be that bad, seeing some old faces and going to interesting classes, and let's not forget No Shame Theatre. anyway, now it's time for me to get into bed, as i am driving the new and improved East Campus Shuttle tomorrow morning at 10:20.

yikes! it's been a while, i know.

i guess i've sort of adjusted to living in an apartment, although i'm still longing to live in a house next year with cool people. not that my current roommates aren't cool, but i think it would be even cooler if i lived with actual friends. this is the plan: next summer me, danny and jake, and whomever else ends up being included will get a house (hopefully somewhere on the north side of town). a reasonable goal, i believe. i hope we're all ready to do something like that in a year's time. hell, i hope I'M ready to live in an apartment right NOW...

i've been fantasizing a lot lately about being in a rock band. an actual good one. that'd be a cure, i think, for my relatively boring and hermetic life.

i just took a little walk to see if i could check out the Perseid meteor shower. i think i must have forgotten that i live downtown now, where there are enough streetlights to render all sky viewing difficult, and enough ambient drunkenness to render the appreciation of a placid and cool night impossible. i figured College Green Park would be the darkest location for some stargazing, but it turned out to have the highest concentration of streetlights i encountered. i'm depressed.

i haven't posted here in a good long time.

the latter half of July was the essence of insanity. i loved it a lot. i don't think i really have time to do a play-by-play of it all right now, but i've been having a lot of fun.

i don't really know how this happened, but today I'm working three shifts. i can't say i'm overjoyed about it, but

the millisecond that i type this key -------> H , my lease has officially begun on my new apartment on Johnson street. i kind of wanted to live on Iowa Avenue originally, because then i could say that my address was on Iowa Ave, Iowa City, Iowa; but it's still kind of funny to live on Johnson street in Johnson County. anyway, it's 5 PM, August 1st, and my contract's term has begun. i hope it doesn't suck to live there! S. Johnson street is the notorious party street, which to me is NOT a good thing, but it can't be worse than living in the dorm at UNM.

i helped danny's uncle Doug move into his new place last night, so in return he is letting danny and i use his pickup truck tomorrow when i move. heck of a deal.

it's kind of interesting, sitting here on the pinnacle. i spent the good part of two decades in my old neighborhood, and suddenly tomorrow there will be no reason, other than nostalgia's sake, even to GO there again. makes you appreciate the moment, i guess.

well, i'm going to Cleanup now, and i think on the way home i'll take a nice bike ride past my old house, and elementary school and high school and everything. my next transmission will be from the surface of the moon.