Thursday, October 30, 2003
the Internet Movie Database has to be the most useful web page on the whole interweb. i can and very often spend hours following links, collecting bits of movie trivia, having all sorts of "i didn't know HE was in THAT!" epiphanies.
Dave Coulier was Animal in Muppet Babies. i couldn't believe it.
in case you don't remember him, he was Joey in Full House, and the host of America's Funniest People.
Dave Coulier was Animal in Muppet Babies. i couldn't believe it.
in case you don't remember him, he was Joey in Full House, and the host of America's Funniest People.
well, we had another orchestra concert last night, and it was a good one. the program consisted of Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture, Lars-Erik Larsson's Saxophone Concerto and Petroucka by Stravinsky.
and apparently the sun is barfing solar winds directly at the earth, and has been all week. so the guys and i went to this place called Toddville north of Cedar Rapids last night and saw some impressive auroras. and it's supposed to be better tonight but it looks like it will be overcast.
and apparently the sun is barfing solar winds directly at the earth, and has been all week. so the guys and i went to this place called Toddville north of Cedar Rapids last night and saw some impressive auroras. and it's supposed to be better tonight but it looks like it will be overcast.
Monday, October 27, 2003
i wish my apartment were a place that i actually looked forward to coming home to every evening. but sadly, it's not.
it's rainy and it's time for me to be depressed.
today i've started feeling somewhat unfulfuilled by my life. i guess there could be a number of reasons: 1) i didn't get too much sleep last night or the night before 2) i worked an awful lot this morning 3) at the orchestra rehearsal today i sounded the worst i've sounded in months, despite having practiced five hours this weekend 4) i spent three hours in the library tonight and didn't get a fucking thing done and 5) i came home and one of my roommates is playing headache-inducing music.
seriously, i don't know why everyone needs loud subwoofers. everyone in this damn building seems to have them. everyone in this damn building is obsessed with pop music and sports.
one time, during one of the Cubs games that took place during the world series this year, i was walking down S. Johnson street, and the Cubs scored a home run and the entire street erupted in loud cheering. everyone in a three-mile radius was watching the game, except for dumb old me, walking down the street like an idiot.
why is nonconformism a million times more difficult in college than it was in high school?
not conforming is making me lonely; being lonely is making me detached and irritable; being detached and irritable is making me all the more unpopular.
it's rainy and it's time for me to be depressed.
today i've started feeling somewhat unfulfuilled by my life. i guess there could be a number of reasons: 1) i didn't get too much sleep last night or the night before 2) i worked an awful lot this morning 3) at the orchestra rehearsal today i sounded the worst i've sounded in months, despite having practiced five hours this weekend 4) i spent three hours in the library tonight and didn't get a fucking thing done and 5) i came home and one of my roommates is playing headache-inducing music.
seriously, i don't know why everyone needs loud subwoofers. everyone in this damn building seems to have them. everyone in this damn building is obsessed with pop music and sports.
one time, during one of the Cubs games that took place during the world series this year, i was walking down S. Johnson street, and the Cubs scored a home run and the entire street erupted in loud cheering. everyone in a three-mile radius was watching the game, except for dumb old me, walking down the street like an idiot.
why is nonconformism a million times more difficult in college than it was in high school?
not conforming is making me lonely; being lonely is making me detached and irritable; being detached and irritable is making me all the more unpopular.
Sunday, October 26, 2003
my trust in humanity is seriously rattled. my apartment was broken into last night.
actually, it wasn't really broken into, so much as they just kind of opened the door and strolled in: i had gone to bed and forgotten to lock the door. so i'm feeling pretty bad about the whole thing. they took about $450 worth of stuff, including Dan's X-Box and Playstation and MP3 player, and some other stuff. and scarily, it all happened while i was there. i also feel like a jerk, because none of my things were taken, despite it being sort of my fault. karma is a very asymmetrical thing sometimes.
anyway, i guess maybe it's time to buy some renter's insurance.
actually, it wasn't really broken into, so much as they just kind of opened the door and strolled in: i had gone to bed and forgotten to lock the door. so i'm feeling pretty bad about the whole thing. they took about $450 worth of stuff, including Dan's X-Box and Playstation and MP3 player, and some other stuff. and scarily, it all happened while i was there. i also feel like a jerk, because none of my things were taken, despite it being sort of my fault. karma is a very asymmetrical thing sometimes.
anyway, i guess maybe it's time to buy some renter's insurance.
this has been a weird week! i've been in this state of delirium for a while. i think it's because i haven't been hanging out with my friends as often, and it's making me feel sort of nomadic. i'm rarely home. i'm usually either at work, at a rehearsal, or sitting somewhere downtown or in the library working on a number of things. so i guess you could say it's been sort of a boring week; but i've also been pretty high, and here is why: i have somewhat of an infatuation with this girl who used to be my stand partner in UISO, but has dropped due to schedule conflicts. it's silly... just having a crush on someone makes me feel really good, even though the whole thing will almost certainly end in crushing emotional disaster. i know that's not a good attitude to have, but it's not really something i can help.
i've been working so much that i almost ran out of room on my time card at the Cambus office. i really haven't been keeping track of exactly how many hours, but i am pretty sure that my next paycheck will be well above $500.
last week, "The Band" (as we'll be calling it until we have a for real name) practiced for the first time. that was fun. we played some original songs too, which is something that probably most bands don't do on the first day they're together.
danny and i performed at No Shame yet again. the sketch (written by me) was called "Two Guys Talk About Superman (Or So They Think!)" it was definitey not the best of the four No Shame pieces that i've been involved in so far, but i think the audience enjoyed it.
i've been working so much that i almost ran out of room on my time card at the Cambus office. i really haven't been keeping track of exactly how many hours, but i am pretty sure that my next paycheck will be well above $500.
last week, "The Band" (as we'll be calling it until we have a for real name) practiced for the first time. that was fun. we played some original songs too, which is something that probably most bands don't do on the first day they're together.
danny and i performed at No Shame yet again. the sketch (written by me) was called "Two Guys Talk About Superman (Or So They Think!)" it was definitey not the best of the four No Shame pieces that i've been involved in so far, but i think the audience enjoyed it.
Sunday, October 12, 2003
today i went over to danny's place, where he and i sort of jammed (he on drums and i on guitar, of course). that was fun, and it went very, very well, i thought. we basically just played along with Cake's Fashion Nugget, just kind of playing the whole album by ear. and then we did a handful of Beatles songs and various other things. it actually sounded all right.
and then we went downtown to see Quentin Tarantino's new film Kill Bill (Vol. 1). it was freaking amazing. that was the best movie i've seen in a long, long time. it was a lot more humorously done than his previous movies, and it was an interesting departure from his blaxploitation obsession. his idea of telling the back story on a Japanese character in Anime form was ingenious. i was clapping my hands with glee the whole time.
and then we went downtown to see Quentin Tarantino's new film Kill Bill (Vol. 1). it was freaking amazing. that was the best movie i've seen in a long, long time. it was a lot more humorously done than his previous movies, and it was an interesting departure from his blaxploitation obsession. his idea of telling the back story on a Japanese character in Anime form was ingenious. i was clapping my hands with glee the whole time.
i've been very, very silent the past three weeks. see, i signed up for a LiveJournal, and i'm not really sure why. it's not like it's a huge step forward from this blogger. but now, for reasons as mysterious as the ones for which i acquired the LJ in the first place, i'm not going to use it. i'm sticking with Blogger instead. don't worry, you didn't miss too much.
anyway.
the last three weeks have been great. truly great, and actually eventful. i'll recap in the various categories which define my life....
ART: since putting All About Black Holes on hiatus (and i am now thinking about how i STILL haven't put up an explanation on the page), i decided to start working on comic strip ideas, and try to sell one to the Daily Iowan. i worked extensively on several projects: first, a strip about a bird and a duck who live in Central Park; second, a real people sort of strip inspired by my own life; third, a weird movement towards bringing back Quid Pro Quo; fourth, a strip similar to QPQ except involving humans (with better character development); fifth, a journal comic. each and every one of these ideas fell flat on its stupid face a week or two after i first started working on them. i'm only now realizing that i only really wanted to get a job at the DI for notoriety and money (and mostly the former, as i'm not even sure they pay). so, in light of this, my goal right now is to continue again working on AABH. except i'm going to completely rewrite it, start over from the beginning, and do it privately without publishing it on the internet page by page. maybe.
MUSIC: i had an orchestra concert a few weeks ago. it was great. the program consisted of Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, this piece by a guy named Micheal Torke called Javelin, Elgar's Enigma Variations and then his cello concerto. it was a delicious evening.
also music: danny got a drumset. he's drummer now. what this means is this: the band might actually happen. i've been practicing guitar like a madman.
WORK: my job has been very interesting the past few weeks. a week ago Tuesday, in was involved in the funniest bus accident yet: it was my Tuesday morning Hospital shift, and i was supervising a trainee doing on-routes, which is when the trainee gets on the bus and drives while you watch and train them on how to do the route. well, this trainee was driving through the Arenaparking lot, and was turning left (rather quickly) after the bus stop, and well, she sort of ran into a tree. it was the loudest sound i'd ever heard. like, she really slammed that son of a bitch. it was a big, sturdy tree, too, and wow. the bus was really screwed up. they had to send it up to Marion for two weeks to fix it. as for the tree, i predict it's dead in two years, maybe less.
and then last week i was driving down Dubuque street at rush hour and my bus just ran out of gas (after the dispatcher assured me that the gas gauge was just broken and that it was ok to keep driving). now THAT was funny.
EVERYTHING ELSE: i just finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard. i found the book to be top-notch late Vonnegut. book never became as well-known as Hocus Pocus, a similar novel that i believe was written immediately after (an academic type or a Time magazine book reviewer would probably say that Bluebeard was a preliminary sketch for Hocus Pocus). but Bluebeard really stands alone as a great novel, as well as an insightful treatise on art, if i may say so.
anyway.
the last three weeks have been great. truly great, and actually eventful. i'll recap in the various categories which define my life....
ART: since putting All About Black Holes on hiatus (and i am now thinking about how i STILL haven't put up an explanation on the page), i decided to start working on comic strip ideas, and try to sell one to the Daily Iowan. i worked extensively on several projects: first, a strip about a bird and a duck who live in Central Park; second, a real people sort of strip inspired by my own life; third, a weird movement towards bringing back Quid Pro Quo; fourth, a strip similar to QPQ except involving humans (with better character development); fifth, a journal comic. each and every one of these ideas fell flat on its stupid face a week or two after i first started working on them. i'm only now realizing that i only really wanted to get a job at the DI for notoriety and money (and mostly the former, as i'm not even sure they pay). so, in light of this, my goal right now is to continue again working on AABH. except i'm going to completely rewrite it, start over from the beginning, and do it privately without publishing it on the internet page by page. maybe.
MUSIC: i had an orchestra concert a few weeks ago. it was great. the program consisted of Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture, this piece by a guy named Micheal Torke called Javelin, Elgar's Enigma Variations and then his cello concerto. it was a delicious evening.
also music: danny got a drumset. he's drummer now. what this means is this: the band might actually happen. i've been practicing guitar like a madman.
WORK: my job has been very interesting the past few weeks. a week ago Tuesday, in was involved in the funniest bus accident yet: it was my Tuesday morning Hospital shift, and i was supervising a trainee doing on-routes, which is when the trainee gets on the bus and drives while you watch and train them on how to do the route. well, this trainee was driving through the Arenaparking lot, and was turning left (rather quickly) after the bus stop, and well, she sort of ran into a tree. it was the loudest sound i'd ever heard. like, she really slammed that son of a bitch. it was a big, sturdy tree, too, and wow. the bus was really screwed up. they had to send it up to Marion for two weeks to fix it. as for the tree, i predict it's dead in two years, maybe less.
and then last week i was driving down Dubuque street at rush hour and my bus just ran out of gas (after the dispatcher assured me that the gas gauge was just broken and that it was ok to keep driving). now THAT was funny.
EVERYTHING ELSE: i just finished reading Kurt Vonnegut's Bluebeard. i found the book to be top-notch late Vonnegut. book never became as well-known as Hocus Pocus, a similar novel that i believe was written immediately after (an academic type or a Time magazine book reviewer would probably say that Bluebeard was a preliminary sketch for Hocus Pocus). but Bluebeard really stands alone as a great novel, as well as an insightful treatise on art, if i may say so.
